Out of Our Greatest Rejection Comes Our Greatest Decision

"These are coming out so pretty!" Emma excitedly said as she strung together some of the shells that the five of them had collected with some string that she and Charlotte had bought at the store.

Emma: 1610 BP -> 1585 BP

Charlotte: 1770 BP -> 1745 BP

The two of them had been crafting up a storm, making little necklaces for everyone on the island. Those who went shell collecting got shells that they found, and, at Charlotte's request, the other five were getting any other good-looking shells that they had left over. It was something small, but the two of them were envisioning something like friendship bracelets in the sense that these necklaces were just going to be a little memento to keep from the time together that they spent on the island, whether people wanted to remember that or not.

"What if you put this teal one in there?" Charlotte offered. "It'd look really nice with all of the green that you have there."

"Ooh, that's a good idea," Emma said, taking the shell that Charlotte passed her and stringing it into the necklace.

"Hey hey hey, you two still hard at work?" Abby passed by the two of them while walking by the pool.

"Ooh, Abby, great timing," Charlotte half-answered. "Do you want to go with a red necklace or a yellow one? We have a good amount of each of them."

"Save the yellow for Becca when she comes back tomorrow," Abby responded. "It'll mean a lot to her, and probably help her know that she has people here that care about her." Yellow was Becca's favorite color; it was another small gesture, but the small ones helped sometimes. "I'll take red."

"Okay!" Emma said, continuing to tie a knot that she had started to keep the smooth seashell she had snatched from the seashore in place.

Abby nervously smiled as she did an about face and continued the direction she had been heading to get some dinner at the same mac and cheese place that she had previously gone to with Turner. She was nervous because Becca either had found out what the new standings were, or she was about to after Sara's date. As much as both of them would like to avoid it, Becca would find out what Abby had been up to around a week ago, and it was going to be a difficult conversation between the two of them.

"I should've told her when I had the chance earlier," Abby regretted. "Now, I've got to do it now, but with everybody around the two of us for whenever the fallout happens. It's not gonna be like when Becca confronted Emma alone, there's gonna be eight—nine bystanders if you count Kendra."

"I don't really know what to think about all of this," Becca admitted as she sat on the bed next to Turner. "It's been a rough week and a half, but I thought I was getting a handle on all of this. It's just like I've...regressed though."

"I know, and I feel awful for what happened," Turner started.

"Don't be," Becca dismissed. "None of it was your fault. Emma did what she did because of Kendra, Abby was a complete accident, and Paige...is Paige. It's not like you were really in charge of any of the situations you were thrown in. Hell, we're not really in charge of any situations on this show period. We're at the whims of the audience and Kendra's mind, neither of which are particularly predictable."

"I know, but I just feel bad since I'm staying up here in this big penthouse while you have to worry about what's going on every day," Turner winced.

Becca flinched a bit, as the two parts of her brain fought for control. Part of her wanted to assure Turner that she wasn't worrying about what was going on and he should just do whatever what he desired. The more sensible part of her wanted to tell him the truth, which was that she was worried about him and didn't want anything to come between the two of them. Neither part won control, and she just didn't answer.

"You're already halfway there," she thought. "You've already told him that what he did was fine, all you have to do now is actively encourage it..."

"I mean, it's just the game, right?" she blurted out, causing Turner to do a double take.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused on this demeanor coming out of left field. Generally, she was a pretty dominant and somewhat possessive person, and this was almost completely contrary to what she was normally like, almost like she was..."Shit, it's the transformation, isn't it?"

"It's the game," she repeated. "Everyone's trying to get ahead and it seems unfair of me to stop them from doing so."

As she said that, she ever so slowly inched towards Turner before kissing him as he wrapped her arms around his neck again.

Kissed Turner: +0 VP! (Same ol', same ol')

It felt at home for him. With Emma, and much later Paige, all but forcing a kiss on him (jury is still out on Paige though), it felt better to actually have someone he wanted to kiss there. Not that Emma and Paige weren't good-looking, but-

"Geez, this situation just makes everything more complex, doesn't it?" he thought to himself.

He missed the feeling her soft lips, the feeling of her short arms interlocked around the back of his head, pulling him in closer, the feeling of her orange hair cascading around the two of them, everything.

"I don't know if you realize how much I've missed you," Becca softly said as she pulled back a bit, but still keeping her forehead against his like she could read his thoughts. "It's felt just like when you left for college all those years ago when I was still in high school."

"I remember that, it felt like that year would never end," he responded, reminiscing over the past. "But I'm glad it did, and it brought us to where we are now."

"Where we are now" reverberated in Turner's head, combined with Paige's statement from a few days ago, where she said "I was your first in other areas, I want to be your first in everything else." Unfortunately, that was the only thing that stuck with him from that day, the rest was gone with the wind.

Becca and him really hadn't done a whole lot, especially when you consider what most other couples do in five years. Sure, the two of them were more conservative than the average college couple in this day and age, but that still wasn't a whole lot.

"How did Paige know, too?" he thought. "It's not like she's been following my every move over the past five years, has she? Or did she get the information from someone else who's been close to the two of us, like Abby or Emma?"

"What's on your mind?" Becca asked, noticing that Turner seemed distracted.

"Sorry, this is super inappropriate, I shouldn't be thinking of someone else on our date," he sheepishly admitted.

"No, it's fine, what's on your mind?" Becca felt a pang as Turner mentioned he was thinking of one of the other girls on the island.

