I lied. It's a few days after 'tomorrow'. Sorry, my mom needed to use the laptop, so I couldn't finish this chapter and… Well, it's done now!
Read, review, and enjoy (Though I doubt some of you will)
Once Chris had left the amphitheater, the campers had all gone their separate ways to decide who they wanted to vote off. Geoff and Jovie, loving to tease, had gone off to find Marilee and tease her about kissing Keith.
Selena caught up with Zack after everyone else had separated. "Hey…"
"Hey… We're still cool, right?"
Selena smiled. "The coolest. I'm sorry about this whole brouhaha…"
Zack cocked an eyebrow. "Who says 'brouhaha' anymore?" He grinned and nudged her playfully. "Kidding. Don't worry about it. All water under the bridge."
They walked by a group that consisted of Trent, Jovie and Geoff, who were all huddled around and looking at something Marilee was holding.
"Hi, guys," Zack greeted, waving. "Whatcha looking at?"
The group looked up at the two, their eyes narrowing. They went back to looking at the thing Marilee had without another word.
"Weird," Zack muttered. Selena nodded in agreement as they kept going.
They passed by another group, consisting of Candace, Herbie and Xavier, who were all talking to Gwen. Gwen didn't look very happy, and she had whispered something with Selena's name being mentioned.
"Hey, peeps," Selena cheerfully greeted.
That group did the same thing the first group did, only angrier.
Selena and Zack couldn't help but look offended as they walked away. "What was that about?" Selena asked.
Zack shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe they're all just in bad moods or something…
Just to set things straight, that kiss I gave Keith was a victory kiss, that's all," Marilee explained. "More like a casual kiss, really. Spanish people do it all the time…" She shifted in her seat and muttered, "Though they don't usually do it on the lips… And they don't usually last twenty seconds…" She threw her hands up in the air and yelled, "It was totally spur of the moment and it was the worst spur I've ever… spurred! I will never go out with Keith Carlisle! Never, never, never, never-"
"Wow…" Keith felt his lips, which were smeared with Marilee's cherry lip gloss. "Marilee Anderson has got to be the most unpredictable, obnoxious, irritating chick ever to walk the face of the Earth…" He rested his chin in his hand and sighed, "And she's the most amazing girl I have ever met…"
"- never, never, never, never, never, never-"
"Ha ha, I knew it!" Izzy cheered. "I knew lil' Mari would smooch Keithers by this week! Gwen owes me ten bucks and a box of jelly beans!"
"Well… That thing with Keith and Marilee sure was… interesting," Zack mumbled. "Anyway, I kind of noticed some of our teammates acting weird when Selena and I passed them a while ago. You think they heard what happened? Gosh, I hope they aren't mad at either of us…"
"-NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER!"
*T*S*R*
Nighttime had fallen. The Killer Bears were gathered around the campfire and the Rabid Wolves were nearby, so they could claim their reward after the ceremony. There was some tension in the air, but a few choice individuals had no idea why.
"Welcome to your first bonfire ceremony, Bears," Chris congratulated as he walked toward his oil drum podium with a tray full of marshmallows. "Just gotta say, it's about time you guys lost a team member, to even things out a little.
"Anyway, you guys know how this works. You get a marshmallow, goodie for you. If you don't, then you have to walk the Dock of Shame, take a little ride on the Boat of Losers, and you can never come back. Ever!" He laughed and grabbed the first few marshmallows. "Let's get the immune campers out of the way. Trent and Gwen." He tossed them their marshmallows. "Zoey, Candace and Heather, you ladies are safe, too…" Once they got their invincibility, he looked at the remaining kids.
"Now, time to give marshmallows to the campers who got no votes at all… Courtney, Duncan, Owen…"
Courtney and Duncan caught their marshmallows in their hands, while Owen caught his in his mouth.
"Only four campers left, but only three marshmallows," Chris announced.
Cody, Grace, Selena and Zack fidgeted in their seats nervously. Grace swung her feet, Cody bit his fingernails, and Selena rocked back and forth on her stump. Zack just fidgeted. He seemed surprisingly calm. After letting all that steam out, who wouldn't be?
Chris held up a new marshmallow and said, "Cody and Grace… you two basically threw your babies off of a cliff. Not exactly the best parenting skills.
"Selena and Zack, our footage shows that not only did Selena neglect her kid, but Zack also has a tongue of venom!"
"What? How could the others possibly have known about that?" Selena asked.
