Summary: Zach's POV at Blackthorne the day Dr Steve announces the DC Mission. Oneshot.

Warning: Contains spoilers about what Blackthorne is really like (from Only the Good Spy Young)

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gallagher Girls series. All credit goes to Ally Carter.

A.N. This is a one-shot about when Dr. Steve announces Blackthorne is going on the D.C. Mission (in the beginning of Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy). I just really love everything Blackthorne and have had this idea in my head for a while.

FYI, this is in Zach's POV! I was experimenting with different writing techniques when I did this, so I hope it turned out okay.

05:00 hours:

I wake up in the room I share with half the other sophomores. There are five of us to a small barrack, our beds are low to the ground and closely resemble cots—probably because they are. The walls are so thin I can everything going on next door. There are no secrets here. Not that there would be anyways, this being a school for thugs/spies.

It's the siren that woke me up, like every other day. Everyday is the same: wake up, make the bed, drills, shower, and breakfast in the cold mss hall, classes, lunch, classes, drills again, dinner, bed. Sometimes there're night drills, too. Between lunch and the evening frills they give us an hour of free time. Usually, I sleep.

05:30 hours:

I pull on my yellow jumpsuit and leave with the other boys to the field for our runs. My eyes lock with Grants for a moment before we follow.

Our drill sergeant shouts commands, and we chant back while we run. When I first came it was hard, the constant running and shouting for hours. Now I'm used to it. I've been here since I was eleven.

08:00 hours:

I stand in the showers with my brothers. There's no privacy here. No secrets. But it's okay; we're all males here. I lather soap across my body to rid myself of dried sweat, and shampoo my dark hair. Next to me, Jonas uses my shampoo because he forgot his.

08:30 hours:

Breakfast is quick and tasteless. Usually, it's gruel we eat. Like in 'Oliver,' only in larger portions so we grow more. Sometimes we get eggs. After all, Blackthorne is a school for delinquent thugs. It has an image to maintain.

We eat with only quiet words. Sometime's we're silent; the only sound the sound of chewing. I watch the white linoleum as I swallow. Then I turn to Grant and Jonas and start a quiet conversation

09:00-15:00 hours: (9 am to 3 pm)

Classes are the usual. I'm the best and I know it. I smirk when another boy watches me diffuse a timer bomb in fifteen seconds flat, his glare envious.

In training I pin Jonas within three minutes. Then Grant and I are a standoff. He's bigger and stronger, but I'm smarter and quicker. Seven minutes later he's lying on his back with my booted foot on his clavicle. Obviously, I win.

15:30 hours: (3:30 pm)

Lunch is like breakfast, only livelier. The boys are more energetic and alive once the morning is through. I laugh with my friends, though Grant is still bitter about my win. He'll get over it. They always do. They understand I'm here to be the best. It's why I'm a spy.

16:00-17:00 hours: (4 to 5 pm)

Now is our hour of free time. We're confined to our rooms during this time. I lie in bed and watch the ceiling until I ear the bell for Evening Drills.

18:00 hours: (6:00 pm, after drills)

Evening drills are shorter—only an hour. After we shower again, then go to our barracks until they call for dinner. Usually it's half and hour after drills until they do.

18:30 hours: (6:30 pm)

Dinner is loud until Dr. Steve calls for attention. His voice booms around the cavernous, plastic room. One large, square of plastic. "In twelve hours time the sophomore class and I will be leaving for D.C., where we will meet the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women."

There is shock, of course. We've all learned about Gallagher. A girl's school for spies, they say, where they live in a mansion and have culture classes and go to town and eat luxury meals. Where they ride up in limousines. I smirk. This will be fun.

"We will be on a mission to catch them. But don't get cocky! They're good." Dr. Steve's eyes meet mine.

Oh yes, this will be fun.

19:00 hour: (7:00 pm)

We have another hour now. Technically, it's Study Hall to do our homework. Only, since I'm practically a prodigal genius, mine was done ages ago. Instead, I read up on Gallagher Academy.

20:00 hours: (8:00 pm)

Blackthorne has a strict 8:00 curfew. If you aren't in bed, you get detention. Only, it isn't normal detention. You don't want detention here.

I can hear Jonas's quiet snoring from the bunk to my right. I roll onto my back and close my eyes. Still, though, I can see the light from the beams of the searchlight. It sweeps the ground all night from the North Tower. The North Tower is the main guard post here. If they see you from there you might get shot. We have a lot of snipers.

I fall asleep thinking about tomorrow, when I'll drive the Gallagher Girls into the ground, and then eat and sleep like a king.

A.N. Hoped you guy like it :)