Melodies

19

Aelia's POV
"And your time starts... now!" The announcer speaks into the microphone and a bell sounds.
I look at the piece of paper with the first clue I was given. I lick my lips before running off in the opposite direction of the theater.
The whole school is doing a contest to win a trip to LA. Only twenty students go and it's an individual contest. You have to win on your own. They took away your phones too so you wouldn't text each other the answers, but being the sneaky boys they are, they convinced me to help them so all fourteen of us can go.
All of the questions are mathematical or scientific or historical. Most of the boys wouldn't have guessed the answers anyway. Not that they're not smart or anything like that, it's just harder questions than a normal exam. They made it hard for a reason.
I get the first five questions done in ten minutes, that's with me running all across campus and leaving a clue for the boys to answer all in that time. The test is based off time too because it's possible more than twenty people can get them right. Whoever arrives at the finish point with all the correct answers gets to go on the trip.
"Twenty five more minutes. We already have three winners!"
I curse under my breath. I'm gonna kill these boys if they don't get the last spots. Ducking under an archway, I jump to grab the clue in the roof. Running around the corner, I lean against the wall, looking around to see if anyone followed me. I open the folded slip of paper then scan the words.
"Who wrote an ancient Chinese military treaty known as 'the art of war'?" I read quietly.
"Easy. Answer: Sun Tzu." Someone pins me to the wall, smirking.
"Who the hell are you?" I glare at the, might I say, very attractive boy, staring down at me.
"Your true love." He chuckles.
"Ha ha very funny." I roll my eyes, "Seriously, who are you?"
"My name's Lee Minhyuk." He smiles, "Now hand me over the piece of paper, pretty lady. I'm sure you don't want to go to LA anyways."
"Speak for yourself." I step on his foot, taking my hair out of its braid and rolling up the paper.
He groans in pain as I tie the paper with my rubber band, hiding it in a spot where I know the boys will find it.
"Hey! That's not nice!"
"Says the one who was trying to steal it from me instead of finding another clue." I shout back as I go to find my last clue.
On the way, I run into Mingyu quite literally. We groan in pain as I try to get him off me.
"Oh! Hey, Aelia!" He smiles.
"Ugh! Get your heavy ass off of me!" I say through grit teeth.
"Fine." He gets up before helping me.
"Have you found all of them yet?"
"Almost. I have about three more. I assume you have one more?"
"Yeah. You better hurry. The spots are filling up quick." I turn around then run off in the direction I was originally going.
The last question was the easiest question of the game, probably because they didn't think people would make it so far. As I run to the platform and press the button, I reach the spot at the same time as someone else. My eyes meet with my boyfriend, a smirk across his lips.
"You weren't stalking me, were you?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Of course not. I know as much as you do. We study together, Aelia." He chuckles.
"True... Who do you think will be done first?"
"I think... Chan. Knowing him, he used the strategy of staying behind you for at least a minute or two to not look suspicious then answer the questions as soon as you were done." He whispers to me since the other winners were near us.
We turn around to see three of the boys running towards us. I smirk, shaking my head when I see Chan is one of them. That sneaky child.
"I'm gonna get there first!" Vernon tries to speed past Chan.
"Yeah right! I'm the flash!" Soonyoung yells as he pushes him a bit.
I face palm and Jihoon sighs. Of course.
Chan ends up getting there one second before the other two. Vernon and Soonyoung get there at the same time. All of them are pant as they walk up to me and Jihoon.
"A-Aelia! H-how are you not tired from r-running around?" Chan asks, his hands on his knees as he's bent over trying to catch his breath.
"I used to run every morning before school. I got lazy in college." I shrug.
"What about Jihoon?" Vernon points at him.
Jihoon just shrugs and tilts his head at them.
"Damn... you guys are really winded." He laughs, amusement clearly in his voice.
"Shut up! I'm still older than you!" Soonyoung points at him accusingly.
"By a few months." Jihoon stares at him with no expression.
"Oh! Taeyong! You made it!" A blonde boy next to us cheers happily as a boy with pink hair runs up to them.
"How many spots are left?" Taeyong asks the boy.
"Doyoung says about twelve." A tall boy with black hair tells him.
"Only twelve. If those boys don't get here in time..." I grit my teeth.
"Aelia! Wait for us! We're coming!" Seungkwan runs towards the finishing area.
"Ten minutes left!"
Seokmin, Joshua, and Seungcheol follow close behind. They press the buttons making the spots left go down to eight.
"Where's Mingyu?" I grab Seungcheol's arm yanking him to look at me, anger in my eyes.
"Oh he ran into someone along the way." He stares at me innocently.
"I literally just saw him. He said he only had a few left." I mutter.
"He'll be okay. Minghao was right behind him." Seungcheol smiles.
I watch to see two unfamiliar boys run to the finish line and the four boys who were talking earlier cheer in excitement, hugging them and giving them high fives.
"Six left." Jihoon says.
"Sorry! I got lost!" Jun runs to press the button.
"How the hell did you get lost?" I stare at him with confused expression.
"Um..." he laughs nervously.
"You went to grab a snack, didn't you?"
"Yup!"
I pinch the bridge of my nose. The stress these boys bring to me is unreal.
"I watched him get the snack." Wonwoo appears out of no where.
"What the... where did you come from?" Jihoon asks.
"Oh I've been here for five minutes already. There's only three spots left and three of our friends are still coming."
"If Mingyu and Minghao don't come." I didn't even finish my sentence but everyone knows what I'd say.
"Only five minutes left!"
"Okay we're here!" Mingyu jumps into the air, dancing like a ballerina.
"I hate you. So much." Minghao and I say at the same time, looking at Mingyu with an annoyed expression.
"Hey! We made it though!" Mingyu pouts.
"Wait. Jeonghan is still missing." Seokmin says.
"Hey! Stop being a cheater!"
"Stop being violent!"
We all look at the two people screaming and my eyes widen when I see Jeonghan and another boy pushing and shoving each other as they race towards the buttons.
"LETS GO JEONGHAN!" Jun yells.
We all start cheering and screaming his name.
"3. 2. 1."
"Yes!" We all tackle him in a hug when he presses it on the last second.
"Isn't it usually Aelia we tackle in a hug? I know how she feels now." He groans in pain.
"Really? I got used to it, though I do get squished often." I get off of the dog pile.
"And times officially up! No more winners are being taken. Let's see who's going on the trip!"
The announcer reads over the names. His eyes widen and he snickers a bit.
"Okay! So we have in order of who arrived first: Kim Doyoung, Seo Youngho, Lee Minhyung, Choi Aelia, Lee Jihoon, Lee Chan, Chwe Hansol, Kwon Soonyoung, Lee Taeyong, Boo Seungkwan, Lee Seokmin, Hong Jisoo, Choi Seungcheol, Lee Donghyuck, Nakamoto Yuta, Wen Junhui, Jeon Wonwoo, Kim Mingyu, Xu Minghao, and Yoon Jeonghan! Congratulations to all! Claim your prize at the end of the school day!"
"Guys!" I smile and look at each of them, "We're going to LA!"
We all cheer in excitement.
"Let's never do a scavenger hunt like that again! My brain hurts!" Seungkwan says.
"Shut up, you idiot!" I'm about choke him when Minghao holds me back.
"Don't kill him yet. There's plenty of other times to do it. Now isn't one of them, Aelz." He smiles.
"Hey! I can still hear you!" Seungkwan pouts.