This Is Good, Totally Dig It.
The sound of a broken megaphone cut through the peace of the morning. Very quickly, birds flew away from the top of the cabins, as the kids woke up. "Good morning campers, I'm inviting you all to the dining room for a wonderful breakfast from our wonderful chef, you have ten minutes, hurry up." The sound of the megaphone turning off was as cranky and broken, just as the sound of it when turning on, certainly annoying enough to wake up most of the campers.
"Ugh I forgot how much I hated this part." Noah jumped out of bed, fully clothed, and struggled to not fall face flat on the floor.
"Aw man, I was really hoping he'd gotten over this." Tyler jumped as well out of the upper bed, forgetting about his hurt foot. He let out a scream when falling to the floor. The scream was enough to alert Cody and Zeke, the latter one who fell out of the bed and managed to land safely on all fours.
"Be more careful, eh? You can't just scare us like that."
"Jeez dude, more careful." Cody, who was too tired to care for Tyler's pain, walked to the door that Noah had been holding open for like a full minute, while Zeke helped Tyler to walk at all.
Both Courtney and Katie let out a considerable groan of disgust the moment Chris's megaphone turned on.
"I will not tolerate this abuse from him." Courtney very slowly got out of bed, she did not work well tired.
"You signed a contract, can't you shut up for two seconds?" Gwen saw both Courtney and Katie got up and decided to wake up Eva, who hadn't even been bothered by the noise, and continued to sleep peacefully.
"I- I'm sorry." Courtney got her face out of view and walked out of the cabin as quickly as she could.
"Gwen?"
"Yes, Katie?" Gwen answered a bit annoyed, trying to push Eva's body out of bed.
"What time is it?" Katie was scratching her eyes very strongly but remained in bed.
"I don't know-" Gwen let out a scream and fell to the floor, unsuccessful to wake up her teammate. Lucky for her, Tyler's scream from the cabin next to them did the job.
"Can we ask?-" Katie was interrupted by Eva's groans.
"Is it all ok up there, Hogan?" Gwen mocked, from the floor
Eva seemed like she was about to scream at Gwen, but instead calmed down and said in a serious tone "Sorry, I'm a heavy sleeper."
Everyone met outside and walked to the dining room. Both Noah and Courtney had thought about going there but didn't want to have to face Chef by themselves and decided to wait for the rest and go in a group.
Zeke was helping Tyler out with his walking problem. "It's getting better, I think it only hurts because I was sleeping and the defenses are low or whatever."
"It better be better for the challenge eh, we don't want a 3v4 situation."
"What happened to him?" Gwen approached the duo, curious as to why the jock was walking funny.
"Eva threw a crate into my foot."
"Oh yeah, I remember… By accident?"
"How am I supposed to know? I think it was, maybe."
Eva walked past them, still clearly sleepy. While Gwen stayed to chat, Cody approached Noah. "Hey man…"
"Hey…" Noah looked behind him where Gwen, Zeke, and Tyler were laughing at something. He tried to find a neutral topic of conversation. "I hope Tyler gets better for challenges."
"I know right? I hope we don't get that physical challenges this time."
"I can get behind that, I'm not exactly the most physical dude you know."
"I supposed so…" Cody scratched his head a bit and gave a look at Eva who was walking in front of them. "That woman is scary."
"Which one?" He let out a laugh. "I know you have experience with scary women."
Cody smiled at him and faked a laugh. In front of him, Courtney was approaching Katie with a somewhat played-off shy attitude.
"Hey…" She was looking at her fingers and playing around with them nervously, but it was hard to tell if she was forcing the attitude or not.
"Oh hey!" Katie kinda stopped talking and kept walking at the same speed, a bit uncomfortable.
"You're friends with Gwen, right?" Courtney got a bit closer to Katie.
"Yeah! I mean we know each other a bit cause we were roommates."
"How do you-" Courtney took a little break and checked if there was anyone close enough to hear her. "I want to know how to get to her."-
Katie looked back at Gwen, who was still chatting with Tyler and Zeke. "She does look mad at you."
"Yeah no shit." Courtney put herself together, she didn't have a lot of patience. "I just need to know how to get her to talk to me."
"Well I don't know, maybe wait until she talks?"
That wasn't helpful to Courtney at all. She wasn't expecting much from Katie anyways, she was kind of useless. Or was that too mean?
