WE SAT IN that circle for about ten minutes in straight silence before we began to speak to each other. Everyone wanted to do different things, so we decided to part ways until tomorrow at three. Before we broke apart as a group, we all had to agree to some specific terms.

No killing each other. Not now, anyway. Jookie must be having a hissy fit. He probably wanted us to go for each other's throats right at the start.

We also agreed to leave our third item, the clue to our secret, on the glass table in the common room, so that everyone had an equal chance to look at them. Then everyone just dispersed, some by themselves and others in groups.

The people in groups surprised me. Some people really did know how to make friends fast. Not me. It took me a while to warm up to people. I honestly didn't think I had any real friends. Just a bunch of fake acquaintances I hung out with every day to appear normal.

Before leaving the common area, I made sure to look at everyone's clues. Layla had a weird box puzzle. Fee had a miniature, bloody pigpen. Khan had a single word charm that said, "Parricide." Demo had a list of countries, poor income ones.

Chi-Lynn had a weird clue; she had ten lines of number sequences that only consisted of zeroes and ones. Rucker had pink baby booties, which made Gmie whisper, "child killer."

Gmie was proud of her clue, a letter from Harvard. "My acceptance letter," she said before grinning and waving the sealed envelope around.

Yeah. Be proud of that acceptance letter because you probably won't make it there alive next fall.

Aries had a pride flag while Yaz got a twenty dollar bill as her clue. Sebastian had a King chess piece. It looked like it was from the same set as my pawn.

Did that mean something?

Tiran got a bottle of pills, which he immediately laughed about, saying they were caffeine pills. He used to sell them to students.

Everyone had such weird clues, and I couldn't figure any of them out. Yet. I wondered if any of the contestants were like me and didn't know what their secret was.

Walking to the threshold of the common room, a cameraman moved behind me, zooming in. I didn't know how reality stars did it. Having cameras on me made me feel uncomfortable.

Just when I was about to walk into the hall, Gmie ran over to me out of nowhere, staring up at me with an angry look in her brown eyes. "How did you know?" she snapped, arms folded.

"Know what?" I asked, watching the cameraman come closer to us.

"Jookie," she shouted at me. "How did you figure out what he meant? With the challenge."

I shrugged. "I just thought about it."

"Thought about it?" she mimicked back at me in a condescending tone. Her beautiful face reflected annoyance mixed with frustration. "Are you trying to be a bitch or something?"

What was her problem? I just thought about it. That's it. "No," I said, confused.

She glared. "Well, whatever. It doesn't matter. You can play cute and stupid for the cameras, but you just got lucky. Don't think you'll come out on top again." And with that, she stormed away.

That girl needed help. Seriously. Totally delusional. She must have some perfection complex, or she was just very competitive.

Upon leaving the common room and turning right, golden torch-like scones lined the halls, lighting the way. The same décor that decorated the common room echoed in the halls. While the crimson walls were littered with paintings, shelves and more wood paneling, the wide, oval-top hallways and tall ceilings reminded me of a castle structure.

The common room area rested in what looked like the middle of the building, and once I made it down that long hallway, contestant rooms caught my eye. Our names plastered the smooth wooden doors with a symbol underneath.

Stopping in front of my door, a peach with a crown was my symbol with my name in black script overtop. My body paused when I heard footsteps behind me in the hall.

My mind did a slight high-five in my head. No one could sneak up on us. These wide halls and wooden floors would catch everything.

In my peripheral vision, Tiran hobbled down the hall, his room right across from mine. A giant white pill graced his door. Must be because he was a drug dealer.

When he saw me, he nodded, and I gave him a small smile before turning my back. But something inside told me to turn back. Peering over my shoulder, my eyes watched Tiran open his door.

With the light already on inside, Tiran gasped. That noise made me turn full throttle, and I caught the sight of a girl. A life-size image of a girl was on his wall. She smiled; she looked happy. But on the other side of the room, an image of the same girl was there, but this time, she looked drunk or passed out.

