Chapter 5 - The Sucky Outdoors
Already up and waiting, Chris got down to business and dove straight into the new challenge of the day in front of the assemble of twenty two teens.
"Campers." He gave the cocky grin that everyone was beginning to get sick of. "Today's challenge will test your outdoor survival skills. I'm not gonna lie to you, some of you may not come back alive."
Cameron visibly gulped.
*static*
Cameron: Why did I come here? With everything being so closely associated with physical well-being, which is something I clearly wasn't expecting... why couldn't we've done speed trivia? Something to access our knowledge? Math flashcards?
*static*
At some of the camper's gasps, Chris mellowed them, "Just joking. Hehe, all you have to do is spend one night in the woods. Everything you need is at your team's campsite in the forest." He picked up a hiking bag and grabbed some maps out of it. ".. you just have to find it." He tosses one to each team.
Heather easily catches it for her team. Duncan caught the map and a compass out of Courtney's waiting hands, of which punctually swiped them away from him, scowling.
"Oh, and watch out for bears." Chris warned. "Lost a couple of interns in pre-production. First teams back in time for breakfast wins invisibility!" He initiated the challenge with a tall air horn he brought out of nowhere. The honk rang across the island. "Well, off you go!"
"Did he say there are bears up in here?" Leshawna asked with worry evident in her voice.
Owen stood up, "I had a little encounter with a bear once!" He proudly patted his arm. "Let's just say, his head looks real nice up on my mantle." Noah shook his head, but with a small grin.
"Right, and I trapped a pet unicorn." Izzy overheard, perking up.
"Ooh! This one time, I saw a bear eating our garbage! He had old spaghetti noodles just hanging from his big huge teeth, and it looked like blood and guts." Lindsay gave up a noise of disgust, but kept listening intently. "It was so gross! We thought he was eating the neighbor's cat Simba, but it turned out he was just lost for a week." Izzy paused. "Uh, you didn't eat spaghetti did you?"
Lindsay fiercely shook her head no.
"Good, let's go!" Izzy laughed, prancing off. Lindsay got up to follow her, but Heather quickly nabbed her arm roughly into the other direction.
"Wrong team Lindsay." She groused sternly.
"Oh! Uh, oops." The blonde smiled nervously.
...
Down the long winding trail, one might have supposed the people walking down the dirt road might have been hiking amidst the fresh air. Well, fresh but tension-filled air.
"Hey Gwen, wait up!" Trent called after Gwen, who was sulking down ahead of everybody else. He slowed down upon reaching her. "Can I walk with you?"
"No." Gwen heaved with a sigh.
"Hey, if this is about that whole diary thing.." He seemed to be wanting to say something more, but nothing came out. Gwen ignored him and sped up her walking, leaving Trent behind. Obviously distraught, DJ came up to him with a pat on the back.
"Hey man, don't worry about it. What Heather did was pretty bad, it'll take some time for her to recover and be comfortable with you again."
"I guess." Trent shifted his shoulder.
...
Heather scratched at a spot on her arm and scoffed loudly.
"Ugh! She is so the next one to leave."
"Who?" Mike looked up.
"Who do you think?" Heather gestured angrily. "Gwen! She dumped Harold's red ant farm into my bed!"
"Yeah, but you did kind of read her diary out loud to the entire world." Heather abruptly stops, causing everyone behind her to halt and bump into each other with an "oof".
"So?" Heather glared down on all of them.
"So... that was pretty harsh." Mike scratched the back of his head.
"She is going down." Heather griped, before curtly resuming her walk. Mike stood back a while with a grimace, but followed too.
Zoey didn't say anything about the scene, until she hung back and joined Mike and Cameron at the back.
"Hey guys."
"Zoey! What's up?" Mike smiled.
"Just... I dunno. Why does Heather have to be so mean?" Zoey released her thoughts.
"It is rather unnecessarily cruel, what she did to Gwen." Cameron adjusted his glasses. "And it is detrimental to the overall team cooperation."
"I know right." Zoey sighed. Then she brightened up with an idea. "Hey! I overheard Heather talking to Beth and Lindsay in the girl's cabin this morning... I think they've made an alliance with each other."
"An alliance?"
