So...Brazil. In the pictures, it looks bright and colourful, in a rustic sort of way. I don't know much about it. Can anyone tell me what it's really like? I've never felt much of a desire to visit South America, but that's probably because I know too little about it. Thanks for reviewing, The Phenomenal Flair, Pokemon FTW, Nicky Haugh, Bloodylilcorpse and SuperKitty4789.

I have to say, when I woke up the next morning, I felt more connected as a partner to Sky than I had at the start of the race. Like there was more of a comradeship between us.

Even so, we had a bad start. The Vegans got the last seats on the first plane out, and we had to be at the top of the bottom/middle again. This time, we had to share our (later) flight with dairy suppliers. And by dairy suppliers, I actually mean livestock. During the flight, I even heard Taylor complaining about getting excrement on her shoe.

"I'm quitting." she told Kelly straight, starting to walk away.

"You stay, I'll buy you a car." Kelly offered.

Taylor came back. "Okay."

I gave an exasperated sigh and went over to them. "Kelly, excuse me, but I don't think you should get Taylor a car for trying to quit. She's been treating you the way I saw one of my friend's sisters treat her, and it's not good enough. I yelled at her for it at the time, and I really don't want to do it to Taylor. But if you don't put her in her place, than I might have to."

I knew I was being pretty rude there. I couldn't help it. It wasn't easy to say to adults what I'd said to the twins when I was last on a reality show. I quickly finished off with "Just...be Taylor's mom. If she tries to put you down, tell her off for it, and if she tries to undermine your authority, don't let her. I mean, even she told you to take charge yesterday-"

At this point, Taylor cut in. "Excuse me, but who are you to tell my mom how to treat me? I mean, seriously, how much of a loser can you be? You already look like a total disaster, so why act like one? Get lost and mind your own business!"

I shrugged. "Fine, fine. Just thought your mom deserves a better daughter than you." And as I stalked back to Sky, I muttered under my breath "If that girl's anything like Amy, she'll be the loser."

"I heard what Taylor said to you." Sky told me quietly. "Just so you know, you don't look or act like a disaster."

I smiled. "Thanks, Sky. Not that I'd take anything Taylor says seriously anyway, but still, thanks."

Once we reached Brazil, I instantly noticed the heat. It was like a jungle, hot and humid. It was supposed to be winter over there, but it felt more like summer, especially since I was used to Canadian summers.

I got to the Don Box and pushed the button before Sky got the chance. "Botch or Watch, and it's your turn. Your challenge is..." I paused, reading. "There's a bunch of tips in a mitt full of bullet ants. You need to get one out."

Sky gave a nod, and we raced over to find the mitt. She stuck her hand in, her face concentrated, and pulled out a tip. Her hand was swollen and it looked pretty painful, but she didn't say a word about it. "We've got a footrace." was all she said. "Then we have to get across a ravine to a bunch of coconuts, I think. The tip will be in one of them."

We had to use a vine to swing across the ravine. "Let's take separate ones." I suggested. "Otherwise we might break it together."

Sky pretended to look offended. "Hey, I'm not that heavy!"

"Where's all the muscle, then?" I said playfully. "And who says I wasn't talking about me?" We even laughed a little bit together. Sky and I were actually about the same size, just I was slightly taller. But we took a vine each, anyway, and we got across to the hundreds of coconuts safely, along with several mallets

And talk about beginners' luck! We only had to hammer two coconuts each until I found the tip. "All-In." I told Sky. Then I groaned.
"What's wrong?"

"It's craft. I suck at it. One of us has to make a headpiece, and the other a tail for that Carnival of Brazil thing. You know, all feathers and beads? We have to have it approved by a local, too. I don't mind wearing it if you don't want to, but..."

It was true. Sculpting sand, easy enough. Crafting an outfit? Just the idea sent me running away.

"Okay, look." said Sky. She looked anxious, too, but her voice was calm. "I'll make the headpiece, you make the tail. Look," she pointed out people who were still on the other side of the ravine. "We have enough time to get it right. Just focus on finishing it."

Sky was...sort of right. We didn't lose or anything, but we had to work very slowly to get it right. The local kept refusing MacArthur's less-than-stellar tail (although Sanders' headpiece she was wearing looked all right), so I knew I had to get my part right. By the time we'd finished, we were stuck in seventh place. It wasn't too bad, but I think we both felt like we should've been doing better.