I couldn't really get a good glimpse because Tiran slammed his door shut and booked it down the hall, feet squeaking on the wood flooring.

If his room made him run, mine must be bad. Our rooms must contain clues to our secrets. That's why contestants probably couldn't see the camera footage in each other's rooms. They wanted us to work for it and find our own ways into each other's rooms.

With my forehead against the door, my mind became a battlefield, trying to decide what to do. Seconds passed before my curiosity won out, and I opened my door.

Huge like the common room, the emptiness was what caught me off guard. Nothing in sight, except pictures. Pictures covered every wall. Pictures of my mother and my family, smiling and happy. Images of my mother and I cuddling and hugging. We looked like a normal family.

It took me a moment to realize that I began choking, and I couldn't breathe.

"You alright?" a voice asked, coming up from behind me.

I slammed the door shut, whirling around, hair flying.

Sebastian caught my body before I stumbled forward, but he lost his footing. We both went down like a sack of sodas, but he wrapped his arms around me so that I landed on top like in a cliche romantic comedy.

With our bellies touching, I stared down into his blue eyes. "Umm, sorry." He felt soft and smelled of gummy bears and fruit. It took me a second to realize that I was still on top of him, and I scrambled off and sat on the floor by my room.

He chuckled and sat next to me. "It's fine. You okay? You seemed to be hyperventilating or choking. I came over to see if you needed help."

"Thanks, but I'm alright. It's just..."

"The room." He bobbed his head, agreeing. "Mine freaked me the hell out too. Everyone probably has some wacky shit."

I eyed the cameraman wheeling down the hall, passing by us while zooming in. "Umm yeah — it wasn't pleasant in there. I think I just need a sec."

He smiled at me, wiping a piece of blonde hair out of his face. "I'll sit with you." The way he looked and smiled at me reminded me of the way Jonathan looked at me like I wasn't a total weirdo.

"You really don't have too," I said, looking down.

"Everyone else is exploring, and I kinda just want to sit and collect my thoughts," he said, rubbing his jeans. "I'm just trying to get a grip on the situation."

"Me too," I said. "All of this is unbelievable." Just last night I was watching Rick and Morty in bed, and now, I was on a reality show. "I just can't believe that I'm in this hellhole."

"If I knew yesterday would've been my last day of freedom, I would've done something more exciting. I just went to work like any normal day," he said with a dry laugh.

"Work?"

"I'm a print model. Mostly ads," he said with a shrug. "I was just doing another boring photoshoot, and then I woke up here. I'm still unsure of what exactly happened."

With his smooth skin, light eyes and toned body, he fit the classification of a model.

"Everything's a bit hazy for me too," I said. "All I remember is leaving the subway."

"Memory loss is probably one of the side effects of the drugs they gave us to knock us out," he murmured in distaste.

"Whatever they gave us is probably untraceable," I said. "Whoever created this game put a lot of thought into it."

"Yeah, only a creative genius could do all this," he murmured with a nod. "Who else could think of something like this?"

"Rich people. Bored rich people," I said, eyeing the cameraman. "People who don't care about others and money is their main goal." All of this was probably a goldmine. The bets alone were probably in the millions.

That probably meant my sponsor was rich. Or maybe not? It still bothered me that I had no clue on who sponsored me. I did know that it wasn't my mother. That was an impossible idea.

We both sat there in silence, lost in thought. About ten minutes had passed before he spoke again.

"I meant to ask," he said. "Do you know why our clues are matching pieces?"

"The pawn and the king," I murmured.

"Have I met you before?" he asked, turning to me.

I stared at his face, feeling a familiar feeling, but I knew I never met him before. "No. Never."

He thought for a second. "You know what? It's probably just Jookie. He did say he shipped some of us."

"You think he did that so that we would get together?" I asked, tilting my head. That does sound like something Jookie would do.

He laughed, elbowing me gently. "Yeah. He's not the subtlest person in the world."

"True," I said, and we ended it there.

The only way to really find out the chess piece connection would be to reveal our secrets to each other, and I didn't think either of us wanted to do that.

♟♙♟