Chapter 1

Based after Blackthorne's exchange to Gallagher, Junior Year has just started.

Cammie's POV

I pulled up to the Gallagher Academy in the black stretch limo which most likely had missile proof glass in with Macey McHenry having spent the last two weeks with her and her family in the Grenadines. For once I was excited, not to say that going back to Gallagher isn't exciting because it is a spy school but I was not excited for that reason. My mum had told me just a few days before that us Juniors would only be spending two days at Gallagher before going on a return exchange to Blackthorne! And which super annoying, smirking spy goes to Blackthorne?

So I we pulled up into the drive way and opened the limo door as Macey waved goodbye to her parents then turned away without a hug and we went up to our dorm room and left again without bothering to unpack. (There wasn't exactly much point.) But before we left the room we were bombed back into it by Liz! Seriously, she can be strong when she wants to be!

"Oh my God!" Screamed Liz. "I haven't seen you guys in over 3 weeks! Why didn't you take the satellite phones I gave you to the grenadines, I told you there would be no signal!" She said this whilst hugging Macey and I very, very hard so it all came out as a muffle.

"Sorry Liz but seriously we emailed you practically everyday! Have you seen Bex?" I asked hopefully.

"No but she isn't coming till this evening because she had to go to the MI8 opening with her parents." Replied Liz.

"What I have to get you guys presentable for the boys though!" Said Macey. "Oh well, at least Bex doesn't object to it like you do." She gave us a meaningful glare. I was kinda disappointed by that I mean, I had an immense tan, I didn't have a single spot since my last one went away yesterday and I had been using Macey's mums new exfoliating cream for two weeks and I had been fully (and seriously painfully) waxed just two days ago! What else was this girl going to put me through?

Liz finally heard the key thing in the sentence having stopped to remember the last time Macey decided to give us a tres painful make over, "Boys? What boys? You mean Blackthorne, are they coming back?!" She squealed and said it all so quickly that only a spy could fully understand what she had just said.

"Nope," I replied. "We're going to Blackthorne!"

Dinner time

I checked the TV screen as we went into the dining hall which read English given that the new kids didn't speak any other languages and it would probably rotate between English, French, German and Spanish for the next month before we went into the usual routine of mixing more languages in. I had assumed we would see Bex smiling over at us from our usual table when we walked in but she wasn't there yet. Liz had checked her flight times and everything was according to plan so where was she?

Bex's POV

I can not believe my parents dragged me into this and I can not believe that I hadn't realised that they were lying! So we had arrived at the MI8 opening (which I was totally excited about!) and was then told by the head of the MI7 that she was looking forward to my speech. SPEECH! WHAT BLOODY SPEECH! I immediately grabbed the programme (and some yummy looking caviar) and looked until I saw it:

Rebecca Baxter: Speech on the New Generation

I stormed over to my parents and they had the decency to look scared at least.

"What the hell," I screamed at them getting a bit more attention than I had wanted. I dragged them off towards an empty room and put the programme down and pointed at my name.

"We're sorry Bex but they wouldn't use the name Bex and thought it would be inappropriate to address you with a nickname" My dad tried to lighten the mood. Seriously. He thought I was worried about my name right now!

"There is no way I am doing a speech which I have not even prepared for." I said glaring at them.

"What and you would have done it if we'd told you about it?" My mum scoffed. "Trust me this was the best way, if you're a good spy you should be able to make it up on the spot, no problem."

I have to tell you I was tempted by the challenge but I was not speaking in front of a crowd of agents, no way. But that answer would not suit my parents so I tricked them just as they had me.

"Fine," I sighed. "But only to prove that I'm a good agent."

My parents grinned. Ha, they thought that they had me.

I left the room and started looking for ways out which is harder than you would have thought in a room full of spies who were trained to notice everything. I had checked every room for windows and even ventilation shafts. All I found were a tiny window in the loo that even Liz wouldn't fit through and a ventilation shaft with no idea where it would take me right above a guards head. It was my only option. I quickly went up to the guard and said my sweetest and most scared sounding voice,

" Excuse me but I heard someone talking on the phone in the bathroom about how they didn't think that £6.7 million for 5 nuclear missiles to be taken to the Taliban was enough, and they also said that they had no idea what kind of risks they were taking doing this right under the noses of MI8 agents." I hoped with all my might that this would do it and I was right. I saw the guards eyes widen as he thought how much of a pay rise he would get if he got the person.

"Thank you very much I will go and investigate it" he said and promptly ran off the the ladies loos!

I quickly pulled out a small screw driver and as discreetly as I could undid the ventilation cover. The announcer then called everyone towards the assembly hall the here the speeches and I followed the crowd at the back then turned when everyone had left the room to go and climb into the ventilation system.

