A/N: Sorry it's been so long! I'll try to update more often
Chapter 10
"Cammie, come on." Macey called. I looked back at my computer woefully.
"Come on, we can look at it later." Liz said softly pulling me to my feet.
I climbed to my feet after them and we wandered down to the grand hall with the rest of the Gallagher Girls. We quickly sped through the halls and I tried my best not to run and hide when everyone looked at us. Looks like everyone heard what happened. We tried to keep our heads high as we made our way to our seats but Kim slipped her hand into mine anyway.
We tried to speed walk to our table but, as usual, Zach stopped me.
"Cammie, why didn't you tell me what happened?" He asked.
"I did. At least I tried, you left before Kim finished explaining what happened." I reminded him.
"You should've told me." He argued.
"I tried." I hissed. He grabbed my arm.
"I want to hear what really happened later." He told me quietly. He let go of my arm and turned around. I could take a hint, I went to catch up with the girls.
"Cammie, did he seriously just yell at you for not telling him?" Eva asked when I reached the table.
"He didn't yell." I told them.
"Right that would've attracted too much attention." Mick said rolling her eyes.
"How did you guys know what we were talking about anyway?" I thought they were all in front of me.
"Kim overheard and told." Eva explained. I shot Kim a look. She shrugged.
"What do you guys have against Zach?" I asked.
"The beast? He's bad news Cam. We just don't want anything to happen to you. The guys here...they've told us thing about him." Mick replied.
"Well they don't know everything do they?" I snapped. I took a deep breath when I heard how angry I sounded. "Sorry guys, thanks for looking out for me but Zach isn't the one that's been putting me in the infirmary."
"We know Cam we're just...worried about you." Eva told me.
"Thanks, I appreciate it. But I can handle Zach. Can we get food?" I tried to changed the subject.
"Absolutely." Bex replied jumping to her feet.
The mood shifted as we all climbed to our feet and made our way to the food. We laughed and chatted as we waited in line. We finally reached the food and were piling it on to our plates when I felt someone touch my hair.
I whirled around expecting it to be Chase and was totally prepared to send him to the infirmary but it was just Zach. My heart rate slowed as I realized it was him and I smiled when he winked at me.
I couldn't get that encounter out of my mind all through dinner. I knew it was Zach. I had seen him coming and had even heard him. Why did I react like that? Why did I think it was Chase? Was I permanently screwed up now? Would Zach even still want to date me if he found out I thought he was my tormentor?
I tried to listen to the other girls conversations, I really did but I just couldn't focus. I alternated between thinking about the bulldozers and keeping a paranoid watch for them. They appeared in the grand hall a few minutes after we sat down with our food. I kept an eye on them all night but they didn't so much as glance in our direction. They left fifteen minutes before we did but I kept watching the door just in case they decided to come back.
"Good evening ladies." Solomon greeted us as he walked up to our table.
"Good evening Mr. Solomon." We intoned politely.
"I hope you are all enjoying your dinner, you all look lovely. Miss Lee, Miss Morgan. The headmistress is on the phone and would like to speak with you." He informed us and gestured for us to follow him. We did.
He took us down to his office and made sure to lock the door before hitting the conference button on the phone.
"Cammie?" My mom's anxious voice came through the speaker. "Kim? Are you girls alright?"
"Yes, we're fine." Kim replied for us.
"What happened?" She asked.
Kim retold the story again, the shorter version this time. When she was finished it was silent on the other line. We waited anxiously for a response.
"Joe." My mom's voice was firm. "If this happens again, I want it brought to the headmasters attention. This is absolutely unacceptable."
"I agree. I will do so." Solomon told her.
"Girls, if this happens again, anything of the sort, you are to tell Mr. Solomon." She instructed.
"Yes Headmistress." Kim and I intoned.
"You girls should probably get to bed. You've had a long day." Solomon said unlocking the door. "Goodnight ladies."
"Goodnight Mr. Solomon. Goodnight mom." I said as I left the room, Kim echoing my goodbyes and following after.
"Are you as exhausted as I am?" Kim asked as we made our way to our dorms.
I nodded in agreement. We hadn't slept in two days and one of them was spent avoiding attacks all day long. We wandered sleepily down the halls when suddenly Kim jumped.
"Did you hear that?" She asked. I shook my head.
I heard it the next time. A laugh, quiet but it sounded just like Micah. He wouldn't attack us so soon after the last attack, would he? The laugh came again, a little louder this time. He was gaining on us, and he probably wasn't alone.
I looked at Kim, wide eyed and on an unseen signal we sprinted the rest of the way to the dorms, hurrying to get away. We reached the dorm hearts beating and chests heaving. Of course, there was someone waiting for me at the door.
"Gallagher Girl." Zach said by way of greeting.
"Hi Beast." Kim replied.
"Go away Kim." Zach said shortly and Kim raised her eyebrows.
"So he does know my name." Kim said sourly before entering the common room, closing the door behind her.
"What do you want Zach?" I asked tiredly.
"I want to know why you didn't tell me what happened yourself." He accused.
"I tried, you left remember?" I told him, fighting the urge to rub my eyes.
"No Cammie, I want to know why you didn't come looking for me after it happened. I want to know why I had to listen to Kim ramble on for five minutes about nothing before going to ask around to find out the truth from somebody else. I want to know why my girlfriend didn't bother to tell me what was going on." He practically spit at me. I snapped.
"You know what Zach? I want to know why my boyfriend's best friends came looking for me when he didn't. I want to know where you've been during the past three attacks!" I yelled at him.
He snorted. "Attacks? Cammie, don't over exaggerate. Those were hardly attacks."
"What? Are you joking?" I asked incredulously.
"I told you Gallagher Girl, my school is rough. This is just how things are. It's normal." We heard a bang come from the other side of the door. Zach gave me one last look before turning on his heel and walking away.
I finally gave in and rubbed my eyes before opening the door and scattering the Gallagher Girls that had been gathered behind it to hear our conversation.
"You guys hear all you wanted to?" I asked sarcastically.
"Cammie, how could he say that to you?" Eva asked.
"I don't know Eva. Maybe he was just saying it because he knew you were all listening in." I suggested as I made my way to my corridor.
"Be careful Cam." Mick called as I shut the door behind me.
I heaved a sigh as I pressed my back against the door. I looked around the room and saw that Bex, Macey, and Liz were all waiting for me expectantly.
"I get the feeling you guys want to see what's in the information file." I stated.
"You would be correct. But we want to go through it with the guys. We were waiting for you to get here so we could go down to the boys room." Bex explained.
"Cool, let's go." I said as I scooped up my laptop. I was just as eager as they were to see what was in the file. One problem at a time.
The girls quickly followed my example and picked up their laptops. We told the other girls we were going to see the guys and began our walk to their room. We laughed and chatted as we made our way to the boy's room but I stopped dead when I saw Micah and Chase appear. They ignored my presence but I couldn't keep my eyes away from them. I was terrified of what they might do. This afternoon had really shaken me. Bex, Macey, and Liz stood beside me as we waited to see what they would do.
Chase smiled and bumped into me slightly. Not enough to make me move but enough for me to feel him slip something into my pocket.
"Apologies Miss Morgan." He said with a charming grin that seemed just a touch evil.
They continued on their way and so did we. I didn't want to see what he had put in my pocket and I didn't want the girls to know that he had slipped me something either. I would look at it later. We picked up our pace a little as we neared the boy's dorm. We reached the door and Bex rapped on the wood twice.
Grant hurried pulled the door open and herded us inside. Macey went to sit by Nick under his bed at the desk, Liz took a seat next to Jonas, Bex and Grant sat on his bed, and I sat on the floor leaning against Grant's bed. We all knew why we were here.
"Okay. Grant, Cam, you guys got the file right?" Jonas asked. We nodded. "Cool how do you guys want to do this?"
"Um...I don't know. Cam?" Grant said.
"I guess we could just open the file and scan it for any pertinent information…?" I suggested.
"Sounds good." Liz agreed and pulled open her laptop. The rest of us followed suit.
I opened the email from Liz and my mouse hovered over the file. I wanted to click it but I hesitated...I was nervous. Grant nudged me with his foot. I looked up at him and he smiled encouragingly.
