"Where did you ever learn to drive one of those things?" Jolene looked at Clarice skeptically, and Alison agreed Clarice didn't seem like the fun in the sun type.

Clarice shrugged. "Camp counselor in high school. Then I ran the summer aquatics program in college for part of my tuition."

"You go, girl," Jolene said as Clarice straddled one of the waverunners and gestured to Alison to do the same. Alison glanced over at the cameraman who was still on the dock. There was no way she could even approach him with the other three women right there, but maybe there'd be some chance today for her to be on shore herself while Brogan was still out in the water and distracted. It was starting to look like there were a lot less production people on the island than she'd hoped. She shifted her attention back to Clarice, who was explaining the basics.

"You turn the key. It's powered through water that's sucked into the machine and propelled out through the back." Clarice pointed out the throttle. "You don't have to go full out, and remember to try to hit the waves at an angle. Don't turn too sharp or you'll flip it. Climbing back on in open water while it's being tossed around by the waves is no picnic, take it from me.

"Clip the safety cord to your --- do we have an life jackets? Hey Brogan!" she shouted, but her call was lost in the sound of his boat engine.

Jolene snorted. "Don't bother."

Clarice looked at her. "What - "

"Get real, Clarice. You think he wants us to cover up our tits with life jackets?"

Clarice looked at the group and bit her lip. "Please tell me you all know how to swim."

"I grew up in lake country," Miranda said. "I used to go fishing with my Dad." She looked out over the water a few seconds, then turned back and grinned. "So, yeah, I know how to swim."

"I was on the swim team for awhile in high school," Alison said, remembering. That had been their third move that year, and her dad hadn't had any better luck holding onto that job. When they packed up the next time, Alison didn't bother trying out at the new school.

"Yeah, sure," Jolene said. "I was on the swim team in high school, too." She stared back at them as if daring them to question her statement. "Anyway," she shrugged, "I'm not planning to fall off."

Clarice and Alison exchanged a look, then eased their waverunners off the floating deck and into the water. The inflated "banana boat" was already tied onto the back of Alison's waverunner, and Jolene climbed on, gripping the handholds tightly, while still flashing a smile at the cameraman on the dock.

Alison accelerated, tightening the towrope and pulling the banana boat away from the dock. Miranda laid belly-down on the round canvas-covered tube, slipping her hands through the foam grips on each side, arching her back and dangling her legs out over the water.

"Go, matey!" she shouted, and Clarice gunned the engine and took off across the water, with Miranda and tube bouncing behind her, shrieking. Miranda's tube skimmed over the water and Clarice angled outward, the tube grazing the banana boat that was moving along at a more sedate if choppy pace.

Miranda looked like a kid at a water park, Alison thought, as she cautiously increased the speed of her waverunner, glancing back over her shoulder to check on Jolene. When Clarice got to the end of the run and turned, the tube picked up speed, angling in an arc and lifting off the water, Miranda screaming in delight and managing to hang on.

As Alison felt the sea spray on her face she almost, for a moment, could imagine that she was nothing more than a tourist on a tropical island vacation, that she wasn't there to find answers that meant more to her than everything she had worked for at the health club in New York. She couldn't help wondering if Gwennie's thighs had straddled this same waverunner, and she snapped her attention back as a sharp turn into a rolling wave almost capsized her.

They were several hundred yards from shore, a group of largely untrained water sporters - one of whom probably couldn't even swim - cavorting about in choppy water without any lifejackets. And Brogan's boat may have been positioned for great camera angles, but the two men on board were probably far more interested in the prospect of catching an accidentally exposed nipple on film than they were ensuring the safety of the contestants.

After about an hour of cruising back and forth while the sun began to heat up the sky, Brogan blew a whistle to signal them in. Miranda's skin was glowing, and Alison rummaged through the bag she'd left on the dock for some spray sunblock.

"SPF 45? I want to get a tan while I'm here," Miranda said, but stood still while Alison sprayed her.

"Tan is one thing, but skin peeling off your body is not the best look for your television debut."

Jolene considered, then took the sunblock Alison offered and began spraying it on her own arms and legs.

"Get my back, will you, honey?" She handed the spray can to Clarice who obligingly sprayed her back, then did Alison's as well before passing the can back again. Alison sprayed Clarice in turn.

"You need sun block with your skin color?" Miranda asked, then flushed. "I mean, I don't mean anything by it," she said. "I was just wondering."

Clarice said mildly, "You fair skinned types don't have a monopoly on skin cancer."

The boat pulled up to the dock, and Brogan and one of the cameramen dragged a cooler out from under some brush. Alison hadn't even noticed it; so much for her powers of observation. He popped the lid off the cooler, and gestured toward it.

