CHAPTER ONE

At the end of the school day, Andrew and Marie, two students at Prism High, sat chatting with their classmates in the cafeteria. An assembly had been called for a special announcement, and lots of students were curious enough to stay after classes had ended.

Cam, a teacher’s assistant, walked to the front of the room and things quieted down as he started speaking.

“Hi, everyone! Those of you who stayed will be glad you did. We have some exciting news to share with you all,” Cam announced, turning on the projector.

As the screen slowly lowered from the ceiling, a girl groaned from the other side of the room.

“Come on! Let’s get going!”

Her name was Claire, and her father was a famous fashion designer. She often gave out free clothing samples from his business, which made her popular at school.

“She’s free to go, and I wish she would,” Marie whispered to Andrew. He smiled.

Claire has called Marie “Ugly Spider Girl” ever since Marie’s painting of a spider won an art competition. She always jokes that the painting is a self-portrait.

The screen reached the floor, and Cam projected a picture of a beautiful painting onto it. Andrew recognized it right away—it was the Orange Dragon from his favorite TV show!

“All right, here is the news,” Cam said. “Recently, a student from our school—who wants to stay anonymous—created a painting of the Orange Dragon and donated it to the producers of the TV show.”

Many of the students sat up at the mention of Orange Dragon, which was one of the most popular shows on television.

“In return, we received an Orange Dragon statue!” Cam held up a shiny glass figure. “As many of you know, this is not just any statue—it’s a collector’s edition!”

Many students oohed and aahed. Since Orange Dragon was super popular, the statues often sold for thousands of dollars!

“But that’s not all!” Cam continued, raising his voice over the excitement. “The producers gave us a great idea. We’re going to host a treasure hunt tomorrow here at Prism High! The winner will take the statue home!”

A collective gasp went up in the crowd. Andrew couldn’t believe his ears. He had to win this competition! Marie grabbed his shoulder—she knew how much the Orange Dragon show meant to him.

“If you want to join the hunt, sign up on Prism High’s website and meet me back here after school tomorrow!” Cam said. “See you then for more instructions!”

The room burst into excited chatter about the upcoming hunt.

Andrew turned to Marie. “I know that statue! It’s just like the one Claire broke!”

Seated next to Andrew and Marie, Penelope, the class brainiac, overheard Andrew’s comment. She turned to Claire’s friend Peter who was at the table behind her.

“What’s he talking about?” she asked.

“A few months ago, Andrew brought a statue like that to class,” Peter explained. “He won it in an Orange Dragon trivia contest. Claire knocked it over by accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident!” Marie glared at Peter. “She told Andrew she did it on purpose, and she laughed about it! I heard her!”

“Talking about me behind my back?” Claire said as she turned to join the conversation.

“You have no proof I said that!” Claire snapped. “Besides, my parents paid for the damages, didn’t they? You can’t stay mad at me over an accident!”

“They only paid a few hundred dollars! That statue was worth thousands!” Marie snapped back.

Claire laughed, stood up, and strode over to Andrew and Marie. “You want that Orange Dragon statue, huh, Little Dragon Boy and Ugly Spider Girl?”

The room went quiet. She’d called him “Little Dragon Boy” ever since she broke his statue.

“You know what?” Claire said loudly. “I think I’ll win that statue myself—and sell it online for some extra cash!”

“Hey! Calm down!” Cam called out, walking toward them. “This is supposed to be fun!”

Before he could add anything more, Claire turned and left the room. Peter stood up and followed her silently.

“You okay?” Cam asked. Andrew gave a small nod.

Marie looked at Andrew. “Hey—we’re gonna get that statue. I’d never miss a chance to beat Claire.”

Andrew took a deep breath. He used to have a full collection of Orange Dragon statues before Claire broke his last one. If he won this, his collection, which he’d spent years building, would finally be complete.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Let’s win this.”

CHAPTER TWO

The next day, a group of enthusiastic students crowded into the cafeteria. Andrew and Marie waited excitedly for the fun to begin. Andrew noticed Claire was there too.

