Class Party (Part 4)

"Now! The fun activity I mentioned is a game I always loved to play as a boy. You'll love it". Right now, Xavier was the only one filled with energy. The rest of us especially guys are tired from the outdoor tests.

"The game is?" Sayaka asked impatiently.

"ABC Demands!" Xavier shouts. He gave each student a card displaying one alphabet. "Alright, let's begin shall we" he was so eager to start he forgot the most crucial thing before starting the game. I have never played or even heard of ABC Demands, so the rules are a mystery.

"Explain the rules first" Fugo complained.

"Oooops! My apologies. This is a game rarely known, of course you would not know the rules". Other than the alphabet cards, he had another deck displaying phrases instead of letters. "First thing fellas, take a look at the letters shown on the card I gave you. You're free to let others see them. It determines the order"

On my card I had the letter J. Bambi approached me, immediately showing her letter. Her card has the letter R. "Aphrodi's letter is H if you're curious" she added.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you stick with your brother? He has no friends" I asked her. Her body shivers upon hearing my question. While lowering her head facing the floor, she pointed at the corner where Aphrodi stood. To my surprise Nayeli was beside him initiating a conversation. Aphrodi failed to hide his annoyed expression while speaking to her.

"You're still scared of her". If it weren't for my interference a month ago, Nayeli would have killed Bambi out of rage, no question. That incident must still be fresh in her mind, I can't imagine how uncomfortable it feels to be around her. "I want Aphrodi to stop speaking to her. She should just leave".

"Not happening. They are classmates, the purpose of this party is for everyone to unite before the monthly challenge next week. You are an outsider, get out if you don't like what you see".

"Harsh".

"But the truth. You should try talking to her" I said while grabbing onto Bambi's hand. Her resistance was futile, I brought her before Nayeli and introduced her. "You already met. This girl is called Bambi Bambistine. Remember the time you almost killed her" I just had to bring it up. The second I let go of Bambi she tried to run away.

"I'm Nayeli Horohoro. Nice to meet you". Just when Bambi was reaching out of earshot, a loud noise engulfed the room.

SLAAAAMMM!!

Nayeli slammed her head on the wall, attracting everyone's attention. "This apology is long overdue. I'm Sorry Bambi! You don't have to be scared around me anymore". Her forehead was bleeding, Fugo rushed over to her with a band-aid in hand.

Bambi wanted to reply but Xavier puts a stop to the distraction. "A-HEM!! Before I was rudely interrupted by that half-assed apology. The game is basically Me is giving order or asking questions to the different letters. I will have two types of cards, you have to randomly pick one of the two in each round we play. There will be action cards which gives task to the letters and Question Cards which ask the letters a personal question. It is a clear to understand game. Let's Start! Let's Start! Let's Start!" the impatience could be seen all over his face. He quickly drew for four cards out of his second deck. "We will start from A and end with Z. Got it".

Aphrodi and I left Bambi and Nayeli to sort out their issues. Since Aphrodi is H and I am J, we might as well stay close to each other. "Now! Who's A!" Xavier asks.

Fugo raised his hand in response. "I'm A. what now?".

Xavier picked four cards off the top of his deck, neglecting to shuffle them. "Pick one of the four. Two are question Cards while the other two are Action Cards hehehe". The cards look identical, there might not be a way to distinguish Question Cards and Action Cards. Putting a lot of emphasis on the word might. Fugo chose the card on the far left.

"Alright! It's a Question Card". He happily turned the card facing it to everyone.

"What girl is your type?" the card asks. The class was unmotivated, tired and uninterested in the game Xavier forced on them. That quickly changed after hearing Xavier's question. Girls stared intently waiting for Fugo's response while the guys laughed to themselves. "Think carefully before you answer and be honest" Xavier's face gave off a sinister presence. He probably gave this question to Fugo on purpose. Another thing that struck me as odd was his failure of shuffling the cards. He kept the deck the way as it is, so the order of the cards are not as random as he says it is. He could easily remember the order of every card, whether they are question or action cards. What phrases are on each card and since he is the one that gave us the letters, he knows who has which letter.

.....

Xavier is going to enjoy this game the most out of everyone. "Well Fugo?".

Fugo had no intention of answering a question he deems to be stupid. "It's none of your business what type I like. Skip me!". Xavier moved closer to his victim, so close one might think they were going to kiss. "I'm sorry. Let me fix the question".

"What guy is your type?" he asks moving even closer.