"Hey team." Eva approached the pair, quite rudely interrupting their conversation, and attempted to bump Courtney on the shoulder.
"Yeah, hi… team." Courtney showed dislike towards her and stepped aside a little, Katie just gave her a smile.
Eva took a breath of air and contained herself from Courtney's reaction. "I… look, why don't we all stay friends and work on a strategy to take on the boys over there, eh?" Eva let the 'eh' escape her mouth mostly accidentally, but decided not to mention it.
"As if." Courtney gave her a sassy look. "Even if this wasn't about your little feud with the Gollum over there, who gave you the leadership of the team anyway?"
"Girls? Can we take it easy? It's just a game, it's supposed to be fun." Katie was getting quite visibly uncomfortable
"Easy? We're here to win it, I'm not gonna ease off just because you can't handle it." Eva wasn't mad mad, but she was certainly passionate.
"Excuse me?" Katie and Courtney were equally offended, but even though Courtney was about to talk, Katie took the lead. "I am not going to take insults from you for playing the game differently" Katie screamed at Eva, catching the attention of everyone else.
Eva knew something like this might happen. She was afraid the competition brought up the worst of her, this was just a symptom of the disease. But she wasn't going to ease off, she wanted to win this, and she was going to.
Everyone was standing in place looking at the fight unfolding as Katie and Eva growled at each other. Courtney placed herself in the middle. "Hey, why don't we save this fight for when the challenge actually comes?"
Eva gave Katie a death stare. "Don't dare point the finger at me when we lose." She walked away at a fast pace, leaving the duo behind as everyone else continued walking.
"She needs that pole off her butt, right?" Katie tried to give a complicit look to Courtney but all she got back was a disappointed one, as she walked away from her following Eva's steps.
Tyler, who was now walking pretty much on his own, gave a look at Gwen. "Wicked mediation skills."
"I guess? Don't give her too much credit tho."
Gwen let out a giggle but Zeke seemed to be interested in the issue a bit more than he should be. "Why? Weren't you all friends?"
Gwen got caught off guard by the question but responded regardless. "Yeah, and then she lied about getting me to the finale and attempted to backstab me."
"That's fucked up" Tyler was doing his absolute best to contribute to the conversation.
"I'm just tired with the whole fighting and making up and fighting again routine, I'd rather just cut it off, you know?"-
"I can get behind that… I think." Everyone continued walking forward until they reached the dining room
Each team sat on one of the two tables. The place seemed like it was flooded, taken over by flora, and then restored lazily. There were rests of grass and roots on the walls and you could still feel the humidity of the place in your bones. The bad conditions of the place didn't make it easy for the food to be enjoyed. Chef was going around the tables serving some sort of bread paste he had put together around five minutes ago, he was eyeing the contestants as if he was warning them not to bother him. No one in the room looked as if they wanted to be there, but the company of each other disguised the feeling.
While everyone looked at their plate absolutely disgusted and with a lack of appetite, from under a wooden plank on the floor, Chris McClean emerged. He waved his arms triumphantly to call the camper's attention, but everyone just stared at him in silence. Disappointed, he let out a passive-aggressive 'ahem', and almost immediately but reluctantly, Chef clapped at him alone.
"Thank you, thank you… Campers! Today's your first challenge."
Noah let out in a sarcastic voice "Woohoo, can't wait." He managed to get a few laughs from his peers which were exactly what he was looking for.
Chris raised his voice. "What did we talk about?"
"Talk about?" Tyler seemed genuinely confused.
"Yeah? Talked about." He sounded like he was trying to explain a very basic concept to oblivious kindergarteners.
"We didn't really talk that much." Katie raised her eyes from her food to look at Chris. "You just kinda gave a monologue… Went away… Came back… Screamed at us with a megaphone… Went to sleep-"
"Yes, fine, I get it." Chris rolled his eyes and continued talking. "The 'talk' is that you can't speak until I give you permission to."
Courtney, who was getting a little bit fed up, tried to hurry the process up. "Hm, how much longer do I have to pretend to be eating this… white paste." There was notable disgust in her voice. "And get on with the challenge."
"Hey!" An offended voice spoke from behind the kitchen counter. "I worked hard on that!"
"No you didn't." Cody dared to reply
"What did you just say to me?"
