Chatter fills through the hallways at SeaCrest High, just moments before the tardy bell rings. 

“Oh no I’m going to be late!” Carmen Penn instantly jumps out of her bed as she realizes just after pressing her snooze button for the 10th time. Quickly, Carmen investigates her dirty floor looking for something clean to wear. “Nope- nu uh- Ew! Grotty! Ah hah!” Shuffling through her dirty laundry, finally atlas, after doing the sniff test, which was unbearable to describe in context, Carmen finds her favorite white pleated tennis skirt. Barely fresh but didn’t stench of anything, not yet at least, but wasn’t there something wrong with the skirt? 

“Dear, your skirt is… blah… blah..blah.. You need to…” Vaguely remembering something her aunt was saying to her weeks ago, but Carmen even if it was just yesterday, she isn’t the type to pay attention for at least 5 mins, all her life she's had her head up in the clouds. Always dreaming of her escape from SeaCrest, searching for adventure and mysteries, either way this got her in trouble for not paying attention or causing chaos on her little “adventures.” 

Before Carmen knew it, it was 7:30, and she was already late, despite her love of ditching school she couldn’t today, for today her teacher was assigning their final project, she couldn’t miss any more days or else summer school might just have a new admission. Suddenly she rushes down the stairs to find no one is vacant, noticing a note on the fridge left by her aunt “be back soon!” In truth this would last for days to weeks, out on a business trip or another vacation without saying a single word to Carmen, as if she was a snake slithering away from her eggs, never to return. Glancing at her aunt’s messy kitchen, which appears it hasn’t been cleaned in over a decade, growing darker and darker every day, she steps into her black Converse, loosely tying each shoe, starting from left then to her right. Walking towards the door grasping onto the door handle. Slowly hesitating with the palm of her hand but assuring herself, she confidently turns the nozzle and walks out of her 2 narrow beach-front home. 

On the other side of town a small highschool is located along the coast of Maryland, Seacrest High, which seals the deal for the small knit community around sandy shores. The bell rings for everyone to scurry onto class. Where the setting takes place in the homeroom, history class with Mr. Brown. Regularly, Carmen won’t attend class, but for another student, he certainly shows up every single consecutive day to school for about his whole high school career, a tryhard Carmen despises. 

“Hey Leo! How's it going?” A student shouts out in the hallway while waving around his right hand to signal Leo from the crowd. 

“It’s going good man, how about you?” Arrogantly, Leo not actually having contempt for that character because of course, he knew the next 10 people will repeat those same exact words.

Leo Paine, a boy who wouldn’t take no for an answer and always tried hard in every single subject of life, perfect 4.0, popular, tri-athlete, fluent in 3 languages, rich and “handsome,”  and even has a sunny golden retriever for a pet, what else could he have? Absolutely nothing, he was perfect in any way imaginable, no one could compete or ever complete him, because Leo didn’t need anybody, just like Carmen. But not quite surprisingly, Carmen’s heart was filled with every inch of hatred for this boy. In her eyes, he was a mere arrogant deer who would run away at the sight of anything that would ruin his reputation or get him into trouble. Even a single word that comes out of his mouth frowns with her hands fist up in a ball, ready to jump on him and knock him out faster than a lighting bolt. Just the thought of him makes her shiver. 

Finally after 7:45, Carmen crawls into the homeroom through the door which is located in the back of the classroom, so little to no one would notice. Steadily sitting in the back of the classroom, where a lone desk sits beside the window. But Carmen had Mr.Brown as a teacher, senses of a hawk catching its prey.

“Good morning Ms.Pherry, fancy seeing you here today!” Mr. Brown abrupts his own lesson as everybody turns around to see Carmen crouching by her desk.

“Oh that's so surprising for you to say that! Why would I miss this wonderful class Mr.Brown?” Carmen steadily stands up while her stomach drops low, filled with surprise.

“You’ve already disrupted the class this much Carmen, now go sit down and try to catch up for the past week you’ve been absent.” Mr. Brown continues on with his lesson plan as Carmen shoots back into her seat with her face red with embarrassment. 

“Now, since we are all here now I will be announcing our major project, with assigned partners.” Everybody groans yet is intrigued by who their assigned partner will be. Mr. Brown continues on lecturing the class “now this is your final major project grade, which will be 8% of your overall grade in this class, so don’t mess this up, now here are your partners..” He continues listing out names until he gets to the very last pair of students.

“The last pair will be Carmen and Leo, now please go to your seats and stay silent until further instructions.” Carmen was in shock, why has God been punishing her! She was utterly disgusted, but in her defeat she quickly realized how easily of an A she’ll ever get in her life because of this outcome. 

