Thank You To:
Jazzy- THANK YOU!
bad-girls-always-bad- So they'll figure it out soon enough, I have it all planned out. It's not like figuring out they are spies is the main conflict that takes up the whole story. Still, it will be around three more chapters till they put two and two together.
4EverAGallagherGirl- They may be Goode at hiding secrets, but they can't keep their true identities hidden for long! Look at what I said above for ellaboration.
AaGallagherGirl- You're so sweet thank you!
Dreamer0704- Thank you! You don't now what your missing till it's gone. Schedule below...
To EVERYONE! My updating schedule is every other day!
Lunch was the calm before the storm. In the locker room, Bex and I talked strategy quietly as we dressed out into the baggy uniforms.
"How far are we going to take this, Cam?" Bex bends tying her laces, I join her untying and redoing my own. For the past five minutes I had been contemplating my response. As much as it pained me to say, I would have to throw this one.
"I think I'm going to stop trying when the other girls stop trying," I double knot my Nikes. Bex looks around skeptically at the frilly girls hiking their gym shorts up so far they gave themselves wedgies.
"You mean you're not going to even put in the effort to beat that cocky boy who had his hands all over you? Don't get me wrong, I don't blame you, he was hot," Bex raises an eye to meet me but keeps her voice low.
"I did not let him put his hands all over me!" I stare at her, my mouth agape. Zach was better than a creep, not by much, but better.
"I sat with you guys at lunch for thirty minutes-" Bex tries to argue.
"Twenty-two and fifty-five seconds, he was in line for seven minutes," I try to give myself every upper hand I can get. Bex just glares, done with my protest.
"Okay," She continues, bothered I interrupted. "I sat with you two for over twenty minutes. It was so obvious he was trying to impress you."
She's about to further her point but I can't resist the urge to disagree. I stand up and Bex follows.
"He is cocky, that's why he wants to fix his broken ego, it has nothing to do with impressing me," It might have made sense if Zach was trying to impress a pretty girl, not me.
Bex looks at me incredulously then gives in, "Forget his intentions then, since you obviously don't get it. In the end, you're still offering to lower yourself to make this guy comfortable."
Ugh, Bex did have a way of making me want to be my best, but being the best didn't benefit me when it came to Zach.
"No, I'm lowering myself so Zach can get his little win and move on, so we both can be comfortable! The only reason he is annoying me with his presence is because he just wants to see me lose," I flick a hand around as I talk. She thinks she knows everything about him, but I'm the one who had four classes with him.
"That is not the reason he goes out of his way to be around you!" Bex smirks. "Don't think if you lose a competition with him he'll simply drop it. Guys always have to rub in their success- He won't let you forget it!"
My heart sinks, guys are like that. Why would Zach act any differently?
"You're right," I reluctantly see her where she's coming from. "If he can't handle what I can really do, then he doesn't deserve to be better than my half-assed effort."
"There you go!" Bex pats me on the back.
"Ladies," The coach comes out of her adjoined office and shouts at the remaining stragglers milling around, "Get in that gym! You have tests!"
Bex and I exit and head towards the bleachers marked for seniors. Zach and Grant sit together and look at as like we have to sit by them. Bex and I share a look.
"Let's cold-shoulder them," I say and motion my hand to a group of girls behind them.
"They can't handle us," Bex approves.
The boys still think we are going to sit with them, but we keep our eyes off the two as we climb four more rows behind them and sit with some other girls. The group happens to be the same ones who pulled their shorts so far up their butts they practically became underwear.
"Hi! Are you two new?" A perky, blonde asks. Her friends around her gaze at us fascinated.
"More or less," I answer with a sly smile shared with Bex.
The group laughs but seem confused.
"What do you mean?" Some other girl with a brown bob questioned.
"Cammie here has been homeschooled just around the corner and I'm Bex, I've been freshly kicked out of Gallagher Academy," Bex sits down and I join her at the end. As soon as the word "Gallagher" leaves her mouth, Bex gets the withering glares.
"You went there?" The blonde scoots away from us.
