[IC] Project Untamed

[NeoAJ]

_{A Savannah @NeoAJ, Talya @HaleyTheRandom and Wesley @GhostMami collab}

---

Wesley Slater waited anxiously for the competition to begin as Dr. Hagerty explained the rules. There would be a mixture of mental and physical challenges, so it seemed. Wes was confident that he could manage both of them within certain contexts. As a student hoping to someday study law, he had book smarts and a plethora of trivia knowledge. Due to his nature, he was also a quick thinker and witty… but, he wasn’t sure how well he would maneuver something like a complex riddle. As for physical challenges, he was sure that he could carry the team on anything requiring speed, agility, and dexterity. Strength, however, might pose a problem… he had this thought as he scanned the room and took in the other teams before bringing his eyes to his own teammates. They didn’t have a bulging muscular jock on their team, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t win.

“Okay, well.” He began to address Talya and Savannah as they waited for their first clue card to be passed out. “Let’s talk about team strengths while we wait, what are you guys good at and what might you need extra help with? Hopefully between the three of us we can cover all our bases.” Wesley wasn’t a natural born leader, not by a long shot, but in this instance it felt right to take the torch. This was a game and he was competitive as all get out, so he had to take the lead if he wanted a chance at victory, which he did. Losing was not an option.

Savannah shrugged her shoulders. “I can run,” she stated. As if anyone didn’t know that at this point. “I can jump pretty well too, so if we need athleticism, I’m probably the best choice. I mean no offense.”

There was a little bit of offense. It was clear that most of the other athletes, especially the ones who might be able to lift a heavy rock or something, were not present on this squad. Sav was never driven to do much work on her arms, Wesley didn’t look like he was packing any major muscle and Talya… she looked really good. Savannah shook her head after that last thought. What the fuck, Savannah? Focus! You want to win this, right? Prove that you’ve got more to offer than just some nice legs? Then win this… and let Wesley take all the credit so you don’t stand out too much and start getting the Leos of the school back on your tail!

“So if we have to split up and cover a lot of ground, let me take the farthest point and we can probably catch teams off guard that way with that level of coverage.”

“Right on, good to know. I’m a runner too, so we definitely have speed covered. How ‘bout you, Tal? Is it cool if I call you Tal?” Wesley asked his second teammate.

One of Talya’s curses was being able to observe nearly everything around her. From the way Hagerty creepily smirked, to the way Wesley seemed to be sizing both her and Savannah up. She especially noticed how Savannah’s eyes seemed to linger for just a second to long --

“Hmm? Oh yeah. Sure. Tal’s fine.” Crossing her arms as she watched the clue cards being passed out, she took a brief moment to think of her strengths. “Let’s see…. On the physical side of things I’m a really good climber. Flexible. Fast reflexes. Running isn’t my favorite thing, but I can do it. Mentally, I’m good for plans, adaptability, and riddles.”

“Awesome! I feel like I’d be trash at riddles, so I’m glad we have you.” Wes said, offering Talya the charming Slater Smile. “Trivia I can do though, if there are any challenges like that.” As if on cue, a staff member approached their group and offered the first clue. The card had two groupings of jumbled up letters: EULECRT LAHL. Sliding the card towards Talya his own mind went to work spinning on what the words could unscramble to form. “Do you think the letters can go anywhere, or each word is separately scrambled?”

Taking a look at the card, Talya squinted her eyes in concentration. “I would say probably separately… Remember how in grade school they’d give us these jumbled letter things and when the letters were separated, it meant the words were too? If that makes any sense?” Continuing to stare at the letters as she mentally arranged them in her head, Talya shrugged her shoulders before she spoke again. “The second word has to be hall. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

Savannah peered over Talya’s shoulder to get a glimpse at what the puzzle was. She liked to think she was good at these sorts of things, but really didn’t want to step on any toes. She didn’t need to add more fuel to any fires given she still wasn’t sure where she stood with TJ at the moment. But once Talya mentioned the second word was “HALL” that left a limited number of possibilities for the first one. Culture… no that doesn’t work. Cretule? Not a word. Lurtcee? Letcrue? Le..Lecture! “Lecture. It’s the Lecture Hall. That’s what it is.”

“You girls are brilliant, YES!” Wesley exclaimed in praise. He hopped out of his chair and locked eyes with Savannah, who claimed to be speedy. “Race you there!” He challenged before launching himself over the back of his chair and tearing ass towards the lecture halls. Which one, exactly? He hadn’t a clue, but they were all in the same area.

While Talya never claimed to be the fastest, or really enjoyed running, as soon as Wesley and Savannah had taken off, so did she. With one long leg in front of the other, her long brown hair fanning out behind her, Talya soon caught up with her teammates, doing her best to match their pace. The thudding of their footsteps on the pavement accompanied by the rise and fall of her chest was a surprisingly good feeling - one that Talya hadn’t ever recalled feeling before.

“Gonna have to race me too, Wes!” she called out tauntingly.

Savannah was caught off-guard by Wesley’s impromptu challenge, but you don’t get to be the best runner in the school by not being prepared to go at any moment. Wesley’s head start was quickly erased as the Texan caught both her teammates and passed them by on the way to the lecture halls. She had barely broken a sweat when she turned around to see where Talya and Wesley ended up. “Y’all knew who you were challenging to a race, right? I mean, I wasn’t kidding when I said I can run. I’ve done enough of it in my lifetime to know how good I am.”

Wesley and Talya arrived at the same time and nearly collided in the doorway of the lecture hall. Wes laughed through heavy breaths from the sprint before realizing that Savannah was already there. “What the?!” He looked behind them and then double-taked. “How did you?” Panting breaths. “Damn Sav, you are fast. So what’s the challenge?” No rest for the wicked.

“Holy shit, Savannah.” Taking a few quick, deep breaths, Talya looked at the other woman. “You trying to join the Olympics or something?” Standing up straight as her heart attempted to beat from her chest, Talya took another look at the clue card. “Says that once we reach the destination, we have to look around for ten puzzle pieces? That should give us our next clue.”

“Well, if the Olympics will have me, I’ll be happy to run for the Stars and Stripes,” Savannah admitted as she took a look around the room. She didn’t recognize the teacher in charge, probably one of the science teachers. She didn’t have much interest in that. Anyway, they seemed to be preoccupied so there would be no hints as to where the 10 puzzle pieces were hidden. But they had to be fairly obvious, right? The faculty wouldn’t make them impossible to find. But yet, she saw nothing. “What are we even looking for with these puzzle pieces? Are they expecting us to sniff them out or something? I can’t see anything…”

Wesley didn’t need to be told twice. This was going to be his shining challenge! No one was as good at ferreting out little trinkets and hidden treasures as much as Wesley Slater… not that anyone really knew that fact. Besides Griffin, who knew everything. You’re not a very good thief if you get caught! With his heart still racing from the run, he flitted around the lecture hall checking under chairs and desks, on top of shelves, the ledge of the white boards, you name it. When all was said and done, he had retrieved five puzzle pieces before meeting back up with his teammates. “I got five!” He said before dumping them on a table top to try to start forming a completed image.

Once inside, Talya did her best to find as many pieces as she could. The brunette had never been that great at games that required searching. Instead of searching around the room like a maniac, she did her best to rely on her intuition. If I were a teacher, where would I hide things, she thought. Setting off on her random path, Talya soon managed to find three of the puzzle pieces before heading back over to Wesley and handing them to him. “How's it coming with the last few, Sav?!”

Savannah wasn’t having much luck. She was roaming around the chairs, looking for something to stick out, but it wasn’t coming to her. She did manage to grab one that she spotted on a windowsill, but the other one was a long time coming. “I got one!” she shouted before whispering to herself, “Thought I would be better at finding things though… I don’t forget that many things where I put them…” As she emerged from the aisle, she tried to have another look around before bringing her solitary piece to the front. She swept around to the lectern to see if maybe they would dare hide one in the podium. Sure enough, a piece rested underneath the microphone. “OK, I got two!” she corrected herself as Savvy brought her haul to the team.

“Sick!” Wes replied as he arranged the pieces so far. A couple of them were fitting together to form another scrambled up word, but this one was much shorter than their first clue. With the addition of Talya and Savannah’s pieces, there was only one thing it could be. “The gym!” Standing up straight he raised an eyebrow. “Round two: rematch?”

“Normally I’m all for people dusting themselves off and trying again, but are you sure you want this heat?”

“Absolutely.” Wes replied before taking off yet again.

There was no way that Talya was running all the way to the gym. The sprint to the Lecture Hall had been plenty enough exercise for the day. ”You guys go ahead. I’ll meet you there.”

As her teammates took off, Talya was sure to at least pick up the pace while walking to the gym. She was used to having people wait on her, as she was rarely ever on time. However, with every step she took, Talya felt the need to win the competition growing inside of her. Once she had reached the gym she looked at both Wesley and Savannah. “Now what?”

“Uh…” Wesley pulled out his phone to glance at the picture of the puzzle clue that he had taken. A photo was much easier to transport than a fragile puzzle. “Looks like we have to shoot ten free throws as a team, each of us getting at least one before we can move on. Wanna just stand in a line and take turns one after another? Who’s first?”

Basketball? Talya didn’t have much experience in the sports department. What little she had done was soccer and swimming. Sure, there was an occasional friendly game here and there at the park with some friends, but she considered herself very far from a good basketball player.

”This might take us a second,” she said with a sigh. ”I vote for you, Sav. You seem the most athletic out of all of us.”

While it was true that Savannah had once again bested Wesley in the race to the gym, that was where the extent of her athletic abilities ended. Stellar hand-eye coordination was not something she was blessed with, but she could probably manage.. “Uhhh… sure. I’ll give it a shot. Eh?” she prodded, proud of herself for the unintentional pun. “No? OK then.”

The pink-blonde girl grabbed a basketball off a provided rack and stepped to the line indicated on the court. She took a pair of cautious dribbles, making them look easy when in reality she had to concentrate hard just to maintain possession. As she looked up at the rim, eyes firmly locked onto the orange metal hoop that separated her from her goal, she closed her eyes and fired with the grace and verve of the NBA stars of old.

Unfortunately, the shot most resembled that of Shaquille O’Neal. It clanked off the front of the rim and bounced right back into Savannah’s hands. It almost looked like it was planned, but basketball was an entirely different sport than dodgeball, and with a much smaller target.

“OK, take two!” Savvy hoisted another attempt, this time aiming for the square on the backboard. Maybe she could force it off that and in. It wasn’t as cool as Mikey Williams made it look on TV, but still, it had to work. The shot clunked off the back of the rim this time as Savannah was still finding her range, but the ball bounced a foot into the air and fell back down through the net.

“Yes! There we go! There it is! One point!” Savannah triumphantly roared as she went to retrieve her ball. “Tal, Wes, you can do it! It’s pretty easy once you line it up! Just fire away!”

“AYYY!!!” Wesley cheered Savannah on boisterously when she made the shot on only her second attempt. “Nice job, Sav.” Wes grabbed a basketball of his own off of the rack and lined up for a shot. He took a steadying breath and hoped that the couple of games he played with Griffin before he got whisked off into quarantine would pay off. His first shot… missed the net and hoop entirely. The second one bounced off the rim and rolled off to the sidelines. Not even bothering to fetch his missed shots, he grabbed a fresh ball for a third attempt and stepped up to the line once more. Squaring up and placing his feet carefully, with a bend at the knee and a push through the arms, his wrist flicked and, “BOOM! There we go!” All net, baby. “Let’s see what you got, Tal!”

