"Okay, today's challenge is three-fold!" Chris yelled out to the crowd of campers. "Your first task is to jump off this 1000 foot high cliff into the lake."
Bridgette smiled and shrugged. "Piece of cake." She edged closer to the edge of the cliff, looking ready to dive in, until she got next to Harold and realised what awaited her and the others below.
"If you look down you will see two target areas. The wider area represents the part of the lake that we have stocked with psychotic," Chris tried to stifle his laughter, "man-eating sharks!" Bridgette finally backed away from the edge, placing herself behind Trent and Duncan instead. "Inside that area is a safe zone. That is your target, which, we're pretty sure, is shark-free."
"Excuse me?" LeShawna asked, one hand on her hip as she gave the host an incredulous look. Chris ignored her.
"For each member of your team that jumps and actually... survives... there will be a crate of supplies waiting below." He gestured down the hill where there were two seperate stacks of wooden crates. "Inside each crate are supplies you'll need for the second part of the challenge! Building a hot tub! The team with the best one gets to throw a wicked hot tub party tonight!" Geoff's face lit up at the prospects of hosting a party, as well as a few other campers. "The losers will be sending someone home. Killer Bass, you're up first."
Beth looked over the edge of the cliff, where Harold was still gawking at the distance between solid ground and the water below. "Oh... wow... who wants to go first?" Her question was met with silence from both teams. Harold snapped out of his daze and looked ready to jump, when Duncan spoke up.
"Ladies first." The delinquent smiled, contrasting the daring tone in his voice.
Beth gulped and looked back down. "It's okay... they always have interns do this sorta stuff first... yeah..." She whispered to herself. Harold backed away from the cliff edge as she took a deep breath and hurled herself over the edge. She made a weird whisper-scream noise as she fell, only going quiet when she finally hit the water, in the safe zone.
When her head finally bobbed back up out the water, she gave her teammates up above a big thumbs up, before going into the boat that had driven nearby to pick her up. "Sweet, she made it! I'll go next!" Tyler announced, walking away from the cliff to get a running start.
Unlike Beth had before him, he let out a proper scream, one of excitement and thrill. Then he hit his head on the side of one of the buoys in the safe zone. Beth had to dive back in and drag him out, although thankfully he wasn't underwater for long.
After Tyler jumped in, two more campers followed; Duncan and Bridgette. However, when it came to be DJ's turn, he simply backed away from the ledge and shook his head, shaking a little. "Uh-uh, man, no way. I'm not jumping."
"Scared of heights?" Chris asked, a grin on his face.
"Ever since I was a kid." DJ nodded.
"That's okay, big guy." However, the soothing tone in Chris' voice was soon replaced with a more malicious one as he walked over to the large teen. "Unfortunately, that also makes you a chicken! So, you'll have to wear this for the rest of the day!" He grabbed yellow, plastic chicken hat from an intern that quickly rushed off, placing it on top of DJ's head, causing it to let out a pathetic 'squawk'.
"Aw man, for real?" DJ grimaced, poking at his new hat. Chris just let out a few chicken noises in response, flapping his arms like wings and cackling a little at his reaction.
"That means the chicken path down is that-a-way!" The host pointed to a escalator heading down the cliff. DJ walked over to it, his back hunched forward and his arms hanging by his side, his demeanour similar to that of a child that had just been put into the time-out corner. "Next?"
Sadie and Katie held each other in a tight grip, determined smiles on their faces. They gave each other glances of confirmation, before nodding, and jumping over the edge together, letting out squeals that sounded like mixes of fear and excitement on their way down. Their teammates let out cheers as the two girls landed in the safe zone, helping them onto the boat.
Harold was next. "Yes!" He yelled out, jumping off. He held his arms out in the air as if to celebrate a premature victory, his legs spread out as he did a horizontal split in mid-air. He maintained that pose for the entire 1000 foot drop, causing his landing to be extremely painful. He let out a monotone yell of pain, as all of the guys, and even some of the sharks, winced. The red-headed teen yelled out once more as he fell under the water. Beth, once again, dove into the water to rescue a teammate.
"Ooh, hate to see that happen!" Chris yelled out in mock sympathy. "Anyway, that would be seven jumpers and one chicken. We're missing someone." He turned around and spotted LeShawna chatting with Lindsay, Heather standing nearby with a dejected look on her face. "You gonna jump or not?"
