Time To Shine Read online

  Everyone groaned.

  ‘I knew you would be excited!’ continued Ms Pleh. ‘Years One to Three will go to the sports hall first for their test and then Years Four to Six will have theirs after recess. Now off you go, quietly please, and remember, maths is fun! Let’s see you all shine!’

  Emma and her class walked towards the sports hall and past the brand new toilet block that had been built over the holidays. Emma felt her mouth go dry and now, walking into the hall, Emma’s tummy started to hurt again.

  ‘I need to go to the toilet,’ she said suddenly to the teacher standing at the hall door.

  ‘Be quick then, Emma,’ the teacher replied. ‘You don’t want to miss the start of the test.’

  I do, actually, thought Emma as she ran back towards the new toilet block and pushed open the door to the girls’ toilets. For no particular reason, she went to the last cubicle on the right.

  I wish I didn’t have to do this test, thought Emma. I wish I could just disappear from here.

  But she knew she couldn’t. Emma came out of the cubicle, washed and dried her hands and ran out of the toilet block and back to the sports hall where lines of desks had been set up.

  ‘Em, over here!’ cried Hannah. Her friend had saved her a seat in front of her.

  As Emma sat down, she saw there was a paper booklet face down on each desk along with a single pencil and eraser.

  ‘Now,’ said Ms Pleh. ‘You each have a test booklet on your desk. Do not turn it over until I tell you to. The test is multiple choice. For each question there are four possible answers, A, B, C or D, and you must circle the letter you think is the correct answer. There are sixty questions and you have an hour to complete the test.’

  ‘Wow, that’s a question a minute,’ whispered Emma to Hannah.

  ‘See, Em, you’re a natural at this,’ said Hannah.

  Em grinned but then bit her lip. She hoped so.

  ‘Do you have a question, Emma?’ asked Ms Pleh.

  ‘No, Ms Pleh,’ said Emma.

  ‘No talking then, please,’ replied Ms Pleh. ‘Does anyone have any questions? No? All right, there must be complete silence from now until the end of the test.’ Ms Pleh looked up at the clock on the wall. ‘It is nine o’clock. You may turn over your booklets and begin. Good luck, everyone.’

  Emma’s hands were shaking as she turned over the booklet. She could feel her heart thumping and her mouth went dry again as her eyes darted from one question to another.

  Aaaaaaaarrrrggghhhh! she thought. But then Emma took a deep breath. Remember what Mum said, she reminded herself. Take one question at a time. Emma looked at the first question.

  Her shoulders relaxed and she let out a big sigh.

  That’s easy! she thought as she circled B and went on to the next question.

  Emma smiled as she circled C and went on to the third question, circled a letter and went on to the next. In no time she had completed the first ten questions. She looked at the clock. She had done them in less than five minutes. The next ten questions were just as easy and the ten after that not much harder. The butterflies in Emma’s stomach had now all but flown away. Emma looked up at the clock again. It was half past nine and she only had twenty questions left but as she looked at the next set, she saw that they were getting harder. A butterfly began to beat its wings again in her stomach as Emma chewed on her pencil and looked at the next question.

  Hmmm, thought Emma. Then, as she looked at the numbers, she suddenly saw the pattern.

  It’s the two-times table, she realised. So, it goes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. The answer is 12. Emma confidently circled the letter B and moved on to the next question. It was different from the others.

  Emma studied it for a while and then understood. It’s like cracking a code, she thought. That’s so cool! Emma liked the idea of that. In fact, she and Hannah often pretended that they were secret agents going on missions and foiling the plans of evildoers. Emma imagined she was a code-cracker intercepting secret messages.

  Just like now, she thought. The numbers stand for the letters. So 1 is A, 3 is C and 5 is E. The answer is ACE!

  Emma quickly circled C and looked again at the clock. There were ten minutes left and she had eighteen questions to go. Her mind raced as she tried to be both slow and calm yet also quick. She circled a letter on the last question just as Ms Pleh stood up.

  ‘Pencils down,’ said Ms Pleh. ‘And complete silence please until all the papers are collected.’

