Yippie! New challenge time!
Well, not much of the challenge actually happens, because there was a bunch of business that needed to be taken care of…
A few of you have been asking me questions, so I think I'll take the time to answer them here…
When are we gonna see the booted off campers again? I liked some of them!
Patience, my friends, patience! After every five challenges, which is pretty much like a school week (starts on Monday, ends on Friday), Chris goes to Playa de Losers on Saturday to see how the losers are doing and what's new with them. And for those of you who liked Rikki and Jackson, there will be lots of them in the first Playa de Losers episode. :D
Are you putting DJ/Heather in here or were you just screwing with us?
YES SHUT UP UBER CANON FANS. Lol, jk :D Since I'm making pretty much everything else canon, I figured throwing some fanon in wouldn't do anybody any real harm. Will they actually end up together or is it just innocent flirting? Well… I'M NOT TELLING! HA!
Do you have this whole fic all planned out? Like how far?
I don't have the order of challenges and what order the campers get voted off, necessarily, but I have a pretty good idea of who'll be in the final eight.
MOAR DUNCAN/COURTNEY PLZ. (Okay, so this isn't really a question, but still…)
Okay, okay! I'm sorry there hasn't been enough of them. There just hasn't been any convenient spots in the last few chapters for them. Same thing goes for the interns, btw.
Not much to say about this chapter. Just please read, review, and enjoy! :D
Cody emerged from the boy's side of the Killer Bears cabin and stretched, since he had just gotten up. He had already gotten changed and had tried to comb his hair with his hand, but it was still a little messy. The techno geek knew there was going to be a challenge that day, but they usually didn't start this early, so he knew he'd have plenty of time to fix it later.
He couldn't see any of his friends nearby, so he just sat on the steps, thinking about the other day.
Duncan had let Zack off easy after he caught him, but when the poor boy woke up next morning, he found that somebody had written 'Pervert' on his forehead with permanent marker in his sleep. Somebody with Duncan's handwriting. Luckily, his messy brown hair and his baseball cap covered it.
Five minutes after they found out that they won, Grace's almost infinite energy had finally crashed, and she had fallen asleep in mid-babble. Trent then carried her off to bed, making a mental note to himself to keep a better eye on her and her sugary consumptions.
And Zoey stopped puking, right after she upchucked a little onto Jamal's foot. Disgusted, he had kicked her away with his clean foot, making her cry and making Duncan give him a black eye. But that's an entirely different story.
Then, he thought about the time he had spent with Candace. She had nothing but positive things to say about, well, everything. Not to mention that her smile had almost never left her lips, except when Selena was in peril, of course. Even she couldn't find anything positive about that, but who could?
"Candace?" Cody questioned, tapping his chin. "Sure, at first I was thinking, 'Hey, all right, new babe!', but I was most just kidding with myself. Especially once I actually started talking to her. Just after five minutes, I realized she's NOTHING like Gwen. Seriously, she's the exact opposite!" Leaning back, Cody explained, "And I'm just not into that type of girl…" He perked back up. "But, hey, at least she's a lot nicer to me than Gwen was last year…" He shook his head. "So, yeah, Candace isn't the right girl for me… But she's a cool friend."
Cody got up and stretched again, walking over to the mess hall. He had skipped breakfast and surely everybody else had already finished their food by now, but he figured one of his buddies might just be hanging out in there. When he reached there, he got quite a surprise.
He had heard a faint scream a while ago, but pushed the strange feeling in his gut aside, passing it off as nothing. He should have listened to his gut, because Zack walked out of the almost empty mess hall, completely covered in honey and fluffy, white feathers, his mouth a narrow, angry line. Cody was about to crack a joke, but Zack held a sticky hand up and growled through his teeth, "Don't. Say. ANYTHING." He stormed away, leaving a trail of gooey honey footprints behind him.
Cody watched him walk away for a second, then turned around to find a smirking Duncan leaning against the railing of the entrance. "Gotta love Honey-Covered Chicken Day," he commented, smirking even larger than ever.
Cody couldn't help but smirk, too. "Even though he's my buddy, I really gotta hand it to you, man," He held up a hand and the punk gladly high-fived it. He laughed and told him, "That was hilarious!"
*T*S*R*
Gwen happily sighed as she watched Trent wave at her and walk toward her and her spot at the picnic table by the mess hall. He made her so incredibly happy… But they had barely been able to spend any time together, since certain distractions always came up. Half of those distractions came in the form of Grace. "Hey, Trent."
He sat down next to her, placing his hand over hers. "Hi there, beautiful."
She blushed and nudged him. "Oh, stop it!"
"Stop what? Stating the truth?" He playfully smirked at her while her face continued to redden.
"You're so sweet…" She grinned at him, but her grin quickly faltered. "Too bad we've barely spent any time together…"
"I know." He kicked at a small pebble by his foot. "Something always seems to be getting in the way…"
"More like someone," Gwen mumbled quietly, hoping Trent hadn't heard her. Unfortunately, he did.
