Total Drama Island: Rematch!

by PencilPez

(The name is a work in progress!) At the end of season one, Chris invites each and every one of the campers back to the island for a rematch. Armed with old grudges, new strategies, and unlikely alliances, who will survive the havoc and come out on top?

9. Schemebuilding

Emma was really starting to hate mornings.

In the afternoon, when the sun was already up, the bustling of the camp was enough to distract her from the empty pit in her stomach. In the evenings, her team was always chatting about some thing or another over dinner, and even that made her feel like she was part of something. But when no one was awake but her, there were no distractions. No comfort. Just herself, and the silence of the pitch black night.

Okay, well, not total silence. Wayne's snoring was, like, the opposite of silent.

But either way, it was so easy to feel alone in that little cabin, with no one on Emma's side but Emma herself. Chase was gone. Bowie was gone. And she couldn't help but feel like some of her other teammates didn't like her. Not Julia, obviously, Julia didn't like anybody. Axel was always pretty rough on people, so it was kind of hard to get a clear idea on what was going on in her head. It felt awkward talking to Wayne when he was so tight with Bowie, so he was totally off the table. Nichelle seemed nice enough, though! But she was always with Caleb, and Caleb seemed… cold toward Emma. He was always really calm, yeah, but that serenity felt so warm toward everyone else. Even people like Millie or Wayne, who he'd spoken to once or twice at best. But not Emma. What did she ever do to him?

Speaking of which, blankets slowly began to rustle across the cabin. Emma not-so-subtly peered over the side of her bunk just in time to see Caleb slide out of his bed, stretching his arms high above his head with a yawn. He looked Emma's way, easily missing her as he looked around the cabin. That is, until he did a double take.

"Emma." Caleb greeted her cooly, with a curt nod. Emma sheepishly waved back. Normally, she wouldn't really be that intimidated by just a look, but it was Caleb! He could use that face for anything! "You're up early."

Yeah, that snapped her out of that train of thought. Emma was done with boys. But she could just, like, talk to Caleb, right? Right! "Yeah," The blonde agreed with a giggle. "My sleep schedule has been, like, so messed up lately! You know how it is, right? I mean, we get up so early for challenges…"

"Not really." Caleb's answer was short and to the point. "But you do you."

The giant made his way to the door, and Emma's gaze followed. "Where are you going?" She inquired with a slight tilt of her head. "It's so early, what even is there to do at this hour?"

"I'm going on a walk."

"Oh!" Well, Emma felt pretty dumb now. She always messed up in front of hot guys… "I mean, I've got nothing to do. Can I come with?" Caleb shot her a cold look.

"No."

—-

In the Jaguar cabin, few were having as many problems as Emma. In fact, almost everybody was still asleep. No one cared to notice Chase or Priya's empty beds, even in the rare occurrence someone stirred for a moment. For hours on end, all was well. Everything was peaceful. In fact, it seemed like the campers might actually get a full night's sleep!

HOOOOOOOOONK!

Yeah, that wasn't happening. The Jaguars jolted awake as the sound of an airhorn filled the cabin. Raj screamed, Damien fell out of bed, MK shot up and looked around in panic, and Bowie reluctantly sat up with an exhausted sigh. Scary Girl seemed unaffected. Lucky her.

Whoever disturbed his beauty sleep was about to have a massive problem… Bowie leaned over the side of his bed, glancing down to find an extremely confused Raj doing the same. In the middle of the cabin with a wide grin, Priya lowered the airhorn. "Heeeey! Morning, team Jaguar! Up and at 'em! Woo-woo!"

Bowie was the first to say something. "Priya, what in the fresh heck is all this about?" He demanded, rubbing his eyes with a scowl. Damien groaned as he pushed himself off the floor, and Bowie could've sworn he heard MK mutter a 'why.' into her pillow. All eyes were on Priya, and not too many of them looked happy with her.

Priya coughed into her fist, giggling awkwardly under the cabin's confused and frustrated stares. "R-Right! Well, um… so, I know things have been… rough within the team…" She began, gesturing nervously with her hands as she spoke. "You know, fighting, teamwork problems, that kind of thing!"

"And the obvious award goes to…" Bowie didn't even have to look to tell that that was MK.

"Um… yeah! I've noticed, you guys have noticed… so I thought, hey! Why not do something about it? So, I spent all night setting some teambuilding stuff up!"

MK sat up as she adjusted her beanie. Her hands hovered by it for a few seconds before she decided it was good enough and let them drop back to her side. "Don't think the rest of us are concerning ourselves with rainbows and friendship and smiles, but whatever."

"I dunno," Raj chimed in, swinging his legs over the side of his bed and easily sliding off. "We do this sorta thing all the time back home! Super important!" Priya smiled gratefully at Raj, who nodded in turn.

"Yeah, no one cares, Raj– ack!" The force of the pillow Bowie launched at MK was enough to send her falling backwards. She sat back up not long after, clutching the pillow in both hands with a look that could kill.

"Whoops! Sorry. My bad!"

Raj snickered, and MK glared at him too for good measure.

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"First it's Bowie and Hockey Guy 1's super excessive flirting, and now it's friggin' teambuilding? Dude, just put me on the other team at this point."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Aw, c'mon, MK." Damien tried, approaching his fellow camper with a smile. "Priya worked real hard on this, y'know? Least we can do is show a little support."

Hm. Bowie would have to intervene. Couldn't have their darling MK getting herself into too much trouble too quickly! He jumped from his bed, landing on the floor below without a sound. And maybe he smirked a little when he saw the adoration in Raj's eyes, but whose business was that?

Bowie strode confidently across the room, making himself comfortable at MK's side, to the latter's visible confusion. "Oh, don't worry about her," He flashed a toothy grin to the rest of the cabin, and the mood seemed to lighten a tad. "She's just not much of a morning person!" Was he lying through his teeth right now? Um, yes, one-hundred percent! But when the alternative was to let MK keep running her mouth, Bowie thought the choice was clear. And by MK's silence, she seemed to accept the save for what it was.

Raj soon joined them, taking a seat on Bowie's other side. MK pulled a face, but kept her mouth shut. "So, what's the teambuilding thing?" The hockey player finally inquired, tilting his head curiously. Bowie barely held in a squeal. He was like a puppy!

"Oh, yeah! Right! Um… just some basic stuff! Duo scavenger hunts, trust falls, spider's web exercise… You know, fun stuff!" Bowie raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. It was Priya, so he was expecting something a little less… tame. "...Originally we were gonna do a little hike up the peak, but Damien said we should start simple. I don't really get why, but…" Okay, there it was.

Damien chuckled. "Just trust me on this one."

"What? No, no, I totally trust you!" Priya instantly defended. "I don't, like, not trust you, why wouldn't I…" She suddenly trailed off as her gaze focused on one specific corner of the room. Why? Well, Bowie certainly couldn't tell you.

…Until about six seconds later when he, too, looked that way, and then could tell you. And he was not liking what he was seeing.

A set of empty bunks weren't normally something to fear. With twelve beds and a team of now seven, there were bound to be a couple unused beds. But any Jaguars could easily recall the rambunctious duo that used to inhabit the set of bunks in the back right corner. Ripper's absence was no mystery, obviously. That wasn't what worried them.

"Where's Chase?" Priya uttered, her voice barely above a whisper at first. "Dang it!" That quiet vanished in an instant, replaced with that passionate anger Bowie had seen all too well. "Where is Chase!?"

"Oh!" Scary Girl piped up, eagerly jumping off her bunk. "He's gone."

Silence loomed over the cabin. Bowie and Raj exchanged nervous looks while MK cringed, and Priya rubbed her arm nervously under her supposed friend's intense gaze. In the end, it was Damien who voiced the cabin's collective concern. "...Gone how?"

"He left!" She pointed toward the door, and Bowie had never even heard so many sighs of relief at once before.

Priya, on the other hand, didn't seem nearly as pleased. "Again!?" She cried, pacing back and forth as Damien approached to console her. "When. Will. He. Learn!?"

"H-Hey, woah, s'all good!" Raj tried. "I bet he's just, uh… hangin' out somewhere?"

"It's Chase! Chase! His definition of 'hanging out' probably involves at least four separate felonies!" Bowie slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle the incredulous laugh that made its way up his throat. MK didn't even try (typical), and cackled at the choice of phrasing.

Damien gently wrapped an arm around Priya's shoulders, offering a comforting smile to the irritated girl. "Nah, Priya, c'mon. Raj's right. Always a chance he's not gettin' into trouble, yeah? Why not give 'im the benefit of the doubt?" Damien's expression clearly gave away how little he believed that himself, and Priya noticed it too if her skeptical look was anything to go by. "Yeah, okay… how 'bout this; I already know all about the teambuilding, so why don't you get everybody set up, while I go grab Chase?"

"Y-Yeah! Okay. Awesome." Priya weakly smiled, her shoulders seeming to relax. "Thanks, Damien. You're a lifesaver!"

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"Damien's great. I don't think I could run the team without him! I mean, I'm puh-retty good on my own, but it's kind of hard to keep everybody in check sometimes. But Damien's got a plan for everything! He's like my right-hand man!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Don't mention it." Damien nodded and returned the smile. He slipped into his shoes under the watch of the other Jaguars, and raised his hand in a brief wave as he jogged out of the cabin.

Priya watched him go, and waited until he was out of sight to turn back to the rest of the team. "Alright! The rest of you, get dressed! We start in ten!"

Everyone groaned.

—-

It was still dark by the time Caleb stepped outside. Just ahead of the cabin, a figure stood stretching in the grass. He wasn't surprised. Axel's bed was empty, and no one (aside from Emma, apparently) else would be awake at this hour. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

Axel heard him approach, which was probably to be expected. What wasn't expected was for Axel to whip around and yank a crossbow out of her hair, eyes darting every which way until they landed on him. Caleb could only gawk. Nunchucks, maybe. But where was she finding room to store all those weapons in her hair? "Who's there!? Identify yourself!" Axel demanded, taking aim with an expression that screamed murder.

"Woah, woah, calm down." Caleb spoke gently but clearly, raising his hands in surrender. Best not to aggravate her. "Just me." To his relief, his teammate lowered the weapon. Caleb had come to expect a certain level of aggression from Axel, but he didn't love the idea of being shot at, which he figured was reasonable.

Axel, on the other hand, didn't look delighted to see him. As Caleb got closer, moving forward in slow, steady paces, her scowl became that much clearer. "Don't sneak up on me!" Axel snapped. "I nearly took your face off!"

"...With a crossbow?"

His teammate shoved the weapon back into her hair–seriously, that is not how physics work–and crossed her arms. "You'd be surprised."

"Right…" Caleb allowed his still raised hands to drop to his sides. "...It's early, even for you." He noted. "Trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

Ah. And now she was trying to intimidate him. Thank goodness Nichelle wasn't out here… "No judgment here," Caleb reassured her, keeping his tone steady. "I was just a little surprised to see anybody else awake."

"Emma's up."

Emma. Caleb had to force the wince off his face. "I noticed."

"Hey, uh…" A third voice interrupted, drawing the attention of both. "Sorry to butt in, you guys got a sec?"

Approaching from the Jaguar cabin, Damien nervously waved at the duo. Caleb waved back. Axel did not. "Damien, good morning." Caleb greeted politely, earning a smile from the camper in question. "What's up?"

"You seen Chase anywhere?" Chase? That was new. "He wasn't in his bed, and Priya's gettin' a little antsy." Damien chuckled awkwardly to himself, and Caleb frowned. He didn't know the full extent of Chase's antics, but he, Axel, and Nichelle had received a dramatic retelling of the explosion incident from Emma (translated from enraged screeches by Wayne), so he had a vague idea. And Chase being alone was probably bad.

Caleb shook his head, and Damien deflated. "Not since yesterday, no. Axel?"

"Yeah, I seen him." At Axel's confirmation, Damien perked up again. "Said he was getting breakfast."

And Axel let him? She was just full of surprises this morning... "Did he look like he was going to the mess hall?" Caleb asked, just to be safe. Axel nodded. Their unexpected guest sighed, and Caleb could feel the relief in the gesture.

"Sweet! I, uh, better go get 'im before he gets in any trouble, but you're a real one, Axel!" Damien rushed off, calling one more "Thank you!" over his shoulder as he departed.

Axel watched his retreating form without much interest, before turning back to face Caleb. "And what about you?" She raised an eyebrow, her expression a mix of annoyance and curiosity. "Were you gonna leave me alone, or am I stuck with you all morning?"

