Chapter Six – What Do Guys Talk About?
Courtney heads back to her cabin after her counselling session with Duncan, feeling slightly rattled by what Chef had said. It was really quite unprofessional of him to tell two teenagers to make out. Sierra meets Courtney at the door to the cabin.
"Hey, Courtney!" Sierra says excitedly, "I think somebody gave you your random act of kindness!" Courtney eyes Sierra suspiciously, remembering she also has to give the girl a random act of kindness at some point. "It's on your bed," Sierra tells her. Courtney goes to her bed and picks up the thing Sierra is talking about.
"It's a bracelet!" Sierra bursts out.
"I can see that," Courtney responds. The bracelet is made of thick wire and her name has been worked into it in cursive.
"Someone put a lot of work into that," Sierra muses.
"Yeah," Courtney nods. She puts the bracelet on her left wrist and holds it away from her to admire it. "It's actually really pretty," she says.
"And it totally fits your wrist perfectly! I hope my random act of kindness is this nice!" Sierra gushes. Courtney nods absentmindedly, before giving Sierra a small smile.
"Heather, it's time for your counselling session!" Chris announces, gesturing to where Chef is standing with his arms folded intimidatingly by the dining hall. Heather sighs meekly before walking over to him where he pushes her inside. She shoots Courtney a save me look, but Courtney just waves.
"The rest of you will be going on a relaxing bush walk! With me as your tour guide!" Chris grins.
"Isn't that basically what we did last night? Except without camping at the end?" Noah points out.
"No! Now follow me!" Chris says and starts walking off into the woods. Everyone groans as they follow him.
"Wow that's a nice bracelet, Courtney!" Lindsay says, grabbing Courtney's hand and admiring the bracelet. "What does it say?"
"Um, my name," Courtney says disbelievingly, wondering if Lindsay really is as dumb as she makes out to be.
"Oh, cool! Where did you get it?" Lindsay asks.
"I think it's from my random act of kindness," Courtney tells her.
"Oh my god, I totally forgot about that! I have Cody, what do you think I should do?" Lindsay asks.
"Ugh, please do not do anything nice for that creep!" Gwen says, joining the group.
"I have Sierra. I think I have an idea that will be nice for both of them, but also… not that nice for Cody," Courtney smiles cunningly.
"Alright, Heather, why does everybody hate you?" Chef asks.
"Everybody doesn't hate me." Heather responds shortly.
"Then how come everyone they all wrote your name down in our first counselling session?" Chef points out.
"Not everyone did."
"More than half did."
"Ugh, this is stupid. I don't care if people like me or not!" Heather scowls.
"That may be so, but I have a suspicion that the reason everyone hates you is that you're a total bitch!" Chef says.
"So what?"
"Which angle do you guys think is my best? I want to get it perfect for the talent show," Justin asks Alejandro, Trent and Geoff. "This side…" he turns his face to the left, "or this side?" he turns his face to the right.
"Uhh…" the three guys all shrug and look at each other in uncertainty.
"I think you look great from every angle, Justin!" Owen butts in, having been eavesdropping. "You too, Al!" Alejandro shudders at the use of the nickname.
"My name is Alejandro!" he says, trying not to sound snappy.
"What are you guys going to do for the talent show?" Geoff asks.
"I am going to salsa dance… I just have to find a partner…" Alejandro says.
"That won't be hard for you, dude! Every chick here is probably dying to salsa dance with you!" Geoff laughs.
"Well, it can't just be any "chick"," Alejandro informs him. "She must be a good dancer, also there must be chemistry between the two dancers, of course!"
"Do you have someone in mind?" Trent asks. Alejandro turns slightly red.
"Uh… no. I may have to hold auditions," he says, composing himself.
"She's got way too much pride to audition for you, man!" Geoff laughs.
"Who? I don't know what you're talking about!" Alejandro denies.
"Riiiight," Geoff winks. "What about you Trent, you going to play guitar at the talent show?"
"Yeah, if Ms O'Halloran will give it back to me, after you got it confiscated," Trent says. Geoff grins sheepishly. "I thought I might play that song I've been writing for… you know." Trent trails off.
"Gwen. You can say her name, she is all the way back there. She cannot hear you," Alejandro points out. "You know, I think it is about time you two acted on your feelings. Geoff, do you mind helping out?" Alejandro asks. Geoff smile widens and he nods mischievously.
"Hey, Gwen!" he shouts.
"What are you doing?" Trent whispers urgently.
"What?" Gwen shouts back.
