Hi! Here we are again.
For those of you who have been asking, I am only taking into account what has happened in the series up until the end of the exchange. Sorry for any confusion!
Disclaimed and here s the next chapter.
Zach POV
Cammie. Cammie was here. The girl I hurt; the girl whose friends were most likely to kill me. Seeing her again made me think about what Solomon had said. Could it be true? Was she maybe not a part of the group that killed my dad? We (Solomon and I) hadn't talked about it since the day he had arrived at Blackthorne. Hopefully I could talk to him about it soon.
I reaffixed my signature smirk and followed my boys up to the stage.
One by one, they introduced themselves giving their name, age and codename.
Once they were done, Cammie turned to me and asked a simple enough question. However she asked it with a devious glint in her eye.
"How about you, headmaster? Would you and your staff like to introduce yourselves?"
I nodded and Joe went first as the girls all knew him already.
"Hello, girls. I am back from Blackthorne, and may I say that it was very nice to walk in during lunch and there not be food on the walls, screaming or fighting. "
Cammie had to stifle a laugh at the backhand insult at Blackthorne and I found it very hard not to stand and stare at her. I dragged my gaze away from her and onto Jonas as he moved up to introduce himself.
"Hi, I'm Jonas Anderson, and I think I'll be helping Miss Sutton in the labs."
Interesting, Liz kept her maiden name to teach. I wonder if Bex did too.
"Hey, I'm Grant Newman, and I'll be helping out my British Bombshell with P&E" Grant said. At this, Cammie lost it and burst out laughing, Bex was glaring at Grant and a girl at the junior table was making puking actions while her friends laughed at her.
As Cam was incapacitated by laughter, and Grant was about to be decapitated, Macey stood up to introduce me.
"And now for Blackthorn's headmaster, come on," she said giving me a shove.
I stepped forwards to the mike.
"Well, I'm the headmaster at Blackthorne, so I'll probably be helping Miss Morgan out with whatever she does round here." At the mention of her name, Cammie calmed down and sat up. "Oh, and my name's Zachary Goode, you can call me Mr Goode." I said smirking, expecting them to have heard what a Goode spy I was.
However, once I said my name, all talking in the hall stopped. The girls all either gave me looks of disgust, shock, or glared at me.
I turned round to give Grant a 'what the heck?' look. He just shrugged at me with a puzzled look on his face. I turned to Jonas and he had the same expression.
At this point, Cammie stood up and gracefully walked up to the podium beside me, leaning into the mike.
"This is the Zachary Goode you have all heard about, but I ask you don't pester him about it, as he is here to help, and watch over his boys. That is all, you may leave now."
There was a sudden rise in the noise level as the whole school scraped their chairs back and left the grand hall, chattering about whatever girls talk about.
After they had all left, I turned to ask Cam what that was all about only to find she had vanished. I sighed and headed towards the doors, thinking that she had probably headed up to her office.
I was right.
I caught up to her in the main foyer. I reached out to touch her shoulder only to find myself sailing thorough the air and banging down on the wooden floor, hard.
I looked up to see Cam looking down at me impassively, and more than a hundred girls crowded round us.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I was going to ask what that was about at lunch, among other things," I replied, getting up.
"Oh yeh? Well I've got quite a few questions of my own! Like how could you leave me! How could you join the group that killed my dad! How you could shoot my daughter!" she cried, getting angrier by the second.
"Cam! Why don't you calm down, and we can discuss this in private," I suggested, wanting to get away from the prying eyes and ears all around us.
"No need. The girls know all about what happened. They know all about what you did. That answer your previous question?" she said, her voice slightly more controlled than before.
What! Cam told the whole school about us? Why would she do that? I guess it explains the looks I was getting when I said my name. But still!
"Why would you just tell a school full of teenage girls about our relationship?!"
"They're my sisters. Regardless of age, all Gallagher girls are sisters; we can trust each other to the ends of the earth and back again," she said very calmly.
I felt myself getting irritated. "What do you mean?! How can you all be sisters? It can't be like a brotherhood; that is something unique."
"You're right."
There were some sharp intakes of breath from around us at that.
"What? I expected more from you, Cam. You're not going to stand up for your 'sisters'?"
"Your right, it's nothing like a brotherhood," she said stepping closer to me. "We're closer."
With that, she turned on her heel and started to walk off.
