Not Just A Pretty Face

In the car, driving to location B.

"I think we did well", Alejandro said to his team, sitting in the front seat looking down at the map.

"We got 5 out of 5. That's the best we could do", Oscar replied to him while driving. Oscar was in class 1-D. He had brown skin that was darker than Alejandro's and an afro top with a fade on the sides and the back.

"I meant time-wise; we were really quick", Alejandro said. "You were good, Lorenzo; you answered three of them straight away", he said, looking in the mirror at Lorenzo. 

"You and Maria answered the other two. We're a team, that's all that matters", Lorenzo replied, sounding bored, looking out the window. Maria was sitting in the middle with Lorenzo to her right and Maxine to her left. Maxine was a brunette from 1-E. Maria looked at Lorenzo without turning her head.

"He gives off a similar vibe to Malakai", she thought, "They're similar in height, and he's clever like Malakai, too. The only difference, I guess, is that Malakai is always smiling, and Lorenzo always looks like he's angry".

Lorenzo always looked angry as he had a resting bitch face, his eyes brows slanted down. Adding a straight face made him look angry or pissed off most of the time. 

Alejandro noticed Maria glancing at Lorenzo, "Maria, which houses are marked red again?" Alejandro questioned to catch her attention.

Maria looked down at the paper she had, "It's the three houses right at the end", she answered. 

"How do we find the keys? Nobody I know has done the challenge yet. From what I heard, they're hard to find", Maxine said, joining the conversation.

"Yeah, a friend told me they found their key in a plant pot", Maria replied, turning to her.

"So, how do we search if there are three houses? Do we all go in one house together?" Maxine asked.

"We should split up. One person to each house, and the extra person joins someone", Maria said, telling them what Malakai told her yesterday.

"Did your friend find the key?" Alejandro curiously asked, looking at her in the mirror.

"No, he was the driver. He told me what his teammates did", Maria answered, meeting his eyes in the mirror.

"Driver? Wait, are you talking about Malakai?!" Oscar excitedly asked, connecting the dots as Malakai and Maria were both in 1-C, and Malakai was a driver yesterday.

"Yeah", Maria replied with a smile. Lorenzo's interest was piqued; he kept an ear out just in case. 

"Your friends with Malakai?" Maxine asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, he's my neighbour too", Maria happily added.

"Lucky guy", Oscar quietly slipped in, only loud enough so Alejandro could hear as he was beside him. 

Alejandro turned to him. Hearing Malakai was Maria's friend and neighbour hurt him, not to mention they were in the same class. So that's what she meant by she made friends. She made friends with the guy who was number 1. The guy that was on everyone's radar. A guy he even heard girls in 1-A talk about. Alejandro kept quiet; he didn't want to know more.

"I want to meet him, especially after yesterday. Even after the minigames, I thought he was cool," Oscar said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"He didn't win, though", Alejandro accidentally said. He didn't mean to say it out loud; he thought he said it in his head but let it slip.

"Yeah, but apparently, he let his friend win. It looked that way as well", Maxine replied. "I got eliminated in the second round. I planned to leave after watching the dodgeball match, but he was great, So I stayed".

"I like his accent. It's tough", Oscar said. "Nothing like I imagined a British person to sound like".

"Yeah, I like his laugh. I think it's cute", Maxine added.

"C-cute?" Maria replied, turning towards her, surprised to hear her say Malakai and cute in the same sentence.

"Cute? He laughs like a maniac", Alejandro said, now turning his body to look at the passengers at the back. He didn't see the appeal.

"It's cute because he has different laughs. The maniac laugh has its own charm; it shows his crazy side," Maxine explained. 

"Damn, Maxine, were you only watching him yesterday?" Oscar questioned, giving her a look at her in the mirror.

"I mean, yeah, let's be real. Yesterday's livestream was boring. He was the only interesting part. His interviews were funny, and he even got into a fight," Maxine defended herself, showing she was thirsting for Malakai.

"True, his interviews were funny", Oscar said, giggling, remembering what Malakai said in his interviews. 

From that conversation, Lorenzo didn't learn anything useful; he only learned that Maria and Malakai were friends and neighbours. 

"Ryan would probably be grateful for any information on Malakai", Lorenzo thought. 

Alejandro leaned back in his chair with the map on his lap. He took his sweet time to talk to Maria, waiting for her to come to him, and this is what he gets, 

"Does she like Malakai? No chance; they're only friends," Alejandro told himself. "He's not even good-looking. He's short and has an ugly scar across his nose, but he is funny. But Maria doesn't like that kind of humour. Surely they can't work together," he argued in his own head.

