The campers that were in the mess hall looked tired, for the most part. Yesterday's challenge had exhausted them, and if that wasn't bad enough…

"When the frick is Selena going to stop crying?" Courtney irritably hissed, covering her ears with her hands.

"Crying?" Gwen snapped. "More like screaming!"

Duncan passed her with his tray of gruel, looking just as irritated. "It's not like it was easy for any of us, either. We had to sleep in the same cabin with her…"

As he sat down next to the open spot by Marilee, DJ gripped his head and said, "At least the wall between our rooms muffled her wails a little… I feel bad for the girls, though." He looked at Marilee, who was seated next to him and asked, "Did you guys get any sleep last night?"

Marilee looked up from her bowl, looking at him as if he grew two heads. "What?"

"Did you guys get any rest last night?" he repeated, talking louder and clearer.

"WHAT?" Marilee yelled, holding up a hand to her ear and making DJ flinch.

"I'm sorry, did I-"

"ALL I HEAR IS RINGING! "

"I THINK SELENA'S BANSHEE WAILS DID SOMETHING TO MY EARS," Marilee screamed, acting like she was talking normally. "HER SOBS WERE SHAKING OUR BUNK SO HARD, I HAD TO SLEEP ON THE FLOOR BECAUSE I KEPT FALLING OUT OF BED. I THINK I GOT MY EARS TOO CLOSE TO HER, THOUGH. EVERYTHING SOUNDS MUFFLED. I CAN BARELY HEAR MYSELF TALK. AM I SPEAKING LOUD ENOUGH?"

"This oughta be fun," Duncan muttered to himself with a devious smirk. He turned to her with a smile and calmly said, "Hey, Marilee. Have you done something different with your hair? It looks even stupider and more idiotic than usual."

Marilee blinked, trying to piece together the muffled noises that went through her ears, but then smiled and said in a normal tone, "Thank you, Duncan! I didn't think anyone would notice!"

He bit back a snigger and, with an upbeat tone, added, "And your perfume! It makes me want to blow chucks all over the place! You must have splashed around in the septic tank for at least an hour to reek that much!"

She laughed, still not fully understanding what he was saying, and waved a nonchalant hand. "Haha, yeah. It took a while but it was worth it!" She smiled and nodded in approval. "You know, Caliver, you're actually sort of pleasant to be around this morning."

"Ooh, ooh, let me try!" Geoff cried with enthusiasm. He leaned over and said, "Hey, sis! I'm a lot smarter than you, and better looking, and people like me better than you, especially Mom! Oh, and you suck!"

Marilee gasped, then glared at him, grabbed her bowl of mush, and slowly dumped it over his head.

"… The ringing stopped, didn't it?" he weakly asked, wiping goop away from his eyes.

She gave a curt nod as she crossed her arms and continued to glare at him. "My hearing fully came back right after the thing about you being so much smarter than me…"

He sat back down and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. He let out a chuckle and said, "I was just messing around! Y'know, just…" He saw that she wasn't going to buy anything he said, so he huffed in defeat and sat down.

Just then, Zoey and Grace walked in and sat down at their table, both sopping wet. Duncan looked them over, then asked, "Did you guys try to make Selena stop crying?"

The two girls nodded.

"Did that just make her cry more?"

They nodded again.

"Go get new clothes and dry your hair," Marilee told them, feeling Zoey's moist hair, then wiping her hand off on Duncan's shirt. "You smell like depression and contact lens fluid…"

"Maybe someone else should check up on her," Trent suggested, looking at his other teammates as Zoey and Grace headed out.

Marilee, even though her ears had stopped ringing, poked her pinky finger into her ear and rubbed it. It still hurt. "Thanks for volunteering, Cleft the Teen Chin Wonder."

"What?" Trent nervously looked at her. "I didn't volunteer! I don't know how to make her feel better! Why can't you do it? She's your best friend on the island!"

"True, but you're better with people and helping them feel better and stuff." Marilee crossed her arms and nodded. "Believe it or not, I'm not that good at being supportive."

"I never woulda guessed," Trent sarcastically said. "But why me? Why not Geoff or Duncan or-"

"Zoey and Grace already tried, Duncan or I would make things worse, Geoff's just an idiot and DJ would probably pee himself in fright if he saw her red, mascara-streaked face."

"I would not!" DJ whined.

"Well, you almost pooped your pants yesterday when you stepped on that potato chip on the sidewalk and thought you stepped on a bug, so it's not like it's implausible," Marilee told him, a bored expression on her face.

He leaned close to her ear and hissed, "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that!"

Marilee ignored him and said, "Trent, just do it! Please! I want to go to sleep and wake up with full hearing tomorrow morning!"

Trent sighed, standing up. "Fine, but you so owe me." He walked out, not looking forward to what he had to do.

"Man, Marilee is bossy," Trent said, stating the obvious. "Dad, you'd better hope that apple has fallen as far away from your lady tree as possible."

On the other side of the mess hall, Courtney was eyeing the Fighting Ferrets with great suspicion. She looked back at her three remaining teammates and quietly said, "Now that our team is half as big as theirs, we're going to have to watch our backs. They're going to try extra hard to make sure we lose."

"It's not like they're the craftiest team," Gwen pointed out, looking at the Ferret table again.

Geoff took a spoonful of his gruel, looked at it happily, and speedily brought it toward his face. He ended up getting it all over his left cheek, which made him moan, "Aww man, I missed my mouth again!"

