Jesus H Roosevelt Christ I did not expect to be away from this story for so long. Summer was hectic with summer classes, not to mention I actually lost the outline for this fic. If you read my other stories, you'll know that my laptop broke THREE TIMES over the last semester. Luckily, I now have a pretty sweet desktop. So here's part one of DodgeBrawl. I'll have part two up in the next few days (hopefully).
Review/fav/sub and whatnot. I value your opinions!
Erin sat in the Dining Hall, sketching out random sets of eyes to practice drawing eyes. Her paper looked rather creepy at the moment because of said random eyes that weren't affiliated with any face. She found herself occasionally dozing off due to her exhaustion from the previous challenge, but the faint ache in her wrist was succeeding in keeping her away. "Oh my Jesus I'm tired…" Erin muttered under her breath as she added the eyelashes to one of the many eyes on the sheet of paper.
"Duncan, you look like crap, dude." Erin turned her head and watched as a very well rested Chris McLean walked up to the Killer Bass's table.
"Stuff it," Duncan grumbled. He turned his head back around and fell back to sleep.
"Harold snored all night," Courtney explained. Erin sighed deeply and continued working on her paper of eyes.
"Wow," Chris said with a laugh. "Four nights with no sleep? How much are you hurting, dude?"
"Wanna find out?" Duncan threatened. His blue eyes were narrowed in a very harsh, very frustrated glare. Erin quickly sketched out an outline of his tired, pissed-off eyes. It would make for some good practice for emotional expressions. Chris immediately held up his hands in a, 'don't shoot the messenger' kind of fashion.
"No, no, it's cool," Chris said. "It's cool." He turned to Erin and smirked. "You're brave. Not hiding under the table like the rest of your team."
"Huh?" Erin asked. She looked around and, like Chris had pointed out, every single one of her teammates (except for Harold, who was still sleeping) was hiding under the table. "Oh… I guess I was too preoccupied with eyes." Chris arched an eyebrow in confusion, but the apparently seemed to notice that Erin was drawing. He took a step closer and looked over at the piece of paper. He winced and let out a shudder.
"That's creepy, brah," he said. Erin shrugged and turned back to her work.
"Eyes without faces generally are." The door suddenly opened and Harold entered. Everyone gasped, though, when they noticed that Harold face had a very horribly drawn mustache on it. Harold walked over to the table and everyone immediately started giggling. "Oh come on, guys, I could have done better," Erin whispered while giggling uncontrollably. Harold sat down next to Erin, clearly oblivious to what was drawn on his face.
"Okay, what?" he asked.
"Someone messed with your face, dude," Geoff told him. The campers started laughing again and Harold picked up a spoon to look at his face.
"Hey, sweet 'stache," he said. Erin rolled her eyes and turned back to her artwork. She was putting in some detail on the inner iris of the current eye she was working on.
"Hey everyone, it's Gwen!" Chris suddenly shouted. Erin looked up and watched as a very exhausted and sluggish Gwen dragged herself into the dining hall. Her entire team cheered as she entered the room. It was hard for Erin not to give that girl props for staying up as long as she did, especially through the pop up book on the history of Canada. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Courtney's eyes narrow. Two seconds later, Gwen had collapsed into her seat and let her face fall onto the table. Erin looked back down at her idle sketching and continued to add iris detail. She heard some footsteps by her and saw the familiar teal shirt of the host. "Seriously, those are creepy."
"I'm not really going for creepy, you know," Erin said. "I'm just practicing drawing expressive eyes. Look closer. It's all about tension and detailing." Chris arched his eyebrow, but bent closer to the paper. Erin put her pencil to the side for a second so that the host could get a better look at it.
"Oh yeah," he murmured after a few minutes. "I'm starting to see it." Erin let out a faint smile as she flexed her wrist, trying to lessen the dull ache that lingered.
"Hey, fish-heads!" Heather suddenly shouted, "Way to kick out your strongest player. Why don't you just give up now?" Courtney growled, picked up a spoonful of white mush, and flung it at Heather. Heather smoothly stepped out of the way and the white mush hit Gwen square in the face. "Missed me!"
"Nicely done, Courtney," Erin said with a snicker. Courtney glared at the black-haired artist, who put up her hands defensively.
