A/N: oh boy how do I even start this? Hi! I'm sorry it's taken me almost 4 years to update I seriously have no excuse besides my laziness. BUUUUUUUUUT I was reading over old reviews earlier and I realized that I seriously wanted to continue this story so here you go! Sorry this chapter is Zach-free but I had to introduce Josh :') Next chapter will be full of Zammie I pinky promise. And please please PLEASE review! I like hearing what you guys think and it encourages me to write
-hashtagfanfiction
Mom was asleep by the time I had gotten home.
The house was strangely quiet, besides the faint sound of the TV running in her room. I considered sneaking in to shut it off, but decided to avoid the risk of waking her up and tiptoed my way to my room instead.
As I padded into my bathroom to brush my teeth and wash off the make-up I had been forced to wear, I noticed a goofy smile on my face.
I was in such a good mood.
I had survived my first week at my new school and not only had a good time but also made awesome friends while doing it.
At Gallagher I had had friends but hanging out with them wasn't nearly as fun hanging out with the Roseville kids. The most exciting things we did there on weekends were the occasional field trips downtown. And even those were strictly supervised. Things here were totally different, and I was definitely enjoying it.
I wrapped up brushing my teeth and started washing my face silently thanking Mom for accepting the job here. I really regretted giving her such a hard time about the move now that i realized how much I was loving our new life.
Way to be a brat Cammie.
I finished getting ready for bed and gave myself one last look in the mirror before flicking the bathroom light off and heading towards bed. I paused for a moment at my bedroom window.
My blinds had been firmly shut since Monday in order to avoid another incident like the whole towel-turban debacle . I stared at them for a while, feeling the goofy smile creep it's way back onto my face.
I reached over and opened my blinds.
Next door, Zach's were already opened.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The next morning I woke up to the sun streaming down on my face and the sound of people downstairs.
I groaned, sliding a pillow over my forehead and burrowing deeper into my fort of blankets. Why did I think it was a good idea to open those blinds? And why was everyone downstairs being so damn loud?
I could hear the sound of polite small talk and soft laughter even though my shut bedroom door and it was annoying.
Sighing, I pulled the pillow off my head and let my eyes adjust to the bright sunlight. My head ran through all the possibilities of who might be downstairs.
Mom's new work friends could be visiting, or maybe (I wouldn't put it past them) my new friends were downstairs. Then again it could be Zach and Kate showing their ever-present neighborly kindness.
My stomach jumped at the thought of seeing him and I inwardly cursed at him for having that effect on me. I may be new to the whole boy-thing but I was starting to realize that they kind of sucked. Especially the super cute, super cocky football playing ones.
With that in mind, I threw my covers off of me and made my way into the bathroom. I had learned my lesson last time I had gone downstairs without touching my appearance up first.
I ran a brush through my (horrifically flat hair) and splashed some water on my face before finally heading down to see who was over.
The laughing I had heard earlier grew louder as I approached and I turned into the living room to find Kate and Mom giggling on the couch. Two steaming mugs of coffee sat on the table in front of them along with a couple of opened home magazines. They looked up as I walked in.
"Speaking of Cammie…" Mom grinned, looking up from the Country Living she was leafing through.
I raised an eyebrow. It was never good when Mom talked about me. Whatever she was saying was probably going to embarrass me later.
Kate smiled up at me and took a sip of her coffee. My mouth watered at the sight of it, itching for some caffeine.
"Morning dear!"
I still wasn't fully awake yet but I managed to offer them both a smile.
"Hey guys." My mom patted the seat next to her and I plopped down onto the recently unpacked couch and hugged a pillow to my chest. "Whatcha doin'?"
Mom slid a couple of home magazines in my direction and held up the one she was currently studying. A couple of pages were already bookmarked and scratched up. "Kate is showing me how to be a proper decorator," she explained eagerly. "And cook!"
I glanced over the page she was showing me and read over a recipe for green bean casserole. An involuntary flinch followed at the thought of Mom attempting to cook that.
