chapter 2

"Here's what we'll do," Andrew started once they were all seated under the table that was outside the restaurant although it was covered by a big, red umbrella.

Andrew brought out an exercise book and a pen.

"A party always needs proper planning," Ashley said and he nodded. "I don't like planning," Ethan muttered, "It's always boring."

"Listen Ethan," Suzanne chided him.

A waiter came to meet them.

"Hey, I'm Jamie, your waiter for the outdoors." He smiled in a friendly manner at them as he asked, looking into each of their young faces, "What would you like to have? Can I get you started with some drinks?" he said with a pleasant smile.

Suzanne kept her hands on the table and rested her chin on them.

"Hey Jamie, fancy seeing you here again," she said as she smiled at him.

He turned and waved gaily as he flashed her a smile. "Suzanne, was it?" he asked unsurely. She nodded as she smiled again. "Hey, where's the other guy?" he asked. The last time they met, she had been there with Luke.

"Actually I'm here with my Squad today," she told him and nodded at them.

"Oh, hello," Jamie waved.

 "Hi there," Ashley smiled at him. "Greetings aside, do you guys have corndogs?" Ethan asked impatiently.

Jamie nodded proudly as he replied, "The best kind."

"I'll have a latte," Andrew stated boredly as he started using his laptop.

"A latte...," Jamie wrote Andrew's order down on his notepad.

 "I'll have a jumbo sized hamburger and strawberry milkshake!" Suzanne said.

"Sorry Suzanne, we're fresh out of jumbo sized burgers," Jamie told her apologetically.

"Fine then, just the regular size would do," she said after a while. Jamie nodded and jotted down her order .

"I'll like a plate of cookies and a glass of  warm chocolate please," Ashley told Jamie who wrote down her order as well.

Ethan snapped his hands, "I want some corndogs, and a vanilla milkshake!"

"Okay, alright," Jamie nodded and wrote down Ethan's order before slipping his pencil behind his ear.

"Okay guys, I'll be back soon with your orders," he smiled at them and went inside.

"You know him?" Ethan asked Suzanne as they watched Jamie leave.

 She shrugged as she looked Ethan's way. "Kinda, he's an acquaintance."

"So, back to the topic at hand," Ashley said and they all turned to face Andrew who looked up from his laptop.

"Okay," he nodded curtly and went on with what he was saying.

"The party would be better if it's not too lavish so it would be a small event in which we'll invite other Squads and a few adults," Andrew started as he stared at his laptop then he turned the screen to them for viewing.

"I went to check out some small event centers but they kind of cost a lot and we'll also need food, a cake and drinks in the party, so throwing it all away on the rentals of an expensive hall is out of the question. Then I decided it would be better we threw it in an open area, perhaps on a field, and I found just the perfect one," he told them.

They all leaned in to see the field that was displayed on the screen of his laptop.

"Potter's field! What kind of name is that?!" Ethan exploded.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "It's not about the name, Ethan. The field is massive enough for the kind of party we'd want to throw and I'm sure it's gonna be cheap to rent."

"But it says here that the owners of the field have traveled and abandoned it to their sister who doesn't take good care of it and now, most of it is overgrown with weeds," Suzanne said as her eyes scanned the description of the field and the history surrounding it.

Andrew nodded.

"Exactly why it would be cheap to rent. The state of the field isn't really that good and if you look closely you'd see it was designed so that the owner would have a feel of country life, there's a huge lake on the land with a small piece of canoe that needs fixing. Also there's an empty stable there, we could even hire some horses. And the manor on the field is grand and we could do all the food preparations there. There's also a bit of woodland on the field and there're trees with fruits on them as well. There's an apple tree growing in the grove quite nearby," Andrew explained.

"If we really cleaned up everywhere, it'll be a very nice place!" Ashley said in admiration and smiled.

"Man, that's hard work..." Ethan grumbled. "Just think of the amount of cobwebs that'll be inside that old manor house," he went on to say.

"We could check it out, right?" Suzanne asked Andrew.

"I'll find a way to get in touch with the owner; she lives far off and didn't leave a contact number on the page but don't worry, I'll find her," Andrew said in a nonchalant tone.

"Okay," Ashley made out a list.

"For a party we'll need a venue, we'll need decorations, a DJ, lots of food, fun activities, chairs and tables, and some other things," she read out.

"Hey guys, here are your orders," Jamie said as he placed their food down one table in their midst. "Thanks," they all said and paid their bill.

