Competition days were serious days in Courtney's household. They were the only days her parents didn't work.

Calls? Straight to voicemail. Business trips? Canceled. Emails? No longer important.

For a full twenty-four hours, their whole focus would be on Courtney.

And she absolutely hated it.

To Courtney's parents, competitions were the only thing that could display how talented Courtney was. It didn't matter if she had perfectly played the violin solo a couple of days prior. It didn't matter that just yesterday her debate teacher gave her a standing ovation after delivering her speech.

All that mattered was that she won.


After almost two weeks on the island, Courtney became a deep sleeper. She was now immune to the things on the island that once made her shoot up on her bed. Chris's announcement? White noise. Debris from Chris's helicopter? Just a little dust. Screaming? A lullaby.

This morning brought something different. Smoke.

That made Courtney's eyes shoot wide open.

She sat up and quickly looked around trying to look for the source of the smoke. That's when she noticed that Bridgette was already awake and staring outside of one of their windows. The window that was letting the smoke in.

"What's going on," Courtney asked.

Bridgette jumped a little when she heard Courtney speak but quickly relaxed. She opened her mouth as if to say something but ended up shaking her head instead.

"I think it's easier if you just looked," answered Bridgette.

Curious, Courtney rose from her bed and stood shoulder to shoulder with Bridgette. When she looked outside, she let out an exasperated sigh.

There, just a few feet from their window, sat Duncan and Geoff and by them, was a little campfire. They were holding sticks over the fire. I swear I'm dealing with children.

"Hey," Bridgette slightly shouted catching Duncan and Geoff's attention. "What are you guys doing?"

Geoff tipped his hat over to Bridgette. "Not much. Just melting some chocolate bars."

Courtney took a closer look at the sticks. Sure enough, at the end of Duncan and Geoff's sticks were chocolate bars. She rolled her eyes.

"Can't you do something useful for once," scoffed Courtney. "Like, I don't know, strategizing for today's challenge!"

Duncan smirked. "Why don't you relax? If you come here, I can show you a few ways." He winked at her.

Courtney's cheeks started to display a rosy shade of red. Luckily, Geoff spoke again saving her from a teasing Duncan.

"Aw man," Geoff lamented. "My bar melted right off the stick again!"

Duncan slapped his forehead. "Dude, that's the fifth bar already! I don't have an unlimited supply." He looked over at his stick and sighed in frustration when he realized his chocolate also melted off.

Courtney just shook her head. It was way too early for this. "You guys are hopeless," she cried out before walking away from the window to start getting ready.


While Courtney's father drove her to the competition, her mother would always make sure that she was prepared to crush the competition.

First, Courtney would recite the debate she prepared, and her mother would make her last-minute changes.

"Are you sure you want to use that as an opening," scoffed her mother. "Everyone does quotes. It'd be better if you started with a personal story. It'll help the judges feel something in your speech."

Courtney would always sigh. "But mother, I don't have a personal story that matches the topic."

"Then make one up," her mother would snap back. "How would they know if it's true?"

"Yes, mother," she mumbled back.

Courtney's mother turned around in her seat to look Courtney in the eyes. "Don't you dare embarrass us."


Courtney thought that Chris making them carry canoes with just one other person across an island was torture. But Chef? He was just sadistic.

Who makes a challenge where you're forced to carry a canoe for hours?

Once she reached the main lodge, Courtney tried to massage her sore muscles. She looked over at Bridgette, who was sitting across from her.

"I hate to admit it," Bridgette said with a sigh. "But I miss Chris."

Courtney nodded in agreement. "At least we knew what evil to expect from him."

They heard a snicker and turned to face Geoff and Duncan. Based on the look in their eyes, Courtney knew what they were planning. She shook her head in disappointment.

"I feel bad for Harold," said Bridgette. "I mean, I got the whole reason for pranking him last time but now? It's just cruel."

