Doctor doctor, give me the news

“Just give him one of these pills every morning for the next month, and the issues should be all fixed up,” Dr. Dawn Willowbrook said with a smile. “Make sure to wrap it up in something so he’ll eat it, alright?”

“Yes! Thank you so much, doctor!” The young woman, one Ms. Magill, gushed, hugging her little fluffy dog to her chest. “I’m sorry, um… I’m sorry about… before.”

Dawn shook her head. “Don’t worry about it,” she laughed. “Believe me, you’re not the first one to have doubts when they come through that door.”

The wall of Dawn’s clinic was lined with certificates and accolades illustrating all her achievements in the field of animal medicine. And yet, first-time clients always had their doubts. Mostly because, at a whopping 5’1” and with her baby face, she looked like a schoolgirl in a Halloween costume instead of a credentialed professional.

After Ms. Magill left, Dawn slumped against the counter.

Finally, the weekend can begin… Maybe I’ll pick up something from the Chinese place down the block, she decided, closing up and heading home.

It had been night for quite some time now. As the only vet on call for her practice, she needed to keep very late hours. Most nights she came home exhausted. It was the kind of rough schedule that would cause most people to question their life choices. She could have been doing brain surgery in a hospital somewhere with her brilliance.

But Dawn thrived on hectic. There was nothing she treasured more than throwing her all into something and proving how great she was at it. She loved helping people. She loved animals. And she especially loved helping people’s animals.

Time would tell if it was a mistake, but right now, she didn’t question her decision. Decisiveness. That was key. It had led her this far, after all. If she doubted her past choices, then she might lose faith in her ability to make the correct decision in the future. And that was unacceptable.

All her choices up until now had been predicated on the belief that she had made the right choices prior. Mistakes were not tolerated by a genius after all.

She pulled into the driveway of her house. A nice place, not too fancy. She had her eyes set on something much grander in the future, after all, once she’d really made it. And besides, it was far better than anywhere one of her classmates from high school would have ended up.

Dawn was greeted by the scurrying sound of tiny paws on hard wood as she closed the door behind her. Her babies!

“Mrroww!” A tiny tabby ran up and rubbed herself against Dawn’s leg, purring. Little Juniper was always so happy to see her.

She headed into the kitchen to fill up the water for her little fur babies. Meowser, Mittens, Luna, Sparky, and Juniper. She adopted them over the years and was currently in the process of figuring out if she had room for another. Her parents said she had a problem, but what did they know? Were THEY pulling in a six figure salary?

Her phone dinged. Another call from her mom, straight to voicemail. Dawn sighed, knowing exactly what it would be about. Another attempt at a blind date.

“He’s a nice boy. Why don’t you give him a chance?”

How many times had she heard that line by now? Her mom was obsessed with finding her a husband, and her friends only had so many sons she could shove her daughter at.

It’s gonna end the same anyway, so why bother? Dawn thought, sighing as she began digging into her chowmein.

For all her feats, Dawn could not be considered a pro at romance. In fact, her relationship experience was a big zero. She’d completely avoided the male of the species through elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and medical school, focusing only on her studies and her gymnastics career. And by the time she was at a point in her life when dating was something she was interested in, she found herself 27 and living with a bunch of cats.

It wasn’t that she was against the idea. She’d have loved to meet a nice guy and settle down. But after the first few blind dates her mother had set her up on, and the disastrous attempts to meet guys she’d made herself, the proof was plane to see.

Most guys didn’t want to date a girl who could still fit into her middle school leotard. And the few who did, well, let’s just say Dawn couldn’t get away from them fast enough.

She’d never been on a second date, and that annoyed her. She was smart. Brilliant, even. And pretty, too, prettier than most women she knew. Her brown hair was as smooth as silk and she tied it up in a ponytail, and her clients always complimented the way her brown eyes sparkled whenever she smiled. And whenever she left home she always made sure to check her looks in the mirror to ensure she looked her best.

But with hardly any ass or boobs to speak of, and being ineligible to ride most roller coasters in the tri-state area, men weren’t exactly beating down her door.

