Once all of the drama, fighting, and searches had been completed, Chaz announced that they would be heading to dinner. This relieved some tension among the group, as many of them became angry when they were hungry.

The Mess Hall was (like all of the other building), white. It was placed across from the Dormitories, with green ferns around the base. The white path had small lights placed around the sides. For the first time, the participants realized just how beautiful the compound was during the summer.

Chaz had them all swipe their key cards to enter the building, which they were surprised to find did not have the overly clean smell of the rest of the compound. Instead, it smelled of good food, not the cafeteria food many of them had been expecting.

There were four round tables in the hall, each with five seats. The hall was lit with yellow lights, placed in the ceiling. "At least it isn't that horrible white fluorescent light," Jonathan mumbled.

The participants split up into groups, based on the friendships they had already made. Tiger, who had clearly become a leader in the group of participants, sat down at one of the tables. He was immediately joined by Maya and Nathan. Cimber moved to go sit with him, but Camber grabbed his wrist. They made eye contact, and without saying a word, Cimber followed Camber to a separate table. Tiger watched him the entire time.

The group of cheerful girls, with Arcadia and Aria at its head, took up its own table. A joined them. The rest of the participants split up, and workers in the same polo shirts as Chaz came out of the kitchen with notepads and pens, presumably to take orders.

Jaxon and Toby, seated at the same table as Jonathan, Leonard, and Westley, looked at the personalized menus that were handed to them in disdain.

"How come people like Tiger get the good options such as steak and potatoes, while our options include . . . minestrone soup?" Toby asked. Jaxon sighed in agreement.

"They probably figured that the big, strong men needed more protein than us," he replied with annoyance. He looked back down at the menu. "At least we get chicken and carrots as an option?"

Table 1: Tiger, Maya, Nathan, Jared, Kamari
Table 2: Arcadia, Aria, Veronica, Kat, A
Table 3: Toby, Jaxon, Westley, Jonathan, Leonard
Table 4: Cimber, Camber, Jonah, Skylar, Emily

I'll be having workers go around and give you guys food by the way.