Page 82 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

“I wouldn’t let that happen to you,” Daniel says, his voice low. There’s something comforting and strangely intimate about hearing his voice when I can’t see anything, and the only connection I have to the rest of the world is through his touch. It makes me want to keep talking, for better or for worse.

“I know,” I say. “It’s just that I hate relying on other people. If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. That’s how I was raised. And I don’t trust just anyone to have my back.”

“But I’m not anyone. I’mDaniel Midas Cho,” he says. I don’t have to see him to know that he’s directing a shit-eating grin at me.

“All the more reason to distrust you,” I declare.

I’d thought I could trust Chase because I had him all figured out. But it turns out, I’d been wrong on both counts. For a moment I wonder what my life would’ve been like if I’d dated Daniel instead of Chase. As much as I’m loath to admit it, I have a feeling he would’ve been a good partner. In high school, he was the guy who showed up fifteen minutes early to every competition in a freshly pressed suit and somehow managed to charm all the parents and teachers. And from what I’ve seen of him on the island, he’s still that guy. He takes care of the people around him, and he steps up when something needs doing.

I return my focus to putting one foot in front of the other. Daniel directs us around another corner and then stops abruptly, his grip tightening—but it’s too late. I pitch forward and bring him down with me. We end up in a heap together in the mud.

“Shit! I’m sorry,” he says, doing his best to pull me to my feet with his bound hands. “We turned and then we turned again and…there’s a drop-off here. And a slime pit.”

“A slime pit,” I repeat.

“Yep, the slime’s neon green, in case you’re wondering. There’s a pillar at the end of the pit and at the top is a rope with a handle. I’m going to guess that one of us has to go into the pit, climb the pillar, and pull on the rope to lower the drawbridge so that both of us can cross over.” “And I have to go in the pit,” I say as I picture what’s before us. “Because I’m the only one who can climb the pillar.”

“If it’s any comfort, the pit isn’t that deep. Maybe five feet.”

“Great. Fantastic. Amazing.” I face the pit, or where I think the pit is. Daniel gently turns me slightly left.

I take a deep breath and ease myself into the pit, and immediately,it sucks me in. Ugh. The slime oozes over me as I sink into it, my shoes slipping as I struggle to find purchase on the floor of the pit. When I’m finally standing, the slime comes up to my shoulders. My eighth graders would love this, but personally, this is my worst nightmare.

“Just go straight!” Daniel calls out. “You’ve got this.”

I’m still not over how surreal it is for Daniel to be cheering me on, instead of his own teammates. His voice has always carried during competition, loud and brash and confident. Once upon a time, I found it grating. I resented that he and his teammates were always hyping each other up, while I had to single-handedly drag my own team to victory, with only Cindy there to root for me.

But now, I don’t know. It’s nice.

“Stop!” Daniel shouts, and I try to, but end up splatting forward into the slime. Yech. “Okay, reach out directly in front of you. There are handholds on either side of the pole. Use them to climb up, and be careful. You’ve got about ten feet to go.”

I reach out and the handholds are exactly where Daniel said they’d be. I heave myself up and out, and the slime makes a gross sucking sound as it reluctantly releases me.

I pull myself up, one rung at a time. Daniel shouts encouragement. At one point, I suspect he breaks into a song and dance routine.

“Alice, you can reach the rope now. It’s just above your head!”

I wave my hand above my head, and once I feel the rope hit my hand, I grab it and yank. There’s a raucous crashing sound and the whoosh of something falling past me.

“That was the bridge!” Daniel calls. “You can climb back down now, but it’s probably faster if you jump.”

The seconds are ticking by, and I can tell that it’s going to take me way too long to climb down the pole. I think of Daniel, how sure he sounded when he said he trusted me. Everything is screaming at me not to jump, but we’re in a race against the clock and the other couples. If I want to stay in the game, I have to do it. I have to trust Daniel.

I turn around, take a deep breath, and jump.

The slime welcomes me with a horriblesquiiiiiisssshh.I flounder for a moment, but then I hear Daniel shouting directions.

“A little to your right! Just follow the sound of my voice,” he calls.

Wading through the slime as fast as I can manage, I make my way back to Daniel, who guides me to another rope that I use to pull myself out of the pit.

“You all right, Slayer?”

I nod. I’ve lost my left shoe, but I’ll deal with that later. Right now we need to get out of here.

Daniel takes my hand. It squelches in a way that is distinctly not romantic. “Now we run.”

He leads me across the bridge and through a series of twists and turns. I’m almost crushing Daniel’s hand now as we hurtle through the darkness, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Then we come to a stop.

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