'On three.' He mouthed to me. I nodded. 'One...two...three."
I clicked the moment he mouthed three and turned to see a report fill my screen. I scanned it quickly.
Date: December 18, 2006
Agents: Rachel and Matthew Morgan
Synopsis: Reassignment of Morgan, Grant.
Narrative:
On this date, December the 18, 2006, Agents Morgan and Morgan have been ordered to reassign their son (Morgan, Grant) to a safe house. Protection shall be issued to Morgan, Grant. Agents will be assigned to keep watch over Morgan, Grant. Morgan, Grant will be watched until the family's delta red status is revoked. Possible reassignment of Morgan, Cameron will be considered.
End report.
"Are you freaking serious?" I asked aloud. "That's the end of the report? What happened to 'all reports need to include every detail and specifications'? That report said nothing!"
"It did say something. We now know that mom and dad didn't want to give me up. They had to, they almost had to give you up too. It tells us that we were all in danger, we were under delta red! Whatever that means…" Grant trailed off.
"Delta red is bad news...it means something incredibly serious was going on. It means that something happened on one of your parents missions and you were under investigation by some super bad people." Jonas explained.
"If only it said who…" Macey grumbled.
"Do you guys think you could figure out what was going on?" Bex asked Liz and Jonas. They nodded.
"Probably, there should be a case file on it somewhere." Liz told us.
"Thanks you guys...we know you don't have to do this." Grant told them.
"It's no problem." Jonas said waving off his gratitude.
"Seriously though...we really appreciate it." I added to Grant's statement.
"You guys deserve to know the truth." Liz said with conviction. "We'll help you find it."
"You guys are the best." Grant and I said in unison.
We all started laughing when Grant and I gave each other accusatory looks. Of course that's when Zach decided to burst into the room. His eyes narrowed when he saw that I was there. I guess he was still mad at me.
"Hey Zach, where've you been?" Nick asked between giggles.
"Oh come on don't you know better than to ask that by now?" Grant teased.
"He's never gonna say." Jonas added.
"For your information, I was in the gym. I came back to grab my good running shoes. I'll see you guys later." Zach said with another significant look at me before leaving the room once more.
"Yikes. What was that about? Trouble in paradise?" Grant asked.
"He's mad at me for not telling him what happened with the Bulldozers." I told them.
"Seriously? He's mad at you for not telling him when you tried to tell him and he left?" Jonas asked.
"Yeah. He said I should've sought him out the second after it happened and told him in extreme detail what happened." I said rolling my eyes. I left out the part where he said they weren't attacks.
"Wow. I'm not an expert on women but to me that sounds like a no-no when it comes to your girlfriend." Jonas commented.
"You would be correct." Liz informed him.
"So what are you going to do?" Bex asked.
"I have no idea." I told them, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. "Try to talk to him and apologize I guess."
"If he even talks to you." Liz added.
"Yeah...if he even talks to me." I agreed.
"What makes you think he won't talk to you?" Nick asked.
"Are you kidding? Did you see his face when he left? Did you see the glares he shot at her? He is not happy at all. We'll be lucky if he talks to her before the week is out." Macey informed him.
"I bet he talks to her by the end of tomorrow without her having to seek him out." Nick argued.
"I'll take that bet." Macey said, straightening.
"Okay, what's the bet?" Nick asked.
"Loser has to come up with the date." Macey decided.
"You're on." Nick said and they shook hands.
"You are our witnesses." Macey said looking at each of is in turn.
"Don't worry Mace, we'll make sure he holds up his end of the bargain." Liz teased.
"I don't know how I feel about my relationship being the source of a bet." I commented.
"Just roll with it, Cam." Grant told me, moving his hand in a wave like motion.
"Alright." I said leaning against the bed once more.
Liz let out a huge yawn and I followed suit causing Macey and Bex to yawn as well.
"I think it's time you girls got to bed." Jonas said kindly. "You've had a long days, all of you."
"Yeah, come on. We'll walk you back to your room." Nick said climbing to his feet and reaching to help Macey up as well.
"WAIT!" I yelled, Nick freezing just before grabbing Macey's hand. I turned to Grant. "Solomon lied to us. He said he came back from his mission and I was a few months old. This says we were eight when the reassignment happened. So unless it was an eight year mission…"
"He knows something." Grant agreed.
"But he looked so shocked when we told him." I said confused.
"Probably shocked that you guys found out." Jonas suggested. Liz yawned again. "You guys can talk to Solomon again tomorrow and then we'll discuss it more. Now, you've really got to get to bed, Liz is about to pass out."
Grant helped Bex and I to our feet as Jonas grabbed Liz's hand and walked out the door with Macey and Nick close behind. I let Bex and Grant go ahead of me and took the opportunity to see what Chase had slipped in my pocket. It was a note.
Sleep tight, my girlie :*
I shuddered and crumpled the note. I would throw it away when we got back to our room. I didn't want to think about Chase right now. I shoved the crumpled note back into my pocket and hurried to catch up with the others, hoping with everything that I had that we wouldn't run into Chase, Micah, or Paul on the way back to our room.
Luckily we made it to our room without incident. The girls bid their guys goodnight while I hurried straight to our room and began getting ready for bed. I was excited to get to bed as I hadn't slept the night before. I quickly removed my makeup and brushed my hair and teeth before crossing out of the bathroom and slipping on my pajamas. I threw Chase's note away then jumped under the covers and fell into a blissful sleep.
I jerked awake, chest heaving. I looked around my corridor wildly, forgetting where I was for a moment. When reason set in again, I calmed my breathing and my heart rate. A creek came from the common room. I froze. I swore I heard a voice that sounded just like Chase and I ran to see who was there. I flipped on the light and saw no one. I guess I was just being paranoid.
Well there was absolutely no chance of me falling back asleep now. I slipped on a pair of socks and opened the common room door, sliding into the hall. I should've probably woken up Bex to go with me, but I wanted to let her sleep. I wandered around the halls aimlessly. I took the opportunity to look for more secret passageways but that quickly lost it's novelty. There weren't very many.
I did find one cool one though, it ran from the grand hall to the gym. I exited that passageway then froze as I realized that there was someone in the gym. I slid forward silently, peering quietly around the corner as I looked to see who was there.
It was the Weapons teacher, Mark. He was working out, pummeling a punching bag. Who worked out at two o'clock in the morning? I turned to let him continue his work out when he heard me.
"Who's there?" He called. I decided I better reveal myself.
"It's just me." I stepped into the light. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
I suddenly felt very self-conscious there in my pajamas. I was wearing short black sleeping shorts with a black tank top reading 'Stay up all night' that was long in the back but didn't quite cover my stomach in the front. I uncomfortably folded my arms.
"No need to apologize, you didn't interrupt anything." He told me, reaching for his water bottle.
"Oh." I stood there waiting for him to say something, anything.
"That's a nasty looking cut." He told me, pointing to my cheek.
"I've had worse." I said off handedly.
"Yeah. I'm sure you have." We waited in silence for a moment and he continued. "I'm sorry you had to go through what you did Cammie. It isn't fair."
"Life isn't fair. Anyone who says differently is selling something." I quoted one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride.
"Very true." He laughed a little. "You know, I taught those boys. I know what they're capable of better than anyone else. I could help you learn some moves that would better help you defend against them."
"Seriously?" I perked up a little bit.
"Yeah, of course. Anytime you like." He offered.
"Now?" I asked.
He chuckled. "Sure. But are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep?"
"I don't think I'm going to be getting much sleep tonight." I told him as I pulled my socks off. He nodded in understanding before gesturing for me to join him.
"Well then let's get started." He stated, reaching for cotton hand wraps.
We worked for hours. He taught me some really complex defensive moves that wouldn't be taught at Gallagher until the last semester of your senior year. We worked on the defensive moves I already knew too, he helped me improve them and showed me how to counter attack some of Blackthorne's favorite moves. Around 5:30 we finally decided that we had done enough for one night and split off to get ready for the day. I waved goodbye to him as I left the gym and hurried silently back to my room.
