"Group bonding?" Grant groaned.

"That's what he said," I answered.

Dr. Steve had just announced to all the guys that tonight we would be having group bonding. Of course, no one actually thought for a moment that we were going to sit in a circle bonding over our brotherhood. We all just assumed that it must be some secret code for, "Going over the rules of the Blackthorne Boys," or "Rules about not telling Gallagher girls why we're really here," or "A meeting about not getting too close to any of these girls." I failed on the last one. Slightly.

I sighed as I sat on the bed and glanced at our spotless floors, pure white walls, and neatly stacked books on the desks. Everything was squeaky clean, not the typical high school boy's messy room. Then again, we weren't normal boys. Grant ruffled his hair and bent over to pick up a pair of his socks off the floor and placed them neatly in a drawer. Jonas sat quietly at his laptop and the constant tapping of keys allowed me to guess that he was probably typing that extra credit assignment for Mr. M. I glanced at the clock.

"Come on guys, it's time," I announced.

The next morning I was slipping on a pair of black sneakers when I realized that there was something on the bottom of it. I carefully picked it out, careful not to crush the little black object. I turned it off by a tiny switch on the side. It looked like an audio bug, but just to be sure I placed it in front of Jonas as he slipped on his shoes.

"What's that?" Grant asked from across the room.

"A bug," Jonas shrugged and glanced up at me.

"I didn't know you were making audio surveillance. It's a really nice one, but I mean," he carefully looked it over, scrutinizing it.

"It's just a bug. Not even video on it," Jonas finished.

He tossed it back at me and finished tying his shoe. Zach lost interest and resumed to putting on his shirt. But, I just sat on the neatly made bed (careful not to crease the covers or I'd have to make it again), and looked at the little object in my palm. Who would bug me? Then a thought flashed into my mind, Gallagher girl. The spy girl who hated not being told a secret. The spy girl who, with the help of her friends, would find out the answers to the questions she had. At least, according to her background information. If any wanted to know who I really was, it was her.

When I left dinner I headed straight to the room. Where there was one bug, more were sure to follow. Grant was busy flirting with some girls and even Jonas was talking with Liz quietly. I'd have to bother him about that later. So I was alone in the bedroom. I didn't say a word, because I knew that they could hear everything I said. I just carefully searched our shoes, walls, floors, and ceilings for the small bugs and carefully switched them off. Then, on a hunch, I searched through some of the other guys' bedrooms as well. There were bugs there too. Then I stopped. What if I just left a few bugs, that way they wouldn't know that I knew. I could let them think that they were better than me. I smiled and left a few. The game was on.

The next day I was careful not to talk to Cammie. I knew she was planning something, but she would have to come up to me. It didn't take long. At the end of C&A class (we had just learned the art of drinking tea, I mean what spy was saved by learning how to drink tea?) Cammie approached me softly.

"Hey Gallagher girl," I said with a smile.

She looked up at me and smiled slightly. Well, it was a start. I stopped in the hall and leaned against the wall.

"What can I do for you?" I asked.

As if I didn't know that she was trying to use her training against me. As if she hadn't placed bugs all over my room and in my shoe. As if she wasn't about to put on some act and do who knows what. As if she knew more than I did.

"Mr. Smith says our midterm papers have to be a joint project. And my mother said that I should make an effort to 'embrace the collaborative nature of this exchange experience,'" she said hurriedly.

I raised my eyebrows slightly.

"And you want to embrace me?"

I smiled as her cheeks reddened.

"Only in the academic sense. Look, do you want to do this project or not?" she asked curtly.

I looked at her green eyes darting nervously at the floor and at me. Then I watched some girls giggling and whispering as they strode past us.

"So?" she asked again, waiting for my reply. I grinned.

"Sure, Gallagher girl."

I turned and started walking down the hallway. I noticed a lot of eight grade girls gathering in the hall between us so I decided to make the best of the moment.

"It's a date!" I yelled and saw the blood rushing to her face once again before I headed to class.