Big Brother by Susannah McFarlane Page A

irritating by now but he hasn’t.’
    â€˜He does have Otto over,’ Isi pointed out.
    That was true. Bob and Otto were best friends and they had been in Bob’s room since dinner, playing on the computer.
    â€˜Forget about him,’ cried Elle. ‘We have more important things to discuss than brothers.’
    The main topic of conversation for the sleepover was the same as it had been all weekend: how Hannah, the girls’ other best friend, had also been recruited to SHINE and how excellent it was that they were now all agents. Hannah wasn’t at the sleepover because she was away on her first training camp.
    â€˜I wonder what BT is like for ATAs?’ said Isi. She had recently become obsessed with using acronyms. It had started with OMG and GTG andthen Isi, being Isi, who tended to be enthusiastic about things, had taken it to a whole new level. Sometimes it was impossible to know what she was talking about. Luckily, Emma could use her code-cracking skills.
    â€˜Basic Training for Animal Trainer Agents?’ she guessed.
    â€˜Of course,’ said Isi. ‘EKT’.
    â€˜Well,’ went on Emma, thinking sometimes it was best to ignore Isi’s new obsessions, ‘Éclair was going with her for the first part. After Mum gave her the all-clear, Hannah took her to training.’
    Ã‰clair was one of three poodle puppies that had been rescued by Emma on a recent mission in France. Abandoned by evil SHADOW agent Alicia Noir, EJ had brought them back home where her mum, a vet and SHINE Agent SJ45 (Retired) checked and looked after them until they were old enough to be allocated to SHINE agents. Much to Emma’s delight, one of the black puppies, Beret, was to stay with the Jacks family and no one hadbeen happier than Emma when Hannah had been allocated the fluffy white poodle, Éclair. At the moment Pip, who was no longer a puppy, was taking up quite a bit of room lying across Emma and Elle while Beret was nestled in Isi’s lap.
    â€˜Han will be perfect in the Animal Training Division,’ said Isi. ‘She is so patient. She even taught my bunny, Fluffy, to jump through a hoop.’
    â€˜Do you think I’ll be allocated an animal agent to use in the Transport Division?’ asked Elle. ‘I wonder if Mum would let me. I’m not sure I would want a dog, though. They’re very cute but they lick a lot. I wonder if SHINE use cats as well?’
    â€˜You’re so lucky to have two dogs,’ Isi said to Emma. ‘Mum said one dog is enough.’ Isi already had a black Labrador puppy called Blackie (AKA BJ2) and Fluffy, a brown and white bunny, also rescued on a SHINE mission. ‘It’s SNF.’
    â€˜Oh they always say no to start with,’ said Emma.
    â€˜I wonder if SHINE use rabbits OM,’ went on Isi. ‘Imagine BOM, bunny on mission! LOL!’
    â€˜Is!’ groaned Emma, laughing.
    â€˜WTM?’ asked Isi.
    â€˜OMG,’ cried Elle.
    â€˜ROFL!’ shrieked Isi. ‘ILT!’
    Elle jumped up and headed towards the door. ‘BRB, GTGTT,’ she said looking straight at Isi.
    â€˜Huh?’ said Isi.
    â€˜Be right back, got to go to toilet!’
    â€˜Hold on,’ said Emma. ‘I’ll turn off the alert.’
    Elle opened the bedroom door to leave while Emma and Isi flicked through Emma’s iPod to decide what music to play. They didn’t notice Bob’s remote control car silently drive in through the door. With the sensor off, it drove in under Emma’s bed undetected. Beret started to bark but no one paid attention and when Elle bounced back in, she turned the sensor on again and shut the door.
    â€˜Let’s have some of our feast now!’ she said.
    â€˜Good thinking,’ said Isi as she reached into the laundry basket and took out the box then the bag and finally a packet of chips. ‘The laundry basket isa great hiding spot, Em. Hey, let’s play truth or