11. Your most prized possession is your Netflix password.

"It's probably nothing," Naomi insisted the next morning, biting into her bagel as we ate our first meal since the lock-in.

Well, technically the lock-in hadn't officially started, since the doors weren't locked yet. People were still coming in for shelter and power, but judging by the flooding starting to happen, I'd say we'd be officially locked inside by noon.

Shaking my head, I disagreed. "No. If it was nothing, Dad would have sent someone else to handle it instead of going himself."

Seeing the logic in my point, Oli and Naomi frowned, not sure of what to say next.

We were talking about how, just moments ago, my dad stopped by our table to tell me they received a distress call and he was heading out to deal with it. I was obviously not thrilled at the idea of him going out in this weather, but at least he kept his promise and let me know. I also reminded myself that technically Hurricane Lola hadn't hit us yet, and we were still just experiencing "pre-storm" weather.

"It may not be that serious, Bee. You know how your dad is. He looks out for his boys whenever he can. He's probably doing that now, by going out there himself instead of sending them," Naomi offered up.

"Yeah! He just doesn't want any of them catching a cold," Oli threw in optimistically.

With a small smile, I nodded. "Probably."

When we finished eating breakfast, the three of us started heading back to the gym. My mind was elsewhere, catching a glimpse of the storm brewing outside each time we passed an exit. As we were nearing the front entrance of the school, I paused, the sound of thunder much louder than before. To be honest, even the rain sounded stronger. Exchanging a look with my friends, we headed closer to it, only stopping when we saw the reason why.

Another family had showed up.

I counted six, rather small, humans waddling in from the rain. Their clothes were soaked, hair a dark mess, and pale skin covered in a layer of water. Judging by their features, they were asian. And, despite how worn from the weather they clearly were, they looked like a cute family. Especially the older woman, who smiled and waved when she saw us.

"We go where?" she asked in her heavily accented voice.

With a kind smile to match hers, I motioned for her family to follow me. "We're all settled in the gym. You can follow me and I'll take you to it."

Seeming pleased with my offer, the father nodded. "Thank you."

Once I finished leading them there and explaining what the rules of the lock-in were, I excused myself and went back to Oli and Naomi, who had found a spot on the bleachers. As I passed, I noticed one of the daughters of the family, the smallest of them all, watching me with a sad look on her face. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She clearly didn't want to be here. Maybe her family had no other options.

I could imagine that'd make me feel helpless.

"Look what I found," Oli cheesed when he got my attention. Looking at what he held in his hand, I snickered.

"You went through my bag? I don't think the word 'found' applies here, Oli."

"Okay, look what I...borrowed?" he tried again, with a goofy grin, holding the deck of cards I brought with me.

Shaking my head, Naomi chuckled, "Just hush and shuffle the cards, will ya? I'm ready to get my Uno on!"

"Me too," I agreed.

Thirty minutes later, and I was the only one still smiling. Losing tended to make Oli and Naomi pout, which was what they were doing right now.

"Come on, Bee! Do you have to win every game?!" Oli whined, mushing his cheek up with the palm of his hand as he leaned onto it.

My lips curved up in amusement as I reshuffled the deck, making sure all the cards were mixed up well.

"Hey, it's not my fault you guys play with no strategy."

"I have a strategy!" Naomi defended. "I call it, 'get rid of all my cards.'"

"Mmhm, and it's a solid plan," I began. "Except you leave too much to chance."

"Huh?" they both said at the same time.

Looking back and forth at them for a few seconds, I leant forward dramatically, gesturing for them to come closer, as if I was about to tell them some high-level secret.

"The game may be called 'Uno', but you can't just focus on one thing, guys," I explained, keeping my voice hush and checking out our surroundings to make sure no one was listening. Grabbing the back of both their heads, I brought their faces even closer to mine and whispered, "You have to learn how to play the other players as well. Figure out what colors they don't have, psych them out on which one you do have, and always plan ahead."

"You make this sound so serious," Oli laughed, causing me to grip his head tighter. "Okay, ow!"

"This is serious, Oli. Deadly serious. I'm sharing my most prized possession with you."

"Please," he snorted. "Your most prized possession is your Netflix password."

Pausing to think about what he said, I leaned back and started laughing.

