This was a long, but incredibly fun chapter to write. :D I got a lot of help from pinkluver93 on the whole Chris and Grace thingy. Thanks a lot for that, Pinky (That is your new official nickname. I don't care if you disagree, because I'm calling you that whether you like it or not.)! :D :D :D :D
Summary: The rest of the campers compete in a three-legged race of sorts. I don't need to write a darned summery. Just read the stupid thing, ya lazy bums! (Just kidding, you know I love you all :D)
You all know who and what belongs to whom by now. I'm tired of repeating myself.
Back at the Dock of Shame, Chef had finished tying the remaining siblings together by their ankles. There was a sloppily painted white line on the dock, separating the teams of two from their 'track.' Trent and Gwen were talking to each other, much to Grace's dismay.
"It's not that I HATE Gwen," Grace confessed, "It's just that I wish she'd jump off the cliff and get eaten by a shark."
Chris had finally arrived at the dock, his face now mustard-free. "Okay, it's time for the three-legged race!"
Gwen turned to the host and said in a sarcastic tone, "Wow, how creative…"
"I already explained about the lack of creativity!" Chris angrily yelled at her. He put his usual smile back on and continued. "Besides, this race is a little different… Now, as you can see, your luggage is missing. We've hidden each family's stuff in various places on the island. Your goal is to find all of your luggage before 6 PM. And remember, you must be tied to somebody at all time."
"Wait," Heather looked concerned, realizing something. "What if we don't find it in time?"
"Then we'll just tell you where it is so you can get it or one of the interns will get it. But I suggest that you try to find it, in case it's your luggage that I hid in the septic tank…"
"WHAT?"
Laughing, he added, "Just kidding! I'm not allowed to put you personal items in places that disgusting… But I am allowed to put them in dangerous places!"
The former queen bee looked really worried at first, but eventually shook it off and smiled a little, ready to accept her first challenge as a nicer girl.
Gwen glared at her, not at all convinced that she was a changed woman.
"Come on, does she seriously think I'll believe that she's changed her evil ways?" Gwen crossed her arms over her chest, furrowing her brows as she confessed, "It's going to take a lot more than some lame little apology speech to convince me to forgive her!"
Chris handed each team a slip of paper and continued, "Each one of these slips has a riddle on them. The riddle will tell you where your stuff's hidden. First team back wins a mystery prize!"
Everybody started buzzing, wondering what the mystery prize would be. They continued to chatter until a loud whistle blew, making them stop and hold their ears. Chris put the whistle back in his pocket and grinned at the now silent group. "Let's get this thing started!" He stepped out of the way and pulled a checkered flag out of nowhere, holding it high above his head. "Ready… Set… GO!" He swept the flag and like that, the teams were off. Well, most of them anyway.
Rikki stood with her arms crossed, not caring that Cody was yanking the leg tied to hers. "C'mon, Rikki, we've got to get our stuff!" She didn't move.
Jackson looked her up and down, finger placed on his chin questioningly. "Rikki, is it okay if I ask you a few questions?"
She only blinked.
"I'll take that as a yes." He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket, looking over the questions he had written up for her.
Courtney was reviewing the riddle Chris had handed her, trying to solve it. "Okay, this riddle mentions 'staying on top', so I think our stuff's hidden at the peak of that cliff… What are you doing?"
"Psycho-analyzing Rikki." Turning back toward Rikki, he asked, "Did you endure any traumatizing moments as a child?"
The CIT groaned and slapped a hand on her forehead. "She's not going to answer your questions! She won't even talk! There's no time for this, Jackson!"
He ignored her and continued asking questions, though Rikki didn't answer any of them.
"Pss, Courtney!" Cody leaned back a little to whisper behind his silent sister's back, with Courtney doing the same with her brother's. "I think I know how we can leave without these two!"
"No, we can't," she whispered back confusedly, "Chris told us we have to stay tied to our siblings while searching for our luggage."
He cocked an eyebrow and grinned cleverly. "He didn't say that. He said we had to be tied to someone."
She grinned at him, realizing what he meant. What he had in mind technically wouldn't break any rules. As long as she'd remain out of trouble, Courtney would be willing to do anything to win.
Even tying herself to some techno geek.
