Finally, the emotion I could finally feel, the emotion I was yearning for for so long, it was back.
It was back and stronger than ever.
It was love.
Cammie's POV
I woke up, and for the first time in a long time, I didn't wake up dreading the day. Zach's scent filled my nose, and I opened my eyes to see grey.
I was utterly confused for a moment, until it started moving up and down. I then realized that my face was smushed into Zach's chest, his arms around my waist, face buried in my hair. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes again, not wanting to disturb the peace. I was the first one awake – which was a first – and I didn't want to face reality just yet. I wanted to lay there in Zach's arms and forget my spy duties for once.
My eternal clock was still foggy, and I didn't know what time it was. Good. I didn't want to. It could be eight in the morning – it could be eight P.M., for all I care. I laid like that for a long time, relishing in the fact that Zach was back again. I was smiling like an idiot, and I didn't care.
I was happy.
Zach started to stir, but I flung an arm around his waist to keep him from sitting up.
"Stay," I whispered, eyes still closed.
"With you? Always," he whispered. I grinned even more. I opened my eyes I tilted my head up, my chin pressed against his chest. He was looking down at me, the green of his eyes shadowed by his hair.
"I love you," I said. I wriggled up a bit in his arms and kissed him. He ran his fingers through my hair, gently working out the knots. I pulled away, laying back down.
"Love you too," he said.
"How do you feel?"
"Better than ever."
I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Me too."
"Cam?"
"Mmmm?"
"I love you. I really, really do."
I giggled. "You said that already."
He shrugged, smiling. "I know. I wanted to say it again."
My heart fluttered, and I blushed.
Suddenly, I looked down at my friends sleeping on the floor and couch.
"I feel kinda bad. We should let them have the bed once in a while," I laughed. Zach looked down at them, and Grant suddenly twitched and rolled over, snoring softly. We rolled our eyes.
"We should. But I think their backs have gotten used to it by now," he muttered. We were silent after that, laying together, breathing softly.
"You know what, Zach?" I suddenly blurted, a sudden fury filling my chest as I had lay thinking.
"What?"
"Today is the day."
He arched an eyebrow. "Oh? And what, exactly, is today going to be the day of?"
I sat up, determination filling my heart. "Today is the day we bring down The Circle. I mean, do they think they can just toy with our lives as if we're some living puppets? Do they think they can kill the ones we love and get away with it? It's been too long, Zach. It's been too long since they've seen grief, known despair. It's been too long since someone's kicked them down. And you know what? I'm damn tired of it. We need to take a stand. We have -" I glanced at the clock.
It was nine o' clock in the morning.
"We have fifteen more hours in this day. And today doesn't have to be the day they're blown off the map completely, but today will definitely be the day it's started. It will be the day that things change."
I finished my sudden speech, panting a bit. Zach just sat there, looking at me in shock. And the only thing he had to say was, "Did you come up with all of that just now? It was very inspirational."
"Zach!" I playfully shoved his shoulder. "I mean it. I have...I just have a feeling that today...that today is going to be the day a...a revolution starts. I have this feeling inside my chest and it won't go away."
"Well, Cam..." Zach was serious now. "Other agents have tried, too. Older, more trained agents. With more skill level and strength. They've tried and failed. And it's not as simple as it sounds – some of us are going to get hurt. Or killed."
"I know that, Zach, I know. But...I just think that today is important. I don't even know why, but I do. I have a feeling. So let's get to work, yea?" I smiled.
He sighed but smiled back. "If you think so, Gallagher Girl, then I trust you. Let's get to work."
We woke everybody up and I showered. Macey dragged me towards the closet in my towel, and Zach raised his eyebrows and smirked. I rolled my eyes but turned away, blushing.
I had told everybody else about my 'today is the day' feeling, and they said okay, and that they were in. Macey was prattling on about how our outfits needed to, 'Blend in, but still be high fashion. Comfortable, but still pretty.'
She dressed me in light wash distressed shorts, which were super stretchy and comfortable, a long, button-down high-low white tank top with wooden beads connecting the straps to the shirt, a ring that could also be twisted and be used as truth-serum, or knock-out gas. And then she let me slip on my beat-up grey converse. She made my hair all wavy, finished with a touch of body splash and hair-spy and told me I was done.
"Thank the lord!" I groaned, sprinting out of the bathroom. Bex and Liz were still stuck in there, and they shot me jealous death glares. I stuck my tongue out at them.
The guys were at the table, eating breakfast and discussing strategies. Grant looked up from his cereal bowl and crinkled his eyebrows together.
