The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

61: Pray Tell

"And we're done!" I breathed a sigh of relief as I slumped down onto the sofa in the living room, after two and a half hours of arranging the dorms, sweeping and mopping the floors clean and dusting the furniture. "Coach Qi had better be proud of our work."

Xing Zi nudged my leg with her shoe. "Get up," she scolded, grinning. "We need to put the cleaning stuff back in the storeroom."

"Give me a moment," I whined, reluctant to get up from the comfort of the sofa. "My butt needs a rest."

Xing Zi sighed, giving in and sitting down on the other end of the sofa. "That was a workout."

"Tell me about it," I scoffed, head lolling up to stare at the ceiling. "I wouldn't mind doing whatever the boys are doing out there right now."

After a while, Xing Zi reminded me again to tidy up our cleaning equipment much to my reluctance. I pouted at her, to which she mocked my expression humourlessly. I frowned and got up from the sofa, carrying the mop while she held the broom and dustpan. I dragged my feet to the storeroom, which was similar to a janitor's closet and put my mop leaning against the wall. My eyes caught on something that seemed out of place on the topmost shelf, pushed to the back of the closet.

"Xing Zi, what's that hanging out of the box?" I asked, pointing to a bright red object that was half-hanging out of the cardboard box left on the shelf.

"No idea," Xing Zi mused. I let her take the box down seeing that she was taller than me, and we peered inside the box.

"Water balloons?" I frowned in confusion. Unexpectedly, there was a stack of colourful rubber balloons piled inside the cardboard box. I lifted the empty plastic packaging labelled 'Water Balloons' that was left on top of the balloons. "Did you and Qi Ying find this last year?" I questioned Xing Zi.

"We didn't," Xing Zi answered, sounding surprised.

An idea formed in my head and I cackled. "Let's play a prank on the boys with this."

Xing Zi grinned at my suggestion, but before she could say a word, we heard the front door open. I stood on my tip-toes to push the box back onto the shelf before seeing Qi Ying and Ai Qi with supermarket bags in their hands.

"Back already?" Xing Zi said, us both stepping forward to help the girls with the load.

"Mhm," Ai Qi nodded. "Qi Ying received a message from Coach Qi on the way back; she told us to begin cooking lunch."

I groaned. "We should've taken the job of buying the groceries," I sighed, directing my statement at Xing Zi.

Xing Zi gave a nonchalant shrug, nudging my shoulder. "Come on, a little more work won't kill us."

We brought the groceries to the kitchen and began to unload the ingredients. Rummaging through one of the bags, I fished out the vegetables and began laying them across the counter. "Ai Qi," I called out. "Did you guys buy lotus roots, by any chance?"

"Nope!" Ai Qi answered, unwrapping foil off a slab of pork meat. "Did you want some?"

"I was thinking of making soup for the guys," I voiced my thoughts. Truth was, I hadn't made my speciality soup in a while, and I found the camp a good chance to try making it once again for a bigger party of people.

"We can get some the next time we go out shopping?" Qi Ying offered, scooping rice into a measuring cup and transferring it into the pot.

"Sure thing," I agreed, running the leafy vegetables under the tap water to wash them.

"What are we planning to make for them?" Xing Zi asked curiously, collecting the stray shopping bags on the counter and putting them at one side.

"Well," Qi Ying said, filling the pot of rice with water. "Ai Qi and I were thinking of making sweet-and-sour pork for the winning school, and maybe make some fried eggs and tomatoes."