Page 14 of The Compound

Unexpectedly, Gav reached forward and seized Tom in a tight, fierce hug.

“Thanks, man,” he said. Tom said nothing, but he let Gav cling to him.

I looked at Eloise, who had been sharing a bed with Gav.

She was pulling at her sleeves nervously, but she was also looking around at the other boys, as though sizing up who else she could share a bed with.

There was no real entrance or exit in the fence separating the desert and the compound, but the boys had made a gap to slip through when they first arrived.

There was the barbed wire, too, presumably to keep out animals, and Gav crossed over it carefully, then turned and looked at us as though he thought we might change our minds.

“Bye, Gav,” Andrew said, and some of the others chorused in for a goodbye. “We’ll miss you.”

He looked distinctly disappointed.

“Bye,” he said, and went on his way.

We went back toward the house, going along the back so the boys could pick up the freezer. The freezer was a huge win for us, a major improvement to the compound, but we didn’t celebrate; it wouldn’t have been right.

Gav had left quickly and quietly. He hadn’t taken anything with him, not even the razor. We all agreed that it was a classy move.

—

With Gav gone, there would be someone sleeping alone, and therefore another person would be gone in the morning.

Sometimes people were banished in twos, but generally viewers liked when the residents voted for one person to be banished, which meant that the rest of the day was fraught with tension about who would be left to sleep on their own.

Once again there was a surplus girl, and we were left on the back foot.

We all shuffled around the compound for a bit, until Mia spoke decisively.

“Let’s go for a swim,” she said. “We need to cool off.”

When we were changing into our swimming suits, I looked at my screen.

Task: Talk toSam

Reward: Necklace

I paused, rereading it. It was strangely simple, and I wondered why it had come about.

The instructions were occasionally random, but occasionally deliberate.

Sometimes they paid attention to what the viewers wanted, and sometimes it was malicious, an attempt to stir up drama.

I debated whether or not to do it as I fixed my hair and applied more sun cream.

I liked Sam. I wanted to talk to him. It was possible that I liked him maybe a little more than I should, and I didn’t want to get sucked into anything.

If I rocked the boat this early with Ryan I mightn’t get such a good opportunity again.

Vanessa walked into the dressing room, carrying some kind of gold fabric.

She stripped unhurriedly and put on the garment.

She turned slowly in the mirror, observing herself from different angles, watching us watching her.

It was very small, made of bronzes and golds, and shone as she moved.

My own bikini was blue with polka dots. Beside her, I looked pathetically childish.

“Where did you get that?” Mia asked.

“Task,” she said. “It’s from Trench and Co. It’s eye-catching, right?”

None of us had received clothes yet. I wondered what she had to do to getit.

Susie came in from the bedroom, placing clips in her hair. She looked at us sadly. “I always think I look pretty until I see the rest of you.”

“You look like Princess Leia,” Jacintha said to Vanessa.

She turned again, and we watched, mesmerized.

She didn’t praise it too much, like other people did when they were looking for a brand deal.

She just looked damn good in it. I could imagine all the people at home who would be reaching for their phones, searching Trench and Co.

I would have bought it too, if I was watching.

It was the best possible reward she could have gotten at this point, not just because it showed off her body, but because it was small and easy to carry for whenever she had to leave, and because people would associate her with the outfit, making it easier to land a brand deal when she left.

She scrunched her hair up by her ears. “Should I do the hair, do you think?”

“No,” Candice said. “Your hair is nicer down.”

Vanessa moved her hair around a bit, and then left.

Mia picked up her bronzer, then put it down again. “ Fuck, ” she said.

—

Some of the boys were in the pool, and some of them were scattered around the compound. When I got there, Vanessa was sitting on the edge of the pool, while Evan and Seb were treading water before her. Like Princess Leia herself, Vanessa’s stomach had no crease when she sat.

Mia, Candice, Jacintha, and I walked into the water and stood at the top of the pool for a moment, unsure of what to do.

The boys made no effort to come near us.

Mia waded deeper in, then did slow, methodical strokes for the length of the pool.

She had good technique. I thought that she must have had a lot of swimming lessons in her life.

Candice settled into the side of the pool, and put one arm on the edge, relaxed. She nodded at Jacintha. “Purple’s your color,” she said.

“Thanks,” Jacintha replied. “I like your hair today.”

