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Gucci Mane LaFlare: Honestly trying to keep Adam and Shannon 'balanced' is probably the part I've stressed about the most. Adam being a sort of composite of three different rough drafts of the character makes it ever worse for him, because it meant keeping the aspects of each draft I liked, which ends up with three character's worth of traits rolled into one.
Bee-Guts: I can say some things about the ships without getting into spoiler territories, so you're somewhat in luck. I have planned out ideas going up to World Tour (ambitious I know for someone with an upload schedule as JonTronnian as mine), and Shannon will be ending up with someone should I get that far. Adam's situation is a bit more complex, but that's something I can't discuss without spoilers. Glad you like the changes I've made.
Someone: She was, but not in the way you're presumably thinking. Shannon has pretty much taken up the role of Ezekiel's surrogate older sister, to try and give him some form of influence that isn't Harold or Izzy. And the problem with me not getting more of this out isn't so much me lacking in time, it's that I have the attention span of a fucking goldfish, so trying to focus on anything for too long is really bloody hard. Throw in uni kicking my ass for a while, and well it's been six months hasn't it?
Content Warning: Beware of the dog
Sponsored by Trash for Cash: empty your bin into an envelope and send it to us, and we'll send you cash.
The Arena
Nerves on the court ran higher than ever. On the Gopher end, the thrill of an imminent third consecutive victory left grins on faces and limbs slightly shaking with excited energy. On the Bass side of things, the opposite was true, as the desperate struggle for the reverse 3-0 began.
Gathered in solemn group huddle, the Bass sans Shannon, Izzy and the still wandering Tyler were formulating a plan.
"Alright, this is a strategy I picked up in juvie," said Duncan, taking charge of the proceedings "It's called, 'rush the new guy'."
"What do we do, eh?" asked Ezekiel, still not really understanding how this game worked, other than it being scary.
"Simple. We take all the balls we can, and throw them all at one person." Duncan replied, grinning maliciously
"That's it?" asked Courtney, dumbfounded "That's your 'grand strategy'?"
"I never said there was anything grand about it, princess."
Courtney chose to ignore his last remark in favour of holding her head in her hands and groaning
"We're doomed" she sighed to herself.
The Gopher Bleachers
It was only as the teams for round 3 were being selected that Adam finally regained his senses, groggily sitting up from his sprawled-out position on the bench. He rubbed his eye, the back of his head and his jaw at once, until he realised he needed three arms to do all of that simultaneously and he punched himself in the mouth. When he got over that injury, he straightened out, and finally tuned his ears into the conversation the rest of the team was having.
"Okay people, one more round and we've got this in the bag." said Heather, clapping her hands together to attempt to get everyone's attention. Her efforts failed almost completely, with only Beth paying attention to her, everyone else being too absorbed in their own little worlds.
Confession Cam – What'd she say? I wasn't listening.
Heather: "I swear, I have to do everything myself around here." she says, rubbing her temples in stress "It's like no-one else among these losers has a brain"
"Alright!" she suddenly barked, drawing far more attention that she had previously "Gwen, Justin and Noah, none of you have played yet, so you're up for sure" Gwen and Justin obligingly got to their feet, albeit not without a pointed glare from Gwen, which was summarily ignored by Heather. Noah, meanwhile, rolled his eyes and frowned.
"Haven't we been over this conversational dead-end already?" he said not even looking up from his book "Me and sports do not mix. Go find someone else to get pelted."
His response drew a series of angry frowns from his team, and a concerned frown of thought from Adam.
"Fine, whatever," said Heather, finally giving up on trying to make Noah play "Any volunteers?" Trent hopped up, eager to make up for his poor showing last time, as did Beth. When no-one else stood up Heather let out a highly-exaggerated sigh of exasperation.
"Ugh, fine! I'll do it myself!" she said as she stomped onto the court, followed by her four other teammates.
Adam didn't really notice them leave, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to pay the concerns of the now any mind. Instead, his thoughts were of the near future; specifically, how the hell he was going to get Noah out of the hole he seemed determined to dig himself into before it was too late.
Confession Cam – Good luck with that, kid. You're gonna need it.
Adam: He sits hunched up, scribbling in his notebook as he speaks "Of course I don't want Noah gone, he's one of the only people I can sort of talk to." he pauses to chuckle nervously to himself, before resuming his writing "Of course the problem is making it so everyone else doesn't want Noah gone, which from where I'm sitting seems... uh, daunting, to say the least"
While Adam was lost in his planning, the teams were taking to the court. Facing the Gophers in their potential last stand would be Courtney, DJ, Geoff, Bridgette and Duncan. Their faces were set in grim determination, save for Geoff, who was smiling as casually as he always seemed to be. The balls, number reduced to five after Courtney's violent murder of one of their number, glinted in the sun along the boundary line with their foes.
The Gophers, in contrast seemed at ease. Heather had mostly gotten over her irritation and was grinning maliciously at her opponents, Beth seemed at ease, and Justin was just as much of an unreadable specimen of human perfection as he usually was. Gwen was still slightly out of it, yawning frequently, her face cycling between glassy-eyed stares into the middle-distance, brief expressions of confusion as she snapped back to reality, and scowling, mostly in that order.
And lastly, there was Trent, whose focus was not on the game at all. Instead, it was on the goth girl a metre or so to his right, who was starting to sway slightly.
Trent wrung his hands nervously together, took a long series of deep breaths, then set his face in a far more casual look than its prior nervousness; and walked on over to Gwen
"Hey" he said, giving the goth a small smile. Gwen, currently in the 'glassy-eyed stare' bit of the cycle, snapped out of it and looked confused for a moment; then her gaze focussed on Trent and her expression turned into a nasty looking frown
"Oh. Hi." she said curtly, her arms folded, and Trent winced. "What do you want?"
"I was just, you know, wondering what's up?" Trent replied "You seem kinda... tetchy."
"Oh gee, I wonder why" Gwen scoffed with a roll of her eyes "It's not like a bunch of idiots broke a hole in my wall last night while I was trying to get some sleep after three days of staying awake"
Trent winced again.
"That was an accident" he replied. Gwen shot him a raised eyebrow
"Really?"
"Yeah. Look, Owen got thrown through the window, and he landed on Noah," Trent began to explain, incredibly conscious of the disbelieving glare Gwen was giving him "so we tried to roll him off, but we slipped and he went the other way, and he just sorta... kept going?"
Trent looked at Gwen in agonising anticipation, while Gwen just sort of stared boggle-eyed at what she'd just heard. To be fair, if I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe either.
"Really?" she eventually said "That's the excuse you're going for?"
"Hey, it's the truth" Trent tried to reply, but was cut off from saying any more.
"That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard" she said sharply, before stalking off to the other side of the court; only to realise Heather was on that side, so she settled for brooding angrily in the middle. And as for Trent, well he was left standing around looking rather dejected.
Trent was still stood around looking dejected when the whistle blew, and a volley of dodgeballs sailed from the other side of the court and smacked into him all at once, knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing to the ground.
As the 'THUD' of Trent's impact faded, The Arena was left in silence, as Gwen looked at Trent's prone form in concern, the rest of the Gophers gazed warily at the Bass, and the Bass stared back with defiant grins on their faces. The silence broke when Noah, still paying no attention to the court, turned a page so loudly it was probably deliberate, and the action resumed again.
Leshawna and Justin responded as best they could, throwing balls towards the Bass, aimed towards Courtney and Geoff. The height was off by a mile, and the simultaneous ducking of the targets made the miss even greater than it first seemed. Gathering up more balls and passing them around, the Bass set their sights on Leshawna. Narrowing her eyes, she readied herself for the oncoming onslaught.
Leshawna easily dodged the first ball, sidestepping past it without much issue; the second followed quickly after, flying straight towards her face, which she barely avoided by swiftly jerking her head to the side. The third ball came almost immediately after, prompting another rapid sidestep that very nearly threw her off balance. It was then that the fourth ball struck, careering into her gut as she struggled to right herself, causing her to wobble in multiple directions, until she toppled over backwards. The fifth ball sailed over her, but a sixth was launched after the fact by Duncan, as if to add insult to injury, which soared in a languid arc until it landed on her chest.
The balls now proverbially and literally in the Gopher's court, the three remaining members scrambled for a defence. Justin unleashed the might of his finely-sculpted muscles, hurling a ball towards DJ. Half a second later, Heather threw hers at DJ as well, and while he was able to dodge Justin's, he was too distracted by that to dodge Heather's, which caught him on the arm and sent him to the bleachers. For a moment, there was a glimmer of hope for the Gopher's, and with that hope gleaming in her eye, Beth picked up another ball and hurled it at Duncan, hoping to take out the leader of their little outfit.