"Come here, Trent wants to confess his love for you!" Geoff yells. Trent hits him in the arm, turning red, "Ow," Geoff laughs, clutching his arm.
"What?" Gwen yells.
"Don't worry he'll wait for you!" Geoff yells. "Stay here," he says to Trent, putting his hands on his shoulders and forcing him to stop walking. "If you don't wait for her now, she'll think you hate her!" Trent sighs and stays where he is while Geoff, Alejandro and Justin keep walking.
"Do you guys think I need a new walk?" asks Justin.
People keep walking past Trent until finally Gwen, Courtney and Lindsay and Tyler catch up to him.
"Uh, hey Gwen," he says.
"Hey," Gwen smiles. "What was Geoff yelling about?"
"Umm…" Trent blushes. Courtney notices and grabs Lindsay's arm.
"Lindsay, we should totally try and get up the front of the group!" Courtney says.
"Okay!" Lindsay agrees. Courtney pulls Lindsay along, who of course is joined to Tyler as they are holding hands, and the three of them leave Gwen and Trent in peace.
"Geoff was just saying… I have something to tell you…" Trent gulps. Be cool man, he thinks to himself. Gwen looks at him expectantly. "The thing is… I… really… I really like you," Trent finally spits out. Gwen looks pleasantly surprised. "Will you be my girlfriend?" Trent asks.
"Yes!" Gwen agrees happily. Trent smiles, half in relief and half in happiness.
"So… do we kiss now?" he asks. Gwen laughs and gently kisses him on the lips.
"Woohoo!" Geoff yells from the front of the group.
"This session is totally pointless! I'm not going to change just because people apparently "hate me". This is high school, and in high school it's kill or be killed. If they think I need them to like me, I lose the upper hand," Heather explains.
"Friendship isn't a competition, honey," Chef says.
"Oh don't act all motherly with me. Haven't you been listening? I don't need friends." Heather says.
"What about Lindsay and Courtney and Gwen?" Chef asks.
"What about them?"
"Aren't they your friends?" Chef asks.
"You're being very contradictory. First you tell me everyone hates me, now you tell me I have three friends?"
"Are they your friends or not?"
"Well, yeah…"
"And if you lost them?"
"I'd probably lose my status as most popular girl in school," Heather shrugs. "But I'd make their life hell so they'd never ditch me," she smiles.
"I don't think we're getting anywhere here…"
The group returns from the walk and are dismissed to their cabins until dinner. Heather walks out of the dining hall to see Gwen and Trent holding hands.
"Are you two…?" she asks. They nod, and look at each other, smiling.
"Disgusting." Heather shakes her head and heads to her cabin. "But thank god it finally happened!" she calls back over her shoulder.
The girls all head back to their own cabins to rest before dinner, but the boys have decided to congregate in Geoff's cabin. Beth passes Owen as he carries an armful of potato chips over from his own cabin.
"What are you guys doing?" Beth asks.
"We're having a party!" Owen tells her. "Chef told us we should use any free time we have as bonding time."
"Cool! Can I come?" Beth lisps.
"Sorry, Beth, it's guys only," Owen says apologetically. Beth hangs her head and walks back to her own cabin, where Izzy and Lindsay are sitting and chatting.
"Hey Beth!" Lindsay says enthusiastically. "What's wrong?" she asks, noticing the brunette's crestfallen expression.
"The boys are having a party and we're not invited," Beth sighs.
"Maybe we could have our own party!" Lindsay suggests.
"Oh my god, totally! One time I hosted a party at my great grandmothers house which is this totally big mansion, and all these celebrities were there and we were so loud that the cops came, but they were so impressed they just decided to stay and party with us!" Izzy gushes. Beth stares at her in disbelief but Lindsay claps her hands excitedly.
"This is such a great idea! Everyone go and get your friends!" Lindsay runs out of the cabin and over to cabin one.
"I'll get Katie and Sadie! Oh and Eva." Izzy says, leaving Beth to get Courtney, Bridgette and Sierra from cabin two. Beth sighs and makes her way over there, pausing to take a deep breath before knocking on the door. She's relieved when it's Sierra who opens the door.
"Hi Beth!" Sierra exclaims. "It's Beth," she says over her shoulder to Courtney and Bridgette.
"We can hear you! What does she want?" Courtney snaps.
"Hi Beth, what are you doing here?" Sierra asks.
"Well, the boys are having a party, so we decided the girls should have a party too, if you guys want to come. It's in my cabin." Beth informs her.
"Okay! This sounds fun! Courtney, Bridgette, do you want to come to a party?" Sierra calls.
"I'll think about it," Courtney responds.
