Another beautiful day had come to PCA, and the students were taking full advantage of it. Vince and a few old friends from football decided to have a game to touch football, and he asked Lola to watch. She went with a beach chair and some knitting needles. She enjoyed seeing her boyfriend play, but she could only take so much football before she got bored. Michael was teaching Lisa how to cook a recipe for the cooking class she was now taking. Yet another new perk that, as the older students, they were allowed to take. Logan and Chase decided today had the perfect golf weather and invited their girlfriends to join them. The only condition, Quinn couldn't bring or use any Quinnventions. Primarily for their own safety but also to make it more of a fair game.
The guys were already on the grass, up on one of the many high hills on their campus. They had been waiting over twenty minutes for the girls to show up.
"We're here," Zoey called out, Quinn walking beside her. When the girls learned of the activity they were doing, they ran back to their room to get changed.
Logan sighed, propping his one club on the grass to lean against it. "About time."
"Sorry baby," Quinn came to stand beside her frowning boyfriend. "Zoey and I didn't realize how much time had passed since we went to get changed." She was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and a pleated white skirt.
Zoey merely rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, sorry." She had a white quarter-sleeve top, white capris, and small light pink bedazzled hearts going up the sides.
"Leave them alone, man," Chase was hanging back, swinging his golf club aimlessly around his body.
"All I'm saying is we're losing daylight because they decided to do a wardrobe change." Logan sighed, pulling out a second club from his golf bag.
Quinn knew what to do to get him to change his tune. "Does that mean you don't like my outfit?" She put on a pouty face, swaying her hips a bit to make her skirt flow and show it off.
Instantly the annoyed look was gone, and his features softened. "Of course I do, sweetie; you know I love it when you dress up for me." He kissed her cheek.
Zoey grinned; she knew what her roommate had done. "Well?" She turned expectantly to her boyfriend.
"Well, what?" He gave her a confused look back.
She gestured to the couple and then to herself. "Aren't you gonna tell me I look cute too?"
He chuckled, walking over to throw an arm around her shoulder. "You look adorable."
"Thank you." She smiled, happy with the compliment.
Logan rolled his eyes at them, "Come on, let's just play." He handed the extra set of clubs he grabbed and gave it to Quinn. He was annoyed they took so long to get started, but he had to admit his girlfriend looked super cute in her golf attire. He made a mental note to set up a golf date for just the two of them.
"So, how exactly does this work?" Zoey asked as Logan set up his stroke, shaking out his hands and hips. She knew people hit the ball, which landed in a hole, but that was pretty much it. Golf was never one of the sports she paid much attention to. Compared to basketball, she found golf to be pretty boring and never understood why people played it or watched it.
"The person with the least amount of nett strokes is deemed the winner," Quinn explained to her friend, one hand over her eyes. She wished she remembered to bring a hat with her when she changed her clothes. "Although, that is usually when people play 18 holes of the game."
Zoey did a double take. "18!?" If she knew that, she might not have said yes right away.
Chase chuckled at her expression, "We're not doing 18," he pointed out a few yards away in the distance to a bright pink pail. "We had Michael set up the bucket before he went off with Lisa."
Logan took a big swing; they watched the ball fly threw the air and land a few feet away from the bucket. "Whoever gets it in the bucket the most wins."
Zoey nodded, understanding and accepting the game. "And what does the winner get?"
"Whatever they want," Chase said, taking a swing of his own, but he went too hard and ended up tripping over his feet. The ball landed in some bushes away from the bucket.
Giggling at her boyfriend's clumsiness, a trait she always found to be cute, Zoey accepted the club he had just used and set up her own ball. "Hold up a sec, Zoe," she had just lined up to take a shot when Chase came up and turned her around. "You were facing the wrong way."
She frowned and looked at the spot she was in now. "How so?" She brushed her loose hair behind her ear.
"Well, you're right-handed, but you were standing where someone who is left-handed would be." He told her, gesturing to the two spots.
She continued to frown. "Why does it matter?" she knew basketball well enough and understood why certain angles and spots were better depending on your dominant hand, but she didn't get why it mattered for golf. You're not moving around; you're standing in one spot and swinging a metal club to hit a ball. Plus, in the few instances she's seen on TV when her dad watched a match, she's sent the player switch sides a few times. She didn't understand why it mattered to him on which side she stood.
Chase started to stutter, "Well, that's just how the game is done and-!"
"Just shoot!" Logan shouted at them, annoyed that they were holding up the game.
Chase opened up his mouth, turning back and forth between his roommate and girlfriend before just shutting up and walking away. With a tight smile, Zoey lined up her shot and took a swing. Making most of the grass come up when she made contact with the ball. They looked up to see where the ball would land, but after waiting for a moment, they noticed it had never landed.
