Being given fake currency, we can use to buy things to improve our lives is still not sitting right with me. I can’t tell what their motive would be for making it so we’d be able to play video games and eat junk food whenever we want. They always talk about this being the perfect learning environment for us, but very little learning is going on which they don’t seem to care about. Every activity has been related to us screwing around. Is it a form of distraction? The more I think about it, the less I understand so I’m just going to keep on going with the flow. That was my intention since the beginning anyway. Trying to find a few reliable people and watching my back seems to be the best strategy. Pushing these thoughts to the back of my mind, I snapped back to reality.

  After finishing up in the shop, we decided to head towards the cafeteria since dinner was about to take place shortly. I was still slightly worried about the amount of money we would all receive, but if it’s low, then that means less potential for someone buying the escape tickets, so there seems to be pros and cons to both possible outcomes. Arriving at the cafeteria, we saw that the others were already there getting served what looked like some bourgeois steaks. Good food, giving us access to resources, giving us nice places to sleep, we must be the best cared for hostages in history. I took my seat and half expected to be surrounded by Marin and Sabrina like usual, but Emma took my right side pushing Marin one spot further away.

  “Hey, Ryder,” she said, looking right at me.

  “What’s up?”

  “How’s everyone taking the loss?”

  “Everyone was pretty bummed out, but we’re all in much better spirits now. They’re planning a party at Marin and I’s dorm to get our morale back up.”

  “In your dorm? Definitely doesn’t seem like your type of thing. Marin volunteered your dorm, didn't she?” I nodded.

  “Was that not okay?” Marin said, poking her head out from beside Emma.

  “No, it’s totally cool. I promise.”

  “I totally forgot that you don’t love social events. I’m sorry! I can take it back!” Marin said.

  “I promise that it’s fine. I would’ve bought a WiiU anyway, so hosting a Mario Kart party makes a lot of sense for us to do.”

  “If you say so…”

  I definitely was half-lying, but I’m not going to make Marin feel bad for wanting to get the team together for some R&R. Once again, this is a problem with me, not her.

  “How is your team taking the win, Emma?” I asked.

  “I think everyone’s kinda worried.”

  “Why would they be worried?” Sabrina asked while poking her head out from beside me.

  “I think everyone realizes that the soccer game is do or die, literally,” Emma said. “There’s no way our team can beat you in the baseball game, so we would need to win the soccer game to stay safe. We considered the basketball game an easy win for us, but with how close it was, everyone is worried about their chances in the soccer game, which is the only game in this tournament that matters. TL;DR, you are all much more formidable than the others expected.”

  “I see,” Sabrina said. “Looks like both teams operated off of the idea that basketball and baseball were already decided once the teams were assembled with soccer being the wild card.”

  “Precisely,” Emma said. “Everyone’s pretty stressed out. Especially since not a lot of people truly believe that there’s a way out of here.”

  “Keon doesn't even seem to believe in it himself anymore,” Sabrina said. “You can tell by his mannerisms.”

  “It’s true. Seems overall morale is much lower than we all were expecting before the first tournament game,” Emma said.

  “Everyone was in such high spirits before this started though…” Marin said. “Miles gave that speech and it felt like we were truly united even when we were going to be against each other. So, what happened?”

  “Events are always less stressful before you start on the path to what you know will inevitably be a horrible end,” Cyrus said, sitting across from me.

  “That was profound,” Emma said.

  “It’s also true. It’s going to be hard to keep us all together, especially after the soccer game. No matter what, the losers will be decided in that match. The game is only three days away too.”

  “You’re being a major bummer, Cyrus,” Marin said. “Can we at least pretend that everything will be fine?”

  “You can live in whatever way you see fit,” Cyrus said. “I’ll just warn you that living that way is how you get taken advantage of at the worst possible time.”

  “You’re in a much different mood than usual,” Sabrina said. “You were always pessimistic, but you’re much more grim than usual.”

  “It’s probably just me starting to break down, nothing major.”

  “Sure sounds major!” Marin said.

  “Let’s just worry about the future when it becomes relevant,” Sabrina said. “You’ve got a party to go to tonight, and if you sour everyone’s mood then I’ll make sure your training regimen tomorrow is twice as hard as everyone else’s.”

  “You sure know how to be convincing,” Cyrus said.

  “It’s a talent of mine.”

  We then heard the doors to the cafeteria open and saw Levi, Rayna, and Andrea coming in. Levi had a small folder in his grasp.

  “Hello, all!” Levi said. “Now that dinner is about finished, I am going to disperse your first round of ‘Levi Dollars’! So, rejoice! You are all now part of the wonderful economy of Fortune’s Favor University!”

  “‘Levi Dollars’?” Carmen said in a disgusted tone.

  “That has to be the dumbest name for currency in the history of the world,” Miles said, laughing.