"Sounds...nice?" I offered unconvincingly.
Kate chuckled, setting her mug on the table with a shake of her head. "I'm doing my best Cammie, believe me."
"I appreciate the sentiment," I told her, feigning seriousness. "But I'm afraid we're fighting a losing battle here. She's hopeless."
"Hey!" Mom exclaimed, slapping me lightly on the arm. "Not true!"
Kate and I laughed at her offended expression, and pretty soon Mom was joining us. I think she realized she was a lost cause just as much as we did.
"Listen…" Kate began, once she had caught her breath. She placed a hand on my arm and gave me a soft smile. "Zach would kill me if he found out I was saying this but...thanks for going to the game yesterday. It really meant a lot to him."
I immediately felt my cheeks burn up. I so wished people would stop making a big deal about that damn football game.
"Oh it was no problem," I insisted, trying to really get the point across that IT REALLY WAS NOT A BIG DEAL. "I had fun."
Kate chuckled, shaking her head at something that I was obviously missing and taking a sip of her coffee. "Kids are so cute," she announced.
My cheeks were on fire now and I started skimming through a battered cooking magazine in order to distract myself. Why was everyone acting so freaking weird? Hadn't they seen two people be friends before?
"Speaking of kids," Mom sighed, bringing her hands to the bridge of her nose with a squeeze. "That reminds me that I have piles of kid-related paperwork to do today."
Kate set her mug down on the table and began to stand up. "That's my cue!" She scooped her burgundy purse off the couch and hooked it around her shoulder. "Thank you for breakfast Rachel it was delicious."
Mom stood up too and I followed suit. We walked with Kate towards the door while she rifled through her purse for something. Finally, she pulled out a black cell phone that was buzzing excitedly with notifications. She silenced it, and then turned towards me.
"Listen Cammie," she began, as her phone started to light up again. "If you don't have any plans today you should come to work with me today. It'll be fun!"
I considered her proposal for a moment. Macey had said something about going shopping today and the thought of that made me want to throw myself out of a moving car. Besides, going to work with Kate meant I would be in a Zach-free zone, which, considering how stupid I was starting to feel around him, I desperately needed.
"Sure!"
Kate face broke out into a grin. "Oh awesome!" She squealed. "I'm gonna run to the house and answer some phone calls-" she waved her buzzing phone in the air- "while you change. Meet me next door in fifteen?"
I nodded and with that Kate was turning on her heel, sliding her phone unlocked, and yelling "What Barry?" into the receiver.
Mom chuckled, shutting the door behind her. She gave my appearance one long look and nodded towards the stairs. "You better hurry kiddo, you have a lot of work to do."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Roseville was changing me.
That was the only explanation for why I was stuck on what to wear.
At Gallagher (when I wasn't wearing the uniform), I was usually sporting a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. My hair? A ponytail. Make-up? No way.
But now, I was standing in front of my closet at an actual loss on what to wear. Meanwhile my clock was slowly ticking away the time I had before I was supposed to meet Kate.
I had no clue what Kate did so I couldn't exactly dress accordingly. I tried basing my outfit off of what she was wearing but that just meant I'd have to wear a pantsuit and heels.
Not exactly my style.
Finally, two minutes and seventeen seconds before I was supposed to meet Kate next door, I decided on what to wear. I yanked it out of my closet (steered clear from my open window) and changed quickly.
I took one last look in the mirror before grabbing my phone off my bedside table and heading downstairs.
Mom had already retired to her office, buried underneath the mountain of paperwork she had brought from school. I stuck my head in the door and blew her a kiss. "I'll see ya later!"
"Bye hon," I heard her call as I opened the front door.
I made my way out into the cloudy September day and almost immediately regretted my clothing decision. It was cold. Like shockingly, bitingly cold. My sweater was definitely not doing the job.
I started to turn back towards the house so I could change, but before I could the Goode's front door swung open and Kate, balancing a briefcase, her phone, and another cup of coffee, stumbled down the steps.
