So here it is the very long awaited chapter 4 of Total Drama Revenge of the ForeverMine! I hope it makes up for the wait in its sheer length!
It would have been up much earlier if my Dad didn't take me on tours, his girlfriend didn't make me do chores, and if my mum had paid the internet company
Last time:
Scott made himself a million-dollar deal that involved keeping his escape tunnel a secret. Brick and Jo tried to grapple their way out, which was great, till Scott put a stop to their plans. Now Brick is grappling with guilt and Jo's hand is useless ; as useless as their attempt to get help from their fans (three guesses whose fault that was)
Of course, it was Zoey and Mike who found a patch of brightness in the darkness of the cave, and stuck a plant under it, and prepared for another drama-filled day in the ForeverMine!
It was an angry Chris who answered the door to his room early that morning, hair disheveled and stubble particularly stubbly.
"What? There better be a good reason why I'm up before seven." Said Chris, " And by good, I mean it involves a decent amount of cash."
"It's here" said Chef, handing him a small box.
"This is it?" said Chris, ripping open the box and holding up a small vial full of glowing yellow liquid, "dude, this just looks like lemonade."
"It ain't. When the interns were hookin up some cameras bout a week ago, one of 'em got attacked by some fireflies."
"Mutant fireflies?" asked Chris, eagerly.
"Yep. Well one flew into his mouth and somethin happened to his voice." said Chef, "Poor guy's been talkin like a chipmunk ever since. What you got there is the venom. It's real concentrated so you ain't gonna need much."
That put a smile on Chris's face.
"So what you're saying is this stuff's like helium with a bad attitude?" he asked
"Nah, helium wears off." responded Chef, "This stuff's permanent."
It was a happy Chris who went back to bed, his head full of the thought of what would happen tomorrow when he and Blaineley went down to the docks to intro the show. He smiled imagining the look on her face when her voice came out even more shrill and annoying than usual, how she'd clap her hands over her mouth in surprise and get that look of dawning comprehension.
Buh-bye, Blaineley.
ANNE MARIA
I musta woke up pretty early cos nobody else was up. Except Scott, oh wait, he was probably off lookin fo' trouble again.
I looked at my arm, I was about a shade lighter than a tangerine! Oh yeah, I definitely needed a tan. I checked under da skylight there was some dumb plant where I'd usually be lyin down right now. I went over to kick it outta da way but dere was hardly any light anyways. I figure the sun musta gotten kinda wet from all da rain yesterday. Ugh, yesterday was a real mess- no wonder everybody was sleepin'. Even Brick was sleepin like a rock. Guess we wouldn't be havin breakfast for a while. I went to bed pretty early, seein as I didn't have anyone blabberin to me all night like Ms. Goodie-Goodie over dere.
None of dese guys were really talkin to me. I didn't come on dis show to make friends - I mean I got plenty girlfriends back home, but I didn't tink everyone on dis show would be so blah. It's like all dey wanna do is run around doin challenges.
-Dey don't even sing like dey do on TV! Must be some kinda lip syncing I guess. Anyways, there was always somebody, usually Blondie, pushin me around tryin to make me break a leg (- or even a nail!) climbin some cliff or chasin a freaky giant bunny or somethin. There still hadn't been any challenges dat played to my strengths, except maybe the diving challenge, I mean I live by da beach, I'd have done great, but I hated to admit it, Blondie was right, those old school suits would have cramped my shoulders and my style. Definitely were more her speed.
She only made me do stuff when she needed a human sheild, I'd figured out dat was why she was always callin me Helmet Head. Didn't dat girl call anybody by their real names? I guess she just called you by what use she could put you to -if there was any. It was probably her way of makin sure we knew she was here to win and not make friends. I guess I could get dat, I mean nobody in the competition was ever up for kickin back or havin fun, not that bein stuck in here was any better- dere weren't any challenges and all but everybody was bummed out. I was really startin to miss my girlfriends.
I knew the 'rents probably got the news I was pushin up daisies by now, but they were probably too busy fightin over everythin but dinner (that's was the only time they quit yellin, cause they were too busy chewin Ma's chicken tetrazzini, which thankfully was a process that took some time an effort).
They'd probably get over me bein gone anyways, Dad had his 'coworker' Catalina Ricci to drive him around in her hot pink fiat and Ma had Julio Visconti (the hunky pilot who starred in her favourite soap "Flying Into Your Arms") playin on the TV 24/7.
The only time they paid any attention to me was if I got in too late and was too tipsy to shimmy up the drainpipe into my bedroom (they locked the door after 11 p.m) or if some guy I broke up with was dumb enough to do that thing where you throw rocks at a girl's window and play loud music on ya boombox to be all romantic n crap.
-That ain't gonna get you a date, ya mook, all it did was get dis one guy a black eye from my Dad and a bill for the broken window, and a trip to the police station (they were just gonna tell him to turn down the music but after he pulled a blade on the guy that turned out to be a nail file, they cuffed him and took him to the slammer.) After he got out we got back togetha though. It was so nice to try and impress me like dat, even though it was real idiot move.
I was startin to really miss home, especially the beach.
I headed down to the lake that we had down there. I took the long way down, the way Scott had shown us. I had to admit for such a pasty freckly creep, he wasn't a bad guy. I mean even though it was a long way it sure beat jumping off the track, I don't think my hair could take any more o dat kind of abuse.
I stepped into the cave, it was pretty huge, and dark, the lake was deep blue and wide and dere were gray rocks on the shore. I took my shoes off. The ground was all gainy and cold- not like the beach back home, where the sun was hot and the water was warm, and sometimes it'd spray your way and it felt good, you know? I used to wanna stay like that for ages but saltwater makes your makeup run, and once your makeup runs, so do the guys. So I'd just kick back on a beach mat or check out the talent around the shake shack.
Back in the day I'da been makin sandcastles- man I was good at dat. I used to like watchin beach volleyball too, all the hottest guys were out there- but they just used to laugh if I asked to play. That was before I filled out and pumped up to my full hotness potential. -Look at me now, I'm one of the hottest chicks under the Jersey sun! Now when I head out to the shore those guys aint turnin heads to see where the ball's at, -they're lookin at me, and dis time I'm turnin em down when they ask me to play; can't risk breakin dese nails playin v-ball.
Sometimes when things are a little slow at the bar though I wish I could give it a try. One time after this chick Stella Spumoni spread a nasty rumour bout me, I socked her in da mouth so hard they had to put her braces back in. Yeah I always had a good arm- not half bad for a girl who's 4 foot 8,
I knew I'd probably be able to clobber those guys on the V-ball court. But guys don't go fuh girls like dat. I'm no scientologist, but if there's one thing I do know it's guys, and dey got egos as big as their fauxhawks, and twice as fragile. Its your job as the chick to protect dat, kinda like hairgel when you put it in right, you gotta keep em from fallin apart, make em feel like men. It's the guy's job to keep other guys off of you, and to show you he likes you, without gettin all sappy about it.
It realized I was alone, it was real quiet and everything was still, like, even the water on the lake. I was seriously missin all the crazy sounds of the beach, even those stupid birds. Man I hated seagulls, even before I started tanning I didn't use sunblock, cause I knew those UV rays the guys on da news were always talkin about were just a myth, and also cause it reminded me of gull crap.
Icky and white, that's what they called pasty chicks on the Shore, -it hurt- but I mean how do you expect anyone to respect ya if you don't respect yourself? An how do you respect yourself if you don't even show your body some TLC? (Tan, Lustre and Cosmetics)
I shivered. Man it was cold in here, the air wasn't movin and it was kinda gettin to me. I waded out into the lake. This was no way to live, sure the food was better than Chef's slop but the only way you could smell civilized was to take a swim and wash out your clothes.
When I came out I was even colder than before. I knew later I could dry my clothes off with the hairdryer but for now I'd kill for some Jersey heat.
Of course there was always Vito for dat, he was the best kisser I'd ever kissed, and he was tough, and he was hot, even though he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box. I felt so right with him, he even took on Brick and Scott for me in that snow an ice challenge, I didn't know if it was just showin off or what, but it made me feel gorgeous, I had nothing to compare it to...kinda like the warm feelin you get when you tip back a piña colada, and twice as sweet.
That's how it was with Vito, we just understood eachother...then why did he have to keep pretending he was this 'Mike' guy? I didn't even really talk to Vito but I felt like I knew him wayy better than Mike, the guy spent more time trying to cover things up than show off. Like how he kept those gorgeous abs out of view with that boring blue shirt. I dunno, part of me wondered if maybe he thought I wasn't good enough for him, he hung out wit Ms. Goodie Goodie, and she hated me, so I guess it figured. Whatever it was he'd better sort it out quick, cause Anne Maria ain't nobody's second choice.
SCOTT
Things had been going great ever since I'd cut that deal with Chris and Blaineley. While the rest of those doofuses thought they were trapped I knew I could get out whenever I felt like it, which was a lot. Hey, Chris's door was always open to me- and the ones that weren't were pretty easy to pick.
After I took a shower (and man did I need one, tunnel hunting was seriously dirty work.) I figured now would be as good a time as any to start thinking of a way to do summore damage. The others might still be pretty suspicious after last night's incident with Sparky.
(It wasn't my fault, what kind of moron took on a whole cave full of scorpions, although he wouldn't have been near it if he hadn't believed my B.S about there being gold down there.)
I figured I should bring back something 'helpful' but something you could find in a mine.
I went into Chris's shed. Man there was loads of stuff in here, the guy really was nuts; canons, electroshock chairs, Celine Dionne music store standee, and loads and loads of explosives. I took a stick of dynamite from a big pile that was spilling over, I stashed it in my back pocket, just in case. I grabbed a handful of some twine that was wrapped around a stick and a handful of other junk. Then I looked around for something I could use to do some real damage.
MIKE
Brick was still asleep so I decided I'd head down to the food stock cave and figure out what we could find for breakfast. There weren't that many in there, and alot of them were dented and spoiled. I was beginning to wonder what we'd do for food once we ran out. I got up, carefully so as not to wake Zoey, and walked along the cart track. This was the track that extended over the underground lake, but first it plunged into a dark tunnel. I stopped about halfway down the tunnel, where it was darkest. I made a right into a tunnel that was half blocked by a boulder. Here the flashlight only illuminated about an arms-length ahead of me. This tunnel was obviously man-made, it had some wooden stairs that took you down into complete darkness. You had to be careful because there were a lot of pitfalls and torches mounted on the walls and -Ow!
I'd been banged in the head by a torch bracket and I dropped my flashlight, which went out the moment it hit the floor. I bent down and fumbled around for it. I was getting pretty frustrated and I could feel myself losing control. Chester was going to show up- I could tell- I tried to relax a bit and breathe.
I thought of Zoey, how I'd been able to tell her the truth last night, even though she was asleep, how I'd tell her for real today. I thought of how she seemed so okay with it, how she'd hugged me- tight.
I was back! It was getting easier to control it now. My hand found the flashlight and switched it on, the wider passage before me was illuminated. This passage was lined with old broken gas lamps and the barrels that supposedly contained toxic waste.
There was a tunnel on the left that Scott had shown us was a shortcut to the shore of the pool. I kept going, counted three more tunnels as I passed that Brick and I had already checked out that were full of junk like broken pickaxes. I entered the stock room and started looking around, there really weren't that many cans down here. It started to dawn on me how dark it was. I hoped the flashlight didn't run out. One had already run out, and Jo ordered Anne Maria to replace its batteries with the ones from her hairdryer. The argument they ended up having had not been pretty. After threatening to cut all of Anne Maria's hair off with Scott's shark tooth while she slept, Jo won the fight, but it turned out that the batteries for the hairdryer were too small for the flashlight. Anne Maria had been relieved, that girl was really committed to her hair.
Just then I saw something move outside in the main tunnel. I shone my flashlight on it, already starting to panic. Anne Maria was leaning on the opening of the cave, "Hey 'Mike'" she said.
"Oh hey Anne Maria," I replied, "I need to talk to you about something..."
"Go 'head, nobody's stoppin you." she answered.
I took a breath and began, "Remember the other night when you kissed Vito like that?"
"-Actually he kissed me -but go on." she corrected.
"Yeah...well I'd really like it if you wouldn't do that again, like ever." I said, trying not to sound like a jerk, and obviously failing.