LeShawna rolled her eyes and walked over, peering over the edge of the cliff and at the water below. A few of the sharks seemed to snap their jaws at her hungrily, licking their fishy lips. "Fine. But only 'cause I don't want my team to lose." She jumped, diving straight into the safe zone, being picked up by her fellow Bass soon after in the old, rusty boat. After they were all dropped off at shore, the boat went back to the safe zone.
Chris peered over the edge, before turning back around to the Gophers, a wide grin on his face. "That would be eight jumpers, and one chicken. A tough score to beat! If you do manage to beat it, however, we'll throw in a wheelbarrow for you guys to put your crates on!"
Trent smiled, all of a sudden more enthusiastic after hearing about the possible bonus. "Nice! So, who wants to jump first?" His enthusiasm was met with silence, as everyone attempted to avoid eye contact with one another, just in case they got picked by one of their teammates.
Heather, realising no one else was going to volunteer, began to raise her hand. Lindsay noticed this extremely quickly, and a smile grew on her face, a sliver of her less-than-good intent shining through. "Fantastic! Thanks for volunteering, Heather!" Before the shorter Asian girl could protest, Lindsay was dragging her to the edge, throwing her off.
Heather let out a scream of fear the whole way down, covering her face with her hands as she inched closer and closer to what she assumed would be her watery demise below. However, when she hit the water's surface and found herself largely unharmed, with only a slight bit of shock from the cold water coming into contact with her skin, she took in a deep breath. Whilst doing so, however, she inhaled a bunch of water, and proceeded to cough it all up. "I'm okay!" She yelled up to the Gophers.
Lindsay huffed, blowing a stray blonde hair out of her face, before leaping in after her. Heather managed to paddle to the boat just in time, as Lindsay landed right where she had been floating moments ago. She tried to give the taller girl a thumbs up and a smile, but was only met with a withering glare.
"I was only sent out here to get some Vitamin D, eh. Not to risk my life." Ezekiel muttered, stepping slowly to the cliff edge. Chris just chuckled in response, before pushing him off, earning a scream of terror from the homeschooled boy. After him came Gwen and Trent, who had, in the short time they had spent on the island, already seemed to spawn a bit of a hatred for one another.
Confessionals Start
"I have a bad feeling about that Trent guy. He's just so... normal. Painfully so." Gwen sighed. "Considering everyone here seems to have some sort of quirk, including Heather, even if it's just being an extreme pushover, it's just strange to see some guy without anything special about him whatsoever. I mean, this is reality TV! Everyone on reality TV has some sort of special thing!" She crossed her arms, realising she had begun to tap at the wood walls so hard that her nails were creating indents in them.
"But maybe I'm just being paranoid."
"I don't know why on earth Gwen is acting so weird towards me." Trent said. "I mean, I haven't even really spoken to her! Did I mess something up with my introduction? I don't understand!" He sighed, putting his face in his hands and shaking his head. "It's not like I'm something extreme, like an aspiring pop musician or anything... I'm just... Trent." He looked up at the confession cam. "That's all there is to it."
Confessionals End
Geoff let out a loud 'whoop' of excitement as he looked down to the water below, hyping himself up. "This is gonna be great!" He reassured himself, backing away from the ledge so he could take a running jump. However, when he jumped off the edge, he had closed his eyes, rendering him unable to see where he was going. The party boy landed outside of the safe zone, something he failed to notice.
Gwen, however, did notice. "Geoff, look out behind you!" She yelled. The blonde turned around, just in time to see two sharks lunge towards him. Instantaneously, his 'fight or flight' response activated, and he punched one of the sharks across the snout, sending it straight into it's other man-eating companion. Whilst the two predators recovered, Geoff quickly swam over to the boat, hopping on with a helping hand from Gwen.
After climbing onto the boat and checking himself for any lost limbs, Geoff shot the red-haired female a smile. "Thanks, man! Without you, I would've been fish food!" He chuckled at his own lame joke, but Gwen couldn't help but laugh with him. Just something about the way his eyes began to close ever so slightly when he... Gwen shook the thought away quickly.
Back up at the top of the cliff, Cody seemed hesitant to jump. Noah looked over at him, chuckling a little, a hand covering his mouth again as he did so. "The Codester can't possibly be scared, can he?" Noah smirked as he watched the pale geek flinch at the nickname, sending him a glare.
"I thought I said I didn't want to be called that." Cody replied, a smile cracking through as he noticed the joking expression on his... friend's? face. "And I'm not really scared, just... concerned. For obvious reasons."
