What's Love Worth To You, Mi Amor

Painted Lies

According to Courtney and Gwen, Heather had officially lost her mind. They had watched her confidently march past them and pull herself up by the ceiling. Now, she was up in the vents of first class trying to sneak her way back to economy and spy on Alejandro Team Chris Is Really (4x) Hot. Her legs swung in the air as she pulled herself up into the vent, squeezing into the tight frame perfectly. The girls sat beneath her with quizzical looks. Heather had always been strangely mean but not crazy like this.

Courtney asked Gwen about the strange sight. Gwen replied, "I don't know but unless she's turned into Izzy, I'll bet it has something to do with Alejandro." Heather perked up inside the vent. At the mention of his name, she was alert and listening intensely.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think Heather liked him." Courtney speculated, causing Gwen to laugh. The girls imagined the couple together and giggled. "Imagine her black, shriveled heart lighting up with love!" Courtney added.

Thud! Heather jerked her head upwards in disgust and slammed it into the vent. The girls snickered below. "Ow! I am not in love!" Heather stuck her head out of the vent to speak with her teammates. "I'm thinking of our team. I'm trying to sneak back into economy class to eavesdrop. With D.J. back there with him, Alejandro has free rein to make an alliance."

Heather moved back into the vent. She ignored the looks of doubt from her "allies" and reviewed the score in her mind. 'Five on our team. Five on his team. Either of us could grab D.J. at this point. It has to be us.' The math was simple. She had to make sure D.J. made an alliance with her first. 'Because I just know Alejandro is back there sweet talking him right now!'

She crawled past a stash of Cody's stuff and tracks left by something human-sized. Holding her breath, she shuttered and kept crawling. She stopped once she could spot the back of Alejandro's head through the vent. She glared at his shiny brown hair and listened in on his conversation with Owen.

"One cannot blunder into an alliance, friends." He whispered. Tyler stood from his seat and shouted at D.J., upset at him staying instead of Lindsay. "Anger also doesn't help." Alejandro remarked. Heather pulled out a pencil and notebook to record her findings. 'Hopefully Sierra can make some analysis of this.' She began writing down the conversation.

D.J. expressed his desire to leave. "Going somewhere D.J.?" Alejandro asked. D.J. replied, "I'm losing the next challenge, on purpose." Everyone gasped, including Heather who came tumbling out of the vent. She landed at Alejandro's feet, sore and embarrassed.

"What have we here?" Alejandro said, making eye contact with Heather. Her cheeks flushed. "Doing a little spying, are we?" Heather scurried up onto her feet, quickly fleeing the smell of Owen's shoes. She stuttered out a response. "I uh I just uh dropped my pencil! See?" She retrieved her pencil and notebook from the ground. "No scheming, just scribbling. Owen I am issuing you a ticket for fashion crimes. Your socks reek." She scribbled a half-assed ticket and ripped the paper off for Owen. Dropping her head to avoid Alejandro's focused green eyes, she rushed out of the room.

With her unrelenting pace, she was back in the vents in a matter of minutes. 'I can't believe this. I'm crawling like a crazy person and for what?' She thought of the million dollar suitcase in her hands. Dollar bills, smooth and crisp. And Alejandro's disappointed scowl. She decided to stop thinking after that caused another confusing stir in her stomach.

She had been ignoring her thoughts while waiting in the vent above the confessional bathroom. She sat through almost an hour of Izzy going number two while singing pop goes the weasel. 'Maybe I am going crazy.' Then, D.J. entered. Heather listened to him sniffle and sigh, missing his mother. Then he said it was time for him to go. Heather couldn't sit back any longer.