Page 67 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

“Look, I know you have this whole ‘grizzled veteran of the industry’ thing going on—”

“Thank you,” Lex says proudly.

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help. You told me I need to watch my back, but maybe we can watch each other’s back.”

Lex scoffs. “And how do we do that?”

“Well, you know what’s going on behind the scenes with the crew. And I don’t have anything to do except spend time with the other contestants. We can compare notes, piece together everything that’s happening on this island. You said it yourself, this is the most dangerous set you’ve ever been on, and we don’t know who we can trust. Having all the facts can only help us.”

“You know, I have an actual job to do,” Lex says skeptically. “I don’t have time to be playing spy with you.”

“And I have a show to win,” I say. “We should team up. Exchange information. Look out for each other. What do you think?”

“I think you’re a people pleaser, and you just want to be my friend because you’re in a new and confusing place,” Lex says.

“You’re not wrong,” I say, grinning. “But this is also a mutually beneficial arrangement that makes sense strategically.”

Lex gives me a considering look. “You know what? Sure. My therapist did say I needed to be more open with other people.”

“Yes, listen to your therapist,” I say.

“Sure, great, can’t wait to get an A in therapy,” Lex grumbles, but I can tell their heart isn’t in it.

“Thank you,friend,” I say in a singsong voice. “Hey, if we’re going to team up and go sleuthing for information, we need a catchphrase. Like,it’s all adding up.Orthe math checks out!”

“All right, that’s enough out of you. I’m regretting this already,” Lex says, shaking their head, but I catch a half smile on their face. They leave without another word.

I’m left alone in this beautiful excuse for a waiting room, but with Lex gone, I’ve run out of patience. I give it another ten minutes, and then I approach the door—and nearly get run over by Dawn Taylor.

“Watch it,” she snaps at me as I leap to the side.

A medic rushes after her. “Ms. Taylor, don’t you want the pain meds?”

“Don’t give me that shit. I need to be sharp for filming,” Dawn Taylor says over her shoulder. “I can’t believe this happened. I could kill those PAs.”

“But your burns—”

“I said I’m fine!”

Dawn Taylor disappears down the hall, but not before I glimpse white medical gauze wrapped around her leg, spanning from her knee to her ankle.

The medic sighs. “I wasn’t trained for this,” she mutters.

“You weren’t?” I ask.

The medic glances at me. “Big problems are supposed to be sent to the mainland. But there’s a huge storm rolling in, so we’re stuck treating people here. It’s not exactly ideal.”

The medic heads back into the makeshift hospital room, and I take the chance to follow. The first person I see is Leah. She’s pacing back and forth in front of Seth, who’s perched on the arm of another rattan chair. Bryan is leaning against the wall, looking grim.

“I’m sure I saw Anton setting up those fireworks,” Bryan is saying.

“Figures. Everyone knows that he half-asses everything.” Leah is chewing her gum with a vengeance as she speaks. “I don’t know how he even got this job. He has none of the qualifications, and his attitudeis garbage.”

“He’s a lazy shithead,” Seth says. “But we already knew that. The problem is now he’s gotten half the cast and crew injured. Did you see the staff breakroom? It looks like we’re extras on the set ofER.”

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Leah says, noticing me. “You didn’t get hurt too, did you? I swear, I’ll murder that trust-fund ass—”

“I’m fine,” I say quickly. “I just wanted to check on Daniel.”

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