"Come on dude we saw you still putting it together when we walked in." The boys at the table tried to hide their laughter.
"It's part of my creative process-"
"Ehem." Chris was struggling to keep the crowd's attention. "As I was saying, I hid eight totems around this island-"
"You mean the interns did."
"Chef, we talked about this." Chef gave Chris an upset look and got inside the kitchen. "Whatever, you guys will have to scatter the island to find them, the first team to find four totems gets immunity."
"You're not giving us clues?" Gwen was in a complaining mood, Chris took notice.
"It's not that big of an island, Gwen."
Eva tried to sound calm but she was still a bit salty from her argument with Katie earlier "So it's just going to be us looking dumb running around this swamp?"
"Well not exactly…" Chris let out an almost evil smile and leaned down. He reached under the same wood planks he had appeared from and took out a big black nylon bag and from it, he took shovels. "You guys are using these babies."
"Wait, we're gonna dig?" Katie sounded astounded.
"Yes."
"But isn't this like… a swamp?"
"I don't see your point…" Chris was evidently just playing dumb to his own cruelty. Katie, who was used to being caught saying idiotic stuff, just assumed this was one of those occasions and decided to shut up, lucky for her, Zeke took over.
"Isn't digging in mud and water crazy hard?"
"You would know, farm boy." Chris gave him a smile and threw everyone a shovel. "There will be exes cleverly placed around the island, dig under them and there'll be a totem, any questions?"
The campers just glared at each other, shovels in hand, in absolute silence.
"Great! May the hunt begin."
Tyler and Cody were walking down the forest zone of the island. There were three main parts, the forest one had clues of having been flooded at some point, and retained the humidity, some mud, and tall grass, but it was, in essence, a forest in recovery. This is where the dock, cabins, dining room, and elimination campfire were sited. When going deeper into the forest, the place fractured into two parts, a full-on swamp to the right, infested with bugs and various debatably mutated animals, and to the left, and also flooded mountainous terrain. As they walked through the forest, Cody and Tyler were looking for anything that looked remotely like an ex.
-How's the foot going buddy? You looked like you couldn't even walk this morning"
"Aw this scratch? It's nothing, check this out." Tyler ran and jumped to reach the nearest tree to climb it, he gained enough momentum to climb the first branches successfully, before breaking the higher bunch and falling to the floor on his back.
"Are you ok?" Cody ran in Tyler's direction, Tyler limited himself to just give Cody a thumbs up from the floor.
Katie was jumping between the thick tree roots trying not to fall into the water, they were the only solid ground in the entire swamp except for the occasional sketchy floating log. Courtney was complaining behind her, trying to do the same jumps but not doing such a great job.
"Ugh." Courtney tried to jump to the gathering of roots behind Katie but almost tripped and fell. Lucky for her, Katie held onto a tree and grabbed her by the hand. "Thanks… Why are we in the swamp again?"
"Oh! We have to find the idols!" Katie lighted up with excitement at the concept of explaining something to someone else
"No you idiot, I mean why we and not the other two."
"Oh…" Katie, still excited, gave herself time to think while she jumped to the nearest root, alert to find exes. "Well Eva is strong, I guess the mountains make sense."
"What is she going to do, punch the mountain?" Courtney followed Katie's steps.
"Maybe?"
"Ugh!"- Courtney had mistakenly stepped on the water under her. -"And why her and Gwen?"
"I guess Gwen doesn't wanna hang with you."
"And why aren't I with Eva at the mountain?"
"I guess Eva doesn't like you"
"Why is no one in the forest?!" Courtney screamed into the air not only scaring the birds around her but also Katie who fell into the water. Getting covered in water up to her stomach "Oh my god I'm so sorry."
"You are?" Katie was disgusted, mad, and uncomfortable. She looked up to the sky and saw the tree branches intertwined and covering the sun. "Hey... Girl?"
-Yeah?" Courtney was very apologetic
"Look up."
Ezekiel and Noah were just now arriving at the mountainous terrain, Noah was having trouble climbing up, while Zeke was running and jumping through the place with significant ease.
"We could hurry it up a bit, eh?"
"We wouldn't be behind if we didn't have to stop." Noah was trying to get on top of a boulder and look around, Zeke saw the struggle and helped him up.
"I had to pee!"
"You could have waited." Noah got on top of the boulder and looked around. Zeke was crawling around the place in all fours sort of like a determined monkey.