"Obvious, highly evolved, fishy, man-eating reasons?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Noah furrowed his brow and looked over the edge of the cliff, seeing the sharks were still both recovering. "Well I don't think you'll have to worry about those reasons just yet." He looked back, and noticed the boy was still hesitant. "If it makes you feel better, I could jump first."
Cody smiled, looking Noah in the eye for what was actually the first time since they had hiked up the cliff. His chocolate brown eyes seemed to sparkle with a certain kind of generosity, a kind that said 'I'm only doing this for you so he can win this stupid challenge'. Cody still appreciated it, though. "That'd be nice."
Noah nodded, and looked back down. He took a few step backs, then ran forward, jumping off and into the water below, landing in the centre of the safe zone. Cody did the same soon after, landing next to him.
Then, they were down to their final camper. Owen currently held everything in the balance; if he jumped, he would be able to award his team with the advantage, but if he didn't, both teams would have had one chicken, thus raising the dilemma of who gets the wheelbarrow. Seeing that Owen seemed a little fearful of the drop, Chris gave him a pat on the back. "No pressure, dude." He said.
A little smile made it's way onto Owen's face at those words. "Okay there's lots of pressure!" Chris yelled to the obese teen after he had backed away slightly. Chris whispered something into an intern's ear and they nodded, quickly running off, only to come rushing back a few moments later, carrying two arm floaties that could probably fit around a ten year old's torso.
Or one of Owen's arms.
Confessionals Start
"You see," Owen scratched the back of his neck out of nervousness, "I'm not a particularly strong swimmer. So, understandably, I was a tad bit nervous."
"I'm looking at this guy, and he looks to be at least 300 pounds," Duncan snickered, playing around with a knife he had in his pocket by drawing a skull into the confessional wall beside him, "and I'm thinking, oh man, this dude is gonna die."
"I'll admit, I'm pretty sure I was more scared for Owen than I was for myself when it came to jumping off that cliff." Cody grimaced.
Confessionals End
"Take a good run at it buddy! You can do this!" Chris called out to Owen as he walked away from the edge. Down on the boat below, the Gophers yelled out words of encouragement, hoping that they'd aid Owen in his jump. With the floaties now safely secured around his arms, Owen did a few stretches, then shook himself out a bit.
"I'm going to die now. I'm going to freaking die now." Owen turned around, looking straight at the cliff edge. Everyone down below watched in silence, waiting for the contestant to make his move. No one dared make a sound, as if one sudden action would cause Owen to spontaneously combust.
After what felt like forever, the large blonde teen finally let out a loud, "Yeah!" As he ran as fast as he could, tossing himself over the side and into the frosty lake water below him. Owen hit the water with so much force, thanks both to gravity and his weight, that he caused a mushroom cloud of sorts to occur, launching everyone on the beach and in the boat into the air, along with the sharks and any other objects in the general area.
For a second, everything seemed to be floating, as if they were high up in space, where nothing could affect them anymore. Not gravity, not the weight of the world's issues which they'd soon have to carry, or even Chris McLean could reach them. Until they all came crashing down, everyone landing on the beach below aside from Owen, who had been in the water the whole time, and seemed to look as thought he hadn't just seen everyone get tossed a mile high into the air.
"Yes! Yeah!" Owen yelled, raising his fists in the air in glee. He spun around a little bit in the water, as if doing a victory dance, whilst all the other campers lay on the beach in shock. One of the sharks clung to a tree it had landed on in fear. "Oh yeah, who's the man!"
After snapping out of their dazes, a few other campers began to cheer as well, mainly members of the Gophers, but some of the Bass as well. "The winners!" Chris called out to the contestants down below, "The Screaming Gophers!"
Trent looked over to Owen with a smile as he hung from side of the (now beached) boat. "That was awesome, dude!" Owen, however, instead of accepting his praise, looked around in the water nervously. "What's wrong?"
"I think I lost my bathing suit..." Owen answered, refusing to look Trent, or anyone else for that matter, in the eye. The campers all made sounds of disgust as Owen dived under the surface of the water, searching for his swimming trunks.
•・・・•・・・•
All the campers had dried off and gotten into their normal clothes, and had now moved onto the second part of the challenge. The Screaming Gophers were moving along nicely, thanks to their wheeled advantages. The campers had split off into pairs, and were now wheeling one box each down the beach, aside from Owen, who was stuck wheeling one by himself. A low rumble was heard coming from his stomach, but he chose to ignore it in favour of getting to the third part of the challenge on time.