"Yeah! Do you guys wanna make one too?" Zoey threw out a suggestion.
Mike readily nodded. "Of course! Sounds pretty good to me."
Cameron agreed. "I accede. It increases our probability of lasting longer by 45%!"
"Awesome! This way we can stick out for each other! Er, not that I wasn't going to not do that to begin with of course." Zoey laughed. "You're all nice."
"Hehe, yeah... nice." Mike abashedly grinned before falling into another one of his trances. Not too far from them, Kitty was listening in, to both the plans and the new ship she's got invented in her head. I mean, it was pretty obvious since day 1. Kitty mulled. She elbowed Emma in the ribs, causing her to yelp.
"Kitty! What's wrong with you?" She snapped back to her with a frown, rubbing the spot.
"Sorry! But did you hear all that?" Kitty whispered, nodding her head to the back.
"Hear what?" Emma huffed. Kitty looked over to Noah, who was walking in front of her. She slyly grinned.
"Oh, nothing. Look, now there's two alliances I know on this island. Don't you think it'd be smart to... make one too?"
"Nope."
"Oh come on Emma! Consider it? I don't wanna be all left behind in this." She whined in a petulant manner. Emma took a look at her before raising her eyes to the sky.
"Oh for the love of- I'll think about it, okay?"
"Yes! Also, how about Owen and Noah-"
"Kitty."
...
The Screaming Gophers finally reached their spot.
"Uh.. there's no food here." Owen noted.
"This is a survival task." Noah sighed. "Look at the instructions." He looked over the map Heather held in her hands.
"Wonder if there's any bears here... wouldn't it be funny if we made some bear sounds and then they came?" Owen asked.
"Um, how about we don't-" Leshawna was cut off by the somewhat decent imitation of a bear's roar.
"ROOAAR! I'm a BEAR!" Owen emulated, in turn getting disrupted by Heather.
"Ugh, will you shut up? I'm trying to read the map!" Heather snapped. "It says we're supposed to find our own food." She paused and looked around with a scoff. "I still don't see it."
Noah rolled his eyes, a talent he was familiar with. "I believe they mean in the woods."
Owen volunteered, "I'll go! I'm good at finding food."
Heather rolled up the map curtly, "Well! At least this will be a good week for my diet."
Emma, voice dripping with mirth, mumbled, "She'll need a lot more than a diet to fix that level of nasty." Noah failed to contain his adoring laughter.
"What's that?" Heather turned at that with a scowl.
"Oh nothing sweetie." Anne Maria, who had apparently heard the other two's banter, stepped in. "Just talking 'bout your mediocre... everything."
"Mediocre?" Heather sputtered. "Why you-"
...
Dusk began to descend on the island, the forest going from vibrant green to a mellow blue. As the Screaming Gophers set up their campesite, the Killer Bass was nearly finished with propping up their tent for the night.
Cody tip toed near where Gwen was pitching the tent. "Hey Gwen." He spoke with charm, before quickly stumbling on his words. "Nice uh... I like how you pitched the tent. Haha... so graceful." Cody rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not as repulsed by the sad compliment as Gwen was. Gwen just gave a wrenching sigh before zipping herself in the tent with a groan.
*static*
Cody: I'll win her over eventually. It's just a matter of time! And persistence. And humiliation. With a little over the top enthusiasm, he pointed to himself. And I was born to be humiliated!
*static*
Duncan walked up to where Courtney was tending to her firepit. He said with an arrogant tone, "What's for dinner woman? I'm starving." Courtney quickly turned to him with a glare.
"I hope you don't expect me to dignify that with a response."
"Hey guys, look what I found!" DJ called up to the gang. He walked up, carrying a little bunny gently in his arms. The soft creature twitched its nose several times.
"Well." Duncan came up brashly. "I never had rabbit stew before.. but what the heck? I'm game." DJ gave a disbelieving gasp, and hurried to secure the fluffy critter away from Duncan.
"This is my new pet! I'm callin him Bunny!"
"You couldn't find any food?" Courtney asked exasperated. "*groan*, then it looks like we're eating grubs and berries for dinner."
"Say, where did the crazy ginger chick go?" Duncan rubbed his nose, noticing the lack of Izzy.
