Warning: there is foul language and violence in this chapter

"How did you know?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer. I thought I had been careful. I thought she would understand, if anything, once I told her, if I told her.

She uncovers a small chest that was behind her. My breathing quickens.

She has proof ... now she knows for sure.

Stay Calm Verna, She might not know - my head tells me.

I try to act natural; relaxed. I smile a bit and look down at the chest.

"What?" I ask

" 'What'? "my 'best friend' mocks, "This chest has all your secrets, I'm guessing. " I look up at her a little confused.

"You mean, you didn't open it? " I ask, looking back at the box.

I hear her breath in and out.

"I thought it was proof," she tells me, "But ... I was hoping, and I'll admit, a little scared. I was hoping it wouldn't prove what I found out, " she continues.

I look away from the box and at her shoes. Eyeing the string of her shoes, I can sense that it is bound to come untied at any moment. I hear a whimper and see her shaking as I stare at her feet.

"What's wrong," I ask, still not looking at her face.

"Nothing." I hear her sniff and she shuffles her feet a bit, indicating that she's nervous. She then stops this movement and plants her feet once more; regrounding herself. She takes a deep breath.

"Is this yours?" she asks. Confused, I think to myself that she does know that it's mine and if I tell her it's not mine, she'll suspect more (maybe).

"I've never seen the box in my life," I answer without thinking.

"Oh, well then Shit," she chuckles, "And here I thought you were a spy ready to kill my family, " Ariel laughs to herself. I eye her as she laughs, thinking of a way to escape this uncomfortable moment, looking back at her shoes.

Her laugh makes her whole body shake along with the sound of her voice.

Moving her feet, I spot the shoe tie has finally come loose.

"I'm so stupid." I look back up to her eyes. I give her a fake smile and bend down. "What are you doing?" she asks me as she laughs.

"Your shoes are untied," I answer, my fake smile plastered to my face still.

"I'm so stupid," she squeaks, "How could I have thought," she chuckles again, " I mean why would my 'best friend', I mean, best friend want to kill...me," She laughs a bit, her voice a little shaky and getting higher and higher with each second going by, exaggerating the word, 'best friend'. "My best friend," she sniffs.

I listen to her as I play with the string, feeling guilty for what I'm about to do.

"My best friend," Ariel laughs, her voice is no longer shaky but cheerful and sure of herself once more.

I stand up again, slowly, looking back up to her face. We're about the same height but she's a little taller than me.

"Come on, let's get out of this parking lot," she says, smiling, leaving a little mischievous grin. I ignore it and look around.

"Ya, this place is a little creepy," I state, smiling.

The ceiling covers up most of the light from outside but there are big wide holes in the wall to show the drivers where they are going.

I look at her, waiting for her next move, but she stands still. I tighten my smile, still awaiting her next move. She just stares at me, but her smile is less tightened and restricted than mine. More natural, yet I sense something wrong with her...smile..her grin?

"Are we going or what," Ariel asks, moving her arms toward the car, "or do you want to walk home," she chuckles a bit. I squint my eyes at her and look back at her shoes, feeling Ariel's eyes watching my every movement.

I look back at her and give her my smile, less tightened than before. She smiles again, still not moving.

What's taking her so long? I think to myself, getting a bit frustrated.

I look back at her shoes, quickly, seeing the strings of the shoes connected to each other.

Does she know that if she moves, she'll trip?

I smile and begin to move toward the car.

"Where are you going," Ariel asks, blocking me with her long arm.

"Going to the car," I answer in a 'duh' kind of way.

"Why? You sure you don't wanna walk?" she says with a little laugh. My smile disappears and I stare at her. My eyes drooping down a little, eyeing and suspecting her grin.

I look her up & down, squinting some more.

"What's the matter?" she asks. I smile a bit, about to move back towards the car, "Verna," she adds, making me stop in my tracks. My eyes widen.

How does she know my name...my spy name?

I turn back towards her and my fake smile is flastered to my face once more.

"What did you say?"

She walks towards me, my eyes widen again.

How is she not tripping? My eyes quickly look towards her feet and then up to her face multiple times until she stops right in front of me and I look up into her eyes. She smirks.

"Verna," she says again, adding a wink.

I don't think, I just grab her hand and wrist and throw her arm over her head. It's supposed to make her fall. This is usually the way I get a head start to run but she just spins around back towards me.

"What was that?!" She chuckles. My eyes widen.

What the fuck?...

I run...

I run towards the exit door. It's so close yet so far, I can't believe my signature move did not work on a weak mortal...

I look behind me as I run, she just walks closer to me. What the hell is happening? I look back forward.

"Your signature move didn't work, I see." she laughs and my eyes widen once more. I turn my head back towards her and stop in my tracks. What the fuck?

She laughs... can she read my mind or something?

Her smile is wide, I see her pure white teeth as she laughs, her eyes closed.

What is HAPPENING!?!

