The fact that I'm uploading a new chapter can only mean one thing:

I've finished writing this story!

I've spent over a year writing this (less than that uploading it, but still) and I have to admit this is some of my finest work yet. I can't wait to start working on new pieces, but I still have to get everything up online before I do that!

I should mention: this story is now up to date on AO3, and any and all future chapters/fics I post will be simultaneously released on there. If you prefer AO3's format, feel free to head over there!

Also, please read the author's note at the end of the chapter for a surprise! I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Now, without further ado, let's see what happened to Sammy after she got sent on her wild ride…


Chapter 13: The Cast Came Back the Very Next Day

160 kilometers an hour was a lot faster than she was expecting.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

The pitch black of night made it impossible to see where she was going. The wind in her ears was giving her a headache. The speed she travelled at was actually pulling her face backwards a bit, and her cheeks flapped around in the wind.

All the while, a single thought repeated itself over and over in Sammy's mind.

I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die-

She was ridiculous for not being more afraid of that thing. Cannons have killed people before, and it didn't matter whether it was from shooting them out or by shooting something at them. How on earth were the producers able to get away with doing this for a whole season? Never mind the catapult and toilet from the last couple of seasons…

But that was neither here nor there. What was most important was, of course, not dying.

It wasn't a long trip at all, truthfully - the fear made it feel longer than it actually was. Quicker than she was expecting, Sammy spotted several colorful lights below and ahead of her, all clumped together in a sea of darkness, and it wasn't very long before she was headed right towards it.

"CRAAAAAAAP!" she screamed. The helmet she was wearing was going to do nothing to help her.

But then, she spotted it: as she got closer, she noticed that some of the lights - four regular-colored lights arranged in a square-pattern, to be specific - were separated from the rest, and as it turned out that was what she was truly aiming for. The lights were, thankfully, bright enough to illuminate exactly what was between them.

The net.

Chef Hatchet's words popped into her head, and Sammy quickly tried to flip herself over so she could land on her back rather than her face. She managed it, and just in time.

The net caught her, and both it and she went down, down, down, so far down that she thought she'd touch the ground.

And then, for the longest second of her life, Sammy sat there in the net, heart pounding in her chest, eyes wide and sweat pouring off of her forehead. Being a human cannonball was, officially, The Worst Thing Ever and she was never doing that again.

Then the net started going back up.

"No no no no no-"

Almost instinctively, Sammy took a hold of the net's ropes in an iron grip. The net rose up at an equal speed to how fast it went down, and Sammy felt herself become weightless as it stopped, and then went back down once more. This kept up for another few bounces, yet she refused to let go and get sent flying off.

And within no time at all, the movement died down entirely. Sammy sat there, her hands unable to open as she did her utmost to calm her quick breaths.

That was… Dear God that was horrifying! I'm never doing that again! Never! Never in my life!

When it was clear that nothing else was going to happen, her hands gradually released the net, and she felt herself finally beginning to relax. "Please let that be the last life-threatening thing I ever have to deal with," she said quietly to no one.

Now that she wasn't about to become a red smear on the ground, the rest of her senses started working again. Her ears picked up the sound of the thumping beat to a rather loud techno song, while her nose was telling her that someone was barbecuing nearby.

And then her gut immediately made her go into overdrive. "Food," she spoke as if in a trance. Her stomach nearly roared, the rotten burger from earlier having done very little to sate her appetite. She tried to get up and go to where the real, actually real food was, but the net was awkwardly dipped down and didn't make for a good climbing surface. "Hello?!" she screamed out into the darkness. "Is anyone there?! Please, someone help me! I can't get out and I'm starving!"

The moment she finished her pleas, one of the bright lights turned off with a loud Clack!, like the sound of the lights in a football stadium. Sammy whirled around to see what was going on and, thanks to being illuminated by the rest of the light, spotted a person on the top of it.

"Hey!" a girl's voice called out. Other than the red intern shirt she wore, she had a head of short brown hair and a worried look in her eye. "Are you okay?! Nothing hurting?!"

Sammy took a moment to take in how she physically felt - aside from being winded and anxious, no, she wasn't hurt. "I'm not, no! Just… worked up, I guess! And hungry!"

There was a pause. "Okay, don't worry, that's normal! We're going to tighten the net now so it's easier to walk on! It's gonna move up slowly, so it's not going to send you flying again. Are you okay with that?"

Bless this person I know nothing about who is still looking out for my well being. "Yes, that should be fine!"

"Okay!" Another pause, longer than the last, but with a jolt the four light structures around her came to life and began making a grinding noise. Soon the corners of the net were being hauled into the structures, causing Sammy to rise up as the rope around her began to be pulled taut.

A minute or two of that, and the rope was now a tight, immobile surface suitable for moving on. "All good?" the intern shouted to her.

"Yes!"

"Excellent! Now try crawling over to me! The gaps aren't big enough for you to fall into, but it's still easier to crawl!"

"O-Okay!" Sammy slowly got onto her hands and knees and made her way to the intern. The lights were bright enough to show her exactly where she needed to put them, but wasn't so bright as to blind her. Once or twice there was a misstep, and her heart rate nearly skyrocketed again. But through the din of the music playing she was actually able to hear the waves of the ocean. Maybe we're above the water? It'd hurt less than hitting solid ground, if I fell now.

Without too much difficulty, Sammy made it to the intern, and was pulled onto the structure with her. She accepted the squeezing hug Sammy put on her - She's probably used to this by now, she belatedly thought - and allowed her a few moments to calm down.

"Thank you," Sammy let out in a wheeze.

"You're welcome."

"I don't want to do that again."

"None of the others did, either."

The others. Sammy's eyes were drawn to the sound of the music, and she felt her draw drop.

"The Playa des Losers?"

She hadn't noticed it until now, since she had other things on her mind. Now that she was fully aware of its existence, the intern broke off from the embrace and moved aside so Sammy could take a better look at it. It looked… almost exactly the same as the previous one, the one that got blown up in season five, yet was remarkably intact and undamaged. Even in the dark, she was able to make out the front docks and the chairs and umbrellas lining the beach on its perimeter, as well as the palm trees near the resort's entrance. From behind the building, two or three spotlights of constantly changing colors moved back and forth, and combined with the music Sammy easily figured that a party was currently going down.

"Wow," was all she could say, dazzled by the sights.

"'Wow' is right," the intern said, somewhat humorlessly. "This is the fifth night in a row Beardo's played at full blast."

Sammy involuntarily gasped. "I want to see him! And the others!"

Almost as if anticipating this, the intern nodded, and she stamped on the floor of the structure twice. A second later and the grinding noise started up again, but this time something came out of the side in several sections, before finally forming what appeared to be a giant set of stairs and a handrail.

"We can make our way down now," the intern said. "I'll walk with you."

"Thank you," Sammy said again. Her legs were wobbly from her flight, so she leaned on the intern for balance. She also found it somewhat rude to keep referring to her as 'the intern'. "Um. What's your name?"

She seemed mildly taken back by this. "Sarah."

"Thank you, Sarah," she corrected herself. "I'm Sammy."

Sarah laughed. "I know."

And Sammy felt herself blush. "Oh. Right. Sorry."

"Hey, it's nothing to worry about."

There were a lot of steps to take before they reached the ground, so it was good to have the support of someone else. Sammy was thankful the rest of the crew were nicer and friendlier than Chris was. As they walked down, Sammy undid her helmet and handed it to Sarah, who gladly took it off her hands.

"You know, you really rocked it out there, back on the island," Sarah said to her after a bit.

That was the last thing Sammy was expecting to hear so soon after landing. "I did?"

"Yeah! I was on site a few times during the challenges, and I saw you win it for your team during episode five. You were pretty cool!"

Sammy vaguely recalled that the only time she had actually won for her team was that water-jousting challenge. "Oh, you saw that? I had assumed you were like, stationed to this place or something." The fact that Sarah wasn't an intern Sammy recognized helped that assumption.

"Nah, we get swapped out every now and then," Sarah admitted, seemingly not caring that she was revealing the behind-the-scenes framework of the show. "But seriously, that was a really good moment you pulled off. Really inspiring, y'know?"

Sammy took a glance at her, to see her grinning widely. "You think so?"

"I know so! Winning against the person who made your life hell? That's gonna make a lot of people stand up to their abusers at home, mark my words." She laughed. "Actually, it's got some of the others talking about going against Chris at some point. But, uh, you didn't hear that from me."

"OMG," Sammy breathed, stunned. "I'm inciting a rebellion."

Sarah burst out laughing just as they hit the beach. There were several other interns here as well, some she thought she knew from the island, but still didn't know their names. The second her foot touched the sand, one of them approached her with a blanket. "Here, take this," he said, offering to put it over her shoulders.

"Oh, um, thanks," said Sammy, letting him do so. She immediately wrapped it around herself the moment she felt it. "Ah- Ohhh, wow, it's heated…"

"Feel good?" the new intern asked.

"So good!" Sammy nearly yelled. She would have never, in a million years, think that she'd be able to become so excited at the mere touch of a warm blanket. "I-I can't remember the last time I felt anything like this! It's heated, and so comfy! All the blankets on the island were itchy and had gross stains but this- ohh, my God what else have I missed?!"

"How about something to drink?" asked a third intern, approaching them with something in her hands. "We have three choices of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, made just for you."

Sammy was literally on the verge of tears. "OMG!" She chose the hot chocolate and was about to chug it when the intern told her it was still too hot for that yet. Instead she sipped it, and even if it was only a small taste, it was easily the best drink she had ever had.

"How about we get you inside?" Sarah asked her. "You're probably going to want to shower. And clean up in general."

Shower. Sammy inhaled sharply. "Yes! Oh, but, um- I want to see my friends first. And also eat. I'm still starving."

The interns nodded, and they escorted Sammy into the resort. The music got louder as they neared the door, but Sammy wasn't able to pick out what song was playing. It was likely she didn't know it to begin with. Then again, DJs are supposed to know a lot of songs, so that's no surprise.

The entrance to the resort was tasteful, and not as full of pictures of Chris as she was expecting. A red carpet guided the way to the stairs, which split off into two and led to a landing above her that looked to go around the entirety of the foyer. A few doors to her left seemed to lead to some additional rooms, while the right housed a hallway that led further in. Sarah and the interns brought her down the hallway, which also had a red carpet running through it, and several different doors on the left and right. Some of these were bathrooms - Sammy was glad to note that both of them were gender neutral - while others led to more specific rooms, such as a 'Prop' room and a security room.

