Last Girl Standing

Kassandra was sipping on her drink, the nerves in her stomach making food look like a bad choice, when one of the boys walked over. He was cute, she’d give him that, but he was in that popular boy bad. She’d heard of the band, but didn’t pay them any attention as they weren’t really what she listened to. In her opinion they had sounded like a ‘90’s pop group and if she wanted to listen to that she’d grab a Backstreet Boys album or maybe even N’SYNC if she was desperate. So, she was a little disappointed when they walked out. She had been hoping for cute, normal guys.

Still, she wouldn’t write them off. This was the first time she had even heard their names, so Kassandra decided that even though she hadn’t like the one song on the radio, she might like the boys. Biting her lip, she smiled as the boy introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m Liam,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Kassandra,” she replied, taking his hand in hers. She was starting to feel a little woozy, but she had expected that since she wasn’t eating and hadn’t eaten since that morning.

“Pleasure to meet you.” He smiled politely and Kassandra couldn’t help but think he looked nice with a smile. He wasn’t the typical guy she would go for, with short hair that looked like it had been a buzz cut only a few months earlier and warm brown eyes, he almost looked too put together.

“Yeah, I guess,” she stated, her drink sloshing as she crossed her arms.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked on at the girl, like he wasn’t sure what to make of her response. After a moment he said, “So, are you looking forward to the first challenge?”

“I don’t know, it depends on what it is.” Taking another sip of her drink, she knew it was a bad idea. She got mean when she got drunk.

“Yeah, I’m a bit nervous about it,” he told her trying to keep polite conversation. “I really hope it isn’t anything too difficult.”

“That probably narrows the list down,” Kass said, her tone far harsher than she’d intended as a half-smile fell on her lips.

“I’m not sure I understand,” Liam replied, though the clenching of his jaw said differently. He could tell already that this little red head wasn’t someone he’d want for a date.

“I mean, you’re probably not super good at stuff other than singing, and dancing and whatever else boy bands do,” she told him, but was shocked by her own words. Looking away, she bit her lip, cursing herself for drinking. Still, she couldn’t help the words that came out of her mouth and the next thing she knew Liam’s tight smile had turned to a scowl.

“That was a little uncalled for,” Liam said, before noticing a tall blond by the food table. “Excuse me.”

Nodding as the boy walked away, Kassandra put down her drink. She felt like an idiot. The words had slipped from her lips in the worst way possible and now she was sure she was out of the running. Pushing her red hair behind an ear, she heard Tanisha calling everyone over. It was time for the first challenge.

“Alright, Ladies it’s time for the first challenge!” Tanisha said once everyone was gathered together. “This will decide who the Alpha Male is for the week.”

The girls all smiled excitedly as Tanisha began to explain the first challenge. While she started speaking strips of paper were handed out with pens, “Ladies, you will each write one unique thing about yourself on these slips of paper. The boys will then have to guess who wrote which. The boy with the most correct earns the title of Alpha Male. Let the Love Games begin!”

Kassandra bit her lip as she looked on at the blank paper. After thinking for a moment she wrote down her response and dropped it in a large box that sat on a table near the food. She doubted any of the boys would pick it to belong to her, but figured it would be fun to see anyway.

“Is this all of them?” Tanisha asked as the last girl dropped hers into the box. “Good. Now each boy is given three chances,” she started as each boy grabbed five slips of paper. “They will have to match them with the correct girls to win by tacking the slip of paper next to their picture on this board. Each boy has a different color tack.” Tanisha motioned to the board that had been brought out while they filled out the slips. “Are you ready boys?”

The boys nodded as they looked over the slips of paper. Liam tried to concentrate on the girls and figure out which slip belonged to which girl, but the task seemed nearly impossible. It was all going to be guess work.

“Alright, now the first boy up is… Louis!”

Louis grinned as he looked over the slips of paper and walked towards the board. The boy pinned his three without much hesitation before returning to the line of boys. Liam was next, the three slips held tight in his hands as he slowly walked over to the board. The first slip of paper read, “I’ve worn my grandmother’s necklace every day since her funeral”. A smile tugged at his lips as he scanned the photos for a girl with a necklace. There were three, the red head he had spoken to earlier, a blond with nice blue eyes, and a brunette whose necklace looked too new. Thinking back to his conversation with the short red head, he figured she wasn’t the kind of girl to do that and easily tacked the slip of paper beside the blond, whose name he read underneath the picture as Elizabeth Montgomery.

Kassandra frowned at his choice, but didn’t blame him. She had been so rude, it was no wonder he didn’t think she’d be sweet enough to do that. Subconsciously, she touched the old pearl pendant that her grandmother had given her; she hoped she’d get the chance to apologize.

Liam finished placing his slips of paper, the last one reading, “I’ve done gymnastics since I was five.” He placed that beside the picture of a brunette named Kelsie. Giving Tanisha a smile, he went back to the boys. Louis nudged him with his elbow and gave the boy a smile as Harry went to place his.

Zayn followed Harry, placing his slips in a concentrated way, then Niall. Once they were all finished, Tanisha handed each girl their name and told them to stick it next to their unique thing. A brunette with big blue eyes was quick to put ‘October Hudson’ next to the slip that said, “I’m afraid of pain.” Kassandra thought it was ironic because she could see a tattoo on the girls arm and typically tattoos were painful.

Kassandra pinned her name beside the necklace statement as another brunette put ‘Sadie Scott’ next to the slip that read, “I’ve been snowboarding since I was six.” Going back to their line, the girls watched Tanisha walk over to the board. She quickly counted the right answers and found that the highest score was two; that number belonged to Harry who had somehow matched Sadie to snowboarding and Michelle with having a twin.

“It looks like Harry Styles is this week’s Alpha Male!” Tanisha called out looking into a camera. “Which means he gets to choose this week’s dates and will put four of these lovely ladies up for elimination.” Turning to the girl, Tanisha smiled. “Good luck, girls.”