Disclaimer: Ally Carter Has Ownership Of The Series—a.k.a A-CHOOTS. But I own that term XD

AN: Thanks for the awesome support! I honestly couldn't believe it at first, when I got over five reviews! I was crossing my fingers for please, just let me get at least one! So I'm happy that my first GG hasn't turned out to be a complete nosedive…yeah, I talk way too much. Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to Kelsey Goode.

Liz looked over me warily. "Cammie?"

I closed my right eye, my left, and then blinked both. Our sign for I'm not unconscious. Liz sighed. "Why do we even have that sign? I mean, if you're conscious, the person could just say so."

"Unless you pretend to have gotten knocked out in a fight and the other person is still up and needs to know."

Liz nodded. "Point. So are you going to tell me—"

"—why the hell Liz started screaming because she found you almost blue on the floor?" Bex yelled as she barged in. I opened my mouth to explain, but Macey headed into the room first. She replied coolly. "I can think of one reason." She flipped her hair. "And it starts with the omega of the alphabet."

I looked at the ground. "Zach." Liz sighed. "Oh, Cammie." She patted me on the back.

I squirmed away. "Mother me much?" She looked slightly taken aback. Bex coughed. "Nice way to treat someone who's been watching you for 26 hours, 39 minutes, and 19 seconds straight." She mumbled under her breath. "20, 21, 22, 23…"

Macey rolled her eyes. "So are you going to tell us what happened?" Goodness. Seems like they were just waiting for me to get up for the gossip.

Liz looked genuinely hurt. "Of course not. We're your best friends—we care about you."

Oops. Must've said that aloud. "It was nothing. I just had a hard time saying bye to Zach 'cause you know, I might not see him again. And bad sushi. So I…fell?"

There was silence until Bex replied, her accent fresh and polished. Or was that just me, since I hadn't heard it in 26 hours, 39 minutes, and 19 seconds? 20, 21, 22, 23… "You want to grab some breakfast? I'm totally for some fish and chi—fries."

Macey added. "That is, if Cammie can think straight enough to walk." She snapped her fingers. "Wait! She never thinks at all!" She smiled to let me know she was joking. I attempted a smile back in response. Probably came out like an old-lady grimace from a grocery store when a kid knocks over a random cabbage in front of her.

I should know. But don't ask.

Macey and Bex left the room, arguing over which would more painful: Getting out of a shark-filled tank with your hands tied and a blindfold or swimming backwards from a dozen barracudas wearing a gold-glitter bikini and gold ear piercings. (Barracudas: easily attracted to prey and intensely attracted tobright colors and shimmers.)

Liz said. "I know my parents aren't kick-ass agents, but they still had some pretty good advice. They said when something like this happens,"

I looked out the window, focusing on a dull green branch that looked like it was about to break off. "Yeah, I know. Just forget it, don't think about it, move on, etcetera." Don't cry, I chanted to myself, don't cry, don't cry.

Liz shook her head. "No. That if it—or he, in this case—meant a lot to you, get to the bottom of it. Don't you dare let it go." She told me fiercely.

Whoa. What had happened while I went as conscious as a rock? "That sounds smart." I nodded, not really thinking of taking it. I mean, how could I? It sounded easier than it really was. Because there was one huge marauder stopping me. It was called Pain. Pain, that came from betrayal, mistrust, the old being "used 'n' abused", and as much as I hated to admit it, especially now, he'd never loved me. Might not even have liked me.

And I did. But then there stood another puzzling question: Why did he kiss me? Like that? And he hadn't even been the one to break away!

Another pang smashed into my chest at the thought of our kiss. Of us.

Sitting at the lunch table now, only one answer came to me. It had been pity. Pity for me, my tears. Pity. That's all it came down to. Another little part of me died.

Bex settled her tray next to me and deliberated me. I must look like crap. She said, "You look like," I waited. She finished gently. "someone who got hurt. Really hurt."

I felt tears rise into my eyes. No, I couldn't let Bex see me cry. Bex looked hard at me. "And I don't mean just physically, Cammie."

