I was so screwed. There is no way I can go through with this. Sabrina is very attractive, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit curious as to what would happen, but I just can’t do it. Some part of me feels like I would be taking advantage of her. There’s obviously something not right with her, and the strange liking she’s taken to me. I feel like I need to know the true reason behind her strange obsession before I even think about doing anything remotely close to this. I can’t just leave though. If I do, there’s no telling what she’d do. She’s too unpredictable. I just have to hope that something out there will save me from this situation. Just then–

“What the hell are you doing here?” A familiar voice said from behind me.

I turned around and saw Carmen standing there with an annoyed look on her face.

“Just kidding. I know exactly why you’re here,” she said with a grin. “Marin and I had a feeling that Sabrina was going to try something like this.”

“What would possibly make you think that?”

“Just the look in her eyes mostly. She didn’t take her eyes off of you at all during practice, and there was major lust in her gaze. And just let me say that while I agree that it’s very strange that she’s so stuck on you when you’ve done nothing to deserve it, it’s also true that her feelings are in fact genuine.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I know so. She might be standoffish and cold to the rest of us, but under it all, I do think she’s a good girl,” Carmen said. “She just seems to be confused in a lot of different ways. She seems like the type that has had no experience with guys at all, so maybe it’s just the fact that you’re her type and you just so happened to be here. A ‘right time, right place’ sort of thing.”

“Hey, Ryder, who are you talking to out there?!” I heard Sabrina yell from inside the locker room.

“It’s Carmen, Sabrina. I’m taking Ryder back to the court,” Carmen said. “Go ahead and finish your shower.”

“Wh-what?! No!” Sabrina yelled.

“Let’s go,” Carmen said, pointing towards the basketball court. I eagerly followed

Once we entered the court once again, I saw Marin’s eyes light up.

“Thank goodness!” she said. “She didn’t take your innocence, did she?”

“Don’t worry, he’s still pure as the driven snow,” Carmen said. “Still believes in Santa Claus and everything.”

“You say that like he’s not real,” I joked.

“Sorry I didn’t come with Carmen to get you, Ryder,” Marin said. “I’m already on Sabrina’s enemy list, so I didn’t want to give her another reason to wring my neck. Carmen’s a lot braver, so she decided to go.”

“I can’t leave a member of the Misfit Toys out to dry,” Carmen said. “Besides, he’s finally starting to show his worth.”

“Do the guys know what happened?” I asked.

“No. We left them in the dark,” Carmen said. “I just told them I’d bring you back. Nothing more than that.”

“Thank goodness. Thanks for the rescue. I owe you guys.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to cash in my IOU in due time,” Carmen said.

“And you don’t owe me anything!” Marin said. “Now, let’s get back to practice!”

We joined the others on the court and continued practicing. I decided to teach the other’s what Sabrina had been teaching me, and it seemed to be working. We were starting to look a lot more like people who knew what basketball was.

“Ryder! Did you see?! I made a three!” Marin yelled.

“Yeah! That was a clean shot!”

“If we somehow win the basketball game, then there will be a lot less stress during the next two games,” Atticus said. “The fact that Sabrina committed us to losing the basketball game before we even started practicing was pretty bleak considering we’d have to win the next two sports.”

“That made me nervous too,” Carmen said. “Sabrina gives me way too much credit for my soccer skills.”

“We should go into every game thinking we’re going to win then!” Marin said. “We’re a stronger team than people give us credit for!”

“I’m definitely starting to believe a little more,” Carmen said. “Just a little though.”

“I am as well,” Cyrus said. “It may sound pessimistic, but I’m not sure we should hold our breath on Keon finding a way to escape before the end of the tournament. We should operate under the assumption that it truly is life or death for us to win this.”

“I hate to say I agree, but I think we should too,” Carmen said.

“I can’t even imagine having to vote for one of us to die…” Marin said. “I like you all too much to do something so horrible. I think the time that both teams are spending together is meant to make the decision even tougher. It’s to make us play even harder. Not just for our own lives, but for each other’s.”