…That was a good question. It was far from difficult to tell when Axel was losing her patience, and that was a clear-cut definition of what was happening right now. It'd be wise to leave her be. But the more Caleb thought about it, was it really? Axel was his and Nichelle's ally, but he'd barely spoken to her aside from a gentle scolding or two. He'd been meaning to talk to her anyway.

"Walk with me."

—-

"Alright, Jaguars!" Priya began, pacing back and forth. The four remaining team members stood silently on the patio, some clearly more awake than others. Above them, the sun slowly began to show itself. "We're gonna start with a good old-fashioned scavenger hunt! Damien and Chase aren't here, so I'll just pair them up when they come back."

[CONFESSIONAL: BOWIE]

"Oh, poor Damien! Bless his little heart…"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"Boom! Get wrecked, Damien."

…

"Wait, does that mean I'm stuck with Scary Girl?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

[CONFESSIONAL: SCARY GIRL]

"Awww, boo!" Scary Girl pouted, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance. "I wanted to be with Damien! He's my favorite person to play with."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"So, here's how it's gonna go!" Priya stood before a large sheet of graph paper held up by a canvas, using a stick to point toward each part of a makeshift map of the camp. "You can pick your own groups for this first one, just to ease everybody into it." Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. "Once the pairs are all settled, I'm gonna give you all this list I made–" She pulled three folded sets of paper out of her back pocket, and waved them in the air for emphasis. "-And you're gonna go looking for the stuff I hid around camp! I couldn't get actual stuff, I so just painted some rocks! The lists will give you some hints on where to look! Whoever brings back the most wins! So… um…" She trailed off, eyeing the unenthusiastic quartet. "You guys look… less… than excited?"

"Oh, no, we're just marveling at your generosity." MK sneered, earning a rather cross look from Bowie. "A challenge on a non-challenge day. Just what everybody wanted. However can we repay you?"

Priya frowned. A dejected look made its way onto her face as the girl awkwardly averted her eyes.

"Ignore her!" Bowie interjected. "You know how MK loves a good quip every now and then! Poor thing just doesn't always know when to stop talking." Bowie made absolutely sure to make eye contact with MK for that last bit. Finally getting the hint, MK shoved her hands into her pockets and decided on staring at her shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world instead. Of course, that only lasted until Bowie finished his next sentence.

"Me and MK will partner up," The bleach blond declared, to everyone's surprise. Especially MK's. Bowie shot her a warning glare, and she kept her mouth shut. "Raji-poo, will you be okay with Scary Girl for a teensy little bit?"

"Wha…?" Raj sputtered, still recovering from the initial shock. He quickly wiped an expression Bowie couldn't quite identify off his face. "Oh! F-For sure!" He agreed with a nod, although no one was really sure if he heard the question. It was Raj, after all. Scary Girl's head turned an unsettling amount, and Raj shuddered as she grinned at him.

"Awesome!" Priya's smile was back, and brighter than ever before. "Then get your lists, and get moving!"

—-

Chase was mega bored.

Normally, he'd be with Ripper, plotting their next grand escapade. Or Zee, drinking soda together on the docks. Chase still had no idea where he got those sodas, but it was free soda! Who was Chase to question it?

But that wasn't happening anytime soon. Why? Because all his friends were gone! Chase wasn't really the clingy type; he was great on his own! Heck, Emma was practically begging him to get back together! But everyone still in the competition kinda sucked. Plus, he was banned from the kitchen, so he'd have to think of another prank. Whatever! A real master never reuses his material anyway. Chase grumpily shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

[CONFESSIONAL: CHASE]

"This blows, dude. Like I said, I'm a social creature! And all my teammates think my stunts are "dangerous"!" He mocked in a purposefully snivelly voice, employing the use of air quotes on 'dangerous'. "Seriously, learn to take a joke!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Chase stirred his cereal, watching unamusedly as the grains swirled alongside his spoon. Truthfully, he wasn't that worried. It wasn't like he'd be by himself forever! He knew Emma was still in mad love with him, so all he had to do was wait for her to come crawling back, and he'd be set! It was a foolproof plan! She had played hard to get last season too, but Chase's natural charm won her over. Why should this time be any different?

Creeeeeaaaaaaaak…

"Huh?" The mess hall's door creaked, and Chase curiously looked up at the source. "Damien?" Chase shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth before continuing, in an albeit muffled voice. "Dude, what're you doing here?"

[CONFESSIONAL: DAMIEN]

"...He was actually gettin' breakfast!" Damien slapped a hand to his forehead, eyes wide. "Glad I didn't start accusin' him of anything…"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Chase!" A smile spread across Damien's face as he made his way toward the Jaguar table, where Chase had been sitting by himself for the past half hour or so. "Been lookin' for ya, man."

The daredevil groaned. "Dude, the burns aren't even that bad!" Chase had to spend like, an hour sitting there while Damien fussed and fretted over a couple tiny little burns last time. Hard pass on that again!

Damien didn't seem offended at all by Chase's resistance. In fact, he chuckled. "Nah, I'll bug you 'bout that later." He took a seat across from Chase, casually crossing one leg over the other as he rested one arm on the table. "What're you doin' all by yourself? Priya was worried."

"Aw, that's even worse!" Chase threw his arms up in the air, smacking his bowl in the process. Damien just barely reached over and grabbed it before it fell over. A splatter of milk splashed over the side, staining the table. "I'm not a baby, dude. I don't need a sitter!"

"Hey, hey, s'okay, man." Damien raised both hands in a placating manner, and Chase raised a brow with an unimpressed stare. "Really, I don't think she meant anything by it. Was just scary when we woke up and you weren't there." Chase narrowed his eyes. "N-Not, like, you specifically, though!" Damien stammered once he'd realize how his words had sounded. "Y'know, we don't care that it's you– I mean, we do care! We don't, like, not care about you!" Yeah, this was kinda sad. But kinda funny! Hey, Chase was bored, okay? "W-We just, uh… I'm not tryna say you… uh… why're you smilin'?"

"Nah, nah, don't worry about it." Chase snickered behind his hand. "You were saying?" That earned him a stern look from Damien. "Hey, c'mon! What did I do?"

"Don't be makin' fun of people, Chase." Damien warned with a frown. "It's just not right."

"Boooooo! Buzzkill!"

To Damien's credit, he really didn't look all that annoyed. A little exasperated maybe, but Chase normally got a lot more yelling outta people. Lame.

[CONFESSIONAL: CHASE]

"Damien's super cool… until he's not." Chase pouted, crossing his arms. "Like, one minute he's the cool guy you totally wanna be friends with, and the next he's a total loser! So weak."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"What'd you want anyway?" Chase finally decided to cut to the chase (eyyyy, he said the thing!). "Think there's more cereal if you want some."

"Eeeeeh… nah, I'm good. Was just checkin' up on you for Priya."

"Seriously?" Damien nodded. "Dude, since when do you do everything for Priya?" Chase snorted, jumping to his feet. "Simp alert! Simp alert! WOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOO!"

Damien, on the other hand, wasn't quite so entertained. He covered his ears with a wince, letting out a frustrated sigh. "That's… real mature, Chase."

[CONFESSIONAL: DAMIEN]

"Yup. The man's a handful. But he's the kinda guy who's lookin' for a reaction. Best way to handle it? Keep your cool."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

It took a good three minutes, but Chase finally settled down once Damien's blank stare had finally gotten to him. He dropped back into his seat, resting a cheek in his palm as he frowned his teammate's way. "Dude, you're such a buzzkill."

"Didn't appreciate what you were doin'."

Chase scoffed. "Dude, I was joking! Seriously, you guys can never take a joke!"

"You do know the person you're jokin' with's gotta find it funny too, right?" When Chase didn't answer, Damien tried awkwardly gesturing for him to speak. All that got him in return was an eyeroll. "...Look, Priya's doin' this whole teambuildin' thing, and she really wants everyone there. How 'bout you and me head back together, and I can fill you in?"

"Teambuilding?" Chase snickered. "Oh man, that's sad!"

"Chase…"

"What!? Priya's not even here!" Yup, Damien was definitely on Captain Buzzkill mode. Ripper totally woulda destroyed him by now! Verbally. He probably wouldn't have tried to beat Damien up. Probably.

"Doesn't mean you should be makin' fun of her, though." Damien rose to his feet, and gestured for Chase to follow. "C'mon. You know if you don't come she's gonna hunt'cha down anyway."

Ugh. "Yeah…" Chase relented, following suit. Damien did kinda have a point there. "Can I take my cereal?"

"Uh… yeah." Damien agreed with a chuckle. "Take your cereal."

—-

Bowie and MK walked in silence for the most part.

MK's eyes were well-adjusted to the dark, so she'd taken the list. The sun was rising, but that doesn't exactly happen overnight.

…

…Okay, yeah, it technically does, but that wasn't the point. Neither MK nor Bowie was willing to speak, and both just kind of waited for the other to say something. Just to be clear, MK wasn't stupid. She knew the guy wanted something, because why the heck was he with her instead of Raj? What she didn't know was why he was keeping all quiet like that. Dude really expected her to just guess? Not cool.

So they stayed like that. MK liked the quiet, so who was she to disturb it any? If she was given the opportunity for a semi-peaceful day, she was gonna take it!

But as it always did, that plan went out the window. Seriously, she was just jinxing herself at this point.

MK fell behind while lost in her thoughts. She didn't really pick up on it at first– sure, she could see Bowie in front of her, but she was tired! Give her a break!

At least, she was tired before. Bowie turned a corner, and was unexpectedly knocked to the ground. MK jumped back, completely prepared to ditch Bowie if there was a serial killer other than Scary Girl around.

"Ow!"

Nope, just Lovergirl.

MK took the opportunity to catch up while Bowie got to his feet. He didn't look all that happy to see Emma, and Emma didn't seem happy to see him either. MK could sympathize; she hated seeing both of them. But for now, with the impending catfight, she could do without drawing any attention to herself.

In the end, it was Emma who spoke first. "What are you doing here?" She spat, venom dripping from her voice. Felt good when people were mad at each other instead of at MK!

"We're outside," Bowie scoffed. "Sorry, did I need your permission?"

"Seriously!? Bowie, can you not be a literal manchild for two seconds!?"

"Oh, whoops! Sorry." He didn't look very sorry. Or sorry at all, really. "Guess you've gotten the hang of saying that, though! Wonder where you got it from?" MK whistled. That was a low blow. Nice.

"Could you actually shut up!?" Emma snapped right back. Aw, this would be such a good time to have a camera! Dang it. "Literally every time I see you it's something about Chase!"

"Um, can you blame me!? It wasn't my taste in men that ended this friendship, now was it?"

Emma gasped. MK almost gasped. Six in the morning, and people were already getting ready to throw down. Again. Man, they really called this show Total Drama Island for a reason. Emma raised both fists, and MK was pretty sure she and Bowie expected the blonde to throw a punch.

Emma did not throw a punch.

"Whatever," She hissed. "Literally whatever, Bowie. I don't even care anymore."

Emma shoved past Bowie, and her gaze landed on MK once the noirette came into her field of view. "...Hey," She greeted, her voice barely above a whisper. "Sorry you had to see that."

"Uh…" Why was she apologizing? MK didn't care. "...Sure dude, whatever." She waved her ex-teammate off, before turning to a suspiciously silent Bowie. "You good? If you cry, I'm leaving."

"I'm fine."

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"Whew!" MK pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead. "I thought for sure I was gonna have to listen to that for the next ten minutes."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Cool. So, are are we supposed to–"

"It's just," Oh come on! "What is going through Emma's head!? She runs back to Chase over every little thing, and somehow I'm wrong for judging her!? Like, girly, stick to your word! Maybe then I'd take you seriously! Ugh, you know?"

MK did not know. Honestly, she only really half-listened while Bowie ranted and raved, but she was kind of curious. "Dude, what even happened? You nearly killed her last time!"

"Oh my gosh, okay, buckle up, because this is the story of your life." She doubted that, but okay. "So, Chase cut Emma's breaks, right? And Emma was mad!"

"Okay…"

"And I was mad, too!" Bowie went on. "Y'know, because he almost killed her!"

"Yeah?"

"And then there was this cassowary challenge after we merged…"

"Go on…"

"And he apologized, and Emma took him back!"

MK nearly choked. "Dude, actually?"

