Tina rolls and Bette moves their piece the appropriate number of places. “Word worm.”

“Ok,” Tina grabs the card. “It’s an anagram.  We’re both allowed to try.”

“Pass us the pencil and paper,” Bette requests.

“Is that allowed?” Jenny asks.

“Probably not,” Alice says and scratches the back of her head. “But we’re bending the rules.”

Carmen laughs and nudges her partner, Alice just shrugs and smiles.

“Ok, you guys ready?” Shane asks. They both nod and she flips the timer.

They look at the card. “Y. U. S. O. N. Y. N. M. S. O.” They start scribbling down anything they can think of, scratching out almost every try.

“This is fucking impossible!” Bette complains as she puts down her pencil and closes her eyes to think. She rests her head on her hand.

“You only have about 10 seconds,” Shane warns. Bette picks her pencil back up and continues clueless.

“Five, four, three, two…” Jenny counts. “Time.”

“Shit,” Bette throws down her pen. “I didn’t get anything. Mama T?”

“Nothing,” replies Tina. “What was it?”

“Synonymous,” Shane answers.

“Fuck! I should’ve known that,” Bette complains.

“It was a hard one,” Shane says putting it back. “Ok, our turn. You wanna roll Jenny?”

“Sure,” she picks up the die and rolls. “Green. Oh no, is it acting?”

Shane picks a card and looks. “Yep, here,” she says offering her the card.

Jenny shakes her head and leans back, nervously smiling. “No you do it.”

“Uh – no. No way,” Shane laughs.

“Oh c’mon Shane,” Carmen says running her hand up and down her back. “You’re not shy are you?”

Alice let’s out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s Shane alright.”

“Come on, Shane,” Helena urges.

“Yeah, let’s see what you got,” Tina adds.

“Please?” Jenny asks.

Shane drops her head then looks to Jenny. “You owe me.” She looks at Carmen, who’s beaming, and shakes her head. “You’re a bad influence,” Shane teases her in a hushed whisper and Carmen laughs. “Ok, uh – fuck I dunno. Let’s see.” She pauses to think, rubbing the top of her head.

“What’s the hint?”

“It’s a cartoon character.”

“Ready, and…” Carmen flips the timer. “Go!”

Shane buttons up her dress shirt all the way, puts on her glasses and stands hunched. She starts pretending to write things on a pad and pushes her glasses up her nose.