AUTHOR'S NOTE
Phew... I got this out much later than I thought I would. Don't delay editing almost 16,000 words until the day of releasing a chapter, kids. It's not a fun ride. But besides that, just want to let you guys know that I decided to explain why I broke up Gidgette so early, so an explanation is up in the previous chapter if you want to read it. :-)
Chris McLean stood on a dock surrounded by a lake, the sun and the island at his back. Not a cloud was in the sky, and beyond the chipped, discolored planks was a civilization made of two cabins and a few miscellaneous buildings. The host stretched his arms toward the sky. "Rise and shine, everyone! It's bright and early here, in Muskoka, Ontario. How long since we've been here- six months? Let's just say it's been awhile since Total Drama Revenge of the Island, a wild season with a new cast and some crazy mutants. Well, thanks to a certain incident caused by a certain aura-reader, every inch of the island is now clean of toxic waste and freaks of nature. A shame, really, but it does give us room to push the campers even more this season! Speaking of the campers, they'll be coming in individual boats as a throwback to Season One." He winked. "No surprises about the setting this time, though."
He looked out over the lake and shielded his eyes. "Well, whadaya know! Here comes our first contestant!"
A speedboat skimmed over the water, carrying a girl with chocolate-colored skin. Her curves were a sight to behold: her waist swooped from a chest large enough to be a pillow, and an even larger bottom half completed her heavy hourglass figure. However, she wore a modest ensemble suited for camping and every day in general, consisting of a t-shirt and jean capris. Her outfit's one distinguishing feature was the row of kumquat graphics over her chest. Her face was not offensive either, the only makeup on it being a healthy dash of mascara.
The speedboat dropped her off at the dock and sped away. She walked toward Chris with surprisingly light feet for her frame, her ponytail swinging side to side. Passing by the host, she acknowledged him with only a sideways glance and a curled lip. "Look who it is!" Chris said, holding his arms out toward her. "The bodacious sass queen, Leshawna!"
She scoffed and turned around, putting her hands on her hips. "Spare me the flattery, Chris."
His expression changed like a switch of a channel to pouty frowning. "Um, I'm trying to do my job here. I'm promoting everyone in their introductions, so shh." Leshawna flicked her eyes toward the sky and walked to the end of the dock.
The speedboat came up again, and a boy stepped off. He had the build of a linebacker with extra pudge around his chin and stomach. His outfit was subdued in color, with a black coat over several other layers, which contrasted with his gold earrings, red cap, and greenish-blue eyes- the latter unusual for someone with dark coloring like his. They were his finest feature, startlingly bright and calm at the same time, and fit the general vibe he gave off.
"Silent B! Or should I say, Silent Beverly." Chris snickered then, and B momentarily broke his calm exterior to shoot him a warning look, but the host showed no sign that he cared.
B trudged to the other side of the dock, scowling. Leshawna patted his shoulder in a motherly fashion. "Don't let him get to you, hon."
The speedboat came back, but the redhead in front flipped off the side before it could arrive at the dock. Splashing into the water, she swam under the boat as it slowed to a stop at its destination. She popped up beside it and grabbed onto the dock, grinning like a madman. "Ho ho, did you just see that? I practically vanished there for a second! How cool is that?"
"It was unreal," Leshawna deadpanned. B just blinked with an uncertain look on his face.
Chris walked over to Izzy with his arm out toward her. "And here is our residential nutjob, Izzy!"
Izzy lowered her face and batted her eyelids up at him. "Ooh, Chris... that's dirty. Shame on you. Kids watch the show, too, y'know."
Leshawna face-palmed, and Chris quirked one eyebrow up. "Um, okay then. Move your psychopathy to the end of the dock, please."
"Sure thing, host man!" Izzy burst out of the water and landed feet-first on the dock, her fiery mane dripping a waterfall. Her clothing was an eccentric green, like her eyes, and looked just like a two-piece swimsuit, albeit her sarong over her bottom. She bounded across the dock and leaped to a stop in front of B and Leshawna, slamming her feet onto the wood hard enough to make them flinch. "Hey, guys! Wassup?"
The two "guys" exchanged you-go-first looks. B gestured to his surroundings and shrugged. Izzy nodded like she were attempting to rattle her brain in its skull. "Mhm. Mhm. Yeah, I totally see what you mean."
The next contestant to arrive showed no enthusiasm of having arrived whatsoever. He was skinny in a healthy way and had the deep tan skin tone of most Indians. His hair was overdue for a cut, to the point where his sidebangs covered most of his forehead. Although he had naturally deep-set eyes, one got the feeling he could open them wider if he wanted to. If hook noses, sweater vests, and failure to layer multiple shirts fashionably were all indicators of an intellectual, then he was a supreme one indeed.
Chris was on the lower spectrum of the average height for a male, but Noah was still shorter than him. The host extended his hand out in an offer for a handshake. "Noah, the number-one favorite of our cast! Welcome to the island again!"
Noah wrinkled his nose while looking at Chris's hand. "Great greeting. I'm already wishing that I stayed on the boat."
Before anyone could react, Izzy barreled toward Noah like a dog toward its owner and pinched his cheeks in her hands. "My Noah-boa's here, yay! Why, you've changed so much!"
Noah pulled her hands off and smoothed down his cheeks. "In less than an hour? Gee whiz."
"I know, right? I think you've gotten even skinnier than you were already!"
Chris waved her off. "Izzy, you're taking too much screentime here. Shoo." Izzy pulled Noah along as she bounded back to the other end of the dock, and B and Leshawna stepped back from her. The speedboat went and soon came back, carrying a girl who looked like a life-size porcelain doll. Her skin was winter-pale, and she had a curtain of silvery-blonde hair that reached down to her back. She was dressed in what looked like a private school uniform, mixing a combination of a broccoli green sweater and royal purple leggings with a black skirt that looked about as flexible as cardboard. It could not be denied that her face had an elf-like charm, though, especially with clear blue eyes that seemed capable of looking into one's soul.
The speedboat stopped at the dock, and she hopped off on her toes. "Here is Dawn, the aura and animal whisperer!" Chris then mumbled in proper host-fashion, "Who landed me in a cell for six months. Without hair gel."
"Was I supposed to hear that last part?" Dawn said.
"It's not like he didn't have it coming," Leshawna said.
"Off you go, Dawn," Chris said in a way that clearly implied he was done with her.
Dawn walked to the other end of the dock, stopping in front of the other campers. Although she smiled serenely, her gaze was piercing enough to make Noah and Leshawna fidget in place. "Greetings, fellow contestants. It is a pleasure to meet you all."
A smile broke on Leshawna's face. "A pleasure to meet you, too, girl. Say, haven't we met before on your season?"
"Indeed we have. My team had you as our model for the runway show."
Leshawna's expression expanded outward. "Oh! I remember!" She laughed as though Dawn had just told her a joke. "You guys made me look like a prom queen, let me tell you."
"You can thank the others for that," Dawn chuckled. "I just got the shoes."
Izzy stooped down and looked at Dawn's feet. "Hey, are you levitating? Because it doesn't look like you are."
Dawn giggled like a little girl. "No, I'm not. I don't know how to."
Izzy squinted at her. "You suuure about that? The little guy with glasses on your season said he saw you doing it."
"Levitation is impossible for humans, due to the law of gravity and stuff," someone wheezed from the front of the dock. Everyone turned around to see the speaker, a boy who looked light enough to be blown away by the wind. It sufficed to say that he fit the term "geek" better than all of the contestants- his auburn hair alone stood out in not just its color, but in its haircut that consisted of bangs, sideburns, and a fringe all around the top. But, if that was not enough, he also wore "grandpa glasses", a failed attempt at a goatee, and two shirts, with a starry hamburger design on the front of the first. With a spray of freckles and a nose pointed downward, one could think of him as a weasel or a rat, but more likely the latter.
He let out a wheezing cough before speaking again. "Physicists think that quantum physics may be the solution to levitating objects, but it's doubtful."
"Way to introduce yourself, Harold," Chris said flatly. "Gosh, you all are raining on my parade. Can't you just work with me for a minute?"
"Stealing Harold's word in his own introduction?" Noah said. "How rude."
Chris huffed. "I'm assuming that's a 'no'. Might as well get the intros over with as soon as possible, if you all are gonna whine about it."
Harold trotted over to Leshawna and gave her a high-five. She flashed a rare grin that she gave to those whom she deemed the most trustworthy. "Yo, if it ain't my favorite little man!"
"And if it ain't my favorite bodacious beauty," Harold said, grinning in a similar fashion. B looked at Noah and Dawn inquiringly; the two shook their heads in reply.
The speedboat returned, carrying a male who was distinctly different from Harold. He had lithe muscles all over his body like a cheetah, shaded over by bronze. His shirt of choice was a blue football jersey with a "1" on the front, a symbol of things to come from him.
He leaped onto the dock and inhaled deeply through his nostrils, closing his eyes. "The Lightning smells victory on the horizon," he whispered, as if he were narrating a story. "He's got a real good sha-feeling about this one. Oh yeah. He's gonna make it all the way."
"Not if you're gonna announce it," Noah said, sounding even more bored than usual.
The athlete shot a finger toward him. "Hey! No jinxing the Lightning's chances!"
Chris punched his throat and let out an "AHEM", tapping his left foot. Lightning turned sideways, blinking. "Oh, hey, dude! Didn't see you there!" He stretched his hand out, and Chris shook it, his right eye twitching.
"Welcome back, Lightning," Chris said stiffly. "Head over to where the others are standing, will you?"
Lightning obliged, casting a cursory glance over each of the campers. It was not long before a new girl entered the scene, gazing around with relaxed olive green eyes. Her hair was the color of straw and pulled up into a ponytail, leaving tendrils around her face. She wore clothing in the middle of the spectrum between girly and tomboyish. Although she did little to try to increase her beauty, it stood out like a daisy in a grass field.
Chris held out an arm toward her. "Our recently-single surfer chick, Bridgette, is here!"
