Still don't own... :(
Zach always woke up early, and he was normally first, but today he obviously wasn't. The bed next to him was empty, her pyjamas were folded on her pillow and her uniform was folded at the bottom of her bed. The bag at the bottom of her bed marked 'C' was ruffled and slightly moved. Slipping out of bed himself Zach went to his bag to see what Macey had forced upon him. It was expensive; Zach had never seen anything like it before. White t-shirt, jumper/leather jacket, black jeans and blue vans. Zach smirked at them before pulling them on and leaving the room onto the large landing.
Instead of testing the stairs he slid down the rail, landing on a small rug neatly. Looking around the double height area he noticed that the cupboard under the stairs had the door open, he wandered over still being careful not to make much noise. The staircase was glass and steel and lead down into a white and grey room. It was huge and separated into four sections with frosted glass partitions. Zach could see that in one area a person was moving, punching a bag in a haphazard way. Stepping onto the floor Zach realised it was padded and smiling he moved silently towards Cammie.
"Stupid… Childish… thing… need… to… grow… up…how…could… Zach…like…me…if…he…even… does…" Cammie was wearing a black sports crop top, black yoga leggings type things and reddy pink trainer socks. A camouflage jacket, reddy pink t-shirt and martial arts boots were in a pile on the floor. Zach tried to fight the smirk he felt growing on his face, and his sensible mind won. Instead he watched her carefully and watched her style as she punched the bag.
Jab, cross… Jab, cross…
Her jab was good, locking out her arm correctly and not twisting too much. But her cross was only using the swing from her other punch, which could hurt her stomach muscles severely. Stepping forward he placed his hands on her waist, trying to ignore how they fitted perfectly into the gap between her hip and ribcage. She froze,
"Move your waist more, or you could end up pulling muscles. Hold your stomach muscles looser and let your chest go. Oh and try breathing once in a while." Zach told himself to move away but for some reason he couldn't. His hands were just stuck to her waist like magnets.
"I'm not going to ask why you are here, or how you found me." Cammie didn't turn around but she did relax, and to Zach's delight, and put her hands over his. He didn't know why but he really wanted to be around her more, be closer to her and he had a suspicion what it was. But he was slightly scared of it, but he ignored that too. As Grant would say, 'Eh, Yolo it!'
"Well I'm going to ask the first and give suggestions on how to stop the second." Zach rested his head on her shoulder. He could see the edge of a smile on her face so he brought himself slightly closer to her back, and she didn't flinch away… Improvement.
"I have nightmares regularly so have got into the habit of waking up at like 6 and then doing work. I was angry this morning, I'm teenage therefore I have no excuse, so I grabbed some stuff from my bag and came down here. Started punching but I got mad and ended up keeping on going even though my knuckles are now like dead."
"They don't look too bad, I think about 2 days and this will all be gone. As long as you don't aggravate it. Also I would recommend closing doors properly behind you, or I wouldn't have found you."
"Personally I don't see that a positive," Cammie seemed to realise what she had said as she started to wriggle away, "I did not mean it like that!" She, by going limp, slid out of Zach's grip and turned to face him. Spinning behind the bag she peered out, looking up and down Zach's outfit, he held out his arms and turned around sarcastically. Looking back at her he saw her shutting her mouth.
"See something you like?" Zach smirked as she went red and hid behind the bag again. Following her round she disappeared round again. He lunged the other way and she squealed slightly and ran back the other way. He then walked around one direction so she got into the pattern.
"You two finished playing round and round the garden?" A male voice called sarcastically, both of them froze. "Cause you need to go get into suitable training gear, we sorted that. Well with Macey's help."
"One second!" Zach called before lunging in the opposite direction, catching Cammie around her waist neatly. She wriggled again but Zach didn't let her go, looking back over to the entrance he saw everyone watching him and Cammie's butt, which was next to his head. Her legs were kicking his stomach and Zach could feel her hitting his back but he ignored her. "Grant take her for me." Grant held his arms out and he placed her over his own shoulder. Grant waited till Zach was out of sight and put Cammie down with a slight humf.
