Five days since you laughed at me

“Alright, I think that’s enough voting for today,” Dakota said loudly, catching everybody by surprise.

The others all looked warily at her, especially Nick.

“So it’s decided, then?” He asked cautiously. “Where everyone is staying?”

“That it is,” Dakota chirped, looking back at him with a sly look on her face. “More importantly, we’ve spent enough time on these polls and votes, I’m sure our audience can’t wait to get in on the action.” She looked over at Mary. “Especially your wife… don’t you think you’ve kept her waiting long enough?” The host crooned.

Mary’s face turned red with indignation (among other emotions) and she stomped her foot. “Dakota, I can wait as long as I need to!” She replied. “I’m concerned about my friends, and I don’t want them being rushed!”

“Yeah!” Holly chimed in. “I could wait forever if I had to, just anticipating what’s to come…” Her eyes glazed over and her tongue darted out over her lips as she giggled to herself.

Mary sighed.

“…Holly notwithstanding…”

“I’m not rushing anything, I assure you,” Dakota said. “Everyone put a lot of thought into you girls and where you belonged. Some of you had very obvious choices people were pulling for, others… well, it’s a little more complicated than that. But we’ll cover everything shortly.”

She clapped her hands together. “Shall we proceed? I think you’ll all be pleasantly surprised as to who is staying with whom!”

“When she says that, it means you just know this is going to be a mess,” Dani sighed in exasperation.

“Somehow I can’t shake the feeling that you’re right on the money,” Kim agreed with a nod.

Dakota ignored them both.

“To start, the first room is the Arcade Suite! And the first guest who will be staying here was someone that quite a lot of you were in agreement on! And that would be…”

She raised her cane and projected an image of the Arcade Suite onto the screen, as if it was a stadium selection in some fighting game.

“…Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin!”

The assassin’s face popped up on the screen beside the image of the Arcade Suite, and she was wearing her trademark sneer. Unlike the actual woman’s face, which was twisted into a look of pleasant surprise and confusion.

She pointed at herself as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

“That’s right,” Dakota nodded with a wink. “It seems that the audience is very curious to see how all that flexibility and athleticism you demonstrated in this last challenge will be put to use in some of the video games. Who knows? Maybe you could even beat the dancing game’s top score!” She joked.

“Fat chance,” Carly laughed.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s ears perked up and she looked to Carly with a sly smile on her face, as if she took the other woman’s declaration as a challenge.

Marley bristled. “Carly…” she warned her sister, not wanting Carly to pick a fight with the trained killer for obvious reasons.

Even if Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin couldn’t technically hurt them, she’d demonstrated in the last challenge how little of an obstacle that presented when she turned Marley into slime.

Hopefully the twins wouldn’t be spending another week in there.

“…There are also some shooting games I think you’ll enjoy as well,” Dakota added, trying to ease the mood a little. “But regardless! The second place finisher, the girl that the audience decided should be rooming with our sweet little assassin is…”

Faces flashed across the screen in a ring until one pulled itself out and slotted into place right beside Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s.

Dawn’s jaw hit the ground.

“…Dawn!” Dakota announced with a laugh. “And it was quite a close vote, too, you just barely beat out third place! But it appears you’ll be spending the next round rooming with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin!”

“I… but why?” Dawn didn’t know why the audience would want her of all people to room with the assassin. She turned and looked at the other girl only to find the woman’s piercing gaze staring back at her, her eyes shining with delight.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin winked, and Dawn tried to smile.

“I’m a little confused myself, considering you don’t seem like much of a gamer,” Dakota admitted. “But perhaps you’re our little sacrificial kitten? Or maybe the audience would like to see you put that competitiveness to work on those games! Well, who knows? You’ll have all week to figure it out. Regardless, the good news is that you’re in a different room, just like you wanted, right?”

Dawn swallowed and **** her heart to stop pounding in her chest. Dakota was right- that was the important thing. She wouldn’t be stuck in the Luxury Suite for another round. She should be happy, not worried!

