Chapter 2

Seeing how eager everyone was, I smiled faintly.

What a bunch of idiots. They thought they were playing some immersive game? They would be lucky if they even figured out what killed them in the end.

I could not help feeling secretly pleased.

Jasmine clapped her hands and laughed, shooting me a challenging look. "Then let the game begin."

Somehow, she produced an envelope.

She announced, "The first clue is right beneath your feet."

The bus erupted into chaos.

Ryan was the first to hit the floor. He flattened himself against it and reached beneath a seat, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper.

"Damn. It's blank."

"That's just a decoy." Jasmine's eyes curved with amusement. "The real exam admission slips are hidden somewhere much harder to find."

Someone kicked a seat, and someone else slammed into a handrail. Backpacks were turned upside down, spilling papers all over the floor. The aisle filled with students crouching, crawling, and stretching on tiptoe to search the overhead racks.

The air grew thick with sweat and all kinds of other smells.

Ryan rushed to the luggage racks and started rummaging through the bags one by one. He was making enough noise to sound like he was taking the bus apart.

"Maybe they're hidden behind the seat covers?"

An entire row of students started pulling at the fabric covers, running their fingers along every seam.

"Nothing."

"Ew, gross... I just touched chewing gum."

Some students cursed, while others laughed. A few had already grown tired of searching, slumping back against their seats and breathing heavily as they gave up.

Another student, Wayne Stony, stood off to the side with his camera, recording everything while providing commentary. As Jasmine's most loyal sidekick, he could not resist flattering her.

"Jasmine, you really know how to have fun. This is way better than what some people do, which is to run straight to the teachers."

Jasmine clapped her hands, cheering everyone on. "This is our last chance to do something crazy together. Of course, I want to make it memorable! Come on, everyone!"

Minute after minute passed, but nobody found a single exam admission slip.

Even the comments streaming across my vision began to change. At first, they had been blindly cheering Jasmine on. Now, some people were starting to question her.

[The female lead hid the exam admission slips in her bra. How is anyone supposed to find them?]

[Hmm... I'm starting to think she actually wants to drag everyone down with her.]

[The person above must be a hater. Our girl has the male lead. Why would she care about the finals?]

[Um... Won't the other students care? Like Sheila Benson, who worked her way here from some tiny town.]

My gaze sharpened as I watched Jasmine happily move around the bus. No wonder she was wearing that oversized hoodie, and no wonder she was just handing out clues without joining the search. The exam admission slips were hidden beneath her hoodie.

She had the entire bus running in circles while everyone wasted their time searching for something that was right under their noses.

However, this was no ordinary classroom for her to toy with.

It was the school's top honors class, the one the teachers and administration took the greatest pride in.

It was also the class that our teacher, Andrew Rogers, had pushed himself to exhaustion for, collapsing beside the podium more than once. Even after he ended up in the hospital, he still worried about us and continued going over problems with us from his hospital bed.

I clenched my fists.

In the end, I still could not stand by and do nothing.

While everyone was complaining, I fixed my eyes on Jasmine. "Are the exam admission slips really somewhere on this bus?"

The smile on Jasmine's face faltered. "Larissa, what exactly are you trying to say?"

I glanced around the chaotic bus. "Forty minutes, 45 people. And not one person has found a single ticket. That doesn't make sense."

Elias frowned and stepped in front of Jasmine, shielding her from me.

"That just means Jasmine hid them well. If you have enough time to pick a fight, maybe you should spend it searching through the trash."

"Exactly. We're having fun. Even if we miss the finals, we're fine with that."

"I bet she's already regretting it and wants to quit. Too bad. She isn't getting out of it that easily."

Voices came at me from every direction.

Jasmine stood in the middle of the crowd, looking smug as she shrugged at me.

I pointed at her and opened my mouth. Before I could say a word, Ryan suddenly shouted from the other side of the bus, "I found one!"

He pulled a crumpled exam admission slip from a hidden compartment inside a trash can and held it over his head.

"Whose is it? Whose?"

Everyone surged forward.

Ryan straightened the paper and looked at the photo, then he grinned at me. "Larissa Foster."

He held out the ticket. "Larissa, this one's yours."

I had barely taken it from him when I heard a sharp rip. The exam admission slip bearing my photo was torn clean in two.

Half landed in my hand. Ryan held the other half between his fingers and waved it around.

"No need to thank me. You accused Jasmine for no reason, so I think you owe her an apology." He clapped his hands. "I think this is a pretty good way to make that happen."

The entire class burst into laughter.

"Nice one, Ryan."

"That is what she gets. Jasmine was just trying to help us blow off some steam. Why has Larissa been trying to stop her every step of the way?"

"Isn't that a little too far? How is Larissa supposed to get into the exam room now?"

Elias walked over and pushed his way through the crowd. "All right, enough. Guys, keep looking. We have 15 minutes left."

His eyes fell on the half of the exam admission slip in my hand. His voice softened with helpless resignation. "After we get off the bus, I'll go with you to print another one. We still have time."

I stared down at the half of the slip clutched in my fingers. My voice came out tight. "No. Don't bother."