A/N: Hey, i noe u guys r gonna b pissed at me, but im just not that into the show anymore. I've got bigger things to worry about and im now co writing a twilight fanfic with a friend. I would luv to keep writing but i just dont like the show anymore. This is the last chapter i wrote, it was back in july, and had not been edited at all. If anyone else would like to take over this story i would be happy to give u my plot line, but im just too busy and not into it. I'm sorry to say this will be my last chapter in this story, but when i have time i will continue to write other fanfics, as i enjoy doing so when i actually have free time available! thank u all for following my story this far, i noe my writing style kind of sucks so it means alot to me. Okay, so here it is, the last chap, hope you enjoy it!
Not Quite Famous
Duncan POV
I woke up that morning, long before everyone else, the sun just now creping up over the horizon. I unwillingly got out of bed, knowing that after a full 24 hours of sleep I wasn't about to get any more. Somehow, even with that I still felt sleepy, but I'd take sleepiness over a walking corpse any day.
I decided to go for a morning jog, just like everyday, and stopped by the lodge to go and fill up my water bottle. When I got there, however, I noticed the coffee wasn't brewing yet, and considering a certain someone's coffee addiction, I was guessing Courtney wasn't up yet. I thought it might be fun to mess with her a bit, so I started brewing the coffee, only instead of the caffeinated coffee, I put in decaf. I figured it would throw her body out of whack, and maybe if I kept waking up early enough, I could keep putting in decaf, and then suddenly switch to espresso. I could just picture Courtney bouncing off the walls after that, and being temporally bipolar, and laughed at the thought. Yeah, I was so doing that.
I got the coffee going, filled up my water bottle, then left for my run, going on the same trail around the lake that I had the other day. My headphones were in, blocking out all of the noise around me, and allowing me to really get into running. I concentrated on my feet hitting the ground, keeping as steady pace as I ran around the trail, never slowing down. I was completely in tune with my body, aware of every muscle pulling and pushing my bones and joints to keep it moving. I didn't think about anything else, taking a break from the stress this show brought, knowing I'd have to deal with it again soon, our next challenge merely a few hours away.
Eventually, it started getting later into the morning and I had to turn around, knowing Chris was bound to wake the other campers up soon. I passed by the same scenery once again, sooner or later, coming to the beach I had scene Courtney sun bathing on, and once again, there she was, this time wearing a swimsuit that was much more conservative, to my dismay.
"I liked the red one a lot better!" I called out to her. But, instead of pissing her off- like I know it should have, because with Princess it was just that easy- she took only look at me, and a mocking smile came on to her face, clearly trying to hold back laughter.
"What?" I asked, jogging over closer to her, curious to see what she was laughing about. Saying this, for some reason, only made her crack up laughing, unable to keep it hidden any longer.
"You- ahahahahahaaha-your-" she tried to choke out, but her laughter was preventing her from saying anything, and she was even having trouble at breathing at this point. Finally, after a full minute or so off laughing, she was able to pause long enough to blurt out a few words
"YOUR FACE!" she yelled, only causing her laugh even harder, falling backwards onto her towel, and waving her legs in the air.
Okay, this was really starting to tick me off. What the hell was so funny about my face? With the way she kept laughing I knew there had to be something genuinely funny, because you couldn't fake that kind of laughter, unless of course you were a really good actor, which she wasn't as far as I knew. I didn't have a mirror out in the woods to look at, so I had to make do with the only thing I did have; the lake. The trees surrounding the water acted as a barrier against the wind, so it was fairly calm. That combined with the sun shinning down on its surface, made the water into a perfect mirror, reflecting my face back at me with almost perfect clarity.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY FACE?!" I was so loud that I had probably woken up the people sleeping back at camp. On my face was an array of various make up products, from blush to lipstick to eye shadow. The girls must have snuck in last night when we were sleeping and done this to all of us, as a way to get back at the guys for drenching their cabin.
Of course, my rage only made Courtney laugh harder, and I could only imagine how wimpy I looked, raging mad with pink cosmetics covering my skin.
I turned back to the water frantically scrubbing my skin with it to try and get the products off, but since the water running off of my face was still perfectly clear, I could tell it wasn't working.
"WHY THE HELL ISN'T THIS DAMN STUFF COMING OFF!?" I turned back around to Courtney, and by now she was gasping for breath she was laughing to hard, and I could tell I wasn't going to get an answer from her anytime soon. For a second I seriously considered pounding her face in, but quickly shook off the thought. Even I wasn't low enough to punch a girl. Instead, I filled up my now empty water bottle in the lake, and then dumped its contents right on top of Courtney. She immediately stopped laughing, sputtering and choking on the water before speaking.
"It's water proof!" she squealed, and this of course sent her into another fit of laughter, to hysterical to care that she was now soaked.
"THEN HOW DO I GET THIS SHIT OFF?" But of course she was again unable to answer me. I went back over to the lake to fill up the water bottle again, and was about to dump it on her when she held up her hands in front of her face in surrender.
"Okay, okay. I'm done." She was still smiling like a mad woman, but at least she was calm enough to talk. "You have to use make up remover."
"And just where I'm I supposed to get that?" I said though my teeth, still burning mad.
"Well, I could lend you some, but you have to do something for me first." I started tipping my water bottle, a few drops landing on her head, before she shrieked, holing her hands up to cover her already hopeless hair. "Fine you can have it!"
"That's more like it." And then I tipped over the water bottle anyways, soaking her once again.
"That's not fair!" she shrieked, wringing out her hair, and getting up on her feet, and attempting to dry it off with her towel.
"Life's not fair, get over it. Now lets get back to the cabins so I can get this shit off my face before anyone else sees me."
"Fine," she huffed, sounding mad for a minute before looking at my face, only to start giggling again. Now I was really glad I had taken away her coffee.
She got of from the ground, lethargically slow, and started dragging her feet to the trail, but I was too impatient to deal with it.
"Not fast enough." I groaned, and walked up behind her, placing my hand on my back and pushing her along, only to have her stubble even more the she already was.
"Hey! I'm going okay." But she was still moving at snails pace, and at this rate we wouldn't make it back for another hour, and that was way too late. The laughing high had worn off, and it didn't look like she was going to speed up anytime soon. Everyone else would already be awake.
On second thought, maybe taking away her caffeine wasn't such a good idea.
I sighed, and stopped her from walking, stepping in front of her. "Hop on" I'd rather have to carry her then get back to camp and have everyone see me looking like this.
"What, no way! I'll walk thanks." She tried to walk around me, but I stopped her easily. She really was pathetic without her coffee.
"Just get on. Or would you rather my throw you over my shoulder again?" This got her to comply, and she hopped up on my back with only a halfhearted huff, and I took off at a steady jog.
I was in pretty good shape, so I was able to carry Courtney back with ease, getting back only a few minutes later then I would without her on my back. When we reached camp, I dropped her off my back on our cabins porch, and she fell onto her ass. I offered out a hand to here, and after stumbling trying to get up herself, she reluctantly took it.
"Go. Make up remover. Now." I told her, the run having done nothing to lessen my rage. If anyone woke up and saw me like this my rep would be ruined.
Courtney trudged into the cabins, without saying a word, and snickering a bit. I tapped my fingers on the porch's railing, impatiently waiting for her to emerge from the door way. Finally, a full five minutes later, she appeared from the cabin, handing me a bottle of clear liquid, making no attempt to try and hide the smile on her face at my expense. I tore the bottle out of her hands and went stomping off to the bathrooms in a foul mood.
"Don't use all of it!" she called after my, but I just ignored her. After 10 minutes of vigorous scrubbing, all of the make up way finally off, leaving my face a little red. No longer having women's products on my skin helped to calm me down, so I could think straight again.
Since I was in the bathroom, I thought that maybe I should take a shower. I lifted up my arm and sniffed my pits, deciding it wasn't that bad. Only, I thought back to the Axe incident, and decided to take one just for good measure.
After I finished up, I walked back to the cabins, and as soon as I got five feet from our room I could tell the boys had woken up. This wasn't going to be pretty.
"What's up with your face!" I heard Geoff exclaimed, and the started cracking up. I couldn't see who he said it to.
"My face? What about your face!" Harold snipped back at him angrily.
"More like both your faces!" DJ cried, doubling over in laughter, stopping Geoff from laughing himself. I was now inside the cabin and it was light enough to see that every one of their faces was covered in a think layer of make up, just like mine had been.
"Actually it's all your faces." I said cockily, and this caused everyone's laughter to stop. "The girls snuck in last night while we were sleeping"
"WHAT?!" they all cried, running over to look at themselves in the cabins only microscopic mirror. They shoved each other out of the way, each of them trying to get a good view of their faces in the too small piece of metal.
"Okay, I need to go get this stuff off now!" Geoff said running for the door.
"I'm right behind you man" said DJ, following after him to the door.
"Hey, you might need this!" I told them, tossing DJ the make up remover before he and Geoff left the room.
"Thanks." DJ replied, and the two flew out the door at top speed, but not before they were seen.
Gwen, Bridgett, and Courtney were all sitting out on the porch, probably overhearing the commotion and having been just waiting there to see our reaction. They immediately started laughing their asses off, and Bridgett, who was sitting on the railing, fell off, and continued to laugh even after she hit the ground.
Geoff, Harold and DJ all sprinted to the bathrooms before anyone else could see them, only Lashawna and Heather were out on the Gopher's porch, and started laughing as well after catching a quick glimpse them, apparently having been in on the prank as well.
And so the prank war has begun
In the Lodge that morning, you could feel the tension at the table. At least, we did. The girls on the other hand, were so giddy it was just plain annoying. Every time one of them would look over at us, one of them would start laughing, which would start off a chain reaction until all of them were laughing so hard their faces turned blue. All of us guys were seated as far to the other end of the table as we could go, and ate our meals in silence. Well, almost everyone.
Apparently, Tyler hadn't gotten the make up memo, because when he walked thought the door, his face was the same way all of ours had been this morning. Everyone burst out into laughter, even a few of the guys at our table tried to suppress a few snickers.
