"No" Doesn't Mean "Convince Me"

Paige looked on with envy as Turner and Becca walked around downtown, holding hands and having a grand ol' time. Of course it would be her luck to run into them over summer break, especially since the "situation" that she had caused with Turner was still fresh in her mind.

She should've gotten a summer job the next town over, or gone to a camp, or traveled around the country. Anything to make it so she wouldn't have to run into Turner, and especially so she wouldn't have to run into Becca.

She saw the instant that Turner recognized her, because his face fell from a smile to...she didn't even know what, but it wasn't positive.

"Hi, Paige," he murmured. At least there was that, he still wasn't going to give her the silent treatment, which would be fair, considering what she had done. He didn't seem all that happy about talking to her, though.

"Hi, Turner," Paige replied, a bit more brightly. She didn't want to come across too positive with him, though, with Becca nearby.

That was the end of the conversation, as Becca didn't want to chip in and talk to Paige. Paige didn't really want her to anyways, as it would likely be something cynical.

It had only been a little bit over a month, but Paige really did miss Turner.

"I'm so stupid," she told herself. "Why would I do that?"

The busy shops lining the street didn't provide an answer, but it was then and there that she made a promise. If she ever got a chance to mend things up with Turner, she wouldn't botch it. She would actually work to try to build her relationship back up with him. She saw what Becca had going with him, and how it should've been her.

It always could've been her. She ruined her chance.

---

Paige snapped back to the present moment. Why was she doing this? It wasn't entirely her fault, as Kendra was responsible for placing this stupid method of making up for the immeasurable guilt that she felt. It was a vicious feedback loop, too. Once Paige started getting into the cycle, it wouldn't stop until either she was eliminated, she got 100 points, or Turner didn't mind.

Based on the current state of things, it would be the former. There's no way she would be able to accrue 100 points at this rate, and there's no way that Turner wouldn't mind when he was no longer in this delirious state that he seemed to be in at the moment.

She pulled back from him, opening her eyes for the first time in a few minutes, and really paying attention to his state for the first time since the beginning of the date. He looked exactly like what someone who was drunk off their ass would look; bloodshot eyes and flushed face, his eyelids almost closed, and he sure as hell wasn't acting normally.

"I have to nip this in the bud now," she resolved. "I've already broken my promise that I made all those years ago, but I can, at the very least, stop it from growing even worse."

It took almost all of her willpower to stop herself from giving in to the urge again, possibly without the ability to stop, but she managed to hold herself back.

"This is wrong," she thought to herself, grabbing her discarded dress again. She would've said it aloud to Turner, but he didn't seem like he was in the best state at the moment to answer coherently.

Instead of trying to make sense with him now, she decided that it would be a problem for the morning, when she would have a more cohesive statement together, and when he would be more receptive to whatever she had to say. For the moment, she opted to just tuck him under the covers, fix his disheveled clothing, and turn the lights off as she laid on top of the blankets, on the other side of the mattress.

"Hopefully that added separation should stop things from falling back into the loop, at least until he's conscious again," she weakly thought.

Paige was tired, but unable to go to sleep. Not only did she have a million thoughts running through her head, ping-ponging around faster than Charlotte after drinking espresso, but she was trying to try to come up with a way to explain to Turner what happened, in the least self-incriminating way possible. Not just to paint herself in a better light, but also because she knew that if she didn't try to word it in a specific manner that made her look better, she would have an even stronger urge to apologize for it, which would be detrimental to the progress she was making.

---

"Good morning!" Charlotte said cheerfully as Becca trudged into the courtyard. "You're up early today!"

"Couldn't sleep," Becca said tiredly, with bags under her eyes.

"Paige's date night got you worried?" Charlotte asked, somewhat rhetorically. "I'm sure it'll be fine, I doubt Turner would be willing to do anything with her."

"I hope so," Becca agreed in between yawns. "I just hope she didn't like **** him to do something."

"Can she do that?" Charlotte, again, rhetorically asked. "Would Kendra have something against that, like a hidden rule or something that she created?"

"I doubt she'd make a rule against that," Becca sighed. "You do know what kind of show we're on here, right? It's not like she's gonna be playing fair, per se. If something makes good TV, then she'll likely allow, or hell, even condone it. Unfortunately for me, what makes good TV here is sex."