Everyone was singing 'One Hundred Bottles of Pop on the Wall' and were down to forty-nine as they attempted to keep themselves distracted from their long journey ahead. "If one of those bottles should happen to fall, forty-eight bottles of pop on the wall!" The team sung out in perfect harmony, as Owen's stomach let out another low rumble.
Meanwhile, the Killer Bass were doing far worse, and had barely made it a quarter of the way down the beach, as they attempted to flip the large boxes down the beach. DJ was in the front, whilst Katie and Sadie were in the back, trying to push their box with their whole bodies pressed up against it.
LeShawna kicked her box along, but accidentally threw her foot at it at the wrong angle, causing it to twist in an uncomfortable way. She cried out in pain as she held it, her partner, Bridgette, stopping as well to check and make sure she was okay. "I think she sprained her ankle! We need a medic!" She called out. Two interns came out of the nearby woods and pulled the large girl onto a stretcher, rushing her off quickly.
Bridgette sighed as she began to push her crate along yet again, this time without anyone else's help.
The Screaming Gophers were now down to thirty-two bottles of pop, and Owen's stomach had begun to become much, much louder. In his hunger-induced state, he began to eye the wheels on his wheelbarrow hungrily, as if they were donuts just waiting to be eaten. He looked behind him, seeing that the other team wasn't anywhere nearby, and then ahead. No one was paying attention as he sat down and ripped a wheel off his wheelbarrow and began to munch away at it.
"How much longer until we get there, do you think?" Cody asked. His legs had begun to turn to jelly, and he took heaving breaths. Noah, his partner, didn't seem to be in a better condition, his red jacket and long pants probably not helping.
"Don't know, don't care, as long as we get there before I drop dead from exhaustion." He panted, glancing at the pale boy beside him. Seeing that he had made him ever so slightly uncomfortable, Noah sighed and said, "But, if you must know, I think we'll manage to make it before we have no more pop on our wall." This caused Cody to laugh a little, earning a little smile from the preppy teen, which he made sure to hide quickly.
The Killer Bass has begun to gain momentum, when Tyler stopped, earning confused looks from his teammates. "I gotta go pee." He said, jogging off into the woods.
"Well, you'll need to hurry up, we're already behind." Duncan called out behind the jock, kicking his box along.
"Are you sure you wanna do that?" Beth asked, earning a glare from the green-haired delinquent. "I-I mean, you saw what happened to LeShawna, right? We can't afford to lose another teammate because they kicked their box the wrong way."
Duncan scoffed and leaned against his box. "Well alright then, Velma, but don't expect me to move this box very far until our star quarterback gets here so I can lift this damned thing."
Beth sighed and turned to Harold, who had been trying to ignore the punk and his stubbornness whilst he pushed his and Beth's crate along. "Do I really look like Velma?" She asked, only earning a shrug from her fellow geek in response.
The Screaming Gophers were down to twenty-eight bottles of pop, when Heather stopped pulling her crate along to point in front of her, earning an annoyed glare from Lindsay. "Look! It's the campgrounds!" She hopped from foot to foot, grabbing at the wheelbarrow yet again and running faster than Lindsay was able to keep up with, causing the blonde to accidentally fall into the wheelbarrow behind her.
"See? Told you we'd make it there before zero." Noah nudged Cody lightly, a smirk on his face, causing the brunette to laugh a little. They walked along, trying to keep themselves from completely collapsing for a long enough period of time that they could reach the campsite.
Ezekiel, however, was not as excited as the rest of his teammates. Instead, he seemed extremely worried, and was looking around as if he had lost something, which did not go unnoticed by Trent. "Dude, are you okay?"
Ezekiel looked up at the taller teen, his brows furrowed together. "Do you know where Owen is?"
"Yeah, he's right behind-" Trent turned around to see that Owen was not, in fact, right behind them. "Oh." The two of them stopped walking, giving each other glances of worry, before rushing off the way they had come, leaving their wheelbarrow behind in search of the tubby teen.
Tyler finally came back to see that only Duncan had stayed behind to wait for him, their crate right where he'd left it. "Where's everyone else?"
"Didn't wanna wait. I didn't either, but I figured four hands were better than two when it comes to pulling a crate wider than you are." They lifted the crate up together, holding it up just above their waists, and walked down the beach straight ahead. In the distance, Tyler spotted something that looked a lot like a beached baby whale.
"What is that?" He asked. Duncan shrugged, and so the two walked a little faster to get closer to the strange object.
There, lying on the sandy ground in front of them, was Owen, wood splinters all over his hands and around his mouth, holding his stomach and letting out wails of pain, as red blood began to leak from his wounds. "We're gonna need another medic." Duncan sighed.
