Headmistress Morgan might have been able to stop Logan from going to spy classes, but she wouldn't stop him from learning everything he could about being a covert professional. That was what he told himself as he rushed through his online classes on his Gallagher-issued laptop in the back corner of the library. He was in a spy school, after all. And if he'd learned anything in Alaska, it was that he should really be more prepared for the unexpected.
Logan's online curriculum had, to some extent, been intensified, whether to match his new environment or his parents' ivy league college aspirations, he couldn't be sure. He laughed internally, thinking that his current situation would have made one hell of a college admissions essay if it weren't so classified. But who was he kidding? He knew that, in reality, no ivy league Dean would look further than his name before offering him admission.
This fact annoyed Logan, who was only just beginning to realize that no matter what he did with the rest of his life, he would always stand in his father's shadow.
But in the meantime, Logan was facing a heavy course load of advanced calculus, practical mathematics, Arabic, Mandarin, college prep writing, and lab chemistry.
Despite his photographic memory, or perhaps because of it, Logan had never been a focused student. But as he breezed through his coursework that Monday morning, he realized that he had simply never had the proper motivation.
Here, however, Logan had a plan. Logan had been assigned to a study space that was also a treasure trove of information on the clandestine arts. Probably tens of thousands of books lined the walls. And no one had ever explicitly told Logan he couldn't read them. And he could certainly get through a few books before someone noticed this oversight.
If Logan was going to do this, he figured he had better start at the beginning, and so he turned to a 2,000 page book that purported to recount the history of the school and its founder, Gillian Gallagher. After all, if he was going to try and survive in a school of intimidating spy-girls, he decided he should know something about them.
Logan became so quickly engrossed into the tale of Gillian Gallagher, the founding of her school, the revival of her archenemies, the Circle of Cavan, and the great fire at Gallagher, that he barely even noticed when an exhausted-looking Maddie set her schoolbag on the empty chair across from him.
"Hey," he smiled happily. "How was your first day?"
Maddie rolled her eyes, as if it had been too terrible for words. "Well, Alice was right about one thing," she said. "I am very, very behind."
She pulled a very detailed list which including bullet points and sub-bullet points from her bag, and continued to rifle through it for the appropriate materials. Logan reached across the table and flipped the top page on the notepad. The paper felt funny between his fingers, almost like wax candy. Then he flipped another page. Maddie's homework to-do list was three full pages long.
"Is this...for tomorrow?!" Logan asked, floored.
Maddie fixed him with a glare. "Yes, Logan," she snapped. "As you can probably guess, I don't have a lot of time to talk about it."
Logan silently returned to his book, but continued to watch Maddie out of the corner of his eye.
"This is crazy," she mumbled, after about two hours. "My dad is crazy. There is no way I'm going to catch up."
Logan knew she was wrong. But he also knew better than to disagree. No one should get on the bad side of a woman who is really, really good with a hatchet.
At hour three, Logan left the library, gathered a tray of food from the dining hall, carefully assembled the food into a sandwich, wrapped it in a far-too-nice-for-a-dining-hall napkin, and snuck it into his jacket pocket. He strolled casually back to the library, past the librarian and a conspicuous "no food" sign, and settled back at the table. Then he removed the sandwich and passed it to Maddie.
When she looked at him, Logan could see her fighting back a smile. "You can't even make it through one whole day without breaking a rule, can you?" She asked incredulously.
"See?" He laughed. "Maybe I've got more spy in me than everyone thinks."
Maddie rolled her eyes and took a bite of her sandwich.
"Mad," Logan said softly, and he waited until she looked at him to continue. "It's the first day. Remember my first day in Alaska? There's no way today was as hard as that."
Maddie didn't respond, and Logan knew that meant she agreed with him.
"Don't you ever underestimate what you're capable of, Madeleine Manchester," he said firmly.
Logan stretched his hand palm up across the table toward her, and was surprised when she placed her slender fingers in his.
"Hey," he said softly. "You've got this."
Logan felt Maddie's head lean toward him more than he saw it, felt his own head lean toward her, until their foreheads were almost touching. He could feel her breath on his face, smell the strawberry scent of her shampoo. And he knew that if he opened his eyes, if he let his gaze rest on Maddie's perfect lips, he would have to kiss her.
So he kept them closed. Maddie said they weren't dating, and he respected her decision. If Maddie wanted to be more than friends, she would have to be the one to ask for it. He would never ever push her.
"I thought you might be here!"
Casey's voice startled them, and they jolted back to their original positions, much farther apart from each other than Logan would have liked.
"How are you holding up?" She asked Maddie, knowingly.
"I've been better," Maddie responded.
"I'll bet," Casey joked. "It's a little intense around here. What can I help you with?"
Maddie flipped through her three page list, and Logan was impressed at the amount she'd managed to cross off.
"Swahili," she decided. "That's what I'm struggling most with right now."
Casey nodded. "Are all your classes with the 8th graders?" She asked.
Maddie nodded. "Except Covert Operations, which starts tomorrow. And PE - sorry, P and E - also tomorrow."
Casey laughed. "That makes sense," she agreed. "We're only a semester into cove-ops, and it's pretty clear from your background that you know how to handle yourself."
Maddie shrugged. "I am pretty good with a hatchet," she admitted.
"And you fought off a Russian psychopath," Logan added. "Let's not forget that."
"Oh, don't worry, Logan," Maddie smiled, looking more like the Maddie Logan knew. "I'm never going to let you forget about that."
