Hi, my name is Cameron Ann Morgan-Goode. I'm sixteen and go to the Gallagher Institute for Future Military Personnel. The cover is a military school and we all live with everyone in our year in one big room. The school is in Norfolk, Virginia and our brother school is the Blackthorne Academy for Excellent Young Men, their school is just outside of Roseville, Virginia. My mom is their Headmistress and my aunt is their CoveOps teacher. My brother also goes there and his name is Chris. My dad is my Headmaster and my uncle is the Weaponry teacher and my godfather is our CoveOps teacher. Oh, the schools are schools for spies but mine has an option for an assassin training course as well. My parents are Rachel and Matt Morgan. My aunt and uncle are Abby Cameron and Will Connors. And Joe Solomon is my godfather. My best friends/roommates are Macey McHenry (Peacock), Bex Baxter (Duchess) and Liz Sutton (Bookworm). There are another six of us in the sophomore class. Tina Walters (Reporter), Eva Alvarez (Chica), Kim Lee (Boss), Anna Fetterman (Yoda), Courtney Bauer (Tigress), Mick Morrison (Muscles) are the rest of our class. We are all as close as sisters and Anna and Kim are a bit more. Don't ever try to break us apart because even if we do hate them at some points we are still all family. We were two weeks into our first semester when it happened.
Someone was shaking my shoulder, trying to wake me but instead I flipped them and sat on top. I looked down to be met with Anna's dark blue eyes and smirk. I saw Kim walk towards us in her ABUs. I grinned and got up. She raised an eyebrow as I helped Anna up.
"What do we have here?" I could see amusement in her eyes and chuckled as Anna answered.
"Well, Cammie saw me and she just couldn't help herself." We all chuckled and then got dressed in our casual uniforms. For days that we didn't do anything important all we had to wear was our ABU pants, boots and tan crew necks. We all got down to the Mess Hall with twenty seconds to spare as I saw my dad walk up to the podium. The teachers usually wore the same thing as us. As soon as he was at the podium we all stood to attention beside the tables.
"At ease, take your seats." Everyone sat and still looked at him. "Ladies, I would like for you to know that our brother school, Blackthorne, will be hosting their local high school and that the sophomore through senior years will be joining the exchange. The local high school got there a week ago and we must maintain our cover as a military installation. We leave tonight, there will be no classes and pack lightly. That is all. You are dismissed." We all stood and the rest of the school walked out except for the junior and senior class commander and 2nd Lieutenants. I walked up with Bex since I'm the commander and she's the second in command. We stopped in front of dad, Will and Joe.
"Ladies, you will be responsible for your classes and will ensure that our cover is not blown. Ultimately, Joe and Will are going to be your Commanders and I will be joining as the overall commander but I do not want to deal with petty disputes. If you have any issues, tell your cadets to bring it to you first. Tell your cadets that they will be allowed one standard ABU rucksack. We are about seventy miles from Blackthorne so you will run your cadets there. Tell them to pack some civilian clothes but to keep their ABUs and Service Uniforms as their main clothing option. You leave in an hour. Dismissed." We saluted him and walked back to the barracks. I walked in and the cadets snapped to attention.
"At ease. One standard rucksack only. Mainly ABUs and Service Uniforms, we're running and we leave in an hour. As you were." They got their rucksacks out and we all packed in half an hour. We had all packed canteens and we walked to the front hall where dad, Will and Joe were waiting for us. The juniors and seniors got there the same time we did.
"Ladies, you have three and a half hours until their dinner so you may leave now. I assume that your commanders have studied the route because you will not use maps. The communications officers have one satellite phone each. We will be taking a helicopter there so if the commanders need anything else brought please speak with me before you leave." I looked at Liz since she was the comms officer and she nodded. I walked up to dad and he smiled.
"I need you to bring all of our laptops from our barracks and also could you bring our carry bags? We are traveling as light as possible. Also, could you grab Zach's Blackthorne sweatshirt from my dresser. I couldn't fit it in." I twisted the platinum and navy band on my left ring finger and he nodded. It was common knowledge at both Gallagher and Blackthorne that Zach and I were married but no one outside of the schools would even know that we were dating. We had gotten married two years ago because of our profession and most didn't get to marry.