"Maybe later," Bridgette says.
"Suit yourselves!" Sierra shuts the door and follows Beth back to her cabin.
"Are you going to go?" Courtney asks Bridgette. Bridgette shrugs. "Have I done something to offend you?" Courtney asks.
"Maybe you could go to the party with your real friends," Bridgette suggests.
"Oh," Courtney recalls what she said to Bridgette earlier in the day. "I didn't mean it like that…" she tries to explain.
"I'm not going to be your friend just when it suits you. So if you don't want to be friends, you don't have to pretend to be nice to me," Bridgette shrugs. "I think I will go to the party." She gets up off her bed and leaves Courtney alone.
"This is lame," Gwen states. She's sitting on the floor at the end of Lindsay's bed.
"Agreed! Lindsay, why did you bring us here?" Heather asks.
"It'll be fun guys! We just need something to talk about…" Lindsay assures them. The girls sit in silence and stare around the room.
"What do you think the guys are talking about?" Sadie finally breaks the silence.
"Oh my god, Sadie, I was just wondering the same thing!" Katie agrees.
"What do guys talk about?" Lindsay wonders.
"Probably how much better than us they think they are. But they're wrong!" Eva growls.
"Hey guys," Sierra says, "I think I have an idea of how we can listen to what they're saying."
"Really? How?" asks Katie.
"We need Courtney…" Sierra says.
Five minutes later Sierra has managed to convince Courtney to come to the "party" and take part in the plan.
"Okay, so I'm going to call Courtney's iPhone from my phone, then take my phone over to the boys' cabin and leave it there!" Sierra explains.
"How do you still have your phone? I thought Ms. O'Halloran took everyone but Courtney's," Beth says.
"Oh, I have two phones. I gave Ms. O'Halloran the one I show my mom when she wants to see who I've been texting," Sierra giggles. She finds Courtney's number in her phone and presses the call button. Courtney answers the call and turns the microphone off and the speaker on so they can hear the boys but the boys won't be able to hear them. "Okay, I'm going to take this to the boys' cabin now!" Sierra declares.
"What are you going to say to them?" asks Sadie.
"I'll think of something!" Sierra assures her. She walks out of the cabin and over to Geoff, Ezekiel and Tyler's cabin where all the boys are gathered. She knocks on the door and waits for an answer. She hears the chatter stop as the boys hush each other.
"Who is it?" calls Geoff.
"It's Sierra! I want to give my random act of kindness!" she says.
"Hide me!" Cody whispers as he quickly crawls under a bed. Owen sits in front of him so that Sierra won't be able to see under. Sierra hears a scuffle, followed by Geoff calling "Okay, you can come in!"
Sierra opens the door, careful to keep her phone out of sight. Her first order of business when she enters is to scope out a possible hiding spot for her phone. She sees a shirt on the window sill and decides that will make an excellent hiding spot. As she edges over to the window she turns to the guys. She is about to say something about her random act of kindness when she realises something odd.
"Why are you guys all shirtless?" she asks. The guys look at each other a little sheepishly.
"Uhh… we were… comparing our abs," Geoff answers. Sierra raises an eyebrow in confusion, but then decides it doesn't matter.
"Oh my god what is that?" she points out the back window, getting all the guys to turn around so she can put her phone in the shirt.
"I don't see anything," says Justin.
"That's because you need glasses," Noah says.
"Hey, I don't need glasses!" Justin defends.
"I don't see anything interesting either…" Owen says.
"I can see plenty of interesting things, like in that tree over there, there's clearly…" Harold starts.
"No one cares, Nerdling!" Duncan interrupts.
"Sorry, I thought I saw a UFO! Anyway, I gotta go, toodles!" Sierra says and turns to go.
"But what about your random act of kindness?" Trent asks.
"Oh… right… Tyler… I really like your… headband. It suits you. Bye!" Sierra rushes out of the cabin.
"Is she gone?" Cody asks when he hears the door slam. Owen moves so that he can get out. "Man, she is crazy!" Cody observes. "She's so obsessed with me!"
"Normally…" says Owen.
"She didn't even ask about you," Harold says.
"Hey, yeah. Weird. Why didn't she ask about me?" Cody wonders.
"Maybe she doesn't like you anymore," Owen says.
"Hopefully," Cody says, although he doesn't seem very hopeful about it at all.
The girls gather around Courtney to hear what the boys are saying. Sierra walks back into the cabin just as this part of the conversation is ending.
"What did I miss?" she asks.
"Uhh… nothing!" Courtney smiles awkwardly. "Just come and listen." Sierra hurries over as the boys start talking again.
