Invitation

I stare out the window sullenly as my friends bustle about. I tore my gaze from the view of the garden outside to each of my closest friends.

There's Bex. The tough girl. The girl no one wants to mess with. The girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind. Not to mention the girl who can kill you with just a nail file. So word of advice, don't mess with her or any of her friend.

There's Liz. The fragile one. The naive, innocent girl. Sweet, caring, thoughtful girl that still thinks the world is filled with good.

Macey. Her name says it all. She's a fashionista. The daughter of Senator McHenry and descendant of Gillian Gallagher. Sassy but loyal. Dangerous yet sexy.

Each of my friends have amazing quality. Except me.

I'm the Chameleon. I'm the girl no one notices. Aside from Josh but that's a completely different story. I'm the girl who can blend into the shadows and not get notice. That's an advantage for a spy. But I'm also a girl. There are things that even a spy can't hide from.

i.e. Ex-boyfriends who drank tea that has the memory to erase his memory of the last few hours. Ex-boyfriends who think you go to a snobby rich school. Ex-boyfriends who, now currently has himself a new girlfriend. It's depressing but when you're a spy, you put on a mask and act normal. You show braveness and not vulnerability. A skill I am clearly lacking.

"Cam!" Macey's shrill voice cut through my internal babble like the swords hanging in the library.

I look up at her with a dream-like quality. "What Mace?"

She studied me. Sure she's the Senator's daughter but she's also one hell of a spy. And one thing that spy is is that they can see through masks you worked so hard to built. "Is it about Zach?"

I adverted my eyes; a sign of weakness.

"Of course she is, Macey." Bex said loudly, her British accent blossoming after her summer in England. "I mean, the boy kissed her and went incognito. He hasn't contacted her; no email, texts, phone calls. It's dreary, really. And it's been what? Five years?"

We graduated two years ago but agreed to stay at the Academy for 'extra training'. Well, that was our legend anyways. Legends are like covers. The best spies can memorize her legend in just a few short minutes. In truth, we were here to protect the Alumni; it's a list of every single Gallagher girl in the globe. If it falls in the wrong hands, then our entire sisterhood is in jeopardy. There had been a few threats but besides that, everything was normal. Or as normal as it can be when we're spies.

I sighed audibly and turned back to my best friend. "I'm fine." I said firmly, lying to myself as well as my three closest friends.

"You're lying, Cammie." Liz chimed. "I can tell."

"Of course she is!" Bex repeated. "No one can be perfectly normal after a situation like hers."

I stood up and brush off a nonexistent lent and reaffirm my aforemention statement, "I'm fine."

Bex shrugged and pointed at the clock. "Shouldn't you be downstairs? In your mom's office? Sunday dinner? Any of that ring a bell?"

"I know! I'm going." I started toward the door but Macey's sing-song voice pulls me back.

"Cammie!"

"What Mace?"

"Look at these new designer boots!" She squeals and touch the magazine in her hand dreamily. "I have to have these!" She turns around to check her calender. "Damn! We don't go to town until next Friday!" She turns her attention to Liz. "What day is it now?"

Liz looks at her like she was crazy; which, when it comes to fashion. She might be. "It's Sunday."

Macey growls and close the magazine with a feathery slap and toss it aside. "Okay, if we sneak out then maybe - "

I laughed for the first time that day and interrupts, "No. We are not sneaking out of the school for a pair of shoes."

She pouts and amended, "They're designer shoes!"

I shook my head. "Sorry Mace. Remember the last time we snuck out for a new Halter top?" I giggled at the memory. Let's just say that when we returned, we were covered with grim and mud. Apparently, Macey hadn't factor that it was going to rain and we left the school with only shorts and tanks. None of us had thought to bring umbrellas.

She grins and said giddily. "It was fun!"

"Fun my ass!" Bex scowled; her face scrunched up with horror. "I had mud in my nails for weeks! Even Dr. Fibs's Quick Dirt Removal could get it out."

Macey retort with a clever comeback of her own and I left them to their debate, heading downstairs. I pass the foyer where paintings of Gillian Gallagher proudly hangs. The busts that contained more Nuclear bombs than the FBI could ever imagined, carefully walking around it incase it was sensor.

I guess it's kinda confusing. Our school may seem like a regular, snobby private school but trust me, it's nothing like that. Our school is a school, obviously. But it's for spies. Yep, we have teachers here that was involved with the CIA, the FBI, the USSS (United States Secret Service, which my aunt is now proudly apart of) that teaches spy trainings to potential girls. My mother happens to be our Headmistress. My father, well, let's just say he went on a mission a few years ago and vanished. No one has seen or heard from him. We assume he's dead.

See, centuries ago, Gilly was scorned and looked down by the boys who were training to be spies so she opened her own school for girls that wants to be spies, cleverly disguising its true form as the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women.

I rounded the corner and head into my mother's office. Every Sunday, in our attempt to be a normal family without dad and the fact that we're spies, my mother and I meet up every Sunday evening to have dinner and chat over little things. But today, when I entered, the joyous view that greeted me every other Sunday is no longer there. Instead, my mother was sitting on the couch, a plate of warm tacos and chicken broth sat on the coffee table. I frowned and close the door softly behind me. "Mom? What's going on?"

She motions for me to sit and I realize that in her hand, there was an envelope. It was champagne and on the front was my name emboss in gold, curly letters. My lips tightened and I sat down across from my frozen mother. "Mom?" I repeat. "What is that?"

"I-it's from Zach." She hands it to me with shaking hands and a sympathetic look. I gave a small smile and took it. The envelope itself is a little too gaudy for my taste but whatever. Any communication from Zach is enough for me.

I tore it open and was stunned. Inside was a thick card, with curly-Qs and fancy handwritings. I stared at it and then up at my mom who says, "You don't have to open it if you want to."

I shook my head and flip the card open. My mind was blank as I scanned it, unable to comprehend the content.

You have been invited to the wedding of:

Zachary Jared Goode

and

Justine Martin

at the Hamptons Hotel

on December 21, 2014 at 6:30

We look forward to seeing you there!

I look back at my mother. "He's getting marry."