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Catarina Valentine was walking home from a horrible afternoon. She was auditioning for a play but didn’t get the part because the director didn’t like her hair color and didn’t want to put a wig on her either. She was gloomy and felt like a rainstorm was pouring on her head only. She went up to her door and opened it. She walked slowly to the kitchen to get her some tea to make her feel better. She walked up her stairs to her bedroom and saw a rose with a note. She sat her tea down on her nightstand and walked over to the rose. She thought it was nice that she found a rose but didn’t know who gave it to her. She picked up the note and read it.
Hello there Catarina! I heard that you didn’t get the part in the play when you auditioned for it, so tonight we’re going to play a little game! Basically how this goes is that you have to collect seven cards from seven different people you know and they’ll give you a card with a hint of a person. Collect all seven and you’ll see a very special surprise waiting for you! This card does count as a hint, so take it with you!
Hint 1: This dude loves music. He can play any instrument you give him and can write plays and songs. Here’s something else about him: his locker is a keyboard. Find him and he’ll give you your next hint!
“It must be André since he likes music,” Cat said as she took off with the note and rose to André’s grandmother’s house.
As she saw the house, she walked up to the front door and knocked. The door opens and reveals an African American teen, André.
“Hey Little Red! What brings you here,” André asks in a happy tone in his voice.
“I got a note that says to come here,” Cat answers, showing André the note.
He looks at the note and says, “Alright. Congratulations so far. I’ll be right back to give you your next hint.”
He closes the door, runs upstairs to his room, grabs the rose and note, and heads back downstairs. He opens the door and says, “Alrighty Little Red, here’s your hint and a rose.”
Cat grabs the rose and looks at the note.
Congratulations! You have found the second note and guessed right! André loves music and can play any instrument you give him. He also writes plays and songs, and his locker is a keyboard. Here is your next hint!
Hint 2: This girl is known as a pop star. She can light up the world with her beautiful smile. She loves singing and gets the lead in almost every play. Another hint just for fun, her locker says “Make it Shine”. Find her and she’ll give you your next hint!
She looks at it and reads it over and over in her mind. She looks at the black teen and asks, “You can help me, right?”
“Sorry Cat, but I was told not to help you on this. This one is on your own. Have fun on your little adventure,” André replies with a sincere smile. He then closes the door as Cat whispers, “I’m going to Tori’s house. Maybe she knows.”
She walks over to the Vega’s residence and rings the doorbell. Tori answers the door and greets the redhead girl. “Oh, hey Cat. What’s up?”
I got a card that says to come here,” Cat responds, showing the card to the latina. Tori grabs the card and nods. She smiles and says, “Good job, Cat. Give me a minute and I’ll give your next hint.”
Tori gives the card back to Cat and closes the door. She grabs the rose and note from the couch and opens the door. She gives it to Cat.
“Here’s another rose and your hint! I wish I could help you on your adventure, but I can’t. Boss’s orders. Have fun though,” Tori says as she closes her door.
Cat felt disappointed but read the note.
Marvelous job, Ms. Valentine! You have found the third note on this little scavenger hunt! Tori is known as a pop star. She can light up the world with her beautiful smile and she loves singing. She gets the lead in almost every play and her locker says “Make it Shine”. Here’s your next hint!
Hint 3: This friend lives in a recreational vehicle (RV for short). He’s an actor and has a very snarky girlfriend. He’s also a great friend to me and teaches me lots of romantic stuff in case I want to take a pretty lady out for dinner. Find him and he’ll give you your next hint!
“Beck. I’ve been over to his RV before. It has to be him,” she whispers to herself and jumps up and down like a child getting ice cream from the ice cream truck. As soon as she gets there, she sees Beck’s RV still parked in his driveway. She runs over to it and rings the doorbell.
Beck opens his RV door and looks down at the little redhead girl. He greets her with a smile. “Hey Cat. You have the card that leads you to my RV?”
“Yeah, here,” Cat says, handing the card to Beck. He reads over it and nods in agreement with the card. He gives it back to her and grabs the rose and note on his bed. He hands it to her and says, “Here’s another rose for a pretty redhead girl and another hint.”
“I guess you can’t tell me who’s next either, huh,” Cat asks, grabbing the fourth rose and card.
“Nope.”
She pouts and looks at the card.
Four down, three more to go, Cutie! Beck was your next person. This friend lives in a RV. He’s an actor and has a very snarky girlfriend. He’s also a great friend to me and teaches me lots of romantic stuff in case I want to take a pretty lady out for dinner. I’m not lying, he’s a great instructor. Anyways, here’s your next hint!