"Yes! And it turned out he wasn't even talking about the brakes thing! So they break up again, and I'm all like, good! She came to her senses! Because who in their right mind would stay with Chase!?"

"That seems fair."

"Then there was this pole challenge. Chase jumped off his pole–for pizza, mind you!-and Emma thought it was for her!"

"Yikes." MK hissed through her teeth. "Talk about desperate."

"That's what I thought! So they got back together again, and then Chase got voted off–"

"Wait, that's when that happened!?" MK had to suppress a laugh. "Dude, we were all going mental trying to figure it out when Chase showed up! He said a couple things about love and pizza, and we sorta had to piece it together from there? Zee thought he married the pizza." She chuckled at the memory. "No idea how that would work, but it's Zee, so…" MK trailed off once she realized Bowie was glaring at each other. "My bad, keep talking."

"Right. Thank you. So then in the final five, Emma totally freaked at me for voting him off! So I'm like, yeah! I did it! And I just straight up told her that Chase was an awful person, and the only thing more pathetic than him was Emma for liking him! And she acted like I was the bad guy! Like, I get she needed space, and I tried to respect her wishes! But like, do not antagonize me for your bad choices, honey!"

…Was he done? MK was pretty sure he was done. "...Wow." That whole story actually caught her off guard. She kind of regretted not being there to see it.

"And then I was viciously assaulted by a Canadian Goose that looked suspiciously like a pterodactyl."

"Huh."

Wait…

"Huh?"

"That part's not important!" Bowie shouted. Thankfully, it seemed to be more at the world than at MK specifically. "But is it so hard to see things my way!? I was just looking out for her, and this is the thanks I get!?"

"...Okay, ignoring the goose thing, then. But man, that is a story. Legit, though? You both suck."

Bowie spun around to face her. Okay, now the anger was directed at MK specifically. Wonderful. "Um, what is that supposed to mean?"

MK raised her hands in mock surrender. "Look, I really don't care what you do. Friendships, relationships, they all fall apart anyway. All I'm saying is, you handled that pretty badly. Like, it was pretty stupid that she was mad at you, but you totally deserved it when she got madder at you."

"How the heck did I deserve that!?"

"Aren't you always telling me to be delicate? Seriously, get a grip, dude. People get defensive if they think you're judging them, that's just what they do. I don't get it either, but…" MK shrugged. "Meh."

"Well, that's–" Bowie began, before his mouth snapped shut. "No, but–" He tried again. Nothing. MK had to admit, as much as she didn't care for Bowie's friendships, shutting him up was one heck of a satisfying experience.

"Plus, now you're just provoking her on purpose, so I don't really know what you thought was gonna happen. Friggin' idiot."

"Now, that last part was uncalled for!" Bowie snapped. "But, and I hate to say it…" He sighed. "Maybe I was a little harsh."

MK snorted. "Yeah, ya think? If it makes you feel better, though, I'd have said the same thing."

"...That makes me feel worse."

"Yeah, well, I'm okay with that, too."

Bowie rolled his eyes, but didn't add anything else. He actually looked a little thoughtful. Guess Raj's lack of braincells hadn't completely rubbed off on him yet. "You know," He spoke again, eyeing MK with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. "For a broody edgelord, you're surprisingly wise."

"...What a compliment."

Silence fell upon them again, and they walked like that for a decent enough while. Honestly, the conversation still baffled her; how the heck did Bowie mistake her dissing him for her offering advice? MK didn't fix problems, she caused them. And that wasn't even self-deprecating, MK just liked causing problems! Dude needed to get with the program if he was gonna keep hanging around her.

Actually…

"Why'd you bring me along anyway?" MK broke the silence. Bowie curiously looked her way, and MK figured that was enough of a sign to keep talking. "You and Raji-poo are inseparable for everything else, so what gives? You fight with him, too?"

"What?" Bowie looked offended by the mere accusation. "Of course not! But I am glad you brought it up; I need your help."

Well, that was intriguing. And kind of worrying. "I like how you only ever talk to me when you want something. Does great things for my self esteem, man."

Her companion raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you cared."

"I don't, I just wanted you to feel bad."

Bowie clicked his tongue in annoyance while MK grinned smugly. "Are you gonna hear me out or not? This benefits the whole alliance, missy. Not just me!"

"Alright, alright!" MK relented. "Floor's yours."

"Perfect!" Bowie clasped his hands together. "So. Do I really need to explain to you why this whole "teambuilding" thing is a problem?"

"Probably not. But let's hear it."

"One, it's Priya. She knows how this game works! I wouldn't be surprised if she planned this whole thing just to get everyone's trust. And when the time's right, buh-bye!" Okay, that was a solid point, and MK was very mad she didn't think of it first. "And two, even if Priya's not up to anything sketchy, it's still bad for us. We don't have the majority yet, so we're stronger when the team is divided! If the team can't get along, we can just sit back and relax while they take each other out! But if they are getting along, they'll have to look elsewhere for a target? And who's prime pickings?"

MK's tone turned dead serious. "...Us."

"Very good, MK!" She cringed. What was he, a teacher? Sheesh. "Which means we can not let this whole thing slide. If we do, it's all three of us on the line!"

"Okay…" MK agreed slowly, taking the time to soak in his words. "So what's that got to do with me? Where do I come in?"

Bowie's expression brightened. "I'm glad you asked! We can't just sabotage the activity; it'd take hours finding all those rocks! So our best bet is to nullify it; that's your job. You need to do something that'll put them on edge. You need to do something that will make them stop trusting each other." He smirked. "You need to do what you do best."

MK's eyes slowly widened as realization dawned over her. "...You want me to rob them."

"Bingo!" The bleach blond clapped. "Right on the money! I mean, I'd have phrased it a little less… literally, but who am I to complain?"

When MK opened her mouth to answer, no words came out. This plan sucked. But it kind of made sense, too… "Okay… but why am I doing the hard work here? What're you doin' while I'm gone?"

"Oh, MK," He chuckled. "I wouldn't make you do all the heavy lifting! See, once things start to go missing, people are going to start asking questions. And when they do, you need an alibi. That's me. While you take care of everything, I'll keep doing the scavenger hunt. When you're done, we meet up and go back to camp together. As far as anyone else is concerned, you never left my side."

Okay, this plan sucked slightly less.

"I… guess I could pull that off," MK reluctantly admitted. "But only if I'm going after the Rhinos, too."

"The Rhinos?" Bowie echoed. "More power to you, but what for?"

"Two reasons; one, it broadens the suspect list. If it's just our team, then chances are the thief is a Jaguar, since no one would question them walking into our cabin. But if it's both teams, then either way whoever did it would have needed to get into a cabin they didn't belong in. Boom, now the Rhinos are suspects, too."

"Clever," Her fellow Jaguar nodded along, and gestured for her to continue.

"Right. Two, we gotta face the facts here, man. Infighting is gonna affect the team's performance. Normally, I'm all for that. But it gives the Rhinos an edge in literally every challenge, and we're not exactly protecting ourselves if we keep losing. But if the Rhinos stop trusting each other, too…"

"...Then it'll affect their performance too, and nullify the damage!" Bowie finished for her.

A grin spread across MK's face. "Now you're getting it! It'll be harder, and it'll take longer, but if this works, our chances of getting away with it are gonna skyrocket."

"Well! Aren't you a quick thinker? Alright, we'll do things your way. And while we're in the planning phase…" Bowie reached up, messing with something on the back of his neck. MK raised a brow, and silently waited for him to finish. To her surprise, he unfastened his necklace, and dropped it into her open hand. "In case anyone ever finds what you took, we'll both look less suspicious if there's something of ours in there."

"Huh. Smart." She'd figure something out for herself. "Alright, Prom King. You got yourself a deal."

Bowie's smirk shifted to a grin. "Perfect. And MK?"

"Yeah?"

"Make sure no one sees you." He warned. "If anyone does, they'll know we weren't together. Got it?"

MK nodded. "Got it."

"Good." Bowie returned the nod, and stalked off into the dark of the forest. Guess that meant MK was on her own now, huh? A smile tugged at her lips.

She felt giddy.

—-

"So, how 'bout that challenge yesterday, eh?"

So far, Raj and Scary Girl hadn't really found anything. Raj wasn't good at looking for stuff. That was Wayner's thing! At least Scary Girl didn't look super mad, though! Sorta. It was kinda hard to tell… she was always smiling! Raj had tried making small talk a couple times, but every try was just as unsuccessful as the last. Scary Girl would just turn to him and say something he didn't really understand, then go back to singing. But he kept trying!

As expected, Scary Girl didn't really give him any reaction. Or sign that she heard him. Oh, maybe she didn't hear him! "Hey, uh… I said–"

Scary Girl came to an abrupt stop, momentarily startling Raj in turn. The hockey player curiously looked around, eyeing his teammate in a slight mix of worry and confusion. "What's goin' on? Why're we stopping?"

"Look!" Scary Girl pointed upwards, and Raj's gaze followed her outstretched arm until it landed on what she'd been trying to show him; a rock painted orange rested on a branch high in a nearby tree.

"Sick!" Raj cried, breaking into a grin. "We just gotta get it down! I could prolly lift you on my shoulders and you could–"

Raj had been… less than prepared when Scary Girl suddenly launched herself at him. He let out a yelp of surprise, raising his arms in front of his face defensively. Luckily enough, it seemed Scary Girl wasn't aiming to kill him. Yet. Instead, she launched herself off him, sending the hockey player tumbling to the ground as his teammate soared higher into the air.

Scary Girl nabbed the rock from its hiding place, and landed gracefully back on the ground with both arms outstretched. She turned to Raj, eagerly waving the rock in the air.

"Yes!" Raj whooped. The excitement was more than enough to make him forget all about the whole being tackled thing. Score!

[CONFESSIONAL: RAJ]

"I've taken harder hits! Been playin' hockey since I was little, so y'know," Raj chuckled. "Lost half my baby teeth to this one kid, Oliver. He always tripped me! No idea why, but eh," He shrugged. "He got kicked off the team in middle school. Wasn't all bad, though! We pulled off a sick prank on our other teammate, Keith, 'cause of him!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

—-

If this walk had taught Caleb anything, it was that Axel wasn't much of a talker.

It came as a bit of a shock to him, honestly; he always took Axel for the type who always had something to say. But through most of the time they'd spent together that morning–and Caleb was pretty sure it had been at least two hours–Axel had barely said a word. To be fair to Axel, she never ignored Caleb. She responded to what he said to her, and answered his questions well enough. But most of those answers came in the form of grunts, shrugs, or mumbles. She was a surprisingly quiet girl.

Truthfully, it was a nice break. Nichelle was nice, and Caleb appreciated her energy. But it could become a little exhausting at times, especially considering how frequently she switched between practically being a superhero, and having no energy at all. Axel was aggressive, sure, but she seemed decently grounded when no one provoked her.

Still, though, Caleb was a little worried. Axel was arguably the contestant he should've known the most about by then; they'd spent all of last season at the Playa Des Losers together, being the first and second boots respectively. But he'd tuned out most of her furious ranting and kept to himself. In fact, it wasn't until Damien had turned up that he'd spoken to anybody. Axel had a temper problem, Nichelle would barely leave her room those first few days, and he really doubted Scary Girl required an explanation. So needless to say, it was anyone's guess if something was bothering Axel, or if she was the 'only-speaks-up-when-they're-passionate-about-the-subject-or-just-really-peeved' type. He'd seen a couple of those. But it didn't hurt to check, right? So that's what he did.

"You've been quiet," He noted calmly. Axel looked up, eyes curiously meeting his. "Something on your mind?"

"What, I can't appreciate nature without your permission?"

There was the Axel he was used to. "Hey now, I didn't say anything like that. It's just a little unusual to see you so quiet for so long." It didn't look like she appreciated that answer very much. Axel's expression turned hostile, and she sent him a nasty look. Caleb chuckled. "Come on, you know I didn't mean it like that. You're just normally so energetic."

"Nature calms me down." The brunette answered simply. Huh. Well, that definitely checked out. "Weird of you to drag me out here, but I'm not complaining."

"It's not weird," Caleb defended. He maintained a neutral tone as he spoke. "I just thought I'd spend some time getting to know you. We're allies, and we all want to go far. Best case scenario, you'll be stuck with Nichelle and I for a while, at least, so it's best we all get along."

To that, Axel shrugged and nodded. "Hm. Well, we agree on that much. Guess you've got some kind of brain in there."

"Thank… you?"

"...Surprised you didn't invite your little girlfriend along, though, if that was your plan."

