Eliminated

Chapter Five

The next day. Today was the second challenge.

“Rise and shine everyone, another challenge today!” Jackson said while we were at the dining room table. I was drowsily nipping at an apple.

I tried to keep myself awake for the challenge, but I was so tired. I decided to quickly eat my breakfast so I would eat it all in time. Zinnia wasn't being as picky today, and eating. I guess she decided that eating food wasn't going to kill her: but losing a challenge might.

We walked down the hall again, passing all of the doors with numbers and challenge numbers on them. Luckily, I was very awake. No one on my team seemed tired anymore.

We walked into a room with “Challenge Two” labeled on it. It was just a table with cards on them.

“Oh no,” I mumbled. “Cards.”

The teams grouped together to have the game explained to them.

“So, today's game is simple. It's a good old game of Go Fish!” Kyle said.

“What's the catch?” Zinnia asked.

“The catch, is if you pick up one of the ten X cards in the deck, you automatically lose,” Jackson said.

“Only one person will be playing the game,” Kyle said. “The rest of the team can't say anything or express any emotion. If you do, you lose.”

“Oh, one more catch,” Jackson popped in. “You don't decide who plays. We draw them out of these little machines.” Jackson gestured to two machines that were like miniature Drawing Machines, but had less balls in them and were much smaller. One had four balls, the other five.

I remembered someone was eliminated, and I studied team One to find out who they chose to eliminate. It seemed like they eliminated Amber. I was so glad they didn't eliminate Lola. I would never forgive myself. I was probably going to die anyway.

“Okay, for Team One,” Kyle said, and slowly pressed the button on the machine with four balls. A ball rolled out. “Lola Winds!” he called. Lola walked up to the seat with “Team One” painted on it with a smirk on her face.

“I guess she's a good card player?” Phillip asked Jasmine.

“Er, yeah,” Jasmine said. I sighed.

“And for Team Two, we have....” It was a pause. “Taylor Chapters!”

Oh no. God, no. “Um... can someone volunteer?” Andrew asked. Everyone understood how terrible I was at cards.

“Nope,” Kyle said with a cruel grin.

I took a deep breath and sat across from Lola.

“I am going to make you die so Jasmine can win,” Lola whispered to me in an evil voice. “I will win a stupid game of Go Fish.”

“Oh really?” I said, the lie coming out much more confident than I expected.

“Oh please. You're terrible,” Lola said.

“I would watch out,” I said, my voice more shaky this time.

Lola sent me a smirk that sent the message, “You're going to die tonight.” This card game was going to be revenge from Lola for having to kill Amber, I just knew it. And I was going to die.

We started the game. The cruel judges forced me to go first.

“Do you have any aces?” I asked nervously.

“Go fish,” Lola said with a smirk. I nervously lowered my hand to grab a card. It was an ace. I laid it down beside my other ace with a smile. I was so glad I didn't draw an X....

- - - - -

We played the game, and when there were very few (about fifteen) cards left in the deck, we were at a tie. No one had drawn an X yet, which meant there were plenty left in the deck.

“Do you have any tens?” I asked.

“Go. Fish.” Lola said, evil dripping from her voice. I had a feeling Lola was much darker than she first appeared.

I drew a card, very scared. It wasn't an X, luckily, but that just meant there was more of a chance of drawing one next turn.

“Do you have any threes?” Lola asked.

“Go fish,” I said, the same evilness in my tone. Lola drew a card. It was her match. I groaned.

“Okay.. how about queens?” I asked.

“Go fish,” Lola said, barely a whisper.

I drew a card, and as soon as I saw it, I was already crying.

“Yes, we've won!” Lola yelled. Her whole team started cheering.

“Um, I didn't say I lost,” I said with a smile, showing her my card. It was a queen, the match to my card.

“No!” Lola yelled.

“Lola, I'm afraid your team showed emotion before the game was actually finished,” Kyle said. “Your team loses.”

It was my turn to smirk. But I had much, much more evil in this smirk than any of the ones before. Lola stared at me with a look of hatred. My fake crying did the trick. I knew that if I had another turn, I would probably lose. Sure, it was risky, my team might have started crying, but it was better than nothing.

“So.. can my team cheer now?” I asked.

Jackson gave me a smile with no traces of dislike or cruelty. “Yes,” he said. And we all jumped and cheered.

“Great job, Taylor!” Zinnia congratulated.

“Yeah, you really did good,” Andrew said.

“That's the second time you've won for us,” Jasmine said, but she wasn't happy.

“And the second time I've beat your sister..” I said quietly.

“That's right,” Jasmine said angrily, stomping away.

 “Jasmine, I'm sorry!” I yelled, but she didn't listen. I heard Kyle chuckle.