Chapter 3: Stage Fright or Flight
"Last time on Total Drama School Life" Chris began the recap, "We introduced our students to the luxuries that come with winning, before pitting the boys against the girls in the most epic "Capture the Flag" game in history! Several traps, chases, scavenger hunts and make up failures later, the girls imprisoned at the boys' base decided to use a certain drummer's infatuation with Rosa to break them out, rendering the ladies victorious and rendering Greg out of service. In the end, it was Jesse's lack of team-working skills and general inability to shut up that made him the first victim of the merciless Kick of Shame!" Chris stood next to the giant boot, as three redshirts were using brushes, rags and water sprayers to polish it.
"Aww, who's a good boy getting rid of these annoying teens?" Chris resumed in baby talk as he leaned down to the boot's tip, before noticing the interns' weird looks and turning back to the camera, "*cough*, Stay tuned for more Total Drama School Life!"
[Intro]
After the first elimination ceremony came to an end, the boys, besides Nate and Damien, headed back to the dorms. As soon as they opened the door, Drew dragged his feet to his bed and pushed his head into the pillow.
"Finally, today's over" he said tiredly, his voice muffled by the pillow.
"Uh, sorry to make this day even longer" Martin called attention to himself, "But there are still only six beds here and seven of us left"
"Heh, this is easy, amigo," La said, as he lifted his head. "As the captain of our ship, you get Jessica's bunk! And the guy who cost us the challenge gets to sleep on the cozy floor" as he said this, he gave Greg a dirty look.
"Well, if you think about it, even if the girls didn't break out of jail, Vicki would've caught all of us anyway, since someone didn't know how slides work" Kai pointed out.
"What'd you say, geek?" La asked almost threateningly.
"Just that if we're pointing fingers, some should be directed at you" Kai retorted back, keeping his cool.
"Yeah, I'm not your scapegoat" Greg said suddenly, the look in his eyes shifting from empty to bitter.
"If you're thinking of getting my bunk, you'll have to fight me for it, fatso!" La spit, as he hugged his pillow and frowned at Greg, before shifting to his gentler bear persona. "Violence seems too gruesome, but I agree - I am too delicate to sleep on this creaky floor!"
"Well, I'm not sleeping there either" Greg said, still giving Drew the same bitter look.
"Guys, let's not..." Martin tried to mediate, before noticing Luke putting his pillow and blanket near the table. "Luke, you don't have to..."
"It's fine, Greg can take my bunk" Luke cut him off while getting under the blanket. "Let's just go to sleep already"
[Confessional]
Kai: Seriously? This the second time Luke volunteers like that already. This isn't Total Best Samaritan! With this attitude, I give him a few more episodes.
Luke: I can't stand it when people bicker for no reason, so I try to prevent it whenever I can. Plus, the floor wasn't that bad *stops for a second, before pulling out a large splinter from his back and staring at it*
[End Confessional]
Meanwhile, in the Winners' Quarters, Kim, Hailey and Rosa were sitting at the bar, the former getting a back rub from a female intern.
"Oh yeah, that's the spot" Kim said with a satisfied smile as her masseuse's male counterpart brought the student a yellow drink. "Ooh, passion fruit!" she exclaimed, after tasting it. "How'd you know it's my favorite?"
"Chris made us study the personal data you submitted" the blond guy replied unenthusiastically, before leaving the room.
"You guys should really work on your customer service skills" Kim commented, before taking another sip.
"I'm totally addicted to these chocolate chip cookies! Oh gods of reality TV, please let us win every challenge, so we can stay together forever", Hailey said with an entire tray of cookies in front of her. She then took one and extended it to Kim. "Want one?"
"No way!" Kim exclaimed in disgust, making a face. "I didn't win the genetic lottery to ruin my perfect appearance with this garbage! And I wouldn't be so keen on it if I were you, unless you're planning to become a sumo wrestler"
"Heh, my intense training turns all that fat into muscle, anyway. Rosa, what about you?" Hailey asked her teammate, but the other seemed to be deep in her thoughts. "Earth to Rosa!"
"Ah? Forgive me, I do not hunger at the moment" Rosa answered, still not paying much attention to the other two girls.
"Is something wrong?" the athlete asked, concerned.
"It is nothing too catastrophic, I was simply pondering whether it was the correct decision to trick Gregory today," Rosa answered. "He seemed a tad detached after the challenge"
"Of course, it was the correct decision," Kim said dismissively. "The jerk ruined my hair and make-up! He deserved all of that and more!"
"Chill, it was just a little water" Hailey retorted. "Your hair and face are still intact, aren't they?"
"Just a little water?" Kim protested. "That fat slob completely ruined my look - you know how much time and money it takes to look as fabulous as I do?"
"Hey, I don't care how pretty you are - that doesn't give you a right to insult people!" Hailey stood up, getting mad at the fashionista.
"Stop!" the girls saw Katya in a red tracksuit with a towel around her shoulders approaching them. "Arguing is terrible for team morale. Not to mention useless. It's time to go to bed, anyway"
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Hailey saluted.
"Ugh, who are you - my mom? And by the way, red really isn't your color" Kim said skeptically.
This was met by complete silence from Katya, until she morphed her usual emotionless expression into a glare.
"Jeez, okay, I was getting tired anyway" Kim conceited, clearly fazed, before her and Hailey went to one of the bedrooms.
[Confessional]
Hailey: Greg is a nice dude and he totally helped me beat the dragon master in DragonAge 3 the other day, so we're pals. And nobody comes for my friends! If Katya didn't step in, that Kim chick would be getting a taste of my right hook!
[End Confessional]
Sitting at one of the table in the library, Nate was carefully arranging the game pieces around a large game board with "Castle Roamers" spelled in gold in the middle of it. Focused on the task at hand, he didn't notice the footsteps approaching him.
"Hey, Nate!" Piper called over, startling him a bit. "I see you had the same idea as me"
"Great minds think alike, I guess" he joked in response. "Plus, I figured you'd want a rematch after I crushed you yesterday"
"Oh, you two have quite the rivalry going on" Rachel said, as her and Vicki approached the two.
"Um, did you two get lost on your way to the bathroom?" Nate asked.
"Nate, I hope you don't mind - I invited Vicki and Rachel to join us," Piper said, as she sat down next to the boy. "The more the merrier, right?"
"Plus, we've always wanted to play, uh..." Vicki began, before leaning down to the table, "Castle, err, Roamers!"
"Great!" Nate replied with a forced smile.
[Confessional]
Nate: Ugh, I hate playing with amateurs. You constantly have to hold their hand through every new chamber and talisman. But Piper is pretty much the only non-annoying person here, so I'll try to play along.
Rachel: It was really Vicki's idea to see what this game time in the library was all about. And, hey, I didn't have anything better to do. Maybe I'll even like it.
[End Confessional]
"Woohoo, boxcars!" Vicki cheered, as both dice showed six dots. "Told ya I'd be awesome at this!"
"Great, you get to advance three rooms in any direction!" Piper said with a smile.
"Alright, let's go to the right then" Vicki decided, moving her game piece and taking a card.
"Royal Bathroom" she read out, "Take a toilet break and skip your move. Man!"
"My turn!" Rachel announced, before throwing the dice and getting a three and a one.
"A combination of less than five means you are ambushed by a mythical creature" Nate explained. "Now we have to count up the outcomes of the last eight dice throws"
"It's fifty six," Piper said, as she completed the computation in her notebook. "Which means..."
"You get ambushed by a mob of rabid leprechauns and have to give your weapon to another player" her and Nate said in unison.
"Oh, come on. Not the Arrow of Light!" Rachel sulked, "I guess I'll give it to a fellow newbie"
"Thanks, I guess?" Vicki said unsurely, taking a card from Rachel. "Wait, it says that this arrow is perfectly compatible with the Royal Bathroom card"
"That means you only need one more compatible card to win this!" Piper pointed out with a smile. "You're really rocking this!"
"Alright!" Vicki stood up, raiding her fists in the air. "That's what I call playing smart!"
Nate rolled his eyes, annoyed by the singer's antics. "Wait, wasn't that the twenty-first turn of the game?" he asked suddenly, pulling out his notebook.
"Right, it was!" Piper said, before turning to Vicki with a disappointed face. "Sorry Vick, but every time the number of the current turn can be divided by two prime numbers, perfect compatibility actually makes you lose all your money and weapons and go all the way back to the entrance hall"
Vicki's eye began twitching, as Nate took all her cards.
Damien was walking around the science lab on the second floor with a large book in his hands. The lab was a large room with yellow walls and cupboards holding scientific equipment and different chemical samples adjacent to every wall. Three rows of black desks with water faucets and drawers underneath them occupied most of the space in the room.
"Step one towards success - believe in yourself. There's a shining speck of talent within each and every human on Earth," Damien read out, before grinning. "Heh, I knew the self-motivation section of the library would provide me with some good laughs"
"Ah, Damien!" someone shouted in surprise, as the rich guy turned a corner, before he dropped his book and fell back, bumping into someone in a lab coat. That someone turned out to be Molly, who was now surrounded by shards of glass and tiny pieces of metal.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry" Molly apologized, before scrambling to pick up Damien's book and hand it back to him.
"A simple apology won't cut it," Damien pointed out as he dusted himself off and snatching the book from her. "For starters, take care of the mess you've made"
"But wasn't it you who bumped..." she was about to protest, before Damien's annoyed expression turned into a piercing glare. "Ah, there's the broom"
As Molly hurried to get the broom, her new companion sat on one of the chairs and resumed his reading.
"So, why are you reading here and not in the library?" Molly asked, as she began sweeping.
"Nate and a few others are making too much noise, playing tic-tac-toe or something over there," Damien answered unenthusiastically.
"Well, I've been looking for the science lab the whole evening to test some of my newer inventions. I'm really glad they have almost all the equipment I need for my experiments," Molly explained.
"I don't recall asking you why you were here," Damien noted, his eyes still peeled to the book in his hands.
"Haha, I guess it's true. Sorry" the scientist said nervously, before picking up the plastic bag with the shards and heading to the trash can in the corner of the room.
"Unless, this is no ordinary small talk" Damien exclaimed, as he sprung up from his seat and stared at Molly, who was just about to pass him.
"Huh?" she asked incredulously.
"Unless this is your attempt to establish a bond," Damien continued. "A strategic bond, a bond one might even call an alliance" he emphasized the last word and raised his eyebrow.
"An alliance? But we're on different teams" Molly asked, still confused by their conversation.
"Are you trying to imply that I won't make it far enough to see these useless teams merge?"
"No, not at all!" Molly tried to assure him, while flailing her hands in the air, trying not to upset Damien again. "I'm just not sure if I'll make it"
"Well, if we are to be allies, I will have to ensure that you do" he answered calmly.
"Wait, so, does that mean that we're allies?" Molly asked wearily.
"Ugh, fine, you don't have to resort to begging. I shall entertain the idea," Damien said, rolling his eyes, before heading to the exit. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I will try to find a quieter place for my reading"
This left Molly wide eyed, stuck in the same place she was when Damien began talking, the plastic bag still in her hands.
[Confessional]
Molly: I'm not sure what just happened, but I think Damien just promised to take me to the merge! *swoons* Well-spoken and generous - and then they say perfect guys don't exist.
