Well, well! Greetings! After years of writing different types of stories, fanfiction included, as a hobby, I decided perhaps I should finally dare and publish something. At the same time this is my first time attempting to write a full-length story in English as it is not my first language. Hence, it will most likely take some time before I get accustomed to it in storytelling.
All the same, as I've recently been watching TD again, something in it resonated within me enough to make me choose it as my category for my first fanfiction to be published. It is a great show but there are some details and things which bother me and make me question creative choices from time to time. That's the reason why I decided to go all the way back to the beginning and start building the world from there. That way it might be easier for me to address those issues because that way I get the cleanest plate..
As you will quickly notice, I've adapted significant amount of dialogue and scenes - especially during early chapters - from the actual Total Drama Island to this fanfiction. I think this is acceptable by website's guidelines as I'm not technically copypasting something but instead I'm typing down transcripts myself from audiovisual products and then novelizing those transcripts. And as long as I do not commercialize these products, fair use should be applicable, I believe. I want to stay as faithful as possible to the original work as my goal is not to start from the scratch with TD Universe but rather, I want to revamp and reimagine some aspects of it. For all intents and purposes, yes, this fanfiction works as a practice for me to create literary work in English but first of all it stands as a sort of love letter from me to the show as I try to put my own positive spin to it.
We will go into this fanfiction following first-generation characters. Plus I will throw in two original characters because why would I not get going with the "extended" part of the fic right away. Twenty-two anyway was always kind of a peculiar number for me to consider as a logical number to start with. In consequence, twenty-four campers it'll be!
Hope you'll enjoy this extended and revamped Total Drama Island, put into story format.
Prelude to Era
The weather was serene and only few fluffy clouds were flowing lazily through the sky. Averagely built man with dark wavy hair and stubbly beard could not have been happier. First of all, he had especially good hair day which he did not want to be ruined by either rain or rough wind. Secondly, pilot episodes were almost always crucial moments for shows to gain that first attraction and momentum to succeed. He did not want weather to hinder the shooting in the slightest.
Cameraman gave a thumbs-up with his left hand after receiving an approval through his earpiece to begin the shoot. Then he gave a countdown from three with his fingers to signal the rolling of the camera.
"Yo, we're coming at you live from Camp Wawanakwa, somewhere in Muskoka, Ontario! I'm your host Chris McLean, dropping season one of the hottest reality show on television right now!" announced the man with dark hair and stubbly beard grinning widely and making some grand gestures with his hands in order to deliver his lines with more passionate outlook. "Here's the deal: 24 campers have signed up to spend their summer right here at this crummy old summer camp. They'll compete in challenges against each other, then have to face the judgment of their fellow campers. Every few days one team will either win a reward or watch one of their team members walk down the dock of shame, take a ride on the loser boat, and leave Total Drama Island for good."
Camera cut the filming after rolling few empty seconds so the editing room could have a window to add footage of the aforementioned boat.
One intern who was assisting the shoot grimaced slightly. He had seen the boat if one could have even called that thing a boat. It was barely a seaworthy barge which definitely had seen its expiration date decade or two ago.
The host took the lead and gestured the camera crew to follow him to the next scene. They moved to the next set which was on small hill. It was small and grassy, roughly a circle-shaped opening between some big rocks and lonely pine trees. The dock, where they had been, could be seen from there so it was not too bad of a walk to get there. The main features of the opening were a firepit in the middle, twelve tree stumps organized as do-it-yourself stools on one side of the pit and a metal barrel to work as a sort of lectern on the other side.
After a mark, the shoot resumed.
"Their fate will be decided here at the dramatic campfire ceremonies where each time all but one camper will receive a marshmallow", Chris continued while walking through the set and ate a marshmallow pierced in a stick to re-emphasize the latter part of his sentence. "In the end only one will be left standing and will be rewarded with cheesy tabloid fame and a small fortune which – let's face it – they'll probably blow in a week. To survive, they'll have to battle black flies, grizzly bears, disgusting camp food and each other."
Cameraman stifled a smirk. He did not know all the details but he knew the show was going indulge itself in the comedic aspect of reality television as much as possible. Editing room was going to have a great time creating a montage underlining some of worst (or best depending on whom you asked) tribulations contestants were going to face.
"Every moment will be caught on one of the hundreds of cameras situated all over the camp", Chris told to the cameras while they were walking back to the docks ready to shoot the last bit of introduction.
The wind had stopped altogether and the temperature was rising but being next to the lake it was somewhat cool and pleasant.
"Who will crumble under the pressure?" asked Chris while standing once again on the docks. "Find out, right now, on TOTAL – DRAMA – ISLAND!"
Drone camera was whipped out for the recording of the last delivery. Once Chris reached the conclusion of introduction – the name of the show – drone operator accelerated the drone to fly backwards to get one last wide picture of the scene and the island.
Chris was standing on the pier waiting for the contestants to arrive. With him remained only one cameraman who was handling a big camera with microphone extension. Otherwise, the recording job was in the hands of remotely operate drones and static cameras situated all around the island. Contestants contact with the outside world needed to be cut to extreme minimum and that included excluding production team physical presence as well as much as possible.
"Welcome back to Total Drama Island", exclaimed Chris. "Alright. It's time to meet our first 12 campers. We told them they'd be staying at this five-star resort. So… if they seem a little TO'd, that's probably why." He gave a big complacent smile to the camera.
There was swarming a school of small yacht further down on the lake. Distances between them were great enough so the passengers couldn't see clearly who were traveling on the other boats. After two idle minutes, half of the yachts took off towards the island and organized themselves seemingly into a queue.
Chris rubbed his hands quickly and went through all the names of contestants in his mind. Before long the first yacht landed on the dock and the first camper disembarked.
"Beth! What's up!" Chris greeted.
Short girl with thick glasses, dark brown hair on high ponytail, somewhat acne-ridden skin, and braces ran to embrace the host in a hug.
"It's so incredulous to meet you", she responded with enthusiastic, lisping voice before releasing the host. "Wow, you're much shorter in real life."
"Eeh… Thanks?" Chris was slightly weirded out by girl's greeting and comment. The comment was not completely out of merit, though. Beth most definitely was not on the tall side, and Chris himself was merely half a head taller than the girl.
She waved vigorously to the cameras while her yacht sped away to make room for the next one.
"Yo, DJ!" Chris greeted the first male camper.
DJ, a very tall person in turn, was a bulky man of Caribbean descent. Kind of a brickhouse one could have even said. Contestants were supposed to be in their mid-teens but one of the most noticeable aspects of DJ's outlook aside from his size was his full grown brett beard, which was a feature many other boys of his age could not accomplish even in their wildest dreams.
"Yo, Chris McLean! How's it going?" DJ greeted back with deep but soft-sounding voice. He walked to Chris, put his luggage down for a second and had a high five with the host. "Hey, you sure you got the right place here. Where's the hot tub at?" he asked glancing around at the sight of dilapidated campground.