"I see," Charlotte opened the fridge. "Well, I bet Turner kept his wits about him the best he could, he definitely wouldn't want to do anything with her. I've heard what he thinks about her."

"Yeah, he'd have to do like a complete 180 in order to even consider it," Becca nervously chuckled.

"Hey Charlotte, Becca," Mandy simply said as she started making a pot of coffee.

"Good morning, Mandy!" Charlotte chirped. "We were just talking about Paige and her date, what do you think happened with Turner?"

"Stupid," Becca silently chided Charlotte. "She's probably teamed up with Paige, why would you ask her that. Then again, I did ask her how to get ahead with Turner, but still."

"Oh, I have no idea," Mandy deflected, not wanting to even risk the chance of slipping up and revealing that she had told Paige about the information Becca gave her in private. "I doubt really anything, Turner would have to be crazy to think of that."

"See, Becca?" Charlotte turned back to her. "Mandy thinks the same thing, I'm sure you're fine!"

"You can always look and see," Mandy pointed out. "There's a board that can pretty easily confirm or deny that."

"No, I really don't want to do that," Becca shook her head. "Ignorance is bliss in this case, and it's just gonna cause me the same problem that it caused with Emma if I look at it."

"Your choice," Mandy shrugged, before taking a sip of coffee.

---

"Ugh, what year is it?" Turner thought as he woke up with a splitting headache. "Wait, hold on a sec. It's coming back to me...some of it. I remember the date with Paige...but not much after that. Geez, my head hurts like hell, what happened to me?"

He took a look at his surroundings, illuminated by the morning sunlight streaming through the curtains. Everything looked surprisingly tidy, given his mental state. All his clothes were still on, which led him to believe that Paige really hadn't done anything with him while he was ****. There were still a few hours that were unaccounted for in his memory, though.

"What happened then? All I remember was coming back to the hotel, but it's like once I stepped in...nothing. "He glanced over at Paige and she was still wearing her dress. "Were we both just super tired for some reason and we just passed out when we got back? That's the only logical explanation for all of this, but things here have been illogical before."

After glancing over at Paige again, he noticed that her eyes were open, and she was lying still, staring at the ceiling. She looked deep in thought, and didn't seem to notice that he was awake.

"Paige?" he asked softly.

"Hm?" she replied, equally as softly. "Oh, good morning."

"Do I tell him?" she thought to herself. "He hasn't mentioned it, does he remember what happened last night or can I just slide by?"

"Do you remember what happened last night?" Turner inquired. "It's like there are a few hours that were just cut from my memory."

"Oh, well that's interesting," she filled the awkward silence by talking in her head. "He really doesn't have any recollection. I guess that means I don't have to actually tell him what happened then. Although, I guess he could look at the scoreboard, and then he'd know that I'm lying, since he has one right here in the room. Plus, I should probably get this over with now so it doesn't get too big to handle in the future, right?"

"Well...actually...yes I do," she began, her her voice shaking trepidatiously. "So...you know how I got first in the challenge last week?"

"Right..." he followed, motioning for her to continue.

"And you know how Kendra said I'd get a prize for coming in first, but then promptly never handed one out?" she added.

"Is that what she was talking to you about right outside the front door yesterday afternoon?" he connected the dots, causing Paige to nod.

"Exactly, but that's not all," she confirmed. "She gave me three options for what I wanted to have as my prize. I use the phrase 'gave me options' pretty lightly here, because I couldn't see what any of them were, so I just chose the second one because...well, because it didn't make any difference."

"Some prize," Turner scoffed, rolling his eyes, but more towards Kendra than Paige.

"That's what I thought too," Paige agreed. "She gave me some riddle which I can't even remember now, but suffice to say, it was supposed to help me in some way."

"That generally is the purpose of a prize for coming in first," Turner said sarcastically, but not with malintent, just because he was like that sometimes.

"Anyways, when we got back..." Paige took a deep breath, as this was the part she had to stand her ground the most on, and it was also the part that she knew would be the most difficult to say. "...do you remember me apologizing for everything?"

"No...?" Turner raised an eyebrow. "That happened?"

Paige felt another pang from her heart as she realized that she would have to apologize again, but pushed forwards anyway. "It did...but remember the transformation that Kendra placed on me?"

"The one where...yeah?" Turner was about to try and repeat it, but stopped himself short. Talking about sex with his ex-girlfriend wasn't exactly something he wanted to do at the moment.

