A/N Chapter two – Up The Creek. Enjoy!

I hope you think you me whenever you drop loose change into this.

Geoff was pleased with his work. He had been making this gift for Bridgette since the last elimination ceremony, painstakingly gluing macaroni around the heart shaped framed and using his best photoshop skills to create a photo of the two of them together. There was no way she wouldn't love it!

Checking his watch, Geoff saw he only had a few minutes to deposit this gift on Bridgette's bed before breakfast ended. He had to get going if he wanted to surprise her before the challenge. He grabbed the gift and raced through camp. After sufficiently checking that the coast was clear, he entered the girls' cabin and walked up to what he assumed was Bridgette's bed. He placed the gift under her covers and went to wait on the porch.

Across camp, he saw Bridgette and DJ walking to the cabin together, whispering about something. As they made their way up the steps, Geoff greeted them, "Hey, Bridge. Deej. How was breakfast?"

The two of them shared a look of exasperation, and Bridgette sighed before answering, "Courtney and Duncan got in a fight."

Geoff couldn't help but chuckle, as Courtney and Duncan fought often. Their fights could be about anything, ranging from "why are you so allergic to fun?" to "why are you touching me right now?" to "this team is crumbling, and it's all your fault." It was as annoying as it was amusing. "What's it about this time, dudes?"

"Not entirely sure, man," DJ said, "I think he called her 'Princess' again."

Bridgette nodded, confirming this story, "it's still going on. I think they forgot we were there, so we left. Anyway, where were you this morning, Geoff? We missed you!"

Geoff smiled at her, "I was in the arts and crafts tent! Making something for a special someone!"

DJ laughed, knowing that this was only going to end up poorly for his friend. Bridgette chewed the inside of her check and looked down, "sure," she said to herself. She didn't like the way Geoff was smiling. It told her something was up, and the stuff Geoff thought up usually didn't end well for either of them.

"Okay," Bridgette said, looking at the boys again, "well, if you'll excuse me, I have something I need to do in the cabin before the challenge starts." She waved to the two of them and entered her cabin, hoping that whatever Geoff was talking about wasn't as bad as she thought it might be.

The campers finished their morning routines and met at the beach for the briefing. The challenge didn't sound too hard: canoe across the lake, hike around an island, and start a fire. It would take a lot to mess that up, and both the Killer Bass and Screaming Gophers were confident in their abilities.

After Chris sent the campers on their ways, likely and unlikely pairs came together for the canoeing portion of the challenge. On the Killer Bass side, Bridgette quickly claimed Courtney, leaving Geoff to find his solace with DJ. Sadie and Harold paired up on the basis that they were the only two left and were surprised when Duncan forced himself into their canoe. Duncan knew the logical choice would have been to pair up with Geoff and DJ, but he didn't want the three of them to be seen as a unit.

Lindsay and Beth formed the Screaming Gophers' first canoe, and, in order to have some time away from Heather, they pulled Trent in to form a trio. Cody used this to his advantage and made sure that Gwen would be going along with him. Looking at her choices, Leshawna figured that Izzy would be her safest bet. She wasn't too keen on spending any time at all with Heather and was getting tired of Owen. This left the two of them, much to Heather's annoyance and Owen's misplaced excitement. Once in the water, these pairs and trios filled the lake with various conversations.

"It was horrible, Courtney," Bridgette exclaimed for what seemed to be the hundredth time, "I mean, he glued macaroni around the edges! I haven't made macaroni art since at least the second grade. He knows he's sixteen, right?"

"Yes, it all sounds rather juvenile," Courtney replied. She was tired of this conversation. It was obvious that Bridgette had a thing for Geoff, but that his chronic foot in mouth disease made it difficult for the surfer to want to do anything about it. Courtney could only hope that the two of them would resolve whatever this was soon so that everyone could move on to different things, "but I think we've beat this topic to death. Let's talk about something else."

