At over 7000 words, this is my longest chapter yet… X_X
Oh, and there's a poll on my profile page if anyone's interested. I'd really like to know what you guys think about it…
http:// themightypen . deviantart . com/ And here's my DeviantArt page if anybody's interested in seeing some of my TSR drawings. Just remove the spaces to get to the page. I think there's even a few just TDI drawings in there… *shot for sounding like an needy advertisement*
But overall, I am really, REALLY happy with this chapter. And I promise, next chapter will not be entirely focused on these characters. Next challenge will have much more dialogue from the other campers. Cuz honestly, I'm feeling like Selena and Marilee are kind of being attention whores… XP
Chef finally talks in this chapter, but he isn't very Chef-like… sorry. XC
This chapter actually has it's first really bad word in it. (The B word… the one that means a child born out of wed lock, if you get meh drift…) But it's coming from Duncan, so what do you expect?
TDI. Not mine. Siblings. Mine.
Anyway, read, review, and enjoy! :D
Zack's heart raced as he saw Selena standing on the edge of the roof. He stood motionless and he had no idea what to do. She noticed that he was below her, so she waved and yelled, "Hiya, Zackie-kins! Can you see up my nose from down there?"
Completely ignoring her question, he yelled, "Selena, you're going to hurt yourself! Get down from there!"
"Okay!" She squatted, and he could tell that she was preparing to jump down.
"No! Not like that!" Zack screamed, pulling his baseball cap down over his eyes in panic. "Never mind, I'll just come up there and get you!" He raced toward the door and yanked on the handle. To his shock, it wasn't locked. Not that he was complaining.
The inside of the building was pretty nice. Expensive looking artwork was hanging around, and the floors even looked like they were made of marble! Not that he expected Chris McClean to live anywhere less fancy than that. But Zack had no time to admire the décor. He ran toward the nearest flight of steps, bolting up them as fast as he could. By the time he was on the second level, he ran into a robe clad, brown haired girl carrying several scented candles, a lighter, and a bottle of bubble bath. Her green eyes narrowed when she saw that it was him. "What are you doing here?"
He nervously waved at her, trying to bear a grin. "Uh… Hi, Mia. I-I was just-"
She interrupted him by barking, "Aren't you supposed to be doing your stupid little challenge?"
"Well… Aren't you supposed to be… interning stuff?"
Her icy glare melted, realizing that he had a point. She was supposed to be testing out the next challenge with the other interns, but snuck off to take a nice, hot bubble bath in privacy. "I won't tell if you won't."
"Deal," he agreed, running off before she could add anything else.
*T*S*R*
Duncan sighed in defeat and sat down on a nearby rock. He was tired, angry, and only had one shoe on. He had finally gotten smart and slipped his stuck shoe off, so his left sock was now covered in the forest's dirt. "Man, that kid's more trouble than she's worth…" he mumbled, wiping off his sweaty forehead with his sleeve.
Nearby, Trent was wandering around alone, since Gwen had gone off by herself to find Zack. There was no sign of Selena, but he did hear Duncan grumbling. "Duncan?" he called out, "Is that you, man?"
Trent walked past a cluster of trees and saw the delinquent on his rock. Duncan looked up, saw his friend, and simmered down a bit. "Hey, dude." He got up and walked toward him. "Any luck?"
Trent knew what he was talking about immediately and shook his head. "Haven't caught her yet." He looked down and noticed his lack of left shoe. "Where's your shoe?"
His expression angered a bit again. "I don't wanna talk about it."
"I've been hearing that a lot today…"
Duncan put his hands behind his head and looked up at the clear, blue sky. "I don't know what else to do, man. I've done everything I can think of to catch her. It's impossible, what with her acting even weirder than usual…"
"I know." Trent stuffed his hands in his pocket. "I mean, it's like she's a big preschooler or something."
Both let out a little laugh and Duncan added, "Yeah, too bad nobody else around here has a little girl's brain."
Both boys laughed a little louder and a little longer this time, their chuckles echoing throughout the forest area. As they calmed down, their laughter faded. A few more laughs slipped from their lips, they became quiet and it stayed that way for a while. Duncan and Trent stood in the silence, thinking about what they just said. As if both of their minds clicked at the same time, they exchanged a look of realization and Duncan said, "We've gotta find Zoey and Grace."
Trent just nodded in agreement and followed Duncan as he ran off in search of their little sisters.
*T*S*R*
Owen sighed for about the millionth time since he had been trapped up in that cursed net. Or maybe for the billionth. He had lost count.
It's not like he had anything better to do than to count his own sighs of exasperation. He had been trapped for hours and had foolishly tossed his pocket knife down to the non-helpful Zoey and Grace when he could have just as easily done it himself. He had realized that after a while, but it did him no good at that current moment. His knife was on the ground, and he wasn't.
