Angel. Hard to believe how simple and pretty that word sounded. It was
written with tiny gold calligraphy on the center of a 3 by 5 postcard,
instead of a nice panoramic view of the L.A. skyline - which most tourists
would expect to receive.
But not these girls. Oh sure, two of them used up a whole half-a-day's time in a cramped airplane from the other side of the country (and the world). All to meet some guy, willing to type a small note on a cheap- looking postcard...
Dear [girl's name],
You're cordially invited to
attend a brief seminar on
June 11, 1988 at 9 AM at
505 S. Arlington Ave. (room #23)
Los Angeles CA, 10528
to discuss your exceptional talent.
sincerely,
J. Bosley
ps. Please don't be late.
...and not mention to the very least about what clothes to bring!
"Talent." What talent? This guy really was a piece of work, his note sounding like a school notice gone fortune-cookie-style. But as strange as it may have been to get that note on an everyday afternoon, each girl followed instructions and intended to show up at that special meeting....whatever it was for.
Natalie came first, naturally residing in the city and knowing each and every street by heart. She skipped towards the polished wooden door marked 23 with her brown loafers, knocked three times, and waited for an answer. The whole place seemed too quiet to be in L.A. as she looked around the office-like setting. Yeah, there where ladies typing rhythmically onto computer screens and lining up to get a shot of coffee like all Mondays, but Natalie had this whole "secret-agents-running-around-in-chaos" idea ever since she notices the sign:
CHARLES TOWNSEND
PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS.
She tossed the idea from her bushy blonde head and stared one with the big door that faced her. "Hello?" she called in cheerfully with a last knock, then slowly turned the knob when nobody seemed to disapprove. Her overdone smile left when she came in; the office was empty.
It looked civilized, though, with a matching wooden bookshelf and working desk that was all neat and tidy - as if their owner was away on a long business trip or something. After a few minutes of surveying the typical accessories of an office room, Natalie sat down on one of the couches and smoothed out her blue knee-length skirt.
She checked her watch: 8:45 am.
"Better too early than too late," Natalie mottoed to herself and smirked down at the coffee table between the two couches. Discovering a nice pile of wrapped caramels on her side, she remembered skipping breakfast and instantly replaced the retainer in her mouth for a throw of sugar.
It was the moment she tossed the fourth candy up and caught it with her teeth that the door facing her opened again.
Natalie hid the caramel in her mouth and propped up, expecting to see the writer of the note. Instead, a girl with narrow Asian eyes appeared, then a man of similar features whose black uniform resembled a cheufeur's.
Her almond eyes met Natalie's sky blue, and a twist of expectations had passed through her face so fast not even Natalie (with her quick thinking) could read them all.
Obviously this new girl thought she'd been the only one invited, wearing a gray business-like suit with shiny black boots that looked ridiculous on a fifteen-year old. She reminded Natalie of a younger Mary Poppins, with a tight bun holding her ink hair under a brim hat that suggested a very lengthy voyage.
Unlike Natalie, she didn't smile once.
The new girl breathed a sigh and turned to the man in uniform. Her whispers sounded like gibberish to Natalie but it seemed to make sense to the Asian man, since he then nodded, put down a small black suitcase next to the wall, and closed the door.
"Hi!" Natalie greeted in the same bright attitude, moving out of the couch and extending a hand to the girl. The narrow eyes just stared at the scrawny fingers, as if she had never seen a handshake before. "Um...I'm Natalie," she then added, the cheeriness going down a notch.
"Alex," was all the girl said in a thick accent, and moved to sit on the untouched couch. Natalie returned her hand and carefully sat down again, hoping not to miss the cushion and fall on her butt foolishly. She avoided meeting Alex's eyes, repeatedly smoothing out her skirt to hide the tension in her face.
The way she sat up so straight and pompous-like only made Natalie slouch more.
"So...I guess you're here for the seminar thing too?" Natalie attempted as she fiddled with a candy wrapper. She looked up at Alex and saw that she had taken her hat off, and was now scribbling something in a pocket-sized book.
