Chapter Five! One more to go! I hope you guys enjoy this one. I forgot to mention last chapter but Mr. Solomon was straight up the OG Zammie shipper, don't you agree? Anyway, should I get a life and not update every single day?
Soon, the school started to realize there was no way I could have caused a Code Black when my biggest infraction was classified as a Level Two (a big difference). This gave me no reason to still hold a grudge against Zach, so I gave in a started trusting him.
A week of talking to Zach and taking classes like normal had passed by. I had got acquainted to Zach more than I thought I could. Conversation came easy around him, but we didn't spend all our time together. I'm not going to fall head over heels and say he's leaving me pining for more, but that would be encouraged with this whole "Get to know each other and forge bonds" kind of exchange.
I was a girl all the same when town day came. Bex picked out my outfit (with Macey's approval) and Liz did my hair (with Macey's approval) while Macey did my makeup (a full face of illegal products that she somehow didn't find sketchy).
"If there's one thing I trust my mom to do, it's finding quality makeup," She assured me- Not. "Now will you stop fidgeting?" She knew she couldn't grab my face to keep me still because then she would smudge fifty dollars' worth of makeup.
I try to calm my nerves because I truly had no reason to worry if Zach was honeypotting me. He may have started out as the enemy, but he was one of The Operatives now. There's something about being able to joke with him one minute then get serious the second that made me fall for him.
Still, one thing plagued the back of my mind: What if I saw Josh? My luck over the past few months has not been optimal- Just saying.
"If you're thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking, it's 187 to 1," Liz looks at my reflection in the mirror. She had a stand of hair in the straightener and I scrunched up my eyebrows.
"What? Statistics are my thing," She defended.
"Oh, Lizzie, I don't doubt that at all. I'm just wondering why my hair is smoking," I hope she gets the hints and backs off the frying of my head.
Liz, not one for a quick reaction time, stares at my hair like this is the first time she has failed at something.
"I did not consent to letting you give her a bald spot!" Macey's horrified expression makes me a little more nervous, thinking this could be an actual issue. "What are you doing? Take it off!" She jerks the tool out of Liz's hand before any serious damage happens.
I don't even have the gene for baldness on the male side of my family, yet I was almost left prematurely patchy.
Bex comes running in after hearing all the commotion. Macey exaggeratingly spins in her direction.
"False alarm- I mean not really, but the situation is under control!" Macey waves the iron in her hand then turns to Liz, messing with some dial on it. "For future reference, the temperature shouldn't exceed seven hundred degrees."
How am I not dead right now? Screw terrorists, the real threat is a girl from the Research and Development track handling an easily detrimental hair modifier.
"Wow Cam, you must have been zoned way out not to feel that on your scalp," Bex studies me with concern. She comes over to take Liz's job since she has picked out my outfit already. I close my eyes while Macey puts on eyeshadow.
"You know everything will go fine right. We'll have eyes on you the whole time and tell you if you need to backtrack around a corner to avoid Josh," I hear Bex console me, but it's way harder to get the image of a run in with him out of my mind when my eyes are closed.
"Plus, everyone already voted you and Zach as the cutest couple of the school," Macey adds. I can't help but open my eyes.
"We're not a couple, Macey," I frown, I hadn't heard about any vote.
"I know!" Macey leans back and smiles. "That's why it's pretty big deal if you ask me."
Zach was a friend. Granted, a friend that I apparently routinely flirted with, but a friend all the same. And a friend is, by definition, someone you associate and talk easily with; Zach filled that criteria, took a while but filled it.
But when I saw him in the hallway where we had agreed to meet, I couldn't help but realize the tight jeans and impeccably white converse and semi figure-hugging top was meant to seduce him (Bex's words not mine). And that made me feel awkward. Macey had tried to find an outfit that I felt comfortable in, but she said my "style" didn't work for dates. What I'm wearing now was the outcome of hard negotiation and threats. But hey, it could be worse.
