A/N: I loathed how this chapter turned out, especially the one in Beijing. Maybe it's because it's my least favorite episode of RR, but eh... I was kind of lazy with this one. I assure you, the next chapter will be loads better.
Chapter 21- When Superstitions Take Hold (Superstition)
No matter how much she tried to hide it, Jacques knew when Josée was still mad at him. When Jacques woke up for the next day for the challenges up ahead, his partner did not greet him like she usually did. She rolled out of bed like she usually did, but she didn't want to talk to him. Jacques suspected that coming in fourth place had a lot to do with it. Not that he could blame her, of course - fourth place was absolutely revolting. Along with the fact that those weakling twins beat them also damaged their egos.
It was shameful.
"Find your next tip at the world-famous Bird's nest stadium," Jacques read aloud beside the Don box. He looked at Josée, who seemed deep in thought. "Have you ever..."
"We're taking a flight to Beijing, China," Josée interrupted sharply, holding her lava rock in her other hand protectively while yanking his hand dragging him to a taxi. "Come on!"
When they got into the taxi, Josée proceeded to rub her body with the lava rock. Jacques blinked at his friend's odd behavior, there was a time when Josée did this back when she had bun-bun, but that was when she and Jacques had gotten less than bronze on the podium; in other words, she was desperate. Later they got on the first flight with seven other teams to Beijing, and most people had slept for those seven hours. By the time they arrived to Beijing, they were all shuttled for the next destination.
Josée couldn't help but overhear the Sisters and the Reality TV Pros talking.
"Thanks again for letting us take the win yesterday," said Kitty. Josée immediately thought of the Fashion Bloggers and grew very, very bitter. Then again, oddly enough, she wouldn't mind if they were still in the competition.
Owen chuckled. "No problem."
"Just don't expect us to return the favor. We have an alliance, but this is still a competition," Emma grumbled. That raised a few concerns. Josée rolled her eyes; stupid girl. For someone who was going into law school, it was absurd to say that aloud. Josée took a mental note of this and said nothing.
Later, the shuttle bus knocked into the Don box, which started to shoot travel tips out. Kitty announced, "Found the Don box!"
"It's an All-in," Josée said, her eyes scanning over the tip: "Fly over the bird's nest stadium and tandem-jump through the donut hole to receive your next tip."
They were put into a plane, assuming that they would be jumping out of a plane in order to complete this challenge. Josée and Jacques were strapped together, leaving Jacques in charge of guiding them into the stadium.
Josée kissed her lava rock many times, waiting with the other teams inside the plane as she continued to rub it all over her body. "I need all the luck this Hawaiian rock can bring me."
When asked about this by the production crew, Josée and Jacques gave them an interview, instead this time she was rubbing the lava rock on Jacques: "Yesterday, we came in fourth." Jacques giggled, being tickled by the rock as Josée went on: "We shouldn't be down in the dirt with the losers, we should tower above them like the GODDESSES WE ARE... was that egotistical?" Josée had lost control of herself, her lava rock had found its way to scratch Jacques' face roughly. "Sorry about that!"
"I can't feel my face..." Jacques said, and Josée bit her lower lip.
After the interview, Jacques and Josée were strapped up again waiting with the other teams, waiting for the buzzer to go off which would cue them to jump out of the plane. Earlier they had heard screaming from the Reality TV Pros and the Sisters that they had jumped; it sounded horrifying. When the buzzer went off, signaling them to go, Josée felt the air sucked out of her and she felt nausea riling up in her system. "Jacques, please tell me you know what you're doing."
Jacques waved it off and gave her a cocky smirk. "Of course I do."
He did not. The minute that they jumped out of the plane, Jacques had panicked when the wind pushed them away from the stadium. This in turn caused Josée to get angry and point at the stadium furiously. "Over there! Over there!"
"I know, Josée! It's just not - agh!" They had finally stopped when Jacques' head smashed through a billboard of a donkey's... bottom. Josée would've found this a lot more amusing, but well, it was a competition. When they got back down before they could attempt to jump out of a plane again, they were stopped for an interview.
"Well that's Jacques for you, always trailing behind," Josée said to the camera, resisting the urge to break into a giggle. "But still, he's an asset to the team." Jacques had smiled sheepishly, with the parts of the billboard still stuck to him. He was cleaned up right before they could go out to attempt the challenge again.
