Right, time to pick teams! Thanks for reviewing, Gage the Hedgehog, GIANTPANDAMAN and SuperKitty4789.

We had a break the next day, before Gwen and Trent had to pick teams. I was hoping like crazy Gwen would pick me, because I considered her my best Total Drama friend, although possibly equal with Duncan. I had no problem with anyone else, really, except of course, Heather.

I spent the day hanging out with Duncan, actually. I figured Gwen wanted to make the most of being with Trent while they weren't competing, so I had to hang out with someone.

"Hope we're on the same team again." I commented. "If we're as good as we were last season, we'll both get to the merge. I've been dying to get another chance to kick your butt."

"Dream on, sister." Duncan laughed. "I'm going to win this season."

"You're the one dreaming." I told him, chuckling. "Hey, you wanna go steal some of Chef's honey and put it in Harold's pants?"

"Definitely!"

"And we need to find a permanent marker!" I added. "I want to use it on Heather when she's asleep!"

In the alien challenge, Heather's wig had fallen off and ended up going down the drain. For the rest of the season, she would have to deal with being visibly bald. Huh, she deserved it.

On the other hand, no one deserved to be woken up the next day before it got light, just for torture. We didn't get breakfast until it was light, so we were up and dressed for like, two hours before anything happened. I even heard Beth talking in the confessional about how bad Chris was. "I was really hoping they'd replace Chris the Creep with a nicer host this time around. Is that mean? Sorry!"

When it was finally time to get started on the challenge, most of us stood in a little group. Gwen stood a little way away on one side, with Trent on the other. Chris told us that today, we'd find out how tough on-set life could be, and it was time to pick the teams.

"We're gonna be choosing schoolyard style, boy, girl, boy, girl." Chris explained. "Ladies first. Since we have no ladies, Gwen."

Gwen heaved a sigh and said "I don't know...Duncan?" Trent gasped, looking horrified as my two closest friends on the show high-fived.

It was Trent's turn. "I choose the beautiful Lindsay."

"Yay!" Lindsay cheered. Gwen's eyes narrowed. She knew why Trent said that, but it also seemed like she was saying that Trent had no reason to be jealous.

Things continued. "Because I like to keep things cool, I pick Leshawna." Gwen said.

"The girls are back in town!" Leshawna cheered. They high-fived, too.

Next, Trent chose Justin.

"Oh, pick all the good-looking contestants." Gwen snarked. "That'll get you far."

"It will in showbiz."

Gwen shrugged. "DJ."

Trent glanced around and then said "...Stephanie."

I held back a sigh and went to join the team. What? I hadn't even considered that Trent would pick me for his team! I'd kind of thought of it as a given that I'd be on Gwen's team. I mean, Duncan and Leshawna were on that team! I got along with everyone on there so far. Not that I hated Justin or Lindsay...but I barely knew Justin, and I just had to hope that Lindsay wouldn't act too dumb.

Gwen, too, looked thrown when Trent picked me. She'd probably been planning on it. She opened her mouth again to choose her next girl, when Leshawna whispered something to her.

I heard her answer. "Seriously? You don't mean-" Leshawna nodded as the team captain spoke. "Fine." Gwen sighed. "We choose Heather."

"Really?" the Hairless Queen exclaimed.

Trent looked between the two guys, and chose Owen. Gwen had to pick Harold, since he was the only guy left. That left Beth and Izzy, who both ended up on our team.

Chris had NO originality with names. Gwen's team was the Screaming Gaffers. My team was the Killer Grips (Weirdly enough, I was the only former Killer Bass on the team. One Bass in a sea of Gophers).

"Grips?" Beth repeated. "I don't wanna be a grip!"

"Please, it's not like being a gaffer is anything to brag about." Heather responded. "It sounds like something that has rabies."

Our challenge was to set up a film set, at the top of a hill. This meant taking up all these lights, props and sets, plus a makeup trailer. Gwen's team was neck and neck with us. As he ran, Trent muttered to this necklace Gwen had given him.

Izzy ran alongside, laughing. "Wow, I thought I was crazy! You're talking to jewellery?"

"You are crazy!" Trent said crossly. "I'm just trying to help our team win."

"Hey, that's what I'm trying to do, too! If you've got some lucky earrings, I'd be glad to have a little chat with them!"

Trent wasn't helping much, though, since he kept looking over at Gwen, often glaring whenever he caught sight of Duncan. Wow, he was jealous...and for the first time, I wondered what Courtney was thinking, if she was watching from the sidelines.

Now, I'd had a crush on Duncan, too. In fact, I still kind of did, especially since I was still going to be around him for the next six weeks. But I didn't feel anything much when I saw him and Gwen teasing each other or hanging out together. But Courtney wasn't much like me, and I couldn't help wondering if she was watching jealously.

Finally, we had to get the trailer up. It was the only thing left.

"I have a brilliant idea." Lindsay volunteered. "Let's get Tyler to do it!"

...What?

"He's not here any more!" all of us shouted.

"Seriously?" Lindsay began to look sad. "Bummer."

In the end, we told Owen that he'd get to eat once he pulled the trailer up. So he attached his belt to the trailer and started pulling it up.

"Hey, new best friends, how do you like that?" Trent called to his girlfriend and Duncan. "You gonna cry together, you punk wannabes?" They both looked annoyed, but it didn't change the fact that we were winning. Even when Owen's shorts started falling down because of the belt.

