I'm sorry to everyone who has been following this story because of how long it has taken me to update. Between full time college and maintaining a part time job just so I can afford groceries, I don't get much time to write for fun any more. I will try harder to update more often, but I can't promise anything.
I don't own Total Drama.
Screaming Gophers: Dawn, Alejandro, Noah, Cody, Trent, Zoey, Jo
Killer Bass: Duncan, LeShawna, Geoff, Gwen, Heather, Beth, Tyler, DJ
Thrashing Bears: Sadie, Cameron, Courtney, Scott, Lightning, Izzy, Bridgette, Mike
"Last time on Total Drama Island, the campers showed their colours in a game of paintball. After a little 'friendly' teasing in the Bass cabin over Harold's dirty underwear, the teens took to the woods, where they became the hunters and the hunted. Bridgette betrayed Mike's trust by spilling the beans on his secret to Scott and Trent came to the rescue when Gwen sprained her ankle. Tempers were flaring when LeShawna opened fire on her own team and shot Duncan, and Duncan got his antlers locked up with Courtney's. In the end, it was the Bass on the chopping block – again, and Harold got the boot after Tyler told everyone about how Harold betrayed the team. Will the Bass prevail or will their luck remain elusive? Find out today on Total Drama Island!"
Cue theme song.
Pressing the red-orange mug against the metal lever, Duncan watched as the brown liquid funnelled into the cup from the machine. He couldn't say the coffee actually tasted good, but it certainly helped to chase the taste of Chef's cooking, which was considerably worse.
Glancing around quickly to make sure Chef wasn't looking his way, he inconspicuously grabbed a spare mug from the shelf next to the coffee makers, and shoved it into his pocket. Putting his cup back on his tray and grasping at the sides of the tray, Duncan turned to head to his seat when he suddenly found a freckle-faced Latina girl glaring at him from the other side of his tray.
"I saw that."
"Saw what?" Duncan asked, his innocent facade ruined by his satisfied smirk.
"How can you just steal a mug?" Courtney asked, her eyes narrowed as she looked at the punk.
"Because it's cool looking and I don't have one." Duncan said, before giving a little laugh and corrected himself. "Didn't have one, that is."
Duncan made his way to where the Bass were sitting and took a seat at the end of the table, and Courtney followed him. She didn't sit, but instead stood at the end of the table and leaned down closer to him, speaking in a hushed tone.
"But you might get kicked off!"
"Awwwww. And here I thought you didn't care about me."
"I don't." Courtney snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the punk. "Get over yourself."
"Whatever, you dig me." Duncan said, rolling his eyes and continuing to smirk.
"Ugh! Why do I even bother?!" Courtney snapped.
"Hi. Chris here. Sometimes teens just don't get along." Chris told a nearby camera as he walked through the woods by Camp Wawanakwa. So the producers and I thought that the best way to work through the group friction would be to exploit it for laughs. This is gonna be awesome!"
"So, last's week's challenge really highlighted some serious Bass issues." Chris pointed out, glancing at the Killer Bass team members, the majority of which were glaring at one another. Then he glanced at the Gophers, where Jo was glaring at Alejandro, and the Bears, where Mike was looking uncomfortable beside Bridgette, and Courtney was eyeing Scott suspiciously. "And I'm sensing a little hostility with the Gophers and Bears too, so this week's challenge is going to be centred around building trust, because all good things begin with a little trust!"
Confessional
"I trusted Trent once." Gwen said. "He left me buried alive on the beach."
Static.
"Of course." Mike said, sighing with frustration. "Just when I start to question whether or not I can trust Bridgette, Chris makes us do a trust challenge."
"There are three major challenges that will have to be completed by teams of two from each team. Normally we like to let campers choose their own partners, but not today! More fun for me!" Chris gloated as he addressed the teens. Trent and Cody, Heather and Gwen, and Courtney and Scott are our teams for the first challenge – an extreme free-hand rock-climbing adventure!"
"Extreme!" Tyler cheered, pumping his fist victoriously.
"Ugh." Gwen said, casting a sideways glance at her partner.
"Here's your belay and harness." Chris said, tossing a set to each of the aforementioned pairs.
Gwen caught the equipment for the Bass, but Heather immediately snatched it from her grasp. The goth glared at the queen bee. "Hey! What's your damage?!"
"If you think I'm letting you hold me up, you're nuts." Heather replied.
"You won't be holding her up exactly." Chris said, holding up another set of the equipment to demonstrate how it worked. "One camper pulls the slack through the belay as their partner climbs. If the climber falls, the belay will stop them from crashing. The catch? Both the side and the base of the mountain are rigged with a few minor distractions: rusty nails, slippery oil slicks, some mild explosives and a few other surprises."
"Extreme!" Tyler cheered enthusiastically before blinking with the realization that none of the aforementioned surprises would be even remotely fun, and quickly corrected himself. "-Ly not extreme!"
"The person on belay must also harness their partner – it's all about trust here, people." Chris said, before his face took on a very serious expression. "And remember – never let go of the rope! Your partner's life depends on it!"
"Excuse me," Gwen asked, putting her hand up as though she was in school. "Can we switch partners? I really don't feel like being dropped on my head today."
"Puh-lease! As much as I love your company, I'm not going to throw the challenge just to kill you. Yet. Now spread 'em."
"So, looks like we're partners." Scott said, smirking at Courtney.
"Looks like," Courtney said with a grimace. "I was a CIT so I already have belaying experience. I'll harness you up and you climb."
"Yes ma'am." Scott nodded, still smirking.
Confessional
"I think Scott's up to something and I'm going to find out what it is." Courtney vowed. "Besides, I'm not sure if Scott could even figure out how the harness is supposed to go on – let alone put it on properly. I'm not going to risk my life for someone who doesn't know what they're doing."
Static.
"I like me a bossy woman." Scott said, shrugging a moment later. "Bridgette is expendable."
"I've never tried this before." Cody said as teammate Trent helped harness him up. "Have you?"
"No," Trent said, shrugging. "But there's a first time for everything, right?"
"Yeah." Cody said with a nervous laugh.
"There! You're all hooked up!" Heather announced, stepping back from her partner to study her handiwork.
Gwen looked down to check out the harness, and made a face. "What's the second rope for?"
"It's a backup line." Heather said, smirking.
"What are you smiling about?" Gwen asked, glaring.
"Nothing!" Heather said, holding up her hands innocently. "I'm just really happy we got on this challenge together."
Gwen didn't look convinced.
Confessional
"It's all her fault for messing with me." Heather told the confessional. "I have got a doctorate in revenge and humiliation!"
The challenge began and the three climbers: Cody, Gwen and Scott, made their way to the mountain to start their climb.
Scott quickly took the lead, but Gwen and Cody weren't too far behind. Her hands searching for a suitable grip, Gwen pulled herself up the rock ledge, quickly taking the lead while Scott and Cody sought more stable handholds.