…I wonder what Nick’s doing right now? She mused. Nick Reynolds was a former classmate from all the way back in elementary school.

To put it bluntly, he had once been her stalker. At least that’s how Dawn had always seen it. If you asked him, he’d probably tell a different story. But he’d asked her out three times over the course of six years, and had absolutely failed to get the hint. She’d barely wasted another thought on him since their graduation. But she’d seen him a few times after that. They’d both matured since then, and could even speak on friendly terms. She wasn’t disgusted by his presence anymore, now that they’d both put a few more miles on their souls and he’d dug himself out of that emo grunge phase he’d spent his teenage years in.

Maybe I should give him a call sometime, she considered. Not that she was lonely. Or expected him to still like her after all these years. No, he would just be someone to talk to, just a nice chat between old classmates.

But she quickly dismissed the idea with a shake of her head and lifted another forkful of noodles to her lips. I don’t even have his phone number, anyway.

Then she disappeared, and her food dropped back into the container.

“Presenting our second contestant!”

Another woman popped into existence, sitting in the chair next to Gina. Nick’s eyes widened. He didn’t need Sylvia to introduce her, because she still looked exactly the same as when he'd seen her last. Hell, if anything, she’d gotten more beautiful! She’d grown her hair out into a ponytail, and it looked great on her. She was still wearing the same stylish glasses, only now that she was wearing a white lab coat that gave her a mature atmosphere. She was still short, though, he could tell, even sitting down.

“Dawn Willowbrook!” Sylvia declared.

“Nick’s childhood crush! Then teenage crush! Then… wow, Nick, you really liked this girl for a long time, didn’t you?”

Nick felt his face heat up. His persistent attempts to win Dawn’s love (more colloquially known as “stalking”) was his greatest shame from that period of his life. He’d firmly believed that if he just did nice things for her and spoke with her, eventually she’d come to like him. Boy had that backfired.

“That’s ‘Doctor’ Dawn Willowbrook,” Dawn snapped, adjusting her glasses. “Where am I? What are…”

Her voice trailed off as she recognized him, and her lips turned to a frown. “Nick Reynolds? What’s going on?”

“Excellent, I’m so glad you didn’t panic,” Sylvia giggled. “That will make this so much easier, considering you’re a smarty-pants! Now listen my girl, you’ve been selected to take part in a VERY special program known as ‘Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season’!”

Another round of canned applause echoed across the vacant beach. Nick began to think it was programmed to sound every time the title of the show was stated.

“I don’t understand,” Dawn narrowed her eyes. “HOW did I get here? One moment I was eating dinner at home, and the next-"

“You’re here, yes, I know,” Sylvia nodded. “I brought you here, with my powers.”

Dawn snorted. “Powers? What, like magic? Ridiculous. I don’t believe in that sort of thing.”

“Well, then how do YOU explain how you got here?” Sylvia asked, raising her eyebrow.

Dawn opened her mouth, but had no reply. For once, she’d found a question her genius brain couldn’t work out an easy answer for.

“Just gotta deal with it, shit’s messed up,” Gina mumbled, slumping back in her seat. For the first time Dawn realized there was someone else sitting next to her. She recoiled at the sight of the strung-out, half-naked gal of grunge.

“What happened to you?” She cringed, scooting as far away from her as she possibly could in her chair.

“Shit, I don’t know, one minute I was rocking it out on the rankest shit I’ve ever tried, and the next minute… boom.” Gina waved her hand. Dawn felt like she was going to be sick. She reeks like a porta-potty outside a distillery.

“Simply put, you and several other girls will be competing with one another for a place in Nick’s harem,” Sylvia explained. “Dawn here is a 27 year old veterinarian and a former classmate of Nick. She was lauded as a genius and also won several gymnastics competitions in her youth, not to mention she graduated valedictorian. But since finishing her studies and opening her own practice, she’s had trouble finding a relationship.”

Sylvia turned to Dawn and batted her eyelashes innocently. “What’s wrong my girl, couldn’t find a man to measure up to your lofty standards? Or did they all get intimidated by how much smarter than them you were?”

Dawn pinched her lips into a thin scowl.

