Carnelian (9 page)

“Dee,” Seth called to his brother who was
talking to another pretty girl. “Do me the favor?”

“No problem.” Dee caught the timer as Seth
flipped it to him.

Before I saw which girl Seth was choosing, I
turned to find him placing the timer loop over my head. I was about
to say something when he added.

“What? Aren’t we friends? Friends help
friends out, don’t they?” Fantastic. Again, I regretted the whole
friend thing. Girls all around us were either glaring or going back
to whatever they were doing before Seth got his clipboard. At least
the crowd was too thick with students for me to see the one person
I was sure wouldn’t only be glaring but spitting fire by now. Seth
pulled his shirt off and tossed it to Ty. By now she would have
probably started a fist fight over him, and I wouldn’t blame her.
Something about Seth was drawing me to him, and I couldn’t rule out
his rock hard abs. I really needed to get away if I was going to
keep that promise to myself. But he had used the friend line, I
couldn’t turn Seth down. Instead, I followed him on his way to the
first race.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with
CRUSH, but by the time I got to the first stop, I realized it was
complete chaos. Students were already competing in the balloon
race. It sounded easy enough to get two balloons from one end to
the other, but clearly it wasn’t that simple. First off, the
balloons were huge and filled with water. A stick-thin girl to the
far left kept dropping a balloon which was probably half her
weight. Second, the balloons were coated in something that
obviously made them slick as the muscle guy next to us would make
it only two feet before dropping his balloon. It was becoming clear
this wasn’t just about athletics. It actually took some brains,
too. And here I thought Seth won last year based on his athletic
skills. Maybe there was a bit more I didn’t know about Seth
Sangre.

Seth stood in line and waited behind a girl
determined to roll her balloon down the space. She already had one
balloon in the bucket at the end of the race and was on her second
try with this balloon. As she neared the end, the balloon popped
from rolling over something sharp. While it was a good idea, she
wasn’t careful enough. She ran back and began again. This time she
took her time and moved every little piece out of the way as she
rolled. Soon enough, she was done and on her way.

Seth stood on the line and looked around at
the competitors. Muscle guy was still going and dropping his
balloon while skinny girl had already quit. With one last glance
around, Seth nodded to no one in particular.

“Ready,” he said to Dee and me.

“Go,” Dee said while clicking his timer on.
I clicked mine too and did my best not to get distracted.

Seth reached into the bucket and pulled out
a balloon. While balancing it against his dry swim trunks, he
pulled out the second balloon and did the same. With an easy trot
down the track, he dumped both balloons in the bucket before the
person next to him even picked one up. I could now see how he would
finish on top. Somehow, he knew exactly how to do this.

With that I was off, watching Seth compete
every course two, three, or more times faster than the people
around him. The second stop went just as easy since Seth had
perfect form with each ball he tossed. At the third stop, I got to
see what a ROTC course was. It was a military basic training course
with tires to step through, hanging bars to cross and an A-shaped
board to climb over. Not something someone without a bit of
athletic skills would be making through very easily. At the swim
center, Seth was like a fish and in and out of the water before
anyone could even count. At the last stop, Seth was actually too
cute to keep from laughing. When they said it was a bike course, I
was not picturing tricycles. Something about seeing cute college
guys on a small tricycle was just funny.

I smiled as he crossed the lap line, and
Seth caught me. I tried to quickly turn, but I was too late.

“You do know how to laugh.” Seth stood
beside me as I filled in my times on the sheet Dee was holding.
Seth ran his hands through his still wet hair. The deep red color
was black now. I wondered if it felt as soft now as it did when it
was dry. I turned my eyes away. I needed to stop checking him out.
Seth was a player, and I didn’t want to be involved with him.

“I was just picturing how fun it will be to
watch Ty on one of those, if he doesn’t break it,” I gave a quick
lie. Seth let out a chuckle on that one. It was actually a funny
thought, even if I had been laughing at how cute Seth was on the
tricycle.

