Bradley looked from the basketball in his hands, and up to the basket, some fifteen feet away. This had to be a joke. Or a dream. Or a nightmare. This was going to be such an epic failure. Their team was making pretty good time so far. The riddles had been easy for Bradley, and there’d been a challenge in the kitchen that had them hunting through the fridges for a clue. Which had brought them here. Brad’s personal hell.

He looked over at Teddy, then to TJ, grateful that they were the only ones about to see this travesty. Just one. One basket and Teddy can carry this challenge the rest of the way. You’re tall, this should be easy. He bounced the ball against the hardwood of the gym, once, then again, simply because he’d seen other people do it on TV and it seemed like it worked for them. He caught the ball as it came up, aimed for the basket, and launched the orange ball forward. It careened off to the left, missing the basket completely. “Think that counts?” he asked, scoffing a bit at his own terrible shot.

Tyler Jane absentmindedly winced as Bradley threw the basketball, watching it soar right past the hoop and making contact with the wall behind. So much for smooth sailing through the challenges. “Ummm,” She gently paused, looking to the staff member observing for the final word and judgement. The solemn woman simply shook her head, trying not to stifle a laugh as she wrote something down on her clipboard. Tyler Jane sighed, “Yeah, no... didn’t think so.”

They had admittedly done better up to this point than the redhead had originally expected, working together in a way that even she couldn’t have predicted. Bradley had the brains, Teddy had the brawn, and she contributed equal amounts of both. “That’s okay! Try again, you’ve got it.” She encouraged him and then turned to Theo, “No promises that I’ll do any better than him. I may dance on pointe, but I’m no point guard.”

Teddy would have lied if he said he wasn’t disappointed when Bradley had missed his first throw. Sure their team had made good headway this far but complacency is the death of winning. “You’ll do fine.” He said curtly but reassuringly, giving TJ a smile.

“Just focus your eyes at one point and throw towards it!” He called out to Bradley cupping his hands around his mouth before shooting him a thumbs up.

Bradley took a deep breath as he returned to the free-throw line. Teddy’s words floated through his head, TJ’s encouragement serving as background music. His eyes locked onto the basket and he held his gaze. Bringing the ball up, he launched it off of his fingertips. For a moment, he thought it would repeat it’s original path, but instead, it bounced off the rim, sending it shooting upwards. As it came down, it sank through the hoop, and thunked against the gym floor. His fist shot up in celebration. “Fuck yeah!” he shouted, a little high on his small victory. He jogged over to the ball and tossed it over to TJ, shooting her a thumbs up in the hopes that some encouragement might end this challenge sooner rather than later.

“Nice one Brad!” Teddy smiled and slapped the smaller teen on the back, again not knowing just how hard. “Shit… sorry man!” he smiled apologetically.

Tyler Jane sighed in relief as the ball made contact with the net, swishing musically to indicate the successful attempt. That was one less basket they needed in order to move onto their next challenge, and she was quite concerned that she wouldn’t make it there for ages. Sure, the girl had excellent hand-eye coordination, but her lack of aim was disturbing and didn’t exactly supplement the other skill well. Tyler caught the ball from Bradley and walked over to the free-throw line, trying to dribble it once, but instead, it hit her foot and careened off to the side. Well, that wasn’t exactly graceful.

The redhead lunged to grab it before it got too far away and succeeded, making an attempt shortly after. With a weak throw, the ball faltered before the net and didn’t even touch the rim of the hoop or the backboard. A complete fail. Tyler looked back to the boys, “This is a lost cause.”

Teddy shook his head “Don’t worry about it just try again…” he said trying to keep his smile up, though he was starting to get a little frustrated. Not with his teammates missing their shots but with them wasting time being self-conscious.

With a silent glance, Tyler Jane could notice that Theo’s patience was being tested. He didn’t have to bring attention to it for her to notice- she was quite intuitive in that way- and his strained facial expression seemed to say more than words. She did want to see what angry Teddy looked like, especially with his towering frame, so she just shut up and turned all of her focus to the basket. One shot after another, miss after miss until one ball decided to gracefully hit off the backboard and into the net, accompanied by an anticlimactic silence before the ball bounced off the hardwood. It may have taken more tries than she had intended, but she did it!

Teddy clapped loudly and let out a yell of support “Hell yeah! Nice one TJ!” he gave the slender girl a high-five as he passed her, being mindful to be a bit more gentle this time. He picked up one of the basketballs that was strewn about on the floor and stared up at the basket. He had never been one for sports, but this was just a simple calculation of distance and speed. The large young man steadied himself with a broad stance before lifting the ball up. He took a moment to breathe before he took the shot, his eyes following the ball as it soared in an arch finally going through the hoop smoothly. A few lucky shots later, and they were done! He quickly turned around to his team “Alright, cool let’s figure out where to go next!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

Bradley, happy to be done with this extended torture, jogged over to the staff member who’d been observing them. She handed him a card with their next clue on it, a jumble of letters that were easy enough to unscramble. The two L’s really gave it away. “Looks like we’re off to the lecture hall next,” Bradley said, waving the clue card in the air as he walked back over to Teddy and TJ.

The redhead was not a runner by any means, but she broke out into a brisk jog as the team made their way across campus towards the lecture hall and their next challenge. As they arrived at the academic building, Tyler Jane gracefully weaved her way towards where their classes took place, long legs bouncing against the tiled floor. Once there, the staff member explained their challenge- they had to locate numerous puzzle pieces around the room and put them all together in order to receive their next clue.

The girl let herself catch her breath before trying to think of a strategy to complete this task quickly. She whirled around, scanning the room and attempting to get a broad view and analyze the situation before diving in. “How should we tackle this? Maybe we should split up?” She questioned her idea, not wanting to step on Theo or Bradley’s toes.

