*ding dong, bing bong*

"Attention! It is now 7 am. You losers better get your asses up and kill someone."

I haven't even been here a full 48 hours and I'm sick of these morning announcements.

I got out of bed. I was about to put my hoodie back on after I changed clothes, but I took Gabriel's words to heart and left it. It needed to be washed anyways, so I figured I would wash it after breakfast.

I waited outside my sister's door like yesterday, this time seeing Quartz pass by.

"What are doing all by your lonesome, dear?" Quartz concernly questioned me.

"I'm going to walk with my sister to breakfast," I said. "Wanna join us?"

"Gladly." The hand model agreed.

When my sister opened her door and say Quartz, she shot a familiar glance at me. She then leaned over to whisper in my ear as the three of us walked to breakfast.

"Again?!" Fawn asked in a quiet voice.

"We're trapped with 14 other people." I whispered back. "The chances of us not running into someone on the way to breakfast is rather low."

"Do you have to keep inviting them to walk with us?" She softly complained.

"If this is your reaction to hanging out with people who aren't me, then yes," I nodded. "I do have to keep inviting them."

My sister stayed quiet after that. Things were silent so I took the liberty of changing that.

"How did you sleep last night, Quartz?" I questioned the white haired woman.

"Alright, I suppose." She replied. "You two?"

"Same." Fawn muttered.

"Yeah, me too." I added on.

I should have choose a better topic.

"So, Quartz," I looked to the hand model. "What do you think of our situation? I haven't asked may people about it, but I don't think most of us are buying the whole killing game thing."

"I think it's ridiculous," She bluntly admitted. "Whoever sent us our letters must get a kick out of making us think the only way to leave and get our talent back is murder."

"Yeah," I nodded. "We may have showed up after receiving a letter about the possibility of getting retitled, but killing for an Ultimate talent is extreme."

...

"Doesn't that make you curious as to how everyone lost their talents and why they showed up here?" Quartz planted the question in my head. "Aside from Nora, we know everyone here showed up because they got a letter saying they could get possibly their talent back."

"It certainly is an interesting thought," I agreed with her. "But I wouldn't want to pry into someone's life and ask for that sensitive information."

"I understand." Quartz said.

Upon stepping foot into the dinning room, were instantly greeted by Minerva. She had a notepad and pen ready, as if she were about to question us.

"Did Nora ask you that question about how the other participants lost their titles too?" The journalist asked the three of us.

Fawn, Quartz, and I all nodded in reply.

"What was your correct answers?" Minerva questioned. "I'm making a note about it in case it gives us a clue to getting out of here."

I don't see how that would help, but I'll bite.

"Injuries and medical conditions for me." I answered.

"Same for me." Fawn told her.

"It was lack of skill for me." Quartz stated. "Though, I haven't spoken to many people about lose of their talent."

Minerva scribbled down our answers in her notebook, before rushing off to catch Amelia before she left the dinning room with with a wrapped poptart in her hands. The journalist seemed so determined to get out, though I didn't understand why.

Quartz, Fawn, and I then took a seat at the table. Tabitha was also sitting there, angrily crossing her arms. She kept glaring back and forth from the kitchen.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"Rory kicked me out of the kitchen for ''not helping'' and ''getting in the way''." The blonde air quoted as she talked. "Can you believe that? Can you believe they kicked me out of kitchen?!"

If you were doing what you did yesterday—which was absolutely nothing—then I can believe that were kicked out of the kitchen.

"That's terrible," I said.

"Ugh, I know!" Tabitha kept going on. "I'm so glad you're here, Alex. You too, Rose. You two are like my best friends."

We met a day ago.

"Err... Rose?" Quartz raised an eyebrow. "Where did you get Rose from Quartz?"

"Oh, whoops," The blonde female laughed off her mistake. "Sorry, Quartz."

"And it's Felix." I corrected her on my name as well. "Not Alex."

"My bad, Felix," She apologized. "Names are so hard for me to remember. If I didn't have it written on like my room walls and all my things back home, I would probably forget it."

"I've never heard of anyone being that forgetful," Quartz said. "Do you at least keep a notebook of some kind to remember things, Tabi?"

