The Week 15 Draw

Claire lets rip on the organ, playing wild and free with all the exhilaration of a woman born for this. As she takes her organ through its paces, switching music and instrumentation as she goes, it feels like she’s introducing the finals already. That’s still 2 weeks away, but the proximity has certainly built a strong atmosphere of excitement.

You can’t help but think of all the players eliminated so far. Zeke, the scumbag, who forgot what consent is, still sitting in a cell waiting on a trial date. There’s even a rumor that his family disowned him. Tank, the quarterback, who entered the game just excited to have fun and get laid. Not that that was ever a problem for Mr. Friday Night Ball. Professor Rourke, in the game merely to make sure it was and stayed clean. And business tycoon Graham West who approached the game as a business opportunity and left without a win but with tax writeoffs, potential employees, new status symbols and probably the biggest grin of anyone here. That just leaves you, Cassie and Milo to fight for places in the final. And your lack of points has never felt so threatening.

“All right you dirty lechers,” says Rhett. “Let’s see which lovely ladies the deck is going to serve up this week!”

Behind you the screen shows the board where the chosen cards will fall. Three cards spin across its surface, face down. They circle the board before settling down under Rhett’s command.

“And first out tonight is…”

“Tabby Cheevers, the Two of Hearts and from what we saw on the fresher’s video, busily working on the sets for the end of year play by the drama group. It’s a well established fact at this point that the drama girls, including the staff, have aligned themselves solidly with the Phantom himself, especially now he’s agreed to be in that play. So Cassie and Milo might be well advised to score points elsewhere.”

The quiet murmurs in the audience reveal mostly boredom. Tabby is a two, not worth many points in any hand. Someone will have to take her, but she seems very much the booby prize of the week’s draw.

“And next we have…”

Claire focuses on the drums on her organ as another card slides into place.

“Hailey Yazee, the Nine of Spades. In Hailey we have a big girl with a bigger heart - friend to anyone who isn’t a complete dipshit and, from what I hear, incredible in the sack too. With Milo already holding one nine, she would make an ideal partner to build towards a full house!”

That does generate a smattering of cheers among the audience. A good scoring opportunity, even if not one of the face cards, and a beautiful woman on top of that. This one should be fun. Then the third card twists into place on the screen.

And the crowd starts to boo. Rhett raises his hand for silence and glares at the gathered throng.

“Well aren’t you a lot of judgmental bastards? I know, this late in the game you really want to see the big points cards coming out and not twos and fours, but sometimes the deck doesn’t give us what we want. Besides, I’m looking out at you lot and I have to say, if there was a male version of the deck there’s some of you who would need a new half-point card creating to even be IN it! And remember, my beautiful Claire herself was wrong rated a three instead of the ten she clearly is. So give our ladies a chance and let's see what the three degenerates actually playing for points can do with them.”

Claire preens as she garners interest and blasts out riffs of “I’m Every Woman!”

You consider the cards as Rhett announces that the picks this week go youngest to oldest. This means you make your pick before anyone else… but none of the cards really do anything for you. You could take the 9, which would remove a card that Milo wants to build a full house. Slowing Milo down is not as good as scoring points though. You really need to beat Cassie, not him. The two, Tabby Cheevers, would be an easy score and would add a second ace to your hand. The amount you could score though would be minimal, and you can’t build a flush with Rebekah’s Six of Clubs in your hand. As to the four, that does nothing at all for you. You’re struggling to make a decision when Rebekah speaks up for you.

“We’ll take Tabby Cheevers, the Two of Hearts.”

Rhett glances at you and you nod. It’s no worse than anything else, and if you can lose Rebekah’s card you might be able to build a flush. Not the highest scoring hand, but maybe it will be enough. A copy of her card appears on your tablet, along with her bio. Initially the bio was mildly useful, indicating a potential sexual preference etc. Now, especially with one of the drama girls, it’s useless. You also get a new challenge card to replace the **** contract you played with Professor Rousseau. It’s a kiss, x1 multiplier. The weakest challenge in the deck. You shake your head at what a terrible week this is starting out to be.

“Moving on,” says Rhett as the spotlight focuses on Milo. “I barely need to ask do I? Dr. Ravensmoor, can I assume you are sending your little **** boy into the voluptuous arms of our Kinesiologist, Hayley?”

Selene just nods with a slight smirk.

“So, Milo. It looks like you have more woman on your plate this week than you’ve ever dealt with before. I would ask if you can manage such a woman, but I think we all know by now that you like the woman to be in charge, right?”