"Hm?"
"Oh… Nothing."
Meanwhile, from behind the mess hall, Grace was spying on their alone time, eyes narrowed.
"Why do I hate Gwen?" Grace pondered, tapping her chin. After thinking, she threw her hands up in a frustrated manor and yelled, "Why wouldn't I hate her? She's a big, fat jerky jerk and Trent's too good for her! She's ugly, smelly, stupid, and…" She paused, trying to think of another word. "Um… I already said smelly, right?" She crossed her arms. "Still, I hate her. So I had to do everything I could to keep them apart. Even if it meant hurting myself…"
The evil little girl scratched her head, formulating a plan. When one finally came, she took action immediately.
Crawling toward one of the cement blocks holding the mess hall up, she pushed her knee up against it and started grinding the joint on the rough surface, tearing through her white tights and producing a nasty scrape. Crimson liquid slowly started trickling out of the scrape, and she let out a silent yelp of pain.
"So far, so good," Grace mused, inspecting the injury. "Now I just need to make it look like I fell down…" She grabbed some dirt off the ground, smearing it on her tights, dark blue skirt, and even on her long sleeved magenta top and short sleeved orange button up sweater.
"Okay, now for the tears…" Her eyes started to glisten with fake tears, and in a sad, little voice, she whimpered, "Twent, I huwted my widdle knee! Get away fwom Gwen and fix it…" Tears disappearing, she nodded and said, "Yep, that'll work," in her normal voice.
Back over by Gwen and Trent, the latter gently grabbed his girlfriend by her chin and turned her face toward his. "I'm glad Chris put us on the same team again."
Gwen looked into his bright green eyes dreamily and said, "That's the only thing I don't hate about that man…"
Trent was slowly guiding her face toward his with his hand, so they could finally have a long kiss, but Trent jerked away when he heard some loud crying. He and Gwen turned to find Grace limping toward them, blood coating her knee and tears trickling down her cheeks.
"Grace, what's wrong?" Trent got up, away from Gwen, and kneeled down next to his sister.
Rubbing her wet eyes, Grace lifted up her right leg and whimpered, "I-I got an owie…"
"Let me see it," he instructed, inspecting her cut. "Whoa, this looks pretty bad… We'd better get you to the infirmary and fix it up."
Grace sniffed several times, and mumbled, "Okay…" She lifted her arms up, implying that she wanted to be carried there.
Trent picked her up, then turned back to Gwen, looking a little bit guilty. "Gwen, I'm sorry, I-"
"No, no, I completely understand," Gwen reassured and sighed, "You gotta do what you gotta do…"
"Though I strongly dislike Grace for constantly trying to keep me and Trent apart," Gwen started, arms crossed casually, "I couldn't help but feel bad for her. That scrape looked like it really hurt…"
Trent started walking off with her, then chuckled and commented, "Y'know, for someone named Grace, you sure are klutzy. This is, like, the fourth time you've fallen down and hurt yourself this week. Yesterday when Gwen and I went for a walk, you scraped your elbow. Day before that, when me and Gwen were by the lake, you scraped your other knee…"
Grace nervously giggled and shrugged. "Ehehe… yeaaaaaaah."
"Okay," Grace admitted, crossing her arms. "I'm not that good at coming up with distractions…"
Gwen waved them goodbye, once again feeling very lonely, as Trent carried his baby sister off. Before they were out of eyeshot, Grace positioned herself so that Trent couldn't see her face, and blew a silent raspberry at Gwen.
She gasped, then angrily glared at her, losing all of her sympathy for the little faker.
"That little brat!" Gwen growled, fists clenched angrily. "I cannot believe her. She injured herself just to drag Trent away from me!" She ran a hand through her long, dyed hair and rhetorically asked, "How could the world's sweetest guy have such a cow for a little sister?"
After a few minutes of furious steaming, she stood up and started walking back toward the mess hall, since it was almost lunchtime. Might as well be angry on a full stomach.
Right before the Goth girl opened the door to the lodge, she heard a high-pitched scream coming from the direction of the infirmary, followed by a few pain-filled sobs. She stopped, trying to figure out what could have caused it. After a second, she realized what must have happened.
Gwen grinned. "Gotta love the harsh sting of antiseptic spray…"
*T*S*R*
"Duncan, get off of me! I'm not making out with you out here!"
"C'mon, Princess, what'd the big deal?" Duncan asked, pulling her slim frame closer to his.
She tried pulling away, but he was too strong. "Because, I don't want anybody to see us gnawing at each other like two uncivilized animals!"
Duncan childishly groaned, and said, "Bridgette and Geoff didn't care if anybody saw!"
"And look how great that relationship turned out!"
"…" Duncan merely sighed in defeat, releasing her from his grip. "Fine. How about just one kiss?"
Her pout remained. "…No."
"C'mon, I really need a little pick-me-up after the whole thing with Selena yesterday…"
"Is that still bothering you?"
