A High School Trip! What could go wrong? Competitions heat up but who wins and who loses in these types of games? Where even has the lone chaperone gone?
PART VIII - UNOFFICIAL CONTESTS
With all shopping business out of the way, the rest of the day is reserved for recreation and leisure under the roof of the indoor Axe Range. It is a newer attraction to Three Lakes that had gone up on the shore of the Valley Lake to act as a competitor to the Axe Mill Range activities, it especially was the choice recreation spot for tourists when winter came around. Locals didn’t touch it, they thought axe-throwing in the comfort of a cozy warm indoors was for the weak.
The range seems to be doused with some sort of untraceable masculine scent of attraction as all the males of the group wordlessly line up and grab axes, grinning in anticipation that their throwing will be superior.
The unmistakable sounds of axes hitting wood, in a salvo, prove there is some sort of unannounced struggle to prove who is strongest.
“Really? You too?” Caleb hears Lai from behind him. She doesn’t sound disappointed, just amused or bemused. Some kind of ‘mused’ – musing perhaps?
He steadies his arms and closes his eyes, “Nothing’s wrong with a little physical activity.”
“Yeah, but just don’t hurt yourself…or anyone else,” Lai warns, there’s a hint of teasing in her voice. His past experiences showing off his prowess in the physical department for her hadn’t been ideal. He once tried showing off a headstand and nearly kicked her in the face. In middle school, they lifted weights for gym class and all the disks slid off, one hit his foot and he ended up in the nurse's office with sprained toes.
Lai liked muscles, he assumed since she had been attracted to Cedar Wellington in the past, but it frustrated Caleb he wasn't able to achieve that kind of body.
Caleb makes a somewhat agreeable grunt before swinging his arms backward, where, to his horror, the axe falls out of his hands toward Lai and Alice who are standing behind him and watching! He didn’t anticipate the head of it being so heavy that it reversed the balance!
“Oh shit! Shit! Sorry!” he turns around and apologizes profusely to the girls who look startled, if not a bit fearful that a sharp object had flown at them, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Alice laughs nervously, her hands still sort of frozen in front of her, “but we’re probably moving over to where the billiards are and starting up a game. Want to join?”
He sneaks a glance at Lai, who doesn’t look at all impressed at his attempt to throw an axe. He sighs, and dislodges the axehead out from the floor, “Nah, it’s obvious I need to practice at this. But thanks.”
Lai doesn't bother saying ‘I told you so' and leaves with Alice but not without giving him an eyebrow raise. Which might as well be the non-verbal equivalent!
He feels so embarrassed they had to witness that! Ugh, no wonder Lai only ever thinks of him as a friend! He's so lanky and clumsy!
Lai has seen him do worse, more embarrassing stuff like slip and fall into the swimming pool, or his milk carton spill onto his pants at lunch and make it look like he wet himself for the rest of the day. There was the time he insisted the answer to the math question was wrong and argued with the teacher and got lunch detention for being belligerent. Not his proudest moments but this axe-throwing failure feels on par with them.
He doesn’t care if it takes all day, he needs to do this for himself and at least hit the target!
Lai and Alice have partnered up as a team in a game of billiards, which is proving to cause some tension.
“That might not be the best angle,” Lai suggests.
“It’s the only one I can use if I don’t want to accidentally hit the eight-ball in. Unless you want to lose before we begin,” Alice snarks and lines up her shot. She makes it.
They play with slightly altered rules. Each team’s partners switch off if they make a shot until they miss, then it will be the other team’s turn.
The other team they are up against is Colleen and Noire.
“They’re doing really good,” Noire notes. They haven’t even taken their turns yet and already three stripes are sunk.
“Don’t worry, we will win,” Colleen says assuredly.
Noire throws her a look, slightly mocking, “Why? Are you the fairy of billiards? Got some magic up your sleeves?”
Colleen just replies with a small smile, it’s her own secret.