"Wait, what?" Tyler said, looking frantically around the room, trying to figure out what was so funny.
"Dude, you might want to go look in a mirror." Geoff advised him, and one of the girls tossed him a compact, which he opened only to stare at his face in horror, and go running for the bathrooms. It was gonna take a long time to wash his face off without the make up remover. I would offer him some, only we had used it all this morning.
We ate the rest of our meals in silence, finishing quickly. We got up from the table together, just as Courtney got up to get what I swear had to be her seventh cup off coffee, trying to get energized, but to no avail. Once we were outside, and out of the girl's hearing rang, I dared to say what I'm sure everyone had been thinking.
"I thinks it's time for a little payback." My expression going from stone cold to a mischievous smile. "Anyone up for planning our retaliation?"
"You know it dude." Geoff said, and we all walked back to the cabins, closing the door behind us and taking in hushed tones. The walls were thin and we didn't want our plan to even the score to be blown before we got a chance to even put it into action.
We taked strategy for the next ten minutes, and we worked out a killer plan in that time if I do say so myself. Man those girls were going to be sorry they messed with us.
"So, everyone got the plan?" I asked, looking around the room. We weren't going to put it into action until late tonight, but with Chris's crazy challenges who knew when we were going to get the chance to talk again.
"I think we have it." DJ said.
"They're going down!" exclaimed Tyler, giving a small fist pump.
"Attention campers!" Chris's voice boomed over the loud speaker. "Time for you next challenge. So head on over to the ampatheater and bring you talent with you. We're going to make you famous!" Okay, what the hell. Weren't we already famous? Chris really needs to get some new writers.
"Welcome to our deluxe, state of the art, outdoor amphitheater!" Chris said from the stage. All of us campers were 2 sets of bleachers, divided by teams. Geoff was on my left, and Courtney was right in front of me, looking like she was about to pass out.
"Okay, this week's challenge is a summer camp favorite, a talent contest!" he finished, pointing at the camera behind us.
"Yes! Awesome!" Owen yelled back at Chris, jumping up out of his seat, in typical Owen fashion.
"Each team has eight hours to pick the three most talented campers" Katie and Sadie squealed at this. "These three will represent them in the show tonight. Sing, dance, juggle, anything goes!" He paused to look at me threateningly. "As long as it's legal."
I snapped my fingers, shaking my head in defeat.
Damn it, there goes all of my good talents. It's too bad, kicking Chris's ass in front of millions of viewers would have been so much fun. Binding contracts really suck.
"You'll be judged by our resident talent scout, former DJ and rap legend, Grand Master Chef, who will show his approval via the chef-o-meter." Chris pointed to an empty space above his head. The crew would probably edit in some lame effect later, for the viewers. "The team that looses will send one camper home and tonight. Good luck." He walked off the stage, leaving us to get ready for the challenge.
"Well, I think we should host auditions." Courtney said in the middle of yawning. I couldn't help but snicker at that.
"Sounds good to me." Geoff said, everyone else agreeing.
"Awesome! Let's get this challenge started!" Tyler cried out.
Oh, we are so dead.
Courtney POV
"Us first!" Katie cried, grabbing Sadie up off the grass, and running into the cabin. She came out with a boom box and hooked her iPod up to it choosing a song.
All of us were sitting on the grass outside of our cabin, auditioning people to compete for the Bass in the talent show. The Gophers were over near their cabin, so none of us could see the competition. Not that it really mattered; it didn't look like anyone here had that much talent anyways. Just look at the show we were all on! But that was okay, because I had jaw-dropping talent up my sleeve that was going to blow them all away.
Katie turned on the music, and the two girls broke out into some horrible dance routine to the cheesiest pop song in history. Besides me, Bridgett's eyes went wide while I smacked my hand to my forehead.
"Um… that's great guys." Bridgett told them in a shaky voice, "but maybe we should see everyone else's talents before we decide if your in."
"Oh, okay." Sadie replied, and the two girls walked back to their seats, completely oblivious to how horrible their audition was.
"I'm next!" Tyler cried, and jumped up from his spot, pulling a yo-yo out of his pocked. Yeah, you read that right, a yo-yo.
Oh god. I just knew this was going to be bad, and I was right. After only 5 seconds he managed to wrap the yo-yo string around his body, hopelessly tangling himself with it. I just smacked my palm to my forehead once again. I had to be careful, because if I kept this up that damn action figure might actually become a reality.
To make things even worse, Chris walked up right as Tyler had taken out the yo-yo, and had seen the whole thing. And of course, being Chris, he just had to comment.
"Man that is weak." He said, pointing to Tyler.
"I'll go get some scissors." Bridgett sighed, getting up to find some. Once she had, she walked over to Tyler and began cutting the strings. Once he was free, he gathered up the pieces of his yo-yo, looking at it gloomily, and stuffed them in his pocket.
"Alright, who's next?" I said half heartedly, leaning back farther on my palms and contemplating falling asleep.
"Oh, well, um, I can go next." DJ piped up, a little nervous.
"Okay, show us what you got big guy!" replied Geoff encouragingly, hitting him on the back in that way all guys do. I've never really gotten how hitting someone is supposed to show your encouragement.
"Sure, just let me go change." DJ ran off into the cabins, changing into who knows what. I yawned and leaned back farther on my palms, letting my head hang back and almost falling asleep. If it weren't for Duncan kicking me awake I would have too. I sat up criss-cross style on the stump next to me and shot a glare in Duncan's direction, but he just continued looking off into space with a bored look on his face like nothing had happened.
Just then, DJ came out of the cabins wearing, you'll never guess, a white leotard, carrying a wand with a pink ribbon on the end. He started to twirl it around and dance on his toes like a ballerina. All of our team was impressed, but I however, was just plain annoyed (which might have been from how tired I was. Stupid cheap coffee. After a few weeks I had already developed an intolerance to it. 7 cups of the stuff I was still ready to pass out!) I had a feeling that a routine like this wouldn't go over to well with Chef.
DJ ended his routine by landing in a split, and everyone, even Duncan, clapped for him, while I just sat there on my stump pouting.
"Fine, sign him up. Next." I called out, letting my chin fall into my palm in defeat.
"Me!" Bridgett exclaimed, walking up in front of all of us. "I can stand on my hands for twenty minutes, watch." She got up on her hands and started walking around.
"Okay, that'd be cute if you were a monkey, but I don't think that's quite what we're looking for. Next." I know I should have been a little nicer to Bridgett, but I was just too tired to put in the effort.
Apparently, Harold took this as his cue to try out, because the next thing I knew he in front of us all, ready to show s his talent. But of course, being Harold, I knew he wasn't going to be any good, and in this state I just didn't' have the patience. So as soon as he opened his mouth, I cut him off.
"Next." I called, and he slouched back to his spot on the grass.
"Guess that means your up next dude," DJ said to Duncan, who unwillingly sauntered up to show us what he could do.
"And remember, it has to be legal" I emphasized for him, but the menacing effect was ruined when it was interrupted by a large yawn.
"Yeah, yeah Sleeping Beauty, I got that." He replied, rolling his eyes at me and continued to walk over to a tree where he carved on of his signature skulls into it.
"Really impressive." I said sarcastically to him.
"What, you said it had to be legal."
"Okay then," Bridgett said, interrupting our argument before it got the chance to get ugly, "what can you do Courtney? Anything talent-show worthy?"
"Well, why don't I just show you." I got up and went into the cabin, pulling out my violin case from my suitcase. I unlatched the case, pulling out my violin and heading back outside. I walked up in front of everyone took a deep breath, and started playing. After only a few seconds I could already see that everyone's jaws had dropped, and they should have. After 10 years of taking lessons, I better have been pretty damn good. Although, that didn't' mean I liked to play, because truth be told, I hated it. I would much rather be playing the guitar if I had any say in it, but of course my parents forced me into violin instead. In fact, if it weren't for Taylor Lautner (my co- star and love interest in Camp Rock) I wouldn't even know how to play. He was a total guitar freak and taught a few songs during our free time on set.
I finished up my piece, and after a few seconds of mindless staring, everyone broke out into applause as I took a proud bow, shooting a glance at Duncan only to find that he looked really peeved.
"Your up next Geoff." I said to him as I walked back to my seat on the stump.
"Awesome!" Geoff jumped up on the skateboard he had been carrying, doing a bunch of wow worthy tricks and jumps before propping up his skateboard with his foot, catching it, and smiling on the camera. All of us walked over around him and I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face, knowing that with me and Geoff we would actually have a pretty good chance at winning this thing.
"Well, I guess it's Geoff, DJ's ribbon thing, and your solo." Bridgett said to me as all of us crowded around Geoff, who was now standing proudly with his skateboard clutched in his hands.
"I'm gonna be on TV man!" Geoff said to DJ, who gave him a thumbs up. Oh good god.
"Your already on TV, Geoff." Bridgett responded in an even tone. Normally, I would have added onto what she had said with some sarcastic comment, but I was too happy and tired at the moment to care.
"Oh yeah." After realizing this fact Geoff ran over to the camera and stuck his face in front of it. "HELLO OUT THERE DUDES!"
"So, should we head over to the amphitheater so we can have a chance to practice on stage? DJ asked all of us, changing the topic to try and cover up Geoff's stupidity.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." I replied, as we all started to head over to the amphitheater. Once we got there, I wasted no time at all, right away starting to practice my violin solo. Geoff practiced grinding and jumping across the stage on his board while DJ started perfecting his ribbon routine thingy. But, of course, like all teenage boys, Geoff and DJ had a rather short attention span, and practicing didn't last that long. Less then an hour into it, the two started up a game of cards with Duncan. But it was okay, I could win this single handedly if I had to, I just had to keep practicing. This was going to be a piece of cake.
Duncan POV
"Got any two's?" DJ asked, looking up from his cards at Geoff.
