Chapter 1 - The Plan

Margot's POV

Cara frantically glanced up to the wall clock, before her eyes darted back towards the librarian who had been watching us both like a hawk since the moment we had first sat down...

"We only have ten minutes left to submit yours before she kicks us out for the day!" Cara breathes, having roped me in on another one of her wild ideas as she always did.

Sighing, I nod along with her, watching her click yes to give my permission to an endless list of terms and conditions that neither of us had bothered to read for the second time today...

"The deadline is at midnight tonight, so we are probably too late on sending these in! They've no doubt already picked out who they want for this Cara - I don't imagine the government would leave such decisions to the very last minute, do you?" I complain, knowing that the idea had been a ridiculous one right from the very start.

Shipping ourselves off to spend some one on one time with maximum security prisoners as a new form of rehabilitation?

Sure thing.

But why would I ever even agree to this, you ask? Well because it obviously isn't for free!

Having just finished school, struggling for jobs in our shit little home town filled with nothing other than farms, motels and dusty mines, Cara had found this bizarre advert posted up last week when we had been scrolling online - while using our one hour of free WiFi that we got in the public library every week...

'Females wanted for prisoner coupling - $25,000 reward on completion'

I had almost choked on my own saliva when Cara said she wanted to sign us both up, adding that the grand total for us combined would be $50,000...

But dare I admit that as the days passed, she had successfully managed to talk me around on the idea - listing a number of ways in which the money would change our lives!

No more drunk and toxic fathers, no more having to live in a damp little trailer and no more living without a purpose...

"Ok, I'm almost there, we have about four minutes left before she cuts us off!" Cara hums out, wriggling slightly on the computer chair to lean in even closer to the screen...

She pushed a clump of her thick blonde hair back from her face, as I watch her proceed to uploading the digital photo we had both taken of each other on an old camera she had found in a box back home that surprisingly still worked.

The pictures weren't the best quality, but dare I admit that we had somehow managed to scrub up well enough to make ourselves look somewhat presentable...

I leaned back from my position to glance at the librarian, her age showing through the way she would peer over at us from above her glasses - an upset frown taking over her entire face as if wrinkled and creased.

Why the heck did she hate us so much anyway?!

We had tried to be polite to her on numerous occasions, but had quickly learned that unless we were a young, attractive guy, then she wasn't at all interested!

One time, I even recall a guy coming in to use the internet just as we had, and when it came to being time up, she only shooed us away - stating that he would get longer because whatever he was doing 'seemed important'.

Shaking my head at the memory, and refocusing my attention back on Cara, I watched as she clicked the final confirmation button as a 'Successfully Submitted' tab popped up in bold letters on the screen, before the librarian cleared her throat loudly from across the room.

We've evidently overstayed our welcome.

Again.

"Alright, alright, we're done, Jesus you would think you were the one paying the damn electric bills for this place!" Cara mutters out under her breath, slamming the laptop shut with a little more force than what was necessary.

I exhale and rub my temples. "Cara wait, this is actually insane. What if they pick us for this?"

Cara beams at me, her eyes twinkling at the thought. "Then we pack our damn bags as quick as we can and kiss this place goodbye!"

I roll my eyes but don't argue with my own insecurities. It's easier to let her have her fantasies, since the whole thing felt way too good to be true anyhow.

What are the odds that we'd actually be chosen for something as important as this? A new idea to reform dangerous criminals, and to think they could be trusting the likes of us to help them? There was no way!

We both make a move to shuffle out of the library, not bothering to say a goodbye as we pass the desk - knowing that we would be lucky for a grunt in response on the best of days...

The summer air was heavy with the scent of dust and gasoline from the nearby highway filling our lungs as we stepped out on to the gravel.

The reality of our miserable life here squashed down on me like it always does — the endless cycle of dead-end jobs and the suffocating predictability of it all.

What would we become staying here in town? Perhaps a drunk? Or maybe pregnant to some deadbeat guy with no ambitions, leading to a miserable life of struggle? The options were slim, and all of them were horrific.

