Chapter 48
Top Seed premiere day finally arrived. The Culling and Healer Challenges had already aired live, so this first fully edited and produced episode of the series was greeted, in the outside world, with much excitement and fanfare. In the Spire, however, the mood was a little different, with the exception of Bailey, who was, in fact, particularly excited. This was a major step in her career and was proof to her friends and family that her hard work had finally paid off. The days of negative bank balances, of barely having enough money for food, and of debasing herself just to land humiliating auditions were over. She had put blood, sweat, and tears into her acting career for so long, all the while struggling to get by, living well below the poverty line. Finally, the struggle would be worth it. At long last, people would see her playing the role of a lifetime: the great Herald, Hieroglyph. Sure, it wasn’t what she had imagined when she pictured her breakthrough as an actress, but life never goes exactly how one expects.
She beamed with pride as she gathered everyone together. Most of the Challengers were only mildly excited at best. Joel seemed anxious and nervous, but that was his default, so Bailey didn’t really pay much attention to that. Ken, Ashley, and June also seemed to be on edge, though. Jax and Ralph, who had already secured their seats in the makeshift lounge, were speaking in hushed tones about what prize they would award the winner of the previous day’s balloon gathering competition. For his part, Bobby was cracking jokes and throwing shade at the assembling audience. Bailey had a feeling it was his way of coping with the stress of the day, but she still appreciated the levity. Finally, once everyone was gathered in the common room, popcorn popped and drinks in hand, Bailey turned on the muted television and started scrolling through the channels to find the OnyxNetwork.
Jax stood up and turned around to face Bailey’s room of hostages. “So, Ralph and I have tallied the scores from yesterday’s game. But first, I wanted to say that you all did a great job. It’s not easy to come together with strangers and people y’all might be beefing with. And you all did that. Ralph and I have discussed it, and the winners will get to choose a game or even one night that we will all have to participate in.” There were some groans at that, but Jax continued before any formal objection could be made. “If you remember, Ralph wrote down on a piece of paper the duo that he thought would win,” Jax pulled the paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, “He put his chips on Ken and June. Let’s see if the bet paid off for him. The top three finishers were… In third place and 25 points, Cecilia and Megan.” The room clapped politely, and Megan flushed with embarrassment at the attention. “In second place, and only 3 points off of the winners, with 33 points, were Ken and June,” The room applauded again.
Ralph stood up and turned around, “You couldn't have gotten one more balloon? If you hadn’t popped all those ones at the beginning, we’d be planning an awesome laser tag outing!”
June shouted back, “Fuck that! Sit your ass down, Ralph! If anything, we’d catch a bout, or maybe MMA.”
“Or the symphony,” Ken added.
June looked at him side-eyed. “Really? Is the Opera not in town or something?”
It was Ken’s turn to blush.
Jax jumped back in as these tangents threatened to take over, “And our winners, with 36 points… Winning by only a single three-point balloon margin are Bobby and Joel!”
Bobby stood up and bowed to the crowd. “Thank you, Thank you. I assure you, you are all in for a night of excitement, chaos, and lust!” Many in the crowd threw popcorn, and someone dared to lightly toss an empty soda can at the goth troublemaker. “Hey! Whoever hit me with that can is gonna pay, you hear me! You have no idea the sort of evening this brilliant mind can think up,” he responded while pointing at his temple.
Joel tugged at his partner in crime to sit down, and Bobby gave in while mumbling, “I’ll show you all. You’re all gonna pay.”
Meanwhile, Bailey had located the channel and hit pause on the opening frame. Her eyes looked frantic as she scanned the room for permission to start playing the episode.
“You know there’s a story of a dude that drowned because he was obsessed with his own reflection,” Bobby teased. “Luckily, it’s impossible to drown in a television screen, right Bailey?” Soft chuckles broke out around the room.
“Ha, ha, ha,” Bailey laughed sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
“I wonder how we’ll all come off,” Ashley wondered aloud.
