I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand.
‘Cat got your tongue?’ Lily purred.
‘No,’ I said, ‘but you’re going to.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m going to get your tongue?’ she said. ‘I’m flattered, but I’m not interested.’
‘Fuck off, Lily, you know what she means,’ Hero Nurse Dylan said.
‘Please don’t swear,’ the AD said. ‘Go again, please.’
Ignore them. Ignore them. They weren’t there. They weren’t there.
‘Shut up, Lily, you know what she means.’
‘I know you didn’t mean to push me in the pool, Lily,’ I said, clenching my shaking hands at my side.
‘It’s Lily Fireball.’
‘Whatever. I know I wasn’t your target. But’ – I took a step forward, and blessed Jenifer for the strength all that yoga had given me, because even though it felt like my legs were going to buckle under me, they didn’t – ‘youdidpush me in the pool, and you don’t know what you’ve started. You don’t know who you’re messing with.’
‘Oh, honey,’ Lily said, smirking again, ‘I don’t care.’
I opened my mouth to reply.
‘Juliets!’ Z announced, striding out onto the pool deck. ‘That brings an end to the First Night Party!’
‘What?!’ I said. ‘No, please, Z. I need… I just need—’
‘I’m sorry, Cece, but I’m afraid you missed your window!’ Z said. ‘For those of you who didn’t get a chance to talk to Dylan, you better hope you made a good first impression on the driveway, because the next time you see him will be at the Necklace Ceremony!’
‘Fuuuuuuuuck,’ I groaned.
‘Please don’t swear,’ the AD said. ‘If we could shoot that reaction again, please?’
Murray was arguing quietly but fiercely with another producer as they shepherded us into the Necklace-Ceremony room. ‘… Fucking fifteen minutes, Suzette,’ he growled.
‘You know the timetable,’ the other producer replied. ‘We’re running out of night.’
They lined us up on little bleachers like we were going to take school photos. I was beside Amanda, at the end on the top left. They’d had the good sense to put me about as far away from Lily as possible, who was on the bottom right, her giant yellow train coiled around her feet like a tail.
I couldn’t believe I’d been stupid enough to fall for her shit. What had I told myself in the limo? Don’t get tangled up with the villain! That’s how you get eliminated!
Like she was summoned by my thoughts, Lily looked up at me.
I glared back at her. If there was the slightest chance I could kill her with the power of my mind alone, I was going to give it a go.
Her eyes flickered over to the cameras – checking they weren’t on her, I realised – and then back to me. ‘Sorry,’ she mouthed.
What?
I didn’t have time to dwell on it. ‘Good evening, Juliets,’ Z said. ‘Welcome to your first Necklace Ceremony. This is an important part of theMarry Me, Julietprocess. If our Romeo feels like you have a connection and he could see a future with you, he’ll give you one of these broken heart necklaces, in recognition of the fact that your heart might be the other half of his. If he doesn’t, you’ll leave the Villa tonight.’
Dylan walked into the room. I did my best to steady my breathing, trying to channel Jenifer.
Sure, my intro had been garbage. Sure, I hadn’t talked to him at the First Night Party. Sure, I’d got tangled up with the villain, when everyone knew that was a mistake.
But it would be good TV, right? That’s why Murray had set me up in that interview to take on Lily in the first place! Surely they wouldn’t let Dylan eliminate me if I was good TV?
