The Challenges of Love

14. Another Day, Another Love Interest

This would have been up sooner, but FF didn't seem intrested in letting me post... anyways, I said double update before break was over, and I meant it. This isn't anything long and there are not any challenges or eliminations, this is just something cute. My brain's too muddled to do another one and I have too much going on to do my usual write, write, and rewrite thing.

I don't own Total Drama or anything related/associated. I also have no ownership over the awesomely awesome oc's. Lonely am I.

In Case You Already Forgot…

-Challenges Completed to Date: Speeding in the Dark, Getting Schooled, Can You Give Your Number, Paintball Wars, Influencing the Competition, Total Drama Rerun

-Ladies Eliminated to Date: Rachel Haynes, Mandy Cassiders, Jade Smith, Ulli Schmidt, Nina Peterson, Victoria 'Vikki' Love, Isabelle 'Bell' Marely, Kristina Colmar, Sapphire Caligre

-Ladies Left: 15

An alarm clock worked well to rouse Chris from his sleep. When his alarm wasn't set, it usually meant that he got to sleep-in and wanted to wake up whenever he damn well felt like waking up. It was rare for him to not have anywhere to be or anything to do that involved him waking up with the sun, but it did happen. He enjoyed the days when he got up at his usual time and remembered he could enjoy his top-of-the-line mattress some more and fell back into sweet sleep.

Today was one of those special sleep-in occasions. It was bound to be a good morning.

Too bad it wasn't.

A light stun his eye lids, and he couldn't control them as they flipped open to see what the threat was. He groaned and his hand clung to his face to block out the sunshine. He rolled his head over and groaned again at the time. Eight o'clock was far too early to get up.

"The hell I thought I closed those damn shades…" he muttered to himself, waving at them as if he could shut them from his spot on the bed. They didn't shut, and he wasn't about to get up, so he was in quite a predicament. With his eyes squinted shut so he would wake up anymore than he already had, Chris groped around his bed for his blanket to throw over his head. Not finding it, he cursed his luck. He probably kicked it to the floor… again.

More of his tired senses went under attack. His door slapped against the doorstop as it was shoved open, the sound ringing in his ears through the silence. A sour smell poisoned his precious air and he suddenly wished he had the willpower to open his eyes and see what was going on around here.

Chris wasn't keen about giving up on his chance at sleep so he kept his eyes shut as he tilted his head to the sound. "Dude, what's your damage?"

"What do you mean, Chris?" a sickly sweet voice answered. "I just made you breakfast in bed. I thought you should use a special wakeup call."

He banged his head against his mattress (his pillows were on the floor too) and he gave up on sleep for a moment. His eyes flicked opened and zeroed in on his darling model. She looked wide awake and gorgeous, ready to show off her godly looks to anyone she greeted during the day. Her picture perfect pose was burned by a pale yellow tray that had a mold of wet gray clay on it among other disturbing piles clutched in her manicured hands.

He stared disbelievingly at the tray, his sleep-clogged mind had him focus on figuring out what it was. The model busied her clear sky eyes on his form. "Hmm… I like your boxers."

"You know what I like, Leila? Sleep." He leaned up and reached for his thick blanket on the floor by her heels. He swiftly yanked it up and coiled together under its coolness. "Close my shades, take your crap food, and get out."

Leila stomped her foot down. "No, Chris, I want you to pay attention to me! What if I told you I have gossip on the girls? What if I offered you something?"

"I'd tell you to wait 'til later," he yawned. Leila felt angry that she did any work at all to get on his good side (even if it was for her plan) and angry at being ignored. Determined to get him to notice her, she tossed the tray at his blanket. Chris flinched in annoyance and the tray oozed from his thick comfort to the carpet. "Not cool."

"Yeah? Well I don't care!" She stomped her foot to the ground and crossed her arms. "I'm sick of you not paying attention to me! Not when we were going out, not now that I'm here, you're just – ugh!"Leila stopped herself before she exploded anymore. She huffed and glared down at the pillow by her ankle.

Chris blinked slowly under his blanket, and he let his eyes flick over to where she stood in the morning light. Eventually she got fed up and her feet gave the floor a serious beat down as she made her way out. She slammed the door shut with the same vigor that she opened it.

"Harsh," he breathed out. He hadn't been that bad, he decided. She just exaggerated.