One more left at the end of the hall, and Sammy was presented with another set of doors, these bigger than the others and isolated from the rest. By now, the music was near deafening, and it was quite apparent that it was coming from the other side. Without much fanfare or anticipation, Sarah pushed open the double doors and allowed Sammy to walk out.

What she saw caused her jaw to drop once more. A giant pool sat before her and took up a large chunk of this area, wrapping around a couple of different bars. There were several diving boards of varying heights at one end, while at the other was a set of stairs leading into the shallow part of the pool. More reclining chairs were placed near the pool, and a hot tub was situated not too far from the resort itself.

But Sammy wasn't focusing on any of that - what she was looking at were the people.

Nine of the previously eliminated contestants were out here, in their swimming gear and enjoying themselves.

Some of them she spotted right away - Beardo was at a DJ booth at one end of the pool area, eyes closed and mixing away at whatever song was currently playing. He looked like he was having the time of his life.

In front of the booth was Rodney and another boy, whom from the height and lankiness she assumed was Leonard without his wizard stuff, bopping to the song and hollering loudly.

Shawn was off to the side, alone as usual, with a drink in his hand and nodding to the beat of the music.

In the pool was Max, choosing to recline on an inflatable chair and drift lazily around as he listened.

Dave was also reclining, but in a chair along the deck. Contrary to what Sammy remembered of him, there was actually a smile on his face. A book was laying alongside him, indicating that he probably put it aside to listen to the music.

At what appeared to be a snack bar was Sugar, a large plate of food in her hands. She meandered over to the DJ booth and bumped her hip against Leonard's, who nearly went flying off to the side.

On the end with the diving boards was Topher, who seemed to be talking to himself as he was climbing up to the tallest one. She couldn't hear him over the music, but he seemed to be narrating to himself as he prepared to jump.

And there, sitting at the juice bar in one section of the pool, was her sister. She was keeping to herself and facing in towards the bar, sipping on a drink.

As of the moment, no one had noticed her. Which was fine, for now at least. She still had to take everything in.

"Holy-" The rest of her sentence got cut off from the change in the song, from a techno one to… another techno one, but one with a faster beat and a more cheery melody.

Sammy was having a hard time comprehending it all. Sure, she knew there was probably something like a resort here for the people eliminated, but having spent so long on an island without basic needs had made her forget what life was really, truly like. Now that she was out of the game, hopefully she could return to normal life without too much difficulty.

All of a sudden, the music stopped, literally coming to a halt with a record scratch sound effect.

"Yo, Sammy?!"

Beardo had shouted out to her, and caused eight other pairs of heads to turn her way. (Though she didn't see it, she heard Topher slip off of the diving board with a scream and crashed loudly into the water). With so many eyes on her, Sammy felt herself freeze up. But thankfully, it was only for a moment. "Uhh… Hi?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shawn quickly leave his wall and make his way over to her. Beardo turned the music back on, probably on some sort of automatic setting, and rushed over himself.

Sammy only had a few moments before she knew she'd be swept up in a hug, so she quickly handed her hot chocolate and blanket off to Sarah. The second she did, a pair of large, warm arms scooped her up and squeezed her tight. "Ah!" she cried out. "Beardo! Hi!"

"Ohh it's good to see you again, girl!" he cried out, spinning her around in the air. "What the heck are you doing here though?! How'd you lose?!"

The spinning was unfortunately a bit too much for Sammy, having just been on the ride of her life. "Beardo, stop- I can't- The cannon-"

"Ah, crud!" he immediately set her down and took a step back. "Sorry! I, uh, kinda forgot."

"It's fine! It's fine," she said. Despite her nerves putting her in fight or flight, she was laughing the whole time. "And uh, yeah, I lost! But there's a reason for it, I promise!"

"There better be!"

She only realized then that he was wearing trunks of varying shades of grey, a pair of sandals, and nothing more. His large head of hair was pulled back into a bun, and was so large that gravity was doing its thing and hanging it down behind him.

Sammy looked at her tattered uniform, stained boots, and dirty skin and could only shake her head. "God. I feel so out of place."

"You'll fit right in, trust me," Beardo said. "Get yourself cleaned up, first. It'll all be worth it."

At that point, Shawn had reached her, an easy smile on his lips and a hand up in greeting. He was wearing a pair of camouflage shorts, and his trusty toque was nowhere to be seen. "Hey."

Sammy grinned and walked up to him, arms outstretched.

His eyes went wide. "Wait, no, don't eat-" He calmed down when he became aware that she was just going in for a hug. "My… Oh. Hi?"

"It's good to see you guys," Sammy said. She pulled back and awkwardly tried to straighten up her clothes. "Sorry, I probably stink."

Shawn shrugged. "It's cool, I'm used to it."

"Yeah, a bit too used to it," Beardo chided. To Sammy he said, "You know how many interns it took to give this fool a shower? Five. One of them even got knocked out for it!"

"Wait, seriously?" Sammy tried to stay shocked but the laughter couldn't be hidden completely. "Shawn!"

"Hey, I care very much about my hygiene," Shawn said defensively. "Just in a different way than you guys."

"Clearly," Beardo said with a shake of his head.

Sammy couldn't help herself but devolve into a laughing fit, doubling over and clutching her stomach. She missed all of this - seeing her friends, their light banter, no worries whatsoever… How odd it was that that was what made the tears begin to flow.

"Uhh, hey, you good?" Beardo asked, approaching her with hands held up.

Sammy waved him off. "I'm better than good," she said between laughs. "God I needed this."

She raised her head up once more, and caught sight of someone off to the side. She was surprised to see Amy standing there, eyes wide and staring at her. She was dripping with water, having come out of the pool from the bar, and was wearing a red bikini that was (intentionally, according to her when she bought it) just a bit smaller than necessary. Her hair was done up in a messy bun that looked ready to fall out at the slightest breeze, and whatever drink she had been enjoying had been abandoned at the bar when Sammy appeared.

The twins stared at each other for a moment, before Sammy allowed herself to smile. "Hi-"

Amy tackled her in a hug.

Stunned somewhat, Sammy still managed to hug her back, and didn't care that she was now soaked with water. "Hi there."

Amy didn't reply, though she sniffed rather loudly. "You stink. Like, literally."

Sammy blushed and coughed awkwardly. "Uh, yeah, I know, sorry."

"Shut up. I don't care."

Feeling the waterworks come back at full blast, Sammy tightened her grip on her sister. "Yeah. I really, really needed this."


"…And then it turned out the cave was full of freaky robot bears, and that apparently if you scream at the right pitch you could blow their heads off and- OMG, hang on."

When the full plate of ribs was placed in front of her, Sammy immediately tore into them, not caring that she was leaving Amy, Shawn and Beardo hanging to her words. They could wait a little while longer as she gorged on the food she'd been missing for a week and a half.

The dining hall area was massive. The table in the center, able to sit fourteen people and easily more, was decorated with candelabra and two hanging crystal chandeliers. A fancy table cloth ran from one end to the other, and Sammy found herself sitting at one of those ends. It sort of reminded her of that table from the night challenge, except with this one, the food would actually still be edible.

As she had no way to have food prepared for her beforehand, she placed an order and was patiently waiting for it to arrive as she retold what had happened that day. Though the second the food was ready, she stopped speaking immediately and went at it.

"Don't eat too fast," Amy warned her. She and Shawn were sitting on Sammy's left, while Beardo was on her right. All three of them had thrown shirts on to have at least some decency at the dinner table, though they still wore their swimming bottoms. "I ended up doing that last night, and wow it freaking sucked."

Sammy gave her a curious look, but couldn't ask about it due to a mouthful of meat. "Stomach ache," Beardo supplied. "Eat too fast and too much after not eating for a while, you're gonna start hurting."

Sammy paused mid-bite, and set the ribs down so she could eat slower.

"Actually, 'scuse me," Shawn called out to the waiter that was headed back to the kitchen. "Could I get a plate of nachos? I'm getting a little hungry myself here."

"Oh, I'll bum some off of y-" Amy started, though she caught herself. "I mean, uh, can I- No, wait, may I, uh-"

"How about we make it a large and all eat from it?" Beardo suggested.

Amy looked between the two of them, and was relieved when Shawn nodded. "I'm cool with it," he said.

"Oh, awesome." Amy cleared her throat and tried to casually sit back. "Uh, thanks."

Sammy couldn't help but smile as she chewed. Wow, Amy's really taking this whole 'don't be a bully' thing seriously. That's a load off of my shoulders. "So," Sammy said when she had the mouth space to talk. "What's it been like here? Give me all the deets."

All three of them began singing the resort's high praises, and how they wished they lost earlier so they could enjoy this place for longer. Aside from the pool area and dining hall, there was an entertainment center in the basement, with 4K TVs, video game consoles, speaker systems, movies and music albums of all sorts of genres, musical instruments to play, and all sorts of board games and books to choose from. Shawn said he was getting plenty of practice in the most recent Call of Duty zombie mode, which completely checked out for him, and he also declared that the resort was not infested with the undead as he had investigated extensively since arriving. Beardo had been making use of the speakers and the DJ booth they found down in the basement, as well as participating in a Dungeons & Dragons game that Leonard was DMing ('Dungeon Mastering', apparently), and that he was playing a half-orc bard. Sammy was… not entirely familiar with what they were talking about, but they seemed interested in it and thus she was happy for them.

On the other hand, once she was cleaned up and ready, Amy spent most of the day relaxing by the pool and catching up on some of the fashion articles and celebrity gossip she missed out on for the last few days. As she was still working on being a nicer person, she had also attempted to speak with the others on a more personable and friendlier level, though that came with mixed results. Rodney was being weird, as usual apparently, so that conversation didn't go far. Max only wanted to talk about himself, so that ended up petering out as well. And because she was the only other girl on the resort (before now), Amy had made a more personal attempt to strike up a conversation with Sugar, only to be completely put off by her… 'offbeat' mannerisms, which included a lack of personal space, insistence on barely listening to her, and a shameless fascination with farting, of all things.

"Maybe she has stomach issues, I dunno!" Amy defended when she brought it up. "But the fact that she does it - loudly, I might add - when other people are around and talking with her is absolutely disgusting and I have decided I don't want anything to do with her."

"That's super fair," Beardo said. "I talked with Sugar a few days ago. She is… a lot."

"I think I like her less than the zombies," Shawn admitted.

"Hm," Sammy said, picking up the ribs again. "This is good to know. Now I won't go anywhere near her." Everyone agreed with that idea, and Sammy resumed devouring the food she'd been craving. "Actually, hang on," she said with another mouthful. "What happened to Scarlett? You said Sugar was the only other girl here."