"Of course it is," he snapped, glaring at her. "She's my sister, and I just want to protect her from freaky freaks like Zack."
"Just to set the record straight," Duncan started, fiddling with his pocket knife, flipping it in and out and not really focusing on the camera. "I'm not soft." He looked up, flipped the knife out again and, in a harsher tone, said, "I'm not. It's just…" He groaned, flipping the small weapon back in its handle. "It's different with them; Selena and Zoey, that is."
He squinted his eyes shut and rubbed his temples with his free hand, flipping the blade out once again with the other. "I wouldn't have cared if Jamal had made some other kid cry. And if Zack had been fooling around with any other chick, I actually would have admired him for it." He flipped the shiny blade back in, eyebrow scrunching angrily. "But when you mess with family," With a quick flash, he retracted the blade out again, pointing it directly at the camera, as if threatening the viewer with it. "You mess with me! Got it?"
Courtney couldn't help but smile. "Aww, you really do have a heart." She grabbed his face, pulled him close, gave him a quick peck on the nose and whispered, "That deserves a nice, long kiss…"
She was getting ready to mash her lips against his, but before she could, a small voice interrupted. "Hi, guys!"
Courtney and Duncan looked down, seeing Zoey peering up at them, as if unaware of what they were about to do.
"Oh, goody gumdrops," Duncan sarcastically grumbled as Courtney speedily pushed him away to avoid giving the little girl any inappropriate messages. "Zoey's here. I'm glad we weren't doing anything…" He noticed that Geoff had just finally exited his cabin and had sadly sat down on the steps. "I have to talk to Geoff about something." He leaned in toward Courtney, so Zoey couldn't hear, and whispered, "Save me that kiss, gorgeous…" Duncan started walking toward his glum buddy and called out, "I'll leave you girls to talk about whatever it is girls talk about."
When the punk was gone, Courtney sat down on the grass so she could talk to her boyfriend's sister at her own level. "Did you want to talk to me, Zoey?"
She kicked at a clump of dirt and said, "I just wanted to say sorry for all the mean stuff Selena said to you yesterday…"
The former CIT waved a hand nonchalantly. "No, it's fine. Trust me, I've had much worse things said about me online…"
"I just don't want you to break up with my big brother 'cause of her," she explained, sitting next to her. "He likes you a lot. And he's been home more 'cause of you. He hasn't been to stupid, yucky juvie in a long time! Mommy says you're a good infuent on him."
She laughed and said, "I think you mean 'influence'."
Zoey nodded. "Yeah! And I like you a lot better than Duncan's old girlfriends. You're pretty and smart and nice and pretty and, uh, smart…"
Courtney laughed again, and pulled her into a big hug. "Thank you, sweetie! That means a lot to me."
Zoey smiled and nodded again, sliding down into her lap. "Mmhmm! And Duncan says that you have great knockers!"
The brunette's eyes widened. "Zoey! He actually said that in front of you?"
"Well, no," Zoey admitted, unsure as to why Courtney was so upset. "But he says that to all his friends back home… Why aren't you happy? Are knockers a bad thing? …What are knockers? Is it a kind of candy?"
Instead of answering her question, Courtney mumbled, "Oh, that pervert is so not getting that kiss!"
*T*S*R*
Holly walked by the outskirts of the woods, twirling a brunette and red piece of hair and smoothing out a wrinkle in her Team Edward t-shirt with her free hand. She happened to see Jamal sitting on a rock, lifting two giant dumbbells. She walked over to him, gave him a friendly smile and said, "Hi, Jamal."
"Don't say hi," Jamal coolly said, barely giving her a glance.
Holly confusedly blinked. "Um… Why not?"
He sighed, still curling and not looking at her. "Because you'll say 'hi' and I'll say 'hi' back, you'll ask how I'm doing and I'll say 'fine' and then I'll feel compelled to ask how you're doing or whatever, even though I really don't care." Holly cocked an eyebrow and he continued, "Then you'll drone on and on and ON about something Twilight-related and I'll have to pretend to listen to you, which will be excruciatingly hard, since I won't be, and it would be best if we just didn't get tangled up in that mess in the first place." He put his dumbbells down and picked up some bigger ones that were sitting by his feet and started using them.
Holly blinked and slowly backed away.
"Yeesh!" Holly scrunched her face in confusion as she told the Confession Can camera, "I just wanted to say 'hi'!"
*T*S*R*
Geoff sat slumped on the one of the steps outside the Rabid Wolves cabin and sighed. It had been less than twenty four hours since his break up with Bridgette, and his heart was still hurting.
Still, he couldn't get over how she had gotten almost everybody to vote her off. That was really nice of her… He couldn't believe he had let her slip away…
Duncan approached his friend and sat down next to him. Though they were put on different teams, they didn't let that get in the way of friendship. And right now, Geoff needed a friend. "Hey, heard about you and Malibu Barbie. That sucks. But I'm here for ya, man."
