Right! Let's continue! And yes, I made Owen's comment slightly more risque about being happy they had a part of the cabin with just guys. Just one little word change. Thanks for reviewing, RoyalBlueBunny and Twilight-WolfxXx. And to STALKER, I'm sorry, but that's on hiatus. Please don't review other fanfics to ask me to update.

At the campfire pit, I sat down next to the goth girl. "So what's your name?" I asked. "I've heard everyone's except yours and that guy's." I waved a hand in the direction of the muscled guy.

"Gwen." the girl answered flatly.

"Don't mind me asking," I continued. "But are you mad about something?"

"I don't even want to be here." Gwen admitted. "Chris is such a jerk. I was prepared to come on this show, but not to come to this place which was not advertised on the application form." She looked at me and said "Elle, isn't it? So what are you so happy about?"

I shrugged. "I'm pissed at the producers for fooling us. But it's a reality show. I'm looking forward to trying to win and making friends. But if you really want to see happy, check out Geoff over there. I only really decided to audition for this show because he convinced me it would be fun – and because I thought there was no way either of us would be accepted." He was already laughing with a bunch of the other guys. Now I considered myself an outgoing person – I had a lot of friends (although only a few close ones), but it took me at least a few days to settle with a new gang of people. Geoff took about an hour to make a bunch of new best friends.

We didn't get a chance to talk any more, because everyone was here and Chris was telling us how the show would work. We'd be on camera all the time, for one thing. Duh. Apart from that, we'd be split into teams and compete in challenges. After each challenge, the losing team would send someone home, and they wouldn't ever be able to come back (I don't know why Chris bothered to say that – duh). The winner would be the person who stayed without getting voted off the longest.

"Excuse me," Duncan spoke up, "What will the sleeping arrangements be? Because I'd like to request a bunk under her." He pointed at Heather.

"They're not co-ed, are they?" she asked.

"No." Chris told her. "Girls get one side of each cabin and dudes get the other."

"Excuse me, Kyle?" said Lindsay. "Can I get a cabin with a lake view, since I'm the prettiest?"

"Okay, you are, but that's not really how it works here. And it's Chris."

Katie and Sadie grabbed hold of each other's hands. "I have to live with Sadie or I'll die!" Katie declared.

"And I'll break out in hives." Sadie added. "It's true!"

"This cannot be happening." Gwen muttered.

"Aw, come on, guys, it'll be fun!" Owen said happily. "It'll be like a big sleepover!"

Finally, Chris split us into teams, and I knew for a fact that these weren't random, because not only did he split up Sadie and Katie, but he admitted when I questioned that he'd purposely put Geoff and I on different teams. "Better ratings. Sibling rivalry always gets good ratings."

My team was the Screaming Gophers, and I was with Beth, Gwen, Cody, Owen, Lindsay, Heather, Katie, Justin, Noah, Trent and Leshawna. Geoff was on the Killer Bass with everyone else: Duncan, Sadie, Eva, Courtney, Ezekiel, Tyler, Bridgette (Lucky her, I guess – Geoff smiled when her name was called), Izzy, Harold and the big muscled guy, who was called DJ.

"But Katie's a Gopher!" Sadie protested. "I have to be a Gopher!"

Courtney put a hand on her shoulder. "Sadie, is it? Come on, it'll be okay."

Likewise, I put my arm around a crying Katie, telling her "Just because you're not on the same team doesn't mean you and Sadie won't see each other. You can still sit together at meal times and talk in between challenges."

"This is so unfair!" Sadie cried from where her team was standing. "I miss you, Katie!"

Katie turned back to call "I miss you too!" as we started walking to the cabins.

Finally, Chris showed us to our cabins. There were two rooms in each – boys got one room, girls got the other. He also showed us the confessional outhouse, where we could just talk.

Us girls went into our cabins first. "Bunk beds?" Heather frowned. "Isn't that kind of...summer camp?"

"That's the idea, genius." Gwen muttered, carrying her suitcase and what appeared to be an art portfolio to one of the bunks.

"Shut up, weird goth girl." Heather snapped.

Gwen didn't reply, but I did. "Look, Heather," I said calmly, "We're on the same team, and we should try to be friends so we can work together. Save the name calling for the merge at least." Not that I liked Heather or anything, but I figured I should be nice.

Heather scoffed. "Whatever. Party dresser." she muttered, probably referring to the fact that I happened to be wearing a miniskirt and a halter top. Hey, the skirt was not that hard to run in, and I had to look nice on TV! Of course, Geoff had laughed at me and just wore the first things he found, but I think he'd deliberately chosen an open shirt with no buttons so he could show off his abs.

I put my bag on the top bunk. Lindsay and Heather also shared a bunk, and Beth and Leshawna shared the other one. Katie had the fourth pair of bunks to herself.

Lindsay asked about where she could plug in her straightening iron.

"I think there are some in the communal bathroom." Chris told her.

Lindsay looked confused. "Communal bathroom? But I'm not Catholic!"

I giggled.

"Not communion, communal." Chris reiterated.

"It means we shower together." Gwen muttered, sitting on the steps of the cabin. "Idiot."

Lindsay started wailing, and a few of the boys looked out from their side.