"Tabi..." Tabitha repeated the nickname aloud. She then started murmering to herself. "That's adorable and easy to remember. Why didn't I think of it first?"

"Do you keep a notebook or a journal of some kind?" I repeated Quartz's question.

"Pfft, yeah." The influencer laughed. "Who doesn't keep one?"

Quartz and Tabitha's banter continued until Rory and Zenith brought out bacon, eggs, and biscuits for breakfast. There were still a few people who didn't stay and chat, but the majority of the group stuck around.

"Hey, Fawn," I turned to my sister. "Wanna do some laundry with me?"

"No." My twin instantly refused. "I'm gonna go to my room and draw."

"Okay then," I sighed. "I guess you need to keep up your skills for when we get out of here."

My sister left the dining room, leaving me to do my own thing. I didn't have a problem with that, though I wished she interacted with as many people as I did.

I guess I'll start on the laundry now.

I should ask everyone else if they want me to do their laundry for them while I'm at it.

"Felix." Someone harshly poked my shoulder.

I flinched, relaxing when I saw the tennis pro sitting beside me.

"Shit." Gabriel muttered under his breath. "Sorry, Felix."

"It's alright." I laughed it off. "I overreacted."

What's wrong with me? I'm not normally this jumpy...

"What's up?" I changed the conversation. I then glanced around to see most people leaving the kitchen.

"I overhead that you were doing laundry," The athlete stated. "And I was wondering if you could teach me."

"Sure!" I assented to his request. "I was also thinking we could go around and ask if the others would like us to do their laundry as well."

"Okay." Gabriel said. "But you have to do all the talking."

I usually do.

Gabriel and I started off by asking the few people left in the dining. Nikolas who said he would do his own and Vanessa who offer to carry her clothes down to the laundry room for us.

We then moved onto the kitchen. Zenith and Rory had decided they would clean up after breakfast, while Hunter volunteered to bring them dishes from the table and put up the dry ones away in their places. Tabitha was also present; it was no surprise she wasn't doing anything to help out.

"If you're just going to stand around and not help out then get out of the kitchen," Rory finally said.

"Hey!" Tabitha sniffed. "I'm helping!"

"How?" The cyan haired food tested crossed their arms. "Taking selfies doesn't help clean off these plates."

"I'm giving you guys moral support." The influencer said genuinely.

"The only morals your supporting are my morals to be nice and not force you out of this kitchen." The cyanette squeezed the plate they held.

Maybe I should I step in.

"Hey!" I got everyone's eyes on me. "Does anyone have laundry you would like Gabriel and I to do?"

"I prefer to do my own," Zenith replied. "But that's generous of you two to offer."

"I'll bring mine to ya after I finish up here," Hunter said.

"Yeah. Me too." Rory added on.

"For mine make sure to wash it separately from everyone else's and use only the good smelling laundry soap, because the smelly kind is smelly," Tabitha answered, forgetting that she had previously been arguing. "And I would like it personally delivered to my room where your done because I'm too busy to walk to the laundry room. Got it, bestie?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "We can do that for you."

We went around and asked everyone else if they would like their laundry done. A few offered to being their laundry to the laundry for us. For everyone else we went around and collected theirs in a laundry basket. Zenith, Amelia, and Nora were the only ones declined our offer.

When we got into the laundry room, we sat our baskets full of laundry by the washing machines. I then grabbed a few more baskets.

"What do we need all the baskets for?" Gabriel questioned me.

"Unfortunately, doing laundry isn't as simple as throwing a bunch of clothes and detergent into a washing machine and then pressing a button." I stated.

Gabriel fell silent upon hearing my reply.

"It's actually pretty simple," I quickly added. "We just need to sort everything by color and waste it accordingly. For example, white clothes are washed together to prevent bleeding."

"Huh," He began picking out the white clothes. "That does sound pretty easy."

"Reds, pinks, and oranges are also fine to waste together." I explained, as started sorting. "And then everything else should be good to go together."

"Except for Tabitha's stuff." Gabriel pointed out.

"Yeah," I lightly laughed.