*T*S*R*
DJ and Jamal had finally been able to figure out what their riddle meant. It wasn't exactly the first place that DJ would have liked to look. But what he wanted to know was why the heck Jamal wasn't freaked out to go into that bear cave!
The Jamaican-Canadian duo strolled to the cave. DJ looked like he was about to pee his pants, but Jamal looked as cool as a cucumber.
"Why do you look so calm, man? We're about to fight a bear!"
Jamal rolled his beady eyes and said, "You mean I'm about to fight a bear."
He picked up the pace, forcing DJ to speed up as well. They walked into the cave, seeing the bear, wide awake and clearly not happy that they were in his crib. He growled ferociously and DJ screeched, closing his eyes and shielding his face with his arms. Even though his eyes were shut tight, he could still tell that Jamal was jumping into action, since he felt a tugging at the leg tied to his brother's. Punches and growls of pain were heard. The punches were from Jamal and the growls were from the bear.
When things had quieted down, DJ opened his eyes, seeing that Jamal was holding several duffel bags and grinning victoriously. In front of him was a heavily injured and unconscious bear. Chunks of hair had been ripped off, so the bruises could be seen. The brick house would have felt sorry for the creature if he didn't already know that that bear was insane.
He also remembered why he didn't completely hate his older brother.
*T*S*R*
Owen and Candace's riddle had talked about a tree, so they figured their personal belongings were at the top of some tree. It was hard for them to see the tops of some of the trees, but they had managed to find them on top of what looked like the tallest oak in the entire forest.
Candace looked up, still smiling, despite their dilemma. "How are we gonna get all the way up there?" There was silence. "I guess we'll just have to climb up there," she answered herself, since she never got an answer from Owen, who couldn't think of one.
He looked up at their luggage and nervously said, "Um… I dunno, Candace. I don't think I can climb that high."
"Sure you can!" She grinned at him and dragged him to the tree so they could get ready to climb. "Just pretend that our suitcases are full of crispy rice squares!"
Owen got a delightful glint is his eyes, looking up at the luggage again.
Letting out a chuckle, Owen told the camera, "I do like crispy rice squares…"
He immediately started shimmying up the trunk with Candace clinging to his side to keep from getting in his way. It was gonna be a long ride up.
*T*S*R*
Trent continued to run, with Grace clinging to his leg, since her size made it impossible to keep up with him. Trent looked down at her while he was still jogging and asked, "You see him yet?"
She took another glance around the heavily tree-populated area that they were currently in and yelled back up, "No!"
Trent looked back up at his path, both frustrated and relived at the same time. He was actually hoping that they wouldn't complete the challenge. That way, one of the interns would have to get their stuff so that he wouldn't have to face-
Well, just read their riddle to find out who I'm talking about:
To find your possessions and to make this verse rhyme,
You'll have to try and take them from a frightening mime.
Despite how poorly written that riddle was, it was pretty clear what they had to do. All they had to do was find that stupid mime.
Trent skidded to a halt, bending over a little to catch his breath. He had been running for a good two hours, but hadn't seen any signs of the pasty-faced menace. The musician plopped down on the grass, making sure not to crush Grace under his leg as he did. She rolled on top of his leg by her belly and continued clinging to him like he was a teddy bear. She glanced up at him, worry in her eyes. The little girl knew how freaked out he got by mimes, so she asked, "Are you sure you're gonna be okay, Trent?"
He managed to fake a smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine, kiddo. I've dealt with that mime before, you know."
"Yeah, but you dealt with him by running away from him."
Unable to think of a retaliation, he sat mute for a moment. But he finally thought of something to ask her. "Why do you have to be so smart?" She only grinned in return, but that ended when they heard a twig snap. Trent jolted back up, scanning the area. "Did you hear that?"
She looked around as well, her arms and legs still wrapped around his leg. "Yeah… Maybe he's close by."
"Okay," Trent rubbed the back of his head nervously as he explained, "I was only able to get rid of the mime last time because I jumped into the lake. Now that Grace is tied to my leg, I can't risk drowning her just to win and I can't untie her because that would disqualify us both. How else do you get rid of a mime?"