"Where'd it go?" Zoey asked, raising her hand up to block the sun from her eyes. Like her roommate, she too forgot to bring a hat or sunglasses. She looked up in the air and down around where the bucket was, but she only saw the golf ball Logan had hit before. Hers was nowhere in sight. She was utterly confused about how her ball could disappear.
Chase cleared his throat, "It's uh…" Trying to think of the nicest way to say what he needed to.
"It's by your feet, Brooks," Logan said matter-of-factly, not caring about the other girl's feelings.
Slowly looking down at her feet, the blonde huffed at the white ball only a few inches away from where she stood and the good-sized hole she made in the ground. Walking to stand next to the bushy-haired boy, she handed him back his club, "I guess it doesn't matter where I stand." She muttered under her breath, but he still heard her.
Quinn was up next, using the club that Logan had given her. It was different from the one he used and fit her better. Placing her ball down, she pulled her feet apart and shook her hips some. Her eyes glancing down between the ball and the bucket, lips curling as she calculated the distance. With a swing of her wrist, she shot her ball off into the sky, and within a few seconds, it landed squarely in the bucket.
Everyone stared in awe as she looked back proudly. "Yeah!" Logan clapped his hands, jogging up to his girlfriend and placing a big kiss on her cheek. "And that's how you do it!" He boasted, pointing at the other two as he cheered for the girl. As much as he loved winning, seeing his girlfriend come out victorious was even better.
"How did you do that?" Chased asked in astonishment; he's played golf a few times growing up and watched it a lot too. You seldom see a hole-in-one on the first try.
Quinn shrugged, putting the club she had been given back in the bag. "It's just simple geometry and physics." She gestured to the golf clubs, ball, and bucket. "I merely calculated the velocity of which I can swing and how much the ball weighs while simultaneously analyzing the distance from the bucket and current wind speeds."
"Oh, is that all," Chase didn't know whether to laugh or not. She had phrased it like she was talking about a simple stroll around the block, not figuring out how to get a hole-in-one on the first go.
Zoey pouted; suddenly, a clear winner had already been determined, and the game had just started. "Don't be jealous," Logan saw the looks on their faces, the disappointment clearly evident, but he was the exact opposite. He couldn't have been prouder of his girlfriend and what she could accomplish with that big, beautiful brain of hers. "Quinn is awesome, which only makes sense since she's with me, so get over it and try not to cry too much when we beat your butts." He had no doubts that she would take first prize, but that didn't mean he would stop trying. He was going to try his best to stand beside her in the game to prove he was just as good as she was.
Lining up his shot, he looked at his ball and the bucket while Zoey nudged Chase with a playful smirk on her face. "Hey, Logan," she called out just as he raised his club to take a swing. "A bird pooped in your hair." He cried out when she said that, hitting the ball in the complete opposite direction of where he wanted it to go. He jumped about, running his hands through his curly locks while Zoey and Chase laughed.
"You guys," Quinn gave a disapproving frown at her friends. "That wasn't nice." She put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, calming him down and letting him know that it was all a lie.
Logan glared at the blonde, who didn't seem to care that she upset him. "Alright, I'm sorry." It didn't sound like she meant it, but she was willing to apologize to keep the peace.
"Where'd the ball go anyway?" Chase asked, looking up in the sky to try and find where it went. They had managed to locate it just as it flew down from the sky and landed right on Firewire's head, making him fall to the ground in front of a group of girls. "And here I thought, that only happened on tv." He commented, laughing a little at the comedic sight.
The four ran down the hill when they noticed he was still lying on the ground, and none of the girls seemed willing to help him. Chase grabbed him by the arm, helping him stand back up. "You okay?" he stepped back once the guy was back up. He could only hope this wouldn't lead to him and his group of friends stalking him again.
The comic book enthusiast nodded, looking at the group in confusion. "What happened?"
"Logan hit you with his golf ball." Zoey pointed at the guy.
Said boy, did a double take. "Only because you tricked me and made me think a bird pooped in my hair!"
"I like your hair." One of the girls said, smiling wide and winking at him.
He merely nodded, "Cool, thanks," A year ago, he would have been flirting with the entire group, but now he didn't even care. He, at most, gave the girl a passing glance before diverting his focus back on the scene before them.
Firewire frowned, glaring at the curly-haired boy. "Thanks a lot, Logan. You ruined my show when I was just starting to impress these girls." He gestured to the mini campfire he had set up at the table where they were all gathered around.
"He really wasn't." the girl in the middle said, looking very bored at the whole sight. "He kept saying he was going to make the fire change different colors, but he can't even light it."
