A/N: Enjoy!
Immediately I recognized the CIA operatives watching us as if searching for promising future agents. Oddly enough I felt exposed like if they could see through me like, like if when they saw me they knew me and everything about me. Which thinking about it they did, it wasn't just a feeling. Bex, Macey and Liz came to stand next to me. We stared up to the roof: to a strangers eye we were admiring the grandeur of the airport but in reality we were searching for every security system (52) and cameras (132) and memorizing the faces with in a hundred feet. Macey gave a satisfied sigh, twirls on Mr. Solomon and kept up the act
"Mr. Jones, I hope we have first class seats." She said, sounding like a rich snob that was trying to be polite to a teacher but failing miserably.
"No Miss McHenry, we are in economy."
"WHAT?! Are you mad?" Bex shrieked, joining into the act, after all we were "unbelievably rich heiresses". Economy was simply not acceptable. Unfortunately or fortunately (You pick.) Bex and Macey earned us all some outraged, disbelieving and annoyed glances from passerby's.
"No I am not kidding, Miss Baxter. You have to learn to be in less luxurious areas in life. You shall see, one day, you will thank me." He smiled and Macey groaned, I don't know if she was really into her role playing or if she was truly disgusted to be economy.
We were taking the eight o'clock flight to Charles de Gaulle airport in France on the boarder of Paris. All us Gallagher Girls were spread out in the plane, Bex, Liz, Macey and I were seated next to one another with some girls (Lily, Jez, Mick and Tina) were seated in front of us. Mr. Solomon climbed onto the plane after us to make sure everything was in order. His gaze landed on all his students one after the other.
"Evening girls." He said to us simply.
"Hey." Macey answered automatically.
"Evenin'." Bex said.
Liz just smiled and I gave him a half wave (you know when you just lift your hand slightly and wiggle your fingers.). A couple of girls had text books open on their laps or they were chit chatting or laughing or listening to music or even texting one another so as to not have to shout. Liz and I were sharing a French text book, open at a random page. I was simply pretending but I had the impression Liz was actually studying even if she was the one who least needed revising. Mr. Solomon nodded at our open books.
"I see that you're already hard at work." He stated.
Macey who was, for some reason filing her already perfect nails grunted, jumping slightly when Bex nudged her and managing to make it look accidental. She looked up suddenly as if only now noticing the gorgeous man standing before us.
"Oh, hi Mr. Jones." She said quickly.
"Macey, you already said 'hi'." Liz hissed.
To tell Mr. S that everything was in order as far as we could see (Which was more than most.), I cleared my throat.
"We don't want to have any trouble communicating once in France, soooo we're getting as ready as we can." He nodded.
To inform him that we knew all the names and memorized every person on this flight Bex looked around the plane.
"It looks like a full flight." She announced.
"Excellent girls, study hard." Don't loose focus.
We nodded, Macey snorted, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah right of course we will." She said sarcastically.
"Bloody hell, I'm starving!" Bex exclaimed for the millionth time.
"We know Bex." I sighed and rubbed my temples with my indexes.
Five minutes of blissful silence followed only to be interrupted by Bex herself.
"Is it just me? How can you guys not be starved?" Liz being nice just shrugged, making a funny face. "Well I'm starved just so you know."
I caught Macey rolling her eyes again; when she saw me looking she smiled a small smile of encouragement and I smiled back.
"Gosh when is the stinking food coming?" She questioned, turning in her seat, climbing onto her knees and glaring around. She kicked the seat in front of her, making a girl Lily gasp. She told Bex to stop complaining and grow up. Then she continued her argument with Tina: which is better? The Japanese neck breaking technique or the British one.
"Whatever and the British is better, duh. It's more efficient, quicker and British obviously. Aaand I'm huuuungry for crying out loud." Bex hollered making everyone groan. I heard random strangers whisper complaints about her. She glared at all our fellow passengers making most of them look away or pretend to be otherwise occupied. I didn't dare tell her that I didn't agree. Least of all that ever since my mom had used the Japanese technique, in a life or death situation, all the teachers and comrades knew the Japanese neck breaking was more efficient. It didn't seem like the right moment.
