Author Note:

*EDIT 1/26/25* I'm noticing a trend in me writing a long ass second chapter lol.

Chapter 2 is too long for it's own good.

_____

Despite going to sleep with a positive outlook on my current situation, my nightmares were plagued with reminders of discovering Skyler's corpse and watching Vanessa's execution. A never ending replay of me opening the storage room door to see that horrific sight. Each time their body being more and more decomposed.

After forcing myself awake and then trying to go back to sleep, I had another nightmare. This time the puddle of blood that was now Vanessa, engulfed me and when I tried to swim out, I was held back by a rope strangling my neck.

I forced myself awake once more, this time deciding to get up and not go back to sleep. Fawn was still fast asleep, so I quietly left her room, locking the door behind me, and went to my room to change out of my pajamas.

I should go to the kitchen. I could get a head start on making breakfast.

To my surprise, I wasn't the first person in the kitchen this morning.

"Rory?" I gasped.

"Uh, hey Felix?" They swiftly turned around, startled. "You usually aren't up this early."

"I couldn't sleep." I admitted.

"Same." Rory agreed.

"Do you need some help?" I asked.

"Yeah." They replied.

I joined Rory and the two of us made homemade biscuits, eggs, and bacon for all 14 of us. Things were mostly silent while we cooked, so I took us putting the biscuits in the oven as an opportunity to talk with them.

"How are you feeling?" I vaguely asked.

"Shitty." They summed up in one word. "One second Vanessa's helping me in the kitchen and the next I'm watching her run for her life."

"I feel a similar way about Skyler." I stated, glancing fearfully towards the pantry. "I open every door with caution, because I'm scared I'll find someone dead again."

Rory took some time to respond. They were carefully thinking about what they would say next.

"I can't do anything now, but if I had put in more effort to get to know her I could have talked with her and convinced her not to do it." They said. "And I didn't even take the time to get to know Skyler... I regret not getting to know them."

I wish I had gotten to know Vanessa more... I feel we would have gotten along.

"I'm gonna do that." I vaguely announced.

"What are you going to do?" Rory inquired.

"I'm going to get to know everyone here." I said. "Even the people who don't come to breakfast or don't like being with the group. I'll make an effort to befriend everyone, so no one kills again."

"That's a good idea!" The food tester agreed. "People wouldn't kill their friends."

"We should have a mandatory gathering with everyone at least once a day from now on." I suggested. "And not just breakfast where people can leave when they're done eating. A fun event where we all enjoy ourselves and get to know each other."

"With the new area rooms unlocked, we'll have plenty to do." Rory added. "What should we do today?"

Before I could make any suggestions, the morning announcement went off.

*ding dong, bing bong*

"Attention! It is now 7 am. Rise and shine you useless maggots!"

There goes Wolf the Cat goes, calling us useless again...

"Could you go and tell everyone that breakfast is ready?" Rory requested. "We'll decide on something later."

"Alright." I complied.

Firstly, I waited for Fawn to get ready. I made sure to take note of everyone that I saw pass going to dining room.

"Where did you go?" She quietly asked me, sounding scared.

"I couldn't sleep, so I went to the kitchen and made breakfast with Rory." I explained. "Now come on. We've to tell people it's time for breakfast."

Most people had already gotten up, aside from the usual hermits and a particular chauffeur who was deeply effected by the events of yesterday. We'll save Zenith for last.

"This is Blane's door." I informed my sister. "I think you should talk to him."

"Okay." To my surprise, she agreed instantly.

Is Fawn finally coming out of her shell?

"Hello?" The biologist opened the door, still in his pajamas. "D-Do you n-n-need anything from m-me?"

"Br-Breakfast." My sister said with minimal stuttering. "It's breakfast time."

"Oh!" The scientist realized. "I'll b-be there in a few m-m-minutes."

For all the people that Fawn felt comfortable speaking with, I made her knock and invite them to breakfast. I took care of everyone else to spare her the early morning discomfort.

"Lastly is," I paused, checking the nameplate on the door. "Isaiah."

"I can do this one." Fawn stated.

Really?

I suppose it's not too surprising if I think about it...

"Go ahead." I encouraged her.

Fawn took a breath, before knocking on Isaiah's door. Shortly, the door opened and a blonde man in a bathrobe appeared. He rubbed his eyes and adjusted his glasses. His eyes widened when he realized who was at the door.

