Chapter ThreeHell Is a Best Friend Who Wants the TeaMy best friend, Cindy Kuo, may be just shy of five feet tall, but she’s got a tall personality. And the full force of that personality is being directed at my front door as she rings the doorbell over and over again. It’s been a scant twenty minutes since I texted her asking if she could apartment-sit for me, and she’s already here on my doorstep.
“Alice Chen, you bitch!” she says, spilling into my foyer when I open the door. She kicks off her shoes and tosses her scarf and coat on the nearest chair.
“Come on in,” I say to the empty hallway, closing the door. She throws herself on the couch and sets a cardboard tray of three boba drinks on the table. I grab the taro one. She has the decency to wait for me to take a sip before she starts in on me.
“You can’t just ask me to water your succulents while Chase
waters your succulents on
reality TV! I
demand compensation!”
“I’ll Venmo you,” I say. I take another sip, and oh, man, this hits the spot.
Cindy takes up her own drink—jasmine, half sweet, full ice, with extra honey boba, of course—and levels the stabby end of the straw at me. “I don’t want money. I want gossip! Details! Tell me
everything!”
“It’s not that interesting,” I protest.
“I thought I taught you better, Alice,” she says, a perfect parody of my mom. “Let’s start with the obvious question. Are you going to be naked on live TV?”
“No.”
“Is
Chase going to be naked on live TV?”
“God, I hope not!” I laugh.
“What are you packing? What are you wearing? When exactly do you leave?”
“I haven’t packed yet, but I’m making a list,” I say. “I’m tackling things one at a time. Like my plant babies. Can you take care of them for me?”
“I don’t know, can I?” Cindy asks and stabs her straw into her drink viciously.
“Okay, fine. I’m going on a show called
Dawn Tay’s Inferno. It’s a reality TV competition that tests the strength of a couple’s relationship. Chase and I will be a team, and we will be competing against other couples.”
“I get the picture. I think Tara wants to watch it?” Cindy whips out her phone, and I just know that she’s texting her girlfriend about the show. Still typing, she says, “And what brain transplant did you have to make you sign up for this?”
“The prize is one million dollars.”
Copyright © 2025 by Kara Loo and Jennifer Young. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
