Today, every contestant had to wake up at seven in the morning sharp and our schedules were full until midnight. After a week of recording introduction videos and brief clips for the channel to use as their commercials, we were officially taping the first episode today. In the span of a week, my following has grown tremendously and had a significant amount of admirers.

The top three contestants with the most followers were Davina (of course), Wesley, and I was proudly standing in third. The amount of fans I had didn't really matter to me or get to my head, but I also didn't want to be the first person eliminated from the show. Although there are so many rules from the production team that it got extremely invasive at times.

My personal make-up artist spent thirty minutes padding my face with all different types of products I wouldn't be able to tell. I played a random car game on my phone as I waited for the producer to call us into the studio.

"Elton has called everyone to the stage," Jennie said, whispering something over her mic connected to her chest.

"Alright," I responded, tapping on the microphone latched onto my shirt.

My eyes widened at how different the studio looked tonight. Steel kitchen equipment was constructed all around the area. There were fifthteen separate kitchens, so each of us had our own ones to cook out of. Behind the countertops were metal drawers and refrigerators stocked with every single ingredient I could think of.

There was a main island granite table constructed around the middle of the room, which would be the area where the judges would discuss our food. Suddenly, my anxiety levels picked up a notch when I saw all the cameras. It truly seemed like a single mistake made tonight would have us sent packing.

"Alright everyone, there are decorated aprons for every one of you. We had the fans pick out your aprons, so I hope you guys aren't disappointed," Elton explained, pointing over to the back of the room where the brown coat-hanger stood.

After putting on my black apron decorated with rockets on it, my eyes landed on a fellow someone. Bile rose in my throat when I thought of that traumatic evening a few days ago. I blamed myself for not stopping her before it got that far. I shuddered at the memory and pushed it at the back of my head. I refused to accept that day happened, and that was why I never told Wesley about it.

Weasley has been MIA the past week, and I was left alone to play on our PlayStation. He wasn't the only friend ignoring me. Catalina, Meadow, and Lana were all too busy to even send a daily text. To no one's surprise, Lana broke her promise about face-timing every day, but she had a valid excuse.

However, I still missed the sound of her voice and the way her eyes sparkle whenever she smiled. Our first live taping isn't until next month, so I had no way of seeing the girl of my dreams unless it was virtual. I really needed her positive attitude to get through this round today.

"Today's challenge is to create a high-class meal fit for the people of France. It has to be a traditional kind of meal that everyone here would know in an instant," Elton explained. "Everyone is free to put their own little twist in it, but the judges will decide tonight who will make it onto round two. Also, beware of the clock, everyone has forty-five minutes to get it done."

The first food that popped into my mind was Pot-au-Feu. It's one of Paris's traditional meals which wasn't too time-consuming to make. Pot-au-Feu was a flavorful broth of boiled meats and mixed vegetables. It could be two courses, but it's easy to combine them and have the judges taste all the exquisite flavors in one go.

"Get ready everyone," Elton shouted, staring at the clock, "Three... two... one."

Once the timer started moving, everyone ran over to the ingredients section on the other side of the room. We acted like wild cattle running out of guarded gates for their freedoms; I had my eyes set on the meats first. The 'grocery store' had limited meat from the looks of it so it was either grab it or revision a new idea.

Besides the refrigerator was a wooden crate, and I threw all my items in it. There were a few unsportsmanship champs, specifically Davina since she smacked her shoulder on my head reaching over for the beef. She sent an aggressive glare in my direction, which made no sense since she vomited on me.

She should be saying sorry, but I guess being a celebrity takes you away from those realities.

Shaking off her bad luck, I washed all my vegetables in the sink before beginning to chop them up. Onions, cloves, leeks, carrots, celery, garlic, were dropped into a large boiling pot so the flavors can pour out and become softer. When skimming around my area, I realized I was missing one thing-- a cheesecloth.

Quickly, I scanned over my other co-workers and saw Wesley had them on his cutting board. Glancing up at the clock, I saw ten minutes already gone by and I had only the broth going, which made my armpits moist. After wiping my forehead with a towel, I dashed over to Wesley's station and reached out for the cheesecloth.

"Can I use this?"

"Can I use this?" A feminine voice asked.