Back at the campsite, the Gophers were attempting to pry their crates open with their teeth, some with more success than others. "Remember, you guys can only use your teeth to open the crates!" Chris reminded the campers as he walked past them all. "I came up with that one." He chuckled.
Cody managed to pry a small part of his crate open, sending a nail flying into Chris' forehead, knocking the host out. He'd have to thank those years of chewing on hard candies after the challenge was over for giving him such a strong jaw. "I think I've got it open!" He called out, and Noah backed away from the crate just in time for Cody to give it one final pull, effectively causing the whole crate to open up.
Inside were a few pipes and a bright red toolbox. Cody let his tongue roll out of his mouth and began picking at the splinters he'd managed to gather on his tongue, wincing every time he pulled out another one.
Tyler and Duncan continued to make their way down the beach, eventually passing Trent and Ezekiel as they ran in the opposite direction, looking around for their large teammate. "Hey, have you guys seen Owen by any chance?" Trent asked the two.
Tyler and Duncan looked at each other, before grinning a little, and turning back around to the other two contestants. "Sorry, man, haven't seen him." Tyler shrugged.
"Yeah, me neither. He might've gone to take a whiz in the woods." Duncan added, before the two turned around and continued to push their crate down the shore.
Trent and Ezekiel exchanged glances, before shrugging. Trent began to run closer to the woods, just in case Tyler and Duncan had been right, whilst Ezekiel continued running down the beach.
The Gophers that had reached the campsite had all managed to open their crates by now. Geoff and Gwen looked through theirs, pulling different things out of it. "We got wood. Lots, and lots of wood." Gwen sighed. After they pulled out all of the wood, the two rested their hands on the edge of the crate, accidentally grazing them against each other as they did so. Gwen felt her cheeks turn a little pink, and looked away.
Heather and Lindsay pulled out a large blue sheet, big enough to drape over the two of them, as well as a heater box, already filled with all the parts needed. Heather looked around, realising they were three contestants short of a full team. "Hey guys, where's the others?" Everyone else began to look around nervously as well, aside from Lindsay, who had begun to file her nails out of boredom.
"Ooh, you guys don't have a full team?" Chris shook his head and tutted the Gophers, weaving between the crates as he did so. "That means you won't be able to start building your hot tub for a full ten minutes after you get your supplies."
"But there's nothing that says we can't start without everyone here!" Lindsay said, putting away her nail file.
"There is now!" Chris grinned and walked away before he could get knocked out yet again, as Lindsay hurled her nail file at him in frustration.
The Killer Bass finally managed to reach camp, sighing as they were all able to relax. "Hey, aren't you guys missing a couple of white boys?" LeShawna asked, noting the lack of three teens on the opposing team.
"Your team is missing a couple of people too, man." Geoff pointed out, only to hear a loud cough from behind.
"Not anymore they're not." The blonde party boy turned around and saw Tyler and Duncan, carrying their team's final crate in their arms, triumphant looks on their faces. They walked over to the rest of their team, being cheered on the whole way, and began to pry open their crate with their teeth just like the rest of their team.
Gwen sighed, putting her hands to her face in shame. "We are so screwed." She muttered. An arm wrapped itself around her shoulders and she looked up, to see Geoff giving her a kind smile.
"It's okay, dudette." He said, giving her a little pat on the shoulder. "At least, if we lose, we'll lose together." Gwen felt a blush work it's way onto her cheeks as she turned away and smiled.
•・・・•・・・•
Cody had managed to round up what remained of the Screaming Gophers, and now stood in front of them all, hands on his hips as he addressed his team on the cabin steps. "Okay team! I know we are down three men right now, but that shouldn't be an issue! We can still do this! We were here first, and we managed to open our crates first, which means we are still in the game! Who's with me!" He cheered, hoping his team would feel pumped up by his speech.
Geoff let out a loud cheer of excitement, although he seemed to do that almost all the time, then causing Gwen to feel a little more excited to. Although it hadn't been what Cody hoped for, he decided it was good enough, as he hopped off the steps and walked back over to Noah, who had spotted something in the distance.
"Is that-?" He began, pointing at the figures in the distance with a shocked look on his face. Cody turned to see where Noah was pointing, and his mouth hung open, his surprise matching that of his teammate.
Off in the distance, making their way up the beach, was Trent and Ezekiel, with more than just their crate in their wheelbarrow. Resting on top of it all was a very bloated Owen, carrying the hot tub parts from his crate in his hands, holding them high up in the air, ignoring the blood dripping down his arms. "We're here! Woohoo!" He yelled out, the excitement evident on his face.
