There was a soft chorus of yes's mixed with more than enough no's.

"Good," Mrs. Hunting replied completely ignoring all the no's that had come from the students. "There's a sign-up sheet right here with times listed. They begin at three o' clock sharp, and end whenever is needed to fit everyone in. Please avoid being late for any inspections."

After she was done talking, a line quickly formed right in front of the spot where she'd placed a clipboard with a sheet of paper on it and a pencil. Everyone wanted to be first in line. We already had no control over the situation, but at least this sheet of paper would make it feel like we had some say. I glanced back and forth between Pepper and Zander and raised an eyebrow.

"We should probably sign up....," I suggested, staring as the line quickly got bigger. That wasn't really saying much though, since with the combined schools, our grade still consisted of what looked like only thirty-five people.

I stood up from the desk, stretching out my leg muscles as I jumped over to the other side of my desk and got in line, right behind Pepper, with Zander right behind me.

In the end, I was able to sign up for the time slot of 5:15, and Pepper and Zander managed to get time slots in the 5:00 range with me. At least we were somewhat together. It was kind of funny how I'd only just met Pepper and I already was considering her as one of my closer friends. It said something about how social I was.

"Now, then." Mrs. Hunting had her hands folded together in front of her thighs and was looking around the room passively. Everyone quieted down, sensing that she was about to announce something else that would be important for us to know. She seemed to be the only one in our class who actually knew anything about what was going on.

"I have just received an email...."

At this point, nobody was even moving.

"It contains a listing for which rooms you all will be sleeping in. There isn't really any order for it." There was a general sigh of relief as everyone had been expecting something probably worse than that.

"But..."

Again, the tension rose in the matter of seconds and I looked around the room to see faces of worry, all thinking the same thing. What are they going to put us through next? Can there be anything worse than a full week of school?

"It also contained instructions...for the inspection. It's not just the daily inspections that will occur, there will also be a series of different activities to take place allowing everyone's personalities to shine...the purpose is to help the inspectors really get to know you." She looked around the room, meeting random students' eyes as she did so.

"So, today...actually right now......the inspection will begin. It is necessary for all of you to be in the gym in five minutes to start the activities."

There were groans from everyone in the room.

"Okaaayyyyy...well once again they seem to enjoy suspense and keeping us curious about what we're walking into," Pepper muttered in response. Her eyes still shone with joy, though, and I suspected she secretly liked the fact that instead of doing boring work like we were supposed to in school, we were now doing "personality-showing" activities.

The gym was probably the biggest room in the entire school, even bigger than the auditorium. Which was a good thing, since now the school population had almost doubled in size with the additional students from other schools. I could immediately point out who didn't belong in the crowd, since I'd memorized everyone who already did. Just standing in the mass of people I was able to count maybe five students from other schools in my vicinity.

Once again a loudspeaker started up with Mr. Neilson's voice on it.

"Thank you all for your cooperation, it is understandable that this is a huge and difficult change for you all. But inspections begin now. You're currently being organized into specific teams. It is a good idea to quickly get to know your teammates."

The people in front of me began to quickly diminish and I tried to look over other students' heads in an attempt to see what was happening. They were probably just sorting everyone which was why it was taking so long.

I ended up being right. After another two or so minutes a man in a completely black uniform directed me to go stand in one of five smaller groups of people. I didn't realize I'd been near the very back of the group until I turned back around and saw only a couple people left to be sorted. Pepper and Zander had both already been placed in teams, and sadly none of us had been teamed together. My team had a total of around thirty other people. Only about five of them were actually in my grade. They had completely divided up the entirety of the student population into five mostly equal groups.

But they weren't done. They then divided up the five groups into ten and I was once again sorted out from the group I'd been in. Rather than being in a group with thirty people, now my group consisted of only fourteen. My eyes swept over my new group, that had a variety of ages and what looked like a complete variety of people. I wondered if they specifically put the people they felt looked the most different from each other together. It really felt like it when I looked at all the groups. But it probably had something to do with the fact that it was random, and randomness usually lead to groupings that weren't very much alike.

Soon after we were instructed to head outside, and my feet carried me along with the crowd towards the gym doors and outside the glass doors near the gym that lead to a large field in the back of the school that was rarely used. The school did have a track team, but that was it for sports, and therefore the giant field was often unneeded. The only real purpose of it was to serve as an example of landscape that students could draw in art class.