"What, I ain't allowed to kiss you?" she said, looking confused.
"Well yeah, I mean me and Zoey- she gets really mad at me when Vito flirts with you and-"
She interrupted, saying, "Oh I see, little Ms. Goodie Goodie can't handle what we got goin on, so she told you to tell me to pretend like there ain't anything between us?" she was frowning now.
"It's not just that- I like Zoey I...I mean not that I don't like you- but I like Zoey so...Vito can't see you anymore." I bent my head apologetically.
"Well I wanna hear what Vito has to say about it..." she said, then she came towards me, arching an eyebrow and tugging lightly on the hem of my shirt. I pulled away.
"No!- uh- I mean, even if Vito makes a pass on you, you can't kiss him." I explained.
"So you're saying you wanna be able to date Zoey and put the moves on me and I just gotta stand there like nothing's happenin?" She put her hands on her hips and looked at me incredulously.
"Uh no, well yeah" I fumbled for the words.
"-See? Dis is why I prefer Vito, he knows how to treat a woman." she said, folding her arms and looking away from me angrily. I was going to try to explain again but just then there was the sound of a deafening shriek from outside in the main tunnel. I jumped, spilling pineapple juice on the front of my shirt. Anne Maria's eyes widened in terror.
"What the heck was that?" she asked
I stuck my head outside to see what it was, that was a big mistake. A swarm of bats attacked me from all directions, their claws cut like razors every time they whizzed past my head.
"AH!" I cried out, Anne Maria ran out of the cave, "Hol' still, Mikey," she was holding the can of pineapple and reared her arm back to toss it right at the swarm of bats, which was also where my head was.
I ducked just in time as the can hit the wall behind me with a smash. It fell to the floor where the bats surrounded it in a whirlwind of leathery wings. I was relieved, but only for a moment because they came right back to attack me.
"They're after my blood!" I shouted, running back and forth along the tunnel, trying to keep them away from my face.
"It's not your blood they're after," said Anne Maria, pointing to the can of pineapple, that was now empty and clean, "They just want fruit!" she said.
"They must be after the juice on my shirt..." I said.
"Take it off!" she shouted. I didn't want to, Vito showing up would be the last thing I needed.
"Promise you'll put it back on me once the bats are gone?" I asked. She rolled her eyes, but she nodded.
"Yeah, sure, whatevah." she said. I tried to take it off, but every time I lowered my arms to try to pull the shirt off I'd get a face full of bat claws.
"Run over dis way!" she said, beckoning. I turned around and started running towards her. She stood at the ready, with her arms outstretched.
As I passed her I felt her hand grip my shirt sleeve. I stopped running and started pulling backwards, trying to get the shirt to slip off my head. I felt myself losing control as the air made contact with my bare back. The shirt was off and I went under.
ANNE MARIA
I tried to pull his shirt off but the material was full o holes from the swarm, and it just tore off of him. So much for putting it back on. I thought. The swarm flew up, then they saw the shirt in my hand.
"Ey, lookin fuh dis?" I said, Den I tossed it further down the tunnel, and they went after it. I dusted my hands off
Stupid birds. I thought. I picked up Mike's flashlight and switched it on. Standin in front of me was Vito, he looked at me with a grin and said "Ey, babe, miss me?"
JO
I could hear the sound of day outside the cave. Birds that sounded far away.
I woke up before everybody else, not that it was a competition.
I checked my watch, it was late, but the cave was dark. It had gotten colder in the night so I pulled my hoodie over my head. We were still stuck in here, like a bunch of stupid kids. I wanted to turn over but I knew any shift would hurt my hand. It already hurt like hell just laying on the newspaper covered crate. I turned over anyways and my eyes scanned the cave.
Everyone was asleep. Anne Maria and Cameron had gone to sleep in the carts, I guessed, and Scott was probably in one as well, cause I didn't see him. Lightning lay on a paper-covered rock beside the carts. Halfway across the room Zoey and Mike were asleep on the floor- dammit- we lugged those crates up here for a reason- they sure as hell aren't decorative! Then I looked to the west wall of the cave, sleeping on his back was the cadet. He'd usually be up by now, russelling up something to eat and smiling while he dished it out, like everything was okay, like we weren't all going to die in an abandoned mine, like he was just glad to do his part to help out. Now he looked really tired though, his hands were clenched and his knees pulled close to him against the cold.
I turned back over but my dumb hand bent again and it hurt, bad. I hated this pain, it was sharp and it shot right through me, it meant I'd be useless in trying to get out of here. But it took my mind off the dull pain that was twisting in my chest. I knew what that was, and it wasn't sport pain, I didn't even flinch at sport pain. This was worse, much worse. I shut my eyes tight. I guess I'd known it from the start, when I'd met the guy, I thought he'd be your typical grass-stains-for-brains military school jock. But I thought he seemed honorable, and honest, and I found he was 'attractive', so I was willing to believe he was different.
So every time he'd talk about all his bootcamp medals I entertained the idea that he was trying to impress me, and I offered some competitive rebuttal- tried to see if it got to him that I could jog circles around him or could beat him at thumb wrestling, and it didn't- for the first time a guy had said I was stronger than him, and hadn't seemed angry or suspicious- if a bit surprised- he'd let me be team captain and I'd been pretty floored about it.
Then I had to pull myself back to reality, the cadet was strong, he'd had to have let me beat him.
Chivalry. It could mean he was just old fashioned, didn't want to hurt a girl- or it could mean he couldn't even tolerate the idea of losing to a girl- that later he'd be chumming it up with his bros about how he let me win, how if he weren't such a nice guy he'd have won easy. I knew it had to be that, typical heroic dudebro.
I'd show him, I'd figured out his weakness and I'd use it against him when the time was right, until then I'd make use of his strengths whenever they suited. Little did I know that my own weakness was making me forget my objective.
Sure he wasn't a tactical genius but he always went for it, he always gave it his all, he had a momentum that matched my own- except for when he hesistated, when he talked about his code, when he put victory on the line- And for what? To play hero?
A team needs one leader and trusting, obedient peons- I mean members. When that trust goes away so does obedience, and there's no way to win once you lose control of your team. Was he trying to turn the team against me? I was an excellent captain, the Maggots only lost once-
Then why? I already knew the answer, it was because I was a girl, that's why. It made me angry enough to put my fist through a wall.
But there were still times I'd forget, times I'd go back to save his military ass from a stupid pet grave, instead of carrying on with the challenge and heading straight for I'd go over to gloat, or start an argument with him, just to distract myself for a while, arguing was something between just the two of us, no messy team politics or challenges. It felt good being around him, and it made me...happy, I guess.
But I needed to wake up, I was forgetting what had happened before, and what could happen again. I took out my whistle to remind me of what Scott had told me- the truth I'd refused to believe- until now:
That Brick was glad he'd been transfered to the Toxic Rats- that he'd taken his morning jog earlier to avoid me. That he'd been trying to make us lose for ages just so he could vote me off. That he had volunteered himself for elimination because he knew Dakota was going home and there'd be a swap. That he was glad he finally didn't have to follow my orders, and that he thought I was a bitch.
I must've fallen back asleep and woken up about an hour later.
The cave was pretty damn dark even though it was morning. It was seriously cold, I pulled my hood over my head. We could always use Helmet-Head's hairdryer to warm up later.
Hey, hang on a minute, an idea dawned on me.
We could put the hairdryer batteries into the ePhone! We could e-mail our folks like we'd wanted to.
I turned over. Freckle-Face wasn't there -and he had the ePhone. The cadet (or should I say, the traitor) was gone too, probably making us some breakfast by now.
I figured I'd sort out the battery plan later. Now I just needed something. Something to take my mind off of everything. I headed down to the lake.
BRICK
I woke up late. At 0900 hours by my watch. It had been hard to get to sleep last night. Usually I told myself the sooner you go to sleep the quicker it'll be bright again. But last night, I didn't care if the darkness swallowed me whole. Through my choice of action I'd let Jo get hurt- and I'd hurt her too.
I was so caught up in keeping my code that I ended up breaking it. I'd walked away from her, and Jo had looked at me like...like she needed me. Two days ago I would never have believed that could be true, ever since Scott had told me what she said to him. It was the day after the team swap, I was pretty mad at Jo for making me betray my team and not even being sorry.
I'd gone out jogging earlier that day, I didn't get to sleep that night and the sun was almost up. So she wasn't there jogging with me like she normally was. I kept telling myself that this was great, that I didn't need anyone making fun of me, or bossing me around. But there was also nobody there to make me want to go faster, to really push myself further than I was used to, I slowed down, and felt kind of upset, but if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have noticed Jo's whistle, lying on the ground.
I figured she must've dropped it. I had to bring it back to her, who knew? Maybe she'd realised by now that I was right about going back to save the others in the last challenge, maybe she'd realised she missed me being part of her team.
I went back to camp and headed for the Maggot's cabin. I was going to knock on the door when someone called my name, someone standing on the shady side of the cabin. It was Scott. He'd told me that he wouldn't do that if I was him. He said he'd just met Jo, and she'd taken a jog earlier to avoid me.
"She said she was glad to finally be rid of the extra 'dead weight'." he'd said. That hurt to hear, and I kind of wanted him to stop, but he went on.
"She said she kept you around because you're all muscle- and no spine." he'd said.
"Wake up Brick, she was using you. She just kept you around as her peon for long as you were loyal, after that she was going to vote you off."
I didn't want to believe it, but why would he lie to me about that?
"A girl like that ain't worth risking the million dollars for." he'd finished. He said it'd be best if I didn't try to talk to her now, and he offered to give the whistle to her himself.
I gave it to him, I felt all hollow and empty. And from that moment I did everything I could to try to show her I was capable, that I was nobody's dead weight, that I didn't need her instruction. I really thought he'd been telling the truth. -Until last night.
Somehow, the way she'd looked at me had told me something. It told me that she saw me as more than a peon, even more than a teammate. She was my friend. And you had to trust your friends more than people like Scott, who was looking more and more to me like an enemy in disguise.
SCOTT
I was just investigating some interesting crates that were in the back of the shed when I heard a creak and a slam from across the shed, followed by a low chuckle from Chef, who'd just locked me in.
"Where's your fifty percent now, farmboy?" he taunted. "Hey, what the-"
Ha, crazy glue on the doorknob and on the ground in front of the door- madhesive never failed me back home for gluin' loonies to the ceiling, but usually I did that when I was bored- this was wayy more fun.
"When I get my boot out of this it's going right up your-"
"Easy," I said, grabbing a pack of matches, "You wouldn't want to get me mad," I struck one, making sure he could hear the sizzle of the fire as it ignited.
"Look, fool, I know you ain't gonna burn the place down while you're still inside." He thought I was bluffing, but he kept pulling forcefully on the door handle, making the whole shed shake.
"That glue might hold you for about a minute," I said as he wrenched the door open and tried to free his hand, I took out the stick of dynamite and lit it up.
"But that," I said as I tossed it outside where it landed a few yards behind him, "that's gonna blow in ten seconds, flat." He grinned challengingly.
"You think I can't get out of this?" he called out roughly, "you must be even dumber than you look, punk."
9
8
7
I smirked and walked back to lean against the wall of the shed, folded my arms and faced him.
6
5
He struggled for a while he freed his foot from his boot and attempted to reach the red blast-candle
4
He was able to touch it with his heel but it rolled just an inch out of reach.
3
I stuck my fingers in my ears and grinned at him. He glared, sighed with exasperation and jerked his head in the direction of the dynamite. I would've made him ask nice -but there was too much at stake- this thing could go off any moment. I'd stopped keeping count. Plus old dynamite was pretty unpredictable.
I walked past him through the doorway and I could tell he was resisting the urge to strangle me. I walked over to the thing -the spark had almost reached the fuse base- and stomped it into the ground.
I picked it up, tossed it into the air and caught it.
"You ain't gonna try pullin somethin like that again, are ya?" I said.
"No, cos the next time you're goin down, dirt boy." he answered roughly "Wasn't a bad trick for a kid, but you made a mistake: you took on a man. And this man's got some tricks of his own...just you wait..."
"Oh, I'll be waiting," I said as I headed into the forest. "But I'll be doing my waiting inside, see ya later, Sergeant Smelly."