"I'm glad we're in our own cabin with just guys, you know what I'm saying?" Owen remarked. Noah and Trent gave him weird looks, and Owen immediately realized what he'd said. "I mean, no! I didn't mean it like that! I love chicks. I just don't want to sleep with them...I mean..."

I couldn't help snickering a bit, and I plopped down beside Gwen. "So, guess we're teammates."

"Guess so." she muttered with obvious sarcasm, not looking at me.

I sighed. "What is up with you? I get you're mad at Chris, but I'm trying to be friendly with you."

"Look," Gwen said, "You don't have to pretend to like me just cause we're on the same team."

I frowned. "I'm not pretending to like you! I wouldn't go out of my way to talk to Heather, or Lindsay for that matter. I just like to get along with people. Come on, Gwen, I just want to be friends."

The goth just shrugged, but she half-smiled, so I counted that as a victory. I'd just have to work at being friends with her.

At lunch time, we all met at the mess hall, and this was where we met Chef Hatchet. "Listen up!" he bellowed. "I serve it three times a day, and you will eat it three times a day! Grab a tray, get your food, and sit your butts down NOW!"

"Excuse me, will we be getting all the major food groups?" I heard Beth ask as Chef dumped a bun and some kind of red substance on her plate.

I wasn't going to ask.

Soon, it was my turn. I was standing behind Gwen and Lindsay.

After Lindsay checked about what kind of foods she could and couldn't eat, Gwen told her it wouldn't be a problem, but she had her own problem. "I hate to be predictable and complain on the first day, but I think mine just moved."

In answer, Chef used some kind of hammer on her food, splattering it all over her.

"Okay then!" Gwen said quickly, leaving.

Chef glared at me. "So, what's your complaint, blondie?"

"No complaint!" I said brightly. "Just going now...thanks, Chef."

Most of the teams were sitting together, except for Katie and Sadie who were both sitting with the Killer Bass, so I decided to sit with them too.

"Any room here?" I asked brightly. DJ slid over to make room for me, so I sat down between him and Katie.

"Don't you want to sit with your team?" Courtney asked, giving me a hard stare.

I shrugged. "I'm sleeping in the cabins with them, and competing with them. I can be friends with people on this team. I don't see you asking Katie about it, and she's on my team too. If she can sit with Sadie, I can sit here too." I smiled. "Besides, ever heard 'blood is thicker than water'? I wouldn't call myself a tagalong, but there's got to be some reason Geoff made me sign up for this with him."

"Uh...yeah." Geoff said, slightly blushing. "My little sister can hang out with us. Not like there's any rule against it."

"I'm only ten months younger than you." I pointed out. "You don't have to call me your little sister."

"That's what you are." he pointed out, with a smirk that made me think he thought he'd annoyed me. "I think I'm allowed to call you my little sister. Or would you rather I called you baby sister?"

Okay, that was annoying. I flushed pink. "No, no...it...it's okay. Little sister is fine."

"Our teams don't have to fight except in challenges." Bridgette said, and she smiled at me. "Your name's Elle, right? Mine's Bridgette."

I smiled back. "Yeah, I remember. Thanks, Bridgette."

Courtney still looked at me suspiciously, but didn't say anything.

Chef's food was disgusting. I concentrated as hard as I could on the conversation, just so I would be able to keep down the food, since I knew I wouldn't get anything better for lunch.

"Welcome to the main lodge!" Chris said cheerfully as he walked in.

Geoff turned. "Yo, my man, can we order a pizza?" He barely ducked the meat cleaver thrown at him, but managed to escape with his head (and his cowboy hat) still in place. "Whoa, it's cool!" he said in defense. "Brown slop is cool!"

Apparently, our first challenge was starting in an hour.

"What do you think they'll make us do?" Katie asked nervously.

"It's our first challenge." DJ reminded her. "How hard could it be?"

By that time, I'd started to work out who I liked and disliked particularly. On the Killer Bass, I already liked DJ. He seemed friendly, nonconfrontational and gentle. Bridgette was also really, really nice, I'd noticed. On the other hand, I was already starting to dislike Courtney. Teams weren't everything.

On my team, I didn't exactly dislike Lindsay, but if she was really as stupid as she acted, she was going to severely try my patience. And Heather had already made it clear that she was a colossal bitch. Nothing nice had come out of her mouth since she arrived. Gwen and Leshawna I liked. Gwen seemed a little hard to get to know, but she'd open up in time, and I'd talked to Leshawna in the cabins. She was loud, like Harold said, but although her attitude was a bit in-your-face, I could tell she was someone you wanted as a friend, and in my case, it wasn't just because I didn't want to make an enemy of her. She was really nice once you got on her good side. All the boys seemed nice, but I liked Trent more than the others, mostly. He seemed very laid back and cool, although I hadn't spoken directly to him yet. It helped that he was extremely good-looking. More so than Justin, probably, since he wasn't just a Ken doll.

Anyway, back to our first challenge. An hour after Chris announced it, all twenty-three of us were standing on a high cliff in our bathing suits, waiting to jump off.

"Oh, shit." DJ murmured, regretting what he'd said to Katie.

We'll pick up where the second episode goes to next! So, review now?