"Who do you think the hottest girl in our class is?" Owen asks.
"That's easy, it's Gwe…ll," says Cody. The girls look at each other wondering, who Gwell is.
"That's right, it's Gwell!" says Trent threateningly. "No but seriously, Gwen is the hottest chick," he confirms. Gwen smiles at Trent's words.
"No way, you're prejudiced because she's your girlfriend. The hottest girl is Bridgette," says Geoff.
"Now you're the prejudiced one, you're only saying that 'cause of your ridiculous crush," Trent scoffs. Bridgette turns a little pink.
"Hey! It's not ridiculous!" Geoff defends.
"Cute, he's not even denying he has a crush on you," says Heather to Bridgette.
"Well it is a pretty obvious crush," says Courtney.
"Owen, who do you think is the hottest girl?" Harold asks.
"I'd have to say… Lindsay," Owen replies.
"Aw, thanks Owen!" says Lindsay.
"He can't hear you," Gwen points out.
"Thanks, Owen!" Lindsay yells. Meanwhile, Izzy looks a little put out.
"Oh, he is so never seeing me naked again!" Izzy declares.
"I think Lindsay is the hottest too," Tyler agrees.
"Well she does have the biggest boobs, you know, if you're into that thing," says Alejandro. "I think they are too big, in my opinion,"
"Lindsay doesn't have the biggest boobs! It's Leshawna, and she is the most radiant beauty of them all," Harold announces. Leshawna doesn't know whether to be flattered or offended by Harold's proclamation. Duncan starts laughing.
"Someone's got a little crush!" he teases.
"Yeah? Well… so what?" Harold retorts.
"If we're talking about who's the hottest person ever, I think we all know the answer is me," Justin puts forth.
"We're talking about who's the hottest girl," Trent tells him.
"Oh… in that case I guess it's… Courtney?" he says questioningly, as if looking for approval from the other guys.
"I knew you liked her!" Alejandro says.
"I think I may know someone else who has a bit of a crush on Courtney," says Geoff.
"Why are you looking at me?" Duncan asks.
"Oh come on, the only person who didn't notice the sexual tension between you two when we were out in the woods was Ezekiel," Geoff says. The girls all turn to Courtney.
"That is a lie. The only tension there was between us was me trying not to kill him," Courtney claims, turning red. Bridgette raises an eyebrow at her and Sierra giggles.
"Liar," Eva coughs. Courtney glares at her.
"I can't believe you guys would think that I could like that stuck up snob. Sure she's hot, even Justin agrees, but she'd be a whole lot more attractive if she didn't have a huge stick up her butt," Duncan proclaims.
"Then you could stick something else up there, am I right?" Owen says suggestively. Only Cody laughs. Courtney gasps in horror but the rest of the girls just shush her.
"The point is she's a total bitch and I don't think anyone really likes her, especially not me," Duncan finishes.
"Totally, she's a total bitch," some of the guys agree. For some reason Courtney feels genuinely hurt by their words. Most of the other girls, however smirk to themselves, happy to know that in the eyes of boys, being hot doesn't excuse you of being a bitch. There's a knock at the cabin door then, and Blaineley tells them it's time for dinner. They hear Chris doing the same for the boys.
Courtney leaves the cabin and takes her phone with her, forgetting to end the call.
Meanwhile, in the boys' cabin, Duncan picks up his shirt and finds Sierra's phone hidden in it. He can tell it's Sierra's because it has little pictures of Cody stuck to the back of it. He sees Courtney's name on the screen, noticing the call is still going, and suddenly realises what has been going on. He smirks to himself before putting the phone up to his ear.
"Hey, Princess," he says. Courtney jumps at the sound of Duncan's voice coming from her phone. She turns the microphone back on and speaker off.
"Duncan?" she says into the phone, her heart pounding.
"Been eavesdropping have we?" he asks.
"No." Courtney denies, although she knows it's futile.
"Hear anything good?" Duncan asks, ignoring her denial.
"Not really. What do you want?" Courtney demands.
"That was a pretty good trick you know, well done. But I want to let you know that you're going to regret this," Duncan warns. I already do, Courtney thinks, remembering what he said about her.
"Oh really?" she says instead.
"Yep, I am going to get you back for this, and the rest of the girls too," he threatens light-heartedly.
"Is that so?" Courtney says, unsure if he's being serious or not.
"Yep. Oh and tell Sierra I'm keeping her phone," he says. "See you at dinner!" Duncan ends the call.
hey guys i really hope you're enjoying this story! thanks for everyone who continues to read and review!