Sleep hazed back into his thoughts and he was ready for a second round when his door opened for a second time that morning. "Chris?" Lena whispered softly. "Everything okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" he muttered, along with, "Sheesh, doesn't anyone here value sleep?"

Lena's fingers tapped against the door as she considered the answer. "So I should forget the loud sounds and the angry Leila?"

"You got it."

Lena was about to leave when she realized how adorable Chris was. He only had a tuft of his beloved brown hair sticking out of his blanket, making it the only thing of him she could see. His blanket was flopped over haphazardly, though he was clumped together tightly under it. She laughed lightly at the scene. He gruffly mumbled something that sounded like he asked her what. Her laugh subsided and she was left with a smile. "I was just trying to remember this."

The blankets shifted and his head poked out. His brows were creased together, though the hair falling over his face hid that from view. "What's that supposed to mean? Remember this for what?"

She sighed, but was still smiling. She walked over and shut his blinds and went to the door, pausing and turning to look at him again. "Do I need a reason? I like you, isn't that enough?"

"Not really."

"Well, it's going to have to be, because it's the truth." She looked over at him, her eyes soft, her mouth still in a light smile. "I like you, Chris. I only like you more the longer I'm here. Just being near you makes me happy. Seeing you makes me happy. Why wouldn't I want to remember this feeling?" She smiled wider and waved as she shut the door with the gentle click.

She said it… the way she said it… she sounded… serious. He'd never heard that much conviction in a person's voice when they talked to him about how they felt for him. He'd heard that Tawni had said that, but he didn't get to hear from the Mess Hall. Roxie had made him prove it with a kiss. Did she say it like Lena had? Did these girls mean it as much as they seemed?

Chris pushed himself out of bed grumpily and spiraled around the carpet over to his bathroom door. He tapped it open, flicked his light on, and got the shower to searing hot temperatures. Even as he was in the shower, brushing his teeth, doing his hair, putting on his threads, he kept going back to the thoughts he had.

Girls here kept saying they liked him, they kept trying to convince him they liked him with their actions, they kept confusing the hell out of the guy. If they kept it up, he might start to believe it. And that's… that's a scary thought.

A scarier thought: what if he started to reciprocate the feelings? Was that even possible?

No, it wasn't. Leila was out to get him, you didn't need to be paranoid to see that much. You just had to know the real her, which Chris did. She would tell him anything to mess with his head and have him forgetting about her motives for actually showing up (which was to make him look like a fool, and Chris Maclean was not about to be a mockery on his own show). Lena… she had to be just a fan girl who would turn him away as soon as they were alone.

He froze. They had been alone plenty of times. He met her up in the roof sometimes. She said that even after they were alone? And they had just talked?

He shook his head, messed his hair up, and struggled to get it just right again. He just needed to stop thinking about it so much is all. These girls were all messing with him, and he wasn't about to let them have the last laugh. He needed to remember his plan, too. He was forced into this and he would make sure that the last girl standing would hate him so much they'd turn him down, and if not he'd break it off the second the camera's turned off. No turning back now, no second guessing, no changing his mind. It was as simple as that…. Right?

At around ten, Chris was in the kitchen, raiding the cabinets for his favorite snacks to munch on for breakfast. Having purposely remembered Chef's day-off this week, the well-built cook was more than happy to get his gear together to hit the beach for a day of fun and relaxation… whatever that may be for him. He apparently left only a short while ago after having made the girl's breakfast, but at least he was out so Chris didn't have to sneak around for edible meals.

"I heard about your sweet tooth." Chris looked over his shoulder at Dawn, who had crept up under his hand that was reaching for a box of cupcakes. She grabbed pancake mix and winked at him playfully. "Want a real breakfast?"

"Doesn't sound bad," he admitted, watching her gather up supplies Chef had drying. She pushed a few buttons on the stove and had a pan lying out. She chopped a few slices of butter and smothered the bottom with it. Already the kitchen smelled better.

"Do you like anything in your pancakes?" she asked once she had gotten to mixing the batter and laying some strips of bacon down on a separate pan.

"Well, now that you mention it, I do!" Chris went for a bag of chocolate chips. He ripped the seal off and dunked the entire thing in. He frowned when they all disappeared. "I think we need more."

