AN: Hello again! So I have the next installment of It Happened One Summer. I was going to have a huge list of items for them to find but I didn't want it to be a long chapter. So after talking to Zammis, evgrrly09 and FreelySheRoams I made this kind of like the "Fisher King" episode. FreelySheRoams, you are so amazing. All of you are!
Enjoy.
PolHop
Penelope looked up at Emily, trying her best to hold her emotions in check. "Did you see who is on our team?"
"No, let me see," Emily took the paper glancing at the names. Her eyes going wide as she read down the list. "Huh? What are the chances?"
"This proves it. The universe wants to see me suffer," Penelope grumbled as she crumpled up the paper after taking it back from Emily.
"Penelope!" Derek hollered as he jogged over to the area. "Penelope!" When he saw he was on their team he was ecstatic, if he had a football he would have spiked it. Now she had no choice but to listen to him.
Penelope watched as Derek made his way over to them, Cassandra in tow. Andy following, with someone she hadn't met before.
Derek went to grab for Penelope's hand when he got right next to her trying to get her to listen but she moved to the other side of the group standing next to the new guy as she looked at Emily hoping she'd start talking.
"Pene-"
"Alright, team," Emily started, cutting Derek off from speaking, "I take this game very seriously, as Cassandra can attest to. The way this game works is simple. We start with a riddle. Once we figure out the riddle it takes us to the next clue where we get the next arrowhead. When we have all five arrowheads, we win. I always win this game and today is not going to be an exception to that."
Derek moved next to Penelope, trying to get her attention again. "Penelope," Derek said, completely ignoring Emily's rant about the game. He couldn't care less about the scavenger hunt. He needed to talk with Penelope get her to understand nothing happened so they could move on. He wanted to be with her, it was a driving force inside of him. And he was going to use this scavenger hunt to fix whatever this was between them.
"Quiet!" Emily hollered, getting the attention of her group. "We need to win this." She bent down to pick up the first envelope and handed off the arrowhead.
"Derek, baby, let's ditch this and have some fun," Cassandra said, moving closer to him, trying to grab his hand.
Penelope watched with disgust on her face before turning back to Emily and grabbing the clue from her hand. She was not going to let Derek and his fling get to her. If he wanted to be with a leggy annoying girl like Cassandra, then let him.
"This is so stupid," Andy remarked, leaning against the tree they were by. "I don't know why we had to come over here."
"Can it, dude. This seems fun." Theo said. He looked at Emily and Penelope who were now smiling back at him. "You can call me Theo, and I know this will be a lot of fun."
Emily jumped at he chance to answer him. "It is! I haven't seen you before." She cocked her head to the side as she smiled.
Theo face warmed with her curiosity, "I saw you guys playing flag football. I was on the Yellow team." He looked towards Penelope, "You looked like you were having a blast out there."
"I was," Penelope smiled at him. He was handsome; his looks rivaled those of Derek's. That being said, she already knew she was going to stay clear of him. One jock heartbreak in her life was enough for her.
"Penelope, can we talk?" Derek tried again.
"Why do you want to talk to her when we can go sneak off?" Cassandra interjected.
Derek snapped his head around. "Cassandra, I already told you back off. I want nothing to do with you!"
"That's not what you said the last time we were together," Cassandra reminded him, giving him puppy dog eyes.
"You mean last summer? That's the last time I touched you," Derek said not caring that everyone was staring at them.
Penelope cleared her throat. "You can have your lovers quarrel later. You guys ready for this?" she asked opening the clue.
"Hell, yeah!" Theo said with excitement.
"First clue," Penelope started to read. "Morning Campers! Here is your first riddle to get you to your next arrowhead. I get bigger when I eat, but die when I drink."
Emily thought for a moment before jumping with excitement. She started to run towards the campfire pit, looking back at the group. "Fire. It's a fire!"
Penelope watched her friend race towards the campfire location and then looked at the rest of the group. Dang, Emily did take this seriously.
"Let's go, beautiful," Theo said, grabbing onto Penelope's hand and running after Emily.
Derek stood there for a moment completely, dumbfounded. Why was Penelope ignoring him? Didn't she get he didn't and wouldn't do anything with Cassandra? He wanted her and now… now she was being dragged across the camp hand in hand with fucking Theo. Theo was a player just like he and Andy were. Getting to know him over the past couple of summers, the amount of times he would come over to the girls came rivaled his own.
"Derek, baby," Cassandra started.
Derek looked back at Cassandra who was now standing next to Andy. "I fucking mean it. I want absolutely nothing to do with you ever again," he spat before taking off towards the rest of the team.
Cassandra stood there, dumbfounded and pissed off. Andy looked at her, taking her hand. "How about you and I skip out?"
