Natural Chemistry

Chapter 11: Burning Touches

When all the girls came back to their places we gathered all the clues, well, some of us couldn't get a few.

"It was so unfair, they both ganged up on me." Emma said with a frown on her face, she couldn't get to her clue which was inside a hollow dried fruit at the foot of a tree because the Densen twins had tricked her.

Everyone knew not to meddle with them so none or us blamed the poor soul, she still seemed a little shaken by their antics.

After a lot of shuffling and head scratching we put together a relatively understandable clue,

I'm sitting on an Oak tree,
I'm small that's true,
Think outside the box
Without me it wouldn't work,
With me everything goes berserk.

And since three of the girls couldn't get the clue that left us with three missing sentence but with an immediate advantage over the boys.

"This still makes zero sense." Whined Clare, sitting on the ground with a defeated sigh.

"We have to think, come on." My eyebrows shot nearing to my hairline at Chelseas motivation which she rolled her eyes at.

"There are so many freaking oak trees, how would we even find the one, and none of the other lines actually give any solid clue." Chole slumped beside Clare.

"Maybe we should start with the oak trees nearest to the camp grounds and start eliminating?" I suggested under my breath.
Everyone seemed to agree to my last minute idea and we decided to divide and conquer.

So, with two teams all geared up we parted ways, the game plan was to give a secret shout out when one of us found the place.

Chelsea, Emma and I made one team, marching forward and inspecting every oak tree we came across. Turned out that on our side there was only one Oak tree.

"Well, I guess we should go to their side and-" before Chelsea could finish her sentence we heard one of the girls shout out our names. So much for an encoded call.

All of us jogged to where and noise was coming from and came across a humongous Oak tree.

"Look, the metal box!" Chole pointed out to a brach high up the tree with a flag stuck to it. Seriously, when did they even put it up?

"What is that?" Clare mumbled out.

"Does anyone know how to climb a tree?" I asked, as everyone just looked around.

"And that's a no." I muttered to myself.
I thought back to the ladder incident and voted against it, the storage room was quite a distance from here but just when I was about to suggest it a soft voice came forward.

"I'll do it." Volunteered Genna, one of the girls who didn't get her hands on the last clue.
"Do you know how to?" I looked at her, dubious of her courageous act.
"Sure, I would do it all the time when I was younger." She shrugged as she climbed the first three steps with ease while we held us breath.

As she reached halfway, her hand slipped and a bedlam of gasps could be heard but she regained posture and continued the climb. Only the crickets sounded as she climbed higher, the silence was broken soon enough when the guys landed in the same location. My eyes shifted across the faces and briefly lingered on a certain lip ringed delinquent.

"Start climbing, Jake!" Ryder screamed pushing a slightly nervous Jake towards the tree.
We all stood as another joined the climbing contest.

Jake wasn't far behind but Genna had already reached the flag and pulled it out.
The two came down with cautious steps and the girls congratulated Genna.

"You're our hero, Genna!" Clare said and hugged a very flustered winner.

"What were the missing three clues?" I asked Jordan who was the only boy not wearing a sour face.
He shoved the remaining envelopes my way. I scanned through them and realized what exactly the box was.

"That's the stupid alarm." I shouted out making the guys nod as though they had already figured that out.

"Should've knocked it off when I had the chance." Genna stared longingly at the speaker causing all of us to chuckle in agreement.

"What is the entire clue though?" Jake asked, still panting from the rough climb.

I'm sitting on an Oak tree,
Six rectangles are all I need.
I'm small, that's true,
But connected to all of you.
Without me it wouldn't work,
With me everything goes berserk.
Think out of the box,
I'm the one who gives you heartthreatening shocks.

"The clues you guys got was so much easier! We only got to the point of figuring out that it was the stupid good for nothing alarm." Jordan whined, crossing his arms.
One of the girls went to him to comfort him but I wasn't listening anymore. My mind was taken by the missing character.

Vince was no where to be seen but before I could investigate on the matter, Krista and Daniel made their way to us.

"Congratulations, girls! The win is yours. Boys, get cooking!" Daniel snickered as the boys sulked following him.

The boys did make a delicious meal, one that put gourmet restaurants to shame.
We all dug into our instant noodles and fries with extra enthusiasm.

Guess they were still not over their loss.

I went to get a fork, to find Vince standing there and handing over the cutlery with an indifferent expression.

"Could you give me a fork, please?" I asked in the sweetest voice I could master.

"Stay out of trouble, Jinx." He smirked, placing the plastic fork in my hand, his fingers brushing my skin lightly making the hair on my neck to stand.

"No promises." I gave myself a mental pat on the back for my stutter-less sentence.
"No gummy bears to offer, huh?" Vince taunted.

I didn't reply but only frowned and turned to return to my seat.

"What happened?" Jake asked me, his serious face was a complete contrast to the baby pink apron he wore which had, "One kiss to the owner", written on it with a marker.

"What?" I was still stuck in another world. I didn't know why one touch from him seemed to turn my world around.

"You seem flushed." He cocked his head to the side, laying his hand on my forehead to check my temperature. I smacked his hand away and thought for a fleeting second why his touch was so different from the blue-eyed demon's.

"I'm fine. It's been a long day, get serving." I said, sitting myself down on the plastic chair.

"Mel, good win." Chelsea gloated coming to sit beside me and sending a satisfied grin Ryder's way.

"Tell me about it. I could do all that any time to see these boys sulking around." I chuckled, sipping on the apply juice.

"I miss Ella though." I nodded at her words, "wonder what she's up to."

"Knowing her, she's probably giving her parents a cold shoulder."

We continued our casual talks, going over the new Cheer routine. I usually came up with them and run it by the girls before we actually get on with it.
Now that the last football season was coming up, we need to be in top form.

I got up to throw my cup and plastic fork in the recycling bin only to bump into a body.
"Seriously, when do you ever not bump into me?" Vince teased, though his face maintained a nonchalant expression.

I frowned a bit, it was odd how I always ended up being clumsy around him. 
Amidst the exchange the touch on my arm was not forgotten.

Why did he make me feel this way?

******

People fall on love in mysterious ways.

Love,
Rojesta 💜