The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

69: Pew Pew

"Wake up. Wake up, guys,"

I groaned and turned over on my side. Huddled under the sheet of my sleeping bag, I was reluctant to be pulled out of my luxurious slumber.

"Senior Ai Qi! Senior Yue En!" I felt a strong tug on my sleeping bag.

I stubbornly grasped onto it, the sleepy feeling slowly wearing off. "Mmph... ngh!" I moaned incoherently.

"Screw... off!" I could vaguely recognise Ai Qi's voice before I felt a heel forcefully kick my shin.

I shot up suddenly, the dull pain throbbing in my leg as I rubbed my eyes. Beside me, Ai Qi was still drunk with sleep, her legs curled to her chest in a fetal position under her sleeping bag. There was a spot of drool at the corner of her mouth, and a lock of hair that was clinging to her cheek. The indignance burned in my chest, and I felt a strong urge to get my revenge after she had kicked me.

I yanked my pillow from the ground and thumped it down on the side of Ai Qi's torso. "You!" I hissed and whacked her with my pillow one more time.

Although I used barely any strength to hit Ai Qi with the pillow, her eyes snapped open, the surprise visible in her eyes. "Owww!" she yelped in an exaggerated tone, then grabbed the pillow in my hands. We began to have a tug-of-war with my pillow in our sleepy, half-conscious states.

"Gngh... give it back!"

"No! You ah... attacked me with it!"

"You kicked me first!"

"Like I give any f--"

"Guys!" Xing Zi hissed sharply, which caught both Ai Qi's and my attention. We dropped the pillow instantly, smiling sheepishly at each other. I raked some of my hair out of my eyes.

"What's up?" Ai Qi grinned awkwardly, her eyes darting to the small window at the top of the tent. "What the heck, Xing Zi? The sun's barely up."

I adjusted my eyes to confirm Ai Qi's statement, then I glanced back at Xing Zi and Qi Ying. Both girls were sitting cross-legged at the end of our sleeping bags.

"Remember our plan last night, Seniors?" Qi Ying piped up. "The ambush on the boys..."

I blinked in realisation. "Oh!" I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Staying up to talk to Zhuo Zhi definitely took a toll on my sleep. I kicked the sleeping bag away from my legs and stood up wobblily. Ai Qi straightened up too, although if it hadn't been for me to catch her when she lost her balance, she would have toppled to the ground.

"Gosh, Ai Qi, you're heavy," I muttered as I pushed her back to her feet.

"That's what best friends are for, my dearest Yue En," Ai Qi yawned. "To catch me when I fall."

We stepped out of the tent to meet the bright sun just grazing the horizon, half-hidden by the massive forest. I was sure that if we were at the cliff, there would have been an even more spectacular view. The ground was still slightly damp, the same as last night. I stumbled into my shoes as the others zipped up the door of our tent. Despite the little fight Ai Qi and I had started in the tent, everyone else seemed to be peacefully asleep in their tents. There was no sign of human behaviour or sounds.

"Would Coach Qi be sleeping?" Ai Qi asked in a quieter tone than before.

"Likely," Qi Ying answered while we trod across the campsite towards the building. "She's not a light sleeper-- but we shouldn't take any risks. We'll wash up and grab the stuff from the storage after that."

"And we'll meet out at the back, where the hose is," Xing Zi added. "We can finish this before six-forty-five."

I couldn't hide the mischievous grin forming on my face. "Sounds like a plan."