Hey! Thanks for the favs/follows/reviews they mean a lot! Here's the second chapter, it's a lot lighter than the first. Also sorry the chapters are so short, it's easier to update faster when they are.


Topher woke up on a couch. His right leg was propped up on a pillow, and Chris Mclean's face was hovering above his. "Good you're awake!"

Topher blinked, was he dreaming? "Chris?"

"You gotta get up dude! I can't just have you missing in action! The lawyers will get after me again!" Topher sat up sleepily, apparently he wasn't dreaming.

"No time for breakfast! Chef let you sleep in too late! He said it would help your ankle or something. Whatever, I need you to come with me to the meeting spot so I can explain today's challenge."

Topher obeyed, he swung his legs around so that they were on the floor, and stood up. Only to immediately sit back down, grabbing at his ankle. "Oh that still hurts, huh?" Chris's face fell. "I'm technically not allowed to let you compete like this."

Topher cracked a pained grin, "I don't think I can compete like this even if I wanted to."

Chris ran his hand through his hair, "well then just stay here I guess. I'll just tell the viewers what happened, its no big deal."

Topher frowned, "but if I'm gone won't I be taken out of the competition?"

Chris shrugged, "If your team wins then there's no way you can get voted off. If they don't well…" He laughed.

Topher sighed, "you better get going. I'll stay here, I don't want to keep you from your work."

Chris nodded, "yeah okay. Chef will fix your ankle!" Topher watched as the other man disappeared from the room. He was glad that Chris was such a vain person, it meant that he was more focused on what he had to do than Topher. Topher didn't want to be a hinderance to his idol.

It was quite a while before anyone came back into the room. Topher had determined it was a lounge of some sort, there was another couch in the room, and a coffee table, and a TV hanging on the wall.

When someone did come in the room it wasn't to check on him. It was one of Chris's infamous interns. They looked lost, and then confused as to why Topher had made himself at home on the couch with the TV remote in his hand. "Aren't you supposed to be competing?"

"Nope, major injury, Chris won't let me out there."

The intern narrowed his eyes, "Chris Mclean cares that you're injured?"

"That surprises you?" Topher paused his channel surfing.

"Well it's just that Chris usually only cares about himself," the intern shrugged, "guess you're a special case."

Topher felt his face flush. "I'm sure he's just enthralled by my hair. Most people are."

The intern didn't reply, but his facial expression said that he didn't agree with Topher. Topher went back to channel surfing, there was nothing on at this time of the morning. Once the intern left though, Topher found himself overthinking his comments. Was he really anything special to Chris or was Chris just concerned about legal issues?

His next guest showed up about 15 minutes later. It was Chef. Big, scary, intimidating Chef, holding a first aid kit, and a glass of water. He shoved the water into Topher's hand, and then pulled a bottle of pills out of seemingly nowhere. Topher realized it was aspirin as soon as there were two pills in the hand that wasn't holding the water.

"Uh thanks," Topher smiled, pretending he wasn't afraid of the man.

Chef made an accepting sound in response as he pulled a roll of gauze out of his first aid kit. Topher obediently lifted his bare foot up to make it easier to wrap. "There's no one here to put a cast on it, so this will have to do." Topher was startled by Chef's comment, he hadn't said anything since he entered the room.

"For real though, thanks," Topher looked down on his swollen ankle. "No one else on this island has any common sense."

Chef nodded in agreement. "I'm going to get ice. Stay put."

"There's nowhere for me to go anyways," Topher pointed out as Chef left the room. He still felt dumb for tripping the night before, he wasn't sure how it had happened seeing as he was usually so graceful on his feet. Now he was stuck hoping that he wouldn't be eliminated, he had no way to secure his spot on the show while he was laid up inside.

Chef came back with ice, and Topher was ordered to keep it on his ankle for ten minutes. He didn't argue, one of his favorite movies had started playing on TV, and he gladly planned on watching it the whole way through.

It was getting late, and Topher was getting nervous. No one had come to see him since Chef, and he knew around this time was when the elimination ceremony would be going on. He wished he knew which team had one, then he wouldn't be feeling so anxious.

He heard a door open and then close down the hall, and he turned down the TV a few notches to hear better, expecting conversation. Instead he heard footsteps, that were getting louder every step. Topher craned his neck to see out of the open doorway .

Chris appeared waving a fast food bag in the air. "Looks like you're safe for today."

Topher almost jumped off the couch in excitement. "My team won!"

"Well yeah, that's what the fast food implies," Chris tossed the bag across the room, and Topher caught it in his lap. "The rest of your team were complaining that you were gone. They said it was no fair you got to sit out."

Topher shrugged, reaching into the fast food bag, he was starving. "I'll be back in the competition tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's a day off," Chris declared. "There's a few every season, it's an excuse for me to have a work day."

"Oh great! More time for me to heal!"

Chris nodded slowly, "not in here though. You're going back to the treehouse."

Topher frowned, "but it's so much work just to climb up there! I'll probably just hurt myself worse!"

"It's no fair to the rest of the contestants. If they think I'm favoring you I could get in trouble!"

"Yeah I guess you're right," Topher grumbled. "I'd better get going then." Chris watched as Topher pulled on his sneakers, and pushed himself up off the couch. Topher was glad that his ankle had stopped hurting as bad. Now it was just really swollen. "I have no clue how to get back to the treehouse from here though."

Chris rubbed at the back of his neck, "I guess I could walk you back. Just to make sure you don't do something dumb and fall again."

Even though he was still a little irritated about being kicked out, Topher found himself grinning like an idiot. "Thanks Chris, I don't know what I'd do without you!"

Chris muttered something under his breath in response, and began to lead Topher out of the room. Topher found himself limping a little, it was slowing him down and he kept having to jog to keep up with Chris.

They left the building, and Topher remembered following this path the night before. The sun was still in the sky today though, and Chris wasn't dragging him along, so he was able to get a better look at his surroundings.

The patch was covered in decorative stones, and there was a shortage of trees compared to the rest of the island. This small section was neatly landscaped and felt a lot more civilized.

They continued down the path until the stones began to stop, and the ground became dirt. They were heading towards the woods now. Topher had no clue how Chris kept track of where they were when all of the trees looked the same, especially when they entered the forest from different places.

After a few minutes they stood in front of the tree where Team Kinosewak resided. The treehouse looked even farther away than Topher remembered it being. Chris was looking up at it too, almost apologetically. "You're going to be able to get up there right?" He asked warily.

"Oh yeah, sure," Topher assured. "It's just going to take a little longer than usual." He proved his point by grabbing the string ladder, and stepping up onto the first rung.

"I'm just gonna wait here. Just to make sure you don't fall," Topher had never heard Chris use that tone of voice on TV before. He sounded concerned. Maybe Topher was just reading it wrong.

Topher continued to climb the ladder, and managed to make it to the top with less of a struggle than he had expected. He stood up at the top and gave Chris a double thumbs up and a smile. Chris smiled back.

"I'm gonna go now, okay?"

"Okay! Thanks for walking me back Chris!" Topher called back. He heard noises from inside the treehouse, and suddenly Jasmine was standing behind him. He spun around to face her reluctantly, not wanting to stop looking at Chris.

"There you are!" She exclaimed in her thick accent.

"Yeah I'm back," Topher replied.

"The team was worried!" Topher knew that was a lie. "Come on inside!" Jasmine motioned with her hand and headed back in.

Topher looked back before following Jasmine. Chris was already gone.