Crossing the Line
Title: Crossing the Line
Summary: Thanks to Heather's treachery, Lindsay is about to be kicked off the island...unless a certain techno-geek has something to say about it.
Disclaimer: The characters and plot of this story are taken from blah blah blah come on we all know the drill, is this really necessary?
Pairings:Main: Cody/Lindsay, Side: Noah/Gwen, Ezekiel/Bridgette and Duncan/Leshawna.
Warnings: Crack pairings that may make some people cry. Also, mild language and dialogue inappropriate for small children, but overall, not any worse than the actual show.
JoeMerl: Just a clarification: this being AU, I've purposefully altered the vote-off order to suit my personal preferences. Hence why Cody and others are still on the island, while others are not. Anyway, glad to have gotten such a strong response to this story, hope you enjoy this chapter too!
Crossing the Line
Chapter Two: Bike-Building Buddies
"Hey, Lindsay," I said, saddling up beside her and dropping my bike parts suavely on the ground.
She looked up, startled. "Oh. Hey, Colby!"
I frowned. "…It's Cody."
"Oh. Sorry," she said, giving an awkward little smile. A…really, really cute awkward little smile. Oh…I shook my head roughly. Snap out of it, man!
"Do you mind if I work here? With you?"
"Sure! Ohmygosh, we can be, like, Bike-Building Buddies, or something!"
"Great," I said, wringing my eyebrow slyly at her; no girl can resist a good eyebrow-wringing, after all. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to notice it; she had turned back to the pieces carefully laid out on a blanket on the ground, carefully picked from the large pile of metal and wood beside her.
When I glanced up, though, I noticed something that made my jaw drop. "Um…Lindsay?"
"Yeah-huh?"
"Where did you get that engine?"
"What? Um, nowhere," she said quickly, looking very carefully away.
"That came from Chef's motorcycle, didn't it?"
"Uh---oh, please don't tell!" she said, clasping her hands together and looking terrified. "Heather thought it would be a good idea to borrow it. I'm gonna put it back," she added, biting her lip.
I stared at her for a moment. Then I allowed a grin to spread back over my face. "Me? Tell? Wouldn't dream of it," I said, waving my hand. "Your secret's safe with me."
She gasped. "Oh, thank you!"
She suddenly reached over and hugged me. My arms and legs stiffened in surprise. Lindsay was hugging me! Lindsay! I let out a sigh as my startled muscles relaxed, just as she released me. I sat there for a moment, so dazed a strong breeze could have probably knocked me over. I slapped myself, hard, in the face, blinking and managing to come back to reality.
"So, uh…d-do you need any help with that?" I stammered, as she arranged the pieces of the motorcycle engine along with the broken bike parts.
"Oh, no thanks. I'm actually really good with mechanicistal things."
I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah. My daddy taught me to help him when he's working on his Ferrari."
"Huh."
Cody: I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, but it turns out Lindsay really did know what she was doing. She even finished her bike before I did, and I didn't even have a motor to build! Heh. (dreamy smile) I wonder if she has any interest in robots…
"Wow. Nice work, Lindsay!" I complimented, giving her a thumbs up. I was particularly impressed that she managed to reconstruct the whole engine without getting a single drop of oil on herself.
"Thanks!" she said, cocking her head to one side. But then she frowned. "But what about yours, though? Don't you want to trick it out with any of that stuff from the Crafts Center?"
"Oh, yeah. I was just waiting until I had the frame done." I picked my bike up, smiling that it seemed to hold together fine. "I'm gonna go get some stuff now."
"Okay! Ooh, could you get me any more dolls if you find them?" She held up one mixed in with her pile of junk. "I'd like Miss Elizabeth here to have a friend."
"Er---can do."
Unfortunately, everyone else had already been in the Crafts Center, so there wasn't much left to choose from. Still, I managed to find a few sheets of metal and some paint that I thought could make my bike look pretty sweet. I was going to go for a spaceship design, I decided. I began to wonder what would be the best design to use...something aerodynamic, of course. If only I could make something as fast as a spaceship, or at least as fast as Lindsay's bike was going to be...
I walked past the dismantled motorcycle and was about to leave the shack when something caught my eye.
I took a few steps back. There was a riding lawn mower in the corner behind the door, its front just peeking out.
"Well, what do we have here?" I said, grinning.
"Hey Colby!" She blinked. "Wait…where did you get that engine? Did Chef's motorcycle have two or something?"
"What? No, I found this one in a lawn mower," I explained, then winked at her. "Hope you don't mind, but your idea was just so good I decided to steal it."