“Being in the public eye isn’t all it's cracked up to be.” Jax grimly added. “These productions have a lot of control over our images, and the media can do real damage. But we just can’t let them. Let’s agree that no matter what we see tonight, we won’t let it rattle us. We have more challenges coming up, and some of those might require us to work as a team again. Let’s not let things we see tonight change us. ‘Aight?”
Some in the group nodded along at Jax’s attempt at unity until, finally, Bailey broke in and shouted, “I’m pressing play!” And she did just that.
“Previously on Top Seed…” The Show’s voice, disembodied, explains the rules of the year-long competition while highlights from The Culling and Healer Challenge play in the background as a montage: Borealis using a giant energy hand to catch an airliner from falling out of the sky; Ashley battling a rabbit, using her sleep trap and vine staff; and June kicking the shit out of some chick in a mech-suit made entirely out of ice. The montage fades into the opening title sequence, where each Challenger and All-Star are shown posing in various ways, with their name on the screen and cheesy guitar music blaring.
Bailey would have chosen a different theme song but was rather sure that The Show’s production team had focus-tested it thoroughly before settling on the nostalgic tune.
It all ends with an animation of a silver seed dropping from the top of the screen to the center and cracking open to expose the show’s title logo: Top Seed.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
A smattering of whispers and light clapping accentuated the tension in the room and fed the eagerness in each of them to bear witness to what the world was about to see. Bailey was tempted to fast forward through the title sequence until she saw her own image talking into a microphone, “Hieroglyph” splashed across the screen, highlighting her life as a voice actor before signing up for the show. Might as well let everyone have their moment.
The first scene opens with Ralph in one of his one-on-one interviews, wearing a shit-eating grin and saying, “You know, I’m known for being a bit of a prankster.” This declaration is followed by a montage of Ralph doing very small things like rearranging people’s shoes in their closets and hiding certain foods in the fridge to frustrate the picky eaters of the group. He is always in the background of the shot, holding back laughter at the discovery of each prank. “...But this next prank is going to be crazy! Brooklyn Twerk, baaabbbyyy!” It cuts to a scene in the kitchen. Megan and Cecilia are preparing dinner for the dorm. Ralph, on the other side of the island, looks around to make sure the coast is clear, and when both Cecilia and Megan turn their backs to start cooking on the stovetop, he suddenly begins twerking behind their backs. Then, one after another, Ralph is shown twerking behind each of his fellow competitor’s backs, with them none the wiser.
Everyone in the room turned to look at Ralph, who was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Apparently, this was the height of comedy. Bailey paused the stream so that they wouldn’t miss anything important. She, along with everyone else, did not know how to process what they had just seen on the show nor what they were currently witnessing in the room. Everyone looked at each other in stunned silence until Bobby spoke up. “Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
Ralph struggled but eventually suppressed his laughing fit and composed himself. As he caught his breath, he said in a very satisfied tone, “I’m a prankster, baby!” and then started hysterically cracking up once again.
“Um, can we just watch the show?” Joel pleaded.
Everyone’s eyes returned to the screen as Bailey pressed play once again.
Bobby is in the interview chair when an offscreen producer’s voice asks, “So, what do you think of your fellow Challengers now that you’ve seen them in action?” Bobby smiles and starts in. “Well, I know some more than others, but… Borealis and Skyrocket? Are we sure they’re twins? Cuz from what I've seen, their only similarities are great style, defensiveness, and an inability to clean up around the dorm. Nepotism. Amiright? UFO: What a fucking weirdo. He keeps talking about how he was abducted as a kid, but I think he's the alien, and he keeps telling that story to throw us all off. Hieroglyph? It's a good thing she's so good at these challenges because I've seen her trying to act like Ashley's friend all week, and let's just say it's less than convincing. Won't be winning any Oscars anytime soon. Unless she's playing the role of bitchy diva. She's got that one down pat. Megan? Megan who? Ooooh Evergreen. Vavavavoom. I had an inkling of what her powers were before I saw her in action because every time I looked at her, she gave me wood."
