Logan's parents had told him they were shipping him off to a boarding school in Virginia where he would be "properly supervised" while the President finished his term. Logan reminded them that shipping him off to Alaska hadn't worked out particularly well. They had laughed.

Logan's parents had neglected to mention several important facts when they made this announcement. For starters, they'd forgotten to mention that he and Maddie would be going to the same school again, leaving him pretty surprised when Michael Manchester ushered him into a black town car in the alley behind the White House two weeks later. They'd also forgotten to mention that he'd be the only boy, a fact that became abundantly clear the moment Logan walked through the door of the Gallagher Academy. Logan chuckled a little under his breath when what seemed like 200 teenage girls turned to look at him. Any other boy would have been in his element, savoring the attention. Logan felt monstrously uncomfortable.

By the time Logan arrived at the welcome dinner that first night after settling into his room in the faculty wing, he realized his parents had neglected to mention one other extremely important detail. It was now fairly obvious that the Gallagher Academy was a training school for future government spies.

Suddenly, the phrase "adequately supervised" took on a whole different meaning.

Logan had to hand it to the President. He had really thought this through. At an all boys boarding school, he might have been able to slip through the cracks and sneak off. Here, every eye would be trained on him, subconsciously aware of his location at all times. And Logan suspected they were very, very well-trained eyes.

Logan spotted Maddie immediately, caught in a throng of other girls, and a part of him was jealous that she'd already made so many new friends. He pushed in next to her, a subtle reminder that he had been there first.

Did Maddie know what they had gotten themselves into? Logan laughed. Of course she did. She was Maddie after all. She belonged here.

Maddie looked nervous though, Logan thought. She was hiding it, of course, but Logan had known her far too long not to recognize the hint of anxiety behind her eyes, the tensed muscles of her jaw.

"Wow," Logan joked. "My parents weren't kidding when they said there would be plenty of people to keep an eye on me."

"But I can't believe I ended up at spy school and I don't get to go to any of the actual spy classes," he lamented. "You're just going to have to tutor me off the record, Mads," he teased.

"I'll be happy to tutor you," a shorter girl with long, ash blonde hair chimed in, laughing suggestively. "In any subject you'd like."

"Well now ..." Logan stammered, trying to find the correct response to an obvious proposition. "Um thanks, but..."

"Oh trust me," the girl continued. "Maddie is going to be far far too busy studying to spend time with you. I'm not sure if you've figured this out yet," she whispered conspiratorially, inches from Logan's ear. "But our curriculum is pretty demanding."

"I'm Alice," she said with a smile at Logan. "One of Maddie's roommates."

"Don't worry, Maddie," she said, in a tone that strongly implied Maddie should be very worried. "I'm sure you'll measure up to our demanding standards. You are a legacy after all. Though why you've only just arrived is a really good question. Maybe your dad didn't think you were cut out for this life," she shrugged. "But what do I know?"

Maddie forced a laugh and a shrug, but her eyes shot daggers as she said "I don't think the Gallagher Academy has a correspondence course to Alaska, unfortunately."

Alice stood to leave, then grabbed Logan's hand, and scrawled a number on it. Logan wasn't even sure where she'd gotten the pen. She definitely hadn't had it ten seconds earlier. "So you'll remember where I live," she said knowingly. And then she flounced off to sit with a curvy Latina girl who looked like a model, and was forcing back a smile.

The girl on Maddie's other side rolled her eyes. "That's Alice for you," she scoffed. "I guess you got stuck rooming with the Bees," she continued. "Rotten luck on your part."

"The Bees?" Maddie asked.

"Like 'Queen Bees?'" the girl clarified. Maddie nodded. "I'm Casey, by the way. And I promise I'm nothing like the three of them."

Casey was average in height, a brunette with finer bone structure than Maddie's and shinier hair in a similar color. Her dark eyes, fresh tan, and soft accent suggested to Logan that she'd just returned visiting family in southern Italy over the holidays.

"Don't mind any of them," Casey continued. "This place is always a rumor mill the first day back. And Alice's mother is on the board, so somehow she always knows everything about everyone. You won't be this interesting for long."

"You, on the other hand," Casey gestured to Logan. "I can't make any promises. We don't get a lot of cute guys around here, as you might guess. You know, unless we decide to kidnap them."

Logan forced a laugh, but he felt Maddie tense beside him. Casey saw it too.

"Okay, okay," she said, chagrined. "Too soon, I get it."

Logan lifted his fork and dug into a perfectly roasted pork chop.

"If we're going to be friends though, we have to play a little game first," Casey said. "I call it 'Truth or Rumor'. And you're allowed to pass on any topic with a security clearance level higher than 4. Because, like, we're already here," she gestured around. "So anything under that is fair game."

"Do we get to ask you questions too?" Maddie asked, and when she spoke, she sounded like the girl Logan knew. The girl who belonged here.

Casey looked a bit surprised. "Sure," she shrugged. "Though I can't imagine you've heard much about me in the last three hours."

Maddie shrugged back, her face giving away nothing, and raised her palms in a "go ahead" gesture.

"Truth or Rumor," Casey started. "The two of you've been friends since you were ten."

"Eight," Maddie corrected. "But truth."

"Truth or Rumor: you saved his life in Alaska"

"Truth," Logan said proudly, smiling at the girl beside him.

"It was a joint effort," Maddie corrected. "Truth or rumor," she continued. "You used to be one of the Bees."

Casey looked surprised, but met Maddie's eyes and said firmly, "Truth."

She studied Maddie for a moment. "How'd you know that?"

Maddie shrugged. "Just an instinct."

"Truth or Rumor: your mom was a Gallagher Girl."

Maddie shrugged again. "Could be either," she said calmly. "She's been dead a long time."

"Huh," Casey paused. "You're dad doesn't talk about her?"

Maddie shook her head. "Never."

Casey nodded in understanding. "My dad died when I was a baby too," she said. "And my mom, it turns out, was a double agent. My Aunt basically raised me. But suffice it to say that neither of them are a popular topic of conversation with her."

"Truth or Rumor," Logan interrupted. "You're from southern Italy."

"Mostly truth," Casey admitted. "My grandparents were born there, and moved back when they retired. But my Dad and my Aunt were both born in United States. You guys aren't bad for a few new recruits." She laughed and looked at Logan. "I'm guessing the photographic memory isn't a rumor."

"No, ma'am," Logan couldn't help but smile back.

"Ok, last thing," Casey said, looking at Logan. "Are you guys dating?"

Logan found himself waiting anxiously for the answer as well, and Maddie's soft but instantaneous "No" sent his heart plummeting what felt like 20 stories.

It was probably for the best, he reminded himself. Dating your best friend could get very complicated very quickly. Especially with a girl like Maddie, who, Logan had recently learned, could hold a grudge like nobody's business.

I mean, sure, he had kissed her a few times, including a few hours ago as they stood at the gates of this very school, and yeah, it had all been amazing, from Logan's perspective. But maybe for Maddie it had just been the result of the adrenaline of having just survived a near-death experience. Statistically, it was highly likely that dating Maddie would implode an otherwise fabulous friendship. And if Maddie just didn't see him that way, Logan knew there was nothing he could do to change that.

"I think you'll do," Maddie said, smiling. "We're accepting you as our friend."

Casey smiled back. "Welcome to Gallagher, friends. I think you're going to like it here."