Trudging through the forest, Scarlett's blood was still boiling over the argument that just occurred. Max's last comment still echoed in her ears:
Apologize? The nerve of that…purple-haired numbskull. Scarlett took a break from her trek, leaning against a nearby tree. Seething, she closed her eyes and attempted to mediate. Whispering to herself, she began with breathing exercises.
"Breathe in." Scarlett gulped in the cool morning air, letting it reside for five seconds in her lungs.
"Breathe out." She slowly allowed the trapped air to escape through her nostrils.
"Breathe in." Deep gulp of air.
"Breathe out." Slow release of air.
"Breathe in." Gulp in.
"Breathe out." Slow release.
GROOOWL! Scarlett reopened her eyes, surprised by the sound coming from inside her. After a few seconds, she concluded exactly what her stomach was communicating: she was starving. She realized she forgot to at least ask Jasmine if she had more berries from her last scavenger hunt with Samey. Surveying the area, she calculated that she was at least three miles northeast from her team's treehouse. Not feeling like walking so far for a few berries, Scarlett decided to find some food on her own. Recalling all she had read about Canadian forest plants, she examined every bush and tree in hopes of finding something edible.
Within moments, Scarlett found something to her liking. Though nuts weren't her favorite snack, she was pleased to have discovered a Juglans nigra, or black hazelnut tree. The fact that the treat was plentiful made Scarlett's stomach grumble louder in anticipation. Standing on her tiptoes, she began to stretch her arms toawrd the branches. Shockingly, Scarlett's long arm could barely reach the branches bearing hazelnuts. She was preparing to climb it when she noticed a thicket of Toxicodendron vernix, or poison sumac, had decided wrap itself along the trunk. Determined to quiet her stomach, she began hopping up to obtain her prize.
On her third hop, she suddenly felt weightless. Not only had she defied gravity, but Scarlett was now eye-level to some of the highest branches on the tree. Feeling uncomfortably tall, she glanced down to see two large, freckled arms around her waist, a shoulder which she was now seated on, and a mass of unruly, red hair.
"Rodney?" Scarlett's guess was confirmed when she heard a giddy laugh.
"H-hi, Scarlett," Rodney cooed gently.
"Um, what are you doing?"
"M-me, uh, you help. Nuts far, but now you get can."
Scarlett noticed his vocal tones matched the one he normally communicated towards Jasmine and Amy. Based on that observation, she hypothesized Rodney was infatuated with her, resulting in why he suddenly had a need to help her. Though she was unsure what had triggered such a love-prone individual to suddenly fall for her, she was neither disgusted nor upset by it. After all, now she was able to fulfill her hunger.
With her new height advantage, Scarlett was able to pick hazelnuts until she was unable to cradle anymore in her forearm. Once that point was reached, she gestured for Rodney to return her to the forest floor. With both strength and care, he hoisted her off his shoulder and onto the ground, his shining eyes never once glancing off her.
"Um, well. Thank you, Rodney." Scarlett smiled politely before walking off towards a distant cluster of boulders. There, she sat down ready to feast. Placing the harvested hazelnuts beside her, she tried her best to crack away the shell using the solid rock. Unfortunately, the strongest part of her body had always been her brain; having effective upper body strength was always challenging for her.
"Please, uh, me you help." Rodney, who was still gawking at Scarlett, propped himself on a rock next to her. He took three hazelnuts in his right hand and squeezed them in his fist until a small crack was heard. He opened his palm in front of Scarlett, which held the three hazelnuts with the majority of their shells shed. Scarlett could hardly believe it. He just cracked them as if they were nothing! Even though the shells were rough, his palms didn't even display any signs of redness due to skin irritation. She plucked one of the nuts out of his palm and examined his efforts closely.
"Incredible," Scarlett commented as she plopped the nut into her mouth. Rodney's goofy grin grew wider, exposing the gap in his front teeth. He continued to crush more of the nuts for Scarlett as she ate. After her sixth nut, Rodney's own stomach growled loudly enough for her to hear. She decided that she might as well be gracious towards her human nutcracker.
"You know, you can have some too." She offered some of the cracked nuts that Rodney had laid in her lap back to him.
Rodney looked at the offering in surprise at first. After a minute, a hearty giggle of excitement escaped his lips. With a mouth full of nuts, he thanked her. Though Scarlett could see some of the nuts fly out of his mouth as he munched, she couldn't help but smile down on him. Rodney was clearly a simpleton, but at least he was useful to her. More importantly, he was appreciative of her offer, unlike that so-called evil genius Max. She did all the work for Max. In fact, how would he even survive in this game without her support? If only there was a way to make Max see how valuable she was…
Suddenly, a brilliant idea was birthed from the crevices of Scarlett's mind. Grinning down at Rodney, she asked sweetly, "So, Rodney…when we're done eating, want to walk me back to the treehouse?"
Rodney nearly choked on his snack due to the unexpected change in Scarlett's voice. "Uh, duh…um, yeah!"
Scarlett smirked down at him and gingerly stroked his hair, which caused him to shiver and blush a deep pink. "Wonderful."