Hint 4: This friend has a handsome boyfriend living in an RV. She’s a talented friend but hates my guts. She’s your bestest friend and usually one you go to every time you want to hang out with her. Find her and you’ll be almost done!
Cat walks away and says, “Bye Beck! I’m going to find Jade!”
“Okay, have fun,” Beck said, waving back at Cat and going back into his RV.
Cat strolls over to Jade’s house with a beat in her step. She gets to the door and rings the doorbell. Jade opens the door and says, “Cat, you got the note?”
Cat nods and hands it to Jade. She looks at the note and gives it back to Cat. She grabs the rose and note from the table near the door and says, “Here. Take it. That’s your next hint.”
Cat grabs the rose and note from Jade. She reads the note to herself.
You’re almost to the finish line, my love! Only two more people until you get your surprise! You are correct! Jade has a handsome boyfriend living in an RV. She’s a talented friend but hates my guts. She’s your bestest friend and usually one you go to every time you want to hang out with her. Here is your fifth hint!
Hint 5: This “friend” isn’t really a friend to me. In fact, she hates me too just like Jade. I know she’s usually nice to you when she wants to be. She’s always the center of attention and nobody likes her. Find her and she’ll give you your next hint!
“It’s Trina,” Jade mumbles.
Cat groans and asks, “Why’d you say it Jade?”
I couldn’t help it,” Jade replies, looking down as a smile formed on her face. She looks back at Cat and says, “Anyways, have fun. The dude’s really looking forward to it.”
With that, she closes her door. Cat decided to leave and go back to the Vega’s house. Along the way, she started to wonder who this person was and why they were giving her roses and notecards with different hints.
“Who are you, mysterious person,” Cat asks aloud.
She begins wondering who it was. It wasn’t any of the girls because Jade told her it was a dude. That left the four boys in their group: André, Beck, Robbie, and Rex. She started wondering if it could be Sinjin or Burf, but they wouldn’t do some game for her, so she scratched them off in her mental list. That still leaves the four boys. However, she decided to think deeper. Beck was way out of her league and already has a girlfriend. Rex was just flat out mean to her, and she only liked André as a friend. That only leaves her with Robbie. Could it be him or just some other random boy in the back of the class nodding or shrugging?
She shortly arrives at Tori’s house again and knocks on the door. Since Tori was upstairs taking a shower, Trina answered the door.
“Oh, hey Tori’s friend,” Trina greets.
“Hi,” she waves, “I got a card that says to come here for my next hint.”
Trina grabs the note from Cat and says, “Ohhh, so this is why you were over here a few minutes ago.”
Cat nods.
“No wonder cuz I was asking Tori why she randomly had two roses and two notes on the table, and she said that one of the boy’s wanted to do this thing for you because you didn’t get the lead in a play,” Trina explains.
“Yeah, I guess I feel like you now,” Cat states.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you get the lead?”
Cat puffs and replies, “Because the director doesn’t like my hair color.”
“Well, that’s mean.”
“It is. They said that I couldn’t wear a wig either and flat out told me to leave.”
“You know, sometimes they don’t cast people because they’re too pretty, like me.”
“Oh, I thought it was because you were untalented.”
“NO! Anyways, here’s your note and a red rose.”
“Okay, thanks Trina!”
“Bye,” Trina says, shutting the door.
Catarina, you’re almost there. You have collected all the hints. Sure, I could’ve done one for Rex, but I didn’t feel like giving him one since it would’ve been easy. Just swing by my place real quick to grab the last card. Don’t worry, the door’s unlocked and my parents aren’t home. See you soon, my little cupcake!
Cat groans a bit and walks briskly through the neighborhood. Luckily, her and Tori’s houses were just a few houses apart from Robbie’s.
As she gets to Robbie’s Door, she unlocks it slowly and sees Rex on the couch with another rose, a note and possibly Rex’s pearphone. As she looks at the note, it says, “Press play on Rex’s pearphone.”
She decided to do what the note told her and pushed the play button on his pearphone. She heard Rex’s voice through a recording and sat down on the couch next to him.
“Hey ditzy redhead. Since the one that shall be nameless told me not to say his name, I'm going to call him Idiot. So, if you notice, Idiot’s been doing this thing for you because he heard you didn’t get the lead in the play, and it was very dumb of those people saying that chiz to you. After that, he gathered all his friends and did this little scavenger hunt, if you want to call it that, just for you to go to all your friends’ houses and they should’ve given you a card with a hint and a rose. You may take this card if you want, I don’t think it matters, but take it just in case Idiot wants to see them. After you went to everyone’s homes, your final objective is to go back to your place and go straight to your room. No question on that since I can’t answer any. Idiot’s gonna be real nice and say that you can take me to your place if you want. If you don’t, that’s fine. I’ll just wait ‘til Idiot comes back with that stupid smile on his face and tells me everything that happened. You better get going, Red. Idiot’s gonna be ready soon. Rex out.”