"I'm STARVING!" Owen moaned, pounding his fists against the sturdy ropes. "I'm so hungry, I could ride a horse…" The trapped teen took a second to think about what he said, since something didn't sound right about it. "Wait, I think I messed that one up. Well, maybe I could ride the horse to the mess hall…" he nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that makes sense."
Owen yanked on the ropes for no particular reason, then inspected one of them. "Hmm… These ropes look kinda like spaghetti…" Flopping himself over, he nibbled on one of the robes that was originally underneath him.
"Mmm…" he happily moaned. "Not bad…"
*T*S*R*
After seeing the loopy Bridgette boogie on the oil drum, Marilee had successfully tackled her to the ground, and Geoff and Keith had pinned her arms and legs down. The trio had then carried her over to one of the stumps, sat her down, and Geoff kept a firm grip on her wrists.
"When do you think this stupid elixir will wear off?" Marilee asked, smacking Bridgette's leg away from her after she had playfully kicked her.
Bridgette blinked a few times, the last blink flashing her usual green shade. She gripped her head as if she had a huge migraine and looked around "Wha? W-where am I?"
"I'm guessing right now," Keith answered, taking his grip off of his sister's other leg.
Bridgette took a look at Geoff and her eyes widened. She must have remembered what happened a few hours ago.
Marilee looked at her brother's face, too. It was very strained, and she could tell he was trying not to express the real emotions he was feeling inside. They needed to talk, and she knew it.
"Um…" she started, looking around for a distraction. "I have to go to the bathroom." She started walking and motioned for the skater boy to follow. "Come with me, Keith."
"What? Why?"
She stopped and turned back around to look at him. "Because girls never go to the bathroom alone."
"Yeah… But they go with other girls."
Marilee, getting impatient, grabbed his ear and yanked him away with her. He let out several yelps of pain and she muttered, "I'll explain on the way. And I'll say it slowly and use small words so you'll understand…"
After their siblings disappeared, Bridgette and Geoff exchanged an awkward glance, knowing the talk that would soon be coming up would be very, very difficult.
*T*S*R*
"Do you think that maybe instead of looking for two people to help us look for Selena," Trent started, coming back out from behind the tree he was searching behind and continued, "We should just be looking for her ourselves?"
"No, trust me, bro," Duncan said, popping out from a bush he had been searching through. "Those two are our key to victory. They have mellower versions of her brain. There's no doubt that we'll win."
The two decided to go to the Killer Bears cabin to see if they were there. Trent peeked into the window on the girl's side, but it was empty inside. However, just as they were about to give up, they heard some high pitched screams and squeals coming from the boy's side. When both ran over, Duncan kicked the door open. They were both shocked by what they saw.
Grace was literally bouncing off of the walls, and even a few beds when she went past them. Her hyper screams bounced off the walls along with her. Zoey was sitting on one of the bottom bunks, drinking a small eight ounce can of soda and watching her friend.
The two boys walked over to her, Trent having to duck when Grace almost took his eye out with her foot. "Zoey, what happened to my sister?" Trent asked, nervously watching as the giggly little brunette ran around rapidly in a giant circle in the middle of the floor.
Zoey just shrugged, got onto her feet and set her now empty soda can next to a pile of candy wrappers discarded onto the floor. "I dunno. We just had some candy from Owen's stash."
"It looks like she ate the whole dang thing," Duncan commented as he watched Grace's craziness in amusement.
"How much did she have exactly?" Trent asked.
"Uh…" Zoey picked the wad of candy wrappers on the ground up and handed it to Trent. "However many this is."
Trent quickly rifled through the wad, counting it as quickly as he could. Reaching the last wrapper, he dropped them all. "TWELVE? She had TWELVE chocolate bars?"
"And three Red Bulls?" Duncan asked, pointing toward the thin cans that had been next to the wrappers.
"Yeah…" Zoey nodded guiltily. "But I don't know why she's goin' bonkers. I had as much as she did and I feel fine." Almost immediately after she finished that sentence, her face began to turn a sickly shade of green and she ran toward the open window. She poked her head out and it was obvious that by the sounds she was making that she was throwing up. Pulling herself back out, she gripped her aching stomach and looked back up at Trent and Duncan's unimpressed faces. "See? I'm just dandy!"
"Oh, man," Trent held his head in his hand, frustrated. "What am I gonna do? How the heck am I gonna get her to calm down?"
Duncan scratched his chin and suggested, "I think Izzy still has that tranquilizer gun from last year. She'll probably let you borrow it."
He looked back up at the punk angrily. "I'm being serious, Duncan!"
"…So am I."