"Oh yeah!" My mouth said. "That's it, you all rely on trust. I'd forgotten how weak Gallagher's P&E programme was. You need that trust, you couldn't fight your way out a paper bag."
Wrong thing to say.
She whipped round and strode towards me, her face like thunder.
"I advise you don't let Bex hear you say that - remember, she's in charge of P&E now, she would kill you. But, seeing as I haven't seen Blackthorne boys in action for a while, I'll challenge you to a duel. No weapons, just simple, old school, hand-to-hand combat. What do you say?"
My mouth twisted into a smirk and I nodded.
"Ok," she said. "Tomorrow, 9:30, the P&E barn. Be there."
Cam POV
Oh. My. God.
Did I really just do that?
Did I really just challenge Zachary Goode to a fight?
"Bex!" I yelled, heading to my office.
I arrived and sat down in my chair to wait.
2 minutes later, Bex came panting through the door.
"Sorry . . . Cam . . . with . . . Grant . . . catching . . . up," she panted
"Ok," I said with a smile. I'm pretty sure I know how they were 'catching up', if the smudged lip-gloss and rumpled top were any clue. "I need you to help me train some more. I may have challenged Zach to a fight."
"Why?" she asked after collapsing onto my comfy sofa.
"He said Gallagher girls couldn't fight, so I thought id prove him wrong."
"Cams, I honestly don't think you need any more training. You already do more for your warm-up than I do for my main exercise, and you managed to beat Abby the other day. I really don't see what I can do to help."
"Could you just help me spar? Please? And I only just beat Abby, I nearly lost, remember," I pleaded. I really wanted my best friend to help me - she knew all my weaknesses, and so could help me learn to defend them.
She sighed before consenting, "Ok, but please don't put me in the infirmary. I really want to see this fight."
"Agreed."
Bex POV
Will that girl ever learn? She really doesn't need my help. I may need hers, but she certainly doesn't need mine. After Alex was born, I convinced her to channel all her hurt and anger towards Zach into training, and she did. She became the best spy in CIA history, possibly the world!
I was thinking about this as I headed off to the P&E barn. I had a junior class next and George and her friends were in it.
When I got there, everyone was changed. I usually let the girls choose what they wore, as long as they were comfy and could fight in it, so they had on their short, sports shorts in all different colours; with either a top or a sports bra; some of them had bare feet, while others wore an assortment of training shoes. The boys, on the other hand, were all wearing the same thing; sports shorts with white tops and training shoes.
Grant was leaning on the wall near the whiteboard on the wall. I walked over to him, past all the girls who were gossiping and stretching, and the boys who were standing talking and checking the girls out.
"Start stretching, boys. You'll need it." They jumped as I passed, and hastily started stretching.
I reached Grant and he smiled down at me.
"Hey, how's my British Bombshell doing?"
I smiled back. "Fine, but haven't we got a lesson to take?"
He chuckled and followed me to the centre of the room.
"Good morning, girls."
"Good morning, Miss Baxter," they replied.
"Good morning, boys. Ready for your initiation test?" I asked.
When they all looked confused, I elaborated, "to earn you some respect in this class, and to let me see what you're capable of, we are going to spar. There are an equal number of girls and boys, so I'll let each school choose someone to fight for them. To win, you must knock your opponent off the mat or pin them down for ten seconds. The winner earns a point for their team. The team with the most points at the end wins. Mr Newman and I will referee. Understood?"
They all nodded their heads so I turned to Grant. "Right, you happy with that?"
Grant smirked, "I get to watch my boys impress you and your girls, course I'm happy."
I just raised an eyebrow at him. "What makes you so sure the boys will win?"
"Well . . . they're boys?" he said as if it was obvious. Ah, Grant, will you ever learn?
I glared at him and turned to my girls, "well then, we'll just have to change that misconception, wont we."
The girls all cheered and I turned to face the boys.
"Ok then, boys, pick your first fighter."
Alex POV
We all looked over at the boys. There were ten of them and ten of us - one each.
The boys all looked at each other, and a slightly scrawny looking guy stepped forward.
Miss Baxter looked him up and down, "ok, what's your name?"
"Ben, Benjamin Gonzalez."
"Ok then, girls?"
I looked round at my sisters and gave them a look to say that maybe this one should be for Sophia, as she isn't the best fighter, and all the others looked stronger than this boy.
