Chapter 1 Carter
Carter
“Which makes this one a three . . . and seven here, and eight . . . five . . . two, and done!” Carter hit the stop button on her phone’s timer.
Her momentary elation fizzled. “Three minutes and fifty-four seconds? Pathetic.” She ripped out the page from her sudoku book, crumpled it up, and tossed it at the trash can in the corner of the classroom.
It bounced off the edge, skittering across the carpet.
The bell rang as Mrs. Melnyk walked in. She’d had no qualms letting Carter eat lunch in her classroom this semester, and if she suspected that the request had more to do with Carter’s dismal social life than her need for peace and quiet while she studied for the next math competition, she didn’t let on.
Carter checked her emails again. Still nothing.
As her classmates took their seats, she wondered for the millionth time which of them were Escape Game fans. W hich of them had accounts on the Domain, the most comprehensive fan-run website about the show. Which of them followed her.
Kick It Carter. Highest-Ranking Solve Specialist. It was an honor that filled her with giddy pride. It was also an honor that meant absolutely nothing in real life. No one here knew who she was.
But if she got chosen for the show . . .
She knew it was an enormous risk, announcing her identity publicly. Her parents had looked at her like she’d lost her Fibonacci-loving mind when she’d told them about the audition. Her father’s bewildered words had plagued her ever since. You don’t even like getting your school photos taken.
Which was true.
But they couldn’t understand how much she wanted this. No—needed this. It wasn’t about fame or money. It was about finding her people. Not faceless usernames, but real friends.
Kick It Carter was popular and self-assured.
Beautiful and confident, thanks to the cartoon avatar her app-developer father and fashionista mother had helped her build.
A hero to awkward, math-loving girls everywhere.
But there would be no hiding behind her alter ego on set.
It would be Carter and the cameras and the Game Master’s puzzles .
. . and her team. People who were as obsessed with puzzles and escape rooms as she was.
People who admired her for her brain, not her clever online quips. People who got it.
The idea was as foreign as it was tantalizing. She’d brainstormed more than a hundred potential team names. She had plans to order team T-shirts as soon as she knew their sizes. She would finally be included in one of those group chats that evidently every teen in the world was in except for her.
Once she got on the show, Carter would never have to hide her true self again.
Before class could start, she dared to check her emails. One last time.
Her heart launched into her throat.
Re: Carter Kelly Audition
Dear Miss Kelly,
We are thrilled to extend an invitation for you to be a contestant in season five of The Escape Game . . .