Chapter Two is here.
Fair warning in advance, it might be bit of a monster lengthwise. I'd like to maintain the episodic structure in the chapters as much as possible, but if it seems like the lengths are getting out of control, I might reconsider that and start splitting them into shorter chapters.
Hopefully you can still find this an enthralling read though.
Happy and Not So Happy Campers
"Last time on Total Drama Island: Twenty-four campers have signed up to spend their summer right here at this crummy old summer camp of Wawanakwa. Then have to face the judgment of their fellow campers. Introductions have been given and guide tours held. First impressions have been made and let's say we definitely have some fine, interesting, and downright weird personas among our contestants. Who knows what summer has in store for our campers. What drama will ensue? Who'll be voted out first? Find out here on TOTAL… DRAMA… ISLAND!"
Campers were still processing their mixed feelings about situation when Chris, who had until then basked in rising tension, stepped forward to introduce them their challenge.
"Okay. Today's challenge is threefold. Your first task is to jump off this 100-foot-high cliff into the lake."
"Piece of cake", Bridgette interrupted and gave a nervous chuckle.
"If you look down you will see two target areas. The wider area represents the part of the lake that we have stocked with psychotic man-eating sharks" Chris continued and laughed heartily. "Inside that area is a safe zone. That's your target area which – we're pretty sure – is shark-free."
"Excuuuse me?" Leshawna could not hold back her disapproving voice but host did not react like he had heard girl.
"For each member of your team that jumps and actually survives, there will be a crate of supplies waiting below. Inside each crate are supplies that you'll need for the third part of the challenge: building a hot tub. Second leg is about getting the crates to building area. Therefore, threefold challenge. The team with the best hot tub gets to have a wicked hot tub party tonight. The losers will be sending someone home."
Chris eyed campers with a smile on his face, letting them process spoken words for a second. Few of them looked indifferent. Most of them most certainly had highly concerned looks on their faces.
"Let's see. Killer Bass! You're up first!"
Bridgette crept right on the ledge and looked down. Drop definitely looked worse when she stood right next to it. She could feel how her pulse started to surge.
"Oh wow", she let out. "So… who wants to go first?"
It would have been the promised moment for some cricket sounds if there had been any on that altitude. So deafening was the silence when no one was willing to be the leading member of party.
Host had anticipated such fear and apathy so he was willing to let campers take their small fleeting time before making the jumps.
"Hey, don't sweat it, guys. I heard that these shows always make the interns do the stunts first to make sure it's survivable", Owen tried to cheer up Gophers' team behind Bass.
"Yes… survivable", Chris affirmed but prolonged suspiciously the pronunciation of words. He chuckled when the memories from preproduction went through his mind.
Some members of Gophers gave host glances since they were close enough to hear him. Bass were closer to cliff edge, silently debating how to proceed.
"So who's up?" Eva started to push for action.
"Ladies first", said Duncan smugly, crossing his arms. He gave an up nod and a wink to Courtney standing next to him to move forward with other girls.
"Fine", displeased Bridgette said and turned to face the drop once again. "I'll go. It's no big deal. Just an insane cliff dive into a circle of angry sharks."
"None of us are professional divers. Better go into the water legs first", Mackenzie suggested.
Bridgette gave her thumbs-up for advice and jumped within the next second. All she needed to do was emptying her mind for few seconds and force herself to jump before the insanity of mission hit right again.
She fell fast. The fall itself was not the worst part of the jump. It was the flashing realization how you just lost the land under your feet at insane height. Even though she was a surfer and was around water all the time, previously she had never made a jump higher than half the height of this one. Hundred feet already started to tickle the hard cap what was safe to jump in ideal conditions without very real risk of life-threatening injuries.
She fell.
And she landed in target area.
Her form was good when hitting the water so she went below without making too much of a splash or hurting herself. Wind had intensified a little bit during the afternoon so it was breaking the surface of water by sending waves to shoreline. Those waves helped minimizing at some extent the experience of hitting the water, because if it had stood still, it would have felt like hitting a solid ground.
Fellow teammates still at the top of the hill looked how she resurfaced after few seconds and started waving at them. Small fishing boat steered by Chef sped from the sidelines to pick her up so she did not need to swim through shark-infested control area.
"She did it! Yeah! Yeah! I'm next!" Tyler was psyched up after witnessing Bridgette's success. He jogged back, turned around and picked up a good speed for his own dive. "Cowabunga!"
His initial jump got better air than Bridgette's. His running, however, turned to be detrimental for the dive since it carried him way too forward to land him safely at the target area.
Everybody felt secondhand pain when jock hit one of the buoys marking the target area. He did not fall unconscious upon impact since Bridgette could hear him giving pained oof but he fell limp underwater.
Surface rescuer in the fishing boat jumped into action immediately. He jumped into target area and swum to claim Tyler into safety.
"Oh my God! Is he okay?" Mackenzie was horrified by the accident.
"Don't worry. They seem to take good care of him" Geoff reassured her. Rescuer was indeed making record time helping limp Tyler into boat.
"That's so horrible", Mackenzie bemoaned.
"It's okay. Let's just not run like he did and we'll be safe. Let's do this, guys!" Geoff psyched the remaining teammates. He started to gesture others to do rhythmic clapping while he prepared to jump. Harold and Ezekiel were largely the ones really returning the clapping.
"Woohoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" was Geoff's shout as he went down once the way was clear.
Eva jumped right behind him.
Duncan and Mackenzie followed in rapid succession after target area was clear again.
There had formed more or less a queue. DJ was supposed to go next but he froze bringing nice flow of jumpers to halt.
"Uh-uh. No way, man. I'm not jumping", brickhouse refused to go. He closed his eyes to avoid looking at the drop. He was actively attempting to forget where he was.
"Scared of heights?" host stepped forward to handle first refusal.
"Yeah. Ever since I was a kid", confirmed DJ and nodded dispirited.
"That's okay, big guy", host reassured but changed his tone to mocking when he continued. "Unfortunately, that also makes you a chicken. So, you'll have to wear this for the rest of the day."
Chris swung open the lid of wooden crate which until then had stand untouched close to the ledge. He put it his hand in it and pulled out goofy chicken hat of flagrant yellow color.
Host reached to put horrendous fashion statement on DJ's head.
"Aw man. For real?" boy asked. He did not seem to exactly hate the hat but it was obvious he was not too keen of the idea getting called out in such a manner.
Chris made some cackling sounds and waggled his arms up and down like wings for a good measure.
"That means the chicken path is that way", host pointed the direction to go once he stopped imitating domestic fowl. "Next!"
DJ went to descend from the cliff. His shoulders and posture had shrunk and he seemed greatly disappointed at himself.
Ezekiel was up next. He went on with his jump immediately once path was clear from DJ.
"Yee-haw!" homeschooled boy shouted wildly when he went for the jump in not so controlled manner. His form was rocked hard while going down once he hit one of the ledges protruding from the cliff. It sent him in wild spin but by some heavenly interference he hit the water when he was in an upright position. It most likely saved him from serious injuries.
Ezekiel was followed by Harold. He also jumped in uncontrolled manner, like Ezekiel, extending legs on different directions. Perhaps it was coping mechanism to ignore the fear of falling from heights but in retrospect doing silly clown jumps was highly stupid thing to do because as Mackenzie said, none of them had experience making dives from such heights.
Harold's enthusiastic shout turned into shout of excruciating pain when he hit the water. Because he jumped astride, he hit the water crotch and backsides of legs first. Such a painstaking cry it was that it could be heard loud and clear long way; birds from nearby trees on island rose into air, startled by the noise.
Especially boys winced and felt secondhand pain. Most of them instinctively touched their own crotch.
"Ow, hate to see that happen", said Chris holding back his own expression of pain and sympathy. That jump definitely guaranteed place at episode's highlight moments.
"Excuse me, Chris. I have a medical condition", said Courtney, arms crossed and defiance in voice.
"What condition?" asked Chris. He was mildly interested in hearing what kind of medical condition could possibly exempt Courtney from jumping.
"A condition that prevents me from jumping off cliffs", answered Courtney. She was not willing to jump to begin with but after seeing Ezekiel's tumble and Harold's unfortunate landing her resolve was reaffirmed.
Surface rescuer was assisting Harold in the boat down in the lake. Boy was biting his lips hard and instinctively crawling into fetal position.
"You can chicken out if you want", Chris did not have any problem with Courtney's refusal. "But it might end up costing your team win. And then they'll hate you."
"It's a calculated risk. I've seen the other team and I don't think ten of them will jump", said Courtney confidently while glancing over the Gophers.
"Alright. Here is your chicken hat" Chris put the second chicken hat on Courtney's head. After that, he took out writing pad and with that a sheet consisting of the names of participants. "So, let's tally up the results. Hold on. That's eight jumpers and two chickens. We're still missing two."
Sadie was firmly holding hands with Katie, fingers interlocked.
"I'm not jumping without Katie!" she made her ultimatum.
"We have to be on the same team, Chris. Please!" Katie agreed with her best friend.
"Please! Please! Can we? Can we, Chris? Can we? Can we?" they pestered host who was quickly losing his cool.
"I'll switch places with her", Izzy said raising her hand. She had followed unfolding pestering finger on her chin. She was the other Bass who still had not went through with the jump.
"Alright, fine", Chris just wanted to shut best friends mouths. "You're both on the Killer Bass now. Izzy, you're on the Screaming Gophers."
Redhead shrugged her shoulders smiling blissfully like she really did not mind switching teams. She moved to join Gophers' group. She raised her hand shortly to greet her new teammates.
Katie and Sadie hoorayed and gave each other tight hug.
"That means you're up, girls!" Chris picked cheerful voice. He was hoping that duo would hurry in their happy state.
Host did not need to urge twice. Immediately when he finished his sentence, best friends went running off the cliff with renewed vigor.
"We're coming, Killer Bass!" they shouted and jumped.
"Okay. So that's ten jumpers and two chickens", Chris tallied up the final results once Katie and Sadie had resurfaced and were swimming towards the boat. "Screaming Gophers, if you can beat that, we'll throw in a pull cart to put your crates on."
"Nice. Okay, guys, who's up first?" asked Trent.
Dreaded moment had come to Gophers and they stood silent as Bass just had.
