20 The Christmas Party ; Let the Game Begin!

It was the day of the Christmas party. Alice's dad drove her all the way to school in fear of having random guys in the street ogling at his precious daughter. "Bye, dad!" Alice waved as her father drove away.

She took a glance at her wristwatch when she saw that she was already five minutes late! "Shoot! I gotta go!" She was about to enter the gates when someone suddenly bumped her. "Watch where you're going—" she stopped when she noticed that it was Mark.

Alice couldn't help but laugh upon seeing Mark. He was also wearing his elf costume. "You look like Peter Pan," she joked.

"And you look... cute," he whispered.

"Huh?" Alice asked but Mark only shook his head and grabbed her hand.

"Let's go, slowpoke. I think the program already started," he said. After that they ran towards the quadrangle, they sighed in relief when they saw that the students have just finished singing the school hymn which means that they weren't really that late.

"I thought you guys ditched the party," Gerald told them when Alice and Mark joined them.

The program went on, different speakers gave their messages to the students, and there were intermission numbers from each section. Then they also had a special guest, Justin Mendoza. He's one of the alumni of the school who is now a college student and a popular model. Most of the girls were going wild for him.

"For some reason, he seems familiar." Alice said as she eyed him. While she was staring at him, Justin also looked at her and he gave her a wink. All of the girls went even wilder—if it was still possible.

"Argh... how noisy, he's just a model." Alice groaned as she covered her ears. Soon enough, his special appearance in the program was done.

"Okay, let's start the fun with the games that we have prepared for everyone!" their faculty head said.

"About time," Alice grinned.

"Let's start with the highlight game. It'll be a clash of skills, so I need twenty talented students right now. Only five students per year level." she began.

As expected, Alice and Tiffany were part of the representative of the juniors. Some of the participants were admirers of Alice.

"Hi Alice, I'm looking forward to competing with you." Keith, her senior, told her. Alice only smiled at him.

"Hi Alice, good luck on facing us," Alice nearly choked when she saw Gerald and Mark at the stage too.

"Why are you here?" she exclaimed.

"To compete. I wanna impress Joanna." Gerald replied. Alice then eyed Mark.

"I'm competing to beat you, that's all," he shrugged. Alice groaned inwardly to hide her annoyance.

"Okay, let me explain the first round. It'll be a game of hide and seek. All of you can hide anywhere on the campus then we'll assign twenty people who will look for you. But here's the catch, you won't know who the seekers are. As long as you're able to stay hidden for more than thirty minutes, you're going to the second round" the host explained.

"This is difficult," Pauline, a freshman, complained.

"We'll give you five minutes to find a hiding place, the timer starts... NOW!" After that all of them ran to different directions. Some hid behind the trashcans, at the cafeteria, or behind a car. Alice continued running towards the school's mini-park. There were many trees in the place, she climbed the tallest tree and she comfortably rested on a branch.

"Why are you here?" She heard after a few minutes of silence. She turned her head and she saw Mark who had just climbed the tree.

"Go away Mark, this is my hiding place," Alice grunted.

"Hey, I just used my common sense to hide in the simplest place, and besides there are no rules saying that two players can't stay at one hiding place." Mark grinned as he sat on a branch across Alice. "I'm staying here."

"What?" Alice exclaimed.

"You're stuck with me for the next thirty minutes," he said with a smug grin.

Alice cursed her luck. "If we ever get found I'll kill you," Alice growled.

Meanwhile back at the program, the seekers have just been sent out to find the participants. "We're not just going to wait for them, I believe each year level has a special production number prepared for all of us so let's start! After all the production numbers then we'll also have our own games to play" the emcee said.

"This is going to be a long day," Lance sighed.

"Hey at least we're with our girlfriends. It'll be fun, hopefully," Josh told him.

"Fifteen more minutes," Mark muttered.

"Geez, I'm bored. If only the game was about fighting then it would be more exciting," Alice sighed.

"You'd definitely lose to me,"

"It bothers me that I've never beaten you, maybe it's because we never had a formal fight."