Bridgette sent a cold look his way before walking past. As she approached the other contestants, her eyes suddenly lit up with a cheerfulness that spread over the rest of her face. "Hi, Leshawna!"
They came to each other and embraced tightly. "Great to see you back, Bridgette!" Leshawna said. "We're gonna take this game by storm, am I right?"
Bridgette pulled away, her expression steeled with resolve. "Right on. No more distractions, especially guys."
"Except Harold," Leshawna said with a smile. "He's never distracted me."
The other girl turned expressionless as she looked at the others around them. "We'll talk more later."
The humor slid off from Leshawna's face. She opened her mouth, but Chris spoke before she could. "Here's Zoey, who was last season's sweetheart- and not just to Mike!"
A girl with red hair that was almost the color of blood stepped onto the dock. Her hair was in pigtails, and she wore a flower made of felt behind her right ear that looked finely crafted. The tops of her eyes were thickly framed by black eyeliner, and her lips were a bitten red. Adding to her modernized pin-up look was a red tube top, khaki capris, and wedge sandals. Although one could have easily argued that she was the prettiest of the girls, her eyes shifted about like a skittish fawn's, and she stood rigid in place.
Many of the other contestants stared at her, blinking like concerned bystanders. Dawn was the only one who smiled, beckoning her over. Zoey looked at her and relaxed, the tension clearing from her face. She ventured forward, and her lips rose in a greeting toward the group. "Hi, guys. It's so cool to get to compete with the veterans."
Leshawna pointed at her with an open mouth. "Hey, I recognize you! And not just from the Before-math- you did my hair in a challenge last season. Is everything alright?"
"Nothing I can't handle," Zoey said, meshing with the group. Leshawna looked at her questioningly, but Zoey did not meet her eyes again.
The boat dropped off the tenth contestant, a genuine giant. He wore simple attire, his shirt decorated only with the name "DJ". Although his face had enough youth in it to distinguish his age, he possessed muscle like the stuff of tree trunks. He marched right past Chris, his expression hardened with dignity.
As he neared the group, any threatening aspect in his manner dissolved, and an amiable smile spread across his face. "'Sup, guys? I can't believe some of us are back here again."
Bridgette rolled her eyes. "I know, right?" She fist-bumped him and exchanged a hug. "But it's good to see you, though."
Looking around DJ's husky frame, Bridgette stiffened. DJ lowered his eyebrows. "What?" He turned and saw the boat arriving with a certain hat-wearing male. "Oh."
"Reintroducing our party boy, Geoff!" Chris said.
Geoff jumped over the front of the boat, thumping onto the dock with his sandals. A cowboy hat was drawn over his forehead, and a few sun-bleached locks ran down the sides of his face. He wore a much wider grin than the setting called for, bringing sparks to his eyes that were colored like a sky blue crayon. Combined with a definitively masculine jawline, cleft chin, and open pink button-down shirt showing off his abs, one could have said that he was an all-American "dreamboat". "Yo, Chrismeister! How's it goin'?"
Chris, suddenly looking more cheerful than before, fist-bumped Geoff. "It's goin' good, my man! At least someone knows common courtesy."
Geoff's expression broke like a disassembled puzzle. "Wait, are you saying these dudes don't? I just try not to hold grudges, that's all."
Lightning snickered. "What about your grudge against Blaineley on World Tour? That was hilarious, bro."
Geoff chuckled and pointed finger guns at him. "Hey, my job last time was to make good TV." Then, he caught Bridgette's eye. An invisible string of tension between them formed, but Bridgette broke it by jerking her head away. Geoff joined the group in its silence.
Staci came onto the dock next. It was clear by the campers' reaction that most of them still were not used to her new appearance. She strode past Chris without looking at him, and he scowled. "Someone already did that before you, you know. Very unoriginal."
She turned around on her heel. Her eyes glimmered like blue ink, and her lips trembled. "Can't you just leave me alone? Why do you have to be so mean?"
"Uh, that's kinda his job..." Lightning said.
"You shouldn't take him personally," Harold said.
Dawn came up to her and whispered in her ear. Staci settled and let herself be guided by the blonde to the rest of the contestants, many of whom had questions in their eyes. Another girl landed on the dock shortly after- one who stood out like a sore thumb in almost every way. Her hips flared out like a bell from her waist, clothed in teal capris; a magenta blouse barely covered the balloons that were her chest. Silver hoop earrings drooped from her ears to her chin. Her eyelashes were caked with mascara, her eyelids a powder blue. Although she had natural black wavy hair, it was slicked up in front in a giant poof. Most significant of all, she possessed an orange tan like no other. It was an impenetrable shield of color in which one could barely see her brown skin tone through. She was a girl of extreme appearances, and the general population that saw her tended to be divided in labeling her either "hot" or a "hot mess"- just the way she liked it.
"Welcome back, Anne Maria!" Chris said.
Anne Maria clicked her way down the dock, talking to Chris as she passed. "Hi, Chip, or whoever you are." Her voice was affected by the infamous "Jersey" accent, making her "you" sound more like "ya". [1]
A majority of the contestants snickered. Chris's eye ticked. "I'm Chris McLean."
"Oh yeah, that's who you are," she said over her back, dismissing him with a wave. She joined the contestants' ranks and engaged Dawn in a friendly greeting and embrace, patting her back. Once they parted, Anne Maria's eyes swept over the others and quickly flew up to Geoff. "Ooh la la! I almost forgot about the hot studs from the old cast."
Bridgette snapped open her mouth, but disorientation swept over her face before she could speak. She blinked and coughed. Geoff's eyes flicked toward her as he pulled on a side of his hat. "Oh, um, thanks. You're Anne Maria, right?"
Anne Maria winked at him, seemingly oblivious to the situation she was causing. "You bet I am, baby doll." She scooted in next to him, pushing Harold aside in the process.
A "WHOO HOO!" rung over the water, and everyone looked to see a guy on the boat raising one fist in the air, his arm around a certain blonde. The clear theme of his appearance was "red athlete", a tracksuit, a sweatband, and sneakers clothing him head to toe. The girl's appearance, on the other hand, was that of a flawless being who could do no wrong. Her miniskirt, crop top, and high-heeled boots showed off a flat, golden stomach and model-thin legs, balanced out with a blooming pair of assets. The only flaw one could possibly speak of in her face was the negligible absence of a beauty mark; her eyes were as blue as a newborn baby's and complemented by a matching bandana. She clung to the guy on the boat, grinning in a way that would look sloppy on any lesser-looking human but looked picturesque on her.
Leshawna blinked ahead, her mouth agape. "How in the heck did they get on the same boat?"
"Maybe Lindsay flashed the driver," Harold said with a grin, which got him a slap from Leshawna. "I was kidding, gosh! I do have class, you know."
"You sure don't look like you do," Anne Maria scoffed, giving him a once-over.
Leshawna's gaze suddenly grew sharp. "You trying to start something, girl?"
The other girl put her hands up, her eyes widening. "Hey, I ain't trying to start no trouble. I'm just pointing out a fact."
"Keep your facts about my guy to yourself, alright?"
Anne Maria put her hands back down. "Sure. Didn't mean to offend you."
Harold put an arm around Leshawna's shoulder and a hand to his heart. "Don't mind her, she's just protective over me." Leshawna shrugged his arm off with a frown.
A fluttery voice came from the dock. "Hi guys!" The others turned around to see Lindsay strutting toward them with Tyler by her side. Greetings arose from all of the campers, and they took turns hugging, high-fiving, and shaking the hands of one or both new arrivals.
Lightning soon backed out and stood next to B. "Lindsay's sha-hot," he whispered to B, who nodded in response.
Little did the campers know that another blonde as beautiful as Lindsay in her own right was coming next. This girl had eyes like emeralds and buttery yellow hair that was brighter than even Lindsay's, but matching in that it coursed down to her waist. Her clothes fit the term "prima donna", pink and unfit for the outdoors. When she stepped off the boat, she shielded her eyes and squinted into the group. "Sam's not here yet? Bummer."
"Our daddy's girl, Dakota, is here!" Chris said.
She walked to the other end of the dock, waving at the rest of the crew. "Hey guys! What's up?"
Noah yawned. "Oh, not much. Just standing here."
Lindsay gasped and clasped her hands together. "Oh my gosh, I love your outfit! It's so cute and pink! Like- like a poodle!"
"Thank you!" Dakota said, perking up like a flower. "I love your outfit, too! Where'd you get that adorable skirt?"
Lindsay waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, I got it at North River. I have way cuter skirts than this one." [2]
"Seriously? I need to raid your wardrobe."
"Well, I need to raid yours!"
Noah elbowed the red-haired female next to him. "Take notes, Izzy. This is how normal girls befriend other girls."
She giggled and shoved him playfully. "Wonder why you were different?" He merely gave her a look that said, "Please."
As Dakota and Lindsay continued to chatter, the boat came back with a guy that the two girls would have deemed "in need of a serious makeover". His body resembled a potato in rotundity, wrapped in an unflattering sweater with dress shirt ends hanging out of it. His hair was no better- a burnt sienna mini-afro. Choice hairs jutted out of his chin, and plain brown eyes looked out from behind circular glasses. Nothing about him was beyond ordinary, and most about him was sloppy.
Dakota swiveled toward him, seeming to block out everyone else at that moment. "SAM!" She ran to him like a child to her mother, throwing her arms around his neck.
Sam chuckled, encircling her waist. "Missed me?"
"Lots." She pecked him on the cheek.
"Move the love train along, lovebirds," Chris said dully.
Sam and Dakota parted and retreated to the group, and Geoff approached them. "Hey, dude! Loved seeing you do intern work and snag the babe last season, haha."
Sam high-fived him. "Heh, those were good times. Your run on TDI was awesome."
Geoff grinned even wider than his default. "Sure was! Can't wait to start reliving it."
DJ's mouth teased upward. "Not if we eliminate you first, bro."