I slipped into the common room and locked the door behind me, not that it would do much good if anyone really wanted to get in. I tried not to wake anyone up when I climbed back into bed and tried to get a little more sleep before the day started but Bex heard me.
"Cam?" Bex asked.
"Yeah?" I replied quietly.
"Where were you?" She asked.
"In the gym working with the weapons teacher. I'll tell you about it later, go back to sleep." I told her.
"Are you okay?" She wondered.
"Yeah, I'm great actually. Night." I yawned as I laid back on my pillow.
"Night Cam." She said and we both nodded off.
We woke up about an hour later, Liz shaking us all awake. Thank the stars it was Friday. Hopefully I could convince the others to sleep in tomorrow, my sleep debt was getting bigger and bigger. We all hurried to get ready, packing up now completed homework assignments before running down to the grand hall for breakfast. We were about to go to class when I remembered a homework assignment for history I had left on my dresser. I told Liz I would meet her in our first class before running up to our room to grab it.
I yanked open the door to the common room and pushed open the door to our corridor then stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Zach sitting on my bed, looking at something.
"Zach? What are you doing in here?" I asked warily. He held up the note Chase had slipped into my pocket the night before.
"What's this?" He asked coldly.
"The note Chase slipped into my pocket last night." I told him.
"Wow...I really expected more from you Cammie." He said as he stood up.
"What?" I asked incredulously.
"I mean, we have one tiny fight and you run off to some other guy." He exclaimed.
"You think I'm cheating on you with Chase? The guy that put me in the infirmary?"
"No Cammie, he didn't put you in the infirmary, Micah did! He's been bragging about it all day, just like Chase has been bragging that he kissed you! When were you going to tell me about that, huh?" He yelled.
"Maybe when you asked about it!" I exploded back at him. "What gives you the right-"
"I have every right! First you slink around not telling me anything, then you make out with one of my best friends-!"
"I am not the one that's been slinking around, you are! Make out with Chase? Are you insane? He was holding me against the ground and he kissed me, I couldn't stop him!" I retorted.
"You don't seem like you wanted to!" He yelled once more.
I was hysteric. "I wanted nothing more in the world to get him off of me in that moment. Nothing. If I had the power to stop him, I would have."
"Oh come on Cammie-" I wasn't finished. I yelled over his protests.
"I kept wishing that someone, anyone, would appear and make him stop but no one did. I was alone. Meanwhile you've been galavanting about with the very same guys that have sent me to the infirmary twice in the past week. You haven't been around Zach, not at all. You have no right at all to make judgement calls about what's been happening."
He spun around and punched the wall, leaving a nice sized hole.
"I can't be around all the time Cammie! I can't just drop my life to spend every second with you. You need to learn how to be alone."
"Get out." I told him suddenly, deadly calm.
"What?" He asked loudly.
"Apparently I need to learn how to be alone. GET. OUT!" I exclaimed pointing to the door.
He crumpled the note and threw it at me on his way out the door.
I wanted nothing more than to collapse into a ball and cry but unfortunately, I had classes. I took a deep steadying breath to calm myself before shoving my homework into my backpack and hurrying out into the halls. I froze when I saw Chase leaning on the wall opposite the door. My freeze was only a second, however. I kept walking. He followed me.
"That was some fight girlie." Chase said as he hurried to keep pace.
"Leave me alone." I said through gritted teeth.
"Sure glad he punched the wall and not you" He continued. The girls area was sound proof, there's no way he could've known that unless...he was in the common room.
"I wish he would punch you." I mumbled.
"Oh come on now girlie." He fingered my hair and I jerked away. "Your boyfriend and I are friends...he'd never hurt me."
"Please, leave me alone." I tried again.
"Can't leave you alone, don't want you to be late to class." He slipped a hand around my waist and I jerked away again, walking faster.
"Don't you have your own class to get to?" I asked.
"Not yet girlie...not yet." He said yanking on the end of my skirt.
"Stop that." I said harshly as I jerked away again.
"Don't worry about it girlie, just showing how much I missed you." He said pulling my hair again.
"Stay away from me." I told him.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. My heartbeat sped up again.
"Now why would I want to do that?" He asked. He tucked a piece of my hair around my ear and kissed my neck, holding me still.
"I'll see you later girlie." He whispered in my ear before turning around and whistling as he walked away.
It became much harder not to cry. Crying is extremely necessary for survival, it releases toxins. Now was not the time to release my toxins...I took another deep breath and continued on my way to class. I made it just a few seconds after the bell rang.
I got a huge homework assignment in foreign languages, I failed a pop quiz in history, and had a very hard time understanding what we were doing in math. Luckily with Mick and Anna at my side, I managed to avoid the Bulldozers on the way to cov ops but was so distracted that I missed the first part of the lesson and Solomon did not fail to call me out on it. My apple was moldy at lunch, I was pounded in P&E and in Weapons then I blew up the lab in Science. Luckily I didn't see Zach again. Unfortunately, I did see Dr. Excellent.
"Miss Morgan." He called from down the hall.
"Yes Dr. Steve?" I had to stop myself from calling him Dr. Excellent.
"I have received word that you weren't in detention yesterday." He told me. Awww crap. I planned on going I really did but…
"She was in detention yesterday Dr. Steve, just not you detention." Solomon said coming to my aide.
"I'm sorry?" Dr. Steve asked.
"She was performing a special detention for me, in fact she will be for the next week. Seeing as she has so many weeks of detention with you, I figured you wouldn't mind giving one up." Solomon explained. Thank the stars for Solomon.
"Ah yes...I see. I'm glad you're finally taking interest in your students discipline, Joseph." Dr. Steve said proudly. Solomon nodded his head slightly. "Well Miss Morgan, it appears I will not see you for another week. Good day."
I turned to Solomon as soon as he was out of sight and began thanking him profusely.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" I exclaimed.
"Think of it as a temporary reprieve. You may informe Miss Lee and Miss Walters of it as well. Have a nice weekend, Cammie." He nodded goodbye to me before walking away.
Suddenly I seemed to forget about my horrible day as I walked happily to the common room. My good mood did not seem to last as I remember Solomon lying to Grant and I. We still had to confront him. My mood only got worse as I saw Micah standing down the hall, a small bean bag in hand.
I tried my darndest to get past him without an issue but the stars seemed determined to make this day horrible. He slid up in front of me and began tossing the bean bag up and down in his hand.
"What's the matter girlie? Problems with your boyfriend?" He teased.
"Go away." I said as I tried to maneuver around him. No luck.
"You're a worthless girlie. Pitiful girlie. Zach's gonna break up with you, girlie. Then you'll be all alone. Except for me…" He cackled. "No one wants you girlie. That's why you're here."
"Please go away." I tried to keep my voice even.
"Aww little girlie is begging now. Such a pathetic little girlie." He sneered. He began bouncing the bean bag off of me.
"Stop it." I told him.
"Sad little girlie. Worthless little girlie. Stupid little girlie. Loveless little girlie. Lonely little girlie." He kept throwing taunts at me, and with each one he bounced the bean bag off of me.
I kept making my way to the common room, reminding myself over and over again what would happen if I fought back. I promised Solomon I wouldn't fight back. It was a bad idea to fight back, that's what he wanted.
I finally saw the common room and I sprinted for it, leaving a laughing Micah being me. I sighed in relief as I shut the door behind me and saw Mick, Kim, and Eva sitting on the couch. Kim looked like she had escaped the taunts today. Good.
"Hey guys." I called as I dropped my backpack by the door and slipped off my shoes.
"Hey. The rest of our uniforms got here today." Mick informed me.
"Good, I was worried I would be down to just one shirt." I said with a smile.
"Yeah something weird happened with them though, the shirts are smaller than they should be. Nothing major though, shouldn't be an issue." Kim told me. I nodded, that was fine.
"Oh, Bex wants you to meet her in Grant's room." Eva told me.
"Thanks, I'll go down there now. I'm so glad it's friday." I told them as I put my shoes back on.
"Me too. Tina says we can have a movie night tonight." Kim said with a smile.
"That would be amazing." I said with a sigh.
"Yeah, then we can sleep in tomorrow." Mick added. I nodded in agreement.
