Spy and Don't Tell

Chapter Eleven

All six of our heads turn towards the open doors of the library but didn't stop what we were previously doing. The first person who came threw was Dad who was telling the boys to sit at the tables. Then came the CoveOps class—Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes—soaking wet and ashamed as they took their seats at the table. It wasn't till then when they noticed the six girls plus Mom sitting in front of them. The only one who wasn't embarrassed enough to speak was Alex which didn't really surprise me. That boy could manage to find the strength to talk when someone is holding a gun to his head (a situation I already know is possible.)

"Hey Gallagher. Sorry about the puddles of water." Alex smirked leaning back in his chair.

"Shut up, Mr Johnson. You really should not be flirting with my daughter when you failed an assignment." Dad said crossing his arms. Alex sat straight up at this with wide eyes, just like every other Blackthorn boy sitting down at the tables in the library.

"W-We f-failed? H-How? We just got in the school! We didn't even get time to take something!" Morgan said stumbling over his words.

"Mr Goode, what do you mean we failed?" Skip asked.

"Easy. You see, for starters, these girls sitting in front of you were awake the whole time hanging out in one of their rooms and Z saw you boys–wait who did you say you saw, Z?" Dad asked.

"Morgan, mainly." I said leaning back.

"So Z saw Morgan and two, you could have just came threw the front doors since they knew you were coming." The boys honestly looked so embarrassed it was hilarious.

"Girls you can go back to bed. You're going to need your energy for when we go out in town later to work on tailing." Mom said. The girls stood up and made their way out and back to their rooms but I stayed seated since Mom had a hand on my shoulder to let me know to stay. Dad dismissed the boys to go back to the van but told Alex and Morgan to stay. Before either of them could start talking Lexi came back into the room.

"Oh, I forgot, if Z is in trouble it's probably something I put her up to so I probably should stay. Also I brought Kat with me because she's the walker version of the Gallagher Academy rule book so she can get us out of trouble." Lexi said in one breath pulling Kat behind her by the collar of her shirt.

"Three." Mom whispered. "Two." Dad sighed after. They both then gestured towards the door and in came Skip saying pretty much the same thing Lexi said only about the Blackthorn Rule Book.

"Please, Skip, take a seat. Also they aren't in trouble." Dad said. "We just wanted to talk to them about a little thing called getting caught when out in the field of these were real ops."

"Oh I already had my lecture when we got back from DC, but thanks for the offer." I said standing up only to be pushed back down.

"Trust me, you want to listen to this lecture since it's more towards your brother and Alex and Skip then to you." Mom said with a wink.

"Wait why us? We didn't get seen! Morgan was the only one to get seen!" Alex said truly confused. Dad waved off the statement.

"Z, how many of the boys did you see before the library?" Dad asked clearly not amused.

"Three." I said a little uncomfortable since they were glaring at me. I knew they were trying to tell me to shut up without saying it because they don't want to be punished. Mainly because Dad isn't like Mom when it comes to "if this was a real op" lectures. They knew that they would get some sort of punishment if it was to do training sessions with Dad in the middle of the night or joining us on our assignments.

"And they were...?"  I looked down, not able to look at the three boys in front of me who really didn't want to do a month of fighting Dad.

"Morg, Alex, and Skip." I mumbled. I sensed Dad nodded.

"What were they doing when you spot them?"

"Morgan was climbing the wall while Alex was helping Skip climb down..." Again, Dad nodded then turned his attention away from me and towards the three boys.

"If this was a real op and they didn't already know to expect you, you could be in serious trouble. Not to mention you could have possibly killed everyone or even cause a code black. And trust me, code blacks are never fun." Dad took a deep breath before continuing. "Because you three were the reasons why everyone failed, you will be taking part of Professor Goode's assignment that she had planned for the girls as well as three Nick, Jason, and Kyle."

"Um, Zach? I didn't really plan anything. I was just going to take them into Roseville and have them tail people." Mom whispered not so quietly. Dad shrugged as if it didn't matter and walked out of the library.

Lexi linked arms with me and Kat and dragged us out of the library. She started rambling about what an interesting morning this was and how she's excited to be spending a day out in Roseville tailing people with the Blackthorn boys. I rolled my eyes and made a comment about how she is only excited because she will most likely get paired up with Powers and leave me to be paired up with Alex or Morgan. As a result of being right about this, Lexi slapped me on the arms and marched up the stairs mumbling something along the lines of as if I wouldn't want to be paired with Alex. Kat sighed and wondered out loud if she will get to be paired with Skip before she skipped up the stairs after Lexi. I scoffed at my two best friends and started following.

"Hey Gallagher. Going off to bed so soon?" Alex teased behind me. I turned around on my heel and looked at him.

"As a mater of fact, Blackthorn, I am." I shot back.

"I don't see a point. You will just have to wake back up in less then an hour." Alex leaned against the bottom of the railing. It was obvious he wasn't going anywhere since he was technically right. Everyone will be up in less than an hour and running around trying to finish up homework.

"Well, sleep deprived spies are never really all that useful out in the field. Not to mention they can easily be caught climbing a wall and helping someone out with climbing down a wall which will only risk their life." I crossed my arms and leaned against the opposite railing.

"Oh, well if we're firing shots then I might as well remind you that spies who over sleep and end up missing a meal is just not as good of an agent out in the field and can risk their life plus their fellow agents lives by giving away their meeting point." Alex smirked.

"Did you choose the front wall because you knew that I would be awake and staring out my window?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I had no idea that you always get back to your room every other Saturday night at exactly eleven fifty five pm. I also had no idea that you sit in that window of yours watching all the normal lived teenagers of Roseville return from late night parties drunk  till your roommates tell you to go to bed which is normally around this time. I didn't know that you could spot your brother's face in a crowd of hundreds of people of that you could spot him when you are half asleep from a mile away." Alex said walking up the steps closer to me with each sentence. "But if I said I didn't know or had no idea, then that would be a lie. And I don't lie. I know that because the past weeks after when I first met you in DC, I snuck out of Blackthorn every Saturday and watched you till I memorized your pattern." Alex was only maybe a foot away from my now.  "I chose that spot because I knew you would be there. I convinced Morgan and Skip that it was a better spot to get over the wall then where everyone else went around on the other side of the mansion where you couldn't see. I knew I could have walked right through those doors and you would be waiting there joking with your dad and mom and friends."

"But you didn't. Why?" A soft smile appeared on Alex's face before he answered.

"Why? I didn't because I was told to get in the mansion more or less unnoticed and get something or someone and bring them out to the van. If I went threw those doors it would have been an even bigger failed assignment then being spotted for climbing a wall."

"Johnson, c'mon. Morg is waiting for us in the library." Kyle said walking past us and dragging Alex with him. A slight blush grew on my cheeks as Alex was being dragged away, but I couldn't help it. After all, how many times do you get to see the boy who annoys you get dragged away by their ear?