The next morning, Courtney woke up in high spirits. Her team was finally on a winning streak. And if we want to stay that way, we're going to need a leader.
Naturally, Courtney was the only one who could step up to the plate. Katie and Sadie were followers. Geoff and Bridgette were too nice. DJ lacked confidence. Harold was... Harold. And Duncan? Duncan was used to working alone.
With that in mind, she straightened her posture and walked over to where the rest of her teammates were. No more screw-ups. It was time to win this whole thing.
Courtney sat in the front towards the middle... Which happened to be close to Duncan. She choose her seat because she wanted to focus on Chris's instructions on the challenge and assert herself as the leader. She didn't do it to get close to Duncan...
She internally shook her head. Focus on Chris.
"Some of you may not come back alive," Chris said causing a few of the contestants to gasp.
She rolled her eyes. She obviously wasn't missing anything important.
Her eyes wandered over to Gwen, who was far away from Trent. She looked pissed.
Courtney frowned. She assumed by Heather's screaming that the red ants did the trick, but it seemed like Heather still got the last laugh.
"All you have to do is spend one night in the woods," continued Chris. "Everything you need is at your team's campsite in the forest. You just have to find it." He took out a map and compass and tossed them to each team.
Courtney held out her hands, ready to catch it. It's why she chose that spot in the first place.
Duncan caught it instead. She glared at him and angrily whispered, "You're really going to lead us to our campsite?"
"I'm going to lead myself to the campsite," Duncan replied with a smirk. "Whether or not everyone else makes it is up to them."
Yup. Definitely not leadership material. She swiped both items out of his hand.
Figuring out the directions to the campsite was easy. She knew how to read a map and a compass. Those were skills she taught herself when she was a C.I.T.
The hard part was trying not to kill her teammates on the way there.
Duncan insisted on studying the map for a few minutes. When she finally relented, he just looked at it for a while before declaring he couldn't "read shit" on that map.
Then, Katie and Sadie decided to walk by her while telling her how they broke into the boy's side of the cabin. Bridgette must've noticed her annoyed expression because they were soon kicked to the end of the line.
Harold kept bringing up his allergies. She decided to let Duncan handle him.
A leader is calm during chaos. Keep calm.
"Sadie, look. Blueberries."
"I love, love, love blueberries!"
Courtney walked a little faster. Apparently, putting the two girls at the end wasn't a far enough separation.
Once the team finally reached their campsite, they realized that they were given less than the bare minimum. One unmade tent, one sleeping bag, and one backpack. Lovely.
Tyler inspected the backpack to see if there was anything useful. Harold and Duncan went off to gather wood for the fire.
...It was Duncan who suggested that pairing with a smirk. She glared at him in response. "I expect both of you to come back unharmed," she said sternly.
"Don't worry," Harold said. "I've been trained in karate. No danger will come upon us."
...Yeah, he was going to die.
Geoff and DJ were supposed to go out and find food, but DJ insisted that it would be better for Geoff to stay.
Courtney was about to protest, but DJ gave her a look and flicked his eyes over to Bridgette.
Oh. He's trying to set them up.
Once everybody left, they decided to put up the tent. Unfortunately, that meant that Courtney had to listen to Geoff's pathetic attempts with flirting.
"Wow," Geoff said to Bridgette. "You pitch a tent like a guy!"
Courtney cringed. She glanced over at Bridgette's face. Bridgette wasn't impressed.
Geoff must've realized what he did because he was silent for a moment before continuing. "I mean, you're not all girly about gettin' dirty and stuff."
"Gee," Bridgette said back sarcastically. "Thanks."
Before Courtney could defuse the situation, she heard Duncan speak from behind her.
"What's for dinner, woman," he asked with a smirk. "I'm starving."
She slowly turned to glare at him. She couldn't understand why he was trying to annoy her during this challenge. Does he want to be the leader? If he did, Courtney wasn't going to give it to him easily. "I hope you don't expect me to dignify that with a response."
He just continued to grin at her.
"Hey guys," DJ said. "Look what I found!"
Courtney walked along with Duncan and Harold to see DJ holding a sickly bunny. I hope it's not carrying any diseases...
"Well," Duncan said. "I've never had rabbit stew before, but what the heck? I'm game."
She nodded in agreement. Compared to Chef's cooking, anything was a treat.
"This is my new pet," DJ said while holding the bunny away from them. "I'm callin' him Bunny!"
She sighed. It would be like DJ to make friends with their future meal. I knew I should've insisted that Geoff went with him...
"Has anyone seen Tweedledumb and Tweedleidiot," asked Duncan.
Courtney froze. Shit. No wonder it's been so quiet... "They were with us at the campsite, right?" She looked over at her teammates. Nobody knew the answer.
For the next hour, the team split up to look for Katie and Sadie. They all met back at the campsite empty-handed.