"It's too early for cards." Isaiah simply said, crossing his arms to hide that he was still in his pajamas.

"We're inviting you to breakfast." I explained.

"I'm not interested." He huffed. "Go away."

"It's mandatory." I told him.

"You can't make me go." He furrowed his brow.

"Please?" Fawn quietly asked him. "You don't have to stay for long, we just want you to show up and get food."

Isaiah pushed up his glasses. He took a long time to respond, before finally facing Fawn and sighing.

"Okay." He agreed. "But I won't stay long."

He slammed the door. I turned to my sister, surprised she had managed to convince him.

"I'm surprised you actually got Isaiah to agree." I complimented her. "I expected to do a lot more negotiating with him."

"Did you doubt me or something?" She asked, teasingly.

"A little." I replied to my sister. "But now I know your ready to socialize even more with how much you've improved since we started our daily social time."

"More?!" She complained.

We started to make our way to the dining room, since we had invited everyone. ...almost everyone.

"Good morning!" An excited game show host greeted us. "Can I join you two on your walk to breakfast? Everybody else has been so mean to me this morning."

Nora pouted, as I sharply glared at her. She knows what happened yesterday and her being involved with bringing us here makes her partly responsible for what happened to them.

Rory said to invite everyone. But is Nora even included in everyone?

"That's not surprising." I huffed. "You're part of the reason we're stuck in this awful place."

"But I haven't done anything yet!" She dramatically pleaded. "...ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴘᴇsᴛᴇʀ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ."

"We don't want anything to do with you as long as you're involved in a killing game." I said, walking around Nora.

Fawn hesitating followed suit. I expected Nora to follow us, but she just stood in place as we went ahead.

Finally, we made it to the dinning room. Plates had already been disturbed and everyone had started eating. There was some light conversation, but nothing nearly as lively compared to yesterday morning.

"Bestie!" Tabitha's eyes lit up when she saw me. She patted the empty seat beside her for me to sit there.

I took a seat beside Tabitha and Fawn took a seat beside me. Quartz, Nikolas, and Hunter sat near us. Before Fawn and I joined, the four had been conversing.

"Felix, what is the coolest place you've ever been too?" Tabitha asked me.

"Uh, I went on a school field trip to a rock museum once." I explained. "Not for the music. For like real rocks."

"Wait seriously?!" The blonde girl gasped. "And I thought mine was the lamest at the world's 3rd largest aquarium."

"I've never even been an aquarium before, heh," I quietly chuckled. "What's it like?"

"Well, there are a lot of fish." Nikolas recapped. "You aren't missing out on too much."

"What cool places have the rest of you guys been too if Tabitha thinks the 3rd largest aquarium is lame?" I questioned.

"Nikolas and I both travel a lot for our work." Quartz explained. "I've been to so many different places, I would need to show you my scrapbook in order to cover all of them."

"What about you, Hunter?" I inquired.

When I got no response, I turned to see he had fallen asleep at the table. My eyes widen, concerned for if he was okay.

"It was difficult to sleep last night." Quartz frowned, glancing towards the cowboy. She turned to Fawn and I. "How did you two sleep?"

"We slept alright," I answered. "I had some nightmares. They aren't a big deal though."

"I didn't have any nightmares," Tabitha bluntly stated.

"I didn't have any either. However, I had trouble falling asleep." Admitted the ice skater.

"Me too." Agreed Quartz.

It's good to know that I'm the not the only one who's hung up about yesterday.

...

...I don't like thinking about it. I'll change the subject.

"Attention everyone!" Someone called out. "Can I have everyone's attention?"

I guess someone else is already doing that.

"What do you want?" Isaiah groaned.

"I want all of you to–" Nora began to say, before abruptly stopping herself. She mentally counted everyone, before frowning. "Wait, where's the fourteenth one?"

"Do we not have everyone?" Minerva asked.

"I thought we did." I replied.

"You forget to get Zenith." Rory pointed out to me.

"D-Doesn't h-he usually come to br-breakfast?" Blane questioned.

"He usually makes it." Rory explained. "But... I think he needed a break."

"Can somebody go get him so I can give my special announcement?" Nora frowned.

"I'll go get him." I volunteered. "I was supposed to get everyone anyways."

