Separating Fact and Fiction

Previous meetings didn't seem to go very well in Linette's opinion. Hopefully this one will be better with a little fun activity included. She stood at the front of the meeting room as the club members began to file in. It was lovely to see relaxation on faces now that the whole thing with the vampire was over and done with. It was in fact that emergency which had given her the idea for this meeting.

Once everyone was seated she tapped on the board behind her with her wand. "Hello everyone and welcome to this term's meeting of the Student Organised Press. Now today we are not going to have so much of a discussion as we are having a game. I'm sure you all recall the reaction to the news earlier this term in regard to a vampire and the rumours surrounding the identity of this creature. Now my question is how do we separate the fact from fiction? Do we just go around pointing fingers for any reason we can come up with or do we step back and think about it with a clear head?" Not exactly and easy thing for her but she did believe she was getting better.

"Those questions however are not what this meeting is about. Well not exactly. What we are going to do is play a little game. Has anyone heard of 'two truths and a lie?' or alternatively 'two lies and a truth'? We're going to go with the first one. What each of you has to do is tell the rest of the group two truths about themselves and a lie. Not necessarily in that order or you make it too easy for the rest of us to guess which one is the lie. I'll start us off." She paused before plunging in with her example. "I'm the eldest of two, My cat's name is Melanie and my mother lives in Luxembourg." Most people likely knew she had a younger sister who up until the beginning of this year had attended Beauxbatons but she doubted they knew about the existence of her older brother. "Anyone wish to guess which is the lie?"

When Caleb walked into the SOP meeting, he grinned at the game they were playing. It sounded like such a fun game and Caleb was ready for a challenge. He didn't know many people and this was the perfect way to get to know the rest of the members. He would have to try to stump everyone, but he was pretty much an open book. If someone wanted to know something then he'd was most likely going to tell them.

When Linette said her two truths and her lie, Caleb was stumped. He didn't know a thing about the girl besides Louise being her sister. Caleb had talked to Louise on several occasions and thought they were friends. He was sad to see her go. "Hmm....I think.....I don't know what to think." He would have to think more about this. "Give me a moment, I think I need a bit more time." Caleb wasn't sure what he was going to say about himself when it was his turn, he would also have to think about that.

Adela walked into the meeting not knowing what to expect. It was her first meeting after all. She loved school organizations and thought joining one would give her the opportunity to meet new people and make some new friends. Adela knew she already had one friend in SOP, which was Sawyer, but walking in she saw that her friend Caleb was in it too. The young girl walked over to Caleb and poked him on the shoulder. "Hi. I didn't know you were in SOP. That's awesome!" She sat down next the boy and waited for Linette to begin the meeting.

Adela loved to play games and always thought they were a great way to get to know people. She didn't know Linette at all, and therefore didn't know which of the three things she said was the lie. Adela decided to try to think about it logically to get the answer. The problem was, all of the options sounded logical so she couldn't figure it out. She decided to let someone else answer the question and to start thinking about the three statements that she would say. There were so many options. What should she tell? What should her lie be? She had to make the lie sound reasonable like Linette did, so it would be hard to figure out.

It was that time of year again and Sawyer was once again in the SOP room. This year there was another familiar face in the crowd of people, it wasn't hard to find her either. Once he walked in the room he saw the bright red of his brother's girlfriend in the crowd, it was still odd of him to think of her like that. He walked over and sat next her, "Hey 'dela'." He said with a smile before the meeting started. They all looked up at Linette as she walked up to deliver the beginning speech like always. Sawyer listened closely and thought the idea was interesting but also slightly odd. He thought over her statements and tried to decide which was the lie.

"The lie is that you're the eldest of two." He exclaimed. "Louise once said something about an older sibling...I think." He said now a bit unsure about his answer."Is that right?" He asked curiously. If he was wrong then it would be kind of weird but he wouldn't be as embarrassed as some might think for he simply didn't care enough to be embarrassed about it.

Caleb looked like he was trying to guess but gave up. It was such a shame to hear people not giving it a go and that reminded her of the other thing she really needed to talk to him about. There was only one more year after this before she would lose that chance forever.

It didn't look like anyone else was game to have a go either until Sawyer spoke. Of course Louise would say something. She always said something. Said too much. "You'll be correct," she replied. "I do indeed have an older sibling as well. He went to a different school. Now that I've given you an idea of how to play this game how about someone else have a go. Remember one truth and two lies all mixed up together and we'll see if anyone can untangle them." The game was going fine so far but she hoped it would teach the deeper meaning of what she was trying to say.

Caleb still wasn't sure what to say about himself. There was a lot to say and he was never really good at lying. His family always knew when he was lying but hopefully no one in the club would know that he tapped his fingers against his knees when he lied. What was he supposed to say anyways? Everyone knew that he had a brother and they knew he had cousins. "I'll go next." He was just going to have to wing it since he didn't know exactly what he was going to say.