Macey opened her "magazine" and joined the conversation, her voice dripping evident sympathy. "She's hurt because she has a broken heart."

"State the obvious." The words barely passed through my lips. Don't cry, don't cry! Come on! He's just a stupid little jerk.

Macey spooned some mousse into her glossy mouth. "That's what happens when a freak that had no right to enter your life does. And then you like that piece of trash."

"Shut up." I hissed at her. Macey looked stricken and dimly offended. She responded coolly. "Okay, Cammie."

Bex mumbled. "Cam has a point. You talk way too much. But then again, you've never had a best friend to comfort or work out you issues with." She said the last part so softly I almost didn't catch it.

Liz snapped. "Guess who else has those problems?"

I pushed my tray roughly away and held my hands up. "Look guys, why don't we all just drop it and shut up?" I said, uncertain to my real feelings but managing to sound certain to my own ears. "I don't care; I'll get over it soon enough."

I swallowed and forced the final words. "Because really, Zach was just another guy that I never really loved."

Bex looked skeptical but then seemed to accept it. "Okay. If you say he's just another Josh, fine."

Um, how did Josh get into this? Do I need another (faux-confident) speech?

Macey shrugged, her way of saying that she agreed with Bex. Liz looked perplexed and didn't say anything to me. She stood. "I'm going to head over to the library to study for extra credit."

Mr. Smith huffed his way over to us, his shoulders releasing the tension when he noticed me. "Cameron, your mother,"

I immediately got up, my knee bouncing against the table top. Owie! "Something's wrong?"

He looked calm enough. "Of course not, Cameron. She said she just wanted to see you, that's all." I was feeling relieved until he said. "Though I believe it might have something to do with your episode this week, what with your face becoming so au fait with the floor."

My face colored. Trina, who had been sitting a couple of seats away, snorted her drink out her nose. So graceful, so lady-like. Not.

Mr. Smith's forehead creased. "Now, Cammie. Please don't wind up her mood; you know how it is these days."

I nodded. Ever since the incident, she'd been a little out of it and bent out. Definitely not the same secure, self-assured woman I'd known for my whole life. I raced to her room. "Mom?"

She stared at me; her eyes were wide open in fear. "Where are they?"

I sighed. So she was in mode Paranoid Confusion. "No one's coming, Mom."

"They already came?!" She yelled. "We have to call a code red!"

I immediately started rubbing circles on her back to relieve her sudden burst of stress. I felt like a therapist. Or like in the last month we'd somehow switched places; I was a tired mom and she was a little sixth grader. "No, no, it's okay now. They've left," I made sure to say, even though I had no idea who "they" were.

"No," She moaned, shaking her head. "They filtered our ranks, they broke it."

"Broke what? Nothing's broken. Gillian's sword is fine." I answered, not sure what in the world she was thinking of. "Broke what?" I asked again.

"Our trust." She whispered. And just like that, she was asleep. I felt tears in my eyes. There was no way they could just do this to her and not get something a thousand times' worse back at them. There was no way they—he—could just do this to her.

I went back to our dorm and crawled onto my bed. Bex flopped onto the nearest bed, her stomach snuggling against the relaxing comforter. "How was she?" She asked quietly, undoing the corner threads with her pinky and ring finger as we'd learned in Fighting And Crime Sciences.

I mumbled. "The usual."

"For now." Bex insisted. I loved her positive certainty at moments like this. "Well, mate," She rolled onto her back. "I'm dead tired from all this drama so I'm going to get some extra rest." Yeah, ever since, Bex had been taking naps, like Liz. Bex, the one who was always eager to get some action. She wanted to sleep.

I listened to her breathing grow into light snores. Then, I walked out, totally unprepared for the next message that met my ears.

"I know, Cammie. You can't hide it from me, I know what happened."

AN: Hey! I tried to finish this as soon as possible. But this might not be my first priority; My Time Will Come is another story that's really important to me. So I'm trying to balance both. Yes, I am tremendously stupid for creating another story while I'm still working hard on another.

~Chocó prep a.k.a KLU