"Yes," she answered flatly, still focused on her writing. But she managed to show Natalie her 'Angel' postcard during a page-turn.
"I have one too!" Natalie said, and took it out of her shirt pocket. Alex still didn't look up.
"You wouldn't know what this seminar's for, would you? I mean, it sounds pretty exciting when you read about it. 'Exceptional Talent'.....I wonder what that means. I don't think many people get chosen for this, do you? I sure hope there's other people coming....oh! not that I'd be mad if it's just you and me--"
Alex threw a sharp scowl at her, making Natalie's tongue freeze.
"Oh, sorry," she gave a nervous laugh, checking her watch again: 8:55am.
Cold-blooded 'Mary Poppins' crossed her legs and made a 'hmph' sound, returning to her fast scribbles.
Outside in the hallway, Natalie could hear someone's footsteps approaching, which sounded more like stomps as they got closer.
Please come in here! Please!, the girl begged in her mind, as the excessively quiet room and kung-fu-faced girl was all starting to creep her out.
And her wish came true - with a loud bang that opened the door again, and Natalie instantaneously let out a yelp.
"GOD I HATE CAB DRIVERS!!" a growling voice thundered in, which finally made Alex turn her head around shrewdly towards the door.
There stood a third girl (or at least it looked like a girl, with jeans artistically slashed from the knees down and her bleached hair hung over her face) chewing what sounded like three pieces of bubble gum in her right cheek.
She let her 'nicely-decorated' backpack fall on the floor next to Alex's suitcase, and walked her combat boots to the front of the couches and survey Alex and Natalie with her arms crossed.
They're mouths agape, they're eyebrows raised shockingly, Natalie was the first to smile forcefully and say, "Hhh--Hi!" Alex just sat there and counted the girl's multiple ear, nose, and eyebrow piercings (11) before saying an almost mute "hello".
"Well wha'dya know? It's Miss Sushi Girl and Geek-of-the-Year in the same room! Damn, where's my camera?" was the girl's friendly greet to them, and she continued to chew with her mouth open, revealing a pierced tongue.
Alex's face scrunched up in disgust while the girl hopped into Natalie's couch (making her slide to the edge). "So what's up with the 'sekeratary' look, Sushi Girl?" she then smiled.
"My name is Alex," came the reply, simple and reluctant.
"And I'm Natalie!" entered Natalie almost too happily, and extended her hand out in a new attempt.
The girl locked eyes with Natalie instead of her hand, but then reached two fingers into her mouth and took out her pink gum, placing it in the center of Natalie's opened palm. It was the size of a miniature golf ball as Natalie glanced down to it, and looked up again.
"Dylan," the girl smiled.
"Ewww...." Natalie scrunched her own face, staring at that giant ball of gum laying on her clean little hand, and a bunch of questions ran through her mind as she scraped it off with a candywrapper. What was this punk doing here, and how could she chew this huge piece of gum and breathe at the same time?
"Disgusting." Alex remarked in a proper accent, surveying the strange girl as she craned her combat boots to rest on the coffee table, satisfied to think how well she was brought up .
"Why thank you, Ko-Ni-Chi-Wah, you don't look so bad yourself!" Dylan answered in a mocking tone back at her.
It seemed to push a button in Alex's sensitivity panel, because the next moment they all knew, Alex gripped the side cushions of her couch tightly and angled her frame forward to glare one with Dylan.
Natalie was sure she was going to explode!
"Oooo, somebody's a wittle insulted?" Dylan laughed at the ridiculous Alex stance she would pay anybody to see.
"Um... I think she wants you to apologize..." came Natalie's squeaky voice.
"Pshh, no way!" Dylan brushed her hair out of her face. "If we keep staring, she might do a trick!"
Alex rose up from the couch in one motion, her eyes angling down at Dylan's, not blinking. She took that as a signal to get up herself, and she did, with her boots hard on the ground and a grin on her face. They walked towards the desk where the coffee table was no longer between them, each staring at the other.