"Help yourselves, ladies."

Alison walked over and peered into the chest. "Peanuts and beer?"

"You were expecting caviar and champagne?" Brogan asked.

"No, but I wouldn't turn down a bottle of water and a sandwich."

"What you see is what you get," he said, and walked away.

"Ain't that the truth, honey," Jolene said, snaring a beer out of the cooler and popping the tab with a quick snap.

"I guess this is the obligatory girls-in-bikinis-drinking-beer portion of our program," Clarice said, but quietly, so Brogan wouldn't hear her from his current position near the dock, where he was fiddling with the engine on the boat. Behind the speedboat – a 34-foot Boston Whaler, according to Travis, which was by no means small -- was an even larger boat. Alison supposed it was best described as a small yacht. It hadn't been there the night they arrived, and Alison wondered if Brogan actually lived on it while he was on the Island, or stayed in one of the buildings in the "base" he'd mentioned the night before. She was anxious to get the opportunity to look around the place on her own a little more.

Alison looked over at Clarice.

"I'm still trying to figure out why you wanted to be on this show. I mean, what did you expect a reality show like this to be?"

"What did you expect?" Clarice said, countering the question.

"I expected it to basically exploit woman and give the viewers cheap thrills."

"So why are you here?" Clarice said, asking the one question Alison really couldn't answer.

Miranda and Jolene ran over, carrying a beach blanket Brogan had produced from somewhere. Miranda spread out the blanket, then grabbed another beer before plopping down onto it.

"That was awesome!" Miranda said. "I think I was finally getting the hang of it when Brogan pulled us in." Miranda giggled. "You know, just us girls here on the beach, it's kind of like one of those getaway trips on the Real Housewives shows, you know?"

"But without the caviar and champagne," Clarice said drily.

The four of them sat on the blanket, Alison and Clarice sipping their first beers and munching on peanuts, while Miranda and Jolene seemed to be in a contest as to who could drink the most. Alison tossed Miranda a bag of peanuts.

"If you're going to put away that much alcohol in the hot sun, at least eat something."

"Ok, Mom," Miranda said, ripping the corner off the bag of salted nuts and dumping them in her mouth. "You know, though, these are just going to make me thirstier."

She was probably right, Alison thought. Still, as long as they were done bouncing around on the waverunners, there wasn't much harm in them sitting back relaxing a little.

Jolene was entertaining Miranda with a story about a party she'd attended when she first arrived in Hollywood. "Girl, I was so naive. Let me tell you . . ."

While Miranda listened with rapt attention, Alison inched closer to Clarice.

"I'm still not getting the whole point of this little beach party. I mean, yesterday, we had the rock climbing challenge to get the first key, which made sense, but this didn't seem to have any point."

"I know." Clarice shifted on the blanket. "Unless it's just . . . like Jolene said before."

Jolene looked up from her story. "I'm telling you, girls, it's the 5 B's -- beach, beer, babes and bikinis."

"That's only 4," Miranda said. "Oh, I know -- boobs!" She giggled and sipped her beer.

Alison looked over and saw Brogan watching them. He held her gaze for a moment, and she felt an odd shiver down her spine. Then he looked away.

"Creepy, huh?" Jolene glanced over toward Brogan, then back at Alison, her face serious for the moment.

"What?" Alison said.

"The way he looks at us."

"Yeah."

"I noticed it too," Clarice said. "It's like we're a commodity."

"Come on you guys, lighten up," Miranda took another long gulp of beer and shook her hair back, the red highlights glinting in the sun. "I bet all Hollywood directors are exactly like that. You know, detached. Always thinking about what each scene looks like on film." She crunched some peanuts and washed them down with another big drink of her beer, finishing off the can.

"I saw a thing once on Bravo about how they make reality shows," Miranda explained. "Do you have any idea how much of every hour of film they shoot ends up never been used? I mean, face it girls, most of the time reality's pretty boring."

"I guess you're right," Alison said. "He probably looks at us and sees production costs." But she couldn't seem to shake the feeling that he'd been measuring her and that what he was thinking had nothing to do with her photogenic appeal to TV viewers. Or how much money he was paying the cameramen by the hour.

To Alison's surprise, a half an hour later they were back on the water again, and she was glad she'd stopped at one beer. Miranda was on the banana boat this time behind Clarice, and Jolene was bouncing on the tube at the end of the line behind Alison's jet ski. Alison and Clarice had quickly vetoed Brogan's suggestion that Miranda and Jolene drive the jet skis, pointing out that there was no way either of them was getting on a tube behind the two who had finished off the lion's share of two six-packs of beer.

"Come on, Brogan," Clarice had reasoned. "You're the one taking on the liability if the two of them ram their jet ski's into each other."