"Yo, dawg, this is it. Camp Wawanakwa!" Chris affirmed.
Still confused, DJ picked his luggage and moved towards the other end of the pier where Beth had moved to wait other youngsters.
"Hmmm, looked a lot different on the application form", he muttered.
Chris had a good snicker at the expense of the comment.
The yacht came to halt next to the pier and from it descended a slim pale-skinned girl. She had short hair dyed in mixtures of green and black and her outfit was an obvious sign she was into goth culture.
"Hey, Gwen!" Chris saluted the third contestant.
Glaring around, Gwen walked slowly towards Chris. She had this weird expression on her face which was somewhat hard to read into. Perhaps she was just super confused or she was debating whether or not smack the host with one of her package.
"You mean we're staying here?" she asked.
"No. You're staying here. My crib is an airstream with AC that way", Chris told, pointing his thumb to the general direction of his living quarters.
"I did not sign up for this", Gwen confronted Chris and clenched her fist.
"Actually, you did", protested Chris and produced from his thigh pocket an A6-sized replica of the multi-paged contract each and every contestant had signed at some point during the previous months. Host certainly had anticipated some of the youngsters to vocalize their disapproval for the site choice. Therefore, he had come ready for the situation.
Gwen snatched the paper stack from Chris' hand quickly like a predatory animal and ripped the stack in half in one swift motion. She let pieces of paper to fall into water.
"The great thing about lawyers is they make lots of copies", Chris wasn't fazed by the outburst and produced yet another contract from another thigh pocket. "And just for the record, that most certainly wasn't specifically your original copy of the contract."
"I am not staying here" Gwen kept arguing.
"Cool. I hope you can swim though because your ride just left", Chris stated and waved to the yacht.
Gwen turned just for a moment to verify the truthfulness of the statement. Indeed, the ride Gwen had used was speeding away. She considered for a moment sneaking into one of the next yachts coming to the pier but, for whatever reason, she lost her wind while watching the distancing yacht.
"Jerk!" she muttered.
Her comment was barely heard since the upcoming yacht was blasting beach party music on full volume. On the upper deck there was jamming a tallish blond dude.
Yacht stopped next to the pier, and the blond guy made few almost parkour-looking moves over the railings to get on the pier. Deckhand threw a single suitcase plastered with destination stickers to the guy who returned the favor by giving him a thumbs-up. The yacht started immediately backing afterwards.
"Chris McLean! Sup, man!" guy walked over to greet the host and share a fist bump. "It's an honor to meet you, man!"
"The Geoffster! Welcome to the island, man!" Chris returned the greetings.
"Thanks, man!", guy thanked.
"They say 'man' one more time, I'm gonna puke", swore Gwen who had move next to DJ and Beth.
On a closer look others could easily tell this guy – Geoff by his name if they were able to decode Chris' tasteless nickname correctly – was a textbook definition of stereotypical looking party dude. He was somewhat tall boy with blond locks, light blue eyes, and a pronounced chin. He was wearing small version cowboy hat, dark blue shorts, beach sandals and a pink collared shirt which he had left unbuttoned revealing his fit abs. He looked all ready to start a beach party which kind of was understandable considering they were supposed to have the show happening at proper spa resort. But it was not to be so.
"Come dressed for the occasion", DJ praised Geoff's appearance.
Geoff came to join other three youngsters after sharing one final high five with Chris. Next yacht was already pulling to the deck.
Chris cleared his throat and introduced the next camper to the others.
"Everybody, this is Lindsay", he exclaimed and made an exaggerated reach with his arm. The gesture was probably to underline the matter of fact for the show that Lindsay was definitely on the winning end of genetic lottery by many standards. She was highly slender girl with long thick hair colored like golden ripe wheat. She even had more clear blue eyes than Geoff, and her skin was spotless. She was wearing tight, somewhat revealing reddish tank top, orange miniskirt and knee-high leather boots with short heels. The outfit was completed by blue bandana holding her hair in tide.
"Not too shabby" Chris commended. DJ and Geoff gave both almost inaudible awkward cough. They would have been in so much trouble if they as guys had said something like that as a first thing.
"Hi!" Lindsay's voice was high-pitched but melodious. "Okay, you look so familiar", she pointed Chris who was there first to receive her arrival.
"I'm Chris McLean", he happily introduced himself.
An awkward silence followed since Lindsay did not react to the answer in any way expect by squinting her eyes like the name did not ring any bell.
"The host of the show", Chris particularized.
"Oh, that's where I know you from", Lindsay finally answered raising her finger knowingly.
"Eeh… yeah", Chris did not know how to react better. He was little dumbfounded by girl's apparent obliviousness about who was even running the show she was participating in.
After Lindsay had joined the others, next yacht pulled into the pier. Until then, they had come by girl-boy-order but finally that streak got broken since the disembarking camper was once again a girl. She was blackish haired girl who probably had some Asian heritage in family tree. Most likely Japanese or Korean blood if other campers best guesses were anything to go with. She wasn't as slender as Lindsay but she was slim, nonetheless. She was wearing a crop top, short shorts, and stylish boots, and she had this look of disdain printed on her face when she eyed the island where she was left.
"Heather!" Chris said but she just walked past him without bothering to humor him with an answer.
It should have been obvious Heather was pretty ticked off by the island. Either Beth did not notice sour mood or did not care because she hurried to welcome Heather.
"Hi! Looks like we're your new friends for the next eight weeks", Beth greeted enthusiastically. Some spit and saliva produced by her lisp flew out of her mouth to Heather's way making the latter cringe and shiver away from the short girl.
Chris eyed the duo with a slight smile. Perhaps there were some dynamics already forming between the campers.
They were interrupted by the arrival of next vessel from where music once again was echoing. Some punk or rock sounding tabs were heard from loudspeaker located on the lower deck when a boy with only one lonely duffel bag jumped from the boat.
"Duncan, dude!" Chris welcomed the newcomer.
Duncan was a young man of average height with punk attire and light green mohawk sided with otherwise black military cut. He had noticeably stubby legs but he was not by any means looking like he would not be physically really capable. He flicked his nose piercing while straightening up and lifting the duffel bag with other hand. He had this mixture of annoyance and anger on his face.
"I don't like surprises", Duncan informed his displeasure concerning the island.
"Yeah, your parole officer warned me about that, man", admitted Chris. "He also told me give him a haul any time and have you returned to juvie."
Duncan took a second to consider the words. He just shrugged shoulders.
"Okay then", he consented and moved to join the squad. "Meet you by the campfire, gorgeous", he sent a flirt Heather's way while passing her since she was standing separately from the others.
"Drop dead, you skeez", Heather blocked Duncan's advances.
The lonely cameraman had to fight against smile. What a sick first thing to say out loud in one's own personal history of television participation. That might come to haunt her in years to come if show was ever to gain attraction.