"Yeah…" Geoff nodded, trying not to snap at him for what he called Bridgette. "I just feel like there's this big, empty space in my heart. One that only Bridgette can fill. Every second that goes by without her by my side feels like an eternity. I don't think I can live without her, bro. She comple-"
"Okay, I'm trying to be supportive, but you're getting way too mushy," Duncan interrupted, slapping a hand over Geoff's mouth.
After a second, he took it off and Geoff tried to change the subject by grinning and saying, "Cody told me about that prank you pulled on Zack." The two knuckle-touched and he said, "Nice one! But what's up with you wailing on him so much? You weren't even this harsh to Harold, and he's, like, millenniums ahead of Zack in nerd years."
"You haven't heard how he groped my sister?" Geoff's jaw dropped and Duncan's unibrow angrily scrunched just talking about it.
"Are you serious?" Duncan nodded and Geoff shook his head. "Man, I can't believe Zack would do that to Zoey. She's just a little kid! That's just sick! And what would be the point of it, anyway? It's not like she has any boo-" Duncan smacked him to get him to shut up and he whined in pain.
"Not her, brainiac, Selena!" He furiously crossed his arms over his chest. "She was all high on Chris' freakazoid juice or whatever it's called and the freak decided to cop a feel with her."
"Whoa," Geoff gasped, straightening up from shock. "I don't blame you for doing all that stuff to him, man. I don't even know what I'd do if somebody did that to Marilee. But I sure wouldn't think Zack was that kind of dude just by looking at him."
"Well, it's true," Duncan bluntly said. "It's forever burned into my mind…" He shuddered and looked at his glum friend again. "You know, I'm probably going to need help for my next idea. Gimme a hand?'
Geoff rubbed the back of his neck, unsure. "I dunno. I'll probably be kind of a downer for a while. I don't wanna wreck your fun…"
"Geoff, this is exactly what you need to get your mind off of Bridgette," he reassured, placing his usual smirk back on his face. "Picking on a scrawny weakling is the perfect way to get over a chick."
"How would you know?"
"Why do you think I picked on Harold so much?" He leaned back, propping his arms behind his head. "Yep, Monica Webster. Dumped me for the football team's equipment manager right before I left home last season." He rolled his eyes and added, "I would have beaten the crap out of that dweeb, but she broke the news right as I was getting on the boat and besides, he kinda looked like Harold…"
Geoff looked skeptical for a second, but grinned, shrugged and stood up. "What the heck? It's not like it could make my life suck any worse right now."
Duncan stood up, patted him on the back, and grinned. "That's the spirit, buddy. Let's see if DJ's up for it…"
*T*S*R*
Heather sighed, sitting on a giant piece of driftwood by the shores of Lake Wawanawkwa. Her arms were crossed over her chest, though not because she was angry or cold. It looked more like she was hiding something.
She looked out into the shining, yet murky, waters, sadness visible on her face. Being on that island didn't exactly bring back any good memories, and she certainly hadn't made many new ones yet. Everybody pretty much hated her, no matter how hard she tried to convince them she had changed. The only people there that didn't detest her were Candace and Herbie, and while she appreciated their kindness, it's not like it was saying much. Candace liked pretty much everything and everybody and Herbie liked mud and worms, so his standards weren't exactly that high, either.
Just then, DJ walked over to her, a laundry basket in his hands. He had seen her on his way back from the small laundry cabin near the washrooms, and he could almost sense her sadness. He believed her. When she had confessed her newfound ways, he could tell she had truly meant what she said. He had been lied to quite a few times in his life and he knew a liar when he saw one. She wasn't one.
"Hey, Heather," he greeted as he got closer to her. "What's up?"
She looked up at him and grinned. "Hi, DJ. I'm just thinking."
He sat down on the ground next to her, setting the laundry basket aside. "That's cool… What about?"
"Just the island… And the people on it."
There was an awkward silence. Neither knew what to add to that. But DJ finally spoke up and said, "I believe you."
"Wha?" It took her a second to realize what he meant, but when she did, her face brightened up. "Really? You do?"
"Sure." He nodded. "People do change for the better sometimes."
"Thanks. You really have no idea what that means to me."
It looked like she was about to say something else, but before she could, DJ asked, "Why are your holding your arms like that?" He had just noticed how stiffly and strangely crossed her arms were.
She blushed and shook her head. "N-no reason."
He gave her a glance showing her that he wasn't buying it. "C'mon, girl, just tell me. I promise I won't laugh no matter how embarrassing it is."
Heather sighed. He wasn't going to give up anytime soon. "Okay, fine… But you cannot laugh at me…" She closed her eyes in shame and let her arms drop to her sides. There were two big slits slashed on the chest of her t-shirt, exposing her purple bra.
DJ bit his lip and looked away, trying to stifle his laughter. Heather opened her eyes and yelled, "It's not funny!" Though it wasn't in her old, harsh tone. Just a new, humiliated one.
He held his hands up peacefully and agreed, "Yeah, you're right. Sorry. But how'd that happen?"
