Chapter 17: Technicality

A few days later, the campers were all playing Frisbee on the beach, except for Heather and Lindsay, who were trying to relax on the dock. A fly came up to bug them and Lindsay started swatting at it, but hit Heather instead. "Can I see that for a sec?", Heather asked. Lindsay nodded and gave her the swatter, and Heather whacked her nose with it. "Now make yourself useful and clip my toenails."

Confession Cam: Heather
"No more miss nice girl. Not to Lindsay, anyway. I'll be nice to the others if I have to, but Lindsay's gonna pay, slowly, terribly."

"Hey, I've been thinking", Lindsay said. "Maybe we should expand our girls' alliance to get rid of the guys." Heather responded by hitting her with the swatter again. "Or not..." Heather nodded. "That's right. There's four of us already, I think that's good enough." Meanwhile, back at the beach, DJ failed to catch the Frisbee. "Oh, my bad! Hey Trent, come over here and help me find it!" Trent shrugged and walked over, then DJ went over to him. "Dude, this alliance is not working out how I planned", he whispered. Trent nodded. "Yeah. What should we do about it?" "Well, I was thinking we could get Gwen to join us. What do you think?" "Sounds awesome!", Trent said. "I'll go tell her."

Before he could do so, Chris turned on the intercom. "Good morning, campers! Your next challenge awaits you at the arts and crafts center!" They ran over there and found Chris waiting for them by a shed. "Welcome to the arts and crafts center. It used to be an outhouse, but now it's where Chef parks his road hog." Chris kicked down the door and Trent ran in. "Whoa, that is awesome!" "Which brings us to your challenge", Chris continued. "The first part is building your own wheels. You'll find all the parts you need in our bike depot over there." He gestured toward a pile of broken bikes. "Bikes, huh?", Trent said. "Less awesome, but still cool." "Once you've collected the basics, trick 'em out any way you want using props from the arts and crafts center. Best design wins part one, and since I'm a nice guy I'll even throw in a bike manual." He tossed it Heather, who threw it to the ground. "Eww, it's furry!", she yelled. Izzy picked it up. "Cool, mold spores!"

Confession Cam: Trent
"Finally, I challenge I can totally win. I've been riding bikes since I turned three. Well, I started with trikes, but still, this is my kind of challenge. And there's only nine of us left! Nine's my lucky number. I've practically won already."

Trent walked over to the pile and picked up some handle bars. "I'm gonna build my dream bike", he said. "Oh, me too!", Lindsay squealed. "Every year at Christmas I asked for a Sunset Sally bike, but never got one..." DJ sniffled. "Man, that just ain't right!" Trent put his hand on DJ's shoulder. "Calm down, bro. We can win this, just let me help you build your bike." Gwen walked up to him. "What about mine?", she asked. Trent hugged her and kissed her cheek. "Of course I'll help with yours. I'd do anything to help you. Speaking of which- wanna join an alliance with me and DJ?" "Sure. Heather's alliance is going down."

Heather stepped out of the arts and crafts shed and pulled Lindsay over to her. "See that motorbike? Dismantle it, and make it fast, before Chef gets here." She handed Lindsay a wrench. "But what about my bike? I wanna win too", Lindsay said. Heather smiled. "Of course you do, and I'm gonna help with that. You and me can both use parts from it, and so can Sadie and Katie. I just get first dibs since it was my idea. Fair enough?" Lindsay nodded. "Alright, I'm on it!"

Confession Cam: Lindsay
"Heather just keeps getting nicer and nicer! Sure, she's having me break the rules and break Chef's bike, but if all four of us get something good out of it, that's good, right? I think I can trust her no matter what."

Heather shoved Lindsay into the shed and closed the door. Gwen and Leshawna came up and Heather said "No way, we're going in first. You'll just have to wait your turn. Or, you can save yourself the effort and not even bother." She smirked and crossed her arms, and then a seagull pooped on her head. She ran away screaming while Leshawna laughed. "Gotta love karma", Gwen said. Then Leshawna picked up some bike parts. She held one up to Gwen and asked "Where does this go?" "That's a pedal", Gwen told her. "Haven't you ever ridden a bike before?" "Of course I've ridden a bike before! I've just never built one from scratch, that's all. There's too many pieces." "Hey, Leshawna!", Izzy yelled. "I just finished my bike, come see!" "How'd you do that so fast?", she asked. "Oh, my brother was a mechanic before he got ran over and developed a fear of motor vehicles. Now come on, let's take this thing for a test drive!" "Alright, you're on!" She came over and hopped on the front seat. "Sweet, your extra weight will totally help with our speed!" Leshawna glared at her. "Watch your mouth, crazy girl." Izzy started pedaling and they raced off into the woods and down a hill.

