October 25th

Priya

Priya smiled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and twirled, trying to picture herself wearing this at home. Mother would freak, and her father would smile and tell her how beautiful she looked. She loved how purple made her look sexy, and this particular shade certainly hit the spot. No doubt, everyone's eyes would be on her. She glanced at herself in the mirror and blushed, as a distant memory of her time in an underground club bubbled up.

Mumbai was chilly at the time but determined to be the star of the night, Priya wore a blue sheer dress with spaghetti straps and three-inch heels but it didn't stop there. She let her dyed hair out of its confines and put on silver contacts as well as a fake dollar sign tattoo on her exposed shoulder, before heading out to meet her mysterious date who took her to Ecstasy; a secret yet popular and always crowded club situated ten miles from her home.

The amount of alcohol and drugs she saw that night overwhelmed her, and after a long moment of hesitation fueled by her need to dance, she finally gave in and joined her hot date in exploration. She remembered trying a variety of spiked punch and weed, and the things that happened afterwards were still fuzzy but Priya was sure that she...

"You have two minutes to get ready for the fourth game." The intercom blared, cutting off her train of thoughts.

Priya quickly applied lipgloss and put on the converse shoes that came with the nice outfit. She stood up and twirled again, feeding her fascination for the pleated bottom of the short dress before stepping out of her room to meet the other housemates.

The remaining seven housemates were dressed in different colours, along with white shoes strung with laces matching the colour of the clothes each person wore. It was easy to spot the heads of her friends in the small crowd and she sashayed towards them, feeling her confidence rise with every step.

"Hey Chiara, Mareike. You guys look stunning."

"Chiara does, but I look like a blue pumpkin in this." Mareike muttered sadly.

Priya glanced at Chiara and a look of silent understanding passed between them.

"Mareike, you look really beautiful and you need to accept a well-meaning compliment and love your body more. Accept it and flaunt it proudly, no one else can do that for you, girl." Priya said with as much sincerity as she could muster.

She looked at her friends again, admiring the designer of the outfits. Mareike wore a blue dress which complemented her curves and brought out her sapphire eyes, while Chiara's red dress brought out the fire in her hazel eyes.

Chiara nodded. "We look like the three musketeers from Barbie. Remember them? It was also red, blue and purple. We look so good, I'm literally falling in love with myself."

At this Mareike smiled and linked her hands through that of her friends'. "Well then, I will try to be confident today."

She glanced at the large mirror in the lounge and added, "Blue really looks great on me, and this gown did bring out a few curves unlike the last outfit."

Priya nodded, the difference between both outfits was clearly obvious and she liked that her friend was trying to be confident in her own skin. As they watched her, she started to drag the gown down her thighs, with little success.

"But it is too short." She complained, and the other girls shook their heads.

"It's perfect, girl. Like Priya said, flaunt your body and own it. Now, let's go and join the line before everyone else enters and Mr. Han locks us outside." Chiara said, dragging the duo with her, their hands still linked and Priya let herself be dragged along.

Eryk

Eryk entered the room first and by looking around it, he recognized the game immediately. The floor of the room was covered with a rug which appeared to be made of grass, while the walls were covered with brick mosaic. Eight balls of different colours were lined up in a straight horizontal lines while the pallina, a black one was placed opposite the other balls, far away.

The fourth game was a classic outdoor one he regularly played with his parents even till now; a game of Bocce ball. The eight balls were of different colours, each one matching the outfit of a housemate. He saw a silver ball among the eight, and began to eye the distance between his ball and the black one.

Eryk heard a shuffle as the others started moving to the seats provided. He joined them and sat down, as Mr. Han came out of a side door in the game room to address them.

"Good afternoon Housemates and welcome to the fourth game. Some of you might be familiar with today's game," the man met Eryk's eyes and continued on, "while others may not."

He paused to connect the large projector in the room, and while it came on and began to load he continued, "The name of the game is Bocce ball, and it's quite an easy game. Eight of you will individually throw your balls as far as you can towards your target: the pallina over there. You'll each throw ten throws  and your average distance will be calculated, the person with the highest distance from the pallina loses the game."

On the screen of the projector, a three minute video of people playing the game started and everyone kept quiet as the video played through to the end. Eryk wasn't really interested in the video, his mind was on winning the game.

Beside him, Ingrid raised her hand and stood up. "Are you referring to the black ball when you say pallina?" She asked.

"Yes. That's what I mean." Mr. Han answered. She nodded and sat down, taking notes in a black book.

"If you're familiar with javelin and shotput, you will know this game isn't so different. The goal is to throw your ball as far as possible to reach the pallina." Mr Han paused, before adding, "Now, be careful: throw only your ball, not someone else's. Doing that is immediate disqualification. Is everything understood?" He asked, and everyone nodded.