"Alright campers," Chris suddenly said, moving to the center of the dining hall. "Your next challenge begins in 10 minutes… and be prepared to bring it." Erin narrowed her eyes at that. What exactly was the challenge going to be? As long as it wasn't anything extremely athletic, maybe they had a chance of winning this mysterious challenge.
"Oh hell no."
"Language, brah."
Erin turned to Chris with widened eyes and an over-exaggerated grimace. Chris, on the other hand, was smirking very contentedly at Erin's exaggerated reaction to the challenge. She turned back to the site of the challenge and groaned loudly. She thought she'd escape the terrors of that activity when she left high school. No… she thought she was done with this dreaded game when she got her half-credit of physical education out of the way.
The next challenge was dodgeball.
Fucking dodgeball.
"Nooooo," she moaned. "I thought I was done with this forever. I have my diploma. I don't need this in my life."
"Too bad, brah," Chris said. "It's come back to haunt you." Erin growled under her breath, but made her way to the glass-enclosed dodgeball court anyway. Each of the campers filled into the court one by one. Some of them seemed happier about the challenge than others. A few had smiles on their faces while others still looked exhausted from the previous challenge. Then there was Duncan… who immediately collapsed on the bleachers on the Killer Bass's side. Obviously he wasn't intending on playing.
"Wake me up, and it'll be the last thing you do," Duncan hissed before falling right to sleep. Tyler gulped while Courtney merely rolled her eyes. Erin was really starting to get sick of Courtney's know-it-all attitude.
"This is all your fault you know," Courtney snapped, pointing at Harold. "You and your snoring face!"
"It's called a medical condition," Harold snapped back. "Gosh!"
"Technically Harold's right," Erin pointed out, "Sleep apnea is a-" Erin was cut off by the loud shriek of a whistle. She winced at the loud, sudden sound and glared at Chef Hatchet. She was pretty sure the glass walls magnified the already shrill sound. She could practically feel her eardrums ringing.
"Today's challenge is a classic game of dodgeball," Chris said. "The first rule of dodgeball is-"
"Do not talk about dodgeball?" Noah asked. Erin and Owen both laughed at the joke. That really was a great time to slip in a Fight Club reference.
"As I was saying, if you get hit with the ball…" Chris then threw the ball aggressively at Courtney. The dodgeball slammed into her chest with a loud thud. "You're out."
"Ow!" Courtney shrieked. "You can't just do that!" She tossed the ball back at Chris, who caught it almost effortlessly.
"If you catch the ball, the thrower gets sent out and the catcher gets to bring in another team member out on the court," Chris explained, all while tossing the dodgeball up in the air and catching it.
"Throwing balls," Noah said. "Gee, another mentally challenging test."
"I know, right?" Lindsay said. Erin, Noah, and Owen all exchanged confused glances with each other. All three were trying to figure out if Lindsay was actually serious or not. Erin almost didn't want to believe that Lindsay was actually that dumb. How was she going to survive in the world like that?
"Okay," Chris said as he prepared to throw the dodgeball. "Now, Geoff, try to hit me." He threw the ball and Geoff caught it easily. Chef picked up a ball and tossed one to Chris. "If you're holding a ball, you can use it to deflect a ball. But if it knocks the ball out of your hands, you're out."
"So what do I do again when the ball comes at me?" Lindsay asked.
"You dodge!" Chris shouted. Geoff threw the ball and Chris deflected it with the ball he was holding. However, the ball rebounded directly into Lindsay's face, knocking her to the ground. Erin winced at the sight and shook her head. Chris let out a long sigh and shook his head. "You were supposed to dodge."
"Ow…" Lindsay moaned as she stood up. She started rubbing her slightly-red face. "Right…"
"You have one minute until game time," Chris said, holding up a single finger. "Gophers, you'll have to sit one extra person out each game. We start with five a team." Each team immediately went into a huddle to strategize.
"Okay, I'm gonna suggest that I sit out because I'm bad at athletic stuff," Erin immediately said. "Who are our strongest dodgeballers?"
"I'll go," Tyler said. "I'm good at sports. This is where I'll shine!"
"I'll volunteer," Courtney said almost snidely. "DJ? You're strong. You'll be out there too. Who else? We have two more spots."
"I'll do it!" Katie said with a bright smile.
