Rebuilding
Chapter Two: Zach (Part One)
I tightly clutched my books as I walked down the halls of Gallagher for the millionth time. I pulled down my skirt a bit and scratched my leg, covered by my annoying tights. It was cold inside the Academy despite the heating vents on just about every corner. What else would you expect from the first of December?
Crowds of girls passed by, engulfing me in a sea of blouses and plaid skirts. Of course, there was one attendee of The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women who thankfully wasn't wearing a plaid skirt, who also passed by me without a second glance. I sighed sadly; wishing things were back to normal –maybe even back to sophomore year. Everything was different then.
I walked through the narrow door and into History of Espionage, where the fourteen other girls and one boy made up the senior class at Gallagher. I took my usual seat next to Macey and in front of Bex (who was now talking to me) and behind Liz. I pretended not to see Zach slid into the seat next to me, but of course I did. Give the spy some credit.
Class was over quickly, with a lecture on how Amelia Earhart attended the Gallagher Academy, explaining how when she "mysteriously disappeared" she really landed in a CIA database. As if it wasn't obvious.
I was walking out of the door when a sharp poke stabbed my side. I felt around my skirt, finally feeling a piece of something in my skirt pocket. I pulled it out and smiled. Pink Evapopaper… classic Zach move. I opened the note carefully, enjoying every second of it. I've deeply missed these beloved notes, which I forgot I loved until just now.
"Hey Gallagher Girl. Haven't talked to you in a while.
Can you meet me in your favorite passageway at 4:11 pm?"
I smiled even bigger as I read his boyish scrawl. I've missed it. I've missed him.
Why am I like this? Since when did I miss Zach?
I suppose I wasn't that girl anymore –the one who wished Zach would just leave me alone. Now, I was the one who ran away and didn't come back.
I just wanted Zach back… no matter how annoying he is.
Maybe he can change me.
I went to Macey and got a translation at Lunch.
"Hey Cam!" she said too-happily as she fingered her fork and twisted it around her dressing-free salad (which she still had every day, but at least she paired it with thick soup and bread.) and looked at me.
"Are you okay Mace?" I asked suspiciously as her icy blue eyes glinted mysteriously.
"Yes… but Liz did a new experiment on me. Something about sugar affecting your coordination… am I okay?" she asked me.
"You let Liz do an experiment on you?" I shouted. I love Liz… but you do not want her to test you when an experiment was in the prototype phase. Not a good thing, I tell you.
"Cammie, shh! Can you just tell me what you need? I wanna go get one of those desserts!" she whined. Macey almost never eats dessert. Liz was in some serious trouble… she was going to have to deal with Macey after her sugar high. And I was so not helping.
"Can you translate this for me? Please?" I asked her as I shoved the note at her. A smirk grew on her face as she read it.
"Ah, sophomore year memories. Hmm… oh, okay. Yeah, I know what it means."
"Well… will you tell what it means…?" I prompted impatiently.
"Not until you get me some of that crème brûlée!" she sing-songed to me. I groaned, but walked over to the dessert table, eager to get the note translated. I brought Macey back the biggest one they had.
"Thank god, I was starving!"
"You're welcome. Now can you tell me?"
"Oh, right. Translation: I miss you. And depending on what happens in the passageway, it could mean I love you." She said as she munched nonchalantly on her French pastry.
"Whoa…"
"Yup. Now leave." She waved me away, continuing to chew her crème brûleé. I glared at her. "Alright, I love you. Now leave."
I rolled my eyes and walked away. I checked my internal clock. 12:49 pm. Only 3 hours and 51 minutes.
I fiddled with my hands until as the clock ticked away in the Countries of the World classroom, picking away at the pink nail polish Macey had painted on my fingernails yesterday. I tapped my foot on the ground lightly as Mr. Smith wrote on the chalkboard.
"Ms. Morgan, is there a problem?" he asked me without turning around.
"Um… no, sir. I'm sorry… I'll stop." I managed to say.
"Yes, please do. I hate disruptions in my class."
"Yes sir."
He continued on with the lesson, telling us about the various climates of northeastern Asia and what kind of weapons would work there. I was listening, but not paying attention. I could borrow the notes from Liz later… that is, if I wanted to know word-for-word what Mr. Smith said throughout the class period. With time frames, pictures and a video and vocal recording. I have absolutely no idea how she gets those. But then again, Liz may be the smallest, but she is definitely the most lethal Gallagher Girl of us all.
