Chapter Seven

"Tommy? Why was he in here?" Sadie asked not attempting to hide her curiosity, or her disappointment of having missed him. Jude whipped her head around in Sadie's direction, her eyes widening in shock before settling back to normal.

"Oh, um nothing he was just wondering where you were and I told him that you were out shopping with Rachel," she lied. Sadie's face lit up.

"Oh, I should go talk to him then, if he was looking for me," she replied with a smile, already heading out the door.

"No! Um, I mean he said it wasn't important and that he would just see you later. You don't want to come on as clingy, Sadie. That's the last thing a guy like him wants, another girl obsessed with him."

"I don't think he minds it all that much coming from me," she smirked, causing Jude to roll her eyes. Oh come on...

"Yeah. Hey look Haley wanted to talk to me about something so I'm going to go hang out with her a little bit. I probably won't be in till later on."

"Mmk, have fun. I'm probably just going to go through my outfits one more time before seeing Tommy," Sadie answered before turning back into her own room.

Jude breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped out and walked down the hallway to Haley's room. When Haley opened the door Jude strode past her into the room.

"Oh my god, Haley I can't take this. Sadie is being impossible!"

"Wait did she find out?!"

"No! She just goes on and on about how she's going to win and how much she thinks Tommy likes her," she finished, crossing her arms over her chest. Haley just laughed.

"Jealous much? Man, that guy can sure act," Haley responded.

"You got that right. I mean I told him that we can make things work, but when this show starts in two days I don't know if I can take 19 other girls and Sadie all dating him. It's easy for him because hey, he gets me AND 20 other girls."

"Jude, you know he's really not like that. I know you just met him last week, but even I know he's not in this for the girls, I mean he barely even talks to some of them. But I haven't seen him look at anyone like he looks at you."

"See how can you tell? I can't tell for sure sometimes if it's an act, or for real."

"Well all I know is that when I talked to him earlier, he was completely mesmerized by you on the TV," she said laughing. Jude couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"Ugh, this is just so confusing. If I keep rationalizing like this my life is going to be hell the next few weeks."

"That's why I say screw it and go with impulse!" she said laughing. Jude smiled and shook her head, turning away. Laughing shortly to herself she faced Haley once again.

"You know what? You're right. This is my vacation and I'm determined to relax, no matter what. Hey do you know what our meeting is supposed to be about tonight?"

"I think I overheard one of the producers talking about it. I didn't hear that much, but from what I could hear, there was a certain reason as to why the contestants brought guests onto the show."

"Yeah, because normally shows don't do anything like this."

"Then again, shows don't normally have Tom Quincy on it, so there has to be some scandal or catch to this."

"Tom Quincy- playboy, boybander, bachelor. What possibly could they add to that?"

"It's a mystery to all of us."

Later on that night…

At about 10:30 Haley and Jude made their way down to the ballroom on the other side of the mansion. A few tables and chairs were set up in the middle of the floor and one of the producers sat ruffling papers off to the side. When they entered there was only a few other girls in the room besides them. They quickly spotted someone they knew at one of the tables at the back and joined her.

"Hey Anna. Do you have any idea what this meeting is about?" Jude asked sitting down in a chair.

"None whatsoever. All I know is that it was a secret and that's it."

"More like a mystery," Haley added. More girls were filing in the room, taking seats at the different tables and whispering to one another what they thought was going to happen. The wait was over when Jeff, the lone producer standing in front, called everybody to his attention.

"Hello ladies, thank you all for coming down here tonight. I'm going to try to make this meeting as quick as possible so you can get back to your night. Ok first off, as you may have suspected, there is a special reason why you girls were invited to the mansion. We never do this, so feel lucky," he gave a short laugh. "But you girls also have a job to do. After there are only ten girls left, you ladies will come in as contestants on the show," he started but was interrupted by loud whispers from everybody. Jude's eyes shot open as Haley looked at Jude in equal shock.

"Are you serious?! I don't want to be on the show!" Jude shouted.

"And you think I do! My sister would kill me!"

"Your sister? Think of mine…"

Jeff waited till everyone was quiet again until he spoke. "What I meant to say was that everyone else, including the girls upstairs and our very own Quincy, will think you are. But really you're just distractions. You are not able to win this contest I will say that flat out. However, when it's time for Tom to choose, if he chooses you then you win a million dollars, and he leaves with nothing. However, if he chooses a girl that was originally on the show, you guys leave with nothing. I know you girls don't want to run against your own friends who brought you here, but would it be worth giving up a million dollars? Especially when a relationship with Tom probably wouldn't last long anyway," he scoffed.

Jude and Haley both looked at each other sharing an uncertain glance as Jeff continued, "But as of right now you ladies have no choice. You came here willingly, so this is not an option. When you all signed the liability release, you also gave us permission to use you on the show as we see fit. If you are terrified of having to be on the show…you better hope that your friend or sister doesn't make it into the top 10. That's all there is to it. Oh and one more thing before I let you guys leave. You cannot tell ANYBODY about the twist in this show. If you do, or if you decide to leave, you will get a nasty lawsuit tied with it so I suggest you just play along," he gave in harsh warning before turning a complete 180, "have a good night everyone!"

All of the girls were excited and talking on the way out about wanting to be on the show and finally getting their chance with Tom. All but two that is. Jude and Haley were the last ones to leave, and let's just say they were definitely not as enthused as the other girls.

