Flavor of the Week

Hannah rubbed her sweaty palms together, gnawing on her lip as she handed her study sheet to the intern that was coming around to collect them. She hoped that she’d remember everything, since the actresses weren’t allowed to see the cards again. They either nailed it, or they flopped.

As she got to her feet, mimicking the girls around her, she wondered if they would get kicked off for messing up. Her instincts told her that they probably could, but the producers would have to be subtle about it, leading and hinting to the boys that the girl could not be kept for the next week.

The actresses filed down the hallway and descended a flight of stairs into a fairly large room with a movie screen taking up one of the walls, a computer and projector set up in front of it. Immediately, Hannah’s curiosity began to rev, but she didn’t have much time to try to solve the riddle before an attractive man entered, wearing a pair of dark-wash jeans, a lime green button-down, and a black suit jacket over it.

“Welcome to The Love Direction,” the man greeted with a large smile, gesturing widely as he turned. “I’m your host, Jay Kingsley, and this,” he turned to point at the giant movie screen, “is your first challenge.”

The girls are started to clap with excitement, whispering back and forth in hurried voices. Hannah, remembering her role as The Comedian, put her thumb and index finger in her mouth and whistled loudly, making the girl next to her giggle.

“Without further ado, let’s welcome in the main attraction.”

The cheering this time was much louder, with Hannah and one other girl whistling far above the rest of the din, as the five boys filed in. They looked familiar to Hannah, of course, considering that they were among the most famous people in the world, but it was funny how she’d never given them much thought or attention until that moment. They’d never served her any purpose, and yet, they were about to become the most important people in her life, the ones that determined her entire future.

The five boys were all smiling kindly, appraising each of the girls carefully as they got comfortable behind the five podiums that were prepared for them. They were already choosing their favorites, which ones they were going to go after. It was clear in their eyes.

Hannah straightened her shirt and stood up a little taller to make her boobs stick out so she looked more desirable. She couldn’t take any chances with the game show. She had to win.

“So here’s how it’s going to work,” Jay explained, his face and voice still cheery. Hannah could almost see the demo getting shown on television screens around the country, so the people sitting on their sofas at home could understand better what the challenge entailed, while the contestants didn’t have that advantage. “We have all your audition tapes here, which we’re going to show on the screen behind me, where all of your faces have been blurred out, and your voices have been distorted. After we show each clip, which will be only fifteen seconds long, the boys will have to guess who they think the video belongs to using the whiteboards and marker they have on the shelf in front of them. Each of you will get a nametag to help them remember who’s who, and whichever band member has the most correct answers after all the clips have been shown will be able to choose his team first. Everyone ready?”

The boys nodded while a little minion whom Hannah didn’t recognize hurried in front of the girls, giving them a “My Name Is…” tag with their names already written on them. As the first video started to play, the contestants peeled the stickers off the backing and stuck it onto their shirts, just above their chests, where they could easily be read.

“Hi,” a deep voice echoed through the room. “My name is *beep*, and I’m definitely the type of girl who likes to hang out with the boys on the weekends and skateboard. I’ve actually gotten quite good at it, so if you guys want any lessons, just let me know.”

The screen went black again, and all the boys turned to appraise the group, squinting to see all the girls lined up in front of them, probably trying to figure out who looked the most like a tom boy.

“Okay, boys, reveal your answers!”

They each lifted their boards before checking each other’s answers. The blonde, Niall, groaned, probably because he figured he was wrong, while Harry, the curly-haired one, looked quite smug about his response.

“Louis and Zayn both guessed Candace, Harry guessed Sabrina, Niall guessed Rory, and Liam guessed Tessa,” Jay announced, reading the word scribbled on each of the boys’ boards. “Will the girl who made this video please step forward?”

Hannah looked around at the other girls, copying what the rest of them were doing, trying to build up the suspense, before a girl with extremely long and straight dirty blonde hair stepped forward.

“YES!” Harry exclaimed, seeing that he’d been the only one who got the right answer. The number one got put next to his name on the scoreboard while a tech person readied the next video and pressed play.

Clip after clip was brought up on the screen, and one by one, the number of girls dwindled from fifteen to ten to seven. And then Hannah’s ears perked up as she heard words she recognized getting played back at her, although her voice sounded slow and manly, without any smidge of the slight Vietnamese accent she had.

“Hello! *Beep* here, and I’m from San Francisco, California. Not to sound like a bad EHarmony ad, but I really love to have a good time, crack jokes, and laugh. My favorite shows of all time are definitely Friends and Seinfeld.”

The boys immediately started scribbling on their boards, barely taking a second to appraise the girls. And when they turned their boards around, they all had the same answer: Claire.

“Will the correct girl step forward?” Jay asked, one side of his mouth twitching to turn into a smirk, as he knew that the boys had all been painfully off.

Hannah stepped forward, turning toward the group with her hands on her hips, saying in a teasing voice, “God, you all suck.”

They laughed as Harry leaned forward and said in a tone that mimicked hers, “You should take it as a compliment. Maybe we just don’t think you’re funny-looking.”

She shot a look at the beautiful brunette next to her and pointed. “And you think she is?”

“Open mouth, insert foot,” Niall mumbled, though his voice was not at all hushed, thanks to the microphone hooked to the top of his bright red t-shirt.

“Okay, Hannah, join the rest of the girls whose tapes have already been played. None of the boys get a point on that one. And…cue the next one!”

Soon enough, all the girls had been cleared, with all the boys getting points on the last one, obviously. The only remaining contestant, who was either actually incredibly shy or one of the best actresses Hannah had ever seen, blushed like crazy over the fact that she was the last one left.

“So that means Harry’s the winner, with seven points!” Jay exclaimed with dramatic enthusiasm. “In this game, that means that you can pick each of the teams. Once every boy has his teams, go over to the bucket in the corner and take out one medal for each of the girls. These medals will accumulate with the girls each time they switch teams, and more medals are a good thing. So, Harry, go ahead!”

He twisted his beautiful full lips and narrowed his green eyes as he appraised the group. “Okay, on my team, I want Megan, Ava, and Hannah.”

The Vietnamese girl’s head shot up at the sound of her name. How was she picked among the first group? Had she made that good of an impression? Had he actually fallen for her funny act?

She was so busy spacing out that she missed a couple of the group assignments, picking back up where Harry said, “…And Rory on Niall’s team. Louis’ team will be…Georgia, Diana, and Juliette. And then Liam’s team can be Leona, Claire, and Payton.”

“That’s everyone,” Jay announced. “Girls, you’ll find your stuff waiting in your respective boy’s suite. One room is for him, the other is for you, and there will be a living area. But, keep in mind, just because there are walls between the bedrooms doesn’t mean that you can’t share.” With a short wink that made a couple of girls laugh, he pointed toward the door. “And off you go! Get to know each other. Make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight! You have a big challenge tomorrow.”

“Let’s go, team!” Harry exclaimed, waving his group over as he started toward the door. “Our posh living arrangements await.”

Hannah shared a look with the girl named Ava next to her before the two of them snickered. Ignoring the cameras that followed them from the room, Hannah wondered how, exactly, she could get Harry to fall for her.

Because she couldn’t afford to lose any time.