"Class dismissed." He finally said. I bolted out of the room, but still saw Mr. Smith laughing and shaking his head from behind his desk.
I kept running.
It was 3:47:35 exactly, and Macey wanted to primp me up for my "date" with Zach. We have free period until 5:00, which was dinner time. I opened the door to my dorm room, collapsing on the ground, out of breath. I was soon shot up by someone grabbing my arm.
Bex.
"Bloody hell, Cam! Why didn't I know about this "date" of yours? And to think… I thought we were best friends!" Bex screamed, her accent thick. I laughed as she stood me up roughly.
"Bex! I know you are not wrinkling Cam's outfit! You know for a fact I will-"
"Okay, Macey! Good god, I didn't even do anything! Why am I always treated like the bloody idiot…?"
"Guys… please stop yelling. I am trying to do homework over here!"
"Liz, you always do homework!"
And this is how it usually went on in dorm room 215.
"Girls, please! Are you going to get me ready or not? Because I will leave!" I screamed. Everyone quieted down and looked at me.
"Fine. Cameron Ann Morgan, go get another uniform on now. That one is as dirty as…Anyways, Bex, get the straightener out. Liz, could you get me some candy please? You're the one that got me on this sugar high, I'm going to gain at least five freaking pounds before the day is over, I swear!"
We all looked at Macey, who was on a serious rant.
"But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop eating it." She stated smugly.
We all burst out laughing. It was good to have my sisters back.
"Do I really have to change? It only has one stain on it! One! And my only clean one is in my mom's closet!" I whined.
"Uh… why?" Liz asked curiously.
"Because I try to avoid everything in there." I said truthfully as Macey rolled her eyes and Bex shook her head.
"Go get it now." Macey said, practically growling at me. I backed away.
"Alright, alright, I will!" I said. I opened the door again and walked out. I hurried to my mom's office and tapped lightly on the door. It opened not a second later, and my mom looked at me.
Her black hair was as dark as midnight and glossy as ever, and her supermodel figure was a bit thinner and longer. I looked around her office.
I haven't been in there in a while.
"Oh, hi, Mom. I was just wondering if I could come in and borrow that uniform I have in here…." I asked cautiously. Things between my mom and I have been… weird lately.
"Oh, sure kiddo. Just come in and grab it –you know where it is, right?" she asked, not waiting for my reply as she walked to her kitchenette.
"So, Cams, I was wondering… are we still having dinners on Sunday? You haven't come over in a while, so I didn't know when to ask you…" she prompted as I looked through her closet.
"Sure! I can't wait, Mom." I chirped excitedly. My mother grinned.
"Good, good. So… how are things… with Zach?" she said, with her grin so wide it covered her entire face. My cheeks burned as I tried to hide my face in her clothes. No use lying to my mom.
"Uh, fine. I'm going to, uh, meet him soon actually."
"Oh… like a date?" she said excitedly.
"No!" I said a little too defensively. "I mean, it's not a date. We're not dating."
"So why do you need the uniform?"
"Um, Macey protocol." I said as I reached out and grabbed the hanger in the back of the closet, which held a neatly pressed uniform with a non-wrinkled blouse and a stain-free skirt.
"Cammie, just be-"
"Uh, got to go, Mom! Bye!" I said as I made my way to the door.
"Okay." She sighed. "Have fun, kiddo. I love you."
"Love you too!" I said before I shut the door. I sighed and walked away.
"Hey, Squirt. What's with the new uniform?" a voice from behind me said. I turned around to face none other than Abigail Cameron –or to some, Aunt Abby.
"Hi Aunt Abby… Oh, this? Nothing." I said a little too quickly. I was getting sloppy. Abby grinned.
"Oh... I get it. Hot date?" she asked as she cocked a hip and raised an eyebrow.
"Now Aunt Abby, this is an all-girls school. Exactly who would I be going on a date with?" I prompted her. No use lying at this point –she already knew.
"Uh, duh…your boyfriend… remember him? Zach?" She teased. I blushed.
"Zach is not my boyfriend." I said truthfully. Abby rolled her eyes.