“Out of my way! I need this angle!” Alice demands and Noire rolls her eyes, stepping aside. Alice has the fire of competition burning in her eyes, and Colleen is going to extinguish it.
Alex pauses and takes a few breaths after a couple of rounds. The axes are heavy and it takes a lot of effort to swing them with enough force that they hit the target. He notices Angelo is also stopping to take a rest before collecting his axes.
Has Angelo Sanchez really been there in front of him all this time and he never noticed how cute the dude is? He’d made casual acquaintance with Angelo when they were kids, they’d hang out at the park then later at the skate park. He had always been close by but Alex was so blinded by his interest in Ryder that he’d never even considered Angelo.
Speaking of, the shout of, “Hey Alex, bet you I can throw more bullseyes in three rounds!” shakes him from his musing and stirs that old feeling of competitive excitement. Angelo didn’t have that urge to outdo inside him but it had been a staple of Ryder and Alex’s friendship for as long as they’d known each other.
Alex hadn’t spoken to Ryder at all since he expressed his disappointment on the first night. He’d always just wanted to impress Ryder by beating him but now he really just wanted to beat him. Ryder thought he could kiss Alice and just get away with it.
Alex nods and collects his axes.
"I want in too!” April says after overhearing and does the same in the lane next to him. There wasn’t any room for her in the billiard game and she had gotten bored of watching Alice and Lai bicker over the best angles to shoot from.
Besides, she had a lot of muscle from all her years on the farm. Throwing hay, carrying eggs, and keeping fish on the line. Her arms could be considered weapons of mass destruction.
“Fine! Loser has to buy the winner lunch!” Alex says, looks at Ryder and Ryder nods in acceptance.
She also gives a nod, agreeing to that term, and concentrates on her first throw.
Alex lines up his axe as well, a determined smile on his face, ready to beat Ryder just for the sake of it this time.
...it hits the center!
Alex makes a triumphant cheer and glances at Angelo but Angelo is in the zone, doing his own thing. Not competing. He never quite gets into the spirit of competition.
On the other side of Angelo, Ryder has a matching determined frown. His axes hit the target but not the center. Ryder hates to lose.
“That’s two for two,” Alex nearly sneers, noticing Ryder isn’t doing as well and it causes him to feel a bit smug since Ryder was the one who called on him to compete.
Ryder doesn’t reply, just seems irritated that his axes aren’t hitting the bullseyes as much as Alex. He nearly marches back to the end of the lane and calls that it's the next round.
When they throw their last set of axes, Alex hits on target one last time, but the third round has proven Alex had gotten ahead of himself as that first round one was the only one to have hit the bullseye. Ryder has turned his game around since the end of round one.
He turns with a nearly conniving grin, “Looks like you owe me lunch.”
Angelo frowns, he’s not usually one to get prickled at seeing Ryder and Alex flirt over the last few years but considering he just spent a quarter of the morning making out with Alex, his anger flares up. Granted, Ryder doesn’t even know about it so he’s not doing it to be a dick, he’s just trying to get Alex to talk to him again.
It’s a reasonable action if Angelo stops to think about it, but it’s the heat of the moment that makes him snarl, “Not really, because April won.”
"Yeah, I got ten out of twelve bullseye hits. You guys have terrible aim."
After a look of surprise, Ryder's expression folds into a frown and he sulks off somewhere without another word.
"Well, looks like I'm buying you lunch," Alex shrugs, just a little bit thankful and yet a touch disappointed the excuse to talk to Ryder is lost.
"Where did you learn to aim like that? With axes no less?" Angelo wonders as they take seats at the small indoor food stand.
"Our internet cuts out a lot at the farm so I spend time throwing things for fun."
"Like what?!" Alex demands to know. Cats? Eggs? Tomatoes?
April shrugs, "Apples that fall off the orchard trees too soon, I toss them into the compost bins before they rot.
"Wow...that sounds...really boring," Alex says with blunt sympathy.
