Chapter 21
I MAY NOT BE GOOD AT TITLING REVENGE PLANS, BUT MAN, AM I OKAY AT ENACTING THEM
SEYOON
Vendredi, Dean, and I form our plan by the bonfire pit, one I’ve named Operation Give That Little Shit Something to Complain About For Once. However, O.G.T.L.S.S.C.A.F.O. isn’t very catchy, so we’re just calling it the revenge prank for now.
We’re still scheming when Blake finds us. “There you are!” she says. She’s in a great mood—this was her best day of filming, after all.
Vendredi stands up, already sighing. “Look, I’m not going to apologize to—”
“Apologize? To Carter?” Blake laughs. “Save it, I’m here to thank you. That, and pull you out for an interview.” Blake nudges her toward the confession booth. “I always support my contestants airing out their grievances. But only on camera. Off you go. I’ll be there to join you in a minute.”
Vendredi, relieved, heads off. “See you tonight!” she calls out to us. I shoot her a thumbs-up.
Blake chuckles. “You two. Oh, you kids keep me young.” She stands over me and Dean, a huge smile across her face.
“That back there? That was great. Forget the legacy trio alliance I wanted—a showmance is much better.” She starts walking backward toward the confession booth.
“In case I need to say it out loud, you won the clue for tomorrow’s challenge. ”
“Seriously?” I ask.
“Yep. And if you keep this adorable romance up, there might be more incentives headed your way.”
Then she leaves, and it’s just me and Dean.
I shove him in the shoulder. Hard.
“Ow!” he cries out. “What was that for?”
“For saying I carved your face in a tree like some obsessed stalker!”
“That’s what you get for saying I wrote a poem about your eyes.”
“Well, you’re the one who started waxing actual poetry about them.” I cup my chin in my hands and turn my face up to the sky. “Like the heavens,” I repeat dreamily.
“Shut up, please.”
Dean turns away from me, but I spot the sliver of a grin creeping over his face. I laugh, holding on to the log for balance.
Giving him shit is fun—really fun, he’s easy to fluster—but this? Sitting in the afterglow together? This is fun too.
“Despite how…” Dean waves his hand in the air. “Truly awful, and painful, and degrading as a human being that was, I think we did pretty good.”
“They’re all definitely convinced we’re in love, that’s for sure.
” I try not to stumble over the word. Now’s not the time to get shuttered by embarrassment.
I’m Seyoon Shin, I don’t get embarrassed.
Don’t quote me on that, though. “You were right,” I say, bumping his shoulder with mine.
“Playing the couple act was a good idea. Thanks.”
“What for?”
I bite the tattered inside of my cheek to stall. “For being a good teammate, I guess. You’re helping both of us get ahead.”
He’s quiet for a few moments. “Well,” Dean says, “it’s not entirely horrible teaming up with you, either.”
“You are in love with me!”
Dean does his huffy-laughter thing again and stands. “Whatever helps you sleep at night. I’m hitting the showers. Good luck with your prank.”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you joining?”
He pauses. “You want me there?”
“Of course.”
Dean blinks. Had he really thought I wouldn’t? He perks up and says, “Okay. Cool.”
I grin. He’s trying to hide it, I can tell, but it’s clear he’s happy about the invitation. Probably also at the chance to screw with Carter, but I have a feeling there’s more to it than that.
I think maybe we’re on our way to being friends.
Here are three things I know about Carter:
He’s the most annoying person I’ve ever met in my life.
His uncle is the second-most annoying person I’ve met.
He’s a heavy sleeper. And a very routine one, at that. Carter falls asleep promptly at lights out, and nothing can get him up besides the 7 a.m. alarm that blares through camp every morning. He snores, too. That sleep apnea is no joke.
When telltale honks echo through the sleepy cabin, it’s our cue for O.G.T.L.S.S.C.A.F.O to commence. The name has started to grow on me.
I throw off my blankets and hear Vendredi do the same in the next bunk.
The mattress above squeaks as Dean climbs down the ladder.
I reach out blindly in his direction, grazing his arm in the dark.
He holds on to my wrist, and we pad gently over to Vendredi, careful not to trip or step on a squeaky floorboard and wake everyone up.
But then, of course, I run my toe into the corner of Vendredi’s nightstand.
“Fu—”
Dean covers my mouth with his hand. We stay very still and listen. There’s no interruption to the rhythm of Carter’s snores or any of the even breaths in the cabin.
A thought to lick his palm invades my mind. No reason not to, I guess. He shudders and lets go. I can’t see him move, but I jump when his lips brush the shell of my ear.
“You’re the worst,” he hisses.
“No, trust me, I can get worse.”
