Let's continue! Thanks for reviewing, Gage the Hedgehog. And Jeptwin...there's a disclaimer at the start, saying I own nothing from either franchise, and Stephanie is mine. Besides that, by your reasoning, my stories "Hey Hogwarts", "Being The Slave" and "Love and Dance" got pulled down, and they're still around.
We got a three-day break after Geoff left. According to Chris, he was doing an episode about the losers and what they were doing, and in the middle of our break, they'd pick who to kick off. That's how I knew they were all together somewhere, but Chris wouldn't tell us anything more. Oh well, it explained why it was so easy to find Katie to greet Sadie after the trust challenge.

I spent most of the break chilling with Gwen and Leshawna. We were all wondering what everyone was doing, hanging out together. "I wonder if Cody's got his cast off yet." I commented. "He looked pretty messed up when you guys voted him off."

"I hope so too." Gwen said, looking guilty. "He didn't deserve that. He was a bit creepy, like one time, he sniffed my hair for no reason, but then, after I made it clear that I didn't like him, he helped set me up with Trent." She was clearly still missing Trent, but at least he'd left the island with a mended heart (after Heather's lies broke it) and no broken bones.

Leshawna was missing Harold after that kiss, but she had other emotions. "I got so emotional on the dock, and I'm scared I've given him the wrong message." she sighed. "I want to be friends with him, but that's all. Good friends, but just friends." She sighed again. "I shouldn't have kissed him."

I smiled at her. "Next time you see him, just explain that." I told her. "I was on a team with Harold for almost four weeks. He's a reasonable guy – he won't press you if you want to be just friends. Mind you," I added with a smile, "I somehow think he's going to turn into a friendzoned guy, trying to win you by being your best friend."

I talked to Duncan too, of course. We didn't talk so much about the others, but about what lay ahead. "Who do you think they'll vote off?" I asked. "Heather?"

"Probably." Duncan shrugged. "At least we won't miss her."

"Who else would they vote off?" I wondered. "Maybe I'd be their second choice." (Later on, I discovered that Bridgette was torn between rooting for me, Leshawna and Gwen, and that there wasn't much of anything bad people said about me – even Eva spoke positively, although Courtney said she thought I was immature...and even Izzy said she wanted me to win).

Leshawna was the one to leave the island in the end. None of us were sure why, least of all her. Chef, in fact, had to push her down the dock, while she stood frozen, open-mouthed at the shock.

A days after that, we got our video messages that the final five would get. Chris had gotten the producers to have one recorded for the final ten, so they were ready to go, but only us five would get them.

All five of us got to watch each others, but we did in alphabetical order with our first names. That meant Duncan was first.

His message was from his parents. "Your parole officer here said we could tell you we love you." his mom said.

"Despite your arrest for the Happy New Year's stunt..." his dad added.

"Or for selling your father's hair pieces as pets..." his mom continued.

"And the pool party in the City Hall fountain...come to think of it, do we love you?"

"That's a terrible thing to say!" Duncan's mom cried.

"Well, the boy's a criminal!" his dad argued.

"That hair piece is what's criminal."

"What pool party?" Duncan's parole officer asked.

Duncan's father realized what he'd said. "Son, I hope you win that cash. Your lawyer's gonna need it..."

Gwen's video was a little strange. It was of just her mom and her little brother. Her mom spoke first. "Gwen, we miss you so much, your brother and I decided to pay a little neighbour girl to pretend to be you."

"It was totally Mom's idea, Gwen!" her brother said quickly.

There was a clip of the family sitting around the table, with a girl obviously made up to look like Gwen. She wasn't really much like the real Gwen, though.

"Needless to say," Gwen's mom finished, "That may not have been the best idea."

Gwen's pale skin was going scarlet by the time the message was finished.

It was Heather's turn, and hers was much worse. The clip started with her parents in party hats, celebrating, then suddenly, "We're rolling?" Her parents took off their hats and sat on the sofa, while moving men walked backwards and forwards in front of the camera. But Heather's parents tried.

"Hi, Heather-Feather." her dad said. "It's Momsy and Popsy. We miss you so much. My golf game has really been off since you've been gone." I giggled and Heather shot a glare at me.

"Pedicures seem less spiritual." her mom continued.

At that moment, a moving man walked past, asking "Hey, where do you want me to put her bed?"

Heather's dad's reaction. "Oopsie..."

I felt a bit sorry for Heather, after that. Her parents were partying and selling all her stuff? At least my mom wouldn't do that. Dad might, left to himself, but Mom would never let him.

I didn't take too much notice of Owen's message. His parents were as chubby as him, and they just gushed about how great he looked and how proud they were of him. At least, his parents seemed like very warm, loving people, which explained why Owen was such a teddy bear himself.

Then it was finally my turn. My family was sitting in the living room, all smiling. Mom was crying.

"Hi, Stephanie." Lisa smiled at the camera. "As you've probably guessed, we miss you. Hey Maggie, say hi to the camera.

"Come home, Steph!" Maggie called out, her face up close to the camera.

"Hey, Steph!" Bart called out. "I've got your wallet. You want it back, it'll cost a thousand dollars of the prize money." I rolled my eyes. I could just buy another one. And a lock on my door that needed a key, while I'm at it (although Lisa would need a key too, since we shared a room).

"We miss you, honey." Mom managed through her tears. "Stay safe. I'm very proud of you for making it this far."

Finally, Dad spoke up. "Hey, who are we talking to again? The delinquent or the Asian?"

"It's our daughter, Homer!" Mom snapped.

"Oh." he paused. "Yeah...can't wait to see you. I guess." He paused. "Which one's our daughter? The girl with the blue hair or the black girl?"

I blushed after Heather laughed at that, but I tried to shrug it off. "My dad's always like that. About as sharp as Lindsay."

"That's quite an achievement!" Heather continued laughing. "I am never going to let you forget this!"

I scowled at her. "Oh yeah? Well, at least my siblings and my mom miss me, and they haven't sold all my stuff!" That shut Heather up. Harsh, maybe, but that was all Heather understood. Funny, how her video could make me feel sorry for her, than she'd turn around and say something mean. Voila, I was back to hating her.

Although to be honest, the next challenge was one where I was kind of glad to have people around, even if one of them was her.

Okay, so I don't like the next episode much. But it has a lot of potential for this fic!