Hey y'all! Here's the newest chapter of this fanfic…I apologize if it's kind of bad, hopefully it's not too awful. I hope you do like it though! :)
The handsome, tanned face of Grant emerged from the corner of the room. The low light made his cinnamon-toned skin glow even more than usual. Cammie thought Grant was attractive, but not really her type. He was a little too good-looking for her tastes. She noticed, with a smirk, that Bex's normally-composed face seemed to be blushing a little. Bex was so getting it later, especially about her earlier remarks on Zach. That made her fume a bit as she thought about it. She most certainly did not like him. Even if his eyes were dreamy. And his hair was gorgeous. And his skin-
Ok, that was enough. Maybe she did like him. But only a little.
She turned her gaze to the other boy, a little bit behind Grant. He had messy, wavy bright red hair, large glasses, and light blue eyes. Cammie thought he was cute, in a puppy-dog sort of way, but she saw Liz looking down at the ground, tapping her feet nervously. She couldn't help but giggle. What had gotten into her friends?
"So," Zach said, clapping his hands together decisively. "Everyone know each other?" Despite attending classes together, the girls and boys of Gallagher Academy and Blackthorne Institute hadn't talked much.
There was silence. Nobody seemed ready to disclose any information to the others.
Macey, who had been off to the side shoving guac into her mouth, a little pile of crumbs at her feet, groaned and said, "Fine. If you're going to be that afraid to talk to someone of the opposite gender, I'll go first. Macey McHenry, sixteen, the daughter of two of the worst people on this planet. Any questions?"
Everyone shook his or her heads resolutely. You didn't mess with Macey McHenry.
Bex, not one to being outdone, cleared her throat and said in her rich, slightly accented voice, "Bex Baxter. And if I ever catch you using Rebecca, you'll be flat on the ground before you can finish." She gave a toss of her hair, and then smiled flirtily, "Well, except for you Grant. You go right ahead."
Grant gave Bex a wink back. "Grant Sanders. Sophomore, spy…and single." Grant's eyes flickered for a second to Bex, who giggled in a most un-Bex way.
Then, there was a pause for a few seconds as every waited to see who would go next. Then, in the exact same moment, Liz and Jonas both started talking. They both blushed furiously. Jonas gave a light cough, and said, shyly, "Ladies first," Meanwhile, Macey rolled her eyes. "Ok, enough cute! If you guys want to stare into each other's eyes dreamily, be my guest, but I've got some amazing guacamole I'd like to finish by this spring."
Liz, now the color of a firetruck, started speaking softly, "Well…I'm Liz Sutton. And…I guess I'm okay at school." Cammie nearly rolled her eyes at Liz's modesty. Okay at school? That was probably the biggest understatement of the century.
Jonas shyly spoke, his voice cracking slightly. "Jonas Thompson. Basically…what Liz said." Then he averted his eyes to the ground, which was actually quite good, because Liz looked like she was about to have a heart attack that he had said her name.
Cammie's eyes turned to Zach, who was looking at her with an unreadable expression. It was one she had never seen on him before, and something about it made her heart beat quicker. Even after years of learning to read facial expressions, she couldn't tell what lay hidden behind his green eyes. However, before she could look any more, Zach turned away and spoke to the group, his normal, easygoing tone in place, like nothing had happened a second before. "Zachary Goode. Well…I'm a spy." That was all he said, and nobody seemed to question his abnormally short description but Cammie as he turned to her expectantly.
Cammie ran a hand though her hair as she spoke. "I'm Cammie, and I go to Gallagher." Everyone seemed to wait for more, but she stood there silently, indicating she was finished. If Zach wasn't going to give a good description, neither was she.
"So," Bex said, to break the silence that had formed. "Let's get this party started!" She then did a very bad impression of Fergie, which made everyone groan. Bex's (awful) impersonations were world-renowned. After she was done, nobody clapped except for Grant, who gave a round of applause.
Zach's auburn curls lazily fell over his brow as he got up from where he had been sitting on one of the beanbags. "I have an awesome idea on what we should do. It's a game that is played only by the most highly-skilled people…Murder in the Dark!"
Cammie snorted. "Seriously, Murder in the Dark? That's a game that first-graders play at birthday parties. Really, Goode?"
Zach gave her an ominous expression, much unlike the one he usually wore. "Do not mock it, Morgan! Along with our other excellent curriculum at Blackthorne, besides learning full combat, and being very good-looking," (Zach gave a dashing smile while Cammie rolled her eyes.) "We also are highly-trained in the art of Murder in the Dark." He paused for a second, a contemplative expression on his face. "Well, if you think about, it's not just figuratively, but also literally. In fact-"
Cammie rubbed her temples. "Seriously Goode, just either shut up or move on!"
Everyone turned and looked at her. She gave an slightly embarrassed cough, and then said, remembering all her lessons with Madame Dabney, she said, in a sweet voice that only her best friends would know as her sarcastic one, "Ok, Zach, will you please shut up and move on?"
Liz gave a short, tinkling laugh as Cammie waited for Zach to respond. "Whoa, you must really hate this kid if you give him the fake voice…"
"But…" Bex said in a high-pitched singsong voice.
"Oh no," Cammie muttered, "here it comes…"
Together, in chorus, they said, "You know what they say…'Love and hate…both feelings of strong emotions'…"
Bex snickered. "And I think we all know what feelings you have…for Zachie-poo!"
Cammie gave them a look that burned more than Dr. FIbb's heat-seeking missiles, before she said with a slight cough, and one more warning glace to her roommates, "So Zach…you were umm…saying?"
Zach seemed like he hadn't heard a thing, but he gave Cammie a curious glance before he began speaking again. "So…you all know how it's played, right? One person's the murdered, one's the detective, and the rest are poor, innocent bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time-"
Cammie gave Zach an impatient look. "We know, Goode! Get on with it al-"
Zach put up a warning hand, as though he was a professor dealing with ignorant, inept students. "Hold on Gallagher Girl. Let me explain."
Then, with a hint of his usual, wry smiles, he said, "There's the normal version of Murder in the Dark…and then there's the Zachary Goode version. I'm pretty sure you've never heard anything like mine…"
And with that, the explanations began. By the time that Zach was done explaining, everyone involved groaned. It was going to be a very interesting time…but then again, when the Gallagher Girls and Blackthorne Boys were together, it always was.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to be better at updating! Also, please review, follow, and favorite. Come back next time for more Gallagher Girls craziness!