Rain began to pour down as we were walking across the field. The light dusty dirt that coated the grass became mucky and dark, while the grass itself grabbed small droplets of water from the atmosphere and clung onto them. I walked through the mud as my converse slowly got dirtier. I didn't really talk to anyone else on my team, since I didn't know any of them. That wasn't really an excuse for not talking, it was just what I always said. And it was true. I was pretty bad at starting conversations and the only way I'd gained a friend, actually two friends now, thinking back to only ten minutes ago, was by someone else approaching me first. And nobody had really approached me by now, making me believe that no one would approach me any time soon.

The crowd of students suddenly stopped moving somewhere in the middle of the giant, green grass field. The loudspeaker went off again, once again letting Mr. Neilson's voice explode over the expanding crowd as people began to catch up.

"As you all can tell; we are now on the school field. I apologize about the rain, but this activity must be performed outside." There were a couple shuffling pairs of feet as Mr. Neilson continued. "The activity you will be doing today, or should I say game you will be playing, is a remix of the commonly known game called Capture the Flag."

I loved capture the flag. I didn't really want to play it at the time in this situation though, since I believed that Mr. Neilson would somehow ruin it. Already, my entire life for the next week seemed twenty times worse just by things Mr. Neilson had said. I was really not in the mood for him to find a way to ruin Capture the Flag.

"The difference between this Capture the Flag and normal Capture the Flag is that in this game, jails will work differently. As some of you may know, in regular Capture the Flag, anyone who gets tagged on the opposing team's side would be forced to go to jail and the only way to get them out is by having someone run and tag the person out. But in this game, jail works in pairs of twos. There will be areas enclosed by a hula hoop connected to an electronic button system. Each of these hula hooped areas can only contain two people in them. On each side of the hula hoop rests the button system, so each hula hoop will have two button systems so each person gets one. The button system will have two options: eliminate partner and do nothing. Whenever two people meet in this hula hoop jail, they each MUST press one of the two buttons. If they both press eliminate, they both are out of the game. If one does and the other doesn't then the one who presses the button is immediately free and actually gets a free pass to grab the opposing teams flag and return to their side, meaning they win..."

At that comment, a couple of students' eyes widened.

"...except then the person who pressed the do nothing button gets eliminated. If both press do nothing, then nothing happens and they are both allowed to return to their own side as long as they aren't tagged on the way back. And for actual jail organization, the first person to get in jail will have to wait until someone else gets in jail and joins that first person's hula hoop to proceed. There will be enough hula hoops to match with everyone on each team. The rest of the rules are the same. Tag opposing team members if they're on your side. Try running to grab the flag and bring it back without being tagged. First team to capture the other team's flag wins."

There was a momentary silence after his long explanation.

Then the girl in front of me who also happened to be on my team raised her hand.

"Yes?" Mr. Neilson looked more than surprised that someone was asking a question after his thorough rule breakdown. From the corner of my eye, I could already see someone yawning.

"So...what's the point? Why should we even try to do well?" she asked, arms crossed in challenge.

"I suggest you do try to....since there are going to be many dishes to be washed with the added students, not to mention beds to put away...hallways to be cleaned.........all eliminated and losing team members will be forced to do chores for tomorrow," he said with a smile. People around me groaned in unison. I was tempted to join them. Chores as punishment for losing a game often played in elementary school recess? It almost sounded like a joke. Why put any weight on a game that was meant to be played for fun?

"You may strategize with your teammates for one minute. Games will be played on separate fields since we do have a lot of teams. One team in each game will have to wear pennies." One of the black outfitted guards held up a bag filled with yellow pennies to exaggerate his point.

Teams began huddling up as Mr. Neilson faded into the background once more. I turned to face the rest of my team, including the dirty blonde haired girl who had just asked the question.

"Sooo...," she said slowly, looking around at the rest of our team. It was almost funny seeing our odd group. Heights drastically ranged, with the shortest person in our little team huddle being a boy who looked around a year younger than me and must've been unusually short, even for his age. He had brown hair and light brown eyes that screamed determination, despite his small size.

"Do we actually need a strategy?" scoffed a tall dark haired student with muscles that reminded me off a football player's. I wondered if he was one. I knew that he couldn't have been from my school since I'd never seen him before like I had seen around half the other students on my team. Even with the few words he'd just said, I could already feel the cockiness emanating off of him.

The dirty blonde haired girl seemed to feel his swollen ego vibe too, since she made a face at him that seemed to be attempting to hold back a glare. "Yes, we do, since I really don't want to be stuck doing chores tomorrow."