Damien: My alliance with the brainless jock may have been a complete fiasco, but it's not just self-confident egomaniacs that are easy to fool. Their complete opposites are the exact same in that regard. And Molly has about as much confidence as a piglet on its way to a slaughterhouse.
[End Confessional]
The next morning, the fifteen remaining students assembled in the entrance hall of the school, as was requested by Chris. He was already standing by the staircase, waiting for them.
"Good morning, students. Hope you slept well, because there's a very responsible task ahead of us today" he announced cheerfully.
"We'd sleep better if a certain big guy didn't snore so much" La complained, pointing to Greg, who was standing next to him, but paid little attention to the masked student's words.
"What's the responsible task?" Martin asked curiously.
"First things first, I need to announce the reward for victory in the previous challenge" Chris said.
"We're getting a reward?" Rachel asked. "Awesome!"
"Not all of you" Chris corrected her. "The reward is just for two of the girls. And since Piper was technically the one who brought the win to you by getting the boys' flag to your base, she is one of those lucky two"
"Technically being the key word," Kim said.
"Thanks, Chris" Piper said, surprised that she was picked. "But all of us deserve the reward"
"Yeah-yeah, whatever" Chris muttered, trying to speed up the process. "Now you get to pick who gets to share the reward with you"
"Um, well, as I said we all worked hard, but I guess I'll pick Vicki"
"Alright!" Vicki cheered somewhat hesitantly, before walking over to Chris and Piper.
[Confessional]
Vicki: I'm thankful to Piper for choosing me, but knowing Chris, his definition of reward might be sending us both to an uninhabited island populated by mutant beavers and I'm not up for that.
[End Confessional]
"So, what's our reward?" Vicki asked impatiently.
"Trust me, girls, you'll like this. This reward may determine how a huge portion of the game goes for you. Because you two will perform the responsible task I was talking of. The task of picking teams for the rest of the game!"
"So, the boys and girls thing was another bogus setup?" Nate asked with an annoyed look on his face.
"Yes, but it's the last one - I promise" Chris smiled at him.
"Wait, if we're picking teams, does that mean..." Piper began.
"That you and Vicki will be on different teams? Yes, that's exactly what that means!" Chris confirmed her suspicions, his smile getting even wider.
"But can't we just pick someone else to lead the second team?" Piper asked.
"It's fine, Piper" Vicki assured her new friend, putting her hand on the computer nerd's shoulder. "We can still hang out outside of challenges. And eliminations. And except in the Winners' Quarters, since one of us won't be able to go there. But we can still make it, right, pal?"
"I guess" Piper mumbled.
"Anyway, since boys and girls are already conveniently standing apart, you will pick your teammates one by one starting with a boy, then a girl, and so on before no one's left" Chris began explaining. "Since Piper is the one who actually earned her reward she will choose first"
"Okay, um, Nate!" Piper called out, and the scrawny boy made his way to the front of the hall.
"Martin - you were a great leader yesterday, even if we completely crushed you," Vicki said, making her pick.
"Harsh" Martin commented. "Thanks anyway"
"Rachel" Piper called out, before high fiving the blonde.
"Picking the team mom?" Vicki teased the girls. "In that case, Katya!"
"Wise choice" Katya noted curtly, before standing next to Martin.
"We might need some more muscle on the team," Rachel told her new teammates.
"Then, who should it be?" Piper asked, before the trio looked at the remains five boys and said "Greg" in unison. The drummer gave them a slight nod, still not opening his mouth.
"Hmm..." Vicki's gaze was quickly shifting between the remaining boys, before Martin leaned to her ear.
"You know, setting traps in our camp yesterday was Luke's idea"
"Really?" Vicki asked, now excited. "Trapper Luke, welcome to the team"
"Well, it's not like I'm a real expert on traps or anything" he said timidly, as he approached his new teammates, blushing from the praise.
"Now who?" Piper wondered, now sizing up the girls.
"Not that I particularly care, but what about Molly? She isn't a complete idiot, which already make her a better candidate than most of them," Nate suggested.
"Maybe Hailey? She's a very competent player," Rachel offered.
"You wouldn't be saying this, if you saw her in our jail yesterday"
As Nate and Rachel kept discussing and Chris started tapping his foot in impatience, Piper noticed Martin wink at her. She then followed his gaze from Greg to Rosa, who was still not picked. He then put his hands together, as if begging Piper, and smiled.
"Rosa" Piper announced, catching her teammates off guard.
"Me? My sincere gratitude to you, Piper" Rosa spoke eloquently, walking over to her new teammates and stopping near Greg. "Oh, Gregory, isn't it marvelous that we are on the same team? I sure hope Hailey can join..."
"Hailey" Vicki called over, making her next pick.
"Tough luck" Greg stated without looking at the aspiring writer.
[Confessional]
Rosa: I'm afraid my troubling thoughts might have some truth to them - Gregory seems more distant than usual, but perhaps I think too much of my ability to influence his feelings. Sadness could creep into the corner of his eye for a completely different reason.
[End Confessional]
"Any ideas, guys? This is getting pretty difficult" Piper asked her fellow teammates.
"Well, out of the three left, Kai seems the sanest" Nate suggested.
"Fine" Rachel agreed, "But keep an eye on him"
Piper nodded and called on Kai to join the team. Now only two boys remained - Drew and Damien.
"Damien" Vicki said with little enthusiasm.
"Took you long enough" Damien huffed, as he joined the ranks of Vicki's team.
"But I expect you to contribute more than you did on the guys' team" she added, which didn't elicit a response from Damien.
"Molly" Piper said, and the girl skipped over to the new captain, obviously relieved to not remain unpicked.
"You gotta be kidding" Kim said, now all alone on the girls' side.
"Well, this is certainly disheartening" Lu commented, as Drew faced the same situation.
"Now, for our main losers today" Chris began. "Kim will be on Vicky's fun ride, while Drew will rock it out with Piper" the two walked over to their respective teams.
"No fair, they have more people!" Hailey protested, as Piper's team indeed outnumbered Vicki's.
"Chun Li's right - we're already at a disadvantage!" Kim agreed, unaware of Hailey's glaring at her.
"They have more people, because Piper became a captain for winning the last challenge for the girls, while Vicki was just picked. And we only have fifteen people, so there's no way you can be split evenly" Chris explained, annoyed at the interruption. "That said, if any of you wish to volunteer to be sown in half..."
"It's fine," Vicki said. "Go on"
"Right, so now we have to give our new awesome teams some awesome names! So, from now on Vicki, Martin, Katya, Luke, Hailey, Damien and Kim will be known as..." the camera showed each contestant on order, before Chris decided to maintain a pause for dramatic effect. "The Pesky Preps!"
"What?" Luke asked in disbelief.
"Pesky?" Damien raised his eyebrow at the word choice.
"And who would ever wanna be called a prep?" Hailey protested.
"Don't look at me," Chris said. "I don't come up with those names - that's the producers' job. But you could back my suggestion instead" he smiled at the teens.
"Which is...?" Martin asked cautiously.
"The Gassy Greasers!" Chris announced with pride, which was followed by complete silence, until the teens started snickering.
"Greasers? Nice idea, gramps" Vicki said with a smirk. "Thanks for putting things into perspective"
"Ugh, whatever, moving on" Chris muttered grumpily and turned to Piper's team. "Piper, Nate, Rachel, Greg, Rosa, Kai, Molly and Drew - you are now the Nefarious Nerds!"
"That is not a very poetic name," Rosa said disappointedly.
"Eh, we all knew it'd be lame" Kai shrugged.
"Oh, it is lame!" Kim commented. "It almost makes me appreciate our name. Imagine being called nerds the rest of the game" her words were followed by many frowns from the other team.
"You're one to talk - imagine being named after the monkey see, monkey do of humanity" Nate retaliated.
"Don't pay attention to her, she's just trying to provoke us" Rachel said to him.
"Rachel is right, guys," Chris agreed. "Let's save some drama for the challenge, which begins right now! But first, we have to get to the third floor. Chop-chop!"
The teens followed the host upstairs to wide double doors that led to a large room with several rows of seats before a sizable stage with red and black curtains.
"Look like a way bigger version of the elimination room" Martin commented.
"This is the school theater!" Chris announced "And it is directly related to our challenge today. Hint-hint, it's an event that school theaters often host and that gave rise to dozens of horrible high school movies"
"Don't tell me!" Kim's eyes gleamed with excitement. "A talent contest?!"
"Correctamundo!" Chris confirmed with a smile.
[Confessional]
Kim: My sorry excuses for teammates can already celebrate victory - I was the winner of every talent contest in my school for twelve years in a row. You don't get to be the most popular girl in school for nothing.
[End Confessional]
"Jeez, what an original and innovative idea" Nate pointed out sarcastically.
"Indeed, we have hosted talent contests on Total Drama in the past, but this time things will be a tad different" Chris began with the rules. "Each of the team's will have to set up a performance in three separate categories. First up, music and dance - soulful strumming of the guitar, fast and passionate tango or just slow and painful torture with a bagpipe. Secondly, athletics - lifting 50-kilo weights, playing soccer with seven balls, jumping across lava pits - that kinda stuff. And finally, my favorite category - miscellaneous!"
"What does that mean?" Luke asked.
"Any interesting talents that don't fit into the previous categories, so if you can eat a watermelon whole or draw Mona Lisa with your snot, that's the category for you" Chris elaborated, as some students made disgusted faces at his examples. "There can be as many people participating in each performance as you want, but a single team member can only contribute to one performance. Got it?"
"But how do we determine who wins?" Piper asked.
"A panel of three judges led by yours truly will determine which team wins in each category. The team that wins in most categories wins the challenge. You will find any equipment you need backstage. Any questions?" As nobody raised their hand, Chris resumed, "Great! You have three hours to prepare. Good luck and I hope some of you fail miserably"
He then jumped off the stage and headed to the doors, leaving the students to come up with their performances.
"Okay, so I guess we should first think about who'll perform in which category" Martin said to his teammates as they huddled in a circle.
"Oh, me-me-me! I wanna do the sports part!" Hailey jumped up and down with her arm raised.
"I don't think anyone has objections" Vicki made a guess, which was confirmed by the silence that followed. "Well, you sure don't have to worry about the music and dance section, because your team leader's got it!" she nominated herself confidently.
"Actually I think I'll stand a better chance," Katya declared just as confidently.
"Not to toot my own horn, but as far as I know I am the only professional singer here" Vicki retaliated, slightly surprised by Katya's challenge.
"And as far as I know I am the only professional ballet dancer" the ballerina stated calmly.
"Well, we need to settle this somehow" Luke pointed out.
"Alright then, I say we square off against each other in a sick musical battle to see who gets to do it" the team captain suggested.
"Good idea. And to not slow down the rehearsals, our duel will be halfway through the rehearsals" Katya added.
"Deal" Vicki said, before the two shook hands.
"Okay, now who'll do the miscellaneous?" Martin asked.
"Um, I can do math problems in my head" Luke suggested meekly.
"The third act will obviously be me!" Kim exclaimed, cutting the ginger off.
"You doing...?" Martin asked.