“Welcome, everybody!” Cam called from the front of the room. “Before we get started, let’s go over the rules!”

“You’ll get three clues, and each one is about the Orange Dragon show. You have to answer each clue to find the next one.”

Everyone was listening attentively.

“The hunt will take place on the first floor of the school only. Now, in a moment, you’ll get your first clue.”

They all rose from their seats, ready to start hunting.

“Hold on. Hold on.” Cam raised his hand to stop them. “There are a few more things you have to know. Each clue will lead you to an Orange Dragon sticker. But beware! There are fake stickers scattered all over the school!”

“Fake stickers?!” shouted one student. “How will we know which ones are real?”

“I think that’s the point,” laughed another.

“You’ll have to take a picture of the real sticker, not the fake one, and show it to me. Then I’ll give you the next clue!”

Groans broke out from the crowd all around.

“One more rule,” announced Cam over their protests. “The third and final clue will lead you to the Orange Dragon card! Be the first to show me the card, and the statue is yours!”

“Three clues. Got it? And remember, you can work in groups!” Cam moved closer to the audience. “I’m sure you’re excited, so here’s the first one!”

Andrew and Marie leaned forward.

“‘In the cave of fancy words, the Orange Dragon sleeps,’” Cam said in a mysterious voice, reading from the card. He paused for a moment. “What does that mean? Figure it out! You can start—”

He held up his hand and then dropped it. “NOW!”

The crowd cheered and rushed out of the cafeteria, chatting loudly about where to find the first sticker.

“There’s no way Claire will figure out these clues. We’re totally gonna win!” Marie said as she ran out of the room with Andrew.

In the hallway outside the cafeteria, with Peter at her side, Claire sneered.

“You!” she said, pointing to a girl standing across from her. It was Tiana, Cam’s younger sister and Andrew’s classmate.

“Huh?” Tiana stared back at her.

“You’ve watched Orange Dragon before, right? If you help me win, I’ll get you a special designer purse!” Claire said.

“Sure.” Tiana shrugged, and they left for the hunt.

Marie turned to Andrew and repeated the first clue. “‘In the cave of fancy words, the Orange Dragon sleeps.’ What do you think that means?”

Andrew looked at her. “Does it have to do with the English classroom?”

“Oh, I get it. ‘Words’ means English. But which English classroom?” Marie asked.

“Probably the classroom at the end of the East Hall,” Andrew replied. “That’s where the poetry club meets. They call it the ‘Poetry Cave.’”

“Great thinking! Let’s hurry!” Marie said. “Before anyone beats us to it.”

Marie and Andrew walked into the East Hall. Marie stopped suddenly.

“Look,” she said, pointing down the hallway. Tiana and Peter were entering two different classrooms. Claire was standing at the front of the hallway with her arms crossed, blocking everyone’s way.

“They’re probably searching English classrooms for the sticker,” Marie said. “Tiana must have figured it out.”

Marie looked at Andrew, who was trying to sneak past Claire. An idea popped into her head.

“I’ll handle this.” Marie walked up to Claire. “Hey, Claire!”

Claire scowled. “Oh, no. What do you want, Ugly Spider Girl?”

“I found a real spider I want to show you!” Marie lied. “Try not to scream!”

Their voices grew louder, and a small crowd gathered around them, curious about the noise.

As Cam ran to check on the commotion, Andrew snuck past the group and followed Tiana into one of the English classrooms. He hid behind a large trash can in the back of the room.

Tiana was the only other person in the room. She stood by the teacher’s desk, flipping through scattered piles of folders and accidentally knocking a few to the floor. Each folder was labeled with a number—one through fifty—and had an Orange Dragon sticker inside.

“Which of these is the right one?” Tiana mumbled to herself.

Andrew crept closer to Tiana, carefully scanning the nearby folders on the floor for any familiar numbers. He thought for a moment before remembering something.

Of course! Episode 37! he thought. The episode where the Orange Dragon writes poetry!

Silently, he opened his phone’s camera and took a picture of the sticker inside the 37th folder.

