Writing fanfics are way better than studying for midterms.
I waste no time to get out of the safe, and force myself hostility towards the elevator. Zach's calls out to me, but I'm in no mood to wait for him. It's not fair that I was perfectly equipped to assess that situation, but Mr. Solomon blindsided me. He knew there was no other way to get out without that bobby pin. A teacher should challenge his students not undercut them, I think to myself.
I almost make it to the elevator when Zach falls in step beside me. "Hey Gallagher girl, what's the rush?"
"That wasn't fair," I don't need to elaborate, Zach already knows what I mean.
"I didn't realize spying was supposed to be fair," He pondered mockingly.
"Well, if he wanted us to pass his test he wouldn't have undermined me like that," I debate.
"Like I said, I don't think the objective was to crack the safe," He smirks the "I Know Something You Don't Know" smirk. I don't intend to ask him what that means, because apparently it should be obvious.
We reached the elevator, and I jam the button haphazardly. Right now, I really wish there was more than one way out of here, last time I was on an elevator with Zach things didn't go that well.
The doors open and we both enter. I stand while he leans against the sterile walls. There are no buttons to press on the inside since the elevator only goes to Sublevel One and ground floor. The ride will last a couple of seconds so I think it's the perfect time to make a list of the previous events of the night.
The Pros and Cons of being stuck inside a safe with Operative Zach Goode
A list by Operative Cammie Morgan:
Pro- I got to spend over thirty minutes alone with a cute boy
Con- Said cute boy pushed my buttons for twenty-five of those minutes
Pro- There were seven minutes and thirty-six seconds where Zach opened up to me
Con- The safe did not open up for me
Pro- I will soon be going on a date with a highly attractive boy
Con- Mr. Solomon totally cheated
The list looks accurate to me, yet it is highly inconclusive in helping me decide if I enjoyed being locked in safe with Zach or not. On one hand, the spy part of me was definitely aggravated. On the other hand, the girl part of me is internally squealing in joy.
My conclusion: my attitude will have to settle on giddy displeasure about the events in Sublevel One.
The doors part for us, I do the best I can not to sprint out of their and into the comfort of Jason Bourne in the common room.
I survey my surrounding and assess that Zach and I are the only ones out tonight. That's strange, usually someone is out.
"Wait up, Gallagher girl," Zach once again scrambling to catch up with me. "I'll walk you to your room."
I almost get light-headed from the déjà vu.
"That's not necessary, I can take care of myself. Bye, Zach," I hoped that would be the last of it, but apparently Zach didn't take the hint.
"I know it's not necessary," He starts, "And I know you can take care of yourself." He tilts his heads towards me to smirk. I just give him a side eye, I chose not to give him a Morgan glare even though he is interweaving humiliating moments from our first encounter into our conversation now; he wouldn't be able to handle a Morgan glare.
I round a hallway to the left.
"I just thought I'd be a gentleman and walk a lady to her room," He straightens up an inch and smiles graciously like he is being the superior one right now. "I know you may not believe it, but I do have some manners."
"Well then you can go put your manners to use with someone else. I'm not even going to my room. I guess that makes your job meaningless," I banter only half-jokingly. We've managed to arrive at the base of the grand staircase. Looking up to the top I can't decide if I want him to walk me to the where I'm going, or if I want him to leave. Clearly tonight is not the night for clean-cut answers.
I grab the railing and start to climb the stairs, Zach follows in pursuit by my side.
"Then where would you be going this Friday night? Not breaking out of grounds to interlude with Jimmy are we now?" The tone he uses says he's joking. However, his eyes are dead serious making me think he's posing a legitimate question. I'll have to consult the boy handbook Macey wrote to decipher what that means.
"No, I'm not going to visit Josh," I stressed his name to get it through Zach's thick head; it's really not that hard of a name to remember. "It's movie night in the sophomore common room, and I already missed forty-seven minutes of precious Bourne Identity."
Zach gasped, "Oh I am so sorry for your loss! I guess I'll make it up to you by walking you there."
"You don't even know where "there" is," I object.
"Then I guess it's your job as my guide to show me," He smirks like he has an answer for everything. "Madame Dabney would not hesitate to reprimand an unwelcoming host."
I stop in my tracks. He did not just threaten me. While Madame Dabney is cerainly not the scariest teacher here at Gallagher, she's the one I would feel most ashamed of letting down. I ponder Zach's sly tactic on the last steps of the staircase.