"… That's a very good point," Courtney nervously said, looking down for a moment, but then back up. "But with Duncan's skills of persuasion, Marilee's assertiveness, and DJ and Trent's abilities to not be total idiots, they're practically unstoppable!"

"They're only unstoppable because we keep getting the double eliminations," Gwen muttered.

"Do you want a third double elimination?" Courtney snapped, shutting her eyes as she half-yelled at her. "Yeah, I didn't think so! All I'm saying is we'll have to be extra careful if we want to win. Right, Candace? …Candace?" She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw what Candace was doing.

She had gotten up, walked up to Geoff, and started wiping his cheek off with her napkin. "You need better aim, honey bun," she said with a cute giggle.

Geoff chuckled after she finished cleaning him off. "Thanks, my little Candy Cane," he affectionately said, pulling her into his lap.

She gently grabbed his face and cooed, "Anything for you, Geoffy pookums!"

As they nuzzled noses and made sickeningly sweet baby noises at each other, Courtney raced over and yanked her away from him. "Stop trying to distract us!"

"Distract you from what?" Geoff asked, looking very confused as he scratched his hat. "From breakfast? Do you have trouble aiming the spoon at your mouth, too?"

Courtney didn't answer him and merely rolled her eyes as she dragged Candace back to the table and sat her down next to her. "What was that?"

"Oh, that's called an Eskimo kiss and-"

"No, not the nose thing," Courtney snapped. "You can't get too involved with Geoff when we're so far behind! You don't see me getting all cozy with Duncan! Even Gwen's not getting too caught up with Trent, and she never does anything she's told!"

"You never told me not to hang out with Trent," Gwen said, looking both confused and angry. "Besides, what right do you have to tell us not to be with our boyfriends?"

"Well, I was just getting ready to talk about that!" Courtney exclaimed. "As one of the team captains, it's my duty to suggest such things. Don't you think it's a good idea?" She crossed her arms and said, "If we're too busy making out with our boyfriends, then we'll never get anything done and-" She looked over at her third teammate and sheepishly grinned. "Oh, hi, Jovie… I sort of forgot you were here."

"Yeah, I figured so," Jovie said, clearly not amused. "Considering I'm the only single one on the team and all…"

"I thought you were dating Cody now," Gwen said, grabbing her mug of coffee. "I mean, we all saw you kiss him last night."

As she drank some of her joe, Jovie argued, "That was a friendly kiss. Beth gave him one last year too!"

"Didn't Cody say that he and Beth dated for a while after the show, though?" Candace asked, cockily smiling.

"Yeah, and then they ended up being cousins!"

"Are you and Cody cousins?"

"Of course not!"

"I fail to see the problem, then."

"Candace is absolutely hell-bent on getting me a man," Jovie commented, chin resting in the palm of her hand. "I think she's trying to help me, something about confidence, but I'm fine. 'Sides, this show's got couples coming out the behind! One more might make the island explode from all the lovin' going on!"

"Okay, fine, I'll back off of Geoff a bit," Candace mumbled with a pout. "Maybe we won't have to make much contact in today's challenge."

"With our luck, now that you've just said that, we'll be mud wrestling naked and Chris will partner you and Geoff up," Gwen said with a roll of the eyes.

Back at the Ferrets table, Duncan had just finished his slop and tossed his tray of dirty dishes on top of Marilee's. "Welp, I'm gonna watch Trent crash and burn." He started to walk off, but Marilee quickly stopped him.

"Um, do I look like a garbage can to you?" she angrily asked.

Duncan looked her over and shrugged. "You are pretty trashy..." He snickered and raced off before she had a chance to kick him in his family jewels.

Marilee huffed. "Ugh! I wish I could kill him! And to think he said such nice things a while ago!" She picked up both trays and properly disposed of them before walking out to freshen up for the day again.

"If those two weren't taken, I'd start making bets on when they'd make out," DJ said with a chuckle.

"Bleh," Geoff mumbled, sticking his tongue out. "That's creepy on all levels, dude…"

"I'll say," DJ agreed with a nod. He got up to throw his trash away, Geoff close behind.

"Good, they're gone," Courtney sighed, shoving her bowl aside. "Now we can strategize in peace."

"Aww, we're not done strategizing yet?" Candace childishly whined, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't wanna strategize! It's booooring! Can't we just-"

Courtney slammed her hand down on the table, signaling Candace to shut up. "We need to! Don't you see? We've pretty vulnerable right now! We have to keep an eye on them or else!"

"So… We're going to spy on them?" Jovie asked. "Like, see if they're plotting or something?"

"… That's actually not a bad idea," Courtney said, tapping her chin as she thought that over.

Jovie looked nervous, then said, "Courtney? I-I was just kidding…" She saw that Courtney wasn't listening, so sighed in defeat, resting her head in the palm of her hand.

"So, spying it is!" Courtney exclaimed, standing up. "Who wants to volunteer?" She looked at Gwen, who shot her look that showed she clearly didn't approve.

"I don't exactly blend in," Gwen pointed out, gesturing to her multi-colored hair and all black attire. "Why don't you do it?"

"Because…" Courtney thought for a moment, but couldn't think of a decent answer, so she weakly said, "Because I'm team captain, that's why!"

"Candace is team captain, too!"

"Good idea, Gwen!" Candace exclaimed, hopping up from her seat, hands clasped in joy. "I've wanted to be a spy since I was in kindergarten! Now if I can just be an astronaut, a princess and a urologist, I can die totally happy!" She suddenly gained a more serious demeanor, slid on a pair of dark black sunglasses she pulled out of nowhere, and stealthily lurked off.