Seth made his way back up
to the results stage. It was easy to see underwear model didn’t
quite fit him as a description. Mr. Perfect was more like it. I
easily found Sim and Ty near where we left them. Sim squealed and
waved to me as I got closer. She pointed over to the results table
as Seth was put at the top of the list.
Yep. Mr. Perfect.

“There you are,” she said. “Ty said you’d be
back soon, but no one else is coming back quickly. I got a board,
but I don’t want to do this without you beside me.” I smiled and
took the clipboard and timer from Sim. Ty obviously had the other
timer as he waited beside her. I waved to Seth as he walked back to
our spot from before with Dee close behind. Dee was sulking like he
didn’t actually want to be around us much. I didn’t quite know what
to make of Dee. He was joking one minute, and sulking the next.
Seth waved back as I followed Sim.

For a second time, I watched someone compete
through the races. This time it wasn’t as quick. Sim struggled
along as most of the girls had. She wasn’t physically strong enough
to do much of the course easily, and the ROTC course was killer at
each step for her. I cheered as much as I could, but she still
struggled. Even Ty got into the cheering, hoping that it would help
her. By the time she finished the last leg of the race, she plopped
down on the ground and gave up.

“This was worse than torture,” she
complained, and I sat beside her. “There’s no way any girl is going
to be up there next to the guys. This was all about strength. At
least each team has to have two girls on it. There’s some chance
then at least for me to make the core team.” I nodded along. I
still didn’t get what was important about CRUSH, but it was a big
deal for Sim.

“Mari, you want to go next and then we can
get some lunch?” Sim asked, as Ty pulled us both to standing at the
same time.

“Sure,” I replied. It was too late to tell
her no and back out.

Sim somehow found a reserve of energy and
bound off to turn in her times along with getting a new sheet for
me. I took the form and filled in my name and number before
trudging off to the first course. Sim and Ty were behind me as I
walked, but when I turned around I found Seth holding the timer and
clipboard. Ty was next to him, smiling.

“Dee finished up, and it’s my turn to go do
this, too,” Ty explained sheepishly before walking away. Sure. That
had to be it. Just great. Friends.

“Sim, what’s the rule for this one?” I asked
as I neared the front of one of the lines.

“Take two balloons and transfer them from
one can to the other on the far side. Ten minute time limit,” Sim
read for me.

I stood and looked across the course.
Several people were rolling their slick balloons on the ground. A
girl two down from me couldn’t even get hers out of the bucket. I
could easily see that the problem seemed to be in getting the
balloon picked up. Only Seth had done it without dropping it, and I
couldn’t even guess at how he did it. Magic by Mr. Perfect was my
only explanation. I would need to use something different from
magic. I needed to use logic. I watched around me again as I stood
next to a can filled with large, goopy balloons. I had no idea what
was on them, but one thing was for sure- they were slippery.

“I’ll take your shirt,” Sim offered, holding
out her hand. I reached down to pull my shirt off, dreading that
Seth was already anticipating it coming off. We may be working on
the friends bit, but I doubted he had really given up from the look
in his eyes. I stopped as a thought came to me.

“Nah,” I replied. “I think I might need it.”
Seth seemed to be actually disappointed. Sim eyed me over like she
was assessing how shy I might actually be. I actually wasn’t too
shy around strangers, but I did find myself less and less confident
when Seth looked at me. Oh great. I was falling for him after all.
I had to concentrate on something else and stop thinking about him.
I guess CRUSH would be useful after all.

“Ready?” Sim asked.

“Sure,” I replied. I guess it was now or
never. I’d prefer never, but that wasn’t an option at this point.
Sim wouldn’t let me live it down if I said no now.

“Go,” Sim said as her timer beeped at the
same time as Seth. I could feel his eyes on me. He was analyzing me
as much as I was analyzing the balloon game.