The dark haired boy chuckled. "Yea right, like they could actually try forcing us to do that. Honestly, I doubt that's even legal. They can't make us do anything."

"If they really wanted to they probably could," the girl replied softly, rolling her eyes in response.

The dark haired boy chuckled. "Yea right, like they could actually try forcing us to do that. Honestly, I doubt that's even legal. They can't make us do anything."

"If they really wanted to they probably could," the girl replied softly, rolling her eyes in response.

"Anyone else prepared for some hardcore chores?" came a voice from directly behind me, almost exactly in my ear. I jumped, my heart racing after not expecting anyone to be behind me. I turned around, only now just noticing, the black haired guy who had been standing next to me.

There was a slight grin on his face as his eyes focused on the dirty blonde haired girl. His arms were crossed, showing off sharply lined forearm muscles, and a silver nose ring hung from his right nostril. His eyes were a shockingly light blue, a color so pale it could be almost described as a light gray or white.

"Wonderful, not only do we have an apathy towards strategy on this team, we also have an overabundance of confidence," the girl replied sarcastically.

"Why don't we just decide on a defense and an offense?" I suggested, leaning my weight on one leg. As I spoke, I was acutely aware of the shift of everyone's attention to me.

The dirty blonde haired girl nodded in response. "Good idea. So...who wants to be offense?"

After a quick decision of who would be playing which position, I ended up joining the offensive part of our team along with the dirty blonde haired girl, the dark haired boy, and the boy with the nose ring. Looking behind me from my spot near the white line marking the boundary between sides, I noticed the almost even split between offense and defense on our time. Fortunately, having a more equal split would help us win. Unfortunately, the other team seemed to have already thought the same thing. In reality, I was already thinking of how I was going to finish my "chores" faster so I could be done sooner.

I really wasn't expecting anything at the moment, but I was planning for the so-called worst of the situation, even though the worst wasn't actually that bad. I almost didn't mind the idea of doing extra work, especially after everything that had happened and all the new information I'd been exposed to. It would be nice to have something to concentrate on so I wouldn't be completely focused on the situation and what it might mean for me.

But then the whistle was blowing and the game began.

Immediately, some of the more athletic of our two schools began sprinting across the boundary while others ran after them in attempts of tagging them. I looked at the other team's side, trying to decipher the best path that I could take so that I could reach the other side.

After a couple seconds, I spotted a small opening between two of the opposing team's players. Without hesitation, I sprinted in the direction and barely managed to slip my way past the two teammates closest to me.

Then I was free, my hair flying out behind me as my feet sped across the open grass. In front of me, I could see a few occupied opposing team members and then their flag, sitting right out in the open for anyone to grab.

I picked up my speed, pumping my legs faster so that I could reach it quicker. It slowly became closer and closer until I was certain I would reach it without any trouble at all. My fingers reached out and brushed against the soft fabric, a second away from clasping around it and running back. Except just as my hand wrapped around the cloth, I felt a heavy tap on my right shoulder.

"You're jailed," a sweet voice from behind me said and when I turned around, I put the voice to a small angular face of a girl a year younger than me with bright red hair. I shrugged and dropped the flag, not really caring too much about it.

I looked across the field, trying to find the jails that had been mentioned before. It took me only a couple seconds before I noticed a familiar face sitting on the ground inside a large white hula hoop looking bored. I suspected that that was where I was supposed to go.

I walked over to the hoop, and about halfway there the nose ringed boy noticed me. He stared at me as I casually stepped over the thick hula hoop line and sat down next to him.

"So we just press a button?" I asked, eyes focusing down on the two buttons I just now noticed on the side of the hula hoop that I was on.

"Technically," the boy replied, staring at me with amusement, "but I suggest you don't randomly choose just any one button. Actually, I was going to propose that we work together."

"Is that allowed?"

He maneuvered his way around my question. "Just press your do nothing button."

"How am I going to trust you'll do the same?" He looked up, seemingly surprised that I had called him out on the obvious flaw in his plan.

"You can't." I felt like he was enjoying this, the way I had no control over what he did. I definitely wasn't. Actually, it was almost annoying. I was supposed to trust this random person I'd never even met before this without hesitation. The actual consequence of choosing wrong wasn't actually that bad at all, but still.

Some competitive part of me kind of didn't want to lose or be eliminated.

"Fine," I finally gave in, prepared to make my decision, hoping it was the right one. I stared at him for a moment, as he held his hand hovering in the air over the two buttons. There was no telling what he would choose.

He stared back at me, waiting for me to move. At the same time, we brought our hands down.