CHAPTER 9

Cammie POV

We drove to the airport only hours after our discussion. Both Liz and the guy had been pretty close to Italy, so it didn't take long for them to catch a short flight to Venice. I stared out the window, the sky was still a lovely pale blue with streaks of pink and yellow dancing about in the sky. I felt an arm go around my shoulders and I turned and looked into some very nice green eyes. I smiled and leaned into him.

"Zach?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks," I said, as I watched him play absent-mindedly with my hair.

"For what?" he asked looking confused. I snuggled into him a little more, and let out a quiet sigh.

"For everything."

…

The boy's guy arrived first, we watched as he stumbled through the arrivals gates, almost knocking a lady's suitcase over mumbling an embarrassed 'oopsy' before heading our way. Macey, Bex and I grinned, already planning a date for this guy and Liz. As he walked towards us his face broke into a smile. The boys were certainly happy to see him, they 'man hugged' and talked. He turned to us.

"Hi," he said, sticking a hand out, "I'm Jonas," as we shook hands and tried to hide our smiles at our very formal introduction. We waited for half an hour for Liz's plane to arrive, listening to the boys recounting what's happening so far. Then we all turned when we saw a certain blonde girl walk through arrivals, walking into a flight attendant, and knocking over someone's suitcase with a distinctive 'oopsy daisy.' We grinned. Liz. We ran up to her screaming and hugging and of course a little teary, it had been a month since we had all been together. There was so much catching up to do. We walked back over to the boys, who were looking amused but puzzled. Liz grinned.

"Hi boys, I'm Liz!" she said with her southern twang. She beamed at the boys until her glaze fell upon Jonas, who was staring, shocked, at her. Liz's mouth fell open into a wide, gaping 'O'.

"Liz?" Jonas said with a shake of his head, "what are you doing here?" he blushed faintly as he watched Liz straighten her blouse self-consciously.

"I'm here for the mission…" Liz started, fingering her hair, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the mission too," Jonas said, obviously stumped, which to me would probably be something very rare indeed. Liz and Jonas gaped at each other while the rest of us looked at each other.

"So do you guys, like know each other or something?" Bex asked as she raised her eyebrow at Liz while a sly smile crept onto her face. Liz blushed, a faint tinge of pink flooded her cheeks.

"Yeah… we work together at the office," Liz looked at Jonas who nodded absent-mindedly, still staring at Liz.

"That's good, 'cause you guys will be working together in this mission," Zach smirked at the two of them as Liz and Jonas beamed at each other. We started for the door, Liz leaning over to Jonas and talking excitedly about a new firewall which she made which she thought was much harder to crack. I looked at the time as we walked out the airport. 7.11 pm.

"Guys, let's get home," I said, stifling a yawn, "I'm tired." The girls rolled their eyes, they had been used to my 'tiredness' which occurred often and resulted in me sleeping in and being woken up by Bex and a bucket of cold water. And a lot of fighting after that.

"Okay," Zach agreed as he put an arm around my shoulders. I blushed lightly and smiled.

…

"Guys, what are we doing tomorrow?" Macey asked innocently as she looked at the guys. They shrugged. Macey narrowed her eyes.

"Um… sightseeing?" Nick said quickly, not wanting to be in the line of fire of Macey. Grant nodded fervently.

"Yes!" I said, suddenly excited, "let's go sight-seeing! I would love to see Venice," I thought to how me and Jonathan were planning on going sight-seeing after the mission. Needless to say, it never happened. Everyone agreed, and I smiled thinking back to the list I had put together of the must visit places last time I came to Venice. Suddenly I leaned back and yawned. I didn't realise it was so loud until everyone stopped and turned to look at me. I blushed.

"What? I'm tired," I replied defensively to the many looks and trying-not-to-smile glances I got. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to bed," I announced and flounced back to my room. I dropped onto the bed and felt myself drifting away into sleep, the last thing I remembered was feeling a certain pair of arms wrapping themselves around my waist, and my own soft smile.