"That wasn't the direction I was going in," Gwen admitted, looking upward in thought. "She seemed stoked about it, so I guess it's a win-win. And hey, better her than me. But seriously, who wants to be a urologist when they're six?"

Candace, still wearing her spy shades, said, "In my defense, back then I thought a urologist studied European money. Y'know, like euros? Uro? Sounds like Euro? For a six year old, that's a pretty decent analysis of the word!"

"I'm gonna see if Duncan's watching Trent try to awkwardly help Selena feel better," Gwen muttered to herself, looking toward the exit. "That's the last thing Trent needs right now…"

She stood up, but Courtney grabbed her wrist, stopping her before she could take a step. "Uh, that's okay! I'll do it!" she nervously exclaimed. "I mean, Duncan's pretty stubborn and-"

Gwen yanked her wrist away, rubbing it after Courtney practically death-gripped it. "I think I can handle it. Besides, Duncan tends to do the opposite of what you tell him to do, anyways." She walked off, leaving Courtney to anxiously watch her as she left.

Once she was out of sight, her anxiousness disappeared and was replaced with anger. "Just like you…" She grunted and sat back down next to Jovie. "Ugh! That girl makes me want to strangle somebody!"

Jovie nervously looked around the empty mess hall, then down at her bare wrist. "Oh, look at the time! I'd better… get dressed for the day!"

Courtney gave her an odd look and said, "Uh, Jovie, I was kidding. And you're already dressed."

"Ha ha ha! You said it!" Jovie nervously exclaimed, ignoring Courtney just like Courtney had previously ignored her. She ran out of the mess hall, leaving Courtney by her lonesome.

"Is it wrong to be worried about Duncan and Gwen being all buddy-buddy?" Courtney asked, more to herself than the camera. "I mean, they do have a lot in common… Don't get me wrong, I trust Duncan, but I don't know about Gwen." She narrowed her eyes. "She's been getting a little too close to him for comfort lately…"

*T*S*R*

Trent stood outside the door to the girls side of the Fighting Ferrets cabin, nervously drumming his fingers together. "Okay, you can do this. Selena's your friend and she needs a shoulder to cry on… Even though she's crying because she had Zack break up with her in her mind and that's stupid…" He sighed and slowly opened the door, seeing that Selena was in her bottom bunk, back facing him, completely covered in her sheets. The fabric lump in her bunk quivered with each sob, which had at least gotten quieter since breakfast. Still, it was heartbreaking to see such a happy girl in this kind of state.

"Hey, Selena," Trent quietly said, still standing in the doorway. "Are you okay?"

After asking that, her sobs became ear-shattering again, making Trent cringe in pain.

"'Are you okay?' Out of all the things in the world to ask, I ask THAT?" Trent exclaimed as he slapped himself in the forehead. "Stupid!"

"Hey, c'mon," Trent said, sitting down on her bunk by her curled-up legs. "Zack hasn't really broken up with you. You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that unless you have actual facts to support it with."

Selena, still not looking at him, sniffled and mumbled through the covers, "But I'm such a bad girlfriend! I swoon over other guys and junk! I'm, like, the worst girlfriend ever!"

"No, you're not," Trent told her, patting what he presumed to be her back, since the covers made it hard to tell. He chuckled and added, "Besides, you're forgetting that Keith has Marilee…"

"Marilee's one of my best friends, you meanie!" Selena whined, curling herself up even tighter and sobbing even louder.

Trent was silent for a moment, than slapped himself in the forehead again.

Trent quietly sighed, then looked back down at the covered-up Selena. "What will it take to make you feel better?"

"Death!"

His eyes widened as he tried to think of a response to that. "… How about ice cream instead?"

"… I guess that works, too."

"You've got to come out from under the covers first," Trent told her, yanking at her blanket, even though she had a death grip on it. He gave up, but coaxed, "Come on, let's see that beautiful face…"

Selena sighed, then slowly slipped her cloth shield away from her face and sat up. When he saw her mascara-streaked face, blood-shot eyes, messy hair, and her nose dripping with snot, he screamed in both fright and disgust and fell to the ground.

This only caused her to let out a wail and curl back up, throwing the musty blanket back over her head.

He slapped himself in the forehead nine times, then looked at the camera and asked, "Why couldn't I have been this terrible at sympathy last year with Heather?"

*T*S*R*

Most of the campers were sitting around either the mess hall, the shore, or the Ravens cabin, since they dared not go near the Ferrets cabin. Gwen had successfully dragged Duncan away from peeping through the window to watch Trent fail, and they were leaning on the Ravens cabin's railing, talking about some horror movie they both loved.

Courtney was seated on the picnic table a few feet away, bending a twig she had found. When she saw both her boyfriend and her Goth teammate laugh about something gory that he had mentioned, she snapped the twig in half and her eye twitched.

Marilee and Jovie, seated on the bench across from hers, gave each other looks with mixed expressions. "What's she freaking out for?" Marilee asked.

Jovie shrugged and said in a hushed tone, "I think she's jealous that Duncan's been spending more time with Gwen than her, but she's convinced it's because they like each other."

"Gwen and Buttface?" Marilee repeated, looking disgusted. "Gag. They both dress so horribly. At least with Courtney and Trent as their significant others, they balance their horrible fashion sense out a bit with their decent taste."

"I though you hated Trent."