But it was all for naught, as Duncan saw the ball heading straight for him, and caught it like a rugby player receiving a pass. Izzy walked onto the court, manic grin stretching from ear to ear, and Beth walked off, leaving the Gophers down to two players against a full complement of Killer Bass.
But even in the face of imminent defeat, the Gophers remained defiant, launching two more balls towards the new arrival. Izzy simply cackled maniacally and sprinted towards the oncoming projectiles, dropping into a knee slide at the last moment, skidding underneath the balls untouched, her momentum carrying her past a stray ball that lay unused on the ground, which she scooped as she went. Stopping just short of the line, Izzy launched her ball towards Heather with a yell of "BAGOOM!"; the rest of the Bass followed her impromptu lead, and the queen bee was buried in a hail of spherical rubber.
And then there was one. Justin stood alone, like some statuesque figure from myth, his face set in a determined frown while his eyes glinted with hidden nervousness. He lowered his stance, well-sculpted muscles rippling, and held his arms in front of him, his biceps barely contained within his shirt, and-
And Duncan threw a ball in his face and he dropped like a sack of potatoes someone had drawn a pretty face on.
The Gophers let out a series of disappointed groans, while on the other side of the field, the Bass erupted in cheers, their imminent defeat no longer seeming as imminent. Duncan smirked, and strolled off of the field, the rest of his team following him, chattering elatedly amongst themselves.
Back on the court, Justin bolted upright, and hastily felt his face for any damages. When nothing showed up on the touch test, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a compact mirror, and frantically inspected his face in that. What he saw sent chills down his spine, and the blood drained from his well-tanned face.
There, on his perfectly carved left cheekbone, was a graze. Justin let out an agonised gasp of terror. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he bolted from the arena as fast as his toned legs could carry him.
"DON'T LOOK AT MEEEEEE!" He sobbed as he ran, slightly muffled by the fact he was hiding his face in his hands "I'M HIDEOUS!"
On the stands, reactions from the Gophers were mixed, from an irritated yell of "Get back here, you Paris Fashion Week wannabe!" from Heather, a look of concern from most of the girls, a look of bored indifference from Gwen and most of the boys; and from Adam, a glint in his eyes that told of a flash of inspiration, followed almost immediately by an incredibly guilty frown.
Confession Cam – That guy's self-esteem sure is fragile, huh?
Justin: "I only came on this show to boost my career!" he exclaims, hand still covering his wounded cheek "If I'd know I was gonna get hurt, then I..." he trails off, distraught at the thought of a more damaging injury. He closes his eyes and takes a few breaths to steady himself. "Calm down, Justin", he says to himself "You still have your abs"
Adam: "You know, my whole concern so far has been trying to think of ways to keep Noah in the game." he sighs to himself, nervously drumming out a four-beat rhythm on his lap with his hands, clearly in turmoil "It wasn't until Justin ran away screaming that I realised keeping Noah in the game meant keeping someone else out of it"
The Bleachers
"Well, I reckon that could've gone better" proclaimed Noah, who for once had actually watched the game. His comment prompted yet another round of angry glares from his team, and a concerned, barely audible sigh from Adam.
"You know, you're really not helping your case" he mumbled once everyone's focus had drifted
"What?" asked Noah "I watched that one. That counts for something"
"I mean yeah, it counts, but not for all that much in the grand scheme of things." replied Adam, wringing his hands nervously. The two lapsed into silence for a minute, while Noah went back to his book and Adam tried to collate his thoughts into coherent sentences
"Look," the smaller of the two eventually said, drawing a raised eyebrow from Noah "I know you think that you'll be absolutely no help in the game whatsoever, and you may very well be right, and so by logic you shouldn't take part"
"Yes, and your point is?" Noah asked, starting to get rather fed up with this topic constantly being brought up
"My point is everyone else doesn't see it that way. People aren't logical Noah, they're irrational and governed by emotions. They don't see a logical choice for the betterment of the team, they see a guy sitting out of the game for no apparent reason other than sheer laziness." Adam paused, partially to regain his breath, and partially to recollect his thoughts.
"Who do you think is gonna go home tonight if we leave?" he asked, "The people who have been actually trying to win, or the guy on the bench making snarky comments?"
"Hey, if I don't play, how is it my fault if we lose?"
"Again," Adam sighed morosely "Logic." he untangled his fingers form the knot he'd wringed them into, and gripped the bench with them
"Look, Justin, just ran out..." he trailed off, chuckling slightly at the bad pun he made. Noah sighed in exasperation and buried his head in his book.
"Justin ran off," Adam continued, giggling finished, "and if I don't miss my guess, he's not gonna be playing again, which means you aren't the only one refusing to play, which means you have a chance to do something."
"And do what?" Noah retorted, frowning "As I have said, innumerable times, sports are not my forte."
"So what is?" asked Adam, shooting him a curious look. He stood up, which as it happened resulted in his head being lower down than when he was sat down. He began walking off, only for Noah to speak again.
"Hey, Adam," he began, uncharacteristically reserved "Why are you so keen to help me out?"
Adam looked surprised at the question for a moment, before his face flushed a faint red and he looked away, stammering.
"Oh, uh, it's just, you and Cody are, uh, are the ah..." he trailed off, clearly not keen to continue the sentence. Noah shot him a raised eyebrow, while Adam floundered for a bit, until he finally untied his tongue
"You'resortatheclosestthingstofriendsI'veeverhadandIdon'twantthattoendalready." he eventually choked out at a million miles an hour, before dashing off to the other end of the bleachers as fast as his little legs could carry him. Noah simply stared at the spot Adam once occupied blankly as he tried to pick apart his one-word paragraph.
Confession Cam – Did you get any of that?
Adam: he sits in the confession cam with his hat covering his face, which he quietly screams into.
"Why did I say that?" he asks himself "Oh great, way to go Adam, admit you've never had any friends, that won't convince people you're weird." he slumps backwards, hat held in one hand dangling limply at his side, and groans
Noah: "What?" he asks, staring at the camera in utter confusion
No, no I didn't. Regardless, antithetical to the air of apathy and antagonism that abounded among the also-ran, the Bass were in much higher spirits, with a slew of cheers and high-fives all round, a victorious glow that not even an ill-aimed high-five that knocked over a confused but eager Ezekiel could dampen.
"I can't believe that actually worked!", Courtney exclaimed mostly to herself; and as with most statements aimed inwardly, Duncan overheard and felt the need to comment.
"Is that 'grand strategy' enough for you, princess?" he asked, arms folded and a smirk on his face.
"Oh shut up." Courtney scoffed, lightly elbowing him in the side, but she couldn't hide her grin.
"Alright" said Heather, having given up on letting other people volunteer for the game "Leshawna, Cody, Weird Goth Girl, Owen, and the pipsqueak, you're on"
The responses to this decision varied. Cody and Owen just shrugged and got up, Adam let out a pathetic squeak of surprise, and Gwen's head lolled forwards as she attempted to affix Heather with a withering glare, only to glare at a spot slightly to her left thanks to delirium. Leshawna, however, stood up, folded her arms, and gave Heather a suspicious glare that actually hit the mark.
"And what are you gonna do while we're bustin' our butts on the court?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. Heather took the interruption in stride.
"I am going to go look for Lindsay and that prissy male model" she retorted, her face torn between her lingering frustration and a smug smirk. "Is that a good enough reason for you?"
Leshawna's frown deepened, but she said nothing else, and simply walked off onto the court.
Meanwhile, halfway between the bleachers and the court, Cody suddenly noticed the absence of a certain halfpint-sized magician in his immediate vicinity. He turned around, and there was Adam, staring wide-eyed into the middle distance like a 'Nam vet at a fireworks show.
"You okay?" Cody asked, a question that seemed to snap the other boy out of his daze. Adam looked towards Cody, sheepish, and rubbed the back of his head nervously
"Oh, it's just, y'know" he said "This didn't exactly go great for me last time, so..."
He trailed off into a series of mumbled unintelligibles, while Cody let out a chuckle, half in mirth, half in sympathetic nervousness.
"Hey, it's not like it can go much worse than last time" he said, tempting fate to such a staggering degree he may as well have taped a sign to his back saying 'kick me'. Adam too was unconvinced, his nervous grimace turning into a nervous frown.
"Honestly, I think it's all downhill from here..." he mumbled, but nonetheless stood up and walked towards his fate, his head held low as he looked at the ground. A few steps later though, he stopped and turned to look over his shoulder, eyes fixated on Noah with an expression that could best be described as forlorn.