They nodded slightly and Sophia stepped forwards, "Sophia," she said. A few of the boys sniggered as if she wouldn't be able to beat him.
She frowned and took her stance.
I'm going to tell you this now; Sophia has a very . . . unique style of fighting. When she was first learning, she really didn't want to, and wanted to spend her whole day in either the dance studio or the library. None of the teachers could get her to train, and we were all worried that she wouldn't be able to defend herself. So, to prevent this, I made it my responsibility to teach her. I decided to teach her to fight in the dance studio, and incorporate her dance moves so she wouldn't lose interest. Once she realised she could dance while fighting, she dived right in and started to train herself. Even though she knows all the styles of martial arts as the rest of us, she chooses to use her very own dance-fighting. This has many advantages, one of which is that anyone who hasn't fought her before, or doesn't know her, will have no idea of what she is doing. And that is why Benjamin gave her a funny look as she slipped into a fighting stance not used in any martial art.
He shook of his confusion and took up a more traditional stance.
Miss Baxter blew the whistle and he started circling her. Sophia just stood there and half closed her eyes, as if listening to imaginary music. As Benjamin started to charge at her from behind, her eyes snapped open and she simply flipped backwards over his head. She landed into a handstand and pushed off the floor to propel herself further and onto her feet. The instant her feet touched the floor she was up on her toes, with her arms out in third position. He spun round and just stood and stared at her like she had grown a third head. Sophia took this chance and leapt forward, circling her arms above her head as she spun in the air, and kicked her leg out as she reached Benjamin, solidly connecting with his chest. She caught him completely by surprise, and he fell to the floor and slid off the end of the mat.
1-0 to the girls.
Grant POV
Start of lesson
God, I can't believe this goddess is mine. I was truly shocked when she accepted my proposal. And now I get to spend a year with her doing what we both love! We get to teach P&E together.
When the boys and I first came in, the girls were already in the changing room, so I told them to go get changed. I leant on the wall next to a whiteboard to wait for Bex and the students.
The girls were finished and out the changing room first. When they came out I nearly choked on the air I was breathing. They were all wearing something different; there were combinations of sports tops or bras, and really short shorts. They noticed me standing there and George came up to me with Alex and two others.
"Hey, dad" she said perkily. "Are your boys joining us today?"
The thought of any boy seeing her in what she was wearing made my blood boil. She was wearing a black sports bra with black shorts. I nodded and made a mental note to give extra night drill to any boy who so much as looked at her.
She squealed and dragged Alex and the other two back to the rest of the girls. Once there, they all started chatting and sat down to stretch.
There was a loud clatter as Benjamin Gonzalez came out the changing room and saw the girls. Ben isn't the most socially adept guy. He's on the R&D track, and isn't top of my class. Due to the fact he was now frozen in the changing room doorway, the rest of the boys were protesting loudly that they couldn't get out.
The girls all started to laugh loudly which made all the boys go quiet. One kicked Ben's leg so he snapped out of his trance and hurried over to the opposite side of the room from the girls. The rest all came out in their matching white t-shirts and black shorts. At Blackthorne, the boys don't get any choice in what they wear; they have to wear an orange jumpsuit or white top and black shorts for P&E. But it would appear that the girls can choose what they wear, a fact the boys were now finding out as one by one they came out and gaped at the girls. They got to Ben and started to talk and check the girls out.
I felt myself start to get angry and was about to do something when my British bombshell strode through the door and gracefully made her way over to me. As she passed the boys she told them to start stretching and they all jumped.
She reached me and I smiled down at her.
"Hey, how's my British Bombshell doing?"
She smiled back. "Fine, but haven't we got a lesson to take?" and she headed off to the middle of the room.
I thought about the way the boys were obviously checking out the girls and how the girls were much more subtly checking them out as well; and I chuckled and followed Bex. I wasn't sure much learning would be done.
"Good morning, girls," she said.
"Good morning, Miss Baxter," they replied.
"Good morning, boys. Ready for your initiation test?"
She then went on to explain about how they would be sparring. Once she finished, she turned to face the boys.
"Ok then, boys, pick your first fighter."
I saw the boys look at each other and Ethan Sanchez pushed Ben so he stepped forward. He managed to do this without anyone noticing, as he is the best in his year across all his subjects.
