Consomme Grande Duchesse

20 minutes earlier

Maddy and Lily made their way down to the breakfast hall after their normal routine of waking, cleaning, and showering. Maddy now knew the source of these pent-up explosions, but it didn’t make them any less tiring to deal with. That spoke nothing to Lily’s condition; she had now spent the last nine days being edged constantly in her sleep, and that didn’t even get into the fact that she had been pushed during her date.

Which meant it only took her by mild surprise when Lucian was waiting for them both at the bottom of the steps. He smiled while raising his hand in greeting, locking eyes with Lily, “Well, my dear, you did it, you got through the whole week, it’s time to calculate your rewards.”

There was a gust of hot wind, and Lily suddenly felt lighter around her abdomen and looked to see Lucian holding the discarded chastity belt in his hands with the tips of his fingers as if it were something repulsive. It then burst into scarlet flames, and he turned to face the two contestants, “Well, you certainly have been busy, and there is no question of that, my, you must be as taut as a violin string right now.” He chuckled darkly.

Maddy clutched Lily’s side, trembling, but was still the one to speak up, “Just get on with it, please.”

Lucian raised an eyebrow, “Oh, our chubby little mouse has learned to speak up. Did your date go that well? I mean, he didn’t even sleep with you…”

The chef’s face reddened, and it was Lily’s turn to speak up for her friend, “That’s hardly fair, she had no experience, I’m sure it was a lovely time.”

Tutting Lucian merely smiled, “Didn’t stop one of our other virgins from going all the way, I encourage you to check the scoreboard later. But alas, not while I’m here. Your Bounty has been paid, and you are to be rewarded.”

Lily- +13 VP (Bounty)

Lily: 15 BP + 10 BP: 25 BP remaining

Lily couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t pleased with the results, it felt like 13 VP was quite a bit for having done nothing physical with Caleb, which is what she had intended all along. Was it worth it? She still felt like her body was vibrating even standing still with heat radiating from her nethers, so she couldn’t be totally sure, but she smiled at Maddy, who grinned back at her.

The demon waited a few seconds as if waiting for something further and then shrugged, “Well that’s all from me for now, though I will be seeing you all shortly. Enjoy your breakfast.” and with a flash of bright flame, the demon was gone, leaving the two contestants on the stairwell alone.

Maddy looked at Lily and rubbed her back. “Feel any better now that it’s gone?”

Giving a short laugh that almost sounded like a sudden bark, Lily grinned ruefully, “Nothing that can’t be fixed with a date with my hand in private later, but I knew what I was signing up for. Well, no, I had no idea it would be this bad or that I was this pent up, but…I got what I paid for.”

Still something Lucian said stuck out in her mind and she felt drawn to the scoreboard, her eyes widening.

Eliza Dawson – 3 VP

Mira Gayen – 8 VP

Madeline Purcell – 2 VP

Stella Vincent – 11 VP

Amy Tanaka – 0 VP

Lillian Wright – 16 VP

Maya Quinn – 18 VP

Noemi Castro - 41 VP

While a few people were certainly ahead, Lily had to grit her teeth seeing how many points Maya had; most of their totals felt in the same ballpark. Then there was Noemi, who not only was in the lead but was blowing everyone else’s numbers out of the water, she was already almost halfway to the hundred-point mark, and the first challenge hadn’t even happened yet. It didn’t take a genius to guess what might be worth so many points.

Maddy came up next to Lily and just gasped, “Oh wow, I guess Noemi’s date did go really well, huh?”

Lily sighed. When they had been dating, Caleb had told her all about the **** that had been put on him in school by Noemi Casto. The fact that he was now willing to sleep with the same woman who did that to him. What was this show doing to all of them? She wanted to believe that Caleb had meant everything he had said to her, but what if it was all just to gain her confidence to sleep with her. Maybe that’s all he cared about now.

“Lily? What’s up?” Maddy was looking at Lily, concerned and questioning.

“Oh, um…” Lily started lamely. Her instinct was to brush it off as nothing, but after how the week had gone earlier, she knew Maddy deserved the truth. “Back when we were dating, Caleb used to complain about Noemi, so it’s hard for me to imagine him sleeping with her. It makes me scared that’s all he cares about now.”