He noticed that snowflakes had begun to fall.
I was used to the toxic island's freak weather by now, like how much it had snowed during the ice fort challenge, but it had never had such perfect timing, except for the time Lightning had claimed he was invincible and had run around from cabin to cabin shouting "Throw whatever you can at Lightnin, Lightnin can take it!" at people, I'd just been about to 'accidentally' nail him with a fake Chris head but before I threw it out the window, hailstones the size of dirt clods started wallopping him in the head.
"Ahh! Why is this happening to Lightnin?" he cried into the night as even more stung him in the face as they landed from above. Up until then, I'd never had such a good reason to believe in a sympathetic God.
The snow started settling around Chef Hatchet and he gave me a glare that said "I hate you" and probably some other choice words.
I headed back to the mine, I just remembered something. I took out the ePhone and ripped off the backing. I didn't know so much tech stuff so I just tore something out that looked important, a small black chip with a red wire around it, and tossed it on the ground.
Just in case they tried to start it up again. I needed to make sure they trusted me, or they might follow me down- and out of the mine. But suspicions flared up after that blabbermouth on the chatroom had mentioned me.
For now I just needed to throw them off my scent, speaking of which- I reeked of Chris's fancy shampoo. It didn't smell like 'Hollywood Musk' at all, more like fried eggs cooked on the greasy engine of a diesel truck.
I sighed. It reminded me of home.
BRICK
I needed to clear my head some, it was full of guilt, it was full of Jo. I decided to do some laps in the underground lake. It was really cold today, cold as winter.
It was great! Nothing like the bracing cold, it doesn't let you think of anything except for how darn cold it is, like doing drills in the rain at 3 a.m... I was almost lost in thoughts of boot camp when I saw her.
Jo had come down to the lake, well not down like the rest of us, no she'd decided to take the high road and walk down the track. Our eyes met briefly and then she looked as if she considered going back to the cave, then she shut her eyes, unsmiling, and prepared to dive.
She sliced through the air like before, but this time with her arms tucked beside her, to avoid painful impact of her wrist with the water, her landing had been a little less precise than before and the smack of water had to have hurt, but when she surfaced her face didn't show it at all.
JO
God, why did Jarhead have to be here, this was the last thing I needed, he wasn't even wearing a shirt for Pete's sake! I kept my eyes away from him. Any indication of my...affection needed to be concealed. Guys at school used to laugh around with eachother about which one of them was 'gay for Jo.' Something told me the cadet wasn't like that, maybe he'd try to be a gentleman, and let me down politely. But maybe he'd use it against me,- in a way it'd be something I couldn't beat him at, I'd be the one who'd fallen and he'd be the last one standing. He'd finally have found a way to show everyone he didn't need me...because he didn't want me.
BRICK
I shivered, but I knew it wasn't because of the cold. She wouldn't look at me, or say anything. She waded out before taking off her hoodie. She must have worn it most of the time because her arms were pale and smooth, I kept looking at her, until she turned around and glared at me- I think she thought I was staring at her wrist and she tucked it out of sight again. Then she came back in the water and started doing laps, next to me, backstroke and freestyle, zipping across the pool and making V-shaped waves spread across the water. I stopped when I noticed how far she was taking it, I knew she was in pain, she knew she was in pain too, but she was gritting her teeth and shutting her eyes against the water, and propelling herself forward, chopping the surface with her twisted wrist.
JO
He kept looking at my hand,
"Jo, you can't keep this up, you're just going to get hurt-"
"Wouldn't be the first time, maggot." I said, getting out of the water, if I stayed in there any longer I might make the error of mistaking this 'but you'll get hurt' stuff for genuine concern. I guess he needed to play hero again, or maybe his pride was hurt since I was beating him at laps even with a messed up wrist. He was giving me a look that was making me doubt that though, I could usually read a person in ten seconds flat, list their weaknesses, and their uses, if any. Yeah some people thought that was too hardcore, but those people didn't realise that when you let someone close enough, they go right for the thoat. Distance is what kept the line between competition and camaraderie, a line I was not crossing again.
That's what I did when I left the cavern and began heading back to the cave, I put some more distance between us.
It was a smiling Chris McLean who sat across the table from Blaineley as her fingers avidly typed out celebrity trash talk on her laptop. He had already showered and dressed and prepped the percolator, turning to ask Blaineley in a chipper tone, "How do you like your coffee?"
She raised her eyebrows before eyeing him suspiciously,
"What's going on with you, McLean?" she asked, "just find out someone liked that badminton flick you 'starred' in?" picking seeds out of a slice of pink grapefruit she added, "besides you, I mean."
Ordinarily he'd have replied with an asinine comment about her brief and terrible music video career in the 90s, but today nothing could dampen his spirits, not this morning's issue with the shower (someone had used up all his shampoo and the floor was crazy dirty, he didn't need to see the red hairs that were stuck to the soap to know who'd been messin with his stuff), not the snow outside (bonus! those kids would be freezing, and when it got cold, things always got intense.), not even Blaineley's smug face across the table. Everything was fine because this time tomorrow that smile would be gone, when the pair of them went down to the dock to intro the show (they couldn't do that in front of the mine, they could hear pretty well in there) she'd be screeching like a broken microphone, and she'd be off the air for good. He'd get his show back, and another 60% of the money, simple as-
"Pie?" he asked, offering her a slice of Chef's baked apple goodness.
"...No thanks." she said, still looking at him suspiciously,
"What about you, are you sure you need the extra calories?" she added, looking pointedly at him.
Chris made as if to answer her angrily but stopped himself when he remembered the plan.
"Just means there's more pie for me." He said, finally.
There was a satisfying silence, she didn't usually keep her mouth shut, but she'd have to get used to it!
There was a crash as the kitchen door was kicked down. Chef stomped in, looking half-frozen and tracking snow everywhere. He had one boot on and he was dragging a wooden door around by the knob.
Chris opened his mouth to say something but Chef just said "Don't ask." and with that headed to his room, there came the crash of another door being kicked down.
They stared after him in confusion, then there was a beep
Blaineley checked her flip-phone before saying,
"I think Chef's got the right idea, I think I'll go take a break too." said Blaineley as she hurried off to her bedroom.
"What is it?" asked Blainely into the phone, keeping her voice low
"That stunt you pulled earlier, it could have jeopardized everything."
"What stunt?"
"The whole, putting red hair dye in his shampoo thing." said the voice on the phone.
"How'd you know about that? Are you watching me?" asked Blaineley, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm always watching you." the voice replied, and when Blaineley began to sift between the DVDs on the shelf and scan the ceiling looking for hidden cameras he said, "Look behind you."
There was the vintage poster of Chris McLean photoshopped to look like he was standing in front of a fiery explosion, wearing a motorcylce jacket and sunglasses that he pulled down on one side to reveal an eye that looked alot like a...camera lens.
"I knew I should've taken down that stupid poster." said Blainely.
"What were you even thinking with that juvenile prank?" continued the voice on the phone.
"I was thinking Chris's hair's his pride and joy, why not turn him into a freaky ginger." replied Blaineley a bit peeved, "And I was thinking he definitely wouldn't go on TV like that...and I'd finally get to be the one and only host."
"No! Chris is an important part of my- of our plan. If he realised it was you he'd be suspicious of us, and it would make the final push even more difficult to pull off." said the man on the phone, trying to temper the aggravation in his voice, then he added
"Besides he'd probably just dye it black again, the guy probably dyes his hair anyways."
"No, it wouldn't have worked- I got this stuff sent in from the Phillipines. It's permanent, and you can't dye over it. How else do you think I maintain this fabulous level of blonde-itude?"she flipped her hair smugly.
A thought was still bothering her though and she continued,
"I just don't know why he didn't use it...it smells pretty strong but I put it in his funkiest shampoo...unless he already suspects something"
"Exactly. Now we have to get him to trust us," replied the deep-voiced man, "so play nice, Blaineley."
And with that he hung up and Blaineley was left pouting. She'd play nice, alright, but she wasn't going to like it.
ANNE MARIA
"What're we gonna eat for brekkie, Vito?" I asked, I realised it was probably noon by now so I started sifting through the nearest crate and pulling out cans to check the labels. One o' salted pork (eww), one of asparagus (and get another servin o' drama like the last time? no thanks- what the heck was the big deal with asparagus anyways? Canadians are nuts.)
One can had words in some dumb language and when I turned it over, there was a picture of old people on it.
"What the-" I began.
"Ey, I dunno about dat stuff, but you can always feast your eyes on the Vito." he said flexing his biceps and grunting. I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be a pun.
"Vito baby, I didn't know my guy was a poet!" I said, and I watched him flex summore. But there's only so much guy-eyein you can do on an empty stomach, so I pulled out another crate and kept lookin.
"Whassamatter babe? Deres nobody else in here," he put his arm around my waist and pulled me to him, "Howz about we start a little...trouble" he gave me that cocky smile that made me wanna take him home.
"Wait a sec- didn't you say no handsies, no smush- about a minute ago?" I said, lookin at him and wonderin what was goin on in his head.
"Ey, the Vito is off-limits," he said, frowning, "to everyone except fuh you." and I let his perfect bod press against mine as he moved his hands to my lower back. Our lips only touched for a sec tho because when I looked across the room I saw something familiar.
"Speakin o' trouble, V," I said, "I think I got a way we can mix some up!"
"Pineapple juice?" asked Cameron as he got out of his cart and adjusted his glasses, "Are we out of solid food already?"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lightning screamed, making everyone turn around, "Lightnin can't die like this!Lightnin wanted to die during a Super Bowl game! - so Lightnin can be buried under the goalpost," he jumped up onto a crate and shouted, "just like Jerry Rice!"
There was silence for a second while everyone tried to wrap their minds around what, to Lightning, must have been a very poignant moment of self expression.
"...Dat don't even make sense," said Anne Maria
"Yeah" said Scott and Anne Maria gave him a look of approval before he continued,
"How do you bury a guy under a goalpost- do you chuck him in sideways?"
Anne Maria slapped her palm to her head and said, "No I mean, you really want people jumpin up and down where your corpse is at?"
"Hm...depends, would they be stomping the ground after losing or celebrating a victory?" said Jo, she looked as if she was considering new burial plans.
"Neither- They'd be walkin around trying to clean up all the paper cups and half eaten hotdogs the spectators were tossin at the dead guy -after he collapsed in the middle of the big game." said Anne Maria with annoyance.
"Now take out your cans, we made loads of the stuff." She started ladling pineapple juice into their cans. Brick came in just as she was doleing it out.
"Ey, good seein ya Brick," said Anne Maria "I didn't see any food, but I didn't really look that hard."
"I'm on it." said Brick, picking up Scott's flashlight, he was glad for the chance to disappear for a while, with the way things had been going with Jo, allowing himself one look back at her as he headed into the cart tunnel.
"Hey, this stuff's not bad." said Jo as she took a swig of Anne Maria's concoction. "Actually, it's pretty good!" she said as she drained her can. Anne Maria put her hand on her hip and raised her eyebrows.
ANNE MARIA
I had no idea Jo was a fan of liquor, but I guess she had to do something so she could face her reflection every day. Actually, she wasn't that bad of a looker, nice cheekbones, Cupid's bow lip, not bad for potential! But the girl needed to spend less time in the gym and more time in the salon. One thing I hate is wasted potential, if you got it you gotta learn to show it off. No wonder she didn't have a guy, all you got is one shot- one first impression otherwise, they just look the other way.
Poor broad didn't have a clue.
Lightning drank all of his as well, seeming to forget his hatred of the less meaty food groups.
Lightnin gets thirsty thinkin about how he's gonna leave this world!
Jo was on her second can of the drink- or was it her third? Scott cautiously took a sip.
SCOTT
I wasn't so sure about that 'pineapple juice', I usually prefered having breakfast the way civilized folks did: by picking the lock on a wannabe celebrity's fridge and grabbing everything I could fit in my pockets before being chased out by a hatchet-wielding psycho-chef.
I took a sip and I knew what it was.
-I'd snuck into Pappy's whisky before, I remember the first time he caught me, I was eight, he was drunk and he got so mad he took out his belt and welted me over till I hollered for Ma
"Your Ma ain't comin home, son-" he'd say between whips of the tough leather, "she done left cause of you *hic* - yup that's right- knew you was trouble from the start; seein as you was born with the Devil's red hair!"
