Joe Solomon led us to a dark room full of computers and beeping gadgets. The walls and floors were steel, and those computers were just opened, flashing graphs and charts, then beeping once in a while. We were asked to take away all of our gadgets before entering the room because they said it was hazardous, but they didn't say lethal so Macey still went inside with a gadget with her. Unfortunately for her, there were metal detectors before you could enter, so she was just asked to leave and wait outside. But then, she insisted (more of pleaded) to enter. Before Mr. Solomon allowed her to enter the premises, he was carefully examined whether or not she was hiding a gadget again.
"I'm so excited for this day to end, we've got to plan the Operation Zachary Goode." Bex smiled, exposing her white teeth.
"I don't know why we even have to visit all this crap." Macey rolled her eyes, touching a wire, feeling its texture.
"All this crap, Miss McHenry, does a lot of things to save the world." Mr. Solomon glared at us, roaming around the dark room. "Does even more than the tea." He glared at me and suddenly I felt like peeing, I was sweating badly. Why did he even have to look at me? Did he know how much I hated the tea?
"It generates humans." He said, his face was still the same-unreadable, unpredictable. Well I just didn't get how those stupid-looking low tech computers could generate humans. The last time I checked, humans were created by humans. You know, they do it when they have…
"Cammie!" Liz whisper-yelled. "They're here."
I glanced at the entrance door and found the Blackthorne boys standing there, all in a straight line. Their arrival still didn't stop Mr. Solomon from discussing details about the computers.
"These computers could track the places you've been to, could know the things and the people you're afraid of, could know the things you're good at, could know everything about you."
Macey rolled her eyes. I wanted to do the same thing. How could computers do that? They looked so lame and surely, they could know things but surely not everything.
"As I said," he glared at us again. "Could. We can't rely on them every time." If we couldn't rely on them every time, then it wasn't really accurate, it would just mislead missions and operations. Why use it?
"Hey Cammie." Josh had pushed Macey beside me and started reaching out for my hand. I could swear I couldn't move any part of my body the minute he touched my hand, especially when he intertwined his fingers into mine.
"Josh, what are you doing?" I slowly pulled my hand back and tried to slip it into my pocket, but there were no pockets. Sure.
"Sorry," he bit his lip, but not the way Zach did. "Do you think those really work?"
I shrugged, feeling my body freeze. I glanced at my friends but they were already walking with Mr. Solomon to another door. Josh wasn't looking at me, his eyes were fixed on those beeping gadgets on the wall, and that was my opportunity to examine his face-his eyes, his lips, his nose, even his ears…there was something wrong, and it seemed like a lot had changed already in just two summers. He'd gotten more muscles, and gotten taller. He'd gotten even better-looking, I must say. But there was something really…different.
I felt someone brush past my left arm, it hit my arm really hard, too hard that I could actually get a bruise.
"What-" Josh tried to chase after the guy but I caught his wrist even before he could move a step. The guy looked back at me-messy dark hair and freaky eyes-Zach.
"You didn't tell me you made a plan on your own!" Macey said playfully, smiling at me evilly once in a while. "That's such a good one, Cameron."
"What?" I asked stupidly.
All my friends rolled their eyes. For the first time I felt like I was stupid. (Well it really happened a lot of times, actually) "Come on! Intertwining fingers with Josh? In front of Zach? Well…I must say you know the boys." Macey giggled.
"Seriously Cammie! If I were Zach, I'd be dead of jealousy now." I rolled my eyes. Liz was attacked by another overreaction again.
"Know what? You must continue that. Who knows? Maybe Zach's spying on him right at this moment." Bex giggled with Macey. I loved my friends, really. I loved them to death and I could sacrifice my life for any of them. But I just wanted to hit them all on the head for being so narrow-minded. When I saw Zach at the human-generating room, there wasn't even a trace of any jealousy on his face, not even fury. There was nothing on his face. This was worse.
I couldn't imagine how far Blackthorne's dorm rooms were from Gallagher's. I knew I lost tons of calories before I reached the ground floor. I never expected it to be something clean. When I arrived, the lights were all off, not even a single one was on except for the oversized chandelier at the lobby. I didn't see anyone there, not even a single person. I just roamed around the ground floor, realizing it was so much different from ours. Blackthorne's was more complex, with all those steel doors and hidden cameras Liz recently blocked. There were statues of people I was sure I studied before, or I was taught before by my mom. I couldn't help but feel the curiosity I felt. Did the Blackthorne boys live a more normal life than us? Or were they just as locked up as us?
