Chapter 25
Bailey sat alone in the bedroom that she shared with that condescending goody-two-shoes, know-it-all, justice warrior and fumed about the day's events. How could she have trusted someone this quickly? She should have known better. Ever since her first few weeks in Los Angeles, Bailey had learned to never let her guard down with people. Heck, her guard had been up way before that, ever since she was a meta kid in the foster care system. Her whole life had taught her not to get too close too soon.
She pictured the movie that would be made about her life: A young, scrappy child fights for love and affection from temporary families that only end up rejecting her. She works three jobs as a teenager to pay her way through school until, finally, she saves up enough money to move out to Hollywood to become an actor. One day, she gets the break she’s been waiting for and takes the leap of faith to enter a reality competition to be one of the greatest Heralds of a generation. She fights and claws her way through trial after trial, beating out tens of thousands of metas for the opportunity of a lifetime. Only to have some '60s blond Barbie bimbo steal it all away from her with a simple ruse. “Hey, wanna come shopping? Wanna walk so we can take in some sun? Wanna share secrets about ourselves and bond? Hey, wanna jump on this third rail and eviscerate everything you have ever worked for..” Ugh! Bailey was spiraling, and she knew it.
Alone in this tiny room, she just couldn't stop the dark passenger from taking over. Now, because of one stupid mistake, Bailey was going to be the worst thing she could imagine: controversial. She’d seen it so many times, young starlets building their brands and raising their public profiles. They’d go from unknown and undiscovered talent to influencer to reality star, only to be taken down by one bad ‘like,’ retweet, joke, or comment. She couldn’t deny that the public’s responses were usually warranted. But not always. Bailey certainly never thought she would be in that sort of position. But today, she became The Herald’s Bitch; The Challenger who wasn’t willing to stand up for the little guy against the big bad meta bullies. She became the potential face of a human backlash against all metas. She could see the headline now: “Herald Wannabe Shuns Fellow Challenger to Support Council Overlords.”
Her mind was whirling. Hours passed. Bailey glanced outside to see the sun setting on the horizon, imbuing the clouds with strokes of pink and purple pastels. She closed her eyes and breathed in, held her breath for five seconds, and exhaled. She opened her eyes. Nope. Didn’t work. She was still livid. Is Ashley clueless? No, she’s not as dumb as she acts. Bailey knew that firsthand from the image consultation. No, Ash is smart and strategic, thinking of ways she can maximize her odds of winning this whole competition. In fact, the whole day may have been a setup. Did she organize the whole protest herself? She was doing something on her phone before they left for the shopping. Bailey assumed she was just getting directions to the plant shop, but maybe she was putting out a social media blast to get her fans to show up to “protest” the competition itself. Now that they were on a cutthroat reality show, nothing was out of the realm of possibility.
At that moment, the door opened, and Ashley walked in with a huge smile on her face. “OH, EM, GEE! Those people outside are so great! I can’t wait to join them for their Sunshine protest to save the oceans next month.”
Bailey plastered on a smile and circled Ashley while she was droning on about the protest. She slammed the door shut to ensure no lingering cameras would catch what was to follow, waited for a beat to make sure they had actual privacy and spun on her roommate.
“What the fuck was that! You are such a dickhead. I thought we were becoming friends! But, no, that was all some elaborate ruse to take me down, wasn’t it?”
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“What?” Ashley was genuinely taken aback. She had just enjoyed the best day since leaving home for the competition and felt like she was making a new friend, of which she had very few. “I thought we had a nice day today.”
Ashley’s apparent sincerity was disarming. But Bailey had just spent half a day winding herself up and was not going to back down simply because Ash was acting innocent and confused. Bailey did, in fact, enjoy the day; until she didn’t.
“Maybe it wasn’t intentional, but you put me in an impossible position with that picketing stunt,” Bailey argued.
After the moment of shock wore off, Ashley dug in. “That sounds a lot like a you problem to me.”
“A me problem!? Oh, I’m sorry. For some reason, I thought maybe you would care enough to not totally torpedo my dreams. Or maybe I was giving you too much credit, and it was on purpose!” Bailey's voice was getting louder and louder, but her anger over-rode her ability to care about people, or cameras, overhearing.
The door opened a crack, and Bobby poked his head into the room. Immediately Bailey put on a fake smile and asked through gritted teeth, “What do you need, Bobby?”
“We were just making dinner,” he said, “and were wondering if we should throw some chicken wings in the oven for either of you.”
“No, thank you,” Bailey answered at the same time Ashley said, “I’m vegan.”
Bobby closed the door, and Bailey dropped the act. “Of course, you’re vegan. You’d do anything to pretend to be above everyone else.”
“At least I stand for something.” Ashley shot back. “And as far as today goes, I didn’t think for one second that joining those people would put you into an awkward position. You just had to say no. Which you did! So what the hell is wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” Bailey echoed. Her anger had peaked, and she was slowly regaining the ability to explain her position. She re-checked the door to make sure it was closed and lowered her voice to ensure no eavesdropping from people or recording devices. “What’s wrong is that if I said yes, The Heralds might not appreciate me joining a protest against the very competition that I’m competing in. And by saying no, while on camera, it looks to the millions of viewers that might watch the show that I don’t support the very reasonable reforms that those people were organizing around. You forced me into a fucking lose, lose position, and now I’m going to have to figure out how to do damage control, alone, while being filmed 24/7 for a goddamned reality show!”
Ashley took a moment to think about Bailey’s point of view before averting her eyes. “I'm... I'm sorry.”
“And another thing... Wait, what?”
“I apologize,” Ashley reiterated. “Sometimes I leap in head first when I think I’m fighting for a just cause and don’t really think about the damage it might cause me or those around me. Do you really think The Herald’s might retaliate for my joining the protest?”
“I’m not sure, but would it really surprise you if they did?” Bailey said.
“Ugh. Now what do we do?” Ash rhetorically asked.
“Now you come outside, eat dinner with the group, and let Jax explain how to play this confusing ass Ruins and Ravens shit,” June said as she quietly entered the bedroom and closed the door behind her to ensure privacy.
Bailey had a decision to make. Go outside to deal with Jax, or stay inside and deal with Ashley. Honestly, at that moment, she would have chosen ‘getting a root canal’ over either option. “Is that the only option?” she joked.
“It is if you want to keep the yelling matches behind closed doors,” June laughed. “Jax takes his role-playing games very seriously. Now, put your big girl pants on, and let's go.