  “Bro literally named them after himself,” Amber said. “What a sad sack.”

  “‘Sad sack’ of shit,” Maya corrected.

  “I didn’t ask for your opinions!” Levi barked. “I-I just thought it rolled off the tongue well!”

  “EXECUTE THEM ALL!!” Andrea yelled before lunging towards the table we were all at. Rayna grabbed Andrea by the waist, holding her back.

  “Easy there, tiger!” Rayna said. “They’re just dumb kids. They don’t have respect for adults yet.”

  “AND THEY WILL PAY FOR THAT DEARLY!”

  “It’s alright, Andrea…It doesn’t bother me at all…” said Levi, clearly bothered. “Since you are all so adamant about biting the hand that feeds you, I’ll make this quick.”

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “What a jackass,” Emma whispered to me.

  “The currency you all will be using will be on your L-Cards that I will have Rayna hand out here momentarily,” Levi said.

  “What does ‘L-Card’ stand for?” Miles said, snickering.

  “Th-that’s not important,” Levi said. We all rolled our eyes. “The total that each card has will be displayed on your electronic handbooks, so that you never have to worry about having your card declined by not knowing the price. As another way to prevent this, there will be no tax on any purchase so the price you see is what you pay. Also, even if you didn’t do much right in the game, there is a minimum allowance of 100 LD just for playing the game, so nobody got nothing today. Although some of you had a really good game and are already well on your way to affording an escape ticket if you’d like one! Well, the rest of the day is yours to do with what you wish. Alex will be in the shop until 10pm, so feel free to ‘go wild’, as they say.” Levi then left with Rayna and Andrea following behind him. Andrea shot us the usual death glare as she left.

  *******

  “Alright, there will be no secrets between us all, so let’s go one-by-one and reveal how much money we’ve gained from the first game,” Keon said. “Also, as mentioned previously, everyone must reveal what they are buying to either myself or to Carmen to be approved. We’ll each have a notebook to log what everyone has purchased.”

  “You sure love invading our privacy, sleazeball,” Maya said.

  “I’m also trusting Carmen to log items, so if you don’t feel comfortable talking to me about what you’re buying, she’s also a candidate to approve your purchase. I’m always open to compromise.”

  “It’s weird of you to trust someone other than yourself to do something like this,” Miles said. “Carmen must have seduced you just like she did me.”

  “Keep dreaming, muscle-head,” Carmen said.

  “Carmen is trustworthy. I’d stake my life on that,” Keon said.

  “‘Your life’? Isn’t that a bit dramatic?” Carmen said, jokingly.

  “I feel as though I’m a pretty good judge of character, so there shouldn’t be any issues. Now, let’s start from the furthest person from the door on my side. Maya, how much did you get?”

  “. . .” Maya just stared at her handbook with a blank look on her face.

  “Well…?” Carmen said.

  “100 LD,” Mia said while looking over her sister’s shoulder.

  “H-hey! Mia!” Maya said, turning red as a tomato. “It-it’s only because I didn’t get to play enough! I would’ve had much more if you put me in the damn game!”

  “I did put you in the game and all you did was get your ankles broken by Ryder,” Miles said, throwing his arms up.

  “Well, that wasn’t fair! He’s obviously a professional! That’s like asking me to guard Michael Jordan!”

  “Wow, that’s quite the compliment for you, ‘Mr. Lucky Boy’,” Carmen joked.

  “Let’s put that aside,” Keon said. “Mia, how about you?”

  “I got 330 LD,” she said candidly.

  “H-how did you get so much more than me!” Maya barked.

  “Because she contributed,” Miles said. “If you want more money, then you just gotta show up during the soccer game.” Maya started pouting.

  “Alright, Marin, how much did you get?” Keon asked.

  “Let’s see…” Marin said while fiddling with her handbook. “410 LD! I’m rich!”

  “That’s quite a bit,” Carmen said.

  “Probably due to all the assists in the fourth quarter if I had to guess,” Sabrina said. “I doubt we’d be able to get them to say how they calculated it all though.”

  “Alright, Emma, you’re up,” Keon said.

  “380 LD,” she said.

  “Not too shabby,” Amber said. “Looks like all the ‘role’ players got similar amounts.”

  “Makes sense,” Keon agreed. “Your turn, Ryder.”

  I opened my handbook and saw that there was a new tab on the top of the screen that said, “Check Your Balance.” I pressed my finger on it and was pretty taken aback by the amount that was shown. Sabrina looked over my shoulder and seemed to be similarly surprised.

  “By the look on your faces, it must be a lot,” Miles said.

  “800 LD,” I said.

  “Wow,” Miles said. “How many points did you have in the game? Do you remember?”

  “I think I got around 20-ish? I wasn’t really counting.”

