<p>Chapter 1</p><p><br/></p><p>At exactly 2:17 a.m., my phone rang.</p><p>I jumped at the sound, my heart suddenly pounding as I stared at the screen.</p><p>The caller ID made my stomach drop.</p><p>It was my own name.</p><p>“How?” I whispered, staring at the screen.</p><p>My hands hovered over the phone, too scared to answer.</p><p>The phone kept ringing.</p><p>Once.</p><p>Twice.</p><p>Three times.</p><p>I should have ignored it. Every reasonable part of my brain told me to put the phone down and go back to sleep.</p><p><br/></p><p>It rang again.</p><p>My palms became sweaty, and a chill ran down my spine as my heart pounded against my chest.</p><p>I swallowed hard and slowly reached for it.</p><p>Beneath my name, a message appeared:</p><p>“Pick up, Tari.”</p><p>I picked up the phone.</p><p>“Hello?” I whispered.</p><p>For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence.</p><p>Then I heard my own breathing coming through the speaker.</p><p>Except it sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away.</p><p>A shaky voice finally whispered,</p><p>“Don’t turn around.”</p><p>With my heart racing at a thousand miles per hour and the phone clutched in my hands, I did the stupidest thing in history.</p><p>I turned around.</p><p>Slowly.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>Just my bedroom.</p><p>I let out a nervous breath and almost laughed at myself.</p><p>Then I looked at the mirror.</p><p>My reflection was staring straight ahead.</p><p>I wasn't.</p><p>I was facing the mirror.</p><p>But my reflection was still facing the wall behind me.</p><p>Then, slowly, it turned its head toward me.</p><p>I stumbled backwards.</p><p>My slipper caught the edge of the rug, and I nearly fell.</p><p>The reflection didn't move.</p><p>It simply stared at me.</p><p>Then it slowly raised one finger to its lips.</p><p>“Shhh.”</p><p>Picking up my phone, I looked at the screen.</p><p>The call was still connected.</p><p>I slowly raised it to my ear.</p><p>The voice on the other end whispered,</p><p>“Now you see why I told you not to turn around.”</p>
At the end of the month, we give out prizes in 3 categories: Best Content, Top Engagers and
Most Engaged Content.
Best Content
Top Engagers
Most Engaged Content
Best Content
We give out cash prizes to between 7 and 20 community members with the best insights in the past month.
The winners are picked by an in-house selection process.
The winners are NOT picked from the leaderboards/rankings, we choose winners based on the quality, originality
and insightfulness of their content.
Here are a few other things to know for the Best Content track
1
Quality over Quantity — You stand a higher chance of winning by publishing a few really good insights across the entire month,
rather than a lot of low-quality, spammy posts.
2
Share original, authentic, and engaging content that clearly reflects your voice, thoughts, and opinions.
3
Avoid using AI to generate content—use it instead to correct grammar, improve flow, enhance structure, and boost clarity.
4
Explore audio content—high-quality audio insights can significantly boost your chances of standing out.
5
Use eye-catching cover images—if your content doesn't attract attention, it's less likely to be read or engaged with.
6
Share your content in your social circles to build engagement around it.
Top Engagers
For the Top Engagers Track, we award the top 3 people who engage the most with other user's content via
comments.
The winners are picked using the "Top Monthly Engagers" tab on the rankings page.
Most Engaged Content
The Most Engaged Content recognizes users whose content received the most engagement during the month.
We pick the top 3.
The winners are picked using the "Top Monthly Contributors" tab on the rankings page.
Contributor Rankings
The Rankings/Leaderboard shows the Top 20 contributors and engagers on TwoCents a monthly and all-time basis
— as well as the most active colleges (users attending/that attended those colleges)
The all-time contributors ranking is based on the Contributor Score, which is a measure of all the engagement and exposure a contributor's content receives.
The monthly contributors ranking tracks performance of a user's insights for the current month. The monthly and all-time scores are calcuated DIFFERENTLY.
This page also shows the top engagers on an all-time & monthly basis.
Below is a list of badges on TwoCents and their designations.
Content Contributor
Eligible to Earn
Most Viewed in a Space
Monthly Prize Winner
Mini-Competition/Flash Contest Winner
Essay Competition Winner
Spoken Word Competition Winner
Hundred Insight Club (HIC) (100+ Insights)
Contributor (500+ Score)
Top Contributor (2000+ Score)
Elite Contributor (5000+ Score)
Trusted Contributor
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