“Good idea! I’ll take the back of the room and you two split up and take the rest!” Teddy almost demanded as he moved quickly to the back of the room and started to search for the puzzle pieces.

Bradley looked over to TJ and gestured to the section of the room behind him. “I guess I’ll take this half,” he said, spinning around slowly on his heel and meandering over to the desks and chairs that awaited them. It was clear that they weren’t the first group to come through this room. Chairs were slightly out of place and the desks were crooked. Hopefully, they weren’t too far behind everyone else.

He’d hardly started his search when a flash of color caught his eye, peeking out from underneath the leg of a chair. One down, nine to go. He crouched down and slipped the puzzle piece out from beneath the chair, then stood back up and held it up for his team to see. “Found one!”

Tyler nodded, moving to the front of the room and beginning to scour for puzzle pieces. She peeked behind the pull down projector screen, which seemed like an obvious place to hide one, and immediately found a colorful cardboard segment amongst the dry erase markers. Slipping it into her pocket, she continued along the wall and spotted another magnetized to the white board, smirking as she snatched it. The redhead’s eyes darted around before landing on a poster hanging above and to the right of the board, noticing the outline of a piece hidden behind.

Although she was tall, she wasn’t nearly tall enough to reach the poster, so she took matters into her own hands and pulled over a chair until the legs met the wall. Stepping on the makeshift step stool, she delicately shifted her weight to reach behind the poster, nimbly grasping the piece before jumping down to the ground and landing softly on arched toes. “I’ve got three!” Tyler Jane announced to the boys. “How’s it going over there, Theo?”

The large guy turned around slowly walking over to the others emptying out the contents of his pockets. “I found four, I don’t think there is anything more over there.” he put his hands back in his pockets looking over to Bradley’s side of the room “Which probably means you have two pieces left on your side Bradley” Teddy motioned around with his hand. He put on a smile and rubbed the back of his head “I’m going to be completely honest you guys, puzzles are not my thing. So I’m going to have to rely on your skills here.” he let out a low chuckle.

Bradley grinned and held up the last two puzzle pieces, having found one taped underneath a desk and another had been hiding in the window blinds. “You carry us in basketball, we carry you in puzzles,” he said, walking over and depositing his three pieces with the others. He quickly began separating the pieces, and then began connecting the corners. Ten pieces weren’t too hard to fit together, and with Teddy and TJ filling in the gaps where they could, it was done in no time. Staring back at them was an image of the Cafeteria.

Tyler Jane was impressed by how quickly the boy was able to figure out where each puzzle piece went- his efficiency was second to none. The redhead chimed in once or twice when she noticed two pieces that could be joined, but Bradley was mostly able to put it together on his own. “Nicely done!” She smirked, looking at her teammates. “We only have a few more challenges, I think we might have a chance of winning this if we keep up the pace.”

Teddy pulled them both in for a tight embrace before he exclaimed “Nice job guys! Let’s get going!” he almost ran towards the door, ripping it open. “We’ll smash this!” he smiled at his team before continuing down the hallway.

Between the enthusiasm of both Teddy and TJ, Bradley was forced to reevaluate his earlier pessimism. He chuckled as Teddy tore out into the hallway, jogging behind him at a much slower pace. Hopefully, they were running towards a win. He felt like he could use one right then.

One blink, and her teammates were already racing towards the door and the next challenge that awaited them in the cafeteria. Before she followed, she glanced over to the staff member standing in the corner, who she found furiously scribbling down notes on the clipboard he was holding. By the amount it looked like he was writing, and the speed at which his pencil was moving, she couldn’t help but wonder what was so important to catalog. Tyler Jane didn’t realize she was staring until their eyes met and she was faced with his cool and calculating gaze. Without another word, she turned around and went to catch up with the boys, an unsettling feeling rising in her stomach as she trailed behind them.

---

---

Billie’s anger and shock over the scavenger hunt had now turned into more of a slow burn in the back of her mind - a small spark that if fueled, would burn the whole school down. With a competitive streak a mile long, she was determined to win this. Unfortunately, with her given team, her chance looked fairly slim. Standing there with her hand in her pockets, Billie sighed as Charles and Erica made their way over.

”This fucking blows,” she said, rolling her eyes. ”Those of us who can - let's use our brains and get this shit over with.”

“Way ahead of you,” Erica said, looking up from their first clue and flipping the card around to show the jumbled letters. “It says lecture hall, by the way,” Erica said, her voice cold and terse. She was pretty confident she’d rather self-immolate than spend the next ten challenges with Billie Fucking Gray, but she didn’t see anyway out of it that didn’t end in detention or prison.

For a team that had just formed, there seemed to be a lot of tension within already. Charlie was a little confused as to why his teammates seemed like they wanted to murder each other, but he figured it was better that he leave that stone unturned before he made things with his team worse. For now, they had bigger things at hand and better things to take care of. Teammate relations were not the first thing on his agenda.

Charlie walked over to Erica, who was holding the card, ”Nice work, Erica.” Charlie smiled, ”Hopefully it isn’t too hard to find… there’s a lot of chairs and desks in there.”

Billie wrinkled her nose in disgust. ”It’s not like they buried the clues under the floor or something, Charles.” Now knowing her destination, Billie began on the path that led towards the lecture hall. Standing around talking about the clue wasn’t going to do any good. Action was what they needed.

It was Erica’s turn to roll her eyes. “Glad to see you had your usual bowl of Cheerio’s.” She started off after Billie, catching up to the shorter girl in a few strides, leaving a much needed space between them for Charles. Please, make this go by quick.

