Chapter 12: Basic Straining
"Last time on Total Drama Island..." Kris began the usual recap of the episode. "The teams were given three challenges that tested their trust in their teammates. The rock climbing challenge revealed more than just Heath's grudge against Glen. And Trisha got the bad end of a blowfish courtesy of Lenny. DJ trusted Georgia with her pet bunny. Huge mistake, by the way. Some other campers got dropped on their butts and Denica shocked Curtis by showing him her more kinder side. Yeah, touching moments. Good times. Stay tuned for the most dramatic bonfire ceremony yet on TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND!"
*Theme song*
The campers are just relaxing and hanging out as Kris has yet to announce their next challenge.
Denica is carving a skull on their team's cabin. Bradley is sitting on the steps, a little depressed about Georgia being voted out.
Heath and Lenny were just hanging outside their cabin, when Bert came out. "Alright, Heath, did you made s'mores out of my underwear?!" He asked demandingly, while holding up his underwear that's sandwiched between two large graham crackers and smothered in chocolate.
Heath and Lenny just laughed their heads off. Bert pulled one of the underwear out and threw it over the porch, which landed in front of Trisha. "EEEWWW! Bert, you are so totally gross!" She walked away in disgust.
"No, wait! It wasn't me!" Bert said, then turns to Heath angrily. "Why do you keep picking on me, Heath?! Just leave me alone!" He then slammed the door shut.
"That nerd just makes it too easy." Heath snickered. "So I'm not stopping anytime soon."
Harriet was watching them from her cabin window and is angry at Heath for not letting up his bullying toward Bert.
"Listen up, you little cockroaches!" The voice coming from the loudspeakers clearly wasn't Kris McLean, but rather the ruff and tuff lunch lady Hatchet herself. "I want all campers to report to the Dock of Shame at 0900 hours!" The campers are confused by this turn of events. "That means now, soldiers! Now!" Everyone flinched as they made their way to the Dock as quick as they ccould as to not face the wrath of Lunchlady.
Later at the Dock of Shame, all the campers were gathered up as per Lunchlady's order, and standing in attention. Lunchlady is not wearing her usual outfit, but that of a drill sergeant outfit.
She yells at them through the megaphone. "Lone up and stand at attention! You call this proper formation?!" She whacks Lenny's legs. "Knees together!" Then whacks Denica who had her arms crossed. "Arms down!" Yells at DJ. "Eyes forward!" Lifts Heath's head by his chin. "Head up!" Then whacks Harriet multiple times.
"Oh, this is gonna be a fun day." Glen whispered to Trisha.
"What did you say to me, soldier?!" Lunchlady screamed to Glen's face.
"Um... Nothing?" Glen said with a bit of fear in his voice.
"And you'll continue to say nothing until I tell you that you can say something!" Lunchlady firmly yelled to all the 12 campers in front of her. "Today's challenge will not be an easy one. In fact, I do not expect everyone to come out alive."
That made Olivia giggle, prompting Lunchlady whacks her in the butt. "Aww, that hurt!" she screamed.
"My orders are to make sure that all of the babies in front of me drop out of my boot camp except one. The last one standing wins immunity for their team!"
"Uh... what happened to Kris?" Heath whispered to Trisha.
"Rule number one! You will address me as Madam Chief! Have you got that?!"
"Yes, Madam Chief!" The contestants said in unison.
"You will sleep when I tell you to sleep! And you will eat only when I tell you to eat! Is that clear?!"
"Yes, Madam Chief!" Bradley said.
"Rule number two! When you are ready to give up, you will walk to the end of the dock and ring the bell." Madam Chief points to the end of the dock, where a big bell is waiting for whichever loser dared to ring it. "Which brings me to rule number three! I'll have to get one quitter before the end of the first day! And that day will not end until someone drops out! Now get your butts down to the beach, soldiers! Now, now, now!"
The campers scream as they quickly ran off, as per ordered by Madame Chief Hatchet. She grinned at their fear. "This is gonna be fun."
CONFESSIONAL - GLEN
"Okay, whoever's sick, twisted idea this was to put her in charge of this challenge, I have to say... I'm a little bit impressed." Glen admitted while looking at the camera with a smirk.
