I know a lot of people don't like this episode, but the only reason I don't is because of what the Ice Dancers did this episode. Thanks for reviewing, Nicky Haugh (interesting idea, but that's not in my plans...guess I'm too much of a realist as a writer), Silver Writer 0927 (did you mean the ending for the BF's, cause it wasn't an ending for anyone else), Gage the Hedgehog, Bloodylilcorpse, lumigo akvo9504 and zephryr.

There were a lot of benefits from the Vegas challenge – Stephanie and Ryan feeling better about each other because of their placing, me forgiving Kat, Devin and Carrie together...but the one I noticed, a personal one, was that Josee was less focused on us. She spent the whole evening shooting glares at the Goths.

Me? Well, despite the alliance being secret, Stephanie had no problem talking to me as a friend. Well, like a friend who was aware of the age difference, since she was, after all, nine years older than me. I couldn't really talk to her like I could talk to the twins, or Junior, or even Laurie. But I needed a friend, and Stephanie actually wanted me around, it seemed like. She was a bit patronizing, sometimes remarking on my reaction to something being 'cute' or 'adorable', but apart from that, she was all right. And she obviously did like me. Besides that, she got less patronizing as the evening continued – it became just an occasional annoyance.

Thing is, I think the reason she wanted to be around me was because she had some kind of maternal instinct and no one to shower it on. She didn't actually say that, but one of our conversations told me enough. We were talking about our friends back home.

"My best friend Jules just got married to her boyfriend, a few months ago." she said. "Thing was," she giggled, "Jules was like eight months pregnant during the wedding, so it was a little weird. I mean, she still looked amazing, but no way your average bride." She sighed. "Her son is, like, so cute!" I saw the wistful look in her eyes, and that's how I knew she wanted a child to look after. It made me wonder if that was one of the reasons she started dating Ryan so quickly – she told me that they met at their local gym and went on their first date less than a week later.

Kat spent most of the evening talking to the Sisters – both of them. She told me later that she was thinking about making an alliance with them, which made me wonder if we could be in two alliances at once. But I still didn't tell her about the alliance deal I'd made with Stephanie.

Well, I'd have to learn. This time, Crimson took the first travel tip. "'It's time to go to Mexico. Ole'." she read.

We had to take a "chicken bus". Meaning full of chickens – really. Kitty even took a selfie with them.

"Say cheese, chiquita!" she positively sang out.

I didn't get to talk to Stephanie on the trip, because she insisted on sitting on Ryan's lap because of all the chicken faeces on the seats. But at least this gave me a chance to listen in on the Ice Dancers. Of course, they didn't know I was sitting behind them.

They started off talking about the Goths. "We could turn them against each other!" Jacques suggested.

"Won't work." Josee scowled. "They're stuck together like glue."

"Maybe goths don't have weaknesses."

"Everyone has a weakness." I think they noticed something after that, because after a glance back at the Goths, Josee looked back at Jacques and whispered "Weakness!"

There was a pause before she added "And what about those two sisters? The little brat and the old-school one with the dye job? Turning them against each other doesn't work because they're so focused."

My ears pricked up, and I beckoned Kat over, putting a finger to my lips.

"I don't know," Jacques said thoughtfully, "I think one more push could do it."

"But I'm going to have to build it up all over again." Josee complained. "And I know for a fact that the kid won't listen to me – we need to work through another team." Suddenly, she paused, and then said "Well, we better keep a close eye on them for this challenge, to see what we need to do, and then act."

I didn't speak out loud, but just mouthed in an exaggerated way "Keep away from them" to Kat. She nodded, and gave me a thumbs up, sort of like she was congratulating me on pulling a sneaky move to save our hides.

When we left the bus, Geoff and Brody hurtled off first. They'd been eating burritos they got at the bus station, and were paying dearly for it.

"Told you not to eat any of that stuff." MacArthur teased as she passed them.

"I told you!" Sanders argued with her.

As Kat hit the Don Box, I lagged behind a little, hearing Jacques laughing loudly. He was talking to the Goths. "You're funny!" he exclaimed, overacting completely. "Anyone ever tell you this?"

"No." chorused Crimson and Ennui in a monotone.

And then Jacques fell over in another exaggerated way. "Oh, look out, I tripped and now I'm falling!" As he fell, he knocked over Ennui.

"Ouch." the male Goth said, but it didn't sound like he was hurt.

"Oh, so sorry, let me help you up!" Jacques said quickly. "Who knew you could knock over someone wearing such big chunky boots?"

"An All-In." Kat told me, having read the tip. "One of us needs to eat a pepper from the food cart, and the other has to cliff-dive. The ledge one of us has to dive from depends on how hot the pepper is. The lower the ledge, the hotter the pepper. But whoever cliff-dives will find their tip attatched to a canteen of milk."

Stephanie and Ryan already had their tip, so I let my eyes slide over to Stephanie. She caught my eye, and mimed biting into a pepper. I nodded. She saw it, and then spoke to Ryan. "I eat, you jump, stamped it, no erasies."

"I might be okay at swimming, but diving isn't my thing." I told Kat. "Is it okay if you do it?"

Kat looked a little worried, but smiled. "Sure! Just...you should check out how the peppers are before you eat any of them. I don't want you to numb your face by eating the hottest." She looked at the tip again. "Once you're done with the pepper, you need to wave a flag with the colour of the pepper and then I jump."

The mild pepper turned out to be yellow and large, with the middle one being smaller and green, and the smallest hottest one being red.

While Ryan and Kat began climbing up the ladders on the cliff, Stephanie and I went to the food cart with some of the others. MacArthur picked up one of the red peppers.

