Part 2___Day 3___THE HUNT BEGINS

The students didn't have to get up as early as they did the day before, but 8:15 a.m. was still early for teenagers who were used to sleeping in during the summer break. They were on their way to the auditorium. The seating there was more comfortable than in the cafeteria, and the teachers could address the students from a stage.

"Yay, scavenger hunt," Summer said, lacking all enthusiasm. She still looked very tired.

"I'm sure it's gonna be boring as usual," Erica said, applying Chap Stick to her lips. "How are you feeling today?"

"Okay, I guess," Summer said, yawning. "I don't feel queasy. Not right now, at least."

"That's good."

Garrett, Sara, and John were already on the wooden stage as the students started to file into the room. Sara and Garrett had mics instead of bullhorns.

"Pick a seat, any seat!" As always, Sara tried her best to hype up the crowd of teenagers. "I hope you're ready to shine bright like the sun today!"

"We'll be putting you in groups for the scavenger hunt. Then we'll get things rollin'!" Garrett said, matching Sara's energy. John was farther away from them.

He stood next to something that looked like a large bingo cage, with an abundant number of little pieces of paper in it. He stood rather stoically with his arms crossed. He said nothing as the students came in, but when he noticed Summer, he smiled slightly. Summer chose a seat that was closer to the other two teachers, and she made it a point not to look at John.

"Eagles, can you believe that this our second morning here?" Sara asked, pouting. "This will all be over before you know it." The students sighed collectively.

"Hopefully," Lu said.

"Praying…I'm so ready to go home," said Ryan, irritated.

"Okay, so, before we put you all into groups…we're going to explain how the scavenger hunt is going to work," Sara said, slowly walking back and forth across the stage. "No, no, no. Stop the eye rolling. There are new students here."

"What could she possibly need to explain?" Greer asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"Remember the obstacle course we showed you yesterday?" Sara asked. Some students nodded but many just blankly stared. "Well, when we put you into groups, each team will select a person to go through the obstacle course."

"The top twenty students to complete the obstacle course the fastest gets an advantage for their whole team," Garrett said, rubbing his hands together. Garret and Sara looked over at their colleague. John put on a mock smile and nodded for their amusement.

Sara kept her composure and continued to speak to the students. "The first person to find a stone will get one hundred dollars! How nice is that?"

Chase grinned at this. "Awesome."

"What are you smirking about?" Erica asked him. He ignored her.

"Of course, you could split the money with the rest of your teammates, but I won't judge you if you don't," Sara continued. "The five teams that have the most stones by the end of tomorrow will also get a cash prize!" Sara said and the mic shrieked from feedback.

This made the students wake up a bit.

"Wow, we never got prizes before," Greer said.

"I'm slightly more motivated now," Lu said, sitting up in his seat.

"There will be a final prize," Sara said, pacing the stage again, "but that will be disclosed later."

"Aww, man!" one student yelled.

"We don't even know what the final prize is," Garrett said. "It must be a good one."

"You will have walkie-talkies to communicate with your team." Sara said.

"The only rule is don't steal other people's stones. Or, at least, don't let us see you do it. If your caught stealing, you'll be disqualified." Garrett said ominously.

"There are one hundred stones. I painted all of them myself," Sara said with satisfaction.

"You are the art teacher," Summer muttered.

"Expect to see all sorts of colors and lots of sparkle," Ms. Brunswell spun around, making her frilly white skirt billow.

"Time for business," Garrett said. He and Sara made their way to the bingo cage.

"You will be put into groups of five, and no…You may not change groups," Sara said. "Inside this cage," she said, gesturing to it, "Are pieces of paper. Each piece of paper has a name of one student. Once I pull out five pieces of paper, voila! You have a group."

"This going to take a while," John said as he started to spin the cage.

"Oh, this is going to be exciting!" Sara said as she dug in the cage. She grabbed a handful of papers and put the extras back in the cage. "Claire Roberts…Zachery Thomas…Joy White." Sara continued to call off names for groups. Sometimes she would take turns with Garrett. Some kids were happy with their groups while others sulked.

