Hi. Sorry it's taken so long :( Ugh. Thanks for still taking the time to read this though! :)

:Cammie:

Cammie believes strongly in the idea of waking up on the wrong side of the bed (she even believes the idea of sleeping on the wrong bed altogether, because Bex seems to be permanently grumpy every single darn morning). And so when she wakes up and finds herself having rolled to the left side of the bed, where she never sleeps, she feels a hint of panic. But when she climbs out of bed, it's a nice surprise to find an extra bounce in her step. It even gives her an urge to put on a colorful tank top instead of a grey t-shirt.

She's busy fixing her bed hair into a more manageable style when she hears her phone beep on the other side of the room. She scowls in the mirror because she's been telling herself to change the annoying default ringtone for ages, but still hasn't gotten around to it, before walking over to check her messages. It's Bex texting that she's picking her up, which is strange because Bex isn't the type to voluntarily gives her a ride. But Cammie shrugs, because hey, if Bex has finally learnt to be nice, who is she to reject such a nice offer?

:Zach:

For the first time in his life, Zach really has no idea how to act. He's sitting beside Macey in her flashy red car, and his right hand is itching to hit the button to turn off the radio. It's been playing "Barbie Girl" for the past 30 seconds. There was a very strange moment at the beginning where he and Macey caught each other's eyes and erupted into laughter. It was very alarming feeling indeed to see that they could both laugh at the same thing together. They're back to normal now though, Macey's eyes trained on the road and his at his hands.

They're very nice hands, actually. He literally spends a second or two mulling over whether or not he should cut his fingernails, before realizing how inane the matters he pays attention to are. But there's really nothing else to do. Somehow he doubts McHenry would play along if he started a conversation consisting of small talk. It's a comfortable silence anyway.

When they're at the stoplight right before school, Macey glances over. "Last chance to back out." She smirks.

Shoot. He had been planning on saying that. "Do I look like a chicken to you, McHenry?" He demands instead, and this poor choice of comeback widens the grin on Macey's face.

She gives him a onceover, and declares "yes." Then she pulls over into a parking space, ignoring Zach's indignant squawks as to "how exactly do I look like a chicken? Is it the eyebrows? I knew there was something wrong with them." She reaches over and shuts him up by slamming his mouth closed.

He glares at her, and despairs at the idea that this might just be the last time he's allowed to do that for the remainder of the day, at least in public. "Let's just get this over with," he grumbles, and they both step out of the car whilst putting on their shades, because they got swag. Good ol' swag swag swaggety swag.

The crowd of people in the parking lot seems to be much larger than usual. Or maybe it's just the nerves talking, although Zach later on denies it with all his life. It only takes a matter of seconds before the rustling of whispers and pointing turn into a collective gasp made by the student body. Some are shocked because seeing Zachary Goode of all people, the guy who can't stand being with a girl after their "first date," being with Macey McHenry, who may be hot but is a grade-A bitch, is a shocking thing. Others are leaning more towards the wondrous fact that Macey McHenry, who specializes in biting the heads of annoying people, can stand being with Zachary Goode, whose smirk could drive anyone mad (a different brand of mad when it comes to girls though).

But of course, though all of these are forming in a part of Zach's mind, what he really notices is that Tina Walters is spazzing like crazy to his left. He looks pointedly at Macey, and they share a satisfying mutual smirk. "Tina Walters? More like Tuna out-of-Waters" he whispers, and although he inwardly winces at probably the lames joke he's ever made, Macey gives him a nod in recognition.

Even the teachers on parking lot duty are taking interest in Zach and Macey being together, especially Mr. Perkins, who's taken off his glasses –which no student has seen him do up to date! – to clean, just to make sure he isn't seeing things. He turns to his side to tell Cammie, because they maybe kind of might have made a bet about the day this miracle would occur, except then he realizes none of his friends are around. And shit, that's a problem right there. He hasn't gotten around to telling Cammie about the plan with McHenry yet, and if there's one thing Cammie's good at, it's worrying about him and denying it profusely afterwards. And Bex, who goes around saying that he's an emotionally repressed bastard that picks up girls at the speed a hobo picks up trash in Central Park to make himself feel better – to which he definitely does not chuckle at, because no, of course the word "hobo" isn't funny, and– wow does he get off track really fast sometimes. Anyways the point was that he was screwed.

But then all of this is goes flying out of his mind as a freshman girl who's been stalking him for ages – the main reason he agreed to Macey's plan in the first place – steps forward, and literally bursts into tears. She actually wails "it's the end of the world!" as she runs into the school with her arms flailing. And Zach knows he's a horrible person, he really does, for doing this, but yeah, he kind of laughs a bit. But only on the inside. Outside, he schools his face into a surprised expression.

There's a really long awkward silence throughout the courtyard, and Zach's tempted to declare something along the lines of "girls, they just can't get enough of me." But he doubts the teachers would appreciate that, even though they look like they're about to start to laugh. Then Grant, cool Grant, awesome Grant, the coolest person ever Grant, steps out from the crowd, and saves him by saying loudly, "it really is the end of the world. Seriously man – Zach Goode? Having an official girlfriend? Who would have ever dreamed of seeing the day?" He claps Zach on the shoulder and leans in to give an ol' conspirational wink, but right before turning away, Zach catches a strange flicker in his eyes. "By the way, did you by any chance see Cammie yet?" Grant whispers from the side of the mouth, as he greets Macey with a side hug. Zach shakes his head, distracted by the people still openly gaping at them.

