Page 32 of The Cuffing Game
Mia flung her phone across the room.
Sure, she’d had the same exact thought when she watched their date. But thinking something to herself was one thing—having the entire world agree was another.
Since there was still some time left before she had to play host again, Mia returned to bed and checked the group chat she had with her family. Her mom and her sisters had sent a bunch of cute photos from yesterday. She smiled as she looked through the snapshots of Cara and Lola wearing matching Christmas pajamas, Marie flipping off the mall Santa, and Jeannette and their mom holding up their hands to their foreheads in dramatic fainting poses while surrounded by groceries from Costco and H Mart.
Someone knocked on the bedroom door.
“Mia, are you in there?” Damien called. “We start in twenty.”
“Yup, I know!” She stood up and took a deep breath.
The time flew by as Mia got dressed and did makeup—skipping the eyeliner this time. Then she was back at thefirepit, in front of the cameras and the eight remaining contestants.
Some people, like Tiana and Caleb, looked well rested. While others looked worse for wear. Noah in particular, although still his usual polished self, had noticeable dark circles under his eyes.
Did he not get any rest?Mia wondered.
“Hi, everyone,” she said. “Hope you’re all having a good day so far. The viewers are loving the show. Last time I checked, we were already at ten thousand views! The first episode ofThe Cuffing Gameis already the most-watched video on the SPC YouTube channel.”
Every contestant except Noah gasped in excitement. Instead of looking pleased, he narrowed his eyes.
“Are these all Marlon students?” Celine asked.
Mia shook her head. “I doubt it, since anyone can watch the videos on YouTube. Unless half of the entire undergraduate population at our school really did watch the first episode, which would be amazing but unlikely. It’s amazing, especially for the first episode! People are invested already, which leads me to the random event for Day Two: online voting. On the page for the first episode, the viewers were asked to vote for their favorite cuffle so far.”
Matías pulled at his hair. “Wait, people voted for us? Based on the conversations we had yesterday?”
Mia gave him an apologetic smile. “Yup, sorry we didn’ttell y’all in advance because we didn’t want it to affect your behavior.”
The contestants nervously glanced at each other, and then at Mia.
Her stomach twisted. She was still coming to terms with what she had to say next. But in the end, she knew she had to keep things strictly neutral and professional. No one could know her real feelings about the voting results.
“We asked viewers to rank their favorite cuffles, and this pair won over people’s hearts with their amazing chemistry,” she said, neatly summarizing what she’d read in the comments. “Congrats, Noah and Celine, you two won today’s random event!”
She was going to leave it at that, but behind the cameras, Alex beckoned to the two contestants.
Begrudgingly, Mia added, “Please come stand next to me.”
“Yay, Noah, way to go!” exclaimed Matías.
Everyone else cheered as Celine and Noah got up from their seats. Mia had known what was coming, but nothing could have prepared her for how absolutely awkward it was to stand in between her crush and her roommate. As the cameras panned from Noah to Mia to Celine, and back again, she wondered what she’d done to deserve this highly specific and laughably tragic experience of having to third wheel on her own show.
Keep smiling,Mia reminded herself. Her face muscles ached.
“Noah and Celine,” she said. “As a reward for being the crowd favorite, you two are eligible for a bonus random event: an intimate second date by the firepit tonight.”
“Yay!” Celine jumped up and down, clapping her hands.
Noah, however, looked surprisingly... constipated. Or at least, that was the best way Mia could describe the look on his face. It was jarring to see himlose control of his expression on camera. She wondered if she should warn him but decided against it. Since she was currently being filmed too, she had to remain neutral.
And it was deeply satisfying to see Noah look ugly for once.
Maintaining her bright and cheery smile, Mia turned to the other contestants.
“While Noah and Celine are doing their fireside date, the rest of you are welcome to mingle like you did last night,” she said. “While Kallie and I film the date, Damien and Alex will come around to record your conversations.”
Mia paused for dramatic effect.