The teams were now in front of the beach with the Killer Bass standing next to a red canoe, and the Gophers having a green one next to them. Lunchlady was standing in front of them all as she explained how this would go. "Listen up! Each team will hold a canoe over their heads! I catch you taking your hands off the canoe, and you will be eliminated. And no one eats lunch until someone drops out. Canoes up!" Madam Chief Hatchet ordered.
Both teams did as they were instructed as all members of each team lifted up their respective canoe with relative ease.
"Pfft! This isn't that hard." Olivia said.
"Piece of cake!" Bradley said.
Three hours later...
They're still forcibly holing up the heavy canoe, in 95-degree weather, with absolutely no food for their incredibly hungry stomachs. And to make it even harder.
"Come on, you sissies!" Lunchlady yelled to the campers below. She could see many of their arms shaking from the strain of lifting up both the canoe and either Lunchlady or Kris as well as she heard many of their growling stomachs. "It's only been three hours!"
"Looks like they missed lunch today." Kris said with a grin as she heard LeShawn's stomach growl under her.
"Mmhmm. Guess they just weren't hungry!" Lunchlady nodded and soon went back to yelling at the two teams. "Unless someone wants to quit now."
As if on cue, Olivia's stomach growls.
"Don't even think about it, Olivia!" Glen warned sternly.
Later, Lenny is holding a fishing rod, with the hook attached to Bert's underwear. He's starting to reel in the fishing line, stretching out the underwear a little.
"Are you sure about this?" Lenny whispered to Heath. "This could hurt."
"I'm sure. It's time to land that fish." Heath said in a hushed tone, giving Lenny the order, and...
RIP!
Bert screamed in pain, and rubbed his aching butt. Heath and Denica laughed. Harriet looks on angrily.
"Is there a problem down here?!" Lunchlady shouted at Bert, who quickly put his hands back under the canoe.
"N-no, sir- Ma'am!" Bert said nervously, then glared back at Heath.
The challenge went all the way until night, with a full moon in the sky. Both teams still lifting their canoes and trying not to drop them as by now, most of their arms were completely numb and their stomachs were partcially trying to eat themselves from the inside. Olivia is asleep and snoring. All the while Lunchlady was sitting in a chair and looking into a fire she had started in a small metal pit. "Twenty-five of us went to the jungle that night." Lunchlady said to the campers as she told them one of her stories from when she was in the military. "Only five came back out."
Glen let out a yawn and asked, "You were actually a soldier in the military? And what war were you in, anyway?"
"Did I ask you to speak?!" Lunchlady shouted at the goth boy. "Because I don't remember asking you to speak!"
"Whatever." Glen muttered as he rolled his eyes. "She so wasn't in a war."
"Guys, I-I can't do this anymore!" Lenny told everyone in a whiny voice... before letting go of the canoe and walked away with his arms limply hanging to his sides. "I've lost all feeling in my arms, man."
Everyone gasped as they watched Lenny walk over to the dock. "Looks like we got ourselves a quitter!" Lunchlady said with a mad grin.
"Don't do it, Lenny!" Olivia desperately called out. But it was in vain as Lenny reached the bell... and rung it with his head, since he obviously can't use his hands.
"Aww..." Trisha groaned as the rest of the Gophers lost their hold on the cannoe, leading it to fall down on them. While the Bass all grin and throw their canoe to the side.
Lunchlady then walked up to Lenny annd put a hand on the blond boy's shoulder. "Listen here. You have nothing to be ashamed of." She said in a comforting tone. Then puts the megaphone into his face. "Except being the big wussie who let his team down!" Then she looks back at the teams. "As for the rest of you, head to the mess hall! Dinner is served!"
"Sweet Marie, thank you!" Olivia rejoiced on her knees.
At the mess hall, all the campers were lined up or sitting on one of the tables, ready to finally get something to eat.
"Alright, maggots! Open your ears! You've got ten minutes to eat before night training begins! Get to it!"
The campers complain over the night training, feeling tired and exhausted enough after lifting a caoe for a whole day.