"My wonderful parents sent me there to get rid of me, I was there for an hour before I put a hole in their floors with a bottle of acid and they had to let me go," Bex smiles wickedly. "That place was awful, everyone was so full of themselves!"
The girls laugh and scoot back over to us, no longer viewing us as a threat.
"Aren't they?" The blonde that is obviously full of herself asks. "We hate them here."
"As you should!" Bex laughs and leans back, searching the gym.
"But there are some weird people here too," Bex shudders. I awe her ability to transition to our mission.
"Yes!" Someone drags out, the rest of the groups sighs. "Do you know who Brandon is? He's kind of new too."
I shake my head, "You so have to spill," I lean forward and prop my head on my hands.
"He has this group of friends, and they are total druggies," The blonde says with disgust.
"Not just the normal stoners, but like hard-stuff druggies," A girl with dark hair grimaces.
"They seem even more weird recently, always being caught in places they shouldn't be," The girl with the bob pauses and waves a finger around her clique. "We just heard that he and some others tried to break in to the principles office- who knows why!."
Bex and I look at each other with surprise, it sounds like our mission is almost over. We had a suspect that even civilians thought was sketchy.
"What's Brandon's last name?" I basically have my mental notepad open in my mind scribbling notes like a journalist discovering a breaking scoop.
"Hurtz," The blonde answers, "I'm Kassandra by the way. This is Blair and Claire."
I want to laugh at the stereotypical posse dynamic, but I control myself.
"Freshmen and Sophomores stay inside, Juniors and Seniors follow your coaches to the courts outside," The couch from earlier screeches through a malfunctioning microphone.
"Great, it's time for the Pacer again," Blair groans.
"What's the Pacer?" Bex raises an eyebrow.
"This is your first time?" Kassandra gasps and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Yours too, Cammie?"
We nod together, unsure of what we are getting ourselves into.
"Basically, you have to run back and forth till you die," Claire's bob sweeps into her eyes, making her elaboration extremely ominous.
"Please, you know you only have to do thirty laps!" Blair bumps her shoulder.
"Yeah, so?" Claire responds. To her there wasn't a difference.
"Everyone line up on the sidelines! This time please do at least ten laps!" Coach begs.
"Is this a time relay race or something," I ask Kassandra as we carefully move down the stairs of the bleachers.
"A little bit, it will explain itself in the introduction," The sides of her mouth flick down, I'm guessing it's because of the wedgie.
Zach was waiting for me when I attempted to pass him, it wasn't till I reached his spot did he start following the rest of the class down.
"Ready, Morgan?" He stretches his arms out in front of him. "You already know I'll be faster than you, just give up now."
If I was still planning on going easy on him before, I wouldn't now. The other girls said the students at Gallagher were full of themselves, I beg to differ. If someone conducted a study to see who was more egotistical: Spies or civilians, it would be civilians just because of Zach.
"You can't believe this will prove anything right?" I find a spot on the end line next to Bex.
"You're right, it will back up what we already know," Zach smirks and looks down at me again. I glare up at him. What a sexist-
"Get into partners of two, when one of you runs the other will be sitting counting laps," Coach has a hand on an old-school cd player.
"Grant, you and I be partners and Cammie and Bex can be partners," Zach decides. "Cam and I will race first."
The others nod and grab a white board and marker to count laps. The bleachers sink into the walls to give us more space to run.
"Listen up! I'm playing the track now," Coach presses a button and sound fills the room.
"The Fitness Gram™ Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. The 20-meter pacer test will begin in 30 seconds. Line up at the start. The running speed starts slowly, but gets faster each minute after you hear this signal. [beep] A single lap should be completed each time you hear this sound. [ding] Remember to run in a straight line, and run as long as possible. The second time you fail to complete a lap before the sound, your test is over. The test will begin on the word start. On your mark, get ready, start."
I take off at a mild jog as does everyone else. Zach goes faster than the others and makes it first to the other side. I reach the line when the others do, granted I have to slow down to not beat them.
"It's not a race, Goode," I tease, if Zach went at that pace the entire time he would burn out fast.
"If you haven't noticed, Morgan, that's exactly what it is," Zach smirks.