"Sure, I could bring my son-in-law's sweatshirt, and the entire sophomore class' schoolwork." He smiled and gave me a quick hug. "You say that you're traveling light. How light exactly?"
"Fifty pounds a piece. We have our medical kits and we're all carrying our rifles, disassembled as well as having our sidearms strapped to our legs." He grinned and chuckled slightly. The junior and senior commanders were waiting patiently behind me. I left and jerked my head for the cadets to follow. We headed out and were going at a steady jog that would get us there half an hour early.
...
We were at the gate to Blackthorne first and we paused for a quick water break and we had barely broken a sweat. The juniors and seniors got here five minutes later and we held a quick conference. We decided to jump the fence and walk up to Grand Hall just as it started and my mom introduced us. We all scrambled over the wall and towards the front doors. The lane was a mile long and our boots crunched in the fine gravel. We had all fixed our French braids and put on our ABU jackets with our name tags and ribbons. All of our dog tags were under our shirts and my name tag was Goode. I pressed a button and it shifted to Morgan. We walked into the foyer and luckily none of our boots had any mud or appeared travel stained. We didn't bother dropping our packs as we formed up and heard through the doors.
"May I present the Gallagher Institute for Future Military Personnel." We marched into the Grand Hall in three files. We stopped in front of the podium and halted. The cadets stood at attention as the other two commanders and I stepped onto the stage. All of the guys were grinning and the local high schoolers were glaring at us or drooling even though we had just run seventy miles and were not wearing a trace of make-up. I spotted Zach sitting next to a bubbly blonde that had her hands all over him. We saluted mom and she grinned at us. I looked around for Will, Joe and dad and didn't spot them.
"Seriously, they take the chopper and still don't beat us." I shook my head as the other commanders chuckled and the back doors flew open. Standing in all their glory were Will, Joe and dad. They were glaring at us and I grinned. "Nice of you boys to join us."
"Cameron, don't even start." I nodded and then there was a commotion at the sophomore table. I saw Chris stand up and walk towards us. He was grinning like an idiot and I noticed that Macey was trying very hard not to run at him. I chuckled and then called to the cadets, in unison with the other commanders.
"Fall out." They all did a one-eighty and I saw Chris smirk at Macey. Grant and Jonas got up and walked over to Bex and Liz. Zach couldn't seem to get away from the blonde. I decided to help him out and walked over to the microphone. I pushed mom out of the way and in a monotone said, "Zachary Goode, front and center."
"Somebody's in trouble." Was chorused by the entire room as Zach sprinted to the front of the room. I stepped off the stage as he stood at attention in front of me. I stopped in front of him and grinned. He stepped forward and wrapped me in a huge hug. He wasn't wearing his blazer and you could tell that the white dress shirt was getting dusty. He dropped me and grinned. I pushed him back towards the table and he pouted as he walked away with his roommates. I stepped back to the microphone and grinned.
"Hello, for the local high school students, I would like to say that I am the sophomore class commander and those two are Ash and Maya. Ash is the senior commander and Maya is the junior. My name is Cameron Morgan and yes, my parents are the heads of the two schools. The girls should introduce themselves now." I stepped down and everyone went up and said hi. We still had our rucksacks and some of the guys from the local high school came up in an attempt to grab them from us. We grinned and declined, we went to the doors and placed our packs there. The sophomore cadets went to the sophomore table and sat with the guys. I sat on Zach's other side. I grinned at the platinum and navy band on his left ring finger and it seems that we chose colors that no one would assume to be a wedding band. I got some food and started eating quickly. It was completely quiet until we finished eating. Zach turned to me and smiled.
"So, Gallagher Girl, how've you been?" I raised an eyebrow and pushed his arm slightly.
"Good, I haven't had to deal with to many idiotic seventh graders." He was about to answer when one of the high school guys slid into the seat across from me and smiled slightly.
"Hello, what are you guys talking about?" The blonde bubbled up again.
"We're talking about seventh graders." She giggled and I raised an eyebrow.
"And you two are?" The guy turned back to me and smiled.
"Dillon James and that's Lydia. She's my sister. We're very close." He looked at Zach for a moment, then turned back to me.
"Good to know." I felt a presence behind me and turned to see Bex and Macey. I sighed and stood quickly. "Baxter, McHenry what is it?"
