Chapter 4

"Here!" Ashley closed her eyes and smiled as she handed over an ice cream cone to Ryan.

He looked at the vanilla flavored ice cream she held out for him to collect.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

Ashley was one human being that confused him so much.

She opened her eyes and blinked, "It's yours!"

"Why?" Ryan questioned her, annoyed. They came to the park to solve a case not to bask in the warmth of the sunshine.

"Cos I got it for you, silly!" She laughed.

"You wasted your money," he snorted coldly and looked the other way.

Ethan folded his pants up to his knees and plunged into the frosty fountain water.

He folded up his blue shirt sleeves and crouched to pick the pennies that had been thrown into the water.

Andrew was already using a device to track footprints beside the berry bush.

Suzanne stood beside him, peering at the device curiously.

"Ryan, I discovered the reason why you're not nice! It's because you're not surrounded by nice things, so here....we'll start from this! The number one favorite nice thing in the world! Ice cream!" Ashley smiled excitedly as she extended the cone again.

Ryan got up from the bench he was sitting on and walked towards where Andrew had squatted, running some tests.

Suzanne sighed.

It was truly a beautiful day; the sky was blue, the birds were singing, lots of kids were running around, owners with their pets, a man was reading a newspaper nearby and smoking a pipe.

The huge fountain was standing gloriously in the middle of the park, shimmering in the sunshine. The black berries were ripe and delicious-looking, ready to be eaten. They weighed the shrubs that held them down.

Suzanne sighed again as she stared at Ryan. His face was partly red, out of annoyance, as he tried to concentrate on what Andrew was saying.

He bent to Andrew's height and a lock of his dark blue hair fell partly to his face. He pushed it back with his left hand and pointed at a device Andrew was holding. His eyelashes seemed longer and Suzanne was so attentively focused on him that she noticed it every time he blinked. His pinkish lip curved upwards slightly when Ashley showed him the cone again and said something to him.

He looked so perfect.

His sturdy hand grabbed the cone and flung it in another direction before he turned back to Andrew.

Ashley pursued the flying ice cream cone in horror. As it landed in the bushes, she bent to look for it.

Ryan snorted as he glanced at Ashley. Very briefly his eyes flickered to where Suzanne sat. She sat up quickly and looked at him eagerly but he just rolled his eyes and looked away, returning his gaze back to what Andrew was doing.

If only he'll notice me. She sighed.

"Hey Suzanne!" Ethan cheerfully called as he got out of the fountain.

She threw him a bad look.

"Stop interfering with my moment, Ethan," she told him and turned back to look at Ryan again. Ethan came to stand in front of her, obstructing her view of Ryan. He was oblivious to what was going on.

"Huh?" he scratched his hair.

"Get out of the way, Ethan!" Suzanne yelled at him, trying to push him away.

 "See! I found lot's of coins!" he said instead, showing her all the coins stuffed in his blue handkerchief.

Suzanne stood up angrily and shoved him aside rather roughly.

"Out of the way!" she barked.

He fell to the grass and all his new found coins spilled everywhere.

"No!" he cried and quickly bent to retrieve them. Suzanne skipped to where Ryan and Andrew were.

"Hey look! Free floor coins!" a small boy exclaimed and soon five of his friends came running up to gather the coins.

"Hey! Get away! They're mine!" Ethan shooed them away in vain.

The stubborn boys all bent to gather the coins, paying no heed to the desperate Ethan as he scampered about on the grass, in his bid to retrieve the coins.

"Go on! Shoo!" Ethan snarled at them. "Finder's keeper!" The little boy cheekily stuck out his tongue at Ethan as his friends continued gathering the scattered coins.

Ethan, furious than ever, increased his speed in gathering the coins also.

Andrew straightened up and looked at his Squad mates.

Only Ryan was paying attention to what they were supposed to be doing. Ashley was talking to a girl who was standing by the ice cream stand.

Suzanne was gathering red roses that grew nearby, no doubt for Ryan.

Andrew rolled his eyes and looked around for Ethan. He face palmed himself when he sighted him.

Ethan was furiously playing rock, paper, scissors with a third grader.

In their center was a bunch of coins that the winner would get.

The third grader's friends cheered him on.

Anyway I've found out what I needed to know. Andrew thought as he turned to Ryan.

"You guys should finish up here. I'm going to run some tests and find out about some things," he told Ryan and packed up his things.

Ryan looked away, a bit annoyed.

He didn't want to be stuck with Ethan, Suzanne and Ashley.