"Oh, right," Shawn said. "Yeah, after she landed, they carted her off in a police speedboat." Sammy stopped chewing instantly. "Some of us saw her get taken away, but we were all told about it the next morning."

"I still can't believe she tried to do that to y'all," Beardo said, shaking his head. "That's messed up."

"Seriously," Shawn agreed. "We were on a robot island with an evil genius the whole time and none of us knew it. You can't make that stuff up!"

Amy, picking up on her sister's interest, then leaned on the table towards her with wide eyes. "Hey, actually, did you know she lied about her age?! She faked being a teenager just to get on the show and get the money!"

"What?! No way!" Sammy cried out, nearly choking on her food.

"Yes way!"

"How old is she really?!"

"Like, 25 or something! Apparently this wasn't her first time having a run in with the RCMP!"

"Get out!" Sammy said, her dinner forgotten about entirely. "She looks so young!"

"That's what I said!" Amy agreed, her head nodding rapidly. "You'd never think she was any older than 16!"

"God, and she played us all like a fiddle, didn't she?"

"She so did! I thought we were kinda like, close-ish, but she was against us all along!"

"It's like- man, she's got to have something wrong with her, if she even thought about doing this in the first place."

"Absolutely! She'd have to be pretty messed up if she held us hostage like that!"

"Who does that, anyway?! She was willing to kill us for the money all that time!"

"I know! And I slept in the same treehouse as her for a week! She could've easily killed me at any time!"

"Holy crap, that's terrifying! Agh, I'm so glad that didn't end up happening to you!"

"Yeah, I am-" Amy stopped short, and stared at Sammy wide-eyed. "Wait, you are?"

Sammy paused too, realized that what she had said had come out too naturally to be a lie, and chose to keep going with it. "Yeah, obviously! You're my sister! I don't want to see you die! I've never wanted to see you die!"

Amy was stunned into silence, apparently not expecting her to say that. "I… Oh. …Really?"

"Yes, really!" Sammy could understand if Amy thought she wanted her to get hurt, but straight up dying? That didn't make sense. "Why, is it that hard to believe?"

Amy blinked. "Uh…" Her eyes glanced over to Beardo for a split second before returning. "No! No, it's believable. Um, thanks."

"You're welcome." Glancing over to her right, she saw Beardo looking between them in awe. "What?"

Beardo quickly cleared his throat and waved a hand. "Oh, uh, I'm just… surprised."

"Surprised at…?"

He motioned between the sisters. "This. Amy told us that you two were… well, better, somewhat. I'll be honest, I hadn't believed it at the time. Now? 100%. No question about it."

The twins shared another glance. Sammy took a moment to think that the last time the girls spoke, any sort of bridge between them was only starting to get rebuilt. So it was a little odd that it felt like they were as thick as thieves already. At the same time, this was also something Sammy wanted for most of her life, so she was willing to put up with it for another little bit.

Amy pouted, but then sighed. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. You didn't have much of a reason to believe me. And, uh, sorry for making fun of you back on the island. I was going through some shit and-"

"Hey," Beardo interrupted. "Water under the bridge, girl. As long as you don't mean any more harm to us or your sister, it's all good."

Amy let out a happy sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"How'd you get that info anyway?" Shawn asked Amy. "About Scarlett. We weren't told about her age when the crew informed us on what happened. And it's especially weird since you only got here after she left."

With a shrug, Amy leaned back in her chair. "Overheard it from one of the interns who were here when it happened, and they overheard it from the police. A lot of loose lips around these parts, apparently."

"Guess they gotta find something to do when they're not being tortured by Chris," Sammy said.

"Hear, hear," Beardo agreed, nodding his head.

The nachos were delivered shortly after, and Sammy asked for a large glass of root beer and a banana split. "Being able to order almost anything is a dream come true," she said once the waiter left.

"Savour it while you can, 'cuz all this is gone when the show's over," Beardo told her. He likewise had ordered more food, claiming that he would take as much advantage of it as he could, at least without overworking the chefs.

"Yeah, they got storerooms chalk full of food," Shawn said. "I checked it out myself. If the apocalypse does happen when we're here, we'd be pretty good for a while."

Amy gave him a look, and then back to Sammy. "He… does not stop talking about that, does he?" she whispered.

Sammy merely shrugged. "You get used to it."

After a few more rounds of food, Sammy could happily say that she was full for the first time in days. Chugging the remains of her root beer, she happily leaned back in her chair and tried to enjoy the moment.

Tried, because the minute she put her mug down Amy stood up and grabbed her arm. "Alright, c'mon, we're going up now."

"Huh?" Sammy asked. "Up where?"

"Where else?" she replied. "Your room."

With so many new things to take in, having her own room was swiftly overshadowed by everything else. "Oh, right!"

"Yeah, now that you've eaten, we gotta clean you up. What, did you think we were keeping you in that uniform for the rest of the summer?"

Frowning, something old took root inside her, and Sammy stood up with a look of desperation. "I was distracted! By the food, and the friends!" she said in defence.

Amy smirked, but then actively fought that smirk and replaced it with a more sympathetic smile. "Hey, no one's blaming you! I forgot too when I was given my meal last night. It's fine."

"Oh." Sammy went on about Amy wanting to change, but she still ended up assuming Amy was trying to get on her case. Guess I need to work on me, too. "Sorry, my bad."

"No, it's okay." She took a hold of Sammy's arm and began dragging her to the door. "C'mon, though, you seriously do stink."

"Gee, thanks, Amy."

"You're welcome!" She then looked back towards her. "Sam."

Sammy gawked, then grinned widely. Ladies and gentlemen… she's back.

Amy then turned her attention back to the table. "Oh, actually, did one of you guys want to talk to Dave? He might still have some stuff left."

"I'm on it," said Beardo, finishing off his food. "I gotta go back out there, anyway. The people demand their music mixed!"

"Perfect! Thanks!"

Sammy watched Beardo leave through another door, and turned back to her sister in bewilderment. "Wait, sorry, what? What's this about Dave?"

"Let's walk and talk." She led Sammy out of the dining room, and Sammy got in a quick 'See ya' to Shawn before leaving. As they trekked back down the hallway towards the main foyer, Amy kept the conversation going. "Dave's got, like, a stupid amount of shower stuff in his room. And it's all the expensive stuff. He thought he'd need it if he went far in the game, but since he was second out almost none of it got used. That's when everyone else started showing up smelling like they were living in a pighouse for a week."

"Pigpen?"

"Right, yeah, that. He wasn't having any of that though, so he's letting each new loser use some of his stuff to clean themselves up." She slowed down to look Sammy dead in the eye. "And when I say it's the expensive stuff, I mean it. Like, I haven't even touched these brands before, it's that high-class."

"Wow," Sammy said, slowing down with her. "Dave's really into keeping himself clean, isn't he?"

"Seems like it. Thanks to him, though, everyone's pretty much back to how they were before, which is a literal miracle."

"Yeah, for sure."

Amy slowed down a little bit more, forcing Sammy to do the same. Amy then stopped abruptly and turned a piercing gaze to her sister. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Sammy asked, blinking in genuine confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You're like… Hm." Instead of finishing the sentence, Amy grabbed Sammy's arm and hauled her a little way's forward. "Walk next to me, not behind me."

Sammy glanced back at the spot she had been standing, and then registered that, yes, she had been walking behind Amy since they left the dining hall. "Oh. That was… totally automatic of me."

"It… was?" Amy looked at her in concern.

"Yeah. I guess, uh… It's 'cuz I'm so used to doing it in school. And, anywhere else we'd go."

Now that she was consciously thinking about it, that was how it always had been. Sammy would walk behind Amy and whatever group of 'friends' she had with her at the time, mainly because A) Sammy was not exactly part of that group and B) Amy had refused to see her as an equal. Not to mention that she ended up getting forgotten about anyway, and no one would want to talk to her, so normally she'd be pushed back behind everyone regardless of what happened.

She had gotten so used to it that it became second nature. To the point that she didn't realize she'd been doing it after everything started getting better.

Amy frowned, and a bit of an awkward silence permeated around them. "I… see."

Stewing on it for a little bit longer, in the end Sammy shook her head and smiled at her sister. "Well, that's fine." Amy looked at her in surprise. "We're just going to have to change that."

Amy slowly nodded, and gradually gave a small smile. "I guess we are." They started their walk again, and a few steps in Amy said, "Hey, you didn't finish your story about the challenge today."

"Oh, right!"

"Actually, hold up, tell me about this bandage you have on your face." Amy tried to poke at it but Sammy swatted her hand away. "Did one of those bears attack you?"

"Oh, no, this is because of Jasmine."

"Wait, Jasmine attacked you?!"

"No, she- Hey, wait, who's telling the story? Let me finish the cave part first!"

"Alright, alright, jeez, keep your pants on. What happened in the cave, then?"

"So, the thing was, I totally destroyed a cave full of bears. Ella realized screaming at a high pitch would damage their wiring or, or something, so she matched my screaming and we blew them all up. It was terrifying at the time, but in hindsight, so cathartic."

"Hmm." Amy was pouting her lips in thought. Finally she said, "Seriously? I dunno, Sis, that sounds kinda fishy. I don't think that actually happened."

"Wha- It did too!"

"Can you prove it?"

"I- Well- No, but-"

"Hmm… Kinda suspicious…"

"Ah, wait, Ella can prove it! Whenever she comes here she'll tell you!"

"Sure she will."

"She will!"

The smile on Amy's face was completely harmless, and Sammy was once again thankful that she was able to do this with her sister of all people.


The second floor of the foyer had a hallway right on top of and parallel to the first floor's, although this hallway was exclusive to the eliminated contestants. There were seven doors along both walls, and each one belonged to a contestant going down in alphabetical order. On the left was the girl's rooms, starting with Amy's and continuing down the list (Sammy noted Ella's was right next to her sister's). The right had the boy's, with Beardo's starting them off. Each door had a scanner next to the door knob, likely for a keycard that Sammy currently did not have access to. Picking up on that, Amy requested the service of an intern who was passing by, and they happily went to retrieve Sammy's card.

"This is like, a legit resort," Sammy observed.

"Yeah, it is," Amy said. "It isn't like, as fancy as the winner's mansion in season five, but it's pretty darn close."

"This is the sort of place I've always wanted to stay at," said Sammy. "Too bad it's only going to be for a day."

"Then you need to make the most of it," Amy replied. "I'd say you have more than enough time to try everything at least once, if you pace yourself."

"I can try that. Though I may also just want to relax. Haven't done that in a while."

"Also totally worth it."

They reached Sammy's door, and the moment she was expecting but hoping wouldn't happen ended up happening. "'Samey'," she read aloud from her nameplate. Letting out a sigh, she rolled her eyes. "Of course."

