“How—how did you know?”
“Saw you swimming by yourself.”
“Okay, creep. I thought you were reading, not stalking?”
“I was reading by the lake.”
“You were at the lake? Why didn’t you join me? We could have raced. Whoever wins gets to choose our alliance name.”
“I’ll definitely take you up on that offer.”
I sit up. “Really?”
“No.”
I slouch, disappointed.
Blake clears her throat, and all of us around the firepit stop talking. She’s as polished as ever, in another equally nice blazer and pantsuit. Garrett standing next to her, on the other hand, is dressed like a camp counselor. Or a zookeeper, more accurately.
“Thank you, campers.” She smiles. “As you know, tomorrow kicks off your next challenge, which will be—”
“Survival of the Skillest!” Garrett interrupts, throwing out jazz hands.
Silence.
“That’s not even close to being grammatically correct,” Carter says.
“Yes, well, we left the creative naming to the host,” Blake says, pushing Garrett’s hands down.
He’s not deterred. “I don’t want to spoil too much, but your task tomorrow will be in-tents.”
“Are you trying to sayintense?” asks Siddharth. “Why are you putting so much emphasis on it?”
“I’m saying in-tents.”
“Dude, I think he has a lisp, lay off,” whispers Adin.
“Oh,my bad, Mr. Moxley.”
“No, ugh—” Garrett groans. “It will be in-tents. Like, inside of tents. As in, you’re all going to build a tent and camp in it and show off your survival skills. God, children, I can’t… just laugh when I say it on camera tomorrow, alright?”
CONFESSION TAPE—Vendredi Tengku, Contestant
You know how some celebrities look better on TV than they do in real life? Well Garrett is kinda like that, where he seems funnier on TV than he actually is. He also looks worse in real life, too.
… Do you guys show him these tapes?
CONFESSION TAPE—Beck McLaughlin, Contestant
I still don’t get the joke. That was supposed to be a joke, right?
“Anyhow,” Blake says. “We wanted to check in ahead of time and see if any of you have considered teaming up. We’d love to see unions form, especially those that would excite viewers and longtime fans of the show. Remember—alliances earn three bonus points.”
Me and Dean raise our hands. So do Vendredi and Beck, and Siddharth and Adin.
Blake’s face creases as she glances over at Carter. She points a neatly manicured nail between us and him. “JustSeyoon and Dean? I can’t convince you to do me a solid and replicate everyone’s favorite Final Three?” She drops her voice like she’s joking, but the anxious lilt to her voice kind of ruins the bit. “The network would really love to see it.”
I scoff. “It’s not happening.”
