hey, how y'all doin
so it's been, uh, let's maybe not acknowledge how long it's been but i am bak! and i did finish the chapter i ditched in the better part of last year oop
lots of things have happened, but probably more excitingly is the TD reboot! two more seasons (short) but new content nonetheless! definitely has reignited a passion for most of us, and can't wait to meet the newbies.
ngl i thought the chapter would be longer,, but alas. at least there's a LOT of juicy drama to feed everyone! enjoy!
It was still dawn over Camp Wawanakwa when Chris made his episodic introductions. This particular time, he was outside the production tent surrounded by monitors, portable cameras and personal assistants that were delivering coffee to the crew.
Once the cameraman gave him the clear, he began. "Last time on Total Drama - Return to Wawanakwa, the two teams faced the Fear Tent! While most of them faced fears they never knew they had, we knew that some of these slackers would need more than a little push to get them out of their chairs. So we brought in a few surprises. In the end, it was the Bass that got their second victory over the Gophers, and it was party guy, once spin-off show winner Geoff who bowed out of the running for his girlfriend. Barf."
On the monitors behind him flashed a picture of Geoff's face before static washed over the monitors and replaced it with a familiar haunting cliff face. On cue, the lights seemed to dim everywhere but on Chris's face.
"Today marks the return to the fated Boney Island, a place that's been untouched ever since the events of All-Stars, so who knows what lies within those depths. Who will come out alive? Which mutated beast will make it's reappearance on television again? What horrors will haunt these losers well into their senior-ship? And more importantly, who's gonna win? Find out, right here, on Total. Drama. Return to Wawanakwa!"
'I Wanna Be Famous' plays.
As the sun rose over Camp Wawanakwa, the sixteen remaining contestants awoke and prepared for the challenge ahead.
Still in the cabins getting dressed were Gwen and Leshawna for Gopher girls, and Trent and Tyler for the Bass boys. In the bathrooms, Heather and Lindsay were at the mirrors beside Courtney, while Sadie was showering in the back. At the mess hall, Duncan was sitting with DJ on one end of the table while Noah, Cody and Harold occupied the other end with their bowls of breakfast. Eva was out for a run with Bridgette, and lastly Justin was on a banana lounge soaking up the sun.
For a long time in a while, it felt like they were all at a proper camp-away experience. At least, for a moment.
The crackle of the intercom was sure to snap them back into reality. "Good morning campers!" Chris's obnoxious voice blared throughout camp. "Might wanna hurry it up and meet me by the docks. It's Boney Island time! Don't be late, or you'll be cut from dinner privileges."
A collective groan was heard around camp as everyone hurried over to beach.
"Wait! I can't find my underwear! Someone help me! Katie? Katie? KATIE?"
((Confessional: Heather.))
Heather sat with her arms folded. "I am not looking forward to being on Boney Island again," she complained, face screwed into a scowl. "Not only did we lose that challenge, but it was Alejandro who got me off!" She sighed. "It's a good thing we're dating now, and I'm over it."
((End Confessional: Heather.))
((Confessional: Cody.))
Cody touched his chin in concern. "Does anyone else remember that plant creature thing with Chris's head? What was that all about?"
((End Confessional: Cody.))
((Confessional: Sadie.))
Sadie sat to one side, as if someone was supposed to join her. "I couldn't find any underwear," she sniffled. If the camera could, it would've turned itself off at that revelation.
((End Confessional: Sadie.))
The chubby girl was the last to rejoin the group as they stood around Chris, and two work benches? As soon as Sadie took her spot beside Trent, the host grinned.
"You're probably wondering what these work benches have to do with your challenge," Chris noted, patting his hand down on the nearest one. "Well, you see we decided to have a little callback to another iconic Total Drama All-Stars challenge."
Chef rolled in a monitor on wheels that had currently displayed the map of Boney Island before it swapped to a still of Courtney and Gwen with empty sundae bowls. At this revelation, the two girls in question flinched.
"Sundae Muddy Sundae," Chris announced. "One of my personal favourite episodes. What about you, Courtney? I liked the part where you revealed your game plan. And Gwen, what about how you were sooo sure Courtney would be your best friend again?" He laughed. "Aw, I love it."
Courtney sunk into the spot she stood, while Gwen got tense with anger as she glared at the host. The other campers shared in their sentiments, asides from Heather who rolled her eyes.
"Anyways, there are three locations in Boney Island that you must visit," the host continued. "The cave, the quicksand and the beach on the farthest side of the island. Each location will provide you with a special ingredient that you'll need to assemble back here."
"Do we all have to make one?" Tyler asked.
"Good catch, Tyler," Chris grinned. "And the answer is yes. All eight of you and your teammates will need to assemble eight of these dishes. All I can tell you is that you'll know what to make once you're back."
Another question was asked by Noah. "What's the rule on hoarding supplies for your teammates?"
Chris stroked his chin. "There's nothing stopping you," he admitted. "But it might be quite a lot to handle for just one person."
"Are we still required to portage across the island?" Bridgette asked.
"You'll need them to get back somehow," the host chuckled, shooting a finger gun at the surfer. "Alright, that should cover it. Your canoes are at the beach ready to go. First team to make all eight of your secret dishes will win the challenge."
The campers turned to the beach, raring to go. "Alright, geez. On your marks, get set, go!"
((Confessional: Lindsay.))
Lindsay stood up, hands on her hips. "Did no one notice my cute canoodling outfit?" she complained, modelling her red cropped top and denim shorts. "I even brought a matching hat for Tyler!" She pulled out a crude, but cute looking denim flat cap.
((End Confessional: Lindsay.))
As they descended the steps to the beach, the campers split off into pairs to canoe together. The two obvious pairs were Leshawna and Gwen, and Tyler and Lindsay.
Justin and Trent briefly made eye contact, but it was immediately broken when Sadie eagerly tackled Trent towards a canoe of their own, leaving Justin without a partner now.
Heather looked to Harold, who opened him out to talk but she silenced him by sticking a palm into his face. "You didn't have to ask," she told him, walking to another canoe of their own.
That left Justin and Bridgette to sail together. The two made eye contact, but there was nothing they could do to change the outcome, so they took the last remaining canoe.
Over at the Gophers, Noah and Eva saw each other and gave a nod despite their differences the previous episode. As for the remaining four, Duncan's choice to approach Courtney allowed Cody to swoop in and pair himself with DJ.
The canoes all occupied, they took off across the lake.
Gwen and Leshawna turned out to be quite the pair when it came to canoeing, being a lot farther ahead that everyone else. Seeing the gap between them and the others, the goth suggested they slow down a tad.
"First Bridgette," Leshawna groaned, "then Geoff. So much for our final four alliance."
Gwen let out a dry chuckle. "Bridgette's still here at least," she said. "Then again, there's not much we can do for her if they lose."
The darker girl raised a brow. "I hope you're not holding out for homegirl to meet us at the merge," she began. "Especially since she's on a team with Heather. That girl is still with us even after their team lost four different times."
"Oh trust me, I have no idea how that's still happening," Gwen agreed. "I hope she's made a friend or two."
Leshawna furrowed her brow now. "Gwen, sugar, it is not your job to look out for her now that she's not on our team. Remember, we're still in it to win it. Put yourself before everyone else."
"I know, but…" the goth looked over her shoulder towards the other canoes, which were still a fair distance away from them. "I feel kinda bad that we inadvertently got rid of her, you know?"
Leshawna popped her tongue in thought. "I feel you," she begrudgingly admitted. "Makes me wish we could've sent Courtney over to them. One less person to worry about on our side of the court, you know what I mean?"
Gwen nodded, turning back to her own canoe. "I should've known this wouldn't be as simple as the first time."
"You're only saying that because you almost won last time," the big girl chuckled. "But I hear you. Things have definitely been a lot different." She cast a glance over her shoulder, accidentally catching Harold's eye and looking away quickly.