"No, that's fine!" she said, smiling. Then she frowned. "But it was actually Heather's idea to take the motor from Chef's bike."
"Oh. Well in that case it was a horrible idea."
She frowned more like she didn't get the joke. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "I just---don't really like Heather very much."
"Oh." She frowned, returning to her work. "Yeah. A lot of the other girls don't seem to like her that much, either. I really don't know why."
"Well, she is kind of mean to everyone," I said, frowning as I turned back to the sheet metal I was cutting for my ship's hull.
"That's not true!" Lindsay said, sounding scandalized. "I mean, Heather's always been really nice to me!"
"Huh? She calls you names all the time!"
"Well, yeah. But she's, like, my best friend on the whole island." She gave a little smile as she added a string mane to the pony head she was making. "Did you know she promised to take me and Beth with her to the final three?"
"But…she got Beth voted off, remember? The cooking challenge?"
"Well, yeah…that's true, I guess..."
A small silence fell between us for a moment. I wasn't sure quite what to say---I hated watching the way Heather treated her, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings if she really thought Heather was her friend. "Well, if I were you, Linds, I'd be careful around her. I mean, maybe she's just nicer to you than she is to everyone else…but I just don't want to see her do anything bad to you."
"Really? Aw, that's so sweet of you."
I blinked. "Really?"
She nodded. I smiled back at her. "Thanks."
"Oh, you're welcome. Hey..." She leaned forward, closer to me; I instinctively leaned back, our noses almost touching. "Did you know you have a hole in your teeth?"
"What?!" My hand shot up to cover my mouth. "Oh---um, yeah, I, uh---"
"Hee, it makes you look really cute!"
My eyes widened. "Really?!"
She nodded. I felt my face begin to burn. I cleared my throat again, willing my heart to beat normally again. I grinned nervously, making sure my teeth were fully visible. "So, um…what are you doing there?" I asked, pointing to what she was working on. "You already have your cool rocket-bike, why are you making another one?"
"Oh. Well---"
"Lindsay!"
We both looked up. Heather was standing about ten feet away, motioning to her.
"Oh---excuse me, Colby. I'll be right back."
Lindsay straightened up and put one hand on each of the bikes she had constructed, wheeling them over to Heather. I watched them for a moment, eyebrow quirked. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I---
Wait, what the---
Lindsay took the first bike she had made---the one with Chef's engine hidden in the back basket---and handed it to Heather. Heather took it, grinning her evil grin.
My mouth fell open as Heather turned and began to walk away with the bike, motioning for Lindsay to follow. Lindsay hesitated and---I was startled to see---motioned back toward me. I could just hear something about "wanted to go back and talk with Colby some more." Heather turned, glared at me, then snapped something to Lindsay. Lindsay looked back and me again, gave a frowning little shrug, then followed with her remaining bike.
I gaped after the two of them. "Oh my gosh," I muttered, shaking my head. "Did---did Heather just have Lindsay make her bike for her? And Lindsay gave her the motorcycle?!" I shook my head. "That sneaky little---"
Just then I jumped as the screeching sound of the loudspeaker blared. "Campers, you have five minutes remaining to finish your bikes," Chris called.
"Agh!" I stared back at my bike. My new motor was all put together, but I still had to finish the decorations. I quickly grabbed up the shears and went back to cutting my sheet metal, my mind on Heather's little scheme.
Stupid Heather. Why did Lindsay have to trust that girl?
The answer, of course, came to me quickly: she was way too nice not to.
"I mean, can you believe that, Noah?! Heather is totally cheating! And she got Lindsay to give her the better bike too!"
"Wow. I have to say, ther evil witch at least knows what she's doing."
"You're not helping."
"Wasn't really trying to." I gave him a look. He sighed. "Alright, fine. If you know Heather is cheating, why not just tell Chris? Maybe he'll disqualify her."
"I can't do that," I grumbled, looking away. "If I did, then Lindsay might get in trouble too. Which would be totally unfair, but just the kind of thing Chris would do."
"Well, then I guess there's nothing we can do but let Queen Heather get another invincibility this week." He sighed. "Damn it. You know, I was supposed to the schemer on this show. I signed up specifically with that in mind." Then he smirked. "But other than that, how did you and Lindsay's little 'date' go?"
"It wasn't a date," I snapped. "I wish it was a date, but all we did was talk."
"Huh. What about?" he said, not sounding very interested. His eyes were already wandering to the other bikes, as a few of the remaining campers rolled up with their contraptions beside them.
