Game On

Chapter 8

Amalia's POV
On the short walk from our hotel to the studio holographic images of our laughing faces shimmered high above us about four times, we seemed to be on every corner and people pointed and waved at us as if we were celebrities.

     We arrived at the studio and Araffi greeted us at the desk, without a smile of course. 
   "Mr Gaad wants to speak to all the teams in the common room." She informed us without looking up from her magazine. I didn't bother with a response and just kept walking.

      We got to the common room and Clardol's team was there, as well as Agustin's, the guy who told us about the show. They took up all the couches so we sat in kitchen chairs around a little table closer to the appliances. Soon after the scaly girl with the bubblegum and her team marched in and stood over to the side of the room. Mr Gaad followed them in with a man and a woman.
   "Morning teams. So, as you have probably noticed, the billboards are up. We have been receiving a lot of feedback from the public and because this is a reality show, the public's opinion is very important and will be taken on board. They will be decision makers, we will listen to them and respond with what we think they would like to see. So after each episode, they can take their phones and go on our website and share their thoughts. What they think is very important because later in the show we will have eliminations. Therefore, it's very important to be interesting enough. We will meet with each team individually in your dressing rooms now and give you feedback."

     When it was our turn we were led to our dressing room. We all sat on the couches. The producers stood before us. The man we had never met before was swiping with a stylus on a silver pad. He came to a blank screen and looked up at us.
   "what's your team name?" the man asked. He was human, Asian, and very handsome. We all looked at each other. We hadn't discussed it.
   "oh... Um..." I muttered, looking around me for help.
   "it's best if it's space themed as the show is broadcasted all over the galaxy. Something catchy." he suggested.
   "comet crushers?" Ricky suggested. Honto snorted in what I assumed was support and Sena pat him on the back for his quick thinking. It wasn't perfect, kind of dorky to be honest, but it was pretty good for thinking on his feet.
   "okay." the man typed it into the tablet. He then looked at the woman. She was thin and hunched over on herself, she had a dark bob and pale grey skin, she had kind, green eyes and a small mouth, baring her teeth in a smile.
"the feedback for you guys is very positive. A lot of people like you, say that you seem very real, that you seem to be good people. Others are saying that you're 'pathetic' and not 'tough enough' to be on this show. Overall people love you. They're really looking forward to seeing you on the show because you seem like friends and you'll bring a lot of fun to set. They loved the photos released of you guys playing and dancing. I think you should play with that. It'll get us more ratings from people who aren't in gangs." I nodded along, waiting for more but they started to move towards the door.
   "that's it?" I asked.
   "So far."
   "so you're not going to prep us for tomorrow?" I asked, I started to panic as I remembered that the first episode would be filmed, live, the next day.
   "you'll be fine" Mr Gaad smiled at us. "they love you" and with that they walked out.

I turned to look around at the others, Sena's face reflected my panic, her blue eyes were as wide as saucers as she looked up at me.
   "did they just say they're not prepping us?" she whimpered.
   "He also said that they love us." Cal reminded her, putting his feet on the coffee table and his hands behind his head. "Can't really blame them either. We're a good looking bunch, very charismatic, and you have me, so all the ladies will be rooting for us." He smirked. Sena looked at him with pure disgust.
   "Only the desperate ones." she kicked his feet off the coffee table, got up and walked to a mirror to fix a curl that was sticking up. "Ladies appreciate manners, get your feet off the table." Cal's face dropped and looked up at Ricky, who was sitting beside me.
   "I was only joking, what did I do?" he asked under his breath. Ricky gave me a knowing smirk, to let me know he was thinking what I was, that she was jealous.
   "Maybe you should tone it down with the self love." he suggested as he stood and grabbed his coat from a nearby chair. "Anyway, I'll see you all later for dinner."
   "Where are you going?" I asked, sounding more controlling than I meant to.
   "I'm meeting Clardol to see what Mr Gaad said to his team."
   "No, Ricky. You can't tell him what happened, we have an edge, we don't go around flaunting it. This is a competition. Do you even understand what's on the line here? Money, freedom to start over again, we can have a real life, we can have everything we want."
   "Can we? Who's ever going to respect us? What are you expecting? To go on and get your dream job, settle down with a nice man and have a perfect little family and a perfect little life. That isn't you anyway." well, that was a punch in the stomach
   "Oh, so just because I'm a woman that means I want a man and a family? Seriously Ricky?! I thought that out of all people, you didn't see me like that." my voice broke and screeched through the silence, everyone was staring, barely daring to breathe. He softened when he realized what he had said.
  "That's not what I meant Ami, I was just saying what I thought we all really wanted. We can't have the perfect life. Besides, I'm just making new connections, it'll be beneficial for us, but if it makes you feel better, I won't tell him anything about our gameplan. Okay?"
   "You better not, honestly Ricky. I can't believe you, you're always smart with this kind of stuff. Just go. I have plans with Sena anyway."  from the corner of my eye I saw Sena's eyes widen again as she looked at Honto, he grunted, probably to tell her that he had no idea what I meant either. Ricky turned and left.
   "Em... Amalia, I'm really sorry but I forget what we were supposed to do today." Sena looked almost scared.
   "Oh, I was going to mention it last night but you fell asleep" a total lie "I was thinking we should go to the spa in the hotel, to relax before the show tomorrow." If Ricky could replace me with a new best friend, then I could do the same. It would be nice to have a female friend to bond with over girl stuff. Do people from her planet even get periods. I thought to myself. Note to self, don't ask her that. The shock melted off her face and she smiled at me, with pity, it turned my stomach. "Only if you want to, like I don't care or anything, you know I could go to them gym and talk to the clothes department so they remember I'm wearing my suit and not a skanky outfit." I gestured to the band around my wrist that spread around my body to form a powered exoskeleton.
   "No, I'd love to. Besides, I'm sure they know, since you've reminded them every day since we've gotten here." She laughed.