"Oh my god." Cody breathed, shaking his hands a little in excitement. "They're here! Everyone, they're here!" He ran off to the other Gophers, who all cheered out in excitement at the arrival of the final three contestants. The Bass, however, weren't as happy about the news.
"We just lost our advantage! Everyone, work faster!" Duncan called out. The Bass had already started working on their hot tub about a quarter of an hour beforehand, and so the Gophers could get to work right away. Owen, however, was beginning to have more stomach troubles. All the wood was beginning to get to him, and his stomach let out a low rumble; this time, not out of hunger, but out of pain.
Trent stared at the instructions with a confused look on his face as he tried to piece together the heater. "I'm... pretty certain these are in another language." He said, looking at the unfamiliar letters and weirdly conjoined words. Ezekiel looked over his shoulder and grinned.
"Oh! I know German, eh!" He said, gently taking the blueprints from Trent's hands. He laid them out flat on the ground and read them over once, then repeated them out loud in English, slowly, so Trent could put the heater together. They were almost done, when the black-haired man noticed something. They were missing a piece.
"Hey, Owen?" Trent called. The large blonde boy looked over, his head tilted to the side as if to ask him what the matter was. "You were the one that brought back the majority of the piping, right?"
"Yeah, why? What's the matter?" Owen asked, his stomach rumbling loudly yet again.
"We're missing a piece, about five centimetres long, slightly curved?" The teen asked. Ezekiel was rummaging through everyone else's things, worried they had lost the piece.
"Oh! It looked like macaroni, right?" He chuckled. "Yeah, sorry dude... I got pretty hungry, and I..."
Trent's eyes widened. "You... aren't implying what I think you're implying, right?" Owen rubbed the back of his neck nervously, as Trent groaned. "Owen! You aren't supposed to eat metal!"
Chris walked over to the little group, having heard Trent's little outburst. "What's going on over here?"
"Owen ate a piece we needed to build the hot tub. You wouldn't happen to have a spare somewhere?" Chris chuckled at Trent, and his chuckles soon turned into full-blown laughter, causing other campers to stare in confusion.
After recovering from his outburst, Chris answered Trent's question. "Unfortunately I don't, dude. So it looks like you're just going to have to hope that somehow, the Bass' tub is worse than yours." The host stole a quick glance over to the other team and their hot tub. "Although I highly doubt it will be."
Trent sighed, looking down at his handiwork. Ezekiel came back over and gave him a pat on the back in an attempt to make him feel better. "We are so losing this challenge."
•・・・•・・・•
Both teams had managed to finish building the outer layer of their hot tubs, although only one was able to build the inner workings of it properly. Chris walked over to the Screaming Gophers' first, and tapped the outside to make sure it was soundly built. He then dipped his hand into the water, drawing it out quickly. "Oh crap, that's cold! I instructed you guys to build a hot tub, not an ice box!" He yelled, before quickly walking over to the other team.
Once again, he tapped the outside of the Killer Bass' tub, finding it had been built just as sturdy as it's competiton. The host dipped his hand into the water once again, and immediately began to melt. It was at the perfect temperature, causing Chris to grin happily. "This is an awesome hot tub!" He yelled out, earning a loud 'whoop' from the Bass.
"Well, I think we have a winner here!" Chris said as he walked back to the middle of the campgrounds. "The Killer Bass! Bass, you are all safe from elimination, and get to rock this hot tub for the rest of the summer!" The Bass all cheered in excitement, and rushed off to their cabin to put on their swimsuits for the second time that day.
However, the Gophers were less than excited. "Screaming Gophers, what can I say, sucks to be you right now." Chris said, although his voice gave away his inner excitement. "I'll see your sorry butts at the bonfire tonight." The host shot them his signature grin, coupled with a pair of finger guns, and walked off to his own lodge.
"We won!" Beth yelled in excitement, throwing her arms in the air as she walked out of the Bass cabin. "We all get to stay here for another three days!" She jumped out of the way as all the Bass ran out of their assigned cabin, rushing straight for the hot tub as they all cheered.
•・・・•・・・•
The sun was beginning to set, the sky glowing orange as it touched the horizon. Birds were flying back to their nests to feed their chicks, and small woodland creatures were beginning to head back to their burrows to rest. Trent and Ezekiel were walking to the main lodge for dinner early, since they didn't have much else to do. Their team had lost the challenge, and both boys, who had collaborated on the heater together, felt as if it was their fault.