"You said you knew what you were doing," said Josée, rolling her eyes.
"Well forgive me that the wind took us in a different direction!" Jacques snapped.
"You're the one that's supposed to steer!" Josée reminded him sharply. She let out a frustrated groan and got back into the plane to be strapped onto Jacques again. "Just be more careful this time, we're already falling behind!" The buzzer went off; signaling that they were near the stadium and that it would be time to jump.
Jacques pressed his lips together to keep his temper inside. "Okay." That being said, they jumped out of the plane. This time, they looked like they were going to land gracefully into the stadium. They were very close to the ground, then a cracking sound occurred, followed by Jacques shrieking in pain. "Ow! My ankle!" Josée bit her lip and unbuckled them quickly - separating each other, once that was finished, Jacques held onto his ankle and proceeded to complain.
Josée's concern turned into frustration. Something just wasn't right, and she couldn't put her finger on it. The producers made sure to catch it: "Why is Jacques so clumsy today?" she asked, more to herself as she eyed Jacques, who was bouncing one foot whilst clutching his ankle. Josée looked straight at the camera: "Don't give him any sympathy, you'll just encourage him."Josée ran after that interview was over, smiling directly at the camera, until she frowned in disapproval at Jacques' shrieking.
"Snap out of it!" Josée shouted, while putting her hand on his chest: "This is a competition, our fans are watching! EAT THE PAIN..." But then, Josée's suddenly switched to a happy cheery persona for the camera: "...and smile!" It was so light and said in a sing-song tone, that it frightened Jacques more than he wanted to admit. It wasn't so much the tone of her voice, but more of how fast she switched between furious and happy.
"Okay," Jacques chuckled nervously, along with his partner. He was a little concerned, yes, way more than before - but he liked to think it was just the stress getting to her.
"It's another All-in," Josée said, reading the travel tip: "To receive your next tip, one team member must ensemble and deep fry a skewer of Beijing street food and their partner has to eat it." Jacques read exactly where they had to run to, and scowled. Another eating challenge, of course. "Well? I guess I have to eat it-"
"So for you to vomit it back up?"
Josée raised an eyebrow at his bluntness. "Excuse moi? You've always been the one to cook!"
"I have the stronger stomach," Jacques reminded her coolly. "And lately you have been..." he hesitated, then added: "...getting sick."
Beat.
"Fine!" Josée exclaimed furiously, then grumbled: "Let's just go." As she and Jacques ran to the next challenge, she felt her body grow hot; not in a good way. She was still angry, understandably so - Jacques had quite nearly exposed her little habit on camera, even if he didn't intend to do it, it was personal. It's like he didn't trust her at all!
That didn't matter right now, Josée thought as they arrived at the station. She could cook; or at least try to. She knew that Jacques did have a stronger stomach than her, that was true, but he did struggle with eating food almost as much as she did; the key word being almost. If there was someway to make it easier for him, even though she really didn't want to - admittedly, she wanted to get back at him.
The gods of karma must've listened to her wish.
"Ah!" Jacques screeched, as a bug of some sort landed on his face. "Kill it, Josée!"
Josée smirked and held her fists up. "Stand still," she ordered. Then she proceeded to hit Jacques many times in the face. If he couldn't taste the food by hitting him - which she knew was a terrible approach - he wouldn't bring it all up, and he wouldn't even think of eating unlabeled food. The food was almost finished being made, and he would hardly be able to taste it. Jacques groaned from beside her. Josée bit her lip guiltily as she put the prepared food on the stick. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
"I can't feel my face..." Jacques said.
"Good." Jacques let out a shriek as Josée shoved the food in his mouth and forced him to chew it down. "Done! We're in first place!" she cheered, as she took the travel tip. She read as Jacques ran back and forth trying to keep the food down. "It's a botch-or-watch. Whoever didn't dive for rings in Hawaii must pull their teammate by Rickshaw all the way to the Great Wall of China using a map. The last team to find the chill zone within the wall may be going home."
Jacques could finally breathe by the time they were running to the rickshaws. "What the hell Josée?"
Josée kept running, shaking her head. "It was to help you keep the food down."
"You shoved food in my mouth!"