"Go fish." he replied, and DJ reached into the pile to grab a card. Yeah, that's right, we were playing go fish. Lame, I know, but DJ had suggested we play it in 'camp spirit'. But, we still had 6 hours to kill before the challenge, and it's not like there was anything better to do around here. That's' what you get for applying to a show that takes place at a crappy summer camp out in the middle of nowhere. With Chris and all his brand name hair shit I guess they had to cut costs somewhere.
"Go fish? Seriously guys, are you like, in what, the third grade?" Bridgett said, walking over to us, a bag of freshly opened chips in her hands.
"Wanna join in? We've got a pretty sweet pot." Geoff asker her, gesturing to the random pile of crap we had bet with, all of us being broke. Bridgett looked down at the pot, which currently consisted of my carving knife, Geoff's six pack of coke (left over from the hot tube party), and some cheesy looking novel of DJ's. Bridgett laughed and then shrugged, throwing her bag of chips into the pile.
"Sure, why not? There's nothing else to really do around here anyways." She replied, pulling up a crate to sit on. DJ gathered up all the cards and dealt them out to each of us, as Bridgett reached for another chip.
"Hey!" I said, smacking her hand away teasingly. "No eating from the pot." Bridgett just made an overdramatic hurt looking face, causing Geoff and DJ to break out laughing. Once they had calmed down, DJ finished dealing the cards out on the table, and we all started playing again.
"Got any jacks?" I asked Geoff, who reluctantly handed over two of his cards, as I smiled cockily back at him. This game was too easy. "DJ, you got any nines?"
"Nope, go fish." He said, as I reached over to draw from the deck. "But hey guys, is it just me, or does Courtney look really familiar to you guys? Oh and Bridge do you have any fours?"
"Actually, I thought she looked like someone I've seen before..." Bridget responded. "and no, go fish." DJ reached into the deck, and smiled, to reveal the card he'd drawn was a four.
"Yeah, she does look a bit familiar now that I think about it." I added, reorganizing the cards in my hand as I said this.
"Weird, I thought the same thing, dudes." agreed Geoff, furrowing his brow in thought. Now that was a look you didn't see on Geoff very often.
"Hmmm… I wonder who she looks like yo?" said DJ, looking down at his cards to plan his next move. "If we all recognize her she has to look like someone famous. Hey Geoff, you got any kings man?"
"Aww man! I really suck at this game." Geoff slammed 2 kings down on the table in defeat, causing Bridgett to giggle. Whoa whoa, wait, hold on a sec there. Bridgett giggling? Looks like someone was crushing on the Geoffster. "Wait, I got it!" Geoff cried, and we all turned our heads to look up at him. "She looks like that girl from that one movie, you know?" All of us groaned at this, having been given false hope about figuring out this little puzzle of ours.
"Wow Geoff, really specific." replied Bridgett, rolling her eyes at him.
"Hey Duncan, got any fives?" DJ asked, already getting back to the game.
"Sorry man, go fish." I responded as DJ grabbed a card from the pile.
"No, dudes I got this." Geoff said, his brow creasing even farther in an attempt to concentrate. "The lead girl in that one vampire movie. You know, the one that all those girls went crazy over?"
"You meant Twilight." Bridgett asked him, her voice perking up a bit, obviously a fan of the movie… or book. Or whatever the hell it was.
"Yeah! That's it! That Bella girl." DJ cried, as he and Geoff exchanged a smile. Okay, like everyone else on the face of this planet, I had seen the commercials for that movie, and Courtney definitely didn't look like Bella-what's-her-face. That girl was like a freaking zombie, not to mention Courtney was way hotter. I looked over at Bridgett to see what she thought of this, and judging by the fact that she was wearing the same skeptical expression I was, I knew she didn't agree.
'Who then' I mouthed over to het, not wanting to ruin Geoff and DJ's fun, but she just shrugged her shoulders, having not figured it out yet either.
The four of us were so wrapped up in our epic preschooler game that we didn't notice when the violin that had been playing in the background for the last hour suddenly stopped.
"Hey, shouldn't you guys be practicing?" Courtney snipped over at Geoff and DJ, who hung their heads, embarrasses. They mumbled some unintelligible reply and got up out of their seats to continue practicing their talents. It was almost sad; they looked like two very masculine puppies that just got caught peeing on their old lady's carpet. Not that I held it against them, because Courtney could just do that to people. It was actually really hot.
"Well, I guess that means our game is over." Bridgett said to me, cheerily grabbing her bag of cookies and stuffing a whole one into her mouth.
"Looks like it to me, unless we call it a tie and split the pot?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her. But then, the two of us looked at our sorry excuse for a bet and decided against it. I stuffed my knife back in my pocket, and grabbed one Geoff's sodas, popping the top and leaning back against the table so I could look out at everyone else. This time, it was Bridgett giving me the questioning look, but I just shrugged it off.
"What? If the guy didn't want anyone stealing them then he shouldn't of left an entire six pack on the table for anyone to take." I defended. In a game like this you couldn't just leave a delicacy such as soda just sitting out on the table. Chef's food made anyone desperate for some good grub.
"You do have a point." She replied, thinking about it before grinning and grabbing a soda herself, taking a big gulp and sighing at the taste.
"So Duncan? Have you got your eye on anyone special here?" she asked, her voice somewhat giddy at the prospect of gossip, like any girl. Even someone like Bridgett couldn't resist some good gossip; liking crap like that was programmed into every freaking girls DNA.
"Sorry, but I don't talk about girly shit by that. This is me you're speaking with here." I told her, causing her to sigh.
"Okay, okay, I get it. I'll change the subject. So, what would your talent have been if it didn't have to be legal anyways?"
"Well, I don't think you really want to know that."
"And why not?" she question, her curiosity peaking.
"Just trust me on this one." I said, smiling haughtily.
Just as I finished saying that, DJ flew by, doing a split in mid air, only he messed up on his aim, and fell of the stage in that same position. Neither Bridgett nor I could hold back our laughter for that one. Bridgett actually snorted soda out her nose it was so funny.
"I'm okay." DJ called from the ground, getting up and dusting himself off. Well, so much for winning the talent contest.
Courtney POV
Stupid, unfocused, dim-witted boys. Why was it that all boys had such a lack of focus? While I'd been practicing my violin for the last hour, DJ and Geoff had been off playing cards. Cards! And it wasn't even a good card game either! It was go fish. IT WAS FREAKING GO FISH!
But I was just going to stay calm, and practice. I only snipped at them once, and that was all I was going to say. From now on I was just going to continue to fill the air with the sweet music of my violin. Except, the boys slacking was seriously making that hard to do. Even after saying something to them, they had their focus on practicing their talents for a mere 20 minutes before they started slacking off again. Geoff was currently messing with his skateboard, while DJ had actually gone back to playing cards again! But whatever. I was not going to get mad again, my team thought I was controlling enough already. I was just going to stand here, and play until my fingers bled, or until the challenge started. Whichever came first. Let them slack off, I would win it all for them. And that's when the betting started.
"So, can you really stand on your hands for twenty minutes?" Geoff asked, looking up from his skateboard to talk to Bridgett.
"Wanna bet that I can't?" she asked, taking a big bite out of his chocolate bar. She had already eaten her way through the chips.
"Oh your on!"
"I want in on that action." Harold piped in. Oh good god. Were they ever going to practice?
"Yeah, that's like virtually impossible." claimed DJ. Okay, I was trying not to listen to them, but they were just so loud.
"Anty up." Bridgett told all of them, and they started emptying your pockets out onto the table.
Just tune them out Courtney. Think of how great it's going to feel when you win this thing. Although I could still hear them, at least now I was in my happy place.
"Okay, twenty minutes starting… now!" Bridgett said, tipping over and up onto her hands. I was so far into my fantasy that I wasn't that aware when Bridgett walked passed me, only stopping my playing for a second to glace at her before starting up again. So naturally, when I heard the whooshing sound above I head, I looked up, not knowing what it was, only to realize that it was one of the heavy stage lights speeding right towards my face.
And then, the whole world went black.
I woke up to the steady sound of feet thumping on the ground, vaguely aware of my body rocking up and down as I faded back into consciousness. Waking up a bit more I felt two warm spots on my back, that distinctly felt like arms, and seemed to be supporting all my weight. I blinked my eyes a few times, getting rid of the sleepiness from them, only to be met by brilliant blue ones.
Duncan didn't notice that I had woken up at first, so for a while I just laid there, staring at him, no sure what was happened of how I had gotten into his arms. But I could only be still for so long, and once I stirred, he noticed and looked down at me, a smirk coming onto his face.
"Hiya Princess. Enjoying the view?" He asked cockily.
"W-what happened." I asked, still slightly dazed, his pig-headed comment not fully registering in my brain. But then, waking up a little bit more, I realized that I was being carried by Duncan. That really woke me up. "And why the hell are you carrying me?! Put me down!" I struggled to get out of his arms but he held me back.
"Haha, yeah, I don't think that's such a good idea sweetheart." He said, attempting to sound lighthearted but his tone still came of serious. And, correct me if I'm wrong, was that concern I heard in his voice?
"I'm perfectly capable of carry myself, thanks." I had already been carried by Duncan once today, and the was enough to last me a lifetime. Although I had to admire his strength…
"Okay, suit yourself." He propped me up onto my feet, and immediately started to walk away from him on impulse. Only, I stared getting dizzy and lightheaded, wobbling a bit before loosing my balance and plummeting towards the earth. After only falling a few inches, Duncan managed to catch me, saving me from falling onto my face.
"Probably not to smart of an idea to walk after getting smack in the head by a thirty pound stage light." Said Duncan, scooping me back up into his arms an continuing to walk in the direction he was going. Then it all cam flooding back to me. Bridgett had gotten her foot caught on a loose rope, untangling a stage light (which if you ask me should have been more secure. Did they really care that little for our safety on this show? Wait, don't answer that.) crashing down on my while I was practicing my violin. Hold on a sec, my violin!
"What happened to my violin?!?!" I said rather frantically, my heartbeat racing at the thought of it being smashed.
