Charlotte, a prank gone wrong

She could just faintly hear the host talking, enough to know that he was speaking, but not enough to make out the words. When the crowd cheered in response though there was no denying their words.

Bimbo.

Or.

Billionaire.

She shuddered and reach up to touch the collar around her neck for the 100th time since they'd locked it in place. She couldn't believe this was happening. This wasn't fair. It wasn't supposed to be like this!

2 months earlier

Charlotte was sitting up on her bed in dorm room staring at her phone. It was Saturday night and the dorm was bustling as people held parties or prepared to go out. Most of the people on her floor, the ones who were left anyway, were probably partying tonight.

Why wouldn't they? After start of reading week. They could study later. It was the perfect time to let loose and enjoy themselves.

Charlotte wouldn't be joining them.

To say she had no friends would be...

Completely accurate.

She'd had a couple friends back in high school, but like the idiot she was she thought she could handle moving away for University. She should have never come to this place. Antigonish. Who'd ever heard of Antigonish? Getting here had been hard enough, there was no way she could head back to Toronto for reading week. Her so called friends had already moved on anyway, she could seem them online, having a blast.

Why was it so hard to make friends? She had hobbies. Interests. Lots to share and talk about.

Well, she supposed that was the problem. She'd have to talk to someone first.

The only person that really ever talked to her was Maddy. And Maddy certainly wasn't a friend.

They'd met at orientation. The first thing Maddy said to her was, "Move it dyke."

That was probably the nicest thing Maddy had ever said to her.

Charlotte wasn't a stranger to bullying. She'd experienced it a lot when she was younger. But recently things had been better. She'd just faded into the background and been ignored. But Maddy was different. Maddy seemed to get a real kick out of tormenting Charlotte.

Maddy was everything Charlotte was not. Tall, tan and tantalizing. She had all the guys, and some of the girls, drooling over her.

Charlotte knew exactly what Maddy was. A bimbo. A bleached blonde bimbo.

Charlotte scrolled down on her phone. Photo after photo of Maddy. Maddy loved to show off. Short skirts, plunging necklines and, despite the cool climate here on the coast, string bikinis.

She scrolled even more. More photos. Maddy smiling with friends. Kissing her boyfriend. Drinking beer.

Disgusting.

Charlotte had never hated someone more.

"That bimbo..."

She scrolled again, then stopped.

An ad on the side. She couldn't help but click on it. Bimbo or Billionaire? What the hell was this?

She grinned. This was perfect.

"Yes I'd love to sign up...oh my name? Maddy Monroe..."

Truthfully she'd forgotten all about her little prank shortly after signing Maddy up. She thought Maddy might get an email or a letter and be momentarily embarrassed, but nothing would come of it. So when she received a letter herself it took her a few minutes to remember what exactly she'd done.

"Dear Ms. White we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a contestant..."

Me? She was confused. She remembered the application but she'd very clearly used Maddy's information. She hadn't even provided her own address. How did this come to her?

So she ignored it.

She ignored the second letter too. And the several emails.

A prank gone too far, but still, harmless.

Except she couldn't ignore when they came in person.

"It was a joke, I clearly didn't sign up for it myself." She tried to explain.

They wouldn't listen.

"When you clicked submit you, not Maddy, signed the contract. There is no escape." The representative told her.

She couldn't escape. They locked the collar around her neck, and sealed her fate.

Present

"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to a very special episode of Bimbo or Billionaire! I'm your host Jack and this is my lovely assistant Chrissi. Say hello Chrissi."

Chrissi was looking down at her chest and groping herself.

"Earth to Chrissi, hello? I find your breasts fascinating too but we have a show to put on!" Jack beamed at her.

Chrissi finally looked up, "Oh? Hiya Jack. Sorry. What number was it?"

"Oh Chrissi! Chrissi is our most unfortunate contest ever, opening 10 bimbo cases in a row. Lucky for us she's now a permanent fixture around her as my assistant. Now then, shall we meet our contestant? Charlotte White is a first year student at St. Francis Xavier. The standards at that school must have fallen drastically because she even spelled her name wrong on her application form. There's no 'M' in Charlotte! Lucky for her our recruitment team is the best at hunting people down no matter what errors they make and were able to convince her to join us today. Let's give a big hand for Charlotte!"

The crowd started to cheer and slowly, very slowly, a young woman stepped out from behind the curtain. She looked like a deer in headlights as she stared out at the crowd.

"Now then it's time to find out if she's a..." Jack started.

"BIMBO OR BILLIONAIRE!" The crowd finished for him.

Charlotte stood nervously as the crowd chanting at her. Then Jack quieted them down at gazed at her like a predator. She shivered and felt the steel around her neck get hot.

"Charlotte I'd love to find out more about you but our audience is getting antsy. Why don't we get started with you first case. There are 20 cases up there. 5 have cash symbols which will go straight to your bank account, all the way up to a billion dollars. 10 are punishment cases which, well, I think that's obvious. The last 5 are...special. You'll see when you get them. So...what will it be?"

Charlotte gulped. As far as she knew the cases were totally random, "Uh...3?"

"Chrissi! Chrssi!" Jack tried to get her attention.

"What? Oh? What number was it? 30?"

"There's only 20 cases. She said 3." Jack said.

"D'oh!" Chrissi moved and opened case 3.

"Dice! These are one of the special cases. The audience will now get to vote on a rule change, how exciting! Here are the options...

Double Trouble - Charlotte meant to sign Maddy up, so why not have them both compete? This will summon Maddy to play alongside Charlotte. They'll take turns picking cases, sharing the punishments but keeping the rewards to themselves

Going all the way - Charlotte won't be able to quit the game unless she gets all 10 punishments for makes it to the billion dollars

Hard Mode - All but the billion dollar money case will be replaced with new punishment categories

Veto Power - Charlotte will gain the power to veto any choice the audience makes...but she'll have to accept the next two highest options instead

"Charloote, any preferences?" Jack asked.

"Uh...well...if Maddy were here..." She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. It would be great to see her suffer but...no, she didn't want her bully to be anywhere near here. The best choice was the veto, after all she didn't have to use it, "Veto Power."

"Veto, well, let's see what the audience decides! Vote now!"

Voting closed