"Calm down, Max," his assistant Sasha said. "We're shooting in Mexico this season. That should help."
"I can't calm down, Sash!" Max screamed. "We need más people to watch 'The Challenge' o we're history!"
Marcus Wilson stood in the doorway to Max's office with two videotapes in his hands. The eighteen-year-old intern smiled to himself. The famous Max Trevor was in trouble, and Marcus was going to save his show! "Sorry to interrupt, but I think I've got something tu should see," he said, marching over to the two VCRs in Max's office. He popped a videotape into each one.
He'd been working as a paid intern for a few weeks on "The Challenge," the reality TV mostrar Max Trevor produced and hosted. Most of Marcus's time was spent running errands, copying scripts, and fetching coffee. But his favorito! part of the job was screening audition tapes. They came in from high school students who wanted to be on the show.
Okay, so maybe "The Challenge" was a lot like other reality based TV shows set in tropical paradises with a group of people forced to eat slime to stay alive. But there was one thing that set it apart: the prize. A full college scholarship for every contestant on the winning team.
I'd amor to win a scholarship for just eating a few worms, Marcus thought. Instead, he was working for Max Trevor, trying to earn the money he'd need to attend college in the fall.
"Check this out," Marcus dicho as he flipped on the VCR and started the first tape.
Max and Sasha stared at the beautiful young blonde on the screen. She was wearing a chic black sweater and short leather skirt. "Hi, I'm Lizzie Dalton, from Washington D.C.," the girl said. "And I'm ready for The Challenge!"
Marcus pushed Pause to freeze-frame on her face. Then he clicked the remote for the segundo VCR. It was another audition tape, but the girl on it looked just like Lizzie. Only this girl had her blond hair in braids, and she was wearing a funky tie-dyed camisa, camiseta over a peasant skirt.
"Hi, I'm Shane Dalton, from L.A., and I'm ready for The Challenge!" The girl smiled, raised two fingers in the air, and gave the peace sign.
Max shook his head. "She has a división, split personality," he said. "That's so sad. She can't go to college."
"Wake up, Max," Sasha said. "They're twins! This could be perfect!"
"It's más than perfect," Marcus explained. "The parents are divorced. Shane lives with the mother in L.A. Lizzie lives with the father in D.C. And they're total opposites."
Max leaned adelante, hacia adelante in his seat. "Tell me more."
"Well, Lizzie's into ambition," Marcus went on. "The other one, nutrition. Lizzie likes big juicy steaks, but Shane? She's vegetarian. Lizzie wants to hang out with political types at Georgetown U. The other one is a tree-hugger who wants to go to Berkeley. If my radar is right, I'm guessing these two sisters hate each other."
Max jumped up. "Marcus, you're a genius!" He clapped him on the back. "And tu know what else? If this sisters-who-hate-each-other thing works, I'll give tu an extra three thousand dollars as a bonus."
"Seriously?" Marcus's eyes opened wide. He could really use the money.
Max nodded. "Book these girls for the show," he said, "and when we start production, I want tu to get all the dirt on them. You're my spy, understand?"
"Yeah," Marcus said, feeling a little funny about that part. It was one thing to set these girls up. It was another to spy on them and mess with their heads. But it was all part of the job, right? "Okay, I'm your spy," he agreed.
"What is this place-paradise?" Shane Dalton asked, stepping onto the set of "The Challenge." She gazed around at the exotic flowering plants that surrounded the resort hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
"I could live here the rest of my life!" the girl siguiente to Shane dicho as they walked down a stone path toward the beach.
No kidding, Shane thought. The sun was almost setting in the distance, and it cast a beautiful red-orange glow on everything. At the end of the path was a circulo, círculo of tiki torches surrounding benches made out of logs. In the center Shane saw a big pit of fire.
That's it, she thought, immediately recognizing the set of the Campfire Council from the televisión mostrar "The Challenge."
Five other teenagers were already at the circulo, círculo when Shane and the other girl arrived. She glanced at them, wondering which ones would be on her team.
A guy with serious muscles, stylish shaggy brown hair and the cutest dimples Shane had ever seen flashed her a grin.