Geoff turned to him and adopted the expression of a sad puppy, jutting out his bottom lip. "Aw, c'mon, dude! I just got here since, like, three seasons ago!"
DJ stepped up and patted his back the way he would to comfort a friend, though he was visibly holding back laughter. "We'll see, dude. We'll see." He stuck out his hand toward Sam. "Nice to meet you, by the way, Sam."
"Likewise, bro," Sam said, shaking DJ's hand.
"Does anyone know how many more people are coming?" Lindsay said.
"I think there's five more," Tyler said.
Zoey unfolded one finger at a time on her hand. "Eva, Katie, Scott, Cameron, and... Mike."
"And here comes the guy with multiple personalities- Mike!" Chris said. Zoey's breath hitched as she jerked her head up. The speedboat docked, and a guy as thin as a rail stepped onto dry land. His skin tone was darker and warmer than Noah's, and he had a spiky quiff that seemed to defy gravity. The size of his eyes made them look almost blindingly white in the sun, though their milky brown irises could not be blocked out. He had an angular face that seemed capable of showing a wide array of emotions, and at the moment, it showed something like airplane sickness.
The other campers looked at him awkwardly. He raked a hand through his hair and released a laugh, though it sounded more like a strained noise. "Uh... Hi, guys."
As he walked forward, DJ stepped into his path with one hand stretched out. "Hey, mind if I just shake your hand?"
Mike's eyelids fluttered at the gesture. "Yeah, sure. I mean, I don't mind."
He put his hand in DJ's, and the other guy shook it up and down twice in a firm grip. "I watched you on your season. You've gone through a lot! You should be proud of yourself for making it where you are."
Geoff came to Mike's side and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, dude. You're, like, an inspiration and stuff."
Mike made a wry curl of his lips. "I haven't been lately, but thanks." He walked away from Geoff's hand and into the group, which parted for him; he met Zoey's eyes only for a split second as she stared at him, but moved his gaze away just as quickly.
The next girl to appear looked just as unhappy to be there. Her skin was barely darker than Caucasian skin tones, and she wore a barely-there striped top and hot pink short shorts that showed her waist and disproportionately-large hips. Her hair, however, was childish, styled into straight-cut bangs and high pigtails fastened with bobbles. She wore a matching pout that seemed not to be going anywhere anytime soon. "One of the Siamese twins is here!" Chris said.
She sulked past him to the group, searching it for a certain someone. A moment later, she sighed and scooted in between B and Noah. "Life just isn't the same without your BFFFL."
"It so isn't," Noah said in a mocking tone, but Katie nodded obliviously.
The fourth redhead to compete came into view from the boat. He wore the uncommon combination of jeans and a tank top that gave full view of the freckles on his arms and shoulders. The burly frame of his arms and shoulders extended to his neck, which was like a human variation of a giraffe's. His hair stood up in fiery red spikes and, although his chin reached down farther than proportionate, it seemed to fit his similarly-long nose and faded blue eyes. He had an unkempt look about him- not quite as polished as the urban and suburban majority- but he was rakish just the same.
The moment the boat stopped, he climbed over the front and surveyed the other contestants with cool disinterest. He drew immediate reactions from the cast, most of them negative- B, Dawn, Mike, Zoey, and Lightning in particular beat down on him with their eyes. "Welcoming our villain from last season, Scott!" Chris said.
Scott rolled his eyes. "Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Chris. What if I wanted to be a team player this season?"
Lightning let out a harsh laugh. "You? A team player?"
The redhead looked at him and plastered a pleasant expression onto his face. "How are you doing, Rudolph?"
This brought out an immediate reaction: Lightning's face turned maroon and taut, like a balloon blown to its limit. "Don't. Call. Me. That."
Scott kept his smile for a few more beats before dropping it as well as the suspenseful air. He stood himself on the edge of the group, the farthest from Lightning. The tension stuck around in a thick cloud until a new person broke it: a girl with a hulking figure. The size of her calves and biceps would have impressed male and female bodybuilders alike, and one suspected that her "thunder thighs" were not made of fat. Even her face was androgynous, marked with a heavy unibrow and squinty eyes. The only aspect that truly distinguished her as female was her chest, surprisingly curvy for a female who had so little fat for muscle.
It was not just her frame in dark blue activewear that gave her an intimidating air; it was also the peculiar gleam in her amber eyes that contrasted from her otherwise-impassive visage. She had a gaze like an eagle's that made some of the campers shrink and others fidget.
"Our favorite she-man with a temper, Eva!" Chris said.
Eva whirled on him, baring her teeth. "What did you just call me?"
He gulped and took a step back. "Nothing."
Turning back, she parted the contestants like butter as she passed through. She reached Izzy and Noah and stopped, parking herself next to them. "'Sup, guys."
Noah nodded. "'Sup."
Izzy threw her arms up, nearly hitting Noah and Eva. "My twin is here! Yay!" She went to hug Eva, but the girl gave her a look so concentrated with the word, "Don't", Izzy dropped the attempt and whistled to herself like nothing had happened.
"Is that all of them?" Chris muttered, looking at his watch. The whirring of the boat came one more time, and he looked up. "Nope. Still one more."
The final boy on the island was a certified midget for his age; he still looked like a kid in every size, shape, and form, except that he had somehow preserved the physical awkwardness of a teenager in the process. His poorly-matched red hoodie and yellow shorts were too big for his knobby frame, and circular glasses made his bulging eyes look ever-wider. "Possibly our smartest contestant here, it's Cameron!" Chris said.
"Hi guys!" Cameron tried to clamber over the boat, but his right leg waved about feebly above-ground. "Uh, a little help here?"
Dawn ran over and pulled one of his arms, allowing him to bring his other leg over. "Thanks, Dawn."
"Anytime."
They walked back to the others, and Mike approached them with a smile crinkling his eyes. "Hey, buddy!"
"Hey, Mike!" Cameron and Mike fist-bumped, then gave each other a "guy" hug. Cameron took advantage of the close proximity to whisper into Mike's ear, "You okay so far?"
No one saw Mike's face sober, as his back was to them. "Yeah." They parted, then stood with the rest of the group.
"Group photo time!" Chris said, pulling out a camera. "Everyone to the end of the dock!"
All of the first generation contestants scoffed, letting out various statements like, "I don't think so", "We're not idiots. Gosh!", and, "Please. As if we're gonna fall for that trick again." Chris lowered his eyelids in a way that showed he was losing his patience. "Geez, can't you just do what you're told? It's been fixed to be much more stable than it was before, so cool your jets already."
With stray mumbles here and there, the whole cast transferred itself to the end of the dock. True to his word for once, the dock did not so much as creak under their weight. Chris hopped onto the boat and aimed his camera at them with one hand. "Smile!" They either smiled or grinned.
With his other hand, he pressed a remote inside his pocket. BOOM! The end of the dock shattered, and screams rang out as everyone splashed into the water. Chris brought his hand to his forehead and kneeled over, convulsing with laughter. "HA! You guys actually fell for that! HAHA! I'm the best!"
A minute later of relishing in his victory, Chris cleared his throat and assumed his professional stance once more. "Feel free to go to the confessional now and express your thoughts. You know where it is."
CONFESSIONAL: LESHAWNA (The Sister with 'Tude)
Freshly dripping, she had a towel wrapped around herself and her hair. She looked ready to kill someone. "I... hate... that... man."
CONFESSIONAL: ZOEY (The Wounded Soul) [3]
Water streamed from her pigtails. She curled her hands into fists by her sides. "Ugh, I forgot how much I hate him!"
CONFESSIONAL: TYLER (The Fail Athlete)
He pulled off his sweatband, his face holding begrudging respect. "Leave it to Chris to pull a fast one on us." He wringed out the band, which created a puddle on the floor.
The campers resided in the middle of a clearing, a rock wall around them on one side and the dock on the other. Firewood was stacked in a tepee at the front. Sam, Dawn, Scott, Lindsay, Tyler, Staci, Bridgette, Cameron, Dakota, and Anne Maria sat on the ten tree stumps available as everyone else stood. Although many had gravitated toward the seats before, most of them had restrained themselves and had let others sit down.
Chris stood in front of a podium, his hands clasped behind his back. "You've all been here before, whether from the fourth season or the first." He spread his arms out. "This, is the elimination area. Revenge of the Island contestants, you may have gone through a season like rapidfire, but we're going back to the challenge format of TDI, in which we have a challenge every three days. It's gonna be a tad of an adjustment, but you all will still be on an even playing ground in that none of the challenges will be familiar."
"Isn't that how it's always been?" Mike said.
Chris puckered his mouth. "Anyways, my point is, the only real difference between you all is that some of you have more experience playing the game than others. There are even a few first-generation campers here who have participated only once... which brings me to the teams."
He gestured to his left. "You have the Fans-" he gestured to his right- "and you have the Favorites. But there's a new twist: two from each team will be switching right here, right now."
Bridgette's jaw fell. "Wait, what?" The cast burst into noise, dissent filling the air.
Chris waved his arms around. "QUIET!" The teenagers fell silent. "These switches aren't without a cause, y'know. It's not like the Favorites will miss who leaves, and neither will the Fans- well, one of them, at least."
"Who are they?" Leshawna snapped.
"Calm down, will you?" he said, irritation entering his voice. "The two players leaving the Favorites practically count as Fans already. As for the Fans switching out, one of them is practically a favorite, and the other is, well, a rather ironic choice on the producers' part."
Scott sneered. "You can stop singling me out now."
Chris looked ready to throw a tantrum. "Who said I was singling you out? Before you all decide to interrupt me one more time, I'll just be announcing the teams now. Hmph." He threw his left arm up. "To my left! The Favorites will be Bridgette, DJ, Geoff, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Lindsay, Noah, Tyler, Zoey, and Scott."
Everyone called bustled to Chris's left except Zoey, who stood frozen. "W-what? But-"
Chris lifted a finger into the air. "Tut tut! No 'but's."
Dawn rushed to her side and hugged her, nestling her head in her shoulder. "Have faith, and all will be well."