She turns a slightly offended eye toward him, "Yeah, but at least I have great aim."
The billiards game carries on in the other part of the building. Noire and Colleen have caught up to Alice and Lai's score.
Alice narrows her eyes as she sees Colleen whisper something to Noire. She didn't figure Colleen the shut-in would ever be one to trash talk.
But she's not.
"What is your secret?" Noire asks curiously. Colleen has carried them pretty far in the game.
Colleen leans in conspiratorially, "I have a table at my house. I've played every day since I was tall enough to see over the edge."
"I told you, we should have struck from the side. You know it's all about math and angles right?" Lai seems resigned to the fact they are going to lose.
"Tsh, I don't need math. I have luck," Alice boldly claims.
Lai rolls her eyes discreetly.
Noire misses eventually and Alice is eager to end it. She thought she had the game in the bag but was, like her brother, proven to be ahead of herself. Honestly, a trait the Calhoun siblings shared.
"Mid pocket," Alice wastes no time in calling where she's going to send the eight ball now that all the stripes are sunk.
She puts too much arm into the shot, and the cue ball hits the eight so hard it spins and bounces off.
"Wrong angle," Lai mutters under her breath.
Now they are in trouble because it's Colleen's turn. She easily gets the last solid into a pocket because Alice generously lets the cue ball roll in front of it.
"You can do it," Colleen hears Noire say. Even if it's soft and monotone, it is encouragement. Collen smirks and sends the last ball across the table....and into the same top left pocket that she called a second before.
Alice swears. It is just not her day, despite her claims of being lucky. She should know by now that she can't just manifest such things by saying them.
Lai just heaves a disappointed sigh as if she's been dragged through the snow for the past 45 minutes and finally, the sled has stopped. Speaking of snow, it's started to pile up outside–she sees it out the window, far deeper than before.
"We did it!" Colleen turns and beams at Noire.
To Colleen's utter surprise, Noire gives her a hug! "We couldn't have done it without you. You are the billiard fairy today."
Colleen laughs, "I guess so, but it wasn't magic, we were a good team."
Noire pulls out of the embrace with a slight grin, "I agree, we were."
Alice has wasted no time in tracking down Caleb. It wasn't much work. He is still standing in his axe lane, and she watches him throw his last axe. It actually hits the target!
"Hey, you've gotten pretty good since I last saw," Alice compliments him. She holds back on any more sweet talk, knowing she can come off a bit...overbearing at times.
He turns around with a delighted smile, "You think?"
"Yeah! Not bad for only almost an hour of practice," she affirms and it makes his smile broaden.
He begins to move and she steps in front of him, "Are you getting lunch now? I haven't had any either."
"No go ahead, I was going to find Lai first," he pauses and thinks, "How was billiards?"
A shadow crosses Alice's smile, "We lost."
"That's a bummer. Better luck next time?" he states as he passes her.
Lai is about to find Caleb as well, she hopes he didn't accidentally chop off a limb while practicing axe throwing. She shakes her head and smiles helplessly, what was he trying to prove with it? She could understand if it was something he enjoyed doing but Caleb wasn't a physical person. Though...he did take years of skating lessons she had no idea about so maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she did.
Ryder has been loitering around, feeling salty for how the unofficial axe-throwing contest panned out between him and Alex. He doesn't know how else to get Alex to agree to talk to him unless it's something like losing a bet...or kidnapping him. Ryder wouldn't actually resort to that but he is starting to get desperate.
Both his and Lai's musings about the friends they have clear affections for are interrupted when she nearly bumps into him when turning a corner.
"Oh! Ryder! Ryder Greystone!" Lai says, not expecting him.
His frown lifts, seeing it's only Lai. He's not sure if he's ever talked to Lai. She's always been in advanced classes at school. Ryder's not dumb but he's also not stupid smart like Lai.
He lets out a small, amused laugh at her saying his full name like he's his own species, and pushes off the wall with his shoulder that he's been leaning on, "Sorry, am I in your way?"