"What are you guys doing in there? It sounds like you're amputating someone's arm, with all of the cursing and screaming and crying."
"Oh, you wouldn't wanna go in there," I shook my head. "It's like a war zone. There are sharp things, hot objects, dangerous things on strewn all over the floor, spray that will make you suffocate..."
They laughed as I plopped down with a peanut butter honey sandwich, cut into two triangles. I raised one up and took a bite. Zach stole my other half and I glared at him, pouting.
He slowly put it back, a bite taken out of the side. I gave him a, 'that's right. Be afraid.' look.
Bex stumbled out the bathroom door, gasping, probably haven been recently sprayed with strong perfume. She was wearing jeans, combat boots, an off the shoulder shirt, and her hair was twisted into a side french braid.
"Oh, look who made it out!" I smiled. She glared at me and started making a sandwich.
"Hey, would you make me a-" Bex cut Grant off.
"If you tell me to make you a sandwich, I will personally rip out your liver," Bex growled in a threatening voice. Grant widened his eyes and raised his hands up in surrender.
"Warning: Don't talk to us for a while once Macey's done with us. We're just extremely cranky and in more pain than we show."
Liz and Macey came out together. Macey was frowning, her black hair straightened to a glossy shine.
"It's not that bad. No pain, no gain," she shrugged. I shuddered. Zach made an affectionate noise and rubbed my back, amusement twinkling behind his eyes.
Everyone was at the table, now. We finished out breakfast, cleared the table, and sat back down.
"Alright, guys. It's time to get down to business." Tristan said. We all got serious, and we got out pencils, papers, pens, maps, and Liz and Jonas got out their laptops.
They instantly started typing furiously, trying to find out numerous Circle locations.
"Alright. Liz recently found out a way to disable cameras for ten minutes at a time." I said. Everyone blinked. Ten minutes was like ten years to a spy. Normally, we could only do it for about two seconds at a time.
"Damn. Nice work, Liz!" Grant grinned.
She blushed, muttering thanks. Jonas smiled proudly at her, which caused her to blush even more. I laughed.
"Alright. So if we have ten minutes to get inside and to their command center, we have time to knock out some people, maybe even get some information from them. Which will be easier." Zach said.
We knew we couldn't really plan this out. Things will go as they go, happen as they will. But it calmed our nerves a bit, made us feel a lot more in control of our situation.
Jonas and Liz were creating a code together, one that would take hours of concentration, but once it was finished, they simply could place it into the Circle's information, press a few buttons, and voila! It was being transferred over to their laptops.
"How long?" Macey asked, leaning her face on her hand, elbow on the table.
"About forty-five minutes and twenty seven seconds." Jonas said, the glow of the laptop illuminating his eyes. Liz nodded with him, their gazes never leaving the screen.
It's been hours – it was six o' clock in the evening now, and for some reason, I was getting sleepy again. We were done discussing battle plans, tried to focus on each others' strengths and weaknesses, telling each other what we should and shouldn't do. We corrected our fighting stances and trained with each other. We did some work-outs to keep our strengths up, doing planks and push ups and ab curls. We passed out the coms units and shoved napotine patches into our pockets. We got knives and shoved them into our boots, or the waist-band of our pants. We ate so that our strength would be at its highest, and drank lots of water. We stretched and did everything and anything we could to to prepare, determination lighting up our eyes.
And now, we were just plain bored. Bex and Grant were blowing bubbles inside the apartment, catching each one of them in their hands so that they wouldn't make the floor all sticky. Tristan and Macey were sitting and talking, leaning against a wall and holding hands. Liz and Jonas were still working, and Zach and I were dancing.
He had an arm around my waist, and the other held mine. I placed my other hand around his shoulders, and we twirled around on the floor. We danced to nonexistent music, swaying to our own melodies. We were grinning ear to ear, and he dipped me dramatically, just like that time at Gallagher.
I threaded my fingers through his hair and pulled his face to mine, kissing him. We danced for about half an hour, until Liz and Jonas gave a cry of excitement.
"It's in! The code is in!" Liz shrieked, standing up and placing her laptop on the table. We all gasped and sprinted to the kitchen, crowding around their laptops, whose screens were identical. Numbers and letters and words were flashing across the screen brightly, constantly changing. It was kind of starting to give me a headache.
"How long until it does something?" Bex asked.
"About...now." Jonas says.
Suddenly, their laptop screens go completely white, and then it fades out into their desktop.
And on that desktop is a file.
And in that file?
In that file is the information we need to defeat the Circle, once and for all.