Our once peaceful town of Lake Forest has turned our homes into a competitive and dangerous zone for the senior class.  The name of this challenge, “Paranoia” is very fitting for the players involved.  Paranoia is a popular tradition amongst seniors, where they break up into teams of up to ten and attempt to “kill” using Nerf Guns, the opposing team they play each week.  Players are paranoid that their opponent is hiding in the bushes of their once safe home or that they might be waiting beneath their car after a sporting event.  Now that week two has officially finished, the most sneaky notable kills need to be recognized. 

“We were going against Delta Ten and I was with two of my teammates and we saw our opponents snap maps at Chipotle so we pulled up but was parked too close to the window so our opponent saw us.  He went behind the corner and came back with a Nerf gun so I went in and we were having a shootout.  I went to the corner by the drink dispensers so he couldn’t see me, and he was around the other corner.  A Chipotle employee was coming towards our opponent and he thought it was me so he shot her right in the face.  He was apologizing and put his gun down then I stepped out and went to shoot him but my gun got jammed and he shot me and I got out.” Tessa Poulton, Dart Daddies.

“It was Monday night last week and it was my team, the Babytrons, and we were versus Bofa Deez Bullets.  I was heading home from the library and I found out my opponents were staking out my house so I picked up all of my teammates on the way home.  My teammate was my dupe because she wasn’t playing that week so she pulled into my driveway in my car but before we got to my street we all ran and hid in my backyard.  Our opponent tried to shoot my dupe/ teammate but then they realized it was her so they jumped back in their car and waited for us.  We were sitting in my yard for a little while because they were sitting in their car so I ran into the road behind their car and my teammate ran in front of their car in the middle of the street so we had them trapped in and we had my whole team surrounding my car.  I tried to open the front door but it was locked and so I tried their back seats door and it was open so I shot both of them.  Our opponent jumped out of the car while it was in reverse and we were still shooting at her and I was following in reverse and had to jump in the car and stop it because it was rolling down my street with our opponent in the car.” Lexi Berrettini, Babytron’s Finest

“I was with my entire team, all the Bullet Busters packed in 2 cars.  Meanwhile, it was 30 degrees outside and none of us were prepared for this weather.  We were sitting outside where our opponent was for 2 hours.  She was working on the physics boat project for an hour before we pulled up.  There was no way they could take this long to build a boat.  A junior walked out of the house and saw us hiding in the trees so she yelled at our opponent to be prepared to fight back, which just stalled us longer.  A few minutes later, a girl in our opponent’s physics group ran out with a sword and was chasing us with this huge metal weapon.  She came up to us and asked, “Don’t you have anything better to do?” Moral of the story is we didn’t get our opponent but it was a fun night.”  Paige Clements, Bullet Busters.

“Someone on our team told us a girl we were going against this week was at her sister’s birthday party.  We found out that the party was at a restaurant in Highwood called Miramar.  We pulled up and snuck into the restaurant and found her and her family eating.  She didn’t see us so I walked up to her and saw she didn’t have a gun so I shot her. I continued to say happy birthday and then I left.” Lily Pedian, BGC 

“We were camping outside our opponent’s gym for about an hour, and at this point, it was cold and we were questioning if it was even worth the wait.  We planned to ambush him leaving the gym, knowing there was only one exit; we thought it would be an easy kill.  He texted in our group chat and said, “A man can stay here for a long time, I hope you have a fun time waiting.” We moved into our car because it got too cold outside and planned to follow him when he left.  A girl on our team called us and said he wasn’t at the gym anymore.   At this point, we were mad because we’d already been waiting two hours for him.  We knew his address from a friend’s dad.  We decided to race to his house and park in our friend’s driveway to try another ambush.  We sprinted into his bushes and camped there for another hour waiting for him.  When he got home, we left our hiding spots and shot him walking into his house.” Bella Ranallo – Athletic Weapons