Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

10

                "Gym," he replied.

                "Oh, how funny. That's mine," I said.

                "Cool," Colby said shortly. Sam came back into the room with five packs of bandanas.

                "Okay, what colors did you get?" asked Sam.

                "Green," said Corey.

                "We got green, too," said Kat.

                "And this is why I bought five packs," Sam said.

                "We got blue," said Tara.

                "Red," said Devyn.

                "Black," I said. Sam handed bandanas out to all of us, matching the color we'd said.

                "Okay, so now go to the room you drew and hide the bandana as well as you can. Other people will be looking for it, so try really hard to make it a good spot," said Sam. "And keep the sticky notes. Come back up here when you're done."

                "Alrighty, let's go down to the basement," I said. Colby didn't answer, but turned and started walking. I rolled my eyes. Was he just not going to talk to me?

                We made our way over to the basement door and headed down the carpeted stairs. It was a really nice basement, a lot of cool rooms down there like a movie room and a bar and a gym. We went into the gym and Colby flicked on the light.

                "Okay, so where should we put it?" I asked. Colby shrugged. I sighed, annoyed. This was going to be fun. Not.

                I went over to the treadmill and lifted the belt off of the rollers, where you'd run on. I stuck the bandana under the running platform, hiding it from plain sight.

                "Yeah? Good place?" I asked. Colby gave me a short nod. "Okay, look. If this is going to work, you need to actually speak to me. If I can do it, so can you."

                "Yeah. Really good place," he said.

                "Thank you," I said, talking about him finally speaking to me instead of his comment on my hiding spot. "Now let's go back upstairs."

                We made our way back into the living room, where everyone else was already waiting.

                "Okay, now fold your two sticky notes together and put them in this bowl," said Sam. We all followed his instructions. "Now draw one. And put it back if you get your own."

                Each pair of us drew a set of sticky notes, me drawing for Colby and me.

                "Alright. Now you have to go into the room you were given and look for the bandana. Your hint is that you get to know what color it is to make it a little easier. First one to find it wins," said Sam. I looked down at the sticky notes I was holding while everyone else branched off into different parts of the house.

                "Okay, so red and... Colby's guest room," I said, mumbling the last part.

                "Wonderful," he muttered. We made our way up the stairs and turned left, walking down to the guest room on the left side of the hall. He opened the door and we walked in. I almost smiled when I saw the room. It was messy, but not too messy. Some things never change.

                "I'll check the dresser," he said quietly.

                "I'll get the closet," I replied. We both went to opposite sides of the room and began to sift through everything. I let out a soft laugh when I saw the hoodie I'd gotten Colby for his birthday hanging up in the middle. He'd brought it in here from the other room.