I leaned down and touched a balloon. The goo
was slicker than I expected, but that wouldn’t matter. I placed my
hand beneath my shirt and used it as extra grips to pick up the
balloon. As I expected the goo soaked right into my shirt, but now
I could pick it up and carry it. I hurried down the path and
dropped off the balloon before coming back for the next one. They
were way too heavy for me to carry two at a time. As I dropped the
second balloon in the finish line tub, I finally noticed Sim
staring at me.

“What?” I asked, looking at my goo stained
shirt. Oh well, hopefully it would come out. I carefully pulled the
dirty shirt off over my head doing my best to have the goop avoid
my face.

“You could have told me to do that,” Sim
complained. Seth reached around Sim and swiped the side of my face
with his thumb. Tingles shot to my toes, making me stumble
mid-step.

“Just a bit on your face.” He held up his
hand innocently to show me the goo on it.

At the ball toss, I didn’t have a problem
with any of the balls. No strategy was needed as you just had to
throw a baseball, shoot a basketball, hit a tennis ball, kick a
soccer ball, and throw a football at specific targets. I had played
all those sports, except football, at least once. I was one of
those kids that tried everything, but never stuck doing one sport.
While sports were not too difficult, I didn’t find any of them fun
and kept searching. I must have played at least twice as many
sports as they had us do in the ball toss part of the race. Sim
grew more excited as she saw my times were way below the fastest
girl thus far.

After the ball toss, I was onto the ROTC
course. This one didn’t take too much thought either. You basically
just had to run to course. While Sim struggled to run, I had tried
cross country my senior year of high school and was in pretty good
running shape. The wall would have been a problem if you just
needed arm strength, but by using my legs and the rope, I was able
to make it over fine. All those sports seemed to be paying off.

As we made our way to the swim center, Seth
kept right beside me. He attracted attention everywhere he went,
and now there was attention on me also. I tried to ignore the
stares and even a few glares sent my way, but it was getting
harder. I was beginning to feel like most of the girls on campus
were waiting for their chance with him and viewed me as
competition. How could that many girls want to date him, even
though he was a known player? Unfortunately I already was beginning
to see why. He wasn’t turning out to be the normal dick that most
player guys were, but I still couldn’t get over him naming me as
his next conquest. Friends would have to be it.

“You can play soccer, baseball, basketball
and maybe even football,” Seth said, opening the door for me. “Can
you swim, too?”

“Guess you’ll have to wait and see.” I
pointed at the line of people waiting for the next challenge. I
wasn’t about to tell him I did swim team for a season.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” Sim asked,
tapping her board impatiently.

“I tried ballet once,” I replied. “Tutu’s
and pliés didn’t really agree with.” Seth laughed.

“Between you and him, I feel inadequate,”
Sim replied. “You guys are perfect for each other,” she added just
for me to hear, but I think Seth heard anyways. I tried my best not
to blush as he smiled innocently.

Instead of looking to Seth, I began to focus
on the pool in front of me. It seemed easy enough. Dive in,
retrieve some bags, and put a puzzle together next to the pool.
From what I saw of the puzzles across the way, it looked like maps.
With all the travel my grandfather did my whole life, I was pretty
well versed in the countries around the world. It was beginning to
feel like there wasn’t a place my grandfather didn’t visit at least
once. He even took my mother and me with him at least a dozen times
a year. I had more stamps in my passport by the time I was thirteen
then most people do in a lifetime.

I stood beside the pool and handed my shoes
to Sim. I’d need them for the last race, and I preferred them to be
dry. Sim looked at her time sheet and read the rules one last
time.

“Retrieve three bags of the same color, swim
to the other side of the pool, and put the contents in the correct
pattern.” Not a problem. When Sim clicked her timer, I didn’t even
wait for her to say go. I dove right into the water. The three bags
were close enough that I could grab all of them at once. I quickly
made my way to the other side and pulled myself out of the pool
dripping wet. Without even waiting for Seth and Sim to make it
around the edge of the pool, I dumped the contents and started to
piece together South America. Grandfather had traveled there a lot.
I had been to at least a half dozen of the countries myself. Piece
by piece I was able to put it together before even realizing that I
was done. Seth whistled as his timer clicked.