…

Haha, what.

"...Excuse me?"

Axel appeared a little thrown off by Caleb's baffled expression. He couldn't blame her; he did his best to remain calm in almost any situation. But that? Yeah, that caught him off guard. "What?" Axel raised a brow, looking just as perplexed as Caleb felt. "That not what's going on here?"

"Not even close." Caleb smiled, shaking his head. "Nichelle's a nice girl, don't get me wrong. But she's more like a little sister than anything. Not everybody who spends time together are romantically involved, Axel."

Axel cringed. "For anyone who says 'romantically involved', that's no wonder."

"You sound like MK."

"Shut it, pretty boy." Axel seemed to ponder his words, though, and shrugged it off after a moment. "Well, guess this makes things a little less awkward for me."

"Wait, how long have you…?"

His ally shrugged. "I just assumed I've been third wheeling this whole time."

And that was officially Caleb's breaking point. He tried to stay calm, he really did. But poor Axel's cluelessness was enough to send him doubling over with laughter. "Bwahahaha! This whole time!?" Axel's face flushed red with embarrassment. "No, no, it's okay, it's alright, Axel, I just… bwahahaha!"

[CONFESSIONAL: AXEL]

"What!? They follow each other around like puppies! What was I supposed to think!?" Axel's eye twitched when Caleb's hysterics became audible through the confessional walls. "STOP LAUGHING!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

—-

"Damieeeeeeen! Dude, this is so boring! Can't we do literally anything else!?"

Damien was trying to be patient with Chase. Really, he was. But man, that guy could complain! "C'mon, man." He gently shut the other camper down. "This is important to Priya. Stick it out a little longer, yeah? You got this."

"Aw, come on!" Chase groaned. "We've been out here all day! It's getting hot out!"

That much was true. The temperature was rising, and for all Chase's complaining, he actually had stayed with Damien all day. Sure, he whined every twenty minutes, but it was still more cooperation than Damien expected! So yeah, credit to the guy for that! Still, a little more cooperation wouldn't kill him… right? Actually, with Chase, anything was possible… Nah, Priya was counting on Damien to help things move along! And he wouldn't let her down!

[CONFESSIONAL: DAMIEN]

"I think Priya's under a bit o' pressure with the whole leadin' the team thing. Respect to her, though! Duh! But I don't wanna see her pushin' herself too hard, y'know? 'Sides, if I'm not lookin' out for her, I don't think anyone will! So I'm helpin' out where I can."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"I hear ya, Chase. But this is important to Priya, and it's important to the team. Also, can't'cha just… y'know, take off your hoodie?"

"This is my favorite hoodie! And yeah, team stuff, cool, but it's been forever! Don't you think maybe we might like teambuilding more if we weren't forced to do it?" Chase pointed out. Damien averted his gaze, staring off into the trees. "Seriously! Who likes being forced to spend the day wandering around in some giant forest!? Not cool!"

Much as he hated to admit it, Chase raised a good point. "True," Damien admitted. "But Priya's tryin' her best for the team. Seems real stressful tryna keep everything under control while everyone's fighting, know what I mean?"

"How's a scavenger hunt gonna make us stop hating each other?"

"You don't gotta stop hating each other, Chase." That seemed to catch the brunette's interest. Finally, he was listening! "Priya can't tell ya how to feel about the rest of the team. She's not tryin' to either. Priya just wants us to work together even if some of us don't like each other for the good of the team. More we work together, less chance anybody on the team gets eliminated. Get it?"

"Nope!" Damien sighed. Figures. Chase sped up to match Damien's pace, wildly gesturing as he spoke. "It's fine, dude! When have things ever gotten that serious?"

"You kicked MK the other day."

"Other than that, when have things ever gotten that serious?"

[CONFESSIONAL: DAMIEN]

"How many times do teammates need to attack each other before it's serious!?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Look, Chase, bud, my point is, sometimes ya gotta do things you don't wanna do. 'S just part of life. Like, your parents tell you what to do sometimes, right?"

"What?" Chase let out an incredulous laugh. "No! My folks let me do whatever I want!"

Yep. That explained a lot.

—-

Operation Rob Literally Everybody was going… not perfectly.

In theory, stealing from Priya, Damien, and Raj should've been easy. Normally, MK could just walk right into the cabin, and no one would think anything of it. But now? If anyone spotted her, it was game over. Priya waited patiently on the front steps, and MK felt a mixture of awe and a whole lotta confusion. Seriously, lady, it'd been an hour at least! Why was she still here!?

MK sighed. Just great. "Guess I'm going with plan B." She muttered to herself. Bowie owed her big time for this one.

See, the Jaguar cabin had two entrances; the front door, and the window. It wasn't that the window was hard to reach. MK had taken shelter in a group of nearby bushes that gave her a straight-on view of the singular window in the back. How convenient. But between sneaking into her own cabin through a window and just walking in through the front door, it didn't take much debate to figure out what she preferred. Guess that was the life, huh?

MK took a cautious look to her left. Then, she looked to her right.

All clear.

The thief leaped out of the bushes, silent as a mouse. Everything in her screamed at her to just ditch the plan and run, but nobody ever won by playing it safe, right? Wrong, but whatever. MK kept a careful eye on her surroundings as the cabin grew nearer, prepared to bolt at the slightest sound.

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"Is this a horrible idea? Yes. Do I regret it?" MK grinned. "Not one bit."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Once she'd reached the cabin, it was only a matter of getting inside. MK gripped the windowsill and pulled herself up, stunned to find the window already open. Well, guess she didn't need the hairpins she'd brought along… sweet!

MK carefully climbed through the window. Her feet hit the floor without a sound, and Priya was still none the wiser. Whew.

"Alright…" The noirette muttered under her breath, grinning deviously to herself. "Let's see what these guys got for me."

—-

Emma never really took the time to appreciate the waves before. They were nice!

After Caleb shut her down on her offer to walk with him, Emma was a little lost on what to do. Priya was busy, and Millie wasn't here anymore, which meant Emma had only herself for company. She liked to think she was making the most of it, though! She'd spent the day training on her own, and it felt good! Stretches, jogs, she even went for a swim! Why did she ever stop doing this?

Well, she actually already knew the answer to that one. Chase had been in most of her middle school sports teams, and she vividly recalled the vile mockery that followed anyone's failure, including Emma's. She just dropped sports entirely once she got to high school. The blonde frowned. Why was she letting Chase dictate what she does? Ugh… boys.

Well, in your face, Chase! Emma was doing whatever she wanted, and nobody could stop her! The crisp ocean air made her feel so free! She literally didn't even care what Chase or Bowie or Caleb thought!

If only she could convince the empty pit in her stomach of the same thing.

—-

It had been a while since MK's departure, and there was still no sign of her. Wherever she was, though, Bowie was sure she was fine. Right now, his focus was on collecting those pretty little rocks Priya had set out for them! He'd even found a couple with glitter! If he weren't so busy with the search–and not being seen–he might have gone to compliment Priya's impeccable taste. You could never go wrong with glitter. Maybe he'd give one to Raj! Any man of culture would like glittery rocks!

Speaking of which, a certain shimmer caught the bleach blonde's eye as he passed. A glimmering, sparkly stone sat atop a larger rock in the middle of an inconveniently large pond. That could be a teensy bit of a problem… how exactly was this a two-person activity?

Well, Bowie was certainly no quitter. Although, he'd be having a little talk with Priya later about her hiding places. Maybe he could convince MK to let him dump water on her for emphasis. He giggled at the thought. The last thing anybody needed was their resident grouch being any grumpier. He'd spare them that much.

Which left him with that one small problem of what he was supposed to do here. The pond wasn't deep, thank goodness. But don't think that meant he was enthusiastic to go wading for a shiny rock! It did not. Bowie scoffed, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

…That is, until his gaze passed over a set of hanging vines.

Hm! Nevermind!

—-

"No… no… ugh!" Julia mumbled mostly incoherently to herself as she scrolled through her phone. While all those other guys were up to… whatever it was they did, she'd spent the day adding to her wishlist. On top of that, she had a lot to think about. If she was gonna win this thing, she needed to do more! And she would win this time, and no one was gonna stop her. Not that nerd girl, not the growing alliance within her team, and definitely. Not. Bowie.

Did Julia have her grudges from the past season? Um, yes! But those were no match for Bowie. Like, sure, Priya caused her some problems, and MK totally exposed her, but literally who cared? She was so over it. Right now, Bowie was priority number one. She'd deal with the rest of them later.

…At least, that was what she thought. Compared to the forest green of the surrounded area, a red jacket quickly drew Julia's attention. She looked up from her phone for just a sec, fully prepared to chew out whoever dared interrupt her shopping.

Across the way, opposite to the log Julia found herself commonly sitting on during the off days, a certain beanie-clad girl peeked out from behind the Jaguar cabin. Eyebrows raised, Julia lowered her phone and let it rest on her lap. She barely held in a scoff. It was so like MK to go sneaking around corners at every opportunity. Like, for reals, she reminded Julia of a creepy, wallet-stealing homeless person! Ew.

But what really made things interesting was when MK, after determining that the coast was clear, broke into a sudden sprint. Julia watched her run like mad, and the buttknuckle had no idea she was even there! Now this was some quality entertainment! Well, it was. Until a certain something caught her eye.

MK had made a beeline for the Rhino's cabin. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal. What was bugging Julia was the fact she hadn't passed it yet. Unless she either A. Was the world's slowest runner, or B. Literally dropped dead, she should not still be there. Julia squinted suspiciously, rising to her feet as she kept a careful eye on the cabin.

"What are you up to…?"

—-

"Lalala, lalalala…"

Okay, Raj's abdomen still hurt, but they had a rock now! Which was sick, bro! He kinda wondered where the color came from, though… 'cause, like, orange rocks weren't super normal, right? At least not in Alberta. Oh! Maybe if they found another, Scary Girl would let him give one to Bowie?

Bowie… Raj missed Bowie.

He tried not to be super clingy; he didn't wanna bug Bowie or anything. It kinda stung when Bowie told him he wanted to go with MK instead, but he got it! MK was in their alliance, and alliances were strategy, and Bowie was really good at strategy! His wicked strats got him to the finale! Raj wasn't really super good at that stuff, but maybe he could figure something else out! Like a date!

Snap!

Somewhere near, unbeknownst to Raj, a twig snapped. Raj bumped right into Scary Girl's back, oblivious to the fact she'd stopped. What was wrong now? "What goin' on, eh? You see another rock?"

He didn't get an answer at first. Scary Girl tilted her head to the side, almost as if she were listening for something.

"...No?"

Raj yelped when Scary Girl suddenly stuck a hand out and shoved him into a bush, before hopping in after him. He landed hard on the ground, letting out a hiss of pain. Of course, his teammate didn't look worried at all, instead opting to giggle maniacally at Raj's expense. "Ey! What was that for?" Scary Girl pressed a finger to his lips, effectively shushing him. Yup, this girl was kinda weird!

That is, until the sound of footsteps met his ears.

The footsteps were heavy but quick. So that was prolly really good or really bad. Why were they hiding, though? Sounded like a person. At least, Raj thought so. Or was it a bear? Could bears sound like people!? Oh man, he'd have to tell Bowie and Wayne to be–

Wayne!

His best friend, and apparently the cause of the noise, stepped into the clearing. Guess he was on a walk or something. But it didn't look like he noticed Raj and Scary Girl… he should go say hey! He hadn't seen his bro all morning!

He'd been just about to leave the bush and greet him, when Scary Girl beat him to the bunch. She leaped out of the bush, jumping at Wayne with pure murder in her eyes. Wayne let out a high pitched shriek, and Raj gasped. Luckily for them, Scary Girl stopped just inches from Wayne, cackling like a madwoman.

"Hey!" Wayne frowned, arms crossed. "Not cool, brah! Scared the heck outta me!" He looked past the giggling girl, and his cross expression vanished at the sigh of Raj. "Mornin' Raji!" He cheerfully greeted. It was way past morning, but no one cared about that anyway!

"Wayner!" Raj rushed to his best bud's side, and the duo high-fived (and performed their top-secret handshake, but Raj couldn't mention that because it was top-secret.) "Where ya been?"

"Just woke up!" That earned a snicker from Raj. "I'm serious!"

[CONFESSIONAL: WAYNE & RAJ]

"Wayner wakes up at like, 2 PM sometimes!" Raj playfully slugged his friend in this arm. "Always gotta wake 'im up for practice!"