People are still whispering, quite blatantly, he might as well add. Attention actually itches, he thinks amusedly. It's funny though, because other than the couple of girls that are staring daggers at McHenry and male half of the freshman class looking halfway between wanting to punch him and congratulate him, a surprising majority of the people are going "awww." Yes, we do look cute don't we, Zach thinks smugly, although seconds later he realizes just what making that statement would entail.

"Hey, let's get out of here." Zach turns to find Macey staring meaningfully at him. It's something in her eyes that makes him realizes that she's giving him an out, if he so chooses it. But it's weird, because even though he honestly hates her guts, he's noticed just how much Macey is bothered sometimes by the attention she gets. So with no hesitation, he tells her "sure," and turns around to Grant and says bye.

"I am never riding with you to school again," Cammie tells Bex as she stumbles her way out of the car and into the school, because like always, Bex drove like a crazy woman. Except it was worse this time, because she took a few unnecessary sharp turns that may cause them a tardy. Faintly, she hears Bex yell back at her, "that's what they always say! But they alwayyys come back for more." Cammie rolls her eyes, and starts to make her way to Calculus, which is, of course, all the way on the other side of the school. Although she is looking forward to class because acting as the buffer between the snarks Zach and Macey constantly fire at each other is surprisingly fun. She thinks she might have a future as a referee or ambassador in Switzerland because she is great at being neutral.

As she rounds the corner to class, Sophie Beck runs from her left to catch up with her.

"Hey Cam!" Sophie greets her, and she tosses back a quick hello, because she's on a woman on mission to make it to class on time. Fast walk fast walk fast walk. "Calc class is going to be extra interesting today, isn't it?" Sophie winks, and wondering if Zach and Macey were paired up as partners for a project without her noticing, Cammie nods in response.

They cross into the classroom just as the bell rings, and Sophie, who's a tad weird at times, mimics wiping sweat from her brow, causing Cammie to smile a bit. That is, of course, until she sees something stranger than that. It's Zach and Macey. Smiling at each other.

"Um, guys?" She blurts out, as she slips into the seat to the right of Macey instead of left, which is now occupied by Zach. "I swear this is the most confused I've been since that time Mr. Lurkey said he hated turkey, which is just freaking weird because how can you hate something that rhymes with your name?"

It isn't until later on when she revisits this bit of memory that she realizes how stupid the words coming out of her mouth are.

At the same time Zach says "Cam? You're blabbering again," Macey brightly declares "Oh shoot! Forgot to tell you, Cammie! Zach and I are officially dating now."

"Um… no you aren't. Guys, you hate each other." Cammie says it slowly as she stares at Zach, as though questioning his sanity. But Zach, instead of making a funny frowny face back at her gives her a pleading look, mouthing that he'll explain later.

"…Okay then." she says instead, "You guys are dating. Sure, I believe you. Right."

So she sits very still during the class period, trying to ignore the fact that Macey and Zach are obviously PASSING NOTES at each other. She's itching to check the date because if she didn't know better, she'd think she was sometime in a parallel future or whatever, like what Grant liked to warn everyone about when he was one of his geek fests. It's torture waiting for the last minute of class to finally end, and when it does, she jumps out of her seat and drags Zach and Macey to the abandoned 2B20 art classroom that has been the gang's private hang out ever since freshman year. Ignoring their protests that they didn't even manage to grab their backpacks, she demands, "okay, tell me what exactly is going on here."

The pair say nothing. Zach fidgets a bit looking guilty and Macey looks uncomfortable. Cammie can't help but notice that although they'd sat close in Calc class, they seem to be standing as far away as possible now.

"Trouble in paradise so quickly?" she asks wiggling her eyebrows, then arching one, inviting them to start explaining.

"It's kind of a long story Cammie…" Macey finally opens her mouth to protest, and Cammie just glares at her. Looking slightly apprehensive, Macey shuts her mouth again.

Zach groans, and pushes off from the desk he's been leaning on. "Fine, if McHenry doesn't want to start, I'll do it," he says. Waving at the large space between him and Macey, "Somehow, this" he exaggeratedly indicates, "has become a relationship. A fake one, I mean."

"Yes, that explains everything," Cammie says, rolling her eyes, while inside, a very small part of her makes a sigh of relief.

"Well, it was just this plan I had," Macey interjects. "It's really quite genius."

Macey continues to explain everything, complete with snide commentary Zach helpfully adds, and Cammie slowly starts to wonder how exactly she found herself being friends with people this crazy. She wouldn't be surprised if she turned on the TV some day and found a soap acting out a scene along the lines of her life.

After a couple of minutes, Macey begins to wrap up, ending with how even in the time it took for her to walk from the parking lot to the classroom, two freshmen guys had managed to go up to her and ask, "Is it true? Are you really no longer available?" to which she had replied, "For you, darling, I never was" and proceeded to stomp all over their hearts. It's a slight exaggeration, but it seems to delight Macey to no end.

Cammie wonders if maybe Macey and Zach will finally become friends in this process – but makes a safer bet on them tearing each other apart by the end of next week, and fake breaking up. But even as she thinks this, she realizes that the insults tossed around by Macey and Zach have become less barbed than before, and crosses her fingers that they'll upgrade to being civil in the near future. It'd be nice to hang out with her friends and not have someone end up with a staple in the hand or pants stolen by the end of the first hour. Don't ask.

At the same time, the door of the room flings open and Josh comes walking in with a dazed look on his face. "What's going on guys?" he asks, "Because if I didn't know better, I'd swear at least ten people asked me about Macey and Zach dating on my way here."

And this time, maybe because they've had time experimenting clever lines on Cammie, Macey and Zach fight over who gets to explain which part of the plan.