dear everybody, i'm SO, SO, SO SORRY for leaving this story (if you even remember it) for nine months. i'm a terrible person, but i've been caught up in school and life and whatnot, but that's not exactly and excuse for the lack of explanation. good news: i'm continuing, and hopefully finishing this.

[ - zach's car; still in town - ]

"So," Cammie said aimlessly, drumming her fingers on her knee and looking around the inside of the car. It smelled new. She looked at Zach. "You're like, secretly super-rich? Is that it? Totally get it. Pretty awesome. I should've started talking to you earlier. Maybe you could've gotten me a TV for my birthday or something."

Zach did one of his almost-smiles again, where the corners of his mouth turn upwards, but he doesn't actually smile. "I stole it," he replied.

Cammie gaped.

He cast a glance towards her. "Isn't that what you want me to say?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, looking amused. "I also have plans to take over the world."

"Oh, shut up," Cammie scoffed. "Is this like a James Bond car? Can it turn into an airplane? Is the cigarette light actually a flamethrower? It is, right? That's awesome. Can you throw a flame at something?"

"It's not a flamethrower," Zach said. "But if you wish really hard, it can turn into an airplane."

"Sweet," Cammie grinned. "I've always wanted one of those."

"You're a very peculiar person," Zach remarked.

Cammie's eyebrows furrowed together; she looked down at her knees and tilted her head to one side. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, pursing her lips.

"It means, you're a very peculiar person," Zach repeated, smirking a little bit.

"I'm insulted," Cammie told him.

"It's not an insult," he shrugged.

They sat in silence for ninety-three seconds. Cammie looked out the car window, where dark shadows of trees that were losing their leaves flew by. Once in a while, a streetlight whizzed past, leaving a purple streak when she closed her eyes. She turned back to Zach, who was watching the road. Another forty-eight seconds passed. Then, "I've got it now."

Zach glanced at her.

"You won this car when you were part of the studio audience of Oprah," Cammie said. She nodded. "I'm right, right?"

Zach smiled - for real, this time - for a second. Then, he laughed. It was a soft laugh, genuine. His teeth were straight and white. He shook his head, still smiling, his eyes meeting Cammie's for a second before he laughed again. "That is exactly how I got this car," he answered, as they pulled into the academy's gravel driveway.

Cammie opened her door, swinging her long legs off the seat and getting out the car. "Thanks," she said, unable to think of something better to say, one hand on the car door. There was a pause. She grinned. "Tell Oprah I say hi."

[ - macey & cammie's dorm, night - ]

Macey barely looked up from her magazine when Cammie entered their dorm room, nearly skipping, as she asked, "What're you so happy about?"

"Nothing," Cammie replied as she bounced onto her bunk, almost convincing her friend, except her friend was exceptionally good at identifying lies, despite transferring in to Gallagher during sophomore year, so Macey flipped a page in her magazine and looked up skeptically.

"Really," Macey deadpanned.

"The movie was really good," Cammie said.

"You suck at lying," Macey told her.

"Zach drove me back from town," Cammie blurted out, grinning broadly and hugging a pillow. Macey raised her eyebrows, closing her magazine and tossing it aside. "We talked."

Macey looked surprised. "So, what, you're like, really serious about him or something?"

Shrugging, Cammie buried herself under the covers, trying to hide her smile. "I dunno," she replied. Then, she suddenly shot up, remembering something. "But - oh my God, the weirdest thing happened -" She pushed her blankets aside and sat on her bed earnestly. Macey looked confused. "I left the theater for a smoke and Zach was there..." She told Macey about what she'd overheard, with Keith the Ice Cream Guy.

"That's suspicious," Macey frowned. "They were talking about his dad?"

"Yeah," Cammie nodded. "I didn't even know he had a family until then, I mean, why else would Solomon treat him like he's Annie the Orphan?"

"He never talks about his dad," the black-hair girl said. She rolled over and propped herself up on her elbows, facing her roommate. "I remember I tried to ask him about his parents once, he got all weird about it and left the room. You don't think he's like, part of a terrorist group or something? That sounds stupid, but it almost makes sense."

"It does, but what else could that whole thing have meant? It was freaky, he even sounded different when he was talking to Keith," Cammie remembered. "It wasn't very nice."