There isn't a valid enough reason to argue, so I succumb and swing my arm out in front of me, "Right this way."
It takes exactly one minute to get to the polished oak, double doors that house the common room. I stand just outside with one hand on the door facing Zach.
"Satisfied now?" I sigh exasperatedly.
"Very," He smirks. "It feels good to be nice to others."
"Yeah," I laugh. "Thanks for taking time out of your day to be a gentleman."
I turn around and open the door part way, inside I see my sisters on beanie bags crowded around the tv completely absorbed with the movie that I should be too.
"Wait, Gallagher girl," Zach rocks back and forth on his heels. "Thanks for talking to me. Not just our usual flirting," He smiles playfully at me. I don't know what he means by that, we definitely do not flirt. He continues, "but when we really talked; I liked it." His eyes bore into me, making this moment deeper than I anticipated.
His eyes were a catch 22: so beautiful to stare into, but if I look too close for a second too long, they'll instantly turn me red and hot. I have to look away for a second to regain my composure, I lasted the whole night without swooning, and I will not fall victum now.
"Thanks for letting me listen, Zach," I whisper softly. "Although I know Mr. Solomon didn't intend for me to have fun in that safe, I did."
"Me too, Gallagher girl," Zach smiles then runs a hand through his dark brown hair, my eyes following the motion.
"Goodnight, Zach," I smile.
"Goodnight, Cammie," Zach returns my smile and walks away, but not before considering the gap in the door I'm holding and smirking.
I wonder what that was about. I won't hang on it though, I'm too content with how this night went right now. I turn around to enter the room. Immediately I know what Zach was smirking about; I retract what I just said, this night will actually be torture illegal in all but three countries.
Inside the common room, everyone has abandoned the movie and is turned around in their chairs watching me like I'm the entertainment of the night. I shouldn't have opened the door as soon as I did. It's one thing for girls to be curious when they see their sister show up almost hour late to an event with a mysterious and universally hot boy by her side, it's another when those girls are spies and make it there job to obtain any and all information they set their sights on.
This whole time I didn't think anyone would notice that I was gone because that's what I'm used to, I could not have been more wrong.
Just with a quick glance I determined 7 were glaring at me like they were envious, 9 wore eager expressions like they wanted me to spill the dirt, and 3 in particular felt betrayed by my absence and lack of explanation.
"I thought you relinquished your claim!" Courtney Bauer cries erratically. Almost everyone nods their head like I broke some unbreakable promise. While I did say Zach was free game, I wish to take it back after tonight.
"I did. And it's not what it looks like," I would continue, but Tina pops off her beanie bag and walks accusingly over towards me.
"Is it true you and Zach were spotted in a compromising position in one of your secret passage ways?" Tina inquires.
I cringe, hoping to show how wrong she was just by my facial expression. "Tina, get better sources," I advise.
"Well you are go to tell us what you were doing with Zach Goode at this time of night, aren't you?" Tina tries to look at me with puppy dog eyes, but it just flat out doesn't work. The other girls nod again. Why do I feel so attacked right now? I'd rather spar Bex in the P&E barn any day than be the center of attention here.
Speak of the devil, Bex, with Macey and Liz tripping over her heels, stalks over towards me. "Oh, she will spill what happened tonight," She links an arm through mine and eyes her. "Just not to you, Tina," I think Bex's accent gets thicker when she's mad.
With that finality, Bex spins me around and Macey swings the door open to usher us through. We follow the hallways to our dorm side by side.
"Thanks for saving me back there," I sigh a breath of relief when were finally out of hearing range.
"Oh, did you really think you would have been worse off back there? Sweetie," Bex scolds like I'm a naïve little child. I can see Liz is giving me the pity eyes and I know the hard part of the night has just begun.
Bex notices my unwilling expression and elbows Macey, "So Macey, where should we start?"
Well there's another one. Tell me what you guys think about it, especially the pace of the story (like if i should describe less and move on faster or whatever). I'm trying to keep the characters true to their personalities but it's hard to do when you're not Ally Carter. It would mean a lot to me if you guys reviewed!
Also! I have this idea to make a story showing what happened to Zach after Cammie relinquished her claim on him- like countless girls stopping him in the hallways in an attempt to flirt. Tell me if that's something you're interested in reading.