"Hey!" She called, managing to pull her car keys out of her purse without dropping the things in her hands. "You ready?"
I looked up longingly towards my bedroom window where a plethora of warm sweaters were waiting for me in my closet. I turned away from the door (and my desired warmth) and nodded. "Need any help?"
Kate smiled gratefully and I pulled the briefcase and coffee cup out of her hands. She fumbled around with her car keys before unlocking the door and dropping her stuff into the backseat. I slid into the passenger's seat, placing her coffee in the cup holder and keeping her briefcase at my feet. Kate started the car.
"And we're off!" She exclaimed, the car lurching into reverse. We peeled out of the driveway and started making our way (pretty quickly for a residential zone) down the street.
I shifted the briefcase at my feet and surveyed a couple of papers that were sticking out. "What exactly do you do Kate?"
Kate's eyes broke away from the road for a moment and dropped to the briefcase at my feet. A short burst of laughter escaped her mouth. "Oh that ugly thing isn't mine," she chuckled. "It's a client's. You can just throw it in the back."
I did exactly that. The briefcase spiraled through the air before slamming against the tan leather of Kate's Mercedes and bursting open. Dozens of blank white sheets printer sheets spewed out.
"They're blank."
"So they are."
"Why are they blank?"
Kate was going twenty over the limit. She cut off a truck and swerved towards the entrance to the highway. She pushed her foot on the gas and the speedometer tipped towards 65. "My client-Barry- carries it around all the time." She explained, "he thinks it makes him look smarter."
"Does it?" I asked disbelievingly.
"Not even a little bit." Kate grinned. "I'm a PR agent for a lot of the businesses here and this guy-" she blew the bangs off the top of her forehead with a long exhale- "he seriously needs it."
I laughed, imaging Kate managing a guy who carried around empty sheets of paper in a briefcase.
By now we were reaching downtown, where a handful of tall buildings began to tower around us. The Roseville buildings were nothing compared to the skyscrapers that littered the New York skyline.
Kate drove through the heart of downtown and then pulled the car to a stop at a squat, long brown building. The massive illuminated sign on the top flashed Barry's Bowling Lanes and then directly below it a cardboard cutout of a man-presumably Barry-was shooting the parking lot a giant thumbs up.
I burst out laughing all over again and so did Kate. This guy looked crazy.
"Brace yourself," Kate grinned as she stuck one heeled foot out of the car and grabbed her purse from the backseat.
I scooped the blank sheets of paper from the floor and shoved them back in the suitcase before following Kate into the dimly lit bowling alley.
The building smelled like chili cheese hot dogs and communal shoes. I wrinkled my nose at the stench, but then cringed even further when I saw that there was another cardboard cut out greeting us by the front desk.
This one was leaning precariously against the counter and Barry's (cardboard) arms were crossed tightly across his chest. A speech bubble above read "DON'T BE A BUZZKILL, BUY SOME HOT DOGS!"
Kate took one look at the cutout and sighed. "Barry!"
From behind the shoe rental counter a man swaggered out. He was fat, tan, and wearing bowling shoes with a dark pinstripe suit. It didn't look like he had been or would be bowling any time soon.
"Morning babycakes," he grinned, pulling Kate into a hug. He glanced over her shoulder at me and his face lit up. "New customer?" he asked Kate.
Kate pulled herself out of the embrace and shook her head. "No Barry. This is my new neighbor Cammie. She's Zach's..."
"Friend," I finished, shaking Barry's pudgy, extended hand. "And I have your suitcase."
He brightened, grabbing it from my hands and holding it to his chest. "Thank God! I have lot's of paperwork in here I need to file."
I snorted, trying to bite back my laugh. Kate chuckled to herself but then almost immediately sobered up. "Barry we need to talk about these cut-outs. I told you not to make anymo…"
I took the start of work talk as my cue to leave. With a little wave towards Kate I made my way towards the almost all-empty bowling lanes. Only a couple of people felt the need to go bowling before noon I guess.
