Beauty Queens

“How do we know you didn’t steal that sash from the real Miss Colorado?” Miss New Mexico said.

“How do we know that tray in your head isn’t a recording device?” Nicole shot back.

“Nicole is no traitor,” Shanti growled. “Or are you going to profile me next?”

“Knew you’d have my back.” Nicole stood with Shanti.

“What’s she saying? Don’t leave me out!” Sosie yelled.

“I’m sorry. I feel really bad that I don’t speak deaf,” Tiara said.

Adina banged the baton against the nearest tree. “Okay, everybody. Cut it out. I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but do you know what Taylor would say right now if she weren’t off licking trees in the jungle? She’d say, ‘I am really disappointed in you, Teen Dreamers. We are supposed to be sisters. Sisters who love and trust one another, who work together until it’s clear that there is a favorite sister chosen to be the best and wear a pretty crown. So let’s cut the crap.’” Adina shrugged. “And then she’d probably make us pray and practice our circle-turns.”

“Whoa,” Petra said. “That was kinda scary.”

Mary Lou raised her hand and waited to be recognized. “I need to tell y’all something. There is somebody else on the island. A guy named Tane Ngata.”

“What?” Miss Montana said. “Have you been hitting the plant juice?”

“Listen! I didn’t know how to tell you this. He’s an eco-warrior and an ornithologist.”

Brittani gasped. “Ohmigosh. You’re into the freaky stuff, aren’t you?”

“An ornithologist is a bird-watcher,” Mary Lou explained.

Brittani recoiled. “That’s just sick.”

“If there is a guy on the island, why didn’t you tell us before?” Adina asked.

“I don’t know! Because I was scared. And then I wanted something that was all mine. And I just … I don’t know.” Mary Lou told them everything — about her nights with Tane, how special he was, about his theory that The Corporation had a secret compound on the island.

“Are you sure you didn’t just imagine it?” Nicole asked. “I mean, I’ve read about people getting kind of island-crazy after a while.”

“He’s real, I swear! We had awesome almost-sex,” Mary Lou insisted.

Petra put a hand on her shoulder. “Sweetie, sometimes I like to think that Heathcliff is waiting for me at Thrushcross Grange in tight breeches and leather boots. Doesn’t make it true.”

“Weren’t you wearing a purity ring when we got here? Aren’t you supposed to be saving yourself?” Shanti asked.

“Yeah,” Mary Lou answered. “And then I thought, for what? You save leftovers. My sex is not a leftover, and it is not a Christmas present.”

“See, now I don’t know whether to be all ‘Yay!’ because you’re empowered or sad because you’re having delusional almost-sex with an imaginary boyfriend,” Adina said.

“If you were my best friend, you’d trust me.”

Adina took a step back. She’d never been anybody’s best friend before.

“Okay, Mary Lou, I got your back. Show us.”

The girls trekked through the jungle over the path Mary Lou had traveled each night. They passed the waterfall and lagoon where she and Tane had gone swimming and she showed them the broken hammock trap where Tane had freed her when she was stuck.

“He held me by one hand!”

Finally, she reached the cove and the caves where Tane had held her sweetly, where he’d kissed her and helped her come to understand that there was no shame in her body or her desires. Tane’s boat was nowhere in sight. She didn’t see his lantern or bedroll. There wasn’t even evidence of a fire. It was as if he’d never existed.

“I don’t understand. He was here. This was his camp. He left his things because he was coming back.”

“Okaaay,” Shanti said. She widened her eyes at Petra, who nodded knowingly.

“I know you don’t believe me, but I’m telling the truth. Something must have happened to him. He would never just go off without telling me.”

“I get so mad when my imaginary boyfriend does that,” Miss Ohio snarked.

“Stop it!” Mary Lou growled.

“Okay, down, Cujo. Let me get this straight: You met some hot guy and your priority was getting down with him, not rescuing us?” Miss Ohio said.