Wayne grinned, rubbing the afflicted arm. "Ah, shuddup dude! You ain't been any better! Raj's been up aaaaall night textin' Bowie since last season ended! Or textin' me about Bowie!" Wayne explained obliviously to the camera, completely missing Raj's reddening face. "For serious! Been talkin' 'bout the guy nonsto–"

"HAHAOKAYGOODTALKGUYSBrowhatifBowieseesthis!?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"So?" Wayne urged, tilting his head curiously. "What'cha been up to, eh? Where's Bowie at?" Aw, man! There was that bad lonely feeling again! Dang it, dude!

"We're doin' a scavenger hunt! He's with MK. It's in doubles! Y'know, like when coach makes us practice in pairs?" Wayne nodded along, hanging off Raj's every word. "Like that! So I've been workin' with Scary Girl, and– huh?" Raj trailed off. He looked around with a perplexed expression, and Wayne's expression soon shifted to match. "Hey, where'd Scary Girl go?"

Wayne sent double finger guns his way. "Where'd Scary Girl Scary Go? Ba-dum-tss!"

"Eyyyyyyy!" Raj chuckled, returning the gesture.

"Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

"EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

…

"No, but actually, where the heck is she?"

—-

Whew! It was getting hot outside.

Damien and Chase had been outside for a while now. The temperature had really gone up throughout the day, if the buckets of sweat were anything to go by. Metaphorically. Actual buckets of sweat would be very unsanitary. Okay, that was not the point!

Real talk? Damien was kind of starting to worry about Chase. Sure, he hadn't been complaining, but that's exactly what tipped Damien off that something was wrong. Chase had been complaining for the past two hours! Two? Four? Damien wasn't keeping track. But if anything, it was more suspicious that he was so compliant now!

Damien risked a glance over his shoulder. Chase was still trailing after him, and he still looked insanely bored, albeit a little out of it. He watched as Chase wiped the sweat from his forehead, and Damien's brows furrowed in concern. "Chase?" He gently called. "Everything good back there?"

"Yup," Chase murmured, yanking at his hoodie's collar. "Aaaaall good…"

Well, that sounded… not all good. Damien stopped. He gave Chase an opportunity to catch up, but grabbed his sleeve when the Jaguar began to pass him. "Man, maybe we oughta get'cha back to the cabin for some water. Chase, are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yeah, dude!"

[CONFESSIONAL: CHASE]

"Okay, I was boiling out there. But the Chasester never throws the towel in! Emma coulda been watching!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Chill out, uh… frickin'..." Chase snapped his fingers, wearing a troubled expression. "...Zee?"

"Zee!?" Damien squawked. He didn't know a whole lot about Zee, but he knew one thing; Damien was not him. "Oh crap." He whispered to himself. "Man, do you have heatstroke!?" He demanded, as if Chase could effectively answer that question. He gripped the front of Chase's hoodie and furiously shook him back and forth, wild panic in his eyes. "ARE YOU DYING!?"

Chase blinked confusedly in response to Damien's unexpected worry, before letting out a soft laugh. "Ha! Yeah right! Like nature could take down the Chasester! I'm fine, dude, I'm… ugh…"

"Yup, okay, back to the cabin, mister! Where's Priya? PRIYA!"

—-

It was well into the afternoon by the time Nichelle finally blinked awake.

It was kind of shocking! She'd never woken up so late before. Nichelle LaDonna was a very busy gal! But here she was, groggily sitting up to find the cabin completely empty. Every bed was left uninhabited, and how long had Nichelle been asleep?

Yet she felt… weirdly not alone? You'd think that kind of feeling would be comforting, but when you're a super famous actress? Um, no.

At least she didn't have to think about it for long. Just as she swung her legs over the side of her bed, Nichelle's ears began to pick up the sound of someone shouting nearby. The shouting grew nearer and nearer, as if the source was headed straight for the cabin. For any other place, that would've scared Nichelle. But she knew exactly who was making all that racket before Axel could even reach the cabin. Dang, that girl could yell!

As what sounded like some kind of furious rant became clearer, Nichelle could make out a second voice. A calmer, more stable one. That was definitely Caleb. It wasn't really surprising that they were out and about at this time of day, but where were they at without her!? Rude.

What disrespect Nichelle felt was quickly replaced by sympathy for the poor door Axel kicked open. "I'm telling you, this is important stuff!" She shouted, throwing her arms up in annoyance as she entered the cabin. "If they replaced all those stupid gym classes with stuff that mattered–"

"Axel! Stop yelling." Caleb followed suit, quietly admonishing the girl. "We don't want to wake…" Caleb's eyes met Nichelle's, and the actress sleepily waved. "...Nichelle. Did we wake you?"

Nichelle offered a weak smile and shook her head. "Nah, I was up. Where have you two been off to? Haven't seen you all morning!"

"Because you were asleep all morning." Axel pointed out. Caleb gently nudged her, earning a scoff from the survivalist.

"Call it a nature walk of sorts."

Nichelle gasped. "Um, and you didn't invite me?"

"...Did you want to come?"

"No," Nichelle began her descent down the ladder. "But it's nice to feel included sometimes!"

"Whole point of it all was making Axel feel included, actually." Caleb explained with a shrug. Okay, smart. Nichelle could get behind that. "She's been feeling like a bit of a third wheel from what I gather." The slightest smirk tugged at his lips, and Axel whipped around to face him.

"You tell Nichelle and I'll strangle you, pretty boy,"

"Tell me what?" Nichelle inquired, finally reaching the floor. She leaned against the ladder with an amused expression, one that Caleb mirrored. "Also, can you even reach his neck?"

Axel's eye twitched, and the survivalist cracked her knuckles. "Oh, I'll reach his neck alright!"

"I'd prefer you didn't," Caleb chimed in cooly, visibly unfazed.

While Caleb and Axel went back and forth, Nichelle began digging through her suitcase. Just because she woke up late, that did not mean a girl could skip out on her morning routine! "Let's see… hair brush… perfume… eyeliner…" She muttered absent-mindedly to herself, grabbing her belongings on auto-pilot. "Lip gloss… mascara… what the…?"

Nichelle's sudden confusion snapped her allies right out of their half-hearted bickering. It was Caleb who spoke first. "What's wrong?"

"My facemasks are gone! Where are my facemasks!?"

"Your facemasks?" Caleb echoed. "That's… odd. Did you misplace them? Where was the last place you saw them?"

"Oh, no." Nichelle shook her head. "No, nonono. I do not "misplace" things! Everything's got its own spot, including my facemasks!" The actress aggressively gestured toward her open suitcase. "Do you see a facemask in there? Huh? Huh?"

"I do not."

"Right!" Nichelle dropped to her knees, rummaging through her suitcase in panic. "I know I didn't misplace anything!"

Axel sighed, rolling her eyes with crossed arms. Caleb frowned at her, and Nichelle could see him mouth something out of the corner of her eye. "Look," Axel began under Caleb's watchful stare. "You're not gonna find anything by freaking out. If it's not in your suitcase, then look somewhere else!"

"I didn't put it anywhere else!" Nichelle cried, jumping to her feet.

"Well, it's not in your bag, is it!?"

"Enough." Caleb interjected. His stern tone was enough to make both girls stop in their tracks. "Nichelle knows best here, but let's not jump to any conclusions. Maybe the last time Nichelle used them, someone mistook it for theirs and grabbed it by accident. It's not impossible, right? So what's gonna happen is, Axel, you and me are going to look through our bags, just in case." Axel opened her mouth to argue, but Caleb raised a hand to silence her. "Just in case. If we don't find them, we'll ask around and check if the team might have seen them. If that doesn't work, then we can worry. Capiche?"

[CONFESSIONAL: CALEB]

"I have two brothers and a sister back home, all younger. You'd be surprised how often my little brother will lose something and freak out on us, only for it to turn out to be a massive misunderstanding." Caleb smiled almost pridefully. "I'm used to taking charge and sorting out these kinds of situations. My parents are pretty busy, so I usually have to step up. Speaking of which…" His smile dropped. "Dylan, quit watching this and do your summer reading."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Axel and Nichelle exchanged contemplative looks. "Fine," Axel relented, yanking her duffel bag off her bed with a scowl. She dropped it on the cabin floor, and both Caleb and Nichelle winced at the noise.

[CONFESSIONAL: NICHELLE]

"Girl, what are you putting in that bag!?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

The other Rhinos watched in shock as Axel tossed a ridiculous amount of weaponry and tools over her shoulder. Caleb flinched as a battle axe whizzed past his head and lodged itself in the wall behind him, leaving both him and Nichelle gawking.

Nichelle stared in awe at the battle axe for a second or two before she returned her attention to Axel. Unfortunately, she turned around just in time to see a shovel flying her way. The actress screamed, holding her arms out for some form of protection and screwing her eyes shut.

Lucky for her, Caleb caught the shovel before it could hit the blonde. Nichelle let out a sigh of relief, nodding in thanks toward her teammate. Caleb smiled back, before raising his other hand to catch the chainsaw Axel had casually tossed over her shoulder.

They spent the next five minutes in a narrow brush with death as Axel sorted through things ranging from reasonable, such as spare water bottles and a brush, to unexpected, like the water filter that followed, to increasingly improbable items.

The crossbow. Nichelle was referring to the crossbow she threw at them.

Finally, Axel emptied out her bag, kicking it aside and crossing her arms. "There. Happy?" Caleb shook his head, to the former's clear confusion.

"Your hair, too. I didn't forget."

The brunette groaned, but obliged. As she rummaged through her ponytail, Caleb seemed to decide she could be trusted on her own with this one and turned his attention toward his own belongings. Nichelle, on the other hand, watched in amazement (and a little fear) as Axel retrieved a set of keys, bear spray, a bean bag, a second shovel somehow, a tennis ball (which confused even Axel), a second crossbow somehow, and a small first-aid kit.

"Is…" Nichelle hesitated, looking over all the discarded items in pure, absolute shock. "Is that everything?"

"No, hold on. One more." There was more!? Axel went right back to messing with her ponytail, squinting as she struggled with… something. What was it? Nichelle didn't know. Nichelle didn't think she wanted to know! Girl was crazy!

She seemed to find what she was looking for, though. A baffled Nichelle watched as Axel's hair was freed from its ponytail, and cascaded down the survivalist's back. "A… hair tie?"

Axel smirked, pulling another pair of nunchucks out of her hair. "Think again, princess."

"WHAT!?" Nichelle shrieked. "HOW!?"

Even Caleb looked shocked. "Huh." He muttered thoughtfully. "Impressive."

Axel raised an eyebrow in Caleb's direction, watching as he closed his suitcase. "And what about you? Find anything?"

Any hope Nichelle has was crushed when Caleb shook his head. "Nothing," He admitted with a troubled frown. Upon seeing Nichelle's disheartened expression, however, he wiped any bit of doubt off his face. "Hey, it's okay. We can still ask around, remember? Don't be so down."

"Right, right…" Nichelle took a deep breath in, then a deep breath out. "Right! We'll find it easy! N-No big deal! Nothing Nichelle LaDonna can't handle!" Nichelle's words were filled to the brim with empty confidence, and the actress knew it. But Caleb was right! She was not gonna start crying! Yet! "Axel?" She prompted, sparing the brunette another glance. "You coming, too?"

Axel seemed to think it over, before answering with a disinterested shrug. "Got nowhere else to be." She replied as she tied her hair back into its signature ponytail. Nichelle was never gonna get over that. Who used nunchucks to tie up their hair!? And more importantly, would Axel teach her?

"Perfect." Caleb sent an approving nod Axel's way. "In that case, I think it's best we get going. Just so we have time to get to everyone."

"Alright!" Nichelle cheered. She grabbed a significantly less enthusiastic Axel's hand, and pulled her out the door after Caleb. "I know, like, everything about being a detective! I starred in this TV show, Hot Teen Ninja Detective Squad, right?" Nichelle missed the way look Axel sent over her shoulder as the survivalist shut the door behind them. "And to help us get into character, they actually had us talk to a legit detective! So we spent, like, hours there, askin' all the questions, and you have no idea what he said to some of 'em…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"Finally."

A certain dark-haired Jaguar crawled out from where she'd hidden under an empty bed, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Take any longer, why don't'cha?" She grumbled. Luckily, she'd grabbed something from almost everyone before Nichelle had rudely woken up and disturbed her, so she wouldn't have to spend too much longer in this dump. All she needed now was something from Axel, and come on. Leaving your personal belongings all over the floor? They were too kind, making her job so easy! Almost made her feel bad for stealing from 'em.