"Well… lets just say you probably won't be competing with it in the talent competition. Or any competition again for that matter." I let that sink in for awhile, the fact that my violin was gone. And then I burst out laughing. "Wait, what?" said a rather confused Duncan.
"I hated that thing." I explained after taking a few deep breaths to calm down. "The only reason I have it is because my parents forced me to play. If I wasn't so damn good at playing would have done that to the thing years ago."
"Well, thank god for that. I don't' think I could have taken you playing that thing the entire time we're at camp. Violins are just so annoying."
"Yeah, well after so many years your forced to tolerate it. Or at least to some degree." I sighed, thinking about how my parents were going to react when brought my violin home in pieces. I could just picture their faces… Then, suddenly it dawned on me that I was being carried to somewhere by I juvenile delinquent, and I had no idea where."Hey, where are we going anyways?"
"You just got your head pounded in by a stage light Courtney. Where do you think we're going?"
"But I'm perfectly fine!" I whined, sounding like a stuck up five year old
"Sure you are" he paused to roll his eyes at me, and then his tone got much more serious, his gaze more intense.."You couldn't even walk you when I set you down. What if you have a concussion?"
"I do not have a concussion Duncan! And I defiantly don't need to go see a nurse, so your just wasting you time."
"Yes you do. Although I doubt anyone this show hired for that job is going to be much help." Then he snickered at some thought going through his head. "Actually, on their budget, I wouldn't be surprised if they hired Chef to be the…" Duncan trailed off as we reached the nurse's tent, staring at something inside.
"What is it…" I asked, tearing my gaze from his face and looking into the tent. As soon as I did, I immediately new what had captured his attention. At first I was so shocked, I could only stare, like Duncan. But after about five seconds the two of us burst out into hysterical laughter.
"What are you maggots laughing at?!" Chef yelled at us. As it turned out Duncan was right; Chef was the nurse. And he had on, get this, a white nurse's dress, including white heels and a little white hat too. It was scary and funny at the same time. I seriously wonder how much they had to pay Chef to get him to do that.
"N-nothing sir!" Duncan tired to choke it out with mock seriousness, but failed miserably, his laughter ruining the effect.
"Listen you little punks." Chef said to us in a menacing tone, getting up in our faces, his muscles so tense you could the veins popping out of his neck. "I can either help you get better, or I can make your condition a whole lot worse, you got that?" That shut us right up, and the only move either of us made was the slight nod of Duncan's head to show we understood. "Good. Now go set her down on that table over there." Chef now sported a very fake smile, which was really sadistic looking. It was really starting to freak me out.
Duncan complied with Chef's demands and set me down on one of those paper covered doctors office bed. The paper crinkling beneath as my weight was transferred over to the table was the only sound in the tent. Chef walked over to me, shining a flashlight in both my eyes, lifting up my lids.
"Mmm-hmmm" he groaned, and grabbed a stethoscope from the side table. "Breath." He directed as he placed the cold metal to the skin. I took a raspy breath as he listened to my lungs through the stethoscope. He then propped my up, supporting all of my weight with his arms, as the then placed the metal on back. After a few more breaths he set me back down and took the stethoscope out of his ears.
"Well," he began, now in a much calmer mood. Or at least as calm a mood that Chef could ever be in. "looks like you fine. Just let me bandage you up and you'll be good to go." I shot Duncan an 'I told you so' look and he just shook his head at me. "You lost a lot of blood, so you might want to get some rest." Wait, what?!?
I didn't notice the blood encrusted piece of black fabric tied around my head until Chef removed it. The material looked like it could be part of someone's clothing. I looked over at Duncan to ask him how it had gotten there when I notice the sleeve missing from his coal black sweatshirt. I kind of found myself a bit touched that he had done that for me, and felt a blush creeping onto my face. Thankfully, Chef walked back up to me, blocking Duncan's view of me before he had the chance to notice.
Chef dabbed the gash on my head with some sterilizing liquid. I flinched form the sting of it, and the smell wasn't too pleasant either, but at least I covered up the stench of my blood. Chef wrapped some white gauze around my head and taped it at the end. I didn't' even want the think about how horrible the thing must have made me look.
"Alright, your good to go." Chef said to me, putting away the gauze and the sterilizer. "You can rest here for awhile until you can walk again. Your gonna need someone to stay here and keep an eye on you though, cuz I need to go and cook all of you little scoundrels some lunch."
"I can stay with her, Chief." Duncan said, walking over closer to me. Under his breath I heard him mumble something about there being nothing better to do, but Chef didn't seem to catch it.
"Alright then. Lunch is in an hour, don't miss it, cuz I don't do room service." Chef told us, getting up from his seat, and with one last glare at us, he walked out of the tent. And as soon as he was gone, Duncan pulled up a chair next to my bedside, flipped it around, straddling the backrest and folding the arms on the top of it.
"I don't think I ever want to see Chef in a dress ever again. That, was scaring." Duncan said, causing us both to laugh, mine being a little weaker, already feeling tired again.
"Yeah, same here." I yawned, relaxing farther onto the bed I was laying on. Duncan's smile softened, as he looked at me and chuckled a bit.
"Well, I'll just let you sleep then." He said quietly, brushing a piece of hair off my face.
"Mmmp-hmmm" I mumbled lazily, my eyelids already fluttering closed as I drifted off into sleep. The last thing I saw before blacking out were those penetrating baby blue eyes…
Duncan POV
There was something very unsettling about watching Courtney sleep, but yet enticing at the same time. This was probably the first and only time I had seen Courtney calm, which I think was what was so troubling about it, since the expression really didn't seem to belong there. But, at the same time, it was alluring to watch her like that, because it was something had never seen on her before, and probably never would, since I was addicted to irritating her and all.
I sat there for awhile watching her like that, before finally waking up from my trance and putting in my iPod. This was Courtney I was staring at after all. Yes, she was hot, fun to aggravate, and apparently an incredible kisser from the short little preview she had given me the other day, but nothing was ever going to happen with her. And if it was, it was going to take a lot of work to get her over to my side.
Actually, that might be a fun little project to work on…
After only about an hour, lunch was announced over the loudspeaker. Surprisingly, it was loud enough to hear over my blaringly loud music, and I thought for sure it would have woken Courtney up. But, when I looked over at her she was still fast asleep, to deep into dreaming to have been aroused. I didn't want to want to wake her up if she was really still that drained from the injury. Like Chef had said, she lost a lot of blood. But, if I didn't wake her up now, she wouldn't get to eat.
I guess I could always bring her lunch back to the tent for her. Yeah, that would work. I could still eat lunch with everyone else too, since it didn't look like she was going to wake up anytime soon.
I quietly crept out of the tent and headed over to the lunch room. The amphitheater was closer to the Lodge then the nurse's tent, so by the time I got there no one was in line, and I was able to get my food right away and go sit down.
"Hey Duncan, what's up?" DJ asked as I sat down at the table.
"Where's Courtney?" Bridgett chimed in immediately after, obvious worry for what she might have done to her friend seeping through into her voice.
"Calm down, she's fine, just sleeping." I told her. She let out a sigh of relief hearing this, and opened her mouth to ask more but didn't get the chance, because she was interrupted by two very loud squealing girls.
"Oh my god, don't you just lover her swimsuit?" Sadie asked Katie, pointing to a picture of some girl in a magazine. They really needed to get a life.
"I know! I just love red bikinis!" replied Katie. Ah, red bikinis, good memories. Courtney really did look smoking in that thing. I turned to look at the picture the two girls were looking at, curious to see if whoever it was looked as good in it as Courtney had, and froze. Because the girl in the picture was wearing the exact same bikini Courtney had been wearing, and the girl in it, besides the blond hair could have been her twin.
"Courtney Addison always has the best cloths!"
"I know right?" I glanced over at Bridgett to see she had the same shocked expression on her face that I had. I guess we had figured out who Courtney looked like. Seriously, the girl could have been her twin. Throw in the read bikini and I could have sworn it was her if I didn't know any better. But of course, I did know better, and there was no way Courtney Addison would go on a show like this. Being put through hell all for 100 g's, not really her style. The girl made at lest ten times that much for acting in just one of her cheesy movies.
Plus, Courtney was stubborn, but even she wasn't that bad. I mean, I don't even listen for that kind of stuff and even I had heard how Ms. Addison had throw a temper tantrum over how her parents had gotten her the wrong color Ferrari convertible for her fifteenth b-day. Yeah, that's right, fifteenth birthday. She got an Italian sports car just to practice with her learners permit. The girl was a totally bitch. No way was that Courtney. But apparently, Bridgett didn't' think so.
"Hey, do you guys mind if I borrow that?" Bridgett asked Katie and Sadie, who momentarily paused in their squealing to look up at her.
"Sure! You can go ahead and keep it. We've got lots more magazines back at the cabin." Katie replied cheerily.
"Thanks." Katie held out the magazine and Bridgett took it from her hands, examining the picture of Courtney more closely.
I only finished half of my food before dumping my tray and getting up from the table. I just didn't have the apatite for Chefs gruel today. I got back in line and got Courtney a tray, putting as many fruits and thing that weren't cooked by Chef on her tray as I could. Once it looked like I had enough for a decent sized meal, I started heading for the door, but was stopped by Trent.
"Hey Duncan, what's up man?" he asked me, a friendly smile on his face like always.
"Just taking some food to Courtney. She got hit tin the head with a stage light earlier." I explained to him, since he hadn't been there to see it, being our competition and all.
"Ooo, ouch. Well, I hope she recovers okay."
"Yeah, me too." I paused, thinking about how bad Courtney had gotten hurt, then started talking again. "So, what's up with you?" I knew there had to be a reason for him talking to me. Guys like him and guys like me didn't exactly just walk up and start talking to each other.
"Oh, well, I was just wondering what that whole, you know, makeup thing was about this monring." Oh god, not that again.
"Two words: Prank War" I said, holding up my hand and ticking the words on my fingers to emphasizes my point.
"Guys vs. Girls?"
"Yup."
"Sweet dude!" he exclaimed, and we banged knuckles. "You guys have your retaliation planned?"
