Spin The Bottle

As soon as the bottle pointed at Arthur, we cheered in unison and three people raised their hands faster than lightning, including me. Arthur fell back on his rear with a thud as his eyes traveled from me to Katherine then he smiled as he looked at Jake.

Arthur hastily pointed at Jake. "Jake raised his hand first."

"Assa!" Jake crawled over to do a high-five with Arthur and the latter held onto his hand firmly with hopeful eyes.

"I trust you brother."

Jake nodded with a smile as he returned to his place. "I got you, brother. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." Arthur answered quickly with a smile.

'Ah… so that's your plan.'

Katherine narrowed her eyes at Jake then turned to me. She gave me that look, silently asking me to do something about these two's underhandedness with a nod of her head. My mouth twitched and my eyes darted towards Jake who was about to give Arthur his question.

I raised a finger at him before he could say a word, then I gave him a fair warning. "Lawton, I just want you to know that if you intentionally go easy on him and ask something along the lines of 'what is the color of your toothbrush', I'll make sure to get back at you when your turn comes."

Jake went rigid then, like a defected robot, he slowly turned his head towards Arthur with a helpless look on his face.

I met him and Arthur way back in kindergarten so he also knew me very well.

Or should I say, very bad?

He tried to make 'friends' with me when we first met by tugging at my hair, pulling my skirt up and snatching my chair when I was about to sit. But all of those peculiar friendly gestures stopped when I made sure to return every single favor. And more.

So when Arthur saw that Jake was wavering, he panicked. "Brother! Don't be swayed by her!"

Jake looked at me and I narrowed my eyes at him. Then I swiped my thumb across my neck with a smirk. He turned again to Arthur with an apologetic gaze. "I'm sorry, bro."

"NOO--MMMHP!" Arthur's words were muffled when Katherine covered his mouth.

She then smiled sweetly at Jake while holding the struggling Arthur down against her lap. "Give us the question, Jake."

Mia and the other girls started laughing at that sight. Brian then whispered to Mia, "Their tandem is really scary. Do you guys always play like this?"

Mia shook her head. "That's just the peak of the iceberg. They can even do telepathy. And yes, we always play like this."

Brian's eyebrow raised. "Telepathy?"

Mia just smiled then looked at Jake who cleared his throat nervously. "Arthur, my friend, my brother… Tell us: Do you like someone in this room?"

"Woooaaaahhh~"

Impressed by the intensity of his question despite being forced to be serious about it, we all applauded him in unison. Except for Katherine and Craige who both had their mouths shut. Katherine let go of Arthur and pushed him off her.

Arthur glared at her then at Jake. "Traitor."

Jake folded his hands together and bowed to him.

Then I chuckled when Mia impatiently tapped her watch. "Come on, Arthur. Let's not waste time."

"Do you guys really want me to answer that question?" He looked around and we all nodded with anticipation. "It will get awkward here if I do."

He looked at Craige who returned his gaze with equal seriousness.

'What's up with them?'

I frowned as they continued to exchange glances. Then a thought occurred to me which made my hands fly to my lips in shock. "Oh my gosh! Are you gay?!"

Multiple gasps immediately followed my question as their gazes fell on Arthur who was shooting daggers at me with his eyes. And to make matters worse, Craige raised his hand with a shake to defend him which made it all the more suspicious. "Zee, that's not--"

But Arthur interrupted Craige with a smug look on his face. "Fine. If you really want to know, then I have no choice but to tell you."

'What's all the suspense about?'

Arthur ran his fingers through his hair and looked really greasy when he pointed a finger at Katherine with a wink. "Kitty, I choose you!"

A pillow slammed on his face almost instantly and he fell backwards as Katherine snorted with disgust. "What do you think of me? Pikachu?"

"Eeeeee!" We teased them in chorus with wide smiles on our faces.

'Will my ship finally sail?'

