Courtney muttered angrily under her breath as she put on her makeup. She was not having a good morning.

First, Chris woke up the camp with his stupid helicopter. Then, she had to wait forever to use the stupid communal bathroom because of Heather.

Now, she only had three minutes before the challenge started, and she was nowhere near getting ready.

She heard the door squeak open and glanced back to see a cowboy hat. She rolled her eyes. "Nice to see your leg has healed," she said sarcastically. Geoff gave her a genuine smile back. She was so not in the mood for this. "Bridgette's not here. She left already."

"Yeah, I know," said Geoff. "I'm just here to leave something for her."

Courtney's hand stopped midway through putting on her eyeliner. He wouldn't. She turned around quickly to Sadie. "Get him!"

"Wait, what-"

A second later, Sadie had Geoff pinned on the ground. She gave him an apologetic smile.

"Search him," commanded Courtney.

"Sorry, Geoff," said Sadie. "But this is for your own good. We are not spending another night putting your gift back together." Before Geoff could respond, Sadie quickly patted him down. "He's clean."

Courtney's eyes narrowed. "Check his hat."

"Wait a minute-"

Sadie plucked Geoff's hat from his head. Sure enough, inside was a note. She passed it over to Courtney.

Courtney straightened out the note and inspected it carefully. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. It was a poem. A really bad poem.

But at least it was something that they wouldn't have to fix.

"...Fine," Courtney conceded. "You can leave it on her bunk. But don't think I won't keep my eye on you."

Geoff laughed.

"I think she means it," squeaked out Sadie.


At this point, Courtney learned that it was useless to focus on anything that Chris said. So instead, Bridgette and Courtney decided to spend their time glaring at Heather.

"Look at her," Bridgette spat out while shaking her head. "I had to take a five-minute shower because of her!"

"At least, you got a lukewarm shower," Courtney whispered. "By the time I got in, the shower was ice cold."

Bridgette shook her head. "It's like it's her goal to make all of us as miserable as possible. I just don't understand why they don't vote her off already."

"Obviously, whatever strategy Heather has is working," replied Courtney.

"Incoming!"

When Courtney finally put her attention back to Chris, she saw a can of beans heading straight for her face. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact, but it never came.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see that DJ had caught the can for her. She let out her breath. "Thanks," she managed to mutter out.

"This is breakfast," announced Chris.

Heather scoffed back. "No, breakfast is crepes, croissants, even Chef's crappy burnt eggs." She then looked over at Owen singing and threw the can at his head.

Now, there's an idea.

DJ was about to hand over the can to Courtney when he noticed the mischievous glint in her eyes. "No way," DJ said. "I'm not giving you the can so that you can hurl it at Heather."

"Well," Courtney said back with a glare. "I'm not letting you and Geoff fake another injury just to get Bridgette to pay attention to Geoff!"

"There's no need to worry about that," DJ replied with a triumphant smile. "Geoff got over his hill with Bridgette. Everything from now on should be smooth sailing."

Courtney lifted an eyebrow at DJ. "Really," she asked in disbelief. "So Geoff didn't show you his poem for Bridgette?"

She watched as the color slowly drained off of DJ's face. "...What poem?"

"You tried your best," Courtney said while patting DJ on his shoulder. "But I'm afraid it will always be one step forward, two steps back."


Later on, Courtney found herself aimlessly walking through the woods by herself. Her task? Hide in the woods and not be seen by hunters. Boring.

The woods were big enough for the other team to not be able to find her. It was also big enough for the rest of her teammates to disperse without finding each other.

She was bored and her feet were starting to hurt. When her feet finally couldn't take it anymore, she sat down near a tree to rest. There was no way she was going to be found. At least not anytime soon.


A few minutes later, Courtney found herself being nudged awake. She looked up to see who was touching her only to find Heather. Lovely.

"Beth. Lindsay," Heather said. "Have you seen them?"

Courtney shook her head causing Heather to let out an irritated scream before walking away.

"How hard is it to follow directions," Heather mumbled to herself. "I can't believe my alliance is filled with imbeciles."

Courtney rolled her eyes. I can't wait for her to get voted off.

"What was that?"

Courtney covered her mouth. Her eyes widened in horror. Shit. Did I say that out loud?

Heather stomped over to the CIT and pointed her finger into Courtney's chest. "I actually bring something to the team. You, on the other hand," Heather spat out with a glare. "Bring nothing."

"That's not true," Courtney shrieked back. She could feel the anger bubbling in her chest waiting for her to explode.

