The eight of us left the helicopter and split up.
"Dude we're at the National Mall. It's like they want to torture us. I mean there museums on one side and shopping on the other side. This is cruel." Grant kept going on, ranting about nothing. He was so annoying. We just walked around the mall keep our eyes peeled. We bought some food sometime around midday because we missed lunch. I got a bag of M&M's my favorite candy, of course still no sign of my Gallagher Girl. The other boys were more successful then us. Two girls were sitting down the whole time because one of them got hurt (ha, if she's a spy she shouldn't get hurt from falling down the stairs, just saying). Another girl fell in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, yet one of the juniors got locked in a closet because he got found out. Poor guy.
After walking around aimlessly, we decided to take a seat on the benches. The girls would probably pass us eventually, right? All of a sudden, using my superspy hearing, I heard a girl say, "I can't believe I haven't seen anyone." I immediately perked up. I nudged Grant and pointed in the direction of our girls.
Rebecca flung her arms in the air, "Look on the Bright side, Cam. We could be in Ancient Languages right now. We could be looked in a basement with Dr. Fibs. And here the few is diffidently better." she was looking right at us. Glad to see she already likes us. Cammie looked exhausted and slightly annoyed at her friend. "Oooh, I want one." She continued, draping her arm around Cammie's shoulders.
Now Cammie was really annoyed, "There not puppies." She remarked.
Rebecca started dragging her toward us, "Come on. Let's go talk to them. They're really cute."
"Yes, she already likes me, dude I am so in." Grant muttered. He had that goofy grin on his face again.
The Gallagher girls continue to bicker. It looked like my Gallagher girl was winning though.
"Bex, we have a mission." I guess Bex was short for Rebecca.
"Yeah, but we can multitask."
"No, Bex. Talking to civilian boys during a CoveOps exercise is a bad idea." I could here a sad note in Cammie's tone.
"Dude they think we're Civilians." Grant said. He was about to continue but I cut him off.
"Shut up dude and listen." His mouth closed.
Cammie forced a smile. "It's all fun and games until someone get there memories erased." Her voice was sing lilt but you can see her depression.
"Wow, you're really…?
"What?" Cammie snapped. "I'm really what?"
Bex looked scare to say what came out of her month next, "Not over Josh." My heart sank. I mean I guess it could be true. She did have to break up with him. He was her first boyfriend too, not to mention kiss. I felt my jealous for this guy increase tenfold.
"Of course I'm over him." she shrugged and started walking again, scanning the crowd. "I broke up with him. Remember? It wasn't a big deal." I could tell that she was lying.
"You don't have to pretend, Cam."
"Of course I'm over him." she just continued to walk on, Bex trying to keep up with her. We were about to follow them when they suddenly turned. I looked ahead and saw one of there other tails. I guess Mr. Solomon wasn't making this easy on them.
We followed of course. They went in and out of museums, up and down escalators. They even stopped to tie their laces four times, each. They were trying every counter surveillance item in the book. When they tried to contact the other girls over their comms unit, I could tell the other line was silent from the worried expressions on the girl's faces.
"47 minutes," Cammie announced. So that mean they were meeting at 5:00. That's good. Then Bex noticed a really bad tail. He wasn't even trying to be conspicuous. Thinking fast, they merged in with a group of girls going down an escalator. They looked identical from the waist up, all wearing white blouses. Being the pavement artist she is, Cammie not just mixed, she blended. "I love your bracelet." She exclaimed. I chuckled and shot Grant a look.
"These girls are good," he said in defeat. We continued to listen.
"Thanks! Hey, are y'all with the group?"
"Yeah," Bex said. Then she fixed their mistake. "Oh my gosh! I left my name tag in the senator's office- we took them off to have our picture taken." That was actually a believable cover.
"Really. That's cool. Who's your senator?" now they might have a problem.
Cammie and Bex spoke at the same time, "McHerny." That makes sense. Their roommate is his daughter.
One girl whispered to another, "Are they still back there?"
"They are so following us!" the other shouted. They were obviously talking about us, though the Gallagher girls tense.
"Dude you think they caught on yet," Grant asked.
I told him the truth, "Nah, they think we are innocent civilian boys." He relaxed.
"These two hot guys have totally been checking us out." One explained.
"Oh," Bex said. They peered behind them and spotted the bad tail and us. They didn't give us another glance. They were too busy trying to lose there known tail. I smirked. Then they saw the train and plotted. "Let's run and get it!" Bex shouted. The other girls dashed for it, so did their tail. The Gallagher girls of course didn't.
