“Good morning, Miss Rivera!” greeted the school children.

“Hello there!”

Leila walked gracefully along the school corridors dressed in a casual red blouse and slacks. She smiled at every one she meets along the way. Today is her first day in school and she wants to create a good impression among her peers and students.

“Miss Rivera, welcome to Twin Valley Middle School.”

“Thank you, Miss Rumbold.”

Miss Rumbold, a 53-year old lady with a cheerful temperament, is standing by the door of her office when Leila sauntered by. She has been in charge of Twin Valley for over two decades now.

“Come with me. Let me show to your classroom.”

She calmly followed the principal towards the room.

Her classroom is a simple one. Not much decoration on the walls except for the clock and the bulletin board. Inside it were 30 wooden armed chairs. By the east side stands a cabinet and on top of it is a globe and some books stacked on a book shelf. In front of the room is a blackboard and beside it is the teacher’s table.

“This is your room, Miss Rivera,” said the principal.

“You will be the class adviser of the graduating class of this school year.”

Leila, unknown to her fellow teachers in the school, is a secret agent of the NCIS. She is disguised as a teacher because their agency is investigating the proliferation of drugs at Twin Valley. One of the students committed armed robbery at a convenience store in town just recently and upon talking to the young perpetrator. They found out that he bought the drugs inside the school campus. Only Miss Rumbold is aware of her identity.

“Rrriiinnnggg… rrriiinnnggg… rrriiinnnggg!”

The school bell reverberated all throughout the school campus signalling the commencement of the morning classes. Leila stood in the doorway as she awaited her students. They entered the room in a single file and randomly took their seats.

“Class my name is Miss Leila Rivera. I will be your class adviser and English teacher for this year.”

“Good morning Miss Rivera.”

Leila went about the business of getting to know her students. This is a valuable step in learning who among them is in the same boat as the student they have under their custody.

The hours went so fast, soon it was time to go. As she was closing her classroom, a male teacher approached her introduced himself as the school basketball coach.

“Hi there, are you new here?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Tom Sasouci, basketball coach.”

He extended his hand to Leila. She didn’t bother though to shake hands with him.

“How did you find the school so far?”

“Well… it was cool. None of my students misbehaved today. They were all obedient.”

“That’s nice to hear. Wait until tomorrow. Surely you will see how good they are.”

The students of Leila lined up by the corridors early the next morning. Following the rules and regulations she set yesterday, they all walked inside the classroom quietly.

She was about to begin their English lessons that day when the secretary of the principal called her.

“Miss Rivera, telephone call.”

Hastily she asked her classroom president to go in front of the room. He will be acting as the teacher while she is away.

As she is returning to her room, Leila heard strange noises she had not heard before. The students are shouting as if a fight is going on.

“Go Charles! Go Tony!”

Two of her male students are in the middle of a circle. They were engaged in a fist fight. Yes! A fist fight!

“What is this?! What’s going on?”

Leila intruded inside the circle and tried to break up the two boys who were fighting. One already had a bloodied lip and the other sported a black eye. With no remorse she held them both by their collars and dragged them to the principal’s office. She is mad. She is enraged.

“What happened here?” the principal inquired.

“They were both fighting when I entered the classroom.”

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?”

The two boys are both silent. Their heads bowed down.

Later that day, Tom approached her once more.

“I told you. You will get to know them more as the days passed by.”

“Yeah sure and I’m ready for it.”

Tom was red all over his face. He can’t believe what he just heard from Leila. He never met such as fiery soul. And this made him thought of distancing himself from her, afraid that she might hit him in the face if he insisted on bothering her.

The days went so fast. During the weekends, Leila goes to the city to report her accomplishments and whatever information she had gathered about the case. So far, nothing important has cropped up. Thus, her superior advised her to stay even longer.

“Come on guys, you’ve got to do better than that”

Tom, a man with 6 foot 3 muscular physique, is conducting some drills for his varsity team inside the gym. Even though this is a lowly middle school situated in a town whose economy depended largely on harvesting crops, the gym is a structure to marvel upon. Its design is of ABA standards. The ABA or American Basketball Association happens to be the national basketball organization of the United States. Even the equipment in the center is impressive compared to other educational institutions of its level, something that would make visitors to the school, wonder how did Twin Valley afford to construct such a sports center. Rumor has it there are mysterious benefactors supporting their sports program, benefactors who were invited by Tom himself, one of which is the town’s mayor and some of his councilors together with millionaires who are closely connected to the mayor.

Most of Tom’s players are the sons of the benefactors themselves. No doubt his recruitment and selection process is all the more suspicious. Call it kissing someone else’s ass. He may deny a lot of times, but this seems to be true based on the investigation conducted by Leila.

The basketball team is undeniably the logical choice to start. Of course to get in, Leila knows that she has to befriend Tom by all means necessary, even if that means going to bed with him.

“Tom! Can I talk to you for a moment?” Leila spoke with a sultry voice.

“Sure… sure!” Tom immediately acknowledge Leila’s request.

He turned to his assistant coaches and instructed them on what to do next. He told them that he has some important person to talk to. His assistants followed his instructions, but not before staring at him with a sardonic look. They know Tom so much and they are conscious of his activities with regards to women.

“Yes, Miss Rivera?”

“I just wanna ask you a few questions. Would it be okay if we go to the cafeteria and grab some snacks? It won’t take long I assure you.”

The coach’s eyes lit up like fireworks in the 4th July upon hearing what Leila said.

“Sure… sure. No problem. I will just tell my boys where we’re goi’n.”

In a few moments, the two are on their way to the cafeteria. To impress Leila, Tom ordered the best snacks the place can offer. He even chose the coziest area so they won’t be disturbed.

“So what is it that you wanna talk about?”

Leila gazed in the eyes of Tom intently while sipping on her drink before uttering a word. Doing this gave her ample time to seriously think of what to say so he wouldn’t even notice that he is being investigated.

“Ooohhh… yes, that one. I just wanna know how are my boys doi’n in your team. They are having trouble in class and based on what they told me, you wouldn’t let them play if they have failing grades.”

“Aaahhh… you mean Jim, Jet and Carlos?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s true. If they have failing grades, I will not let them play in any of our games, that is with no doubt. Rules are rules.”

She held the coach’s hand and with eyes that could melt any hardened iceberg, Leila begged Tom to reconsider his decision and let the three play. She told him that they have invited their parents to watch their next game and this would hurt them as much as she. She promised to look after their grades so they won’t get into trouble again.

“Hmmm… Okay, but with one condition.”

“And what is that?”

The coach stood up and whispered something in the ears of Leila.

“Let me think about it.”

She let go of his hand. Pretending that she hated what he said a while ago and that she felt abused by it.

“I have to go now, thank you coach.”

She stood up and is about to leave when Tom took her hand.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. I thought you were that kind of woman that I usually dated.”

Leila gazed at Tom with eyes that are red with anger. She quickly left the cafeteria.

Tom was left in awe. He didn’t know what to do. A sign that Leila’s plans are working. If all goes well, she would be able to infiltrate the deadly ring of criminals to whom Tom belongs to and unravel the mystery behind the drug related incidents in the campus.