"Well, wherever she is, she better show up tomorrow for the finish line." Courtney caviled. "If she costs us the race, then I know who my vote is for."
Scott leaned in precariously, obviously humming in devious thought.
*static*
Scott: Nice! With a nut like her, losing this challenge will be easy.
*static*
...
"I'm so hungry." Heather complained.
"Oohh, guys? I think my stomach ate my stomach!" Lindsay worriedly panicked.
"Hey!" Everybody turned to the foreign voice off camera. It was a... pizza man. "Who ordered a cheese with pepperoni?" A blurry hand came out into view, waving as it slowly focused.
"Over here, it's for the camera crew." Heather gawked.
"Oh no way."
Cameron was leaning over the fire pit, adding dry leaves and kindle.
"There! That should last us well into the night!" Cameron dusted his hands off with satisfaction. "Soon as the morning sunlight becomes adequate, it will extinguish." Mike smiled and patted Cameron on the back.
"Nice Cam! See, you didn't have to worry so much about this survival thing after all."
"Thanks! Though, truthfully, I did read a lot of boy scout manuals. I never was one, but the tips in the handbook were all fascinating!"
Owen emerged out of the bushes victoriously, carrying a bout of dead salmon. "I am man! I bring fish!" He shouted in a loud and jocose gruff voice. The rest stood up and hurried over.
"Are you kidding me?" Heather scrutinized the dead floppy creatures.
"Good catch big guy." Noah said in a lofty grin as Kitty eagerly took a picture of it.
"How do you know how to fish?" Heather asked, though still in an accusatory tone.
"My grandpa taught me! I caught a shark once - it bit me in the butt." Owen said proudly. "Check it out!" He turned around and bent over, flashing the team before anybody could blink in protest.
Everybody instantly recoiled, Lindsay and Beth both shielding their eyes in horror. Emma shrieked in disgust, groaning.
"Ugh! Can you believe- how do you remotely deal with this all the time." She asked outloud to Noah. He didn't answer, being too busy shining starry eyes at her. Emma noticed the dopey smile and turned her lour to him. "Uh, earth to weirdo? Hello? ... hello?"
She waved her hand in his face. He didn't respond, but he definitely noticed, his vision indicating something entirely different from Emma's scowl. Throw in some sparkles and a pink filter; it should match what he's seeing.
She threw her hands up in the air and groaned. Owen dressed properly again, mainly out of concern for Noah.
"Uhh buddy? You okay?"
Noah shook back to his normal complacent face. "My stomach feels funny." He monotonously replied with a grin.
...
"Okay! Fire's hot, grill is grilling, tent is tenting..." Owen stood in front of the fish cooking neatly on top of the fire.
"Great work Owen, the fish looks awesome." Kitty grinned lopsidedly, snapping a picture. The flash illuminated the surrounding area for a second, before returning back into what was now clearly late night.
"Thanks Kitty." Owen said. "I owe it all to grandpa."
"Soo you and your grandpa really fought a bear once?" Beth asked.
"Heck yes." Owen confirmed. "It was the scariest day of my entire life!" The rest looked unsettled, and/or curious. Save for Heather who rolled her eyes.
"We were out in the woods when we came upon the great beast..." Owen began his storytelling.
...
The Killer Bass were tending to their fire, though with significantly less food than the Screaming Gophers. The fire cackled a bright emission amidst the dark, flickering shadows of yellows over to the tents and trees surrounding them. A few ominous noises filled the forest, one in particular being an owl hoot - making the bunny in DJ's hands jump.
"Aw, don't worry bunny. Be cool, the owl won't get ya." He petted it.
"This reminds me of this really scary story I heard once." Duncan said.
"Heh, nothing's scarier than the lantern stories my pa makes up. Bring it." Scott dares.
"Yeah man, tell us." Trent smiled.
"Are you sure? Because the story I'm thinking of is pretty hardcore." Duncan replied unphased.
"Ooh, we're so scared." Courtney mocked with a 'hardcore' eye roll.
"Alright." He shrugged, giving in easily. "But don't say I didn't warn you... One night, a lot like this one..."