"There's the clue!" Emily yelled, running to the logs, where the next envelope containing the clue was.
"Open it! Open it!" Penelope said with excitement as Theo and her made it to the campfire.
Derek also made his way over to the campfire only a moment after them. "Hey Penelope, can I just talk to you for a second?" he tried, grabbing her hand pulling her away.
"Stop, Derek. Now's not the time," she shot back. She didn't care if Cassandra and Andy had gone off. Derek really didn't mean what he had told her before. Even if he was trying to apologize, she didn't want to hear it. She learned her lesson. When it came to Derek Morgan, she needed to harden her heart.
"Please," he pleaded with her again.
"Lay off, man. She obviously want's nothing to do with you. Let's just play the game," Theo interjected.
"Yeah, you all are costing me valuable time." Emily said annoyed, "Theo, grab the Arrowhead. It's how they know we didn't cheat. We need to bring them with us."
Theo grabbed the Arrowhead as Emily started the next riddle. "Some take me in the morning, others take me in the evening, but one thing you should know- when I'm taken I don't really go anywhere."
Penelope sat down on the log after grabbing the paper from Emily to look at the clue. She was glad for the distraction, but even as she looked at the paper she could feel Derek's eyes on her. She shifted of the log hoping Emily or Theo would stand in front of her.
She read the riddle again thinking to herself, what can be taken, but isn't taken anywhere? "Oh my God, a shower!" She jumped off of the log and started sprinting towards the showers.
"Wait!" Emily yelled. " We have to hide the clue so no one can find it."
"You're evil." Theo smirked at her as he lifted the log to hide the clue. "Alright, let's go."
They all took off towards the girl's showers, Penelope in front. Derek sprinted to be right next to her, trying to grab onto her hand. However, she moved a little away so he wouldn't be able to.
"There's the clue!" Theo shouted, running over to the envelope leaning up against the wall by the showers.
Emily sprinted past him almost running into the wall. "Grab the Arrowhead!" she said as she tore open the next clue. "Okay guys, this one says: I'm so simple that I only point, yet I guide people all over the world." She frowned. "What the fuck?"
Theo laughed. "You really do take this seriously don't you?"
"Hell yes, I do! Now come on we need to think we only need to find two more arrowheads and we win. Now think!" Emily jumped up and down with excitement.
Derek stood next to Penelope trying to get her attention. "Baby Girl, can we please talk really fast?" He grabbed onto her arm trying to get her attention.
"Yo Morgan, for real, lay off. She obviously knows about your rep. Leave her be," Theo said, moving over to them. "Come on princess, let's work on the riddle."
Penelope turned her head towards Derek. "Yeah, Morgan." Penelope scurried over to Emily taking the clue from her hand. "Let's think, what guides people?"
"Oh, I got it! It's a compass!" Theo hollered. "But where would we find one of those?" he asked, confused. A compass could be anywhere.
"The hiking trail!" Emily said excited, "All our trails start in the same place, and the counselors always make us use a compass."
The group took off running towards the hiking trails and sure enough there was a clue pinned against the post that directed the campers to each trail.
Derek followed behind. There was no way Penelope was going to stop this game to talk to him, so if he helped this along he might get the chance. He ran up to post yanking down the clue. "Sometimes I fly all over the world and never get tired. Most are excited when they see me; others tried to hide from me."
"Huh?" Penelope said, taking the clue from him, not believing he read it right.
"That's what it says." He handed the paper over to her shrugging his shoulders.
"Maybe there is another clue. Start looking!" Emily said as she started looking all around, maneuvering through the trees and looking at the ground.
Derek and Theo started doing the same as Penelope stayed by the post trying to despiser the clue.
"What is your deal with Penelope? What'd you do to piss her off so bad she won't even talk to you?" Theo asked, as he was looking for anything else around to help them figure out where the next arrowhead would be.
"I didn't do anything. She's my friend alright? She's more than just a friend." Derek snapped.
"Whoa, chill Morgan. Didn't you just screw Cassandra yesterday?" Theo asked.
"Why the hell does everyone think so little of me that I would screw some bitch behind the tent? Even if I wanted to fuck her I'd never do it like that." He looked at him disgusted. This is what he got for his player like reputation.
"Alright, you don't have to bite my head off," Theo said, holding up his hands in surrender.
"I'd never do that to, Pen. I really like her. She's different, okay?" he said a little quieter. "And now that everyone keeps telling her I screwed Cassandra behind the tents, she won't even look at me."
"She'll come around," Theo said, looking over his shoulder to see Penelope sticking her tongue out as she reread the clue again.
