Second challenge time already! Thanks for reviewing, Derpimelet1000 (I'm hoping she becomes more defined as the story continues) and Alex (It's already written with that structure – my main purpose with these stories are studying the character interactions rather than changing the storylines around).
When I woke up the next morning, my hair was a mess. Not that a mass of strawberry blonde curls was easy to tame, but still. Anyway, I wasn't the one that noticed it first.
"Girl, you have got to do something about that hair!" was the first thing Anne Maria said.
"What?" I groaned.
"A brush and a little bit of hairspray would help." she continued as I got out of bed.
"I haven't got any hairspray." I said. "What about if I borrow some of yours?"
"No way, strawberry cloud!" she said defensively. "Sure you need it, but get your own!"
"All right, all right." I muttered. "I was just asking. And by the way, you don't need to call me that!"
After I showered, I got dressed in my blue T-shirt, pink jeans and sandals, and went to join everyone else. Chris called us before we got any breakfast.
"But Lightning hasn't had his DPA!" Lightning protested. His team gave him confused looks. "Daily protein allotment, duh!"
"And I haven't had enough beauty sleep!" whined Dakota. It's true her eyes were red, but she looked fine apart from that. Chris showed us to the Bay of Dismay, after he confiscated Dakota's mobile phone and Sam's game console.
Mike and Zoey were already bonding, since they seemed to have common interests – after Zoey mentioned an action movie, Mike said that if she was also into ultimate kickboxing, he'd have to marry her (cute). I chatted to Cameron, who was the only person besides Dawn who was even near my height.
We discovered that we had a lot in common, actually. We were both sheltered kids who didn't really have much interaction with others (in my case, I just had overprotective parents – just not enough for them to encase me in a bubble). Although Cameron had read more nonfiction than me, and was probably a child genius, the fiction he had read was in the same tastes as mine, since we both loved the Harry Potter series and coming-of-age fiction in general.
"I hope this isn't another physical challenge." Cameron remarked. "I'd prefer something a little more academic."
"I bet you do, toothpick." Jo said. "I'm surprised your scrawny neck can even support that giant head."
"My greatest strengths are mental!" Cameron defended.
"Well, you're mental if you think you can win Total Drama without getting physical!"
"Hey, physical and mental abilities come into it!" I pointed out. "Look at last season. The finalists were physically skilled, sure, but it was Heather's manipulation – her mental powers – that got her the win. And I don't think I really need to explain all the intelligence that got her opponent to the finals."
At the Bay, each of us sat in a bunch of stands with our team symbol, with excrutiatingly tight harnesses. The challenge was basically – Chris would mention some embarrassing person secret about one of us, and whoever it was would have to press the button in front of us before the time ran out. If we did, we'd get a point. The team with the most points got an advantage in the next challenge.
"But, if no one owns up, this happens!" Chris dunked my team. We were all startled, but it got worse. A shark with legs and feet eyed Cameron hungrily. Luckily, we were back up before it could do anything.
"There's some kind of two-legged shark monster down there!" Mike exclaimed. I was sitting between him and Cameron.
"You mean Fang?" Chris said nochalantly. "Yeah, turns out toxic waste can mess with stuff underwater too. Who knew?"
Chris also dunked the Rats, to show what happened if no one owned up, and if the other team guessed whose secret it was wrongly. If we guessed right after no one owned up, we got a point.
I racked my brains, trying to think of anything embarrassing that Chris might mention about me. Regardless of where he would get it, embarrassing memories raced through my mind, like a movie montage. Which one would Chris mention?
Chris asked the first question for the Rats. "Who did this on the one and only date they ever had?" An unmistakable rude sound played.
We all giggled, except poor Sam, who pressed the button, asking "Where did you get that?"
For our team, the question was about who wet themselves on the first and last day of school.
I didn't see it, but I heard Jo announce "He who sweats it, wets it! Team before pride, Maggot."
It was Brick who pressed the button. "Fine, it was me."
"Thanks, Brick, I know that must've been tough." I heard Zoey whisper. I turned to flash an encouraging smile at Brick, too. After all, his secret didn't change the fact that he was pretty obviously a good guy.
Next up, B had a turn. It was revealed that B stood for...Beverly. He pressed the button without a sound.
"I would've preferred a verbal response." Chris said, although he gave the Rats the point.