"But I'm alone on the team with Scott," Zoey whispered.
The moonchild stiffened. "Yes... try to stay clear of him."
Dawn pulled away and was promptly replaced by Mike. Cradling Zoey's face, he gave a soft peck on her lips. "Good luck. I'll miss you. And... I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Zoey murmured, closing her eyes briefly. "We've been through this before, haven't we?"
Mike's face was pierced with emotion. "Yeah, but not like this." He eventually let go of Zoey, and she walked over to the Favorites.
CONFESSIONAL: DAKOTA (The Princess)
Her right eyebrow rose onto her forehead. "Okayyy... Either Mike and Zoey are holding their own soap opera, or there's something serious going on."
CONFESSIONAL: ANNE MARIA (The Jersey Shore Reject)
She scoffed. "They're totally playing it up for the cameras. I can tell."
Chris threw his right arm up. "Moving on, the Fans! They will be Anne Maria, B, Cameron, Dakota, Dawn, Lightning, Mike, Sam, Staci, Eva, and Katie."
Eva waved to Noah and Izzy as she started toward the Fans' side with the other remaining campers. "Bye, guys."
Noah lifted a hand, allowing a gentle tilt of his eyebrows through his usual expression. "See you, Iron Woman."
Izzy fell onto her knees. "NO! One half of Izzy's duo is gone now! Whyyy?"
"I'm sure you'll manage just fine, Izzy," Zoey said gently. "I'll have to manage without Mike, but I've done it before. You're quite a force on your own."
The other girl jumped onto her feet, laughing effervescently. "Oh, I was just kidding! I'm a great actor, y'know. Yeah, I'm not that sad over Eva, but I'll miss her for sure."
Katie and Eva walked up to the Fans. Although they did not seem afraid of Katie, they pulled away as Eva drew close. The muscle-bound girl stopped and put her hands out. "Don't be scared, guys. I've gotten a lot better at controlling my temper."
Most of the group stared at her blankly, not taking her words to heart. A few gave Lightning what-are-you-doing looks as he hid at the back. Dawn did the opposite of him and walked up to Eva, who had to look down to see her. "Welcome to the team, Eva. My name is Dawn. I believe that you will be a great asset to us."
Sam stepped in alongside Dawn and put out his hand. "Yeah, welcome to the team, Eva."
Eva looked at his hand but left it there until it fell. "Hey."
CONFESSIONAL: LIGHTNING (The Athletic Overachiever)
He rubbed his arm up and down. "Man, it has to be Eva who switches over, of all people. I can't tell you how terrifying it is to have a girl on your team who can punch the living daylights out of you, and who actually did it to you for thinking she's a guy!" He tilted his head toward the sky and threw his arms up. "HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?"
CONFESSIONAL: EVA (The Female Powerhouse)
"Yeah... I don't have the best history on the show," Eva sighed. "Somehow, it always seems to capture me in my worst moods. And now, I'm stuck on a team with a guy who just so happens to be from the same school as me. Who I punched the living daylights out of before. History bites."
FANS' CABIN
When the girls poured inside their cabin, they were immediately greeted by a smell not unlike that of a twenty-year-old basement. Eva breathed in deeply, the only one out of the group to keep a straight face. "Yup. Smells the same as it did four seasons ago."
"I thought it'd smell even worse," Katie said, walking to the pile of suitcases and one duffel bag in the middle of the room.
She picked out her suitcase first, and the rest of the girls followed, Eva retrieving the duffel bag. "Now that we've obtained our luggage, how should we distribute the beds?" Dawn said.
"I'll take the bottom bunk nearest to the door," Dakota said. "I don't care who sleeps above me."
"I will," Anne Maria said.
"I'll take that bunk," Eva said, pointing to the bottom bed next to Dakota's and Anne Maria's beds. She broke away from the group and dropped her duffel bag onto the bed.
"I'd prefer to bunk with Dawn," Staci said timidly, her eyes darting to the aura-whisperer.
Dawn gave her a reassuring smile. "I'd prefer likewise, Staci."
While Staci perked up, Katie developed an uneasy expression. "So, I have to bunk with Eva?"
Eva focused her gaze on Katie, which seemed to communicate a threat to devour her. "Got a problem with that?"
Katie gulped and shook her head quickly.
CONFESSIONAL: KATIE (The Two-Faced Friend)
She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. "I still remember the time Eva trashed our team's whole cabin four seasons ago. Who knows how much 'calmer' her temper is now? Boy, do I miss Sadie."
FAVORITES' CABIN
Geoff leaped into the males' bedroom with his arms spread out. "Whoo hoo! I haven't seen the inside of a cabin in ages!"
"I wouldn't consider it that exciting," Scott said.
"Right on, bro!" Tyler said to Geoff, high-fiving him. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"Such the optimists," Noah said, whisking past the group to the suitcases.
"Being here has both its pros and cons," Harold said, walking in Noah's wake. "The pros being establishing friendships and making new memories, and the cons being everything tangible here and making new memories."
The guys collected their suitcases one by one, DJ winking at Harold while he picked up his own. "I bet Leshawna's the exception to the first con for you."
"There's no doubt about that," Harold said, his gaze dreamy. "Her tangible parts are off-limits, though."
Geoff snickered. "You've got it bad for her, dude."
Harold crossed his arms, the spell in his eyes broken by an unfriendly gleam. "Oh, and I suppose that's funny to you."
The other boy's expression hitched, and he raised his hands in front of him. "No, no, not at all! I was just amused by what you said. You know, the double meaning of it and all."
DJ eyed Geoff with his eyebrows set low. "Dude, I don't think there were two meanings to what he said."
Geoff blinked twice. "Oh."
Noah slowly raised a finger gun to his head, and Scott chuckled at him.
Around noon, all of the contestants gathered in the main lodge. They stood in a line at Chef's serving window as he piled unidentifiable white goop onto each person's plate.
He filled Anne Maria's plate, and her goop had a hair curling out of it. She stuck out her tongue. "Ew." Chef raised his scoop like he meant to hit her with it, and she scurried out of line.
When everyone had sat down at their team tables, Chris walked out of the kitchen and stood in front of the tables. "Hope you're enjoying your first meal since arriving! Heheh, not. Anyway, I have a task for you guys. All of you will express your thoughts in the confessional, if you haven't already, to answer two things: what your goals are this season, and what you hope to improve on from your last season. Capiche? Get to it right after you're done eating, and then meet me back here for your first challenge."
CONFESSIONAL: CAMERON (The Intellectual)
"My hopes and goals merge together, as I would like to improve my social game this season. Last season, I got in over my head with strategy, and that resulted in me making some poor decisions. Bonds with other people, on the other hand, can transcend the whole game. I learned that from befriending Dawn and Mike."
CONFESSIONAL: LINDSAY (The Dumb Blonde)
She clasped her hands in her lap while crossing her legs at the ankles. "I totally want to, like, become more strategical this season. That's what got me farthest in Season Two, so I'll try my best, and hope for the best, too." She curled her eyebrows upward and put a finger on her chin. "Or was it Season Three?"
CONFESSIONAL: LESHAWNA
"I'm all business this time," Leshawna said, folding her arms over her chest. "In TDI, I played my best game by far. But this season, I'm gonna do even better. If anyone thinks they can fool me, they have another thing coming."
CONFESSIONAL: LIGHTNING
His expression was like a mask, cold and unforgiving. "The Lightning will be going all the way. And he'll be watching his back at all times, because he ain't trusting no one."
CONFESSIONAL: B (The Silent Genius)
He contorted his face into a sneer almost exactly like Scott's, then pretended to wipe it off with a hand and throw it away. With the same hand, he gave a thumbs-up.
CONFESSIONAL: DJ (The Brickhouse With Heart)
"My last run on this show was every kind of 'wrong' you could imagine," DJ said with a grimace. "So this time, I'm-a try to work on my attitude. My mom told me before I came here that I could do whatever I set my mind to- that, and animal curses don't exist." He put on a confident smile and punched a fist into his palm. "This time, I'm gonna set my mind toward positive things and not give in to fear."
CONFESSIONAL: BRIDGETTE (The Surfer Chick)
"Every time I lost my focus in a season, I got eliminated. Not this time."
CONFESSIONAL: NOAH (The Deadpan Snarker)
He looked down at his nails. "Meh. No comment."
The teams sat at their tables once more, and Chris clapped his hands together. "Alright! Let's get this first challenge started, shall we? First of all, if you think it's a physical challenge, you're wrong by seventy-five percent."
"Um, what?" Anne Maria said.
"Seventy-five percent?" Bridgette echoed.
"You betcha! Physical ability, also known as bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, is required only for one part of the challenge- the bodily-kinesthetic part." Chris smacked his lips together. "Wow, that's a mouthful. Anyway, there are four parts to this challenge, each representing a type of intelligence in this famous person's theory."
"You mean, Howard Gardner's," Harold said.
Chris gave him a look signifying his thorough disinterest. "Yeah, Harold. That guy. There were originally eight types of intelligence he made up, but we've narrowed them down to four: bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, and spatial. Or something like that."
Lindsay raised her hand. "What do those mean, Chip?"
Chris's eye tick started up again. "Bodily-kinesthetic means athletic, logical-mathematical is obvious, linguistic means language, and spatial means space," Noah rattled off, resting his cheek on his fist.
"It's not that simple, gosh," Harold said. "Bodily-kinesthetic has to do with coordinating your body for specific functions, logical-mathematical deals with logic and strategy in both math and everyday life, linguistic applies to word fluency and reading comprehension, and spatial is used for making art and imagining how things are positioned and fit together."
Lindsay's baby blue eyes were about as empty as a newborn's. "Sorry, could you repeat that? I didn't quite get it."
A corner of Harold's mouth drew down. "Yeah. That's why I put it simply," Noah said.
"C'mon, guys," Tyler said, looking at them both imploringly. "Not everyone's as smart as you two."
Harold and Noah glanced at each other. Neither turned back to Lindsay, and Noah patted Tyler's shoulder. "That's true, bro. Very true."
