Alex looked at the screen in horror as he saw his punishment: painted nails. His friends had already laughed at him for his shaved legs, and now he had to show up tomorrow with painted nails. Then the eighth-place punishment appeared: a manicure and makeover at a beauty salon. Alex felt uneasy at the thought of going to school with makeup on. At least he could try to hide his nails. Ember entered the room with a pink towel and new underwear. The underwear was soft pink and blue, like the powders from the challenges, adorned with delicate lace and small bows.
"Haha, very funny," he said, holding up the underwear.
"It matches the colors you had today!" she teased. Hesitantly, he put on the underwear and let out a yawn.
"Time for bed!"
"Not quite, I have to do something first," she said, shaking a small bottle in front of his face.
Alex, hoping she hadn't seen the punishments or had forgotten about them, asked, "Is there no way of not doing this?"
"Winning. I know you don't want it, but we have no choice," she sighed, then quickly switched her mood. "Would you like pink, purple, or red?"
Alex thought about it. The red was very bright and easy to notice, and the purple was as girly as the pink. "I'll go for, uhmmm... they are all terrible..."
"Want my favorite color?" Ember suggested.
"Is it red?" Alex asked, eyeing the bright hue.
"Perhaps," she said with a grin. "If you choose red, I'll paint mine red too, and we can match!" she smiled.
"I... fine," Alex conceded.
They went to Alex's room and both sat down at the makeup table.
"Hold out your hands," she said. Finger by finger, she painted his nails. Slowly, the brush applied a bright red color. It was even worse than he had imagined. As Ember continued, Alex seized the opportunity to ask her some questions.
"So, you keep saying you don't want this either, but why don't you just quit?"
"Because I am as stuck here as you are," she replied.
"You're stuck here? But...? I don't understand," Alex said, confused.
"I've been here for a month. I applied for a job that sounded fun, taking care of stars," she explained while finishing the first hand. She asked Alex to blow on his fingernails to help them dry faster. "Your other hand," she instructed. Alex, looking at the embarrassment painted on his fingers, hesitantly laid his other hand on the table.
"Taking care of stars, and there were three skills you needed: being able to apply makeup, clean, and cook."
"Okay, that sounds interesting, I guess," he said.
"So, when I went for the job interview, they told me how much I would earn, and everything seemed perfect, so I signed," she continued. "But in the first few days, I got suspicious. I had to wash just normal boys' clothes, which stars wouldn't wear. Also, all the other workers were girls, and so on." She finished painting his last fingernail. Alex looked at them, feeling so embarrassed by how feminine they looked. He really didn't want his friends to see his nails. He realized he had been silent for a while because Ember asked, "Do you like them?"
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"No, of course not. I have to go to school with this?" Ember could only smile in response.
"So you got suspicious?" Alex prompted.
"Yeah, I wanted to quit and went to the girl who gave me orders every day. She took me to a room and showed me the contract I signed, which I couldn't get out of unless my apprentice won a competition," she explained, now painting her own nails the same red color.
"And that would be me," Alex interjected.
"Well, now you are. Back then, it was another boy," she said with a frown.
"Huh? But if he's gone, then he won, and you should be free, or...?" Alex asked, feeling a bit scared as if he was about to hear that he would never be free at all, even if he won two free tickets.
"If he won, yes. But before you arrived, the punishments were worse. He killed himself because he saw no way out of this," Ember said quietly.
Alex was silent, unsure of what to say. This was horrible. Eventually, he managed to say, "I'm sorry."
Ember nodded slightly as she finished painting her last fingernail. "I'll get us out of here," Alex said.
"I hope you do," Ember replied.
A buzzer sounded, indicating that Ember had to leave. She said goodbye, and Alex went to bed. The TV was on again, showing the loser of today at the beauty salon getting his nails done. His nails were far worse than Alex's: they were long, bright pink with glitters and very feminine decorations like mini lipstick kisses, rainbows, princess crowns, and high heels. Alex looked at his own and immediately thought about the next day. Not wanting to dwell on it, he turned off the TV and went to sleep.
