A/N: So basically, I've skipped the in-between time, not even bothering to mention it. Don't worry, it'll come into play again. I'm just too lazy to type in more. You thought Gwen was out of the woods about her diary? Well read on, and you'll see if she is. Review, disclaimer is in the first chapter.
It's morning, the start of a new day—and a new challenge. Today, it's where Chris tests our survival skills and we have to survive in the woods. I packed a few more things in my backpack: fleece sleeping bag, lighter, iPod, tons of snacks, and the instant tent. Before we went for breakfast, I talked to Owen and Izzy privately.
"I know things. I know that you, Izzy, will prank us with your bear costume. Don't do it. Really. It's for the sake of the team. Owen. You can tell your stories about being with your grandfather, but don't make bear noises. We'll get mauled if you do. I'm sorry if I'm being mean to both of you, but if we want to win, we have to execute everything flawlessly."
"Got it." Owen and Izzy both agreed. We all went to the lodge and ate breakfast there. Then we met at the campfire pit for the challenge description, provided by Chris.
"Campers, today's challenge will test your outdoor survival skills. I'm not going to lie to you; some of you may not come back alive." A few people gasped at this. "Just joking. All you have to do is spend one night in the woods. Everything you need is at your team's campsite in the forest. You just have to find it." Chris threw two maps, one to Heather and one to Duncan. "Oh, and watch out for bears! We lost a couple of interns in pre-production. First team back for breakfast wins INVINCIBILITY!" Chris blew an air horn. "Well, off you go!"
"Did he say there were BEARS up in here?" Leshawna asked.
"I had a little encounter with a bear once! Let's just say his head looks REAL nice up on my mantle." Owen added.
"Oh, this one time I saw a bear eating our garbage. He had old spaghetti noodles hanging from his big, huge teeth and it looked like blood and guts!" Izzy explained. Lindsay groaned at this. "It was so gross! And we thought he was eating the neighbor's cat Zippa but it turned out he was just lost for a week. Uh…you didn't eat spaghetti did you?" Lindsay shook her head. "Good, LET'S GO!"
As we were walking, I noticed Gwen. She looked glum and upset. Did Heather get a hold of her diary and read it? Trent walked up to her and tried to cheer her up.
"Hey Gwen, wait up! Can I…walk with you?"
"No…" Gwen replied glumly.
"Hey, if this is about that whole diary thing…" Gwen walked ahead of him, not even turning back. I need to find out what happened.
"Trent!" I called after him.
"Yeah?"
"What happened to Gwen? I'm worried." I asked.
"Well, when you gone, she called a secret meeting with me and Gwen. We didn't know what it was for, but we soon found out. Heather got a hold of Gwen's diary. Gwen's eyes went wide when she saw it. And then Heather read from it. Something about Gwen having a crush on someone at camp. Either way, Gwen got really upset and ran off somewhere. She smiled a sinister smile and left to the cabin. I walked back to the boys' side of the cabin."
"You know, I heard a scream last night, but I thought it was a dream." I remarked.
"Oh that…that wasn't a dream. Heather screamed like crazy in the middle of the night and bolted from the cabin. I don't know what happened to her to make her scream like that." That's when I knew. Gwen must've put it back, and then when I was gone, Heather somehow found it. Later on, she read it in front of Trent and Gwen. Gwen then got back at Heather by pouring Harold's ant farm on her, just like in the original episode. We kept walking, Gwen all the way ahead. I decided to give her some space. She's probably very volatile at the moment. But she'll get better, I know it.
"Ugh, she is SO the next one to leave!" Heather remarked. I knew she was talking about Gwen.
"Who?" Trent asked.
"Who do you think?" Heather shot back. "She dumped Harold's red ant farm into MY bed!"
"Yeah, but you DID read her diary out loud to the entire world." Heather stopped in her tracks, causing everyone to stop and bump into each other.
"SO?" Heather asked.
"So? That was pretty harsh." Trent explained. Time for me to step in.
"I agree!" I added. I looked out to make sure Gwen could hear. She stopped and looked in our direction. I started walking, and everyone followed.
"WHAT?! HOW DID YOU FIND OUT?! I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL HER!" Heather exclaimed to her alliance.
"I have my ways. What I want to know is why. Why her? Do you feel threatened by her? Do you think she is weird and therefore deserves to be mocked? Or do you feel that everyone is your enemy? You know the saying right? People are innocent until proven guilty, not vice versa. I used to be like you, a little brat, and a stuck up BITCH. But I realized the wrongs of my ways when everyone didn't want me to be their friend. I wanted to be accepted. Are you like one of those bullies who hurt people emotionally to be their friend? Maybe not, but I still know what you're doing. I know how you work. I know that you'll break people if and when you get the chance, because I've been there." I paused. "We can all be against each other when the time comes, but at the moment, we have to fight against the Killer Bass. You're a great leader Heather. You know how to get people on your side. You have two people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for you." I referred to Lindsay and Beth. "We can do this! And then we'll worry about our own skins later."
