“Because you were a dick to my friend!”
I step forward, my hands raised defensively. “It was supposed to be a harmless prank.”
“Aha!” Carter shouts and jumps, his pointed face turning redder by the word. “So, itwasyou two!”
He accidentally kicks over the only object in the tiny, three-sided treehouse: a rusted bucket. A spider crawls out and flees for its life. Carter heaves for breath, then clears his throat and composes himself again.
“Tell you what. I’ll give you the dolls if you apologize.” He smirks. “On your hands and knees.”
Seyoon barks out a laugh. “We are notbowingdown to you. Or apologizing—unless you say sorry to Vendredi first. You really hurt her feelings.”
“Have it your way.” He turns on his heel and heads for the doorway.
“Wait,” I blurt. “We’re sorry. Give us the Funko Pops.”
“Dean!” Seyoon shouts. I wince.
Carter pauses. “She has to apologize too. And mean it.” He twists his face around. There’s a sharp, sly smirk inching across his mouth. “Or you could always split up. I’d give you a doll then.”
“That’s not happening.”
“Neither is me groveling on my fucking knees.” Seyoon crosses her arms defiantly, her nose scrunched with distaste. “How about you start by apologizing for shit-talking my mom on the first day? Or cutting our zip line?”
“You run your mouththismuch and still can’t say ‘I’m sorry’?” Carter scoffs. “It’s only two words.”
“Here’s two words for you,” Seyoon bites. “Fuck you.”
He pushes the door open with his foot. “Good luck finding other Funko Pops. There’s only twenty-five minutes left on the clock.”
Shit, there is? Carter’s right. The forest is too big. There might not be enough time to search the perimeter. No, there definitely isn’t. I think back to the scoreboard. Seyoon was in fourth place. Could we take the zero-point hit? I could, probably. But not her. Especially not with the double elimination Garrett promised. The seconds that pass as Carter nears the edge of the platform are agonizing as I deliberate. But there’s no doubt about it.
We need those stupid Funko Pops. Or else she’s going home.
“Just apologize,” I hiss to Seyoon. Her eyes pop open.
“What? No. He treated Vendredi like shit. He treated meandyou like shit. I’m not going to let him walk over me anymore, and neither should you.” She grabs my hand and forces me to meet her gaze. “We can find other dolls, Dean. You’ve seen every season of this show, you’d know where to look. And I can get there fast enough. I believe in us. Don’t you?”
Carter gets down on his knees to begin descending the rungs. He’s taking the artifacts. If he leaves with those, if we don’t find anything else, Seyoon could get eliminated.
I don’t want her to gohome.
“Seyoon, please! Your arrogance isn’t worth losing the points, just apologize to him!” I shout, the panic rising in me bleeding into my voice.
She jerks back like I hit her. Fuck.Fuck.
Desperate, I run out the door and kneel down, grabbing the back of Carter’s shirt collar to stop him before he’s out of reach. “We’re sorry. We’rebothvery sorry, okay? I promise she is.”
He turns his head up to look at me, and I startle. Carter doesn’t look surprised that I came running back.
“Since you got on your knees to apologize, I’ll accept it.” He tosses two of the artifacts up on the platform. Chuckling, he starts back down. “Better stay on your knees so you can beg for forgiveness now, lover boy.”
Nausea floats up my stomach as I watch him go, the sheer drop-off and height only making my vertigo worse.
I sit back and warily glance at Seyoon. She’s standing in the doorway with an expression I’ve never seen her wear before. Disgust. No,disappointment.She’s disappointed in me.
My stomach plummets as though I’ve tumbled off the platform.
23
