"ALRIGHT LADIES and gentleman," jack got their attention. "each of you is going to have a partner, and you'll race another pair to see who can finish fastest."
many groans were heard from the girls around them. zach and olivia smirked at each other. they were so gonna be partners.
"the winners get a little something special: an automatic rose each at the end of tonight's cocktail party." that got everyone's attention. every girl (and zach) in the crowd wanted to be able to make is past another round. "okay everyone, find a partner!"
zach immediately felt olivia grab his hand. "we so got this," she smiled at him.
the chatter around the two died down as everyone got partnered up. however, there was an odd number of girls, and a shy girl named emma didn't have anyone to partner with.
"that means you're stuck with me," jack grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist. she smiled at him and nodded, letting him guide her elsewhere.
"oh, we so have to beat them," olivia had a look of determination in her eyes. over the short amount of time he knew her, zach found out that she was an extremely competitive person. it made sense that coming on a show like this would appeal to her.
"we'll beat them easily, we have chemistry," zach smiled, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"damn zach, maybe we should run away and get married instead of waiting around for jack," olivia giggled, knowing the camera crew was filming all of this.
zach shrugged. "i'm down."
❦
the course consisted of a lot of running and ten obstacles.
the partners would first have to help each other on top of multiple mounds of dirt, using any necessary tactics.
they would next have to run between the holes of three tires, before they would be able to get to their next obstacle.
there they would have to crawl through a pool of mud, while a new above prevented them from escaping.
directly after the mud crawl came the monkey bars.
and after the monkey bars came the plank walk. each partner would have to walk across a thin plank of wood, which was balanced over yet another pool of mud.
next, they would have to use a rope to climb over a wall, which the slippery mud made tricky.
after that, each pair would have to squeeze through two tires which were standing side by side.
when they got through the tires, they would have to run up a mud hill, trying not to fall.
at the top of the hill would be a rope, which they would swing off of to get across a pool of mud.
the final challenge before the finish line would be to run through an empty patch, where everyone else would have the opportunity to throw balls of mud at them, in an attempt to distract or sabotage them.
each team had their chance to go, and zach laughed at most of them. none of the girls were particularly fond of the mud or strenuous physical activity, but they all wanted the free pass through.
zach laughed at many of the contestants as he threw balls of mud at them, releasing any anger he still felt towards them from the previous night. and that's for mouthing out a disgusting slur at me, he thought, throwing a ball particularly hard at a girl named mia. he giggled again as it hit her in the thigh, momentarily decreasing her running speed.
as soon as she crossed the finish line, she stormed over to him. "what the hell was that?! i'm going to have a giant bruise on my leg!"
"i was just doing what i was told to do, honey," zach smirked at her, breaking out into a full smile as she huffed and walked away from him. his ears perked up as he heard his and liv's names called next.
the two walked side-by-side to the starting line, hyping each other up. actually, the conversation went a little more like this:
"okay liv, we totally got this."
"i know."
"you're gonna do great"
"i know." zach huffed and she rolled her eyes, "fine, you're gonna do amazing, now can we just go already?"
as soon as the whistle blew, they took off, dodging the obstacles nearly effortlessly. there were a few slip ups occasionally, but nothing to slow them down too much.
by the time the finish line came into view, zach was panting and tired, pushing himself to go even faster. he sprinted towards the final stretch, seeing jack smirk at him, mud ball in hand. he sighed heavily as he ran through the final grassy area, doing his best to avoid getting hit, before crossing the finish line. the boy looked to his left to see olivia crossing the line immediately after him.
"one minute, thirty-three point four seconds," he heard an assistant mumble to a guy with a clipboard.
"finally, jack and emma. you guys are up!"
❦
the final contestants began to race, and they worked extremely well together. emma and jack both grew up running track and field, so they had the stamina. everything was going smoothly, until the final stretch. zach threw a mud ball at jack, smirking as he got his revenge. in the corner of his eye, he saw emma fall. when she didn't get back up, zach grew concerned. jack crossed the finish line, grinning as zach ducked under the ropes and made his way over to emma.
"hey, what's up? what happened?" zach calmly asked, checking for any blood or bones sticking out where they shouldn't be.
"i thought i just rolled my ankle, but i also felt it pop so i don't know whether something worse happened," she explained, as he gently removed her shoe and sock.
"has something like this ever happened before?" he tenderly pressed around on her foot and ankle, studying her face for any signs of pain.
"maybe once when I was--ouch, that one hurt--ten or twelve?"
"can you try to move it up and down for me?" she complied. "good, try rolling it in a circle." she tried, shaking her head when it hurt too badly to move like that.
zach sighed and nodded, standing and helping the shorter girl, letting her use him as a brace. "her ankle is definitely sprained, i can't tell exactly how severe it is, so somebody will definitely need to take her to a walk in clinic or an urgent care centre to get it checked out."
two assistants came over, carefully supporting her weight and helping her walk away. zach turned away and rubbed his eye, catching jack staring at him with a smile. the curly haired boy shook his head in awe, turning away when someone approached him.
❦
zach collapsed on his bed, out of breath, until he realized he was still in a towel and that the cocktail party would be starting soon. after he realized that, he shot up and frantically hurried around his room, gathering the best outfit he could find. he ended up with black dress pants and a floral shirt, leaving the few top buttons undone.
the boy filled cole in on what had happened earlier that day while the older man fixed him up.
"he probably thought you were the sexiest man alive when you were assessing that girl's injuries," he snickered, brushing out zach's eyebrows.
zach rolled his eyes. "shut up, they literally didn't have any paramedics or even athletic trainers there. how stupid is that? i was just doing what was right, and what i would've wanted someone to do for me."
cole sighed, but nodded. "you're too nice, zachary."
"hey, don't full name me," zach whined, laughing when cole gave him a warning spritz of hairspray. "meanie."
❦
zach and olivia stood together in the corner. she scowled, watching charlotte hang out with her new friends.
"i don't know zach, i have a really bad feeling about this."
LMAO SO FUN FACT i literally wrote about emma's ankle injury, and then the next day i actually hurt my ankle at cheer:')
anyways olivia came up with like all the obstacles so yay thanks liv😚
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