A/N: Hi guys. Sorry this chapter came out so late. What can I say? School is school. And I had a LOT of writers' block. It was really bad. This chapter is probably my worst one yet, so sorry if you hate it. Anyways, one of my guest reviewers said that I "moved on too quickly with the whole Zammie thing." I went back to the chapter and reread it. Truth is, they were right. That whole part was sounding kinda weird, so I went ahead and added something. It was a dream about Cammie, Catherine, and Zach. So, if you haven't read that dream part yet, I suggest you go back and read it before you read this chapter, okay? Thanks. :)
Katniss979-Goode-Morgan: Reading this made me feel all warm and fluttery inside, thank you so much :) I'm really happy you like the characters! Enjoy this chapter :)
cc: Are you screaming because you liked the chapter, because you hated it, or because there's a masked murderer in your house trying to kill you?
Guest: Yes, I went back and fixed it. Thank you for telling me.
Amanda1234: Thank you!
Guest: Here's your update! Hopefully you like this chapter!
izzy c: Yes, I realized that after rereading the chapter. Thanks for telling me.
xXFangirlingBookwormXx: Ha ha, that's good to hear :)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gallagher Girls characters. Only the plot and setting(s) are mine.
Chapter 9
Cammie POV
Cammie woke up with her head lying on Zach's chest. She yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Zach stirred beside her and blinked his eyes open tiredly. "Gallagher Girl?" he mumbled.
"Right here," Cammie turned her head to him and smiled.
Zach slowly sat up and yawned as well. "Good morning," he rubbed her back.
"Morning," Cammie bit her lip and stood up. "I...uh...I just wanted to apologize for barging into your apartment yesterday—"
"Don't worry," Zach waved his hand dismissively. "I'm glad you did."
"Oh...Well, what happened after I left the gym?" Cammie asked anxiously.
"I went ahead and told Joe about it," Zach replied. "All he said was to leave you alone for a little bit and that the whole situation would blow over."
Cammie nodded dully. Her stomach started to growl, and she glanced longingly at the door. "Can we go get some breakfast?" she asked.
Zach laughed. "Sure, just give me five minutes." He disappeared into the bathroom.
After he was done, Cammie and Zach made their way to the cafeteria, walking down the hall hand in hand. They were laughing and making small talk, and Cammie couldn't help but grin like an idiot. Her mind was clear and she didn't feel tired or stressed or anything of the sort. She felt so...in love. As they entered the cafeteria, Cammie immediately heard a small squeal.
"Cam!" Liz rushed towards Cammie and threw her arms around her. "Are you okay?"
"Lizzie," Cammie croaked. "Can't...breathe."
"Oh! Sorry!" Liz stepped back, sheepishly. Bex and Macey came up behind her, wearing questioning looks.
Bex glanced at Zach and seemed to notice how close he was standing next to Cammie. "Is everything okay now between you two?" she raised an eyebrow.
Cammie grinned at Zach and nodded. "Everything's fine."
"So you two made up?" Macey asked. "Cam, you don't hate him anymore?"
"No," Cammie blushed. Macey took the hint and nodded thoughtfully. "Ohhh...I get it." She pulled Cammie's arm. "C'mon, you must be hungry. You've barely eaten anything over the past two weeks."
Cammie let Macey lead her towards the table where Grant, Jonas, and Joe were all sitting.
"Hey, Camster," Grant smiled at her. Cammie rolled her eyes.
"What did I tell you?" Zach laughed as he took the seat next to her.
"I see that everything's gone back to normal with you and Zach?" Joe asked.
Cammie nodded. "We, uh...talked things out."
"Just talked?" Macey smirked. Cammie's cheeks turned hot, and then became red as Zach clasped his hand with hers.
"Well, now that you two have made up," Joe continued. "Cammie's going to have to keep going with her training. Well, 'start training' since Zach told me that you didn't do anything last time in the gym." Joe looked at Cammie, who lowered her eyes. "I will be expecting double the effort today in order to make up for the lost time last practice, all right?"
Cammie nodded. "Yes, sir," she muttered mockingly.
