“I’m glad you could come,” he said, burying his face in her hair.
Nancy leaned back to grin up at her boyfriend. “Me, too,” she said.
She jumped as another snowball caught her in the middle of her back. A hailstorm of snow, shrieks, and laughter came at her and Ned from all corners of the Omega Chi Epsilon yard.
“Um, guys?” George said as two more snowballs were lobbed from a corner of the frat. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a war zone.”
“Truce!” Ned shouted. He pulled off his scarf and waved it like a flag.
Half a dozen guys and girls tumbled out from behind trees, cars, and snowdrifts. Nancy waved hello to Grant Dempsey, a guy with short brown hair and a round face. She and George knew him from previous trips to Emerson. Most of the other faces were unfamiliar.
“Nancy, George, this is C. J. Thompson,” Ned said as a guy with tousled black hair and blue eyes came up. “He’s an Omega pledge, and—”
“C. J. Thompson?” George repeated, gaping at him. “The C. J. Thompson? The cross-country skier who broke the world record in the twelve thousand meters last year?”
C.J. gave an embarrassed laugh. “I guess you’ve heard of me,” he said. Shaking the snow from his gloves, he held out his hand.
“C.J. is our secret weapon in this year’s Clues Challenge,” Ned went on. “I figure someone who’s headed for the Olympics will definitely give the Omegas an edge in the Clues Challenge.”
“You guys will need all the help you can get,” said one of the girls. She was a few inches shorter than Nancy’s five feet seven inches, with high cheek-bones, black hair down to her shoulders, and the most infectious smile Nancy had ever seen. “We Kappas are going to pulverize you guys,” she said.
Nancy detected a challenge in the girl’s dark eyes. There was also a special sparkle when she looked at C.J.
“This is Dede Mallone, my girlfriend,” C.J. said to Nancy and George.
Ah, thought Nancy. That explains the sparkle. The three girls with Dede introduced themselves as Krista, Rosie, and Denise. All four were members of the Kappa Rho sorority.
“Nice to meet you,” Nancy said. “Let me guess. Kappa Rho is competing against the Omegas in the Clues Challenge?”
“You got it,” Grant told her. “The four teams that always compete in the challenge are from Omega Chi Epsilon, Kappa Rho, Sigma Pi, and Delta Tau.”
“Which means that for the next two days, you and I are enemies,” Dede said, giving C.J. a playful punch on the arm.
“Speaking of the enemy …” Ned said under his breath.
He nodded toward a girl who was just passing on the freshly shoveled path. Long blond hair fell over the collar of her red parka. She held a notebook in one hand and a bundle of blue-and-white fabric in the other. The expression on her face was serious.
“That’s Joy Swenson, the president of Delta Tau,” Ned said. “The Deltas won the Clues Challenge last year.”
“Hey, Joy! I hope you Deltas are ready to say goodbye to the banner,” Grant shouted to her.
Joy paused on the path and called back, “You wish.” She shook out the blue-and-white fabric in her arms; the words Clues Challenge Champs were spelled out in bold white letters on a blue background.
“Take a good look. This is as close to the banner as you’re going to get,” Joy said.
“What is that?” Nancy whispered to Ned.
“The banner is the final prize of the treasure hunt,” he explained. “The winning team gets to keep the banner until next year’s challenge.”
“I’m taking the banner over to SportsMania now so Mr. Lorenzo can hide it along with the other clues,” Joy said.
She whipped it back into a shapeless wad, which she balanced on top of her notebook.
“You’ve got your chemistry notes?” Dede said, gaping at Joy’s notebook. “How can you even think about studying for a midterm with the Clues Challenge on?”
“As if I’d let anyone or anything stop me from winning,” Joy said. “See you guys later.”
George watched until Joy disappeared behind a snowdrift. “She sure seems confident,” she commented.
“Joy is the kind of person who can be captain of the field hockey team, president of her sorority, and still ace every class she has,” Grant said. “She’s all business when it comes to the Clues Challenge.”
“Who’s Mr. Lorenzo?” Nancy asked.
“The owner of SportsMania, a sporting goods store,” Ned told her.
“The company that used to sponsor the Clues Challenge went out of business, so Mr. Lorenzo agreed to take over,” C.J. added. “He makes up the clues and judges the challenge.”
“Sounds like someone we want on our good side,” George commented, blowing warm air onto her hands.
C.J. laughed. “Unfortunately Mr. Lorenzo is totally impartial. But he’s a nice guy. And his store is amazing.”
“You and George can see for yourselves,” Ned said. “Our team still has to register for the Clues Challenge. Now that you two are here, we can head over there. We’ll make a stop on the way to drop off your stuff at Centennial.”
“Isn’t that the dorm where we stayed last time we were here?” George asked.
Ned nodded. “My friend Penny and her roommate are away this weekend. They said you can stay in their room.”
“Great,” said Nancy, heading for her car.
