"Welcome to the opening challenge." Louis announces and everyone starts to clap.
"Hell yeah!" I hear Alex shout and I let out a brief chuckle from his excitement.
"As you all know, this is not a regular school. And our goal here is not to prepare you for the regular state standard exams. Other than a two week vacation at the end of the year for you to prepare for that unimportant test, we won't be dealing with that at all." Louis continues.
"Thank god." Parker says and everyone lets out a laugh.
"My only job here is to feed your curiosity. Now, the Ravens and Eagles have been rivals for decades, and this year is no different. So, today I'm sending you a riddle. You have to solve that riddle to find the key to unlock this case, to be the first team to ring the gong and win." Louis says, pointing to the gray gong.
"So, what's the prize?" Parker asks.
"Yeah, I wanna know what the Ravens are missing out on this year." Daniel says, glaring at us.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I growl as Parker gives Daniel a high five.
"It's okay. Let him talk." Leo says to me, sending me a calm look.
"I'll just say that the winning house will get a treat to kick off a very sweet year." Louis grins at us.
"Hope it's a car ride home." I mutter, playing with my hoodie string.
"The riddle is being sent to your Louie now." Louis states and I take mine out of my pocket, opening it up.
"Ten from the sea to the sand he walks, to look in the soil, but not in the box." I mutter the riddle to myself.
The Eagles and Ravens then start getting into their groups to discuss it.
"It must mean ten steps from the ocean to the sand." I say, looking at Leo.
"Exactly." Leo smirks down at me.
"Great. Let's go." Jackie says.
"Eagles! Eagles! Eagles!" I hear Daniel and his friends chant and I roll my eyes.
"Ravens! Ravens! Ravens!" Leo and his friends chant back.
"Hey, you're sure you're up for this?" Hayley asks, wrapping an arm around me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a riddle. Shouldn't be that hard, right?" I breathe.
"Not for a smart girl like you." She says and I scoff.
"I'm not that smart." I shake my head as we follow our team out.
||
"Don't work too hard." I hear Leo say and I open my eyes.
They squint at first due to the sun radiating over me.
"I'm waiting for the real classes to start." I say, crossing my arms, leaning back against the pile of rocks as I close my eyes again.
I then over hear Brooke say something to Carter and he walks off.
I sit up and hop off one of the rocks, wiping myself off.
I scramble next to Leo and start digging through the sand.
"Hey, there." Leo says and I can his grin.
"I'm not doing this for the Ravens. I'm doing this for Carter." I simply say.
"Whatever works for you. And I thought you were mad at him." He says.
"I was. But I shouldn't of blown up on him like that. Hopefully he'll consider this as an apology gift." I say as I keep digging.
I then stop digging as I remember when Carter and I were talking on the staircase.
I pull out my Louie and open the file to the riddle, reading it again.
"What are you up to now?" Leo asks, wiping the sand off his hands.
"Look, something is off. It's a trick question. The key is in the soil, but not inside the box. What does a box have to do with anything? And why is it not inside the box?" I say as I sense Leo peering over my shoulder.
"Maybe it's outside the box." He says and I take my hood off, making eye contact with him.
"Yeah. Like, think outside the box." I say.
"Wow, you got it. Nice going, Ramirez." He grins at me, looking into my eyes.
"We don't know that until we investigate. C'mon, I think I solved it." I say, pulling him up from the sand.
||
"So the riddle said, ten from the sea. But I don't think he meant the ocean." I say, pointing to the painting of a red ship sailing away.
"Nice move, Ramirez." Leo says, looking at the painting and then back at me.
"Okay, now move ten steps forward." I say and Leo nods, standing in front of the painting.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten." Leo says, finally stopping after counting his steps.
Leo then stops by a black box covered with white powder.
He then picks up a wooden stick.
"Wanna do the honors?" He says and I nod as I take the stick from him.
I dig into the powder with the stick until I finally find the key.
I set the stick down and pick up the key and Leo sends me a grin.
"Honors of what?" Carter says and Leo and I turn to him.
Carter then looks behind him and then back at Leo and I.
"I knew you'd find it." Carter says.
"Here, take it. Consider it as an apology present for slapping you earlier." I say, tossing it at him.
"Valerie!" Leo says.
