♦Chapter Six♦

“I think he’s trying to turn us against each other,” Demi said, staring at the piece of paper in her hands.

Jinju looked up from where she was sitting in the grass picking at the flowers. “What do you mean? We’re supposed to be working together.” Jinju gasped suddenly, the other girls turning to stare at her. Jinju didn’t notice the sudden attention, continuing on in a dramatic whisper. “Unless you mean that Jokwon is using reverse psychology! He wants us to hate each other by making us like each other!”

The girls continue to stare at Jinju who finally noticed the attention and started to blush. “That makes absolutely no sense at all,” Jinhee said while crossing her arms.

Demi snickered to herself, shaking her head. “That’s not what I meant. I mean that I think he’s turning us against the boys.”

Heebon hummed loudly, tapping her chin with her finger. “Isn’t it more likely though that he’s just trying to get us to not hate each other?”

“Fat chance of that,” Jihae said, voice low but loud enough for Heebon to hear, causing the other girl to give her a sickeningly sweet smile with narrowed eyes.

Kimchi jumped up from her spot on a rock, clapping her hands excitedly. “I agree with Heebonnie!”

Heebon smiled to the younger girl, patting her on the head. “As is expected.”

A second later Dee was also on her feet, grabbing Kimchi by the shoulder and pushing her back, glaring at Heebon all the while.

“Oh my god, not again,” Hyemi sighed, placing her head in her hands in exasperation.

“Fight, fight, fight!” Cas chanted from the sidelines, a large smile on her face. Heebon turned to her with wide eyes, mouth opened in shock. Cas shrugged her shoulders, still smiling. “Sorry, Heebon.”

Demi smoothly placed herself in between Heebon and Dee, pushing them away from each other. “No matter how much I’d like to see you two punching each other’s faces in, I want to beat the guys in this Scavenger Hunt and we only have two hours to find everything.”

“Oh right, I forgot what we were supposed to be doing,” Cas said but made no move to do the activity.

Hyemi stood up from her spot in the grass, dusting herself off. “Let’s go then.” She took out the piece of paper with what they were supposed to find, looking over it closely.

Jihae stayed put on her rock as everyone else began to stand and gather their things, staring at her nails. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You guys go on without me.”

Rolling her eyes Demi grabbed Jihae’s arm, hauling her to her feet. Jihae shrieked in protest, unsuccessfully trying to swat the stronger girl away. “Don’t be such a priss and let’s go.” Without another word Demi began to walk away, pulling a grumbling but lenient Jihae with her. The rest of the girls followed, some chuckling at the sight.

“So what should we go for first?” Jinju said, skipping slightly next to Hyemi. Her eyes glanced over the list of items in her hands, not focusing on anything in particular.

“A golden bird?” Jinhee said softly to herself, glancing up and blushing in embarrassment when she noticed the other girls looking at her. “What the hell are you looking at?”

Kimchi bounded over to Jinhee with a smile. “That’s a good thing to start with,” she said reassuringly, patting her on the arm. “But where would it be?”

“The Lounge,” Dee said bluntly. She glanced around at the girls staring at her in confusion. “When I was playing pool the other day in there I noticed a bunch of little bird figurines on the fireplace. I think one of them is gold.”

Cas turned around from the direction they had been walking, heading instead towards the Lounge. “That’s good enough for me.”

A few minutes later they were there, the girls moving around the campers hanging around the sofas towards the fireplace. Heebon immediately spotted the figurines, eyes searching until she found a gold one. “There it is,” she sang, grabbing it and showing it to the girls. “I’m good at this game,” she giggled, placing the figurine in the bag Hyemi was carrying that Jokwon had given them to carry the items.

Kimchi crossed off ‘a golden bird’ from the list, eyes scanning it for the next item they could search for. “A guest?” she asked, confusion painting her features. “Are we looking for a person?”

“No,” Hyemi said, her lips. “I think it’s a book, The Guest by Hwang Sokyong.”

“To the library!” Jinju cried out loudly, pointing in a random direction. Hyemi silently pushed Jinju’s arm to point in another direction, towards the Literature Hall. Jinju tugged her beanie over her eyes in embarrassment, Hyemi just smiling softly before putting on an expressionless face and heading off.

“It looks like this place hasn’t been cleaned in years,” Jinhee said when they arrived to the library, located in the attic of Literature.

“It always looks like this,” Hyemi said softly, picking through the piles of books on the floor while Cas and Jinhee scanned the bookshelves. “Gives it a special charm.”

Jinju stayed outside in the hallway with the other girls, not liking the tight spaces in the library. It didn’t take long for the three girls to emerge, Cas holding onto the book they were looking for with a grin.