Courtney started pacing around nervously. "This is bad," she said. "What if the bears got them?"
"But this whole area is way too big to keep searching," Geoff brought up.
"Plus, it's starting to get dark," added Tyler.
"We also have to face the fact that we'll automatically lose the challenge if we return without them," said Duncan. "Let's just tell them they got eaten by wolves or something."
Courtney rolled her eyes at Duncan but stopped pacing. The sky was going to become pitch black soon. There was nothing they could do. She sighed. "I guess we'll just hope for the best tomorrow."
After dinner, the team rested by the firepit trying to relax. However, every little noise seemed to creep Courtney out. She made sure she didn't react. She had to stay strong. She was the leader. Her team looked up to her.
"This reminds me of this really scary story I heard once," Duncan suddenly said.
She stiffened. She absolutely hated scary stories, and she swore he was just doing it to undermine her leadership.
"Ooh, we're so scared," she said back sarcastically. She wasn't going to let him intimidate her.
Duncan gave her back an evil grin. She felt her blood run cold. She knew she made a serious mistake.
Courtney's facade broke. She screamed. She heard a fictional story, and she screamed. And what did he do in return? He laughed.
She walked up to him to give him a piece of her mind. He hid the hook behind his back. It was a good thing he did. Courtney wasn't sure if she'd have the self-control to not rip it out of his hands and stab him with it.
"Duncan," she screamed. "That was so not funny!"
"Oh, yes it was," he said back unbothered. "I just wish it was all on camera! Uh, oh wait, it is!"
That's it. She'd reach the breaking point with how annoying he's been. She snapped. "You are so vile. Do your parents even like you?"
"I don't know, Jumpy McChicken. I haven't asked them lately."
She glared at him before turning around to walk away. She jumped back when she heard a wolf howl. It took her a moment to realize what she was doing. She was leaning into Duncan.
She jumped away in embarrassment. "I need some time alone," she whispered before walking away from the campsite before any of them could protest.
Courtney didn't walk too far away. She wasn't stupid. It was pitch black. The last thing she needed was to end up like Katie and Sadie.
When she reached the end of where the light from the fire could reach, she sat down. She let out a deep sigh. What is wrong with me today?
This wasn't the first time someone has questioned her about being the leader. She spent months in high school proving herself before her classmates would automatically assign the position to her.
So why did Duncan's actions bother her so much?
It's that stupid smile. That stupid smile showed how proud he was of annoying her. That stupid smile that made her heart skip a beat...
It's the same smile he gave Heather on the first day. ...And she doubted that Heather fell victim to his flirtation.
God, how the hell could she be weaker than Heather?
"Courtney!" It was Bridgette. She had sat down by Courtney while Courtney was deep in her thoughts. "What's wrong?"
Courtney shook her head. "Oh, nothing," she tried to say casually. "I'm just worried that I like a guy, who's just a flirt, and I'm just the idiot, who wishes that it meant more..." She tried to laugh it off, but Bridgette didn't look convinced.
"What makes you think Duncan is just a flirt," asked Bridgette.
Courtney scoffed. "Who said this was about Duncan?"
"Because I have eyes," Bridgette replied with an eye roll.
Fair enough. "Did you not see the way he flirted with Heather?"
Bridgette's eyes widened in realization. "But it's different with you!" Courtney remained unconvinced. "Seriously, at least he's had conversations with you. I doubt he gives Heather a second thought." Courtney remained quiet. Bridgette sighed. "You'll never really know unless you try... But I don't think sitting here alone will magically give you the answer."
When Bridgette and Courtney finally returned, the fire had started to die down. There was not much else they could do except sleep. The problem was it was getting cold, and there was only one sleeping bag.
Tyler suggested they draw sticks. They didn't have any better ideas so they reluctantly agreed. Duncan ended up winning. He gave the rest of them a smirk.
One by one, they started to pile into the tent, but Duncan held Courtney back.
"You can have it if you want," he said to her. She gave him a weird look. "The sleeping bag. You can have it." He nervously scratched the back of his neck.
Courtney gave a small smile. Maybe it is different... "Thanks," she said genuinely. "But I don't take free handouts."
He smiled back at her. "Of course, Princess."
Hours had passed. The only one who was able to fall asleep was Duncan. The rest of them were either too cold or too scared to fall asleep.
She looked at Duncan from the corner of her eyes. He looked so warm and satisfied. She frowned. Maybe I should've taken his offer...
The next thing she knew, the tent was burnt down. She glared at the only person, who could be this klutzy... Bridgette.
Bridgette gave the team a nervous wave back.
Courtney has had it. First, Katie and Sadie were lost. Second, they had a small, unfilling dinner. Third, they were all too cold to sleep.
And now, the only thing keeping us from becoming popsicles has burnt down!