It should only take me a second to recall everything about his aspect, down to the exact number of prominent freckles he has on his face, just in case I need give a description to the official CIA sketch artist if need be. That's the spy part of me, but the girl part of steals an extra second to notice the more "trivial" characteristics.
His khaki jeans cinch slightly around the ankles in a way that is determined to be hot by consensus. I have to say, Polo's were so made for broad shoulders and v body shapes (Exhibit A: Zach Goode). But then the spy in me is back and I'm wondering where he got those clothes when all he should have are uniforms- I looked in his room I know what I'm talking about.
His hands were in his pockets and he was leaning against the wall watching me watch him. I stop in front of him and he pushes himself off.
"Hey," I smile.
"Hey, Gallagher Girl," Zach takes his hands out of his pockets and nudges my shoulder with his. "No plaid?"
"I thought I would wear something that wasn't stained today," I shrug. I hold back a laugh because Zach, being a clean freak, can't help but notice how many imperfections I have on my uniform (and point them out).
Zach laughs, and I ease into a walk with him; we head to the double doors and subsequently into town.
"Am I rubbing off on you? Who knew I would be the one to have the positive influence." I hit him gently.
A lot of things are going right right now, One) Zach and I are on a date. Two) It feels natural. Three) The weather is nice and warm. But one the thing is going wrong right now, One). The weather.
The wind is blowing so hard to my left that my hair keeps finding its way into my mouth every time I try to turn to Zach and say something. Zach is now laughing at me instead of with me.
"Come here," He places his hands on the base of my neck and shifts me so that I'm on his left side; now if I turn to face him the wind immediately starts blowing my hair behind me (quite majestically I might add).
My cheeks get hot as I become a little too aware of how Zach's hands are still on me. I thought he would take them off, but he only lets his right arm drop to his side. Meanwhile, his left hand slides forward and lightly holds onto my shoulder, wrapping his arm around me, pulling me into him slightly in return.
Zach Goode you smooth-
"That was bloody brilliant!" Bex gasped in my earpiece.
"I just got chills," Macey adds.
I try to forget they are hearing and seeing everything that is going on.
With all the time we spent together in the hallways and in class, Zach had never made a pass at displaying PDA. Finally, a clear-cut answer came to my brain: I really like that he did now.
I lean into Zach and put my arm around his waist- for comfort. I have to tilt my head to look up at him, but when I do I see him smiling down at me.
By now we have made it to Roseville, and it occurs to me that this isn't any other town down. Huge floats take up the streets and people in elaborate costumes fill each and every one of them.
"Parades are strange," Zach cringes at the scene.
"Yeah," my mouth tilts down a little. "Can we get out of here?"
Performers in loud costumes and children cheering around them brings me back to the circus, the last time I saw my dad. I was relieved Zach didn't want to stay too, if we had all of this would have been too much for me to handle.
Maybe Zach saw the sad, small person I had become, because he hugs me tighter.
"Come on," Zach leads me down a backroad too small for half the floats to travel on, making me feel stable again. "Are you okay, Gallagher girl? What to go rob a bank just to prove you can?"
A smile and shake my head against his side, "No way, the closest one just installed a new security system last month that will be harder to get into than it was to get out of the Safetronic 4700."
Zach laughs, thinking about that night that completely changed where we stood today.
The road that we now walk isn't any less crowded. Antique cars line the North Side and booths selling a variety of things litter the South. Civilians admire the cars, all in pairs or with their kids by their side. One however was alone and didn't particularly look interested in the cars.
Whoever the man was wasn't a threat right now, so I just made a mental note of it for future reference. For once, I had the option of letting go and just being a girl with a boy.
Zach pulls me off to an alcove in the buildings, facing me towards him. His hand slides from my shoulder to the opposite side of my neck then up to my cheek. One of my hands drifts from around his waist a to the top of his jeans, the other rest on his chest.
How did I get here? All of that couldn't have happened in more than six second; I couldn't pinpoint it, Zach was making me sloppy- and maybe I was okay with that.