"No, it's more than enough," she assured him. She looked up at him, one of her eyes went missing under a glare on her glasses. "Any other ideas on what we can have?"

He realized that she was still in her pajamas. Her usual faux hawk was frazzled and splayed every which way, her blue tee was wrinkled from sleep, and her sweat pants looked to comfy to not sleep in. If anyone could use a breakfast in bed, it was this girl. "Nah, I think we'll make out okay."

"Hmm." She poured the batter out into perfect circles. Chris smirked and 'accidently' nudged her over so they ran together. She frowned as he threw his head back and laughed hysterically at her blanched face. She turned to him, ready to tell him to go sit and wait somewhere, but there his Adam's apple was – taunting her.

"Curse my weird fetish," she incoherently muttered to herself, looking away quickly and letting him get away with messing with her techniques of preparing a simple breakfast.

By the time they were eating at the table, they had eaten crispy bacon and blobs of messed up pancakes mashed on their plates. "This is still good, despite looking like Chef made a decent attempt." Dawn looked up at the happily fed host. "So are you the reason his food looks messed up? You just go in there when he's cooking and mess with him?"

"Please, I think if anything my distractions would help the man out."

"Then why did you hire him as the cook?"

"Heh, well –"

"CC!" KK tackled Chris in a forceful hug. Dawn couldn't help but smile as Chris gave her a pathetic "ef my life" look. "Sorry," she mouthed, gathering up their used plates and walking over to the kitchen to clean up. It looked like growing up in a small town made her independent. Unlike the girl on his back…

"KK, you interrupted my food time," he said darkly.

"So? I haven't seen you in thirteen days, you sneaky jerk!" She cuddled into him and clung tighter to his shirt. "You're always doing something, and everyone feels the same. Not that they matter or anything though, only we do."

"What can I say? I'm occupied." He felt stifled at her 'we' but pressed on. "Beside, didn't you get to ride first class with me for a couple of hours those thirteen days ago?"

"You mean the ride where you were sleeping the entire time?" she said flatly. "You're making us miserable."

"Oh?" he smirked. "I guess this might be a good day after all!" Krissy slapped his arm and got off him. "CC, when's your next challenge?"

"Later today," he confessed brashly. "Why, someone getting neeeeeeervous?"

She gave him a scathing look. "No, I just want to know when out next date is. I could use some alone time to make you want to stay more." He gulped as she sashayed out the room. Great, even the bitch of the house seemed to actually like him now. He must be seriously delusional.

"Chris! What's up?" Maddie waved out to Chris as he walked pass the pool area, heading for the new control room in his racetrack. She was relaxing on a lounge chair, but was quick to jump up and stride by his side. "I haven't seen you since you were sleeping on the plane ride two weeks ago! What, did you forget you had a house full of girls crazy for you or something?"

Her tone was joking and fun, but he felt an unmistakable pang in his chest at the mention of girls being crazy for him. He just couldn't escape these outrageous thoughts and ideas, could he? "More or less, Maddie babe. Why, did you have too much fun without me?"

"Try none." She puffed her lip out. "Well, that's a lie, I had some. I just wished you were there, you know? I even wished for a mission."

"You're in luck! There's going to be a mission later today, which I'm preparing for."

"Sweet! I can't wait to win that date! What'll it be?"

Chris arched a brow. "I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you. You don't even know the genius of the mission yet!"

"So? I wouldn't be so masterful if I were you." She swung an arm around his neck, though it was a bit of a struggle due to the height difference she seemed to manage fine enough. "Work with me here. I'm thinking we can finally go out clubbing like we were planning once upon a time."

Chris' eyes twinkled. "Clubbing, huh? That may not be an impossible suggestion to work with. Yeah… I got your back, kay? I'll make the clubbing thing happen fer sure." Maddie smiled and heard someone calling her, so she ran off the other way after giving Chris a glomp goodbye, further messing with his confused head.

"Got her back for what?" Chris looked up at Katroina. She had been walking back from the control room.

Chris tilted his head. "Where did you come back from?"

"The Control Room," she answered looking a bit agitated. "I had to run a few pizzas they ordered over to them. Apparently I'm a delivery girl now."

"That'd be something to see," Chris mused. "Harvard – the delivery girl from – duh – Harvard! Come to think of it, that's kind of weird."