Natalie was so tongue-tied from the situation, she couldn't get a word in. And she hated violence!
"Allrightee, let's see what ya got." As Dylan finished her sentence, she moved her arms back and forth to block out the punches Alex was bellowing in her own language. She couldn't kick thanks to her skirt, and Dylan caught that only a few seconds later to pin the crazy ninja to the far wall from a stumble by the oh so evil carpet. The girls' faces were so close to each other, Dylan actually noticed the tiny freckles almost hidden on Alex's nose.
She's going to hit her, she's going to hit her.....thought Natalie, and when she felt her notions were actually coming true, she jumped out of the couch and screamed her way to the girls.
"STOP IT! Dylan, let her go!!" the little peacemaker put effort into Dylan's grip as she tried to break the two up without causing another frenzy. But it wasn't Natalie that stopped the havoc from getting worse, or even continuing for that matter.
It was a turning of the doorknob.
As if it were made to happen, the girls quietly angled over to look at the new arrival, and toppled over to the ground with Natalie sandwiched in between.
They were all hushed except for Dylan ("Get off me!") as they regained themselves, only to see a frantic-looking young man with thick glasses peering into the room. And when he saw the three girls, he gave a huge extensive sigh.
"Oh good, you're all here..." he informed somewhat out of breath, entering the room in a new sense of relief.
All here? Natalie caught as she scrambled back up and checked her watch: 8:59am.
That was enough to convince her it was just the three of them who were invited.
"Please, uh, have a seat," the man asserted plainly to the girls, like he was unaware of anything that happened since January. Alex sat down and smoothed out her skirt quickly for first impressions, Natalie carefully found her way to the other couch without breaking anything, but Dylan just stood in front of the desk where the man set himself in, looking at his watch.
"Excuse me, you're..." Dylan fumbled for her folded postcard inside her jeanjacket, "...J. Bosley?"
"Call me 'Boz'," the man replied good-naturedly and extended a hand to Dylan.
"I'd rather not," she shook his hand once and turned for the couch, "but could you tell me why I flew ten and half hours into lame-ass Surf County, sat in a shitty cab with a guy who didn't know Left from Right, and came here to meet Kung Fu girl and her side kick, Geek-A-Zoid?"
Dylan found her spot next to Natalie, crossed her legs, and looked back up to the dumbfounded man feeling a hand across his unshaved face. He was about to open his mouth, until his watch beeped 9 o'clock, and he gave a fake cough to clear his throat. He then tapped something into a beige speakerphone on the desk, and moved it forward, inquiring the girls to listen.
Static.
"Good morning Angels," an elderly voice came from the speaker, taking all the girls by surprise.
"Good morning, Charlie!" the man responded cheerfully, and paused afterwards, noticing his mishap. Dylan fought hard not to laugh.
"Well thank you, Bosley, but I was referring to our young guests," the voice came again.
"Uh, yeah.....sorry boss."
The girls just sat there, watching the man have a conversation with a speaker! Apparently this Bosley guy wasn't the one to answer their numerous questions; it was the mysterious god-like voice inside the speaker. This was getting too weird.
Natalie and Alex exchanged the same idea that Dylan was going to repeat her question right about now, and they braced themselves....
"Allow me to introduce myself, girls. My name is Dr. Charles Townsend. This is my assistant, John Bosley, who I'm sure sent the lovely invitations you all received."
The man waved a nervous hand at the girls and continued to listen to the speaker.
"I have called you here for many reasons, but I think it would be best if you got to know the people sitting right in front of you, first."
At that cue, Bosley clicked a little remote from his hand and TV screen turned on from the other side of the room. Static. Then random video images came up like a home movie, showing depictions of young Alex, Natalie, and Dylan in order. As they showed up on screen, the voice named Charlie spoke facts about them.
"Alexandra Mun Shimamura the Second. Carefully born and raised in Tokyo with her highly accredited parents, she is a well-educated young lady with knowledge far beyond her years. She has withheld numerous titles, just last summer being named the youngest national champion of the Lenox Equestrian Open in Japan."