"I can't believe we lost the challenge." Trent sighed, his arms swinging slowly by his side as he shuffled across the ground.
"Yeah," Ezekiel said, his hands stuffed in the pockets in his pants, "I mean, their team is the one with five girls, eh?" Trent stopped walking, looking up at Ezekiel as if he had suddenly grown a second head. After realising his companion had stopped, Ezekiel turned around. "Why'd you stop walking, eh?"
"I'm just confused by what you mean," Trent said, crossing his arms, "Why does it matter if their team has more girls?"
"Well, girls are the weaker sex, eh? That's what my dad always told me." Ezekiel furrowed his brows, now just as confused as Trent. Maybe that's what Chris meant about not talking too much? He thought.
Trent sighed and walked over to Ezekiel, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Zeke, buddy. You can't go saying that sorta stuff around here," He began, pinching at the bridge of his nose as if he was trying to find what words to say, "What your dad told you- it wasn't right. I mean, did you see some of the guys on our team? I doubt they could list as much as, uh, say, LeShawna, for example.
"Saying that sorta stuff will get you in trouble. I mean, more trouble than we're already in. Right now, it's either you or me going home, and you are certainly more useful to the team than me." Ezekiel nodded, as if he was finally understanding what Trent was saying. "If the team hears you saying sexist comments like that, though, they probably won't be as kind towards you as I was."
The two boys entered the main lodge, where Chef had just finished cooking their dinner; white sludge. They walked up to the kitchen and grabbed their trays, going to sit down at one of the tables. "Thanks, Trent. I'll try not to let anything slip, eh." He smiled at his new friend, and got a thumbs up in return.
The rest of the campers all piled into the main lodge and grabbed their food, before sitting down at their respective tables. Chef grumbled about how 'those darn kids are getting water everywhere' since the Bass hadn't had an opportunity to dry themselves off properly before they had been called for dinner, and were leaving a trail of water wherever they walked.
Noah sighed, letting go of his spoon, causing it to spring back in forth as it stuck in his sludge. "We should figure out who we vote off so we don't end up with one vote for everyone in this stupid team." He said, attracting the attention of his teammates. "Anyone have any suggestions?"
"I think it should be either Trent or Ezekiel," Lindsay called out, playing with what remained in her bowl, "They were meant to build the heater, but stuffed it up, so like, if anything one of them should take the boot."
Heather looked like she was going to say something to object, but stopped when she saw Lindsay glaring at her, and just nodded in agreement. Trent and Ezekiel sighed, the latter sinking down in his seat out of fear, as if he thought someone might have heard his and Trent's conversation from before.
Owen still felt guilt form before, however, and decided to stand up for the two boys. "But they totally would've been able to build it if it weren't for me!" He yelled out, this time causing everyone in the lodge to look at him. "I, uh... lost one of the pieces that they needed for the heater to work. If it weren't for me, we totally would have won this challenge!" His teammates began to whisper to one another, no doubt trying to figure out if he was lying or not.
Trent gave the blonde teen a pat on the back. "Hey, dude, you didn't have to do that for us." He smiled. Owen didn't need any cheering up, though, and just pointed at the shorter teen's bowl.
"Are you gonna eat the rest of that?" Owen asked. Trent shook his head. "Thanks, man!" He began to gobble down the sludge as if he hadn't eaten in months, causing his teammate to laugh.
•・・・•・・・•
The Screaming Gophers had all gathered at the bonfire pit. The wood in the oil drum had been lit on fire, casting what would have otherwise been the pitch black entertainment area in a harsh red glow, illuminating the faces of the contestants and the host. "Screaming Gophers. At camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire." In his right hand, Chris held a platter covered in eight squishy, fluffy, sugary treats.
"At this camp, marshmallows represent life." Chris attempted to make what he said as dramatic as possible, yet it only earned mocking from Geoff, who pretended to tie an imaginary noose around his neck, earning a giggle from Gwen. "You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only eight marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow.
"The camper that does not receive a marshmallow tonight must immediately return to the Dock of Shame to catch the Boat of Losers." Chris gestured over to the now fixed dock that they had all arrived on earlier that day. "You're out of the contest. And you can't come back. Ever. The first marshmallow goes to..." Chris held the symbol of immunity in the air next to his head. "Geoff." The party boy grabbed a nearby stick before rushing up and claiming his treat.
"Cody." The geek stumbled over his feet a little, before walking up to the front and grabbing his marshmallow, devouring it immediately.