"I kinda...lost control last night, and it seems like Kendra caused you to as well," Paige took the final plunge.

Turner blinked a couple times, just comprehending the statement that Paige said. Sixteen words, but those sixteen words were more difficult to hear than any of the other sentences he had heard in his life.

"You...what now?" he weakly asked, hoping he just misunderstood.

Paige closed her eyes and exhaled slightly before restating herself. "I...I pounced on you while I had the chance. It wasn't really my decision...hence why I stopped before I got too deep, both literally and metaphorically."

She motioned over to the scoreboard, causing Turner to take a more detailed look at it. Her points had doubled overnight, which was alarming, to say the least. Abby had gotten more than Paige did over the night, but that was all accidental, whereas Paige's gains were on purpose, at least a little bit. In addition, he wasn't even aware that she was doing anything, it was like he was in a coma or something like that, and she decided to take advantage of his state. She must've had some inkling to do this before the night, right? Otherwise Kendra wouldn't have offered it as a possible transformation for her to endure, right?

"Whatever, theorizing about it will do me no good, nor will avoiding it," he thought to himself before slowly turning back towards Paige, who was shuffling nervously.

"I-how far did you go?" he had so many questions to ask, but none of them were forming in his head.

"Not too far," she defended, perking up a bit since this question was lighter than she expected. "Just kissing, and I may have caused you to cop a feel..."

"That was what got you nine whole points?" Turner was a bit incredulous, but then realized that it wasn't too far out of the realm of possibility. "Actually, that does make sense."

"So..." Paige didn't exactly know how to ask, but she wanted to hear Turner's opinion on what happened.

"I mean...I'm not exactly happy about what happened, far from it," Turner began, scratching the back of his neck, but he wasn't as mad as Paige anticipated. "I'm sure there's going to be hell to pay with Becca too. This is in the game though...and I can't exactly play favorites here."

Paige looked relieved that it wasn't going to devolve into a screaming match between the two of them, but Turner continued. "I'm still upset with you for this, though. I just...need some time to think for now."

"I understand," Paige slowly nodded, before gathering her belongings and leaving quickly.

---

"See, I told you you would be able to figure it out!" Abby said with a smile.

"That...wan't what you said at all," Liam frowned.

"You're right, you're right, I'm sorry," Abby seemed genuinely apologetic. "But that wasn't too bad, was it?"

"Well, it was bad in the sense that I've signed my soul away for the next round of transformations, but sure, if you want to view it that way, it wasn't bad," Liam rolled his eyes.

"But the night out itself, that was fun, right?" she prodded further.

"Oh, yeah, it was fun," he agreed. "Probably way better than he had last night with Paige, I can't imagine she really had his thoughts in mind with whatever the heck she decided to do with him tonight."

"Yeah, but I don't think she's all bad," Abby defended. "She may have thought of him during their night."

"Why are you on her side?" Liam questioned. He'd been meaning to ask Abby this a while ago, since she didn't seem to despise Paige as much as Becca or himself.

"What do you mean?" Abby was confused. "I'm not 'on her side', I just don't find her completely abhorrent. I know what she's done to him, and I know what she's done to you and my sister, but I don't think she deserves all the hatred here. Especially since she's gonna be stuck with us forever, we shouldn't make her entire life hell."

"She tried to make Turner's life hell, didn't she?" Liam pointed out. "Fair is fair."

"Naw, I truly believe that she's genuinely remorseful about that," Abby shook her head. "I just think she gets heated when it comes to Becca because the two of them have been going at each other for years now, and it's just second nature. Plus, Becca initiates a lot of the shouting matches between them too."

"Wow, saying that about your own sister?" Liam joked.

"I mean, I'm not wrong, am I?" Abby gave a wry smile.

"No, definitely not," he laughed a little bit.

---

"Oh, hey, Paige, how'd it go?" Mandy inquired as she saw her coming down the path.

"Uh...it went alright," Paige gave a wishy-washy response. "I mean, we've gotten pretty much everything out in the open now."

"I'd say that's a lot better than alright, something bad happen?" Mandy cocked an eyebrow.

"Not really bad, it was just uncomfortable, you know?" Paige's face continued to be neutral. "It's never easy having to go on a date with your ex, especially given the current circumstances."

"That's fair," Mandy felt there was something that the blonde girl wasn't telling her, but dropped the thought for the time being, she had her own night to worry about.