"See anything from up there?"
"There's a cave if we go down that cliff."
"I can go down cliffs."
"Weird, never thought of you going down on anything."
Zeke gave Noah a dismissive look and walked in the cliff's direction at a slow pace. Noah tried to get off the rock but fell to the floor and hurt his knees, he played the pain off and walked towards Zeke.
"So… talking again. That sounds fun."
"Oh this?"
"Yeah how did that happen?"
"I-" Zeke made his best effort to figure out a response. "I don't know, maybe it's the radiation receding, maybe it's all those books Chris gave me."
"Books?"
"Well I tried to kill him when he came up to me for the show, just hissed at him, went at him with a knife. He just kinda came back in a flying glass box and gave me a bunch of philosophy books."
"So what, you just learned to speak again?"
"I… remembered." They stood together at the edge of the cliff, it was a 20 feet fall, there was an accumulation of bushes at the bottom and forward, the cave.
"I guess we just go down, eh?"
Noah exclaimed sarcastically. "Haha, you're just gonna jump li-" Zeke grabbed Noah by the hand and jumped down. Zeke was holding onto the cliff's walls while falling to slow it down, but Noah, in panic, let go of his hand and fell strong into the bushes.
He got himself out of the plants, full of scratches while Zeke landed mostly safely to scream. "What are you fucking insane?" Zeke shushed him and covered his mouth, pushing his head under the bushes before getting under them himself. "What is fucking wrong with you?" Noah was shushed again
"I hear them." Zeke made a little space between the bushes for Noah to see the pair standing now at the cave's entrance.
"I am not getting in there."
"Yes you are! I got Cody away from you, you owe it to me!"
"Why aren't we getting in together?"
"I'm tired of climbing, I'm going to the swamp"
Gwen left her crossed arm annoyed stance in absolute disbelief. "You are tired? You're the buff one, you're not leaving me here to climb rocks and look for exes."
Eva rolled her eyes. "Catch me a break."
"Look." Eva gave Gwen a somewhat compassionate look. "You can get into the scary cave or you can go alone into the swamp, but we need to split up so we can cover more ground than the boys."
Gwen didn't look defensive anymore but was still hesitant. "Maybe we should've told Courtney and Katie about this so one of them could have split."
"I don't trust them, how do I know they wouldn't go to the boys and tell them our plan?"
Gwen was genuinely about to argue with Eva, but she wasn't very fond of Courtney herself lately and decided to agree with her. "Ok I'll do it, but you owe me one."
Eva limited herself to nod with a weak smile and walked away. Gwen buckled up emotionally, she was about to enter the scary cave.
Gwen walked through the darkness, there was a light at the end coming from a small opening corner, so she walked in that direction. When she got there, there was a little lighted candle, that part of the cave was dripping with water and moss. Next to the candle, an X, time to dig it was.
Gwen dug for a while until she hit something. It was the idol. She was turning around when a shadowy figure approached her and scared the shit out of her.
"Hi…" Noah crept Gwen from behind.
"Jesus Christ… Did you follow me here?"
"We figured there'd be an idol."
"We? Who's with you?"
"That's irrelevant."
"So what? You're going to ask me nicely to give you the idol?"
"Well, I was going to convince you with my eloquence and gentlemancy…"
"Well, it's not going to work. I promised Eva I'd get the idol."
"Look, you can't lie to me, I know you don't care about Eva."
"And what if I don't?"
"You don't care about anyone here don't you?" You could feel Noah get more manipulative every second passing, and Gwen wasn't having any of it.
"No… Not really"
"You just came because of the contract, like the rest."
"The money would be nice."
"But Emma and I really need this, maybe more than you do."
"Are you pulling a pity card?"
"Oh look at me, the pity man." Noah made a little weird dance, Gwen didn't find it amusing, he quickly became embarrassed and stopped. "But I'm serious, I care about this more than you do, so if you could just give me the-"
"-God I fucking hate this game so much." Gwen hands Noah the idol and storms off. "Everyone is only interested in themselves, there's no sense of friendship in this shitty competition, you can keep your stupid idol I don't care anymore".
Noah leaves the cave to reunite with Ezekiel, a little bit worried about Gwen, but there is… Someone, in his way.
"What's that in your hand?" Eva said in her really scary voice.