"Gwen did it! She did to all of my shirts!" She slumped sadly. "She still hasn't forgiven me for all that stuff I did to her last season, not that I can exactly blame her or anything…"
"Don't worry about Gwen," DJ reassured, patting her on the back. "I'm sure she won't hold this grudge for much longer."
"I sure hope so," Heather sighed. "But what am I going to do? I can't walk around camp like this!" She gestured toward the damaged area.
DJ pondered for a minute, then when he thought of the perfect idea, he started rifling through his laundry basket. He pulled out a shirt that looked just like his usual t-shirt, only several sizes smaller. He held it out to her. "Try this on and see if it fits."
She followed his orders, and it fit almost perfectly. She beamed happily. "DJ, thank you so much!" She gave him a quick hug and asked, "Why do you have such a small shirt?"
He sheepishly shrugged. "I kind of screwed up on this load of shirts… Momma usually does my laundry…"
Heather laughed, then took a quick glance at her watch. "Oh, man!" She stood up and looked in the direction of the mess hall. "We're going to miss lunch!"
"You'd better go," DJ warned her, standing up. "I'm just gonna drop my clothes off back at my cabin first."
"Okay, see you later," she departed, smiling and giving him a small wave. Before she was out of his earshot, she also called out, "Thanks for the shirt!"
He waved back, picking up his basket full of too-small t-shirts. When she was gone, he happily sighed. I should mess up the laundry more often…
*T*S*R*
After lunch, Chris had called everyone to the amphitheater. Zack and Selena sat next to each other in the front row of the stands. Zack gave her a little grin, making her blush and look away at the stage. Seeing that, Duncan took a seat in the second row, using Zack's head as a foot rest. The gamer was too afraid to say anything to the punk, and Selena didn't notice, so he sighed and let him keep his feet up there.
"Campers!" Chris exclaimed as he walked on stage. "Your next challenge might seem familiar to a few of you. Anybody remember the Triple Dog Dare challenge?"
Just mentioning it made Heather gasp and bring a hand up to her hair and made Gwen laugh when she saw Heather's face.
"Well, this challenge isn't exactly the same…" He gave an all-knowing wink to the interns, who were standing next to him. They walked behind the curtain, getting some things. "It's…" He paused, waiting for the girls to bring the needed materials out, and when they did, he finished, "Would You Rather?"
The competitors looked at the items the interns dragged on stage. There were two rolling tables, each one with a giant glass jar on top. The jars looked like they were filled with hundreds of tiny slips of paper.
Chris walked over to said tables, rested a hand on each jar, and looked back at his audience. "Ever play that game with your friends where you have to choose the lesser of two evils, as if you'd ever have to choose between those things? Eat a live bug or a dead rat? Lick a stop sign or eat an entire jar of mayonnaise?"
"Eww," Courtney cringed disgustedly. "Why would anybody want to do any of those things?"
"That's the point; you wouldn't! But you're going to have to if you want to win." Chris smirked, motioning to the stands from the No Pain, No Game challenge set up to his right. "Take a seat up here and I'll explain the details to you."
They did as they were told. Grace, Trent, Gwen and Zack sat in the first row, Candace, Owen, DJ and Jamal in the second, Heather, Keith, LeShawna and Jovie in the third, Izzy, Herbie, Xavier, Cody and Courtney in the fourth, and Marilee, Geoff, Duncan, Selena, and Zoey in the fifth.
"Here's how it's gonna go down," Chris pointed to the jars and continued, "When it's your turn, I'll take a slip of paper from each jar. Each slip has a horrifying task on it. You must choose which task you want to do instead of the other." He ran a hand through his hair and smiled at them. "I came up with all of them myself, and trust me, they are sick!" He laughed. "And if you either fail to complete your chosen task or refuse to do either of your choices, you're out."
"Maybe this won't be so bad," Gwen shrugged. "At least we get some say in what sick, demented task we have to perform…"
He looked at the group and tapped his chin. "Now who wants to go first?"
There was silence for a moment, except for the sound of a cricket chirping. Obviously, no one wanted to do it at all. After glancing around for a while, hoping someone else would volunteer before she did, Selena sighed and stood up. "Fine, fine, I'll volunteer." She walked down as the host pulled two slips out, reading them, and trying to not to laugh.
"Oh, gross!" He looked at Selena, who was now next to him and asked, "Would You Rather… eat a handful of hair or lick one of the communal toilet?"
Selena didn't even look slightly freaked out at the thought of doing either, but after thinking for a while, she asked, "Who's hair?"
Chris shrugged. "I dunno. Some greasy hippy's, I think. I bought it on eBay…"
"And it's… from his head, right?"
"… Maybe."
She shrugged and told him, "Bring on the hair, McClean."
Chris whistled and Tamyra and Marina walked back on stage, Tamyra carrying a chair and Marina rolling a table, covered by a pure white tablecloth and holding a lit candlestick. It would have looked nice if it wasn't for the mound of stringy, brown hair on the plate smack in the middle of the table. Tamyra placed the chair behind the table and Selena quietly sat down. Marina handed her a fork and quietly whispered, "I'm so sorry you have to do this. I think it's cruel…" She and Tamyra left without another word.