Charlie was starting to wonder who exactly pissed in Billie’s Cheerios, because there was no way someone just woke up with that much vinegar and vitriol in their veins. However, there was no use in trying to figure out what Billie’s problem was. He shrugged as both girls ran off, sighing and starting the walk to catch up to the girls.

The boy didn’t seem to notice that there was a deliberate space left between Billie and Erica, much less a space for him to shove into. By the time Charlie had caught up, he had pulled up to Erica’s right, figuring that Billie wasn’t entirely in the mood to interact. ”We’ll be fine. Don’t even worry about it.”

Erica glanced over at Charlie, a knowing smile creeping across her face. They were royally screwed, but it was cute of him to try. “Thanks. Maybe you’ll be right,” she said.

The lecture hall loomed above them, and Erica breathed a sigh of relief as the doors opened and a rush of cool air hit her face. The large building was empty, save for the desks and chairs, and a staff member standing at the ready. She was an older woman, short, with brittle, gray hair, held up in a tight bun. “Good morning. Your first challenge is to find ten puzzle pieces, hidden around this room. When you find all ten, you’ll get your next clue.” The woman’s voice was patronizing, like she was speaking to toddlers. “Better get to work then. If we split up this will go a lot quicker,” Erica said.

Ten puzzle pieces? Charlie scratched his head as he tried to figure out how they would go about trying to find ten puzzle pieces in a hall as large as this. Who in their right mind decided to hide ten puzzle pieces in a place like this? ”Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Charlie concurred, before he set off toward one end of the lecture hall.

There were definitely a few under these desks, but the problem was figuring out where these pieces were exactly. Charlie started at the very top of the hall, before looking underneath the first desk. Already, there was a puzzle piece taped underneath it. ”Found one!” He exclaimed, pulling the piece out and holding it up.

“Nice! One down, nine to go.” While Billie and Charles went off on their own, Erica headed over to the corner of the room that held the professor’s desk. Opening one of the drawers revealed another piece, resting alone in the empty space. Erica picked it up, calling out her find. “I got another one! This is gonna be a piece of cake.”

Eventually, Charlie managed to find a few more. To the best of his estimation, he probably grabbed another four pieces just from underneath the desks. Erica had already gotten one, so they had at least six already. Hopefully, Erica and Billie would find the last four sometime soon. The sooner they were done, the better. ”Hey! How are we doing, guys?” Charlie asked, leaning over a chair to see what the girls were up to.

“I got two more,” Erica called out. She heard Billie call out her pieces too, and got up to regroup with her team. She placed her pieces on an empty desk, taking Charles’ four and another three from Billie. The puzzle was easy, childs play honestly, but she figured finding the pieces had been hard enough. She looked up at the woman who’d given the challenge, waving her hand at the puzzle. “You wanna come make sure we can do puzzles right?” Crawling around on her hands and knees looking for puzzle pieces had not improved her mood.

“Very good! Here’s your next clue,” the woman said, just as patronizing as before. She handed the clue card to Erica, who held it out to the others so they could all take a look. “Anyone have any ideas?”

Billie was ready for this whole scavenger hunt ordeal to be done and over with. Their next clue in hand, the team made their way to another handful of challenges, Erica and Billie making passive aggressive remarks at every chance they got. It had been a long day, and there was no question as to why there was a pounding in Billies head. Once they had figured out their last clue (the card read ‘Courtyard’) the three of them arrived at their final destination.

”Give us the details, Hensley,” Billie said, glaring daggers at the Gym teacher.

Once the older man explained that they were here for an egg toss challenge, Billie rolled her eyes for the millionth time today. How much more stupid could these ‘challenges’ get? Turning to face Erica and Charles, she sighed. ”Guess we better get to doing this dumb shit, huh?”

”We’re almost done.” Charlie sighed. The further they got through the challenges the more Charlie was starting to realize just how ridiculous all of these challenges were. An egg toss? Really? Charlie didn’t even know if scavenger hunts typically included egg tosses.

”Who wants to go first?” Charlie asked, looking at the eggs they were supposed to toss. ”If neither of you want to go, I can go first.”

Erica, drained by the day’s events, sighed as she tied her hair up. “Charlie, you toss it to Billie, and if she catches it, then Billie, you toss to me.” The tension between Erica and Billie had been slowly growing all morning. That not so subtle dig hardly helped, but damn if it didn’t set off something deep in the pettiest parts of her brain.

”Fine by me.” The boy said, before picking up the egg. The tension between Erica and Billie still seemed to be thicker than maple syrup, and it was still something he should stay out of. Holding the egg in his hand, he glanced at the two girls. ”You guys ready?”

”As I’ll ever be,” Billie answered.

As the egg went sailing towards her, Billie caught it nearly effortlessly. She was used to having to catch things from time to time due to Nick. When getting dressed, he would toss articles of clothing all around the room. Billie hated that shit. Of course an egg was smaller than a shirt but it still helped with her coordination.

Tossing the egg Erica’s way, Billie may or may not have used a little extra intended force. If the egg fell, whatever.

The egg came at Erica faster than she’d expected. It bounced off of her hand and smashed on her sneakers. “Fuck! Nice throw Billie,” she called out, sarcasm laced through her words.

Rolling her eyes, she kicked her foot out, trying to flick some of the smashed egg off her shoe. It had already begun to seep into her shoe, and the kick made her feel only slightly less disgusted. “What are you waiting for, Charles? Grab another fucking egg!”