"Nah, I hate his dad, the evil dictator slash accountant who has corrupted my mother. I'm just not fond of Trent, is all."

"Uh… Okay then," Jovie said, confused.

Courtney, who had been deafened with her jealousy, stood up and threw the remaining bits of her twig down on the ground and stomped off in the opposite direction of Gwen and Duncan.

Jovie looked down at the twig pieces and sadly said, "Aww. Poor twig. It was so young…"

Over by Gwen and Duncan, the two had finally finished discussing their blood-filled topic and Duncan looked toward the latrines. "Be right back. I gotta take a whiz."

"Boy, you are a class act, my friend," Gwen said with sarcasm, though her smirk clearly showed she didn't care either way.

Duncan chuckled, playfully punching her in the arm as he jumped over the railing and made his way towards the washrooms. After he was out of sight, Gwen went over and talked to DJ and Geoff for a while. That is, until a blood-curdling scream was heard. And it was coming from the communal washrooms.

Gwen, DJ and Geoff were the first ones to reach the washrooms, and they all screamed in horror at what they saw.

The walls of the outside of the restrooms were splattered with blood, and a huge butcher's knife, dripping in blood, was stuck in the wall. When the knife had been stabbed into the wall, a crimson-spotted note had been tacked up with it.

Sooner or later, the others, minus Selena, Trent, Zoey, Grace and Duncan showed up to the gory scene, all frozen in shock. Marilee was the last to get there and said, "What are you guys looking a-" Once she saw all the blood, she let out a loud scream, then dizzily fainted.

"Oh yeah," Jovie nervously said, looking down at her motionless figure. "Forgot she hates even the tiniest bit of blood…" She crouched down, rested Marilee's head in her lap, and fanned her face in attempts to cool her off.

Gwen slowly and fearfully walked toward the building, gently pulled the knife out of the wall and took the note between her thumb and pointer finger. Tossing the knife onto the grass, she gingerly opened the folded note and slowly read aloud, "That no-good punk had it coming to him…" Her eyes widened and she whispered, "Duncan…"

"DUDE! NOOOOOO!" Geoff cried, falling to his knees and shaking his fists toward the heavens. "Whyyyyyyyyy? He was so young!" He sobbed like a baby, while Candace crouched down and hugged him, also sobbing. Jovie was too busy trying to stir Marilee back into consciousness to do much mourning and DJ was in the fetal position, sucking his thumb and muttering something about his momma between sucks.

Courtney, a bored expression on her face, asked, "You guys are seriously buying this? How many times has someone been 'killed' on this show? It's obviously just pretend."

Candace sniffled and looked up at her. "But the blood looks so real!" Zoey suddenly walked up to the group, humming a happy little tune to herself. Candace saw her approach and tried covering her eyes. "Zoey, no! You're too young to see this!"

"See what?" Zoey managed to squirm away from Candace's hand and saw the blood splattered all over. Instead of screaming and/or crying like everyone thought she would do, she calmly walked up to the washrooms, slid a finger across a red splat, and sniffed said finger.

While the others looked on in confusion, Marilee finally gained consciousness. She pulled her head off of Jovie's lap, sat up and lazily squinted her eyes and rubbed her head. "Ugh, where am I?"

Zoey then stuck her bloody finger in her mouth and everybody else made noises of disgust. Marilee, on the other hand, gagged and vomited in her lap before fainting again. Jovie sighed in frustration, pinching her nose and fanning the vomit-covered girl with her free hand again.

Zoey popped her finger out of her mouth and looked up at Gwen, who was next to her. "This is pretend blood. It's just ketchup and corn syrup."

"What?" Gwen raised an eyebrow and asked, "How could you possibly know that?"

"Duncan makes it all the time," she explained, bending down to wipe her finger on the grass below her. "It smells different from real, yuckier blood.

"Ah, so it is just a challenge!" Courtney exclaimed, feeling proud of herself. She suddenly looked worried and asked, "So… Where's Duncan, then?"

Chris, decked out as Sherlock Holmes, walked toward the group, a smoking pipe sticking out of his mouth. "Good day, children," he said in a bad British accent. He stuck the pipe back in his mouth and Courtney gasped.

"Hello! Young, impressionable child right here!" she exclaimed, pointing at Zoey.

Chris blew into the pipe and a few bubbles floated out. "Calm down, it's just a toy," he told her in his normal voice, tossing it aside. He looked at the scene, whistling. "Wow, what a mess, huh? And what's that smell?"

"It's either the ketchup blood or Miss Barf Crotch over there," Gwen said, jerking a thumb toward the knocked out Marilee.

"Tee hee," Geoff quietly giggled, standing up and helping Candace back onto her feet. "She said crotch…"

"Wrong! It's the smell of a good murder mystery!" Chris cried, tossing off his hat and pulling a magnifying glass out of nowhere. He held it up to his eye and said, "Who doesn't love a good mystery?"

"Me," Geoff said, raising his hand. "They're hard! I can never guess whodunit, so I just quit reading after the first few pages!"

Courtney gave him a look, then asked, "Geoff how could you possibly know you aren't guessing right if you haven't ever finished one of the books? And how would you even be able to guess? You'd barely know what was going on in the story!"

"… Does reading more than the first ten pages help?"

Chris ignored them and continued, "You'd better keep your eyes peeled, kiddies, 'cause there's a murderer on the loose!" He wiggled his fingers and spookily bellowed, "Oooooooooooo!"

