YES, another cameo! Thanks for reviewing, Ali6132 (just wait until book 5).

Cameron was back by the next morning, but that was the only good thing about the morning. Anne Maria and Zoey hated each other, Zoey was still heartbroken and angry at Mike over the Vito thing, and so the girls' cabin was pretty tense. Jo was hard enough to deal with, being bossy and mean all the time. I could handle Anne Maria's vanity, but she was practically enjoying rubbing her relationship with Vito in Zoey's face.

All four of us girls took ages in the bathroom that day. Anne Maria showed off, laughing at Zoey's hair (which by the way, I thought was really pretty) and spraying her own, making the rest of us cough. "Now that is how you do hair." she said.

"I'll pass on the frilly girly hair care, thank you." Jo said flatly.

"Me too." I agreed. "I don't really care how I look, and even if I did, there's no way in a million years I'd want to have hair like yours!" I tapped a nail on Anne Maria's hair, which made a metallic sound.

"Hey, get off!" Anne Maria exclaimed furiously.

"Keep your helmet on, queen of hairspray!" I snapped back. "I barely touched you and your precious hair!"

When we were called to the stage with the benches I remembered from the first season's talent show, the first thing Mike did was sit next to Zoey and compliment her hair.

"Let me guess, and your character Vito likes Anne Maria's hair?" Zoey said, her eyes full of fire. I felt sorry for Mike. I really had to talk to him soon and get the story – because I had to find some way to get Zoey past the Anne Maria thing. She and Mike were so obviously the perfect couple.

Chris was dressed up as some kind of judge – it was some kind of fashion show. Jo scoffed, but Anne Maria was excited, even calling Jo's outfit 'prison sweats'.

"Hey, no one needs to be reminded that I'm a girl!" Jo told her.

"Sorry, who's a girl?" Lightning asked.

I turned to him. "I don't know...maybe you?" I said, giggling. Lightning looked hopelessly confused, so I decided to give him a break. "Jo is a girl."

Chris told us that we weren't the ones on the catwalk. We each got a wardrobe, and ten minutes to get our model done up. Then the model's look would be judged by three people; Chris, Chef, and another classic competitor, one that I think everyone would remember.

The girl popped up out of a suitcase. "Yay! Don't you just love my special fashion judge-y shoes?" She stuck out one of her blue cowgirl boots.

"Omigosh – it's Lindsay!" I whispered. I'd always liked Lindsay on the show. She was dumb, sure, but she was so sweet that I couldn't help liking her.

Chris told us that we'd have to catch a model – any mutant animal we could find, basically. That was how the trouble started.

Our team ran into some trouble at first. Soon, we only had five minutes left, and we had no model.

"Hey, guys, how about that maggot?" Cameron suggested. "That one that's the size of a beagle? It'd be a cinch to catch, and dress. We could just...slide it down the runway."

It was pretty gross, but it was a good idea. Even Jo complimented him, so we agreed and let Anne Maria make the maggot up...at first. "Do I have style or what?"

The maggot threw up.

"Uh...I agree with the maggot." Mike admitted.

"Me too!" I said. "This is a fashion show, not a freak show!" Anne Maria scowled at me.

"If you guys don't mind, I'll take a crack at it." Zoey offered.

I looked at Zoey, and I had to admit, she dressed well herself. Her style was kind of indie, but her choker necklace, her top that was co-ordinated with her hair, and her hair flower showed that she knew how to dress.

She got to work. "There! What do you think – too much? Too little? Be honest...unless you hate it."

"Wow, Zoey, not bad!" Cameron complimented.

"It's not good, either." Anne Maria muttered sourly. But we only had one minute left, and Jo pointed out that we didn't have enough time to change it.

Our maggot had a polkadot dress with a blonde wig in a boufant style. We got an 8.5 from Chris, an 8.0 from Chef (or was it a 0.8?), and an 8.1 from Lindsay (although she accidentally held it upside down at first).

I high-fived Zoey. "Retro RULES!"

The Rats' yeti wasn't a good contender. The team had to run away from it, and then when it felt insulted, the yeti stole Chris' jet packs and took off to Boney Island...taking Lindsay with him! It didn't help that the paparazzi had shown up on Dakota's call and were taking pictures of it before it left.

Our next challenge was to canoe to Boney Island. The team that rescued Lindsay won.

I don't really want to go through it. Suffice it to say we won, and we watched the Rats vote off...Sam.

"Well, looks like I'm out of continues." Sam said, still mellow. "Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you guys."

Sam was dragged off by Chef. "Now for something very special." Chris grinned. "Mutant Maggots, you're probably wondering why I asked you to sit in on this elimination ceremony. I'll need a strong volunteer from each team."

Jo and Scott volunteered.

"Pack your bags!" Chris said.

"You're hurling them too?" Zoey and I said together. This was bad for us. I couldn't stand Jo, but she was a valuable member of the team.

But Chris wasn't hurling them. "These two are switching teams!"

We all gasped, as the two of them switched places. This was worse than Jo being hurled – we got a competitor I hated, and the Rats got her! Scott sat down next to me. "Hey again, sweetheart." he whispered.

I scowled and hissed "Don't call me that!" What a creep.

"Aw, yeah, Team Man remains one hundred percent dude!" Lightning called out.

Jo poked him in the eye. "Get your eyes checked!"

I hung out with Cameron during the evening. "I wish Scott hadn't joined our team." I sighed. "He's a creep. The first thing he did was try to hit on me. Back on the boat. And then he called me 'sweetheart' back at the campfire."

"I noticed." Cameron answered. He had a weird look on his face. Sort of...pleased but a bit jealous, too.

"What's with the expression?" I teased. "You look like you have mixed feelings about it."

"Well..." Cameron said shyly. "Kinda. I mean, I see why you don't like Scott, but I can kind of see why he'd hit on you-" he broke off and I could faintly see the red colour underneath the dark skin.

"What was that?" I teased again. "Does that mean you think I'm pretty?"

Cameron seemed to have lost coherence, starting but not able to finish sentences.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed." I said softly. "Cam..." I paused. "I guess, not finishing this conversation would make things awkward, so I'm just gonna come out and say it. I was talking to Dawn before she was eliminated, and she was going to say it out loud that I...you know...like you. Like, like you. And she said -"

"You like me?" Cameron repeated. "Wow." He looked at the ground. "I've never really been in this situation before."

I smiled. "Me neither – most boys think I'm just a little girl because I'm short. But if you want help – if you like me back, no problem. If you don't, we can pretend this never happened."

Cameron seemed to be fighting with himself. Finally, he said "Shannon?"

"Mm-hm?"

"I think...I think I do...you know...like you. But...I..."

"What is it?"

"I don't know...you know...how to deal with this. Can we just be friends for now?"

I was a bit disappointed, but I tried to smile. I remembered the last cast, where Leshawna and Harold had the same relationship – they liked each other, but Harold respected that Leshawna wanted them to be nothing more than good friends. "Sure. But if, by any chance, you ever want to be more than friends, you know where to find me."

This felt so awkward...I don't think I did too well. Critique me, would you please?