Not long after the challenge, many of the contestants were choosing to get themselves new clothing or just getting souvenirs.
One of the busiest groups while shopping was the Last Resorts and Hope. Tamera was leading the small girl around while Bonnie carried a mountain of bags. "I-Is all of that clothing enough?" Hope murmured while looking back at Bonnie.
"You need new clothes" Tamera crossed her arms "I mean just look at that trash you're wearing. Just because you act like trash doesn't mean you have to look like it"
Hope frowned sadly before nodding "T-That makes sense yea…"
"Good. Now" Tamera put a hand on her shoulder "you can go get changed into one of your better clothes before trying out your new personality for Anne"
Hope nodded sadly while taking a few of the bags from Bonnie and walking towards one of the changing rooms.
"So… why are you buying her clothes?" Bonnie asked, still standing behind a mountain of boxes.
Tamera rolled her eyes "Of course, you wouldn't get this. Your brain only has one function and it is to look at my ass"
"Just because that's true doesn't mean you have to point it out" Bonnie murmured.
The vixen just sighed "I'm inserting myself into every bit of drama I can" she points towards Hope who was currently changing "she's bound to ask for more romantic advice from me because she's just terrible at this relationship stuff. And then those two" she points to Joshua on his knees trying to get Hannah's attention as she ignored him. "I told Joshua he was being a male wife and now I can swoop back in to make his whale of a girlfriend reconsider him for some blackmail. After all, I'm a confident black woman, there's not a way in hell that chick would turn me down. And the dweeb would be forever in my debt"
"You're so smart" Bonnie gushed with a lewd smile on her face "You're really the whole package"
"I know that much" Tamera frowned "Keep an eye out for any developments I can take advantage of. By the halfway point I want every situation to be spiraling around me" she smirked confidently.
Bonnie suddenly dropped all of their packages onto the floor, letting clothes drop all around her. "Oh kiss me! Your confidence always gets me so excited!" Bonnie exclaimed before jumping at her.
"I'm getting real tired by your attempts Gremlin!" Tamera growled as she tried pushing the redhead away.
"If you gave me one go I wouldn't be needing attempts anymore" Bonnie smiled excitedly as she licked her lips. "You've been promising for so long I think I should be able to check in my good girl points now"
Tamera just growled in annoyance as the mall security came towards them to grab Bonnie by her arms "Hey, wait I'm competing with these guys" Bonnie squirmed and tried getting out of their arms as they started dragging her away "Good riddance"
Meanwhile, in the changing room, Hope had changed into the first of her new clothing. She frowned while looking at herself in the mirror. She was literally just wearing a smaller version of what Tamera usually wore.
"I don't know if this clothing is really for me…" Hope murmured while pulling on the shirt. It showed off a lot more chest than Hope had hoped.
Suddenly she could hear her phone buzz in her clothing on the ground. She could only gulp nervously as she reached down to her phone, seeing her boss had texted her.
She whimpered softly before opening her messages. Her boss had messaged her with "If you're not busy I need you for something"
Hope whimpered slightly as she slowly started messaging him back.
It cuts to outside the changing room, Anne was using a unicycle she found lying around to juggle some gilded Chrises around in her hands.
Hope would eventually walk out behind her. She was moping sadly, wearing her usual attire as she slouched. She looked down at the ground, not wanting to look at anything as she murmured sadly to herself.
"What's your problem?" Tamera frowned down at her.
"I-I'm just not in the spirits for being mean to Anne…." Hope murmured.
"So you just want her to ignore you?" Tamera stood above her, looking down at her with a stern look "If you have a thing for that cringy clown your current plan of being all 'buddy-buddy' obviously isn't working"
"C-Can I a-a-at least just t-t-try some more? G-Give me one more challenge before I t-try your idea"
Tamera frowned at her "Fine. But don't expect me to be as willing to help you next time around. I gave you everything you needed to succeed and you spit in my face. So don't take it personally when I ignore you"
Hope whimpered "p-please, I just n-need one more chance, please. I-I appreciate y-your help I swear"
Tamera's glare down at her slowly formed into a smirk "Ok, maybe out of the kindness of my heart I'll ask one deep dark secret of yours in return for my expertise"
Hope frowned "w-w-what kind of secret?" Hope whispered nervously.
"Your most interesting one" she put her hands on her hips "I'll expect it before the end of the next trek or else consider this whole deal over with"
"Y-Y-Yes m-ma'am" Hope whimpered before quietly scampering away from her.
Tamera just smirked confidently to herself "of course things are just going to keep getting easier and easier" she flipped her hair with her hands before deciding to go shopping for herself.
While that serious drama was going on, three of the competitors were nowhere to be seen. Those three are the Turtle School duo and Sophie. Bea was quietly sitting down on one of the mall's benches. She looked a little worried by their absence for so long but was trying to not be too worried about her granddaughter.
While she was trying to relax and not stress too much. Ninja looked like a nice innocent girl, even if she didn't trust Shiro she should keep things going fine. Before long Joshua slowly sat down next to her. He looked like he had been crying some as he just looked down at the ground.
