Leap Year (✔)

February 29: Part I

"So what's the deal? Why was I kidnapped?" Rosie looked around at Pablo, Hailey, and Boejun squished into the back seat. "Are we sitting in Brie's car all day?"

Brie wordlessly reached into the pocket of the car door and pulled out a pink envelope.

Rosie took the envelope and opened it. Her eyes traced over a cryptic paragraph, scribbled in messy handwriting. "It's like a riddle!"

"It's the first destination of your birthday scavenger hunt," Brie explained. "Each of us wrote a clue based on a special memory we had with you."

Rosie swore she could feel her heart growing, like at the end of The Grinch. "You guys! This is--"

"We know, we know," Pablo groaned. "We're amazing. Keep reading! My legs are falling asleep."

Rosie rolled her eyes and read the first clue aloud:

My eyes follow superheroes, magic, and treasure--

Battles and fights and all kinds of rages

But never you fear

Trapped in the pages

I'll never run wild

Trapped in the pages. It seemed pretty straightforward. "A bookstore?" Rosie asked.

"I'm going to need specific instructions." Brie stared at the steering wheel. "I'm just your chauffeur."

Rosie thought for a moment. She'd never seen Pablo pick up a book. Hailey only read for school, or from her collection of romance novels, censored by her parents. She knew Brie liked Harry Potter, but there weren't any Harry Potter themed book stores in Chicago... Beojun was the only one Rosie knew liked to read.

"Quimby's Bookstore," Rosie announced. From the way Beojun was smiling, Rosie knew she was right.

The ride there took a while, but with Rosie controlling the music and Pablo leading the conversation, it was almost more fun than sleeping in.

When they arrived at the little brick store, Beojun hopped out of the car with Rosie. The inside of Quimby's was the same as ever-- the dark brick interior filled with overflowing shelves of some of the weirdest books and knick-knacks Rosie had ever seen. Beojun had introduced Rosie to the shop years ago as a place to buy comics, but Rosie had fallen in love with the quirkiness. She strolled down the aisles, breathing in the scent of freshly bound pages.

"Okay, so I'm supposed to let you look around a little," Beojun whispered to Rosie. "But I have to pee and I know the next location has a bathroom, so... if I were you, I'd ask the cashier for a pink envelope."

When they arrived back to the car only a few minutes later, pink envelope in hand, it was to her friends' surprised faces. "Well that was fast!" Brie exclaimed. "Good job, Rosie!"

Rosie and Beojun shared a grin. She tore open the next envelope and recognized Hailey's neat, bubbly print immediately. The clue was also straightforward-- directing Rosie to Jeni's ice cream place, a cute shop only a minute away. They'd gone to Jeni's the first time Hailey and Rosie had ever gone somewhere without Pablo. It was where they'd fallen in love with the most random flavor: "brambleberry crisp." Rosie still didn't know what the ingredients were, but as she and Hailey entered the store, they automatically got in line to order a scoop of the delicious berry ice cream.

While Beojun raced to the bathroom, Rosie looked around for an envelope until she saw one taped on the bottom of the menu. Just about as obvious as possible.