“Oh, are you? I wasn’t sure after last night’s little escapade.”
I rolled my eyes. Bitter, party of one. “I came back, didn’t I?”
“Not of your own volition.”
He had a point. “Just read the damn thing aloud, will you?”
Kip finally did. “It’s been two weeks, but you’re not done / Many teams will leave as we narrow down to one / Pack up all your things and wait for pick-up / Today’s not a challenge, but a mix-up.”
I looked at Kip in horror. “A mix-up?”
“Yeah. Sounds like they’re mixing up the teams?” He looked over at me and smirked. “I can’t say I’m sorry to be rid of your ass. You’ve sucked in the last few challenges.”
Because I’ve been trying to get rid of you, I wanted to retort, but bit my angry words back. A mix-up was not good news. My Pandora’s Box secret word only allowed me to vote off my partner, and I’d desperately wanted to use it on Kip.
If Kip wasn’t my partner, that was really going to mess up my game plan.
I was silent as we packed up what was left of our sad little camp. Most of our lean-to had washed away in the rain, but I’d woven a few mats and wanted to take those with me. I folded and tucked them under my arm as Kip grabbed his canteen and his sneakers. Other than that, we had nothing. We hadn’t won rewards to take home with us like some of the others had. Our cook pot and our machete stayed at camp for whoever came next.
Of course, with my lousy luck, I’d probably be the one coming back to nothing but a sludgy lean-to and Kip would get to go someplace with tons of goodies.
I tried not to think about that.
~~ *** ~~
A short time later, everyone was lined up on the challenge beach. Instead of our normal row line-up that we did, marked rectangle woven mats were labeled with our team numbers, and we had to go stand on ours. I looked down the line at who remained. Jendan and Sunnie were at the far end of the beach - Team two. Kissy and Rusty - Team four - were in the middle. Two loners - Saul of Team five and Alys of Team six - stood on their mats by themselves. To our left was Leslie and Emilio of Team seven, and Kip and I were at the end of the line on our Team Eight mat.
Ten people left.
Chip stood on a platform opposite us, clean and fresh-seeming despite the foul weather. He ignored the cameras circling around and adjusted the lid on a woven basket on a stool at his side. As I watched, production people put new, colored mats out in a line a short distance away. Five of them - that told me we were all still going to be on two man teams. We were still five men and five women, so I wondered if we’d be matched up randomly or if they’d assigned us again. Neither would surprise me.
People began to whisper as production crews then walked to the colored mats and began to place baskets on each mat. The red mat got a small basket. The yellow mat on the far end got an enormous basket. Green, purple and blue had baskets somewhere in the middle, and I wondered what those were for.
“Do you think that’s food?” Kip asked me, and my mouth watered at the thought.
I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” I hoped so. Our island was running low on taro and I was getting tired of coconut.
Chip clapped his hands together and then rubbed them, a sign he was about to begin speaking. A production assistant rushed forward, clipped his microphone to his collar, and then rushed away again. Chip ignored her. “Welcome to today’s mixer. I’m sure you’re all wondering what’s going on.” At our silence, he continued, the broad, toothy smile on his tanned face. “It’s time for a little change-up in how things are working. We’re going to be drawing for new partners.”
A muffled groan rose up from where we stood. I didn’t know who groaned, but I felt the same way. I should have been excited to get rid of Kip, but I was just annoyed that it was going to mess up my plans to get him booted.
Chip pulled off the lid of the basket and pulled out two burlap baggies, one marked “MEN” and one marked “WOMEN”. “You’re each going to draw from these bags,” he said, holding them out. “The color rock that you pick will tell you what color mat to go to. The person on that mat with you will be your new partner. And since we’re not totally heartless —” he paused for a weak chuckle from us — “we’re giving you lunch. One of the mats has an amazing picnic lunch. One just has a coconut and some water. The others have something in between. You’ll take your lunch, your partner, and then go back to your new camp and I’ll see you again in a few days for the next challenge. Everyone understand?” At our nods, he jumped down from his platform and headed toward Jendan and Sunnie’s mat. They carried their prized blankets. Someone would be glad to have them on their team.
My stomach gave a nervous twist as I watched Jendan reach into the men’s bag. This could totally mess up my game.
Jendan pulled his hand out and showed us the blue rock he’d drawn. His gaze flicked to me and then he strolled across the sand to the blue mat and crossed his arms, waiting.
“Jendan’s our first new blue team member,” Chip said, then held the bag out to Sunnie. She drew and pulled out a yellow rock, and squealed with delight. “Sunnie’s our first yellow team member,” Chip said, continuing his recap.
She pranced over to the yellow mat and gave a wiggle of excitement, clearly enthused at being on the team with the biggest basket.
“You don’t seem upset to be losing your partner, Sunnie,” Chip commented as he moved down to Kissy and Rusty’s mat.
“Oh, I’m sad to lose Jendan, but I’m more excited that I’m going to eat,” she said, clapping her hands like a little girl.
“It’s okay,” Jendan called, a smile on his face. “My feelings aren’t hurt.” He looked over at Sunnie and winked.
I had to quell the surge of jealousy I felt at his affectionate glance at Sunnie. They were just friends. He looked at her as a lazy little sister.
Still, the jealous part of me didn’t like it.
Down the line Chip went. Kissy was the next to draw, and pulled a red rock. Her husband Rusty pulled a yellow rock. The pillows were split up between them, each of them taking one. Rusty looked thrilled to be on the yellow team - his wife and Sunnie, not so much. As he joined Sunnie on the yellow mat, he tried to hug her, and she nervously squirmed away. My guess was that her thrill at having the biggest basket was going to fade because now she had the least athletic male partner.