Grace, as if noticing his and Duncan's presences for the first time, squealed and jumped up onto Trent so they were at eye level, which was impressive, since it was a high jump. She planted her feet firmly on his chest and got a grip on his left arm so she wouldn't fall. "OhmigoshhiTrent!" she speedily babbled, "HowyadoingI'mdoinggoodthanksforaskingmanI'msofullofenergyrightnowIfeellikeIcouldfly!" She continued to chatter at a mile a minute, while Trent just confusedly stared at her, noticing how much she was shaking.
Trent grabbed her in attempts to get her to calm down, but all it did was make her quiet down. "Okay, Grace, we need your and Zoey's help to find Selena. You two are the only ones who can help us. Just try and calm down. Can you do that for me?"
"Yeahyeahyeah!" She nodded like a bobble head, jumped out of Trent's arms and bolted out the door, laughing like a hyena.
"Grace!" Trent yelled, running after her. "That is NOT calm!"
The remaining siblings watched as the other two ran off and exchanged a glance. Jerking a thumb toward the path they had taken, Duncan smirked and said, "Wow, it sucks to be him, huh?" He looked back to watch Trent run, only to hear a small gagging sound and feel something soggy and warm covering his shoeless foot. He looked down, seeing that his sock was now not only covered in dirt, but his littlest sister's barf. "Ugh, Zoey!"
"Sorry!"
"Aw, man… it sucks to be me, too."
*T*S*R*
Selena was still teetering on the edge of the secret hideout, peering down at the ground below. Just as she did, Cody and Candace walked by. "Man, I'm starting to think we'll never find her," Cody whined, looking around at his eye level, not even noticing Selena being right above him.
"C'mon, Cody, think positive!" Candace reassured him with a smile. "For all we know, she might be right under our noses!"
"Or above your heads!"
Both looked up, gasping in horror at the sight above them. "Ah! Get down from there before you kill yourself!" Cody yelled.
"Make me, scrawny boy!" she yelled back down.
"Oh, like I haven't heard that one before…"
"Don't worry, guys! My brave and handsome Zackie-kins is coming to rescue me!"
"Brave?"
"Handsome?"
"Zackie-kins?" Both Candace and Cody mumbled, exchanging a glance.
"Selena and Zack?" Candace pondered. "Awww, they would make such a cute couple!" she cooed, clasping her hands together happily.
As if on cue, Zack came bursting through the door that lead to the roof, but didn't really run over to Selena immediately. "Selena, please get off of there," he begged, looking ever more nervous than he had before.
She turned around and flintily smirked. "Come over here and get me."
With his patience thinning, he yelled, "I'm not in the mood! Just get over here!"
Selena giggled for a while, but suddenly started to look less chipper, closing her eyes and clutching her head in her hands. She groaned in pain and looked back up at Zack with a confused expression. Her purple eyes had changed back to their original steel blue.
"What happened?" she asked. Twisting around and seeing where she was, she shrieked. "What the heck am I doing up here?" She looked down and saw the lack of her outer clothing layers. "And where are my clothes?"
*T*S*R*
"Grace, slow down!"
Trent had finally caught up with his hyper little sister after a while, grabbed her, and hooked her up to a leash so he could keep her in line. Zoey and Duncan had joined them after Duncan threw the filthy sock away and decided to walk around with a bare foot. He didn't have enough time to get a new shoe or sock and there was no point in attempting to clean that sock. Still, the two would have to stop every couple of minutes so that the little raven haired girl could vomit in a nearby bush. But at least they were on a track.
Grace ran ahead, pulling Trent with her. With a mighty tug, he managed to get her to halt. "Are you sure she'll be at Chris' hideaway?"
"Yeppity yep yep!" Grace chirped, tugging on the leash and the collar that came with it in some attempt to break free. At least she had calmed down enough that her dialogue didn't sound like one big, long word. "Chris is rich and probably has lots of candy, like chocolate, and if I was Selena, I'd want some chocolate! Chocolate is good, don't you think? Of course you do, I mean, who doesn't?" She giggled and tried running again, but Trent still had a tight grip on the leash.
"Where'd you get that leash and collar, anyway?" Duncan asked as he paused and waited for Zoey to finish emptying the contents of her stomach into a nearby bush.
Trent just shrugged. "Do you really care?"
"… No. Not really."
After his youngest sister finished up, Duncan and the group continued to trek toward the not-so-secret location.
*T*S*R*
"Why, Bridge?" was all Geoff could manage to mutter. "Why?"
Bridgette buried her face in her hands. "I don't know." He could tell by the shakiness of her voice that she was lying. Bridgette was not a very good liar. "I really don't know, Geoff."
"Just tell me," he said, prying her hands off of her ashamed face. "All I wanna know is why."