"I'm calling my parents. You cannot make me stay here", Heather stomped towards her luggage she had taken time to add already amongst the other packs.
Chris smiled good-naturedly and waved the prop contract to the cameras
Series of honks echoed over the lake. Next yacht which had been cruising zigzag around the lake on its own approached the docks at top speed. The reason became apparent once after an especially tight curve they could see that there was a person water-skiing behind the yacht. They had to hand it to the guy he was talented. They had not seen the yacht slowing down too many times in the distance. It had to mean whoever there was skiing had been going several minutes at a time while seven other youngsters had their introductions going on.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Tyler!" Chris introduced approaching boy.
Tyler was wearing red wetsuit. They really couldn't make any details of him yet except that he had semi-long deep brown hair which was fluttering in the wind created by speed.
He let right hand go off the handlebar in order to wave to the waiting entourage. It proved to be a grave mistake since immediately he lost his balance and like a bullet out of the gun pipe, he was sent skipping over the water.
He hit the pierhead. Hard. His momentum and angle however still carried him and he went rolling long way over the pier. He finally was stopped by the luggage pile but he knocked it over sending packs flying everywhere. Luckily for the most and unfortunately for one, only one suitcase flew into water.
Huge splash was heard. Cameraman cursed his luck he wasn't fast enough to catch on tape how Heather got absolutely soaked by the splash.
"Aah! My shoes!" shouted Heather.
"Wicked wipeout, man!" Chris praised Tyler.
Sports boy lifted his left hand limply to give a thumbs-up. He tried to show a brave face and assure he was okay but it definitely showed he took quite a hit while arriving to Total Drama Island.
Frustrated and dispirited Heather stepped next to the other campers. Chris could not help it but snicker to doused girl.
Prolonged incident took away people's attention from the next arrival. Chris was alerted to newcomer when he heard a long deep sigh behind his back. He took a second to regain his composure which time he also used to recall the person's name.
He was super thin boy with glasses, freckles, slightly bent posture, and some hair on his chin. He was dressed like for a day-off. T-shirt with a picture, long-sleeved undershirt, green college pants and big sneakers. He carried a portable keyboard in his armpit indicating he might have been the first musically inclined camper to arrive.
"Welcome to camp, Harold!" Chris greeted the boy. He did not get any answer.
"What's he looking at?" wondered Beth when Harold kept looking around without saying anything.
Finally, Harold opened his mouth. "So you mean the show is at a crappy camp and not on some big stage or something?"
"You got it!" Chris confirmed.
"Yesh!" Harold gave a pleased, soft shout. "That is so much more favorable to my skills."
"Well, I'm glad at least someone can appreciate our fine residence", Chris said but gave an expression of pained empathy behind Harold's back. His first impression of the boy weirded him out a little bit.
Geoff smiled at Harold and moved to give him some room to join tightly packed camper squad.
"Moving on, were reaching the tenth contestant! May I introduce you to Mackenzie!" Chris announced.
Down from the yacht came a girl of average build and she had the most furry chocolate-brown hair, piercing eyes of brown-green mixture and slight freckles all over her nose bridge and cheeks. She gave a wild smile which created small dimples and revealed her teeth.
"Hi, y'all! How's it going?" she whooped and waved to the campers.
Some of the youngsters got surprised. No one else had immediately acknowledged them fresh out of the boat. Beth, Lindsay, and DJ had reflexes to return the wave before host took the charge.
"Welcome to Wawanakwa, Mackenzie!" Chris formally greeted the camper.
Mackenzie pushed her suitcase forward and had a small canvas backpack on her back when she walked towards the host. She was however looking at the island and crummy campsite instead of host.
"You're saying the production totally blindsided us and decided to drop us into this wretched isle instead of the promised resort?" Mackenzie asked when coming to a halt in front of Chris. She kept staring the inland but her smile still was not freezing.
"Sharp perception you have there, young lady", Chris confirmed and gave finger guns.
Mackenzie chuckled. "A good lawyer would have a feast on you for such a deception. Tricking minors like that, I mean, into such contracts."
"It's good then we have a great legal department to counter such claims should any of you get any funny ideas", Chris joked but did it with certain seriousness in his voice in hopes of intimidating any of the campers to drop the matter. He did not like the fact the first thing Mackenzie brought up was some half-joke half-serious statement about suing the show.
"I'm just joking", Mackenzie laughed, seemingly noticing Chris' risen tension. "For money and fame we came here first of all. Right, guys?"
Chris as an experienced actor persona got the cue Mackenzie was throwing his way. He chuckled as well.
"That's right, girl! Hope that attitude carries you in competition", he said. "Go and join your fellow campers." He extended his arm towards the camper squad further down the pier.
"Very well then!" Mackenzie agreed and went her way. "Hello, everyone! Nice to meet y'all."
"Hey! I'm Geoff" greeted Geoff, closest to Mackenzie who was dropping her suitcase and backpack to the pile Tyler kindly had somewhat reassembled after his collision with it.
"Hi, Geoff. Mackenzie", Mackenzie introduced herself personally to the guy.
"Our next contestant is Trent!" said Chris who was already meeting the next camper.
Broad-shouldered boy with squared face, thick black hair and sharp brows walked down the pier. He was carrying proper-sized guitar case on his hand and massive rucksack on his back.
"Hey, good to meet you, man", Trent greeted Chris in relaxed tone.
"One more of those 'mans' out of their mouth and I swear…" Gwen muttered to herself.
"Saw you on that figure skating show. Nice work", Trent complemented Chris' previous work.
"Hey, thanks, man. I knew I rocked that show!" Chris felt honored and shared fist bumps with Trent.
"I saw that!" Beth knew the show in question. "One of the guys dropped his partner on her head. Though they got immunity that week."
"Lucky. I hope I get dropped on my head", said Harold.
Before others could even fathom what his comment might have meant, Lindsay chimed in. "Me too!"
"So… this is it?" Trent asked looking hesitantly not only the island but others as well.
Most of the campers had solemn looks on their faces. Harold started to pick his nose. Heather was still sulking over her wet state and wrung water off her hair. Only Mackenzie seemed to have a small smile going on all the time.
"Alrighty then", Trent said cautiously and moved to join the others. He squeezed in between Gwen and Harold giving the former a wide smile when their eyes momentarily met. She turned her gaze away frowning. Once Trent's attention turned to follow the upcoming yacht, she however allowed herself to look boy side-eye.
The concluding member of the first twelve campers was a blond girl who walked the pier with easiness despite the weight of enormous surfboard she was carrying with one hand and big ocean blue training bag with the other.
"Hey, what's up?" she greeted Chris, lowered her bag, straightened her surfboard, and leaned into it. She was petite, green-eyed girl who had her long hair hanging on a ponytail but left her side bangs to roam free.
"Alright! Our surfer chick Bridgette is here", Chris introduced her.