"What's it to you?" I asked him, a bit skeptical. Why would he even want to know that unless he was working for the girls?
"Well, I was thinking, I know all the girls, from both teams, are in on it, and I know some of the Gopher guys would love to get in on it too." Okay, now we were talking.
"Walk with me Trent." I told him, leading him out the door. Once I was far enough away from the Lodge, I filled him in on our latest plan to get back at the girls, checking over my shoulder every few seconds to make sure no one else was listening. After I was done, I could tell Trent was going to have a lot of fun with this war.
"That's awesome! The guys are defiantly going to love it." Trent exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.
"Always glad to have some new recruits." I joked with him, shrugging my shoulders. "Now, if you'll excuse me I gotta go get this food here to Princess."
"Yeah, yeah, no problem. I'll see you at the challenge." And with a wave of his hand, he waked away, leaving me to walk back to where Courtney was sleeping by myself. I popped my headphones in my ears and started heading over to the nurse's tent, not really paying that much attention to my surroundings. So it was no surprise that I didn't see the short little brown haired girl until I practically ran into her.
"Sorry!" exclaimed the girl frantically. "Are you okay?"her words came out in a rush as she looked over my body to see if she had done any damage. Although, I didn't see how a 5'4"-5'5" girl could have possibly done any damage to someone like me, but whatever.
"I'm fine." I told her, then looked at the tray of food I had picked out for Courtney that was now lying scattered in the dirt. "But my foods not."
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I can go get you some more if you want. Would that be okay?" I looked up at he girl and then something dawned on me. I had never seen this girl before now, and the pass around her neck meant she must have been an intern for the show. An intern with access to the food tents.
"Hey, wait, your one of the interns that's always getting Chris coffee, right?"
"Yes!" she said, a big smile on her face as she vigorously nodded her head.
"Then you know where all the good food is then, don't you?"
"Well… yeah." A worried look crossed her face, as if she knew what I was going to ask her and wasn't happy about it. "But we're not allowed to eat any of it! It's all for the crew members, we just have to set if out for them." She added hurriedly. "Stupid crew hogging all the good food. We only get your leftovers!" Wow, who knew there were actually people on this show being treated worse then we were?
"Well, look. You see, there's this girl, who earlier today got his in the head with one of the amphitheater stage lights-"
"Courtney, right?! I know, it was all the interns have been talking about for the last hour." She jumped in cutting me off, then realized that she had. "Oh, sorry, continue."
"Yeah, well anyways, that food you just knocked over, it was for her. And I know that she's be really happy if she didn't have to eat any more of Chef disgusting sloop."
"Oh, that is so sweet!" I was about to stop her and say my real reason for wanting food (because I was not sweet), but I realized that letting her think this might actually help me get her to get me and Courtney some good food, so I stopped myself. And it was a good thing I did, because I was right."Well, I guess I might be able to help you… but just this once!"
"Thanks." I said, giving her a genuine smile.
"Your welcome." She said, smiling back. "Just wait here and I'll go get it for you. Chris will kill us interns if I show you where it is and food starts mysteriously disappearing. Okay?" but she didn't'wait for an answer, instead going off to get us some food. I was tempted to follower her, but decided against it. Just this was already pushing my luck. I waited there for a good twenty minutes before she finally came back, balancing two gigantic trays piled full of the most delicious looking food I had seen in weeks. You name it, it was on there.
"Here, take it!" she said, and I could tell she was trying not to fall over, and once I took the trays I could tell why. The were heavy. Really, really, heavy. She had put a hell load of stuff on there. I'd have to remember to come up with a way to thank her later.
"Wow, this looks great. Thanks…"
"Sarah." She replied with a smile. I got the feeling this girl was almost always happy. Or just really emotional. After having to deal with Courtney, I was hoping it was the former.
"Well, then thanks Sarah."
"My pleasure." And with that, still smiling, she happily skipped off in the direction she was originally going. Now balancing two rather heavy trays of food, I walked back to the nurse's tent, setting down the two trays on a nearby table, and pushing them closer to the bed.
Before anything else, I saw Courtney's nose scrunch up, obviously smelling the food and knowing something was out of place. Soon after, she opened her eyes, first looking at me, and then seeing the food, her eyes going wide.
"Duncan! How the hell did you get all that?!" I opened my mouth to speak but she held up a hand to stop me. "Wait, I don't even want to know." I just gave her a cocky smile and chuckled a bit at that.
"So, wanna eat?"
"Yes! I'm freaking starving…. And oh my god is that veggie stir fry?" For the next twenty minutes (yes, we ate so fast that's all it took.) we gorged ourselves on the delicious food, eating every last bite off the trays until our stomachs wanted to explode. It was the best meal we had had in a long time, even better then the buffet from the Awakathon challenge. We just couldn't let any of it go to waste, even if it did mean that are stomachs were now in screaming pain. I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt so full.
"That, was increadible." Courtney coed, a grin now plastered on her face.
"Tell me about it." I replied, sporting the same grin on my face as well. But of course, Courtney just couldn't let that grin last, the next words out of her mouth already about the challenge again. With that determination of hers, I had to wonder if she ever just relaxed.
"We should probably get back to the amphitheater with the others." she sighed, not seeming happy about it at all.
"Yeah, probably." I agreed, but made no attempt to get up, both of us too full to move. After sitting there for another minute or so, Courtney pushed herself up off the bed, getting to her feet and heading for the door.
"Come on lets go." She said to me, but I just groaned, not wanting to move from this spot for the next several hours. But Courtney was not having any of that, and walked back over to me, taking my arm in her hand and trying to pull me up with no success. "Duncan!" she cried, stomping her food on the ground as she scowled angrily at me.
"Okay, okay, fine, I'll get up." I said, slowly pushing my body up from the chair, and eventually following her out the door. We walked out of the tent and started heading back to the amphitheater, both of us quite for a few minutes until Courtney spoke up and broke the silence.
"Hey Duncan?" she asked me, rather timidly, embarrassed about whatever she was going to say next.
"Yeah Princess?" I said, giving her one of the goofiest smile I could muster, trying to make whatever she was about to say easier to choke out.
"Thanks for carrying me." Her voice was quiet and sincere when she said this, as well as a bit self-conscious. It was a side of Courtney I had never scene before. I like it better when she was angry.
"No problem. Beside, you only weigh like what, 90?" I joked playfully, getting a small laugh out of her.
"Also," she paused, fidgeting with her hands before finishing the rest of the sentence. "I'm sorry about ruining your sweatshirt." This time she blushed, a brilliant and unmistakable crimson.
"Ah, I like it better like this anyways." I told her, looking down at my now ripped sleeve. It actually did look kind of cool. Finally, this got Courtney to really smile, and within no time she had gained her usually confidence back, all thanks to me. Suddenly I just got hit with this really warm feeling, knowing that the smile currently on Courtney's face was solely due to me. It was weird, knowing that I had actually done something to make her happy. Or more then one something. And hey, to tell you the truth, I kinda liked it.
Whoa, back up here a second. What the hell Duncan? Your turning into a total sap. First carrying her, then the food, and now this? Get a hold of yourself. I thought to myself, but even thinking this I just couldn't shake that good feeling inside of me. Shit, I was turning into a sap. I was going to have to do something to change that later.
But for now, I couldn't do anything about it, so I just let it go, enjoying the sun on my skin as I walked back to the amphitheater, with Courtney smiling next to me.
Courtney POV
Once we got back to the amphitheater, the first thing I saw was my violin. My poor, poor violin. It had been smashed by the stage light, broken up into pieces of wood and string, hopelessly irreparable. Seeing it I immediately rushed over to the stage, leaving Duncan behind me. I picked up the broken remains that were my instrument, cradling them to my chest and bursting out into tears.
"Oh, Courtney, it's okay!" Katie cried, rushing over to my side from the other end of the stage, Sadie following close behind. "I'm sure you can fix it once you get home!"
"Yeah Courtney, I'm sure they can!" Sadie told me, giving me a small hug, and Katie doing the same. The two girls had apparently misunderstood my tears, and I couldn't blame them. To anyone else it would seem like I was crying over my violin being smashed, but that was far from the case. Like I had said to Duncan, I hated that thing, but unfortunately, it happened to be are only really chance at winning, meaning are one shot at taking the challenge just got smashed into a million pieces. I sat down on the edge of the stage, Katie and Sadie doing the same as I hugged the remains of my violin to my chest. I continued to cry as the two friends tried to comfort me with their useless promises. Everything was not okay, it was so far from okay I couldn't even begin to explain it to them. Winning meant everything to me and now are only hope had been crushed by a stage light.
Over all of my sobs and the twins comforting words, I heard footsteps walking towards me, and looked up only to see it was Bridgett, the one who had caused this whole mess.
"You, you killed my violin!" I whimpered at her in between sobs, and standing up from my seat on the stage steps.
"I didn't mean to!" Bridgett said in a regretful tone, cradling her arms to her chest in a guilty way. "There must be something we can do." She grabbed the broken scraps of wood form my hands, trying to force them back together, but only making them even worse then they were before, the now small splinters slipping through her grasp. This only made me break out into sobs again, wailing for the loss of the challenge. I knew I should have been nicer to Bridgett, but I was so emotionally right now that I wasn't in my right mind, and Bridgett's feelings were the last thing on my list on concerns.
I was so far gone that I wasn't very aware of my surroundings, and the next thing I knew Bridgett, Katie, and Sadie were getting up and walking away and Duncan was standing next to me. On his face was a confused look, but somehow even that still managed to look intimidating as always. I wanted to ask him what had just happened, but I didn't get the chance to before he opened his mouth.
"Okay, what the hell Courtney? I thought you said you hated that thing." He asked me, his voice sounding a bit softer then normal.
"I do!" I whaled, as I continued to sob. "But now we're going to loose the challenge!" Duncan's face went from soft to pissed in an instant when I said that.
"Whoa, okay miss full of her self. "he said, his tone sounding really offended, no longer at all sympathetic. "You really think you're the only one that can win this thing?"