I got up and went to Zenith's room. It took a bit of repetitive knocking to get him to open his door. When he finally did, I was greeted by a sorrow filled chauffeur.

"Zenith..." I greeted him, trying to act like his messy appearance didn't throw me off.

"Do you need something?" He asked.

"You need to come to breakfast." I said. "Nora needs to make an announcement and she wants everyone there."

"I don't want to go." He refused.

"I know," I agreed with him. "But you probably should go to not anger her."

"I guess..." He answered, not really paying attention.

"Get ready." I told him. "I'll wait outside and we can walk to the dining room together."

Zenith didn't say anything. He closed his door and didn't re-emerge for several minutes. When he finally came out, he had made an attempt to look presentable. But even I could tell he wasn't feeling up to it, which I don't blame him for.

Our walk to the kitchen was completely silent. I didn't know how to break the ice between us and the chauffeur didn't seem care that things were quiet.

"Now that all of you are here, I'm going to announce a special game we're going to play!" Nora smiled.

"Aren't we already playing a game?" Ameila asked her.

"Yes, but this us like a side game. A mini game, you could call it." Elaborated the bluenette. "This game will take place everyday during breakfast until the next motive is announced. Until then, these games can be used to earn benefits for people who do well."

"Benefits?" Hunter questioned her. "What'd ya mean by that?"

"You'll just have to do well and see." She smiled.

I'm curious about the benefits as well. I'll have to do well to find out what they are.

"Today we're going to have a very simple test!" She explained.

...

Simple and test are two words that do not belong in the same sentence together.

"Check your PetalPads." Nora instructed, demonstrating a visual. "There should be an new app called 'Test'. Click it and read the instructions."

Everyone did as she said. I began to read over them, reminded of standardized testing from back in school.

"Nobody can leave the dining room until all of you are done, so don't take forever." Nora added. "But don't rush yourself either, because you technically have all the time in the world for this test."

The test began. I was quizzed on topics I never thought I would see again, many of them giving me a not-so-gentle reminder of high school.

I know how to do this stuff.

All the words and number looked like scribbles to me. I couldn't comprehend anything, no matter how many times I looked at the problems.

There's no harm in guessing once?

I found myself confused, having to rely on guessing throughout the test. I was somewhat relieved that there was no way I could be graded on it or have it count against since I'm not in school. Regardless, I was nervous about my score.

I think I did alright. Maybe about a 70 or so.

Shortly after I finished, everyone was done.

"Oh, you're all done." Nora's eyes lit up when she checked her PetalPad. "Now I'll–"

"Watch out, I bite!" A black and pink cat robot jumped out from behind a plant.

Nora frowned, taking a seat. Everyone else was shocked and frustrated by the presence of the thing.

"Ugh!" Rory groaned at the sight of the robot. "What do you want, Tiger?"

"Tiger?" The cat scoffed. "Did you just confuse me with that parliamentary puppy?"

"Your names are rather confusing." Quartz said.

"The name Tiger should go with you and Wolf should go with the dog one." Isaiah advised.

"I am Wolf the Cat." It reintroduced itself. "Forget it and there will be dire consequences."

"Like what?" Tabitha pressed.

"Why don't you ask that again and find out?" Wolf threaten, tiny metal claws extending from his robotic paw.

With that, the room fell completely silent. No one even dared to cough or shuffle around, as they didn't want to displease Wolf the Cat. A piercing sharp, metal sound filled the room as it retracted its little claws.

"Now, where was I?" The robot cat question.

Nora open her mouth to speak. Before any words came out of the game show host's mouth, the cat bounced up.

"Oh right!" Wolf suddenly remembered. "I was about to explain who gets a rewards and who gets punished."

"Punished?" Amelia questioned.

"N-No one's g-going to d-d-die again, r-right?" Blane inquired, a horrid expression on his face.

"I don't think I could bare to watch other person die," Quartz stated, sounding on the brink of tears.

"Oh, no. Unfortunately, this punishment is not death." Explained the black and pink animal. "But I suppose it could be inconvenient to anyone planning a murder."

"Good thing nobody's planning a murder." Rory spoke for everyone, not very subtle frustration in their tone.

"Once the motive is announced, one of you quickly cave in." It assured us. "Anyway, it's time for me to explain who gets rewarded, who gets punished, and who gets nothing."

