"Cheryl!" Gracie yelled, avoiding the belting of the roses and the nips of pain from the thorns, "Cheryl! Give me the crown!"
How could she be so stupid! Morningside's bomb was gonna blow her to shit!
"No! No! Get your own!!" Cheryl screamed back. She hit Gracie back with the flowers, without a single red petal remaining, then walked forward as Stan continued to announce.
No. No goddamn way…
Gracie ran forward and yanked the crown from Cheryl's hair.
Finally…
She looked for the little device, somewhere on the crown… Mary Jo grabbed her wrists.
"Gracie, goddammit, it's Cheryl's!"
"No, you don't understand!"
"Give the damn thing back!"
They were both yelling at the same time, yanking back and forth. That thing could go off at anytime… Gracie's fist knocked Miss Texas backwards into the crowd, arms flailing.
She frantically searched again for Morningside's little contraption. The sounds all around her, audience members and fellow contestants shrieking in disbelief, a wailing Cheryl, a Texas drawl vowing revenge and the forcing of someone to pay for a nose job, Stan still rambling on, all melted into a mix of yells and cries.
Aha! The little black box was on the inside of the crown, tucked behind some diamonds. Where was the off switch??
Eric looked out from behind Styrofoam Lady Liberty, hodling Frank down. The remote had fallen down at least twelve feet, hopefully it had broken or was buried under confetti. He saw Gracie take out the redhead and clutch the shiny crown. Blonde movement caught his eye, and he looked just below the staircase to see Morningside's head, holing a little black remo-
"GRACIE!!!" He yelled.
She looked back at him just as the tiara beeped.