Watching the others as they took their shots, Talya studied their movements as carefully as she could. A simple eyebrow raised as Savannah made her shot, she watched Wesley as he finally made his own shot. Once it was her turn, the young woman grabbed one of the basketballs before dribbling it a few times like Savannah had done. Trying to get a feel for the ball, Talya wasn’t entirely sure what good it would do. Once she was in position, Talya took a deep breath before sending the ball flying towards the backboard. As the orange and black sphere hit the dead center of the white square, it magically made it’s way right into the net as it bounced back. Slightly shocked, Talya shrugged as she turned to her teammates. ”I have no idea how that happened.”

“Okay, Kobe, I see you!” Wes encouraged her with a grin.

“Hey, keep doing what works!” Savannah offered. “Three down, seven to go right? And now we all have a make, so we can just go with it now!” She took her place at the line and fired another shot at the square. It was much smoother now, as smooth as a thunk and a swish could be. “Shoot! I’m hot! Keep feeding me some balls, y’all! I’ll take all these shots!”

And the team did just that. Talya passed balls from the rack to Savannah. Wesley ran around the court to fetch the balls from the shots that Savvy missed, bringing them back to Talya. The team functioned like a spastic, but well-oiled machine. After about ten minutes of this, the remaining seven free throws had been sunk. “Hell yeah, nice teamwork! What’s next?” Wes asked gleefully, eager for the next challenge.

“Dunno, but I’d say we’re in the lead and we’re gonna win this thing!” Savannah affirmed as the gym teacher handed over the next clue.

”I’d say our chances look pretty decent,” Talya said, a small smile trying to peek through onto her face. Maybe they did have a shot at this thing after all.

[LovelyComplex]

_{@TootsiePop@Rosalia@metanoia}
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Holding his own basketball, Griffin roamed the main courtyard, leisurely making his way to the cafeteria where the groups were meeting. The only thing he was looking forward to during this last minute invite to participate in a school sanctioned scavenger hunt was spending time with Sol. Nicholas was aiiight, but Sol was the person he trusted the most in this tiny bubble that was their school.

Dressed in all black, Griffin imagined himself at an intense game, on some outdoor b-ball court, with some of the more challenging street ballers he’s ever played, and began dribbling, pretending to read a defender. With a cool smile on, he did a lateral behind the back hesitation into a cross jab combo. After pretending to shoot, jumping high in the air, like he had wings and his feet seemingly hovered over the ground, he smacked his hands hard on the ball, tightly gripping it. Alas, he wasn’t a bird. Gravity did it’s job and brought his feet back to the ground.

A couple weeks before he was hospitalized, Griffin realized he was pretty damn good at basketball. How could he possibly forget a hobby that he loves? When he first got here, he was just a smart nerd that went to the gym. Now everyone sees him as the basketball jock that’s part of the Apex Predator squad, as if he was always like… this… since day one.

Then again, ever since then, he felt a longing desire that he didn’t understand. Like he was trying to be the best to prove a point, like what he wanted wasn’t pumps to help him fly but someone to be there and watch him soar. He had too much time to think when he was caged in the medical center and as a result, he was on edge.

Hanging out with Wes and B-Rad didn’t fully satisfy his craving of getting up to no good. They told him all about the party and he knew that’s where he needed to do something to release some tension, scratch an itch, and/or break a thing or two. Until then, he had to catch up with friends while playing a game of make-believe as they ran around campus as Clubhouse Detectives.

Oh joy.

From a distance, he could see his partners and decided the best approach was to surprise them, especially Sol. Changing his route, Griffin hid himself in plain sight, where the other students camouflaged him. Gliding on the gravel, he silently approached Sol from behind.

Ever since the groups for the stupid scavenger hunt had been announced, Soleil had been in a sour mood. The mere thought of having to spend any time with Quinn and her stupid, obvious little crush on Theodore made the young woman see red. Luckily, being paired with someone cool like Nicholas definitely softened up the blow, but the news was enough to keep her annoyed for a while. On the day of, she had taken position in the main courtyard with one of her hunt buddies, waiting for Little Miss Shy Girl to make her appearance. The time of the event was quickly ticking by, and Quinn was nowhere to be seen. Although this made Sol happy in a way, it ticked her off that she was keeping them waiting.

As upset as she was about the whole Quinn situation, it wasn’t enough to keep Soleil unaware of her surroundings. Upon the first signs of movement behind her she immediately tensed up, listening closely to the nearly imperceptible sound of Griffin approaching and patiently biding her time. When she knew he was mere inches away from her back, the dark-haired girl spun around and connected a playful, gentle left hook to the boy’s stomach.

“Too slow, buddy,” Shady teased with a grin, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Dramatically playing along, Griffin dropped his basketball, making sure to secure it with his foot, hugged his stomach and made a painful expression, as if that left hook was more than a gentle tap but something she’d do on the ring, “You got me, Tiger Toes,” he groaned in faux exasperation. Once the joke was over, he rested his hands behind his head and knowingly grinned at the two, “So, how you guys feeling about all this?”

Nicholas offered the two a half-assed shrug. ”It’s a lot more interesting than sitting in class. And it gives us an opportunity to just take our sweet time if we wanted to.” Not that he would, but it was refreshing to have the option.

“Some people might actually take this seriously.” Glancing at their surroundings, Griffin found himself amused at how excitable some of the students were, like his friend’s (Wesley’s) team. Well, when there was nothing else to look forward to, it made sense that they’d be bouncing off the walls for a game that took no effort, at all. “Where’s your third, anyway?” He played it off like he wasn’t participating.

Now it was Soleil’s turn to shrug and glare. “Don’t know; and don’t really care, either. We’re better off without her anyway. She was probably going to hold us back anyway,” she answered, the disdain for Quinn ringing clear in her voice. “Nicky and I can take these suckers out by ourselves easy.”

He visibly cringed when Sol called him Nicky ”I believe I’ve told you to never call me that, especially when there are people around to hear it.” He glared at Soleil for a solid five seconds.

The sour expression Shady had previously was replaced by another mischievous grin when she noticed how annoyed Nicholas seemed to get at her nickname of preference. “Uh-huh. And I believe I told you I was only half-listening when you said it, so I can’t remember not to call you Nicky,” she lied, suppressing a smirk. “Sorry. I meant to say Nicholas.” God, she was spending way too much time with Leo, and it was starting to show.

“Damn, didn’t think I’d ever see the day Nicholas would get his panties in a bunch.” Griffin couldn’t contain his laughter, and as he did indeed laugh out loud, he picked up his basketball and started spinning it on his finger.

As much as Nicholas could argue with Sol and even Griff, this wasn’t the place and they didn’t really have the time. The fact of the matter was this: Quinn was nowhere to be found and they couldn’t very well do the scavenger hunt with just the two of them, especially if there were going to be puzzles because lord knew, while Soleil was talented in a lot of areas, but using her less-than-optimal mind for puzzles was not one of them.

Same went for Griff. Dude could shoot baskets and run faster than either of them, but again, like with ...Tiger Toes, he wasn’t ideal for any mental challenges. So that left Nicholas as the one to handle anything mental. He wasn’t savvy like some were, but he was observant and was able to focus on tasks if he really put his all into it. That made him as great of a choice as any.

“Okay, listen up!” Nicholas looked at both of them, his eyes going from left to right. “Quinn is obviously not coming. And as much as I would love to have her abilities to tackle puzzles, that’s not happening. So, Griff- !” He centered on his basketball-twirling frenemy. “You’re in,” Nicholas hoped a sly smile would make up for his attitude a few moments ago. “You two can do whatever physical challenges are demanded of us and I’ll handle everything else. Deal?”

“Dude, I know I’m in. That’s why I’m here. Quinn had an allergic reaction.” He forcibly tossed the ball at the guy and muttered, “Think fast.”

He side-stepped the ball and it flew past him. “Looks like you’ve lost your toy,” Nicholas snickered.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’ll suck at physical challenges.” Griffin rolled his eyes and jogged to retrieve his toy. “Don’t think so highly of yourself, I bet your ass I can solve the mental shit faster than you.” Picking up his ball, he turned on his heel and smirked, challenging Nicholas with a confident glare.

“You better not complain when you get stuck on the first riddle we come across and I have to bail your ass out, proving without a doubt that I was right from the beginning.” Nicholas didn’t always like being this way, but someone had to say it.

“Says the dude that already thinks he’ll scrub at every other challenge.” Nicholas knew nothing about Griffin and it was obvious to see how much he underestimated him, only seeing the jock in him, and not the intellect. “You better not complain when you look like a fool trying to rock climb or throw a football or whatever stupid challenges they have waiting for us.”

Although Soleil had enjoyed the back and forth between Griffin and Nick, she had quickly gotten tired of their meaningless back and forth. If they had ended up throwing hands, she would’ve let it happen, but these petty word exchanges had gotten old fast. “Alright then, ladies: let’s save all this energy for the actual challenges, okay?” she scolded, feeling the need to take position in between the two of them. “I know this is bullshit and all that, but I’d like for us to at least try and win this thing. I don’t do well with second place.”

[spooner]

_{Theodore Wallstrom, Bradley Barron, and Tyler Jane Morrissey
A @Smarty0114, @Spooner, and @Melissa Collaboration}

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.

[Melissa]

_{Dwayne Freeman, Frankie Allensworth, and Leo Brooks
An @Ejected, @Spooner, and @Melissa Collaboration}

“If either of you gets egg on my hair, I swear to god…”

Leo grimaced as the staff member explained their next challenge, having been led to it by their previously scrambled clue. Did he commandeer the leader position of the group? Absolutely. Ultra competitive and athletic, scavenger hunts and races were certainly in Leo’s wheelhouse. Up until this point though, the challenges had been a piece of cake- menial and brainless, but this… this just seemed too stupid to actually pose a threat to their success. They had all been forced to be at least 6 feet apart in the courtyard, the distance not extremely far but definitely making the challenge a little more than child’s play. However, Leo wasn’t worried in the slightest- the only fear plaguing him was being on the receiving end of a broken egg and having it ruin his brown locks or crisp white shoes.

“Oh don’t be such a primadonna,” Francesca smacked her lips around a large candy pop as she lifted her sunglasses on top of her head. Looking at the large man child with humor-filled eyes. “If you get egg in your hair I’ll help you wash it out. We can wash our hair together,” she winked and popped the pop back in her mouth.

It was then that Dwayne realized that his suspicions from the previous day had been correct: he was gonna have to deal with being the awkward "third wheel" for the entire scavenger hunt.

“Well maybe I should break it on purpose then.” Leo passed the egg from hand to hand until the stopwatch began, and then tossed it to the teammate on his left side.

Frankie gracefully caught the egg and held it up “See nothing to worry about,” she said smugly before looking to her left to the tall dark young man “Hey D, look sharp!” she exclaimed before gently throwing the egg to him.

Dwayne caught the egg with ease, the corner of his mouth slightly tilting upwards in triumph once he did so. Dwayne wasn't too worried about ruining his clothing or hair during the scavenger hunt activity; after all, it would only take a few minutes in the shower or a few Tide pods to remove the gooey substance from his being if it came down to it. "Yeah, it won't be a problem. As long as we're all careful..." As the young man spoke, he shuffled the egg into his right hand and tossed it into the air once more, silently hoping that Leo would catch it.

The dark haired boy opened up his palms to receive, and caught the egg just barely, purposefully contorting in order to put his body out of harm's way. Leo tried to handle the egg as gingerly as he could, but the words gentle and careful weren’t exactly in his vocabulary, so he was trying his best. Weren’t physical challenges supposed to be about strength? With another toss, the egg sailed over to the blonde, a suggestive brow raised on the boy’s face. “Come on, Frankie, I know what those hands can do.”