Watching the egg smash onto Erica’s shoes had disheartened Charlie. Billie really didn’t need to use that much force. It was totally unnecessary. But, Charlie figured instead of talking about it, he would much rather grab another egg. No time to argue about what was going on. Reaching down, Charlie picked up an egg and tossed it over to Billie, hoping that this time it wouldn’t break. ”Careful now, guys!”

Almost missing the egg, Billie managed to catch it a second time. Choosing to ignore both Charles’s and Erica's remarks, she tried her best to toss it right this time. The egg splattering onto Erica’s shoes had been awarded enough, and the sooner they got done tossing this egg - the sooner Billie could get away from her.

This time, Erica’s fingers closed gently around the egg, and when they uncurled, it sat comfortably in her hand, unbroken. She grinned and looked up at Billie, and tossed the egg back, as softly as she could without throwing it short. Two more times around, and they were done.

Catching the egg once again, Charlie quickly chucked it back toward Erica. He hoped that they could keep this up to the very end. They were on a roll, and Charlie was hoping they could keep this momentum up. He wanted to say something, but he figured he should stay silent in order to help maintain concentration. Better they say stuff after the fact than break the egg because of a comment Charlie wanted to make.

With everyone avoiding an argument this time around, the kids managed to complete their task. Thank gods, Billie thought. Now we can end this shit.

The egg made a final rotation, incident free, and finally, Erica strolled over to the staff member leading the challenge, and dropped the egg into his outstretched hand. “Thanks for the extra load of laundry,” she said, turning her back and strutting confidently back towards the metaphorical finish line, egg be damned.

Once the egg had finished its rotation, a long sigh came out of Charlie. Finally, it was over. Charlie only watched as Erica brought the egg to the staff member, before he followed her to the finish line once and for all. He was so ready to be done with this.

With the challenge being over, Billie didn’t bother to even stick around to see who had won. She didn’t care at this point. Making a bee-line towards the dorms she sighed of relief. It was done. It was over. She didn’t have to look at Erica anymore. She didn’t have to put up with dumbass Charles and his stupid fake ass positivity.

”Fuck San Agustin,” she grumbled.

A soft melody flowed out of the open door of the dance studio and into the hallway as Tyler Jane moved gracefully inside the room, lost in the music. After the stressful, yet rewarding, scavenger hunt, she desired nothing more than to let off some steam in the best way that she knew how. Limbs stretching elegantly across the vinyl floor as she moved, she put all of the energy that she had left after the group activity into her dance.

A knock on the door took the redhead out of her thoughts, and as she turned to face the entrance to the studio, she was met by the gaze of Mr. Kennedy. A social science teacher on campus, he was younger than most staff (most likely in his early 30s), with long, brown, curly hair.

“I was told that I could possibly find you here, Ms. Morrissey.”

Although she didn’t have him for any classes, Tyler Jane had seen the teacher around campus as well as this afternoon at the scavenger hunt- he was there in the lecture hall when they tried to find the puzzle pieces hidden around the room. He seemed approachable, not stuffy like some of the other staff on campus, so her demeanor shifted to be more casual. “Well it seems your sources were correct. Can I help you with something, Mr. Kennedy?”

The man stepped further into the studio. “We’re asking all of the students who participated in today’s scavenger hunt for feedback... would now be an okay time for me to chat with you about it?”

Albeit confused, Tyler Jane nodded, “Sure, I guess. Pull up a chair, or stand- up to you.” The girl motioned to a stack of chairs on the right side of the room before walking over to the speakers to shut off the music and to the mirror to grab her water bottle.

Behind the mirrors, unseen by the naked eye, was a small room where two scientists sat, pens and paper in hand. The mirrors were double sided, which meant the two of them could not be seen, but those present in the dance studio could be. It was a perfect spot for the scientists to observe test subjects in real time, especially with a few particular students visiting there quite often- most notably, Subject #24. They watched as she unknowingly looked right at them as she stared at her own reflection, and then turned her attention back to Mr. Kennedy.

“Well, first of all, how did you think the hunt went?” The teacher had decided to simply lean against the ballet bar against the wall instead of grabbing a seat, his shoulders relaxing as he spoke. With the air conditioning on full blast, his curls bounced softly against his forehead.

“I mean, I think it went pretty well, after all we did come in second place.” Tyler Jane stood in the center of the room, absentmindedly pointing and flexing her feet. “Teddy was the strength, Bradley was the smarts, and I was a bit of both.”

“So you worked well as a team?” Mr. Kennedy asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He needed to ask the right questions so he could get the right answers- that was the whole point of this conversation. “Did one of you take on the role of team leader?”

“Yeah, I’d say so. I think we communicated well as a group and were able each to take charge when necessary. We talked things out before jumping right in, which helped.” The redhead replied, taking another swig of her water. “For the most part, we contributed equally, but if I had to call someone the team leader, it was probably Teddy.”

“That’s great to hear, I’m glad you guys made a successful team.” Mr. Kennedy mentally noted how she answered, but knew the others who were watching were taking down notes for him. And he was right- behind the mirror the two scientists furiously scribbled down their observations, from the exact words she used to her mannerisms and body language. “Otherwise, how’s school going for you? Are you liking it here on campus?” He segued into his next point of discussion, making it sound as natural and friendly as possible. Mr. Kennedy took a step away from the ballet bar and towards the test subject.

Tyler Jane shrugged, “It’s going, that’s for sure. Not so much the academic part, but it’s nice here.” She mustered a small laugh as she moved to put her water bottle back against the mirror. “I get a whole dance studio to myself most of the time, so I can’t really complain.” As she gestured to the room they were in, the girl’s posture said what words could not- she stood tall on the balls of her feet, spine elongated and chin raised. She held herself with a confidence and an air of elegance that could only be emulated by one other beast, the one she was modeled after.

