No Greater Glory Than Love, No Greater Punishment Than Jealousy

"So it's your day with Turner," Abby was immediately confronted by Becca's neutral statement as she sat down at the bar to get breakfast.

"I suppose it is, yes," she responded, equally inoffensive.

"Got any big plans?" Becca continued.

"I figured something fairly innocuous," Abby responded, appeasing Becca. She knew that if Becca were to get upset with people going on dates with her boyfriend, it would be Paige first and herself second. "Something that he would do with one of his friends. You got any ideas?"

"I mean, the only good date ideas I have are things that I wouldn't really want you and him to be doing," Becca admitted. "Plus, I want to save some for myself. If I have to beat nine other women to him, then I really have to knock his socks off."

"Well, luckily, you have experience taking his socks off, along with everything else," Abby tried, but it fell a little flat.

"It was a good attempt," Sara said, humming to herself as she headed straight for the coffee.

"You don't have to sugarcoat it, it was pretty weak," Kathryn said, arriving at the same time.

"Sorry, I tried," Abby said, a bit gloomily.

"Anyways, have you guys seen Charlotte?" Kathryn wondered out loud. "The past few days, she's been the 'up and at em' type, awake and eating usually before any of us stumble out of bed, wonder what she and Turner got up to?"

"Probably quite a bit," Sara responded. "She seems like the type of person to go all out on a date."

'That's comforting," Becca said sarcastically.

"Becca?" Emma called, knocking on the door of the cabana. "You in there?"

Silence was Emma's response, but after a few seconds, she heard some shuffling from inside, and then the door opened. It wasn't Becca on the other side, though, it was Paige.

"Oh, hi Paige," Emma's voice fell. This was probably the last person she wanted to be talking to right now. "Do you know where Becca is?"

"It's always Becca," Paige said under her breath, but then lightened her voice a bit. "No, I don't know where she went, but I do want to talk to you."

"Well...okay," Emma relented, stepping inside as Paige opened the door wider to let her in.

"So," Paige began as she closed the door behind the two of them. "Six victory points? What's that all about?"

"It's nothing," Emma quickly denied as her face started to turn red.

"Sounds like someone got a little **** for some points she was missing," Paige said teasingly.

"I-I didn't!" Emma insisted. "It's all Kendra's fault!"

"Emma, this entire game is Kendra's...or whoever she keeps referencing as her higher-ups...fault," Paige noted. "I don't think saying that this one situation is her fault will change anything. It's their fault that Charlotte has the chaotic energy of a four year old. It's their fault that Abby looks like one of the hottest models alive to Turner. It's their fault that you keep getting stuck in the metaphorical washing machine. But what wasn't their fault was your lack of points."

Emma looked blankly at Paige for a few seconds. Was Paige's only reason for calling her in here to tear her to pieces?

"Now let me guess," Paige continued, seeing no response from Emma. "You were coming here to apologize to Becca for what happened?"

"Yes," Emma admitted in a small voice.

"Hate to break it to you, but she might not exactly accept that apology," Paige said, trying to empathize with Emma. "She's a bit hot-headed and jealous, no? Even some people who aren't as assertive as her aren't willing to forgive and forget that easily, especially if you and Turner did something scandalous enough to rocket you up to fourth place."

Emma looked dejected. "Have I just jeopardized my relationship with Becca here?" she thought. "Not only Becca, but Turner as well, because he's no doubt gonna take her side..."

"If it were up to me," Paige offered. "I wouldn't tell Becca about what happened. If you're lucky, she might not even notice that she's been pushed down a spot, she doesn't seem like the type of person to be on top of checking everyone's score. She probably figures that Turner would never do anything with someone who isn't her."

"Thanks," Emma said after letting Paige's words sit a little bit. "I'm...gonna go now."

"Don't forget what I said," Paige called out to Emma as she opened the door. "You can't always expect people like Becca to forgive you that easily."

As the door clicked shut with Emma's departure, Paige sat back on the bed. It didn't feel great to have to play dirty here, but she was disadvantaged in this game. Shunned by nearly everyone here, despised by her roommate and the guy she was supposed to be competing for, and left with a meager amount of BP. Emma seemed like the best option for her to try to work, especially in the situation she was caught in.

What of Lauren though? The gal had hardly left her room in the couple days that they had been here, it would probably be prudent to go check up on her. Paige fixed herself up a bit and left the house to go see her only ally.

"Well, I mean, I'd be elated to help you out," Mandy told Lauren. "I mean, with the group of six bonding together, us underdogs have to do something."

"Great," Lauren said, sounding indifferent, but it was significantly lighter than her usual tone.

"Speaking of, have you seen Charlotte at all?" Mandy said, looking around quizzically. "Emma came back like right after the crack of dawn, but the sun's been up for a few hours now and Charlotte's still unaccounted for."

"Don't know, and I don't really care," Lauren responded while shrugging. "It's a lot more peaceful when she's not running around like a banshee."