"But B never talks!" Dawn objected. "Just look at his aura!"
Chris still dunked them, Scott finding one of Fang's teeth embedded in his skin as he climbed back up (OK...I just hoped that Scott wasn't too lucky because of the tooth). "Thanks for leaving me down there, team." he snapped, undoing the harness. "You can win this stupid challenge without me."
"If he's not doing it, then I'm not either!" added Anne Maria.
"Uh, since I've already been humiliated, can I go?" Sam asked.
"I'm with Anne Maria, we should stop." Mike said. "Not that I've got any secrets to hide..." he added nervously. That got me thinking. What would Mike, of all of my teammates, be so desperate to keep from everyone? He seemed so open and friendly.
"Sit down, Pointy, I'm not losing this game!" Jo ordered, hitting him. I couldn't stand her dictatorial tone, so I purposely disobeyed and stood up to leave.
"Excuse me, if the host says Mike and Anne Maria can go, they can go!" I snapped. "You're not the boss, Jo, Chris is!" I sure as hell wasn't going to take any orders from Jo. She was just way too mean.
Chris didn't want any of us to go, but everyone got into an argument about it, and in the end. Chris dunked all of us, since there was no time left to finish the challenge.
We were soon onto our way to the next challenge.
"Thank goodness the challenge ended before Chris had time to ask me an embarassing question." Cameron said with a smile.
"Let me guess..." Jo teased, "Who needs their diaper changed?"
"I haven't worn a diaper since I was eleven!"
That made Jo and Anne Maria laugh, and if Cameron was lighter, I probably would have seen him blush when he realized what he'd just admitted. As it was, he looked pretty embarrassed. I knew Jo was going to keep picking on him, but I didn't say anything to her.
"There are way worse secrets than something like that." I said to him, trying like crazy to think of something worse.
Jo smirked again. "Like who probably still keeps a pacifier on them?"
I glared at her. "I bet you wouldn't find it so funny if it was your secret! Besides, I haven't EVER used a pacifier in my life! Just because we're shorter than you."
"We have just as much right to be here as you!" Cameron added. "And we'll prove it in the next challenge, you'll see! Right, Shannon?"
I grinned. "Right!"
Actually, we ended up working together on the challenge. It was called the Mad Skills course, and it was like a relay – we would each pass a team mascot to each player (yes, we had an actual oversized maggot, and the Rats had an oversized rat). There were six parts, and each contestant would take one each.
"But," said Chris, "Since the Maggots have seven players, two of which are pint-sized, they'll work together. Shannon, Cameron, you'll be on the same obstacle!"
We both nodded. Oh, and also, we had to wear these glasses to make things blurry. The losing team in the last challenge would've been the only ones to wear them...but after Chris declared no one the winners, we all had to.
I remember my first confessional. "OK, so my team...well, Zoey's nice. Mike seems pretty cool so far...but it sounded like he was even more worried about this secret he has than anyone else was about theirs. Brick seems great – I didn't think a militant guy like him would be as nice as he is. But I could do without Anne Maria, and Jo is already driving me nuts with her bossiness and teasing...but then, there's Cameron." I sighed. "Don't get me wrong, he's kind of nerdy and not that good-looking, but he's sweet and smart, and those are two traits I don't see that often in guys. Plus he doesn't tower over me – he's only a few inches taller, at the most. I hope he likes me." I frowned. "No one will see this, right?"
The order went like this: First, Anne Maria and Lightning would tackle the kicker – no, seriously. Then Brick and Dawn would go through a bunch of cannons. Scott and Jo would go on a rolling pin and dodge wrecking balls. Then there were a bunch of platforms which B and Zoey would cross. Mike and Sam would try to cross these red bouncy things, then hand it over to me and Cameron vs Dakota to try to land in the giant mitt. First team to finish won.
Chris blew the air whistle, and Lightning got kicked, while Anne Maria just ran across and handed the maggot to Brick. However, we soon lost our lead when Brick kept hitting a pole and then got hit with a cannonball after Dawn ducked.
Scott went as slowly as possible, but he still got to the end of the rolling pins before Brick handed the maggot to Jo. Still, he seemed to be trying to go slow, because after he got to the end, he kept stroking the rat and talking to it, ignoring B holding out his hand for it for quite some time.
