On the bus travelling to the location of the challenge

Malakai was sitting next to Akari, and Akari was seated next to the window. To their right were Luna and Nina, and behind Malakai and Akira were Chris and Christina. Jason chose to sit at the back of the bus, away from everyone. Despite the introductions to the group, Jason didn't sit with them. It looked like he wasn't fond of the idea of getting closer to people from different classes.

"You said your younger siblings were twins. What's their names?" Akari asked, looking at Malakai, who had his phone out.

Malakai put his phone down and smiled, "Malik and Mia".

"Your family loved the letter M", Chris commented from behind them, who was listening to their conversation.

"Do you still talk to them?" Akari asked, looking at Malakai's smiling face, which showed he missed them.

"Yeah, obviously," Malakai replied, nodding his head. Then, he climbed his chair to look behind him. "Now, as my twins ain't here, how about you two become my younger siblings?" Malakai said, looking at Chris and Christina.

"What?" Christina didn't understand and looked at him, confused.

"My siblings are back in England. So why don't you be like my younger siblings here?" Malakai explained with his usual grin.

"Are you older than us?" Christina asked with uncertainty in her tone as he still looked like he was 16 even though he was 18.

"Age is just a number", Malakai replied, trying not to laugh. After that phrase, he got a few looks from around him.

"Why do you want us to be your younger siblings?" Chris asked, confused at his motives.

"I don't know. It sounds cute in my head that you two can be younger siblings cuz your twins and my younger siblings are twins", Malakai answered. "It's kinda poetic", Malakai was waffling.

Christina saw a sparkle in his eyes, which showed that he was serious and enjoying the idea. "And if we decline?" Christina questioned, looking sceptical.

"Imma still call you both my younger siblings", Malakai laughed.

Chris couldn't help but laugh at the stupid idea; he saw the funny side of it. "I don't mind", Chris happily replied. Christina was surprised Chris had warmed up to Malakai that easily. She also didn't mind this weird proposal if Chris was cool with it.

"You don't have any ulterior motives, do you?" Christina asked for reassurance as she only saw what Malakai was about from an outside perspective. He was number one on the leaderboards, so surely he was clever and had tricks up his sleeves.

"Naa, we're friends now. If you got my back, I got yours", Malakai replied casually, showing he trusted them. The two didn't expect him to interact like this with them. Friends? They had only just met.

"I thought you would be arrogant and annoying, "Chris honestly said, looking at Malakai's calm body language.

"I'm annoying, but it's a good annoying", Malakai replied. "Arrogant, naa. I can't be arsed for that". Malakai realised something: Akari, Chris and Christina were all in class 1-B. "I got a question for all of you", he said. The three looked at him. "Are you friends with Ryan?" He questioned.

"I wouldn't say friends", Akari replied.

"Not really", Christina replied.

"Nope", Chris replied.

"Why?" Akari asked, turning her body around to make herself more comfortable.

"I don't like him", Malakai spoke his mind. "If you want my advice, I say I don't trust him," Malakai said.

"Has he done anything to you?" Christina asked, knowing Malakai was talking seriously now. She couldn't pinpoint what it was, but it looked like he wasn't playing around anymore.

"Naa, not yet. It's just that feeling I get around him", Malakai replied with a facial expression showing his discomfort.

"He looks like a nice guy; he was nice to me." Akari shared her thoughts on Ryan.

"I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't get too friendly with him", Malakai replied, thinking he may be warning them for no reason. Maybe he was being too paranoid.

"What should we do then?" Chris asked, as Ryan was a significant figure in their class.

"Use him as much as he uses you", Malakai advised.

"How do we know when he's using us?" Christina said., thinking Malakai was onto something.

"That's a great question, cuz I don't know", Malakai giggled. "I mean, I'm just a guy from a lower class; you don't have to take my word for it. I'm an idiot", he continued.

"You said we're friends now, so I trust you", Chris replied, giving him a confident look.

"Aryt, lil bro", Malakai said before sitting back normally in his chair. He then turned to look at Luna, who was on his right. She was on her phone, but Malakai wanted to talk to her, so,

"Luna", he called out. Even though Luna was on her phone, she still listened to their conversation. She was too shy to get involved and pulled out her phone to not look weird. Nina was sitting beside her but was asleep, so Luna had nothing to do except go on her phone. She heard her name being called out and looked at Malakai,

"Yeah?"