"Well, um, yes." At this point I had stopped sobbing, my voice getting back to normal. I had to admit that now I was a bit embarrassed, because saying that statement out loud I realized it was a really stuck up thing to do. The type of thing people expected from Courtney Addison, which I had promised myself I was not going to do, because I was determined to show those people they were wrong.
"Yeah, well incase you haven't noticed Princess, Geoff's got some pretty mad skills on his board, and DJ's ribbon thing isn't half bad either. We still have a chance at winning this so suck it up and quit your whining already, okay? We don't need you to be a drama queen right now." Wow, that was pretty harsh, even for Duncan. I had an overwhelming erg to yell at him, only I bit my tong, because the sad truth was he was right. I shouldn't be sitting here whining, I should be trying to find a replacement for myself in the challenge, and helping my team win this instead. As I watched Duncan walk away, I couldn't help but feel grateful to him for yelling at me, because it was exactly what I needed to get myself back in the game. Although, I would never admit that to him of course.
I got back up from the stage steps, standing upright and brushing off the remaining splinters on my blouse that had clung to me. I composed my expression, took a few deep breaths, and started to clean up the mess my violin had left in the grass, giving me a bit more time to calm down before I had to deal with the competition again.
I picked up all of the pieces, looking carefully to see I had the all, and headed over to throw them away in the trash can. But, unfortunately for me, the only trash bin anywhere near here was the dumpster behind the Main Lodge, and that was quite a ways away from here. I sighed to myself, turning in the direction of the lodge. It took me a good ten minutes to get there, since it was entirely on the opposite end of camp, and another ten minutes to get back. And in the time I was gone, apparently it was long enough for all of the Gophers to have walked to the amphitheater, because when I arrived almost all of them were now there with us.
The people competing were all practicing back stage, will the rest of each of our teams had gone off, having better things to do then sit around and watch the competition. Trent, Heather, and Justin were the Gophers that were competing against us in the show, and seeing their talents I suddenly felt a lot better about our chances at winning this thing. Heather, dressed in a tutu, was doing some kind of dance routine, and although it was good, it didn't' seem like the kind of thing Chef would go for. Trent was playing the guitar, and he was actually really good, but so was Geoff's skateboarding. And as for Justin, well I think his talent was just being beautiful (which if you ask me wasn't much of a talent, but this competition hadn't really enforced rules so far, so I doubt they were going to start now.). I looked around to see if there was anyone I could talk to here, wanting to stay backstage so I could keep and eye on things, and spotted Bridgett, now with a bag of cookies in her hands. Man, she polished off that bag of chips fast.
"Hey Bridgett!" I called to her, as I walked up on the stage, standing next to her as she sat on the edge of the stage.
"Hi Courtney!" she replied, smiling at me, then her expression suddenly changed, becoming sympathetic. "Sorry again about breaking you violin, I really didn't mean too."
"It's okay," I said, giving her a real smile. "I'm over it, really. It's not like I was our only chance at winning or anything. Geoff is really talented on his skateboard to." And this time I really did believe it. Who knew Duncan was so good at giving pep talks?
"You know it." Geoff added, who came flying over on his skateboard. He stopped just before he hit me, propping up his board and continuing to twirl it around in its side. "So who's taking you spot in the show anyways?"
"We haven't decided that yet. Do you have any suggestions?" I asked him, but Bridgett cut in before he had the chance to respond.
"Okay, I know I'm not as good as you are at the violin," Bridgett said, while simultaneously stuffing cookies in her mouth. "but I can do this!" Okay, even though I didn't believe her, she just sounded so enthusiastic and sure of herself that I had to let her in! Besides, it wasn't like anyone else had any better talents to offer up. But, I didn't get the chance to tell her that, because as soon as she finished speaking, Heather walked up to us, a smile on her evil little face. That was never a good sign.
"Bridgett!" she called out, that fake smile of hers plastered across her face. "Oh too bad about the accident. I guess your going to get your fifteen seconds of fame after all!" Oh, she did not just go there.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Bridgett asked Heather in a very cold and accusing tone, and the expression to match. By this time Geoff had already retreated to the other end of the stage, not wanting to get in the middle of this soon to be cat fight.
"Oh nothing. No one would sabotage their own teammate." She put her fingers on her chin as if she was thinking. "Unless they maybe felt threatened."
"Hey!" Bridgett said, gabbing a finger up at her from where she was sitting on the stage. "Maybe that's how you Gophers operate, but the Killer Bass have more class then that. We're a team." Go Bridgett! Take that Heather!!
"Well I guess you'll go down as a team then too." Heather replied in a mocking tone, then her voice gained that sickly sweet sound to it again. "Oh, and easy on the chips, you wouldn't want to sink that surf board of yours now would you?" Apparently, that was the last straw for Bridgett, because she took the back of cookies in her hand and threw them at Heathers hard as hard as she could. Oh yeah, Bridgett and I were defiantly going to be friends for a long time.
"Hey, you better watch it surfer girl!" Heather cried, as she brushed the cookie crumbs off of her tutu.
"So do you, Bitch." I quipped back at her, no longer able to hold my tong.
"Oh, it's on now, Ms. Anger management!" she yelled at me, temporally loosing her cool, but then catching herself, and regaining her usual breezy and confident aura. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go practice." With one last fake smile, she turned on her heels and walked off to the other end of the stage swinging her hips as she went. I smiled smugly, knowing we had gotten to her, and turned to look at Bridgett to see that she was doing the same. We high fived on another, giggling slightly.
"Well, I have a feeling she won't be bothering us anytime soon." Bridgett said, still smirking.
"Not if she knows what's good for her." I replied, sitting down on the stairs next to her. "And don't take that thing about the cookies seriously. I bet everyone else would be stuffing their faces if they had some decent food. I know I was earlier today with Duncan."
"Don't worry, I don't. It's Heather; I know by now not to take any of what she says seriously." She said, shrugging off the comment. Then suddenly, her face became confused, as if something I had just said finally registered in her head. "Whoa, wait, hold on a second, you and Duncan scored some real food? How did that happen? And how did you get it? Spill!" Oh, I just had to say that didn't I? Me and my big mouth.
"Um, yeah, we did. I don't really know how, he just sort of showed up with it." I said, but then backtracked when I realized it was coming off like Duncan liked me. "But it's not like he did it for me or anything, I mean he got food out of it too."
"But he still brought some for you too. And that seems very un-Duncan like too me." She replied, smiling. Oh would she just cut it out already!! Just look at what my big mouth had gotten me into now!
"It was just because I was hurt! Just because he brought two trays doesn't mean that-"
"Wait he brought two trays?" The smile on her face got even bigger, and more knowing then it had been before, it that was even possible.
"Ugg, no, no, no, you're totally getting the wrong idea! Lets just drop this, okay?" I knew that to anyone else, it would look like we liked each other (especially if she knew about that damn kiss), but that wasn't the case, not at all. It was hard to explain, unless you knew what had gone on between us up on that cliff the other night. You see, the thing is, we both had crappy parents, that quite frankly didn't give a damn about us. They only cared about molding us into what they wanted us to be, rather then just accepting us the way we were. And having that in common, we felt sort of bonded by that fact, in a looking out for each other kind of way, almost a mutual respect. Almost. Not that we were friend or anything; we would never be. It was rather an understanding of the other's situation, that made us feel compelled to help each other out a bit. Like how I had given Duncan the make up remover today, because I certainly didn't have too. I could have just as well stood there and never even told him about the stuff, and let him get humiliated like everyone else, but I didn't. And that same reason is why Duncan had brought me food, nothing more.
But of course, I couldn't tell Bridgett this; she just wouldn't get it. Unless you were in our situation you just couldn't understand it. So as much as I hated to do so, I was going to have to let her go on thinking that we like each other in that little messed up fantasy world of hers. Friends could be really annoying at times.
"Okay, okay, fine, i'll let it go." Bridgett sighed, finally moving on to another topic. "So, in other exciting Camp Wanawaka news, what do you think the boys are going to plan to get back at us?"
"Hmmm.." I paused, thinking a bit, but not coming up with any plausible ideas. "I don't know, but it had to be something good after the whole make up fiasco." Remembering this the two of us laughed.
"Can you believe how ridiculous they looked?" Bridgett said in between laughs. "I even saw Heather snap a picture of them. I can't wait see what it looks like when she uploads it to facebook!"
"Oh, the joy of modern technology."
"I hear that." And with a few final laughs we were finally done, moving onto other things. "Hey, that reminds me, did you hear about that came out with another generation of iPhone? It's only been like a year since they came out with the last one!"
"I know!" I replied enthusiastically. "That's just plain ridiculous! It's all another one of Apples stupid money making schemes…" we continued talking about stuff like that for the next few hour or so (a large majority of it spent ranting about how ridiculous Apple was. Although it was a bit hypocritical now that I think about it considering we both have iPods). It seemed like no time at all before the 8 hours of prep time were up, and Chris was walking on stage to start off the challenge.
"Where's my half calf double shot caramel latte!" Chris called out as he walked on stage, the camera crew having just finished setting up their equipment. Bridgett and I walked over to the curtain, peaking out heads out to get a look at the action about to ensue.
"I've got it!" called out two people at the same time, as two interns rushed on stage, a coffee cup in their hands. One of them was a tall blond boy, with a subtle build, and who from here actually looked pretty hot. The other, was a short girl with long brown hair who was happily bouncing up the steps, a smile on her face as if she could care less that she possible had one of the worst internships in the history of the world.
The boy reached Chris first, holding out the cup to him, looking rather wary. Chris took a sip and immediacy spit it out.
"Ewwww! I that's probably the most bitter caramel latte I've ever had in my entire life!" Chris shoved the cup back at him, and the girl, who had now reached Chris, held out her cup to him, and he gladly took it, taking a bit swig to get the taste of the previous latte out. "Mmmmm… now that's what I'm talking about!" The girl just smiled at him one last time, and went happily walking off the stage, as the boy slummed his shoulders, shuffling sulking off after her.
