ꜱᴜꜱᴘᴇɴꜱᴇ (REWRITE)

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙: 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕓𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕤

If you're anything like Henry, you don't know much about reality tv. but, you eventually get to know a bit about it when your best friend is obsessed with it.

Veronica had jumped onto Henry's back without warning one morning, with an expression full of glee and excitement for an unknown reason. "Henry! Henry! guess what?" she asked in an enthusiastic tone of voice, Henry glanced behind him slightly to look at his friend and roommate confused. He chuckled softly, wondering why she was so excited. "Well, what is it this time?" he asks, finding Veronica's excitement amusing. "I may just have landed myself on a reality tv show!'' she says in a louder voice this time, she jumps off of his back and lands back on the ground gently. she was brimming with excitement. "they had casting calls open! and.... I think from the way they reacted they like me.. you need to audition! please.!" she pleaded, he was now turned to face her, considering his options.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's it about..? whats the premise?" he asks her curiously. "Well, it's like a game show! where you have to vote out your fellow contestants. and we have to do challenges to stay on! and you'll win a large cash prize at the end of it!" she explains enthusiastically. Henry nods along, why not give it a try? he wasn't naturally interested, but, this was an opportunity to not miss. "and it'll be hosted and directed and even joined by Kai Savv!" she exclaims, tilting his head in confusion. Was he supposed to know who this mysterious director was? "Oh, you probably don't know... but Kai Savv is a big name in the reality TV show business!!' she says, feeling giddy as ever to have a chance to be on reality TV and to capture the attention and fame of potentially millions. "So, is he like, rich?" Henry asks with a hint of joking in his tone, but is mainly asking out of genuine curiosity.

"Well, Yeah, of course!" she says as if it was as common knowledge as knowing the sky is blue. Henry crosses his arms over his chest still contemplating this decision, should he audition despite not being interested in reality TV in general? it's not like he'll get on it, right? "Well, i need you to go prep for auditions!'' Veronica says, wanting him to be prepared for this opportunity. "Wait, so you have already auditioned?" he asks, a slight hint of confusion in his voice present as he asks this question to Veronica. Veronica laughs softly to herself, smiling widely throughout this entire interaction. "Yeah, I did. I went yesterday, remember how I was gone?" she asks, she might be the happiest person on planet earth right now. Henry nods, he recalls how the day following this friday afternoon she was away from home for quite some time, as she didn't explain her reasoning when she got back. She smiles even wider and forcefully takes his hand in her own, dragging him to the living room as she whips out her phone, brimming with energy and excitement. She begins to look some things up, her typing making small "click" sounds as she types fast, presumably looking through articles and looking things up on a search engine.

she was scrolling through something as Henry waited in silence and anticipation. wondering what exactly she was doing. her face seems to light up in a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, as if she's found what she was looking for. she looks up from her phone and at him with a grin on her face "Ok, I'm going to help you prepare for your audition!" she yells to him, he just nods along, afterall, it can't be that bad, can it?

The next few hours they spent researching the show, and the type of person they wanted for a contestant, they began to tailor his audition to fit that mold. They think over and consider many things before picking a talent or story of his to showcase in this audition. If Henry was being honest, he was a bit nervous. as the hours pass and they work hard to make sure his audition will be perfect before they, or rather, she feels he's ready. The next few hours they spent in the car trying to find this guy's mansion, Henry's mind was racing as he hoped to not mess up. Upon arriving and auditioning, he feels as if he's got it in the bag. He walks into the brightly lit studio with a sense of calmness, when underneath that all, he was nervous.