"Same," Harold said. "It'll be a chance for me to show off my skills." Courtney immediately rolled her eyes and glared at the redhead, but didn't voice any complaint. Perhaps she just wanted to see Harold get hit in the face.
"Teams! Take your places!" Chris shouted. Erin watched as Cody, Leshawna, Owen, Lindsay, and Heather took their places on the Screaming Gopher's side of the court. Courtney, Harold, DJ, Tyler, and Katie all walked to their side of the court while Erin and the rest of the Killer Bass sat down on the bleachers.
"Bring it on, fishies," Heather taunted. "Otherwise winning three in a row just won't be as satisfying."
"Oh, you're going down!" Tyler shouted. "We're gonna bring the dinner to the table and then we're gonna eat it!" Erin sighed and shook her head. That poor summer child…
"Both teams ready?" Chris asked. "Best of five games wins. Now let's dodge some ball!" Chef blew the whistle three short times. Courtney, Katie, and Tyler all picked up the balls that sat on their side of the court. On the other side, Heather, Owen, and Cody armed themselves with dodgeballs. The whistle sounded once more and Cody threw his ball at Tyler. It flew right past his head and Cody immediately froze in fear. Tyler took his ball, spun around in circles and then threw it, hitting Sadie in the jaw. "That'll smear the makeup."
"Nice job," Courtney snipped. "Now let's see if you can hit someone on their team!" However, neither of them saw Owen come charging towards the middle, dodgeball in hand. He threw the ball and hit Tyler in the stomach, sending him flying toward the glass wall.
"Ow!" Tyler screamed as he hit the wall. "Darn it!" The whistle blew, signaling that Tyler was out. When Tyler made his way to the bench and sat down, Chef blew the whistle again.
"Time to unleash my wicked skills," Harold said.
"Yeah? Then bring it, string bean!" Leshawna challenged. "Let's see what you got." Harold balanced the ball on his knees, bent down and threw the ball onto the ground as hard as he could. It bounced briefly before rolling over to the other side of the court slowly. Erin facepalmed and shook her head.
"We're doomed," Erin said. "Completely and utterly doomed." Leshawna smirked and picked up the ball. Harold ran away, shrieking in a very feminine fashion. Leshawna threw the ball and it hit in right in the back of the head. He fell over and faceplanted into the glass wall. Chris winced as Chef blew the whistle.
"And that's how we roll!" Leshawna shouted as her team cheered. Katie smiled almost maliciously as she readied her ball for throwing.
"Can someone remind what I'm supposed to do with this again?" Lindsay asked as she picked up a dodgeball. Katie threw the ball, knocking Lindsay to the ground. Erin cheered and high-fived Bridgette and Geoff. They actually managed to get someone out! Maybe Katie wasn't as hopeless as Erin had initially thought. A second later, a dodgeball came flying towards the bleachers and hit Tyler right in the crotch. Erin grimaced as Tyler's face twisted in pain.
"Mommy!" the athlete squeaked out.
"What the heck was that?" Courtney demanded. "Ref! He's not even on the court!"
"Oopsie!" Heather said, very clearly feigning innocence. "Slipped." Courtney growled, picked up a ball, and threw it at Heather. It looked like she was going to get a hit, but then Owen stepped in and caught the ball. The whistle blew and Courtney frowned as the realization that she was out dawned on her. Not only that, but she played right into Heather's hand. Because Heather caught the ball, they were able to bring in a team member. Chef picked the very obviously exhausted Gwen. She sighed and then dragged herself onto the dodgeball court.
DJ picked up a ball and prepared to throw it at Owen. He threw the ball and it went flying towards Owen. He simply stepped out of the way and dodged it. Gwen, on the other hand, wasn't as luck. The ball hit her in the head and she immediately fell to the ground.
"Oh! Sorry!" DJ said.
"Oh, it's cool," Gwen said as Owen helped her up. "Trust me." The whistle blew and Chef motioned for Gwen to leave the court. Katie threw the next ball and it hit Owen on the back, eliminating him from the match.
It was now down to Katie and DJ versus Leshawna and Cody. DJ and Katie threw their balls at Leshawna. She blocked one of them, but then was hit right in the stomach. Cody looked up in fear at DJ and Katie. "Easy out, guys," Courtney said. "Easy out."