"Lemme guess, we have to find the murderer?" Gwen asked, not looking excited about yet another challenge.

"You have to find out which one of you is the murderer!" he cried, scanning his finger over each contestant. "One of you has been specifically chosen to be the killer. You need to either find clues or use deductive reasoning to figure out whodunit, but do it quick. Duncan will not be his or her only victim!" He dramatically waved his cloak and exclaimed, "Sherlock, away!" He raced off, leaving the campers to look both worried and confused.

Courtney turned to Candace and Gwen and said, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's move!" Candace and Gwen started to race off, but before the former CIT could, she looked back at Jovie. She was still trying to make Marilee wake up, but to no avail. "Jovie, come on!"

"Oh, sorry!" Jovie quickly popped up, making Marilee flop roughly onto the ground, belly-down. "Oops! Sorry, girl!" Even though she knew she couldn't hear her, she still couldn't help but feel bad as she ran off with Courtney.

DJ looked as they sprinted off, then looked back at Geoff and Zoey. "Okay, we're down by three people…" He looked down at Marilee and added, "Uh, make that four and… Wait, where's Grace?"

Zoey shrugged. "I think she said she was gonna see Trent."

"Okay, five people," DJ irritably sighed.

"We can still do this!" Geoff cheered, pumping his fist. "Mar's probably gonna wake up sooner or later, so we'll at least have four people. Should we get the other three who aren't all dead and stuff?"

"Selena's still cryin' and Trent's makin' it worse," Zoey explained. "They're not gonna be much help. What about Grace?"

Geoff sadly shook his head before crouching down. "If she was wandering around, little dudette's probably a goner by now…" Zoey looked down at her feet in sadness, so Geoff patted her back and reassuringly said, "But we can do this! How about you go look for clues with DJ and I'll wake Marilee up and go with her?"

Zoey nodded, running over to DJ and clinging onto his leg. "Try not to lose me this time!"

"Try not to wander off this time!" DJ said back, though he still smiled at her. She was so cute, it was hard not to.

"I'll hose off Mar," Geoff said, standing up. "Go on without us."

DJ jokingly saluted him and said, "Good luck, team captain."

Geoff saluted his friend as he walked off with Zoey still clinging to his leg. Geoff walked over to where Marilee was laying and picked her up in his arms. Unfortunately, he could only position her so that one of her barf-covered cheeks was laying right on the part of his chest that was uncovered. "Gross, gross, gross," he whined as he walked into the washrooms and shut the door.

*T*S*R*

"Mission Impossible Time!" Candace cried as the four ran into their cabin and Gwen slammed the door.

"Mission Impossible wasn't about murders," Gwen said, leaning on the recently slammed door.

Candace rolled her eyes. "Well, how would I know? I'm not all old and in my twenties and stuff."

"And you think I am?" Gwen asked, pushing herself gently off the door.

"Guys, quiet down," Courtney said in a hushed tone. "First of all, Candace, you're not really old until you're forty and wearing mom jeans… Second off all, we need to strategize." She turned back at Candace and asked, "Did you manage to get some snooping in?"

"Well, Trent was with Selena and Duncan was talking to Gwen before he got all murdered and stuff, but I got a few nuggets of information from DJ and Geoff when I spied on them from a bush."

"Really? What did you find out?"

"Well, DJ likes Nickelback, no matter what anyone says, which is good for him And did you know that Geoff doesn't like All Time Low?" Candace shrugged and mumbled, "You'd think he'd be the kinda guy who likes All Time Low…"

Courtney stared at her with an unimpressed expression and said, "You're supposed to be finding out about their strategy, not their musical preferences!"

"Maybe they aren't going to plan anything…" Gwen sat down on her bunk and continued, "Geoff, DJ and Trent aren't really schemers and Selena can't even drink out of a glass without pouring it all over herself."

"What about Duncan and Marilee?" Courtney asked. "Duncan managed to get almost all of the guys to vote Bridgette off last year." She chuckled and looked at Gwen nervously. "Yep, my boyfriend sure is conniving. No wonder my boyfriend was the first to be whacked. Poor my boyfriend!" she stressed, not even trying to be subtle. Gwen didn't really understand what she was emphasizing for, though.

"And Marilee got a lot of people to vote Zack off," Jovie pointed out. "Girl knows how to scheme when someone messes with her friends…" She remembered what she did to Keith and squeaked, clutching her hands together.

"Okay then," Candace said, heading toward the window. "I'll keep an eye on Marilee, then… If she's woken up yet…"

A loud, girlish scream filled the air and all four girls headed toward the window to see what it was. It was Geoff screaming as he raced away from the washrooms, and he was a few yards away from their window before he was tackled by Marilee, who was barf-free, but sopping wet.

She pinned his arms behind his back so he couldn't pull her off, and he whimpered as her nails dug into his arms. "I'm sorry! I was just trying to help!"

She pushed harder down on his arms and screamed, "By throwing me in the shower and turning it on full-blast?"

He wriggled to get free, but it was hard, since she had a death grip on his arms and was sitting on him. "I figured I'd clean you up and wake you up at the same time! And you looked like you were having fun at first! You were splashing around and everything!"

"I was DROWNING!"

He finally managed to throw her off of him and he hopped up and ran away, screaming his head off. Marilee pulled herself back up and started chasing him, yelling threats as she ran.

The girls looked a bit disturbed by that scene, but Candace was the first one to speak. "Uh… Yeah. Maybe I should follow her… I could always go out of hiding and keep her from killing him." She slipped her dark sunglasses back on, then jumped out of the open window and tuck and rolled her way into a bush.

