I'm starting a Behind the Scenes series on my blog where I feature a free sample from one of the Perception and Deception: A Spy Series books and give a few fun facts about it! The scenes chosen will not contain any major spoilers that will ruin your reading experience, so please feel free to read on! If you have a scene you want me to talk about, just email me at tesoroseries@gmail.com!
Faith and Juro in the Classroom...
About the Scene:
Faith and Juro often get thrown into a lot of messes together, and as partnered field agents, they expertly handle everything with ease and grace. By this point in the series, Juro has taken on a new job with the FBI, so they haven't worked together in awhile. In this scene, Faith has been called to go undercover as a high school student. RLIP is trying to track down a missing teen, and they think they can collect important intel if she can get close to the boy's best friend, Sienna. As they enter their computer class, Faith is smoothly building trust with the quiet girl. But our special agent gets thrown off guard when she realizes their teacher is another plant by the FBI - Juro.
Behind the Scene:
This scene was from the third book and was honestly one of my favorites to write. In fact, it was one of the first scenes I came up with during the planning stages. As a former teacher myself, I couldn't help but describe the comedic obstacles that come up in the classroom every single day. I wanted to see how Juro - a rather impatient, no-nonsense field agent - would handle a room of rowdy high school students. My favorite line is when he can't get through student introductions because of class clown behavior, and simply ends it by saying "Close enough" after just a few students. Teachers are saints. Just going to put that out there.
I found the idea of an undercover student and teacher working together in the classroom fascinating.
-Enjoy the Scene!-
We went through two classes and I got to sit with Sienna during both. I stayed silent, not answering any questions from the teachers because I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. Kids were already staring at me because I was new.
I knew Sienna was a silent type as well, so I knew talking to her a lot wouldn’t get me anywhere.
It was then that I decided to be her silent partner.
Sienna and I walked out of class.
“Uh, do you want to sit with me at lunch?” she asked.
I nodded. "Sure."
“Great,” Wolf said into my earpiece. “You’re doing great, Faith.”
“So, you’re new here,” she stated.
“I just started today,” I replied.
She walked me to the cafeteria. After getting our food, I followed her to a shaded tree outside. Sienna plopped down in the grass, resting her tray of food in her lap. I sat down next to her and ate silently. I wasn’t really hungry because I was extremely focused on making this conversation worth my while.
“So, how long have you been at this school?” I asked.
“Since I was a freshman,” she replied quietly, taking a drink of juice.
“What clique are you in?” I asked.
She coughed on her drink uncomfortably. “Excuse me?”
I didn’t think that was a loaded question. Something about it startled her. Interesting.
“Who do you hang out with?” I said. “What group?”
“Oh, I…,” she stumbled. “Sort of by myself. I’m part of a tech group that meets after school once a week. We had a computer teacher who led it, but he’s not here now. They said he’s on a temporary leave and they don’t know when he’ll be back.”
She didn’t mention anything about Paul. I wanted her to talk about him.
“Ask her if she has any specific friends she could introduce you to,” Wolf said into my ear.
"Do you have any friends you could introduce me to?" I asked. “I want my transition into this school to be smooth.”
“Well, you know me now,” she said. “I had another friend, but he isn’t around right now.”
“Did he move away?”
She sighed and stared off into the distance. “Not necessarily.”
“She’s not going to say who,” Wolf commented.
She didn’t offer up any more information and I knew digging much further would add suspicion, so I stopped prying. We ate in silence together for the remainder of the lunch period. As we were walking to throw our trays away, I decided to take a step further in opening up our relationship.
“Hey, there’s a little café I like to go to after school where I do homework,” I said. “I noticed we have a bunch of the same classes. We should study there together.”
“Oh,” Sienna started awkwardly. “Uh, I would be interested. I have to check in with my mom though. I can’t tonight…maybe tomorrow?”
“No pressure,” Wolf commented.
“Sure, whatever works,” I said in a relaxed way.
I sat through classes the remainder of the day and found them mostly boring. I did get the chance to look around at the students though and learn more names. I was particularly looking forward to the last period of the day, which was computer class, because an undercover FBI agent was reassigned to teach it.
I walked into the classroom to see five rows of long tables with several desktop computers. The teacher had his back to the classroom as he was writing something up on the whiteboard. He had a white dress shirt, tan pants, and neat black hair. But I couldn’t see his face. Students were gawking as they took their seats, trying to catch a view of their new teacher.
