Chapter Nineteen
Isla felt sick to her stomach. Not even the time she’d nervously walked her first runway at the Lindenbrook Fashion Week in New Jersey, convinced she was destined to be the next Cindy Crawford, had made her this anxious.
And it wasn’t just the looming pair reshuffle that made her stomach twist. Although that took up the majority of her worry. It was also the very real possibility that a bottom pair would be sent to The Sending tonight.
But which bottom pair? The new one or the old one?
How would that even work? What if Isla ended up with the one person she actually wanted to see going home—Aggie?
Or what if Tamsyn ended up with Aggie? Would Isla just have to suck up Aggie’s threats because there was no way she’d be sending Tamsyn anywhere?
Ugh. Her brain was hurting.
She pressed two fingers to her right temple and followed Tamsyn to the tree stumps.
They each claimed a spot in the back row.
Frankie settled on the other side of her, and Josie was perched beside Frankie.
In the front row were Barra, Dominique, Aggie, and Kendall.
The sun had already dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky a deep indigo.
Through the gaps in the branches, stars peeked faintly as they struggled against the glow of the lanterns.
Vivian was standing on the platform wearing a soft ivory silk blouse with billowed sleeves tucked into high-waisted, wide-leg trousers. Nude leather mules adorned her feet.
Isla appreciated Vivian’s outfit more than ever. Her red daisy dress had faded to pink. And the last time she’d felt clean and pretty was ages ago. She’d kill for a shower and the feel of silk against her skin. She’d die for a razor and a face mask.
“Welcome, everyone,” Vivian said smoothly. “I trust you all slept terribly last night.”
There was a ripple of strained laughter, and for good reason.
Vivian had hit the nail right on the sleep-deprived head.
Not only had Isla gotten approximately eleven minutes of sleep last night, no one else had seemed to fare much better.
Barra and Aggie’s snores had been nonexistent, which had meant no one had actually fallen asleep.
Which was ironic, really, because it, in turn, had meant that Isla and Tamsyn couldn’t sneak off to the clearing to address their tension.
She could think of several ways to decrease her stress levels, and all of them involved Tamsyn’s fingers.
Or her lips. Once, around the middle of the night, Isla had even considered making up some excuse to shuffle off to the teepee where Tamsyn was still sleeping alone.
But Aggie, who had lain next to Isla, would no doubt notice, and the risk had felt catastrophically high.
“So, you two won the last reward challenge and instead of walking away with a well-deserved meal, you received an advantage,” Vivian said, turning to Barra and Dominique.
Barra and Dominique nodded at the same time.
“How has the atmosphere around camp been since?” Vivian asked.
A question Isla knew she’d ask and could answer easily without Barra or Dominique’s input.
It was undeniable that it was extremely fucking tense.
She would even go as far as saying it was as tense as accidentally sending the message to the wrong person.
Something Isla had done several times in her life.
Barra cleared her throat. “To be frank,” she said, running her long fingers through her cropped dark hair. “It’s been quite an eye-opener.”
“How so?” Vivian asked, frowning. She took a delicate step toward the stand holding the six cups. Oh wait, there weren’t any cups. Isla wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a very, very bad thing. She swallowed hard just as Dominique answered for Barra.
“Suddenly everyone wants to talk,” Dominique said. “Not that we mind. If we were in their shoes, we’d be on our hands and knees groveling too.”
Isla wouldn’t call it groveling. Was promising Dominique and Barra that they would be at their mercy until the end of time, groveling? She thought not. Or maybe just a little. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and frankly, they were desperate.
Barra nodded in agreement. “I think the whole thing has made us realize how quickly things shift when power is involved.”
“Do you like the power?” Vivian asked.
Dominique looked at Barra before she answered. “I think we were both extremely happy when we first won the advantage. But then we realized it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. For all we know, this paints a huge target on our backs.”
Vivian considered this the same way she always did, with her lovely lips pressed into a slight smile.
Then she turned to Frankie, who was wearing Barra’s Gryffindor sweatshirt.
Last night the sleeve of Frankie’s hoodie had caught fire.