It took a few moments for Noah, who was at that moment staring into the middle distance with a neutral look on his face, to register the new attention on him.
"What?" he asked, looking at Adam in confusion. Adam gave no visible response, other than a slight inclination on an eyebrow that might have been a trick of the light.
"Good luck?" Noah continued, "Is that what you're after?"
"It's a start, I guess." Adam murmured, before turning back to the court and continuing his march towards the inevitable
Confession Cam – Well that was unnecessarily ambiguous
Noah: "You know, this whole 'taking part' thing would be a whole lot easier if I got some clear freaking advice"
Meanwhile...
The Bass, their elation somewhat subsided since their comeback, needed far less time to argue than their counterparts, instead spending their time milling about amongst themselves, talking the talk, but not doing much walking of the walk. Off in one corner just by the bleachers stood Ezekiel, Harold and Izzy, talking about nothing at all in particular, a nothing that kept getting derailed whenever Izzy opened her mouth.
None of the three noticed the figure shrouded in inexplicable shadow slowly standing up behind them, reaching its full height of about half a head more than Harold. They, did however, notice when the figure threw its arms around the three and loudly ask
"So, whit th' fuck are ye' numpties talkin' aboot?"
Harold, with all the composed dignity he prided himself on, leapt a foot in the air, limbs flailing wildly and screaming like a little girl. He landed on his back in a pile of limbs, which set the figure, now very obviously revealed to be Shannon, into a fit of cackles.
"Shooldn't you be concussed, eh?" asked Ezekiel, dealing with his surprise far more gracefully
"Aye, probably," Shannon replied, a nonchalant grin on her face as she bent down to hoist up Harold, "But, doctor says I' been skelped up the nut so many times i's like I dinnae even care anymore."
"You... what?" asked Ezekiel, failing to piece together the rapid-fire nonsense that had be spouted at him, while Shannon yanked Harold back to his feet with slightly too much force, causing the nerd to be launched lightly into the air again, landing with a wobble he attempted unsuccessfully to style out into a kung fu pose.
"That sounds cool!" cut in Izzy, manic grin on her face, as always "Think you could teach me that?"
"Depends, ye' got a cricket bat an' a twintie minutes tae get clouted round th' nut?" Shannon asked back sarcastically. Sarcasm Izzy clearly didn't pick up on, as she reached behind her back and procured a cricket bat from... somewhere. I guess Chris isn't the only one with dominion over spacetime here
Shannon stared at the bat, in an even blend of confusion and concern.
"Whit th' fuck-" was all she was able to get out before being saved by the proverbial bell, and the literal interruption.
"What on Earth are you doing?" asked Courtney, who had finally deemed the ongoing commotion as needing an intervention with the addition of weaponry "Shouldn't you be concussed? And why does Izzy have a bat?"
"Them's some grand questions, Thatcher." replied Shannon, while Izzy had lost interest with the conversation, and was sneaking up on the unaware Harold, bat at the ready. She steepled her fingers in thought for a moment, then shook her head and shrugged, "An' th' answer is 'fuck if I ken'"
Courtney pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, already regretting her decision to get involved with this bullshit.
"Ugh, never mind." she said "Think you're well enough to play?"
"Aye, I reckon I'm up fer' round two" Shannon replied. Shannon jogged on over to the other players, and from behind her she heard Courtney yell:
"Izzy! Don't bludgeon Harold!" Under her breath, she added "Not yet, anyway", to the end of that sentence, not that anyone heard it except me.
Over with the rest of the players, Shannon stood idly spinning a dodgeball on her finger, then picking it up off of the ground almost immediately afterwards. Around her were Duncan, leant against the wall with a smirk on his face while he watched Courtney try and get the bat from Izzy; Ezekiel, who had fled the chaos and was stood next to Shannon for lack of anyone else he really knew; DJ, stood next to Duncan and twiddling his thumbs nervously; and Bridgette, whose looks of concern were torn between the imminent carnage of Izzy and Courtney, and Shannon, who she knew for a fact shouldn't be up and walking this soon after a concussion. After watching Izzy backflip over the bleachers, she decided there wasn't much she could do about that particular situation, and instead turned to Shannon.
"Shouldn't you be concussed?" she asked, prompting an exaggerated sigh from Shannon
"Been getting' tha' a lot lately," she replied, followed by a small "shite" as she dropped the dodgeball again
The Court
With Izzy tripped up after attempting three turns in a backflip and fucking it up, and with Courtney in firm possession of the cricket bat, game 4 could finally proceed.
It began much like the last one, a volley of shots all homing in on a single target, in this case Owen. The large boy stood no chance at dodging the volley, and accepted his fate with a grim expression of stoicism on his face as the balls careened into his gut.
Despite their situation, a grin came to Leshawna's face, as an idea dawned on her. She turned to her compatriots.
"Hey shortstuffs!" she said, catching the attention of Adam and Cody
"Wanna give the fishies as taste a' their own medicine?" she asked, tossing a ball to each of them, before scooping up another. Catching her drift, Cody grinned in turn, while Adam was too busy fumbling the catch to react to the proposition. Ignoring him, Leshawna turned to her other teammate, who had been stood behind her the entire time
"You ready Gwen-girl?" she asked. Gwen shrugged
"Sure, why not?" she replied as she picked up a ball. Leshawna herself hoisted up one in each hand, and the four Gophers turned to their opponents.
In the televised, heavily edited version, what followed was a set of dramatic looking cutins of their faces, all making dramatic expressions, that ate up half the editing budget for the next couple of episodes.
What happened in actuality was Adam's throw going forwards a whole 50 centimetres, before flopping to the ground unceremoniously; while the remaining four balls sailed towards Duncan. In response, Duncan grit his teeth, and, invoking some ancient arcane technique of the juvenile detention facility (or at least that's as close an explanation as I can come to), ran towards the ball furthest on his left, which also happened to be the one furthest ahead in the pack.
Despite the looks of shock and dismay that littered the faces in the arena, Duncan's move was not so metaphorically suicidal as It first seemed, as he managed to catch that leftmost ball, then twist his body out of the way of the remaining three. It was inelegant, a close thing, and he couldn't complete the twist without losing his balance and flopping to the ground on his back, but in dodgeball, there are no points for elegance.
What mattered is that he caught the ball, and a shapr whistle from Chef confirmed the out.
"Loud girl!" He yelled, pointing to Leshawna "You out!"
"What?" she spluttered back in protest "Why me?"
"You threw half them balls, chances are, it was you."
Leshawna opened her mouth to argue, then let out an annoyed growl, and stomped over to join the rest of her team, her irritated expression contrasting nicely with theirs of resignation. Except, unnoticed by all, for Noah. Unlike everyone else, when Duncan pulled his little trick, he did not frown. Instead, his expression became thoughtful. And as Leshawna walked towards the bleachers, it changed from that expression of thought, into a small smirk
Confession Cam – He's either come up with a plan, or lost it. I reckon lost it
Noah: "Oh yeah" he says, leaning forwards, steepling his fingers and smirking even more than he was on the court "It's all coming together"
Meanwhile, outside The Arena
While her teammates faced their second loss in a row, Heather had far more pressing things on her mind. She had a missing alliance member to find.
Stomping out of The Arena, her eyes scanned the horizon for any sign of Lindsay and that incompetent idiot that called himself an athlete she'd run off with. No such clues emerged, but she did see Justin, bandages intricately positioned to hide his grievous injury, morosely trudging his way back to The Arena.
"Recovered from your crippling injury, have we?" Heather called to him, drawing Justin's attention away from the vague middle distance he'd been focussed on. He gave her no verbal response, but he did glare at her somewhat, which only made Heather scoff quietly to herself
"Whatever. You haven't seen Lindsay have you?" the sharp turn in conversation gave Justin pause for thought. After a few second of thought, he shook his head, prompting Heather to scowl.
"Great. You're just as useless out here as you were in there." Before she could even register any possible reactions Justin could have, she turned on her heel and marched off again, leaving Justin stood by the door to The Arena. He shrugged, and headed back inside.
Heather, meanwhile, had given up on using just her eyes to search
"LINDSAY!" she yelled to the campgrounds "If you don't get your ass out here, I'll-"
She abruptly cut herself off, as she heard a sound drifting on the wind. The sound of laughter. Lindsay's laughter, to be specific. A grin, rather less sinister than Heather's norm crept onto her face, and she walked towards the sound.
