Page 220 of Fighting the Forbidden

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Molly

“All right!” Kyla punches her fist in the air. “Let’s watch Griff kick some butt!”

“Woo!” Darcy and Hayden answer.

“Or watch him embarrass himself more thoroughly,” Eraser says in a dry tone.

“Hush,” Ella teases, snuggling close to him on our couch.

Remy glares at the television. “This show is such bullshit.”

I agree but don’t want to criticize Griff. Especially to my brother. Remy’s been livid since the show aired the footage of me. Every week, they’ve flashed my face on the screen at some point—no doubt to remind the audience of Griff’s poor, pathetic teenage girlfriend pining away for him in our small, sheltered, upstate town. They got a lot of mileage making fun of the photo I sent with Griff. He didn’t seem to care what anyone said, though, and left it right on his nightstand. At least that was something.

I understand it’s a television show. I can’t even call it a reality show because so far, nothing that’s aired has anything to do with the real Griff or our relationship.

I miss him so much.

I graduated near the top of my class, but the way this show portrays me, I look like I don’t have two brain cells to rub together. Sweet, naive, virginal, and dumb.

Some of the charming comments I’ve read online scroll through my head. He probably cheats on her all the time. How pathetic. She’s the kind of girl you marry, not fuck. Bet she’s a starfish in the sack. She’s kinda cute but probably dumber than a bag of hair. If it’s not the too-stupid-to-live narrative, other people say I’m probably a whore, sleeping my way through town while Griff’s “working hard” to earn money for us. I can’t win.

Remy's threatened to lock up my phone in the gun safe in his room at night so I don’t stay up until dawn, doom scrolling for shitty comments about myself.

Worse, I know everyone in this room has read that stuff. Even if they don’t believe it, and they’re on my side, I want to claw my way out of my own skin from the humiliation.

I don’t want to watch this week’s episode. But I can’t not watch it, either. And I don’t want to be alone when I do.

I sit on the floor with my back to the couch. Kyla drops down next to me. Hayden sits above me, absently weaving her fingers through my hair. It’s oddly comforting.

“How about a French braid?” Hayden asks in a chipper tone.

As if a different hair style could cheer me up.

“Sure,” I mumble.

Darcy takes up the old love seat, farthest from the television, and scrolls through her phone. I hope she’s not going to read out every crappy thing that gets posted about me again. Remy’s in his usual recliner, but he turns to stare at me for a minute.

“You sure you want to watch this?” he asks. “We can catch it later.” Sounds like he wants to watch the episode first to make sure nothing in it will upset me.

“I’m not a baby.” I pout, negating my words. I hug my knees to my chest and rest my chin on them.

“Stay still,” Hayden murmurs, tugging on my hair.

The opening begins with a recap of the previous episodes. The guy Griff seemed to be friends with who got booted in the second episode flashes on the screen. Griff’s scowl burns into the camera. God, he’s so handsome it hurts to look at him. Voice-overs explain past events. The show’s a mishmash mess. One week it seems to be focused on fighting. Venom spoke rather passionately about his martial arts training during the first episode. The next, it focused on the dramatic introduction of a bunch of ring bunnies to the show. Griff was hyped as “the bad boy trying to stay faithful to a good girl” back home. “Will he resist the tempting Kiki?” was flashed across the screen as she put her claws on his chest.

“Stay mentally strong. You can resist any temptation,” Woolly said to Griff.

Was Griff really fighting temptation? Kiki is pretty. Mature and stylish, I guess. A lot of shots seem to be of her staring at Griff from afar. Or Griff working out.

The other contestants all seem to have their assigned roles. Deadass is the delusional douche canoe who no one takes seriously and everyone in the house seems to hate. Naptime’s the one with the catch phrase. It’s not even a good one. He just yells, “time for a nappy nap” every time he lands a punch.

Venom’s the fatherly advisor, even though I don’t think he’s that much older than Griff. Woolly’s the spiritual, hippie guy who tosses out motivational quotes. Rumbling Thunder’s a judgmental goody-two-shoes who critiques everyone’s moves—whether they’ve asked for his opinion or not. The girls seem to have their own characters assigned to them too. One wants to be a singer. Another one’s the quirky, not-like-other-girls girl. Kiki’s presented as an empty-headed bimbo but in one of the solo interviews, she dropped the airhead act and talked about wanting to open her own nail salon. Someone driven. Who wants to run a business doing something she loves—like Griff.

It bugs me. It bugs me a lot.

The rest of the ring girls are some variation of slutty temptress. If anything, I guess the show’s equally insulting to everyone in every way possible.

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