The time of the party had arrived and all the former contestants had gathered at a hotel. Their stay was being paid for by the network. Once at the hotel, they started spreading word about their relationship. After a while, Heather and Harold went to see Leshawna.

"Hi Leshawna," Heather said.

"Don't you 'hi' me," Leshawna said. "I know you're only going out with Harold just to screw with me."

"That is so not what this is about," Harold said. "I am going out with Heather because I felt like being nice to her after I saw all her former friends turn against her. When we got to know each other, I could see that she wasn't pure evil like so many people believed: she's just a girl who's had some very misguided ideas about how the world works. But she has dealt with the consequences of that viewpoint and is ready to….,"

Harold was interrupted by Heather suddenly putting her mouth around his and beginning to make out with him. Harold's eyes widened in shock from the suddenness of Heather's act, but he then did as Heather and him had practiced earlier: he closed his eyes, relaxed and started joining in. They made out for about ten seconds and then separated.

"Sorry for interrupting you. You know how much I like it when you sweet talk me," Heather said dreamily.

"Oooooooooooooooookay," Leshawna said after they were done making out, very confused about what she just saw. She was starting to think that even if Heather was just going out with Harold to mess with her, the fact she was willing to kiss Harold like that meant… something, Leshawna just wasn't sure what yet.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Leshawna," Heather said, "but I am not dating Harold because my world revolves around you. And another thing: why is that you turn Harold down because you can't get past his geekiness whereas I don't see being with him as settling for less makes me the bad guy here?"

Leshawna opened her mouth but couldn't think of an answer, so she just stammered. "You don't have to answer right now," Heather said. "That's just something I'd like you to think about. One last thing: I just want to say that I'm sorry for all that stuff I did on the island."

"Apology not accepted," Leshawna said with a scowl. Heather's actions had confused her so far, but now she understood that it was just part of a rouse to get her to lower her guard.

"I see," Heather said and then turned to Harold. "Pay up."

Harold reached into his pocket, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to Heather. "What's that about?" Leshawna asked.

"Harold and I had a little argument earlier," Heather said. "He says that if I really am sorry about the stuff I did on the island, then I should apologize for it. I told him that apologizing would be pointless since people would much rather continue hating my guts than give me the benefit of the doubt about my sincerity. So he bet me twenty bucks to motivate me."

Leshawna was not feeling very proud of herself at the moment. Not only had she proven Heather right about how vindictive she was, but Heather had profited from it as well.

"Thanks for making me win the bet," Heather said without a hint of snark or snideness. "It's going to help offset the cost of this."

Heather reached into her pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Leshawna. Leshawna took the piece of paper and saw that it was a check made out to her for one hundred dollars. She looked at the memo field and saw the words 'I'm sorry' written.

"Bye," Heather said with a smile and a wave then she and Harold walked away.

"Hey," Leshawna said to get them to stop. "Stop…. don't….. you can't just," Leshawna stammered out as Heather and Harold continued to walk away.

Leshawna thought over what just happened. While a verbal apology from Heather was worthless, a written one on a check for one hundred dollars was worth more than just its cash value.

Oh boy, Leshawna thought as she rubbed her forehead. The simple matter of continuing to despise Heather for her past transgressions had just gotten more complicated.

…

Heather and Harold went to the room they were sharing to have some privacy. "Well that could have gone better," Harold said. "By the way: was it necessary for you to use your tongue when you kissed me?"

"Probably not," Heather answered. "But right now, Leshawna has a bad case of tunnel vision that keeps her from seeing any possibility for our being together than 'I'm using you', so I felt the need to be extra convincing."

"Also, don't worry about this little hiccup," Heather continued. "Once I wear down Leshawna's vindictiveness, everything will go according to plan. Trust me. And speaking of trust," Heather said as she took the twenty she won earlier and gave it back to Harold. "Thanks for playing along with that whole bet thing."

"No problem," Harold said. "And for what it's worth, I'm proud of you for trying to make amends for your past."

"Whatever," Heather said as she turned around to hide the slight blush on her cheeks.

…..

Heather talked to Lindsey, Beth and Justin and apologized for what she'd done to them on the show: using Lindsey and Beth as her lackeys and arranging Justin's elimination. Heather apologized and gave each of them a one hundred dollar check. Each of them accepted the check and Heather's apology. If they had anything bad to say about her and Harold, they kept it to themselves.

Heather came to Gwen, apologized and handed Gwen another one hundred dollar check. Once she had the check, Gwen promptly tore it up.

"You can't bribe me into forgiving you," Gwen said. Heather asked Harold to pay up, which he did. Then Heather explained the bet (or rather, its cover story) to Gwen. "Don't care," Gwen said in an annoyed tone. "That bet, like your bribe and your dating Harold, is obviously just a ploy."

Oh, she's good, Heather thought to herself. She's likely wrong about the goals of my ploys, but she is on the right track.

"I am not dating Harold as a ploy," Heather lied, and then kissed Harold for about ten seconds. "Though I can understand why you'd think that. Since you got together with a handsome but talentless musician, I can see how you'd have trouble understanding how it's possible to have feelings for a guy for reasons not involving looks."

Gwen's mouth stood agape in shock. "That is uncalled for Heather," Harold said. "I'm sure Gwen likes Trent for other reasons than his looks. Right Gwen?"

"Of course I do," Gwen said. An awkward silence fell over the three of them.

"Such as," Heather asked Gwen to elaborate.

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Gwen shouted.

"There's one last thing I want to say, Gwen," Heather said. "You hate me, right?"

"Of course."

"And part of that is that you don't think of me as human, similar to how I didn't think of you as human when we first met. And I know what I'm talking because I have experience on both sides of the equation with how easy it is to see someone as a non-human when you label them."

"What's your point?" Gwen asked in awkward tone.

"No point, just something I felt like saying," Heather said with a smile. Gwen walked away from the two of them.

"I didn't think it was a possible," Harold began, "but I think that went even worse than our meeting with Leshawna."

"Yeah, that definitely could have gone better," Heather said as she rubbed the back of her head. "I'm not too worried though. Gwen is going to have a tough time figuring out what my evil plan is."

"Because you don't have one," Harold pointed out.

"Exactly," Heather said. "Eventually, she will come to two possibilities: either I'm not as evil as she thinks I am, which she won't want to admit. Or that she can't figure out my plan because I'm smarter than her, which she really won't want to admit. I'm hoping she'll go with the 'I'm not so evil' possibility since it's more appealing."

…..

Author's notes: I know this has nothing to do with the story, but I just want to say Happy Thanksgiving to anyone reading this story.