Boot Camp

29: Old Version

"Seriously, that's what you think it is?" Willow asks Martina and leans against the large oak tree. We've been sitting outside together debating what the prize is going to be, and they've been arguing back and forth for the past five minutes.

"I don't know, it was just a guess," she replies. "What do you think the prize is?"

"I can't guess; that's why I was asking you," she answers. I groan.

"It doesn't matter that much, guys," I tell them. "We'll find out later today anyway." They glance at me, and Willow raises a brow.

"Wait, do you know what it is?" she questions, folding her arms across her chest. I shake my head quickly. "You're acting like you do."

"No, I seriously don't," I answer them both firmly. "I'm just as clueless as you two, but I'd like to conserve my energy for whatever this team challenge is."

"Whitney's right," Martina says, nodding in agreement. "Wait, don't we have to go to Room 100 right now?" She looks up from her phone. Willow glances at Martina's screen and nods, getting up from her spot on the grass.

"Well let's go then," I say, brushing off my athletic shorts and adjusting the top of my tight black shirt. We walk in a line to the Central Huilding, seeing a few other girls hanging by the doorways, laughing over something. We walk into the room together, the last ones inside.

"It feels like just yesterday we were standing here getting yelled at by Bob," I mumble to Martina as Bob enters through the back door followed by Cindy with her usual large smile that makes me want to punch someone. Martina starts laughing but stops when Bob glares at her. Finally, all fifteen of us are standing in a uniform line as Bob and Cindy walk to the center of the room.

"Congratulations to all of you, first of all," Bob says, his hands folded behind his back. His tone is anything but congratulatory, typical of him. "You all definitely are not the uncoordinated sloths you were nearly five weeks ago."

We all look between each other and then back at Bob.

"Anyway, as you all know you have both trained individually with your trainers and in the team challenges," he states, and the large screen lights up. "We have aggregated your scores from both on a scale of one to ten with our points system, so we are here to show the standings."

"But, we need to tell you something first," Cindy says, taking over for Bob. "Only five of you girls will compete in our final challenge today."

"You all have worked hard, but we had to narrow it down the competition to rightfully give our reward." Bob turns around to look at the screen. "But first we will show you the standings after week one." The names appear on the board, the top being Joanna. She dominated the leaderboard for a while, but by the look on her face I can tell she knows the numbers have changed.

"And here are the current standings. The names in green will go on, the names in red will participate in something different."

I feel a twinge of nervousness but wonder if Axel's words to me after the last team challenge are reassurance I am moving on. Sure enough I look up, and my name is in the number one spot, along with Cynthia and then Willow. After comes Joanna and lastly, Martina.

"To all of you who have made it, congratulations," Bob says, looking over at the five of us. "To the rest of you, you all did well and should be proud of your hard work. You may follow Cindy now." The other ten girls leave, grumbling to each other, while the five of us remain standing there, awkwardly glancing from left to right.

"Alright, before we go outside, I'm going to explain a bit about the prize," Bob says. "It's the same for anyone who wins the top spot. I'll be announcing it at the end of the challenge and the winner will receive all the details they need later on."