...It was just a good opportunity, and, Josée didn't want to admit it - but she wanted to get back at him; shame plagued her body, but at least now they were in first place. "We can talk about it later," she snapped irritably. They had arrived at the Rickshaws. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones. They hadn't heard from the Cadets in a few days, but they had just shown up. Josée and Jacques' moods soured significantly. "What?"
"Nothing," MacArthur stated, with a shrug.
Despite Isaac's voice in her head saying to not get involved, Josée couldn't help herself: "I can't wait to see you lose."
Jacques, who had positioned himself in the rickshaw, smirked at MacArthur. "Au revoir." Josée burst into cheerful laughter as they took off. It was so, so, satisfying - and sure, she knew she would pay for it later, but right now they were on the way to the gold. Jacques suddenly pointed ahead. "There! First place here we come! Yes!" Up ahead, not that Jacques nor Josée noticed, was a banana peel in the middle of the road.
"Whoa!" Josée exclaimed, slipping on the banana peel and falling roughly on the ground.
Meanwhile, Jacques flung into the air as he let out a high pitched scream, before landing harshly with a noticeable crunch. "Ow! My ankle!"
Josée groaned and stood up abruptly, wiping her costume down in annoyance. She ran up the stairs where Jacques had been launched to catch up with him. Luckily at this point they had the map with them to try to find the chill zone. Jacques and Josée leaped together, panting and looking back and forth at the new paths. "Which way?"
Jacques looked at the map with disgust and frustration. "This map is useless!"
Josée took the map out of his hands, kissed her lava rock in her other hand, then rubbed it onto the map. "I'll let luck decide!" She threw the map in the air as the wind gusted to their left. "Chill zone, here we come!" They ran into that direction; despite the fact that they had lost sight of the map. It seemed like they were going the right way, that was until the Cadets and the Surfers showed up running in the opposite direction. "If they're coming towards us, that means we're going the wrong way!"
Josée and Jacques shrieked and turned on their heels. They didn't care that MacArthur was laughing up a storm or that the Surfers tried to greet them, Josée and Jacques wanted to make it to the chill zone before them, especially before those cadets. Josée briefly looked behind her to see if the other teams were following them, but they were out of her sight. Either they must've slowed down or have gone off into another direction. It didn't matter now; Josée and Jacques saw the chill zone up ahead. Josée grinned to herself and held her arms out in victory, her partner doing the same.
They were going to get first place.
"Ice Dancers!" Don announced, as Josée and Jacques stopped in front of Don. Josée and Jacques smiled eagerly, awaiting the placement they got. "Fourth place!"
Josée and Jacques, despite their arms still up victoriously, felt her smiles drop at an instant.
"Fourth... AGAIN?!" Josée couldn't help but screech.
"Yes, fourth always comes after third. The numbers are sequential," Don said lightly.
Jacques knew he only meant it as a joke, but getting fourth was no joke to them. To prove so, when Josée and Jacques sat down for a final interview and were asked about getting fourth place again, and how it was just as embarrassing as losing at the olympics, Josée had stalked over to the producers and let out a war cry, destroying their property. Jacques looked at the camera with a painful smile that said 'we're so screwed.'
But at the same time, it was a smile that said he wasn't going to stop Josée from destroying their equipment. They absolutely deserved it. He would wait until she was done and fall asleep like she usually did after a tantrum. Although Josée's frequent tantrums were becoming more and more worrying, the second that the producers brought up their past failures was enough for Jacques to almost cheer her on while she went on a rampage. When Josée finished, Jacques had picked her up and waited with the other teams that had arrived already; which were the Daters, the Reality TV Pros, the Sisters, the Surfers and unfortunately - the Cadets.
Kitty let out a gasp when she saw Josée sleeping in Jacques' arms. "Is she okay?!" she shrieked.
Before Jacques could answer, Sanders cut in: "Doesn't she fall asleep after destroying things?"
Jacques huffed at her. "Even though it is none of your business, oui." He shook Josée gently. "Josée, wake up..." Josée stirred a little in his arms, before her eyes fluttered open. Jacques couldn't help but smile at her; even when he grew frustrated with her at times, the way she woke up was probably one of the most adorable things he had ever seen and would put him in a much better mood. He wasn't sure why; Josée just had that effect on him.
"Hm?" Josée hummed, before realizing that she was in the race and gasped, jumping out of Jacques' arms. "What happened?"
"You went on a rampage all because you got fourth," MacArthur chimed in, with a snicker.