Duncan scoffed. "Nice board. This ain't Malibu, honey."
"I thought we were going to be on a beach", Bridgette argued reasonably. She was as taken back by the island as anyone else.
"We are!" Chris exclaimed gesturing around island's coastline.
Lonely seagull which had some plastic wrapped around its neck was sitting on trash covered sand beach close to the docks until a tide wave came and carried it onto the lake. Bird didn't do anything to stop it.
Bridgette gave a disappointed sigh. "Great."
"Alright", Chris seemed to be satisfied with the introduction. "That makes… OW!" he got interrupted when Bridgette's surfboard slammed him in head when girl knelt to pick her carry-on.
Bridgette didn't seem to notice or maybe she just feigned ignorance in order to get a small payback for deception she just had experienced.
"Darn it! That hurts", Chris whined.
"Hey, guys", Bridgette greeted the others.
"Hey! I'm Geoff", Geoff chimed in and stepped forward to introduce himself.
"What's up!" Bridgette turned towards the boy. In the process her surfboard swung and almost hit Harold and Duncan who managed to dodge it just in time.
"Dang! watch the board, man", Harold warned the girl.
"Hi! I'm Beth!" greeted Beth in turn.
"And I'm Mackenzie!"
"Hey!" answered Bridgette to both of them and once again swung the surfboard when turning to face the greeters in question. This forced other campers once again either dodge or duck so they avoided getting hit.
"Okay, first neighbor girl's introductions and now this. We've all met surfer girl. Can we get on with the show, please", Heather grumbled, still combing water out of her hair.
"Someone missed their double cappuccino macchiato this morning", Duncan ridiculed.
"Get bent!" Heather dismissed Duncan.
"So, twelve campers in, twelve more to come", Chris narrated. "Call it a hunch, but I think I can already smell some fine personalities among the campers. Let's see how the rest of the contestants stir up the pot. Bring them in!"
It took approximately minute and half to get rest of the yachts in the lake in the formation. It took about minute afterwards when the thirteenth vessel reached the pier.
Some of the twelve already arrived youngsters changed few pleasantries with each other and introduced themselves while waiting. Some of them pondered what kind of people the upcoming twelve could have been.
"Our – ow – next camper is Noah", Chris still had a little sore head after the hit, but he managed to present the boy jumping over the yacht's railing.
"You got my memo about my life-threatening allergies?" Noah asked while walking past Chris. He was a shortish guy with brownish skin and squared face. He had this almost shoulder-length deep brown hair which seemed barely to keep itself at bay without exploding into a mess. Furthermore, he had this constant expression on his face where it was hard to tell if he was bored, jaded or if it just was his resting face.
"Sure someone did" Chris blurted.
"Good. Is this where we're staying?"
"No. It's your mother's house and we're throwing a party", Duncan ridiculed dumb question.
"Cute. Nice piercings, original. Do them yourself?" Noah mocked back pointing Duncan's several piercings and earrings.
"Yeah. You want one?" Duncan snapped and snatched a hold of Noah's lower lip. He produced a needle out of his pocket and waited guy to give an answer.
"No, thanks. Can I have my lip back?" Noah denied the offer but never once did his tone changed like he would have been intimidated by Duncan. "Thanks", he added once the delinquent let his lip go.
Two were startled when a foghorn gave a loud honk. Next camper was already walking down the pier.
"Wassup, y'all! Leshawna is in the house!" curvaceous and bigger sized black girl greeted everyone. She pulled a leopard patterned suitcase behind her. "Yo, baby, hey how you doing? How's it going?" she shared a high five with Chris walking straight past him as had Noah done.
Harold seemed flabbergasted by Leshawna's presence since he stared her open-mouthed.
"Feel free to quit now and save yourselves some trouble 'cause I came to win", Leshawna ran her mouth.
"Oh-ho, she's talking smack already", Duncan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, what's up, my brother! Gimme some sugar baby!" Leshawna shared another high-five with DJ who was closest to her ethnically.
Harold could not help himself. He crept closer to Leshawna.
"I've never seen a girl like you in real life before", he said.
"Excuse me?" asked Leshawna humored by the statement but curious what thin boy actually meant.
"You're real big and loud", Harold particularized.
"What did you say to me?" Leshawna got offended and raised her voice. "Oh no, you didn't You have not seen anything yet. I'll show you big, baby."
DJ and Bridgette had to jump in to restrain Leshawna so she did not get into Harold's throat.
Thin boy made some obscure martial arts stances to show he was not taken back by girl's threats and he was ready to go if it was going to be so.
"Oh yeah, you want some of this? Come on in!" Leshawna kept running her mouth while DJ and Bridgette bolted their feet firmly to the deck.
"Alright, campers, settle down!" Chris stepped in to break escalating scene with stern voice.
Everybody composed themselves. Leshawna took a moment to straighten her wrinkled shirt and shoot daggers Harold's way. Boy smiled her shyly.
Next camper was already standing at the end of the pier where he had been dropped just a second ago. He had enough time to witness the aftermath of clash between Leshawna and Harold. He watched the scene perplexedly, not knowing what to do exactly.
"Jeremy! Come here, my man!" Chris said and gestured him to come closer.
Jeremy was a guy with sort of long limbs and slender but solid build. He had wavy dark hair free swiped on the top and side of his head. There was some kempt stubble around his mouth, chin, and lower parts of cheeks, and he had super dark eyebrows.
He had a big backpack and he had his other luggage thrown over his shoulder by carrying strap. In theory he should have had his hands free but he had sealed them in his zipper hoodie's pockets.
"Good day, mister McLean", Jeremy greeted the host.
Everybody was caught by surprise when they heard boy's freakishly deep voice, usually uncharacteristic for a person of his age.
"Nice one! Keep up with the titles. I like that", Chris enjoyed getting called mister.
Jeremy quickly glanced the island and tried to avoid camera lenses and everyone's eyes.
"Well… I knew Muskoka isn't exactly the hottest tourist destination but… I'm still little surprised… you actually decided to throw us into the wild", Jeremy tried to form a cool sounding sentence.
"You figured it out beforehand?" Chris puckered his brows slightly.
"No", Jeremy denied and shrugged his shoulders. "But show's concept's rather close to Survivors and the likes. So I guess it always was a possibility… to consider."
"Watch out, guys", Chris told the others pointing Jeremy with his thumb. "We have a smart one here. Go join the others, man."
Jeremy berated himself in his mind while pacing towards the other campers. He did not like the blabbering which had come out his mouth. He hoped he had given good enough impression of himself.
He gave few nods and smiles to welcoming campers, dropped his main luggage next to others and joined the squad.
"Ladies! Sadie. Katie. Welcome to your new home for next months", Chris welcomed – surprisingly enough – two new campers. Yacht had dropped two girls with matching outfits and hairstyles. Taller one was skinny and brown skinned while the other one was white and chubby.