Beth was acting as team cheerleader. "Owen, Owen, he's our guy!" she chanted. "If he can't do it...um...uh – he's not our guy!"

Anyway, we won. Gwen's team wanted DJ to pull the trailer up, but for some reason, he'd refused.

It was time for the second part of the challenge – filming a scene. We had to pick an actor or actress, and record a scene. The other team had a scene with a thug who tried to go straight but couldn't do it (so they of course made the delinquent play him), while we were doing a scene with an old lady reminiscing about her life.

"Hey, what about lunch?" Heather demanded. "We have been working for eight hours and you are required by union rules to give us a lunch break!"

"Who here is in the union?" Chris asked, raising his own hand.

Nothing. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Awkward." I said, sticking out my tongue at Heather (don't get me wrong, I wanted a lunch break too, but getting one over on Heather was just too sweet to resist).

Next, we had to choose an actor. Izzy begged to be the old lady. "It's gotta be me! I have an old soul! I'm like eighty-three years old on the inside, cause I've been reincarnated like a whole bunch of times! Actually, I'm the reincarnation of my very own Granny Mavis!" She put on a Scottish accent as she spoke.

Soon, we were getting everything set up. Lindsay was doing Izzy's makeup carefully. "Your makeup, gorgeous! And now," she beamed, "I'm going to make you really feel like an old lady!"

"I feel like eighty years have already passed since they started adjusting the lighting!" Izzy complained.

"Don't move!" Beth warned from above as she adjusted.

"Oh, don't worry! I can't! My legs are totally asleep!"

"Can I get that last line again?" Owen asked, headphones on.

Izzy made a grab for the microphone. "MY LEGS ARE ASLEEP!"

I gave a sigh. "Beth, are you nearly done with the lighting? I need to mark exactly where Izzy's going to stand!"

"Give me a few seconds!" Beth answered.

I sidled up to Trent, who was simply watching (and glancing over every few seconds, especially when he heard Gwen making up for something Heather had said by telling Duncan he was not pretty, but he was hot).

"Not enjoying competing against your girlfriend, huh?" I said sympathetically. "But seriously, she and Duncan are just friends. Don't get too wound up."

"I know." Trent sighed. "But it's hard to see her hanging out with him, and I'm worried..."

"Relax." I told him. "I was on a team with Duncan for four weeks. Trust me, he's not interested in Gwen. If he's interested in someone, he will usually be a bit more of a flirt – besides, I happen to know about fifty percent of his thoughts revolve around Courtney. The other half is about playing pranks and winning challenges." I added with a grin.

We eventually got everything done, but Izzy continued complaining. It was more interesting to watch the other team. Heather got tangled in one of the cords of the lights, and started yelling. "I know you did this, Leshawna!"

Eventually, Harold offered to help her down (In the last two days at the Playa on my own, I'd gotten the chance to watch the special, and they'd eventually paired up. Heather did try to take the money for herself and leave him, but he followed her. Heather made this big speech about how she didn't like being mean and it wasn't that fun being the hated one, and then Harold still offered to split the money with her, albeit with him getting $600 grand of it, and she said they'd still be friends afterwards, but then shook her head at the camera). I would've left her hanging until the end of the challenge.

But whatever happened, it didn't help us win the challenge. Izzy was too unfocused of an actress. She was saying her lines, and then suddenly continued "Hey, I can flip my eyelids! Anyone wanna see me flip them?"

However, Duncan's performance, while having gotten the wrong script, made Chef start crying.

"Okay, cut!" Chris called out, tears in his eyes. "It's too much for Chef to take! Duncan clearly wins for best performance! The Screaming Gaffers win!"

And so, while the Gaffers celebrated, us Grips had to go to another Gilded Chris ceremony. It was obvious who was going.

I picked up my voting device and stabbed my finger at the fire-headed girl, as I glanced at the real Izzy. I didn't want to kick her off so early, but again, it was a game. Izzy's performance dragged the team down.

Chris tossed us each an award, one by one.

"And the loser is..." Chris paused. "Izzy! Time to go!"

We waited, but Izzy folded her arms stubbornly. "I'm not going anywhere. That's not my name."

Chris had to change the name on the votes to E-Scope before Izzy responded to being voted off. As the Lame-o-sine drove away, we heard her calling "This was just a dress rehearsal, my darlings! You'll see my star on the Walk of Fame, mark my words! MARK 'EM!"

It was a relief to go and hang out with just the girls that night. After elimination, I chilled outside until it turned from chilly to frozen, then I went back to the trailer. The minute I stepped through the door, though, Lindsay called out "Hey, Stephie, over here!" She and Beth were sitting on Lindsay's bunk (the top one), talking.

"My name's Stephanie, Lindsay." I reminded her patiently. True, I let Duncan call me Stephie, but he was the only one allowed.

"We're talking strategy." Beth explained, glancing down at the bracelets she was making as she spoke. "After the elimination today, we decided we really need to step up our game."

I nodded. "Yeah, sure, but what are the plans? We don't know what kind of challenges are coming up next. We should brainstorm the genres Chris might have in store for us. Chick flicks, mysteries, documentaries..."

So that's how the day ended – me sitting on a bunk with my girl teammates, thinking up strategies for whatever genre was thrown at us next. Problem was, none of us had seen any movies in the next genre Chris decided to spring on us.

Too bad all the surfers were gone before the surf movie challenge, huh? Hope you liked this chapter!