"When I first got the message on my phone, I couldn't believe it," Marilee said, looking shocked. "I've never seen Zack so much as hurt a fly, but all that mean stuff he said to Selena could have killed a puppy!" She grimaced and growled, "Nobody messes with my friends."
"I'm still pretty ticked at Selena for piling all that work on Zack," Gwen muttered angrily. "He may have forgiven her, but I'm not quite ready to yet. That goes double for Duncan. Still, I voted for Selena. I also spread the word about her deceitfulness… That'll teach you to mess with my brother."
"Since stupid Gwen is immune," Grace started, looking mad, "There's no other choice but smelly old Zack. If I can't get rid of Gwen…" She smirked evilly. "I'll get rid of the person she cares for the most on the island…"
"I know poor Cody didn't mean to throw Ty over that darn cliff," LeShawna admitted. "But still, I couldn't help but hold a bit of a grudge…" She shrugged. "Sorry, Cody! I sort of regret doing it now. Hopefully, you won't get voted off tonight, buddy…"
"I'd probably be madder about what Gwen told me about Selena if I wasn't so excited about tonight!" Candace laughed. "But I'm still voting her off, 'cause that was really mean of her to abandon poor Zack like that. Geoff would never do that, because he's so cool and sweet and…" She clapped her hands and giggled. "Tee hee hee! I can't believe he said yes!"
"Grace told me that Trent told her that Zack said some not nice things to Selena," Zoey said, looking heartbroken. "She's the greatest big sister in the whole world, so I'm voting him off! Bye bye, booger face!" she yelled and ended with a raspberry.
"Who did I vote for?" Courtney rolled her eyes. "Selena. Duh. Nobody, not even my boyfriend's sister, gets away with sabotaging Courtney!"
"I voted for Grace," Duncan told the camera. "Selena would get mad if I voted off Zack after all that's happened today and…" He shrugged. "Besides, the kid even scares me sometimes…"
"I voted for Grace," Zack stated. "Do I even need to explain why?"
"I used to think Zack was pretty cool," Trent mused, looking disappointed. "But after seeing that video clip… Seeing how he screamed at a sweet girl like Selena… Well, that just changed how I saw him completely." He shook his head. "Not cool, man. I just hope Gwen doesn't find out that I voted off her own brother…"
"I'm just gonna cut to the chase, because this is getting way too tedious," Chris explained. "Cody and Grace are safe."
"What?" Selena and Zack simultaneously yelled as Chris tossed the other two their marshmallows. They exchanged a fearful glance, knowing one of them was leaving the island forever…
"That's right, guys!" Chris exclaimed. "Not so calm, cool and collected now, are you Baby Abondoner and Yelly McYellerton?"
"B-b-b-but-" Selena stuttered nervously, loking from Zack, to the marshmallow Chris held up , then back to Zack.
"The final marshmallow…. Of the night…"
Zack covered his eyes and Selena gripped her stomach, feeling like she was going to throw up.
"Gooooooooes toooooooo….
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"Selena."
"WHAT?" Selena bounced up, the marshmallow hitting her square in the forehead as Chris tossed it to her. "No… No!" She turned to everybody and asked, "Why'd you vote him off? Why? You should have voted me off! I'm the one who neglected him and Danny! I'M the one who deserves to be sent away!"
"Yeah, you do deserve to be voted off," Gwen agreed bitterly. "Zack didn't do anything wrong. Why did everybody vote him off?"
"We saw the way that jerk screamed at her!" Marilee yelled from the sidelines. "He had to go!" She looked over to Keith, who was trying to keep his distance from her for now, and growled. "And he's not the only one…"
"What? …No, that was a misunderstanding! We worked it out and.. And…" Selena whined, looking ready to cry. "H-How did you guys even find out about that?"
Flashback: That Same Day, Just Two Hours Before the Ceremony
"-and Marilee, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-"
"SHUT UP, GUYS!"
Jovie leaned against Geoff for support as both of them laughed wildly. "I-I-I'm sorry, sis," Geoff apologized in between laughs. "But how could we resist?"
"Hey, guys," Trent greeted, walking up to the group. "What're you guys up to?"
"Oh, nothing," Jovie giggled. "Just gangin' up on Marilee about her new boyfriend!"
"I hate you two," she muttered, right before something in her skirt pocket vibrated. She pulled out a cell phone and saw that she had a text message. As she read it, she mumbled, "Huh, that's weird…"
"What's weird?" Trent asked.
"Chris sent me a text. With a video clip attached…"
"It's probably a clip of you sucking face with Keith," Jovie said.
"Still hate you," Marilee told her with false cheer.
