This is a big turning point for the story. You'll see what I mean at the end.
When I awoke it was still dark outside. In all likelihood it would have been time to wake up in Australia, so now that we were in another part of the world, likely within the northern hemisphere, it was early morning.
I knew I should probably get some sleep. After all, if I stayed awake too long, I'd be out of energy by the time the challenge happened. But I was too excited. Heather was gone, and we were one member ahead of Team Warriors. Whenever the merge came, I felt like I was in a good position.
Having come to the conclusion that I wasn't getting any more sleep today I decided to do something productive with my time. I wanted to scout out the Warriors state. Now that Heather was gone, things could have shifted around. I needed to know who was on what side. I got up and headed for the confessional. I didn't want anyone to know what I was doing.
I entered the confessional, stood on the lip of the toilet, opened the hatch leading into the vent above and climbed inside. I was exhausted by the time I had managed to get up there. I stayed put until my breathing calmed then crawled through the air ducts until I was just above economy class.
I observed the area first. Courtney and Gwen were talking. They both seemed happy Heather was gone. From the looks of things they weren't friends, but they weren't arguing anymore either.
On the bench nearest me Cody and Ezekiel were talking. Ezekiel seemed down. I began eavesdropping. "I don't get it man. Why are you so upset about Heather leaving? Everyone hates her." Cody pointed out.
"I didn' like her either eh! It's just... when we were in an alliance I felt safe. Like no one was gonna vote me out. What if I get the boot next Cody? What if I don't got what it takes to make the merge?" Ezekiel asked him.
My heart went out to the poor boy. He desperately wanted to prove he was more than a sexist homeschooled pariah. Even in the first season it had been clear he was only repeating what his parents had told him.
"Dude that won't happen. Just because Heather's gone doesn't mean we can't have our own alliance." Cody offered.
"You'd really do that?" Ezekiel asked.
"Of course. Look dude can I tell you a secret?" Cody asked. Ezekiel nodded. He looked around as though making sure no one was listening in, I felt slightly guilty but this was valuable information. "I'm not sure of myself either. I try to act cool so the ladies will like me, but it never seems to work. You and me man? We're not so different."
"Thanks Cody. I needed to hear that." Ezekiel smiled. I decided that was enough eavesdropping for now and snuck back to the confessional. I dropped down from the hatch and exited. When arrived back in first class Noah was awake. He raised a brow at me. "Where have you been?"
"J-just hanging out in economy class." I said. It wasn't a lie, I just left out the part about eavesdropping.
"How are the Warriors holding up?" He asked. I blushed lightly. Of course Noah knew that was why I had gone back there.
"Cody and Ezekiel are pretty close. It's unlikely they'd vote for one another." I told him.
"And Cody has that stupid crush on Gwen so they won't vote her out. Guess Courtney's a goner if they lose." Noah shrugged. He went back to reading his book. I took that as my cue to leave him alone and began doing some picross.
Eventually the rest of the team woke up. Spirits were high. Bridgette seemed pretty happy Heather was gone, as was I, Owen was always happy, and even Noah seemed to be in a better mood. Everyone was in a good mood.
Everyone except Alejandro, who seemed unusually reserved. He wasn't visibly upset or anything, but he hadn't really talked to anyone since he woke up. It was unlike him. I turned to Noah. "What's up with Alejandro?" I asked.
He raised a brow to me. "Isn't it obvious? Alejandro was into Heather."
I paused, taken aback by such news. "H-he what?!"
"He was into Heather. Surely you noticed the signs?" He questioned.
"W-well he flirted with Heather but he flirts with everyone." I told him.
Noah sighed. "Believe what you want." With that he went back to reading. Now befuddled by the solution put to me I decided I needed to get my thoughts organized. I went back to the confessional.
"Could Alejandro really be into someone as horrible as Heather? I mean he's so gentlemanly it's hard to imagine. Whatever the reason, it's clear he needs someone to talk with."
I exited the confessional, walked back to first class, grabbed two of the many chocolate chip cookies Owen was eating, and sat in the chair next to Alejandro, "Cookie for your thoughts?" I asked, offering one.
He blinked as though shaking himself from thought, then took the cookie from me. "Gracias." He said. He began eating the cookie as though to avoid conversation. I would know I've pulled that trick.
"What's wrong? You seem withdrawn today." I prodded, hoping to get something out of him.
"My apologies." He said, giving me a brilliant smile. "I'm simply going over strategies for the upcoming merge. I assure you I am fine." He sounded sincere but I couldn't shake the feeling he was hiding something.
I didn't have much time to think about it as the plane crashed onto frozen ground. I wasn't sure where we were but if I had to hazard a guess it would be in the northern part of Europe. That or we were in northern Canada again. Why?
The temperature was such that it couldn't be much further south. The last place we'd been this cold was the Yukon. It would have frozen us under normal circumstances but considering we were just in Australia the difference in temperature was aggravating.
"Welcome to Sweden." Chris told us. I had thought his Australian accent was bad, but this was a whole new level of bad. To add insult to injury he was wearing a warm coat.
