Alexa POV
I was a girl. I was teenager. And I was a spy. So when I first set foot in the huge mall I noticed two things. 1) Zach was here, and he'd seen me. 2) The second was that this place was crawling with spies. I spotted two to my right and five to my left.
They kept checking their tail and doubling back, in case someone was following them. It was hard to tell really what gave them away as a spy but I had always had a sixth sense about those kinds of things. That's what my dad had always said.
When I was 7 we were in Paris, at the Eiffel tower, we were meeting an agent from the french agency, he was giving us a parcel. After we'd been there 15 minutes I spotted 2 tails. A lady buying a baguette, she'd already bought one twice, wearing different clothes. A man taking photos of the tower, because 1) Nobody needs 15 minutes to do that and 2) The camera wasn't on, he was looking at us in the reflection.
That's how my dad had given me the nickname Tail Catcher. And I'd definitely lived up to the name.
"Kellie?" Deedee said. It took me a second to figure out who they were talking to, I sometimes forgot my own cover name (Guilty).
"Uh, yeah?" I spun around to see her. She pointed at Josh, who was standing a little bit apart talking to one of the Girls. "Is that Cammie?" I asked.
"Yep." Did I hear jealousy in her voice as the watched her boyfriend talk to another girl. "Let's go say hi!" She smiles wickedly,I shake my head and reluctantly follow her.
"Hey Cammie!" She waved at Cammie so sweetly that I wanted to gag. Cammie noticed and shot me a smile.
"Oh, Cammie, this is Kellie Rivers." Josh pointed to me. "Kellie, this is Cammie Morgan." We shook hands.
"Hey." I say.
"Hi." She says.
"Cammie!" She turns to see a boy, Zach, coming towards her. He stares at me.
"Oh hey..." He doesn't know my cover name. I thought fast, I don't know why I didn't answer straight away.
"Kellie." I blurt. Yes, I blurted it, so not suspicious. Thankfully only Cammie noticed it. She glanced between me and Zach before shrugging.
"It's been nice to meet you Kellie." She says dryly and her and Zach walk away, but not before he gives me a dirty questioning glare as if to say. You shouldn't be here, why are you here? I frowned and excused myself from Deedee and Josh.
###
I ran to the bathrooms and gagged into the toilets, nothing came out. So I was left with a vile empty feeling in my stomach.
"Hey." A girl squeaked behind me. I turned around to see a small pale girl with short blonde hair and brown eyes. "Are you okay?" I nodded numbly. "I'm Liz." The girl says.
"I'm Kellie." I smiled slightly.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asks again. "Do you have family here, friends or-"
"I'm fine." I snapped. She frowns and nods. "I'm sorry, I just- I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Liz said and turned to leave. She called back: "I know your name isn't Kellie by the way!" I froze. How did she know? That was easy, she was a spy. Were all Gallagher Girls spies? Probably. I decided to follow her.
"Liz wait!" I called. Okay, so maybe I didn't subtly follow her. She stopped and turned around. "How did you-"
"Know your name isn't Kellie. Just a guess." She shrugged. "But I have to say, you're good."
"What do you mean?" I asked her, confused.
"Yo have everyone else fooled." She noted, pointing at Deedee and Josh. "And you're wearing contacts." I blinked, like I'd forgotten they were in there myself. "They're good though, I'd almost believe your eyes were blue. And your hair isn't black." I nodded. God she was good.
"My eyes are green." I told her. Why? I had know clue. "And my hair is blonde." Liz nodded, like she'd known all along.
"And your name?" She asked me.
"Erm. Alexa." I sighed.
"Alexa what?" She seemed curious.
"None of your business." I said.
"What's none of her business?" A pretty dark girl with dark hair and eyes comes up behind Liz.
"She's a spy." Liz puts bluntly. I clench my fists.
"Come on Liz, you can't jump to a conclusion like that." The girl says. Liz shrugged.
"Bex, she's a spy." She said again.
"She is right here!" I said loudly. "And I'm not a spy."
"Give it up Alexa, I've told them." Zach puts a hand on my shoulder making me jump.
"Jerk." I mumbled. He grinned.
"Spy." He corrects. "And you're coming back with us."
"What?" Bex and Liz both chorus.
"The Circles after her as well, she needs to hide." He said.
"As well?" I looked him in the eye. Zach fidgets uncomfortably.
"That's need to know." He said. I sighed impatiently. Heard very faint static coming from Bex.
"We have to get back to school." She said. "Are you coming?" The last bit was directed at me. I didn't know.
"Guys!" Cammie grabbed Bex's arm. "Mum wants us back now. It's a code red." Zach looks at me and says the word I've waited my whole life to hear.
"Now or never." He said seriously. "You can stay here and go on living a lie, forever worried about the Circle of Cavan. Or you could come with us, become a Gallagher Girl and be who you really are." I couldn't help it. I said:
"When do we leave?" He grinned and we followed the line of Gallagher Girls out of the mall.
A/N: Thanks for reading!