Shout outs:
bad-girl-always-bad: so glad you like the story!
Guest123: Zach will totally get jealous later on, but for right now it's all about the build up!
The more reviews, the easier it is for me to update (and quicker)! So keep the input coming. For now, happy reading!
Dinner was a daze; my friends and I didn't dare hypothesize how the operation would work until we got to our room. We had a silent agreement to eat as fast as we could without throwing up so we could leave as soon as possible.
"How are we going to pull this off?" Liz searches for answers. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't see any other option than using us, but…"
I push the door open, "It will be hard, but I'm sure my mom knows what she's doing."
"I think we're about to find out," Macey waves a hand at the folders on each of our beds. Excitedly, we ravage through the material.
Opening the classified folder that was specifically for my eyes only, I see my cover, backstory, and the breakdown of the espionage I would be taking part in. My cover identity isn't far off from the one I made myself last year. I still had the same name and the same imaginary cat. Apparently, my family thought I was out of touch with my peers, so they are enrolling me in public school instead of keeping me home schooled. Being that I already have an established presence in Roseville, the CIA wasn't given a lot of wiggle room with my cover; things had to add up, you know?
"Ah, perfect," Macey rolls her eyes. "Years of campaign trails have prepared me for my first mission: Being a spoiled brat who got kicked out of boarding school and was punished to attend regular school!"
"No name change I'm guessing?" Bex presumes, not looking up from what she was reading, clearly, she was fascinated.
"Nope, I'm too infamous to be a different person."
"Well, I'm Liz Stanton, moving to Roseville because of my dad's job relocation," Liz reads straight off her file.
"And call me Bex Brown: the reason why Macey got kicked out," Bex boasts. "Who knew we we're so bad at chemistry!"
"Ya' gotta have a partner in crime, am I right?" Macey giggles and falls on her bed.
A little part of me is jealous of the person that comes up with cover stories. Why can't I have that easy life? Instead I get to go into the field.
"I'm the same girl Roseville knows," I shrug. I guess I really did have the relaxed job of coming up with cover stories. I flip over to the next page for the breakdown.
"So, we get to sleep in the comfort of our walls, and eat breakfast and dinner here, but," Macey almost gags. "We have to leave by eight to go to grimy Roseville High. Do you know how early we will have to wake up for me to make you all look presentable?"
Too early, I think. The papers specify that we have to leave at separate times and in separate cars as to not look conspicuous. Honestly, I appreciate the CIA for being so thorough, but really, nobody will think anything of the new girls as long as we say we didn't come from the snobby rich school down the block (or say we tried to sabotaged it in Macey and Bexs' case).
"Geez, overkill much?" Bex rolls her eyes and continues reading. "At least we get to ride together, Macey, my parents don't want to deal with such a disgrace, so I'm staying with you in a "newly bought house" until further notice."
"This sounds like a great learning experience," Liz's eyes are wide, she already finished reading her guide. "Not only will we being doing regular school work for seven hours, but we get to come back here after school and do our Gallagher classwork to stay on track with our real studies!"
She cannot be serious. We all gap at Liz, no way does she take delight in our overload. I heard regular teens went insane from the amount of work they had to do, and now we're going to have double.
"What?" She shrinks insecurely. "It was in the footnote."
"We will deal with that later. Let's start laying out tomorrow's clothes so we won't be overly rushed in the morning," Macey heads to her closet. And here I was thinking that school work would be the worst part of the exchange.
"You go do that, Macey," Bex lays out on her bed with her arms crossed behind her head. "You clearly don't need us for that."
"Hey, Cammie," Liz fidgets uncomfortably. "What's your plan when you see josh?"
"That's the thing, my plan is to avoid him," I stare at the wall behind her. "And the CIA gives me their full support on that."
Macey peaks her head out of the closet, she has an arm full of clothes put together already.
"Let me shed some light on you. You are in the same grade as him, and in this small town, you are for sure going to have classes with him," Macey drops the clothes by her feet. "There's no way you can manage to allude him."
"You have a ninety percent chance of having a class with him, it's a small town, the math is all too easy," Liz warns.
"She's right," Bex nods at the ceiling then turns on her side to face me. "The real problem is how you're going to react around him, which shouldn't be a problem if you're over him."
Am I over him though? As much as I tell myself I should be, it's not possible at the moment. Josh was my first boyfriend, my first kiss, I can't let that go so easily.
"It's okay if you're not over him, Cam," Liz soothes. "We'll help you."
Leave it to Liz to make everything right. But kind words aren't enough this time.
"Thanks for being with me guys," I smile a small sad smile. "But starting tomorrow, we won't know each other."
Bex jumps off her bed, completely displeased with the truth. She bends down in front of the pile of clothes and sorts through the prospective options.
"So, we find a way to introduce ourselves again," She waves her arms in the air exasperated, a shirt clutched in one. "Make it look like we have a strong frienship forming, even though we're already sisters."
"Aw, it will be like starting over, but I won't blow smoke in your face this time!" Macey gushes at our fond memories. We all laugh at the bitch that Macey once was.
"You two come over here and start trying on clothes. This pile is yours and that one is Liz's." Macey points. "Sorry I had to give some of your clothes to them, Cam."
That was probably the best news I heard all day: I wouldn't be able to wear all of Macey's clothes.
"That's alright, I have my own clothes," I stay put on my bed.