Selena stabbed the pile of hair with her fork, trying to collect some on the utensil. However, it wasn't really working, since the grimy hair kept slipping off it. Looking from the fork to the hair, as if making a decision, she shrugged, tossed the fork behind her back, with someone yelping in pain afterwards. She dove head-first into the plate of hair, not even using her hands. It wasn't long before the entire stack of hair was gone.
Her fellow campers just looked at her in disgust, shocked that she actually ate it. Jovie was even so disgusted, she threw up, though she was luckily sitting on the side. Chef walked over to the vomit with a bucket, a mop, and a grimace.
With a gulp, Selena swallowed, then stood up. She had some hair stuck to her lip, looking like a greasy handlebar mustache. She ripped it off and crammed it into her mouth. "Okay, that wasn't the greatest thing I've ever eaten, but it beats Aunt Pearl's tuna casserole."
"Nice work, Selena," Chris motioned toward her seat. "You may be seated. You're safe… for now."
"I gotta admit," LeShawna began, "White girl sure don't look like it, but she's got guts… Guts full of some nasty hippy's hair."
Selena walked back up to her seat, looking practically unaffected. But after she sat down, she started coughing. She politely covered her mouth, and when she was done hacking, she found a poofy hairball in her hand. She tossed it aside casually, as if it had happened to her before.
"Um… Okaaaay," Chris tried to break his horrified glance at her, focusing on the campers on the lower rows. "Next up, Jamal."
"Yeah, bring it on, man!" Jamal bounded down to the host, rushing to his side. "I can take anything you can throw at me!"
Chris pulled two new slips out, reading them silently to himself. "Even wasps?"
Jamal's confident expression disappeared. "W-w-w-w-w… wasps?"
"Have I ever mentioned that I have a huge phobia of wasps?" Jamal asked, fear glinting in his beady brown eyes. "When I was seven, I was just minding my own business, you know, throwing rocks at some wasps' nest. Then, for some reason beyond my understanding, the freaky things swarmed out and attacked me! It scarred me for life!" He shuddered. "I can take a lot of things, but there are only two things I cannot handle." He held up and hand and touched his black eye. "One is protective, hardened criminal brothers…" His hand dropped back down to his side and he added, "and the other is wasps…"
"Yep, it's a weird coincidence, these challenges…" The host read the slips over one more time and asked, "Would You Rather… be stung by a wasp or eat a dead one?"
The Jamaican-Canadian weight-lifter was sweating bullets, trying to decide which would help him get over his fear most. He'd have to face it eventually… Better now than never. "The first one. Bring on the sting!"
Chris grinned. His victim picked the one that would be the most fun for him. "If you say so, big guy. Mia! Bring out the wasp!"
Mia quickly walked on stage, an old mayonnaise jar in her hands. Though it was hard to see, a small wasp was speedily buzzing around in there, eager to escape. She handed it to Chris, but didn't leave. "What?" she asked when Chris stared at her. "I wanna watch this."
"I like your style," Chris commented, slowly twisting the lid off. He turned back toward Jamal, pressing the unscrewed lid down so that the wasp wouldn't be released too early. "You ready, dude?"
"As I'll ever be," Jamal sighed, fists clenched.
Without another word, Chris lifted the lid and the wasp flew out. It floated around for a while, not particularly close to it's nervous prey, but close enough to make him cringe worse than his brother when he was up against a small garden snake. The wasp got closer and closer, and Jamal was cringing more and more. It steadily made it's way toward Jamal's face, gracefully landing right on his nose.
Letting out a excruciatingly out-of-character shriek, Jamal batted the wasp away and fled from the stage, dreadlocks flowing in the breeze.
"…" Not a single person knew what to say. Marilee merely slapped her forehead with her palm in frustration of her teammate's incompetence.
"Well…" Chris caught the wasp back in the mayo jar, still staring at the fleeing Jamal. "Alrighty then." He twisted the lid back on, handed it to Mia and ordered, "Put the wasp back in Chef's spice rack next to the toad intestines and bring Jamal back."
"What?" Mia yelled, placing her hands snootily on her hips. "Why me?"
"You're the one who wanted to stay and watch," was Chris' response, smirking as Mia glared at him.
"But Holly hasn't even done anything yet!" She jabbed a finger over to Holly, who was by the edge of the stage, twirling her hair.
"She's my ego booster," Chris explained.
He clapped twice, and Holly looked up from coiling her hair around her finger, grinning at her boss. She gave him a quick thumbs up and exclaimed, "Lookin' good, host man!"
"I know!" he oh-so-modestly stated, turning back to Mia, who was less than ecstatic. Holly, meanwhile, went back to hair-twirling.
"Why did she get that position? Why not me?"