Amy was noticeably silent at this, and lowered her head and averted her gaze.

Neither of them said anything afterwards, and so they proceeded to wait for the intern to arrive. But to Sammy's surprise, the next person to show up was actually not the intern.

"Uh," Dave called out from down the hall, drawing the girls' attention. "I have shower products in my room. Give me a second and I'll grab some!"

"Okay, thank you!" Sammy called out to him. Dave entered his room, which closed once he vanished. There was a lingering bit of awkwardness in the air, and Sammy decided to try and dispel it. "You know, this is nice of him. He really didn't have to do this."

Realizing Sammy wasn't about to bite her head off, Amy nodded at her. "No, he didn't, really." She leaned in a bit close and began talking in a lower tone. "My guess? He wants to make up for getting kicked out second."

"You think so?"

"Probably. I've barely talked to the guy but like, he gives off that vibe, you know?"

"Maybe. I dunno. He didn't seem to like me all that much back on the island."

"From what I understand, he didn't like anyone. Apparently he had already been having a bad day before boarding the blimp at the beginning, and I think his germo- germ- uh, fear of germs thing just made it worse."

"Ohhh," Sammy said in understanding. "That would make sense. But, how do you know that?"

"I don't, really." Amy shrugged. "I was just sorta picking up on bits of it when he was talking with the others. A lot of it is guesswork."

Sammy giggled behind her hand. "This is how rumours get started, you know that right?"

Amy pouted, then lightly jabbed Sammy in the side with her elbow. "Then don't go telling anyone about it!"

"I won't! Haha, I didn't realize we were such gossipers."

"Something tells me we're going to be finding out a lot about the two of us in the next… forever."

"Seriously."

Dave exited his room and walked down the hallway with purpose. "Alright, so," he said, stopping roughly six feet from the twins, a stuffed plastic bag hanging in his hands. "I have citrus-scented shampoo and a complementing body wash, a patchouli-scented set, a jasmine-scented one - the flower, not the person, thankfully - as well as two different brands of conditioner for you. Take your pick."

Sammy blinked at the bag that looked like it was about to split at the bottom with how much was in it. "Umm… I wasn't expecting so many choices."

"At this point, it doesn't really matter, does it?" Amy asked her. "Just pick one."

"Right, uh…" Having anything 'jasmine'-scented would be too weird after everything that's happened, and I don't even know what a 'patchouli' is, so… "I'll have the citrus set, please. And the conditioner doesn't matter."

Dave nodded, extracted the appropriate bottles, and simply looked at the two of them. "Did you want me to leave them on the floor? Because, uh, no offence, but you're probably infested with germs."

Sammy was just about to protest, but thought it over. "Honestly, fair."

"Here, I'm clean." Amy closed the small gap between them and accepted the products from Dave.

"If you need any more, I've still got tons," Dave told Sammy.

She raised a brow at him. "I don't think I'll need that many, but thanks all the same."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Thanks, Dave," Amy said to him, walking back to Sammy. To her, she said, "Now we just have to wait for the keycard to get you in. BT-dubs, you're so going to love the room. It's like your own personal hotel room, with a balcony."

"Whoa," Sammy said in awe. "I had no idea I needed that until now."

"Oh, duh, that reminds me!" Amy said, smacking herself in the head. "They didn't tell us this starting off, but they lied about our luggage! It was never on the blimp to begin with, they shipped it all here!"

Sammy gasped in absolute delight. "What?! No way!"

"Yes way!"

"Ohh thank God, my stuff is all okay!" Sammy felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, one she hadn't realized was there to begin with. She hadn't brought anything too important - her diary was safe at home and hidden away, thankfully - but it was a relief that her extra clothes and her phone were safe. "Hey, what's the time difference between here and home? I want to call Mom tomorrow but I don't wanna bug her at work."

Amy scrunched her face in thought. "Uhhh… Honestly I have no idea. That's kind of your field of expert- uh… expertise?" Sammy nodded at her questioning pronunciation - Amy had proven to have trouble with saying larger words, and Sammy didn't want to shame her for it. "Right. And I'm not… like. You know. Book smart."

"Hey, don't talk like that, you're smart in your own way! You don't have to be the top student of your grade to be a smart person."

She shrugged. "I guess."

"C'mon, Amy, don't be so hard on yourself. You can be great at whatever you put your mind to. It's 'cuz of you that Ella's still in the game, remember? If you put that energy into something you like, I promise you'd be set for life."

A sigh escaped Amy's lips. "Yeah, yeah, you guys already hammered that in."

"Only because it's true!"

"If you say so."

"I do say so!"

"Uhhh."

Then both twins realized that Dave hadn't left.

Oops, Sammy thought. Way to not pay attention.

Looking between the two of them in confusion, he slowly said, "I don't remember you two being this chummy on day one."

The girls shared a brief look, before they chuckled simultaneously. "Yeah, ah, that's because we weren't," Sammy admitted.

"Yeah," Amy said, and casually leaned an elbow on Sammy's shoulder, which Sammy allowed her to do. "You kinda missed, like, a whole thing about that."

"Yeah, that's the feeling I'm getting." He closed the bag back up and turned halfway around. "Anyway, I gotta go. See you two later."

He walked off then, not bothering to wait for any reply. "Thanks again, Dave," Sammy called out to him, "and see you later!"

When he was far enough away, Amy turned back to her. "That got me thinking."

"What did?"

"How Dave said we weren't like this back on day one, and how shocked Beardo seemed that we weren't at each other's throats. Do you think the producers could, like… make us the focus of the season? Like how they've done it with other people before? They could make the whole plot of the season be about us starting off as terrible sisters and then making up and getting better." Her eyes began sparkling. "We could be, like, the main characters, showing us growing up and stuff."

Sammy let out a little chuckle. "You wouldn't mind being in the middle of it all? After everything you went through?"

"Hey, I ended up a better person after all that. I think that's a good selling point."

"It could be, buuut I think out of either of us, I'd be the main character."

"Whaaat? Get real. If anyone's a main character, it's me. I'm the one who-" Amy stopped short when she took in the look Sammy was giving her. "Oh. Right. I see your point."

Sammy simply shrugged. "That said, it would be pretty cool if we could be main characters. But considering we didn't make it to the end, we probably would end up as only supporting characters."

"Ah. True. You're probably right." Amy sighed dramatically. "Cest la vai."

Sammy's next sentence was stopped completely upon hearing that. She squinted at her sister, trying to see if that was on purpose or not. When Amy's only response was to raise an eyebrow, Sammy asked, "Do… Do you mean c'est la vie?"

Amy's cheeks slowly but surely flared red, and she began sputtering in irritation. "I- Well- What of it?"

"Hey, I'm not accusing you of anything," Sammy said patiently. "I'm just asking a question."

She clamped her eyes shut, took a breath, and nodded. "Right. Uh… Yeah, I guess I did mean that." She chuckled humorlessly. "You know I'm no good at other languages."

"Mmm. Well, I'm sure you'll get better."

"Hopefully. I'm… probably gonna regret asking this but that was, uhh, German for 'such is life', right?"

Sammy couldn't help but stare harder at her sister. "You're… You're on the right tracks, but got on the wrong train."

Amy's eyes widened and she blinked rapidly. "And… that means… what, exactly?"

Sammy sighed. "Right, okay, first thing you're doing when school starts again is learning how to actually study."

Amy gaped at her. "Whaaat? But studying's for nerds."

"Then you're going to have to become one, because I'm not doing your homework for you anymore."

The look on Amy's face progressively became one of annoyance, then frustration, and then resignation. "Ugh. Fine. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"No one's saying you have to."

Amy pouted. "Whatever. Anyway, we're at a resort and technically on vacation and we're talking about homework. Those things should never be in the same sentence together, ever."

"Hmm. You have a point."

The intern returned - Finally - not too long after that, waved the keycard in front of the door's scanner for demonstration, and handed it to Sammy before leaving once more.

Amy grasped at the handle, a smile playing at her lips. "Get ready to be amazed."

"I've been ready since we got up here," Sammy replied with a smirk.

Amy swung open the door and showed Sammy in. Like the foyer, it wasn't as gaudy as she was expecting, but actually looked like it was from a respected resort. It opened up into a small hallway, with a door leading to the bathroom on the left and a closet of sorts on the right, and the rest of the room expanding out beyond it. A single queen-sized bed sat on the left side, its sheets of warm colors inviting her to sleep, but were currently occupied by a very familiar suitcase, unopened and undamaged. On the right hung a huge 4K TV, and just past that was a desk attached to the wall and a swivel-chair pushed up into it. Sitting in the back corner was an expensive yet comfortable-looking chair, and on the back wall was a set of large windows, one of them obviously being able to slide open, which led out onto the small balcony that hung over the pool area. It was incredibly fancy, much fancier than anything Sammy had stayed at before in her life, and she couldn't believe that she was standing in it at all.

"OMG…" she said in awe, trying to take everything in. "This is all mine?!"

"Yup," Amy told her, opening the door to the bathroom and walking in. Sammy followed, and saw the regular objects - a toilet, a sink, and so on - plus a unique stand-up shower, with two faucets attached to opposite sides. What made the bathroom stand out was, oddly enough, the open window, encompassing the entire wall, that was facing out into the bedroom.

"Oh," Sammy said in confusion, staring through the bathroom window and at the other window in the back of the room. "Uh… Not sure how I feel about the shower being open to the public like this."

"That's where things get fun." Amy directed Sammy's attention to the light switch next to the door, where three of them were located. The first one, as demonstrated by her, was the regular light switch. The second was a fan. The third, however, immediately caused not only the wall-sized window to fog up completely, but also the glass of the shower itself.

"Holy-" Sammy felt her jaw drop in awe. She stepped out of the bathroom to see the other windows had fogged up as well. "How does that even work? Actually, you know what, never mind, I want it to stay a mystery."

"Isn't it awesome?" Amy asked, then set the shower products on the counter. "You should get your stuff ready."

"Right!" Sammy quickly meandered around to the bed and threw open the suitcase. All of her neatly folded clothes were such a welcome sight after wearing the same grungy uniform for the last week and a half. She quickly pulled out fresh underwear and pyjamas, dug deeper past it all to pull out her bathroom kit, and stripped herself of her island clothes, boots and all, and tossed them onto the floor near the window.

Left in the blue and pink underclothes she had accidentally kept on all the way back on day one, Sammy returned to the bathroom with her supplies. Amy was adjusting the shower, turning it on and putting it on a temperature between warm and hot. "You're going to love it, you can actually adjust the pressure with this extra knob here. I've never seen anything like it before!"

