Zach's P.O.V.
"Dude, she really hates you." Grant whispered to me as Cammie stalked off into the other room.
"Not for long." I laughed.
"Ever try not being an ass?" He grumbled, sitting down in the auditorium along with the rest of our brotherhood, elementary school included.
"Gentleman!" Dr. Steve, a short, reddish man called to the room from the stage, "For a hundred years, the Blackthorne Institute for Boys has remained secluded, cut off from the rest of society by the mountains that surround us, but yesterday, our sophomore class was privileged enough to meet another breed of operatives, another gender. The Blackthorne Board of Directors and the Gallagher Board of Trustees have decided that, after a hundred years of being strangers, our students should meet."
That's when the door opened and in walked ten Gallagher Girls. I searched the back, looking for Cammie, but she wasn't there, an older woman, who bore a slight resemblance to Cammie, had replaced her but the woman's hair was longer, darker, her skin was paler, suggesting she spent more time inside than my Gallagher Girl.
"They only brought one senior? What is this?" Toby complained from somewhere down the sophomore row (We were seated by grade, the youngest in front, the oldest in back).
"Nah, she's not a student." I muttered, but only Grant heard me.
The girls walked down the isle beside me. I inclined my head so it was obvious I was looking right at the girls. Several made eye contact with me and turned away with a blush on their face, all except for Bex and Macey, they looked straight ahead.
"And now gentleman, I would like to introduce you to Ms. Rachel Morgan, headmistress of the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women."
The older woman ascended the stage's steps. She shook Dr. Steve's hand with a gracious smile before replacing him at the podium, "I would like to thank Dr. Steve along with the rest of the staff for being so accommodating. With me this semester I have ten girls, all in their Sophomore year. I will allow them to introduce themselves, starting with..." She looked down the line, "Bex? Where's Cammie?" Bex shrugged. Worry flashed on Ms. Morgan's face, but it was gone in a moment, "Well then, why don't you start."
"My name is Rebecca Baxter, but I prefer Bex," Was all she offered.
"Can you give them your codename, Bex?" Bex looked at Ms. Morgan with a sense of do-I-have-to, "I'm sure they will need to know it at some point."
"Dutchess." She said, looking anywhere but at the sophomore class.
"My name is Kim Lee." The tiny girl beside Bex spoke up. She had black, shoulder length hair that contrasted with her porcelain skin. She was cute, but in the baby sister kind of way, much due to her height, "My codename is dancer." Well, she did have the build of a dancer, but so did most of the girls standing on the stage.
"My name is Anna Fetterman." A very skinny girl spoke. She looked weak, she didn't look like a spy, she looked like a teenaged girl in dire need of an ice cream sundae, "My codename is Pringles." She could use some Pringles...
"I'm Courtney Bauer and my codename is Legacy which is really funny because neither of my parents are spies, they're-"
"That's enough Courtney." Ms. Morgan spared us the monologue. The girl began fiddling with her black-gelled hair.
"Tina Walters at your service." She winked, "Codename Chatter." She had dark eyes that darted around taking in all the boys. These girls must not get out much.
"Mick Morrison." She looked a lot like Bex, but more masculine, "Codename Trigger."
"Eva Alvarez," A short girl with long black hair piped up, Codename Chica.
"My name is Liz Sutton," The small southern belle smiled nervously. At first I hadn't seen it, but now, I could see why Jonas was talking non-stop about her. Liz glanced at Macey beside her. I saw Macey squeeze her friend's hand and offer her a warm smile.
"Macey McHenry. Codename Heiress." She flipped a piece of her shiny black hair back behind her shoulder, "Yes, the Macey McHenry. Calm down." She waved away all the whispers among my classmates. I rolled my eyes. They were like kindergarteners and the girls were the shiny new toys (funny expression since the kindergarteners, along with everyone in the lower school, were completely unfazed by the girls).
"Zach, where's Cammie?" Ms. Morgan questioned me.
"I walked her to the room and watched her enter." I shrugged, "I could probably find her though, if you want."
"Think you can find her?" Macey laughed, crossing her arms over her chest, "If Cam doesn't want to be found she won't be found."
I looked around the room. I'll be damned if I let the little heiress get what she wants. I combed each row, taking an inventory of the boys, "Jacob. Look at the guy on your right."
"You little-" She flew up in her seat, turning to face me. Poor sixth graders, too young to know better.
"Cammie, dear, no need to be mean." I shook my head at her, "Get stage fright?" I stood, walking down the isle to her.
Bex's P.O.V.
"Why did you pair them up?" I questioned Headmistress Morgan, half expecting some nonsensical response justifying a trip to the mental hospital.