"I do not want to be on the show Haley! That's not why I came here. I came to get away from everything and relax, not join Sadie in her quest for 'love'," Jude air-quoted. "Not to mention my sister would flip, Tommy would…well he would probably be happy. Until he finds out we can't win. But I probably wouldn't even get that far."

"Jude, this is not good. And what are you talking about! If he could he would leave the show right now and date you, let alone not pick you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean he has 20 other freaking girls to date and he wants to be with you even though you're not one of those 20. Can you imagine what would happen if he found out that he didn't have to hide the fact that he likes you from everyone?" Jude paused and looked at Haley in contemplation before nodding her head.

"You have a point, and I can't say I like it. I really hope Sadie does not make it in the top 10." Haley gave a slight laugh. "I mean I don't mind having to date him, but I'm not competing for him, no matter how much I would get paid. I'm not desperate. Plus, I don't need this show to make money or get famous. I can accomplish that through my music."

Haley nodded in agreement. "You know I'm kind of surprised. When you came here you had that 'screw Tommy' attitude that you despised him. And now that you've got the chance, you're shying away from it. I mean I know you guys are sort of together now, but it's not like you've had this amazing revelation or anything. He's still a player, and I know you would love to see the look on Sadie's face when she found out you were competing against her. That itself would be an awesome Kodak moment."

Jude laughed tilting her head back. "I agree. When Sadie gets pissed, she gets pissed." Jude stopped in the middle of the hallway as they were just about to enter the main foyer, going over in her mind what Haley had just been saying. Despite herself, she did realize that Haley, once again, had a major point. When did her feelings about Tommy change so much that she would actually want to give up an opportunity to screw him over? After thinking about it, it kind of seemed pathetic and naive. In one week, one week, she was willing to have a relationship with him. Damn, he's good…Jude thought.

However, even revenge didn't seem appealing to her. Maybe it was because she didn't know what she was getting revenge for. He never did anything to her, per say, just other women. Looking back, that was probably what set her off the most about him. The other women, the many other women. Sighing frustratingly she decided to side-step Haley's observation. Jude needed to figure that one out on her own time.

"This is going to end badly, I can already tell. No matter what, someone gets hurt. If I go on the show, Sadie gets hurt. If I win, Sadie and Tommy get hurt when I say I'm taking the million dollars. I can tell Tommy that I don't want to be with him and he'll get hurt, although I can't really go from hating him off-screen to loving him on camera without him not seeing anything wrong."

"This is just too much for one night." Jude didn't hear Haley and continued on her rant.

"I have to make him think I don't like him. That's the only way," she said in deep thought.

"Yeah and how's that going to work, you just said he'll see a difference," Haley pointed out. Jude sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, but if I do it now, that'll at least buy some time to let him believe it. We have at least 3 maybe 4 weeks before there's a top 10, if I ignore him that long maybe he'll give up and send Sadie home, and me with her."

"That's crazy, it will never work. I bet you 20 bucks he won't let you ignore him."

"He doesn't have to let me. He'll be preoccupied with the show, and I'm going to be starting to perform at clubs tomorrow night. I'm taking that bet," Jude said smirking.

"Sweet, I just got 20 bucks."

"Yeah well if you win this contest you'll get a million."

"Nope, you heard what Jeff said. No winners, although I don't see how getting a million dollars isn't winning…" Haley replied smiling.

"Beats me," Jude said before bringing a hand to her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing," she said sarcastically, "I just kissed the one guy I thought I absolutely hated, started a behind the scenes relationship with a guy my sister and 19 other girls are going to be dating, and now I have to make him think I don't want him, all while secretly vandalizing my sister's dreams." Haley nodded her head.

"Yup, you've got a problem."

"Thanks because I would've never figured that out," Jude spat frustrated. Haley turned toward her excitedly.

"Hey, what you need is a girl's night out. Let's go out to Rage tonight, there's supposed to be a good band playing."

"I don't know, I'm not really in the mood to go to a club."

"Oh what else are you going to do? Sit around and worry? Come on, we haven't gone out of this mansion since we got here."

"Sorry, I don't really feel like getting harassed by people who want my autograph tonight; although it could help, I just need to get out of this place…"

"That's it! We're going. Go put on something hot and I'll meet you down in the main hallway in a half hour," Haley insisted.

"Fine, have it your way. But when we get back, I can't keep ignoring this," she said walking down the hall towards their rooms.

"Sure you can. Technically you're not officially with Tommy. Just tell him that you're really not attracted to him."

"Yeah, like that would ever work…"

"Ok then um, tell him you could never be involved with a playboy who can't sing a note and would probably just cheat on you anyways," she said joking. All of a sudden Jude's eyes lit up.

"Now that actually might work. One blow to his ego and he'll forget about me in a snap," she said standing by her door. What they didn't see was Tommy coming around the corner.

He stopped just out of sight when he heard Jude's voice. Curiosity got the better of him and told him to not let them see him just yet.

"Whatever works. Remember, half an hour and we're going to club Rage. This is going to be a night you'll never forget!"

Haley and Jude both went into their separate rooms to get ready for the night. Tommy came out from the corner with a smirk on his face. Time for some fun…he thought while turning back to his room to get ready to go clubbing at Rage.

A/N: Thank you everybody for all the comments!! I really appreciate them and keep them coming..hope you're enjoying the story!