"And you'll also be starting your classes today," Joe informed Cammie. "Come by my office after breakfast to pick up your supplies, okay?" Joe stood up and left the cafeteria.
"Cammie," Zach said when Joe left. "Before you leave, I just have to clarify something with you..."
"Yeah?" Cammie turned towards him.
"I was talking to Tina the other day..." Zach started, and then it seemed that he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Seriously?! Jackets?!"
The gang burst out laughing as Cammie apologized to Zach, embarrassed.
After breakfast, the gang went to Joe's office with Cammie to get her school supplies. Joe explained the basic subjects she would be taking.
"You will receive minimal homework in these classes, but you that doesn't mean that you don't try your best," Joe informed Cammie. "Here's what you need," Joe pulled open a drawer on his desk and took out a small flash drive.
"Is this all?" Cammie asked uncertainly as Joe handed her the black stick.
"This has all the information you need," Joe assured her. "You can access this on any computer, but you will have to input an access code and scan your fingerprint."
"We all have our own memory sticks, Cam," Bex said from behind her.
Cammie nodded and Joe dismissed her. "Your first class is Advanced Encryption. Mr. Mosckowitz will be your teacher. Zach, Liz, and Jonas have your first class with you. They'll take you there."
When Joe was finished with his brief explanation, Cammie was whisked away to her first class. Cammie had learned the basics of Encryption back in Gallagher, which was why Joe had placed her in the advanced class. She met Mr. Mosckowitz, who was, as Liz had said, Jonas's favorite teacher.
As Mr. Mosckowitz tried to explain the schematics of bypassing a single firewall to Cammie, all Jonas did was interrupt with important and random facts every few seconds, which made Cammie even more confused. Eventually, Mr. Mosckowitz gave up and asked Zach to help explain. Cammie found herself getting even more distracted as she stared into Zach's luminous green eyes while he spoke.
"And lastly, you have to make sure you're in incognito all the time so no one can track down where the bypass was made from, got it?" Zach asked.
Cammie suddenly realized that Zach had asked her a question. "Huh? I mean, yeah..." she trailed off, not knowing what he had asked.
Research and Development wasn't any better. Dr. Fibbs was a very absent minded man, and kept on forgetting Cammie's name. During the first day there, Cammie was required to make a chemical that would make a person forget everything that just happened in the last half an hour. With the help of Liz, Cammie was able to conjure a purple, foul-smelling solution. Unfortunately, Liz knocked over the vial with the chemical in it, and the liquid spread to none other than Dr. Fibbs himself. The next few minutes were spent trying to tell Dr. Fibbs all that had happened within the past 30 minutes and why he couldn't remember anything.
The day went on like this, with Cammie trying new things in different classes. She learned all about an old country called Venezuela with Professor Smith, went back to Mr. Mosckowitz class for Computing, she learned about the famous outlaws in History of Espionage with Patricia, or how students addressed her in Blackthorne, Professor Buckingham. The minute Professor Buckingham started speaking in class, Cammie had sat back, astounded by the sound of her voice. Gone was the slight southern accent that Professor Buckingham had in Gallagher. Now, she was talking with the same accent as Bex, and it seemed to suit her more.
After lunch, Cammie went to Culture & Assimilation and learned how to set a table properly. Completely useless, but there had to be some sort of distraction from all the academic classes she had taken earlier.
Finally, the time for the class Cammie had been waiting for, Covert and Operations, arrived. When Cammie entered the classroom, there were ten other students already seated. They were all girls. Joe was nowhere to be seen, so Cammie just took a seat in the back of the room with her friends. She looked around and spotted Tina Walters in the midst of all the other girls, who waved excitedly to her. As the minutes ticked by, she began to wonder if Joe was actually going to show up to class to teach.
"Don't worry," Bex smiled, reading her thoughts. "He never comes to class on time."
Suddenly, Cammie heard a voice from the doorway.
"Miss McHenry."
She whirled around in her seat and saw Joe leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.
"When conducting manual surveillance on a subject on a three-man rotation, the person with the visual contact is the..."
Liz's hand shot into the air and she squirmed in her seat so she could answer the question. Joe ignored her and continued staring at Macey.