A beep came from our PetalPads. The screen of the app called 'Test' changed. It was now displaying a results screen.

Test Results:

Ameila — 98

Blane — 97

Minerva — 93

Isaiah — 89

Zenith — 83

Quartz — 80

Nikolas — 78

Hunter — 75

Gabriel — 73

Fawn — 71

Rory — 69

Felix — 55

Tabitha — 43

"Rewards will be given to everyone with a 90 or higher. Everyone with a score between 70 and 89 gets neither a reward nor a punishment." Wolf explained to us. "However, those of you with a 69 or lower will be receiving punishment."

I can't believe I actually did that bad. Maybe the punishment wouldn't be too painful...

"What's our reward?" Amelia asked.

"You three can't be killed until the second class trial period ends. If anyone is to kill one of you they will be executed instantly without a trial." He elaborated. "You three can still commit murder of course, but your immunity goes away once you kill."

"Why would you go through the trouble of giving people immunity if your goal is to make is kill each other?" Isaiah questioned, pushing up his glasses.

"We can't have all the smart person getting strangled by a dumb athlete." It said. "We have to get rid of the idiots and the average Joe's too."

"If immunity is the reward, does that me being targeted is the punishment?" Nikolas asked.

I... I hope not.

"It better not be." Rory grumbled.

"What? No." Our host sighed, shaking his head. "You three have to be in your room, or somebody else's, I ʜᴏɴᴇsᴛʟʏ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴀʀᴇ, by 7 pm."

"7 pm! That's so early, though!" Tabitha pouted.

"You three need your sleep so you can make better grades." The cat stated. "Well, I've done my job. Bother Nora if you have questions."

Wolf the Cat disappeared behind the same plant he jumped out from.

Before everyone had enough time to dwell on the test, I stood up to quietly draw everyone's attention. I figured I should explain the plan for everyone to gather as a group, before people run off to do their own thing.

"Rory and I made a plan." I announced.

"A plan for what?" Nikolas asked.

"To prevent another murder." Rory stood up, answering for me.

The table had a collect negative reaction to the reminder of what happened yesterday. However, nobody opposed to hearing us out. We continued.

"If we're all friends, then we can't kill each other." I said.

"It's not a matter of can't kill." Amelia interjected. "It's a matter of less likely to kill, due to us all having formed a bond with each other."

"Don't kill the atmosphere, Amanda!" Tabitha criticized.

"We decided that one gathering a day where we all hang out together will help make us closer." They explained. "Meals don't count, since we tend to branch off and talk to the same people."

"What's stoppin' people from not showing up to these events outta fear or somethin'?" Hunter questioned.

"Nobody wants to be uncooperative, right?" Replied the food tester with another question.

"I do!" Nora boldly spoke up. "I love being uncooperative!"

"You aren't invited." Rory snapped.

"D-Doesn't that g-go against you two w-wanting everyone to b-become friends if you p-p-purposely l-leave someone out?" Blane pointed out.

...

"I don't think we want Nora hanging out with us." Isaiah defended the food tester.

"I'm hurt!" The bluenette dramatically gasped.

"Don't you have protection from being murdered?" I inquired.

"Yep!" The game show host nodded. "I am informed of who is going to kill, so I can stay away from them until their done."

"Maybe she can't be killed easily," Minerva summed up. "But what's stopping her from killing us?"

"Nothing." The ice skater answered with a frown. "She doesn't give a shit about us and she more than encourages the game".

"I wouldn't resort killing any of you." Nora smiled. "I promise. ...ᴛʜᴀᴛ's sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴇʟsᴇ's ᴊᴏʙ, ʜᴀʜᴀ."

"She isn't a threat to us." The coroner deduced.

"How?" I asked the pinkette.

"She enjoys watching the game too much to actually take part in it." Explained the pinkette. "In other words, Nora wants us to do the killing."

"If that's the case, then we've got this settled!" Rory announced. "Starting tomorrow, we'll be hanging together as a group."

"Why not start today?" Minerva asked them.

"I think some of us still need some time to themselves." They said.

Rory seemed glance in Zenith's direction, however they avoided making eye contact with him. Fawn and I caught up with Isaiah and Tabitha before the could leave the dining room, hoping to confirm our plans for tonight.