Shoot, Bridgette thought. She hadn't realized that she had been monopolizing the conversation, "you're right. Something else," she thought for a moment, and then she had it! Courtney must want to talk about her boy troubles, "so, Duncan?"

Courtney closed her eyes for a long moment, this wasn't what she had in mind when she said something else, "what about him," she said, more as a statement than a question.

"You know, that fight the two of you had this morning. Doing okay?"

Courtney shook her head. Why wouldn't she be okay? Bridgette sounded concerned, but this concern was unfounded, "why wouldn't I be okay? I got in a fight with a teammate. A teammate I don't even particularly like."

"Yeah, but it went on pretty long. And I know he likes you," Courtney started coughing, and Bridgette used this time to continue her train of thought, "and you like him, right? So it makes sense that you could be upset after that fight."

The coughing, which was obviously fake, went on for a minute longer before Courtney closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Bridgette, how could you even ask that? Of course I don't like him! And he doesn't like me either, so if we could just move on to anything else, that'd be great. Why do we even have to talk about guys, anyway?"

Bridgette wanted to laugh, but she bit her tongue, not wanting to provoke the CIT further. Courtney's tone of voice made it very clear that this wasn't up for discussion, so she apologized and moved on, "right, you're right. What would you like to talk about instead?"

Meanwhile, across the lake, an equally enlightening conversation was taking place in one Screaming Gophers canoe.

"So, what do you think about the Killer Bass?" asked Lindsay, her head resting in Trent's lap.

"Uhm? I don't know enough about them to answer that." Was this why Beth and Lindsay strong armed him into their canoe? To find out what he thoght about the Killer Bass?

Beth giggled, "well maybe you should figure it out. The merge is going to happen at some point, and you have to know about all your competition. Not just those who were on your team."

"Yeah!" Lindsay added, "it's important to know about everyone! If you want, we could help you learn about them."

Trent considered this. They had a point; he couldn't go into the merge blind. He needed to know about the other team if he wanted to protect himself and Gwen. But wait, "how do you know about the other team?"

"Oh, Tyler used to tell me all about them!" Lindsay said excitedly before sitting up and adopting an uncharacteristically somber expression, "Tyler. I miss him."

Beth stopped paddling, turned to face her friend, and patted her on the knee, "I know Linds, it'll be okay. Tyler'd want you to be happy!"

Lindsay sniffed and wiped away a lone tear, "I know. It's just so lonely without him! I wish he was still here."

"I know. Just think happy thoughts!" Beth encouraged, "Like when you get to see him again! He'll be so proud of you."

Trent watched in annoyance as to what was folding out before him. Had they forgotten he was there? Or that they were in the middle of the challenge? Beth hadn't resumed paddling yet, so he assumed they must have. After giving the two of them a moment, he cleared his throat to let them know he was still there.

"So, Lindsay, you were going to tell me about the Killer Bass?" he asked, hoping to stop her sadness.

This seemed to do the trick. Lindsay's eyes lit up, and she started giving him the D-L, "Yeah! I totally was. Uhm, well, Courtney, you know her?" Trent nodded, "Yeah, well she's the one that's in charge over there. She's like Heather. But nice!" Lindsay paused for a moment, "please don't tell her I said that."

"So, Courtney's their leader, huh? Would've thought it was Duncan."

Lindsay shook her head violently, "no, no, no! He doesn't care enough to be in charge. Plus, he totally likes Courtney."

Trent wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but he kept his mouth shut about it. If this was what kept Lindsay quiet about Tyler, then so be it. He'd rather know all the island gossip than be stuck trying to comfort a girl he didn't know that well. "Good info, Lindsay. Anyone else?"

"Oh yeah. Courtney and Bridgette are totally best friend, like me and Beth. That's what got Tyler voted out," Lindsay frowned for a second, and Trent was scared this was going to turn back to her missing him. Luckily, she kept going, "anyway. Tyler suggested that they vote out Courtney, and Bridgette got so mad at him, right Beth?"

Beth nodded, "yeah! He told her that Bridgette yelled at him! Which is so weird because he always said that Bridgette was the nicest person on this entire island!"