"Do I wanna know?" Macey walked over and handed Cammie her top and boots, "No, wait. I do want to know."
"I came down here early, and he gets up early and he followed the signs I had left to see who it was." Cammie lied brilliantly, she knew he had followed to find her, and somehow the fact he had made Cammie feel light, like she could fly if she tried.
"Anyway Mace, key problem here, the jacket doesn't suit the outfit!"
"That's because, you have a casual outfit too! The jacket is from your Casual look, but it could suit this one too!" Cammie rolled her eyes, pulled the t-shirt and boots on and looked at the others. Macey was wearing a purple skin tight, sleeveless top with the same boots as Cammie and patterned leggings. Bex had a dark red crop-top with long sleeves, black high waisted yoga pants and same boots again. Liz was in a crop top like Cammie's but she had a baggy blue top over it and leggings, she had light blue nike's on. Grant and Preston were in white top's, grey trakies with an individual colour on (Preston, Red and Grant, green) and baseball shoes in the same colour. Jonas was in trackies but he seemed to have no shoes on, and his top was blue.
"When his lordship comes back you can start training Cammie. But everyone else, fight. Learn how to punch, kick, girls can teach how to self-defend well I'm sure. Jonas, Liz, I'm sure you guys are less in the fighting but I know you will both need it. Do a bit and then at lunch you can hack the… urmm… pentagon for us." Joe turned away and walked to the nearest wall, talking to Patricia in a secretive way, Cammie began to wonder what they were talking about but when a boy's six pack became visible at the top of the stairs it drove everything else from her mind, it had long scars across it. Sadly it was covered soon after by a white t-shirt. Cammie turned away to try and hide the fact she had seen and instead pretended to do up her laces. Unfortunately this gave Zach the advantage.
He grabbed her waist and flipped her onto her back and stood next to her, she lay on the padded floor, eyes wide and slightly annoyed.
"Rule No.1, never turn your back to the enemy." Zach held out a hand to help her up, she took it and as soon as she was standing grabbed his other shoulder and judo threw him too. He seemed to realise mid-throw and grabbed her ankle forcing himself over her. She just waited till they hit the floor and rolled away from him, standing back up she smiled.
"Rule No.2, never help the enemy." She put her hands on her hips, victorious. Or so she thought.
Zach jumped to his feet and stepped into her fighting ground. They sized each other up slightly and Zach stared it, he went to jab her stomach but she caught it and used it for balance as she spun to round house kick him. He chuckled and dodged her kick, using the over spin to try and put her in head lock. She caught this and elbowed his chin before sliding out of his grasp and moving around to his other side.
They continued to fight, Cammie wasn't using exactly moves but she was keeping going and manufacturing herself time to breathe. Zach however was using moves randomly and as they got faster and faster he started to realise she was finally his equal. She was blocking, dodging, rolling, punching and constantly moving. He couldn't disable her, and she couldn't either.
Punch by Punch Joe began to notice them.
Joe stood at the wall next to the two fighters; the other groups seemed to have all stopped too. Jonas and Liz had never started but it didn't matter. All he needed was to keep them healthy and able to fight long enough for somebody else to take over. Grant and Bex had started fighting but within 10 or so seconds of the fight they had stopped to watch. Preston and Macey had only noticed when Grant had sworn loudly because Zach just missed Cammie's side with a powerfully placed Thai kick.
Cammie's punches were more like jabs but fairly strong and quick, however her kicks were powerful but easily over balanaced. Zach didn't have any of these problems but he didn't think about his fight, he lacked the calculating speed and knowledge of what to do in didn't matter though; they were a fair match and needed to teach each other, which is what Joe had planned. Grant and Bex would need to pair up with Liz and Jonas for some help with tech and Preston and Macey would need some help from himself to be more subtle and stealthy. But they would also need help from Grant and Bex, and Jonas and Liz for general abilities. Cammie and Zach… Well they needed to learn how to teamwork.
