“Aside from some guy named Steve offering me money to sell out my brother? Nope, nothing exciting.”
Sarah crossed her arms in from of her. “Oh. Sorry.”
I shrugged, still pissed and not willing to accept her apology. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I thought it would be fun.”
“For who?”
“For you. Most guys would kill to go to a party like this. Those were supermodels in there.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not most guys.”
Sarah’s eyes scanned me, and her features softened. “No, I’m starting to get that.” She reached out and grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry. I should have asked you first. Forgive me.”
She sidled up to me and started nibbling on my neck. Slowly but surely, my anger and resentment began to recede. Her lips found mine, and I groaned. We stood on the sidewalk making out for a few minutes, and then she took my hand and drove me back to the hotel.
* * *
Iwokeup in my bed the next morning not feeling real good about where my life was currently headed. Jake was right. I needed to stop putting myself through this crap. I was tired of playing the game. I knew it seemed clichéd, but I was actually starting to feel used by these women. Yeah, I was obviously getting something out of the hook ups, but was it really enough? Maybe I was just in a funk. Or maybe I needed to find a girl who actually liked me for me.
I flung the covers off and stretched. Today was the day. A nervous flutter traveled through me. I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. I picked up my phone, and there was a text from Jake.
Remember I’m expecting a train wreck. Don’t disappoint.
I smiled as I ran my hand through my tangled mass of hair.
Don’t you worry,I texted back.Tell Casey I love her.
He didn’t reply. It was probably evening wherever he was in the world, which meant Jake was most likely on stage performing. I felt a pang of guilt. I was going to be gone for forty-five days and completely off the radar. If there were a problem, I wouldn’t know about it. I just had to trust he was going to be okay. He had told me yesterday that he’d been talking to Casey via Facetime and that things were going well. He sounded upbeat and encouraged. But what if something happened? What if she broke his heart, and he had no one to talk to?
Frustrated, I got up and walked into the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror. Worry lines etched my forehead. Was I making the right choice here? Why was it so hard for me to leave? The face that stared back at me in the mirror had morphed into my twelve-year-old self.
You know why, he said.
Marooned: The Rules
10
Kenzie: First Impressions
My stomach rumbledas the boat bobbed like a cork on the choppy waves. I gripped my knees, trying to look calm and cool in the face of great distress. “One more shot,” the producer kept calling. I’d been hearing that for the past hour, and my insides were now rebelling. My clammy hands and tingling skin were signs of the inevitable: I was going to spew. I looked around in a panic, trying to determine the best vomit pose. What would look best on television? Bending over and barfing where I sat seemed easiest, but there was a cameraman directly below me. Maybe I should yack over the side of the boat. Could I even turn my body around in time? And most importantly, would my butt look big on camera?
Oh god, this was like the ‘Notorious Zipper Incident’ all over again. The memory of that day had been burned into my psyche for eternity. I was thirteen-I knew better than to mess with the Zipper. No carnival ride turned my insides to mush quite like that one. But I gave into peer pressure. Tanner Crowell was there. And he was so cute. “It will be fun,” my friends urged. Why hadn’t I said no?
My classmates and I filled all the cages, and then the vile ride started flipping and turning and jerking. I didn’t last more than 30 seconds before I violently began emptying my stomach, not only all over the unlucky girl sitting beside me but also onto every single cage spinning and twisting and whirling below me. Let’s just say by the time it was over, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. I deservingly earned the nickname ‘Chunks,’ and spent the rest of middle school trying to live it down.
And now I had a horrible feeling that this was about to become Zipper 2.0. Looking to my right, my eyes fell on an unbelievably polished, mocha-skinned beauty. A model? Or was she a pageant queen? In my panicked state, I couldn’t remember what she’d said earlier; however, instinctively I understood she would not appreciate my lunch being unceremoniously dumped onto her lap.
I looked to my left. A scruffy, tattooed guy who reminded me of Shaggy fromScooby Doosat blissfully unaware of the fate about to befall him. Perhaps sensing me staring, Shaggy looked over at me with a pleasant smile. His eyes met mine, and I saw the change in them immediately. His face formed into a mask of horror. He was smart enough to realize I wasn’t messing around and scrappy enough to try to save himself. Shaggy dove from his spot on the bench just as I tossed my cookies into his vacated seat. Like magic, every single person on my side of the boat disappeared. The vessel listed to one side, challenged by the weight of seventeen cast members desperately attempting to escape my gastric waterfall.
In a display of great courage, a member of the medical team rushed to my side. He held my sweaty hair and rubbed my tense back as I got my body turned in the right direction and dry heaved over the side of the boat. When it was over, and I had successfully concluded my disgusting little sideshow, I glanced down morosely to take in the mess I’d made – only to discover crewmembers had mercifully already cleaned it up. My hopeful eyes continued along the boat until they reached poor Shaggy, who was being treated by medical for a cut on his arm, an injury he’d apparently acquired during his impressive escape. And finally, I remorsefully lifted my eyes to find a row of faces staring back at me in unabashed revulsion. Yep, definitely Zipper 2.0… only, this time, on a national scale. From somewhere on the back of the boat I heard a producer shout, “Cut.”
TV Confessional
“So…THAT just happened.”
—Kenzie