Cara loops her arm through mine as we begin our walk back to the trailer park on the opposite side of town. "You'll thank me for this when we're rolling in the cash - trust me." She giggles, as I shake my head at her.

"Yeah if we make it out of there alive you mean? Besides, like I said, it's probably too late for us to join up!" I bring us both back to reality, or at least I try to as Cara throws herself around to stop me dead in my tracks - my feet almost tripping to an abrupt stop.

"They need hundreds of females for this project - it's running all across the country Margot! I also don't imagine that many will be jumping at the chance of staying with a dangerous criminal either do you? So quit your negative attitude and start believing that our lives could change any day now for the better!" Cara deadpans, pointing an accusing finger at my chest in warning.

Breathing out heavily, followed by a dramatic eye roll, I eventually gave in to her and nodded. "Fine, ok! I'll have a little faith! But we won't know until next week if they've even gotten back to us - not unless you want to travel hours to the next town to see if they have a library offering free WiFi there?!" I chuckle, watching the smile stretch back on to Cara's face.

"Tell me about it! That woman back there is seriously a fucking bitch! And for what? She must know herself that us young ones clearly have nothing better to do with our time around here, so why not just let us stay on there a little longer? It's not like the place is busy with people needing to use the fucking computers." Cara grumbles, as we pick up our steps again.

The late afternoon sun burned low in the sky as we ranted on, casting everything around us in a harsh, golden glow.

Our sneakers crunched over the gravel dirt roads as we walked, the heat pressing against our backs like an invisible weight.

The town felt empty, as it always did — just long stretches of cracked pavement, dust-covered pickup trucks, and faded signs hanging over rundown stores.

We passed the gas station on the corner, where an old man in a stained undershirt rocked back and forth in a plastic chair outside, chewing on a toothpick. He squinted at us as we walked by, but neither of us paid him any attention. People around here always had something to look at, something to say, but never anything worth listening to...

The trailer park was still around a fifteen-minute walk away, and with each step, the weight of what we'd just done settled itself deeper in my stomach.

"What if this isn't what we think it is?" I asked, kicking a loose stone across the road.

Cara scoffed, giving me a playful shove. "You always overthink shit. You saw the ad for yourself — it's simple. A few weeks in there, maybe months, getting cozy with some guy who's probably more bark than bite, and then we're free to go with fifty grand in our pockets."

I frowned, but she wasn't wrong about one thing — nobody in this town got a chance like this. We were stuck in a place that had nothing to offer, scraping by with whatever side jobs we could find, living off gas station snacks and borrowed WiFi.

It was shit.

This money could actually change something, despite what we have to do to get it...

But still, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had just signed ourselves up for something far bigger than what we even understood.

"You're not even a little nervous about getting picked out though?" I continued on, adjusting the strap of my worn-out bag over my shoulder. "I mean, these are real life prisoners, Cara. As in, murderers. Gang members. People who don't belong on the outside for a reason... they might take one look at us and just end it all - no fifty grand for us, only death!"

Cara snorted. "Or maybe they're just misjudged guys who made mistakes. You know how screwed up the justice system is. Some of them are probably harmless. And besides, we're not moving in with them forever. We would only be there to offer a shoulder to cry on, to help them adjust to life on the outside, right?" She grinned, nudging me again. "Maybe you'll even find yourself a hot reformed bad boy lover in the process."

I shot her a glare. "That is absolutely not funny."

She only laughed, tossing her sweaty blonde hair back over her shoulder.

The truth was, I didn't know what to expect. The ad hadn't gone into much detail beyond the money, the 'groundbreaking rehabilitation program,' and the confidentiality agreement we'd basically agreed to blindly.

But if it was legitimate — and if we were chosen — then in a few weeks, everything could very well be different.

Maybe even better?

But as we crossed the road and stepped onto the dirt path leading into the trailer park, I couldn't ignore the creeping thought resting in the back of my mind.

We had no idea what we had just gotten ourselves into.

But I also believed that it couldn't get much worse than where we were already trapped - in this hell hole of a place...