It was lucky that Cat brought her pink fluffy purse, so she can stuff the cards inside, and hold Rex and the roses. She dashed out of Robbie’s house, closed the door, and ran over to her house. As she arrived at her house, she opened the door and saw little petals of rose leading to her bedroom. She chuckles and follows the pedals’ path. Once she arrives at her bedroom, she opens the door and drops Rex and the roses on the wooden floor. Rex lands on the ground with a grunt and a small groan. Cat gasps, putting her hands over her mouth in surprise. In her room stood Robbie Shapiro, wearing a blue button-down shirt, some jeans, and black sneakers.
“Hey Kitty,” he greets.
“Hi,” she greets back.
“Did you enjoy the little scavenger hunt I did?”
“Yeah.”
He walks towards her and says, “I’m sorry you didn’t get the lead in that play. That dude doesn’t know what he’s talking about, saying those mean comments about you.”
“It’s okay.”
“You ready for the surprise, Cutie?”
“Yeah, what is it?”
He gets down on one knee and pulls out a red velvet box. He opens it, revealing a ring with a cupcake on it. She gasps as tears poured out of her eyes.
“Catarina, you know I love you a lot and I’m always thinking about you every day. Your smiles brighten my day, your chocolate brown eyes are so hypnotic that I can’t look away from them, and your gorgeous red hair makes you look cute,” he stops and sees her big smile plastered on her face.
‘Now, here comes the part that I’m afraid of. Will she eject me? If she does, that’s fine. I can live with the pain for as long as I live. Do it, Robbie.’ He thought.
He took a deep breath and called her name, “Cat.”
“Yeah,” she asks.
“Do you want to be my girlfriend,” he asked in a rush, hoping Cat heard everything.
She gasps quietly and says, “Yes!”
He gets up and holds her hands asking, “You really do?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks baby. That means a lot,” he said, stroking her cheeks.
She then grabs his face and leans it toward her as she plants her lips on his. He felt stunned and decided to kiss back so she didn’t have to ask him to kiss her again. She pulls away and says, “I love you Robbie.”
“I love you more, Catarina.”
As he looks at her hand, he grabs the box, pulls the ring out, and slides the ring on her left ring finger. She looks at it and says, “ It’s a cupcake!”
“Red velvet with pink frosting and a little cherry on top,” he says with a smile.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, looking at the ring.
“I’m glad you like it! I had to go ring shopping with Beck and André to five different stores until I found the one special ring just for a pretty lady like you.”
He touches her nose, making Cat giggle her signature laugh.
“Did you enjoy the surprise, Cat?”
“Yeah, it was very sweet Robbie.”
“Well, what if I told you that I got another surprise for you?”
“You got me another surprise?”
“Yeah Cutie. Close your eyes.”
Cat covers her eyes with her hands while Robbie puts the ring box on her dresser and grabs a bouquet of lilies. He goes in front of her and says, “Open your eyes, my little Kitty Cat.”
Cat uncovers her eyes and gasps as she backs away.
“Robbie,” she says, astonished, “You must have a lot of money.”
“The better to spoil my favorite little redhead with gifts.”
Cat took the lilies and said, “I’m going to put them in a vase.”
“What about the roses?”
“Oh yeah, can you pick them up?”
“Sure.”
As Cat leaves her bedroom, Robbie bends down and picks up Rex first.
“Man, that girl broke my ribs,” Rex cries.
“She did not. You’re fine,” Robbie said, brushing Rex’s clothes.
“Can I change?”
“No, you’ll be fine,” Robbie said, picking up the roses Cat dropped.
He soon went downstairs to Cat’s kitchen where she was at. She was finished, putting the lilies on the kitchen table. She glances over and sees Robbie and Rex, who are leaning against the small cabinet at the kitchen counter.
“Here are some pretty roses for a gorgeous redhead lady,” Robbie said, handing the roses to Cat.
She took the roses and filled a vase with water. Once filled, she put the roses in the vase and decided to put it on the kitchen counter.
“Thanks for the game, Robbie. It made me feel better,” she said, grabbing his hands.
“Thanks for playing along. Glad I made you perk up,” Robbie replies. He looks down and nervously asks, “A-Are my hands s-sweaty?”