Logan snorted, picking up the lighter to put inside the mini fire top, and flames instantly appeared. "Dude, that's pathetic." He then picked up the little canister of salt they kept at every table and sprinkled some on. Soon the orange and red flames were glowing a bright gold color. Making everyone, including Firewire, gasp out in awe.
"How did you even know how to do that?" he all but stomped his foot. The guy was supposed to be the dumb jock type; nothing in the books he's read said he was supposed to know things like this. The guy was the stereotypical rich jock that coasted through life on his looks and money. All the books he's read said that the guy is supposed to peak in high school, and then it'll be the nerds in charge and getting all the girls. The guy being smart and knowing these kinds of tricks was not supposed to be part of the equation.
Logan rolled his eyes, annoyed that they were still there. He'd preferred to leave the other people and return to their golf game. "I looked it up to impress Quinn on one of our dates." He had been trying hard to understand chemistry and more science stuff since the whole Winston incident. He still did not know anywhere near what she did, but what he looked up was enough to impress her and show that he did care. That he was willing to put in the effort to make her happy.
"Well, I'm impressed," the girl from before stepped forward, placing her hand over his that was resting on the table. "Maybe we could go on a date, and you could show me what else you know."
Snatching his hand away, he opened his mouth to tell her off but was pushed aside by an angry-looking Quinn. "I will peel you like a grape." The girl tried to laugh, but Quinn's mean look only intensified, making her very uncomfortable. The girl's two friends grabbed her and rushed them out of there before anything happened. Quinn, however, made sure to zap all three of them.
Logan had a goofy smile on his face when she turned back around, looking rather proud of herself. "That was so hot." He cupped her cheeks, bringing her in for a deep kiss. "Wanna go make out?"
She nodded, wearing a matching goofy-looking grin. "Yes." Together they ran off back to the top of the hill to collect his gold clubs and ran off to one of their many secret hideaways on campus.
Chase watched them go with a slight frown, "Guess that means the game is over." He sighed, walking back up the hill to collect both sets of golf clubs and bags.
"Guess so," Zoey had to say; she didn't really mind so much that it came to such a halt. She liked dressing up, but the game was boring to her. "Hey, do you wanna come to the bookstore with me? Lola asked me to design her a new bag."
He shook his head, "Nah, I think I'm gonna stay here and try to do that calculation thing that Quinn did," he would love it if he could do a hole-in-one like she did. Plus, he had really been looking forward to playing.
She frowned, watching him pull out a new golf ball to his "Oh, okay." She had assumed that he would want to do something else once the others had left, and the game stopped. "Do you want to meet up for lunch later?"
He took a swing, sighing when he saw it did not land anywhere close to the bucket. "It's a date."
Michael and Lola had smoothies in their hands as they wandered the campus looking for their friends. Vince was still playing football, and Lola got bored after a while, so she left to find her friends. She had crossed paths with Michael after he dropped Lisa off at her study group. It was now lunchtime, and they knew Chase and Zoey had a date planned but wanted to see what the others were up to. Also, to see if they had any good foods they could munch off of. They stopped off to get some smoothies because they were getting hungry, but both realized that neither one of them had much money on them. "I see Quinn." Lola spotted her best friend sitting on one of the couches in the back. "And I see food!"
"About time," Michael was very happy seeing the big spread of sushi that littered the table. They ran up to the couple, who barely spared them a glance. "What is up, my friends." Dragging over a chair, he started to make a little plate for himself. There was more than enough food to go around.
Lola sat at the very end of the L-shaped couch; Quinn and Logan were more in the corner, curled up against one another. "Sushi time." She cheered, already taking a bite out of one of the rolls.
Michael munched happily in his seat, enjoying the good food but noticed that it was oddly quiet. Looking at the couple, he saw they were still staring at each other, smiling and giggling. "What's with you two?" he was hoping they would get out of the honeymoon phase after a year of being together. He was super happy for them and, from the interactions he's seen, didn't doubt their feelings for one another, but that didn't mean he wanted to witness their love fest all the time. He threw a chopstick at his roommate; this seemed to snap him out of his trance.
"What?" Logan snapped at his friend, annoyed at being interrupted.
Michael glared back, "I'm just trying to get your attention since we're all here," he gestured to their little group. Just because he was with his girlfriend didn't mean he had to ignore their friends. "And why is your hair so messed up?"
Logan frowned, reaching up to touch his feather-like locks. "It is?" he reached into his backpack to pull out a mirror.
