The same night, the Killer Bass sat around the campfire instead of going to bed. Their winning streak was over. The little hope they had disappeared.

All they had left was each other... and a crying Sadie.

...Maybe I should've voted out Sadie...

Duncan started scratching the back of his neck. DJ looked and started laughing. "Nice bandaid," he teased.

Duncan glared at DJ before pointing his thumb at Courtney. "You can blame Princess over here. I'm not the one who owns pink bandaids."

Courtney smiled. "It's a butterfly bandaid. And you deserved it. Making me take care of a small scratch on your neck."

Duncan smirked back at her. "And what if it got infected? I could've died."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a baby," she teased. "How did you even survive juvie?"

He looked back at the fire. "By not wearing butterfly bandaids," he muttered under his breath.

Bridgette sighed and stood up. "I'm going to go check on Sadie," she announced to the group. She then looked over at Courtney and whispered, "Wish me luck..."

Watching Bridgette walk away, Tyler whispered to Harold, "Ten bucks that Bridgette won't be able to bring Sadie back."

Harold thought for a moment before shaking Tyler's hand. "You're on."


The group looked up when they heard the cries getting louder (and Tyler begrudgingly opened his wallet).

Bridgette got Sadie to sit next to her while she hugged a large piece of wood to her chest. Courtney raised her eyebrow at Bridgette.

"It was a long goodbye," Bridgette explained.

Courtney rolled her eyes. She was so not looking forward to going back to the cabin tonight.

Just as she was about to tell Bridgette that she planned to sleep on the porch, she noticed that the Screaming Gophers had joined them. And they were... smiling? She let out an irritated sigh.

"What do you guys want," she asked angrily. "Come by to rub it in?"

They were undeterred by her tone. "We got you some extra dessert after our tuck shop party," Trent said casually while Beth showed off the gelatin. "Thought you might want some."

As Beth walked over to give the gelatin to Courtney, Courtney's eyes widened in horror.


Courtney was four years old. Her parents were busy working, and she could only stay inside practicing the violin for so long before becoming bored. So, when her parents asked her to stop playing so that they could go into a phone conference, she quickly threw down her violin and ran outside to her front yard.

She closed her eyes and smiled. She loved feeling the sun on her skin and hearing the laughter of the other neighborhood kids. It made her feel less alone.

That's when she heard a buzzing noise.

She opened her eyes and saw a bee right by her face. She let out a loud scream.

The next thing she knew, she was pulled back into her house. She could hear the sound of kids' laughter.

To say her parents were angry was an understatement. They were pissed.

Courtney looked down at the landline and noticed in horror that the mute button was on. She had interrupted their meeting. Both parents gave her a stern look.

She looked down at her feet. "I saw a bee," she said in a small voice. "I got scared..."

She heard her father let out a disappointed sigh. "Courtney... You can't show fear in front of others."

She watched as her mother nodded in agreement. "The world is a cruel place. Once you let your fears known, they'll use it against you. Don't let them."


"No," Courtney screamed. Goddammit. She let out her breath. "I mean, no thanks. I'm good."

She held her breath and nervously looked around to see if anyone noticed her reaction. I am not admitting that I'm afraid of green jelly...

"What," asked Duncan. "Are you on a diet or something?"

On the outside, she glared at Duncan, but inside, she let out a sigh of relief. They bought it.


Listening to everyone else's fears, Courtney realized that if there was ever a group to tell about her embarrassing fear, this would be it. Like, seriously, Harold? Ninjas? She shook her head. Why did I not want to admit my fear again?

"Celine Dion music store standees," Duncan sadly admitted.

"Ex-squeeze me," Cody asked while laughing.

Oh yeah. That's why. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Trent say her name.

"You're afraid of something," continued Trent. "Spit it out."

Courtney wanted to laugh. As if I'd tell the other team my weakness. "Nope. Nothing."

"That's not what she said last night," Duncan whispered over to Geoff and DJ, who laughed in agreement.

She rolled her eyes at him. Bridgette whispered to her, "You sure you want that one? I mean, he seems nice-"

"Liar," Courtney harshly whispered back causing Bridgette to giggle.

Courtney looked over at Duncan in the corner of her eyes and saw him staring at her with his eyebrow raised. She quickly turned her eyes back to Bridgette.

"I was serious about what I said earlier," Bridgette said gently. "I think it is different with you. I think he likes you."

Courtney sighed. "I guess I'll find out tomorrow."


When Courtney, Bridgette, and Sadie got back to their cabin, Sadie became silent. She stared at the top part of her bunk.

Bridgette walked over and rubbed her back. "It's going to be okay," Bridgette said. "I'm sure you'll feel better once you get a good night's rest."

"I know," Sadie said softly. "It's just... I'll miss talking to someone."

"Me and Courtney are still here," Bridgette said while pointing over at Courtney. "You can talk to us! Right, Courtney?"

Courtney opened her mouth, but then noticed Bridgette's glare at her. She swallowed back her comment and just nodded.