Milo’s blush hides a grin that clearly reveals he has fully accepted his submissive streak.

“And that leaves our returning champion, Cassie Li,” says Rhett as the spotlight swivels once more. “Normally, she’d be left with the remaining card on the board - the Four of Diamonds, Madison Ortiz - but with her leader advantage, our queen gets to name whatever card she wants from the deck instead of taking one from the random draw. So, Cassie… what will it be?”

Cassie takes a long sip of her water as if thinking things through carefully, but the look on her face makes it clear she’s already decided and is merely delaying for drama. “The Empress of Hearts,” she says. “I already hold two Aces and an Empress. Plus, this takes one heart away from my rival if he is trying to set up a flush.”

Rhett gives a low whistle. “A strong place,” he says. “But a surprising one too. The drama girls, including the staff, have made it quite clear they will entertain challenges ONLY from their beloved Phantom—”

“Which would be relevant if the Empress of Hearts WAS a drama girl,” interrupts Cassie. “But as you and I BOTH know, Rhett, she isn’t. That’s psychology professor Dr. Carmen Alvarez.”

The card spins across the board and settles into place, proving her right. A mixture of applause and cheers shows the admiration of the crowd. Most of them couldn’t tell you who is what card, even if they’ve seen them. But Cassie is a returning student, as is the show host Rhett, and they’ve had years to get to know the staff in the deck.

“A strong choice and a strong hand,” says Rhett. “And with that we end the draw phase and move on to the power plays. If, indeed, any of our players—”

“Score slasher!”

A gasp is heard as Rebekah cuts Rhett’s sentence dead. He turns to her.

“Score slasher? On who?”

“Cassie Li!”

Rebekah gives Cassie the stare you’ve only seen her use when facing opponents in the Regionals and Nationals of Fluorescence. You know that look. She’s deadly serious. Cassie stares at her over the top of her glass, looking mildly annoyed for the first time since this whole game started. You can almost hear her trying to work out what Rebekah’s doing and finally, with a shrug, she announces a response.

“Reflect.”

And there it is. It was obvious really, and you stare open-mouthed at your girlfriend who has only managed to sabotage your own points tally. The scoreboard appears on the screen behind you, your own score. Hardly what you need at this point.

:”What are you doing?” you hiss at Rebekah.

She shrugs. “Was worth a try. We have to try some Hail Marys at this point to have any chance.”

Ten points are deducted from your score and 100 from Cassie’s to pay for the power plays, but then a number starts rolling in the top right of the screen, ready to work out how much to drop your score by. It will be at least 1% and at most 50%.

“Wait,” you cry. “We can use our Phantom Upstaged joker to block it!”

“No!” says Rebekah. “Just let it go. It might not be so bad.”

“What?” you shake your head, baffled. “What are you playing at?”

“Just trust me!”

And the dice roll. You watch in horrified expectation as the numbers roll, fast at first then slowing down. The tens tick into place first - 0. Then the units settle on 3. Just 3%. It’s not great to lose any points but at least it’s not a disaster. With your score at 37030, that rounds off to 1111, reducing you to 35919. You continue to glare at your girlfriend, wondering what the hell she was doing, when another voice pipes up.

“Swap,” says Selene Ravensmoor. “Our 9 of Diamonds with Cassie’s Ace of Hearts!”

“What?” Cassie’s taken by surprise, almost as much so as the audience. “Block! I use my joker!”

“As do I,” says Dr. Ravensmoor. “Swap, our 9 of Diamonds with Cassie’s Ace of Hearts.”

And at once the cards are exchanged. Milo’s score is reduced to 75,932. It’s still a massive lead, but more importantly, he now holds two aces while Cassie holds a worthless 9.

“You know, Milo, you’re rather good with that tongue. Perhaps it’s time I tried out your hand,” says Rebekah. “Swap! Me, the Six of Clubs for that little Ace you just picked up.”

And there it is. The score slasher was never about trying to hurt Cassie’s score but setting up the temptation for Selene to try to steal the high value card you all want. And after they both burned their jokers, there was no way to prevent Rebekah coming in to steal it for your hand.

Blood thunders in your ears as it all makes sense. The seemingly worthless two, now part of a building flush with at least two really high scoring cards. The willingness to lose points. She was goading Cassie, hoping Selene’s greed would make her fall for the trap, and then she sprung it like an expert hunter. You look at her in shocked admiration, barely aware of how loud the audience is cheering. They’re not cheering for you though. They’re cheering for Rebekah!