"I get that," Mandy sighed. "I have to deal with Emma all the time."

It was around that time that Paige entered the room. When she saw that Lauren wasn't alone, but with Mandy, her eyes briefly widened before settling back down into an expression of pride for Lauren, she had managed to get a third ally.

"Hey Paige," Lauren simply said. "Mandy says she's in."

"Really now?" Paige asked, intrigued. "What changed your mind?"

"Liam," Mandy answered, looking defeated. "That boy's been trying his damn hardest to stay miles away from me, and I didn't really know anybody else on this show, so I figured I might as well get myself some compatriots in this game."

Paige thought back to her conversation last night with Liam. "Stupid," she told herself. "Why on Earth would I offer something like that to Liam? What am I, a freak? A sex addict? Then again, I still can do stuff like what I did with Emma this morning. I still have my wits about me. That makes it even worse then, what happened with Liam, that means I'm knowingly doing these things."

"Paige?" Lauren waved her hand in front of the girl's blank face, looking concerned.

"Huh-what?" Paige was knocked out of her semi-stupor. "Oh, uh...nothing."

"What time is it?" Charlotte asked softly as she stretched herself, waking up to the sound of Turner shuffling things around in the room.

"Oh, uh...about 10," he simply responded.

"Ten?" Charlotte was dumbfounded. "Why didn't you wake me up before now?"

"I have a hard time waking people up," Turner admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "It just feels bad, even if I knew they wanted me to do it. Plus, you looked so peaceful sleeping there."

"You're so cliché," Charlotte rolled her eyes. "But I do appreciate it, so thank you. Well, I better be going now, the gals are probably wondering where I am, and I don't want to intrude on Abby's date today."

Turner started saying something, but Charlotte was already out the door by that time. It was an interesting evening. Certainly not what she expected from a night with the harem master on a sex-based show, but she wasn't complaining. Her blonde curls bounced beside her as she left the hotel and saw the usual morning gang sitting around the lounge.

"Hey, there she is!" Abby said, still wearing the same red sweatshirt that she'd worn the past few days.

Charlotte noticed that Becca was giving her a bit of side-eye. There was no doubt in her mind that it was because of suspicion of the date last night.

"Relax, Becca, I just overslept," Charlotte comforted. "You can even look at the leaderboard of points to see that I haven't moved from my previous total of three."

"I think I will look at that just to double-check," Becca said, standing up.

Charlotte accompanied her to the leaderboard, not out of a need for vindication in real time, but just because it felt like the right thing to do. The two of them walked along the wooden pathway to the crossroads where paths to the houses, hotel and lounge, and the beach where the last challenge had taken place branched off.

"Wait..." Becca said, studying the screen. "Why is Abby in last with one point? I thought Emma was in last with zero, when did she get six points? Yesterday?"

"I mean, I guess that's the only reasonable conclusion," Charlotte said, trying to cheer her up, but there was very little she could do in this circumstance.

"Emma, I swear, I'm gonna..." Becca began, before her brain short-circuited for a second.

"You've been getting along well with Emma, haven't you?" Becca said as they walked through the history hallway.

"I mean, I guess," Turner shrugged as he walked alongside her. "She's fun to be around, she kinda seems like a sister to me."

"Hey, you two talking about me again?" Emma asked as she joined the cluster walking towards the band room.

The three of them made some small talk as they walked through the hallways of the school. Paige eventually joined, and Becca, annoyed, drifted away from the pack. She had always been interested in Turner, but he seemed content with Paige, and she didn't want to break up something that seemed to be working well for the two of them.

They entered the band room, and she stood outside the instrument closet with Paige, waiting for Turner and Emma to pick up their instruments as per usual before a weekend.

"So, you know Emma well, is anything happening with her and Turner?" Paige asked Becca in a bit of an interrogative tone.

"He says there isn't anything happening, and I trust him, so I doubt it," Becca simply responded. She threw in the "I trust him" part to one-up Paige, in a way.

"Hmm," Paige said. It was more of a statement of acknowledgement than an attempt to continue the conversation. Becca felt that Paige didn't believe that. She knew Paige was a bit manipulative, and the thought of Turner having friends who were girls wasn't something she was fond of.

Becca, meanwhile, had resigned herself to being third place. Right now, his priorities seemed to be Paige, then Emma, then her. She was fine with that; Paige was his girlfriend, Emma was like his sister, and she was just a friend of his. She wholeheartedly expected that if Paige were to take a step too far, Turner would dump her and Emma would swoop in and be his comfort person. Emma was always going to come before her.- - - - - -

"Becca?" Charlotte was worried, Becca looked to be seething with anger.

"I'm fine," Becca said through gritted teeth. The only thing that was stopping her from finding Emma and giving her a piece of her mind was the little voice in her head. It was driving her insane, constantly making her think about her love with these other women.

"Here, why don't you let me talk to Emma and I'll try to see what happened," Sara, who had shown up at Becca's side when she saw trouble, soothed.