Frankie caught the egg once again with a smirk “Mmmh” she replied, tossing it quickly to Dwayne without much pause. “Ugh! Has it been a minute yet? I’m over this…” she moaned looking to the faculty member observing them.

“It’s been 20 seconds.”

"You can't just chuck it around like it's a football or something, man. We've gotta be more gentle with it..." Dwayne said as he caught the egg once more and threw it underhand to Leo. "Unless you want to start this all over again and increase the chances of you ruining your shoes." It was after Dwayne finished speaking that the faculty member nearby gave them the signal that they'd reached the thirty-second mark. They were almost there.

Leo rolled his eyes, grasping the egg as it was tossed back to him. He didn’t like being critiqued, not one bit, especially by Dwayne. “Gentle, my ass. We’ve just gotta just be consistent.” The boy advised, continuing with the order they had started with and passing it back to Frankie.

Catching the egg once more, Frankie rolled her eyes giving off her ‘whatever’ vibe. She made eye contact with Dwayne making sure he saw just how slowly she was throwing the egg back to him. Once she had thrown it she crossed her arms in front of her. She was officially over it.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Dwayne simply decided to just stay quiet for the rest of the challenge. It had become obvious to him other the past few tasks that trying to reason with or talk to Leo was like talking to a brick wall. The young man caught the egg with no problem, and tossed it over to Leo in the same manner as he had before. "Heads up." His eyes went wide, however, once he saw Leo begin to struggle.

Leo fumbled the egg in his hands, Dwayne’s throw having been perfect but his own grip too harsh, causing it to crack on the ground and splatter over his shoes and the hem of his jeans. He knew that it was only his fault, but wasn’t going to own up to it as he swore. “Fucking SERIOUSLY!” He exclaimed, face turning red. He had just washed these pants and now he was going to need to wash them again, as well as clean his previously pristine shoes.

Expressions of both amusement and frustration washed over Dwayne's face as he watched his teammate examine the damage that had been done to his shoes. Maybe next time he'd listen.

A deep frustrated sigh left the girl “Are you fucking kidding me, Leo… we had like 5 seconds left!” she stomped her foot on the grass.

The staff member simply shook her head as she handed Leo another egg and the timer started again. He growled as he threw the egg over to his teammate and the cycle began once again. This time around, he was extra careful, and they quickly made it back to the halfway mark without another slip up. But that didn’t mean he was happy. “Okay, one redo was enough so let’s just try not to mess up again.” He tossed the egg to Frankie.

Frankie just caught the egg and threw it along without saying much. She was ready to move on and get this whole day over with. And as soon as the staff member gave them the sign that their minute was up she almost jumped with joy, skipping over to get the next clue. It didn’t take long for the girl to unscramble the letters to get the answer. “We’re going to the lecture hall… let’s go!” she said lowering her sunglasses again pointing with the piece of paper in the direction they had to go.

Thankful that the second round of egg tossing had been successful, Dwayne simply tucked his hands into his pockets and followed behind his two teammates.

As they arrived at their destination, Leo tried to look around to guess what they’d be doing for their next challenge, but couldn’t figure it out. The lecture hall looked completely normal- or so he thought. “So what, we're just supposed to sit here? Take a test or something?” He laughed to himself, sitting down on the top of one of the desks.

It was then that the staff member appeared and informed them that they’d be looking for puzzle pieces around the room and putting them together in order to get to their next location. Simple, yet slightly more effort than Leo imagined the task would originally involve. The male staff member also took the opportunity to reprimand the boy for not using a chair. Leo scoffed, sliding his feet back onto the ground. “Buzzkill.” The dark haired boy muttered under his breath.

Frankie just sauntered in after Leo and plopped herself on the desk where the puzzle pieces were supposed to be assembled crossing her legs looking around. “Come on Leo… the faster you find the pieces the faster we can get out of here and do… other things” the blonde let out a small giggle. But when she felt the disapproving stares from the staff she huffed “Fine!” flipping her hair as she jumped down and started looking for some of the pieces. She quickly found one inside a textbook, and then another taped under a desk. She threw them on the desk where she had been sitting pushing them around trying to figure out where they belonged.

“Other things sound good to me... D, you heard her. You take that side,” Leo pointed to the left of the white board, “And I’ll take the other.”

Trying his hardest to refrain from rolling his eyes in a mixture of annoyance and disgust, Dwayne walked in the direction that Leo had pointed out and began his search. It didn't take him long to find a couple of pieces himself.

Leo winked at Frankie as he strolled over to his jurisdiction, beginning to search for the pieces. He was pretty good at spotting them since they weren’t camouflaged or anything- bright spots against dull looking carpet, desks, and chairs. He effortlessly lifted up a chair with one arm, finding a segment underneath a leg. For dramatic effect, he tried to get the blonde’s attention, pretending to use the chair as he would a weight in a bicep curl. With a wink, he put the furniture back on the ground with a clunk and continued to scan around, spotting another piece tucked away behind the door. “Anyone having any luck? I’ve got two.”

“We have four then,” Frankie said of handedly smiling in Leo’s direction, playing with the gold chain she was wearing around her neck trying to bring his attention to her chest, ignoring the staff member clearing her throat behind her. She rolled her eyes once more “Which means.” She turned to give the observer a look “We need 6 more to finish this dumb challenge!” Frankie rearrange the pieces that they had found to find where they fit. “Any luck over there Dwayne?” she asked without looking up.

"Yeah, I found four on this side of the room," Dwayne said as he walked back to where Leo and Frankie stood, the puzzle pieces in hand. The young man then dropped the pieces off in Frankie's pile before helping Leo search for the remaining ones. "Now we're just missing two."

Leo found another piece thrown carelessly onto the ground, almost as if the staff member was inherently trying to get them to move on faster since he was uncomfortable. The boy figured there weren’t any more in his corner, since he already found three in that spot. So, he sauntered to where Frankie was putting together the pieces, dropped off the one he was holding, and began searching again around where she was sitting. Lifting up a stack of boxes in the corner (which he had no clue what their purpose was) he found the last piece. Tossing the cardboard segment over carelessly, he watched as it landed next to the rest of the pieces. “Well, that should be the last one.”

As the last few pieces landed in front of her, Frankie quickly arranged them together. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out a ten piece puzzle. As she fitted the last piece with the rest, a picture of the pool was sparkling back at her. “I guess we’re going for a swim next?” she questioned the staff member who was scribbling away only answering with a curt nod. “Lucky I wore my bikini under this, huh?” Frankie winked at Leo before swishing her skirt as she turned to exit the classroom.

Leo exhaled loudly, trying to get a hold of himself as he watched the blonde near the door, watched her very closely. “Eh, lucky for some people. I would’ve have preferred nothing at all, but fucking Sol had to ruin skinny dipping for me. That bitch.” He turned to Dwayne, wiggling his eyebrows “Let’s go, Dwayne. The pool awaits.”

"Oh, great." Dwayne said with mock enthusiasm as he began to follow Leo towards the door. "I can't wait." And it was true, Dwayne couldn't wait... for the scavenger hunt to be over.

[Venus]

_{@TootsiePop@Rosalia@metanoia}
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Their first challenge was too easy. The fact that they only required everyone to make ‘one’ shot to get a clue was laughable and not a challenge at all. Since Griffin had this in the bag, he tried to prod the other two on going first, having more faith in Sol than Nicholas. “Looks like we can’t hard carry you in this one. Don’t miss!” He proudly boasted. “Or do, and have Sol tear you a new one for making us lose on the first challenge.”

Taking this as a clear declaration of war, Nicholas decided to turn the tables and egg Griffin on, intentionally getting under his skin where the hawk would feel inclined to show off his prowess first and ‘make a good first impression’. This gave him the opportunity to watch exactly how Griffin shot, to improve his own accuracy. Following right after, he used Griffin’s ball to make his shots, kept his eyes on the target (rim), made sure his feet were shoulder width apart, and mimicked Griffin verbatim - but better. Minus the times that his fellow colleague was showing off, Nicholas decided to copy the first shot Griffin made which had perfect form, in terms of fundamentals, power, and technique.

The competitive spirit between the two boys were clear as the heat that surrounded them because of their annoyance for one another, and Soleil didn’t stop them. Part of her knew they’d perform better if there was a fire burning inside of them. If anything, this would guarantee a fast and efficient win for someone like her with average basketball skills, and she wanted to win. The other part of her was just very amused to watch two of her friends try and outperform each other. It was nice to not be the main attraction of a fight every once in a while.

There was no doubt Nicholas made Griffin salty, especially after using his b-ball to shoot, as well as use his STYLE to make his shots. As scarily as this sounded, they made 28 shots instead of the required ten with, with Sol missing her first and fourth baskets but making the rest of her eight. It seemed that they were off to a good start, even if the focus the two birds channeled in their spirits was razor sharp and could cut any person watching.

And after every challenge they completed, it was that much more obvious that Griffin was becoming increasingly annoyed with Nicholas. What started out as a simple, yet typical response to Nicholas matching him nearly shot for show, movement for movement, and style matching almost in a scary fashion, soon evolved into something of a competition within the competition. Nicholas became aware of Griff’s saltiness and there was no way the Grey boy would allow himself to give into defeat, so he played along, even upping the ante when he could.

Time was lost and when it came to the final challenge, this was when they reached peak petty. Nicholas was the first to step forward when they were given the location clue about the final challenge. Looking at it, Nicholas spent a few moments looking at it, seeing how to the naked eye, it wouldn’t look like much. Letters were mismatched and it read like a four-year-old wrote it.

So he turned to Griff. “Care to venture a guess, big bird? Or would you finally like to admit defeat and declare me right since the start?” He asked, handing Griff the card. Nicholas knew it. He didn’t have to spend time trying to decipher it because he already had. Now it was just about wanting to rub it in Griffin’s face when Nicholas would be proven right in that Griff can’t do the mental challenges like he had said from the start.

There were three people that got on Griffin’s nerves. The arrogant idiot, Leo, though he thinks they’re buddy-buddy. The selfish socialite, Tyler Jane, she knows he doesn’t like her. And this douchebag, who underestimated him just like Leo, but worse because he got satisfaction proving he was better. Leo desired to dominante. Nicholas, though? He was a narcissist.

For the most part, Griffin was able to keep his cool... for the most part. However, after being caged for two weeks, his emotions seemed to be easily agitated, as if he needed to break his knuckles into Nicholas’ face. That was not the role he played on campus and he would not break face now. They were almost done and Griffin would not have to deal with him until he absolutely was forced to again.

Only taking seconds to figure it out, Griffin rolled his eyes, crumpled the two cards, shoved it in his pockets, and shrugged, “Sure, I’ll take the credit. The first one is your shadow, the second one is the letter ‘e’.” And he looked at the teacher who held up a sign that said ‘SRAT BIGNULID’ “The finish line is the Arts Building. Now, Nicholas, let me tell you the difference between you and me.”

Sol was holding Griffin’s basketball as he approached the other boy, bird to bird, crossing his arms, “You might be smart but our skills are on a whole different level. I can tell you exactly what we did from start to finish of this scavenger hunt, and things you missed, and things you took your sweet time to stare at, like the two people you’re totally into, because I simply have a better visual memory than you and I catch little things that you would never see because you’re just so goddamn burdened by how good looking you are.” Griffin scoffed, clearly perturbed. If there was one thing Nicholas was good at, it was getting under his skin better than Leo and TJ put together, “I might not show all my cards, but don’t underestimate me, dude.”