The goth hadn't caught onto Leshawna's actions, and continued to paddle. "I mean, this time we already know everyone. We're not the same people we were those years ago. But, I must admit, it's been pretty cool still being your friend for this long. You're the best person I've met."
Leshawna grinned. "Now you're just saying that to stroke my ego, aren't you?" From behind her, she could hear Gwen's soft chuckle. "Don't get slack too quickly, I'm still here to win, and not get cheated out like last time. Shawnie's gotta prove why she should've been an all-star."
At the mention of the word, Gwen cringed.
((Confessional: Gwen.))
"I wonder all the time how I could've done things differently in All-Stars," Gwen confessed. "Something tells me Leshawna could've definitely either helped me, or make things worse." She tugged on her collar a bit nervously. "But at least we'll never know for sure."
((End Confessional: Gwen.))
"Can you row faster?" Heather whined from the back of the canoe, forcefully dragging her paddle through the water. "We're falling behind!"
"Gosh, we're not even that far behind," Harold argued back. "If I row too fast, there is a high likelihood that our canoe will tip over and we'll end up in the water."
Heather groaned. "Shut up and row!" She held the paddle in her hand momentarily, pondering hitting him over the head with it, but decided against it.
The geek caught sight of the paddle in his peripheral vision and chuckled. "I knew you were getting soft for me."
The queen bee's face contorted into that of disgust. "Um, ew? Why would you even phrase it like that?"
"But it's true!" Harold argued. "You were going to hit me, but you didn't."
Heather rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because if I did, you wouldn't be able to row, and in case you forgot, we're in the middle of a challenge and you're rowing at the same speed as the gears in Lindsay's head!"
Harold blinked. "That's not very nice."
The queen bee pressed her palm to her forehead. "Yeah, no kidding," she grumbled out with a frustrated sigh. "Look can you please row faster?"
Harold grinned. "See what happens when you use your manners? If you had asked politely to begin with, then maybe I'd-"
"Now!"
Startled now at her sudden outburst, the bespectacled geek stuck his paddle into the water and began to hurry his strokes. "Yes Heather."
"Aren't you lucky you're still here," Noah commented dryly as he and Eva made their way across the lake. "And not having to swim your way to the playa and out of a million dollars."
Eva glared at the Indian, although with him sitting in front of her, the intimidation didn't have much of any effect. "Don't play smart with me, you wanted him gone for that little plan of yours."
"Hey," Noah said defensively, raising a hand by his head. "All I meant was that we got lucky that our plan worked. But something tells me that they're onto us, so it might be time to make some big plays this round."
The athlete raised her brow. "What are you thinking?"
"Duncan is definitely onto us, I think," the bookworm explained. "And I think he's part of the reason why Courtney wasn't in the bottom two with Geoff last time. Have you noticed the two of them are getting close again?"
Eva paused. "No. I don't care what's going on with other people."
"Well you probably should start," Noah advised. "You'll be surprised how much you learn by watching people."
"Like what?" she challenged, dipping the paddle into the water.
Noah discretely made a motion towards DJ and Cody's canoe. "What do you see?"
Eva squinted at the pair, who were rowing their canoe just like anyone else. "I see a weakling and a wimp in a canoe. They don't match in strength, and like me, DJ's doing all the work paddling."
The bookworm guiltily made another rowing motion with his paddle, feeling a little called out for not doing as much to work. "Okay, and anything else?"
"Uh," the athlete looked again. "No?"
Noah leaned back to move close to Eva, pointing a skinny finger at Cody, making sure to use his proximity to Eva to allow her to see the same thing. "See how he keeps looking towards them," he said softly, moving his finger to the canoe ahead of them all. "And how his expression changes?"
Eva glared at the bookworm. "Are you kidding? He's just looking at Gwen. That's nothing new."
The Indian shook his head. "No, he's not looking at her," he explained. "You can tell when Cody looks at Gwen, he gets all starry-eyed and in love, it's weird. He's looking at someone else."
The unibrowed girl looked to who else was in the canoe with Gwen and frowned. "Leshawna? Why would he be looking at her?"
"Isn't that the question," Noah mumbled quietly, sitting upright again and paddling. "That's the look of someone who knows something they shouldn't. Just like Tyler when he saw Gwen and Duncan kiss."
"You think Cody saw Leshawna kiss someone?" Eva asked. "Why would he care? She's a woman who can do what she wants."
The bookworm shrugged. "I don't know why, which is why we should look into that. In the meantime, we should work on getting those two to fall apart again."
The two of them looked over their shoulders to see Duncan and Courtney rowing together, more civilised than ever before. They exchanged a look, and went back to paddling.
Despite being a pair that liked each other, Tyler found himself doing most of the work as Lindsay lay across his lap in her custom red lifejacket. With two paddles in each hand, he was doing two people's worth of work to make sure the canoe was going anywhere.
"The sun is so nice today," Lindsay noted, feeling it on her skin. "The weather is always so nice here, why don't we come here more often?"
Tyler grunted as he rowed. "I don't know, Linds," he responded, trying not to show his weaknesses. "Do you think it has to do with Chris being the host of a reality TV show?"
"Can he control the weather?" the blonde asked, more interested now. "Ooh, can you ask him to turn it up a bit? The sun's nice, but I can get cold sometimes. That's why I like spending time with you, because you're always so warm."
Tyler's face went red, but it was unclear if that's because he was blushing or because he was near the point of exhaustion. Lindsay was yet to notice, as she held her hand up to observe her nails.
"Aw, the paint is coming off on this one," she noted, looking closely at her left ring finger. "Ah well, I kinda wanted a different colour on it anyways."
"What colour?" the jock asked.
Lindsay smiled. "I think gold," she replied. "Or even like a crystal colour." Unbeknownst to him, she traced the band of her finger with her other hand, as if she was adjusting a ring.
"That's a good colour," Tyler complimented, none the wiser. The blonde looked up at her boyfriend's red face and blushed herself. It took her a moment to realise that he was straining himself, sitting upright out of shock.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "You should've said something."
The jock blinked, startled enough by the outburst that he dropped the oars into the lake. The two looked on panicked as they sank into the waters around them. The two were speechless.
Duncan and Courtney were another pair that were making their way across the lake fairly effectively. Even so, it wasn't as if they were best friends.
"So," the delinquent began, "You feeling any better since we last saw each other?"
Courtney tugged her oar through the water harder. "You could say that," she answered. "I saw Scott."
Duncan perked an eyebrow. "Aw, how is that dirt muncher?" he asked, feigning amusement. "Did he ask you out again? You two still seeing each other?"
The CIT made a face. "As if," she practically gagged. "No, I saw him after the last challenge. Nothing too exciting, just…" She fell silent.
The silence was enough for Duncan to change his tune. "You alright?"
Courtney shook her head, dismissively not so much the negative. "It was nice to speak to someone so… openly again. Even if he offered me some rotten potato." She looked out across the lake. Her expression was unreadable. "Hey, have you spoken to Gwen recently?"
"Why?" Now Duncan became guarded.
The CIT lingered her gaze before turning over her shoulder to look at the delinquent. "No reason."
((Confessional: Courtney.))
"I know Leshawna's hiding something from Gwen," Courtney began. "And that might be my chance to create a wedge between those two. But still, I don't know what she could be hiding, just that she doesn't want Gwen to find out. Duncan, as usual, is no help." She kicked her leg, thinking. "If we lose today's challenge, I don't know who they'll want to target, but I should make sure it's not me, but just waiting around won't be good for me. I need to make a play fast."
((End Confessional: Courtney.))
"…And then we got kicked off the yacht, which was totally not what we thought would happen, but it was sooo funny to watch at the hearing!" Sadie droned, eagerly paddling in front of the musician. "And that's how me and Katie both got, like, arrested for a day. Haha! Your turn!"
Trent forced a laugh. "Wow, you've surely been busy," he managed to say.