"Squirt, when you've kissed someone more than 8 times and two of those times were public… that kind of means you're taken. Trust me."
"We have not kissed more than eight times!" I protested. It was no use.
"Cammie, sweetie… I think you have." She said, gently touching my shoulder. I glared at her.
"We'll we're not dating, so what does it matter?" I said too defensively. A sharp pain went through my heart. I held back a tear.
"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry Squirt. I didn't mean to… I know it's… I just… you know, when he asks you to be his girlfriend today, can you tell him I said that if he hurts you, I'll personally kill him? With the help of Bex, Macey, Joe, and Rachel, of course." She winked at me. I laughed sarcastically.
"Oh, please. Like he's actually going to ask me to be his girlfriend…He does not like me!"
"You're right, Squirt." She said. I got a little hurt at that. I knew there was a fat chance Zach would actually want to be my boyfriend, but she didn't have to rub it in. "He doesn't like you –he loves you."
I looked up at her –but she had already walked away.
"Ouch, Macey!" I said as she pulled at my hair, which was quickly regaining its length. I cursed under my breath in French.
"Whoa, Cam! Watch the French!" Bex said, as if she was the innocent one. Psh, that girl's mouth was like a cursing machine.
"Like you do!" I shot back at her.
"True dat." Macey agreed. Bex rolled onto her stomach from the spot she was laying in, and propped her head with her hands.
"I suppose you're right. But that doesn't make it okay." She sang to me. I glared.
"Guys, guys! Please!" begged a small voice coming from the corner of the room. Liz looked at us with gentle warning and everyone stopped.
"So anyways," Macey started. She wasn't one to be silently awkward for long. "I was trying to help this seventh grader, and she totally snapped at me! If she wasn't my sister, I think I would've slapped her."
"I would've too, all the things she said to you!" Bex agreed.
"I know… but I just cooled down. I mean, she's just a seventh grader... It's not like she really knows the ropes yet. I get it –but geez, did she have to snap at me?" Macey exclaimed.
"Can I please be done now?" I asked Macey. She took a good look at me, perfecting all of the imperfections and blemishes I had.
"There." She said as she straightened my collar.
I looked in the mirror. I stood there wearing a neatly pressed and stain-free uniform with straightened hair. My make-up was light –mascara with a bit of eyeliner and gloss. Not overly gunky. I smiled.
I looked simple.
I looked plain.
I looked me.
"Wow, Mace. I actually look… like myself." I said. Macey rolled her eyes.
"I do know how to do that, you know." She replied. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.
Bex shoved me. "Get out of here, girl! It's almost time for your date…"
"Alright, alright, I'm going! Love you too…" I mumbled.
"Cameron, we went over this! I do love you, but you need to get out!" Macey said as I pushed out of the door. She shut it behind me and I heard her walk away.
Sighing, I walked to the North Wing. I reached for the Gallagher Family tapestry and lifted it up to reveal a –no, the Gallagher Family crest (which is the same crest I have on my necklace) and titled it to the right. The wall opened to reveal a passageway I had discovered in seventh grade. I smiled at the thought.
Everything was so simple then –even if I thought it was complicated.
"Gallagher Girl?" a voice asked from my left. I looked over as Zach emerged from the darkness. "I knew it was you." he smiled.
"Hey, Blackthorne Boy. So what did you call me in here for… to have a friendly chat? Because I could be –"
"Well, I guess that if you really have to leave, I can have Chef Louis' crème brûleé all by myself."
"From lunch?"
"The very place." He said. He walked over to the room located in the passageway if you made two rights and a left. He sat down at the table with two plates of deliciousness at the seats.
"Well… I suppose I could spare a few minutes of my precious time." I teased. Zach smirked.
"Precious time, huh?" Zach questioned. I sat down at the table. "If time was so precious, we both know you wouldn't be here, Gallagher Girl."
He knows me too well.
"No… I just wanted to make you feel good." I lied. "Madame would fail me on my manners if I blew you off."
"Oh she would, would she? Well, then I guess you passed."
"I guess I did."
We just sat there. Literally. No talking. No contact whatsoever. It was… in a word….
Awkward.
"Hey, Zach?" I asked him after a few minutes. He looked up at me and wiped crème brûleé crumbs off of his face.
"Yeah Gallagher Girl?"
