Mike Brezinski

Unnamed mother

"*Why don't you just get 'loser' tattooed on your forehead?*"
—Mike to Benjamin Ripley in *Spy School*
Defusing

**Mike Brezinski** is Ben's best friend. He and Ben attend Robert E. Lee Junior High until Ben transfers to the CIA Academy of Espionage in *Spy School*, under the guise of the prestigious St. Smithen's Science Academy for Boys and Girls, at which Mike becomes very upset. For the first few months, Mike believes that Ben is attending a normal preparatory academy.

As the series progresses, Mike becomes more and more suspicious of this "preparatory academy" until *Spy Ski School,* when he travels to Colorado at the same time as Ben and discovers the truth behind Ben's "science school." Mike is then recruited to the CIA Academy of Espionage and is known for his out-of-the-box thinking, (to him, there is no box) which tends to get good grades at the academy.

## Appearance & Personality

Mike is known to be a fairly good looking guy. He is quite lazy in school but good at getting girls' attention. His trademark move for winning them is his "wolfish smile," a term used in many *Spy School* books. Ben remarks several times that Mike is good at pretty much everything and enjoys sports.

His personality is expressed in detail in *Spy Ski School*- he is smooth while flirting with Jessica Shang and Erica Hale, bold when facing danger, and genuinely hurt when Ben lies to him about Spy School.

## Missions

Mike's first mission was when he inadvertently participated in Operation Snow Bunny.

* Operation Snow Bunny
* Operation Tiger Shark (unofficially)
* Operation Screaming Vengeance
* Operation Sneaky Monkey
* Operation Deadly Manatee

## Relationships

### **Benjamin Ripley**

Benjamin is Mike's best friend. Mike and Ben have known each other since they were little boys when they acted out all the James Bond movies. Ben is much nerdier than Mike, yet Mike still remains a loyal friend and stood up for Ben at normal middle school.

Mike was very upset when Ben left his middle school for St. Smithen's Science Academy for Boys and Girls. Although Ben informs him that it is a regular science school, Mike quickly becomes suspicious. Ben continues to deny that anything weird is going on at his school until he is forced otherwise. In *Spy Ski School*, Ben admits to Mike that he is a spy when they are in danger.

Mike and Ben had gotten into brief fights when Ben denied that something was going on at his school. Mike became frustrated that Ben was lying to him, but all the fights have been resolved.

### **Zoe Zibbell**

Mike and Zoe get along very well, bonding over fonts and becoming friends during *Spy School British Invasion*. There seems to be no romantic attraction between them (as of now), although Ben's perspective may have narrated it that way. During *Spy School Revolution*, they had a disagreement about Erica being a double agent. Their current relationship status is unknown.

### **Erica Hale**

Mike, like almost every other boy at Spy School, found Erica very attractive, describing her as "smoking hot." In *Spy Ski School*, Erica (disguised as Sasha Rotko) flirts with Mike in order to help get the mission on track. Mike liked Sasha and flirted back with her. It isn't until later in the book that Mike realizes that Sasha is actually Erica. Mike stops flirting with her once he confirms that Ben still likes Erica. Later, when Zoe asks if Erica likes Mike, she responds with "kind of".

In *Spy School Secret Service*, Erica compliments Mike on his good thinking and acts friendly around him. Ben originally thinks that this is because Erica likes Mike, but she admits that she does not have a crush on Mike.

### **Elizabeth Pasternak**

Elizabeth Pasternak is the girl that both Mike and Ben had a crush on at their old middle school. Elizabeth and Mike get closer and spend some time together after her brother's hockey game in *Spy School*. Elizabeth later invites Mike to a party which he attempts to bring Ben to. After spending time together, Elizabeth becomes Mike's girlfriend. In *Spy Ski School*, Mike reveals that he dumped Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth is still attracted to Mike in *Spy School Revolution*, as she is obviously flirting with him.

### **Jessica Shang**

Jessica Shang finds Mike attractive in *Spy Ski School* and starts flirting with him. This is a major problem in Operation Snow Bunny because Jessica gets distracted from Ben. Although Mike did like Jessica, he ends up picking Sasha Rotko (Erica) over Jessica. Jessica then becomes very jealous of Sasha and angry about Mike. Jessica later falls to Ben.

### **Jemma Stern**

Jemma Stern, the president's daughter, finds Mike attractive at the end of *Spy School Secret Service* and they start dating. They break up later because Jemma wanted the relationship to be more serious whereas Mike did not; she wanted him to go to Hawaii with her but he wanted to go on a mission but could not tell her. She is upset when Mike does not respond to her calls in *Spy School Goes South* and and has blocked all of his calls as of *Spy School Revolution*.

### **Trixie Hale**

When they met at the end of Spy *School Revolution,* they were obviously attracted to each other, and throughout Operation Deadly Manatee, Mike was constantly wanting to check his messages for texts from her. Murray Hill eventually revealed to the rest of the Hales that Mike and Trixie were "dating" which caused some trouble on the mission. Trixie calls him SnuggleBunny.

## Trivia

* His least favorite font is Ipswitch.
* He has a pet goldfish, but it's unknown whether it is kept at the Academy or his family’s home.
* Mike has an older brother who is old enough to drive and accidentally ran the car through Mike’s garage door.
* He is great with dogs.
* Mike is familiar with Mayan history, being able to identify a Mayan Shrine.
* He has skied in Vermont and in the Poconos, he thought Vail made the Poconos look like bunny hills.
* His family owns a summer home at Chesapeake Bay and Mike loves to waterski there.
* He is supposedly great at foosball.
* He once pretended to believe that Ben was being experimented on at Spy School, to trick him into exposing himself.
* He loves Broadway