Bea frowned seeing him look so down as she pats his shoulder "I don't mean to pry but are you doing ok Joshua?"
"No… not at all if I'm honest" Joshua glanced up at her "I feel like I just had my heart ripped out of my chest and I don't know what to do about it…"
Bea nods softly, giving him a knowing look "I know what it's like to suddenly lose the one you care most about Joshua, believe me, I do. But you shouldn't treat it as the end of the world. And if I'm honest… you should consider more of the positives"
"What's so positive about this?" He frowned at her "she's the most beautiful woman in the world. And she's just so sweet and helpful too"
Bea stared blankly at him "you were dating Hannah, yes?"
"Yea" Joshua nodded "S-she was the perfect woman and I let her slip through my hands because I was being bigoted"
He rested his face in his hands, he looked as miserable as a person could physically be.
Bea sighed softly before pulling him into a hug "breakups are hard Joshua, I know that. But Josh, she wasn't a good girlfriend" Bea raised his head so he can look at her "She honestly seemed to treat you like garbage she'd step over whenever I saw you two together. There are other fish in the sea, and with how sweet you are I would be surprised if you didn't find a girl worth your time"
Joshua still seemed down as he looked at her "D-Do you really think anyone besides Hannah w-would be into me?"
Bea smiled softly "I'm sure when you get back home after this season girls will be knocking down your doors"
He smiled softly "T-That helps a little… I'm still going to miss being with Hannah"
"That's totally understandable dear" the GILF gave him a small, quick squeeze before letting go of the hug "Move on at your own pace, everyone gets over relationships at their own pace."
Joshua smiled at her "Thanks, Bea. I think I needed someone to talk to about this… so this really helped"
"Of course" she smiled.
Joshua sat up, and for the first time in the race he actually seemed to start relaxing a little "Huh… maybe I was overreacting with the breakup. She's a strong woman, after all, I shouldn't get in her way with being independent"
Bea chuckled slightly "You got over that breakup rather fast"
Joshua chuckled slightly "W-Well it helps to put it into perspective. I hope we can still be friends at least"
"That's what every pair of exes hopes for" she mused.
Further away, while the two of them were having a good time together Rodney slouched sadly next to a fountain. He couldn't believe it. Adam was totally right. Bea and he were never dating. In fact, he was starting to believe he had never dated a single girl. Not Jazmine, Amy, Samey, or Scarlett.
But enough about that sad sack, back at the old lady after Joshua had gotten up, Shiro and Ninja came walking up to her. Both of them were smiling pretty excitedly at her.
"I… hope things went well" Bea spoke cautiously.
"You can see for yourself!" Ninja smiled under her scarf as they both moved aside to show Sophie wearing a kung-fu outfit.
"Do the thing" Shiro whispered to her.
"Oh, right" Shiro raised her hand up and got into a stereotypical karate pose. She took a step forward before kicking part of the metal bench Bea was sitting on. Sophie bit her lower lip, trying to keep herself from screaming in pain as she took a step back.
Bea looked at the bench to see she actually left a dent into the bench "Ok…" Bea started slowly "I can see you two know what you're doing when it comes to martial arts"
"I promise this is just the beginning" Shiro grinned "I, uh, can also promise I'm quite the lover" Shiro smirked at her.
Bea just chuckled softly "Right. Sure. I don't disbelieve that." She looked at Sophie who was quietly punching and kicking in the air as Ninja clapped encouragingly.
"So, Sophie, did you have fun learning about the arts?" Her grandmother asked with a soft smile.
"I had a lot of fun!" Sophie quickly nodded "Shiro-sensei says I can learn more martial arts when the season is over!"
Bea nods "Now, are you sure you want to get into this kind of thing, sweetie? I don't want you running headfirst into something and finding you don't like it very much"
The small girl shook her head "I never felt interested enough to read about the martial arts, but now I can totally get why people would be into this!" She does another punch into the air.
Bea chuckled softly "Well, as long as you enjoy it" she mused "How about you take a break from your training so we can get your mother some souvenirs?"
She just nodded to her grandmother before turning to Ninja and Shiro, bowing low to them in a respectful manner before following after Bea.
"Another happy student. I knew we'd get her in" Shiro smirked.
"I bet she'll be the coolest kid in her class when she learns how to kick a brick with her foot. I hope she doesn't use those powers for evil" Ninja murmured.
Shiro shrugged "what they use their gift for outside of class isn't our concern" he joked.
Ninja nodded "Shall we go talk to more people about joining our school?"
Shiro smirked and nodded "Sure, I think the women around her are used to creepy old men hitting on them so let's meet up back here around… 6 pm"
Ninja just saluted him before barrel rolling away from him and towards a group of teens, while Shiro just grinned perversely while running to a group of girls walking around together.
AN: Yea, honestly I don't have as much of a reason for why I focused in on doing a mini for this chapter, I just kinda felt like doing it and hey, I enjoyed it for the most part. Plus it works as a bday thing for Morbid so that's something. Next up in the race should be China so look forward to that.