Page 19 of Competing Against Thor

"Unfortunately, we still have to say goodbye to one of you," Duncan said.

"But first, the best bit," Rosie said. "The judges are awardingJudge's Choiceto the sculpture that they didn't believe could be created in the time allotted and looked as if it was straight out of real life. Congratulations, Carlos, your duck has wonJudge's Choice!"

"Congrats," I said to Carlos while he beamed with pride. Which was warranted, his sculpture was truly beautiful, and I was envious of the talent he clearly had.

"Now comes the part none of us like," Duncan said with false solemnity. "The judges were impressed with all of the sculptures this week, but we have to say goodbye to someone."

"Kenji, while the judges liked the way you used colour this week, they thought that the application was a bit amateurish," Rosie said.

I looked over to my fellow competitor, noticing how serious he looked even as he nodded his head to acknowledge the criticism. It was hard to take at the best of times, but knowingthat this was going out on TV to so many people definitely made it worse.

"Daisy," Rosie said

The sound of my name made my stomach drop. Considering they only gave critique to the bottom two, it sounded as if I was in real danger of going home.

I swallowed hard and looked down at my sculpture of a frog. I thought I'd done a decent job, and I hadn't even leaned into flowers. Maybe that was where I'd gone wrong, and I should have done a lily to go alongside the frog, but I'd been worried I'd end up penalised for not allowing the animal to shine through when that was the brief.

Rosie gave me an insincerely reassuring smile and carried on with no regard for the thoughts going through my mind. Which was fair, this was her job. "You were theJudge's Choicewith last week's flowers, but this week, the judges felt like your frog sculpture was rushed and didn't have the finesse they've come to expect from the competition."

Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes, and I looked down hoping that no one could see them. I didn't want anyone to think that I was overly emotional, especially compared to the others.

Thor shifted from one foot to the other beside me, clearly wanting to say something, but I hoped he wouldn't. There was nothingtosay.

"I'm sorry, Daisy, but your time in the competition has ended," Rosie said.

I let out a deep breath. "Thank you. It's been such a great experience to be here. And I wish everyone else a lot of luck." My voice cracked as I said the words, and I was surprised I even managed to get them out.

Without even thinking about it, I turned towards Thor and he put his arms around me. I wasn't usually the type to seek outcomfort from people I barely knew, but I supposed I was starting to feel like Ididknow him.

"You'd better win now," I told him.

He laughed, the warm sound travelling through me pleasantly despite the situation. "Is that what you're thinking about?"

I nodded. "Got to throw my support behind someone." I pulled away from him and wiped away the threat of tears, grateful that he didn't mention them, even as he watched me.

Carlos appeared at my side to express his regret, and I was grateful that he wasn't just trying to gloat over his success atJudge's Choice. Kenji wasn't quite so subtle with his relief, but that was to be expected considering he narrowly avoided being in my position.

I said my goodbyes to the other contestants and headed out of the studio, acutely aware of the cameras following me and the fact I didn't want to break down before I got out of there.

But the reality was already sinking in. I'd been sent home from the competition, which meant there was no chance of me winning now, even in my wildest dreams.

Chapter 10

DAISY

I swirled my whiskey around my glass but didn't take a drink. There was a temptation to drown my sorrows about being knocked out of the competition, but I wasn't in my early twenties any more, if I drank too much, I'd pay for it in the morning, and it seemed as if I was going to have to work extra hard now I'd lost the potential exposure that winning the competition was going to give me.

I sighed and took a sip.

"You need a pick me up," Danny said from beside me, not seeming nearly as bothered by my failure as I was.

"I'm fine. I just need to have a drink, then go home to sleep so I can go back to the studio tomorrow."

"Back? Oh no, you're not going back there."

"I have to. I have my exit interview where they cut me together talking about everything that went wrong with my last piece." I grimaced, even thinking about it was rough.

"You could just blow them off."