Thank you all for your messages of support! It really warms my heart to see that so many of you cared about my personal life. Here's the next chapter. My updates may be scarcer until after November because I'm in my university's musical and I have lots and lots of long rehearsals. So remember to review, fav, and subscribe!
Erin sat at the fire, watching the charred remains of her marshmallow bubble against the wood. She opted for burning the delicious sugary treat. It was actually really pretty. Maybe she'd draw it. She wasn't sure. She looked up when she heard the sound of wailing and watched as Bridgette led a still-sobbing Sadie to the campsite. She was straight up clutching a piece of the dock. That wasn't going to make Chris happy. Bridgette seated Sadie on one of the tree stump, where the girl then proceeded to hug the piece of dock and continue to sob hysterically. Erin rolled her eyes and stared into the fire, finding it hard to have much sympathy for Sadie. Those two seriously did need to learn how to be independent from each other. "It was a long goodbye," Bridgette said as she sat next to Courtney.
Then something unexpected happened. Erin looked up and saw the approaching silhouettes of the Screaming Gophers. Courtney let out a huff and stood up. "What do you all want?" Courtney demanded. "Come by to rub it in?"
"We got some extra dessert after our tuck-shop party," Trent said. Beth held up the plate of green gelatin with a gummy worm inside. "Thought you might want some."
"So what? You're just being nice?" Courtney asked.
"Okay," Gwen said. "Owen stank up our cabin and we need some time to air out." Owen then proceeded to part. Erin wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Ew, dude!" Trent groaned. Beth walked up to Courtney and held up the desert. Courtney immediately recoiled and shrieked.
"No!" she screamed. She cleared her throat and attempted to regain her composure. "I mean, no, thanks. I'm good."
"What? Are you on a diet or something?" Duncan asked.
"No!" Courtney snapped. "I just don't like green jelly, okay?" Beth brought the desert up to Duncan and DJ next. DJ immediately let out a screech and swatted the plate far away.
"SNAKE!" he shouted. The desert went flying and landed on the ground, jelly pieces scattered everywhere.
"Chill dude," Cody said. "It' just a gummy worm."
"Sorry for tripping," DJ apologized, slouching over. "Snakes just freak me out."
"I feel you," Tyler said. "Chickens give me the creeps, dude."
"Chickens?" Erin asked.
"You're afraid of chickens?" Gwen asked. Duncan started snickering at Tyler.
"Wow, that's really lame, man," Duncan said.
"I know I have this really, really giant fear of being covered in bugs," Beth said as she sat down. "The idea of all their slimy legs all over just…" Beth shuddered. Erin had to admit that it did sound really cringey.
"So what all is everyone afraid of?" Erin asked.
"Ninjas," Harold said. "Those guys could kill a man before he knows they're there."
"Spiders though," Leshawna said with a cringe. "All those legs just make me… urgh!"
"Sumo wrestlers," Heather admitted. Erin widened her eyes in shock. Heather was actually admitting one of her greatest fears? "Don't ask me why. I'm not telling." She turned to Gwen and asked, "What about you Goth Girl?"
"My greatest fear?" Gwen asked. She paused and thought for a moment. "I guess being buried alive."
"Walking through a minefield in heels," Lindsay said.
"Flying, man," Owen said. "That's some crazy stuff."
"I would never go up in a plane," Izzy said. "Never."
"I'm scared of hail," Geoff said. "It's small but deadly, dude."
"Being left alone in the woods," Bridgette said. Sadie sniffled and clutched the piece of dock tighter to her chest.
"Bad haircuts," she said.
"Oh okay, I change mine," Lindsay said. "That's so much scarier than a minefield."
"Cody?" Erin asked. Cody thought for a minute, tapping his chin with his index finger.
"Having to defuse a time bomb under pressure," he finally said.
"I'm not really afraid of anything," Courtney said.
"Baloney," Duncan scoffed.
"Oh really?" Courtney challenged. "What exactly is your phobia, Mr. Know-It-All?" Duncan widened his eyes and looked around. Finally he sighed, acknowledging that he'd have to tell.
"Celine Dion music store standees," he muttered. Erin dropped her jaw. He was afraid of what now?"
"Ex-squeeze me? I didn't quite get that," Cody said.
"Dude, did you say Celine Dion music store standees?" Trent asked.
"Ooh, I love Celine Dion!" Lindsay said. She paused and asked, "What's a standee?"
"You know, that cardboard-cutout thing that stands in the music store," Trent said.
"Don't say it, dude!" Duncan snapped.
"Kind of like a life-size but flat Celine," Trent continued.
"So if we had a cardboard standee right now…" Courtney mused.
"Shut up!" Duncan snapped.
"And I-I-I-I-I-I-I will always love yo-o-o-ou!" Erin started singing.
"Erin!" Duncan growled. Erin raised her hands defensively and then stuck them in her jacket pockets. "What about you?" Erin paused and sighed.
