Another Justin fic! Woohoo! Yeah, for those anti-Justin fans, you might like the first few paragraphs of the story, but it gets more emotional as it goes down.
I just noticed that most of my fics are tragic or sad or seriously overloaded with emotion. Huh.
Anyways, hope you enjoy :)
~Hana~
"Jerk!"
"Horse-face!"
"Narcisstic maniac!"
"Ugly person!"
Everyone stopped in the midst of Chris' latest sadistic challenge and glanced over at the fighting pair. A fairly unattractive girl with large framed glasses glared up at her challenge partner, a male model with an ego the size of Texas. He was the eye candy of men and women alike, and he knew it. He striked an alluring pose and flipped his hair sexily. Nearly all the girls swooned, save for Beth. She was done with him.
A week ago, though, she would have been red, and blushing, and pampering him like a servant would. She was blind to all of this, as she kept on telling herself that all friends should have each other's backs, though it seemed that he didn't really care for her at all. No, she would tell herself, he does care for me, he just doesn't know how to show it...
And yet, he still tried to vote her off. How she found out, the world may never know. But the point is that she did, and she wasn't exactly pleased at the knowledge. After her incident with Heather, she thought that she had finally grown a backbone. But nope, she was duped yet again. The feeling of being taken advantage of wasn't new to Beth, but somehow, the fact that it was Justin who took advantage not only of her friendship, but of her feelings for him, drove her up the wall.
The next morning the male model woke up with chewed gum stuck all over his hair. As he frantically tried to get it out, he stepped out of his bunk into a pile of um, well, to be blunt, bear feces. And that wasn't the worst of it. He tried to take a shower, he was covered with red ants. He put on his sandals; they were plastered with superglue. He bent down to pick up a nickel; everyone laughed at the oil stain at the back of his pants. Each time he was pranked, he felt like someone punched him in the face. And it wasn't a great feeling.
Now, the two were at odds with each other. Wait, scratch that. They were at war with each other. You would think that the remaining group of campers were on one side or another, but they weren't. Each and everyone of them knew that they were either dealing with Beth's painful rage, or Justin's manipulative schemes. No one dared to pick sides. Everyone kept their opinions to themselves.
It got worse that morning though. Chris had the excellent idea of bringing back the handcuffs and the "Wimp Key". He had paired the remaining eight teenagers into the following couples:
LeShawna/Duncan: While LeShawna couldn't stand the juvenile deliquent's rash behavior, she respected him enough not to punch him in the face while he joked about her weight. Duncan, on the other hand, had taken it upon himself to torment the large girl for the treachery she did to them a couple of episodes back.
Heather/Courtney: A huge catfight would ensue every ten minutes, due to the clashing of personalities. We'll just leave it at that.
Harold/Lindsay: They got along pretty well together, despite Lindsay's less than bright comments.
Beth/Justin: It was an explosion waiting to happen.
And now, Beth was tugging towards one side of the burning building while Justin was pulling towards the other. Justin never knew that the small girl had so much strength in her. She fought the pull with a determined snarl forming on her face. Justin glared at her and gave one mighty tug after another. "The damsels in distress are this way!" he said with a strained voice, pulling at the blasted cuff that linked them together.
"No, the frickin' dolls are this way!" Beth countered, wiping some sweat away from her brow. The two looked at each other, daring their respective opponent to flinch. Justin's usually calm blue eyes were flaming with rage; his suave manners forgotten somewhere in the brawl. Beth's glasses did nothing to hide the furious anger in her eyes, while her knuckles were growing white from being clenched. The dare was there, waiting to be taken, the tension in the air growing so thick you could slice it with a buttering knife and-
"Hey losers, the challenge is o-ver!" the handsome, but psychotically sadistic host yelled at the fuming pair. "The others got back over an hour ago! You know the penalty!"
The two grew pale with dread. No, the elimination ceremony wasn't until the next week, but tonight, Justin and Beth faced the most horrifying ordeal that the two could ever imagine. Please, please please spare us! they screamed in their heads.