        I expected being alone with Sena for an extended amount of time, without the option of pretending to be asleep to be awkward, and it was. We sat in silence as we got our feet massaged and our toenails painted. Once the masseurs were gone she spoke.
   "Amalia, are you okay?" she asked. I opened my eyes and turned my head from where it was lying against the head rest to look at her.
   "Of course. Why?" she bit her lip, she was always so nervous around me.
   "You seem stressed, about the show and... you know, about Ricky." 
   "Look, I can't talk about emotional stuff without alcohol." Sena turned and grabbed a fancy glass from the desk beside her, sniffed it and nodded.
   "Here, have mine." I laughed and drank it, and then realized that now I had to talk.
   "Ugh, you're really going to make me talk aren't you."
   "Obviously." she grinned. I sighed reluctantly.
   "It's just that he's all I have. My family are gone, according to Ricky, my future is in the gutter and you know, he's my best friend, he's the only thing I have from home, from Earth, from Mexico. Since we met it's always been the two of us against the world and now he's making new friends and he's forgetting about me."
   "Amalia, he is not forgetting about you. You are his family too. He loves you. You could never be replaced. Ever." I attempted a smile.
   "thanks" I did feel a bit better after saying it out loud.
    "thanks for talking to me about it. I'm glad you suggested this. We've never done anything like this before." That made me think, maybe if we did we could be friends, like real friends. You know if she could stop being so open about emotions and stuff.
   "yeah. It's nice." I said, and I meant it. Ricky knew not to make me talk about my feelings, it made us both uncomfortable. I hadn't been able to talk like this with anyone in a long time. Even though I didn't say anything other than the word nice, Sena beamed like I had given her the biggest compliment she had ever received.
    "okay I feel awkward now. You say something vulnerable."
    "you shouldn't feel embarrassed about being vulnerable, especially in front of me, I'm your team mate and-"
  "Sena please." she laughed at how uncomfortable I looked.
   "okay, like what?"
   "why did you leave home? You're not the type to get caught up in all this." she immediately stiffened and looked away. There was a moment of awkward silence, I didn't feel bad at first, she made me talk first after all but then as she looked increasingly upset I knew I had crossed a line. Just as I went to fill the silence she replied.
   "I, uh, I ran away. I got caught up in something and wanted to return to my family, then Cal found me wondering around, and I needed money so I joined the gang, then you know I was too scared to go home and I kind of love you guys so, you know, I stayed." I desperately wanted to know what this mysterious something was, but I knew not to push too much. Maybe she wasn't as perfect and innocent as I thought, you know for a girl in a gang.

      Even though the whole spa idea was to irritate Ricky, I really enjoyed it, and for a minute I forgot about the show and the stress I was under and the objectification that was being thrown at me. I finally felt like this gang could be more than just a gang if I tried a little harder to be a friend as well as a leader.