Up to No Goode

Chapter Eleven

I've had some pretty tough missions in my life (They take extra credit at Blackthorne pretty seriously) But the cover I had to adopt to day was toughest I've ever done for many reasons:

Avoiding said Gallagher Girl sucks when they're technically your guide all semester.Pretending you don't care about said Gallagher girl means that you have to lie - alot.You can't be seen tailing said Gallagher Girl while at the same time having to tail said Gallagher Girl to make sure Dr. Steves "Extraction" Plan doesn't get carried out.You have to embarrass said Gallagher girl in front of the entire school.

So I guess you can say things were not in my favor today. I choose a seat close to the head of the table, where I could monitor the conversation in the middle where Cammie was sitting. I was enjoying a perfectly good Crème brûlée, when I heard Tina Walters voice.

"Great" I thought to myself.

"So Cammie," Said Tina Walters taking a seat "Is it true you actually weren't sneaking out to see Josh..."

"Of course I wasn't!" Said Cammie, relieved. But Tina Walters plowed on.

"Because according to my sources, instead of going to that dance in town, you were really sneaking out to participate in a rogue mission for the CIA."

"Tina!" Snapped Cammie "Of course I wasn't!" The poor girl was close to hysterics. I took calming breaths, and tried to keep my pulse steady and even.

"Really?" asked Tina

"No Tina, I wasn't sneaking out to the dance in Roseville, I wasn't sneaking out because the CIA needed me, I wasn't sneaking out!"

Tina rolled her eyes and my blood boiled. But I remained calm, scanning the room. Dr. Steve was nowhere to be seen.

"Tina I'm serious!" Cammie practically yelled "You can ask my mom. You can ask Zach."

Shit.

That got her attention. "You were with Zach?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"You were with ZACH!" She yelled, rushing over to where the boys sat. Grant, Jonas and I exchanged worried looks. "So, Zach." Said Tina, leaning over me while I ate. "Is it true you were with Cammie last night during the code black?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Cammie?" I say, trying to sound confused "Morgan?" as if there were other Cammies. I tried to laugh "Why would I be with her?"

Tina seemed to be believing me so I went on. "Yeah, sure, I saw her at the party," I laughed the half laugh I do when I'm nervous "But I wasn't with her."

Cammie sat staring at me, her face flooding with the color red. The girls around us whispered and I felt proportionately terrible.

"Zach..." She said, close to tears.

Sorry Cammie

"See ya later" I said, leaving the Great Hall.

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I was working on a heavy punching bag, the light falling through the slates in the P&E barn when Cammie stormed in.

"You liar!" She screamed.

I stopped punching the bag for a second and said "Spy," Trying to tell her in any way I could that there were more covert reasons for me lying to TIna Walters. I hit the punching bag rhythmically. Small beads of sweat pooled down my face in a way that only happens when I'm nervous.

"Zach!" Said Cammie as if I'd forgotten she was there (I hadn't) " You know I didn't breach security last night. You know I didn't cause the code black!"

"Oh I thought it was a false alarm" I say, but you can hear the doubt in my voice. Cammie hits the bag with everything in her, and I try to get her mind off of the previous subject. "Not bad." I stepped around to hold the bag "Put your shoulder into it now."

"I know how to do it!" She snarled

"Do you?" I say smiling. She's cute when she's angry.

Then her face darkened. She backed up and kicked the bag, harder than I've ever seen anyone kick before. The bag flew and hit me in the stomach and I doubled over.

"Nice one, Gallagher Girl" I say, trying to catch my breath.

"Don't call me-"

"Look" I say as I step around the punching bag, placing my hand on her shoulders. I needed to make her understand. "Do you really want everyone knowing we were together? Do you think that maybe what happened last night wasn't any of Tina Walter's business?"

The anger on her face started fading away, but she still looked uncertain. Hope shot through me. Maybe I only had to stay away from Cammie where Dr. Steve was concerned. We had an entire mansion full of secret passageways to just be ourselves in. So I went for it "Besides," I say, smiling, wiping sweat from my upperlip "I thought you liked your interludes secret and mysterious. Your boyfriends private."

Cammie looked down right murderous. "We weren't having an interlude and you're not my boyfriend."

I hit the bag harder. Dammit. "Yeah. I noticed."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Too late. I didn't want to talk about it anymore. I stopped, the bag swung back and forth like a pendulum on a grandfather clock. I shook my head. "You're the Gallagher Girl. You figure it out. Besides, at my school we learn to keep a secret."

"Yeah, I know. I go to a school like yours." she said. But she didn't. She lived as a sheltered princess in a castle, and I lived as a criminal in the dungeons.

There was no way she could ever love someone like me.

"Do you?" I asked.