Michael tried not to roll his eyes when he saw the object. He swore the other never left the room without it. "Yeah, it is. It looks like you've been rolling all around and pulling on it and…!" he was midsentence, bringing a piece of sushi up to his mouth to take a bite, when the thought of what his roommate had been doing crossed his mind. He shuddered, throwing the sushi back down on his plate. "Aw man, can't you two keep your hormones under control."
Lola frowned as well once she realized what was going on. "Eww." She gagged, shaking a little and moving to sit more on the very edge of the couch. "Don't say hormones. It's gross."
"How is that any grosser than knowing these two did things during the middle of the day." He said, pointing at the couple. Quinn had the decency to look embarrassed, while Logan looked very proud of himself.
She brushed him off, "Trust me, it's still gross, but talking about hormones is just wrong." It was why she hated health class so much. The subject was always an uncomfortable one. "Besides, so long as I don't see it, I don't care." She was still not the biggest fan of her best friend's boyfriend, but she knew this step was huge for them. It meant their relationship was much more serious than any one of them thought. So long as he was treating her with respect, she would keep her mouth shut.
Michael had to agree with that. Making out was one thing, but catching them doing that was not a sight he needed to be witness to. "At least do it at night like a gentleman."
"I am a gentleman," Logan said, brushing out his hair to get it back to the perfect structure and look he always kept it at. "Expect when she doesn't want me to be." He gave them all a suggestive wink. Making the two gag, and Quinn slapped his arm.
Zoey came stomping by as the two put their half-empty plates away. "Hey Zoey, want some sushi? There's plenty." Lola gestured to the table.
"Yeah, Logan ruined our appetite." Michael glared at his friend, who only shrugged.
Said blonde just sighed and crossed her arms, "Well, I was trying to get some with Chase, but he stood me up."
This caught the attention of all four teens. "He did what?" Quinn asked, astonished.
"Are you sure you guys didn't just get the time confused?" Lola asked carefully, trying to offer a simpler solution. It was no secret that the couple didn't have the best track record when it comes to communication.
Zoey glared, "I'm sure," she huffed, making her way to sit between her two roommates. "We said we would meet for lunch, but I waited for over an hour at Sushi Rox, and he never showed."
"So call him," Logan said, wrapping one arm around Quinn's shoulder.
The angry blonde turned her glower onto the curly-haired boy. "Gee, now, why didn't I think of that." The two glared at one another.
Michael put his hands up, trying to defuse the situation. "Last I saw Chase, he had come back in the room to take a quick shower," he got up from the chair and gestured in the direction of his dorm. "I'll go check and see if he's still there. With any luck, he probably got that bushy big head of his stuck in something." He took off before the girl turned her wrath on him. She frightened him when angered.
With him gone, the three teens were left with a simmering blonde who seemed ready to explode.
"Sushi?" Lola held out a plate of food for the girl, hoping it would help her settle down.
Zoey took it begrudgingly, chewing on it more harshly than needed.
Michael walked through the halls of his dorm room, sighing a little as he passed a few of his classmates and friends. He was a little annoyed he had to come all the way here when he wanted to eat something, but he'd rather keep the peace. Plus, he was a little worried about his friend. It wasn't like him to not respond or do a no-show. Especially when it comes to the girl he's been in love with since he first met her.
He just arrived at his door when his phone rang; he rolled his eyes a little when he saw who was calling. "Hello?"
"Did you find Chase yet?"
He shook his head, "Not yet; I just got to my dorm."
"Well, when you see him, tell him he better have a good reason for standing me up."
Michael did his best not to let his sigh be heard. "Look, I'm sure Chase has a very good reason for-!" he turned the handle and opened the door, only to see his best friend sitting on the couch watching TV. "Nevermind." He pursed his lips together, shaking his head. This time he didn't bother trying to hide his sigh and slammed the door shut. Weirdly his friend didn't react. "Dude!"
Chase merely grunted in response.
Raising an eyebrow at his weird behavior, Michael came to stand beside him. "What are you doing? You stood Zoey up for your lunch date, and she's not happy." That was putting it lightly. Learning that her boyfriend stood her up to watch TV would only make her angrier.
"Well? What's he doing?"
"He…" Michael sighed again, clearing his throat to try and give himself more time. He was trying to think of how to word this situation gently. "He's sitting on the couch watching TV like a zombie." There was no other way, so he figured the honest truth might be for the best.
"He's what!?"
Zoey screeched on the other end of the line, making Michael pull his phone away so he had some of his hearing left. With his free hand, he slapped his friend on the shoulder. Now he was starting to get annoyed with the guy. "Dude! Will you focus? What is wrong with you?"
