Chapter 4: Scandal at Sunrise

The next morning, Mia came looking for Carter while I was having breakfast with him.

“No way a girl can eat that much in one sitting!” Mia stared in awe. “Autumn, you eat like this every meal and never gain weight—I’m so jealous.”

I frowned and sighed. “My body fat’s too low. No matter how much I eat, I can’t fix it. If I had your energy, that’d be great.”

Carter listened to our banter, expression unreadable. He was hard to read, even in the morning light.

Mia sat down. “You two seem close. Worked together before?”

“I teamed up with Carter. He’s amazing—he predicted Lila would come back and went out of his way to help me.” I bit my fork and complained, “I was so scared that day. If it weren’t for him, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

Carter looked at me across the table, silent and intense. His gaze made my skin prickle, like he was seeing right through me. I never knew what he was thinking.

Mia cut in, “Then let’s all team up!”

“That’d be great…”

“No.” Carter interrupted. “I can only look out for one person.”

“I don’t need your protection.” Mia rolled her eyes. “I’ll help you protect Autumn.”

Carter shot her a cold look, gently blowing the steam off his coffee. “I can protect her myself.”

The livestream chat went wild. Dusty Blue—Carter Evans x Autumn Taylor—was blowing up. I could barely keep up with the memes.

In just two days, the Dusty Blue ship had exploded, dominating the stats and buzz. It was everywhere.

“So sweet! Even knowing Dusty Blue is a contract couple, they’re still shippable!”

“Carter is faking a ship with Autumn to make Mia jealous, which proves Carter-Mia is the real deal!”

“Dusty Blue is the best! Desert-island exclusive—soft summer vibes. Beautiful, even if it won’t last!”

Amid the chaos, someone suddenly commented—

“You’ve all been fooled by that witch Autumn Taylor. She’s messy in private, was a delinquent in high school, and who knows how many times she slept her way into roles after she broke in. How else did she land those gigs?”

Mia’s info was spot-on—the second game was jacks.

I wasn’t good at it, and Carter had no clue. We were doomed.

Even though we turned down Mia’s alliance offer, she still dutifully coached us all afternoon. She was so open about it—if I hadn’t been burned before, I’d probably like her too.

A girl with a “lucky charm” persona, Holly Nguyen, led the jacks practice. It was like a summer camp out there, everyone tossing jacks and laughing. We blended right in.

“Hey, that cute guy is Tyler Cruz, right? He’s great at singing—I watch his TikToks all the time!”

Carter lowered his eyes. “Focus.”

“Wow, Lily Watts is here too! I love her glow-up videos—she’s only 5'2" but looks six feet tall in photos. So cool…”

Carter’s gaze sharpened, his tone low. “You really have a lot of free time.”

“You don’t get it. Ever since my rep tanked, I haven’t had any real jobs. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have gotten on a show this big…”

My attention drifted to a passing young hunk. Broad shoulders, sculpted muscles, tight abs…

Youth is a wonderful thing. I sighed.

“Autumn, aren’t you hot?”

“I’m fine.” I replied absentmindedly, eyes still on the guy. “If you are, there’s towels and ice water over there…”

Carter unbuttoned his shirt. His collar fell open, casual but impossibly elegant. I stared.

“What are you looking at?”

“Rocks! I mean—the jacks. Your form. Your… technique—whatever!”

Carter couldn’t help laughing. I blushed.

I suddenly realized—how could anyone get hot playing jacks in the shade? Men and their ridiculous competitiveness. Gotta love it.

“Pause recording, cut Autumn’s feed.” A crew member came over, face stern. “Come with me, there’s something you need to explain.”

Rumors from the livestream spread across the internet in no time. I was trending for all the wrong reasons.

Marsha jumped into crisis mode, but fighting rumors is a losing battle. The more you deny, the worse it gets. Classic Hollywood.

The crew was worried my situation would affect filming, so I had to record a video to clear things up myself. Awkward doesn’t even cover it.

Sitting in my room, trouble came crashing down on me. I grew up as a child star under the spotlight—when did I ever have a chance to mess around?

Marsha, the crew, and I spent all afternoon negotiating. In the end, we agreed: if the scandals couldn’t be contained quickly, I’d have to quit the show. It was a gut punch.

“Hey, do we really need to go that far?” I protested, but I knew the answer.

I opened the door and smelled heavy smoke. Someone was stressed.

Mia’s GoPro was on the table, turned off. Suspicious.

The bathroom door was ajar. I heard Mia’s voice inside.

Through the crack, I saw her sitting on the toilet lid, legs crossed, smoking, video chatting on her phone. On the other end was her agent.

“This business is survival of the fittest. If you don’t step on others, they’ll step on you. Do you know how high Autumn’s solo popularity and Dusty Blue’s buzz are right now?”

Mia took a long drag and slowly exhaled. “Carter’s already on guard. No point trying to stick to him. My strategy is to hype a ship with Autumn and lock in my tough-girl image.”

“Yeah, right. Her rep’s even worse now. Stay away from her.”

“But—”

“It’s for your own good. Remember how hard things were when you debuted, how much you suffered. If you hadn’t faked an injury on that show with Autumn and milked the sympathy, would you be here now? Those makeup and snack endorsements—you snatched them from her, didn’t you?”

I stood at the door, stuck. My GoPro was still running, red light flashing. I felt like I was about to blow up the whole show.

The livestream chat exploded.

“So Mia faked her injury on that show?”

“That’s too much! Autumn got dragged for years for nothing!”

“Stealing endorsements, ruining reputations, leeching off Carter—can Mia get any worse?”

“No way. So all the hate Autumn’s gotten recently is Mia’s doing?”

“Unfollowed! I’m a hater now!”

Mia’s agent’s video froze, then disconnected. Busted.

After arriving on the island, everyone had to surrender their phones. Who knows who smuggled that in for Mia.

The crew did a surprise check and found the phone in the toilet tank. Her agent didn’t get a chance to warn her about the livestream.

Mia got a serious warning, cried, and promised she wouldn’t break the rules again, so they let her stay. She didn’t know how she got exposed, so she blamed me. Of course.

Thanks to the spoilers, jacks went smoothly. Twenty more out—seventy left. The third game was dodgeball, and again, Mia gave Carter the tip, who then passed it to me.

I was annoyed. These days, Mia had been avoiding me and clinging to Carter instead.

I used to break up ships without even trying, but now that I wanted to, I couldn’t seem to pull it off. Irony, right?

Carter wasn’t in any rush—he just stuck by my side. Spending so much time together, some sweet feelings naturally grew. Sometimes it almost felt like we were really dating. Dangerous territory.

At first, I was fooled by his gentle gaze, but eventually I figured it out—he looks at his green juice the same way. Ha.

A true Oscar winner—he could turn acting into life, and life into acting. I had to remind myself: Don’t fall for him. Nothing good comes of that.