"This isn't fair! I wanna switch!" One student yelled. He got up, and he looked as if he wanted to leave the room until Sara gave him a look. He sat back down, a scowl on his face.

"God, the cage still looks full," Ryan said, suppressing a yawn. The teachers had called off well over twenty groups. Lu had already dozed off, snoring softly.

"Yeah, I know," Greer said, cracking his neck.

"Greer McCarter," Garrett said.

"Finally," Greer said. Please say Zara.

"Lu Thompson," Garrett continued.

Greer nudged Lu. "Hey, Lu. We're on the same team."

Lu blinked a couple times before giving a thumbs up. "Cool…Did they say your name yet, Ryan?"

"No," Ryan said. He was looking at the teachers intently. "I hope we're in the same group."

"Zara Andrews," Garrett said.

Greer was grinning, he looked at Zara who was sitting a couple of seats away. He saw that she was smiling at him, too. She immediately turned away, blushing.

"Benjamin Woods," Garrett said.

"Ben?" Lu asked. He was wide awake now.

"Ben's smart. He'll be good on our team," Ryan said, still watching Garret's mouth.

"He's annoying as hell," Lu said.

Garrett opened the last piece of paper for that group. "Erica Landen."

Ryan sat back in his seat. "That sucks…I'm not in y'all group."

"We have Summer's lapdog," Greer said, rubbing his face. Lu groaned and put his head in his hands. Mr. Beaux started to spin the large bingo cage again. There was still a lot of paper remaining.

Sara wiggled her fingers then reached in to grab her next set of names. "Luke Peters," she called.

"Isn't he on the football team?" Greer asked.

"Yeah," Ryan said, nodding his head. "He's a good running back."

"Chase Gonzalez…Grace Wells…Summer Hall," Sara said

"Who do you think's gonna be on their team?" Lu asked.

"Ryan Davis," Sara said.

Ryan's head shot up. "Did she say my name?" He blinked a couple of times, in a daze. "I get to be on a team with Summer?"

"Your dreams have come true," Greer said, patting his back.

"You could at least pretend that you feel bad about not being on our team," Lu said, shaking his head.

"I do feel bad…I just feel better about this," Ryan said matter-of-factly.

"Not like she's gonna give you the time of day," Lu said.

After hours of picking through tiny pieces of paper, all of the groups were finally selected. "That was fun, right?" Sara asked. "There are almost one hundred groups!" She came down from the stage followed by Garrett and John holding large burlap sacks. "The walkie-talkies are in these sacks."

"While you're doing the obstacle course, we'll sync them up so you'll only be on the frequency of your own group," Garrett said.

"Okay!" Sara said, clapping her hands. "Get in your groups. Time for the obstacle course!"

***

The groups made their way outside; many of the students chatted amongst themselves. Others were still disappointed that they couldn't switch. One of them was Erica. "This is so unfair!" she yelled. She was so upset, a vein was protruding from her forehead.

"It won't be that bad," Zara said. She reached out to touch Erica's arm.

"You don't understand," Erica said, pulling away. "Summer needs me right now." Zara rolled her eyes, not bothering to reason with her anymore.

Ben was walking a couple paces behind Lu and Greer. Ben didn't have many friends, but he had quite a few "acquaintances". As the president of the Math Club, people usually came to him when they had issues with their homework. Even on his worse days, Ben was often right, and he usually let people know it. He walked a little faster to catch up with the other boys. "I propose that we have Greer run the obstacle course. I believe it is our best chance of gaining the advantage," he said, cleaning his glasses.

"Yeah," Lu said, rolling his eyes. "We were proposing the same thing." He and his friends had been cordial to Ben for the most part, but Lu couldn't resist mocking him sometimes.

"If someone has to, I'm cool with it," Greer said, then he paused, turning to Erica and Zara. "Are you guys okay with that?" he asked, looking only at Zara.

"Sure," Zara said. "You'll do great."

