"Cammie?" He waited as she stared off at the mirror where her family and friends were sitting, but he knew she couldn't see them.
"Cammie?" She continued to stare and he had to wonder if she knew that she was staring exactly where Zach sat, "Cammie!"
She finally looked at him, or more accurately, through him, "Are you okay, Cammie?"
She blinked, seeming to come out of her dreamlike - no, nightmare-like- state, and looked behind her at the corner, as if she expected somebody to be there. When there was no one, she scanned the wall one more time before turning back to Mr. Solomon.
"You were going to tell me about Grant and Jonas?"
"What about them?"
"How you...started working with them?"
"Grant tackled me."
"He tackled you?"
"Oh, yeah. He doesn't do subtle. After I left the office I felt someone following me and I was the only one on the street so I tried losing it in one of the stores on the street." She laughed, "The woman who was manninfpg it took one look at me and said 'uh, uh. We're closed' and shooed me out as quick as she could, so I took off running down the street.
"Next thing I know, I'm getting slammed to the ground. I got two good punches in before I realized who exactly it was. Then, he started to yell at me."
"For taking his fingerprint?"
"God, no. He wanted to know where Zach was and why I wasn't with him. How sexist is that?"
"What did you say?"
"That Zach was meeting me later on. They seemed skeptical, but they didn't have any reason to think I was lying, so they just went with me and helped me sort through what I had stolen. They told me that they saw me sneak into the vents in the cameras and had figured that I needed help getting past the lasers. They couldn't just turn them off without raising suspicion, so they created the fire. Jonas made the wires shortcircuit and create flames."
"So, it wasn't an accident."
Cammie looked down at her hands and shook her head.
"That night, Grant got a call from Zach, asking if he had seen me. Grant didn't blow my cover, but he did out Zach on speaker phone, so that I had to listen to the anxiety in his voice. That seemed like punishment enough for lying to them. After they hung up, they started chasing me around the crappy hotel room. When they finally had me pinned to the floor they started yelling at me, asking me why Zach didn't know where I was. The look they gave me," she covered her eyes with her hands for a second, showing more of her scars. When she finally uncovered her eyes, she looked at him for a second before looking at where her hands had automatically started playing with the handcuffs.
"They were so...so mad. They kept telling me that Zach would never forgive me for what I did, that because I did this...I could never really come back. I couldn't be a Gallagher Girl again, I could never sit in my dorm room without feeling like an imposter-"
"But, they were wrong," Mr. Solomon said, "You can go back. The Academy is your home, it might take some time, but those girls are your family. They will forgive you."
"I know. But, would I be able to forgive myself? Sometimes I wonder how delusional I am to think that," she laughed a sick laugh, "As if anyone who knew the full extent of what I have done would forgive me."
There was a sharp tap against the glass that made them both look over.
"I'm fine, Liz." Cam said and Mr. Solomon raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure? You're rocking back and forward."
Cammie looked down to see that he was right. She stopped, only to find that her hands were shaking as they played with the handcuffs, "I'm fine. We need to keep going."
"No, we don't. I can come back in a little while. In an hour or two? Let you get your bearings?"
She looked up at him for a minute, as if processing something in her head, then shook her head, "No. I need to keep going. If I don't it will never happen."
"Okay."
"Did Townsend go back into the room?"
Mr. Solomon blinked, surprised, "Yes, he did."
"With Aunt Abby?"
"Yes, they're both there. Why?"
"They're together. Aren't they?"
"Yes."
"And you and mom?"
Mr. Solomon stood silent, "How do you know all these things, Cammie?"
She shrugged, "Just because I betrayed them doesn't mean I didn't keep tabs."
They heard a click and looked down to see the handcuffs locked. Cammie had subconsciously locked them.
"Can I have the..."
Mr. Solomon handed her the key to the handcuffs and watched her unlock the handcuffs again before starting to tap the key on the table.
"Can you tell me what happened next, Cammie?"