Sadie nodded eagerly. "Oh absolutely. And then there was this time when we got stuck in a tunnel. Which was, like, super bad for our shared claustrophobia. And the guy who was behind us kept honking his horn and it was so not nice because we totally didn't mean to get stuck behind the truck. When we got out we missed the concert, but Katie's uncle-the one with the eyepatch, not the one with the beagle-got us Mexican food!"
"Yeah, I don't know if anything I've done is quite as exciting as that," the musician admitted.
The chubby friend had pouted. "But you're so cute! And handsome!" she said in disbelief. "There's no way your life could be boring!"
Trent took that as nicely as he could. "I don't know about that," he chuckled. "The thing is music has kinda taken over my life. I spend more time in the studio or at home writing songs to do anything. Sorry, guess my life is sorta boring."
Sadie was staring at him with tears welling in her eyes. The musician blinked. "Uh, it's not a huge deal-"
"I love you."
Trent just about choked on his own spit. "I-I'm sorry?"
Sadie maintained her doe eyed gaze, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I love you so much, like, words can't even describe." She reached out a hand to stroke his knee. "You don't have to say it back now, and I promise to keep your secret, but I had to tell you that I love you."
Trent was at a loss for words, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
The chubby girl turned back around and continued to paddle. "Oh but like don't worry about us being too in love to be team players. If Katie was here, I would totally spend all my time with her, but you're like super welcome to come be with us." Her face turned sad again. "But she's not here…" Then she lit up again. "So we can spend all our time together! Isn't this gonna be sooo much fun?"
The musician could only look ahead in sheer horror.
((Confessional: Trent.))
Trent rubbed his jaw, eyes blown wide. "Where did that come from?!"
((End Confessional: Trent.))
The two teams soon had nearly all their canoes docked along the shores of Boney Island, where they awaited the last pair each from their teams. Not for long, as Duncan and Courtney arrived shortly, which meant the Gophers quickly took to retrieving their ingredients.
Of course, that left the Bass down their last pair: Tyler and Lindsay.
"What is taking them so long?" Heather complained, hands on hips as she shielding her eyes, looking across the water.
Harold, beside her, had his binoculars aimed in their direction. "Uhh, looks like they're having a rave," he mused, dropping them from his gaze. "Daytime raves are actually scientifically proven to help with the activation of REM sleep, due to the exposure to flashing lights-hey!"
The queen bee blew a raspberry the nerd's way, looking through the binoculars herself. "Ugh! Those idiots!" she cursed, dropping it so it swung into the ginger's chest, toppling his slender frame. "They've lost their paddles. Now how are we going to win this?!"
"We could just leave them and collect the ingredients ourselves?" Justin suggested, leaning against a tree. "It may be a bit to carry but I'm sure we can use some of the ugly animals of the forest to do the heavy lifting."
Bridgette shot a look his way, and turned to Heather. She made a head motion in her direction before speaking up. "I'll go get them," she told her, a determined look appearing on her face. "But we can't afford to waste time. The five of you should split up and take the quicksand and the cave, I'll swim out to help these two to the beach so we'll meet you back there for the home stretch."
There was a pause as Heather thought it over, but someone else beat her to the response. "We got it," Trent said with a nod. "You, uh, need a paddle or two?"
The surfer pondered it before picking a paddle from her canoe. "I have an idea," she responded, turning back towards the water. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Heather let out a dry chuckle. "Fail, and you'll be out, you hear," she taunted her, bending to grab her partner off from the ground. "And nice conviction. I hope you didn't strain yourself from finally using your backbone."
Bridgette had already dove back into the water and began swimming out to respond. With her gone, the remaining five members quickly piled the spare canoe atop of another, and began their journey into the thickets.
((Confessional: Bridgette.))
"With Geoff gone, I knew I needed to start thinking strategically and not rely on him or the others to carry us through the competition," Bridgette explained. "Plus, after what Heather said, I know I have twice as much work to do if I want a chance of surviving an elimination ceremony. It's a good thing I still have my lifeguard training."
((End Confessional: Bridgette.))
((Confessional: Heather.))
"Well, well," Heather mused, arms folded across her chest. "At least now if we lose, it will be due to someone else's screw up." A beat went by. "Make that three somebodies."
((End Confessional: Heather.))
The Gophers made it to the centre of the island in no time, conveniently marked out by a large billboard of Chris's smug face along with the text 'The Centre of the Island' in big bold lettering.
"Huh, so much for the Fun Zone," Gwen commented dryly. "Good riddance."
Duncan readjusted himself under the canoe. "So what's the plan for us," he asked the group. "We all moving together?"
"Eva and DJ can hold all four of our canoes," Cody supplied, "And all Chris said was that we needed to use them to get back." He motioned to the muscle houses of their team, where one flexed and the other pointed at his chest curiously.
"Don't we want Eva and DJ to carry our supplies?" Courtney asked. "Chris /said/ they'd be hard for one person to handle, so shoudn't we work with that?" Eva and DJ shared a look now, with the former sizing the other up as if he was slightly inferior.
Leshawna scoffed. "We don't want to tire those two out. Remember, we /all/ have to make whatever we need those crates for." DJ made an action in support of her statement, to which Eva folded her arms at, put off.
"Enough." Noah interrupted, relatively easily given that they were all currently bickering. "Two teams of four, probably easier if we do two canoe groups each." He looked to the map that was conveniently underneath the wooden sign. "One group follows this path to the quicksand, and the other group follows this path to the cave. Cody and DJ, you go with Leshawna and Gwen to the quicksand, Courtney and Duncan will come with us to the cave."
"Hey wait-" Leshawna began, but was cut off with a flamboyant flick of Noah's wrist.
"Vamoose."
Leshawna shot the bookworm a dirty look as the other four took their canoes and headed towards the cave. Gwen put a hand on her shoulder.
"Easy does it," she joked. "Come on, the quicksand shouldn't be too far from here."
((Confessional: Leshawna.))
"Now what does that string bean think he knows?" Leshawna grumbled out, arms folded, legs crossed. "Putting me with DJ… why I oughta…"
((End Confessional: Leshawna.))
The Bass had done their damndest to split themselves up in an effective way, which proved difficult when no one had all that much muscle mass to go around. So they had to improvise.
"You better know what you're doing," Heather snapped at the duo before she left. "If we're left waiting for you, your heads will so be on the chopping block."
Trent and Justin weren't too phased, handling their one canoe with ease.
"I gotta say man, thanks for doing this," the musician told his partner. They were heading towards the cave, walking along the beach. "I needed some air."
"You don't need to thank me," Justin mused easily. "I know I'm a gift, and so is everything I do. But you're welcome. Fresh air?"
Trent let out a sigh. "I think Sadie's got the wrong idea," he confessed. "I think she thinks I'm into her."
The musician couldn't see Justin's eyes shoot wide, but he did hear the response. "Uh, and to clarify, is this because you're into Gwen?"
"W-well," Trent fumbled. "Yeah. I don't know. It's weird."
The hawaiian looked over his perfectly shaped shoulder. "Weird?"
"I mean," the man in green sighed. "I used to think I was gonna win her back, but we haven't spoken since the last challenge, and even that was a lot longer than the last time we spoke. It's like she's-"
"Over you?" Justin slipped in.
Trent winced. "Ouch, guess that's one way to put it."
"Dude," the model sighed. "Take it from one taken guy to another… formerly taken guy: if a girl's not interested, she's not interested. Luckily for me most people are into me. Girls on our team, girls on their team, girls who watch this, guys-"
"Girls on their team?!" Trent exclaimed before blinking down his outburst. "Oh you mean Eva."
Justin chuckled. "Oh yeah, Eva's on their team," he mused, before shaking out of it. "Anyways, what I'm saying is that maybe you should wait back a bit. See if maybe she's interested in you back. If she comes to you, then she's interested."
The paler boy frowned. "I don't know if that's my style, man."