The teens gathered around as she opened the clip. The one-sided fight scene between Zack and Selena popped up. None of them had seen it in person, so they were all shocked by what they saw.
"I… I can't believe him," Jovie whispered.
"How could he just yell at her like that?" Trent asked, looking a little miffed.
"He… He made her cry!" Geoff gasped.
"Hi, guys. Whatcha looking at?"
The group looked up to find Zack and Selena. Their eyes narrowed when they saw Zack., acting like nothing had happened. They went back to looking at the clip without another word.
End Flashback
"Chris send me the video of Zack's little fit," Marilee explained, still not looking convinced. She suddenly looked guilty, bit her lip and added, "And I might have shown it to a couple of people…"
"What can I say?" Chris shrugged, grinning. "It was too great not to share with you guys!"
Selena growled and went to tackle Chris, but DJ held her back. "Make us retake the vote! Zack should stay! You made that fight look way worse than it was!"
"Sorry, but them's the rules," Chris said, shrugging. "Zack got voted out fair and square. Maybe next time, you shouldn't make a guy snap under baby pressure."
Selena panted in anger, but it quickly flashed to one of pure misery. DJ let her go and she flew over to Zack, death-hugging him. "Oh, Zack! This… this… This is all my fault! I'm so sorry!"
Zack, who had been awfully quiet up until then, pulled Selena off of her and looked her deep in the eyes. "Selena, listen to me. You did something wrong, I'll admit that, but I did something much more wrong. I should have talked things out with you more maturely." He stood up, taking Selena up with him. "This might be good for me, for… us." They both grinned a little when he said 'us', both knowing very well what he meant by that. "Maybe the reason why I got so angry was because this place was getting to me in ways I didn't even understand…"
"But… but…" Zack held a finger up to quiet her.
"This is probably for the best. I've caused a ton of drama between you and your brother. That isn't right."
She started to cry and turned to Duncan. "This is all your fault, then!" she angrily screamed.
"No, no, no!" Zack spun her back around. "Don't you see? This all happened because of fighting! You were fighting Courtney and Duncan's relationship this whole three days and look what's happened! Selena…" His expression softened and he rubbed her back soothingly to stop her small sobs. "Selena… Just promise…" He brought his voice down to a whisper and continued, "Promise me that you'll lighten up on this grudge you've got against Courtney. Please. I want you to make it all the way to the end, and having any grudges won't help you at all."
Selena looked over at Courtney, who actually looked sympathetic for what was happening to her. She looked back to Zack and nodded. "I promise."
Duncan got up and walked over to the two. "I gotta admit, dude… You're alright." He patted him on the shoulder and smiled at him.
"Thanks, Duncan." Zack smiled. "Well, I guess I'd better get on the boat…" He leaned toward Selena, his lips puckered.
Duncan's eyes widened and he pushed the younger boy away from his sister. "Whoa, man! I said you were alright, I didn't say you were a freaking saint!"
Pouting, Selena whined, "Duuuncaaan!"
The punk looked between the two, then sighed and walked away. "Fine. Just as long as you don't do it in front of me…"
Zack and Selena turned back to each other and Zack gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek.
The rest of the campers 'aww'ed at the cute display, and the two gave each other one last hug before Zack headed toward the Dock of Shame. A few of the others followed, including Selena. Zack hopped onto the Boat and Chef quickly pulled away from the dock.
The remaining campers waved goodbye to him. Selena also waved, another small tear trickling down her cheek. She tried her best to smile at him as he faded away.
Courtney slowly approached the blonde. All of the tension she had felt about her had disappeared after those past few dramatic minutes. She felt really guilty for voting for her, now… But still, she had deserved it. She placed a hand gingerly on her small shoulder, giving it a supportive squeeze.
Selena looked over at Courtney, who was now offering her a small smile. A wave of guilt flooded over her as she realized something. This was the girl she had been bickering with for the past couple of days. The girl she thought wasn't good enough for her brother. The girl she hated so much. And now that same girl was trying to help mend her broken heart.
Selena clung onto Courtney, silently crying on her shoulder. All the brunette did was hug back.
She still wasn't ready to forgive Selena, and Selena surely wasn't ready, or willing, to apologize. But for now, the comfort was much appreciated.
*T*S*R*
The Wolves had all gone to bed. Everybody, especially Selena, was exhausted. Candace would have stayed to wait for Geoff, but she wanted to freshen up a bit before their date.
"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Chris asked the Wolves, smiling away like nothing super dramatic had just happened.
