Chapter 14

Zach and Cammie sat entwined for about 30 minutes, when Cammie looked at her watch and saw it was dinner time.

"Hey Zach?" she whispered into his ear. He moved his head in response. "It's time for dinner. Do you feel like getting up? I can always bring some food back for you if you don't want to go outside."

"Can you get some then come back?" his voice cracked.

"Yes, of course," she replied. Cammie untangled herself from Zach, and stood up stretching. "I'll be back soon, okay? Don't move," she laughed. Cammie walked out of the passageway, heading towards the dining hall. While he waited, Zach turned over on his side, and ended up dozing off.

"Hey Mace," Cammie said, sliding onto the bench. "I can't stay long, I'm grabbing some food for myself and Zach, we're gonna eat in a different spot," she mentioned, grabbing two plates and filling them with food. Tonight's meal was lasagna with salad and cookies for dessert.

"Eating in a different spot? Has he asked you out yet? Are you dating? This seems like a date!" Macey said, and of course Bex and Liz were listening in. They started to add in their own two cents about the situation, which Cammie continued to shut down.

"i'm just being a good friend right now, that COC thing really shook him up. I'll be back in our room and I'll tell you guys what happened then, okay?" Cammie said. "See you later!" She hugged them as best she could with the two plates of food, waved to the guys, then walked out the hall and into the corridors. She followed the route towards the hidden room, and pulled on the fixture. Walking through the passageway, she made a mental note to dust it out a tad, seeing as Zach must come here a lot. She reentered the small room, to see Zach asleep on the couch. She rolled her eyes silently. Only a guy could fall asleep that easily. Putting the food on the floor, she looked throughout the room for a table. In a dark corner, she managed to find a pop-up table, complete with some chairs. She unfolded them as quietly as possible, trying hard not to wake Zach up. Picking the food back up off the floor, she put it on the table. Cammie walked over to Zach, and shook him gently, trying to wake him up. He moved around, and then finally opened an eye to see Cammie standing over him.

"Come on, I brought dinner," she said, and pulled him up to sit at the table. He walked over, rubbing sleep off his face. His eyes lit up when he realized it was lasagna for dinner.

"I love lasagna!" he said, with a smile on his face. He went to sit down, but then thought better of it. Walking over to Cammie's chair, he held it out for her to sit down on. Cammie laughed and sat down. Zach followed suit, then dug in.

"Are you feeling any better Zach?" Cammie asked. He nodded, finishing a bite before he replied.

"I am. I think I needed to sleep for awhile and just let it all out. I mean I can't exactly tell everyone here, seeing as Blackthorne is used to recruit new agents for the Circle," he said.

"It is?" Cammie asked. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, that's why we have classes like Weapons. A Circle member used to be on Blackthorne's board of trustees, so he incorporated the class to get us started on weaponry."

"Is he gone now?"

"Yeah, he was marked KIA after a op gone wrong. I can't say I'll miss him though, he definitely made Blackthorne a lot worse. What's your favorite color?

Cammie was knocked off guard by this question, which didn't seem to have anything to do with the current conversation. "Green, why?

"I was just wondering. Mine is hazel. Or blue," Zach said casually.

"Well then do I get to ask you a question?" Cammie asked. Zach nodded, signaling for her to ask.

"What's your favorite animal?" she asked. He laughed.

"I love dogs. Like all of them. So much," he said. He started to describe his favorite species of dog, a golden retriever. Zach and Cammie continued to talk for most of the night, when Cammie checked her watch and realized it was nearing eleven pm.

"Zach! It's almost eleven and we have class tomorrow. Can we finish this later?" she asked, starting to hurriedly pick up the trash around the room.

"Yeah of course Gallagher girl. Anything for you," he winked, and helped put away the chairs. Once the room looked pieced together again, the duo walked out of the passageway and into the school. Zach hesitated a second, turning to look at Cammie.

"Hey Cam?" he said. She turned to look at him with a questioning glance in her eyes. He walked toward her, and wrapped her up in his arms. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear. "For everything."

She hugged him back, and whispered, "Of course."

He let her go, pressing a small kiss to her temple. Cammie smiled and blushed at him, then waved bye as she walked back to her dorm in the opposite direction. Zach smiled at her slowly fading figure. The smile stayed on his face as he walked back to his dorm and silently got ready for bed, trying not to wake his sleeping roommates. As he was brushing his teeth, Grant stumbled into the bathroom, squinting his eyes.

"Dude where were you?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I was with Cammie," Zach answered. Grant nudged him, giggling. "Grant I know you did not just giggle."

"Yes, I did. Because you like Cammie! You like Cammie!" Grant sang, horribly off key and high pitched. Zach punched him.

"Okay! Okay! I do. Just stop singing that already," Zach said, his face flushing red. Grant started smiling.

"Now you, me, and Bex can go on double dates!" he said, still smiling big.

"Dude I haven't even asked her on a date yet or to be my girlfriend. I don't even know if she likes me," Zach said. He spit out the rest of his toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. "Come on Granty, let's go to bed," Zach said, and led Grant back to the beds.

Meanwhile, Cammie had successfully made it into her room and was lying in her bed trying to fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, a certain green-eyed boy came into her mind. After 20 minutes of thinking, exhaustion overcame her and she fell asleep, the color green being the only thing on her mind.