I took in the appearance of the famous Davina in front of me. My eyes ran over her wide, blue-green gaze, her little nose over to her part, pouty, lips. Once again, she stared at me as if I was a ghost or if I wronged her in some way with wide eyes and mouth agape.

I waved my hands in front of her. "I'm taking this. Is that alright Wesley?"

She blinked once, twice, and appeared to gather her surroundings. "Think twice bean sprout, these cheesecloths are mine!"

"I was here before you," I insisted.

"Roll the tapes because I was here before you! If you were gentlemen, you would let me have the cheesecloths," Davina sarcastically retorted.

"That's funny coming from you," I scoffed under my breath. "Miss throw up on someone after two seconds of knowing them."

Wesley cleared his throat and appeared a little awkward as he reached for his onions.

"Boohoo, if you wanted a new outfit, just call my agents." She brushed off my statement with a tight-lipped grin.

"Could you guys just settle this and get cooking? It's been three minutes of you guys arguing over something stupid," Wesley chimed in.

"It's not stupid!" We shouted in unison.

"Oh, my god! I cannot deal with immature boys who think they're men." Her cool tone and demeanor slowly slipped. "Wesley, you could easily end this by picking one of us."

"I don't feel comfortable doing this," Wesley responded.

"Wesley, come on, bro? I really need these cheesecloths to get everything going. If you're thinking logically, wouldn't you want to get the better competitor out on the first week? Though I am confident enough to know that we will all beat her," I casually said.

My simple statement triggered her. I saw the spark of anger in her eyes and she tried hard not to snap, but I figured I pushed her over the edge.

Davina took a breath and looked at me squarely. "Listen here dumbass, I'm Michelin star holder, the youngest winner of Kid's baking competition, and have a four-star restaurant. No one here is competition for me."

"Hate to break it to you, but all those achievements were years ago, back when you actually had talent," I smirked.

She curled her finger into a fist, ground her teeth together, and venomously glared at me. "Fuck you! I did one stupid mistake and you go out of your way to treat me like I'm garbage. I'm sorry, seriously, I am, but your words hurt way more than my actions did."

Suddenly, tears escaped from her eyes, leaving a streak of intense mascara down her cheeks. Being an asshole wasn't something I was used to, but watching her wail because of what I said made me rethink the whole situation.

Wesley sent a concerned glare in our direction. "Just take it, Davina."

Sighing, I examined Wesley's facial expression when he glanced at Davina. There was admiration in those eyes. I should've known with someone inexperienced like Wesley, he was like a diamond to all the girls around us. A single look from them and they had the sucker wrapped around their fingers.

I couldn't judge him for it.

Because I had my own person who I would always drop everything for.

"Whatever, just take it," I groaned.

When Wesley turned around, a sneaky smirk emerged on Davina's face and she stuck out the middle finger before running away with the cheesecloth. Goddammit, she managed to fool me with her little trick. She's an actress, of course, she would know how to cry on demand.

As I released a groan, I slumped my way back over to my counter and glanced at the clock to see seven minutes wasted fighting with that little brat. Since I didn't have the cheesecloth to help soak in the favors, I had to rely solely on my cooking skills to get them through.

In another bowl, I added salt, parsley, thyme, and peppercorns for the favor to absorb before I poured the broth stock in. My eyes flickered upward to see our host named Fyre's eyes widened in amusement as she wafted the aroma towards her nose. One of the cameramen followed behind her, shifting the lens in both of our directions.

"Holy Moly! That smells incredible," Fyre exclaimed, inhaling deeply.

"Thank you! It's really the broth and thyme that captures you," I responded with a small grin.

"Exactly! It's very comforting, like hot cocoa on a wintry night," Frye stated, hugging herself by wrapping her arms over her shoulders. "So what's this dish? I'm not a French expert so I can't pick up on any clues."

"Well, one of my dearest friends loves it whenever I cooked something found in another country. So when our task was revealed, I instantly thought of Paris's special dish-- Pot-Au-Feu," I explained, transferring the tender roast into another bowl.

Fyre's eyebrows jumped up. "Competition strikes again! Davina is also doing her own little imitation of Pot-au-Feu."

