Page 24 of Competing Against Thor

"It's time to reveal the results," Duncan said, a serious expression on his face. "It's always difficult to say goodbye to anyone, and now we have to say goodbye to three of you for the second time."

Rosie clasped her hands together. "The judges were very impressed by your sculptures today and said that it was a very difficult choice for them to make."

"If it were up to us, then we'd put you all through," Duncan added.

It was all I could do to keep a straight face, but I knew I had to. There were going to be cameras everywhere just waiting to catch a shot of our reactions.

"Congratulations, Daisy, the judges voted your sculpture as their favourite, and are inviting you to continue in the competition!"

I let out a shaky breath. "Thank you." I almost choked on the threat of tears.

"We're sorry to the other competitors, but your time in the workshop is now at an end," Duncan said.

I couldn't believe what was happening. After being so convinced that I'd lost, I was heading back into the competition.

And this time, I wasn't going to ignore my instincts and I was going to make sure that I did everything I possibly could in order to win.

Chapter 12

THOR

I looked over at the station next to me, realising just how disappointed I felt not to see Daisy getting ready for the next round of the competition. And to make matters worse, I hadn't seen her on interview day to ask her for her number. I supposed I could find her workshop and see if there was a number listed there, but that felt a bit stalkerish.

The bell sounded to announce that filming was about to start, and I headed down to the staging area where the hosts had just appeared.

"Welcome back toThe Great Sculpting Challenge!" Rosie smiled so wide that it had to be fake. "There's a wild card happening in the studio today."

Dread filled me. What were they going to make us do now? There hadn't been a challenge where they had us teamed up yet, which I was sure was coming. I didn't have anything against the challenge itself, but there was no one here that I knew well enough to trust in close proximity like that.

"After you went home last time, we held a surprise round of the competition," Duncan said. "And the winner of that round is coming back to compete with you all!"

My insides constricted. There was only one person who could be coming back. None of the other eliminated contestants had anywhere near the skills Daisy did.

"Please welcome back Daisy!" Rosie gestured to the left.

The woman I'd been thinking about constantly since we'd parted ways in the bar entered the room with a sheepish expression on her face, coming over to take her spot next to me.

"Welcome back," I said, flashing her what I hoped she saw as a friendly smile.

"Thanks." She smiled back, a little hesitantly, but I was sure that was just because of how strange the situation was.

"All right, so now we've got today's challenge," Duncan said. "We want you to create a bug of some kind. You need to use at least two different materials, and we want to be able toseethem when we look at your sculpture."

"You'll have six hours, starting now!"

The timer flicked into existence and I tried my best to think about what I wanted to do, though in all honesty, I was mostly just thinking about the fact Daisy was back and that it gave me an opportunity to ask her for her number like I wanted to.

"Bet you thought you were rid of me?" Daisy said as we headed over to our stations.

"I hoped I wasn't," I responded. "I certainly don'twantto be rid of you."

She laughed. "You should. I'm not going to get eliminated a second time, I'm going to win."

"I don't doubt it," I responded. "If anyone has the capability of doing that, it's you."

She glowed in response to my praise. "I'm glad you think so."

"Did you know you were going to get a chance to come back in when you left?" I asked.