Making Waves Read Free

as her parents had said she was too young to have one. She only had it because when the phone came as part of her SHINE agent welcome pack, Emma’s mum, herself a former SHINE agent, had to agree to let her keep it—after all what secret agent didn’t have a phone?
    The phone had lots of normal apps but there were also secret ones that agents could access with a special pin-code. There were code-cracking apps, voice-changing apps, animal-ID apps, a camera with x-ray zoom and secret listening devices. SHINE also used the phone to send mission alerts to their agents. They sent alerts when they needed them to access the SHINE Mission Tube and report to HQ for a mission briefing. That special alert was the Piinngg! Emma had just heard and her Mission Tube agent access point was the last cubicle on the right in the girls’ toilet block at her school.
    The girls’ toilet block where she was already heading. That was good.
    The girls’ toilet block, where every other girl in her class seemed to be heading as well. That was bad.
    As Emma pushed the door open, she could see that there were lots of girls already inside. There were girls everywhere. Girls crowding around the hand-dryers trying to dry their hair, girls in the toilets, girls at the washbasins, girls just hanging around.
    Gee whizz, lemonfizz! This is hopeless, thought Emma. How am I going to get to the cubicle and, even if I do, how will I be able to access the Mission Tube with all these people here?
    She wouldn’t be able to. There was nothing for it, Emma would have to wait, she just hoped she wouldn’t have to wait all lunchtime. SHINE liked their agents to report promptly and they timed them. Just as Emma was starting to think the girls were going to stay in the toilets forever, Ms Tenga came in. That was unusual because the teachers hardly ever came in to the girls’ toilets.
    â€˜Come on, girls,’ she cried. ‘I am sure we don’t need everyone in here and I am also sure everyone’s hair is dry now. Now, quick as you can, finish what you are doing and out, everyone out.’
    Girls started to shuffle out to the playground.
    â€˜Not you, Emma Jacks,’ said Ms Tenga.
    Did Ms Tenga just wink at me? thought Emma. I think she did.
    â€˜Emma, please stay and make sure there is no rubbish left anywhere and that everything is shiny and clean. That would be a great help, thank you. Right, everyone else, out!’
    Did Ms Tenga just say ‘shiny and clean’? wondered Emma. Was that a coincidence? Emma thought back to other times where Ms Tenga seemedto be in the right place at the right time to help her. Hmmm. Emma didn’t have time to think about that now though. Even if it was just a coincidence, Emma was grateful: she now had the girls’ toilets to herself and she needed to work fast.
    Quickly, before anyone else came in, Emma ran to the last cubicle on the right, pushed the door open and locked it behind her. She put down the toilet seat, sat down and opened the toilet roll holder. Hidden on the side, where no one would ever notice, was an electronic socket. Emma took out her phone and inserted it into the socket, just like a phone charger, and waited. There was a beep. Emma entered her pin code and took her phone out of the socket. There was another beep and then a familiar message flashed up on her phone screen.

    EJ clutched the sides of the toilet and held tight as the wall behind the toilet started to move. It spun around, with toilet and EJ attached. Once it had spun right around, EJ slid off the toilet and on to a beanbag ( SHINE liked their agents to be comfortable) at the top of what looked like a giant fun-slide. This was the SHINE Mission Tube, a system of underground tunnels that whizzed agents into and around the SHINE network. The wall then spun back and EJ could hear the click as the toilet door unlocked on the other side. That would ensure no one became suspicious about a locked