Well, here I am again! I am so sorry for not updating, but life gets in the way of things, you know? I promise to never neglect my story like this again, EVER! Here you go!

I must say, getting interrogated by several of my mom's lovely employees was nothing compared to that afternoon's P&E class. We just finished up, and the boys and I are slowly limping to the locker room. Grant has a huge grin on his face despite the fact that he had previously been in a Baxter chokehold for at least 4 minutes before Bex let him go. I think that the 20 minutes of wrestling with his "British Bombshell" overshadowed the fact that he blacked out after the second minute of the chokehold.

Liz and Jonas had been practicing shooting a harpoon instead of sparring like the rest of the class. Jonas had been watching Grant and Bex for a second when Liz swung around with the harpoon in hand, giving him two black eyes and a slight concussion. He was given some pills from Dr. Fibs to help with the concussion, and got to sit out the rest of class. I must say I envy him, because after we returned to mats, I was paired up with Cam as a sparring partner.

I had seen her and Bex sparring earlier, and had been impressed at her form and speed, both of which are very important for the style of fighting that they were practicing. But then their faces caught my eye.

Cam had a look of pure fury in her eyes as she swiftly put Bex in an arm lock, and proceeded to punch Bex as hard as she could. The instructor walked by, calling over the din that Cam would get extra credit for her punching. Cam's smile turned to a grimace as Bex punched her back, as hard as she could. Bex looked apologetic, and they stopped, both wincing in pain.

Bex patted Cam on the back sympathetically as they took their stances, apparently switching over to judo instead of the brutal Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

I noticed a difference in the Gallagher fighting style and Blackthorne's- the girls were fluid, using loop holes and flexibility to defeat their opponent and utilizing many maneuvers and flips that a full sized man could never pull off.

It was then that I had my epiphany. I really got what Gallagher was all about. Girls were stronger than they looked, and generally seen as innocent. They can get anywhere, fit through the smallest places, and lie without anyone suspecting them. Gilligan Gallagher understood this, and wanted to teach these skills to girls, making them the best operatives in the field. And they were now the best kept secret in the CIA, and it's most powerful weapon.

But they were still carefully protected princesses who lived in a castle, and that made them unfit for the harsh life of a spy. We, Blackthorne, were prepared.

Well, that was profound. Okay, so back to P&E. After Jonas was taken care of we switched partners, and I was matched with Cammie.

She sighed, stepping onto my mat, getting into a kickboxing stance. When I just stood there, she raised her eyebrows. "Something wrong with kickboxing, Goode?"

I smirked and shook my head, settling down into my stance. "Perfectly fine." Oh, I was going to kill her in this. And I would enjoy it.

She moved first, quicker than I had expected, and I suddenly found myself on the defensive, dodging and trying to find a hole in her defense. Nothing. When I finally started to get some hits in, I fell back to my instincts and routine. The fight had warped from kickboxing to MMA fighting, each of us using everything we knew. We were evenly matched, her quickness pretty much compromised by my strength.

I looked up for a second as I finally put her in a lock, trying to keep her from twisting free. I was greeted by the sight of the entire class surrounding the mat, cheering for Cam, including Grant and Jonas. They were dead men.

The instructor had a bemused expression on her face as she watched. She called to me over the din. "Pay attention Mr. Goode! She just got out."

I turned back to the fight to be greeted with a punch to the face. Cam danced out of my range, smirking. Then she set her feet, and just as I had tucked down to charge her, sprinted forwards and jumped on my back, using it like a spring board to launch herself into the air.

I looked up, trying to roll out of the way for when she came down. But I was too late. Cammie came back down, arm out, catching me by my neck and throwing me to the ground. She climbed on top of me and pinned me, sitting on my stomach. The fight was over, and I had lost. My classmates cheered, and I sent a scowl in their direction.

Cammie hadn't gotten up yet, glaring at me, her hair framing her face, curling at the tips. It was already hard enough to breath, and she just kept on looking at me, making me hot in the cheeks. I tried to control my face, and raised my eyebrows at her. She blushed and climbed off, like she had just remembered that she was sitting on me. She whipped around, her hair snapping Grant in the face as he walked over to me, a sly grin on his face.

