Another small chapter update today. Apologies if you were expecting a full one - don't worry, that'll be coming soon. I hope you enjoy this mini-chapter though!


Chapter 5.5: In the Hair Tie of the Beholder

Walking down the familiar trail, Sammy had to hold herself back from laughing as Ella's shoes made squelching noises with each and every step, though she was failing miserably at keeping it in. Ella, for her sake, didn't seem to mind or care, and kept walking with a smile on her face.

She's so happy right now, Sammy thought. Almost like nothing bad happened at all. And just like that her mood quickly turned gloomy. "Hey, uh, I'm sorry about Chris banning you from singing. That must not be very fun for you."

A sigh escaped her lips, but the smile didn't waver as she shrugged. "It is what it is. I suppose singing to the animals was an advantage he didn't want me to have."

"That's pretty cool that you can do that, though," Sammy noted. "You must really have a way with them."

"Ah, well, truth be told…" She scratched her neck awkwardly. "It was only singing to the animals on this island that I realized they calmed down and listened to me when I did. I've sung to animals several times before now, but they never really reacted the way the island's animals do."

"Really?"

"Really. It was surprising at first. I didn't do it often, just a couple of times with the pig and a few birds on the first day. I thought I saw a pattern and took a shot at it with Scuba Bear, and was amazed that it actually worked. Unfortunately I won't be able to do it anymore, but I can understand where he's coming from. It wouldn't be fair to the others, after all."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's cuz Chris is just a dick," Sammy deadpanned, prompting Ella to snort out a laugh.

"Ahaha!" Ella's laughter always seemed to raise Sammy's spirits. "O-Okay, yes, he's a… a, um…" She cleared her throat. "Not nice. But, I also recognize what taming the animals could do for the competition. You saw how Scuba Bear went after Chris. I wouldn't want to have any animals go after any of the others at all."

Sammy understood that. If any of the wild animals were to attack anyone, that could lead to… nothing pleasant, for sure. And being the one responsible for that? That'd be a nightmare to live with for the rest of your life.

"That's fair. But still, singing's your passion, isn't it? Will you be okay?"

She gave her a sad smile, but nodded regardless. "I'm able to hold off on it for a few more days. Besides, now that I'm this far and we've been having a good winning streak, I'm thinking I really want to try and win, you know?"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mm-hm. Before, I may have just wanted to come on the show simply to say I was on Total Drama. Making friends was a big factor in that as well, and I've already managed to achieve that." The two of them grinned at each other at that. "Now, though… there's really not much else to do except keep moving forward. It will be a challenge, and it might be disheartening not being able to sing, but I think I'm ready to do what it takes to push onwards."

"Even if it means-" Sammy stopped herself and swallowed. "That you have to… Um…"

Ella seemed to know what she was trying to say. In fact, it was perhaps more accurate to say that it had been at the back of her mind all day, the same as Sammy. "I've been thinking about that. I am… a pacifist at heart. I don't like hurting anyone, whether by physical, verbal, emotional, or… any means, really. And… I will be honest. The end of yesterday's challenge was terrifying for me."

Sammy clenched a hand around her arm in an iron grip. She knew that was coming, and while she'd been prepared for it, she also knew that her mind was going to go into overdrive with the negative comments. 'This is your fault', 'You should be ashamed of what you did', 'Why can't you do anything right', and so on. She tried to ignore them all, but of course they managed to worm their way into her brain, just like every other time.

"But I also think it was a wake-up call."

And then, for once, all thought stopped in her brain. "Wait… what?"

Ella sighed. "Like I've said, I don't like hurting people. I have never liked hurting people. And I will never like hurting people. But despite that… I know there are those who will go out of their way to hurt me. This whole experience so far, while fun and wonderful and exciting, has also been rather dangerous, and I would be naïve to think that I can get to the end without hurting someone or being hurt myself. These last few days prove that. So, I'm not happy about it…" She looked Sammy dead in the eye. "But if I need to do it, so be it."

Sammy, however, was more than a little worried. "Are you sure? You're just… going to change your mind that easily?"

