Page 46 of The Magical Tea Shop

She squinted through the helmet’s opening. This made it harder. Safer sure, but she’d lost a good portion of her peripheral vision, making hiding an even more appealing plan.

“This’ll be more fun with a goal.” A now-helmeted Jaxon waved an orange flag. “So instead of just Last Man Standing, today’s game is Capture the Flag with weapons. What do you say?”

He had such a way with these boys. More shouting and jumping by the boys commenced, followed by eye-rolling and a loud sigh from Alden’s sister Rebecca. After a pointed look from Jaxon, she reluctantly slipped on her helmet.

Jaxon strode to a rise near a copse of trees and planted the flag in the round.

His voice rang out. “Team Alden, choose your base.” Jaxon motioned to two other sections of trees, and Alden took off running with his teammates. Ivy followed, while Jaxon’s team dashed for their base. Jaxon raised his voice to be heard by all. “Whichever team successfully grabs the flag and gets it back to their base without getting hit by a paintball is the winner. Oh, and no shooting players on their base. Okay. Game startsnow.”

Alden’s team clustered round to make a plan. A plan which involved Ivy to a higher degree than she was comfortable with.

They would split into three groups. Alden really was quite the strategist. Group one would head directly for the flag. Group two would swing left, while group three swung right.

She and Alden were to slip off together to hide behind the shrubs closest to the flag. Hiding was good, but she had a sneaking suspicion she was expected to be the flag snatcher.

“You should carry the flag, Alden, you’re team captain. I’ll stand out too much as a girl.”

He nodded. “All right.”

Ivy squinted across the field to see what Ronnie’s team was up to. They had completely disappeared from view.

Bad, very bad. She scanned the area. Where could they have gone?

Wait. Ivy spotted Rebecca.

Splat.

“Ugh,” shouted Rebecca. She whipped off her helmet and threw it on the ground, where it bounced a couple of times. “Look at me!” With both hands, she pointed at the big red splat on her white sweatshirt. “I knew this would suck.” She stomped off, kicking the helmet just as another splat hit the boy who’d shot Rebecca.

“Wait, Becca, wait up. I’ll keep you company.” Scooping up her helmet, the boy chased after her, sounding not at all bummed to hang out with the buxom Becca.

Ivy glanced behind her.Where was the shooter?Then, she spied him. A member of Ronnie’s team was tucked high up in the Y of a tree, concealed by leaves. Ah, so they had a sniper. Clever. She wished she’d thought of it. No doubt Jaxon was responsible for that bit of brilliance.

They’d need to up their game. Ivy slipped down the hill and away, sneaking and keeping her head low to stay out of sight. Her goal was to stay “alive” as long as possible. She wasn’t really into shooting any of the boys. Nope, she was gunning for Jaxon. Hitting Jaxon in the ass had become her number one goal. Alden was sneaking alongside. “Where are you going?” he whispered.

“To take out Jaxon.”

“We need to get the flag.”

“But Jaxon’s giving Ronnie great ideas. I bet he thought up that sniper-in-the-tree bit.”

“Sure, but they should’ve synchronized their attacks. Now we’re scanning the trees. See, right there.” He pointed up to another boy stretched out horizontally, high up in a white oak about eight feet away. Alden motioned to her to crawl through the shrubs. “With me.” When she nodded, they belly-crept along the ground until they were just below the tree. The boy had taken aim at a camo-clad member of Team Alden dashing through the clearing.

In hushed tones so soft Ivy had to strain to hear, Alden said, “Ready. Aim. Fire.”

Ivy and Alden fired in quick succession. The tree-bound sniper avoided Ivy’s attempt, but in doing so, swung right into the paintball fired by Alden. “Yes!” Alden gave a fist pump. “See, we make a great team.”

Ivy grinned. The sniper swung down, gave a sheepish wave at Alden, and sprinted off to seek out Rebecca. Hanging with Alden’s sister was serving as a consolation prize for everyone out of the game.

Ivy glimpsed Jaxon running low, head down, toward a group of boys to give instructions. This was her chance. If she could just…

Alden’s grip on her arm stopped her. He shook his head. “Don’t give away our position. There’s too many of them.”

He was right. Getting Jaxon would be fun, but it would sacrifice them, and Alden deserved to play until the end. Ivy decided in that moment to make sure Alden remained the last man standing. She was covered in brambles now, and uncomfortable, but it was a small price to pay to give Alden a memorable birthday.

She listened to Jaxon giving orders.

“Okay, Antony, you and Edgar, you’re on flag duty. Not to grab but to guard. Rex, you and Preston will keep the snipers safe. We don’t want to lose any more snipers. Cody and Nathan, you two stick to the sidelines and pick off whoever you can.”

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