Seven

Faith was limited to the four walls of Huckleberry but had a great time with her roommates. There were so many fun things to do. That summer, 7 out of the 14 students in room 5 became best friends. The seven best friends were Faith, Sarah, Namjoon, Peter, Angela, Samuel and Majid. They often played games together in the backyard. Majid introduced a game that was popular in his home country and it became an instant hit within the group.

Each player in the game had a paper taped to their back and were each given stickers. The game was sort of a blend of hide and seek and tag. Each person had a target and had to make sure they got as many stickers as possible on their target. But everyone had to keep their target a secret and only reveal it at the end of the game. So people avoided those that they suspected were targeting them and could form allies with people they did not suspect while they completed game missions. The game missions were unique for each game. An example of a game mission is collecting as many pens as possible from the dormitory or finding as many travellers as possible to sign a sheet.

One sunny afternoon, the group was having fun playing this game. Faith's target was Sarah, Samuel's target was Majid, Peter's target was Angela, Angela's target was Faith, Namjoon's target was Samuel, Majid's target was Namjoon and Sarah's target was Peter. The mission for the day was to fill their assigned basins with as much water as possible. The mission required speed because they had to use mugs to fill the basins and there were no faucets or water sources in the backyard. This meant they had to run around the dormitory for water and could only fetch a mug at a time. They had to do this all while avoiding the people they suspected were targeting them. They also had to find opportunities to put stickers on their targets. Peter and Namjoon made it so obvious who their targets were so Angela and Samuel caught on really quick. Some players pretended to target more than one person so their actual target would lower their guard. That was what Majid did. He made sure to put some stickers on Sarah while Namjoon was watching which made Namjoon feel free around Majid. The unintended effect was that Sarah who noticed Majid putting stickers on her and was convinced he was targeting her so she didn't think twice about teaming up with Faith.

The outdoor faucet in the compound was the closest to the backyard and so that was where a lot of the players went. There was a lot of shoving and pushing to get access to the faucet. That was when the players were most vulnerable and an easy target for those targeting them. Faith and Sarah helped each other to get their mugs filled and protected each other from being attacked...or so Sarah thought. While Sarah was protecting Faith, Faith was targeting her. Faith put a lot of stickers on Sarah but did not press too hard on her back so as to not alert her.

The level of completion of the mission and the number of stickers on one's target equally contributed to the scores. Faith had the second fullest basin but she put the most stickers on her target so she ended up winning the game. Sarah felt very betrayed by Faith. She knew it was just a game but she couldn't help feeling betrayed. Faith promised to buy Sarah a gift to make up for it and soon Sarah was back to normal.

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At the beginning of August, Faith's punishment was lifted. She was allowed to go out of the dormitory. Faith decided to take Sarah out to the mall to get her the gift she promised her. They decided that while they were there, they would get some clothes and other necessities for school. The other five asked to follow them. They had no intention of buying anything. Peter was going into his first year of high school so Faith suggested he got some clothes to make him look cooler because he still dressed like a child.

They were in a clothing store and the first thing on the agenda was to get Peter some clothes. The other six picked up clothes for Peter and held them against him for comparisons. He was shoved into the dressing room to try on the clothes. In the end the friends picked 3 outfits for Peter. Peter refused to pay for them.

"Come on! Peter. You're a high schooler now. You need to look like one. You're lucky we didn't even bother you about your hairstyle." Angela said.

"Yea, you never know, you might find your lifetime partner in high school and first impressions mean everything." Sarah teased.

"What is the point of finding a partner when I am dying in 5 years?"

Peter's words brought about a depressing and gloomy mood to the group. Everyone fell silent. Majid snatched the clothes from Peter and went over to the cashier to pay.

"I spoilt the mood ay? I am sorry." Peter apologized.

"There is nothing to be sorry about. The knowledge of our time of death is something that weighs us down as travellers but let's try to live our best life because at least we were given a second chance at life by the overseeing world." Faith consoled Peter. Everybody else wore warm smiles.

The group were on their way to another clothing store to get Faith and Sarah's clothes.

"Lets get matching clothes, that would be so cute". Sarah suggested.

"Can we stop by the food court first? I am dying of hunger." Namjoon suggested.

So the seven went to the food court. They all ordered some food and sat to eat at the food court.

Faith's attention was drawn to a nearby table. The woman and the little girl on that table seemed too familiar. It didn't take too long for Faith to recognize them.

"Mom!" She shouted instinctively. The little girl was 3 year old Mariah.