She looked down at her feet and drew a small circle in the dirt with her left foot. "It's just… we don't talk anymore." She stood up and started pacing. "When we first started going out, we talked all the time about everything, anything. Now, all we do is make out. It's just… physical now. And I feel bad about being in that kind of relationship, where the only thing we have in common is swapping spit."
"That's not true!" Geoff yelled, bolting up. "We talk all the time!"
"Can you even remember the last long lasting, meaningful conversation we've had in the past few months?"
"…" He shut his mouth for a second. He was drawing a blank. "Um… Oh! Two days ago, I told you that I liked how your new lip gloss tasted and we had this great conversation about the store you got it from and… uh… a bunch of other stuff."
"And how did that conversation end?"
"… We made out."
Bridgette sadly nodded. "My point exactly, Geoff."
"How long?"
"How long what?"
"You know what, Bridgette. How long have you been wanting to break up?"
The surfer girl sighed. "About two months. I'm so sorry I told you like that. I should have told you sooner, but I… I couldn't bring myself to do it." She pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "You're just so sweet and I knew it would hurt you, so I kept putting it off time and time again… The break up's nothing against you at all." She touched his arm comfortingly. It almost made him want to cry again. "You're a great guy, but…" She shook her head. "This just isn't working out. Do you understand?"
Geoff just stared into her eyes for a second. She looked sincerely sorry. He could tell she had had no intention of hurting him. He couldn't stand to see her that distressed. He had to agree.
"Yeah, totally." He tried to give her a smile. "And on the bright side, at least we won."
A small slime crept on her face, too. "There's the Geoff I know." She gave him one last kiss on the cheek and he sighed.
"Well, I guess I should find Marilee and Keith and you should wait here for Chris to come back."
He started to walk away, but Bridgette called out, "But I thought they went to the bathroom?"
Geoff turned around and shook his head. "Nah, she just made that up so we could talk alone."
Bridgette couldn't help but grin. "Marilee really does have a soul, doesn't she?"
Geoff chuckled. "Hey, she may be a little too aggressive for her own good sometimes, but she's still a good sister deep down."
"When you see her, tell her I'm sorry for the horrible things I said, would you?" Bridgette crossed her arms and looked down at her feet guiltily. "I'd tell her myself, but I'm not exactly on the best terms with her right now…"
"No problem." He grinned and started walking off again as Bridgette sat back down to wait for the rest of her team. After he turned around, he frowned again. He wasn't going to be partying for a long time.
*T*S*R*
Owen fell to the ground with a great thud and laid there for a moment. He was in agonizing pain from the great fall, and his stomach was hurting from eating all of the 'spaghetti' that had kept his prisoner for several hours.
Marilee and Keith just happened to be walking by again and saw that Owen had managed to get himself down. "Hey, congrats, buddy," Keith cheered, walking over toward him with Marilee close behind. "You got down from our net!… Where are the ropes?"
Owen finally stood up, glaring at the two. "That's all you have to say? 'Congrats, buddy?'" His fists were shaking in anger. "I've been trapped up there for hours with no food, no bathroom, and no snickerdoodles and that's all you have to say?"
"Um… sorry?" Marilee feebly attempted at an apology.
Owen's grimace instantly turned into a forgiving grin and he gathered the duo up in a big hug. "Awww, I could never stay mad at you guys!" Marilee and Keith both looked a little blue from lack of oxygen, since his hug was pretty tight. After he let them go, both gasped for air. "Well, I'm gonna find Selena. See ya!" He waved and was off.
Marilee searched for the ropes, but couldn't find them. "How could the ropes just disappear like that?" she pondered, tapping her chin. Her eyes widened and she looked at Keith. "You don't think he-"
"No, no, of course not." He shook his head in disbelief and denial. "Even Owen wouldn't do something like that."
"… Or would he?"
*T*S*R*
Selena furiously tried to keep her balance, but it was hard, due to how freaked out she was. "Why am I up here?"
"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Zack informed her, slowly creeping toward her, to avoid frightening her even more.
Cody and Candace, still down on the ground, looked up above. Cody looked like he was about to pee his pants and even Candace, the queen of smiles, looked distressed. "She's back to normal? Oh my, she must be so scared," she whispered, not able to talk any louder due to her fright. She somehow found a louder voice and yelled up "Just stay calm! Don't think about falling… or splattering on the ground… and if you're afraid of heights, don't think about how super high up you are and-"
"Not helpful, Candace!" Selena called out, twisting around to glare at her.
She guiltily cringed. "Sorry!"
Selena blinked and gasped, feeling her chest. She must have remembered everything that happened and the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. She hadn't even realized that she was accidentally leaning back, and a bit too far. She waved her arms wildly and tilted on her feet, trying to keep her balance. The teens gasped as they watched her .