"I mean, it's nothing drastic. I'm not suddenly going to turn into a raging lunatic and punch everyone here in the face," she said with a giggle. "I'm still going to try and keep the peace between everyone as well as I can. But…" She gave a determined nod. "If push comes to shove, I should probably shove back."

That was a rather admirable decision to come to. It must not have been an easy one. "And you've been thinking about this since… yesterday?"

Ella nodded. Her gaze became hardened by a fraction. "Shawn was right, on that first day. Total Drama is a show where there's only going to be one winner. It isn't the place where you can just skip and sing and be cheerful day in and day out and expect to get far. …Well, it might work if you're careful about it, but… no one else would be like that, would they? Max certainly wasn't."

Sammy's mind replayed Ella's screaming for her again, and she shuddered at the thought. "Ah, you're probably right about that."

"And despite his warnings, I had been denying them internally this whole time. I didn't want to think about hurting anyone, it was far too mean and upsetting. But now, after some thought, I think I can find a way for me to stay true to what I believe in, and also defend myself when the time comes."

"And… how will you do that?"

"Simple. I'll imagine I'm a hero in a TV show."

…What.

It was clear that her expression was emulating her thoughts, as Ella quickly went into an explanation. "Think about it. Heroes in shows and movies are always- well, most of the time, kind, generous people who go out of their way to help others and be good. On the other hand, they stop people from doing bad things, even if that involves getting… well not violent, per se, but…"

"They get involved and have to sort it out themselves," Sammy offered. "Sometimes through force, and sometimes through talking. Right?"

"Yes! That's a good way to describe it."

She wasn't going to lie, it was… a slightly silly way of thinking. But really, it wouldn't be Ella if it was anything but. Besides, Sammy could at least see where she was coming from. "I can see the logic behind that, yeah. And if that's what you think will let you do better on the show, then by all means, go for it."

"Thank you! But, it doesn't have to even be just on the show. When I get home, I'll-" She caught herself, paused, and looked away. "Um. N… Never mind."

Uh. Okay. That was very much not Ella-like. And what was that about 'home'? "Um… Everything good?"

"F-Fine!" she said far too quickly. "Everything's fine! Anyway, we're back now. Let's enjoy some lunch!"

She ran on ahead, where the other three had just started setting up the fire. Sammy hummed worriedly - it was clear as day that Ella was hiding something, but it wouldn't be right to pry it out of her. She would just have to wait until she was ready to share.

Lunch today was left over pizza. Possibly from Chris's fridge, after being left there for a week or two. But still, pizza. Forget the fact that one or two slices already had bite marks in them, she didn't realize how much she'd missed it until the first cheesy bite entered her mouth. Hopefully the others wouldn't mind if she asked for seconds. Or thirds.

They talked as they normally did, but it was mostly full of general conversation and the occasional reminder that hey, Sammy, you did good today. She accepted the praise with a grin and a thank you each time.

Once the food was gone and everyone was free to do what they wanted, Sammy excused herself to go to the confessional. She tracked it down after a bit longer than she would've liked - Is it just me or does it always seem to be somewhere different? - and entered without issue.

First and foremost, she did her business. Secondly, she flicked on the camera and said her piece. She was so proud that she won the game for her team, and was certain that she was in good favor with all of them for the time being. She explained her reasoning for how she dealt with Amy in the final round, and her curiosity as to what was troubling Ella so much. She didn't want to force the answer out of her, but she still wanted to help if she could.

A few more things were said, and she decided to end it there. Turning the camera off she opened the door, and headed back in the direction she came. Or, she would have if she wasn't stopped.

"Long time no see, gorgeous."

Sammy felt herself shiver from her head to her toes. She turned around just slightly to see Topher leaning against a nearby tree. He was doing his best to look suave and sophisticated, but to Sammy he just looked like a creep. God. No wonder Amy's into him.

She may have denied it before, but her sister's comment about Topher thinking she was fat did strike a chord in her brain. Not because of the person saying, but because it was said to begin with. She'd done her best to ignore the comment up until now (and she's had practice ignoring others like it recently) but the cruddy feelings all flew back to her at once.