“Oh great I got her? The nobody..” Leo sighed as his table laughed.

“Good luck with that!” A girl giggles as she tries to caress her head onto Leo’s shoulder, but he promptly rejected her advances, which embarrasses the girl so much moments later she asks to be excused to the restroom. 

Out of defeat they both sit down together at the table they will be sharing, both distant and barely making any form of eye contact, complete aliens from another. 1 tall, olive toned skin, muscles, paired with a black compression shirt and jeans, all around american sitting right next to a short, loner, tennis loving skirt paired with a baggy sweatshirt so only a portion of the skirt is seen, close-to-dropout girl. 

“Now does everybody have a partner?” Mr. Brown signaling the whole classroom from side conversations. 

“Yes Mr Brown.” The class responds. 

“Alright, now our project will be something more narrow, you all will research or find something historical here at SeaCrest High, you have about a week and I aspect all A’s from this project.” The class groaned some more at the thought of work, especially for Carmen, she hated classwork but maybe Leo will do all the work she thought. 

As the class splits off into their own group work, Carmen sits there in silence as Leo rambles on about how the project is going to go down.

“Alright so I think our biggest bet is to do something that Mr. Brown likes this school, especially athletics, so we can probably research about our amazing football team, so we can get the highest grade possible for this class, sounds good? I’m going to take your silence as a yes-” As Leo continues to ramble on about his"amazing "" and""awesome " plan he was creating, something set Carmen off.

“That's great and all but really, really, aren’t you tired of playing it safe? All you do is sports and everything popular, but c'mon try something adventurous for once!” Carmen jumps out of her chair and slams her hands onto the desk.

“Well what I do works! I don’t need one of your chaotic ‘adventures,’ you're so wild and unprofessional it's annoying, how about trying to be normal for once, instead of creating problems for our town? No wonder you're the school outcast.” Before Leo realized what came out of his mouth, it was too late, it had been at least a year since Carmen shed a tear. By now half of the class around them was listening, not stirring up more attention Carmen asked to be excused to the restroom as well. For once Leo saw something in Carmen’s eyes, noticing his one weakness, heartbreak.

As Carmen walks out of the bathroom she looks to her right to notice Leo standing there looking at her. “Look, I’m sorry, truly, I’m not really good at these things, I just need you to know I’m sorry”

“Wow, a great apology award goes to mr. nice guy” Carmen leans on the wall looking right at him.

“I said I was sorry, I meant it.”

“I know, I’m kidding, well I guess I’m sorry too for shooting your idea down, it will honestly get us the highest grade, honest”

“Nah your right, I don’t take any risks, which is doomed to bite me someday, I just want to be the best without facing any backlash, but this time, I’m ready. I’m willing to take a risk and let you, yes you, take the lead and plan our project.” Leo explains, shocking Carmen herself.

“Are you kidding me? I know nothing about this project! I don’t even care about this school or town, do you want us to fail!”

“I know it won’t, I can count on that, because you love adventure and this school is full of mysteries, I can count on it.” Leo smirks despite his sunken stomach feeling that his GPA might be sacrificed because of this girl. 

Later that day Carmen and Leo decided to go to the local library to discuss their plans. Leo searched throughout the library of Seacrest’s history, while Carmen sat at the table and slowly snoozed off as she was “brainstorming.”

“Hey!” Leo shouts as he slams the book down on the table.

“HUH?” Carmen jumps up out of her seat, shocked from the sudden book slam.

“Shhh!” The librarian glares at the both of them as she continues sorting through the books on her cart. 

“I didn’t come here to do all the work for you, you're the leader acting like one!” Leo whispers in a demeaning tone. 

“I know! I don’t need to bossed around from you, plus I already have our idea when I was ‘brainstorming.’” Carmen explains her plan as she rambles on. “I heard of this rumor a while back, at the museum there's-”

“An exhibit at the museum? That's good we surely can get an A and we don’t have to do so much work!” Leo cuts Carmen off.

“It’s a little more complicated than that, you see, there’s a rumor in the basement of the museum, there’s paranormal activity down under!” Carmen continues as she adjusts herself on the chair, crossing her legs. “If we can break into the museum and find out what's going on and maybe interview the ghost, we got ourselves an A!” Her pitch gets a little higher and louder till the Librarian finally decides to kick them out. 

The two walk out into the cool night, feeling the wind brushing through them, gifting goosebumps against their skin, which isn’t just because of the wind, for Leo specifically. You can see fireflies shining through as the night gets darker, hearing the buzzing of dancing crickets and cicadas. 