Emily moved quietly away from the spot she was looking for more clues at after she heard Derek's confession. She had just so happened to behind the tree when Theo started talking to Derek.
"Oh, shit! I got it!" Penelope jumped up and down, "The mail room. It's a letter! Letters get sent all over the world, but never get tired and sometimes people are excited when then get them. We need to go to the office!"
"You're a genius, Pen! Let's go!" Emily said, taking off towards the camp office where the outgoing mail went.
When they made it to the last clue Penelope tore open the envelope. "Last clue, guys. We can win this. Okay, when you buy me I'm black, when you use me I'm red, but when you're done with me I'm gray."
"Charcoal?" Derek asked, cocking his head to the side not sure if that was the right answer.
"The mess hall!" Penelope took off running to the finish line. The other teams were still only on clue number three. This meant they were going to keep Emily's streak alive.
When they rounded the corner, they saw Rick with a foghorn ready to blow it for the winners. "Alright, Towodi, show me the five arrowheads," Rick said holding out his hand. Theo placed the five tokens in his hand as Rick smiled. "I knew Emily wouldn't let the streak die." Rick blew the horn and the team cheered and rejoiced.
"Go get your lunch while the rest of the teams finish up and then we will do the awards," Rick continued.
Emily strutted her stuff as she took hold of Penelope's arm bringing her towards the mess hall entrance. She knew she's win again this year.
"Wait Penelope!" Derek ran over to her. "Can we talk now, please? The game is over now."
"Sorry, Morgan. I don't think so." Penelope moved away from him.
"Come on, I thought you were my friend," Derek shot back at her. "Don't friends give friends the benefit of the doubt?"
She turned to him. "We aren't friends, never were. I barely know you."
"That's not true, Pen. We've talked. I want you to know everything about me."
Penelope rolled her eyes before storming off to the food area leaving them. There was no way she was going to fall for anything Derek had to say. Sure he was nice to her and made her feel good, but he broke her heart making her think there was something between them. She sighed as she grabbed her plate starting to make her lunch. She wanted to talk to Derek and believe what he was saying but something inside of her was telling her to forget him. He could have anyone, so if she'd ignore him long enough he'd give up and than her heart wouldn't be crushed by him again.
Derek moved to go after her but Emily grabbed his arm stopping him from entering the mess hall. "I'm gonna go talk to her, Derek."
Derek shot his head to Emily's arm then back to her face, "What so you can tell her I'm scum?" He retorted.
"Actually, no." Emily gave him a small smile, "Not this time. Give me five minutes." Emily walked off after Penelope, leaving Derek and Theo standing outside the mess hall.
"Where were you guys?" Theo asked as Andy and Cassandra reappeared.
"Nowhere." Andy gave a wolfish grin.
"Yeah, if Derek doesn't want to take care of me, I can find someone else who can." Cassandra said, glaring at Derek hoping to make him jealous.
"She's all yours," Derek said, motioning his hand towards Andy. "You can have her."
Cassandra huffed as she turned back towards Andy. "Come on, baby let's go." She grabbed onto his hand pulling him with her. "Eww, wait. What's that?"
Andy let go of her hand, looking at his skin. He saw the red marks that were now traveling up his arm. He started to itch the rash feeling the sensation of burning.
The feeling of painful itching overtook both of them in an instant. Cassandra started to scratch her belly as Andy started to scratch his own chest.
"Fuck!" Andy yelled, as he felt the sensation travel throughout him.
Theo looked at the rash on Andy's arm that was spreading and buckled over in laughter. "Oh God, you… you have poison ivy."
Cassandra screamed as she threw off her shirt and sure enough there way the red rash all over he back and front. She took off running as Andy started to itch his lower regions.
Derek looked over at them shaking his head. Good, he thought. Now he knew they both would be leaving him alone for a while.
"PG, give him a chance." Emily said, talking her plate of food.
"I don't care what he has to say," Penelope retorted moving to find a table so they could finish eating and wait for the awards.
"Yes you do. Don't act like you don't."
Penelope rolled her eyes. "Why are you all of a sudden defending him? I thought you hated him."
Emily sighed, "It's not that I hated him… Okay, I kinda did, but I think you need to give him the benefit of the doubt. Go and talk to him." She handed Penelope her plate of food.
"And what do you want me to do with this?" she asked holding both plates of food.
"Go take him the plate and talk to him, okay?" Emily said, pushing her away. God, Penelope was hardheaded, but she already knew that. She hoped she was doing the right thing, pushing Penelope and Derek to talk. Yes, in the past she wanted nothing to do with Derek and his jock friends, but there was something sincere in what he was telling Theo earlier.
"Fine," Penelope finally agreed. "I'm sure my opinion won't change, though."