Chris cleared his throat, and the three males looked up. "I would've thrown all three of you out of here for interrupting me just now, but luckily, I didn't feel like describing what you did. As I was saying, there are eleven of you on each team, so the way you'll split up is in three groups of three and one group of two for four segments. The first person from each team to complete each challenge will move on to the second round, which will decide who gets a point for their team. However, if two people on the same team win first and second, there will be no second round. And no, I'm not telling you what the challenges are, so you'll just have to pick your best bets for each of them. This is for your first immunity, and if it results in a tie-" He gave a grin almost as unnerving as the Joker's- "well, we have a very special tiebreaker planned." He pointed at both teams. "So, split up!"
The teens got to their feet and gathered into their teams. "Okay, dudes, we need to play to our strengths," Geoff said. "Who's good at sports?" He raised his hand, as did Bridgette, DJ, Izzy, Leshawna, Lindsay, Scott, and Tyler.
Scott scoffed at Tyler. "Put your hand down."
Tyler squinted at him confusedly. "But I'm good at sports. You've just never seen me in action."
"Uh, dude..." DJ looked at the others, who gave a variety of reactions from shrugging to looking down. "We think you should try something else."
"Since we have so many athletes already, your talents could be used elsewhere," Leshawna said.
"But sports are my main talent!" Tyler said, looking around wildly at his teammates. His eyes landed on Lindsay and stayed there, but she bit her lip and looked down. His face became crestfallen. "What else can I do?"
Noah scratched behind his ear. "You know, uh, I think you'd do pretty well if you did the linguistic part with me."
"I guess I could try that," Tyler murmured, looking at his shoes.
Geoff clapped once, though he looked apologetic. "Good! That's good. Um, how about math? Anyone good at that?"
Noah lifted his arm in an I-could-care-less fashion. "Let's just say I'd be great at all of the challenges except the physical one."
Bridgette put one hand on her hip and cocked her head at him. "Didn't you just say you'd do the linguistic challenge? What was the point of you saying that just now?"
"To be arrogant. What else?"
Scott chuckled and shook his head. "Boy, I never thought I'd meet someone more sarcastic than I am."
"Yeah, and the fans love me for it," Noah said, rolling his eyes. "If they actually met me, they'd hate my guts for not buttering them up."
Leshawna let out a few scoffs for laughter. "Either you're a fool, or you're trying to make them hate you right now."
"How'd you guess?"
Geoff tapped his wrist. "Guys, kinda need to focus on the challenge here..."
CONFESSIONAL: GEOFF (The Life of the Party)
He fiddled with the side of his hat. "Man, it's hard being in the leadership role. I didn't even ask for it! Just, no one else was stepping up to the plate, y'know? I hope someone takes over soon, because I don't think I can keep this up."
"So, like, who wants to volunteer for something?" Anne Maria asked the other Fans. "I just wanna say that I ain't doing the bodily-whatever, for obvious reasons."
"I'll do that one," Eva grunted.
"So will Lightning!" Lightning said. "He can take whatever they throw at him."
Katie shrugged. "That's probably what I'm best at, too, so me three."
"Out of the types of intelligence available, I'm the most logical and mathematical," Cameron said.
"Same here," Sam said. "I wouldn't be able to kick butt in tactical RPGs otherwise."
"Although I know that I'm not as strong as Cameron in logic or mathematics, I think I'd be pretty good," Dawn said.
Cameron put his arm around her shoulders. "Oh, come on, Dawn. You're much smarter than you give yourself credit for."
She gave him the closest thing to a smirk she would ever produce. "I was merely stating a truth, Cameron."
He dropped his arm, his cheeks darkening with a tinge of red. "Uh, yeah. I knew that."
Lightning's eyelids fell almost imperceptibly, but a smile covered up his reaction. "You know, this is a really good sha-team we have here. No one's trying to grab power or ruin our teamwork for once."
CONFESSIONAL: MIKE (The Actor)
His eyes were empty of any emotion, seeming to reflect no soul inside of him. "If Lightning thinks said 'teamwork' is gonna last with me around, he's tragically mistaken." He jerked his hand up and slapped his face to the side. Blinking away his hollow gaze, he stared at his hands like they were a stranger's.
Chris, standing alongside Chef, patted the table nearest to Chef's window. "Time to get started! People for spatial intelligence, come up. We're starting with you guys."
B, Dakota, and Anne Maria parted from the Fans; Scott, Lindsay, and Zoey split from the Favorites. All six of them sat down at the table, separate teams facing each other. "Chef, bring out the puzzle pieces, will you?" Chris said.
Chef unloaded eight pieces made of blocks in front of each competitor, all different in shape and size. "You'll be putting your eight pieces together as quickly as possible to form a four-by-four cube," Chris said. "Be careful not to knock them down, because they don't stick together. First person from each team gets to move on to the final round, which we'll do after all the other first rounds." He turned to the contestants watching, who had crowded around the table. "Oh yeah, and if you're good at this, it means you can put stuff together easily, which will be useful to your team in future challenges. Just so you know."
CONFESSIONAL: CAMERON
"I have the feeling that Chris created this challenge with the intention of singling people out for their strengths," Cameron said. "It's pretty clever, I admit. Whoever doesn't perform well on the losing team is set to go home, and whoever performs well in general may be relied on in future challenges. My situation is unique, though, in that my teammates already know what I'm good at, and my ranking and strategic gameplay from last season probably make them see me as a threat. So, I have to play my cards right and lay low this time if I want to win this one."
B and Scott were hunched over their puzzles, hands hovering over specific pieces. Lindsay smoothed her bandana, her eyes wandering to this and that piece. "Get ready..." Chris said. "Get set... GO!"
Everyone sprung onto their puzzles. B put his together with military precision, stacking pieces like he had done so his entire life. Lightning raised a fist into the air. "YEAH, B! STACK THOSE PIECES!"
"He's trying to focus," Cameron said, shooting Lightning a stern look.
Lightning put his arm down. "Oh, whoops..."
B waved his hand dismissively, wearing a breezy smile. Dakota and Anne Maria struggled over their pieces, Lindsay had yet to touch hers, and Zoey built her cube with more certainty than the former three. Scott had half of his cube put together and worked on nudging a one-block piece into a gap. B built his puzzle to the point of having one piece left, which he dangled in the air while staring keenly at his structure. A moment later, he took off the piece on top, inserted the remaining piece in its place, and completed the cube.
"And B is done first!" Chris said.
Scott jerked his head up. "Say what?" B smirked at him and folded his arms on the table.
Just then, Lindsay's expression lit up like a lightbulb. "OH!" She began tossing her pieces into a cube at lightning speed, and everyone stared at her movements, her hands a blur before settling on the table. "Done!"
There was utter silence for five seconds, and then Chris spoke. "Lindsay's... moving on?" Scott gawked at Lindsay's cube.
CONFESSIONAL: SCOTT (The Sneak)
"How the heck did the blonde bimbo beat me?"
"Moving on to the next challenge!" Chris said. "Can we have the linguistic people up here?"
"Wait a second!" Scott said, standing up and pointing at Lindsay. "Barbie here totally cheated! As if she could solve the puzzle that fast without looking off of Beverly."
B cracked his knuckles on the table. "Are you insulting my girlfriend?" Tyler said in a low, aggressive voice, rolling up his sleeves. "You better watch what you say next."
"You're just upset that Lindsay finished faster, aren't you?" Zoey said.
Scott let out a scornful cough. "As long as I would've finished ahead of you, I don't really care."
Zoey's expression cracked like he had poked a needle into her, and she shot up from her seat. "Why, Scott? Why do you have to be so mean? What did anyone here ever do to you?"
He stared at her impassively, curling his eyebrows. "Whoa. Have you become unhinged or what?"
Zoey looked around to see the cast eyeing her with similar reactions. A flush rose on her cheeks, an invisible curtain closing in her features. "Fine. Enjoy being hated by everyone and booted off early." She stepped out from the table and joined the audience, the rest of the spatial contestants soon following her. Scott was the last to leave, looking at Zoey with a thoughtful frown.
CONFESSIONAL: ZOEY
"Scott is the most frustrating person I know," she said, momentarily making her hands into fists. "Just when I decided I couldn't trust him last season, he nearly dragged me back in with his story about his family. He toyed with my emotions. He made me think he was my friend. And now, he's not even trying to pretend to be anything. It's like he lost whatever humanity he had last season... if he even had any. But I watched what he did to Mike and me on video, and I will never forgive him for it."
Mike, Staci, Noah, Tyler, and Leshawna seated themselves at the table. Chef put down a pencil and a sheet of paper for each of them, and Leshawna's mouth fell open. "What the-"
"Word searches?" Noah said, his tone as scathing as they came. "What, are we in elementary school?"
"Uh, jah, Chris, how is this supposed to test our intelligence?" Staci said.
"I'll have you all know that linguistically smart people are very good at finding words," Chris said. "As you can see, you have twenty words here, each referring to things you can find on the island. Try to finish it as fast as you can, and yes, some words are spelled backwards. People with linguistic smarts have a way with words and can be charismatic if they have people smarts as well. They tend to be very good at riddles, and who says we won't have challenges involving those? But anyway, contestants, start... now!"
The campers grabbed their pencils and started searching, ducking their heads over their papers. Mike looked at the word list, and his eyebrows jumped. "Laxatives?"
"Kitchen grease?" Tyler added.
"You goofs try making a word search on a junk island like this one," Chef muttered.
"Found one," Noah droned out, crossing out a word in his puzzle.
Everyone lifted their heads and looked at him. "Well, that was fast," Chris said. "Noah's currently in the lead!"
"Found two," Noah said, dragging his pencil along.
The others plunged back into their puzzles. Mike and Staci found words at a steady pace, while Tyler and Leshawna mostly stared at their sheets. "Found six," Mike said in the thick of the race.
"Found sixteen," Noah said.
Mike whipped his head toward him, a bright glare in his eyes. "Are you gonna shut up or what?"