*T*S*R*

Duncan, laying on the ground, finally awoke, then sat up and rubbed his aching head. "Ugh, where am I?" His hand traced along a rather large bump on the back of his head, which made him worry a bit. He looked around, seeing nothing but darkness. He heard a noise, then called out, "Who's there?" His eyes narrowed and he barked, "Show yourself, you coward!" He hopped up, clenching his fists. "You think you can take me out a second time? Bring it on! At least have the guts to do it to my face!"

"Eeep, he's gonna kill us!" a mystery voice squeaked.

"No he won't, Holly. He may be mean, but he's not going to punch two girls," another mystery voice told the first. The person behind the voice turned on a flashlight, revealing Holly and Tamyra.

"Oh…" Duncan looked disappointed. "Yeah, I guess I can't hit you two… Where are we?"

"We're not allowed to say," Holly told him. "Sorry about the bump."

He shrugged. "Meh, no big deal. I've gotten worse during breakfast at Juvie… I guess this was all for a challenge?"

Tamyra nodded. "Yep. You've been murdered."

Duncan wasn't taken back by that statement. "Huh. I knew Courtney would snap sooner or later."

*T*S*R*

Candace climbed up into a tree, quicker than a squirrel, and rested in the crook of a branch. She saw two people walking toward her, so she slid her sunglasses back on and pulled a spiral notebook out from behind her back, along with a pen. "Spy time!" she whispered to herself.

Marilee, still dripping wet, was walking with Geoff through the forest, in hopes of finding some clues. "You know what I just noticed?"

"That you have a cruel sense of humor?" Geoff bitterly suggested, pointing to the rock that was stuck in his forehead, just like it had been the previous night.

Marilee huffed and told him, "I said I was sorry."

"… True," Geoff quietly said, nodding. "You don't usually apologize to people. You didn't even apologize to Duke when you broke his leg."

"I did not break his leg," Marilee stubbornly said. "He broke his own stupid leg by falling out of that window."

"Right." Geoff scoffed and then air-quoted as he emphasized, "Fell!"

"Fell, was kicked, same difference," Marilee mumbled, waving a dismissive hand. "But I noticed at breakfast that there are only three families who still have two or more members still on the island. There's you and me, Duncan, Selena and Zoey, and there's also Trent and Grace. Take note that all the people I listed are on our team."

"Yeah. So?" Geoff asked, confused.

"Sooner or later, the other team's going to realize that. And then when we merge, they're probably going to pick us off one by one."

"What?" Geoff gasped, stopping in his tracks. "My little Candy Corn would never vote me off!"

That's so true! Candace thought, since they were getting close enough that talking out loud might be a bad idea.

"I'm sure your… little Candy Corn wouldn't," Marilee told him, cringing a bit at the sugary sweetness of that nickname. "But surely the others would. DJ might even try when we merge."

"But DJ's my best bud! Gwen and Jovie are my friends, too. And Courtney doesn't hate me… I think."

"Your guy friends didn't have anything against Bridgette either, but they still voted for her last year," Marilee pointed out. Geoff did have to agree with that. "I'm just saying, maybe we should be proactive and take precautions to make sure our chances of getting voted off are as unlikely as possible."

"… Could you say that again, but with less words?" Geoff asked, rubbing his head. "The rock's making my brain all numb again."

She yanked the rock out of his forehead and irritably whispered, "I think we should start an alliance with one of the other families. Trent's lame, so I was thinking Selena, Zoey, and Duncan. He hates me and I hate him, but hey, that's one less vote against me… Besides, he and Courtney aren't on that great of terms. He's gonna need all the help he can get."

An Alliance? Candace bit her lip to keep from gasping and started jotting down notes.

Geoff thought it over, nodding. "You've got some good points, sis… Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea. I just feel bad about joining an alliance without Candace. It feels wrong leaving out the girl I'm in like with."

"Yeah, well-" She paused, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "In like?"

"Yeah," Geoff said with a nod. "I rushed into the love thing with Bridgette like a few days into the relationship and it didn't end well. I want to take things slow with Candy. Just enjoying the ride instead of hurrying toward the destination, y'know?"

Candace was so touched that she accidentally let out an "Aww!" She slapped her hand over her mouth, but it was luckily quiet enough that neither of the siblings heard.

"Huh," Marilee gave him a look, but not her usual irritated expression. It looked more like she was impressed. "That's actual not stupid of you. The opposite of stupid, actually." Geoff's baby blue eyes widened and they quickly filled with tears. Marilee suddenly looked concerned. "Are… you okay, Geoff?" she slowly asked.

"Th-Th-That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me!" He started sobbing hysterically, burying his face into his hands.

Marilee rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smirk. She patted his shaking back and said, "There there, big guy. Let's go find some clues… Or at least some tissues."

They were right under Candace's tree, so she tried curling herself up tighter so they couldn't see her. Curling up so tight made her lose her grip on her notebook and it fell right on Geoff's head.

"Ow!" he cried, rubbing the top of his head. He looked up inside the tree, but Candace had already crawled over to a branch on the other side of the tree by that point. "The heck?" he muttered, rubbing his head some more.

Marilee noticed the notebook that landed by her feet and picked it up. "Here's the culprit." She picked it up and her eyes widened as she read, "Calivers and Andersons forming alliance… Keep eyes on them… Can't be trusted…" She raised an eyebrow at the last note and read aloud, "Geoff's butt looks totally smexy from this angle?"

