Page 28 of Hot Summer

After a long, weighted beat, her phone beeped again.

“ ‘We’ve decided to keep you a little more up to date.’ ”

The words themselves didn’t actually say that much. Didn’t even mean anything. But Cas’s brain was spinning with options.

Were they going to be put to the public vote earlier? They already had people vote for their favorite couples to eliminate people as they moved into the final weeks, but maybe they were going to have people voting earlier. More often. Fuck, was this what Mila was alluding to on their first day? Maybe it was individuals instead of couples this year.

In a way, that could make her strategy easier, especially if she managed to make herself even passably likable, but there was something to be said about the protection a couple could provide. If the person you were partnered up with was popular, that went a long way in terms of saving your skin, even if people didn’t love you.

Cas had seen it plenty of times on previous seasons. It was the reason that Adam—a literal cardboard cutout of a man—made it to the top two in Season 7.

Sienna’s phone pinged.

“ ‘This summer, the public is going to be voting for you—individually—every week... and your rankings will be posted on the television in the living room for all to see.’ ”

What. The. Fuck.

“They’re going to rank us? Weekly?” Lexi’s jaw was hanging open.

Before anyone could say anything else, though, Reece’s phone beeped, shattering the silence and immediately ratcheting Cas’s heart rate up to fifteen thousand.

“ ‘The first ranking was completed last night.... So let’s find out if you made a good first impression.’ ”

“Now?” Femi’s eyes were blown wide, disbelief all over his face.

“I guess we better hope we got a good edit,” Sienna said.

Cas felt like she was going to be sick.

Brad’s phone beeped.

“Go to the lounge for your first rankings ceremony now.”

The screen was already lit up when everyone walked into the lounge room, the Hot Summer banner with two numbered lists titled “Boys” and “Girls” underneath. The numbers themselves were blank, but even seeing them there was enough of a reminder of what was to come to make Cas’s palms sweat.

She knew that this night was being intentionally crafted for drama on the show, but Cas hadn’t anticipated how stressful it would feel to actually be living this in the moment. Separated from the dramatic music and the jump cuts between shocked faces, it could have felt like any other activity they had done so far. But the looming presence of the screen on the wall, the promise that her name was there, somewhere on the board...

She hadn’t had enough time. Hadn’t done enough. Hadn’t given the viewers enough of a reason to love her. Or, at least, to like her enough to keep her around until she found her “match” so she could sail into the finals.

They had barely finished getting settled on the sofa inside when Maddison’s phone beeped.

“ ‘Welcome to your first ranking. These ranks will not affect your couples.’ ” Maddison’s voice was shaking. “ ‘Only you can decide if your partner’s ranking matters.... Tomorrow night, you’ll be forced to decide whether you stick with your partner or, if they’re ranked low, twist and re-partner with someone else.’ ”

Cas could feel her heartbeat in her throat, her pulse hammering violently in a way that made it hard to breathe.

Ada’s phone.

Her hands were trembling as she lifted her phone off her lap, the light noticeably flickering across her face as she read. “ ‘The girls are going to learn their rankings first. Rankings will be revealed one at a time, starting with the girl in first place.’ ”

Ada swallowed hard, and after a glance at Cas, and then Sienna, she set her phone back down in her lap.

Despite the speed of the introduction messages, everything was almost eerily silent as they waited for the first ranking to be revealed. In spite of herself, Cas could hear the music they’d play over this moment in the edit, could almost see the way that they’d be jumping from face to face, desperate to get the most dramatic series of reaction shots possible.

Charlie’s phone beeped.

“ ‘The most popular girl this week, and first in the rankings is... ’ ” He stared at his screen for a long second, his brow furrowing. “There’s no name here.”

Cas exhaled. Tried to sound calm. “They’ll send it to you.”

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