Going back to the fight Joe noticed how light Cammie was on her feet and how much Zach relied on being stationary. Joe decided to end this fight before the others lost too much time, so mimicking Grant's voice he wolf-whistled and called, "LOVEBIRDS!" Zach lost concentration on the fight and spun to respond to Grant, Cammie waited a second, grinned and flipped Zach onto his back.
Cammie held her fake stony face and didn't hold out her hand to help Zach up, "Rule No.1 Zachary!"
"Good to see you remembered 1 and 2." Zach raised his eyebrow at her and she dropped the face, holding out her hand she helped him up and both of them turned to Grant.
"I wouldn't blame him personally." Joe pushed his way between them, "After all he hates interrupting something Zach might get beaten at in."
"JOE!" Cammie spun round to face him, arms crossed, "We were doing fine! Neither of us are hurt."
"Well I think his Ego is a bit. But anyway, I would teach him the theory you used to learn. I can tell he is missing that final piece, and then he needs to teach you kicks, your flimsy on them. Also Zach you need to work out how to be less ground based, you are nervous to move around much which Cammie uses to her advantage." Joe nodded at them and walked off up the stairs. They looked at each other and burst into laughter. Everyone else went back to their own work and they managed to control the giggles.
"You're good." Zach mumbled quietly to her, she stopped laughing and turned to him. Their eyes connected, brown to green.
"You think?" She asked nervously, the broken Cammie showing through slightly in her insecurities. Zach thought back to the file and smiled truly at her.
"I know." He whispered quietly and did something he hadn't done for nearly 7 years, first he initiated the hug. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and soon after her arms snaked around his waist. He decided at this point he knew something new now,
He defiantly didn't want to just be her friend.
"Get it?" Cammie sighed, waving a piece of paper in front of Zach. The whole floor around them was covered with drawings, diagrams, coloured pens and paper planes. The white wall behind them was even covered with diagrams and arrows too. Both of them were lying in their segment of the large room, vaguely learning.
The gym was now a frenzy of noise and activity. The sounds of beeping and clicking came from where Jonas and Liz sat on the floor with three laptops in front of them, both talking quietly and laughing between themselves. Blaring music came from Bex and Grant, who were doing the press up bleep test and practically racing each other. The punch bag had been moved into the final segment where Macey and Preston were working on punches.
Zach had been acting odd since they had fought that morning, he had been happier and more touchy feely than before. Cammie had resorted to being as sarcastic and witty in return, although she hadn't exactly been against this new Zach behaviour.
"Yep. Please can you…" Zach began, sending Cammie a sideways smirk.
"Zach, put your eyes back inside your head, they would make a mess if I stood on them." Cammie reached out from under the large jacket she was hiding under and punched Zach's arm weakly. After the fight Cammie had ignored Macey's 'fashion advice' and had taken off her pink tee again, she didn't mind. But when they were lying down Zach had 'noticed' how good she looked with it off so now she was hiding under the jacket. Bex had asked why she didn't just put the t-shirt on again but Cammie had just insisted the Jacket was soft. But Zach suspected it was more the fact that the jacket was big enough that Zach could 'hide' under too if he so desired.
But both of them kept up the façade of actually learning, but the minute Joe went away the paper frogs, planes and snakes began to appear in multitude from around Zach, but Cammie never saw him actually make them. Joe couldn't help but be glad he gave Zach that file, he would have hoped that they would have found each other anyway but the file seemed to have affected Zach and cause him to protect the girl who would never admit she needed protecting.
Cammie had seen the files; Zach had kicked them 'accidentally' at lunchtime. They had been stacked in a bag at the bottom of the stairs. Joe had hidden them now but Cammie knew where they were and she had decided to read it tonight while everyone else was asleep. She had a suspicion Zach had intended to kick them, but she couldn't prove it.
"But Cammie!"
"Zach I do not keep asking you to take your top off!"
"You don't have to ask!" Zach reached down for the hem of his top and Cammie hit his hand playfully, then ducked under the coat again to avoid retailiation. "What too distracting?" Zach whispered the last word to the section of the jacket where he knew her head was, he knew he had the desired affect when the little raised bit where she had been looking though expanded so her head stuck out. She stuck out her tongue at him and he replied with an equally incriminating face.