"How did Paige know?" he rhetorically asked, then followed it up with more clarification. "The one thing I remember from my 'date' with Paige, if you can even call it that, was that she said 'I know Becca hasn't done anything like this with you'. Has she been following us? Did Abby tell her something?"

Becca's face went white as a ghost as she realized what that was insinuating. That meant that what most likely happened was that Mandy told Paige what Becca had told her in confidence. She couldn't tell Turner that she had gone to Mandy, right?

"What if I just became his first in everything right now just to really show it to Paige?" Becca realized.

"I have no idea how she knew," Becca lied. "I wouldn't put it past her to spy on us like that, she's not historically been the most trustworthy person. I do know one thing though, and that's how we can make sure she never says something like that again."

"What do you mean, we c-" Turner got cut off as Becca moved closer to him and started walking her fingers up the center of his chest.

"We can make it so she can't be your first in anything...since I can be your first in everything," she answered, before she pulled him in and kissed him passionately again.

She had more fervor than Paige and more drive than Emma, but something just didn't feel right about her to Turner. It was almost like she wasn't all that into it, for one reason or another. Even as she removed her white shirt and started unbuttoning his, it was like something else was on her mind, just like it had been a minute ago with him. Like she was thinking about something else that was contrary to the moment that the two of the were in at the moment.

Attempting to get her more in the mood, Turner brought one of his hands around from the small of her back to one of her bra-bound tits and started massaging it, and was rewarded with a passionate sigh.

Turner Touched Her Breasts: +1 VP

Becca leaned more into his touch, but there were a million thoughts running around in her head. The one that kept popping into the forefront of her mind was "This isn't right for me to take this opportunity away from all of the other girls here, I should be letting them take the lead on all of this, and then maybe if there's time at the end for me, I can do something."

"Wait," she simply said, pulling back from Turner, the thoughts in the back of her mind winning.

"What, is something wrong?" Turner confusedly asked. "I mean, if the problem is that I'm going too fast, then we can slow down a lit-"

"It's not that you're going too fast for me, it's just...everybody else here," Becca looked downcast.

"Everybody else here?" Turner reiterated. "But see, here's the difference between everybody else here and you. You're my girlfriend."

"But that's the thing, I'm not your only one anymore," Becca buried her face in his shoulder. "By the end of this time here, you'll have nine other girlfriends in addition to me, and I don't want to get in their way with anything else I might do here."

"This is so unlike her," Turner thought. "Is Kendra's transformation on her really having this big of an effect this early in? What're things gonna be like with Becca by week five or whatever? If we're stuck in this for the long run, that'll be a problem if she continues down this path for that amount of time, she'll be nothing but a mess by the time this is over."

"There are a million and one reasons why you're my girlfriend, the first choice in my mind," Turner treaded lightly to avoid setting her transformation off again. "But if you just want to go to sleep, I'm more than fine with that."

"That-I...yes, thank you," Becca stammered as she fell backwards onto the bed. She had pictured that her day with Turner was going to be this big, extravagant night out on the town and that things would feel so much better once she had finally been with him, but life had so many other plans for the two of them. She felt more on edge than she had at the start of the day, and even more than when she figured out what Emma had done during her time with Turner on the first night. Today was supposed to be a happy day for her, but it ended up being the worst day she'd had here, aside from day one where she was brought into this mess.

Turner was a little glad that he and Becca didn't end up doing anything. Part of him still naïvely hoped that they could get out of this predicament, although he knew that was a long shot. He'd wanted to wait until some big day with her, but he didn't even know what day it was anymore. Plus, part of him wondered if Becca was just doing it out of pure desire to be first in everything and deny everyone else the chance, or if she actually wanted to.

Paige was relieved when she only saw Becca's name rise one place on the scoreboard, tying up with Sara in seventh place. Both because she wanted to continue to be Turner's number one, and because she just didn't want Becca to have an easy out of the game.

"Who knows, she could've done a million and a half things with him, but only gotten one point," she said out loud to a hammock she had found in a grove behind her hut.

There had been a couple of nights where she had gotten little to no sleep, but this wasn't going to be one of them. Simply knowing that Becca wasn't going to beat her to the punch with anything was comforting to her. Plus, it meant that Becca likely hadn't filled his head with all these lies about her.

"Only two more days until I can beat her again," she thought to herself.

Kathryn was going for her midnight walk when she heard Paige say that from behind the tree line. Not being able to help herself, she wandered into the little thicket where she saw the blonde girl relaxing on a hammock and staring at the star-filled sky through the leafy canopy overhead.

"What're you doing back here?" she asked.

"Wh-ad-ga-shi-what the fuck, you scared the living daylights out of me!" Paige would've fallen over backwards if she wasn't already laying down.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself, I just heard you talking back here about beating someone again," Kathryn explained.

"Why do you even care?" Paige crossed her arms.

"If you're referring to Becca, I don't really think it'll be that difficult to beat her again, if you're thinking strategically," Kathryn noted. "She's kinda acting pretty aloof right now, almost like if she doesn't think about what's happening, then it won't happen."

"Why're you telling me this, aren't you like one of her friends in this game or something?" Paige suspiciously asked.

"I prefer not to get into the social aspect of everything," Kathryn held her hand up. "Not for me. I'm more of the 'step back and look at what's going on' type. Just figured I'd let you know what was going on with her, because you didn't seem on the best terms with Becca."

"You can say that again," Paige grumbled.

"Anyways, good luck on the challenge in two days," Kathryn said before heading back onto the main path.