Nighttime in the woods...

The week should've been easy, since our challenges were pretty short, and we should really have had another break. But our next challenge was one that would last overnight.

The challenge was simply to spend the night in the woods. We were given maps to where our tent would be, ready to set up. I took our team's compass, remembering the time Dad, Bart and I got lost in the woods. Mom and Lisa stayed put, and Maggie should've stayed put, but as it turned out, she'd followed us and run into some bears who she made friends with. Oh yeah, and after eating honey straight from a beehive and getting covered in mud, Dad was mistaken for Bigfoot.

But back to bears...Chris warned us to watch out for them. "Lost a couple of interns in pre-production."

"I had a little encounter with a bear once!" Owen boasted. "Let's just say his head looks real nice up on my mantle."

"Oh, this one time, I saw a bear eating our garbage!" Izzy added. "He had old spaghetti noodles hanging from his great huge teeth, and it looked like blood and guts, it was so gross! And we thought he was eating the neighbour's cat Simba but it turned out he was just lost for a week. Uh..." She paused, looking at Lindsay, who had gone green. "You didn't eat spaghetti, did you?" Lindsay shook her head. "Good, let's go!"

So I walked off with my team. I was near the back, so I was the only one who noticed Katie stop Sadie at a bush. "Sadie, look, blueberries!"

Sadie gave a gasp. "I love love love blueberries!"

"Omigosh, me too!"

I shrugged and continued walking. They'd catch up, right?

We found the campground fairly easily. DJ went off to find food, while Geoff, Bridgette, Courtney and I set up the tent.

Geoff smiled at Bridgette. "Wow, you pitch a tent like a guy!"

I had to hold back from saying anything. Bridgette looked unamused, and Geoff amended, "I mean, you're not all girly about getting dirty and stuff..."

"Gee, thanks." Bridgette muttered.

Duncan looked over at Courtney. "What's for dinner, woman? I'm starving!"

"I hope you don't expect me to dignify that with a response." Courtney said coldly.

"Oh, come on, chill out!" I cut in. "It's not like he was serious!"

"Hey, guys, look what I found!" It was DJ. He was holding a small rabbit.

"Well, I've never had rabbit stew before, but what the heck, I'm game." Duncan said casually.

DJ looked appalled. "This is my new pet! I'm calling him Bunny."

So yeah, we didn't have much in the way of food that night.

"Hey, has anyone seen Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Idiot?" Duncan suddenly said.

I glanced around. Finally I said "I saw the wannabe twins on the way. They stopped at a blueberry bush – I just assumed they'd catch up." I gave a sigh. "I didn't want them to get lost."

Courtney glanced up at the sky. "Well, it's too dark to search for them now. We'd get lost ourselves."

Soon, the eight of us were sitting around the fire. Most of us were happy, but Bridgette jumped at every little sound. "I just get really freaked out in the forest."

"This reminds me of this really scary story I heard once." Duncan spoke up.

"Awesome!" Geoff said. "Tell it, man!"

"Are you sure? Because the story I'm thinking about is pretty hardcore."

"Ooh, we're so scared." Courtney said sarcastically.

Duncan wasn't kidding, though. I wasn't scared – I was used to going up to the treehouse with my siblings during Halloween and telling scary stories. There was the one about the possessed house, the aliens, the vampire that came to dinner (Lisa's boyfriend in the story)...probably the scariest one was the one Bart told about the zombies. Or maybe the one where Dad went insane without his two true loves and wrote all over the house No TV and no beer make Homer go crazy.

I resolved to tell that story, but Duncan's one sidetracked me for a while. He told the story well enough to freak me out a couple of times. "They say, that this killer is still alive," he said softly. "Wandering these very woods. He could be just about anywhere, really. Maybe even right here!" Suddenly he was holding a hook. Bridgette and Courtney both screamed, and all of the guys gasped. Duncan started laughing.

Courtney got up. "Duncan, that was so not funny!"

"Yes, it was!" Duncan kept laughing. "I just wish it was all on camera...oh wait, it is!" I started giggling too. Courtney shot a death glare at me and then turned back to Duncan.

"You are so vile! Do your parents even like you?"

"I don't know, Jumpy McChicken, I haven't asked them lately."

"Anyway," I cut in, "Quit hogging the limelight. It's my turn to tell a story." But after that one, my story was pretty lackluster. We ended up going to bed early. Then Bridgette left the tent to go to the bathroom, got freaked out by bats, then accidentally kicked an ember on the fire close enough so that the tent burned.

"Great." snapped Courtney. "That's just great, Bridgette. Now we have nowhere to sleep!"

