Unconventional

Chapter 7

Grant's prize for coming in first, was a favor. There were no stipulations or time frame for him to use it. It was just an unspecified favor. Almost everyone looked like they thought that was a stupid prize, but Grant seemed satisfied. I could definitely see where a favor would come in handy. If, for instance, he had a punishment later that he didn't want to take.

Not that he would of course, because he was far too good at everything. He'd come in second in the first task, and only by a little bit.

Brooke's punishment had seemed stupid to me, but she acted like it was the end of the world. She was ordered to do without any cosmetics, unnecessary accessories, or conveniences, and no one could do anything for her until the next task. Which probably wouldn't be for almost a week.

Watching her act as though her life was about to end, had been amusing though. Brooke was a total princess. She had a truck load of stuff, and basically all of it was ridiculously unnecessary. She also usually wore a ton of make up, and whined about having to do the most basic things.

I couldn't help but realize that whoever was picking the punishments and prizes was extremely good at it. They obviously knew that Grant wouldn't be interested in a prize like the one Brandon got, and it would have been boring to watch. Both Erin and Brooke had now been punished in ways that were close to the most humiliating things possible for them.

Again, it only made me more anxious. Before, I'd naively thought that the punishments would be fairly random, but they were anything but. What would they decide my worst nightmare would be? It was even worse that it wouldn't take place until later because it gave them more time to figure me out.

The team prize and punishment both seemed a little silly to me. The blue team was going to be treated to a fancy dinner with the royal family while the red team was going to have to figure something out for themselves.

Up until this point, meals had always been delivered. There was a ton of food in the kitchen, but everyone basically only ever went in there for snacks or drinks.

Again, whoever was deciding these things was apparently very good at it. I was the only one who didn't care much about a fancy dinner. The meals so far had been fine, but everyone else on the blue team looked excited at the prospect.

I'd actually worried about the "fancy" part for a minute, but right after the prize was announced, we'd all been given appropriate clothes for the occasion. Mine was a simple black dress and low heels. The neckline wasn't too low, but the dress itself was pretty short. I wasn't sure if I should be upset or not. Apparently someone wanted me to show off my legs, but when I looked at some of the other girls' dresses, I was almost grateful for the one I got. Of course, they didn't seem to mind walking around with things looking like they might pop out at any moment.

Stupid as I thought the red team's punishment was, they all looked horrified. Especially when they learned that they couldn't look anything up, order anything, or even ask for help. They literally had to figure out how to make a meal, all by themselves.

It was funny watching them stare in the refrigerator and at the cookware, looking completely lost. They'd probably never even thought about cooking before and I wondered if they would even know how to make the stove work.

I felt a little bad that Michelle was on that team. She looked just as clueless as the rest of them.

Grant and I exchanged a smirk before we left, and for the first time, I actually wanted to watch the show, just to see what they did.

"It's a good thing they're on camera," I said as we walked away. "They won't be able to burn the whole palace down."

Grant just laughed and we continued on down the hall.