“We will go tomorrow, bring a flashlight and leave behind your attitude!” Carmen shouts full of excitement she can’t contain.  “Can’t wait to see you then Leo!” She jumps up to slap Leo’s back and finally skips off, dreaming about what's to come tomorrow.

“This is going to be some adventure.” Leo signs, finally accepting his fate. 

Saturday afternoon, right during the sunset is about to end, as the museum is about to close in 30 mins, the two finally meet up at the front of the museum. Carrying a backpack loaded with flashlights, picklocks, and a snack, but most importantly, a ghost radar.

“You ready?” Carmen looks up at Leo smirking at him, sucking on a DumDum lollipop in her right cheek. 

Leo signs “how are we going to get into the basement? Won’t we get caught? Why couldn’t we do something small. If we get caught it's going to be a felony! I don’t want to get arrested, it's going to go on my permanent record, then I can’t go to an Ivy League, my life will be RUINED.” He rambles on sending him down a spiral, swinging his arms around and suddenly shaking as the cloud of anxiety veils him. 

Carmen decides to interrupt him. “Will you quit? There's nothing to worry about, all we have to do is hide in the exhibit until the guard leaves inspection. Then we can lock the basement door, and slowly enter the basement, then we can find out what's going on beneath the realm of living.” 

She continues to explain as Leo just zones out between her words, slapping himself back into reality. “OK. Let's do this.” 

Finally, Carmen walks inside as Leo holds the door for her, spitting the lollipop out into a trash can beside the door. And looks out to find the array of historical findings. Carmen shows him towards the prehistoric room, filled with cavemen, as she wasn’t scoping earlier before he arrived. 

“We can hide behind these cavemen right here.” Carmen points out the three cavemen standing on a rocky platform, which she led Leo to the side and saw that it was hollow enough to fit the both of them, yet a bit understudy.

“ATTENTION! The museum is closing, may all patrons make their way through the exit” Only a child whose parents left the museum that evening, the light flickering and spider cobwebs were the museum’s daily customers, except they didn’t pay much really, more like freeloaders. The museum was at least 60 years old and slowly deteriorated over the years, forgotten. 

After a while, Carmen and Leo crawls into the hollow platform underneath the heavy cavemen. Steadily matching each other's breaths and silently laying there until the security guard leaves. They hear a few steps that creep around the room, seeing the light flash through the ambiance bouncing off the wall. Finally the security guard walks away shutting every light off.

“Alright now give me the backpack.” Whispering, Carmen reaches inside the back pocket to grab a lockpick and crawls over to the door and finally reaches the knob. She slowly picks the door as she closely pays attention to any sudden noise. A sudden click and the door opens. 

“Yes!” Leo jumps high fiving Carmen, feeling a little contempt at a new friendship forming.

“Cmon lets go!” They turn on their flashlights, exhale and breathe. And set out walking down the stairs steadily of the mysteries that lurk inside this abandoned basement. 

As Carmen and Leo continue walking down into the basement they hear little steps from the basement, and scratch at something. What could it be? They finally get to look around at the basement floor. Pill bugs, roaches, and centipedes crawling around the cement floor where slight puddles form from the leak in the ceiling. The basement looks like it hasn’t been touched in decades with cobwebs forming families of spiders throughout the room as well. A sort of eerie vibe fills the room as the crawling and pestering of mysteries. Carmen and Leo’s flashlight flickers throughout the room.

“Look!” Leo shrieks as he points his light at the ceiling, which appears to be just the vent.

“That's just a vent, geez, you're so scared for a boy like yourself.” Rolling her eyes.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? What about boys like me?” Leo shot a look at Carmen.

“Nothing it’s just that you're like an All-American boy, your life is perfect, something that I could never have” Carmen explains to Leo as she leans into the wall.

“An All-American boy? Is that what you see in me? I’ve worked so hard because my parents put so much stress on me, I basically live under a schedule every hour, no free time.” Leo signs. “All I want to do is break free and have fun but it's so hard doing that, just coming here today I had to lie to my parents. I hate having to put on a face at school and people trying to come up to me acting like they know me.” Looking down at the floor trying not to tear up. 

“Oh Leo I’d never guessed. Look, I’m sorry for my prejudice against you, I see now you're so hard working it strains you. You’re not shallow, you’re my friend.” Grinning at Leo.