The other male scrunched his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
The glare left Mike's eyes, and horror replaced it. "Oh, geez. I'm sorry. I just... something came over me."
Noah scrutinized him a moment before returning to his puzzle. "Whatev."
"I FOUND 'LINGERIE'!" Tyler shouted next to Noah, making him drop his pencil. Snickers went about the room, and Tyler looked around. "What? It took me forever to find that one."
"Who has lingerie, Chef?" Leshawna chuckled.
"Hey!" Chef barked, before muttering to himself, "It's a preference, that's all."
A few minutes later, Noah dropped his pencil once more, deliberately. "Done."
Chris looked at his watch. "Wow, in less than five minutes? Impressive. Keep going, other maggots!"
Noah rested his head on the table as the other contestants worked. Mike bit the end of his pencil, Staci hunched over her paper, Tyler put his chin on his hands as he stared at his paper, and Leshawna gripped the side of her head. Five minutes of near-silence later, Staci put down her pencil. "Done!"
"Staci's moving on?" Chris said. "A lot of surprises are happening today."
"What surprises?" Lindsay said eagerly. Scott pointed his eyes toward the ceiling.
"Up next is logical-mathematical intelligence!" Chris said. "Linguistic people, scooch." The contestants at the table left, and Sam, Dawn, Cameron, Harold, and Bridgette took their place. Chef dumped a pile of plastic apples, oranges, and bananas in front of each person.
"Yup, it's official," Noah said. "We're in kindergarten."
Harold lifted a banana. "What are these for?"
"We're gonna get to that, Harold," Chris snapped. "Each of you is gonna try to decipher a pattern out of the fruit and sort them in a row accordingly. Whoever does this first on both teams will move on to the next round. Those who have logical smarts are capable of solving problems requiring abstract thought, making them the most common type of 'smart' to actually be labeled 'smart'. And... go!"
All of the contestants made a group for each fruit, working equally fast. "Looks like we have a close game on our hands this time," Chris said.
"Don't be ridiculous," Chef scoffed. "It's Harold and Cameron we're talkin' 'bout."
"True..."
Bridgette finished sorting her fruit first and stared at them thoughtfully, stroking her chin. She began alternating the apples and oranges in a row; Noah watched with more interest than the rest of the teens. Harold finished next and eyed his fruit studiously while pushing up his glasses. "If there are the same number of apples and oranges, and about a bajillion bananas..."
Dawn and Sam completed their sorting. Cameron counted his fruit to himself carefully, taking his time. Bridgette finished aligning the apples and oranges and went back to stroking her chin, squinting intensely at her bananas. "Looks like Bridgette's got a plan," Noah murmured.
"Yeah, Bridge is, like, an expert at math," Geoff said breezily. His eyes shot wide. "Uh, I mean, yeah. Bridgette's good."
Harold started putting his apples and oranges in the same pattern as Bridgette's, but he also placed two bananas after every four different fruits. Dawn frowned as she hesitantly put a banana after every third apple or orange, and Sam looked at his fruit with a helpless expression. Cameron, after organizing all of his fruit, seemed to tune out the world around him while tilting his head to one side. Bridgette's gaze finally cleared, and she snapped her fingers. "Aha!" She grabbed two bananas and placed them after four other fruits, then three bananas after the next four fruits, repeating the pattern over and over.
Sam sighed resignedly and began making a pattern that had one of each fruit before starting over. Snapping his attention back to reality, Cameron began creating the same pattern as Bridgette's like a machine. Harold fingered three bananas in his hand for a moment before jolting.
"Oh!" He proceeded to distribute another banana to every second pair of bananas in his row.
"Looks like Harold, Cameron, and Bridgette are in the home stretch!" Chris said. "Who will it be?"
Bridgette shoved the last four fruits aside, inserted three bananas before them, and put them back into place before jerking her hands up. "Done!"
"And Bridgette wins!" Chris said. "Wow! I thought Cameron would've won for sure."
Harold put his last banana into place. "I'm done!"
Dawn, Sam, and Cameron stopped. "This is the first time we don't have to go to a second round," Chris said. "Which is a relief, because we were gonna give you a boring math game. That means the first point goes to the Favorites!"
The Favorites whooped and cheered; Bridgette and Harold high-fived other teammates as well as each other. "Sorry, guys," Cameron told his team, sounding a mixture of ashamed and embarrassed. "I was more focused on getting the pattern right than on my speed, and I ended up losing sight of the latter."
None of the Fans looked spiteful, and Dawn appeared to be the only one less than convinced by him. Mike walked up to him and patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Cam. At least you tried."
"Ahem." Everyone turned to Chris. "We have one last first round before we move on to the second rounds: the bodily-kinesthetic round. Everyone, follow me outside for this one."
They all followed him to the dock, where a series of wooden beams had been set up over the water. "Those who are participating in this challenge, step up," Chris said. Izzy, Eva, Katie, DJ, Geoff, and Lightning came forward. "You will each be standing on a wooden beam, trying to keep your balance for as long as possible. Unlike the other challenges, this is not a race by any means."
"That's it?" Lightning said. "This'll be sha-easy."
One of Chris's signature grins sprung onto his face- the grin that meant trouble. "Oh ho ho, not exactly, Lightning. You see, Chef and I have a little surprise in store for you."
The contestants turned to the rolling of wheels behind them. Chef approached them with a ball-shooting machine, rolling it to a stop behind them. The soon-to-be-victims squirmed. "Ah, yeah," Chris chuckled, "I sure love this challenge. Chef is gonna be shooting tennis balls at you until all but one of you drops. And trust me- if one hits you, it'll hurt. Competitors to your positions!"
"Whoo hoo!" Izzy shouted, leaping into the water with a splash that reached the dock. She popped back up moments later and pulled herself onto a beam, standing with her arms out. "This is awesome!"
The other five players occupied the other beams, and Chef sat himself in a chair attached to the ball machine. Chris pulled out a whistle and put it near his lips. "Get ready... get set..."
TWEEEET! Chef shot out an arc toward all of the teens; each of them dodged the ball that came toward them. He began swinging his aim around at random, balls flying out of the machine like confetti. Lightning sidestepped one ball. Another zipped right toward him, and he dropped into a crouch with one hand on the beam. "Whoa!" Eva kept careful watch over her feet when a barrage came toward her, dodging the balls with minimum movement but plenty of grace. DJ moved even more gracefully, swishing this way and that like the breeze. Katie's main tactic was ducking, and she scuttled away like a crab whenever a ball sailed low toward her. Geoff squinted fiercely at the tennis machine, jumping from whatever ball came toward him with cat-like reflexes. Using flips, cartwheels, and cheerleader leaps, Izzy escaped the balls with both precision and extravagance.
CONFESSIONAL: SAM (The Gamer Guy)
"Dang, those were some hardcore athletes out there," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I consider my own reflexes cat-like, but..."
"Looks like they're evenly matched!" Chris said. "Up the ante, Chef!"
Chef nodded, lips rising in a beastly grin. He pressed a red button on the machine, causing it to shoot at hyper speed. All of a sudden, a storm of tennis balls flew at the teens, and censored curses flew out of their mouths. Five balls knocked into Eva at once and sent her reeling into the water. A ball hit each of Geoff's eyes, and he toppled backward. Katie leapt up to avoid a multitude of balls, but another forced her to bend backward too far. She flailed her arms, but dropped off her beam and hit the water head-first. DJ was hit in several places at once and flew off-balance, leaving Lightning and Izzy desperately twisting and turning with their feet dancing on their beams. "COME ON, IZZY!" Noah screamed, cupping his hands around his mouth. "DRAW FROM YOUR INNER NUTCASE!"
A stripe of balls raced across the whole area at torso-level. Izzy threw herself into a bridge on her toes, but Lightning was socked in the stomach and thrown into the water. Chef stopped the machine. "And Izzy wins the round!" Chris said. "I knew this challenge would be the most awesome."
Izzy jumped up and down on her beam. "Boo-yeah! Izzy rules! Whoo!" She dived into the water and began freestyling toward the dock as the five losing competitors climbed onto it, Geoff sporting two swollen eyes.
DJ did a double take when Geoff stood up next to him. "Whoa, dude! You need to go to the infirmary!"
Geoff touched his eyes and winced. "Yeah... I guess I better get some ice."
"I'm coming with you," Lightning said, rubbing a circle-shaped welt on his arm.
Eva pressed a welt on her neck. "Ow... me, too."
DJ, Geoff, Lightning, and Eva left the group, and the remaining contestants headed back to the main cabin. Chris stationed himself at the front of the room with Chef. "Chef, mind bringing out the puzzles?"
Chef nodded and whisked into the kitchen, soon coming back out with two jumbo-sized sliding puzzles stacked together. He separated them on the table; they each took up the entire width of it. "This is for B and Lindsay," Chris said, beckoning the two over.
B and Lindsay each stood on separate sides of the table, staring at the puzzles as though they were already figuring them out. B's was various shades of magenta, and Lindsay's was shades of dark green. "You are NOT allowed to lift any pieces in this," Chris said. "If you do that, you will be automatically disqualified, which means the other person will win."
Lindsay's shoulders drooped. "Oh."
Chris gave her the look that most people did after she said most things. "Yeah. No lifting. Whoever completes the puzzle first wins a point for their team. Oh, and here's a hint for what the puzzle should look like: they depict your team symbols."
"But we don't know what those look like," Lindsay said.
Chris grinned. "Exactly." B pulled up one side of his lips, unsmiling. "Anyways, start working... now!"
B immediately starting shuffling his pieces around. Lindsay touched one of her pieces next to the empty square. "Wait, so I'm supposed to slide this?"
Chris face-palmed. "Yes, Lindsay. You're supposed to slide the squares until you get the picture put together."
"Ohhh, okay!" She started piecing her puzzle together, albeit slowly. B worked as though he had a clear image in his mind, manipulating his puzzle to his will. Lindsay gathered speed as she went on, and by the time she was going at top speed, B was working to get his last few pieces in place. Both of their images were clear, Lindsay's being a row of three stars, and B's being aquatic life underwater.