The final shot of Alex was one in an open stadium, where paparazzi surrounded her cute little smile as she sat on a beautifully tamed horse. Dylan and Natalie both glanced at her from the other couch; they'd never seen anyone look so arrogant at herself, especially with a messed up hairbun from the previous scene. The screen blackened and rebloomed, then continued...
"Natalie Cookie Brewster. Growing up in the heart of Los Angeles since childhood with her younger sister and parents, she's known for her bright mind and quick thinking. Her biggest accomplishment? Winning first place at the California Junior Spelling Bee three years in a row."
"I had to spell 'cretaceous', 'hyperbola', AND 'somatopleure'!" Natalie said astonishingly as she saw herself giving a bow to the contest judges.
"Oh shut up," was Dylan's compliment.
Natalie sighed at that and fixed her glasses, just then remembering her retainer and quickly placing it back in her mouth, making Alex look like she was going to throw up.
"...Which leads us to our last guest..." the voice went on as the screen faded again to black.
"Dylan Sandra Evans. Probably setting a record for the most places resided in the U.S., her last home was in the great city of Boston, Massachusetts with her two older brothers. Their mother fell victim years ago to a misapprehended hostage situation in Chicago, and since then the three have remained strong, fending for themselves however possible. In fact, Dylan made a name for herself just last Fall at her highschool, beating up many of the senior football players at an open cafeteria with her own two hands."
Alex and Natalie stared in unison at Dylan, the screen showing her choreographed moves on guys twice her size before a huge crowd of teenagers, then turning off. But Dylan did not smile, or look proud at all. She actually jumped off the couch and bellowed off to the speaker...
"How the hell did you get all that!?"
The two other girls seemed to be understanding the point of her question. Who exactly WAS this guy behind the mysterious voice?
"I'll explain that to you momentarily, Dylan. But first things first...I believe the real reason why I brought you all here today.... Perhaps in a language more familiar to your age..." The girls anxiously waited for the next words out of the speaker, which came in a rather gameshow-like tone.
"How would you three like to be secret agents?"
*to be continued....*
But not these girls. Oh sure, two of them used up a whole half-a-day's time in a cramped airplane from the other side of the country (and the world). All to meet some guy, willing to type a small note on a cheap- looking postcard...
Dear [girl's name],
You're cordially invited to
attend a brief seminar on
June 11, 1988 at 9 AM at
505 S. Arlington Ave. (room #23)
Los Angeles CA, 10528
to discuss your exceptional talent.
sincerely,
J. Bosley
ps. Please don't be late.
...and not mention to the very least about what clothes to bring!
"Talent." What talent? This guy really was a piece of work, his note sounding like a school notice gone fortune-cookie-style. But as strange as it may have been to get that note on an everyday afternoon, each girl followed instructions and intended to show up at that special meeting....whatever it was for.
Natalie came first, naturally residing in the city and knowing each and every street by heart. She skipped towards the polished wooden door marked 23 with her brown loafers, knocked three times, and waited for an answer. The whole place seemed too quiet to be in L.A. as she looked around the office-like setting. Yeah, there where ladies typing rhythmically onto computer screens and lining up to get a shot of coffee like all Mondays, but Natalie had this whole "secret-agents-running-around-in-chaos" idea ever since she notices the sign:
CHARLES TOWNSEND
PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS.
She tossed the idea from her bushy blonde head and stared one with the big door that faced her. "Hello?" she called in cheerfully with a last knock, then slowly turned the knob when nobody seemed to disapprove. Her overdone smile left when she came in; the office was empty.
It looked civilized, though, with a matching wooden bookshelf and working desk that was all neat and tidy - as if their owner was away on a long business trip or something. After a few minutes of surveying the typical accessories of an office room, Natalie sat down on one of the couches and smoothed out her blue knee-length skirt.
She checked her watch: 8:45 am.