"Fine by me," Erica said, shrugging. "I definitely don't want to do it."

"Okay then," he said, taking a deep breath. "Wish me luck."

***

Chase and Luke were in each other's faces. Their egos were comparable.

"I should obviously go through the course," Luke said, sticking out his chest. "Do you know how fast I am on the football field?"

"I'd kick your ass if I was on the team!" Chase said, spitting on the ground.

"Yeah? Well, who's actually on the team, moron?"

Chase didn't say anything back; he just clenched his teeth and glared at him. Luke, who was maybe three inches taller than Chase, stared right back with a smirk on his face.

"You guys done arguing?" Summer asked with her arms crossed. Ryan stood near her, watching every move that she made. "All that yelling is giving me a headache."

"Do you need anything?" Ryan asked. "Water?"

Summer shook her head, not even looking at him. Grace stood a little farther away from the group. She used to be Summer's friend; in many ways, she was the "first" Erica. Grace busied herself by plaiting her hair.

Sara and Garrett made their way up to the front of the crowd with bullhorns in hand. "I hope all of you have decided who will run the course!" Sara said.

"Remember, the top twenty will get an advantage for their whole team," Garrett said, holding up a stopwatch. John was on the other side of the course with a long table set up in front of him. Walkie-talkies were spread out on the table.

"While Mr. Fowler is timing the racers, I'm going to be helping Mr. Beaux with the walkie-talkies. Try to, anyway," Sara said, clearing her throat.

"Okay! All racers to the starting line!" Garrett said, leading the way.

Greer jogged in place to calm his nerves. Up close, the obstacle course looked a bit more daunting than it did on the tour. There were ropes to climb, balancing obstacles, and several hoops to jump through. Luke kneeled as if he was going to run at a track meet. Most of the other students stood nonchalantly, not showing any interest at all. Greer's heart began to beat faster. If Zara wasn't on his team, he wouldn't care about placing at all.

Sara blew the whistle that was around her neck. "Ready…Set," she paused for a long time, and the students looked at her with anticipation. "Go!" She blew the whistle again several times, making it sound like a song. Everyone dashed to get to one of the thirty ropes. All the students that lagged behind would need to catch up on the other obstacles in order to gain the advantage. The ropes were suspended from a long bar, and the students had to climb ten feet in the air. This time, there was a sufficient amount of padding on the ground; there were no ambulances on standby.

Of course, Luke was one of the first to make it to the ropes. He wanted to be first, so he scurried up the rope like it was for military training, not even breaking a sweat. Greer wasn't quite as fast. He had to fight his way to the tenth rope. Okay, this shouldn't be as bad as the wall. He gripped the rope and started to climb. He realized that, unlike the stable wall, the rope swayed and wobbled with every move he made. He had to focus to remain steady as he tried to keep a quick pace. Other students were passing him and it made him even more nervous. Just keep climbing.

Luke was almost finished with the next obstacle, which was a set of monkey bars. He hopped down and began to sprint to the next leg of the course. In his haste, he tripped. He slid across the ground, smearing his grey shirt with grass stains. His fall was all it took to allow other people to pass him. Luke jumped up, not bothering to wipe off his shirt. "Damn it!"

Greer was still losing ground; he had taken too long on the rope. He couldn't see Zara, but he imagined that she was cheering him on. I got this. His legs were starting to burn, and his breathing grew short. Wish Ryan was here to do this…More endurance than me. By the time he made it to the balancing obstacle, he wanted to give up. The obstacle consisted of raised platforms that were wide enough for one foot to fit on. The racers had to hop from one to the other, then they had to make their way across a tight-rope before running to the finish line. Greer made his tired legs do what he wanted them to do, and before he knew it, he had made his way passed the tight-rope. He mustered up the strength to run.

***

Greer and many of the other students were drenched in sweat and heaving for breath when they crossed the finish line. There was cold water waiting for them. Greer got two bottles: one to pour over his head and the other to drink. He finished it in seconds. "I hope all that was worth it," he said, still panting.

