Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Thirty-One

"That's so B.S."

"Nope."

"LITERALLY I HAVE ALL OF THAT NUMBER, PEPPER."

"CALL ME ON IT."

"Fine."

"Do it."

Pepper and Zander were practically attracting the attention of almost everyone in the room as they continued their intense commentating and responding to the game.

"B.....," Zander said, watching Pepper closely for a reaction. Pepper just sat there staring at Zander without giving away anything about whether or not she was actually lying.

"...S."

Pepper continued to stare at him after he finished. Then she shook her head slowly. "Nope, I didn't lie."

"Ugh. You suck," Zander replied as he picked up the cards. "Oh...I'm stupid...I counted the number of cards I had wrong..."

"Smooth."

Now it was Kain's turn, and I could see the smile playing at his lips as he dropped four cards down on the pile and said, "four twos."

I was after him, and if I guessed wrong I would end up having to take the pile which was one thing nobody in the game wanted to do.

I stared down at all of the cards I held in my hand, then looked back up at Kain, who was now smirking at me.

Was he lying? He had put down all four of the twos which was unusual...unless he had all four of the twos, which was technically possible.

As I tried to figure out whether or not he was lying it hit me how much the entire situation was like the inspectors and what they were trying to do to us.

Just like I was observing his facial expressions, watching how he acted, the inspectors were doing the same to us, different only in how they were trying to find any traces of their opinion of negative aspects of someone's personality. But it still held the same main idea of trying to find lies in the truth and truth in the lies. Like being given a handful of beans and being told you had to separate them correctly even when they all looked exactly alike.

It was more of a guessing game than anything else. And the consequences for guessing wrong were never a wanted result.

And so I guessed, to the best of my ability.

"One three."

Kain didn't say anything for a second.

And then two...then three.

And I realized I'd guessed correctly. He hadn't lied. He'd told the truth and I had trusted him and now neither of us was going to have to take the pile.

The game continued on for a while longer, pausing only at certain points when Zander and Pepper began to elaborately discuss certain parts of the game. It came down to me having only one card left and then Kain was forced to take the pile leaving the win open for me to take. I put down my last card and then smiled at the rest of them.

"I win."

Pepper looked over to Zander and grinned. "Told you that you sucked."

"Hey! You suck too," Zander responded, but he was also grinning along with Pepper.

By now, a lot of the other people in the room were setting up their sleeping bags to go to sleep, putting on their pajamas, and some were even sleeping already. I found it surprising how they'd been able to actually go to sleep with all of the noise we'd been making.

Kain leaned back, resting his head against the pile of pillows on Zander's sleeping bag. Zander yawned and then stood up. "I'll be right back. I should seriously change."