"Okay everybody." Called out who I assumed was the director, watching all of the cameras on several monitors behind the bleachers, just out of the cameras' views. "Quite on the set! Camera rolling? Speed… and action!"
"It's the TDI showdown extravaganza!" announced Chris to the cameras, and I assumed they would add in some cheesy intro music of graphics to this later. "Welcome to the very first Camp Wawa-"
"Cut, cut, cut!" yelled the director angrily. "Camera four, your white balance is off, and camera 7 needs to open up it's f-stop. And Chris will you pleas either finish you coffee or something to GET IT OUT OF THE DAMN SHOT!!!" Well, looks like someone didn't get enough coffee today.
"Oh come on people!" Chris yelled back at everyone, as he took on long swig off his coffee, downing the remaining contents. "Can't we just get it right the first time already?" He crushed the now empty paper cup, hurling it off the stage in a random direction, hitting one of the interns right in the face, who shouted his complaints at Chris.
"Well it's not my problem that you can't duck now is it?" Chris replied to him, chuckling.
"Sadistic much?" I whispered to Bridgett, still standing next to me, who nodded her head.
"Alright, let's try this again." The director called out to everyone. "Quiet on the set! Camera rolling? Speed… action!"
"It's the TDI showdown extravaganza!" began Chris with his intro again. "Welcome to the very first Camp Wawanakwa talent contest, where six campers will show off their skills, and desperately try not to humiliate themselves. First up for the Screaming Gophers is Justin!" Chris held his hand out to the right side of the stage, opposite of where Bridgett and I were peeking out at the stage, where Justin emerge from.
The Gopher's cheered for him as he walked out, his back to the camera, and stopped in the center of the stage. A spotlight clicked on, covering Justin in a bright stream of light, illuminating every one of his perfect features. Music clicked on from the speakers above the stage, which was Justin's cue to start. He whipped around, making his hair fly as he struck various model poses around the stage. A couple interns were standing just blew the stage, flashing lights at him to simulate camera flashes. After a minute or so, the routine finally ended with Justin collapsing down on a chair, pulling a rope that released a bucket of water on him. He flipped his hair and sent a smile at the camera. I'm sure that when this episode aired tomorrow night girls would be fainting all across the country.
"Okay, I don't know what that was," Chris said, walking back on the stage at the Gopher's clapped, and put his arm over Justin's shoulder. "but daaang you've got some moves dude." He paused, waiting for all the commotion to die down before continuing. "First up for the Killer Bass, make some noise for the big guy, DJ" a whole whopping 3 people in the stands burst out cheering for him, and two of them were Katie and Sadie, and considering they share a brain, I don't even think you can count them as two separate people. Great team spirit guys, just great.
DJ came leaping on the stage in that bright white spandex leotard of his, twirling around his pink ribbon. I had to admit, he was actually doing a pretty good job, maybe even scores some serious points for our team. But then, on his next jump his ribbon got caught around his ankle, causing him to trip. He managed to regain his balance, the ribbon still wrapped around his ankles, and ripped it off at the last second, striking his ending pose. But it was a useless attempts; it was over for DJ.
"Dainty, and yet masculine." Chris commented, walking back onto the stage. "Let's see what Grand Master Chef has to say about that." He paused, listening into his earpiece to hear the score, while views would probable see that stupid Chef-o-Meter thing above his head. "Oooo, not much" This sent DJ walking off the stage, over towards us, his shoulders slumped. "So, with two acts down it's four to go, with the Screaming Gophers screaming ahead. Next on deck, Trent. Take it away my bro."
"This one goes out to someone special here at camp." Trent said, and was now sitting on a stool near the center of the stage.
"They say, that we've only got summer. And I say that…" Trent sang, as I strummed his guitar. As he played I saw Gwen off in the stands, a huge smile on her face, knowing the song had been dedicated to her.
Trent finished up the last few notes of the song, the Gophers clapped, and Chris rushed back on the stage, eager to be back in the spotlight again.
"Nice work, I'm liking your style dude. And so does Grand Master Chef!" Oh come on already! Why couldn't he just tell us the damn scores or something! The suspense was killing me. "Alright quit hogging my light already!" With this Chris pushed Trent off the stage, so that the camera now only had him in view. "Three down and three to go, and the Killer Bass are totally sucking so far! Now, lets hear it for Bridgett!"
What?!?! We've only had one act! How can you say we suck?!?! Stupid, sadistic, pretty boy.
"Are you sure you can do this?" I asked Bridgett, who whipped her head around to look at me, her stomach gurgling like it had been since the show started. After all that food, I doubt she could keep it down if she did this act, especially with how nervous she was. She'd been fidgeting for the past five minutes, and that was really unlike her.
"Defiantly. No, no, I'm great! .... Really" she replied, but her voice still sounded unsure, like she said the words to try and convincer herself, not just me. I gave her an uncertain look of my own, before she got up on her hands and walked out on stage.
I pulled back the curtains to peek out at the stage once again, and watched as Bridgett stumbled her way onto the stage on her hands, looking a little green. As soon as she got out there, she let out a loud burp. Not long after she let out another one, accompanied by a large pile of vomit. I cringed at the smell, as the repulsive green barf landed on the stage in front of here. But Bridgett had eaten a lot of junk food, and of course she wasn't going to vomit just once.
"What the Hell is going on out there?" Heather asked me, and appalled sound in her voice, coming over next to me to peek out at the stage, just as Bridgett barfed once again, this time flying out across the stage and hitting Owen in the bleachers. I heard Heather gasp next to me, as I covered my mouth trying to prevent my own lunch from coming up.
"I'm hit, I'm hit!" Owen yelled from the stands, jumping up from his seat and rushing to the bathroom as fast as he could go. The next one hit the twins, covering them in completely. Katie lost it, and ended up barfing all over Sadie, before the two ran shrieking and screaming off to the bathrooms like Owen had done. Finally, the last blow hit Lashawna, who thankfully was much less squeamish then the rest of us, and calmly got up to go and clean herself up, her face contorted in to a disgusting look.
Bridgett, now having emptied the entire contents of her stomach on our fellow campers, started to try and come down from her hands, only to slip in her owe barf, loosing her balance and sending her flying off the stage, directly into Tyler's arms.
"Hey, puke on your own boyfriend!" Lindsey screeched at Bridgett, running over to her. Hearing this, Heather ran out on the stage, infuriated.
"On your own what, Lindsey?" Heather said, crossing her arms across her chest.
"I didn't say boyfriend!" Lindsey replied hurriedly, her voice high in a way that clearly indicated that she was lying.
And this was about the time Chris cut in, once again stealing back the spotlight as he creped on the stage, choosing every step carefully to try and avoid getting barf of his brand name sneakers.
"Clean up on aisle four, five, and six!" he said, his voice sounding funny from him plugging his nose, the stench of the vomit intolerable. I was doing the same thing. "In the meantime, we'll take a short break to hose the joint down." And with that the cameras turned off, and Chris jump off the stage, getting himself as far away from the stench as possible. "Will one of you interns please clean this mess up!"
I didn't need to stick around for the clean up (or to smell that vomit either. Fyi, Chef's lunch? Yeah, it smells even worse the second time you get a whiff of it.) so I decided to head down to the bathrooms and help Bridgett out. The whole thing had to have been traumatizing for her, being broadcast on national television and everything. I walked down to the bathrooms, taking my time, knowing that after that Bridgett was going to be in the shower for a long time. By the time I got down there, Lashawna and the twins were already done with their shower, walking out of the bathrooms, there wet hair sticking to their backs as they went to get some dry cloths, having run straight to the shower and not picked up any. I walked into the bathrooms, and walked up to the shower the only shower that was still running, knocking in the stall door.
"Someone's in here!" Bridgett called out from inside.
"Bridgett, it's Courtney." I told her, raising my voice so she could hear it over the water. "do you want me to bring you some clean cloths or something?"
"That would be great, Court, thanks." She yelled back at me. I started walking out of the bathroom, and saw her vomit covered cloths strew out across the floor, and debated in my head for a second if I should pick them up, but then I got a whiff of them and decided against it. I went back over to our cabin, opening up her suitcase and picking out something new for Bridgett to wear. After a had put together a very Bridgett-looking outfit, I went back over to the bathrooms, walking in just as Bridgett had turned off the shower.
"Here you go." I said to her as I slipped her cloths under the shower.
"Thanks!" she replied, as she took the cloths from my hands. After changing into them, she swung open the door and wrung out now wet hair before pulling it back into her usual ponytail.
"Ready to go?" I asked.
"Sure! But can we swing by the Lodge first, I'm kind of hunger now." The reminder of what had happened sent Bridgett blushing, as she ducked her head.
"Of course!" I gave her a big smile, and put my hand around her shoulder, leading her out the door. Bridgett got an apple from the Lodge (I doubt I was going to see her eating junk food again for a long time.) finishing it just before we got back to the amphitheater.
By the time we got back, all of the vomit had been cleaned up, and with everyone back in the stands they were ready to start the show again.
"Places people, it's show time!" Chris yelled out to all of us. Bridgett and I hurried back stage, once again, peeking our heads out of the curtain to see the show, just as the cameras started rolling again.
"Welcome back!" Chris said to the cameras. "Okay, so in a strange turn of events, Bridgett's chunk blowing fest managed to score two thumbs up from Grand Master Chef. But it's not enough to pull ahead of the Screaming Gophers who hold the lead with Trent's love song." Finally he is actually giving us some numbers!! "So, without farther delay, here she is for the leader, Heather!" Heather walked out onto the stage, sitting down on a stool and holding something behind her back, then began to speak.
"Originally, I was going to dance for you. But instead, I want to celebrate team spirit with a collaboration." She held up a small book that looked rather familiar, and it was hard to tell from here but I could swear she got that evil glint in her eyes. "So, with words by Gwen, preformed by me, enjoy." She cleared her throat, then began to read what I suddenly recognized as Gwen's diary. "Okay, so I'm trying t ignore him, but he's just so cute! If they had custom ordered a guy to be a distraction for me here, it would have been mc-hottie. We just totally connect. He's the only person I can relate to here, and I know it's a cliché, but I love guys who play guitar."