I shrugged. "Nothing much." Then I grinned and puffed out my chest. "She said she likes bucked teeth, though."
Noah burst out laughing. "What?!" I demanded.
"Oh...oh man, you are so pathetic," Noah said. He shook his head and wiped a tear from his eye. "I mean---really, Cody...what are you hoping for, a bucked-teeth beaver fetish?"
"Shut up! It's not like you're such a lady's man!"
He gave me a look. "I'm going to use a comeback I've wanted to use for years on somebody, but have never had a chance to do before now." He pointed at his chest. "I have a girlfriend" he pointed at me "and you don't." He cocked his head. "Oh my...that's just as fun as my older brothers always made it seem..."
My comeback---which would have been really, really cool, I assure you---was interrupted when Chris finally arrived.
"Well, campers, we gave you the parts; let's see what you came up with!"
The first bike Chris examined was "Heather's," and I could feel myself grimace as she presented it as her own. Next came Gwen's bike, to which she had added large waving bat wings; Duncan's, with a skull hood ornament, and then Lindsay's second bike with the horse's head on the front.
"The real bike has sound effects like this: nyehoo! Nyehoo!" Lindsay said, trying to imitate a horse's neigh. Next to me, Noah and Gwen face-palmed; I hid an amused smirk behind my hand.
Noah's bike was rather simply designed ("Why bother slowing it down with a bunch of useless junk added on?") while Ezekiel had done the opposite, throwing on a ton of extra attachments randomly ("I was trying to pimp it oot, eh?" he explained brightly, while Bridgette giggled and blushed beside him).
Bridgette: (giggling) Okay…I really need to stop teaching him new words. Or at least explain what they mean better.
Bridgette's own bike was more modest and made almost entirely of wood ("biodegradable," she explained), while Leshawna's was almost entirely metal, and built almost as large as Chef's motorcycle, probably to help hold her extra weight.
"Wow, Leshawna, you did a really great job here," Chris said, nodding with approval.
"Er, thanks," she said, looking carefully away. Beside her, Duncan smirked.
Duncan: (leaning back, smirking with his hands behind his head) Heh, she owes me big time for helping her with that one. Heh-heh, I think I might just be getting to second base pretty soon.
Leshawna: Okay, I said I owed him, but if tries to get up in my shirt one more time…and he better not be behind me missing my favorite bra!
Cody: (holding up a large bra, frowning) …Well, I found it on Lindsay's bed, and it looks about the right size, but somehow I think I grabbed the wrong one...
"And Cody, my man! Nice. What's this supposed to be, exactly?"
"I call it the Delta Rider. It's based on the Delta Flyer from Voyager," I said proudly, admiring my design.
Noah scoffed. I glared at him.
Bridgette: (pinching the bridge of her nose) Oh man, I hope those two aren't about to get into another Star Trek argument…
"All I'm saying is, Picard managed to get them home from another galaxy in one episode, while it took Janeway seven years to get across a few measly quadrants!"
"Oh, big accomplishment for Picard! All he had to do was get the Traveler's help!" I screamed, throwing up my hands. "Janeway had to go hundreds of light-years, through Borg-infested space, and---"
"Okay, people, people! Enough of the nerd-fighting," Chris said, getting between us and holding up his hands. "because now, it's time for the fun part of the competition!"
"Did anybody else just feel their blood run cold?" Gwen asked, raising her hand and looking around. Noah quit glaring at me to send her a smirk.
"We're gonna race these babies! Hard!" Chris said gleefully, making a fist.
"Huh, awesome. Because my bike is built for speed. Right, Lindsay?" Heather asked, crossing her arms and giving her a look.
"Totally!" Lindsay agreed. I shot Heather another death-glare. She noticed it and sent another evil little smile back.
"Yeah, unfortunately, you won't be riding it, Heather," Chris said. I grinned as the smile instantly vanished from her face. "You'll be switching bikes. Yeah, cruel twist, huh?" he added, looking around at all of our horrified faces. "Alrighty, then! See you at the beach!"
Chris walked away. Heather glared after him. I grinned.
Cody: Okay, yeah, I'll admit, I kind of wish we got to ride our own bikes during the race. (grins) But I gotta say, that look on Heather's face…priceless.
JoeMerl: Okay! That's chapter two...hmm, Noah's becoming more prominent than he was originally going to be, but then, I got lots of compliments for him so I guess that's alright. Well, I hope you all liked this; please leave a review! And also, I put up a little Cody/Gwen drabble if anyone's interested. (Yeah, I just like Cody.)