The Christmas Party ; The Unbelievable Pair

All the players started running. Alice and Mark were leading, "Would you slow down a bit?" Mark whined.

"No way! We have to win this!" she breathed as she continued running.

They suddenly saw an arrow pointing to a small tree and at the tree, there were some pieces of paper attached to it. Mark plucked one and he read it. "It says make your way to the fountain at the park and there you will find your next clue."

"What is this Amazing Race university version?" she complained.

"Let's go, stop complaining." Mark said before he started running

"The school park is on the other side of the school! We have to hurry." Alice shouted as she sped up their pace.

Meanwhile back at the party Alex and Julianne were debating on whether Alice or Mark would win or Gerald and Tiffany would suddenly win by a miracle.

"Mark and Alice would definitely win this round. They're like a dynamite duo." Alex said.

"Hmmm, I heard that you and Alice are a duo too." Julianne bit her lip.

"Oh that, we're the daredevil duo just because we're both into the same stuff like horror, killer rides and we're both gamers but there's nothing else to it." Alex explained.

Julianne giggled "I guess so, Alice and you'd make a great duo. I trust the both of you, so it's okay."

"Thanks, Anne," he kissed her on the forehead. "Now come on let's get something to drink,"

"Where's the clue?!" Alice shouted once they arrived at the fountain.

"Look, there are some rocks at the fountain and there were letters written on them," he pointed. "And stop acting like you're Dora. No one is going to randomly answer you." he snickered.

Alice flicked his forehead. "Get them then, I'll stay here and stretch my arms," she suggested.

So Alice stood at the edge and Mark stepped in the fountain, he took the rocks and threw them out. Alice yelped as she dodged a rock. "Be careful will you!" she shouted as she suddenly pulled back her hand causing Mark to step forward.

"I think that you're forgetting that we're handcuffed to each other," Mark raised one eyebrow at her.

Alice turned away, "Well I'm not used to this." she blubbered. She hopped down from the edge and Mark stepped out the fountain. Alice observed the rocks… what word does it form? She then smiled as she fixed and rearranged the letters. "GYMNASIUM"

"So I guess we're going there, throw the rocks back in the water Mark!" Alice ordered.

"Let's keep it like this so that they could catch up quickly besides, it will be a challenge." Mark smiled.

"You're too nice," she grunted as she pulled Mark with her, she caught a glimpse of some of the other teams approaching the fountain. "But you do have a point," she muttered.

It doesn't take long for Alice and Mark to finally arrive at the gymnasium. They saw their senior Dale who is the team captain of the basketball team.

"Good day, the next part of this race is that you have to shoot eight balls from the three-point lane. Good luck." Dale said.

"How are we supposed to do that with only one hand?" she miffed.

"It means we have to stick with formless shots, exert more effort," Mark told her as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

"It's easy for you, you're a part of the basketball team," Alice scowled.

"There are only twenty balls which means if you miss more than twelve your score goes back to zero. If you can't do it, you can take the thirty-minute penalty." Dale added.

Alice and Mark nodded in agreement. "You go first," Alice said as she handed a ball to Mark. He took one ball and attempted to shoot, he missed.

"Damn it why'd you miss? So much for being a part of the team," Alice scoffed as she attempted a shot which she immediately missed, it bounced off the rim and it returned to her, hitting her on the forehead in return.

Dale and Mark laughed. "Chill Alice," Dale said as he bit off a laugh. "Hey Mark, I thought she was supposed to be cool?" he teased.

"Nah, she's a goof." Mark laughed which only earned him a pinch from Alice.

Mark attempted his second shot and this time it got in, Alice made a second attempt and it still missed. "Relax Alice," Mark scowled as he made another shot.

"I'll get one I swear," Alice said, this time her shot didn't even reach the ring.

"Seriously, I thought you play basketball?" Mark said with a deadpan expression, he made another shot.