Bex and Liz eye me, shocked by my opposition, but I know who I'm facing. Macey could try all she wants, but I'm not wearing anything I'm uncomfortable with. Her clothes totally hinder my ability to Chameleonize into my environment! Unfortunately, Macey seems up for the challenge.
"I must be mistaken!" She put a hand on her forehead and feigns confusion. "I thought the Chameleon was an over achiever who would stop at nothing to blend in and complete a mission!"
I scrunch my eyebrows together and cross my arms hostilely, "Yeah, so?"
"So," She hold up a what appears to be a leotard. "This is what normal girls wear, and by wearing this you will successfully blend in with the others."
She obviously thinks she has a point, but I beg to differ.
"Macey I'm not going to a school for gymnasts," I remind.
Liz watches our argument like it's a tennis match: Back and forth, back and forth. Macey cringes at me for some reason.
"I know that, and I know this is not what you think it is," She answers to me like I'm a child in the deep end. "This is called a bodysuit- you wear it with jeans. It will look so cute on you!"
I have to admit, the tension in my neck certainly uncoiled when she mentioned I would be wearing jeans. Maybe Macey would respect my fashion boundaries.
"You can try it on in the morning, trust me, you'll like it," Macey smiles, clearly pleased with herself.
I get off my bed and head to the bathroom, much in need of a shower. Liz's statistics held weight, leaving me afraid of seeing Josh. As far as I know, he stills thinks I'm homeschooled and broke up with him for no reason. Maybe this exchange of sorts was a way of settling things between him and I. Best case scenario would be us becoming friends with him, worst case says he will hate me permanently. Looks like my life is always about playing fate.
I can't be conceited though and pretend like I will be the only one with boy trouble. When the mission commences, ten girls who were once in an all-girl school will be experiencing hormones of the opposite sex for the first time since they hit puberty, it will be my responsibility to protect them from getting hurt.
Lights out came soon enough, but the energy of the room was tangible, and I swear it took an hour before we could fall asleep. Before sleep was able to grab ahold of me, I promised I would only worry about the mission and the safety of the civilians over the security of my feelings; it's the moral thing to do after all.
The morning was hectic, I vaguely remember a threat to pour ice water on my head if I didn't wake up. Macey spent thirty minutes each on our makeup. She said half the time was spent on perfecting the winged eyeliner, I don't blame her, I've seen those things and they look hard for even the steadiest of hands. Other than the little wing, my makeup was pretty low key and natural. Starting off on the right side of the bed, I managed to get away with just brushing my hair and leaving it down.
The bodysuit Macey put me was one thing I was torn on. For one, the buttons! Whoever invented these things most likely had the best of intentions at heart, but failed miserably. By wearing this, the time it takes to go to the bathroom will inevitably triple. On the other hand, it was cute and comfortable. The body suit was short sleeved and army green, it also had a slightly plunging neckline. With the push-up bra Macey gave me, I had managed to present the perfect amount of cleavage (almost classy in a way if I do say so myself). I was also wearing light washed, high waisted jeans with mild distress on the thighs. The shoes were black vans with a weird white wave on the side. All in all, everything about my outfit, screamed assimilation. Hell yeah, was I ready to blend in!
Bex and Macey both had to look rich for their cover. Bex looked gorgeous in a black crop top and high waisted jeans, similar to the ones I was wearing, she also wore diamonds and what were surely expensive shoes. Macey, always one to appear muted, wore a Thrasher sweatshirt and Gucci slides (which she told me cost her over two hundred dollars), but whatever she wore didn't tone down her beauty. Liz wore a baby pink cardigan and flats, perfect for the fairy she truly was.
"All in under and hour and a half," Macey stops her channel watch. "That's got to be a record."
"And yet we still missed breakfast," I frown disappointed, I would only be able to grab an apple for the road.
"Come on, ladies, it's time," Bex ushers us through the door, but not before shoving the premade backpacks the school gave us into our hands. They were all black Jansport- we we're going into deep cover.
Reaching the foyer and subsequently the double doors, different types of cars were all lined up outside, designated to our individualized covers.
"Ready for me to drive you to school, kiddo?" My mom asks, a smile playing on her lips.
"Don't you have more important things to do than be my cover mother?" I asked, bewildered she would take the time out of her day to drive me.
She kisses me on the forehead and places an apple in my hand along with a lunch box, "I always have time for you, now eat up."
"Ms. McHenry, Ms. Brown, if you will see yourselves into the Cadillac. You will be going first," My mother waves an arm out to the first car in the line.
The two wave goodbye and pile into the back of the sleek car, clearly excited about the mission.
"Did we pay for that?" I ask my mom as the Cadillac drives away.
"Of course not, the McHenry's did," My mother laughs and raises an eyebrow. "As you know, we chose to allocate our resources to advancing… technological equipment."
I laugh alongside her knowing exactly what she means. I would miss not having her as my headmistress, she will be in some ways but not like before.
The next car pulls forward and the bubblegum guard removes himself from the driver's seat.
"Only the best for the Morgan's," The guard tosses the keys of a Nissan Rogue to my mom. I swear, the school must have googled the top average-sized family car and bought it just to be like everyone else in this town.
"Hop in, Kiddo," My mom nudges me forward.
"See you in a bit, Cammie," Liz waves with the other six girls at the front steps of the double doors.
Here goes nothing.
So what did you guys think? Are you ready for some drama? I love your guys' support!