"Well, I'm off." They waved goodbye to me as I slipped into the hall.
Micah had luckily moved on to somewhere else but I still hurried as I made my way to the boys' room. I made it there without an incident. I knocked twice on the door and Bex hurried pulled me in.
"So why did you guys want to meet with me?" I asked as soon as the door was shut.
"First, I want to see this bruise that Bex has told me so much about." Grant said, folding his arms.
I shot Bex a look. She didn't look guilty. She adopted the same posture as Grant.
"I'm not sorry Cam, he's your brother and he deserves to know." She told me.
I sighed before lifting up the edge of my shirt to show the bottom of the bruise. Grant gasped at the sight of it. The bottom was nasty, the rest of it was worse. I hoped he would just think the bottom was the whole of it but Bex was taking none of my crap. She ran forward and lifted my shirt up the rest of the way revealing the whole bruise.
"Geez Cam!" Grant yelled as he ran forward to look at it closer.
I didn't know why, it didn't look better the closer you got. It was a massive, disgusting thing. It was about the size of a bowl and covered a good chunk of my stomach. It was purple and blue and yellow and you could see some blood vessels that had popped. It looked really bad and felt even worse. Sometimes it hurt to breathe. Not that I would tell them that.
"It's not that bad." I tried to soothe him. I failed.
"It's really bad. I know, I've bruises that look really similar. I'm gonna kill him." Grant announced. I rolled my eyes. Not this again.
"You can't kill him Grant." I reminded him. "We've been over this."
"Yeah well karma doesn't seem to be doing it's job. Those jerks are still fine. I think it's time we take karma into our own hands." Grant said angrily. "It's my baby sister they're beating up and they've got to pay."
He had become more and more protective as time went on.
"Let's wait a little longer for revenge, and go talk to Solomon instead." I suggested.
He perked up a little.
"Really? Can we? Right now?" He asked rapidly. I took the opportunity to let my shirt fall back down.
"Yeah. If we can find him." I answered. I turned to Bex. "You should come too."
"If you guys want me there." She commented.
"We absolutely want you there, right Grant?" I asked and he bobbed his head yes.
"Sweet, then let's go find us a Solomon." Bex said cracking her knuckles.
"Remember guys, we're asking him a question, not interrogating him." I told them sternly as we left Grant's room and made our way to Solomon's office.
We got lucky. We found him on our first try. We knocked politely on the door and waited for him to secure the room before pouncing.
"You lied to us Mr. Solomon." I told him firmly.
"At which time, Miss Morgan?" He asked calmly.
"You said you didn't know about Grant and I being twins." I reminded him. "You lied."
"Do you have proof?" He asked.
"I was reassigned when Cam and I were eight, Mr. Solomon." Grant put in roughly.
"We found the file. If it's alright with you, we would like to know the truth now." I said calmly. He sighed slightly.
"What would you like to know?" He asked after a moment of silence. I was surprised but I pressed our advantage.
"What happened. Why they sent Grant away, why we were in delta red, why mom and dad never mentioned Grant, why I don't remember-" Solomon cut me off.
"One question at a time Miss Morgan. You know what happened. Grant was sent away for his safety. Your family was in delta red after a mission gone wrong. Your parents wiped your memory of Grant to protect you." He said shortly.
"Tell us something we don't know. Why didn't they get me back after our family was taken out of delta red." Grant demanded angrily.
"Because they didn't know where to find you. The family that was charged with your safety disappeared without a trace. We searched everywhere for you, that is what your father was doing when he went MIA." Solomon explained. I noted his use of the word 'we'. "We found you about two years after he went MIA."
I was stunned into silence. "What...happened on the mission?" I got out finally. I wanted to know what got my brother sent away from me.
"You'll have to ask your mother. I don't know." Solomon told me. I believed him.
"Thank you Mr. Solomon...We'll see you later." I said distractedly as I pulled Grant and Bex out of the room.
We left Solomon alone and hurried back to the girls common room and collapsed on the couches.
"Wow." I said after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah…" Grant agreed.
"What a day." Bex said, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"
"6:30" I replied.
"So almost time for food. It seems like we just barely ate. Do we have something tonight?" Bex asked.
"Yeah, Tina's movie night." I reminded her.
"Oh yeah. You coming Grant?" Bex asked.
"Am I allowed?" He asked.
"Yeah. Dates are encouraged apparently." Bex told him.
"I should probably ask Zach then." I said offhandedly.
"Maybe. Or maybe not it's up to you." Bex said. "I'm getting cold I'm gonna go get a jacket."
She climbed to her feet and stumbled to our room but stopped cold once she reached the door.
"Cam?" Bex asked.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Do you happen to know why there's a hole in our wall?" She wondered. I had forgotten about that.
"Um...yeah, Zach did it." I told her acting like it was no big deal.
"When?" She asked, a little panicked.
"This morning. I came up here to grab my homework and he was in our room and-"
"He was in our room?" She interrupted.
"Yeah. Anyway, he was in our room and we fought and he punched the wall then I kicked him out." I told her.
"Why was he in our room?" She asked as she grabbed her jacket and came to sit down again.
"I have no idea. I just found him there." I told her. "He found the note Chase slipped me."
"Chase slipped you a note?" Grant asked. I resisted the urge to face-palm. I forgot I hadn't told them.
"Yeah last night on the way to your room." I finally told them.
"Well what did it say?" Bex asked.
"'Goodnight girlie.'" I admitted. I omitted the kissy face.
"Creep." Bex commented.
"I agree." Courtney said as she entered the room. "What are we talking about?"
"Chase." I told her.
"Oh. I totally agree." She said as she flopped onto the couch next to me.
"Can we go get food?" Grant asked.
"Dinner doesn't start for another like twenty minutes." Mick commented. She came in with Courtney.
"So what. They're probably setting food out now, let's go." Grant said pulling Bex to her feet.
The rest of us sighed before following them down to the grand hall. Grant was right, they were setting out food. We all quickly piled food on our plates before sitting down. Well, everyone else piled food on their plates. I just grabbed an apple. I seemed to be doing that a lot recently. It had not escaped my friend's notice.
Kim, Eva, Tina, Anna, and Liz had joined us at the table. They all frowned when they noticed my apple. Mick was the one to say something.
"Cammie, you need to eat more than an apple." Mick said as she tried to hand me a roll. "That's all you've eaten in the past four days."
"And you don't even finish them. That's not healthy." Liz pointed out.
"I'm just not super hungry." I said with a shrug.
"You still need to eat. It's not good for you." Eva added.
"I'll eat more later. I'm just not hungry right now."I shoved the roll away. "Has anyone seen Macey?"
"She and Nick went to the library after school. Might still be there." Liz told us. "I think Macey is making him plan the date, she won the bet."
"Actually…" Bex started, but I cut her off.
"No, she still won. I didn't necessarily seek him out but he didn't exactly come looking for me either." I reminded her. She thought about it for a second.
"What happened?" Anna asked.
"Yeah I guess you're right. Don't know what we're gonna do about the hole in the wall though." Bex agreed.
"What happened?" Anna asked again. One look at Bex and I knew what we were doing. I fought the urge to smile.
"We could cover it with a picture." I suggested.
"What happened?" Anna said a little louder.
"Maybe Macey has an idea." Bex wondered.
"Or maybe you could tell us what happened." Anna said, annoyed this time.
"Maybe Liz could come up with some like quick plaster thing-" Anna cut me off.
"OH MY GOSH. WHAT. HAPPENED." Anna asked exasperated. Bex and I burst into laughter.
"Sorry Anna." I said between giggles. "We couldn't resist."
"I'll-I'll tell you what happened." Bex said as her laughter slowed. She explained what happened that morning and the girls reacted quite adamantly.
"Seriously? He was in your room and going through your stuff? Creep!" Eva exclaimed. I tried not to draw parallels between when they called Chase a creep.
"That is seriously crossing a line. Who cares what he found, that is not okay." Mick agreed.
"Cam, you have to talk to him about this!" Anna exclaimed.
"Seriously." Courtney agreed.
"Guys...it's not that simple." I tried to argue.