"Oh, what the heck", puffed Jeremy breaking the silence. "It only hurts once", he said it more to himself than anyone else. He sprinted and went for the jump. His thought process was fixated on idea that it was mere ten feet drop beyond ledge. He was not sure if he could make the jump otherwise. If he could not see the water, it could as well be only ten feet away.
"SHIIIT!"
His heart jumped into throat and stomach fell instantly when land disappeared beneath the feet. It was very primal fear reaction and his cursing feral.
Because he did not do targeting of his landing because he was totally occupied by forcing himself to jump, he did not make it to the target area. He fell about two meters aside the safety net fencing the target area.
Shark fins surfaced and started making their way towards unlucky jumper.
Survival instincts kicked in and Jeremy paddled with insane speed to target area to get out of infested water. He had forgotten sharks when jumping but remembered them when going down once he saw one fin breaking surface tension.
Gophers were taken back by taciturn boy's sudden initiative. They stared blankly the ledge where he had stood just few seconds ago.
Chris looked down and laughed.
"He's okay. He's just okay, guys. Oh boy those sharks are ticked off now", host said.
"I'm sorry. There's no way I'm doing this", Heather went ahead and gave her piece of mind. She crossed her arms and bridled.
"Why not?" wondered Beth.
"Uh, hello! National TV! I'll get my hair wet." It was only half the truth. The idea of sharks terrified her but she was not going to mention that.
"You're kidding right?" Gwen stated in disbelief.
"If she's not doing it, I'm not doing it", told Lindsay.
"Come on, guys. Jeremy already did it. It's not that bad", Trent attempted to persuade.
"Oh, you're doing it", said Leshawna defiantly and stepped in front of Heather.
"Says who?" Heather provoked.
"Says me. I'm not losing this challenge 'cause you got your hair day, you spoiled little daddy's girl."
Threat of verbal beatdown was imminent. Lindsay backed towards Trent, Justin, Noah, and Izzy so she would not get caught in crossfire. Beth and Cody took a step back towards Owen. Only Gwen did not move.
"Back off ghetto glamour, too-tight-pants-wearing, rap-star-wannabe", Heather lashed out.
"Mall-shopping, ponytail-wearing, teen-girl-readin', peeking in high school prom queen", Leshawna sent mockery right back.
"Well at least I'm popular", smote Heather. She was not in mood to really prolong the argument.
Cody was the one to breathe inaudible sigh of relief. With such a nonsense statement he was sure argument would die down before it picked too much air under its wings.
"HEY, GUYS! WHERE ARE YOU!" Jeremy's shout could be heard.
"You're jumping!" Leshawna told Heather and jabbed girl's chest with finger.
"Don't you dare touch me! Make me!"
From Jeremy's perspective it looked weird, suspicious, and dangerous all the same. He saw how Leshawna walked to the edge of cliff and threw down Heather whom she had picked on her shoulders like loath ragdoll.
Heather gave out the biggest scream so far save Harold's manifestation of pain.
Leshawna's aim was not bad. She was able to cast Heather in target zone.
Once thrown-down girl resurfaced, she kept spluttering water out of mouth a long while.
"LESHAWNA, YOU'RE SO DEAD!" she raised her voice to make sure black girl could hear her.
"HEY, I THREW YOU INTO THE SAFE ZONE, DIDN'T I!" she shouted back smirking. "Now I just hope I can hit it too."
Leshawna was able to hit target zone no problem. She swum to the boat right behind Heather. Jeremy assisted both to climb on.
"Well, not gonna be the one wearing that horrendous white elephant", commented Noah and went to jump.
Lindsay looked how Noah hit float which was keeping target zone's safety net up. It wasn't as bad fail as they had seen during the course of challenge. Nonetheless, it made jumper experience a nasty flop.
"I thought this was going to be a talent contest", she complained to Chris.
Host laughed like Lindsay had shared so bad of a joke that it actually made it funny.
"Yeah no", he said and shook his head.
"Go on, Lindsay! You can do it!" Trent cheered.
Blond girl finally mustered enough courage for jump. She flailed in uncontrolled manner while going down. She screamed.
Gwen went next and she screamed as well.
Cody followed and gave quite an impressive high-pitched scream for a guy. He flailed as hopelessly as Lindsay had.
Izzy's jump looked from the beginning like a one which she intended to land on belly flop. She laughed manically all the way down.
Justin's dive astonished everyone. He was the first camper to dive headfirst. He started his jump from cross stand and while falling, he moved his hands and body like in slow motion to proper diving form. It was really elegant dive, one which could have even been expected from a professional.
Handsome boy's landing was easily at par with Bridgette's opening dive. Splash created was not chaotic or big at all.
He did not, however, land his dive in target area. His miss was the biggest by long shot. But on the other hand, perhaps it was his intention from the beginning. Diving into area where there was no risk of hitting buoys, nets or floats was probably the safest bet if you jumped headfirst. It minimized the risk of injuries.
"Look out! Paddle!" Leshawna shouted instantly once Justin's head came to the surface. Two sharks swum with great speed towards disturbance, but Justin did not seem fazed.
He took deep breath and dived.
"Holy shit! What's he doing?"
"He's gonna get killed, I'll tell ya!"
Lake water was not clean enough to properly see what was going on underneath, but they could see big dark shadows. Gophers in the rescue boat held their breath and dreaded the moment they' would see blood floating to surface.
Water did not, however, dye in crimson. Instead they saw how shadows of sharks curved almost in eloquent manner away from the spot where Justin had gone underwater.
"What in the…?"
Justin resurfaced. He took a look around him and witnessed how two sharks which had come after him dived deeper, their fins sinking underwater. He smiled almost serenely and started swimming with elegant backstrokes towards the beach.
"Dude! How did you survive?" asked flabbergasted Geoff who just had run to receive Justin who was coming out of the lake.
"You flatter me, man. I wasn't in danger. I just redirected those fellows", Justin downplayed his stunt. He flashed smile to Bridgette, Mackenzie, and Eva who were standing nearby.
While Justin left everyone stunned on the beach and on the boat, Beth was struggling on the hill.
"I… I can't do it. I'm scared", Beth could not bring herself to jump.
Chris smirked and lifted up new chicken hat he was already holding in his hand.
"I'm sorry!" Beth shouted to her teammates who had already jumped.
"That is like so lame", Lindsay commented Beth's refusal while she jumped to beach water to wade to beach. "Right?" she asked Heather who was closest to her and waiting others.
"Fully lame", confirmed Heather without looking at Lindsay. Instead she stared the small figures on the top of the hill.
Leshawna and Cody imitated playfully cackle sounds. Those sounds were barely audible for the people still on the hill.
When Beth with her new headwear and upside-down smile moved to chicken's way, Trent gave Owen high-five.
"Let's do this", he said and went for jump. "YEE-AAH! Woo-hoo!"
Gopher's second to last member hit the target area with ease.
Chris got megaphone somewhere and clicked it open.
"Okay, campers, there's only one person left. You guys need this jump for the win", host shouted to Gophers down on the beach. "No pressure, dude", he added only to Owen.
Owen's nervous expression eased slightly when Chris said that.
"Okay there's pressure", host corrected when he realized the joke did not land.
Big guy's look turned even more sourer than it had been.
Gophers shouted and cheered Owen to make jump. Tie was not acceptable.
"Jump! Jump! Just do it, Owen! Do it!" Heather's sound was most frustrated. There was no doubt she would not blame Owen if they lose the challenge.
Confessional: Owen
"Oh, I was pretty darn nervous", said still nervous looking Owen and tapped his index fingers together. "See the thing is I'm not that strong a swimmer.
Confessional: Geoff
"I'm lookin' at this guy and thinking there's no way he's gonna make it", Geoff said and gave a small laugh when he reflected the memory in his mind.
Confessional: Gwen
"I actually thought if he jumps this… he's gonna die", Gwen's tone of voice went from worried to serious during the process of her sentence.
Confessional: Duncan
"I won't say he's obese but last time I saw someone of his size jump from thirty feet, other side of the ocean got struck by tsunami", he told a joke and smirked at it.
"Take a good run at it, buddy. You can do this", Chris encouraged Owen who walked little bit back to prepare for run start.
"I'm going to die now. I'm going to frickin' die now", Owen lamented his fate. He pulled inflatable floats on his arm and tried to regulate his breathing.
"Come on, big guy", Leshawna said down on the shore. Worry started to seep in her voice. She knew they needed Owen's jump for the first part win but at the same time Owen was a big guy which could make dive rather dangerous.
Grinding silence sat in. Neither Gophers nor Bass could see what Owen was doing 100 feet up on the top of the hill. Gophers prayed for a miracle and braced for the dive's touching moment. Bass also prayed but for a different kind of miracle. Especially Courtney was experiencing mixed up feelings about the situation. She had refused to jump and now that decision was biting back.
"YEAH!"
Shout rose from the hill. After couple more painful seconds they saw the figure of huge teenager boy coming over the ledge.
"OOOHHH CRAAAP!"
Owen shouted in panic all the way down.
Trent was still in water. He looked Owen coming down and realized the boy was about to hit the water way too close to him for his liking so he began swim with all his might to gain every precious inch of distance. And that point he did not care about sharks. His instincts only told him to avoid getting smashed by last jumper's bodyweight.
Owen hit lake.
Splashes must have reached at least fifty feet.
Monster of a wave swiped over the whole jump area.
Trent got caught by the tsunami which carried him to the shore alongside of rescue boat. Even one poor shark which had circled close to the shoreline got thrown onto the sand.
Campers at the beach got absolutely doused by displaced lake water.
"YES! YEAH! Oh yeah! Who's the man!" Owen celebrated his dive once he was able to get to the surface. It was not easy to see from the distance but it was rather obvious for the keenest eyes that in an hour or two Owen would have a nasty full stomach-sized bruise over his torso.
Beth was first to raise a cheer of joy. Leshawna was first to join it. Others were collecting themselves in the aftermath of tsunami wave.
"THE WINNERS! THE SCREAMING GOPHERS!" Chris now all alone on the hill shouted through megaphone.
"That was awesome, dude!" Trent shouted to Owen but raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"
Owen splashed around and looked water like he was checking or looking for something.
"I, uh, think I lost my bathing suit", big guy shouted back.
Several campers vocalized their disapproval, distaste, and other feelings.
"Ew, sick, dude."
"Ew, I don't wanna see that."
