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“She’s American, she’dknow that,” Kim says defensively. “I just assume you lot don’t know anything about anywhere else.”

“You’re not wrong, exactly,” Perrie says in a soft voice, and Lauren giggles as the tension lessens a little.

“The cameras are coming over,” I say, as I notice one of the operators head in our direction.

“Oh, sothat’swhy you’re being nice to us,” Skye says.

“No.” I bristle. “I just figured we’re going to be around each other for the next few weeks, and it’ll be more enjoyable if we can be nice to each other.”

“Oh,nowyou think you might try that? What’s changed in the last”—Skye pretends to check her watch—“five hours?”

“Maya, the cameras,” Perrie whispers.

They’re close, but not close enough to hear us yet. “I didn’t really mean you,” I say to Skye. “I meant the others.Theyhaven’t done anything.”

Except listen to her lies about me, but that’s not the point right now.

“Sorry to tell you,” Skye says calmly, “but they don’t want your fake friendship any more than I do. I’ll be professional, but not—”

Francesca gives Skye a hard kick. The cameras are well and truly close enough now.

We all fall silent and look anywhere but at the camera. The operator sighs. “Don’t be shy, girls, you’re gonna have to get used to this. Just act like I’m not here.”

No one speaks.

“Anyone?” the operator pleads.

Eventually, Lauren plasters on a fake smile. “So, Perrie,” she says, a little stiffly, “what do you do?”

Perrie startles. “Um… well, I’m a receptionist, and I’m also studying marketing.”

“Cool! Which college?”

I take in my surroundings as they talk. Skye is watching me like a hawk, so intensely it sends shivering prickles down my neck. Francesca is looking between Perrie and Lauren. Kim’s craning her neck, staring at something behind me. I turn around to see Jordy striding across the lawn, followed by another camera.

Amazingly, I am honest-to-god glad to see him.

The conversation drops off as everyone notices Jordy approach. They were probably tipped off by the cloying smell of his cologne. It’s so thick I’m surprised we can’t see it hanging in the air like a cloud of poison.

“Hey, how’s everyone doing?” he asks. “Maya, what do you think about going for a quick walk to catch up? It’s been ages.”

“Thank god,” I murmur, jumping up.

The girls break into giggles, and Jordy makes a show of raising a single eyebrow. “I’m glad to see you, too.”

With cameras and producers trailing us, Jordy steers me through the garden to an area closed off by hedges, where a gazebo decked out in flowers and lights stands in the center. The camera crew follows me closely as I sit beside him, and settles in only feet from us. My, how romantic.

Okay. I have to win him over. Focus. Be charming. I plaster on my most charismatic smile. “Hey, you,” I say.

“Maya. Wow. It’s good to see you. You look great. Look at you!”

“Look at me? Look at you. You’re uh…” Compliment, compliment, compliment…You look like you’re trying really hard to convince the world you’re a catch?No…You look like you’ve started using all that sponsorship money for some expensive skincare?Also no… “Tall as ever.”

“Thank you, I haven’t lost a single inch in all this time. So glad you’ve noticed.”

Oh no. He’s giving me a familiar look. His eyes are glittering with the challenge of banter. And it’s the worst thing ever, because suddenly I’m sixteen again, and we’re swapping words like a Ping-Pong ball, picking up speed as we go. And he smells like he used to. Not his cologne—that’s choking the air like a noxious gas, still—but his…skin,I guess. My heart speeds up against my will as it recognizes the smell, and the feel, of all of this.

But we aren’t sixteen. And I don’t want to banter. I don’t want to relax into this.