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“I don’t deserve this,” I whisper. “You should hate me. Not help me.”
She turns to me. “What?”
I blink and look at her. Did I say that out loud?
She’s working so hard to get me this win, and I need to tell her. I can’t stand there pretending to be her friend when I betrayed her.
“Chloe, there’s something—”
“Liam,” Viraj says as he and the judges gather around our station. They peer at our food with interest.
I spend a few minutes describing the dish, and they seem even more excited. I have no idea how all this is coming together when I can’t keep my thoughts focused.
It’s all because of Chloe. She’s keeping me afloat.
After the judges leave, Chloe clasps my hand. She thinks I’m distracted because I’m nervous. I wish that was the reason.
The minutes tick by and then the audience is counting down the seconds.
“Hands in the air!” Viraj instructs.
Chloe squeezes my hand, giving me a warm smile that kills me. “We did it,” she says. She holds out her fist for a bump. “Liam?”
Shaking my worries away before I throw the competition, I bump my fist into hers. “Thanks for being here.”
“You know there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Yeah. Far, far away from the best friend who has been lying to you for weeks.
I’m about to open my mouth, but then I take in the bright smile on her face. I can’t do it to her right now. I guess I didn’t realize that she loves being here because she loves to cook. Even though she doesn’t want a culinary career, she loves being in the kitchen.
So I’ll tell her. It just won’t be today.
Her smile drops when she glances at me. She takes my hand and sandwiches it between hers. “Don’t worry. You’ve got this.”
“We’vegot this.”
She smiles again, even brighter than before. My throat burns as I try to shove the guilt out of me.
The judges check out all the dishes before they announce the top three. “Sienna, Dusty, and Liam!”
Chloe and my friends and family explode in claps and cheers.
“But there can only be one winner who will receive an advantage in the elimination challenge.” Viraj takes a few minutes to ramp up the tension. “Liam!”
My eyes grow so huge, I swear they’ll pop right off. Chloe wraps her arms around me. “You did it! I knew you would!”
I bury my face in her shoulder. “All because of you. Thank you.”
Pulling back, she smiles. “You know I’d do anything for you.”
My throat burns again.
“As the winner of the first challenge, Liam has won ten extra minutes of cooking time,” Viraj says.
The audience erupts in more cheers.
I spot Sienna from Silverton Academy glaring at me. Seems like she’s my biggest competition, since we’ve been in the top three both rounds.
