Zoe Zibbell

**Zoe Zibbell** is Ben's classmate and is his first friend at the Academy of Espionage. She is an eager, supportive, and sometimes fierce friend. It is hinted that she has a secret crush on Ben in *Spy Ski School* and is confirmed in *Spy School Secret Service* that she has liked him ever since he joined the Academy.

## Appearance & Personality

Zoe is just under 5 feet tall. She has large, bright green eyes described in *Spy School* as being cartoon-like, though they have once been described as brown.

She has an explosive personality and is very friendly and optimistic. In *Spy Ski School*, Ben described Zoe as "almost delirious with excitement" when describing her excitement for her first real mission as an actual agent.

## Skills & Abilities

Zoe can be quite fierce when facing enemies. She is described as "able to clobber a man twice her size" in *Spy School Secret Service*.

## Missions

Zoe is usually one of the first people Ben requests to join his missions whenever he is allowed to pick a team. She has also unofficially sneaked on other missions.

* Operation Angry Jackal
* Operation Snow Bunny
* Operation Tiger Shark (unofficially)
* Operation Screaming Vengeance

## Relationships

### **Benjamin Ripley**

View this page for an in-depth analysis on Zoe and Ben's relationship.

### **Warren Reeves**

Warren has a crush on Zoe and thinks Ben is competition against him. However, Zoe doesn't reciprocate Warren feelings. When Erica asks if Zoe likes him, she replies with a loud "*Warren?* Eww, no!"

In *Spy School Secret Service*, Warren betrays his friends at Spy School and joined SPYDER to get revenge against Ben and Zoe.

In *Spy School Goes South*, Warren reveals to Zoe that he has always loved her, and Zoe responds with "Oh, ick."

### **Erica Hale**

Erica is distant and cold to Zoe like she is to everyone. Zoe comes up with the nickname "Ice Queen" for her. Although Zoe doesn't really like Erica as much as she likes her friends, she is impressed by her skills and knows she is a great asset to their team. In *Spy School Secret Service*, Erica says that she thinks of Zoe as a friend, and Zoe appears delighted.

In *Spy School Goes South*, it is revealed that although Zoe does respect Erica and is appreciative of her spy skills, she also detests some of her more deceitful traits, such as her manipulation of Ben, the coldness she exhibits towards other people, and what is, in her eyes, arguably the worst of them all: putting the mission before others' safety. She is also showed to be quite scared of Erica when she found her listening behind her and screamed. Later, Erica proves Zoe wrong by giving herself up to save Zoe and Mike, to which she feels shame for having doubted Erica. However, Zoe later discovers that Erica only did that to further the mission, and her testiness returns.

In *Spy School Revolution*, Zoe betrays Erica and tries to arrest her and Ben multiple times as the new junior D.A.D.D. agent. Zoe says multiple times about how Erica is tricking Ben and working as a double agent, sending him on a wild goose chase and only conning him. Later, Zoe finds out she was wrong about all this, and she apologizes to Ben at the end of the book, although it is unsure how she stands with Erica at this time.

### **Mike Brezinski**

Mike and Zoe meet through Ben when Mike joins the Academy after *Spy Ski School*. They become friends over the course of several missions. In *Spy School Goes South*, Zoe keeps constant tabs on Mike's relationship with both Jemma Stern and Emma Mathes. Zoe gives Mike relationship advice, which makes Ben jealous of their newfound friendship.

In *Spy School British Invasion*, Zoe and Mike quickly bond over their love of typography, and Mike makes a statement that they are both "font-natics." Everyone seems to think Mike and Zoe are flirting, though she says she was only trying to be nice. Zoe and Ben get into a fight about Mike and Erica that ends with Zoe clarifying that she wasn't flirting with Mike and that they were just being friends.

In *Spy School Revolution*, Mike goes to help Ben clear Erica's name and uncover the Croatoan. After Chip and Jawa knock out Zoe, they blame it on Mike and claim that he knocked all of them out. Mike appears to be upset with Zoe for betraying Ben, and it is not certain whether they made up.

### Svetlana Shumovsky

Svetlana is Zoe’s crush in Spy School Goes North. After seeing each other during Svetlana’s fight with Erica, Zoe feels like they had a moment and starts crushing on her. When Svetlana switches to their side, Zoe is very happy to find Svetlana also felt like they had a moment. The two bond throughout the course of their mission

## Trivia

* Zoe is a big fan of Lydia Greenwald-Smith, the counter-espionage professor, until she is exposed as a mole for SPYDER.
* Her least favorite font is Durkin.
* She got straight A's in Intro to Hacking.
* She is known for giving people nicknames, such as:
	+ Smokescreen (Ben Ripley)
	+ Ice Queen (Erica Hale)
	+ Washout (Murray Hill)
	+ Brainiac (Jawa O'Shea)
	+ Potatohead (Nate Mackey)
	+ The Idiot (Principal Sidebottom)
	+ Chameleon (Warren Reeves)
	+ Glitter Girl (Ashley Sparks)
	+ Blackbelt (Unknown)