Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
And the only one who gets to eat.
I take my time to observe my surroundings… aka, my bandmates costumes.
We have a bear, a horse, a clown, a menu—not sure why we have a menu and that’s the biggest fear some random person has—but okay, who am I to judge?
We have a rabbit, a frog… I do a double take.
The frog head just shakes in my direction while I laugh beneath my creepy mask. I think one day we’ll look back on this moment and have ourselves a good laugh, until then, we can all live in hope.
We sit in silence while Lucas goes over the rules.
“Welcome everyone we are so excited to be here,” Lucas begins in a dramatic voice like he’s the host of the Bachelor. I wish he could see me rolling my eyes. Excited? More like, annoyed… angry… furious…. Annoyed again.
Lucas continues.
“As you can see, both groups are completely masked and unidentifiable. Per the rules, you aren’t allowed to ask any questions. This challenge is based off of your knowledge of each member, which I know you all have a lot of information stored away. In random order, you’re each going to get a chance to pick one member to go to the haunted school with. Listen up. Once you get to the challenge, you’ll win a bonus if you actually know who it is behind the mask. You’ll get extra points and we all know that means you get more money to donate to a charity of choice, which is why we’re all here… right?”
I try my best not to laugh out loud.
He’s making it sound like the best moment of our lives.
And I’m a clown with a bow.
Lucas is in his element and keeps talking away.
“So here we go! You’re going to kick the fear aka the idol behind the fear and set off on your adventurous journey.” He makes it sound so easy.
Lucas shoots me a grim look and I’m immediately on high alert.
“All right, so first up we have Ha-yoon,” She’s the pretty one that had the polka dotted dress on. I wait for her to look around the brunch table. Her eyes focus on me, I’m not sure if I’m thankful or not, but she quickly turns toward the frog and tilts her head to the side like she’s sizing him up in his costume. We all wait with bated breath.
“I like frogs, I’m going with the frog.” She finally says.
He’s not allowed to take off his mask, but he nods slowly, painfully.
Next is Beth, she has dyed red hair and from her accent I think she’s Korean-Australian but I haven’t heard her speak English, it’s just the way she says her words. She looks at me too then chooses the spider.
She seems friendly enough.
“Oh,” Lucas adds in. “I forgot an important part!”
Crap. He sounds too excited for it to be good news.
“Since I know everyone here can do the math, I’ll just confirm again that there are only five girls here and ten of you.”
Cue the dramatic pause. I can almost hear the music sting.
“So whoever doesn’t get chosen…” He smiles at the camera but it doesn’t reach his eyes. I wonder what kind of news this is.
“Will get to go back to the house and relax for the night. There’s always tomorrow, but if you aren’t picked, you’re free to go work on your incredible upcoming albums and take time off.”
Unfair.
UNFAIR.
Don’t pick me, don’t pick me, please God don’t pick me.
I volunteer!
The girls gasp in dismay, while I pray I am exactly that person. I wonder if there’s a way I can scare the girls or creep them out, so they don’t choose me.
“You’ll still need to live in the house and who knows you might get thrown back in the game, because this is a long roller coaster ride and we don’t know where we’ll end up. Or what could happen.” Lucas smiles again at the camera. I’m definitely going to let him know that if his career as an Idol fails, he’d be great as a host. “But for now, the main players are the fears or costumes. So, make your choices wisely.” He pauses for a minute. “Let’s continue, shall we?”
No, we shan’t.
Hell, is that even a word?
Then again who would actually pick a clown? A masochist?
Grace nods her head to the girls. “All right, we’re down to Dueri. Who do you pick?”
She looks at the guy dressed as a menu which I’m still confused about. I need to know about this fear. Like, was he chased at night by a giant menu full of bad food? Did he get sick from eating the food? And who the hell is scared of words describing food? For a long second I think I might be home free. I can taste my freedom from this hell.