The trail led her to the Dock of Shame, and down beyond, where, sat in the small patch of beach that wasn't covered in some combination of seaweed, flotsam, jetsam, and the occasional fish; were Lindsay and Tyler, in what they considered deep conversation, both smiling, and Lindsay giggling like an idiot. Well, more of an idiot, Heather thought to herself.
Such thoughts were disrupted, though, by a sudden feeling of anger burning its way up Heather's being. The result of which was, rather than announce her presence in a calm, rational manner, she instead hoisted a nearby canoe over her head (which, the confession cam would like me to point out is, I quote "really hot"), and hurl it straight down at Tyler.
There was an almighty 'CRASH', and a tremendous amount of sand kicked up. When it cleared, the aftermath of the impact was revealed. Lindsay had been bowled over, and was lying on her back with her legs suspended in the air awkwardly, but the real damage had been done to Tyler, who was now entombed within the canoe, only his face visible out of the seat hole, and his legs poking out of the rather more improvised hole at the bottom.
"Ow!" he cried, rather understandably in his situation "What the hell's your deal?"
Heather didn't even spare him a glance, instead affixing Lindsay, now sat upright again, with her most withering glare, which despite its uncanny resemblance to that of the Gorgons of legend, did not turn Lindsay to stone.
"Inside. Now." Heather practically spat at the girl. And while Lindsay may not have been petrified, she was pretty damn scared, and without a word of argument, got up and scurried towards the stairs leading off the beach, leaving poor Tyler to try and stagger to his feet without the use of his arms.
Inevitably, he failed, and as Lindsay and Heather walked off, Tyler lost his balance and toppled forwards into the sand.
"Uhh, guys?" came his muffled cry "Little help?"
But there was no help forthcoming. The only response he got came from Immobile Seagull, he of the catchy name I definitely don't need to rethink, who had at some point appeared on Tyler's back. And defying his name, Immobile Seagull did in fact move, if only to peck at the canoe.
"Lindsay?" Tyler asked "Is that you?"
The Arena, Again
Noah's seeming optimism certainly didn't translate to the court, where the Gophers were two players down, and the balls were quite literally in the Bass' court. And as it was before, so it was again, and another volley was launched towards the Gophers, this time targeting Gwen.
But the balls, for once, did not find their intended target. Not through any effort of Gwen's mind you, she remained as rooted to the spot as everyone else in that same position, due to the evidently pervasive myth that a dodgeball's vision is based on movement. No, Gwen was saved by the intervention of her gap-toothed stalker, who dove in front of the volley like a bodyguard taking a bullet for the president, in a shot that the editors insisted be rendered in dramatic, afterimage filled slow motion, which ate up what remained of the editing budget.
Most of the balls glanced off of Cody, save for one: that ball, which happened of course to be the one thrown the hardest, previously targeted at Gwen's face, instead found its new target. Which was right into Cody's crotch. Cody's face contorted with pain, and he collapsed onto the ground in a heap, whimpering to himself in pain.
Unfortunately for Cody, no sympathy could be spared for him. The only attention he got was an intern pulling out a broom and sweeping him off the court when it became clear he couldn't move under his own power. As for everyone else, their focus was on the game, with two Gophers left standing against a full complement of Bass.
Meanwhile, on the Gopher Bleachers, while the battle of rubber balls raged on on the court in front of her, Katie was finally coming to after her little temper tantrum, please don't let her hear me say that. She rubbed her eyes, and attempted to try and figure out from watching which team was winning. When she couldn't, she turned to her neighbour, which was Beth.
"So, uh, how's everything going?" she asked. Beth started slightly in surprise. Just as she was about to answer, the intern sweeping up Cody arrived, depositing him at the feet of the two girls. Both stared down at the boy, whining quietly to himself about "the agony" in a voice a couple of octaves too high.
"Not good" was the reply Beth eventually came up with. Next to her, Katie nodded in agreement.
Adam, having quickly worked out that throwing the ball certainly wasn't working out for him, managed to come up with a new plan surprisingly quickly. He dropped the ball he was currently holding, took a few steps back, and, like a football player taking a penalty, ran towards the ball and kicked it at the Bass with all the force his little legs could muster.
As it turns out, all the force Adam's legs could muster resulted in his legs flying out too far, the momentum sending Adam a quarter of a ways into a backflip, then crashing to the ground; but, more importantly, it did send the ball at a decent speed towards the Bass. The ball flew past Ezekiel's head, who ducked, clutching at his toque as he did so.
At first that seemed to be it for Adam's little trick, and indeed it would have been, had Gwen not been thinking as quickly as he was. Upon seeing Adam's ball flying towards Ezekiel, she threw her own ball a second or so afterwards. The upshot of that was that as Ezekiel was standing back up, Gwen's ball flew in and walloped him in the gut, driving the wind out of his lungs with a painful gasp.
Ezekiel sank to the ground, and the score was 4-2.
While Adam flipped himself back onto his feet, Gwen threw a few more balls. The first ball was narrowly ducked by DJ, and the second flew wide of everyone. And as for the third and final ball it looked set to sail straight into Bridgette's face. Until, out of nowhere, a hand shot out, catching the ball scant centimetres before impact. The hand was, thankfully, attached to an arm, and the arm was attached to Shannon, who shot Bridgitte a smile and what was possibly a wink, hard to tell. The whistle rang out, and Courtney took to the court, and Gwen swore under her breath, and walked off.
5 - 1. And the 1 wasn't exactly the Gophers' star player. Alone, in the middle of the court, with all 5 Bass towering over him, Adam's eyes widened in fear as he stood, knees shaking.
The Bass unleashed their final volley, all 5 balls sailing true towards their diminutive target. But, unlike last time he faced such a situation, this time Adam's fight or flight instinct kicked in, and he did the only thing is overly panicked brain could think of.
He let out a squeak of utter terror, and hit the deck, curling up into a ball as the balls sailed over his prone form.
After a few moments, he opened one eye tentatively, to try and confirm whether or not he was still alive. When the rest of his sense confirmed that he was, indeed, still alive, he popped up to his feet. That was the easy part for him over. Now the challenge of getting 5 people, all more physically capable, out of the game when neither throwing nor catching was an option.
After a solid minute of thinking, Adam walked over to the nearest ball, kicked it half-heartedly over the line, then screwed his eyes shut and braced himself for the inevitable.
The Bass, in a state of mild confusion all stared down at the ball that had been proffered.
"Ye' ken" Shannon said "I dinnae think I've the heart fer' this."
"I do" said Courtney, picking up the ball and hurling it at Adam, sending him tumbling down the court.
Game 4 was over.
1 and a half minutes earlier
As Gwen trudged off the court, eyes angrily fixated on a single tree she could see outside The Arena, that had become the focal point of her ire, her walk was disrupted by a slightly squishy object in her path. She looked down, ready to make whatever it was her new emotional punching bag, only to pause when she realised the object was Cody, still groaning in pain from the blow he'd taken.
The blow he'd taken for her, she reminded herself, a thought which somewhat put a damper on her bad mood.
"You okay?" She asked, tentatively. It wasn't as though she had any affection for the guy, hell, he was probably her second or third least favourite person on the team, after Heather, and depending on how annoying Noah was being at that moment, but still; you don't let a guy take a dodgeball to the balls for you and then say nothing to him.
"I've had worse" Cody tried to force out, attempting a laugh through his pain. A laugh which caused him only more pain, rather ironically "Okay that's a lie. I haven't Owww..."
"Well, thanks, I guess?" Gwen said, having no idea what to say in this event "Or whatever. I dunno." She trailed off as she walked off, but the intent behind her words was clear enough. And despite the pain he was in, those words brough a huge grin to Cody's face. As huge as it could get given the circumstances, anyway.
Confession Cam – All that for a 'thank you'. Man this guy's pathetic
Cody: He isn't visible at first, but gradually his clenched fist rises shakily from beneath the camera. "Worth it." he croaks out
The (relative) present, the Gopher bleachers
It feels almost unnecessary to state, but after the recent events, Heather was about as far from pleased as it is physically possible to get. First Lindsay goes gallivanting off with the enemy, then Justin runs off, and now the pipsqueak just gave up without even trying.
"What the hell was that?!" she yelled at Adam, who was looking more like he wanted to sink into the ground and die by the second.
"Hey, lay off the shrimp" cut in Noah, to the surprise of many "Look at him, he's got less muscle definition than a pool noodle, what was he gonna do?"
That little interjection served quite effectively to change the target of Heather's ire from Adam to Noah, and she rounded on the bookwork with fire in her eyes. To Noah's credit he didn't even flinch.
"Well in a way you're right! At least that runt touched a ball, unlike you, Mr too-good-for-sports!" Heather shouted "You know, I almost hope we lose, so I can be shot of you!"