“What about your classmates- do you like them?” Mr. Kennedy inquired cautiously, trying to gain more information than his last question.

“Most of them I like, a few of them really get on my nerves...” The redhead replied honestly, a smirk appearing on her lips. She thought about her friendships with Erica and Savannah (although she was still a little frustrated with her, it didn't change the fact that she was one of her best friends) as well as Charlie and Nicholas, and then recalled the others that she didn't get along with.

“Oh, I’m sure. When I was in high school there were a bunch of people I couldn’t stand. Who gets on your nerves?” Mr. Kennedy laughed, egging the girl on to continue her incomplete thought by mentioning his own experiences as a teen. It was true though- he had a rough high school experience as he was picked on for his love of science. This fire allowed him to graduate early with his doctorate and join Project Untamed, and he was one of the youngest scientists on the assignment.

Something about the conversation felt unnatural, complaining to a teacher about her peers, but Tyler Jane proceeded nonetheless. “Well for starters, there’s Leo- the guy can’t keep to himself if you know what I mean.” She chuckled under her breath, and once she started talking negatively, she couldn’t stop. “Billie and I couldn’t be more different- we don’t see eye to eye on anything. And to make matters worse, Nicholas just so happens to be her twin brother, so that probably makes her dislike me even more” She felt her mood shift as she continued.

“Then there’s Griffin. I tried being nice to him but he’s just so aggravating.” It was true, she tried to get along with him at first, but for some reason, he hated her guts. “He thinks he knows everything, and believes he’s better than everyone because of it. And of course, his room has to be right next to mine so there’s not a day where I don’t see him.” After realizing that all of those words had tumbled out, a blush pricked her cheeks, embarrassed. “Sorry, I got a little carried away. I guess it bothers me more than I let on.”

“It's no problem, Ms. Morrissey, high school can be a challenging time, these feelings you have are completely normal.” Mr. Kennedy nodded, consoling her. Internally, he was glad that somehow he was able to pry those names out of her- he’d get a pat on the back from the others later. “Well, I don’t want to interrupt more of your rehearsal, so I’ll leave you to it.”

The scientists behind the mirror continued to jot down notes as they watched the conversation come to a close. But as soon as they thought it was over, Subject #24 blurted something out.

“What were you writing earlier?” Tyler Jane asked as Mr. Kennedy began to walk to the door, taking the man slightly by surprise. He turned around to face her once more, a confused look on his face. “On your clipboard as we were leaving the lecture hall, you were writing things down.”

The scientists behind the mirror stopped what they were writing and held their breath as they listened, waiting to hear what the man was going to say. They were instructed to be discreet when writing down their observations during the hunt, but clearly, Mr. Kennedy wasn’t discreet enough.

“I was keeping track of how long it took each team to find all of the pieces, so if it came down to a tie we could pick a winner.” He explained quickly, hoping the answer would suffice, and continued on his way to exit the room. But the redhead didn’t buy it, and probed for more.

“You were writing sentences, paragraphs even. How does it take that many words to write out the challenge time?” Tyler Jane took an inquisitive step towards him, eyebrow raised. Mr. Kennedy paused, silence looming for a second too long, before he spoke again.

“Lesson planning, I must have been lesson planning then. Sometimes ideas come to me at inopportune times and I need to write it down before I forget.” The man exhaled softly, hoping that was enough for Tyler Jane to be thrown off of his scent and drop it. “Watching you all work together in teams got me thinking about how I can accomplish the same thing in my class.”

Warily, the girl nodded in response. With that, Mr. Kennedy offered the redhead a warm smile before exiting the dance studio, leaving Tyler Jane alone once more. But behind the mirror, the two scientists shook their heads, the question she had asked bothering them more than it should have.

---

---

The library was usually a sparsely populated area of San Agustin, and today was no different. Erica was seated at a round, wood table, a stack of books resting in front of her as she dragged a neon yellow highlighter across her notes. Her hair was still damp from her recent shower, and she’d traded her athleisure wear from this morning for a t-shirt and leggings, perfect studying attire. The scavenger hunt didn’t mean she had any less studying to do. If anything, she had more.

The doors to the library swung open, but Erica didn’t look up until she heard one of the chairs at her table slide out. Her eyes landed on Dr. Larkin, the chemistry teacher whom Erica thought could be making a lot more money working in a lab. Dr. Larkin, clad in her usual business casual clothes, offered up a warm smile as Erica closed her notebook. “Can I help you, Dr. Larkin?”

“That depends. Can you answer a couple questions for me?” Dr. Larkin replied, opening her own notebook and clicking a pen into a ready position.

Erica glanced at the watch around her wrist, where the seconds ticked away. “I have another hour left before I can go to dinner, and I need to have all this stuff down for my quiz tomorrow. You’ve got ten minutes.”

“Well, thanks for penciling me in,” Larkin said, grinning despite Erica’s icy demeanor. She admired the girl, to a certain extent. She was determined, and resilient, hacking away at textbooks while her peers were doing anything other than homework. Much like herself at that age. “First question, how did you like the scavenger hunt?”

Erica scoffed. “I would’ve rather been in class. I got egg all over my favorite running shoes, and we didn’t even win,” she said, crossing her arms as if to fully exhibit her discontent.

“So I take it you’d feel better about the entire event if you would’ve won?”

“I’m just saying, it would’ve made working with Billie, worth it.”

Dr. Larkin scribbled something in her notebook, before glancing back up at Erica, an inquisitive glint in her eye. Erica thought that she looked almost like a cat, watching it’s prey. The mental comparison made her uneasy, and she fidgeted ever so slightly under Dr. Larkin’s watchful eyes.

