Chapter 3

Authors Note

Hey Guys. I just wanted to thank all of you for reading and liking my story. I used to not like writing so it's a surprise when someone says you're good at something you used to hate. I will try to upload a new chapter each day but of course, those are high expectations because its summer! Once I go back to school, (19 days, 18 hours, and 27 minutes: P ), I might be a little slow in updating. But hang in there, I will not give up. BTW the cover image for this story is one I found on google, and I think that's what my imagination thinks Zach looks like. And If you guys have any ideas for the story, PM them to me and I might use them. Thanks again! - R

The rest of the Welcome Back dinner was exactly how you would expect. Mom rattled off some more protection laws for the mansion since I had managed to sneak out multiple times last year. There were now fingerprint scanners for our rooms that could be accessed to check if we were in our rooms. There were new security cameras every 10 feet hidden amongst the relics in the hallways.

As I walked past the sophomore common rooms, I spied Mary Johansen showing off her scars from catapulting into the Louvre during a heist. Normally, I would be impressed that a girl with such little field training had managed to capture 3 criminals, but I couldn't take my mind off of Zach. How could he not be coming to Gallagher? I thought he liked me as much as I liked him. I guess I was wrong and it was all in my imagination. Even when he had kissed me last year. It had felt so genuine, so real. But it was his job to lie. He was a spy after all.

I turned the corner and almost bumped into Bex, Liz and Macey.

"Oh, hey Cam… what's up?" Liz said defensively. Bex turned to Macey and shared a look.

"Guys, what's wrong? Where are you going?" I asked. We always spent the night before the first day of classes talking about our summer, no matter what happened, they were always honest with me. But at this moment, it felt as if I was a mile away in their thoughts.

"Um… We were going to say high to the guys. I have been, umm, meaning to show Jonas my new anti-malware," Liz spoke softly. "Can we reschedule our girls' night for tomorrow?"

I couldn't believe it. The boys have been here for two hours and they were already first priority for my friends. I felt betrayed, but wasn't going to tell them that. They shouldn't miss out on spending time with the guys just because Zach wasn't here and I would be alone. I couldn't do that to them.

"Oh yeah, sure, I'll meet up with you guys later."

"Cammie, you can always come with u..." Liz was interrupted by Bex elbowing her.

"Actually, Cammie, we don't want to make you feel awkward if Zach's not there. Maybe you should just stay in the room" Bex spoke lightly.

I felt hurt. I couldn't believe what Bex was saying.

"Umm, sure. See you guys." I walked past them towards our room. Well, I surely can't feel worse. I heard them laughing behind me and managed to hold back tears. I walked into the room, not noticing the red light coming from the fingerprint scanner along with a System Override message. If I had noticed, I might have been prepared for the hands that suddenly clasped over my mouth and my eyes.

I fought with the intruder, punching and kicking the air behind them. I punched and made contact with what felt like an upper arm. The last thing I expected was to hear was, "Ouch Gallagher Girl."

The darkness began to disappear as the hands lifted. I turned to face Zach who was rubbing his arm smirking.

"ZACH!" I screamed, flailing my arms at him.

"I can't tell if your happy to see me or not." Zach laughed.

At this moment I didn't either. I had so many questions.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in? Why weren't you at the Welcome Dinner?" I rattled off.

"I came with the other guys, I just wanted to surprise you so I asked your mom if I could skip the Welcome Dinner to set up in here. And your roommates, well Liz, hacked the scanner so I could come in. And just so you know, one of these days, you will actually hurt me."

I didn't know what bothered me more. The fact that our new fingerprint "safety" measures were not Liz-proof or the fact that my mom knew Zach and I were alone up here. Then it all came into place. That's why Bex, Liz and Macey didn't want me to come with them. They knew Zach was waiting for me. I made a mental note to give them each a big hug.

That's when I finally looked around and realized Zach had set up an indoors picnic. The cliché red checkered blanket, a picnic basket with a baguette on top. I smiled a sincere smile and looked at Zach. His broad shoulders slumped as if he had just released all of his worries, which for Zach is a big deal. His hair was messed up in all the right places. He looked perfect.

"Come, sit down Gallagher Girl." He motioned towards the blanket and I took a seat. He took the seat beside me and handed me a glass of lemonade. He reached into the basket and pulled out two plastic plates and a bag of M&M's. At this point, any other girl would have been so confused, but I couldn't believe my eyes. Zach smiled as he realized what I was thinking about. I thought back to the day I had met Zach. It was during a CoveOps exercise at the mall, I was trying to get to Dorothy's slippers and a boy kept following me. And when I had told him about being hungry, he had pulled out a half-eaten bag of M&Ms. I couldn't help but laugh at the memory. This was a new side to Zach, sweet and not cocky.

"So Gallagher Girl, how was your summer?" he asked while popping a green M&M in his mouth.

"It was okay, I spent most of it with my grandparents pulling carrots and shearing lambs. What about you?"

"Not too exciting, just some spy stuff near Brazil and then the Pentagon" He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. He smiled up to me. I looked into his green eyes, full of care and bravery. His hand started towards my face. I froze, unable to do anything but look at him moving closer to me. His hand brushed against my ear as he slid a strand of my hair behind my ear. He looked like he was thinking, and then slowly, he leaned in. My breath hitched as his face came inches away from mine. I started to close my eyes, when I was brought back to reality by a loud, screeching siren and the lights turning off. I was enveloped by the blackness and Zach reached for my hand. And then we heard the words.

"CODE BLACK CODE BLACK CODE BLACK CODE BLACK."