Addison smirks as she pulls her hair into two girlish pigtails at the top of her head. “Just put it on. You’ll look fine.”
“Easy for you to say,” I mutter.
I don the housecoat, and when I emerge, Irina hands me a pair of bunny slippers. “You match,” she says, pointing to Addison, who is, yes, wearing bunny slippers, but on her it’s cute in a sweet way. Whereas I look like someone’s aunt with twelve too many cats.
“I can’t wear these,” I say as we walk back inside. “I’d rather go barefoot.”
Irina shrugs. “Suit yourself.”
Then I remember what Sara Claire said about that politician and her feet, and I stop in my tracks to slide the slippers on.
In the ring, Druscilla and Holly help us into headgear and pads.
“Any tips?” I ask Druscilla.
“Go for the legs. Knock her down and then throw your body on top of hers. You look like you’ve got some muscle. She looks like she could pop an implant, so use that to your favor.” She stops herself. “Not that there’s anything wrong with implants. My girlfriend has fake boobs and—”
I laugh. “It’s okay. I get it.” I nod. “Thanks.”
“Do you like this girl?” she whispers.
I pause for a second and shake my head. “Not at all.”
“Even better,” she says. “Think about all the reasons why you can’t stand her and let the pillow do the rest.”
She leans in. “We had to sign all kinds of waivers about what we can and can’t say before they hired us, so I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m a fan.” She winks.
I grin, and she shoves a mouthpiece into my mouth. “Kick her ass.”
“You got it, coach,” I try to say through the plastic in my mouth, but it sounds more like you got a roach.
Druscilla crawls through the ropes and grabs me a pillow. “Your weapon, my lady.”
In the other corner, Addison bounces, the pigtails dancing around her shoulders as her lips curl into a snarl.
Oh yeah. I can totally do this.
“Ladies,” Tony says into his microphone in a smarmy voice. “I want a clean fight. No scratching or hair pulling. I don’t want to see fists, elbows, knees, or feet flying. Pillow contact only. First girl to pin for ten seconds wins.”
We both nod, and I think Addison actually grunts at me.
Tony steps out of the ring, and the bell barely finishes ringing before Addison lunges toward me and takes the first swing right to my head. I double backward and fall into the ropes. The crowd lets out a low ohhhh.
Not exactly how I’d hoped to start this match.
“Geez, Addison,” I say through the mouth guard.
She shrugs. “I’m just playing by the ru—”
With the pillow clenched in my fist, I hit her hard, right in the stomach, causing her to stumble out of her bunny slippers. “Me too,” I tell her.
She lets out a wild growling, shrieking sound and runs right for me. At the very last second, I jump out of the way, leaving her to bounce against the ropes.
Her face is red and angry. Now I’ve done it. Now I’ve really pissed her off.
We circle each other, waiting for the other to make a move or show the slightest sign of vulnerability.
But then I remember what Druscilla told me about using my feelings toward Addison, and it all comes boiling to the surface. The way she called me brave, like I deserved a cookie for having the nerve to be a fat girl in a pretty dress. The way she uses all the girls in the house like chess pieces. The way she acts like this competition was over before it even started.
I let out a guttural Viking-style scream and run at her full force. She ducks a moment too soon, thinking that I’m going for her head, but instead I slide across the mat and take her out at the knees just like Druscilla said I should. Before she has a second to move, I throw my body down on top of her. She wiggles beneath my weight, but Tony is already mid-count.
“Seven, six, five…”
“Get off me, you cow!” Addison says just loudly enough for me to hear.
I grin down at her as I take out my mouthpiece. “Just playing by the rules. Moo, bitch. Moo.”
“We have a winner!” Tony Danger calls. He pulls me to my feet, and I hold out a hand for Addison, but she ignores me.
I bounce with excitement. I feel like I could punch a hole through the roof.
“What’s your name, girly?” he whispers.
“Cindy,” I tell him.
“Ladies and gents,” he says in his announcer voice, “I give you Cindy Clawford!”
“Cindy, Cindy, Cindy, Cindy!” the crowd begins to chant.
Henry steps up into the ring with a dozen roses in his arms and pulls me in for a hug. “You’re quite the wild card,” he tells me as he hands me the flowers and presses a kiss to my cheek.
I turn my head so that his lips graze mine. “You like the granny look?” I ask breathlessly. I feel on top of the world, like I’ve just solved global warming, fixed the health care system, and I still have time to read a good book and put on a face mask before bed. I am invincible.
“Very subversive,” he says, his eyes tilted down toward mine and my body still pressed against his.
I’m not a first-move kind of girl. Not because I don’t want to be or because I think there’s anything wrong with it, but because I’ve never been courageous enough. The fear of rejection has always pinned me in place, waiting for the guy to go out on a limb first. But I’ve come all this way, and if I go home tomorrow night without having kissed Henry Mackenzie, I’ll wonder for the rest of my life what could have been.
I tilt my head just a millimeter closer, and just like that, our lips are pressed together. His mouth moves effortlessly against mine, and he pulls me in closer to him, wrapping his arm around my waist. My mouth opens for a brief second, and it’s just enough for his tongue to dance against mine.
The crowd cheers, and we pull away from each other slowly, our lips touching until the very last second, like we’re two intoxicated teenagers drunk on each other.
Back at the house, I take a shower while Addison announces that she’s moving into Chloe’s room.
“I guess she couldn’t handle the heat,” Sara Claire says when I return wrapped in my towel.
“Guess not.”
“Pretty steamy moment there with you and Henry, huh? You know,” she says, “it’s a competition and I want to stay here for as long I can, but I want us to be friends too.”
I nod as I sit down on the edge of my bed. “I want that too.”
“We just gotta be real with each other about the fact that we both want the same thing.”
“God, this is so weird,” I tell her.
She’s about to respond, when the doorbell echoes through the house.
The date invitation. It’s here.
We both run out the door and down the stairs, and I nearly slip on the last step, but I’m still first to the door.
I swing it open and find Mallory waiting there with an envelope. I take it and slam the door in her face, immediately feeling a camera at my back.
“Rude,” I hear her say on the other side.
“Sorry!” I call.
Well, I hope being on television straight out of the shower in a tiny towel is on the Before Midnight bingo card, because here I am with two cameras on me and a crowd of girls circling me.