"Me doing the only thing befitting of me - acting on the big stage, of course" Kim announced with a hair flip.
"If everyone is okay with that, let's go backstage and find the equipment for our performances" Martin announced, before everyone headed backstage.
"Okay, so does anyone want to volunteer for one of the categories?" Piper asked her teammates, but no answer followed. Just then, the Preps all passed them on their way to the back of the stage.
"And we're already behind" Kai pointed out.
"Come on, guys, any volunteers?" Piper asked again.
"I know what we should do" Rachel said, putting her hand on Piper's shoulder. "Let's hold auditions! Everyone can show their strengths and whoever gets the most votes represents us before the judges. Any objections?"
"No, there are none. It's not like we have a choice - that's the only decent idea," Kai answered. "But we can't hold auditions here" he pointed to the stage, where the opposing teams were already setting up the equipment.
"How about the gym? It should be large enough," Molly suggested.
"Great idea!" Rachel exclaimed. "To the gym, everyone! But first, take any props you might need in your performances" The Nerds then dug into the boxes of various costumes, tools and instruments, just like their opponents did a minute ago.
[Confessional]
Piper: This challenge is going to be a bit tougher, since the other team's talents seem to fit the categories, but I have faith in our team! *smiles forcedly*
[End Confessional]
While the teams began their preparations, the host decided to take some time to relax in the principal's office. Chris's head was peacefully resting on folded towel surrounded by pink flower petals and candles, as a female intern set black stones along his spine. Suddenly, the doors to the office burst open and Chef ran into the room.
"What is it?" Chris asked in frustration, lifting his head to reveal a brown mud-like mask on his face and a pickle on each of his eyes.
"Chris, we have an emergency!" Chef shouted, "the guy who was supposed to be the third judge is ... um, not available"
"What happened?" Chris asked.
"You see..." Chef started explaining, as a flashback began.
Chef was in his kitchen, mixing the contents of a large pot on the stove, while a handsome tanned redshirt was standing on a stepladder and tinkering with a light bulb a few meters away.
"Alright, now all I have to do is fit a new one into the socket" the intern said, as he retrieved a new light bulb. "Glad I could help you, Chef"
For a second, Chef blushed and giggled at the intern, before snapping out of it. "Uh yeah, thanks, Diego. I could've done it myself, but I gotta make food for those ungrateful maggots," he complained, turning the stove off and grabbing the pot.
"No prob" the intern said, starting to insert the new light bulb.
Suddenly, a large rat scurried over from behind the fridge to the table, which didn't go unnoticed by Chef.
"A-ha! There it is - I've been trying to get you all day!" Chef exclaimed, before instinctively throwing the pot away and beginning to chase after the small critter. The pot's liquid contents ended up landing all over Diego, who was too caught up with repair works to notice what was going on around him. The liquid spilling onto the wiring ended up giving the redshirt an electric shock, after which he lost consciousness and fell on his back.
"Oh" Chef said, leaning down to look at him.
"So, yeah, he's not gonna make it" Chef concluded, as the flashback ended.
"Are you sure?" Chris asked, standing up from the massage table. "He was the only intern decent-looking enough to do this"
"Man, he won't be up for a week after that" Chef assured the host. "So, are there just going to be two judges?"
"No way, I promised the audience that there'd be three. We cannot fail their expectations!" Chris said in an over dramatic fashion.
"But who loves Total Drama so much that they'd get here on short notice?" Chef asked skeptically.
"Loves Total Drama..." Chris repeated, thinking. "Or is desperate enough to get their face on the TV screen!" he smiled in realization, before dialing something on his cellphone.
"Who are you...?" Chef was about to ask before Chris started talking on his phone.
"Hello again, pal. Long time no see, huh?" the host began.
"Alright, guys, carry everything in!" Rachel said, as everyone besides her and Piper walked into the gym with their hands full of random stuff they managed to take from backstage of the theater. Once they placed all of their props near one of the walls of the gym, it ended up taking up a significant portion of space with dozens of articles of sports equipment, musical instruments, costumes and magic show props, among which a Chris standee, a piano, a tennis ball machine and a huge replica of a T-Rex.
"Okay, so, let's begin with music and dance. Just take anything you can find in the pile and give us your best shot!" Rachel announced, which wasn't really met with any action from the others. "Come on, guys, you must have some hidden talents. It's time to give it your all!" then the team members began slowly searching for something among the props.
[Confessional]
Rachel: I can see that being a leader is a little tough for Piper, so I can help her steer for now, because I'm more experienced in this. I don't think she minds.
[End Confessional]
"Okay, so the person who gets more applause from our team will get to perform for the judges" Rachel said, as she took a notepad and sat down on the bleachers next to Piper, while everyone else picked random seats. "Do your best!"
The first to audition was Molly, who was attempting to tap dance. However, her steps were so chaotic and loud that the audience had to shut their ears and small pebbles fell from the ceiling. Up next was Piper, performing a simple tune on a kazoo. As she finished her song, almost everyone gave her bored looks, before Nate started clapping somewhat unsurely, which made the captain cheer up a bit.
[Confessional]
Nate: Piper's kazoo playing skills are nonexistent, but she's pretty much the only non-annoying person here and I read somewhere that girls like to be complimented. It's not that I'm trying to please her or anything - I'm, uh, just trying to be a better teammate or something.
[End Confessional]
Drew was next to the stage, as he began singing an opera piece in German meant for several singers, as he switched between his masked characters in accordance to the song switching between high and low notes. As he kept going, the Nerds became more and more impressed, until he attempted to hit a particularly high note, which ended up shattering Molly's glasses and the windows in the gym. When Drew looked around him, he saw that a pack of dogs came to his singing, before they lunged at him, making him scream.
"Oh dear, it's not yet time for autographs!" Lu squeaked.
"Hey, what kind of dog attacks a wolf, anyway?" La asked, before one of the dogs chomped on his shoulder, prompting another scream, while everyone in the audience either cringed or were wide eyed with horror.
"This is useless. Remind me again, why we're wasting time when there is a real band member on our team!" Kai said angrily, pointing to Greg, who was sitting next to him.
"Meh, I don't feel like it," Greg said lazily, looking away.
"What does that even mean?" Kai asked, raising his arms. "You do realize this could get you eliminated, right?" The larger guy didn't respond.
"Please, Greg, we really need all the help we can get" Rachel pleaded with him.
"Fine" Greg sighed.
Greg came down from the bleachers to a set of drums carried from the theater and sat behind them. He then started playing the drums, setting the beat. His performance lasted about a minute - one of pleasant, but otherwise not awe inspiring music.
"Is this really it?" Nate asked, clearly underwhelmed by the performance.
"Yup" Greg answered simply.
"Seems like that's the best one we have so far," Rachel said.
"That still doesn't cut it - the judges won't be impressed with simple drumbeating," Kai stated. "I didn't actually plan this, but I recall taking music classes in school"
He then came down the bleachers and pulled the piano a bit away from the pile of props with great effort, before standing behind it, leaning down. He then started pushing the keys - at first, with caution, but gaining in confidence with every moment, until his playing acquired an impressive degree of virtuosity. When he concluded, quite a large round of applause sounded from the audience.
"Thank you" Kai replied courtly.
"That was beautiful" Piper praised him.
"It was pretty, but aren't we just replacing a guy on the drums with a guy at the piano?" Nate inquired, "Wasn't all that impressive"
"Nate might have a point," Rachel agreed. "Will the judges give this high marks?"
"There's only so much I can do alone," Kai reasoned, getting a bit defensive with all that criticism. "Maybe someone else could contribute. Can anyone do an interpretive dance?" as he said that, Molly raise her hand. "Tap dancing isn't interpretive"
As Molly hung her head and lowered her hand, Rosa raised hers.
"I didn't know you could dance" Piper remarked, as she saw that.
"No, it is not regarding dancing" Rosa said. "It is simply that I could contribute to the music. I too have attended piano forte lessons, so I could accompany Kai during his performance."
"Oh, a romantic duet! Yes, this is a great idea!" Rachel exclaimed excitedly, as Greg frowned. "I think this should earn us some points"
"Hmm, I agree that it's a strategy that could work" Kai agreed, before hurrying Rosa along. "Okay, no time to waste, let's start rehearsing"
"While you guys begin, I think everyone else should take a breather," Rachel suggested. "We should get some snacks, in case we get hungry. And Nate will get them from the cafeteria"
"Wait, what?" Nate asked, not expecting the order, "Why me?"
"Fine, I can go with you," Rachel conceded.
"It's okay, Rachel, I can go to the cafeteria with Nate" Piper said, standing up. "You should stay just in case something happens"
Piper and Nate walked out of the gym, when Molly also stood up from her seat and hurried over to the exit.
"Did something happen?" Rachel asked her, as she was about to walk out the door.
"Huh?" Molly turned to her in surprise. "Uh, no, not at all, hehe, I just wanna get some air is all" she said somewhat unsurely.
"Don't take too long!" Rachel shouted after her, as Kai resumed playing the piano.
On the theater stage, Vicki stood behind a synthesizer, plucking and twisting different tiny buttons and levers, testing different sounds. Then she grinned and started mixing sounds more systematically, managing to produce a certain beat. She bobbed her head to it and smiled to herself again, before the beat was drowned out by a more classical melody. When Vicki turned, she saw Katya in a black leotard turn on a music player, before taking on some basic ballet positions, at which the singer frowned.
[Confessional]
Vicki: The advantage Katya has over me is that ballet is widely seen as "art", while EDM isn't. Still, I have a secret weapon. *reaches down and shows the camera a violin* I haven't played the thing in years, but I should still know the basics *starts playing*
[End Confessional]
Backstage, another performance was in its planning stage.
"Okay, what options do we have?" Kim asked, as Luke came up to her holding several outfits.
"Uh, how about these?" the boy asked, as he lifted six distinct costumes by their hangers for the popular girl to pass judgment.
"Too damsel in distress" Kim scoffed at a simple long sleeved light blue dress. "Too casual" she dismissed the T-shirt and jeans. "Ugh, the French Revolution called, they want this tragic knockoff executed" she pulled on the corset of the pretend 18th century gown. "Cheap spy flick much?" the drama queen raised her eyebrow at a black catsuit. "I don't feel like playing a prison escapee," she said to the orange jumpsuit. "And this is just... tacky! How hard can it be to choose something that will inspire me?" she concluded her fashion assault, after flinging an insult at a yellow frilly dress.
Luke hung the outfits on the stillage with a sigh, when Martin approached the two.
"Shouldn't you pick the outfit after you settled on your performance?" he asked.
"Oh, boys, if you were true actors like me, you'd know that the only way to perform convincingly is to completely envision your character before saying even a single word" Kim declared in a condescending fashion, crossing her arms.
"Fine, just don't take too long," Martin conceded. "We don't have that much time"
He then left the backstage to check on other performers.
[Confessional]
Martin: Since Vicki is too caught up in her, um, artistic rivalry with Katya, she put me in charge of managing the team as a whole. We have a few small issues, but I think we have a good chance of winning this.
[End Confessional]
While everyone else was concerned with the upcoming show, Damien instead got back to reading. Leaning comfortably in one of the seats in the first row, he leisurely flipped the page of yet another book.