"How's your class? Is 1-A fun, or is everyone serious?" Malakai asked as he was genuinely curious.

"It's pretty serious; no one in our class is a class clown or does stuff that draws attention", Luna answered, thinking about her classmates. "What about your class? Are you the class clown?" Luna giggled while moving hair away from her left eye.

"Na na. I don't think I'm the class clown. But our classes are fun; I've got my group of four at the back of the class. We take this piss most of the time", Malakai replied.

"Delilah has shown me so many videos of all of you", Akari joined the conversation.

"The videos are too good; I don't know how she always gets the good angles", Malakai said, smiling, remembering the moments.

"Can I see them?" Luna cautiously asked, wanting to see how other classes differed.

"Yeah, lemme show you".

Knock! Knock! Knock!

William opened the door. "Hey", William greeted.

"Hi", Delilah replied, standing in front of him with a short sleeve shirt and jeans.

"Come in", William said, fully opening the door and letting Delilah in.

"Is everyone here?" She asked, taking off her shoes.

"Yeah, everyone's on the sofa".

It was 11:57 PM. Everyone gathered in Malakai's and William's dorm to watch the livestream. William remembered Delilah saying that her roommate had the challenge on the same day as Malakai, so he had the idea to throw a watch party for the livestream. He invited Delilah and asked the rest of his friends to join. So now William, Delilah, Ray, Benjamin, Lucas and David were all in one room having a watch party. Delilah walked into the main area and greeted everyone. As she hung around William and Benjamin a lot, she was familiar with them. She was David's partner for the first challenge, so she knew him too, but she only interacted with Ray and Lucas a few times, and the times they did talk, it was short.

"Do you wanna see Malakai's room?" William asked Delilah, trying to make it interesting for her.

Delilah wasn't sure how to answer. "Are we allowed? Surely it's private," she responded.

"It's fine; he won't mind," William replied as if Malakai had nothing to hide.

"You know what? Imma take something from his wardrobe", Lucas said, standing up from the coach, showing it wasn't that deep.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I'll go if you're sure he doesn't mind", Delilah replied, still unsure of the idea.

"Believe me, he won't care", William reassured. Lucas, William and Delilah made their way to Malakai's room.

"Am I going to find something disturbing?" Delilah asked as she cautiously walked into the room. She looked around. "It looks like a normal room," she said, expecting to have seen something more. The room, if anything, was boring, with no posters on the wall and no LED lights. At least it was clean; no clothes or rubbish were lying around.

"I thought I would give you a tour of our dorm," William explained why he wanted to show Malakai's room; he worded it terribly.

"All the dorms look the same, dumbass", Lucas said while scrolling through Malakai's wardrobe.

"Woah, Malakai's got a lot of nice clothes", Delilah said, looking at the different colours and brands displayed in the wardrobe.

"Yep, and he always wears a tracksuit. I don't know why; I always tell him to dress better, but he's lazy," Lucas replied, picking a nice-looking beanie. "Okay, let's go; it's not good going into people's rooms," Lucas said after retrieving what he wanted. Delilah laughed at the irony; as she walked out, she noticed envelopes on his desk.

"Malakai writes letters?" she said out loud.

"Yeah, he said he writes letters and sends them to his family back in England", William replied, looking at Malakai's desk. The desk had blank pieces of paper and envelopes with a singular pen to the side. It looked like he was about to start writing a letter but didn't get around to it.

"Doesn't he call or text them?" Delilah asked.

"He does, but he said his younger siblings prefer letters because it's more personal, and he can send them souvenirs as well", William said, walking towards the door.

"Aww, that's cute", Delilah said, walking out of the room. As she walked out, she could hear a thud coming from the next room and remembered, "Oh yeah, didn't you say Maria and Tanisha were your neighbours?" Delilah asked to make sure she remembered correctly.

"Yeah, they are", William answered.

"Should we invite them?" Delilah excitedly asked, thinking about how much more livelier the party would be.

"If you want, I don't mind", William replied. "You don't mind Maria and Tanisha joining!" William said in a louder tone to the guys. He was answered by 'Naa' and 'I don't mind'. Delilah smiled and skipped to the door. She left their dorm, knocked on their door, and patiently waited. The door opened,

"Hey, Delilah".