“It’s like really fucked up poetry,” Carmen said. “Well, it’s about time for dinner, so how about we call it a day?” Everyone agreed.

“I definitely need a shower,” Marin said. “I’m going to use the shower in the locker room, so Ryder you can go ahead and use the one in our dorm.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

“I’ll join you in the locker room,” Carmen said.

“Not after what you whispered in my ear!” Marin said, blushing once again.

“Oh, please. I’m not gonna lay a finger on you, I promise. I’m not into girls anyway,” Carmen said.

“You better not!” Marin said.

They then left for the locker rooms, just leaving me, Atticus, Robbie, and Cyrus to head towards our respective dorms for showers.

“So, Ryder, are you truly only here because of your luck?” Cyrus asked.

“Why do you ask?”

“During the trial, it seemed like you had everything figured out even with the small amount of time you had to do so, and you learned how to be a competent basketball player in only one day. So…what are you hiding?”

“I’ve been wondering too,” Atticus said. “Even I struggled to work out what happened in that trial, and I’ve beaten every detective game I could get my hands on.”

“I’m not sure how well games translate to real life…but the point still stands,” Cyrus said.

“Those games are very informative!” Atticus said. “Video games are the highest possible form of art and were instrumental in getting my brain to the highest level!”

“Seems I’ve struck a nerve,” Cyrus said. “Atticus, let’s put a pin in that. I want to hear what he has to say. So, let’s hear it, Ryder.”

“I promise I have nothing to hide! I’m not sure what’s going on either to be honest. I feel like my mind is starting to work much faster than it ever has before, but I don’t know why.”

“Hmmmm…” Cyrus was deep in thought. “It doesn't seem like you’re lying, but it’s still hard to believe. I guess only time will tell.”

“I’ve been suspicious of this young man from the start,” Robbie said. “I can say for a fact that something is wrong with this child!”

“That doesn’t mean anything coming from your mouth,” Atticus said.

“Sorry to put you on the spot, Ryder,” Cyrus said. “It just feels like every day we learn something strange about one of the people we’re trapped here with, so I find it difficult to believe everyone is as one-dimensional as they try to appear. Let’s leave it at that. Well, we’ve arrived at the dorms, so I will see you gentlemen tomorrow.” We then split up and went to our respective dorms to shower before dinner.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I walked into the dorm and realized that this was one of the very few times I ever went here without Marin being with me. It made me kind of miss her, even though I knew she’d join me shortly. It’s probably not a good idea to become dependent on someone in this kind of place, but I’m only human. I decided to hop in the shower and wash the sweat and grime off my body. I couldn’t help but worry a bit about what Sabrina’s reaction would be after Carmen took me away from the locker rooms though. Carmen says that she believes that Sabrina really is a good person deep down, but…how deep down? I can’t help but worry. Finishing up, I left the shower, and saw Marin sprawled out on the beanbag chair. I must not have heard her come in because of the running water.

“Hey, roomie,” she said. “Did you have a nice, solitary shower experience?”

“I did in fact,” I said. “How were the locker room showers?”

“They’re pretty nice, but I think I definitely still prefer showering by myself. Also, it’s set up differently than ours so I couldn’t figure out how to make it hotter. Carmen had to help me.”

“It really does suck how showers always seem to have different controls. Whenever I stayed in hotels, learning the new shower was always a hurdle.”

“Exactly! And the stakes are so high!” she said. “I need to feel like I’m burning in hell, so when I turn it and the temperature goes below zero, I feel like all the hope I’ve ever had in humanity is gone…”

“Yeah, if I’m not being boiled alive like a lobster, then I won’t ever shower again.”

“Now that’s something we can agree on,” Marin said. “You ready to grab some food?”

“Sure.”

We left the room, but before we could head towards the cafeteria, we saw Emma waiting right next to our door.

“Emma?” Marin said. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to Ryder…alone. It’s important,” she said. Marin looked slightly concerned.

“I-I’ll go on ahead, Ryder,” Marin said.

“I won’t keep him long. C’mon, Ryder.” I nodded and followed Emma.