"No way!" Olivia groaned.
"Night training?! Aw, man. No way!" Harriet groaned.
"Um, excuse me? Madam Chief?" Glen spoke up. "Where's the food?"
"You're looking at it." Lunchlady chuckled, while gesturing at three trashcans.
"This is the leftover garbage from this morning's breakfast." Olivia stated.
"Damn right!" Lunchlady yelled at the other campers. "When you're at war, you take what you can get!"
Olivia picks through the garbage and grabs... something, and eats it.
"Well, I can see you've got this under control." Kris said, as she looked up at Lunchlady. "I'm off to craft services. Coming?"
"Serve me up some of that." Lunchlady said, as she followed Kris to get some real food.
Glen sighs as he picks out a banana peel.
"There is no way in hell I'm eating this!" Heath said, tossing away his tray.
"Me neither." Curtis said, dropping his own tray on the floor.
"Don't care for today's specials, Professor?" Denica teased.
"I'm going to be running for office one day, and I am not going to have someone pull up a file of me eating garbage!" Curtis declared.
"Suite yourself." Denica said.
Heath was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, still refusing to eat garbage. He glanced at Bert who's sitting at the table, then he realized he's standing near the kitchen door, and suddenly thought of something with an evil smile. As the rest of the campers were doing their best to stomach their "dinner" or complain about it, he went to the kitchen and came back out a few seconds later, holding a glass filled with some kind of orange liquid. He walked up to Bert. "Hey, Bert? I felt really bad about the whole underwear fishing incident thing. But also for all the crap I gave you these past couple of weeks."
"You really mean that?" Bert asked.
"I sure do. And to prove it, I found you some apple juice as a peace offering."
"Gee, thanks, Heath!" Bert smiled and took the glass, thinking that Heath was being genuine about it.
CONFESSIONAL - BERT
"Maybe he really is a nice guy after all." Bert said with a smile.
Bert started taking a sip until he suddenly spits it out. "That's not juice!"
"Oh! Oh! My mistake. I must've confused it with the kitchen grease... nerd!" Heath said with a smirk, while Denica couldn't help but snickered.
CONFESSIONAL - BERT
"Egh, I was wrong!" Bert shouted.
Bert then stormed out of the mess hall.
"Aww, gonna cry about it, loser?" Heath raised his voice for Bert to hear.
A concerned Harriet followed him. "Bert, wait! Idiots!" She yelled towards Heath and Denica.
"You two are so immature." Curtis spoke up, glaring at both the rich boy and the punk girl. "I hope you're proud of yourselves."
"I actually am, thank you." A smiling Heath said without a hint of remorse. "I so enjoy giving Bert a hard time."
"Well cut it out!" Curtis said. Heath respond by rolling his eyes and walking away from the CIT. Curtis then turned to Denica. "And as for you, I can't believe you're enjoying this!"
"Heh. Okay, look. I know you like me. He knows you like me, everyone knows it." Denica pointed out as it was quite obvious that Curtis has some kind of attraction towards Denica. "So here's a tip - if you wanna kiss me, I might let you."
"Yeah, when pigs fly! And to think I actually thought you were sweet and kind!" Curtis said.
Denica flinched and was quick to shush Curtis as a few people turned their attention to this scene. "Shh! Me? Sweet and kind? Haha, yeah right."
"Why'd you think that?" Bradley asked Curtis, while eating a stale slice of bread.
"Nevermind. I was wrong. She's just as uncouth and annoying as she wants you to believe." Curtis stated with a disappointed and scolded tone. "Enjoy your garbage!"
"Maybe I will!" Denica said as she takes a bite out of a rotten apple, and then a worm pops out.
"Blegh!" The worm stuck its tongue at the punk girl.
"Egh!" Denica reacted in disgust and tossed the apple away.
Harriet walked around the campsite, trying to find Bert. "Bert? Where are you?" she called out.
Harriet found Bert sitting down by one of the cabins, head on his knees, crying.
"Are you alright, Bert?" she asked.
"No, I'm not!" Bert said, as he lift up his head to look at Harriet. Tears running down his cheeks. "Heath is right, I am just a nerd. A big ugly loser nerd! That's all I'll ever be!"