Right when Andrew made it back to his hiding place, Claire opened the door. Andrew froze, but she didn’t notice him and walked past him to Tiana.

“What are you doing, Tiana? Shouldn't you know the answer?” Claire demanded.

Before either of them noticed him, Andrew ran out of the room.

CHAPTER THREE

Andrew met up with Marie again, and the two friends rushed to find Cam. They found him walking in the hallway and went to show him Andrew’s picture of the sticker.

“Is this the right one?” Andrew asked.

Cam nodded. “It sure is. Good job!”

He took a small notecard out of his pocket and handed it to Andrew. “Don’t show this to anyone else, okay?”

Andrew nodded, then looked down at the card where the next clue was written:

“In the box of books and bags, the Orange Dragon hides.”

“Maybe it’s in the library,” Marie said while they walked down the hallway. “Lots of books are in there.”

Andrew shook his head. “I don’t think so. Libraries aren’t really boxes. Plus, the Orange Dragon never went to one in the show.”

“Well, then, what do you think the clue means?” Marie asked.

“I think it’s about a locker. Lockers are more box-shaped, and you put books and bags—or backpacks—in lockers. Plus, in episode 157, the Orange Dragon hides in a locker!”

“How did he fit in there?”

“It was a big locker.”

As Andrew and Marie discussed the next clue, Claire and Tiana exited the English classroom.

Andrew and Marie quickly hid around the corner, poking their heads out to watch as Tiana walked up to Cam and showed him her phone. Cam nodded and gave Tiana a card.

Then Claire pointed to Penelope, who had just exited the classroom with Peter.

“Hey, you!” she said to Penelope. “You’re the top student here, right? If you help me, I’ll give you some samples from my dad’s company!”

Penelope thought for a moment, then answered. “If I help you, can you get me those new skeleton earrings?”

“Of course!” Claire nodded.

“Um… How can I help?” Peter asked, looking hurt.

“You’ve already been helping, so don’t worry. I’ll get you something too,” Claire said.

“I don’t really need anything from you. And I don’t get why you need Penelope’s help—” Peter started.

“Everyone! Look at this map!” Claire ignored him and took out her phone to show the others a drawn map of the school.

Claire continued, “Tiana told me that the next clue is hidden in a locker! So all we have to do is open all the lockers until we find a sticker! You get it?”

“That plan is going to take forever. Aren’t the lockers locked? And how do we tell if a sticker’s fake?” Penelope asked.

“I already checked! It seems like most of the lockers are unlocked,” Claire replied. “Just open each one, take a picture of the stickers, and show all of them to Cam. If we get it wrong, we’ll try again! It’ll be faster with all of us.”

Peter, Penelope, and Tiana looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Claire scolded. “This plan will work! I’ll search the Main Hall. Penelope, you scout the West Hall. Peter, you stay here.”

“What do you want Tiana to do?” Peter asked.

“Tiana can do whatever she wants. She didn’t know which folder to look for. She’s useless, and I’m sick of seeing her face!” Claire waved at Tiana, who rushed away, looking close to tears.

Penelope and Claire left, and Peter stood alone, abandoned by his team.

Having heard the whole conversation, Marie and Andrew turned back to each other.

“We have to hurry before they scout the entire school. Which locker is the second sticker in, Andrew?”

“Uh—maybe 157? That’s the episode where the Orange Dragon hides in a locker.”

“Locker 157 is on the second floor. The lockers on this floor only go up to 150,” Marie said. “Cam told us that the stickers are only on the first floor, remember?”

“Then—” Andrew slumped over. He couldn’t think of anything.

“Ugh!” Marie groaned. “If only we needed to find a life-sized Orange Dragon! Then we’d just have to find the biggest locker in the school!”

The biggest locker in the school?

It finally hit Andrew. “Marie! You’re a genius!”

“What?” Marie asked.

“There’s a really big locker for laptops in the West Hall closet, and it has a three-digit code, right?”

“And I know the three-digit code!” Andrew continued. “It has to be 157! They changed it for this treasure hunt!”

“Are you sure?” Marie asked.