…

Ha! Yeah, as if.

She swiped a pocketknife from the mess on the floor, shoving it into her jacket with a smirk. "This'll do." Anything would've done, really; long as it was small, she'd take it. And she had loads of options. It took everything in her not to laugh, lest she blow her cover. Like taking candy from a baby.

MK hopped out the window without a sound, and escaped into the forest.

—-

Was it tiring sitting outside all day? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes!

Priya's teammates had been out all day, and she couldn't have been prouder! Sure, they probably wouldn't get to the rest of their teambuilding exercises, but who cared? It mattered more to Priya that everyone was giving it their all!

"You shouldn't sit all alone, you know… friend."

She shot up with a yelp, scrambling to find the source of the sudden noise. Unfortunately for Priya, panicking and stairs don't normally go together well, and the brunette wound up tripping over her own feet and falling onto the grass. Priya hissed in pain as she rubbed the back of her head, sighing at the sound of manic giggles. Of course…

"Scary Girl, you…" Wait. Priya paused, growing nervous as she looked around the surrounding area. "...Scary Girl." She began carefully. "Where's Raj?"

Her terrifying friend-ish frowned. "Oh… him. Don't worry about him! I left him right where he belongs."

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"Well, if I wasn't worried before, I am now!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Right! Good! Um…" Priya forced a laugh, and Scary Girl's grin widened. "I-If you're, um, done hunting for the day–"

"I'm never done hunting!"

"-Okay, well, if you're done hunting for rocks, then…"

"Scary, you're not botherin' Priya, are you?"

Priya trailed off, but an unexpected third voice filled the silence. Both Priya and Scary Girl turned to look at the new arrival. "Damien!" Priya called, a smile spreading across her face. Damien had taken his jacket off at some point and tied it around his waist, and the sleeves of his sweater were rolled up. Guess the heat got to him. "And you brought Chase!" The not-so-missing camper dragged behind Damien, but at least he was there! And not, you know, committing arson again.

"Sure did. You okay?" He offered a hand up, which Priya gratefully accepted. Damien pulled her to her feet, and Priya giggled.

"Me? Oh, I'm fine! Scary Girl just snuck up on me." Priya eyed the girl nervously, her worry spiking when she heard the typical neck crack that came with Scary Girl's death stare. "N-Not that there's anything wrong with that! Just… friendly pranks! Right? Ha! Hahahaha! Haha… um. So! What brings you two back? Everything okay?"

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Damien suddenly looked awfully worried as he beckoned for Chase to join them. "Yeah, 'bout that… I think me an' Chase should stop for today. I mean, just look at him!"

"Hey!"

"Didn't mean it like that, Chase. I think he's gettin' a bit too hot."

"Thanks, dude!"

Damien sighed. Priya gently pushed past him, putting her hands on her hips to address Chase. "Damien's trying to help you here. You better stop messing with him, or you're gonna be running laps around the cabin!"

That got her a scoff and an eyeroll. But hey, Chase kept his mouth shut after that!

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"I always feel really bad when I have to get all strict with the team, but when it comes to Chase… what other option do I have?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Hey, thanks, Priya." Damien nodded her way, and Priya's smile returned. "We're just gonna grab 'im his water bottle, maybe stay inside for a bit. Been meaning to check his burns anyway." He added, chuckling at Chase's 'oh, come on!'

"I won't hold you up, then." She gestured toward the cabin, and stepped aside to allow the boys inside. "Um… feel better soon, Chase!" Damien led Chase up the stairs, carefully holding the latter's arm just in case. Priya watched with a smile until the door shut behind them.

Damien had a lot more patience than she did, anyway…

—-

Wayne and Raj were headed back to camp. They'd spent a while searching for Scary Girl after she'd suddenly up and ditched Raj, but to no avail.

"...So, I'm thinking I wanna try spending more time with Bowie, y'know?" Wayne nodded along as Raj spoke. He didn't really know anything about relationships, but he was always there to support his bud! "But, like, I dunno how without sounding weird?"

Wayne chuckled. "He's your boyfriend, bro! 'Course he wants to hang with ya! Seems to like kissin' your face enough!"

The blond's snickers evolved into a full-on laughing fit as Raj's entire face flushed red. "Aw, shut up, dude!" Raj laughed along, shoving Wayne with a grin. Wayne smiled to himself. He missed this a whole bunch. Been pretty lonely since he and Raj were put on different teams. Who're you supposed to talk to when all your buds are on the other team!?

"Wayne! Hey, Wayne! We need to talk to you! You got a sec?"

Oh, hey! Speaking of teams, three of Wayne's teammates approached the hockey bros. It was Nichelle who called out to them, dragging Axel toward the duo with a wave and a smile. She seemed pretty on-edge though… weird! "Ey, Nichelle! And Caleb 'n Axel! How's it goin', eh?" Wayne greeted them cheerfully. Raj meekly waved, sticking close to Wayne's side. All good! His bud was a li'l shy sometimes.

Caleb caught up with the girls soon enough, stopping at Nichelle's side. "Well enough. Sorry to bother you, but we were looking for something and thought maybe you could help."

…Huh. That was prolly bad. "Sure thing, brah! Shoot!"

The tallest of the three had been just about to continue when Nichelle jumped in. "My facemasks! I know where I keep them, and they're not there! We looked everywhere!" She cried with a hint of desperation. "What am I gonna do without my facemasks!?"

"Woah! S'all good, man, chill!" Wayne tried to reassure her. Caleb nodded, patting their fellow Rhino on the shoulder. "I ain't seen it, but I bet'cha it's somewhere!"

"That's not helpful," Axel growled. "Are you trying to avoid our questions!?"

"Nope!" Wayne answered brightly, before Caleb had the chance to interject. "I dunno much about makeup 'n stuff, but ya try askin' Emma yet? Saw her at the beach, I think?"

"Definitely the beach," Raj confirmed. "Passed her like, ten minutes ago! Bet she's still there."

"For sure!"

Caleb looked weirdly uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Well… we haven't." He reluctantly admitted. Maybe he had beef with Emma or something? Not good, but they'd sort that out later! "I was hoping you might know something, but I guess that makes Emma our next stop. Come on, Nichelle. Axel." He nodded at each of his companions. "Thank you anyway."

"No biggie! Lemme know if ya find it, yeah?"

The trio stalked off, Axel eyeing Caleb with an unreadable expression. Nichelle chatted away about something as they left, but Wayne had no idea what she was saying.

"Hope she finds her thingamabob…" Raj muttered with a frown. "Stinks losin' stuff."

"For sure, for sure." Wayne nodded as they began to walk again. Dang, they shoulda asked Caleb, Axel, and Nichelle where camp was from there! Wayne kinda sucked with directions… he already got himself and MK lost in the first challenge! Would really suck if he got Raj lost, too…

"Hey, so, real talk…" Raj began again, temporarily distracting Wayne from his directional conundrum. "What should I do about Bowie? I was, uh… thinkin' about a date, but I got no ideas. Was kinda hoping you'd have one?"

Wayne thought for only a split second–which wasn't really anything new, it's Wayne–before snapping his fingers. "Yeah, I got one!" Raj immediately brightened, and it put a smile on his face to see his best bud so excited. "This place's got food, eh?"

"Yeah!"

"And you got a blanket, right? On your bed?"

"For sure!"

"Take 'im on a picnic date, then!" Wayne declared confidently. "Super easy, and super romantic! Trust me bro, I saw it in a comic book!"

Raj's expression quickly changed from excited to perplexed. "Thought we're not s'posed to believe that stuff?"

"Naw, dude, that's just movies and TV shows. We can for sure trust comics!"

And just like that, Raj was back to beaming. "Sick!"

—-

Speaking of Bowie, he was making some very good progress. He knew technically just a few rocks would do to corroborate him and MK's story. But where was the fun in that? Bowie just loved a little challenge every now and then! He looked a little silly carrying around a massive armful of rocks, but please. He could slay doing anything!

But seriously, it had been forever since Bowie and MK parted ways, and there was still no sign of her! If he found out MK had just left to ditch the activity, they were going to have quite the chat! And that sounded exactly like the type of thing she would do.

"What are you, a geologist?"

Bowie gasped when an unexpected voice startled him out of his thoughts. "There you are, missy!" He huffed, looking around until his gaze fell on MK, who stood in a nearby bush. "I have been out here all day picking up your slack, so don't get sassy with me! Did you get everything?"

"Sure did." She confirmed. "But we really gotta tell the team to start closing the window. Anyone can just climb through! Buncha morons…"

"Wait, stop, back up. You went in through the window? In our cabin?"

"Well, yeah. Priya was out front, and If anyone saw me, they'd know I wasn't with you." MK explained matter-of-factly. "What was I supposed to do, just waltz on in like "greetings dearest teammate, allow me to steal yours and everyone else's personal belongings and ruin your entire day"? 'Cause that woulda gone down real well."

Bowie shook his head. Yes, MK had a point, but she could just be so… ugh! "Are you going to help me carry these, or not?"

His teammate raised a brow. "That a legitimate question?"

"Take the rocks, Mary-Kate."

MK had been just about to retort when a high-pitched shriek coming from the direction of the camp scared the living daylights out of them both. "Um, what was that!?"

"Not a psychic." MK deadpanned. This girl was so lucky Bowie needed her for the alliance!

The bleach blond sighed, massaging his temples. Deep breaths, Bowie. "Look, I will call this a win if you take three rocks and stop talking."

"Bet."

—-

Emma was seated on the docks when Caleb, Axel, and Nichelle found her. She didn't seem to have noticed them yet, instead focusing on the vast, orange sky above. "There she is!" Nichelle announced. Caleb liked Nichelle, don't get him wrong, but unless Axel had suddenly gone blind at some point within the past ten minutes, they could tell.

He kept that to himself. His problems with Emma were no excuse to lash out at Nichelle. So instead, Caleb settled on a simple "I'll hang back this time around. Nichelle, think you can handle this one?"

Nichelle blinked back her surprise, though it really did nothing to cover it. "Me? Oh! Me! Yeah, sure thing! I'll just, uh… Axel, are you coming?"

The answer wasn't immediate. Axel looked back and forth between Caleb and Nichelle for a few seconds first. "I'm staying behind. Doesn't take two people to ask a simple question."

Nichelle didn't seem to like that answer. Caleb noticed the way her fingers twitched as she smiled disingenuously at them. "You'll be okay, Nichelle." He reassured her with a pat on the back. "Just go over there, ask, and come back. It's no big deal."

[CONFESSIONAL: CALEB]

"Of course I feel bad for making Nichelle do it by herself. Her confidence is still a little lacking, and I don't particularly like making her do things she doesn't want to do. But…" Caleb sighed. His calm demeanor slipped for the second time that day, shifting into something more solemn. "...I don't feel comfortable speaking with Emma if I can avoid it. Besides, getting her to do things on her own is important, right? Yeah." He reassured himself, taking a deep breath. "It's important to help her grow."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Okay! I got this!" Nichelle nodded, and Caleb couldn't tell if she was reassuring them or herself. "You guys just stay here! I'll be right back!" She turned and rushed off, calling out "Emma! Hey, girl, you got a sec?" as she left Caleb's side. Emma looked up, and stood to meet Nichelle with a warm smile.

…

"So, what's the deal with Blondie?"

Well, Caleb certainly hadn't been expecting that. "Hm?"

"You think I haven't picked up on it?" Axel raised a brow accusingly. "You get all…" She trailed off, silently gesturing with her hands as she struggled for the right wording. "...Different when she's nearby. Doesn't seem like a good different, either."

"Well…" Caleb hesitated. Was it worth bringing it to the table at all? He prided himself in his ability to not let his own personal feelings seep through into the game. He didn't like Emma, and he really didn't like Bowie, but getting his team through the challenges was always his number one priority. Someone had to do it. But being the unfazed beacon of self-control did have its downsides. Caleb risked a glance at Axel, who watched him with furrowed brows. If he spoke up, it could cause infighting. But if he didn't, he'd worry Axel. "...Another time." He finally decided. "I'll tell you another time."

She didn't look pleased with his answer, but seemed to accept it. Caleb returned his focus to Emma and Nichelle. Emma looked pretty concerned while Nichelle explained the situation to her. The girls went back and forth on something, but Caleb couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Whatever it was, though, the conversation seemed to go well. Too well.