"I'm about to get really heavy here," Erin said. Her greatest fear was something she had to deal with anytime she was at a convention in cosplay. "So in the past I've had issues with guys not getting that me being in a kind of revealing cosplay doesn't give them permission to grope me. I've had dudes grab my boobs, my ass, grinding on me at the Saturday night raves… There was even one occasion when a guy straight up took his dick out of his pants and started jerking off at me."
"Oh my god!" Courtney gasped, covering her mouth.
"Yeah," Erin said. "I guess my biggest fear is that one day some asshole will decide that he gets to majorly sexually assault me." She cracked a half-hearted smile and said, "So remember kids, cosplay is not consent."
"That is heavy," Trent said. "I'm sorry you've had to deal with that."
"It is what it is," Erin said. She turned to Trent and then smirked. "So what about you?"
"Okay, well, I hate mimes, like, a lot," Trent said. Erin nodded. Mimes really were kind of freaky. Courtney, on the other hand, rolled her eyes. "Alright Courtney, you're afraid of something. Spit it out."
"Nope, nothing," Courtney said, placing her hands on her hips.
"That's not what she said last night," Duncan muttered.
"Duncan, did you ever consider that maybe I was just humoring you and your stupid story?" Courtney asked, crossing her arms.
"Sure, sure, Princess," Duncan said with a smirk. "Whatever floats your boat."
"Shut up!" Courtney snapped. "I'm going to bed. Good night." She got up and stormed off in the direction of the Killer Bass cabin. Heather turned to Erin with a smirk on her face; a smirk Erin didn't like at all.
"So you and Chris have gotten close," she said. Erin felt her heart stop for a moment. She played it off by rolling her eyes and shrugging.
"We get along well," Erin said. Please let it go, please let it go, please let it go.
"How well exactly?" Heather asked.
"We're just friends," Erin clarified. "No more, no less. No need to worry, Queen Bee. I have zero advantage." Heather let out a 'hmm' and turned to Beth and Lindsay.
"Come on, girls," she said. "Let's go." Erin let out a sigh and shook her head.
"I might as well head out," Erin said. "Night all!" She stood up and headed towards the Bass cabin. She needed to use the sleep badly, especially after not getting any sleep at all the previous night. She couldn't wait to be in her nice warm bed, actually able to sleep without pesky rain.
Erin sat in the main lodge, sketching in her sketchbook as usual. She hadn't eaten much of her tasteless white mush or grey pseudo-sausage, but she had never been a huge breakfast eater so this wasn't atypical for her. She was brought out of her sketching trance by a loud, sharp whistle. She looked up and saw Chris standing in front of the two tables, a smirk gracing his face and his hands behind his back. "Campers," he said, his voice completely in his TV Host mode. "Your next challenge is a little game I like to call Phobia Factor. Prepare to face your worst fears."
"Worse than this?" Leshawna asked, holding up her hairy grey sausage.
"We're in trouble," Gwen muttered.
"Now for our first victims," Chris said. "Heather meet us all in the theater. It's sumo time." Heather spat out her drink into Trent's face. Everyone gasped and looked at Heather. Erin gulped and widened her eyes. That was the fear that Heather had named last night. "Gwen," Chris continued, looking at a sheet of paper. "You, me, the beach, a few tons of sand…"
"Wait," Lindsay said. "How did they know those were your worst fears?" Gwen facepalmed and groaned.
"Because we told them," she said.
"At the campfire last night," Trent added.
"Wait, they were listening to us?" Lindsay asked. Erin let out whimper as she remembered the fear she had named the previous night. Oh no. Oh no. Please let Chris be merciful on her and not do anything bad.
"It's a reality show, Einstein," Gwen said, burying her head into her arms on the table. "They're always listening to us."
"That's like eavesdropping!" Lindsay shouted.
"Chef Hatchet, didn't you have a special order for Tyler here today?" Chris asked. Chef smirked and walked out of the kitchen, a whole fried chicken sitting inside the fryer basket. Tyler picked it up and cringed. Tyler clenched his eyes shut and then bit off the head of the fried chicken. He pulled back the fried chicken and looked at it, only to find that a very much alive chicken had now poked its head out of the fried shell. Tyler stared at the chicken and screamed. Erin froze and looked up at Chris.
"Um, Chris? I have concerns about the challenge I will end up getting," Erin squeaked out.
"Yeeeah," Chris said. "I need to talk to you about that. The one named last night I can't really do. You know. Because legal reasons. Also that's something that I actually do have moral objections to." Erin let out a sigh of relief and slouched forward. Oh thank God.
"Thank you," Erin breathed out.
"So what's your next biggest fear that I can actually do on national television?" Chris asked. Erin paused and thought for a moment. She shuddered at the thought of her next biggest fear on this earth.
"Baby dolls," she said with a cringe. "Those things are so creepy. Like, I'm convinced all of them are possessed." Chris smirked and let out a chuckle.
"That I can do," Chris said. He took out his phone and typed a few things before putting it back into his pocket. "Beth, you're up. Everyone follow me." All of the campers looked around at each other and stood up, ready to follow Chris out of the lodge to face Beth's worst fear; being covered by bugs. Erin was curious as to how they'd do that. Would it be all Fear Factor-esque? Or would Chris do this in his own unique Chris way using extremely cheap props?