"Oh my gosh! Sadie, look! It's a summer camp", taller one – Katie apparently – said and side-hugged her friend.
"Okay, I always wanted to go to summer camp", Sadie answered.
"EEEEE!" both of them squealed and beelined to join other campers without giving Chris a chance to talk with them further.
Chris followed their run little perplexed but turned soon enough to receive the next camper.
"Ezekiel, what's up, man!"
Short boy with thick clothing and beanie pulled deep in his head watched upwards.
"We think I see a bird", he said with a thick accent and pointed the sky.
Trent had an audible chuckle.
"Okay, look, dude", said Chris putting hand on Ezekiel's shoulder and leaned to face him at eye level. "I know you don't go out much. Been homeschooled your whole life, raised by freaky prairie people. Just don't say much and try not to get kicked off too early. Okay?"
"Yes, sir!" nodded Ezekiel smiling. Chris let him go to join others.
"That's just… wow", Gwen was lost of words.
Others knew what she meant. Ezekiel exerted this specific presence they couldn't put their finger on.
"Cody! The Coadster! The Code Meister!" Chris was already welcoming the next camper.
He was a boy with same type of bent in his posture like Harold. He was of the same height as Chris, and he had middle part haircut. He was somewhat round-faced and thin dude who was wearing street casual clothing, namely sneakers, cargo pants and long-sleeved polo with undershirt.
Host and Cody shared finger guns with each other and a quick high five.
"Dudes! Psyched to be here, man", Cody said and walked with highlighted confidence down the pier. "See the ladies have already arrived. Alright", he gave a sly smile while passing by some of the girls.
"My god. Cringe alert", Noah faked cough at low voice at Cody's obvious façade. Jeremy nodded affirmatively, and Bridgette looked Cody vexedly.
Cody was about say something to Leshawna but the girl stopped it by putting her finger in front of his lips.
"Save it, short stuff", she said but smiled confidently. Cody took the hint and withdrew.
"Moving on", Chris gathered campers attention.
Muscled girl stomped her feet to the pier. She had narrow eyes, stern gaze and black hair tied to ponytail.
"Eva", Chris greeted opening his arms.
Girl did not bother to stop. She walked straight past the host without even glancing his way.
"Nice", Chris had to compliment fixated, unbothered attitude. "Glad you can make it."
There had formed an empty space next to Cody. Boy offered a high five to Eva who walked to that free space.
She left Cody hanging and let her baggie drop freely to ground. It smashed Cody's toes and he gave a loud yelp. He tried to hold back tears due to pain.
"Ow! What's in there? Dumbbells?"
"Yes", said Eva unfazed like it should have been an obvious answer.
Duncan snorted. "She's all yours, man", he muttered to DJ entirely because of boy's size. If DJ wanted to create muscle alliance with Eva, light was all-green.
Campers could hear and see next contestant from far away. He was a big obese boy and he was hooraying so loud it could be heard even over the noise of yacht engine.
"Whoo-hoo! Chris, what's happening?" boy cheered when he jumped from yacht to pier. Everybody felt how the whole pier got a good jerking under boy's weight. "This is awesome! Whoo-hoo!"
"Owen! Welcome!" Chris walked forward to greet the big guy who had messy blond hair, small eyes, meaty cheeks and definitely couple of hundreds of live weight under his belt.
Owen grabbed Chris into a big hug and squeezed hard. Air escaped Chris' lungs.
"Awesome to be here, man! Yeah! Man, this is just so…" Owen paused trying to find a good word to properly describe his feelings.
"Awesome?" suggested Gwen playfully.
"Yes! Awesome!" Owen was content with the adjective. "Whoa! Are you gonna be on my team?"
"Oh, I sure hope so…", Gwen said little sarcastically but it was lost on Owen.
Chris was still struggling to breathe in boy's embrace.
"Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" Owen kept cheering energetically.
"You're about finished?" Chris managed to ask. He was little displeased Owen had locked him into hug.
"Sorry, dude. I'm just so psyched", Owen chattered releasing Chris.
"Cool. And here comes Courtney."
Next yacht parked shortly so a brown-skinned girl with trim bob cut could walk the dock to pier. Chris acted gentleman and offered his hand for balance to Courtney for the last leap.
"Thank you", Courtney thanked in a polite way. She smiled and waved relaxed. "Hi, you must be the other contestants. It's really nice to meet you all."
"How's it going! I'm Owen", Owen jumped in to greet Courtney. He grabbed her hand with both of his hands and gave it a powerful shake.
Even though both of them acted all happy, Owen's overflowing enthusiasm perplexed Courtney and she let her gaze slip. "Nice to meet you, Ow… Wow!" while her eyes wandered, she caught a glimpse of second to last contestant arriving.
He was good-looking. Boy looking like a young male model stepped out of the boat and walked with firm steps to greet Chris. Tanned skin, dark surfer hair but ocean blue eyes, strong chin and neck, and frame like that of an upcoming bodybuilder were all it took for girls to swoon over. Even guys had to admit dude was blessed with the looks.
"This is Justin", Chris gave an introduction. "Welcome to Total Drama Island!"
"Thanks, Chris. This is great", Justin smiled and gave a fist bump.
"Just so you know…" Chris wanted to make something clear. "We picked you based entirely on your looks."
"I can deal with that", Justin was just fine with info. He gave a small shrug and moved to join the rest.
Owen hurried to front.
"I like your pants", he thought some random compliment.
"Thanks, man", thanked Justin.
"'Cause they look like they're all worn out", Owen kept blabbering. "Did you buy them like that?"
"Uh… no. Just had them for a while", told Justin. He found Owen weird but never let that slip. He kept smiling and hid everything beneath that expression.
"Oh, cool!" Owen acknowledged the answer. "Stupid!" he criticized himself and hit his forehead after finally realizing what kind of an idiot he just made out of himself.
"'Kay, everyone! Last one at last. Izzy!"
"Hi, Chris! Hi! Hi!"
Girl with curly red hair, roundish face but lithe figure greeted wildly while hurrying off the last yacht. She, however, tripped and fell. She stumbled over the handrail and smashed her chin hard to the edge of pier falling into water afterwards. First a great thud, then great splash.
"Ooh, that was bad", Tyler said with a mixture of amusement and sympathy in his voice. He definitely felt the hit secondhand after his own incident.
"Guys, she could be seriously hurt", Courtney rushed with Jeremy on her heels to aid Izzy.
They managed to pull Izzy out of water. She shook water off like a rapid dog, ginger hair flailing all around.
"That… felt… so…" Izzy straightened up and cracked her chin. "Good! Except for hitting my chin."
"Glad you… could enjoy the swim", Jeremy tried to jest a little, but Izzy mainly ignored her.
"This is summer camp? That is so cool. Do you have papier-mâché here. Are we eating lunch soon?" she blabbered with such incredible speed that most had hard time following what she was even saying.