Henry is on his way to his audition for Kai Sav's new reality TV show. As he enters the room, he sees dozens of other people waiting nervously for their chance to impress Kai and the judges. Kai explains the format of the show, and Henry is filled with excitement at the prospect of winning a large cash prize by the end of it. Kai looks up at Henry with a curious glance, offering him a faint smile, which Henry returns to him. Kai was a relatively tall man, his attire consisting of a white suit, followed by a black collar and tie. He had messy, fluffy black hair that contained a hot pink streak that pairs nicely with his jet black hair and deep brown eyes that could be mistaken for black if far enough away, alongside fair skin. Veronica stood to the side, waiting eagerly to see what might happen as her eyes stayed on Henry. "Welcome, Henry and everyone else who has entered this room today. I am Kai Savv, and I am hosting a brand new reality TV show. The goal of this show is to test your teamwork skills, resilience, and determination. The game will involve team vs. team competition in a series of challenges. The winner of each challenge will be safe from elimination, while the losing team will have to vote off a team member after each challenge."

The challenges begin, and Henry quickly proves himself a worthy competitor. He works hard at every obstacle, and his skills and determination begin to impress the producers and other contestants. the teams are tasked with working together to build a large tower out of blocks of wood. Henry's team quickly organized themselves and gets to work, and Henry is able to come up with the design for the tower by quickly spotting the strengths and weaknesses in their plan.

In the second challenge, team members have to navigate through a maze while carrying a jug of water. Henry quickly suggests a strategy of dividing responsibilities and delegating tasks to individual team members. This allows them to finish the task successfully without spilling too much of the water. After all of this, Henry had a wide grin on his face knowing he and his team did well. He runs up to his team who were talking to one another, Henry clears his throat, still smiling widely like a goofball. "Hey, You guys!" he calls out loudly to grab their attention, which worked. as all their undivided attention was on him. He continued to smile before high fiving each one of his teammates individually. "I just wanted to say... great work out there, I hope I can see you all again soon.." Henry says, watching his teammates return his smile.

He gets a collective "thank you" and some head nods in appreciation. Henry sighs contentedly, before smiling softly at his teammates once more, before one walks up to him with a smirk on his face, this mysterious teammate stood in front of him, looking at him with curiosity as he places a hand on his hip. "Henry, was it?" he asks in a smug, yet playful tone. Henry nods, trying to gauge the type of person this teammate of his was. "Yeah, that's me." Henry confirms to him. That same look of curiosity never leaves his face as he and Henry's eyes lock in a stare that neither one of them are sure will break soon. "Name's Scott. But, I'm going to tell you something very important, Henry." he said, leaning forward in a slightly threatening manner, getting quite close to Henry. Henry couldn't tell if his action was meant to be threatening, as that's how it is perceived by Henry. he wasn't sure if that was intentional or not, but he was a bit anxious about it regardless. Scott seemed to sense this, and his smirk only widened. "Only five people will make it to the reality show, and just because you were the one who led this team mostly, doesn't mean anything. it's not like someone with no experience in reality tv shows would make it in such a big time TV show." he said in a condescending tone.

He leaned even closer, and into Henry's ear, as his hot breath triggered a reaction of goosebumps on Henry's skin. "Don't get your hopes up, Henry. that's the first mistake you newbies make." he says before backing away laughing, looking over to two other of his friends and whispering to them.

"I.. didn't know that.." Henry said. Veronica didn't say anything about that.. "Of course you didn't. It's always like that with you newbies." He says as he walks off laughing and whispering to his friends, one of his friends stops for a moment, and looks at Henry. he stays behind briefly and walks over to Henry before chuckling. "Hey, sorry about Scott. he didn't mean to sound mean, he means well, he just has a... unique... personality, to put it. just know he was trying to give you advice, but, ya'know..." he shrugs. "It's complicated, just know he thinks you're cool, even if he can't properly express that." he offers Henry a reassuring smile, as if to say, "don't worry about it" without saying it directly. Henry gives him a quick nod of respect and understanding. "Hey, it's alright. I understand." he says, then raises a hand up and waves briefly to him and his audition teammates as he then begins to walk off, meeting back with Veronica. As they are about to leave together, Henry can't help but see Kai talking with the other judges, glancing at Henry and Veronica, alongside Henry's teammates and Competitors with a smirk on his face. Henry doesn't think too hard on it as Henry and Veronica walk out of the building and head home. 

Word Count: 1,754