"Hey Heather, we're at the camp site!" Beth exclaimed. Heather looked down at her map. We were at the campsite, but she was about to shoot back something mean, so I stopped her with a whisper.
"You just have to trust, or you won't get far." And then I walked away from her.
"Amazing! You stood up to her! I've got to say, I'm impressed. You crushed her soul. But I hope they didn't find out who the subject is…" Gwen explained.
"It's okay. It's what friends do. Don't worry. No one's going to find out for a LONG time…" I left it hanging in the air. I already knew she like Trent, and he liked her back. It'll be quite a while before they kiss though. Damn! Everything went back to normal, as though nothing happened.
"Uh…there's no food here." Owen remarked.
"This IS a survival task. Look at the instructions." Trent answered.
"I wonder if there's any bears around today. Wouldn't it be funny if we made some bear sounds and then they came?" Owen mused aloud.
"That would be so funny!" Izzy agreed. I gave them both a hard, cold look, and their happy faces fell and they went silent.
"Will you please shut up?! I'm trying to read here." Heather asked rudely. "It says we're supposed to find our own food. Ugh, I still don't see it."
"I think they mean in the woods." Trent explained.
"I'll go! I'm good at finding food!" Owen volunteered. He left to go get whatever he could find.
"Well, at least this'll be a good week for my diet." Heather said.
"Hey! I've got something that'll be helpful for us!" I exclaimed. I got out of my backpack the instant tent and opened it. Out popped a large tent, big enough for all of us.
"HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!" Everyone asked.
"A little thing called being prepared. Let's get some wood. We should get a fire going before it gets dark…chop chop everyone!" Heather and Gwen stayed behind while everyone went in search of wood.
"Now that we're alone, I need to say something to both of you. Heather, I said everything I could've possibly said, and now you have to do the ultimate thing, or I'll get everyone to vote you off: say sorry to Gwen. Gwen, once it sounds like Heather is sorry, even if she is lying, accept it. We can't have a schism in our group, or none of us will win. Start apologizing." I commanded.
"I will NEVER say sorry." Heather replied.
"Then you will NEVER get food." I took out some snacks from my bag and waved them in front of her face. "Not a single crumb…and if a bear does happen to wander by, we'll give you up to him." I slowly ate my food. "Mmmmmm…it's good ya know."
"Can I have some?" Gwen asked. I agreed, and she started eating some, much to Heather's chagrin.
"FINE! I'M SORRY!" Heather conceded. I decided to torture her a bit. I whispered into Gwen's ear.
"Sorry for what?" Gwen asked.
"For reading your diary out loud to the entire world." Heather whispered.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you." Gwen replied.
"I'M SORRY FOR READING YOUR DIARY OUT LOUD TO THE ENTIRE WORLD! HAPPY?!" Heather shouted.
"Ah…apology accepted." Gwen accepted.
"Hey, we heard Heather shouting. Oh, and we got some wood." Cody came out of the bushes. Everyone was holding a bunch of wood in each hand.
"Oh wow thank you! Now this part will be easy. Set the wood down." Everyone did so, and I arranged the wood a bit. "And then we just light it." I got out my lighter and set the fire. Everyone's mouth was open. "There's no rules remember? Right camera crew?" I looked toward them, and they nodded. "Right." I whispered.
It's been an hour. Or has it been more than an hour? I'm not looking at my watch. I'm not eating my food, otherwise mutiny would ensue.
"Ugh, I am SO hungry! You have food don't you?" Heather asked me.
"No, I don't."
"YEAH YOU DO! YOU'RE LYING!" Heather accused.
"You wanna bet I don't have food? Loser goes and finds Owen."
"No thank you! I'm good!" Heather quickly apologized.
"Uhergh…I think my stomach ate my stomach." Izzy complained.
"Yo! Who ordered the pepperoni, extra cheese?" A pizza delivery guy called out.
"It's for the camera crew, over here." A guy called out. Heather gasped, "No way!" We heard a rustling in the bushes, and out popped Owen.
"I AM MAN! I BRING FISH!" YES! HE BROUGHT FOOD!
"Are you shitting me?" Heather asked.
"Ah man, you're awesome!" Trent complimented.
"Oh I love fish! I love fish!" Izzy exclaimed. Then she took a bite into it. "I—I guess we should cook it first huh?"
"How do YOU know how to fish?" Heather asked Owen.