Soon, the full moon rose to its full height as both teams carried on with their story antics. A campfire wouldn't be complete without one, would it? Alive with nocturnal life, the forest conjured up with more enigmatic noises. Nearing the end of Duncan, he found himself whispering the story loudly to the others.
"Suddenly, they heard this tap tap tapping on the side of the car. The girl started to freak out, and by this time even the guy was getting a bit scared. So he turned the car on and he stepped on it. When they got back to the girl's house, she opened the door and screamed. Because there, hanging from the door handle... was the bloody hook." Duncan took a brief moment to enjoy the group's spooked faces. "They say the killer's still alive, wandering these very woods. He could be just about anywhere really... Maybe even right HERE!" In a jolt, he flashed upwards a sharp hook. Everyone startled let out a quick scream. Many fled to hide behind DJ's bigger frame, but they walked out when Duncan began to laugh, evilly, but also with a grin plastered on his face. He got himself together as he wheezed, said hook prop now resting on his head.
"Duncan! that was so not funny!" Courtney marched over to him with hands on hip.
"Oh yes it was!" Duncan cackled. "I just wished it was all on camera! Oh wait... it is!" He laughed some more, point two fingers to the camera.
Courtney growled. "You are so vile. Do your parents even like you?" Duncan only kept smirking.
"I don't know jumpy Mc-chicken. I haven't asked them lately." Off into the distance was a sudden wolf howl, dragging on morosely in the empty wind. Courtney flinched with a gasp, unknowingly moving into Duncan's arms. He looked down, surprised, but pleasantly smug. Cody gave a thumbs up over to him, while Scott just blew a raspberry.
...
"... and then BAM! One shot was all it took to fell the great beast!" Owen told ecstatically. His story had been more forgiving than Duncan's. "We too his blood and marked ourselves to honor him. It was a good death." He finished somberly.
"Yeah right." Heather was quick to burst his bubble. "There's no way you took down a ten-foot bear."
"I dunno Heather... his farts are pretty lethal." Noah rebutted. Some bushes nearby had suddenly begun to rustle. It was loud and everybody turned to it. Owen stood up with a chest puff, and strolled on over.
"Heheh, hey look! Maybe it's a deer or something? Man what a feast!"
"No! Don't kill Bambi!" Kitty cried, angling her phone nevertheless.
But what rose out from the bushes wasn't Bambi. It was covered in matted fur, had a grumbling growl, and it rose up way above Owen. His eyes popped open; he jumped a foot high before shrieking, "GREAT PYRAMIDS OF GIZA." He let out a loud scream, everybody instantly getting up in alarm. The whole group slowly backed away from the bear, hearts pumping. The camera zoomed in on Cameron's pants, which were now wet.
"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Owen hysterically ran around in circles. "WE'RE GONNA GET EATEN ALIVE BY A BEAR. OH THE HORROR- SOMEBODY HELP, I WANT MY MOMMY-" absolutely fed up, Heather stuck a foot out, tripping Owen into a flight to the bushes. As the bear sounded another grunt, Heather cried out,
"The trees! Climb into the trees!"
Everyone began to scramble up the nearest tree. Cameron grasped the bark, but quickly retracted it.
"Ow! Splinters!" Cameron stared at his punctured hands, afraid to touch it again. Mike hurried behind him.
"Come on Cam, you got to hurry! Here, lemme help." Mike hoisted Cameron's light frame upwards, and with a heavy grunt, he managed to throw him up high enough onto a small branch.
"W-whao! Thanks Mike." Cameron called down. Mike made up there with him too. Zoey followed, but her foot snagged onto a flimsy cut of thick bark. It broke off in a crack and Zoey desperately grabbed onto the branch with one hand, dangling in the air.
"Ack! Oh no!" Zoey yelped as her hold loosened. Slipping, she nearly fell, and she would've if it weren't for Mike reflexively clasping her wrist, pulling her up. Zoey threw her arms over the branch, looking up to Mike - whose face was a mere inch away from her's.
"Mike! Thank you."
"Anytime." They shared a small moment before smiling and settling themselves on the branch. Everybody else managed to get on up without much hassle.
Noah cleared his throat, voice not in the least bit shaken up. "Well, what now?"
"Don't look at me." Heather replied.
