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Our next challenge was the last one of the week, and it was a reward challenge. The next day, we would get any letters and/or care packages that had been sent to the lot (probably including the one Mom mentioned she'd sent to me).
I sat with my teammates again. Heather waved to Beth and Lindsay, but they both stayed away.
I was sitting next to Justin, stealing glances at him every so often, when the other girls rushed to his side.
"Justin, look, I brought you bacon!" Lindsay offered.
"I brought you facon. Tofu's good for your heart." Beth chipped in.
"Pig's good for his hair!" Lindsay argued.
"Holy crap, I love his hair!" Beth literally jumped up to hug Justin and his hair.
The model gently set her back down. "Ladies, please, I accept both your offerings. Join me for breakfast?"
The two girls both giggled and took the invitation, spending the next few minutes just staring at didn't even want food.
"Bubbleheads." I muttered under my breath. "Catch me spending breakfast staring at some model."
"Did you say something, Stephanie?" I looked up when I heard Justin address me, and instantly, I was staring into his aquamarine eyes. Oh, they were so beautiful...
"Oh! Um...no...nothing." I stammered. I knew Justin was an egotistical pretty boy who had tried to steal the prize money off my team in the special last season, but he was just too gorgeous to resist!
Opposite us, Trent poured salt on his breakfast, only for the lid to come off.
At the other table, Duncan burst out laughing. "Sorry about the morning a-salt!" He laughed.
Gwen slapped him. "Third grade called, you're due back in class."
I giggled, although I felt a little disloyal to my team. "Third grade? I could've sworn I heard them say first grade!"
Trent scowled. "Real mature. Don't you know it's bad luck to spill salt?" He tossed it over his shoulder, and it landed on Heather.
This time, Trent put pepper. Turned out that Duncan had left the lid loose on that, too. He also tossed some of it over his shoulder and it hit Heather again.
Duncan laughed. "You still gonna finish your eggs, bro?" He took a piece off Trent's plate.
Oh wow, the look on Trent's face! He flipped. "Are you nuts? Now I only have eight pieces left!"
That was only the start. Chris came in with a suspiciously similar surfboard (did Bridgette leave hers when she left?). "Hang on to your coconuts, players! We're going back to the beach! Ever seen one of those 1950s surfer movies where the kids get up to neato fun before the big bonfire twist-a-thon, and the bully kicks the sandcastle in the nerdy guy's face?"
Duncan spoke up. "Uh, no, Grandpa, we haven't."
"Well, get ready to recreate one, Junior!" Chris said brightly.
"Get ready to recreate something we know nothing about!" I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, that really tells us what we're doing today."
We all changed into our swimming costumes and went to...a freezing set.
"When did you guys move the beach to Antartica?" Lindsay shivered. We had to stand on a surfboard over a pool, and whoever stayed on there longest won.
There was a long pause on who was going first. Finally, I said, "Aw, screw it...I'll go." But the minute I was on there, Chris decided to mention that we had a couple of sharks in the pool. I didn't take long to fall off, and just as I came back, Beth was giving Trent a friendship bracelet. That's how I noticed it.
Before Trent put the bracelet on, he tapped it on his head nine times, counting. Okay...he just got weirder than he was at breakfast.
"Did you ever notice Trent's a little weird?" Beth muttered to Lindsay and I.
I nodded, while Lindsay squealed. "Did you say Tyler's here? That's amazing!"
"Okay, Linds," Beth said, "Tyler is not in the game any more."
"Oh, right! I must have a dental block about the whole thing!"
Everyone took a turn on the board. Harold went. Lindsay went. DJ went. Owen broke the surfboard, and we had to repair it.
Gwen took a turn, but this time, Chris shot seagulls at her. I'm serious.
Justin's turn. Beth called out to him. "Justin! Your face! Watch your beautiful face!" He got knocked down by the seagulls, but the sharks gave him CPR. No, really.
Duncan was the best. Chris even tried throwing Lindsay at him, and he stayed on the surfboard, winning for the Gaffers. I watched, feeling a bit jealous as he and Gwen fist-bumped, and then hugged. I'd always been the one hanging out with Duncan on the island. It had been fine after the merge, when it was all three of us, but now...here I was, stuck on a team with people I barely knew, while my two closest friends got closer to each other than they were to me. And if I felt that way, I dreaded to imagine how Courtney would react.
