Me: Thanks

Jeanine: Never, never give up

Jeanine was right. I could do more than just prove I deserved to be there. I could blow Keya out of the water. I could win, even if Chef JJ was never going to say the words. I just needed to focus.

Be the shark. Be the shark.

I threw open the door to the greenroom.

“Gut margn!” Keya was sitting in the armchair closest to the door smiling her freakishly friendly smile. “That’s ‘good morning’ in Yiddish.”

Did she really expect that we’d come in here before the finals and talk like we had when we were stuck in that elevator? Everything was different. We were winner and loser now, even if we didn’t know who was who yet.

I headed for the couch on the other side of the room, as far from Keya as I could get. Sharks were loners.

“My mother says there’s some great Yiddish plays people still perform. Maybe you already know that, but I thought I’d say, just in case you didn’t.” As Keya chattered on, she wandered over to the food spread, which was down to one lonely plate of lemon poppy mini muffins. “I’m knackered. I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Can you believe this is it?”

I stayed quiet. Sharks were not chatty.

“Tris?”

I reached into my pocket, pulled out my headphones, plugged them into my phone, and turned up the music as loud as it would go. Then I closed my eyes.

A few seconds later, I felt the earbuds being ripped out.

“What’s your problem?” Keya’s freakishly friendly smile was gone. Finally.

“What’s my problem?”

“Just because it’s down to the two of us, you won’t even talk to me?”

“Don’t you get it?” Why did I have to explain this to her? “We’re winner and loser. That’s it. The person who crushes and the person who gets crushed.”

“That’s…that’s the most…” Her face had gone all splotchy red. “You know what? You are a newdy!”

“A nuddy!”

“Whatever!” She threw my earbuds at me, then marched over to the table, grabbed a bottle of water, and guzzled it down.

I jammed the earbuds back in my ears.

Not sure whether I felt like a shark, but thanks to me, I was pretty sure Keya did now.

• • •

Keya and I went straight to our stations when we got to the set.

“Anybody else feel the temperature drop when these two walked into the room?” Marco said. “Tension and loathing. I like it.” He rubbed his hands together.

“Brrr.” The medic, April, pretended to shiver, then flashed Marco a grin that was more gum than teeth.

“Hey, Keya, Tris,” Terrence called from offset. “I didn’t have time to come by the greenroom. Come give me your phones.”

“I got it,” Marco said and came around to collect our phones.

As I washed my hands, Chef JJ and Dieter walked onto the set. Randy hurried out from behind the lights and showed them something on her clipboard.