"Psst, Damien" someone whispered, startling the rich guy and making him drop his book.
As he looked around, before kneeling down and seeing Molly cower under his seat. Raising his eyebrow, he said, "You should really abandon the business of frightening me. What are you even doing there?"
"I'm hiding from your team," she explained obliviously.
"That I can see. And, by the way, you're not doing a very good job" he remarked, as the camera panned out to show that Molly could easily be seen from the stage.
"Why are you here?"
"I figured you'd want to discuss our alliance," she said, much more loudly than she planned.
"Quiet, you idiot!" he whispered angrily. "What is there to discuss? We simply lay low and pretend that nothing is happening, which you've already proven to be incapable of"
"But we're still on different teams and..."
"Exactly, so your showing up here is suspicious. All you should do for now is try not to get kicked off. We will talk more about this later. Now get out!" as Damien ordered that, Molly tried to climb out from beneath his seat, before he positioned his leg in her way. "Not like this, you bumbling idiot - try to crawl to the door" he instructed in frustration, before shaking his head and getting back to reading.
[Confessional]
Molly: It's so kind of Damien to always take time to explain everything for me *clasps hands and brings them to her cheek*
[End Confessional]
Molly crawled under the seats, before she reached the last one and was about to climb out, when suddenly a blade was brought up to the tip of her nose. As she looked up, she saw a frowning Hailey towering over her.
"Hi, Hailey" she greeted awkwardly. "I know that this looks suspicious, but I swear I was just..."
"Hey, Molly!" Hailey greeted the nerdette enthusiastically. "Did you wanna switch teams or something?"
"I, well..."
"You should probably ask Chris about that. Anyway, did you see what cool swords I found backstage?" Hailey kept blabbering, as she showed her weapon to Molly. "It's just like the one I use for training back home. They also had nunchucks and throwing stars and even a trident! Who'd ever need that?"
"Right" Molly agreed halfheartedly, as she rose from under the seats. "Well, I gotta go, so good luck" she muttered awkwardly, before sprinting out of the theater.
[Confessional]
Hailey: Look, I'm not stupid - I saw that Molly was here to meet up with Richie Rich, but, you know, the heart wants what it wants, so I couldn't stand in the way of the forbidden love between the geeks of two opposing clans - the Preps and the Nerds. *pauses briefly* What? I'm a romantic at heart!
[End Confessional]
Hailey resumed her training with the swords, but stopped in thought for a second.
"These swords are pretty cool, but I feel like something's missing," she pondered.
Right then, Piper and Nate were passing by the theater door on their way to the cafeteria.
"I hope Chef has something on the counter besides the slob he normally gives out" Piper said.
"He did have some sandwiches, chocolate and fruit during breakfast" Nate replied. "Probably because of Board of Education regulations or something."
As Hailey heard those words, she grinned and rushed out of the theater.
Nate and Piper poked their heads into the cafeteria to see if Chef was there, but after finding out the coast is clear, they simply walked in. The captain of the Nefarious Nerds walked over to the counter, trying to find something for the team to enjoy.
"There are these chicken sandwiches," she said, pointing to a bunch of sandwiches behind the glass. "Do you know if any of our teammates are vegetarian?"
"Nope" Nate answered nonchalantly, "Never really bothered to ask"
"Hmm, I guess I'll just take a few apples just in case" Piper reasoned, getting behind the counter and sliding one of the glass panes.
"Speaking of bothering, doesn't it bother you that Rachel pretty much took over as the captain?"
"Not really" Piper admitted, while stacking sandwiches into a single paper bag. "It's not like I volunteered to be the captain - Chris just kinda made me and Vicki do it"
"So you don't mind at all?" Nate asked again.
"I'm good at organizing code, not people" Piper joked. "I can't really make others listen to me and Rachel seems to be way better at this stuff." As she reached to get a few apples from a glass vase sitting atop the counter, she accidentally shifted it too much and sent it tumbling down. Just as it was about to hit the floor, however, it was caught by Nate.
"Gotcha!" he exclaimed, putting the vase back, before kneeling down. "We just gotta pick up those apples now"
"Phew, thanks! You just saved me from sure death at the hands of Chef" Piper joked as she joined in to help him, "Great reaction time, by the way. I'd be too much of a slowpoke to pull that off"
"Heh, that's nothing" the scrawny guy said, dropping the apples into Piper's paper bag, "I've got great hand eye coordination after years of playing hyperbullet fast chess"
"Wow" Piper remarked, before he eyes widened in realization and she started pulling Nate by the sleeve. "Quick, let's go back to the gym!"
"Hey, what are you doing?" Nate asked, getting dragged away by her.
In the gym, Kai and Rosa were busy rehearsing, while everyone else bar Piper and Nate sat on the bleachers. The two sat at the piano and ran their fingers along the keys in harmony, producing pleasant music, but the facial expression of one of them depicted clear discontent.
"Something's still missing" Kai said, when him and the resident writer finished their umpteenth attempt.
"Perhaps, we should try a melody that is more jovial and effervescent? The pieces we've tried have been quite somber," Rosa suggested, sitting to his left.
"No, that's no it" he dismissed her advice, "I feel like this is just too simplistic, too ordinary"
"Oh, come on, you're just thinking about it too much" Rachel butted into their discussion. "The music you're playing sounds good and that's all that matters"
"Good? You can't seriously be thinking that we'll win this challenge by being just good!" Kai started ranting as he sprung to his feet, "Did you see how little time it took for them to figure out their performances? We haven't even decided what we're going to do for the other two categories!"
"See, now you're just being unpleasant" Rachel chided him. "Instead you two should just take a break and go back to rehearsals with new energy. And you'd be better off thinking of your partner once in a while"
[Confessional]
Rachel: Kai seems to always think that he's right and his opinion is the only thing that matters - that much I knew ever since our first challenge together. But as the one in charge of the challenge, it's my responsibility to pull him back to Earth.
[End Confessional]
"Thinking of your partner" Kai muttered under his nose, pacing back and forth, before he stopped, "Exactly! I'm an idiot!"
"Finally" Rachel stated with a smile.
"You're a writer, right?" he asked Rosa, to which she quietly nodded. "So, do you write just prose or poetry, too?"
"Well, I write poems from time to time" Rosa answered, not realizing where his interrogation was going.
"We need to add words" he explained concisely, "That way we can add more meaning to the performance. Can you show some of your poems to me?"
"Uh, I could, but I never intended for them to be used as lyrics" Rosa stood up and pulled out a small notebook, still a little confused, before Kai took her by the hand and sprinted to the doors.
"Great, let's go somewhere more quiet and pick the right poem" he said, as they walked out of the room.
"Kai, that's not..." Rachel was about to protest before getting interrupted by someone else walking through the doors.
"Rachel, I found it!" Piper shouted, as she ran into the gym with Nate right behind her.
"The snacks?" Rachel asked in confusion.
"No, I know what we can do for the athletic part of the talent show! Nate can play speed chess!" the assigned captain exclaimed in excitement.
"Are you sure?" Rachel raised her eyebrow at the suggestion.
"I second that - I don't really feel like performing" Nate agreed, similarly skeptical of the idea.
"Chess is considered a sport," Piper pointed out. "And it's not like anyone else has anything better"
As Rachel looked at the bleachers behind her, Drew, Molly and Greg all shook their heads in silence. "Okay then," she conceded, "But how do you see the performance staged?"
"Nate could compete against someone" Piper suggested, "Hey Molly, don't you play chess?
"I do, but I never tried the fast version," the nerdette admitted.
"That's a bad idea," Nate said. "Even if I taught her, the judges could still think that she's forfeiting the game for me to look more impressive"
"But then, how can we do it?" Piper asked.
"Uh, I guess I could play against myself" Nate said. "I have enough experience to set up any game by playing for both sides. I could ask the judges to suggest any outcome they want, and I could act it out in less than a minute"
"Hmm, I guess that'd be pretty interesting" Rachel said. "Okay, Nate will do the athletics part. Good job, captain!" Piper blushed from the compliment.
[Confessional]
Nate: I'm not too excited to perform in front of those so-called judges, but Piper wanted me to do it and she's pretty much... yeah, you get it. Plus, there's something pleasantly ironic in me being picked for the athletic category.
[End Confessional]
"Ladies and gentlemen," Luke began, standing on the theater stage, before looking down to see that only Martin and Damien were seated in the audience, as the rest had to take care of their own performances. "Or just gentlemen, I guess. I am very proud to present you the One Woman Theater" he finished reading from his cue card and moved to the corner of the stage.
Then, Kim leaped out from behind the curtain, dressed in a black garment with a fake skull in her hand. She then dramatically threw the arm with the skull into the air and exclaimed: "To be or not to be?" After pulling the skull to her heart, she continued, "That is the question". "And what even is a question, sweet people?" Kim pondered, looking out into the audience, the skull still held tightly to her dress. "What questions could there be when one can kill his brother and get away scot-free? And now, what am I to do - a simple orphan child without a father figure to look up to?" Kim started shouting the monologue, sometimes pausing for over the top gasps for air. "And now with dad gone, I feel truly..." she stopped to lower her head momentarily, before raising it again, her face now covered with running mascara, "alone!" she wailed and threw the skull behind her.
Kim then bowed slightly, but no applause followed. Both Martin and Damien looked on in disbelief, as Luke came up to them.
"I understand that you're in awe of what just took place, but I need feedback," Kim said to the shocked boys.
"*Cough*, that was, uh, really unique, Kim" Martin began unsurely. "You were very emotional, but I think there might have been something missing"
"Yes, basic acting skills," Damien deadpanned. "Or the ability to stick to the script"
"Excuse me?" Kim raised her eyebrow at his comments.
"What we mean is that maybe monologue isn't the best form of acting for the contest" Martin resumed. "How about trying something with a partner?"
"Fine, but only if he isn't millions of light years behind me in acting" Kim agreed reluctantly.
"That's not very likely" Damien quipped again.
"Enough chitchat, boys. Which one of you will accompany me on the stage?" Kim asked impatiently.
"Uh, actually, I can't, because Vicki put me in charge of monitoring the performances" Martin explained.
"And I have crippling stage fright" Damien followed, though Kim visibly wasn't convinced. "It's truly horrible - I tend to vomit on my partners"
"Fine," Kim rolled her eyes. "I guess it's your lucky day, nurse boy"
"Wait, but I..." Luke began protesting.
"We need to start rehearsing, pronto!" Kim called over, pulling the curtain.
[Confessional]
Luke: *Sigh* Well, how bad could it be?
[End Confessional]
"Wait!" Vicki exclaimed, as she opened the curtain right in front of Kim's face. "There's less than one and half hour left until the show, so you guys gotta pick the music and dance performance"
"Indeed" Katya agreed, also getting onto the stage dressed in the same black leotard. "You will choose between me and Vicki and we need everyone to be involved"
"Ugh, fine, but make it quick," Kim told the two, as she took a seat in the audience.
"Where's Hailey, by the way?" Martin asked, looking around.
"I'm here!" the athletic girl answered, entering the theater with a wheelbarrow full of fruit. "Don't start without me!" she called out, as she ran to the front of the theater and took a seat next to Martin.