For some reason, that comment only served to make Noah smirk
"Well, I guess you don't want to hear about the winning strategy I devised" he said, once again to the surprise of many
"You have a plan?" Heather asked incredulously
"Yep" said Noah as he stepped off of the bench for the first time since arriving at The Arena "Because unlike some people, rather than spend all my time yelling when I don't get my way, I've been thinking."
Heather grit her teeth, but she muttered out an audible "Go on", along with a few other inaudible things of a likely offensive nature
"See, Duncan's little trick is effective, sure," Noah began "Effective, but inefficient. Five balls to get one person will certainly do the job, but after the first two or three the rest are just wasted.
"Which brings me to my little idea" He continued, picking up one of the discarded balls that were lying around "That inefficiency is where we counteract it. Of course, I do need to thank Duncan himself for giving me the idea."
"Are you gonna get to the point at all, Turkey?" cut in Leshawna, who was beginning to lose patience with Noah. Noah rolled his eyes and huffed, then threw the ball at Leshawna, which she caught easily
"And what the hell was that?" she asked
"A demonstration" he replied curtly "Catch the first ball that comes at you, they lose a player, we stay even, they can't keep going for it without losing through attrition"
"That's your plan?" Heather asked incredulously, prompting a strong feeling of déjà vu in me, "Catch the ball?"
"And how many other plans have you come up with in triple the amount of time I had?"
"Who's to say we can catch the ball?" asked Gwen from the sidelines
"That's a fair point." Noah said "But, I'm pretty sure they're throwing for precision, not power, so unless you're dealing with one of the freaks who can do both, it should be easier"
Heather narrowed her eyes at Noah for a moment; but then a wicked looking smile formed on her face.
"Alright, Noah," she said, his name dripping with venom "If you're so confident in this little plan of yours, you won't mind taking to the field to test it yourself"
Now it was Noah's turn to narrow his eyes at Heather.
"Fine." He eventually spat out as he turned on his heel and stalked off to the court.
He made it three whole steps before colliding with Adam, who'd been hovering on the periphery of the conversation just below eyeline.
"Jeez, you are really hard to notice!" Noah said once the two of them had disentangled from each other, and Adam had stopped rapidly apologising.
"So did you want something or were you just caught in Owen's gravitational pull?"
Adam, who had up to then been mumbling mostly to himself, was snapped back to reality with wide eyes
"Oh!" he said, once again drumming nervously on his leg "Uh, it's just, well, um, that is to say I sorta kinda had an idea, it's a bit risky. But hopefully it all works out in-" he was cut off by Noah placing a hand over his mouth
"Could you get that out in five words or less?" he asked "Or hell, just finishing before we die of old age would be nice"
Adam's face flushed red, and he looked to the ground in embarrassment, but after a second or two he nodded. Noah raised an eyebrow, but did lower his hand. Adam thought for a moment, then took a deep breath.
"Choose the team, pick Justin" he said, putting extra emphasis on each word and counting them off on his fingers. When he hit five, he smiled slightly to himself.
"Why him?" Noah asked in genuine confusion "I thought you said he wasn't... gonna... play..."
Noah's speech slowed as his brain caught up with his words. He gave Adam a funny sort of look, then gave him a sinister smile. Adam's smile back was far more nervous, and the leg drumming started up again.
"You are just full of surprises, aren't you?"
"Ah,I jus-… y'know. I try" Adam stuttered out, rubbing the back his head nervously, clearly unfamiliar with receiving praise from his peers.
The Bass
While the Gophers schemed, the Bass were still riding high off of their second victory. Well, most of them were. Those milling about the bleachers were certainly in high spirits, those on the court, not so much.
On the court, as it happened, were Shannon and Ezekiel, the former peeling the latter off of the floor, where he still lay after taking the ball to the gut.
"I doon't oonderstand how yoo like this game." he groaned out, voice faint and hoarse "It's really painful,"
"I''s a ma'er a' perspective, Wurzel," Shannon replied as she hauled him to his feet. "Get smacked by sum a' th' shite I've saw, and a wee dodgeball disnae seem so bad, ya get me?"
"What kinds of things have yoo been hit by to make that seem fine, eh?"
For a brief moment, Shannon's easy smile faltered. It went unnoticed by Ezekiel, and her face quickly returned to her usual lopsided grin
"I'll tell ye' aboot it when ye're aulder." she replied, almost too breezily
"Aren't we the same age?" he asked as the pair slowly made their way back to the rest of the team
"As fer as ye' ken." she replied, with an air of mocking ominousness. The, as the two approached the rest of their team, she yelled to the assembled Bass
"Aye, 'sup fuckos?"
"Do you always have to be so crude?" came the only verbal response, from Courtney. Shannon shrugged in reply
"I 'unno, probably?" she said. Courtney grumbled in irritation, and massaged her temples to alleviate the headache that was coming on.
`Ugh, whatever" she said after a few seconds "Look, it's the last game next, so you're up again, got it?"
"Aye aye, capitan" Shannon replied, giving Courtney a mock salute, which drew a growl from the CIT. She turned back to the rest of her team as Shannon wandered back onto the court.
"Okay, any other volunteers?" she called.
"I think it's my turn." came the only response, which was from Harold, who to be fair, hadn't played a single game since his first
"Pff, no way" replied Courtney almost immediately "We actually have a chance to win this"
Based on his prior performance, also a fair response, and Harold's head drooped as he headed back to the stands, receiving conciliatory pats on the back from Izzy and Ezekiel, the former of whom blew Courtney a raspberry when she thought her back was turned.
The Gophers, again
"You know, a good idea on paper and one in practice are two very different things" Noah said, looking down at Adam "You sure this is gonna work?"
"Uh, pretty sure, I think?" he replied, nervously shuffling a pack of cards he'd procured from his hat
"How sure?"
"70%-ish?" I dunno I've not really crunched any numbers or anything..." Adam trailed off into more mumblings, while Noah let out a sigh of finality
"Ah screw it, I've taken worse odds in Fire Emblem"
"Actually, most games these days use 2rn, so a 70% displayed hit is closer to 82% actually" Adam cut in, bringing a frown to Noah's face, and a glare to his eyes, one he directed at the smaller boy beside him.
"I'm not helping am I?" Adam confirmed "I'll just go stand over here now." Adam walked off, leaving Noah to his hastily assigned role as temporary team leader. He rolled his neck, which released an audible 'crack' that made him wince, took a final deep breath, and walked forwards into his team.
"Okay people let's get going" he announced, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention and praying internally no-one would notice how sweaty they were "We've got a game to claw back"
"Since when have you been giving order?" asked Leshawna, hands on her hips and a frown on her face.
"Since I became the only one with a plan, that's when." Noah shot back without missing a beat. He looked away for a moment, but then looked back almost immediately. "Actually, while I've got you, you're up. You're good at this game, right?"
Leshawna's frown softened at the sort of compliment, and after a few seconds of deliberation, she shrugged and headed onto the court.
"That's great" said Noah with no enthusiasm. He turned back to the bleachers, and looked at Owen "Big guy, same story, you're up"
Noah's lack of enthusiasm was made up for by Owen's overabundance of it, a loud chorus of "WOOO"s erupting from him as he jogged to the court.
Noah stopped covering his ears as Owen ran past, then turned his attention down to the other end of the bleachers, to Katie
"Look, I didn't see what you did earlier, but you're actually awake now, which is a plus, you think you've got another whatever-it –was in the tank?" he asked. Katie thought for a moment, then frowned remorsefully
"Sorry," she said, unable to meet anyone's eyes "I think that was a one-time deal."
"Eh, whatever" was Noah's tactful response. He looked down at her feet, where Cody had uncurled from the foetal position "You gotten over your crippling injury, oh brave hero?"
"Pretty much" replied Cody, his voice only slightly higher pitched than normal.
"Fantastic" drawled Noah, and he kicked a nearby dodgeball at him. Cody, who had been in the middle of standing up, was only barely able to catch it in time, and wound up losing his balance and fell right back onto his ass. He frowned as he stood back up, and was muttering to himself as he walked past Noah
"...I'll give you a crippling injury, you..." was all Noah, and by extension anyone, was able to hear.
With three out of the four other team members established, now came the risky part of Adam and Noah's little idea.
"Alright, last one, let's see..." Noah paused, miming thought. "... Justin, how about you?"
Justin jolted out of the sulk he'd been in. His eyes darted around for a moment, until they settled back on Noah, and they narrowed ever so slightly.
