Page 271 of Queen of Hearts


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“And that little performance on stage? Vulgar. Absolutely vulgar. Sloane has always needed attention. In high school she was the cheerleader, and now she’s… what… a tactical stripper.”

(Elbows Brent hard.)

“Say something, Brent!”

BRENT(startled):

“Uh? Oh—yeah. Very… very intense. What time does the breakfast buffet open?”

(From the control room, Aunt Tina cackles: “Sweetheart, the only vulgar thing here is your jealousy. And that synthetic fur.”)

?? CHAD & KIKI

Kiki adjusts her neon-pink top in the camera monitor. Chad is doing bicep curls with a water bottle.

KIKI(rapid-fire):

“So, followers! The challenge was super intense cardio-wise, but honestly? Chad and I operate on completely different performance levels. Our love is fit, not… hormonal.”

CHAD(kissing his bicep):

“Exactly, babe. Becker gets high peaks, sure—but does he have endurance? I can hold a plank for eight minutes. Love is endurance.”

KIKI(whispering):

“We need more views tomorrow. Put on body oil before breakfast.”

?? SILAS & DAISY

Daisy is vibrating with leftover glitter and adrenaline. Silas sits beside her with his head in his hands.

DAISY(bouncing in her seat):

“That was amazing! Did you see? One-twenty-five BPM! And I didn’t even have to take my clothes off! I just touched his beard!”

(She reaches over and touches Silas’s beard again. He closes his eyes—resigned, but he doesn’t move.)

SILAS(deep, exhausted):

“It wasn’t the beard. It was… arithmetic. I was doing complex calculations to stay calm.”

DAISY(laughing):

“Liar! You like me. You like me a lot!”

(Silas looks at her, and for a second the hardened expression softens.)

SILAS:

“You’re a disaster, Daisy. A glitter-covered disaster. And stop bouncing or you’re going to fall off the chair.”

?? JOE & SARAH

The air is icy. Sarah is pouting with her arms crossed. Joe wears a plastic smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, staring at a point just beyond the camera.

SARAH(snippy):

“This isn’t fair. We actually tried. There was connection. There was passion. She just… rubbed herself on him.”