"Oh, please," Heather said with a humorless laugh. "You were the reason why your team lost two challenges. Everybody knows that you're only not out because Duncan won't let it happen." She rolled her eyes. "If you and Duncan didn't have feelings for each other, you'd be gone like that." She snapped her fingers in Courtney's face.

Courtney pushed Heather's hand away. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh really," Heather said with a smirk. "Because your teammates know you're the weakest link. As soon as they figure out that Duncan is only defending because the two of you like each other, you'll be gone." She walked away with a skip to her step. "Maybe I should remind them. I did convince you to vote out Eva after all."


Once Heather left, Courtney decided that the challenge must be almost over and started to continue on her journey through the woods. However, unlike before, her mind was plagued with Heather's words.

Am I really the weakest link?

Her thoughts went to the first day when she refused to jump off of the cliff. Then, two days ago, when she couldn't jump in the green jelly. Her heart sank a little.

But I had to have brought something to this team...

She stopped in her tracks and thought hard.

...Then, she remembered.

It was her that decided to wake up Duncan to do the dodgeball challenge. It was her who spontaneously decided to put Harold on stage. It was her that lead the team to the campsite with just a map and a compass.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She wasn't the weakest link like her team thought. Duncan never had to do anything for her to stay. She could prove her worth on her own.

Heather can kiss my ass.

She then heard what sounded like a spray can. Speak of the devil...


"Why do you smell worse than usual," taunted Courtney.

Duncan turned around to face her. He didn't look too happy either.

"It's Owen's stink," replied Duncan. "It's following me around like my juvenile record."

She rolled her eyes. I am so over this day. "Well, I'm heading back. This stupid game must be almost over by now." She started heading in a direction before being stopped by Duncan's voice.

"You're going the wrong way."

She glared at him."I was a CIT, remember? I have a natural sense of direction. Camp is this way."

"No," he said pointing in the other direction. "It's that way."

Courtney stared at him for a little while. She really didn't know what to make of Duncan. They always had their arguments, but this one felt a little more serious than their usual banter.

She internally shook her head. She'll worry about that later. Right now, she needed to stay on track and get back to camp.


She didn't know exactly how it happened. A second ago, she was just walking. The next thing she knew, she was stuck to Duncan.

Out of all the days...

"Very funny," Courtney said with sarcasm dripping on every word. "Now let me go!"

"Hey princess," responded Duncan. He was clearly just as irritated as her. "This isn't my idea of fun either."

What happened to him today? She snapped out her thoughts. Not the time!

"Great, Duncan," said an exasperated Courtney. "Now what?!"

There was a moment of silence between them.

"You wanna make out?"

Courtney froze. Then, a second later, she started laughing. All the anger she felt earlier had instantly vanished.

She looked over at him and returned a smile to his glare. It's strange. "Thank you," she said genuinely. "I really needed that."

Duncan's glare turned into a smirk. "So, is that a yes?"

She rolled her eyes and tugged him in the direction she wanted to go while drowning out all of the cuss words coming out of his mouth.


After one very, very long hot shower later (Take that, Heather!), Courtney found herself alone in the cabin with Bridgette. She watched as Bridgette smiled while recounting her story of shooting Heather with her paintball gun.

"It was surprisingly therapeutic," Bridgette confessed. She looked over at Courtney. "That whole team basically turned against each other because of her."

"Maybe they'll finally vote her off," Courtney said with hope in her voice.

Bridgette shook her head causing Courtney to frown. "I talked to LeShawna. Sounds like they're voting off Cody."

Courtney thought for a moment before nodding her head. It made sense. "Still, there could be a chance."

"So, what did you do during the challenge," Bridgette asked.

"Mostly walk around," answered Courtney. "I didn't run into any hunters."

"That's good."

"...But I did run into Heather."

"Ew," said Bridgette with disgust. "My condolences."

The room was silent.

Courtney thought back to what Heather said. While she no longer believed in anything that Heather said, there was something that was bothering her. She frowned.

"She knows I like Duncan-," Courtney said quietly to herself.

Bridgette snorted. "I mean, yeah. It's kind of obvious."

"-and she's going to use it against me," Courtney finished.

Bridgette sat up in her bunk and put her whole focus on Courtney. "How?"

Courtney shook her head. "I have no idea, but I do know how manipulative Heather can be." She looked over at Bridgette. "Remember Eva?"

"Well, Eva kinda deserved it-" Bridgette stopped when she saw Courtney narrow her eyes.

"She's going to view it as my weak spot," Courtney thought out loud. "Somehow use it to mess with my head."

Bridgette hummed in response. "Probably. So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," confessed Courtney.

"Maybe tone down your flirting," joked Bridgette. "How many times are you and Duncan going to keep us up talking on the steps? The madness needs to end."