After the beating he quit crying and sobered up. Then he came to his senses... and let me help him finish a whole bottle! City folk said you couldn't teach a kid like that- but ya can't teach an eight year old to read, so they ain't gonna respond to lousy rules even if you spell em oout in black and white, they get the message a lot better when it's in black and blue.
Yep, I'd learned my lesson: never get caught.
I emptied the can on the ground behind my back. "Mmm, that's good swill!" I said for them to hear. As much as getting boozed up would help keep the cold outta my system, I couldn't afford to let my guard down, or let anything slip.
Cameron was looking doubtfully at his. "These are cherries, right?" he asked Anne Maria who replied,
"Yup, the can had em mixed in with the pineapple chunks."
"Oh," said Cameron, "well then I can't have any, I'm allergic to maraschino cherries." he put his can down and it was quickly taken by Jo who poured it into her own.
"Then you don't mind sharing, do ya, Stringbean?" she said, taking a sip.
Vito was chugging from his, while Anne Maria cheered him on, after downing it in one go he shook his head and gave a satisfied grin. "Oh yeah, nobody can out-chug the Vito!"
As if in reply Jo drank the contents of one can and then followed it with another. She winced.
"It burns, don't it?" said Vito.
"Not as much as losing to a girl." said Jo, smugly
"Ey, dat doesn't count- da sun was in my eyes!" Vito exclaimed, pointing at the cave ceiling.
"There's no sun in here, Hair-gel." said Jo.
"Oh yea? Well a-"
But Anne Maria had quieted Vito's argument with a smooch. His fists unclenched and he put his arms on her waist, she stuck her hands in his back pockets to pull him closer and he moaned. Jo gave the two a look of disgust and found someplace else to finish her drink that was free of such displays of teenage hanky panky.
Just then Zoey got up, she'd had a good night and was smiling as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"Morning guys, what's for-" her voice caught in her throat at what she saw.
SCOTT
Things were getting intense so I decided to slip out. I grabbed my flashlight and started making my way towards the exit. Brick would probably come back with something eatable, but unless it was more of Chef Hatchet's lasagna I wasn't interested.
Besides, I had damage to do, and now seemed like just the right time to get to work.
ZOEY
I couldn't believe it, after everything he'd said last night, all that stuff about trust- he'd gone right back to her- I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell him how I hated him, even though I knew it would be a lie, it wouldn't matter- his words had meant nothing.
"Mike!" I said, and he pulled away from Anne long enough to say,
"Ey- pastey, Mike ain't here, and the Vito's a little busy." then he went right back to kissing her, I was in shock, I needed to get out of here, I- I needed somewhere to think- or not think for a while. I ran down the tunnel that led to the lake. No, not the lake, it still held the memory of Mike and I, sitting next to the water, brushing hands and smiling at eachother, it had just been two days ago, but already it was far away, and was being clouded by the sharp images of him touching Anne Maria, the sound of his voice, gruff and proud and..and..on purpose, and the look in his eyes, like they had emptied of any memory of us, of me.
I felt tears well up in my own eyes, my mascara was going to run,
"Great, Zoey, just great. Let him see he had me crying, that'll show him." I spoke into the darkness. When the darkness answered I jumped, startled.
BRICK
I found some canned beets and started to take them out of the crate.
Why did I feel this way- it was just getting worse. I just wanted Jo back, how we were before, I wanted her to talk to me, even if she was still mad, I wanted her to let me help her get some support for that wrist. But now she wouldn't even look at me.
Just then I heard someone outside the tunnel and I went outside to see, it was Zoey.
"Oh hey, Brick" she said. She had been crying.
"What's wrong?" I asked as she walked inside.
"It's nothing," she said with a weak smile, then indicating the cans I was holding she asked, "What are we having?"
"Beets." I said.
"Beets, that's good, beets are good" she started "you know nothing beats-" she choked on the words and slumped down to sit on a crate, wiping her eyes.
"It's Mike, he's- oh I don't know what to do anymore! You saw him out there...with her- I mean it's like everythingwas just a joke to him! he probably doesn't even like me..."
She trailed off and put her head to rest on her knees.
"I don't think that's true, I mean..." Zoey looked up at me and wiped her eyes.
"Mike's a good teammate- and a good teammate wouldn't do something like that."
Zoey looked at me doubtfully.
"When we were in the same cabin he used to mention you all the time. He even asked me if you'd said anything about him."
"He did?" she asked, looking hopeful.
"Yeah, I had to say no, and he looked pretty upset. I'd say he likes you about as much as you like him."
"He sure has a funny way of showing it..." she said frowning. I sat down next to her.
"I know it's hard- I mean Jo does alot of things that I don't understand but. I guess there are just things about her I don't know yet." I paused to think of how to explain it, then continued,
"I guess, if you like someone, you just have to give them a chance, even if it's against your better instincts, because you don't know what's going on in their head, or...what they've been through."
Zoey still looked doubtful but she said,
"Yeah... I guess I can see what you mean..."
She was quiet for a while and she looked like she was thinking, then she spoke again.
"I didn't know you had a crush on Jo!"
"What?" I said, accidentally dropping the cans. I started picking them up off the ground, I hoped she couldn't see my face, it felt like I was blushing really hard.
"I guess she is kind of...pretty.. n' smart and tough and...pretty."
"You said 'pretty' twice, Brick!" said Zoey, beaming at me.
"When I'm aound her I...it's so- I just-." I struggled to put into words how she made me feel, like...so darn happy and excited and nervous - but also relaxed, like everything was under control.
I remembered back to when she was put onto my team, after I'd welcomed her back she'd grabbed me by the hand and pulled me to her- our faces were really close. I felt like she was going to kiss me, and even though the thought only lasted a second it filled me with the strangest combination; like pleasure mixed with fear, I never knew what Jo was going to do next. She'd said that now I was on her team, and the feeling intensified before being taken over by the pain of her grip on my hand.
All I ended up saying was "Man.. it's frustrating."
Zoey nodded as if she'd read my mind. I was holding the pot and staring into it.
"It doesn't matter though," I said, shaking my head.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because...Jo doesn't like me back- definitely not like that."
"Sure she does," said Zoey, "she's just not that great at showing it, I guess."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because," she said, smiling up at me,
"she stares at you too."
Zoey got up, "So," she said more loudly, "are we getting these cans open or what?" I was glad she had cheered up. But that wasn't the reason my heart was beating like I'd just gone uphill at a full sprint- or that my face was redder than the beets I was scooping out of the can.
Jo liked me, I kept thinking.
I guess it made sense- no wonder she'd been so mad when I'd let go of the rope, the trouble was -she didn't think I liked her- but I did. Now I knew I did. I just needed to show her how much. Then things would be situation normal again, better even, because then maybe she'd-
My thinking was interupted by a shout fom the cavern. Zoey looked at me fearfully. I grabbed the flashlight and we darted out of there, and into the tunnel.
"WOOOOOOOOHHH YEAH!" Shouted Vito, pumping his fist into the air. "Let's get this party rollin, baby!"
"Why are you shouting so loud?" asked Zoey, "We thought you were in danger!"
"Pshh, only danger we're in is death by boredom." said Anne Maria. "We got drinks," she indicated the pot of pineapple juice, "but the party's still missin two crucial ingredients."
In response to the confused look on Brick's face she added, "Lights an music."
At that Vito charged towards Brick, snatched his dog tag chain and yanked it off.
"Hey, my tags!" said Brick, angrily.
Vito ran over to the middle of the cave and swung the chain around and around before tossing it up, where it got caught on the lone branch that hung down from the tree. Vito stood back to admire his handiwork.
"What the heck was that for?" asked Brick.
"Yeah, what gives, Vito?" added Anne Maria, "Why'd you have to go an mess with the guy's bling?"
"Ey, I wouldn't be mad at the guy who just fixed our light problem." he said, pointing up. Moonlight reflected off of the tags in small glints that danced on the walls of the cave as the chain swung. Everyone had to appreciate that it was a nice change. Vito stood proudly with his hands in his pockets.
"See dat?" said Anne Maria, pointing at Vito, "stroke of genius."
"Ey- I wasn't strokin nothin, babe." said Vito, frowning and removing his hands from his pockets.
Brick scanned the room. Jo was sipping a can of juice, Lightning was running up and down the length of the cave, and Cameron was sitting on a crate.
"Brick,I think Anne Maria spiked the pineapple juice...I think they're," he lowered his voice in a whisper, "inebriated."
He indicated Jo who blew her whistle at Lightning, telling him to push crates across to one side of the cave.
"All the crates!" shouted Jo.
BRICK
Lightning finished and wiped sweat off his forehead. It was way too cold to sweat, but I guessed that was what alcohol did to you.
Jo's hoodie was still off, and I didn't know if it was the light or what, but she looked so...nice.
I'd never really noticed the small stuff, like how when she grinned, her eyes went all intense like if she was looking at a finish line far ahead, and her nose crinkled.
She tucked her hair behind her ear. What colour was her hair? It looked like copper. She'd probably prefer calling it gold. Gold was first place, after all. It curled right about her neck.
I took a deep breath and walked over to her, I was determined to get her to take care of that wrist, at all costs.
Now that she was so close I felt alot less brave.
I was staring at her again. Had her lips always been so...I dunnocurved..and soft looking. For a second I wondered what they felt like.
"What's up, cadet?" she asked, eyeing me curiously. I shook my head and spoke.
"Jo, permission to strongly suggest you get some support for your wrist, or it'll only get worse. In my experience-"
"You can fix this thing?" interrupted Jo, holding out her hand.
I blinked in surprise "Uh yeah- I mean of course I can...so you mean you'll allow me to-"
"Allow you?" she asked incredulously, "This thing hurts like hell, maggot- get to it!"
I paused for a moment before continuing cautiously. Was she serious?
"But aren't you mad at me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm mad at you?" she asked. Then she frowned and pushed me against the wall with her left hand.
"I''m mad at you!" she shouted, bringing her face near to mine, so I could feel her bangs brush against me. I tried to ignore the pleasure that radiated from her touch but I couldn't and my senses fogged up.
She was so darn close, I just wanted the space between us to go away. I wanted to nudge my lips to touch hers, and make her feel all crazy and happy and mixed up inside like she'd made me feel. She was so darn cute when she was mad. And boy was she mad.
"Wait, why am I mad at you?" she asked, stepping back.
Then it occurred to me that she was under the influence, and probably didn't have too good a memory of yesterday. If I told her the truth she'd go right back to giving me the cold shoulder. But if I told her nothing had happened she'd let me talk to her, let me fix her hand, and if I made it up to her she might even let me-
I shook the thought away. If I told her nothing had happened, I'd also be telling a lie to a friend that I respected...and admired. And that was definitely against my code.
"The other night, you and I were trying to grapple our way out of here..."
"Excellent." interrupted Jo, grinning, "and were we successful?"
"...Um...no, Jo..." I said, indicating that we were still in a cave.
"Anyway," I continued, "Lightning was being attacked by scorpions down in the mine so I had to go save him while Mike took over and Anne Maria-"
"Of course. -Mike felt like playing hero so he made you go after Lightning so he could try his hands at the rope. Trouble was he couldn't keep his hands on the rope, instead he put them on Anne Maria.
I remember." she said, nodding.
"No, wait Jo, he didn't make me go after Lightning, I ran off to save him; even though you told me not to." I looked at the ground, "and that's why Mike had to take over."
"No need to martyr yourself for the sake of Mike, cadet, it's not your fault you listened to him, you always follow orders." she said, "that's one of the reasons I dig you."
"It really wasn't his fault I-"
I realised what she'd just said, "you...you dig me?" I asked, looking at her.
"Of course I dig you, maggot!" she said incredulously.
"I- ..I feel the same way about you, too, Ma'am.." I struggled to voice the words that felt like they were caught in my throat.
"Nobody else understands drive, hard work and discipline like you and me." she continued. "We're a team. -I mean even if we're on a team we're still a team. We're a team within a team," she pulled me closer to her. The pores on my arms raised and my heart raced in mounting she whispered in my ear,
"It's like teamception."
