Aru's pov--

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. Aru gave Brynne a whole packet of Oreos and was rewarded in her undying friendship. Aiden let slip that Rudy and him were cousins, causing Rudy to annoying-little-brother him for the journey. Nikita judged everyone's outfits. Well, more insulted everyone's outfits. But eventually the journey was over.

"Everyone please form an orderly queue! We will be having our first lot of filming inside." Came a voice from the front. It was similar to the sulky voice her math teacher had made when he had stepped on a Lego piece. All the kids trailed into a cluster that was vaguely queue-like in an abstract way.

Meanwhile, Nikita went full-blown panic.

"Filming? No-one told me there would be filming on the first day! I thought it would be a few days in! Do you think I would dress this casually for a normal day!" She gestured to her incredibly stylish outfit as if it were a hot dog costume, before continuing her rambling, "What kind of image does this project? I look like I spent less than an hour picking this out!" She desperately searched her bag for any sort of accessories. Even Aru felt sorry for her.

"It's only headshots, Nikita." Kara told her.

"Oh, thank goodness my hair is okay," Nikita almost folded in relief. "Even though someone almost ruined it."
Nikita shot her a dirty look. Aru's sympathy vanished.

After yet another shout from the sulky-sounding guy at the front, and the queue became an actual line.

~~~

"Names?"

Aru looked up. She had been in the line for a while, and had to zoned out, trying to think of the countless combinations of oreos and Swedish Fish she could make in the hotel. But even good dreams have to end.

The receptionist held a pen, and waited, looking as if they'd rather be anywhere else than here.

"Names?" They repeated.

"A-aru Shah." she murmured, still not fully functional.

"Aiden Acharya.'' Aiden said after.

"Are you a couple?" Asked the person without looking up. Aru and Aiden exchanged startled, if not horrified glances.

"Um, I..."

"I don't think that's really relevant?" Aiden offered.

"As in team members, I think my associate means," someone said.

The person in front of her was the owner of Math-teacher-sulky-voice (yes, she was planning to Trademark) and he looked distinctly bird-like. He was short for a start. And his eyes were slightly more wide spaced than most peoples, and a wrinkle around the outside of his slightly hooked nose made him look like a worn out pigeon.

"Yeah! Team members!" Aiden jumped in, "Thank you Mr..."

"Subala, one of your other chaperones" the pigeon man finished.

Pigeon-man, Aru thought. Not very catchy. Subala isn't either... How about...

"Boo!" Aru exclaimed aloud.

"Sorry, pardon?" Said Subala

"That's your name now." Aru told him.

"You can't just change someone's name, Aru!" Aiden whispered, looking halfway between distressed and awed.

"I just did!" Aru pointed out.

"You have to admit, Boo suits you," the receptionist added, apparently enjoying their job a lot more now.

"Call me anything. As long as I can guarantee your safety." Boo replied.

"What about Sue -"
"Absolutely not."

~~~

The hall was massive. About 30 other kids were already sitting down in there assigned seats, either chatting happily, glaring at eachother, or both at the same time. Aru took her seat, picked up her phone, and shrugged on a hoodie to defend herself from the frigid air conditioning.

Eventually, all the seats were taken and a guy walked out to the front. He was quite tall, and looked in his early 20s, with dark hair and blue eyes. Almost like...

"Aru." Aiden, who had taken the seat next to her, prodded her, "Earth to Aru."

"Huh?"

"What just happened?"

Aru thought about replying, but what could she say? I just thought that he was a person I don't remember who is nowhere near that age and doesn't even look the same.

"It's not... Whatever." She said.

"Whatever." Aiden echoed, not sounding convinced. The man a the front straightened his tie, gave out a slightly nervous grin and began to speak.

"I'm Theodore Spettro, the son of the founder of the Competition. Wow, that was a mouthful."

Aiden's eyes doubled in size. Mr Spettro was a massive deal, both before and after he released the Competition. He'd started as a prodigy, then became as a scholar, until he eventually had enough to set up Brilliance.He was reason that any of this could happen! But, he kind of a recluse. No-one had heard from him directly for years, and even then, it was only interviews, nothing face to face. He was almost a legend, shrouded in mystery and knowledge.

Yet he somehow had the lapse of judgement to name his son after a chipmunk.

"Anyways," Theodore continued, " It is great to have you all here for the competition! We hope that this experience helps you learn new things, make new friends, and even grow as a person!"

Aru tried incredibly hard to suppress an eyeroll. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"Of course the champions shall get the prize that you are all competing for. So, why not begin as soon as possible? Your first challenge begins before the sun rises. Be ready but ten past six, and more information will be delivered then!"

Tomorrow!? That was unexpected. Aru had thought they would have at least a day to settle in before everything kicked off, but apparently she was wrong. And she would have to be read to leave at 10 past 6! In the morning! That wasn't even considered a time to Aru normally.

But obviously, "normally" wasn't allowed in Aru's vocabulary anymore.

While Theodore continued to talk about the competition's history, a note landed in her lap. There was something scrawled in large print across the front

The best-in-the-competition gang meet up.

Well, this was interesting. Aru unfolded it to read the rest.

invited:
Nikita Jagan (host)
Sheela Jagan
Mini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez
Brynne Tvarika Lakshmi Balamuralikrishna Rao

Aru paused to consider how epic Brynne's full name was, before reading the rest of the list.

Kemi Okuchiku
Aru Shah
Hira Gautam

Meet at 8pm. Brynne, bring food.

P.S. Do NOT bring anyone who is not written on the list.

A meet up? That was pretty neat. The last time she'd been to a social gathering, it was a family friend's wedding. That was messy. As in:
DON'T go through with this Trena, he'll NEVER make you HAPPY!
- Level messy.

Aru and her mom had left early.

Luckily, (or unfortunately, depending on how much you like drama) there chances of anyone crashing a wedding was low.

Aru ticked her name off the list and looked around for Hira before passing the note.

Wow. Maybe she would make friends after all. She could really use some good ones.

Obviously, she had other friends. Arielle and Poppy. Although that was probably due to the note her 8th grade form room teacher had dropped, with dirt on both of them.

What she wanted was true friends. The people who would stay by you no matter what you said. The people who you could fall back on if needed, and could do the same thing back. The people who could be with you when you laughed, cried, and needed them more than ever. Like Mini was to her. And...

No. Aiden was not a friend.

Not after that.

Aru tugged the loose hair drifting in front of her face back into place, just as Theodore finished his lecture.

"Let the games begin!" He said cheerily. Aru looked around the room to see a bunch of teenagers eyeing each other, some discreet, others downright murderous.

"I'm pretty sure," she told herself in her best mysterious voice, "they already have."

-Bea