"If you aren't going to talk to him, I am." Liz said firmly as she got up from the table and started for where Zach was sitting.
"Liz!" I called after her. I couldn't go after her. I didn't want to face Zach. No one else got up to follow her.
I watched as Liz tapped on Zach's shoulder and he turned to face her. I couldn't quite read Liz's lips but I could definitely read her body language. She was upset, Zach was trying (and failing) to defend himself. He turned to his friends for help and boy was he surprised when they were on Liz's side. Well, Grant, and Jonas were. Soon, Zach's senior friend joined the argument and Liz was soon outnumbered. Bex was not going to let this stand. She climbed and stood next to Liz's side. Soon all of the Gallagher Girls were over there arguing with Zach and the seniors.
With nothing else to do, I joined them. I heard the argument far before I reached them.
"If he has reason to suspect her, he should be able to go and search her things. It's what we do as spies." Some senior said.
I decided now was a good a time as any to jump in.
"And if he found evidence that added to his suspicions he should be able to kill me right? Because you know, that's what you do as assassins." I called loudly over the girl's protests. They let me through so I was standing right in front of Zach. "I mean, that's the only way to solve problems isn't it? Instead of talking to a person."
"That's not what we're saying." Another senior argued.
"Oh really? Then what are you saying?" I asked coldly, adopting my 'Abby' posture. I folded my arms, popped a hip, and cocked an eyebrow.
"We're saying that if he has reason to suspect, uh...you, of cheating on him he should be able to confirm his suspicions." He explained.
"And the only way to do that is to break into a room that I share with three other people? Instead of say, walking up to me and saying 'Are you cheating on me?'" I said in an imitation of Zach's voice. I lowered my eyes to his. "Or asking my friends? Or your friends? Or the person you suspect me of cheating on you with?"
"Are you cheating on me?" Zach asked.
"No." I replied evenly. I wasn't.
"Well of course you're going to say that, you wouldn't tell him the truth." The first senior protested. I ignored him and kept my eyes locked on Zachs.
"You are trained to detect lies and you've always been able to tell when I lie to you. Look at me now Zach and tell me if I'm lying to you. I'm not cheating on you." I said calmly.
He stared at me, following every muscle contraction, every eye movement. I wasn't lying. He wasn't going to admit that he knew I wasn't lying. We could stand here all night. Mick wasn't going to let that happen.
"Whatever. We all know the truth. Come on Cam. Later, Beast." Mick said as she pulled me away from the table.
I was shaking when she wrapped an arm around me and sat me down at my place at the table.
"You okay Cam?" Kim asked.
I nodded.
"She needs to bloody eat more." Bex commented and we burst into laughs, just as Macey arrived.
"Hey guys! What'd I miss?" She asked. We laughed once more.
The rest of the dinner passed peacefully and we hurried to get back to the common room for the much awaited movie night. Mick and I had managed to convince the rest of the girls to sleep in the next morning so we were extremely excited. All the girls had managed to get dates for the night. Bex of course had Grant while Liz had Jonas, Macey had Nick, Tina had asked Andrew, Courtney asked Jake, Anna asked Sam, Eva asked Peter, Mick asked Thomas, and Kim asked Connor. They were all extremely excited for their dates and I was excited for them.
We left dinner early so they could all get ready before the guys got there. We all decided to wear our matching pajamas so we quickly changed into gray seersucker scalloped shorts, with pink letters on them paired with light pink slouchy shirts. We all decided to remove our heavy day make up and replace it with more natural looking makeup then we twisted our hair into different kinds of braids. We finished just in time for the guys to get there.
They had apparently all 'ran into' each other 'accidentally' on the way to our room so they all arrived at once. They were in a mix of basketball shorts and sweat pants with t-shirts and jackets. I wonder if they knew that if they gave their girl their jacket, they weren't getting them back. We all quickly settled ourselves on the couches and bean bags while I put the first movie in and before we knew it, our movie night was on a roll.
Each couple handled the movie differently. Macey and Nick made out the whole time, Bex and Grant fought over which actors had appeared in which movie, Liz and Jonas discussed the filming style and the quality of the equipment, Kim and Connor discussed how the movie was edited, Tina and Andrew didn't even mention the movie in their conversation, Courtney and Jake just cuddled quietly, Eva and Peter flirted, Mick and Thomas made jokes about was happening on screen, while Anna and Sam actually watched the movie.
With so many conversations going on, it was a miracle anyone could hear anything through the entire first movie. The second movie was pretty much the same, but everyone was more relaxed. By the third movie, some of the girls had fallen asleep. The fourth movie hit and the guys started falling asleep too. The fifth movie only like four people were awake. The four of us decided to watch the rest of the movie before we woke everyone up and the guys left. We bid them farewell and then all the girls piled into their separate corridors, hoping for many hours of sleep.
We slept in until lunch the next day. It was basically the greatest thing ever. We stumbled out of bed and didn't even bother changing as we made our way to great hall to get some food. I grabbed an apple once more then waited for the girls before heading to our table. Everyone began stuffing their faces, conversation at a minimum. I even managed to get most of my apple down this time. By the time we finished stuffing our faces the area was noticeably empty. Except for, of course, the Bulldozers. It's like they were waiting for us.
"Look at our little girlies." Chase said as he stroked my hair. I stopped cold.
"Sleepy girlies." Micah added as he sat next to Kim, pushing Anna out of the way.
Paul grinned as he went up behind Tina.
"Get out of here, creeps." Macey threatened.
"We won't be long." Chase told them, taking a bite of my apple.
"We just want to check on our girlies." Paul added.
"So, girlie. How are things with dear Zach?" Chase asked twirling a piece of hair around his finger.
"Fine." I said tersely. "Please go away."
"Come on now girlie don't be like that." He said sweeping my hair to the side and leaning in close to my neck. I fought the urge to run.
"Too close." Bex called pulling him away by his collar. Thank the stars for Bex.
Chase glared at her but Bex didn't look apologetic. Paul and Micah were teasing Tina and Kim but I couldn't focus on anything other than Chase's hand on the small of my back. Chase waited until Bex released him before striking forward like the snake he is and kissing my neck. I jerked away but I couldn't escape.
Bex got ready to kill him but lucky for all of us he turned on his heel and walked away, Paul and Micah following after him.
I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding in when they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Kim was shaking. I found it hard not to follow her example.
"Those freaks." Liz commented. We all gave Liz a surprised look. "What? I can be mean."
"Cam, you've got to talk to Solomon about this." Mick commented.
"Why? What can he do? He's not even a real teacher here. He can't do anything." I said softly. "No, as long as they aren't attacking us, it's fine."
"Cam, are you sure? Maybe you should talk to Zach again-" Courtney tried.
"No way. He's already incredibly mad at me. There's no way he's even going to see me right now, let alone do me a favor. Besides, I can't ask him to turn on his friend. It wouldn't be fair." I argued.
"Cam, you need to do something." Bex said softly. Coming from anyone else I would've exploded, but Bex and I made a promise. We would always tell each other the hard truths.
I turned to Bex and made eye contact with her. Willing her to understand what I was too afraid to say.
I don't know what to do. She seemed to understand because she wrapped me under her arm and softly stroked my hair. I didn't have the heart to tell her how much it reminded me of Chase. As always Bex knew exactly what I was thinking as she stopped stroking my hair and mumbled an apology softly.
"Guys, I'm gonna go up to the room. I'm still tired." I told them as I gently pulled myself from Bex. I needed to think.
"I'm gonna come with you. I need to catch up on my sleep." Bex said as she climbed to her feet. One look at her face and I knew exactly why she was having trouble sleeping.
We waved goodbye to our friends as we made our way out of the hall towards the stairs. I ran a shaky hand through my hair as I noticed the lack of people around. I hoped the Bulldozers wouldn't attack with Bex by my side. I didn't want her to get hurt.
It seems every time I hope, I'm just disappointed. I felt a chill on the back of my neck and I felt Chase's arms encircle my waist. He pulled me close to him and chuckled as I lashed out at him with my fists.