Sanders sighed when she saw Josée's already furious expression. "Just leave it alone, MacArthur."
"What?! It's funny!"
Before Josée could reply with a witty retort, more teams arrived, the pair with the purple shirts Josée and Jacques learned were called the Stepbrothers were next, followed by the Goths, and the twins. Jacques blinked slowly; trying to think about the teams that were left. It looked like there were three more that had yet to reach the chill zone - Father & Son, the Rockers, and the Best Friends. Apparently the latter team hasn't learned that this was a competition, like she and Jacques had tried to tell them.
"There's the chill zone!" One of the Rockers shouted, "YEAH!" As he ran, he started to slow down along with his yelling: "Sugar crash..."
At that moment, the two other teams showed up. "Tenth... eleventh!" Don called out as each team passed the chill zone. "Rockers, I'm afraid you're the last team to arrive."
"Aw, we were so close," that same Rocker with the sugar crash said.
"If it makes you feel any better, you would've been penalized into last place anyway," Don explained. "Rock was supposed to pull the rickshaw."
"Told ya," said the other Rocker, who was blonde.
"I guess that makes me feel better," the other replied, then: "Sorry I blew it for us."
"Nah, man. It's my fault," the blonde started off. "If I'm going to use treats to train you like a dog, I can't be surprised when you go nuts, and trash the kitchen and poop in my shoes."
The other contestants looked on in disgust.
"Dude... I promise to never do that last part."
"Thank god," Emma whispered.
"Well that'll make the race more pleasant," Don's voice boomed over the Rockers', "...because this was a non-elimination round, you're still in!" The Rockers cheered and proclaimed that now was the time for a victory riff, which they did. "Not really a victory," Don noted, before addressing the audience: "Who will be the next to go? Probably them..." Despite Don's words earlier when they got fourth, Josée snorted in amusement. "...but there's only one way to be sure. Tune in for the next episode of... the Ridonculous Race!" After that, the episode finished, with the camera crew giving them the all-clear.
"Shit! He's so baked! He's so out of it!"
Geoff's loud voice from the Rockers hotel room had carried over to Josée and Jacques' room. Earlier, the Surfers had gone into the Rockers room to "celebrate" the latter team not getting eliminated. Unfortunately for Josée and Jacques, they happened to be neighbors for the evening, and they were overwhelmingly loud.
Josée groaned and buried her face in her pillow, resisting the urge to scream into it. Jacques didn't say anything, but did rub her back up and down while she was face down on the bed. It wasn't just the competition that was getting to her, he supposed - it was definitely the outside perspective too, what the audience wouldn't see. And, to be frank, Jacques was still frustrated about Josée force feeding him, but now wasn't the time to address it.
"This is horrible," Josée spat miserably. "Fourth place again... disgraceful."
Jacques couldn't help but agree. "We'll get them next time, chouchou."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Champions must preserve, non?" Jacques said, trying to smile.
Suddenly Josée jolted upright, startling Jacques. "Josée?" he called aloud, but she wasn't listening. She went over to her lava rock. Jacques watched as Josée started to rub her body with the lava rock. Jacques blinked slowly as she let out a shuddering breath and closed her eyes, continuing the motion. "Josée, please stop it..."
But she didn't. Josée continued, this time at a much rapid pace. Jacques was at a loss; even when Josée had bun-bun, she was never this aggressive. This difference was, at least bun-bun was soft, this lava rock - which Jacques couldn't help but remember she called rock-rock - was hard and caused scratches and damage to skin, he would know.
When he saw her skin get irritatingly red, that's when Jacques stepped in and snatched the lava rock out of her hands.
"Hey!" Josée protested angrily, trying to reach for the lava rock: "Give it back!"
"Non," Jacques said firmly, "You're hurting yourself with it."
Josée couldn't believe her ears. "What?" she screeched, her eyes flaring madly. Jacques didn't care. While there were days where Josée could be frightening, Jacques would never let his nervousness over his partner's behavior override hurting herself. "First, you cost us the challenge-"
"Oh did I?!" Jacques retorted, rolling his eyes. "You were the one that let luck decide by putting your stupide rock all over the map!"
"You're the one that was launched into the sky making us lose time!"
"Because you were the one that slipped!"