"Better too early than too late," Natalie mottoed to herself and smirked down at the coffee table between the two couches. Discovering a nice pile of wrapped caramels on her side, she remembered skipping breakfast and instantly replaced the retainer in her mouth for a throw of sugar.
It was the moment she tossed the fourth candy up and caught it with her teeth that the door facing her opened again.
Natalie hid the caramel in her mouth and propped up, expecting to see the writer of the note. Instead, a girl with narrow Asian eyes appeared, then a man of similar features whose black uniform resembled a cheufeur's.
Her almond eyes met Natalie's sky blue, and a twist of expectations had passed through her face so fast not even Natalie (with her quick thinking) could read them all.
Obviously this new girl thought she'd been the only one invited, wearing a gray business-like suit with shiny black boots that looked ridiculous on a fifteen-year old. She reminded Natalie of a younger Mary Poppins, with a tight bun holding her ink hair under a brim hat that suggested a very lengthy voyage.
Unlike Natalie, she didn't smile once.
The new girl breathed a sigh and turned to the man in uniform. Her whispers sounded like gibberish to Natalie but it seemed to make sense to the Asian man, since he then nodded, put down a small black suitcase next to the wall, and closed the door.
"Hi!" Natalie greeted in the same bright attitude, moving out of the couch and extending a hand to the girl. The narrow eyes just stared at the scrawny fingers, as if she had never seen a handshake before. "Um...I'm Natalie," she then added, the cheeriness going down a notch.
"Alex," was all the girl said in a thick accent, and moved to sit on the untouched couch. Natalie returned her hand and carefully sat down again, hoping not to miss the cushion and fall on her butt foolishly. She avoided meeting Alex's eyes, repeatedly smoothing out her skirt to hide the tension in her face.
The way she sat up so straight and pompous-like only made Natalie slouch more.
"So...I guess you're here for the seminar thing too?" Natalie attempted as she fiddled with a candy wrapper. She looked up at Alex and saw that she had taken her hat off, and was now scribbling something in a pocket-sized book.
"Yes," she answered flatly, still focused on her writing. But she managed to show Natalie her 'Angel' postcard during a page-turn.
"I have one too!" Natalie said, and took it out of her shirt pocket. Alex still didn't look up.
"You wouldn't know what this seminar's for, would you? I mean, it sounds pretty exciting when you read about it. 'Exceptional Talent'.....I wonder what that means. I don't think many people get chosen for this, do you? I sure hope there's other people coming....oh! not that I'd be mad if it's just you and me--"
Alex threw a sharp scowl at her, making Natalie's tongue freeze.
"Oh, sorry," she gave a nervous laugh, checking her watch again: 8:55am.
Cold-blooded 'Mary Poppins' crossed her legs and made a 'hmph' sound, returning to her fast scribbles.
Outside in the hallway, Natalie could hear someone's footsteps approaching, which sounded more like stomps as they got closer.
Please come in here! Please!, the girl begged in her mind, as the excessively quiet room and kung-fu-faced girl was all starting to creep her out.
And her wish came true - with a loud bang that opened the door again, and Natalie instantaneously let out a yelp.
"GOD I HATE CAB DRIVERS!!" a growling voice thundered in, which finally made Alex turn her head around shrewdly towards the door.
There stood a third girl (or at least it looked like a girl, with jeans artistically slashed from the knees down and her bleached hair hung over her face) chewing what sounded like three pieces of bubble gum in her right cheek.
She let her 'nicely-decorated' backpack fall on the floor next to Alex's suitcase, and walked her combat boots to the front of the couches and survey Alex and Natalie with her arms crossed.
They're mouths agape, they're eyebrows raised shockingly, Natalie was the first to smile forcefully and say, "Hhh--Hi!" Alex just sat there and counted the girl's multiple ear, nose, and eyebrow piercings (11) before saying an almost mute "hello".
"Well wha'dya know? It's Miss Sushi Girl and Geek-of-the-Year in the same room! Damn, where's my camera?" was the girl's friendly greet to them, and she continued to chew with her mouth open, revealing a pierced tongue.
