Chapter 7 – Runaway…again

For all those who asked Daniel Morecombe was an Australian boy who was standing under a bridge waiting for the bus to pick him up after he had finished Christmas shopping. The bus went past (bus driver was prosecuted) because it was running late. Then he was abducted. No one saw anything and his family have been looking for him for 8 years since 2003.

Then recently a man was charged with the kidnapping and they are now searching a forest in Queensland for his body. I dedicate this chapter to Daniel because his foundation raises awareness about stranger danger.

Cammie's POV

I woke up that morning and quickly got changed and remembered to act particularly disgruntle and uncooperative because I got banned from the Roseville trip and was meant to be pissed when in actual fact inside I was jumping for joy.

"You know if you didn't misbehave you wouldn't have gotten banned from the trip" Liz muttered as we walked out of the dorm together. Well they walked together; I strode in front of them trying to put distance between us.

"I kind of figured that out for myself genius" I replied in a duh tone not even bothering to turn around "I guess I couldn't help myself and anyway I have a new rule now"

"Oh and what's that?" Macey said. I stopped and looked over my shoulder to answer.

"If you didn't make the rules, just ignore them" I slid on a pair of aviators that were sitting in my pocket flicked my hair and walked down the stairs towards the dining hall.

"What the hell is with the aviators?" Bex yelled from behind me as I wandered inside and sat down next to Jonas.

"For dramatic effect" I slid them off and looked around.

Everyone was dressed for the trip into Roseville, except for me of course, from where I sat I was all set for my escape. Perfect. I saw Jonas picking up the apple from his plate, he was about to bite into it before I swiped it from his hand.

"Thanks Jo bro" I bit into it and stared ahead, which was straight at Liz who was sitting across from me. She had an angry look on her face.

"Awww is little Lizzie angry that I stole her boyfriends apple?"

"What happened while you were gone?" she demanded. Her question took me and all the others by surprise. Zach recovered the quickest.

"Liz is right. This isn't you, what happened? I know all of us feel the same way" his emerald eyes shone with concern and all I wanted to do that very moment was tell them everything. That I had been like this so I could escape again, tell them why I left, about the note and tell Zach I loved him. I would've said all those things and more if the CoC wasn't still after me and my friends still weren't in danger, so instead of pouring my heart out and breaking into tears. I said this,

"What is this some kind of freaking' intervention? Nothing has happened to me, I haven't changed. All of you are just too blind to see what has really happened" I sneered.

"Oh and what really happened?" Bex said standing up and leaning over the table. I raised an eyebrow before standing up pushing Grant off his seat (who was sitting beside me) so I was directly across from Bex matching her eye line.

"What really happened Rebecca" her hands balled up into fists "is that you lot changed not me" I flicked her forehead, stepped back and added "have fun in Roseville" I walked away before she could hit me for calling her Rebecca. I was almost at the door when a voice rang out.

"Don't forget you have detention with me today Cammie" Professor Buckingham called.

"Don't really feel like it, sorry!" I said.

"Yeah Cammie, you haven't changed at all" Macey said sarcastically.

"I haven't changed, you have. You obviously never knew me well enough to know why I am acting like this. You all changed while I was gone" I replied before walking out of the hall and back up to my room.

I sat there on my bed and let my tears flow free. I hated being like this, but it was for the best. I saw all my friends climb into the vans to go to Roseville, as soon as they were all out of view I quickly packed my bag, dyed my hair copper red, put in grey contacts and sat down at my desk and wrote 2 letters, one to Macey, Bex and Liz and one to Zach. My tears smudged the ink but I didn't care. I folded the paper and put them inside the envelopes. They were real paper, the envelopes and the letters; I knew it wasn't a good idea but if my plan went well this would be the last memory they ever had of me.

I double checked everything, disposed of the hair dye and put out blonde hair dye so they would look for a blonde, before exiting the room, I tip-toed along the hallway towards the pigeon room where Mr S had left the code for the journals. I know what you are thinking; there isn't a way out of the school that room, when in fact there is. I found it when I was hiding up there once. It was how I got out last time. I put the letters on the ledge of the blackboard that holds the chalk so by the time they had found them I would be long gone.

I pulled one of the beanbags out of the way, bent down, pulled out a barely loose brick, reached inside and then pushed the small engraving of Gilly's sword on the bottom of the brick above the one I just pulled out. There was a rumbling noise before the wall slid open to reveal a laundry shoot type thing. Making sure my back pack was on securely I jumped down.

I fell for 8.25 seconds before landing with a thud at the bottom. Remembering from the first time I ran away I quickly ran my fingers over the brick. Finding the lever I pulled it and a door opened I crawled out. I looked around for teachers before making mad dash for the woods. I got inside the tree line and started to dodge the cameras.

I was almost out when I felt a cloth cover my face and my eyelids droop. I saw the glint of a ring on the hand and the distant sound of Code Black sirens but I was out before I could fight back.

Zach's POV

I had literally just put my foot inside the schools foyer when the code black sirens went off. I hauled myself fully inside before the door slammed shut on my leg. Gilly's sword slid into its case and everything went into protection mode.

"Cammie" I whispered before tearing off in the direction of her room. The others were still locked outside the mansion but I didn't care. We had run back to the mansion early because we figured that Gallagher girl would take off while we were gone.

-Flashback-

I stepped out of the van onto the streets of Roseville, a thought occurred to me.

"Do you think Cam will try escape while we are here?" I asked.

"I wouldn't put it past her but all the secret passageways that lead out of the school were blocked up after D.C" Macey said in a matter of fact tone.

"Then how did she get out last time?" Liz wondered aloud. I met Bex's gaze, we both figured it out. Cam was going to escape. Today.

"Shit!" she swore before we started to run back towards the mansion. The others followed as Bex explained that Cammie was probably escaping right now through a passageway that no one had ever found but her.

-Flashback over-

I slammed open the door to her dorm room only to find it empty, the sirens wailing in the background finally died down, which means the threat was gone, which meant Cam was gone. I searched the room to find any clue of where she was but found none other then blonde hair dye but I knew that was a false trail.

The others had caught up to me bye now.

"She's gone" Liz choked out.

"Again" Macey whispered. I pushed past them and decided to check the pigeon room in case she had found an exit through there. It wouldn't surprise me. The others followed me. I opened the door and stepped inside. The first thing I noticed was the loose brick, I raced over and looked for a lever or button inside I found it and it opened to reveal a chute. I'm not surprised Gallagher girl set off a Code Black.

Wait no, when she left last time there was no Code Black or alert to her disappearance, she was just gone. Someone else set off the alarms and it wasn't Cam. I turned around to see the girls huddled around a piece of paper and it wasn't evapo-paper either. It was real. They were crying as they read. Grant walked forward and handed me an envelope that had my name on the front. All previous thoughts about Code Blacks and alarms lost.

But I couldn't bring myself to open it, not yet. After everything that she said to me, that she left the first time to get away from me. I didn't want to know her reasons this time. So I stuffed the letter in my pocket and left. If Cam didn't want to be found, I wasn't going to find her this time.