Maddy looked down, she understood what it was like to let your insecurities get to you and then to feed them, “I don’t think he’s that way. I think he’s trying his best for all of us. I don’t know what his date was like with Noemi, but the reason we didn’t have sex wasn’t because he wouldn’t…I think he would have if I were interested, but I wasn’t ready. He went at my pace, Noemi’s was just different than mine. She’s worked really hard to appeal to him, and it seems like she was pretty lonely, so maybe that’s why.”

Lily nodded, since Noemi had joined their little group, Lily had kept her distance. She had a hard time separating who she was now from the woman she had been told about previously. Still, Maddy was right. Caleb had done a lot on their date to make sure she was comfortable. She had been the one to screw it up.

Leaning in, Maddy nudged her friend, rocking her from her thoughts, “Come on, let’s get some breakfast. Nothing better in the morning than some tasty breakfast food to start the day right.”

Trying to smile back, Lily walked with the chef to the dining hall. It was already partially filled. Maya and Mira were at their traditional spot in the corner of the room, Amy was seated by the window and gazing out at the rest of the room, and she nodded in greeting as the two came in. Finally, Eliza was towards the front of the room and was smiling and waving at the two to join her. It didn’t take long for the two to grab their food from the fauns and to do just that.

Eliza was grinning and sipping from a cup of coffee as they joined, “So how did you two sleep?”

The two exchanged a glance and then laughed. Lily then answered, “Definitely had better sleep, but I think from tomorrow on it won’t be as bad.”

“As long as you don’t glitter bomb me again!” Maddy was joking and laughed along with Lily, but was interrupted by Eliza with a concerned look on her face.

“Well, after today, you two probably won’t be rooming together; that's all is decided by the popularity poll, and who knows how that’s going to go.” Seeing the two’s faces turning crestfallen, Eliza hurriedly added, “But we’ve all done our best this week, that’s all we could have done. If we made mistakes, well, there’s always next week.”

Maddy tapped her finger, “Assuming our transformations don’t totally change who we are.”

“Hey now, that all depends on the challenge, right?” Lily said, trying to sound hopeful, “If we do our best there, maybe it won’t be so bad.”

Eliza tried to sound encouraging, “That’s right, we do our best, work together, and we can see this thing through to the end.”

Across the way, another group was also discussing the upcoming challenge and other various things as Mira set down her tea she smiled and looked at Maya, “Did you see the scoreboard before coming in today?”

Maya looked up from her stack of pancakes, bright-eyed, “Yeah! Holy cow, Noemi got so many points in one night!”

Mira chuckled, “You’re not intimidated?”

“Why would I be intimidated?” Maya asked, genuinely confused, “It’s really impressive, I didn’t think anyone was going to sleep with Caleb, let alone his former bully so she really pulled out the stops. I’m glad someone else is taking this seriously.”

“So we need to make sure she doesn’t do well in the challenge, though, right?” Mira leaned in.

“Well,” Maya put another chunk of pancakes into her mouth, “That goes without saying. I’m not intimidated by her lead, but I think that’s enough of a gap for now. Especially going into round two.

“So do you want to team up? Work together in the challenge, whatever it may be?” Mira took another sip of her drink.

“Hmmm, I don’t know,” Maya looked thoughtful and took a sip of her orange juice in its clear plastic tumbler, “I think for challenges, we should go it alone. I really appreciate your support. Your hugs are nice, and it was good to have someone to bounce date Ideas off of, but I think everyone already expects we’re going to work together. Besides, I want to win by doing my best, not because the odds were stacked in my favour.”

Mira nodded, “Alright, if you say so, so you won’t be upset if I take you down?”

Maya frowned at her roommate, “If I thought you took it easy on me, I’d be insulted. Like I said, I’m going to do my best, and if you aren’t doing your best…then winning means nothing.”

Mira shot her roommate a smile and took another sip of tea before asking, “Any regrets on how you handled things this week?”

Looking thoughtful, Maya tapped her chin and then looked back, “No, I don’t think so. I really enjoyed my date, I had a lot of fun, and I went as far as I was comfortable doing. Jumping to sex would be scary, I need more time to get ready to do something like that. As for anything else…” She thought about her sabotage and then about being assaulted by Lily in the hallway, “No, I don’t have any regrets.”

Humming gently, Mira grinned, “Then we can both go into this challenge with nothing holding us back. Oh look at that…” Her eyes darted toward the entrance, where a stumbling Stella was leaning against the archway. “Seems everyone is up bright and early today.”