"What is the wheelbarrow for?" he asked her in confusion.
"Oh, you'll see" she said with a smile. "Now shut up! I'm trying to watch - I bet you're the type of person who asks questions in the movies"
The banter in the audience was interrupted by a music player being brought to life and beginning to play a pleasant classical melody. The music was accompanied by Katya's graceful dance, beginning with smaller steps and simpler moves. Still, even these basic sequences manages to captivate the audience.
Suddenly, the classical music was interrupted by a sound of drums, which turned out to be Vicki pounding away at her electronic drum set on the other side of the stage, before she turned around to the synthesizer standing opposite of the drums and started playing on the keyboard. She then started pushing the various controllers to produce a beat, one of them even playing a recording of her own voice.
"Vicki, wait, we should try and do this in turns!" Martin shouted out to her to no avail.
Katya briefly glared at her rival before resuming her own performance. Her moves and leaps became bolder, as she performed with as much grace and poise as she could. Though the dance and the music accompaniment seemed jarring at first, Katya managed to add some speed to her routine and looked just as confident as she did when starting.
[Confessional]
Katya: I make my ballet students perform to rap songs to teach them to think creatively. A true ballerina can dance to anything.
[End Confessional]
Noticing that she was starting to lose her teammates' attention, Vicki decided it was time to step it up. She pulled out a violin from under the drum set, muted the electronic music, and brought the bow to the strings of the instrument. She then started to play a pleasant slow melody, which went much better with Katya's dancing.
"Are you admitting defeat?" Katya asked, as she once again quickly adapted her style of dance to a more traditional one.
Vicki kept playing without a word, before suddenly moving the bow away from the violin and onto the synthesizer, as she started to push the controllers with it, once again producing a beat. She then promptly went back to playing the violin. The track produced by the synth and the melody mixed into one song.
"This is so awesome!" Hailey exclaimed.
"It's classical and modern at the same time" Luke said, impressed by the performance. "Then again, Vicki is a professional"
Vicki kept switching from the violin to the synthesizer without much effort, but her opponent wasn't going to give up this easily. Katya kept going regardless, now synching her dance moves with the flow of the music. She moved more flowingly when only the violin was playing, and took bolder moves when the electronic musing would join in. They continued for a few more moments, before the song ended. Both girls were sweating and glaring at each other, when suddenly their teammates started clapping.
"Great job, guys," Martin said cheerfully. "We can totally beat the Nerds with this!"
"What do you mean "this"? Which one of us won?" Vicki asked impatiently.
"Yes, hurry up and tell us," Katya agreed. "We don't much time left"
"Well, after seeing all this, I think everyone will agree that you should perform together" Martin explained.
"What?" both of the girls exclaimed.
"Yes, that was amazing" Luke added. "You worked together very well"
"I'll admit you two aren't as talentless as I thought you'd be" Kim said begrudgingly.
"It was very good," Damien agreed. "So good that I almost recovered from Kim's acting"
"Hey!" Kim called out to him with a glare. "Ugh, anyhow we have to get back to rehearsing" she stepped away.
"Woah, wait a second!" Luke cried out, running after her.
"I didn't expect this, but we can try" Katya said, looking at Vicki.
"We won't try" the other responded. "We'll absolutely crush it! Quick, we need to come up with a new performance" she shouted, before her and Katya went backstage.
"Hey, are you two busy now?" Hailey asked Martin and Damien, as they were left alone in the audience.
"Not right now" Martin replied. "I'll have to check up on everyone in half an hour or so"
"This won't take long," Hailey promised. "We'll just go to the schoolyard for a few minutes. You too, guy in a suit whose name I don't remember"
"It's Damien, and no can do - I'm busy conserving my energy" the rich guy answered. This didn't satisfy Hailey though, and she suddenly picked him up and threw him over her shoulder. "What the heck are you doing?!"
She quickly carried him to the wheelbarrow and threw him on top of the fruit and vegetables, before steering it out of the theater, much to Martin's shock.
"Ugh, you stained my suit!" Damien complained.
"Martin, are you coming?" Hailey asked, her voice fading as she disappeared into the hallway.
"Yes, yes, I'm on my way!" the boy shouted, before gulping and following the other two.
Meanwhile, the Nerds were still holding auditions in the gym with miscellaneous as the only category left. Drew was sitting on a chair center stage, putting on a performance.
"I swear it wasn't me! I would never kill anyone!" Drew shouted as himself.
"That's exactly what someone who would kill someone would say!" he replied as La, jumping to the side.
"Yes, someone would say that a killer would... Wait, no, a killer said that someone would... Uhh, hey big brother, what would he say again?" Lu asked, puzzled by the interrogation.
"Ugh, whatever, I say we just torture the truth out of him! Just a few jolts of electricity and he'll be confessing in no time" La suggested, as he took out a taser.
"But isn't that too cruel?" Lu asked innocently.
"You know, I think it's time you grow a thicker skin. I want you to shock him," La decided with a smile, "giving" the taser to his companion.
"Oh no, no way, I can't do that!" Lu protested, turning to the ad cop. "I can't handle seeing others in pain!"
"Fine then, you don't have to see it - just close your eyes and stretch your arm" La said, clearly annoyed.
"You know, this could actually work" the bear said cheerfully, before closing his eyes and stretching his arm.
"Wait" was all La could say before he got zapped by the taser and started screaming. Once his screams stopped, he fell to the floor.
"Wow, that wasn't so bad" Lu commented in relief. "So did he tell the truth?"
The Nerds clapped semi-enthusiastically, as the comedy routine came to a close.
"Well, the humor is childish, but then again so is Chris" Kai reasoned. "I think this is our best bet"
"Good job, Drew!" Piper called out to him.
"Oh, thank you" Drew replied bashfully. "But you should probably praise all the actors - the other two did most of the work"
"Yeah, what are we, chopped liver?" La asked in frustration.
"Okay, does anyone else want to try?" Rachel asked her teammates.
"Uh, can I audition?" Molly raised her arm slowly. "There is something I really wanted to show you"
"Sure, go ahead" Rachel encouraged the scientist, as the latter got down from the bleachers.
Molly went to the pile of random props the team brought from the theater and picked up a high stool before placing it closer to the center of the "stage". She then took another stool and set it a couple of meters away from the first one, before taking a rope and tying an end around each stool. Finally, she took four multicolored balls and started cautiously getting onto the first stool. The girl took a deep breath, before putting her foot down onto the improvised tightrope and started juggling the balls. First slowly and then gradually picking up the pace, she made it halfway there, focusing on her juggling, as the rest of the team couldn't avert their gazes from her performance.
"Wow" Rachel exclaimed, as she kept staring at Molly.
"I always thought circuses were lame, but it's kinda impressive to see it right in front of you" Nate commented.
"Oh, simply looking brings me distress" Rosa said, her hand covering her mouth.
Molly managed to make it almost the whole way through, her eyes still plastered to the balls in her hands. Just at the end, she smiled confidently and took the last step towards the second stool. Suddenly, however, she seemed to place her foot at the wrong angle and lost her balance, beginning to move her arms around in the air in an attempt to regain it. This mistake prompted a few gasps from the audience. This only lasted a few seconds, before she placed the other foot and managed to reach the other end of the rope and caught all the balls. She then bowed to her teammates, who responded with applause.
"Thanks, guys" Molly said in gratitude. "You know, I've always wanted to perform this in front of someone, but I never had the courage to do it"
"So this was your first time?" Rachel asked, somewhat taken aback.
"Yeah, I figured this would be my only chance with the talent show and all"
[Confessional]
Molly: When Damien told me to make sure I wouldn't get kicked out earlier, that got me thinking that I wasn't contributing much to team effort and I remembered that I used to be obsessed with circuses before I got into technology. I would make my dad take me to circus for every single show. Dad has had a crippling fear of clowns ever since.
[End Confessional]
"Congratulations on your dream coming true" Kai said in a hurry. "Now, do we all agree Drew is our pick for the miscellaneous?"
"Um, but I was hoping you would maybe pick me" Molly said in a quiet voice.
"Look, I don't think we should risk it with your act - there's just too much that could go wrong" Kai said.
"But I've trained a lot" Molly insisted. "Sure, a lot of time passed, but I think I can do it"
"You think?" Kai raised his eyebrow.
"I know you can do it," Rachel said suddenly. "These judges can't say no to what we just saw"
"Are you kidding? She almost fell there," Kai pointed out.
"But she recovered and it was still a really strong performance. Plus, you know Chris loves it when danger and high stakes come into play"
"But we already have a professional, uh, whatever Drew is. Why would we take that risk, if we can guarantee a solid act?"
"Hey, it's called performance art, kid!" La shouted.
"Exactly because Drew's a professional, Molly should have a go," Rachel explained, getting more and more frustrated with Kai. "He performs all the time, while for her this might be her only chance"
"So we should potentially sacrifice a point to make her feel better?" her opponent asked incredulously.
"Why do you think we won't get that point? Besides that little slip up, she was great"
"Ugh, arguing with you is useless. Why don't we let the captain decide?" Kai suggested.
"Okay then. Let Piper decide" Rachel agreed, as both turned to her.
Piper got wide-eyed, before beginning to nervously shift her gaze between Drew and Molly, and then Kai and Rachel.
[Confessional]
Piper: Man, why did I have to be the one to run after that flag?
[End Confessional]
"Uh, I guess..." Piper began, drawing out her words to buy some time. "I think we should maybe give Molly a chance"
"Really?" Molly asked in disbelief.
"Seriously?" La complained. "You stupid plebs wouldn't know art if it hit you in the face".
"So many *sniffle* sleepless nights, dreaming of my big break, now totally crushed" Lu said on the verge of tears.
"Now-now, settle down, friends" Drew told his characters. "We're actually all happy for Molly"
"Alright, there you go, Piper!" Rachel smiled. "That's how a real captain should act"
"You'll end up regretting this decision," Kai said. "Anyway, I guess we'll just have to make sure the other two performance are top notch, so we need to get back to rehearsals", as he said that, he left the gym with Rosa rushing after him with a notebook in her hands.
"Don't mind him," Rachel said with a glare. "He's just mad that not everything is going his way"
"Dear students, the time of the greatest talent show in history is almost here," Chris announced over the intercom. "I ask everyone to assemble in the theatre and add any last minute tweaks to your performances. I could say that I hope all of you prepared for this well, but I also want some good TV, so I hope we'll get to see a couple of epic flops as well"
As the Nerds, most of whom were in various costumes, flooded the theater, Rachel, Piper and the designated performers all went backstage, where most of the Preps already were. In front of the seats for the audience now stood a brown desk with three seats behind it for the judges. Drew and Greg took the seats right behind it, when Martin came up to the latter.
"Hey there, buddy" Martin began, sitting beside him.
"Hi" Greg replied with a bored expression, before he looked his former teammate up and down. "What's with the getup?"
"You'll see" Martin, who was dressed as a waiter, said. "How are things going with Rosa?"
"What are you talking about? It's clear I was an idiot to assume that she'd be interested in me"
"I mean, you can't know for sure if..."
"Martin!" Vicki's voice came from backstage. "Quick! Can you check if everyone is ready?"
