Hi everyone! It feels like so long since I've updated, even though it's only a little over a month, which is a lot shorter than most of the times I don't update. But anyway, I finished the story I was working on in December, and now there's more time! "With the exception of school, but eh, who needs it?) So, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and New Years, so here's the first update of 2010. Well, for me anyway.
This version of Phobia Factor is quite different from the original, as I had to change quite a few things for it to fit the story (For example, I had to switch Gwen and Izzy's fears around."
Disclaimer: See previous chapters
A while after the marshmallow ceremony, our team was sitting around the fire again, listening as Trent cried over Lindsay. God, he's pathetic. Next to me, Courtney sighed.
"How long is he going to cry over Blondie?" She whispered to me in an annoyed way.
"Probably until he gets voted off, which will be tomorrow if he doesn't shut up." I replied, not looking up from my copy of Hamlet. I'd always thought that Hamlet was an idiot, risking so many lives to avenge a taken one. But hey, I'm not going to argue with Shakespeare. He wouldn't be able to argue back anyway.
Trent walked miserably back to the campfire, supported by Gwen and LeShawna, who had tried and failed to cheer him up. Though why someone like Gwen would try to cheer someone up, I'll never know.
To make matters worse, a few minutes later, just after Trent had transferred from sobbing to sniffling, the Killer Bass arrived, carrying food from their Tuck Shop party. They were all grinning, like they were rubbing in their victory. Jerks.
"What do you guys want? Come by to rub it in?" Courtney asked suspiciously, glaring at the other team.
"We had some extra dessert after our Tuck Shop party. Thought you might want some." Tyler explained. Courtney wasn't buying it.
"So what? You're just being... nice?" She asked as if the concept was foreign to her. Which it probably was for all of us, since we're on a team with Heather. Oh no I didn't.
"Okay," Bridgette admitted, "Harold had a burrito and stank up our cabin. We need some time to air out."
"Well, you can do it somewhere else," Heather snapped. "Because of you, Trent's been crying over Lindsiot for hours."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Heather," LeShawna said, "how am I supposed to get my beauty sleep when Lover boy's eyes are in competition with a waterfall?" Trent just glared at his team mates, while Beth patted him on the shoulder.
"Come on, dudes, dudettes," Geoff said, "It's all good! And look, we brought some food that's not totally gross." As if on cue, Sadie came forward with a plate of green jello. Courtney jumped back and screamed.
"No!" She cried, "I mean, no thanks, I'm good."
"What, are you on a diet or something?" Cody asked her.
"No!" She replied much too quickly, "I just don't like green jelly, okay?" Sadie just shrugged and moved on to her own team, where DJ knocked the plate out of her hands.
I looked down at what was in the jelly. "Oh no, it's an evil gummy worm. Hide your young." Seriously, can't these people tell the difference between a reptile and a piece of candy?
DJ hung his head. "Sorry for tripping. Snakes just freak me out!"
Tyler patted him on the shoulder. "I feel you dude. Chickens give me the creeps!"
And just like that everyone started having this big share-fest around the fire about their biggest fears. I learned stuff that night that I don't care about and most likely never will: Harold's afraid of ninjas, Heather's fear is sumo wrestlers, Izzy would never want to be buried alive. While Beth was rambling about how much she'd hate being covered in bugs, I glanced around and noticed something; all of the cameras were on and recording. Great. We were spilling our greatest fears in front of a man who will undoubtedly use them against us. I nudged Courtney in the arm and pointed to the camera.
"When it's your turn, lie." I said, "Otherwise, you might actually have to eat green jelly."
She glared at me. "I am not afraid of green jelly! I'm just allergic to it."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah huh. You're just allergic to green jelly, huh?"
"Correct."
"It's scientifically impossible to be allergic to one flavor of jelly. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to be allergic to any kind of jelly period."
She probably had some witty comeback, but then she noticed how everyone's eyes were on her. Gwen, who was sitting next to her, had just finished talking about her and Owen's shared fear of heights. Courtney blinked.
"Well, um, I'm afraid of... clowns." She stuttered out. I knew it wasn't a complete lie; during the Awake-a-thon challenge, I remember her mentioning how clowns freaked her out. Though hopefully not enough for Chris to be able to use it against her.
"The Jonas Brothers." Noah said immediately. Again, that wasn't a complete lie; he despised their "music", if it could be called that.
Their little pow-wow of phobia ended soon after, and everyone went to their cabins. Personally, I had a bad feeling about tomorrow. But I figured it was probably something in the green jelly.
...