Josée opened her mouth, then closed it. She thought about today, then added in a huff: "You were the one that mentioned my... getting sick... on camera!"
"So that justifies you shoveling food in my mouth?"
"It was to get us ahead of the challenge, which if you haven't noticed, worked!"
Neither of them knew how it happened. Originally Jacques wasn't going to bring that up, but since she brought up that, well... anything was fair game. Josée bit her lower lip harshly, no doubt from the comments Jacques had made regarding her issue revolving food. It was still fresh in her brain.
"Just don't do that again," Jacques said, with a heavy sigh. "And I'm sorry I brought that up."
Josée's eyes, which were cold prior, had softened considerably. "...It's fine. It's fine, okay? I'm sorry too. I just want to get out of fourth place and move to first." It was horrible. What Josée said last time rang true; they hadn't gotten fourth place in years. There was no question that it was weighing on her. "Maman would be so angry at me."
...And that's where it usually traced back to.
Of course.
Jacques hesitantly pulled Josée into his chest. Thankfully, she leaned in. "We'll get there, chouchou," he tried to reassure. "I promise."
The next morning, Jacques shook Josée's shoulder gently. "Josée, it's time to wake up." Josée groaned and turned over to her side, thankfully she didn't fall off her bed like she nearly did in Morocco. She opened her eyes to see Jacques in a plain t-shirt and sweatpants. "I'm going to take a shower, but while I do..." He revealed an apple in his hand and handed it over to her. "I grabbed this from downstairs. Eat up." Then he left to shower.
Josée frowned deeply for a moment, then took a bite of the apple.
They worked out a schedule to help her with her recent relapse. Jacques would always shower in the morning first; this was so Josée would eat something for breakfast without running to the bathroom to bring the food up. Sure, an apple was hardly breakfast, but it was something. Besides, most times they would eat lunch and/or dinner on the flight or together in whatever dining room there was at the hotel. In other words, Jacques was with her to encourage her to eat.
...Jacques was smarter than most people gave him credit for, or at least he was incredibly thoughtful. Despite their arguing from last night, Jacques still wanted to make sure that she was eating right. He knew how to take care of her in regards to her health that no one else could. She grew annoyed, yes, but really - she was thankful. Moments like this made guilt well up in Josée; because she knew that he was trying his best and really looked out for her, and she knew that she could be rather demanding.
Soon they arrived at the last chill zone to pick up their next travel tip. "Fly to Oulu, Finland." Then Josée read on that they would find the Don box at the hot saunas of the Apina Pylly Spa for their next challenge. She and Jacques ran, along with the other teams, to the station to pick up taxis. The teams that happened to be there were the Best Friends, the Daters, the Cadets - Josée bit back a groan - the Goths, and the Rockers.
"Taxi!" Devin called out.
"Chauffeur!" Josée waved her hand obnoxiously.
"Cab," was one of the Goths' dull voices.
None of the cabs were stopping, much to everyone's confusion.
"Taxi!" One of the Rockers shouted, having taken their shirt off, much to everyone's disturbance. However, a taxi did stop for them. Josée furrowed her brows in utter annoyance, the Rockers were the team that had been in last place, and now they were on their way to first? Ugh. But then, it got even more confusing when the same Rocker asked the other contestants if they wanted a ride. Jacques was ready to say yes, but Josée stopped him. It was just not worth it. The Daters, Cadets, and Goths joined them.
This left Josée and Jacques with Devin and Carrie. They had acknowledged each other, but no words were exchanged between them. Seconds later, two cabs showed up respectively for each time, and they made their way to the airport. It was going to be a sixteen hour flight, which meant that they had to deal with their fellow contestants chatting away for a long time. Perhaps they could sleep it off regarding most of it.
Something strange during the flight caught Josée's eye, however. For a second, she could've sworn she had seen Carrie whispering to Kitty about something, while looking directly at her. Josée would argue that she's being paranoid, but it wouldn't be beneath Kitty and Carrie to engage in high-school like drama, and that certainly took her back.
Nonetheless, when Josée and Jacques arrived in Finland along with the other teams, they grabbed a taxi right away to take them to the spa. "It's an All-in," Jacques read, arriving at the Don box along with many other teams, "Finnish spa day. Teams have to sit in a dry sauna... fully clothed at the highest heat for ten minutes." Josée visibly winced at this, but Jacques read on: "After the sauna, collect the tip from the next Don box by crossing the semi-frozen river."
