A/N this is Zach's POV of Cross my heart (if you hadn't already guessed). And I know this has been done before, however, all the ones I've read have either shown Zach to be completely in love Cammie from first sight. AKA not the Zack we know and love. Or, they haven't been finished, so I thought I'd take a crack at it myself. Now let it be known that all the dialogue has been taken exactly from the book, which means (sadly) I do not own any of the characters, conversations, plot lines and overall content. But, I have put effort into delving into the deepest darkest thoughts of the character we call Zachary Goode. The story is going to start from roundabout, chapter 8 and onwards (the coveops mission at the national mall), and will therefore go straight to when Zach meets Cammie. I really hope you enjoy reading what I think might happen if this book were in Zach's POV. Please review and let me know what you think.
Chapter 1
Two teenage boys sitting together on a bench in the national mall might have seemed fine to normal people, however, two spies in training surveying the mission scene for targets, is not. So when two innocent looking teenage girls in government approved school uniforms waltzed their way into view, me, and my friend next to me, knew better.
Before we get into this whole situation, let me explain why exactly I don't fall into the category of normal people. My name is Zachary Goode, and if you have level 4 clearance or higher, you'll know about the Blackthorne institute for young men, and how to unsuspecting civilians it's a detention centre for troublesome boys, but that it's really an academy training its students for the life of espionage. So when our coveops teacher lead us to a helicopter and flew us all the way to the national mall, we all knew it wasn't a usual school fieldtrip, and no one batted an eyelid when we were handed comms units and told we would each be tailing someone through the mall. The real shock came when said coveops teacher told us we would be tailing Gallagher girls, emphasis on the girls part.
Going to an all-boys school from the age of 11 can almost guarantee a guy won't have had much girl encounters since then (11, also described as the age where either girls still had cooties or flirting was teasing and flicking bugers in their direction). This pretty much summarises how me and my best friend Grant were sat on a bench subtly, yet intensely watching each girl that walked past to see if their faced matched one of the pictures we had been given to tail. You know it's a good job were teenage boys, or else this might of looked slightly creepy. We were starting to give up hope, we were about to leave and find another spot, we were about to, until two girls, with familiar faces spun in their stride (well one of them did) 30 feet away. I did a quick check to make sure no other one of my classmates was already tailing them, and only when I didn't spot anyone, did I nudge Grant to see if he'd been doing the same as I had. If the grin splayed across his face wasn't an answer, then the fact that he opened his mouth and uttered the words "it's Showtime" sure was.
One of the girls started dragging the other, and all of a sudden I wish Blackthorne had classes on extreme lip reading, as I could tell that out of the 15 benches behind me only 4 were occupied, and that a security guard to my left was buying a coffee with milk and two sugars, as well as a gluten free muffin but what I really wanted to know was what those Gallagher girls were discussing. And as quickly as we saw them, they were gone. As if they'd seen something, someone. But as both myself and Grant knew, we were the ones tailing them, and we hadn't been until right then, so either there was an all-star CIA team out there as well, or they were just extremely paranoid, neither of which, is that great for us. We spent the proceeding hour tailing the two girls up and down flights of stairs, through doors and round corners, all the while staying just out of sight. All until they shed their coats, and fell into step with a large group of white bloused girls. The girls talked and laughed and looked behind, and for a moment, we thought we were caught. There's no way these spies in training could of stared directly at us on the bench, and then looked in our eyes now without recognising us. I guess these are the times when being an unsuspecting teenage boy comes in handy.
As their cover with the other teenage girls rode away on the train, the two girls decided that now was the time for them to split up, so as I watched Grant ride the escalator, not long after one of our subjects, I followed the other to the elevator. I saw her hand reaching for the button, and so maybe that's why I instinctively reached too, and beat her hand to it. Let the fun begin.
"Hey." I nodded and smiled, the average teenage boy, right?
"Hi." She hastily replied. She pushed the button again, looking anxious and jumpy. When the elevator doors did open she was quick to step inside, and give a huff of angst when I stepped inside too. Of course this particular huff was a covert huff, not meant to be heard, but then again, I was a covert guy. As I rested against the railings I felt pretty relaxed, i had her. My tail was right there standing less than 1 metre in front of me, and I was feeling pretty good about it.
I hadn't realised that until then I hadn't really looked at this girl, not really. I'd been following her sure, but I wasn't really noticing her, however standing right across from her I was analysing and memorising every inch of her face and form. From what I could tell she was just below average height, with long light brown hair with dark golden strands every so often, she had soft blue-grey eyes with a prominent angular nose and full lips. Nothing stood out as a distinctive feature, nothing made her face particularly special or different, a pavement artist. And I knew for the first time why I hadn't already studied her face, and it's because I wasn't following her face, I was following her friends. She on the other hand, had long cappuccino covered legs, and big dark brown eyes, something to look out for and something to follow. I suddenly thought that if this girl had been on her own, I may not have seen her, and if she'd have been following me, we could have been in a whole other situation.
