Placement: 1st Place(screams with excitement)

This is for Redrobin9304 's flash fiction prompt. Hope you like it!

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The floor tasted like dirt.

Blunt? Yeah, I guess you can say that. To be honest, I wasn't too focused on how my taste buds interpreted the flavoring of the dusty desert rocks.

I was more concerned of the reason why I was given the oh-so-wonderful opportunity to distinguish and relish the delicacy now known as the ground.

Snickers and laughs could be heard above me, peaking my already high irritation for the current situation.

"Oh...my...gosh!" Monica wheezed, trying to cover her laughter with coughs. "Are you okay?"

I slowly rose from my sprawled-out position, ignoring the hand that Monica offered. I began dusting the dirt off of my jeans. "I'll be fine."

I turned to the person behind me, otherwise known as the reason why I took my unplanned bellyflop: Leia.

Leia gave me a genuinely apologetic look. "Sorry Tatum! I swear I thought you were gonna step over the roc—"

"Class!" A booming voice from the front startled us back into reality. Laughs immediately ceased as Mr. Jackson's glare pierced though the carefree atmosphere.

"We are not here to socialize!" Mr. Jackson set his hands behind his back like a military general. "You are to race all the way back to the main building. Last ones there gets dish duty!"

Okay, let me be honest:

If there was one thing that everyone despised, it was dish duty.

Imagine having the wash the dishes of hundreds of unkept, gifted delinquents.

When I mean by gifted, I mean by ranging from the extremes of hacked-the-pentagon-because-of-a-dare to my-mom-says-I'm-special gifted.

Yeah, doesn't sound that fun, does it?

Unfortunately, I was averaging more in the hacking-the-pentagon-level gifted, which earned me early curfews, stricter schoolwork, and the constant feeling of guards breathing down my neck.

I mean, what do they think I'll do? With the locked-down environment they've put me in, I'd be surprised if you could even download Minecraft without setting off a full twelve-hour security search.

Anyways, everyone competitively stood in a line along the desert landscape. A sand colored building stood off in the distance; giving off a stealth-mode feeling to it.

"It's like Area 51," Leia joked once, "minus all of the cool stuff."

Now looking at it, I couldn't help but agree with her. I doubt that an air jet would be able to spot the boarding school even if they tried.

All of us pushed each other in a restless manner as Mr. Jackson stood behind us counting to set us off.

"Ready!

"Set!

"G—"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

That's when my life got a lot more interesting.

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Word Count: 470

Thanks for reading!
-KaileeWatson