"Are you okay with eating an early dinner at 4 tonight and then playing cards until 6:30-ish?" I asked, mostly to Isaiah. "Tabitha and I have to be in our rooms by 7, 'cause you know."

"I'm fine with that." The blonde nodded. "Come get me when it's time for our dinner. I'll most likely be in my room."

"Sounds cool to me, bestie!" Tabitha agreed.

"I'll see you two later." I said.

"Bye!" The influencer made her exit.

The other blonde had left without a farewell.

What should I do now? I have some freetime before tonight.

...

I know!

"You know Fawn, now seems like good time to sociali–" Before I could finish, Fawn interrupted me.

"Actually, I already have plans!" My sister quickly said.

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "With who? The only person I've seen you talk to on your own is Isaiah and he already left."

"Uh..." My twin rapidly looked around. "Minerva!"

"Hmm?" The red haired journalist turned at hearing her name.

"I have plans with... Minerva." Fawn said, obviously lying.

"Is this true, Minerva?" I questioned.

"Yeah." The journalist stuck up for her. "We ran into each other yesterday and decided we should hang out together."

"Oh, alright then." I said, eyeing my sister. "You two have fun."

I suppose I could let the absence of social time slide for another day.

But I'm back with my original problem. What do I do to pass the time?

I wondered around in the halls when I saw Quartz and Rory. The two excitedly approached me.

"Salutations, Felix!" Quartz greeted me. "Would you like to join?"

"Join what?" I asked.

"Join us in Quartz's room to get our nails painted!" Rory answered excitedly. "We need one more person to have an even number."

Getting my nails painted...?

"I don't know," I gave an indefinite answer. "Isn't that kind of... girly?"

Rory's smile turned upside down when I said that.

"I didn't mean it like that!" I clarified. "There's just this stigma about guys doing feminine things and being less masculine because of that."

"There's nothing wrong with that." The food tester finally said.

Maybe not for you. But for me...

"Painting your nails isn't inherently feminine or masculine." Quartz said, smiling. "It's simply a form of expression."

"Yeah." Rory nodded. "That's what I meant, but phrased much better."

"I'm still unsure about it," I sheepishly admitted.

"Once your nails are painted, we can remove the polish if you are unhappy with them." The hand model proposed.

If they can remove it, then I suppose it'll be fine.

Plus, I haven't had my nails painted in a while. Maybe, I'll feel different about it this time.

"Alright." I said. "I'm in."

They lead me to Quartz' room. Inside there was an ice skater, a biologist, and an influencer sat on the bed waiting for the two to return. The influencer's face lit up when she saw me with them.

"Bestie!" Tabitha cheered, raising he arms in excitement.

"Oww." Blane winched, having been hit by the blonde's arm.

"Hey." I waved to Tabitha.

"We can start now." Quartz announced, opening a box she had picked up. "We'll need to pair up."

"Felix, I hope it doesn't hurt your feelings that I'm pairing up with Quartz instead of you." Tabitha told me. "I didn't know you would be here and I didn't wanna be stuck with having to paint Rory's nails."

"Well I don't want to paint your nails either, Tabitha!" Rory loudly retorted.

"I can pair up with you, Felix." Nikolas offered. "I don't know how good your nails will turn out, though. I've never done this before."

"That's okay. I'm not too concerned with how they turn out." I told him.

I decided to pick black for my nail polish color.

After a couple mess ups and painting my fingers, Nikolas seemed to get the hang of painting nails.

"So how did you get roped into this?" I curiously asked him.

"I actually asked to join in." The ice skater replied. "I overheard Rory and Quartz talking about it and they let me join."

"I was invited, but I was really hesitant on joining." I stated.

Even though I agreed, the brush and the cold polish touching my nails brought back an old feeling. A feeling I had suppressed in hopes to make myself happier, however it had the reverse effect.

"I forgot how much fun getting your nails painted is." I giggled, the brush tickling my fingertips.

"Have you had them painted before?" The man with icy blue hair asked.

"Yep. I used to do it all the time, but then I felt embarrassed by it and stopped." I said.

"Embarrassed?" Nikolas rose an eyebrow.

"I got teased for it. People always said that painting your nails is a girly thing and... I'm not a girl." I said, not very confident in that last part.

I don't want to give people another reason to mistake me for a girl...

"What other people say shouldn't influence what you decide to or not to do." He simply replied.

