Well I promised a new chapter in April so here it is! I'm posting this from Edinburgh, Scotland! If anyone cares I've been in Ireland for two weeks, next stop is England, Wales, France, Switzerland, Italy and finishing in Greece before a long plane ride home to Australia. Next chapter will be up in May. Enjoy!
Courtney pushed the Hawaiian-Italian fusion casserole that Chef had served for breakfast around her plate with the straw she'd so graciously been given. After their five-star dinner last night this was a real downer. This day was so not going good. She'd already been exposed to a naked Harold, and while it had given the girls a good laugh, the sight of his tiny penis was now etched into her brain, making her sick to her stomach.
She tried to swallow a bit of Chef's concoction of leftovers from the challenge, but she couldn't seem to stomach even a bite, so she scraped the so-called food off into the bin and took her plate up to the counter. As she did so she didn't miss Duncan swipe one of the mugs by the coffee machine. She quickly jumped on him, before he thought he had gotten away with it.
"I saw that," she informed him. "How could you just steal a mug?" Duncan looked at her disdainfully.
"Cause it's cool looking and I don't have one," he sniffed. "Didn't have one, that is," he corrected himself with a smirk, carrying his coffee back to the table. Courtney followed him. If she couldn't appeal to his sense of honour (of which she was sure he didn't have any), maybe she could appeal to his sense of wanting to win one hundred thousand dollars.
"But you might get kicked off," she whispered urgently. Not that she cared of course. It would be all the better for her if he got kicked off, then she wouldn't have to worry about this dumb soulmate thing.
"Naw," he grinned, "and here I thought you didn't care about me!" Trust him to take it the wrong way. Why did he always have to be so aggravating?
"We're one player short and I don't want to lose because you feel like going all criminal on us," she told him haughtily. She'd already made it perfectly clear to him last night that she didn't like him, but he hadn't seemed to hear a word she said.
"Pfft, whatever," Duncan brushed off her comment. "You dig me." He grinned again.
"Ugh!" Courtney moaned. "Why do I even bother?" she stalked off, feeling very frustrated. If they lost the challenge this week he was so going home.
In a strange turn of events, Chris gave the campers an entire week off from doing challenges. Everyone was tense and on edge and Courtney spent most of her time in the girls cabin hiding from Duncan. But, a week after their cooking challenge, Chris had assembled both teams on the dock to announce the challenge for the day.
"So, last week's challenge exposed a few Gopher issues," Chris announced, "and I'm sensing a little something funky floating in the Bass pond too," he nodded. Courtney felt Duncan elbow her in the ribs, as if to say, "he's talking about us." Courtney frowned at him and gave him a shove, sending him into a face plant on the dock. She was not going to put up with his bullshit today.
"So this week's challenge is going to be centred around building trust," Chris continued as Duncan picked himself up and dusted himself off, glaring and Courtney. She gave him an evil grin, hoping he'd finally got the message. "Because all good things begin with a little trust," Chris declared. Too bad I don't trust Duncan at all, Courtney thought. I may have an unmentionable and inexplicable attraction towards him, but the guy is a criminal with no heart, she glared at him and he rolled his eyes as Chris explained the challenge.
Nobody looked particularly happy with the challenge. Courtney was sure there weren't two people on this island who actually trusted each other fully. This was going to be an interesting day.
Duncan had kind of been hoping to get on a challenge with Courtney, especially after her performance on the dock. He was landed with DJ, however, which he supposed was better than being paired with Harold.
Duncan's job was easy, just hold the ropes and catch DJ if he fell, though Chris tried to make it harder by squirting pepper sauce at him.
"Is that the best you can do?" Duncan laughed as he swallowed the sauce. His sunglasses stopped any liquid from getting in his eyes. This was so easy, Gwen had already fallen once, and although she was gaining on DJ fast, Heather was a horrible partner and Gwen would probably fall again.
He got a bit more nervous when Gwen overtook DJ. DJ looked like he was struggling a little and Duncan wondered if he was scared of heights as well as snakes.
"Come on, Gwen," Duncan heard Heather call, "You don't want to fall behind," she yelled, sounding weirdly malicious. The next thing he knew he was staring at Gwen's purple underwear.
"Well," he said gleefully, "you don't see that everyday!" He stared at Gwen's ass appreciatively and unapologetically. It had been a while for him after all, and Gwen wasn't exactly ugly. She even had a pink skull and cross bones on her panties, he noted approvingly. The girl had style, that was for sure. He was too busy ogling Gwen's ass to notice that DJ had fallen, and by the time he noticed it was too late. His foot got caught in the rope and both of them were left hanging from the cliff in midair, while Gwen made it to the top, despite her lack of skirt.
