It was Courtney's mission for the rest of the competition to ignore Duncan where possible, and when it was necessary to acknowledge his existence she would be as rude as possible. She didn't even flinch when he knocked her shoulder as he walked past her and she merely rolled her eyes at his glee at finding out the challenge was a hunting challenge. Of course he would enjoy shooting things.

After Owen had eaten everyone's beans that had been supplied for their breakfast, Chris led the campers over to a case of guns.

"And now for the team break downs," Chris addressed the campers. "The Killer Bass Hunters are; Harold, Geoff, and Bridgette," Chris threw paintball guns at the three of them. Courtney groaned at the choice of hunters. There was no way Harold was going to be any good with a gun, and Bridgette was an animal rights activist for crying out loud.

"Locked and loaded with Bass blue paint!" Chris continued. "And using orange paint are the Gopher hunters; Leshawna, Beth, Owen, Lindsay," he tossed over the red coloured paint guns. Owen cheered at his new position of hunter.

"This is awesome man!" he cried ecstatically.

"You also get these stylin' glasses and wicked camo caps!" Chris grinned. "The rest of you… are now deer," he stated. "Here are your antlers, noses, aaaand little white tails," he chuckled to himself. Courtney screwed up her nose at the costume. This was so not cute.

"Yeah, right!" Heather complained, voicing Courtney's thoughts. "I am not wearing that!"

"There is no way I'm a deer!" Duncan complained, his earlier delight at a hunting challenge immediately evaporating as Chris smacked a set of antlers, goggles and red nose onto his head. On second thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, Courtney smirked to herself at how foolish Duncan looked with the antlers on. So much for his bad boy appearance he worked so hard on. This challenge was already Courtney's favourite so far. She giggled to herself as Chris then attached the tail onto Duncan's backside, completing the ridiculous ensemble.

Owen also had a laugh, although not as discrete as Courtney's own laugh.

"What are you lookin' at?" Duncan sneered at the big blonde.

"Oh nothing," Owen smirked. "Bambi," he added maliciously, pulling Duncan's tail.

"You'd better be a good shot, tubby," Duncan poked Owen in the chest threateningly. The rest of the deer reluctantly put on their costumes and glared at anyone who tried to make fun of them.

"Alright, deer get ready! You'll get a three minute head start and then I'll send the hunters after you! And go!" Chris shouted. The Gophers quickly ran into the forest while the Courtney, Sadie, Duncan and DJ ran in another direction.

"Okay, I think we can stop running now," Sadie puffed. They all slowed down and walked at an even pace through the woods.

"At least we get a head start," Courtney mused to Sadie. Today was the day she was going to try and convince the girl to be in an alliance with her and Bridgette.

"I don't know about y'all but I'm outta here," DJ said being bounding off into the trees. Courtney, Sadie and Duncan stared after him in wonder.

"So, Sadie," Courtney said, shaking her head. "It must be really hard for you without Katie around."

"Oh, it so is! This is the longest Katie and I have ever been separated. Do you know what that's like?" Sadie said sadly.

"To be separated from your best friend?" Courtney asked in clarification.

"To be separated from you soulmate," Sadie corrected. Courtney inadvertently glanced at Duncan, who was trailing behind the two girls. She hoped he didn't notice.

"No, I don't," Courtney admitted.

"It's like, my chest won't stop aching. Even though I know I'll see her again soon," Sadie sighed. For Courtney, this just confirmed why she should never let herself get close to Duncan. She didn't need the excruciating pain of the separation, or the feeling of weakness because you need a person that much.

"It can't be that bad," Duncan snorted.

"Shut up, Duncan, it's none of your business," Courtney snapped.

"It's just a person," Duncan continued. "It can't possibly hurt you to be away from them. At least not the way a broken leg hurts or a kick in the nuts," Duncan said assuredly.

"It hurts much more than that," Sadie sniffed.

"Whatever," Duncan rolled his eyes. Courtney scowled at him. She was supposed to be avoiding him, and here he was hanging around her like the plague.

"I think we should split up," she announced before walking off into the forest on her own.

She walked around for what seemed like hours without seeing another person. Why was this challenge so dull? Her thoughts drifted to Duncan and she found herself getting mad all over again that he was probably her soulmate. She could feel the rage under her skin and the disgust at having such a lowlife as a soulmate. She needed to find him and give him a piece of her mind. Or just insult him, or something. Ignoring him wasn't working, so maybe being a bitch would.