She giggles and says, “Yeah, but they’re fine.”
She uses one of her hands and crawls with her index and middle finger while saying, “How about you and I go somewhere a little more private?”
“Sure, my little cupcake,” he said as she walked beside him. He grabbed her hand and walked upstairs to her bedroom.
The two teens talked a bit until the little redhead girl felt sleepy. She wraps her arms around Robbie, lays her head on his shoulder and closes her chocolate brown orbs shut. He glimpses down and sees that she was asleep.
“Kitten’s already sleepy? It’s only nine,” he said quietly.
He didn’t get a response from the sleeping redhead. He kissed her on her forehead and then saw a message on his pearphone.
Beck: Hey Rob. Hope everything went well with u and Cat. Anyways, wanna do movie night with André and I at Tori’s? Tori & Trina have to go somewhere and won’t be back ‘til midnight. U in?
‘Movie night with the boys? Sounds awesome! Wonder what movie we’re watching?’ Robbie thought.
Robbie: Everything went as planned. Thanks for pitching in! I can always count on u! Also, I will join u guys for movie night. See u in 10.
A few minutes later, Beck replied to Robbie’s message.
Beck: Great! Tell André and I the deats while we’re watching the movie.
Robbie: Will do :)
As he put his phone on Cat’s nightstand, he realized that Cat was sleeping on his shoulder. He didn’t want to wake his sleeping beauty, so he carefully unwrapped her arms, moved her head from his shoulder, and placed her on her bed without waking her up. Since he didn’t want her to wake up and wonder where he went, he decided to grab her favorite stuffed giraffe animal, Mr. Purple. She’s been carrying him around recently for no reason, but it’s cute to her. He went over to her bed and put the stuffed giraffe near her chest and wrapped her arms lightly, making sure not to wake her.
He walked quietly out of her room and wrote on a piece of paper where he was going for the night and would see her tomorrow. He walked upstairs quietly and placed the note near her alarm clock.
“Good night, Kitty Cat,” he softly says.
He shuts off her light and closes the door softly. He quietly runs down the stairs, walking over to the kitchen to grab Rex, and heads out of the Valentine’s residence.
A few miles later, Robbie knocked on Tori’s door.
“That must be Rob,” André stated as he switched the channel to a football game.
Beck walked up to the door and opened it.
“Hey man, come in,” Beck said, motioning Robbie and Rex inside.
Robbie comes in as Beck shuts the door. He sees chips in a bowl and cups filled with drinks and asks, “Oooh! Are we having a boys’ only party?”
“More like guys having guy time. It’s not really a party,” Beck said, sitting between Robbie and André.
“So, what movie are we watching,” Robbie asks, grabbing a chip from the bowl.
“Well, André found a football game on TV and decided to watch it. Is that cool with you? I know you don’t watch or play sports.”
“I’m fine with it. Which team are we cheering for?”
“Los Angeles,” André replies.
“Cool.”
“What’s the score at, man,” Rex asks.
“Uh, 2-2,” André replies.
“Awe, they’re tied. LA better win.”
“Anyways, how’d it go with Cat, Robbie,” Beck asks their nerdy friend.
“It went exactly as planned. She followed the clues and ended up at her house again,” Robbie explains.
“Did you propose to her,” André asks, eating a chip from the bowl.
“Yeah. It took a few seconds for me to get the word out of my mouth, but I finally asked her.”
“What’d she say?”
“Yes! Now, we’re officially boyfriend and girlfriend,” Robbie answered, leaning back on Tori’s red couch.
“Congrats man,” Beck said, patting Robbie on his shoulder.
“Yeah, great job,” André congratulated Robbie.
“Thanks guys,” Robbie said, thanking the other guys.
“Oh yeah, my man finally got the confidence to finally ask her. What took ya so long, doof bag,” Rex asks.
“I-I was nervous that she’ll reject me,” Robbie replies, brushing his hand through his curly locks.
“Hey mean, it’s cool,” André said.
“See, this is how guys always feel when they’re asking their dream girl out. They get all nervous and hope that the girl doesn’t reject him. If the girl rejects the guy, then the guy usually feels stupid for asking and walks away to live with the constant pain of getting rejected by every girl in the world,” Beck explains.
“Yeah, I know,” Robbie says. He then remembers something that Beck betted on this afternoon and says, “Well André, looks like it’s your turn.”
André looks surprised at Robbie and asks, “My turn for what?”
“You remember how Beck betted this afternoon that if I get Cat to be my girlfriend, you have to take Tori out on a date.”
“Oh yeah, I did bet that,” Beck said, remembering what he said this afternoon to the other guys.
