Hey, guys! Two chapters today! I'll post the last chapter on Saturday (which just happens to be my birthday!). Thanks for all the reviews/favorite stories/story alerts you all have given.
Zach's got a date. Zach's got a date." Grant sang at the top of his lungs in our dorm.
"It's not a date," I insisted.
Jonas looked at me while Grant continued singing. "You keep telling yourself that, then."
"Seriously," I argued. "It's not a date. It's just two classmates going into town with the rest of the school."
"Correction," Jonas practically yelled above Grant. "It's you and a hot girl our age hanging out in town together, probably going to a movie or getting something to eat, which is exactly what you do on a date."
"Fine." I threw up my hands in mock surrender. "You can call it a date if you want."
"Or if you want."
I looked at him. "What?"
Grant stopped singing. "Come on, Zach," he said. "We all know you want to call it a date. So go ahead. Tell the world you have a date with the Morgan girl."
"I think your singing has already informed said world," I told him, but he just winked at me quite creepily.
"So what are you wearing?" Jonas asked.
"Jonas," Grant threatened, "I swear if you ever ask something as girly as that again, I will personally kill you." Jonas laughed like he knew Grant was kidding – for the most part. "I'm only saying…"
"You're only saying nothing else," I told him. I grabbed my jacket. "And in answer to your question, Jonas, this." I pointed to myself, indicating the plain clothes I had chosen. "And, just in case you were planning my outfit for tonight," I opened the door. "I'm not changing." With that I shut the door behind me, before I had to listen to Grant and Jonas say anything more.
The Grand Hall was crowded with girls and guys both equally excited to get off the school grounds for a couple of hours. Cammie was standing by the door with her usual entourage: Liz, Macey, and Bex "the British Bombshell" Baxter. I made my way towards them, and as soon as Liz saw me she must have sounded the alarm, because by the time I reached Cammie's side her roommates were nowhere to be seen. I shook my head and laughed. Cammie greeted me with a smile, and my stomach seemed to tie itself in a knot. Get ahold of yourself, I told myself. What is wrong with you? I could have gone on arguing with myself for hours, but I saw Dr. Steve outside, through the window, talking to a man in a blue jacket. They shook hands, and both men disappeared into the trees. Joe came up from behind me and opened the door, looked at everyone, and said "let's go."
The entire walk to Roseville was quiet, I'm guessing because Cammie's hair kept blowing in her face. She turned red as she pushed it out of her eyes for the hundredth time. Finally she took a deep breath. "Do you want to do something?" she asked. I paused for a moment, temporarily forgetting how to speak. Why does she have this effect on me? I asked myself. She's just a girl.
"We could go to a movie," I said, "or get something to eat." Then I realized that I had just quoted Jonas from earlier. It's you and a hot girl our age hanging out in town together, probably going to a movie or getting something to eat, which is exactly what you do on a date. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
"Okay," she said.
"Or we could just…" I trailed off, trying to think of something my roommates hadn't suggested. "walk," I finally said lamely.
"Okay." She said again, sounding almost… nervous. I breathed an inner sigh of relief, silently celebrating the fact that I wasn't the only one with butterflies in the stomach.
I took a deep breath. I needed to snap out of whatever trance she had me in. "Or we could have that clown over there paint our faces," I suggested, pointing to the white-faced man wearing polka-dot pants and shoes longer than his forearms that was making balloon animals in honor of Roseville's Founder's Day celebration. "And then go rob the bank," I finished.
She laughed. "No way. Last October they installed a Stockholm Series 360— it'd take us at least forty-five minutes to crack it." Well, that idea's out.
I laughed. "Good to know." I don't know if it was cockiness, or a random spurt of bravery, but for some reason I reached out and took her hand. Her hand was warm, and when she closed her fingers around mine I smiled. We walked down decorated street after decorated street, and I saw out of the corner of my eye the man Dr. Steve had been speaking to earlier. Except his jacket was red. I shook my head. I'm sure he has his reasons, I thought. Finally we made our way down a street that seemed deserted compared to the rush of the parade just a block over. I stopped walking and looked at Cammie.