"No, I should have watched where I was going, sorry!"
Caleb sees Lai finally and waves but she doesn't seem to notice him. He can't see quite why until he gets closer and finds her talking to Ryder. Ryder is one of Caleb's many, many cousins. They don't have much in common but for mothers who are twin sisters. You would think they would have been close, being born around the same time, in a fairly tight-knit extended family but with all the cousins to choose from they had their own respective cousin 'group' to hang out in during reunions and get-togethers.
Caleb knows for a fact, that Ryder turns heads and the smile on Lai's face and her undivided attention only further prove it.
He can only stand by and watch, painfully wanting to interrupt the conversation but his good manners prevent him from doing so.
"Have you ever been skiing?" Lai is heard asking Ryder. She must be talking about tomorrow's activity.
Ryder shrugs, "No, but how hard can it be? I might just rent a snowboard."
"Yeah, I saw you on the half-pipe. You did really well," Lai compliments him. So, she was into complementing pretty boys like Caleb's cousin for their physicality yet seems to think his own attempts were a joke?
Caleb knows he shouldn't be jealous, Lai is her own person and can like whoever she wants but it hurts so damn much to see it happening before his very eyes. At least that's what he thinks he sees. She doesn't even seem to notice he's there.
He turns and leaves.
He ends up taking a seat in one of the nooks that faces out a window. Being next to the window is colder, but honestly after all that axe-throwing and whatever he just witnessed he feels flushed.
"It's snowed so much since this morning," Lai says as she takes a seat beside him.
"Yeah," Caleb agrees. What was once a light dusting is now a pile as high as their knees. Lai looks out the window with him in a comfortable silence.
This is one reason why he's so afraid to take the plunge and admit to her how he feels. Not only does he fear the rejection that's almost guaranteed, especially when she's looking at guys like Cedar Wellington and Ryder Greystone–but this perfect silence they can share. It's not awkward. It's as natural as breathing.
Their friendship is like a neatly groomed zen garden, if he shifts the sand pattern by stomping across it with his true feelings, then these comfortable silences would cease to exist.
He clears his throat, "How was your talk with Ryder?"
"It was just a small chit-chat," she corrects him, sensing his bitterness at being ignored, "and by the way, I did see you there. I just thought it would have been rude to interrupt the conversation."
He feels her arms wrap around his sore bicep. He winces and lets out a slight hiss of pain because it's sore. His arms will be noodles tomorrow, he is sure.
"How was your axe-throwing practice?" Lai squeezes. She suddenly jerks his arm back and his shoulder pops.
He makes a startled noise before answering, "I got better at it. Alice said so."
"Feels like it," Lai muses, her hands briefly brushing over his arm muscles. She had meant to be cheeky but is surprised to find there actually was some slight brawn built up in his arms. It couldn't have just been from the last hour or so either. He really had made some gains since she last noticed! "Wow."
"You don't have to tease me," Caleb looks at her. There's something sad in his eyes and she feels horrible that he feels so low about himself. She wasn't even teasing!
She suddenly crashes into his chest with force, not unlike some kind of little mountain goat, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm sorry!"
The breath is knocked out of him and after a moment of stunned surprise, he embraces her, despite having sore arms. "It's okay."
It's the perfect time to tell her, but what is on the other side of that hill once he reaches the summit?
She can hear his heartbeat from where her head rests, and it's picked up pace. He's so familiar, so warm. It would be the perfect time to tell him.
That is if she understood what exactly it is she wants to say. How can she communicate in words these feelings she has? She wants to tell him he's perfect just the way he is and she doesn't want him to change. But by the nature of her admission, everything would change.
Absolutely everything about them would change, and she's not ready for that. This comfortable silence is a cozy reminder of what's at stake if any evolution of their relationship goes south.
She has to think more about it but does know, she wants to see him every day if she can. Like when they were kids. She can at least try to make that happen with the paper in her pocket.