"Don't you dare come out here naked!"
As promised, as winners of the first part with eleven jumpers against ten jumpers (way better numbers than anticipated, admitted Chris afterwards to Chef) Screaming Gophers got pull carts to load crates in.
Hot tub parts were split in four wooden crates per team meaning the teams would have gotten all the necessary equipment even with only four jumpers. Show obviously did not want to jeopardize too much the very first challenge of Total Drama by withholding crucial parts of third leg. It became clear really quick that pull carts were intended to be the real payoff of the first leg.
It took a moment for Gophers to load the crates which gave Killer Bass a head start. But as soon as the crates were on the wheels, Gophers went and took the lead. Bass was having real troubles moving ridiculously heavy crates by pure manpower.
Destination, as instructed, was the cabin site.
"Nice job, everyone", Trent praised his teammates. "We'll be at the cabins in no time."
"Way to go, Jeremy, taking the lead jumping first. It was nice of you", Cody specifically sent simple praise quiet guy's way.
Jeremy just smiled slightly and nodded like it had been nothing.
"Wanna know what I'm still impressed 'bout?" Leshawna chimed in. "That one heck of a dive Justin made. Wanna disclose how you survived the dive and sharks, handsome?"
Justin smiled captivatingly and shrugged shoulders once again.
"Perhaps later with better time. So at the same time I can share tales how I came to know those talents."
"Hey, you know what we should all do?" Beth had an idea. "Do you know that one nursery rhyme? 'Ten green bottles' or whichever version you know? Maybe we could sing that on our way."
Short girl certainly had a nice idea for creating some team spirit and bonding between people who had known each other only matter of couple hours.
Heather did not agree with the idea.
"Oh please", she said uppishly.
"Well, as matter of fact maybe that isn't that bad of an idea", stated Noah before Heather could proceed with her comment. "Let's sing joyfully as a one big middle finger to Bass. We won the first leg, after all."
"I mean… we don't need to do it to be mean for the other team…", Beth was not comfortable with Noah's comment.
"Oh, now I remember that rhyme! Heh. Just 'Pop on the wall' for me", Izzy, the newest addition to their team, blurted. "Let's go! Sixty could be a nice number to start. Like minutes in hour. Sixty bottles of pop on the wall, sixty bottles of pop – If one of those bottles should happen to fall, fifty-nine of pop on the wall!"
Others were surprised Izzy started to sing in loud voice. She did not have a bad voice by any means. Quite the contrary actually once she found her flow.
One by one others joined the song since no one really wanted to be the one going against the grain once the song already rang out.
Mood started to grow within team the more rhymes they sang. Last, Gwen joined the song when fifty-two bottles of pop remained on the wall.
Atmosphere was heavier and sourer among Killer Bass. They were frustrated and disappointed because of the loss (except Katie and Sadie who just were glad they were now in the same team) and their progress towards cabin site was laughable.
They had distributed crates one per three persons and adopted style were one or two at a time shoved, pulled, or lifted their respective crate. The extra saved their strength so they could step in and switch once the previous worker got too tired.
It was a solid plan in theory but in practice size and weight of a single crate made moving challenging, to say the least.
DJ and Duncan were handling two crates at the moment. Geoff pulled the heaviest one while Eva pushed it. Courtney and Mackenzie were pushing the fourth.
"Ow!" Courtney stopped suddenly and took her hands off the crate. "I think I just got a splinter."
"Well, I don't think it's too bad. I already got one and now my thumb is bleeding. But it doesn't hurt if I don't think about it", Mackenzie persuaded Courtney to continue. She was not lying about the bleeding; there were already red handprints around the place where she kept switching her right hand's place.
Courtney did not seem to pick the hint. Instead of helping Mackenzie, she tried to pick the splinter out of her palm.
"God, that's irritating" Courtney said absentmindedly when splinter turned to be a tough one to fish out.
Eva left crate she had handled with Geoff. She walked over to Courtney and Mackenzie's crate with a grim look on her face. She put a hand on struggling Mackenzie's shoulder as a sign of switch and lifted the whole thing once girl let her hands off.
"Shut up and pick up your crate! Chicken", bodybuilder berated Courtney.
"Hey, I'm the only one with C.I.T. camping experience here. You need me", Courtney took notice of scolding and defended herself.
Eva shared unimpressed looks with equally unimpressed Mackenzie and DJ, who just had switched places with Tyler.
Killer Bass moved mostly in silence if one did not count groans, moans and different mutterings which were in plenty. Only Geoff and Harold talked actively with each other but even that was just about how they could move the heaviest crate with most efficiency.
"THIRTY-TWO BOTTLES OF POP ON THE WALL, THIRTY-TWO BOTTLES OF POP – IF ONE OF THOSE BOTTLES SHOULD HAPPEN TO FALL…!"
Stupidly loud nursery rhyme with ever rising crescendo was ringing out from far-flung distance. Because they mostly followed island's shoreline, water in part enabled the possibility of hearing the song in such clarity. But Killer Bass was able to tell other team was gaining ever more distance between them the longer the rhyme went.
"I swear to God, this place, and these people…", complained Duncan to himself. He had let Katie and Sadie in turn handle the crate. He knelt to take water from lake. Not to drink but to flush his mouth from that gooey saliva which usually starts to form when one does some exercising.
"THIRTY-ONE BOTTLES OF POP ON THE WALL, THIRTY-ONE BOTTLES OF POP…!"
"Ugh, I've gotta take a wiz." Tyler dropped the crate he had been carrying slowly but with great technic.
"Hurry up. We're already behind", Eva groaned when Tyler passed her looking for a good spot to slip into forest to have some privacy to do his business.
"Ooh, I have to go, too", admitted Katie to her friend Sadie.
"You too? Oh my gosh, me too", said Sadie.
"Gosh! Is there anything those two won't do together?" asked Harold from Geoff. So far, he had established himself as a meek person but now even his voice was starting to sound frustrated.
"If you gotta go, you gotta go", Geoff was not willing to hold others' bathroom predicament against them. "Okay, dude. On three! Push!"
Bridgette hurried to help DJ who was filling in in Tyler's absence. Duncan was still behind washing his mouth and face so he did not witness best friends' leave. Mackenzie let out a deep sigh and took Ezekiel with her to continue carrying best friends' crate.
"This is getting more troublesome every second", Mackenzie lamented their team's struggle.
"…SHOULD HAPPEN TO FALL, THIRTY BOTTLES OF POP ON THE WALL!"
By the sound of it, Screaming Gophers were either disappearing into distance or toning down. Most of the Bass were sure it was the first rather than latter option.
"Ow! I think something just bit me", Courtney blurted suddenly and started scratching her right eye area. She did not get many sympathies from her teammates.
"…should happen to fall, twenty-eight bottles of pop on the wall."
Gophers had had few high-rising rhymes prompted by Noah who could not have resisted the urge to rub their victory just a little bit on other team's faces. Perhaps Bass had heard them or not but in hindsight maybe it did not matter. Risen jolly rhyme appeared to have rather unintended effect further uplifting team's spirits. Especially redhead girl, girl with the chicken hat and big guy seemed to be all in with the song. Even Heather's sullen demeanor appeared to have melted.
"Hey, look! There's the campground!" Beth shouted and eagerly pointed her finger towards the finish line.
"That was pretty easy", stated Owen. It was not only his opinion but they all collectively agreed. None of them had broken sweat during the walk to campground save the post sweat from the swim.
"I'm pleasantly surprised", admitted Cody, visibly happy about how they had not struggled the slightest during the second leg of challenge.
"Come on! Race me to the finish line!" shouted Izzy. She sprinted, pulling also one of the carts. Unsuspecting Cody, who was steering the other handle of cart, tripped and faceplanted on sand.
Izzy did not get any competition so she was first to arrive having ignored Cody's stumble. Other eleven members arrived one by one and cart by cart having a jocular laugh at the expense of Cody's little accident and Izzy's bubbly solo run. Even the tripped guy himself joined laugh. Even if he had to shake sand off his clothes and hair, his mood was too high to get totally soured by it. And he tried to play it cool for the girls.
"All better?" Eva, tapping her foot, asked bitterly from Katie and Sadie when they decided to reappear. Tyler had been way quicker with his business.
"Yup", confirmed smiling Katie without noting Eva displeased attitude.
Bass had started to fall apart. Duncan had caught up with the team earlier but instead of filling in in best friends' absence, he had gone over and started working on the heaviest crate jointly with Geoff and DJ. Together three boys finally began making record time moving the toughest one. But at the process others started to get left behind. Mackenzie and Ezekiel had purposefully slowed down movement of their crate so Katie and Sadie would not get forgotten somewhere. With them, Eva and Courtney were waiting for the two girls. Tyler was working alone on one crate, and Bridgette and Harold where somewhere between the lead and tail with the last crate.
"Can we go now? I think my eye's swelling up", said Courtney. She was gently touching the area of her right eye likely to confirm her suspicions.
Mackenzie and Ezekiel let Katie and Sadie back on pushing the crate. Once that was done, they jogged to those in front.
"Ew, something's itching me", Sadie noted the itch on her rear. "Are you itchy too?"
"Totally itchy. Really bad", admitted Katie. She was experiencing same kind of creeping itch on her butt as her friend.
The lead Screaming Gophers had gained felt like it was rapidly melting even though there was absolutely no sign of other team yet.
"Remember, you guys can only use your teeth to open the crates", Chris repeated the rules as he walked through the Screaming Gophers. "I came up with that one."
It was impossible to tell what exactly Leshawna was muttering as her teeth were occupied trying to find a crack between planks. Host felt certain it must have been something inappropriate so nothing of real value was lost as network orders required them to bleep such lines anyway.
Trent and Noah were working on one crate, Leshawna had Beth helping her, and Owen and Cody discussed how to handle a third one. None of them had experienced any progress, and desperation started to seep in. Even though somewhere back in their minds they thought Bass needed to go through the same ordeal as them opening the crates, just the thought their progress stagnated was enough to make them worry. They could not help it but wonder if Bass would somehow find decent, quicker way to open their crates.
Chris, satisfied with himself, walked over to Chef who just arrived on an ATV.
"Where is the other team? Seriously! The challenge is seriously lacking off tension right now?" host murmured in low voice to Chef. He had come up with the teeth-pulling rule in order to give Killer Bass time to catch up. His rationale was to make the first challenge of hopefully-the-next-big-reality-TV-franchise as exciting as possible but the other team was yet to show itself.