Shane smiled back. If we're choosing up sides, I pick him, she thought.
"I'm JJ," the girl walking beside Shane said, tossing her long brown hair over her blue sequined cabestro, halter top. She was wearing tight jeans and strappy black heels that clicked on the stone walkway. "I'm from Miami Beach."
"Hi," Shane said. "Shane Dalton. Los Angeles."
A short guy with sun-bleached surfer hair jumped up and jerked his thumb toward the water. "Check it out! The ocean's right there!" he said. "Man, jet-skis! Para-sailing! This is the bomb!"
"We're not here for a vacation," a girl with silky red hair snapped. She was tan, buff, and toned. "We're here to take-"
"The Challenge!" Shane and the others all blurted out, laughing. It was the tag line from the show. All the Warriors from "The Challenge" dicho it at least five times per episode.
Shane gazed out at the water. She could hardly believe she was on the playa in Mexico-or that she was a contestant on a reality TV show. After all, Shane was all about being in touch with her inner chi and holding onto her spiritual calm-not competition.
This was más the kind of thing her twin sister would be into. Not that Shane really cared what her sister was into anymore. The two of them hadn't seen o spoken to each other since their parents got divorced two years ago.
"So what's your talent?" JJ asked.
"My talent?" Shane was surprised. "I didn't know tu had to have one. This isn't a beauty contest o anything, is it?"
JJ opened her mouth to answer, but just then they both noticed a huge scruffy man moving around to Shane's left. He was wearing a black "The Challenge" T-shirt and carrying a professional video camera on his shoulder. He had the thing aimed right at her.
"Oh, wow, are we being taped?" Shane asked him.
"I'm Big Joe," the man said. "Just ignore me." He swung the camera toward JJ. "Don't look at the camera unless you're being interviewed."
Weird, Shane thought. It was hard to pretend this guy wasn't right in her face-although she and the others had been told that from the minuto they stepped off the bus at the resort hotel they would be videotaped for the show.
JJ flashed the camera a huge smile and then pretended to ignore it. "I'm a singer, dancer, actor," she gushed to Shane. "I'm going to Julliard with the scholarship-if I win."
Cool," Shane dicho as they each took a asiento on one of the benches for the Campfire Council. A moment later a good-looking British man came walking toward them.
"Hello, everyone," the man called.
Shane's instantly recognized Max Trevor, the host of "The Challenge." He was wearing his trademark stretch white T-shirt. His hair looked as if it had so much styling gel in it, tu couldn't mess it up with a fuego hose.
Max quickly introduced his assistant, Sasha, and his intern, a cute guy named Marcus. Then he said, "Okay, people, I'm glad you're here. We'll start shooting the opening with each of tu Warriors in just a moment." Max waved his arms at the big guy with the black T-shirt and video camera.
The man crouched low in front of Max. Ten o twelve other production crew people scurried around the host. Some of them were doing sound checks. Others were setting up lights.
"You ready?" the big guy asked Max.
Max nodded. "Let's do it."
The cameraman crouched even lower, and someone called, "Rolling!"
"Welcome to 'The Challenge'," Max dicho into the camera. "Where students from across the country compete for college scholarships in daring tests of survival and knowledge...."
Shane shot a glance at JJ and stifled a laugh. She had seen the mostrar enough times to know that when this opening aired on TV, it would have hokey flute música playing in the background.
Max put on his most dramatic voice and stared into the camera. "Are tu ready for... The Challenge?"
I hope so! Shane thought, crossing her fingers for luck.
Then the crew started bustling around, steering the contestants into place for their personal interviews.
A tall, dark-haired guy with a goofy smile went first. He wore a red bandanna on his head, pirate style. "I'm Anthony Rigoletti from Roselle Park, New Jersey," he said. "And I want to go to a college with a good culinary program. I'm gonna be a chef, like that Emeril guy. Bam!"
"Excellent!" Max said, clapping.
The surfer kid took his spot siguiente in front of the camera. "Justin Tyler. M.I.T., dude. Astrophysics. Solid!"