"Don't get carried away in the heat of the battle Goode," he said, clapping me on the shoulder." I turned to him, skeptical.

"Carried away with what?"

"Come on, I know you like girls who kick ass, and Cam just whipped yours." Said Grant, grinning.

Jonas appeared on my other side, holding a bag of ice to his head. "No, I don't think Zach is that dumb. You guys know that she was furious because of her ex's new girlfriend, and she nearly beat up her best friend a couple of minutes ago. I think her beating Zach up was just getting that out," rationalized Jonas, pausing to wipe his forehead "and Grant, you were unconscious 15 minutes ago, don't you think that you need to lie down or something?" he asked, watching as Grant swayed in place.

I nodded, agreeing with Jonas on both accounts. She probably hates me even more after I pulled that stunt in town, pretending that I was her boyfriend in front of her ex. Yea, I deserved that, and when I was thinking about how good she looked, well, I had just been punched in the throat, I must have been delirious! Yep, that was it. And anyway, sweaty hair isn't that attractive now that I think about it. Anyway, we headed to the showers to clean up before COW, and I let all my troubles drain away.

Later, before dinner, in our dorms

As we got ready for dinner, Grant disappeared for a couple minutes, returning later with a black case, triumphant. It turned out that it was full of some girl's make up, and Jonas and I were seriously questioning our friend's sanity until he had fished out a tiny pot of bruise cream and cover-up.

After I had covered up the bruise blooming on my jaw, I helped Jonas with his two black eyes, which were much harder. When we were finished, we actually looked okay, and we make our way down to the Grand hall, ending up a bit behind Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey.

I motioned for the guys to be quiet as we eased closer, eavesdropping on their conversation.

"-hate her," Bex was saying as we entered hearing range of the little group.

"No, guys, we don't hate Dee Dee," Said Cammie forcefully.

"Of course you can't hate her- that would be petty," said Liz, nodding primly to herself. "But we can totally hate her."

So can I- wearing that much pink should be against the Geneva Convention. I thought to myself, smirking slightly. Cammie considered what Liz had said, frowning, as if she knew that Liz was right, but was not liking it.

They were halfway down the staircase when Macey turned to Cammie, and said, "We could hack into the DMV and set her up with a dozen unpaid parking tickets."

"Macey!"

"It might make you feel better," she proposed, "It would make me feel better"

Grant snorted at this, and I swear I saw Bex glance back at us and wink, but when I looked again, she was facing the girls again as they slowly progressed down the stairs. She said the next words slightly louder, making sure that we could hear.

"You could go to that party and show him what he's missing."

I tensed, waiting for Cam's answer. It rankled with me that she cared about this guy, he sounded like an awful guy who decided that he didn't care about Cam, got a girlfriend, and then went all gaga for Cam the next time he saw her. This guy needed to figure out what he wanted, and then stay away from Cam.

Cammie seemed to consider the question, slowly shook her head and opened her mouth to answer, but paused, eyebrows pinched. "Wait," she said. "How did you know about the party?"

Bex lowered her voice and spoke softly to her friend. "Cam… you were on comms."

Cammie jerked to a stop, eyes wide. Her mouth hung open, pure terror in her eyes. Her friends gently tried to guide her to the Grand hall, but Cam was having none of it. She was stock-still, and it took all three of her friends to drag her to her seat in the Grand hall.

Grant Jonas and I slipped in after them, and took our seats at the back of the room. I kept an eye on Cammie. She was barely eating, and her classmates were sending worried glances at her. She barely stayed through desert before slipping out of the doors, unnoticed by anyone except Solomon and myself. I nodded at him before following her out the door and into the hallway out side.

Cammie took a couple sharp turns into the oldest part of the castle, where few classes were taught. There were rumors that the ghost of Ioseph Caven walked these hallways, but that was just some random rumor that I heard a few Seniors telling a pair of scared seventh graders.

Cam stopped front of a tapestry depicting the Gallagher family tree, considering it. Her fingers slowly hooked behind the frame, and she jumped as I made my grand entrance.

Okay, how was that? Have I lost my touch? If I have, please tell me what I'm missing! I will update within the next 3 days.

Ciao!