“Yay,” Heebon cheered, grabbing the book and putting in the bag that was now in her possession. “Cas and I seem to be doing this all on our own so far,” she said while Cas grabbed her hand, walking out of the building.

Jihae snorted, giving the two girls a dirty look. “You guys just have good eyes. It’s everyone else doing the actual mental work.” She looked to the list, eyes stopping on a particular item. “A piece of China. That would be in the art rooms. We were using Chinese ceramics as objects to paint in class the other day.”

Jinju’s eyes lit up, looking at Jihae. “You like art, too?” Jihae merely nodded in response, leading the group to the Art Hall.

“Don’t break it,” Demi said in concern as Jinju carefully clutched the Chinese ceramic cup in her hands she found in one the storage drawers to put in the bag.

Kimchi looked on, concern in her eyes. “Maybe we should cover it with something just in case?”

“What about with your blanket?” Dee said, turning to Jinju. “I know you carry one around.” She then proceeded to lean against the wall of the room, crossing her arms and closing her eyes disinterest.

Jinju nodded, taking her blanket out of her purse and wrapping it around the cup before placing in the item bag.

“What else do we have here…” Cas looked through the list, more interested in the game than before. “A rainbow in a box? What the hell is that?”

Jinju headed back to the drawers in the art room, grabbing something and holding it up. “A box of colored pencils?”

Demi laughed grabbing the box and putting it in the bag. “Good thing we didn’t leave the room yet.”

Cas nodded her head, looking back to the list. “Okay, I’ve got one. Something that grows shorter as it grows older. That’s a candle.”

“Where do they keep candles around here?” Heebon asked, looking over Cas’s shoulder to see the list she was holding.

“I think the counselors have some in the Shrink House just in case the power goes out,” Hyemi said, already on her way out the building.

It didn’t take long before the girls were climbing up the stairs to the Help Center, known by most as the Shrink House. Jihae was the first one in, smiling as she noticed one of her favorite counselors, Yunho, sitting on one of the couches. “Yunho-oppa!” She smiled wide, skipping over the man who smiled back as they started talking.

Hyemi shook her head at her distracted teammate, searching around the room for where they might keep candles. After about five minutes a “found it!” rang out, Heebon popping out from one of the storage closets. Hyemi looked over at the call, seeing Heebon holding up a pack of candles.

Cas took the candles, putting it in the bag. “We’re pretty good at this, I’d say. We’re definitely going to beat the boys.”

“The kitchens,” Jinhee suddenly said, catching everyone’s attention. “We have to find a penguin. I don’t know why but one of the chef’s has a bunch of penguin stuffed animals on the wall-shelves in the kitchens.”

“Sounds good,” Demi said, walking over to Jihae who remained engrossed with Yunho, grabbing her and roughly pulling her out the building as she shrieked her protests.

When they reached the kitchens Jihae glared at Demi, pulling her arm out of the other’s grip and rubbing it. “Why do you keep doing that? You’re always so rough with people.”

Demi laughed, curling her arm around Jihae’s neck and putting her in a headlock. “You’re just too much fun to mess with,” she said, rubbing her knuckles against the shorter girl’s head.

Jihae struggled, flailing her arms around in an attempt to smack Demi but failing, causing Demi to just laugh harder. “Why are you like this!” Jihae finally yelled in anger, but traces of laughter could still be heard in her voice. The other girls laughed along at the two, glad they weren’t in Jihae’s position.

“Found the penguin,” Jinhee said, walking over to the group, trying to hide a smile that was forming at what she was seeing. Demi let go of Jihae then, who immediately moved herself behind Hyemi to avoid Demi. Demi grabbed the penguin, putting it in the item bag.

“Ohhh, something that helps you stay afloat? A life jacket?” Heebon quipped, scanning the list.

“To the docks then,” Dee said, quickly leaving the kitchen.

Cas suddenly stopped as they neared the docks, squinting her eyes. “Hey wait.” Everyone else stopped, looking to Cas in confusion. She pointed towards the docks, seeing a group of people heading into the storage building near it. “Are those the guys?”

Everyone else turned to where she was pointing, spotting a final figure entering the building.

“That was that , Mir!” Dee yelled, ignoring Hyemi’s glare directed towards her.

“Quick, we have to get a life jacket in case there’s no more left! The lake is crowded with more boaters than usual today,” Demi yelled out, sprinting towards the storage building with the other girls behind her.

Jinhee slammed through the building first, startling the boys who were in there. “Looking for this?” Sungjong sang, pointing towards the life jacket in Seungho’s hands. “It’s the last one,” he finished, hands on his hips.

