- Chapter Eighty-Two -

She Makes Mistakes Too

Stewing in the miserable consequence of her own self-made dilemma, the heiress could only sit by and watch as Sam strolled off to speak with his niece. Pity party in full effect, it seemed like the kind of thing that she should have felt good for setting up, the kind of hallmark 'you did well, you good person you' moment that brought postcard happiness... yet she didn't feel any of that. Quite the opposite - the sleeper wanted a redo to unsay what had been said, or at the very least a moment to tell Sam that he should think of choosing her instead.

Because that was so great.

Unable to stomach this side of herself and even less capable of bearing to watch the scene unfold in Cassie's favor, in defeat Daniella turned back to the open sea to sulk. Sapphire lit gold, it was the ideal place to drown in melancholy. Forget about how disappointed her ancestors would be in her recent behavior, she was disgusted that she was turning into such an ogre. Obviously anyone would be annoyed and threatened in the younger girl's position, so how else could things have gone? Glad that no one else was presently sharing her warped head space, Dells stole a peek not at how things were progressing with Sam but at the hosts of tonight's festivities.

Elena was truly contented with her lot as she did her best to manage every possible little detail, and Mr. Drake - Nathan - was the picture of domestic satisfaction, grin unconsciously growing every time he caught sight of his wife and child. It wasn't her idea of having everything (that had yet to be written), but there was something admirable about it... Something that only compounded the guilt welling up in her belly.

Casting her eyes away just as quickly, the pampered princess tried to pretend that she hadn't witnessed the other side of happiness. The kind of happy that was born, lived, and died with another. Looking at it through them was a kind of lovely that couldn't be put into so many words, yet it was only through the two of them that it seemed... right? Not entirely sure how to phrase it, Daniella was touched by the simplistic beauty of the unity that Elena and her husband shared, but add in their daughter or compare it to what she might have with Sam...

"Ella?" Uncertain in the way one could get when they wanted to ask something but had no clue how to broach the subject, a disembodied voice called out to the would-be blonde. Sounding far away almost, as it wasn't really her name being used it took a moment to register the meaning of the lying letters.

Appearing out of nowhere next to the young Ella, Joey waved an impatient hand in front of her face when it seemed that words weren't breaking through to her. Acutely aware of the fact that Stella Rose was making a thorough note of his every move now that Cassie had officially selected a partner, the boy hoped against hope that the visiting teen would accept his proposal. Like, there really wasn't a reason to turn him down, but if she wasn't competing alongside Sam, maybe it was because she was just out of the race in general. After the volleyball game, it could go either way.

"Yo, earth to Ella!" Rapidly waving his hand so fast that it looked in genuine danger of flying off beneath the everyday leather braid he wore, Joey tried to reach the young woman once again.

"What?" Having some small experience with waking up out of dazes, the fairy book princess had much less when it came to playing it cool, speaking normally with people, and not looking like she had literally just been tased into the middle of a conversation. At least she wasn't drooling.

Brushing aside the judgment that his best friend's uncle had questionable taste in woman, Cutter lite decided to just get to the point, "Run with me?" Delivery not quite as smooth as what the older model was capable of, the proposed swap only made sense - plus it kept him away from Stella Rose. Seriously, boy-crazed birds were the worst, scariest thing in all the world, no two ways about it.

Boggled brain somehow immediately understanding what the kid was asking, Dells finally had to make herself look over at what she had done. Indeed, Sam and Cassie were already whispering conspiratorially together, as if they were cooking up some kind of elaborate scheme to take out all the other suckers. Forced to admit that she had screwed this one up (for herself, but hey, at least those two would probably have a good time), the heiress closed her eyes and sighed. Resigning herself to what was one of the objectively better options - as opposed to a smoker that may or may not have been dwindling at the edge of his prime - she figured that it was either say yes or sit this one out.

Legitimately tempted by that later option, the long-slumbering spirit of athleticism within was not going to have it - the match was fun, but with an actual course mapped out, this was on a familiar level to what she had known in her past life. The trappings of gold, silver, or even bronze may have been relative unknowns, however that never once had stopped the heiress from giving it her best shot!

Also...