"Take it. The stupid Eagles will worship you if you come back with it." I say, glaring at him.
"I don't need your handouts." He says, tossing the key back to me, then walking off.
"Prick." I mutter, watching him walk through the doors.
"Did you really slap him?" Leo asks.
"Yeah. He was posing for Sophie's stupid blog and it ended up being an argument." I say, fiddling with the key.
"Woah. Now I know not to get on your bad side." He scoffs and I chuckle.
"C'mon, let's go to Louis." I say, tapping his chest as he nods as we run down the staircase.
||
"A wise leader always thinks outside the box. And the Ravens understood that. So they went to the painting on the wall instead of looking in the most obvious places." Louis says and we all start to clap as Leo sends us a smile.
Leo then takes the stick off from beside the gong and points it at me.
"Me?" I say, raising my eyebrows at him.
"You earned it." He says, grinning at me.
I then turn to see Daniel, Brooke and Sophie glaring at me.
I get up from my seat and take the stick from Leo as I walk up on the stage.
I twirl the stick in my hand and bang the gong as loud as possible with the stick.
"Whoo!" The Ravens cheer.
"I now pronounce the Ravens winners of the opening challenge." Louis says as Leo gives me high-five.
||
"First challenge down! Whoo! Alright!" Leo shouts as everyone cheer behind him.
"I'm so proud of you. I told you that you're smart!" Hayley says, hugging me and I laugh.
"Not as smart as you, math genius." I say to her and she chuckles.
"Free food, yes! We did it!" Emma exclaims.
"Who wants a cupcake?" Leo announces.
"I do!" Max says and I chuckle as Leo hands it to him.
"Alright, we got pizza over here and who wants a pretzel?" Leo says once again.
"Me!" A few students say as Leo puts food on their plate.
"Eagles didn't stand a chance, guys." Jackie says, putting some chips on her plate.
"Obviously not. They don't have a pizza party." Emma says and everyone laughs.
"Man, if I could see the look on Daniel's face right now. Are you kidding me?" Leo scoffs.
"Probably crying." Jackie says, and everyone bursts into laughter as Leo high-fives her.
I then decide to get up off the couch and take my headphones with me.
I then slowly make my way to the door and quietly shut it behind me.
I'm just not in the mood for any of this.
||
"Some how we end up on the same side and you wouldn't think that we'd be alright. Even our eyes are different colors, but we see fine." I quietly sing to myself as I let my legs hang off the roof.
I then feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn around to see Leo taking a seat next to me.
"Hey." He says and I take off my headphones, leaving them around my neck.
"Hi." I say, rocking my left leg back and forth.
"Gotcha this. I saved it for you." He says, holding out a pretzel.
"Thank you." I say, taking it from him and we both scoff.
"What are you doing out here?" He asks, leaning his arms behind his back.
"Just needed some air." I simply say, staring at my pretzel.
"You say that a lot. Are you sure you aren't an alien?" He jokes and I laugh.
"Not an alien. I just like the breeze. And the sun. And the stars. And the moon." I trail off, looking up at the sky.
"I will admit, it is nice." Leo says, looking above him.
"You just notice now?" I say and he chuckles at me.
"So, Carter didn't text you back?" Leo asks.
"Nope." I say, closing my Louie again, then slipping it back into my jean pocket.
"Just give him more space. He has to learn to take care of his problems on his own." He says.
"Guess you're right. And if you say I know I am, I'm slapping you." I say, turning to him.
"Damn, okay. Then I won't." Leo scoffs at me.
"Good." I say, cracking a slight smile.
"How long have you been out here? You missed out on the best party ever. Max devoured at least fifteen cupcakes and threw them all up on Kai." Leo says.
"Wow, sounded like a blast. I don't know, I just wasn't in the partying mood." I shrug, taking a bite from my pretzel.
"Are you ever?" He says and my face drops as I turn to him.
"Shut it, Cruz." I say, shoving his shoulder and we both chuckle.
"You're a tough one, Ramirez. C'mon, let's go to back to the dorm." He says, carefully getting on his feet.
I nod as I slip my journal and pen into my hoodie pocket and grab my phone in my left hand and the pretzel in the other.
He holds his hand out, helping me up. I thank Leo and we begin to walk in sweet silence.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.