“We don’t have any other leads, do we? Let’s go! Since it’s in the West Hall, Penelope might already be there!”

Andrew grabbed Marie’s hand, and they ran for the next clue.

CHAPTER FOUR

When they reached the West Hall, Andrew and Marie spotted the closet door in the corner. Through the door’s narrow window, they saw the large locker.

They noticed Penelope walking through the hallway, opening several lockers and taking pictures whenever she found an Orange Dragon sticker.

“How do we sneak in there without her seeing us?” Marie whispered.

“Can we distract her somehow?” Andrew asked.

Marie thought for a second. “She helps Cam break up fights sometimes. What if we say that Cam needs her help?”

“What about a fight?” Tiana asked from behind them.

They both jumped and turned, surprised to find her there.

“Did you hear what we said?” Marie asked, concerned she might have overheard their plan.

Tiana ignored her question and ran up to Penelope. “Hey! Cam’s dealing with a huge fight in the East Hall! Can you help?”

Penelope gasped. “What? A fight? I’ve gotta go!”

Penelope ran down the hallway, and other students who had been searching the lockers followed her to check out the ruckus.

Andrew and Marie walked up to Tiana, shocked that she had distracted Penelope and the others.

“Did you make that up to help us?” Andrew asked her.

“Of course!” Tiana winked. “Claire is a bully. Plus, I made her promise to give me the designer purse even if she lost. She doesn’t need to know about this.”

“And by the way,” she added, “I saw Peter on his phone looking up Orange Dragon episodes that have lockers in them. He might figure out the clue soon, so hurry up.”

As Tiana left, Marie said to Andrew, “Insulting Tiana was a bad move on Claire’s part.”

Marie opened the closet, and Andrew ran in, squatting by the lock. He spun the dials to one, five, and seven, hoping episode 157 was the correct answer. The lock opened.

The laptops usually held in the locker weren’t there today. Instead, an Orange Dragon sticker was stuck to the locker’s side. Andrew took a picture.

“Let’s go before anyone else comes,” Marie urged him.

CHAPTER FIVE

Andrew and Marie found Cam in the cafeteria and ran up to him.

“Penelope thought I was breaking up a fight for some reason,” Cam said. “Weird.”

“Never mind that! Here’s the second sticker!” Andrew showed Cam his phone.

Cam nodded. “Good job. If you solve this last clue, you’ll find the Orange Dragon card. Bring it back to me, and you’ll win.”

He removed the clue from his pocket and handed it to Andrew.

In the hallway, Marie and Andrew read the final clue: “Above the pit that cannot burn, the Orange Dragon waits.” Two words were below that: “Hint: Rug.”

Marie looked at Andrew. “What does that mean? I don’t think there’s a fire anywhere in the school. And why is there a hint?”

Andrew thought for a moment. “What’s a place on the first floor where you can go down and fire won’t burn?”

“A basement? But we don’t have a basement,” Marie responded.

“You can dive down into the school’s pool!” Andrew exclaimed. “Fire can’t burn underwater. In episode 12, the Orange Dragon swims in a school pool. The card has to be in the pool room!”

“That makes sense, but isn’t the pool room usually locked?” Marie asked.

“The hint mentions a rug,” Andrew said. “There’s a rug in front of the pool room door. Maybe the key is under it.”

“Then let’s go!”

Marie and Andrew ran to the Main Hall, which was connected to the pool room. They walked to the pool room door with the rug in front of it. Andrew lifted up the rug, and there was the key.

At that moment, Claire’s voice rang out from around the corner. “Penelope! Where did they go?”

“They didn’t go to the East Hall, so they must be in the Main Hall,” Penelope responded.

“They think the clue is by the Main Hall? It must be in the pool! There’s no fire in the pool!” Claire said loudly.

Marie turned to Andrew. “They figured out the last clue! Hurry!”

Andrew picked up the key, unlocked the door, and they ran inside, forgetting to shut the door behind them.

They had just made it into the pool room before Claire came down the hallway. Penelope followed her.