Duncan strolled through the forest, minding his own business. This challenge was so lame. He really wanted to be a hunter. He considered removing the stupid tail and antlers but he knew their team would get disqualified and he didn't feel like losing today. And what was up with Courtney lately? She'd barely acknowledged him since their trip to Boney Island. She hadn't even made fun of his tail. Maybe she was trying to get back at him for ignoring her since their last challenge.

He walked over to the river to get a drink, still lost in his own world. He narrowly avoided being shot by Owen before racing back into the woods. He wondered how the rest of his team were going. God, this is so boring, he thought as he wandered aimlessly through the trees. He glanced around to make sure there were no hunters around before pulling out a can of spray paint and practising his skull drawing skills.

"Why do you smell worse than usual?" came a condescending voice from behind him. He turned around to see Courtney pursing her lips at him, standing with her hands on her hips.

"It's Owen's stink!" he said defensively. "It's following me around like my juvenile record."

"Well, I'm heading back," Courtney said snootily. "This stupid game must be almost over by now." Duncan silently agreed with her and was prepared to follow her back to camp, except for the fact that she was headed in the wrong direction.

"You're going the wrong way," he informed her.

"Excuse me?" she scoffed. "I was a CIT, remember? I have a natural sense of direction. Camp is this way," she declared, pointing in the complete wrong direction, of course.

"No, it's that way," Duncan corrected. She rolled her eyes at him and ignored his advice, going the way she had originally said. Fine, if she wanted to get totally lost, that was her problem, but he wasn't about to do the same. Duncan went his own way, only to crash into her and find himself entangled in her antlers. He tried to pull away, as did she but as they pulled at each other they only seemed to get more stuck.

"Very funny," Courtney said, clearly not amused at all. "Now let me go!" What did she think, he'd planned this whole thing so he could be stuck to her? Like he wanted that!

"Hey, princess, this isn't my idea of fun either," he pointed out.

"Great, Duncan!" she said accusingly. "Now what?" she shrieked. Duncan briefly considered just taking off the antlers; that was the easiest option. But he knew Courtney would run off and tell Chris and then they'd lose the challenge. Plus, he now had an infallible excuse to be near her. After the avoiding she'd clearly been doing all day, she was now stuck with him, and the knowledge of that brightened Duncan's spirits considerably. Maybe he'd finally get her to admit she liked him.

"Do you wanna make out?" he suggested with a grin. Okay, he was pretty sure she wasn't going to say yes, but it was worth a shot. Even if the only outcome was that she was even more pissed at him, it was totally worth it. There was something about winding up Courtney that gave him a thrill. Was it that she was super hot when she was seething? Maybe. Or that he was pretty sure she could crush him with her bare hands? Also quite likely. But it was probably because she tried so hard to act cool, calm and collected all the time and the fact that he could get under skin meant that she wasn't really. And he liked that, because he knew that somewhere under that stuck-up-bitch exterior, there was a wild child waiting to burst out. And he would be the one to do it.

Courtney's eyes widened at Duncan's words. She felt her face heat up and she hoped Duncan didn't notice the blush that covered her face, or perhaps he'd mistake it for anger.

"No, I don't want to make out!" she snapped. Even though she really did. Like, a lot. So much for trying to avoid him. Now she was stuck to him, and all she could think about was how his lips would feel against hers and how she knew the lines or her chest would fill with colour as soon as their lips met. She could feel that familiar sensation of her heart pounding, trying to escape from the prison of her rib cage so that it could be with her soulmate. This was a horrible feeling. She wanted him so badly, and she knew it right now it would be so easy to just give in to her desires.

But she also knew that path led to heartbreak, pain and devastation. And not one hundred thousand dollars. So she took a deep breath and held onto her pride, though her whole body was screaming out for Duncan's touch.

"Come on, let's get back to camp," she said instead.

"We're going my way," Duncan insisted. Courtney hardly cared anymore, she just wanted to be removed from this excruciating situation as soon as possible

"Fine! Just hurry up!" she said impatiently. The two of them walked sideways in the direction that Duncan was adamant camp was in. The process was slow and any time Duncan tried to talk Courtney would hush him or give him a withering glare.

About halfway back to camp Chris's voice came through the loudspeaker telling them that the game was over. The two of them kept going, not even thinking that now they'd be allowed to take off their antlers.

