A/N: I had planned on updating this yesterday, but driver's ed and other things got in the way. Like I promised, this chapter is long, actually it's my longest one yet. Once again a big shout out to my BFF and editor Jill! (aka jilly(dot)bean(dot)5455) I 3 you so much. I probably won't post again till Saturday at least, because I want to take a quick break. Reviews will help me get back on my feet, so be sure to hit that little button at the bottom of the chapter. Anyways, I'm rambling, so I'll stop now. Happy reading!

Chapter 6: Unforgiving

Cammie's PoV

My internal alarm clock told me that it was 6 A.M.: time to wake up. I rolled myself out of bed and heard a knock on my door. "Wake up Cam!" Macey called.

"I'm up!" I responded somewhat groggily.

"Come on," she called again, "you're going to look good for Zach no matter how much it takes." She was right. I had stayed up late into the night thinking about Zach; he must hate me right now. Combined with horrible raccoon eyes from lack of sleep, I must have looked like a zombie. "Here, this will look cute on you," Macey exclaimed, delighted with her own sense of fashion as usual. She handed me the outfit which consisted of a racer-back tank top that had horizontal stripes of different shades consisting of orange, pink, and purple and a denim miniskirt. As I put this latest ensemble on, I felt the least chameleon-like I had ever been in my entire life. The tank top was nicely cut and hugged my torso, but the miniskirt was what really grabbed my attention. It was short… really short (as in barely covering me short). My face turned red when I looked in the mirror.

"Don't you think this is a little…" I paused, thinking of what to say next, "revealing?"

"It looks great on you, Chameleon. You can totally pull that off," Macey stated confidently. No way was I wearing this in front of Zach. I was beginning to change into something more comfortable when Bex interrupted.

"Why are you taking that off?" Bex inquired. "It looks really good on you," she added. Not her, too! I wanted to die.

"I told her so already, but she wouldn't listen to me," Macey chimed in. Great, now they were both insisting that I wear something that suggested I was a hooker, and they were supposedly my best friends. Luckily for me, Liz barged in during the middle of the conversation.

"What's -- whoa Cammie! Don't you think that's a little revealing?" Liz inquired.

"Yeah, but Macey over here wanted me to make an impression on Zach," I responded, hoping Liz would stay on my side.

"Look, Bex, Macey, I may not know much about boys but I know enough that you shouldn't handle a situation like this. Cammie needs to explain it all to Zach on her own," Liz stated, defending me.

"Fine, wear this instead," Macey sighed, admitting defeat. She handed me a pair of light-washed denim shorts that were short, but not slutty. I happily swapped the skirt for the shorts. "Okay so we've solved the outfit problem, but we still need to do something about your makeup," Macey stated.

"I can help with that," Bex replied, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards a chair. When she finished, I looked amazing; you could barely even tell I hadn't slept at all the night before.

"You are going to drive Zach crazy; there's no way he will ignore you now," Macey exclaimed, satisfied with my transformation.

"You look good, Cam, but don't you think we should get something to eat?" Liz asked.

"Yes, let's," I replied, my stomach growling.

* * *

We took our seats in Blackthorne's grand hall eagerly. Zach, Grant and Jason sat at another table, but David slid in across from me. This was going to be one fun breakfast. "How are you this morning, pretty lady?" he asked. He was flirting with me again! I thought I gave him a good warning last night.

"Fine," I replied dully and went back to eating my breakfast.

"Did you enjoy our little rendezvous last night?" he asked with a twisted smile. I thought I would puke.

"Leave her alone," Bex snarled when she saw my reaction. "Or I'll --" but Liz and Macey pulled her away from the table before she could finish her threat.

"Cammie, let's go, you too," Liz called. We left the grand hall and went early to the classroom Solomon had been using recently. The boys followed us exactly two minutes and thirty-four seconds later. Zach took his seat next to me while Bex protected me from David on the other side. Solomon gave us a lecture that day on the importance of memorizing your cover legend. Why was he going over this again? I already learned all about this in my first semester of CoveOps. I decided note-taking was useless and instead wrote a note on evapopaper to Zach.

Z-

Can we talk?

-C

Very brief, I know, but it got the point across. Zach quickly scribbled a response on the paper and passed it to me.

C-

No.

-Z

My face grew hot with anger and frustration at him. I just wished I could explain what happened. I slid my hand over his desk and dropped another note.

Z-

Why not? I can explain.

-C

Zach paused slightly before sliding me his reply.

C-

How can I trust you?

-Z

I cursed myself for letting this happen. I should have explained sooner, but now Zach would never believe me. I needed to get him to trust me again. Before I could try to explain in another note, Mr. Solomon told us that we were done with lectures for today. This was strange; if he followed the same pattern as before, we still had another forty-five minutes until lunch. "I want you all to go practice sparring outside until lunch," Mr. Solomon announced before letting us go.

Macey, Bex, Liz and I wound our way through the maze of hallways to the grounds. Zach and the other Blackthorne boys were already there. Bex was jumping at the chance to use David as a punching bag while Macey went after Jason. Liz took on Grant, who seemed happy that he wouldn't have to endure being hit by Bex (for now anyway). This left me being paired up with Zach. We began; he threw a punch at me which I dodged easily before roundhouse kicking him to the ground. I went over and pinned him down. He was going to hear me out. "What do you want?" he asked, obviously irritated.

"I want you to listen to me," I demanded.

"Why should I?" Zach retorted, his emerald green eyes now cold and seemingly uncaring.

"You will, because I'm not letting you up until you do," I told him.

"No you won't," he responded, flipping me onto the ground beside him then picking himself up quickly.

"Zach, I can explain," I said in desperation.

"No, you can't," Zach finished.

He walked away.

A/N: Please don't hurt me! I want them to get back together as much as you do. I have a master plan for how it will work, so don't worry. Now, please hit that review button, I want to break 50 total reviews for this story (reviews are my writing lifeline... i can't live without them). Until we meet again, rebelbandgeek12