I used the elevator to reach Zach's floor. Yes, Zachary Goode's. Thanks to Liz and all her information technologies, we were able to know the floor of Zach's room without asking any authority. We were supposed to visit Zach tomorrow, but I figured out I wouldn't be able to sleep without talking to him. Right. I know you're all dah…
When the elevator opened, there my friends were, smiling widely, showing off their perfect white teeth. They were all in their PJs just like me. But then their smiles faded and their eyes started to narrow, like they were wolves eyeing their prey.
"You liar." Liz glared at me, and then Bex and Macey did the same thing too. "I can't believe you, you just can't stop yourself from seeing Zach, can you?"
Bex sighed. "Guess you've never been an honest friend to us."
Macey just couldn't hide her smile, and before I knew it they all burst into monstrous laughter. "You're all bad actors." I rolled my eyes laughing.
"Sorry," Liz bit her lip, feeling all anxious. Liz wasn't really the kind of person who did those actings so I knew that they were just playing on me beforehand.
"Sshhh!" Macey sshhed us all. "I heard a doorknob turn, right here." She walked to the door and slowly placed her ear on it, trying to do some eavesdropping. We all did the same thing but we didn't hear anything. If anything, it was just snoring.
"Hey Gallagher Girl."
I knew exactly whose voice it was. I didn't even need Bex whispering to me that it was Zach, standing by the door just three rooms away from the elevator. He wasn't wearing PJs, but instead his black uniform-black top, black bottom, black shoes. What was so new? He'd always been like that.
When he'd said Gallagher Girl, my heart jumped, rejoiced, and kept beating and beating weirdly. He'd only said my name, what more if he'd kissed me?
Seriously, Cammie. Kiss?
The last time he kissed me was back in spring. And since that, I hadn't kissed anyone. Why was I even thinking about kissing? I was here to talk to Zach. To find out about Josh.
"Go talk to him. Now!" Macey pushed me.
Zach's room was a mess. Yes, Zach's only. It was weird how he didn't have roommates, and how his room was so unattractive. There were clothes all over the floor, the bed was placed in a weird angle that faced the window. His closet was opened, and the clothes hung on it were all black. His desk had crumpled papers on it, and then scribbles on it too. His computer had a weird screensaver. Zach alone was a mess. But the smell was definitely the best part about him and his room-soap and shampoo…
"You don't have roommates?" I asked in the most polite way I could.
He nodded, swallowing his spit. He cleared out the books on his bed and motioned for me to take a seat there.
"You think I'm a psycho?" he asked, but he wasn't joking in any way. That really creeped me out. Things about Josh changed a lot, and now he was changing? Or was I?
I bit my lip hard before answering. I thought of something smart to say but nothing ever came up. I had to say something. "No, I never think that."
He looked away, moving to his desk. His back to me.
"Look, Zach…" I swallowed my spit but it still kept coming back. You know that feeling when you don't have anything to say? There is always spit. Damn spit.
"If you're explaining, just leave." He said in a flat tone. It was even more painful because I couldn't see his face, I couldn't see his expression…I didn't even know if he was serious or not, if he really meant it or not.
"If I'm not explaining, I can stay?"
He turned to me, his dark hair covering half of his eyes. He half-smiled, probably his very first smile (or half-smile, for that matter) that day. If only he knew how much it gave me relief when he smiled. "You know you can stay here, whether I like it or not. I can't say no to you." He bowed down his head.
"Then why did you just bump to me and ignore me?" Darn! I shouldn't have asked that. He'd know I cared, he'd know it bothered me…he'd know it bothered me so much that he didn't talk to me that human-generation discussion.
He didn't answer, his head was still facing the cold floor. It was dark in his room, only the light of the moon outside could be seen. I hated drama, but this turned out to really be it.
"You're really asking me?" he finally raised his head.
"Yes! Because I wanna understand why you always ignore me and glare at me. And you always don't answer my questions straightly. There always has to be a question to be asked back when I ask you something. You never really answer any of my questions!"
He frowned, I could feel the anger in his eyes. "Do I even have to?"
The spits came back again to my mouth. Again, I had nothing to say to him. What was there to say and ask? There was totally nothing.
"You realize what you're doing when you always do that?" I chewed on my lip, licking my lips and realizing it was so chapped. Maybe that was why Zach hadn't kissed me. But no. He wouldn't do that. "When I ask you something and you don't answer it, I'm always sleepless thinking about why you don't answer it, why you never tell me what I want to hear."
He walked nearer and nearer to me. His hands were inside his pockets, but when he was only a few inches away, he removed them and used them to touch my hand. He gently held my hands and put them on his chest. "What do you wanna hear?"
"The truth."
I heard the door open, and then closed. And he was gone. Again.
HEY GUYS! I've been really emotional lately, so this chapter really came out a little (or maybe too much) melodramatic. So again, please tell me what you think. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