"Sure it is," the model responded. "You're cool, you're aloof. If you keeping going after Gwen, she'll think you're desperate and ugly. Not a great look."
"So you want me to just… not do anything?" Trent asked.
Justin turned his perfect neck back around, miraculously they hadn't run into anything. "Just for a little bit. You want to see if she still likes you back, right? So stay far away and if she does, she'll come crawling to you." A beat. "Or walking. I don't know why they say crawling. That never happens."
The musician sighed again. "Alright, fine," he relented. "So how long are we talking about? One hour, two hours-"
"Oh my god, no!" the model interjected. "That's nothing! You need to hold out longer than that. Let's see, how about you wait until…" They passed by a hedge, shaped like a marshmallow. "The elimination ceremony?"
"You think so?" Trent asked. "But that's such a while away."
"Trent, why is this so hard for you." Justin rubbed his eyes with his wrist. "You did not have this problem last time I spoke to you."
"I just don't want this opportunity to slip away!"
That startled some birds. Caught the attention of Justin again. They came to a complete stop even.
The model moved to lower the canoe to the ground, focusing his attention on the other, who had turned to walk towards the beach, hands behind his head, clearly frustrated.
He collapsed on his knees, watching the waves closely.
"I'm a mess, aren't I."
"Yeah, that sand is going to ruin your jeans," Justin replied, shaking his head. "Oh right, Gwen."
Trent inhaled a breath through his nose, closing his eyes. "I'm stupid, aren't I. That's what you're trying to tell me."
The model held his tongue, pausing for a moment before crouching down beside the musician, careful not to touch the sand. They were quiet for a moment. "I think," he began. "We should finish this challenge first. Don't want to keep Heather waiting."
The musician nodded, the two got up again. Before they moved over to pick up their canoe, he stopped the hawaiian by clasping his shoulder. "Thanks, man," he mumbled out. "For… all of that."
"Anytime." Justin managed a smile, placing his hand over Trent's. "Man."
((Confessional: Justin.))
Justin held a mirror to his face, distracted. "For the record, that was my first time giving relationship advice," he explained. "And it felt… weird. Are you meant to feel good and bad when you do that? Specifically the bad part." His expression became desperate. "Am I making myself marketable? Answer me!"
((End Confessional: Justin.))
DJ and Cody lead their group through the forest, their canoe at a slight angle due to their height difference. Behind them were Leshawna and Gwen.
"Are we going in circles?" Gwen asked the leading pair. "Because I feel like I've seen that same log and shroom combo three times already."
"It's gotta be around here somewhere," Cody replied. "Maybe we're not supposed to look for it, maybe it'll appear if we mind our business."
The goth groaned. "Great, so we're lost," she said dryly. "Can we stop, I need to rest my arms."
Leshawna made a noise of affirmation. "Me too, sister," she huffed. "All this walking around with nowhere to go is doing all sorts of stuff to my head."
The latter pair put their canoe down, turning it over so they could use the curve of the bottom as a place to sit. Not too long after DJ-not Cody-set their canoe against a tree, wandering over to join them. Well, hesitantly wandering over.
There was a silence between them, mostly between DJ and Leshawna with an extra glance being spared by Cody. Leshawna quirked a brow and DJ looked away, while Cody remained, only barely flinching.
Gwen cleared her throat. "Um, is there something going on that I don't know about?" she asked. "'Cause it kinda feels like I'm missing something."
"You're not the only one," Leshawna mumbled, tearing her gaze away from Cody. "Say, what's the best way about finding quicksand and some secret ingredient or whatever?"
The goth quirked a brow. "I don't know, how about we ask the guys." With that she sent a pointed look at the geek and brickhouse.
((Confessional: Cody.))
"On one hand, Leshawna's right there," Cody explained, motioning his hands to one corner, before swapping them to the opposite side. "On the other hand, Gwen's also right there." He sighed. "How would you choose what to do in that situation?"
((End Confessional: Cody.))
Cody tugged at his collar. "I think we should try heading back to the next destination," he propositioned. "And if we're lucky, we should find the quicksand along the way."
"But what if we don't find the quicksand?" Gwen asked, her hands in the air. "In case you've forgotten, we need to find the quicksand to find the ingredient."
"I think we should listen to Cody," DJ added nervously. "He knows what he's talking about."
Leshawna piped a brow, looking dead at the brick-house. "Oh does he now?" she asked, an accusatory tone to her voice. "Are you sure about that? Or is does he only think he knows what he's talking about?"
The gap-toothed geek turned to the soul sister. "Uh yeah, because he's actually honest about what he knows." A glare formed on his face, matched by the one given by the bigger girl.
His brow tightened. Her eyes focused. DJ looked completely petrified watching the two of them.
"Oookay!" Gwen shouted, standing up and clapping her hands. "Whatever is going on between you guys is obviously something you need to work on." She pointed a finger at all three of them. "But right now, we have a challenge to win and we can't win it if you don't get yourselves together and start acting like a team."
She got between the three of them, a hand on Leshawna's shoulder, a hand on Cody's neck. "Can you guys do that?"
A tense second went by. "Sure," the two responded with a grumble. Looking over her shoulder, Gwen saw the brick-house nod.
"Great," she breathed out. "Now get off our canoe." With that, the two got their canoes over their heads again and began walking off in the direction they just came.
Now it was Leshawna and Gwen in the lead with Cody and DJ bringing up the rear. DJ attempted to even out the imbalance of the canoe above his head but when he tried, Cody's legs flew up, so now the sweet-tooth was just dangling in the air as DJ did most of the work.
Stepping through some thickets, the goth suppressed a sigh. "Leshawna, what was that all about?!" she asked in a half-whisper, half-scold.
The bigger girl clenched her jaw. "You said we should focus on the challenge." Her response was levelled, not too dismissive but not too defensive either.
"Yeah, well," Gwen began, "It kinda feels like something I should know about." She shifted the canoe. "Or at least be clued in about. I mean, you're my best friend here and I want to support you, but it's kinda hard to do when you don't know what is going on-"
Leshawna paused in her movement. "You alright, sugar?" She felt something tug at her feet. "Whoa!"
The two looked down and saw their feet submerged in sand. Not too shortly later, Cody and DJ appeared but were goaded to stop by the two before they could fall into the same trap they were in.
"Hey! We found the quicksand," Cody chuckled, turning his head a fraction to the left. "And hey! Our ingredients."
"That's all nice and all but can you help us?!" Leshawna exclaimed, her knees being swallowed up, but keeping the canoe above her head. "We're stuck in quicksand!"
The echo of Leshawna's shout reached the other half of the Bass's land group. With two canoes between the three of them, it wasn't an easy journey to move around.
Harold just about lost his mind, nearly dropping the two ends of the canoes. "Leshawna!" he cried out. "My chocolate goddess!"
The queen bee swiftly delivered a kick to his groin. "Don't get distracted," she scolded, ignoring the way he winced and struggled not to cradle his jewels. "At least we know we're close."
Sadie panted at the front of the two canoes. "Oh my gosh, I hope whatever food we have to make is yummy! I could really go for some Vietnamese. Ooh! No, Chinese. Oooh! No, Japanese! I love their teriyaki!"
A stomach growled, which was enough to make Heather grimace. "How about we get to where we need to go, and then we talk about food?" she suggested, a bitter tone to her voice.
"I'll lead the way," Harold piped up from behind. "I can still hear her scream in my mind. The horror, I tell you, it will never leave me. I will forerver be haunted by that scre-oof!"
"You don't need to keep talking," Heather snapped, withdrawing her foot from his groin yet again. "Just lead the way already."
"Roger that!"
Noah, Eva, Duncan and Courtney arrived at the cave where they spotted two unmarked but large crates.
"That wasn't too difficult," Duncan chuckled, propping the canoe down. "Now how are we supposed to get these things back to the beach?"