Noah immediately gulped, he really didn't want to deal with this. "I found it clean and fair, I should keep it."
"Nice joke, goes well with your outfit."
"What are you going to do, beat it out of me?"
"I might as well..." She cracks her knuckles, Noah is scared senseless but he maintains composure. "I saw my partner ran off in anger from that small cave of yours, what did you do to her?"
"Just took the idol before her, nothing else… Not that a beast like you could-" Noah stops himself.
"Go on, say it."
"No… I sense that's the wrong move to make."
Tyler and Cody already had found one idol in the forest, and were mostly chilling.
"We should probably look for another one." Cody is laying on a tree, next to Tyler.
"We already got one tho! What's the big deal for another one?"
"Well, we need four of them right? And we're four people…"
"Oh, I get it now… So we should get two! Cause four minus two is two…"
"I don't know if that's the logic I followed but at least you got there."
"Should we go somewhere else or just stay here?"
"I mean we already had luck here so why not stay, you know?"
"Hell yeah, it'll be our lucky streak!"
"You got it!"
They get up and start looking for another X. In the meantime, they start chit-chatting a little bit.
"So, about what you said in the boat…" Cody's trying to not let the talking disrupt his ability to find the X.
"I said a lot of things in the boat."
"I mean like, the breakup part."
"Oh… Yeah, that."
"Did something happen with Lindsay?"
"Oh yeah, we kinda just uh…" He grabbed his hand. Tyler really didn't look like he enjoyed talking about this, Cody even felt a little bad for asking.
"It's ok if you don't wanna say."
"No, it's totally cool, I'm over it." He put together that sentence like a child putting a block into the circle-shaped hole on their toy.
"Oh well, that's nice then."
"Yeah, no need to worry about it." Tyler saw two trees intertwined forming a big X on the plane. "Yo, I think this is it, Cods."
"It sure looks like it is." They started digging together.
Courtney is losing her damn mind, they've been walking for twenty minutes and they've found only a single idol. The swampy terrain was starting to get on her nerves. Katie on the other hand seemed more amused and entertained.
"God how long is it going to take to find another damned X."
"Aren't you enjoying the view?"
"In a swamp? Of course not! This place smells like shit and it doesn't even look pretty to make up for it."
"I feel like it's really pretty in its own way."
"With all the mutated beasts running around I'd beg to differ."
"I mean it tho! The plants are really pretty and the animals are…" Katie stopped dead in her tracks.
"The animals are what- Oh goddamn it, just what we needed." What they were both staring at the moment was a weird pig-frog kind of thing with a big X painted on its back.
The monster was sleeping peacefully, undisturbed. The thought that the idol could be inside of it was honestly scary. Courtney took the lead as she usually did. "I'll do it."
"Do what…?" Katie realized "Oh wait, no, you're not thinking of…?" Courtney nodded. "COURTNEY NO." Katie's voice cracked up a little. "It's just a little animal, we can't do this to them!"
"Look, do you want to win this or not?"
"I do! But this is not the way."
"There's no other way!"
"I'm sure there's plenty of other exes!"
"Well, I'm not staying around in this dirty old swamp to find them" Courtney jumped to catch the pig. It's hard to tell exactly what her plan was, she wasn't exactly armed with a weapon. The pig took off running with Courtney still holding onto it. Katie was only able to admire the situation in awe. "HELP, KATIE HELP." she screamed, but she's too far away to be heard now.
Zeke was losing it. "So you just gave it to her? Man, what in hell."
"You were not there, you don't get it. She's incredibly scary."
"What's the big woman going to do? Punch you?"
"Well of course she wouldn't lay a finger on me I just…" Noah wasn't going to admit what really happened. "I don't know, just catch me a break."
"Whatever, let's just look for another X quickly before the girls get more idols."
"You don't need to be all mad about it."
"Well, you don't need to go around giving idols away man!"
They walked through the mountains a bit more, not getting really lucky with finding the exes. The tension was a bit high after Noah's encounter with Eva, so they didn't talk that much until Zeke broke the silence.
"What's the big deal with you and Emma needing the win?"
"Well, that is an awfully specific and creepy thing to bring up."
"Yo chill out I'm just asking." Zeke was attempting to push a boulder down the mountain for no reason at all as you do.
"Well the fact that you ask means that you've been thinking about the one comment I made a full day ago on the boat, and that is incredibly creepy."