"Where's the jackets you promised us eh?" Ezekiel asked. I didn't want to be the one to tell him, but there would be no jackets. My green jacket, which I had already put on, was a poor substitute.
"Um I worked really hard on that accent. It would have been nice if someone had commented." Still the Chris I knew, you're freezing in the middle of an icy wasteland and all he can do is dig for compliments. Not that I would complement such a poor attempt at an accent.
"Dude I'm too cold to think, let alone come up with a compliment for you." Noah deadpanned.
"Sweden! Hello?" Chris complained. Then he groaned and went off to find out about the jackets. I held no hope.
Cody took the opportunity. "Hey Gwen? If you're cold I can help warm you up." He offered. He seemed to be trying a more subtle route to Gwen's heart.
"No. Not in a million years." Gwen told him. The geek sighed.
"You can cuddle with me eh!" Ezekiel offered, seeming unaware of the social faux pas of men touching men.
Cody on the other hand seemed all too aware as he backed up. "Uh no thank you! I'm good."
I noticed Bridgette looking torn. She kept glancing in Alejandro's direction, then forcing herself to look away. I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. "W-what?"
"You're cold and I know you're trying to avoid Alejandro so..." I trailed. "I can stop if you want?"
She shook her head. "No. It's fine." Girls touching girls didn't garner as much attention, though I knew full well people would ship us after this. Provided they hadn't already been shipping us. Still I would not deprive Bridgette my support.
At that moment Chris returned. "The jacket's are here!" Most of my co-competitors cheered. I knew better. Chris didn't care if we froze to death. I waited for the other shoe to drop. "In six to eight weeks." And there it was. By the time they got here, if Chris actually ordered any, the season would be over.
We had to do the challenge, coats or no coats. The first part was straightforward. Before us were two plies of wooden materials. We were to assemble the pieces into whatever they were supposed to be. Sounds simple enough so far right? Apparently Chris thought so too as he had 'accidentally' shredded the instructions.
Team Warriors were a mess. Courtney wanted to look over the pieces before they built anything, but Ezekiel insisted that they get started right away claiming he was a natural builder. They got into an argument over which one should lead the project.
In the meantime Cody was trying to hit on Gwen. It was failing miserably. He thought a second then beamed, running over to the pile of wood and beginning to build it. Courtney protested, but Ezekiel spurred him on.
As for our own team. We figured out what we were building pretty quickly thanks to Owen. "Oh I wish I had some barbeque sauce cause this looks like a whale rib!" he exclaimed.
Alejandro, who had been quiet most of this time, scanned the pieces. "Owen, you incredibly stupid genius!"
I looked the pieces over myself and grinned. "Of course! We're in scandinavia!"
"Before we start, let's keep the Warriors from peeking." Noah told us. We quickly put the canvas over several boards so the other team couldn't see what we were building, then got to work.
With the five of us working we were nearly finished when the Warriors finished making...a sculpture of Gwen's face?! Cody turned to Gwen and gestured to it. "Pretty impressive huh?"
"You made us build Gwen's face in an attempt to impress her?!" Courtney yelled in disbelief. She began to chase him around. "When I get my hands on you, you're gonna pay!"
Then the sound of a musical note went off. We all groaned but we knew we had to sing.
"As you sing," Alejandro whispered. "Do not mention we're building a boat."
"We're building a boat?" Owen repeated in a loud voice. Noah and I both face palmed. I pushed the screen down, well aware team Warriors had already heard us. Our boat was a couple nails from completion anyway.
Courtney, Gwen, and Ezekiel sang the first verse. I didn't really pay attention until the very last line. "Oh, why did we build Gwen's face?" It was odd to hear Gwen refer to herself in the third person, but I felt it appropriate since it made the song flow better.
On que Alejandro and I jumped in. "It's almost ready to set sail!"
Bridgette was finishing off the boat as sang the next line. "Just hammering in the final nail!"
"We really did this fast-" Owen added.
"Soon we'll be back in First Class!" Noah chipped in.
"Because they built Gwen's face!" We all sang together.
"We built Gwen's face!" They sang.
"We're gonna take first place!" We sang.
Then the rest of the song was the same line about building Gwen's face. Cody joined in during this refrain. So everyone sang. Anyway we had won so as a reward Chris gave us a bag of rocks, likely to be used as flint, Then Chris told us to begin pushing our boat into the lake, then we'd sail north until we reached Chef. The Warriors had to hang back and figure out how to salvage things for their team.
"I'll pull from the bow." Alejandro declared ripping his shirt off."Noah you're with me."
"Is ripping your shirt necessary?" Noah asked.
"Questions are for later!" Alejandro said "Actions are for now! Push like the wind!"
Noah rolled his eyes at me. "His speech is way too flowery." He remarked, then he joined the Spaniard.
I found Bridgette and I staring and somehow managed to snap my fingers. We both broke out of our daze. "Good call." Bridgette told me. We went to the back of the boat and began pushing. "So, I saw you talking to Alejandro earlier."
"Yeah he seemed down this morning, but he's recovered now. Noah has this silly idea Alejandro was into Heather." I admitted, hoping I wasn't the only one who had doubts.