Nichelle waved them over. Caleb died a little inside at his teammate's obliviousness, but a part of him was grateful she wasn't as perceptive as Axel. Something told him she'd have been more persistent. "Okay!" Nichelle began, clasping her hands together. "So, Emma hasn't seen my facemasks. But, she said she'll help us look for them, and if we don't find them, she'll lend me some of hers! You're a lifesaver, girl!"

Of course. Caleb nodded at Emma, maintaining an expression of pure neutrality. "Thank you, Emma. We appreciate the help."

The blonde laughed almost nervously as she waved him off. "Oh, no worries! I don't really use mine that much anyway, so Nichelle can totally have some if she needs them!"

Axel scoffed, and Caleb barely suppressed a smile. Guess she didn't care much for these things. He had to give them credit, though, Nichelle and Axel were surprisingly amicable with each other, given how different they were. Thank goodness for that.

But, as per usual, Caleb barely had any time to think about that. A scream shattered any train of thought that might have been going through anybody's head, leaving the quartet thoroughly bewildered.

"What the heck was that!?" Nichelle cried, frantically turning toward the sound.

Axel, on the other hand, was calmer. "Came from camp," She noted gruffly, mildly intrigued at worst. And then there was Emma. Emma, whose stunned expression suddenly morphed into a smile.

"That was Chase."

—-

SLAM!

Priya kicked the cabin door open, armed with a sharp stick she found laying on the ground. "What!?" She shouted. "What's wrong!? Land-walking shark!? Robotic bear!? Scary Girl!? I– oh!"

She lowered the makeshift weapon at the unexpected sight. Damien and Chase sat around a red suitcase, the former consoling a sobbing Chase. "T-There, there, man… s'okay…" Damien muttered words of encouragement to the distressed teen, although they really didn't seem to be doing much. In fact, poor Damien looked more confused than anything. Priya caught his eye after a moment, and he offered a weak smile. "Uh… hey there?"

"Damien?" Priya squinted, eyeing the duo quizzically. When she'd heard screaming come from inside the cabin, her first thought had been danger. On Total Drama Island, you never knew what to expect! So she grabbed the nearest thing to a weapon and rushed inside, ready to defend her cabinmates to the death. But everything seemed… fine? "What happened? What's wrong with Chase?"

"Well, he–"

"My merch!" Chase cut Damien off, blubbering like a baby. He clung to the latter helplessly, and Damien awkwardly rubbed his back. Well, Priya respected him for trying… "My precious merch! It's gone!"

…He started screaming over that? Priya let out a long, frustrated sigh, and tossed the stick aside. She approached the duo warily, and peered inside the suitcase. It was filled with at least half a dozen hoodies with a logo Priya could only assume was Chase's. What little space was left over was taken up by caps with the same logo, as well as a single water bottle. Priya kept her cringe to herself. This all seemed a little egotistical, even for Chase. "It… looks like there's a lot of merch here. Are you sure?"

"There were pins, Priya! There was like, twenty pins in there, and they're all gone!" Chase wailed. "This is the worst day of my life!"

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"The worst day of his life? Emma broke up with him three times!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Hey now, c'mon…" Damien tried, speaking soothingly to their teammate despite his clear bewilderment. "We'll find 'em. Promise."

"Aw dang. What's goin' on in here, eh?"

The trio looked up to find Wayne and Raj curiously peeking in from the doorway. Both looked a mix of confused and concerned, which Priya really couldn't blame them for. "Uh… something about merch?" She shrugged. "Chase says he lost some."

Raj nodded sympathetically. "When I was twelve, I lost a jersey from my favorite hockey team and cried for an hour. It was under my mattress, did'ja look under your mattress?"

"Not yet." Damien shook his head. "Priya, could you…?"

"On it!" Priya slipped past the boys on the floor, and hooked her fingers under Chase's mattress. Upon lifting it, though, she was disappointed to find nothing. "Um… no, there's nothing here!"

"Real crummy luck, eh?" Wayne muttered thoughtfully. "Nichelle first, an' now Chase!"

Now that made everyone stop in their tracks. "...Huh?" Priya exchanged a worried look with Damien, before turning toward the hockey duo with raised eyebrows. "What do you mean 'Nichelle first'? What happened with Nichelle?"

"Oh, right! She lost some mask thingy." Raj explained. Wayne nodded, and Priya suddenly had a very bad feeling. One person was just bad luck. Two was probably a coincidence… but it couldn't hurt to be sure.

"Okay, listen up!" Priya made her way to the middle of the cabin, and all eyes were on her. "Just to be safe, I want everyone to check their stuff! Like, don't panic, obviously, it's probably fine, but just in case!"

Damien nodded and carefully stood up, helping a distraught Chase to sit on his bed. Raj saluted with an "Aye-aye, captain!", and Wayne gave a thumbs up before setting off back to his own cabin.

Priya felt a sudden flood of worry fill her. She got the weirdest feeling that this wasn't a coincidence.

—-

Julia was literally going to fight someone.

For reals, could a girl not browse online without someone bugging her!? Okay, it wasn't one specific person, but all the noise was actually making her lose it. Curiosity won over fury, and Julia took another disinterested glance upwards.

Bowie and MK were walking together, probably back to their cabin. Wayne rushed past them, and the duo momentarily stopped. Julia had, like, no idea what they were saying, but she was almost interested! Whatever it was, it looked super serious. MK and Bowie looked at each other as Wayne continued on his way, before picking up the pace and walking with a clear sense of urgency. Not long after, literally Julia's entire team also appeared and made a beeline for the cabin. What the actual heck was happening over there!?

"Ugh," Julia stood up and brushed herself off, briefly checking her appearance through her phone camera. She had to go see what all the tea was about, but she was not about to go out there looking like Bowie.

Unsurprisingly, she looked amazing. The influencer slipped her phone into her pocket, and followed her teammates back to the cabin.

—-

Priya, Damien, and Raj spent the next five minutes rummaging through their belongings. The results weren't exactly uplifting.

Priya's notebook? Gone.

Raj's autographed hockey puck? Gone.

Damien's safety goggles? Gone.

Scary Girl was still looking in her bag, but Priya didn't have high hopes for her either.

"Of course!" The brunette ranted, pacing around the cabin as she furiously gestured. "The one day I need things to go right! Why did it have to be today!? Why today!?"

Damien gently set a hand on Priya's shoulder. She stopped, desperately looking to him for… anything. Comfort, solutions, she didn't care anymore! "Look, Priya…" He began, speaking softly to her. Priya felt her shoulders detense, just a little. "I know this ain't great, and I know you're frustrated, okay? Trust me, I get it. I dunno what we're gonna do, but we'll figure somethin' out. Nobody blames you, Priya, and I need'ja to believe that."

"I just… I don't get it, Damien!" Priya threw her arms up in the air, narrowly avoiding hitting her friend. "How did this happen!? I was in front of the cabin all day!"

"Might help if you closed the dang window."

At some point during Priya's distressed ranting, Bowie and MK had appeared in the doorway, both holding several rocks. Normally, she'd be happy that they'd been working so hard together, but right now? Nothing made Priya happy. Everything she'd been setting up was definitely wrecked now!

Bowie lightly elbowed MK, a grimace crossing his features. "What!?" MK squawked. "I'm just saying."

"Hey, now. Priya could not have seen this comin', okay?" Damien jumped to Priya's defense without hesitation, earning a strained smile from the girl. "Cut her some slack."

"Um, what is going on?" Bowie changed the subject, but it hardly improved the mood any.

"Everyone's stuff has been goin' missing," Damien explained. "You lose anything lately?"

Without missing a beat, Bowie gasped. "That must be what happened to my necklace!" He cried. Priya hadn't noticed before, but he was missing the pearl necklace he usually wore. She thought he had been wearing it that morning! Maybe she shouldn't have stayed up all night... "MK?" Bowie prompted, looking to his companion. "What about you?"

"I mean… I was meaning to ask if anyone saw my keychain lying around." MK admitted. "Kinda assumed I just dropped it or something, 'cause uh…" She gestured toward her messy, completely disorganized bed. "...Yeah. But I'm pretty good at keeping track of my stuff."

"Just great!"

"Deep breaths, Priya… Scary Girl, how're things lookin' for you?"

The attention turned to Scary Girl, who jumped down from her bed with a smile. "It's all there!" She cheerfully announced, to everyone's surprise. "Aaaaall my supplies are safe and sound!"

"Huh," Chase sniffled, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve. "That's totally not incriminating or anything."

Damien frowned. "C'mon, Chase. Just 'cause Scary didn't lose anything doesn't mean she did it."

"Yeah!" Priya agreed. "If there's someone actually stealing from us, it's probably not Scary Girl! People do that kind of thing all the time, where they don't take anything from one person. It makes it really easy to frame someone!"

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"Ha! Nah. I just value my life."

…

"Also, I, uh… actually did look through her bag. Y'know, curiosity…" MK shuddered, arms crossed against her chest protectively as she recalled the disturbing sight. "...I don't want my fingerprints on any of that stuff."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Okay, so that could be a problem…" Bowie stroked his chin with a thoughtful frown. "So what are we gonna do?"

"I don't know yet," Priya admitted, taking a shaky breath. "I just don't know."

—-

Okay, so things were pretty bad.

The walk back to the cabin was pretty awkward, but manageable. Emma kind of felt out of place with the rest of her teammates, but Nichelle was, like, so nice! Caleb and Axel were pretty cold, but Emma was used to that by now. She didn't really care as much anymore, so… woo?

What really got her was when they walked in to find a troubled-looking Wayne sifting through his duffel bag, a frown etched onto his face. He briefly looked up, waving when the four of them entered.

"Wayne, hey!" Emma greeted with a smile. "Um… what'cha up to?"

For once, Wayne didn't return the smile. "Nichelle, you said you lost somethin', right?"

"Huh?" Nichelle looked pretty surprised to be suddenly addressed. "Um, yeah, why?"

"Chase from the other cabin lost somethin' too–" Ugh. Emma growled. Chase. "-And now I can't find my lucky whistle!"

"What!?" Came a familiar voice from behind. Julia pushed past the crowd, storming into the cabin with the determination of… well… okay, it was pretty hard to think of something scarier than Julia. Emma wasn't a poet, okay!? "Um, hello? Don't just stand there!" The influencer snapped as she stepped over the many weapons left lying around. "Like, three people? No way that just happens! Check your bags! Now! If someone touched any of my stuff, I'm literally gonna…"

Emma scoffed. "Could you not be so bossy!? Seriously, it's our stuff we're checking anyway!"

"Nah, she's right." Caleb chimed in. "I don't agree with the phrasing necessarily, but I do think it's best everyone makes sure they have everything. You know, just to be safe."

Julia pulled herself up her bunk's ladder, sitting cross-legged on her bed once she'd reached the top. She yanked her bag off her pillow and into her lap, and began rummaging through it. One by one, the other Rhinos followed her example, each one conducting a thorough search of their belongings. Axel returned all her weaponry to its rightful place as she went along, and where did any of that even come from!?

Anyway, Emma was maybe a little worried, so she joined in the search, just in case. Not because she agreed with Julia! Gross, no. But if her stuff was missing, she did kind of want to know about it, which she thought was pretty reasonable! And sure enough, it only took a quick check to confirm that literally all Emma's scrunchies were gone except the one she had in her hair right now.

"My necklace!" Julia's horrified gasp easily confirmed that she was in the same boat as Emma. Serves her right! She wasn't happy about the whole thief situation, though… and a few seconds later, Caleb let his bag drop back onto the floor with a pretty unhappy look on his face. Him too, then. Which just left…

…Nevermind. Axel definitely lost something. The Rhinos watched her check, double-check, and even triple-check her supplies, and yet she never seemed quite satisfied with the results. "My pocketknife's gone," She finally said, even though no one could really tell if she was talking to them or herself. "WHERE IS IT!?"

Oh wow, okay. Wayne gently patted Axel on the shoulder in a hopefully comforting way, and everyone seemed pretty relieved when Axel didn't just toss him out a window. Everyone except, of course, Julia.

"Big deal." The influencer rolled her eyes, earning several nasty looks from the rest of the cabin. "She's, like, a total psycho anyway. What does she need more weapons for? For reals, just get over– ACK!"

Julia let out a cry of shock, and barely ducked before the shovel Axel flung at her made contact. It flew right over her head, and lodged itself in the wall behind her. By the handle. Emma totally sympathized, though; who didn't wanna throw a shovel at Julia?