"True. But, my Uno strategy is a close second. Now, cut," I instructed, passing the fully refreshed deck of cards forward so Naomi could split it.

Oli was just beginning to deal them out when someone called out, "Hey! Can we play?!"

Looking in the direction of the voice, despite already having a good idea of who it was, I saw Reese climb up the bleachers toward us with his boyishly cute grin. Cooper, Sean, and...unfortunately...Matty, followed closely behind. 

"Got room for four more?" he asked, taking a seat awfully close to me.

"Actually, I have a few extra credit assignments I can work on, so it's three more, not four," Sean spoke up, holding his laptop up so we could see he wasn't kidding.

What can I say? I told you he was the smart one in their group. Always so focused on his studies. It made me wonder when he made time to act like an idiot with the rest of them.

"Okay, three of us," Reese corrected, turning to face me. "So, what do you say, babe? You gonna let me slide in?"

His shameless smirk told me he meant more than one thing by that statement, but I shrugged it off because it was Reese, and flirting was his way of communicating.

"Sure, just don't bend my cards," I stated as my only condition.

"If we do, I'll buy you a new pack," he replied as Cooper and Matty took a seat and joined us, creating a circle around the deck. 

Holding my cards close to my chest so no one could see, I kindly proceeded to wipe the floor with each one of them. Most of the time, Oli had an adorable pout on his face as he watched my number of cards dwindle down each round while his stack grew. And, at times when I had to draw from the deck, I was sure to keep my best poker face on, regardless of the card. 

For those of you who think Uno is simply a game of luck, I strongly disagree. The best way to win is by getting into the minds of your opponents, without them knowing, and that power comes by using your eyes.

The only other person that seemed to have more than half a brain during the different rounds was Matty. His eyes watched me the entire time, which was smart on his part, since I was the real threat. However, there was nothing he could do from his position that would affect my game, and he knew it.

"Uno! I win again!" I grinned, earning me a chorus of groans. 

"How do you do that?! I was just about to make you draw four!" Reese exclaimed before grabbing my face dramatically and pulling it toward his. "Teach me your ways!"

Giggling, I shoved him off me. "Some things just can't be taught."

"Well, I can think of a few things that can be," he winked, looking hot as usual. Leaning in close to my ear, his shoulder-length hair touched my cheek as he whispered, "Wanna sneak off to an empty classroom and let me show you?"

"Show me what?" I flirted back, causing him to let out a deep chuckle. 

"Alright, knock it off," Matty said casually, although when I looked at him, his stare was leaning on the intense side of things. 

Raising his hands in surrender, Reese smiled, "Chill, man. You know we're all talk. I've already explained this to you."

Furrowing my brows, I looked at him, confused. "Wait, so if I was actually being serious, you would turm me down?"

"Pfft, of course not."

"Aw, yay," I cheered, smiling sweetly at him.

The sound of Matty clearing his throat regained our attention. "Reese," he warned, as if I was some sort of delinquent trying to corrupt his friend.

"What? She's hot," he shrugged innocently.

"And also hell-bent on making me, your best friend, suffer on a daily basis."

"Okay, Mr. Dramatic-As-Hellington," I chimed in, crossing my arms. "Don't act like I'm the only one who throws punches in this relationship."

"Woah, you hit her?!" Cooper nearly shouted in surprise, which was exactly the expression on Naomi's face, along with a few strangers that overheard. Thankfully, Oli and Reese knew better.

"Of course not!" Matty defended in a lower tone than his friend. "She wasn't speaking literally."

"Yeah. Matty may be a lot of terrible things, but a women beater, he is not," I added, earning me a a rather unamused glare from the subject of my sentence himself. Shrugging, I asked him, "What?"

Instead of offering an explanation for his look, he just sighed and started idly fiddling with the deck of cards. At that, the moment turned to one of silence—an awkward one, at that. Puckering my lips to the side, unsure of what to do next, I tapped my fingers against my thigh.

The sound of the gymnasium doors opening was something new against the background noise and voices I had unconsciously drowned out, but I paid it no mind at first, knowing there was no way it was my father returning so soon.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding!" Oli groaned, flailing onto his back dramatically as he cried out, "Lord, please! Anything but this!"

Amused, I let the soft giggles fall from my mouth as I turned to see what had him acting like this. The smile died on my lips when I saw who was currently trudging into the large room.










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