While Sammy had no doubt she'd enjoy the shower, that wasn't at the top of her list of things to do. "Uhh, thanks Amy, but I was gonna brush my teeth first."

Amy froze mid-turning, cleared her throat, and turned the shower off. "Ah. Right, right. Sorry, I guess."

"It's fine, though, thank you." Setting her stuff on the counter and retrieving her toothbrush and toothpaste, Sammy continued. "I do appreciate everything you're doing - like seriously, thank you for the warm welcome and all - but at the same time, you don't have to, like, devote every second to helping me."

Amy didn't turn back as Sammy spoke, choosing instead to listen.

Sammy took that as a sign to keep going. "I know you want to be better. And I support you in trying to do that, obviously. But this isn't something that's going to happen overnight. You don't have to rush it. Actually, rushing it might make things worse. What you need to do is take your time. I'm not going to suddenly say 'Oh, you're not worth my attention anymore' and then abandon you. The only way I'd ever say that is if you go back to how you were before, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to do that. So, like, you don't have to try and do everything at once. You don't have to force it. We can take it one step at a time. Okay?"

Sammy had her suspicions that that had been happening, ever since dinner. Amy did not suddenly go from a teenager struggling to be nicer to others, to a saint who did everything and anything to make their past victim feel safe. It was clearly forced, even if it wasn't visibly obvious. Amy must have wanted that forgiveness pretty badly, if she was willing to go to those lengths. Not to say that those moments of banter were faked by any means, but redeeming one's self from a lifetime of being a bully didn't happen by having pleasant conversations and helping set up the shower. Amy needed to know that, and to put her focus on other things.

Finally, after a long moment, Amy sighed, nodded, and turned back around. Her face was neutral, but she had a renewed determination in her eye. "You're right. I was trying to rush things. I don't… This is something I think I'm just realizing, but I don't think I like owing people things for too long. And because of that, I was trying to get to the end of this as soon as I could. I was being selfish, only thinking about me and not you." With a frustrated huff, she added, "Again."

"But now you understand that you were, and you can work past that." Sammy walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Deep down, you're a good person. Don't give me that look, you refusing to go back to who you were proves that. It's just that now, those good qualities need to push themselves to the top so that they become natural, so that you don't force them. Like I said before, it's going to be tough." She put on a smile. "But I know you can do it."

Amy stared deep into Sammy's soul, and choked out a laugh. "How the hell are the two of us related? We're like night and day."

Sammy smirked. "Polar opposite twins, am I right?"

"You are." Amy offered a fist, and Sammy bumped her own against it. "I'll let you do your thing. Holler if you need anything - you have my number."

"That's right, I do. Ah, I'll be sure to change your contact name, now that you're not a total jerk."

Amy gave her a look of surprise. "What name did you give me?"

Sammy turned back to her kit to grab her deodorant, a mischievous smile playing at her lips. "Oh, it's not important."

"Uhh, I kinda still wanna know."

Sammy didn't answer, and chose to hum instead.

"Sam?!"

Turning back around, Sammy innocently asked, "Did you need something?"

Amy's look of shock morphed into a glare. "That's it. I'm looking through your phone."

That got Sammy to react. "What?! No! You can't do this!"

"I can and I will!"

"You don't know where it is!"

"You always keep it in the same place whenever we travel: in the upper left pocket of your suitcase!"

"Oh, crap, you do know that. Um, uh! You, you won't even get in! I have facial recognition turned on!"

"Uhh, identical twins, remember?!"

"Yeah but- But- It won't recognize your mole!"

"Wh- Excuse you, it's a beauty mark!"

"Ehh, tomato, tuh-mah-toe."

"Oh you did not just say that."

"Maybe I did! What are you gonna do about it?"

"…Your balcony's pretty close to the pool."

"What does that- H-Hey! Put my suitcase down! Amy! Drop it, drop the suitcase! My phone is still in there, put it down-"


Once she finally forced Amy out of her room, Sammy proceeded to both draw the curtains over and flicked on the privacy fog switch. She discarded the rest of her clothes and tossed them into the newly dubbed 'Clothes to Burn' pile, and smothered her toothbrush with a large glob of toothpaste. She was going to need it, if she ever hoped to get rid of the 11-days-worth of plaque and buildup in her mouth.

Sammy wanted to be thorough, and so took much longer than normal to brush. As that quickly got boring, she grabbed her phone from her suitcase (upper left pocket, as Amy predicted) and started blasting her own music through it. While Beardo had his own tunes playing outside, Sammy had been without her personal music for so long that she just had to play it. No offence to him, he could mix like nobody's business, but she needed to get back to her own reality with her own tastes.

She put on her favorite song, cranked the volume to max, and didn't care if she looked like a stereotypical white girl dancing. She was free of that hellhole island, and she was going to enjoy her time out of there. Sure, she did feel guilty about leaving Ella behind, and sure, maybe it made more logical sense for Sammy to be the one in the Final Three instead of her, and sure, maybe her rationalising it as Ella still having things to prove was flimsy at best, but she legitimately did think this was the best course of action.

Now all Ella had to do was win and then Sammy wouldn't feel as guilty anymore.

That wouldn't be too hard.

Sammy stopped mid-dance and mid-brush and sighed. Ella had a chance, but it wasn't a likely one.

Still, it wasn't like she could do anything to help now. The only thing she could do is wait and hope.

She had no clue what tomorrow would bring for Ella. She prayed it was something that would give her a fighting chance.

Sammy spent a solid twenty minutes brushing her teeth, as each song faded into the next. After she felt like she had done a solid job, she moved on to flossing. That was the tougher part, especially for the teeth so far back in her mouth, but after another twenty minutes she already felt cleaner.

She then decided to remove the bandage, and see for herself what damage laid underneath. Carefully peeling it off, Sammy was delightfully surprised to see that it wasn't really anything to worry about. The wound wasn't deep and had stopped bleeding altogether, though it still hurt when she poked at it - Which you shouldn't do, moron, she thought to herself in annoyance.

Then it was time for the shower. Dave's high-quality products really came in handy, since Sammy's drugstore-purchased shampoo and soap were nowhere near as effective. Considering she didn't have to worry about an electric bill in the resort, Sammy decided to simply stay in the shower for a long while, washing herself and her hair as thoroughly as possible, and allowing the hot water to run over and relax her all the while.

She lost track of time, and it wasn't until she heard the knocking on her room door over the buzz of the music and the shower that she remembered she probably should get out.

She stepped out and onto the dry floor, toweling off her arms when the knocker spoke up.

"Same- Ah, shit. Sam! You good in there?"

"All good!" she called back, choosing to ignore her sister's slip of the tongue. "Why, what's up?"

"I tried texting you but it's been, like, literally an hour and I know you're not that slow with a phone."

"Oh, really? Sorry!" She checked her phone to see that the clock said it was close to midnight. Additionally, two unopened texts from Amy sat there, one from 15 minutes ago and another from 42. "Huh. Uh, yeah, I just kinda lost track of time! The shower was so good!"

"It's okay! Just making sure."

Aw, that's nice of her, Sammy thought as she continued drying herself.

"I'm heading to bed now," Amy continued. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"You bet! G'night!"

"Night!"

Sammy finished drying herself off completely, contemplated shaving her legs, then figured she could do it some other time and that she wanted to hop right into bed. Before that, though, she did fish out a med kit from beneath the sink and did her best to reapply the bandage. It wasn't as good as when Chef put it on, but it was serviceable for the time being.

Placing the suitcase on the floor and pulling back the covers, Sammy crawled into bed and was amazed at how straight up comfortable it was. Granted, anything soft would be comfortable after 11 days of sleeping on the ground and/or a beaten up, springy mattress, but this was practically heaven.

She could feel herself about to pass out, but there was one thing she wanted to do first. She opened her phone, navigated to her contacts, found Amy, and tapped the edit button.

She changed the name from 'The Evil Queen' to 'The Not-As-Evil Older Sister'.

She'd think of a better name later, when she wasn't so tired.

With that, she tossed the phone under the pillow and immediately drifted to sleep.


Her dreamless slumber was disturbed by something shaking against her head.

It vanished after a little bit, but then came back once more.

It roused her enough to get her to realize that it wasn't shaking, but rather vibrating.

And that it was accompanied by a tense and dramatic ringtone.

Still half-asleep, Sammy fished for her phone, hauled it out, and answered the call without looking. "H'lo," she mumbled in her stupor.

"Huh," Amy said over the phone. "And Sleepy Samey is back in full force."

"Don't call me that," she said on autopilot.

"Ah- Dammit. Sorry. Still getting used to it."

"S'okay."

"Are you awake?"

"…No?"

"Ha ha. You should get up. It's after 1 o'clock now."

"Mmm."

"You've been asleep for over 12 hours." Amy paused, and Sammy thought she heard a quieter, incomprehensible voice instead. Suddenly, Amy spoke again. "Yep, every weekend I had to drag her sorry ass out of bed. Looks like it's gonna have to happen again."

"'M up," she said, as quickly as her muddled brain would allow. Even in this state, she was very aware of the lengths Amy would go to get her out of bed. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and stretched, yawned, and scratched her side. "I'm up… So don't put my hand in water again…"

The voice again, followed by Amy. "Uhh… Only once or twice."

"More than that," Sammy said over the phone.

Another pause, with no one talking. "What? Stop looking at me like that."

"Who are you with?" Sammy asked. She shuffled out of bed, putting the phone on speaker and fishing around in her suitcase for day clothes.

"Hang on." Another pause. "You're on speaker."

"Hey girl!" came a familiar voice through the phone.

"Morning, Beardo," Sammy said to him.

"More like afternoon!" he shouted back. "How the heck do you get anything done, sleeping in so late?!"

"You'd be surprised," Sammy answered. She picked out a layered, off-the-shoulder light pink summer dress, and a pair of shorts to wear underneath it. Amy was always jealous of this one, but Mom forced her not to steal it from me. I think I'll wear it.

"Get yourself down here! You're missing something amazing."

"Which is…?"

"I'm teaching Amy how to play Mario Kart!"

Sammy choked out a laugh. The last time she witnessed Amy playing any video game, the controller ended up embedded in the wall on the opposite side of the room. "OMG. This I have to see."

"Trust me," Amy said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "You don't."

"Oh, but I do. Where are you guys?" Beardo gave her the directions for the entertainment room in the basement, and Sammy quickly started getting dressed. "Wait, are they able to bring food anywhere? I want breakfast first."

"They aren't," Beardo answered. "Food is restricted to the kitchen and dining hall only. It'd be too much of a hassle to clean up messes made by 14 kids."