"Yo Alejandro where do I go?" Oscar asked, slowing down the car.

Alejandro snapped out of it and picked up the map, "My bad, uuum take the next right", he replied.

Maria was twiddling her thumbs and thinking about what Maxine had said. A lot was said, and it all happened because she brought up Malakai's name. 

"She found his laugh cute. Did I ever pay that much attention to his laugh? I forgot I'm not the only person who can see Malakai," Maria thought. "Everyone knows Malakai. I wonder how many other girls have noticed him? Wait, do other girls feel the same way I do towards him?" Maria's thoughts were piling up—more questions that couldn't be answered, more questions she didn't need right now.

At Location B.

"You said it was the houses at the end, right?" Oscar asked, slowly driving past the streets.

"Yeah", Maria replied, looking out of Maxine's window. 

"Who's searching which house?" Maxine asked before they reached their houses. 

"I'm searching alone", Lorenzo quickly said, still looking out his window. 

"Go ahead. What about you, Maria?" Alejandro asked, wanting to hear her opinion.

"I don't mind", she replied. 

"I think you two should search a house together", Oscar suggested.

"Huh?" Alejandro turned to Oscar. Oscar gave a wink that only Alejandro could see. 

"You want me to search a house all by myself? Maxine questioned, thinking she was going to search with Maria.

"You heard what Maria said; Malakai's team found the key in a plant pot. That means you can destroy the house all you want. You think Maria could do that by herself?" Oscar replied.

"No, but she could help me if we both go into one house", Maxine argued back. 

"Alejandro and Maria are childhood friends. They have better chemistry. If the key is in their house, they'll find it; if not, they'll help you", Oscar replied, really pushing for Alejandro and Maria to be together. Maxine couldn't think of an answer back; she wanted someone else's help, but Oscar's point about their chemistry was good; they trusted each other. She didn't know what else to say, so she took the L and accepted she would search alone. Oscar turned into the street and parked up on the side of the road,

"Don't take too long", Oscar said while turning off the car. Everyone in the back quickly got out, while Alejandro got out at a normal pace. 

Before he left, he said, "You didn't have to fight that hard for us to search together".

"That doesn't sound like a thank you", Oscar replied, smugly looking at him.

Alejandro smirked and blew air out of his nose, "Thanks, bro", he said before leaving. Alejandro closed the door and saw Lorenzo enter the house on the left and Maxine about to enter the house on the right. Maria stood in front of the house in the middle, waiting for Alejandro to join her.

"Let's go", he said, walking towards her. 

They both walked into the house together. 

"I'll search downstairs. You can search upstairs", Alejandro told her.

"Okay", Maria agreed and started to go up the stairs. While she paced up the stairs, in her peripherals, she saw a picture frame hanging on the wall. The picture was a watercolour painting of a woman crying. Maria stopped on the stairs and looked at the picture. 

"That's a weird place to hang a nice painting," Maria thought. The picture wasn't massive—it was slightly bigger than an iPad—but it hung on the wall next to the stairs. Was it really that weird? I guess it was a nice thing to look at while climbing up the stairs. Maria looked at it one more time and then remembered what Oscar had said before they left the car: 'You can destroy the house'. Remembering those words, Maria grabbed the picture frame and took it off the wall. She turned it around and opened the frame. She took off the back, and long and behold, a red key was hiding behind it. The picture frame was weird. There was a gap between the painting and the back of the frame, so you couldn't notice a key bulging from the painting. It was pretty intelligent and crafty. 

"I FOUND THE KEY!" Maria shouted from the stairs.

"Already?!" Alejandro said, dumbfounded, walking out of the living room. He saw the key in her hands. "Woah, well done. Let's go," he said, stunned.

The two of them ran out of the house and split up to call their teammates from their houses. Their team quickly assembled and ran to their car.

"What the heck. My team is back already", Oscar said. Oscar was being interviewed. The camera turned to his team running to the car; the cameraman moved out of the way to let them get into the car, but the camera remained focused on Oscar.

"That was quick. Who found the key?" Oscar asked.

Alejandro got in the car and put his seatbelt on, "Maria found it".

Oscar smiled and switched on the car, "Well, see ya", he said to the camera, holding up a peace sign before driving off.

Malakai was lying in his bed watching the live stream. The live stream picked up what Alejandro said. Malakai smiled,

"Looks like you're not just a pretty face".