Sienna gestured for me to follow her to two open seats a few rows back. I read the instructions on the board and proceeded to get logged into my computer.
The teacher finally turned around and the moment I saw his face, my heart skipped.
Juro.
“Alright class, quiet down," he said. “Let's get started. My name is Mr. Tanaka. Your teacher is on a temporary leave and I’ll be covering for him until he returns. I promise, we will start right where…he…left off…”
His speaking slightly slowed down when he made eye contact with me. He did a slight double take.
I sat, arms crossed, grinning at him.
A couple of students must've noticed because they began to turn in the direction of Juro's eyes. He didn’t want to draw attention to me, so he quickly turned his gaze away and continued speaking. I cast my gaze down to my keyboard so nobody would notice it was me.
“I think introductions would be an excellent idea,” Juro continued. “That way, I can get to know you better.”
My earpiece crackled. “Faith, I know you can’t answer, but that sounds a lot like Juro,” Wolf said slowly.
I wanted so badly to tell Wolf that it was, but I couldn’t say anything out loud.
Juro’s teaching personality was incredibly different than his real one. He was normally harder and less sociable, although always loyal and ready to defend whenever needed. He and I had both been falsely accused of betraying RLIP and he'd gone to endless lengths to save me and to prove that we were both innocent. If he hadn’t have helped, I wouldn’t have been sitting in this classroom. I would've most likely been in prison with no memory of my life up to that point.
I sort of drifted out of the moment and stared at my screen blankly. I tried not to think about some of the things I'd been through with RLIP. For just a moment, I even thought about a mission that had gone wrong where I lost some teammates. I still felt like that was all my fault. Then I started thinking about other past missions.
Was I really fit to carry out this mission?
Would I mess up again?
My heartrate picked up.
Why was this all hitting me so fast?
Sienna tapped me on the shoulder. “Try not to space out. I know school can be boring, but this is the most interesting class of the day.”
I quickly focused.
“We’re going to go around the room,” Juro said, glancing at me. “Tell me your name, where you are from, and…your greatest fear.”
“That is Juro," Wolf said. "I'm sure of it."
I slightly smiled.
Interesting conversation starter. I doubted these kids were going to share their greatest fears right away, but I felt like Juro was on to something.
As each student introduced themselves, I found that most of them were originally from California. Their fears were what I expected them to be. Lots of jokes.
“My biggest fear is Principal Brown,” one boy said.
The class started giggling and cackling.
"No, it's his new secretary!" another student piped in. "Have you seen her angry?"
“Alright, quiet down,” Juro said.
"New teachers," another student called out.
Juro was starting to look annoyed. I shifted uneasily in my seat. Poor guy. This was getting out of hand. Being a teacher was tough.
Juro glanced down at his class roster and then looked at me.
“And what is your name…miss?”
He looked slightly amused.
“I’m Zoe Wilson,” I said. “I’m originally from Orkbus, California. My biggest fear…”
I trailed off, not really knowing what to say.
The class waited silently.
“Go ahead, Zoe,” Juro pressed.
“Failure,” I finally said.
He slightly cocked his head. “What do you mean by failure?”
“Gettin’ deep,” Wolf said.
“I don’t want to lose,” I answered. “I can’t. I…I want to pass all of my…classes.”
Juro looked down for a moment and then made very direct eye contact. “I agree. I have similar fears."
"You want to pass all of your classes too, Mr. Tanaka?" another student called out sarcastically.
The rest of the class cackled.
Juro slightly rolled his eyes and looked at me. I slightly smiled.
"Thank you for sharing, Zoe,” he concluded. "Now, onto the lesson."
"You didn't get through everyone," a kid said.
Juro tossed his roster down on the desk. "Close enough."
Some of the students gave each other side glances. Their new teacher had obviously reached the end of his rope.
Juro had us working on some computer programs. At the end of the period, he said, “You are all dismissed. Zoe Wilson, please stay after class a moment. We need to discuss that note from your parents.”
“Yes, Mr. Tanaka,” I answered.
“Note?” Sienna asked.
“My parents had some questions about the curriculum,” I supplied.
Everyone began filing out of class quickly to go home.
Sienna paused a moment. “It was nice meeting you Zoe. I’ll see you tomorrow. Uh…thank you for your help this morning.”
“Definitely,” I said. “Ask your mom if we can go study together tomorrow night.”
She nodded shyly and then left.
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