Arthur sprang back up and puckered his lips at Katherine as if nothing happened. Then he grabbed the bottle and turned it without a warning while laughing like a maniac. "Now, it's payback time."

I would have laughed at the sight of them clutching their hands together if I wasn't doing the same. We were all probably praying for the same thing as well.

'Not me. Not me. Not me.'

Whenever it pointed at me, I would chant in my head.

'Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop.'

But as it slowed down and looked like it was about to stop near my area, my chant instantly changed.

'Stop. Stop. Stop.'

But it didn't stop. Until it was pointing at me.

If there was a table in front of me, I would have flipped it right there and then.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Arthur rose to his feet as if he just won the lottery.

The others also looked both excited and relieved while I slumped against Katherine who was also giggling beside me. But what surprised me even more was the person who raised her hand faster than Arthur.

A crease formed between my eyebrows. "Ameera?"

She gave me her signature smile that was just as charming and sweet as usual so I was completely caught off-guard by her question. "We've known each other for a few years now and I've always had that impression that you don't like being the center of attention. So what made you want to go into acting?"

We were all silent for a full minute then I giggled. "Are you dreaming of becoming a report, Ameera? That just sounded like a question for an official press conference."

Arthur groaned and slammed his hand on the carpet. "I can't believe you just wasted a precious opportunity for that question."

Mia also sighed. "He's right. He's right."

Ameera's eyes darted around with uncertainty. "Should I change the question?"

"No!" I answered hurriedly but Katherine put her hand on my lips then made a rolling motion with her other hand. "Mmmph!"

'Kath!'

"Change it. Change it now." Katherine instructed despite my protest.

"Okay...uhm…" Ameera deeply thought about it. Then she snapped her fingers with her lips slightly parted. "Ah! Back then, during the audition… you played two different characters right? Which one do you prefer? The good one or the bad one?"

"AMEERA!" Mia, Arthur, Trixie and Jake all shouted at once.

Katherine chuckled while shaking her head. "Is this your first time playing this game?"

Ameera, with her round eyes, nodded shyly.

'Awh. She's so cute.'

"Then do you want me to ask the question for you?" Katherine offered which seriously surprised me.

"But you have to promise not to ask her what's the color of her underwear right now! Cheating is not allowed!" Arthur interjected.

Ameera slowly nodded again and I looked at her with a sigh.

'Awh. I'll answer your questions in private later. I promise.'

Katherine removed her hand from my mouth and studied me for a long time, making my heart pound in my chest all of a sudden. Katherine grabbed my hand and with a soft smile she gently tucked my hair at the back of my ear. "Zee?"

"Uh?" The response came out automatically. Katherine acting sweet out of the blue has always been a scary scenario.

"What's with this fluffy atmosphere? Are they finally coming out of the closet?" Jake whispered to Trixie which also made Craige chuckle despite the fact that he was also feeling nervous about Katherine's question.

Trixie slapped his lap. "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Jake peered at Craige and whispered. "Don't you also think the two of them are suspicious?"

Craige smiled at him and shook his head. "Not at all."

"But they--"

"Lawton, I heard everything you said, just so you know." I informed Jake with my eyes narrowed at him. "You're really unbelievably outrageous."

Katherine also heaved a sigh while looking at Jake with disappointment. "Want to take lessons from us to learn how to properly whisper? Or is it just that you didn't know that whispering means speaking without being overheard?"

"You totally ruined the mood, brother." Arthur also joined in then he briefly glanced at Craige and snorted. "And I can't believe that you actually asked Craige that question, of all people."

Jake frowned. "Not you too? Why? What's wrong? Am I the only one who finds them suspicious?"

"Wait for your turn to ask a question and we will tell you." Katherine smiled and made a zipping motion with her fingers over her lips.

Then she turned to me and held my hand again. And I was seriously taken aback by her question. But at the same time, somewhere deep in my consciousness, I was somehow expecting this question to be raised.

"Can you tell me now what happened in Canada and over the summer that I barely had any contact with you?"