Okay, NOW the challenge starts. Thanks for reviewing, thedragonrooster. Gucci Mane LaFlare, OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla and lordgemini.
Everyone had to be seated in bleachers for the challenge (I was in the bottom one, beside Lindsay). Chris explained that it was a game of torture – we'd have to go through ten-second tests, and if we didn't last ten seconds, we'd be eliminated from the game. I couldn't tell what most of the "tortures" were from the images on the wheel we were using, but now that I knew Chris well, I knew that his idea of torture would be far worse than anyone else's.
However, immunity wasn't the only prize in store. There was also a sparkling new trailer that the winner would get to take home as a consolation prize, so if one of the girls won, there would have been a free bed anyway.
Tests of endurance? I was ready to take them on.
Duncan was called up first, so I was happy to watch how that went. Chef was basically going to lob snapping turtles at him with a hockey stick while he stood in front of a goal net. And while there was a lot of screaming (seriously, Duncan screaming in pain was not something I expected to see), he stuck it out.
"Isn't this fun?" Chris said in his most cheerful voice.
"Yeah, it's a riot," Duncan muttered sarcastically. I had to agree with his tone. I just had to hope that wasn't one I'd get.
Lindsay also did very well on her challenge, where they used melted marshmallow to wax her whole face. It sounded terrifying, but she ended by happily thanking Chris for getting her skin so smooth.
"Well done, Lindsay," Chris said. "And since you didn't complain once, you get to choose the next victim!"
"No thanks!" Lindsay said brightly, but I tapped her on the shoulder.
"Choose me!" I said in a whisper. I needed to do a torture at some point, and I was hoping to get mine over with.
"Oh, wait, I changed my mind," Lindsay said obligingly. "I choose Peyton." She didn't specify a challenge for me, so I had to go up and spin the wheel first.
I ended up getting my nose hairs ripped out by Chef. I just closed my eyes and kept thinking "Private trailer, private trailer, private trailer…" And I managed it.
Most people did okay with their first round.. Chris hadn't mentioned until letting Lindsay choose that if you chose someone who finished their challenge, you were out (which meant I accidentally made her lose, and she had to wait in stocks until everyone else dropped out). So although I didn't have to choose on my first go around, after I'd endured New Age music on my second go (not actually that hard a challenge – I would have liked to listen to it longer, that's how relaxing it was), I ended up in stocks after I asked Heather to take the electric eels and she got through it, looking a little dazed but triumphant. At least I wasn't the first out.
So who actually won? Actually, it was Leshawna. The thing was, I thought Izzy was going to win, but she ended up eliminating herself. She giggled throughout the electric shock treatment, adding "That was great! Hit me again!" Then she insisted on choosing herself as the next victim with poison ivy. The judges allowed it, but choosing herself meant she'd get eliminated, even if she managed it (which she did). As for Leshawna…well, if I didn't already look up to her for being cool, confident, skilled and a good friend, beating a circus bear in running on a rolling log in the water would have clinched it. I didn't know if I could call what I felt love, exactly, but it was starting on a road past a simple crush and more of something that could be real, if I ever managed to say something.
The elimination that night…well, what can I say? "First off," Chris said, "We ran out of marshmallows…"
"NOOOO!" Owen wailed.
Secondly, it turned out I wasn't the only one who found Izzy disturbing. And Chris actually aired some of our confessionals while we were voting. Most of them were for Izzy, like mine, but Duncan voted for Heather, "Because I know she's behind Courtney getting kicked off. You'll pay for that, toots. If you're watching this on cable, I miss you, babe." That was cute.
But I turned around and whispered to Duncan "It wasn't Heather – Courtney getting kicked off was someone trying to get back at you." Duncan nodded in acknowledgement, even looking grateful, and I turned back.
Izzy didn't seem mad that it had been a revolving door. "Well, we all gotta go sometime, right?" she said happily. She even blew Owen a kiss (okay, when had that love story started?) and happily took her leave on the Boat Of Losers.
Meanwhile, the eleven of us left got to throw a party in Leshawna's trailer, with its own stocked minibar, a bed and even a little kitchenette and a bathroom at the back with a glass shower. All it needed was a car to hook to it and she could go anywhere.
Okay, I'll admit it. We had music on in there. It was too cramped to dance, so I spent the whole time flirting with Leshawna. Nothing big – I couldn't think of anything to say to her, but whenever she looked in my direction, I shot her a smile and made eye contact for as long as I could. I wasn't quite as shy of her as I had since we'd started sharing a room.
Finally, just as the evening was over and people were starting to drift off to the cabins, I plucked up the courage to go over to Leshawna and tell her "I think you deserved this. That log roll – you were on fire!"
Leshawna grinned. "The girl on fire…I like that! And it sucks that you got taken out just cause Heather's not scared of eels." She paused ."I'm kind of temped to say if I'm fire, you're fuchsia." She gestured to my hair, and giggled when I blushed. "It's okay, I'm getting tired. Just ignore me. Goodnight!"
It wasn't so bad, not having her in our room. I even wrote one more note that night, taped to her luggage handle so she'd see it when she moved everything to the trailer. All it said was Trailer party rocked! Same as you on the log roll today – can't lie, I wanted that trailer, but if I reveal myself soon, maybe we can hang out in it, huh? Honestly, I'm trying, but I'm scared you won't want to be friends if I tell you and you don't like me. Love you – your hoping-to-stop-being-secret-soon admirer.
Because if you can't even talk to your crush, would you be brave enough to ask them out? Probably not, and Peyton knows it. As for Heather not being afraid of eels…well, Noah was right.