"Aww, thanks, sis!" Geoff said, beaming with pride from the compliment for his smexy buttocks. Marilee smacked him with the notebook, knocking him over.

"Looks like we've got more to worry about than murderers…" She narrowed her eyes as she looked around. "You hear me, you little rat?" she screamed. "When I find out who you are, you're dead!" She clenched her fists, threw them up in the air and screamed, "DEAAAD!"

Candace gulped, and as soon as Marilee ran out of sight, Geoff close behind her, she jumped out of the tree and sprinted in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.

*T*S*R*

"What kind of clues are we even supposed to be looking for?" Jovie asked as she, Gwen and Courtney walked into the empty mess hall.

"More notes, maybe some stray possessions," Gwen listed, bending over to look under one of the tables. "A limp, lifeless body might help, too…"

"Chris is making this too hard," Courtney commented, lifting up one of the stumps they used as chairs. "We've been looking for a while now. There are lots of people still on the island, another one should have been killed off by now!"

"Please let the next one be Courtney," Gwen pleaded to the Heavens. "I swear, the only thing that could stop that girl from whining is a knife in her throat! And that's only if you hit the vocal chords in the right place. If not, then she'd complain how her attacker didn't do it right!"

"Did Gwen say bad things about me in here?" Courtney asked, looking around the outhouse skeptically. "I can practically feel her Goth hatred floating around in here!"

"I wonder what they did with Duncan," Gwen muttered out of nowhere, checking under a plate left over from breakfast.

"Why do you care?" Courtney snapped, not even looking up as she kneeled down and tossed the logs out of the fireplace and by Gwen's feet.

Gwen kicked her feet up, raising an eyebrow at Courtney. "Um, because I have compassion for other human beings when they're being used as Chris's plot devices? Seriously, what's up with you lately?"

"I just think you're getting too close to Duncan for comfort, that's all," Courtney said, trying her best not to freak out on Gwen as she patted her hand around the fireplace.

"Guys, come on," Jovie began, walking between the two. "Can you ju-"

"What? You think… I have a boyfriend, you know!" Gwen cried, standing up.

"Gwen, she's just sa-"

"Yeah, but you don't see me getting all buddy-buddy with Trent, now do you?" Courtney spat, standing back up and spinning around to glare at the Goth.

"Courtney, maybe-"

"Oh, don't tell me you're one of those people who thinks guys and girls can't just be friends!" Gwen yelled, narrowing her dark eyes at Courtney. She walked over to her, walking past Jovie.

"C'mon, we have to-"

"I don't, but right as you two started hanging out more, Duncan and I have been arguing more and more! Coincidence?" Courtney was in her face by this point.

"Can't you two just-"

"Yeah, because you're on separate teams and that brought out both of your competitive sides," Gwen bitterly pointed out, her nose touching Courtney's.

Jovie walked over to Gwen and tried to pull her away from Courtney. "Please, we need to-"

"You two started hanging out after the cameras were off. You can't tell me you weren't trying to hide something!"

"Hey, who wants some apple pie?" Jovie cheered as she let go of Gwen, mostly to cause a distraction.

Her two teammates continued to ignore her. "You are so paranoid!" Gwen shouted, throwing her hands in the air. "Why hasn't Duncan dumped your crazy ass yet?"

"WHY, YOU LITTLE-"

Before Courtney could tackle Gwen, the lights flickered off and the room was enveloped in darkness.

"What did you do now, Gwen?" Courtney screamed.

"What? You think this is my fault?" Gwen exclaimed.

"I certainly didn't do it and Jovie couldn't have done it! She isn't even here!"

"Yes, I am!" Jovie exclaimed sadly. "You guys just keep ignoring me!"

Once again, the older girls were too busy bickering to notice her. "You're doing stuff just to spite me now! You're despicable, you know that? How could Duncan lower himself to even being friends with someone like you?

Gwen, fuming mad, screamed, "You know what, Courtney? You can go fu-!" Before she could finish her swear, Gwen's mouth sounded like it was being covered, since she let out loud screams, but they came out as mere muffles. Things sounded like they were being knocked over as heavy combat boots dragged against the wooden floor. The lights flickered on after a few more seconds and Courtney and Jovie were alone in the room, a few splats of blood and a note the only thing to be seen.

Courtney, trying to avoid touching the fake blood, picked up the note and read aloud, "After what she did, that Goth freak had it coming…"

Jovie blinked her wide eyes in fright, then looked over at Courtney. "This isn't looking good for you, girl…"

Courtney looked up at Jovie, shocked. "Jovie! When did you get here?"

*T*S*R*

Before Trent managed to drag Selena out of bed, DJ and Zoey stopped by the cabin to give the heads up on the challenge for the day. Well, Zoey did. DJ screamed in fright and ran away when he saw Selena, just like Marilee had predicted.

Keeping an eye out for Chef or any murderers, Trent dragged Selena into the back door to the kitchen and sat her down on a stool by the kitchen island. "Okay, now if I make you a sundae, will that cheer you up enough so that we can help with this challenge?"

Selena traced her finger along the grooves in the island made by various knives and grumbled, "I guess. Make it with sprinkles and a cherry. And love."

Trent chuckled. "Okay then…"

*T*S*R*

Candace raced across the forest floor, desperately trying to find her way out. "Gotta… Find… Courtney…" she wheezed. "Tell her… about… alliance… and… smexy butt!" Once she saw she had reached the river, the exact opposite of where she was trying to go, she decided to take a breather by the beaver dam. She sat down by it, sitting Indian-style and wiping her sweaty forehead off with the back of her hand.