The Killer Bass sat on the cabin steps in silence. They waited to see which Screaming Gopher wouldn't be walking back.

Geoff's eyes lit up. "They're coming," he announced.

The team sat up in anticipation. They watched as each of the remaining campers returned to their cabin. They all groaned as they saw Heather walk back smirking.

"At this point, I don't even care if I win this damn competition," mumbled Bridgette while glaring at Heather. "I just want to stay longer than her."

Sadie sighed. "Do you think that she somehow changes the votes to stay in?"

"How would she even do that," inquired Harold.

"She probably gets her minions to do it for her," Geoff answered.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Please. Those two aren't crafty enough to pull that off."

"Besides, she can handle it on her own," Courtney chimed in. "Remember Eva?"

DJ scratched his chin. "Do you think that she's responsible for anyone else who left our team?"

"I doubt it," Duncan said casually. "I don't regret voting those people out."

Sadie glared at Duncan, but he ignored her.

"I mean," interjected Bridgette. "She did say that she was going to convince us to vote off Courtney."

Courtney snorted. "She's full of shit." She turned around to look at Bridgette. "But just in case, I plan to leave the hot water on all night." She flicked her eyes towards Duncan, who smiled with approval. She gave him a small smile back.

"Wait," shouted Sadie. "I didn't even shower yet!"

"And we shouldn't punish all of them," said Bridgette. "I still want to stay friends with LeShawna and Gwen."

Courtney frowned. "How are you friends with them?"

Bridgette shrugged. "It turned out our mutual hatred of Heather made us a little close." She smiled. "I can't wait to go home and watch Heather get shot with paintballs over and over again." She looked over at her teammates. "I'm telling you. It's therapeutic."


Later that night, a crew member lead the Killer Bass to their hunting camp. Courtney wasn't expecting much so she was shocked to find a nice-looking lodge in front of them.

The crew member stopped and turned towards them. "This is where you'll sleep tonight," he said in a bored voice. He then thrust the key into Geoff's chest. "Enjoy."

They all looked at each other before piling in. The first thing they noticed was the warmth from the inside. Courtney looked around for the source and found a fireplace with plenty of wood stacked on the side to keep the flame going.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god," she mumbled. "For once, I won't freeze in my sleep."

"Aw," she heard Duncan say next to her. "I was hoping I could get you to snuggle up to me again."

She rolled her eyes before pushing him in the chest. "I was unconscious."

"No need to act pure. I know what your subconscious wants." He winked at her.

"...I'm going upstairs."

"Yo, Bridge," they heard Geoff call from upstairs. "Check out these mounted animal heads! I think they're real."

Duncan raised his eyebrow at her. "You sure you want to walk into that mess?"

"This is the line," they heard Bridgette scream from upstairs. "You guys stay on your side, and Sadie and I will stay on ours."

"...Smooth sailing my ass," Courtney muttered under her breath.

It was silent for a moment before Duncan spoke again. "So, what did she think of the poem? It took Geoff forever to find something that rhymes with 'Bridgette.'"


It was close to midnight. The yelling from upstairs had long ceased. All Courtney could hear was Harold's snoring.

Still, Courtney and Duncan stayed downstairs on the couch.

Duncan shook his head. "I swear, that nerd ruins everything... Even when we finally have decent beds."

Courtney looked over at Duncan and watched as the fire's orange glow encompass his face. She studied him closer.

A stress wrinkle. It was barely noticeable. Courtney unconsciously held her finger to her forehead and felt her own stress wrinkle.

"What happened during the challenge," Courtney found herself asking.

Duncan straightened his posture bringing his face away from the orange hue. "What makes you think something happened?"

Courtney shrugged. "When I saw you in the woods, you just seemed... bothered."

"I could say the same for you, sweetheart."

"I already explained what happened. I ran into Heather, and she was being her usual nasty self." She scooted closer to him. "Now, stop avoiding the question."

Duncan looked away from her. Her shoulders slumped. There were many times when Courtney opened up to Duncan. Why can't he open up to me about one thing?

"It felt too familiar," Duncan finally said. He still didn't look at her. "Getting chased down... Avoiding and hiding... Making my mark along the way... And then, getting caught."

Courtney sat quietly absorbing everything he was saying. She wanted him to say more, but she didn't want to push him.

"Do you want to talk about it," she whispered.

He stayed silent for a minute, but Courtney could've sworn he whispered, "I wasn't even supposed to be there."

She wrapped her arms around him and let the crackles of the fire fill the room.

She knew the next morning her teammates would tease her again for falling asleep on him, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. He was always there for her, and she was ready to return the favor.