Chapter 17
We both go to bed soon after that. The allure of sleeping in a real bed under a real roof in a temperature-controlled room is too much to ignore.
Even though I didn’t tell Cole everything about Arielle, I still feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
That, plus the fact that I’ve got a full belly for the first time in three weeks, helps wash away some of my anxiety.
I sleep like the dead and wake up feeling more rested than I have in a very long time.
Once Cole, Tamika, and I are all awake, we’re herded out of the spa and onto a motorboat so we can return to camp.
It almost physically hurts to get on the boat.
I am not looking forward to sleeping under the stars and eating nothing but white rice again, and from Tamika and Cole’s longing glances at the spa as we pull away, I’m guessing they’re feeling something similar.
At least we’ve only got two weeks until this whole ordeal is over, if we’re lucky.
As the boat races over the cerulean ocean, I cast my mind back to the previous night and my discussion with Cole.
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have told him about the idol—or Arielle, for that matter.
Even if he doesn’t actively spread my secrets around, he could still let something slip accidentally.
Or, in the worst-case scenario, he might just decide on his own that I’m a threat and corral the others into voting for me, without technically breaking his promise to keep quiet.
And yet, as I glance over at Cole, his blond hair streaming in the wind, I realize that I’m certain he won’t intentionally break his vow of silence, let alone try to get rid of me.
Maybe I’m just being na?ve, but I believe him when he said he trusts me.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he won’t let my secrets slip, inadvertently or otherwise.
But I’m willing to take that chance if it means I can cement our bond.
I just have to hope it doesn’t come back to bite me later.
Thankfully, when we get back to the beach, it’s relatively easy to put thoughts of Cole out of my mind and focus on the game again.
The first order of business is to get my alliance to agree to vote out Jenny, so over the next few hours, I make sure to speak to Katie, Marina, and Rhonda, both separately and as a group.
At first, I’m a little worried they might be upset that Cole took me on the reward over them.
I doubt I’m the only one who saw the value in bringing Tamika along, but I bet all three of them would have liked to have been in my place.
But when I bring up our plan to get rid of Jenny tonight, all of them are okay with it.
“Oh, you don’t have to convince me,” Rhonda says with a dismissive wave of her hand when I ask her what she thinks.
“It’s gotta be one of those three, and it might as well be her.
” Katie and Marina agree too, with a minimum of fuss, to the point that I wonder if it’s all going too easily.
But after all the stress of the days immediately before and after the merge, I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
On the other side, Jenny, Ashraf, and Alina have surely figured out that we’re targeting one of them, and it quickly becomes clear they aren’t going down without a fight.
I swear, every time I sit down, one of them asks if they can talk to me privately, where they inevitably throw out another reason or two why I should vote with them.
The only reason I get a break is that there are three of them and six of us, so they just don’t have the numbers to individually corral each of us at all times.
Which, now that I think about it, is also the reason they’re in this position in the first place.
As expected, since Cole won immunity, they’re forced to change targets.
This time, they’ve apparently settled on Katie.
“Just think about it,” Ashraf tells me, a note of pleading in his voice, as we ostensibly collect firewood.
“Not only is she at MIT, but she’s studying nuclear engineering.
Do you really want to go to the end with someone that smart?
If we let her get to the final tribal council, she’ll talk rings around whoever she’s sitting next to.
” I politely refrain from mentioning that the same logic could be used against me, and instead just make noncommittal noises. No need to put the idea in his head.
Now that I think about it, they could be telling the others to vote for me instead of Katie.
If that’s the case, I wouldn’t like it, but I’m not particularly worried.
Even if they manage to convince Tamika to vote with them, which I think is rather unlikely, it would still be five to four against them.
They’d have to flip another one out of my alliance, and I’m just not seeing that happen at this point.
Plus, I have the hidden immunity idol, so even if they did turn on me, I can still save myself. While I’d rather not use it so soon after finding it, I would gladly play it if it means I’ll stay in the game. I don’t think it’ll come down to that, not tonight, but you never know.
In the end, it doesn’t matter because there are no surprises that night at tribal council, and Jenny is voted out with six votes.
As expected, the remaining three go to Katie.
Alex almost seems disappointed as he reads the votes, perhaps hoping for a last-minute change to make this episode more exciting when it airs, but I’m just relieved that the six of us stuck together and our plan was successful.
There is one slight change to the proceedings tonight.
Before Alex takes Jenny’s insignia, he informs her that she’ll become the first member of the jury, the group that will watch the remaining tribal councils and vote for the winner at the end.
I’m a little bit concerned that I didn’t really build a connection with Jenny, since it means I might be less likely to get her vote at the end, but it's too late now. Besides, it’s not like most of my alliance was any better, so maybe I’ll be the lesser of two evils.
Of course, none of it will matter if I don’t manage to survive this next week and a half and earn my spot in the final two. That’s still a big if, but at least now I’m one step closer than I was before.
The next few days are comparatively calm from a game perspective.
With Jenny gone, there are only two of the Sika alliance left, and the rest of us spend some time on day twenty-two and the morning of day twenty-three debating which of them should go next.
Like Tamika said at the reward, there are good reasons to vote out both of them—Alina is smart and not half bad at challenges, and Ashraf could fly under the radar all the way to the final two if we’re not careful.
All six of us have our own opinions, but nobody is dead set on getting one or the other out first. I personally would rather get rid of Alina now, but I don’t push very hard.
I have a feeling I’m going to need to save all the social capital I possibly can for when the two of them are gone, and it’s just the six of us left.
Which, if I’m being honest, isn’t something I’m looking forward to.
It’ll be nice to be that much closer to winning the million, but I’ve come to know my alliance, including Tamika, pretty well over the last few weeks, and I genuinely like all of them.
It’s sad to think that the best-case scenario is that I stab four of them in the back so I can make it to the final two.
That would hurt, but it would be infinitely preferable to being stabbed in the back myself.
At least I have Rhonda, and maybe Cole, on my side.
Although, one or both of them could be lying to me, which would make it hurt even more—especially if it’s Cole who ends up being the one to shatter my hopes and dreams. I think I can count on him, but trust only goes so far when you’re competing for a million dollars.
For all I know, he could wake up tomorrow and decide he wants me gone once we’re down to six.
And even if he doesn’t, the others might.
But I have a few more days before I have to worry about any of that.
The most important thing right now is making sure the two Sikas go home, which means the debates continue.
By the time our next immunity challenge rolls around, we’ve just about settled on sending Alina home.
None of us really thinks that Ashraf has a chance to get much further in the game, but Alina could win a few challenges, and who knows what could happen then.
It’s much better to get rid of her sooner rather than later, to avoid giving her the chance to shake things up.
Then she proceeds to immediately validate our concerns by winning the challenge on day twenty-three, officially making all our discussions over the last day and a half completely pointless.
It feels almost anti-climactic to have the decision taken out of our hands, but we always knew it was a possibility.
“Look on the bright side,” Katie says with a shrug once we get back to the beach.
“At least now we all know who to vote for tonight.”
That afternoon, Ashraf and Alina try to convince some of us to flip once more, but their efforts are even more doomed than last time, since they’d need to convince three of us, and it’s clear their hearts aren’t really in it.
As usual, I politely hear them out and agree to nothing.
No reason to antagonize them when they’re about to be on the jury.