Luke was the only one that looked unbothered. He sipped on his water as if he just enjoyed a short stroll. "I'm ready for the results. Where's my advantage?" he said, taking another swig of his water.

"Great job, racers! Y'all did a fantastic job!" Sara said wiping the sweat from the back of her neck. The heat was smoldering. "Mr. Fowler has the top twenty times written down. He'll announce the results inside…where there's air conditioning," she said, dabbing her face with a lavender-colored handkerchief.

Greer felt better inside, the water was drying on his skin and it made him feel cool and invigorated. All the students sat with their groups in the auditorium.

"Great job out there," Zara said, patting Greer's back.

He tried not to tense up when she touched him. "Thanks. We'll see if I placed."

"I think you did…You were moving pretty fast."

He thought he was barely keeping up. At least she thinks I did good.

"Yeah, man," Lu said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't have been able to finish the first leg of that. I would have passed out for sure."

Ben cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses. "Yes, you did very well. Although, you would have done better if you adjusted your stride and increased your veloci—" He stopped talking when he saw that they didn't look amused. Erica didn't comment; she was busy picking the polish from her nails.

On stage, Garrett tapped the mike. "Time to find out which teams get the advantage!" A hush came over the crowd, and the students listened intently. For once, Sara was not standing by Garrett's side. She was sitting in the first row, still holding her handkerchief. She was the only one who applauded.

"Let's hear it!" Sara said, waving her handkerchief. "I'm going to sit here and enjoy the A.C."

Garrett started at twentieth place and worked his way down. "In second place, with a time of four minutes and four seconds, is," he paused for dramatic effect. "Luke Peters!" He applauded, and so did everyone else but Luke. "Fantastic job!"

Luke sat frozen with his mouth agape. "What? I didn't get first?"

Chase was laughing so hard, he had to hold his stomach. "Told you I shoulda ran the course!" Luke was fuming. He clenched his fists as Garrett announced who came in first place.

"And in first place is," Garrett cleared his throat. "This is a close one, guys…With a time of four minutes and three seconds…Joy White! Outstanding!"

Chase laughed even harder. "You got beat by a girl? Yeah, I definitely shoulda run it!"

Luke got up and charged towards the stage. Many students were still cheering for Joy by the time he got to the front row. He stopped at the edge of the stage. "I wanna see those results!" he shouted up at Garrett.

Garrett was unfazed. He was used to dealing with cocky teenage boys. "Excuse me?"

Luke squirmed in Garrett's gaze. "Can we do a playback of what went down at the finish line?" he asked, adjusting his tone. "I could have sworn—"

"This isn't a football game. There is no playback. I had a stopwatch." he said, pursing his lips. His gaze on Luke intensified. "Are you implying that I do not know how to use a stopwatch?"

"Um…No, I—"

"Good. Go sit down, Mr. Peters."

Luke walked back to his seat with his head held down. Chase was still snickering.

Garrett addressed the entire crowd. "The advantage is the same for all who placed in the top twenty."

Greer sat back in his seat and sighed. "I guess what I did wasn't enough…I didn't place."

"That's okay," Lu said, shrugging. "You gave it your best shot."

"Yeah, that's all that matters," Zara said. For the first time, Greer noticed the flecks of green in her hazel eyes.

Sara finally got up from her seat and made her way on stage. "All of you did a wonderful job! That obstacle course looked very tricky…and the heat," she dabbed her head with the handkerchief. "The heat almost killed me. So, I can imagine how it was for you."

"All the stones are hidden!" Garrett said. "Get your walkie-talkies from Mr. Beaux. He's waiting for you in the cafeteria. After that," he said, pumping his fist in the air, "start hunting, Eagles!"

"What about the advantage?" Luke asked.

"That will be saved for later…Just worry about finding those stones for now."

The students were eager to start finding the stones. One hundred dollars was up for grabs.

***

The students flooded into the cafeteria to get their walkie-talkies.

"It will be less hectic if one person from each group comes up to get the walkie-talkies," John said in his bullhorn. All of the walkie-talkies were synced up and each team had their own frequency. Once again, Chase and Luke were arguing.