"You think I'm some sort of babysitter? How should I know? I drove straight through the forest and didn't see anybody. And I need to start dinner preparation so count me out finding those kids", Chef answered.
"Fine. Just leave the key in ignition. I'll go look for them", host did not get why Chef was having such a confrontational attitude right on the first day of shooting.
As Chef climbed off the saddle, Chris hopped on.
"Eyes open, Liam!" Chris shouted to the singular actual cameraman on campground. "Watch that none of them uses anything else but teeth. ONLY TEETH!" he shouted the last part so all the present campers could hear it properly over the revving of ATV's engine.
Immediately after Chris said that Izzy, who was working on the fourth crate, had a breakthrough.
"Hey, I think I got it open."
Redhead had tested the limitations of rules by slipping a piece of hempen rope around flimsily nailed cross plank, tied it tightly and then pulling the other end of rope with her teeth. Gwen was sitting on top of the crate as an additional weight so the box itself did not start moving instead of just one plank coming undone.
Izzy slammed her feet and hands firmly to the ground in order to get all leverage she could get. Then she pulled with all her might.
Plank came loose. Its other end remained still somewhat nailed to the rest of the structure so with the plank's additional leverage Izzy was able to pull one side open.
"Ow, ow, rope burn on my tongue", Izzy wailed sticking out her tongue in pain.
Gwen jumped down from the crate and rushed over to the girl.
"Are you okay?" Gwen asked with concerned voice.
"Nice job! You found the technique. Get over it and try opening other ones", Heather was not bothered by Izzy's distress. Instead, she started to empty the contents of opened crate on the grass.
"What's your problem? She could be really hurt. Biting your tongue is one thing but burn marks on it…", Gwen lashed out.
Other Gophers surreptitiously stopped their jobs and hold their breath in the fear of another meltdown between girls. Only Justin seemed indifferent to whole situation, Jeremy refused to care and attempted to act like he did not hear anything, and Noah followed the situation with rather interested look than that of fear.
"Oh, oh. This is nothing!" Izzy hastily collected her composure and broke the tension before it managed to explode. "This one time I played tug of war with long stick against neighbor's Labrador Retriever and manage to get so many splinters on my tongue you wouldn't believe it." Her speech was little hard to comprehend since she was still sticking out her tongue, but the gist of it was easy enough to catch.
Some of them winced in secondhand pain just with the thought.
Izzy however began laughing and went to pick up the rope.
"There was so much blood that neighbor's lady fainted. But that dog has nothing on me. I totally won that tug", she laughed while already eyeing a way to tie the rope to the next crate, Trent and Noah's one.
Itching was not going away but was actually intensifying the more time passed.
"Ooh, it's really itching now", Sadie could not hold her tongue.
"Mine feels like it's burning", admitted Katie as well.
They tried to endure it but after few more meters of crate pushing Sadie could not take it any longer.
"Okay, I have to scratch", she informed.
She stopped dead on her tracks and started vigorously scratching her butt area and upper backside of her thighs, which to her defense indeed were turning aggressively red.
Katie seized the opportunity to scratch as well and stopped pushing the dead last crate alongside her friend.
From the distance it had been obvious for a short while already that some vehicle was approaching them fast. It turned out to be Chris McLean on black-and-red ATV.
He had sped through the forested area to the jumping cliff. From there he drove the shoreline trying to catch the sight of the tag end of Killer Bass' marching formation.
"You guys are way behind the other team. Like, way behind", host told after he reached the best friends and braked ATV next to them. "What's the problem?"
"Their butts are itchy", said Courtney who had traced the last crate. Bridgette had stridden with her because after Mackenzie and Ezekiel had gone ahead and released her from moving duty, she had come to check the last ones.
Chris shifted his look to Courtney since she talked to him. He stifled yelp of fright to the best of his abilities when he saw Courtney's eye. It had swollen up so badly she barely could see anything with it at that point. The whole area, roughly two centimeters in diameter, was throbbing.
"Ahh! Oh my boxers, that's bad" host noted on Courtney's eye.
Bridgette, instead of paying attention to host's complains, focused on best friends who were nowhere even close considering stopping scratching. She was smiling openly and little knowingly.
"Did you guys squat down when you peed in the woods?" Bridgette decided to ask.
"Yeah", Katie admitted.
"Did you happen to notice what kind of plants you were squatting over?" Bridgette dug deeper.
Sadie had pondering look on her face for a moment.
"They were kind of oval shaped and green and all over the place", she recalled not knowing where these questions were heading.
"Were they low to the ground? About this big?" Bridgette demonstrated her questions with appropriate hand gestures.
Neither Katie or Sadie either affirmed or denied it. Bridgette however thought they nodded if one could tell it amongst all the shaking best friends were doing due to aggressive scratching.
"You guys squatted on poison ivy", Bridgette could not hide her smile even if she had bothered to try. Somehow the whole situation was too funny for her.
Best friends stopped scratching with the revelation of the root cause sinking in and their eyes widened.
Chris had already burst out laughing when best friends started crying out for help.
"No way! That's awesome!" he kept laughing.
Katie and Sadie dropped down on the sand, starting scraping their butts and upper thighs on it in an attempt of seeking relief. Chris could not stop laughing on the sight of girls' predicament even though he at least felt a little bit bad about it.
Bridgette did not feel like laughing but she kept smiling while Courtney merely stared neutrally.
"Hey, check it out! I got wood", shouted Owen.
All the crates were finally more or less open so Screaming Gophers could proceed with the assembly.
"Not bad. I mean, crates themselves give us nice amount of that but I guess we could always have some more", Noah joked.
"I've got some tools here and what looks like a pool liner", told Trent who was handing over the contents of his crate to Noah who, on his part, was lining them up with other parts of soon-to-be hot tub.
Beth and Justin emptied one crate. Izzy had gone to drink some water to alleviate the pain of rope burns after opening every single crate. Cody was keeping the record of all the parts they collected. Gwen lined up items which Owen handed to her from his crate, and Jeremy was studying the assembly manual.
With other team members occupied, Heather approached Leshawna who was emptying alone the fourth crate. Lindsay, who seemed to have taken liking on Heather already for some reason, followed on her heels.
"I just wanted to say I didn't mean bad about you being a ghetto rap-star wannabe", Heather apologized to Leshawna when the sister turned to check out the comers. "And I love your earrings. They're so pretty."
"Straight up?" Leshawna was positively surprised though maybe not wholeheartedly convinced. "Well, I'm sorry about pushing you over the cliff and all", she knew she mutually needed to apologize.
"No worries. I needed a push", Heather assured. "Truce?"
"Yeah, yeah, you got it", Leshawna smiled. She actually did not realize Heather was kind of extending her hand for a handshake as a peace offering. Therefore, on her initiative she offered fist which cue Heather picked and they did quick fist bump.
With that settled, Heather turned on her heels saying half aloud she needed to go find Izzy so she could apologize her as well.
Leshawna returned to her chore and Lindsay followed Heather.
Black haired girl and the blond paced towards the direction of mess hall in which they had seen Izzy disappearing.
Once they were out of the earshot of campground, Lindsay, who spurted next to Heather, opened her mouth for a question.
"Did you mean all that stuff you said to Lefonda back there?"
"Leshawna", Heather corrected. "Hah! No. She's going down. And P.S. those are the ugliest earrings I've seen in my life."
"Oh… So if you hate her, why were you being nice to her", Lindsay could not understand Heather's motive.
"You ever seen one of these shows before? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer", Heather did not have problems opening up to Lindsay. She considered her simpleton enough to have influence over and believed she would not go all around blabbering about things said.
"Oh", Lindsay said enigmatically. It was hard to interpret if she was impressed, still confused, or pondering. "I'm your friend, right?"
"Oh yeah, for now", Heather had not a reason to turn Lindsay down.
"Finally!" Harold let all air out of his lungs in one big breath when he reached the campground first. He kicked the box out of frustration one last time before he squatted to catch his breath.
Ezekiel and Tyler came right behind him pushing the tough one, and they were further followed by Courtney pushing the third crate.
Once the message had reached the lead that Katie and Sadie had stopped dead on their tracks and were sitting in shore water cooling down their bottoms, DJ and Duncan had returned to pick up the last crate. Geoff, who had been handling the heaviest crate nonstop since the beginning of the march, was released from that duty at the same time. He came to the campground with Mackenzie and Eva some seconds later.
"Hey, what's up, guys!" Trent greeted finally arrived team.
Leshawna looked up and counted down the newcomers. Seven were there. She could see two boys couple hundred yards away speed carrying fourth crate to the finish line, and surfer girl was jogging alongside of them.
"Hey, aren't you missing a couple of girls?" she asked. She definitely had learnt to remember identically dressing girls. Their previous wailing certainly had left an impression.
Four Bass who delivered the first three crates looked back to count down their ranks as well.
"They're… getting a drink", Courtney answered as ambiguously as possible.
Harold snickered.
"Yeah, if they drink with their butts", he whispered to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel guffawed. "Ha, ha! That's funny."
Courtney stared daggers two boys' way but decided to ignore them. Instead she went closer to inspect Gophers progress. She quickly realized Leshawna was staring her agape.
"Ooh. What happened to your eye, girl?" Leshawna asked.
Out of instinct Courtney tried to cover her swollen eye with her hand.
"Nothing! It's just an allergy!" she lied but not really convincingly.
"Think it's getting worse", Ezekiel gave his opinion. He had not paid attention to Courtney's medical status in a while so he was merely stating out loud the worsened condition which Chris had already taken note of. Courtney, however, could not know this. Eye was already annoying her so she rushed back to Ezekiel and Harold to shush them.
"Shut up! We don't want them to know that", she admonished them.
"Well, it's not like we're in position to say it looks like it's getting better either", said Noah, who had heard Courtney's hushed voice, to Owen.
Owen laughed awkwardly. This did not go unnoticed by Noah who looked at the big guy.
"What?" he asked little bit puzzled.
"You're funny but… I don't always know if you're just being mean", Owen answered honestly but with little hesitation.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… you keep commenting others' doings but you're not really laughing yourself."
Owen did not know how to get out of situation. He still felt positive and happy about being on Total Drama, but he had taken notice of Noah's constant snarky sounding comments. Or maybe they were jokes and short guy just was not that good at delivering them.