And yet…

“Now, moving onto our next room, the Candy Suite!” Dakota cheered, conjuring up an image of the candy-filled room on the screen next. “This was another close one, and by close, I mean an almost perfect tie! The two girls that the audience decided should be spending the next round in the Candy Suite are…”

The ring spun again, and two new faces came out of it, landing right next to each other.

It was a result that surprised just about everybody.

“…Kim and Gina!” Dakota finished, looking out over the shocked crowd.

“Me and Kim?” Gina scratched her hair in surprise. “That’s an odd pairing if I’ve ever heard of one.” She looked at the hardworking student.

“I… I guess that’s not the worst thing?” Kim looked back at Gina and fixed one of her trademark smiles into place. At least she wasn’t paired up with Vivian or somebody. “But still, the Candy Suite? Why that one of all places?”

“Maybe it’s because the audience likes how much you’ve been experimenting with transformations,” Dakota suggested. “Or perhaps, they figured that after a long day’s work, you could use a sweet treat to pick yourself up! Just a thought, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” Kim said, rolling her eyes.

“As for why you, Gina, well, maybe they just want you to indulge a little more?” Dakota shrugged. “All the candy you can eat! It’s not a bad thing.”

“Maybe they put you and Gina together because they want Gina to encourage you to work on your Slacker transformation path?” Sylvia suggested cheerfully.

“Sylvia!” Gina groaned.

“No, that actually makes sense,” Kim sighed, rolling her eyes.

“At least this way you will be woken up at a reasonable hour,” Amelia commented, earning her a look from Gina.

“Oh? How come?” The punk girl asked in confusion.

Amelia glanced at Dakota. “The Sick Day notification? I’ve been informed of it.”

“Ah, good point!” Dakota nodded, her face lighting up. “Don’t worry, Gina, I’ll be sure to come by with a bucket of ice water prepared to dowse you in case you’re sleeping in!”

“Gee, thanks,” Gina grumbled.

“You’re quite welcome,” Dakota chirped. “Now this next one wasn’t even close, I’m happy to say. By and large just about everybody wanted this next girl to be in this next room- and given that it’s the Fashion Suite…”

The Fashion Suite popped up next, and Vivian perked up a little. “Is it me?” She wondered.

Dakota gave her a smirking look.

“…Our little princess, of course!” She declared as Ella’s face flashed onto the screen. “…The faerie tale one, to be clear. Not the girl with actual princess money.”

Ella’s eyes widened behind her bangs. “Wait, you mean… the audience… put me in the Fashion Suite?” She asked, finding it hard to believe.

“That’s right!” Dakota cheered, clapping for her. “Apparently, they all felt so bad for your circumstances, so they all must have thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice for the girl who never had good clothes growing up, to now have an entire wardrobe to herself?’ And I’ve gotta say, I agree with them! Congratulations, Ella!”

“W-w-wow…” Ella’s mind was filled with all the wonderful outfits in the Fashion Suite. And now, she could wear them whenever she wanted!

“Of course, no faerie tale could be complete without a wicked witch,” Dakota added, and Morgana gulped when she felt Dakota’s piercing eyes land on her. “…Or a faerie godmother.” She looked to Amelia next.

“…But instead, for whatever reason the audience thought it would be funny to pair you up with our resident klutzy fail queen!” Dakota cackled. “That’s right, it’s the woman you just betrayed!”

Rose’s face flashed up onto the screen next to Ella’s. The real Ella’s face turned ghastly.

“B-b-betrayed?” She squeaked, looking frantically at Rose.

But if Dakota thought that the actress would be upset by this pairing, then she clearly didn’t know Rose as well as she thought she did.

“The Fashion Suite?!” The blonde squealed in delight. “Ooh la la! Tres magnifique! Fashion Suite! Uweee!” She lapsed into a bit of french momentarily in her delighted cries, practically spinning with glee. “So much wonderful clothing, I can’t believe it! Ooh! Je voudrais nouvelles robes, chaussures, le châle…”

Dakota rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, voulez vous coucher avec moi, we get it, you’re french. Moving on, we’ve reached the halfway point! That’s three rooms down, only three to go! Are you girls excited? Waiting to see who you’ll be rooming with?”

The tension in the beach had gone down considerably. With Ella and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin both paired up, that reduced a lot of the potential tension. And Gina being paired off meant wonders for the sleeping expectations of the other contestants as well.

