Zion’s head screamed as the pain forced him awake. Something beeped nearby. It was loud and made the pain worse. 

That beeping is gonna kill me. 

 He sat up. Only miles of silky white sand and gorgeous blue water greeted him. He closed his eyes again.

“Oww, why does my head feel like somebody used it to practice kicking field goals?” a female voice said from beside him.

Zion opened his eyes again. A short, dark-skinned girl was lying beside him. He looked around more. There were three more guys and three more girls lying with them.

“Your head hurts too?” Zion said, helping pull the girl up to a sitting position.

The six of them were lying in a stone courtyard that sat between an enormous mansion and a gorgeous beach. One of the girls sat up and blinked groggily until she realized what she was seeing.

“Oh my god, where am I?” she yelled as she jumped to her feet. 

Her volume woke up the others. Within seconds, they were all standing and yelling at one another. All of them demanded answers. None of them had any.

“Welcome to your new home!” an annoyingly upbeat voice called through speakers no one could see.

Zion looked around to see where the voice was coming from. 

“I’m right here,” the voice said.

A large rectangular screen appeared in the air above them. On the screen was a creature that Zion could only describe as a goblin. It had long, pointed ears and a matching nose. Its skin was the color of molding clay, and its head was huge. It was the strangest thing Zion had ever seen, and yet he recognized it for some reason. One of the girls gasped.

“I know you. You’re the host from Love Rivals!” the short, dark-skinned girl said.

That was where Zion knew him from. His face was on the cover of the new video game Zion’s sister had just bought.

“That’s correct, Daytona. I’m glad to know my new PR person is doing such a good job.”

The people around Zion started whispering among themselves. Zion did his best to keep up with what he was hearing. None of it made any sense and only worked to make his headache worse. And why the hell was the gray dude holding a microphone?

“Where the hell are we?” a tall guy with starter dreads yelled.

The creature smiled.

“Thanks for asking, Benedict. The eight of you are the lucky contestants for this season of Love Rivals, congratulations!”

The group exploded into chaos after his declaration. 

“The fuck did that little motherfucker just say?” Benedict said.

Zion started to panic. He shoved his shaking hands into his curly brown hair. There was no way this was real. He had to be dreaming. He vaguely remembered hitting start on the game his sister had left open on her PC. Obviously, he had gotten so bored playing it that he had fallen asleep. Yeah, this was all a weird dream.

“Hey, you’re not about to throw up, are you?” Daytona asked.

Zion looked at her, now fully confident that he was dreaming. 

“Only if you’re gonna be my nurse afterward,” he said and flashed his most charming smile.

She shook her head and walked away from him.

“See, this is why I never try to be nice to people. They’re all fuckin creeps,” she said as she walked away.

Zion watched her. If this wasn’t a dream, that interaction would have embarrassed him.

“I wanna go home, right now!” a chubby redhead with a Scottish accent yelled up at the screen.

The gray guy’s smile didn’t move. It had to be performative.

“All you have to do, Alyssa, is make it to the season finale. Then you will be sent back home at the very instant you were pulled here. Easy peasy.”

The group started talking again. Alyssa, in a show of defiance, stuck her middle finger up at the screen and started walking toward the beach. When she attempted to leave the stone courtyard, her face smacked into an invisible, but extremely solid barrier. She stumbled backward, holding her bloody nose.

“Please remain in the courtyard until the assembly session has ended,” the gray guy said in the same cheerful tone.

That was when it all became real to Zion. This wasn’t a dream, and he really was trapped in some kind of paradise with seven other people. The crowd went silent.

“Okay, I’ll start over,” the gray guy said. “Welcome to Love Rivals. I’m your host.”

The host said his name, but it just sounded like keyboard spam to Zion.

“For those of you unfamiliar with how this experience works, the first thing we do is pair you all off. If you all will open your right hands, you will see a symbol. The person with the matching symbol is your partner for the season.”

Zion opened his right hand. Sure enough, there was what looked like a number 1 drawn there. He looked at the guy beside him with a ball of unease growing inside him. When he saw the squiggly symbol on the large man’s hand, a giant weight lifted off his shoulders. Then he had a terrifying thought. 

He was only one of the guys who might be paired with you. 

“Um, does anyone else have a pole in their hand?” Zion asked, holding out his shaky, sweaty palm so everyone else could see it.

Alyssa looked over at him, still cradling her bloody nose.

“Really?”

“Um, pause?” Zion said, as if it were a question. 

Humor was a defense mechanism. He closed his eyes and tried to prepare himself mentally for the moment one of the other two guys answered.

“Oh, hell no!” Daytona answered. 

Zion opened his eyes and found the short, dark-skinned girl. She held her hand, revealing the same symbol on her palm that he had. Something in his chest did a flip. Then, once the relief wore off, worry set in. Why did it have to be her of all the females?

“Oh wonderful! Our first couple. Congrats Zion and Daytona. Please stand beside your new partner once you know who they are,” the host said.

“You can’t make us take part in this stupid game!” Daytona yelled and folded her arms over her chest.

People around the group started agreeing with her and standing their ground as well.

“In that case, I would have to send you all back home. Unfortunately, the process that brought you here takes six days to repeat, otherwise your human heads will explode. Hence the splitting headaches you all have,” the host said. “You have five seconds to decide. After that, anyone not standing with their partner will be sent home immediately. Five, four, three, two.”

Swirling portals opened up in front of each player. The pain in their heads magnified. Silence overtook the stunned crowd, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it. They began pairing off immediately. 

“One, oh, great! You’re all on board and paired up. Now the fun starts. All you all have to do is complete challenges and show the audience that you are a real couple. Piece of cake!” 

The portals vanished.

Zion looked around at the couples. None of them looked real. This was going to be a disaster. Maybe they could work something out before the first challenge and try to get on the same page.

“It’s time for the first challenge. Make your new partner laugh. And don’t forget the audience has to believe it!”