Duncan spoke up again. "Yo, Drama Queen, relax. It's cool."

"Cool? It's cool?" Courtney shrieked. "Things could not possibly get worse!" Then it started to rain. We huddled together.

I must've fallen asleep at some point, because I woke up to find myself cuddled up to my newest guy friend. That was cool. The only thing was, Courtney was cuddled up to him on his other side. Just as she began to move, Duncan opened his eyes. He gave me a little smirk and motioned for me to move away. I got it – this would just be another way to tease her.

"Morning, sunshine." Duncan said as Courtney opened her eyes.

Courtney gasped. "Omigosh, ew! You were cuddling me!"

"I was calmly lying on my back and trying to catch a few Zs." Duncan answered. "You were snuggling up to me."

"You are such an ogre!" Courtney scowled.

"I've been called worse."

"Was that true – she cuddled up to you?" I whispered to Duncan on our way back to camp.

Duncan nodded. "Not that I minded, though." he said. "You did the exact same thing." He laughed. "Don't look like that – I didn't mind. It's not like I have to start dating you because I let you cuddle with me once."

Yeah, we were definitely mates. We hung out together, laughed together, thought alike, but we weren't attracted to each other. It was becoming more and more obvious that the reason Duncan liked to anger Courtney was because he was so obviously crushing on her, and me...well, I didn't have a crush on the island.

We got back to camp first, but we still didn't win because not everyone was with us, and Chris noticed. The Gophers, however, all arrived back at the same time.

"Oh, you mean Katie and Sadie?" Courtney said.

"We're pretty sure they got eaten by wolves last night." I finished. "Or bears."

"Darn shame." Duncan added.

But right on cue, Katie and Sadie ran out of the woods.

"We made it!" cried Katie.

"We're safe!" added Sadie. "Oh my gosh, you guys, we got totally lost and then got in this massive fight!"

"And there was this huge bear and he was all 'rawr, you're in my crib so get out!'"

"And we had to run and it was like so scary!"

"Oh, Sadie," Katie said, "I'm so sorry I said I was prettier than you."

"And I'm so sorry I brought up the snack shack!"

"And I'm sorry I said your butt was too big to fit in the bus seats."

"You did?" Sadie frowned.

"Um...well, not to your face."

There was an awkward silence, but then Sadie said "Oh, who cares? We're safe! And you're my best friend and I love you!"

"Aw, I love you too!"

It didn't matter about that. We'd lost, and one of the twins was going home tonight. The Gophers got to get tuck shop food for free – snacks and that. Now that was a reward worth envying.

To be honest, I still wanted to vote for Courtney, but now I knew that Duncan might like her, I held back. No one else would vote for her tonight – my vote wouldn't make a difference. Instead, I voted for Katie. No offense – but she was the one who stopped Sadie for the blueberries, so it was her fault they got lost.

The votes were cast, and it seemed most of the team thought the same – Katie was the one deprived of her marshmallow.

"No!" Sadie cried. "Why Katie? Why her?"

"It's so unfair!" added Katie.

"I so can't do this!" Sadie wailed. "I've never been anywhere without Katie! We have to be together or I'll totally die!"

Katie put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Sadie, listen to me. You can do this. You are strong and beautiful and like, maybe even smarter than me. And plus, you're like the funnest girl I know. You have to do it for both of us!"

And in that moment, I admired Katie. For the first time, she showed that she had some qualities besides being a ditz...oh, and being not too bad at dodgeball.

But she destroyed that in seconds when I saw the way she and Sadie were calling to each other as the Boat of Losers took her away.

"I miss you already!" Sadie called out.

"I miss you more!" Katie called back.

"No, I miss you more!"

"No way, I totally miss you more!"

"I miss you infinitely more!"

Dumb twins. At least only one of them was left.

I hung out in my cabin for awhile, but I heard a scream as I came out. It turned out that Duncan had been scaring Courtney with his hook again.

"I hate you!" Courtney snapped, storming off.

Duncan saw me, and grinned. "She so doesn't hate me." he remarked, accidentally stabbing himself with his hook.

"And what about you?" I teased. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

Duncan raised his unibrow. "Seriously, Steph? You expect me to talk about my feelings?"

"No, I expect you to tell me you have a thing for Courtney." I laughed. "If you don't, cool. If you do, tell me and I won't tell anyone else." But really, he didn't need to tell me. I knew he did.

So that's Katie gone! Sad, really. I don't mind Katie and Sadie, but they're not high on my list of favourites. Stephanie's one of those really moody people who can't stand vapid people, similarly to Gwen but meaner. That's why she really doesn't like them. So what did you think?

No, seriously, what do you think? I want reviews!