Owen definitely caught the mention of food.
"That is a good call!" he declared.
"First things first! We need a group photo for the promos", host could not allow campers get sidetracked. "Everyone on the end of the dock!"
Twenty-four campers moved to that end of the pier where they had landed. It was optimal for the photo since from there one could get better shot of island behind them. There was, also, a huge sign where the name of the island was placated.
While campers settled into their preferred formation, Chris took a pocket-sized handheld camera from cameraman to whom he had handed it for safekeeping before the initiation of shooting. He climbed to the deck of yacht, in which Izzy had arrived, to gain sufficiently wide-eyed shot for the photo.
"Okay. One, two, three… oops, okay. Forgot the lens cap", first try turned to be dud. "Okay! Hold that pose. One, tw… oh! No wait! Cards full. Hang on!" even the second try met headwind.
"Come on, man! My face is starting to freeze", Leshawna deplored poor preparations from Chris' side.
Host didn't hear what Leshawna shouted since he ran to helm cabin to obtain emptier memory card.
"Got it!" he got cards switched successfully. "Okay! Everyone, say Wawanakwa!"
"Wawanakwa" rose the collective shout.
Shout was accompanied by sudden cracking sound. The deck collapsed beneath them. Their concentrated combined weight was finally too much for the old deck beaten by time, weather, and poor maintenance.
Even greater shout rose when they realized what was happening and fell into water. Twenty-three campers floundered and gasped for air. Only Jeremy was lucky enough not to get completely dipped since he had been in sitting position next to pier's support post. He managed to grab a grip off log but was helplessly kicking water while trying to heave himself up.
Whoever was on the surface could hear a series of rapid clicks. Chris was doing his best filling the new memory card with candid shots of campers trying to resurface and make their way to dry land.
"Okay, guys. Dry off and meet at the campfire in ten", Chris guided them. Then he gave the captain a mark to get him on the shore leaving campers on their own.
It took more like fifteen minutes before everyone gathered around the campfire which Chris had showed to viewers during the introduction shot. Some of the girls were adamant about getting their hair into somewhat dry and presentable condition before proceeding with program.
Harshest mumbling had calmed down so Chris had peace to showcase the place.
"This is Camp Wawanakwa. Your home for the next nine plus week. The campers sitting around you will be your cabin mates, your competition and maybe even friends. You dig?"
Twenty-four youngsters let their sights circle around fellow campers.
"The camper who manages to stay on Total Drama Island the longest without getting voted off will win one hundred thousand dollars", Chris continued.
"Excuse me", Duncan raised his hand and took two steps forward to really drive home his urge to speak. "What will the sleeping arrangements be because I'd like to request a bunk under her?" he pointed Heather with his thumb and gave a mischievous smirk.
"They're not co-ed, are they?" there was some honest uneasiness in her counterquestion.
"No", Chris assured. "Girls get one side of each cabin and dudes get the other."
"Excuse me, Kyle. Can I have a cabin with the lake view since I'm the prettiest?" Lindsay chimed in.
"Okay, you are. But that's not really how it works here. And it's Chris."
"I have to live with Sadie or I'll die", Katie demanded.
"And I'll break out in hives. It's true", said Sadie.
"This cannot be happening", Gwen muttered her opinion of the dumb fest of silly statements going on. She did not hold a good view of the other campers so far.
"Oh, come on, guys. It'll be fun. It's like a big sleepover", Owen tried to cheer up Gwen. He spontaneously grabbed her and Tyler, who was sitting next to them, into headlock hug.
"At least you don't have to sleep next to him", Tyler whispered to Gwen and made slight up nod towards Duncan. Boy with green mohawk had spotted a deer peeking the campfire area and he went to chase it down.
"Here's the deal. We're gonna split you into two teams. If I call your name out, go stand over there", Chris took out a cheat sheet containing the premade listing of teams. "Gwen… Trent… Heather… Cody… Lindsay… Jeremy… Beth… Katie… Owen… Leshawna… Justin… and Noah."
Named youth moved to the left side of campfire fire from Chris' point of view.
"From this moment on you are officially known as The Screaming Gophers", Chris declared and threw a fern green canvas roll to them. Roll was captured by Owen who quickly rolled it open revealing it was meant to be their team flag. In a clay brown patch in the middle of flag there was a black silhouette of gopher standing on its hind legs and flexing its forelegs.
"Yeah! I'm a gopher. Whoa!" Owen kept making his enthusiasm known.
"Wait, what about Sadie?" Katie was visibly distressed by the situation.
"The rest of you over here…", Chris gestured the remaining campers on the right side of the pit. "Geoff… Bridgette… DJ… Tyler… Sadie… Izzy… Courtney… Ezekiel… Duncan… Eva… Mackenzie… and Harold. Move, move, move, move!"
"But Katie's a Gopher! I have to be a Gopher!" Sadie protested.
"Sadie is it?" Courtney asked politely to confirm she got the name right. "Come on, it'll be okay", she took Sadie's hand and guided her to join the rest of their newly formed team.
"This is so unfair! I miss you, Katie!" Sadie shouted to her best friend.
"I miss you too!" Katie shouted back.
"You guys will officially be known as The Killer Bass", told Chris and threw Killer Bass' orange-red flag to Harold. Upon unrolling their logo was revealed to be a black silhouette of angry looking shouting bass on asparagus green patch.
"It's awesome. It's like… amazing", said Harold and smiled.
"Alright, campers! You and your team will be on camera in all public areas during this competition", told Chris.
Confessional: Chris
Chris was sitting in worn out looking outhouse. Walls were lined with all manners of old carvings and stains; flies flew in abundance. In all, it looked decent enough for time-eaten toilet but at the same time so wretched one had to wonder on the other side of television screen if there was horrid stench prevailing everywhere.
"You will also be able to share your innermost thoughts on tape with video diaries anytime you want. Let the audience at home know what you're really thinking or just get something off your chest", he explained and gave a wink.
Confessional: Gwen
"Um… okay… So far this sucks."
Confessional: Lindsay
"Um, I don't get it. Where's the camera guy?" wondered Lindsay. She was standing and faced wrong direction. Only the lower part of her back torso was visible in camera.
Confessional: Owen
"Hey everyone, check this out. I have something very important to say", Owen said in a serious tone. Then he let out such a nasty fart that the gases were visible once they escaped his shorts. He started to laugh uncontrollably.
"Alright. Any questions?" asked Chris.
Instructions were clear enough. Campers had some items of concern on their minds but they collectively without words decided to keep them for themselves for the time being.
"Cool! Let's find your cabins", said Chris once nobody rose their voice.
Campers followed Chris (and the only accompanying cameraman ) to the east. There were two old dual cabins on a small grass field which was surrounded by all manners of tree and shrubbery. Cabins were elevated and looked rickety but granted since they were still standing, they must have been sturdy enough to be inhabitable.