"You should have a leader-like character, Ryan," Andrew said as he started walking away. He stopped but didn't look back. "Don't act so obnoxious. You aren't any better than they are," Andrew added in his usual bored tone and left.

Ryan clenched his teeth, seriously annoyed.

What's that supposed to mean?

He questioned inwardly at Andrew's departing figure.

"Ha! I win!" Ethan's joyous yell attracted stares in his direction. Ryan looked at him wryly.

Suzanne came to stand behind Ryan, her face was a little red as she blushed.

"Um...hey, Ryan, I got this for you," she showed him the roses she had managed to arrange into a neat bunch.

He faced her with a sneer.

"You're dumb....really dumb," he snorted.

He walked over to where Ashley was and yanked her away as she hurriedly said her goodbyes.

Ethan came up to meet them, happily shaking his bag of coins.

"Hey guys," he said as soon as he got to them.

Suzanne huffed and looked away.

She had been rejected again by Ryan.

Ashley kept her hands on her hips and looked around the small circle of their Squad members. "Where's Andrew?" she asked.

Ryan looked at them coldly. "Listen up, you all," he started but was quickly interrupted by Ethan.

"Who made you the leader, parrot mouth?!" Ethan demanded hotly.

Ryan crossed his arms and looked  around, "Do you see anyone else better qualified than I?"

Ethan glared at him.

"I'm standing right here!" Ethan snapped.

"Where's Andrew?" Ashley questioned, worriedly again.

"Quiet Ethan, I think Ryan's a capable leader," Suzanne said loyally.

Ryan scoffed at her, "Like I care what you think," he spat.

"Andrew left me  in charge, so you do what I say," Ryan said in a stern voice.

"As if I'd ever follow a loser like you!" Ethan jeered. "Who even made Andrew the leader?" he questioned further as he looked round the others.

"Where's Andrew?!" Ashley's tone was slightly higher than usual.

"Geez, shut up, Ethan," Suzanne glared at him.

"C'mon Suzanne...I didn't say anything wrong, you know," Ethan gave her a hard look. She glared at him in return.

"Where's Andr--" Ashley started asking but Ryan interrupted her, irritated.

"He left already!" he snapped at her impatiently.

"Oh," was all she said.

"Left? What's that supposed to mean?!" Ethan demanded a bit harshly. Ryan got annoyed and started walking away.

"Hey!" Ethan called. "Where'd you think you're  going?!"

"Away from you all," Ryan replied without turning back.

"Ryan!" Suzanne called but he ignored her as well and left.

"Aww geez," Ashley sighed as she turned to Ethan. "What now?!" Ethan asked, still fuming, "Now thanks to Ryan and Andrew we're gonna mess up our first ever mission!"

Suzanne frowned and looked away.

"Okay, I'll try to catch up with Ryan, you both try to find Andrew and we'll meet here in an hour's time," Ashley said.

"Not a bad idea, but why don't I go after Ryan?" Suzanne asked with googly eyes.

Ashley closed her eyes and smiled.

"I'm guessing he'll be irritated the more with you around."

Suzanne's eyes widened. Ashley's words pierced through her heart deeply.

"Hey!" she said crossly.

Ashley laughed apologetically again. "Sorry, I was just saying what I observed."

"Okay, let's get going Suzanne," Ethan intervened as he started pulling Suzanne in a direction. A cold sweat dropped from his forehead.

Suzanne glared at Ashley murderously but Ashley just waved 'bye' with a simple smile.

That look Suzanne has on is very dangerous, she could punch the poor kid into next week...

Ethan chuckled nervously at the thought.

"C'mon Suzanne," He increased his pace. The faster they moved away from Ashley, the better for all concerned.

"Did you hear what she said?!"  Suzanne hissed at him as he led her away.

"Don't jump into conclusions like that. She probably didn't mean it like that," Ethan said.

Suzanne yanked her hand away from his own.

"She plainly said I was an irritation to Ryan!" she said to Ethan in a angry tone.

Ethan scratched his hair, unsure of what to say. "Well...., she's kinda right, you know," he said after a while.

Suzanne who was smoothening her hair turned to face him sharply.

"Say what now?!"

A heavy punch was landed on his stomach. It sent him sprawling into the dirt on the grass.

"Oof....," Ethan sputtered as he landed on the ground.

"Hmph," Suzanne snorted and started marching away.

"Suzanne....wait up," Ethan wobbled to his feet and tried to catch up to her. She glared at him when he came too close to the path she was walking on.

He still clutched his stomach as he dragged on painfully after her.