I laughed nervously, the feeling of her warm breath on my ear had sent a powerful thrill through me. I shivered.
"I can trust you, not like that one," she jerked he head to point at Mike.
"At first I thought his attraction to Anne Maria was just going to be a distraction. But it turned out to be more like self-sabotage." she narrowed her eyes at Mike, who was standing for Anne Maria to feel his biceps.
"Jo, your wrist," I reminded, taking the strips of cloth I'd torn from my under vest out of my pocket.
"Ah yes. Here it is." she said, holding out her hand.
"Uh, Jo, you sprained your right hand." I said.
"Right." She replied.
"So...this is your left hand."
She brought both of her hands up to her face for close inspection. Then she showed me her right hand, saying, "Ah, so it is! Thanks for telling me, cadet, it would have been pretty bad if you'd amputated the wrong one." She looked at me expectantly and nodded, "Go ahead, chop away."
"What? I'm not going to..." I started, then I shook my head "nevermind."
I took her hand, I had to be careful. I started wrapping the cloth around it, I was trying to remember all the steps, but I was also still thinking about what she'd said. She didn't think I was pathetic for following orders, she said she 'dug' me...that's the same as 'like' right?
It was as I'd figured- Scott wasn't trustworthy. Before I'd wanted to believe that he'd lied more than anything. And now I knew it. Dad always said that alcohol showed you what a man was really made of. I took that to mean it made you act how you would act if you didn't care how people saw you.
Maybe this was how Jo really was, maybe she wasn't so cut-throat and cold and confusing after all. At least, unless it's making Jo say things she doesn't mean...
"FUCK THAT, NACHOS!" she shouted, pumping her good fist in the air. The look on her face was serious, and I couldn't help smiling at her.
"What?" she asked, frowning slightly,
"Nothing." I said. "Almost done." I'd finished tying her hand up, then I tied the other strip of fabric to it and reached around to tie it over her shoulder, the movement was simple, but it sent a rush of warmth through me.
"There." I said, tying a final knot. She didn't move, neither did I, I didn't want to let go. I looked at her, her eyes were sharp and blue. It was like she was challenging me, when she looked at me like that.
I lifted her hand gently, held it open and pressed my lips against her palm.
So darn soft
was all I could think. Soft, and warm and tender. The action sent a shiver through me, I think she felt it too. Her hand tensed, then relaxed, and then pulled away. There was an ache in the pit of my stomach, for a second I was still kissing the air, I must've looked pretty dumb.
"What the hell was that for?" she asked, frowning and looking at her hand. Was it just the drinks? Or was she blushing?
I felt color rush to my face, I looked down and all I could think of to say was, "I...uh...just want you to get better." It was a pretty weak excuse.
She smirked at me and said,
"Just can't get enough of losing to me at thumb-wrestling, can you, soldier?"
I smiled.
"You won't be saying that after the rematch."
"C'mon, let's get this party goin'!" she shouted to the room at large.
She started climbing a pillar of rock. I was going to stop her but she managed to do it with one hand, no problem.
"I can see my house from up here, oh, wait- that's just Cameron's head." She said.
"Hey!" said Cameron indignantly.
"Gimme a beat, Brickhouse!" she shouted.
I looked around, confused.
"Me?" I asked,
"Yes, you! Anybody else in here named Brickhouse?" she said.
"Well actually, Ma'am that's technically not my na-" I began, but she called out to Lightning,
"Lightning, bring that pot over here!" she pointed down at the empty pot that had been full of pineapple juice. "Yeah, the spoon too, hurry up, move it or lose it!"
Lightning set the pot and spoon down next to me, saying,
"Get your own dang spoon, man, Lightnin's got better things to do. Later losers." then he stormed off.
I just realised that Jo was calling everybody else by their real names.
"Grab that coalpot and gimme a beat, cadet!"
Everyone but me. I wasn't sure what to make of that but I started to hit the pot with the spoon. The only beat I knew was simple, like marching cadence.
"Weee Are The Chaampions My Friiee-eeends!!"
She'd started singing. I'd never heard her sing before- Jo wasn't exactly music video material but it sure sounded good to me. What she lacked in melody she definitely made up for in fortitude, you had to admire that, and I noticed everyone else was looking up at her too.
ANNE MARIA
Jo climbed on top of a buncha rocks and started shoutin our ears off. We all looked up because we thought she was gonna bring down an avalanche. I can't exactly describe what she sounded like, but if air could crack, it woulda broken into a million pieces by now.
BRICK
"And Weeeee, Keeep on Fiiiiightin Til The Eeeeennnndd!" she sang out, her face was screwed up in concentration. It was so strange, just yesterday she'd looked helpless (not that she wanted any help) with her sprained wrist, now she had one arm in a sling but she looked powerful enough to call troops into battle.
ANNE MARIA
Just like that she started jumpin around. The broad probably never even drank anything more exciting than a Zatorade. I guess you could say she was dancing, if you were as blind as Lightnin over there. Blondie probably never danced either, it looked more like a mix between jumpin jacks and a full on fit. What da heck- now she was doin an air guitar. The girl was a real mess, but it was kinda cool, I guess, in an I'm-neva-gettin-a-boyfriend kinda way.
She pointed down at us and yelled, "Any requests?"
"Jump!" shouted Zoey. Everybody looked around at her, it wasn't like Ms. Goodie-Goodie to say something like that. Jo raised her eyebrows.
"It's the name of a song-" she said, "doesn't anyone listen to the Bertles?" Nobody knew anything about whateva band dat was, and I bet she was proud o dat too. I rolled my eyes; hipsters.
"Lightnin requests that somebody make him some dinner! Lightnin is starvin-Lightnin can't live like this! Don't anybody care about LIGHTNIN?"
Nobody said nothing for a full five seconds, but Lightnin didn't take the hint.
"Ahem. Lightnin said, Don't anybody-"
"We heard what you said, we're just shocked, is all. Of course we care about you, Lightning," said Jo, "in fact, we're having steak for dinner in your honor."
Lightning's eyes lit up at this and he did a victory run back and forth from one end of the cave to the other shouting "Sha-BOOYAH!"
"How come you're up there, bigmouth?" I asked her, "Fraid o takin me on?" I petended to make fisticuffs at her.
"Yeah I'm afraid-" she said, "Afraid you're wrong!" Then she looked like she was actually gonna jump down off o there, everybody froze and Brick even stepped forward for a sec. Then she laughed- she got us good dere.
"Permission to suggest the Reveille?" I asked.
"That doesn't have any words, cadet!" she said.
"It might not have any words- but it sure speaks to me." I answered. I missed my alarm clock.
Cameron raised his hand.
"I'm not singing The Wheels on the Bus, so you can just forget about asking" said Jo.
"I wasn't going to request that!" he said defensively.
CAMERON
I thought everybody liked that song...
BRICK
"Ah, to hell with you guys- I'm gonna keep singing what I want." She said, "You guys just try and keep up."
Anne Maria put her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out at Jo, who gave her the backwards V sign and started singing Eye of the Tiger at an amazing pitch.
"It's the eye of the tiiiger -it's the thrill of the fight! Rising up to the challenge of our riiivallls!"
Vito turned to Anne Maria, "Wanna take this set o' wheels out for a spin?" he said, cocking his eyebrow, "And by set o' wheels, I mean my tanned body." Anne Maria smiled at him and the two of them started dancing.
My eyes went right back to Jo. The lights floated across her as she sang, pumping her hand in the air, like they do at the Olympics. She was all over the place and crazy and fun and intense all at the same time.
"Take it away, Brickhouse!" she shouted as I continued to hit the coal pot.
It was a side of her that I hardly saw, and I liked it.
SCOTT
I had to be more careful this time on my way over to Chris's cabin. I knew Cheffy was going to try to get at me the first chance he got, Of course, I could get him first, but I didn't have that kind of time. I started to make my way through the thick snow that had piled up in the woods.
Chris had left the kitchen door wide open, it was too easy...I looked around...no sign of the apron-wearing Yeti anywhere. I ducked into the house and shifted around the corridors. It was quiet...too quiet...
''What is Ryan Seacrest's face doing on my eight foot plasma screen TV?" shouted Chris from the living room
"I wouldn't be afraid of the competition if I were you-" came Blainely's reply, "You've still got the biggest head from here to Dawson City."
"That TV isn't for watching 'Crimes of Fashion' or any of your other little celebrity gossip shows." he answered, "quality programming only." There was a click of the remote followed by the sound of an announcer
-"Are you ready for your mind to be blown? Well get ready for the most spine-tingling, blood chilling, eye-bursting
semi-professional badminton marathon you've ever witnessed!"-
There was a dramatic sigh of exhasperation from Blaineley.
"We don't have time for this anyways, we're supposed to head down to the docks to intro the show, remember?"
"Aawwwhh, man!" said Chris, stamping on the floor, "I never get to have any fun."
There was the sound of dragging feet and a door slammed. Now that they'd stopped bickering so loud, the sound of my picking the lock to the control room door echoed in the hall. I could hear Chef snoring a few doors down. He must've finally thawed out.
Click
I was in. The room was dark, the only light came from the hidden camera TV screens. There were more than I could count, maybe even twenty. From one of them I could see everyone in the main cave, it was kinda weird to be in here watching all of them, while they still thought they were stuck. They were tiny on that screen. It was hard to tear my eyes away but I looked for the file drawer.
There were alotta drawers but I kinda knew what I was looking for. If it was important, it'd have a lock on it. That narrowed it down to two.
There was quiet for a moment as Chef stopped snoring, I paused uneasily, but then the snoring continued. I needed to be quick. One drawer had smudges on the handle. The other was clean.
I picked the second one: if something's important, you only check it when you really need it.
After some time of adjusting the paperclip in the lock I managed to get it open. There were a bunch of files in there, files on all the past contestants, in alphabetical order- from Alejandro to Zeke. I rifled past all of them.
Then there were the ones on us. I pulled out the one on Lightning -it had the DVD of his audition in it, and on the inside cover it read ''Lance "Lightning" Bell."
Lance Bell? And I thought Beverly was a dumb name.
Under his name Chris had scibbled "(This guy won't quit until he's taken some serious damage)" next was Anne's-
Anne Maria Esposti: "(She's obsessed with her hair, but I think a radioactive marshmallow might cure her of that.)" I could almost hear Chris's sick laughter.
Brick McArthur: "( Thinks his military training's gonna give him an advantage. Let's just see about that.)"
I flipped through the rest of them, but not quick enough to miss an incredibly lame pun about 'bursting the Bubble-Boy's bubble.'
For a second I thought I saw a picture in Jo's folder of her in a big fancy dress with frills on the sleeves and a tiara, but then I realised it was just her mom. She was wearing a pageant sash and was being presented with a wreath of red roses.
Guess competition runs in the family, I thought.
I checked Zoey's, it just said "(definitely a cryer.)"
I figured these were the reasons McLean had chosen us for the show. I checked mine:
"Trouble" was all it said. I smiled. Well you were right about one thing, Chris, but I guess you didn't count on how much,
I thought as I found what I was looking for.
Mike Denney: "[Multiple Personality Disorder : Makes People Dramatic :) ]"
Perfect...Just what I needed to- did Chris actually add a drawing of a smiley face? Oh, wait, I'd read it wrong, it looked more like:
:)
I stopped. Behind me was the sound of a slow door creak, followed by the low laugh of Chef Hatchet.
"Surprise, punk." he said. He was holding a tranquilizer dart aimed right at my forehead. I looked around, there was Chris's mug. I nabbed it by the handle and gave him a face-full of coffee before dashing outta there while he swore and wiped his eyes.
Shoot, I'd forgotten the file, well, couldn't go back now. I was in the living room, he'd pushed a whole shelf to block the door, I knew I couldn't push that away in time.
I looked around frantically, I heard his footsteps in the hall. Then I found my exit strategy.
Chef stepped into the room.
"Nowhere to run, punk."
When he didn't see me he began to advance towards the couch, saying
"Nowhere to hide."
He jumped onto the couch and fired three shots behind it, when he realised I wasn't there I stepped out from behind the TV cupboard
and held out the dynamite for him to see.
"What the- I thought I got rid of all of those-" he said.
"All except one." I answered. It dawned on him that I'd pocketed one of the sticks of dynamite I'd found in the shed.
