i got 22 reviews for the last chapter. you guys, you don't think it could have anything to do with zach, right? yeah, probably not. :)
but seriously. GIGANTIC THANK YOU.
[ - first period; the next day - ]
It was the general consensus at Gallagher Academy that Edward Townsend was something of a god. He was strict, gave ridiculous amounts of homework, and lectured constantly with numerous pop quizzes and practical tests, but there was a general authority in his voice (his English accent), the way he stood (being 6'5), and just how he taught. He spoke from experience. When he talked about the fundamentals of interrogation, everybody in the class could imagine him tearing some poor terrorist's brain apart as he made direct eye contact, showed superiority, and displayed the victim's lack of choice in the situation (textbook perfect).
He was also the worst teacher to be late for.
"Eight and a half minutes late, a uniform that doesn't adhere to the school dress code, and eating in a classroom? Tell me, Miss Morgan, why I shouldn't I be writing you up a detention slip as we speak?" Townsend asked, not looking up.
Cammie, who had been attempting to sneak in silently as Townsend was correcting papers at his desk, nearly choked on her Poptart. "Um," she began. "Because I am going to sit down right now and won't cause another disturbance in the classroom again?"
"Correct," Townsend said. Cammie made way to her usual table, but Townsend stopped her. "Oh, no, Miss Morgan, you're not working with Mr. Winters today. That would be far too easy for you. Or Miss McHenry," he added, as Cammie tried turning.
"Can you just tell me where you want me to sit?" Cammie growled impatiently. Then she stopped suddenly, slightly horrified, and prayed that Townsend wouldn't unleash the hounds, or whatever it was he did to students who dared disrespect him. She hastily attached "Um. Sir." to the end of her sentence.
"Mr. Goode would be adequate," Townsend said, and suddenly, Cammie understood why Preston had proclaimed that their CoveOps teacher was Jesus.
Trying not to let her glee show on her face, she nodded solemnly and shuffled towards the second row, where Zach was sitting, carefully studying his textbook, but Cammie had a feeling he was listening to every word that was being exchanged, just like the rest of the class.
She slid into the seat comfortably, and pulled out her textbook, just as Townsend started the lesson (Advanced Properties of Deceit). Both were completely silent as Townsend scrawled on the board, "Lying" with a haphazard underline.
"Anybody want to tell me the basic qualities an average, untrained or badly trained person would exhibit if they were lying?" Townsend asked.
Tina Walter's hand shot up in the air. "Pupil dilation."
"Correct," Townsend said, writing that under "Lying". "This is general involuntary, however, and rather coincidentally, pupil dilation doesn't always mean that person is lying. It also happens when one sees someone they're attracted to."
"That's probably happened to you before, yeah?" Grant said loudly. The class laughed.
Townsend almost smiled. "Detention for you," he replied. "Anything else?"
"Symptoms of anxiety," another voice piped up. "Sweat, nervousness, darting eyes, paranoia."
"Also correct," Townsend said, listing that underneath Tina's suggestion. "I'm glad you all paid attention in your pre-Covert Operations class in the seventh grade. Anything else?"
"Well," Townsend sighed. "That's most of them, which will lead in to what we're learning today. Lying. You've grown up with it. You know how to identify it. There are the classic, more widely-known behaviors that make it obvious when the other person is lying. But there are also smaller things you need to pay attention to. Tremors in the voice – even small ones – before adding a specific detail. Too much eye contact or absolute stillness of the body are also common. I'm not going to tell you all of them, they're in your textbook, but remember that when you think someone is lying, don't just pay attention to what they're saying. Pay attention to every aspect of them. When someone avoids the truth, their whole being is avoiding the truth, not just their face. Practice with your partners. Page twenty-eight. Ten minutes."
Townsend sat down.
Cammie turned towards Zach. "Hi," she said.
"Hi," he echoed.
"Fancy seeing you here," she stated. He didn't reply. She cleared her throat, and tried again. "So close to the front of the classroom. How will your reputation as Gallagher's rebel without a cause hold up?"
He smiled, a good sign in most situations. "You were eight minutes late, how will your reputation as Gallagher's golden girl hold up?" He replied easily. This was obviously his idea of entertainment.
Cammie's eyebrows shot up. "Golden girl?" She repeated, surprised. "How terrible." He almost smiled again, but instead of elaborating, he looked down at his textbook before looking back at her, and his message was clear. "Right. Yeah, let's get started." She opened her textbook in her lap. "Tell me something about yourself, Zachary."
He made eye contact with her. "I'm Zachary Goode, I'm seventeen, I attend Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Adults," he listed, leaning backwards in his chair and not taking his eyes off her.
Cammie gave him an unimpressed look. "You're also male and tall, correct me if I'm wrong," she deadpanned.
"Not that tall," Zach said.
"Pretty tall," Cammie argued.
"Really?" He asked, looking up as if he could see his height from that view. "No."
"Tall enough for it to be one of your defining qualities," Cammie said.
"I'm the shortest of my brothers," he stated, amused.
Cammie raised an eyebrow. "You have brothers?" She asked.
"Yeah." He didn't expand.
"How many?" Cammmie pressed. "Why don't they go here?"
"Two, and that's confidential," Zach replied, his voice going slightly sour. Cammie bit her lip, hoping she hadn't gone too far. "What about you?"
"I'm the only child of two only children," Cammie answered.
"You're lying," he observed.
"Guilty," Cammie admitted, impressed. Lying was one of her most refined skills. "My mom has a sister. But I try not to talk about my aunt around Townsend." Zach raised his eyebrows. "I'm a bit iffy on the story, but it's something like they had a thing and then she met this guy named Léon, who was French, and apparently even in contemporary times the English hate the French. So." She shrugged.