"Wait, you mean you two...?" In the midst of a pre-victory lap that was probably meant to unnerve the competition, Cassie and Sam made their way through the shotgun spray of guests to stop just short of the unlikely twosome. Both looking less than amused by this announcement, where the thief was a speck annoyed, the bespectacled youth was downright fried.

Mildly irked below the surface, he didn't let it show, but the tatted tough guy was more than a touch bothered that his date - the very same one that he was supposed to be powering through to the finish line with - had turned around and agreed to swap partners. Maybe under a whole different context he might not have minded, but this... this was dirty. As for Cassie, the girl was peeved that she hadn't thought this thing through better.

Accounting for the disadvantage they'd be at due to the considerable difference in their heights, on paper selecting her uncle made it so that there was some mystery as to who would actually win. Whatever, she wasn't in this for first place: Cassie just wanted that faker to lose. In her head the natural blonde had assumed that 'Ella' would bow out if she couldn't sink her fangs into her intended victim, but she never imagined that the blood-sucking harpy would adapt and take the next best thing. In fairness, she totally should have seen it coming... Well, if there was any consolation to be found, it would be that 'Ella' would not only have a similar handicap, she would also have to cooperate with a virtual stranger as well.

Poser. Glasses gleaming, the girl glared at both the heiress her uncle was allegedly protecting and the sorry sod that was regrettably her best friend in the whole entire world.

So not going to miss the hostility radiating off of the child, Daniella frowned between the tweens. Careful to avoid looking at the partner that had brought her to the dance in the first place, her confirmation came out as more of a mumble, "I guess we are." Some absurd part of the girl still wishing that things weren't turning out this way, she finally looked up to Sam, speaking directly to him then, "Aren't we?"

Feeling that there was more to the question than there appeared to be, the man wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to say, especially when he took into account the audience. Kids were an impressionable lot, as he learned from his little brother, and Sam didn't even know what she was fully getting at.

"Oy, five minute warning!"

Irritated that one of the sly-handed pickpockets and charlatans in attendance had swiped her flask when she wasn't looking, Chloe was pulling double duty then. Getting all the rugrats and miscreants in order for the grande finale, she was also keeping her eyes peeled for signs of her personal property. And...

Across the universe, Nadine nodded along to the end of Victor's story, eyes on a traveling gift that had come from a trip to see the Aurora Borealis. Successfully scored from a distracted drunk that had dared to watch the kids on the shore for a whole minute, the younger Drake had only nicked it to keep things contained, but she would remember to have him return it. It was the least the former merc could do.

[Run, Run]

Each bound to another by odd bits and ends that had been discarded and re-assembled through the years, everyone stood at the starting line, gaze fixed on either the finish line or the old man laying down the rules. A few people were stretching in place, Noah had a bored look on his face while his twin chatted amicably with Jenn, and Joey was mentally mapping out the best possible route in his head. Kinda forgetting that he wasn't working with someone he knew, the boy didn't stop to think that he should communicate anything with his partner.

Shoulder-to-shoulder at the far end of the line, Sam and Daniella took a second before the race to share a brief exchange. Keeping it short, she basically wished him good luck, and he returned the sentiment in that particular Sam way, telling her with a sharp laugh to not trip. Finding that to be a fair enough statement, the truth was that they were both thinking they should have been doing this as a team.

Cassie was like Joey, keeping her eye on the prize now that it was standing there in front of her, begging to be plucked up. Her mom and dad weren't going to make this a crazy obstacle course, but she knew that they weren't going to just leave it be a walk on the beach either... No, she anticipated something more than just a couple of bends. Although, given that Miss-fragile-as-glass had already ruined enough during her short tenure on the island, there was a decent chance that her parents had put on the baby bumpers.

Thanks to the accident earlier, Georgie hadn't found anyone to race with; offended by their guest for stealing Joey, Stella Rose had refused to team up with anyone else. Both stood on the sidelines, watching with the select few that either had no interest or were just not in the shape to keep up with a bunch of tweens and thieves. Kimmy was standing next to Milo, laughing at something he had whispered just as the flag went up.