"Which is why you'd think of it." She waved her hand. "I'm hoping to go into politics or becoming an environmentalist. If that fails, I guess delivery things is a good money maker… the camera crew gave me a great tip. I refused, of course," she added fervently, seeing the wide 'Another poor person to make fun of!' smile creep onto his face.

They continued the long walk to the Control Room quiet. She didn't have to walk with him, but she was. Why would she? Wasn't she just down here? The familiar panic assaulting Chris came back tenfold. Maybe – oh no – maybe she liked him, too!

"Harvard, be straight with me," Chris said, trying to sound serious. "Do you want to sex me up?"

Katroina's face screamed 'huh' as she looked over at him with her face contorted together. "Sex you up?" He nodded. She bit her lip and burst out laughing. "Wow, I haven't heard that one yet! You're slang doesn't cease to challenge my mind, did you know that?"

"Um, no."

She laughed and shook her head at his simple answer. "If you mean to ask me whether I like you or not, the answer is… yes, I guess I do. But I think you have a lot of growing up and changing to do before it gets any further."

Chris stopped listening after she said 'yes.' That one word was the only thing he could hear.

"EEEEEEEP!"

Chris had his door locked and felt safe for a while until an ear splitting scream scratched his ears. He brushed it off, having heard more terrible things before. It wasn't too good to try and fix every girl's problem anyways, so he just stayed at his laptop typing away emails and orders for things for his missions. His safety was ripped from him as his door went soaring open with a crash for the second time that day. Oh yeah, his lock was definitely gone now.

He was thinking of a few possible girls to end up doing such a thing, but Shelly hadn't been one of them. She had tore through his door and raced right into his arm, finding condolence by suffocating herself against his cologne-spritzed shirt.

"Yo," he said. "Wanna tell me who died and why the heck I missed it?"

"N-no… I… EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" She made Krissy's gropes look weak as she pushed herself further into him.

"Chill, babe! What's the static that has you flying off the chart?" He didn't understand why she was so hysterical. Shelly was energetic sure, but she didn't go crazy like this ever. Something must have gone awry. He just hoped whatever the event was that the lazy camera crew had it on tape.

"Shelly!" Chris rolled his eyes as Lauren slammed his door open all the way and caught sight of her. "There you are! Listen, I took the snake away. It's okay to go outside, I promise."

The brown haired girl shook her head, rubbing Chris' shirt with every turn of her head. "I don't care, I hate snakes. I'm hiding out here!"

Chris gave his laptop a mournful look. Well, it was nice to get things accomplished while he had a chance. "I wouldn't have thought snakes scared you and I wouldn't have thought you could take a snake away."

Lauren looked away, rubbing the back of her neck. "Chris, there's a lot of things you don't know about me." He tilted his head at her and even the strange tone she took had Shelly looking up at her to figure out what she meant. Lauren quickly waved her hands around, looking a bit alarmed at their curiosity. "Ah, I mean that's why I'm here! So you can get to know those things! Eventually! Because I like you and all, and… yeah…" she laughed awkwardly and darted out at a surprising speed.

Chris groaned, overlooking her weirdness by her last comment. Another one likes him.

"Chris, is it okay if I stay here for a while?" Shelly asked, her voice muffled against the material of his expensive clothes and her breath hot on it.

He pushed his hand against his forehead, willing an impending headache from wreaking havoc from all his revelations. "Sure, why not?"

"Thanks," she said, calming down considerably. "You may not seem nice at first, but I think you're a sweet guy. You make me feel safe."

Sweet? Safe? Damn, another one who seemed to actually like him…

As soon as Shelly felt secure enough to go out and around the house (she must really, really hate snakes) Chris went on full lockdown. He did not want to see any other girl. He was being driven to the edge of thoughtlife by all these chicks. The last thing he needed was more confessions of sorts. He had his door closed and hoped no one else would need to come in for any reason. Life was going smoothly until his phone vibrated.

"Yo?"

"CHRIS! THE CAMERA CREW IS BEING HARASSED BY THE WRITER WITH TWO NAMES AGAIN!"

Chris slapped a hand to his face. God, when will it end? "Dude, just, I don't know, tell them to answer her questions or something. Or get Lena – she listens to her now."

