Page 56 of The Cuffing Game
Celine squealed and ran to him, linking arms with him without even a second glance at Noah.
Noah suppressed a groan.
Yeah,he thought.I’m not getting her back.
After yesterday, he had a feeling something like this would happen. Celine just didn’t seem that interested in him anymore. Plan A it was. He had to warn Celine as soon as possible, since Mia wasn’t even looking at him today. For whatever reason.
Violet raised her hand. “I’d like to go next. If that’s okay?”
Mia nodded, and Violet pointed right at Noah.
“I choose Noah,” she said. “Hi!”
Noah blinked. Violet shyly waved at him, and a million thoughts flew around in his head like a swarm of bees. But he still managed a friendly smile back. The last thing he wanted was for Violet to be collateral damage. “Hi.”
He linked arms with the new girl. Violet was shorter than both Mia and Celine, so the height difference was a bit of an adjustment. But with her long brown curls and button nose, she was cute. All the girls were. And now, Noah had to somehow go on a date with one girl while trying to keep the other two safe from a guy who was essentially a ticking time bomb.
Noah’s stress levels were through the roof.Pretty girlswouldbe my downfall,he thought.And an overzealous wannabe.
Carlos stepped up to choose next. He wrapped his arms around his head in a gesture of distress as he looked at Shirin and Tiana, like he was having a nervous breakdown.
“Okay,” he said. “Full disclosure, I was someone’s crush, so I didn’t come into this show with a crush of my own. So I have to choose between you two on the spot, saving one while possibly eliminating the other. This is the worst day of my life.”
“That guy is weird,” Violet whispered to Noah. “But in a good way. He’s funny.”
Noah nodded in agreement. “You should have seen him when he got eliminated on Day One,” he whispered back, grateful for this small moment of humor. It was a nice break, and hope fluttered in Noah’s chest. If only he could just freely hang out with Violet without having to worry about Kyle. Or Celine and Mia.
Carlos let out a noise of frustration. “Okay, I hate to be doing this, but it’s better than eeny, meeny, miney, mo. Pick a number between one and twenty.”
“Ten,” Shirin said almost immediately.
From beside her, Tiana grinned. “Youwouldpick ten.”
“It’s the halfway point,” Shirin replied with a shrug. “What do you pick?”
Tiana looked at Carlos and said, “I’ll go with eight. My favorite number.”
Carlos glanced from Tiana to Shirin, and then back again. “It was seven.”
Tiana and Carlos linked arms, and Shirin said, “Goodbye, world, I guess.”
She sounded casual enough, but there was an edge to hervoice that made Noah cock his head. To add to the intrigue, from behind the cameras, Mia bit her lip, like she did whenever she was worried. What was going on?
Out of all the girls in the game, Shirin was the most mysterious to him. For some reason, she seemed to not like him almost right off the bat. Which was fine, but Noah couldn’t figure out her role in the show at all. The girl had mostly only cuffed with or talked to her friends. Noah wasn’t sure if she was even here to date.
“Okay!” Mia said loudly, making Noah jump. “There we have it. Our three new cuffles for the day. Shirin, feel free to tag along with the crew for now. Everyone else, have fun but keep safe, since there might be wild animals in the woods. And remember, whatever you do today will affect the viewers’ opinions of you. During our live streamed finale at four p.m. Pacfic Time on the twenty-third, the winning cuffle ofThe Cuffing Gamewill be determined through audience voting.”
“No pressure,” Violet said.
“I don’t know which I’m more terrified of, the wild animals or the live stream,” Noah deadpanned.
Violet giggled, a bright bell-like sound that made him smile.
Alex came by to hand out walkie-talkies to the other crew members. “I’ll be staying behind at the lodge to edit, so at least one person will have cell service at all times,” they announced. “So if there’s an emergency, please findone of the other crew members and we’ll call for help.”
Everyone nodded. Noah was glad that, as always, the crew seemed to know what they were doing.
Mia, who wasstillrefusing to acknowledge Noah’s existence, expertly led them through the woods. As he stared at the back of her pink puffer jacket, Noah was reminded of the late-night conversation they had earlier this week.
