Whirlwind 01 - Finish Line - Pt. 02

She pulled out her smart phone, opened the browser, and selected www.arianacollins.com. She logged in as a member. Only Nathan knew she was a member with the avatar 'IrishSinger'; that way she could get into the 'Members Only' section and see what her fans were talking about. After Nathan had granted her member status, she had been tempted to comment on some of the threads, but knew that Nathan would know it was her.

She scanned the topics, noting nothing unusual in all the usual areas; show reviews, artwork, letters to Ariana - she did read most of them, but never responded - and a new section labeled 'Celebrity Fantastic Race - under construction', but then got to the Members Only section and found a topic - Singer and Fan/Teammates - with hundreds of posts. She scanned the beginning. Nathan hadn't started it, but he had many posts in it. Anxious, she skipped to the end to read Nathan's latest post:

I guess I should marvel at the sheer number of variations the members of this forum have come up with to ask the same basic question: 'What is Ariana Collins REALLY like?' Exactly 463, but who is counting. LOL. I won't get tired of answering, but I am probably going to give up on making a unique response to each, so here is my last unique response: I was lucky enough to spend some time with Ariana during the race, and I can now say that if the UN ever holds a 'nicest person on the planet' contest, and Ariana isn't at least first runner-up, you'll know the vote was rigged. And to ask for a better teammate, for a race or anything else, would be trying God's patience. In response to future such questions, I will simply respond 'See #463." Yes, that also goes for you, Western Bob.

And just a reminder to a few of the Forum's newer members; to become a member you e-signed an agreement to respect Ariana's privacy - with a long list of topics the Forum would NOT be open to. I operate under exactly the same rules as everyone else. I will NOT violate Ariana's privacy, will not comment on any speculations, and won't pass anything along unless I have Ariana's explicit permission.

Nathan aka ForumFounder

Ariana tried to read through the earlier comments and Nathan's responses, but found herself continually going back to the last one, which, she noticed, had been posted only 7 minutes ago. Her fingers twitched restlessly. One click and she could make a reply, anonymous to all but Nathan. One click and she could send him a personal off-line message.

But what would she say?

Finally she logged off the fan forum and put her phone away.

She now really had a headache -- and a heartache.

[Chinese gymnast and her brother were the last team to arrive but it was a non-elimination leg]