Courtney, Harold and Sadie helped Duncan and DJ down from the cliff while Geoff and Bridgette were ushered off to the kitchen for the next part of the challenge. It took them about half an hour to finally get the two of them down, and Duncan didn't stop complaining the whole time.
"This wouldn't have happened if you'd been paying attention instead of staring at Gwen's ass," Courtney scolded Duncan as he fell to the ground.
"Sounds like someone's jealous," Duncan smirked, brushing himself off.
"I'm not jealous!" Courtney growled at him. "God, you never think about anyone but yourself!" she cried as she stalked off.
"She's jealous," Duncan told DJ assuredly, watching Courtney's ass as she walked away. Now why couldn't Heather have removed Courtney's clothes instead of Gwen's?
Jealous? Courtney scoffed to herself as she made her way to the next challenge, I'm so not jealous. What did she care if Duncan wanted to stare at Gwen's butt? She knew she had a way nicer ass than Gwen did anyway. Gwen's ass was practically flat. She couldn't deny that it had brought her a little joy to see the girl embarrassed like that though. Did that make her as bad as Heather? No, of course not. Gwen had mocked her countless times, and acted like she was better than Courtney just because she dressed in all black? Whatever. Gwen had a bad attitude and there was no way she was going to win the competition.
Speaking of which, where was Duncan? She looked around, unable to see the punk anywhere. She huffed, he really should have been there at every challenge. Although when it came time for Sadie to throw apples at her head, she was kind of glad he wasn't around to witness her be pelted by hard fruits. He would have enjoyed that way too much.
After he'd been released from the ropes that had him hanging from the cliff face, Duncan decided to go and check on how Geoff and Bridgette were doing for their challenge, despite the fact that DJ, Harold and Sadie assured him it would be over by now and they should go and find Chris for the next part of the challenge. They turned out to be right, of course, and by the time he got there it was only Chef Hatchet dressed in a nurse's outfit and Trent in the dining hall.
"What happened to him?" Duncan asked.
"Lindsay poisoned him," Chef told him. "Help me take him to the medical tent." Duncan hurried over and the two of them lifted Trent onto a stretcher and carried him to the medical tent where Chef began searching through the first aid kit.
"Hm, seems like we're out of anaesthetic," he mused. "Wait here while I go and get some." Duncan was about to protest but Chef was already gone. He looked at Trent awkwardly for a moment.
"So…" he started. He knew Trent could hear him but couldn't talk back. "We haven't talked much." Trent just stared up at him. "You just can't seem to catch a break, can you?" Duncan chuckled. "First the mime, then the quicksand, then the concussion and now this. I think this competition's trying to kill you."
He couldn't think of anything else to say to Trent so he sat and watched him in silence. Five minutes later Chef walked in, carrying an unconscious Courtney over his shoulder.
"Is she okay?" Duncan asked worriedly, jumping up from the bed he was sitting on so Chef could put Courtney down.
"She's gonna be fine," Chef said, though he didn't sound that happy about it.
"What happened to her?" Duncan asked, his attention now solely on Courtney.
"Sadie hit her in the head with an apple," Chef shrugged. "Now I'm going to get the anaesthetic." Chef left the tent again as Duncan stood by Courtney's bed. The collar of her shirt had fallen open and he could just see the beginnings of the lines that adorned her chest. He felt a lump form in his throat, wondering if he kissed her now what would happen to them. He felt the urge to trace over the lines with his fingers, but he stopped himself, knowing that would be way out of line.
"Are you still here? Get your ass over to the next challenge," Chef yelled, entering the tent again. Duncan scarpered from the tent and over to the water pit where Chris was about to announce the next part of the challenge.
Courtney couldn't really remember anything after Sadie had said she was a great shot, and she figured that was a bad sign.
"What? Where am I?" she asked dazedly, sitting up on a stretcher.
"You're in the infirmary," Heather informed her. She thought for a moment until the memory of Sadie bombarding her with apples came flooding back to her. That girl was so going to get it.
Courtney stared at the jellyfish on Heather's head and wondered if in fact she was still unconscious. She continued to wonder this as she watched Duncan walk past the tent holding a carrot and trailing behind him was… a rabbit? This day just got weirder and weirder.
"What's Duncan doing with a rabbit?" she wondered aloud, once she'd decided she was definitely awake (if she were asleep she would definitely dream about some place better than this).
Courtney followed Duncan at a safe distance so he wouldn't notice her, until they came to the location of the final part of the challenge. She watched as Duncan picked up the rabbit and called out to DJ.