Taking a deep breath, he started walking again. They came upon a wide field and standing in the middle of that field was the back and white horror, with their luggage sitting behind him. Trent gulped, but continued to creep closer toward his fear. He had gotten close enough so that he was just a few feet away from the mime. So far, so good… He had almost made it, but just as he was two feet away from him, the mime started pressing his hands flatly on the space in front of Trent's face, creating an imaginary wall.
That was just too much for him.
His slightly frightened demeanor changed to one of absolute fear as he screamed, turned around, and bolted from the mime, who followed them. The rope keeping Trent and Grace tied together was loosening, so the brunette girl tightened her grip, but to no avail. The rope snapped, making her tumble to the ground. Her brother hadn't even noticed that she wasn't with him anymore. He was too busy fleeing in terror.
Grace grumbled as she got up and rubbed her aching head. She walked over to their luggage, and started dragging it with great difficulty. She may be an evil little demon, but she isn't a very strong demon.
She had managed to move their stuff a good 3 yards, until she heard laughter. Curious as to whom it belonged to, she dropped the handles of the luggage and wandered toward the source. What she found was an extremely large tent with several dozen wires coiling out from it. One of the flaps was open, so she peeked in, seeing Chris leaning back in an expensive looking swivel chair. There were several monitors and a few of the campers could be seen completing the challenge. But for some reason, Courtney and Cody were tied to each other instead of to their siblings. Grace didn't really care about that, though. She was too busy glaring at Chris as he laughed, pointing at one screen in particular.
The one with Trent on it.
He was still running from the mime, looking even more freaked out than before. Between laughs, Chris managed to mumble, "Man, that's great TV! Look at him run!" Trying to mimic Trent's fear-filled face, he added, "He's all like, 'AHHH!'" He went back to chuckling, still leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed in joy at the black-haired boy's misery.
The victim's little sister, however, was not nearly as amused. She was too busy plotting ways to make Chris' life miserable. Nobody messed with her big brother.
Nobody.
*T*S*R*
Grabbing hers and Jackson's possessions from the very edge of the cliff, Courtney looked back at the geek she was tied to and said, "Okay, I've got my stuff. Let's get yours." Cody only nodded in response and the newly formed duo ran back down the hill, making sure their steps were perfectly synchronized to avoid rolling down the hill in a tangled-up mess.
Cody's riddle, as they had guessed, said that his and Rikki's suitcases were in a blueberry bush somewhere in the woods. Since there was only one blueberry bush in that forest, it wasn't hard to find. Grabbing his stuff, they ran toward the direction of the campfire pit. "I can't believe that actually worked!" Courtney screamed victoriously as she looked back at her scrawny partner.
"Yeah, me neither! That was almost too easy!" But, of course, Cody spoke too soon. Courtney and Cody screeched to a halt, seeing the growling creature standing in front of them.
It was the bear, now extra-agitated from his previous pummeling. He obviously remembered Cody from last year's paintball deer hunt.
Cody was speechless, but Courtney was able to stutter, "I kn-knew this w-was a b-bad idea!"
*T*S*R*
Grace finally came up with the best plan to torture Chris. It was probably the least lethal one, too. Her plan wasn't really going to hurt him or anything, but it'd annoy the crap out of him, which was good enough for her.
The dozens of wires coming from Chris' secret hiding spot were plugged into a large extension cord, which she guessed lead to some kind of power source back at camp. She guessed that if those plugs happened to be yanked from the extension cord, it would take forever to plug them all back in and to reset the televisions. He'd probably get one of the interns or Chef to fix it, but it'd still tick him off, so she was okay with her little plan.
She gathered several cords in each of her tiny hands and pulled them out with great might. They popped out successfully, making the tent go pitch black except for the sunlight leaking in through the entrance.
"What the heck?" Chris stood up, tapping one of the television screens, wondering what just happened. He scratched his head, extremely confused. Suddenly, a very small voice cleared her throat. The sadist turned around to find Grace standing in the entrance of the tent, twirling a few of the plugs in her curled-up fist, evilly smirking at him. He furrowed his brow, looking down at the root of all evil. "I should have figured it was you. What'd you do that for? Why do you hate me?"
She dropped the plugs and frowned at him. "Do I need a reason to hate you? You tortured Trent last year and I know you're gonna do the same thing this year. I'm not letting you get away with that. And, on top of that, you're an arrogant, self-absorbed, egotistical doodyhead!"
