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“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I guess we proceed and see how it shakes out. We’ve got to go. We can talk about more later.”

We split up, heading for our respective classes. My emotions were swirling when I walked into group session. Bo, Jax, and Mr. Kingston were already there. Bo sat silently, his hands folded on the table, while Jax sprawled in his chair, scowling. I took my place between them and swallowed hard.

“Good morning, Ms. Sinclair,” Mr. Kingston said. “Today for our session, I’d like us to do something a little different. I want to hear your impressions of how the competition is going so far.”

He looked between us, but no one said anything.

Mr. Kingston raised an eyebrow. “No one has any comments?”

“Fine,” Bo said, his voice so sharp I jumped. “You want me to comment? Okay, I’ll comment. You spend the past several weeks dissecting us, making us confess our darkest secrets, then forcing us into teamwork. Now that we’ve started to work together and build trust, you’re splitting us up, presumably to see how we’ll act now that there are only two slots available.”

Mr. Kingston didn’t seem disturbed in the least at Bo’s accusations. “That’s an interesting assessment, Mr. Coleman. So, you didn’t see this as a competition from the beginning?”

“No, I did not. I thought we were being judged on our individual capabilities.”

I nodded in agreement. “I’m with Bo. I thought we all had an equal chance to make it.”

“But youdoall have an equal chance to make it,” Mr. Kingston said.

“But you’re only selecting two of us,” I countered. “That changes things. If that was always going to be the case, why didn’t you say that at the beginning? Why all the secrecy?”

“Because they’re manipulating us,” Jax offered. “They’re keeping us on our toes, mixing things up to gauge our emotional flexibility and adaptability.”

“That’s a fascinating perspective, Mr. Drummond,” Mr. Kingston said, shifting in his seat to face Jax. “Do you think this will change anything in your behavior?”

“Not a thing.”

“I didn’t think so. What about you, Ms. Sinclair?”

“Me? I don’t know.” I answered honestly. “I need more time to think about it.”

“Mr. Coleman, would you like to add anything?”

Bo remained silent, but I could tell he was really upset. His jaw clenched, and his hands curled into fists on his lap. I was getting to know everyone’s moods a lot better the more time we spent together.

Mr. Kingston threaded his fingers together, his elbows resting on the table. “I don’t typically do this, but let me venture a guess for you, Mr. Coleman. You feel as though you’re the de facto leader of this group. I think that’s a fair assumption given your performance on Friday’s trial. You helped your teammates succeed, but, at the same time, you couldn’t have succeeded without them. They chose you to take the extra points for your leadership. Now, if you take one of the two slots, you’ll leave six of your teammates behind. Is that what a true leader would do?”

Blowing out a frustrated breath, Bo shoved his chair back from the table and left the room without a word.

Jax laughed and started clapping. “Bravo. Test that boundary of honor. See how far it will stretch.”

“Jax,” I hissed. “Knock it off.”

Mr. Kingston seemed amused as he regarded Jax. “You think you have all the answers, don’t you, Mr. Drummond?”

“Not all of them.” Jax shrugged, then smiled. “But trust me, I know enough.”

Chapter Forty-One

ANGEL SINCLAIR

“Everything is so weird now,” Wally said as we headed down to the gym. “It’s like walking on eggshells with the other kids. Crazy strange.”

I agreed. Jax had been right. They’d done something to shake us up, and now we weren’t sure how to act around each other. It changedeverything. Even Frankie was unusually reserved, which freaked me out more than I cared to admit.

Tonight, I’d finished my homework early, but I had a lot of nervous energy. Frankie didn’t want to go to the gym, Hala wanted to talk to her parents, and Kira was missing, probably already at the gym. I decided to swim to work off some of my restlessness. I talked Wally into coming with me—probably because he hoped Kira was there—so we headed into the gym together.

Mike was on the rowing machine, his eyes closed, headphones in his ears. Kira was doing an impressive number of chin-ups, her blonde hair in a ponytail, her face scarlet from exertion. Jax was on a corner of a mat doing sit-ups.