Since there wasn't really anything to discuss, Liz just continued to read.
(Have I mentioned that we have evidence that strongly suggested that there is a boy's school? For spies?)
But was Professor Buckingham filling us in about our long lost band of potential brothers? No. She was talking about the 1947 Council of Covert Operations, which, let me tell you, isn't nearly as interesting as it sounds.
Then Buckingham stopped talking. The sudden silence jolted me awake as my teacher looked over the top of her reading glasses. "Yes, Ms. McHenry?"
And then, maybe for the first time that semester, Patricia Buckingham had our full attention.
My mom just looked at me and shook her head, "You're always supposed to listen in your classes, Cam."
"I'm sorry, Professor," Macey said. "I was only wondering-and I'm sorry if everyone else already knows this- I'm still a little new you know."
"That is fine, Ms. McHenry," Buckingham said. "What is your question?"
"Well, I was wondering if there were other schools." Macey paused. She seemed to study our teacher a moment before adding, "Like the Gallagher Academy."
"Well, the least I can say about you is that you have guts." Aunt Abby said approvingly.
Liz almost fell out of her chair.
"I did not!" Liz defended her self, but it was pointless because we all knew she had.
Tina's eyes got really, really, big, and I'm sure the entire sophomore class stopped breathing.
"I mean," Macey went on, "is this the only school of its kind, or are there-"
"There is only one Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, Ms. McHenry," Buckingham said, throwing her shoulders back. "It is the finest institution of its kind in the world."
"Skip," Liz sighed.
And then there was a knock on the door.
"Yes?" Buckingham as she removed her glasses and the door eased open.
Every head in the room turned, and Mr. Solomon said, "Pop quiz."
I hadn't exactly slept. I hadn't really eaten. It was possibly the worst possible time for a CoveOps assignment, and yet three minutes later as I buttoned my winter coat, and ran down the Grand Hall staircase with the rest of our sophomore class, I stopped thinking about the picture and the file. I stopped thinking. And sometimes, even at the Gallagher Academy, that can be a very good thing.