Sadie started to sniffle and pulled Bridgette and Courtney into a tight hug. "You guys are seriously the best," yelled out Sadie before she started bawling her eyes out again.

Great...


The next day, it didn't surprise Courtney that their challenge had to do with their fears. The whole camp just gave them something to use against them, and Chris just ate it up.

Thank god for her parents' advice.

Sadie took Bridgette's offer and hasn't stopped talking to Courtney and Bridgette from the time she woke up. To make matters worse, Bridgette's challenge was to stay in the woods. So Courtney had to suffer alone.


Courtney thought that sitting with the team for DJ's challenge would get Sadie to talk to someone else.

...It didn't.

"Hey," Sadie said. "I just realized that you never let me tell you how we broke into the boy's cabin."

"You broke into our cabin," asked Tyler.

Sadie hushed Tyler. "Don't be rude! DJ is trying to concentrate."

Courtney wanted to laugh. All DJ was doing was staring at a snake. He wasn't going to move any time soon.

"It was really easy to do," Sadie continued. "I mean Harold was in there, but he was like dead asleep. Katie yelled in his ear, and he didn't even move!"

"Katie yelled in my ear while I was sleeping," asked Harold.

"Seriously," cried out Sadie. "Let DJ concentrate!" She turned back to Courtney. "So we really went because Katie wanted to study Geoff's hat because she wanted to sew something similar-"

"She liked my hat," Geoff asked.

Why are we even talking about this? "Guys," said an exasperated Courtney. "We're here to support DJ, remember?"

"Sorry, Princess," Duncan said with a smirk. "I don't think he's going to pick it up anytime soon. I think you have time to listen to Sadie's story."

That's it! Courtney stood up and screamed, "We need this point, DJ! Suck it up!"

She ignored her teammates, who were shaking their heads. Someone had to do it!

It seemed to do the trick. DJ finally started moving and let the snake slither onto his finger.

Courtney let out a sigh of relief before sitting back down. The rest of the team went on stage to congratulate DJ. Sadie scooted closer to Courtney.

"The real reason I wanted to tell you the story is because of what we heard between Duncan and Geoff while we tried to sneak out."

Courtney whipped her head over to look at Sadie. She tried to hide her surprise from Sadie. "Why would I care about that," Courtney asked with a scoff.

"Because," Sadie said while squealing excitedly. "We found out that Duncan carried you back to the cabins during that Awake-A-Thon challenge!" She then ran onto the stage with the rest of the team.

He did what? Courtney let out a sigh. Where was Bridgette when she needed her?


A Celine Dion music store standee. In front of their cabins.

Courtney had seen standees before but never a Celine Dion one. It looked creepy as hell. Maybe his fear isn't that unreasonable...

The rest of the team had to hold themselves back from laughing. She looked over at Duncan. It was the first time she saw fear in his eyes.

Courtney sighed. He's been there for her in the past. She stood and walked right up next to Duncan.

"She's pretty," she lied through her teeth. "She's nice."

It didn't help. Duncan still stood there frozen.

She bit her bottom lip. What made her think she could comfort him? She couldn't even comfort Sadie on day one. Think, Courtney! That's when it came to her.

She looked back over at him. "Hey," she said softly. "It's okay if you can't do it." She took his hand in hers.

He looked down at their hands in shock but smiled. "All right, I'll try."


After Duncan's challenge, Courtney went inside the cabin alone. It was quiet. She looked down at the hand that held Duncan's. It still tingled.

She heard the door open and turned around to find Bridgette.

"I'm guessing since you're here early that you didn't finish your challenge," said Courtney.

Bridgette gave a weak smile. "Yeah... But I heard it went well for DJ and Duncan!"

The door opened again to reveal Sadie with her normal hair. "It did! And you missed Courtney holding Duncan's hand and hugging him!"

Bridgette raised an eyebrow and smirked at Courtney. "Really, now?"

Courtney rolled her eyes and gave Bridgette a playful shove. "I only did it so that Duncan would actually do his challenge."

"Uh huh," Sadie said in disbelief. "Is that why you yelled at DJ?"

Courtney shrugged. "Different strategies work for different people."


By the end of the day, the Killer Bass knew they were going to lose. The score was seven to three.

Courtney blew her bangs out of her eyes. It was like the first challenge all over again. The only difference was that there was no way to catch up.

"Not necessarily," Chris said as if he could read her thoughts. "We've got one more challenge set up."

Courtney looked around trying to figure out who didn't do a challenge. But everyone did! Except for...

"It can't be me," Courtney said more to herself than to Chris. "But I didn't…"

"You didn't have to. We're always watching you and your reactions!"

She wanted to kick herself. How could she not think the producers wouldn't figure it out?

"Oh, who cares," Courtney admitted. "It's not going to make a difference."

Chris then gave her a sadistic smile. She felt the air around her turn cold.

"Let's make this interesting, then," Chris challenged. "I'll give you triple points if you can complete it."


Courtney watched in horror as Chef mixed together green jelly in a pool. She then looked over at the ladder that led to the plank she was supposed to jump off of. She swallowed hard. There's no way I can complete this.