"So," I said pointing to the school crest that was embroidered onto her coat, realising it had been too long a time since either of us had spoken, "The Guggenheim Academy-" I started, already knowing the real name, but she didn't know that, and so she interrupted me anyway.
"The Gallagher Academy."
"I've never heard of it." Which was true, I mean if you want to get technical about it then, yes I heard about it earlier today, but that was the first time.
"Well, it's my school." I didn't say another word as she uncomfortably shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
"You in a hurry or something?" I asked.
"Actually, I'm supposed to meet my teacher at the ruby slipper exhibit. I've only got twenty minutes, and if I'm late, he'll kill me." Her first mistake, she told me exactly where she was going and when she needed to be there.
"How do you know?"
"Because he said, 'meet me at the ruby slipper exhibit.'"
"No," I smiled and shook my head. "How do you know you've only got twenty minutes? You're not wearing a watch." OK at this point, I probably should say that I was kind of pushing on the whole 'aveerage teen boy' thing, as no normal teen boy would have noticed this. However, .I'd already got all I needed, a place, and a time, if she caught me now then it would be just a little too late.
"My friend just told me." A smooth lie, something that could have been true. So I decided to push the boat out further.
"You fidget a lot."
"I'm sorry," I could tell from her expression that she really wasn't sorry. "I have low blood sugar. I need to eat something." And that, I could sympathise, covert operations, while fun, are quite exhausting, and perhaps that's why I found myself digging my hand into my pocket and pulling out a packet of M&M's I'd bought earlier that day, and then offering them to her.
"Here. I ate most of them already."
"Oh…um… That's OK. Thanks, though."
"Oh, OK." I said as I put the packet of M&M's back where they came from.
When we reached the surface the girl was out of there like a lightning bolt, but not before saying "Thanks again for the chocolate." Even though she didn't eat any.
But instead of leaving her alone, I simply trudged my way behind her until she realised and spun around. "Where are you going?" she said.
"I thought we were going to meet your teacher in the wonderful world of Oz." was my response.
"We?"
"Sure. I'm going with you." I kept persistent, as I stalled her, attempting to make her late.
"No you're not." She finally snapped.
"Look, its dark. You're by yourself. And this is Washington D.C. And you've only got" – pause for dramatic effect – "fifteen minutes to meet your teacher."
The look in her eyes told me she had a whole pros and cons list layed out in her mind, and that she had gone through a big internal debate before finally stating "Fine."
"You can really walk fast," I said, but she didn't respond, so I continued "So, do you have a name?" I pushed, not because it was my mission, but because I really wanted to know.
"Sure. Lots of them." And I didn't doubt for a second that that was completely true. So I looked, and I smiled. I then really looked at her, and only because I was too, a spy in training, which I could see that she was uncomfortable and tired, and just, genuinely fed up.
And maybe that was why I stared a little longer, and asked "Do you have a boyfriend?" and I swear I'm not making this up, her eyes widened, as she stopped in her tracks and spun to face me.
"Look, thanks for the chivalry and all, but it really isn't necessary, it's just up here." I'm pretty sure that it wasn't necessary, for her or me, but I didn't say so. "And there's a cop over there." She bluntly pointed out.
"What?" I said taking as glance towards the cop in question, that was situated at the corner of the street. "You think that guy can do a better job protecting you than I can?" Now this wasn't cocky, this was completely true, considering the training each of us have. Of course she didn't know the training I had, which is why she considered that guy better suited for the title of protector.
"No, I think if you don't leave me alone, I can scream and that cop will arrest you." Feisty time, OK. I decided not to push my luck, so I smiled and turned, before she called to me of course.
"Hey. Thanks anyway." I nodded, and I left.
I bolted up a back stair case I had noticed on the way, desperate to make it to Dorothy's slippers before she did, even if it meant I didn't get to see all the exhibits. As soon as I reached the slippers I saw a face, a face I hadn't seen in a long while. "Joe, I should of guessed." But before I could say anything else, I heard the steps of a teenage girl spy, and I slipped into the shadows along with Joe.
The girl took in the room, confusion shown across her face before Joe revealed himself from behind. "You're four seconds late." The girl spun around to look at Joe.
"But I'm alone." She looked proud, she looked like she'd accomplished something quite incredible.
I almost felt bad to show myself when Joe said "No, Ms Morgan. You're not."
But I did, and when I did, I stepped forward, smiled, and said "Hi again, Gallagher Girl." The words just kind of came out, so I smirked, and looked at 'Ms Morgan'.
"Nice work, Zach." I winked at the girl.
But soon enough, I was the one dumbfounded when that same girl, the one who I'd followed, the one who I'd talked to and the one who I'd beat, looked at me, wore the same smug expression, and said, "Hi, Blackthorne Boy."