"Someone tell you that?" Amy asked him.

"Nope. That's just common sense."

"Great," Sammy sighed. "I'll get breakfast first, then I'll meet you guys down there. See you later."

"See ya, Sam. Hey, what's with this spiky blue shell?"

"What?! Aw, you gotta be kidding-"

The call ended then and there, and Sammy found herself overjoyed at the thought of Amy actually hanging out with someone besides her. Not to mention expanding her interests. 'Amy' and 'Mario Kart' have never been used in the same sentence before.

Regardless, she quickly adorned the dress and examined herself in the bathroom mirror. After weeks of wearing nothing but a sweaty, dirty, tattered cheerleader uniform, it was so nice to put on something different.

What was more, her newfound confidence was telling her she was looking great in it, so that was a plus.

She took a little bit longer to apply some makeup. Amy always took a while in the bathroom to make sure she looked 'perfect', but Sammy had only ever done the bare minimum. A bit of foundation and eyeliner and she felt perfectly presentable, much more than she felt like on the island. She peeled off the bandage and tossed it, and hesitated on the scar, unsure of what she wanted to do with it. But then figured she didn't really care what people thought about it. She might have before, but now it hardly mattered.

Along with a pair of brown sandals, Sammy was ready to face the day. She stuck her phone and room card in her bra, reminded herself to get the Wi-Fi password later, and exited her room with a skip in her step.

She didn't walk by any other prior contestants as she headed to the dining hall, though she did pass the odd intern every now and then. Knowing of the abuse inflicted on them, Sammy made sure to greet each and everyone of them a 'Good afternoon' with a pleasant smile. She could tell that each of them appreciated it.

Down the foyer steps, all the way to the end of the first floor hallway, and into the dining room she went. The table was mostly clean, and currently in the process of being wiped down by a staff member. Sitting at the other end of the room, opposite of where she and the others were last night, was Dave. He was wearing a black v-neck shirt and burgundy shorts, and an empty plate and glass sat in front of him, indicating he just finished eating lunch.

Her positive energies spiking, plus remembering that she had decided to get to know people better, Sammy walked on the other side of the table and stopped at the chair across from Dave. "Good afternoon," she said to him.

Dave was in the middle of reading a book, the same one she briefly noticed he had last night, and was startled slightly when she spoke. "Oh," he said after calming down. "Afternoon."

"Mind if I sit here?" she asked, patting the back of the chair.

"Knock yourself out," he said, setting the book down.

The second she sat down, a waiter came out to greet her. She ordered a classic breakfast of bacon, pancakes, scrambled eggs, and orange juice, salivating at the thought of it, and the waiter returned to the kitchen.

"Man," she said, "it's so good to eat actual, real food again. I seriously missed it."

"That's what everybody's been saying," Dave replied. "I ended up not missing out on the food, but I get where you're coming from."

"Yeah." Sammy decided now was a good time to bring up the game. "Um, listen, I'm really sorry we booted you out so early. Maybe if things had happened differently, you'd have lasted longer."

Dave's reply was to give a noncommittal hum. "Eh, I've had time to get over it, so don't worry about it. And, yeah, maybe I could have gone farther. From what I've heard from the others, though, it sounded like things got disgusting fast."

"Ooh yeah," Sammy nodded. "They did. Handling monkeys, eating Juggy Chunks, not being able to clean ourselves… We were practically living in filth that whole time."

Dave shuddered visibly. "Yuck. Part of me wishes I tried harder to ignore the germs, but there's another part that's relieved I've been here the whole time."

"I don't blame you. This place is so cool. And by the looks of it, clean."

"Well, you're never going to get a resort with this many people in it totally clean, but I'm able to manage it."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Oh, and since we're in the mood to hand out apologies, sorry for calling you the 'Queen of Negativity' or whatever when I was leaving. A lot of crap was piling up on me - not literally, obviously, that'd be disgusting - and getting that grease in my mouth was the tipping point."

"Apology accepted," she replied earnestly. She only vaguely remembered being called that, but given how upset he was at the time, it made sense. "I mean… I was pretty negative on myself a lot. I'm trying my best not to be, and I think I've made some decent progress." You know, it… it feels good to be happy.

Dave stared at her in surprise. "Huh. Yeah, I'm getting the sense that you're… a lot different than what you were like before. What exactly happened on the island, anyway?"

"Oh, you know, lots of stuff," Sammy said with a wave of her hand. "Having a bunch of people treating you with respect and nearly dying several times over does a lot to a person. I was just lucky most of it was good."

"Those are two… very opposing halves of a sentence."

"Trust me, it was crazy."

They paused for a moment.

"Wanna hear about it?"

Dave shrugged. "I've already heard a bunch of stuff from Beardo and the others. But, hey, go for it. I won't stop you."

And so Sammy told him mostly everything she could recall, leaving out some of the personal details but still explaining why she was the way she was, why Amy was being nicer to her and others, and some of the steps some of the others were taking to change themselves. She spoke of the different challenges, how she performed in them, her opinions of them, and how much of a jerk Chris was towards them all. Dave listened with interest, interrupted at some parts to ask questions and/or call BS, but he didn't seem to mind Sammy talking his ear off.

Her breakfast had arrived in the middle of her story, and since this was Dave she was relaying it to, Sammy made sure to talk only when her mouth wasn't full. She had to stop a few times to simply savour the food she'd been given, but she got right back on track quickly enough.

"…And then it turned out the cave was full of freaky robot bears, and that apparently if you scream at the right pitch you could blow their heads off and-"

"Okay, that sounds ridiculous," Dave interrupted once again. "If half of this stuff wasn't already proven, I'd say you're trying to sell me a cartoon."

"That's what it sounds like, isn't it?" By this point Sammy had finished her bacon and eggs and was steadily devouring her pancakes. "But I promise you, I'm not making this up. Ask the others when they get back, they'll tell you the same thing as me."

"I mean, we already got an account of it from your sister, so if anything you're backing her up. It's just… way too hard to believe."

Sammy had to agree with that. What she was saying did sound like something made up.

"It's a good thing you guys came out of it unharmed, though," Dave said. "Ah, mostly."

Sammy shrugged. "Yeah, well, I did walk away from this with the promise of never going on trips to the zoo or the mountains for skiing again, but for the most part I'm alright." She took her phone out and checked the time. "I'm just worried about the others. If they stuck with the schedule, they're likely done with the challenge by now. And we won't know who lost or if anyone got hurt until nightfall… Ugh, waiting sucks when you don't know what's gonna happen…"

"My advice? Try not to worry about it." Dave grabbed his book and stood up from his chair.

Sammy raised a brow. "What?"

"I mean, don't not worry about them," he clarified. "But the only thing you can do is wait, so why not just enjoy the resort while you can? You won't be here forever."

Popping the last of the pancakes into her mouth, chugging the rest of the juice, and slamming the glass onto the table with a breath of air, Sammy reluctantly nodded. "You're right. Can't do anything except sit and hope for the best." She stood as well, stretched her sore muscles, and started for the door. "And I'm gonna make sure I have fun doing it!"

"Uh, good for you," Dave said. "I'm probably just gonna sit outside and read."

"That sounds like fun, too." She was about to say goodbye, then stopped and turned back around. "Oh, two things! One, what's the Wi-Fi password?"

Dave readily gave it to her. Unsurprisingly, it had to do with Chris. What was surprising was that it wasn't something egotistical about him. In fact, she figured the interns probably hacked into the network to change it.

Sammy entered Chr1$McL3an1$aD1ck and instantly got Internet access. "Sweet, got it! Thanks."

"No sweat. What was number two?"

She shook the phone in her hand. "Wanna trade contact info?"


Pushing open the double doors, Sammy's jaw dropped at the sight of how accurate the 'Entertainment' part of the room's name was. On the left side of the room were an assortment of shelves, lined with books, Blu-ray movies, music CDs, and board games. Several tables had been placed in the center of the room, chairs randomly arranged near them, giving a sense that they were heavily used. Directly in front of her were a large set of speakers and a boom box, plus the DJ table she recalled seeing yesterday at the pool. There was a low beat coming out from it, likely just for the background music seeing as it had been left alone.

The right side, however, was where the real party was. In the corner closest to the door was a full-on band setup - lead guitar, bass guitar, microphones, drums and a keyboard sat on an elevated stage, waiting to be used. But they weren't being used. Instead, everyone's attention was in the back corner of that side of the room, where a large 4K TV was sitting on top of a TV stand, and was currently showing a four-player race of Mario Kart. Sitting in an assortment of couches and chairs in front of the screen were a handful of the other losers - Amy and Beardo were on the couch, Shawn on a chair off to the side, and another person in the chair back-on to Sammy. It wasn't until she walked up to them that she realized this mystery person was, again, Leonard without the wizard disguise.

"Hi guys," Sammy said to them all, and they greeted her back. "And Amy."

"Why am I getting singled out?" Amy asked, sounding offended but not enough to tear her eyes away from the game. She was wearing a yellow tank-top, stopping just below her ribs, and a pair of dark blue shorts. Both her fingernails and her toenails had been painted bright red, which possibly happened after Sammy hopped in the shower last night.

"'Cuuuz you're not a guy?"

"Oh. True."

"Scoot, scoot," she said to her sister, waving the back of her hand at her, and she and Beardo made a spot for her on the couch. "Who's who? And who's winning?"

They each called out their characters (Sammy had only a vague understanding of the Mario games, so she couldn't identify everyone), and notified her that Beardo and Shawn were neck and neck for first place, Leonard was at a respectable fifth, and Amy was back in 10th place.

"This stupid baby keeps hitting me with shells!" she called out as her girl turtle (with a bow, which was kinda cute) was clobbered by a red shell.

"Oh, wow, that literally was a baby driving a motorcycle," Sammy noted idly, watching him pass her. "So, like, you're just supposed to race, right? That's the goal?"

"Be the first one across the finish line, yup," Beardo replied. He wore a simple white t-shirt with stylized music notes on it, and a pair of red jogging shorts and socks. "But you got stuff you can throw to hurt the other players."

"Or to help yourself," said Leonard, "like giving you a speed boost or invincibility." He briefly turned to Sammy and gave her a toothy grin. "Hello again, by the way! Long time no see!"

"Hi!" replied a surprised Sammy. She half expected him to continue talking like he was from a few hundred years ago, but he seemed relatively modern at the moment. He was also wearing a t-shirt, a black one with an open-mouthed skull that had a flame coming out of one eye, along with tan shorts that went past the knees. He seemed the most at home in the Entertainment Room than anyone else. "Yeah, it's been a while. I, uh, hope you're not too mad we eliminated you first. If it's any consolation, I really am sorry it went down like that."

