Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Once again I, sadly, did not write the original Gallagher Academy series.
Anything you recognise belongs to Ally carter. The rest belongs to ME.
The other girls were more than a little shocked when they woke the next morning and I had no streaks or piercings but that was fine with me. Now that I had actually started listening in my classes I realised that they were pretty similar to what I had already been taught, for example C.o.W told the same stories as I had learnt all my life just from a different point of view. The only subject that I found I was struggling with was P & E, being physically so much smaller than most of the other girls was my biggest problem, although being trained for escaping rather than conflict also didn't help the matter. It was only Liz, a girl who I think was called Anna, the other Anna, (I didn't expect to be here for so long so I didn't bother learning the names until now) and I think Eva that I can beat in this class. Uncle Joe had not tried to talk to me privately since he found me on the roof and neither had Aunt Rachel.
I was doing fine until I was called up to Aunt Rachel's room with Cammie one Sunday night. Apparently I was supposed to join them for their weekly family dinner for some reason. According to Aunt Rachel, Cammie was supposed to have invited me to the others but the look on Cammie's face told a different story. It was only after eating the food that she managed to burn in the microwave was the real reason brought to light. After clearing away our plates Aunt Rachel moved behind her desk and pulled out two large white boxes. One had a pale blue ribbon around it and the other a forest green one. The blue ribbon was handed to Cammie and the green to Me. Cautiously I waited until Cammie had opened hers, with wide eyes and a slack jaw she pulled out a red, floor length, strapless dress. Carefully I opened mine, tying the ribbon around my ponytail before pulling the lid off. Nestled in while tissue paper was a dress of my own, standing up and pulling it out it was floor length as well but mine was purple with a straight cut across the top. The area under the bust but above the waist (like a belt) was filled with an intricate beaded pattern and then the skirt of the dress floated down to pool slightly at my feet. Also under the tissue paper was a pair of silver stilettoes where the straps wrapped around my ankles, the colour matched the beading.
"You mother sent it back from Italy," Aunt Rachel murmured in my ear so that Cam couldn't hear her. Quickly I placed the dress carefully back into the box and left. Taking deep breaths to calm myself I soon found myself back on the roof. Almost as if waiting for me Uncle Joe was on the roof. "She does care you know," he said before leaving me to think by myself.
The next few days were pretty standard. I had begun to talk to my room-mates (that word still makes me want to shudder) and found out that they weren't so bad. Cammie and I had also started to reconnect which was when the other girls figured out that we were cousins. Actually trying in my classes made them more bearable and the other girls began to get used to me and didn't stare like I was some sort of sideshow freak. Anyway, so that week was pretty standard until Friday, why do bad things always happen on a Friday? So, on Monday we learnt, in Culture and Assimilation that this Friday, today, was going to be a whole-school exam. It was a dance. Classes finished at lunch that day so we all had plenty of time to get ready before we started at 7pm. By 5pm I had my hair and makeup ready, my normally pin straight hair was up in a loose bun with a few well-placed ringlets coming out of it. I had done my hair myself, because while I may borderline like these girls I did not trust them touching my hair or face.
When I walked out of the bathroom I found Macey attacking Cam with makeup while Liz was attempting to do her hair. Gently pushing Liz out of the way I took over the task of doing Cammie's hair. Undoing the painfully tight twists that Liz had somehow put into Cam's hair I began to put it up into one of the elegant styles that she loved when we used to play hairdressers as children. Gently sweeping it to the side I began to braid from the lower side of her part. This braid went around the back of her head until it reached the point that I had secured the rest of her hair. I wrapped the braid around the base of the ponytail and then pinned it in place. By the time I had finished with Cammie's hair the other girls had done theirs and it was time to get dressed.
After getting changed into a dress that was completely impractical and shoes that were just death traps in the making, I mean I can walk and run quite easily in my wedges but stilettoes, we were ready to enter the grand hall. As we reached the stairs I saw Zach standing there, just off to the side waiting for Cammie, so I grabbed Macy and motioned for Bex to grab Liz so that Cammie would have no escape route when Zach offered to walk her down the stairs. Giving me a small nod of thanks Zach walked up to Cammie and took her arm before walking her down the stairs.
Upon stepping into the grand hall it truly hit me that this exam was going to be nothing like any exam I had ever participated in. The usual dining tables were gone and had been replaced with cocktail tables that has been covered with white silk tablecloths, a string quartet was playing music from a small stage which had been set up in the corner of the room and Mr Solomon (I was not allowed to call him Uncle Joe in public) was circling the room handing manila folders to all the students. Standing at the table with Macey, Bex, Liz and Cammie I felt really out of place. This was my first ever practical exam without having Emma standing right beside me and Kiara chattering away to us through our coms units. For the first time I actually felt lost. By the time I pulled myself out of my thoughts the others had already opened their folders and were looking at me expectantly.
Slowly I opened my folder, inside was my cover for the night. Knowing that I wasn't attending this party as me made it so much easier and more bearable. For the next few hours I wasn't Liliana Cameron, escape artist, I was Sharlotta Harkov, the Granddaughter of the Russian Business Icon Nikolai Harkov. The exam was going fine until about an hour before the end when suddenly there was an alarm blearing CODE BLACK repeatedly started going off.
Everything was in chaos. People were screaming and looking for their friends, CODE BLACK was still blaring from the speakers, and softly from outside the room you could hear the mansion going into lockdown from the outside in. Not knowing the protocol for this event I tried to find my room-mates (shudder) to see what we were supposed to do. After about 2 minutes of searching I found Macey, Bex and Liz, but Cammie was nowhere to be seen. I felt safer with these girls rather than standing on my own, but not nearly as safe as if I had been with Kiara or Emma.
"This way," Liz directed me, "the handbook says that in the event of a Code black we are to return to our common rooms to await the all clear."
As we reached the exit to the Grand Hall we were instructed by a senior that everyone was to remain here. Looking around we all realised that the seniors had set up a protective perimeter around the room.
Still unable to see Cammie the four of us head to the closest corner to wait out the lockdown. Not even 10 minutes later the doors to the grand hall opened and there stood Cammie, looking as shocked as the rest of us. The rest of the night went quickly. Cammie was summoned to the Headmistresses office while the rest of us were escorted back to our rooms.
AN:
Please review, all comments and constructive criticism is welcomed by me! But same as before don't be bitchy about it. Just letting you know I am also an Australian Writer so the spellings of some words are correct for me.