No one wasted any time. They all ran into the saunas that weren't occupied and slammed the doors. The heat was instantaneous, Josée and Jacques were already starting to sweat. It was probably because they were used to the cold weather from being on the ice all the time, hot weather was another story.
"Why are ice dancing clothes so well insulated?" Jacques complained, then took Josée's lava rock. "You know, your good luck charm must be broken."
"Perhaps not," Josée said, taking the lava rock back that he had taken from her yesterday. "...our main competition are those weakling twins, the heat will destroy them."
"Uh, we heard all that," said one twin, crossing his arms.
"...and we're fine, thanks," finished the other.
"How are you not sweating?" Jacques breathed out, trying to fan himself, but to no avail.
"We can't feel the hot or cold," one of them explained.
"...The hell... is that possible?" Josée spat out tiredly. There was no talking for the remainder of the challenge. Throughout all of it, Josée and Jacques proceeded to groan and complain under the intensity of the heat.
When the sauna challenge ended, Josée and Jacques thought they were dying. But the twins remained unaffected; it was like they said - it was their inability to feel the heat. Despite Josée's harsh words earlier, one of them was eager to say goodbye: "Bye, have a nice race!" And they left.
Josée and Jacques' body slammed into the snow; they felt like they were sizzling and groaned.
"What... the... hell," Josée groaned. She and Jacques tried to crawl across the snow. They could hardly crawl, let alone stand.
Jacques groaned, trying to stand up. "Must... persevere... greatness awaits - oh!" He was cut off by Kitty screaming and trampling his head into the snow. Jacques lifted his head up and narrowed his eyes. "Well, that was rude! Agh!" Jacques' head was shoved into the snow again, this time by Owen's feet.
Josée eyed Jacques with concern, struggling to rise up - but managed. She held her hand out for Jacques to grab. "Are you okay?"
Jacques took her hand and unsteadily rose to his feet. "Oui. Merci, Josée."
Josée smiled. "No problem." She looked into the direction Kitty and Owen ran in, "That was rude of her. I'd like to think that was an accident, but... you can never be too sure with the competitors here." She bit her lower lip, thinking about the incident from the plane. "I saw Carrie whispering into Kitty's ear while looking directly at me on the flight."
"Why do you look like you care so much?" Jacques asked honestly.
"I don't... it's just..." Josée hesitated, unsure of what to say. "It's just strange, that's all. Kitty seemed nice enough the other day." But of course, once more, they couldn't trust anyone on the show; this was a competition, after all. Silence followed after that. That's when Josée shook out of her thoughts and remembered why she was here in the first place. "Come on, we have to get across the lake."
"We should just swim," Jacques advised, after stopping in front of the lake. "We'll definitely feel more refreshed." Though going from one temperature to another was insane. Nonetheless, both of them jumped in, immediately feeling the cold. But like it's been said, they could get used to the cold faster than they could get used to heat. The ice dancers proceeded to swim across the lake with ease. They smiled when they got to the end of the lake.
"Rachel would've been great at this," Josée couldn't help but remark. "She's a much faster swimmer." Upon mentioning her dear friend's name, Josée couldn't help but grow sentimental - she really wished she was able to tell her about the competition she and Jacques were competing in, but only a select few could know. She hoped wherever Rachel was, that she was okay.
"Oui, she would've," Jacques agreed, then hit the button on the Don box beside them and read the travel tip: "Head to downtown Oulu and get ready to air-out your rock on." Josée didn't even bother asking what that could've meant, instead she and Jacques rushed to find a taxi in order to get to their next location.
They arrived at what looked to be a concert setting, with a large audience. Jacques pressed the button on the Don box and read for the next challenge: "It's a botch-or-watch. Teams must battle it out in Finland's national sport, air guitar." Jacques and Josée paused, exchanged a strange look, before the former went on, "Performances will be judged by an applause meter and get the crowd into a maximum frenzy. Once finished, you can make your way to the chill zone. Bottom out, and it's off to the back of the line to try again. Whoever didn't pull the rickshaw in Beijing must perform here," he finished. "That's me, I guess."
Josée tried to smile encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll be fine."
When they got there, there was already a line, and that's when Josée and Jacques' smiles disappeared.
Great.