"This is really weird… but… well, you see, I was talking to Abby today and she, uh… she…" I trailed off.
"She what?" he questioned.
"Um…"
"Aw… was Gallagher Girl talking about me?"
"No!" I said quickly. He smirked.
"Well, how 'bout this –we can watch it. Just tell me where you were." He said, gesturing to the door leading to the security area.
Which I forgot about.
I really, really, really am getting sloppy. I need a CoveOps lesson…like, now.
"Sure… we were in the West Wing… about an hour and 23… no, 24 minutes ago." I answered. He nodded and moved over to the security area. I followed suit, watching him punch in the date, time, and place.
A picture of Abby and I popped onto the screen. Zach clicked on it and watched with a smirk.
"Hey, Squirt. What's with the new uniform?"
"Hi Aunt Abby… Oh, this? Nothing." Abby grinned.
"Oh... I get it. Hot date?" Abby cocked a hip and raised an eyebrow.
"Now Aunt Abby, this is an all-girls school. Exactly who would I be going on a date with?"
"Uh, duh…your boyfriend… remember him? Zach?" I saw myself blush. Then I blushed. Zach's smirk only grew.
"Zach is not my boyfriend." Abby rolled her eyes.
"Squirt, when you've kissed someone more than 8 times and two of those times were public… that kind of means you're taken. Trust me."
"We have not kissed more than eight times!"
"Cammie, sweetie… I think you have." Abby touched my shoulder.
"We'll we're not dating, so what does it matter?"
"Oh, gosh… I'm sorry Squirt. I didn't mean to… I know it's… just… you know, when he asks you to be his girlfriend today, can you tell him I said that if he hurts you, I'll personally kill him? With the help of Bex, Macey, Joe, and Rachel, of course." She winked at me.
"Oh, please. Like he's actually going to ask me to be his girlfriend…He does not like me!"
"You're right, Squirt…He doesn't like you –he loves you."
Zach stopped the video when he saw me walk away on screen. He looked at me.
"You know… your Aunt… she's not a liar."
"What do you mean? I'm telling you, we have not kissed more than eight times!" I protested. "Okay look, there was only end of sophomore year, that time in junior year –okay, so there was multiple times in junior year… and then this year… that only makes seven!"
"Gallagher Girl, not that." He smirked. "Wait… you remember every time we've kissed?" he looked at me. I looked at the ground. "That's a lot of times, Gallagher Girl."
"Hey!"
"Fine, fine. Anyways, I mean… Abby? She wasn't lying when she said those things. She's right."
"Right about…?"
"Everything. Well, except for the more than eight times thing."
"So… you were going to ask me to… you know…?"
"Maybe." He shrugged. "Honestly, Gallagher Girl… being make-out buddies is kind of like being boyfriend and girlfriend. We already kind of act like it."
"We are not make-out buddies!"
"Whatever you say, Gallagher Girl." Zach said. He stepped closer to me. I was trapped between a wall and Zach. "Whatever you say."
He pressed his lips to mine. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I put mine around his neck. He pulled back.
"Zach?" I asked him.
"Yeah?"
"Why were you avoiding me? First, you avoid me like the plague. Then, you and Bex spontaneously become best friends. And now, you just kissed me. And I'm going to admit that I'm really confused." I spilled. He looked me in the eyes.
"I'm sorry, Cam. But after you left… I went searching. For days. Nonstop -24/7. Cammie… I went crazy. I'm so sorry. Please, Cam. Gallagher Girl… just please never leave me again. Take me with you. Why didn't you take me with you?" he answered. He closed his eyes and hugged me tightly, like he would never let go.
And he never did.
I know what you're all thinking –yes, this is two parts. I feel like I didn't quite finish it off like I wanted to, but I liked this ending.
This was pretty long, so the Part Two will probably be shorter. Sorry to leave you all on a cliffhanger, but I just had to.:)
Check out my other stories… Enchanted (which is now completed! Eeek!), Meet Me By The Lockers(also complete), The Damage Is Done, Stay With Me, Eyes Open(complete), The Nightmares, and In The Elevator.
Review for me.:)
And of course, the usual thanks to violets-are-violets, my beta. Used to be known as topXsecret. Check her out. Oh… speaking of, we have a joint account now! Spanishviolets! Author alert us… we'll be bringing a story out to the public soon;)