"You're going out with him tonight, aren't you?" Paige remembered.

"Yeah, I am," Mandy confirmed. "Why d'you ask?"

"Can you make sure he seems normal?" Paige requested. "I'm a little worried, since he didn't quite seem himself yesterday, and I'm not sure if it was just because I was there or if it's because there's something else afoot here with Kendra."

"Uh...sure?" Mandy accepted, although a bit tenuously. "He didn't seem himself how? Like what was different about him?"

"I don't really know how to put my finger on it, I'm just worried I messed him up somehow," Paige frowned.

"Alright, yeah, I'll check in on him," Mandy repeated. "I'm not planning on doing anything super extravagant or over-the-top, so I should have ample time to ask him anything."

"Good, thanks," Paige was relieved.

"So...eighteen points?" Mandy slightly changed the subject.

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Paige deflected. "It was outside of my control."

"Kendra got to you too?" Mandy mentally compared what Paige said to what she had heard through the grapevine about Emma's date.

"You might say that," Paige semi-agreed. "Anyways, back to you, what's your plan for tonight?"

"Probably just gonna stay in the hotel and find something to do there," Mandy answered. "I've seen a floor plan of the place, and I'm pretty sure there's gonna be at least SOMEthing in there that both him and I would enjoy doing."

"You don't wanna go out?" Paige questioned.

"Not really, I'm somewhat of a homebody," Mandy explained. "Plus, getting to explore all the amenities the hotel has to offer should pay dividends, for both him and myself, later down the line."

"Makes sense," Paige responded. "You don't really strike me as the type to go all-out anyways, that's something for Emma, Charlotte, and probably Becca, wanting to 'prove her worth' to Turner or something."

"Oh, I bet she has some elaborate, down-to-the-minute plan for what she's gonna do on her date," Mandy scoffed. "I wouldn't discount Sara either, especially since she's been stewing in that romanticism trait for a week now. I don't really know how fast the itch would grow, but I'd imagine it can't exactly be slow."

"It definitely isn't slow," Paige thought to herself, drawing parallels to her own transformation, before responding to Mandy. "Sara's pretty relaxed, though, she doesn't strike me as the type to be a go-getter. That's Phoebe's—Turner's sister's—job."

"That's true, but I wouldn't doubt anything here," Mandy sighed. "Liam's turned into a completely different person ever since he's arrived here; both physically and mentally."

"Did you see he somehow got his male clothes back?" Paige asked.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, I saw him walking around with clothes on that Kendra definitely wouldn't have allowed him to wear under normal circumstances," Paige elaborated.

"That's...interesting, do you think Kendra's got a soft spot for him or something?" Mandy wondered out loud.

"Doubt it, she doesn't have a soft spot for anyone," Paige rebuffed. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be here and we'd be allowed to go home."

---

"That's hurtful," Kendra said, listening in on Paige and Mandy's discussion. "I do have soft spots, like the rope I extended to Paige last night. It's not my fault that she wasn't willing to make use of it like she could've. Should I maybe make more appearances to the cast, that way they can actually say these things to my face instead of 'behind my back'?"

She thought to the instance where she did make herself available, though, and how it almost got her punched in the face by a certain Becca Reed.

"I've been more than accommodating to them here," Kendra scoffed. "They have these nice homes, most of them know each other, all of that. It's not my fault that the show writers demanded that they be grouped up in this way and transformed, and it's not my fault that the audience wanted them to become like this."

"You're right, it isn't your fault," a mysterious voice from behind Kendra said.

"Oh, geez, I didn't realize you were listening in on that."

"Well, when you talk at your desk, it makes it a little difficult, since I work right next to you. Anyways, you want to look over this list of transformations we have for Liam?"

"Of course," Kendra took the paper.

"That was brilliant thinking with that deal you made with him, it'll help his transformation path progress more quickly. I am a bit worried about Paige, though, she's almost a fifth of the way to the victory condition on day seven."

"Oh, don't worry, I got some plans for her," Kendra smirked maniacally. "You don't have to worry about that."

"Alright, well, you have a good day."

"You too."

Kendra turned back to watching Mandy, talking to Paige about something completely irrelevant.

"Alright, well, I better get ready for my night, I'm not about to stay up until midnight with whatever we're doing," Mandy said.

"Have fun," Paige responded as Mandy walked away.