Lindsay came out of the shed and up to Heather. "Hey, I found this pretty doll with ugly hair, just like you! I'm gonna use her for my bike." Heather glared at her and she went back to the shed. Meanwhile, DJ finally finished his safety gear. Then, Chris turned on the intercom. "Campers! Time to judge your bikes! Put your pedal to the metal and I'll meet you at the crafts center." He arrived a few minutes later.

"Well, campers, we gave you the parts. Let's see what you did with them." He walked up to Heather's first. "Excellent aerodynamics, Heather." "Thanks. I made it as light as possible." "Just like her brain", Gwen said. Chris walked over to her next. "Spooky, yet practical. Well done!" Next was Trent. He stood by a black and yellow bike. "I call it the lightning strike", He said. "What do you think?" Chris smiled. "I think we might have our winner already!" Next was Lindsay's Sunset Sally bike, DJ's super safe bike, and Katie and Sadie's bicycle built for two. "Eh... lame. So, where are Izzy and Leshawna?" Gwen raised her hand. "I saw them ride off toward the woods earlier, should we go look for them?" "Nah", Chris said. "They can skip this challenge, no reward for them since they can't win. This is where it gets good. We're gonna race these babies, hard! But first, you'll be switching bikes. Yeah, cruel twist, huh? Alrighty then, see you at the beach!"

The campers rode there and arrived quickly. "Okay", Chris said, "here's how it works. Everyone picks a name out of this helmet to see whose bike you're riding. If your bike makes it across the finish line, then you get to ride it in the final round for invincibility. If you refuse to ride the bike you're given, you will be eliminated. Got it?" Lindsay walked up to Heather with her name card. "Hey, I got your bike!" Heather smiled. "Excellent. If you cross the finish line on my bike, I get to ride for invincibility. So, if it looks like you're losing, just press the red button." "Now, before we start", Chris said, "has anyone seen Leshawna or Izzy?" Everyone shook their heads, then lined up to start the race. "Okay, racers, on your mark... get set... go!"

The campers all started biking, except Gwen on Trent's bike. "Hey, where's the pedals?" Meanwhile, Heather failed to make DJ's heavy bike move after the first few feet. Katie rode Lindsay's and Lindsay rode past him on Heather's. DJ and Trent tried to ride the BFF's double bike, but it tipped over and crashed, and then Heather ran into them on DJ's and got stuck again. Finally Gwen got Trent's ride started, and with the motor running it zoomed past everyone else. Katie and Lindsay finished the race after her, followed by Sadie. "Yes!", Chris shouted. "We have three awesome wipeouts by DJ, Trent and Heather, and four invincibility race winners: Gwen's goth machine, Heather's speed machine, Lindsay's Sunset Sally and and Trent's lightning strike. Now when Gwen gets back it's time for our TDI motocross." Gwen passed by the finish line a second time, stopping the bike and flying over the handle bars into Chef. "Nice finish, Gwen!"

"Is this the part where you help save my butt from being voted off?", Lindsay asked Heather. "Not yet. We have to make sure we win this part of the challenge, too, so get your A-game on." The girls walked over to the starting line and hopped on their bikes next to Gwen and Trent. Gwen laughed. "Nice wheels, blondie." "I know, right? Sunset Sally is amazing!" Chris rode up to them on his ATV. "Campers! Welcome to the Motomotomoto crosscrosscross challengechallengechallenge! Using your own bikes, you'll race the course, avoiding our various death traps. There's dodging the land mines, maneuvering through the oil slick, and finally jumping the piranha pit. Oh, and one more thing. The first one to cross wins invincibility, but the last one to cross gets voted off the island. No bonfire, no marshmallow, and no voting."

Heather leaned over to Lindsay. "Okay, so here's our strategy. We need to stick together so one of us wins the race. You go first and clear a path for me. Do that, and then I can win for us." Lindsay raised her hand. "That's nice, but I was thinking it'd be fun for me to win a challenge myself for once." "Yeah, that's a great idea in theory, but then who would come up with our strategy every week? Katie and Sadie aren't much smarter than you... no offense." Heather rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess that's a good point." Heather smiled. "Just follow my lead and we can win. As long as either Gwen or Trent finishes the race behind us, we'll both be safe. Trust me."