Alex's face scrunched up in disgust while the girl hopped into Natalie's couch (making her slide to the edge). "So what's up with the 'sekeratary' look, Sushi Girl?" she then smiled.
"My name is Alex," came the reply, simple and reluctant.
"And I'm Natalie!" entered Natalie almost too happily, and extended her hand out in a new attempt.
The girl locked eyes with Natalie instead of her hand, but then reached two fingers into her mouth and took out her pink gum, placing it in the center of Natalie's opened palm. It was the size of a miniature golf ball as Natalie glanced down to it, and looked up again.
"Dylan," the girl smiled.
"Ewww...." Natalie scrunched her own face, staring at that giant ball of gum laying on her clean little hand, and a bunch of questions ran through her mind as she scraped it off with a candywrapper. What was this punk doing here, and how could she chew this huge piece of gum and breathe at the same time?
"Disgusting." Alex remarked in a proper accent, surveying the strange girl as she craned her combat boots to rest on the coffee table, satisfied to think how well she was brought up .
"Why thank you, Ko-Ni-Chi-Wah, you don't look so bad yourself!" Dylan answered in a mocking tone back at her.
It seemed to push a button in Alex's sensitivity panel, because the next moment they all knew, Alex gripped the side cushions of her couch tightly and angled her frame forward to glare one with Dylan.
Natalie was sure she was going to explode!
"Oooo, somebody's a wittle insulted?" Dylan laughed at the ridiculous Alex stance she would pay anybody to see.
"Um... I think she wants you to apologize..." came Natalie's squeaky voice.
"Pshh, no way!" Dylan brushed her hair out of her face. "If we keep staring, she might do a trick!"
Alex rose up from the couch in one motion, her eyes angling down at Dylan's, not blinking. She took that as a signal to get up herself, and she did, with her boots hard on the ground and a grin on her face. They walked towards the desk where the coffee table was no longer between them, each staring at the other.
Natalie was so tongue-tied from the situation, she couldn't get a word in. And she hated violence!
"Allrightee, let's see what ya got." As Dylan finished her sentence, she moved her arms back and forth to block out the punches Alex was bellowing in her own language. She couldn't kick thanks to her skirt, and Dylan caught that only a few seconds later to pin the crazy ninja to the far wall from a stumble by the oh so evil carpet. The girls' faces were so close to each other, Dylan actually noticed the tiny freckles almost hidden on Alex's nose.
She's going to hit her, she's going to hit her.....thought Natalie, and when she felt her notions were actually coming true, she jumped out of the couch and screamed her way to the girls.
"STOP IT! Dylan, let her go!!" the little peacemaker put effort into Dylan's grip as she tried to break the two up without causing another frenzy. But it wasn't Natalie that stopped the havoc from getting worse, or even continuing for that matter.
It was a turning of the doorknob.
As if it were made to happen, the girls quietly angled over to look at the new arrival, and toppled over to the ground with Natalie sandwiched in between.
They were all hushed except for Dylan ("Get off me!") as they regained themselves, only to see a frantic-looking young man with thick glasses peering into the room. And when he saw the three girls, he gave a huge extensive sigh.
"Oh good, you're all here..." he informed somewhat out of breath, entering the room in a new sense of relief.
All here? Natalie caught as she scrambled back up and checked her watch: 8:59am.
That was enough to convince her it was just the three of them who were invited.
"Please, uh, have a seat," the man asserted plainly to the girls, like he was unaware of anything that happened since January. Alex sat down and smoothed out her skirt quickly for first impressions, Natalie carefully found her way to the other couch without breaking anything, but Dylan just stood in front of the desk where the man set himself in, looking at his watch.
"Excuse me, you're..." Dylan fumbled for her folded postcard inside her jeanjacket, "...J. Bosley?"
"Call me 'Boz'," the man replied good-naturedly and extended a hand to Dylan.
"I'd rather not," she shook his hand once and turned for the couch, "but could you tell me why I flew ten and half hours into lame-ass Surf County, sat in a shitty cab with a guy who didn't know Left from Right, and came here to meet Kung Fu girl and her side kick, Geek-A-Zoid?"