Stella clambered in, from her expression and demeanor, it was pretty clear to Amy watching her come in that her roommate had overindulged the night before. Her face was sullen, her eyes baggy, and her face flushed. She stumbled and collided with one of the tables as she came further in. It was a surprise to see her at breakfast, the bartender normally slept in.

Eliza gave the woman a pitying look, “Do you need any help there, dear? Maybe a glass of water? It’s nice to see you so bright and early, normally you don’t join in for breakfasts.”

Grumbling under her breath, Stella stood up straight and groaned, “It’s challenge day, right? Couldn’t sleep in, at least that's what the demon I room with said!”

Amy rolled her eyes, She had indeed told Stella it was probably in her best interest to get up. She hadn’t made her do anything, though. It was clear that whatever effect the punishment Caleb had given her had, it wasn’t working out the way he had hoped, as she stomped her foot in an ornery manner.

Eliza kept her tone even and a smile on her face, “Well, yeah, we were just talking about working together in the challenge, if you like, maybe you could join us and we could talk about it more together?”

Stella made a sound like a horse gagging, “Sorry, I don’t think I want to team up with team Loser, kumbayah, and stuff. You’re the ones who got Caleb all uppity and putting that jinx on me anyway.”

Frowning, Eliza set her drink down. “No one here made Caleb do anything; that was his choice, just as you chose to push him beyond his limits. Also, I don’t mind anything you might say about me, but please do not put down my friends.”

Lily felt the air shift and put her hand over Maddy’s. The Chef kept glancing between the two women.

Stella laughed, “Oh right, I keep forgetting because of how you look now, but you’re some old fogie playing young. Says a lot about you that you can’t make friends with anyone your age. Also, come on, friends? You picked the girl pining over the guy who cheated on her, the ex-bully with a humiliation fetish, and the dumpy one, this is a pity party more than anything. At least they all got something going on, meanwhile, you’re a walking, talking Ambien, how many times can you spout the same boring lines, I have to fight now falling back asl-”

It was sudden, and Eliza wasn’t even conscious of it; her body rose up like a flash, knocking over the table, and her hand like a whip cracked against Stella’s face, sending her back and falling on her backside. Immediately, the room got loud as Stella tried to **** her way up, Amy grabbing her from behind, and Maddy and Lily **** behind Eliza as Noemi and Caleb entered the room.

Caleb was shocked at the display and found himself raising his voice, “What the hell is going on here?!”

Eliza recoiled, brining her hand in towards her chest as Lily came in front of her, “It’s all Stella’s fault, she kept saying awful shit unprovoked, she’s lucky that Eliza didn’t throw a punch.”

Caleb turned to look at Stella. “Stella, is this true?”

Amy felt Stella’s form lax and released her as the Bartender shrugged her off, “I don’t understand why it’s surprising I won’t play nice with these women who act like they’re better than everyone and then go off and work against others in secret.” She jabbed a finger into Amy’s chest, “You’re no better!”

Gritting his teeth, Caleb walked forward. “Stella, you’re picking fights plain and simple.”

“No! I’m calling people out, telling it like it is. If they don’t like it, tough.” As Stella was frantically calling out, Maya rose from her seat and made her way towards her. “Maya! You get it right? Isn’t it such a pain in the ass? All this nice girl shit? I know you’re on my side-” She was interrupted by Maya crushing her cup and dumping the remainder of her orange juice on Stella's head, a clear look of disgust across her features.

Stella’s eyes went wide, and Amy immediately had to grab the bartender to keep her from lashing out at the lottery winner. She was snarling now, “What the fuck! Where do you get off?!”

“You’re not playing the game right now, you’re using it as an excuse to be mean and a bully.” Maya turned, locking eyes with Lily for a microsecond, “I hate bullies.” She returned to her seat.

Caleb shook himself out of his stunned silence and made his way to Stella, “Go back to your room and get cleaned up, the Challenge is at noon in the auditorium.” He guided her toward the exit

She turned her head back shoving Caleb away, “Fuck all of you, just you wait. We’ll see how things shake down in the challenge.” before darting out of the room.

The dining hall fell into silence, quietly righting the fallen table. But Caleb now could feel, even before the challenge started, the tensions between all these women and how far off a peaceful coexistence was.

Thank you to everyone who submitted Fanmail. If you would like to submit fan mail and haven't by this point, there is still a chance to send in before the next chapter, but I cannot guarantee its inclusion.