"But Chris, she's crazy," the man – presumably a head of camera crew staff member – pressed. "She wants to see recordings from past episodes to check her notes. She keeps notes, Chris!"

"Dude it's, like, basically her thing." Chris got up. "Whatever, I don't want to handle it. I'm in the middle of something important here, brah." He chanced a fleeting look over to the solitaire game that was over the document he should be working on and exed out of it. "Real important stuff."

The man on the other end of the phone muttered a curse into the receiver. "Fine, stay upstairs! See if we care! This only has to do with a girl who likes you! What say could you possibly have over her, right?"

"Hey, don't say stuff like that, man!" Chris said, but the man had already hung up. "Ugh, I can't win! Someone's got to be real here! They can't all actually like me! Someone –" A name came into Chris' mind and flashed in bright neon. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of her before? She wouldn't go and tell him that she liked him when he was deliberately breaking her Three C's! There was just no way.

"But Chris, I do like you." Charlie felt a bit taken aback by the way Chris flew into her room (a.k.a. the library). He had tried to act casual (make fun of her) and somehow just blurted out whether or not she liked him (more or less). But instead of asking, he made it sound more that he was confirming she thought he was a tool and that she couldn't possibly be here for him. When she defied him, he was quite confused.

"Whaaat a riiiot!" Chris said eventually, drawing out his words. "So the dating fourteen other girls at once thing doesn't bother you?"

Charlie was getting confused now. Where exactly was he taking this? "Of course it bothers me. When you genuinely like a person, I don't think you'd want to share with other people. Besides, I wouldn't say you're dating anyone. I haven't seen you for thirteen days… and you slept on the plane ride back."

"Yeah, yeah… give me more beef about it… so I want you to just say it straight up, got me? Do you actually, like, like me?"

"Yes," she confirmed, suddenly finding the situation funny instead of annoying. "Do you want me to say I don't?"

"Well yeah, I wouldn't mind some honesty from someone."

Chris had been used to being told that he was hated, that he made lives miserable. It brought him such a joy for reasons that only a sadist could ever understand and empathize with. Even past relationships had been blamed on him for going sour and he never minded. If they were calling him out or yelling at him, they were being honest. When they said they liked him or thought he was sweet, they wanted something or didn't really know him – they were just yanking his chain.

His dark eyes fell onto her dark blue ones as she came next to him, taking his hands into her lap and smothering them between hers. "Now, don't take offense to this, but you haven't ever had a meaningful relationship, so I think your, for a lack of better terms, immature."

"Immature?" He always thought this was what seeing a psychiatrist was like, minus the physical contact.

"Right. I'd say you're at the level of maybe a preteen."

"I've done more than a preteen has –"

"I know that," she said, looking a bit disgusted with the imagery of Chris and other girls. "But as far as the emotional level, you're preteen. You're stuck in this denial. It's a hurdle you'll need to overcome if any relationship with any girl you meet is going to work." She relaxed her grip. "I think once you acknowledge that the girls here actually care about you and this is more than just another show, you'll start to care. And once you start to care, I think you'll be happier."

She felt she got somewhere with him. "This is it!" she told herself. This is his breaking point where they form a new bond and reach a new level! Chris didn't look as excited. "That," he said, taking his hands back, "was so not the answer I wanted." He got up and walked right out into the hall, shutting the door the way his had been shut.

"Someone looks anxious." Chris looked up at Lea, who was walking by without paying him much heed, probably heading out to her room. "I bet you're starting to come out of your denial phase."

"What is wrong with you people? And I'm not in a denial phase! Next person to say that is so outta here!"

"Right, sure, that's nice." Not having much of anything to do, Chris followed after her. She assumed he wanted her to continue pushing the topic, so she went on. "You've been gone for thirteen days, you know. What have you been up to? Work?"

"Something along the line of work," he said.

Lea took a step closer and he was wondering if she was planning to cut him off and walk ahead of him, but he was wrong. She took her fingers around his and hung onto them loosely. "This must seem like work for you, too. Another reality show, another winner and loser, challenges you need to plan. It's not really fair to you, is it?"

Chris gawked at her. "That's exactly what I've been thinking! And it's so weird, 'cause everyone here keeps saying they don't not like me and it's freakin' messed up."

