Skin Deep

1 "So tell me every little thing about yourself. Every secret." Sydney Bristow tensed, swallowing back a sudden surge of suspicion and alarm. She forced herself to relax and smile at the tall, good-looking guy who had just leaned closer to her on the park bench. He's just a UCLA sophomore trying to flirt with me, she reminded herself. He's not a spy. It was a reminder she had to give herself more and more often as she progressed as an agent-in-training for the CIA. Sometimes it seemed like just yesterday that Wilson had walked up to her on campus and offered her the opportunity of a lifetime. At other times she had trouble remembering that she had ever experienced anything resembling "real life"--a life without secret missions that could mean life or death for people all over the planet, a life without lying to everyone she met or escaping from people who were trying to kill her. The experiences she'd had so far in her short career tended to make her a little suspicious of new people. Still, the logical part of her mind was certain that this college guy was just an ordinary student going about the ordinary business of trying to pick her up. His name was Kent, and she'd met him a few minutes before as she and her best friend and roommate, Francie Calfo, were wandering across the college green debating whether to go for sandwiches or Chinese for lunch. Sydney glanced over at Francie, who was standing a few yards away on the grass casually kicking around a Hacky Sack with Kent's friend Carl. Carl was a huge, handsome hunk who was practically drooling all over Francie already. That was Francie--she had a natural allure, a spark that drew guys to her like moths to a flame. Sydney often envied her friend that easy charm and natural friendliness. Francie never seemed to overthink things like Sydney often did. She never seemed to drift off in the middle of a conversation, totally forgetting that the other person wasn't inside her head. . . . "Well?" Kent leaned still closer, smiling at her. His hand, which had been resting on the wooden bench seat, crept a little closer to her thigh. "Are you going to answer me, or are you playing hard to get?" Sydney shrugged and forced what she hoped was a playful little laugh. "Oh, there's not much to tell about me, really," she said, tossing her shiny brown ponytail over her shoulder and casually dropping her arm onto the bench between her leg and his hand. "I'm a sophomore, I was born in West Virginia, moved to California, grew up, went off to boarding school. . . ." "Boarding school, eh?" Kent raised one eyebrow and grinned. "So, like, while the rest of us were stuck in public school and kicking rocks around for fun, you were off at boarding school going to tea parties and horseback riding and playing croquet, right?" This time Sydney's laugh was real. "Not exactly," she said. "I mean, there was a stable there, so I did go horseback riding once in a while. But the tea and croquet thing? Not so much. I was a total tomboy." Just then Francie hurried over, dragging her guy by the arm. "Hey, Syd," she blurted out, her dark eyes flashing with excitement. "Carl just invited us to this off-campus party tomorrow night--it's supposed to be totally wild and fun. What do you say? Think we should grace these guys with our fabulous pres--" Beep! Beep! Before Francie could finish her sentence, a sharp tone pierced the air. Sydney glanced down at the pager clipped to the waistband of her shorts. "Oops," she said, flipping the pager up long enough to read the name SLOANE on it. "Sorry." Francie grimaced and turned away. "Uh-oh," she said in the tight, tense voice she saved for just such occasions. "Sounds like the hive is calling the worker bee again.&quHapka, Cathy is the author of 'Skin Deep ', published 2004 under ISBN 9780553494396 and ISBN 0553494392.