"Selena!" Zack screamed, running toward her. Before he could grab her, her foot slipped and she plummeted backwards, letting out a loud scream. It became faint after a few seconds, and he assumed that she had landed a harsh landing.
The gamer had finally reached the edge, but fell to his knees, too weak to stand. "Oh, God." Zack held his head in his hand, feeling a strange feeling he had never felt before. "I'm too late…"
"Zaaaack!" He heard a feminine voice scream. Was it Candace? No. And it definitely wasn't Cody. He got to his feet and peered down to find Selena staring back up at him, fear in her eyes. She had managed to cling onto the edge before falling to her death, but her grip was slipping.
Candace fearfully nudged Cody and screamed, "Why are we just standing here? We have to go help them!"
Cody raced over to the door before she could even finish her last sentence and she was close behind.
"Don't worry, I've got you," Zack coaxed, reaching out to her with both hands.
Releasing one of her hands, she reached up and grabbed onto his hand while he gripped her around her wrist. After a second, she let go with her other hand and grabbed onto his hands. He groaned, struggling from the new weight she had added on. He slipped slightly, sliding so that his gut was pressed up against the small wall that made the edge.
Tears were brimming in Selena's eyes as she pleaded, "Please, just let go, Zack. I've already put you through enough today, you don't deserve to get hurt because of me. And I'm a quick healer; I'll be fine."
"I'm not letting go, Selena," he sternly said, sliding a little farther over the edge. "You're my friend and I'm not gonna let you get hurt." He tried to pull her up, but it didn't work.
Selena couldn't help but smile at hearing that, but frowned again when she saw that his grip was slipping. And her hand still hurt from catching herself, and though she tried to keep clinging to his wrist, her arm dropped to the side numbly.
Owen walked by, happily singing a small ditty. "Tra la la, I'm freeeeeeee! Oh, yeah, I'm freeeeeeee! I'm free, free, free and," he paused, trying to think of another verse. "Um… And I can't think of a better verse, but I'm still freeeeeeeeeeeeee!" He laughed, then looked up for the first time. "GREAT GATSBY!" he screamed, looking up at the sight before him. "What in the name of corn on the cob happened?"
"What do you think happened?" Zack furiously yelled down, desperately trying to keep Selena from falling. "Just stand there in case she falls!"
"Gotcha!" he saluted and ran under her, arms held out, prepared to catch her.
Cody and Candace finally arrived on the roof and Candace wrapped her arms around Zack's torso, trying to pull him back. Cody did the same with Candace. They were successfully dragging themselves back, but very slowly. They had finally dragged Zack back all the way up and he stood up. The small group cheered for a moment, until they realized something. "WHERE'S SELENA?" Candace and Cody frightfully yelled at him.
He held up one of the hands that had been gripping her wrist. Inside it was the chunky black bracelet that she had been wearing. "Oh, snap."
The three looked over the edge and saw that Selena was falling, screaming her head off and flailing her arms and legs around as she did. All they could do was hold their breath and hope that Owen would catch her. As they waited, they noticed that Duncan, Trent and their sisters were walking toward the building.
"Who's that falling?" Trent asked, eyes widening. It was a little hard for them to tell who it was, since they weren't close enough to see.
Before anybody could answer him, not that they really could have, he heard high pitched giggling and looked to see Grace running toward the area where the person was going to land. He pulled up the leash, seeing an empty collar. No wonder it had felt so light. "Grace, get back here right now!"
"No! I wanna watch the fally person go splatty-boom!" Grace shrieked, running toward Owen.
Selena turned around slightly, making her fall more to the left. Owen's eyes were squinted shut, bracing himself to catch her. Just as Grace had run up to his right, the falling teen landed on her, completely missing Owen. Owen opened his eye and looked down at the no-longer-so-hyper child being squashed by a girl a lot bigger than her. Duncan and Trent ran over to her and, realizing that it was her, pulled her up. "Selena! Are you okay?" Duncan asked, actually showing some concern for her well-being.
Selena stretched her back slightly. It probably hurt from landing on Grace. "Yeah… yeah, I think I'm okay. Grace's face broke my fall." The group above them breathed a sigh of relief seeing Selena up and about.
Remembering who it was that had been fallen on, Trent dropped on his knees next to Grace and picked her silent body up. "Grace, are you hurt?" She didn't respond; she didn't even move. "C'mon, Gracie, wake up! Please be okay!"
Her eyes instantly flashed open and she bounded out of his arms and bolted away from the group, laughing a happy, maniacal laugh.
"… I think she's just peachy," Duncan mumbled. He picked the tired Selena up bridal style and started carrying her back to camp. Owen and Trent followed and eventually, Cody, Zack, and Candace walked back outside and followed behind them.