"Between the two canoes and this, I don't think it's going to be easy," Courtney supplied, wiping her hands on her pants. "We could stack the crate on top of the canoes, but the problem is how do we get them up there…"
The delinquent looked around, spotting a large rock nearby. "We could use that," he suggested.
The CIT nodded. "Right, set the ends of the two canoes on the rock, while one of us keeps them steady, and the rest load the crate on top. Then we lift the canoes back off the rocks and walk together to the beach."
Duncan grinned. "I like your thinking. Lemme help you with the crate." He wandered over to the crate, followed closely by the brunette as they tested out it's weight.
From the side, Noah looked to Eva. "See what I mean," he whispered. "This could be an issue."
Eva continued to watch, before tutting her head. "So? They're just working together for the challenge." She looked over at the bookworm and met his knowing stare. That made her freeze. "…Which is bad because then they'll like each other again. …Which would make us the targets again."
Noah nodded his head. "Right," he confirmed. "If we want Courtney to stay, we need to maintain the tension between her and the rest of our team. But that means cutting off her allies when we can."
Their gaze shifted to the ex-lovers, looking more closely at the delinquent.
The bookworm pressed his mouth into a line. "I don't know how this is going to work, mind you," he admitted. "If we want Duncan to hate Courtney again, we need it to look as if she's planning something behind his back. Now," he turned to the athlete, "Who on our team is the closest to Duncan?"
Eva answered quickly. "Gwen."
"Wrong," Noah replied just as quick. "DJ. Although lately, I wouldn't be too sure that it's true anymore. With his whole Cody-is-my-partner thing he's doing."
The unibrowed girl raised one end of her unibrow. "So, what do we do?"
The bookworm lingered his gaze in the distance, cogs turning in his brain. "Our best bet will be to eliminate DJ, and pin the blame on Courtney. Or even use their budding friendship as a distraction."
"How are we meant to do that?" Eva asked, folding her arms.
Noah's mouth twitched into a half smile. "I might have an idea…"
((Confessional: Eva.))
"I don't know how Noah convinced Geoff to vote for himself last time," Eva admitted, "But I'm sure as hell not gonna thank him for it. He needs my vote, and until I find a better way to use it, I'm gonna do what he says." She sunk into her seat, arms crossed. "As much as I hate being told what to do."
((End Confessional: Eva.))
"Thanks for rescuing us," Tyler thanked the surfer, his red tracksuit jacket off and his arm in the water, pulling. "It would've been so bad if we'd lost before even making it to Boney Island."
Bridgette only flashed a smile, using the paddle she took. "It's all good," she told him, and by extension Lindsay. "It's what anyone would've done."
"Not me," Lindsay admitted. "I would hate to get this swimsuit wet. Lake water is so not good for this material."
"Fair enough," the natural blonde reasoned. "It would be incredibly risky for anyone to swim across the lake with no lifejacket, or no certification. I've seen many guys on the beach almost drown because they thought they could handle the waves."
Tyler's brow furrowed. "Isn't the kickboard of shame mc-deal swimming across the lake?"
Bridgette frowned. "Yeah," she agreed. "That's, um, not the safest method at all. Though surely they wouldn't let anyone drown. I'm sure someone's watching them as they paddle."
As she said that, the trio passed a rickety old sailboard, clearly abandoned, stuck between some rocks.
They paddled onwards. "Yeesh," the jock winced.
"It could really use a paint job," the taller blonde noted, sharing the same look of uncertainty as the rest. "And a sailor."
"I think we shouldn't think about it," the surfer concluded, and they all turned their heads away from the board consecutively.
They were still in the water. Bridgette was paddling on the island side of the canoe while Tyler was using his arm to paddle on the lake side of the canoe, with Lindsay 'steering'. As Bridgette used the paddle and Tyler used his arm, they were veering around the island, moving on a curve.
"We should be there soon," the surfer told the two. "Hopefully, we're not too late."
The couple cheered, Lindsay throwing her arms in celebration and Tyler immediately pumping his fist, but losing his balance and falling into the water, sending Lindsay into a panic.
"Tyler!"
The surfer was quick to grab the jock's jacket and throw one arm into the water for the struggling jock to latch onto. She turned to Lindsay, handing her the other half. "Just make sure he doesn't fall," she told her before turning to the brunette. "Pull yourself up."
He collapsed into the canoe not too soon later, soaking wet and dripping water all over the inside. He was exhausted, but relieved.
"Thanks for rescuing me this time," Tyler chuckled.
Bridgette smiled again. "Don't mention it."
((Confessional: Bridgette.))
"I knew Tyler was bad on land, I didn't think he'd be worse in water," Bridgette gulped.
((End Confessional: Bridgette.))
DJ let out one big grunt as he finally pulled the two girls out of the quicksand, where they immediately took several steps away from the sand to lower their canoe to the ground.
"That was nearly my worst nightmare," Gwen said dryly as Cody heaved and dragged the crate to where the girls stood. "Thanks."
"No problem," DJ replied, holding up his shared canoe over his head as he rejoined them. "So, how in the world are we meant to get the crate all the way to the other side of the island?"
Cody looked directly at DJ, more specifically the ease of which he was lifting the canoe. "You could do the canoe, I could do the crate?" he offered.
Leshawna was the one to shake her head. "Nuh-uh, we can see your shaky leg you know." She pointed at the geek's leg which was a shaky jittery mess. "There's no way you're gonna get the crate all the way across the island."
"So what, you want DJ to carry them both?" Cody asked, motioning to the brick-house who wasn't struggling one bit.
The bigger girl narrowed her eyes. "I'm saying, you take the canoe with Gwen, and I'll be the one to move this crate." She rolled up her sleeves, or lack thereof. "I'm no Eva, but I'm gonna manage."
Leshawna hoisted the crate up, stumbling a bit to find her footing but eventually stabilising herself. "Now let's get a move on before I ruin my back!" The four version of a trio hustled out of there, right as an actual trio made their way into the clearing.
"There!" Heather shouted, pointing at a remaining crate and then acknowledging that it was the only crate left in the clearing. "The other team already have their crates? Eugh! Hurry up and-hey!"
Sadie and Harold slipped out from under the canoes, but briefly turned back around to the queen bee.
She just about growled, wobbling about trying to keep the canoes from falling. "Don't just stand there! Figure something out!"
"Ooh! One time when me and Katie went camping, her uncle's car-the uncle with the eyepatch, not the uncle with the beagle-was too small to fit the three of us and our luggage, so me and Katie tied ourselves to the roof of his car!"
Harold blinked. "Isn't that illegal in several counties-"
"Oh it was so illegal, we got pulled over so many times by the police but none of them told us we had to get off the roof, so we stayed! It's so much fun, it's like a rollercoaster that doesn't go up or down!" Sadie grinned. "I'm sooo taking Trent with me to do that when we go on our first date!"
"Wait, you're dating Trent-"
"Can someone please get the crate!" Heather snapped. "Why is our team so annoying today!"
Harold saluted at the thinner girl, rushing to the crate and attempted to lift it. "It's too heavy," he grunted, letting his arms drop disappointedly.
Sadie approached the crate, still talking. "I know! I knew the power of makeovers were powerful but I never thought it would work so quickly. When I get home and see Katie we're so gonna plan our weddings together!"
She looked over the crate for a moment, and hoisted it into the air with little difficulty. "Aw, there's nothing inside," she pouted, looking at the ground.
"Finally!" Heather exasperated. "Harold, help me with these stupid things! Sadie, follow us."
The geek made a beeline for the canoes, slipping back under to help the queen bee before she tipped over with them. The chubby girl nodded her head and set the crate down, following behind.
"Bring the crate!"
"But there's nothing inside?"
"We'll need it for Tyler and Lindsay," Harold quickly supplied. "We'll take the crate apart, and use the leftover wood to fix their canoe."
Sadie clapped her hands together. "Ooh! I've never made a canoe before," she said gleefully, returning to pick up the crate, again, with little difficulty. "And then we can celebrate with some teriyaki!"
