She winced.
“Are you okay?” Tamsyn asked, looking at her with so much concern written all across her lovely face that Isla’s heartsqueezed tight. “Is your leg sore? Maybe we should get some ice. The doctor said we should keep the swelling—”
“I’m fine,” Isla interrupted. “If I start screaming, then you can panic.”
Tamsyn looked unconvinced.
Isla kissed her on the cheek and hoped that might be enough to calm her down. “I’m fine,” she murmured softly against her skin. “I promise.”
“You two are so cute it’s actually disgusting,” Frankie announced from behind them. She flicked something over Isla’s shoulder. Isla glanced down and spotted a peanut land in the grass beside the blanket. She picked it up and tossed it straight back over her shoulder without looking.
A very satisfying “ow” followed. “You got my eye,” Frankie protested.
“Sorry,” Isla said sweetly, though she wasn’t sorry. She glanced back at Frankie and winked, which had Frankie rolling with laughter. Together, the six of them—Isla, Tamsyn, Kendall, Frankie, Petra, and Nadine—made up the Final Council. This season, production had locked the council before the final challenge, which meant the six of them would decide which of the final pair deserved the title.
This would technically be Isla’s second time on the Final Council, and once again she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the responsibility.
Her gaze drifted back to the screen.
The final challenge was taking place in a wide, slow-moving creek that cut through the valley. Both teams had moments ago raced waist-deep in the water toward a floating platform tethered in the middle. Six balls were locked inside the crate at the center of the platform, each secured with knots. Each pair had to swim out, untie the knots, and retrieve the balls. Then they had to climb onto a narrow wooden throwing platform andtry to land each ball through a suspended metal hoop hanging several feet over the water. If they missed, the ball would fall into the water, which meant swimming back out to get it before trying again.
On the screen, Barra hurled a ball toward the hoop. It clanged loudly off the metal rim and splashed straight into the water.
Petra and Kendall howled.
Then Frankie said, “Aggie and Josie have landed four balls already. They have two—”
“One for Barra!” Vivian’s voice burst through the speakers as the screen showed the ball dropping cleanly through the hoop. Then another ball. “And one for Dominique.”
“Now they’re neck and neck,” Petra announced, leaning so far forward she would surely tip over. “What a comeback.”
And it was. Everyone agreed. Which only made watching the challenge that much more nerve-wracking. Isla wasn’t going to lie; she hoped above all hope that Barra and Dominique would make it to the final. Call her biased, but Aggie’s attempt at blackmail had been the last straw.
Aggie bent low and squinted at the hoop. Her ball sailed in a high arc. Too high. It didn’t even touch the hoop before it splashed into the water. Isla’s stomach did a tiny flip. And it flipped again when Barra grabbed a ball and swung her arm out. But it landed short and instead bounced off the front of the rim.
“Shit,” Tamsyn muttered beside Isla. Her arm was no longer slung around Isla’s shoulders. Instead, Tamsyn had her elbows pressing into her thighs and one hand clamped nervously over her mouth, like she might chew straight through her fingers if the challenge went on for much longer. “Barra’s only got one ball left,” she muttered against her palm. “And Dominique’s is in the water. Aggie and Josie each have two balls to throw.”
Isla could barely watch. Let alone reassure Tamsyn. She couldn’t even fathom moving to press a quick kiss to the corner of Tamsyn’s mouth. In fact, she couldn’t move at all. This was more nerve-wracking than waiting for an email after a casting call.
Then Barra’s arm arced, and the ball flew through the air... swish! It landed straight through the hoop. Aggie and Josie scrambled to pick up their balls—they had two, one each—from the basket. Aggie’s face was red with concentration. But then Dominique was back on the platform. Wow, how did she get there so fast? She grabbed the ball she’d just rescued from the water, and before Aggie or Josie could even think to get theirs in the air; she tossed hers toward the rim.
Clang. It hit, then teetered, then dropped straight through the hoop.
Silence fell over the grass patch. Even the lizard lurking near Tamsyn’s sandal paused as they waited for Vivian to announce the winners and end the challenge. Then the cameras cut to Vivian holding up an arm in that usual fashion.
“DOMINIQUE AND BARRA WIN!”
THE SENDING HAD NEVERlooked this grand before. Instead of the golden globes and sunlight filtering in through the trees, there were banks of bright studio lights flooding a much larger clearing. A stone pathway, dusted free from red dirt, snaked through the space. There were tall black speakers, a log bench where the Final Council sat, and the usual pedestal holding the cups. The two cups were plated with gold.
Dominique and Barra stood across from the Final Council cleaner than they had been in weeks. Their hair was washed, their faces scrubbed clean, with just a touch of makeup to makethem look more like themselves again. Dominique wore a fitted navy tank with clean utility pants, her long hair loose over her shoulders, and Barra had traded her usual island-worn layers for a crisp ivory button-down with dark cargo pants.
Isla couldn’t help thinking they complemented each other perfectly, but then shot that thought down like a clay pigeon. When Tamsyn had confided in Isla about Barra’s confession, she’d been shocked to her core. But also not. It kind of made sense. The way Barra had stared at Dominique like she was the rarest bird ever spotted. It was honestly a miracle Dominique hadn’t noticed.
“This is our fifth vote cast,” Vivian said, nodding toward Petra, who had just placed a stone in one of the two cups. She took her seat between Nadine and Frankie.
The six of them were sitting on a long log bench. A PA had taken Isla’s crutches because they were apparently an eyesore. So was wearing her boot, but no matter, Isla wore it like a battle scar.
Behind them, just beyond the halo of light, were Barra and Dominique’s friends and family. They all awaited eagerly and restlessly. Isla couldn’t blame them. She’d be nervous too.
