Here it is * drum roll * the long awaited chapter! Sorry it took so long, I've been very busy. Anyway here it is: (non-edited to my disgust but I wanted to get it up quickly).
Disclaimer: Ally owns all * sobs * except for the completely pointless guy at the end of the chapter. He is mine!
Zach awoke to the startling sight of Bex's glaring face hovering inches from his own. I had to give it to the guy, he was brave, didn't so much as blink as he took in the situation at hand.
"What happened to sweet talking?" Zach grunted as he tested out the new hand cuffs we had made from spare wires that Liz found in the van. I tried to hide my grimace of guilt as he turned my way and raised an eyebrow in question.
"You move and I sit on you, Goode." Bex warned as she took up post beside the doorway. Zach rolled his eyes in reply but had the brains to sit still.
"Zach, what do you know about this CIA group?" I asked, sitting opposite him on a wooden bench. Zach's smirk didn't leave his face as he tilted his head ever so slightly and tried to figure out how much we knew.
"We know that a small part of the CIA wants to wipe out Terrorists and that your mum is the head of the group. What we want to know is why she has targeted me." I dived straight in, avoiding small talk and niceties. Not that that would work with Zach anyway.
Zach's left foot tapped ever so slightly and the smells of the barn made Liz's nose wrinkle in disgust. After forty breaths of horse smelling air, Zach finally opened his mouth to reply.
"They're called the COC and yes my mother is at the top. I'm not sure why they want you, all I know is that you are the target." His breathing stayed even, his eyes didn't flicker; there was no sign that he was lying yet we all knew he was.
Bex flexed her fingers threateningly and Macey stood a little straighter, even Liz's fingers were slowly inching towards the small hand held spade. They were getting ready for Bex's way of interrogation, though I doubted Liz would actually use the spade.
Zach noticed all of this yet he didn't seem to care; maybe he also doubted Liz's capabilities at torture. "You would only keep quiet if you were on their side." I said softly, looking him straight in the eye.
"I'm not on their side Gallgher Girl," Zach growled, sounding frustrated and a little hurt, "I just think there a things you don't need to know just yet."
"They are trying to kill me Zach! I need to know so I can protect myself." I all but yelled. I took in the large empty barn around me as I tried to calm down. It was a wide-open space with wooden benches along the walls and hay barrels in the corners. The barn was probably only used for the town dances.
"How am I supposed to survive if I don't know anything about them?" I traced a stain on my school skirt with my finger, not looking at him.
He was silent for a few moments as he considered what I had said. "They want to kill you because you know who they are." He finally answered.
We all stared at him. I for one was confused. Could this boy ever answer a question without creating more bewilderment? "You better start talking Goode, and you better start making sense." To everyone's surprise it was Liz who had ground out that sentence. She stood behind Zach; spade in hand, looking afraid but determined.
I guess fear for a friend's life changed how everyone acted. Bex looked proud as she took in the sight of our Little Lizzie standing there, blonde hair tangled and weapon raised; she looked like a goddess of war in the fading sunlight that shone through the barn windows.
Zach must have taken her threat seriously because soon he started talking and he made some sense. "When Cammie was younger she saw a list that had the names of the Circle on it and she remembered it. Or at least the Circle thinks she did. They're afraid that she will use it to help bring them down. They're a corrupted part of the CIA who have been doing more than just killing off terrorists over the years, if anyone found out they would all be done for. Hence the reason to kill Cammie."
We processed all of this, slowly. "But I haven't remembered it…" I trailed off, wondering where I would have even seen this list to start with.
"You'll probably find that you have Gallagher Girl," Zach replied, looking at me with concern, "Your father was given the list when he took you to the circus…" Zach seemed surprised that he had told us so much information. I was surprised to, until I remembered the bottle of water Liz had put to his lips while he was unconscious.
"The circus…" I tried to remember that day several years ago; it was a memory that had stayed with me for so long. And it was as I was standing in a barn covered in dust and hay that I remembered my father stopping to tie his shoelace and picking up a piece of rubbish from the ground. But it wasn't rubbish; it was the list.
"I remember seeing the list, just not what was on it…" I said slowly, carefully, looking only at Bex.
Bex nodded and then smiled dangerously, "If they're so worried about you finding them, then that's what we'll do. Girls, we're going Circle hunting."
What she said made sense, but none of us had time to reply because at that moment the sound of voices alerted us to company.
Thinking quickly, I pushed Liz down behind a pile of hay and motioned for Macey to hide as well. Bex quickly scaled the loft ladder and was out of sight before you could say "Baxter."