For the next challenge, the bus came for us, although we'd changed out of our swimsuits, believing it was another set.
Beth had made a friendship bracelet for everyone on the team, not just Trent. She gave a blue one to Lindsay, a green one to Owen, and a dark purple one for me. "It's the closest to black I had." she explained. I smiled at her and put it on. True, I didn't consider Beth a friend – not yet, anyway, but she was like a puppy, all wide-eyed and eager to please. I couldn't let her down. And maybe I could make an alliance with her later on, if I made friends with her first. Not fake friends – if I couldn't like her enough, I wouldn't ally with her, but we'd see.
Weirdly enough, she didn't give a friendship bracelet to Justin. Maybe she just felt inferior to him or something, but who knew.
Everyone sat with their teams on the bus, and because Beth and Lindsay paired up, as did Trent and Owen, I ended up sitting with Justin. We didn't talk, but whenever Justin caught me staring at him, he would dazzle me with his smile. Forget sparkly vampires – I'd rather look at Justin's eyes!
We were driven to the beach at TDI. Really! But our team had to sit around for half an hour while the Gaffers got a headstart on the sandcastle building competition.
Well, actually, Gwen and Duncan disappeared and I followed them. They were dismantling the bus engine.
"Hey, mind if I help?" I asked. The three of us laughed as we did it.
"I've always been more of a dismantler than a builder, anyway." Duncan said.
Gwen grinned. "No, you just love to stir up the-" The horn turned itself on. "Stuff! I was gonna say stuff!"
"Disconnect the horn next time, guys." I laughed. "Save a bunk in one of the cabins for me when I win this challenge!"
Finally, it was time for our team to start. "We need a plan." Trent said. "And I have one."
Can you guess what his plan was? Nine of everything. Oh yeah, I totally didn't see that coming. Eventually, our castle collapsed under the first eight flags, and it was Beth who saved us with Lindsay's magazines and her friendship bracelets. Hey, it still looked like a sandcastle, and that was what mattered.
We made it into paper mache, and kept everything up with Beth's bracelets. Finally, we were done. Trent named it. "I dub thee, 'Casa Gwen'." He still insisted on having nine of everything, even counting when he waved to Gwen.
Look, I was all for supportive boyfriends, but this was a team challenge, and Gwen's team had made what their geeky architect had called the "Taj Maharold".
In the end, we won, and we needed a tiebreaker. What was it? A dance-off in front of a bonfire.
"Can I do it?" I begged my team. "Please? I've been doing hip-hop since I was ten!" (Well, okay, I started in ninth grade...but I was in an advanced class with adults!)
As for the Gaffers, Leshawna got them to choose her. "My nickname back home – LaShakin' It!"
Chris turned on the music, and Leshawna faced me. "Prepare for a world of pain, girl!"
"Bring it on!" I replied. I began dancing, keeping an eye on Leshawna.
I nearly stopped dead in my tracks at what I saw!
Okay, listen to me when I say this: if Leshawna ever shows up to the wildest dance club in town, it would be beneficial for their customers if the bouncers didn't let her in. Sure, she's cool, smart and has style, but dancing will never be one of her talents. I won that challenge easily, and we got the reward – a beach party! While the rest of us began the celebration, Trent slipped away to talk to Gwen in the forest, and I quickly stopped Owen from following them. "Let the lovebirds talk it out, big guy. I swear, you're worse than my dad and my little sister for not knowing when you're not wanted! Besides, if you follow them, you won't get first pick of the party food!"
The Gaffers actually had to watch us partying. And then, at one point, Beth got her wish. Justin went over to talk to her, and I overheard every word. "Thanks for winning us the sandcastle contest, especially after I blew the surfing challenge. You really saved my bacon, or should I say facon."
Beth could only gasp for air.
"Except," Justin continued. "I kind of noticed you gave everyone on the team friendship bracelets. Everyone except me. Aren't we friends, Beth?"
Of course, she gave him the last one she had. "Course! Here. It's kind of wet – my palm's a little sweaty." I couldn't help facepalming. Poor Beth – she was so awkward and clumsy.
Still, it was good that we did get back to the trailers when the bus was fixed. I wanted my letters for the next day!
We'll see her letters next chapter. And Trent's final failure. Poor dude.