"You can do it, babe!" Tyler said, pumping a fist into the air. "I believe in you!"
Lindsay scrunched her eyebrows and gripped the sides of her head. "Tyler, I'm trying to focus here!"
He clamped a hand over his mouth. "Sorry."
As Lindsay struggled to regain her momentum, B slid his last piece into place, forming an image of a circle with a fish cowering from a shark in the background. He lifted his hands up. "And Beverly wins!" Chris said. "Second point goes to the Fans."
The Fans flocked to B and congratulated him. "You're the man, B!" Sam said, making the genius smile.
"Thanks for coming through for us," Dawn said warmly; B gave her a thumbs-up.
Lightning clapped him on the back, his face glowing like his grin. "Dude, you were freaking amazing!" He opened his arms out toward B. "Bring it in, brother! Bring it in!" B curled his lips amusedly and obliged, clapping him on the back as well.
Tyler assumed the posture of dejection. "Aw, man... I totally cost her that challenge."
Noah gave him a light clap on the shoulder. "I still say congrats, bro. Your girlfriend's an idiot savant."
"What's a savant?"
"Never mind."
Lindsay approached them with a downcast expression, her blue eyes dimmed. "I tried, guys."
Tyler wrapped her into his arms like she were a ragdoll, squeezing her tightly. "You did really good, babe."
"Thanks." She kissed him on the cheek and parted from him.
Leshawna came over and patted her on the back. "You did good, girl. None of us expected that out of you."
Lindsay curled her eyebrows downward. "Really? I've done smart things before..."
The other girl itched behind her ear. "Well, um... we didn't expect a smart thing out of you of this caliber."
Lindsay looked even more confused. "What does caliber mean? That sounds like a kind of food." Leshawna closed her eyes and lowered her head.
Chef cleared the puzzles off the table and replaced them with pencils and blank sheets of paper. "Next up is the linguistic second round, so Staci and Noah, come up."
Staci and Noah walked to the table and sat opposite to each other. "This looks familiar," Noah said.
Chris pouted. "Yeah, but it's totally different. You two will be making anagrams, which are words or phrases made out of all the letters of other words and phrases. Whoever gets each one first gets a point, and the person to score the most by the end earns a point for their team. Make sure to say your anagram out loud so we all can hear." He snickered. "So, you ready?" Noah and Staci picked up their pencils, and Chef came to the front of the table with a set of cards. "Chef will be revealing words or phrases, which you will try to create anagrams out of. And... go!"
Chef flipped over his cards, revealing the first one to be "silent". Staci started jotting it down on her paper when Noah spoke immediately. "'Listen'. I'm sorry, but that example is straight from Wikipedia." [4]
"Ooh, burn," Chef snickered, then drew his lips in as Chris scowled at him.
"First point goes to Noah," Chris nearly growled. "Next."
Chef flipped the next card, which was "dictionary". Staci wrote feverishly, and Noah squinted at it for a few seconds before answering. "'Indicatory'."
"That is correct," Chris said. "Chef, just keep flipping."
The next card was a phrase: "a gentleman". "'A gentle man'!" Staci shouted, making Noah flinch.
"I was just about to say not to do that," Chris sneered. "It's too much of a shortcut."
"Say what? That ain't fair!" Anne Maria said.
"That's just as much an anagram as anything else!" Mike snapped.
"Too bad. Staci doesn't get a point."
Staci's face threatened to crumble, but she threw herself back into writing. Noah looked at her a moment before speaking. "A gentleman equals an 'elegant man'."
"Correctomundo," Chris said.
"How do you even know I'm correct?" Noah said. "Doesn't Chef have the answers on the back of his cards or something?"
"I'll have you know that I'm just that smart," Chris sniffed. "But if you're so bent on Chef checking instead, so be it."
Chef looked at the back of his card. "It's correct. The score's three-to-zero in Noah's favor." He flipped over a new card, which read, "William Shakespeare".
Both Noah and Staci went to their papers, the latter scribbling more fiercely than ever. Moments later, she came gasping like she had surfaced out of water. "'Willie makes a phrase'!"
Noah's eyebrows shot up. "First point for Staci," Chef said, switching to a new card. It read, "Spiro Agnew", which made Chris snicker like a kid.
Noah rolled his eyes. "'Grow a spine'."
Chris scowled like a villain whose plan was spoiled. "Aw, c'mon, seriously? You completely missed the innuendo."
"Do I look like I care?"
The host crossed his arms. "Fine."
Chef showed the next card: "Mother-in-law". Noah eyed it with a raised eyebrow and turned to Staci. "You can have this one."
She jotted her anagram down, then grimaced. "'Woman Hitler'."
Scott snorted, causing him to receive more than a few raised eyebrows. "That's two for Staci now," Chef said. He went through ten more cards, most of which were innuendos; Noah gave Staci the ones that could not be evaded. Chef announced that the score was ten-to-six in Noah's favor before revealing the final one. "This one's worth five points."
Noah and Staci gaped- the phrase was not a phrase, but lines of a poem:
In the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie,
One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all,
And in the darkness, bind them.
"Pardon my French, but what the holy beep!?" Noah yelled.
"How does an uncultured swine like you know Lord of the Rings?" Harold said to Chris.
"Because I used the Internet," Chris said, lifting his chin. "The Internet can be useful, Noah."
Noah scoffed. "Yeah, for uncultured swine like you."
Chris's face turned into something ugly, but he stayed mute as Noah and Staci wrote on their papers. It was a full five minutes of tense thinking until Noah emerged from his paper and cleared his throat. "'Who fears nine Morgul men, a lot of bandit demons, the gathering torrent, and him, one dark lord sheltered within his hell? Men, blind to the one ring.'"
Chef cocked an eyebrow and read over the answer on his card. "That's right! You're an anagramming genius, scrawny kid."
"Yeah, yeah," Noah said in a bored tone. "Can I go now?"
"You're free to go, both of you," Chris said to the two competitors. "Noah has made the score two-to-one in the Favorites' favor, which means the Fans need to win the last round to force a tiebreaker. Follow me back outside, campers!"
Geoff, Eva, DJ, and Lightning trekked along a dirt path in the woods, silence between them. Birds sung in the trees and flew through the sky. Geoff and DJ stayed behind Eva and Lightning, who were walking on opposite sides. "So, uh, Eva." Lightning put his hand behind his head. "That was some pretty nice dodging you did back at the dock."
Eva pierced him with a cold stare. "Yeah, and?"
Her gruff tone sent Lightning back a few steps. "Er, um, nothing."
Eva flipped her eyes toward the sky, and Geoff approached them both with a gaze of mild concern. "Something up between you two?"
"I'm not gonna talk about it," they said in unison. They looked at each other with glassy eyes that seemed horrified before switching their heads in opposite directions.
DJ caught up to Geoff and whispered, "Dude, I don't think you should bother." Geoff nodded and scratched his head, continuing to walk with him instead of the other two.
As Eva and Lightning were walking, the latter suddenly stopped cold. "Wait! Crap! I have to go to the last challenge!"
The other three campers stared as Lightning bolted back the way they had come. Eva just shook her head. "If that meathead doesn't make it in time, I know who's going home first."
The remaining Fans and Favorites arrived inside a gymnasium infused with the smell of sweat and dirty socks. An obstacle consisting of block platforms, laid-out ladders, balance beams, tunnels, ramps, trampolines, and a single climbing wall stretched across the entire floor. Izzy rubbed her hands together. "Ooh, this is gonna be good..."
"Looks exactly like your kind of playground," Noah said.
Chris walked in front of the group with a stopwatch in one hand. "This is the deciding point of the game where either everyone ties, or the Favorites win." He looked into the crowd. "Izzy and... Lightning? Where's Lightning?"
"Here!" Everyone turned to the door, which Lightning was holding open while huffing in and out. "Lightning's here!"
"Um, o-kayyy," Chris said. "As I was saying, I will be explaining how to perform this obstacle course. First, you will be jumping across these blocks of various shapes and sizes, coordinating your jumps with the distances between them. Then, you will run across these ladders, making sure to step on each gap." He walked to one of the ladders and crossed it sideways, alternating between bringing his left foot forward or backward to cover every gap ahead of his right. He looked like he was dancing, running nimbly on his toes until he reached the end. "Like so. After you finish that, you'll then head to the balance beam and cross it as quickly as you can. Fall off, and you have to start over, like any of the other obstacles if you miss them. You're then gonna go under the tunnel and perform a somersault over the ramp, and jump on the trampoline to climb the wall."
Lightning's jaw went down to his chin. "Wait, you want us to do what?"
Chris appeared to be at his last drop of patience, tensing his whole body- even his hair. "Do I have to explain everything I just said again?"
Izzy performed a handstand, her hair flopping over her face. "I think he just wants to know why we need to smash into a wall with a trampoline."
"Heck YEAH, I wanna know!" Lightning scoffed.
"It's not mandatory for you to jump, but it'll be a whole lot quicker," Chris said. "Of course, we're not taking any charges if you do happen to do that and get into an accident."
Izzy hopped up and down on her feet. "So, can we get started, or what? 'Cause Izzy's ready to roll!"
Lightning ran to the start line and stretched out his hands. "Oh, yeah? Well, Lightning was born ready!"
Izzy joined him, already leaning forward. "Bring it on, buff guy!"
Lightning crouched like a cat ready to pounce. "He's gonna bring it on, a'ight! Lightning's gonna bring on the thunder!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, Izzy's gonna bring on her lucky kazoo, what about that?"
Lightning stood straight up. "You have a kazoo?"
She waved a hand forward. "Eh, I got it from the dollar store. I don't even play it often anymore."