"It was your idea to climb the trees toothpick." Anne Maria harrumphed.
"Well why don't you ask the bear hunting expert?" Heather refuted. "Hey Owen! What now?" She arched her eyebrows in anticipation of a response. Owen was further up, hugging the trunk.
"How should I know?!"
"Dude." Leshawna shook her ponytail. "You said you killed a bear."
"I was being theatrical!" Owen cried out.
"This is all your fault!" Heather yelled at him. "If you hadn't been growling like that - we never would've attracted him to our site!"
"Excuse me for LIVING. Aauuugghh." Owen agonizingly bellowed. He knocked his head against the tree a few times.
"Hey, hey! Ease up on the guy." Kitty called out in his defense. "I mean, he did bring us all that fish." The very same fish was now being carefully inspected and sniffed by the bear. Heather caught sight of this and shouted at the bear.
"HEY! LAY OFF OUR FISH!"
Anne Maria joined in. "Get outta here you wild discount wig!" She sprayed her can in the direction of the bear, to no avail. As Kitty took a selfie with the bear from afar, there was a strange creaking noise. It was below Leshawna. She looked down in fright as the cracks below began to form and move. Without warning, the branch broke off, Leshawna screaming as she slammed down on the bushes.
She warily got back up and opened her eyes. Her eyes were reflected in the all black eyes of the bear, its snout growling close to her. Everybody gasped above.
"Dear Abby - she's going to DIE!" Owen wailed.
Leshawna scooched backwards messily, until her back hit flat against the tree. "H-heh, nice bear?" She covered herself. "WuAAAUGH! Somebody HELP me!"
Everyone shouted in terror, all their calls drowning out the other. A pregnant pause filled the air in a devastating wait. The bear stood up, and impossibly, smiled.
"Eheh, are you okay?" A muffled voice came. Leshawna glanced in incredulity.
"Uh- did that bear just ask me a question?"
The bear held its head in two paws, and with some effort, shucked the entire head off. It was a mascot suit, hiding a grinning Izzy inside. Owen instantly slid down.
"Oh my goodness I did NOT see that coming!" Owen said.
"Okay, I'm so confused right now?" Lindsay queried.
"What are you, some sort of maniac?" Emma shouted down. "You nearly gave us all a heart attack!"
"I thought it would be funny! Ehehaha!"
*static*
Izzy: Okay, okay that was SO funny like- 'Oh, oh no the bear' and then like- Izzy, still in the costume began to do gestures left and right, imitating the Gophers - 'We're all going to die now, help! Help!' Ahahahahaha!
*static*
"Go back to your own team Izzy." Emma ordered.
"Aww, but I want some fish!" Izzy giggled, bear head resting on her hand.
"If we give you some of our fish, will you leave now?" Emma bargained. Izzy sighed dramatically.
"Alright, alright yeesh." Izzy trotted on over to the roasting fish, and swallowed one whole without so much as chewing.
"That was sick." Kitty deadpanned. Izzy flashed her sharp teeth before waving away.
"Rocking the fish sticks! Ehehee! Bye-bye!"
Heather grumbled after her. "And good riddance!"
...
On Izzy's way back, she encountered a large rock in her way. She was busy humming something and looking at the dark shadows around her to notice.
"Oof!" The belly side of her costume hit against the figure. The large rock began to roll and move. Then it grew vertically, into a-
"Whoa! That bear costume is really good. I mean- I thought mine was good, but this one is like really good." The bear sniffed at Izzy's costume for a bit, emitting a rumbling snarl.
Izzy momentarily slowed. "Huh, that sounded pretty real." The bear arose again, this time full blown roaring into her face. Izzy's orange locks wildly blew in the hot air as she stared down the chasm of teeth. "Huh." She smiled. "Guess you are a real bear."
"AAAHH!" Izzy ran, or waddled, in her suit back to her campsite.
...
Back inside the tent of the Killer Bass, everybody fit inside nicely. Maybe it had to do with the fact that one person (not counting Izzy) was missing. Gwen surged forward. DJ propped his hands and leaned up too.
"What's wrong? Gotta go pee?" DJ asked.
"No..." Gwen looked around. "It's nothing."