Noah stayed quiet for couple of seconds in order to collect his thoughts. His next answer could be crucial.
"Oh, okay. Sorry if they come out sounding bad. That's not my intent", he finally answered. "I don't want to be seen as a jackass so maybe I can make amends somehow."
"Oh, you really don't have to. I mean, it's not that bad…", Owen tried to downplay it. He feared he might have hurt Noah's feelings when it was possible that he himself was looking into situation way too hard.
"No, no. I insist. You know what, for lack of a better idea, I can give my dessert if we have one on dinner."
It would be a win-win situation, Noah thought, if big guy accepted the offering. Owen seemed to be one enjoying way too much of any food given to him. And Noah himself would make himself look good in Owen's books and would get to eat less Chef's atrocious cooking. He usually reveled in much more balanced diet so lunch with extra serving of so-called sloppy joe had been hard for him. It was not like he hated that particular dish but something in Chef's version still caused rumbling in his stomach. He should have a personal granola bar later in the evening as a personal dessert.
Owen was all-in with the thought.
"Really? Oh that so generous of you! Come here, you little pal!"
Owen caught Noah into rib-crushing hug. Short guy almost regretted his decision but forced himself to consider the benefits.
"Okay, dudes, it's not too late. We can do this."
Geoff had climbed on top of the crate and gave pep talk to his teammates.
Killer Bass had stayed breathing and waiting Katie and Sadie. Pep talk did not really have its wanted effect. Duncan was drawing different figures on soil with his finger, Harold snoozed on cabin's steps with drool dripping from the corner of his mouth, Tyler was kicking tufts of grass, and Courtney, sitting dispirited on cabin's steps next to Harold, stared the ground and tried to ignore her pulsating eye.
"I don't think any of them have energy at the moment to humor us with working", Mackenzie told Geoff.
"I guess you might be right", Geoff admitted and scratch his neck.
Courtney lifted her gaze and happened to see Ezekiel picking his nose. Homeschooled boy was really going at it with index finger up until the first knuckle in one nostril.
"Ew!" she sounded her disgust.
"What?" Ezekiel asked nonchalantly even though he realized he was being judged. He swiped the snot fished on his jeans.
"That's really gross", Bridgette pointed out.
"Okay look, guys. We have a hot tub to complete and we need a project manager. Since I've actually been a C.I.T. before, I'm electing myself. Any objections?" Courtney decided to speak up and rise to the occasion. She stood up and gestured scattered Bass to flock around the place where she and Harold were.
Duncan snorted. "Where do we begin, cyclops?"
"Open the crates!" Courtney said determinedly, pointing precisely Duncan with finger but indicating everyone to stop idling. "Bridgette, go find those itchy girls. We need all the help we can get."
It was not a contest of speed who got their hot tub assembled first but they were working against clock. Chris McLean made it clear the final products would be judged before dinnertime.
Even though Screaming Gophers had taken their sweet time before starting to build, they were more prepared to breeze through assembly phase. Cody, who had the inventory figured out, directed them at assembling the tub once he consulted with Jeremy, who in turn had the knowledge from manual. Especially Beth and Trent appeared to have a knack at tinkering so in no time their hot tub started to take solid form. Izzy and Leshawna chopped firewood for heating stove which would be used to warm up the water within the hot tub. Remaining teammates helped where needed.
Things were not quite as simple on Killer Bass' side. They were putting the parts hastily together and on more than one occasion some part seemed to be missing. They did not have time to study parts and manual carefully and it showed. Geoff found a roll of duct tape somewhere and used it in plenty whenever there appeared hole to caulk or gap to close. Mackenzie and Harold tried several times to mention that Bass' hot tub looked haphazardly built and their work quality was sloppy at best. Rest of the team was too fixated on getting the tub built and filled to care about these concerns. Accidents were not avoided since when Duncan and Tyler fought over a hammer at one point, it eventually got flung from Duncan's hand, hitting Harold's genitalia with impeccable aim. Courtney tried to embrace the role of project manager but it was rather obvious Killer Bass was fighting lost battle considering how disorganized and unruly team was in assembling their hot tub.
Even filling of the tub went more smoothly on Gophers' side. They quickly created transmission queue where one person filled buckets with lake water and passed them to a person who would further pass them in line until those buckets reached the tub on campground.
Bass on the other side had to halt pouring of water from time to time when they had to fix some newly created leaks.
So great in fact were Screaming Gophers speed, precision, and organizational manners compared to the ones of Killer Bass that once Chris announced time was up, Gophers had managed to even lit the fire in stove and tub's water was already about to steam.
Host guided teams to gather on their respective cabins' steps stepping away from the tubs before judging could proceed.
It would not be a close one and both teams knew it by just looking the handiwork of their competitors. Host knew it as well but as a matter of form he needed to do judging for the show.
First, he inspected Screaming Gophers hot tub. It was of surprisingly high quality all things considered. He tried to think a thing or two to nitpick but decided against it. It would not really make a difference in show's production value at that point.
"This is an awesome hot tub", host announced.
Screaming Gophers erupted in cheers and hugs. Cabin door got slammed open when buck naked Owen hurried to the tub.
Killer Bass could only hope at that point that their tub would not break completely before the end of judging so they would not have to endure total humiliation.
Their hope ultimately turned out to be in vain. Chris came to check the tub and rapped its wall to test its integrity. Immediately one poorly caulked leak sprayed water on host's face, and in about three seconds after that all joints came undone. Water spread on the campground muddling the soil.
McLean was a bit impressed how he managed by sheer luck to locate the spot to break whole thing in one try.
"Well, I think we have a winner here."
Host smiled and eyed both teams before saying it out loud.
"The Screaming Gophers!"
Winners began cheering once again and the bolder ones hugged each other more tightly. Losers' postures worsened and their gazes sank to the ground.
"Gophers, you're safe from elimination and you get to rock this awesome hot tub for the rest of the summer. Bonus!" host reported.
Winners' cheers did not have ending, and Owen kept splashing around in the tub like a happy big duckling.
"Killer Bass, what can I say. Sucks to be you right now. I'll see your sorry butts at the bonfire tonight."
Killer Bass went on their own directions without saying anything, crushed by the defeat. Screaming Gophers remained celebrating their victory.
"We won! We all get to stay here for another three days!" Lindsay shouted merrily.
Heather and Beth who happened to stand next to Lindsay grabbed the blond girl into group hug and cheered alongside her.
Their jovial interaction got interrupted by loud series of cheers and laughs out of the mouth of Owen. Big guy had climbed out of the hot tub to join others in merriment.
"Yes! We get to stay, yay! We get to stay, yay! We are so awesome! We won the contest!" Owen cheered in singing manner and danced impromptu like he was in school disco. Noteworthy, he was still in birthday suit while doing it.
Heather and Beth stared him mouths puckered and not knowing how to react to the sight. This did not stop delighted Owen grabbing Heather and Lindsay into tight hug.
While Heather was squirming in wet Owen's embrace, Trent went around sharing high fives.
Izzy wheedled Cody and Justin to join her in victory dance.
Jeremy fed the fire in hot tub's stove attempting to create environment for long-lasting embers. Gwen watched as he was doing it.
"Y'all know what! Come evening, we're gonna have a dip in that bad boy", Leshawna called for nighttime hot tub party.
"Agreed!" said Trent. "But now I could really eat something. That challenge totally left me ravenous."
"Well I guess we could all stomach dinner at the mess hall after that workout of a challenge", admitted Noah checking time on his wristwatch.
"Now that's what I call a good idea!" shouted Owen and gave one last cheer before he rushed inside the cabin to finally put some clothes on.
"I'm so going to have some nasty nightmares tonight", Heather groaned, trying to disassociate from the lingering feeling of how Owen's wet naked skin had just made full body contact with her.
Gophers ganged together and waited for Owen to show up before they headed to mess hall.
"Hey, aren't you coming?" Trent shouted the question when he realized not all the Gophers were going to go check if dinner was about to be served.
"Go ahead!" Jeremy shouted back, still kneeling in front of the stove. "I'll make sure this has good embers… so it doesn't die out prematurely."
"O-kay!"
Jeremy noted slightly weird tone in Trent's voice but did not bother to consider it right then.
He could hear how his teammates' steps receded on grass and soon he was alone in silence. Only crackling of the burning wood in stove, tiny howl of wind and cacophony of chirping birds broke the silence.
He threw in one more piece of firewood and stood up to stretch his back.
He flinched with surprise when he realized he was not alone like he previously thought.
Gwen was soaking her hand in steaming water and drawing some ephemeral patterns in it.
"Gosh, sorry. I thought I was alone", Jeremy apologized his sudden fright.
"Sorry. I should have said something", Gwen answered but kept looking at the water.
Jeremy scolded himself not realizing beforehand that Trent's "you" could have referred to more than one person. English was sometimes ambiguous language.
"No… no. I didn't bother to check… you know…", Jeremy tried to take the blame solely on him. He knelt back to check if bark had caught fire.
Jeremy was not the only one doing some self-scolding. Gwen also felt stupid about not saying anything to make her presence known and thus creating awkward situation. She was not one to talk much but she realized how she had been the one who unwillingly had created a situation where she felt obligated to say something to soothe the tension.
"So, it was Jeremy, right?" she asked and lifted her eyes from water. She could see Jeremy's hair popping up and down when boy shifted his weight from one leg to another.
"Pardon?" Jeremy was caught off-guard. He did not expect Gwen to talk. It was not like he did not hear the question correctly. It was more of an instinctual reaction after how he got startled.
"Jeremy. That's your name, right?" Gwen repeated, already starting to regret asking it in the first place.
"Oh yeah. That's correct… Thus been named and thus been called."
"Maybe I should introduce myself properly. I'm Gwen."
"Nice to meet you, Gwen", Jeremy answered. There was couple of seconds long awkward pause before Jeremy continued. "May I ask… if that's your real name or… you know… nickname of sorts? Like William has Bill and all?"
"Just call me Gwen", Gwen answered leaving it up to Jeremy to debate if there remained an implication that she had another name as her official name.
"Okay… nice to meet you, Gwen", Jeremy repeated.
Silence fell between them. Gwen felt inclined to go after others but something in her did not want to leave situation on such an awkward note.