Luckily, no one had been hurt, and the flames were quickly extinguished.
But the only person with a spare shirt was Barra.
Was this a coincidence? Or was Isla just paranoid? The latter, she supposed.
“Do you think you’ve been acting differently toward Barra and Dominique, just because they have an advantage?” Vivian asked Frankie.
Frankie nodded. Her taper fade cut had grown to the point of touching her ears.
Now and then she smoothed the strands back like they were annoying her.
“Yes,” she answered truthfully. “But it’s not even on purpose; it’s more like instinct.
We can’t help but adjust everything we do—how we act, how we speak—because they hold the advantage. ”
Josie was nodding her head so vigorously she looked like a bobblehead, which was why Vivian turned her attention toward her. “Do you have something to say, Josie?”
More nodding. “I mean, if there’s even a small chance they could reshuffle us, then of course it will affect how we interact.
We don’t want to say the wrong thing, but we also don’t want to come across as super obvious.
” Josie gave a helpless shrug. “Yes, we’re technically begging.
But we’re also too scared not to do anything. ”
“So you’re saying fear is driving your behavior?” Vivian asked.
“Yes,” Josie said. “In a way, I guess we’re all scared. Or maybe I’m just speaking for myself. Aggie and I work well together. We’ve gotten along since day one, and I think we bring the best out of each other. To lose that would be big.”
Vivian tilted her head to Aggie, who was sitting with one leg crossed over the other.
“Do you think there are any contestants here that are not happy with their pairs?”
Aggie took a minute to speak. She first straightened the collar of her maroon and white long-sleeved polo shirt before she cleared her throat.
“I think we’ve all formed tight bonds with our partners.
Even if we didn’t get along with each other in the beginning, we’ve grown.
” Aggie hesitated, then added, “Although I suppose some bonds are stronger than others.” She then looked pointedly over her shoulder at Isla. Then to Tamsyn.
Vivian noticed, because she missed nothing. Not that Aggie was trying to be subtle. On the contrary, she couldn’t have pointed a bigger, brighter sign toward them.
“Isla, any idea why Aggie looked specifically at the two of you like that? Why would she think your bond is stronger than everyone else’s?” Vivian asked.
Isla felt her cheeks heat up as if she were standing too close to the fire.
And maybe she was. Maybe she was already burning.
Beside her, Tamsyn fidgeted with the tassels on the right sleeve of her leather jacket.
If she tugged a little harder, she’d rip the fringe clean off.
Was now the time to come clean? Or would that be exactly what Aggie wanted?
“I’m not quite sure,” Isla said. “I can only assume it has to do with us sharing a teepee, but then again, Aggie has spent just as much time in there as I have. So, I’m assuming she’s referring to the overnight reward challenge.
” Isla faked a smile. “We clearly bonded over all the amenities of that luxury villa.”
A few people snorted.
Isla would’ve felt smug, but instead her insides were overcome with panic. What if Aggie decided to retaliate? What if Aggie told Vivian and everyone else that she knew all about Isla and Tamsyn’s history?
But then, as luck would have it, Vivian flicked her gaze toward Barra before anyone could say anything else. “Barra, Dominique, have you made your decision about the reshuffle?”
Barra rose slowly, as if her knees were eighty years old. She brushed nonexistent dust from her shorts while Dominique remained seated on the stump with her elbows digging into her thighs. She was staring straight down. Which wasn’t a good sign.
Barra cleared her throat. “After long thought and careful consideration, we’ve decided that in the best interest of the game, there will be no reshuffle.”
For a moment, no one said a word. Even Vivian looked caught off guard. Isla didn’t blame her; she felt like she’d been smacked in the face and then apologized to. Who on earth would get an advantage like that and not use it?
But if Vivian had any questions, she didn’t ask them. Instead, she straightened slightly and said, “Okay then, let’s vote.”
ISLA AND TAMSYN WERE back on their flat rock in the middle of the night, sitting side by side on the pile of clothes Tamsyn had once again borrowed and strewn out in a makeshift picnic blanket. A rogue zipper pressed into Isla’s hip, but she didn’t move. She was too busy spiraling.