"You havta spend some nice, pleasant quality time together locked in the make-up trailer," Chris said in a sickingly sweet voice. He smirked as he watched the bitter enemies scream in horror. "For two hours."
That did it. The couple were like ravenous dogs, yelling, pulling, tugging, begging to be seperated. But of course, the pretty boy host knew that the two sworn adversaries cooped up in the confessional could bring some awesome ratings. And that was something he didn't plan to lose so quickly. Actually, the original time was to be for an hour, but when he saw the losers, he couldn't resist.
The air was heavy as Chris lead the two towards the trailer. He gave them a smug look as the trailer door flew open, revealing the relatively small space that the two had to stay in for the next two hours. They felt the handcuffs fall off one second and the door slam behind them the next. Beth gritted her teeth as she heard the click of the lock being set in place. A sudden knocking at the door made the two yelp in surprise. Justin peeked through a tiny crack in the door.
His eyes widened as he moaned in disbelief. "What is it?" Beth asked. Somewhere inside of her, she felt like she didn't want to know the answer.
"He's nailing boards of wood all over the entrance!" the eye candy said through gritted teeth. "Now, I'm stuck in here with you. Forever. Oh, the tragedy!" He fell to his knees and slammed his head against the door.
"Careful, you might damage that pretty little head of yours," Beth said with a smirk.
Justin rolled his eyes and slumped against the door. Since when did Beth, of all people, have a backbone? This wasn't the same sweet girl he had taken control of several weeks eariler. But whatever. She was little to no use to him anymore; somehow, he needed to get her off the film lot. Bored, he took out his mirror and started to admire himself. Beth let out a groan.
"Is that all you do? Look at yourself in the mirror?" Beth asked in disbelief. "I mean, don't you get tired of it?"
Justin gave out a smug look as he checked his pearly whites. "I never grow tired of perfection." he said simply.
The farmgirl silently fumed, telling herself not to let him get to her. She had enough of his egotistical comments, and she wasn't going to lose it over another one. Instead she decided to tell him a little story.
"Ya know, you remind me of this character in a story," she said, not looking at him.
Justin kept checking himself out, but let out an acknowledging grunt. "What story?" he asked, clearly not caring.
"Actually it's a Greek myth, but it's one of my favorites..." she muttered, playing with some string. "I think you would find it interesting."
"Sorry, I don't speak Geek," Justin replied bluntly.
Beth took a deep breath, calming the ever growing flames that wanted to eat him alive. "Greek, Justin. Greek. Anyways, it was about this unexplicably handsome guy that every man and woman lusted after. He was the most beautiful creature that the world had ever seen."
This caught Justin's attention. "Go on," he said, eager to feed his swelling pride. He looked at her attentively, sure that his charm was starting to work on her again.
Beth quietly snickered. You asked for it, she thought to herself. She cleared her throat and proceeded. "One day, this gorgeous man took a stroll along a quiet stream. He stopped to look at his reflection and admired himself. Then he said, 'You are so beautiful.'" Beth paused abruptly, seeing that Justin was gazing at his mirror, murmuring 'you are SO beautiful'. Slightly freaked out, the homely girl continued her story. "Anyways, suddenly, the beautiful man heard a lovely female voice call out, 'you are so beautiful!' Thinking that it was a sexy goddess or a pretty princess, he decided to look for the being."
Beth raised an eyebrow as Justin looked around. "Who's speaking? Are you a hot model like me?"
"Uh, Justin, it's just me."
Justin looked down, his face falling. "Oh. Right." he muttered, flabbergasted. Beth, deciding she didn't want to know why he was acting this particular way, continued on with the story.