"You scared of me?" she asks, her laughter has stopped but her smile is just the same to me. Her words snap me out of this mortal frenz and I speak.

"Shut up, bitch," I bark back, "I'm not scared of you." I laugh back, mocking her previous sounds. I sense her watching me and stop my laugh.

We give each other weak looks as we stand apart in the parking lot. Her disgusting smirk watches my smile and mine does the same.

"So, Verna," she spits my beautiful name out.

"So...Ariel," I raise my eyebrows a little, "If that's your name." she chuckles at this.

She seems relaxed staring at me, this needs to stop.

She might not be the person I thought she was, but neither am I.

I begin to run towards her. Her expression is priceless... In between shocked and confused. Her smirk has disappeared as she backs away. I run faster. She stumbles backward as if she got off-balanced ... as if she's wearing high heels and not those tennis shoes.

She knocks her ass against a car, causing its alarm to echo through the lot. Ariel turns her head towards the car.

"Shit," I hear her whisper...

I finally reach her face to face and stop in my tracks. I want to land a punch as she turns her head back towards me. She squints her eyes, she's finally afraid... but after us just standing there listening to the car's alarm she opens her eyes again and sees that I still haven't landed the punch.

She laughs again, her white pearly teeth showing, not a kind of laugh I've ever seen on Ariel's face before. It's like the ones in the movies.

She begins to shake her head.

"You are afraid." she giggles out, her words don't tell the complete truth but they trigger something in me. I look down, listening to her chuckle.

She's about to speak but I look back at her and punch her, right in the shoulder.

She stumbles back, a small squeak escapes her lips.

The car's alarm has stopped and she begins to rub her arm. She growls at me, this is new - I think to myself and smirk.

"Bitch," she yells. I smile, evilly.

"Ha, Ha," I laugh, smiling devilishly, moving towards her again.

Before I get another punch in, she pushes me against the car, alarm beeps again, "Damn," I hiss, "That's it,"

I grab her face, shaking it around. Her hair tangled in my fingers as she tries to get out of my grip.

She moves her legs, kicking my feet.

"That's not going to do anything." I continue to shake her head, and then she finally lands a kick to my stomach.

I groan, yelling, stumbling away from her hair and body and I touch my stomach. It's as if she poked me with a sharp stick. She must have a knife in her gym shoes.

"Asshole," Ariel says, rubbing her head.

Madder than before, I use my anger on her once more. Forgetting the pain in my belly, I lunge towards her, grabbing her face once more. She yells, my nails have caught some of her hair strings and have scratched a bit of her cheeks.

"AAA," I yell, shaking her head again. I try to bash her head on the car, but she moves her head away from where I'm leading it.

We play a tug of war with her head.

My right foot steps on her right foot and she groans in pain. She stumbles a bit back, giving me the advantage to bash her head, but she still finds the strength to back away from the car.

Getting mad at her strength, I wrap my left leg around hers which makes her even more unbalanced.

Pushing her body with my leg wrapped around hers, I get her body to connect to the car's. She yells. She waves her hands away from her head and so do I.

I kick her leg.

"How. Do. You. Know. My. Name," I yell in between every kick towards her leg. She yells with each connection.

"Answer,"

"Never," she growls, rolling her body around on the car's hood. She takes her legs in and begins to kick widely in front of her.

"What the fuck are you doing," I yell through the beeping in the air. I move closer to her legs and one kick gets my face. I feel a bruise already forming in my cheek but I ignore it, grabbing one of her legs.

I intend to drag her but she grabs hold of the rearview mirror of the car to keep herself connected to the hood.

I pull her harder but she keeps holding on.

I yell, "Who are you,"

"I should ask you the same thing," she yells back.

I groan at her answer, pulling her even harder. She yells and begins to kick once more. I'm still pulling her leg as her other leg swings around towards my face. She tries to kick my already bruised face but I dodge it and grab hold of her ankle.

Ariel yells.

I now pull both her legs while Ariel still hangs on tight to the car.

"How the fuck," I yell through the loud beeping that has been drowned out by my actions.

Ariel kicks both of her legs, even if I'm holding them tight. She lands a kick to my bruising face.

I yell.

"Let. Go. Of. Me," She yells, continuing to swing her legs around, kicking my stomach now. I groan in pain, feeling the pointy stick once more from her shoe.

"What is in your shoe?!?" I yell, letting go of her right leg and holding on to her left ankle with both of my hands. Ariel uses the release of one of her legs to try to kick me better.

I stop trying to drag her and pull off her right shoe right off her foot. And then I grab the other shoe and do the same with a bit more force than before.

She lets go of the car and jumps off of the hood. She's still the same height as before, even if her shoes made her an inch taller in height.

I stumble backward, awaiting her next move as she walks towards me. Her feet echo through the parking lot...How?

I walk backwards as she walks towards me. I breath in and out due to the actions of our recent cat fight.

The sound of her feet click-clack on the cement floor, booming through the room, as if...she's wearing high heels.