"Sure," Heather said with a roll of her eyes. "Now quickly, people!"
((Confessional: Harold.))
"I'm pretty sure teriyaki has more than three ingredients," Harold noted. "I also think it's just a sauce."
((End Confessional: Harold.))
Justin and Trent arrived at the cave where they saw the Gopher team ready to depart. Before they left, Duncan turned his head to laugh. "Just the two of you?" he chuckled, turning to rest. "Take it easy, team. We got this in the bag."
The two Bass boys shared a look before approaching the crate. In a matter of seconds, they'd used both their belts and Trent's shirt to secure the crate to their canoe up top, and had already hoisted it back above their heads.
They slid up next to the Gophers, where Justin grinned. "You were saying?" The two hardly even stopped and went along walking right passed the group, heading into the woods.
The delinquent's face fell. "Why'd I open my big mouth," he whined to himself, as his team silently reprimanded him and begun carrying their canoe after them.
The quicksand group from the Gophers were the first to arrive at the beach from the woods, but stopped shortly after they saw another canoe drift upon onto the shore.
"Whoa, did you guys circle the island?" Gwen asked, frankly quite surprised to see her former teammate.
"Only because we lost our oars," Lindsay replied, so plainly, in spite of the brief shock that flickered over the rest of her group. Her eyes settled on the last crate. "Is that what we're meant to take back?"
Bridgette nodded. "Come on," she told the two, more focally on Tyler. "We can balance it on the canoe."
The jock in red gave the affirmative and the two climbed out of the canoe, leaving Lindsay to sit in it before very slowly beginning to drift away. The surfer returned very soon, rushing to pull the canoe further onto shore.
Gwen shared a look with Cody.
((Confessional: Gwen.))
"Who knew Bridgette was the mum of their team," Gwen chuckled.
((End Confessional: Gwen.))
The Gopher group relieved the canoes off from above them as Leshawna set the crate down, hands immediately flying to soothe her back. DJ and Cody approached their crate, while Tyler and Bridgette carried their crate to the canoe where Lindsay remained seated.
Heather's group returned next, followed by both cave groups as the teams all reunited with each other, showing off what they had brought. All teams had their four canoes, three crates and a number of oars.
Sadie was caught by Harold and Heather from fainting when she saw the musician without his shirt, but returned back to normal almost immediately when Trent shimmied back into his shirt, and re-buckled his pants.
The Gophers had settled on a raft-like formation, fitting their four canoes together and distributing the weight of the crates among them and spreading it over two canoes each. DJ and Eva would paddle, while the other six kept to a crate to keep it from slipping or the canoes from pulling apart.
With help from Bridgette, the Bass were able to secure all three crates into one canoe, and spread into the remaining three canoes, using some fallen sticks, rocks and shells to connect the crate canoe to the remaining canoes to use to pull it without oars.
The Gophers were the first to enter the water, their crates wobbling as they did so, threatening falling into the water, but didn't. The Bass entered not too soon after, Bridgette, Tyler and Lindsay leading their diamond formation into the water.
The journey across the lake was far more tedious than the first time, each teams not going so fast to lose a crate. While the Gophers lead by the length of two canoes, the Bass were steadily on their tails.
What kept either team from getting too excited was the final part of the challenge: the assembly. As they reached Wawanakwa, they hauled their crates up onto the beach where two long tables had been prepared with eight bowls and eight spoons each.
"These foods are vegan, right?" Bridgette had asked off-handedly, momentarily turning away from the crates to ask the host.
Chris groaned. "You said you were vegetarian," he whined. "No, they're not. But you still have to eat it." He began walking away, fiddling with his phone. "Do me a favour and check her file, and if it does say vegan, I'm cutting your pay."
The surfer sighed, but continued to help with the crates.
"Oh no," the CIT huffed out, pulling out a tub of Neapolitan ice-cream.
The host laughed giddily. "Ah, the classic sundae," he said with a grin. "Hey Courtney, Gwen, what if you do your team a favour and give us all an encore of your famous fight."
"Shut up, McLean," the goth quipped, pulling out some crushed peanuts.
Noah eyed the peanuts and looked to the nearest camera.
((Confessional: Noah.))
"Do I mention I have a nut allergy and cost us the win, or do I have an anaphylactic shock and die before the elimination ceremony?" Noah questioned dryly. "I think I'll just skip the peanuts."
((End Confessional: Noah.))
By the time all the ingredients were pulled out of their crates, the teams got to assembling their sundaes.
"You can top them however you like-" That earned a snicker from Chef. "But you must eat three scoops of ice-cream," Chris explained. "First team with all eight members to finish their sundaes wins. And bonus points if your presentation looks nice."
For the most part, everyone's sundaes were identical with three scoops each, some chocolate syrup, crushed nuts and a maraschino cherry. Noah ditched his nuts, while Bridgette went for just ice-cream and the cherry.
A polite bell chimed through across the beach, and the contestants hungrily got at their sundaes, smearing their faces with milky goodness and chocolate.
"Done," Duncan chimed, showing his empty bowl.
"Done," Tyler grinned, dropping his empty bowl and spoon on the table.
"Done," Leshawna coughed, wiping her mouth.
"Done!" Sadie celebrated, rubbing her stomach. "It wasn't teriyaki, but it was sooo yummy!"
The teams continued to eat until it was down to Courtney and Gwen from the Gophers and Justin from the Bass, although the model gently placed his spotless bowl onto the table, ringing in the victory for the Bass.
The host looked expectantly at the last Gopher members. "What happened?"
Gwen's sundae bowl dropped to the table, barely touched. "Guess I didn't feel like ice-cream."
The sun had set, and while the Bass celebrated their second win in a row, the Gophers were deliberating their votes for the elimination ceremony.
As it was, Courtney was in the mess hall picking at her dinner when Noah and Eva entered. The two shared a look before Eva slipped out and Noah approached the table the CIT was sitting at.
He looked down at her sludge and said nothing. She followed his gaze to her bowl and sighed. "Don't judge me," she told him. "I needed to think."
"Yeah, I figured," the bookworm replied, slipping into the seat opposite her. "That's why I wanted to talk."
Courtney's brow arched. "Why, you have some big plan to save yourself from elimination?"
Noah's expression never faltered, still dry as ever. "You caught me. I'm campaigning," he drawled, tone flat but his hands in the air. "Good to know I'm as big of a target as I think I am."
"Please," the CIT scoffed. "If anyone's a target, it should be me. Yet I'm still here. Then again, we only lost two challenges." Her bitterness was not missed in her self-deprecation. Bitterness towards being a target, that is.
The indian eyed her expression. "Yeah, I think I'm to thank for that," he replied carefully. "Got the number for Zeke, and got you to flip Geoff last time. So." He made a gesture with his hands.
Now she looked surprised. "You?" she asked in disbelief. "Why would you need to do that?"
Noah only shrugged. "A chance to win, I guess," he answered. "Listen, I'm getting the feeling tonight's elimination won't be as simply as we think."
Courtney's face changed, ever so slightly. "What makes you say that?"
"Some casual observations," he replied. "You're asking a lot of questions, what's got you on your guard?"
"Nothing!" she responded, all too quickly. "I mean, nothing. Just talking from teammate to teammate."
The bookworm remained stoic. "Right." He looked around for anyone around, before leaning in. "Cody says that Gwen and Leshawna are gonna try vote you out again."
"Again?" Courtney sighed, touching her forehead. "Fine. Are you here just to rub it in?"
The corner of Noah's lips twitched. "As fun as that would be, I have another plan," he told her. "Eva and I are voting DJ. We'll try and get Cody to steer away from you."
"That would leave it two, to one, to two," Courtney pointed out, "And that's without Duncan or my vote. And also, DJ?! Why not Gwen or Leshawna?"