"No don't! Stop it Xavier" Sayaka quickly pulled Xavier away from Fugo, saving him as a result. Everyone must have seen this coming, Fugo swung his elbow without hesitation. He wished it had connected to Xavier's face. "Hahahaha, you're ruining the game if you don't answer" Xavier suddenly frowns.

"Screw You! Only reason I'm here is because you promised to introduce me to your lady friends which you failed to do" Fugo outbursts. He went in for another swing but Nayeli stood in the way at the last second. He manages to halt his punch but his hand did indeed touch Nayeli's face, just with no impact behind it. Xavier threw the question card in his face and told him "I'll give you six contacts if you cooperate. Deal?".

"Deal!" the resilience shown disappeared after hearing the deal. Finally, Fugo told the class what's his type? "I like a girl who's physically and mentally strong, outspoken and determined. Looks don't matter to me".

....

His answer left his class in a state of shock. Silence filled the room, each trying to process what they heard. Even Aphrodi, the guy who cares the least was caught off guard by it. "You sure Fugo? I took you as the type who thinks appearances is the most important feature in a girl. My judgement is usually spot on until now".

"I'm telling the truth".

"Let's test you then" in his back pocket was a grey wristband. "This is a Lie Detector. Please put this on" Xavier instructs Fugo. Hesitant at first but Nayeli forced it on his wrist. "What girl is your type? If you lie, it will beep so be careful".

"You're the worst" Fugo sighed. His answer changed from what he said a minute ago. "A beauty who is popular amongst her pairs" he said. The wristband did not beep so he was telling the truth this time. He literally just described Nayeli, resulting with a disappointing look on her face. She prefers to be seen as the strong and determined type Fugo mentioned earlier or maybe she just isn't his type. "Wait! Tell a lie Fugo. We need to test if it actually beeps" I suggested.

"I am 2 feet tall".

BEEEEEEEEEEEPPP!!!

"Thanks for confirming"

"About those contacts I promised. You won't be getting them, kay" Xavier made it even worst for him. Fugo ignored his statement, instead he lowered his head embarrassed. Nayeli stuck beside him patting his head while he sulks.

"Next Letter is B. Who got that letter?".

"Here!" Tetsu replied. Once again Xavier had four cards in his hand, drawing four new cards. "Pick one. An action card if possible". Tetsu picked the card to the far right. "Yess!! An Action Card".

"Letter B must give everyone a dollar along with a gentle smile. If you don't have the money then I'm afraid you are going to be punished".

"Punished?"

"Yeah, for those who pick Action Cards they will be punished if failed to perform the task given to them. The punishment being, having a personal secret exposed" Xavier told us.

"How would you know our secrets" asked Darwin.

"Easy, I am close to many people across the globe. Some are your guys childhood friends, parents, ex lovers and many of you are famous on the Internet as well. Don't test me" Xavier adds. Tetsu did as the action card told him, fortunately he had enough cash to give each student. I rather his statement about knowing our secrets remain a mystery for now. On the surface Xavier is a very nice guy but now.... I'm slowly getting to see a different side of him. Provoking Fugo, forcing everyone to do as he say, claiming to punish anyone who fails to accomplish their task. The girls don't look surprised by his behaviour like I am. Xavier continued to the other letters. For each letter, he draws four new cards. Is there a reason for that?

Half an hour later, I still could not tell the difference between the action cards and the question ones. The back looks identical, a diamond shaped pattern from top to bottom.

"Letter H!" Xavier called out. Aphrodi raised his hand in response. He picked a card without giving much thought into it. "Action Card! Nice!".

"Letter H must accurately read the mind of Letter K". Letter K was a girl named Rohana, similar to Aoi she is silent most of the time, but for a different reason. She only talks to girls, around men she becomes nervous and begins to stutter uncontrollably. Right now, Rohana was sitting between Tetsu and Alisa.

"Hmm, I want to talk to Alisa so bad...but he's here. When is he planning on leaving? His friends are over there".

"That's what she's thinking I bet" Apbrodi made a guess. To confirm this, Xavier puts the lie detector on her wrist. "Is he correct?" Xavier asks.

"Yes, Sorry Tetsu" Rohana apologized.

...

The wristband stayed quiet so she spoke the truth, Aphrodi's guess was spot on. "Wow Rohana, all you had to do was ask me to move" Tetsu said casually. The moment he stood up, Rohana told him "Wait stay! You can stay beside me".

"A change of heart? Make up your mind" Tetsu sighed sitting down. Rohana decided to leave herself out of her comfort zone. Her next objective is to communicate with Tetsu, try to be normal as possibly can. "Tetsu.........not bad".

"Not Bad!? You didn't even say anything!".