“Let’s get a move on with it, then!” Carly called. “Am I next?”

Dakota frowned. “Since you have to ask, yes,” she grumbled.

Carly blinked. “Wait, seriously?”

Marley gasped, and her face lit up. “Wait, but the next room-!” She could hardly contain her giddiness.

“That’s right,” Dakota nodded. “For the Garden Suite, it was practically a no-contest. The audience was almost completely unanimous in the two contestants they wanted in there. Practically everybody voted to put these two girls together in that room, nobody else even had a chance.”

Carly and Sylvia both appeared next to the Garden Suite.

“Me too?! Oh my gosh!” Sylvia squealed, hopping up in joy.

Dakota nodded. “Sylvia, putting you in the Garden Suite was by far the most popular vote out of the entire audience. You had the high score in number of votes as both the first pick AND second pick. And since I can’t just shove you in there alone, Carly will be joining you since she got quite a healthy amount of votes as well. And Marley, of course.”

“Mom! We get to be rooming together!” Marley exclaimed. She ran over to Sylvia’s seat, which was just within the ten foot boundary.

“I know! We’re going to have so much fun!” Sylvia wailed. The two women hugged, practically in tears, while Carly watched from the sidelines.

“That’s so sweet…” Dani was a little misty-eyed herself. “I’m really glad those two get to be together,” she confided in Carly. “That was the only pair-up I was really pulling for here.”

Carly looked surprised, and relieved at the same time. “You were? Oh, well, that’s good, then. I kinda thought, well… that you’d be disappointed by this.”

Dani blinked and looked at her in confusion. “Disappointed? Why?”

“Well, I mean… if Marley and Sylvia are together, then we can’t room together,” Carly pointed out. “I thought you would be, well…”

“Disappointed? Ah, yeah, I get that,” Dani scratched her head sheepishly and grinned. “I gotta admit, rooming with you again would be great, but… at the beginning of this whole thing I was kind of clinging to you a lot. It would be better if I spent more time with some of the other girls, don’t you think? We already spend practically every day together.”

Carly sighed in relief. “Oh, good, you feel the same way. Yeah, I like hanging out with you, but I need my space too, you know?”

She looked wistfully at Marley and Sylvia. “Besides, this is definitely for the best.”

Dani nodded in agreement. “Plus, this way I’ll get to branch out a little bit, you know? I haven’t really hung out with Morgana all that much recently, and Vivian…”

“Ooh, are you trying to make me jealous? Bragging about rooming with a fashion model?” Carly teased. “Be careful! You might end up with Amelia instead!”

Dani cringed. That was a terrifying thought. While she didn’t have a problem with Nick’s stepmother, sleeping in the same room as her for the whole round…

…

Yeah, I don’t want that happening.

Dani gulped as the next room selection came up, for the Luxury Suite.

“Let’s see who’s going to be in the Luxury Suite!” Dakota declared, smiling broadly from ear to ear. “This is a really interesting room that gave our cute little cat girl some troubles, but Morgana seemed to get along just fine with it!”

Morgana nodded. “I-I liked it,” she said hesitantly. “When I was staying there… I felt much more confident and sure of myself…” She clutched her heart over her chest and smiled giddily from ear to ear, and then looked apologetically at Dawn. Dawn just nodded back at her with a gentle smile on her lips, her ears twitching.

“Well, you never know, you might be staying there two rounds in a row!” Dakota pointed out, drawing attention to the fact that Morgana was still in the drawing. “For now though, the audience rather broadly determined that the person they wanted to see in this room most of all was… Amelia!”

Amelia’s face flashed up on the screen beside the Luxury Suite. The woman in question had no reaction to this, staring dully at the screen.

She adjust her glasses.

“I see.”

Dakota smirked. “It would appear that our audience is very curious as to just what aspect of your personality the Luxury Suite will bring out in you, Amelia. Well? Do you have any guesses?”

“I don’t, no,” Amelia brusquely replied. “But I have no objection to this placement.”

Amelia wasn’t a very material person, but having grown up around in the upper reaches of society, she was quite comfortable in a fancy room like that.