Leonard had returned to the game as she spoke, though he still replied. "Nothing to worry about! It was bound to happen at some point."

Sammy was expecting more than that, but that was apparently it. But that was fine, because it was just in time for Amy to cheer.

"Ah, finally!"

The three guys all let out groans of frustration as something happened in the game - it looked like some item made everyone but Amy shrink? And now she had turned into a giant… rocket… thing, and was hurtling along the course ignoring everyone and everything.

"I'm not sure what's happening," Sammy announced. "What's happening?"

"Okay, so, the lightning makes everyone but the person who used it small," Amy explained. Clearly she'd done this already. "When they're small, you can drive over them and slow them down even more!"

"Right, okay, got that," Sammy said.

"And then I picked up some sort of rocket item that sends me down the track at top speed. Helps me get closer to first place if I'm trailing."

"Ahh," Sammy replied. It certainly was helping, judging by all of the karts she was hitting along the way. "I'm still not all that familiar with it, but is it alright if I give it a shot afterwards?"

"You can have my spot," Shawn said, eyes not leaving the screen. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt that had that popular pyramid-with-an-eye thing on it, plus a pair of dark grey pants and white socks. "I gotta go do a zombie check soon."

Sitting right next to her, Sammy heard Amy huff in annoyance. She lightly elbowed her in the arm. "Let him have this."

"Fine," she quietly replied.

The race ended soon after, with Shawn and Beardo coming in first and second respectively by mere milliseconds. Leonard lost a place due to the shrinking and came sixth, while Amy moved up a few spots and attained seventh.

"Nice!" she cried, bouncing off the couch and startling the people around her. "That's the highest I got yet!"

"Wow. You are way more into this than I first expected," Beardo told her with a laugh.

"I know, I'm just as surprised as you," she said to him. She was smiling widely, and unlike the times before it was joyful instead of sadistic. This is like, an entirely new side to her. "I'm not complaining though, this thing is fun. What's it called again?"

"Mario Kart?" Leonard asked with a tilt of his head.

"Well, yeah, but like, the system! What are we playing on?"

Beardo and Leonard both went into an explanation on the console - called a 'Switch', a name both twins at least recognized - at the same time Shawn stood and tossed his controller to Sammy. "Go wild," he told her. "I'll be heading to the southeastern side of the island. If I'm not back in an hour-"

"Save ourselves?" Sammy replied with a smirk.

He cracked a smile and snapped a finger in her direction. "You're catching on! See ya later."

"Hang on!" Sammy said, suddenly remembering her goal. "Give me your contact info! I want to keep in touch once we leave here!"

"Oh, yeah sure," Shawn replied. He hauled out his phone - with a camouflaged case, but also with cracks splintering out from one of the corners - and he quickly gave her his number.

A text back confirmed it to be real, and Sammy could feel her insides warming in delight. If I keep this up, I'm gonna have more than double the contacts than I had before.

"Alright, I'm out," he said, and made for the exit.

"Bye Shawn," she called out to him, loud enough for the others to hear and mimic.

"So, like," Amy was now saying, holding a small tablet-like thing in her hands. Whatever had been on the TV screen had now disappeared. "This thing can be played both in your hands and on the TV? That's crazy AF."

"It's really creative," Leonard said. "And also incredibly popular! I have one myself."

"Is it… expensive?" Amy asked.

"Couple hundred, and the games are about 80 bucks if you buy 'em new," Beardo explained. "There's almost always some sort of sale going on somewhere though, and you're guaranteed to find games at cheaper prices if they were previously owned."

Amy hummed in thought, turning the device around in her hands. She stood up from the couch and put it in a sort of slot that was connected to the TV, and the screen lit up again with the game right where it had left off.

"Wow," Sammy said in awe. "That is pretty neat."

"It kinda makes you think, though," Leonard said. "Why'd Chris go out of his way to get all this stuff for us? There's just so much of it here, that even I'm not able to play it all in the time we have. And I've been in the resort since the beginning!"

No one really had an answer for that. It did seem rather uncharacteristic of Chris to pamper the losers with so much fun and games - he was the type of guy who'd rather destroy it all in front of them then let them enjoy it. Sammy saw that first hand.

"Maybe he wants to torment the people who're still in the game," Amy said, her eyes glazed over in thought. "Like, sure, one of them is gonna win a million bucks, but while that's happening the rest of us are living it up like royalty. And not all finalists are guaranteed the money."

"But why give us this in the first place?" Beardo asked. "It would've been easier for him to dump us on some other island and leave us to fend for ourselves."

"True," Amy said. "So maybe he was forced to get this stuff for us. Or, someone else picked up all of this. I can't see him paying out of pocket for everything here without kicking and screaming."

"Good point," Sammy said, nodding. Amy smiled at her.

"That's pretty insightful," Beardo told her. "And… somewhat unexpected."

"Amy's got her strengths," Sammy said. "She's just… applying it to the right places now."

"Yeah," said the girl of the hour. "I'm, like, kinda good at reading people. And Chris doesn't do anything to hide his true colors, so it's easy to get a sense of what he'd do. He's honestly like an open book."

"It's how she helped Ella stay on the show, after she sang to save us."

"Really?" Beardo asked, surprised. In all of the talk about Scarlett and the self destruct sequence from last night, Sammy apparently ended up neglecting the part where Amy helped save the day. The fact that Amy hadn't called attention to it at the time spoke volumes. "How'd you manage that?"

"I tore Chris a new one." Amy smirked and leaned back, reveling in the memory of that moment. "He had it coming for, like, all of his life. And if I could, I'd do it again."

"His face turned as red as a tomato!" Sammy laughed, recalling the sight. "If it wasn't so tense, I would've died laughing!"

"Man, I wish I had seen that!" Beardo said. "Think you could do it again next time we see him?"

Amy shrugged. "No promises, but I can certainly try."

"I have no clue what we're all talking about," Leonard said, though he still wore a smile, "but I'm just happy to be here."

"Oh, right!" Sammy cried, and picked up the controller Shawn gave her. "C'mon, I want to try this thing out! Before it gets too late to do anything else!"

Amy, who was actually able to do so, gave her a rundown of the controls - simple in concept, but in practice it ended up being harder than she was expecting. It wasn't until the third or fourth race that she managed to come in a place that wasn't last, but she had to admit it was entertaining.

"Honestly, this kind of racing is so much more relaxing than Total Drama's," she told the others. "Though I suppose you could say that about mostly anything."

"It depends on how much work you put into it," Leonard told her. "People at a higher skill level can do some pretty crazy things."

"Pretty nasty things, too," Beardo said with a grumble. "You can find yourself in first, and end up in last, just before the finish line. And it all banks on what items the others currently have."

"Aw," Sammy replied, a sympathetic smile adorning her lips. "Did that happen to you once?"

"I don't talk about that day any more."

"Oookay. Sure. Duly noted."

They played for a few more rounds - Sammy repeatedly noting that Amy's list of questions about the game and system was growing rapidly - and soon the time had ended up becoming later than she would have liked. "Okay, so, not that this isn't fun, but I kinda want to do something else before the day ends."

"Sure, no problem," Beardo told her.

"What did you have in mind?" Amy asked.

"Weeell," she said, drawing the word out, "I know you guys have definitely already done this, but I would love to go swimming in the pool."

"Yeah, that sounds fine," Amy agreed.

"Alright, let's go!" Beardo declared, turning the Switch off and heading for the door.

"Uh- Wait, just like that?" Sammy asked, watching him head out. She hadn't expected them to go along with it that quickly.

"Just like that," he answered. "Something big is going down tomorrow, so you get to do whatever you want today."

"For real?" They're willing to give up their day for me? They really don't have to, but I would prefer to hang out with friends than be alone… That would be way too similar to back before. Sammy looked over at Amy, who nodded happily in agreement. The younger twin couldn't help the grateful, abashed grin forming on her face. "OMG, you guys… Thank you so much!"

"Hey," Amy said, putting her hand on her shoulder. "You deserve it."

In an effort to hide the tears of overwhelming happiness and pride, Sammy engulfed Amy into a giant hug. "Thanks, Amy."

Her sister didn't hesitate to return the embrace. "Starting now, anytime." After a lingering pause, she suddenly said, "Oh, wow, you give really good hugs, you know?"

"I am?" Sammy asked, genuinely surprised by this. "I had no idea."

"Yeah, it-" Amy faltered for a moment. "It… feels really good. Comforting, y'know?"

Sammy idly wondered when the last time Amy felt warm and cared for like this, and did whatever she could to make the hug better.

Amy tightened her grip, almost a bit too much, but she spoke before any protests could be made. "Thanks, Sam."

Sammy could feel the eyes of Beardo and Leonard on them, and decided that she should end the hug soon. However, an idea formed. Grinning wildly, Sammy said with a lilt in her voice, "I Aim-y to please!"

Her sister immediately pulled away and stood up. "Aaand I regret everything now."

"Oh, come on," Sammy groaned playfully, lying across the armrest to grin up at her sister, "I didn't A-mean anything by it!"

"Oh my GOD will you stop?!" Amy shouted, her anger rising to its old levels. "Puns are not funny! And these ones aren't even good! When will you get that through your thick skull?!"

"Hmm, you're right," Sammy said, nodding in understanding. "I guess I'll have to-" She held up the controller still in her hand, "-Switch up my act."

Amy literally screamed and stomped out of the room, leaving the other three behind to double over in laughter.

"She walked right into that one," Sammy said, feeling her confidence skyrocket at being able to tease Amy without repercussions.

"I never took you for the pun-type," Leonard said to her in between laughing fits. His laugh was kind of nasally, but Sammy didn't mind it. She would never mock a person for their laugh - it was special to them and them alone, and if it was the sound they made when they were happy, she would be overjoyed to hear more of it.

"I always have been, I just used to keep them to myself," Sammy admitted. "Now… I kinda don't want to do that."

"That's the only right response," Beardo told her, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Anyway, I want that hot tub, so I'm leaving. Y'all coming with?"

"I'll stay here," Leonard said, standing from the chair and examining a case filled with little cartridges. "I want to try and beat Breath of the Wild again before we leave."

"Is that another game?" Sammy asked.

Leonard opened his mouth to speak, a wide grin on his face, but Beardo covered it before any sound could be uttered. "It is, but we don't have the time for you to go into detail about it, bud." Good-naturedly, Leonard shrugged. "You can tell her about it later. For now, we got us a pool to get to."