  It was over. Emma had finished. She didn’t think she had done very well and was pretty sure that she had gotten at least the last two questions wrong, but she had finished. She sighed and turned to look at Hannah, who smiled back at her.

  After the papers were collected the students were allowed to leave.

  ‘Ugh, that was hard!’ said Elle as they walked out of the hall. ‘I didn’t even finish!’

  ‘I had no idea about some questions,’ said Hannah. ‘I guessed most of the last ones!’

  ‘Some of them were really hard,’ agreed Emma.

  ‘But it’s over,’ said Elle, ‘and we have early recess. Race you to the lockers!’

  Elle took off. She was always running somewhere. Emma and Hannah chased after her, knowing they would never catch her. They took their snacks and went out onto the oval. They didn’t mention the test again, which was just fine by Emma. She wanted to forget all about it.

  And, after a few days, that’s exactly what happened.

  A few weeks later, Emma walked in the front door after school, the flywire screen slamming behind her, threw her school bag into her bedroom, kicked off her shoes and went into the kitchen in search of a snack.

  ‘Lunchbox, please!’ said her mum as she took a carton of milk from the fridge and poured Emma a glass. When she returned to the kitchen bench with her lunchbox, her mum passed her a long white envelope. ‘This letter came for you today.’

  A letter? That was exciting. Besides postcards and birthday presents from her grandmother in Sweden, Emma didn’t get letters. She excitedly tore the envelope open and took out a crisp piece of paper.

  Emma couldn’t believe it. She had won! She had won the competition!

  ‘Mum! Mum! Guess what?’ she yelled.

  ‘I’m just here, Em. What is it?’

  ‘I won!’ cried Emma.

  ‘Won what?’ asked her mum.

  ‘The maths competition,’ she said. ‘The test we had at school. I won it! I won for my region!’

  ‘You clever thing!’ exclaimed her mum. ‘I’m so proud of you!’

  ‘And there’s a prize,’ said Emma.

  Emma wondered about her prize. Perhaps it would be a certificate, maybe even a small trophy. Perhaps it would be sent to her school and Ms Pleh would present it to her at assembly. People would clap, particularly Elle and Hannah, and Emma would blush. She would be a little embarrassed but proud … ‘Oh,’ she said quietly, suddenly realising something.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asked her mum.

  ‘I don’t get the prize at school,’ said Emma.

  ‘You don’t?’

  ‘No … I don’t really understand this,’ said Emma, scrunching her nose. ‘The letter says a car will come here on Tuesday 10 March to take me to collect my prize … but that’s today!’ Emma looked at the kitchen clock. ‘And it’s 4.15 p.m. now!’

  The doorbell rang.

  Emma and her mum looked at each other.

  ‘Is it …’ asked Em.

  ‘It must be,’ said Mum as she went to answer the door. ‘Yes?’ she said to the woman standing outside, who was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and peaked cap.

  ‘Good afternoon,’ said the woman brightly. ‘Car for Emma and Mrs Jacks.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Emma’s mum. ‘Emma! There’s a car here for you.’

  Both Emma and her mum walked out the front door to see a large black car with tinted windows. The driver had moved back to the car and was now holding the back door open.

 
; ‘Ready to collect your prize, Emma Jacks?’ asked the woman.

  Emma squeezed her mum’s hand. ‘I think so,’ she said more than a little nervously.

  The car entered an ordinary-looking shopping street and pulled up outside a small, ordinary-looking light shop with all sorts of hanging lights and lamps in the window. The shop had a large sign across it.

  Emma didn’t think it looked like the sort of shop that would have good prizes. She pushed open the door. The shop was filled with every imaginable kind of light: hanging lights, outside lights, lamps, torches, spotlights, even candles. There were no customers in the shop but there was an elderly lady sitting behind a counter.

  ‘Go on, Em,’ nudged her mother. ‘I’m sure a regional maths champion can talk to a nice-looking old lady.’

  Emma approached the counter. ‘Hello,’ she said in a small voice. ‘I’m Emma Jacks and …’

  ‘Oh yes, Emma!’ cried the lady. ‘We’ve heard all about you. Congratulations and welcome!’ she said, smiling broadly. ‘Just take the lift on your right and press the button with the light globe on it.’