Ryder waits until Alex is in the shower to approach Angelo, "Can we switch beds?"
"What? Why?"
Ryder only gives Angelo an incredulous look. It's so obvious!
Angelo just wants Ryder to say it.
"Because the current arrangement isn't working out. It's clear Alex is getting along better with you and I don't want to sleep on the floor or bunched up on the loveseat again. I have to get some better sleep."
Angelo thinks about it, probably a bit longer than needed when the answer is obvious. He definitely wants to switch places. Is this Ryder giving up? Seems too soon for a guy who supposedly likes to compete.
"Sure, but why haven't you told him the truth yet?" Angelo asks. It's risky, because encouraging Ryder to reach out and talk to Alex, has a slight chance of succeeding, and if it does, that probably means Angelo will be yesterday's news. His chance to finally be close to Alex will be as ephemeral as the snow outside.
Ryder sighs, picks up his suitcase, and moves it to the mattress of his new bed, "Thanks, but the thing is, Alex won't talk until he wants to. Sometimes he's too stubborn for his own good and it's like trying to talk to a brick wall."
"Maybe you're just a coward," Angelo states and swipes up his duffel bag.
Ryder flashes him a look of anger before one of defeat. He unlatches his suitcase to find where he stuffed his pajamas that morning to get ready for bed. "Maybe I am."
Alex eventually gets done with his shower and beelines to where he thinks Angelo will be waiting but freezes, seeing Ryder who seems to be shuffling through his suitcase.
He just looks up with a neutral expression and gives no explanation, "I have dibs on next shower."
Alex course-corrects to his bed, only to find Angelo resting on top of the covers, all ready for sleep.
"Hey Goldilocks, someone's been sleeping in my bed."
Angelo barks out a laugh, "That was lame. I don't even have blonde hair, and I'm not even sleeping yet."
Alex joins him, "I don't even think that's how the story goes. Don't blame me, I haven't heard it since I was like in kindergarten. Anyway, what's up with the switcharoo? We playing musical beds tonight?"
"You need to work on your references, man. If we were playing musical beds, you'd be out. They take a chair away each time."
"Is that how the game is played? Okay well still don't blame me, the last time I played it was in kindergarten."
"Is that your excuse for everything now?" Angelo smirks.
"...Yes."
Angelo narrows his eyes even though he's still smiling, "You're such a smartass."
"And you like it."
Angelo doesn't argue as Alex climbs onto the bed next to him with a grin, "Did you beg Ryder to switch then?"
Angelo raises a pierced brow, "Nah, it was his idea."
For some reason, that fact knocks Alex's smile off his face. He feels Angelo slip his hand into his and is reminded why he really likes Angelo–he isn't afraid or cautious to show how he feels.
Collen, Noire, and April are hanging out in the formers' room. April is finally getting to play guitar for them! It's not too late yet, just a few hours after dinner into the evening. Noire and Colleen listen politely while April plays cover songs from the country radio station, but she doesn't sing.
“Hey Alice,” Lai says as Alice exits the bathroom, freshly showered and ready for bed.
“What’s up?”
“How was it…when you kissed Caleb?”
Alice raises an intrigued brow. Caleb made it sound like Lai wasn’t interested in him but this question, seemingly out of nowhere gives her pause. In truth, his kiss was nothing to cry home about and she could tell Caleb wasn’t remotely experienced in the activity. She had to give him props for his good breath, though. He took initiative.
“It was awful. I’ve never kissed someone that bad at kissing,” Alice lies, hoping to stave off Lai’s interest.
Lai frowns with disheartenment, “Give him some slack, it was his first real kiss.”
There’s something pathetically adorable about that fact.
“What are you even doing?” Alice asks.
Lai is on the bed, looking over a paper. Homework? It seems the oddest of times and places to be doing something like that.
“Filling out a request for the Headmaster of the Academy to evaluate me. Then if accepted, I could transfer.”