"You're afraid of jelly," Duncan asked with a smirk.

Courtney glared at him. "Shut up," she yelled. "Only the green kind! It's like sugary, jiggly snot!"

"You can face your fear and dive straight into this pool of jelly," said Chris. "Or let your team lose yet another challenge."

Courtney didn't even want to climb the ladder, but she knew she didn't have a choice. She sighed and nervously began to climb up.


Once Courtney reached the top, she looked down at the pool. Her stomach started to flip. Somehow, this felt worse than when she was asked to jump into shark-infested water. And if I couldn't even do that, then what chance do I have?

She looked down at her teammates. They were all giving her encouraging smiles, but it didn't make her feel any better. She took in deep breaths. I can do this...

"Like you said, Courtney," she heard Duncan yell up to her. "It's okay if you can't do it!"

She tried to let his encouragement wash over her, but it wouldn't. It won't be okay if I can't do it...

With that in mind, she took in a deep breath and looked down.


Courtney's hands were shaking by the time she reached the confessional. She could feel the tears start to form.

She couldn't believe she couldn't complete the challenge. She disappointed her teammates. Just like I did in the first challenge...

She sniffled. There was no question about it. She was going home. And this time, there would be no Ezekiel to save her.


Courtney sat on the dock and watched as the sun slowly set into the horizon. There was no point in trying to convince her teammates not to vote her off. She failed her team. Twice. They had no reason to think she'd do any better in future challenges.

She had gone to the docks so she could cry in private. Earlier, she packed her bags and made a list of things she needed to do once she got home. She's accepted her fate.

Now, her tears have dried and all that she was left with was the cold breeze. It made her shiver.

She heard footsteps approach, but she was too tired to look.

"Princess," said Duncan as he sat next to her on the dock. "There you are. It's not like you to miss a team meeting."

She sighed. "What's the point? I know they want me out."

He frowned at the tone of her voice. He's never heard her so defeated. "Don't you want to argue why you should stay?"

She choked out a laugh. "There's nothing for me to argue. I could've won the whole challenge for us, but I didn't. I'd vote me out too. Hell, maybe I should do that."

He put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "Don't even joke."

She gave a weak smile and pulled out of his touch.

They both said nothing for a few minutes. Then, Duncan asked, "Why did you tell me 'it's okay if you can't do it'?"

She blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I know you. You like to win. So why would you ever tell me that?"

"I..." She paused. "I was trying to comfort you, and it was the only thing I could think of."

He leaned in. "Why?"

"It's what I wished my parents would say to me," she said in a soft whisper hoping he wouldn't be able to hear.

He looked at her for a while before standing up and holding out his hand. "It's almost time. We have to vote."

She grabbed his hand and stood up. When he tried to walk back, she stopped him.

"I just want you to know," she said genuinely. "That I'm really glad I met you." She then smiled and walked back over to the campsite leaving Duncan behind.


The elimination ceremony had ended an hour ago yet Courtney stayed by the bonfire staring at the marshmallow in her hand. It was proof that she was safe but... This can't be right...

The others didn't seem surprised by the results, which confused her. She didn't try to convince anyone that she shouldn't be voted out and yet...

"Ummm," Bridgette said as she approached Courtney. "I think you're supposed to eat it."

When Courtney still didn't move, Bridgette sighed before taking a seat next to her. "Two days in a row I have to comfort the person, who wasn't voted off." She let out a deep breath. "Can we not turn this into a thing?"

"How am I not out," Courtney asked softly.

"What did you say?"

"How am I not out," Courtney asked again this time, more firmly. "What exactly happened during the meeting?"

Bridgette shrugged. "Nothing interesting really. We just all decided that it was Tyler's time to go."

"Really? I find that really hard to imagine."

"I told you before," Bridgette said. "He's more of a liability than an asset. The others agreed."

"So, you fought for me to stay?"

Bridgette shook her head. "I didn't need to. Someone else already did as soon as it started. Besides, Tyler can't really say he's helped us in any of our challenges."

Courtney slowly nodded her head. It made sense what Bridgette said and yet... She felt like Bridgette was leaving out a big part of the story...

Bridgette smiled before standing up. "Don't think too hard about it. You're safe. That's all that matters."


As soon as Courtney opened the cabin door, Sadie rushed over to her and squeezed her tight.

"Can't breathe," Courtney choked out.

Sadie immediately dropped her hold. "Oops. I'm just so excited you were able to stay! Also, I'm sorry that I thought about voting you off at first..."

"What-"

"-It's a good thing that Duncan called the second team meeting!" Sadie shook her head. "I guess we didn't have our heads on straight for the first one because it was obvious that Tyler should go. He spent most of his time with Lindsay!"

"There was a second team meeting," Courtney asked. "And it was planned by Duncan?"

"I know right," said Sadie. "I honestly thought he was going to threaten us to not vote you off, but he actually made some good points. It's a good thing he's got your back."

He's got my back... I can depend on him... Courtney let out a smile. "You're right. It is a good thing."