Micah and Paul had Bex pulled off to the side within seconds and between the two of them they kept her busy so she couldn't help me. I started to panic as Chase pushed me up against the wall and pinned my arms above my head and holding my legs against the wall. It scared me how easy it was for him to render me immobile. I started struggling harder, no tact to my movement just horrified squirms. Chase chuckled at my attempts as he leaned forward and bit my lip drawing blood.
"Silly little girlie." Suddenly it wasn't Chase holding me anymore, it was Jacoby.
Jacoby shook me a little bit as if to call me back to reality, concern in his eyes.
"Cam, are you okay? What's wrong? You said the last session wasn't as bad. I'm going to break us out of here tonight, I promise. We're gonna get out of here."
This was a flashback. I couldn't control the next words that came out of my mouth.
"You know it's futile. We only have a week left, it's bad enough without another failed escape attempt on our record. Come on Jacoby, just let it be."
"Cam, I can't bear to see you like this." He told me as he gently pushed a piece of hair back behind my ear.
"It'll be okay." My voice says strongly as I shake inwardly.
Next thing I know I'm back in the gray room with the General conditioning me. One, two, three hits later and I'm in the arena with Marcos. Neither of us wants to hurt the other but we don't have a choice. Not anymore. Marcos' foot collides with my head and I'm back in the barracks with Jacoby nursing my wounds. I'm going to miss him. Jacoby becomes the General once more as he screams in my face, "Fight the pain! Worthless, good for nothing, Female! Where's your strength?" He's pummeling me and each syllable brings another punch or kick, I'm entirely defenseless.
"Cam! Cam! CAM!" Bex is shaking me trying to pull me out of the nightmare. I sit up shakily with tears in my eyes. "Oh honey…"
I let myself cry as Bex wraps her arms around my shoulders and pulls me into a hug. The nightmares haven't been this bad in weeks. She soothes me silently as I feel the blows as if they were real. As soon as I calm down enough to realize that we're not on my bed, I feel the pain. I had been punching the wall in my sleep, my knuckles were raw.
"Bex…" I said softly staring in horror at my fists. "How long…?"
"A few minutes, I would have gotten to you sooner but you kept attacking me each time I tried.I finally managed to sneak up behind you." She explained.
"I'm sorry." I manage to get out.
"It's not your fault." She reminds me. "Do you want to talk about it?"
I shake my head and bury my head on her shoulder.
"Jacoby?" She asks. I nod once. "That's not your fault Cam. Not at all."
"I miss him." I say softly.
"I know Cam. I know. He misses you too. I'm sure of it." She comforts. "Let's get back to bed."
I let her pull me back up onto my bed and pull her down by my side. I don't want to be alone if the nightmares come back. Bex falls asleep first but I'm not far behind.
A few hours later, I wake up for real and feel the pain from my nightly...training session. I quietly climb out of bed in the morning and patch up my bruises and bloody knuckles the best I can. They've seen worse. I quickly run a brush through my hair and pull on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before going out to the common room to watch a movie. What I see surprises me but it's not entirely unexpected.
"Zach." I said in an even tone.
"Hey Cam…" He says rubbing a hand on the back of his neck.
"What can I do for you?" I ask folding my arms.
"Forgive me? I was a real jerk the other day. I don't want to lose you." He admits after looking over his shoulder.
I don't say anything. He comes closer.
"Cam…" He says softly wrapping an arm around my waist. "Come on Cam."
He cups my cheek with his other hand. He gives me his dumb half smile and tickles my waist lightly and I fight the urge to smile. He knows he's got me. He leans forward and peppers my cheek and neck with light kisses.
"Come oooon." He groans as I laugh in his ear. "Say iiiiit!"
"Okay, okay, I forgive you." I say pulling away, but he catches one of my hands and grabs it. He presses a kiss to it and pulls me toward the couch.
"Is that so?" He asks an eyebrow cocked.
"Yes that is so." I reply with light sass as he pulls me onto the couch next to him.
"Good, then you'll watch this movie with me." He says as he wraps a blanket around the two of us.
I smile and let myself melt across his lap as we lounge on the couch watching one of the movies we watched the night before. He plays lightly with my hair. At first I freak out a little bit as I think of the similarities to Chase but force down the disgust and let him play with it, not letting on how much it bothers me. Slowly I forget about the fact that he's playing with my hair and fall asleep.
About two hours later I am awakened when a pillow whacks Zach in the head, causing him to sit up abruptly.
"Oh, sorry guys didn't see you there." Grant claims innocently as he plops the pillow back onto the couch. "Have you seen Bex?"
"She's still asleep." I tell him groggily.
"Go get her for me?" Grant asked as he sits next to Zach on the couch.
"Sure." I say as I stumble to my feet and head for our corridor. "Bex! You're boyfriend is waiting for you. Zach's out there too." I announce after going and jumping on Bex a few times.
She groaned. "What time is it?"
"Early." I replied.
"Why do they insist on doing this? Do they not understand the concept of sleeping in?" Liz complained.
"I'm with Liz." Macey agreed sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
"Well if you think you can make them leave…" I said, looking at my bed longingly. I really was still tired.
"I can get rid of Grant, but you're gonna have to make Zach leave." Bex said as she got to her feet.
"I'll do my best." I said softly following her out into the common room.
"Bex!" Grant said excitedly kissing her on the cheek.
"Hi Grant. Do you realize what time it is?" Bex replied sweetly.
"It's like, 10." Grant replied.
"No Grant, it's early. Very early for day after movie night standards. We need more sleep." Bex said coaxing him onto the couch.
"What time did you guys get to bed?" Zach asked.
"Like...4:50." Grant answered after a moment's thought.
"Geez!" Zach exclaimed. Bex and I shushed him.
"You see why we need to sleep." Bex said softly. "We just want to go back to bed."
"Grant, you should get more sleep too." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He yawned in response.
"Yeah maybe you're right." Grant agreed.
"Great. We'll see you later." Bex said as she climbed to her feet. Grant followed after and gave her a hug. I heard her whisper softly in Grant's ear, "Do me a favor and take the beast with you."
Grant nodded once and pulled a groaning Zach to the door behind him as Bex and I went back to the room and collapsed on the bed once more.
The next time I woke up, I felt fully rested for the first time in weeks. We had slept through breakfast and lunch unfortunately so most of us were starving. It didn't take long for the girls to direct their attention to me, giving me the not so subtle hint that I should sneak into the kitchen and steal us all food.
I was feeling good so after checking to make sure the coast was clear, I made my way to the passage I had discovered a few days before (had it really only been a few days?) and scuttled into it. I was surprised to see the same kid as before in the same exact place he had been when he helped me escape.
"Hello." I said tentatively.
He looked at me with wide eyes but didn't say anything.
"My name is Cammie." I said as I made my way toward him.
"I know." He said softly.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Waylon. I'm not supposed to talk to you." He replied.
"Who said you aren't supposed to talk to me?" I wondered.
"Your boyfriends. I'm supposed to stay away from you and all the rest of the girls." Waylon told me.
"Boyfriends?" I questioned.
"Yeah. Zach and Chase." He replied.
"Just Zach, I'm not...I'm not friends with Chase." I told him.
"Oh." He said shortly.
"Can you help me find the kitchen?" I asked him as I looked around at the passages that branched off.
"Will you get me in trouble?" He asked looking at me with his big brown eyes.
"Not on purpose." I replied truthfully.
"Okay. They're this way." He jumped to his feet and pulled me along with him through several twisting turns. I mapped out the route in my head for future reference.
A few minutes into the journey he popped off a piece of wall and luckily for me, we were right behind all the snack food in the kitchen pantry. I loaded up as much as I could carry then asked Waylon to help me carry some too. He looked all too happy to oblige. As soon as we were loaded up with food, we replaced the panel and Waylon led us back to the girls dorms.
He had an exit that was a lot closer to the door than the one I had found near the math hall. We hurried into the girls common room and got several weird looks as the girls realized I wasn't alone.
"Who's the minnow?" Jonas asked as I shut the door behind us.
"Waylon. When did you guys get here?" I asked as I nodded to Nick, Grant, and Jonas.
"A few minutes ago. Why's he here?" Grant asked.