Suddenly, she triggered a tripwire, and there was a small explosion that sent the goth flying off the rock face, screaming as she plummeted, surely to her death.
But her body suddenly stopped mid-fall, and Heather's voice called from the base of the mountain. "It's okay, I've got you!"
Cody chuckled nervously, glancing down at his partner for the challenge. "H-hey Trent?"
"Yeah?"
"Got a firm grip on that rope?"
"Don't worry, man, I won't let you fall."
Cody nodded, giving another nervous chuckle before he grabbed another ledge and began to pull himself higher.
"I promised surprises." Chris reminded them, moving towards the grounded partners with a supersoaker. "Habanero pepper sauce, anyone?"
He opened fire on Heather first, who groaned in irritation and let go of the rope to rub her eyes. "Ugh! What the heck, Chris?!"
Gwen screamed as she began to plummet once more, the breath knocked out of her when she hit the ground with a THUD! Heather blinked in shock, realizing her mistake. Then Chris turned his water gun on Trent.
"Cod – Ahh, that burns!" Trent exclaimed, letting go of his rope as well, mid warning. Cody, unaware of what was taking place below, heard his teammate call his name and turned to see what he wanted, not realizing his best handhold was slick with oil, and just as Gwen was picking herself up to try again, Cody hit the ground beside her.
"Why are you moving so slowly?!" Courtney called out to Scott, clearly annoyed with her teammate.
"Doing the best I can, ma'am!" Scott called down to her. "Don't want to lose my grip and follow their examples!"
"Come on, Gwen!" Heather called out, switching the second rope – the so-called backup line – to her other hand and giving it a hard tug. "You don't want to fall behind!"
As the fabric of Gwen's skirt was torn from her body, the other teens stared on. Gwen glanced down to see what had happened and screamed out in horror when she saw her skirt had been ripped off and had landed on Scott's face.
Confessional
"Pappy always said that if life gives you lemons," Scott began, smirking deviously. "You smash 'em up with a big stick."
"Well, you don't see that every day." Duncan commented, amused, as he observed his teammate's situation.
"No, you don't, my man, no, you don't." Chris said in agreement.
Courtney cast a dirty look at Heather. "That was so mean!"
Confessional
"I'm starting to think that what Harold said is true. Heather does seem kinda mean." Tyler said. "To the extreme."
"What's your point?" Heather sneered as Courtney's partner began to scream.
Looking up, Courtney realized that Gwen's skirt had landed on Scott's face, and when he'd remove the item obstructing his vision and realized what it was, he began to scream and lost his balance, dragging an unprepared Courtney towards the mountain, where her leg got tangled up in the rope and she was hoisted into the air by her ankle.
When Courtney collided with Scott, the ginger haired farmboy stopped falling, but found the freckle-faced brunette glaring at him, her arms crossed but her intimidating expression lessened by the fact that she was also hanging upside down on the mountain.
"This is all your fault." she accused, still glaring.
"Sorry." Scott said, not sounding very sorry at all.
Meanwhile, Gwen snatched the material from where it had caught on a nail and was holding it to cover her purple skull panties. Looking down at everyone gathered below, some who were blatantly staring at her backside, some who were covering their eyes out of politeness, and some who were still stunned.
"Ah, screw it." Gwen said, rolling her eyes. Holding the torn fabric from her skirt between her teeth and focusing on the climb before her, she quickly pulled ahead.
"Hey, geekwad, focus!" Jo yelled from the base of the mountain.
Confessional
"I wasn't distracted, I swear." Cody said, fidgeting in the confessional. After a moment, a gap-toothed grin spread across his face. "Ok, yeah, I totally was. But come on! Gwen was in her underwear!"
"And it looks like the Bass have won the first challenge." Chris said as Gwen reached the top of the mountainside.
Gwen stood up and upon hearing Chris's announcement, grinned. "Yeah!" She said, pumping her fist in the air before realizing that like her hands, the remains of her skirt were high above her head. "Oh crap!"
Confessional
"I thought Scott seemed like a strong player." Courtney said. "But he's been giving the other teams really easy wins and I'm starting to think that he's throwing challenges."
Three tables were set up in the mess hall with an announcer's podium in the centre with a spotlight focused on each of the tables and the podium. A stuntman back-flipped to the podium and a moment later Chris stood up from behind it and brushed himself off.
"Round two: the. EXTREME. Cooking. Challenge!" Chris said, his arms up in the air to emphasize the excitement of the challenge.
All six teens couldn't help noticing the stuntman crawling away behind one of the tables as the attention was on Chris.
"Each team must choose who cooks and who eats."
"Oh, can I do it? Can I do it? I got an A in Chef Class at my high school!" Beth said, putting her hand up as she spoke to her partner Geoff, almost like she was trying to get a teacher's attention.
Geoff tipped his cowboy hat back with his index finger and gave a shrug. "Go for it, brah."
"Oh, yay!" Beth said, clearly excited for this.
"Weighing the risks of this, I think I should -" Cameron began, pushing his glasses further up his nose.
"Oh! I'll cook! I'll cook!" Izzy said excitedly.
"Izzy, I don't-" Cameron began to protest but Chris cut him off.
"So Beth is cooking for Bass and Izzy for the Bears. Dawn, Jo, which one of you will be cooking for the Gophers?"
"Do I look like I do any of that frou-frou girly stuff?" Jo asked, raising an eyebrow at Chris.
Confessional
"Dawn's been riding on my last nerve for quite some time now. She doesn't play to win and I'm the only one on the team who can see it." Jo said. "And so help me if she screws this one up for us too."
"Today you will be preparing Fugu Sashimi, the traditional Japanese poisonous blowfish." Chris said, ringing a gong right behind the contestants as Chef rolled out a tank containing three blowfish. Pulling down a projector screen, Chris used a pointer to show them a diagram of a blowfish's anatomy. "Each Fugu blowfish contains enough lethal toxins to kill 30 people."
"Fishies, meet your makers!" Chef cried out, tapping on the tank to make the fish blow up before using a net to scoop each fish out of the tank and flinging them across the room to each team's table.
"They must be sliced very carefully to cut around the poisonous organs." Chris warned the teens. "The poison paralyses the nerves and there is no antidote. But no worries, right?"
"Doesn't that sound so fun?" Izzy asked, her green eyes wide with excitement. "Being incurably poisoned?"
Beth looked down at the blowfish before her and gulped, already increasingly nervous for the challenge.
Dawn looked horrified. "Kill another living being? I can't. I won't."
Jo narrowed her eyes at her teammate. "If you screw this up for us, I can personally guarantee that you will be the one going home tonight."
"Then so be it." Dawn responded firmly. "I would rather lose my chance at a million dollars than to compromise myself and my beliefs."
