Thanks for all the reviews! Honestly, I can't believe so many people love this story! I feel so honored, you're all amazing and the reason that I get my lazy ass back on the computer to write every time. THANK YOU! Wait, I said that already, didn't I? Oh well, on with the story!
A/N: Someone pointed out that I kept on spelling Ariana's name differently. Oops! I haven't even noticed! Thanks for pointing that out! Her name is Ariana and will be spelled that way from now on. Sorry if I confused anyone.
Zach's POV
I left the school in search of Cammie after I supposedly "ridiculed" that girl in front of the school. While I have to admit, it was kinda funny seeing Ariana blow up like that with her face all red, but as I walked away I didn't feel proud. Not even a little bit. Instead I felt sad, sorrow. Because what I did, what I did in the cafeteria, it didn't come from me. Everything I said and did was only a part of my cover. I don't belong in their world, I'm not Zach Goode, the hot, cool, mysterious boy that showed up out of no where and dissed the most popular girl in school on the first day. I'm Zach Goode, the spy-in-training that can execute more than a thousand deadly military maneuvers but has never truly felt any emotions . A boy that can break in to any civilian house in the world but doesn't have a real home. But most of all, I can have a thousand aliases and covers but deep down, I have not a single sense of who I really am.
Perhaps I'm nobody.
The thought hit me as I was walking across one of the busiest streets in Roseville, I knew I had to keep moving to avoid getting hit by a speeding car but I couldn't. Instead I slowly opened my mouth and whispered the words that I was afraid of admitting for so long.
"I'm nobody."
As soon as the words left my mouth I felt something tickle the back of my neck, I looked up suddenly and in the corner of my eye, saw a black SUV driving at a speed that was definitely not legal towards me. I prepared to jump out of the way when I realized that it wasn't heading towards me. In fact, by the angle and velocity that it was traveling, it would hit a spot 3.5 meters to the right of me in an 70 degree angle in exactly 3.2 seconds.
Which is exactly the place that Cammie Morgan would be standing at in exactly the same time.
My mind was a mile a minute, I ran towards Cammie and pushed her out of the way less than a second before the SUV sped past less than a meter away from us.
"Get off me! Get off-"
"Cammie!" I backed up so that my arms were holding her shoulders and keeping her steady yet at the same time stopping her from trying to attack me. She looked up and I saw that her face was streaked with tears. Her chocolate-brown eyes were red and puffy from crying but I couldn't help but stop and stare.
And realize just how utterly beautiful she was.
"Zach? Zach, what just happened? Why did you push me off the road?" Had she not seen the car? Of course not, I mentally slapped myself, she's just a civilian. Once again I realized just how different I was from her.
"No big deal, just some guy probably wasted that was speeding. I saw you standing from across the street and figured that you weren't paying enough attention to be careful. Sorry if I scared you." Then I flashed her a subtle but extremely charming smile that we learned during our "seduction" lesson from Madame Dabney one time. And she relaxed instantly.
"Well, thank you. That was very chivalrous of you and I appreciate it. And if I do recall, that was the second time that you saved me from what would have been a horrible disaster. I own you Zach, but now I have to go."
Her tone was light and she sounded like herself, but the whole time she was trying to avoid my eyes and she was fidgeting a lot, which proved to me that she was still nervous and uneasy about being around me.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"What? I'm fine. You just possibly saved my life from a drunk driver, how could I be not fine right?" She laughed a joyless laugh, but something tells me that she's not only nervous about the driver.
Wait a second, she's using the Algory technique from Methods of Counter Manipulation and Developing Assets! The trick of letting someone think that you are being uneasy or nervous about something to divert their attention from what you're actually uneasy about. This method is generally used as a back-up in case you let your cover slip. The book was one of our must reads in grade 8, but she couldn't possibly have known about that book! It was strictly classified and was only released in to confidential collections by the CIA and MI6! Unless, unless she didn't read it from somewhere. And at that moment I remembered that not all methods and techniques spies use requires skilled training and high-tech. Some also come as common-sense. Something Cammie seems to have a lot of.
"Cammie, you know that you can tell me anything right? I mean, I guess we haven't known each other for long, but I really like you. And I would love to get to know you better, and I can't do that if you keep on shutting me out. So I need you to trust me, whatever problem you have in your life, I can be here for you. If you just let me. So please," I almost sounded desperate now, "just give me a chance."
The terrifying thing wasn't that I saw fear in her eyes, it wasn't even that that very moment could determine whether I've succeeded or failed my mission. No, the scariest thing of all about that moment, was that I realized I actually meant what I said to her.
Whoa.
Cammie's POV
Somewhere in the back of my mind, my conscience was telling me to talk. To do something! To say "Zach I like you too!" and for the first time in my life let myself be happy. Because I wanted to do all the things he said and more, I wanted to trust him, to confide in him, to let him get to know me and break down walls that I've spent years building up. I wanted to tell him about my aunt, my cousins, my life, and have him understand everything and still like me just as much. But most of all, I wanted to kiss him.
I really, really wanted to kiss him.
I wanted my first kiss to be with him.
But I was scared.
Of what? I asked myself? Why are you so afraid of him?
Maybe I'm not only afraid of him, but more the idea of him. Truth be told, I never expected that anyone in this world would fall for me, much less a guy like Zach, who can have any girl he wanted with a snap of his fingers. So why would he come after me?
And even if we did start going out? How long would it be before he realizes that I'm not the kind of girl of him? Before he sees that I'm not cool, or funny, or anywhere near his standards? How soon would he dump me?
How long would it be till I get a broken heart?
"Zach, I'm sorry." Was the only thing I could say before tears fell down my cheeks as I turned and ran.
Bex's POV
"Girls, we have some researching to do." Liz perked up instantly as I said those words.