Why that little bitch! How could she do that to Gwen?!? She truly must have been born without a heart. I saw Gwen scooting off of her seat, and then taking off into the forest, too embarrassed to endure any more.
"Thank you" said Heather, closing the book and getting up from her seat to walk off the stage, having already accomplished her mission of humiliating Gwen.
"That was so mean!" I said, turning to Bridgett.
"Seriously." She replied, shaking her head.
"Maybe we should go console her or something…" but I trailed off stepping out of the way as Geoff almost ran into us, getting a running start on his skateboard. He got up to speed and jumped on top of it, snapping the thing in half along with our last chance at victory. This just wasn't our day today.
"Whoa, that kinda wrecks the ride." Geoff said, staring down at the pieces of his skateboard.
"Now what?!" Bridgett yelled in panic, grabbing a hold of my shoulders. After having screwed up twice today she wanted to win this just as much as I did, knowing it was her place in this game on the line if we didn't this time. "We have to send someone out there or we're going to loose this!" She let go of my shoulders, and started biting her nails in panic.
"Katie and Sadie are both still traumatized from being covered in barf!" I replied, knowing there was no one left. Bridgett had already been our last resort.
"Well that only leaves Tyler, Duncan, or Harold! We already know Tyler stinks, what can Duncan do again?"
"Carve a picture of his own skull into a tree! What are we going to do?!" I grabbed my head in frustration, not wanting to give up after having to go though so much to try and win this challenge.
Bridgett and I peeked out from behind the stage curtain again, looking over at Harold, who was currently picking his nose. Oh god we were so doomed.
"Harold get your pasty butt down here!" I yelled at him, and he obediently came stumbling over to the back of the stage.
"What?" he asked, sounding a bit irritated with us, like it was some huge problem to walk the fifty freaking feet over here.
"Your up, so get our there!" I pushed him out onto the stage, right in front of the microphone, and stomping back over to Bridgett.
"Well, that's one way to break it to him." she said to me, and I just gave her a look before turning around to watch as Harold lost the challenge for us. But on the stage, Harold looked nervous, glancing over at us for support.
"Just go for it Harold!" I call out to him, trying to sound encouraging. "What have you got to loose?" Harold took in a deep breath, and then started his performance.
At first, it just sounded like a few random sounds, but the farther he got into it, the better and faster his beat boxing became. It picked up the pace, getting more intricate and complex with every second. It was actually… good. In fact, it was really good. So good that we might actually have a chance at winning this! In fact, if we didn't I was going to sue the pants off this show, he was just that good. I mean, yes Harold was geeky and annoy, pasty, smelly at times, had bad fashion sence,, his voice was so raspy and irritating, and he did this weird thing with his hair… wait, where was I going with this again? Oh well.
After a while, Harold song ended, and after a few moments off shock, the crowd broke out in to applause, even the Gophers were clapping for him.
"That was amazing!" I squealed, just so happy to have won this thing. Take that you lousy Gophers!
"Wicked beat boxing dude!" Chris told Harold as he walked back onto the stage, clapping. "Check it out Grand Master Chef has declared his winner! Even though they held the lead, the Screaming Gophers have been trampled by the Killer Bass."
"Harold you did it!" I cheered, as Bridgett and I ran out onto the stage to hug him, too caught up in the excitement of winning to care that it was Harold we were touching.
"That was amazing!" Bridgett agreed, as we got to Harold and wrapped out arms around either side of him.
"And as for the Screaming Gophers, pick your favorite looser, and I'll see you at the bonfire." Chris finished as Bridgett and I continued to hug Harold, but it was cut short by a certain green haired punk.
"Nice job dude. Who knew you had it in you?" Duncan told him, sliding right in between Harold and me to slap him on the back, so I no longer had contact with Harold of any kind.
Jealous much? I thought, scowling inwardly, but quickly shook the thought. This was Duncan I was thinking about here, and for him to be jealous it would mean he would have to like me, which he certainly didn't.
And that was about the time is saw Heather, Gwen's diary still in her hands,and I remembered that Gwen still wasn't back yet.
I jumped off of the stage, running over to Heather and ripping the diary out of her hands.
"Hey, that's not…." But Heather stopped short when she saw the death glare I was giving her, and let me walk away without another word. I started heading towards the forest, guessing that that's were Gwen had went if she wanted any privacy around here, but was stopped by Bridgett.
"Courtney!" she called, as she ran over to me from the celebration on the stage. "Aren't you going to stay and celebrate? You work the hardest out of all of us by far to get this win, you deserve it."
"Actually, I was going to go and find Gwen." And I didn't need to say anything more then that; Bridgett just instantly got it. That was one of the great things about her. So the two of us walked off into the forest together, in search of the mysterious goth girl.
"GWEN!" we called out, but always getting no reply. After about a good twenty minutes of searching, we finally found her. She was sitting underneath a tree, her eyes red from crying.
"Gwen! Are you okay?" Bridgett called out as we rushed over to her, sitting down on the grass on either side of her.
"I-im fine." She replied, giving us a fake smile, sniffling a bit.
"You defiantly don't look like you fine." I said to her in a concerned voice, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"It's just Heather. I mean, she's just such a… a…"
"Self absorbed sadistic bitch?" I offered up, causing her to laugh slightly.
"Yeah, that. I just, I can't even begin to describe how much I hate her."
"We all do." Bridgett reassured her, and then came this kind of awkward silence that followed, where no one said anything. Realizing I still had her diary in my hands, I decided mention it to her, breaking the stillness.
"Hey, I got your journal back." I said, holding it out to her, a half smile on my face, as if this fact mad what had happened any less horrible.
"Thanks." Gwen took the journal from me, hugging it to her chest, letting out a small tear.
"Hey, don't cry!" Bridgett exclaimed I a warm voice. "We all have our secrets right? I know I do. In fact, you know, I've never told anyone this but…" she paused for a second before blurting it out, "I once had my period on a guys towel!" This didn't get much of a response out of her, so Bridgett turned to me. "And I'm sure Courtney has some kind of secret too, right Courtney?" I felt a hard jab at my side, realizing it was Bridgett's foot.
Did I have a secret? Well yeah, I did. And it was pretty damn big one too. But of course, I couldn't tell them that. I was just going to have to make up something else. Or do I…
Although I didn't know Gwen that well, I could tell she was the kind of person I could trust, and I had spent enough time with Bridgett to know that she was the same way. And it would be nice to have someone on the island that I could talk to about my life, without having to hold anything back or worry about something slipping out.
Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to tell them I was Courtney Addison. I was tired of telling all these lies to people, and having to hold back my thoughts or stories about things in the conversation because they would blow my cover. I wanted, no wait, I needed people who I could hang out with and just be me with. Yes I had Jen to talk with, but I only got to speak with her every two days, and the conversations weren't all that long. If I couldn't be myself around anyone here at camp I was going to go crazy trying to keep lies straight.
And that's why I made the decision to say what I was about to say next. I wanted them to know the truth, and gosh darn it, I was going to tell them!
"Actually, I do have a secret." I began, looking both of them in the eyes, and delivering my lines with confidence. "A really big one at that. You see, I haven't been truthful about who I am with you. Not at all really." At this point I had gotten their full attention, both girls interested in what I had to say. "My name isn't really Courtney Mahn, and I'm not just some girl from Californian running for class office. I'm really-"
"Hey guys, you coming to dinner?!" Geoff called over to us, cutting my off from saying the two most important words in my speech.
I turned my head away from Geoff to find that both girls were looking at me intently. But Bridgett's gaze, for some reason, looked more intense, almost like she already knew what I was going to say before I said it.
"Later" she whispered to me so Geoff couldn't hear, and Gwen nodded her head sharply in agreement.
"Okay" I whispered back to both of them, but still not braking Bridgett's gaze.
"Hey, you guys coming or what?" Geoff called out, getting a bit impatient as he walked over closer to us.
"We're coming!" I called back to him, finally tearing my eyes away from Bridgett's, and got up to go with Geoff to the Lodge.
It was a quite walk back to camp, Gwen and Bridgett not talking at all as they pondered what I had almost said. Geoff and I made a pitiful attempt at small talk, but we could both feel the tension in the air from my previous speech being cut short, and it just ended up being awkward.
I ate dinner in the Main Lodge that night, not talking much, having been drained from all the stress of today's challenge, the coffee like this morning doing little to wake me up. After dinner I took a quick shower, then heading straight to bed. Gwen had to go to the bonfire ceremony, and wouldn't be back for a while. I knew I couldn't stay up that late, which meant I wasn't going to tell her and Bridgett my secret tonight, so staying up was pointless.
I walked into the cabin, heading over to the ladder to get to my bed, getting half way up it before I saw it.
There, lying on Bridgett's bed, was a magazine, laying open to a page of a huge picture a blond girl wearing a bright red bikini.
I rushed over to the bed, flipping the magazine closed, so the picture of me was hidden. True, Katie and Sadie weren't all that bright, but I didn't' want to take my chances with them finding out who I really was too. But, just my luck, there I was on the cover of the magazine too, wearing a pink floral dress. Now frustrated with magazine, I shoved it under Bridgett's pillow where no one would be able too see it. The magazine was littered with pictures of me. I remember it because the day I did the photo shoot for it my stylists kept arguing between whether to sweep my bangs to the right or the left side of my face (eventually the crew just got so fed up with them, the photographer stomped over to me, and pinned my bangs back with a clip, and that was the end of that.).
So Bridgett had figured out who I was, and all because of a dumb magazine! I just had to hope that if it was that easy to catch that no one else would figure it out while I was here. But then again, Bridgett was a smart girl, one of the smartest here. Just because she had figured it out didn't mean anyone else could.
And that's what I was thinking about as laid down to go to sleep that night, turning the though over and over again in my head until I finally drifted off into dreamland.
So that was it! So sorry and thanks again for sticking with me. just send me and email if you would like to take this story over!