"He's helping me carry food. I've decided to adopt him." I answered.
"Where'd you find him?" Bex asked.
"The passageways. Where's everyone else?" I wondered.
"Cammie, what did we tell you about bringing home strays that you find in the passageways." Macey said exasperated.
"This is not like that one time, this is a real live human being!" I exclaimed.
"Oh let her keep him, what harm can he do?" Liz put in.
"Yay! Now, where's everyone else?" I asked again.
"Apparently they all woke up before we did so they're out and about. It's just us." Macey told me.
"You brought food with you, right?" Bex asked jumping to her feet.
"Yeah." Waylon and I piled the food we had gathered onto the table.
We descended onto the pile like a pack of wild wolves. Mere moments later the pile was reduced to nothing but wrappers. Waylon looked a bit scared.
"So kid, how old are you?" Grant asked.
"I'm...I'm in 5th grade." He replied quietly.
"That didn't answer my question." Grant pointed out.
"He'd be ten, Grant." Jonas told him as he pulled out his laptop and turned it on.
"Be nice, Grant." Liz instructed firmly as she curled around Jonas and his laptop.
"I was being nice! I just asked a question!" Grant defended, but Liz and Jonas were already lost into the technological world.
"It's okay Grant, you just intimidate him a little bit." I said as I pulled Waylon down to sit by me.
"I'm not trying to be intimidating." Grant complained as I laid down on Bex's lap.
"It's okay, we know." Bex comforted him as she began to play with his hair.
"So Waylon, what do you think of Blackthorne?" Nick asked.
"It's...okay." Waylon replied nervously.
"A little intense, isn't it?" Nick asked again, friendly.
"Yeah…" Waylon replied, a little louder this time.
"The other guys being nice to you?" Nick wondered as he pulled Macey under his arm.
"Yeah! Well, most of them anyway." He said, growing quieter again.
"Who's being mean to you, kid?" Grant asked.
"Just some of the older kids." Waylon said nonchalantly.
"Do you know their names? Maybe we could talk to them." Nick suggested.
"No, no they wouldn't like that." Waylon exclaimed suddenly.
"Hey," I got him to look at me "Who is it Waylon?" I asked softly.
"Your boyfriends." He told me quietly, hoping the others couldn't hear.
"Boyfriends?" Grant asked confused.
"Zach and Chase." I told him as I sighed. I didn't want to believe it but...I knew it was true.
"Seriously? Man, what is up with Zach?" Nick asked looking at Grant.
"I dunno dude...something's wrong though." Grant replied, thoughtful.
"Could you talk to him about it Cammie?" Macey asked.
"Maybe...I'd have to pick the right time though, he's been so touchy lately." I replied, running a hand through my hair.
"I thought you guys made up this morning." Grant pointed out.
"Yeah, mostly. I don't want to mess with it right now though, just in case things aren't as settled as I think they are." I told them.
"Ugh, I'm about to explode I can't just sit here all day. Can we go train?" Bex begged.
"I'm down." Macey and I said in unison.
"Sounds like fun." Grant replied.
"I'll go." Nick said "You wanna come with us Waylon?"
Waylon thought about it a minute before nodding.
"Sweet, let's go change. We'll meet you guys in the gym." Grant said jumping to his feet.
"Cool. Lizzie, Jonas, you guys staying here?" Bex asked.
"Yeah." Liz called over her shoulder.
"We'll see you guys later then." Grant told them as he, Nick, and Waylon hurried out the door.
The girls and I hurried to change into yoga pants and simple tank tops before sliding on our running shoes and making our way to the gym. About halfway to the gym I heard a voice that stopped me dead in my tracks.
Micah. I don't know how I knew it was his voice, but I knew. When I heard a small female squeal I knew he was after Tina and I had to help her. I quickly turned on my heel and hurried to find her, running through the halls leaving Bex and Macey in my wake.
I found them a few halls down and I ran and jumped on Micah's back, pulling him away from Tina. To say he was mad, would be an understatement. He roared as ran backwards, slamming me into the wall behind us. He completely ignored a shaking Tina as he began to whale on me, punches, kicks, threats, and curses were all flung at me as he took out his anger.
The next minute and a half seemed to last an eternity. I knew Tina was not in the mindset to help me, Micah had really gotten to her. My original plans of standing up to Micah, and finally beating him in a fight were crushed as for the first time in forever, I froze. My mind stopped working and my muscles seized up. There was physically nothing I could do to stop him from hurting me. I just kept thinking 'This is wrong, I should hit him back, I should scream, I should move.' My every instinct was yelling at me to do what I had been trained to do but I just...couldn't. He had broken me. He won.
Eventually, Bex and Macey found us. Bex pulled Micah off of me and screamed for help with Macey ran to Tina. Micah ran off scared before a teacher could catch him and I just sat there. Still frozen. From Bex's reaction, my injuries were pretty bad but I couldn't feel anything. I was numb. Bex pulled me to my feet and got me down to the infirmary. Tina had snapped out of her trance and she ran to get Mr. Solomon while Macey went to get the boys. I didn't have the energy to fight her on it.
The nurse greets us with what is becoming a familiar look on her face. She doesn't have to direct me as to where to go. I know where to meet her. I take a seat on the bed, Bex looking nervous by my side.
"Are you okay, Cam?" Bex asks.
I can't speak. I just shake my head no. She wraps me in a hug and I break down. Tears streak my face and sting my cuts. Silent tears became sobs as I finally released my emotional dam and let everything out. Bex just squeezes me tighter. By the time the nurse appears to clean me up, I'm all out of tears. I take a few shuddering breaths as the pain finally hits me.
"Wow...he really did a number on me this time, didn't he?" I asked Bex.
"Yeah. It was rough this time. I swear if Solomon doesn't do something productive this time, I will." Bex growled.
It was if Solomon was waiting for us to mention him before he came in. He burst through the door, red in the face, steam practically coming out of his ears. He looked over my injuries once carefully categorizing them before turning on his heel and leaving the room once more.
"I assume he's going to get the headmaster." The stunned Nurse said.
"He'd better be." Bex commented. The Nurse turned back to her work but didn't get to work much longer before our next set of visitors burst through the door.
"Cammie!" Liz exclaimed, Jonas hot on her heels while Waylon followed behind.
"Are you okay?" Jonas asked wildly. "No, no, no, you are most definitely not okay."
"How did you beat the others down here?" I asked.
"Tina came to the common room and-"
"Right, short cut. I remember." I cut her off.
"Cammie!" Macey exclaimed as she ran through the door, Nick, Grant, and Waylon right behind her. "Liz? Again? You need to show me this short cut."
"Cammie what in the world happened this time?" A very concerned Grant asked.
"He was going after Tina and-"
"Miss Morgan!" A very upset Dr. Steve exclaimed, cutting me off as he burst through the doorway. I flinched. "This has gotten completely out of hand! Beating up students for nothing more than speaking to a friend? I will be contacting your mother and I do believe it is time you returned to Gallagher!"
"Not so fast Steven." Solomon exclaimed with the headmaster at his side. "Cammie dear would you mind telling the Headmaster what your experience at Blackthorne has been like so far? Don't leave anything out."
I swallowed once before recounting Micah, Paul, and Chase's behavior as well as Dr. Steve's obsessive detentions. Any time I tried to downplay what had happened or tried to lie about an encounter Solomon called me out on it and made sure I told the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Headmaster listened silently to my story until I was completely finished.
"Well Miss Morgan, it seems you've had quite the adventure while here at Blackthorne. I assure you I will be speaking to these young men and I will take proper disciplinary action. Meanwhile I hope you get well quickly, and consider your detentions disbanded. Steven, my office." He politely said goodbye to all before turning and stalking out of the room, Dr. Steve following sulkily behind.
"Cammie!" I could hear the rest of the Gallagher Girls running down the halls.
"We're in here!" Bex replied for me.
"Well Miss Morgan it seems you are about to be very busy, I'll leave you to your friends and go call your mother." Solomon said kindly.
"Thank you Mr. Solomon." I replied gratefully. I hoped she would want to talk to me. I needed my mom right now.