"Well, this isn't my style!" Alice puffed her cheeks as she made another attempt to shoot, this time it got in.

"Clean shot," Dale said in awe. "Keep the momentum going, your shoulders were too stiff earlier, you're more relaxed now."

So the two faced each other and they were able to make consecutive shots. Dale handed them their next clue. "Go to the football field for the next challenge," Mark read loudly.

"Come on!" Alice shouted as she pulled Mark with her.

As they left the gymnasium, Dale smiled to himself. "They're both good, after Mark's first attempt he was able to make perfect shots. Meanwhile, Alice took a few attempts but in the end, she was still able to make consecutive shots, they're both like pros." he thought to himself. When Alice and Mark just left the gymnasium, they saw Gerald and Tiffany and not far from them were the next pair.

"We're definitely catching up with you," Tiffany sneered.

Alice and Mark just continued running towards the football field but not before making a quick stop at the cafeteria for a drink.

"I thought you were in a hurry?" Mark asked.

"Gerald is bad at sports, so he and Tiffany are gonna take a long time in the gym," she chuckled.

"Says the girl who missed a shot and got hit on the head by a basketball," Mark teased. After receiving a glare from Alice, they headed towards the football field.

"We're finally here!" Alice heavily panted once they arrived at the field.

"It looks like a military training camp in here," Mark gasped. They saw their gym teacher dressed in military fatigue.

"Okay today you're soldiers!" he preached.

"What?"

"First you have to do a fifty-meter sack race then you have to cross that log without falling and finally you have to climb that wall and climb down at the other side," their coach said.

"Is there a certain time limit?" Mark asked.

"None but I suggest you do it quickly for the sake of leading this competition,"

"Let's run Mark," Alice said.

So they went to the sack race, Mark counted to keep their rhythm and they finished it in less than two minutes. They headed towards the log and they carefully crossed it, they were done in a matter of thirty seconds so they headed to the wall climbing area.

"You climb first," Mark said.

"As you can see I'm wearing a skirt, a fucking skirt." Alice grimaced.

Mark chuckled as he started climbing the wall, Alice went after him. They took turns whenever they each made a move, once they reached the top they saw that the way down was only one rope.

"What if we just jump? It isn't that high, just about two meters and a half" Alice suggested although she didn't sound confident at all.

"Fine. We only live once. Let's do this." Mark said, he counted to three and they jumped together. They were thankful for the grass it made the impact hurt less.

They immediately approached their coach, "Wow you're great, you made it look so easy. Here's your next clue,"

"High school building, third floor, one challenge per room let's go." Alice read the important details before they started running again..

They went back to the high school building, in the first room they entered they saw a rubber mat and one student.

"Hello, welcome to the first challenge… all you have to do is to solve this one hundred fifty-piece jigsaw puzzle. Choose one set and finish it,"

Alice gaped in shock. "Jigsaw puzzles? Damn, this is hard." she whined.

"Quit whining and let's just do this stupid puzzle," Mark retorted.

Back at the party in the quadrangle, Mia was sitting at a bench and Lance sat beside her. "Why are you here?" Mia asked.

"Well Sarah went off somewhere with Jayne and I want to sit, so here I am." Lance shrugged.

"So Lance, are Mark and Alice dating?" she asked again.

"Nope,"

"Oh, that's a relief but for some reason, I feel a bit annoyed because lately, Mark has been treating Alice like she's his best friend. It's unfair since we met way before they even became classmates." Mia lamented.

"Oh really?" Lance tried his best to not sound uninterested.

He tried his best to at least look like he's listening calmly, he was irritated since he's obviously rooting for Alice and Mark and he still remembers what Mia did to Mark so ever since then, he thinks that Mia doesn't need Mark.

"Well Mia, I'll be leaving see you around," he said as he stepped away from the bench. "I have a bad feeling about this. I think Mark and Mia's friendship is on the line, same with his and Alice's." he thought to himself.