He was slightly surprised that such a little girl would know such big (and one, immature) words, but still had something to say to her. Okay, more like yell at her. "Well, at least I'm not a little demon!"
On the inside, that comment kinda stung, but Grace wouldn't let him know that. She'd show it later. When the newly-formed part two of her plan would take place.
*T*S*R*
Trent slowly dragged his legs on the grassy ground, panting heavily. Sweat was slowly rolling down his red face. He had managed to lose the mime and was back where their stuff was. Grabbing their bags, which had somehow moved a little bit, the pooped musician started to drag them.
Finally able to talk, he wheezed, "Okay, Grace… We still have a chance to win." He waited several seconds for a response, but got nothing. "Grace?" He looked down at his leg. Grace was gone and he hadn't even realized it. "Crap." There went their chances of winning. But he didn't have anytime to think about that. He had to find his sister. "Grace!" he yelled, hoping she was nearby. "Grace! Grace Marie Di Caprio!" Normally, calling her by her full name made her come to him immediately because she'd know he meant business, but she didn't show. Trent continued to search until he heard something.
"You've only been here for a few hours, but it feels like it's been months! That's how annoying you are!"
He took a glance around, recognizing the voice. "Is that Chris?" Trent followed the insults, which Chris kept belting out. "Man, he must be really ticked at whoever it is he's yelling at…" He eventually came upon a tent, where he figured the sadist was. The flap was open, so he dropped their luggage on the ground and poked his head in.
Chris, who hadn't noticed Trent's presence, was yelling extremely rude (but true) insults down at Grace, who had just stood there, angrily glaring at him. She had been waiting for Trent to show up, so she could make Chris look really bad. She knew for a fact that cameras followed all of the campers, even Trent, everywhere. And she knew that Trent would be attracted by Chris' screams and see that he was yelling at her. Then Trent (and the entire viewing world) would think Chris was yelling at her for no reason because they hadn't seen what she had done to him first and he'd look like a jerk.
And that sounded good to her.
Grace had seen her brother's reflection in one of the blank TV screens and knew it was time to put her plan into action. She scrunched up her face, trying to force a few tears out. After a few started rolling down her cheeks, she turned around and ran up to Trent, hugging his leg as tears continued to stream down her face. Letting fake, but convincing, sobs out, she managed to choke out, "T-T-Trent, I-I was just asking Mr. Chris w-where the washrooms were and h-h-he started y-yelling at me f-f-for no reason! I-I'm too sw-sweet for that k-kind of treatment!"
Trent pried her off of his leg and held her, rubbing her back comfortingly, trying to stop the phony sobs she was wailing into his chest. "It's okay, Grace. C'mon, don't cry." He looked up from her to Chris, who was standing there, mouth agape.
Chris hated to say it, but he still had to admit, "The kid's a great actor."
Trent glared at him, T.O.'d by his so-called uncalled for yelling. "Dude, what is wrong with you? She was just asking you a question!"
"What? No she wasn't! Look at what she did to my monitors!" He pointed to the blank screens.
Wiping some of her crocodile tears away, Grace turned her head in his direction and spoke up again, "First you yell at me, and then you try to blame me for something I didn't do?" More tears fell and she pointed at him and yelled, "You're a meanie!"
Trent added, "Seriously, man, that wasn't cool. She's just a little kid. She wasn't doing anything wrong."
Chris slapped his forehead at Trent's obliviousness. "Dude, your sister is an evil brat!"
The musician looked like he was about to punch him in the face, but simply turned around and stormed away, with Grace still in his arms. The cameraman, who had recorded the whole thing, followed them. Her plan had worked. The little girl propped her head on Trent's shoulder so she could look at the shrinking sadist. Making sure that Trent couldn't see her, she stuck her tongue out at him, mockingly.
The host stood in shock at what just happened. A three year old girl had outsmarted him and made him look like a jerk and a fool on TV.
"She. Is. Good."
Snap, Grace is good (in a bad way). :O Next chapter is the dramatic bonfire ceremony, where the First Four will leave the island. Who's going home? Will Courtney and Cody survive the bear attack? What will Grace be up to next chapter? Does Trent even realize that he left his and Grace's stuff back at Chris' secret hiding place? Find out in the next chapter of Total Sibling Rivalry!