Page 35 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“How about this? I’m a senior now, and this is the last time we’ll face each other in competition. I’d hate to win under dubious circumstances. I want the record books to reflect that I beat you fair and square with no asterisk next to it explaining that my adversary had been compromised, even if it was by her own doing.”

“Wow.” I looked over at him. My mind caught on the first part of what he’d said. “The last time, huh?” We’d been locked in battle for the past three years.

He flipped to his side to face me. “Yeah. What are you going to do without me?”

“What I already do. Win.”

The next day, I powered through a mild headache to ace every question I managed to buzz in to. But thanks to the night before, the rest of my team couldn’t keep up. The Exeter boys weren’t in prime condition themselves, having partied right alongside my team, but it wasn’t enough of an advantage.

I had to carry my team, which wasn’t new, but I wasn’t used to doing it while nursing a hangover. Exeter beat us by one measly point, and Daniel himself answered the question.

“Who was the fabled king who could turn any item into gold?”

Daniel hit the buzzer lightning-fast. “Midas!”

Afterward, Daniel offered me a handshake. “I’ll miss you, Slayer.”

I hated losing. But I hated letting Daniel have the last word even more. “No, you won’t. Because the next time we meet, I’m going to win. Don’t rest on your laurels, DanielMidasCho.”

“A little late for giving me a nickname, isn’t it?”

“It fits you.” It really did. We’d both gone to the party, we’d both had the punch. But the price for me was defeat, while he walked away with the victory. He was the fabled king, with his team rallying behind him, and everything he touched turned to gold. But I’d known from the beginning, from the first day I’d joined the team and even before that,when I realized that it was just me and my mom against the world, that I could only ever count on myself.

—

I’m busy wallowing in regret when Leah sweeps in, looking fresh as a daisy.

“Rise and shine, lovebirds,” she says. I jostle Chase to wake him.

“I’m up, I’m up!” he insists, eyes still closed.

“It usually takes him a minute,” I tell Leah.

“Well, you don’t have a minute. I brought you both breakfast,” Leah says, flourishing two cups of bright-pink something. “Hangover smoothies!”

I regard my smoothie skeptically. “What’s in it?”

“Some hair of the dog, but not too much,” Leah says with a shrug. “We want you relaxed for the cameras, not wasted.”

“Is there anything else to drink?” I ask, looking around. I should’ve nabbed more water last night while I had the chance.

“Not really. Oh, we do have these.” Leah digs around in her large carry-all purse and pulls out two aluminum cans.

H2Whoa, the can reads.Water with personality.

Good enough. I grab the can, pop open the tab, and take a sip. There’s a whisper of lemon with a metallic note, but it’s blissfully nonalcoholic. I down the whole thing, then crack open the other one and hold it up to Chase’s mouth.

“Drink,” I tell him.

He takes a couple of swallows until he’s able to sit upright. Then, to my surprise, he snaps his eyes open and makes grabby hands for the smoothie Leah’s holding, then sucks that down as well. Finally, he grins. “All right! Let’s do this!”

“That’s the spirit,” Leah says. She pours my smoothie into the pot of a nearby monstera plant. “Today, before the challenge, you both get to visit the wardrobe department. Trust me, you’re going to have alotof fun.”

—

The wardrobe department is on the third floor of the villa, and I have to admit that Leah was right—it’s significantly more impressive than the bathroom on the boat.

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