Courtney sighed before standing up. Someone had to keep the peace in the group. After all, they were still in a competition.


"I am not working with you on this debate," Melissa screamed at Bobby.

Courtney's eyes widened while Bobby just rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. I'm the only other person, who knows what we're debating."

Melissa shrieked. "Like I care! You broke up with me just yesterday in public in front of the entire school! How am I supposed to work with you?"

"I wouldn't say the entire school..."

Courtney looked over at her watch. The debate was about to start, and Bobby and Melissa couldn't stop glaring at each other.

"Can't you guys just leave it alone for now," Courtney begged. "You can't go out there glaring at each other and expect to still win!"

Melissa directed her glare toward Courtney. "Oh, bite me, Courtney. Like winning means anything. It's a fucking high school debate."

And with that, Melissa and Bobby walked into their room. They lost by a landslide.


"A dance, a three thousand-worded essay, and an obstacle course," DJ said with a sigh. "Is this what Chef thinks happens during basic combat training?"

"I feel you, dude," agreed Geoff. "My older brother just enlisted, but I doubt that he had to go through this torture."

Bridgette fake gasped. "You mean he didn't have to learn the Thriller dance?"

DJ and Geoff laughed, which broke Courtney out of her trance. She offered a small smile.

DJ frowned at her. He could tell she hadn't been listening. "Hey, you doing okay? You look kind of out of it."

Courtney sighed. What was there to be okay about? The obstacle challenge ended well past midnight, Chef decided to make his food even more shitty for them, and for the cherry on top, Duncan kept pissing off Chef. There was no way they were going to be able to rest up enough to be prepared for Chef's challenges tomorrow. And even if they did somehow not come out like zombies tomorrow, they still wouldn't win. Duncan ruined all chances of that.

But the thing that was really bugging her? The fact that all she could think about was Duncan in the boathouse.

The competition is still ongoing. Worry about him later!

She gave DJ a small nod. She doubted that DJ believed her, but he decided to drop the topic. Everyone went back to staring at their bleak meal.

Courtney instead stared out the window. She wondered if Chef was at least decent enough to leave Duncan a meal. What am I thinking? Of course, he didn't.

She stood up suddenly catching Geoff's attention. "I'm going to check on him," she declared.

She tried to ignore the knowing smile that Geoff gave her.


After the first round ended (and Courtney was declared the winner), Courtney stumbled out of the classroom. She left her parents behind to let them gloat about her to anyone who would listen. It was fine. She got enough attention from them already.

As she got closer to the bathroom, she swore she could hear someone crying. Curious, she pushed open the door to find Melissa softly crying over a sink.

Melissa quickly turned to look at who opened the door. When she saw that it was Courtney, she frowned.

"I don't care about the fucking competition, Courtney," she snarled out. "Just go and win the whole thing yourself. You already know you can do it. That's why Janine quit being your debate partner, right? Because you don't need anyone."

Instead of responding, Courtney just observed Melissa. While Melissa and Bobby were dating, Courtney found them annoying, childish, and fake. But obviously, that wasn't true. Melissa was truly heartbroken, and it made Courtney's heart hurt to think about what she was going through.

"Are you okay," Courtney asked slowly.

Melissa studied Courtney for a moment before turning back to the mirror to look at her reflection. Courtney wondered if she was just going to ignore her.

"No," Melissa finally admitted. "...But I will be." She looked at Courtney through the reflection of the mirror and gave her a small smile. She then turned towards Courtney. "I don't think I can deal with this any longer. Come on, let's skip the rest of the competition."

Courtney looked around before pointing to herself. "Me? But I can't just ditch!"

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Come on, I've seen the way you act during practices. This debate club bores you out of your mind. Let's just ditch this one competition. It won't kill us."

Courtney started walking backward toward the door. While she would love to just leave, she couldn't. "It just wouldn't be right."

Melissa sighed. "Come on, Courtney. Make your own choices."

