R E J E C T S

CH.29: SCAVENGER HUNT

"Hello, Liam." I greeted him once I entered his room.

As usual, he was busy playing video games.

"Hello, Rose." He mocked.

"Don't you start with me, 'mother'." I mocked back.

"Okay, you win. I'm only good at video games anyway..." He sighed with his eyes still fixated on the screen.

"That's not true. You're a soccer player, right?"

"Oh yeah. That too."

"See, now that's two things you're good at." I feel like I'm his mother.

"Okay. Now I feel better." He smiled.

Anyway, I need to think of a cool game that I can beat Luke at.

How about... a scavenger hunt at the mall? That would be pretty cool.

Plus we don't really hang out at the mall that much so it's harder to find specific items.

I should probably start listing some random items for the hunt...

"Hey, can I borrow a pen and a piece of paper?" I asked him.

"Sure. Just check my backpack." He says.

I did what he said and when I opened his bag, a photo fell down on the floor.

I picked it up right away and to my surprise, it was a photo of me.

"Why do you have my picture?" I turned to ask Liam.

"Oh, that. I picked it up from the men's locker room after practice one day." He paused his game.

"You what?! Who the hell is keeping my photo inside their locker?!"

"Who knows? Maybe your boyfriend perhaps?" He guessed.

Nah. There's no way that Robbie's keeping my photo in his locker... or is there?

I mean, I don't think there's any reason for him to do that.

"You can have the photo if you like." He says.

Of course I can have the damn photo... it's my face so it's my property.

The real question is, who's the creep that secretly keeps a photo of me?

I should probably just set aside this matter for now and focus on the scavenger hunt.

'We're doing a scavenger hunt at the mall after lunch.' I texted Luke.

It wasn't much of a suggestion though.

Well, if he has other ideas then we could totally decide later...

'Awesome!' He replied a couple of minutes later.

Or not.

"Hey, Liam, what do you say about going to the mall?" I asked.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" He dropped his game controller.

"No but don't you want to play in the arcade?" I suggested.

"Sure."

*AT THE MALL*

"Oh. So you do have a date... it's just not me." Liam stared at Luke.

"No, it's not what it looks like. We're playing scavenger hunt." I explained.

"Okay... can I join in?" Liam asked.

"No." Luke shook his head right away.

"Just let the poor kid play, Lucas." I whispered to him.

"But this is supposed to be a tie-breaker deal between us." He whispered back.

"Well, there's always first, second, and third place to settle the scores." I stated.

"Fine." He says begrudgingly.

"Okay, you can join us." I told Liam which earned me a smile from him.

"Huddle up, people! Let's read the list that I made together..." We gathered closer as I reached for the piece of paper in my jeans pocket.

"This feels like we're playing football." Liam snickered at his own comment.

~SCAVENGER HUNT~

1. 1 Onion and garlic and a dog

"Are you cooking something?" Luke teased.

"What? I was hungry while I wrote this down..." I shrugged.

"And what's with the dog?! That's just not 'practical' at all." Liam made a face.

"I love dogs but fine! We can crush the thing out if that's what you want..." I sighed out loud.

2. 2 baseball bats

"Hey, these stuff are expensive." Liam commented.

"You're rich. Figure something out." I'm the one who should be worried about the money but hey, I'm not complaining.

3. 3 band shirts

"I have a lot of band shirts at home. Do I really need to buy new ones?" Luke asked and I just glared back at him.

4. 4 napkins

"Like table napkins?" Liam asked.

"No, not that kind." I grimaced then I heard Luke gasp.

5. 5 sheets of paper

6. 6 breast pumpers

7. 7 hotdogs with buns

8. 8 adult diapers

9. 9 root beers

10. 10 thongs

"I object! There's a lot of girly things in here." Luke complained and Liam agreed.

"Not really. There's just like three girly items in the list. Don't be such a wuss." I scoffed.

"I mean, what kind of guy buys ten thongs?!" Liam exclaimed.

"You two?" I fought the urge to laugh out loud by biting my tongue.

"Unless you guys are too much of a chicken to play..." I added.

"Fine, let's do this!" Luke sounded very determined.

"I accept your challenge, Lloyd!"

Liam must be thinking of this as a live-action video game or something.

"Alright, chickens! I mean, Liam and Luke." The two of them glared at me as I corrected myself.

"Game on." I declared.

"Prepare to lose, Cher. Wait, are there any consequences for the losers?" Luke asked.

"You silly boy, of course there is." I smiled sheepishly.

"We're not even old enough to buy root beers." Liam added.

"Hush, Liam, just hush." I put my pointer finger on top of his lips.

"Could you please 'hush' me too?" Luke envied the guy.