  Emma looked at her mum quizzically.

  ‘Maybe maths people just do things this way,’ Mum said, shrugging.

  Emma was surprised her mum wasn’t more curious but the lift doors opened and they stepped in. Emma pressed the light-globe button and waited. There was a jolt as the lift began to descend. She watched the indicator. They were going a long way down, twenty floors down. The lift stopped, the door opened and Emma and her mum stepped out. Another lady, about the same age as Emma’s grandmother, was standing in front of them, smiling. This lady had long white hair swept up into a slightly messy bun with a few pencils sticking out of it. Emma noticed she was wearing a beautiful bracelet with silver charms.

  ‘Welcome to SHINE, Emma Jacks. I am A1.’

  Emma’s mouth dropped open. ‘To SHINE? But I’m supposed to be collecting my maths prize,’ she declared, startled. She held out her crumpled letter to show the lady.

  ‘And so you are, Emma, but maybe it’s not the prize you were expecting,’ replied A1. ‘SHINE is an underground agency.’

  ‘I know,’ said Emma. ‘We just came down twenty floors in the lift.’

  A1 smiled. ‘No, Emma, I mean it’s a secret agency. Mrs Jacks, would you like to take a seat in our lounge area while I explain SHINE to Emma?’

  ‘How lovely!’ replied Emma’s mum.

  Emma thought her mum should have said something else besides ‘How lovely!’ Something like, ‘Perhaps I’ll just come along and see what happens to my daughter twenty floors below street level in a secret organisation!’ But she didn’t and strangely enough, Emma didn’t really mind. There was something about A1, maybe it was her kind, deep blue eyes, that made Emma feel safe.

  ‘Come with me, Emma. I’ll show you around,’ said A1. She pushed a button and a door that Emma hadn’t even noticed slid open to reveal a large room filled with desks and with an enormous flat screen flashing images and numbers at its centre. Everywhere Emma looked there were women sitting at the desks, working in front of screens, talking on head-sets and typing furiously on keyboards.

  ‘What is everyone doing?’ asked Emma as she tried to take in everything. This didn’t look like a room of maths teachers.

  ‘Solving problems,’ said A1 in a serious voice, ‘and stopping evil plans. And you can help us, Emma. The maths competition you won was our way of recruiting new agents. We need clever thinkers, especially people who love maths, and it doesn’t matter how old they are. We need agents to help us crack enemy codes and thwart the evil missions of the SHADOW Agency. We defeat SHADOW,’ A1 explained, ‘by intercepting their secret messages and foiling their dastardly plans.’

  Emma swallowed. ‘That all sounds rather dangerous.’

  ‘Let danger be a stranger!’ declared A1 heartily. ‘That is one of SHINE’s mottoes—we like mottoes. We also know our agents well and we know what they can do—sometimes even before they do. SHINE needs you, Emma. We have run a complete check on you and you are exactly what we need for our under-twelve division.’

  ‘But I’m only eight,’ said Emma.

  ‘Which is perfect,’ said A1. ‘Before you can become a mission agent in the under twelves, you need to complete basic training in the under tens. There is a lot of work to be done Emma Jacks!’

  Emma was excited but still couldn’t quite believe that she had been recruited by a secret spy agency.

  ‘I think maybe the results got mixed up,’ suggested Emma nervously.

  A1’s smile vanished. ‘We never get our results mixed up.’

  Emma sensed she shouldn’t argue.

  ‘You are exactly what SHINE needs,’ repeated A1, her eyes sparkling again. ‘Everything is organised. Your training is booked in and you are ready to go. But the one thing that you must remember above all else is that your job is top secret—only classified people can be informed about your activities.’

  ‘What about Mum?’ asked Emma.

  ‘Don’t worry about your mother,’ said A1 with a wink. ‘We know exactly how to deal with mothers.’

  Well, thought Emma, if they can handle mums, they must be pretty special.

  ‘I’ll be right back, EJ10,’ said A1.

  ‘EJ10?’ asked Emma, confused again.

  ‘That is your agent name,’ explained A1, ‘which is made up of your initials and your age division.’

  EJ10. Emma liked the sound of that.

