Not Just Another Cover Story

“Wow.”

Even in my panic mode, I was able to roll my eyes. Zach never reacted right. Like me, if I had seen a bunch of people coming over the roof of a supposedly safe school – one for spies, none the less, I would have totally freaked out. (Well, I did see them, but I’m the calm one, remember?) Anyway, I turned to see if our parents were still here, but they weren’t. Great. Zach and I were on our own for this one.

On one side of the mansion, figures in dark clothing were coming over the roof (I hadn’t figured out why they were wearing dark clothes, it didn’t really help with the blend-in process during the day…), and from the other side, more figures (I was guessing they were boys, considering it was a boys school) were rappelling down the side. Zach had finally gotten his ear piece in his ear, but the siren was still going off, so I doubt he could hear anything. I looked around to see if the people were coming from the ground too, but it didn’t seem like it. Turning my attention back to the building, the first group was wheeling something across the roof, and the second group had already reached the ground and was running toward us. My first reaction was to run the opposite way, but my brain kicked in and reminded me of the conversation Zach and I had had not too long ago.

“Then, on the first night during supper, we’ll have a pop test. It’s going to be a fake bomb drill; all the girls are going to freak out. If they’re smart, they’ll try to “disable” it, if not, they’ll just scream while we, the guys, laugh.”

Knowing Zach, he told me about that knowing this would happen. He still wanted me to freak out, just not in front of the girls too. I started laughing.

“Val…?”

“Zach. Honestly. Is this one of those pop tests? You wanted me to freak out. Well… too bad. What am I supposed to do? Beat them all up? I don’t think so.”

Zach looked stunned for a minute. Then slowly, he smiled. “You’re good. I should have known. You are related to me, after all.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. My brother could be so conceited. The guys (by now I knew they were guys) had slowed down once they realized I wasn’t freaking out. I started laughing again. If their “bomb drill” was anything like this, it would be the Gallagher girls that were laughing, not the Blackthorne boys. The boys got closer, and one by one they were pulling their dark masks off. One of the boys called out to Zach.

“So this is your sister.”

“Yep. Val, say hi to the best teenage spies around.”

I smiled but didn’t say anything. I had figured it out by now that I was going to have to stay on my toes for a long time – if the other boys were anything like my brother, which I knew they were, they would use anything they could to get the upper hand. If I had said hi, they would have jumped on it, saying that I admitted that the boys were better than the girls. Stupid, yet enough for them.

“Aren’t you going to say hi?” The other boy asked.

“Nope. I’m Valerie, in case you didn’t get that.” I stuck out my hand. The boy looked surprised.

“She’s good,” he said to Zach. “I’m Grant.” He shook my hand. The rest of the guys introduced themselves without any prompting – David, Mark, Chris, Lance, and Justin (who went by J.P.). I raised my eyes and scanned the building. Where was the first group? I thought. I think J.P. noticed, but he didn’t say anything. However, Grant did.

“Whatcha looking for?”

I lowered my eyes to meet his. “The other group.”

They all laughed. “What other group?” Grant teased.

“Oh shut up.” I snapped. Zach’s eyes got a little wider, and he stepped forward.

“Val…”

“No. You shut up too! I know what’s going on; you guys are trying to trick me. Well, it’s not going to happen. There was another group of boys on the roof, dragging something. What happened to them?”

They looked at each other, and Grant smiled. “I’m sure they’ll turn up.” As he turned to my brother, I heard him mutter, “She reminds me a little of Cammie.” Zach smacked him on the arm, and Grant shut up.

“C’mon, Val. Let’s go inside.” Zach picked up his bag, and I picked up mine. We started inside, but I hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps when I heard a loud boom. I looked up and saw a ton of smoke coming from the roof. I screamed, and Grant ran up beside Zach.

“Where did that come from?!” He shouted.

“Dunno. Val?” Zach looked over at me.

“It was the first group of boys, the ones that didn’t come down. They were wheeling something across the roof. I thought you saw…”

“Fudge.” Zach muttered. “Okay. Val, just where did this group go?”

I glanced at the roof, but I couldn’t really see anything thanks to all the smoke. Squinting, I scanned the top of the building. “There.” I pointed to the far edge of the roof, where Zach’s friends had come down. “That’s them. We’re about to meet them.” I put my bag down and made a move to start walking that way, but Zach grabbed my hand and pulled me back. “What?”

“Val, you have good eyes and instincts, but you haven’t been trained. Let us handle this one. Okay?” He muttered in my ear.

“Zach…” I protested, but he cut me off.

“Sis, please. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I sighed. “Fine. But if anything happens to you, I’m gonna come help you.” Zach nodded, but Grant scoffed.

“Right. You’ll really be a big help.”

I glared at him, but Zach pulled him away before I could say anything. I watched as my twin and his friend run across the lawn (which I couldn’t help but notice was really pretty, for a boys’ school) and meet up with their classmates. All the boys seemed really close. I wondered if I would ever be that close to the girls at the Gallagher Academy, but quickly pushed the thought out of my mind and concentrated on the guys. The group on the roof had made it to the ground. Half of them were running toward the building, and the other half were running toward my brother and his friends. Almost on instinct, I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures of everything – the Blackthorne boys, the other group of boys, the mansion, and the lawn. Much later, I realized that I had watched everything unfold through the screen on my camera. From where I was standing, both groups were in the view of the camera. I watched as one group of the roof-people (they apparently weren’t on the good side) reached my brother and his friends, and the other group reached the doors of the mansion. I held my breath as the first group clashed with the boys that would be my classmates for the rest of the year. I groaned as the second group slipped quietly inside the mansion and I lost sight of them. They had gotten into a top-secret boarding school that was supposed to have excellent security.

I was about to zoom in on Zach, when I noticed that there was still a dark figure by the side of the building. I zoomed in on him, and felt my eyes widen.

They hadn’t all gotten in. There was one still outside. He was standing very still, watching someone.

That someone was me.