Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter Read Free Book Online Page A

of bringing the outside world inside our walls, the danger, the risk,
the possibility of knocking a member of the United States Secret Service
unconscious at some point during the semester.
    "What
if you get a guy agent?" Courtney Bauer joined in the conversation.
"Aren't all the Secret Service guys really hot?"
    "They're
okay," Macey said nonchalantly, as if she'd seen hotter (and I'm pretty
sure she had).
    "What
if he's like, Mr. Solomon hot?" Anna asked and then blushed.
    As
much as I wanted to join in and feel excited about a possible (hot) newcomer,
all I could think was that there was too much risk and danger already. I
remembered the feeling in my stomach as the elevator took us to the roof in Boston.
I could have stopped it then. If I'd been focused, if my mind had been anywhere
except on a certain boy, my school and my sisterhood might still be safe. But
instead, a generation of geniuses were sitting around stealing dinner rolls and
discussing the theoretical biceps of the person who might jeopardize our entire
way of life (and whether or not he would actually take a bullet for Macey if
the need arose).
    Suddenly
the doors at the back of the room swung open, and my mother appeared, leading
our teachers down the center of the huge room.
    I
saw the new face of Mr. Smith, our Countries of the World instructor, who is
one of the more paranoid government operatives on the planet and chooses to
prove it by getting a new face every year during summer vacation. I heard the
muttering of more than a hundred teenage girls as they realized that this year
Mr. Smith's new face was…hot.
    And
then a hush went through the crowd, because our teachers were not alone.
    Macey's
parents were walking through the doors, waving and shaking hands, followed by a
member of the United States Secret Service. I'm pretty sure if there had been
any babies to kiss, The Senator would have done it.
    There
are a lot of scary things about being a Gallagher Girl, but having people who
don't belong in your school walk inside it is high on the list. And I knew that
we were being welcomed back to a very different school.
    "Ooh,"
Liz said beside me. With wide eyes, she watched
    Macey's
parents greet our Culture and Assimilation professor, Madame Dabney.
    Across
the table, Bex grinned and whispered, "Pop quiz?"
    "Welcome
back, ladies," my mother said from the front of the room. "I can
honestly say that I have never felt so glad to have you all here …" She
paused; her gaze swept over the room, which instantly grew dim as the sun
slipped below the horizon. If I hadn't known better, I might have sworn I heard
my mother's voice crack as she finished, "safe and sound."
    No
one whispered. No one giggled or teased. What had happened to Macey (and to me)
hadn't been some wild tale that we'd carried back from our summer vacations. It
was real. And no one felt like laughing anymore.
    "As
you know, the eyes of the world are now upon the Gallagher Academy," Mom
went on. I couldn't help glancing at the McHenrys to see if they guessed my
mother's secret meaning, but the two of them kept nodding the same somber nods
that must be second nature for anyone with their name on a ballot.
    "We
must learn and we must persevere. We must be careful and we must be brave. And
most importantly"—right then it seemed as if a hundred girls sat up a
little straighter, literally rising to the challenge—"we must protect our
sisterhood." Her voice grew a little stronger. "And our
sisters."
    I
don't know for sure how many active Gallagher Girls there are in the world.
Hundreds. Thousands. We disappear into society and do our jobs without a word
of thanks or any hope of praise. I may be the Chameleon, but in truth, every
Gallagher Girl has to be somewhat invisible. Yet now, we were all in the spotlight.
    "There
are things that are expected of us," my mom went on. "For that
reason, there will be some changes this semester."
    A slight murmur went through the
crowd.
    "AM
lessons will take