"Interesting. We'll have to break the two of them up."

Lindsay chewed her lip, "I dunno, Trent. It's dangerous to get between best girl friends. If you want to break someone up it should be Bridgette and Geoff! Because they totally like each other. Or Geoff and DJ and Duncan. Tyler said they always left him and Harold out of things."

"What about Courtney and Duncan?" Trent asked, not believing that he was entertaining this glorified gossip session, "if they like each other shouldn't we break them up, too?"

"No, no, no!" Lindsay quickly replied, "I said that Duncan likes Courtney, not that Courtney likes Duncan. As long as the two of them are on this island together they'll bring each other down."

"Yeah," Beth added, "didn't you hear their fight this morning?"

Trent didn't answer for a minute, completely impressed with this information he was getting. He always pegged the two of them as not that smart, but they, Lindsay in particular, had a good eye for figuring out interpersonal relationships. Plus, a boyfriend on the other team couldn't hurt.

By this point, however, the conversation had to end. They reached the beach of Boney Island, and it was time for the hard part to begin.

The Killer Bass, who had already been on the island for a few minutes, were running down the beach. Geoff and DJ were leading the pack while Duncan, Harold, and Sadie were bringing up the rear. Courtney was shouting instructions from her and Bridgette's place in the middle.

When Courtney believed they had a sufficient head start, she commanded her team to slow down, "we can't run the whole way. We'll deplete our energy. We should walk until the gophers catch up."

This was a good plan, and the Killer Bass could see this. Therefore, they slowed to a walk and continued through the forest. The Screaming Gopher's seemed to be far behind them, so there was no urgency in their steps. Eventually, they settled into a rhythm, moving in silence until they reached a fork in the path.

"Okay, so there are two paths," Courtney thought out loud, "which one's better?" She thought for a moment, examining her two choices. One of them had to better, but they looked the same to her. "Make up your mind, oh great leader," Duncan goaded, so Courtney made a flash decision, "Left. Definitely left."

Geoff, however, had noticed a difference between the two paths, "I don't know, I think we should take the one on the right."

"The right trail is wider," Bridgette agreed before Courtney had a chance to argue. The CIT frowned but let Geoff lead the way. Geoff, pleased that Bridgette agreed with him, sent her an unsettling smile, "what are you looking at?"

When the Screaming Gophers finally caught up with them, they opted for the trail on the right. Because of this, Courtney ordered her team to start running again. They had no arguments.

All was going well until Geoff tripped over a log. He clutched his leg dramatically, "Ah, my leg! I'm doooown, I'm doooown!" Further, he dropped down to his back and began rolling around, "oh, it's so unfair! Why did this have to happen now? Why, WHY?"

His teammates all dropped their canoes and gathered around him. Bridgette was the first to respond, "GEOFF!" she screamed while kneeling beside him.

"You've got to go on with out me!" Geoff dramatically stated.

Looking at the scene in front of her, Courtney decided that this was good enough for her. Geoff fell, that was it, and nothing looked out of sorts. If he was going to be a baby about this, then by all means she was okay with leaving him there. They didn't need him slowing them down. She started walking away, but DJ quickly grabbed her arm, "we're not leaving any man behind. Not on my watch."

Courtney sighed. Geoff was still rolling around on the floor, DJ and Bridgette looked close to tears, and Harold and Sadie were visibly concerned, if not a little confused. Only Duncan seemed to be assessing this situation the same way she was, and that was never a good sign.

"Fine, DJ. We won't go on without him, whatever you say," she sarcastically agreed, "but we can't just sit here. Geoff, come on, I know you can walk. Nothing looks broken or sprained or anything."

Geoff considered this, "okay, Court. Anything for you. Bridge, DJ, can you guys help me up?" DJ ran over to where his friend was, and him and Bridgette pulled him up by the arms. The three of them took a step together before Geoff collapsed again, "no can do, dudette, hurts too much."