  “They better give us some stat sheets later!” Miles said. “I love a good box score.”

  “We can definitely afford the party now,” Marin whispered to me while leaning over Emma. Emma definitely wasn’t expecting her personal space to be invaded because she had quite the look on her face.

  “Your turn, Sabrina,” Keon said.

  “940 LD,” she said.

  “It definitely makes sense that she would get so much,” Miles said. “She was blocking my shots, draining threes, making crazy passes, dunking the ball…she was doing it all. She totally got a triple-double. Maybe even a quadruple-double…”

  “Definitely the MVP of our team!” Marin said.

  “Alright, looks like it’s my turn,” Keon said. “I got 640 LD. Let’s move on to Carmen’s side. Carmen, how much did you get?”

  “490, for me,” Carmen said.

  “How about you, Amber?” Keon said.

  “480. Just narrowly beat out by your right-hand woman,” Amber said.

  “I’m next, and I got 780,” Conrad said.

  “I think it’s pretty safe to say that I got the most,” Miles said, proudly. “ I got 960.”

  “Fucking stat padding scum!” Maya said.

  “I just wanted to win! It had nothing to do with stat padding!” Miles said.

  “Okay, let’s finish this up,” Keon said. “How much for you, Atticus?”

  “620 total for me,” Atticus said.

  “I got 500, myself,” Cyrus said. “Considering how I’ve only ever been a detriment to all my teams in previous athletic events, I consider this quite the improvement.”

  “Alright, Robbie, you’re the last one,” Keon said.

  “They almost certainly messed up my totals, but I’ll let it slide because I don’t need a fair game to succeed! Being the underdog means that people won’t expect it when I rise from the ashes like a phoenix and take over the attention of all who doubted me! It’s apparent that our captors have noticed that I am a threat to their operation, and have therefore diminished my totals, in order to-”

  “Please just tell us…” Carmen said with a hand over her face.

  “As you wish,” Robbie said. “Just don’t let the amount inform you on the idea that I’m a weak link because that couldn’t be further from the truth! The misinformed total came out to 480.”

  “Okay, all the totals have been written down,” Keon said. “You are now all free to go check out the shop. Just remember that you must let either myself or Carmen know of what you are purchasing. That is the best way to keep everyone safe.”

  Everyone then left their seats and went towards the shop. This was the first time I felt any sort of excitement since being here, but that was quickly dashed as my mind went right back towards the situation we were in. Much like my life back home, it is much harder to hold onto positive emotions than it is to negative ones. In a place like this though, I think it would be unwise to try and convince myself that I am safe for even a moment. Our team walked together to the second floor as did the other team with one another. There was very little conversation between the two teams, and it seems that Levi’s plan to put a divide between us was working, even if no one else seemed to realize it. I also noticed Marin and Sabrina conversing without fighting though, so it’s not like this division tactic has no benefits. The members of each team become closer to one another just as they grow further from those who stand on the opposite side of them during each game. As I was deep in thought, Marin brought me back to reality once we made our way to the door to the shop.

  “Alright, Ryder! One WiiU, a TV and a copy of Mario Kart 8 comes to a total of 520, so that’s 260 each. Is there a way to send money to each other?”

  “Maybe there is ‘L-Venmo’ somewhere in this handbook,” Cyrus said.

  “That sure would make things easier for this,” Marin said. “If not, you can just pay for it, then use some of my money to buy what you want to make us even. I’ll get to know what it feels like to be a sugar mama!”

  “You don’t have nearly enough money to be his sugar mama,” Sabrina said. “If anyone is going to be his sugar mama, it’s me.”

  “Chabón, this is all Monopoly money at the end of the day,” Carmen said. “I doubt you could exchange this at the bank for anything other than weird looks from the tellers.”

  Marin and I then loaded up on what we wanted in the shop which included the mentioned TV, WiiU, and a copy of Mario Kart 8. Marin grabbed some feminine products which she was quite ecstatic that she could afford, as well as some movies and video games that she claimed would increase her morale “tenfold!” I also picked up some games of my own as well as an extra blanket, a deck of cards, and a chess set. Marin and I both agreed to practice chess with each other so we could become grandmasters once we made it back to the outside world. I’ve never been very good at chess though. After getting the okay from Carmen, we finished our purchase and began bringing out items to our dorm. Carrying all of it downstairs was quite the chore, but we managed to make it without breaking anything. We talked to the other members of our team and agreed that the party would take place at 8pm. Atticus was supposed to have guard duty tonight, but we managed to get Conrad to fill his spot for him in exchange for a future favor, so everyone was good to go. Marin and I then started setting up for the party with only about an hour until it was going to start. Hopefully, everything goes well. Tomorrow, we start practice for the soccer game, and we all know just how important this game is going to be.