Caleb, apparently. He positioned himself between Axel and Julia, or at least the best he could, given the fact they were on the floor and Julia wasn't, and frowned disapprovingly. "Okay, decapitating our teammates is an example of what we're not going to do." Axel snarled, but Caleb didn't back down. "I mean it. I get you're upset, but we need to figure this out calmly and maturely.

What followed was a pretty intense staring contest between Axel and Caleb. The cabin fell silent as they all waited for them to figure it out. No one dared interfere, lest there be consequences.

"Fine."

Axel cracked first. She turned on her heel, and marched outside without a word. Emma scrambled to her feet to follow, as did the rest of the cabin, sans Julia. The Rhinos trailed after her as she made her way out, waiting on the patio in curious worry. When Axel finally spoke, her voice boomed throughout the area.

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE OUT! MESS HALL! NOW!"

—-

Chris took a nice, long sip of his cappuccino. Some would think he didn't like the off days, but that couldn't be further from the truth! It was days like this where everyone's favorite host could sit back, relax, and just watch as a bunch of teenagers tore each other to shreds. His co-host, on the other hand, was less than amused.

"It better not turn out you stole their stuff."

Ugh. Some people just had no faith in his integrity!

—-

Nobody had to be told twice. When Axel demanded everybody leave their cabins and head to the mess hall, they all knew better than to protest. An angry Axel was a murderous Axel, and no one was in the mood to be impaled currently. Which brought them to now.

The campers had pushed the mess hall's tables together and everyone had taken a seat, either on the actual benches or the tables themselves. The mood was tense as always, and you could probably convince any one of them that the whole building was cursed.

"So," It was Axel who broke the silence, pacing along the Rhino table with a scowl. Twelve pairs of eyes followed her every movement. "Clearly we got a little kleptomaniac on our hands–"

Everyone looked at MK.

"Wow."

"-AHEM!" The attention turned back to Axel. "Now. I'm gonna give our thief twenty seconds, and if you fess up now, I might consider not pummeling you. So?" She did a full 360 of the room, briefly looking each contestant in the eyes. "Anyone have anything to share?"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

The campers exchanged wary glances, eyeing each other suspiciously as they waited. Each stone-cold gaze daring someone to come forward.

No one did.

"Fine," Axel's voice came out eerily calm, and somehow that worried people more than aggressive Axel. "Have it your way, then. I wanna know where everyone was, who you were with, and what you were doing. Go!"

"Waitwaitwait, why do we have to do it and you don't?" Chase piped up. "You tell us where you were!"

"She was with me all day," Caleb interjected. "We went on a walk together this morning, and she hasn't left my sight since. Nichelle's in the clear, too. She was asleep all morning, and with us all afternoon. And they can both back that story up." He calmly leaned forward, eyeing Chase with the slightest hint of annoyance. "Does that answer your question?"

"Uh…" Axel smirked as Chase stumbled over his words, before shrinking back into his seat. "Yeah, okay, I guess so… wasn't me either, though! I was just getting breakfast, and then Damien showed up, and then he made me do this stupid scavenger hunt thing–"

"Chase!"

"What? It sucked!" Priya deflated, and Damien shook his head in disapproval. "Anyway, all that matters is that The Chasester is all good!"

"You should pummel him anyway!" Emma suggested. "I'd pay to see that!"

Chase being Chase, did not take the hint. "Aww, I know I'm charming, babe, but you don't gotta pay to look at me!" Everyone groaned as Chase wiggled his eyebrows, and Emma's eye twitched. "You're sweet, though!"

"Uh…" Raj spoke up next, and the attention turned to him. "I was with Scary Girl for a bit, then I was with Wayner. Then I was with my team. And now I'm with–"

Bowie smiled, gingerly placing a hand on top of Raj's. "They get the idea." He said sweetly, before raising his voice to address the rest of the room. "I was with MK. We spent all day tackling Priya's scavenger hunt! Isn't that right, MK?"

"Yup, can confirm."

"Wait, but why were we so quick to throw the Scary Girl thing out the window earlier?" Scary Girl's neck cracked as she turned to look at Chase, her smile just a little too twitchy for comfort. "She never lost anything!"

"Wait, she didn't?" Nichelle leaned over the table to get a better look at the accused girl. "That is weird!"

Chase nodded smugly. "And if she was only with the hockey guy for half the day, she totally had the chance, too! Plus, did you guys see her with that climbing wall last season!? If she could jump a wall like that, she could definitely get in through the window!"

Scary Girl stood up, but Priya put a hand on her shoulder and silently urged her to sit back down. "Why are you so adamant on blaming her? So she didn't lose anything, she could get in through the window, and she was by herself for a while! That's all circumstantial!"

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"Nope… it's pretty bad. But Scary Girl's my friend, so it's up to me to defend her!" Priya smiled. It was not genuine.

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Hey, I'm not saying she for sure did it!" Chase defended. "I'm just saying it's pretty sussy! OW!" Emma smacked Chase over the head without even looking his way, leaving Chase rubbing his head with a pout. "What was that for!?"

Axel furrowed her brows in probable confusion–it was Emma and Chase, so that was no shocker–before moving on. "Emma?" She prompted, earning a nervous look from the blonde in question. "What were you doing before we went to see you?"

"Woah, okay, um…" Emma giggled, fiddling with her ponytail. "Training, mostly! I mean, I kinda joined Priya's little training group for a while, but she was busy today, so…"

"Sorry!"

Emma waved a hand dismissively. "No, no, it's totally okay! Uh… I was on the beach all day, but I was by myself, so um… but I didn't take anything, obviously! I saw Wayne and Raj while I was there, and then like, half an hour later I went back to the cabin with Caleb, Nichelle, and Axel! Actually, I think it was more like twenty minutes! Twenty five! I don't know, I wasn't really keeping track, so–"

Julia groaned. "We get it! Just hurry up, I am supposed to be streaming for my followers right now!"

[CONFESSIONAL: EMMA]

"UGH!" Emma clenched her fists and puffed her cheeks out, punching the confessional wall in fury. "Julia is literally going to drive me insane! Why am I on her team again!?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Okay, fine! Where were you, then!?"

"Doesn't matter."

"I…" Emma paused, visibly taken aback. "What?"

"It doesn't matter!" Julia set her phone face down on the table, instead opting to confidently inspect her nails. "Because I already know who did it."

The campers looked at each other in surprise. Surprised murmurs began to bubble up among the table as allies and friends whispered to each other in shock. Finally, Caleb decided to press further. "Enlighten us."

"It was MK. Probably Bowie, too, now that I think about it."

All heads turned toward MK. She didn't look worried; in fact, she seemed perfectly calm despite being unceremoniously thrown into the hot seat.

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"Yeaaaaah, I got a pretty good poker face if I do say so myself," MK chuckled, grinning smugly. "But I've been to court loads of times, and my lawyer taught me everything she knows! It's in the bag."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Bowie, on the other hand, didn't look happy. "Um, what?" He frowned, crossing his arms. "Just what are you on about?"

"Well," Julia began, clicking her tongue. "I was just minding my own business–"

"Yeah, right…" Emma grumbled.

"-And I caught MK sneaking around camp! She was like, behind her cabin, and then ran all the way to our cabin! I didn't know what she was doing, but I knew it was sketchy. And I was right!" Julia sneered, leaning forward with a malicious grin. "And Bowie said he was with her, which means either he was helping her, or he's helping her lie!" The group once again erupted into noise. Raj and Wayne loudly protested, Priya and Damien tried to no avail to calm their teammates, and Nichelle seemed to be in full support of Julia's accusations.

Bowie was the first to speak up in the duo's defense. "Sorry, remind me again why we're taking Julia's word at face value? Come on, does that girl have an honest bone in her body?" Julia scoffed in offense, but Bowie only continued. "Do you even have any proof?"

"That's such a lame question," MK butted in. Bowie quirked an eyebrow with a small smirk, motioning for her to continue. "I think the better question is; why don't you have any proof?"

"...What?"

"Think about it," She went on. "Julia's always got a phone on her. Always! Pretty sure she's smuggled at least twenty in by now," There were some murmurs of agreement. "Heck, she's always on her phone, too, so she's got easy access. And Julia said herself that she knew I was being sketchy the second she saw me. So riddle me this; if you saw someone being super sketchy, and you had a phone in your hand, what would you do? Stand there and watch? Go back to what you were doing? Or maybe, oh I dunno…" MK tapped her chin in pretend thought. "...Record it?"

[CONFESSIONAL: BOWIE]

"Okay, I like where this is going!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"So c'mon, Julia! Let's see it!" MK stood, egging the influencer on with mock enthusiasm. "Let's see that video of me being all sketchy! I mean, you obviously have it…" A devious grin spread across her face as she straight up watched Julia's blood run cold. "...Right?"

"Not to take sides, but she has a point…" Priya muttered. "You're always on your phone, right? You should have a video."

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"Okay, I'm taking sides. I have to! Who would you believe between your teammate with an alibi and a solid point, or the evil girl from the other team who just came up with an accusation out of nowhere!?" Priya took a deep breath in, and let it out in the form of a sigh. "I don't… always like MK, but she's my teammate. I have to support her!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Um, hello?" Julia stood too, looking almost disgusted by Priya's taking MK's side. "She literally stole from the whole team last season! And got eliminated for it! Remember?"

This time, it was Bowie's turn to step in. "True," He agreed. "But then why would she do it again so soon? You'd think she'd take a break from stealing after getting kicked off for it, you know? I mean really, our MK's a smart cookie! Does anyone really believe she'd be dumb enough to try the same thing again? At the start of the season, mind you?"

"Mhm," MK smugly nodded. "Bowie-boy's right."

"But!" He began again, to everyone's surprise. "I could totally see it being motivation, actually!" A smirk spread across Bowie's face. "For Julia, that is."

"Ooooooooooooooooooooh!"

"Chase, could'ja quiet down for five seconds?"

"One mississippi, two mississippi…"

Bowie loudly cleared his throat. "As I was saying… MK did get voted off for stealing, didn't she? And MK, I'm so sorry, I just can't seem to remember… who was it that got you eliminated?"

"Julia."

"Oh, that's right! It was Julia, wasn't it? Which means Julia knows she can get MK eliminated for stealing! Especially since she's done it before… right?"

Julia rolled her eyes. "Where are you going with this?"

"Simple!" Bowie clasped his hands together. "MK's caused a teensy little bit of trouble for Julia in the past… I wouldn't blame her at all for wanting MK gone!"

"Ouch."

"And how might Julia plan to get rid of MK here? If only she had some kind of past experience to go off of… if only she could replicate MK's last elimination… if only she could do exactly what she did last time?" A few people gasped, Julia included. "All she'd have to do is steal a little something from everybody, pin it on MK, and mission accomplished!"

The crowd went dead silent. The only one to speak was Julia.

"You… can not be serious."

"It… does make a lot of sense…" Priya meekly admitted.

"Are you kidding me right now!?" Julia slammed a fist onto the table. You believe him!?"

"It's nothin' personal, Julia–" Damien tried, but his words fell on deaf ears.

The influencer forced a laugh. "Nothing. Personal!? You think I want your junk!?"

"Not like anyone else would, either." Emma pointed out.

"Yeah, right! Half of you dress like you collect junk for a living anyway!"

MK in particular seemed pretty annoyed by that comment. "Okay, that's just messed up."

"You know what? Forget it." Julia jumped to her feet, and stalked off toward the door. "I know what I saw! And if you don't believe me, you can have fun getting robbed!" With that, she threw the door open, stepped outside, and slammed it behind her.

…

…

…

…

"Well," Caleb began, also rising from his seat. "If that's all, I think I'll be going, too. Nichelle? Axel?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Nichelle swung her legs over the bench and hopped off. Axel followed suit, stepping off the table, and off the bench from there.

One by one, the campers trailed out of the mess hall, leaving behind an awkward atmosphere full of distrust.

Maybe, if they'd stayed just a few seconds longer, they'd have noticed the way MK and Bowie smirked at each other.

—-

[A/N: Hey there! Apologies for the late upload again! I was going to just wait until next Saturday, but I was almost finished with the chapter. I do my writing Monday - Saturday normally, so I decided to get some writing done today (Sunday), too. I decided if I finished it before I went to sleep Sunday, I'd post it when I finished. If I didn't I'd wait until Saturday. And I'm pleased to say that I did! Thanks again for reading, and I'll hopefully see you all next week!]