"Anyways... he searched the forest, not knowing where he wanted to look next. The voice was so beautiful; he just knew that the girl had to be as beautiful as him. But it seemed that every time he called out, she would call out the same thing. Finally he found her; she wasn't beautiful at all. She was just a nymph, who Zeus had cursed into repeating other people's words. Still she was madly in love with the pretty boy, so when he finally found her, she decided that he loved her back. But he didn't. He just spat on her and walked away."
Beth paused, her lips quivering. She glanced up at Justin, who was listening intently. Yet, something felt different. He was looking at his mirror alright, but with a confused expression. His fingers trailed down his face, as if he had finally found a flaw. He looked up at her with thoughtful eyes. "Go on." he murmured quietly.
Wiping away the spare tears, Beth continued with her story. "The nymph was so heartbroken that her cries cast a spell on the man; he would fall in love with the first thing he saw, whether it be a man or a woman. The first thing he saw was his reflection. He fell in love with himself instantly. But try as he might he couldn't join the beautiful man in the clear waters of the brook. Heartbroken, he took a knife and stabbed himself, as he couldn't be with the one person he loved; himself. The man's name? Narcisuss."
Somehow, the male model thought he heard Justin instead of Narcissus.
Beth hid her face in her hands, trying to hide her tears, desperately trying to veil her weakness. She gritted her teeth in agony. The last thing she wanted to do was to cry in front of him; to lose herself in the presence of her adversary. It just wasn't fair. Why? WHY?! Was she some kind of neon sign that said "Spineless Follower"? She hated it. She hated herself. She hated her feelings for the man candy. She was cursed to be stupidly naive the rest of her life.
Justin on the other hand, was in deep thought, something he hadn't done in a long time. It was strange; a simple story quietly revealed to him what a superficial jerk he was. Was he always this way? Did he always put himself before others? Had he always been an insensitive bastard? Something told him that he didn't start out this way. When did it start?
He sat back and thought long and hard, his mind reeling with images from his distant memories. He remembered his fourth birthday, when his parents only invited the most adorable kids in the bunch. He couldn't invite his best friend because he was "average". He remembered his first modelling contract, given to him when he was eight. Ugh, how he hated it! He hated the flash photography, the constant poses, the permanent grin etched onto his face. He had complained to his mom that night, only to be laughed at. "You cost us a whole lotta dough, kid," his dad told him while counting money. "You owe us."
It was then that he realized that he was nothing but a money making toy to his parents. Many of his peers were jealous of him over then years, but they never suspected that he was secretly jealous of them as well. He longed to be happy with himself, to have actual parents, to have a childhood. But those hopes turned to dreams, and those dreams withered away as time passed. He learned to do whatever his parents told him to do. He learned to just take what they told him as fact. And so, by his sixteenth birthday, he had morphed into a narcisstic, egotistical jerk. His thoughts became superficial, and he did what they taught him to do: to admire himself.
And that shallow barrier had just been broken by plain-jane Beth.
His lip quivered, fighting to hold back the tears. Recent memories flashed through his mind; all the insensitivity, all the hurt and pain he had caused to Beth and others; everything for his own personal gain. As much as he hated to admit it, he had always admired Beth above all of the people on the show. She was always cheerful, always optimistic. She even made several useful plans that benefitted their team before they were dissolved. But most of all, he admired her because, in her own way, she was beautiful. Somehow, her personality shined over her homely appearance.
He was extremely jealous of this; of course he had a killer bod and a pretty face. But it wasn't the same as her attitude. Perhaps, that was why he wanted to take advantage of her; to make himself feel better.
He lifted his eyes towards her and sighed. "I'm sorry." he muttered, barely audible above his breath.
Beth perked up from her fetal position and raised an eyebrow. "You're what?" she asked, not daring to believe her ears.
"I'm sorry..." the pretty boy said, his voice barely louder than before.
Beth's mouth hung open, her eyes bulging. "What?" she asked again in disbelief.
"I'M SORRY! Okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I took advantage of you, I'm sorry that I completely disregarded your feelings, and I'm sorry that I acted like an egotistical bastard with a serious God-complex! Okay?"
