Change is Inevitable, but Growth is Optional

"You know all this and that, but you were never taught how to start a fire?" Becca asked incredulously.

"Writing briefs is a little different from burning things," Kathryn defended. "They're almost entirely opposites!"

"Yeah, fire is actually useful," Abby teasingly remarked, earning herself a flick from the older woman.

"Well there's bound to be something like matches around the place here!" Charlotte offered. "It's times like this that I wish Kendra made herself a little more available to us...oh well! I'm sure we can find some!"

"I'd rather she didn't make herself more available," Kathryn grimaced. "It seems like every time she's around us, misfortune always follows."

"Hey, not all the time," Sara argued. "She's been a real help to me on more than one occasion!"

"Yeah, but you've also played right into her hand," Abby noted.

"What do you mean?" Sara asked.

"Well, will everybody who has done the deed with Turner please raise their hand?" Abby suddenly announced to the group.

Lauren was a bit taken aback with how openly and candidly the younger twin was talking about sex, especially with her sister around. She was even more surprised when she scanned the people sitting around her and saw that almost none of them were raising their hand, not even Becca. Almost none, aside from Sara herself, putting her hand up very slowly and timidly.

"Wait, you really-?" Lauren started but her voice didn't finish the rest of the sentence, not wanting to betray the trust of the three other girls that she had talked about this with not three hours prior.

"I suppose the cat's out of the bag," Sara said. Her tone was gloomy, but a smile was plastered on her face that shattered that aura immediately.

"And Becca?" Lauren didn't ask the full question she wanted to, but it was pretty clear to everyone there what she meant.

"Yes, I know about it," Becca confirmed. "And no, I haven't gone all the way with Turner...yet." She emphasized the "yet" to try to convince the rest of the girls here, specifically Charlotte and Abby, to not take her second-place spot.

"And you're okay with it?" Kathryn added.

"Being okay with it is a strong word," Becca sighed, trying to find the balance between acting understanding and not being a doormat. "It's...a complex situation, especially with Sara, because Turner and I have known her for ages."

"So has Abby," Kathryn pointed out, which caused Abby to blush in embarrassment and Kathryn to chide herself for saying.

"Yeah, but...that's different," Becca shrunk back a little bit. "She's my sister."

"And I don't want to do...that...with him," Abby lied, trying to appease her sister.

"Says the one who got naked in front of him," Kathryn muttered, before clasping her hand over her mouth.

Thankfully, both Abby and her sister took that in stride, but what followed was a long period of silence as nobody knew what to say in response to that. In the end, it was Charlotte, ever the overeager one, who broke it.

"I've started a fire before!" she offered. "If you wanted my help, Kathryn."

"Sure, that'd be great," Kathryn accepted as the blonde girl kneeled down next to her. "Now, the three things that fire needs are oxygen, fuel, and heat, so if we..."

"That's a lot," Charlotte interrupted as she lit a match and threw it on the stack of kindling, which immediately took flame.

"How...did you do that so easily?" Kathryn asked. "I had it all planned out, where the match should go, when to add more wood onto the pile..."

"It's not rocket science," Charlotte shrugged.

"Never thought I'd see the day where Kathryn was outsmarted by something as simple as tossing a stick onto a fire," Sara teased.

"Especially by Charlotte," Abby offhandedly added.

"I'll have you know I'm getting my bachelor's in nursing!" Charlotte defended, standing up to face the naysayers.

"I know, but when you think about it, well...you all know, right?" Abby stuttered.

"I don't, please enlighten me," Becca smugly responded, never missing the opportunity to one-up her sister.

"Nah, it's fine, I get what you mean," Charlotte backed down. "It's just...all too often that's all people see me as. I mean, the first thing that Turner said to me when I got here was something about me being a cheerleader. All of my transformation options, they're dead-set on fitting me into that stereotype."

"All our transformations are dead-set on fitting us into stereotypes," Lauren countered. "Emma's the young, innocent, wide-eyed one, Abby's the homewrecker, Lana...Liam...whatever is the shy nerdy girl, Mandy's the maternal figure, all that."

"Right, but it feels like mine is the most obvious," Charlotte winced. "Aside from probably Abby's, no offense."

"None taken, not like it was my decision," Abby shrugged.

"Speaking of stereotypes, what do you reckon Paige is up to?" Sara asked.

"I'd...rather not go there," Becca grimaced.

If he was gonna be totally honest, Turner did miss Paige's presence. At least, the old Paige. The Paige who knew every little detail about him; his favorite flavor of ice cream, favorite sports team, and everything else. The Paige that she was currently acting like now, equal parts shy and dominant. Sitting here, holding her hand as a pointless movie played in front of him, he thought back to last week, when Paige tried to dredge up old memories between the two of them. Now, it was happening naturally.