“Hand it over,” Demi demanded, holding her hand out.

“Sorry, Demi,” Himchan said with a smile. “You know I love you, but this is ours.”

Heebon immediately started to pout cutely, the boys looking over to her. “Please?” She asked, giving out puppy eyes. “We really, really want the life jacket,” she pleaded.

Daehyun snorted loudly, shaking his head and taking the life jacket out of Seungho’s hands, shoving it into their own item bag without a word.

Cas moved over to Jongup, clinging onto his arm. “Please, Jonguppie? For me?”

Jongup blushed but was stopped from saying anything by Seungho’s resounding “No,” the older boy pulling him away from Cas.

“Fine, we don’t need it anyway,” Jinju said suddenly, turning and walking out of the building with a frown, growing claustrophobic. Everyone else followed, the girls grumbling to themselves and the boys high-fiving each other for their victory.

“What else do we need?” Kimchi asked, returning a wave that Changjo sent her way while the boys were huddled together.

Hyemi looked over the list, eyes narrowed in concentration. “I don’t know. The ones left are all in riddles and are more difficult.”

“Fantastic,” Jihae drawled out sarcastically.

“Someone’s feeling testy,” Cas said, wagging her finger in Jihae’s face.

Jihae scowled, slapping Cas’s hand away. “I’m not testy.”

“Don’t you dare start fighting,” Heymi said, irritated that her group was always getting into pointless arguments. When the two girls didn’t continue on she nodded in appreciation and looked back to the list.

Nearby Heebon sneaked over to the boys who were whispering to each other, still in their huddle.

“What about this one: it’s brown with a tail and a head, but has no legs?”

“An animal?”

“What animal has no legs? Stupid.”

“I don’t know, one that’s mutated or has had an amputation?”

“Has any of the horses had an amputation?”

“It can’t be a horse, we wouldn’t be able to fit it in the bag!”

“A bug?”

“It better not be a bug or I’ll scream.”

“Guys, I don’t think it’s something living.”

“Then what the hell is it?”

“Oh god, this is too difficult.”

“How the hell can an inanimate object have a head and tail, huh?”

“What if it was a picture or something?”

“Oh well… I guess that could work.”

“A penny.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

“Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout?”

“A penny. It’s brown, has a head on one side and the other side is usually known as tails, and it doesn’t have legs.”

“Oh wow, you’re smart dude.”

Heebon sneakily moved away from the group of boys, going over to the girls who were also whispering to each other and telling them of her revelation.

Jinju’s cheeks puffed out in thought. “But where can we get a penny? We’re in South Korea, not America.”

“I have some,” Cas called out. “I used to live in the US and am used to carrying around American change, even when not in that country. They’re in my cabin.”

❤❤❤

Jokwon clapped his hands in excitement as he looked the two groups over. “I hope you all have found lots of stuff, because the winning group gets a large cake baked by our dear Dara while the losing group will have to clean the cafeteria after lunch today.”

Jihae’s face scrunched up in disgust at the thought. “Oh please no.”

“Can’t handle physical labor?” Dee chuckled softly at the other, Jihae rolling her eyes in response.

Jokwon collected the bags, both groups watching in anticipation as he counted each group’s items. He stood up after a few minutes, looking everyone over. “Out of twenty potential items, the boys have found twelve.”

The boys started to yell in happiness, giving each other high-fives, fist pumps, and hugs.

“Don’t get your hopes up, he hasn’t said how many we got yet,” Hyemi said, giving a calm but prideful smile at the boys as they just grinned back.

Jokwon coughed to get everyone’s attention, carrying on when he did. “The girl’s on the other hand…” he trailed off, everyone leaning forward in interest as the seconds ticked by slowly.

“Well how many do we have?” Jinhee finally yelled out in frustration.

Waving his hands to calm her down, Jokwon kept a poker face on. “The girls have found a total of fourteen items,” he said, a smile breaking out on his face.

Immediately the girls started to scream in happiness, jumping up and down and laughing at the boys who looked distinctly downtrodden.

Cas and Heebon hugged tightly, Demi grabbing onto Jihae and Jinhee who were on either side of her while Dee and Kimchi went for each other, Hyemi and Jinju abandoning their bad social skills temporarily to hug each other. Soon they were all hugging each other, rivalries and distaste forgotten for a few precious moments.

____kasper's korner

Is... is this friendship I see? Why yes, yes it is!

By the way, I'll be on a semi-hiatus July 15^th to 19^th. I'll be visting a friend at the shore and have some things for school to get done but I may be able to get on sometimes.

❤ Kathy