“Would you say you’re adjusting well here at San Agustin?” Dr. Larkin pressed on with her questioning. “You’re exceeding expectations in all your classes, but what about your social life?”

“Why is it important to know if I have friends?” Erica asked, cocking an eyebrow in a quiet sort of defiance.

“Well, this can be a difficult adjustment period for some students. Being away from home for the first time, it’s important that you have a support system.” Dr. Larkin smiled, and Erica relaxed. She didn’t know why she’d gotten so defensive.

“Well, I’m doing fine in the friends department. As long as they don’t kill each other over some stupid boy,” Erica said, rolling her eyes at the thought of the cold war that had begun on Monday. “I mean, honestly, don’t we all have more important things to worry about boys?”

“I’m guessing that means you don’t have anyone you’ve been keeping an eye on?”

Erica’s thoughts went to Dwayne and then to Sam, but when she opened her mouth, she made no mention of them. “Are there any boys here who happen to be on the Harvard admissions board?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Then no, there’s no one who’s caught my eye.” Erica grinned, and Dr. Larkin laughed.

“You’re a smart girl, Erica.” Just not smart enough.

“Well, I try,” Erica said, gesturing to the stack of books next to her. She glanced down at her watch and then back at Dr. Larkin. “Time’s up.”

Larkin grinned and closed her notebook, standing up as she did. “Thank you for humoring me. I’ll see you in class,” she said, before turning and walking out of the building, her white lab coat trailing behind her.

The walk to the office of the guidance counsellor was a long one. Savannah thought she saw Wesley on the way back, but it was a fleeting glance. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had been to see Grace, as Ms. Morris had insisted on being referred by. She was one of the youngest members of the faculty, and the one that was in the position of drawing the most info out of students in order to offer proper advice. Wanting to be on a first-name basis made sense. Savannah had been on her couch a couple times, specifically to ask about the best courses to take for her planned path into university athletics and one mandated appearance after her incident in the not-so-locked office in the gymnasium. That was embarrassing but at least Grace didn’t give her any real grief for it.

The door was open, but Savannah still timidly knocked on it anyway to make sure that whoever was inside would be aware of her presence. “Hey Grace? I was told you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, indeed, Miss Payton. Please come in, take a seat.” Dr. Morris greeted the pink and blonde haired girl with a warm smile and gestured to the couch. She kept her motions smooth and carefully measured, as Subject #19 could spook easily. This was of course in part due to the experiment, but also likely a remnant of her time in foster care — there were some anxieties that could not be overwritten. “How are you feeling today?”

Savannah pulled up a spot and gracefully sat herself down on the well-worn sofa. She was still a bundle of nerves in regards to what her big mouth had gotten her into with the party on Friday night, but there was no reason for Ms. Morris to know that. No matter how cool she was with the students. Plus, there was the ongoing spat with TJ that had yet to be fully resolved. That one might be more suitable conversation material for this space. But she dodged the question for the most part. “I guess I’m doing all right. Got a good run in this morning. Still riding the high, you know?”

“As you should. Now that you mention it, we do have quite a few runners here at the school, don’t we?” Grace wondered thoughtfully, tapping her pen to her lips. “Perhaps we should organize a club, or some kind of relay event. Would you enjoy that?”

“I’d be up for it,” Savannah agreed as she leaned back onto the furniture. “I mean, as long as no one else in the club gets too upset when I lap them, you know?” Thoughts of repeatedly dusting Wesley in their races to the various stations around the campus brought a faint smile to the Texan’s face.

Dr. Morris laughed softly and made a note of her response. “That sure confidence will get you far in life, Savannah, never lose sight of it.” She said encouragingly as her pen came to a halt and she brought her eyes back up to face Subject #19. “Perhaps it is even the very reason that your team was victorious in the scavenger hunt. Tell me about how that went, I’m curious.”

The smile on Savannah’s face grew wider. “Well, if I’m being honest, I didn’t expect much out of the event. I mean, I didn’t have any real first-hand experience with Wesley or Talya, so I didn’t know what either of them could really bring. But once we got going it was pretty clear we were all driving forward with some purpose. When we got to the finish line, you know I was expecting to see Sol or Leo or one of those mega jock teams or something but hearing we won? That… that was a nice little feather in the cap, you know? Ended up being a really good time.” Savannah thought for a second. “Although I don’t remember getting a prize or anything. Thought I heard something about a prize.”

“Actually, now that you mention it… excuse me.” Grace said, setting down her notebook and pen on her end table before standing up. She walked over to the incoming mail file on her desk, having remembered that a staff member had dropped off an envelope to dispense out to the Hunt’s winners. She had somehow forgotten about it in Wesley’s appointment, how uncharacteristic of her, she needed to get some rest. Returning to her seat, Grace brandished the large manila envelope with a smile. “I believe I have that right here. There is an envelope for each of you inside, would you be able to distribute them to your teammates as well?”

Savannah took the envelope and nodded. “I think I can track the other members of my team down and get that to them.” They still had the text chain from pre-hunt planning. It would suffice.

“Excellent.” Dr. Morris beamed a smile and picked up her notebook once again. “It seems like you enjoyed the hunt and your team, then? Do you think you might have made some new friends in Wesley and Talya?”

A shrug worked its way out from Savannah’s shoulders. “It’s definitely possible. I mean, would I have picked Wes and Tal before the hunt to partner up? Heck no. I would have gone with TJ and Erica.” If nothing else, it would have saved Erica from her experience with Billie. That was a whole other conversation that was still going on. Plus, even with the recent tiff, TJ was still one of Sav’s best friends. It stood to reason they would stick together. “But I think even if we came in third or fourth or, God forbid, last, I think it would have been all right. Turns out we made a really good team, and it was enjoyable company. I could see hanging out with them again. You know, if they wanted to. Not gonna force anything.”