The next day at breakfast, Chris was already in the mess hall, grinning sadistically. Like that was different from any other day. Still, as I sat with Gwen and Noah, I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, like Chris knew something that we didn't. Though it was probably something in that horrible food that Chef serves us. If all technology hadn't been taken away at the start of the competition, I'd have already called up my lawyers and sued the producers. This place is so unfair.
Chris whistled through his fingers. "Campers!" he announced in a fake game show host voice, "Your next challenge is a little game I like to call Phobia Factor! Prepare to face your worst fears!"
"Worse than this?" I whispered to Noah, gesturing at the bowl of crap in front of me.
"We're in trouble." He replied.
I smiled at him. Noah is, without a doubt, my best friend on the island. He's smart, he makes me laugh, and he's totally cute... wait a second! I didn't say that!Or think that! Just for the record, I've just woken up, and am therefore semi-unconcious and unable to control my thoughts. So really, it's like I never thought that.
Pushing those heinous thoughts out of my mind, I focused on Chris, who was reading something off of an index card.
"Now, for our first victims... Heather! Meet us all in the theater. It's sumo time!"
Heather who had been drinking juice, spit it out, projecting it all over my face. I blinked away the cold juice, gasping as it went down my shirt.
Ugh! I thought angrily That witch is so getting a lawsuit once this show is over!
Chris continued. "Izzy. You, me, the beach? A few tons of sand?" Over at the Killer Bass table, Izzy's eyes widened as she gasped.
"Wait, how did they know those were your worst fears?" Katie asked from the other table. I groaned, letting my head fall on the table.
"Because we told them." I moaned. How could we be so stupid? Well, how could everyone else be so stupid. Noah and I had known about the cameras. Still, I really wasn't in the mood to see a clown today.
Katie still looked confused. "At the campfire last night." Gwen explained. I wasn't really listening to her, because Noah had started patting me on the shoulder. I felt something warm and tingly shoot though my heart... what's in this food anyway!?
"Wait, they were listening to us?" Katie gasped. I rolled my eyes.
"It's a reality show, Einstein, they're always listening." Noah said, sounding annoyed at her stupidity. I looked up the table and saw Katie standing up angrily.
"That's like, totally eavesdropping, right Sadie?"
Her chubby friend nodded. "Oh yeah, that's totally eavesdropping. That is so not cool!"
I rolled my eyes at them. While Chef and Chris tortured Tyler with a fried chicken, I leaned over to Noah. "Good thing we saw the cameras."
He raised an eyebrow. "You mean I saw the cameras."
I shrugged. "Tomatos, Tomatoes. By the way, you can get your hand off my shoulder now."
He quickly removed it. "Sorry." He muttered. For some reason, my shoulders felt cold... I should probably go get a sweater.
...
At the first mini-challenge, Beth had to dive into a pool of bugs. Chris and Chef really went all out for this: I've never been so grossed out in my life. Beth, however, seemed to gain some uncharacteristic bravery, as she jumped into the pool without hesitation and got our team a point. I gained some respect for Beth then, until she came back up with worms in her teeth. Charming.
Minutes later, while LeShawna tried and failed to overcome her fear of spiders, I tried not to stare at Katie and Sadie, who had to overcome their shared fear of bad haircuts by wearing wigs. Speaking of shared fears, Gwen and Owen were gone, being flown around by Chef in order to face their fear of heights and flying.
We were all herded to the amphitheater for Heather's challenge; LeShawna wasn't able to approach Chef in a spider costume. (Which, in my opinion, is scarier than an actual spider. But I digress.) On the stage, Heather stood shaking in front of the biggest sumo wrestler in the world. He charged at her, and I actually thought he would squash her like a fly. But unfortunately, she curled up into a ball, causing the wrestler to trip over her and roll off into the sunset, just like all the great cowboys of the past.
Then, the entire remaining cast (except Gwen, Owen, and Bridgette, who was spending six hours in the woods) stood on the beach, watching as Izzy was literally buried alive. For once, the red head actually looked scared. Though it was probably just the light reflecting off the air-tight box she was in.
Cody leaned down and spoke to her through the tiny window in the box. "There's enough air for an hour. You only need to do five minutes."
"As long as we decide to dig you up." Chris teased. Cody glared at him.
"Aw, it's okay, Codemeister." Izzy smiled, looking brave. "Izzy's been through much worse. Like the time she had a death fight with the teddy bear who killed the President! Or when..."
"Oh my God, just bury her already!" Chris yelled, even though he was the one with the shovel. What a lovely, psychotic idiot.
"I'll be listening the whole time." Cody handed her a walkie talkie. "Just yell for me if you panic and I'll dig you right up."
