Vault

Fifty-Two

"For challenge three, we have an endurance challenge," Jimmy exclaimed to the camera, "each of them are going to have to stand on their platform while holding a plank. Every fifteen minutes we're going to hand them a block with a letter on it. The blocks will spell out a word and after they have all of the letters, they just have to balance there and hold the plank. If a block drops or if they fall off the platform, they're out. They also have no idea what they're spelling."

Karl leaned up and kissed my lips quickly before he walked away to where Chris, Tyler, and Chandler were standing. The guys and I stepped up onto the platforms and Jimmy gave us a second to make sure we were set before we were each handed a plank. It was quite literally just a piece of wood, about three inches wide and I could see how it could get difficult to hold onto once I'm trying to balance the blocks on it.

We each just stood there, not doing anything but holding the plank between both of our hands and waiting for the first block.

"It's been fifteen minutes, so we're handing them the first block," Jimmy smiled.

The block had an E on it and I was careful to place it as centered as possible. If we have to stack up the blocks instead of being allowed to place them next to each other, then the more centered the blocks are the better.

We each made it through the first hour, stacking up the E, B, I, and R. What the hell are we spelling? I'm assuming they're giving us the letters in reverse order, so this is the end of the word since you would read it from the top down. What word ends in R-I-B-E?

Inscribe? Describe? Prescribe? Transcribe? Oh my god, I'm an idiot, Subscribe. Of course, that makes perfect sense. I would expect nothing else from Jimmy, except maybe for it to say 'Shop Mr Beast' but that's a lot of letters.

"Here's your next block," Karl smiled, "figure out what you're spelling yet?"

"Maybe, I have an idea," I answered quietly as I carefully gripped one side of the plank and slowly placed the C on top of my tower.

My hands moved slower than I have probably ever done anything in my life, but if I go too fast, I'm going to screw myself over. This is all about mental determination and patience.

"I will give $1,000 to whoever can guess the mystery word first," Jimmy smiled at all of us.

I didn't answer him, giving all of the guys some time to try to figure it out, but they all looked completely clueless. After all, we only have C-R-I-B-E to go off of.

"Subscribe," I answered after a few minutes passed.

"Ohhhh," Taggs groaned after I answered, "that makes so much sense."

I smiled over at him before I turned back to the plank in my hands. I was staring my blocks down, mentally forcing myself to stay still and not wobble even slightly.

"Here Karl, hold onto this for Ava," Jimmy smiled handing Karl a bundle of dollar bills.

We all stayed still for a few more minutes until we were handed yet another block. It had been an hour and a half since we started, since we each had six blocks to balance, but it felt like it had been longer. Balancing a tower of blocks is harder than you think.

"No!" Ty yelled as the new block slipped from his fingers and knocked over the other blocks in his tower.

"Ty! We were doing so good!" Chris yelled, "it's okay though, you did a good job."

Ty stepped down from his platform and we went back to focusing on balancing on the platforms. These platforms were only about a ten inch by ten inch square. There's very little room for error, and standing with your feet so close together for a long period of time was uncomfortable and difficult to do.