"No way." he said. Prompting several side-eyes from his teammates, and an apprehensively pensive look from Heather.
"Really" asked Noah, his tone of shock falsified to a painfully obvious degree to anyone with any awareness at all. Which rules out most of the people on this damn island. "It's the last game, with everything riding on it, and you're not taking part? Even I'm playing, and I despise this game."
Justin's face remained unchanging.
"Do you at least have a decent reason, like Katie?" Noah asked. This time, Justin's expression faltered.
"I have modelling contracts I need to maintain, you know?" he eventually said, which, judging by the rather irate glares it received from his teammates, was not the answer they wanted to hear. Well, irate expressions to everyone except Heather, who had seen through Noah's plan a few seconds after it began, and was now deep in thought
"Shame." said Noah, barely hiding his smirk
"Hey Heather," he called, snapping her out of her thoughts "You're up."
Confession Cam – My god, they didn't fuck something up
Noah: He chuckles to himself, buffing his nails on his sweater. "Like a charm"
Adam: He sits there, arms folded tightly into his chest, drumming that same rhythm on his arm, and lets out a long "Hmmmmmm" of inner conflict
Heather: "So, those idiots clearly planned that out" she says "Which just leaves me with the question of what to plan for them?"
The Court
And so it was set to begin, Game 5, the game that decided it all. For the Gophers, Noah, Owen, Cody, Leshawna and Heather. For the Bass, Duncan, Shannon, Geoff, DJ and Izzy. Both teams had assembled their best players, and their impromptu strategists. The tension in the air was practically crackling with electricity, each team member staring down their opposite number.
Then the whistle blew, and it began again for the last time. All players, sans Noah, raced towards the middle line where their arsenal lay. In a matter of a seconds, all the balls were grabbed, Izzy scoring two, and Shannon one for the Bass, while Heather and Cody each snagged one of the remaining two for the Gophers.
The Gophers launched their balls first, Heather throwing high and Cody throwing low, both aimed towards Duncan, who was forced to dive out of the way to avoid getting hit. And just like that, all the balls were with the Bass, and Noah's plan was finally to be tested.
The Bass settled on Noah as their first target, which the Gophers quickly picked on. He glanced towards his teammates, and steeled his gaze. This was it, the moment of truth
The volley was launched with its standard rather high velocity, and a bead of sweat trailed its way down Noah's face as the balls drew in closer. The first slammed into his chest, and he quickly cupped his arms around it as the rest followed suit and pelted him. The impacts toppled him over like a bowling pin, but that first ball remained clutched in his arms. The whistle blew twice, and Chef pointed first at Noah, then, after a quick round of eeny meeney miney mo to decide the Bass loser, at Geoff.
And when Chef gestured irately at Beth to run onto the court, the Gophers knew the plan had worked. Not the Bass were content with leaving it at that. If at first you don't succeed, try again after all.
So the four remaining Bass took aim at Owen. But, to their dismay, Owen also caught his first ball, and he was positively jubilant as the next two smacked into his gut unbeknownst to him
"Hey, I got it!" he shouted, giggling to himself. Across the court, Duncan, who'd kept a hold of his ball, growled and launched it with all of his might at Owen. It smacked the large boy in the face and he dropped like a felled oak. But a second later, his arm shot up off the ground, still clutching the ball.
"Still got it!"
That same intern with the broom was called in to roll Owen off the court, and as Shannon stomped off in a cavalcade of foul language, the Bass realised among themselves that Duncan's plan was no longer working. Which meant they had to play actual dodgeball.
Following that burst of action, the game ground to a much slower pace, the Bass playing far more cautiously to try and recover after their poor start, while the Gophers were simply trying to get them all out and finish the job.
The Gopher Bleachers
Noah sat back in what had become 'his' spot on the bleachers, but unlike normal, his book was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his attention was once again fixated on the game. Which, seeing as his future in the competition likely rode on the outcome, is a reasonable thing.
His focus was broken when the whistle blew for the umpteenth time that round, and Heather stalked off the court, sitting herself down next to him.
"Noah." was her curt greeting
"Heather" he replied in kind, not in the mood for conversation
"Looks like your little plan worked" said Heather, who didn't give a shit about what Noah wanted.
"So it would seem"
"I can't help but wonder if it'll be enough though" she said, a smirk crawling its way onto her face and a smug note entering her voice "And who's to say what'll happen if we lose?"
"What are you getting at?" asked Noah, several notes of suspicion entering his voice
"Me?" Heather replied with mock innocence "I'm not getting at anything. I'm just wondering, if we lose, do you really think these idiots will pick you over Mr Tall Dark and Broody over here?"
She gestured to Justin, who sensed he was being talked about, and pouted,
"I do not brood" he protested
"Oh please, a bit more eyeliner and you'd fit right in at one of Gwen's depressing poetry nights" scoffed Noah, rolling his eyes. Next to him, Heather chuckled, which only made Noah even more suspicious.
But before any of them could say any more, Chef's whistle blew again, and the angry man pointed at Noah to signal him to get back on the court
"Good luck, Noah" Heather said without any hint of goodwill in her voice as Noah stood up "Try not to mess up too badly out there."
Noah said nothing to her as he left, merely shooting her a glare, to which she replied with her trademark sinister smirk.
Noah did manage to get a chuckle out of the situation in the end, when Cody, who'd been listening to the whole exchange, took Noah's absence as a chance to make a move, sidling up to the girl and saying something Noah couldn't hear, but that immediately wiped the smirk from Heather's face, replacing it with a scowl. She picked up Noah's discarded book (a copt of Faust if anyone was wondering), and smacked Cody round the back of the head with it, dropping him face-first to the ground, while she stormed off in anger.
The player numbers slowly whittled down, constant catching and recatching, resulting in almost every team member cycling in and out numerous times, save for the still sulking and Justin, Harold, who no-one wanted on the court, and Tyler, still stuck on the beach unbeknownst to all his teammates
Highlights of the period of tepid war included Noah joining Harold, Tyler and Shannon in having an indentation of themselves permanently stuck into The Arena wall; Izzy catching a ball with her teeth, only to learn that doesn't actually counts as a catch; Geoff's hat getting knocked off; a ball getting lodged in Owen's bellybutton, which required several interns to pry loose; and Trent managing to accidentally throw a ball backwards so hard it bounced off of the back wall, sailed into the Bass ranks and smack Shannon in the face.
The beginning of the climax to this 'epic' saga came at a time when the score was 3 all. On the court were Owen, Gwen and Leshawna; for the Bass, Duncan, Courtney and Geoff.
Gwen and Leshawna worked together for a coordinated attack on Geoff, Leshawna throwing first, and Gwen a second behind her, but the plan went awry when Geoff took a page out of their book and caught the first ball. Sure, he got smacked by the second straight after, but that still put the Bass up a player. He walked off the court, still holding the ball, and headed to the bleachers, where he offered it to Harold, who was still looking slightly despondent. Harold looked up, at first hopeful, then doubtful, and he pointed to himself with a quizzical look on his face
"You got this, man." replied Geoff, which brought a smile to Harold's face
"Awesome" he said, and he eagerly bounded up to join the rest of the Bass.
"Back of the court, princess" said Duncan, immediately, cutting Harold's high hopes right down to size. The Bass' hopes as a whole were then cut down to size as well, when Courtney got smacked in the face by a ball from Gwen
"That's for the oatmeal" she called over, a satisfied smirk on her face. Duncan, on the other hand, was very much displeased by this turn of events, and picked up a ball to hurl at Gwen. She did the same, and the two balls each found their mark at the same time, smacking both players in the face, and all of a sudden it was 1-1.
The Gophers looked towards the Bass lines, where Harold stood, slightly bewildered, and erupted in cheers, the game, and thus the challenge, clearly in the bag.
The Bass reaction was far more morose, the exception being Shannon's exuberant yell of "G'WAN BEANPOLE, KICK HIS ARSE!"
"We're done for" moaned Courtney, holding her head in her hands. Her mood quickly shifted, and she turned to her team with an irate glare "Who even let him in the game?!" she demanded. She failed to notice Geoff, who slowly slunk down on the bench to hide behind Bridgette with a scared look on his face.
Back on the court, Harold stared down the only other player on the field: his opponent, Owen.
"Sorry dude" the fat boy said, holding two dodgeballs in each hand "But you gotta go down"
Harold did not rise to the taunt. Instead, he merely adopted a series of kung fu poses, and gave Owen a 'come hither' gesture.
"Goodnight Harold" said Duncan from the stands, facepalming.
Owen shrugged at Harold's choice of final pose, and hurl three of the balls at him in quick succession. And then the unthinkable happened.