“Oh, thanks. Look, I don’t know about you guys,” she said. “But I don’t trust Mia.”

Jacintha and I glanced at each other. “Why?” I said.

“I think she’s two-faced. You don’t think so?”

Mia was swimming back toward us. She paused when she got to Vanessa, Evan, and Seb. “Hey, guys,” she said. “Want to race? I’m really fast.”

Evan said, “I’m really fast, too!”

“Seb?” Mia said.

“Sure,” he said.

“Vanessa?”

“No, thanks. I don’t want to get my hair wet.”

“No problem. You can be the judge.”

As they set off on their race, Candice gave Jacintha and me a significant look. “See?”

Jacintha said, “Nothing wrong with that, really.”

Candice shook her head. “She only pretends to be friendly.” She looked at me. “You know that on the second day she was saying that there was something shady about you?”

“What’s shady about me?”

“Nothing. She’s just being mean. But then she’ll be sweet to your face.

” I wondered if Mia actually did think that I was trouble, or if she was threatened by me.

I knew that she felt inferior to Candice—we all did—but she knew better than to make trouble with her.

I supposed I was an easier target, passive as I was.

If I was Candice, I would have swum straight toward her and asked her what she meant by talking about me behind my back.

But I didn’t say anything. I just watched them, along with Candice and Jacintha.

I wondered if the viewers would say that I was gormless, or wise to not rise to the bait.

They had almost finished the length. Evan was a little behind, but Seb and Mia were neck and neck.

“Hey, I hope I’m wrong,” Candice said. “It’s just a feeling I have.”

—

I found Sam in the living room, sitting on the couch with Carlos. When I took a seat, Carlos glanced between us and got up, saying he wanted to go for a swim.

The living room had windows with no blinds, and the room was warm, but not enough to be uncomfortable.

I sat so I was facing him, my legs propped against cushions of the couch.

He was sitting on the couch, and though his legs were stretched before him it was big enough that our legs were close, but not touching.

“Just us,” I said.

“Just us,” he said.

“How’s Becca today?”

“Fine, mostly. She was rattled by the challenge yesterday, and by Tom. The fact that a couple of people voted for her earlier didn’t help, either.”

“I didn’t vote for her,” I said.

“I didn’t think you did. People think that she’s weak, but they don’t know her.”

“I mean,” I said, hating the way my voice sounded, high and slow. “You don’t really know her either.”

“You’re probably right. I keep thinking that I know people in here, and then I remember that I don’t know where they’re from or if they’re a twin, or an only child, or even what their job is. It’s strange, not being able to talk properly.”

“We can talk properly,” I said. “You can’t tell me about your personal life, but I bet I could guess a few things.”

“You think?”

“I bet I can guess what your job is,” I said. “You don’t have to say anything. I’ll tell by your reaction if I’m right.”

“Go ahead.”

“Vet.”

He said nothing, but he was smiling a little, as though I was doing something cute.

I tucked my legs under me. Although I was enjoying myself, enjoying sitting next to him and speaking easily to him, I paused for a moment, listening, as though I might hear the voice warning us about breaking the rules.

But there was no sound except for that of distant conversations.

As long as he didn’t directly speak about his personal life we were fine.

I couldn’t pretend that walking the line of rule-breaking didn’t add to the overall enjoyment of the conversation.

“Contractor.” I was met with silence. “Dentist. Therapist.” He put his arm on the back of the couch, so his hand was an inch or two from my head.

“Software engineer. Solicitor. This is boring. Am I close?”

“No, not at all.”

“Gardener.”

He shook his head, smiling. “But that sounds nice.”

“Do you really like Becca, then?”

I looked at him and he looked back at me, his gaze steady. “Becca’s nice. I like her, yeah.”

“Yeah, I like her, too. She’s great.”

“What?” he said, his mouth curling at the side.

“What?” I said, smiling, too, though I didn’t know why.

“Why were you making that face?”

“I wasn’t making any face!”

“Okay,” he said. “Where’s Ryan?”

“The gym, I think. He got a dumbbell this morning,” I said.

“You don’t want to watch him work out?” he said, grinning now.

“Shut up,” I said, and pushed his leg. It didn’t move. “I’m not, like, married to him. I hardly know him. Actually,” I said, reckless, giddy, “I kind of thought that you might have offered to share a bed with me that first night. I thought that we got on well.”