"Just so you know, Gallagher girl," Zach tilts his head and leans in. "I'm going to kiss you now."
I feel a ball of heat in my stomach and I close my eyes, leaning in too. But the kiss never comes.
"Cammie, is that You?" Some perky foreign voices squeals. "Oh my god! I'm so happy you are here!"
Never mind, I was not okay with being sloppy. If I had had my wits about me I would have notice Josh and Deedee in my nearest reflective surface (who were only 17 feet away from me), and then I would have been able to avoid them.
Zach curses in Farsi and I agree in French. They had jut ruined our first kiss.
I reluctantly face towards the two and take in the joyful face next to the sulking one. I tense up and immediately wish Zach had let go of me when I let go of him. If anything, Zach holds me tighter. They're not a safety threat Zach, we're alright, I think.
"Hey Deedee!" I'm a pretty good actress, but keeping the false smile on my face was especially hard. "Good to see you, too."
"You guys know the show is just around the corner? You're not going to want to miss it," Josh points behind his back.
Thanks to Advanced Human Psychology, I knew that Josh didn't actually care about Zach and I's loss of missing the spectacle the parade brought. What he really wanted was to get us into a more public place where Zach and I couldn't be as close as we are now. To his credit, it was a very clever way of disguising his hurt.
It was in Zach's nature to speak up and tell Josh that we weren't watching the parade for a reason, but I stopped him before he could. That would just be rubbing salt in an open wound.
"You're right," I nod and step forward. "Come on Zach, let's see the floats."
Zach grudgingly steps forward and we make are way over side by side with Josh and Deedee. Not only are all of us, except clueless Deedee, uncomfortable with our new group, but I can't even talk openly with Zach now. Everything had to be veiled in the presence of someone who doesn't have level four clearance.
I think we were both busy searching for an excuse to leave, and luckily or not, I found one. The man that I saw milling around the cars was now three yards away, facing towards us, but pretending to admire the passing float. This totally could have been a coincidence, expect for the fact that his hair was now black and full instead of the thin, salt and pepper I had originally seen.
I turn towards Zach, who had the decency to let me go now, "That man over there," I nod my head in his direction. "You think he had his hair done?"
Zach's face goes still in a way I know he is trying hard not to freak out. My senses become hyperaware and I internally panic. If Zach thinks he poses a threat, then so do I.
He turns toward Josh and Deedee and puts on a sad smile, "I'm sorry, I just realized Cammie and I have a paper- What's our word count now? 50?" Zach looks down at me willing me to go along.
"You didn't finish it?" I gasp. "We got to get back! I'm so sorry, you two." I lean my head to the side comfortingly.
"Oh, that's alright," Deedee shrinks a little, but not for long. "We know how that is, right Josh?"
I can tell Deedee is trying to lighten the mood, but Josh drags it back down.
"Yeah, bye Cam," Josh ducks his head and shuffles his feet. Zach twitches in annoyance.
"See you, Jimmy," Zach will always give a real grin at calling him by the wrong name.
Zach takes me by the head and pulls me away from the two, I was hoping Josh would miss it, but he looks up one last time and his eyes connect with our interwoven hands, deep down I know I broke whatever was in him that had managed to heal. I felt a little bit of it too, but I don't have the time linger on it.
"We got a problem," Zach drags me towards the nearest Gallagher girl he sees. "Tell Bex and Macey to gather everyone and take them back to the school."
"Zach, what's going on?" He makes no effort to reassure me, and if anything is deadly wrong I don't want him to.
"Something, I don't know what," He continues. "But I'm sure it's got something to do with Dr. Steve."
He tells me this in disgust, like everything right now was the farthest thing from excellent.
Gotta love a power couple am I right?
So Zach didn't lie to Cammie about not knowing their tail, and Dr. Steve is prime suspect of everything wrong with the world (because why not?). Like I said up top, I'm probably going to conclude the story in the next chapter.
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