"Hey! That's my aunt Winter's old place," Jamie suddenly said once he glanced at Andrew's laptop screen.

"Really? You know the woman who owns the place?" Suzanne asked readily.

He nodded as he kept an arm on the table, "She's my aunt, my other uncle and aunt gave it to her when they were travelling but she didn't even move in. Pity it's like that, I used to play there a lot when I was much younger."

"So you know how we can contact her?!" Ethan asked him.

"Sure, I--" Jamie was saying but a yell fom behind cut him to an abrupt stop. A sour-faced middle aged man stood at the entrance to the restaurant.

"Jamie! You're not being paid to just stand around, having a discussion with the customers!" he scowled at Jamie then offered a light smile as he turned his gaze to Squad 10. He then turned back abruptly and went back inside the resturant.

"Shoot! I best get back to duty," Jamie said as he turned his attention back to them. "Look I'm not having a shift tomorrow; maybe if you dropped by, we'll talk more on this." He pointed at Andrew's laptop, which still had the display of the field on its screen. He smiled knowingly as he continued, "I'll help you talk to my aunt too, she tends to be cranky at times. Bye!"

He waved and quickly ran up to meet a man that had just arrived. The man was putting on a suit. He sat outside on a table that had a single chair.

Jamie smiled at him and collected his order before rushing inside.

"Well, since Jamie's helping us out, we're sure to get the land for free," Andrew said and took a sip of his latte.

"How can you be so sure?" Ethan asked him in between bites.

Andrew relaxed back on his chair.

"I've researched on Mrs Winter. And I know for a fact that Jamie is her favorite nephew. She won't refuse him anything that he asks," he stated dryly.

"I don't think it's nice of you to conduct a research on people like that without their permission," Ashley said as she looked at Andrew then bit into her cookie.

"I'm not trying to be nice," Andrew stated boredly.

"Since we've gotten a location, then the next thing on the agenda should be the food planning," Andrew went on.

"I think the food depends on the number of guests to be invited," Ashley said.

"Maybe, maybe not," Andrew replied.

"What does that mean?" Ethan asked as he stuffed his mouth full of corndog then he downed it with a gulp of his milkshake.

"Well for starters it means that anyone can unexpectedly show up, so limiting the food to the number of people is not a smart idea," Andrew said and sipped his latte again as he gave Ashley a tired look.

"So what do we do now?" Suzanne asked.

"Well it all depends on the manor really. We'll check it out tomorrow too. I'm thinking we could do something like the guest can walk up to the counter that's linked to the kitchen and order up, so our food supply should be unlimited," Andrew explained.

"But food might get wasted like that," Ashley told him and Ethan nodded in agreement.

"No it won't; whatever remains would be donated to the orphange as a charity," Andrew replied.

Ashley's eyes lit up. "Okay! That's a splendid idea! I'll even bake a cake specially for them!" She said happpily.

"Yeah, sure," Andrew stated in his usual bored tone.

"Okay, what about the DJ?!" Ethan asked excited. "Let me  be the DJ!" he volunteered as he beams enthusiastically.

"Uh...no," Suzanne shook her head in disagreement.

"That's definately a no," Andrew told him.

"Sorry, Ethan, I think you'd be good at other things. I just feel being a DJ is some else's strength," Ashley said with a small smile.

Suzanne giggled while Ethan groaned in disappointment.

"We should meet here by 3:30pm tomorrow, okay?" Ashley said as she looked round her teammates.

"Sure!" Suzanne nodded.

 "Right," Ethan said, still a bit dejected about not being allowed to be a DJ.

"And also--" Andrew was saying when he stopped short and looked up.

Ryan stood some feet away from the table.

"I decided I should hang out with you guys afterall," he said looking down.

"The plans!"  Ashley hissed in a whisper and she and Ethan quickly cleared the papers off the table.

Andrew turned his laptop back to face him and quickly minimized the page they had been looking at.

"Hey Ryan," Suzanne chuckled a bit nervously.

Andrew gave her a look that told her to act normally.

Ryan looked up and when Ashley patted the space beside her invitingly, he went to sit there.

"Sorry for what I said earlier on," he told her.

"It's okay," she patted his back and laughed.

"So," he looked at them, "What were you guys discussing before I came?"

Ethan choked on his drink while Suzanne intertwined both her hands nervously, pinching her fingers one after the other. Ashley turned a bit pale.