Confessional
"She was so brave. Jo's even meaner than Heather and Dawn still stood up to her – just like that!" Beth said, awestruck. "Refusing to compromise yourself – that's the most inspirational thing I've ever heard."
"Fine, I'll cook then." Jo said grudgingly.
Chris shook his head, smirking. "You already called dibs on being the eater. No trade-backs."
If looks could have killed, Jo would have killed Dawn seven times over with the look she gave her at that moment.
Confessional
"I'm probably going to die today." Cameron said. "So I just wanted to tell my Mom that I love her."
"I'm sorry little one." Dawn said, gently avoiding the fish's poisonous quills and carrying it towards the tank.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Chef asked, glaring at her as he used his body to block her access to the tank.
"I refuse to take the life of an innocent creature just for a challenge." Dawn said simply.
"Awww, ain't that sweet?" Chef asked, smiling.
Confessional
"I could see in his aura that his smile was false." Dawn said.
Snatching the fish out of Dawn's tiny hands, Chef smacked it down on a nearby table and with a single stroke of his axe, disconnected its head from its body.
"No," Dawn dropped to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, little one. I have failed you."
Confessional
"Well what do you know, Chef's on my side." Jo said, nodded in a satisfied manner.
Static.
"Jockette's got a good a chance of winning as anyone." Chef explained. "And now she owes me one."
Beth's hands were trembling like crazy. Geoff's life was in her hands – she wasn't ready for this! Were they even allowed to do things like this on the show? Surely you had to be trained in the art of preparing poisonous creatures before you could legally be allowed to make them.
But if there were laws like that, why wasn't Chris following them?
She thought she'd been doing extremely well to cut around the poisonous organs, and she almost thought they had a chance of winning it too, until Chris startled all three teams by ringing the gong to signify the end of their preparation time.
Starting from the sudden sound, Beth's hand slipped and the knife in her hand sliced through the poison sack of the blowfish, a spray of poison juice misting over the sushi she'd already prepared.
"Oh crap!" Beth cried out, quickly grabbing the finished sushi pieces as fast as she could. Putting them on a plate, she gulped. The toxins were pretty strong but surely that small a dose wouldn't hurt Geoff, right?
"Serving time!" Chris said, grinning as the six teens looked down at their prepared meals.
Perhaps due to her red, swollen eyes and tear-streaked face, the sushi that Dawn had prepared lacked a certain presentation aspect. Beth's sushi looked pretty decent, and whatever Izzy had made looked to be a mess. There was a plate of pale pink mush with a ketchup smilie face on it, while chunks of fish lay scattered across her preparation counter.
Dawn pushed the plate towards Jo indifferently. The jockette reluctantly took a bite of the sushi and began to chew it thoughtfully.
"Not bad, not bad at all." Jo said after a moment.
Beth was fidgeting as she looked at the plate of sushi she had prepared for Geoff. The party boy took a piece and raised it to his mouth, trusting the geeky farmgirl entirely.
"No, Geoff, don't do it!" Beth said suddenly, half a second before the sushi touched the party boy's lips. "I think I got poison juices all over it."
"Well that's nice of you to be honest." Chris said, looking from the geek girl to the party boy. After a moment, he focused on Geoff. "You still have to eat it if you want the point for your team."
"I'm sure it's fine, brah." Geoff said, trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Beth.
And with a deep breath, he popped the piece of sushi into his mouth and began to chew it. He seemed rather nervous as he chewed, but after a moment, he swallowed the food and began to smile.
Giving the brunette both thumbs up, he grinned at her. "Excellence!"
Unfortunately, his joy and relief was short-lived as his entire body twitched. His stomach began to grumble and he suddenly screamed. Clutching his chest, he dropped to the ground and began to projectile vomit all over the mess hall floor.
"What an unfortunate turn of events." Chris commented, although he sounded almost pleased by what had happened. "Cameron, you're up."
"What?! But Geoff-" Cameron squeaked, regarding the rival team member with fear.
"The sooner you eat what Izzy had prepared for you, the sooner Geoff will receive the medical attention he needs." Chris said, unworried.
Cameron regarded the plate of mush and ketchup with wide, fearful eyes.
"I guess it can't be any worse than Chef's food." Cameron said, closing his eyes as he raised a forkful to his mouth.
"Watch it, scrawny kid." Chef warned him with a glare. The bubble boy flinched under the ex-militant's glare, but did not pause.
Chewing his meal, he opened his eyes after a moment and realized he still felt okay. Izzy was regarding him closely, and after a moment, she frowned.
"Oh, I know what I forgot!" Izzy said, laughing. Scooping up a small pile of fish guts from the counter, she held out her hand to offer Cameron some. "Poison sac?"
"N-no thanks, I'm good." Cameron said, suddenly beginning to tremble with relief.
Izzy shrugged. "More for me, then."
And with that she scooped the entire amount of poisoned fish guts into her mouth and proceeded to have the exact same reaction as Geoff had, starting with severe convulsions.
Between the spasms and projectile vomiting, Izzy began to laugh.
"Oooooh-kay then." Chris said, regarding the crazy chick with a wary look. Then he turned to Chef. "I think they'll both fit on one stretcher, don't you think?"
Chef nodded. "Roger that."
"Well, looks like the Gophers and the Bears tie in first for this one." Chris said, making his way to the door.
"But Geoff trusted me!" Beth said, distraught as she looked at her teammate.
"Yeah, but he got poisoned anyway." Chris said with a shrug. "It's cool. Give them twenty-four hours and they'll be up walking and breathing good as new."
As Chris began to walk away, Cameron looked at the two poisoned teens with a look of terror. "Isn't anyone going to help them?!"
Confessional
"I'm alive." Cameron said in disbelief. "Izzy didn't poison me. I'm alive. And Izzy didn't poison me." He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I hope she'll be okay. I mean, she's so crazy that I don't even think what she has would be listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and she's completely terrifying, but I still hope she'll be okay."
As the four challenge survivors made their way out of the mess hall and rejoined their teammates, Dawn fell behind. Jo made her way over to the other Gophers, fist pumping victoriously as though she were entirely responsible for their team tying for first for that particular part of the challenge.
With a sigh of irritation, Noah got up off the ground and was about to follow his teammates when he noticed a blonde girl with a red, blotchy face making her way out of the mess hall.
"What happened to you?" he asked, a tone of indifference in his voice.
"I failed to save one of nature's children." Dawn answered solemnly.
"And I thought Jo was the bad guy here." Noah quipped. "Failure – now that's just evil."
Dawn was silent.
Confessional
"Scott has been giving the other teams suspiciously easy wins for more than just a few challenges. And the rest of my team probably hasn't even noticed, but I was a CIT – I'm trained to notice things like that." Courtney said, pausing before her dark eyes went wide with a sudden realization. "But maybe. . . maybe there is someone else who's noticed too."