Smiling darkly, I stuck the dynamite into the fireplace, and let the fuse light up.
Then I opened the door of the cupboard and placed the explosive right on top of Chris's big screen TV.
His eyes widened, he knew he had to come get it, but he wouldn't move and the dart gun was still aimed at me.
I spoke,"Chris won't be too happy if he sees his pride and glory blown up to smithereens..."
He frowned hard and put the gun down. Then he opened the cupboard and grabbed the stick of dynamite. When he turned around he wasn't surprised to see me holding the dart gun. But he wasn't afraid either.
"You just made a big mistake, kid." he spoke,
"All you got in that gun is one tiny dart." then he advanced towards me and said "I've got a stick of dynamite."
He tossed the stick at the floor at my feet. He grinned all satisfied as the fuse ran down, but his grin faded when he realised I wasn't hurrying to bend down and pick it up, both hands on the gun, I was aiming it right at him.
The flame touched the base of the candle. He backed away across the room.
I picked it up.
"What are you doin, fool? that's a live-"
"Decorative candle," I said before sniffing it, "Mm...Cinnamony." Before he could respond I fired a dart. It hit him right in the leg. He glared at me as he fell over onto the floor
"This ain't over yet, kid." he said, "It's just begun."
I put the candle back where I'd found it on the mantle and left.
"Till next time, Cheffy." I said and headed for the control room, stopping by at the kitchen to get some snacks.
I made my way back to the mine. I decided to walk under the thicket of trees where there was no snow on the ground. I took out Mike's file and skimmed it. Now I had everything I needed. This was easy, everything was coming together perfectly. I just needed to take the next step-
Yowch! I fell on my knees. I had tripped on a stupid piece of string that was tied between two trees. Was this the best trap Chef could think of? I tried to pull myself up. I couldn't, my hands and knees were stuck.
Stupid crazy glue.
When Chris and Blainely came back from the docks Chris was in a good mood. That was the last time he'd have to deal with Blainely hogging half his screen time, trying to show him up on his show. Starting tomorrow he'd be the host with the most, the host with a billion dollars, specifically. So Chris was in a good mood, that is until he found the living room in a mess, with a shelf blocking the front door, darts all over the floor, and dirty boot prints on the couch.
"Che-eff.." Chris whined.
"Wasn't me, it was that red-headed punk." came Chef's response.
"Quit playing around with the kid, he can't do any real damage." said Blaineley.
"Oh yeah? He was snoopin around the control room today, took the schizo's file." replied Chef.
"He did?" Chris asked. The kid could get into the control room, that wasn't good...
"Good. As far as I see, he's doing his job." said Blaineley, turning up the heat on the fireplace.
"How do you figure that?" asked Chris.
"If that kid is as sneaky as he looks, he's probably just digging up dirt on the guy." said Blaineley with calm,"and if you wanna make big money, you gotta make big drama."
Chris grinned at this, and Blaineley couldn't help giving a smirk in return.
"Yeah, leave the kid alone, Chef- We can always bump him off later." said Chris, and when Blaineley left the room he continued,
"For now, we've got bigger, blonde-er fish to fry." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation of their plan.
"Chef, whip up some turkey pot pie! -And make Mildread's extra mutant-y. She's gonna need to be asleep when we put operation Hostess Hush-up into action."
SCOTT
When I came back to the cave I gave Zoey the twine and sat next to her on a crate. I could see the drinks had gotten eveybody all loopy. Jo and Brick were makin noise on one side of the cave and Mike was dancing with Anne Maria. Zoey looked like she was trying not to see them, good, she needed to be mad at him for my plan to work.
"Found this down in one of the deeper tunnels," I said, handing her the twine-wrapped stick.
"Thanks, Scott! This is great," she said, unravelling the end of it, "do you have anything I could use for needles?" she looked up at me.
"Um..." I dug around in my pocket and pulled out a pair of iron nails. "How bout these?"
"Actually, those should work just fine," she said, beaming, "Now I can get some crocheting done..." she immediately looped the twine
around the needle and started weaving, "It's kind of a hobby of mine...heh" she laughed nervously, then added "thanks again, Scott, do you want me to stitch up your jeans? Or is that like a thing or"
She was pointing at the rips where my knees were from getting out of a certain sticky situation.
"I'm just gonna leave em like that for now actually." I said.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, back home I distress jeans by myself too." She said, smiling.
Man, it was pretty easy to win this girl's trust. Hopefully it could be broken easily too...
I got up from the crate to go-
"Thanks again Scott," she said,
"Sure, Zoey," I answered, putting a hand on her shoulder, "you know I got your back."
ANNE MARIA
Zoey an Scott were over dere lookin all ga-ga at eachother and givin eachother tips how to rip up a perfectly good pair o jeans and knit ironical t-shirts outta yarn-
typical hipsters. I guess it made sense that they were an item- pasty gingers have to stick together.
ZOEY
Scott sure was creepy, and he smelled really weird, oh no- what if he's really self-conscious about it? I did feel kind of sorry for him, he spent all his time down in the tunnels trying to get us a
way out of here, and he'd even brought me stuff to crochet with, it would be good to have something to do...
-In the centre of the cave, Vito took Anne Maria's hand and spun her around.-
...I was glad for some distraction.
LIGHTNING
Lightnin was exhausted after pushin around those crates for Joe, Lightnin was hungry, too!
Lightnin was sitting down on a rock to catch his breath -when all of a sudden Lightnin heard a voice in his pants!
"Liiiightniiiing, it's meeeee" said the voice. It was scary -not that Lightnin was scared or nuthin- Lightnin reached into his pocket and pulled out his can of Voom.
"Liiiiiightniiiiiing..." it said.
Lightnin's can of Voom was talkin to him!
"Liiiiightning, you must driiiiink me. Drink me and become eeeenergiiiiized, Drink me and become wiiiiiiise,
Drink me...and become poooowerfuuuulll."
"Wait a minute!" Lightnin shouted, "Do you want Lightnin to drink you or somethin?"
"Yeeeeessss that is what I just saaaaiiiiid. Perfection is at your fiiiiingertiiiiips, all you have to do is driiiiink meeeeeee"
"Lightnin thinks your voice is annoyin!"
Lightnin snatched up that can and drank it all up. It tasted good.
"Mm! Lightnin does feel energized!"
Now the voice was coming from inside of Lightnin!
"Eeeeexcelleeeeent, now you are imbuuuuued with ultimate poooooowers of-"
"Psshh, Aw man! Lightnin drank you so just to make you shut up, now Lightnin's gotta hear your voice comin from within?" Lightnin's gonna go bash his head against some rocks till this goes away-"
"What? No, liiiiisten to meeeeeee, don't you wiiiiiiiish to receive uuuuuuuutlimate pooooower?"
"Fine, all right Voom voice, what do I gotta do." I said, folding my arms.
"You are a peeeeeeerfect aaaaaathlete, Lance."
"Nuh-uh. Lightnin don't respond to that name no more."
"Alriiiiiight, Lightning, youuuuuu are peeeeerfeeeeect..."
"Pshh- Ya got that right, Voom-can!"
"peeeeerrrfeeeect, but-"
"Butt?" asked Lightnin,
"Lightnin's got a perfect butt? Well thanks Voom voice but I'm not really interested in datin weird mystical objects. "
The can was quiet for a moment, it probably couldn't stand being rejected by Lightnin.
"Aaaaanyways, There is anooooother in this caaaaave who shaaaaaares your agiiiiility, your thirst for perfeeeeection, and your commiiiiitment to talking ooooonly in the third peeeerrrrrson."
"What third person?" Lightnin asked, suspicious-like, "I thought you said there was one other!"
"Yeeeeessss, there iiiiiis, and that other iiiiiis...Svetlaaaaanaaa..."
"Who? Gymnast girl? Lightnin hasn't seen her in ages." said Lightnin.
"Theeeere she iiiiiis" said the voice, the can fell over even though there wasn't any wind. It was pointin to the tall one next to Orange girl.
"That's Svetlana?" Lightnin asked, wide-eyed, "She's...she's..."
"Yeeeeesss she's not in her tyyyyypical foooooorm but-"
"She's BEAUTIFUL!" shouted Lightning,
"Oh Voom Voice, Lightnin has been BLIND to the truth for so LONG!- Lightnin's gotta find a way to win her over!"
"Uh...for the reeeeeecord...I just meant you should join foooooorces with her, togeeeeether you could be"
"The perfect pairin! Just lke Brad and Angelina- or peanut butter and eggs!"
"Peanutbutter and-?...ohhhh my Gooood...you really aaaaare an iiiiiimbecile."
"What's an imbecile? Do girls like that? Lightnin needs to know how to get his girl, speak to me, Voom Voice!" Lightnin was on his knees before the can at this point.
"No waaaay, man. I ain't getting invooooolved in thiiiiisssssss"
And just like that the voice was gone. and now Lightnin was left to cut across the dance floor to where Svetlana was standin, the image of grace and femininity.
"Ey, check it, I can crush dis on my forehead." said Vito, grabbing the Voom can and bashing it against his skull.
LIGHTNING
Lightnin didn't really know any girls, far as he knew there were only guys on his football team. What did girls like? Girls liked getting tackled, right?
Lightning changed his pace into a run and Vito's eyes widened in surprise as he saw him, too late to avoid the over-enthusiastic athlete's body-slam of love.
Vito got up and curled his hands into fists
"Now it's your turn!" said Lightning
SCOTT
Sparky came back from a beating from Vito. He looked sore, but he wasn't givin up anytime soon.
"Man, that girl can punch!" he said, sitting next to me
"Girl?" I asked, then I remembered I was talking to the world's first blind quarterback.
"Yeah, a girl- some of us like girls." he said
My eyes narrowed, then I thought of something.
"Hey, you know what girls do like, though.." I said,
"Girls really like it when guys serenade em, go over there and sing a song, just for her."
He bought it, must've been pretty desperate.
"I'll do it! Thanks, Ugly dude!" he said as he dashed off.
LIGHTNIN
Lightnin knew if he had to prove to Svetlana his love was real-er than real, he needed to sing the purest, strongest love song ever- you know, the one about that one guy who'll never give up on his girl.
SCOTT
Across the cave I heard his obnoxious voice ring out,
"Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you dooown, Lightnin's never gonna run aroouund an deseeert you," he was standing on a rock next to Vito and pretending to play a keyboard erratically,
Across the cave Jo facepalmed and Brick raised his eyebrow, Anne Maria even looked offended.
"Never gonna make you cry- never gonna saaayy goodbye- Lightnin's never gonna tell a liee, and hurt- Ow!"
Vito threw a can at Lightning, frowning, "Would you get da heck away from me," he said, "I'm tryina dance with my girl over here."
Lightning came back, looking even more upset.
"It didn't work, Ugly dude!" he said, "She's too busy hangin out with her friend to pay any attention to Lightnin."
Why did everyone keep calling me ugly? I had the urge to punch him, but I'd probably lose if we fought hand-to-hand. So I chose another way to mess with him.
"You wanna get her to notice? Girls can't help noticing cheap stunts." I said.
"Like what?" he said, he was eager enough to try everything, and dumb enough to try anything. I tried not to grin
"Hmm...Jumping off that pile o' rocks ought to do it." I said, pointing across to the other side of the cave. That'd give me a good view.
Without even stopping to think he ran over climbed to the top of the pile of rocks, Jo was up there, still singing.
"Outta the way, Joe. This is a matter of love." He pushed Jo off. Army boy caught her though so nobody went splat.
BRICK
Lightning had pushed Jo off of the rock pillar. Luckily I caught her, it had been really close.
And now we were really close, I thought.
I wanted to keep holding her like that but I put her back down.
"Nice catch, cadet." she said, I blushed despite myself. "Gimme a high five!" she shouted, thrusting her right hand out of her sling and into the air.
"Ma'am? That's not a very good idea," I said, "permission to suggest you use your left hand and-"
"Come onnn Brickhouse, I thought we had an understanding!" she looked directly at me,
"If your hand doesn't hit mine by the time I count to three, I'm dissolving this team." she said, closing her eyes in resolution.
Did she really mean that?
"Three..."
Or was it just a joke?
"Two..."
What was going on in her head?