"Okay, so I wanna stay young forever." It sounded so cliché but it was true, he wanted to stay young and stay his mother's baby. "I favor my cousin, Fiona, over the rest." That was the lie, he didn't favor any of his cousins and treated them all equally, no matter what. "I try to see the best in people." He was a cheerful boy and always was nice no matter what. Whoever knew him knew that this was obviously true.

Adela was happy to be learning about other people in the club that she didn't know very well. It was a good way to find out things she didn't know about them. She may even learn something new from the people she already knows. The young girl listened as her friend told his two truths and a lie. Wanting to stay forever young seemed very believable. After all, last year Caleb was extremely upset about not being the baby in his family. Always trying to see the best in people also seemed true. He had always been super nice to everyone he met. The lie must be that he had a favorite cousin. Adela couldn't really see him picking favorites, he was too nice for that. "You're lie is that Fiona is your favorite cousin. You are too nice to pick favorites." She smiled to her friend.

"I guess I'll say my three things next." Adela had already had hers picked out. "I live with both of my parents, I am from Paris, France, and I have a pet dog named Sammy." All of her answers sounded reasonable. The girl did live with her parents and grew up in Paris. The lie was that she had a pet dog named Sammy. She hoped this would be a little tricky because she did have a pet named Sammy. However, Sammy wasn't a dog. Adela had never had a dog before, although she had always wanted one. They weren't allowed in her small apartment.

"Uh..." Charon was stumped by Adela's. They were all so normal. He took a shot in the dark. "Is it the dog?" He asked, more than stated. If it wasn't that, Charon had no clue. Upon finding out however that he was correct. He nodded to himself, internalizing that fact. He'd never even spoken to Adela before so he wanted to know at least something about her if she was going to be in the Student Organized Press too. He however now had to try to outsmart everyone. "Okay...uh...I'm an only child but only if you count my mother's children, I live alone with my mum, and my favorite Quidditch team is the Barcelona Red Riders." He was an only child if he didn't count his father's various other kids that had been one of the sticking points in him leaving/his mother telling him to go. Which led into the other truth, he lived alone with his mum in their opponent. The lie was the Barcelona Red Riders, he was a hardcore fan of the Quiberon Quafflepunchers.

Sawyer had to admit that he was quite pleased with himself for getting the correct answer from Linette's statement. He didn't even have to guess either he used facts or information he gathered to answer. When Caleb went he stayed silent for they all seemed possible and he didn't know the boy younger boy well enough to know what was a possible lie so he let someone else answer. When Adela said hers Sawyer knew which was the lie quickly but decided it probably wasn't fair for him to say anything so he let someone else do so. The boy who spoke up seemed to be guessing which wasn't really the point, or at least Sawyer thought so but it was an answer.

The Montagnard had seen the boy around a few times before and knew that he own a bright pink jersey that Sawyer knew was a Quafflepunchers jersey. That must be the lie then, the one about his favorite team for surely he would have that jersey if that was his favorite. He said that aloud and smiled when he was told he was correct. "Okay so mine are, my age is the number of siblings I have times two. I used to be the popular twin but now that's switch. And I have the heart of a child." He said listing off his three. The lie was the easy one for him so it was first but finding truths that seemed like lies was really hard for him but he thought he did a pretty good job.

Caleb didn't really know anyone personally besides Adela, maybe Linette. So he was stumped with the rest of the other members. He had to think about Sawyer's statements, this was difficult. "I think I might know," he said, his voice was just above a whisper. He still wasn't sure of himself. "I don't know anything about your family, but I know that you're very childish." He knew that because of their meeting in the graveyard.

"But, I do think I know the right answer. Well, since Payton is the seeker, that makes him pretty popular. So, I think that the twin thing is true and I know the childish one is true. So, the lie must be the number of siblings you have." Caleb had no idea who Sawyer was before he had met him, but he knew who Payton was.

Linette was pleased at how active they all were with this little game. So many getting it right too. She'd perhaps got one wrong. Maybe two. Those numbers Sawyer gave certainly bemused her so much that she thought that may have been the truth and she'd thought Adela was lying about living with both parents. The second possibly because of her own situation with her parents being divorced. That did give her an idea though of how to tackle the ending of this meeting.

The leader clapped her hands together once and beamed at everyone. "Very good participation here. The reason for this little exercise is to show you that sometimes a lie could sound as reasonable as a truth. The best way of course to divide the lies from the truth for an article is to investigate. If it's about other people make sure you speak to them first. Don't just assume someone else is telling the truth about them. Now the meeting is coming to an end. Don't forget to get your articles in on time. You would want the Student Organised Press to be devoid of any reading material would you?"