Courtney just shook her head back and walked out of the bathroom. She sprinted towards the classroom when she saw her parents waiting for her in the hallway.

"What are you-"

"You're late," her father scolded. "Thanks to your detour, your mother only has two minutes to go over possible rebuttals for you."

She let out a sigh.


It was really pathetic how long Courtney has been staring at the boathouse door. It should be simple. All she had to do was open the door and give Duncan his meal.

She lifted her hand and was about to push the door open when her hand started shaking. She dropped her hand back down. She groaned in frustration. She's spoken with Duncan plenty of times before. Why was she only starting to feel nervous now?

Why does this make me more anxious than a competition?

She shook her thought away. She didn't have unlimited time. She had to open the door. If she didn't, she knew she was going to be up all night with regret.

With that in mind, she took in a deep breath and pushed the door open.

"Hello? Duncan?"


Of course, Duncan threw out the meal the first chance he got. She didn't blame him.

Courtney sighed. She did what she came there to do. She gave him the food. He rejected it. Now, it was time to leave and get back into competition mode.

Except, she didn't want to do that.

Instead, she decided to do something she's never done: break the rules.

Duncan's plan of stealing food was simple enough, but Courtney made a few improvements.

"We can't just walk around and only hide once we reach craft services," chided Courtney. "You do know that they actually care about their stuff, right? There'll be security that'll stop us before we can even get close to that tent."

"Food is more important than sixteen-year-olds," Duncan replied. "That sounds about right."

"We'll sneak in with these bushes," Courtney continued while pointing at the corner towards the costumes. "It's hallowed out so that the camera crew can follow us without our knowledge."

"Huh. I guess I don't give the crew much credit."

"Or you're just bad at planning," she teased. "No wonder you got caught." Her eyes widened when she realized what she said. Juvie is a sensitive topic for him! You know that! She held her breath waiting for Duncan's response.

Luckily, Duncan just smiled back. "I think you're probably right." He looked out the window. "Anyway, we better leave soon if we want to get the food while everyone is still awake." He walked off to get the costumes.

Courtney stood still while observing Duncan. She tried biting her tongue, but she just had to ask. "Are you ever going to tell me how you ended up in juvie?"

He stopped what he was doing and looked over at her. "One day. But not now." He moved again and handed her a bush. "Right now, we have food to steal."


Bridgette looked around their cabin taking note of all the food Courtney and Duncan managed to get the campers. She looked up at Courtney, who was smiling proudly.

"You stole this," Bridgette asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Courtney confirmed.

"How did Duncan convince you to follow through with his plan?"

"He didn't convince me," answered Courtney. "I was on board from the start."

Bridgette shook her head. "Aren't you afraid you'll get in trouble?"

Courtney shrugged. "Who cares? Eating well for once makes it all worth it."

"Duncan must've really had an effect on you," Bridgette said with a smile. "Now, can you rub some of your influence on him? I think he's planning on carving a skull on my bunk."

Courtney just laughed.


Her body wasn't used to fun. Courtney realized that when she felt the urge to barf.

It was a sobering moment, and when it happened, Courtney waited for the feeling of regret to come to take over her. But it never did. Huh.

She always told herself that when she rejected to do things, she was saving herself from feeling regret. But maybe that was never true. Then why do I do it?

"So the Princess has a dark side."

She waved off her thoughts. She could figure it out later. Right now, there was something that she really wanted to do, and she finally had the courage to follow through.


Courtney walked back over to the car while trying to avoid her parents' disappointing eyes. Her school had lost by a landslide.

It was inevitable. Melissa dropped out, Bobby decided to make up his own stories instead of sticking to the research, and Courtney was distracted.

The fact was that even if Courtney scored perfectly, she alone wouldn't be enough to secure the school's win. However, that didn't matter to her parents. In their eyes, she alone was the failure.