"Come on man."
"Look, I just noticed Trent was missing okay? Thought he was here just a second ago... not that it matters or anything." She grumbled.
"I think he told me he was going to hang outside for a while."
Gwen looked back and fro between the opening of the tent and the rest of the campers.
"Hey." DJ whispered. "It's alright, everybody else is asleep. You can leave and hang out with him if ya want."
"DJ, I-"
"Look, he doesn't care about that whole thing with Heather." DJ stared her down. "Fact, he told me today that he just wants to speak with you again." Gwen squirmed, uncomfortable.
"He... did?"
"Yes, now go on Gwen. You got nothing to lose." DJ gave a comforting grin. "Shoo." Gwen's resolve broke and she breathed a smirk. She murmured a thanks before getting up to leave. DJ gave Bunny a high-five.
Gwen walked out and spotted Trent sitting on a broad, flat boulder. His back was turned to her, facing the moon and stars. Gwen slowly walked up to him, hand hesitating to poke him. Shaking, she put her hand down and turned to go back.
"I know you're there." Trent sighed. Gwen's eyes widened. Welp, no going back now. She carefully climbed the boulder as sat down next to him, with a respectable distance between them.
"Hey..." Gwen said in a scratchy voice. "I didn't mean to brush you off or anything. Well, I did, but.." Before the silence could descend into awkwardness, Trent replied,
"No no, it's okay. You just needed some time to recover is all." Trent nodded. "Don't worry about it."
There's a comfortable silence now, filled with crickets and swishing leaves, and Gwen spoke up, "Look, how about we just... go back to normal? So friends or whatever the heck we were before?" Gwen suggested with a wince, expecting the worst. Trent brightened up.
"Sure, whatever you want." He said, chill as always. "I just want you to know that you're cool and there's nothing that'll change my mind about that."
"Really? Not even me liking The Dusk?" Gwen grinned with a challenge.
"Oh my god, of all the movies, The Dusk?" Trent barked. They both laughed, immensely more at ease than before. They even might have started to unconsciously lean in towards each other, definitely being a bit closer than before. They might've even come close to the typical, swirly mood of a teenager type kiss... but they didn't. Because in came-
"AAAAUUUGGGGHHAHAHAH!" Izzy barged in through the woods, tumbling blindly. At some point, she must've lost the bear because she came in alone and with nobody chasing after her - even though that's exactly what it looked like. Trent and Gwen both gasp at the interruption and leap out of the way as Izzy runs around the fire pit. Izzy's foot got caught on one of the smoldering rocks near the fire and it was kicked up high into the air. It may have been a relatively small rock, but it was glowing, fiery, and it left behind a streak of golden past it.
It hit the bottom of the tent where everybody else was sleeping, and in an instant the tent went up in flames, damn near combusting, and just as quickly as it came the incredibly radiant fire engulfing the tent had gone away in a flash. And so had the tent.
Wide awake now, everybody turned to Izzy, the main suspect because a.) she was missing for a while and b.) she was in a bear outfit.
After a long tale of analogies and hysterics, Izzy told the full story, efficiently and fully pissing Courtney off.
"Great. That's just great Izzy. Ugh!" Courtney yelled. "Now we have nowhere to SLEEP!"
"Yo." Duncan held his hands up. "Drama queen, relax. It's cool."
"Cool? It's COOL?" She jutted her chin at him. "Things cannot possibly get worse!" Drip. Duncan looked up at where a sudden water drop had fell from the sky and landed on Courtney's hair. They hold their breath.. until the shower of rain came pouring down. Duncan simpered. Courtney screamed.
Lightning makes the entire forest bright for a millisecond. The Screaming Gophers are startled by the sudden storm, but they're dry. The Killer Bass, on the other hand, were all huddled near DJ as he held up a palm leave high and over them.
It was a long night, but the march of time pushed forward. Hence, morning came. Cheery whistles of songbirds replaced that of clicking owls. The sun hung over the island. A shriek entered, because of course.
"A RACCOON!" Lindsay screamed, forcing everyone alive and running. Heather gasped.
"It's shredded the map!" The raccoon perked, then scampered off into the trees. "Ugh! I wake up with a crick in my back and now this?!" A bird fluttered down gently during her tangent and began to chirp. "Shut up!" The bird fell off.