“Oh yeah. What about it,” André asked, getting his drink from the table.
“You have to ask Tori out for dinner soon and it has to be just the two of you. That means Beck and I can’t bring Jade or Cat. You’re on your own pal,” Robbie replies to the black male.
“And don’t say that you don’t have feelings for her because you two hang out a lot. Almost every day, you sit next to her in either class or lunch,” Beck adds.
“Yeah, but what if she doesn’t like me back,” André said with a sincere voice.
“ANDRÉ,” shouts Beck.
“What did we just say,” Robbie spoke loudly as he got up from his seat.
“Look dude, don’t fight it. Just do it tomorrow evening and get it over with,” Rex stated in his Urban American accent.
“How bad can it be? I did it a few years ago, and Robbie did his tonight with his little game,” Beck said.
“But you can’t copy my little game. You have to come up with your own if you’re doing a game,” Robbie said, sitting down on the couch next to the Canadian.
“I won’t be needing the games. I’ll just probably ask her out,” André responds.
“Okay,” said Robbie.
“Suit yourself,” replies Beck.
Thirty minutes later, the boys were just watching the football game in silence. Robbie broke the silence by asking, “So, Tori was cool on us coming over and having our boys night out?”
“Yeah, she gave me the keys and said not to reck the place,” André answers.
“Nice. We have the whole house to ourselves.”
“Dude, you know that since you came. Shut up and just watch the game,” Rex stated. Making Robbie pout as he continues watching the game in silence.
After the game was over, Vancouver won, which rallied up the boys as they yelled at the TV.
“Man. stupid Vancouver people,” Rex complained.
“They need to eat a rag,” Beck mumbled, but loud enough for the other boys to hear.
The other chuckled as Beck said, “What, it’s true.”
“We know dude. We were just laughing at what you said,” André said.
“Alright, I think that does it for today. Let’s vamoose,” Robbie says, standing up from Tori’s red couch.
“Man, no one says vamoose anymore. Everyone says, ‘ Let’s roll’ nowadays,” Rex blurted out.
“Alright. Let’s roll.”
André and Beck follow Robbie to the door as André puts the keys under the mat.
“Alright, so André’s gonna ask Tori out tomorrow, correct,” Beck asks.
“Yeah. I can do it, or I could just stay single for the rest of my life,” André joked at his friends.
“Come on, you can do it.”
“Yeah, and if you do get rejected, that’s perfectly fine. I’ve been rejected my whole life until Cat, who gracefully accepted me,” Robbie says with a smile.
“You look like you’ve been rejected since birth,” Rex snapped at his guardian.
Beck and André laughed as they got in André’s car.
“Welp, see ya Rob,” Beck said, waving at the geek.
“Bye Rob,” André said, also waving.
“Bye guys,” Robbie said, walking to his car.
André and Beck left Tori’s house as Robbie got in his car and drove off to his house.
The next morning in the Valentine’s house, Cat woke up on her bed with Mr. Purple in her arms. She looked around her room, confused and called out, “Robbie?”
She then looked on her nightstand to find a note. She grabs it and looks at it.
Good morning cupcake! Sorry for not staying so long. Beck and André wanted me to go over to Tori’s house and have a movie night with the boys. Tori and Trina weren’t there and had to do something. Thanks for playing my game and may all your wishes come true! I love you with all my heart and hope you have a fantastic day!
~Robbie <3
Cat smiled at the note and put it back on her nightstand. She looked at her clock as it flashed 9:45am. She decides to lay down on her bed with Mr. Purple in her arms.
“Heh, I like his little game, Mr. Purple. It was cute and funny like a little scavenger hunt,” Cat spoke to the stuffed animal.
The stuffed animal stared back at her as she understood what he just said.
“Yeah, I think he could do another one,” she pauses and gets an idea, “Or maybe I could do one for him! What do you think?”
The stuffed giraffe continued to stare at her, understanding what he said.
“Yeah, but I don’t want to go all out like he did, even though it was sweet of him to get all our friends involved. I would probably just do it around my house. Maybe instead of roses, I could probably use ribbons or buttons or stickers! The possibilities are endless!”
She then thinks of something and asks, “What if I used my stuffed animals? What do you think, Mr. Purple?”
The violet giraffe didn’t say a word as he continued to stare at Cat.
“Yeah, I could probably do one for each room. It could start at my door, and end in my room, but I have to be sneaky and not get caught by him. He can be really smart. Maybe under my bed?”
Cat made the giraffe nod his long neck and Cat squealed with excitement.
“Yay!!! Thanks Mr. Purple!!!”