We sorted through the clothes faster than expected. I gave the tennis played a briefing all the washing machine settings, how much detergent to use, and then we put the first load in.

"We'll probably have about four or five loads." I estimated, referencing the baskets of laundry we had. "And that's... One hour per load, washing machine and dryer running at the same time..."

"6 hours?" Gabriel guessed.

"It sounds right," I shrugged. "If it takes us 6 hours to do all the laundry, then we've got some time to kill."

The brunette didn't reply. Maybe he expected me to leave him and do something else while waiting in the laundry, but me stay definitely seemed to shock him.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked, seeming a bit confused.

"I was hoping maybe we should talk while we wait," I suggested. "Only if you want to, that is."

"Yeah. Okay." He complied. "You can pick the topic."

"How did you get into playing tennis?" I inquired.

"My parents." He gave a short answer. "They had a membership to this country club and they got my sister and I to pick up a sport."

"Why did you pick tennis?" I curiously titled my head.

"I didn't like golf, so it was the better option," Gabriel admitted. "Plus, golf became much more of sister's thing."

"Sounds fun." I commented. "I've never been to a country club before."

"It's gets pretty boring when you're forced to spent all your free time there." He muttered.

"What?" My eyes widened.

"What about you?" Gabriel put me on the spot. "How did you become lucky?"

"They same way everyone else does." I said. "They had the annual raffle for someone to become an Ultimate without having any sort of talent, and I won in it 20XX."

"Wouldn't that mean multiple Ultimate Lucky Students exist at once?" He raised an eye. "Isn't that impossible?"

"The Ultimate Lucky Student title works differently," I began to explain. "Each year there's a drawing with all the upcoming high schoolers names in the country. The winner is declared Ultimate Lucky Student and given the same opportunities as a regular Ultimate. Once they graduate school, they're talent changes to Former Ultimate Lucky Student."

"So that's what you are?" Gabriel incorrectly summed up. "A Former Ultimate Lucky Student?"

I wish...

"No." I sighed, forcing my eyes shut. "I'm an Ex Ultimate Lucky Student. My title was removed just like everyone else here."

Please don't ask how. Please don't ask how.

"Ah." He simply said. "I wondered the whole Lucky-Student-thing worked."

There was a moment of silence that followed. I heard the washing machine had stopped, so I went over to reload it and move everything over to the dryer. When I turned around, I couldn't help but notice that Gabriel was starring at me.

Don't ask.

"Where's your hoodie today?" He questioned.

Phew! For a second I though he was going to ask something else that would be much less pleasant for me to answer.

"I'm washing it," I told him. "Rewearing for two days is the max amount I'll go before drawing the line."

"Why do you rewear it anyways? Do you get cold easily?" Asked the brunette.

"Not exactly," I hesitantly to give an reason. "I guess I just feel comfortable wearing it. It's my only one, so I have to rewear it if I want to wear a hoodie."

"Uhh, if want you can borrow one of my jackets instead of rewearing your hoodie." Gabriel offered, seeming a bit surprised that he was doing so. "I have one that isn't bright pink."

"Thanks." I thanked him. "That's really nice of you."

"It's the least I can do for you teaching me to do laundry," The brunette looked away with a red face. "And you being nice to me."

"Why would I not be nice to you?" I questioned in puzzlement.

Before Gabriel could open his mouth, Tabitha came in. Her face lit up when she saw me, as if we were distance relatives who only saw each other once or twice a year.

"Alex, bestie," Tabitha started off strong by getting my name wrong. "I need your help."

"What for?" I asked.

"I need a distraction," The blonde dramatically answered.

"You're already pretty distracting though," Gabriel quietly retorted. "I don't know why you would need Felix's help."

"I need you to distract Skyler for me, Alex," Tabitha explained, not even acknowledging the tennis player. "Zenith finally stopped talking to Rory, but now he keeps playing video games with the hacker with cool leather jacket that I'm only a little jealous of how well they pull it off."

"Uh, okay," I agreed, not completely understanding she meant. "I'll be back soon, Gabriel."

"I'll make sure no one steals the laundry," He replied, as Tabitha and I left.