...
First thing we see on the Killer Bass side is Courtney snuggled up on top of Duncan. This is how we start.
Courtney nestled herself, somehow, against Duncan's chest, starting to wake up. Duncan opened an eyelid at the movement, beyond pleased.
"Morning sunshine." She snapped eyes open and gasped.
"Oh my gosh! Ew." She made a fuss of getting up and scrubbing herself off any "Duncan". "YOU were cuddling me!" She accused.
Duncan smirked. "I was calmly lying on my back trying to catch a few Zs. YOU were snuggling up to me."
"You are such an ogre." Courtney scoured.
"I've been called worse." He kicked back to sleep, arms resting behind his head. Courtney stormed off with a "Ugh!".
*static*
Courtney: Okay, I just want to say for the record that I was totally asleep and therefore unconscious at the alleged 'cuddling' with said neanderthal. So essentially it's like it never happened. She crossed her arms, happy with her response.
*static*
...
Chris was tending to the main empty bonfire back at the pit where everyone was supposed to meet. He turned and stepped aside at sight of the sprinting Killer Bass running in. Courtney gasped,
"We're the first ones back!" She cheered. Not too long after, the Screaming Gophers came running. Heather led in first.
"Oh no! they beat us here!" Heather panted and yelled in frustration. "Stupid raccoon!"
"Ah-ah-ah, not so fast gopherinos!" Chris tutted, finger waggling. "It seems that the Killer Bass are missing some fish!" And indeed they were. Izzy was nowhere to be found. Now where could she be?
...
"Uh guys? Hello?" Izzy called out from her bear suit. The head was back on, but this time it was glued shut by some strange, sticky sap. The eye holes were covered and taped as well, leaving a poor Izzy blind and wandering. "Come on guys, I was only kidding about the whole 'I'll eat you' thing! Jeez.. need to learn how to take a joke."
...
Scott looked all too innocent in the picture. He snickered. Courtney quickly replied,
"Oh you mean Izzy? Yeah, I'm pretty sure she got eaten by wolves last night."
"Darn shame." Duncan nodded in artificial somber.
*static*
Scott: Who needs some fancy shmnacy glue when you can make a hand-homemade glob of perfectly good tree spit? He sighs happily. All according to plan, hehehe. Only shame is this time I can't manipulert anybody into voting anyone out this time. It's pretty obvious that Izzy's going to be a goner. But hey? One step closer to the dough, haha!
*static*
Quick breaths of pants heard from the distance soon became loud. Izzy sprinted in, her head somehow burst through the bear's mask.
"Woohoo! I made it!" Izzy cackled. "You guys won't believe what just happened, apparently, I was blinded this morning and I couldn't see anything. Except for the color black of course. But then I heard this growl or something and I- haha- just booked it! It was so scary and so hilarious. And when I bumped into a tree, I got my sight back!" The rest had stood still at her rant. Courtney sashayed up, smiling.
"Are you finished with your story?" Izzy nodded. "Because thanks to you we just LOST the CHALLENGE!" Her sickly sweet grin turned lemon sour in an instant. Izzy's face remained the same acorn grin, which only seemed to infuriate Courtney more. "First you burn up the tent, then you cost us the race?" She fumed. Leshawna chuckled,
"Whoa, she managed to squeeze in tent-burning last night too? Hahaa damn!"
"Alright Killer Bass!" Chris shouted over. "One of your fishy butts is going home!" He turned to the other waiting team. "Gophers! You're going on an all expense paid trip to... the tuckshop!" They all literally bounced in sync.
"Ya- woohoo!" Was their general quip before they all bounded towards it, out the camp pit. The team left behind however, gasped and immediately scowled at Izzy, who just nervously shifted.
"What?" Scott could barely keep his snigger in.
...
Relaxing in a hot tub, the Gophers partied with a new stash of chips, empty containers already littering the floor.
"Oh my gosh this is so good!" Owen was overjoyed, mouth stuffed with crackers. "I never thought chips could taste so good! I think I'm gonna be sick." And just like that, Owen hurled over the tub. Heather was next to him.
