IMPORTANT!
Okay so I know I should be putting my full concentration on Trick of Light.
But you see I've had this dream about a scene where Cammie and her friends come to Blackthorne but she thinks Zach doesn't like her anymore when really; he's too much in love but is protecting her from Catherine Goode.
The scene I had dreamed about is pretty much the saddest thing ever and I cried in my sleep every time I had it. Yes, I've had this dream multiple times.
So I'm like, what happens before and after that scene?
And behold, Heart On Your Sleeve. The scene I had dreamed about will come later in the chapters.
Important! MUST READ!
This takes place after CMH. The rest of the books never happened. And instead of them being in sophomore year, they are in senior.
I know this type of story has been done many times but my one is different I promise!
Oh and it IS a ZAMMIE story! Read that? COMPLETE ZAMMIE! There is angst and pain, but there will be ZAMMIE!
Prologue
Blackthorne Institute for Boys. Sounds a bit suspicious doesn't it? I can't believe we haven't found out earlier. I can't believe we were completely oblivious to the fact that we were arm's length away from professional hit men. I can't believe I was in love with one.
At first, I refused to believe it. I was desperate to hold onto the idea that he was good. He was innocent. He didn't like this, or want it.
But as the weeks went on, I started losing hope. My resolve was wavering. The indecision was growing.
But the crazy in love girl I was, I still believed he was better than that. Foolish as I was, I thought he liked me too. So even though as I was told multiple times not to trust him, not to get attached to him, I couldn't help myself.
His green eyes were so filled with depth, mysteriousness swirling within the golden flecks, I couldn't help but feel allured. He was a jerk, but he was enticing, intriguing, magnetizing, the perfect operative for such missions like these.
I should've seen it coming. I've heard too many stories of such things.
They weren't joking when they say to never get emotionally involved with someone. Love is one hell of a tricky business. It corrupts your mind. It damages your instinctual senses. It makes you think up is down and right is wrong.
I was so crazy in love I didn't notice the hesitation in his breath before he kissed me; I was too intoxicated by the sweetness of it. I didn't notice the dilation of his pupils; I was too captivated by the glowing emeralds.
Now, I'm stuck in this cell, tied to a chair and completely useless. All I could do is rewind the last month and without the fogged glass of his presence I can finally see everything clearly.
I couldn't help but think how disappointed my mother would be in me. And my father. My throat tightened at the thought. He spent all his life taking down this organization, he spent all his life training me to take down this organization.
I couldn't think of a more humiliating way to fail him. Seventeen years later and people say I have turned into one of the most promising young spies. Promising my ass. I wouldn't be here right now if I was.
I'm stuck here, drowning in my sorrows and misery until the time comes to end of my short, hopeless life. I bet he'll do it himself.
28 Days Before My Life Turns To Hell
"They have got to be kidding me. Tell me this is a joke. Or tell me I'm dreaming," I begged, flopping onto my bed and watching with wide-eyed horror as clothes overflowed my roommate's beds… and slowly disappearing in Louis Vuitton suitcases.
Bex rolled her eyes and held up a black top for Macey's inspection. "And they say I'm dramatic."
Macey nodded at the top and Bex folded it into her suitcase. She turned her big blue eyes at me and wrinkled her perfect nose. "Don't just sit there Cameron. We only have a few hours until lights are out and then Blackthorne here we come!"
I flinched as she walked towards the dresser at the end of my bed and started rifling through them. "I got to say, I'm surprised by your reaction. Aren't you excited to see a certain green-eyed candy?" I flinched even harder as she said that. Truth was it was the exact opposite.
I was sweating a storm just by the thought of seeing his face. What am I supposed to say? Or do?
I can just tell its going to be so awkward.
I think this is a terrible idea. I mean, its senior year we should be doing Co-Op with the CIA for reconnaissance of Russian terrorists or something, not distracting ourselves by a school of boys.
But as I heard continuous squeals from Tina Walter's dorm and the eager chatter of my roommates, I knew I was the only one who felt that way.
"Well Cammie? Are you?" Macey prompt.