I crawled along hoping this would lead me somewhere useful like, out so I could go and catch a plane back to Gallagher. I stopped at a cross junction and then did several things:

1) Took the battery out of my phone so I wouldn't be tracked

2) Grabbed my credit card and passport and hid them in a secret pocket in my dress

3) Created a mental map in my head and tried to figure out which way to go

I went east and then north in the shaft and tried to get out of the building. I had to double back a few times but eventually found an exit and punched the cover off the end of the shaft, promptly falling into a rubbish skip. Yay… I quickly found a shop to get a different outfit rather than the posh long navy blue and gold dress I was currently wearing and bought skinny jeans, a blue vest top and white shirt/jacket.

I went into the underground station and started using all the counter surveillance techniques I could think of because my parents would definitely have realised that I wasn't there by now. I jumped from train to train sometimes doubling back to ensure I had no tails and finally reach London Gatwick airport were I went up to a check-in desk and asked when the next flight for Virginia was and if there was a ticket. Within 20 minutes I was on a plane for the 8 hour flight.

Cammie's POV

It was 8:00pm and Bex was supposed to be here 2 hours ago. Where was she?

"Liz, have you got any way of contacting Bex given our mobiles wont work?" I asked.

"I've told you before, there's only comms and Bex might not even be wearing the cross necklace I gave her like yours." She replied exasperated.

"You know," said Macey. " You should really put the in lipsticks or something more useful because then you'd be more likely to carry it around." I glared at her.

"But," she continued ignoring my glare, "you could try the necklace anyway. You never know she might be wearing it."

Liz immediately started to set up the comms on her laptop and I got my necklace so we could sync it.

"Ready" Liz said.

"Right," I then spoke into the cross, "Duchess, come in."

Bex's POV

I sat at the window seat next to a sleeping old man in the middle and a workaholic on her laptop on the aisle. I had tried to think of a way to get from the airport to Gallagher because you can't really pull up at 10:00pm at Gallagher in a taxi! I heard this sound though coming from under me, I bent down and felt my necklace fall in front of me and my eyes widened. Of course! Comms! My saviour, I held it to my ear on the window side and pretended to look out of the window so no one would see my lips whispering into my necklace.

"Duchess, come in" I heard Cammie say.

"Chameleon, I'm on a plane to Virginia due to land at 9:35pm, can you guys-"

"Duchess are you okay? What's happening, why are you late?"

"Chameleon shut up, can you get me?"

"Don't tell me to shut up or I won't come and get you! Sure but what's happening?"

"I will tell you to shut up if I want to! I can't talk now or I'll get some weird looks but I'll see you soon and explain, got to go, bye."

Thank god for Liz and her insane techy skills, how the hell did she manage to sync my necklace with Cammie's when I'm like 100 miles away!

Macey's POV

I had just listened to Cammie and Bex's conversation grinning a bit at there bickering when I heard, come and get me. Cammie stopped talking and then looked at me.

"Guess we should go and commandeer a van again?" I said sighing as if it was a chore.

"Do we need disguises?" Liz asked. We turned to Cammie, disguises I guess were her department.

"Nah, we can walk to the secret passageway fine and then when were out no one will recognise us. We just need to be in normal clothes."

"Okay," Lix thought, " It takes 45 minutes to get to the airport, and…"

"14 minutes to get to and commandeer the van on our latest attempt." Cammie said.

"That means we only have, 15 minutes to get ready! God help me, right you two no complaining get undressed and put on whatever I tell you no questions asked." I ordered. God where was Bex when I needed her.

Cammie's POV

By the time Macey had finished with us I was wearing leggings and a long t-shirt from Abercrombie with converse. Liz had on ¾ lengths with a blue vest top and a cardy and Macey was wearing a mini skirt with lights and a pink vest top and a long see through cardy. We all had flawless make-up and hair done up in pony's or just down as I had told Macey that there was no way she was giving me some posh up do because then I couldn't be all chameleon-y.

I carefully pulled aside the Gallagher family tree and lead the others down the passage way then out the garage where Macey broke into the van. We drove quickly and got there early so we went into some shops to buy sugary supplies for the year and also Macey bought the whole new make-up line from Channel which came out yesterday and she hadn't been able to buy yet, shock-horror…

Finally we went to the arrivals lounge and waited for Bex to come out.

Bex's POV

I purposefully hadn't turned my phone on when we had landed in Virginia because I knew that there would be around fifty voice mails from my parents demanding to know where the hell I was although I was pretty sure they knew where I was. I walked straight out since I didn't have any baggage and then it hit me. Well they hit me. God they could run fast.

I just about fell over as Macey, Liz and Cammie ran and hugged me all demanding details but knowing I couldn't say anything in the airport for everyone to here. We went back to the van where I told them about the 'New Generations' speech my parents had planned for me to give, all of them understood my dilemma. Liz who would have been too shy, Macey who had to give hundreds of speeches and hated it because her dad was running for vice-president and Cammie because she hated being seen.

We arrived at school and snuck back in to be met by Mr Solomon who had been waiting by the door for what looked like a while because he looked incredibly bored.

"You took your time ladies." Was all he said then motioned for us to follow him to Ms Morgan's office.