  ‘Excuse me one moment,’ continued A1. ‘I will just have a quick word with your mother. You can have a look at your Agent Welcome Pack while I am gone.’ A1 passed Emma a black box.

  Inside the box was a SHINE agent card and, much to Emma’s excitement, a mobile phone, a deep aqua mobile phone. Was the colour just a coincidence or did SHINE know that aqua was her favourite colour? Emma turned the phone on and the screen flashed. The picture of the globe she had seen on the lift button with the words ‘SHINE AGENCY’ written around it appeared on the screen. The screen then flashed again.

  But I don’t know my PIN code, thought Emma.

  ‘Ah, EJ10,’ said A1 as she walked back into the room. ‘I explained to your mother that you were having a tour. She will pick you up outside the Light Shop in a couple of hours, just in time for dinner. We have a lot to do, including taking your photo for your agent card, but first you will need your PIN code.’

  How did A1 know that? wondered EJ.

  ‘I like to know what my agents are thinking,’ said A1, seeming to read EJ’s mind again. ‘It helps me help them. “Help people help you” is another SHINE motto. Your code is 3-15-4-5.’

  EJ smiled when she realised what the numbers meant. But then her smile vanished. ‘I don’t think I’m allowed to have a phone. My parents think I’m too young.’

  ‘And if you were not a secret agent in training, they would be absolutely right,’ said A1, ‘but we need to be able to contact you. Now, let me tell you a little more about the agency. There are many divisions in the SHINE Agency. Let me show you. Come over to the Light Screen.’

  A1 walked closer to the screen at the centre of the room, with EJ following. ‘Light Screen, show main agency divisions,’ said A1.

  A chart flashed up in a corner of the screen.

  ‘Now, as you can see here,’ explained A1, ‘we have a number of key divisions and while our agents are trained in all aspects of agency work, they specialise in areas best suited to their talents. You, Emma, with your excellent maths skills, have been assigned to the Code-Cracking Division.’

  Emma blushed with pride. Code-cracking, just what she’d always imagined doing!

  ‘Now if we pull up your file from the SHINE Vault,’ continued A1.

  ‘My file?’

  ‘Oh yes, all our agents have a file. It’s a little like a school report card.’

  That made EJ nervous all over again. Report cards, she dreaded them. She always tried her best but was always worried that it wasn’t good enoug
h.

  ‘“Try your best, forget the rest”’ continued A1. ‘And there’s something else a bit like school, a uniform. Now here is Agent NP14. She will quickly take your measurements.’

  A girl with long brown hair walked up to EJ and waved a black box with a pulsing red light at one end over her. When the light turned to green, a tape measure spat out. EJ was pretty sure that was nothing like school.

  ‘Everything measured,’ said NP14. ‘SO60 and I will prepare the uniform in the design unit, A1.’

  ‘What do I need a uniform for?’ asked EJ.

  ‘For training,’ explained A1. ‘As you are only eight-’

  ‘Nearly nine,’ interrupted EJ.

  ‘Yes, nearly nine, you will start in our under-ten division and under tens are not allowed to go on missions.’

  EJ was a little disappointed.

  ‘Don’t be disappointed, EJ10. There will be plenty to do to get you mission-ready. Each of our agents must complete basic training,’ explained A1. ‘When you begin, it is a little like after-school sports training. There are a number of skill areas and, on successful completion of each area, you will receive a badge. When you are ten, and you have collected all the basic training badges, you are ready for missions.’

  EJ liked the sound of the badges. ‘What do we learn?’ she asked.

  ‘Lots of things,’ said A1, turning back to the screen. ‘Light Screen, show basic training footage.’

  The Light Screen filled with images of girls parachuting from planes, riding jet-skis, bandaging animals, running in bushland, climbing trees, taking photos with tiny cameras and even diving in the ocean.

  ‘I’m going to do all that?’ EJ cried, her eyes wide. It looked exciting but also more than a little scary. She wasn’t sure she could do all that.

  ‘No need to be scared,’ A1 reassured her. ‘Goodness, look at the time!’ she said, checking her watch. ‘Your mother will be waiting for you outside. You will hear from us soon for your first training session.’