"Oh, this is my favorite part!" Paige excitedly said, leaning forward in her seat and grabbing Turner's hand tighter.

"You've seen this before?" Turner incredulously wondered out loud.

"No, but I've seen enough movies like this to know where it's going," Paige answered.

Turner glanced back up at the screen and it showed two people—he guessed they were the main characters, but he hadn't been paying enough attention to the movie—standing suspiciously close to one another in an empty room. It wasn't hard to guess why exactly Paige would declare this as her favorite scene. Though she tried to hide it beneath layers of sarcasm, flirtatiousness, and resentment, Paige loved romance. Not as much as some of the other people here, nothing could compare to Sara's magically implanted romanticism, but more than the average person.

As the two people on screen kissed, Paige repositioned herself so that her head was resting on Turner's shoulder and moved in, closer to him. It made Turner a bit uncomfortable, being this close to her, but he was willing to ride it out for her sake.

"Becca would have me burned at the stake if she was here," he thought, but then another voice in his head countered with "But she's not here, is she?"

That was true, Becca wasn't here. The only people that were here were Turner, Paige, and probably the seven thousand cameras Kendra had set up in the movie theater so that the unknown audience at home could see what they were up to. And there was probably one thing that the audience wanted. One thing that almost happened last week.

"One thing that isn't gonna be repeated this week," Turner thought.

"You okay?" he heard from beside him. Looking to his right, he saw a pair of blue eyes looking at him with concern. Genuine concern.

"Yeah, I'm alright," he asserted. "Just lost in thought, is all."

"Again?" Paige asked. "Oh my God, I'm not boring you, am I?"

That briefly sent Turner into a moment of panic. This question seemed like a trap, knowing Paige's general character. But he pushed those worries away; after all, this wasn't the girl he'd known for almost ten years, the girl who broke his heart, this was just someone he met that happened to have the same name.

"No, no, not at all," Turner reassured. "My brain just doesn't stop moving sometimes."

"I know a way that can get it to stop," Paige offered, flashing a gentle smirk and raised eyebrow.

"Wait, hold on, hold on," Turner held out his hand and created some distance between the two of them. "I know what you're offering, and I...don't think I can do that yet."

"I wasn't going that far," Paige amended. "Just a...just a kiss?"

"That still might be a bit too much," Turner sheepishly admitted. "You've gotta see where I'm coming from with this, I mean, five years ago..."

"Five years ago, you didn't know me," Paige corrected. "You've only known me for a day."

"Forget the façade for a second," Turner waved. "This is bigger than that."

"It's not like you haven't done it before," Paige reminded him. "Not even like you haven't in the past week."

"That wasn't me last week!" It was his turn to remind her of what happened. "You know damn well that I wasn't myself during our date last week!"

That stung Paige a bit. It was true, but she didn't really want to be reminded of it at this moment (or any moment for that matter).

"How did this evening spiral out of control so easily?" she wondered. "Was it just my bad planning? Was I supposed to do something else with him tonight?"

The light from the movie turned brighter, and Turner could see Paige's worried emotions as she tried to figure out what to say to him next, causing him to soften up a bit.

"Hey, hey, don't beat yourself up over that," he consoled. While it probably wasn't the best idea to forgive Paige for what happened last week, it wasn't entirely her fault.

"I'm sorry..." Paige said as her voice trailed off. Turner braced for impact, expecting Paige to try to make up for it somehow, but she instead just buried her face into his shoulder.

"I...I knew you weren't yourself," Paige mumbled, her speech muffled by the fabric of his shirt. "And yet, I still..."

"Hoo boy," Turner thought internally. "This is gonna be a rough one, isn't it?"

"Look, I know what you're going through," he began, before realizing how stupid that sounded. "I mean, not in all the senses, but I know what it feels like to not have agency in your life. And, well, when you boil it down to the smaller parts, that's what your situation—and everyone's situation here—is like. Kendra did something to me, but she also did something to you."

"But it's not like I'm blameless in all of this," her bitter tone came through loud and clear, despite her still hiding her face.

"I never said that," he honestly replied. "But you're not the one with the majority of it here. I mean, if we were never brought here, that would've never happened."

"Yeah, you're right," Paige conceded.

"And regardless, it already happened, so there's no point in worrying about it when it can't be changed," he continued.

"I guess..." Paige answered. "I just...you know that I can't stop feeling bad about it, right? I mean, that's due to one of those things that contributes to me not having agency here."

"Yeah, I know," Turner rubbed the back of his neck. "It's gonna take some getting used to, but I know it's not your decision."

The two of them had all but forgotten about the movie that was playing in the background as they had talked, but both almost simultaneously turned back to the screen at the front of the room.