Miranda giggled and claimed she wasn't all that drunk. Surprisingly, Brogan didn't put up any further argument, but cautioned Miranda and Jolene that he expected them to be a bit more "animated" this time or they weren't going to be able to use anything from the shoot today. And he warned Alison and Clarice to keep inside the area marked off by the buoys.

"Why, is there something dangerous beyond that point?" Miranda asked, for the first time looking a little concerned.

"No," Brogan said patiently. "Go beyond that point and the cameramen can't zoom in on you close enough for the shot to be a keeper. Look like you're having some fun, girls," he added. "Think Spring Break in Daytona Beach, and give me a little jiggle."

Miranda called the banana boat, gripping it tightly with her legs and signaling Brogan with a double thumbs up. Clarice pulled out and the banana boat jerked forward when it took up the slack in the ski rope.

"I'll show you some jiggle, chief," Miranda called back, looking over her shoulder as she whipped off her bikini top and tossed it backwards onto the dock behind her.

Brogan's lip twitched, and he glanced over at the cameraman stationed on the dock to confirm that he was already filming. Brogan stepped into the speedboat with the other cameraman, and headed out in the water for a better vantage point. Miranda, meanwhile, was half standing on the banana boat, swaying back and forth as it bounced over the wake and headed onto smoother water.

"Go!" Jolene shouted, and Alison looked back before cranking up the throttle on her waverunner. Jolene was still wearing her band bikini top, but Alison imagined she'd shed it soon enough once they were out on the water. The vibrations alone had almost worked it down during the last outing.

The banana boat bounced up ahead of them as Clarice expertly steered and Alison took off after it, Jolene letting out a wild whoop. Alison looked back over her shoulder to see her kneeling on the tube, holding onto the handle with one hand while she tugged at her bathing suit top with the other. Apparently lying down on the tube the way Miranda had didn't afford enough exposure for Jolene's taste. Alison hoped she realized her center of gravity was a lot higher now, and without the banana boat's form to grip with her knees, she could only hope Jolene had the sense to grab onto the foam handles and hold on tight.

This was the kind of adventure she was certain Gwen had looked forward to when she signed on for a reality TV show in a tropical paradise. Alison's hands tightened on the accelerator, and the waverunner shot forward across the glistening water. She could feel what Gwen would have felt – the speed, the water spraying up in her face, the pure surge of adrenalin. Gwen would have been in her element, pushing the waverunner to its limit, streaking across the blue waters of the Island shore with the wind blowing back her hair, the future filled with limitless possibilities.

When she heard a shout, Alison looked back guiltily; she'd momentarily forgotten she was pulling anyone behind her. Jolene looked triumphant. She had managed to get one breast exposed, and she was tugging at the other side. Alison realized she was already past the buoy Brogan had mentioned. Clarice and Miranda had turned and were two-thirds of the way back in the other direction.

"Hang on!" she shouted to Jolene as she slowed the waverunner to make the turn. Jolene threw her top into the air just as the tube took off. Alison turned back and accelerated to try to take up some of the slack in the ski rope and keep Jolene from swinging out in such a wide arc, then cut the power when she heard Jolene's excited squeals turned into a startled scream.

"Shit." The tube had lifted enough to flip, and Jolene was nowhere in sight. Alison turned around and yelled "Jolene!" The waves lapped against side of the watercraft, and there was suddenly no other sound, but the distant hum of the other waverunner. She turned the key to start the waverunner again and go back for her, but it didn't start. She turned it again. Could you flood these things? She had no idea.

Then she spotted Jolene's head bobbing above the water, her arms flailing. "Hang on! Try to swim to the tube!"

Jolene made no move toward the tube – apparently keeping her head above water was about all she could manage. Alison turned to wave frantically to Brogan, but he was looking in the other direction, out toward deeper water, binoculars pressed to his face. She followed his line of sight and felt icy fingers fun up her spine. She was certain she saw a fin cutting through the water.

The quiet hum of the other waverunner was now a roar. Clarice was standing, the personal watercraft fully on plane, tearing across the water. She'd untied the ski rope and left Miranda drifting on the banana boat, and was speeding toward Jolene. Alison looked back toward Miranda, who had apparently now spotted the fin in the water, and was pointing at it with one hand and clutching the float with the other, her legs curled up out of the water.

Alison could see her face, knew she was terrified, screaming, her voice cutting through the sound of Clarice's waverunner. Clarice was heading for Jolene, but the shark was closing in on Miranda.

Writer's Note

Does drinking a lot of beer and going back out on the water seem like a good plan to you? What was Brogan thinking? 

Do you think Jolene will be okay?  And what about Miranda?