"Hey, DJ! Look who I found!" he called, raising the rabbit above his head. Courtney wasn't really paying attention to the rest of the challenge, she was too busy being astounded by Duncan's actions. Did he actually have a heart in there after all?
Both teams crossed the finish line, and the Bass celebrated as Geoff and DJ crossed first. DJ retrieved Bunny from Duncan's hands happily.
"Thanks Duncan," DJ said gratefully, tearing up. "You're the best!"
"Whatever, man," Duncan shrugged. "It's just a stupid rabbit." Courtney chose that moment to reveal that she'd been watching him the whole time.
"I can't believe you found a new bunny for DJ," she smirked. All this time Duncan had spent trying to convince everyone he was a badass, but now she knew he actually cared. "You're a good guy," she couldn't believe she was saying it, but weirdly, she actually believed it. And for the first time she wasn't totally repulsed, or angry that Duncan was her soulmate.
"What? No, I'm not," he denied.
"You are," she argued. "You're actually… nice," she smiled.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he sniffed.
"I saw you do it Duncan," Courtney said smugly.
"Whatever! He wouldn't leave me alone! Weird rabbit," Duncan muttered. He couldn't even look her in the eye, which just proved he was lying about the whole thing. Courtney raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, fine! I did it," he admitted. "Are you happy now? Listen, don't tell anybody, okay? I don't want them to think I'm soft or anything," he said in embarrassment. Weirdly, Courtney felt like she finally understood Duncan and why he was always acting so tough, and why he kept making audacious and suggestive comments and being a pain in her ass instead of just talking to her. It was because he was scared, just like her. As much as they both were loath to admit, they were terrified of showing any weakness like (god forbid) love.
"Your secret's safe with me," she promised, and as she walked away, she knew that Duncan thought they were soulmates too. And she wasn't mad about it anymore, but she wasn't quite ready yet to act on it, because she still wasn't quite sure it wouldn't be a huge mistake. Because once it was confirmed, there was no going back, and she knew once she kissed him she'd be in it for the long haul, even if he wasn't. And she thought about her mom and dad, and she knew she wasn't ready to take that risk. At least, not yet.
Duncan watched her walk away and he wondered what the hell had just happened. Was that all it took to get Courtney to like him? Being nice? But that wasn't who he really was. This rabbit thing was a one time thing… he didn't have feelings, he didn't care about things. At least… he tried really hard not to.
He had prided himself on being able to get under Courtney's skin, but he hadn't realised just how much she was working her way under his skin. This wasn't just a dumb crush anymore, he actually really felt something for her. And he was really hoping she was his soulmate because he knew that if he had to be without her he'd miss her like crazy.
He groaned to himself. How had this happened? Did she know? And what was he going to do about it? Should he just keep going the way he had? Winding her up and trying to flirt with her? Or should he try something else? Or should he just give up completely before he made a total fool of himself? After all, there was a nagging thought at the back of his mind that something wasn't right, but he couldn't figure out what it was. But they had to be soulmates. There was no one else on this island he gave a crap about, other than DJ and Geoff, and they certainly weren't his soulmates.
He knew he had a lot to think about, and he wasn't about to rush into anything. He had always been a lone wolf. Even when he had had girlfriends in the past, he was never actually faithful to them, not that they expected him to be. He'd always hated the idea of soulmates, so why was he suddenly so thrilled to think he might have found his? It didn't make any sense. In any case, Courtney was still playing hard to get so maybe he wouldn't have to worry about it any time soon anyway.
"We're voting Sadie," Courtney informed Bridgette.
"But what about the girl alliance?" Bridgette reminded her.
"Sadie knocked me unconscious with apples. I can't let that slide," Courtney said haughtily.
"Fine," Bridgette sighed.
"Now you have to convince Geoff, and he can convince the other guys. It shouldn't be too hard, since Geoff is in love with you," Courtney said nonchalantly.
"Why don't you just talk to Duncan," Bridgette suggested. "I'm sure he'd do it for a kiss," she teased.
"I'm not kissing Duncan," Courtney scowled. She hadn't told Bridgette about what had happened today, and she was never going to.
"Afraid your lines will get coloured in?" Bridgette laughed.
"Would you just go?" Courtney ordered impatiently. Bridgette left the cabin, still laughing.
Sadie was less than impressed with the news that she'd been eliminated, but Courtney couldn't care less. Good riddance.
"You know what?" Sadie said angrily, standing up from her tree stump. "That's fine with me, you… marshmallow eating freaks!" she cried, bursting into tears as she ran down to the dock of shame. Courtney waved her goodbye, thinking about how she was now one step closer to one hundred thousand dollars. Bring it on.