Jo got past the pins fast, using the wrecking ball to jump further and then it was Zoey's turn. B had extended the Rats' lead, even when facing a couple of mutant beavers. Zoey wasn't so lucky, and ended up with both beavers attempting to kill her once she'd handed the maggot to Mike. Sam was already done by that time, but the rat ran off before he could give it to Dakota, and he was now chasing it.
I was close enough to hear Mike speaking. Suddenly, he gasped, and said in a higher voice with an accent "Only one person can do this! Svetlana, the Olympic queen of gymnastics!"
OK...weird. Yesterday Mike was an old man called Chester. Today, he was a Russian girl gymnast called Svetlana. But he did cross his obstacle in seconds.
"Mike, how did you do that?" Cameron exclaimed.
"That was totally amazing!" I complimented.
"Huh?" Mike said in his normal voice. "Uh...do what? Here!" He pushed the maggot at us and ran, while Sam finally caught the rat and passed it to Dakota.
Cameron held the maggot as we ran to the end of the board.. "Yes! Yes! I've never felt so alive!"
We reached the end and stared at the mitt.
"I'm a dead man."
I reached for Cameron's hand instinctively. "We are doing this. All we have to do is swing, right? And we have to prove to Jo that we're not babies."
I could hear Zoey yelling at the beavers attacking her, since her voice was louder than usual. "I said, let me GO!" There was an animal cry of pain, and then I heard Zoey again. "Sorry, but I did tell you to stop!"
Before Cameron could psych himself up with me, Dakota swung, but missed.
"Our turn." I said quietly. "Come on, Cam, we have to do this."
We missed the first time, but luckily, the paparazzi came and distracted Dakota. We swung again, clinging to each other and the maggot, and although we hit a lot of the bats around the mitt, we ended up there.
"The Maggots win!" Chris announced, and all of us cheered.
"High-five!" I slapped palms with Cameron.
Even best, we got a prize – soap, shampoo and conditioner. Most of us (mainly Mike, Cameron and I) had maggot vomit all over us, while Zoey and Anne Maria were covered in mud and Brick had slime on his face.
"Rats, I'll see you at the eliminaton ceremony." Chris said.
"I can't believe this!" Lightning raged. "Lightning is on a team of losers!"
"Come on, winning isn't everything." Sam tried. Lightning went after him with a murderous look on his face.
After I washed that evening, I had time to chill again.
"Hey, Zoey, how come you signed up for this?" I asked.
"I wanted to meet other people." Zoey explained. "In my small town, I don't know anyone else like me, who's
into indie theater and things like that. I don't have many friends at school. All the guys are jocks or delinquents, and the girls are mostly really studious or really vapid."
I smiled. "Well, I hope I'm not either of those things. I only get average grades, and I don't like bubblegum pop."
Zoey giggled. "Trust me, Shannon, you're not like anyone in my town."
"And..." I added, "I think you've also caught the interest of a guy who isn't a jock or a delinquent." I grinned. "I can tell already, Mike is so crushing on you!"
Zoey flushed a bit. "You think so?" she said. "He is really sweet. I don't get those impressions he does, but he's a great actor! And apart from that, he is so..." she sighed.
I chuckled. "And so, the first couple of the new cast of Total Drama is forming!" Zoey blushed even more, so I continued. "We call it...Zoke!"
"Shannon, stop, please!" Zoey pleaded. "What if someone heard?"
I turned serious and stopped. "OK. Sorry, Zoey. But I can tell, you have a thing for Mike, don't you?"
"Maybe." Zoey admitted, her face turning thoughtful. "Like I said, he's very sweet."
"Want me to ask him about you?" I offered.
"Oh, that's OK, you don't have to." Zoey said quickly.
I nodded. "Cool. I think he'll tell you if he likes you, anyway. He's an open book – that's why it's so easy to tell he likes you."
There was no doubt that by the end of the day, I was firm friends with both Zoey and Cameron.
And one more thing. I was starting to have a little crush on Cam.
Dakota was voted off that night. No surprise.
And that's the second episode, done! Okay, guys, I know there are Zoey haters out there. But I think she has some character (insecure, sweet, aggressive when pushed too far), and I'm going to do my best to give her more. Please review and let me know if I'm doing all right).
