But they aren’t dating.
It doesn’t matter. I still feel like a vile human being—especially when Sadie is being so stinkin’ kind to me.
“Are you ready?” Mr. Australian Accent asks.
Sadie flashes me an excited, nervous grin, and then she nods. We did this yesterday, and it’s not too hard. He’ll prompt us with a question, and we’ll repeat the question in our answer, just as we did on elementary school worksheets.
For example: What’s your favorite cookie? Answer: My favorite cookie is a snickerdoodle.
That way, they can use our answers without it looking like we’re in an actual interview.
Before we begin, there’s a knock on the door, and Paula sticks her head in. “Tammy’s changing things up. She’s sent over a new set of questions, and she’d like Mason to do the interview on camera.”
“On camera?” our original interviewer says, perplexed.
Paula shrugs, silently saying the matter is out of her hands.
The cameraman rolls his eyes, and then he reaches for the instructions. His forehead knits as he reads. He looks at Paula. “Really?”
The producer looks uncomfortable as she nods. She slips out the door, and Mason appears in her place. He seems irked.
My stomach begins to knot, and I regret gulping down that second cup of coffee before they snagged us to come in here.
“Get up,” the cameraman says in his thick accent, waving at us with an impatient jerk of his hand. “We have to rearrange everything.”
Five minutes later, Sadie and I have stools, and we’re sitting opposite Mason, who they decided to leave standing. The festive background twinkles behind us, looking all merry.
Mason leans over and says in a low voice, “How badly do you want to stay in the competition?”
Startled, I glance at Sadie, who looks as sweet and innocent as a lamb. She smiles her best Alice smile.
I turn back to Mason. “Pretty badly.”
He lets out a breath, puffing out his cheeks slightly. “All right then.”
“Whenever you’re ready, Mason,” the cameraman says.
And we’re recording.
“It’s a big day. Did you girls get any sleep last night?” Mason asks in a surprisingly cheerful voice.
“I didn’t sleep at all!” Sadie gushes. “I was so nervous!”
“After listening to the judges’ critiques yesterday, how do you think you’ll do today?” This time he looks at me.
I give him my best student council smile. “We had a few missteps, but I’m confident in the cookies we presented to them.”
“Well, our viewers certainly like you. I can’t tell you your final score, but you came out on top of the viewer poll.”
My breath catches in my throat. So that’s why they brought Mason in for an actual interview. And I thought it was going to be something terrible.
Sadie clutches my arm, grinning.
“And according to Twitter and our Facebook page, many people were touched by the story of your grandmother, Sadie.”
My partner blinks, overwhelmed. “She would just love all this.”
She dabs her eyes, laughing so she doesn’t start to bawl on camera. When her emotions are already this high, it’s obviously hard for Sadie to talk about it.