"You wanna know why I know your name?" she asks and receives no answer from me as I walk backward.

She walks closer and closer to me.

"Your little 'chest of secrets' proved everything I thought of you." she makes air quotes around the words 'chest of secrets' and continues to walk forward. "You wanna kill my family...?" I just stare at her. "Too bad," she whispers, pouting her lips a bit, "They're already dead,"

"What the fuck," I interject.

"My name is not Ariel and I'm not your friend." I stare at her and she makes a weird 'ha' hum sound.

The car's alarm has stopped and the only sound is the click-clack of her feet walking towards me. I look down at her feet...now I see her feet aren't even touching the floor. My eyebrows scrunch down in suspicion and I smirk. I look back up to her and begin to walk towards her, gaining more confidence.

"Are you a spy?" I tease, raising my eyebrows a bit.

"Hmmm, so smart you are," she plays along as we circle each other.

We stop walking and are now standing right in front of each other. I eye her, looking her up and down, trying to understand how she's floating one inch above the ground.

She smirks and opens her mouth to speak but I move one of my legs towards the bottom of her feet and trip her a bit. She stumbles back, losing balance, and then falls on to me.

"You have invisible high heels, I see," I state, "Very clever....hmmm...Heather." I smirk, raising my eyebrows.

Her eyebrows raise up as she widens her eyes.

"How...?"

"How did I know your name was Heather," I make a 'hum' sound, mocking her previous sounds. "Just a wild guess," I smirk and so does she, getting off of me, and she walks back towards the car to put her shoes back on.

"Are your parents already dead?" I ask as she walks back toward me.

"Yes," she answers, "I've been a Spy my whole life, learning and being schooled how to be a great one. Having a double life... going to school here and there... as a spy." she wiggles her eyebrows at the end of the sentence, giggling a bit, her usual self now.

"Hmmmm, so you found my chest?" she wonders.

"No...but I find signals when I speak to people, finding all sorts of secrets...Can you?"

"No, but I sense people, that's why I knew what you were feeling during our fight," Ariel answers...I mean...Heather.

We just stare at each other.

"It's one of my...talents," I hesitate telling her more. She nods, listening, we keep a distance as we ask one another questions and tell each other stories.

"My parents died a long time ago in a fire...at my house," Heather states looking down.

"I'm sorry,"

"No, it's fine, I didn't really know them very well. So when I was offered for adoption and in foster care, nobody took me in, so I grew frustrated and well, broke a few laws." she smiles at the memory and then looks back up to me,"Then the agency found me, because... I became of a trouble maker star in the news. So they took me in, changing my name and giving me a fake one for disguise, they found me adoption parents...and walla... what about you?," she asks.

"Pretty much the same...I wonder how we didn't see each other at the agency,"

"Ya, same,"

"Did you have a mission of some sort?" I ask after a moment of silence.

She doesn't answer, keeping the silence just that; silence.

"Okay." I turn around looking around the lot, "I'm surprised nobody came after us...you know from the car alarm," I say, looking back at her.

"Ya," she answers, more like a mumble sound. I squint at her.

"So... you had a mission?" she turns her head, looking to a wall. I look at it too, confused as to why we're looking at it...

"So," I ask again, looking at her, "Any mission?"

I continue talking even if no answer comes.

"Heather," I say, loudly. She turns her head towards me.

"What!?"

"Mission?" I ask once more.

"I can't answer that." she looks back at the wall.

"Look, you're wasting time if you had a mission; all is good but if not..." I pause, realizing if she didn't have a mission that means that I've told her too much ...which mean, I'll have to kill her... or other way around. I step away.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence

I look at the wall with her.

Silence

Silence

Silence.

Sile- She turns her head back towards me.

"I have a mission...no need to kill me," she smirks... "Verna," she adds with a wink.

"Geeze, You were scaring me," I huff.

She laughs and so do I.

We come closer.

We smile and wrap our arms around each other, taking in each other's embraces.

"I'm sorry, for trying to kill you," I say through her hair.

"Same." I hear her sniff from her side as we hug.

I smile, feeling warm and safe.

"I'm sorry," I say again.

She chuckles.

"I know,"

"Why, you can read my mind?" I say, breaking away from the hug.

She laughs, "No, you already told me." we laugh together.

~~~

Our little fight at the parking lot is a small memory of the past that we share with one another from time to time. Sending secret notes and letters when on our missions and when not on our missions.

And when we got older, we were told that our first mission was just a test to see our skill to follow through, but we didn't pass it... yet...we're famous for it in the office, jokes on us for years now...

...and we're famous in general to the whole agency system... Especially after our recent missions together.

As Heather and I have grown closer, I feel more than a friendship but a sort of compassion and love for her that I've never had for anybody else. Maybe it's a sign of finally home or it's the sense of a new home?

I don't know... but It's exciting not knowing...That's why...I'm a Criminal.