Chapter 9
Cammie's POV
It's getting late. A couple of times I hear my mum, Aunt Abby, Mr. Solomon, Zach, Bex, Liz and Macey walking by, calling out for me. Soon it becomes silent. I guess they've given up. I know the feeling. By the end of the time I was with Mrs. Goode, I had given up fighting. I didn't say anything, just took the pain silently.
I creep out of my secret passageway and sneak down to the main foyer. Branching off are the eating area, where I can see my friends eating. They don't look particularly happy; worried, actually.
I sneak over to the family tree of Gillian Gallagher, and do the usual procedure to open the secret passageway. I creep into town. When I arrive I purposely take the route that will lead me to the Abrams' pharmacy. When I arrive, I see Josh working behind the counter, flicking through a magazine. When he looks up, he sees me and smiles.
He opens the door with the bell on it and jumps down the stairs to meet me. "Cammie- whoa, what happened?"
"Oh, nothing, I just… at my grandparents' farm I got into a fight with the pigs." He laughs.
"So, how are you? I haven't really seen you around lately. I've seen your friends, though."
"Yeah," I say. "I was just studying heaps in the library. You know, physics and all that."
"I know the feeling," he says. "Anyway, I have to go. I'm on a shift and it doesn't end until 10:00 tonight. See you around? You know, now that you're all finished with your studying and all."
"Maybe. Bye Josh. Tell DeeDee I said hi!"
"Sure will! See you around, Cammie," he says, walking back through the pharmacy.
I head off, back in the direction of the Gallagher Academy. Along the way, I receive many Gallagher Glares, which I ignore. That is, until I'm on the outskirts of town, and I meet up with Dillon's group, who obviously don't recognise me.
"Well well… If it isn't a Gallagher Girl," he says.
"Don't you dare call me that. Only one person calls me that, and it's not you!" I'm startled at the fury in my own words.
"Or what?" he calls mockingly. His friends walk around to surround me.
I laugh. I try to sound tougher than I actually am, because right now, Liz's little sister could beat me in a fight. "I wouldn't go there, Dillon."
"Ooh, you know my name. Spooky!" He and his friends surround me. One on my left raises a fist and brings it smashing down towards me. I dodge it and complete an almost-perfect round house kick aimed at his face. I make a collision and he goes down, clutching his bloody nose.
"Anybody else want to test me?" I say, laughing.
His friends all raise their hands to attack me. I dodge most of them, but Dillon's hits me in the jaw and I go stumbling to the ground. I roll over and he raises his foot to step on my face. I twist out from underneath his sneaker and grab his ankle, pulling it out from underneath him. I feint doing another round house kick, and instead aim at a guy's shin. Then I wrap my arms around someone's neck and pull their face down to collide with my knee.
Another guy aims to tackle me, and as I dodge him, Dillon grabs me from behind. I twist and squirm, but eventually I stop moving. His friends (all with bloody noses and sore legs) stand up laughing.
"What should we do with her?" they ask him. I look down and see my jumper is now flecked with blood. My blood, from my stomach wound. My stockings are wet and sticky too.
Suddenly, they all drop and Dillon is jerked away from behind me. Someone's hand clamps down on my shoulder and I swing my leg up and around, colliding with someone's cheek.
"Jeez, Cam, what was that for?" I hear a muffled voice say. From behind Macey McHenry appear the faces of Liz and Bex.
I look down at me blood coated stockings and jumper and turn and run. I don't know what from. All I know is that I know how to run, and it's all I can do. Ever since Mrs. Goode had me-
I stumble and fall, collapsing onto the dusty ground littered with pebbles. Just as I'm about to fall flat on my face, someone's strong arms lift me up and hold me. I struggle but then I go limp and burst into tears. My friends catch up with me and start stroking my back and hair as Zach squeezes me closer to him.
