Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

Chapter Four

True to our plan, the week we broke up from school for personal exam study, we met up and went out on our first photo scavenger hunt. The last day of school, we went back to my place and organised the groups and Isaac and I handed out the list of photos that needed to be taken.

"Come on Luke, don't be a party pooper." I say, pouting at him.

"I am not getting on that thing."

"Dude, we use to go on these all the time a kids." Sky pointed out. "Where is that inner child every male is meant to have?"

We were at the Plaza, standing in front of one of those two dollar kid carousel rides you see in shopping centres. Sky and I were already sitting on the ride. It was a Wiggles one, I was in the car and Sky was in the airplane, leaving Luke with the boat.

"Who says I don't have one?" Sky and I look at him, eyebrows raised. He sighs, "Okay, right now it might not seem like it. But why do I need to get on the thing? The list doesn't state how many are needed in the picture, let me just take it of you two."

"Luke," I start, "come on. This is about making memories with us. Living and doing things a little out of your comfort zone is not going to be the death of you."

"Plus, this is also a competition. What happens if both ours and Carter's group finishes the list at three when we meet up? Then the winner will be determined by how many points which is gained by how many people are in the picture." Skylar adds, aiming to appeal to his competitive side.

"Babe, it's just a three second selfie." I plead.

Reluctantly, I hear him mumble a 'fine' and awkwardly positions himself in the small boat. All of us were fairly cramped in the small seats of the ride but Luke looked the most uncomfortable. He wasn't in there for long, as he quickly snapped the picture and got off as fast as his long legs allowed him too.

"Okay, what's next?" Lucas grumbles.

"Why don't we go have some lunch first? We only have a few left anyway." I offer, sensing Luke's sour mood.

Before waiting for Skylar to say something, he turns and heads towards the food court.

"Well I guess that answers that." Sky says.

Following after Luke, Sky and I discuss what we were going to have and join the line for Schintz. Skylar goes off to find a table for us while Luke hangs back, waiting for me to place my order.

"Sorry babe. I'm just a little stressed." He finds my hand, while we walk to the table Sky found.

"I know, we all are. Don't worry about it."

"Still that was uncalled for. Sorry for being a 'party pooper'" He says, chuckling.

I break out into a grin, controlling my laughter. Skylar on the other hand, she is giggling uncontrollably. She didn't calm down until the waiter came to bring our meals to the table.

"So," Skylar takes a big bite of her Garden of Eden burger, "how is the studying going? Because mine is going terrible. I keep getting distracted by the internet."

I shrug and continue eating my Aussie Aussie Aussie wrap.

"I haven't really looked at anything." Lucas says, popping a chip in his mouth.

We had only been out of school for a week, I think most of us year 12's probably spent this week relaxing before we hunker down and study hard for three weeks before exams start. I know I spent the last week helping Grandma with a few things around the house and catching up on my reading. Over the last year I had accumulated a lot of books I wanted to read for personal entertainment and research, but never got around to it from the amount of school assigned readings.

"Maybe we should have a study sesh soon. We can all help eachother out and focus." I point out.

"What about tonight after this? Would Robyn mind, because I could use all the time and help I can get." Sky asks.

"I'm sure Grandma will be fine with it. Tonight is takeaway night anyway, so we can order a few pizzas to sure between us all."

"We can tell the others when we meet up later." Luke pipes up, pushing his now empty plate away from him. "Have you thought anymore about courses you wanna do next year Char?"

I stop eating mid chew and swallow so I don't choke. To be honest, I was kind of avoiding thinking about it.

"Ah, not really." I say nonchalantly.

"Charlotte, you only have three weeks before you need to give Miss Pat what you chose." Luke points out.

Pushing my plate away with my half eaten wrap, I drop my head, my dark hair shielding my face.

"Back off Luke." Sky says, coming to my defence.

"Sky, she needs to start thinking about it. Narrowing down her interests to one." Luke turns towards Sky, ignoring me now. "We all did it, now it's her turn."

"Dude, she still has time. And we all had one thing we enjoyed. One thing we knew we wanted to do, some of us like Carter have known for as long as any of us can remember. Charlie, can take her time. She has the most things that interest her. Of course it's going to take a little while before a decision is made."

"Guys." I call out.

"It can't be as easy as it seems when you love doing so many different things. I mean the girl is a creative genius!" Sky boasts, ignoring me too.

"You don't think I don't know that? I am dating her. I think I know my own girlfriend." I can tell now that Luke is starting to get frustrated, and so am I.

"Guys." I say a little louder.

"Do you really?" I hear Sky mumble.

Luke obviously heard it because the next thing I know he narrows his eyes glaring at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Guys!" I practically yell, drawing attention from the nearby tables.

"What?!" They say in unison and face me

I mumble an apology to the tables around us and turn back to my friends.

"Can you please stop talking about me like I am not even here?"

Skyler's eyes widen in shock and tackles me in a side hug, since I am sitting beside her. Luke looks guilty and apologises.

"It's fine. Can we talk about it later though I want to finish getting these photos."

They both nod. We make our way away from the busy food court before Luke stops me. His hands come around my waist from behind and pulls me to his chest, his head resting on top of my head. He calls out to Sky, who turns to face us.

"So what was next on the list anyway?" Luke asks, his chin moving up and down on my head.

I pull the list out from my back pocket and scan it to see what's left.

"We could go to K-Mart and find a toy that starts with the first letter of our names? Everyone needs to be in this one though, so no complaining Luke."

"Yeah, yeah." Chuckling, he moves and wraps his arm around my shoulders and starts leading us towards K-Mart.

"Don't you dare be a party pooper for this one Lukey Boy." Sky quickly dodges a Luke's swing to her head and speeds up laughing her head off.

This is why I love my friends. They can go from arguing to teasing each other in a matter of seconds.