The sound of a glass and bowl crashing to the ground drowned out the next line, and Cecilia stood up, knocking her popcorn and drink onto the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you, dude?!” she yelled directly at Bobby.
“What?” Bobby asked, genuinely surprised.
“You’re such a fucking asshole! You think you’re so much better than us, don’t you? You sit there spouting venom and hiding behind your gross jokes. You’re a fucking coward.” Cecilia shouted.
“Fuck you, Cecilia, You think you know me? They asked, and I said what I said. It's good TV, and you know it.” Bobby shot back.
“Oooooh, the edgy bad boy thinks he’s special! Wow, what a fucking twist. We all have shit, that doesn’t give you a right to shit-talk us,” Cecilla responded.
“There’s a reason they gave me the screentime. Besides, are you telling me you didn’t talk any shit in your confessionals? I fucking doubt it. I’m done with this shit.” Bobby stood up and walked out of the room. As he did, the tense, uncomfortable silence returned. No one knew what to say, so they continued to watch the rest of the episode even though it was clearly creating chaos amongst this group of people who had been previously forming bonds of friendship. Each of their own egotistical curiosities overrode their sense of self-preservation. And the awkwardness was to continue:
June is on screen, talking about her burgeoning crush on Samurai Tortoise. “It’s so rare to meet another person who shares my values and sense of devotion. Someone who takes training and Herald work as seriously as I do. I feel like we were both raised for the fight. He respects me for my strength and ability. We have been training together for a while now, and he never goes easy on me. And it's nice to have someone that I can go hard against, too! Not many people can keep up. He can, though. I don’t know where this is headed, but he’s pretty damn cute!” There is a quick cut to Ken talking, “I am here to win, and I can not let anything interrupt my focus. Skyrocket is a formidable warrior, and I am lucky that she dedicates time to our training. I feel like it will benefit us both in the long run. But I came here to win, not make friends. And I am definitely not looking for any kind of romantic relationship.”
June’s brown skin flushed. She was lucky that her complexion mostly hid her embarrassment, but she couldn’t keep the look of disappointment and humiliation off her face.
Ken reached in June’s direction, “June. That was-”
“No,” she stopped him. “Not now.” She was holding back tears. “We can talk later, okay?”
Ken nodded.
And then, as if this night couldn’t get any worse, the episode started to get into the major drama of the past month and a half. Bailey couldn’t stop herself from watching in horror as the fight between her and Ashley played out, in detail, on the gigantic screen on the common room wall. From the producer’s standpoint, it was the highlight of the episode, and every single competitor, even the All-Stars, had an opinion. And all of them, except maybe Joel, Jax, and Bobby, sided with Ashley.
“She must have woken up on the bitchy side of the bed… petty and shallow… only cares about her image..”
The final scene of Bailey tackling Ashley outside the Ruins and Ravens game closet was viewed as a blur through Bailey’s tear-filled eyes. The credits rolled, and everyone sat stock still in tense silence.
At a loss for anything to say, people slowly stood up, dropped their bowls and cups off on the kitchen island, and left, one by one, until it was just Joel and Bailey sitting on a loveseat in the empty living room. What was supposed to be a fun night had turned into a disaster. It seemed to Bailey that the episode’s editor or producer had a personal vendetta against The Challengers and just wanted to make them look like their worst selves.
Joel, in a friendly gesture, gently put his hand on Bailey’s thigh, “You’re not the person they depicted tonight. You have to know that.”
Bailey couldn’t contain her disappointment any longer. The floodgates opened as she collapsed into Joel’s arms and wept. She had gotten her hopes up that this TV show would propel her career to new heights, but there was no way anyone would hire her after today. It felt like she had destroyed her career in a single night with a single argument. A decade of hard work flushed down the drain in a single 45-minute episode of reality television. It was too much for Bailey to handle. The only silver lining was that Joel had stayed behind and held her as she turned his shirt into a wet, salty, snot-soaked rag.