The answer was definitely the second. They left the main lodge and saw an inflatable kiddy pool filled with what appeared to be worms or centipedes. Or both. Erin wouldn't put it past Chris to do both. DJ took one look at the kiddy pool and immediately threw up. Owen passed out. Erin stood there and watched as Beth shrugged and then leapt right into the pool of worms. She stayed under for a few moments and then popped up. The Screaming Gophers cheered and jumped up and down. Owen woke up just in time to cheer, only to pass out a second time.
"And Beth sets the bar way up there!" Chris said. He turned to both Lindsay and Sadie with a devious smirk on his face. "Lindsay, Sadie, you two are up next. You two need to go the entire day with bad haircuts. If you take them off before the end of the day, you lose your challenge." Lindsay and Sadie exchanged looks of complete and utter horror. Chris motioned for the two of them to follow him into the main lodge. Out of sheer curiosity, Erin decided to follow along. She wanted to see how he was pulling this off. She jogged up next to him while Sadie and Lindsay trudged along behind sluggishly.
"Please tell me it's a mullet with frosted tips," Erin said to Chris. Chris groaned and snapped his fingers.
"Why didn't I think of the frosted tips? That would've been great," Chris said.
"But they are getting mullets?" Erin asked.
"In the ugliest shade of brown I could find," Chris answered with a smirk. Erin cackled almost maniacally. "Damn, Hoffman. I'm liking this evil side of you. It's kinda hot, if you don't mind me saying." Erin immediately felt her face grow very, very hot. She knew she had to be just as red as, if not redder than, a fully ripened tomato. Chris merely chuckled to himself and jogged ahead of the group of campers, most likely to ensure that the hairstyles for Lindsay and Sadie were ready. Erin entered the cabin and watched as Sadie and Lindsay were led to two stools in the middle of the main lodge. In either hand, Chris had an ugly brown wig in the style of mullet.
"Business in the front, party in the back," Erin said with a snicker. Chris held up the wigs dramatically over Lindsay and Sadie, each of them looking up with complete terror in their eyes. Before Chris could plop the wigs on their heads, Owen ran up and snatched one of them. He then proceeded to stick it on his head and dance around like a ballerina. Owen ran into a wall and fell down. Chris took this chance to grab the wig again and then stick both wigs on the heads of Lindsay and Sadie. Chris turned to the rest of the campers and smirked. Owen groaned as he tried to stand himself up. Chris turned to Leshawna with a sinister grin.
"Leshawna. You're up next." Leshawna widened her eyes and let out a shudder.
"No way," she said. "No way am I touching any nasty spider." Chris merely chuckled and walked out the main lodge. Leshawna groaned and followed him. The rest of the campers exchanged glances with each other, all of them wondering how he was going to make Leshawna face her fear of spiders. When Erin left the cabin, she almost fell over laughing. There in front of them was Chef, dressed up as a giant purple spider. The costume wasn't even that great; Erin could have sewed something better easily. Leshawna took one look at Chef coming towards her and ran away screaming. Heather facepalmed and shook her head.
"And no point for the Gophers," Chris said as he watched Leshawna flee. He briefly checked his phone and smirked up at Heather. "And it seems that our special guest from Japan is ready to go. Ready to face a sumo wrestler, Heather?"
"No!" Heather screeched.
"So you wanna cost your team a point?" Chris asked. Heather sputtered incoherent words and then groaned.
"Let's get this over with," she grumbled. The campers and crew all turned around with Chris as he headed towards the amphitheater. The campers all piled into the wooden bleachers once they got there while Chris and Heather made their way onto a stage, where a genuine sumo wrestler stood, wearing that white sumo wrestler diaper thing that Erin couldn't remember the name of. She probably should have known given how much of a weeaboo she was in high school, but clearly those days were far behind her. Heather was shaking as she walked up onto the stage, staring at the sumo wrestler with wide eyes. Chris smirked and nodded once at the sumo. He yelled and charged at Heather. She screamed and ducked to the ground, tripping the sumo. He flew off the stage, barely missing Chris. Erin almost felt bad for the sumo wrestler as he bounced off into the distance.
"Alright, that's another point for the Gophers. Owen and Izzy, head out with Chef. Your flight awaits," Chris said. Owen and Izzy exchanged glances and gulped. "Bridgette, the camera crew will take you out deep into the woods. If you want to win your challenge, you have to stay there for six hours."
"Six hours?" Bridgette asked, her eyes wide. "I have to spend six hours alone in the woods?"
"Yep!" Chris said almost too cheerfully. He was having way, way, WAY too much fun giving these challenges. But then again, Chris was Chris. This wasn't uncharacteristic for him. "Rest of you, with me to the beach. Gwen's got a short date with a few tons of sand." Gwen blanched and shuddered. Erin was honestly worried for Gwen's challenge. There were so many things that could go wrong. She just hoped that Chris was sure of what he was doing.