Teen Life

(6) Teen Life

Chapter 6

How it works

Storm Coleman

I groaned in frustration when I heard the alarm going off and the stupid voice telling us to meet in the dining room in ten minutes. I sat up, throwing the blankets to one side and my legs over the edge of the bed. My baggy jeans from last night was still lying on the floor where I left them so I pulled them on and fished around in one of my suitcases for a clean shirt. I found a band T shirt, slipped it on and checked my other suitcase for my tub of gel. My hair was standing in all directions and there was no way I was going downstairs without fixing it first. I opened the tub, scooped a handful and worked it into my hair until I was happy with its appearance.

When I was done I rushed downstairs and found some of the other kids already sitting around the table waiting. I took a seat next to one of the guys that I haven’t even really noticed last night. He greeted me and then looked around the room as if I wasn’t even there.

I briefly wondered what his problem was but couldn’t really get myself to give a fuck. If he acted like that there is no way he was going to be able to win the show anyway. Nobody seemed really talkative so I sat there waiting until Diago entered the room. He looked pissed but greeted me with a shoulder bump and sat down beside me.

“What the fucks up with this?” he asked, obviously irritated that we were dragged out of bed.

“No idea,” I replied as another two girls came walking into the room. It was the petite one that looked more like a little girl then a teenager and a pretty one with long black hair. I saw them last night but they pretty much kept to themselves so I haven’t really spoken to them.

They took a seat next to another girl that looked as if she was half Japanese or something and the petite one started chatting with her happily while the one with the long black hair looked over in my direction and waved to the guy sitting next to me. He smiled at her and I could tell that he wanted to get up and go over to her when the voice on the intercom came on.

Gemma Wright

I ran out of my room as I heard the voice on the intercom coming on again. I didn’t want to be late but I really needed to use the bathroom when I woke up and then I still had to put on some clothes as well.

I made my way down the hallway and bumped into Rafeal as I turned onto the flight of stairs. He gave me an ugly glare and walked on as if I wasn’t even there. I figured his behavior had something to do with how I acted last night. I couldn’t blame him for disliking me but I preferred it that way. The further he stayed away from me the better it would be for the both of us.

I followed him into the kitchen and sat down on the chair next to his. I didn’t want to sit next to him but it was the only open seat left.

The voice on the intercom was thanking the other kids for being on time and then turned its attention to me and Rafeal.

“Gemma and Rafeal, you two were late and thus failed your first task. We are going to be working with a point system and your points will be severely damaged by your tardiness. This however does not just affect you two but the entire house,” the voice said and I watched as everybody turned and looked at us. This was not a good way to start out but it’s really not my fault that my period had started this morning. I mean seriously, what was I supposed to do?

Brady Garcia

The voice over the intercom kept quiet for a minute or so and then continued explaining how things were going to work.

“As some of you have noticed there is no food in the house. You will buy food with your points at the end of each week. Each one of you will get twenty points to start with at the beginning of each week. You will be given tasks and assignments during the week and this will add to your points or cause you to lose some points, depending on how you do. With some of the tasks you will have to work as a group and with some you will work as individuals but this will be explained to you each time you receive a new task.

You will all have to decide together what food and other items you will need for the week. You will be given a list of food and other items and the amount of points each item costs will be indicated next to it. With the points available to each of you, you will all have to decide what to buy. There is also a place at the bottom of this list where each one of you can ask for a special item each week, these items will be granted no matter what they are and they won’t cost anything but you can only ask for one item.

Now I am sure you are all hungry and would like to get this show on the road so I’m not going to keep you any longer. There is a key to the storeroom somewhere hidden inside of the house, this will be your first task, find the key and open the storeroom. There you will find the grocery list. Once you have decided on what items you want to buy place the list back in the storeroom, lock the door and gather back in the dining room.”

The intercom went quiet and that was that. My stomach grumbled and I watched as Noriko tried hiding a smile. She seemed like a really sweet girl.

“It’s not funny,” I said but couldn’t help but smile myself. She blushed and then shyly looked away.