Sadie was sitting alone at the edge of the dock. Despite having been let in on Bridgette's alliance, she felt just as much of an outsider on her team as she had the day she'd been separated from Katie, and the day that B and Eva had been sent home.
Sadie was rather surprised when she heard footsteps on the dock and moments later Courtney sat down beside her.
Sadie regarded her teammate with a shocked expression for a moment before continuing to focus on the water below her. Courtney was probably just stressed out or something. She wouldn't come to the dock just to sit with her. She was pretty sure Courtney didn't even like her.
"Sadie? I have something to ask you."
"Me?" Sadie asked, incredulous. "What about?"
"Scott."
"Oh." Sadie responded, regarding her teammate with a suspicious look. "Wouldn't Bridgette know more about him than me? She is his girlfriend, after all."
"No, I don't think Bridgette would be able to tell me what I want to know."
"So what is it?"
"I want to know why you punched Scott."
Sadie's mouth was agape for a moment, but she remained entirely silent.
Confessional
"If I tell Courtney, Scott is going to find out and then Bridgette is going to get everyone to vote me off." Sadie said, fidgeting nervously. "And I'm not ready to go home just yet."
Static.
"Courtney's digging." Scott said, frowning. "That's gonna have to stop."
"Good news, the third round of the trust challenges involves three more challenges. It's the three blind challenges!" Chris said, standing in front of the assembled teens with a grin. "It begins with the blind William Tell, followed by the Blind Trapeze, culminating in the treacherous Blind Toboggan."
Chris approached DJ, who was standing at the very end of the group with Bunny and motioned for him to step aside. The gentle giant obliged, but handed his beloved pet to nearby team member Tyler temporarily.
"Like legendary marksman William Tell, you will be knocking arrows off your partner's heads with crab-apples." Chris said, placing an apple atop DJ's head.
"Wasn't it the other way around?" Courtney interrupted.
"Shush!" Chris said, pulling out a white piece of fabric. "Also, the shooter will be blindfolded."
DJ's teammates sidestepped away from him as Chris put on a blindfold.
"The person who knocks the apple off their teammates head while causing the least amount of facial damage to their partner wins."
Chris pulled back the slingshot and fired. Unfortunately, he was well off his target and DJ dropped to his knees, clutching his groin.
"Ahh, nuts!" Chris said when he lifted off the blindfold and saw where he'd hit.
Confessional
"I kind of deserved that." DJ said, his voice a few octaves higher than usual and he was still clutching his aching unmentionables. "After what we did to Harold, karma owes us back big time. It was Duncan's idea, but momma always told me to look out for people, you know? Take care of the underdog and all that. I screwed up, and I don't know if I can make it right, but I'm gonna do my best. I grabbed all of Harold's poems and I've been keeping them with me so Duncan doesn't get a hold of them again."
"Zoey and Cody for the Gophers, Tyler and Heather for the Bass and Sadie and Lightning for the Bears." Chris announced.
"Oooh, let me shoot. I'm a good shot." Sadie insisted, jumping up and down on the spot.
"Sha-please, girl. You can't shoot better than the Lightning. Lightning is the king of the court."
"I don't mind shooting – if that's okay with you." Zoey volunteered, looking at her partner Cody with a smile.
Cody shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
Tyler grabbed a slingshot and began to inspect it with a grin. "Extreme!"
"Give me that." Heather commanded, snatching the equipment from the jock's hands. "I'm shooting."
"That's less extreme." Tyler answered, sighing.
"Okay, let's rock and roll!" Chris said.
Cody, Tyler and Sadie stood with an arrow resting on the tops of their heads, wearing safety glasses, while Zoey, Heather and Lightning stood with blindfolds on beside buckets of crab-apples.
The three blindfolded shooters loaded their slingshots and began firing crab-apples at their targets. Apple after apple flew through the air, pelting their victims – er, targets, and leaving red welts that would likely become bruises.
"Ow!" Tyler cried out as Heather hit him repeatedly with crab-apples. Her blindfold wasn't on as tightly as the others were, and she was able to peek out from under the strip of fabric at her target. However, despite her visual advantage over her two rivals, she was still missing the arrow atop Tyler's head.
Confessional
"If it weren't for that dumb jock, I'd have one more pawn under my control." Heather said. "So I owe him."
Eventually, it was Zoey who managed to shoot the arrow off of Cody's head with an apple, skewering the fruit neatly. The Gophers began to cheer.
"Did I get it?" Zoey asked, pulling up her blindfold to see Cody holding the skewered crab-apple in his hands.
"Good job." Cody said, grinning at his teammate.
Heather lifted her blindfold off completely but didn't seem terribly upset by the loss. Unfortunately for Sadie, Lightning did not stop pelting her with crab-apples.
"The Lightning has sha-got it this time!" he cried out, pelting Sadie and most of the surrounding landscape with apples.
"Stop! It's over, Lightning!" Courtney cried out, approaching her blindfolded teammate.
The jock lowered his slingshot and lifted his blindfold. "Lightning strikes!"
"Yeah, strikes out." Heather said, smirking.
Lightning let out a cry of rage. "What?! The Lightning has got her this time!"
And with that, he lowered his blindfold and fired a final apple at Sadie, hitting her dead in the forehead. Sadie wobbled for a moment on her feet before falling over backwards. As she laid dead still on the ground, Lightning lifted his blindfold and gave a fist pump.
"Sha-score!"
"You were supposed to hit the arrow on top of her head – not her!" Courtney cried out before heading to her teammate's side and trying to wake her. After a few unsuccessful attempts to shake the girl awake, she turned to the others with wide eyes. "Is anyone going to help her?"
Chris shrugged. "Chef will take care of her."
At the mention of his name, the ex-military co-host walked over, picked the girl up and hefted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before making his way towards the infirmary tent.
Geoff yawned and opened his eyes as Chef made his way into the infirmary tent with a girl slung over his shoulder. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up on his stretcher.
"Yo G, what's up?" He said, drooling a little bit. His words were slurred and slow.
Chef flopped the girl down onto an empty stretcher, not gentle in the slightest. Geoff cringed at the painful sounding thud of her body hitting the stiff medical board. She'd be bruised when she woke up later.
"Can you walk?" Chef asked.
"I'll try." Geoff said, sliding off the end of the medical table in a very uncoordinated manner. Wobbling a bit on his feet at first, he was able to walk if he held onto something to steady himself.
Chef watched him for a moment before nodding. "You're released."
"Score! Thanks G!" Geoff slurred, still drooling a bit as he began to wobble his way out of the medical tent.
"And now, the blind trapeze!" Chris announced to the remaining group of teens as they stood in front of a pool with a large wooden frame over it. "To avoid injury, this trapeze has been set up over this pond. Which is full of jellyfish."
The crowd of teens gasped in horror.
"You three will stand blindfolded on the platform until your partners tell you when to jump." Chris said.