"Heck yeah!" Sammy popped off the couch and pumped herself up for some swimming. "But, first, give me your numbers! I'm trying to get as many people as I can before our time is up here."

They happily did so, and Sammy decided that she was going to come up with unique names for each of them when she had the time.

And the minute she got home, she was going to text them all.

She couldn't remember the last time she actually did anything like that.


The swim was amazing. The pool was just an average pool, minus that tiki bar in the middle of it, but a casual swim was another thing that helped to calm her down. She swam a few laps back and forth, played a few water games with Amy (such as volleyball, which they requested the aid of a few interns to get the net out from a storage room nearby), and when they were done, simply floated on her back for a good while to find a sense of peace.

Unlike Amy's suit, Sammy's swimsuit was less revealing and more respectable, though it was still a two-piece. The top was blue and came up around her neck and completely covered her chest, while the bottom was white and had blue stripes running horizontally across it. It was simple and not at all flashy, which was something Sammy preferred and appreciated.

She spent a while there, lying on top of the water. Aside from herself, Amy and Beardo, Dave was still in a chair reading his book, and Topher was off to the side suntanning and had likely fallen asleep. He deserves it, Sammy thought bitterly. Aside from them, everyone else was elsewhere and likely doing their own thing.

While she was lazily floating, her mind would occasionally find its way back to thinking about Ella and what might be happening on the island. Her mind tried to pummel her with thoughts of Ella getting hurt, of getting eliminated, of the others teaming up on her and trying to break her further. But then, Sammy did everything in her power to ignore those thoughts and remind herself how capable Ella was. It was true, she wasn't all that strong, or fast, or athletically fit for a competition like this, but she had determination and heart, and if that hadn't been enough for others to win Total Drama before, Sammy would willingly call herself a liar.

Sammy knew Ella would be alright. She had proven herself before now - she just had to do it again.

They spent a bit more time outside, and around five-ish they were called in for dinner. It was… surreal, to say the least, to sit down at the dinner table with nine other people and have a meal with. The only other time she had sat with anywhere near this many people was one of her and Amy's earlier birthdays, where their grandparents and their dog came up from the States to visit them, and even then it was only a total of five people compared to the ten here. It was loud and chaotic and kind of its own form of competition to get the food that you wanted, especially when Sugar was hogging most of it. Is this what parties or family gatherings are supposed to feel like?

Sammy took as much as she could, and savoured every bite of it, absently realizing that she was probably going to do that for any food she ate from now on. There was talking amongst them, but she mostly kept to herself and really only spoke when she was spoken to, and it was mostly only to her group of friends.

By the time she finished her food, most of the others had already left. Leonard had dragged away Beardo, Shawn and - most shockingly - Max for their D&D session, Sugar followed them with her eyes glued to Leonard, Dave left to do his own thing in his room, and Rodney and Topher (whose skin was now a bit too tanned) left the room together. Topher pointedly did not look at the girls, which Sammy was thankful for.

The only people left now were her and Amy, who was waiting for her to finish. "You don't have to wait if you don't want to," Sammy told her, her plate half full of fries and gravy. "I was probably just going to head back to my room for a bit. Get a shower, freshen up, y'know?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Amy said, and she stood up from the table. "I was hoping to do the same. Some time alone doesn't sound too bad."

"I'll see you later then?" Sammy asked.

"You got it," she replied. "Beardo likes having those parties around nine or 10 o'clock, so you should come out then."

Sammy thought that over. "Probably. But I was hoping to go down by that giant net, to see who was eliminated."

"Ohh. Uh. We're actually not allowed to do that."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah," Amy nodded. "That order came from Chef, apparently. Something about not wanting us to interfere with the interns' work."

"That's… fair," Sammy said. "Alright, I'll be out by the pool by nine."

"Sweet. Later."

Sammy sighed and worked on the remains of her food. Guess I'm waiting, then.

She finished up and returned to her room. She showered (it went much quicker this time), took the opportunity to shave her legs, and when she felt refreshed she lid down on her bed and scrolled through her phone. She hadn't had the chance to update herself with what the world was doing since she left for the show, so she took the time to do so. It turns out, not much had happened. At least, not much she was interested in.

She found herself looking out the window. By this time, the sun was beginning to set, the cloudless sky turning a bright orange. Her mind went back to the island automatically, to the evenings her team had spent around the campfire, eating either berries or fast food. All of that was starting to become another reality away from this one. Now that she was here in the resort, she doubted she'd be able to go back to living on island scraps, even if there was a million dollars on the line.

But she couldn't just ignore that other reality. Ella was still there, and was either prepping herself for the cannon or for the challenge tomorrow. And Sammy was here, away from her and unable to help. No matter how capable Ella was, Sammy would still have wanted to do something for her, something more than eliminate herself to let her keep going. But there was nothing that could have been done, not when she was so far away from her. She had a great time today, getting to reconnect with her friends over games and swimming, but those were just distractions from the bigger picture. A picture Sammy wasn't able to see all of clearly.

Maybe… Maybe I should stop thinking about what I can't do here, and think about what I can.

She stared out the window for another while longer. Then realization struck. She sat up on the bed, opened her phone to the Internet, and typed into the search bar,

how to care for someone who cuts


The beat of the music pounded into her heart, but Sammy's mind was elsewhere, as she expected would happen. Beardo and the others were enjoying themselves, which was nice. And it seemed like they all expected her to be distracted anyway, as they were leaving her alone off to the side of the pool. She appreciated them doing that, and spent the first hour or two after sunset watching the sky for any incoming teenage girls.

She sat over the side of one of the poolside chairs, not feeling up to lying down at the moment, and simply waited with her hands folded on her lap. Her fingers and toes fidgeted from her overworked nerves, and truthfully it reminded her too much of how she felt before now. Why won't my brain listen to me and calm down?

The chair sunk down slightly, startling Sammy out of her thoughts. Amy was there, her own eyes trained on the sky, apparently willing to help her look. She didn't say anything, though she did give her younger sister a glance and a smile. Sammy smiled right back, and returned to looking.

In the end, it turned out to be useless. For one, Sammy belatedly remembered this was not the proper direction the contestants would be fired from. For two, it was much too dark and loud to see or hear anyone outside of the resort's pool area. She felt silly, and her mind was trying to call her worse, but Amy just laughed it off and slapped her on the back, saying she had no idea either. At least she could find solidarity in that.

They stayed where they were, though, and continued to chat. Sammy and Amy did not have too much in common, but there was enough that they could freely talk with one another. A lot of their conversations revolved around Total Drama, both the game they played in plus games from the past. Which seasons were their favorite, which classic competitors they'd like to meet in real life, which moments from the past were their favorites… They did find common ground in the form of other topics of conversation, but it was mostly focused on the show.

Sammy was glad that Amy was there for her. It was not long ago that Amy would have left her to the wolves, or be the wolf herself, but now she could tell she was trying her best to be on her side. Maybe they'd be able to be actual sisters now, when they returned home. Sammy was elated at the idea.

And all of this happened because she decided to make an audition video on her phone one day.

Sammy tried to imagine where she would be now if she hadn't done that… And decided that that was something she didn't want to think about.

The twins were talking about different restaurants they might want to go to when they got back home. Beardo was mixing his tunes, Shawn was off against the wall, everyone was enjoying themselves to the fullest.

A lull in the song allowed her to hear her surroundings normally. And that was when the door to the resort opened.

Spinning around, Sammy focused all of her attention on the people coming in, keeping her eyes peeled for any familiar faces. But for the moment, it was just an intern.

Then another intern.

Intern.

Intern.

Inter-

Sky.

A thousand and one thoughts bombarded her mind at once - Is Sky okay, what happened on the island, Ella's in the finals - but she forced all of them aside and ran up to her newly returned friend.

Sky, for the most part, looked alright. Her hair was frazzled and she was wide-eyed, but with the method of transportation she had just experienced that would obviously be natural. Just like Sammy before her, she had a warm blanket wrapped around her and a cup in her hand, which smelled of tea. It took a moment for Sky to notice her, but when she did she gave her a shaky yet warm smile. "Long time no see," she said to her, her voice hoarse and low.

Sammy chuckled. "Too long."

"Skyyyyy!"

Sky had a single second to utter, "Uh oh," before she was lifted off of the ground and brought into a bear hug. Her cup of tea went spilling to the floor, forgotten entirely as Beardo began spinning her around, all but ignoring her shouts of protestation.

"Beardo, set her down! Remember the canon!" Sammy tried despite the smile on her face, only for him not to hear her.

Shawn came up then, looking to get a few words in but then was unexpectedly hit in the face by Sky's foot, sending him into the pool. Everyone, aside from Sky, burst out laughing.

As Sky tore herself from Beardo and dove in to help Shawn, Sammy was doubled over in laughter. Both at what she had just witnessed, and pure relief at what this meant.

Ella's still in. She can win! It's going to be okay! Everything will be okay.


And there you have it. Life in the Playa, reconnecting with friends, and the reveal of the Finalists. The whole story's been leading up to this moment. We're finally about to reach the endgame here, and I couldn't be more excited to share it with you all.

But first, some facts about this chapter: Sarah is a completely original character whose name is literally the first name I thought of. She doesn't serve much purpose other than to be there and help out when she can. I may incorporate her later on, but right now she's a side character and shouldn't be given much thought (although I do enjoy writing her).

Originally, it was going to be Sammy who was having a lot of fun with Mario Kart, but I changed it to Amy for a few reasons. One, Amy's whole thing from before was that she was in control, of her sister, of her surroundings, etc. Now that she isn't in control, she needs to find an outlet, and since video games are all about controlling characters, I feel like that would be a good substitute. And two, I find it entertaining that Amy of all people would find enjoyment in games. We'll see where that goes in the future.

And yes, while Sammy does have the goal of getting to know the people she's never really talked with before, her day at the resort was some well-earned 'Me Time'. She'll start working on it soon.

Now, there's something else I need to mention. Some of you may have already noticed, if you're subscribed to me as an author. But, I have a bit of a surprise for you guys which you can find in my profile… In the My Stories section.

Yes, that's right! If all things went according to plan, you will be able to find a brand new, one-shot chapter featuring Ella during the day's challenge! There was a reason it took so long to get these chapters up - I wanted to drop them on you at the same time! So please read Dance of the Sugar Plum Pixie to get the full idea of what happened when Sammy wasn't around to witness it. It's actually kind of important to the plot to read it as well, as Stuff and Things happen that might not make much sense if you continue to read this story / wait for me to upload the final chapter (depending on when you're reading this).

And that's it for me now. Expect the finale in the coming weeks! I'll talk about it more then and there. Take care, all!