"Racers, get ready", Chris said. "And, go!" They started the race. Lindsay, Heather and Trent sped through the land mines, but Gwen hit one and her bike caught on fire. Trent slid into the oil and fell off his bike, while Lindsay cleared a path with the tail on her bike. Heather raced through behind her. Lindsay reached the piranha pit first and got to the other side, but Heather hit the red button on her bike, turning on a hidden motor. She sped up and jumped over Lindsay, then crossed the finish line... right after Trent got back on his bike and passed them. Lindsay followed. "Yay, we did it! We're safe!" Chris drove up to them. "Well, that's not exactly true. Trent is safe because he crossed the finish line first, Heather is safe because she didn't cross last, but since Gwen crashed and didn't complete the race, she didn't cross the line at all, which makes YOU the last one to cross the line, which means it's dock of shame time, baby."

"Okay, I'm so confused", Lindsay said. "It means I can't save you unless I give you my invincibility, but I can't do that", Heather explained. "You understand, right?" She turned to walk away, but Lindsay grabbed her arm. "But I finished the race! I even helped build your bike!" Heather pulled her arm free. "Hush. Just leave with your dignity intact. It'll make you seem much cuter in the instant replays." "But we were going to the final four together!" "Guess we're not." "Aren't you even sad? We're BFFs!" Heather patted Lindsay on the shoulder. "You know what? I thought so too. That is, until you got yourself a boyfriend!", Heather yelled. Lindsay, Katie and Sadie gasped. "You were in MY alliance!", Heather continued. "I trusted you, I told you no dating! You betrayed me. And now you will pay the ultimate price." Heather and Lindsay glared at each other. "Wait. Does that mean you're the reason Cody's gone?" Heather nodded. "It's your own fault. You betrayed me to hook up with him, so he had to go and so do you." "Okay, that is not cool!", Gwen yelled. "Sure, Cody was annoying as heck, but you can't just vote him off because you're mad at Lindsay!" "Shut up!", Heather yelled. "It's too late now, I tried being nice and look what I got in return! Either way, there's no vote tonight. No one can touch me." "This week", Trent said.

"You know, you may act nice, but you really are mean!", Lindsay said. "All that stuff the others said about you is true! Like how you're a two-faced, backstabbing, lying little witch! You dirty haired, pop star wannabe, shallow, self centered, ugly, scum brained, snake skinned piece of filth! I should have never joined your stupid alliance, and I wouldn't have if I'd known you'd vote me off just for getting a boyfriend!" Lindsay flipped Heather off and Heather went wide-eyed as the enraged Lindsay continued. "I always told them they were wrong about you. I stood up for you because I thought we were BFFs! But they're right! You really are all those things, and a lot more I can't say without my parents grounding me when I get home! Well guess what! I don't wanna be BFFs anymore. I'd rather spend the day staring at Owen's butt than go shopping with you! And PS? Your shoes are tacky!" Heather, Katie and Sadie gasped while DJ, Trent and Gwen laughed. She stormed off, and Leshawna and Izzy finally showed up, hurtling over the cliff onto the beach. "Hey guys!", Izzy said. "What'd we miss?"

At sunset, it was time for Lindsay to go. The others were waiting for her on the dock when she arrived. "Thanks for all your support, Greta", she said. "I love you, Laquisha!" Leshawna hugged her. "Take care, girlfriend. If it makes you feel better, we would've kept you on." "Really? Thanks. Kick Heather's butt for me!" Leshawna smiled. "It'd be my honor." Lindsay walked on and waved at DJ and Trent. "Bye, guys! See you at the finale!" Then she came up to Katie and Sadie, who were on the verge of tears. She pulled them into a group hug. "I'm gonna miss you, alliance buddies!" The BFFS burst into tears and hugged her tighter. "We're gonna miss you, Lindsay!" "It was nice knowing you!" She pulled away and walked to the end of the dock. "Good luck, Heather. I hope you get everything your karma owes you. Okay... I'm ready to go now." She walked onto the boat and waved goodbye until she couldn't see the island anymore. "Hmm... I wonder where Cody is."