"And then what?" Beth asked, regarding her blindfold nervously.
"Then, hopefully they'll catch you. Or that's gonna be one heck of a painful swim." Chris said, laughing at the prospect of the teens in pain. "Blindfolds on!"
As DJ went to climb up the ladder onto the trapeze platform, a small grey furry bundle poked its head out of his pocket.
"Aww, sorry little buddy," DJ said, picking up the rabbit in his hands. "You can't come up with me. But you can trust Geoff. He's my buddy."
The rabbit regarded DJ with solemn eyes.
"Yo Geoff, can you watch bunny while I'm up on the swing?" DJ said, handing his furry friend to the blonde party animal. "Thanks G."
"Sure, man." Geoff said with a nod, slurring less than he had before his walk to rejoin his teammates. Smiling as he looked down at the cute creature in his hands. "Little furry dude, what's up?"
DJ hung from the trapeze by his knees and began to swing.
"Okay Beth," DJ said, looking up at his blindfolded partner up on the platform. "Okay Beth, jump now!"
The blindfolded farm girl shrank back, clutching one of the posts that made up the platform desperately. Her breathing shaky, it was clear she was absolutely terrified.
"Beth, if we're going to win, you're going to have to trust me." DJ said, trying to comfort his teammate.
"I – I don't know if I can do it." Beth said, her entire body trembling.
"Beth, you'd better not screw this up for us!" Heather warned from below them.
"I-I'll try." Beth said nervously, stepping away from the wooden post.
"Okay, one, two, three – jump!" DJ said. Beth edged closer to the edge of the platform but still did not jump.
"I'm too scared." Beth said, stepping back from the edge again.
"C'mon Beth, you can do this. I got you." DJ said. "One, two, three – jump!"
Hesitating a second, Beth took a deep breath and jumped off the platform. Unfortunately her nervousness and hesitation were working against her. DJ barely managed to catch her, and he didn't even finish swinging her before her sweaty hands slid right out of his grip and she splashed into the jellyfish pool.
"Beth, I'm sorry!" DJ called to his teammate, cringing at his failure.
"Ahh!" Beth cried out as she was stung repeatedly by the now-angered jellyfish.
After Beth had been fished out of the jellyfish pool and was on her way to the infirmary, the teens continued on with the challenge.
Several moments later, Scott was swinging from the trapeze swing and Mike was standing blindfolded on the platform. He stood by the edge, breathing deeply.
"R-ready." Mike said nervously.
"Alright," Scott began, swinging back and forth for a few moments. "Jump!"
"Svetlana wins gold, silver and bronze!" Mike cried out in a Russian accent, doing a mid-air somersault before his hands grasped Scott's and he swung across to the other platform.
"That's a tough act to follow!" Chris said.
"Lucky me." Noah quipped, regarding the white cloth in his hands with a wary expression.
"On the bright side, it's a pond full of jellyfish and not eels." Dawn commented.
"How reassuring," Noah retorted, beginning the climb up onto the platform after his Latino partner.
"Whenever you're ready!" Chris said.
"Don't worry, amigo, you can trust me." Alejandro said, swinging back and forth from the trapeze.
"And the jellyfish won't sting me when you drop me in the pool," Noah muttered to himself sarcastically, stepping towards the edge of the platform. After a count of three, Alejandro prompted his teammate to jump and the bookworm did, resulting in his teammate swinging him to safety in a very anti-climactic manner.
"One point for each the Gophers and the Bears!" Chris said.
After Chris let them break for lunch, Zoey sprinted back to the cabins and got into her swimsuit. It was a warm day and they didn't get that many opportunities to have fun and relax, so she was going to make the most of this one.
Jogging out of the Gopher cabin, she tripped on a loose board and took a tumble down the stairs, accidentally ramming into someone at the bottom of the steps, knocking them over as well.
"Ooof!" Mike grunted as he hit the dirt.
"Sorry!" Zoey said quickly, trying to sit up quickly.
Unfortunately, Mike chose the exact same moment to sit up and accidentally bashed his forehead against Zoey's in the process.
"Ow! Sorry!" The duo said in unison, raising a hand over the goose-eggs that were now rising on both of their foreheads.
"H-hey Zoey." Mike said, blushing.
"Hi Mike." the redhead replied, her dark eyes growing wide and her face flushing beet red when she realized that she was straddling Mike. Quickly she backed away from him, putting three feet between the two of them. Growing increasingly flustered, she looked down at her hands and began to fidget, her face still red. "Uh, sorry. About falling for you. ON! Falling on you."
"It's okay." Mike said, looking equally as flustered. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
The two fell into an awkward silence for a moment. After taking a deep breath, Mike shook his head to free himself from the trance-like state he was in and scrambled to his feet. "Need a hand?"
She smiled and took his offered hand. "S-sure."
Mike pulled the girl to her feet. Noticing her outfit, he couldn't help checking her out. "Going swimming?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Wanna come?"
"Sure!" Mike said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically before both of them noticed that neither one had let go of the other's hand. Their eyes met for a moment and they broke their grip as though the other's had suddenly become burning hot.
Laughing nervously, Mike ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to play it cool, while Zoey held her hand with her other hand in front of her chest as though nursing it.
They fell into another awkward pause before Mike used his thumb to point over his shoulder at his team's cabin, before backing up a step. "I'll – uh – meet you at the dock?"
"Yeah! I'll see you then!" Zoey said, nodding.
Confessional
"Just when I thought I was starting to get things figured out and now I'm back to square one." Zoey said with a sigh.
"That was sweet," Scott said, walking down the steps of the Bears' cabin and sitting at the bottom with a stick, whittling it into a spear.
"Scott!" Mike said, whirling to face the teammate who had startled him. "Did you – uh – see all of that?"
"Yup." Scott said simply, whittling.
"Oh." Mike said, falling silent. After a moment, Mike began to make his way up the stairs to the cabin to change into his swimwear. He had reached the top of the stairs when Scott spoke again.
"Wonder how she'll feel about your 'characters'," Scott sneered.
"My – my characters?" Mike repeated, freezing in place.
"Well, that is what you call them, isn't it?"
"Uh – yeah! My characters! Because I'm really passionate about my acting!" He turned to face his teammate, a desperate look in his wide brown eyes.
"I wonder what she'd think of the truth." Scott said, not looking up from his whittling. "I mean, multiple personalities is pretty weird."
"M-multiple personalities?" Mike said, his world crashing down around him.
"Uh-huh." Scott said, indifferent. "Bridgette said that's why you're so weird."
"She said I was weird?"
"I think the word she used was 'crazy', but same difference, right?"
"C-crazy?"
"Yep." Scott said. "Wonder what Zoey will say when I tell her."
"Tell her?" Mike asked in a quiet voice, taking a step down the stairs. "Why – why would you tell her?"
"Someone needs to warn her." Scott said. "You could be dangerous."