How could I ever begin to explain the inner turmoil I was having? No I was not excited but I my infatuation for the guy is increasing by ever passing second?I would rather suffer the banned Genevua Invention alone than ever admit that.
"Macey!" I shrieked as she threw my favorite T-shirt in the shredder. Yes, we got a shredder, insisted by Her Highness Herself.
"What are you doing?" I was half glad I didn't have to answer the question and half scared for my seven-year old T-shirt that still fit me. I dove for it as fast as I could but it was already going under the torment of those horrific shredders. I glared at her.
She just shrugged her perfect shoulders indifferently. "Your clothes look like crap caked underside of my shoe. Not that I'd ever have crap under my shoe but you get the point." She held up another one of my many T-shirts and clucked her tongue. "This simply won't do. You'll wear my clothes," Macey declared.
"Why?" I asked exasperated.
"Because you have to look good for Zach," Macey replied in duh voice like it was obvious, folding horrendous looking designer clothes in another Louis Vuitton suitcase. I shook my head.
Had her friend not heard a single thing she said?
"Macey,"I started tiredly. "I don't want to have to spend hours every morning for a boy. If I do find one, he will have to like me when I just woke up in my sweats and if he doesn't so be it. I'll wait till I find the boy who does."
My friends stopped moving and turned to stare at me with shock.
It was funny how they had never considered this. It seemed like the "Right of Passage" to just immediately start primping as soon as the hormones kicked in, hoping one day a boy might think they're pretty. It was a notion as absent mind as breathing.
"What?" I demanded, feeling my face flushing as my roommates stared at me like I've grown a third head. "God what? Is it such a crime to think that way? Is it that absurd?!"
They slowly began doing whatever they had been doing before but Macey stared a half second longer. Her eyes held a twinge of pride for her best friend because most girls were way too insecure to even think about going all natural.
She shook her head softly before continuing to pack for Cammie. Macey loved the fact Cammie felt that way but she seen many, many of all types and sizes and there weren't many of those type of guys. They were scarce.
Society has corrupted both genders so much that everyone's definition of beautiful is a curvy figure or muscular body with a flawless face.
That type of guy had to be a soul mate. Which could be one in seven billion people.
"It's-it's-it's oh my gosh," Liz exclaimed. I couldn't agree more.
After being three hours in the air, once again sightless by the blindfold made us wear, with an extreme bathroom emergency, I expected something more elegant and refined as Gallagher, something that would relieve me from the anxiety and homesickness that knotted through my stomach.
But if anything, it had gotten worse.
Blackthorne was… how can I explain it? Looked like a mental ward? Or a prison? Or an evil knight's castle? Your pick. All I can say is that I was freaked out beyond belief and was very tempted to knock out the pilot and get Liz to fly us back home.
"I think I'm going to puke," Liz gasped and I moved to rub her shoulders while Macey took several steps away, probably scared Liz was going to ruin her thousand dollar combat boots.
"It's not that bad," Bex said, trying to sound upbeat, the panic well-disguised in her amber eyes.
"Are you kidding me?" Tina shrieked, literally shrieked. We all flinched in synchronization. "Look at that!" She pointed a hot pink fingernail at a half fallen off sign at the barbed wire (yes barbed wire!) fence that read 'Blackthorne Institute for Troubled Boys. No Trespassing.'
Macey rolled her eyes. "Well that explains a lot,"
Eva turned to her. "Why aren't you shocked?" Macey shrugged her perfectly toned shoulders and slipped her Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses back on. "I learned a few years ago that nothing is ever what it seems. And never judge an operative by its cover."
Silence overtook us. Slowly we all nodded, taking deep breaths and summoning the courage to keep going. This is what it's going to be like in the real world, I kept on thinking, amazed. Welcome to the benefit of doubt.
We followed the robotic-like guards who carried our suitcases and I was struck by a surprising intensity of omission for the friendly Bubble-Gum guard who I had never given a second thought too. Even after six years I still hadn't learned his name.
The inside of Blackthorne was just as the front. Stone. A cold dreary tang filled the air. There weren't any displays or any sort decorating the monotonous walls. I felt Liz whimper beside me.
The guards never talked, just gestured to two rooms and set down the suitcases, leaving briskly after.