"You don't talk too much, do you", she was not even herself sure if she asked or stated that. She still could not properly see kneeling Jeremy on the other side of the hot tub, so she decided to walk over to check the fire herself.
"Pardon? I mean… no?", Jeremy got startled again but immediately collected his composure. He was not either sure if he stated or asked that. "You think so?"
"I mean this is awkward as all heck but still we try conversing."
"How can you tell? One owl knows the other owl?"
It was reasonable question. Gwen had not been one to initiate pretty much anything so far during the day. She mainly had remained on the sidelines and meld into background.
As much as she did not really want to answer that, she thought she owned that much to Jeremy.
"I guess so. I think I've always been fine enough just on my own."
She hunkered down behind Jeremy. Boy realized what she was doing and tilted sideways so she could she what was going on in the stove.
"So… that's why you didn't go with the others?" Jeremy reasoned.
"Perhaps", Gwen admitted. "We're gonna frolic and socialize during the hot tub dip so I guess I wanted to take my quiet time now. After challenge and everything."
"Owl knows the other owl", concluded Jeremy.
"What?"
"I mean… if you had known I'd been the one to talk… you wouldn't have stay behind, right?"
"That's… quite perceptive of you", Gwen had to admit. She had not considered it herself but as she thought it, the more Jeremy's words sounded right. Boy came out reserved and little awkward, but Gwen could not get over the fact how meaningful his words appeared. And his voice sounded so deep and smooth once he really started to talk.
"Well, I guess… I just made a really good guess… and it turned out to be right", Jeremy downplayed it.
"Don't think so little of yourself", Gwen advised. After all, Jeremy had helped his team during the challenge by taking the lead jump and studying assembly instructions. Even now, he had by his own initiative stayed behind to make sure his team's hot tub would be nice and warm for them later.
"Well… I guess it's nice that someone thinks highly of me", Jeremy cracked a smile. He then slammed his forehead with his hand. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. That came out wrong."
"Don't worry." Gwen did not mind. In fact, she was contented their talk had turned out so well in the end.
Silence fell once again between them. Jeremy gave Gwen her chance to contemplate. Every now and then he rustled the embers.
"You think it's good enough so we can go?" Gwen eventually asked.
"Guess so", told Jeremy. "It's a big tank. It's still going to take a while before it's all hot and pleasant. Definitely no bubble engine before evening."
Gwen was honestly surprised how long Jeremy suddenly talked without taking pauses to think what to say next. She wanted to comment on it but quickly decided against it.
Once Jeremy threw in one more piece of firewood and closed the hatch, they went and walked over to mess hall to join others.
Bridgette walked out of communal bathroom swiping her face with a tissue. The smell within had been absolutely revolting and so pungent she was not sure if bathroom had ever been cleaned since the time of its construction. She was more than happy to take in some fresh air outdoor.
She crushed the tissue into small ball and put it in her shorts' pocket until further notice.
Surprisingly to her, she had worked quite a sweat during the last leg of challenge. Trying to build hot tub under the time limit had been worthy workout. She could feel the last wave of after sweat hitting her, but it was so mild she did not feel the need to wash her face one more time.
Nevertheless, challenge was behind but she felt more restless than during it. Her team would be already voting someone out that night and she did not know how to feel about it. How could she ever single out someone when she really did not know anybody yet.
Twelve people unknown to each other and she needed to name one of them. It felt almost like bullying. Easiest option would have been nominating one of the people who failed them during the challenge one way or another. That already would narrow the roster sizably down. Courtney and big black boy had refused to jump. Best friends came out irritating and had cost them some serious trouble with their poison ivy squatting.
She wandered slowly towards the cabin deep in her thoughts. She almost did not notice someone sitting on cabin steps as she was staring the ground.
From her peripheral she saw the big guy leaning with arms to his legs. He looked defeated but then again who from their team did not look defeated.
"Hey! DJ was it…?" Bridgette stopped to greet the boy whose head ugly chicken hat was still beautifying. She hoped she got the name right.
"Oh. Hi there", DJ lifted his gaze and noticed Bridgette's arrival.
"Sitting here all alone? How come?" Bridgette was not really thinking what she was saying. She just felt the need for hitting a small conversation.
"Well…", DJ seemed to hesitate to speak. "Some guys are inside but no one's really talking. And… I didn't think I should welcome myself in after what happened."
"Oh, you mean that thing on your head, right?"
Bridgette invited herself to sit next to DJ. Boy looked like he needed company, and she needed something to distract herself from her thoughts.
DJ didn't answer. He sighed heavily and slumped.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to hurt. You did great all things considered. It's unfortunate the first thing just happened to be your Achilles."
"Yeah, I know. Doesn't mean that I don't feel any less bad about it."
Bridgette glanced DJ. She could not stop him blaming himself. Still, when she thought about it, she honestly believed boy had redeemed himself the most. He had been an absolute beast carrying, lifting, and pushing the crates during the second leg and had even gone back with the punk boy without prompting immediately once he heard about the last crate.
Going by just first impressions, DJ would have been the pick to be the best asset for Killer Bass going forward in competition.
She started to feel bad about considering DJ as one of the options to vote out. She decided right there he was out of question.
"Don't worry about it. I think anything can really happen. It's our first elimination after all. I don't think others will hold that stupid jump against you that much. You were a big help with the crates", Bridgette attempted to cheer him up.
"It remains to be seen", said sudden voice merging from the open door of boys' side of the cabin.
Over her shoulder, Bridgette leered Duncan who walked past them indifferent look on his face. He was fiddling with stiletto in one hand and appeared to take direction towards the mess hall.
"I mean, it could very well be him who's going home tonight for all we know", Bridgette told DJ in patronizing tone when she followed Duncan's back disappearing into distance.
"Duncan? Don't think so, but I guess anything can happen on our first vote", DJ did not believe in idea but seemed to take heart his possibilities to stay on the island.
None of them was sure what their dinner was supposed to be. It had the consistency of barley porridge but they were pretty sure the main ingredient was rice. Also, there were sprinkled in some chunks of meat which had flavor of fresh game. Kitchen was not all too heartless in spite of Chef's cold demeanor because there was a concession in the menu in form of vegetarian option. But placing the meat with tofu did not really improve the taste.
On Screaming Gophers table there was some small confabulation going on. They were still basking in their mood of victory.
On Killer Bass side atmosphere was much more serious. Nobody was talking and nobody was eating with the exception of Ezekiel. They were poking their sludge with cutlery at most.
"So, uh, what do we do now?" Katie was the one to break intense awkwardness looming over the table.
"We have to figure out who we're gonna vote off", Courtney addressed the elephant in the room.
"Well, I think it should be princess or the brickhouse here", Duncan informed, pointing thumbs at respective persons.
"What? Why?" Courtney blurted. She could not believe what she was hearing. It was such a spontaneous answer.
"Because, unless I'm mistaken, you two are the only ones here wearing the chicken hats", told Duncan with his indifferent voice which still somehow sounded like it had hidden jaded undertone. "And if we ever have to lift a truck, I like our odds with the big guy", he added pointing DJ one more time. Even if he had jabbed a bad word against him earlier, he could still respect the effort boy had put towards crate carrying.
"You guys need me", Courtney fought back but there was hint of trembling in her voice. "I'm the only one…"
"We know"; Bridgette interrupted and rolled her eyes. "Who used to be a real C.I.T. So, who would you pick?"
Courtney knew she was striding on dangerous tides. She could not outright state who she thought should be going home because she knew she would not get supporting opinions due to her standing at the moment. In the worst case it could even turn yet undecided campers against her. She took a moment to consider her options, masquerading it like she was right then thinking who it should be.
Then an idea came to her. If she could not just state it, perhaps she could redirect conversation to consider every member of team one by one.
"What about him?" she pointed Tyler.
"NO!"
Tyler's look went in a span of two seconds from confused after even getting suggested to bewildered when he heard Lindsay's shout from Gophers' table. It was such a perfect timing that it could not have been a coincidence. Could it? Was there going on an another conversation which had caused the shout?
He flipped to look at Lindsay as did many others.
Blond girl was standing with arms held high and hands clenched into fists. She realized what her sudden outburst looked like.
"I mean… no salt. There's no salt on the table. Bummer", she rushed into damage control and tried to make it look like it was unrelated to Courtney's comment. She sat down and smiled embarrassed to Heather and Cody who were sitting on her sides.
"You got that right. Bummer", Owen was oblivious to actual reason, having not listen the conversation on another table. "This meal could really benefit from touch of extra salt and maybe paprika."
While Owen got smacked to the occiput by wet dish towel thrown by Chef, Duncan commented on Courtney's suggestion.
"Hey, hey, at least he jumped off the cliff, chicken wing."
"Shut up", Courtney rasped out. It had been a good idea. Why the punk boy felt the need for turning it into a chance for insults?
"Okay, let's just chill out. This is getting way too heavy", Geoff rushed between Courtney and Duncan to diffuse the situation with calming manners and voice.
"Geoff's right. It's already as hard as it is", Mackenzie sympathized.
"I've had enough prison food for one day. I'm gonna go have a nap", Duncan was not interested in continuing arguing. He stood up, picked up his tray and walked away.
"You can't do that. We haven't decided who's going yet", Courtney protested.
"Well, I also think it should be her, eh. Moving on, she could be dead weight as a girl", said Ezekiel.
That comment did not land as Ezekiel had thought.
Katie and Sadie gasped. Mackenzie and Bridgette's eyes widened while Eva squinted and her eyebrows furrowed. Even some boys were taken back by the implication of the statement. Noah, having listened closely the conversation on the other table, almost choked on his mouthful.
Bridgette and Eva went and encircled Ezekiel on both sides.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Bridgette challenged Ezekiel and leaned menacingly onto the table one hand clenched in fist.
"Yeah, homeschool, enlighten us", Eva demanded Ezekiel to speak up and slammed her fist on table.
"Well, guys are much stronger and better at sports than girls are. Big guy pretty much proved it during second half", Ezekiel answered shrugging shoulders. His arms were crossed like he was trying to defy the heat he was getting, but his voice sounded like full of smug like he was stating the obvious.
Harold on Bass and Noah and Justin on Gophers' table slumped as a sort of instinct to unconsciously make themselves looking smaller so they would not get caught in the explosion which seemed apparent.
