chapter four
Zach whispered into my ear during a monotonous lecture in CoW. He nudged me because I had fallen asleep...again. It wasn't my fault that I had stayed up until 5 o'clock last night. Ok, so it kind of was. But still.
"Cameron can you tell me the answer?"
"Hussein bin Talal." I answered without skipping a beat. Sure I was tired, but that didn't mean that I wasn't a spy. I mean, they teach us these things.
How late did you stay up last night? Zach had exhibited the greatest note passing techniques I had ever seen in my entire life.
Late enough to smell breakfast cooking downstairs.
Zach just smiled and shook his head as the teacher dismissed us.
"You know we're having a CoveOps field trip today? You're not gonna be able to stay up past lunch."
I turned to Zach in the middle of my yawn.
"Thank you." I said, sarcastically. "Thank you for having so much faith in me."
"You know." He said, shrugging. "That is what I'm here for."
I playfully punched him in the arm.
"You know I was being sarcastic, right?"
Zach pointed to himself, like he couldn't believe he had to remind me. "Spy. Remember?"
"Oh, Zach. You do realize that you're surrounded by spies, right? Its not. very. impressive."
Zach tried looking hurt, but instead just wrapped his arm around me while walking down the packed hallways and sighed to himself.
"Gosh. Why can't life just always be like this?"
I smiled up at Zach as he continued.
"I mean, everything's so easy now. Well, ok. Not really. But we're so,- protected here. Out there-" Zach struggled to find the right words. "Out there, its not gonna be that way. I mean. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad we can be safe. But don't you think, that we should be exposed to that stuff? I mean, I know we are. We definitely are. Its just, look at Tina for instance. She spends all of her time reading gossip magazines and worrying about what she looks like. When she tries to get a job as a field agent, no one's gonna want her. They want us experienced. They want us toughened up. Not- spoiled, rotten rich kids that happened to end up here because of their parent's occupation."
I raised my eyesbrows, impressed. We were standing in the hallway now, letting the flows of people scoot past us.
"Wow. Ya. I mean, I've never thought of it that way. But I can definitely see what you're saying. Its like- they don't know what exactly they're getting into. Out there, they won't have anyone to lean on. It'll be them all by themselves with their comms. They won't be worrying about a grade. They'll be worrying about their lives."
As serious as our conversation was, Zach smiled.
"What?"
He just continued to smile to himself.
"What?"
"Its just, you're the coolest person ever."
I looked behind him to make sure it was him talking.
"You are talking to me, right?"
That obviously didn't sound like something Zach would say, but it made me laugh anyways. Love does do crazy things, I've heard..
Zach laughed. "Ya.." We walked in silence, until he continued. "Hey, listen. So, do you wanna see a movie or something Friday? I broke into Joe's room and there was a fax from your mom saying that they were gonna let us go..."
"First off, why did you break in to Mr. Solomon's room?" As Zach struggled for words, I interupted. "Nevermind. Please don't answer that question. And are we actually gonna go see a movie this time? Because you keep on saying that we'll go see a movie, and we still haven't."
"Why? So you can get your Junior Mints?" He asked, jokingly.
My eyes widened in disbelief.
"How did you know about-?"
Zach pointed to himself, and said. "Hello? Spy."
"Seriously Zach. I'm starting to think that your more of a secret mind reader than a spy. Like, come on. That happened before I knew you. How?!"
He winked at me.
"A good magician never reveals his tricks."
"Aha! So you are magical!"
He shrugged, and we both started laughing hysterically, attracting anyone else's attention that wasn't already watching us. I just looked at him, and he shrugged again.
"Yolo, right?"
I just laughed and rolled my eyes.
"Come on, Buddy." I said, dragging him across the front lawn. "We're gonna miss P&E."