"What do you want?" she asked, already on the defensive. This could easily be a ploy set up by Amy to get him to do something to her. Maybe admit another dark secret about herself or something. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

And though she was wishing for anything but, Topher forced himself into her personal bubble and caused her to back up against another tree. One of his hands pressed up against the tree, effectively blocking her escape. "Why must you always be like that? So hard to get! But, lucky for you, I know how to play this game."

Sammy could feel herself getting nauseous. He actually had the wrong twin, and he didn't even know. He wasn't even looking at her in the eyes! Is this how all guys act around someone they… think they like? Jesus.

"Topher, back up," she said to him, attempting to wiggle away.

The smug, lecherous smile stayed where it was. "Huh? To which part? The part where I called you gorgeous?"

This was getting nowhere fast. Plus, she swore there was some pizza threatening to come back up. This needed to stop, now. "No, I mean get away from me! You've got the wrong twin!"

And then reality crashed around him and he actually looked at her for the first time. He was understandably shocked, with his mouth hanging open and eyes the size of dinner plates. She pointed above her right cheek, where there was nothing but skin, and he pinwheeled away as fast as he could. "Oh God! You're not Amy!"

"No! I'm obviously not!" She let out an agitated growl. "What, did you see the blonde hair and red skirt and think there was only one person on the island like this?"

Topher scoffed. "What? No, I didn't! No chance of that! I can tell the difference between you two!"

Sammy was not impressed. "Really? Then what was that all about?"

"She said she was going to the confessional and I wanted to surprise her! Then you came out and, well, I just assumed, I guess!"

A sigh escaped Sammy's lips. "Don't tell me she got lost on the way here." Directions were never her strong suit, and they would especially be bad on this weirdly mapped out island.

Topher shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, I thought she was you."

"I thought you could tell the difference between us?"

He shook his head wildly and groaned. "From the front, I mean! From behind it's anyone's guess, really!"

"Of course it is." She'd probably need to do something about that. It isn't just her demeanor that needed to change, but her appearance as well. All this time she had been dressing similar to Amy because her sister demanded it. Why was this only becoming apparent now?

"Uh, hey, don't tell your sister about this?" Topher asked awkwardly.

Yep. Slimy to the core. She wasn't going to be like Amy and throw him under the bus though, even if her sister was involved. "I won't, no. But I'm not so sure about everyone else. There are tons of cameras recording us, I doubt this didn't go unnoticed."

He started looking around nervously, his eyes seemingly catching something nearby. "That is… very true."

And snake as he was, Sammy found herself starting to feel bad for him. Stupid conscience. Though I guess that's why I'm the nice twin. "Listen, I know my sister better than anyone, and, uh, you might want to come up with an apology. Like, a decent one."

There was a new fear in his eye. Something told her that Amy was the head of this… 'relationship', or whatever it was. Was it actually a relationship though? They didn't really act like they were in one. From what Sammy could remember they didn't even so much as look at each other today, and eye contact was something every healthy relationship needed. So she really didn't know what this was.

"You… you think so?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. It's one thing to mistake me for her. It's probably another to try and hit on me while mistaking me for her. She gets rather… agitated when anyone gets us mixed up. Like, every time we enter a new grade, the teachers get… angrily reminded every time it happens."

"That… doesn't sound very good."

"Oh, it's not. They're lucky they're all fast learners."

"Okay, okay… It's cool!" All of a sudden Topher began talking to himself, psyching himself up for the coming confrontation. He began walking off in the opposite direction, where Sammy assumed the Salmon's treehouse was. "You've done this sort of thing before, Toph. And besides, you'll be host one day! This sort of thing is part of the trade!"

Sammy could only watch him go with a shake of her head. What did Amy see in this guy? And also, what did he see in Amy? She had no answer for either question.

She decided to stop thinking about it. Instead, she chose to focus on the whole appearance changing thing. And she had an idea for that.


"Do either of you have a hair tie?"

Both Ella and Sky looked at her in mild surprise, but they both shook their heads.

"My hair's too short to be able to do it up and not look weird," Sky answered. "Plus, no pockets. Sorry."