"Great," Courtney screamed. "That's just great, Bridgette! Now we have nowhere to sleep!"
"Yo," she heard Duncan say. "Drama queen. Relax, it's cool."
She glared at him. Really? The one person with the sleeping bag wants to say this isn't that bad? "Cool? It's 'cool'?! Things can not possibly get worse!"
Then, of course, it started pouring. That was just Courtney's luck.
She screamed.
Courtney didn't know how she was able to fall asleep, but somehow, she did. Weirdly enough, it was the best sleep she had in a while.
Usually, her sleep was filled with dreams about things she needed to do. Even when she didn't have dreams, she would always find herself waking up in the middle of the night.
This was one of the only times she felt... content? She couldn't understand why. She was sleeping on the ground in the woods. It was cold.
Actually, the grounds not that cold... It's pretty warm and comfortable...
She sighed happily.
"Morning, sunshine," she heard from underneath her.
She stiffened. Don't tell me... Reluctantly, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a smug smile on Duncan's face. Her face began to burn. She was on top of Duncan. Oh dear god... "Oh my gosh! Ew! You were cuddling me!"
She didn't know what else to say. The situation was already embarrassing enough. Maybe he'll just let it go?
"I was calmly lying on my back and trying to catch a few Z's," he said back calmly. "You were snuggling up to me."
She felt her heart beat faster. She could just die. The fact that this was all being recorded made it all worse. "You are such an ogre."
He shrugged back. "I've been called worse." He then laid down to go back to sleep.
Courtney shook her head. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! She turned around and noticed that DJ was awake. She glared at him. "What?"
He said nothing back and tightly closed his eyes pretending he was asleep.
She rolled her eyes. She walked over to Harold to check his watch for the time. Her eyes widened. They had all overslept. There was no time to search for Katie and Sadie and win the challenge.
"Guys," she screamed. "We have to go... Like now!"
By then, everyone agreed that finding Katie and Sadie was a lost cause so instead, they sprinted back to camp. Once they reached their destination, Courtney smiled when she realized they were the first ones back.
Of course, Chris had to rain on their parade.
"Not so fast," he said with a smirk. "It seems that the Killer Bass are missing a few fish."
"Oh, you mean Katie and Sadie," Courtney asked casually. "I'm pretty sure they got eaten by wolves last night."
Duncan gave her a quick smile when he realized that she was following his plan. "Darn shame," he added.
The plan might've worked if Katie and Sadie didn't decide to suddenly appear. She glared at them. One of them was definitely going home.
The girls silently walked back to their cabin. Once inside, Katie finally spoke. "Okay... We know that one of us is going to be out..."
"But," Sadie continued. "Could we at least argue our case on who should stay? Please?"
Courtney looked over to Bridgette, who shrugged. She sighed. "I guess," Courtney reluctantly replied.
For the next hour, Bridgette and Courtney listened to Katie describe how "smart" Sadie was and how she would be an indispensable member of the team. Sadie talked about how resourceful Katie was and how Katie could sew outfits like theirs.
All in all, the Killer Bass wouldn't benefit from keeping either of them.
Before Katie could continue her argument, Courtney interrupted. "Enough already," she said irritated. "Which one of you got the other lost?"
Katie and Sadie looked at each other. Both were reluctant to give their answer.
Bridgette sighed. "Guys, I know you're friends, but you did lose us this challenge-"
"It was me," Katie blurted out. "I have no sense of direction!"
"But that doesn't mean you should vote her off," Sadie argued. "She has other talents!"
It didn't work. Courtney and Bridgette already made their decision.
The elimination ceremony was no surprise. Katie was eliminated. Sadie lay on the dock crying as she watched Katie disappear.
Courtney sat on the stairs watching Sadie. She couldn't help but feel jealous. She doubted anyone would feel that sad over her leaving if she was ever eliminated.
She watched from the corner of her eyes as Duncan came to sit next to her. She rolled her eyes. "What do you want now?"
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I scared you," he said surprisingly genuine.
Still, there was a chance that he wasn't serious. "I was not scared. It was completely circumstantial. And there is no such thing as a hook man."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Or are you?!" He pulled out the hook again.
I knew it. Why does he need to be such an ass? "Ugh! I hate you!" She started walking away.
"She so doesn't hate me," she heard him say. Then, she heard a sound and heard him wince in pain.
She smiled to herself. Karma's a bitch.
Still, he was right. She didn't hate him. She just wished she did. Then, she wouldn't keep wondering whether Duncan liked her back... If they could be something more...
You'll never really know unless you try... But I don't think sitting here alone will magically give you the answer.
Courtney sighed. She was never one to not try something because she may fail. So why would she start thinking that way now?
She shook her head. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, she would put in her all. And if he didn't catch her... Well, she didn't even want to think about that.
