‘LEAVE US!’ Porscha yells at him. ‘I said I’ll deal with it. You get back to make sure all the carnage is captured on film. I want tears, tantrums, meltdowns and everyone to take turns in the Beach Hut. We need to really capitalise on this situation. I want maximum emotional collapse. Get Kassy to reveal she was catching real feelings for Henri. Get him to say that he is devastated that Libby broke them up. And poke that trauma of Binky’s. The one where her last boyfriend ran off with her dad. Or is that Brad? Poke something.’ She gives him a sharp look. ‘Don’t just stand there. Do your job.’
Cam ignores her.
Suddenly Porscha’s walkie talkie goes ballistic with people yelling that they need instructions as though she’s ordered a military airstrike. While she’s distracted, Cam smiles at me.
‘Are you okay?’ he says gently. He lifts his arm as though to comfort me, before thinking better of it.
I nod slowly. ‘Yes, thanks. I think it’s probably better if I leave the villa. I seem to be causing a lot of trouble.’
‘Are you sure?’ he says, giving me a tender look.
‘Yes. I’m sure.’ I give him a shy smile. I hope he realises I am giving up the show to spend my last few days with him.
‘Well, you’ve certainly been a big hit on the show,’ he says. ‘You’re really something special. You don’t just light up the screen.’
My heart skips a beat.
‘And you know, you could go on to win it.’
‘Cam,’ I say, my voice barely audible. ‘That’s not the reason I came here.’
Instantly, he gets my drift.
‘DON’T MIND ME, WILL YOU?’ screams Porscha, causing us to jump. ‘Cam, back to work. NOW! Unless you’d like to admit to something? Or maybe Libby has something she wants to get off her enormous chest?’
It sounds like a threat. There’s no way I can drop him in it. I will take our secret to the grave. It was in the blind spot. It’s Kassy’s word against mine. An upstanding member of the teaching community.
Cam shakes his head, sighing heavily and gives me one last look, his face a mask of fury. He keeps his voice calm and even. ‘Porscha, Libby has formally requested to leave the show. Libby, you can go collect your things. I will meet you at the entrance. See you soon.’
I watch him leave.
Porscha reaches out, yanking at my microphone pack and switching it off. ‘Now, listen to me. This… this crush that you have developed for a member of MY staff is not happening. You understand me? IT. IS. NOT. HAPPENING.’
My heart is hammering in my chest. She is bloody terrifying. I’m so sick of being bullied by authority figures like her. And to play with people’s lives as though they mean nothing? I feel anger beginning to boil away deep inside me and from somewhere, I find my voice.
‘No, Porscha. It is happening. I will leave this villa, and the show, and then I will be doing whatever the hell I want to do.And if that is to get to know a member of your staff after filming has finished then I will!’ I stand folding my arms in defiance. My blood pressure must be sky high as adrenalin whooshes round my body.
She leans in, towering over me. My vow to leave the show and run off into the sunset with Cam is not landing well.
‘I’ll tell you what is going to happen. There’s no way you are leaving this villa. You will stay in here where I can keep an eye on you. You are going to go back out there, and act all surprised at Kassy’s outburst. Kassy is going to admit she made the whole thing up about seeing you kissing someone who is not in the villa. She will point the finger at Carlton. Mimi will become hysterical. That will reignite the whole love triangle which, by the way, has fizzled out now with your ridiculous crush on Cameron.’ She shakes her head at me, throwing up her arms in frustration. ‘Such an inconvenience. We had to re-edit a whole episode.’
My jaw drops to the floor. It sounds awfully scripted to me. And she hasn’t listened to a word I’ve said.
‘I want to see you flirt with Carlton in front of Mimi to make her jealous. She will provide some much-needed entertainment for the nation, and you will play the part of the callous British villain. Which is why we flew you all the way to Mexico in the first place.’
I stand tall. ‘No. I won’t do it. I’m leaving.’
I’d like to see her try to stop me.
‘Okay. If you leave the show, then I will fire Cameron.’
What?
Porscha looks deadly serious. ‘Not just that. I’ll badmouth him to all the networks. He’ll never get another job in TV production. And it’ll be all your fault.’
Porscha looks at me with daggers in her eyes.
‘You wouldn’t.’