Dylan found her spot next to Natalie, crossed her legs, and looked back up to the dumbfounded man feeling a hand across his unshaved face. He was about to open his mouth, until his watch beeped 9 o'clock, and he gave a fake cough to clear his throat. He then tapped something into a beige speakerphone on the desk, and moved it forward, inquiring the girls to listen.
Static.
"Good morning Angels," an elderly voice came from the speaker, taking all the girls by surprise.
"Good morning, Charlie!" the man responded cheerfully, and paused afterwards, noticing his mishap. Dylan fought hard not to laugh.
"Well thank you, Bosley, but I was referring to our young guests," the voice came again.
"Uh, yeah.....sorry boss."
The girls just sat there, watching the man have a conversation with a speaker! Apparently this Bosley guy wasn't the one to answer their numerous questions; it was the mysterious god-like voice inside the speaker. This was getting too weird.
Natalie and Alex exchanged the same idea that Dylan was going to repeat her question right about now, and they braced themselves....
"Allow me to introduce myself, girls. My name is Dr. Charles Townsend. This is my assistant, John Bosley, who I'm sure sent the lovely invitations you all received."
The man waved a nervous hand at the girls and continued to listen to the speaker.
"I have called you here for many reasons, but I think it would be best if you got to know the people sitting right in front of you, first."
At that cue, Bosley clicked a little remote from his hand and TV screen turned on from the other side of the room. Static. Then random video images came up like a home movie, showing depictions of young Alex, Natalie, and Dylan in order. As they showed up on screen, the voice named Charlie spoke facts about them.
"Alexandra Mun Shimamura the Second. Carefully born and raised in Tokyo with her highly accredited parents, she is a well-educated young lady with knowledge far beyond her years. She has withheld numerous titles, just last summer being named the youngest national champion of the Lenox Equestrian Open in Japan."
The final shot of Alex was one in an open stadium, where paparazzi surrounded her cute little smile as she sat on a beautifully tamed horse. Dylan and Natalie both glanced at her from the other couch; they'd never seen anyone look so arrogant at herself, especially with a messed up hairbun from the previous scene. The screen blackened and rebloomed, then continued...
"Natalie Cookie Brewster. Growing up in the heart of Los Angeles since childhood with her younger sister and parents, she's known for her bright mind and quick thinking. Her biggest accomplishment? Winning first place at the California Junior Spelling Bee three years in a row."
"I had to spell 'cretaceous', 'hyperbola', AND 'somatopleure'!" Natalie said astonishingly as she saw herself giving a bow to the contest judges.
"Oh shut up," was Dylan's compliment.
Natalie sighed at that and fixed her glasses, just then remembering her retainer and quickly placing it back in her mouth, making Alex look like she was going to throw up.
"...Which leads us to our last guest..." the voice went on as the screen faded again to black.
"Dylan Sandra Evans. Probably setting a record for the most places resided in the U.S., her last home was in the great city of Boston, Massachusetts with her two older brothers. Their mother fell victim years ago to a misapprehended hostage situation in Chicago, and since then the three have remained strong, fending for themselves however possible. In fact, Dylan made a name for herself just last Fall at her highschool, beating up many of the senior football players at an open cafeteria with her own two hands."
Alex and Natalie stared in unison at Dylan, the screen showing her choreographed moves on guys twice her size before a huge crowd of teenagers, then turning off. But Dylan did not smile, or look proud at all. She actually jumped off the couch and bellowed off to the speaker...
"How the hell did you get all that!?"
The two other girls seemed to be understanding the point of her question. Who exactly WAS this guy behind the mysterious voice?
"I'll explain that to you momentarily, Dylan. But first things first...I believe the real reason why I brought you all here today.... Perhaps in a language more familiar to your age..." The girls anxiously waited for the next words out of the speaker, which came in a rather gameshow-like tone.
"How would you three like to be secret agents?"
*to be continued....*