Zoey ran over to the spot where everybody had originally been, wiping her mouth off with her sleeve. "Sorry 'bout that, guys. That was a really long one!" She finally took a look around and saw that no one was there. "Hello?" She called out.
She stood, silent. Then she asked herself, "How long was I throwin' up?"
*T*S*R*
By the time Duncan, Selena, and the rest of the Killer Bears had arrived back at the campfire pit, it was almost dark and the Rabid Wolves were already there, cheering about their victory. The Bears' spirits were crushed.
Chris arrived finally, smiling a mischievous smile. "Oh, look at all those happy faces." He turned toward the Bears and mockingly frowned. "Awww, and wook at aww those sad faces." The team did not find his mocking as funny as he did.
"But you guys don't have any reason to be sad because," he looked down at his watch and counted down, "Five, four, three, two, one. It's officially sunset and your team wins!"
"Wha?" The entire team chattered amongst themselves, not that they weren't happy.
The Wolves, however, weren't so thrilled. "What?" LeShawna yelled, storming over to Chris. "What's wrong with you, boy? We was here with Bridgette first!"
"Ah!" Chris raised a finger. "But that isn't necessarily true!" When all he got in response were several confused looks, he said, "The challenge was to bring your loopy bird back by sunset, key words being 'bring back.' Bridgette came back on her own, so it wasn't really a challenge for you guys, huh?" Motioning toward the Bears, he told them, "The Killer Bears, on the other hand, brought her back right on time!"
The new winning team cheered, while the losing one continued to argue with the host.
"But we managed to keep her here!"
"How is that even fair?"
"YOU SUCK!"
"Yeah, yeah, don't care, "Chris stated, walking toward his oil drum podium. "Just come back in an hour and for now, vamoose."
The campers dispersed, half happy, the others miserable.
*T*S*R*
Zack was sitting out on the porch of their cabin, chin propped in his hand. He had been thinking about the past few hours, and all of the events that had happened. He felt boobs, got tossed off a cliff, and attempted to save an innocent girl from falling off an extremely high building.
And he had always thought the most drama on reality shows occurred at the end of the season.
Just as he was about ready to head inside, Selena walked up and sat down next to him. She wouldn't look him in the eye. "Hi."
"Hi. I'm guessing you remember what… happened?"
Still not looking at him, she nodded. "I'm so incredibly sorry. It was… I was just so… Look, can we just-"
"As far as I'm concerned," he interrupted, "It never happened. I'm forgetting all about it. You should do the same."
Selena finally looked at him and grinned. "You're a cool guy, Zack." She patted his shoulder and got up, walking into the girls side of the cabin.
Keith, who was walking by to get to the campfire pit for the ceremony, strolled over and sat down next to Zack. "Hey, bro. Heard what happened between you and Selena."
Zack looked at him, his mouth agape. "How?"
"You'd be surprised how quickly news spreads around here. Did you really just grab her like that? Kinda pushy, man. And that's coming from me…"
"You heard it from Duncan, didn't you?"
"… Possibly."
Zack sighed and shook his head. "She was the one who made me do it. All because of that stupid elixir."
"Oh, that makes a lot more sense. You don't seem like that kind of guy. So…" He smirked and nudged him. "How'd she feel?"
"C'mon, Keith, I don't wanna talk about that."
"Oh, I get it. Bra stuffer, huh?" Keith shook his head. "Shame your first time to second base was with a wad of tissues…"
Zack groaned, "No, they were real, but I just feel like a pervert talking about it."
Keith sighed, crossing his arms and propping them on his knees. "Okay then. If you don't want to talk about it, that's cool. I understand."
"Thanks, man."
For a moment, they were very quiet. Zack bit his lip, trying to keep himself from saying what he wanted to say. After several second of struggling with himself, he gave up and blurted out, "Dude, her boob felt awesome!"
"Oh, yeah!" Keith gave him a hive five and listened as Zack continued to describe it.
"It was like squeezing a plastic baggie full of pudding, but a thousand times better! Man, I never understood before why us guys love it so much, but now that I've actually done it, I finally get it! It was the greatest moment of my life!"
Keith was smirking at his friend's excitement, until he saw the figure standing behind them. He shakily pointed behind him. "Uh… dude?"
"What?" He turned around, paling when he saw who was glaring down at him. He had just emerged from the guy's side of the cabin and looked absolutely furious.
"Oh, boy. Duncan, I-"
"You. Little. Bastard!" Duncan charged toward him and Zack screamed, bolting away as fast as possible.
Keith sat and looked as they ran off. "Good luck, buddy!" he called out to Zack, who probably couldn't hear him by that point. "See you after the campfire ceremony, if I don't get voted off… Or if you don't get killed."