Confessional: Noah
"I'm sorry, what? I mean, not everyone thinks through everything they say but my god what was he thinking was going to happen. It was questionable at worst after the first part but he totally ruined his chances by those three little words at the end."
Noah stared somewhere in the distance without looking directly at the camera. He sighed and collected himself.
"Well, if there are more half-witted people like him on this island, reaching the endgame should be an easy task to take."
"Oh snap. You did not just say that", Geoff chuckled and smacked his forehead due to the absurdity of the turn which conversation had taken.
"My dad told me to look out for the girls here, eh. And help them in case they can't keep up."
Once the milk was spilled, it seemed like Ezekiel did not have a filter whatsoever and he kept digging himself deeper into a hole.
Eva put hands around Ezekiel's neck and lifted him off his stool like he weighted nothing.
"Still think we need help keeping up?" she growled.
"Uh, not really", wheezed Ezekiel, already struggling to breathe.
"Okay, guys, let's give him a break", Geoff rushed in to this situation to diffuse it.
He tapped hurriedly Eva's shoulder as a mark to release Ezekiel. Luckily, bodybuilder complied with it but allowed Ezekiel to drop from her grip. He fell flat on the floor.
"At least he doesn't think that guys are smarter than girls", Geoff attempted to minimize caused turmoil.
Ezekiel, still laying on the floor, looked Geoff puzzled.
"But they are."
Homeschooled boy got swift kick to his nuts from Eva. DJ and Tyler hopped up and tumbled to Geoff's help. Together they managed to restrain Eva enough so they could lead her out of the mess hall.
"Okay, Ezekiel goes. Agreed?" Katie stood with arms akimbo and looked questioningly Mackenzie.
Mackenzie sighed. "As much as I'd like to present other ideas, I think that's the safest bet guaranteeing enough votes behind one person."
"You're right. No girl wants to have that sexist jerk around", Sadie said, arms as well akimbo.
Mackenzie knew arguing would be in vain with best friends. She did not either like Ezekiel's comments but she was not as dead set on voting the boy out as the other girls seemed. She already had started forming opinions which persons could prove detrimental for the team in long run and Ezekiel was not on top of that list.
Nevertheless, Katie and Sadie had come to her and she knew she had to go along with it. It was the wisest move to make. She was happy she was not considered as an option on the very first vote but at the same time, she knew how volatile the situation could really be; she could not afford making enemies with her vote at such an early state of game.
And she rather wanted to make more friends than possible enemies during that summer.
"Eva's gonna definitely cast her vote on Ezekiel. I'd say Bridgette was sufficiently ticked off by him so that's five votes. And Courtney might as well put her vote on him just to avoid her own home-going", Mackenzie listed.
Katie and Sadie nodded in sync.
"That's right. If we six girls do it together, he's bound to go", Sadie confirmed.
"That still leaves all the boys unaccounted", Mackenzie pointed out. "To make the job right we either need one vote from the boys against Ezekiel or we hope they split their vote somehow."
Katie and Sadie looked her slightly puzzled.
"Against whom they would group?" Katie asked.
"Courtney?" Mackenzie suggested. "I mean yeah, she says she's a C.I.T. but her leadership skills were questionable today. And she refused to jump. Boys might put the blame on her. Ezekiel in the end did help quite a bit during the challenge and took a nasty hit when diving to show it."
Sadie snorted.
"Well, that still at max means tie but I'm sure Courtney can beat that idiot of a prairie freak in a tiebreaker."
"Oh my God, Sadie. That was such a good jab", Katie praised her friend.
"I know, right. But I thought what Katie would say to mock him and that's what I came up with."
"That's right! I think I would have said that too."
"That's why we are so in sync."
"EEEEE!" they squealed together.
Mackenzie looked at them expressionless and not understanding what on earth was going on. It was like a switch had been turned on two girls' behavior.
"Well…", she tried to speak once the squeal started to die down. "I think… if you two talk with Bridgette and Courtney, I can try figure out what's the mood among the boys."
"Totally!" both girls said simultaneously enthusiastically. They both went up and down on their tiptoes out of excitement.
"Thanks, Maxie! You're a great gal", Katie said. She took Sadie's hand and they left, bobbing on their way.
Once they were out of earshot, Mackenzie let the air out of her lungs. She could not believe how draining it actually had been to talk with them. She was people's person and liked to make new friends and acquaintances but those two girls… they appeared too entangled in their personal best friends thing. It made it harder to her to feel like she was actually getting to know them, not to mention befriending them. That was even more reason for her to feel frustration over Katie calling her by uncalled-for nickname. She did not hate the name per se. In fact, it had certain sound to it and some folks had called her by it back in the days without it sticking. But she was not on nickname basis with best friends.
As she went back towards mess hall wondering if she could still find some final lone eater there, she pondered the summer ahead of her and conversation with two girls. She could not possibly say it out loud to them but she honestly had considered sending one of them packing that night, more likely Katie perhaps. After all, they had caused nuisance during the challenge, and she just could not shake this feeling that maybe the things would have gone differently if Izzy had stayed in Killer Bass. It just did not sit right with her.
As she pushed mess hall's door open, she could see only Tyler and Geoff remained in there. They were slowly scooping and munching through their cooled down dinner.
"Hi, guys! Still here?" Mackenzie put a smile on her face and walked over to sit down with them.
Geoff's face lit up when he saw more company arriving.
"Hey! Fancy seeing you here", he greeted.
"Sup!" Tyler joined the greetings.
Mackenzie noticed to her shock a fresh cut on Tyler's lower lip. It was not dripping blood but there was a noticeable stripe of crimson running down on his chin.
"Oh no! Tyler, what happened to you?"
It was actually Geoff who answered that question.
"Taming Eva got little physical. She pulls some nasty punches. I can feel one bruise forming on my elbow", he told, chuckling a little.
"It's nothing. Guys in my team have caused way worse injuries than this", Tyler downplayed his injury but instinctively checked with finger if got bloodied.
"That's so horrible of her!" Mackenzie exclaimed. "You can't go around hurting people if you get angry!"
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing", Geoff kept assuring nothing was amiss.
"So… you came to finish your meal after calming her down?"
"That's right. Couldn't let this mush go waste", Geoff said.
Water, which had been running on kitchen sink, stopped. Chef, who had been doing dishes, stopped to listen closely.
"A delicious mush, if I may add!" Geoff added hastily with little nervousness in voice. Memory of cleaver swinging past him during lunch haunted him.
They heard approving grunt from the kitchen. Water started running again.
"So… better not beat around the bush", Mackenzie composed herself and decided to face the situation headfirst. "Who do you think should go home? We really didn't find consensus when we were all together."
"Man, it's so sad we need to send someone packing. We haven't been here even a day", Geoff was more dejected by the prospect of losing than naming a person.
"I know, right. Feels so unfair", admitted Tyler. He put down his fork, leaned against table and interlocked his fingers.
"I mean, it's not like it's your fault, guys. You did great. We just happened to have a bad start", Mackenzie cheered them up.
"You're totally right. Too bad that bad start had to happen to our team", admitted Geoff. He smiled at Mackenzie.
"You're still avoiding my question", Mackenzie smiled back. "What do you think about campfire ceremony?"
"Well… I mean, Ezekiel did blurt some questionable things about you girls, but at the same time Courtney did worse in the challenge. And singling me out was totally uncalled for", Tyler told his opinion first.
"I know, man. It was wild. He really mudded the water with those comments", said Geoff.
"So it should be either Ezekiel or Courtney?" Mackenzie tried to lead conversation as inconspicuously as possible. She was not sure how good job she was doing but two boys did not seem to notice or care.
"Man, I don't know. I'd love to give Ezekiel benefit of the doubt. He surely helped us. And Courtney managed to boost our morale during the construction. I can respect that", Geoff was more on the edge with both of the options.
"What? Were you thinking someone else?" Tyler lifted his eyes and looked Geoff perplexed.
"Well…", Geoff was not sure if he was willing to call out someone. "I mean… maybe one of those twins? They did hinder us and we lost the redhead on Gophers because they wanted to be together."
It was so unexpected it caught Mackenzie completely off-guard.
"Twins? You mean…", Tyler took moment to recall correct names. "Katie and Sadie?"
"Yeah. Them. The ones who wear same clothes", Geoff confirmed.
Mackenzie was glad Tyler spoke first giving her time to collect her thoughts.
"You mean Izzy when you say redhead. Why do you think it would have been better to have her than Katie?" she asked highly interested in hearing the answer.
"Well, I saw her coming from communal during the construction and asked what happened to her, since she was sticking out bruised tongue. 'Oh nothing, just pulled some ropes with my mouth' she lisped. Apparently, Gophers had to open their crates with mouths only due to being first and Izzy pried all of them open. I think it would have been nice to have someone so resourceful on our team", Geoff explained.
"Okay, I see what you mean", Mackenzie answered. She did not know what to make of the information yet, but she surely took a mental note of it for later point.
"But man. If we're all start voting completely different persons it doesn't feel… democratic. You know. It's not really majority if someone leaves with only like three or four votes", Tyler reasoned with Geoff.
"I know", Geoff acknowledge that reality. "But at the same time maybe it's for the best like that. It's our first campfire after all. Let it happen whatever it is. It's not like we know each other well enough to judge them yet."
"But…", Mackenzie tried to think quickly how to lead the conversation so that Geoff would not go against Courtney. "Then anyone's feelings can get hurt tonight. And I think Ezekiel… or Courtney at least is prepared for it."
Geoff pondered the argument for a moment, softly nodding his head the more he thought of it.
"So what do you say we vote Courtney tonight? And if Zeke turns to be such sexist as he implies, we vote him off to ease girls", Tyler suggested before Mackenzie had a chance to speak. "Duncan and Zeke will vote with us so it's five votes already with three of us included."
That was a problem Mackenzie did not want to face. She cursed her luck and Tyler's quick eagerness to turn the situation to his benefit. She had handed the situation on a silver platter and Tyler had swoop in and claimed it.
Or maybe it could turn out to be blessing in disguise. As she rapidly thought through it, siding with Tyler and Geoff could give her allies from the beginning while voting off Ezekiel would be mainly to please other girls without promises of future networks. She did not want to turn all the other girls against her right off the bat by voting Courtney off, but maybe an alliance in two boys could protect her for the meantime save they could bring in other boys to enforce the group. Or perhaps it kind of was like Geoff said that they were too early on game to make such radical decisions like deciding who to line with for the long game.