"Well, pick your rooms girls. Dinner is in two hours. I'll be coming to get you at 1800 hours sharp." Mr Soloman announced after an awkward silence filled with dumbfounded Gallagher Girls.
"1800 hours? What is that?" Courtney asked. Mick nudged her a bit too roughly. "That's six p.m.," she said softly.
"Ooooh," Courtney drawled, oblivious to her staring classmates and a disdainful Mr. Soloman.
"Mr. Soloman?" I called as he turned to leave. "Yes Miss Morgan?" He asked, turning around. "What exactly is this place?"
He just smiled softly, the dim lights highlighting his flawless face making it totally photo shopped.
"That's not my position to tell you. But you will find out soon. Brace yourselves Gallagher Girls, this might be the hardest mission of your entire career."
And Joe Soloman was gone, one minute he was being all mysterious with his hands in his dress pants pockets and the next he had blended into the wall's eerie silhouette like a ghost himself.
There was another awkward pause, no one daring to even breathe.
"And they say I'm dramatic," Bex declares in an exaggerated voice, totally contradicting her statement. That broke the ice. We all laughed nervously, gathering our suitcases and heading into our distinctive dorms. One was, obviously Macey, Bex, Liz and I while the other was Courtney, Mick, Eva and Tina.
We pushed open the door to find a room much smaller than our old one, with four small single beds pushed up against a wall separated by table lamps and four small dressers with two desks.
"Are you flipping kidding me?" Macey exclaimed dropping her bags, darting to the dresser and yanking it open with a look of utter horror.
"Even my underwear won't all fit in here!" She exclaimed and we all chuckled, folding our clothes in our dressers without comment, unlike someone.
Though we all knew she was half joking.
Macey wasn't one to go all bitchy-diva like they do on TV. Sure she was like that before, but her transformation at Gallagher truly amazed me. She was just as good as an operative as Bex and just as content as me to crawl through dusty, spidery passageways, no matter how expensive her shoes are. Course Macey's spyness was in her blood, being a descendant of Gillian Gallagher herself.
"Alright!" Macey announced, slapping her palms together. "We have four hours to primp and trust me, it will take four hours. So who wants the shower first?"
She was totally right. It did take four hours for each of us to take shower, blow-dry our hair and get our makeup done. We decided to wear our Gallagher uniforms but slightly altered. Meaning, designer four-inch heeled leather boots with legwarmers and bows at the heels instead of comfortable loafers we're required to wear at Gallagher.
Yeah. I knew if I survived the end of the day my feet sure as hell won't.
It was almost time to leave. I was just walking to the door when Bex grabbed my shoulders, steering me backwards and almost making me fall flat on my butt.
"Oh my gosh Bex, what?" I asked annoyed. "You haven't even looked in the mirror Cam and saw how hot you looked!" She said protested.
I shrugged. "So I look hot. Great."
Macey pursed her lips and turned from the mirror where she was fluffing her curls. "Okay what's the deal Cammie?"
"What?" I asked warily.
"You've been acting awful strange Cam," Liz said softly. "What do you really feel about seeing Zach? You can tell us Cam. We're your best friends."
I nibbled on my bottom lip. "I'm just confused, okay? I don't know what's going to happen to us, if he'll be all lovey-dovey or just pretend nothing happened. I'm clueless and I don't like not knowing stuff. That's it." I couldn't even look at my friends' faces as my little confession was over.
There was a beat of silence. "Cammie, whatever you do and whatever happens we'll be there for you. Just keep that in mind," Liz spoke. I smiled looking up at her and seeing Macey and Bez nodding solemnly.
"Thanks guys. Well, I guess there's one way to find out."
I swung open the door and we walked out, meeting with Tina, Eva, Mick and Courtney, who were also primped up for the occasion.
"Just in time ladies," Mr. Soloman said walking towards us and smiling dreamily, his sexy dimples prominent. "Let's get going."
I was hoping for more of a reaction. To get back at the juvenile behavior we had when they were here. Seriously, when the Blackthorne came walking on, Gallagher Girls had been falling into trash cans! And when we come in? They're all just staring with indifferent expressions.