Off a bit of a rough start, it was the shorter leg that had made the first step, which was none too shocking given that the longer was busy making googly eyes. Children gagging and rolling their eyes in the back of their heads as they started off on the sandy path, it was safe to say that both had immediately regretted the dead weight. Joey hadn't had much of a choice in the matter admittedly, but he probably should have looked harder at the pool of potential candidates.

Well, not much that could be done about it now.

Jerking their larger (and older) counterparts into action, both Cassie and Joey only had to take a step or two before their teammates came to and joined the rest of the world. Once they were snapped into the present, both the thief and the heiress were off in pursuit of a tangible goal. Feet sliding atop the grain, limbs tangling every which way as their bodies wanted to take the lead, it was a mess right out the gate. Noah and Dylan had something of an advantage in that they were used to moving in tandem, however for them it was more about playing the game. Team JK was similarly minded, though not nearly as refined as a single soul that had been split into two lively entities at birth.

Stumbling more than once as the two strangers attempted to share a single mind, the first obstacle came just before the first curved twist-around, in the form of a doggo on the loose. Previously held back by Charlie until this moment, Vicky darted straight up to Joey. Leaping up into the boy-child with all the same love she felt for her girl, the golden blur knocked an already unsteady newcomer off her feet.

Less than amused to watch the boy she liked getting all tangled up beneath some bimbo's boobies, Stella Rose gasped loudly from the stands. Jostling against Georgie as she stood on tippy-toes for a better look, she puffed out her cheeks in a huff as the duo dissembled. Cursing that that hadn't been her, the brunette could at least take solace that it hand't been Cassie either.

And speaking of the birthday girl, the blonde smirked at the sight of her biggest threat eating dirt. Literally, the heiress was spitting up sand as she and Joey helped one another stand upright again. Definitely logging that one away in the memory banks, she was even more thrilled that there was only a split-second feeling of resistance coming from her running mate.

Picking up the pace, Cassie's smug personal victory was short-lived - not paying more attention to what laid ahead, both she and her uncle were caught on the ancient wooden blocks that had been scattered as a thing that needed to be evaded. Gigantic enough as to avoid serious injury and mostly unpainted, it was the bridge-shaped hunk of lumber that did it. Too late to swerve in time, the two went down hard.

With the unknown wild card and the shoe-in both facing major setbacks that went beyond an insane mix-up, it was honestly looking more and more like anyone's game. Seizing this unseen opportunity and running with it for as long as they possibly could, it was Dylan and Noah that had taken the lead. The others could almost touch them if they reached out their hands, and by this time Joey and Ella had managed to shake themselves of their canine cling-on. Cassie and Sam were quick to get off their asses and back into the fray, but by then their lead was no more.

Neck-and-neck by the time the final lap came around, Jenn had to quit to clutch the stitch in her side, and Kielo was just tired trying to keep up. More interested in artistic pursuits and less athletically inclined than his brother, Noah was starting to really feel the burn, but at the same time he was pushing himself to see if he really could do it. Dylan was keeping a close eye on his brother, and another three on all the others. It was a fair field, yet he felt that one could never be too safe.

Dying to prove that she could still pull this off even after that spectacular flub - and maybe in part to be able to rub it in everyone's faces if she so wished (not that she would) - Cassie clearly wanted this win. It was written plain as day across her face, even as they all chugged along to the end of the road together. For better or worse, the girl really did want this.

Vision fine enough to see that much, the stranger and the best friend managed to exchange a glance as they ducked around yet another brilliant pratfall that had been planned by the keepers. Wondering just how much it meant to the other that they were the ones to wear the sash and get that million dollar check, versus how much Cassie meant to them, the boy and the young woman came to an understanding.

In order to make it look like they were really trying, the heiress nodded at the boy to step wrong into the back of her heel. Foot coming in harder than she had imagined, as Dells took an actual dive into the hard ground (not all that far from the dock as fate would have it), she elbowed her neighbor by mistake. Landing against the natural barrier reef that protected that most enchanting of islands, she took in a hefty gulp before crashing into those knowing waters.

Looking out at the tiny pier for a hint of her green light, before making herself rise again for that silver, the heiress felt in her gut that she had made the right call.