Don't they know how to act natural? Andrew wondered and rolled his eyes. He decided to speak up, if not those three were going to let their closely-guarded secret slip out.

"We were talking about the fight with CIN Aiden that's going to happen in a week and five days from today," he said smoothly.

Immediately the atmosphere was put at ease.

"Yeah, that's right," Suzanne said and chomped down the last part of her hamburger that was yet to be eaten.

"Un-un," Ashley nodded and drank up her milk.

Andrew glanced at the time then he stood up. "I'm going home now, Suzanne, you're coming?" he said and raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"Sure!" She grabbed her bag and stood up abruptly.

"Bye guys, bye Ryan!" she waved as she went to stand beside Andrew. "Bye, everyone," Andrew nodded curtly and gave Ethan and Ashley a look that said 'don't mess things up' before walking away, Suzanne in tow.

"Bye!" Ethan yelled as they turned to  leave.

"Goodbye, see you tomorrow," Ashley waved at them.

"Yeah, bye," Ryan stated coolly.

"That was a smooth save," Suzanne told Andrew once they were out of ear shot.

"I know," Andrew smirked and walked on. She hmph-ed at him. Andrew can be so annoying. She thought as she lagged behind, dragging her feet.

He glanced back.

"Walk faster Suzanne or I won't wait for you," he told her.

"You're so annoying," she said as she caught up to him.

"You're a klutz, you're too destructive and quite the airhead, besides," Andrew said and adjusted his bag strap. "An extremely brilliant and handsome person like me would be envied by a lot of people and hence we get called 'annoying' for being perfect."

"Me?! Envious of you?" Suzanne scoffed and looked sternly at him.

"And by the way who said anything about your being handsome?" she went on.

Andrew just rolled his eyes.

Suzanne laughed and stared at him.

He's kind of cute. She thought as shs noticed the way he pushed a lock of his brown hair out of his eyes. His blue eyes looked deeper than seven seas combined together.

He had on a black hoodie and black pants on white sneakers. Then the top he wore inside the hoodie was light green with 'Champion' written in white.

His hands were tucked into his pockets as usual.

His facial expression was that of a bored person.

If he'll only smile a little, he'd be way cuter. Suzanne thought. She had never seen him smile at all. I wonder how his laughter sounds like. She went on to think.

He turned to her.

"Quit staring at me...," he told her once they got to the bus stop and saw a blue bus already there.

"...or someone might think you're in love with me." Andrew added and walked inside the bus.

Suzanne's face turned crimson. "I wasn't staring at you!" she argued as she entered the bus.

"I don't really care whatever you were up to, Suzanne, I'm rather busy," he told her and returned his attention to his laptop which he had opened as soon as he sat down. She took her seat beside him and the bus started moving.

Suzanne glanced at Andrew once again as he worked.

It's kinda weird. Why would I think he's cute? I mean he is but--- wait! what am I saying?!  Suzanne thought incredulously inwardly.

She groaned and buried her face in her palms.

"Stop making those noises," Andrew said boredly.

"Shut up Andrew!" she groaned.

"I'm not the one making silly noises," he scoffed at her. She kept her bag on her lap and rested her head on it.

It's all your fault I'm getting so confused. She thought inwardly to herself as she looked at Andrew and silently scowled at him.

"I saw that," Andrew stated nonchlantly and she groaned again.

They got off the bus when they reached their destination. Andrew walked at a faster pace than she.

He entered his house and slammed the door shut as Suzanne passed by. She brought down the hand she wanted to wave at him. I wanted to say bye, she thought and walked on. Whatever...I'm not going to let it bother me.

She entered her own house.

"Hey loser, how was school?" Shane asked from the sitting room. He was watching an action movie.

"It was fine," she smiled as she answered him. She was a bit tired. She didn't feel like arguing about the 'loser' stuff again.

"Mum and Dad are coming in a bit later today; they are attending an evening function, so sort out your dinner," he told her and returned his gaze back to the television.

"Real nice, Shane," Suzanne rolled her eyes at him and then walked upstairs to her room. He couldn't even cook something for her!  She threw her bag on the carpet and landed on her bed with a heavy thud.

She grabbed her phone and quickly typed a message and sent it.

'Hey Ryan 😄, you home yet? 💓'

She chuckled to herself once she got the notification that Ryan had seen her message though he didn't reply her.

"It's a wonder he hasn't blocked me off yet," she said to herself.

Just then her stomach growled and she quickly jumped off the bed and ran downstairs to the kitchen.