"You total flirt Zachary Goode." She muttered, so nobody else heard, and slunk under her jacket again. Zach noticed how coming from her, his surname sounded normal, like it wasn't the second name of her mother's murderer. Zach grabbed a side of the jacket and grinned at Cammie who was scowling at him.
"Well if I'm a flirt, does that mean I am aloud to ask you something?" He dropped onto his front next to her and dropped the jacket over them both, "Like if you would consider being officially aloud to flirt."
"Are you…" She began loudly but Zach shushed her jokingly.
"Its more asking if you are publically aloud to show affection." Zach smirked over at her and she Cammie had her thinking face on and Zach mentally counted to 3 then, bingo!
"Oh… Does that mean what I think it does?" Cammie rolled onto her side to face Zach who was grinning in the way that could make the ice queen melt.
"I believe it does." Zach also rolled onto his side, they were nearly nose to nose, Zach didn't care much, in fact he was probably enjoying it more than required.
"Let me think about this a second." Cammie put a finger on the corner of her mouth, "Is the grass green?"
"Yes?"
"Well then, you got your answer." Springing up she dropped the jacket on his face and ran over to the wall bars.
They were pulled away from the wall and formed a cross shape, one red side, one yellow, a green and a blue. They were composed of loads of steel bars creating weird shapes for you to climb though up to the top, each one was different. Scrambling up the nearest one she watched as Zach appeared from under the jacket, saw Cammie and sped over himself. He tried to catch her ankle but she swung though a gap and jumped onto the next one. Jumping up next to her she realised her was there and jumped back again, he followed.
The others just watched this, none of them had any objections after all it would be working on their core strength and flexibility.
"What do you think caused this?" Bex whispered to Grant. He shrugged, not looking at them. Bex grabbed his ears and turned his head to face them.
"Ouch! Oh… He must have finally done it, they seem a little bit too happy considering their situations for it to be anything else."
"What? You mean he asked her out!" Bex stage whispered, her face falling in delighted shock. Grant shrugged but half nodded too. Bex started to jump up and down clapping, grinning like an idiot.
"I dunno, its just a guess…" Grant shrugged again, still wondering how on earth he had the courage to do it! Every time Grant even thought about asking Bex his stomach flipped uncertainly, she had changed him and it was unnerving him slightly.
Bex turned back to watch her best friend, she was alive with an energy she had never seen in her before. It made Bex feel light with happiness herself to know that finally somebody but her could help Cammie, that, even though Bex knew it was selfish, she could finally sleep an entire night knowing that Zach could fight the nightmares for once.
"Look what you done now Mr Zachary!" Cammie grinned back at him from the gap she was sitting in.
"Oh I'm very sorry for asking Miss Cameron." Zach smirked back from across the gap, "It was merely a query for future reference."
"I'm also sorry sir for being so very…" Cammie squealed as Zach jumped down and grabbed her ankles, pulling her down into a heap at his feet.
"…totally…" Zach added another word to the sentence and noticing where he was going with it Cammie interjected,
"…not…" Zach noticed what she had done and changed in an instant.
"…Imperfect!" Zach whispered the last word so nobody but Cammie heard him, she rolled her eyes and pulled herself up on the bars. So that he swung beneath her and he was able to catch her around the waist and pull her down.
"I hate you!" She muttered to him, his arms still around her waist.
"Hate you too." He whispered in her ear and dropped her, running away before she could catch him and probably murder him.
Everyone who ha reviewed has said wonderful things, and i promise i will continue or i think i might get a laptop thrown at me...
-Sorry Guest i can't tell you what happens next, but it will be good i promise.
-GallagherGirlFan#1 i promise i would never do that to you, i have my head to keep and i also wouldn't cope if i chose to split them up.
I hope you enjoyed my favourite chapter, i tried to edit it twice but kept just reading it instead! I am literally going insane trying to keep a straight face while reading it though because this situation happened to my friend and her boyfriend at our local Gym. I am now a mega third wheel, but they are really cute!
REVIEW, COMMENT, LOVE!
Charlie xxx