Ashley Sparks

"*That’s not fair! I stuck the landing! I stuck the landing!*"
—Ashley having a terrible dream in *Spy School Goes South*
Defusing**Ashley Sparks** is a former gymnast turned SPYDER agent, who is one of the students at Evil Spy School alongside Nefarious Jones and Ben Ripley. In *Spy School British Invasion*, she joins Joshua's splinter group and has been hunting down Ben and his friends for revenge.

### **Biography**

Ashley has been training gymnastics since she was a child with the sole aim of making the Olympic team. She had never eaten a single piece of candy during her childhood, and her parents spent most of their money on her training. At the trials, though, she didn't make the Olympic team. She claims to have been misjudged and was decked a one hundredth of a point for "not sticking the landing." After this failure, Ashley's disappointment transitioned into anger and a thirst for revenge. She exclaims how it all turned out to be a "complete waste." Thus, she turned to SPYDER for a life of crime and vengeance.

## Appearance & Personality

Having trained in gymnastics since she was little, Ashley is very physically fit and short but surprisingly strong. She often wears glitter in her hair and has rainbows painted on her fingernails, which match her bright leotard. She uses strawberry scented shampoo. When in a good mood, she is exceptionally perky, with a big smile and bright eyes.

## Skills & Abilities

Ashley is extraordinarily skilled at gymnastics, so SPYDER developed a specialized form of hand-to-hand combat that involved the sport and martial arts. Therefore, she is extremely dangerous when fighting, and she was one of the only people to ever come close to beating Erica Hale. She is also very good at combining words, such as "jidiot" (jerk+idiot), "hisgusting" (horrible+disgusting), and "swawesome" (sweet+awesome), and casually adding them into sentences.

## Series History

### **Evil Spy School**

At the end of *Evil Spy School*, Ashley is confined to a cell at the Cheney Center For Information Acquisition by the CIA.
### **Spy School Secret Service**

In *Spy School Secret Service*, Ben and Erica go find Ashley and try to bargain information about SPYDER for her freedom. She accepts the deal, but turns on them and makes a run for freedom.
### **Spy School Goes South**

Ashley gets re-arrested by the end of *Spy School Goes South*. Later, she escapes when Ben and his friends try to spring her in exchange for information about SPYDER's plots.
### **Spy School British Invasion**

Ashely gets freed by Joshua, and goes to help him capture Ben and his friends.

## Relationships

### **Benjamin Ripley**

In *Evil Spy School*, Ashley admires and has a crush on Ben, and she proposes they go to Disney World together after graduating from Wiseman Preparatory Academy. They eventually have a falling out after Ben refuses to cooperate in the missile control room underneath Hidden Forest rec center and Ashley's feelings are obviously suppressed/diminished after that.

### **Warren Reeves**

In *Spy School Goes South*, after Warren has defected to SPYDER, Ben sees him and Ashley holding hands. It is later found out that they are a couple. Warren is embarrassed at the end of the novel because he admits that he still loves Zoe Zibbell. Thus, Ashley blows up at him. Warren and Ashley are not seen together in the following books.

## Trivia

* Warren Reeves sympathizes for her and agrees Ashley did stick the landing during the Olympic Trials.
* She dreams that she stuck the landing.
* Conversely, Erica Hale claims that she blew it.
* Ashley is famous for combining words. Here is a list:
	+ "blinks" = blows + stinks
	+ "boron" = boring + moron
	+ "crycho" = crazy + psycho
	+ "doosers" = dorks + losers
	+ "ferd" = freak + nerd
	+ "greevy" = gross + skeevy
	+ "hisgusting" = horrible + disgusting
	+ "incrazing" = incredible + amazing
	+ "jidiot" = jerk + idiot
	+ "midiots" = morons + idiots
	+ "quaitor" = quisling + traitor
	+ "schmerks" = schmucks + jerks
	+ "schmoozers" = schmucks + losers
	+ "slame" = slow + lame
	+ "swawesome" = sweet + awesome
	+ "telicious" = tasty + delicious
	+ "thrillighted" = thrilled + delighted
	+ "treopardy" = trouble + jeopardy
	+ "youch" = yeow + ouch

* She thinks Mike is a "jidiot by association."
* She thinks of Erica as a "ferd."