Unscripted - Nicole Kronzer Page 0,74

let it get this bad?”

In one second, Paloma had enveloped me in a hug.

“You are smart—you’re just . . . a frog,” Paloma muttered over my shoulder.

“What?” I pulled back.

She gave me a half smile. “You’re like a live frog put in a pot of water. It slowly gets hotter and hotter until it starts to boil—how did it happen? But by then, it’s too late. You’re dead.”

I took another step back. “What?”

Paloma reached in and wiped a tear from my cheek. “I don’t mean you’re dead, I—this metaphor’s falling apart a little. I just mean it happens so slowly, you don’t notice at first. You’re not stupid.”

I let out a shuddery breath.

“Only . . .” Paloma led me several steps farther away from the edge of the crowd. “How bad have things gotten with Ben?” she asked carefully.

“What do you mean?”

“Has he . . . hit you?”

I shook my head slowly. “No.”

Paloma cocked her head. “But?”

“He . . . touched me. Waist up stuff. I—I thought I maybe wanted it at first?” My voice was thin.

She grew very quiet.

“But then?” Paloma prompted me.

I shrugged. “I didn’t want it anymore. I asked him to stop. He told me to relax. I kneed him in the . . . testicle region . . .”

Paloma bit her lip. “Well done, you.”

“He told me if I told anyone, they’d all know the only reason I got on Varsity was because he thought I was hot and they needed a girl. Which is ridiculous, now that I say it out loud . . . I know I should just quit, but I really want to do the show. This is the thing I’m good at. This show could really be the start of something for me. I just have to . . . tiptoe through a minefield to get there.”

Paloma frowned.

“Will told me to make a list of all the ways Ben is terrible,” I said.

“And then I think it’s time to tell the Pauls,” Paloma said gently.

“Paloma—”

“What Ben has done is immoral . . . and illegal. You’re underage.” Paloma rubbed her forehead. “You shouldn’t have to go through all this to be in that show! You think the guys are worrying about this crap? Carrying around all this baggage? Tiptoeing through a minefield? No. They were at the bonfire. Having fun. When do you get to have fun, Zelda?”

Tears threatened to overflow the banks again. “What happens if everyone finds out about Ben and me? What if they all say I’m only on Varsity because of him?”

Paloma scoffed. “Everyone saw your audition, Zelda,” she said, rubbing my arms. “Only idiots would think Ben chose you simply because you’re a girl.” She hugged me again. “It’s time to jump out of the pot, Zelda. Make a break for it. You can’t stay in this thing for womankind anymore. That way is death. Metaphoric death. Spiritual death. Choose life.”

I closed my eyes and let the tears drip off my chin.

Paloma stroked my hair. “You look exhausted. My parents say sleep should be the entire bottom level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.”

I choked on a laugh.

“So sleep. This problem won’t go away, but you’ll feel better equipped to handle it. Plus, tomorrow is our free morning—we’ll circle up and talk more then. Let me walk you back, okay?”

I did feel exhausted. There was no way I was going off in search of Jesse anymore.

“Hey,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “You want me to put on Pacific Coast Whale Sounds?”

I smiled around my tears. “Not for ten million dollars.”

Paloma laughed and we hugged, and I let myself be led back to the cabin to sleep as hard as I could for tomorrow. Because tomorrow was going to be a big day: for being a frog, for getting to the bottom of this thing with Jesse . . . if there even was a thing. But no matter what happened, tomorrow wasn’t for Ellie.

It was for Zelda.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The next morning at breakfast in the Lodge, I reached for my juice and found Ben sitting across from me. I looked left and right—where had the Gildas and Will and Jonas gone? After I went to bed, Paloma had filled them all in on what had happened, so they knew I needed their protection.

Then I smelled it before I saw it—someone from the kitchen depositing a fresh tray of coffee cake onto the buffet line.

Animals.

“Hey,” Ben said.

“How are you feeling?”

I couldn’t meet his eye. “Fine.”

“Cramps feeling better?”

I shrugged.

“Not a