"There's nothing to talk about," Becca denied with her eyes narrowed. "I just need a few minutes."

She ran off to her bungalow on the boardwalk, and the sound of the door slamming shut behind her were audible from the leaderboard at the crossroads.

"I'm always going to be playing second fiddle to SOMEbody, aren't I?" Becca yelled to herself within the safety of the four wooden walls. "I can't catch a break!"

She paced the room, walking quickly as if that would help her blow off steam more quickly.

"What did she even do?" she continued wondering aloud to nobody. "I wish there was some sort of list that told us how many points you get for doing things with Turner, just so I'd have an idea of what happened. For all I know, she could've gotten 6 points for giving him a hug, or it could be 6 points for fucking him!"

"And what would be so wrong with that?" the voice inside her asked. "YOU were the one who facilitated the relationship between them all those years ago. It should've been her that he went to after the fight with Paige. YOU stepped in and took Emma's place. YOU are the reason that Emma wasn't where she belonged, with him. Don't you owe it to her to at least give her a night?"

"Shut up!" Becca yelled to herself. "I don't want to hear another word of this!"

She stormed out of the house, stomped down the stairs onto the pathway, and marched over to the beach where Kendra had been last. Abby, Kathryn, and Charlotte were all in the courtyard, and they followed her, both out of curiosity and a desire to prevent Becca from doing something stupid.

"Kendra!" Becca yelled once she saw the host in her vision. "I need to talk to you!"

"How's it goin', sugar?" Kendra said, her sweet Southern drawl sounding more grating than it ever had to Becca.

"Take this stupid transformation off of me," Becca demanded. "And if you don't do that, then take me and everybody else off the show."

"Didn't we already go over all'a this?" Kendra rhetorically asked. "I thought I already told you a couple'a days ago, the show ain't goin' nowhere, and neither are your transformations."

"I don't care what we talked about a couple days ago!" Becca's voice rose. "End it! I don't want any of this to keep happening! I just want everybody to go back to their lives, back when things were normal!"

"No can do, darlin'," Kendra dismissed. "Now, if you don't have any important matters to talk with me about, then-"

She was cut off by a loud shriek from Becca, who had raised a fist and was about to connect with Kendra's nonchalant face, but it was frozen in midair.

"Well, ain't that somethin'?" Kendra said patronizingly. "Cute, you thought I'd've just let myself get attacked? My my, how naïve you can be sometimes. I'll let this one slide with just a warning, but if you try it again, there will be repercussions."

"I don't CARE about repercussions!" Becca yelled. "Just bring everything back to normal!"

Kathryn and Charlotte had caught up to Becca at this point, with Abby lagging behind a bit due to her changed physique. Kathryn's eyes went wide when she saw what was going on, and stepped between the two of them.

"Woah woah woah!" Kathryn yelled, diffusing the situation. "What the living fuck are you doing, Becca?"

"Getting my just desserts!" Becca yelled, louder than Kathryn. "This bitch here has done unspeakable things to us, and I'm gonna get payback! Do you KNOW how annoying it is to have a little voice in my head saying 'Oh, but you should try to get this person to fuck your boyfriend'? It sucks!"

"Let's just calm down for a second here," Kathryn said, her analytical side operating here. "Becca, I know you're pissed at Kendra, and rightfully so, but punching her isn't gonna accomplish anything. She has people above her. If Kendra's not here, then someone else likely will, and they might act even worse to you. Plus, she gives out these punishments to people who simply fail to score many points in this game, who's to say she won't dole them out to people who physically attack them?"

"I can't believe that YOU of all people are sticking up for this SNAKE," Becca said, although her voice was less attacking and she did lower her hand. "If I recall correctly, yesterday you had nothing but negative things to say about her."

"I'm not saying that's changed at all," Kathryn explained. "I'm just laying out the facts. If you attack Kendra, you don't know what's going to happen. You could lose the game immediately, **** to be a **** to Turner, or even worse. I don't doubt that she can just make people...mysteriously disappear either, given that she made us mysteriously appear here."

"Becca, let's go take a walk," her sister offered her hand to Becca, who was having an adrenaline crash at the moment. "I don't think you should go back to your room alone right now, it seemed like that didn't work out so well last time."

Becca resigned, both because of what Kathryn said and also because her energy levels were rapidly dropping because she was leaving the 'fight or flight' attitude. She walked off with Abby, saying something incomprehensible to Kathryn, Charlotte, and Kendra.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Kendra let out a low whistle while talking to Kathryn. "You actually stuck up for me, that's quite a change from yesterday."

"It wasn't for you," Kathryn said as she also turned around and walked back in the direction that Abby and Becca went. Charlotte, stunned about the whole situation, followed behind her.

"I didn't expect something like that from Becca this early in the game," Kendra mused out loud after Kathryn and Charlotte were out of earshot. "Turns out she broke down really easily, I wonder what'll happen with her future transformations."