"One!" she looked at me furiously. I sighed and patted my hand against hers.
"Come on Brick, you've got to do better than that." she said, raising her hand again.
She called me Brick! Without thinking I swung my hand at hers. They smacked on impact. Darn, that stung, I rubbed my hand, but Jo was smiling triumphantly, even though the force had made her wince.
"See? -That's what makes it get better," she said, putting her hand back into the sling, "a little bit of pain never hurt anyone."
"I'm thinkin I wanna go take a break." she said, "You with me?"
"Uh, sure!" I said.
I following her over to the carts where we climbed into one and sat across from eachother.
"I'd say today was a victory, how bout you, cadet?" she asked.
"A victory?" I asked, not sure where she was going with this, "You mean the rescue mission?"
"Well yeah, that- but the music- the music was epic." She said clenching her fist. "We make a pretty awesome team-best team I've ever been on, anyways." she leaned back against the side of the cart."You've been on a team?," I asked, "I thought you didn't play team sports."
"-Don't anymore, but I used to. It's a long story cadet, you don't wanna hear it."
"Yes I do." I said, wondering now what it was.
"Trust me, it's long, and boring and...intense." she finished.
"I'd..love for you to tell me... -I don't care if it's long." I said, leaning closer.
Her eyebrows were furrowed but she gave a small smile and started talking.
JO
So I told him the story that began way back, when I was a kid with long pigtails. No wonder I was such a slow ice-skater back then, long hair is terrible for your wind resistance.
Anywyas I'd been skating figure eights one day at the public rink when I'd seen him, Spence, training with the local hockey team. Our town's team was called the Snakes, which is about the dumbest thing you can name a hockey team in Canada. I was watching him hit goal after goal across the ice, like he wasn't even trying. Someone sent a stray puck in my direction and he grinned at me when he picked it up. He was missing at least three teeth- he must've been one serious player. I knew then that I had it bad for him, it felt like someone had put an icy-hot pack down my shirt without warning, but I liked it. I used to spend my days hardly caring about anything back then, my mother was always off winning some pageant title and dad only took me on fishing trips because he had to. One thing I used to like doing was fly my kite though, I used to bring it along with me. That was all I did at the fishing spot- though sometimes I'd catch butterflies in a jar, the blue kind that show up in the spring. Other than that, there wasn't much to do when dad took his #1 son fishing. They'd usually ignore me the whole time anyways. Afterwards I'd show him the butterflies I'd caught, or tell him how high I got my kite to fly. He'd pause whatever playful argument he was having with Randy over who'd caught the biggest pike to say, "that's nice, princess."
Of course you couldn't expect much more than that, what kind of dad ever gave a heaping hoot about frilly girly stuff like butterflies? Definitely not the kind of dad who split his time between spectator sports and fishing trips with Randy, the regional fishing champion. So of course he'd been surprised when I came home one day asking him to teach me to play hockey.
After that everything was different. We spent every afternoon together with him teaching me techniques, strategies and plays, helping me keep the stick steady with his hands on mine, whooping when I got the puck past him:
"Nice goin'Jo!"
We went to games together almost as much as he went fishing with Randy.
After a few months I'd become a pretty competent player. But I knew it wasn't enough, I knew I needed to be at a hundred percent. I'd get up early every day and skate. I trained till my knees were weak and every hockey game I watched with my dad I now looked at with a keen eye for every move, every maneuver, every mistake. The next time I met Spence it was over the thin ice of the lake at the edge of the woods.
"Heard you're good." he said, smiling. I was so nervous, I didn't say anything- So I showed him. I was good. I was very good. I beat him, but it was a close match.
"Seems to me you're a natural." He'd said. I felt like I was on top of the world for about a second- and he'd left. After that we met every other day on that lake, facing off, one day I'd win, one day he'd win, then we'd shake hands and then he'd have to hurry off to 'real practice' with his team.
I joined the Snakes.
It was the first time a girl had joined so it was a pretty big deal in our town. Of course it was just a trial membership, but it didn't stop Dad from buying me a complete uniform kit, complete with a new set of skates. I was placed as a defenseman, the other one was Spence.
After the first few practices the Snakes really started to think I was a great addition. It didn't matter what they thought, though, as long as Spence held me in high regard. It felt good being on a team then, knowing you were knockin shoulders with the eight other people in the world that had your back no matter what. It didn't even matter that I wasn't in on the pre-game pep talk, that I sat in the empty girl's locker room by myself, all I needed for a pep talk was to look at those skates and hear Spence's voice outside the door speaking more softly than he did to the others,"You ready, Josephine?" (he always called me that, even though the rest of the team just called me Jo. I used to like that.)
After one very good game me and Spence got about a hundred pats on the back, we went home sore all over but it was worth it to hear him say, "Nice job, Josephine."
On the way home that day Dad had called me his number one kid. I was on top of the world. But that was before everything got royally screwed up. No, not the regional tournament, we won that. My picture was in the paper and everything.
I still remember the day I'd run over to practice, holding the paper and raising my arm for a high-five. But he didn't slap my hand, and he wasn't smiling.
"It's in the papers-" I said breathlessly, "how we won!"
He sneered at me, I'd never seen him sneer like that before.
"You mean how we won," he said, "you cheated."
"...What?" I asked, bemused.
"You heard me." he said. The others had quit playing and had gathered around behind him, they didn't look happy either.
"How?" I asked, still in confusion.
"We found your stuff." he said, holding out a pack of yellow tablets.
"What? Spence- c'mon...it's me- you don't believe I actually-"
He cut across me harshly,
"When we let you on our team, it was because we thought you could hold your own against us guys without having to resort to this. Don't you even care about this team? If they'd found out about this we'd have been disqualified."
"What?" I said, looking around from face to face, not one showed any indication that this was all some kind of sick joke. "No way, Spence, c'mon, it's me- you've seen me play...you said I was a natural!" I stepped closer to him, searching his eyes for anything other than disgust.
"I said it was unnatural." he said, stepping back, "a girl being able to play like that. I guess I was skeptical from the stat but...I wanted to give you a chance." he shut his eyes and turned away.
"Wait! It's not true! These must be somebody else's! I-" they didn't stop walking away, "you guys!" my voice pleaded, but they'd left. The door swung shut and I was alone on that white oval ice rink.
All of a sudden I realized how cold it was. I just stood there frozen to the spot.
How could he? Didn't he trust me at all? Why would somebody put pills in my locker?
I looked at the picture on the newspaper more closely. There I was, holding the trophy and being carried off by my cheering teammates. All except for one. Where was Spence? My eyes scanned the picture for a few moments before I found him, walking in the opposite direction from us-towards the locker rooms- watching us and looking distinctly un-cheerful.
I crushed the paper in my hands and kicked the bag of pills across the ice.
That jerk. He'd set me just couldn't stand being second to a girl. So he'd done this. He'd turned them against me. So I'd look like a bitch and he could play the hero.
He wasn't the one with the trophy though.
I walked out of that rink forever that day, I didn't look back. I realized that team sports were a waste of my time, that there was no such thing as a team. Out there, it's a competition through and through- and people would do anything to win. People pretended they cared about you, but they didn't. I realized that I didn't like people so much.
At the end of the day it's every man for himself, and it was that much harder if you weren't a man.
So for the next few years I'd pushed myself into anything you could come first at, that didn't involve a team, and soon there were more medals, ribbons and trophies than there was wall in my room, and soon the house. Randy had moved out and joined some weird experimental band that made music with paperclips and my dad wasn't really on board with that. I was fixed as his favourite now anyways. But the drive to win never wavered for me. I needed to prove myself, over and over. There was always satisfaction in triumph that made it worth the effort, and worth the pain.
After I told him my story, Brickhouse was quiet for a while. He looked like he wanted to say something and I braced myself for some self-righteous speech about the value of teamwork.
"I'm sorry that happened to you, Jo" he said. He'd stopped looking at the floor and was looking at me, his eyes were full of something, but it wasn't pity, and it wasn't mockery. I could usually read a person with expert accuracy, but tonight my senses were blurry.
It looked to me like something else, and it looked for a second like it might actually be...genuine.
~Night time.
Dark, peaceful. Snow coated the ground and glowed in the moonlight- or it could have just been the radioactivity. Somewhere in the woods a mutant owl was hooting softly, it's round yellow eyes fixed on a mouse that chittered as it ran along the forest floor. The owl swooped down gracefully beside the mouse, then it turned it's face 361 degrees to reveal a claw like appendage growing on the back of it's head which snatched up the mouse and reached over to drop it into the owl's beak. The mouse shot a telekenetic beam out of it's brain which made the bird levitate a few feet in the air, before slamming it against a tree trunk. The owl lay stunned on the ground, the mouse jumped out of its claws and ran away, victorious.
~Night time.
Chris advanced slowly and quietly out of the living room and onto the porch. He was wearing the same suit he'd worn to the box office party for Badminton Movie.
"I don't see why you gotta be dressed like that." said Chef gruffly as he came to lean on the doorway.
"It's camo! And be quiet, if she wakes up -it's game over, man." replied Chris in a whisper.
"Admit it, you're just wearing black because you been taking what she said about you gainin weight seriously." Said Chef.
"I don't care what she says," said Chris crossly, "and it's onyx, not black."
This was it, the moment of truth. Blainely lay in the hammock on the patio. Chris watched her carefully, her long eyelashes gently flickered and her arm hung out of the hammock, her hand brushing the floor as it swung in the cold night breeze. Chris nodded back to Chef, she was definitely out.
Good thing she snores like a seven-forty-seven ,thought Chris as he leaned over her. Her lipstick was cherry red and her mouth made a small perfect 'O'
For a moment Chris stared blankly, forgetting what he was doing. Then he shook his head.
'O' as in: it's Over, Blainely, he reminded himself as he uncorked the vial with a small pop.
He let fall three drops of the liquid into her mouth.
Then he watched her cautiously.
For a moment she squinched her eyes and her brow furrowed slightly, then she relaxed again in deep sleep.
The vial was almost empty, one more ought to do it.
-A loud bellowing voice broke the silence:
SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY, IT'S OFFTRACK DIRTBIKE FUNDAY!
They whipped their heads around to see where it was coming from, Scott had turned on the big screen TV and was watching what seemed to be the world's most obnoxious TV show.
"Oh," he said, noticing they were there, and lowering the volume "Don't mind me."
Chef growled and made strangling gestures with his hands. Chris looked at him and shook his head. They couldn't afford to make any more sounds. And Chris knew that the first half of a strangling would be really noisy.
Chef sighed and looked at Scott murderously. Scott just smirked and put his dirty shoes up on the coffee table.
"Can I at least whack him with a cushion?" he asked in a low voice.
Chris rolled his eyes and gave a nod, adding;"But Shhh."
Blainely chose this moment to awaken, blinking and looking bemused at Chris, who was leaning over her, his finger still to his lips from shushing Chef.
"What..." she said arching an eyebrow at him, "are you doing?"
"Blaineley!" he said in surprise,
"Um...I was just uh..." he looked to Chef for help but he seemed to be engaged in a furious silent cushion fight with Scott, who was losing sorely.
"Waiting till I was asleep just so you could gaze at me in the moonlight?" she said tauntingly.
"Yes! I mean -no I mean..." said Chris, stashing the vial away in his jacket pocket. Blaineley's eye had caught the movement and she was looking suspicious, he had to act quickly,
"Yeah...truth is I...really..." he forced the words out through gritted teeth, "...like you. I can't pretend any longer." Blaineley looked at him in surprise for a second before regaining her calm expression.
"And why are you wearing a suit?" she asked, looking him up and down and beginning to file her nails. She didn't believe this one bit.
"Be..cause...you've only got one life to live?" replied Chris.
Blaineley looked at him with annoyance and said,
"Chris, this has been fun and all but this stupid prank or whatever it is really starting to piss me off-"
"No! I wasn't pranking you- I" This was going really bad really quick.
"Come one Chris, don't insult my intelligence," she said, "You and I both know this is just some-"
he stopped her with a kiss, pulling her to him with his hand on the small of her back. Chris's eyes were pressed shut while Blaineley's eyes widened. She dropped her nail file.
Scott and Chef stopped their fighting and stared at the two, then they looked at eachother in shock.