"Gophers, you're in the east cabin. Bass, you're in the west", Chris split the cabins.
It didn't exactly matter which side of the cabins girls or boys picked since they were equally furnished.
Heather went on opened the right door on Gophers' cabin. Two bunk beds on one side, third on the other alongside of old stove and dresser. One huge rug mat covered a good chunk of the floor. Only three wooden stools could be found in the room. Interior was built of darkened oak timber. In a sense, room could appear to be somewhat cozy considering further how warm summer day had raised temperature of standing air within cabin.
"Bunk beds?" Heather stated incredulously. "Isn't this a little... summer camp?"
"That's the idea, genius", blurted Gwen while making her path past Heather.
"Shut up, weird goth girl", Heather snapped back.
"You're so smart. I feel that", said Cody to Gwen. He had followed girls inside and was glancing the facilities but mainly his focus was on Gwen whose back was turned on him.
She gave a sigh and turned to face boy her eyes squinted.
"Shouldn't you be on the boys' side?" she asked.
Boy gave an innocent smile revealing there was a gap between his upper teeth.
Just moments later Jeremy helped Cody to stand up outside the cabin. Short boy had been thrown out of girls' side in huge swing. He ate grass and dirt when landed.
"Where are the outlets? I have to plug in my straightening iron?" asked Lindsay from Chris who was supervising the moving in. She was leaning with her hands on the handrail of porch.
"There are some in the communal bathrooms just across the way" told Chris and nodded to the direction of aforementioned building which could be seen about fifty meters away.
Lindsay looked puzzled switching gaze between Chris and bathrooms.
"Communal bathrooms? But I'm not Catholic."
"Not communion. Communal", Chris made clear. He almost rolled his eyes. It was fourth time Lindsay let tone-deaf sentence out of her mouth.
"It means we shower together. Idiot" Gwen particularized the meaning to Lindsay and sat on the steps frowning.
Lindsay made teary puppy eyes before letting out a cry of misery due to the predicament how they would not have electricity readily available during the stay.
"Ah no! Come on!" she groaned.
Trent emerged from boys' side to look what was the matter. Noah and Owen took a peek as well.
"I'm glad we're in our own cabin with just guys, you know what I mean", Owen chuckled once he got the memo what was behind Lindsay's sorrow. Trent and Noah gave him a questioning glare.
"I mean no!" Owen backtracked when he also realized the possible implications behind his sentence. "I didn't mean it like that! I love chicks! I just don't want to sleep near them… I mean…!" he ran back inside in the wake of Trent and Noah going back in without saying anything.
"Excuse me, Chris! Is there a chaperone of any kind in this facility?" Geoff shouted from the other cabin's porch with his hand cupped next to his mouth
"You're all sixteen years old. As old as a counselor in training at a regular summer camp. So other than myself and co-host you will be unsupervised", Chris debunked.
"Yes, party boy, we're almost legally adults. We're gonna rave unattended by older folks like there's no tomorrow", Duncan joked sarcastically and went inside to put down his duffel bag.
"You've got a half an hour to unpack and meet me back at the main lodge. Starting now", Chris checked his wristwatch and left campers to finish their moving in.
"Nice!" Geoff was happy by Chris' and Duncan's words, delinquent's tone lost in him.
High-pitched scream interrupted their peace. It echoed form Gophers' girls' side of cabin
Several campers winced. Some of them rushed to see what could have possibly been the reason for such an ear-tearing scream.
Delegation consisting of Tyler, Gwen, DJ, Harold, Duncan, Heather, Leshawna, and Mackenzie looked inside realizing Lindsay to be the source of agonizing sound.
"Oh man, that white girl can scream", said Leshawna.
They saw Lindsay balancing on one foot on wooden stool close to the window. She was shuddering and trying to stay as far away as possible from a single cockroach which was speeding around the floor.
"What is it? Kill it! Kill it!" Lindsay screamed.
Cockroach took a turn towards the door. DJ was first on the way. He couldn't possibly back out of the door since otherwise he would have knocked over Leshawna and Gwen in process. When cockroach almost reached his foot, he also let out a bloodcurdling scream, jumped forward over it and tumbled roughly into one of bunk beds. His roughly applied body weight to bunk made bottom planks crack. They gave up under him, and creaky bunk bed got bent.
"That was my bed", Gwen sighed when she saw DJ grabbing her backpack, which had been laying on now destroyed bed, and using it as his shield against circling cockroach.
Bug was much more agitated due to mayhem surging in cabin. Some tried to avoid it by climbing on beds. Some simply tried to run out of its way. More screams were shouted.
Harold tried to stomp it without luck. Besides him, only Duncan appeared cool and collected.
Duncan stepped next to stove and small log pile beside it. He grabbed an axe laying against logs.
Cockroach stopped momentarily as shouts calmed down little bit.
Duncan raised the axe and brought it down on cockroach, splitting it half in one swift motion. Axe's blade left sizable slice in mat on which cockroach had stopped.
"Nasty bastard", delinquent muttered. He was thankful bug had been as big as it was. It made attacking it with precision easier.
"Awesome", said Harold impressed.
Those present started to collect their composure. Harold took old brush from room's corner and swept the remains of pest out of the door.
Tyler rushed to extend his hand to help Lindsay down off the chair.
"If you ever see one of those again just let me know, okay. 'Cause, you know, I could do that too", he said confidently, trying to pass façade he was as tough one as Duncan had been.
He smiled slightly smugly but earnestly enough that it seemed he definitely meant the words.
Lindsay looked in boy's brown eyes, noticed innocent smile and recognized there was growing a nasty bruise on his cheek due to the previous dock crash. Nevertheless, she blushed ever so slightly and returned a shy smile.
Interaction didn't escape from Duncan who just rolled his eyes.
"They always go for the jocks", he huffed while returning the axe to its place. Corner of his mouth, however, rose a little but he hid it from the others. He had to respect Tyler's straightforwardness in his pursuit.
While mayhem was taking place on Gopher girls' room, vibes were much calmer on boys' side.
Trent had heard scream from other room but once he saw improvised squad of other campers rushing to see what was happening, he decided it was not worth the hassle joining them and clog girls' room.
"What do you think is going on over there", he wondered out loud somewhat absentmindedly, somewhat eager to strike little small talk with his roommates.
"Who knows", noted Noah, unbothered by noise. "Giving educated guess, I'd say they either found raccoon's turd on their pillow or saw centipede or something for the first time."
"I wouldn't be surprised if centipedes or spiders crawl on us during nights", said Cody who was examining his bed sheets. "I mean, it's not too shabby for a cabin but I'd certainly bug-spray the heck out of this place just to be safe."
"Long shot but did anybody bring bug spray by any chance?" Trent was thankful two other boys immediately opened their mouth and the situation did not immediately turn into silent treatment.