Was this for real? "Fine, Geoff. Let me look at it. I was a CIT I'm first aid certified. I'll be able to see what's wrong, if anything!"

"Go for it, hope the news isn't too bad, doctor Courtney."

Courtney walked up to where Geoff was laying and motioned for DJ and Bridgette to scoot back. She grabbed his left leg and tenderly pressed her hand around it, feeling for any hardness or tenderness. After about a minute and no results, she broke the news to him, "as it turns out, Geoff, nothing's wrong. You're fine. Now let's go before the Screaming Gophers beat us."

"No can do." Geoff argued, "hurts too much! Check it again."

"Fine, fine," Courtney conceded, "I'll check one more time. But if nothing's wrong I'm serious about leaving you here." She checked again and still couldn't find anything. However, upon gliding her hand across his calf, she felt a little thorn. Upon closer examination she found it was a splinter. This was a joke, right? "Well Geoff, you were right. Something is wrong," she said sweetly before screwing up her face and yelling, "A SPLINTER. YOU HAVE A SPLINTER. Now get up so that we can get going!"

Geoff made no motion to get up. Instead, he let out the breath he had been holding, "it's worse than I thought! A splinter! NOOOOOO! What did I ever do to deserve this!" Bridgette and DJ quickly returned to his side and started comforting him, and Harold and Sadie quietly whispered about how much this sucked. "You've got to go on without me," he instructed once again.

"Never," Bridgette vowed. DJ nodded his head, "yeah, never. We win as a team and we lose as a team. We're not letting you go!"

What was happening? Everyone seemed to be losing their minds. Courtney looked at the camera man, "is this part of the challenge, Chris? Did you drug everyone on this team except for me?" Then, she addressed the group, "Geoff, it's a splinter. Splinters don't affect your ability to walk. Can you please get up for me?"

"I'm sorry, Court, I really wish I could. I'm just in so much pain right now."

Courtney shook her head, dumbfounded, "You're kidding me, right? We're in the middle of a challenge! You'll have to work through the pain or something!"

"Hey, now!" a new voice joined this conversation, "you can't demand that of him, Princess, if the man says he's in pain, then he's in pain!"

Geoff wiped away a nonexistent tear, "thanks, Dunc, that means a lot to me,"

Duncan just rolled his eyes. Yes, he agreed with Courtney on this one. Geoff was being a baby, and if they lost the challenge it would be fully his fault, at least at this point. Still, he hadn't pushed Courtney's buttons at all this challenge, and that was making him itchy.

"Stay out of this, Duncan!" Courtney commanded. It was official, everyone on her team had lost it. "Crack," she stated, "this whole team is on crack. That's the only explanation."

"Yes, that's it," Duncan deadpanned, "we're all on crack, and we've decided to just throw this challenge. You've cracked the code. Want a reward?"

Courtney threw her hands up in a gesture of confusion and annoyance, "you've all lost it. I'm going now. You can follow if you want, or not. I don't care. But I want to win this challenge, and, if we lose, I will figure out a way to eliminate every single one of you. Got it?" and with that, she took off down the path.

The rest of the Killer Bass watched Courtney go, wanting to follow but not being able to move their legs. It was no denying that they were, as a whole, in the wrong for what had just happened. Sure, Geoff was hurt, and Courtney was unsympathetic, but she was also right. They were in the middle of the challenge, and they couldn't stop it for anything, not even this.

Suddenly, DJ thought of a plan, "Guys," he stated, and everyone's eyes were on him. "Geoff, I've gotta ask one more time, can you walk?"

Geoff nodded, feeling bad. This was mostly his fault, "yeah I think. Help me up, Bridge?" The surfer helped Geoff to his feet, and he took a few steps, "I'm good, Deej. What's the plan?"

"Depends, can you portage?" Geoff nodded, "great, then it doesn't matter. Let's just get going."

As Bridgette moved to pick up her canoe, she ran into a problem, "uhm, can someone help me?" she asked, then motioned to her canoe, "I can't carry this by myself."