When he pulled away from her she blinked and then, regaining her composure said,
"Well then...um...that was-"
"-great...uh..Yeah, well-"
"-I...gotta go..." Said Chris. They were both retreating slowly and awkwardly.
"-Yeah...excuse me, I have to take this" finished Blaineley, flipping open her cellphone. When they had backed away far enough they turned their backs and hurried off to their respective ends of the cabin.
Chris met a smug faced Chef in the living room.
"What was that, McLean?" he asked.
"That, my dear Chef, was a kiss of neccessity." replied Chris.
"Okay-but why was it neccessary?" asked Chef, raising an eyebrow.
"She was getting all ask-y!" said Chris, defensively, "I couldn't let her suspect us of anything."
Scott was making smooching noises in the background until Chef tossed a well-aimed pillow at him, knocking him off the couch
"Ow!" Glaring and rubbing his side, Scott left the room.
"How come she still sounds the same?" Chris voiced the thing that had been worrying his mind since Blaineley had woke up.
"I dunno. Must take a while to work." said Chef, shrugging. Then he eyed Chris smugly and added
"-Let's hope while you two were busy makin out you didn't get a dose of it yourself."
Chris sent him a dagger stare and then stormed off to his room.
"When I said to play nice that wasn't exactly what I meant." came the deep voice on the other end of Blaineley's line.
"Very funny. I just went with it because..." Blaineley tried to find the right words.
"Because we don't want him on our scent." finished the voice.
"Yeah..." said Blaineley, looking distracted. She didn't notice that the man on the other end of the line had already hung up, and was leaning back in his chair and chuckling darkly as he put down his phone.
SCOTT
I listened in on Chris's conversation with Chef. I knew what they were talking about. I'd gone digging around for where Chef had stored all that dynamite and when I was reaching a shelf in the closet I'd found a box, and when I picked it up it was leaking yellow stuff, yellow stuff that kinda glowed. All the box said was 'for dessert' and I got the feeling that they were planning to slip it into something they knew I'd take from the fridge, I knew they wanted to bump me off, cut me out of their deal, but I didn't know they'd go that far. But it had been for Blaineley, something to do with her voice. It just goes to show -you gotta watch your back. I'd tipped it out and filled it back up with lemonade from the fridge. So whatever he'd planned didn't work out. It didn't do much to ease my mind.
If Chris was trying to bump off Blaineley, who knew what he had planned for me...
I grabbed some more stuff to eat on the way back to the mine, there was an intern fixing the kitchen door and I made to squeeze past him.
"Watch your step." He said squeakily. I shuddered,
And people say I have a weird voice.
CAMERON
Zoey and I had gone to the food stock room to retrieve the pot of beets for dinner. We'd made the mistake of opening a heavy crate that ended up containing several burst cans and a multitude of fascinating species of mould and fungi, but I wasn't able to classify them as we were consumed in a cloud of spores. After that we'd run out of there with the beets, and our flashlight went out. I stepped onto a panel of old wood that gave way instantly. I fell about seventeen point five feet down into a dark pit. My first time in a mineshaft! But not quite, there was an underground river down here, it felt like it was pulling down in the direction of the lake. There was water up to my knees and it was pushing me with a quantity of force that felt sufficient to push me over, and take me with it where there was very little space between the water surface and the stalactites that lined its low ceiling.
Zoey had called for help and everyone had come running. Brick tried holding a broken pickaxe down for me to reach but it was too short.
You mean you're too short. I thought.
"We could lower someone down there so they could reach him and pull them out."
"I'll do it." Said Jo, stepping forward.
"No- you can't!" said Brick.
"You saying I'm not strong enough to-" began Jo furiously,
"No, I know you're strong enough." Said Brick, smiling at her with confidence "But whoever goes has to be able to use both hands."
"Understood. Mike, hold onto Brick and get Cameron out of there."
But Vito was much more preoccupied with kissing Anne Maria to do anything.
"Mike!" I said, in the loudest voice I could muster. No response. I had observed how quickly he could switch back from his other personalities when he saw Zoey was in danger and I was a bit surprised the same thing didn't happen when it was me.
Jo was peering overhead into the darkness,
"What's that you've got down there, Cameron? Anything that can get you out?"
"No, it's just the dinner.." I said, holding up the pot of beets.
"Did somebody say steak?" Lightning shouted, running out of nowhere and looking down the mineshaft. Instead of looking disappointed when he espied the pot full of chopped beets all he did was shout "Sha-Bingo! Medium rare, just like Lightnin likes it!"
"No, Lightning, that's not actually-" started Zoey, but she was shushed by Jo who said,
"Let's tell him after he rescues the kid."
LIGHTNING
Lightnin was ready to jump into that hole and get his well-deserved steak. But then Lightnin saw his girl makin out with her friend! That was when Lightnin knew he had a heart- because it was BREAKIN!
Lightnin almost did something Lightnin's never done: give up.
But then, Lightnin remembered something, something important, something that always rang true in Lightnin's soul:
Lightnin really loves steak!
And with that- Lightnin flung himself over the edge of the pit.
CAMERON
Lightning flung himself at me, but I don't think he even knew I was down here, he just grabbed the pot of beets. Luckily I held on tight, and Brick pulled Lightning out by the ankles. After that Lightning ran off, hugging the pot to himself and shoveling spoonful after spoonful of beets into his mouth.
We all waited until the moment he realized he wasn't eating steak, but all he said was
"Man, Lightnin hasn't eaten steak in so long! Lightnin thought he was gonna forget what meat tasted like!"
When he finished he ran over to the carts, and lifted one up above his head, "Lightnin feels so pumped! It's like the protein is fillin up Lightnin's brain!"
"So that's what's up there." Said Jo in a low tone, "I was wondering what was keeping that head of yours from being completely hollow."
The others tried to hide their laughter, not that Lightning would have noticed, he was lifting the cart up and down.
"Check Lightnin out-" said Lightning, "one hand!" he pulled one hand out from under the cart so its weight rested on one of his muscular arms.
"How about no hands?" suggested Scott, "Nah, I don't think you could handle that."
"No way Lightnin's gonna fall for that!" shouted Lightning "Lightnin ain't some kinda fool."
"Oh yeah? Well which one of my hands is holding up the most fingers?" Scott held up four fingers on one hand and three on the other.
"That one!" shouted Lightning, pointing at Scott's left hand, unfortunately for him he pointed with the hand that had been the only thing keeping the cart from crushing him.
"Ow!" said Lightning.
Nobody else was really hungry, despite the cold. It must have been a combination of high blood alchohol content and dancing. My first teenage party had been pretty fun. Just observing it had worn me out. Zoey had found Mike's shirt, all torn up. Now she was knitting it back together. I had tried to talk to her about Mike, I told her that when his shirt was off, it was an acting trigger that made him go into character, that he really wouldn't flirt with Anne Maria if he could help it, but she just smiled and shook her head and said she didn't want to talk about that, she said that she'd give him some space until he figured out what he wanted and what he was about. There really wasn't anything I could do about it. I'd have to find out a way to get the shirt back on him. I yawned.
Tomorrow, I'd do it tomorrow. I pulled my hoodie over my head, curled up in my cart, and fell asleep.
ZOEY
It wasn't Mike's fault, Brick was right. The Mike I knew wouldn't do anything to hurt my feelings, something must have really been up with him. So I thought I'd give him some space. On my way back to the cave as I stitched his shirt back up I realized- if there's anybody I should be mad at, it's Anne Maria.
She was probably the one who'd ripped off his shirt, she was the one who kept putting her hands on him. She was the one who made him hurt me like that-
every single time that he'd hurt me- it had been her. When I stepped into the cave, I was faced with the sight of them, making out in the middle of the cave, she was cupping his face and he had his hand on her waist. I was suddenly dizzy, I wondered if it was the dust that Cameron and I had stirred up when we opened that old crate. Dizzy, so dizzy...I could see lots of things, tiny spots of light, I could hear things, Cameron telling me to look out. I tripped on a stone and fell to the ground, I felt a scrape open up a cut on my leg and my vision blurred with tears. I could see a line of bright read across my shin. The colour hurt my eyes, more lights and then. I saw it. About a foot away from Anne Maria's platform heels: my yellow-flower plant had been trampled, the flower that Mike had given me was as good as dead. I was so dizzy and my head was heavy and I closed my eyes and gave up. It was Cameron's voice that woke me up, he helped me up before he crawled into a cart to rest.
Everyone else was asleep. I watched Vito lead Anne Maria to a crate and smooth out the newspaper on top of it, that made her smile. She lay down and he walked away, then he came back quickly and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a kiss on the lips which he returned with an appreciative moan. They pulled apart and he was grinning at her.
Then he went over to a cart there was a muffled "Ow!" from underneath it as he jumped into it.
For a while I just lay there, feeling the pain shoot though my leg as it went on bleeding. The blood was warm as it trickled onto the dirty cave floor. I didn't bother to wipe it. It was the only warmth I had I looked up at the tiny patch of sky left on the cave ceiling. The patch of sky that this time last night had seemed to open up onto endless space, but that now was grey and full of emptiness. Snowflakes came down and some of them clung to my eyelashes. I didn't bother to brush them away. I was just going to lay here and let the numbness flow over me like the cold night air.
Anne Maria's snoring told me that everyone else was finally asleep. I was completely alone. Before I shut my eyes I saw my plant, even with its stem all limp and bent, even missing a petal, there was an unearthly beauty that it had in the dim light. I felt myself get up. I felt my hands close around Anne Maria's hair dryer.
Nobody deserved to feel as cold as I did tonight. I sat up for a while, aiming the warmth of the dryer at my plant. I think it must have helped, because it seemed to hold itself a little higher on its thin stem. Had it grown last night? I couldn't tell. I put the hair dryer back next to her. Then I drifted into uneasy sleep.
So here we are at the end of another chapter of Total Drama Revenge of the ForeverMine. I wonder if next time you guys will get out of the mine, my guess is as good as yours.
Anne Maria: No it ain't! You wrote it, so get us out of here already.
Acelaces: I might write you out of there, if you ask nice.
Brick: Permission to suggest you do it soon, as we're almost out of food stocks, Ma'am.
Lightning: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! LIGHTNIN'S TOO BEAUTIFUL TO DIE!
*Lightning falls to his knees and pounds the floor with his fists*
Jo: Cheer up, we can always survive on human flesh, -like the Athenians!
Cameron: Actually, Jo, the Athenians didn't eat human flesh-
Jo: See, just for that I'll eat you first, Shrimpy. * brandishes a fork and grins*
Cameron: Eep! *hides behind Anne Maria*
Jo: Ah, I'm just kiddin, 'sides, you're supposed to kill whoever's the largest, that way everyone eats for days.
Anne Maria: Rules me out, I'm 4 foot eight.
Vito: Ey, don't sell yourself short, babe, youse may be a shorty, but you're my shorty.
Anne Maria: Aww... maybe I could be a little taller tho
Vito: How come?
Anne Maria: So I can do this *kisses Vito* widout goin on tiptoes.-Seriously tho, its bad for da shoes.
Scott: I'd eat both of you just so I wouldn't have to see that.
Vito: If you're so hungry how about I give you a knuckle sandwhich *clenches fist*
Anne Maria: Don't waste your time on him, V, he's just jealous cause you got a perfect tan and he's all...ginger. Is it just me or is he ginerer dan usual?
Scott: Guess it's just a trick of the light..
Jo: There IS no light in here, we're trapped in this accursed mine! Now let's get down to business, Who are we eating? *looks at Lightning*
Lightning: Nuh-uh, Lightnin's flesh is off-limits -even though Lightnin has to admit he does look delicious!
Jo: Hmm, but the question is would all the athletics make you tough and gamey?
Lightning: Pfft, no girl, feel Lightnin's leg! *sticks leg out and Jo pokes it with fork*
Jo: That leg's pretty lean...maybe we should eat the cadet instead-
Brick: What?
Jo: Though it's definitely going to be a problem killing him now that he knows...
Brick: Wait a minute- now that's just a bit-
Jo: I think we'd better go with Lightning. *looks at Brick* I think I could keep you around a bit longer.
Brick: ..Really?...You mean that?
Jo: I don't say anything I don't mean...Now give me another high-five, soldier!
Brick: Ma'am...