For Real(51)

It’s nearly two in the morning by the time Isis assembles us for the Proposal Ceremony, and by that time, everyone is tired and cranky. Blake and Vanessa arrive last and are swept away for their exit interview, and I hear Vanessa telling the producer they “got a little sidetracked in an alley for a while, but it was totally worth it.” I take my place across the semicircle from Will. Philadelphia is still clinging to his arm, but I just smile, knowing I’ll probably get to separate them any minute.

“I hope sparks flew for everyone in the Love Shack today,” Isis says. I have no idea how she delivers these lines with a straight face. “Before you choose your dates for the next leg of the race, I have a special prize to award. The bride and groom enjoyed all your performances enormously, but they agreed that one couple had the hottest moves of all. And that couple, who will receive the Sexy Strut award of five thousand dollars each, is … Will and Philadelphia!”

Will lets out a whoop, and Philadelphia screams and jumps into his arms. Her legs wrap all the way around his waist like they belong there, like they’ve been there before. I suddenly feel a bit sick. Thank God I didn’t have to watch them dance together.

“Congratulations,” Isis says. “How did you feel about your performance today?”

“Will and I are such a great team,” gushes Philadelphia. “I honestly can’t believe I got paid to dance sexy with him. I would have given you guys money to do it.”

Isis lets out a practiced, tinkling laugh. “I’m glad you enjoyed doing it as much as everyone enjoyed watching you. It’s thrilling to watch you connect with your partners in meaningful ways.” She claps once. “All right! Now it’s time to choose your dates for the next leg of the race! We’ll start with the girls this time. Zora, you’re up first again—congratulations. Who would you like to spend the next leg of the race with?”

“I’d like to stay with Martin,” she says. “This partnership is obviously working for us. Don’t mess with success, right?”

Martin lets out his breath in a rush, revealing how nervous he was that he might have to race with someone else. “Definitely,” he says, nodding hard. When Zora reaches out and takes his hand, he goes red all the way to the tips of his ears.

“Next up is Tawny,” Isis says. “Who would you like to spend the next leg of the race with?”

“I’d like to race with Troy,” she says, shooting Samir a dirty look. “It’ll be a relief to race with someone who actually respects me as a human being.”

Troy waggles his eyebrows. “Ooooh, baby, I will respect you like you’ve never been respected before.” He moves to stand next to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders, and Tawny giggles like a twelve-year-old. I’ve got to hand it to Troy—he is really good at staying in character.

Samir is next, and when Isis asks who he’d like to race with, he smiles at her, the kind of smile that says I know something you don’t know. “I’d like to race with Miranda,” he says.

Oh no.

I feel my sister tense beside me, and I instinctively reach for her hand, but she’s not paying any attention to me—she’s staring at Isis with her mouth hanging open. “No,” she finally sputters. “I, um, I reject Samir’s proposal.”

“I’m sorry, Miranda,” Isis says, “but you don’t have the option of rejecting him. Samir arrived at the Cupid’s Nest before you.”

My sister looks totally bewildered. “But … I can’t race with him.”

“Those are the rules, I’m afraid. Your only other option is to withdraw from the race. You don’t want to do that, do you?”

“No, I don’t want to do that.” Miranda’s voice is quiet, but there’s an undercurrent of fury that makes the hairs on my arms stand up. She whirls around to face Samir. “What are you doing? Did they tell you to pick me?”

He blinks innocently. “I’m sorry, who’s they?”

“I don’t know, the network. The producers. You can’t seriously want to be my partner.”

Samir shrugs. “Why not? You broke up with me, Miranda. I never had a problem with you. I’m not the one who wanted our relationship to end.”

“If you didn’t want our relationship to end, you should’ve stayed out of her pants!” Miranda stabs a finger in Janine’s direction. All around the circle, people start murmuring, and I realize it’s still not common knowledge that Miranda and Samir used to be together. I wonder if the producers really did tell him to pick her. If I were the story editor, that’s probably what I would have done.

“Nobody told me to do anything,” Samir says. “I never even got to talk to you after that night you ran out of the graduation party. You didn’t return any of my calls. So when you showed up on the race, I thought, hey, maybe this’ll be a good opportunity to get some closure.” He sounds so genuine that I suddenly see why a bunch of agents came to see him act at Middlebury. He’s really, really good.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Miranda mutters. She presses her fingertips to her temples and closes her eyes.

“Miranda, please stand next to Samir,” Isis says.

For a second, I consider asking whether I can take Samir instead. But Miranda wouldn’t want me to rescue her. She’d hate it if I implied she wasn’t strong enough to handle this herself. She would want me to stay on task, concentrate on the race, and do everything I can to move to the front of the pack. As long as one of us is ahead of Samir, we’ll be winning. So I just whisper, “I’m so sorry, Mira. Are you—”