"You really wanna know why?" She nodded in response and he jerked a finger toward himself. "Come closer." She followed his orders. "Now close your eyes." Her eyes were shut. "It's because…" Chris whipped out his bull horn, held it up to Mia's ear and screamed into it, "BECAUSE HOLLY DOESN'T WHINE!"
The brunette let out a loud shriek, clapping her hands over her ears and the others cringed as well.
After getting her hearing back, she slowly stalked off to retrieve the frightened guy, mumbling something about how much she hated Chris McClean.
"Next up is…" Chris pointed from person to person, as if he couldn't choose who he wanted to torment next. Once a little brunette in the front row caught his eye, he grinned and pointed directly at her. "Grace."
Grace's expression was less than thrilled. She was really hoping that Gwen would have been next.
Chris pulled out two slips, reading them carefully. When he did, he dropped them, laughing harder than he had ever laughed before, which worried Grace greatly. "Oh, oh, oh, oh-ho-ho!" Chris couldn't even talk for a while, he was laughing so hard. "Th-th-th-this is great! This is too great!" He waved Marina and Tamyra over toward him and whispered in their ears between laughs. They walked off stage, and Marina returned rolling a covered table on the far side of the stage. And suddenly, A giant box covered in a white tarp, most likely delivered by Tamyra, fell on stage, making a clacking metal sound. "Okay, for the next challenge, we'll need the help of two special guests. Come on up, girls!"
A familiar blonde and a muscular girl walked up next to Chris and the competitors stared at them confusedly, seeing the two ex campers. "You all remember Lindsay and Eva, right?"
Lindsay, seeing two of her old friends, grinned and waved. "Hi, Brent! Hi, Gretchen!" Trent and Gwen weakly waved back at her, not impressed by the fact that she still didn't remember their names.
Eva merely glared at the contestants in front of her.
The host walked over to the first covered thing and yanked the sheet off, revealing a cooking table, complete with ingredients and several knifes and utensils. "You've have two options, Grace. Either eat poisonous blowfish sushi prepared by the lovely Lindsay," Chris said as Lindsay walked behind the table, picking up a knife and playing around with it. He lifted the tarp off of the second thing brought on stage, revealing a giant metal cage, with large bars close enough together so that nobody, no matter how petite, could slip through. The handsome host opened the door for the buff girl, who crankily walked in, listening to her MP3 player. "Or try to last in the steel death cage with the brutal Eva for ten seconds…" Chris snatched the device from her, headphones and all, and slammed the door. Eva, who had seemed strangely calm up until that point, growled ferociously, clawing out one of the slots and frightening Grace even more than she already was before.
"So…" Chris' grin was wider than ever. "What'll it be?"
"I really didn't know what to pick…" Grace was ringing her hands anxiously, eyes darting around as if she thought she was going to get attacked by either Eva or poisonous raw fish. "Both were pretty bad…" She sighed. "But at least with Lindsay, I had a chance of living… I mean, Trent lived when he ate it, right?" She laughed it off, but still didn't look very reassured.
Grace hugged Trent's arm, then whispered to him, "I love you. If I die, make sure Josie from across the street doesn't get my toys. She's a butt face…" That statement made Trent, who had already been worried enough for his younger sister's health, was now extremely horrified as to what would happen. It was kind of ironic how she got that particular challenge. Sure, he had survived, but barely at that. He wasn't sure if her little body could handle it or not.
The tiny brunette walked slowly over to her seat behind the table, avoiding Eva's thrashing hand poking out at her from between the cage bars as she did. A few of the campers who knew how horrible she really was couldn't help but smirk. Gwen's smile was the biggest, but when Trent turned to her for comfort, it immediately flashed to one of fake, but convincing, sadness. She grabbed Trent's hand and gave it a squeeze, which at least got a small smile out of him.
As Grace crawled onto the pile of phonebooks on her new chair behind the table, Lindsay tried comforting her by telling her, "Don't worry, Gertie, I've been practicing my sushi making since last year."
"Really?" Grace breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah! My dog Mr. Sparkles was the taste tester."
"Did he like it?"
"Um…" Lindsay scratched her head, then looked back down at her and sheepishly grinned. "Well, on the bright side, I got him the cutest little coffin and headstone!"
That comment made the little girl's entire face pale.
The group watched in fascination and horror as Lindsay poked and prodded the puffed-up fish until it exploded, like a teeny atomic bomb. Some raw fish chunks landed in Grace's hair, so the blonde quickly pulled them out, nervously squealing apologies to her as she tossed them back onto the plate.
In all honesty, the dish looked like something that had already been digested and vomited back up onto the plate. Even with a mustard smiley face on it.
Lindsay bit her pinky nail, trying to figure out what to do to make the 'meal' seem more appealing. When inspiration came, she quickly dug through a small produce bag, pulling out a small spring of some green leafage, placing it on the side of the mush. "Voila! Parsley makes everything better!" She whispered to the camera, as if it was some secret chef's recipe. She stuck a fork in the slop and shoved the plate in front of Grace.