"Hey," Chase said, gaze still focused on the screen. His focus was so intense it almost seemed like he wasn't blinking. "Did you know Logan's dad sent him a new care package?" He pointed to the opened brown box that was in the middle of the table.
Frowning, he walked over to the box and pulled out a DVD. "Space Princess Cadets: Galactic Emergence?" Michael read the title, looking at the cover image of a show that seemed like it was produced back in the 70s. "Why would Logan's dad send him this?" he was used to the older man sending his son really cool stuff, but this seemed like an odd thing to send. Nothing at all like something his son or anyone in this day in age would enjoy for fun. Maybe to make fun of it but he couldn't see the man sending his son something just for that purpose.
"Don't know," Chase mumbled, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.
"Hello!"
Zoey yelled into the phone, making Michael bring it back to his ear. "He's watching some weird space movie that Logan's dad sent him in a care package." He looked at his friend and then at the screen. He didn't understand the fascination with the show when it seemed like such poor quality. "I'm trying to snap him out of it, but he won't look away from the space princesses…and space penguins…and…," he glanced at the screen, trying to see what the big was with the show when he saw two princesses dressed in a cross between space suits and medieval times dresses as they fought some monster to defend penguins wearing space helmets. Slowly he joined his friend on the couch, sitting right next to him with the same blank but focused gaze.
"Michael? Hello? What's happening?!"
His phone was left on the table, Zoey's cries going unnoticed.
Zoey threw her phone down on the couch, huffing in annoyance. Jumping to her feet, she walked around the table to cross her arms and glare at Logan. "This is all your fault."
Said boy looked at her like she was being crazy. "How is this my fault?" he hadn't seen the guy since he left to go make out with his girlfriend that morning.
"Michael said Chase is acting all zombie-like because of some stupid movie you have." She relayed their friend's message before he, too, joined Chase and became a zombie.
Logan frowned, cocking his head to the side. "What movie?"
"The one your dad sent you." She threw her hand up in the air, trying to get him to understand. She swore he had to pay teachers to let him pass classes and not be held back.
He shook his head, "My dad didn't send me any movie." The last film his father sent him was when he worked on a shoot in France, but that was months ago.
At this, Zoey frowned, slowly simmering down. "But Michael said there was a care package addressed to you from your dad in the room."
This time he stood up from his seat, tired of being yelled at for no reason. "My dad is filming a reality show in Wisconsin. What would he even send me from there, cheese?" he looked back at Quinn for clarification. "They're known for cheese, right?" She nodded, and he smiled, proud of himself for remembering that.
"When's your next class?" Lola asked, picking up her bag and standing beside her friend. She handed her back her phone that had been left on the couch.
Look at the device, Zoey sighed. "In like ten minutes." She looked at the rest of her friends, and they all shook their heads. They all had classes they would have to attend soon.
"Okay, so how about after dinner, when Logan goes back to his room, he can check out what's going on and let us know." Lola gestured to the guy, hoping her solution would make them all happy.
"Quinn and I have a date for tonight." He told them matter-of-factly.
Zoey shrugged her shoulders. "So, check on them before you leave for dinner."
"It's not just dinner," he crossed his arms, starting to get annoyed with her attitude towards him. She was acting like she could order him around. "We got permission from Dean Rivers to go to the beach and watch the meteor shower."
At this, Quinn came to stand beside him, giving her angry blonde friend a shy and nervous smile. "It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. While they're falling through the sky, Venus will be visible to the naked eye." She elbowed him in the ribs when he started to giggle. She already knew he was laughing at the word naked. He had done the same thing when she first brought up her desire to see the meteors. As much as he matured, he was still childish at times. Good thing she found that side to him cute.
Lola awed when she heard all that, "That sounds so cool. Can I come!?" She wanted to see the pretty stars and planets on the beach.
"No!" Logan instantly shot her down. "Quinn and I are trying to get in as much time together before we graduate." He did not want anyone coming on the date and ruining the moment for them. The group had done that enough times to them last year. This was their time together, nobody else's.
She smiled at her boyfriend, placing her palm in his hand to grab it. "I'm sure once they realize classes are starting, they'll snap out of whatever trance they're in and return to normal." Sensing the tension rising, Quinn stood in between her boyfriend and friends. "But if not, Logan can check on them when we come back from the beach."
Zoey frowned; she wanted answers now but figured this was better than nothing. "You swear?"
The boy scowled, "For you, now way," He didn't want to do it for the blonde, but if his girlfriend wanted him to do it, he would for her. "But I'll do it for Quinn."
Agreeing this was the best option; the group walked away. Zoey and Lola going in one direction, with Quinn and Logan going the opposite way. They each had classes with one of the two guys who were now currently MIA, and they hoped they would see them soon.