𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫? - 𝐓𝐌𝐑 𝐀𝐔, 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨

011 - decision making (help me)

"You weren't answering my texts."

I roll my eyes, slamming my tray of food on the table as I sit down opposite Minho. "My phone drowned."

He looks at me as if I'm crazy. "Excuse me... What?"

I shrug and take a bite of my ham and cheese croissant. "My phone," I imitate someone struggling to breathe underwater, as if they're drowning, "and then it drowned."

That makes Sonya snort, considering the fact that she said something similar to that last night."

"Ley." Minho reaches over to place a hand on my shoulder. "Are you on drugs?"

With that, everyone at our table group bursts into laughter, including me. The only serious person is Minho, although he is grinning.

"How'd you know?" I ask, forcing my laughter into a frown. "Who told you?"

"Guilty," Astrid laughs, putting her hand up.

"Astrid, how dare you?" I shake my head, clicking my tongue.

I continue to go along with the joke, although Astrid did partly ruin it; she's the reason my phone is gone in the first place, and the joke started from that!

I finish my croissant just as Mr Vince walks into the main hall, gaining everyone's attention by just clearing his throat.

"Good morning," he says. "As you all know, it's friday, so I have a question for you all."

We all listen attentively as he asks the question.

"Tomorrow is saturday; the first day of the weekend," he states. "So, would you guys like activities on the weekend, or breaks?"

Opinions echo around the main hall. I can't make out specific answers, but I single out the word yes a lot.

Mr Vince throws his hands in the air. "Alright, alright. I know what to do. If you'd like to have a break from activities during the weekend, meaning you'd have free time, raise your hand."

Around twenty hands raise.

"Okay." Mr Vince nods, finishing counting the hands as they all fall back to their sides. "Now raise your hands if you would like to do activities during that time, and only have free time in the afternoons. Just saying, if we don't have activities on the weekend, then we'll miss two sessions on every second rotation."

Even with this extra information, the remaining forty hands, including mine, raise into the air.

Mr Vince claps loudly, and our hands all drop. "Alright, we will have activities tomorrow and sunday." He nods, turning towards the door to leave. "Get into your groups after breakfast."

He exits the main hall, and a conversation begins within our friend group.

"So, Whit," Astrid, who is sitting beside me, starts, her hands behind her back. She brings them out and an item sits on them.

"You didn't," I say, smiling as I take the phone. "Thank you so much, Astrid. But you really didn't have to."

"I broke your phone—"

"Accidently," I interrupt her, giving her a smile of reassurance.

"Still, it was my fault." She returns the smile. "So I owe you this. You're welcome."

"Thank you so much." I pull her into a hug.

She hugs back and we stay still for a few seconds before pulling back again.

"Okay, is the cute moment over now?" Minho asks, clearly impatient. "I need your new number, Ley. So I can text you."

I hand him the new phone I got gifted, and he types his number in. Just to test it, he texts me.

MINHOISTHEBEST

7:23 am

MINHOISTHEBEST

Hey Leyyyyyy

How do you like the contact name?

It's so true, isn't it?

You

Hmmm

No.

MINHOISTHEBEST

Rude

You

Cry about it

From behind the phones, he sends me a glare, to which I snicker at.

"You're so rude." Minho shakes his head. "Maybe I just won't invite you to my treehouse again."

"No!" I protest, my eyes widening. "I love your treehouse, no!"

He smirks. "Beg."

"What?"

"Beg," he repeats, his smirk even wider than when he first said it.

"No," I say.

"I guess you won't go to my treehouse then." He shrugs.

I think about it for a second; I have two options: One, I beg and be certain that I'm able to go to his treehouse. Or two, risk not being able to go ever again. Hard decision.

I'll go with option two—I'll risk it.

Mimicking his shrug, I respond with, "I guess so."

"Wait... what?" His head snaps towards me in surprise. "You don't want to come to my treehouse again?"

At his reaction, I chuckle. "I'm kidding. Do I have to beg, though?"

"No." He laughs, throwing his head back as he does. "I was also joking. I thought we are supposed to be close; we can't even tell when the other person is joking."

Chuckling, I stand up from my seat. "I'm going to go get changed into short sleeves, this shirt is burning me alive."

Doing just as I said, I walk towards my cabin. When I close the door, I put my phone down on the bedside table and take my long–sleeved shirt off, replacing it with a blue and white shirt. I also decide to redo the way my ginger hair was done up; I take it out of the messy bun and weave it into a french braid.

Once I'm finished with that, I reapply my lipgloss, then I decide I'm ready.

I grab my new phone and shove it into the pockets on my beige shorts, beginning to walk towards the main hall.

When I reach the doors, I run into someone. And it's someone familiar—Braedyn.

"Hey, Whit," he greets me, taking my wrist. He stops me from entering the main hall by dragging me a few steps.

"What's up?" I ask, my voice a mix of annoyance and happiness. "And can you please let go of my wrist? You're holding on a little hard; it hurts."

Doing as I asked, he lets go. "Sorry. But do you want to come explore the island with me?"

"Don't we have sports?" I cock my head slightly.

"Screw sports."

Grinning, I say, "I'm in."