"That's so incredibly gross." Owen flipped back.
"Oh that's better." He raised his fists. "Woo! The Screaming Gophers rule!"
Kitty chatted with Zoey, despite Emma's complaints with keeping the "eye on the prize".
"So! What do ya think of the guys here?" Kitty happily sipped a soda, eager for Zoey's response.
"Oh! Me? Um... they're all pretty nice." She nervously laughed.
"Yeah, yeah- but I mean, is there any one here that's nice nice?"
Zoey's eyes betrayed her, quickly flicked over to Mike and Cameron sitting by the porch. They both had declined to enter the water. "Well... I guess there IS someone in particular." Kitty squeed. "But I'm not telling!"
Kitty snorted, deciding to humor Zoey for now. "Aww alright then. Keep your little secret, but I swear I'll find it out one day!" They laughed.
*static*
Zoey: Wow! Kitty so nice! A lot of the people here are nice. She smiles, rubbing her arm. W-well, almost all, but hey- we all can't be an angel right? Anyways, I'm just really happy I got to make some new friends. Even if the show itself is a bit odd..
*static*
...
In a time saving transition, the island was once again basked in the night. The fire pit could be seen with the familiar glow from afar.
"You've all cast your votes." Chris announced. "The camper who does not receive a marshmallow mush immediately hit the dock of shame, grab the boat of losers, and get the heck outta here!" He looked noticeably perturbed. "And you can't come back. Ever." The team looked dead inside.
"Now, I can see you're all tired so tonight I'll just throw them to you." Chris grinned, chucking out his first marshmallow to Courtney. She smiled, taking it. But it disappeared when Duncan caught his too.
"Courtney, Duncan, DJ, Tyler, Scott, Harold, Trent, Gwen... and what a surprise." Chris rolled his eyes. "The one headed for the boat of loser is- hey! Where did Izzy go?" They all looked around and murmured.
"She's gone again? Ugh, it's like she can teleport." Courtney huffed, clearly done with Izzy's antics.
Slowly stalking up behind Chris however...
"BOOWAAAH!" Chris flinched at the bellow right behind him, but he quickly smooths his shirt into playing it off. Izzy, still as a bear, stood behind him laughing.
"*ahem* right. Izzy, you're out."
"Yeah. yeah I know. I just was talking with the others. Did you know Owen can whistle the Canadian anthem through his nose?"
"Mmhm, sure. Now get on out of here!" Chris waved his hands, and as did all the other teammates. Courtney especially did so without any remorse. Izzy sighed.
"Fine, fine. But watch out! The slippery Izzy-" She pauses. "-will RETURN! Ahaha!" She hopped on over to the boat and sailed off, her jittery figure still jumping in the distance.
"Well, the cuckoo's gone now." Gwen tittered, still slightly upset at how she interrupted her and Trent last night. They grinned at each other.
...
Sitting on the front steps of the cabin was Courtney, swatting at the swarm of gnats and flies at the door. Duncan walked over to her and sat down, obnoxiously close to her. She scoffs.
"What do you want now?"
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I scared you." Duncan looked to her, least of anything abashed.
"I was NOT scared." Courtney clarified. "It was completely circumstantial. And there's no such thing as a hook man."
"Yeah, you're probably right." He leaned back. "Or ARE YOU?" Duncan flashed a crazed smile, holding up the same hook as before. Courtney let out a shout before she could realize it. She held her mouth, then she gave a sound of pure frustration. The night and day had been taxing. She defiantly stood up, tight as a line, and she stomped off. "I hate you!" She shut the door.
"She so doesn't hate me." Duncan jeered, shoving his arms behind his back, too late to remember that the hook was still on. "Ow!"
Chris's voice came on over.
"Hehe, couple of lovey dovey shenanigans going on. Some disgusting-" The camera flipped over to a doe-eyed Noah, inadvertently looking at Emma steal a few glances at him, though not letting up. Gwen and Trent sitting together on the edge of the dock, swinging their feet. And then the most obvious "couple" being Mike and Zoey, talking to each other.
"-though I think I like this one the best." Courtney screams in irritation.
"There's more hate to it, ehehe. Tune in next time for another episode of Total. Drama. Camp!"