"For Pete's sake is it their wish for us to die of starvation on this flight?"
"Oh for the love of God!" Macey shouted, pulling out her ear phones from which I could hear Midnight City blaring. "I'm listening to my music on full blast and I can still enjoy the wonderful sound of your whiny voice! Do you know how hard it is to do that? So unless you want me to get really really pissed," (I heard the girls seated in front of us gasp, knowing it wasn't a good idea.)"You better shut your silly freaking mouth or I swear to God I will main you so bad you WILL wish you were dead. And in case I wasn't clear enough with all that: Shut the bloody hell up Bex!" Macey screamed the last part with a British accent, mimicking Bex.
Bex just gaped at her and Macey gave her a deformed smile as every person on the flight started to clap and cheer! Strangers congratulating the girl who had made Bex shut up. A group of guys whooped shouting "You go hot girl!" (Those were their exact words, I'm not joking.) And I heard a few whistles. I was half expecting the pilot intercom to buzz and an intendant to announce that the British girl was finally silent. Unfortunately when Bex was hungry nothing or no one could silence her so after a half hour of heavenly quiet Bex opened her mouth again. A young adult caught sight of her and shushed her while glaring at her. Bex quickly shut her mouth, eyes wide but as soon as the girl went to the toilet Bex took her chance to speak or complain should I say.
"Boy, I'm famished!" Everyone groaned in unison, buried their faces in their hands. One person even called a stewardess and begged the meal or some sort of solid food to come as quickly as possible. "If we were in first class, I would already have food. As soon as we land I'm calling my dad so that he'll sue. I'm going to die of hunger."
"Oh no, no, no, no!" I laughed like a crazy person. "You won't have time to because if you don't shut it soon I'll strangle you and I'll probably get help from about everybody on this stupid flight!" I whisper shouted.
She leaned into the aisle while giving me a sideways glance as if to say "What's her problem?". She then turned her gaze to the far end of the plane, repeating 'Food, food, food' as quietly as she could which at the moment sounded like she was shouting.
"FOOOOOD!" She screamed suddenly, she looked like a five year old who had just met a shopping mall Santa Clause. Every head turned to where Bex was staring; now hollering 'Food, food, food!" in a sing song voice. There was hundreds of sighs of relief but as soon as the trolley lady in the front lifted a tray of food to give to someone, every person pointed to Bex.
"Serve her first! Give her all the food for all we care! Just feed her so she'll be quiet!" They all shouted as Bex looked at the same time taken aback and surprised but to joyful to be finally getting her food. She reached out greedily for the tray as the hostess obeyed and brought her a tray. After that we were all expecting a peaceful flight or as peaceful as a day flight can get. People laid back into their seats, closing their eyes and relaxing but then a small hesitant voice broke the silence after 2 hours.
"I'm hungry…?" It said, making people around us who had heard us groan.
Man, this is going to be a long flight. Deep breath, only 7 more hours to go.
We went to the Plaza Athénée three star hotel and unpacked. The boys weren't here yet, they took a night flight. So the girls and I plopped down on the couches and Bex researched Jean Paul 2. It was simple to find. It was just in a town on the out skirts of Paris, only fifteen minutes away by train from the Defense.
"Oh my gosh! We are so going to go shop at the Defense! Oh!" She exclaimed raising a finger seeming illuminated. "And the Marée! There's so much to do its crazy!" Macey announced excitedly.
"Umm Mace that only makes two stores… So what is the big deal?" I questioned shyly.
"Oh my God, please tell me she did not just say that!" Macey shrieked.
I threw the girls a questioning glance, and then pointed to myself.
"Umm hello, Mace 'she' is right here and I did just say whatever it is that shocked you."
"Oh my poor naïve young friend. Poor poor ignorant girl. They aren't shops they are places, the Marée is one of my favorite shopping places even if it is a slight bit expensive."