Emma took me to the corner of the hallway and turned to face me. She had a very serious look on her face.

“S-so, what’s up?” I asked.

“Sabrina is planning something that’s going to kill everyone but you and her,” she said bluntly.

“What?!” I yelled. “What are you talking about?!”

“It’s the escape tickets, Ryder. She’s going to buy them, so you both can escape. I followed her earlier, and she went to the shop and was asking Alex loads of questions about them, and whether or not they’d actually guarantee freedom. She’s definitely going to buy them, so you need to convince her not to.”

“I can’t convince her of anything! What am I supposed to do?!”

“You’re the only person here she might listen to.”

“Can’t I just not buy one myself?”

“One of the questions that she asked was if she could buy both of the tickets and give one to another person, and the answer was ‘yes.’ She’s not going to give you a choice in the matter.”

“We don’t even know if it’ll be possible for her to earn enough for two tickets though.”

“You’re right. We don’t. But the fact is, that she’s going to do everything she can to make it happen, and she seems like the type of person who gets what she wants. The way I see it, you have two options: convince her not to buy them somehow, or make sure she doesn’t earn enough money.”

“Does anyone else know about this?”

“Not yet,” Emma said. “But if you can’t figure something out, then we’ll have to restrain her somehow. Our lives are all forfeit if she buys both of those tickets, Ryder.”

“I-I’ll figure something out…”

“Thank you. I don’t want to have to put you in such a rough spot, but there aren’t a lot of other options at the moment. Now, let’s go to dinner before the others worry.” We left for the cafeteria together.

I really don’t know how I’m going to convince Sabrina. She’s clearly a stubborn person, and with these escape tickets being the real deal, I doubt she would waste the chance to get us both out of here as soon as possible. I should have known she might think of something like this. Next time Marin and I are alone, I’ll have to ask her opinion. She’s the only person I can trust with this information.

Dinner was uneventful for once. Keon once again expressed his seriousness about finding a way out of this place, but with no real information. Maya yelled at Miles for any reason she could think of. Marin was as bubbly as usual, but every now and then would look over at me with that same slight concern from earlier. And Sabrina looked as cool, calm, and collected as always. As people started filing out to get ready for the night, Sabrina walked over to me.

“Hey, Ryder…can we talk?” she said.

“Yeah, sure. I actually have something I wanted to talk to you about as well.”

“Can we talk in my room?” she asked. “I won’t do anything unsavory, I promise.”

“O-okay.”

Sabrina nodded then violently turned her head towards Cyrus who was nearing the exit to the cafeteria.

“Hey, Cyrus!” Sabrina yelled over at him. “The room is off limits for now! I’m taking Ryder there!”

Everyone who was still in the room, easily heard Sabrina’s declaration, and I felt myself getting embarrassed.

“Oh god…” Cyrus said with a disgusted look on his face. “Just don’t make too big a mess! And stay off my bed, Ryder!”

“My man!” Miles said, pumping his fist. “Go get her, tiger!”

“I’m surrounded by perverts!” Maya yelled. “Fucking horndog! Was Marin not enough for you?!”

“It’s not like that!” Marin and I said in unison from opposite sides of the room.

“It better not be,” Sabrina said coldly. “Let’s be on our way.” Catching a glimpse at Marin I saw a very concerned look on her face.

Sabrina took my hand and led me to her dorm room. She used her face to open the door and then pulled me inside. Looking around the room, it was a carbon copy of Marin and I’s dorm, with the only difference being the placement of furniture. The two bean bag chairs were in the corner of the room, seemingly unused, and the nightstand was pulled up next to the bottom bunk with a notebook on top of it. With the lack of writing utensils though, I wasn’t sure what the use for it was. Sabrina sat down on the bottom bunk and patted the area next to her, gesturing for me to sit there. I sat down, and Sabrina started speaking.