The next beep doesn't go off for ten seconds, leaving too much time for Zach and I to square each other up. Running back, Zach goes significantly slower than the first time.
"You can handle not being first this time?" I smirk as we are among the last to reach the line.
"I thought I would keep you company," He smiles. "Besides, this is about whoever last the longest."
"Yeah," I eye him up and down, five seconds till we have to go again. "I'm totally going to win."
Beep.
"Goode luck with that," Zach calls over his shoulder as I jog behind. "Did you hear the "e"?"
I laugh, finding him genuinely funny. I'm going to crush him. I started it academically, I'm going to finish it athletically. Might as well throw my mother's warning about not showing off out the window.
Thirty laps passed, every couple of laps allowing less time to complete them. Only one freshman was left, less than half the sophomores remained. Most left after they completed ten laps. Weak.
Bex cheers me on, assured that the pacer was over before it started. Grant just leaned back and tallied the laps.
Once fifty laps have passed, I felt it. Why was water torture a thing when the CIA could just make terrorist run back and forth till they spilled their deepest secrets? Zach looks a little uncomfortable too, but every time I look at him directly he puts on a mask of ease. Jogging wasn't an option anymore, I was at a healthy run each lap, but not quite a warm-up sprint back at Gallagher.
I was the only girl left, and people started rooting for me or the other ten guys with me. Most of them looked like track stars or football jocks. More than once, I saw them looking at me with amazement; I had barely broken a sweat.
"You can give up now, Morgan," Zach mocks. "I wouldn't blame you."
"I think you are the one that wants to back out, go ahead," We come to a stop again. "I wouldn't blame you."
I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand and Zach lifts his shirt to wipe the beads of sweat over his lips. The bottom of his shirt moves up to uncover the lower half of his stomach. My face gets hotter at the sight of the abs peeking out from under. Zach bites the collar of his shirt and puffs, lifting his eyebrows at me, he must have caught me staring. He drops the shirt to smirk and open his mouth.
Beep.
I sprint away from him, not caring about conserving energy. That cannot happen again. Maybe guys at this school are fit and it's hot here, of course I was going to see a guy lift his shirt to cool down! I have to learn how to handle it if I have to keep on taking gym.
"You went a little fast there, didn't you?" Goode eyes my red cheeks.
"It's getting faster," I shrug and take off again.
Ninety laps.
That's where we were at. The others gave up at seventy, giving the floor to Zach and I. The girls mostly cheered for Zach, every time we were resting at the opposite end of the stadium he would lift his shirt to wipe off his face, giving the girls something to gawk at. Instead of staring again, I just rolled my eyes. The guys mostly cheered me on, impressed I could keep up with one of their own, even Grant who thought I wouldn't be a match for Zach seemed dumbfounded (Bex got a kick at that). Soon he even started cheering my name (Zach did not get a kick out of that).
"How long does this go on?" I gasp. This may be hard, but my motivation is knowing that no matter how many laps I do here, I still work harder sparing Bex in P&E.
"I have no idea," Zach breathes heavily then shouts to the coach. "How long is this?"
"It has a hundred and six laps, you can stop when you want," Coach marvels at our ability to keep going. "Both of you have proven yourselves."
"No!" We both shout back. I turn to glare at Zach, I'm putting myself through this just for him. Credit where credit is due, Zach put up more of a fight than I thought a civilian was capable of.
A hundred and three laps.
My legs are burning and so are my lungs. The blood pounds in my ears. My shirt sticks to my back and I don't even want to imagine what my underarms look like. The ponytail I put my hair in keeps slipping further and further down the nape of my neck. Only three more laps, I can do this.
"You really aren't going to give up, are you?" Zach gulps down air, he's doubled over looking up at me.
"What would make you think that?" I wheeze with my arms resting on my head.
I take off at the best sprint I can, but I'm worn down. I barely reach the line before the beep goes off again. I dizzy myself spinning around to sprint right back. The wall of students wave their arms as if to pull me back themselves.
"Since we're both going to make it to the last lap, whoever finishes first wins," Zach concedes breathlessly.