"YOU CALL 400 Euros for a pair of stockings a slight bit expensive. Boy do I miss Wal-Mart."
"Do not even pronounce that name here, this place is sacred." Macey scolded, joining her hands as if in prayer, gazing lovingly down the pedestrian streets at all the stores. She looked in heaven. I was standing in front of "Chaussettes et plus" a small store whose loge was: 'If it's your size, it's your price." Which frankly I did not understand. The girls had forced me to come and shop but as soon as I saw the first store window I knew that the only shopping I was going to be doing here was window shopping. Macey, Bex and even Liz were racing from store to store, exiting each one with an extra bag. I just stood in the middle of the road, blocking everyone's way. Passerby's threw me dark looks but I barely noticed, I was too busy admiring the old stone walls that dated from over 300 years or more. I tried to think of all the things that had happened here but only one word was in my mind or should I say one name. I gasped when someone grabbed my shoulder, twisted me to him while he said "Hey there gorgeous, what are you up to?" in a deep voice.
I smiled at him joyfully and leaned in to hug him hello as he leaned in to do 'La Bise', we laughed and he changed to hug.
"Why're you all alone out in the streets of Paris Cammie?"
"Truth is I'm not alone. My friends are all running around in the stores."
"Ah so it's not your type of thing?" Guillaume asked, raising an eyebrow.
"More like not my type of budget." I admitted.
"Well I have something that might be more to your liking." He said grabbing my hand and pulling me away.
I didn't hesitate, didn't think about how my friends would react when they saw that I was no longer frozen in the spot they had left me. At the moment all I could do was follow behind the handsome blue eyed blond, who was leading the way. All I wanted to do was have fun with a friend. We pushed through crowded streets, him still pulling me by the hand. He dropped my hand when the crowd thinned. He stopped walking. I walked up to him; we were standing at a metro entrance.
"Follow me."
I happily obliged, we raced down the steps, down oddly twisting underground tunnels. When I asked him why the underground Paris was so twirly he simply laughed.
"This isn't the underground Paris Cammie." He stated, as the tunnels brought us slowly deeper under the surface of the earth and closer to the trains.
"If this isn't the under-Paris, what is?"
He shrugged as if the answer were obvious; he gave me a strange glance.
"I would have expected you and your friends to learn all about the true 'under-Paris' as you call it. They are quite famous or infamous both I guess…" I waited for him to explain further. "There's a reason this place is so twisted." He said as we stopped on the waiting area for the train to arrive. "They didn't make these tunnels go around in said of straight for the fun of it. They couldn't make the tunnels go straight to the train tracks because otherwise they would destroy the real underground Paris." I stared at him blankly as he told me the story in a mysterious voice. It was fun but frustrating at the same time. I knew what he was telling me I just couldn't remember. "Now do you see? No? Still not? They couldn't just destroy the Catacombs, Cammie." He said blankly.
I slapped my forehead. How could I have forgotten? Foe will kill me if ever he finds out. We stepped onto the almost empty train station and small train line. As we got closer to where ever Guillaume was taking me the train filled up at an alarming rate. Only French people were on this train, no tourists.
"The Catacombs didn't exist until the war. During the war the population felt the need to protect their dead loved ones and the military needed space. So at the beginning of the war it was arranged they would send people out to cemeteries and unbury the dead. Then while the population did just that, others dug tunnels all over under Paris. Small tunnels with just about enough room for one person to walk through. Then as people wondered what was to be done with the bones, they were ordered to place all the bones in the tunnels. They piled up the bones against the walls, one over the other. Leaving enough room for others to walk through them. Some people say that they put the bones down at random but one glance at them you see the obvious pattern even a blind person can see it. In respect for the dead most of the Catacombs are closed off except for the largest ones, that you can go visit, you aren't allowed to touch them. You can find entries to the Catacombs everywhere but they have all been closed up. Every once in a while someone contacts the authorities to say they found an entrance to them in their basement or in some secluded area. Then they just seal them up but there are still entries all over Paris." He spoke of that with a passion I admired and envied. At the same time as his mouth closed, the train doors slid open and he motioned for me to follow him.