"Same with me," Ella said. "Sorry about that."

Sammy figured as much. "No, it's okay. I'll have to think of something else then."

The two shared a look. "In regards to what?" asked Sky.

"I'm trying to distance myself from Amy as much as I can without getting all up in her face about it," Sammy explained. "The first thing I thought of was at least changing how I look to make it obvious which one of us is which. At least, that makes sense in my head." She also kind of wanted to keep the confrontation with Topher to herself, so she decided not to bring it up.

"And you need a hair tie for that?"

She nodded and flicked her shoulder-length hair. "I was thinking a ponytail might be the easiest thing to do for now. Especially since we've got no other sets of clothes on the island here."

Ella hummed in agreement. "I can see how that would work! The first step to being your own person is to stop looking like someone else. Right?"

"Yeah!" Sammy agreed. "I mean, I don't want to do anything too extreme. I like how I look, even if there is someone identical to me that I coincidentally hate. I don't want to change too much, just enough that no one mistakes me for Amy anymore. I get enough of that back home, anyway."

"I'm sure," Sky said. "But, I'm sorry to say, I don't think there are any hair ties here."

"I figured," Sammy said with a sigh. "Eh, no big deal. I'll think of something else."

"What's this about hair ties?" came Beardo's voice, as he and Shawn re-entered the camp.

"Sammy wants to put her hair up so she can distance herself from Amy even more," Ella explained, to which she nodded.

Beardo likewise nodded, and hand to his chin in thought.. "Ah, yeah, I can understand that. Lucky for you, I gotcha covered." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out quite literally several of them.

"I got some too," Shawn said, also drawing out some from his vest.

Sammy stared at the abundance of hair ties in surprise, a countless amount of colors and sizes in the palms of their hands. She sent a glance at the girls. "The guys have like, a million each, and the rest of us have none? How's that possible?" Ella and Sky shrugged helplessly.

"Hey, you know how difficult it is to maintain this?" Beardo asked, floofing his afro with his free hand. "Sometimes it gets in the way when I'm doing stuff, so keeping it held back really helps."

"Here," Shawn then said, and he quickly attached a white one to his fingers and flicked it at her at speeds she didn't think possible.

It struck her square on her forehead and stung. "Ow! What the heck, Shawn? That hurt!"

"'Course it did," Shawn said, pocketing the rest. "The main reason I keep them on me. They're an effective method of distracting zombies, so I keep them on my person just in case. Also, my hair gets in my eyes sometimes, so they have their other uses."

"Well, thanks for letting me borrow some of your ammunition," Sammy said in a grumble, picking the hair tie up from where it fell. She shook the dirt off and put her hair up; because it wasn't something she normally did, it took a bit longer than it should've. When she was done, she flicked the ponytail a couple of times before nodding. "Yeah, this oughta be fine."

"You look great," Ella said.

"Yeah, it really suits you, I think," Sky added.

These were compliments she wasn't expecting, and her cheeks reddened from them. "Oh, gosh, thanks guys."

"Just make sure to keep it in check," Shawn said. "Long hair can easily be grabbed by a walker. My advice, cut it to the chin, then you won't have to worry about it at all."

She gave him a deadpan look. Yep, starting to get frustrating. "Gee, thanks, Shawn. What would we do without you?"

"Turn undead, that's for sure."

"What about you?" Sky challenged, her leg crossed over the other. "Your hair's decently long. Why don't you get it cut?"

"I do my own hair cutting. No way am I letting anyone get close to me with scissors. And besides, I already said I use hair ties too. Though I put mine in a bun to get it out of the way entirely."

Sammy briefly wondered if she should do that too, then thought a bun would make her look old and decided against it.

"Anyway, I'm going back to the pile, and to get us something for dinner afterward," Shawn continued, turning on his heel. "Anyone want anything specific?"

Everyone made their requests, and Shawn was on his way. Beardo was feeling up to an afternoon food-coma, which once again just left the girls.

After a few moments of silence, Sky stood and jerked her head towards the direction the waterfall was in. "Shall we?"

"Yes, let's shall," Ella replied happily.