"Well now that all the teachers are out of here, I'm going to go kill Micah. If you'll excuse me." Grant said calmly as he turned for the door. Luckily the incoming flood of Gallagher Girls kept him from getting to the hall.
"Stop him!" I ordered as the girls came in. The clogged the doorway and kept Grant from getting out.
"Cammie, are you okay?" Kim asked from the front line of girls in the door.
"Does she bloody look okay?" Bex replied for me.
"Well she certainly looks bloody." Mick commented.
"Now's not the time for your dumb jokes Mick." Anna said as she tried to stop a charging Grant.
"I wasn't joking, she's covered in blood." Mick grumbled.
"I certainly hope it's not all hers." Grant shot back in reply as he tried once more to get past the Gallagher Girls.
"Hey, will someone go find Zach?" I asked.
"I'll go!" Courtney volunteered from the back.
"Thank you!" I replied.
"Anyone know where the beast might be?" Courtney asked.
"Check the seniors corner in the back of the school." Nick suggested.
"Thanks!" Courtney ran off to see if she could find Zach.
"Alright Miss Cammie I'm afraid I need to send your friends out so I can check for damage under your clothing." The Nurse told me as she began to shuffle everyone out.
"I'm not going anywhere." Bex said firmly.
"Neither am I." Grant added as he abandoned his attempts to get past the Gallagher Girls.
"Mr. Newman, I'm afraid I can't let you stay." The Nurse said kindly.
"I'm afraid there's no way you're going to get me to leave." Grant replied.
"Oh just tell her everyone else here already knows." Bex said. Grant looked at me for confirmation first. I nodded. I trusted the nurse.
"I'm waiting until the door shuts." Grant told us. The Nurse seemed to understand we had something to tell her and ushered everyone out before closing the door and looking at us for an explanation. "Cammie and I are twins." Grant said plainly.
The Nurse laughed a little thinking it was a joke but she soon realized we were serious. She examined us each closely before declaring that she believed us.
"Okay Mr. Newman I suppose you can stay." She said reluctantly. "That is, if Cammie wants you here."
"He can stay. We would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about us. We don't want a bunch of people to know quite yet." I told her.
"Your secret is safe with me." She winked at me. "Let's see the damage this time."
We eventually managed to pull my shirt off with Bex and the Nurse pulling the shirt and Grant guiding my movements. Of course, this was the exact moment Zach decided to show up. He burst through the door, the Gallagher Girls were nowhere in sight, presumably they didn't care enough to try and stop him. His eyes flew to Grant but he didn't say anything about it.
"Cammie, are you okay?" Zach asked rushing to my side. He gently fingered one of the bruises on my forehead.
"Yeah." I replied.
"She is most definitely not okay." Bex corrected me.
"Mr. Goode, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The Nurse told him.
"Grant's in here." Zach pointed.
"Grant-" Bex cut her off.
"Grant's here to help me. Go away now Zach. We'll call you back in a minute." She ordered him out.
Zach gave Bex and Grant a glare before kissing me softly and backing out of the room.
The shirt came off and the Nurse examined my torso carefully. She fingered my bruising ribs. She checked my wrists and ankles as well as my knees. Her diagnosis was a sprained wrist, a twisted ankle, bruised ribs, a minor concussion, and a damaged shoulder in addition to over two dozen cuts and bruises. I was sentenced to three days of bed rest.
As soon as we were done the Nurse gave Grant permission to go get everyone else. Zach was the first one in with the Gallagher Girls right behind him. Zach hurried to my side and grabbed my hand with it's wrapped knuckles after my late night training session.
"So Cam, what's the verdict? You gonna be okay?" Anna asked.
"She's been assigned three days of bed rest. No exceptions." The Nurse informed them. "She is to be looked after carefully, I'm trusting you girls to take care of her."
"Of course we'll take care of her." Jonas said despite the looks he got.
Nick jumped to defend him. "What, all the sudden we don't count anymore? We're gonna help you guys look after Cammie no matter what you say."
"We didn't say anything." Macey pointed out.
"You were giving us the look though." Jonas put in.
"Okay, let's do this later. Cammie needs to get to bed." Liz said stopping the argument.
"Make sure she get's lots of rest." The Nurse called as Grant bent to pick me up and carry me upstairs.
"It's okay Grant, I've got her." Zach said before Grant could pick my up all the way.
"You sure?" Grant asked.
"Yeah. Definitely." Zach pulled me into his arms none too gently.
"Well okay." Grant put an arm around Bex's shoulders and they led us towards the girls rooms.
About halfway to our room Zach started a whispered conversation.
"What was that about Cam?" Zach asked.
"What was what about?" I replied.
"That thing with Grant. Why him?" Zach questioned.
"I don't know. He's just been around a ton, hanging out with Bex. We're friends, I guess." I replied.
"You sure there's nothing else going on?" He asked, sounding slightly jealous.
"Am I sure there's nothing else going on with my best friend's boyfriend? Yes. Very sure." I said slightly irritated.
"Hey, Zach!" A voice called from behind us. I would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Chase! Hey man!" Zach replied. I began to shake ever so slightly.
"Zach...please." I whimpered quietly. He ignored me.
"This where you disappeared too?" Chase asked.
"Yeah, sorry man. Duty calls." Zach said with a small smile.
"Aww poor little girlie." Chase said with a filthy grin. I shook a little more and buried my face in Zach's neck. "Well let me know when you're off duty, we've got things to discuss my man. Feel better, little girlie."
"See you Chase!" Zach called after him.
"Later man!" Chase replied over his shoulder.
"Alright Cam, let's get you back to your dorm. Hey, you alright? You're shaking. You cold?" He asked as we began walking again.
"Yeah." Was all I managed to get out. I couldn't tell him the truth.
"Let's get you into bed." He suggested and began walking faster.
I was deposited on my bed, kissed on the forehead and bid farewell. Then Zach disappeared to go and converse with the enemy. Luckily my friends and brother were not about to be so easily deterred. They tucked me gently into bed and promised to stay by my side. Bex and Macey gently brushed out my tangled hair and twisted it into a loose french braid before helping me change into a pair of comfortable pajamas and tucking me into bed. The nurse had cleared me to sleep seeing as my concussion wasn't major but I wasn't eager for the nightmares to come back.
"Bex?" I asked quietly as she stroked my hair trying to help my sleep.
"Yeah Cam?" She replied.
"I don't want to go to sleep." I told her, my voice cracking slightly. Something Grant and the other guys didn't fail to notice.
"Why not, Cammie bear?" Grant asked.
"Because of the nightmares." Macey told him when I didn't reply.
"What nightmares?" Jonas asked.
"We had a...rough summer. It hit Cammie the hardest but...well we're all still recovering." Liz explained.
"What happened?" Nick asked quietly.
"We went to a summer training program and it was...rougher than we-" Macey began explaining but Nick cut her off.
"Nunquam non paratus" Nick whispered with a look of sadness in his eyes.
"You've been?" Bex asked sympathetically. "How long?"
"I didn't last more than a week." He informed us. "How long were you there?"
"I was there just over two weeks." Liz had been there the least amount of time.
"I made it three weeks." Macey lasted just barely longer than Liz.
"I was there for a month, just a few days longer than Mace." Bex told him, his eyes widened. "Cammie though...Cam-"
"I was there for three months. The whole session." I cut her off, trying to keep my voice strong.
"Cammie…" Nick said softly, amazed.
"It's not so bad." I tried to tell him. "You get kind of used to it and you learn to block the memories.
"I'm confused what is this place?" Jonas asked.
"A special CIA training session for teens in the business. It's basically a series of torture sessions that lead up to pitting the trainee's against each other in a thunder dome like setting. I can't believe you lasted a whole session." Nick said in awe.
"It's not something I would want to do again." I told him honestly.
"Cam...is there anything I can do to help?" Grant asked.
"Don't leave." I said slightly panicked as I laid down to sleep. "It's easier when I'm not alone."
I started to doze off as they continued discussing the session.
"I can't believe she lasted a whole session without you know...dying…" Nick commented. "Not to mention doing it alone."
"Well it wasn't exactly like that…" Bex's explanation was lost on me as I drifted into a restless sleep.