Preston

Saturday January 19

4:19 AM

I had woken up in the middle of the night with a strong desire to see Macy, and since my father was the President of the United States of America, I was able to call a driver and get myself on a flight to Virginia.

I arrived a little after four in the morning and rented a car to drive to the Gallagher Academy for exceptional young ladies, to kidnap the Vice-Presidents daughter.

I was tired of not knowing what was between us. I was never sure if she loved me or hated me, if we were together or enemies, if she was my friend or my girlfriend. So we were going to go out for breakfast, and then we were going to talk.

Of course, Macy McHenry was awfully particular about the proper time to be woken up on a Saturday, so I brought her a present. I don't know why they call diamonds a girl's best friend, when they have provided more help to guys since the beginning of time.

The sun began to rise as I parked outside the walls, staring at the gates.

This is where my genius plan had ended, I had no idea how to actually get inside and find Macy.

I wasn't a Blackthorn boy; I didn't have the skills to secretly enter one of the most secure places in the country, if not the world.

If I were Zach Goode, I would be clever enough to sneak in, if I were Jonas Smith, I would be able to hack into the mainframe and disengage the security systems. If I were Grant Samson, I'd be able to goad Bex into coming out personally to kick my ass,

But no, I was Preston Winters, one of the most accomplished and successful kids in the country, if you believed the New York Times (which I did). But none of that meant shit, because I lacked the skills that would get me inside the mansion.

I got out of the car and slapped the hood in frustration (because that fixed everything).

I was about to give up and start the long journey back, when I saw Rebecca Baxter (AKA Bex) running around the perimeter of the school.

"Hey! Hey Bex!" I called jogging up to the gate.

She shot me a look and stopped, crossing her arms over her sweat soaked sports bra; it was all she wore, over nylon leggings, in the middle of January, in the snow. She raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you have, like a million bodyguards or something?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I figured you didn't want 'like a million bodyguards' to know all about this place."

"You shouldn't know about this place." She pointed out.

"My dad leaves confidential files on the table." I said, not about to tell anyone that Macy had told me all about this place, even if it was one of her best friends.

Bex cocked her head to the side. "You're pretty good at lying, you'll be a good politician one day."

I gave her my campaign smile. "Yep that's the one," she muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, did you want something?"

I swallowed, "Could you get Macy?"

She nodded, "I could."

I let out the breath I'd been holding. "Great would you give her- you're not going to get her, are you?"

"Nope." Bex popped the P and narrowed her eyes at me. "You're smarter then you look."

"So I've been told." I replied wearily. "Why wont you get her? I want to take her to breakfast."

Bex re-crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her other foot. The cold was finally affecting her. ""You obviously don't know her very well if you think she's awake at- "Bex squinted at the rising sun "-five thirty in the morning."

"I pulled off my coat and handed it through the bars to Bex. "I know her well enough to have brought her- well its in the pocket now." I nodded at the coat she had yet to take.

She eyed me suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you my coat. I have a heated car right there, and I was raised to be a gentlemen. Now will you please get Macy? She can tell me herself to go away."

Bex reached into the pocket and opened the black rectangle, eyes going wide. "Well, shit, Rich boy, she just might get up for this."

I rubbed my arms and bounced on my toes. "I'm counting on it."

Macy was pissed when she emerged from the gates thirty minutes later. "You do know what time it is, don't you?" she slammed to door of the car for emphasis.

Despite it only being around six in the morning, she looked as beautiful as she always did. She was dressed causally, in doodled-upon skinny jeans and a dark blue e cubed shirt.

"You look beautiful," I told her seriously, looking into her eyes so she'd know I meant it.

"That's not going to get you anywhere." She said crossly, but I could tell she was pleased. "What do you want?"

I didn't answer her question as I pulled away from the curve and drove to town. "Want breakfast? I want breakfast."

"I don't eat breakfast." She crossed her arms with a harrumph.

"Do you always lie in the morning? Cause I know with all the shit they make you do all day, you eat."

"Not at six am on a Saturday, you dirt bag!"

"You know," I told her conversationally "I've been called a lot of things in my life, talented, generous, maybe pretentious at times, but you're the first to call me a dirt bag, to my face, at least."

We pulled into the small ma and pa diner and I parked the car. We didn't speak again until we were seated at a shiny vinyl booth and the drowsy waitress served us the first cup of coffee of the day.

"So, are you ever going to tell me why you showed up on my doorstep and 5:30 this morning and brought me diamonds?" Macy asked, looking at me over the rim of her chipped cup.

I forced a smile as my stomach flipped; this was going to be hard to say. "My entire life," I started, "I've been told that one day I would be the president of the United Sates of America."

"So have I, and countless other children in this country." Macy commented.

"Shut up," I told her. "Anyway, it has always been my goal and that hasn't changed, as soon as I am eligible, I will put my name on the ballot, and I will win."

"What does that have to do with me?" Macy interrupted, again.

"Would you please shut your pretty mouth? I'm getting there." I snapped. I was going to lose my nerve if she interrupted me again. "I am going to be President, and you know the game as well as I do, and you'd be the perfect Presidents wife-"

"Are you trying to get me to marry you? Are you insane?"

"For the love of all that is holy, STOP TALKING!"

I took a deep breath. "I wasn't finished. No, I am not asking you to be my wife, I just want you to admit that we have something, and I want you to go out with me."

Sometime during my tirade, Macy had put her coffee on the table and was staring at me. "You don't ask many girls out do you?"

I stared back at her, not answering. "Cuz, like, usually, when a guy asks a girl out, he doesn't tell her she would be a great wife and to shut up, like, five times. Just an observation."

I cleared my throat. "It was only three times, and you're a bit intimidating, and I didn't want to lose my nerve."

"Oh, well as long as you know that," she muttered, "Fine, I'll go out with you, and that means you have to buy my coffee and take me home."

I smiled hugely, "Really? You will? Why do I have to take you back now?"

"Yes, really. You have to take me back because I have to talk to the girls. About you."

I put some money on the table and we walked back to the car, shrugging our coats back on. "Do you tell them everything? About me?"

"Yes."

We didn't speak much on the way home, but I held her hand, which was just starting to form calluses from holding a gun, was it wrong that I found that hot as hell?

"We're here," I told her lamely as we pulled up to the gate. Idiot.

"I see that," she said, a small smile on her face.

I leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to her mouth, "I'll call you." I told her, "Well, actually, I'll probably just show up."

She smiled for real this time, and stepped out of the car, then she leaned over and I opened the window so I could hear what she said. She leaned her elbows on the sill, "I'm glad you came." She said.

And then she walked away without looking back, and vanished into the school.