Page 31 of House of Deceit

I rub my eyes and throw back my blankets, climbing out.

“Why is it so freaking cold in this house?” I hiss. My thin cotton pajamas do nothing against the constant air conditioning. I haphazardly make my bed before making my way to the bathroom. Against one wall in the large room are racks of shower caddies filled with everyone’s individual showering products. Next to the racks are two cabinets with drawers. Each drawer has a name and contains toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and various other requested necessities.

I wet my brush and pull it through my hair and pray Alec won’t include this beautiful moment in the show this week. Molly had not been exaggerating the state of my appearance. People file in and out, everyone getting ready. The trough like sink has space for half of us at a time. I finish in the bathroom and make my way to the closet. Hanging from each wardrobe is the designated outfit for the day. I strip off my pajamas, accepting there will be no privacy, even when we need to change, and put on my blue tank top and matching shorts. Making my way out to the living room with the TV, I stop by the kitchen and grab a banana, unsure what we are in for.

Music blares through the surround sound; why it needs to be at the level of an outdoor concert, I’ll never know. Jacob Jacobson’s face comes on screen, the same smile he always wears plastered on his face.

“Good morning, contestants!” he says.

“Good morning, Jacob,” we call back with less enthusiasm.

“Today marks the start of the games. Whichever team loses today will be in charge of making and cleaning up dinner for the entire house for the week! Now, you’ve been sorted into your teams already, blue and red. This game will be played in the backyard. Please, go there now and good luck!”

Looking around, I perk up, noticing Parker is in blue, too. The TV turns off and we all stand, shuffling outside.

Off to one side on the grass are two identical boards with the fifty state names running in five columns of ten. A red envelope hangs on the board and I grab it.

Turning to address everyone, I read the card.

“Hello, everyone, and welcome to your first challenge in the House of Deceit. Each team will have ten minutes to arrange the states by population. Each correct answer will be a point. The team with the most points wins. The time starts at the end of the reading of this card.”

We scatter like a grenade was thrown in the middle of us. The blue team is made up of me, Angelica, Ava, Raven, Harper, Colyn, Carter, Cain, Parker, and Jayden.

“Does each person know the population of their home state?” Parker asks. Almost all of us shake our heads. “Alright, there goes that idea.”

Cain shoves through the group and immediately starts putting states in an order. California, Florida, Texas, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, so on and so forth.

“Hey, what the hell, man?” Angelica asks.

Ava starts crying at the discourse. It’s only the start of the second day and she’s cried three times already.

“Texas and Florida are wrong,” Jayden squeaks.

“No, they aren’t, but I appreciate the help, bud,” he says, placing three more states in quick succession. I can’t tell if his tone is condescending or not, but it rubs me the wrong way. Courtney would hate this guy.

“Maybe Jayden’s right. Let us help. We all have to bear the punishment if we lose,” I say.

Cain looks at the group of us all staring as he holds Illinois in his hand. He smiles, his teeth perfect and white.

“Of course! Sorry, man,” he says to Jayden, “my competitiveness took over. Where should this go?”

As a team, we continue the ranking.

A buzzer goes off and we all step back from our boards. I look at the red team’s board. It seems like we have similar answers, but there are obvious discrepancies. A voice plays over the loudspeaker and announces each answer starting from the top. As they are announced, correct guesses light up green. In many of the cases, the correction to Cain’s rankings were right. The red team ended up with thirty correct answers while the blue team had thirty-one.

I look at Raven and share a sigh of relief that we do not have to cook for the entire house. A monumental task with twenty different people here. With the game over, we all move back inside to start our first full day in the House of Deceit.

The interview room is an extremely pale green, but sparsely decorated so the contestants pouring out their deepest, darkest thoughts are the focal point. The chair in front of the camera is creamy leather and deep, welcoming, while the wrangler chair is an armless thing that looks egregiously uncomfortable.

Alec stands by a large camera, his hands tucked in the pockets of his black slacks. The top few buttons of his shirt are open, showing the beginnings of a firm chest I’m sure rests below the fabric. He smiles at me, and for a moment I forget he feels nothing for me other than detached professionalism.

“Hey,” I say, clearing my throat when I hear the breathy quality of my voice.

“Hey, there. Good call on getting Cain to include you all in the challenge. He placed quite a few of those states wrong.”

“I don’t like that guy,” I tell him simply as I make my way to my chair, tucking my feet under me as I sit. Pulling out my journal, I look at the few notes I’ve made. “I haven’t noticed much with the deceiver, yet. Do you have any tips on how to look out for things?”

Alec sits on his chair, resting his ankle on top of the opposite knee.

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