Bex looked him up and down and asked his name.
"Ben, Benjamin Gonzalez."
"Ok then, girls?"
They all looked at each other and seemed to have that strange conversation girls have with their eyes.
Eventually, a slim, nerdy girl stepped forward. "Sophia," she said. She was one of the girls who were with George and Alex, and I remember George mentioning a 'Sophia' last time I saw her.
The boys all sniggered and I had to refrain from snorting myself. There was no way she could take Ben, I doubt she could take any of the boys without any help – she was as thin as a twig! But I kept a poker face and waited to see what she could do – she was taught by Bex after all.
She frowned and took up a strange position; her left foot was turned out on the ground in front of her, her right foot was turned out as well but behind her right shoulder, her left arm was bent into a curve and placed behind her left hip, right arm was bent the same way and was slightly in front of her, she held her head high and held eye-contact with Ben.
Ben gave her a puzzled look and took up the stance I had shown them last week. Bex blew the whistle and Ben started to circle her. I was shocked that she just stood there with her eyes half closed. He charged at her and 2 ½ minutes later, Ben was on the floor at our feet.
Wow.
Bex POV
I smirked as Sophia beat Ben. We so had this in the bag. It continued like this, the boys only winning one match, and that was Brooke and a boy named Ashton. Finally, there were only two left on either side; Alex and George for the girls, and a couple of boys named Ethan and Lucas for the boys. Apparently these were the best fighters in the class, and they were both smirking. I turned to the girls.
"All right, who want to go first?"
They looked at each other and George stepped forwards. "I will."
I smiled at her and turned to the boys and smirked. "And for the boys?"
Before they could answer, the doors were flung open and a pissed off Cam strode in. I raised an eyebrow at her.
"I need to spar," was all she said.
I nodded. "Could we let our daughters fight first? I want to see how they do."
She smirked and came to stand beside me.
When I turned round, Lucas had decided to step forward to fight George. Not bothering to see if they were ready, I blew the whistle.
George immediately brought her leg up for a roundhouse kick, this surprised Lucas and hit the side of his head. He crumpled to the floor, but before George could pin him down, he rolled over and was up on his feet. He struck his leg out, and she missed getting a kick in the stomach by a hairs breadth by jumping back. It continued like this for sixteen minutes. Lucas was tiring, but George was fine to keep going as I had been making them build up stamina recently. With one last kick to the stomach, Lucas was on the floor, exhausted.
It was 8-1 to the girls with one match left.
Ethan stepped forward onto the mat, but Alex just turned to me, "do you mind if we use a bigger space, Miss? There are a couple of new moves I'd like to try."
I looked at Ethan to see if he minded. When he just shrugged, I motioned for the rest of the students and teachers to move to the sides of the room.
Once we were all situated, I blew the whistle and it began.
Ethan smirked at Alex, and she just glared back at him. He then proceeded to spin round into a complicated Lowery manoeuvre. But when his foot should have connected with her shoulder, she wasn't there. I stifled a laugh. All the girls could see her, but none of the boys knew where she was. I looked over at Cam to see that she was smirking proudly. Alex had brought out her inner Chameleon, and she was inching her way round the outside of the crowd towards Ethan's back.
When she reached her goal, she slunk out the shadows so she was standing directly behind him.
One of the boys noticed her and gasped. Ethan spun round, only to meet her fist with his face. He blacked out immediately.
"Well done, Alex!" I said laughing. "You managed to mix cove-ops in with P&E, Miss Cameron will be proud!"
Cammie smiled and Alex ran up to her and gave her a hug.
By that time it was the end of class, and I sent the students off to get changed. Once they were all gone, I sent Grant away and turned to Cam.
"What happened?"
She groaned. "Macey has decided it is her responsibility to make Zach feel as much pain as possible, and is planning a ball."
"So . . ." I said, hinting for her to continue.
"So . . . it means she is taking us all shopping and doing our make-up; all part of her 'plan' to make Zach jealous. She's disguised it as a test and even invited some guys from the CIA to be examiners and help in her crazy plan!"
Now I get it.
"So . . . do you wanna spar?" I asked.
"Hell yeh!" she said grinning.
So there you go! Hope it was ok.
Does anybody else hate it when you go to start a new chapter, and can't write anything because the bank page is putting you off? Coz it is really annoying right now!
Please r&r!
LD xx