"Please don't." Mike said, his voice a mere whisper. "I'm not dangerous, I swear. Just please, please don't tell Zoey. I'll do anything-"
"Anything?" Scott said, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, we have a deal."
Confessional
"Too easy." Scott said, still whittling his spear.
Static.
"Bridgette thinks I'm crazy?" Mike said in a mixture of hurt and disbelief. "And she told Scott about my multiple personality disorder, even after I asked her not to tell anyone? I trusted her. . ."
Zoey sat on the end of the dock, waiting for the cute boy who said he'd meet her there. Her legs hanging over the side, she dipped her toes into the dark blue waters and watching the resulting ripples intently.
They didn't have much of their lunch break left – she should have known that he wouldn't come.
With a sigh, she pulled her legs up onto the wooden dock and stood up. If he wasn't going to show up, she was done waiting for him. Maybe she should have waited for a little longer, but then hadn't she been getting enough mixed signals from Mike?
One minute she almost thought he was into her, and the next he wasn't even showing up to an invitation he had accepted face to face. If he didn't want to come swimming with her, he should have just said so. Or, since he did, he could have told her that something had come up, or come swimming for a few minutes just to be polite.
Just not showing up was not cool.
Confessiona]
"For a moment there, I almost thought there was something between Mike and I." Zoey said with a sigh.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps on the dock and she turned around, hopeful that Mike had finally come to swim with her, but instead she found a blond male in a cowboy hat sprinting down the dock.
"Whoa!" He said, halting suddenly by the end of the dock to take DJ's bunny out of his pocket. His speech was back to normal and he seemed to have recovered entirely from the poisoning he'd experience earlier. "Gotta put Bunny in a safe spot first."
Turning around, he jogged to the lifeguard tower and put the bunny atop it before sprinting to the end of the dock once more and dove in, hat still on. "Woohoo!"
Zoey sighed.
His head bobbing up above the water once more, he grinned up at the girl for a moment. Noticing her expression, his face fell. "Whoa brah, you seem down."
"I'm fine," Zoey said with a sigh. "I guess I just got my hopes up."
"Over what?"
"Someone was supposed to meet me here for a swim, but they didn't show up."
"Oh, bummer." Geoff said, looking sad for a moment. Then he brightened. "There's still time. You wanna swim with me while you wait?"
After a moment, Zoey nodded. "Sure. If that's okay with you!"
"Sure thing, brah!" Geoff nodded enthusiastically. "Come on in – the water's perfect!"
Looking less bummed than she had before, the redhead jumped into the water with the blond haired party boy in the cowboy hat.
Mike sat bolt upright in his bunk bed, gasping as he realized he'd messed things up yet again.
"CRAP!"
He'd been so wrapped up in worrying about Scott's threat that he'd completely forgotten about agreeing to meet Zoey at the docks. Swinging his legs over the side of his bunk bed, he sprinted out of the cabin and down towards the lake.
He opened his mouth, about to call her name when he saw she had company. Stopping in his tracks, he stared, mouth still agape, as Zoey and her blonde companion had a splashing fight. Even from that distance, he could see that they were both laughing, and seemed to be having fun.
Confessional
"Not only did I really mess up with Zoey, but I think -" Mike began, pausing to take a deep breath. "I think I just lost my last chance."
"Thanks for everything, Geoff." Zoey said as the two of them pulled themselves out of the water and up onto the dock. Standing up, she began to wring out her cherry-red hair before grabbing her towel.
"Anytime, brah!" Geoff said, giving the girl a fist bump before starting to shake dry like a dog.
Halfway through drying herself, Zoey paused and gasped, attracting Geoff's attention to the lifeguard's tower, where a massive snake was twining its way up one of the tower's legs towards Bunny.
"No!" Geoff gasped, sprinting towards the tower. "Bunny!"
Zoey took off running after Geoff to help save Bunny, but the snake was faster and with what Geoff could have sworn was a defiant look, devoured Bunny in a single bite. Zoey halted, her hands over her mouth and a look of horror and devastation painted across her face. Geoff crept closer to the snake, determined to save Bunny.
Unfortunately, the moment he pounced was the moment that a massive bird swooped in and snatched up the serpent from right under Geoff's grasp. As though to taunt the duo, it landed on the end of the dock with its prey.
"Geoff, get it!" Zoey cried out as the blonde picked himself up off the dock and sprinted past her.
"How?"
"I don't know! Grab it by the feet or the wings or something!"
Geoff slowed his paced and began to tiptoe towards the bird so as not to scare it away.
"Here eagle, eagle." Geoff cooed, and it almost seemed to be working to keep the bird in place.
Unfortunately, a shark chose that moment to bite through a chunk of the dock, swallowing the eagle whole.
"Aw, come ON!" Geoff cried out, stomping his foot in frustration.
As the teens made their way to the location of the very last part of the challenge, DJ caught up to his blonde teammate and Zoey, who were walking together."So, yo, where's Bunny at?"
"Uhh, I forgot – I – uhh. I put him – uhh. . . There was – uhh . . ."
DJ regarded the duo with wide, soulful eyes.
"He's not with us anymore." Geoff said sadly, before perking up in his best attempt to lie. "He – uh – hopped away. But I'm sure he'll be back! Sorry, dude."
As Geoff looked down sadly, DJ put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "Nahh, it's not your fault, man."
Geoff glanced over at his new friend Zoey as DJ began to walk away.
"My little Bunny. . . he was such a good friend." DJ said, looking absolutely devastated. Moments later, he threw his hands up in the air and began to shout. "BUNNY! WHY YOU GOTTA DO ME LIKE THAT?"
Geoff looked down, obviously upset about having to lie to his friend. Zoey placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did the right thing, Geoff."
"I hope you're right, brah." Geoff said with a sigh.
Meanwhile, Duncan rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"And now, the final leg: the blind toboggan race." Chris announced to the remaining teens.
"The say what?!" LeShawna asked.
"Each team will have a driver and a navigator." Chris explained. "The driver steers while the navigator shouts directions. Oh yeah, and the driver will be blindfolded."
The teens gasped in shock and horror.
The host looked around at the remaining teens with a look of satisfaction. "Not many of you left, huh? We keep losing you guys!"
As Chris chuckled at their pain, the remaining teens looked increasingly nervous.
"Oh well, uh, Alejandro and Jo for the Gophers." Chris said, tapping his chin as he studied the teens.
While Chris was considering his options, Mike made his way over to Zoey and offered her a smile. "Sorry about the swimming thing-"
"It's okay." Zoey said with her most nonchalant shrug. "You had other things to do. Don't worry about it."
"No, it's not like that-"
"Mike and Bridgette for the Bears, Duncan and LeShawna for the Bass." Chris announced. "Chop, chop!"
With a sigh, Mike abandoned his conversation with Zoey and began his trek to the top of the hill.