"I shouldn't have to go and wait in that long ass line! I just ran the course," Luke said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, well, you didn't win!" Chase said, laughing again

"I came in second place!" Luke was about to throw a tantrum. "I shouldn't even be in this group…I'm a senior…I'm—"

"Second place is the first looser," Chase said, narrowing his eyes. Luke looked like he was about to punch him.

"God…Stop," Grace said, holding up her hands. "I'll go in the line." She didn't want anyone to get hurt. And even though she didn't really hang out with Summer anymore, she could tell that their arguing was making her feel worse.

"Don't worry about it, Grace." Ryan put his hand on her shoulder. "I'll go."

The "one person-per-group" solution didn't really help. The line was still very long. It snaked its way through the cafeteria, and it was moving so slowly because Mr. Beaux had to double-check and make sure students were all getting the right walkie-talkies. If there were food involved, the line would have moved much faster. Luckily, Ryan ended up in line right behind Greer, so being towards the end didn't bother him much. Greer smiled when he felt a punch on his shoulder. "Hey! I totally thought you were gonna run the course."

"Naw," Ryan said. "Chase and Luke were makin' a big deal over it. Besides," he said, shrugging, "I had to keep Summer company."

"Oh, yeah?" Greer asked with raised eyebrows. "Did she even talk to you?"

"Um, well…No. Not with words." Ryan said, staring off into space.

"Baby steps, man."

Ryan took a deep breath and changed the subject. "You did a nice job on the course."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? I didn't place."

"Yeah, but you were only one away."

"Really?" Greer looked at Ryan skeptically.

"You were, like, half a second off. I swear."

"Wow."

"Makes you feel a little better, don't it?"

"Kinda," Greer said, trying not to smile.

***

Once all the groups had their walkie-talkies, some tried to strategize while others mainly looked around the cafeteria. Some were on their hands and knees, looking under tables. Many groups didn't feel the need to speak quietly; they just shouted to their teammates across the room.

"Look under all the tables!" One student said to his teammates. "They could've glued them underneath."

"You think we can go in the kitchen?" One student asked.

Greer started passing out the walkie-talkies. When he handed one to Zara, their hands touched. He could swear that he felt a shock go through his whole body.

Ben checked the walkie-talkie when he got his. "Testing, testing."

Lu rolled his eyes. "I think that's what Mr. Beaux spent all his time doing."

"Just making sure." Ben was still inspecting the device.

"Where's Erica?" Greer asked.

"Looking for Summer," Zara said.

"Summer's not with her group?"

"Apparently not," Zara said, shrugging.

Greer put the remaining walkie-talkie to the side. At that same moment, Ben laid out three sheets of graphing paper in the center of the table. "While you were getting the walkie-talkies," Ben said to Greer, "I took the liberty of drawing out a map."

"Couldn't you just get one from the teachers?" Lu asked.

"I actually asked for one when we first arrived here, but Mr. Beaux blew me off. Not to worry, though, I remembered all the important areas from the tour." On one sheet of graphing paper, he sketched out the cafeteria, the natatorium, and the restrooms. The second paper had the auditorium, and the storage room at the back of the building. Ben had drawn a sketch of the outside on the last paper: the greenhouse, the obstacle course, and the grassy area near the train's platform.

"I don't see the 'forbidden room' on here," Zara said, studying the map.

"The what?" Ben asked.

"The room we didn't go into on the tour," Greer said. Zara smiled up at him.

"Ahh. I didn't bother. Ms. Brunswell looked at me strangely when I asked if that room was going to be open for the scavenger hunt."

Zara narrowed her eyes.

"Where do you think we should start?" Greer asked.

Zara studied the map intently, tracing it with her finger. "Maybe outside?"

Ben put his finger on the storage room. "I personally think we should start here and work our way back to the front."

"Whatever you guys wanna do," Lu said. He eyed the sandwiches set up at the food station. "Can we get something to eat first? It's getting kinda late."

