Hmm… this was intended to be a one-shot, but I kinda liked the concept. So now it's a one-shot series! (yeah I replaced my old chapter) I promise to finish Lose a lover, Gain a friend when I have ample time. I want it to be great.

~~~TDWT~~~

Duncan's POV:

This past week has been…eventful, I guess.

I don't know what happened, but Tyler announced to everyone that I kissed Gwen. Needless to say, neither I nor Gwen is very popular right now. Especially in the eyes of the beastess herself. I'm referring to Courtney. She's absolutely furious.

Want an example? How about this:

I was walking through first class (Gwen invited me for the day, to the obvious annoyance of her teammates.) and in the cup holder of one of the chairs was a piece of paper. I un-crumpled it and laughed so hard my abs ached. It was a photo of Gwen, edited with red marker. She now had devil horns, a pitchfork, and bright red eyes. To top it off, she was standing in a pit of fire.

It didn't take a genius to guess who it belonged to.

After I saw that, I'm expecting to go through a break-up any day now. I'm shocked it hasn't happened yet. Maybe Court thinks I still like her. Ha. As if. I all but like that bossy, obnoxious, ungrateful CIT. She's a total B-I-T-C –

Wait. Whispers. Team Amazon must be coming. Why they were coming to the cargo hold (which was where I was – the rest of my team doesn't really like me right now) I don't know, but they were coming. I ducked behind one of the crates. It smelled like Ezekiel, for some strange reason.

"I feel so bad for her…"

"It's Gwen's fault. I say next elimination ceremony, we kick her."

"No! I mean…why can't we boot Courtney?"

"Come on, Cody. Get over your stupid puppy-dog crush on Weird Goth Girl so that –"

"You can focus on who really likes you, like me!"

"Uh…"

I snickered. Cody would be a major problem if they wanted to boot Gwen. He could easily sway Sierra to voting for Courtney. And then it'd be three votes for her, instead of my Gwen.

My Gwen. I really dig saying that.

It's a good thing Chris didn't have the money to put cameras in the cargo hold. Although, he probably has cash now. He'll put those cameras in once he realizes that we all come here once in a while for some alone time.

"UGH! I can't take you people! You're all crazy!"

"Well, so are you!"

"You tell her, Cody!"

I considered getting Chris and have him put this on camera, but Cody left, probably to be away from Sierra. She followed him, though, so it didn't matter what he wanted to do. She'd be there.

Heather remained where she was. She huffed and sat on a crate. Something moved behind her, but I couldn't tell what it was. It looked like a rabid animal, so I hoped whatever it was bit her. That'd be fun to watch.

A few moments of silence passed. Soon I heard footsteps. A new contestant appeared in the hold.

"Something bothering you, hermosa?"

"If you remember clearly, the last time you called me that I gave you a black eye."

You tell him, Heather. I thought. Alejandro needed to be told off. He needed to realize that he's not running the game. I realize that he's played just about everyone, but I don't think anyone else besides Heather has. He's too good; people won't listen when I tell them.

"Believe me, I remember."

"Good. You better."

"I'll admit: I like it when you're not yelling at me. But that means something's wrong. You always yell at me, off camera at least. What's up?"

"Me keeping my voice down means something's wrong? Why?"

"You don't seem like your usual bitchy self. And don't take that the wrong way."

"Wow, how could I possibly take that the wrong way?"

"I have no idea. I'm just trying not to piss you off, cause you seem pretty upset. For the third time, what's wrong?"

Heather sighed. "My team is sooo screwed. We can't function properly anymore, and we were doing so well in London." He face lit up with sudden realization. "Hey, it's YOUR fault we can't get along! What the hell? What have I ever done to you?"

Alejandro looked a little uncomfortable, but he shook it off. "Need I remind you, we're in a competition?"

"You're a jerk, you know that?"

I almost laughed out loud. It was fun hearing them argue, almost as fun as arguing with Courtney.

"Nadie aqui piensa que si."

"Stop using Spanish!"

Alejandro rolled his eyes. "Fine. I said, nobody here thinks so."

"And for some reason they won't listen to me…"

"Which is very helpful for me."

"So, you admit you're using everyone?"

"Not everyone…"

"Oh really? Who's the glaring exception?"

I tired hard to listen. Either he was speaking really softly, of not at all. I took a look at him, and I don't think either of them noticed me, so I stayed in my looking position. He wasn't speaking.

"Uh…" he stammered. "I can't tell you. It'd ruin my plan."

Heather growled and stood up. "Tell me."

"Fine…yo no estoy jugando."

Heather sighed in frustration, and I was a little angry, too. I needed to know who was safe from the evils of The Spanish Guy.

"Why can't you use English?" Heather yelled.

Alejandro mumbled something I couldn't hear. Heather's eyes widened, though. Her face grew red. "That's not…you're so…no, you're lying…" she stammered.

"Why do you sound so shocked?" he asked. His face wasn't nearly as red as Heather's (she looked like a freaking tomato), but it did have some extra color.

My mind went into instant overdrive wondering what he said. Did he say me, and she was shocked because I just got back? No, that wouldn't make sense. Did he say Gwen, maybe, and she was shocked because her whole team wants her gone? No, that didn't explain the redness…I'm stumped.

Unless…

Tyler's got some crazy idea that Alejandro likes Heather. I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, but now I think I do. I could tell from my first day back that she was kind of into him. He wouldn't want her kicked off unless she got to be too much of a distraction, and he's been doing fine. Yeah, that's got to be it. It makes perfect sense.

Heather and Alejandro had gone silent, their faces draining of the extra color. Heather spoke first once she got her voice back.

"You don't…really mean that…do you?"

His eyes focused on the ground. I've never seen him this nervous. "Of course I do, hermosa."

"I wish you'd tell me what that means."

"I'll let you figure that one out. I should probably be going…"

"Do you really have…uh, right, of course."

He smirked, and I could see that his confidence came soaring back. He leaned over, gave Heather a light kiss, and walked away. She stood there stunned. When he was pretty far off, she yelled, "IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN I'LL SLAP YOU!"

He just laughed. He knew she didn't mean it. Heather stormed out after him, mumbling curses pretty quietly, but I could tell from the way she moved her mouth what she was saying. Someone should shove soap down her throat.

When I was absolutely positive they were gone, I crawled out of my hiding place. Something moved in the shadows behind me, but I have no idea what. Just a rat, probably. There's nothing else here except for rotting food and mold. Ugh.

I thought about what I had just seen. If I play my cards right, I could use this as an advantage against Alejandro. I really need it.

On the other hand, maybe I should tell Gwen first. She hates Heather. But, if we both tried to get them both off, one of them is bound to notice. I hate to admit it, but they're both smart. Then they'll just team up and whoop our butts off this show. That'll mean that one million dollars will not be in my pocket.

I'll keep quiet, for now at least. Once the guy proves to be truly evil, then I'll use it. That is, providing I'm still here. I probably will be; Owen, Tyler, Cody, and probably Sierra will be gone before I am. Come to think of it, I should probably make an alliance with Owen. Tyler's too stupid and will blurt out anything I say (been there, done that). in my book, it's Alejandro versus me.

May the best man win (ME).