Another hand reaches out for us. I blink. My vision finally adjusts to make out the silhouette of Vendredi in the dark.
“Ready?” she says, barely above a whisper. I nod and look at Dean.
He hesitates. “You sure you guys want me here for this?”
“Of course. We’re partners,” I answer. “That includes in crime.”
That’s good enough for Dean. The three of us tiptoe over to Carter’s bunk bed. He’s flat on his back, tucked in tight under his blankets, hands folded over his stomach. Vendredi leans over and snaps her fingers twice in front of his face. Nothing.
“The fuck’s wrong with this guy?” she whispers. “He looks like a corpse.”
Carter lets out another long snore then, reassuring us that nope, he’s alive. Yippee.
“Come on,” I say. “Like we planned. I’ll take the right side, you two grab the left.”
We scramble to get in position. I wriggle my fingers under the mattress near Carter’s head while Vendredi and Dean get a grip on the opposite two corners.
In unison, they pull the mattress, and I push.
It slides off the frame an inch. Everyone freezes.
Carter’s face is just a few inches from my hand. I hold my breath.
“Hurr-acgh.” He lets out. Phew.
“Let’s go. Slow and steady,” I hush.
I dig my nails into the plush underside of the mattress as we carefully slide Carter and his bed off, pausing every time there’s a break in his snores. I have to carefully clamber across the metal frame once we get the mattress free.
Dean wheezes as we walk backward toward the door. “He’s heavy.”
“We’re almost there,” Vendredi says. “Shit. The door. Who’s going to—”
“What are you guys doing?”
The three of us freeze. Carter lets out another helpful snore. I whip my head back to see Beck sitting up in bed, blearily wiping sleep from her eyes. Fuck fuck fuck.
“Um…” I say, loud enough for her to hear across the room, but not to wake Carter, or Adin and Siddharth in the corner. “Putting Carter outside… Would you get the door?”
Silence. Then, “Sure.”
Beck pads over and lets us out. A gust of cold night air rushes into the cabin.
“Thank you, Becky,” Vendredi says, grinning at her. Beck nods, half asleep, before returning to bed.
We rotate ourselves to get the mattress to fit outside the door.
Carter sleeps through it all, even when we hoist him above our heads and carry him down the tricky porch stairs.
It’s hard navigating in the dark, but we make do by moonlight and memory.
My arms are on fire once we finally get down to the lake.
Luckily, it’s past filming hours, so we don’t have to wear our mics or worry about getting caught by any pesky camera operators.
“Let’s push him in,” Vendredi says.
“Yeah!”
“No,” Dean replies.
We boo him but oblige, instead leaving Carter high enough on the rocky shore so he won’t be washed away. Should a stray wave come up and drench his blankets, that’s Mother Nature’s prerogative.
We run back to camp and collapse on the grass before finally bursting into laughter.
I roll around, mushing my face into the dewy ground, reveling in the sweet, earthy smell in my nose and the warm, fuzzy feeling wrapping around me.
The moon gives off enough of a glow to make out Vendredi’s and Dean’s faces near mine, equally flushed from laughter.
“Can’t believe he didn’t wake up,” Dean says. His hair is splayed in the grass like a halo.
“I had faith in Seyoon’s plan,” Vendredi says, readjusting her bonnet. Seeing how upset she was earlier was heartbreaking; I’m glad the light is back in her eyes. “Where’d you get that idea, anyway?”
My smile falters. “Saw it in a movie or something.”
Dean hums. “I don’t want to inflate your ego any more than it already is, Seyoon, but I have to admit, it was a good prank.”
I give in to my urge to ruffle his hair. It’s softer than I expected. “You’re so in love with me, it makes you look stupid.”
“Watch yourself.”
Vendredi laughs. There’s a glimmer of amusement in her eyes as she looks between us.
“You guys remind me of me and my girlfriend when we first started dating,” she teases.
“I know we’re on a reality show and all, and it’s probably not the most ideal place to form a lasting relationship, but I have a good feeling about you two. You complement each other.”
My ears warm. Dean sits up. I make the mistake of locking eyes with him.
“Um,” he says. “I’m—I’m probably going to get some shut-eye now.” Dean stands. There’s a loose twig caught in his curl, but I don’t bring it up. He pulls his hoodie over his head and shoots us each a hesitant but earnest smile. “This was fun, though.”
Vendredi and I watch him hurry back to the cabin. He looks back once, right before he closes the door.
“Sorry,” Vendredi says, sheepish. “Didn’t mean to embarrass you guys.”
“It’s okay. It’s just… new, you know?” I say, an inkling of guilt biting my side. It’s different when the cameras are off. When they’re on, Dean and I are performing. Now, though? Now I’m just lying to her face.