a/n: THANKS FOR ALL THE ALERTS AND THE FAVES AND THE REVIEWS, GUYS! YOU'RE ALL UBER AWESOME! :D

disclaimer: i am not awesome enough to own the GG series.

Dedicated to Tangy; just that small mention of LYKY was the birth of this fic.

More Than Meets The Eye

Chapter One

"You're going on a what?!"

Bex, Liz, and Macey were wide-eyed. I would too if I were being told to pack my bags, get on a plane, fly across the country, spend a few months—maybe even a whole school year!—there, AND figure out who's behind an abduction at a seemingly unsuspecting high school. Oh wait, I WAS being told all that.

Mom oh so conveniently dropped a bomb on me on the last day of summer. I know she gave me life, but… Is she out to get me?! She told me there's something "fishy" going on at this school in San Francisco, to "get to the bottom of this," and I have a partner I'll meet on the plane over there. Don't bother asking for more details, I don't have any.

"A mission," I muttered in reply.

"An actual mission," Bex said corrected, obviously overjoyed.

"Been on plenty of those," I said, remembering last year.

"To California," Liz added, just as jubilant as Bex.

I waved my hand nonchalantly.

"To a co-ed high school." Macey smirked.

Which means, boys. I like the opposite sex as much as the next teenage girl, but they've been nothing but trouble since last September.

"Guys!" I moaned, staring at them aghast. "How can you be excited about this?"

"For one thing, it's pretty exciting," Bex replied. She's my best friend, but she isn't exactly the right girl to go to when you're frustrated with what's probably the most important could-be mission of your life and she's all for it. She lives for that kind of stuff.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," Liz said, dreamy like. I bet she'd take a plane to the Golden State any time if it meant studying whatever it is that goes on over there. "This could be the mission that gets you started. You might get discovered!"

I couldn't help but snort. Get discovered by whom? Let alone get discovered. Who discovers a chameleon, someone who blends in with the shadows? That's what I thought, no one. Besides, if you're going to get "discovered" as a spy, the best place to do it is at the Gallagher Academy FOR SPIES. And the only way to enroll in the school is to either A) be a daughter of spy legacies and be all-around good in academics and athletics. Or B) have a brilliant intelligent mind. But that last one has only happened once, and that's Liz.

"Don't forget about the boys," Macey reminded us.

I rolled my eyes. "Never would have slipped my mind, especially not on the five hour plane ride across the country to a city where I know no one!"

"What about your partner?"

"Like I know who she is! Mom would have told me." I threw my hands in the air in frustration.

The three of them shared a very brief look, so brief it was almost like it didn't happen. I eyed them suspiciously. "What?"

"Nothing!" Liz said a little too quickly. "It's just that…"

"Cammie, you're going on a mission and you're not jumping for joy," Bex saved her.

"You'd think that's the normal reaction to news like that at a school like this," Macey said.

"I'm not ready to go on a mission! I barely passed CoveOps last year!"

"You are ready for a mission and you did pass, with flying colors!" Bex assured me. Liz and Macey gave me reassuring looks.

I looked at them all—remembering how they had my back throughout our sophomore year—and it finally sunk in. "I won't see you guys for weeks."

"Don't be silly," Liz chuckled. "We have web-cams, we can talk whenever you want. The time difference won't be a problem."

"You know what I mean."

We fell silent. It was a comfortable silence.

Liz—the softest in our little group—broke the stillness. "We'll miss you," she whispered quietly. And, you know how in the movies, when someone is about to leave-slash-abandon the others, there's a teary good-bye?

Well, that's not how Gallagher Girls do it.

: : : :

a/n: was everyone in character? i'm not so sure. "/ please tell me your thoughts, please.

anywho, hopefully that'll tide you guys over for awhile.