My eyes fluttered open from my slumber that I desperately needed. I looked around, hoping that I would somehow wake up from this nightmare. But no. All I saw was my f/c themed room, the same room I fell asleep in. I sat up and stretched, trying to wake myself up from my groggy state.

I swung my legs over the bed and my feet touched the fuzzy f/c carpet. I stood up, my legs were shaking a bit but I could manage. My eyes glanced over at the drawer, where I kept my journal and pen. I was planning on writing my thoughts there every night, if I remember. I decided to leave my room, which felt kinda stuffy compared to the rest of the tent.

Once I left my room, Jax walked out of his room simultaneously as I did. His room was across from mine, so right away we locked eye contact and he grinned.

"Nice to see you up so early," Jax chuckled as he strolled over to me. "You know, I still blame you for our loss yesterday. Kinda sucks you had to be such a bad looker. And I got my hopes up, too."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, f*beep* off for once. I'm heading over to the main area."

Jax's eyes sparkled for a split second before a sinister grin spread across his face. "Mind if I join you?"

"Umm...I do mind, actually," I snarled as I started walking away. But Jax didn't get the hint, or if he did he decided to ignore it, since he started following me.

"You know, you're the most feisty one here," Jax observed with a smirk. "And I like it."

I shook my head in disbelief. Yeah, right. "Oh come on, I can't be the only 'feisty' one here. What about Zooble? They seem pretty tough."

"Sure, but they're only good at telling me to 'get lost.' At least you fight back."

"It's not fighting, it's just...defending myself, I guess."

"Defending? Yeah, riiiight. Continue telling yourself that. Lemme just tell you, you're intriguing."

"Did anybody tell you that you're annoying?" I snapped back as I tried to quicken my pace, but because of Jax's long legs and strides, I failed miserably.

"Are you trying to get away from me?" He wondered with a sneer. "How cute."

"How many f*beep*ing times will you call me 'cute'?" I spat.

"Aww does it annoy you?" Jax mocked. "I'll make sure to call you cute more often then."

Thankfully we made it to the main stage area before I lost my mind. Everybody was there, talking among themselves. Once we walked over, their eyes went over to us. Ragatha waved me over so I walked over to her, leaving Jax thankfully.

"Hey, how was your first night here?" Ragatha wondered, beaming at me.

"It was okay. Um...is there really no way out of here...?" I asked warily. Ragatha's smile turned into an uneasy frown.

"Yeah, there really isn't. If there was, we would've done so by now, trust me."

Pomni walked over to us. "Hey...what are you guys talking about?"

"Ragatha's just telling me that there's no way out of this hell," I sulked. "I just want to go home."

Pomni's eyes twinkled in sympathy. "I do too...but it seems like we're actually stuck here."

"F*beep*," I cursed under my breath. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Seriously," Ragatha sighed. Jax then took that as his queue to walk over to us.

"Oh come on, it's not too bad staying in here," Jax taunted. "Besides, I get to do whatever I want with nobody telling me otherwise." He crossed his arms, a smug smile spread on his face.

"Well..." Ragatha's voice trailed. "That's a way to keep a positive attitude!" Geez, kudos to her for staying positive around that jackass. Jax rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Jax looked at me and snickered. "Hey...is it alright if I steal Y/N from you two?" Dread seeped into my digital veins once I heard those words slip out of his mouth. Why the hell does he wanna talk to me?? Can't he get the damn gist?

"Oh...sure!" Ragatha stuttered out. Jax grinned before grabbing me by the arm and pulling me away from the group. I ripped my arm away from his grasp.

"What the hell, Jax? I was having a normal and civil conversation moments before you dragged me away. What do you want?"

"Is it too much to ask for a normal conversation with you?" Jax sneered. I raised an eyebrow.

"That's all? A normal conversation?"

"Yep. All normal...oh! You don't know what happens when somebody reaches their breaking point, right?" Jax inquired. Wait...breaking point?

"Um...no? What happens?" My blood ran cold, terrified about what the hell Jax was on about.

"Oh, you don't?" Jax grinned. "Let me tell you about 'abstracting.'" Abstracting? What the hell?

"Abstracting...?" I repeated. Jax nodded.

"Yep! Whenever somebody reaches their breaking point they abstract. Which basically means that person turns into an uncontrollable monster forever...for the rest of eternity. Fun, isn't it?" Jax tittered. A chill ran up my spine as my eyes went wide in utter panic.

"What?" I hissed. "You're lying...right?" Jax looked at me, his face turning into a stern frown.

"Of course not."

Suddenly Caine appeared. "Hello my Superstars! How are you on this fine morning??"

"Could be doing better," Zooble huffed.

"We're fine!" Gangle exclaimed, her comedy mask being on.

"Glad to hear! Who's ready for the next adventure?" Caine announced.

"Not me," Zooble sighed.

"Perfect! Today's adventure will be--" Suddenly a bubble-looking character appeared out of Caine's hat.

"It's called 'Capture the Flag'!" The bubble exclaimed.

"Hey, that's MY line!" Caine yelled before popping Bubble. "Anyways...today we'll be playing a game called 'Capture the Flag'! Wanna know how to play?"

"No," Jax snapped.

"Perfect! There will be two groups, one with three people and one with four people and each group owns a flag that the other team has to capture and return to their home base to win! Sound fun?"

"Yeah, it does!" Ragatha exclaimed. Caine smiled.

"Great! Now, pick your groups!" He ordered. Jax looked at me and grinned.

"No," I told him before he got a single word out.

"Oh, come on, Y/N...don't be like this. You should be honored that I even care about your existence," Jax taunted.

"Honored? Ha. As if," I spat. Jax's grin wavered a bit.

"Well, we're partners whether you like it or not. Now we just need to find one or two more people to join our wonderful group."

"Yeah...we do," I sighed. Parts of me felt bad for being rude to Jax, but did I care ultimately? Not really. He acted like a dick first. Might as well call this 'payback.'

"Oh hey, there's Pomni and Ragatha," Jax noticed as he walked over to them with his arms crossed. "Wanna join our group? The more the merrier. We can just leave Gangle, Zooble, and Kinger in their own group."

"Um, sure!" Ragatha exclaimed. "What do you think, Pomni?"

"Okay...I guess we can partner with them."

I smiled at the two girls, silently thanking them for not letting me stay alone with Jax.

"Oh, now you're acting happy now that the girls are joining," Jax noticed. "You must hate me that much, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do hate you," I told him. Okay, maybe that was a minor lie. He is pretty cute, but he's an annoying prick otherwise.

"Well, I hate you too," He replied with a grin. And that's how our friendship started: With hatred.

~~~

Sorry for making the main character hate Jax this much...I kinda had to if I wanted an enemies to lovers trope. Besides, I want a slow burn. I also want this book to be very impactful when Y/N does open up to Jax and when they do show him that they care, so I do apologize for how slow the beginning of the book will be in terms of Jax and Y/N's relationship. I hope you like this chapter regardless of the rage you probably feel!

-Sincerely, CB