"Eyeball," Macey rattled off.
"Correct," Joe said. He entered the room and made his way through the rows of desks. "Miss Baxter, the person within sight of the eyeball is the..."
Liz's hand remained in the air and this time she even waved it a little.
"Backup," Bex replied.
"And Miss Morgan," Joe looked a Cammie, while maintaining a solemn look on his face. "What is the final person called?"
"Uhhh..." Cammie stared at Joe. How was she expected to know this stuff? And why did Joe call her Miss Morgan? He was acting a lot different than the man she knew back in Gallagher.
Cammie's eyes darted to Liz, who was still raising the same arm. "I...I don't know," It sounded like a stupid thing to say, but it was the only thing Cammie could think of right at the moment.
"Miss Morgan," Joe said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. "If you want to be a part of this class, and this alliance, I expect you to know everything. I expect you to see everything. And right now...all I'm seeing is foolishness."
Cammie's breath hitched. Why in the world was Joe acting this way? She was his half-daughter, for heaven's sake!
"Welcome to Covert Operations, Miss Morgan. I may have not taught you before, but I've been doing this stuff for eighteen years, and I'm still breathing, so that means I know what I'm talking about." He leaned closer to Cammie's face. "Let me tell you one thing. This is not going to be like your other classes. I'm going to get you ready for what goes on. Out there. It's not for everyone and that's why I'm going to make this hard on you. Understood?"
Cammie nodded. "Sorry, Joe," she mumbled.
"I'm not your father anymore in this class, Miss Morgan," Joe said firmly. "You can call me what the rest of the class calls me."
Cammie looked at him with questioning eyes, but didn't argue. "Sorry...Mr. Solomon," she cringed at the unfamiliarity of the name.
"Back to the question I asked Miss Morgan earlier," Joe leaned back and gazed at the rest of the class. "Ladies, can you share the answer?"
"The reserve," the class chorused in unison and Cammie's cheeks turned red. Liz huffed and lowered her hand, staring glumly at Joe.
Joe put crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in the front of the room. "In the field, ladies, you can never have things go as planned. I fully expect you to master the ability to improvise. Which brings us to today's...activity."
The way he said 'activity' made the hairs on Cammie's neck stand up. Activity? What activity? Cammie looked around the room, seeing the emotions on the girls' faces. Most of the students were excited, but somehow, Cammie felt as if this activity would be far from anything she could be excited about.
Joe stood straight. "We are going to do a run in the simulation room."
The class burst into excited whispers.
"Simulation room?" Cammie asked Bex quietly.
"A simulation room, Miss Morgan," Joe said. How he had heard her, she had no idea. "Is the building where we run through a basic CoveOps mission. The room will change depending on the assignment I give, and you will be graded on how well your team performs." He walked over to the door of the room. "Follow me."
The girls jumped out of their seats and filed out of the room, leaving Macey, Bex, Liz, and Cammie behind. Cammie stood up and looked at the three girls.
"Either I'm starting to become paranoid, or Joe hates me."
"Cam, don't worry," Bex assured her as the four girls hurried down the hall. "This is how Joe acts during CoveOps and missions. He's completely normal when we're not in class."
Cammie sighed and quickened her pace to keep up with the rest of the class.
It turned out that the simulation room was just a really big, empty room. When they entered, Cammie noticed that the grey walls climbed at least 100 meters.
"This is the simulation room, Miss Morgan," Joe stepped into the center of the room and spread his arms wide. "After I announce your mission, the room will be set up to match the mission."
"What's our assignment?" Tina asked curiously.
Joe smiled as the door opened. The girls turned their heads and saw a group of boys all standing at the entrance. In the front of the group was Zach, Grant, and Jonas, grinning from ear to ear.
Cammie raised her eyebrows in surprise at the sight of the boys standing in front of her.
"Ready for a game of hide and seek, Gallagher Girl?"
A/N: That was horrible, wasn't it? I'm sorry. I'm kinda just lacking inspiration right now. There will be more action in the next chapter; this one was mostly a filler chapter. Anyways, I'll see you soon! (Hopefully XD)
~bookwormbullet