My eyes rolled back internally. Of course, out of all the fifteen contestants, we would be working on the same dish and basically were asking to be compared to one another. My nerves fared up, but I had faith in my skills-- for the most part.

"Davina has to keep a lookout," I joked.

Fyre giggled. "Wow, Ambrose how bold of you to challenge one of the best chefs in our country."

I raised an amused eyebrow."What's some friendly competition, right?"

Fyre gently swatted my shoulder. "Well, you got all of us at the edges of our seats! Who's going to be the big winner-- the new upcoming chef Ambrose or famous Michelin star holder Davina? Watch until the end to find out! Wish you the best, Ambrose."

"Thank you," I replied.

With ten minutes remaining, I stirred leeks, carrots, rib celery into the reduced stock. As minutes ticked by, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, and potatoes were added, and I prayed everything would reach the consistency I needed. For finishing touches, I chopped pieces of sausage and seasoned the broth with salt and pepper.

Sweat poured down my forehead when Frye announced two minutes left until the round was over. Using a spoon, I tasted my dish and was extremely grateful for how incredible it turned out. Seventy percent of myself thought I would make it past the first round however, I was concerned about being compared to Davina.

She might be a snotty brat, but somehow she had skills in the kitchen.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven," Fyre shouted, causing me to run around like a chicken with no head.

Quickly, I cleaned the dishes where their mugs were settled in, and threw my towel into the air when the timer rang. I high-five the two competitors beside me and released a delighted breath.

"Everyone go relax backstage and we will call each of you guys in when it's your turn," Fyre clarified.

In an orderly fashion, we wandered backstage, which was stocked with cookies, brownies, and cold drinks for us. There were three lime green colored couches, a coffee side table, and two flat-screen TVs showing us everything the judges were saying. It would be quite humiliating if a judge criticized your food and everyone backstage watched it.

"How did you think you did?" Weasley asked as he dropped his hands on my shoulders.

"I'm pretty confident," I said.

A smile spread across Wesley's face. "Good, I'm not ready to lose my buddy on our first week."

I shot him an obvious look. "Oh, really? You haven't been to the apartment since last Thursday, and it's Wednesday."

Wesley blushed as he glanced past my shoulders, and when I swung my body around, I saw Davina biting her lip, making intense eye contact with my friend. Bile rose my throat as I witnessed them basically eye-fucking each other.

"Don't tell me something is going on there," I retorted.

Wesley half shrugged and smirked. "We've been hanging out every night for the past week. She's honestly one of the best girls I've ever meant!"

I shot him a look. "Is that her personality talking or her mouth?"

Wesley playfully smacked my chest. "I'm serious. I really really really like her."

My face contorted. "Bro, that's three, really. Should I be concerned? I'm just saying watch over yourself, Davina is a big-shot celebrity and doesn't have the best track record as recently."

I didn't want to be too hard on the lover boy. Davina is incredibly beautiful, and if she hadn't vomited in my mouth, my crush on her would still exist. But after our incident, I googled searched her, and saw every single scandal she's been in. She's been in fifteen over the span of this year.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid. I'll talk to her about where we go from here. Enough about my love life, how the situation with Lana?" Weasley asked, his eyes widened with anticipation.

During one of our many game showdowns, I confided in Wesley about my not so secret love I had for my best friend. The conversation got so deep; I ended up needing popcorn and tissues to make it through the night. The last thing I mentioned was about how Lana and Declan were still having marital troubles.

To all my knowledge, they were still fighting.

Wesley's phone dinged multiple times from notifications.

"Better answer that, it might be your partner in crime over there," I teased, reaching over for a brookie.

Wesley shook his head as a lighthearted grin invaded his face. "It's not her, but it's something even better! NovakSoft is releasing a new game, the character is based on the current president's wife."

My face dropped. "Wait, let me look."

My heart collapsed to the bottom of my stomach when I saw the photo on his screen. Anger coursed through me, and my throat constricted.

"Damn, the president is lucky to have a wife as beautiful as her. Wait, she kinda looks familiar," Wesley murmured. "Oh, sh-hit this is..."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Yeah. It's Lana."

The feud is brewing ;)!!! I'm so loving watching Ambrose and Davina being enemies. Is anyone else? Also next chapter... update on Lana 😝!!

Love you guys and can't wait to read your comments!!!