Flavor of the Week

Pressing her finger to her lips, Ava gave herself one last look over in the mirror. Luckily for her, she didn’t have to change her wardrobe like a few of the other girls had. She was used to wearing shorts and low cut tops. It was the only way she could even get auditions, so her wardrobe consisted of half shorts and skirts and half midriff tops and tanks. She was going to play her part well.

Ava had never been one to sleep with directors to get the things she wanted, but she wasn’t afraid to show off her assets when she needed to. This was one of the times when she needed to show off. Her part called for it.

Slipping on a pair of sandals, Ava looked back towards Hannah, who was running a comb through her jet black hair. The beautiful girl, who Ava knew to be a glamourized girl just on the verge of fame, had transformed into a quirky comedian who could spit out jokes faster than Ava could pick them up.

Of all the girls, Ava had to admit that Hannah was doing her part the best. It was true what the others said about her being a real talent.

“You ready for the date challenge?” Hannah asked, looking at Ava through the mirror.

Harry wasn’t around. He was in the other room changing as well, but Ava still wondered if she should stay in character. In the one night that they’d been in the mansion, Ava had quickly learned that it was hard to tell when any of the girls were acting and when they were being themselves.

Even that night, when Harry had been peacefully sleeping in the other room, Ava wondered if the jokes Hannah was cracking was part of the real girl or the character she had become. If anyone was going to be ‘on’ all the time, it was going to be Hannah.

“I’m really nervous,” Megan said, as she tousled her curly hair in her fingers. “If it’s a trivia challenge, I’m not sure what I’ll do. They gave me a list of facts to memorize, but there were so many that I couldn’t keep track of them all.”

Shaking her head, Hannah smiled at the girl, who was putting on a fake pair of glasses. “You’re going to do fine. Lucas will make sure they don’t give you any questions you don’t know, and if you mess up, Jay will help you through it.

Hannah was right. Jay had been given specific instructions to intervene if he ever saw that any of the girls were flailing. The entire show was going to be a group effort, and even though the girls were still competing against one another, they had to help each other out. It was more out of morality than anything else. And, if you screwed one girl over, she could do the same to you later on. They had to be wary of every move they made, or it could come back to bite them.

A light tapping came from the door, grabbing each of the girls’ attention. After the quick tapping, the door swung open slowly, as Harry’s curly head came from behind it.

“You ladies ready?” His face was covered in his smile, as his sweet dimple covered his cheek. That boy had a face that could capture the attention of any girl. Ava was sure he’d be one of the ones most of the girls would be after.

Her character would want to throw Harry on to the bed and rip his clothes off right there, and every part of the real Ava wanted to do the same. That sweet voice was practically begging to scream her name.

As the girls nodded their heads, Harry gave another quick smile, as he motioned for them to follow him out the door.

They headed towards the mansion’s large lobby, which had been specifically made to hold various challenges. It was where most of the events in the house took place, and it was the only room that held large, movie style cameras. The lobby resembled a set, while the rest of the house was covered in hidden cameras. Ava supposed they wanted to save the best quality footage for the challenges.

Jason stood in the front of the lobby, closer to the doorway, while a few of the other girls had already lined up in front of him.

A long string of tables had been set up in the center, with a chair for each of the girls to sit at. The five tables, separated only by a small space, held three chairs, for each of the girls. A sign hung from each of the tables, containing the boys’ names printed in their scribbled handwriting, and Hannah, being the one with the most incentive, sat at the one with Harry’s name in front of it.

When the other girls made the connection, they quickly followed suit, sitting at their corresponding tables, as small laughs fell from each of the boys’ lips.

The five boys stood next to Jason, who waited for the camera to focus in on his face. Once a cameraman had given him thumbs up, he began speaking.

“As you know, each week, along with the Team Challenges, which decide the boy that picks the teams for the week, our fifteen girls will be required to compete in a Date Challenge, which allows them the opportunity to go on a private date with the boy whose team they are on. Ladies, you will be competing only against the girls on your team, and each team will have only one winner, meaning only five girls get to go on a date, while the other ten are left behind. Is that clear?” Each of the girls shook their head, as they had been instructed to do when Jay asked them a question. “Let’s get this challenge started then!”

Jay took a step forward, as the camera followed him to a trolley on the left. From it, he picked up fifteen white boards and markers, handing one of each to the girls.

“For today’s challenge, we will be asking you questions. You are to write down what you think will be your boy’s answer. A right answer will win you a point, and the first girl to three points on each team gets a win. Once your team’s girl has won, you can wait for the other teams to get their winner. Now, I hope you weren’t too busy in the sheets to learn a little bit about one another, yeah?”

Jay’s eyebrows raised, eliciting a laugh from each of them.

“First question,” Jay said, reading from a card in front of him. “If your boy could travel the world with one celebrity at his side, who would it be?”

Ava had gotten that question wrong, just like many of the other girls had. It was clear that Lucas wanted the audience to see them flailing about trying to answer. It certainly added to the show’s comedy factor.

A few of the answers were simply ridiculous, most of them coming from Hannah. The dark haired girl had realized early on that they weren’t supposed to know the answers, so she came up with the ones that would get the most laughs. She was doing that thing again, where she outshined everyone by portraying her character so well.

It was three rounds later, and Ava still hadn’t gotten a single question right. For their group, Megan was in the lead with two. She only needed one more lucky guess and the date would be hers.

“Come on, ladies!” Jay chuckled. “You can do better than that. If your boy could be trapped in any Hollywood movie, which one would he pick?”

Ava racked her brain for the right answer. Her eyes roved over Harry several times, as she prayed that the answer would just come to her. She knew it wouldn’t, though, so she went with the answer that she best thought fit her character. She was The Slutty One, after all.

Her marker flew against her white board, as she scribbled out the answer.

“Boys,” Jay said, facing them, “Answers, please.”

“Toy Story,” Liam said, with a smile on his face. Each of his group’s girls held up their white boards, and when each of their answers matched his, he smiled. It moved next to Louis, who had another group full of wrong answers, before it was Harry’s turn.

His eyes were bright as he spoke, while a smile covered his lips. “American Pie.”

Ava felt her heart thud in her chest, as she held up her board, By some miracle, his answer matched hers, and he smiled at her.

She went on to the lose the challenge, with Megan getting another correct answer right after hers, but she didn’t care that she lost. She saw that smirk on Harry’s face when he got her answer right, and she knew that she had to bring it to his lips again. After all, she was the slut, and it was what Lucas would have wanted.