"Lindsay." The blonde flicked her hair back over her shoulder, before standing up and claiming her prize.
"Noah." The prep smirked as he went up front, grabbing his marshmallow and toasting it against Cody's half-eaten one.
"Heather." The chubby girl got up at shuffled up to Chris, giving him a small 'thank you' as she took her marshmallow.
"Gwen." The redhead took her treat and went to stand next to Geoff, who was shooting her a smile and a thumbs up whilst he roasted his marshmallow over the fire.
"Trent." The black-haired boy gave both of his two new friends smiles of sympathy as he walked up the front to claim his immunity.
There was one marshmallow left on the platter. Ezekiel and Owen had their eyes focused on the sugary treat, both just as wanting of their second chance as the other. "Campers," the boys turned their attention to Chris, who had a stern look on his face, "This is the final marshmallow of the evening." His statement was followed by a tense silence.
Owen bit his lip so hard that he thought it might bleed, rubbing his two now bandaged hands together as if there was sweat pooling on his palms. Ezekiel was shaking, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he got ready to either take off to get his marshmallow, or run down the docks, his pupils dilated in fear. The two boys glances at each other in fear for a few seconds, before looking back at the lone marshmallow.
Chris raised his hand in the air, pointing at the sky, the sudden movement causing both campers to gasp in shock. The host then pointed down, swinging his arm back and forth between the two contestants, leaving everyone on the edge of their seats as Chris finally stopped on one of the two boys. "Ezekiel."
Thr brunette let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding, standing up. However, before he ran up to claim his prize, he looked back at Owen, who now had his back hunched over as he realised he was the one getting booted off. After claiming his marshmallow, Ezekiel walked back over to Owen and split it in half, giving the tubby teen some of his treat. "Sorry, eh. You were a pretty sweet guy."
Owen smiled up at the homeschooled boy, accepting his apology. "It's okay. I said what I had to say so you wouldn't be sent home unfairly." The blonde chuckled, walking over to the docks as he munched on the half marshmallow he had been given. An intern stepped off the boat after piling the teen's luggage on, sending the boy a smile filled with pity. The other Bass followed behind him, Trent and Ezekiel leading the pack.
Before he stepped onto the boat, however, Owen turned back around and grabbed the two shorter boys, holding them tight in a bear hug. "I'm gonna miss you guys!" He said, having felt as if the day he had spent with them had been more like a year after everything that had happened.
"We'll miss you too, big guy." Trent said, as he and Ezekiel tried to wrap their arms around the boy to return the hug. After a minute, Owen dropped the two of them, and walked onto the boat, waving everyone goodbye.
After the Bass made their way back to the bonfire, Chris cleared his throat so he could make his announcement. "The rest of you, go get some shut-eye. You're going to need your rest for the next challenge!" He chuckled, causing the remaining campers to give each other worried looks. "You're all safe. For now."
Confessionals Start
Gwen stood on top of the seat in the confessional, looking out the window at the top. "Yep. This camp pretty much still sucks." She sighed, although there was a bit of a lovestruck note to it. "But at least I'm not alone in believing that. Might as well try to win, since I'm here and all."
Confessionals End
Bridgette raised a juice box she had managed to sneak from Chef's kitchen in toast as she rested with the rest of her team in the hot tub once again. "To the Killer Bass!" She cheered, causing the rest of her team to pump their fists into the air and copy her cheer.
As everyone celebrated their first official victory, Chef came out of the main lodge, an angry look on his face. "I know one of you maggots snuck into my kitchen! Who took the juice boxes?" He yelled, causing Bridgette to sink underneath the surface of the hot tub out of fear.
As Tyler laughed with the rest of his team, he spotted Lindsay making her way back to her cabin with the rest of her team. He hopped out of the hot tub, almost tripping over the edge of it in the process, and ran over to her. "Lindsay! Hey, Lindsay!" He called, attempting to get her attention.
The blonde let out a huff of annoyance, but soon replaced her scowl with a smile and she realised it was only Tyler. "What is it, Tyler?" She asked.
"Would you... uh... like to join my team in the hot tub?" He asked, a stupid and hopeful grin on his face.
The pampered princess caught on to how head-over-heels he was for her almost instantly, and her smile only grew as she realised she could use it to her advantage. "Of course I would! Let me go get my bathers on first, okay?"
"Uh... yeah! Yeah, okay!" Tyler said, as Lindsay began to walk away, her smile turning from sweet to sinister.