"Hii Maria", Delilah waved happily.

"Do you want to come in?" Maria welcomed her in; surprised Delilah was there.

"Actually, all of us are watching the livestream next door. We thought it would be a good idea as Malakai and my roommate are doing the challenge today. Watching it together would be fun", Delilah excitedly explained.

"Yeah, I'd love to", Maria replied, thrilled by the idea.

"Is Tanisha here?" Delilah asked.

"Yeah, she's in her room; I'll get her now." Maria went to fetch Tanisha and tell her about the idea. She gestured for Delilah to come into the dorm and knocked on Tanisha's door.

"You can come in", a voice called from inside. The door opened, and Tanisha expected to see Maria but instead saw, "Delilah? Why are you here?"

"Hi, We're having a watch party next door. I remembered you were next door, so I thought I would ask you if you wanted to join," Delilah replied, glancing around the room.

"That sounds fun; let me put on a hoodie first", she said, getting up from her bed.

"Were you going to watch the livestream?" Delilah asked, looking at clothes lying around the room.

"To be honest with you, I forgot about it.", Tanisha replied, checking her face in the mirror.

"I was going to watch it; I was about to call you Tan", Maria said, standing behind Delilah.

Tanisha put on a hoodie she found lying around, "Okay, let's go", She said.

"Maria, are you ready?" Delilah asked before they left. Delilah looked at Maria. Maria wore casual home clothes but didn't look messy or sloppy. She was still pretty. Delilah asked to make sure she wanted to dress in something better-looking.

"Yeah, I'm fine".

The three girls returned to the dorm where they were going to watch the livestream.

"You came", Benjamin said, looking from the sofa.

"Did you think I wasn't going to come?" Tanisha replied, walking in.

"Naa, I thought you wouldn't. I thought if you were going to, it's because of Maria", Benjamin said.

"She wanted to come", Delilah told them.

"Have you got snacks?" Tanisha asked, scanning the dorm.

"Yup, take anything you want from the kitchen." William let them have anything they wanted from the kitchen. The girls looked towards the kitchen, and the kitchen table had snacks on it. Delilah walked to a kitchen closet, opened it, and saw more snacks like chocolate and sweets.

"Are all the snacks Malakai's?" Delilah asked, presuming it was.

"Na, it's William's. He's got a sweet tooth", Lucas answered.

"Why are you telling them?" William nudged Lucas's arm in embarrassment.

"You've got beanbags as well", Maria happily said, gracefully falling onto one.

"You can tell who bought what in this dorm; all the essential stuff is William, and all the useless stuff is Malakai", David said, opening a drink.

"The beanbags are nice; I like them", Ray replied, lying on the other one. The TV then presented a three-minute countdown.

"It's going to start soon", William noticed. Delilah and Tanisha finished picking their snacks and gathered back to the watch area. Tanisha joined Maria on the beanbags while Delilah sat on the arm of the coach.

"Are you comfortable? I'll sit on the floor, and you can go on the couch", David offered.

"I'm fine, don't worry", Delilah reassured him she was okay.

"Who wants to make a bet that Malakai will come first?" Lucas excitedly said, looking around.

"We don't know the challenge yet", Benjamin replied.

"It doesn't matter. He's going to come first", William confidently said, trusting his friend.

"Put credits on it", Lucas pressured him.

"Fine, 100 credits if he comes first." William reached out to shake hands. Lucas hesitated and looked at everyone else.

"Aren't you going to agree?" Tanisha asked, intrigued by this bet.

"But I think he's going to come first", Lucas replied, thinking he had made a mistake.

"I don't think he's going to come first", Tanisha confidently said.

"Okay, let's shake on it", William replied, turning to Tanisha.

"Okay", they both shook hands. Lucas also joined the bet; everyone excitedly hyped up the moment with mini cheers.

"Malakai, you better win".

The bus reached the location, and all the students stepped out. When they looked around at their surrounding, it was weird.

"This is mad", Malakai said, looking around. The students saw a figure in the distance and were instructed to walk towards them. As they got closer, they got more pieces to the puzzle, but a lot was still missing. What they had was ample open space, with no buildings in sight, six black five-seater cars, and a long road. Mr Miller was standing in front of them, with other teachers and cameramen standing behind him for the livestream. Mr Miller held out his arms,

"Welcome to challenge two".