We’re going to start filming with Will Wang walking backward toward those doors. The camera will be on him, and I want you all to lean in and give a wave or high five as he goes past you, and introduce yourself to the camera. Then when he announces ‘This is Million Dollar Marriage!’ you’ll all run through those double doors and line up on the marks on the floor. Do you understand?”
We all clap and cheer, pumped. I give a wolf whistle as Ivy rolls her eyes and claps her hands. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” she growls.
She’s a fucking beast. If anyone’s my competition, it’s her. There are a few more seriously athletic people out there, but I’ve made friends with all of them. I’m ready to rule.
“And three . . . two . . . one . . . camera’s on,” the director says.
“Hello, coming direct to you from the Georgia Tech rec center, welcome to the first season of the newest sensation to sweep the country! Tonight, we have fifty contestants who have absolutely no idea what they’re going to have to do to achieve our prize. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re raring to win this season’s top prize of ONE MILLION DOLLARS! This. Is. MILLION. DOLLAR. MARRIAGE!”
He runs backward as he talks, introducing some of the contestants, then shoves open the door. I clench my fists and follow the leader.
I can’t believe I’m here, doing this. That I gave Jimmy and another friend of mine named Flynn the reins at Tim’s for the next three weeks and told them to do their best to check in on Gran. Before I left, I told Gran that I was going away for a while to be on television and that for the next three weeks I’d have no idea where I’d be or what the hell I’d be doing. And I still don’t know. All I know is it’ll be played out for the entire country to see.
I’m game.
I run through the doors, and it’s like it’s the big game and we’re the home team. People are screaming from packed bleachers—they must be actors because they look way too excited about this. They’re screaming and trying to touch us as I run through, and HOLY SHIT.
I nearly stop in my tracks when I see what’s in front of me.
It’s an Olympic-size swimming pool.
It looks like it’s full of balloons.
One of the contestants behind me nudges me, so I find my mark, an X on the ground that has “LCROSS” on it. I stand there and wave at my fake fans. Blow a few of the cute girls kisses. They cheer louder.
“All right, here’s the name of the game!” Will Wang shouts when we’re all assembled. He climbs to a podium overlooking the pool, and there’s a cameraman there, filming us from above. I’ve counted at least ten cameras. I look for Penny and see her way on the other side of the pool. She looks terrified. “We have loaded this massive pool full of balloons. There are nearly one million of them. When the whistle sounds, your job is to dive in and find the balloon with your name on it. Simple, right?”
I scan the balloons. I notice two first off that have writing on them in Sharpie. I look up and note that one of my biggest threats—this shaved-head dude called Ace, who’s tattooed and pierced within an inch of his life—is doing the same thing.
He looks up at me, and a snarl appears on his face.
Oh, he’s fucking going down.
“There is one catch!” Will Wang smiles. “If someone finds your balloon first, they might choose to hand it over to you, out of the goodness of their hearts.”
I almost laugh at that. I haven’t met a hell of a lot of people who are that good when it comes to sharing a million dollars.
“Or you can pop it, in which case that contestant is out of the game for good.”
Several people gasp.
Hell no. That isn’t happening to me. I’ve come too far to be here. And I have my alliances.
I’m ready.
“If your balloon is popped, only one thing can save you, but we’ll get to that later. However, keep in mind before you go around popping everyone’s balloons . . . you might need these people later. It’s up to you how to proceed.”
I wipe my chin and get ready to dive in. Name of the game: find