"Fin, Nick, stop it," Soleil growled from the corner, staring daggers at her teammates out of her tiger green eyes. They were supposed to be finished with this scavenger hunt ages ago, but the two boys had decided to turn things into a 'my dick is bigger than your dick' competition. Fortunately for Sol, her lack of said body part meant that she'd been excluded from taking part in this mess. But unfortunately for her, she'd had to watch with growing irritation as Nick and Griff wasted precious time on trying to one-up each other. And no matter how hard she'd tried to keep them on track without using violence (which had probably been her first mistake), there was no stopping the two competitive males from doing as they wanted.

Whoever said girls were petty and emotional had clearly not met Nicholas Grey and Griffin Pierce.

Throughout Griff’s speech, the selectively observant Nicholas happened to ignore most of it but one crucial detail that he chuckled at. Maybe it was a slip-up or he actually meant it but regardless, he homed in on it. “So, you think I’m good looking, huh?” He smirked at Griff. There was no use hiding how entertained he was right now. And for those who knew him, he was his best (or worst depending on the person you ask) when he was indulging completely in whatever had his attention.

Grimacing, Griffin decided to not respond to that. Why was it the two boys that were into themselves talked to him a lot? Leo treating him as a baby brother and Nicholas… as a ‘friendly’ rival. Instead, he gestured for Sol to toss his ball to him, so they could head to their destination. Best way to deal with boys like Nicholas was to not deal with them at all.

On the other side of the equation, Soleil rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, also opting to ignore Nicholas’ narcissistic jab at Griffin. Sometimes, she wondered what girls ever saw in such shallow guys like Leo and Nick. Sure: they were attractive, and probably knew their way around in the areas where it counted. But she could never picture herself dating someone who cared so much about their appearance. She needed her man to have effortless charm-- a man with substance, plenty of depth and a smile that could put the sun to shame… Someone like Theodore Wallstrom.

Grimacing, the young woman tossed the basketball back to its rightful owner, turned on her heel, and began her trek to the finish line. She hoped her teammates had been too busy with each other to notice.

“You know silence speaks volumes, right?” Nicholas would say as he followed in Sol’s stead, breezing past the second-grade birdboy.

“Yeah, especially from you. It’s a downright blessing.” Griffin intentionally dribbled his basketball to ruin the silence that Nicholas felt so keen to point out.

As the symphony of footsteps and the air in Griff’s head clearly started to boil over, Nicholas chuckled. “No need to deny it. I know you like the sound of my voice. I mean, how could you not? I sound spectacular!”

“Do you ever…” Griffin narrowed his eyes, exasperatedly glaring at Nicholas, “...hear yourself when you talk?”

Out of nowhere, a very furious Soleil suddenly stopped in her tracks and whipped around to glare at her feuding teammates. “Can you guys just shut the fuck up?!” she growled loudly, her green eyes flashing with the anger and frustration she’d been holding back for a long while now. “Unless you both want to become punching bags on my next training session, zip it. You’re giving me a fucking headache!” And from the way her fists were balled up, there was no denying the girl meant every word.

He rolled his eyes at both of them. Part of him wanted to comment but knew it wouldn’t be worth it. Sol was borderline unpleasant whenever she got like this, so Nicholas knew when to pick his battles. “Whatever.” Yes, in a rare showing, Nicholas outright admitted a temporary defeat-- at least, until they won this challenge. Then all bets were off.

Still frowning, the Jameson girl once again turned on her heel and walked the short distance from their current position and to the arts building, her footsteps a little heavier than before. However, when she noticed that they were the only students around and there were just a few staff members left, her face lit up.

“Well how about that? Looks like we fucking won this thing after all…” she said with a smug smirk, walking past the finish line and scanning the area for any classmates. “And by a landslide, too. There’s nobody else out here yet!”

“Um… actually…” The faculty member standing before them was the smallest one of them all with big glasses, strawberry blonde hair, and a knitted sweater on. She had lost a game of rock, paper, scissors and had to stand out here, waiting for the stragglers. “Well, you see… the other teams are already heading back to their dorm,” Ms. Mulligan nervously played with the pen in her hand.

“You guys are… last.”

Immediately, Soleil’s smug grin was wiped away as her face comically fell into a disbelieving expression. “I’m sorry, what?” she asked the woman, taking a few heavy steps in her direction.

Internally shaking, not one to enjoy observing the apex predators of their experiment, Ms. Mulligan profusely shook her head, “Here’s some stickers! Thanks for participating.” Dropping the paper awards (for participation) that read ‘Congrats you did it!’ with stickers on top for each one of them (her own personal gift, they were cute animals), the faculty member was quick to scurry away, while sheepishly yelling, “I’m sorry!”

“Stickers, huh?” Nicholas repeated back in a low voice. It took him a few, slow-to-register moments but once it clicked, he couldn’t help but laugh. The team that was poised to easily claim victory had, in fact, been given the equivalent to participation trophies. He wasn’t sure if he was angry or if the entire situation amused him more than getting multiple reactions out of Griffin.

The moment Griffin saw sweat coming down the teacher’s forehead, before she even spoke, he decided while his teammates were distracted that he’d take this opportunity to magically disappear. Sidestepping quietly, he watched as the other two focused in on the poor teacher. Poor thing could barely speak.

And just like that, he was gone…

Or so he thought.

Unfortunately, Griffin and Nicholas hadn’t reacted fast enough. Before either of them could do more than run off in the same direction, the raging Soleil had turned around, and was stampeding towards them like an angry bull with bloody murder in her eyes.

[smarty0114]

_{A collab with @Bee and @HaleyTheRandom
Featuring: Erica Monet, Charles Mallet and Billie Jean Gray}

---

---

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.

[LovelyComplex]

Just his luck. He would get the teacher who only knows how to treat her students like preschoolers. With his mouth shut and hands relaxed, he followed her to wherever she was taking him. Ms. Mulligan was a peculiar one, that's for sure. Part of her he felt feared most of the kids, the other part of her actually felt like she was genuinely sweet and easily pushed around. She was one of the younger teachers at this school, trying to get the kids invested in English & Literature when all they wanted was to go outside and not be stuck with her - someone who felt more like a babysitter than an actual teacher.

Stuffing one of his hands in his pockets, he felt the goddamn 'thanks for trying' stickers. Sol almost socked him in the face, purposely aiming too far left to miss him, but being inches away to get her anger across. To calm her down, Griffin offered her a picnic. Now, he has to make it up to her by providing lunch that isn't found in the cafeteria. So... a teacher's lunch. He'll worry about that later.

Back to Ms. Mulligan, Griffin believed her solution to dealing with most things was downplaying them and using antics like... carrying an old teddy bear with her so her students can direct their comments to Boris Bear instead of her. The 'speaking teddy bear' she calls it. In a large class setting, it's her way to manage who speaks. If you have it, you can speak, if you don't, you must respect the person who does and ultimately, that is respecting Boris (as if he was an actual person). In a small setting, it seemed like she was using it more for confidence than anything. Fin wasn't about to give her a hard time because he could only assume this was her first teaching gig and she was still figuring out how to teach teens properly. Like someone just out of college who was faking it until they make it sort of deal.

Having droned out most of her idle chatter about the weather, the hunt, the lunch menu, he realized where they were heading and opened his mouth to ask why here exactly. As if she could read his mind, Ms. Mulligan smiled, hugging the bear as she got to the academic building stairs, third floor, that led to the roof, “I hope you don't mind! I just feel... comfortable here. It's a bit more private and away from it all. And, uh, I think that's a perfect place to talk!"

Raising an eyebrow, glancing from the door knob to Boris' annoying face, Griffin nodded, “I don't mind at all, actually." It was nice to know a teacher liked high places too. He never did see her up here though. That probably was because they had different schedules - as to be expected with a teacher and a student - and he wasn't one to stalk a teacher like Ms. Mulligan and know exactly how her day went. To him, she felt like an open crayon book, who could never hide her lines (and quirks) even if her life depended on it.

While he did look down on her, because of how naive and oblivious she acted, Fin found her to be one of the more approachable and kind teachers. Maybe, he was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, he didn't think this whole school was up to something sinister. Maybe, he didn't want to be trapped in his mind full of conspiracy theories for once. Times like these, where he could be at peace in the sky, helped with that deep-seated gut feeling which sounded alarms in him. He appreciated her for that.

When they reached their destination, two seats were waiting for them, both facing each other, but close enough to the ledge so they could enjoy the view. Not needing to ask, Griffin took his seat, had his right leg crossed over his left leg, and leaned right, resting his elbow on the arm rest and his chin in hand. He watched as the nervous, mousy teacher took her seat and looked at her as she offered him the plushie, “Nah, I'm good."

“Please, I insist." Ms. Mulligan pouted, only causing Griffin to roll his eyes and refusing to budge. When he didn't move from his position, simply staring at her with dull, bored eyes, she huffed, “Very well." Placing Boris on her lap, situating him where he looked comfortable, she and the toy gave all their attention to Subject #50. There was no notebook, no pen, no bag with her. Just her and that bear. Griffin took a mental note of that, wondering if she had a photographic memory like him. Clearing her throat, she sweetly went right into things, “So, um, Griffin. I know your team..." Awkward pause. “Lost. ^{Sorry about that.} But did you have fun?"

Uninterested, yet at eased, Griffin calmly looked at his teacher, still in his leaned position, his pointer finger tapping his face, like a metronome marking, “I didn't care about winning in the first place. But it was okay, I guess. Kind of dumb."

“D-dumb? Why is that?"

“Don't take this personal, Ms. M, but I've been stuck inside for a good two weeks now. Instead of having time to get back into the groove of things, I get thrown into an event where the sole purpose is to build 'community'. Community, really? We're teens. Egg toss? Basic riddles? 1 out of 10 free throws had to be shot to get to the next round? What is this? Fifth grade field day?"

Anxiously playing with Boris' paws, Ms. Mulligan nodded, “I'm sorry we didn't seem to challenge you enough... then how do you explain coming in last?"

Picking up the tempo in his tapping, Griffin jested, "Because I was enjoying myself, spending an entire day with a hubristic prick, who can talk about himself for hours without even trying."

Clearly picking up his growing annoyance, the older woman bit her bottom lip and decided to redirect this interview, “Okay, enough about the hunt. It's done and over with! Let's see, let's see, school. Let's talk about school! Aside from you getting sick, everything else has been going okay, yeah? You got basketball, your grades are exceptional, I'm sure you have friends too!"

"School is school. I make due with what you guys offer, but I'm not going to act like there isn't any cabin fever. Are there going to be field trips? I'd like to, I don't know, go camping or something. Off of campus."

“That breaks the whole... unplugged policy. If there is a trip being planned, I just don't know yet. Sorry I can't be helpful! I'll make sure to get a message across that you want some outside time? A field trip sounds like a fantastic idea. Maybe to a lake or something! Is there anyone you'd specifically want to be paired with for that? Like any of your friends?" Ms. Mulligan enthusiastically cheered.

Sighing, Griffin simply nodded, leaning further back, and crossing his arms. His attention went from looking into his teacher's eyes to Boris' dark void gaze.

---

Inside a lab, two, mysterious figures, one with the posture of a sloth loafer and the other with a posture of a gorilla solider, in lab coats observed Griffin through the teddy bear's eyes. The lazily one, resting his head on the table, as he listened to the interview, humorously laughed, "She's a good weapon, don't you think? I'm such a genius. Pairing the 'young and dumb' one with our biggest problem child."