*T*S*R*
When the losing team arrived again, it was pitch black out, the only light coming from the lights hanging around the campfire pit and the tiki torches by the Dock of Shame. It had become chilly out, so Marilee had slipped on a small, blue zip up hoodie. It was probably the only piece of clothing she owned that she hadn't made herself.
Chris arrived with his tray of marshmallows, along with his usual toothy grin. "Man, bummer about you guys losing, huh?" He got several glares in return. "But you guys know the deal. No marshmallow, no moolah. It's been a long day and I wanna get this over with, so let's just do this."
"Long day?" LeShawna asked. "You been gone the entire day! What were you doin', anyway?"
Chris scratched his chin, thinking back on the past couple of hours.
Flashback: 6:12 PM
"Ahhhhhhhhh…" Chris sighed as the masseuse gently massaged his back. He was lying on a massage table, wearing only a small white towel wrapped around his waist. His chin was propped up on his crossed arms. "This is the life, ain't it, Chef?"
Chef, who was on the table next to Chris, was getting a massage from a masseuse who looked like she could have been twins with Chris'. He was clad in the same thing as Chris, except his face was covered in a goopy, green facial mask. He removed the cucumbers from his eyes and nodded. "Got that right, boy. Can't believe we've been here for over five hours…" There was a small table between the two, holding a bowl of tortilla chips. Chef grabbed one and scooped some of the goop from his mask onto it. He held it out to Chris. "Want some guac?"
"Don't mind if I do!" He took the guacamole covered chip and happily ate it.
End Flashback
"Uh… I had to get some things… smoothed out." He shrugged. "Whatever, I'm just gonna toss them to you. Izzy, LeShawna, Herbie, Xavier, Jovie." He tossed five marshmallows to the five campers, all of them happily taking them. "DJ, Keith, Geoff, and Marilee." He tossed them their invincibility, too. Only Bridgette and Jamal were left. Bridgette looked kind of nervous, but Jamal looked cool as a cucumber.
"Two campers, one marshmallow. The final marshmallow goes to…"
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"Jamal." He tossed the marshmallow to the muscular young man and he caught it in his mouth, victoriously chewing it. "Bridgette, time for you to leave." Chris said.
Geoff looked flabbergasted at her being booted off. The most of the other campers, however, didn't looked nearly as surprised. "What? How could you guys vote someone as awesome as her off?"
"Geoff, this girl stomped on heart in front of half of television-owning Canadians and you're defending her honor?" Marilee asked, glaring at Bridgette coldly.
The surfer girl's eye twitched at Marilee's glare, but she turned to Geoff and told him, "It's fine, really. Maybe this is for the best." She waved to everybody, and most of them waved back. "Good bye, everyone. It was fun while it lasted."
As she walked off, Geoff slumped slightly. He turned to look back at his team, not even close to being as happy as he usually is. "Why'd you guys vote her off?"
"I think I know," Chris said in a sing-song tone, leaning against his oil drum. "While getting the marshmallows for the ceremony, I happened to see a hooded figure lurking around, talking to a few members of your team. Convincing them to vote you ex off, maybe?" He grinned, looking more like he was talking about who won last night's hockey game than who voted off the party boy's ex girlfriend.
Flashback: 8:51 PM
Jovie was sitting under a oak tree near the lodge, eating a red apple and reading a hardcover book. She looked up, feeling like there was somebody else around. Seeing nothing, she shrugged and looked back down at her book. Suddenly, someone tapped her on her shoulder and she screamed and drop her snack and book. Looking to the side, she saw that a hooded person was poking out from behind the tree, looking at her. She could tell by the person's curves that it was female, but the blue hood she was wearing cast a shadow on her face, so there was no telling who it was. And the tree hid the bottom half of her body, so she couldn't tell who it was by a specific pair of pants. The only distinguishing characteristic she could make out was a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from the bottom of the opening of the hood.
"Who are you?" Jovie asked, looking scared.
"That's not important." She grabbed the trunk of the oak for support and continued, "All I wanna do is talk. A certain somebody needs to be eliminated tonight, and I need you help." She leaned in and whispered in her ear who it was.
Jovie shook her head, very confused. "But why would I want to vote off-"
"Trust me," the mystery girl interrupted. "It has to be done. Just vote with me and the rest of the group tonight. For Geoff's sake."
All Jovie did was nod.
End Flashback
All eyes went on Marilee, specifically staring at her hoodie. "Marilee," Geoff frowned, staring at his sister, "I know you're mad at her, but that was seriously uncool."
"Marilee?" Jovie, who was sitting right next to her, asked, "Girl, was that you who told me to vote Bridgette off?"
"Don't look at me!" she protested. "It wasn't me…" She didn't speak for a minute, but finally added, "But I wish I had. Dang. Why didn't I think of that?"
