Zach's POV

I heard the door open and Cammie walked in.

"Zach..?" I heard her call.

"In the kitchen!" I called back, blowing on my noodles.

She walked in and I looked up – her eyes were wet and red. I stood up, a concerned expression on my face.

"Cams..?"

She let out a sob and I opened my arms, and she cried into my chest. I smoothed her hair and picked her up, laying down with her under the covers. She was crying so violently that she was shaking. She didn't stop for 45 minutes...

Cammie's POV

After exactly 45 minutes, I stopped.

'Why am I even crying so hard?' I thought to myself. 'It's just for one summer. I promised them that I would be back by the end of summer..it's not like I'm never going to see them again! And I have Zach.'

But deep down inside, I knew I wasn't just crying for leaving. I was crying for everything, my mom, my friends, my dad, MYSELF. All of those tears that I had kept inside all this time had finally built up and exploded out of me.

Zach kept smoothing out my hair and whispering that everything was going to be fine, even though he still didn't know why I was crying. And I didn't feel like telling him, either. I turned around in his arms so my face was pressed into his chest. I calmed my breathing and he lifted my face up so he could look me in the eyes.

"Want to tell me why you were crying?" he asked in a soft voice, his eyes worried and pleading.

"No."

He cocked a brow, smirking again.
"Oh? You think you can get away with that, do ya?" He flipped us over so he was on top of me, and he pinned my arms down, holding my wrists with one hand.

"Give up, Cammie! You know you'll never win!" he said as I was struggling to get him off of me. I kicked his knees out – for he had been crouching above me – and pinned HIM down. I smiled and raised my eyebrows.

"I win!"

But right after I said that, he easily flipped us back over.

"ZACH, NO FAIR!" I squealed as he started to tickle me. He didn't stop until I turned purple and was gasping for air.

I turned on my side and smile up at him, since his head was propped on his elbow.

"Love you."

"Love you too, Gallagher Girl."

I looked at the clock. 3:58, it read. I got started on my homework, which only took 23 minutes and 17 seconds. After I was done, I looked at Zach.

"Have you found anything about the Circle yet?" I asked him.

He looked up, remembering something.

"Actually, yes. My mom is hosting a dance tonight, but it's really a Circle meeting..do you want to go? It's at 7:30."

"Yea, we should go. Just to...find out what's going on."

"Oh, and one more thing." Zach turned back around to face me.

"Yea?"

"It's a masquerade ball. Do you have a renaissance-like dress?"

"Actually, yes. It was a CoveOps assignment."

"Good. What color?"

"Dark green – with some black."

"Kay." He grabbed his wallet and left to go buy masks.

I guess I should start getting ready. I took a shower and stood in front of the floor-length mirror in the bathroom, still wrapped in my towel. First I twisted my hair into two braids. Then I put on my bra and panties. I shuffled around in my closet and found it – it was renaissance-y and modern at the same time. It was a dark green with black stitching. It was made out of a silky material. The sleeves down to the elbows were loose, with shoulder cutouts, and then it suddenly became very tight around my arms. They were sleeve-glove things, so there was a small piece of fabric in-between my middle and ring finger. It was a V-neck dress, and the top part of it was a corset-like thing. It stopped hugging my curves when it got right under my belly-button. From there it flowed out and swirled around my legs. It stopped right when it touched the floor, resting on it but not dragging behind me. There were black velvety tiny flowers on the bottom hem, and a velvet 'belt' around my waste. I put on black high heels and put on mascara, black eyeliner, and shimmer lotion. I heard Zach walk through the front door and walked out.

"How do I look?" I asked.

His eyes widened and his mouth opened in amazement.

"Oh – wow. Cammie, you look amazing! Beautiful. Stunning."

I laughed and gave him a hug. He changed into his black suit, and he looked even better than I did. He gave me a mask – it only covered half of my face – showing some of my nose and my lips – on which I dabbed on some red lipstick. It had eye holes and black trimmings all around. On the left side was a green feather – matching my dress exactly. Zach's was dark blue, since his suit had a blue tie.

"Zach, it's so pretty! Thank you!"

"No problem, Gallagher Girl." We slipped our masks on and looked at the clock. It was already 7:00. I slipped into the bathroom and pulled out my braids, and brushed out my hair. It was already dry, and it came to the small of my back in thick, gorgeous waves. The reddish tint to it stood out against my green dress. Zach walked it.

"You look even more pretty now." he smiled and kissed me. I, of course, kissed him back, running my hands through his soft mussed up hair.
"Oh! I almost forgot.." I said, pulling away. I had a black strap around my thigh, and I pulled my dress up, momentarily forgetting Zach was there. He blushed and looked at the floor, but I could see him glancing at me from time to time. I put in some poison darts and daggers, and in the other one a spray that could knock you unconscious and, of course, my Napotine patches. When Zach saw what I was doing, he smirked and opened his jacket. It was filled with small knives and odd cans that contained things I probably did not need to know of.

"Great minds think alike," he stated.

I laughed. "Time to go!"

He took my hand and leaded me out to the taxi he had flagged, with people staring at us curiously, probably wondering where we were going in such fancy clothes.