"Not necessarily," Erin said. The next moment, Cody threw the ball with a wicked amount of spin. DJ dodge the initial throw, but was hit in the butt when the ball curved back around. DJ looked shocked at the hit. "Told you."
"That is one tough ball to dodge," Chris said. Katie threw the next ball and Cody ducked. The ball went sailing over his head and he took the opportunity to pick up another ball. He rubbed the ball on his sweater, creating a static electricity field around the dodgeball. He threw the ball and Katie ran around the court, trying to avoid it. However, the ball seemed to chase her around, as the static was drawn to her clothing. Katie finally ended up running right into the wall, only to be hit by the ball a second later. Erin sighed and shook her head. They lost the first match of five. "Alright. Match two begins in one minute!" Courtney motioned for the Killer Bass to gather together to discuss who would be in the next game.
"We can do this!" Harold said. "We just have to believe in ourselves."
"Oh, I believe," Courtney snapped. "I believe you suck!"
"Yeah, you throw like a girl," Tyler said. Erin arched her eyebrow at the comment for two reasons. One; Tyler hadn't thrown much better than Harold. Two; that comment was almost as sexist as Ezekiel.
"You should talk," Courtney snorted.
"It was a warm-up throw," Tyler said, trying to defend himself. Erin rolled her eyes. That kid definitely had a fuckboy kind of attitude right now… an attitude she wasn't liking in the slightest. "Look, I can dominate this game."
"I find that doubtful right now," Erin said, her voice almost at a deadpan.
"Just give all the balls to me," Tyler said. Erin looked at her teammates. They weren't actually going to do that, were they? They weren't actually going to trust this idiot with the match?
"Fine," Courtney finally said. The whistle blew loudly, signaling the start of the next match. "Just try to aim for the other side, okay?" Erin sighed and shook her head.
"Who else are we sending out besides Tyler?" Geoff asked.
"Katie and Sadie?" Courtney suggested. The two girls nodded and made their way to the court. Tyler followed suit and immediately picked up all five of the balls on their side. "Bridgette, Geoff, you two go as well."
"On it," Geoff said. The two blondes walked out onto the court. Erin took her place on the bleachers and sighed. They were definitely doomed for this match. If they were really going to trust Tyler to aim right, which he was almost sure to fail at, then they almost deserved to lose this match. If they lost, they could at least eliminate Tyler. That's what Erin would do, anyway. Tyler smirked as he began to spin around in circles. He released the balls one by one.
Only one of them hit anyone on the other side.
The first hit Chef in the stomach. The second almost hit Chris in the head, prompting him to shout, "Hey! Watch the face, dude!" The third almost hit the Scream Gopher's bleachers, but the team members sitting out jumped out of the way. The fourth flew right at Erin's head and hit her square in the nose. She let out a grunt in pain as she fell off of the bleachers and onto the floor. The pressure of her glasses being pressed into the bridge of her nose didn't feel too great either. The last ball hit Lindsey in the face.
"No!" Tyler shouted as he ran towards Lindsay. Erin arched an eyebrow and dropped her jaw. Seriously? He wasn't upset about hitting his teammate, but he was upset about hitting Lindsay?
"Finally!" Courtney exclaimed. Erin shook her head and then felt something warm run down her jaw. She touched her face briefly and felt something warm and sticky. She pulled her fingers away and saw deep red staining her hands.
"Oh, hey, I'm bleeding," Erin commented almost casually. A moment later, Chris was kneeling down next to her. He lightly grabbed her jaw and tilted her head up to see the nosebleed.
"Yeah, brah," he said. "Definitely blood." Courtney was next to Erin a few seconds later. Erin could immediately tell that Courtney was going to go into full C.I.T mode. Chris looked up at one of the camera operations and motioned for him to come closer. "Get one of the first aid kits, will you?" The silent cameraman nodded and ran off.
"You need to remain calm and sit up straight," Courtney said, helping Erin sit up. "Lean you head forward and pinch your nostrils together for ten minutes. Don't let go any sooner. Anyone have a stopwatch or a timer?" Chris took out his iPhone and clicked through a couple things. Erin was assuming he was setting a timer or something. "And spit out any blood that ends up in your mouth. If you swallow it, you'll probably puke."