"Yeah, I think about things people say, what's so wrong about that?"
"Well, it's not wrong per se , it's just a bit concerning."
"Why?"
"Because it means I have to watch my words more if you are actually listening."
"Huh, I don't think I could watch my words even if I tried."
"That's not surprising."
"You didn't answer my little question anyways."
"Look it's… Complicated."
"How complicated can needing the bonus be?"
"Do you even know what the bonus is?"
"Not really."
"If I don't want to talk about it it should be enough."
"Fine, ok, whatever you want man." The boulder finally fell off, rolling down the mountain.
Gwen was wandering through the forest, absolutely tired of everything and everyone. She was kicking stones and thinking to herself.
She saw a figure approaching her from the side, it's the jock, surprisingly.
"Hey! Any luck with idols?"
"Why are you talking to me? I'm not even on your team."
"Why would that make me not talk to you?"
"You don't gain anything from it."
"Hey, I'm just being nice…" Tyler realizes something is up. "You don't look so good."
"Well I'm not, I hate this place."
"Oh, that's the problem? That's chill, just lose this challenge and go home."
"Well of course you'd like that, you'd win."
"Oh no, I don't say it because of that." Tyler didn't like being misunderstood, it's something that bothered him a lot. "I just mean if it's hurting you then maybe going home is something you can do for yourself, you know?"
"I guess so…"
"You gotta look over for yourself! Or no one else will… That's something you learn."
"Hm, where did you get all of this from?"
"From my brain! I'm pretty smart aren't I?"
Gwen giggled a bit. "I guess so… Do you really not care to win this."
"Hey, I'm just happy the fans wanted me back."
"That's a nice way to see it… It's different for me cause 'want me back' just means a lot of teenage boys think I'm hot."
"Well yeah, goths I guess."
Gwen laughed along with Tyler. "Yeah, god I hate being goth sometimes."
They talked for a bit more and walked through the forest.
Courtney saw the gigantic boulder coming for her and dropped the pig, falling to the floor. Cody comes running from behind her.
"Are you ok?!"
Courtney was on the floor, she really didn't feel like she could move. "Oh yeah I'm wonderf- WHAT DO YOU THINK?"
"Sorry I just…" Cody saw something inside the exploded body of the pig. It's an idol! He goes and grabs it.
"Hey, give me that, it's mine!"
"Huh, this? Yeah sorry but I need it."
"You little scummy rat you will pay for this!"
"Goodbye!"
Cody ran away, leaving Courtney laying on the floor alone.
Eva was walking through the swamp, alone, looking for an X. She was not getting really lucky, but she was already carrying an idol so she was confident in finding another one. Sadly it's not an X that she finds.
"What are you doing here?" Katie was not over the argument earlier.
"I'm looking for an idol, it's called being helpful to the team, princess."
"Hey! I'll let you know I also have an idol."
"Well good for you."
"Yeah, good for me."
They kept walking loosely in the same direction, kind of avoiding each other. Eva eventually got tired and broke it up.
"Why are you following me?"
"I'm not following you! I just… Don't want to be alone."
"So you're following me to not be alone."
"I mean… Yeah, pretty much."
"Well, you won't be less lonely following someone you don't like."
"Who says I don't like you?"
"You… Act like you don't."
"I just think you're taking the game too seriously."
"And you're taking it too lightly."
"I just don't want to ruin the fun!"
"There's no fun in the games Chris plays."
"I just came here to make some friends, is that so wrong? I was really happy that the viewers voted me to be here, I just didn't want to waste the opportunity."
Eva thought of it a little. "Well, let's make a deal."
"What deal?"
"I'll be your friend, but you have to let me play the game seriously"
"That's not nice!"
"Maybe not that nice but it is sorta nice, right? That's the best I can do"
"I guess." Katie understood something about Eva at that moment. "Why are you so focused on winning?"
"The fans voted me back in, right? It's good for my self-esteem, I don't want to let them down." She made a small pause. "Is it a deal or not?"
Zeke and Noah were in front of an X carved out on the ground. Finally.
"Are you going to help me dig?" Noah is giving it all with the shovel.
"Sh, I'm watching them birds."
"Oh great, cause it 'calms you down'."
"Oh, so when you remember things others say it's not creepy?"
"I always pay attention to people's words."