"Research? What kind? Is there hacking involved?" Her eyes were shining with excitement in the way that Macey would when facing brand new Prada purses.
"You bet there is, Lizzie." And she squealed. Yes, squealed.
"Ugh, this is so not my thing. Just let Liz do the job Bex, hacking is for nerds remember?" Macey rolled her eyes while buffering her perfectly french manicured nails, but looked up to add, "No offense Liz, you know I love you sweetie." She said with a sweet smile.
"Actually Mace, this job might be more in your area than Liz's." I was met with two confused looks.
"You see," I continued, "We're not only doing research. We're doing research on boys." Being the drama queen I most definitely am, I had to add suspense to my story.
"But that's not all there is, girls. Because I don't think that these are simply ordinary boys."
I could almost see the gears churning in their heads as they finally figured out what I was talking about. After a minute of silence with Macey and Liz's eyes bugged out and mouth wide open while I smiled a knowing smile, Macey finally uttered the word we were all thinking.
"Blackthorne?" For a girl capable of getting the attention of the entire White House assembly room without a microphone, her voice was barely a whisper.
"Blackthorne." I confirmed.
"So how did you know that these boys were from Blackthorne?" Macey asked a little while later, while Liz tried desperately to find any information on the boys in the CIA database. She first tried to find the info on Blackthorne's, but the student directory is locked behind ANOTHER level of hardcore security that even Liz couldn't break through in such short notice. (But she did guarantee results in less than a week.)
"Well, do you know that really hot guy Zach Goode? Well, he's not as hot as that Grant boy in my opinion, but still, have you seen those abs? The moment I saw that obvious eight-pack under his shirt, I knew that he couldn't be normal. I mean, that body is seriously Solomon worthy. Yes, I am talking about Joe Solomon. In fact, I have a theory that Zach would be even hotter than Solomon when he grows up. By the way, have you seen his eyes? They're almost black. But not quite yet, which just gives you the biggest chills every time you see them and they are so mesmerizing. But not as mesmerizing as his arms, oh my god-"
"BEX!" I was interrupted by a screaming Liz and Macey, who obvious wanted me to shut up. Oops, must have rambled again. But It's not like I get to see hot boys on a daily basis like Macey does.
"Oh, anyways, getting back to the story. So I was talking to him in biology, which he sits right next to me in-which is how I got to notice his eyes and his muscles by the way, oh which like I said are totally not normal- like Solomon not normal- did I say that already?"
"Bex, I swear if you don't shut up about Zach's abs, I will crush your eyeballs with my tweezers." That shut me up real quick, even though I hardly believe that she could beat me in a fight.
"Right, so he sits next to me in Biology, and we were talking, and he said that he came from a school not far from here, an all-boys private school to be exact, and that he and his three buddies are in Roseville High to have the "co-ed experience." Sounds familiar?"
Of course it does, it was almost exactly like our cover.
"But that's not all. And this is when you have to promise to not get mad at me. Because I sort of, kind of, told him that we went to a private school in Roseville, Virginia. But, I noticed my mistake right after I said it, which caused me to accidentally swear in Italian really really softly under my breath. But here's the interesting thing. Somehow, not only did he hear me utter the word, it's as if he understood it too. What kind of normal teenage boy has crazy, hard core, PERFECT 8-pack abs, goes to an all-boy private school, somehow has above-average hearing and can understand swear words in Italian?"
"That's because they're not normal boys. They're spy boys. Either that, or really hot Italian body-builders." Somehow, Macey is taking in this information lightly. While Liz on the other hand, is kinda freaking out.
"THERE'S NOTHING IN HERE!" She screamed while literally slamming her fingers on to the keyboard at lightening speed.
"Maybe you just haven't found it yet, Lizzie. You know how complicated the CIA network is." I tried to reason.
"No! You don't understand. I have hacked the majority of the CIA database, they only information that I absolutely could not access were the top secret, level 17 clearance. Absolutely classified ones. And while I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure these teenage boys don't belong in to that category. I mean, don't get me wrong. They're classified and top secret and requires a certain level of clearance, but they can't be much more than us right? And if we're only level 4, and I could easily access us, then the only way for me to be able to find them is that they are not in the database!"
"But that's not possible!" Macey seems to be interested in the conversation for the first time, "How can the CIA not keep track of Blackthorne Boys? They have information on every one of us down to our ancestors! Are you sure that you can't even find anything on the term "Blackthorne"?"
"Well, so far, the only lead we've ever gotten on the case was "Summerhill." Which, as you can probably guess, could mean a lot of things. But it doesn't seem to be a CIA related mission, so the database didn't contain any info on it."
The thoughts clicked in faster than lightning.
"If the "Summerhill" files don't belong to the CIA, and those files are a part of Blackthorne, which we still haven't found access to, than that means Blackthorne isn't related to the CIA!"
Another silence filled minute passed in order for information to set it.
"But, but, how can a spy school not be related to the spy agency?" I asked.
"Are there other spy agencies in the US?" Macey was baffled too.
"Well, yeah, but they are all connected. So those data should be available through all the databases. But it doesn't matter anyway, because the CIA is the only known-agency that trains under-aged agents like us. So there's no point in checking the others." Liz nodded to agree with me.
"But you said known. What if there are agencies out there that we don't know of? Or that aren't connected to the CIA?"
Liz nearly fainted at the thought.
"You mean Intelligence agencies not issued by the government? What are you talking about? Secret societies? Against the government?"
"Wait a second," I finally caught on to Macey's point. "Are you saying that Blackthorne is led by an illegal, secret, spy agency that might or might not be plotting against the government? Are you saying that those Blackthorne Boys are evil? Dangerous? Like terrorists or something?"
Oh. My. God.
