I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 14

“Sammy!” I cried out as I saw him standing there with Mrs. Hilda, Miranda, Hilary, Bethany, Kayla and Tom. Sammy ran towards me and carried me with a hug, “God, I’m so glad to see you guys!”

“We were so worried,” Mrs. Hilda said, hugging me and turning to Ryan and hugging him much to his surprise, “Imagine what we’re going to do if our President and the Assistant Editor got lost in the jungle. What are we going to answer to people?”

“Yeah,” Miranda quipped in, “We thought you were probably the last group, but it’s been more than two hours since you guys went it the jungle and then Sammy started to get worried. We were almost going to get a search party, but he thought he’d better call out for you first.”

“Yeah, or else you’d be coming out this way and we’d be finding you inside and that would’ve been messy,” Sammy said as I chuckled.

                    “Well, thank you Sammy,” Ryan said, “We actually took a wrong turn and couldn’t find the way back.”

                    “You guys weren’t the only one,” Miranda said, “Some of them couldn’t even get the first clue so they just turned back and gave up.”

                    “Who won?” I asked.

                    “Well, Kayla and Tom were in the same group so they won second prize,” Mrs. Hilda said, “The first went to Keith and Jonathan and third was Greg and Terry.”

                    I nodded my head as Mrs. Hilda suggested we get back to our chalet to freshen up.Ryan was silent throughout our journey back to our chalets and I didn’t want to talk to him either. I didn’t want to bring up about our conversation in the jungle and I didn’t want to analyze what he meant. I’m starting to think that Ryan has feelings for me too – although I don’t know how deep. He seems to be hinting, and come on, he wouldn’t hold me if he didn’t have feelings for me, didn’t he?

                I’m not going to wonder too much and just enjoy the barbeque party. If Ryan wanted to tell me anything, he can approach me on his own – I will not go and chase after him. After a long shower, we got ready for the party. Miranda seemed to be the most excited, although I can’t really see what the excitement in eating was. Kayla seemed awfully quiet as I tried to gauge some secrets from her.

                “Hey, how was the treasure hunt?” I asked her as she smiled at me, “You guys won the second prize right?”

                “It was okay,” Kayla said, shrugging her shoulders, “Tom and me somehow worked out the clues together.”

                “I bet it was fun doing the hunt with Tom,” I said, as she smiled, “You guys dated once right?”

                “Yeah,” she replied, “But, you know, I don’t have chemistry with him.”

                “As opposed to this mysterious guy?” I asked nosily. I don’t know what came over me, but I’d rather play match-maker for Sammy and Kayla rather than Sammy and Olivia. Kayla blushed at the mention of the mysterious guy.

                “Well, he won’t even give me a second look,” she said, disheartened.

                “Hey, now don’t go putting yourself down, Kayla,” I said, placing an arm around her tiny shoulders, “You’re pretty and sweet and just so nice.”

                “Well, nice does not cover it, doesn’t it,” she said, looking at me, “You know my colleague, Olivia?”

                “Yes,” I said, nodding my head.