Everyone’s gone into the bathrooms close by and are already almost all changed. Jack shakes his head, then wags his finger at me. “You’ll rue the day!”
“Yeah, sure, okay,” I examine my nails. “See you in a few, coward.”
Max walks up beside me and watches Jack walk into the bathrooms and slam the door. “He reminds me of myself.”
I almost choke on my spit. “Ohh? Why’s that?”
“I, too, used to be scared of rocks.”
“Come again?” I look over at him.
“They’re heavy,” is all he says before walking away with a whistle. Is the guy on drugs? I mean, what?
Max suddenly stops and looks over his shoulder. “Oh and, Ivy, remember, fear is what makes us stronger. You’re going to have to push him through this, but he’ll come out better than ever, and isn’t that what partnership is all about? Life lessons? Teachable moments? Chaos? Terror?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What are you playing at?”
Max just smiles. “Life. That’s what makes things interesting. Simply life. Glad you’ve gotten the chance to participate in our games today. Stay strong; sometimes, the hardest ones to catch are the ones we need the most.”
“Huh?”
“Work hard,” he adds after a heavy pause.
I have no time to think about it as I run to the bathroom and change into my super tight spandex. My shirt, correction, my Silver Snake shirt, stares back at me, and I weirdly smile because who knew this would be my future?
I did always love this show, which makes me laugh since Jack had nightmares and I had dreams.
Maybe that’s what Max was saying.
Sometimes life is just life. One person’s dream can be another person’s nightmare, can be another person’s worst-case scenario. Where I just want to propel myself into the temple, I’ve got a partner that equates that to jumping out of a plane without a parachute.
I smile at myself in the mirror.
Life. Am I right? Life.
By the time I make it back, all the teams are ready to compete across the mote. They have ropes across each floatation device; they all look like rocks; the flotation devices round and brown, and now I’m worried Jack’s going to be triggered. Already he’s looking around us for Olmec as if the stone god’s just going to appear out of nowhere.
“Focus!” I snap.
He nods his head way too many times, then runs his hands through his golden-brown hair and takes a deep breath. “We’ve got this. Just don’t fall into the water. We get a break after each stage. Do you want to go first or me?”
I think about it for a minute. “Why don’t you go first in case Olmec shows up randomly and starts talking?”
His eyes widen. “Do you think that could happen?”
“Bad idea, shouldn’t have said that out loud,” I grumble, then turn to him and grab him by the shoulders. “Make it across the weird rock rafts with the ropes dangling, and I’ll make up with you.”
He frowns. “For how long?”
“Ready!” Dustin shouts. “In ten, nine, eight—”
“Long enough!” I smack him lightly on the cheek. “Now, find your A-game and destroy Anderson and Jude’s teams, okay? They so don’t deserve bonuses, corner offices, or Nespresso machines instead of whatever the hell they feed us now!”
“Nespresso.” He nods. “Making out.” Another nod. “I like this motivation.”
“Atta boy.” I slap him on the ass. “And if you hear Olmec, just think about the fact that you can finally conquer your fears!”
He gives me a pitiful look. I almost laugh.
“Three,” Dustin continues, “two, one.”
The siren goes off, and Jack just jumps onto the first raft without even grabbing the rope above him. The rest of the teams are strategizing differently, trying to go faster by having one jump to one raft followed by the other, but if you fall, you have to start over; both of you do, so I think our strategy is better.
“Come on, Jack!” I yell. “You’ve got this!”
He’s on the third raft. Halfway.
He gets to the fourth just as Anderson falls off the third into the water. Both he and his partner swim back and start over. Jude and his partner look like they’re ready to beat us, though.
I just keep yelling.
The pressure’s on me now.
Jack jumps onto the other platform and starts yelling for me to go, but the rafts are still moving around from him being on them; I have no choice but to grab the rope first and try to move around using whatever upper strength I have.
“Badass!” Jack yells. “Just like that! Grab the next rope!” We’re still in first place as I swing to the next rope and lightly touch the raft, only to jump to the next one. My arms are burning as I reach the fifth rope. I slip and fall onto the raft, but it’s moving back and forth so hard that I’m getting drenched in water, and I can feel Anderson’s team, stupid Blue Barracudas, right on my ass.