Cheaters Always Win (Callie)

[Calliope Gallo]

His pouting face, when used seriously, was enough to break poor Calliope's heart. She really did feel bad for him. So what if he sort of maybe kinda brought it on himself? It was totally unfair that he wasn't allowed to go and she hated that. The corners of her mouth tugged down into a frown at his expression, and the silence that had gone along with it.

But her eyes lit up when he said that it was okay. "I won't, I promise." It probably would get dirty. It was the woods, but she wouldn't point that out to him.

"Well, we're at the finish line. So let's say we race back to the start?" She asked, unable to stop herself from smiling. He was just so adorable when he panicked about his hair and couldn't stop playing around with it. "Your hair looks beautiful, Joshie. Really!"

[Joshua Ortega]

Josh didn’t particularly enjoy seeing his friends, especially Callie upset, but he couldn’t help but take solace as he witnessed just how upset Callie was by his inability to accompany her on the retreat.He didn’t let his selfish comfort be known, and was more than pleased to be the cause of the joyous expression on her face. He knew Callie would take care of his hat, and it was nice to know she’d be thinking of him while she was away.

“Ok, yeah. Sounds good.” He agreed, slightly sidetracked by his hair. That is until Callie mentioned how beautiful his hair was. Compliments were like candy to Josh, he loved them and always put a smile on his face. Letting his hair alone, he’d still grab another hat after the race, Josh began the countdown for their race to begin. “Alright, ready Callie, We’ll go on three. One... two...” And Josh was took off on two. Technically he pinky swore not to teleport, taking a head start was perfectly fine right?

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie nodded once when he agreed to her plan. The race was on! Well, it would have been on sooner if it weren't for Josh's hair. That's why she mentioned that it looked fine. Beautiful, even. She knew that he was a little particular about it, and she also knew that a simple compliment was something he'd always take to heart. It would sooth his worries, at least until he found something else to worry about. That happened often too.

She got into position and waited. She was completely on edge, and he was counting down. Her anticipation was growing by the moment and suddenly-

"That's totally cheating!" Calliope called out as she bolted off after him. That was more obviously cheating than teleporting! And here he was saying that he wasn't a cheater, because he knew that teleporting wasn't cheating. But he was obviously cheating! She pushed off the ground as hard as she could to try and catch his one -second head start.

[Joshua Ortega]

Laughing as he heard Callie holler at him about cheating, Josh trucked toward the finish line. He was determined to win this time and was confident that his small head start would give him the edge he needed to win.... again. Unfortunately for him, Josh was a much better swimmer and teleporter than he was a distance runner.

Josh wasn’t laughing once he was behind Callie once again, and this time he couldn’t solve this problem by beaming in front of her, he had pinky promised.He gritted his teeth as he followed close behind his bestie, he knew before it happened that Callie was crossing that finish line first. Maybe Josh would be a good sport about losing,, although that was very unlikely.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie would never challenge Josh to something like swimming, because he was actually really good at that. Despite the head start she had steadily caught up to him and eventually passed him. She was grinning from ear to ear when she went by, turning to look at him for a second or two and showing him her triumphant face. His hat was staying fastened to her head.

She crossed the makeshift finish line first and instantly turned in a heel and stood in his path with her arms open. Running hug? Or hardcore tackle?