When the teens reached the top of the hill, they found Chef painting the bottoms of the toboggans with a large can of semi-opaque brown paint.
Grinning, he looked at the teens. "I'm just lubing them up. Get a little more speed going."
"Is that kitchen grease?" LeShawna asked in disbelief.
"You're driving." Jo commanded, shoving the white fabric blindfold into her partner Alejandro's hands.
Confessional
"Jo seemed quite desperate to be the one in charge." Alejandro said, smirking. "She probably wanted to know what it felt like to actually have someone follow her orders for once."
"On your marks, get set," Chris said, pausing for a moment before he pressed the button on his air horn to signal the beginning of the match. The three toboggans began to slide down the hill, increasing in speed by the second.
"Right! I said right!" LeShawna instructed her partner, Duncan, growing increasingly frustrated by the minute. "Are you hard of hearing? Go right!"
"Stop your nagging, woman!" Duncan snapped. "I can't focus with you yapping back there!"
"Oh, you wanna do this now?" LeShawna replied. "Maybe I wouldn't have to keep telling you ten times if you'd do it the first time! Left!"
"Left! Right! Left! Left!" Bridgette instructed as they slid down the hill, but Mike ignored her instructions. As they narrowly missed a tree, Bridgette began to freak out, scared for her life. "Mike! I said left! Why aren't you listening? Don't you trust me?"
Confessional
"No! I don't trust you!" Mike ranted, looking thoroughly irritated. "And why would I? I asked you not to tell anyone about my disorder and you told Scott! Exactly what part of that total betrayal did you find trust-building?!"
In comparison to the two rival teams, the Gophers had a solid pair. Jo was barking orders to Alejandro and he was obeying her directions.
Confessional
"It would have been so easy to eliminate the competition." Jo said. "Direct him into an obstacle and then tuck and roll at the last minute. But then, if I did that I'd have been no better than the losers on the other teams."
As Duncan and LeShawna very nearly collided with a tree, an explosion went off only a few feet from them, shaking the tree significantly and raining leaves down onto the duo.
"Bleh!" LeShawna complained, spitting as she got a mouthful of leaves. "Can't you try to follow simple directions?"
"Nope." Duncan responded, not wanting to listen.
"Are you trying to get us killed?!" LeShawna asked.
"No, I just don't need directions from a woman whose mouth is bigger than her butt."
"Oh no you did not just say that." LeShawna said, narrowing her eyes angrily. "Are you trying to start something, you punk wannabe?"
"If the start is of you leaving me alone, then yes."
"We had some explosives left over from the rock climbing challenge." Chris said, pushing the lever on a mechanical box, igniting a second explosion on the hill and raining dirt and grass down onto the competing teens. "And I just hate to waste."
A third explosion went off under Bridgette and Mike's toboggan, sending the duo flying into the air. Bridgette screamed in terror and wrapped her arms around Mike's waist, afraid of falling off the toboggan.
"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" Bridgette screamed, closing her eyes and pressing her face against Mike's back, too afraid of seeing their seemingly imminent doom to continue navigating for the two of them.
As the duo soared through the air, Alejandro and Jo got closer and closer to the finish line, their team's cheers growing louder and louder the closer they got.
However, at the very last moment, Bridgette and Mike's toboggan crashed down back onto the ground just over the finish line.
The Gophers gasped, and then Bears began to cheer for their teammates.
"Way to go, guys!" Courtney congratulated the duo, but Bridgette did not appear to hear and still had her face buried in Mike's back.
"Did we win?" Mike asked, cautiously pulling his blindfold up over his eyes.
"Great job guys!" Cameron said, giving his teammate a thumbs up.
"Hey Bridgette, we won." Mike said to the surfer girl whose arms were still wrapped firmly around his waist, still terrified for her life. "Bridgette, it's over. You can let go now."
"Bridgette?" Courtney prompted when the blonde failed to respond. Frowning, the freckle-faced brunette looked up at her teammates who had gathered around. Finding the person she was looking for almost immediately, she opened her mouth to address him as he began to walk away. "Hey Scott? Where are you going?"
"Back to the cabin." the ginger-haired farmboy answered.
"Bridgette won't let go of Mike."
"Ok." Scott said, shrugging as though he didn't care.
"Aren't you going to do something to help?"
"Why?"
Courtney seemed taken aback for a moment, but quickly regathered her thoughts. "Because she's your girlfriend."
"And?" Scott asked, not caring at all. "What do you expect me to do?"
Confessional
"I don't know," Courtney said. "Care, maybe."
Sadie sat up on the stretcher, her entire left side aching like she'd ran into a wall or fallen on her side. Her head was pounding but at least her vision wasn't fuzzy. She'd had a concussion when she was thirteen after Katie had accidentally hit her in the head with her locker door when a cute boy had stopped to talk to her.
Recalling the barrage of crab-apples flying through the air towards her, Sadie rubbed a hand over one of the worst bruises.
Hearing footsteps, she looked up from her bed expecting to see Chef doing his rounds and hoping for the chance to ask if she was okay to leave.
Instead she found Scott headed her way. Making eye contact, she sighed as she realized he'd seen her so she couldn't just lay back down and pretend to be sleeping.
"Hi Scott. What brings you here?" Sadie asked when her teammate halted by her bedside.
"Courtney."
Sadie nodded but did not speak.
"She's asking questions."
"I won't tell her a thing," Sadie said solemnly. "I promise."
"That's good to hear." Scott said with a nod. "Your place in Bridgette's alliance is safe. For now."
Confessional
"You know, I'm starting to think this whole alliance thing is more of Scott's alliance than Bridgette's." Sadie said
"Sadie, I'm glad you're awake." Courtney said, smiling at her teammate. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay." Sadie replied. "How did we do?"
"We tied with the Gophers for first. I figured we'd have to do a tie-breaker round, but Chris said that since it isn't a reward challenge, it doesn't matter who won, only who lost."
"It's good that we don't have to vote anyone off tonight."
"Yeah." Courtney said, pausing for a moment. "I actually came here to ask you something."
"Oh?"
"I wanted to know why you punched Scott."
"I – uh – I punched Scott?" Sadie asked, looking as confused and shocked as she could manage.
"In the fear challenge." Courtney reminded her.
Sadie paused for a moment as though trying to remember, then shook her head. "I'm sorry Courtney, I don't remember. That apple must have hit me pretty hard."
"But you remember getting hit with an apple?"
"No – uh – Chef! Chef told me – uh - what happened in the challenge." Sadie said quickly, trying to cover her lie.
Confessional
"I have a feeling that Scott paid a visit to Sadie before I did." Courtney said, frowning.
Sighing, Courtney stood up.
"I hope you feel better soon, Sadie."
And with that, she made her way out of the infirmary tent.