"I'm lost," Paige admitted with a giggle.

"You wanna just ditch this place?" Turner offered, looking for an out from the terrible movie that he had been subjected to.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Paige said as she moved to stand up.

"What is the deal with you and Kathryn?" Becca asked Sara as they left the beach.

"What do you mean, what is the deal?" Sara fired back.

"You and Kathryn...you're fairly close, no?" Becca clarified.

"What do you mean?" Sara repeated. "I'm close with everybody here."

"Well let's see here, Kathryn helped you get second in the challenge this week," Becca mentioned.

"I mean, she could've done that for anybody though..." Sara defended.

"But she didn't," Becca narrowed her eyes. "She just helped you."

As she said that last sentence, Becca twirled her finger around and pointed it straight at the black-haired girl in front of her.

"Why are you bringing this up?" Sara asked. "Is it payback for what I did with Turner?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Becca denied. "It's more for...my own game plan."

"Go on..." Sara prodded.

"I guess," Becca uncomfortably shifted her weight from one foot to another. "I want to get closer to these people here. I mean, I know a lot of you guys, but it's not like I'm on a deep level with you all. It just seemed like there's some sort of invisible barrier that I can't break with anyone, and it seemed like you were so close to Kathryn that you had broken through that...what's your secret?"

"Uh...I think I have the answer, but you're not gonna like it," Sara grimaced after mulling over what to say to her.

"I can take it, I'm a big girl," Becca tried to stand up to emphasize her point, but thanks to her petite stature, it didn't quite have the intended effect.

"You have to lay off these people here," Sara laid out. "Every night after there's a date, you've been asking what happened, if they got up to any nefarious activities with Turner. That's what the invisible barrier is with the people here, they're a bit scared of you."

"But...Turner's my boyfriend!" Becca defended.

"Yes, but ever since he got teleported here with the ten of us, he's now all of our boyfriend," Sara corrected. "I know you realize that. Hell, you were receptive to what I was telling you with regards to mine and Turner's date last night. So if you just act like that with everyone, maybe they won't be as afraid of you, and they'll be willing to get closer to you."

"I can't do that with everyone though," Becca responded. "As I said earlier, it's different with some people. You're, well, you. Sweet, charismatic, romantic, smart, the whole nine yards. There are some other people here that don't exactly fit those criteria, like Paige."

"It doesn't have to be an overnight change," Sara countered. "And besides, there's another girl who's in a similar boat to me that you've been shunning ever since night two."

"Emma?" Becca guessed, although she already knew the answer.

"Bingo," Sara said. "Again, I'm not telling you that you have to be like this. I'm just saying that if you want to get closer to all of us, and I genuinely believe that you do, you gotta stop acting like a hall monitor and just be willing to let loose every once in a while. You tried that last week with your whole 'not looking at the scoreboard' schtick, and it seemed to work. People seemed more willing to talk with you. Now you just gotta do something similar to that, but for every week. Don't worry about Turner, he's still got his wits about him."

"I just can't help but get jealous whenever I hear about someone else doing something with Turner," Becca admitted.

"You didn't get too jealous when you heard about me," Sara countered. "At least, it didn't seem like it. Just keep doing something like that, and trust me, the people here will all love you. I can see that they don't want to worry about what you're going to say to them. Mainly because I was in that boat before I decided to just take the plunge."

As Becca pondered that, Sara resumed walking back to her cabin, before she turned around with an idea.

"Hey, since Paige is gone, you wanna room with me tonight? We can move Kathryn into your room if you want."

"Sorry, but I think I need to be alone tonight," Becca turned her down. "What with all of this, I just need some time to process it all."

"Suit yourself, but the offer still stands," Sara offered. "Any day that you want, if you can't deal with Paige, we can plonk Kathryn over there."

"She won't get mad at that?" Becca wondered out loud.

"She doesn't care, she's a super heavy sleeper," Sara dismissed.

"No, not Kathryn, Kendra," Becca clarified.

"Oh, Kendra, you can just buy a one-night roommate swap with those BP points or whatever they're called," Sara explained. "And since I have an abundance of them without much I really wanna buy right now, I might as well use them to help out other people."

"Again, thanks for the offer, I'll definitely take you up on that one of these nights," Becca said. "Just...I can't do it tonight."

"Well, have a good night," Sara bid her farewell.

"Good night," Becca repeated. Ordinarily, she definitely would've taken the older girl up on that offer, but tonight was a bit of a no-go. Not only was it her one night a week away from Paige, but she also had way too much to mull over to even think about sleeping. Plus, the talk with Sara had left her a little bit hot and bothered.

"Might as well enjoy my time without Paige instead of worrying about what her and Turner are doing," she said aloud to nobody as she headed to her cabin.