_{"Now you're considering who we'd prefer to hang with? Rather than do that whole randomizing thing you had going for us, for the hunt?"}

"Eliza has a charm about her." The one standing at halt looked at the screen at Subject #50's mannerisms, gestures, and general attitude for signs of dishonesty. For once, the Hawk seemed to be playing along. Not causing trouble. "Freedom is a state of mind and it seems like out of all our experiments, Subject #50 is the most aware of his state."

_{"I-I had no control over that Griffin. Can you just tell me that you have healthy friendships here? Why can't you give me a straight answer!"}

"Since day 1 he's been a problem, why are we keeping him again?" The sluggish man looked up at his colleague curiously.

_{"Ms. M getting hot and bothered, I likey. Okay, I'll give you a bone. I do have friends. There. Happy?"}

"To test the waters. I think his time at the hospital has done miracles with setting him back. Now he seems... more compliant." The bigger man gestured for his colleague to straighten his posture and focus on the screen. "It's only a matter of time where his inner beast comes out."

_{"I imagine that's the best I'm going to get."}

"He seems that way." Sighing, the thinner figure stood up and went beside the brawny man. "'Suppose we'll wait and see, now won't we?"

_{"Yeah. It is. Now can I go?"}

[Ejected]

^{an @Ejected, @HaleytheRandom, and @Kitty Collaboration
Starring Zakya, Samuel, and Hana}

---

---

"I follow you all the time and copy your every move, but you can’t touch me or catch me. What am I?"

Zakya's eyebrows furrowed as she read aloud from the sliver of paper to the rest of her teammates, her mind suddenly drawing a blank when trying to solve the riddle. Just when the young woman had thought that her team had found a pretty nice rhythm and were pushing through these challenges fairly quickly, the staff member in the Arts Building had informed them that for their next task, they'd be solving riddles. Of course, she'd still held out a little bit of hope, wishing that the riddles wouldn't be anything too complicated. But as she stared down at the words in front of her, she couldn't help but feel disheartened. "Uh... any ideas?" The young woman said weakly, shooting quick glances at both Samuel and Hana.

The scavenger hunt was something that Sam neither approved or disapproved. All he knew was that riddles made his head hurt. ”I… have no idea. A stalker?”

Pondering the riddle, Hana ran through possible answers. A few sticking out to her as possibilities but none she was sure of. It didn’t help that when it came down to stressful situations like this where picking from multiple possible answers was necessary. Her indecisiveness came out. Especially as Hana narrowed it down to just two answers plus the one Sam suggested. Hana’s brow was furrowed as she looked to her teammates, one of her hands playing with the hem of the sleeve of the other arm. “Stalker is possible. But also reflection maybe. Or maybe shadow. Like in the Peter Pan movie.” Hana suggested just loud enough for them to hear. As far as Hana was concerned, one made more sense than the other but she wasn’t going to be the one to decide if she could help it.

"I mean... all of those seem like good answers to me." Zakya said, her voice filled with uncertainty. "But which one do we pick? Stalker makes sense, but then again... stalkers can touch or catch you, can't they? We should go with reflection. Or... shadow." It was then as Zakya looked to Sam for his input that she started feeling a subtle pain arise in her chest. Though she wasn't planning on showing it just yet, she was starting to panic.

”Reflection and shadow both make sense. But your reflection doesn’t really follow you, ya know? Like you kinda have to force it to be there in like the mirror or water or something. I’d say the best bet is probably shadow.”

"Okay. Let's go with that, then. Final answer, shadow." Zakya said, shooting a look at the faculty member close by. And after nodding his head, signaling that the answer was correct, the staff member handed Zakya yet another slip of paper. The young woman took a deep breath before reading this riddle aloud. "I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I’m the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?"

The first thought for the answer that came to Hana’s mind was ‘nothing’. But the more she thought over it the less it made sense. Eternity didn’t truly begin with nothing and time and space were endless. No. The riddle had a simpler answer than that. Riddles almost always seemed to have a simpler answer than what one's mind originally comes up with. But the simple answer of this riddle eluded her. Was it possibly something more visual looking at the riddle itself? If it was, Zakya had a better chance at figuring it out first until Hana was able to properly visualize it.

Why did the challenge have to be riddles? Out of all the ‘mental’ challenges there could be, why the one that was going to make Sam's head hurt the absolute worse?

Because the staff hated them. That’s why.

”I… I remember there was something like this I had to solve in middle school once or something. I bet the answer is something like a letter? Those seem to be a decently common theme.”

It was then that Zakya offered the boy nothing but a blank stare in response, her brain slowly trying to process what he'd said. It had made perfect sense, sure. But the more she tried thinking about what the answer could be, the more frustrated she became; why did they have to end up with such a stupid challenge? Solving riddles? Zakya let the slip of paper fall to a table nearby as she began massaging her temples with the tips of her fingers. "Hell if I know," the young woman said, letting out a deep breath. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she figure it out? At the rate they were going, another team was destined to beat them; Surely she'd be the reason why they'd lose and miss out on the grand prize.

It wasn't long before Zakya lifted her head once more and shifted her gaze back to Hana. "Come on girl, please tell me have some good ideas. Something like what Sam said... a letter?"

A letter? The answer could be a letter. Wait. Hana closed her eyes as she visualized each word in her head. The Everything, everywherE, Eternity, timE, spacE. It made perfect sense. “That makes perfect sense. The answer is a letter. The answer to the riddle is E. The first letter of everything, the last letter of everywhere, the first letter of eternity, and the last letter of both time and space.” Hana looked to Sam and smiled. “You were right. It’s a letter.” The girl then turned to the faculty member, “Final answer, the letter E.” Hana answered before awaiting to see if they were right. The faculty member nodded and handed the final paper to Zakya.

"Okay, so by the looks of this... our next challenge is in the gym." Zakya said, quickly unscrambling the letters that revealed their next destination; she was very thankful that there were only three letters this time, so she didn’t have to rely on Sam or Hana to come up with the answer. "Come on! We still have a chance."

”I’ll race you guys there!” Sam called back at the girls as he began to speed off.

Hana began running after him knowing full well she was gonna be the last one to get to the gym. Just because she enjoyed walking and hiking did not mean she was good at running. As she ran though, she worried about what sort of challenge would be in the gym. Probably not one she would be good at.

Zakya was the last to start running, but sped past Hana in less than a couple of seconds; though she wasn't fast enough to catch up to Sam by the time they'd reached the gym, she was thankful that all of her time spent on the treadmill paid off and she wasn't nearly as out of breath as she probably would've been a few months ago. The group arrived just in time to see a basketball rack in the center of the gym floor, and Zakya's eyebrow raised in curiosity as she quickly scanned over the rules for the challenge. "So, we have to shoot ten free throws as a team. But each of us has to get at least one before we can move to the next challenge..." To be honest, Zakya had a whole lot more faith in herself when it came to shooting hoops than she did when solving riddles. Of course, she didn't have some Michael Jordan level basketball skills, but how hard could it be to make a couple of shots?

Okay. Sports. Sam could do this.

Though not as much of the Jock Type as Theo, or the fastest like Sol didn’t mean that Sam couldn’t hold his own when it came to physical activity. Basketball was a pastime that he liked to use to help clear his head. Feeling down? Shoot some hoops. Your ex got you fucked up? Shoot some hoops.

”This’ll be a breeze for me. You guys manage to get one, and then I can shoot the rest or something so we can get this over with?”

Being last to arrive just as she predicted, Hana took a moment to catch her breath. It didn’t wear her out too much but she still needed a moment to rest before being able to focus on the next task. Once she was good, Hana joined the rest of her team only for her face to pale. They had to shoot free throws and everyone had to make one shot. Sports were not her forte. She honestly rarely ever came to the gym as it was.

Hana could feel her heart begin to race as she stared at the basketballs. There was no way she was gonna get one of those to the basket, how do you even properly throw one? Swallowing her anxiety and clearing her face of any signs of the nerves she felt, the small girl turned to her teammates, “I’ve never thrown a basketball before. I don’t know how to shoot a free throw?” She slowed her words down as they felt odd on her tongue and she was unsure if she was using the terms correctly. Her horoscope had told her she would learn something new today. This must be what it was talking about. Hana had to learn how to at least make one free throw.

"Here, I can show you how!" Zakya said, not hesitating to grab a ball from the rack and stand at the free throw line. As the young woman expected, her first shot did not go in, and instead bounced off the rim and began rolling off to the left side of the gym. "Hm...Second time's the charm?" Zakya said sheepishly, shaking her head as she reached for another ball and prepared to shoot once more. This time, however, she succeeded, more than likely by luck. And once she did, she let out an enthusiastic squeal, clapped her hands, and turned towards her teammates.

"Okay, one down... nine more to go," Zakya said as she tossed a ball to Sam and another to Hana. "You're up."

The ball slipped through her hands and Hana raced after it as it began bouncing away. Eventually catching up to the ball, Hana grabbed it and ran back over to the free throw line. From there she tried to do as Zakya did but looked extremely awkward and missed the shot completely. Hana frowned slightly before going and grabbing another ball. Trying to copy Zakya’s movements once more to get the ball in the basket, only to once again miss the shot completely. She continued to try another ten more times before slight frustration got to her and she used her hidden frustration to give the ball a bit more power. To her surprise the ball went in the basket, most likely pure luck. Smiling happily she practically skipped off to the side proud of herself for making the basket even if it took a little bit. Now it was up to Sam to finish the last eight off.

Sam watched as the girls made their shots. Zakya had managed it fairly easy - a slightly surprising fact. She had sunk her second shot easily, leaving Hana up next. Giving an encouraging nod or smile as needed, Sam stood to the side as Hana tried again and again to make the basket. Tempted to suggest that she take a small break, Sam watched as she finally made her shot. Shooting her a smile of congratulations, Sam stepped up to the line.

In one fluid motion, the young man had made his first basket with ease. Turning to look at Zakya he asked ”Did you want me to keep going, or do you wanna make another few shots?”

Zakya had been watching with her arms folded as Hana tried to make her shot, internally screaming each time she missed. To say that she was relieved to see the ball go through the hoop after what seemed like a dozen tries would be an understatement. “Please, just keep going,” Zakya said, letting out a deep breath, “You have a better chance than either of us, and the quicker we get this done, the better.”

Simply shrugging his shoulders in agreement, Sam continued to pick up the balls from the ground as he made each shot. Both luck and skill were on his side, allowing them to finish the task pretty quickly. ”All right guys. Is that… was that the last thing, or did I miss count?”

“That was all of them!” Hana glanced to the staff member for confirmation, the staff nodding to confirm they were done and giving them the next piece of paper. “We should be close to being done, right? What’s next?” Hana refused to take the paper from the staff member and let one of the others take it and take the lead. She simply waited for the next instruction, ready to do whatever was needed next.

“We should only have one more left, and by the looks of this we’re headed to…” Zakya let her voice trail off for a brief second as she looked down at the scrambled letters. “The Lecture Hall.” And without wasting another moment, Zakya began to lead the way towards their final challenge, a slight pep in her step as she did so. She wasn't sure if their group had moved fast enough to win the scavenger hunt, but she was determined to continue going as quickly as they could to increase their chances of winning the grand prize... whatever that turned out to be.

"Come on," Zakya called out to Sam and Hana, "Let's win this thing."

[Melissa]

_{Location: Dance Studio | Featuring Mr. Kennedy}

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.