Sammy had been waiting for this - she needed to get all of the cold sweat from the Topher encounter off of her.


"You'd think getting in the water again after a water challenge would be unappealing," Sammy said as they left the lake refreshed. "But OMG did I need that."

"A nice soak in warm water is always good on the bones," Sky said.

"I agree," Ella said. "Especially after a hard day's work, right?"

"You know, it's such a pain to have to do a challenge a day," Sammy grumbled. "Why'd they have to get rid of that whole 'every three days' rule back in season one?"

"My guess is because of budget cuts," Sky offered. "Which also explains the fewer amount of contestants these last few seasons. Get this done as quickly as possible with less people and save as much money as you can."

"Well, putting it like that makes sense. But I still don't like it."

Sky gave her an encouraging pat on the back. "We're five challenges down and we have about… eight left to get through. If we make sure to get the proper rest, we should be fine."

"Hmm." Ella mused, a finger to her lip. "Maybe I'll also take a nap when we get back. It does sound lovely right about now."

Sammy felt herself yawn, and stretched her arms wide. She didn't really do anything to cover her mouth, but at this point she didn't care. "Yeah, you're telling me. I think a nap is deserved at this p-" Her hand brushed her hanging damp hair, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Ugh, seriously? I just put it up and I'm already losing the hair tie?"

"Aw, that sucks," Sky said sympathetically.

"You took it down when we went in the water, didn't you?" Ella asked her.

"I did." With a sigh she turned around. "I don't want to ask Shawn for another one. Give me a second, I'm gonna go look for it."

She took a few steps back, looking at the ground and chastising herself for being so careless. Her eyes briefly glanced up to look where she was going, and she did a double take when she noticed something… very different, to say the least.

The waterfall, the lake, the rocks and foliage that all made up their little paradise of a hideaway from the others…

Had disappeared entirely.

"W-W-What in the-" Sammy blinked, quickly rubbed her eyes, and looked back.

And then just as suddenly, everything was back in its place. The sound of the waterfall was loud and the trees swayed lazily in the wind. As if she hadn't just seen nothing there for a second.

She turned back to Ella and Sky, who were chatting but not looking her way, and back to the waterfall. It… It was gone for a second, right?! I saw the mountains behind it, and some more forest farther up! It was definitely not there! Right?!

"Something wrong?" Sky called out to her, probably having seen her staring like an idiot at nothing.

"Oh, uh," she stammered. If she wasn't calling attention to it, then they probably didn't see it, and she'd be made the fool once more if she brought it up. "No, it's all good! Sorry, got, uh, distracted by something!"

She took off at a sprint back to the lake; everything was in its place, exactly where it was when the three of them were here a minute ago. "I'm not going crazy, am I?" Sammy wondered idly to herself. She quickly found the hair tie, put her hair back up, and took one last look at the area.

It was like their own little perfect oasis in the middle of the island. Perfect being the weirdest thing about it. "Just what the hell is going on with this island…?"

With one last suspicious glance and a frustrated sigh, she turned back and ran after the others.


Whaaaat? Waterfalls don't just vanish! What does it mean?

In all seriousness, thanks for sticking with me this whole time! The positive feedback from the last chapter was overwhelming to say the least. I really appreciate you guys liking what I have to write!

I do have to say something else however - starting next chapter things are going to get a touch more serious. Maybe not too much darker by this story's standards, but truth be told I'm seriously considering upping the rating just to be safe. I honestly think I should, because topics later on do delve into more heavy subject matter. I won't say anything more than that to avoid giving it away (and if anyone were to figure it out, please refrain from putting it in a review), but it's gotten to a point where I think what I've got might be too heavy for my first real story, you know? And that I shouldn't be writing about it because I haven't actually dealt with it before in my life.

Anyway, I'll stop being vague. Those chapters are technically already written so I'm not about to go and make any super drastic changes. Plus, I've done what I think is an acceptable amount of research on the matter. Hopefully everyone will be okay with what I've got planned.

So yeah. Thanks for getting this far! Leave a review, make sure to stay safe, and I'll see you next time!