"Now, Now, At least she's trying" Xavier cheered. Soon it became my turn. Before he called out my letter, we were already making eye contact.

"Letter J!".

"That's me". He had four newly drawn cards and asked me to pick one. After witnessing nine letters performing and answering questions, I still have not distinguished the action and question cards in his hand. 'In his hand'

"Hehehe, you're a tricky one ya know. What are your intentions in doing this?".

Xavier looked confused to my question. "Intentions? I just want us to get along by playing a game together" he answers.

"But why this game? Whatever let's forget that for a moment. Can I have a look on those cards over there?" I asked him. On his right, the cards he previously had in his hand were placed there face down. "Everyone I urge you to focus. Xavier lied about two things, which I'm going to expose".

"Lie?"

My classmates looked at me as if I was crazy. "What did he lie about?" Aphrodi seemed to be the only one interested to hear my thoughts.

"Forget that! Just pick a card" Xavier said impatiently.

"First off, Xavier has a hand filled with the exact same cards right now as we speak. That's why it is impossible to distinguish them. Bare in mind, we never got the chance to look at the cards beforehand. He has been playing everyone like a fiddle. At the very least, he has been holding cards that are all the same type but that makes little sense". Aphrodi picked up the last four cards Xavier faced down to confirm my theory.

As expected, the four cards were all Question Cards and they all ask the same thing. No differences. "Xavier, What the hell Man!. So you're telling me no matter which card I picked it would have asked What girl is my type? Bastard!" the sulking Fugo got up upsettingly. After the first confirmation, many began to doubt Xavier's position in the game. There is actually a difference between the Question Card and the Action Card but because they weren't mixed together in one hand, we never noticed it. If we look at the different hands Xavier drew up till now, some of them has differences. The Question Card has less diamonds than the Action one does, easy to find.

"Xavier gave everyone the idea that his hand of four has both Question and Action. That's why we were struggling to distinguish them because his hand only has one of the two. Good work my man" Sayaka praises him.

Xavier blushed in embarrassment, he did not appear to be ashamed of his actions. "I'm not done yet. What's the purpose of these letters?".

Aphrodi answered in Xavier's stead. "To arrange us in the order he wishes. He gave each student the letter he wanted, along with his same cards trick. He might as well planned for us since the beginning of the game".

"Planned?" Some did not get it.

"His did not shuffle the second deck's cards, that means he could have rearranged them anyway he wanted before we arrived here. The order of the cards were on purpose, no accident. He gave each student a letter with the order of his second deck in mind. He deliberately gave Fugo that embarrassing question. He wanted to know Tetsu's finance capability, being able to give everyone a dollar. Who the hell keeps so many one dollar change with them!? He wanted to test my guessing capability which is why he saved the mind reading question for me. As we speak, his second deck already has instructions and questions designed for everyone here because we all took his letter order seriously". Aphrodi connected most of the dots, leaving me with only one thing to say.

"Xavier said this is a game but it's actually another part of his survey. For a while now he has been recording stuff about us individually, our speed and strength for example. Now he wants to record a fun fact about each of us. In the end, it's all for the Monthly Challenge right?". Xavier dropped his four cards and sighed.

"Hmm, a lie detector is here so I'll just admit it. They are right boys and girls. In the end, this game is just to give me certain information about you all. None of you would willingly answer these questions or just do the actions i gave you if it weren't for this game. Trust me, the monthly challenges this school has are incredibly weird. These cards are to help me prepare for them". The class became dumbfounded, they weren't angry with him but just thrown off balance.

"Good work realising that Victor. I had a feeling someone would take notice soon. I even made it suspicious when I'm drawing four new cards and not shuffling Hahahaha" he laughs it off. "Shall we continue?" he said picking up the same four cards.

He definitely has a Question Card for me, I don't know what kind. If it's about my family, I'm in trouble thanks to the lie detector. "No way! Give me the cards!" Fugo shouts as he grabbed them from Xavier.

"Huh? Why are you asking the guy about his past sicko?". Fugo read the question that was meant for me, damn. Now he will be curious too. Fugo shuffle the cards and made sure question and action cards were in his hand. "From here on, I'll manage the cards and give orders! Get in line letter X". Fugo just revealed Xavier's letter to everyone, X.

"Jeez, thanks a lot Victor" he sighed. Despite saying that, he was holding in his laughter. "I am glad he's one of my classmates. He is such an oddball" I said outloud.

"Umm, you know I heard you right".

The games continues for another hour before it was over. It was getting pretty late so Xavier pointed at the dining table. "Time For Cake! It's been waiting for hours to be eaten".