"Good for you."
Noah dug the idol up, and immediately after he did, a big booming voice resonated through the speakers. "Great job campers! Looks like the boys win this challenge! I guess Ezekiel was right about the girls being awful! Anyways, everyone meet back at the dining room."
"Well, that was a terrible use of my time, enjoy your birds, I'll be at the dining room."
"Have fun for me, eh." The kid said, and he watched the birds, as he deserved to do.
Tyler arrived with Gwen, Katie with Eva, Noah, and Cody arrived on their own. They sat all on the same table, there was really no point in sitting separately. On the table they discussed.
Gwen opened the conversation. "Why do we have to sit at the dinner table, can't we go to our rooms?"
"I guess we just do what Chris says for a while." Cody looked disillusioned.
Katie was grabbing onto Eva's arm, she didn't seem to mind. "I mean if we just do what he says he'll have to leave us alone."
Eva wasn't as convinced. "Or he'll just toy us around like a maniac to record every detail."
Tyler tried to think of something to add before the conversation ran past him. Sadly, he couldn't on time, and the conversation ran past.
Noah was tired. Tired of digging, tired of climbing, tired of talking with Ezekiel, he just stood up and left.
"Guess it isn't his day." Cody really wished Noah would stay around but he guessed it was not going to happen.
"Leave him alone, if he wants to be by himself I don't see why he couldn't." And Eva knew about wanting to be alone, so she knew what she was talking about.
"I mean yeah sometimes I need some time to myself too you know? To clear my mind! It helps me perform better." Explained the jock.
"Perform better? You mean you don't trip and fall?" Mocked the goth.
"Ehem!" Chris was standing in the middle of the room. "Where are Courtney, Noah, and Ezekiel"
"Courtney is kinda uh… Laying on the ground, Noah went to his room".
"And Ezekiel?" No one knew, so no one answered. "Well anyways, your first elimination is at 8 pm, make sure you record your confessionals before it's nighttime because the bathroom stall will require some remodeling."
He coughed and continued. "I don't care what you do, make it juicy and dramatic" Chris started walking away from the campers and outside the door. "You can go now, scram!"
The campers all separated and went to their rooms. Cody and Tyler entered the rotten humid cabin. Noah was staring at a wall, Cody found that a little bit weird. "Hey, are you ok there buddy?"
"I'm thinking."
"Oh neat! I love thinking." Tyler jumped onto the bed above Noah.
"You sure look like you do".
"I'm just worried about you man." Cody also settled on his bed.
"I appreciate it, but I'm fine. Just never leave me alone with that thing again."
"Ezekiel?"
"Never again."
The girls sat around at the campfire. Everyone present knew exactly what was going to happen anyway, so no one was really nervous. Eva and Katie were sitting together. Courtney and Gwen were sitting apart.
"You could've come pick me up, you know? I was laying there for like an hour." You would think Courtney would be mad but she honestly just sounded hurt.
No one really answered, they just looked awkwardly to the sides. Chris came up with a plate of marshmallows in his hand. "Ok campers, we all know who's going home but let's try to make this a bit more suspenseful, for the cameras, ok?"
Everyone played along, they put their surprised faces on as they received the marshmallows. The bottom two were Courtney and Gwen, and Gwen got the little white mush and kept going. "Ok Courtney, now for your big dramatic speech. Remember, it must be intense, dramatic and-"
"Do you guys really not like me?" It was all she could say, a small moment of genuinity on this theatrics circus. "Did I really do so much wrong?"
Gwen was the only one to answer. "Go home Court" And so she did. Walked to the boat alone and left the island. It felt weird, to have spent so much time of your adolescence with someone and still hating them so deeply. They didn't want to accept it, but Total Drama really defined their teenage years, even if for the worst. And here they were again in this depressing place, well, everyone except for Courtney that is.
A/N: Congrats! That's the longest chapter you'll have to read in this fic, you got through it, the pain is over.
This chapter was lots of fun. Katie and Eva, and Tyler and Gwen both start up here which will be some of the defining dynamics of the fic. The challenge allowed for a lot of character interaction, even if in limited pairs, that I hope was enjoyable.
I feel the first boot was easy to deduce, but I hope I at least managed to make the elimination itself impactful. If you're worried about Courtney's character going unexplored, I recommend you read the next chapter, as it's a chapter only about her.