"No problem," DJ answered, walking over to her, "Harold, Sadie, and Duncan have three. One of them will help you, okay?"

Bridgette nodded, "as long as I don't have to do this on my own."

"Don't worry, you won't have to," DJ assured her. Then, he called over his shoulder, "Hey, Dunc, man, I need you." Once the delinquent made his way over to the pair, DJ wasted no time explaining, "can you help Bridgette?"

"Course, man," Duncan replied, "don't worry about it."

Glad that the issue was resolved, DJ nodded to himself and continued to instruct his team, "okay, we're going to run. The Screaming Gophers probably have the lead now, and we need to catch up with them. And Courtney."

The Killer Bass nodded and took off running down the path. No one said anything until they saw Courtney up ahead. The CIT didn't seem to hear them approach, so DJ took it upon himself to yell at her to get out of the way. Once she registered that someone was shouting after her, she stopped and looked behind her. Seeing that her team was coming at her fast, Courtney's eyes became comically large, and she jumped to the side of the path.

"Hey, Courtney," DJ greeted, slowing him and Geoff to a stop. Thankfully, the other two portaging partners continued running.

Courtney regarded the pair with suspicion, "what's all this?"

"Thought we'd help you win this challenge," DJ replied, a slight smile on his lips, "hope that's okay with you."

Courtney returned his smile, "yes, of course. Thank you."

"Great," DJ answered, "run with us, we have a challenge to win!" Then, the three of them joined their team, Courtney running beside DJ and Geoff.

When they finally arrived at the beach it was no surprise to them that the Screaming Gophers were already working on their fire. Immediately, Courtney sprang into action, her eyes daring her teammates to argue, "okay, we can deal with this. Does anyone have any ideas?"

Duncan smiled, ready to save his team, and pulled his lighter out of his pocket, "will this do?"

"Yes!" Courtney exclaimed, throwing her arms around him, "yes, that's perfect, Duncan!" Then, noticing her position, she cleared her throat, removed her arms, and took a few steps back.

Courtney and Duncan basked in their renewed lead and laughed at Heather's complaints that using a lighter is totally cheating. Not their problem if none of the gophers carried one. The Killer Bass worked hard to grow their fire, finding all the dry sticks they could. After a few minutes, the Screaming Gophers got their fire started, and it was already bigger than theirs.

"I don't think this is going to be big enough," Courtney observed, so DJ instructed the Killer Bass to find more wood. In a moment of pure stupidity, Harold grabbed all the paddles and threw them into the fire. Right away, his teammates began to express their disbelief.

While dealing with Harold, the bass heard an explosion. They turned to the gophers and saw that Izzy had done… something. Chris announced the Screaming Gophers the winners and allowed both teams to canoe back to the main island.

Unfortunately, the Killer Bass didn't have any paddles and were stuck trying to figure out how to get back. Then, Izzy gave them a great idea. Have someone push the canoes! That was genius. After figuring out the logistics, DJ stacked the canoes, and his teammates got situated inside. He pushed the canoes into the water and started kicking. Geoff took it upon himself to be the head cheerleader, chanting his name, while the rest of the bass clapped and cheered all the way to shore.

Once the Killer Bass hit shore they went flying and crashed on the beach. That didn't matter, though, they had won the challenge! Chris walked over to where they were standing and officially crowned them the winner. The Screaming Gophers made it to shore a few seconds later, each of them blaming Izzy.

"We did it, team," Courtney exclaimed, "we won. I knew we could do it!"

Duncan started laughing but didn't say anything. This happened every time the Killer Bass won a challenge. Things would start going poorly, Courtney would freak out, and then, once they won, she would claim she knew it was going to happen. The joint laughter of Bridgette and DJ told him they agreed.

"Whatever, guys, laugh all you want," Courtney pouted, "but I'm going back to the cabins now, if anyone wants to come with me."

Courtney started walking toward the cabin, and Duncan quickly joined her, throwing his arm around her shoulder, "you know, Princess, that's the second time you've walked away from us today. Some would say that means you don't like us."