"Shut it, McLean," Marilee snapped. "It's your fault we all saw that clip and got mad enough at Zack to vote him off in the first place. That's the reason why you let us vote with them tonight, isn't it? You're such a creep!"
Chris glared at her. "No need to play the blame game. You didn't have to show the clip to people, you Keith kisser!"
Marilee opened her mouth, but shut it. She didn't want to say anything she would regret.
"So, are you guys ready for your prize?" After getting wild cheers in response, he added, "Well, you guys are really going to love this one. We went all out!"
He walked over to a humungous thing hidden under a huge sheet and gestured to it extravagantly. "Rabid Wolves, you all have won…" He yanked the sheet off and yelled, "A deluxe cabin!"
The campers gasped as the saw their new cabin. The wood wasn't dry-rotted like their current one. In fact, the wood looked brand-spanking new. It had to have been twice as big as their current cabin, too. It was… beautiful.
"This state of the art cabin has everything a hard-working camper could want!" Chris cheered, patting the side of the building. "It includes air conditioning, and heat for those extra cold nights, bunks made in this century with the finest linens, and not to mention… Satellite television!"
"Finally… finally after all this torture," LeShawna excitedly said, hands clasped in praise. "We finally get something worth while out of it!"
As the Wolves cheered their heads off at their awesome prize, Chris added, "Now, I'll get the crane and move this awesome new cabin over where your old piece of crap is. For now, you guys can just-"
"AAAHHHHH!"
Everybody turned their attention toward Owen, who was running from the outhouse to the campfire pit. "Izzy! Izzy!" He pulled her toward him and screamed in her face, "Malik's giving me the farts and I don't know what to do!"
"Big whoop," Marilee said, rolling her eyes. "You fart all the time. Why is this news to any of us?"
"You guys don't understand!" Owen whined, clutching his gurgling stomach. "These are really, really bad ones!"
"Dude, you must have never smelled one," DJ said. "Trust me, they're all really bad…"
"Oooooh…" Owen waddled over to the campfire, trying his best to hold it in. "I feel a really bad one coming up!"
Geoff, appearing nonchalant, looked around, then paled when he realized something. Owen's back was facing the back of the bonfire, which was in front of their new cabin. Almost as if in slow motion, Geoff gasped and yelled "Dude, nooooo!"
But it was too late. Owen let one fly, and the blow of toxic fumes right next to the fire created a huge inferno and torched their new cabin completely.
All of the poor campers gaped at the ashes of what had been their fabulous prize. As the last fiery ember fell to the ground, all of them turned to glare at Owen.
The big teen sheepishly grinned and laughed. "Sorry, guys!"
"Sorry?" Marilee questioned. "You destroy the single coolest reward in the history of this torture hole of a show, and all you are is sorry?"
"Um…" Owen thought it over and nodded. "Yes."
Geoff had to grab her wrists and Herbie and Xavier clung to her legs to keep her from pouncing on and killing him.
After Owen had sprinted as quickly away as his stubby legs could take him, Marilee stopped resisting and the boys let her go. "So… I'm guessing you're not going to buy us a new one, huh?" she asked Chris.
Chirs shook his head, looking pretty ticked off that that expensive cabin had just been wasted.
"Didn't think so," Marilee sighed exhaustedly. "I'm going to bed." She started walking toward their lame old cabin, most of the others following.
As they made their way around the charred wood and half-melted plasma screen TV, Candace passed them, all dolled up in a light yellow sundress. She noticed their sour moods, not to mention the ashes. She walked over to Geoff and asked, "What are they so grumpy about? And what's up with the debris?"
Geoff sighed. "I don't wanna talk about it right now." Perking right back up, he added, "But enough with the negative vibes. Let's get going!"
Giggling, Candace said, "Okay! What are we gonna do first?"
Geoff linked arms with her and lead her away, toward the forest. "Wherever the night takes us, milady…"
*gets tons of flames from Zack/Selena fans*
Sorry, guys! I'm not happy about it either! But if you think this is the last of Zac/Zaclena you've seen, then you are terribly wrong!
Votes (Doing it TDC style from now on!)
Candace- Selena
Courtney- Selena
Cody- Zack
DJ- Zack
Duncan- Grace
Geoff- Zack
Grace- Zack
Gwen- Selena
Heather- Zack
Herbie- Selena
Izzy- Grace
Jovie- Zack
Keith- Selena
LeShawna- Cody
Marilee- Zack
Owen- Zack
Selena- Grace
Trent- Zack
Xavier- Selena
Zack-Grace
Zoey- Zack
Cody- 1
Grace- 4
Selena- 6
Zack- 10