NoQS Agent Round: THE CONSPIRATORS' CLUB - MG Adventure

Name: Elena Jagar

Twitter Handle: @Calcifer123
Title: THE CONSPIRATORS’ CLUB
Genre: MG Adventure
Word Count: 50,000

My Main Character's Most Stressful Relationship is:

Peter’s most stressful relationship is with his best friend who is always trying to run away from his adoptive parents. Peter thinks of Jason as a brother and relies on him to make the months at their boarding school bearable. He also knows Jason will probably succeed in his venture one day, and it is difficult being friends with someone who you know is a flight risk.

Query: 

For thirteen-year-old Peter Holm, life at Horston Island Academy is as fun as a freezing shower in winter − until his new friend, Samantha, asks him to help her start a Conspirators’ Club. Her goal: to improve life for all Academy students. Her plan: to challenge Horston’s unfair rules with covert acts of rebellion.

The last thing Peter wants is trouble with the headmaster. But who can pass up on cool missions like stealing back confiscated desserts, or dismantling the annoying school siren? Soon, Peter doesn’t think twice about detentions to keep the club going.

But what starts out as a series of exciting adventures turns grave when Peter uncovers the headmaster’s dangerous past. And when a club member goes missing, he is sure the headmaster is behind it. To rescue their friend, the club members must venture into the treacherous caves beneath the school and come face-to-face with a ruthless criminal determined to stop at nothing to protect his secrets. If their wits and resourcefulness aren’t enough to carry them through, this mission will be their last.

First 250:

Sailing back on the ferry for my third year at Horston Island Academy, I had a major problem. Jason, my best friend in the world, was a no-show.

I glanced around the cafeteria, feeling desperate. It was packed with sixth-graders and parents, about the last place Jason would want to be. But I’d already searched every other corner on this tub, and the cafeteria was literally the last place left. I scanned the crowded room one more time.

Face it. He’s not here.

I turned around and burst through the swinging doors out on deck and—

—knocked into a girl carrying a full cup of soda. Without a lid!

A huge brown stain spread across her white shirt. I stared in horror, wracking my brain for a cool one-liner to drag me from this sink hole of embarrassment.

“Sorry! Er…you okay?”

Good one, Pete.

The girl looked up from gaping at her front. The expression in those eyes felt like a punch to the nose. She stalked past me, holding the rest of her soda at arm’s length. I wondered who she was, since I’d never seen her at Horston before.

“Nice going, squirt.”

I cringed inside. Great. Can always count on my big brother to catch me making a fool of myself.

I turned to face Mark who stood leaning against the railing, his back to Horston Island in the distance. He surveyed my wet shirt with a smirk. I sighed.

“I was looking for Jason, okay?”

“Where? In her soda?”