“Well, I guess you will just have to see where things go when you hand out their prizes. Things just might flow naturally.” Grace jotted down a few notes and checked the time on her wrist watch. “I’m glad to hear that the hunt might have opened up some new opportunities for you, and it sounds like you are still growing close with Tyler Jane and Erica. It’s good to see all of you students getting along well so early into the year. Is there anyone else that you’re interested in getting to know on campus?”

That was a question that Savannah wasn’t really expecting. Interested in getting to know? In what way? If it was in the way that she assumed most of her classmates thought, then the answer would be Nicholas Grey. Yes, even if Tyler Jane was totally miffed about it. Maybe Dwayne or Griffin would also make that particular list, but Nicholas was still at the top. Although… Talya… no. No, she had to get those kinds of thoughts out of her mind. That wasn’t proper Christian thinking. No, ma’am. Besides, that couldn’t be what Miss Morris meant at all.

“I dunno, I feel like I’m… aware of what most of the people around here are about, you know? Like friend or foe is pretty clear. I really don’t know. Maybe Dwayne Freeman? He seems like a smart guy, but I haven’t had much face time with him at all. Other than that, I think I know who I’m running with in my pack.”

Grace wasn’t expecting her to mention Subject #28 given the details that the scientists had provided her regarding Savannah’s interactions with the other students. Dr. Morris assumed this to be a deflection of her true feelings and made note of potential feelings of shame regarding her true leanings. Grace also raised an eyebrow at Savannah mentioning friends and foe. “Foe? Is there someone here that makes you uncomfortable?”

The pink-blonde’s eyes shifted a little bit. “Well… I don’t need to see Leo Brooks again any time soon. Just every time I’m in the same room as that guy, it’s just a whole pile of no. The vibe is so… ugly. I think that’s how me and TJ bonded is just over knowing that we weren’t stupid enough to fall for whatever game that dude is trying to play.”

Ah yes, Subject #11, she should have known. This was not the first time Grace had heard such feedback regarding Leo. Those who loved him were loyal and those that didn’t… well they usually felt quite the opposite of love. Dr. Morris nodded with a straight, concerned face. “That sounds fair, but I do hope that you know that this is a safe place for you to talk if anything ever becomes too uncomfortable with him. For both yourself or Miss Morrissey. My door is always open.”

“I appreciate that, Grace,” Savannah admitted. It was always nice to know there was some level of sanctuary if things ever did go south for some reason. Not that TJ and her couldn’t probably take Leo down if it came to it. TJ could hit him high, Sav could go low. “I mean, that’s probably the worst of it. Him and creepy Todd. But other than that, things are going pretty well I think. On track for that Texas A&M track scholarship yet!”

“I have no doubt that you are!” Grace said with feelings of pride at how far Savannah had come in such a short time. Some days, and appointments, this experiment felt criminal. But in cases like Miss Payton’s, it seemed that San Agustin might offer a glimmer of hope and a second chance at a prosperous life. Cases like Savannah’s kept the shadows at bay. “I have another appointment coming up shortly, but it was lovely getting to chat with you Savannah. Please remember to pass out the other prizes, and I will make sure to let the headmaster know about possibly setting up a racing club.” As they exchanged their goodbyes and Savannah stood up from the sofa, Grace couldn’t stop herself from slipping in a little bit of her knowledge of the girls’ plan for a party. “Oh, and I hope you have fun this weekend.”

Savannah was all set to be on her merry way when Miss Morris slipped that one out. Have fun? She doesn’t know, right? Who would blab to one of the faculty about a definitely illegal party? ...No, no, she couldn’t know. That would be crazy! The group agreed to keep the invites to a minimum. Yeah, she can’t know. I’m just being crazy! Definitely. But if I’m not…” The hesitation was clear as she turned around to give a polite wave. “I’ll try!” she squeaked out. “You too!” You too? The hell, Sav? With that, she bolted.

Once she felt she was a safe enough distance away, Savannah’s attention turned to the envelope she held in her hand. It didn’t feel heavy enough to be anything too big. If all it turned out they won were some dang stickers or something, that wasn’t going to fly. She heard enough from some of the others about that crock. So she was curious. At least this couldn’t hurt to check out, right?

She opened the large manila envelope and found the three smaller ones inside, the one marked “Savannah Payton” on top of the pile, so she took it and opened it up. Inside was a small folded piece of paper. Well at least it’s not just a fancy sticker.

Opening it up revealed what appeared to be a black VISA. The card read, “Congratulations! Your team was victorious in the San Agustin Scavenger Hunt! Accept this gift of a $75 gift card to use on whatever you so desire! You earned it! - Headmaster Wayman”

That made Savannah’s eyes open wide. It seemed like one of the major hurdles towards acquiring booze was just cleared. A cheap piece of plastic with no name whatsoever. It was perfect! Wow. This solves the money problem! But $75 might not be enough for me to be the hero here… A thought occurred.

Savannah pulled out her school-issued phone and pulled up the text chain that she shared with Wesley and Talya to keep track of things for the scavenger hunt. She wasn’t expecting to use it again so soon, but this was a golden opportunity.

• Hey Wes, Tal. I got our prizes from Miss Morris. $75 each! But I have a proposition. Some of us are having a party Friday night in the first floor common room. Would either of you be interested in coming to this event and contributing your prizes to make sure there are plenty of drinks available for everyone? It would be a proper celebration!
  