Shakily grabbing the fork, she plucked it out, a wiggly glop of fish clinging to the spokes. She turned back to Chris, fear in her eyes instead of her usual hatred. "D-do I have to?"
"If you wanna win, yeah." Chris nodded, smirking. He walked right next to her seat, wanting to get a close-up view. Grace pouted, but turned back to the disgusting bite, slowly bringing it up to her mouth. Seconds passed, a dramatic drum roll being played by an unknown source.
The campers leaned forward in their seats, and the tension was so thick, Xavier actually tried to cut through it with a knife. Where he got it, nobody knew.
Eventually, the bite made it into her mouth, and was chewed and swallowed. Grace opened her eyes and looked around, as if she was expecting something terrible to happen to her, like her head exploding. However, her head stayed in contact with her body. She smiled a relieved smile. "This is yummy!"
She finished off the rest of the tasty fish paste on her plate, and Chris groaned, stomping his foot like a spoiled little kid. "Aww, man! I was hoping you'd at least blow chunks!" He turned back to Lindsay, annoyance flaring in his beady eyes. "Some good you were, Iron Chef. I told you to screw up and make that poisonous slop you made last year!"
Lindsay gasped, rather shocked at the host. "I would never do that to such a little cutie!" She patted Grace on the head, who didn't notice because she was still scraping the remains from her plate onto her fork. "I didn't even mean to do that to Troy." She waved at Trent and sheepishly grinned. "Sorry again!" With that, she walked off stage, triumphantly grinning at her accomplishment.
"Whatever, I guess she passes this round," Chris mumbled, rolling his eyes.
Grace shoved the squeaky clean plate aside, and just as she was about to get down from her seat, she got the strangest twinge in her stomach. She gripped her belly, moaning in pain. This got an interested eyebrow cock from the host. "Whoa, what's this? You feeling okay?"
"No," she answered, shaking her head. "M-my tummy hurts…"
Just the answer he was hoping for. "Oh, does it?" He grinned at the camera, giving it a small wink.
Trent's relived smile disappeared, along with Gwen's disappointed frown.
As Grace continued to moan and groan, you couldn't help but notice the strange shade of blue she was turning. After a long moan, she couldn't even bare to sit upright anymore, and fell backwards. Small gagging noises followed.
Gwen happily sighed, looking happier than she had been in a while. "This just goes to show; karma really is a bit-"
"Grace!" Trent jolted up, running over to her spot behind the table. She was noisily twitching in a small puddle of her own vomit, bluer than ever. He looked up at Chris and yelled, "Why are you just standing there, man?" He pointed down at her jittery body and added, "She needs help! Get Chef or someone that actually has a medical degree or-"
"Okay, okay, sheesh," Chris told him, holding his hands up in surrender. He whistled, and Chef appeared in his not-so-sexy nurse's uniform. "Dude, does that thing still fit you?" He laughed and said, "You have gotten a bit of a gut since last year…"
"Quiet, fool!" Chef screamed, picking up Grace by her ponytail as puke leaked out from the corner of her mouth. "You know I'm sensitive about my weight! You're the only reason I'm doing Weight Watchers!" He moodily stormed off with the sick girl in his grip.
Gwen could feel Trent's pain practically oozing onto her. She had to do something. "Chris," Gwen stood up, attracting everyone's attention "Can Trent just have invincibility for this challenge? Watching that must have been torture enough."
Trent gratefully smiled at his girlfriend and Chris looked skeptically at her for a second, then shrugged. "Sure. I guess I could give you invincibility for this challenge so you can spend these last few hours with Barfy McGee, since she could possibly die…"
"Not funny, man!" Trent ran off to catch up to the his sister and the tough nurse.
"Well," Chris turned to the camera. "I guess this is the perfect opportunity to take a commercial break. How will the rest of the campers handle the challenge? Who will fail and who will triumph? Will Mia bring Jamal back alive? W-"
"Will you ever shut your trap?" LeShawna interrupted, tired of his cliffhanger questions.
"Good question, LeShawna!" He turned back to the camera, still grinning. "Find out the answers to all of these questions, or at least most of them, after the break! Stay tuned, for Total! Sibling! Rivalry!"
I got the thing that happened to Heather's shirts from Mean Girls… XP
But I finally got a decent amount of intern-ness in here, but there'll be much more in the next few chapters, I promise!
And evil Grace finally gets some comeuppance! Ha ha! Isn't that a cool word? COMEUPPANCE!
Oh, and antiseptic spray's that stingy stuff you spray on cuts to get rid of germs, in case you didn't know. I didn't. I've always called it boo-boo spray XD
I might not update this for quite a while, just so you know. I'll be gone for five days with my youth group in two weeks. I'm not saying where we're going so you can't come and stalk me or something, but just know I won't be anywhere near a computer.
Oh, and I'd just like to take the time to thank ironbloodaika for the challenge idea, along with several future ones. You rock! :D
Click that little greenish button down there to make me uber happy! :3