King's Game

Chapter 3 - Tough Choice

Jayden and I went to our respective rooms, but not before we agreed on a time to set out for the girls' panties; after the lights were out and everyone was off to dreamland in their beds.

I just crossed the door to my room when my phone buzzed. The bank issued its statement on my account.

I checked in the 1,200-dollar gift I had received earlier and now had a solid confirmation from the bank just how real everything was.

With the rooms here being made for eight people, it was easy for one of them to notice me getting money, yet no one dared to talk down to me for being poor and finally getting some cash to my name.

With the King warning us not to say a word about him and his events to anyone, everyone kept to themselves, worried they might follow in Blake's footsteps.

This had to be the most quiet time in my room ever since the start of the school year. We just brushed our teeth and went to bed, too tired and afraid to even speak.

At 10:30 p.m. the lights went out and the dorm sank into blissful slumber.

At 11 p.m. a round shadow stood in the doorway. That was no Jayden, but the homeroom teacher patrolling the dorm with his phone light, looking out for any guys that stayed up too late, or were missing from their beds.

Having not been invited into our group chat, the teacher had no inkling of the gory details of today's games.

Since it was summer, the door was left open to guarantee draft and decent air flow. The fat homeroom teacher gave the room a quick scan, spun around, and left when all was in order.

At 11:30 p.m. Jayden dropped by and nudged me awake. Since I was sleeping on the lower bunk, he had an easy time not waking up anyone but me.

I took my phone from the charger, some bobby pins and plastic cards before making our way out of the dorm.

Bobby pins and plastic cards were the tools of the trade in the art of picking locks. I did not bring them to campus with the intention of stealing or getting into any crime, I just wanted to get a midnight snack or play at an internet cafe for a while longer than the curfew allowed.

I had picked the door of the dorm so many times I could do it with my eyes closed. Funnily enough, it was so dark there would not be much difference picking it at night.

With the nocturnal blanket as our ally, we sneaked to the girls dorm in silence.

Jayden was hyped, snickering under his breath, "We should've staked out the girls dorm earlier. It just goes to show we're just too innocent."

In contrast to his excitement, I was completely jittery inside. Unlike Jayden, I knew he was playing a dangerous and deadly game.

His life would be forfeited if he did not manage to steal a girl's panties.

In defense of the girls' delicate sensibilities, the school turned the ground and first floor of their dorm into a cafeteria. Stealing panties from the ground floor would be too much of a child's play, and that had been accounted for during construction and avoided.

Taking the side staircase of the cafeteria, we arrived at the first floor and the locked doors.

Jayden lit up the way with his phone. That being our first time in the girls' dorm, I inspected the door. It was identical to the boys' dorm, except the extra sign hanging there that said "No men allowed!"

"I'm psyched, hehe, now it's finally my turn to harass the girls."

"Focus on the task or you'll just complicate things."

"Sure, sure, Evan. Now, which girl should I target?"

I just did not know what to say. Jayden saw it only as a practical joke, unaware of the danger he was putting himself in.

"Stop minding useless things. Just take one and get out fast!"

"What if I take an ugly girl's panties and King doesn't pay me? Hehe, come on, Evan, let's go."

"You go. I'll keep watch."

I got the girls' dorm door open but I would not go in. I still had principles.

What was more important was that King had Jayden be the one to steal the panties. It would suck if my involvement ended up with King failing Jayden.

The guy still managed to call me a chicken before he snuck upstairs.

Regardless of whether he would take my advice to heart or not, I still told him to be careful.

I entered the door and stood in a corner, waiting for Jayden's return. Once he got back I would lock the door behind us and no one would be the wiser we had ever been there.

Minutes went by and Jayden still had not shown himself. I took the ever-present silence as a good sign. The girls ought to not have caught him yet. He must be after one girl's panties in particular to take his sweet time behind enemy lines. Just as I was going to message him to hurry the hell up, someone came down the stairs.

It was neither Jayden nor the girls' dorm guard lady. It was a girl. She was not using the phone's flash to look around, only the weak light from the screen to probe around one step at the time, walking toward me.

I had no clue what she was thinking or trying to do. All I could do was hunker down as much as possible in the corner so she would not see me. I was even holding my breath in fear the shallow sound might give me away.

It did not take long for the girl to reach the door. She tested the handle first and found, to her surprise, the door unlocked. She fiddled with the phone nervously, about to send a message.

Thanks to the light of the phone screen now directed to her face, I could see who the girl was. Chelsea.

Realizing she was going to blow the whistle, I sprung from my corner and snatched the phone from her hand.

Chelsea cried out in surprise and I had to make sure to cover her mouth with my hand so as not to let her give me away. Then I dragged her to a corner.

She groaned into my hand, and even tried sinking her teeth into my fingers. Struggling in my grip, she kept floundering her arms. Then, she clawed at the hand on her mouth with her long fingertips, leaving long angry streaks of red on my short-sleeved arm.

"Chelsea, calm down. It's me, Evan. Just hear me out!" I shout-whispered into her ear.

The only good revealing my identity did was to remove her fear and shock for the moment, while doubling her efforts to fight me off, evident from a most sudden knee to the gut.

A cry of pain fought to escape my lips but I held it in for my dear life. This was the girls' dorm and the last thing I wanted was bringing every angry girl on my head.

"Listen to me!" While bearing through the sting in my arm and pain in the stomach, I felt my grip on Chelsea slipping. In panic and desperate situations, adrenaline allowed a person to exert strength well beyond their usual capabilities. All I could do was explain myself quickly and hope she would calm down. "I came with Jayden because he's gotten a quest to steal girl panties. If he doesn't, he will die!"

It had the effect I had hoped for, and I felt her efforts at pushing me away weakening. She only pushed my hand away, wanting me to let her speak.

"Just don't scream or Jayden is dead." As I repeated, I withdrew my hand cautiously.

"Evan, why are you involved in this?" Chelsea forwent crying for help and started questioning me.

"I can't help him with his task, but Jayden is my friend, so the least I could do was help him get in..."

"You'd better leave at once!" Chelsea pushed me. "You did me a favor this evening and I am not one to forget a kind act."

"What's wrong?" Something was telling me her reaction was a bit off. "Actually, scratch that. Why don't you tell me why you are downstairs? Please don't tell me you got a task as well."

Chelsea replied with a frantic nod, "King had set up an event to catch the panty thief. Some of us from the dorm have joined the game. We have to get the thief or all of the girls in the dorm will have to stream on the chat how they striptease."

"No way!" That King was a sicko after all. On one hand, he had Jayden out stealing panties, and on the other, he set up the girls against him, to catch him or they would be dancing for all to see, practically naked.

"Evan, this has nothing to do with you, so just leave." I had helped Chelsea in the evening self-study class, not telling Blake that it had been her who had not been wearing any underwear. That was why she was returning the favor now.

"If I go, what will happen to Jayden?" I could not just let the girls take him.

"If you take Jayden, then us girls will have to suffer the penalty. If we don't dance naked live, King is sure to give us some other penalties as well. What about our reputations then? We'll be too ashamed to even leave our own rooms. Evan, I beg you, leave Jayden and just go!" Chelsea pleaded with desperate eyes while my heart was going a mile a minute.

Letting Chelsea and the girls do striptease live was completely out of the question, even for me. Obviously, the girls would not want to let that happen either, so King was sure to give them a harsher punishment, making it far worse. I had to avoid it at all costs.

If I left now, I may be helping them avoid punishment, but that would automatically mean that Jayden would fail his assignment.