The Challenge

Story 1 - The Beginning Part 1

"No no no! The whole hero princess thing has been done to death." Nova exclaimed, a doritos chip forgotten in her hand. 

     "But we can put a different spin on it," Erin spoke, her deep red hair tied up in a ponytail, "The heroe get caught and it's the princess that saves him." She finished arms out as though she solved the whole problem. 

     "I still think my ghost story idea is the best." Leilani said matter of factly. She grabbed a chip and dipped it in a salsa sauce before stuffing it in her mouth. 

     "Suurrrreee, Casper being a peeping tom is a good idea." Fumiko's face registered her thoughts on that perfectly. 

     "It's not a peeping tom story!" Lei growled. "It's about a ghost with amesia whose trying to understand the world around him. That's all." 

     Ivory sighed and laid back on the carpet of Erin's room as the four other girls bickered back and forth. Being the youngest of the bunch, thanks to skipping two grades, she should have been the least mature but sometimes it felt the opposite. Simple discussion, using facts, was all that was needed. Shelving any egotism couldn't hurt either. 

     "A challenge!" Ivory stated, her finger pointing to the ceiling.

     "What?" This came from Nova. 

     Sitting up, Ivory looked around the circle of girls as her mind starting working out the pros and cons, it was perfect. Whoever won the challenge would be the one who decided which 'story' they would flush out and use to make the play. She said as much. 

     The girls nodded in agreement. The first sign of acquiescence in the last forty five minutes. Thank goodness.

     "Rock paper scissors." Erin offered. 

     "Hell no." Leilani snorted, "I suck at games of chance and if I'm going to embarrass myself I want to have a direct say in what's going to happen. How about laps in your pool?" Her look to Erin was hopeful. Erin's house had a pool which they were going to use a little later on anyways.

     Ivory grit her teeth. They always forgot that she was the smallest and least active of the group. 

     "Great idea, not like I have a say right?" to which Erin shrugged with a sheepish smile. 

     "What about whoever can hit a target with a ball the most times?" Leilani offered. 

Nova perked up. "Ya, that sounds great."  Fumiko also liked the idea. 

     "So the three most athletic and coordinated girls here like that, Ya?" Ivory asked looking about. The other girls knew her enough to know she was going to kibosh their idea. "Nova, didn't you play basketball for a while?" 

     "Ya." Nova admitted. 

 Ivory continued looking to Leilani. "And didn't you play baseball till like last year?" 

     "Uh huh." 

     "So, guess it's between the two of you then. What chance does the rest of us have?" 

All the girls grumbled. "Then what the hell are we going to do?" Fumiko asked.

     Taking a deep breath Ivory continued. "For everyone to have a chance, me included, the challenge as to be something outside of our common knowledge or practice. We can't have had any experience with it and like Lei said, no games of chance.

     "That means, no athletic games," Ivory waved to Lei, Nova and Fumiko, "No educational challenge," she pointed at herself, "and no social challenge since Erin would just flash someone to win."