I'm not a romantic by any means. If a guy were ever to hand me roses I would probably snort in his face and deposit the thorny mess in the nearest garbage can. Unless I liked the guy an awful lot. In that case I might hang onto the roses. Unfortunately for me, my roommate Heather is a complete romantic. I could live with this except for the fact that Heather has problems keeping boyfriends. Most guys can only handle a week or two of her antics before they are forced to break off the relationship- if just to save their sanity. For some reason though the men just keep coming. Sure Heather is pretty, but when she tries to move some of her stuffed animal collection (I think they number in the hundreds) most men are turned off. One guy-Wesley I believe his name was handled Heather for almost a month. He doesn't go to our school anymore.

But that's not where I meant to start off, this is my life, not Heather's that we are talking about. Mine, I would say is more interesting, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

School had just ended for the summer, and my friends and I were walking (or skipping, or dancing or simply jogging backwards.) We were excited, as most teens are when they are grated two months freedom for the prison referred to as school. My house was the farthest from the school so I had already said all my farewells before reaching my block.

I guess the reason I missed the black car parked on our drive was that I was so excited to be home. Maybe I did notice the car subconsciously and the conscious park never stopped to consider that nobody we knew could afford a car like that.

"Mom, I'm home," I shouted as I dumped my book bag onto the floor and headed towards the kitchen in hopes of finding a snack.

"How was school honey?" Mom called. It sounded to me as though she was in the living room. We never used the living room, even when we have company. Weird.

"Fine," I snatched up a handful of cookies, and started to look for her. Sure enough she was in the living room. I wasn't expecting to her to be with two strangers, a man and a woman both dressed as though they were going to attend a business meeting.

"Honey," my mother started tentatively, "These are Agents Harrison and Roberts, they're with the CIA and want to talk to you." I panicked. What was the CIA doing in my living room? I hadn't done anything, had I? I mean I'm a good kid. I don't drink. I don't take drugs. I get good grades and I have only ever skipped one class (and that was to study for a huge Biology exam I had the next period.)

"I'm Harrison," the man said standing up, "and this is my partner Jody Roberts. We have something we need to discuss with you."

I must have looked scared because the woman- Jody Roberts piped in, "for goodness sakes Frank, don't scare the girl, she thinks that she's done something wrong."

"No you haven't done anything wrong," Agent Harrison said, not in a comforting voice at all, "That's why we have to talk to you. Would you be interested in a job with the CIA? We have already discussed this at great length with your parents. They approve."

I knew right away that this wasn't just a summer job that Harrison was talking about, it would be a life long career. That is probably why I hesitated. I am young, why would I want to make a decision right now that would affect the rest of my life?

"You don't have to make any commitments just yet," Agent Roberts told me smiling. I found this somewhat comforting, "We're holding a summer training session for all of our teenage recruits. The first month is a trial session- basic knowledge, nothing dangerous or top secret. What do you say?"

"Sure," I responded a bit excited, then curbing my enthusiasm I asked, "But why me?"

"I don't know," Agent Roberts said, "I have a good feeling about you I guess."

And that was how it began. Plain and simple. How I , Layne Carolyn Andrews became a member of the CIA. I didn't realise at the time how much the next few months were going to change my life, but I soon found out.