"And they said you no longer needed public speaking lessons," scoffed her father. "I knew it was a mistake to switch your lessons to once per week. I'm calling them as soon as we get home. You're going back to twice a week."

"Courtney," her mother said. "Don't forget to make your list of mistakes when you get home. You have to remember them and remember how you felt when they happened. It's the only way to not make the same mistake again."

Courtney said nothing.


The Killer Bass lost. It wasn't that surprising to Courtney.

Courtney knew she wouldn't be able to win for her team. She was still on a high from the night before. She didn't care about the competition. At least not then.

The only two who could win it for the team were Duncan and Geoff. Duncan dropped out pretty quickly, and Geoff tried his best.

Most of the team wasn't disappointed in their loss. They already knew who they wanted to go. Over time, a smaller group formed in the Killer Bass team, and there was only one person who didn't belong: Harold.

Harold seemed like he knew he was going to leave. Courtney saw him going to the confession cam one more time after the voting. Perhaps for a final goodbye before he had to leave.

Courtney felt bad for Harold. She truly did. It's not like he was the weakest link. But in a competition like this, a person also needs relationships to guarantee their stay. And unfortunately, Harold formed none. At least with the Killer Bass that were left.

Courtney looked up at Harold as he neared the steps to the cabin.

"Hey," she said. "Chin up. Nobody knows who's out until Chris announces it."

Harold paused before giving her a sad smile. "I feel exactly the same way."

She gave him back a genuine smile. "That's the spirit!"


Courtney barely paid attention during the eliminations. She looked over at her teammates and couldn't help but smile. She couldn't wait to join them with marshmallow in hand.

Chris's voice was like background noise to her. She didn't need to listen. She already knew the results.

Then, she heard Chris say, "Harold."

She thought she heard wrong. There was no way that her teammates would vote for Harold over her, right?

But when she saw Harold stand and take the marshmallow, she knew that there was no mistake. She was voted off.

"Yes, yes," Chris said in a bored tone. "It's always a shock."

No! This wasn't what was supposed to happen!

"This is impossible," Courtney screamed. "I demand a recount!"

She saw Duncan talking, but she could no longer hear anything. Was this karma getting her back for stealing food? She hoped to god it wasn't.

The next thing she knew, she was in a boat. Specifically, the boat of losers.

That's when reality hit her.

She really lost. She would never see these people again. She has to go back home and go through every day as if she was never on this show.

It was a hard pill to swallow.

"Courtney, wait!"

She looked back at the dock and smiled when she saw Duncan.

"I made this for you," he screamed as he threw something at her.

She stretched out her arms to catch the item. It was a skull.


Only when the island finally disappeared from her view did Courtney realize how tired her body was. She immediately dropped down on the deck sitting on her knees. She carefully cradled the skull with both hands and closely-held it to her face to inspect it.

It wasn't beautiful, but it also wasn't ugly. Its edges were still rough (Courtney learned that after she got the splinter on her thumb), but the smooth parts made her want to hold onto it longer. It wasn't anything to brag about, but it was hers.

She finally put the skull down when her vision blurred from her tears. She frantically wiped away the tears from her cheeks, but they just kept falling.

She let out a small laugh. Exactly what was she crying about? She had known these people for less than two weeks. Her summer wasn't over. She still had time to adjust back to her daily routine. It just didn't make any sense.

It's because you lost the competition.

She covered her face with both hands and let out a groan. She wished that that was why she had broken down in tears. She knew how to deal with disappointment.

She thought about Duncan. How at the beginning she wished she was more like him. How for one day, she actually was more like him. And how exhilarating that feeling was.

She started to think about her time with Duncan. How he got her medicine for her eye. How he carried her back to her bunk when she fell asleep. How they opened up to each other throughout their short time on the island. How she felt sparks when she touched his hand. How she felt fireworks when they kissed.

A part of her chest started to hurt, and she began to cry harder.

She had no idea what exactly she was feeling at the moment, but whatever it was, it hurt like hell.