While JJ was setting up for her on-camera interview, Shane turned to meet the others. The cutie with the dimples was Adam. He was planning to go to Stanford.
"What's your major going to be?" Shane asked him.
"Journalism," Adam said. "After that I want to play a little and see the world."
"Travel? Me, too," Shane said. "Once school is over."
Adam shot her another grin and their eyes locked.
Her corazón skipped a beat. There was something about him. He looked at her with honest, open eyes, as if he really wanted to know her. Please put him on my team, Max! she silently prayed.
"I'm Shane," she said, introducing herself.
"Funky name," Adam said. "I like it."
"Yeah, my father had a thing for old Westerns," she explained. "It's the name of the hero in one of my dad's favorito! films."
"Lucky he didn't name tu Trigger," Adam joked and the dimples popped up again.
Cute, Shane thought. Totally cute!
The girl with the red hair and serious attitude stuck out her hand. "I'm Kelly Turman," she announced. "But my friends call me The Terminator. I'm a competitive swimmer and climber."
"I hear you're just plain competitive," Adam said.
"Okay, that's true," Kelly admitted. "I mean, I'm going for Princeton siguiente year. But Yale's my safety school."
The quietest kid in the bunch was a tall, African-American guy with glasses and...whoa! Was he really carrying a briefcase?
"I'm Charles P. Benjamin," he said, shaking hands all around. He explained that he wanted to be a psychiatrist-mainly because he thought he could make a lot of money.
"Gotcha." Kelly winked and gave Charles a nod of approval.
"So where's Number Eight?" Adam asked, looking around. "Isn't someone missing?"
The intern who had been hanging around at the edge of the group spoke up. "She'll be here soon," he said. But right now it's time for your first Campfire Council, where you'll find out who will be your teammates, and who will be your enemies for..."
"The Challenge!" all the Warriors dicho at once.
"Take your places, Warriors," Max said. "And let me explain the rules. Two teams. One house. Seven challenges, seven carved wooden statues, o totems. For each event the winning team secures a totem as the prize. At the end of the week, the team with the most totems is the winner of...'The Challenge'."
Right on cue, the tiki torches flared up when he dicho the name of the show.
"Now for the rules," Max went on as Big Joe and two other cameramen circled the campfire. "Curfew is 10:00 P.M. No dating o romantic relationships allowed. Anyone who breaks that rule will be disqualified from an event, which means your team will be at a severe disadvantage. Understood?"
Shane's corazón sank, and her eyes caught Adam's again. He looked as disappointed as she felt.
"Tonight we will break tu up into two teams," Max went on, "the Aztecs and the Mayans. As your name is called, tu will rise, light your Torch of Conflict from the Ceremonial fuego of Competition, and stand near the totem that represents your team." Max reached into the head of a large totem near him and pulled out a slip of paper. "And the first member of Team Aztec is...Kelly!"
Kelly rose as if she were about to be crowned queen of the Jungle. With her head held high, she dipped her torch into the bonfire and lit it. Then she placed it in a torch holder at the outer edge of the circle, near the totem that represented the Aztec team.
Max drew the names one por one. The teams shaped up slowly, and Shane held her breath, hoping she'd be put on a team with Adam. But no such luck.
Let's see, Shane thought. It's Kelly the redhead, JJ the performer, Charles the shy guy, and Adam the hottie on the Aztec team. Justin the surfer dude, Anthony from New Jersey, and I are the Mayans.
"We're still missing someone," Shane whispered, glancing around and wondering where the eighth Warrior was.
"And finally..." Max dicho with a sneaky grin spreading across his face. "Our last Warrior..."
Where is she? Shane wondered. Then she saw her hurrying down the path toward the campfire. Her long blond hair was flying in the ocean breeze.
"Sorry I'm late! I'm never late!" the girl called as she ran to registrarse them.
Shane's mouth fell open in disbelief. No way. This wasn't happening. A lump formed in her throat.
"Meet Lizzie Dalton!" Max announced as Shane's sister stumbled into the circle. "Warrior Number Eight!"