"Well, that means you need to convince DJ and Harold to join us to do job right, but honestly I'd be more comfortable having Ezekiel gone", said Mackenzie and tried to weasel out the predicament.
"She's right, man. We'd still need to talk with DJ and Harold. And I'm not sure if we have time and wits to pull them on our side", Geoff said to Tyler. "We can certainly try but I wouldn't hold it against any of us if we don't manage it and vote someone else."
"Do you think if any other girls would vote Courtney?" Tyler turned to ask Mackenzie.
She did not like his persistence on matter but nevertheless she shook her head. "Doubt it. No way Eva's gonna watch Ezekiel after that disaster of dinner convo and Katie and Sadie said already to me they're voting Ezekiel."
"Well, let's see what we can do. Let's finish lunch and go look for DJ and Harold"; Geoff concluded.
Mackenzie was ecstatic boys forget to ask her to state explicitly she would vote with them.
Under the guise of going to look for DJ or Harold already, she left two boys to finish their dinner. If she wanted to get clear picture how evening's vote was going to be without needing to make any unnecessary alliances in the process, she needed to talk with either of those two named scale votes before Tyler or Geoff. She realized she could not be hundred percent sure of Duncan and Ezekiel's final standing. But with remaining time at hand and possible conversation or two still ahead of her she hoped to make most educated decision possible.
She found Harold first.
As sun went down and moon started to rise on summer night's sky, Killer Bass found themselves sitting on tree trunks at campfire ground. Firepit was lit with cozy fire. Production at some point had brought portable wooden outhouse to act as a voting booth. It sat on the verge of campfire ground, just out of earshot range.
Before they went on, Chris McLean explained and instructed them on voting proceedings. Once it was all done, cameras started rolling and host took the lead. To create enticing closing segment for the first episode, he recapped little bit what took place during the day and asked few questions from different campers concerning mainly their feelings and who would they think should take the fall for failure.
After capturing that footage, members of Killer Bass were sent one by one to booth. It went without a hitch except Katie and Sadie took a moment to argue with Chris about going in together and voting at the same time. Host however stood firm on one person policy and made an ultimatum he would send them both packing without voting if they kept insisting doing everything their way.
Vote confessional: Duncan
"Well, this should be an interesting one. Didn't actually thought first one was going to be this spicy."
Delinquent smirked as he wrote a name on paper slip and slipped it into locked ballot box.
Vote confessional: Courtney
"Please, please! Let this work out for my favor", fear was palpable in her voice when she wrote down her pick. She took a moment to even out her breathing before she exited the booth.
Vote confessional: Geoff
"I know what I talk about with Mackenzie and Tyler. And I think they're right. We have to do it like every vote of ours counts."
He wrote the name of his choosing confidently, slipped the paper more confidently into the ballot box and exited the booth head held high.
Vote confessional: Eva
"Sorry not sorry. You're gone!"
She showed her vote slip on camera and ran finger across her throat slowly and menacingly.
Vote confessional: Mackenzie
Girl was actually taking a moment to write down her vote.
"Okay, time to play the game. Let's see if I make the right call here", she tried to sound more confident than she actually was.
As Tyler exited as last person the booth, two interns went in to tally up the results. Even though campers knew about whom this vote was mostly going to be about, suspense was still killing them. They waited mostly in silence with only wind slightly howling and fire crackling at firepit.
"Is it going to be like this every single time we vote?" Harold dared to ask Chris.
"Probably not", host smiled and shrugged shoulders, basking in the same suspense. "We're probably going to move voting before the actual ceremony to cut filming time. But just for the occasion we wanted to make first ones extra special. This tension is delightful!"
Some of Bass groaned. They did not like getting the lose rubbed on their faces any longer than necessary.
Finally interns exited booth. One of them disappeared into the night and the other one brought Chris a single paper slip consisting of the results.
Host took a second to memorize it before folding it and putting it into chest pocket of his shirt.
Katie and Sadie stared especially mischievous at Ezekiel's back as they sat behind him.
This did not go unnoticed by Duncan whose eyes wandered around as he was getting bored.
"Dude, you've got a lot to learn about real world", he made a comment to Ezekiel. Homeschooled boy's expression did not change.
Chris had picked a metal plate from barrel lectern onto his right hand. On top of that plate there was cluster of marshmallows.
Chris gave a mark on his cameraman that he was ready to continue. Once cameraman had host in focus, host started to talk.
"Killer Bass, at camp marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp marshmallows represent life. You've all cast votes and made your decision. There are only eleven marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight must immediately return to the dock of shame to catch the boat of losers. That means you're out of contest and you can't come back… ever."
Look on host face was serious and his voice solemn.
"The first marshmallow goes to… Geoff."
Geoff's smile widened. He stood up and went over to Chris, picking up a stick resting against firepit's edge as he walked by. He presented stick's tip to Chris who put the marshmallow on it. Geoff stepped aside to wait other remaining campers.
"Tyler", host called up next person.
"Woo-hoo-hoo! Yeah! Place at the table." He rushed to Chris, picking up a stick as well, and actually pinned the treat himself to it.
"Katie… Bridgette… DJ… Harold…".
One by one named campers stood up and went to pick up their marshmallows.
"Mackenzie… Eva… Sadie…"
"Oh yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you", Katie was happy to have her friend joining her. They hugged tightly.
It was up down to three at that moment when Sadie pierced her piece of fluffy treat.
"Duncan!" Chris called after short silence
"Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the evening."
Courtney and Ezekiel gave worried, passing glances on each other. They reached out to pick extra sticks still resting against firepit in the hopes of receiving one crucial addition to its end in just a second.
Dramatic pause followed as two remaining campers were left intentionally wallow in fear.
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DJ was clocking it on his mind. Chris was rolling over half a minute suspense build-up.
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"Courtney"
Girl gave huge sigh of relief. She hurried to have her treat before Chris could have revealed it was some weird cruel joke.
Ezekiel slumped and stared the fire with defeated look on his face, marshmallow stick almost falling off his loosened-up grip.
"Can't say I'm shocked. I saw you picking your nose, dude. Not cool", Chris folded his arms and shook his head disapprovingly.
As Ezekiel did not show signs of standing up, Chris walked next to him, put one hand on boy's shoulder and pointed to the direction of dock of shame with the other.
"Dock of shame is that way, bro."
Ezekiel snapped back to reality. He stood up, put empty marshmallow stick through his hoodie's long front pocket, stuck his hands in the same pocket and went his way towards the dock of shame.
Cameraman followed the first eliminated contestant to catch proper footage of the final walk.
Chris remained at the campfire. He adjusted one stationary camera's angle with a remote so it filmed better him and eleven remaining members of Killer Bass.
"The rest of you, enjoy your marshmallows. You're all safe. For tonight."
As eleven youngsters roasted their marshmallows over the campfire aiming for that golden crust, Ezekiel in solitude climbed on the boat of losers which was steered by Chef.
Confessional: Gwen
"Yep, this camp pretty much still sucks. But now that I'm here I guess I might as well actually try to win."
"To Screaming Gophers!"
"To the Screaming Gophers!"
Cody with a juice box in hand called for a toast and teammates joined it.
Hot tub was big enough for six people at a time to sit in comfortably. Two or three more people could be squeezed in but Gophers had made gentlemen's pact to have five or six people at the tub for now because they did not want to replace too much water.
Cody was accompanied by Trent, Justin, Heather, and Lindsay at the moment in the tub. Jeremy was once again enhancing fire at the stove. Leshawna, Noah, and Owen did silly victory dance when some members of Killer Bass, who were coming back from elimination ceremony, walked past them.
"Go, Gophers! Go, Gophers! Go, Gophers!" went their chant while they showed their moves.
Duncan, Tyler, Eva, Katie, and Sadie were not ashamed to walk straight past them on their way back to their lodgings. Remaining Bass scattered around the immediate environment either to catch a breath and moment of solitude or to wait Gophers to calm down.
Courtney was especially enraged by Gophers banter and taunts. Adrenaline culminated during the elimination had started to wear off so her mind was not anymore as clouded by fear of survival as it had been. It was getting, however, replaced by anger due to failure. And three Gophers' victory routine got her directing that anger to opposing team.
She noticed a cameraman about thirty feet away recording footage of Gophers' tub party when she walked between him and the tub.
"Are you recording this?" she asked confirmation with angry tone in her voice.
Cameraman nodded approvingly.
Her brows furrowed and she pointed her finger towards camera.
"Good. They can enjoy their little party all they want, but I am gonna win this competition and no one is gonna stop me."
Ezekiel looked sadly those foamy wave crests which boat of losers left behind. Every now and then he lifted his gaze to look Wawanakwa falling into horizon. Sky was clear that night and moon and stars were bright. Without light pollution from human settlements he could distinguish the outer lines of island for a long time. Finally, it disappeared into the night.
"Oh man. Mom and dad are going to be so disappointed, eh", he talked to himself. Some hints of tears managed to well up. "What will they say when they see me, eh? I totally failed."
"Don't mope, boy. You're not seeing them in a while", Chef bored voice could be heard from cab.
Ezekiel turned to look doorway to cab. He could discern shadow of Chef's huge back in the darkness.
"What… what do you mean?"
"You're doing reality TV. You really think you're already let go so you can go and reveal what's happening on that island?"
Ezekiel wiped welled-up tears from his eyes.
"Eh?"
"You have all summer ahead of you. This is not over before one of those kids wins in couple of months."
Boat continued its lonely journey through silent summer night.
A/N: And like that the first challenge and campfire ceremony get concluded. Nothing earthshaking or surprising there but I wish it is something enjoyable to read. It is quite a beast of a chapter in length to read I'll admit.
With six boys and six girls per team it was somewhat hard to come up with a questionable comment from Ezekiel which would start his spiral leading to his elimination. And I hope that I managed to shed some light on the reasons behind the distribution of some votes. I always thought a little bit more thinking was put into even the first elimination so there actually was a real possibility for someone else than Ezekiel to go home.
You also might have noticed the difference in the height of the cliff between this fanfic and the original TV show. Also, Justin didn't just charm actual sharks with his looks. These are intentional changes because I'm thinking to ground this fanfiction into more realistic setting. It remains to be seen how that will work out exactly.