Macey opened her mouth to reply, but the girls' dormitory door opened, and both girls turned towards the front of their room. A cell phone in one hand and a DVD of Top Gun in the other, Grant stood in the doorway. Cammie sent a confused look towards Macey, who was suddenly reading her magazine again, even though her eyes were completely still.

"Hey," Grant greeted. There was a short pause, in which nobody replied to him. Grant swallowed. "Uh, Cam, you left your phone in Zach's car. He would've brought it over, but he's kinda busy right now, and I was on my way over here anyway, so here it is."

Cammie held out her hand, and Grant tossed it to her. "Thanks," she said.

"Well, see you around, then," Grant expressed. He left quickly.

In a deadened voice, Macey asked, "What's Bex's favorite movie, again?"

"Oh, Macey," Cammie began, shaking her head and biting her lip, looking worriedly at her friend. Macey glared at her with cold, blue eyes, and she shut up. "It's Top Gun, but just because Grant had it doesn't mean anything—"

"He's in the South Wing," Macey sighed. "Where the girls' dorms are." She grimaced, before looking at her watch. "Whatever. I'm going to sleep." Crawling under the covers, she turned away from Cammie. Her magazine fell to the ground, and after a few minutes of silence, Cammie swore she heard a sniff from the other side of the room.

Cammie sighed heavily and got ready for bed, too, even though it was barely eight-thirty. By the time she had turned out the light, the faint sounds of an action movie could be heard on the other side of the walls, occasionally accompanied by laughter.

[ - dining hall; breakfast - ]

"—and then he started yelling at me about causing disturbances in public, and I was like, Superman is a disturbance to public, how can you show that crap because it probably causes cancer, and then the movie theater manager punched me, and that's how I have a black eye," Preston concluded. He did, in fact, have a black eye, but for some reason, Preston considered it a sign of his masculinity, and wouldn't go to the nurse.

"You're pathetic," Cammie told him.

"I'm passionate about my beliefs," Preston replied, scratching his black eye.

"You are absolutely pathetic," Cammie sighed, cutting up her bacon. "And thus, Judgment Day begins. Shall I remain friends with Preston? Or shall I kick him to the curb, and find a cooler best friend?"

Preston rolled his non-black eye, before shamelessly stealing Cammie's bacon. The bacon was halfway to his mouth before he dropped it on the table, his mouth left hanging open.

Cammie sighed. "Preston, you're useless. And now you've wasted a perfectly good piece of meat." Shaking her head in a disappointed manner, she stood to get some more bacon, but Preston tugged at her sleeve, his mouth still open, and pointed across the Dining Hall. Sighing again, Cammie turned, and her mouth dropped open a little too.

Macey had entered the Dining Hall. When Cammie had woken up, she had been awake already, and when Cammie had left for breakfast, Macey had still been in the dorm room - and it was easy to see why. Her hair was perfectly straight, shining and pushed over one shoulder. Her lips were slathered with red lipstick, her eyelashes looked longer than usual, and her eyes looked as blue as humanly wasn't wearing tights under her skirt today, and looking closely, one could've seen the faint outline of a lacy black bra sitting beneath her blouse.

Basically, she looked hot.

"Oh my God," Preston and Cammie muttered, in completely different tones. Cammie knew what had happened, and instantly started to feel bad for Grant, who, like the rest of the male population at Gallagher, had suddenly stopped whatever they had been doing half-way through, and was staring at Macey. Unlike the rest of the male population at Gallagher (Preston included), however, he looked almost angry.

"Does she look better than usual today?" Preston asked weakly, gingerly touching his black eye.

Cammie brushed hair out of her forehead. "Of course she does," she answered grimly. "She's looking for a new boyfriend. Or, at least, pretending to. She probably just wants to give Grant some serious shit, at most. I feel bad for him, personally."

"Oh," Preston squeaked. "Do you think—"

"No," Cammie said, before Preston could finish his question. "She won't sleep with you."

"But—"

"No."

i'm sorry (again), because this was a terrible chapter, but it does serve a purpose to the plot (in regards to the grant/macey relationship, and preston's bet). NEXT chapter: lots of zammie. i'll give you a hint about it if you review :)