Alice’s face pulls into a frown, not expecting that “What? Why?”
Alice hated going to the Academy. It was all prep, no play. The only reason she was there now was because her mother attended in her youth and was adamant the Calhoun children all attend the prestigious Academy as well. Alice didn’t have the focus necessary for such a stringent environment and was frustrated with coursework often because of it.
A sentimental smile spreads across Lai’s features, she stops writing and seems to retreat into her thoughts, “Caleb suggested it, in a sense. He probably thinks I would get in easily.”
“Do you like him?” Alice blurts curiously, “More than a friend?”
She all but knows Caleb certainly likes Lai from the way he’s regarded her this entire trip. From what she observed at school, he’s always seemed serious, reserved, and stoic in those brief encounters where she’d seen him in the hallways or at assemblies. But when around Lai, his face is so animated–eyes bright, a smile constantly spread from cheek to cheek, his laugh is genuine–it makes him seem rather handsome when he displays that sort of expression.
Alice shakes her head suddenly, alarmed that she thought of him as handsome. Handsome, as in the same way she thought the members of the school’s soccer team handsome. But there was a world of difference between Caleb and those jocks–they could moonlight as minor-league underwear models if they so chose. Alice shakes her head again for good measure.
“I…don’t know. I’m still figuring that out,” Lai hums and continues to write on the paper.
Well, Lai better not take too long to figure it out. Alice has nothing personal against Lai; Lai seems like a decently pleasant person and if Alice wasn’t considering Caleb in a new light she would think they’d make a cute couple.
“What do you like about him exactly?” Alice falls into lying on her bed and asks.
Lai sets down her pencil and seems to think, “Well, he’s very caring. He’s always watched out for Leenie, and stands up to people who try to bully her.”
Alice already knew that, reminded of the other night when she tried to get Colleen to take a proper kiss. She wouldn’t consider that ‘bullying’ per se but Caleb did try to step in to alleviate Colleen’s discomfort. To Lai’s point, Caleb also talked Alice through her breakdown over being rejected by Ryder when he had no obligation to do so. She appreciates him for that.
“What else?” Alice wonders, and stares in fascinated interest, waiting for Lai’s next reason.
“He has a knack for careful observation, resulting in him remembering little details–like today he remembered what kind of coffee I liked just based on the checkboxes marked on the coffee cup he happened to see me drinking when we were riding the bus. It was so thoughtful of him,” Lai is bordering on gushing and then continues without prompt, “Oh! Another thing–he’s the right amount of arrogant.”
Alice laughs, “What does that mean?”
Lai joins her, “He believes in himself, but it’s not to the point he brags and gets off-putting. He recognizes his accomplishments and is proud of them. Not all though, just the ones that are truly important to him. There was a time, back in primary school, when he won the spelling bee and the classroom’s coloring contest in the same week, but you know what couldn’t stop gushing about? The coloring contest!”
Alice lets out another small laugh, “Why?”
“Probably because the spelling bee only gave him a medal while the coloring contest awarded him a jar of candies,” Lai’s smile grows, then she adds, “and he shared half of it with me.”
So Caleb Cosgrove was generous, attentive, and kind, as well as caring, and accomplished. He sounds kind of perfect and Alice finds herself even more intrigued by this boy she had only written off as being nothing but boring and serious. The way Lai is smiling has started to match that of what Alice has witnessed in Caleb, and perhaps encouraging further discussion is not going to help in Alice’s goals.
But this was good information to have.
Alice feigns a large yawn, “Well best of luck to you, the headmaster dinner is nerve-wracking and awkward. He asks a ton of questions and you can never tell if you answered them right. It's even worse if you end up with the Vice Principal stepping into doing the evaluation.”
"Thanks for the insight. Goodnight," Lai's smile trails off and she focuses back on writing.
Alice snuggles under her covers and thinks to herself before drifting off to sleep, about how wonderful it would be to have someone like Caleb Cosgrove in her life.
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