Well, maybe it was great. One of the twins were going up next, and he was pretty skittish. Josée understood having stage fright all too well when she was younger, but this was just ridiculous. He was immediately booed off the stage and was thrown off. Kitty was next, but she was pelted with tomatoes, along with MacArthur - which Josée smirked a little at - Junior, and Ryan. Soon enough, it was Jacques' turn. Josée smiled confidently; as dimwitted as Jacques could be, this was performing, and he was good at that.
"Get us the gold," Josée said fiercely. Jacques gave her a smile before heading out on stage. She watched in awe as Jacques managed to get the crowd going, because he wasn't only doing air-guitar - he was incorporating other elements of dance. When he really put his mind to it, he was really a graceful performer. Extremely talented, too. She remembered that she said he needed to work hard in order to be good, but really, he was a natural dancer in general - just not on the ice, that came from perseverance.
Josée broke away from him to look at the meter, which was on orange. Then she looked back to see him do a spin - which lead him to trip over and exposed wire, electrocuting him for a bit, before he fell on the ground. The crowd booed at him immediately. "Why are there even wires up here?! This is air guitar!" Jacques exclaimed angrily.
The buzzer went off, signaling that he failed the challenge and would have to go back. Josée visibly groaned. Some time passed, with more and more teams failing to complete the challenge.
"Tough crowd," Jacques spat bitterly.
"Hey, have we lost yet?" the blonde Rocker asked, arriving on the scene with his partner, who looked awful.
Josée thought back to what Don said in Beijing and replied wittingly, "No, but I have faith."
"Air guitar!" the same Rocker exclaimed excitedly, "I can totally do that." Then he imitated a guitar riff.
"Actually, you can't," Junior said, also waiting in line with them. "You were supposed to pull the rickshaw in China, so it's his turn."
"But... he needs to recover from like... seal venom or whatever. He'll botch it!"
"And we'll all watch it!" Josée added, with a smirk. However, her smirk disappeared when it was that Rocker's turn. Though he appear dumb as rocks - no pun intended - he was able to electrify the audience and got all the way up to the top of the meter, not to mention in a gross way too. Josée clenched her fists; how dare they go from worst to first?
After being encouraged by the Rocker's example, more teams were able to complete the challenge. Jacques was up next. Like before, he managed to perform well - except this time he was careful not to trip on anything. She watched him perform his turns; his classical turns were always better than hers, it was so natural and regal. She was in awe. Jacques' performance got him all the way on top of the meter as the audience screamed for him. Josée was so overjoyed at his performance, and it looked like Jacques was as well. He was so overjoyed that he hoisted Josée up so she was sitting on his shoulder and made their way to the chill zone.
"Jacques, Josée... fourth place."
Just like that, their joy had vanished.
"Fourth again?" Jacques asked in despair.
He and Josée let out some weeping; they couldn't help it. Three rounds in a row they had gotten fourth. How could they have gone from not getting fourth in over many years to getting them three times in a row? It was exhausting. They were tired. They didn't know what they were doing differently that could've stopped their win streak; which was the most frustrating part. They waited patiently for other teams to finish, to which they did. Most of them had gone somewhere else while there were still a few teams left. Josée rubbed her lava rock sadly on a chair nearby the chill zone, while Jacques looked over in concern. Had he not tripped over that wire, they could've won the gold...
Later the Goths had shown up, with an entirely new look, and had rocked the stage. Josée and Jacques rose their eyebrows momentarily, impressed. Normally they would've been freaked out, but they weren't exactly sure what it was that made them have a good stage presence. It was probably the costumes, but... it was difficult to explain. But then Josée went back to rubbing her lava rock sadly in order to comfort herself, with Jacques continuing to look at her, wondering if he should say something to help.
But he didn't have to, someone else did instead.
"Whoah, is that a Hawaiian lava rock?" the female goth asked after finishing the challenge.
"What of it?" Jacques replied confusedly.
"That's hardcore," said the male goth, "Those things cast a shroud of darkness upon all who plunder them."
"Can we have it?" the female goth asked.
Once the male goth's words had sunk in, Jacques was absolutely livid. "Your good-luck charm's been cursing us all this time?" Here he thought it was his fault, because Josée had no problem blaming him for their losses. Oh, how the tables had turned. "Well done, Josée!"