"My grandpa taught me! I caught a shark once; it bit me in the butt. Check it out!" He pulled his pants down. Everyone freaked out. Izzy thought it was cool. Then I gave him a good kick. "We don't need to see that dude!" Everything was set up: fish, fire, tent, everything. Owen did most of the work.
"Okay, fire's hot, fish are grilling, tent is tenting…"
"Nice going man, fish looks awesome." Trent commented. Owen thanked him for the compliment, giving credit to his grandpa. "So you and your grandpa really fought a bear once?"
"Hell yeah! It was the scariest day of my entire life! We were out in the woods when we came upon the great beast. I tell ya, he was 10 feet high if he was a foot! And then he roared his terrible roar! We grabbed our shotgun. We knew it was either him or us. Nothing personal, just the law of the wild. And then…BANG! One shot was all it took to fell the great beast. We took his blood and marked ourselves to honor him. It was a good death."
"Yeah right! There's no way you took down a 10 foot bear!" Heather disregarded. "Hey, has anyone seen crazy girl?" Oh no, Izzy must've forgotten about my warning!
"I think she had to pee." Lindsay replied.
"But that was over an hour ago!" Trent replied panicked. "Izzy! IZZY!"
"IZZY THE GOPHER WHERE ARE YOU?!" Owen shouted. There was a rustle in the bushes, and Owen walked toward them. "Good! I thought we lost you there for a minute man—GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! WE'RE GOING TO BE EATEN ALIVE BY A BEAR! OH THE HORROR! SOMEBODY HELP US! I WANT MY MOMMY!" A bear, growling softly (thank you Izzy), just popped out of the bushes. I knew it was Izzy, but I won't spoil it just yet. Heather tripped Owen over.
"THE TREES! CLIMB INTO THE TREES!" This was getting out of hand! I had to stop it.
"YO! HOLD UP! We're getting carried away. Let's calm down. And watch closely." I walked up to the "bear". "Izzy, I know that's you pretending to be a bear for laughs. So cut it out and let's all eat and have a good night's sleep." I reasoned.
"How do you know that's—" Izzy cut Heather off.
"Okay, okay! I just wanted a laugh, that's all. At least I growled softly…" Izzy took off her bear costume.
"OH MY GOD I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!" Owen went up to Izzy.
"Okay, I'm SO confused right now." Lindsay said.
"What are you, some kind of weirdo?" Gwen asked.
"I thought it would be funny!" Izzy defended herself and laughed. I left to the fish, which was ready, so I called everyone over to the fire. Heather served the fish.
"ROCKIN' THE FISH STICKS! NICE!" Izzy exclaimed and ravenously ate her fish. We all quickly devoured our fish.
"Let's get in the tent to sleep. I sense a storm coming." I remarked.
"Oh please. There's no storm coming." Heather responded.
"Suit yourself. I'm going in to sleep."
"She's never been wrong ya know." Leshawna agreed, and she came into the tent with me. Soon, everyone except Heather was in the tent.
"Don't say I didn't warn you Heather. I'll leave the tent a little bit open." I gave her a final warning. She felt a drop.
"Okay, I felt a drop! Let me in!"
"C'mon in, there's enough room for all." I greeted. Indeed there was. I got an instant tent big enough for all of us to sleep in, even Owen. "Aren't you glad we're not out there?" I asked everyone. They all mumbled in agreement. "'Night. I have my alarm clock to wake me up, so don't worry about oversleeping." With that, we all fell asleep.
It took a while to get everyone up and packed. Either way, we all ran as fast as we could to the campfire pit. To our dismay however, the Killer Bass were there. Heather was visibly upset.
"Wait. Chris, where's Katie and Sadie?" I asked.
"That's right! It seems the Killer Bass are missing a few fish!"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure they got eaten by wolves last night." Courtney explained. Harsh!
"Damn shame." Duncan added. Then Katie and Sadie came running to the Killer Bass. They must've been in a big fight last night because they supposedly became BFFFLs again.
"Ahem. Have you two finished your little lovefest?" Courtney asked sweetly. Katie and Sadie nodded. "Good, because thanks to you, we just LOST THE CHALLENGE!"
Me: Oooo BURRRRNNNN!
Courtney: Well they deserved it! We lost and the other team won!
Me: Well you didn't have to react so outwardly to them. Sometimes you're a little bit high maintenance you know?
Courtney: I AM NOT! I AM THE MOST LOW MAINTENANCE PERSON I KNOW!
Me: That's what she said about being uptight, and look at where it got her.
Courtney: *picks up jewelry stand* SHUT UP!
Me: Thank God she didn't hear about the other thing I said. Now Courtney, I got that from Singapore. I don't want it to be broken. I already have blood on the floor because of you AND my table lamp is busted.
Courtney: Do you want more blood on the floor?
Me: Uh...I'm going to just go...WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
