"The Lounge: King of Oregon Country" follows Hunter Draper, a teenage male model whose arrival in the city of Portland disrupts its tranquility, sparking a rivalry between the affluent "Lounge Elites" and the independent "Outsiders." Torn between lo...
"One-fifty," I shout, throwing Shane's Nerf ball down the crowded hallway. It's a hot one—half a win. He moves to catch it, but Carrick is quicker.
"Booyah, baby," Carrick howls, right in Shane's face with his arms flexed and chest puffed out. "That's 250, right in ya face! I'm on fire!"
Okay, so it's a bit of a dick move to play 300 in the hallway when everyone's headed to class. But it's fun! Sometimes, random people intercept the ball and join in. It makes the commute across campus less boring.
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Carrick and I jog past each other, weaving in between people as we switch places. He's in the lead, and technically, the game is supposed to be 500, but my first class is pretty close to the Lounge, so we're playing the short version instead.
"You gotta catch up, man," I tell Shane. "Gonna start thinking you've gone soft over the summer."
"I have gone soft," Shane says with a mysterious pride. "Ladies dig the sensitive thing. That's why I get hella bitches, and you only got one."
I laugh and punch him in the arm. "Fucker."
Goofing around with my friends puts me in a better headspace, one without the Gauntlet. For a moment, I escape the pressure of leading my entire school through a war that will determine what the rest of our lives will look like. For once, I'm not thinking about which person I grew up with might die. Unfortunately, that feeling left just as quickly as it came.
The Gauntlet has been on my mind all summer, ever since Lex named me Interem Alpha. Since then, training for the tournament has consumed every aspect of my life. Hours a day and days a week spent in the gym, countless ounces of sweat I have poured into achieving a level of power that will ensure our victory. So much time I have put into thinking of team compositions and strategies for challenges I know nothing about. All of the times I have woken up in the middle of the night sweaty and shaking, thinking my nightmare of seeing all of my friends die was real. The horror I feel every time when I come to my senses and realize that even though it was just a dream, it could soon be my reality.
I never wanted to be Alpha. I never wanted a Gauntlet. What I want is a normal high school life to enjoy with my friends. I want us to be together and happy, with no strife. I want a good future for my little brother, one where he'll have the tools he needs to succeed without sacrifice. I want my dad back at home so he can watch his sons grow into men and show me how to be one.
I know these are things I'll never get. Maybe that's why I want them so much.
"Go long," Carrick calls, winding the Nerf ball back.
As I do what he says, I wonder if things will go back to normal with him. I hope they will.
I can't do this alone. Shane is a great athlete but too unserious to be a leader or make difficult decisions. Taylor has a gift for digging things up about people and gathering intel, but she isn't a fighter. Holly, who is all these things, wasn't even listening to us earlier in the Lounge. As of right now, the only person I can trust to lead this school to victory and keep our skins alive is me.