I followed her throughout the halls, soon stumbling on the game room. Inside Zenith and Skyler were playing a video game together.

"You take the left and I'll get the right," Skyler instructed.

Mesmerized by the screen and how evenly they took down the zombies on their screens. Aside from the occasional switch in position and needing time to reload, they were completely silent.

"Ahem," Tabitha elbowed me. She looked to the two on the couch. "Our plan."

"Oh, right," I remembered. "We should wait for them to get done, so we don't interrupt them."

"Mhm." The influencer nodded, but proceeded to do the opposite. "Hey Zenith! Can borrow you for a minute?"

"He's busy right now," The hacker turned around to protest.

"I suppose I should give my hands a break." Zenith stood up, carefully popping his fingers. "How may I help you Tabitha?"

"Can we go talk somewhere private?" The blonde requested. She then glanced over to the hacker. "It's kinda embarrassing to share with others around."

"Of course," Zenith blindly agreed, following the influencer out of the room.

"Oh great," Skyler groaned when they saw me. "I'm stuck with you again."

Nice to see you, too.

"What do you want to do?" I questioned them, taking a seat on the couch.

"I'd suggest we play some video games, but even a newborn baby could beat you so I don't wanna waste my time." Skyler admitted.

...

"What if you taught me how to play?" I suggested.

"Don't you already know how?" They raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe I'm just not doing it right then," I rephrased.

"Yeah, whatever," Skyler shrugged. "We've got time to kill before Zenith gets back."

Skyler proceeded to teach me everything there was to know about this game. It was the zombie game from earlier. They had been playing it with Zenith who was much better than me, but once Skyler taught how to properly play, we managed to last a couple rounds.

"I think you managed to actually get better at this," Said them, flabbergasted. "But just wait until tonight when we play the hardest video game."

"Tonight?" I questioned.

"Yep. You're cool enough to play video games with Zenith and I." Skyler admitted to me. "Now we just need one more to have a full group."

One more? Maybe I should volunteer Fawn.

"One more, you say?" The chauffeur peaked his head into the room. "May I propose a suggestion of who should be our forth member?"

"Shoot." Skyler responded.

"Tabitha." Zenith recommended. "She's already familiar with technology, so I think she'd be a great fit."

"Ehh," The hacker let out a noise of annoyance. "If you really think so... But the second she gets on my nerves we're replacing her."

"Speaking of Tabitha," I remembered. "Where did she go? I think she had something she wanted to tell me."

"She said she had to go the laundry room," Zenith explained. "She also wants you to met her there."

"You can also invite her if you want," Skyler added. "But if you don't and invite literally anyone else instead, I won't be mad."

"I'll invite Tabitha," I told the two, leaving the gaming room. "I think she'd love to join us."

I returned to laundry room to find Tabitha bugging Gabriel as he was moving clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. I figured I would step in before the influencer talked his ear off.

"—then I said ''purple is totally not your color, girl'' and she blocked me." The blonde girl recalled.

"Guess what?" I interrupted her, getting a relieved look from the tennis player.

"What? What?!" The influencer eagerly asked.

"You and I got invited to play games with Skyler and Zenith tonight," I informed her.

"Yes!" She enthusiastically exclaimed, striking a victory pose. "I knew my plan was foolproof."

"I doubt that." The brunette athlete butted in.

"What even was your plan?" I asked her. "What did you and Zenith talk about?"

"Well, you see, Alex," Tabitha prepped herself to talk. "When someone is good at something and they like it, they usually enjoy talking about it."

"So you talked to him about driving?" Gabriel crossed his arms, unimpressed. "What do you know about driving, anyways?"

"More than you, probably!" The blonde angrily announced. "I've totaled 6 cars in the last year."

Her insurance much be through the roof. But I'm guessing she can afford it because of her fame.

"You didn't tell Zenith that, right?" I curiously asked her.

"Oh, I did," Tabitha smiled. "He then gave me the nicest lecture on driving safely and how distract driving is the number one cause of vehicle accidents."

I guess that explains why they talked for as long as they did.

"I guess I'll leave you two to flirt or whatever," She grabbed her clothes. "See ya'll, besties."