And given the fact that she seemed unconcerned about any potential influence it might have over her, you might even say she looked pleased.

There was one person in particular who wasn’t pleased, however.

“Come on!” Vivian groaned, rolling her eyes. “So you’re telling me that if I want to stay in the Luxury Suite, I’m gonna have to stay with Teach again? For a whole other round? That’s no fun!”

“You could always throw your money around and trade places with her if you get into a different room,” Kim pointed out with a smirk.

Vivian grinned at her. “Gee, maybe?”

Dakota cleared her throat. “Well, before we get to speculating, shall we see who Amelia’s roommate will end up being for this next round?”

The wheel began to spin, but it was much smaller this time. And for good reason- only three people were left! Dani, Morgana, and Vivian.

Vivian clearly didn’t want to be paired up with Amelia, and Dani was hesitant as well given how strict the older woman seemed to be. As much as Dani respected her no-nonsense personality, she wanted to relax while she was in her room, and Amelia… well…

Was not conducive to that.

Which was why both Vivian and Dani were quite relieved when the wheel stopped on…

“Morgana!” Dakota declared. “It’s your lucky day! You’ll be getting two back to back rounds in the Luxury Suite, congratulations!”

“Really?” Morgana’s pale cheeks flushed and her eyes widened. “I do?! Is that really okay? The same room again for another round?”

Dakota shrugged. “In hindsight, it might be a bit problematic. I think I’ll make it a rule next time that everybody has to be in a different room. But if I changed it up now, that would just be cruel. And I so hate being cruel, as I’m sure you know.”

Morgana gave her a shaky smile in reply. “Hehe… yeah… mhm…”

Dakota narrowed her eyes. “…Right. Anyway, Morgana, you’ll be enjoying your time with Amelia, that should be a lot of fun! You’ve got such great experience with strict, overbearing mothers with high expectations, right?”

Morgana turned even more pale than usual. “Uh…”

“Wait,” Carly realized. “Then the last two would be…”

The wheel didn’t even need to spin. Process of elimination put Vivian and Dani together in the Romance Suite.

“That’s right!” Dakota grinned, waving her cane. The screen shifted once more. “Dani and Vivian will be spending the next round together in the Romance Suite! I wonder what they’ll be learning about each other while there?”

Dani and Vivian looked at each other with curious expressions. They’d been on opposite sides in the previous challenge, but other than that there wasn’t any real animosity between them.

If anything, Dani was actually wondering whether or not Vivian might have ended up being a good choice to find herself partnered with for a round.

“Dani, huh? We haven’t really gotten to know each other that well yet,” Vivian noted, swaggering over to Dani with a sway in her hips and adjusting the brim of her hat. “Should be a fun time, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” Dani nodded. “But just because it’s the Romance Suite, don’t think that means you can get up to any funny stuff,” she joked.

Vivian laughed. “Well now, wouldn’t that be something?” She said coquettishly, placing her hands on her hips. “Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?”

Dani laughed off Vivian’s playful words, but the whole time she was studying the heiress. It was hard for her to get a read on Vivian, given the kind of woman she was. Dani didn’t do well with schemers, but there was something about the other woman that seemed so earnestly honest that she didn’t even really mind.

“I hope we can get along,” she said, looking forward to getting to know the other woman better.

Vivian’s eyes twinkled. “Same,” she agreed.

“Lovely, then it looks like we’re all friends here,” Dakota said, clapping her hands together over the head of her cane. “With that being said, I think we’ve spent more than enough time on this beach, don’t you? We really must be getting back to the hotel before the sun escapes us entirely!”

Her eyes landed on Kim with a piercing gaze.

“Particularly you,” she said with a warning smirk. “Time’s up.”

Kim bristled, but let out a resigned sigh. “Yeah, I know,” she grumbled. It was time to get to work. She didn’t say a word as Dakota whisked her off to the boutique, leaving the other girls to begin the short walk back to the hotel, and their new rooms.

As for Nick, Mary, and Holly, well, Dakota decided they’d spent enough time here as it was, and sent the three of them back to the Master’s Suite.

Mary had waited long enough.