"Trust me, we have a plan," he told her carefully. "But in order for it to work, we only need your vote. I think you'll find your vote will be the most important one."
The CIT narrowed her eyes. "I'll think about it," she told him, pushing her bowl away. "You do know what you're doing, right?"
Noah nodded. "Always," he answered back, easily. "Why else would I go out of my way to talk to you."
"Okay, that was fair. But ouch." Courtney stood up, giving the bookworm a knowing look before leaving with her bowl. Noah remained seated, and simply leaned back cautiously. And then fell because there was no back to the benches.
Cody and DJ were at the bathroom mirror yet again.
"You sure this will work?" DJ asked the geek. "I mean, does it solve the problem?"
The geek shrugged. "Who knows," he answered honestly. "But it's as good as it can get. That way, if she goes, you don't have to feel guilty anymore."
The brick-house hung his head. "This feels like the wrong thing to do," he muttered. Before Cody could comfort him, he slumped over the sink. "But I don't know what else to do! I can't live like this!"
The brunette gently placed his hand on the big guy's arm. "It'll be okay," he told him. "You told me, and nothing terrible has happened yet."
"You're a good guy, Cody," DJ said gently. "Thanks, brother."
The sweet-tooth flashed his gap toothed smile. "Aww, you don't have to say that."
"But I have to tell them," the bigger guy stated firmly. "I have to tell them what I saw, and then I have to tell Heather. Privately or something. Maybe make her something from the kitchen, serve it to her, and then tell her 'Hey, I saw Alejandro and…" he sighed again.
Cody was quick with the comfort. "Maybe not today," he suggested. "But someday, definitely. Maybe, uh, when Leshawna is gone?"
DJ nodded his head silently. "Yeah, maybe."
"So," Gwen began as she collapsed into one of the now empty beds, looking across at her teammate. "Can you tell me what was up with you and Cody?"
Leshawna turned from where she was folding her clothes. "Now?" she asked, her tone tired. "Gwen, it's not that simple it's-" She shook her head. "It's nothing, is what it is."
"It doesn't seem like nothing," Gwen fought back, kicking her feet onto the bed. "Seriously. I'm not going to judge you, you can just tell me."
The larger girl remained quiet. "Tell you what," she began, pointing a finger. "We vote Cody off the island tonight, and then tomorrow I'll tell you what they /think/ they know about me."
The goth sat upright. "So it is something about you," she exclaimed, before the finger came down again. "Sorry! Yeah, sure, Cody's gotta go." Her hands flew up in defense, but as Leshawna's finger dropped, Gwen loosened up again. "Honestly, he has this coming."
"Tell me about it," Leshawna chuckled humourlessly. "When did that string-bean get such a backbone anyway? Last I remember, he was all crazy in the head for you."
"He's definitely not my type," Gwen stated plainly. "But he's definitely Sierra's type, and that is perfectly fine by me."
From their window, Sierra popped her head up. She began shouting something that was muffled by the glass, punctuating her rant with a few hits to the window with a closed fist, and what sounded like a scream, a laugh, and then fainted.
The goth turned back to her friend. "Yeah, no complaints here."
"Definitely not," Leshawna could only muse, shooting a concerned look out the window. The two returned to their idle activities, Gwen resting her head against a pillow and Leshawna cleaning up her laundry.
A moment of silence passed before Gwen turned back to her friend. "You think that had anything to do with voting him out?"
"Oh definitely," the girl about cackled.
((Confessional: Gwen.))
"I don't like that Leshawna is hiding something from me," Gwen began, "Especially after all my dirty laundry got aired, but she is my friend, and I do respect her boundaries. Unlike some people."
((End Confessional: Gwen.))
((Confessional: DJ.))
"I wanna tell Heather about Alejandro and Leshawna," DJ confessed, "But that's three people who are scary when they're angry! Oh, Momma, if you're seeing this please understand that I wanna do the right thing."
((End Confessional: DJ.))
((Confessional: Courtney.))
"Noah said that my vote is the most important one," Courtney said, thinking. "Which means I can vote however I feel like it, and it will change what will happen. Still, the only targets I know are myself and DJ. What would Scott do…"
((End Confessional: Courtney.))
((Confessional: Duncan.))
"Pfft, no one came to me about the votes," Duncan said, arms folded, expression uninterested. "Not like I care. But hey, not every day you share a canoe with your ex-girlfriend and not wanna shove her overboard."
((End Confessional: Duncan.))
The Gophers gathered around the campfire for the elimination ceremony. Chris was the last to arrive, carrying the plate of esteemed marshmallows.
"Wow," he began, surveying the results of the votes. "This is a lot tighter than it's been a while. Man, The audience is gonna eat this one up."
A look was passed between Eva, to Noah, to Courtney and to Duncan.
"Anyways, I thought about monologuing for a bit about my afternoon while you guys were over at Boney Island, and then I realised that it can go on my members site," Chris explained. "Fifteen dollars a month, if you've got the money to spare. Not gonna lie, probably something you guys couldn't afford anyways. I mean, sweater vests?"
Noah rolled his eyes.
"Those who didn't receive any votes," he began, picking up the first marshmallow. "Duncan," he listed, tossing the marshmallow at the delinquent; "Gwen," then the goth; "Eva," then the muscle-head; "And Courtney!"
The CIT caught her marshmallow with a pause, looking to Noah who had only perked his brow up. DJ looked similarly confused, looking to Cody who shrugged, slightly nervous. Leshawna remained unbothered.
"The rest of you are on the chopping block," Chris stated, "Except Noah. Just the one vote, buddy."
The bookworm caught his marshmallow, but could still feel Courtney's gaze. He shifted uncomfortably.
"And the semi-last marshmallow tonight goes to Cody!"
The geek reacted to slow to his marshmallow, the fluffy white treat flying over his head before his hands flew up to catch it. It bounced into the darkness never to be eaten again.
The host looked between DJ and Leshawna, both of them now slightly more on edge than before. He picked up the final marshmallow. "DJ, Leshawna. Not who I thought would be in the bottom after this challenge," he admitted, "You know, since the two I thought would be here received no votes and somehow haven't taken my permission to rip each other to pieces."
"We don't care," Gwen spat at the host, her arms folded. "You failed, McLean."
Chris placed a hand over his heart mockingly. "Ouch, you sound like my humanities teacher," he complained, turning back to the real bottom two. "Anyways, DJ, for what it's worth you haven't killed any animals in the last few weeks you've been here. And Leshawna, you've only danced poorly once, which cost your team the win, but I guess we all keep our grudges."
Leshawna shot a strong look at DJ who squeaked and turned to Cody who nodded his head fiercely. Of all people, it was Duncan who looked increasingly unnerved by the tension.
"The last marshmallow goes to…"
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"Leshawna."
The girl in question sighed in relief, catching her marshmallow as it sailed right passed DJ who hung his head defeatedly.
"DJ, I'm sorry man," Chris conceded, "You missed your chance."
As the brick-house stood up, Cody tried getting his attention by poking his arm and leg, but he ignored the geek's prodding and turned to the rest of his team.
"Sorry guys," he apologised. "It was nice catching up with you all. Good luck, and all that."
Duncan stood up and embraced him in a shoulder hug, patting his back. "Sucks to see you go," he told him, a bitter edge to his voice.
Gwen similarly gave him a brief hug. "See you later," was what she left him with. The others murmured a farewell or shook his hand but were fairly exhausted if anything.
Cody was the last to say his goodbyes, and as the brick-house leant over for the smaller dude to reach his ear, he whispered, "Come on, now's your chance."
"I'm sorry," he could only sigh. "I can't do it. It's up to you, Cody."
As they pulled away, they bumped fists as DJ left the elimination area with a wave.
Chris whistled. "Huh, was expecting a more touching goodbye honestly," he admitted. "Or some big punch. A revelation, if you will." He looked to Leshawna, who avoided his knowing stare.