"So, plant any good bugs lately?" I asked. She turned red with embarrassment, but smiled, and maybe it was the smile that lead me to do the gutsiest thing I've ever done. I stepped closer to her. "Just so you know, Gallagher Girl," I told her, "I'm going to kiss you know." I slipped my hands behind her head gently, and she closed her eyes. I don't care how girly I sound, but it would have been perfect.
Until they showed up. "Oh my gosh! Cammie, is that you?" I looked up at the reflection in the windows of the building in front of us, and said… well, I won't repeat what I said. After all, it doesn't really matter, because it was in Farsi. I wanted to kill (well, not kill, but severely wound) the two idiots who had interrupted us. I mean, who sees two people about to kiss and decides to TALK to them? Unbelievable.
"Hi, Cammie," the pink girl from our last trip to town said with a hug for Cammie and a smile for me. "I'm so glad you two are here." I'm sorry if the feeling isn't mutual.
He-who-shall-not-be-named stood about five feet away, his gaze locked on Cammie. Jealous, jimmy? I thought. I wanted to laugh at him (but I figured Cammie wouldn't appreciate that very much). Cammie started walking down the street, and naturally, I followed (I was her date, after all). However, I didn't expect them to follow, too. They made their way in front of us, as if we were supposed to follow them to who-knows-where. Cammie looked up at me, worry in her eyes. "Hey, you're gonna think I'm crazy."
Hmm. Let's see, we just ran into your ex-boyfriend and his stuck-up little girlfriend, and now we're walking with them. "A little late for that, Gallagher Girl."
"You haven't seen anyone following us, have you?"
I laughed, mainly out of how impressed I was. Cammie had noticed Joe's friend from earlier, too. "You mean besides your roommates?"
Cammie rolled her eyes and glanced behind her shoulder at Bex, who was casually looking in the window of a clothing store. "Yeah. Besides them."
"No." I told her. "I haven't seen anyone on our tail. Why?"
She glanced at Dr. Steve's friend. "The guy. The blue jacket." Pink girl looked back, listening to Cammie's words. Party crasher and eavesdropper. What a reputation this girl is building. "Don't you think he's toasty in that heavy coat?" I was surprised at how well Cammie handled that.
Actually, no. I wasn't. After all, she was a Gallagher Girl. She's great at high-pressure situations. I turned, looking where I knew the man was.
"What about him?" I asked.
"The jacket's reversible. Ten minutes ago he was wearing it the other way." I looked again, and sure enough, he had his blue jacket on. "Do you think a lot of regular guys in Roseville take the time to reverse their jackets?" She had a good point, but I didn't want to blow Joe's cover.
"Look at that guy, Gallagher Girl," I said, pointing to him as he purchased a corndog. "He's a mustard disaster looking for a place to happen. I bet you anything he's got a big stain on the other side." It could have been true.
"Now what are you two chatting about?" the girl in pink asked. She was really starting to get on my nerves.
"Oh, Cammie was trying to convince me that I should recognize that guy in the blue jacket." I turned to face her, looked her in the eyes. "But I've never seen him before in my life." Cammie nodded and smiled, looking relieved.
She turned to the pink girl and grabbed her arm. At first I thought she was going to break it in two, and thought about time, but then she said "I've got to go to the bathroom!"
"I'll walk with you," I said, hoping this was her excuse to get us away from our unwanted company. But she shook her head.
"No. It's a girl thing."
I stared as the two walked off, arm in arm. "So, uh, how do you like Gallagher Academy?" jimmy asked, but I didn't answer. I was too busy staring at Cammie's right hand, at the small piece of plastic on her finger similar to the one I had on a chain around my neck (turns out I could still feel the vibration, and that way nobody noticed that I had a pink ring). My stomach knotted again, but it wasn't because of Cammie. She had seen right through me. How stupid.
I turned to jimmy. "I gotta go. Tell Cam I'll meet her at the school." He nodded, even though I knew for a fact that Cammie wasn't going to see him again that night. She was going to ditch as soon as she could. I ran back to the school, hoping, praying that I would run into Grant and Jonas and the other guys on the way.