"Good to know," Erin muttered. She did as Courtney instructed and sat up, pinching her nostrils. "Dith ith kinda gross." She frowned at the sound of her muffled and strange sounding voice. Apparently she wouldn't be able to say many S's or T's for the next ten or so minutes. "I'm athusming I'm out for the retht of the challenge. Unleth you want me bleeding on the court."
"Yeeeeah," Chris said with a laugh. A second later, the whistle blew. Erin looked over at the game and saw Tyler holding Lindsay's hand while Trent stood there with an annoyed expression. Courtney facepalmed and shook her head.
"Wanna go for a walk?" Tyler asked Lindsay.
"Okay!" the bruised blonde replied.
"Great Gatsby, that is it!" Owen suddenly shouted. "Game on!" The fat kid ran up to Izzy and took her dodgeball right out of her hands. In one throw, he managed to knock out both Katie and Sadie. He took Beth's ball and threw it at Bridgette, hitting in the back of her hand. Trent simply handed Owen his ball and then Owen hit Geoff right in the law.
"Ow!" Chris said with a smile. "That one's worth an instant replay!"
"Are you seriouth right now?" Erin asked.
"OH! He dropped it like it was hot!" Leshawna shouted.
"I don't know what got into me," Owen said sheepishly as his teammates high fived him.
"So Erin is benched for the rest of the challenge because she's bleeding profusely," Chris said. "Teams, pick your next competitors! You have ten minutes while we wait for Erin to stop bleeding.."
"Hey, it's 2-0!" Heather shouted. "Not to mention Geek over there is benched. How does it feel to suck so much?"
"Why don't you tell us? You seem like you do it all the time," Erin shouted back, smirking at her own insult. A loud, collective 'OOOOH!' rang through the court. Even Chris started laughing at the burn. Heather glared at Erin sharply.
"That's gonna have to be edited out, but MAN that was fantastic!" Chris said between laughs.
"It's not over yet!" Courtney shouted back. She then looked down and shook her head. "It's so over…"
"Not necessarily," Erin said. "Just don't give Tyler all of the ballth again. He clearly can't throw worth thit."
"This is bad," Courtney said. "One more game and we lose the whole challenge… again! We can't let that happen people. We need someone strong, someone mean, someone who'll crush those stupid gophers into the dirt!"
"Stho Duncan?" Erin asked. Almost immediately, everyone's eyes went towards the sleeping punk.
"No," DJ said. "If we wake him up, he'll kill us."
"He won't kill us, guys," Courtney said. "He wants to win too."
"Right now he juth wanths to sleep," Erin said. "Clearly, you've never been deprived of dat much sleep before. He'll definitely kill you."
"But Courtney's right," Harold said. "We need Duncan's fierceness to win this."
"That's the spirit, Harold," Courtney said. "Now go wake him up."
"Why me?" Harold asked.
"Because other than Tyler and Erin, you're the worst at dodgeball. Erin's already injured, not to mention she has a lot of other strengths. If he does kill you, you're the only one we can afford to lose," Courtney explained. Erin rolled her eyes at Courtney's reasoning. It did kind of make sense, but at the same time, did she really need to put it like that? As Harold already didn't have a low self-esteem…
"No way," Harold said. "I'm not doing it."
"Well, who's gonna wake him up?" Courtney asked.
"You should," Erin said. Courtney narrowed her eyes at Erin, who merely shrugged. "Or get a stick and poke him if you're really that scared." Everyone looked around at each other, smiling at the suggestion. Erin dropped jaw and looked at her teammates incredulously. "Are you theriously going to find a stick and poke him?"
"It's the safest suggestion so far," Courtney said. "Come on guys!" She got up and ran out of the court, the rest of the Killer Bass following her. Erin sighed and resisted the urge to shake her head. Chris walked up to Erin as he watched the Killer Bass all leave the court. He tilted his head in confusion and bent down closer to Erin.
"What are they doing?" he asked.
"Getting a stick stho dat dey can wake up Duncan without getting killed," Erin said. "I'm on a team of moronth."
"Yeeeeeah," Chris agreed. Erin watched through the clear walls as her teammates struggled to find a large enough stick to use to wake up Duncan. She only prayed that they could hopefully win this challenge. She was also praying that they would stay alive if they woke up Duncan, but Erin was honestly more concerned about the challenge right now. She didn't want a three-peat on their losses, after all.