"Goodnight," she told him, and to her team. "I'm about ready to sleep for a week."
Duncan hung outside the cabins, resting on the banister with his head held low. He was soon joined by Courtney who stepped out, towel in hand, who saw him and approached him tenderly.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, joining him against the rails, throwing her towel over the edge.
He didn't look at her. "Annoyed mostly," the delinquent grumbled. "Last week, Geoff, this week DJ? Sucks, man."
Courtney looked at his arm calculatingly, before resting a gentle hand on him. "You still have me," she offered, a hopeful twinge to her tone.
"Peachy," he reacted, still moody. "How did it even happen? I thought it would've been Leshawna, not DJ."
The CIT went to answer as Eva hoped up the stairs. Seeing Courtney, she approached her with a friendly nudge to the shoulder.
"Did what you wanted, hope you're happy," she said, all too casually. "Good luck with your plan."
Before she could reply, Eva turned on her heels and entered the cabins. As she did, Duncan's head shot up and he glared right at the brunette.
"You?!" he accused. "You voted him out?"
"What?" Courtney stumbled, taken aback. "No! Well, yes but-"
"Courtney, what the hell!" Duncan shouted, now very enraged. "I tried helping you make friends with the guy and you vote him off? He's my friend too, you know!"
The CIT struggled for words. "Duncan, listen to me-"
"I trusted you! I thought we were cool, I thought we could work together again, but after this? No way," he barked, shaking his head as if it hurt him to look at her. "You're still the crazy bitch you always were. Gah, why am I so stupid!"
He turned around, and as Courtney tried to reach for him again he slapped her wrist.
"Leave me alone," Duncan demanded. "You know I told him I wanted to be your friend again? You know I told him that you weren't the annoying, selfish, arrogant piece of work we saw in All-Stars? I told him you had changed, and he believed me, and now I look like the idiot here."
"Duncan, I'm sorry, but you need to listen to me," Courtney pleaded. "It wasn't my idea. Please!"
The delinquent shook his head, let out a short hurt laugh as he rubbed under his nose. "Yeah, of course it wasn't," he spat. "Goodnight, Courtney." He turned to re-enter the cabins, leaving the brunette alone outside in the dark.
She hung her head for a moment before taking in a deep breath and standing up straight. She grabbed her towel and descended the stairs, fighting to keep her head up. When she entered the bathroom, all that she did was scream.
((Confessional: Courtney.))
"That Noah, he set me up!" Courtney growled, slamming a fist into her palm. "I knew it, I knew I should've followed my instincts. Gah! I hate this."
((End Confessional: Courtney.))
Sadie and Lindsay were sound asleep in the Bass girls cabin, where Bridgette had re-entered the room freshly showered and prepared herself for bed.
"Good job today with the challenge," Heather spoke suddenly, sitting upright in her bed, illuminated only by the moonlight.
Bridgette jumped a bit, but recovered quickly. "Thanks."
"You really are a strong player," the queen bee mused. "And your idea with the canoes was genius, really."
The surfer nodded. "Thanks," she parroted.
Heather leaned forward towards the blonde, becoming more visible to the blonde. "Remember when I told you if we lose, you would be the first to go?"
Bridgette nodded slowly. "Yes?"
"Chance of plans," the raven haired girl smirked. "But, on one condition: you and me will be in our own girls alliance."
The surfer looked reluctant. "What about the others?"
"Oh please," the taller girl said with a wave of her hand. "I have Sadie and Harold wrapped around my finger, and there's no way Lindsay could take me out. It was Justin's idea to cut you from the team when we lose."
"Justin?" Bridgette echoed, before looking down at her feet. "He doesn't like me?"
"We all know you are besties with Gwen and Leshawna," Heather told her. "We won't know if you throw a challenge for them, but what we do know is that if they do lose, like tonight, you'll be worrying about them, isn't that right?"
The other girl bit her lip. "Yes," she answered honestly.
"Because if the three of you make the merge, you will do whatever it takes to make the final three together."
Bridgette looked down ashamed. "What do you want me to do?"
"Well first," Heather began, "Accept my alliance offer. Justin and Trent are cannon fodder for me at this point, and once they're gone it'll be a gentle democracy until the merge. But that's /if/ we lose."
"And if I don't accept your offer?" the blonde wondered.
The queen bee shrugged. "Not really an issue for me," she told her. "But there's no guarantee that I could protect you if the rest of the team wants you gone next time we lose. It'll look better for you if you had an ally on your team."
Bridgette was still for a moment before she extended her hand. "Deal."
Heather grinned, taking the girl's hand in hers. "Great." The surfer went to pull away, but the raven haired girl pulled her back so their noses were just about touching. "And don't even think about backing out. Once you're in, you're in until you get voted out. Understand?"
The surfer nodded quietly, and the queen bee released her hand.
"Goodnight."
Chris stood at the beach where all the dishes were being cleaned up by Sierra and Alejandro who worked in silence. "The Gophers lose another challenge, starting their losing streak of becoming the ultimate loser team of the competition. They say goodbye to DJ, who left with some unfinished business to attend to, and it was Courtney who took the blame for the blindside of Duncan who thought he still had a chance with his ex-girlfriend. Yikes."
"For the first time, the Bass have more members than the Gophers. Will they maintain their victory streak, or will the Gophers bounce back and claim victory yet again? Will Courtney and Gwen kiss and make up? Will Sadie have a more successful relationship than Katie? And, will Bridgette regret her deal with Heather? Find out, next time on Total. Drama. Return to Wawanakwa!"
Voting Confessionals
Cody: We're doing it, we're voting Leshawna out! …Should I have asked more people to vote with us?
Courtney: Noah makes some good points, but I need to vote for who benefits me the most to leave. And that would be Leshawna, and it would be nice as payback for keeping secrets. But there's no use if I can't get the secrets because she'll be eliminated. I vote for DJ.
DJ: I vote Leshawna. Sorry.
Duncan: I get some weird vibes from Noah. He thinks he's invincible. Not on my watch, buddy.
Eva: We're voting DJ out. Feels good not to have a target on my back.
Gwen: I vote Cody. Anyways, can someone clue me in on what issues he has with Leshawna?
Leshawna: See ya Cody. Don't know what DJ told you or why, but I can't have you running your mouth to the wrong people.
Noah: If all things work accordingly, this should get me through the next couple of weeks. Is this what Al felt like? …I see the appeal.
Vote Total
DJ - Three Votes (Courtney, Eva, Noah).
Leshawna - Two Votes (Cody, DJ).
Cody - Two Votes (Gwen, Leshawna).
Noah - One Vote (Duncan).
Screaming Gophers: Cody, Courtney, Duncan, Eva, Gwen, Leshawna, Noah.
Killer Bass: Bridgette, Harold, Heather, Justin, Lindsay, Sadie, Trent, Tyler.
Eliminated: Izzy, Beth, Owen, Ezekiel, Katie, Geoff, DJ.
contextually, dj leaving here makes sense, but truthfully i had him going waaaaay further. top five initially. and then, as i was writing him, i realised "damn,, he's kinda boring" so i gave him the tyler role and that carried his relevance for a bit, until he continued to be boring so he got cut. someone else was meant to leave here, can you figure out who?
up the creek would've been kinda boring on it's own so i added the Sundae Muddy Sundae challenge and bam: more reason to split the groups up and give us some juicyness. also got to poke fun at gwen and courtney.
some big plays happened (at least i hope they appear big-) on the gophers. some of you mentioned earlier on that the bass were more entertaining, and i still agree oop, but this chapter was definitely more gopher heavy.
hoped you like this chapter! was a lil rusty but i hope i did it justice, especially after the wait.
okay questions ummm as of right now who is the antagonist to you? there's a few i think are but i'm curious to hear your opinions. also, who are you rooting for slash who is the protagonist? i like to hear a readers opinion, since you may notice things i didn't notice and i WROTE the story hehe
happy reading!
- blue