Ahead of her, just by the treeline, Duncan was walking backwards, a carrot firmly gripped in his hand. A moment later, a small grey rabbit hopped after him, looking eagerly to get the carrot.
Frowning, she spoke aloud to herself. "What's Duncan doing with a rabbit?"
"DJ, dude, I know you're sad about your pet Bunny, but you've gotta eat, man." Geoff said, pushing a plate of food closer to DJ, who was sitting in the mess hall with his face propped up on his hands, staring blankly at the table. "This could be life or seriously heinous death, bro."
"Bunny deserted me." DJ said, verging on tears. "Why should I trust you?"
"DJ, we really need you to eat, man. Bunny would want you to live." Geoff said, to no avail.
"Hey DJ, look who I found!" Duncan called across the mess hall, attracting the attention of the other teens that were gathered there. Holding a small grey bunny above his head, he smiled.
"DJ! Duncan found Bunny!" Geoff said, smiling with relief.
"Don't tease me, man!" DJ said, turning around but not expecting to see his beloved friend. A smile lighting up the lovable giant's face when he saw Duncan and the rabbit, DJ practically knocked over his chair when getting up to greet his friend. "Bunny! You came back!"
Picking up the rabbit in his giant hands, he raised his pet up high above his head before bringing it down to his face to snuggle the creature.
"Thanks Duncan." DJ said, teary-eyed. "You're the best."
"Whatever, man." Duncan said, shrugging with nonchalance. "It's just a stupid rabbit."
As DJ made his way back over to his table with his pet, Courtney approached Duncan with a surprised smile. "I can't believe you found a new bunny for DJ. You're a good guy."
"What?" Duncan asked, turning back to look at her. "No, I'm not."
"You are." Courtney insisted, pleasantly surprised by this new revelation. "You're actually nice."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I saw you do it, Duncan."
"Whatever. He wouldn't leave me alone, weird rabbit." At the look Courtney gave him, he gave in. "Ok, fine, I did it. Are you happy now? Listen, don't tell anybody, ok? I don't want them to think I'm soft or something."
Courtney smiled. "Your secret's safe with me."
Confessional
"I'm not nice, ok?" Duncan insisted. "Just to set the record straight."
"Noah?" A soft female voice said.
"Yes?" he responded, not even looking up from his book as his teammate approached him.
"I just wanted to tell you that you were very brave today." she said. "I can see in your aura that you do not trust Alejandro, and yet you jumped anyway."
"I'm glad to know you approve." He quipped sarcastically, still not looking up from his book.
Taking the hint that he did not want to be bothered, the girl took that as her cue to leave him in peace and continued on her way.
"Bunny, I'm so glad you're back." DJ said, standing up from his chair and moving to put his furry friend in the pocket of his pants. Pausing a moment, he reached into his pocket to get something out – possibly to make more space for his little critter friend, but instead he looked mildly alarmed.
"Oh no," DJ said to himself, shifting Bunny to his other hand so he could check his other pockets. "Harold's poems."
DJ's bunny tilted its head to the side inquisitively.
"They must have fallen out when I was on the trapeze with Beth." DJ said, more to himself than to anyone else. "Dang. And here I wanted to make amends by making sure nobody got their hands on Harold's private poetry."
Gwen and Zoey were making their ways to their respective cabins when Bridgette stopped the two of them.
"Hey, one of you dropped this." Bridgette said, holding out a piece of folded paper.
"It's not mine." Gwen said, shrugging.
"Mine either." Zoey said. "Sorry."
"What does it say?" Gwen asked. "Maybe you can figure out who's it is that way?"
Bridgette opened the note and the trio read it together.
"Curves of an angel,
with a bodacious booty
a mortal goddess."
"Awww, that's really sweet." Zoey said. "I wonder who wrote them."
The Bass gathered around the campfire for another elimination ceremony.
"Who wants a treat?" Chris began, holding up a plate of marshmallows before them. "A tasty goody that represents exemption, security, peace of mind-"
Heather interrupted with a sigh. "Just get on with it!"
"And if you don't get a marshmallow, you have to walk the dock of shame and you can never come back, ever!" Chris finished. "Let's see. . . one for Gwen, one for Beth, one for Duncan, one for LeShawna."
The latter two sighed and exchanged hostile looks.
"Geoff, DJ. Well done my brothers."
The duo caught their marshmallows and began to eat them.
"Looks like we only have one left." Chris said, looking at the lone marshmallow remaining on the plate. "Heather and Tyler; the final marshmallow."
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
"Come on already." Heather said, rolling her eyes.
"Don't rush me!" Chris responded. "The audience eats up this kind of dramatic conclusion!"
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
"Heather." Chris said finally, tossing the final marshmallow to the queen bee.
"The rest of you are safe." Chris said. "For now."
Tyler sighed in disappointment and stood up. Casting a sad glance back at his now former teammates, the jock offered them the most cheerful smile he could before turning towards the dock of shame and, along with all his possessions, left the island for good.
The Votes:
"Tyler cost me. He had to go." Heather said, filing her fingernails nonchalantly.
Static.
"Heather said we're voting for Tyler today." Beth said.
Static.
"Heather has got to go." Gwen said. "Especially after that stunt she pulled today."
Static.
"Duncan is as stubborn as they come." LeShawna said. "He's not a team player."
Static.
"LeShawna is the bossiest, loud-mouthiest, pushy people I've ever met. She doesn't even understand the concept of shutting up." Duncan said.
Static.
"Beth and Heather said I should vote for Tyler. Man, I thought we were bros, but she said if I didn't vote for Tyler, they'd vote for me." Geoff said. "Sorry, dude."
Static.
"I guess I vote for Beth. I know she was scared, but if she'd been more confident, I wouldn't have dropped her." DJ said. "I know it's hard, but it's getting harder and harder to choose who you vote for."
Static.
"I vote for Heather. Harold was right – she is mean! To the extreme!" Tyler said.
Votes:
Tyler – 3
Heather – 2
Duncan – 1
LeShawna – 1
Beth - 1
Eliminated so far:
37th: Katie
36th: Staci
35th: Sierra
34th: Sam
33rd: Eva
32nd: Owen
31st: B
30th/29th: Lindsay & Ezekiel
28th: Justin
27th: Brick
26th: Dakota
25th: Anne Maria
24th: Harold
23rd: Tyler
Still in the Game:
Screaming Gophers: Dawn, Alejandro, Noah, Cody, Trent, Zoey, Jo
Killer Bass: Duncan, LeShawna, Geoff, Gwen, Heather, Beth, DJ
Thrashing Bears: Sadie, Cameron, Courtney, Scott, Lightning, Izzy, Bridgette, Mike
So Mike and Bridgette's friendship might be over, Duncan might be starting to grow on Courtney and Zoey's back to being completely confused about her love life. And is Cameron starting to warm up to Izzy?
What was your favourite part of this chapter? So far in this fanfic?