...

"Ice skating is usually associated with women, but I managed to be the best for a little bit." He continued. "Social norms are pretty stupid, you know? You should just do what you like no matter what other people think."

"Yeah, your right." I smiled.

Some people might argue that because I'm getting my nails painted and enjoying it, that I'm not a guy. And those people are wrong.

What I enjoy or do doesn't make me any less of anything. As long as I know that and I know myself, then there's no reason for me to deal up with people who only want to put me down.

"How did I do?" Nikolas asked me once he finished.

"Pretty good." I said.

There's like 4 coats of nail polish, but that alright.

"What color do you want?" I questioned, glancing at the bottles.

"White." The ice skater handed me the color he wanted. "It'll go nicely with my coat."

"Yeah, it will." I agreed as I opened the lid.

I started painted Nikolas' nails. He moved a lot, having trouble keeping his hands still. I didn't mind though. I've had practice painting my sisters nails, so his are no problem.

"Felix, I've been meaning to ask you about something." Sheepishly admitted Nikolas.

"Oh? What's that?" I tilted my head.

"You talk to people a lot, right?" The ice skater checked.

"Yeah. I like talking to people." I affirmed. "Why do you ask? Do you need me to talk to someone for you?"

"Not exactly," He answered, with doubt in his voice. "I need help asking to someone to hang. Talking not really my thing and I'm scared I'll come off the wrong way."

"How do you want to come off?" I followed up my previous question.

"The way that you'd ask someone to have a fun day out with you at the mall or something." He explained.

"Just say you want to hang out with them." I said. "If you two are friends, I doubt they'd say no."

"I feel like it would be awkward if it's just the two of us." He stated, his face turning a light shade of red.

"If you think it would help, I can go with you two." I volunteered.

"Thank you." Nikolas thanked me. "I've haven't been the most open and social person here. You agreeing to help me means a lot to me, especially since we aren't that close."

"It's no problem." I grinned. "I hope to become friends with everyone here."

"Now you have one less person to befriend." He told me.

"What?" I questioned.

"Because we're friends now." He explained.

Nikolas and I continued to chat. Eventually I finished painting his nails. The other two pairs had gotten done as well.

"We need to take a commemorative pic of all of our finished nails!" Tabitha suggested, readying her phone.

Everyone agreed, holding a hand out. We formed a circle. The influencer snapped a couple pictures before retracting her phone.

We waited a little longer for our nails to dry, sitting in a circle on the floor. Quartz had the idea for us to go around and share why we picked what we picked to pass the time.

"I can go first." Rory offered, showing off their pink, purple, and blue nails. "I couldn't decide on one color, so I picked all my favorites."

"My turn!" Tabitha interjected, holding her arm up. Once again her excitement she smacked Blane in the face.

"Oww." The biologist quietly grumbled.

"So I picked pink." The blonde stated, holding out her for all of us to see. "It was a really hard decision, but I figured I couldn't possibly go wrong because it's like the best color ever."

I suppose pink is alright. It's certainly not my favorite color though.

"Who's next?" I asked.

"M-Me." Blane said. He held out his hands, showing off his nails. "Green is the color of l-life, so... Biology. L-Living things."

His nails look good, but I have this vendetta against the color green.

"I picked white because it goes with my coat." Nikolas stated.

"I picked black just because." I said. "I don't really have a reason."

"Black goes with everything, so you can't really go wrong there." Rory commented.

"Black doesn't go with everything!" Tabitha argued.

"Yes it does." The food tester said. "Name something black doesn't go with."

Tabitha thought for a second, before opening her mouth to answer.

"Black doesn't go with itself." Said the influencer.

"Isn't it your t-t-turn, Quartz?" Blane interjected, changing the subject.

"I believe so." Quartz remembered. "I chose teal. I find the color comforting."

"How do you find a color comforting?" The influencer curiosity asked.

"The same way you find sounds or experiences comforting." The hand model explained. "Shades of blues are more calming as opposed to the gold color my nails were previously."

I suppose blue is a calming color.

Eventually, everyone left Quartz's room. Once I had left, Tabitha and I both stood out in the hallway.

"Is it time?" She curiously asked me.

"Yeah. We just need to get Fawn and Isaiah and eat dinner first." I reminded her.