The CIT rolled her eyes and shrugged his arm off, "don't call me that." Then, she addressed his accusation, "I like you guys plenty."

"Sure about that?" Duncan asked with a smirk on his face, "because it didn't look that way when you left us in the middle of that challenge."

Once again, Courtney rolled her eyes. Then, she crossed her arms for good measure, "I was completely justified. You were all being so ridiculous. I had to get out of there for everyone's good, especially mine."

Duncan considered this. He could continue to play along, argue that she was crazy for leaving them there. Or, he could settle on what he knew both of them thought was true, that Geoff was being a bitch, and no one was helping matters, including himself. He settled on the latter, "I mean, you're not wrong. Geoff was being a little bitch out there. He's lucky we didn't lose."

"Damn right he is," Courtney agreed, finally feeling validated, "I know we're all in an alliance now, but I would have 100% voted for him, sorry." Then, before he had a chance to reply, "wait, you don't get to agree with me! You were part of all the craziness! You told me you were all on crack!"

Duncan laughed and threw his arm around Courtney again, "doesn't mean I don't agree with you, Princess. You're just too easy to mess with. I had to."

"No you didn't," Courtney complained, glaring at him. However, she didn't shrug his arm off this time. "You don't understand how completely exhausting that whole situation was for me. Everyone was treating me like I was some heartless monster for trying to win the challenge. It made me feel like shit, Duncan. And the worst part? I knew that I was absolutely correct in that Geoff was overreacting, but I couldn't find any way to make everyone else see that. Everyone was ganging up me."

By the time Courtney was done with her rant, she had stopped walking towards the cabin, leaving her and Duncan in the middle of camp. Duncan, to his credit, did manage an apologetic expression as he removed his arm from around her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, Courtney," Duncan started, trying to find the right words. He felt bad now that she laid it all out for him. Truthfully, he never liked a girl as much as he liked Courtney before now, and he was still figuring out how exactly he was supposed to navigate these waters. "I'm sorry we all made you feel that way. We're the shitty ones, not you."

"I know," was all Courtney said before she marched the rest of the way to the cabin, leaving Duncan alone and confused.

"What just happened?" he asked himself, shaking his head. Then, he just shrugged and walked back to the cabin.

Meanwhile, Geoff and Bridgette were having a conversation on the beach.

After a few minutes of lighthearted banter, Bridgette got serious, "Geoff, I'm sorry, but I have to ask: what was your deal with the splinter earlier?"

Geoff had enough sense to look ashamed, "I don't know, Bridge. I fell, and it hurt, and Courtney was being all Courtney, and then it didn't hurt but everyone was being all weird and supportive, so I milked it. Probably was the wrong thing to do. Forgot we were in a challenge. Think Courtney's mad?"

"Probably not, no." Bridgette decided, after a few seconds of thinking about it, "at least not anymore. If we would have lost, though, she would have tried her hardest to overthrow this alliance and get us to vote you off."

"Good thing we won, then," Geoff smiled at Bridgette, then frowned, "I owe her an apology though, don't I?"

Bridgette nodded, "we all do, I think. We all kind of lost it out there. She wasn't wrong to walk away from us when she did. We weren't doing her any favors." Then, seeing that this topic had run its course, "your gift, Geoff. Not that I'm ungrateful, because I'm not. It was just a lot, and I wanted to know where you were coming from. I like the friendship we have, and I'm not ready for it to change."

Geoff put his hand over his heart, "I know, I know. It was a bad idea, Deej already told me all about it. And, I dunno, I was thinking that you're a super cool dudette. We're in an alliance together now, and that's cool. I wanted to show my appreciation. I like being friends with you, too."

"Good," Bridgette patted his knee and stood up, "I'm going to the cabin now. Walk me back?"

"Of course," Geoff answered, standing up to join her, "let's go."

A/N Once again, leave a comment if you like it! I'd really appreciate it. Next chapter will be up tomorrow, around the same time.