
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
Alice refuses to sit next to Bob. Derek refuses to sit next to either Alice or Eric. How many ways can the five of them (Alice, Bob, Carla, Derek, and Eric) sit in a row of 5 chairs under these conditions?
A) 12  
B) 16  
C) 20   
D) 24  
E) 28

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
user