"Also, note that the balls have crystals in them to aid their glowing effect, so they're a bit heavier than normal balls. However, this shouldn't be a problem for some of you." Again the man looked towards Eryk and this time, he appeared mischievous. Or was it a trick of the light?

Mr. Han spread his hands and pointed at the projector. "If your name appears now, please step forward as you're part of the first group. Goodluck to you."

Three familiar names appeared on the screen and they stepped forward, each housemate stopping to stand beside their balls but Eryk only noticed one person as she stepped forward, and he lost his focus momentarily.

Her dress clearly complemented her olive skin and brought out the sharpness of her honey brown eyes. Even her legs appeared to go on for miles under the purple gown. Hell, she looked beautiful and would be more so if she let down that luscious long hair of hers. Right now, he felt like dragging his hands through the bands and hearing them snap as her hair came free.

She turned to look at him and gave him a soft smile, while his brain suddenly started to lay out his imperfections; his limp, his crooked nose, his hectic life, and he began to wonder why Priya would want to be with him. She appeared to like drama, but not the kind he carried around. However he had balls, and he would confront her about his feelings like a real man. Damn the consequences.

Mareike

Mareike clasped Priya's hand when her name appeared on the screen, and she whispered. "You will do great, just remember to use your arm muscles and everything will be fine."

Her friend nodded and stood up, moving towards the stage with less gracefulness than she had when she stepped out from her room.

She was about turning towards Chiara to say something when she heard a low whistle.

"Damn, she looks hot. She would make a fine piece, you know." The guy in front of her said to his friend.

She stared at the back of Marcello's head in shock, while Femi scratched his chin.

"Mareike looks fine too, you know. Today's dress brought out her curves nicely." She would have blushed at that comment, if not for what came next.

"Oh, I haven't seen her today and besides, she could never look like that." Marcello said, gesturing to Priya. "She would have to lose about a hundred kg first." He laughed.

Mareike looked at her friend beside her, and crumpled. She clutched Chiara's hand and shook her head, knowing what she was about to do. She needed to listen to what Marcello really thought of her.

"That's not nice, Marcel. She likes you a lot, and she wouldn't be happy to hear this." Femi turned to face him, and Mareike struggled to see his frowning face as hot tears blurred her vision.

"Of course, she does but I'm not feeling it anymore. She's not my type and I know she'll give me a hard time before I get the stuff, and I don't have the patience." Marcello shrugged and added, "Why are you looking at me like that, man? Don't tell me you thought I really liked her." He laughed again, and kept quiet to focus on the game.

Femi got up and moved forward to an empty seat beside Ingrid, glancing at her before he sat down. Marcello raised his hands up at his roommate's action and shrugged again.

Mareike tried to get her breathing under control, as Chiara patted her back. "He's in front of us girl, I could just punch him right now and take vengeance."

But she shook her head. "No, you will be disqualified. We will deal with this another way." She blinked her eyes till the moistness reduced. "I am glad I heard this for myself, at least I know where I stand now." She said, trying to smile but her friend bought none of it.

"Don't start pitying yourself, Mareike. You're a strong girl with a beautiful body and a beautiful soul, don't let anyone make you think otherwise. He's a shallow, idiotic narrow-minded jerk for thinking that way and his perspective shouldn't make you think less of yourself. I won't let you do that."

Mareike could feel her tears coming on again, and she dabbed her eyes with the edge of her gown. "Trust me, Chiara. I will be okay, thanks to you. At least, Femi supports me so I know I'm still beautiful."

"Yes, you still are. Now let's watch our girl perform wonders on that field."

Soon, the first round ended and the players went back to their seats but the actions didn't register in Mareike's brain. When she thought she had found a boy who liked her despite her size and her quirks, he turned out to be a jerk who only wanted to toy with her. She glared at him as he walked forward proudly, along with Ingrid and Eryk and she balled her hands into fists. That smirk of his would be wiped off his face today.

She dimly registered Chiara telling Priya what happened, and her reaction was similar to Chiara's: instant violence. But there were other ways and she knew hers would work. Mareike started cursing and insulting the jerkface in her head, chanting all the things she wanted to happen on the field so he would fail and leave the game.

Within seconds, the game started and she watched as the ball continously landed only few feet away from him, or refused to be thrown till the thirty seconds time for each throw ended.

"I think this stuff, whatever it is, only works when I want to harm someone." She whispered shakily, watching as Marcello's fifth throw bounced back to hit his foot.

"I think so too." Priya whispered back, while Chiara stared at the scene open-mouthed.

*****

WOW, AN INTENSE CHAPTER WITH A NUMBER OF EMOTIONS AND REVELATIONS. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS CHAPTER? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

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