[smarty0114]

_{With a special guest appearance by Jericho Colby
Location: Arts Building}

---

---

The Art Building was empty after the scavenger hunt, as Bradley had expected. After a day filled with people, Bradley felt like slipping off. The refreshing, air conditioned breeze that accompanied his arrival was a relief after running around under the New Mexico sun.

The tall boy walked into his favorite room, crossing the empty space in the center to take a seat at his usual spot. The automatic lights flicked on, bathing the room in a soft, yellow light. He was halfway through setting up his canvas, and paints when a low, smooth voice rang out from near the door. “How did I know that you’d be here?”

“Maybe it’s because this is the only place I ever am?” Bradley replied, turning around to see the tall, slender form of Mr. Jericho Colby.

Colby was the art instructor at San Agustin, approachable, supportive and warm, the kind of teacher every introvert dreams of. Since Bradley had arrived at school, Mr. Colby had been an ever present helping hand, a mentor that he might have been afraid to admit he needed. Most of the teachers in Bradley’s life had passed over him, in favor of people like Erica, but Jericho was able to see Brad’s talent for himself.

“I’m guessing they sent you to interrogate me?” Bradley said, turning back around to face his unfinished painting, while Colby took a seat at the easel next to him. His face morphed, a blinding grin cutting across his sharp features.

“‘Interrogation’ is quite a big word for it. You know we like to check up on you guys, and this is just a chance to do that. How’d you like your team? Second place isn’t too bad, y’know?”

Bradley smirked. Mr. Colby had a way of padding his questions with compliments, something he learned in whatever course he’d taken before he’d been allowed to teach students. Brad had caught on to it pretty quickly, called him out on it even, but he still went along with it. He liked Colby enough that he was willing to share, at least a little bit. “They weren’t bad. Wish we could’ve picked our teams though,” Bradley said.

“Yeah, you and every other kid on campus,” Colby said, chuckling. “Let me guess, you would’ve preferred Mr. Slater and Mr. Pierce?”

“I would’ve.” Mr. Colby was quiet for a moment. He was used to conversations with Bradley, the short and straightforward answers, offering no more information than he needed to.

“Are you sleeping any better?”

“I slept last night, if that’s what you’re asking,” Bradley replied. The piece in front of him had begun to take on more shape since his session with Hana on Monday. The cityscape was much clearer now, a window to a place that was just out of reach. “I asked the nurse for some sleeping pills, but she said something about ‘the damage it could do to my developing brain.’”

“Well, she’s not wrong. It’s important that you learn to be present and mindful of your thoughts, before you start pumping your brain full of chemicals. Did you try the meditation track I sent you?”

Bradley shook his head, but didn’t meet Mr. Colby’s face. “I tried, but I got bored. Haven’t tried again,” he said.

“Well, maybe give it another go. It can’t hurt, y’know?” Mr. Colby sat silently again, watching while Bradley made the brightest of greens appear against the canvas, delicately poking and prodding with his paintbrush. It was truly something to watch him work.

“Has my family sent anything yet? My brother?” Bradley faced Mr. Colby this time watching as his face maintained that soft, comforting smile.

“Not that I know of. But I’ll check the mail tonight,” the mentor said, just before standing up and clapping a hand down on Bradley’s shoulder. “Don’t get into too much trouble,” he said, though his grin didn’t make the warning seem too serious.

---

Jericho Colby strolled into the elevator, inserted his master key into a lock by the buttons for each floor, and waited patiently as he moved down, down, down below the surface of San Agustin. His interview with Subject #31 had gone better than he’d hoped. Some days, it was impossible to get the boy to talk, despite the rapport he was building.

He’d need to have a letter written, one that he can say is from his family. Clearly, he’d been thinking about the implanted memories for a bit too long. Hopefully the forgery would do the trick, and get him on track. They didn’t need another problem like they’d had with Subject #50.

It might be worth it as well, to get the subject some sleeping pills. He knew that Wayman wanted to see the effects that Subject #50’s nocturnalism would have on the brain, but providing the medication would win his trust in a big way. Something to consider. The elevator came to a stop, and Jericho walked out into a stark, cold hallway, lined with metal and fluorescent lights. He smiled. Everything was going according to plan.

[Grimoire Gaming]

_{Location | Guidance Office
Feat. NPC | Dr. Grace Ann Morris}

Dr. Morris took the few moments that she had between appointments to organize her notes. Being the sole student-facing psychologist of the San Agustin experiment could be exhausting at times, especially given the size of her heart. Grace had chosen psychological counseling as a profession purely because of this trait, and her too-big heart was the very reason that she was selected to act as the ‘school guidance counselor’ for the subjects of Project Untamed. Dr. Morris acts as a safety net for the teenage subjects, caring deeply for their wellbeing and monitoring them to ensure that they are never pushed too far for the scientific advances that the other doctors hoped to achieve in this experiment. Simply put, this study relied on Grace’s educational background and sound morality as an insurance policy to keep the students safe. If there was a big red button that could put a stop to this whole thing, it was Dr. Morris’ hand that hovered over it.

Filing away the previous student’s records, Dr. Morris took a seat in the chair sitting across from the sofa in her office. She was awaiting the arrival of Subject #2, Wesley Slater. He was assigned this number as he was one of the first subjects selected for the study — volunteered by his own father, a close work associate of Drs. Wayman and Hagerty. For this reason, Grace felt deeply for Wesley, even if he no longer had any idea of the real reason why he was here. As a mother of two, Grace could never imagine sending away one of her babies simply because they were different from what she expected them to be. Thankfully, she could be here for Wesley and root for him when no one else might.

Wesley was one of the students that Dr. Morris had weekly therapy sessions with. Their appointments were disguised as guidance office visits to discuss his plans for the future, as he expressed interest in going to college to study law, but also to check in on his diagnosed ‘narcolepsy’. In reality, these sessions were mandatory because of Wesley’s psychological condition and tendencies towards self-harm prior to the experiment. It was Dr. Morris’ job to ensure that he remained healthy and on course for the study and did not have any harmful relapses. In the event that he does have such a relapse, he would be brought in for the proper care and treatment, but so far, so good.

Subject #2 arrived in his usual manner, looking like he had just outrun the highway patrol. Huffing and disheveled, he took a seat on the sofa across from her. The left side. It was always interesting to note when students would choose right, left, or center. They almost always picked a preference and stuck with it. “Sorry I’m late, Grace.” He apologized, using her first name as Dr. Morris had offered for him to do once she realized that referring to anyone as “Doctor” made Wesley visibly uncomfortable — a trauma from his past that the scientists were unfortunately unable to overwrite.

“Actually,” Dr. Morris raised her hand up to glance at her rose gold wristwatch. “According to my watch, you’re one minute early. That’s a record, Wesley.” Grace offered him a warm smile as she reached for her notebook and pen off of the end table beside her. “How are things going? I heard your team won first place in the scavenger hunt, congratulations.”

“Hell yeah, we did!” Subject #2 replied excitedly, but his expression quickly changed to one of concern. “Err— sorry about cursing, Ms. Morris.” Wesley apologized, ever the polite and charming kid. Although Grace disagreed with his parenting on many levels, Dr. Slater did raise a wonderful son that would hopefully grow to be a much better man than his father.

“That’s quite alright, you sound excited, I get it.” Grace assured him. It wasn’t her job or place to police the language of the students, her office was a safe space for them to speak freely. “How were your teammates? Anyone in particular that lead the way to your victory?” Dr. Morris asked, her pen poised to begin taking notes.

“Uh…” Wesley looked towards the ceiling as he appeared to be in deep thought. “I guess if there was a leader, it was me. But like, we all helped. Couldn’t have done it without them. Talya and Sav seem pretty cool, it was good to get to know them. I might not’ve otherwise.”

“That’s good to hear, most students wished they could have picked their teams—” Dr. Morris began to state but was soon cut off.

“Well yeah, I thought that too at first. But I guess I can see why it was random, that way it wasn’t a popularity contest or whatever that could make people feel bad.” Wesley said and began to fidget in his seat. He never was good at sitting still for very long, unless of course he fell asleep, which had happened during one of their previous sessions.

“Exactly, you’re sharp, Wesley.” Grace complimented his astute observation. She made a note of his continued awareness and empathy in her notebook. “Just for the fun of it, who would you have picked for your team?” She asked, pen poised to take notes once again.

“Bradley and Griff, no doubt.”

“Bradley Barron and Griffin Pierce? Are they your friends?”

“Yup!” Wesley confirmed without much thought.

In a sudden surge of curiosity to test how deep the psychological overwrite of the study ran, Dr. Morris pressed dangerously further. “Just friends?” She asked, letting the not-so-subtle implication linger for a few tense moments.

Wesley’s fidgeting increased and his discomfort became readily apparent. He stopped toying with a loose string on the arm of the sofa and looked at her as if she had grown a second head. She realized that his change in demeanor wasn’t denial, he looked genuinely confused at her question. “... yeah?” Wes once again hyper focused on the loose string and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “I mean I guess we’re like best friends. Well, as best as you can get only having known each other for a few weeks.”

“That’s great, I’m glad to hear that you have found some close friends already.” Her once warm and genuine smile seemed a little forced as she responded, despite the honesty of her words. She was happy that Wesley found people that he could call best friends. It was the fact that she was jotting notes for his file that the experiment seemed to have completely overwritten his sexuality that had her feeling… corrupt. Sometimes this job just broke her heart, but she had to stick through it, for the students’ sake. She was their only true advocate here.

[AlteredTundra]

_{Location — Main Courtyard
Featuring — Drama Teacher, Kaleb Hale}

Nicholas never, not once, had ever admitted the troubles he felt dwelling inside him when he failed. It could be a simple task of one-upping someone in an intelligence bout or something a little more complicated like trying to pit two friends against each other and coming out looking like the innocent party. Whenever he failed, Nicholas took it more personally than anyone he knew did and especially if the cause of said failure was his own fault.

Of course, he’d never allow himself to be seen feeling any form of guilt or that he would take ownership of it. That would imply he had to let someone else know it wasn’t their fault. Not only would he not do it, but Nicholas would die on his sword before he let his consistent friend/enemy, Griffin Pierce, ever find out that he felt the blow of coming in last the hardest. It was an unprecedented arrogance that led to their downfall. No amount of ire from Sol or a fleeting Griff would change that.

And so as he sat under the faux lights, basking in the subtle beauty of his second favorite spot across the campus, the air not too muddy, the skies not too clear, and the company not at all crowded, it was the best place that Nicholas could have chosen to unwind before he rejoined everyone else and possibly face round two of Sol’s wrath.

“They told me I’d find you here,” A familiar, macho tone ringed in from the left.

Nicholas turned his head and saw the sight of that old shirt he always wore and the oversized beard that always followed. “They huh?” He repeated back, smiling with amusement that, of all the instructors who would stumble into his favorite spot, it would be him. “Who might they be, Kaleb? My fan club?”

Kaleb Hale took a seat next to Nicholas, half-grinned at the boy. “Oh, so you have jokes now, do ya?” The husky man laughed only in the way someone like him could. He was the kind of guy who, when next to Nicholas, really made him feel inadequate.

“I’ve always had them, Kaleb. You just were too fixated on flexing to ever notice.” And there it was again, his trademark humor that often was the source of a lot of trouble for Nicholas Gray. “But be forthright with me,” he requested, “you’ve always been honest with me _{--unlike some of these ignoramus instructors--}, so maybe you could allow me the benefit of knowing why you’ve sought after me. I know I’m one of your favorites but even this is a little too much for you.”

“One of my favorites?--” His laugh trailed off, something else being muttered as he took in a sigh disguised as a slight huff. “--yeah, I guess there’s no fooling you. Honestly?”

