Drama Queen by Susannah McFarlane Page A

climbed in to a helicopter that had been waiting in front of the trailers. As a woman with a walkie-talkie strode past the trailer, EJ called out to her, ‘Where are they going?’
    â€˜The reservoir, for the bridge scene,’ the woman replied. ‘The director wants to get there quickly, while the light is still good.’
    â€˜Oh, right, thanks,’ said EJ. Oh no, she thought to herself, watching the chopper lift high into the sky. She couldn’t believe that she had just let Sydney walk out the door with the bottle of balls that she was going to throw into the reservoir. And if Sydney did that, the city’s water supply would be in real trouble. How was she going to stop her now?

    It was her phone again. Another message from SHINE. EJ looked at the screen and saw that it was the results of the test from the SHINE lab. But were they too late?

    But EJ didn’t feel like she had done good work at all. She hadn’t found out Sydney’s secret early enough, she had messed up in the trailer and now she had let Sydney go to the reservoir. All those things were adding up to a failed mission, something EJ had never done before. She went back into the trailer and stuffed the rest of the orchids in the vase. As she did, she noticed the heart charm on her bracelet. She twisted it and an inscription appeared on the back of the charm.

    That’s what Mum said, thought EJ. Now SHINE is saying it as well. Don’t worry about silly little things, focus on the important things.
    â€˜Pull yourself together, EJ12,’ she said to herself. ‘I can do this. I know everything I need to. I know Sydney Radisson is going to throw the orange balls into the reservoir. I know which one she is going to because I can follow her on the tracker and I know that, if I need to, I can stop the reaction happening by throwing the blue balls in. There is just one thing I don’t know: how am I going to get to the reservoir?’
    And then EJ remembered her BESTies. She opened up the BEST app on her phone and flicked through with her finger until she got to the fastest person she knew. She pressed the call button. It rang only once before it was answered.
    â€˜Hey, what do you need, EJ?’ It was KM12.
    â€˜A lift,’ replied EJ. ‘Quite quickly.’
    â€˜That’s what I do,’ said KM12. ‘Meet me at the delivery area. I’ll be there in no time.’

    EJ ran to the delivery area where the truck had first dropped her. There was no one around but there was also no sign of KM12.
    â€˜Hey, what are you waiting for?’ whispered a voice.
    â€˜KM, is that you?’ whispered EJ.
    â€˜Who else would it be, EJ?’
    â€˜But where are you?’
    â€˜I’m up here.’
    EJ looked up to see KM12 hovering above her in what looked like a bike crossed with a helicopter. It was a tandem bike and KM was on the back seat. In the middle of the crossbar between the two seats, was an upright pole with helicopter blades at the top. EJ could see the blades spinning around but they were completely silent.
    â€˜It doesn’t make any noise?’ asked EJ.
    â€˜Of course not,’ replied KM. ‘What kind of secret agent flies a noisy helicopter? This mini-chopper is super-quiet, super-quick and super-easy to fly. It’s just like a riding a bike, just a bit higher up!’ KM flewlower. ‘Jump on, EJ!’
    EJ climbed on and held on to the handlebars. As she climbed on to the front seat, she saw a button marked E.
    â€˜What does the “E” stand for, KM?’ she asked.
    â€˜It’s the extender seat. Push the button and your seat can extend out to twenty metres.’
    â€˜Does it really?’ asked EJ. That gave her an idea.
    â€˜Okay, where to, EJ?’ asked KM.
    â€˜Sydney Radisson is flying to the reservoir in a chopper. I put a tracker charm on her so we can follow her,’ said EJ turning around and handing over her spy-pad to