Josée felt guilt rile inside her. "Thanks," she said to the Goths, then asked: "How do we break the curse?"
"Just toss it..." said the male goth. Josée and Jacques felt a little relieved; that made things much easier. "...anywhere in Hawaii."
Josée and Jacques exchanged a look.
...Perhaps not.
"This is Crimson," the male Goth introduced his female companion. Josée and Jacques had no idea as to why. "I'm Ennui."
Josée and Jacques' ears perked up at the French name. "Ennui?" Jacques asked curiously. "Êtes-vous du Québec?"
"When I was a lot younger," Ennui answered slowly in French. Then, in English: "I moved to Toronto when I was four to be adopted, so I only speak a little."
Oh.
"He can understand it well though," Crimson replied, monotonous.
Beat.
"Thank you for helping us," Josée said sincerely.
Crimson and Ennui shrugged. "Whatever." And they walked away.
"...They don't talk very much," Josée remarked to Jacques. However, Jacques refused to acknowledge her. Josée bit her lower lip. "Jacques..."
"I don't want to hear it," Jacques snapped.
Josée immediately quieted after that.
Then something caught her attention.
On the other side of the stage, Josée spotted Emma speaking to one of the twins - who looked suddenly more confident to go on the stage. Josée couldn't exactly make out what Emma was saying, but it must've been bad since the twin went from confident to nervous. Once he got onto the stage, to everyone's shock, he broke out into hives. While this was disturbing to others for obvious reasons, Josée was brought back to that incident that occurred nearly five years ago.
She remembered seeing Elise having a severe allergic reaction from the red ants that Liv had purposely put into her bag, and this looked painfully similar. Josée looked at Emma, who did appear guilty unlike Liv did with Elise, but it still made her immensely uncomfortable. Josée wondered why she would do such a thing to the weakling, that was until Josée realized that Noah hadn't gone up yet, and then it clicked. Josée rolled her eyes. Liking a boy or not, to send someone into hives just... didn't seem okay. Even with the way Josée knew she had been acting recently, she seemed positive she wouldn't do something like that - it brought back too many painful memories from home.
She wanted to bring this up to Jacques, but he... he was mad at her right now.
"I'm sorry, you're out," Don said to the twins, after Noah had gotten applause.
"We gathered that," said one of the twins.
After the filming was finished, Josée tried to catch Jacques' attention, but instead he rushed over to the producers with a desperate look in his eyes. "Would it be possible..."
"We already know what you're going to ask," said one of the producers, "...you can only travel on a plane during the race, no exceptions."
Josée's stomach dropped. "But..."
"No exceptions," the producer finished, not even bothering to listen. "You should've thought of that before picking up a lava rock."
Josée's eye-twitched, yet said nothing. Jacques refused to talk to her all the way to the hotel room, and by the time they entered, Josée tried to talk to him, but like before Jacques refused to listen. "Non, Josée! It was your stupide rock that cost us the podium!"
"How was I supposed to know that it was cursed?" Josée retorted furiously. The old man did advise her not to take it, but she conveniently left that part out. She didn't need to make him more frustrated at her. This was, in fact, her fault - not that she would admit it.
Jacques ran a distressed hand through his hair. "The point is," he began icily, "you had been going on and on about us losing was my fault, when really it was you all along!"
"Like the way you cost us at the olympics!"
"That was an accident!"
"Just like the lava rock was!"
"This is different!"
"HOW IS IT DIFFERENT?!"
"BECAUSE NOW WE HAVE TO TOSS THAT ROCK IN HAWAII, THAT COULD CAUSE US TO GET ELIMINATED!"
Jacques' eyes widened when he realized he had shouted, judging by the look on his partner's face and sighed, he looked like he wanted to comfort her, but... he didn't. Instead, he sat on his bed, looking away from her - probably so he wouldn't be influenced to forgive her by her distraught look.
Josée felt tears prick at the back of her eyes when Jacques had shouted at her, biting her lower lip that had started quivering. She couldn't be too surprised that he yelled at her, she had been doing plenty of that on her own lately - so she figured that made it more fair. After all, this was her fault. She stared at her lava rock in disgust; she was so fixated on trying to her replace her bun-bun that she didn't even think of the consequences.
Once again though, she would never admit it aloud.
Instead, Josée crawled into her bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow; she and Jacques had a long day ahead of them tomorrow.