They split up on last time to make sure they had no tails. They had about twenty minutes left. I followed Cammie, my Gallagher Girl. She tried to slip into the shadows but I saw her. I guess her pavement artsy-ness doesn't work on me. She was about the reach for the elevator button but I bet her too it, surprising her.
"Hey," I said, with a have nod. I'm an idiot. The first word I say to the girl of my dreams is 'Hey'. I mentally slapped myself.
"Hi," she pushed the button, probably hoping it would only come faster. That's not going to happen. When it came she hesitantly stepped in and I followed. I leaned against the railing, getting comfortable for a long awkward ride. I internally laughed when I heard the elevator music. The song "Crazy for this Girl" was playing. I mean, it's the perfect song.
I decided to start small talk. "So, Guggenheim Academy…" she cut me off, like she really didn't want to talk to me. Sucks for her.
"Gallagher Academy." She started. Her tone was cold and distant.
"I've never heard of it?"
"Well, it's my school." I could tell she was biting back a sarcastic remark.
"You in a hurry or something?" I couldn't stand the silence.
"Actually, I'm supposed to meet my teacher at the ruby slipper exhibit. I've only got twenty minutes, and if I'm late, he'll kill me." I had to fight back a laugh. One, Solomon might actually kill her. Oh, I hope not. And two, she told me were she was meeting. She made another slip up though. She's not wearing a watch and she knew the time.
"How do you know?"
"Because he said, 'Meet me at the ruby slipper exhibit'" I smiled and shook my head.
"No, how do you know you only have twenty minutes? You're not wearing a watch." how was she going to get out of this one.
"My friend just told me." She lied smooth and easy, as if second nature, which it should be to us. Our whole life is wrapped around lies.
"You fidget a lot." I stated. I figured it would bug her.
"I'm sorry. I have low blood sugar. I need to eat something." The first two-thirds of what she said was a lie, but the last part was true. I bet the Gallagher girls have been running around all day. You got to hate Solomon at times like this. I reached into my pocket and took out my half eaten bag of M&M's.
"Here. I ate most of them already." She seemed so taken aback by my offer.
"Oh…um…? That's okay. Thanks though" she didn't trust me. That was clear.
"Oh. Okay." We didn't talk the rest of the way up. I listen to the song.
Would you look at her
She looks at me
She's got me thinking about her constantly
But she don't know how I feel
And as she carries on without a doubt
I wonder if she's figured out
I'm crazy for this girl
Yeah, I'm crazy for this girl
When the doors slid open, she said "Thanks for the candy," and ran. I just followed her, not caring if she heard me of not. She spun around quick. "Where are you going?"
"I thought we were going to meet you teacher in the wonderful world of Oz?"
"We?" she questioned. I was so getting on her nerves. I quickly came up with a cover.
"Sure. I'm going with you."'
She snapped. "No you're not."
"Look. It's dark. You're by yourself. And this is D.C. and you've got," I pretended to think of the time, which I was purposely off by 90 seconds, "15 minutes to meet your teacher." I tried to reason with her. I knew she could probably kill me with her backpack alone but I needed to follow her.
"Fine," she said in defeat. She quickened her pace.
"You can walk really fast." She ignored me. "So, do you have a name?" I decided to flirt with her maybe then she'll talk. She hadn't even told me her name. Of course she never asked for mine so, it didn't really matter.
"Sure. Lot's of them." That was probably the most honest thing I got from her today. I smiled at her. She was so beautiful. I went out on a limb and asked the next question, slightly scared of her response.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Look, thanks for the chivalry and all, but it really isn't necessary." That was an understatement if I every heard one. "It's just up here, and there's a cop over there." I stared at her in disbelief.
"What, you think that guy can do a better job at protecting you than I can?" that really stung.
"No, I think if you don't leave me alone, I can scream and that cop will arrest you." It was hard to hold back a laugh. Man my Gallagher girl was tough. She didn't let anything get in the way of her mission. Got to admire her for that. I stepped away, smiling. "Hey, thanks anyway." She called back. Then she made her way down the street.
I took the more direct route to the exhibit. I beat her there by sixteen seconds. I nodded toward Mr. Solomon and hide in the shadows. Cammie finally entered. Mr. Solomon stepped up behind her. "You're 4 seconds late."
She turned around. "But I'm alone."
"No you're not Ms. Morgan." I took that as my signal and smiled at her.
"Hi again, Gallagher Girl." She stared at me in disbelief. Her face looked pained. She was just beaten at her own game. She doesn't even know about Blackthorne.
"Nice work, Zach." Mr. Solomon said. Wait I was just complemented by Solomon. Sweet. I was brought out of my happiness by Cammie's voice.
"Hi, Blackthorne Boy."