"Just wanted to know if you'd like to see our barracks. If not then Macey is unpacking for you." My eyes grew wide and I sprinted for my pack, only to find that it wasn't where I left it. I saw one of the seventh graders hoisting it and trying to take it out to our rooms.
"Hey, kid!" He stopped and turned back. I pulled the pack from him and threw it over my shoulder. "I've got it." He nodded and sprinted back to his table. I sighed and turned back to find my friends cracking up at my expression. "There is no way that I will ever let Macey McHenry unpack my rucksack."
"We know, we just wanted to see that." Macey collapsed and started rolling on the ground in fits of laughter. Zach was chuckling and I glared at him. He instantly shut up and I noticed that he had rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. Lydia was leaning on his shoulder and he was completely ignoring her. I smirked evilly and they both tried to contain their laughter.
"Fine, you guys have to be Liz's guinea pigs in the lab for the next week." They instantly shut up and I grinned. I noticed Joe, Will, dad and mom coming towards us with someone that looked vaguely familiar.
"Cameron, was that necessary?" I took a deep breath and smiled.
"They said that Macey was going to unpack my gear." I saw the woman smile and I recognized Abby. She walked over to Macey and smiled.
"Nice one, McHenry." Mace hugged her and then Bex did as well. She turned and grabbed the rucksack from my hand and it immediately dropped to the ground. "Geez, Cams. What's in here?"
"You don't want to know, but we did travel light. Only fifty pounds since dad made us run here." I glared at him and smirked at Zach's expression. He stood up and walked to stand next to me. He grabbed the pack from Abby and scowled at my dad.
"You made them run the seventy miles from Norfolk? What were you thinking?" Dad chuckled slightly and I turned my glare on Zach.
"As I recall, you have run that seventy miles more often than I care to count. And yes I did make them run it but you should know by now that that's a warm up." He grudgingly conceded and walked back to the table. He put my pack down and I smiled at dad.
"Nice one. Now he thinks that you hate him even more." Dad nodded and the adults left until just Will was there.
"Your room is in the same hallway as the boys rooms are. Also, the locals are at the end of that hallway." I nodded and walked back to Zach. He grinned at me and everyone at the table stood up. We started walking towards the barracks and Dillon tried to pull the pack off my shoulder. I swiftly dodged him and we all stopped at the metal doors to the sophomore barracks. We all stepped inside and I raised an eyebrow at the room. The cadets were all unpacking their things and Mace and Bex went to join them. I saw that the bunk closest to the bathroom was open and I tossed my pack onto it. I saw my carry bag at the end of it on top of the trunk and smiled slightly. Dillon and Lydia followed us in and all of the girls instantly stopped unpacking. Tina came out of the bathroom and instantly started speaking.
"This place is huge. Macey, you should check out the counter space in there." I chuckled and decided to toy with her.
"Walters, would you like to give us a tour of the restrooms?" She whipped around and snapped to attention.
"No ma'am." I nodded and she went to her bed. Liz walked in with Jonas right behind her, they were pushing two carts with laptops and sweatshirts.
"We got the laptops out of the chopper. And Cam, your dad said that the next time you tell him to grab a sweatshirt that you should make sure that you specify which one." She started handing us our laptops and plunked a box of hoodies at the foot of my bed.
"Thanks Liz." I dumped out the box of sweatshirts and there were about five, three of which were Zach's. He grabbed them and grinned at me. I pulled them out of his hands and kicked the three of them out. I finished unpacking and had assembled my sniper rifle as well. I slid the pack under my bed and took off the ABU jacket. I walked into the hallway and saw Dillon and Lydia at the end of the hallway with Zach and Chris. They seemed to be in an argument. As I watched, Chris and Dillon went back to their rooms and Lydia backed Zach into a corner. I walked towards them and called out just as Lydia was starting to lean in.
"Hey Goode. I need to speak with you." They looked up and I saw Lydia's eyes flash in anger. She stormed off towards her dorm and Zach walked up to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned down, crushing my lips against his as my arms snaked around his neck. We broke off after fifty-two seconds and stood hugging each other.
"I missed you." He whispered into my hair and I looked back up at him.
"I missed you too. It's nearly curfew, I love you." He smirked and kissed me again lightly.
"Love you too. See you in the morning." He disappeared into his dorm and I walked back to the barracks and changed before going to sleep.