“…Well, we can cure you of that. Along with that scrawny body of yours. Anyway, moving on-“

Wait, what did she just say? “Cure” me of what?! Suddenly Dawn became very frightened. It had started to sink in that she’d been **** by someone who knew quite a lot about her, with powers that were, if not supernatural, at the very least beyond the level of modern technology.

She glanced at Nick and remembered all those times she’d caught him staring at her in the hall, when they would change classes. He’d unnerved her back then, but had proven to be ultimately harmless. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“Nick, did you do this?” She interrupted Sylvia’s monologue, earning her a dirty look from the strange woman, but didn’t really care. She was just a nuisance. It was clear from the large throne Nick was sitting in that he was important. If he was the one behind this, then Sylvia didn’t matter. And if he wasn’t, well…

She’d figure out her next step then.

“I-I didn’t,” Nick said, shaking his head frantically. “Please, Dawn, you have to believe me! I was **** here, same as you.”

“Me too,” Gina piped up, lazily raising her hand.

Of course he would say he was the victim. Dawn wasn’t about to take him at his word. “If you’re not responsible for this, then why are we YOUR harem?”

“I’ll answer that one!” Sylvia stepped between the two of them with an icy smile plastered on his face. “Nick here has been chosen to be this season’s 'Master'. That means we went through his life, picking out girls he was connected to romantically. And you just happen to be one of them! So while it could be said that it’s Nick’s fault you’re here, believe me, he had nothing to do with it.”

She smirked.

“Though I bet he’s pleased to see how little you’ve changed.”

A dark part in Dawn’s heart wondered if that was really true, and hoped it could be. But she quashed that feeling and glanced at Gina. “So then she’s…”

“Gina here happened to be his first kiss,” Sylvia informed her. That irked her and it really shouldn’t. But ever since childhood Dawn had never really been able to let other people be better than her at something. I must be upset because that loser’s had his first kiss already, and I haven’t yet, she decided.

Sylvia smirked. She could smell blood in the water. And starting things off with a cat fight was good for ratings.

“To be clear, the order you girls are being brought in here is the order in which Nick met you,” she added.

“So that means you’ve known him a long time?” Dawn raised her eyebrow. “Because I’ve known him since the fourth grade.”

Why did that matter? Why was she bragging about it? She couldn’t really answer those questions. But if this Sylvia was telling the truth and this was some competition for Nick’s affection, then she had to assert her position now if she wanted to win.

…Did she even want to win?

“Um, I met him… uh…” Gina was starting to sweat. She really didn’t want to think about her past, especially where Nick was concerned. She glanced awkwardly away, and Sylvia took the opportunity to sink in the dagger.

“Nick and Gina first met in 2006, during summer camp,” she offered.

Dawn’s jaw dropped. “B-But! Summer? But that was AFTER we met! I should be the one who came here first then!”

Sylvia held her hand in front of her mouth to keep the girls from seeing her smirk. Oh yeah. This one is going to be GREAT.

“Yes, you met him first chronologically, but Nick didn’t start developing feelings for you until well after fourth grade,” she informed her. “He liked Gina before you, even if he didn’t know it at the time. Sorry miss first crush!”

Nick buried his face in his hands as Sylvia giddily revealed all his worst secrets. Meanwhile Dawn stewed in frustration.

“Oh… oh yeah?!” She scowled. “Well, I was the first girl he confessed to! And I know for a FACT he hadn’t kissed a girl before then, because he told me so himself! So brag about your first kiss all you want!”

Gina stared blankly at her. “Right-on, girl…” she mumbled, and Dawn realized that this entire “rivalry” had been completely one-sided. Hell, it was no-sided, she didn’t even like Nick! But she’d wanted to one-up the other girl so badly that she’d acted like a child! And if this was a show, then that meant there were cameras. She'd just made a fool out of herself in front of the entire audience.

She slumped back in her seat and suppressed a scream. What's the matter with me?!

Sylvia laughed. “Well, Dawn’s quite an exciting one! But now that we’ve got the brains of our harem, let’s take a look at who we’ve got for the brawn!”