"Uh, sure!" Martin yelled out, before turning to Greg. "Gotta run, let's talk about this later"
When he got backstage, he ran from one teammate to another, asking if they were fully set.
"You didn't forget what we practiced, right?" Hailey asked him somewhat threateningly, when Martin came up to her.
"N-no way! Damien will do it, too" he quickly replied.
"Good" she said with a wide smile.
"Okay, we're gonna rock this thing! Let's give it our all!" Vicki exclaimed, as he and Katya were waiting for the show to start. "High five!"
"Um, I don't give high fives" Katya said sternly, leaving Vicki with her hand in the air. "Extensive familiarity can ruin discipline. I could shake your hand, if you want"
"Whatever" Vicki mumbled, taking the handshake nonetheless.
On the other side of the space behind the curtain, Rachel and Piper were also checking on their performers.
"Alright, you guys all got your outfits, all the equipment we need is here - I think we're set to go" Rachel declared, as she went from one performer to another.
"Where's Chris?" Kai wondered, checking his watch. "The show was supposed to start ten minutes ago"
Suddenly, the lights in the theater were dimmed and the doors burst opened, which got everyone's attention. A red carpet was then rolled out from behind the doors to cover the space between the two rows right up to the judges' desk. Chris, dressed in a black suit with a red tie slowly walked into the theatre with a smug look on his face.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome your brilliant host for this evening - Chris McLean!" an unknown female voice said over the intercom.
The redshirts swarmed him from both sides and began taking pictures of him, the flashes of their cameras lighting up the darkened room. Chris was almost next to the desk, when suddenly he tripped over a crease on the carpet and fell, prompting gasps from the interns.
"Which one of you was responsible for laying the carpet?" Chris asked the interns in fury, as he got up, but no one answered. "Ugh, this will have to wait for the end of the challenge, but once I get the footage, that person is getting fed to the piranhas. Also, Billy," he continued, pointing to the camera, "tell the editing team to cut this part out"
"My name's Brenda" a female voice sounded from behind the camera.
"Anyway," Chris turned to the audience at home, as he approached the judges' desk. "Welcome all to the first and most likely last talent show in McLean High!"
"Of course that's the name of the school," Nate muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Today our two newly formed teams will showcase what they got by competing with each other in three performance categories - music and dance, athletics and miscellaneous! The team that wins in more categories will be declared the winner of this challenge. But first, we have to introduce the jury that will judge the performance of our students. The first is moi, your favorite host in the whole wide world!"
"The second," Chris continued, as Chef came up in a black suit with a blue tie and took the rightmost seat at the desk, "is my perennial cohost - Chef Hatchet!"
"These kids better show some real talent or else!" Chef exclaimed, before pulling out a meat cleaver, which led to a few terrified looks from the students, peeking out from backstage.
"Finally, our special guest for tonight," Chris resumed, "the last and arguably least judge is..."
Before Chris was able to finish, pink smoke rose from the judges' desk and out of it appeared none other than Blaineley, wearing a pink dress instead of usual red one.
"Blaineley Stacey Andrews O'Halloran!" she announced, standing atop the desk. "World renowned host, TV reporter, entertainer and fashion icon"
"As well as a former contestant on Total Drama, where Mildred competed for a whopping two episodes" Chris added with a smirk.
"It's Blaineley" the blonde corrected him, visibly irritated. "And may I add that those two episodes had some of the highest ratings in the history of this show"
"Who is this?" Luke asked his teammates, looking at Blaineley.
"No clue - probably some late 90s one hit wonder" Kim shrugged.
"Oh! I think I saw her in a toothpaste commercial!" Hailey exclaimed.
"Right, so would you please get off the table, so we can begin?" Chris asked with a glare, as Blaineley got down and took the leftmost seat. "Alright, let's begin, students! Our first category is music and dance, and we'll start with the Pesky Preps. Give a big round of applause to Vicki and Katya!"
The audience clapped, though due to most students being backstage, the applause sounded rather weak. Vicki and Katya stepped onto the stage, the former in a black and white suit and the latter in a black tutu. Vicki brought the bow to the strings of the violin and started playing a slow melody with her partner beginning to dance in a similarly classical manner. Katya kept gracefully moving to the music for a couple more seconds, until Vicki stopped playing the violin. The audience then tore their attention away from the ballerina to see that the violinist was now standing behind a synthesizer. Vicki moved her hand onto the keyboard and pushed a few keys at once, creating a brief, but powerful sound. That sound was followed by darkness, as the lights above the stage turned off, and the audience saw the gowns of the two performs glow neon blue, a shade not unlike Vicki's hair color. Then she began playing the violin at a much faster rate, adding different effects by pressing buttons on the synthesizer with her bow. Katya adjusted her movements accordingly, adding faster, bolder positions and twirls. She also incorporated some interpretive dancing into her routine to fit a more modern sound, turning her dance into a light show, as the neon lights on her tutu seemingly danced with her. Finally, after a minute or so of gradually increasing the pace, the performance reached its climax, reverting back to a slow violin melody, as Katya gracefully sat into the stage. Once the music fully stopped, much healthier applause could be heard from the audience and backstage.
"Awesome job, girls!" Martin shouted, standing up from his seat.
"It was pretty impressive, I have to admit" Damien remarked.
After the applause subsided, Vicki came up to Katya and pulled her into a bear hug.
"We did great!" the singer exclaimed, while her partner frowned at her.
"What are you...? *Sigh* Yes, yes we did" Katya said, slightly annoyed.
"Whoa, as the first performance, this set the bar way high, ladies" Chris said.
"Yes, when I came here, I expected to see beatboxing or target burping, but I guess Chris realized that casting in accordance with his own talent was a mistake" Blaineley remarked snidely, prompting a few giggles from the contestants.
"Right" Chris said, his eye twitching a little. "It seems Blaineley will actually enjoy her only gig this year"
Ignoring Blaineley's intense glare, Chris continued "Now I'll ask Vicki and Katya to sit in the audience, while we see what the Nerds have up their sleeves"
A white piano was rolled out onto the stage, before Kai and Rosa, in a black suit and a knee length dark blue dress respectively, walked out and sat next to each other at the large instrument. The lights in the hall faded, as a single spotlight shone on the two performers. Kai began to play a sweet slow melody.
"I thought this day would never come" he started singing, catching the jury off guard a bit.
"But here we stand in pain"
"My heart is pounding like a drum"
"Around us pouring rain" Kai's vocals were by no means perfect, but the relatively simple melody let him recite the lyrics without straining his voice.
"The summer passed too fast for us" Rosa took over, her shaky voice communicating her nerves to the audience.
"Our days were never warm,"
"The pleasant breeze that filled our sails"
"Became a thunderstorm" the melody then picked up the pace considerably, as the two joined forces in tackling the next verse.
"Saying goodbye is the best we can do"
"Looking into your eyes, I know you see it too"
"Collecting broken shards will only give us deeper wounds" the singers slowed down once more for the chorus.
"Let's say farewell" they began taking turns in singing the couplets.
"We know it's for the best"
"My friend, farewell"
"We both have failed this test"
"It's farewell"
"Now let our feelings rest"
"Must say farewell"
"Farewell" after a small pause, the two said the single word, looking at each other.
[Confessional]
Rosa: I certainly did not anticipate that I would be this nervous, but I have never attempted to publicly recite any of my works before. I do not have the slightest clue as to why Kai set his sights on a poem I wrote when I was thirteen and a very weak one at that, but I hope we did our team proud.
Greg: She was really beautiful and elegant there, like a real princess. And that only made me realize how dumb it was of me to even try. She needs someone sophisticated like Kai, not a big oaf who's only good for devouring hot dogs.
[End Confessional]
A round of applause sounded from the audience, as the lights brightened once more and the performers bowed.
"Cute" Vicki commented, "But that's no match for our awesome show"
"I have to be honest here - this was clearly just an attempt to get us emotional" Chris began sternly, before changing his tune and wiping off a tear. "And, boy, did it work! I hate to admit it, but this actually managed to soften my heart of stone for a moment there"
"Oh, come on - they could barely sing!" Vicki protested.
"Those imperfect vocals only added sincerity to the performance. The scrawny boy's nasal and almost monotonous delivery contrasted by the Goldilocks's trembling high pitch went with the song's message of being unable to cope with the differences to save their love" Chef monologued with unusual eloquence, as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Oh dear, this sure brings back memories," Blaineley began, wiping her slightly run makeup with a napkin. "I remember, when I started my grand ascent to nationwide fame, I was courted by a certain boy who just moved to the big city from a cold distant island. He was so sweet and charming and we ended up going on a few dates. But I guess it just didn't work out. Them's the breaks, kids"
"Yeah, it didn't work out because someone thought that the boy in question didn't pay enough attention to personal grooming!" Chris barked, glaring at the female judge. The students could only awkwardly keep waiting for the discussion to end.
"Well, now I know that the advice was taken, perhaps even too literally" Blaineley joked, frowning at Chris.
"Eh, I think it's time to tell them who won" Chef noticed, interfering with them.
"Exactly!" Chris quickly switched back to his host persona. "We will vote by holding up a sign with the emblem of the team we considered stronger, so..." he maintained a pause, before all three showed a sign with a blue outline of a smiling face of a teen with glasses and braces.
"What?" Vicki jumped up from her seat, as her teammates in the audience looked just as surprised.
"Can't go wrong with a classical romantic duet," Kai said with a smirk, as Rosa smiled at their success.
"Awesome!" Piper exclaimed, with her and Rachel exchanged high fives backstage.
"I can't believe those judges" Vicki sat back down, crossing her arms.
"Even though this means absolutely nothing, I thought we did great," Katya pointed out in her usual dry manner.
"Yeah!" Vicki exclaimed, cheered up a bit. "We were absolute rock stars there, sister!" she playfully punched Katya on the arm, though the latter's face remained rather unimpressed.
"Alright, let's now move on to the athletics section" Chris announced. "Hailey, it's your turn to potentially hilariously embarrass yourself for the benefit of our ratings"
"Ah, right!" Martin remembered, jumping up from his seat. "Damien, come on!"
"Ugh, I hate this" the other boy complained, before walking over to the stage, too.
Hailey leaped out onto the stage in a dark blue Japanese swordsman uniform with a katana in each of her hands. She then closed her eyes for a second before turning away from the audience and shouting "Start!"
Suddenly, a huge watermelon flew at her from behind the curtain, but she managed to use one of her swords to slice it in two in mid-air, which made the two halves fly in different directions. Then, she set her two swords parallel to each other and drew a half circle in the air, slicing the fruit into small pieces that flew right into the large bowls that Martin and Damien help up, as they stood in front of the stage.
"Wow" Vicki said, in awe of the performance.
"More!" Hailey shouted, before several smaller fruit and berries flew in her direction. She cut all of them with a single movement, with one half of each going to one of the two bowls. Then the performance picked up the pace. The fruit flew at Hailey faster and faster, but she still didn't miss a single one, using her two swords to reach every fruit, no matter how small. As the performance went on, the bowls in the boys' hands kept filling up. The camera cut between slow motion shots of Hailey cutting the fruit with various movements of the swords, before finally the assault stopped and two sold cherries flew out from behind the curtain. As they flew above the swordswoman, she leaned backwards and pointed her swords up, each grazing the cherries in a circular motion, making the tiny stones fall out, while the cherries themselves landed on top of the fruit salads that appeared in the bowls. Martin and Damien then set them on the judges' desk. As the performance came to an end, the audience and the jury all clapped.