Nicholas nodded.

“This scavenger hunt had two parts: yours and ours. We need your feedback.”

“Need?” Nicholas already didn’t like the sound of that. The use of that word made it seem less like him finding Nicholas had less to do with a random encounter and more of purposely seeking him out. “And what sort of feedback do you guys require of us?”

Kaleb shrugged, leaning back and letting his fingers dig into the dirt. “How you felt about the hunt, your teammates -- shit like that.”

And just like that, the amount of attention Nicholas was going to give skyrocketed. “Very well,” he stated with a half of a laugh. “Ask away, Mr. Hale.” He emphasized it with some snark added.

Rolling his eyes, Kaleb simply would proceed without addressing that emphasis. He instead positioned himself at a better angle to get a clearer look at the boy “So, I won’t pester you about how you thought about the hunt. I doubt coming in last felt good, so instead let me ask you this--” Kaleb took in a breath and continued when he exhaled, “--you were paired with Soleil Jameson and Griffin Pierce. Did you feel you worked well with the two of them?”

Nicholas’ response was a shrug and nothing more.

“That’s all I get? Just a shrug?” That seemed to annoy Kaleb. “Nicholas, look up at me.”

Kaleb’s tone brought Nicholas’ head up and he was immediately welcomed with a flick to the forehead.

“What was that for?”

“For being an idiot!” Kaleb grunted aggressively. “You came in last place and all you have to say is non-verbally shrugging? Where’s the passion, Nicholas!? Where’s the fire I’ve come to expect from you!?”

“Well, currently trying to figure why the blockhead in front of me flicked me in my forehead,” Nicholas elegantly spat back at him, rubbing his forehead.

He let out another sigh. “Listen to me Nicholas. You came in last--”

“I know. You don’t need to keep on reminding--”

“--Then stop beating around the bush and tell me what the hell is going through your mind!”

Somewhere deep down, Nicholas hated how honest Kaleb was with him. The man was like a double-edged sword. He got the results he wanted, but it wasn’t always the stress-free experience a student might want, but maybe that’s why he always felt so drawn to the drama teacher. He embodied everything about the kind of man Nicholas wanted to be. He was energetic, enigmatic, didn’t quit for anything and always was on top of everything. He had a certain flare for dramatics that always resonated with Nicholas.

Not to mention there was something...familiar about him.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was almost as though Nicholas felt an air of similarity flow from Kaleb, to him and then just maintain its breeze around them. It was almost as though he was staring into the eyes of the person he might become.

“I really hate it when you’re right.” Nicholas rolled his eyes. Kaleb’s tactics worked and he had to find the right way to say this. “I guess, I feel like if I didn’t clash with Griff and didn’t make it my mission to piss him off, I guess maybe we might’ve been in a higher place on the standings. Not that I think we could have been first place, but maybe top three?” Nicholas scratched his head, letting out a sigh. “I mean, TJ and her team seemed to work so flawlessly. They nearly won and where does that leave me?” His frustrations were starting to come to the surface. “Like, I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve it. That girl has a fire that I haven’t been able to display on my own and she has no shame. A true gift that one has.”

Kaleb immediately started to smile. “You seem to think highly of Miss Morissey. Anything there you’d care to talk about?”

Again he shrugged but saw that same look in Kaleb’s eyes, so Nicholas sighed out slowly. “Maybe?” A bit of vulnerability shone in his steel eyes. “You know how it is with girls of the softer nature, right? There’s always a bit of tug and pull. But she’s responding well to everything I’ve thrown at her.” Immediately, Nicholas laughed. “And then some.”

“I see, I see.” Jotting down something on a notepad, Kaleb allowed himself some time to finish what he was writing and he clicked the pen in his hand. “I think that should be it, NIcholas. I’ll let you relax some more.”

As Kaleb stood up and was about halfway into a walk, he paused and turned around. “ALthough, one last thing.”

“Hm?” Nicholas glanced up at the tall man with a lingering curiosity look in his eyes.

Kaleb bit his lip, almost hesitating but threw caution into the wind. “About that redhead you’re obviously sweet on--”

“I didn’t say--”

“--Sure kid. Whatever you have to tell yourself, maybe try a little honesty with her and quit all of these games. Even if she--oh how did you say it? ‘Responded well’--it’s always best to just tell her how you fucking feel. It’s not like you have anything to lose, right? At the end of the day, you like her and, if what I believe you’re saying is the truth, she might feel the same. So just take a fucking chance and stop acting like this hotshot player.”

Before he could argue, Kaleb had left Nicholas with those hard truths and you can bet everything on the fact that he was taking them to heart. Honestly, having Kaleb as a confident for all of his pent up frustrations felt like a nice release and just the kind of therapy he needed to find his center again. He hadn’t felt so relaxed and so focused on what mattered since before the scavenger hunt started. Of course, it might not seem like a lot to some people, but maybe for Nicholas it had taken more out of him than he admitted to Kaleb.

“Yeah, maybe.”

Nicholas enjoyed what little time he had left in his solitude. The main courtyard was a popular spot but at the least, he could savor the fact that he could think about what to do and ponder if TJ really did...yeah.

---

Subject #26, Nicholas Salvador Grey showed immense promise and potential. Our established relationship proved to work in my favor. His trust in me allowed for surface-level information to be bypassed altogether. He seemed incredibly evasive when it came to displaying his true feelings about various subjects.

Upon closer inspection and, admittedly, going off-script, it was revealed to me that Nicholas Grey has a tough time being honest with himself. I found this especially intriguing given how much he values honesty in others. Maybe he doesn’t see it but that makes him a walking hypocrite.

Among other topics, I found that confronting him about Miss Morrissey allowed for a closer look into his psyche, and what I found out was astonishing. Under all of this bravado and college-level vocabulary, Nicholas Grey is a scared boy afraid of rejection. You think you know a guy and then he reveals something so important without even realizing it. Truly, there's more to Nicholas than meets the eye.

[Bee]

_{Featuring: Mary Reynolds, History Teacher}

---

---

Charlie was situated in the cafeteria, with what appeared to be a smoothie and notebook in front of him as he glanced over what the notebook had. It was something about second derivatives. He missed the days where math didn't have letters involved. He really did miss those days where the biggest thing in the classroom was seeing whether or not someone could fill out the sheet of multiplication in less than a minute. But now he had to figure out how the hell to derive this mess of numbers, squiggles, and letters and make sure he wasn't going to flunk this upcoming test. Charlie wasn't one to resent people, but he was as close to resenting Isaac Newton as he physically could've. Who knew math could be so painful?

Charlie was deep in the zone, inching closer toward enlightenment and figuring out just what exactly this equation was doing and what he had to do to figure out its second derivative. It was some serious, high octane studying going on. A shadow then cast over Charlie, followed by the sensation of weight being added onto the table he was sitting on. The discrepancy in his environment had caused him to snap out of the zone. Looking up to see who exactly had disturbed his studying, it turned out to be a familiar face. Ms. Reynolds, also known as the lady who told him that many many years ago, Julius Caesar was stabbed twenty three times. It was, unfortunately, one of the few things he could actually remember from that class.

"Oh, hey Ms. Reynolds. What's up?" Charlie asked, taking a sip out of his strawberry smoothie. "Ah, nothing. Just coming to see how you guys are doing -- and see how you guys liked the festivities." Charlie shrugged, before closing his notebook and looking up at Ms. Reynolds. "It was alright. I guess it was a good way to get us to work together. It was a nice change of pace. I'd rather go on a scavenger hunt than sit in class all day, that's for sure." As menial and odd as some of the tasks were, he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy himself at least a little bit. He'd certainly do it again if it meant that he didn't have to go to class.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Mary chuckled, before scribbling something down on a notepad in front of her, "How'd you like working with your teammates?" Mary inquired. "My team? Well, they were alright. They did what they were supposed to and I can't really complain about them." Charlie shrugged, before he leaned forward as if he'd remembered something. "Although, it did feel really awkward at times. It's pretty hard to describe, but- uh, it felt like my teammates absolutely hated each other. There was this one time where Billie threw the egg super hard at Erica. I don't know what the history is between those two, but that wasn't a friendly throw." Charlie, admittedly, didn't know Erica and Billie very well, but it didn't take a genius to know that there was some sort of tension between the two. Even Ray Charles could've seen that coming.

"Really now? Well, that's interesting. But you guys did work well together otherwise, right? From what I've seen, seems like you guys didn't finish very high up." Mary continued to write things down, her interest in Charlie's account of things growing with every word that came out of his mouth. "Yeah, surprisingly. We got our stuff done quickly outside of the egg incident. They did their jobs. Maybe if they didn't have whatever it was between them we could've done a bit better, but since we finished I'm not really one to complain or say much." Charlie was really curious as to what happened between Erica and Billie, but he wasn't particularly close with either of them to the point where he could just ask. Maybe Tyler or Hana knew, but as it was right now, he was in the dark, and he didn't have much of a problem with it.

"Mhmm. If you had to do this all over again, would you want to be in the same group?" Mary asked, continuing to write things down on her pad. This was a rather tough question. Charlie didn't have a problem with either Billie or Erica, but those two definitely did. He took a long sip of his smoothie, before clearing his throat and formulating his answer in a way that would be clear but also not overly rude and potentially inflammatory. He thought for a few more seconds again, before finally figuring out what he wanted to say.

"Honestly, no. Not really. They're nice, but I just don't think I want to deal with their beef."

Mary nodded intently, before she looked down at her notepad once again. "I think that's all for now, Charles." Mary smiled, "Thanks for cooperating." The lady stood up and grabbed her things, as Charles nodded. "Yeah, see you around, Ms. Reynolds." He waved, before watching her walk off. Charlie went back to studying, trying to wrap his mind over this stupid mess of squiggles, numbers, and letters.

[smarty0114]

_{Featuring: Dr. Helena Larkin
Location: Library}

---

---

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.

[Ejected]

^{Starring Zakya Washington and Ms. Trina Andrews}

---

---

"Why am I not surprised that I've found you in here, of all places?"

Trina Andrews had been a lover of the arts since she was a little girl, despite being persuaded by her parents to pursue more "practical" job options as she grew older. Whether it was playing an instrument, belting out a ballad, or performing a dance routine on the big stage, Ms. Andrews had an affinity for it all. It was because of all of this that posing as a San Agustin music teacher wasn't as hard as she initially thought it would be. It came naturally to her, because in her mind, she wasn't really acting. At least, not completely.

It didn't come as much of a surprise to Ms. Andrews when she spotted one of her more talented pupils in the very same music room she used to teach her lessons. Zakya Washington was seated at the piano, her back facing the older woman and her eyes glued to her sheet music. She'd been there for a little over an hour, singing to what she thought was a sea of vacant seats. Trina had been watching from the back row for around ten minutes before finally deciding to engage. Zakya only slightly turned her head for a brief moment to flash her teacher a quick smile before returning her focus to the music.

"Well, you do know me better than anyone, Ms. T," Zakya said, the corner of her mouth turning upwards as she scooted to the edge of the bench. "I'm working on our assignment for class. Just tryna to take my mind off things, I guess. You know how it is."

"Ah," Trina said, nodding her head knowingly as she took a seat next to Zakya. "I take it that you're still a little bummed about coming in third place?"