When Claire and Penelope ran inside, they saw Andrew standing at the edge of the pool. In the middle of the pool was a clear, floating bag with the Orange Dragon card inside.

“STAY AWAY! THAT DRAGON IS MINE!” Claire screamed at Andrew.

Andrew turned around, heart racing. Claire was running toward him. There was no time.

Andrew turned and jumped into the water.

Swimming through the cold water, Andrew heard a splash from behind him. Claire had joined him, furiously swimming to reach the dragon card first.

As Andrew swam, his clothing soaked through, making his body feel heavy. He turned and splashed water in Claire’s face, but she sputtered and kept swimming after him. He turned back toward his destination and swam faster.

He reached the bag first, and when he grabbed it, Claire screamed. Andrew turned and swam for the side of the pool, where Marie and Penelope stood.

Andrew looked up at Marie, who was cheering him on.

“Come on! You can do it!”

He reached the side of the pool and grabbed Marie’s hand. After she pulled him out, they knelt down and looked at each other with glee. He tossed the bag to the ground.

“THAT DRAGON IS MINE!” Claire yelled from behind him. Penelope held out her hand, but Claire slapped it away.

As Claire scrambled out of the pool, she scraped her leg. “AGH!”

She tried to stand up, but fell again. She held her hand out toward the bag, which was only a foot away. Andrew hurriedly picked it up.

“Give me that bag!” Claire commanded.

Andrew, Marie, and Penelope stared at her.

“Do you need help?” Penelope asked.

Claire stopped shouting. Then, she started tearing up.

“I was so jealous of you, Andrew! I love the Orange Dragon series, and I’ve always wanted an Orange Dragon statue! So when you brought one to school a few months ago, I just had to break it! I was never going to sell the treasure hunt’s prize because nobody deserves the Orange Dragon statue but me!”

Andrew and Marie looked at each other.

Marie looked back at Claire. “I don’t think you deserve anything.”

The door opened, and Peter ran in. “What’s wrong?”

He saw Claire and gasped. “Claire!”

Claire kept crying, and Peter ran over to help lift her off the floor.

“Don’t help me!” Claire cried. Peter ignored her.

Penelope left to get Cam. When they returned, Cam asked Peter to help Claire to the nurse’s office.

“You won the treasure hunt,” Cam told Andrew after Peter and Claire had left. “Come with me to the cafeteria, and you’ll get your statue.”

“Really?” Andrew asked.

“Well, you got the card first. We have two witnesses.” Cam looked at Penelope and Marie. “Claire will be fine. It’s not your fault she got hurt in the pool.”

Penelope sighed. “You won, fair and square.”

“And you definitely deserve it.” Marie patted Andrew on the back again. Andrew smiled.

CHAPTER SIX

A week later, Marie was visiting Andrew’s room. He now kept the shiny, new Orange Dragon statue on his shelf with the others.

They admired the collection for a moment.

“So, what’s that?” Andrew asked. He pointed at a tall rectangular shape that Marie had brought with her. It was covered with a cloth.

“It’s a painting. Want to see?” She smiled.

“Sure.”

She removed the cloth, and Andrew gasped. It was the same painting that Prism High had donated to the Orange Dragon creators! It was the reason Prism High could host the treasure hunt in the first place!

“I actually painted it for you. But Cam found me painting it in the art room, and he wanted me to share it with the Orange Dragon creators. They really liked it.”

“Didn’t Prism High donate it? So, why is it here?”

“I made a copy of the painting and donated it under Prism High’s name,” Marie said. “I don’t want to be famous for this. You’re the Orange Dragon fan here! This painting isn’t really my style, anyway.”

Marie continued, “I asked them if I could get a statue like the one Claire broke, and they suggested hosting a treasure hunt. I knew you’d win, so I let it happen. I didn’t think Claire would want to compete. Sorry.”

“Thank you so much!” Andrew ran over and hugged Marie. She laughed.

“This is better than the statue!” Andrew grinned at the painting then at Marie. “It’s even better than a full set because you made it!”

With the gifted painting and Marie by his side, Andrew’s collection was finally complete.