“I wanted to apologize to you, Ryder,” Sabrina said. “I shouldn’t have put you in that situation at the locker rooms. I just couldn’t help myself when I was watching you try so hard to get better on the court…I was weak, and I apologize. We haven’t even been on a proper date, and I was already skipping to after the third one, so…I’m sorry. I’ll have more restraint from now on. We can save all the fun stuff for when we get out of here.”

“A-apology accepted,” I said. “I still don’t understand why you feel this way though. This kind of thing doesn’t really happen…”

“I know…” Sabrina said sadly. “I don’t completely understand it myself, but every time I see you…hear you…am in the same room with you, I can’t help but feel butterflies and my heart beating out of my chest. I know this must be confusing for you. I’m sorry.”

“I just don’t know how to react to stuff like that. I’m too awkward of a guy to know what the right thing to say is.”

“That’s something I love about you,” Sabrina said. “There’s nothing fake about you. You don’t put on a fake persona that everyone else always does. Marin is the worst about it! She’s never said anything genuine since I’ve known her!”

“Marin’s a really good person!” I said. “She’s only trying to help everyone by being cheerful. We need people like that in a horrible place like this.”

“Even if you say that…I know she’s hiding something,” Sabrina said. “She’s got you convinced that she’s a good person so that she can stab you in the back without you expecting it!”

“You’re the person who’s hiding things!” I said. “You’re planning on buying the escape tickets, aren’t you?! You’re the person stabbing people in the back!”

“Wh-what?!” Sabrina said. “Wh-why would…”

“I know that you went to the shop to look at them, and were asking if you could buy one to give to someone else!”

“I…I wouldn’t…” Sabrina was flustered. She then took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t do that behind your back. It’s true that I was interested in them, but I would never buy them without your consent.”

“You’re never going to get my consent for that,” I said. “I’m not going to be the cause of everyone’s deaths. I don’t care about escaping if it means that the others won’t be coming too.”

“That passion is also something I love about you, Ryder,” she said. “You win. I won’t buy the escape tickets. I’ll still protect you, but you should know that the longer you’re here, you’re just going to see more people die horrible deaths. I just wanted to ease the burden a bit on you.”

“How is killing everyone going to ‘ease the burden’?!”

“One question I asked Alex was about whether or not we’d have to watch everyone’s deaths, and the answer was ‘no’. Watching your face when you saw what happened to Sienna, Jane, and Louis, made me want to help you somehow. People can only take so much despair before they lose themselves.”

“I can make my own decisions,” I said. “I don’t need you to care about me! So, stop! Just leave me alone!” I saw Sabrina’s heart break a bit when I spoke those words.

“...If that’s what you want…” she said sadly. Sabrina then moped towards the door, opened it for me and watched me leave with a sad expression on her face.

I’ll tell you what, my life is complicated enough without this bullshit. I’ve already got to deal with this fucking murder school and now I’ve got Sabrina scheming behind our backs while saying it’s to help me. I didn’t do anything to warrant this kind of affection from her and even though Carmen seems to believe it, it just doesn’t feel right to me. I may be young and full of hormones but I’m not completely stupid. She did look really sad though…Ugh. I think I need another opinion.

I went back to my own dorm, and as I opened the door, Marin gave me a warm smile from the beanbag chair she seems to have taken quite a liking to.

“First Emma, and now Sabrina, you’re certainly the center of attention recently,” she said.

“Unfortunately,” I said, in an irritated tone. “Which sucks because I hate being the center of attention.”

“Well, I love it, so stop taking the spotlight from me! So, you wanna talk about it?”

“Yeah, I think I could use a second opinion.”

I then explained the conversations I had with both Emma and Sabrina.

“Oh boy…” Marin said. “Do you really think she wouldn’t have gone through with it without your consent?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I just don’t know if I can trust her.”

“Well, from what you said, it sounds like you made yourself pretty clear on how you felt about it. It’s good to speak your mind and be honest, even when the other person won’t like it.”

“Yeah, I don’t regret what I said, but I can’t help but feel a little bit bad. Sabrina looked pretty bummed out…”

“She’s a tough cookie. I’m sure it’ll be back to business starting at practice tomorrow.”

“I hope so.”