Harold jumped over the first, pirouetted around the second, and leapt like a graceful ballerina over the third, remaining entirely untouched by all three. Owen windmilled his arm up to maximum speed, and unleashed the fourth, which Harold limboed under gracefully, the tailwind of the ball making is hair ripple.
In the immediate aftermath, The Arena was so quiet you could have heard a gnat fall over, as everyone stared in shock at the feat of acrobatic finesse displayed.
"Timeout! Timeout!" Courtney called to Chef Hatchet, accompanied by an orchestra of tiny 'plink's, as all the gnats in the room fell over.
Chef blew his whistle to agree to the request, and Harold was hurried over the bleachers, a wet towel already ready to be wrapped around his shoulders.
And thus the Bass assembled on the bleachers, finally giving Harold a modicum of respect now he was useful to them
"Man, that boy's got dodge! Where'd you learn to do that?" said Duncan, sounding actually impressed by something for once, while Bridgette handed Harold a water bottle and Ezekiel was given the task of holding up the bucket for him to spit into, a practice I still don't understand.
"Figure skating" Harold replied after spitting out the water, missing the bucket entirely and drenching Ezekiel, whose toque now sagged over his eyes.
"Attaboy Beanpole!" Shannon cheered, giving Harold a hi-five that made him wince in pain considerably, a fact she either ignored or didn't notice "Kent ye' had summat tae pull oot yer arse!"
"Harold, that was awesome!" said Geoff, fistpumping incessantly from his position stood atop the bleachers "But dodging isn't enough"
"But I thought it was called dodge ball, eh?" said Ezekiel, wringing out his toque, to whom no-one paid any attention.
"Geoff's right" chimed in Courtney, already out of congratulation mode and into 'win the game' mode "To win this, you either have to throw him out-"
"Which we all know you can't do" cut in Duncan, only somewhat unhelpfully this time, progress
"Or catch the ball" she continued "Can you do it?"
"Definitely" said Harold, as he took another long sip of water.
"Please doon't spit on me agen" asked Ezekiel. Harold nodded, and aimed for the bucket, only for DJ to slap him on the back sudedenly and jerk his aim up
"Awesome!" he said, as Ezekiel was drenched again "Now go catch that ball!"
The court, for the final time
The two opponents stared each other down, eyes narrowed, teeth clenched, and limbs at the ready. In the stands, the Bass were chanting Harold's name, while the Gophers cheered rather more chaotically. Save for Noah, who was watching intently with his chin resting on his hands, quietly murmuring
"Come on big guy, don't let me down"
The whistle blew, and Owen scooped up what he knew would be his last ball, the last one he needed. He backed his way up to the far end of the Arena, bracing himself to push off of the back wall. And then he launched, charging towards the centre, windmilling his arm as he did so. At the peak of his velocity, he threw the ball at the apex of his arm's rotation, putting every ounce of speed, every pound of force, every iota of momentum he could muster into that final ball, aimed squarely at Harold's chest.
There was a faintly audible 'crack' as the ball shot forwards, followed by an even fainter sound of shattering glass, as the shockwave cracked Adam's glasses.
The ball slammed into Harold with a nasty sounding 'crunch', and he flew backwards into the wall, by sheer happenstance landing squarely in the indent he'd left all those rounds ago.
He slid down the wall, and both teams watched in fierce anticipation as he doubled over in pain, until...
He proudly lifted the ball up.
The Bass erupted in cheers, storming the court, while Chef blew his whistle for the last time, and Chris yelled "THE KILLER BASS WIN!" for the convenience of absolutely no-one present.
Shannon hoisted Harold up onto her shoulder, and the rest of the team crowed around him, offering their congratulations, and all other manner of platitudes.
One the Gopher side of the court, Owen could only stare at the indentation of Harold in disbelief
"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" he cried out as he sank to his knees "WHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY!"
His only consolation came from Noah of all people, who offered him a small pat on the shoulder which Owen barely felt, before Noah frowned angrily and stalked off the court.
The rest of the Gophers were no less dismayed, but far more subdued about it, simply hanging their heads and moaning about it a little.
Gradually they dispersed, following in Noah's steps. First Leshawna, rather more irate than most, then the group of Beth, Lindsay and Katie, already most of their way to forgetting about it as they conversed. Justin was next, even more alone than he normally seemed, then Heather, who unlike the frowns of her teammates, wore a small smirk. Cody and Adam were the last to leave, the former holding a mostly one-sided conversation with the latter, though mostly one sided is certainly an improvement from their previous abortive attempts. Which left, Trent, Gwen, and the still wailing Owen, whom everyone had silently agreed to leave alone for a while.
Trent was finally about to go, when a small, slightly gravelly voice stopped him with a "Hey"
"Hey" he replied as he turned around to see Gwen, looking uncharacteristically sheepish "I thought you were mad at me?" he asked
"I was" she began, looking down "But, I thought about it, and, I uh, wanted to say sorry about that?"
"I thought what I said was the stupidest thing you'd ever heard?" Trent said, sounding more confused than like he was trying to rub it in
"Oh no, it was" Gwen hastily clarified "It sounds like complete and utter bullshit.
"But I like to think you respect me enough to not try and pull such monumental bullshit on me" she concluded, finally looking him in eye. Trent looked confused, but realisation soon dawned and he smiled
"So you're saying you believe me because it's so ridiculous?"
"Well, yeah"
"Fair enough" he said. And with that, the two walked out together, leaving Owen and the two hosts alone in The Arena. Chef offered Owen another pat on the shoulder, and soon he was left alone
The procession of Bass had stalled only a few metres outside The Arena, which meant they were in prime gloating distance for the emerging Gophers. They did just that, and, as Noah was the first to emerge, he got the worst of it, which only made his mood even worse as he stomped off to the cabins.
"Uh guys?" came a faint call from the beach, which caused most everyone to look around in confusion to try and pinpoint its source "Is anyone there? Did we win?"
It was Lindsay who reacted most visibly as she emerged.
"Ohmigosh!" she yelled "Tyler!"
She dashed down to the beach to rescue her temporarily forgotten boyfriend.
"So that's where he wound up" said Courtney, trying to be mad but failing spectacularly.
The Bass' celebration/Gopher jeering party continued until long after the last Gopher had left, Harold not touching the ground until they reached their cabin. Soon enough, they were joined by Tyler, only slightly bruised from his canoe entombing, and no-one seemed to care that he'd been missing for half the challenge. They'd won after all, and in their minds, that was all that mattered.
A few hours later, the Gopher cabins
The Bass' celebration was somehow still ongoing, a fact that irritated Noah more and more each second as he leaned against the cabin wall, glaring at his teammates. Some had tried to talk to him, and he'd promptly told them to get lost, content to, as he put it, 'stew' or as his parents would have put it, 'brood'.
"Well, I guess it didn't entirely work out for you after all" came a sneering voice that informed Noah he had company
"What do you want, Heather" he asked, practically spitting out the girl's name and not even bothering to look at her.
"Want?" Who says I want anything?" she said, with that same tone of feigned innocence she'd used earlier as she leant against the wall coquettishly.
"You can cut the crap, you know?" Noah said, finally looking at her, her smug smile only making him even more annoyed "We both know exactly what kind of person you are, so why don't you just get it over with?"
"Alright then" she said, her smile turning even more sinister, despite the seeming impossibility of such a thing "I have a... proposition for you"
Noah said nothing, only raising an eyebrow in response
"You and I both have someone we want gone. And while I can quite happily wait a challenge or two to get rid of him, your situation is a bit more... urgent"
"So we both want Justin gone." He said, his frown deepened "The question is, what do you get out of it?"
"Nothing" she said, smirk getting so smug it makes the proverbial snake look humble "Yet. Let's just say you'll owe me a favour"
"Is that supposed to be a tempting offer?" Noah scoffed "I know how people like you work. I owe you a favour, I may as well owe the mafia."
"Fine," Heather said as she pushed herself off of the wall "But it's like what I said earlier. You really think they'd pick you over Justin?"
Noah scowled at her, but couldn't come up with any response
"I thought not" she said as she walked away, hips swaying with the swagger of someone who knew they'd one. She was halfway down the steps when Noah finally caved
"Wait" he said, leaning his head back against the wall, eyes closed as he sighed and prepared to sign away his soul "You've got a deal."
Heather grinned. Mission accomplished
Confession Cam – Okay Google, "do teenage girls have souls?"