"Bummed?" Zakya exclaimed, shooting her teacher a funny look as she momentarily placed her hands in her lap. "I'm not bummed, I'm pissed. I really thought we had that in the bag! I mean, we could've gone about things a little better... and quicker, but... all that work and all I get are some fucking stickers? Yeah, whatever." As Zakya spoke, she couldn't help but think back on when she, Sam, and Hana finally finished their final challenge, only to be informed that they hadn't been fast enough to win the prize, whatever the Hell that turned out to be. And as she stared down at the stickers that lay at the top of her tote bag, she couldn't help but wish that the prize wasn't as grand as the staff had made it out to be.

"I understand," Ms. Andrews said, offering Zakya a reassuring smile before continuing on. "So you feel like you would've won if you had different teammates?"

Letting out a deep breath, Zakya shrugged her shoulders and said, "I dunno... probably not. I mean, it's not like they were bad teammates. Sam was a good leader, even though he didn't really contribute to a lot of the mental challenges... Hana handled those, which was fine since she was the worst at that whole basketball thing. I guess I just kinda blame myself." Of course, Zakya was saying what she believed to be the truth. While Sam easily knocked out the physical portions of the scavenger hunt, Hana took care of anything that required them to actually think. "I'm an athlete, sure... but not the same kind of athlete that Sam is. And in case you didn't notice, I'm not really the smartest person at this school... Everyone knows that. Pretty sure my only decent grade is in your class."

"I'm sure you tried your best."

"Well, obviously my best wasn't good enough."

The two sat in silence for a few brief moments, Zakya staring down at the piano keys and Ms. Andrews waiting for the right moment to speak again. Ms. Andrews was the first to break this silence.

"Well, maybe we should stop talking about the scavenger hunt, huh? Why don't you tell me about something more... positive?" Trina spoke with a more upbeat tone this time, trying her best to shift the mood of the conversation. "Like how are you liking the school so far? I'm sure you've made a bunch of friends! And I don't know... maybe you have your eye on someone?" As Ms. Andrews spoke those last few words, she gave Zakya a playful nudge in the arm. The young woman responded by bursting into a fit of giggles, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"Okay, I am not talking to you about my love life!" Zakya said between laughs. And once she'd finally pulled herself back together she said, "The school isn't all that bad. The food is good, the people are okay... I know a lot of people, yeah... but I don't know if I'd consider anyone other than Erica a real friend. I think I might come off a little too... strong for some people. Not that I care, I mean... It's who I am."

"I see... so everything's going pretty well for you then, huh? For the most part, at least."

"Ehhhh," Zakya said, letting a long, dramatic pause follow soon after. "They could be better, you know... if the staff would finally green light a Grease production." And then they were laughing again.

"I'll see what I can do, Zakya," Ms. Andrews said with a light chuckle as she stood from the stool and readjusted her blazer. "But until then... try to keep your head up, okay? You're capable of a lot more than you may think." It was after Ms. Andrews had started towards the exit doors that she pulled a notepad and pen from her back pocket and began to jot a few things down. And before walking out completely, the woman turned to her student one last time and gave her another piece of advice.

"Try going down an octave. Your lower register is actually quite impressive."

And then she was gone.

[NeoAJ]

_{A Savannah @NeoAJ and Miss Morris / Wesley @GhostMami collab}

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.”

[Ejected]

^{Starring Dwayne Freeman and Mr. Matthew Tiller}

---

---

After spending a little over two months at San Agustin, the school library had quickly become one of Dwayne's favorite places to visit during the day, in addition to his little area in the courtyard and the fitness center. It was during his visits that he'd stock up on reading material for the week, and this trip was certainly no different. The young man sat on the floor in between the shelves near the back of the library, his legs crossed at the ankle and his eyes glued to the very first page of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. On the floor next to him was a stack of four more unread books, ready to be checked out and carried back to Dwayne's bedroom. Reading always brought him peace and comfort, which he decided that he needed a great deal of following the scavenger hunt that had taken place earlier.

"Invisible Man, huh?" A voice suddenly rang out from above him, causing Dwayne to momentarily tear his eyes away from the page and refocus on the source of said voice. He was slightly surprised to see that it was none other than Mr. Tiller, his statistics teacher. He stood about two feet away from him, his hands buried deep in his pockets. "One of my favorites. Has been since I was forced to read it back in high school. This your first time giving it a look?"

Dwayne couldn't help but feel a tad bit awkward as the older man spoke to him. After all, it wasn't like he'd had many conversations with the man outside of the classroom. Hell, Dwayne barely spoke to any of his teachers unless it was to answer a question or two, and even then it wasn't like he'd volunteered. "Uh, yeah..." Dwayne said slowly, looking back down at the book that sat in his lap. "I think I started it a few years ago and never got around to finishing it."

"Ah, I see..." Mr. Tiller responded, before clearing his throat and finally getting down to business. "So how was the scavenger hunt? Your team came in... third place?"

"Fourth, actually," Dwayne said, nodding his head as he did so.

"Doesn't seem like you're too disappointed about that."

"I'm just glad that it's over," Dwayne responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Truth be told, he couldn't care less about winning the scavenger hunt, nor did he care about whatever prize the faculty had planned on giving to the winners. "Congrats to whoever did win. I'm sure they wanted it a whole lot more than my team did."

"Not too happy with who ended up on your team, huh? Don't tell me you've made some enemies already."

"I wouldn't call anyone here my enemy..." It was then that Dwayne started to get a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach as Mr. Tiller spoke. What was with the sudden interest in him, much less who he considered to be an enemy? "What's with the third degree? Kinda starting to feel like I'm being interrogated or something." As he spoke that last sentence, Dwayne couldn't help but let out an awkward chuckle. Mr. Tiller let out one of his own as he leaned against one of the shelves, this time taking his hands out of his pockets and folding his arms across his chest.

"Something like that," the man said jokingly. "I'm just curious to see how well some of my students did, that's all... Did you have fun at least?

Raising a curious eyebrow, Dwayne simply shrugged his shoulders once more. "It was ight."

Realizing that he probably wasn't going to get anymore out of the boy about the scavenger hunt, Mr. Tiller decided to shift gears, this time asking about how Dwayne liked the school so far. And, per usual, Dwayne kept his response as short and dry as possible. "It's a decent place, I'm not complaining. The book selection in here could be a little better, though." And after saying this, the young man tossed Invisible Man into the stack with the others, deciding that he'd choose one more to keep him occupied for the rest of the week.

"Well, I'll let you get back to your browsing, then..." Mr. Tiller said after a few moments of silence, to which Dwayne simply nodded his head and flashed him a tight-lipped smile.

"See you in class."

[Sugar and Spite]

_{Featuring Dr. Cleo James and Samuel Costigan.}
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

One foot in front of the other.

Faster.

Faster.

Breathe in, breathe out.

As Samuels heart thudded rapidly in his chest, he heard the gym door open. Watching as Mrs. James approached, Sam fiddled with the controls on the treadmill before slowing his pace to a walk.

”Sam! So glad I could find you here,” she said, coming to a stop in front of him. ”Do you have a second to answer a few questions about the scavenger hunt for me?”

Confused and out of breath, Sam shrugged his shoulders. ”As long as I can keep doing my thing.”

”Yeah, sure, no problem.” Arms crossed, the older woman took a seat across from him on one of the weight benches. ”So lets start off simple - what did you think of the whole thing?”

”The scavenger hunt? It was okay. Kinda felt like some sort of field day or whatever but it was okay. My teammates were pretty cool, I guess. I kinda know. Zakya not so much. I wouldn’t have really chose either of them, but hey - at least I didn’t get stuck with freaking… Well. I don’t think I’d have major problems with anyone, really.”

”Who would you have picked?”

”Sol and Leo,” he said without hesitation. While he didn’t have any idea why he and his best friends clicked the way that they did, he was grateful for it nonetheless.

”Would you say that you would have been happier if you could have chosen your friends?”

”Happier? No. Had more fun? Yes.”

Smirking at her students answer, Mrs. James continued. ”What role did you have in the team.”

”Uh… Leader. That seems to happen a lot with projects and stuff. I guess I’m just good at bringing people together and getting things done. I like to see who’s good at what and then work with that. Like Hana wasn’t good at sports, so me and Zakya pretty much did the basketball things ourselves. But she was also pretty good at the riddles, and I sucked at that so…”

Nodding her head, the biology teacher pressed on. ”And how do you like it here? Any other people of note other than your friends?”

Eyebrows coming together as he took a brief moment to think, Sam turned the treadmill off before slowing to a stop. ”Why are you asking this stuff? Didn’t you guys watch us through out the hunt and stuff?”

”Easy killer. We just want to hear things from you guys personally,” she said, doing her best to reassure him.

”I uh… I don’t know. I feel like I get along with everyone pretty well. School is school. Most of my grades are similar to what I make in your class… I don’t really have much to say.” Bored of the lackluster conversation and the fact that this felt like some sort of weird interrogation, Sam dismissed himself. ”Sorry teach, but I gotta go run and grab a shower.”

”No worries, Samuel. I’ll catch you later in class.”

____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

Subject forty-one seemed reluctant to engage in our conversation. Not many details were given about his life here at San Agustin. I did find manage to find out that he is taking on a classic role as a leader. I wonder if perhaps we may see some of his more aggressive alpha-like instincts in the future?

[Sugar and Spite]

_{Featuring Dr. Christina Lincoln and Billie Grey.}
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

“So you mean to tell me that you thought the scavenger hunt was - and I quote - ‘a very stupid dumbass idea’.”

“Yes,” Billie said, sitting cross legged on her bed.

“Well that doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? I assure you that all of the staff worked very hard to make sure that --”

“Spare me the bullshit,” she groaned. “I’m stuck at this boring school with these boring ass people and you guys paired me with Erica and some egghead named Charles.”

Ms. Lincoln sighed, running her hand through her hair as she laid back against the chair. Billie was proving to be difficult as usual and the headache that the teacher had intensified with every question and answer. Nothing with the Grey Twins was ever simple - especially when it came to the younger half. Why Christina had let herself think anything else she had no idea.

”Okay so… tell me the opinion of the rest of your classmates. I know you don’t like Erica…. But you don’t like many people. Who do you like?”

Flopping back onto the bed, Billie decided to stare at the ceiling for the foreseeable future. ”My brother. I like Nicholas.”

”What about Leo…? You two seem close.”

”He’s good for a fuck.” Billie would swear that in that moment she heard her favorite teacher stifle a laugh.

”What about the other girls in your class? Savannah? Zakya? Tyler Ja--”

”Fuck Tyler and fuck Nick for giving her the time of day. He knows he deserves better. I’ve told him a thousand times. He deserves someone good. Someone kind, caring, nurturing. As a gay as it sounds, my brother needs a somewhat steady guiding hand. He needs someone that will make him pancakes in the mornings. Someone who knows his favorite song someone like --”

It was in that moment that Billie’s brain shattered. It was as if someone pushed her, the air evaporating from her lungs as she fell into the same dream that she had been having for months. But how could this be a dream? It felt even more real than before. She was wide awake, centered in the present moment but yet so far away.

A tall girl. Olive skin. Brown eyes. Chocolate hair. Warmth. Familiarity. Nicholas hugging her. Words shouted out as Billie turned to close the door behind herself ---

Sister. Fiona. Love.

”Billie? Billie? Hey, B. You good?”

Snapping back into reality, Billie didn’t know what to do with whatever information that her body had just given her. All she knew was that her gut was telling her to play it cool with Ms. Lincoln and that she needed to talk to Nicholas. But how would she even begin to explain?

”Y-yeah. I’m good. Just blacked out there for a second.”

”I’m sorry,” the older woman said, sighing once again. ”I think you’ve answered all of my questions anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Have a good night.”

”I… yeah. You too.”

[Sugar and Spite]

_{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.”