They eventually made it back to camp, only to find both teams there staring at them. God, could this get anymore embarrassing?

"Oh this is too much!" Gwen said in amusement. Why was Gwen always there to make Courtney's humiliation worse? First the jelly and now this. One day she was going to slap that girl.

"Ooh, Duncan you sly dog, you!" Owen called lewdly.

"The girl can't keep her antlers off me!" Duncan snickered. Courtney was thankful Duncan didn't realise just how true that statement was. As it was, she was furious with him still, and that comment did little to calm her rage. She brought her foot back and kicked him square in the nuts with as much force as she could muster. The punk deserved it.

"Easy, Courtney, our medical tent's really only equipped for one person at a time and Cody's pretty messed up," Chris warned her. Courtney couldn't care less if Duncan needed the medical tent and couldn't use it. He had it coming, and she certainly felt a lot better now that she had emitted some of her anger.

Bridgette and Geoff walked over and separated the two of them. Duncan dropped to his knees, holding his crotch while Courtney stood over him, shooting daggers. This was totally all his fault.

That night the Bass relaxed in their cabin as they awaited the return of the Gophers to see who had been eliminated.

"Things are finally going well with Bridgette," Geoff told the guys. "No thanks to you, Duncan. I'm demoting you and replacing you with DJ."

"Hey, I gave you good advice, you just couldn't follow through," Duncan defended. Not that he really wanted to be Geoff's wingman, but he knew he was good with the ladies and he didn't want Geoff taking that away from him, just because Geoff himself was incompetent.

"Whatever, DJ was the one who got Bridgette talking to me again after the gift fiasco," Geoff pointed out.

"Not my fault your gift was lame," Duncan shrugged. "I'm excellent with the ladies."

"Then why haven't you hooked up with Courtney yet?" Geoff said, raising and eyebrow. "We all know you like her."

Duncan looked at him, stunned. He wasn't expecting the question. He couldn't formulate a response because he hadn't realised Geoff even knew he was trying to hook up with Courtney. In fact he'd barely even known it himself, but he knew that his actions towards the princess could only be explained by one thing; he wanted her.

He thought about the way he was practically always either following her around, or avoiding her because he didn't want anyone to know that he liked her. And he did like her. A lot. And he hated himself for it because she was exactly the kind of woman who drove him crazy, but maybe that was why he liked her so much.

He'd spent so long trying to deny it to himself and to everyone else, while simultaneously trying so hard to win her over in the most obscure ways; scaring her, antagonising her, comforting her, teasing her or encouraging her, but never once admitting to himself his true motives. Somewhere along the line he'd convinced himself he wanted her to admit that she liked him for the sole reason of it being embarrassing for her, but he'd totally ignored the underlying reasons that he felt in his heart.

The simple fact was that he really wanted her to like him because, well… he liked her. And he was terrified that maybe she didn't like him back after all because he knew that if it turned out she didn't like him back he would be a total laughing stock.

Geoff, DJ and Harold were staring at him as he opened at shut his mouth, trying to think of a snide comeback, but all he could think about was Courtney's lips so close to his when their antlers were entwined, and the pang of disappointment he felt when she'd rejected his offer of making out. At this point he didn't care if they were soulmates or not, but he knew it was likely, since she was the only girl on the island he was lusting after.

"Shit," he swore under his breath. "You're right," he looked at Geoff hopelessly. "I'm fucked. What the fuck am I going to do?"

Geoff, DJ and Harold stared at him in bewilderment, as if they hadn't really expected him to admit it.

"Just tell her you like her," Harold advised. Duncan glared at him as if he were stupid.

"Are you crazy? I can't let her know I like her! That would be humiliating," Duncan scowled. "It's bad enough that you guys know. And I swear to god if any of you say anything I will cut your throats in your sleep."

"Don't worry dude," Geoff assured him, "DJ and I will help you. Tomorrow at the challenge we'll do everything we can to make her like you."

"I'll help too," Harold sighed in agreement. Duncan nodded, his mouth forming into a tight line, lest he show any kind of emotion. He really hoped their plan worked.

Okay, so to everyone reading this, I have written four chapters since my last update (including this one). I'm really tempted to just post them all now but I won't because the reason I wrote them is so that I'll have something to post while I'm overseas and y'all won't have to wait 3 months for an update. So I'll try to post one a month while I'm in Europe and then I'll continue writing when I get back!

Please still review while I'm gone, I love hearing feedback!