I looked out the window of the school bus, admiring the vibrant oranges and yellows of the trees that decorated my route home. It had been a week since the wildest night of my life.

The police had the gym sectioned off by crime scene tape for a while, but it was gone by the end of school that day. If they did find anything, they were keeping it quiet. They'd questioned a lot of students, not just about the vandalized court, but about the new illegal acts that started occurring. Although we were all competing against each other, it was like the whole student body banded together against the police. No one wanted The Seven to be caught, especially not before the five grand was given away.

Things were starting to pick up, and with pranks being pulled every day, more and more groups were being added to the scoreboard. We were tied for first with two other groups, one being The Six Debonair's, who painted a whole classroom bright red and signed their team name across the whiteboard. I had a hunch the other team, The Green Five, had been the ones to change the locks on the cafeteria doors. When they locked them at lunchtime, students and staff, myself included, had been trapped in until a locksmith could make it down to the school.

It wasn't the most comforting thing being tied, but I was just glad that we were still in the game-- the stories of groups who got eliminated after not completing their first tasks within the allotted time had spread through the school like wildfire.

My eyes drifted downwards as a familiar rusty car drove past. Roy was in the front seat, his head nodding rhythmically, probably to the beat of whatever was on the radio.

There was also that problem-- as much as I tried, I couldn't deny my attraction to Roy. I had to hold back a smile as I watched him tap his fingers on the tattered steering wheel. Without fail, I got the same stupid, giddy feeling every time I saw him-- it wasn't like this before, when I would just see him around school, but now that I knew him, things had changed. Could I even say that I knew Roy at this point? Either way, I was in way over my head.

He made a right turn, driving out of my sight. Even if he wasn't out of my league, the whole thing was a distraction. I kept telling myself I should be focused on the competition-- although it was difficult when there weren't any new developments. The five of us-- yes, even Daniel-- had been waiting all week for any sign of a new challenge. We started sitting together at lunch, developing theories on what was to come, who The Seven could be, and who might be in the teams we were tied with.

Maybe it wasn't friendship, exactly-- we'd come together for a mutual interest. It was almost like working together on a school project. Our conversation didn't usually stray from things involving the competition, and when it did, it was small talk. Movies, music, things you could talk about with anyone. Still, I was having fun-- the most fun I'd had in a long time. I couldn't help it-- I was crossing my fingers that it would be a long competition.

"I just can't believe they didn't catch those kids." My mom shook her head, salting the mashed potatoes on her plate.

I froze mid-chew. Of every topic to bring up for dinner, she had to settle on that.

"There've been eight more incidents like that since! And it's only been what, a week?" My dad added. "Most of them weren't as severe, but still."

"It has me worried. I mean, what kind of school are they running? The staff is getting outsmarted by a group of teenagers!" She sighed, taking a bite. "I heard on the news that this group has been around for almost five years. Five years and they still can't figure out who it is!"

"I don't want you getting involved in that stuff, okay Jade?" Dad looked at me pointedly. My stomach sunk as I forced a nod.

My younger brother laughed at his plate. "I don't think Jade has any friends to group up with."

"Ha-ha," I uttered sarcastically, secretly happy he said something before I had to lie-- even if it did sting a little. "Very funny."

My phone dinged in the pocket of my flannel and my heart jumped, just as it had at every notification I'd gotten for the past seven days. My hands twitched, wanting to reach for it instinctively. Unfortunately, no phones at the dinner table was a strict rule.

"So, Matthew," my father addressed my brother, who was poking at his green beans with his fork. My phone dinged twice more. "How did that math test go today?"

"I think-"

Another chime emitted from my phone. Another. And another.

The three pairs of eyes at the table shot to me.

"Sorry," I mumbled, my apology immediately followed by my ringtone sounding out.

"I thought we aren't allowed to have phones on at the table," Matthew said. Apparently, they were teaching passive-aggressiveness in seventh grade now.

My mother looked at me expectantly as the jingle ended. "We aren't."

