When I First Met Her

by Karsen Lavette

She turned to me. "Your mission was… what?" She asked, obviously still confused. "To keep us from achieving our mission?" My mind flashed back to earlier that day, when Joe had told us that he didn't want any of the girls to make it to him tail-free by five. I shrugged. "Something like that."

1. Chapter 1

First time on FanFiction! I don't own the Gallagher Series (which is good, because then the books would be TERRIBLE); Ally Carter does.

Zach's POV

A whistle blew and I instantly dropped from the chin-up bar. I looked to Dr. Steve, raising my eyebrows in question. "One-hundred seventy-six. Nice job, Zach." I nodded. Once all the boys were gathered around, Dr. Steve clapped his hands together. "Alrightie now. You," he said, pointing at a couple of senior boys, "and you" his gaze shifted to three of the juniors "and you three" he finished, his gaze resting on Grant, Jonas, and me. "Get showered and meet by the door in fifteen minutes. We've got a little trip planned."

"Yes, sir," we chanted in perfect unison before marching back to our dorms. Grant caught up to me, his shirt as wet with perspiration as mine. "What do you think's going on, Zach?" I shrugged. With our type of class trips, you never know what to anticipate. They're always unexpected. They never require a permission slip. Each one can almost guarantee an infringement on the rules. If something goes wrong on one of them, someone could get seriously hurt. Or die. I knew I should be nervous; any normal boy would be, but we're not normal. We're far from normal – Blackthorne boys have to be. They've trained us well, desensitized us to feelings like fear. Yep. At a school for assassins, you can guarantee that you're getting the toughest curriculum possible. Grant sighed and brought the bottom of his t-shirt up to his face, wiping away sweat. "Do you think we'll see Solomon?"

I shrugged again. "I have no idea, Grant."

"We haven't seen him in, what, six months?"

"Seven months, thirteen days," I corrected, but Grant kept talking as if I hadn't said anything.

"He's due for a visit, don't you think?" He sighed. "Man, what I wouldn't give to know ahead of time just once what we're doing."

We got back to our room and quickly showered and changed. Within ten minutes, the eight of us stood at attention while Dr. Steve paced in front of us. "Gentlemen, today you're playing with operatives who are very, very good. You would do well to keep that in mind."

We nodded as he opened the door, revealing a large chopper in the front lawn. "Dr. Steve," Jonas's voice cracked, and red instantly rushed to his cheeks. "Where are we going, exactly, sir?"

Dr. Steve smiled as he opened the door to the chopper. "Well, Jonas, let me ask you this – are you at all interested in United States government?"