"During the retreat, we fought a bit but you didn't even fight back," Mark said.

"Well, I wasn't ready at that time. What if we fight sometimes?" Alice suggested.

"I can't fight you,"

"Why?"

"You'll never know," Mark laughed.

Meanwhile, the seekers have already found eight out of the twenty students hiding. On the other hand, the students back at the quadrangle are playing childish games such as the newspaper dance and trip to Jerusalem.

"Four minutes left," Mark grumbled.

"Will you stop the countdown? It only makes it seem slower to me. I'm bored as heck Mark," she groaned. Suddenly both of them heard footsteps.

"Keep your voice down and come closer, your hiding place isn't as hidden as mine," Alice whispered.

Mark slowly crept nearer Alice, once the footsteps got louder Mark hurried so his head accidentally crashes onto Alice's own. "Ouch," Alice groaned. Mark mouthed a sorry. They were close, way too close! Alice was sitting comfortably on the branch with her back rested on the trunk while Mark was at a kneeling position and his hands were resting on the trunk for support. He looked at the side to make sure he didn't look at Alice, he is trying his best to avoid blushing unbeknownst to Alice.

"Oh look it's Mia," Mark said happily, he was about to greet her when suddenly Alice pulled his shirt with one hand and she used her other hand to cover his mouth. They stayed in that position for who knows how long until Alice blushed once she realized how close they were.

"S-sorry about that but keep quiet. Mia could be one of the seekers, idiot." more heat rose to her cheeks.

"Sorry," Mark grinned.

A few seconds later, Mark's watch started beeping, "Thirty minutes passed, we're going to round two." he said happily

"That's great," Alice cheered.

Mark jumped off the branch and he landed on his feet. Alice got ready to hop off the branch when her foot accidentally slipped and she fell off the tree.

Alice shrieks as she fell off but the impact of falling onto the ground never came. "Got you" she heard a chuckle. She opened her eyes that shut involuntarily and she saw Mark's amused face. "You could've gotten injured you know,"

She realized that Mark caught her in his arms, Alice blushed furiously. "Put me down you idiot!" she exclaimed.

Mark chuckled as he gently let Alice down. "Let's go back, it's time for round two," she said, the blush still visible on her cheeks.

"Let's go," Mark smiled as they walked together to the stage, not far from them Mia was watching

"Is there something going on between them?"

"Hey Alice, I never thought that you'd stay till round two," Tiffany laughed when she saw Alice returning with Mark.

"Well Tiffany, Alice is a good competitor so of course she'll stay this long. I think she can stay till the final round," Mark said leaving Tiffany speechless.

"Okay time for round two of our special game, round two will have a longer time. It will be for two hours so the last ten students please pair up. Then you two would have to do an obstacle race, now for the hard part but before I tell you please pair up,"

To their surprise, most students asked Alice to be their partner, Mark pulled Alice near him. "Sorry she's already my partner," he said.

"Who said I'm your partner?!" Alice exclaimed

"Are you deaf? I just did," Mark grinned smugly. Tiffany cursed and she just made Gerald her partner.

"For the hard part, you shall do this while you're handcuffed to each other."

"What the hell?!" Alice yelled.

"Yes handcuffed, it will be a challenge." her teacher grinned as she showed the handcuffs.

"You have to be kidding, I'm gonna be handcuffed to this idiot for two hours,"

"Calm down Alice, that's the challenge of the game. The round will be two hours long but if you finish it before two hours, much better. The first three pairs to return will proceed to the final round." the emcee said as she cuffed Alice and Mark together. "Now the other pairs please put on the cuffs,"

Once they were all done the players lined up. "Okay, there are arrows around the campus that you should follow, this round requires teamwork so good luck students."

"Let's win this Gerald!" Tiffany cheered

"Sorry to burst your bubble but we're winning this," Alice smirked.

"If you ever win this, it's because you have Mark as your partner," Tiffany glared.

"It's not about your partner it's about how well you work with your partner," Mark added. That kept Tiffany's mouth shut.

"Okay! Ready, set… GO!"