Page 76 of Caught in a Bad Fauxmance
“Guess I’m out of practice,” Mr. Cooke announces once he’s pulled himself onto his knees, his striped polo covered in sand.
Henry and Julian come to his aid, Henry hoisting him up while Julian wipes off his sunglasses. As entertaining as it was watching Mr. Cooke tumble like a five-year-old, all that matters is his score.
“Five feet eight inches,” the volunteer announces. “Point goes to Team Five, the Báezes.”
“I know that’s right!” Maya shouts, and launches herself into Dad’s arms.
We indulge in a round of hugs, pats on the back, and sips of water before hustling over to the next event. First place waits for no one.
We’re off to a strong start, nabbing first place in both thelogic puzzle challenge and the memorization code-breaking challenge. Starting with our specialty gives us an early lead, but our winning streak falters when it comes to the physical. The Seo-Cookes blow us out of the water, literally, during the kayak race. They’re so far ahead of us that by the time Andy crosses the finish line, they are already downing Gatorades.
As expected, the newcomers don’t take the competition nearly as seriously as we do. They laugh and giggle while hopping across the grass for the three-legged race, not even bothering to get up when they inevitably stumble. Most of them are satisfied with sitting out and watching us battle instead.
And then there’s Liam.
Even without formal training, he’s a force to be reckoned with. His team isn’t half bad either. Whatever he’s bribing his employee teammates with—PTO or straight-up cash—it’s working. They land a few first- and second-place wins, narrowly edging us out of second place in the egg toss. We try not to psyche ourselves out too soon, focusing on doing our best without checking the scores.
Dad lets out a mighty cheer as the referee declares Andy the winner of the marshmallow-eating competition, with a record-setting total of eighteen marshmallows in two minutes. “Let’s go! That’s my boy!”
“For once your bottomless-pit stomach comes in handy.” Maya shakes Andy’s shoulder before heading off to the bulletin board where the schedule is posted to figure out where we need to head next.
“I don’t feel so good,” Andy mumbles, bracing himself on the emergency vomit bucket.
Isabel grimaces, kneeling down beside him and pressing her water bottle to his forehead. Andy’s turning an unfortunate shade of green that makes my stomach churn too. If he’s down for the count this close to the end of the day, we might be screwed.
Suddenly, Maya reappears beside us, dripping sweat and heaving for breath. “So, I don’t want to freak anyone out.” She pauses to brace her hands on her knees and take deep gulps of air. “But we need to win this next event.”
I hand her my water bottle once she starts fanning herself. “Wasn’t that always the goal?”
“No, wehaveto win.” She kneels down beside Andy, holding up her phone. “I know I said we wouldn’t check, but I couldn’t help it….”
It’s a photo of the leaderboard. My curiosity gets the better of me, despite my gut instinct to look away. The Seo-Cookes are in first, with us and Liam’s team tied for second. But the Seo-Cookes’ lead is slim, just two points separating them from us.
“If we get anything less than first, we’re done for. But if we do, and they get second—”
“We’ll be tied,” I finish for her, my stomach sinking as it slowly dawns on me that the 5K is the one thing standing between us and losing our cabin. And our fastest runner is turning green.
Across the field, Stella and Julian stand shoulder to shoulder, whispering intently, their expressions unreadable but borderline upset. Before I can pretend not to notice them, Julian’s eyes meet mine. My cheeks burn as I quickly turn back around, ashamed of breaking the composure I’d beenso proud of maintaining. It’s easy to avoid Julian in the midst of a competition, but resisting the chance to sneak peeks during downtime is harder.
“You okay?” Maya asks while I stretch my arms out over my head to shake off any lingering thoughts of Julian.
She’s asked me that same question dozens of times since I came home in tears yesterday. The answer remains the same, but it holds a different weight on my tongue.
“Yeah.”
Even though it’s not true, it feels less like a lie and more like a promise.
When we’d first signed up for the Winter Games, having me run the last leg of the 5K seemed like a good plan. With Andy up first, followed by Maya, they’d be able to secure us a solid enough lead that even slowpokes like me and Dad should be able to clinch us a win. Now that we’re here, I’m not so sure.
A handful of contestants must have dropped out after the last event, given the thinner crowd waiting at our designated mark in the woods just outside the park. Less competition is ideal, but having Stella positioned right beside me definitely isn’t.
I start a fresh round of stretches while we wait, working some life back into my muscles. As nervous as I’m feeling, we don’t have room for negativity. Wehaveto win this, or we can kiss first place goodbye. No pressure. I’m totally calm and definitely not freaking out.
“Hey,” Stella says as she approaches me.
Okay maybe I’m freaking out a little.
“Uh. Hi.” I give her a once-over for weapons. It doesn’t look like she has anything on her, but I brace myself for an attack anyway.