She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "You're..serious?" she asked with quiet suspicion, not wanting to be duped yet again.
Justin nodded his head furiously, looking like a schoolboy who was apologizing to their teacher. Beth had to admit, it was pretty out of character for Justin to act this way. She was about to slide her glasses back on when he stopped her. "Wait," he said quietly. "Do you have contacts?"
Beth raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded. She then gasped in horror as Justin snapped her glasses in two. She pushed him onto the floor. "Why did you do that?!" she yelled in anger. So she was being duped!
Justin gave a small chuckle and shook his head. "No, it's not like that. I just want to make it up to you."
"By breaking my glasses?"
Justin sighed, slightly getting irritated. "No! Look around we're in a make-up trailer!"
The farmgirl raised an eyebrow. "And the point being...?"
"Let me do to you what I do best."
"Be an egotistical bastard?"
Justin frowned and shook his head. "I already told you I was sorry. Just please Beth, please, just give me another chance."
Beth looked at him straight in the eye, expecting a smug look or fake puppy eyes. She was surprised to see pleading, begging, remorse, and regret mixed into an emotional stew of confusion. She sighed, and took his hand. "I...believe you. I trust you. Don't blow it." Oh, those words were the ones that she had sworn never to say. And now, a week later, she was uttering them. But deep in her heart, she knew he was speaking the truth.
He brightened as he grabbed some cosmetics out of the drawers. "I trust you too," he whispered. Beth wondered what he meant as he started to apply the face cream onto her dry, pimpled face.
Somehow, she relaxed in her former enemy's care.
Justin wiped some sweat away from his brow as he applied the last of the eyeshadow. "Just a few more dabs..." he muttered, expertly applying the makeup. He then stood up, looking at his creation proudly. "There, all done!"
Beth slowly opened her eyes, half expecting to see a clownish face in her reflection. But what she saw was far from being a clown.
"Oh...my...gosh..." she whimpered, her fingers trailing down her face. Justin had also combed out her hair, leaving it to form straight curves around her face. My god, she felt pretty. Had he really done this for her? Him, the monster that had crumpled her affections and then threw it in the trash? She never knew her eyes could look so alive, so full. She looked up at him with a greatful smile.
"Thanks," she said, blushing a little. "I definitely forgive you."
Justin's eyes widened with shock. "You...you're serious?" he asked, his mouth agape with wonder.
She giggled and gave him one of her infamous smiles. "I feel pretty! This is the first time I look nice."
"All I did was bring out the real you," Justin muttered, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Beth gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly.
"All I did was bring out the beauty in you. It was already there. I just....I don't know, I just pulled it out."
Beth smiled softly. "THANK YOU!" she squealed suddenly as she clobbered him into a bear hug. Justin, yet again frozen in shock, slowly put his arms around her. "No," he said quietly. "Thank you."
They both looked up at each other, each seeing a different person then they did two hours ago. Slowly their lips touched, hesitantly, but then growing warm with acknowledgement. A deep, passionate kiss was started, limbs intwined, giving the feeling of forgiveness, overcoming past feelings, and certainly erasing the fact that they were enemies just a few hours ago.
"Hey, guys, Chris said you guys can come out now!" Duncan walked into the trailer, not really paying attention to the couple. "So-WHAT THE HELL?!"
"What? What's going on?" LeShawna asked, rushing to the trailer. "Did they kill each other or-WHOA!"
Chris pushed the two shocked campers out of his way, his face in a permanent grin. "Okay, that was 5 star material right there!" he said with a snort. By now Beth and Justin were flushed with embarrassment, quickly moving away from the other.
"Anyways, dinner's ready...this is SO going to be aired tonight!" the host cackled in glee, leading the others away. Justin and Beth sighed. This wasn't exactly the way each had envisioned their first relationship. But as they both reached for the other's hand, something felt right. It was as if they had finally found out who they were, as if they had found the missing piece of the puzzle.
Always.
FIN