"Why don't we just start 'hunting' tomorrow?" Zara suggested.

"Yeah. I doubt anybody's gonna find anything tonight, anyway."

Ben made a face, but decided not to comment. Zara noticed. "If you want to try finding the first stone, you can," she said softly.

Ben sighed. "Let's just get an early start tomorrow. No later than seven o'clock."

***

"Let it out, girl. Get it all out," Erica said as she held Summer's hair back. They were back at the girl's dormitory hall; Summer was bent over a toilet in one of the restrooms. Erica didn't let the sound of her friend throwing up make her feel squirmy. She sat there as if she couldn't hear it. "Let it out," she said again, putting Summer's hair in a bun.

Summer was heaving so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. When she was finished, she leaned her head back against the stall and closed her eyes. "Thanks for being here with me," she said with a hoarse voice.

Erica patted Summer's knee. "You know I'll always be here." She hesitated before asking, "Did you tell him?"

Summer opened her eyes slowly. "No…He barely even looks at me."

Erica pulled Summer up so they could get out of the stall. "It'll be okay."

"Yeah…I'll tell him soon," Summer said as they exited the stall. Her eyes widened when she saw Grace leaning against the other wall where the rusty sinks were.

"Eavesdropper!" Erica shouted. She began to stomp her way towards Grace until Summer stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"How much did you hear?" Summer asked. The normally confident girl looked fragile as she looked at Grace.

"Enough."

"Please," Summer said, her voice strained. "Don't tell anyone." Summer rarely begged, and she thought her situation would make her former friend feel some type of emotion.

"I don't care that you're knocked up. Not my problem," Grace said coldly.

That was good enough for Summer; she left the bathroom arm-in-arm with Erica. When they left, Grace turned towards the mirror and clutched the counter. Her icy façade was gone; tears streamed down her face.

***

Ryan tagged along with Chase and Luke. Chase locked the door when he got into the room.

"Hey, what's that for?" Luke said, eyeing Chase suspiciously. "I only like to be locked in rooms with girls."

"Chill. I have a cause for celebration," Chase said, getting his backpack. "Besides, I've asked around. Everyone else has a keycard; their doors lock automatically. Just locking it in case a teacher wants to barge in."

Ryan tried adjusting his posture so he wouldn't look so awkward. "Where's Grace and Summer? Shouldn't we be looking for stones?" He pursed his lips, immediately regretting saying anything.

Chase laughed. "I already have this scavenger hunt in the palm of my hand."

"What's that supposed to mea—" Ryan started to say.

"Why do you care so much about where the girls are? Summer's probably changing her tampon or somethin'…She been moody all day." Luke said, flopping down on the bean bag in the corner of the room.

Ryan didn't reply; he just sat down in a chair.

"There's my baby," Chase said, finally digging out his flask from his backpack.

For the first time, Luke was interested in what Chase was doing. "Nice thinking, Gonzalez. I shoulda thought of that."

"I had it in a hidden compartment in my backpack just in case the teachers wanted to check," Chase said, taking a long swig. He paused for a while before handing the flask to Luke. "You did gain us an advantage…Whatever it is. So you can have some."

Luke took it without hesitation and drank even more than Chase did. "You want some?" Luke asked Ryan, holding the flask out to him.

"Naw. Don't want a hangover or anything," Ryan said, eyeing the door, ready to make his escape.

Chase raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you're gonna drink the whole thing. Besides, this is good stuff…You won't feel any affects in the morning."

Ryan was still looking at the door.

"Come on! Don't be a puss—" Luke started to say, but Ryan grabbed the flask before he could finish.

Ryan gagged and coughed after drinking only a sip. "It's…strong," he said after recovering.

Luke threw his head back and laughed hysterically. "I can't believe you, dude! Can't handle a little drink?" Ryan didn't say anything. He just took deep breaths. The drink was strong; he crossed his arms tightly across his chest so he wouldn't try to rub his burning eyes.

Chase took the flask back and had another drink. "Let the games begin," he said, grinning.