"That's ridiculous there's no way someone as nice as Alejandro would ever be into Heather. " Bridgette echoed my thoughts.
"That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure." I told her.
"Look if he's into anyone it's probably you." Bridgette told me.
I knew my face was as red as a ripened tomato. "W-what makes you think that?"
"Oh come on, he's always flirting with you." Bridgette smiled.
"H-he flirts with everyone." I muttered.
"Not as much as you! Look maybe he's just being nice, but it doesn't seem that way." she told me. I was still unsure but I didn't have any time to think on it as Owen, who had been holding in his fart, cracked the ice. From the force of his fart! Either the ice wasn't that sturdy or Owen farts could be measured on the richter scale!
We scrambled into our boat and I checked to see if Team Warriors was okay. They had lopped off the top of Gwen's head, the sculpture of her mind you, and climbed in. It was able to float and they could sail in it so they were okay.
Regardless we made it to Chef first, he held out a viking helmet and said we needed to choose a captain. Of course I couldn't stop myself from nitpicking. "You know Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets right?"
"Girl do you know what show you're on?" Chef replied. I sighed, sadly I did.
"I think Bridgette should be captain." Alejandro suggested.
"She is the most familiar with hydrodynamics." I nodded.
"Thanks, um what does that mean?" Bridgette asked.
"You know how water moves and reacts to motion." Noah explained.
"Well, surfing is a lot different from boating." She told us. "But I'll do my best." The helmet was placed on her head. Chef supplied us with a cannon and three Swedish meatballs that had clearly been overcooked to the point of burning all the way through. Our objective, either sink our opposition or reach a flag first.
Bridgette began by ordering us to sail towards the flag since it was less risky. We got about halfway to the flag when a meatball hit our boat. "Direct hit!" Gwen called smirking.
Luckily the hull wasn't too damaged. Bridgette took the offensive immediately. "Alejandro and I will keep heading for the flag! The rest of you fire back!" She ordered. Noah, Owen, and I got into position. Owen loaded, Noah aimed and I used the flint to fire.
We hit the nose on their boat. They fired back and blew another hole in our hull. We retaliated and hit them again. Somehow their boat was still floating. Their third ball snapped our mast. Now with no way to move the boat, we watched as the Warriors passed us. We aimed and shot once more. It hit but as their boat sank Courtney grabbed the flag. It was a close call, but in the end Chris decided to give it to the Warriors. Since the boat hadn't completely sunk until after they grabbed the flag.
Alejandro asked me to meet him in the cargo hold. I obliged. I knew what he was going to ask. "So you promised you'd vote out Owen if we lost." He told me.
I sighed. "I did say that, and I still think you're right. Owen is the least useful member of our team..."
He drew me close. "but you don't want to hurt Noah?" I nodded. He cupped my face and looked me in the eye. I knew I was blushing. "I understand, but we must act in the best interest of the team. Unless you can think of another person to vote out?"
Bridgette was athletic, Alejandro was our best team member, and I didn't want to vote myself out. That left Noah who we could technically lose. After all he mostly contributed brains, and I had those. The very idea of voting out Noah made me ill. I looked at him. "No. I can't."
We went to elimination. Chris began his spiel about getting thrown off the plane. I looked at my feet the entire time. I knew my choice was logical. That if Owen wasn't Noah's best friend I wouldn't care, but the idea of Noah getting mad at me made me feel guilty.
Bridgette, Noah and myself were all declared safe from the off. That left Owen and Alejandro. The blonde looked nervous as Chris dragged the moment out but eventually he said the name I knew he would. "Alejandro. Looks like your out buddy."
We all hugged him, save Alejandro. Noah looked devastated, "I'll see you chubby buddy."
With that Owen jumped out of the plane. I tried to run off but Noah cornered me in the common area. "Owen and I voted for Alejandro. There was no tie breaker! Which means you voted for him!"
I stared at the floor, but I could still feel his eyes on me. "I-I didn't want to vote for him."
"Then why did you?" He snapped.
"It was best for the team!" I told him.
"Best for the team or best for Alejandro?" He asked.
"N-noah I-"
"Don't 'Noah' me! I've seen the way you look at him. I thought you were smarter than that."
I was mad so I said something I knew I'd regret. "You just don't like me because he reminds you of Justin."
"Who turned out to be a villain." He reminded me. I opened my mouth in protest. "Don't bother. If you can't see his true colors, then we have nothing to say to each other." He left.
I felt tears well up in my eyes. I stared after him. Alejandro entered the room. "I heard fighting. What happened?"
"Noah didn't take Owen's loss well."I said, wiping my eyes. Alejandro wrapped his arms around me.
"It's okay to cry, Quill. I'm here." He told me. It was like those words opened a dam in me. I sobbed into his chest.
Bonus Confessional
Aleajandro smirked into the camera. "I really must thank Noah for driving Quill right into my arms." He laughed evilly.
Looks like Noah finally drove Quill off, and now she's vulnerable to Alejandro's machinations. He really needs to work on the whole social interaction thing.