She flopped onto her back, looking up at the clear blue sky. "Marilee must have figured out it was me by now… Who else would write about Geoff's butt?"

"-Someone who's blind, that's who!" Marilee cried, the video starting during the middle of her rant. "Hello, I was standing right next to him! How could they notice his barely there butt when they could be looking at all this?" She stood up and sexily shook her booty for the camera, then looked over her shoulder and stated, "Seriously, even straight chicks can't help but look! That's how smexy it is!"

"She's gonna kill me, I just know it!" she squealed, sitting up and bringing her knees toward her chest. "Knowing about their alliance won't do us any good if they know we know!"

She heard a twig snap and her head spun around. "H-Hello?" Candace weakly called out. "Marilee?" She shakily stood up and said, "Sorry about the spying! And talking about your brother's butt!"

Nobody spoke out, so she called out, "Marilee? Is that you?"

All of a sudden, a darkly-dressed, muscular figure jumped out of one of the bushes nearby and landed right in front of Candace. She screamed and tried to run away, but the man grabbed her in a bear hug hold and slapped a piece of tape over her mouth. She kicked and screamed and tried to break away, but he was too strong for her and the tape muffled her cries for help. He pulled out a small canister with his free hand, opened the lid and tossed corn syrup blood all over the dam and the grassy ground by it, running off with the redhead soon after.

*T*S*R*

Trent had finally finished the ice cream treat for Selena, complete with sprinkles and a cherry. Why Chef had this stuff when they usually ate slop, Trent had no idea, but he wasn't complaining. "Here you go," Trent said, sliding the sundae across the island to her.

Selena looked at it, then back up at him with a 'what an idiot' expression. "Do I look stupid to you, Trent?"

"… Uh…"

"I said make it with love. I ain't feelin' the love, Trent."

"Oh. Sorry." Trent picked the sundae up. He looked at it for a second, then handed it back to her. "Here you go… sweetheart?"

For the first time that day, she smiled. "Thank you!"

As she started eating, Trent sighed in relief, but that relief didn't last long. He heard footsteps in the mess hall, along with hushed talking. "Uh, Selena, maybe we should head out." It probably wasn't the 'murderer', but he wasn't going to take the chance.

"But I just started!" Selena said, holding up the sundae bowl and spoon.

"Take it with you," he told her as she hopped up and walked out the back door with him.

*T*S*R*

Marilee, after ranting and raving in the confessional for a while, made her way through the woods with Geoff once more. "Who do you think did it?" Marilee asked. "It could be any of the Ravens."

"The butt comment makes me think it might be Candace," Geoff quietly said, looking down at his feet.

Both exchanged glances for a moment, but then burst out laughing. "Pfft! Like Candace would spy on someone!" Marilee scoffed, wiping a tear away.

"Haha, yeah! That would be way too sinister of her!" Geoff laughed, sighing. "Okay, Candy's obviously out." They kept walking and he suggested, "Maybe Courtney?"

Marilee was about to object to it, but shut her mouth and nodded. "Yeah… She was acting suspicious at breakfast…" She raised an eyebrow at her brother and asked, "Did you take some stupid suppressant this morning?"

Geoff shrugged, grinning with pride. "I guess. Let's keep looking…" They stopped by the river and looked around. "There's got to be clues around here," Geoff commented, back turned to his sister. "There are always dead bodies floating in rivers…"

"Dam!"

"Marilee, there's no need to cuss about it," Geoff said, his back still turned to her. "We'll find something sooner or later."

"No, look at the beaver dam!" She forcefully turned his head toward the dam, which still had ketchup blood splattered on it.

"Oh!" Geoff ran over to it with Marilee, who picked up the note.

She unfolded it, and squinted as she read, "Nobody's that happy unless they're up to something. I did it for the best…"

Geoff looked as if he was thinking hard about that, then his eyes widened and he gasped. "CANDACE!" He fell to his knees and shook his fists at the Heavens. "When will the mayhem stooooooop?" He sobbed and sobbed, while Marilee awkwardly stood next to him.

"Uh… You realize she's not really dead, right?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"… Oh yeah."

*T*S*R*

Back at Chris' headquarters, Mia was flipping through papers in a manila folder. She slammed it back down on his desk, then looked over at Grace, who was on the edge of said desk. "There's nothing in Chris' file on Gwen that we can use against her."

"Are you sure?" Grace asked, clearly irritated. "No prison records at all?"

"If it were Duncan you wanted to get rid of, we'd have plenty to work with… but no." Mia crossed her arms, leaning farther back in Chris' swivel chair. "Can we just give up?"

"No!" Grace cried, pulling another file out of the open drawer under her feet. "If we can't find stuff to use against Gwen, then we need to find something to use against her team." She opened up the file and added, "The weaker the team, the weaker the Goth!" She looked at the paperwork inside the file, then sighed. "I wish I knew how to read."

Mia rolled her eyes, snatched the file from her and read it over. Something in particular caught her eyes, which quickly widened. "Huh. This might work…"

"What might work?" Grace asked, eyebrow raised.

Mia looked around, then leaned over to whisper what she learned into the younger girl's ear. Grace's eyes widened, and she looked down at the photo of the girl paper clipped to the file. She gave a devious smirk, nodding. "Yeah… Yeah, that's all the dirt we need…"