Chapter 3 (part 1): Cooper

There was no way that the “challenges” we were going to do were going to be shown at our school. That is pure insanity. I was not about to put on some show for the kids back at school so they could see me make a fool of myself, and the rest of us for that matter. This Kelly chick is seriously crazy and I was not about to go down without a fight. I thrust my hand in the air with speed that clearly caught the smiley Kelly off guard.
“Yes,” Kelly said, “ do you have a question?” Her smiled wavered, but only for a second.
“Uh, yeah I do. Several actually. But let me start with this, what if we don’t feel comfortable with our little ‘adventure’ here being filmed and made into the next big reality TV show?”
“Well, we actually already got the ok from all of your parents or guardians that allow us to film you while participating in the activities in the next five months. I’m sorry to say that the deal has already been done. But I promise, it may sound scary at first, but you will have a good time and learn things about yourself and the others here that you never would have dreamed of. That is, after all, what this show was designed to do.”
“Fine.” I started with an icy edge to my voice that surprised even me, “But why don’t you explain what the people back home will see, what types of things will we be doing. To be honest it seems like everyone is being really vague with us, isn’t it time that people begin to give us all the information so that we can make this little show a good one for you iWon people. I mean really, what the hell are we even doing here, I don’t know about the rest of you but I am sick of not knowing what is going on!”
I finished my little rant and looked around the room, I noticed that everyone was looking at me and they seemed to kind of shocked and underneath that I think they also had some understanding for what I was saying, which helped me prove my point. I hope the Kelly Smiley Jameston say it in their faces too.  Kelly flashed another ever so charming smile at me and looked as if she had planned for exactly what I had just said.
“Well, I can’t tell you what the challenges are because it is a key part of the game that it is purely spontaneous. I’m sorry that you feel that we have been vague with you, that really hasn’t been anyone one of the people involved intentions. We want you to be happy to be a part of this, but we did expect that some would feel differently at the start, hopefully you will warm up to the idea.” She looked at me ready for any question I could throw at her. So to keep her on her toes I just kept my mouth shut and looked her right in her light green eyes.
She continued, “Does anyone else have any more questions for me?”
I looked around the room, hopeful that someone else would ask something or at least speak so I felt less silly for ranting. Slowly Kendall put his had the air. He raised his arm only slightly in a way that if you weren’t already looking at him you might not be able to tell that he was raising his hand. Lucky Kelly noticed and nodded at him, giving him the ok to speak.
“Uh, I was just wondering when the fist challenge would be?”
“Well, Kendall, Right?” He nodded, “We are planning on beginning once we get to out first destination which will be in one week. Unfortunately I can not disclose the location just yet, we would like that to be a surprise until later. By the way we are leaving from here tomorrow at noon. Everyone is expected to be up and back in this room at ten for another group meeting and then we will head out. If there aren’t any more questions you are free to return to your rooms.”
No one said anything. Everyone was just looking around the room and sleepiness was clearly starting to set in. I was the first to stand up and exit the room. Kelly said goodnight as I left, but I kept walking, ignoring her comment. I heard footsteps behind me so I assumed the rest had followed my lead. Sure enough I saw the other girls trailing behind me. We all got ready for bed quickly despite it only being nine o’clock. I crawled into bed and was asleep quickly. As I started to dose off I held on to the hope that this would turn around and Kelly would be right, but doubt had already settled in.

Chapter 2 (part 2): Adam

Once we arrived at the hotel, I was surprised by the quality of the building. It was one of this hotels that have valet parking and bell boys in dumb uniforms. We all were told that the girls were sharing one room and the boys another, the two rooms would be connected with another room, which they called the “common room”. We were all to meet in the common room once we had put our things in our rooms. I walked into the boys room and saw that it was two adjoined bedrooms, that were both really nice looking and bigger than my bedroom at home. One had one bed, the other two, however the one with two was larger and connected right with the bathroom. After a small bit of light bickering we agreed that Paul would get the single room and me and Kendall and I would share the double room. We put our stuff down and headed to the common room. The common room was very large and I think the best word I know how to describe it is lavish. It was just so expensive looking, or maybe this was normal for hotels. I Haven’t stayed in many and the ones I had were cheap motels where the front desk manager smelled like cigarettes and peppermint gum. We were finally supposed to find out just what was going to be happening in these next five months, we were only told some of what was to be expected and it seemed to me like there was some crucial details that they were leaving out, and that was a bit unnerving. We really don’t know a lot about what is going to happen and how it will even work, how are we supposed to have school while we are traveling across the country on a bus anyway? Well I guess I’ll find out soon anyway, but from what I gathered it was a lot like school on wheels with less people, no parties, no way to drink, and no available chicks. Which sucked. I took a seat in the common room on a really plush chair that was almost too comfortable. Only the guys were in the room and I figured it would be a while before the girls came in. They were probably all caught up in the fanciness of the hotel and oohing and awing at every little thing. Right while I was lost in the comfortableness of the super plush chair I was sitting on, the girls walked in, which was really surprising. It only took them like two minutes longer than us to get here, I guess they were more concerned about getting some answers too.  They all sat down together quietly, and they all looked really tired too. Then, a tall dark-haired women walked in. she was probably in here late twenties; she had a small but pointy nose and glasses that were clearly only there to make her look smarter. She wore a skirt and suit jacket and was incredibly thin and tan. She took the open seat nearest the door and just sat there, smiling and staring at all us, like we were her ticket to stardom. I was starting to worry that we were when she finally spoke.
“Well, I hope you all enjoyed your ride here, we have many things to talk about but first let me introduce myself. I am Kelly Jameston. I am also the co-producer/creator of iWon.” She paused and looked at each of us trying to find someone to hold eye contact with.
Unsuccessful, she continued, “ School, first of all, will continue. However, incase you haven’t guessed it will be conducted rather differently than you are probably used to. You will all be provided a lap top and you have assigned classes that you will participate in online. There will be time set aside each day for everyone to do their class work. The schedules of the classes you will take and your lap tops will be given to you tomorrow and ‘school’ will begin the following day.
“Another very important piece of information are that the activities that you will be involved in along the way. We are not just traveling around the country to just sight see. We are going to attempt to better understand social structure and help you to better understand each other, this will happen through various tasks that you will do. These tasks will push you outside your comfort zone and force you to work together and use each others strengths and figure out each others weaknesses. Oh, and all of these tasks are going to be filmed and made into a TV series that will premiere at your school and will be shown once a week in homeroom. If we get a good response the series will go online and be shown on ChannelOne.
“ I hope you have a fun time, and I’m sure it will be an experience you will remember forever, I am so excited to be a part of this with you. Anyway, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them now.”
I barely was able to absorb everything that was just thrown at me, when Cooper already had her hand in the air and a million questions spilled out of her mouth like word vomit. Yeah, that’s my partner.