"Hey, that's not fair - they're bribing those idiots" La protested.
"Calm down - calling the jury idiots isn't gonna help our case" Kai said dismissively.
"Oh, just in time for my new fruit only diet!" Blaineley said, as she tasted a strawberry.
"Were the donuts you were ordering when I called you fruit flavored, too?" Chris asked with a knowing smirk.
"Shut up!" Blaineley frowned, "And you better edit this part"
"Someone's ticked off" Chris smiled in response.
[Confessional]
Chef: If you think this is fiery, you haven't seen Chris interact with that new race show host. Boy, that's when the sparks fly so high, you think you was in a grill!
[End Confessional]
Chef coughed to interrupt them, "Good technique and props for creativity with the fruit"
"Yay, great job, you guys!" Hailey congratulated Martin and Damien.
"Yeah, you two really contributed a lot" Vicki remarked in a snarky manner.
"There's one thing, though," Hailey continued. "You were supposed to wear a waiter's outfit, too" she chided Damien, who was still wearing his usual grey suit.
"Sorry, it was too horrendous. There's only so much you can make me do by exercising brute force"
"Now, let's see what Nate has cooked up for us" Chris announced.
"If we win this, we win the whole thing - no pressure" Rachel reminded the skinny guy, before he went on stage, which made him roll his eyes.
Nate walked out onto the stage in his usual outfit, as his teammates had already set the table with a chessboard on it.
"Well, this is pretty underwhelming" Chris commented.
"So, my talent is playing super fast chess" Nate stated in a blunt fashion. "I can switch between two players to produce any outcome you want in less than a minute"
Chris yawned and Blaineley skeptically raised her eyebrow, both expecting Chef to pick the outcome for the boy to manufacture.
"I got a better idea," Chef declared, standing up from his judge seat. "How about you try to beat me in fast chess in less than three minutes and if you win, I'll vote for you over the sword girl," he suggested.
"Uhh, sure" Nate agreed after a moment of hesitation.
Chef walked onto the stage and sat across the table from the Nerds' team member. Chef picked the white pieces, while Nate decided to go with the black ones. Pushing his side of the chess clock, Chef made the first move with one of his pawns, before Nate quickly made his move. Most audience members could barely realize what was going on, as the two competitors made their moves so fast that they constantly hurt heard the sounds of the button being pushed on the clock and pieces moved around the board and removed from it. The number of pieces was quickly moving down, as the game progressed, but there were clearly more black pieces. Suddenly, as time came for Chef to make another move, he stalled for a bit, pondering his move, before finally moving a piece, which turned out to be a wrong move, as Nate swiftly removed it from the game, before declaring "Checkmate!"
"Huh?" Chef exclaimed in confusion, before seeing that the white king was indeed cornered by the several black pieces on the board. "And the time?"
"A minute and twenty five seconds" Nate announced, crossing his arms with a confident smirk, as he looked over to the clock
"Hmph, a loss is a loss" Chef said, still a tad disappointed. "I'll keep my promise - my vote is yours, string bean. Chris, Blaineley?"
The two were still busy sticking their forks into the fruit, before they realized the cameras were filming. They then both held up signs that showed a red outline of a teen with slicked back hair and a smug look on his face to symbolize the Preps.
"Whoo-hoo! That's right - who's the MVP now?" Hailey boasted, as she high fives Martin. "No more crazy Hailey trying to eat through wood - crazy Hailey has two swords now!" she then started making rapid slicing motions with her katanas.
"Chef, do confiscate the weapons from her, please" Chris asked his sidekick.
"Well, if it counts as anything, I think you did good, kid" Chef said to Nate, before moving over to the audience. Nate then cracked a small smile.
[Confessional]
Nate: There's something weirdly satisfying in being praised by a deranged cross dressing military cook with anger issues.
[End Confessional]
"This is getting too close for comfort," Kai noted, before standing up from his seat and hurrying over backstage.
"The score is one all, which means it all comes down to the last ultimate death round!" Chris announced in a faux-epic fashion. "Aka the elegantly named miscellaneous category. The Preps are up first"
On the left side of the stage, Kim in a simple white dress stood on top of what seemed to be a small table with a few fake metal spikes set on its edges. Luke was standing next to it in a blue medieval garment.
"Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?" Kim began in a melodramatic fashion, each "Romeo" louder and more tear-felt than the last, as the threw her arms up to the sky.
"Oh no" Martin quietly muttered to himself in the audience.
[Confessional]
Martin: To be honest, I was so caught up with the competition between Katya and Vicki and helping Hailey, I kinda forgot about these two.
[End Confessional]
"Uh... but soft, what light through yonder..." Luke began unsurely, before getting interrupted.
"'Tis I, the fairest Juliet, the sun rising in the east, your lady and your love!" Kim stated with her arms crossed. "The stars shine in my eyes and a rose by any other name would still be nothing compared to me!"
"Now, you, Romeo," she continues, "Are the prisoner of your name. If only you were not Romeo, but a Ben or a Sam or a Bob, we could've lived happily ever after. Oh, the cruel world!"
"Oh blessed, blessed night" Luke resumed again.
"But we can fix the trouble with your name, if you should marry me" Kim announced. "And until then, goodnight"
"So thrive my soul..." Luke began reciting.
"Oh, Romeo, you said so much as is - goodnight it is" Kim raised her palm to her forehead, as she started to back away from the improvised balcony, and exiting the stage.
"My love..." he kept going, as he chased after her.
"Go to sleep!" she shouted in response, before the lights dimmed and everything went quiet for a moment.
In the audience, Vicki raised her eyebrow at Martin "Please, don't tell me you approved of this"
Suddenly, Kim came out from the right side of the stage in a shorter pink dress, as a Christmas tree with presents underneath it was set nearby.
"Oh, Christmas time is the best!" she said, poorly imitating a child and sounding more like someone who inhaled helium, while jumping around the tree. "You get all these presents and you can eat sweets! Look at all of these - aren't I just the luckiest? My favorite gift is this tiny wooden soldier," she continued with a forced smile, pointing at the toy. "My godfather might be a creepy old man that smells like mothballs, but he gives the best presents"
A sound of a striking clock was then heard and someone leaped out from behind the curtain in a huge mouse costume with a crown on their head.
"I am the mighty Mouse King and I shall bite the head off your wooden friend," the person in the costume declared, revealing it to be Luke.
"Ew" Kim said without any emotion in her voice, before taking off her slipper at throwing it at Luke, hitting him in the face.
"Ah!" he shouted, backing away a little, but Kim picked up her slipper and started beating the "King" up, before they both disappeared behind the curtain.
A few seconds later, the red curtain was opened entirely and behind it sat Kim in a geisha costume with a sword in her hand. A few steps behind her stood Luke, also dressed as a geisha, with a baby doll in his hands.
"Plagiarism!" Hailey stood up from her seat and shouted.
"Uh, Hailey, she's on our team" Martin pointed out.
After briefly glaring at Hailey, Kim began "How could he? How could my husband run away from me and marry another? I even named my child Trouble, hoping to change it when he comes back" she fake cried, placing her hand near her heart. "Now what do I call him?"
"No, there's only one way to fix this" she suddenly changed her demeanor, clenching her sword. "I brought great dishonor onto the family name. I went against the warrior code and must pay the price"
"No, please, wait!" Luke exclaimed, trying to make his voice high-pitched.
"What is it, Suzuki? Give me a single reason not to do this"
"This" Luke said calmly, as he pushed a button on the back of the toy, and it produced a sound akin to passing gas, which received weird looks from the audience.
Luke panicked a bit and started pushing random buttons on the baby, causing him to burp and sneeze, before he accidentally dropped the baby face down on the floor. The correct button was pushed on impact and the baby doll started crying.
"Huh?" Kim gasped, as she looked at the doll and then lowered her head. A moment later, she lifted it back up to reveal the same running mascara as during the rehearsals. The camera then showed "Suzuki" picking up the baby doll, both of them also looking into the camera with mascara on their face. Then, the curtain closed, but no applause followed. Rather, the looks on the faces of the judges and the audience conveyed only confusion.
Kim and Luke came out onto the stage in their regular clothing.
"I think we don't have to waste time with the Nerds' performance, since the winner is apparent" Kim exclaimed.
"That was certainly different," Chris said, raising his eyebrow.
"The costume changes were impressive, but that's about it," Blaineley stated. "This might be the worst acting I've ever seen - and I've watched Chris's older movies"
As the audience snickered at her comment, Kim balled her first and turned to her partner, "Ugh, this is all your fault! I knew a rookie like you would only ruin everything!" She then stormed off to take a seat far away from the rest of her team. Luke simply walked over to the audience.
[Confessional]
Luke: Annoying as she is, arguing with her won't give us anything. Plus, chances are she's going home tonight, anyway.
[End Confessional]
"I'm so sorry, Vicki" Martin said to the team captain. "I thought it'd be best to give them artistic freedom and just concentrated on others"
"No excuses - it was your responsibility" Katya chides him.
"Dude, we're royally screwed now" Vicki put her head in her hands.
Meanwhile, backstage, Molly was dressed in an orange leotard with ornaments resembling flames and looking down at the floor.
"Is everything alright?" Piper asked her, "You will be up soon"
"Uh, yeah, I am just a little nervous - I've never really performed before judges or anything" Molly answered, shaking a little.
"It will be fine" Rachel reassured her, as she put her hand on the young scientist's shoulder. "The other team was horrible, anyway"
"Uh-huh" Molly said, still just as nervous.
"Look, I am pretty sure we can still send out Drew, if we hurry up" Kai suggested, standing a tad farther from the girls.
"No-no, it's fine - I can do it," Molly protested meekly.
"Oh come on, you're shaking and you're not even on stage yet!" he said in a frustrated tone.
"Maybe he has a..." Piper began only to get cut off.
"No way!" Rachel exclaimed. "I believe in Molly. If she wants to perform and thinks she can do it, we have to let her try"
"Who cares if she wants to do it?!" Kai shouted at her, "I want to fly - doesn't mean I can, though. This could cost us the challenge!"
"Now, we'll move on to the last performance of the day - Molly for the Nerds!" Chris's words interrupted their argument. "Will she be able to top Kim and Luke's, uh, theatrics?"
The lights turned off for a few moments, before coming back on and showing a tightrope stretched from one side of the stage to the other. On top of a stepladder that led to one side was Molly in her tracksuit with four torches in her hands. She used a lighter to quickly light them all up and began juggling them. She then took the first step onto the tightrope, which wiggled a bit under her and made her almost lose balance, as she began waving her hands around. This prompted gasps from the audience, but Molly recovered and caught the torches, before taking a deep breath and resuming. She took another step, then another, growing in confidence. At the same time, she kept up her juggling, which thanks to the still dim lights, proved quite a sight. The flames dancing with each other painted a beautiful picture and, taken aback by the beauty, many didn't notice Molly getting almost halfway through the tightrope. Her teammates started applauding her, which made Molly look into the audience with a smile on her face. However, that huge smile suddenly disappeared, when she noticed the jury sitting at their desk in the front row. The nerdette's body completely tensed up and her eyes got filled with tears, which made it hard to see. Because of that, she completely miscalculated her next step and lost her balance, and after a few seconds of struggling, she ended up falling off the tightrope and onto the stage. She fell with a loud thump and the impact with the floor made her lose consciousness. The torches she was holding rolled next to the curtains, causing a fire to start, which made everyone gasp in horror.
