Chapter 24 Crowning of the Queen Bee

Returning to the backroom barn after the group challenge was another insane experience. Gemma’s boyfriend and I walked the last part together, but neither of us said anything. He could barely look at me, and I wondered if it was guilt of what they had done to Diane. At least he was dressed, so there was that.

Eight naked girls were lined up next to the podium when I walked in. Somehow, Brianna and Gemma had rejoined, and both had undressed again for the occasion. There was a considerable difference between how the girls looked. Brianna appeared the most put-together, with freshly showered hair and full makeup. Carolyn and Heidi had managed to comb their hair and clean up, but their makeup remained untouched. Brianna looked the neatest of them all. She looked showered, applied makeup, and fixed her hair. Carolyn and Heidi looked clean and had combed their hair, but neither had a chance to completely correct their make-up. Gemma, still affected by tranquilizers, looked out of it, her body bearing the aftermath. It might still take weeks for her body to recover.

Fran and Emily had only fixed their hair, which had otherwise remained unchanged since our last encounter, and the remains of some of the activities were still visible on their naked bodies.

All the men stood together. They were dressed, but like me, it all looked like a rush job. Their facial expressions were all over the place, varying from tired to concerned to happy and relieved. Nobody was talking except for Penelope, who had prepared another speech ... Thankfully, this time, her speech was shorter. Penelope had pulled Ashley and Diane forward towards the podium. The contrast was night and day. If it had been a boxing match, then it would have been clear who the winner was by their appearance, but in this competition, I still needed to find out who had won.

Ashley, with her bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair, seemed like a casualty of war, her appearance reflecting the hour of hell she had gone through. Her eyes were red-shot, and her hair looked like that of a crazy person. Diane, though tired, looked clean, and her make-up seemed hardly affected by whatever she had gone through, and after, Brianna might look the second-most polished of the bunch.

Penelope asked me to come forward and join her so I could give the outcome of the challenge. I was asked to stand next to her. Another twist was that I still didn’t know how Diane had done in her challenge, and my input could change the outcome of the competition.

All eight girls were back in line again, and Penelope went over the winners one by one. Fran, Brianna, Emily, and Gemma were all congratulated again as winners of their award challenge, and it was reaffirmed that they had the full support of the Queen Bee organization in their careers, whatever that meant. They were asked to join their partners.

Next, Carolyn was called up, and I was asked to give her a thumbs-up or thumbs-down based on her performance in the group challenge. This was easy, and I give it a thumbs-up. The next was Heidi, and I gave another thumbs-up. The next one to be asked to come forward was Ashley.