"If it wasn't you…" Geoff looked around, seeing no one else wearing a hoodie. "Who was it, then?"
Keith looked around and sheepishly stood up. "I think I know who." He walked over to Geoff. "You might wanna sit down for this one, bro."
Flashback: 8:07 PM
"But… but, Bridge," Keith tried to get the right words to form in his mouth, but failed for a moment. "Why are you doing this?"
Bridgette looked at herself in the mirror on the girl's side of the Rabid Wolves cabin, frowning at her own reflection. She pulled her blue hood over her head and tried to tuck all of her hair into it, but didn't entirely succeed, since a small piece was still hanging out. "It has to be done, Keith. I have to do this. For Geoff."
"But you dumped him!"
"Yes, but I just have to leave tonight." She walked over to him and sat down next to him on the bunk he was sitting on. "You should have seen the look on Geoff's face when we officially broke up. He looked so miserable." She looked down at her feet guiltily. "I wanted to win, but I don't want to ruin Geoff's chances."
"How does rallying a bunch of people together to vote you off help Geoff?"
"You know how easily distracted he gets!" Bridgette told him. "Things are going to be really awkward between us for a while. And the awkwardness might keep him from participating in a challenge right and he'll wind up on the Boat of Losers." Bridgette managed to hold back the tears that so desperately wanted to start forming. "I don't want to be responsible for his failure. So I have to do this. I'll see you at the bonfire ceremony tonight." She stood up and Keith sadly looked at her walk toward the door. But she stopped and turned around, looking at her little brother. "And Keith?"
He stood up and walked toward her. "Yeah, sis?"
She weakly grinned at him. "Kick butt in the competition, okay?"
The skater boy gave a small smile back. "Will do, Bridgette. Will do."
She pulled him into a big hug and then left without another word.
End Flashback
Geoff stared at Keith, mouth agape. "Bridgette did all that… for me?"
"Yeah," Keith guiltily admitted. "She didn't really want you to find out about it, so when she sees the end of this episode, she'd gonna be really ticked at me…"
"Wow…" Geoff smiled. "Looks like I'm gonna have to try even harder to win then, huh?"
"That's what Bridgette would want, bro," Keith said, patting him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah," Chris muttered. "Win it for the girl who brutally dumped you. Smart move. Not." He yawned. "Ugh, all this drama has worn me out. I'm hitting the hay. McClean out." With that, he walked away.
All of the other campers departed, too. Some cast Geoff sympathetic looks as they past him. Only Marilee and Geoff were left.
The hoodie-clad girl walked cautiously over to her brother. "You going to okay?"
Geoff sighed. "No. The love of my life just broke up with me."
Marilee frowned deeply. She hated to see Geoff so sad. If it had been Duke, she wouldn't have given a flying whoop about it, but Geoff was different. Geoff was the only one of her brothers she could actually stand. "It'll be okay, Geoff."
"I really don't think it will be…"
Marilee sat down on the stump next to him. "I know you're hurting right now, but you'll feel better soon. You just need to get your confidence back." She suddenly frowned and slapped his arm. "You're such a loser! What's wrong with you?" Geoff looked up at her, looking even sadder than before. She guiltily cringed. "Sorry, force of habit."
He attempted to give her a smile. "Aw, sis, I know your heart's in the right place, but I really just want to be alone right now. There are a lot of things I need to think about."
Marilee nodded understandingly. Giving his shoulder a small squeeze, she got up and walked away.
Geoff turned to look out at the murky ocean. The same one that his ex-girlfriend had traveled across after being voted off. He still couldn't' wrap his mind around the fact that she had done all of that. For him. If she was so willing to do that just to spare him, then she must have still hade some feelings for him, right?
"I'm gonna win this thing, Bridge," he quietly said. Looking up at the bright moon, he smiled genuinely.
"I'm gonna win it for the both of us."
Anybody notice the Family Guy joke in there? Kinda altered it a bit, but still, it's noticeable. Not that much, though.
But poor Geoff and Bridgette! :C I was originally going to have the Bears lose and have the final marshmallow go to either Selena or Owen, then have Bridgette run in just as Chris was about to announce the winner and ask to be kicked off. But, just my luck, something extremely similar to this happened in the latest TDA episode (sorry for the teensy weensy spoiler for you people who are waiting 'til it airs on CN!), and I figured that no one would believe that I thought of it before it aired, so I wrote it like this. And besides, I like how it turned out :D
Will Zack survive Duncan's wrath yet again? Will Geoff be able to concentrate during next week's challenge? Did Grace ever calm down and did Zoey ever stop barfing? And did anybody else notice how I finally managed to slip an intern in this chapter? All the answers to these cliff hangers will be answered in the next chapter of TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!