“Thanks, you know you're not so bad yourself, let’s say we start over” Leo continues smiling at Carmen. “Hi my name is Leo”

“Hi my name is Carmen '' Pulling Leo into a hug. Leo reluctantly embraces Carmen and laughs as they slammed into a wall, which is right on top of a door handle. Suddenly, the door handle turns to the point the two fall on eachother and shriek from horror of a dark room. 

“OH GOD! Where are we?” Leo shots up while shining the light throughout the mysterious room.

“Look! There’s bats! That’s what's been causing the noise! But hey what's that sound?” Coming from the backpack, Carmen reaches in and grabs the ghost radar. “I think our ghost is here. Hello? Why are you here?” Carmen swings around the ghost radar as it beeps around the room. 

“Hey Carmen, look at this, it seems to be about a person” They both start looking at the trophies and papers scattered around a wooden desk with little to no support. Carmen reads fast and is intrigued by this mysterious person, like never before.

“His name is Elanor Washington, he must have funded and operated this museum.” Carmen explains as she leans onto the table. “He was a rich historian who favored pre-historical information, he even funded the school and most of the town’s buildings!” 

“He died later at the age of 56 due to a stroke with no blood relatives or offspring, that's why he must be forgotten and faded away.” Leo looks over at Carmen with eyes of gleam.

“We got ourselves a project.” Carmen says, jumping up in joy, putting the articles in her backpack. “I won’t fail school!” Practically yelling at this point for someone to hear outside.

 As the two ramble on the table suddenly collapses while making a commotion through the basement.

“AHAH!” The manager of the museum flashes a light at them screaming “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? CARMEN? I SHOULD’VE KNOWN UR THE PERSON WHO SETS OFF THE SILENT ALARM. I’M CALLING THE POLICE.” The manager digs into her pocket for her cellphone. 

“Wait! You may not know me but I’m Leo Paine, listen, I know this looks bad but I can explain the whole situation to you that might bring this Museum to a new hit.” Leo explains making hand gestures as he narrates the story of Elanor Washington. 

“Oh my, yes I know you Leo Paine and your reputation here at SeaCrest, I trust you” Hearing that made Carmen’s heart crushed, no one trusts her. “Listen this person seems to be one of our greatest founders here, but we don’t have any funding so how can I get this out to the people?” Manager shrugged her arms and finally crossed them. 

“My parent’s can!” Leo pitches the idea to her. “But this was all Carmen’s idea. I'm basically just tagging along, please don’t punish her. She really cares and I know it might get her in trouble, but she wants to make a difference.” Saying that restored Carmen’s heart, she looks over towards Leo already staring at her. 

“Yes I see.. Well thank you Carmen, I’ll be sure to tell the press here. I really thank you even though you did break in after all.. But all is forgiven, but please ask next time!” The manager explains ushering out of the museum. “I will be glad to be having a meeting with your parents soon Mr.Paine. And thank you Carmen!'' Finally Carmen and Leo walk out and wave goodbye to the Manager.

“Thanks for defending me out there Leo” Carmen tears up as she punches Leo’s back.

“OW!” Leo shouts. “Anyways- Anytime Carmen, you're a real adventurer you know that? You got a big future from little Seacrest, and I’m happy to be a small part of it.” Leo smiles looking down at her.

Carmen laughs, “small part of it? You're my friend Leo, you're a huge part of this story,” looking out as if she is looking at an audience. 

“And that's our bit, thank you” Leo and Carmen bow after displaying their presentation to the audience, showcasing the articles as they pass it around the class.

“Wow that is some impressive project, wouldn’t expect any less from you Leo.” Mr. Brown clapped out of his chair in awed.

“Well actually, this was all Carmen’s idea, she should be the one getting all the credit, in fact she will be opening an exhibit at the Museum to highlight Mr. Washington contributions to Seacrest, I couldn’t do it without her.” Sideways hugging Carmen, not afraid to show their friendship.

Mr. Brown raises his left brow as he hears Carmen actually doing work. “Wow Ms. Penn, I’m so sorry for misjudging you, this is wonderful and so unique, I’m glad you used adventure to a positive and I’m impressed.” Mr. Brown lowering his brows while taking a breath to recollect himself. 

“Good job to the both of you, I’m impressed, really, you may now go sit down.” Saying that Leo and Carmen take a seat at a table, together, finally realizing that each other, they made a great duo. 

Carmen, an adventurer who's not afraid to take no for an answer, who dreams as high as an airplane up in the sky. And Leo, an achiever who shies away from any danger, but shows great remorse and persistence throughout his career. Together, a great pair who are as unstoppable and pull the best out of each other. Finally entailing a great story full of adventure.