4.
"There were beds?" Cammie asked for the third time as we sat in the back corner of the library. We woke up earlier – around 5am – so we could talk about what happened last night. We were all still in our pyjama's curled up on the sofas with blankets and pillows.
"There were beds," Liz confirmed, rolling her eyes slightly.
"But what does that mean?" Bex asked, her head rolling on to the back of the sofa; her eyes scrunched in confusion and thought.
A sly grin found its way on to my face. "It means," I paused dramatically. "That we have guests," another pause.
"What type of guests?" Bex asked. She asks way too many questions.
"Boys," Cammie finished for me. "Blackthorne boys are coming to stay here."
I smiled slightly at her. She was smart and could take care of herself, but I'm not taking the risk, nor is Solomon. "Bex, get the bugs. Macey-" She cut me off.
"Already done, and we found out that they are coming earlier, today at breakfast," she smirked.
I closed my eyes for a second, thinking up a plan. No doubt the whole student body will be entirely shocked to find fifteen boys in the school; however, I know that Zach, Grant and Jonas will want to surprise Cammie, Bex and Liz, so that's where I come in.
I jumped up and strutted back to the room, the others on my tail. I could tell they were looking at each other in confusion, but, I was rushing as we only had an hour until breakfast.
When we got back to the room, I told the girls to have their showers. Luckily, I had a shower last night when I came in, so I got to work with everything that had to be done.
Bex came out first, so I pushed her in the chair in front of the vanity as I started curling her long dark locks. When I was finished, I sprayed her head with hairspray then got some red special flowers from my bags and clipped them into her hair so it looked like she had red flowers in her hair.
When Liz came out, I left Bex to get her bags ready while I straightened Liz's hair. I picked up a long pink clip-in highlight, and pulled the top layer of her hair up, before clipping the highlight into her hair. When I pulled her blonde hair back down, it looked like she had pink highlights. I then left her to finish her getting her bags ready.
Macey came out next with her shorter midnight black hair in a towel on the top of her head. She sat down in front of me, so I pulled her towel off and told her to throw all her hair over her head. I got in front of her and put 'Tousle Me Softly' in her hair and scrunched it. I dried her hair and clipped it up in a fancy up-do with green clips.
I left Macey to go do the basics of Bex and Liz's makeup while I did Cammie's hair. I pulled all her hair on to the right side of her head and put it into a bun. I then grabbed a can of blue glitter spray and lightly sprayed her hair. Now, when the light shined on her hair, it would sparkle.
Quickly, I clipped a couple of strands of purple paper into my hair and then put it into a high ponytail allowing a few pieces to hang down.
I did my makeup, putting purple eye shadow on. Cammie had blue eye shadow; Bex had red eye shadow; Macey had green eye shadow; and Liz had pink eye shadow.
"Don't wear the skirt with the stain on the back," I said to Cammie, once I noticed her reaching for the skirt. She stopped and got a different skirt. I swapped Liz's black flat shoes for a pair of 2 inch dolly heels; Bex's black tennis pumps for a pair of wedges; and Cammie's Ugg boots for a pair of 4 inch stilettos. Macey was already wearing heels and I was wearing military boots.
The uniform this year was a mid-thigh black, white and grey plaid skirt, a white fitted blouse, a loose black tie, a grey cotton blazer with the Gallagher Academy logo on it along with white socks. To that, I rolled all of our sleeves to our elbows, and told the girls to slip bangles on the same colour as their eye shadow.
The bell for breakfast rang, so we all started walking down to the Grand Hall. Every eye turned to us – as expected – but all we did was wave it off.
We got our breakfast and sat down; Macey was reading her flashcards, Liz and Bex were arguing, and Cammie and I were just eating in peace. Until Mrs Morgan got up to the podium. My gaze wondered to Macey, Liz, Bex and Cammie. They knew it was time.
"Excuse me, ladies," she started. "But, I have an announcement to make-" she was cut off by the sound of the Grand Hall doors slamming open. And 16 bodies strutting through. 16 male bodies.
Forks dropped. Heads turned. Yet the five of us didn't budge; didn't jump in surprise; certainly didn't turn to face them. Tina Walters was having a heart attack; Eva Alvarez was flicking her hair over her shoulder and it seemed as if the whole of the Gallagher Academy student body turned... into normal girls.
Scary.
"The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women," Mrs Morgan started again, gripping the podium tightly, "has a proud history. For more than a hundred years, this institute had remained secluded, but yesterday, some of your classmates were able to meet another set of exceptional students from another exceptional institute." Yeah, and I ended up with a death threat. Again.
The boys were walking past the sophomore table, being ushered by Dr Steve. His eyes met mine; shock evident in them. I smiled shyly to him, and bowed my head, before returning to my meal.
"Members of the Gallagher trustees, along with the board of directors from the Blackthorne Institute, have long thought that our students would have a lot to learn from each other." She smiled. Oh, yeah. We'll learn how to handle weaponry and they'll learn manners. Smart move, Rachel, smart move. "And this year we're going to see it happen."
"When Gillian Gallagher was a girl, this hall had been home to balls and dances, friends and family, but it hasn't seen many guests in the last century. I'm so glad today is an exception."
Dr Steve was ushering the boys forward, shaking hands and waving to the girls he passed as if Mrs Morgan had just asked him to "Come on down." I never understood that excellent guy.
I zoned out then, only half listening to the rest of the speech. Instead, I searched through the pack of testosterone, meeting their eyes. Grant smiled a cheesy grin, showing his pearly whites to me; Jonas nodded slightly at me, his face flushed as if he had gone for a run.
That was when I heard Eva Alvarez mutter to Tina, "I wouldn't mind being bonded to him." I then saw who she was looking at.
A boy was stood at the end of the pack, leaning on the head table.
A boy with dark brown hair and broad shoulders.
A boy was smiling.
At Cammie.