"Fair enough," For the hundred and fifth time, we travel to the other side of the room.
I pose myself like a sprinter and wait for the beep. Last one. Last one.
Beep.
My reaction time is better than Zach's. I'm the one with the lead a quarter of the way back, everyone cheers wildly. I'll be the first one. The first one.
Zach is too close behind me. Zach is beside me. He is in front of me.
"Cammie, I swear to bloody god I did not sit here to watch you lose!" Bex calls out.
I'm a Gallagher Girl, I won't.
Zach is only ahead of me by a hair. Using the last of the glucose in my body, I throw myself forward, breaking myself to be stronger than him. I pump my arms to give me more momentum.
I close my eyes, and let deafening screams flood my ears. Someone stops me from smacking the wall. My eyes fly open, surprised to stop moving.
"You did it! You won!" Bex grabs my sweaty face then lets go just as quick. "Ew."
I slide down the wall, gasping with my arms stretched above my head. I receive pats on my back and I can't help but grin broadly. Zach has a hand on Grant's shoulder to steady himself. Grant must have told him I clearly won because Zach's head swivels over to me, his mouth open in shock. Proving him wrong felt so good.
"You totally gave that hottie a run for his money," Claire laughs, she's probably never seen someone make it to the end of a Pacer test. "It was amazing to watch him. Is he single?"
For some unexplainable reason that ticked me off, "You can ask him yourself."
She goes of to do just that, and Bex takes her place.
"I knew you could do it, Cam! Now keep track of me," Bex passes me the whiteboard than leaves to line up for her share of the test.
"Good luck," I try to encourage her but just take in more air.
Claire jutted out a hip and was twirling her hair, her way of flirting with Zach. He literally waves her off and shuffles towards me, his hands are on the back of his head, which lifts his shirt again.
Beep.
I flinch. This time I can attribute it to the god awful track and not the sight of Zach. He puts his hands out on the bleachers and towers directly over me, putting me in a highly unnatural position when I look up at him.
"How did you do it?" Zach recovered enough to no longer sound like he was dying of asphyxiation.
"I imagined a future where you won," I respond in the same tone. "And I just couldn't let that happen."
I think Zach snapped because he just turns himself around and squats to sit next to me. He's laughing so hard his head falls onto my shoulder.
"Gah! Gross, you're getting sweat all over me," I try to push his head off, but his hair is too sweaty, so my hand just slides through. I wipe the sweat on his toned arm. Great now I'm the handsy one.
"Like you aren't sweating right now," Zach reminds then picks his head up to give me a once over. The feeling of self-consciousness constricts me, it happens every time he looks at me like that.
"I keep it to myself," Nonchalantly marking a tally for Bex.
"But really, we almost killed our lungs because you couldn't let me win a little?" Zach watches Grant come back as he and Bex put on their own race.
"You have to earn a win, I'm not just going to give it to you," Must I give him the Webster dictionary definition of what winning is?
"You're making this more difficult than it has to be, Morgan," He tends to use my last name every time he wants to challenge me. Zach brings a leg to his chest with his arm and concentrates on me.
"What?" I pull the board close to me, using it as a shield from his emerald green eyes.
"Nothing, Cam, it's only that," He pauses to smirk. "This will be fun."
Grant gave up after the eighty-something lap, he says he saw me run and knew Bex would be no different, so he gave up before the Pacer got too bad. I wish Zach had been that easy. Bex was the last one left right after Grant dropped out, so she got to finish last much easier than I had it.
I gave Bex a five high. She points a triumphant finger at the once over-cocky boys. I take her side, eager to see her take it out on them.
"That's how girls do it better!" Bex slugs an arm around me for support and then pulls me away to the locker room, leaving Zach and Grant gaping and wondering why their plan went so wrong.
CRITICS ARE WELCOME!
I have a soft spot for FanFics where Cam lives up to her potential and beats Zach, so I just had to do my own and make it realistic and competitive like it should be when it comes to Zach and Cammie. Also, I'm really inconsistent with chapter length, but some scenes just deserve more attention, you know?