Heather: She's smiling maliciously, as per usual "And now, not only do I have an ally who actually has half a brain, but I've also got an in with those pathetic losers he calls friends"
Harold: "I guess I'm kind of a role model now that I've won the dodgeball competition" he says, eating a bag of crisps "People will probably all want my autograph when this show is over and stull"
Noah: "And just when you think things are starting to go alright," he says, chin in his hands and a bored look in his eye "Bam, blackmail"
The Campfire pit, that evening
For the first time in the competition, the Gophers were assembled in the campfire pit, ready to cast one of their own out for the sin of not being good at dodgeball. It would also be the last time in a long while that all the dead stumps that passed for chairs would be filled.
"Campers" said Chris, holding up a tray of marshmallows and feigning solemnity as per usual "You have all cast your votes and made your decision. One of you will be going home. And you can't come back. Ever."
Reactions among the campers were mixed. Leshawna, Cody, Katie, Owen and Beth looked worried, Adam looked absolutely terrified, Heather was smug, Lindsay looked like she had no idea what was going on, which was probably true, Gwen and Trent looked bored, and Noah and Justin were more focussed on glaring at each other.
"When you hear me call your name, come up and collect your marshmallow." Chris said, the gleam in his eyes giving away the glee he felt at this.
"Owen" was the first one he called, which was met by a deafening "WOOO!" Owen bounded up and began making out with his marshmallow.
"Gwen, Cody" the latter let out a sigh of relief, and they walked up far more normally, and collected their marshmallows like sensible people
"Adam" his face paled at the mention of his name, only to realise moment later that it meant he was actually safe. He tried to get up to collect his marshmallow, but his legs were shaking too much from the pressure and he collapsed in a heap
"I got it" mumbled Cody, and he picked up a marshmallow and tossed it at the boy. It bounced off his chest, and a timid "Thanks" could be heard. Chris rolled his eyes at being upstaged, and got back on with the proceedings
"Trent. Heather, Beth" Trent got up with a smile, while Heather sauntered on over and Beth gave Lindsay and Katie a small wave.
"Leshawna" she too let out a sigh of relief, and got not just a marshmallow, but a hi-five from Gwen.
"Katie, Lindsay" the two girls "EEEEE"-ed as they hugged, inducing wincers in all within earshot, and bounded on up together. And then, there were two.
Chris turned to Noah and Justin, who were now practiaclly trying to kill each other with the power of their glares.
"The final marshmallow goes to..."
Confession Cam – Drama whore
Beth: "Stho, Heather sthaid to vote for Justhtin. I don't know why, but I guesth that'sth why sthes'th in charge of the alliancthe" she says, letting out a disgusting amount of spittle and making transcribing this a nightmare
Gwen: "Both Noah and Justin are assholes. But they're not the biggest assholes on the team. So goodbye Heather."
Adam: "Justin" is all he can manage to squeak out
Leshawna: "I don't care how good yo' plan is" she says, hands on her hips "Ya' don't get off actin all huffy for four games straight. G'bye, Turkey"
Owen: "Oh man, this is tough. I don't wanna lose anyone, they're all so cool!" he fishes around in his pocket, and produces a quarter "Okay, uh, heads is Noah" he flips the coin, only to miss the catch and have it drop to the ground "Oh crap, where'd it go?!"
Lindsay: She looks around the confessional booth for a few seconds in confusion "What was I doing here again?" she asks aloud, before a flash of realisation hits "Oh yeah! Voting. Heather wrote it down for me, isn't she the best?" she peers at her hand, and begins slowly reading off the letters one by one "J, U, S, T, uh, L, N" eh, close enough
Trent: "Man, this is tough. Not because I like them or anything, more the opposite of that." His brain catches up with his mouth, and he panics. "They're not gonna see this, right?" the camera nods up and down. "Okay, cool. Then I vote Noah"
Katie: "You know, they were both kinda jerks. But Justin is just so dreamy..." she trails off, sighing to herself. "Oh, uh, I vote Noah" she says as she jolts out of her daze.
Owen, again: "I found it!" He yells, arm sticking up from beneath the screen. "It was heads! Sorry Noah!"
Heather: As per usual, she's smirking "Of course, I could have easily helped Justin out instead of Noah" she says "But Justin is far more of a threat to me and Noah is, and I need him gone before he realises that"
Chris's pause continued for the standard two minutes, which as it happens is in fact the time after it's edited down, trust me you do not wanna see the unedited tapings of this.
"... Noah" he eventually calls. Noah let out a laugh of glee, then a sigh of relief, then speedwalked over to his marshmallow before it could be rescinded
Confession Cam – oh no, what a surprise...
Cody: "Yeah, they were both acting like jerks today." he says "But I dunno, Noah kinda wasn't a jerk in the Awake-A-Thon, and Justin's just been really... quiet. So, sorry Justin."
"Justin, I personally think this is wrong" said Chris as he put a consoling hand on Justin's shoulder, and spoke in a tone that actually sounded genuinely sympathetic. "But today, looks just weren't enough."
He gestured to the dock
"The Boat of Losers is that way, brah"
Justin said not a word as he walked past his former teammates, nor as he stepped onto the Boat of Losers, nor even as it sailed off into the unknown. He simply stared at the island with something glinting in his eye. I'm not sure what exactly, but it was glinting.
The Gopher Boys Cabin, some time later
It had been a long, long day. For some, it felt like, half a yar. But at last, it was over, and the boys could finally sleep. Adam had just put his glasses away in their case, put the case away in his hat, and kung his hat on the bedpost, and he was just about to tuck himself in when a voice said
"Hey" Adam squaked and leapt up, only to crack his head on the ceiling and fall right back down. The owner of the voice, which was Noah snickered, and waited for Adam to finish rubbing at the newly formed bruise
"I just wanted to say... I dunno, thanks, I guess?" he said, which gave Adam pause
"What for?" he asked, sounding honestly confused
"For snapping me out of my little, huff, genius" Noah replied with a smirk "I'd probably still be going on about how 'sport aren't my forte' if you hadn't stepped in"
"I dunno, I mean, I'm sure you would've snapped out of it yourself, I mean..." Adam stammered out as his face flushed
"No, I wouldn't." Noah cut him off "I can get pretty stuck up my own ass sometimes"
"Do mine ears deceive me?" cut in Cody from across the room in a tone of mocked eloquence "Is that Noah being humble?"
"It must be a sign of the end times" agreed Trent with a small chuckle "Anyone seen any flying pigs lately?"
"Zip it you two" said Noah "Besides, if it weren't for me you'd all be flapping around like headless chickens trying to figure out how to beat the big mean rubber balls"
"And there's the real Noah" said Cody with a smirk. He was met with a pillow to the face. As it slid off, his face had gone from a happy grin to a rather more ominous one
"Is that a challenge?" he asked "I'll have you know my skills at dodgeball extend to pillows"
"You can't charge a pillow with that much static electricity, genius" said Noah with a roll of his eyes.
Before anyone else could say anything more, a large, dark figure, loomed into the doorway.
"Did someone say... pillow fight?" Asked Owen, towering over the four boys and brandishing a pair of pillows
"Isn't this a little sleepover-y?" asked Noah, as though that was somehow a high priority.
"Well this is summer camp" said Trent, And then came aloud booming voice
"Have at thee!" yelled Owen as he dove towards the beds, and the rest of the Gophers boys screamed in terror
I'm not deaded! I'm alive I tell you! Alive!
It sure has been a while, huh? About six months, the worst gap in my schedule yet. But heyo, we're back now, and now that uni's stopped beating me to a bloody pulp until September, hopefully that means I'll have more time for this.
This chapter ended up being the longest to date, because while the two part format may be the new standard, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm very good at keeping the two parts even. But hey, characterisation is finally happening, which is box three on the writer checklist, after "know grammar" and "know the difference between 'barely' and 'barley' and the difference between 'definitely' and 'defiantly'".
Was it cliche for me to eliminate Justin to keep Noah? Yes. Do I care? No. Justin was the character with the least to do in this, so keeping him in favour of someone else makes no sense from a storytelling persapective. And you know, the thing with Trent and Gwen I said would happen this chapter really turned out to be far less of a thing than it turned out to be, didn't it? I guess it seemed more significant when I was planning it out than when I was writing it. Oh well, live and learn.
I hope to have the next chapter out by September, ideally even sooner, but this is my schedule we're talking about here, who the hell even knows? Speaking of, the next chapter is gonna be a bit different and rather more experimental compared to the others. I hope it works, if not, hey, it can just be a one time thing.
As usual, leave reviews, favourtie, follow, blah blah blah, or if you don't like it, just blow up my house. I will thank you for the sweet release from this blasted hellscape we call a reality.