"Back at the academy, I pepper-spray all the males to build up an immunity." she boasted. "So eating the hottest pepper is easy-peasy." Yeah, sure. That's why she turned crimson and positively screamed for Sanders to jump as she waved the red flag.

I could hear faint yelling as Stephanie picked up one of the yellow peppers.

"Stephanie, I'm begging you! Eat the middle one!" Ryan called down.

"Can't hear you!" Stephanie called back. "You must be above the atmosphere or something!" She passed me another mild pepper as she ate her one.

"You okay with jumping from the top, Kat?" I called up.

"Well, I guess I should keep Ryan company!" she called back. So I did it. I ate the mildest pepper.

Stephanie waved the yellow flag first. "Okay, jump!"

I finished quickly, and took it next, waving the flag as some of the other teams caught up with us.

"So," I ventured to Stephanie, "Did you need to eat that one? I think you scared Ryan so much that he might not jump."

Stephanie shrugged. "He will. He'll have to – he wants to win just as much as I do. And I'm on better terms with him, but still, he dumped me on TV. Of course I want to make him suffer a little."

"I feel guilty for complaining about Kat." I confessed. "I mean, she got better than she was. At first, she treated me like I was really little. Then she seemed to get that twelve wasn't that young, and stopped telling me common sense stuff. And then..." I told her about Junior, about everything. And to her credit, she was actually pretty sympathetic.

"At least you can still see him." she pointed out, after I mentioned that Junior and I would be in the same school. "Maybe you'll have time to meet secretly, after school or something. But it really does suck that your sister acted as if you being with a guy was equal to being a slut at your age – that is so totally normal. Where did she go to school, Conservative School for the 1940 Teens?" She laughed. "I was ten when I had my first kiss."

I stared at her for a moment. Then I said "Kat's not mean, though. She's trying."

Stephanie stopped laughing and said "I know, I know. And she's your sister. But how well does she know you?"

I grimaced. "Not well. How long has this race been?"

"About a month so far."

"Right." I nodded. "So that's how much we've been getting to know each other. I know Kat's protective and spontaneous, but also genre-savvy. She knows I'm determined, diligent and more mature than she thought. But that's about it, really. She feels more like a young aunt than a sister." I paused, thinking about the other contestants. "You know what's weird, though? Earlier on in the race, Kat and I befriended Laurie and Miles. And Laurie felt more like a sister to me than Kat did. Something between us just clicked. I usually went to her with things I wanted help about."

Stephanie gave me a gentle smile. "That's understandable. She's closer in age to you, isn't she?"

I nodded.

"So she probably understood you better just because of that. I haven't really talked to your sister, but I noticed she's on a different level to you altogether." Suddenly, she chuckled again. "To be honest, I feel like you're on the same level as me, even though you're in middle school and I'm way past the point of high school. Have you told your sister that?"

I shook my head. "Thing is, the reason we're on this show is because Kat wanted to do some kind of bonding activity. I feel like it's worked, but not as well as she wanted."

"I'd talk to her after the challenge." Stephanie advised. "Maybe things will get better as long as you both know where you stand exactly."

Then, I asked a really risky question. "So...do you and Ryan know where you stand with each other?"

Luckily, Stephanie just laughed. "Do we ever! Sorry, hon, but things aren't ever going to get better with Ryan and I. We probably won't even see each other after the race is over."

By this time, Jacques, Kitty, Geoff and Crimson had taken their peppers and waved their flags (with Crimson being the only one to take the hottest and react with a dull "Ow"). Everyone except Crimson took middle peppers, and mostly screamed.

Kat and Ryan were still at the top, Kat looking worried and Ryan looking pretty relaxed, not bothering to jump. Stephanie looked up herself and snapped "Why hasn't he jumped yet?"

Eventually, they jumped, just after Jacques had finished his pepper. They landed around the same time as Josee, and handed each of us the canteen as we read the tip.

"So we need to take burroes to the Chill Zone?" I said as I read it, sipping the milk. "Simple!"

And it was. We weren't first, not by far. Ryan and Stephanie left before us, and the Ice Dancers somehow got faster burroes. But as they passed, long ears and a furry face peeked out of Jacques' sleeve.

"Did you see something weird?" I asked Kat.

"If you're talking about that weird-shaped bulge in Jacques' outfit, then yes." she replied. "What's he keeping in there?"

I paused, thinking. "I think...it's some kind of..." Then it hit me. "Loki!" I gasped. "I heard Jacques talking to the Goths and knocking Ennui over. He must've kidnapped Loki then, since Ennui is always carrying him."

A few minutes before we reached the Chill Zone, another burro ambled past, carrying a small passenger.

Kat gasped as the burro, with Loki on its head, passed by.

"I wonder how he escaped?" I grinned. "At least they'll get him back."

By the time we reached the Chill Zone, four teams had arrived.

"Sisterly Strangers, you're in fifth place." Don told us.

The Police Cadets were first, the Ice Dancers were in second place, the Sisters were third, and the Haters fourth. After us, the Surfer Dudes showed up in sixth place.

Finally, the last team arrived, with their third member reunited with them. "Crimson, Ennui, rabbit," Don said, "You're the last to arrive. I thought I would be saying this on Day One, but here it is: You've been eliminated!"

The Goths said nothing. Don glared at them. "I wish you luck in whatever circus or cult you end up in. Go away."

The team obeyed. As they passed, Jacques and Josee high-fived. I knew I was right.

But all the same, I didn't say anything.

Finally, the episode is over. Now the next one is actually a lot of fun to write.