Blast From the Past

"I can't believe that she did it!" Charlotte said, watching her friend run back to the group, having completed a dare that they told her to do.

"I never would've expected that from her!" another one of her friends agreed. "She's such a picky eater!"

"Ugh, that was terrible."

"What did it taste like?"

"It tasted like onions, I don't know what you expected, I took a bite out of that onion."

"Hold on guys, I gotta take a call," Charlotte said, excusing herself from the madness as her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She walked upstairs into her room in the townhouse that she co-owned with a few of her friends. She was the only one who was still in school, but all her friends enjoyed living in the area still, so it worked out nicely.

"Hello?" she asked.

There was no one on the other line.

"Huh, that was weird," she thought.

She had been a cheerleader in high school, and although some would describe her as bitchy then, she'd definitely turned over a new leaf. After not getting a cheerleading scholarship into any of her top college choices, she'd switched gears and decided to pursue the health field. She still looked like a cheerleader though, very athletic and fit, not skinny though. Boys had chased her all throughout high school, and she paid little heed to them, being a closet lesbian. Still only a few people that she trusted closely knew; her immediate family who had been very understanding and accepting, and her two closest friends who were both her housemates downstairs.

As she decided to go back downstairs and not return the call, she suddenly felt the world spinning around her, like her drink had been spiked or something.

"Ugh, what the heck?" she said out loud.

"Charlotte?" she heard someone call from downstairs, evidently having heard her.

The last thing she heard was people rushing up the stairs before she hit the floor.

"Charlotte?" Turner asked, unknowingly echoing what had just been said back on Earth. "Who's that?"

"You'll recognize her once you see her. She was someone that you were rather fond of in high school," Kendra explained.

"Oh!" Paige exclaimed. "I know who she is, she's that cheer bitch!"

"Can you call anyone anything but a bitch?" Becca said, grimacing.

"Sure I can, I called you a gold digger recently," Paige said with quasi-cheerfulness.

"Paige, that's enough," Abby said, sticking up for her sister.

"Oh, give me a break," Paige protested. "Besides, Charlotte was a bitch, you can't dispute that in good conscience."

"When was the last time your conscience was good anyways?" Becca rhetorically asked Paige.

"I swear-" Paige began.

"And here she is! Please welcome Charlotte!" Kendra cut Paige off before the umpteenth bickering match got any farther.

All eyes turned to her, and she was just as they remembered. She'd been described as a knockout around the school, and it hadn't changed. She carried with her this aura of confidence and bravado, which helped her just appear sexy to a lot of the guys. Even though she was in an unknown and somewhat precarious situation, she still seemed calm and collected as she walked into the lounge.

"So...what, did I just die or something and this is purgatory?" she asked aloud, to no one in particular.

"Welcome, Charlotte, to Harem Hotel," Kendra said, seemingly unfazed. "I'm sure you read the paper in there, but your goal is to gain the affection of the Harem Master, which is Turner over here, win competitions, and yada yada."

"Wait, are you in the nursing school?" Emma asked, looking at Charlotte's badge.

"I am actually," Charlotte answered, not paying much heed to Kendra. "Decided to just go for it since I didn't get my scholarships.

"Ahem," Kendra cleared her throat. "Can you take a seat there on the couch?"

"Oh, that reminds me!" Charlotte said. "What the fuck is this place?"

"Think of it as some sort of alternate dimension," Kendra explained. "We brought you and the rest of these competitors here because you were close to Turner in some way. It's a lot to explain, so just think of it as some sort of magic."

"Then why did you bring me?" Charlotte asked, upset as she put a hand on her hip. "I don't really know this guy at all, I mean I'm sure he's nice, but I'm also not interested in guys."

"Well, I guess you'll have to see what pans out," Kendra answered with a twinkle in her eye. "Plus, you may not know Turner, but he sure knows you."

"Yeah..." Turner said somewhat meekly. "I mean, you were a cheerleader, everyone knew you."

"I guess that's what everyone knows me by," Charlotte resigned with a sigh. "My bitchy, stuck-up, cheerleading years."

"Well you have the chance to change that here," Kendra said, trying to lift her spirits a bit. "Think of this as less of a stupid waste of time and more of an opportunity! We'll get into that later though, we have three more people to introduce! Our next contestant is someone who's known Turner for longer than all of you, since he was but a wee lad! It's my pleasure to introduce Lauren!"

It was a slow evening. Lauren had gotten off work early, but her asshole boyfriend hadn't. Lots of evenings had seemingly been slow recently, as her life existed in some sort of state of limbo. She hadn't really had much drive to do anything recently. Originally she wanted to work in child care, something from her babysitting years, but after failing several of the classes, that dream was somewhat killed, so she just worked long hours at the local fast food joint to make ends meet. She also shacked up with a guy who worked a promising job, but he was a real dickhead. He was verbally and emotionally abusive, but hadn't gotten to physical maltreatment. Yet.

"Maybe I should just go see what my friends are doing tonight, to get out of the house," Lauren mused.

She fixed herself up a bit, texted her boyfriend that she was leaving, and then she was off. She knew better than to tell him in person that she was leaving, as that would lead to a whole round of name-calling, manipulating, the whole shebang.

"If only I still worked my babysitting job," she continued to muse. "Then I'd have some way to spend my evenings myself."

Her phone rang and she ignored it once she saw the name matched her boyfriend's. A text came through about a minute after, reading "Forget it, we're done!"

He had said that a baker's dozen times before, she knew he would be all apologetic once she came home. But...what if she didn't come home? She didn't have many belongings at the house...

Then the world went dark as she parked the car along the street.

"Wait, Lauren?" Turner asked. "As in my babysitter who I haven't seen in like 15 years?"

"Bingo!" Kendra said. "Although, I don't know why this is something that surprises you, I thought you'd've accepted that we can bring anyone we want here."

"That's...that's not why I'm surprised," he clarified. "Why her though? She's not someone that I'm really close to anymore."

"Well, y'know, it bring some variety!" Kendra answered excitedly. "Plus, she doesn't have any existing relationships with anyone here, so it'll be a great opportunity for everybody!"

"Some opportunity," Paige said. "She can meet some of these messed up people here. Hooray. She can compete to be in something pornographic. Whoopee. She can be transported to an alternate universe against her will. Honestly, do you ever have any good ideas?"

"You're one to talk, calling these people messed up," Becca predictably remarked.

"I agree with Paige," Emma said, speaking up for the first time in a little while. "Plus, how is she supposed to compete? We all know Turner fairly well, and her best memory of him is when he was probably big into dinosaurs and matchbox cars."

"Well, it's not like this is gonna be easy for any of you," Kendra said. "It's a competition, it's not like things are just gonna be handed to you because of your relationship. Plus, you're forgetting who the audience is here."

"We don't even know the audience if we're in an alternate dimension," Abby stated.

"Well, you'll soon learn what type of people they are," Kendra answered dismissively.

Kathryn narrowed her eyes. "We'll learn what type of people they are?" she thought to herself. "Is that supposed to be a clue to something larger, or is Kendra just being mysterious again for the effect to the cameras?"

It was about that time that Lauren walked over to the group, her face rightfully confused.

"Right this way, dear," Kendra said. "We'll catch you up to speed here soon, we just have to get through two more competitors!"

"Wait, but can I-" Lauren began.

"Chop chop, we've taken enough time here already!" Kendra interrupted. Lauren just resigned and sat down next to Charlotte.

"Our last two contestants are a bit different from the other eight we have here already," Kendra continued. "Please give a warm welcome to Liam and Mandy!"