It was too quiet. Not awe quiet but skeptical quiet. I felt eyes roam us from head to toe, judging us and I could tell by the way Courtney was tugging on her curls that I wasn't the only one who felt insecure. Even Macey shot me a look but managed to keep her game face.
"Blackthorne Institute for Boys!" Dr Steve announced and right at that point I lost all interest in him.
Instead, I was searching the crowd of boys for a certain somebody; eyes raking down each row, every face until it landed on the dark-haired green-eyes boy. He wasn't looking at me, but analyzing each girl and just by him looking at them made me jealous.
I shook my head at myself and tried to swallow down the pang that had jolted through me.
I tried to look at other guys too, but I found my eyes not being able to tear away from him. He looked good. Really, really good. Too good to be true even.
Finally his eyes met mine, his expression blank. His alluring green orbs stayed on my face for about half a second before settling on Dr Steve. Cue the pang. He could've at least smiled a hello. He could've looked at me longer. He could've given me some sort of recognition.
But no, like everyone, he had looked away from me like he had something better to look at, like I wasn't worth being looked at for so long. For the first time ever with Zach, I felt like…like a chameleon.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and focused back on Dr Steve as well.
"As you all know, the Gallagher Academy has joined us for another exchange but this time it takes place here."
Woah, hold the phone. They knew?!
That-that so wasn't fair! How come we had total unpreperation for their visit while they had been aware for days, weeks maybe?
I know Blackthorne Boys liked the upper hand but this was really starting to get on my nerves.
"I hope you welcome the Gallagher Girls here, accept the similarities and embrace the differences. Let their stay here be an educational one." There was a ghost of an amused smile on Dr Steve's face as he said this. Like they had an inside joke we Gallagher Girls couldn't understand.
It was weird seeing something other than his genuinely jovial grin. It was sort of scary.
We were escorted to sit at one of the tables that was empty for our arrival.
"This is so not fair," Bex hissed as we seated. "They had known all along while we had to sneak into unauthorized areas and crawl through shafts?!"
"I know," Macey agreed looking around and glaring at all the boys ogling at her. "I was looking forward to having the element of surprise."
"The boys here are so hot!" Tina giggled while sneaking a wink at one of the seniors.
Macey scoffed. "Oh please. None of them are a mile close to my standards."
"And Preston is?" Bex asked smirking.
"What? No!" Macey protested sounding totally defensive.
"You're fooling no one McHenry," Bex declared. " Your all like, 'ohhh Preston I love how you show off your suits to me. 'Ohhh Preston your spider man watch is sooo hot. I love how you flirt with me and only me.'
"Shut up Bex!" Macey yelled, and for the first time she looked uncomfortable. We all couldn't help but laugh at her expense.
All throughout dinner I kept sneaking glances at Zach's table. Whereas the rest of the boys were returning the glances; Grant even waved wildly, Zach kept a steady gaze on his plate even though he hardly looked like he was eating.
I was so confused. If he wanted to pretend last semester never happened, alright but he could at least acknowledge me as a fellow classmate.
But no, he was acting like we were total strangers and believe it or not, I missed him.
His smirks, his cryptic comments, his "Hey Gallagher Girl's". Everything.
I wished things were back at what they used to be, no matter how frustrated I had been.
But then, when desert was served Zach stood up, heading towards the doors. No one was looking at him strangely as we were. This must've been normal.
"Hi Zach," Bex called as he passed our table.
He didn't reply, he just flashed a quick smile and quickly faced forward again. I was sitting beside Bex and he walked past me without one word like I wasn't even there.
We all watched him leave with gaping faces.
"Oh Cammie," Lix whispered softly.
"I'm going to bloody kill him! How could he? That-that-"
"It's fine Bex," I said quietly. "I got over him in the summer."
No one looked like they believed me but they didn't contradict.
I didn't join the conversation that took place after about Channing Tatum.
I just concentrated on the desert that didn't look so appealing anymore.
But let me tell you, it's hard to swallow when your heart has crawled to your throat.
So what do ya think? Should I continue? Please read and review!
Love
Plain Is Prettiest!
(At least to Zach Goode and I)