Allison bowed gracefully as her song came to a close, relishing the applause from her audience. She had to hand it to Aspen, pulling this off was harder than she had imagined, considering she had to hide the whole time. She took her seat next to Nelly and Candy.
"You were great up there." Nelly gushed.
"Yeah, you were like Ji Soo, except Jazzier." Candy agreed twinkling like a little kid.
Allison knew she was great but she couldn't help but feel like their praise was more rehearsed than anything else. It was irking brooding over it but then again, nothing in reality TV show was...real, the sheer irony of it all.
"All in a day's work. Maybe one day, you guys can sing back up for me when I take the stage." she joked, laughing it off.
Nelly and Candy shared a look.
"Any clues about tomorrow's challenge?" she asked.
"I think they're going to go with the duet duel like in season 4," Nelly said. "They did it only for the one season but it was a fan favourite. No doubt they'll bring it back."
"But you don't have to worry about that now, you should be worried about the elimination ceremony tonight. It'll be the first this season. I can't wait to vote someone off!" Candy screeched earning her a few glares.
"That's dark." someone next to her said.
The girl from the precious day's challenges. She was in the R&B group. Mackenzie was it? She was in her signature teal flannel, tied around her waist, a pair of black denim shorts and a white tank top. She chewed animatedly, watching her through droopy lids.
"What am I supposed to pretend I like half the losers here? You're pitting band geeks against pop stars. That's like trying to make a kitten wrestle with a baboon." she sneered.
"And which one are you supposed to be?" someone else perked up. This was one of the 'band geeks' to whom she was directing her remark. He pushed his specs up the bridge of his nose, Darrel Cartwright. He was kinda cute in a dorky, Harry Potter kind of way. Freckles studded his cheeks but other than that, his face was clear. He nursed a music theory book between his fingers. Figures he'd be reading at a time like this. He blew the stray strands of hair away from his face, fixing her with a glower.
"Obvi the kitten, band geeks are uncultured ape-like creatures which deserve to roam in the wild."
"Yikes and I thought I was a bitch."Hayley Dollar piped up.
"I am so not a bitch!" Candy shrieked. "Right?"
Everyone sipped on their drinks looking at anything else but her.
"Ugh, c'mon Nelly. Let's get some sparkling water." she grumbled and stood up defiantly with Nelly on her heel.
Allison stifled a laugh and wiped a tear from her eye, but soon everyone was laughing as Candy watched through narrowed eyes.
"Allison Decora right?" a surfer guy spoke up from the table next to her. "Heard you've been making waves since you got here."
"Ironic since you're the bum in the tropical print shirt."
He ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair, leaning back in his chair.
"I like to keep things classy."
"Slap on a suit and maybe I'll believe you."
They shared a smirk. Mackenzie's brow shot up as she eyed the two of them in turn but soon enough, her attention was taken by something else and she swirled the drink in her hands.
"Spare the girl your one-liners Thruster." Mackenzie said. "Not all girls fall for them."
"Not all girls like girls Mack." he spat.
There was an awkward silence hanging in the atmosphere for a moment. Mackenzie kicked herself off her chair and made for the bar. Allison liked this guy already, he had this whole breezy and reckless vibe about him with just the hint of savage she needed to complement her deviousness.
"Dude, not cool." Darrel frowned and turned back to his book.
"Actually, she had it coming." Allison gave a little shrug. "Not our fault she can't take a joke."
Hayley Dollar turned around and soon she was chattering non-stop about her dreams for the prize money to a very disinterested Kalma and Naenia. They blinked slothfully, staring into space through dead eyes. The pair watched some members of the audience drowsily listen to Hannibal's gothic rendition of 'My Funny Valentine'. He brought with him his lucky sitar.
"How did I do?" he asked.
"Your sitar truly captured the morbid truth of the unfeasible expectations of the singer of his love." Kalma said. "You're my favourite work of gothic art Hannibal."
"Don't say things like that Kal, you almost made an expression."
Naenia eyed the two, blinked a few times and stared blankly ahead.
"Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see -egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be ready to fight the enemy you can see." she said, then she slid her headphones over her ears and lay face-down on the table.
"...Alrighty then." Allison nervously laughed. How long had it taken her to realise she was surrounded by weirdos?
"So, I know this is sort of against the rules but, once this whole season is wrapped up, why don't you and I go on a date? I could introduce you to my surfboard Maria. She's a real beauty." blondie asked with a winning smirk.
She didn't know whether to be charmed or offended, nevertheless, she played along.
"Should I be worried I've got competition?" she made a steeple with her fingers and cocked her head to one side smiling charmingly, toying with a lock of her dark hair.
He swallowed hard tearing his eyes away.
"Depends."
"On what?" she leaned further into the table.
He made no action to move away, bolstering her confidence as she gauged his face for a reaction.
"On whether you view a piece of carbon and epoxy as a threat."
"Uh-oh, what would Maria think if she heard you?" she whispered making a show of scanning the room for any potential listeners.
He chuckled in amusement.
"I'm Adrian." he raised a hand in greeting.