Jeremy, who was opening up his sleeping bag on lower bunk on the left side of room, without even looking put hand in his bag's side pocket. He pulled out two bottles of spray and reached to put them down on one wooden stool.
Three boys looked Jeremy's back wide-eyed.
"You actually had bug spray?" said Noah. It was hard to say if it was statement or question.
Jeremy shrugged his shoulders without looking at them.
"I mean… it's summertime. Even at resort… there'd been mosquitoes. We'd been by waters anyway", Jeremy downplayed his idea bringing bug sprays.
"Awesome, man. I presume you're willing to share the stuff since you brought it out", Trent commended.
Jeremy shrugged once again.
"Sure. But don't go haywire with it… Summer is long", he paused before added something. "Let's use it perhaps just for the cabin… for now."
"That's so swell of you, man. Thanks", said Trent and dared to pat Jeremy's back.
"Yeah, thanks", added Noah. "We might need those to quell big guy's farts. Gosh, it smells like something's died up to his butt.
Jeremy nodded approvingly. Owen had let it rip quite loudly earlier and the smell still had not dissipated completely.
Four boys had nice bonding moment while stomps and screams echoed behind the wall.
Main lodge was big log house serving as canteen. Its maintenance was of better quality than their lodgings but when they thought about it, it was to be expected. As wretched as Wawanakwa was, main lodge had to reach at least certain standard to be suitable to work as kitchen building. Not that standard was high anyway. Thought process went that they would be right to expect at least some portable soup kitchen level food.
Campers were, however, in for a treat as soon as they met camp's cook.
Once they had formed queue for lunch serving, big and bulky black man came to the counter. He was a bald man towering easily at least six feet and six inches in height, his neck was thick like tree trunk and his unibrow seemed to be in permafrown. He was wearing yellowish shirt with rolled-up sleeves, white apron, and way too small cook's hat for his head.
"Listen up!" he shouted in harsh tone so everyone heard him. "I serve it three times a day and you'll eat it three times a day! Grab a tray, get your food, and sit your butts down NOW!"
This chef of theirs certainly appeared to be a character.
"Excuse me, will we be getting all the major food groups?" asked Beth who was standing second in line.
"Yeah, 'cause I get hypoglycemic real bad if I don't get enough sugar", said Harold, first in line, when he grabbed his tray unto which chef just rationed out some seasoned ground beef mixture. Lunch was going to be sloppy joe and bowl of white rice.
Chef's corner of the eye twitched.
"You'll get a whole lot of shut the heck up!" Chef let out all air in his lungs in his shout. Harold realized that it was better to move away as quickly as possible.
"Have a cow", Owen joked to Noah. They were next in line.
"What was that?" Chef defied. "Come closer, fat boy! I didn't hear you!" he motioned with his finger Owen to come closer.
"Oh, I didn't really say anything important", Owen backtracked his statement, hoping Chef actually missed what he exactly said. He quickly grabbed his tray and moved aside to allow Noah room.
"I'm sure you didn't", Chef said back before turning his gaze to Noah. "You, scrawny kid, give me your plate!"
Chef put extra scoopful of ground beef mixture on Noah's sloppy joe. Consistency of mixture reminded that of age-old spam. Noah staunched expression of disgust.
"Yo, wassup, girl", Leshawna behind Noah tried to strike conversation with Eva.
When bodybuilder turned to her and gave emotionless stare without reacting anyway else, Leshawna was taken back. Soon black girl's expression turned into frown.
"Oh, it's gonna be like that, is it", she said snappily, frustrated by Eva's attitude. Eva didn't respond anything or even acknowledge she heard Leshawna and moved away from counter with her tray.
"Next!" shouted Chef to Leshawna who had ignored moving.
After Leshawna, it was Lindsay and Gwen's turn to receive their meal. Tyler had just a moment ago given his place in line to Gwen as an act of gentlemanliness.
"Um, excuse me. My nutritionist says I shouldn't eat any white sugar, white flour or like dairy", Lindsay vocalized her concerns concerning servings when she gazed lunch.
Chef just stared at her expressionless without saying anything.
Fly flew around Chef's head. Cook snagged it and squashed it in his fist without even looking its way. He kept staring Lindsay.
"I don't think that's gonna be a problem", Gwen noted, breaking awkward silence and she was not lying. Food did not look exactly like there were any nutrients mentioned by Lindsay.
"Cool", blond girl took Gwen's word at face value. She took her tray and went to sit down.
As soon as Lindsay had moved aside, Gwen turned to Chef.
"Okay, I hate to be predictable and complain on the first day, but I think mine just moved", she could have sworn she saw her ground beef mixture twitching.
Same expressionless look at his face and without looking away, Chef grabbed meat hammer under the counter. He gave one good slam with it on Gwen's food, splatting it on their faces and clothes.
Gwen took fright but tried to hide it.
"Right! Okay then", she said quickly and got away from counter with her squashed lunch.
By now the rest of campers had learn not to really question the food. Chef simply did not look like he cared about any of their opinions or concerns. Queue started to flow with greater speed once this unspoken collective realization sank in. Soon enough all were sitting around two long wooden tables.
The spirit of summer camp was really starting to set in while they tried to munch their lunch in silence.
Some weighed the risk of running hungry by skipping meal. Some of them pondered what was to happen during long summer. Some already questioned their decision signing up for the show. Some really tried to ignore any doubts and thoughts in their minds and focus just on the moment.
In all, it was quiet moment filled with much contemplation and uncertainty.
"Welcome to the main lodge!" Chris walked in with big smile on his face and greeted campers.
Everyone snapped out of their thoughts. Many looks were thrown towards Chris but no one said anything except Geoff.
"Yo, my man, can we order a pizza?" cowboy-hatted boy asked.
Almost the second Geoff uttered those words, cleaver came flying from kitchen. It was not aimed to hit anybody but the message was clear. It hit jamb next to Chris who looked unbothered.
Geoff, however, definitely got frightened by the act as did other campers.
"Whoa, it's cool, G! Brown slop is cool. Right, guys?" Geoff tried to laugh it off. He managed to muster few awkward but frightened laughs from others. Cody especially shrank behind the table trying to avoid Chef's notice.
Chef stared fiercely Geoff, arms crossed and holding big kitchen knife on one hand.
Chris could sense tense atmosphere in main lodge so he decided not to bother campers or Chef too much. He spun on his heels and walked outside.
"Your first challenge begins in one hour", he announced while going.
"What do you think they'll make us do?" asked Katie nervously from DJ who was sitting next to her.
"It's our challenge. How hard can it be?" big guy shrugged his shoulders and smiled confidently.
In retrospect, DJ might have wanted to hold his tongue.
They were instructed to change into swimsuits. As it turned out, hour later they were standing on top of the one of the higher cliffs on island and gazed the great drop into water beyond the scarp. It was approximately hundred feet drop. Location combined with props floating down below made them come into a terrible conclusion.
DJ cursed.
"Oh shit!"