Vanilla

Twenty One

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long gosh the internet here is really bad and I'm still trying my best to make it work hehe. As you can tell, it's a total of 13k words this time round and super duper long but you'll know why at the end and see the worth of sitting down and reading this through hehe. I hope you enjoy the chapter! I will be back on Inkitt uploading snippets starting Wednesday. 

____________________

[Leroy]

"Someone's learning." He had a blue in his eyes that was pale. Like frost on the window. Crystal feathers. The kind that invited curious hands. "Risk-taking."

"Calculated risk-taking, mind you. Unlike yourself," he cleared his throat and there was red dusting his ears. "We're going to stand out as the team with the most dishes despite having the least resources. That, and the fact that authentic Amazon and Brazilian cuisine has never been about course meals. We won't be giving them plates to judge—we're giving them an experience to remember."

*

Didn't take long to figure I liked the way he'd put it. Sadly, I wasn't the only one since the rest of the team was looking at him weird. Half-excited, half-anxious. He on the other hand, stared in circles without proper direction, lost without glasses and probably registering the entire world in a blur.

"How the hell is your brain so sexy?" Someone stole my line and had everyone turn to him, laughing. "You need to stop."

Behind his shoulder, the reporters appeared to be done with interviewing our facilitator and surveying the rest of the camp, waiting around with cameras and recording devices. I recognized one of them as the photographer for my interview.

"Hi," some girl cut in with a hand. "I'm Sharla Reyes from the Culinary Chronicle. We're the ones covering your team's last couple of hours till show time and we need three individual interviews plus a statement from you as the team captain. If you could just include your plans for the course dinner and what position you're aiming for, that kind of stuff—"

"Everyone's here to win," I told her straight up. Both she and the people around her did a double take, blinking rapidly like people often did whenever they heard me speak for the first time. It's like people expect to hear nonsense. "We need some space. Pictures are fine as long as you don't get in the way. Don't speak to people when they're handling a knife or if they're near a fire."

I didn't bother waiting for a response. "Rosi, stream. Bring the flashlight cases. Raul, think of a drink. Bank, peppers. Nabila can join you. Si Yin—"

"Wait wait wait, can we swap?" She said suddenly. Nervous. "Don't leave me with the fish. Can I, uh... do the wrapping thing? Plus the bamboo steamers. I'll help fill them just give me the number of servings. Just, anything but fish. You do the fish because you're good."

Wasn't hard to figure out that she was genuinely asking for a swap. I gave it a thought, considering our remaining options and knowing that we were lacking in spices. In that span of time, she'd already shuffled to stand beside glasses without glasses, pointing in his direction to indicate where I should be assigning her to.

"Swapping is fine if you can us some ants."

"Got it," she seemed confident in anything new. "And your—I mean. Vanilla would know how to find them, right?" She said only after everyone had left the circle to start on their duties, voice lowered.