"Oh no, somebody do something!" Blaineley screamed, as her and Chris embraced each other instinctively.
"Interns!" the host shouted, but the interns all quickly ran out of the theater.
[Confessional]
Blaineley: Ugh, I can't believe I agreed to come to McLean's second-rate show again. That fire could've killed us! Also, why do I have to talk to my dear fans, while sitting in a janitor's closet? Where's my private dressing room?
[End Confessional]
Meanwhile, a large portion of the curtain burned away, showing the panicking trio of Kai, Rachel and Piper trapped backstage.
"We need to get out of here!" Kim shouted.
"No way!" Nate protested. "We gotta help Piper! Oh, and the other three"
Martin quickly broke the glass box on one of the walls, and took out a fire extinguisher, but when he directed it towards the stage, nothing came out.
"Where's the foam?!" he asked in panic.
"Uh, we might have forgotten to check if any of them were full when we rented the building" Chris stated.
As the teens kept running around, looking for something to put out the fire, suddenly a huge jet of water doused the entire stage. Everyone turned around to see Chef with a huge water gun, who managed to extinguish the fire within a few seconds.
The curtains were now completely charred and filled with holes, while the four teens on stage ended up soaked.
"Nice job, Chef!" Chris began. "Good thing you always keep your supplies nearby" Chef nodded and put his water gun inside his jacket.
"Now for the results," the host resumed. "I didn't think I'd say this, but the winners of this round are Kim and Luke, which means the Pesky Preps win today's challenge!" the announcement was met by cheers from the Preps.
"Alright!" Vicki high-fived Martin. "The Deluxe Suit is ours!"
"Yes, and you also won't have to eliminate anyone" Chris added.
"No need to thank me" Kim commented with a smirk.
"Wait, but their performance was horrible," Rachel said, "You said so yourself!"
"It was, but they didn't start a fire and ruin school property," the host answered angrily. "So, you Nerds, better start deciding who you'll be sending home, because we'll start the elimination ceremony in just an hour. Meanwhile, it's time for us to call in Blaineley's ride"
"Finally, can't wait to get out of this pathetic excuse for a show" the socialite rolled her eyes, as she left the theater with Chris and Chef.
The teens stood in silence for a few moments, before Molly stood up from the floor and looked around, rubbing her forehead.
"What happened?" she asked, squinting her eyes.
"You made us lose - that's what happened" Kai answered with a frown.
"Hey!" Rachel yelled at him, when Molly started crying.
"I'm so sorry, you guys!" she cried out, before running out of the room.
"What's wrong with you?" Rachel scolded Kai and ran after the girl.
[Confessional]
Damien: It seems the people I pick as my allies could not stop messing up, if their life depended on it.
[End Confessional]
"There she goes again, leaving her team to coddle Molly" Kai remained stoic, as he spoke, stopping his gaze on Piper. "I told you Molly couldn't do it from the very beginning, but Rachel kept insisting on it. Do you people still think she's a fitting leader?"
After his words, the Nerds looked at each other unsurely, before Piper walked off the stage and out of the room.
[Confessional]
Kai: Rachel has to go. From the time she bugged me about sabotaging one of the other teams on day one, I realized she was a weak competitor. She thinks a competition for a million bucks is a good place to let people fulfill their childhood dreams, and she just sabotaged her entire team.
Rachel: I don't care what Kai thinks - I refuse to be a tyrant. Yes, perhaps today didn't go the way we wanted it to, but I hope my team understands that we need harmony and it's best to cut the one who constantly goes against the team.
[End Confessional]
Piper was sitting in the library, taken by her thoughts, when suddenly someone threw her an apple. After she barely caught it, she saw that it was Nate.
"Hey" she said with a weak smile.
"Hi, I figured you'd come here" he smiled back. "Are you worried about the elimination?"
"Yeah" Piper admitted. "What are the others thinking?"
"Well, Kai has been pretty adamant about getting Rachel out and that's pretty much all he's been saying since the challenge ended. The guys seem convinced, but Rosa left a while ago - I think she isn't quite sure. Molly and Rachel have been missing this whole time. It seems pretty split"
"I feel responsible," she said, propping her chin on her knees. "Rachel and Kai were both trying to steer the team to the right direction, but it was actually my job! I was supposed to be the leader and I completely failed. I was just too indecisive, and now one of my teammates will be eliminated"
"Wait, but..." Nate was about to interject.
"It should be me!" Piper yelled out. "I should just go to Chris and say I'm quitting!" she stood up and was about to run out, when Nate stopped her.
"No way! You can't do that!" he shouted at her, raising his voice for the first time. "You never chose to be the leader, so it was never your responsibility. You shouldn't feel sorry about anything," he continued sternly. "And besides, if both Kai and Rachel stay, they'll keep pulling us in different directions"
"But still, what do we do now?" she asked, calming down a little.
"Well, I guess it's time for you to prove you can make decisions" Nate told her. "I'll vote with you no matter who you pick"
Piper sighed and looked down at the floor, before the intercom in the library came to life.
"Dear losers, it's time to bid one of you adieu. Assemble in the Elimination Hall, pronto"
[Confessional]
Nate: Will it be super lame if I say that I haven't cared about something or someone so much in a long while?
Piper: It was pretty awesome of Nate to have my back at a time like this. *sigh* But I still have to pick someone to vote off. Kai might have a point, but Rachel has been so kind to me... and everyone really!
[End Confessional]
The Nefarious Nerds all assembled in the Elimination Hall and took their seats on the bleachers. Chris was already standing at the platform, but didn't start talking yet.
"What's with the holdup? Don't go rushing us, if you'll make us wait anyway" Drew complained as La.
"Just a couple more moments" Chris said with a smile, before he saw someone walk up. "Ah, there we go!"
Chef got onto the stage, carrying Blaineley, who was all tied up, and put her next to the giant boot.
"Let me go, you ogre! McLean, what is the meaning of all this?!" she demanded.
"You see, Mildred, we called a taxi for you, but it didn't arrive, and since we would hate to make you stay here longer than you're contractually obligated to, we decided to take it upon ourselves to send you off" Chris explained with a grin on his face.
"What are you trying to pull, McLea-ahhhhhhhhh!" she tried to ask, before the Kick of Shame sent her flying.
"Yes!" Chris exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "That's what you get for calling me a bad actor, you witch with a dye job!"
As the teens looked at him in confusion, Chris went back to the podium, "Now that she's out of the way, it's time for one of you to follow in her footsteps. To vote against your teammate, just stamp their file in the voting booth. Our resident arson enthusiast is up first," he concluded with a frown, as Molly stood up.
[Voting booth]
Molly: *sniffles* I am so embarrassed of myself, I completely messed everything up! But still, Rachel was the only one who consoled me after all this, which means she is really a nice person. *sniffles* But Kai was really mean to me today and that's why I'm voting against him *stamps* Why can't all boys be more like Damien?
Greg: Today was a complete mess, but the performance Kai came up with was the only one that gave us points, so it'd be unfair to vote him off. And he was right about Molly. Sorry, Rachel *stamps*
Drew: *as La* If this so-called leader picked us from the very start, none of this would've happened *stamps*
Rosa: Kai was in disagreement with the rest of the team the entire day, so I feel he might not fit into our troupe. Plus, Rachel is so compassionate and kind, I can't bring myself to vote her off *stamps*
Piper: *holds up her own file* I really want to stamp this one *sighs and puts it down* I can't let our team fall apart *stamps*
[End Voting booth]
"You've all cast your votes and it's time to see who you think of as the weakest link" Chris began, as Chef approached him with a plate of scrolls. "Those of you who get these diplomas are safe and the one sorry loser who ends up without one will be kicked out of the school. Excited?"
"Only that today's over" Nate said in a dry tone.
"Tell me about it" Molly told him, still sniffling.
"Okay, the first diploma goes to the only person who did nothing to contribute to your loser status" Chris announced "Rosa!" the girl caught her diploma with a smile.
"Drew and Greg - you two didn't do a whole lot, but all things considered, that was probably for the better" he threw the boys their diplomas.
"Nate" the boy caught his diploma effortlessly.
"Now you four all played a hand in your team's demise" Chris smirked at the remaining teens.
"Molly, your performance was by far the worst of the entire talent show, not to mention that you destroyed our theater" he raised his voice at the last part. "So..."
"Yes" the girl said with a trembling voice.
"I'm sorry to say you're still in" he threw her the diploma with a frown. "But our accounting team will mail your family the check for those curtains"
"Kai" Chris called out, as the boy smiles contently. "Can you believe no one voted against Piper?" the host threw a diploma at her. "Such a horrible team leader, and yet everyone voted for you and Rachel"
The two glared at each other, before Chris continued.
"Looks like the rest of the team is sick of your constant fighting and decided to cut one of you lose. Any ideas who that might be?" the host asked, before the two pointed at each other. "That's what I thought. The last diploma goes to..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Kai" Chris finally said.
"N-no!" Rachel exclaimed with a shocked expression on her face.
"Nothing surprising, you're too weak a leader - anyone can see it," Kai said, as Chris threw him a diploma, but Rachel caught it instead and threw it at the boy's face. "Real mature"
"Oh no, Rachel!" Molly came up to her. "I can't believe you're going!"
"You were indeed so kind to all of us," Rosa added, with tears forming in her eyes.
"Thanks, girls" Rachel smiled, as she gave them hugs. Just then, she noticed Piper looking down, while sitting in the corner. "Hey, Piper!"
"Yeah?" the girl answered with a sad look in her eyes.
"Don't sweat it" Rachel said with a smile. "I may not be a master hacker, but I can do basic math" still smiling, she then waved at Piper.
Rachel then made her way to the giant boot and put her hands in her pockets, "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, guys. Fire away, Chris"
"With pleasure!" the host exclaimed, as the Kick of Shame sent Rachel flying. As her screams faded, Piper sighed once again.
"And so, there were fourteen!" Chris announced. "But how long will that last? Tune in next time to find out on Total Drama School Life!"
Hi, guys! I know this chapter took a bit longer, but I hope you like it. The chapter itself is also longer than usual, which probably has to do with the type of the challenge. Regarding the intro in the beginning of every chapter, I promise that I'll describe the opening theme in one of the upcoming chapters and then just reference back to it. I'd also really love to know what you guys thought about the new teams, the challenge, and most importantly, the dramatic elimination. Oh, and the fabulous cameo, of course. So, please consider leaving a review and letting me know. Here are the individual votes:
Rachel - 4 votes (Drew, Greg, Kai, Nate, Piper)
Kai - 3 votes (Molly, Rachel, Rosa)
Alrighty then, I think that's all I had to say, so thanks so much for reading and see ya next chapter!