Wait a second... Cody and Izzy? Whoa, did not see that coming. But if you think about, it works. They're both stalkers, and... well, they're both stalkers. Not much more than that.
After the air window was closed, Izzy was buried, and the timer was set to five minutes, Chris approached Cody. "Alright kid, you're up."
"What? No way, I promised Izzy I'd stay with her."
"Then uh, I'd defuse that bomb really fast." He pushed him towards Chef, who dragged off into the forest and his challenge. Chris glanced at his watch.
"Okay, so while Cody's doing his thing... Noah! You're next, dude."
"Awesome, dude." I replied, trying to mock him. The creep, however, didn't respond to my taunts. Instead, he walking off, and returned moments later with a cardboard cutout of the Jonas Brothers. Oh Lord save me now.
...
I was really starting to enjoy these challenges. It gave me a chance to connect with my team, to cheer them on as they faced their fears... though some of them required special encouragement. For example, I had persuade Owen for five minutes before he would get on the plane. Why wouldn't these idiots see that fear is only in the mind? That's why I'm lucky to have someone like Noah; he doesn't let that silly emotion known as fear to get in the way of rational thinking and leadership. Or so I thought. For when Chris brought out the Jonas Brother standee, his eyes widened and he began shaking like a little girl.
"What's wrong with you?" I whispered, "Weren't you lying when you said you were scared of them?"
"Of course. It's called acting. You should try it sometime." He joked, smirking. I glared at him.
"Oh Noah, are you sure you can do this?" I said, using my best dramatic acting skills. Noah looked like he was about to burst out laughing, but the others seemed to buy it.
"Do they really scare you that much? I mean, it's just a band." Gwen, who had recently finished her challenge, said. Even though she's my friend, I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I mean, come on, Noah's not nearly as good an actor as me.
He took in a shaky breath. "No no, it's okay, I'll do it for the team." He grabbed my hands, holding them in that dramatic movie pose. A weird sort of electric shock shot up my arms. "If I don't make it, remember me as I was."
I bit my lips to keep from laughing at his over-the-top performance. In the background, I saw Beth gushing about romance, and Owen crying and muttering about Noah's bravery. Why did I switch teams again?
Oh yeah.
Said reason let go of my hands and walked slowly and dramatically to the standee, paused to size it up, then hugged it for the acquired five seconds.
"Woo-hoo!" I yelled, running towards him. "Noah, you're awesome!" Without realizing what I was doing, I hugged him.
Now before you start thinking something, let me just say that the aforementioned hug was merely me being caught up in the moment. I was excited that my team got a point, and that we were obviously going to win this.
Noah, obviously as excited as I was, hugged me back, and leaned down to whisper, "I know. By the way, your acting sucks."
Before I could reply with a fitting comeback, the others crowded around him to congratulate him, allowing me to step back.
My hands and arms had that strange feeling of coldness that I felt on my shoulders this morning. Something is definitely up with the weather on this island.
...
I didn't hug Courtney because I was caught up in the moment of victory. When she wrapped her arms around me, I stopped breathing for a second. As pathetic and Trent-like as that sounds, it's true. It's just human nature: if a girl whom you may or may not have a crush on hugs you, you will hug her back. Simple logic.
After my challenge, the day flew by rather quickly. By about 4:00, we were winning five to four. It was around this time when Cody realized something.
"Hey guys, do you ever feel like you've forgotten something?" Before anyone could answer, it came to him.
"Oh my God, Izzy! That box only has enough air for an hour!" Without waiting for anyone's response, he took of towards the beach, most of us following to see if the crazy redhead really suffocated to death.
"No! She can't die! This show can't handle a lawsuit!" Chris screamed, running right behind Chris. This uncaring behavior of Chris's is really not surprising, but at the time it caught me off-guard. I knew he didn't care about us, but that was low, even for the Devil's second in command. Oh please, like the thought never crossed your mind.
When we all arrived at the beach, Cody began desperately searching, whipping his head back and forth until he saw the timer blinking five zeros. And sitting next to it was Izzy, looking pissed.
"She's alright! Don't worry, we're not getting sued!" Chris called back to the rest of us. Prick.
"Izzy, how did you-" Cody began, looking relieved that Izzy was alright. She, however, didn't seem to share the feeling.
"Well, after I realized that five minutes had passed and you had forgotten to dig me up," Izzy screamed the last five words, "I kicked open the box and got out. Easy."
"Listen Iz, I'm so sorry, I-" he began, but once again, she cut him off by stomping back to the Killer Bass, leaving Cody looking like a kicked puppy.