That just left Zach and I, the voices were close now, so close that I predicted them to be less than a meter from the barn door. Shooting Zach a warning glance I unbound his hands and was still looking for a place to hide the two of us when the large door opened.
Before I knew what was happening, Zach had wound an arm around my waste and pulled me towards him. Zach pushed his lips against mine just as two shadows appeared in the barn. Zach's tongue swept over my lips and I unwillingly opened my mouth, diving into the kiss. The voices stopped, and Zach broke away to stare at whoever had walked inside.
I could only hope it wasn't anyone from Gallagher. My face flushed and I was certain I looked exactly like any other normal teenage girl who had been caught making out in a barn.
I turned to see the strangers and my face fell… they certainly weren't from Gallagher. This was bad; this was very, very bad.
"Cammie?" Came a shocked and slightly hurt voice from the other end of the barn. I winced and felt Zach stiffen.
"Hi Josh."
Zach's arm was still around my waste, and I could tell from the twitch in his jaw that he knew exactly who Josh was. Someone had been doing his research.
The boy standing next to him was no one I knew but he seemed almost as shocked as Josh was to find Zach and I in the barn. Maybe he knew Zach? I let myself think about Zach having a secret gay love affair and tried not to grin.
It was then that everything got a whole lot worse as DeeDee came bounding into the barn, oblivious to the situation. "I was thinking the sign could hang above the door… Cammie is that you?"
"I think I'm going to be sick." I murmured more to myself than Zach.
"What are you doing here?" DeeDee asked brightly, obviously not realizing what it looked like I had been doing.
Zach, by that point was looking ready to strangle someone and everyone had fallen into an awkward silence that seemed unnecessary. "You take out the girl, I'll punch the first guy in the throat and the second one shouldn't be too hard to knock out." Zach muttered only loud enough for myself to hear.
"Not everything is fixed with violence Zach." I hissed back at him while smiling awkwardly at the teenagers standing in front of me. How on earth would I get out of this mess?
It was then that Macey McHenry walked through the door, causing us all to stop and stare. "Seriously guys, a barn? I know there isn't anywhere at the Academy to hook up but a barn's pretty cliché don't you think?" Macey popped a bubble of gum and grinned wickedly at DeeDee.
I flushed bright red at what she was saying and tried to understand the reason behind her words. "Headmistress is looking for you Cam, so you might want to jump in the van right now and get back before she realizes your missing. Said something about failing your last Chem test."
With that Macey grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door, waving goodbye to DeeDee and Josh as she did so.
I scrambled into the van and closed my eyes, not opening them until we were all far away. God that was awkward. To stop myself from thinking about the previous situation, I turned to Liz.
"What did you put in Zach's drink?" I asked too quietly for him to hear from the back of the van. (Bex had wanted to tie him to the roof but there had been no time).
Liz flashed Bex's trade mark grin, "Oh, nothing much, just some home made truth serum." My mind flashed back to the empty bottles of ethanol and various other chemicals I had seen in our room earlier. Liz had been planning this since we brought Zach in.
How could a girl who cut herself on her own flash cards be so scary?
So Peach, what did you think?
I know the second half was sort of weird and immature but I just wanted to write something about Josh.
And holy Gallagher I only just realized that that was their first kiss! It wasn't very exciting. Damn I got this story and one of my other ones mixed up; I thought Zammie had already kissed in this story. Oh well.
Now to my beautiful reviewers xx
LoveBooks2014: Yes darling they are considering it for a movie! Thank you for liking my story x
EllaMchenry: Here is the update you wanted! Hope it fits your expectations. Happy holidays x
XxCandyygirlxX: I'm glad it made you laugh; it made me laugh while writing it. Thanks for the review Sweetpea x
kccb16: Thanks love for yet another long review, they always make my day! Zach's character will be hard to play x
RidingAngelxspy: I completely understand; the Mortal Instruments fandom annoys me now because its mainly for/because of the movie. And I love us original Gallagher Girls x
zammielover16: Here's what happened next ;) did it live up to your expectations? X
xXFangirlingBookwormXx: Thanks Chika for the cute review, I loved your story by the way if you didn't realize from all the reviews x
FluffyUnicorn507: Why thank you! Though I cringe whenever I read the chapters and find heaps of mistakes x
carrot17: Thank you Lovely, but if I didn't doubt my writing it would never get better ;) x
Thank you to everyone else who reviewed but didn't sign their name xx
Reviews make me feel like writing the rest of the story!
Love you all,
Matisse xx