Last, we had to take a hanglider to the Chill Zone, but we were lucky enough to hang on all the way down. The Surfer Dudes had been first down, but they hadn't hung on enough and ended up swimming to shore. We actually finished just after them. Again, not a bad placing, but still not good enough.

I tried to cheer ourselves up again, that evening. The Rockers had ended up going home (Spud had a delayed reaction to everything, including the ant bites, and noticing the pain had delayed them reaching the Chill Zone, so we were all starting to feel nervous. The Rockers had seemed so middle-of-the-road, that it seemed like the weak teams were all gone. How long would it be before the mediocre teams were gone, too, leaving only the good teams? The competiton was starting to really heat up, and we needed a break.

That's why I suggested we go to a restaurant again, or if not, just go to the nearest town for ice cream or something. In fact, the whole race went along to Alaska Ice Cream, in the end. I just ordered a double chocolate waffle cone, while Sky ordered peanut chocolate, but some of the other teams ordered giant sundaes. I listened in on Owen's order purely to see if I got a laugh out of it. I can't even remember what flavour he ordered because it had so many embellishments, but it made me grin.

While we finished our ice creams, I decided to talk to one of the teams we hadn't yet gotten to know. While I'd started becoming pretty friendly with Kitty and we were already friends with the Vegans, I hadn't really talked to some of the really high-ranking teams.

The Ice Dancers had placed high, so I decided to chat to them, and so did Sky. However, after one conversation, I wasn't sure that I liked them. Jacques seemed nice enough, but Josee...well, to make it quick, she didn't say much, but I still sensed something...weird. Like...well, let's just say if she turned out to be another Scarlett, I wouldn't have been surprised.

Sky got along better with them than I did. As an aspiring Olympian, she was really interested to hear that they'd gotten silver in the last Olympics for ice dancing. "I'm planning to use my prize money from last season to hire the best Olympic trainers." she told them. "I mean, I've been training for it all my life, but I'm really going to start properly once I finish high school. What about you?"

"I've been training for gold status all my life, too." Josee told her. "Jacques and I met when I was five and we became partners a few months later, so we've been training together for fourteen years."

"I didn't start that early." Jacques admitted. "I was eight when we met, but I was a natural at skating before I was four years old. I started training properly when I was seven."

Before long, the three of them were swapping strategies and ways to keep in shape and I got bored (after all, I knew nothing about skating and a lot of other sporting events), and went off to introduce myself properly to the Best Friends.

Luckily, they were both really sweet, friendly people. I liked Carrie instantly. She had a very sweet, endearing personality, sort of like a less sugary Ella in that way. She was also a great listener, always seeming interested in what I had to say.

Devin was nice, too, although not such a good listener. He told me all about how he and Carrie had been friends since they met in preschool and how they were really in tune with each other.

That's when I noticed it. As Devin spoke, I noticed the way Carrie was looking at him. It wasn't really a look I'd seen much, but I recognized it from my time on Pahkitew Island. That soft look of admiration...I'd seen the way Dave had looked at Sky in little moments that first week. And when I'd watched the show, I'd seen Jasmine and Shawn with that same expression when they talked in the confessional about each other.

But I don't think Devin saw it. Everything he said communicated to me that all he saw Carrie as was a best friend. He had a lot of fondness for her, but that longing in Carrie's expression made me realize that she was looking for more.

After a while, Devin said "Well, I'm going to head back to the Chill Zone. You coming, homie?"

Carrie glanced around and said "Well, I haven't finished my ice cream yet, so I might stay until then. I'll see you back there soon?"

That gave me the chance to ask. "Um," I said awkwardly, "I know I probably shouldn't ask you this, since we've only just met, but...are you guys dating?"

Carrie jumped. "What? Oh, no, we're just friends! He already has a girlfriend." Her tone became a little sour as she mentioned the girlfriend.

I paused, a thought forming. "But...I saw the way you looked at him. I got the feeling you want to date him."

Carrie's gaze flickered around, like she wanted to get out of the conversation. I waited, and she finally sighed. "Okay, maybe. But I'm not ready to tell him yet, so please don't say anything to anyone. Please!"

I nodded seriously. "Don't worry. I'm good at keeping secrets, and I hope things'll work out."

Then I waited until Sky was finished talking to go back to the Chill Zone.

I want to get some interaction with most characters. It's just two teams in particular I could have Julie interact with quickly, as they will be leaving soon. I think I will take out one of them without any interaction, but the others...well, we'll have to see. Hope you liked this chapter. Keep reading!