"I think they'll be good for each other." She smiled at Zach who was now extending his hand to Cammie, helping her over a few younger boys.
"Is this an assassination job or something?" That's the only way they'd help anyone.
"I'm sure they'll survive." She smiled at me.
"So!" Zach called attention to himself, and by extension Cammie, "This," He squeezed the arm he had around us, "Is Cammie Morgan. Her codename is The Chameleon." Murmurs, more murmurs than when Macey was revealed, filled the room, "That's right. The Chameleon. Move on." He glared at the boys.
"Macey?" I whispered to my friend, "Did he just-"
"He marked his territory."
Cammie's P.O.V.
"Give me my bag!" I yelled at Zach, snatching the brown messenger bag from his shoulder. He was standing in the middle of the grand hall, right outside the auditorium, surrounded by his brotherhood.
"What's wrong Gallagher Girl?" He followed me as I stormed away, "We're even now. Zach 1 Gallagher Girl 1. Now we can move past this and become friends."
"Explain to me, Zach," I halted, turning on him. We were on the outskirts of the crowd, but I could tell all eyes were on us, "Why would I want us," I gestured between us, "to be friends?"
"You'd be surprised Gallagher Girl, I'm pretty good at being a friend, believe it or not." He laughed.
"Not!" I stormed away.
"You are not coming." He spoke, his voice low and demanding as we cut through the stream of boys, heading towards my room.
"Why not?" I demanded, "I can do anything you can."
"Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to now go." He opened the door for me, all but shoving me inside and slamming the door closed behind us.
"He ditch you too?" Bex asked.
She was sitting on the edge of her bed, glaring down at the floor. Bex didn't like being told she couldn't do something, after all, you don't get to be the first non-American Gallagher without a can-do attitude.
"I don't see what the big deal is, we get a free hour. What's wrong with that?" Macey flipped a page of her magazine.
"We have no idea what they are doing!" I exclaimed, collapsing on Bex's bed beside her.
"You know, we could do a little snooping..." Liz spoke, holding up her bugs.
"Lizzie, how did you get those? Mr. Solomon checked." Macey put her magazine down.
"He didn't check everywhere." She shrugged.
"I'm liking this side of you Lizzie." Bex laughed as Liz handed out comms.
"Bex and I will go in, Liz monitor from in here. Macey stand guard." I directed.
Macey nodded and helped us into an air vent that would hopefully lead to the boys' room. We wiggled through the surprisingly low-tech vents, no lasers or sensors or pressure plates, but I guess when the smallest residents of the building were five foot six and 150 pounds. I guess being girls in an all guys school does have its advantages, covert, that is.
"What room were they?" My voice echoed in the metal vent.
"330." Bex echoed back, "We are over 326 now." I looked down through the vent into the first boys room we came across, "Why are these rooms so clean?"
Room 328 was the same. They looked like barracks of highly trained soldiers, not the bedrooms of teenaged boys. "Bex, hand me the screwdriver." She did. I quickly undid the vent, catching the grate before it fell to the ground.
We slid to the ground, taking in the room. I walked to the middle and took in the surroundings. The only form of personalization was a set of futons in a cut out. Other than those two futons, the room was bland. The floor was a dark hard wood. The walls were cream colored, with no posters or personalization. The beds were a stark, pale blue, made in hospital corners. The desks were bare with identical notebooks, stacked on top of each other. There were no computer or laptops around, they must have them in their bags or something. We did the basics.
Bex checked the closets. All the closets were filled with uniforms. Black dress shoes were shined to perfection, three pairs sitting on the floor of each closet beside a pair of running sneakers and a pair of converse.
Meanwhile, I went through the drawers. It was easy enough to figure out whose was whose. The drawers had the most personalization, but each contained the same basics. It wasn't until I got to the bottom drawer of the third set that there was personalization other than a New York Yankees sweatshirt.
The picture was old and worn. There was a woman. She had dark red hair pulled back. She wore a sundress with a happy smile plastered on her face. The woman was hugging a young boy from behind, bent over so that her chin was on the little boys shoulder. The boy was maybe six or seven, smiling happily, holding on to the woman's arms against his chest. The young boy's dark hair falling into his eyes. The same eyes as the woman. The woman was his mother. The same green eyes as Zach. Zach was the little boy and the woman was Zach's mother.
I heard Macey knock on the door, "Macey? What are you doing here?"
"This is my room." She lied.
"Macey, your room is 320, not 330." Zach said. Crap.
I helped boost Bex into the vent.
"Macey, we need to get in our room. I forgot something." Macey quipped at them before leaving her post.
I dove under a bed just as the door opened.