"Well Izzy, if it makes you feel any better about almost dying, your team gets the point, since you faced your fear and hopefully won't sue." Chris announced. "That means that the winner depends on our final challenge!"
As we walked back to the main clearing with the cabins, Courtney caught up to me. "Why was Cody so worried about that crazy Bass girl? Something is definitely going on there, and we can't have a team mate fraternizing with the enemy!"
"And yet your totally fine with Gwen and Geoff." Courtney didn't have a comeback. "Come on, you're not that heartless. Admit it, you were worried about Izzy."
Courtney shrugged. "Only a little. Just don't tell anyone! Our team won't respect me as a leader if they find out I had sympathies for the enemy!" She ran ahead to catch up with Gwen and LeShawna. Noah watched her, smiling.
His little tin woman had found a heart.
...
"And now, for our final challenge of the day, the one that will decide who wins and who loses Phobia Factor... Courtney!"
What? No! I had been starting to hope and suspect that Chris had overlooked me. I shouldn't have underestimated him. Not like this would be a problem; I wasn't afraid of clowns anyway.
"Now, to help me out with this challenge is a very good friend of mine... Bozo the clown!" Chef Hatchet walked out of the Mess Hall, wearing some unconvincing makeup and carrying a bowl.
"That's Chef dressed as a clown. Or a drag queen." Noah pointed out.
"Ssh!" said Chris. Chef started to walk towards me with a sadistic look on his face, and I actually became a little scared. I didn't show it, though; first rule of being a C.I.T, never show fear.
"So what? She has to hug the clown and that's it? Way too easy!" Heather yelled from the sidelines. Oh crap.
"Heather!" LeShawna whispered angrily, but Chris still heard her.
"Heather, I agree with you completely." What?! How could she? Was she deliberately trying to get me hurt? Ugh, if I have to do something stupid and we lose, she is so gone!
"No, Courtney not only hast to hug the clown, but she must also eat the entire contents of the bowl."
"And what exactly is in the bowl?" I asked. I'd already put up with Chef's cooking for a week; whatever he had for me couldn't be much worse than breakfast.
Slowly, Chef tipped the bowl forward slightly, revealing a huge amount of green jelly.
I gasped. "No, please! You can't, I'm allergic!"
Chris rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we've all heard it before. Now eat your jelly, unless, of course, you want your team to lose. If that happens, they'll probably vote you off. I know I would."
Never before had I hated someone so much. I felt like punching that stupid smirk off of his face and shattering his perfect white teeth. But I knew he was right. There was a good chance I'd die, but I wasn't going to let my team lose for a third time in a row.
As I took the bowl, I looked back at my team mates, and even the other team; all of them looked horrified, especially Gwen and Noah. Only Heather was grinning maliciously. If I get some pull up in Heaven, I'll make sure she doesn't make it there. Take that!
Out of all the faces in particular, I stopped on Noah's the longest. He looked so uncharacteristically worried and emotional, and I saw him shaking his head and mouthing no. I gave him the best encouraging smile I could under the circumstances, and as Chris tapped loudly on his watch, I took the spoon he gave me, scooped up some jelly, and brought it to my...
"Wait!"
Noah stepped forward, and approached Chris. "I happen to know for a fact that she is allergic to green jelly. And if you make her eat it, I have a right mind to press charges."
"What green jelly?" Chris asked, grabbing the bowl away from me. "There's no green jelly. Screaming Gophers win!"
"What!" Heather yelled, glaring at us. "Just like that?"
I sort of agreed with her. How anti-climatic.
"Heather, be grateful that you won, and now your team can't vote you off for trying to sabotage them." Heather stood there for a second, then stormed away, dragging poor Beth with her.
"Killer Bass, meet me at the bonfire in ten." As the losers passed us, some of them stopped to glare at Noah. Whatever. I was so happy, I almost hugged him again. Almost.
"Thank you so much for, well, saving my life back there." I said. He turned around, looking annoyed.
"What the hell were you thinking?" He asked, starting to look scared now. "You were two seconds away from dying, do you realize that?"
Instead of letting his emotions phase me, I grinned at him. "So you finally believe that I'm allergic to green jelly?"
He gaped at me, then began to chase me back torwards the cabins. I laughed and giggled like a kid playing tag. (which is basically what we were doing) I increased my speed just so, trying and suceeding to outrun my knight in shining sweater vest.
No offense to Jonas Brothers fans! I personally don't like them, but a lot of my friends do, so I don't go around bashing them. Besides, it just seemed like such a Noah thing to hate.
And also, for all those people saying. "There's no way Courtney would kill herself if it meant winning," just think about what you just said, or wrote or thought. This is Courtney we're talking about after all.