"So Healy Hall is really…" Liz started, her voice getting lost within the pages of the first volume.
"Gillian's cover? Yeah, it seems that way." I muttered, scanning through volume two of the two books Professor Dabney had kindly overnight mailed to me when I spoke to her two nights ago. And no, she didn't know Joe Solomon was coming to teach here, either.
"So Gillian and her husband created this school, Gillian made sure to have a place for her sisters for years to come and continue their training, and no one ever knew her real name?"
"It's the best legend of all, a rich man's wife. Eliza Healy. Especially in her time, they weren't asking questions to wives of powerful men. I'm surprised she could keep her tongue tied for that long, honestly." I retorted, capping my invisible ink pen (Liz's creation, you need a special black light to view the writing and the only person so far with that specific shade of black light was Ms. Sutton herself) and sitting back in my library chair. I could feel Zach's breath on my neck as I rolled my head from side to side, him too stretching after staring at the same pages as I for the past half hour.
The five of us had been taking up residence at table twelve of the Georgetown University Library for over an hour, pouring over the book Professor Dabney gave us, and trying to do our own independent research as well. Unfortunately, Eliza Healy's records were all mysteriously missing from any textbooks (or the CIA's server).
"Maybe one day, we'll donate a wing or two." Zach said casually, like you'd say sorry to someone you bumped into in the hallway, not like how a normal eighteen year old would speak about marrying their girlfriend and donating an academic wing to their alma mater. The casual tone threw me off, but the seriousness under his words was what really got me.
"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the face of surprise I gave him without realizing it. I calmed my facial expressions to a resting state, and he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just saying. Goode and Morgan, we're legacies, babe. Can you imagine how bad ass our kids are going to be?"
I swear to god, at that moment my eyes must've bugged out of my head. It's not to say that I have a fear of commitment, I dated a normal boy for a few months without my entire student body or family knowing until it was too late (way too late). But, I also didn't have the best example of seeing a marriage last. It wasn't a fear of commitment as much as it was a fear of dependability.
Before I could respond, Bex interjected (as she usually did).
"So we know now how this remained so secretive. Professor will need to send us another book, it says this journal is volume three of five. But, what are we supposed to do now?" The Londoner asked, her and Macey peering through volume 3 together.
"What do you mean? We're in college." Macey responded from her seat, taking one of Bex's peanut M&M's and popping it into her mouth. Her jaw crunched the candy and it sent a chill down my spine, looking at the wrapper and remembering Zach and I's first real encounter all those years ago.
"So what does that mean?" Liz asked quietly, pulling her big blue eyes away from the leather bound book and staring up at Macey innocently across the table.
"It means that we should be going to frat parties, playing drinking games and going to football games. We should be embracing this college lifestyle because Gilly is giving us a second chance at the normal life we never had since grade nine."
"She does have a point, and I do have a really cute outfit in my dresser." Bex admitted with a smirk pulling at her lips.
"I think we should embrace this second chance and try to enjoy ourselves, at least for one night, before Joe decides to revamp his cove-ops course." Macey pointed out, giving me her biggest puppy eyes she could muster. "What do you think, Cam? One night can't hurt."
Begrudgingly, I sighed and nodded my head in agreement. Macey was right, we were finally given a second shot at some sort of normalcy we had kissed goodbye the second we walked into Gallagher's regal hallways. The least we could do now was enjoy ourselves for one night, no circle, no cove ops, just a few teens enjoying their first college party.
Zach sat up, propping his shoulders on the top of the table and fishing his buzzing phone out of his jean pocket. He checked over a few messages then stood up, grabbing his coat off the back of his chair and pressing a kiss to my hairline.
"Grant and Jonas just arrived at the dorm, I'm going to help them unpack and we'll meet back up tonight. Let's all grab dinner before we hit a party, alright? We don't need Liz blacking out again like she did in Rio Grande."
"Hey! I was under a lot of stress, I didn't have time to eat, and when a leading member of the biggest terror organization in the New Mexico area hands you shots of tequila, you take it and run with it. At least until your scanners become activated, of course."
"Liz, we all know what happened, we just don't want a re-enactment." Zach told her, leaning down and kissing my cheek. "Try not to look too hot tonight, alright Gallagher Girl? Unfortunately, I'm not the only male on this campus like I was at Gallagher."
"Oh, don't you worry, Zach. I only have eyes for you," I gushed with a smirk mirroring the one he so often gave me. With another kiss to my lips this time, he vanished through the double doors.
The girls counted twenty three seconds until he was totally out of earshot to speak again.
"So what is with him and this new found love to discuss the future?" Macey spit out, eyes pointing straight to me and leaning her body forward across the table to reach me better. "Puh-lease do not tell me you two are planning a runaway bride and groom situation, because I have got to redeem myself after Rachel's wedding. That color scheme gives me nightmares, I do not know what I was under the influence of when I was planning it." She shuddered at the thought.
"No one is planning anything, Mace. I'm just as thrown as you all are." I admitted, popping the lid off of my Smartwater and taking a big gulp to calm, or drown, the butterflies in my stomach that have been floating around since he mentioned the idea.
"I'd most literally have your head if you did, Morgan. Remember that." Bex warned in her firmest of tones, which made me take another big gulp of my water, this time out of fear at the idea of an angry Rebecca Baxter.