"Sorry, I've just... I've been waiting for a phone call," I bluffed.

"From Roy?" my brother questioned, drawing out the name and wiggling his eyebrows at me. My eyes widened-- to my surprise, Matt looked just as shocked, like he'd slipped up. His reaction caused the pieces to click together in my mind.

"You little-" I cut myself off, almost forgetting to censor myself in front of my parents, "-snot! God, you've been reading my journal again!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't leave your diary out in plain sight!"

"Maybe you should learn to stay out of my room!" I snapped. Thankfully, being as paranoid as I was, and wanting to stick to the pact we made as much as possible, I'd decided not to write anything about competing. Otherwise, I'd be at Matt's mercy for the rest of my life.

"Who is Roy?" my dad interrogated before I could ask to leave the table. My phone wouldn't stop going off, and I knew it had to mean there was some update about the competition-- hopefully, a new challenge.

"I- he's a friend." I could feel my face heating up. The last thing I wanted was to talk about this with him. "Can I please get a lock on my door already? It's like privacy doesn't exist in this house." I glared at Matthew, who didn't even have the decency to feign guilt.

My dad laughed, shaking his head. "A locked door is the last thing I'm going to give if you're making friends." He raised his hands, putting air quotes around the word.

I rolled my eyes. "As if you'd ever even let me have a boy in this house, let alone my room."

"So is that who you've been hanging out with lately? Roy?" he asked, completely ignoring my remark.

"I told you, I've been working on a group project for my History class. Roy is also involved."

My phone started ringing again.

"May I be excused, just for a few minutes?" I asked, looking between my parents. "For the sake of my History grade?"

My mom nodded, and that was all the confirmation I needed to hurry away from the table and upstairs to my room. I shut my door and pulled out my phone-- my stomach did a flip when I saw Roy's name on the screen, nerves building as I picked up.

"Hello?" I answered, almost immediately being spoken over.

"Jade? Have you seen? Where have you been?" His voice was loud with both excitement and urgency.

"Sorry, I was having dinner. My parents are strict about phones at the table," I rambled.

"They sent us another poem."

"Finally! Okay, I'm pulling up the app now."

I would read the texts from everyone later-- we'd decided to exchange numbers to keep the messages from The Seven easy to find, not having to worry about our conversations burying them. Maddie had suggested it, and I had to wonder if part of her didn't want The Seven lurking in on our conversations.

I clicked on the group chat, eyes scanning the latest message.

The same warning followed about completing the challenge within two days.

"It's the first message without any coordinates," I noted.

"Yeah, but I think I know where to go," he said. "Parker Edison is having a party tomorrow night, I figure someone's probably gonna screw around."

"A party?" I sat down onto the edge of my bed, suddenly uncomfortable. Parties weren't exactly my thing. "I guess you're right. No place with lower morals than a high school party."

He laughed. "Exactly! Oh crap, hold on." I heard him shuffle, talking to someone who was too far away for me to hear.

I bit my lip, glancing towards my closet. A party. What the hell was I supposed to wear to a party? I shook my head, rolling my eyes at myself-- I was supposed to catch someone cheating and expose them, interfere with other people's lives all to get points in a game, and here I was, worrying because I didn't know what to wear.

More noises from Roy, and then his voice was back. "Sorry, I have to go. Dinner."

"I should go too," I said, thinking of how I not only had to finish eating, but also plan a whole outfit.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at, like... ten-ish," he said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world, and not a sentence that immediately made my heart start beating faster. "If that's a good time for you. I figure that gives time for the party to get started, but also enough time for us to do what we need."

"Wh- I- Okay. Thanks," I stuttered. "Ten-ish is fine."

"Alright, see you tomorrow."

"See you," I repeated, hanging up after he did.

I took a deep breath. Finish eating, pick an outfit, catch a cheater.

Oh, and somehow manage to convince my parents to let me go out at ten, on a Saturday night, with a boy that they now knew I'd been writing about in my diary. Catching a cheater suddenly didn't seem like the most difficult thing on my agenda.