After collecting Fawn and Isaiah, the four of us went to the dining room. I volunteered to heat up some leftovers for us.

"Isn't it a bit early to eat dinner?" A familiar voice asked, startling me.

I turned around to see Gabriel. I relaxed, happy to see him.

"I have to go to bed at 7, so I'm kinda forced to eat an early dinner." I refreshed.

"Oh right." He remembered.

A silence fell between us. Gabriel looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't know how. The beeping of the microwave broke our silence.

"I probably won't see you again until tomorrow since I'll be going to bed soon." I informed him. "I'm sorry I didn't hang out with you today."

"It's fine." He simply said, unbothered.

"If you want, you could join Tabitha, Isaiah, Fawn, and I for a game of cards." I offered. "I'm sure that won't care."

"No." He refused. "I don't really like hanging out in groups. It brings back memories of when my sister would take me places with her friends and forget that I was there."

"I see." I frowned.

Silence again.

I feel bad for reminding him of those memories. I should've been able to gather that Gabriel doesn't like crowds before I invited him–

"We never got around to doing the laundry." The tennis player pointed out. "Do you want to do it with me tomorrow?"

"I'd love that." I smiled. "See you tomorrow, Gabriel."

"See you." He replied, before quietly saying muttering something else. "Felix."

After a quick dinner, our group of four ventured to library. It wasn't hard to pick a card game, considering there weren't a lot of options. We settled in a classic.

"I'm going to make the color..." Isaiah's voice trailed off before he slammed a card down. "Green!"

"Green again?!" I sighed, staring at my cards in defeat. "That's my unlucky color!"

I drew a card from the deck, since nothing in my hand could be played. I found myself drawing cards a lot. I became a card collector of the sort.

"No turn for you, Da– Fawn!" Tabitha played a skip card.

"How many of those do you have?" Fawn rhetorically asked her.

"That's a secret." The blonde girl smiled.

"It's not very nice of you to skip Fawn all the time." Isaiah said, pushing up his glasses. "I play a reverse card."

"Thanks, Isaiah." My sister quietly thanked him as she placed down a card.

"Well I reverse your reverse card!" Tabitha slammed a reverse card of her own down.

"Uno." Fawn said, as she did her turn again.

"Wha–" The influencer's eyes widened. Before she could finish, she was cut off by the other blonde.

"I reverse your reverse to my reverse card." The man with glasses simply said, as he played another reverse card.

"No!" Tabitha protested, before frowning. "I lost."

"I won?" My sister looked around in disbelief. "I-I won!"

"Congratulations." I smiled, proud of her.

"Can we play again?" Fawn asked, excited.

At the start of our card game session, Fawn was quiet. She only when necessary for the game. She quickly warmed up to Isaiah and now she doesn't mind Tabitha.

I hope Fawn gets to a point where she's comfortable about everyone here. There are so many amazing people here and I want her feel as safe around them as I do.

Even in our current situation, in this killing game, trust everyone. I trust that nobody will kill again.

The memory of Skyler's body stained my mind once again.

We've already been through one class trial together. Nobody wants to go through that again.

Vanessa's execution ran through my mind. I had to take a couple deep breaths to clear my head. Remembering her final moments made me feel uneasy.

I don't want to go through that again. I don't think I can handle finding another friend dead and watching someone brutally die in their execution.

"Felix?" Fawn poked my shoulder to get my attention.

"Huh?" I blinked, relieved to have thoughts interrupted. "Oh yeah. We can play again."

"This time I'll get my winning selfie!" Tabitha boosted.

The influence whipped out her phone, using its selfie camera feature to check how she looked. Her face lit up before she could do so.

"It's 6:50!" She stated, standing up with haste.

I forgot about early bedtime!

"Felix! Get to your room!" Fawn said, visibly stressing out.

"I had a great time playing with everyone," I quickly said. "Goodnight, Fawn!"

"Goodnight." Fawn waved to me as I left the library.

Tabitha and I rushed too our rooms. Luckily, we made it before 7 pm.

"Goodnight, bestie!" She exclaimed before closing her door.

I took a deep breath when I got to my room.

I never thought a mandatory early bedtime would be this scary.

...

I guess I have nothing left to do but go to sleep.

_____

Author Note:

I've spent over a month of my life on this part lol. It probably won't happen again since I'm not super busy anymore and I have a break from school coming.