I shuddered at the though of all the bones. Sure we had researched all the underground tunnels but not in detail just the plans. I hadn't known all that. Again we walked through the tunnels and I felt us ascending to the surface. I squinted in the bright sun, shielding my eyes. He caught my hand and dragged me through busy streets. He stopped suddenly and I crashed into him. He glanced around quickly checking that no one was watching then open the door and pulled me rapidly inside. I glanced around, I had thought we were entering someone's house but instead we were in a lobby with a tiny information desk and ticket cashiers. It was well lit and extremely old looking. There was an extremely old looking chandelier hanging from the roof sending light dancing across the marble floor. I rested against a thick column.
"Where are we?" I asked gazing across the hall.
"The Louvre entrance." He said as if it were obvious.
"Isn't the Louvre this huge museum with an enormous entrance, with 8 hours of line up?" He nodded. "Then why is this so small and empty?" Apart from eight other humans (not counting the employees) no one else here.
"Ahh right, let me rephrase, this is the secret Louvre entrance, that's what we call it."
"Whose we?"
"Us, the Parisians."
"So this is like the some sort of private entrance for people who live in Paris?"
"You could call it that. Come on lets go."
We got in for free and stayed out until 10pm, I had the most fun in days, loving every minute of it. In the Louvre we admired the paintings, pointed out the faults in the security and joking on how we planned to sneak in here when it was closed. I got back to the hotel room and crumbled onto my bed. The girls burst into my room screaming, shouting and reprimanding.
"Do you know how worried we were?"
"Actually how not worried we were?"
"Shut it Liz."
"But we knew we saw him."
"That's not the point! We're trying to make her feel bad for not telling us she was leaving! Imagine we hadn't seen him?! Then what?"
"Guys I'm sorry I just really wanted to have fun. I didn't want to think about- well you know…"
They softened a bit, nodding in understanding. They went to bed soon after. The next morning at breakfast we heard noise coming from the lobby so we all turned around to see the Blackthorne boys trudging in, bags under their eyes, messy hair and dragging their bags behind them. I smiled when I saw Zach and he smiled back slightly until he realized that he was mad at me then he quickly looked away and started talking to Nick. Grant pushed forward, shoving people out of the way.
"Food!" He screamed. (Remind you of anyone.)
He raced towards us and grabbed some food.
"Bloody hell, don't get to excited we just saw each other two days ago." Bex said gruffly.
"Aww Bex you know I love you." Grant said in between a mouth full, swallowed then grabbed her and kissed her. I could tell she was surprised by his words because at first she just stood unmoving in his arms, eyes wide then slowly she wrapped her arms around his neck, closed her eyes and kissed him back.
Everyone jumped as someone cleared his throat. We all turned to stare at Mr. Solomon. He smiled evilly at the boys.
"Don't get comfy, boys." He said to the boys who were just settling at the table grabbing food for themselves. "Someone will take your bags to your rooms, you on the other hand are all coming with me. This competition is just about to get serious." He turned knowing we would all follow.
The guys filled there pockets and took hands full of food, stuffing their mouths while following slowly behind. We went outside and Macey squealed as she saw Sebastien. She ran to him throwing her arms around him and he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Come on people, you'll have time to say your hellos later for now I'm separating you in teams along with two French students in each to watch your every move."
I crossed my fingers behind my back, closing my eyes. Yay I'm with Liz, Bex, Macey and—WHAT?! How is that even possible I thought this was school against school! No please not him, not him, not him. Oh just my luck! Well I've got a feeling this will be slightly awkward and tense.
A/N: Okay so this was just a filling in chapter, not my best but I lots of what I put in here I plan on using in later chapters so bare with me please? Ideas are welcome because I'm running out apart from the main ones. Even if it was slightly boring I hope you enjoyed it.