"Chris," she stopped at the door in the kitchen, leading to a path to the pool house where she stayed in. "Not to be the bearer of unfortunate happenings and lead you down a path of unspeakable horrors, but I don't not like you as well."

"Hey, you two!" Lea and Chris looked over at Serenity as she whipped the sliding glass door open and came inside. Her eyes were locked on Chris and Lea's 'hand holding' of sorts. "I heard Chris was giving everyone one on one time."

"What kind of moron told you that?" She looked at him skeptically and he pulled back from Lea. "Hey, stop giving me a third degree! I was just talking because I happened upon her! Lea, tell her!"

Lea looked away from the spot far off in the distance out the window she was gazing at lamely. She smiled softly at Serenity, who looked ready for an answer. "Yes, I suppose my alone time is always getting cut short, but it happens. It can be your turn."

"You see? I'm – whoa, wait up, that didn't sound right!"Lea was already out of the house and walking to her room. Chris cursed his luck as Serenity smiled up at him. "So," she asked, "what's the game plan?"

"Game plan? I don't have one, dude. I didn't know I was giving everyone time until just now."

"Hmm, I'd leave you alone to think about how wrongly you're mistreated, but I have a bit of sadist in me too and I can't let you be too happy. Besides, I was called out last and obviously need to show you how much I like you and want to be here." Of course she confessed to him today, too. Apparently they didn't have a confessional today in this place because everyone kept coming to unload their thoughts on him. "So, how about you take a break? We'll watch a movie."

Chris sighed in defeat and started heading over to the theatre. "Which one?"

"I was thinking Titanic."

"Huh, you know I never actually sat through the whole thing. I always left after everyone got in the boat and always came back around the time the dude dies."

"Well today is your lucky day! I plan on seeing it all!"

"Oh," he said, cringing at the fresh excitement in her eyes. "Wicked."

Everyone was boarding the damned ship and Serenity had Chris glued to his seat. He was not going to get up and get snacks and miss a second of this love-packed flick. She was determined to make sure he saw it even it meant putting up with his growling stomach and complaints of, "So, when do they all crash and burn and stuff?"

"Shhh – they're leaving the port!"

They were both staring at the screen one second. The next second the screen had been smashed to the ground and there was a destroyed drum kit on top of it and a nice sized hole up above. Serenity's mouth fell open and Chris tilted his head slightly. They showed each other their confused faces, wondering if the other knew what just happened. Then they looked back at the mess and slowly angled their heads up in unison at the large, gaping hole in the ceiling.

After a few seconds of stumbling, Al was leaning down. She laughed nervously and gave them a slight wave. "Hey there, guys… I can totally explain this."

"Do you want to?" Serenity snarled. She wasn't the type of person who liked being interrupted, but cutting in and ruining a chance to see her favorite movie with the guy she liked? It had her on the edge.

Al noticed this and stopped laughing. "Right… well, you see… it's kinda a funny story, really… I'm in this band called Dance Dance Go back home and I play the drums… in the band I play them… and so I just got off the phone with another member and he asked me to try out a few beats and… I tried, but it sounded off… and I thought I heard ticking… and I went to go ask Chris what was wrong with it and it went… kaboom."

Chris stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You know, I think I put that there for a mission and forgot about it."

Serenity tossed her hands up in defeat. "Well what about the movie? That was the only copy I had."

"I got one in my movie collection in the other room." Serenity smiled and rocketed away to find this 'other room.' Chris rubbed the back of his head. "I never organized them, so she'll be there for a while."

Al seemed to be the only one bothered by the fact she wrecked two of Chris' rooms and his TV. "Chris, I'm sorry. I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

"Don't bother," Chris waved a hand at her and got up to stand under her. "I hate this room anyways, so I'll just rip down the ceiling and make one huge room with a strobe-light-thing on the ceiling. It'll be wicked cool."

"Sounds it," she said, not looking convinced. "Still, I feel awful for ripping the place apart. I bet you're not used to the girls who like you showing their affections by destroying your stuff."

Chris threw his hands up. "Wow, you too? That's it, I take it back. You so owe me."

"Me too what? Wait, I OWE you now?" Al took her iPod out and turned it up. "I, uh, think I misheard you Chris. I'll just come down and talk to you later, alright?" She disappeared from sight, leaving Chris to look up at the ceiling of his third floor and second floor at the same time. "Whoa," he observed. "Trippy."