  The response was quick.
• I already planned on coming, I heard about it. And hells yes, I got nothing else to spend this on in our educational prison world.
  
  Such a mixed message of both happiness and confusion. WHAT!?!?! How does Wesley know?!? He wasn't on the guest list! Pretty sure he wasn't on the guest list... That's good about the money, but damn it, how does he know? All kinds of thoughts were swirling in Savannah's head now.
• Speaking of, how the hell are you getting drinks?
  
  That was proving to be a more pressing question than Savannah initially thought now.
• Don’t worry about it! Your girl has got it covered! But, um… just curious, how did you hear about the party?
• Uh… I think I heard about it in the cafeteria this morning? Word spreads fast… Let me know if you need anything else! :)
  
  This was not good. Oh god! How much booze am I going to need for this?!? What the hell? Does the whole school know? We aren't going to be able to carry enough booze for the entire damn school! We're going to need like a car or something...
• Uh… you wouldn’t happen to have access to a set of wheels, do you?
• Negative. But I have a pretty big backpack?
  
  The hail mary was not answered here. I guess that makes sense. If he's going to come to the party and pay for booze, he might as well get some stuff he wants. Still, how obvious is that going to look? Five of us all leaving campus at once on foot? We'll be spotted for sure! Ugh, my head hurts...
• ...That might work. I’ll keep you posted.
• 👍

As Savannah dropped her phone back in her jacket pocket, she uttered a silent prayer that Talya was on board with this plan. All of a sudden scoring a couple of bottles of booze was now turning into catering an entire underage drinking hootenanny. It was almost enough to make her not crush on Nicholas anymore just because it was his stupid good looks that got her into this mess. Almost.

She needed help dealing with this. There was only one person she knew at the moment who would at least be able to offer some level of clarity on how to handle the severe change in the amount of people that were coming.

Savannah could not hit Erica's number fast enough on her phone. Erica, I solved one problem, but now we have a much bigger one...

-----------------------------------------

The two overseers of the interview stood intently listening until Subject #19 departed Dr. Morris’ office. They turned away and consulted their notes.

“Dr. Morris is amazing at getting these subjects to let their true feelings out. And I have to admit even I’m impressed with our work on #19. If it wasn’t for the punk dye job, you would never be able to hazard a guess of her true origins,” the first man commented.

“Of course, the gym incident proved just how unstable she might be without that initial tether.”

“But Dr. Morris was able to convince her she was calm after that. As long as the gazelle traits don’t put her in a vegetative state, that should be more than enough to convince state officials that this is an effective rehabilitation treatment for repeat offenders?”

“True, but I’m more worried if she ever figures out that her previous life in Stillwater is all a ruse. If there are any dormant tendencies of her original personality, it could jeopardize everything. Plus, some of her actions towards #37 during the hunt clearly displayed some… buried instincts.”

“It shouldn’t be that much of a problem I would think.”

“You would think that. But you never know. Subject #50 proved that. Anyway, did you leave the van keys somewhere that they would be sure to be found?”

“Yes. They were left on a desk in the library. Since we know #19 has been in contact with #5, that should get the vehicle in her hands and we can see what we might have to account for with a mind-altering cocktail introduced into the system.”

“Excellent. Should be some good results to go over on Monday morning.”

“I just know I’m not cleaning up that mess.”

_{Featuring Dr. John Hensley and Tayla Burnley.}
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the lamp light shined down on the paper, Talya took a brief moment to glance up from her sketch pad as she heard the door to the art room open and close. There stood Coach Hensley.

“Ms. Burnley. I thought I might find you here.”

“Spare me the formalities. Take a seat,” she said, gesturing to the chair across from her. Turning her attention back to her current work of art, Talya began to resume her shading as the man sat down.

”Could you answer some questions for me?”

”Mmmm…. I could. I mean,” shrugging her shoulders as she looked up at him again, Talya laid her pencil to the side. ”I don’t want to, but I don’t think I really have a choice, hm?” Arms crossed, Talya leaned back in her seat, crossing her right leg over her left. The appearance of the Coach had nearly killed her inspiration, and it wasn’t as if she could have concentrated on the perfect angel of the nose while answering questions about the scavenger hunt.

”We can start off easy; How do you feel about the scavenger hunt over all? Your team mates? Winning? The tasks?”

”The tasks were okay. Not insanely fun, but not boring either. My teammates were nice. Wesley seems charming. Savannah seems… intriguing. I could care less about winning. Winning isn’t really something that I strive for. It happened, so cool, I guess.”

Nodding his head Mr. Hensley copied her posture in order to make himself more comfortable. ”Would you consider maybe being friends with either Wesley or Savannah?”

Scoffing, Talya rolled her eyes. ”Please, John. Spare me the lies and stupid questions. We both know I don’t have friends. I have assets and enemies.”

”So I’ll take that as a no,” the older man said teasingly. ”Have you gotten close with anyone here at all?”

”Erica is respectable. Bradley has nice art. Other than that… no one.”

”Some of the staff and I are concerned that maybe you might start to feel like an outsider. You seem to push everyone away and --”

”I’m sorry. I think I missed where your job title said psychologist.” Glaring daggers at the teacher, Talya closed her eyes and took a deep breath before returning to the conversation. ”I’m not an outsider, per say. I like it this way. If I have friends, cool. But people bore me so easily. I like to add a flare to life. D r a m a.” Making sure to over pronunciate the last word, Talya watch as it was Hensleys turn to roll his eyes.

”Yes. You and your… trouble making. Just try and keep yourself out of trouble, yeah?”

”I’ll consider it.” Turning back to her art, Talya began to sketch the lines where needed. ”Have a good night, Coach.”