She shook it.
"Like Adrian Buchan, the surfer?" she asked.
She and Aspen both shared an interest for surfing, though Aspen was more into the surfing and Allison the surfers. They used to go to the beach with their parents and they were decent on a board but somewhere along the way, they fell out of the hobby.
"No, like Adrian Sommers. Looks like you know your onions." he sipped on some ale. "So, Australian surfers huh? Bummer, I'm American through and through." he chuckled.
"I like them for their build." she confessed. "But I cross the line at 'totally tubular' and 'radical'. So, as long as you don't call me 'grommet' or something we're cool."
"My friends call me Adrian Thruster. Hope I can some day live up to Ace." he stared off into space.
"Why Thruster?"
"Stick around long enough and you'll find out." he winked at her making her go scarlet.
A moment too soon, he was beckoned on stage searing whatever brief, crackling connection between them. She felt a warm fuzzy feeling in her stomach. Maybe she shouldn't have had any Quinoa before they left the beach house. She needed some ginger ale.
"That's my cue. See you around," he smirked. "Grommet."
"What a dork." Darrel commented as he turned a page.
"You're a dork." she shot back and held in a swoon.
"We're live in three...two..."
"Welcome back America to the show that makes AGT look like Dora the Explora. Twenty up-and-comers walked into Jazzy Jay's but only nineteen will live to see another day. In our first ever elimination ceremony, our beautiful contestants will have to vote someone off the show but here's the twist. One lucky contender will be safe from elimination this week depending on their performance." Lombardi announced.
The elimination ceremony was scripted to be in the backyard of the beach house, though one couldn't really call it that all things considered. It was more of a sandy expanse that happened to be beyond the beach house a few paces. The crew had done a stellar job of sprucing the place up with orange lanterns strung up and a make shift stands with plush cushions where the contestants were seated, neurotic and queasy.
Everyone was high-strung as they watched him whip out a golden envelope out of his lavender coat pocket with a dramatic flair.
"And the contestant safe this week is..."
Candy curled and uncurled her hair, Nelly nervously tapped her foot against the bleachers, Amanda, Hudson and Geraldine looked so full of themselves, so sure that one of them was the lucky winner, Hannibal, Naenia and Kalma were frozen save for their lazy eye movements. One of the producers had to wave some dark albums in front of them so they could at least turn their heads as confirmation that they weren't dead.
Deidre chewed on her nails not bearing the thought of being sent home on Day one. Darrel placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and they shared a knowing smile.
"Not much of a surprise on this one, Allison Decora!" he announced.
"You've got to be effing kidding me!" Candy erupted.
All cameras swerved towards her.
"...I can't believe I get to spend another magical week with you!" she gushed before she slowly sank back into her seat with a nervous laugh.
"Alright, contestants, cast your votes." he said and turning back to the camera. "Who remains to compete and who's gotta bear the bitter taste of defeat? Find out after the break."
Tensions were high as the contestants cast their votes. Though everyone had had their fill for dinner, dirty glares were still served aplenty. One by one, they scribbled down the name of the one contestant they couldn't wait to get rid of...afer the Decora girl. And soon, everyone had settled in their seat as the camera crew lined up their shots and Lombardi touched up his makeup.
Lombardi's brow shot skywards.
"Wow, someone get me some contacts because I did not see this coming."
"I'm sorry Nelly-" he started.
"What!" she sprung to her feet. "That's...that's impossible! I made sure everyone would vote for me. I was so nice to everyone! I have an amazing voice!"
Nelly Cartwright was a daughter of a former Hollywood producer. Her genre, was pop music which was the most popular music genre worldwide. The girl was a bona fide K-Pop connoisseur and she was like a walking music encyclopaedia, so of course she was a threat. That and she scared the living daylights out of Elizabeth but she was promising. If she could work on her endurance on stage, she'd be golden but she hesitated almost as if she'd always been so used to someone pulling the strings that when she got her first taste of freedom she was clueless on what to do.
"You do, but you were voted out because you didn't meet the expectations of our judges. I'm sorry." Lombardi remained neutral lest he be accused of having a favourite. He was already on thin ice with Pembroke as it was.
"Oh no, you'll be sorry. Every last one of you!" she yelled. "And you."
She swivelled around to face Candy. Candy raised her hands, clearly confused.
"Don't you even think for a second that I don't know you had something to do with this!"
She rounded on Allison, her expression, one of anger mixed with sadness and a hint of pity. "Allison, watch out for this reptile!" she warned.
"Someone get her off my set." Pembroke growled. "And who the hell let this cat loose!"
He stalked off with the blush cat clamped on the pant leg of his foot with his gangling assistant meekly trailing behind him, muttering something short of an obscenity under his breath.
"She'll ruin you! She's got-"
But before another word could leave her mouth, she was dragged away and the doors to the beach house slammed shut.
"Well, what an explosive conclusion to this week's episode!" Lombardi chuckled tugging nervously at his collar ."Tune in next time as we head to the Southern Soul Music Festival only on With Every Song."