Message In A Bottle

Dec 31

Arthur pressed the button and spun the virtual wheel. It landed on Bree, who nonchalantly said, "Fire away."

Arthur and Bree were actually one of the duos that got on well after Arthur started dating Alex. Arthur pondered for a while, then asked, "So what's your latest obscure obsession?"

"Glad you asked. It's about historical gemstone trade and how it relates to colonialism."

At that, Conner gave an exaggerated sigh. "We've had way too many conversations about gemstones. (Love them though.) And to think this all began because we wanted to name some characters after gemstones." Conner paused for dramatic effect, and gestures with his hands. "It obviously spiralled."

"It's interesting how the definition of gemstones can be arbitrary and they're based after how pretty we think they are, and we have organic, non-crystal gemstones such as amber and pearls, plus the industry is really affected by European standards of cutting stones and of course colonialism, when using gemstones in accessories is seen in quite a lot of ancient cultures— I'll stop myself there before I go off in the deep end. Again." Bree's brown eyes lit up she talked, and of course Conner in particular was captivated.

"Come on, I'll go in the deep end with you," Conner said half-jokingly.

Bree smiled affectionately. "And bore the whole bus? Nah." She pressed the button and spun the wheel and everybody watched as it landed on Alex.

"Alright, I'll go for an easy one. Can you explain the colour coding you use for your notes?"

Fred burst out, "How is that easy?" at the same time Eugene said, "Wait, I'm genuinely curious."

"Wow, academic questions." Alex raised an eyebrow at Bree but then smiled. "Anyways, I use different colour sticky notes for different subjects. I use yellow for quotes, pink for important points or conclusions, purple for numbers or dates, green for examples. I scribble my notes in class with pencil and then clean them up after class using a blue pen so I can tell when I wrote those notes."

There was an awed pause after Alex's words. "We are living on different worlds," Conner furiously muttered while Arthur grinned and said, "Aww, you're so organised, Alex."

"It's so cool that you can effectively colour code," Danielle said wistfully. "Like, I have so many highlighters but I bought them because they're pretty and my colour coding is a complete mess."

"Yup," Eugene piped up out of nowhere just to roast Danielle.

Danielle wagged her finger in front of Eugene's face. "Shush, you have no business roasting me when you borrow my pens every day."

"Don't be sad, I get my colours mixed up sometimes too." Alex spun the wheel and then wrinkled her nose. "Ooh, it's you, Freddie."

"At your service, ma'am." Fred mock bowed.

"Dude, did you get too much coffee? You're kinda hyper," Conner pointed out with a laugh.

Alex pondered her question for a while as she tapped her fingers on her thigh. "Okay, you don't have to answer this, Freddie, but I do want to know more because I've known you for a decade but there's still stuff I'm not familiar with..."

Fred raised his eyebrows. "Ooo...kay?" he peeped.

Alex took a deep breath. Danielle took a sip from her water bottle.

"Fred, what's your ideal type?"

Danielle choked on her water, her face an interesting shade of red. Eugene automatically reached over and patted her back. Fred made a curious face. Conner was gaping at the situation and Arthur was just observing.