I picked out a ball and slid my fingers in through the hole. When in Rome, right?
I lugged the ball to an open lane and chunked it down the slippery wooden bowling ball thumped on the floor and rolled straight into the gutter.
"Nice."
The sound of someone behind me made me jump and I turned around to find a boy in a Barry's Bowling Shirt leaning against the ball rack. His dark brown hair was tucked under a company baseball hat, and his face was pulled into a loose smile.
I could feel my cheeks reddening. If there was one thing I was good at after moving to Rosewood, it was embarrassing myself in front of cute boys.
"Thanks, I'm quite the pro-bowler can't you tell?"
The boy grinned, stepping away from the ball rack and grabbing a ball in the process. He threw his ball down the lane and it cleared the pins with a perfect strike.
"Do you have a name or should I just call you Miss Pro-Bowler?" he asked jokingly, turning to face me again.
I shifted awkwardly under his gaze, grateful when my ball finally came back up from the dispenser. I took it as an opportunity to distract myself. I rolled the ball, this time knocking down two pins.
"Cammie and I'm free to autograph any of your bowling memorabilia if you want."
The boy threw his head back into a deep laugh and revealed a row of slightly crooked white teeth.
"It's nice to meet you Cammie," he grinned, extending his hand to reveal the recurring southern gentleman side that everyone in Rosewood seemed to possess. "I'm Josh."
We shook hands and I suddenly wished I had been able to wipe them on my jeans beforehand. What if I had sweaty bowling hands? Talk about embarrassing.
Josh dropped my hand and I immediately wiped it on the fabric of my pants.
"So Josh," I said as his ball popped up the conveyer. It was light blue like his eyes. "Are you actually a pro-bowler or was that strike just a lucky shot?"
"I may or may not be able to kick your ass," he replied, shrugging innocently.
I raised my eyebrow in what (I hoped) to be an attractive stare of disbelief. "Is that a challenge?"
"Are you accepting?"
I laughed and grabbed my bowling ball as a response. Even though I wasn't all that confident in my abilities, I chunked it down the lane and watched as it knocked down three more cones. I resisted the urge to cheer. That may have been good for me, but compared to Josh it was pretty pathetic.
He grabbed his ball and toppled over eight pins. The next one flew into the gutter.
"Nice," I mimicked.
Josh snickered and stood back to watch me complete my turn. I felt nervous under his gaze, but was determined to beat him. I was used to being better than most people at most things. Second best really wasn't going to cut it.
A Summary Of The Following 27 Minutes
By: Cameron Morgan
I throw the ball in the gutter (x4)
Josh laughs at me (x16)
I make a strike (x2)
Josh makes a strike (x0)
Josh's hand almost sort-of kind of grazes by mine (x3)
We hear Barry yell "THEY ATTRACT CUSTOMERS." (x2)
We hear Kate sigh (x8)
I win the game (x1) ?!
I stared up at the TV above our lane that is flashing the words J-DOG LOSES! in big yellow letters with disbelief. Josh had insisted we type him in as J-Dog. When asked what I wanted my name to be I insisted that just Cammie would be sufficient enough for me.
JUST CAMMIE, YOU WIN! was also flashing on the screen.
"You let me win," I accused, shifting my gaze from the TV to his face. It was pulled together in an amused smile.
"What? Me? I would never."
I narrowed my eyes at him. He was a horrible liar.
"Why'd you let me win, I wanted to beat you fair and square!"
Josh chuckled offering me a shrug. He opened his mouth to respond but before he could he was interrupted by a voice behind him.
"You ready Cam?" Kate called from the front desk. Behind her Barry was taking down his cardboard cutout with a frown.
I nodded towards her and then glared back at Josh. "This is not over," I snapped at him, with a confidence I wasn't aware I had.
His face broke out into a smile.
"Then I guess you're going to have to give me your number, so we can continue this later."