This was it: challenge time. After all the chaos that had occurred today, Chris had a lot of things to swarm his thoughts. Concentration seemed impossible at this point in time. After a third attempt of failing to come up with anything catchy to introduce his mission, he gave up and went to go complain about his crappy life in the Confessional.

He swung the door open, ready to spew to the world all the ways the world had mistreated him. It was too bad his seat was filled by a different dark haired beauty other than himself.

"You think you have problems?" Roxie pulled out her shirt and showed him how it had scribbled marker stains on it. He recognized the writing as Stormy's.

"Should I care?"

"No, I have more shirts. It's just the fact that I really don't enjoy having random people take notes on my shirt since they ran out of room on their page."

Chris shut the door and came over, not bothering to let her have any alone time. "Well, I have bigger problems."

Roxie's dark brows furrowed and she got and walked over to him, coming by his side in an instant. "You look genuinely upset. Do you want to talk about it?"

He hit her bright eyes with his dark ones. "People here… they like me."

"I would know, I'm one of those people." She pressed a hand to his back when he frowned deeper, hoping to calm him down enough to get to the bottom of this problem.

"It's kinda freaky," he said. "I don't know how used to it I am. I can't think about work. All these stupid confessions and lame moments and dumb stuff you all do keep popping up and it's messing with my head. I don't like it."

Roxie did her best to fight back a smile. "So you're upset that everyone likes you?" He nodded grumpily, like a child admitting to a fault. "Maybe the problem is you're starting to realize you like us back."

"I'm not a preteen," he muttered, still sounding like a kid.

She gave him a perplexed look. "I never said you were, Chris. I'm just saying that maybe what you're feeling isn't bad. It's different, but I think it'll be nothing but good if you stop trying to fight it. Just think about it, okay?" He looked back at her and sighed, not doing anything more to acknowledge her request. She finally let herself smile and she pecked him on the cheek, escorted him to the door, and locked him out to go tell the camera crew about the situation with Stormy writing on her clothes.

Chris walked through the halls, slumped forward and feeling like he was worn out and ready for his day to be over already. Every girl he had come across liked him. All said they wanted to be with him, to win this thing. But he couldn't like them all, could he?

He thought about it. He thought about each girl. He wasn't so sure what to think anymore, but maybe if he just tried to take their advice and consider the possibilities…

"Hey, Chris?" Chris stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He hadn't even noticed Tawni. She was sitting on the bottom steps with her face twisted in agony. He walked over and leaned down a bit to look at her swollen ankle. "I've been fine for a couple of days, but my ankle kills for some reason. I was wondering if you could go get me the wheelchair I've been on, please?"

Chris smirked. "Heck no."

Her eyes dropped to the floor. "Of course not. Then can you get someone else to get me it?"

He laughed then. "No can do either."

She leaned away on the heels of her palm, studying him from what she thought was a safe distance. Chris breaking out into random laughter cannot possibly be a good thing. "Fine, I'll just chill here for – whoa!"

Chris swept down and lifted her up. His arm supported her back and her knees were bent over his other arm so that she was sitting back. He leaned close and brushed his nose against hers. She stared up with her dark eyes glossy and shocked. "I guess you like me?" he asked. She nodded mutely, too at a loss of words to speak. He laughed again and took off for where he'd present the next challenge. He knew exactly what he wanted to say. "Join the club."

So much to do, so little time. I hope no one was OC (I rushed a bit). I think I had to address the fact that no one disliked Chris at this point (besides Leila). He always liked to be told how evil he was, it was high-time he addressed how loved he was. It was a challenge. But man, do I feel bad for waking Chris up, I'm dead tired! I've been listening to mushy songs to keep me awake and give me inspiration XP Anyways, thanks for everyone's patience and jazz, it's been wonderful. Next chapter will – gasp – be a challenge, but a break is nice every so often, right? If your oc wasn't in it as much as you like, I'm sorry, I tried my best to be fair, but it's no easy feat, believe you me.

Thanks: reviewers, readers, alerters, favoriters, and the pub room crew but of course.

Special Thanks: HowlingWulf, Long Lost Twin, and Santi48 (reminding me why the heck I do this lol)