just for tonight ∙ jjk (m)

4:10 pm.

From: Unknown number.

Received: 2:45 p.m.

Congratulations! You are one of the randomly limited selected numbers that have been chosen as a potential candidate to be invited to the annual start of the year party! If you wish to accept your invitation, you must first prove your worth to us by completing a number of tasks that we will assign you. These tasks will also have to be documented and sent back to us, at this exact number. If you are interested, please respond accordingly to this, and any other future message we send you, with only "yes" or "no" answers.

From: You
Sent: 2:48 p.m.

Yes.

From: Unknown number.
Sent: 2:50 p.m.

The rules for tonight are simple. Complete the tasks we give you and send us proof of your completion of the task. If you fail or refuse to complete a task, your invitation is revoked. Once you complete all assigned tasks, a secret location and instructions on how to find us will be sent to you. Are you ready for your first task?

From: You
Sent: 2:50 p.m

YES!!

From: Unknown number.
Sent: 2:53 p.m.

Your first task is as follows: sneak into the gala masquerade ball downtown being held tonight at 4:00 p.m. and get a drink from a stranger. Then, kiss said stranger.

4:10 p.m.

From beneath a simple black mask, you stare nervously down at the illuminated screen of your phone in your hand, eyes skimming over the texts you had received only hours ago. Tearing your gaze from the phone, you turn your attention towards the grandiose banquet hall and the masked party-goers that occupy it, drinking champagne out of crystal glasses, snacking on delectable hors d'oeuvres, and sharing shrill pompous laughter that rings in your ears over the sound of smooth jazz that plays from a live band.

You don't belong here. You hadn't been invited, hadn't been a part of the rich families that were only supposed to be there, hadn't dressed the part, and yet you had somehow found a way to sneak in. It was a risky idea, you'll admit you thought, when you anxiously and briskly walked to the very back of the banquet hall with a plan formulating in your mind. You had been restlessly tugging at the frills of your prom dress that you were still surprised you had fit in after stuffing it in the back of your closet for the past few years but the simple idea on your mind was all that you had. You find the back doors of the kitchen with ease, the windows of which you peek through to notice the staff of the banquet hall hurriedly bustling about.

It's chaotic, it's messy, but your plan is to act as one of the waiters that run back and forth from the kitchen to the main floor. You are surprised when, after cautiously tiptoeing into the kitchen and past the chefs, someone (someone whom you assume to be the boss), angrily points at you and you think you have been caught until he exclaims, "There you are! You're part of the new staff, correct? My goodness, love, you're really putting a strain on my heart ━ and you're not even dressed! No matter, there's a change of clothes in the breakroom. Make it quick! We need all the hands we can get out there!"

Then he's scurrying off, yelling orders at another one of his staff, and you are left alone just like that. Using their frenzied commotion to your advantage, you pick up your pace and jog out the kitchen until you have finally emerged into the open space of the gala. The music and decorations are as quaint as the guests, and you are apprehensively glancing around the party when you notice certain eyes flicker to your bare face and fraying dress. Your palms flatten the stray wisps of your hair back down to your head and smooth the skirt of your dress. You gulp, hold your head high, and glance once more down at your phone and the texts you had received.