Previously...

"I ate before I came," Katie shrugged, but turned to look at me. Chris just stared at her, slowly inhaling the smoke before blowing it out. I watched as the blunt fell from his fingers onto the leaves before his shoe came into contact to stub out the cigarette. "What's next boss woman?"

I looked at my group members, holding the flashlight upright so we could all see each other, "Let's get us some sweets."

Currently...

  9:15 pm on Friday  

"It's starting to get really humid guys. My hair is a mess!" Katie let out a groan, "Please let me stop and fix my hair!"

I threw my head back in frustration. She had asked that question about a thousand times in the past ten minutes. I couldn't deal with it for much longer. "Yes, Katie! Please, go ahead and fix your precious hair while we stop trying to win so you can have a good hair day!"

Her lips curved up into a smile and she quickly began to rummage through her gigantic purse. She pulled out hairspray, a bottle that I didn't recognize, and mousse.

She began to apply the anonymous bottle to her hands. She flipped her hair over and began to rub the substance to her hair.

"What the hell is that stuff?" Chris questioned with skepticism.

Katie let out a quick scoff before informing us both that it was dry shampoo. I was in complete shock. You could wash your hair without water?

Chris decided to take a seat on the leaf covered ground while I continued to watch the girl apply the products to her hair.

I was growing impatient. I didn't know if we were behind or ahead of the other groups, and I was a little nervous. We weren't moving very fast when we went to the first and second clue. "Are you almost done?" I began tapping my foot anxiously.

She was applying the hairspray when she looked me in eye and said with a straight face, "Beauty isn't easy. I'd rather die than have my hair look frizzy."

I felt a little frightened at her statement. Chris looked at her weirdly too before saying, "Let's go before you murder someone Bambi."

Katie rolled her eyes but quickly finished doing her hair. "Okay, we can go on now."

"Thank goodness!" I grinned and began to head in the direction we were heading. We still weren't sure where we were going but we figured winging it and checking in the trees every so often would be the right thing to do.

We continued through the woods for a while, but I began to get a little thirsty. I reached behind me, into the little side pocket only to remember that I had already drank all my water.

I turned around to ask Katie if she had any water, but what I saw blew me away. Katie held a water bottle in her hand, but she wasn't drinking it. No she was pouring it in her hair, with her sunhat under her arm.

"Katie! What are you doing? I was just about to ask if you had any water!" I exclaimed, frustrated.

Katie stopped what she was doing, after the last of the water had left the bottle, "I don't have any water to drink."

I sighed, turning away from her before I let the anger consume me. I couldn't believe this. I was pacing in front of my other two group members, counting silently to myself.

"Dare I ask why you carry water around for any other reason but to drink?" Chris stared at the girl, judgement clear in his tone.

Katie shrugged, not bothered at all, "I have to water my hair, especially when it's humid."

Chris pinched the base of his nose with his thumb and forefinger while closing his eyes and sighing, "Katie... Bambi... you do know that the humidity is just water in the air... So watering you hair is essentially pouring water on your hair to prevent the water from getting to your hair."

Katie looked like her mind had been blown. She shifted her weight onto her other foot, resting her hand on her hip, "Wait, so you're telling me that there is water levitating in the air right now, but I can't see it?"

Chris opened his mouth to respond, but I turned to the dumb girl, "Did you even go to school? Literally, everyone knows that!"

She looked offended, "Science isn't my strong suit! I've just stopped paying attention!"

Chris scoffed, digging around in his bag, but paused, "You literally learn that in the third grade."

"Can you stop digging in your purse and arguing? Let's go," I interjected.

Katie's brows furrowed, "I'm not digging in my purse."

I rolled my eyes, "I was talking to Druggy over there."

Chris's eyes grew wide and his mouth fell agape, "I," He looked me in the eyes, "Am not," he paused to grit his teeth, "wearing a purse."

I had to hold down my laughter at his offence, "Dude, it's a man purse."

His fists balled at his sides, "It is a satchel!"

Katie began laughing so hard that she was leaned over in stitches. "You're wearing a purse!"

Chris rubbed his face in frustration before he let out a drawn out sigh. "I need another joint."

I groaned, as Katie spoke up, "I still don't get it. Are joints drugs or are they places you break into?"

"Bambi, don't worry about it, okay? The big kids will worry about it," Chris shook his head at the girl, his tone a bit condescending. He fumbled in his bag for a bit before pulling out a small baggy filled with pills. I held the flash like over the guy in shock.

"What are those?" I inquired as I squinted my eyes to try to see what they were.

He laughed before popping one into his mouth and swallowing, "Xanax."

I rolled my eyes, "It better not slow you down too much because we have to hurry up."

"How did you even get those?" Katie questioned, eyeing him.

Chris shrugged, stuffing the bag back in his bag, "My parents."

I rose my eyebrow skeptically, "Your parents give you Xanax?"

He chuckled a bit, "No, detective, of course not. I just take them from the bottle."

I was still confused, "Do they not realize their meds are missing?"

He laughed again, his head falling back, "You don't steal drugs very often do you?" I just simply shook my head no. "Of course you haven't. Let's just keep moving, alright?"

We continued to step over rocks and logs while swatting bugs and branches from our faces. We continued through, but we began to hear chattering in the distance.

That was either a good sign or a bad sign, but I couldn't figure it out at the time. Just ahead, I noticed something hanging from a tree. I followed the beam of the flashlight along the object. A ladder!

"Guys! Guys! I think I found something!" I shouted happily, running to the ladder. I flashed the light above me to reveal a tree house. Without a second thought, I began my ascent up the ladder. I hauled myself through the opening in the floor, I moved the light along the walls of the tree house. There was a box which was sitting right on the opposite side of me.

"Well? What's up there?" Katie called up, carefully moving closer to Chris, who didn't seem bothered by it at all.

"A box," I got up, looking in the box. "There's some food! And the hint!" I did a little victory dance before picking up the slip of paper. "Northeast from where you are now, you'll find some clear water somehow."

"That's great, but what kind of food?" Chris called up, I could smell the weed before I saw the butt of the cigarette through the small window. I rolled my eyes, "Raisins, granola, snap pea things, trail mix, and applesauce. It looks like someone else got here before us."

"And apparently took all the good food," Chris groaned, leaning against the trunk of the tree. Katie moved closer to him, waving the smoke away from her face.

"Happy to see you care about the important things Chris," Katie chimed in, a bit of irritation laced in her voice. I smirked, glad she was finally coming around. I grabbed a pack of everything before tossing them down the opening in the floor. I held the flashlight up, watching the food land in front of Chris who was far too occupied with the blunt in his hands to notice.

"Is it even safe to mix that with those pills?" I questioned, climbing down the ladder. Chris shrugged, before stubbing out the cigarette on the tree.

"Haven't died yet," He picked up the food on the ground, shoving it into his bag. When I stepped down, I glanced at Katie who was watching Chris with an intense look on her face. I couldn't quite read the expression plastered on her face, but her eyes told another story. She was intrigued with the smelly, lanky kid in our group.

"Well," I drawled out, interrupting Katie from her stare down, "We should get a move on." I pulled out my compass from my bag, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.

Chris rose an eyebrow at me, "You have a compass?"

"Yes," I disregarded his question, stepping around him to lead the way.

"Why do you have a compass?" Chris fell in line with me, but it didn't take long for Katie to catch up.

"I just wanted to be prepared. What's the harm in that?"

"Nothing."

For the first time that night, we traveled in complete silence. That is until we heard a twig snap in the distance. 

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QOTC Who's your favorite character in the entire story so far?