Zach looked remarkably entertained by the story, so Cammie plowed on. "Not as bad as my mom, though. She used to date Solomon, and then left him for my dad, who had zero background training and ranked higher, way higher. I try not to get into trouble a lot, just in case he asks to meet with my parents and the universe explodes."
"All your future boyfriends should be forewarned," Zach remarked. "Heartbreak is in the genes."
"Haha," Cammie said sarcastically. "Your turn."
Zach tilted his head back and exhaled a breath before reverting his gaze back at her. "What should I talk about?"
"Anything," Cammie shrugged.
He smirked. "The weather..." he trailed off, and she realized he was referring to their conversation last night. "Whoops, sorry, that's your thing. I have a question for you, actually. When did you start smoking?"
Cammie hesitated. It didn't really seem like one, but this question was extremely personal. She pressed her lips together, then sighed. "Last year, when I was sixteen," she admitted slowly, keeping her voice even. "Why do you ask?"
"You're lying," Zach noted, again. "Why?"
"Isn't that the point of the activity?" Cammie asked through clenched teeth, feeling uncomfortable.
He didn't reply as Townsend called for attention.
[ - the dining hall; dinner - ]
Cammie spent the rest of the day in a slightly snappy mood, although it had brightened considerably when she entered the Dining Hall for dinner and found a mountain of roasted potatoes at the serving line. Meanwhile, Preston was telling her about his progress with Macey.
"I think she might've looked at me, it could've been the clock behind me, since it was almost the end of the period, but I'm not really sure," Preston said, piling slices of roast beef on his plate. "What do you think?"
"I think," Cammie replied. "At this rate, you'll be fucking her in the afterlife."
"Thoughtful," Preston remarked. "Calming. Inspirational. Thanks for that, Cam. What about Zach, how's he?"
Cammie smacked Preston's shoulder, and the bread roll he had been helping himself to flew out of his hand and landed in the clam chowder. "Don't say his name in public," Cammie groaned. "People could hear. He could hear."
"He could hear that the second hottest girl in the school wants him to fall in love with her? The horror! He'll drop out, move to Genovia, and never have social interactions ever again!" Preston gasped, putting the lid on the clam chowder bowl so nobody would notice the lost roll floating around.
Cammie stared at her best friend, stunned. "Did you just make a Princess Diaries reference?" Cammie asked incredulously.
"Shit, did I?" Preston whispered, sounding horrified.
"When did you watch The Princess Diaries?" She questioned, widening her eyes.
"It was the only thing playing on the plane from DC to here," Preston protested. "Watching Princess Diaries was not a voluntary thing, Cam. Cam. Cam. Cam, stop walking away. Cam!"
"P, I'm not going to lie, I almost had to demote you from best friend to mere acquaintance for a second there," Cammie teased, grabbing a water bottle. "Anything else you'd like to confess, Preston, before you—"
She had to stop because she had run into something solid. And warm. And hopefully not an authority figure of some kind. "Cameron, can we talk?" Zach asked.
"Actually, Preston and I—" Cammie began.
"—oh look, I see Jonas, I might sit with him today," Preston said loudly, striding off in the completely opposite direction.
Cammie made a note to burn his hard-earned porn collection before looking up at Zach. "Sure, Zach, and to what do I owe the pleasure of an initiated conversation with you?" Cammie asked, although suddenly her entire mood brightened.
"Sorry about earlier, that was a really invasive question to ask," Zach apologized abruptly.
Cammie, had she been eating her potatoes, would've choked on them she was so surprised. "Shit, wow," she muttered. "Did I really act that bitchy? Because I got over that in like, third period. I'm not a grudgey person."
"You seemed uneasy," Zach said.
"Do I strike you as a grudgey person?" Cammie asked. This was genuinely worrying her. "I - I wasn't even looking for an apology."
"You don't, I just don't like hanging threads," he said. Then he added cryptically, "I've been apologizing all my life."
Cammie stared at him for a few seconds in disbelief. "Um, so I suppose you aren't going to elaborate on that either?" Cammie guessed, her heart pounding. Her plate almost slipped as her hands started to sweat.
"What?"
"I'm just being upfront, you know, so don't lose any sleep over this," Cammie replied. "You say you don't like hanging threads, or whatever, but kid, you are one huge hanging thread."
"Did you just call me 'kid'?" Zach asked, looking half amused and half confused.
"Did you just apologize to me over some flippant remark I made?" Cammie replied. "Seriously, Zach, if you're going to do the whole reserved, hot enigma thing, do it right, I mean, the whole hanging out in the back corners of the school thing is great, but this spontaneous 'sorry' completely threw me off track—"
"Look, I'm sorry for being sorry, then, I didn't realize you'd get so torn up about my reputation," Zach grinned, now looking fully amused. "I'll do my best to maintain my image, just for you."
"Yeah. You—you do that, Zachary," Cammie told him lamely as she realized she'd just had the most ridiculous conversation ever. "No more surprise apologies. Especially for things not worth apologizing for."
"Okay, I'll stay reserved, and enigmatic, what was the other one?" Zach asked.
"Dunno," Cammie lied.
"Of course you don't," Zach said.
"I'm going to eat now," Cammie concluded, turning away. "Oh, and if you ever call me Cameron again, I will pummel you," she warned, before walking towards her table.
The sound of his laughter rang in her ears.
we can get to 80, right? get to 80 because this is the longest chapter so far? and because zach and cam talked twice? sweet.
P.S. i put a small dream cast up on my profile. i quite like it, you should go check it out and tell me what you think!