"Go already!" Chris yelled. Izzy and Lightning snapped into action immediately. They leaped onto their first block and crossed the others like stepping stones, synchronizing with each other. Toward the end, the distance between each block got wider, and the blocks sloped upward like a staircase while decreasing in width. Izzy and Lightning began jumping with both feet onto each block, and landed at the bottom of the last one at the same time. They ran stride-for-stride to the ladders and stepped across them with ease, though Lightning began to inch ahead of Izzy by the end. He finished first and stepped onto the balance beam, trying to step across it with the same momentum. He tilted and lost his footing as Izzy came up on the other beam, and he stumbled off of his.
Izzy passed by him and waved her fingers. Lightning bent over and swung his arm across his body. "Snap!" As he sprinted back to the start of his beam, Izzy skimmed across hers with her arms stretched out; she jumped off by the time Lightning got halfway across. She dove under her tunnel and scuttled on her hands and knees, launching into a somersault over the ramp right after. Lightning came streaking behind her, and her eyes filled with panic; she ran to the trampoline and jumped on it, failing to put her legs in front of her.
"Izzy, NO!" Noah shouted.
She slammed her torso into the climbing wall and let out a hitched cry, falling backward. Flipping in the air, she just barely landed on her feet and staggered backward, dropping onto her behind. Lightning performed a perfect somersault and passed her, then came to an abrupt stop. "Whoa! You okay, dudette?"
She gave him a shaky nod, clutching her stomach and bending over with wrinkled features. Lightning bit his lip and began scaling the wall almost like a spider, and Izzy pushed herself shakily onto one knee.
The Favorites burst into cheers of encouragement. "You can do it, Izzy!" Bridgette shouted.
"Just a bit more!" Lindsay said, clenching her hands into fists. "You're so close! Don't stop now!"
Izzy forced herself up, stumbling over her feet. Pain etched her face as she ran back to the end of her ramp, then raced toward the trampoline once more. Her teammates' shouts turned to gasps as she slammed her feet onto the trampoline and flew over Lightning, her hands stretched out for the wall.
She landed. Her hands slipped off the handholds briefly, but she gripped back on and secured her legs on the wall. Lightning stared upward with bulging eyes. "Sha-WHAT?"
The Favorites roared like an audience in a sports stadium. "GO GO GO, IZZY!" Geoff screamed.
Izzy climbed as though she were not in pain, grabbing new handholds and footholds constantly. She reached the top in a matter of seconds and raised her fists into the air, wearing a grin of pure elation. "Victory is mine!" She leaped off the side and landed crouched, then rolled over and stood up with her fists in the air once more.
"And Izzy has done it!" Chris said. "The Favorites win!"
Celebratory shouts rang throughout the gym, and the Favorites raced to Izzy; she hugged the girls and high-fived the guys. Lastly, she gave Noah a bear hug with their high-five, which made him quickly shove her off. "Yeah, I'm not a girl. Thanks."
She jabbed him in the chest. "Sure you aren't, Queen of Anagrams. And you're welcome."
CONFESSIONAL: LIGHTNING
He hunched over, resting one arm across his knees, and sighed. "Yeah... I'm not all that thrilled about losing. There are some crazy-athletic girls up in here. I still bet I would've beaten Izzy if I weren't aching from those tennis balls... and if she weren't out of her flipping mind."
CONFESSIONAL: IZZY (The Psycho Hose-Beast)
Izzy sat, cupping her face in her hands and assuming something resembling calmness. "I totally thought I was gonna give up. I felt like just lying on the floor and staying there. But you know what?... Maybe I'm not meant to mess everything up after all." She stood up, cackling away her calm visage. "Wistful thinking, Izzy! Haha! Don't do that anymore, alright? Alright."
FANS' CABIN
The sun was still high in the sky as the campers headed into their cabins. On the stairs to the Fans' cabin, Dawn tapped Cameron's shoulder, causing him to stop as the rest of the Fans went inside. "Can I talk to you?" Her voice was gentle, but low with disappointment.
He blinked a few times. "Oh. Uh, sure, Dawn." They sat on the steps. "What's up?"
"You threw your section of the challenge."
His eyes widened a little, and he looked quickly toward the doors. "Please keep your voice low."
"Why did you do it?" she murmured, her lips drawing down. "You know we could've won."
"It's not like I don't want us to win any challenges. I'm not like Scott." He moved his hands up and down next to each other. "It's just- I have to look out for myself, you know? I don't want to be seen as a threat."
"Do you need the money, though?"
Cameron stared at her, his mouth as solemn as a statue's. "You know I never needed it."
She tilted her head, squinting up at him through troubled blue eyes. "Why don't you try to help other people who do need it, then?"
He tucked his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, fidgeting under her stare. "I... I guess you're right. I was too busy thinking about how I was going to make it farther than before, but that doesn't actually matter in the grand scope of things." He let out a burst of laughter and pulled his hands back out. "Gosh, Dawn, you're making me wish I'll get kicked out first."
Her serious expression broke, and she chuckled. "It'll be sad if you do, considering how far you got last season."
Cameron leaned back. "Yeah, well, this season's going to be unpredictable. I just know it. Just watch- people are going to be forming alliances left and right. At least I actually feel safe from elimination for once in this game."
"It's going to be sad voting for a friend, though," Dawn sighed. "We have to keep in mind the future challenges."
"Lucky that my intelligence is considered useful this time around, and you have strong connections in our team."
"Lucky us indeed."
Darkness penetrated the woods to its deepest parts, broken only by the campfire in the clearing for the elimination ceremony. The Fans sat around it on tree trunks, hardly moving.
Chris stood behind the podium, which had a tray of marshmallows balanced on it. "Fans, welcome to your first elimination ceremony of the season. Before, most of you were eliminated last season via toxic marshmallow. But as a tribute to the original season, you will all be receiving marshmallows except the one who is leaving tonight. In addition, there is a new system of elimination: the loser will have to row a canoe across the entire lake to our resort. It's called the Boat of Losers, and you do not want to have to row throughout the night. Trust me. There are sharks out there."
"Sooo, can we get started, or what?" Anne Maria said.
"We might as well," Chris sighed. "I'm tired after a day of you guys being a complete pain in my butt. So, the following campers are safe:
"Lightning."
Lightning stood up, wiping his forehead. "Phew! I thought I was gonna get the boot after losing the challenge for us."
He collected his marshmallow, and Chris called the next name. "Cameron."
Cameron winked at Dawn before retrieving his marshmallow. "Third camper safe is... Eva."
Eva collected her immunity with a stoic expression. "Fourth camper is... Dawn."
Staci, Cameron, and Anne Maria smiled as Dawn got her marshmallow. "Dakota."
"Oh, thank God," Dakota breathed, rising from her seat and making her trip for immunity.
"Beverly."
B scrunched his nose and pulled out a slate from under his coat, writing on it with a marker. He showed what he had written to Chris: a giant "B".
Chris rolled his eyes. "Whatever, dude. Just come up."
B huffed and relented. "Mike." Mike got up and silently collected his marshmallow, his face showing mixed feelings.
"Katie."
Katie stood, looked around her, and sighed. "It's not the same without Sadie." She retrieved her safety from the tray and sat down.
"Anne Maria." She took a marshmallow, leaving only one standing on its own. Sam and Staci gulped and looked at each other, the two left without a marshmallow.
Chris put his hand under the tray and lifted it up. "There is only one symbol of safety remaining on this plate. Whoever I don't call must immediately go to the Dock of Shame, leave on the Boat of Shame, and never come back. Ever. The person staying tonight is..."
"Staci."
Staci put her hands on her chest and breathed out. As she went to get her marshmallow, Sam got up and stretched his back. "Ah, well. It's been fun, guys. Wish I could've stayed longer."
Dakota ran up and clung to him like she would a teddy bear. "No! How can you be going already? You did nothing wrong!"
Sam gently pried her off of him, gripping her shoulders. "It's okay, Dakota. It's just the way the game works. You'll all benefit from my leaving in the long run." They exchanged a final brief kiss and a hug before Sam turned toward the dock and started walking, waving behind him. "See ya, guys!"
"See ya, Sam!" Dawn said, waving with most of the team.
He disappeared into the darkness. "Our first elimination of the season!" Chris said. "What will happen next? You'll have to find out when we come back, on Total. Drama. Fans Versus Favorites!"
At the dock, Sam climbed into a scratched-up canoe waiting on the water. He picked up a paddle inside and started rowing into the lake. All went well for a while, until a shark fin popped up and starting swimming around the boat.
Sam froze. "Uh oh..." Two other shark fins showed up, and he lost all color in his skin. A trio of sharks leaped out of the water. "ACK!" He dived underwater just as the sharks hit his canoe, tearing it to shreds, and swam for his life. "Please don't let this day be my last!"
TEAMS
Fans: Anne Maria, B, Cameron, Dakota, Dawn, Lightning, Mike, Staci, Katie, Eva
Favorites: Bridgette, DJ, Geoff, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Lindsay, Noah, Tyler, Zoey, Scott
ELIMINATED
Sam
Annotations:
[1]- The so-called "Jersey" accent only belongs to a very specific group of Italians up north, near New York.
[2]- "North River" is the English translation for "Nordstrom", which is actually Swedish.
[3]- I have changed some of the stereotypes according to how their corresponding characters will act this season. A bit of foreshadowing, if you will.
[4]- It's true. That's where I got it from, eheh.
A/N: Not a very surprising elimination for most of you, I'm guessing. Then again, there were a lot of people I could've eliminated first based on this challenge. But, as much as I like Sam, he had the least amount of plot planned out for him. Sorry to those who wanted to see him go far this time. :-( You can bet that he'll have some lines in the Aftermaths, though! Intrigued by the team twist? Disappointed? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in a review- big or small, I love them all. Even a sentence lets me know that there's another reader who cares about this story, which is great. I always have fun replying to you guys, too, though I can be delayed sometimes, eheh.
Here are the deets on the next update: I hope to have it out by October 5th at the latest. I make no promises. I guarantee you that I will be working hard on this, though, and as I said last chapter, feel free to ask me whenever about my progress. See you in a month, or hopefully sooner!