"Don't listen to Heath. He's just a big jerk. He really needs to stop picking on you." Harriet said, as she sits down next to Bert.
"It's not just that."
"What is it then?" Harriet asked.
"Everyone in my school picks on me too. Calling me names and never lets me forget that I'm a social outcast. I don't have many friends, the ones I do have are also geeks like me, but even they don't stick up for me, saying that I'm an embarrassment to them. How pathetic is that? There's this one girl I really like, her name is Brandy. She's the most popular girl in school and is very beautiful. When she suddenly asked me out for the prom, I was so happy I thought maybe my luck has changed. But when I got there, I saw her kissing the jock who always picks on me. Everyone started pointing and laughing at me. I was so humiliated and heartbroken, I ran out of the dance crying."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Harriet said with sympathy, as she gets bullied and teased in her school too.
"I'll never find true love." Bert sighed.
"Oh, I think you will, Bert. You can't give up, there's a girl for you."
Harriet wrapped her arm around Bert's shoulders. Bert started smiles at Harriet, showing his braces, making Harriet confused. Suddenly, Bert grabbed Harriet's face and kissed her right on the lips.
"Bert! What was that for?!" Harriet said in surprise.
"I-I'm sorry." Bert stammered. "I thought that's where this was going."
"I already have a crush on someone else. He's one of the other contestants."
"Oh, I guess I missed my chance." Bert said despondently.
"Don't feel too bad, Bert. I would like to your friend."
"Really?"
"Of course, we nerds gotta stick together."
"True that."
"Come on, let's return to the others."
"Okay." Bert said. He and Harriet both stood up and walk back to the mess hall. "Hey, just out of curiosity, who's your crush?"
"Well..." Harriet hesitated briefly, until she whispers into Bert's ear, and the boy's eyes widened.
"Really? Him!?" Bert exclaimed. He couldn't believe it. Harriet respond with a sheepish shrug.
By the time they return, everyone has had their fill of garbage, or rather nothing. The campers noticed their return.
"Well, look what we have here. Another hook up of the season. Did you two kiss? I knew you two dorks would hit it off. Nerds stick together after all." Heath teased. Bert and Harriet glare at him.
"Aww, ain't that sweet?" Lenny said, with sincerity in his voice. Oblivious that Heath was just bullying Bert more.
The night training begins. And that training was... dancing along with Lunchlady to the Michael Jackson song "Thriller". Lunchlady had a boombox playing the song as she danced on top of a wooden platform to the rhythm of the music.
And the campers, per her instructions, copied her dance moves as best they could.
Bert was dancing next to Harriet, who promised to defend him against Heath's bullying and being the friend that he needed. LeShawn noticed the two seem to hang out together, wondering if there's something going on between them.
There was no sign of when the campers had to stop dancing... until Denica went up to the boombox and turned it off. Everyone sighed in relief now that it stopped, but also gasped as Lunchlady glared at Denica.
"Denica, what are you doing?" Curtis called out.
"One of us drops out, we're done for the day." Denica said to Lunchlady.
"We're done when I say we're done!" Lunchlady shouted. "Now drop and give me twenty!" Denica rolls her eyes and started doing push-ups. Lunchlady then turned to the other campers. "Anyone else got anything they want to say?"
"Uh, yeah." Glen said as he raised his hand. "Can I go to the bathroom?" Glen asked.
Apparently, Lunchlady's answer to that was to have Glen clean the bathrooms, with yellow rubber gloves, and a mop and bucket. "Not exactly what I had in mind."
After that whole fiasco, everyone was once again gathered up at the main lodge with both teams at their respective table. "For your next challenge, you will complete a 300-word essay about how much you love... me." Lunchlady explained. "Anyone who falls asleep or fails to complete the challenge will be eliminated!"
Two hours had passed before a timer went off. It was currently 3:00am, and the campers were completely exhausted both physically and mentally.
"Crap." Harriet said, as he hasn't finished when Lunchlady picked up his paper.
When picking up Denica's essay, "'I love Madam Chief Hatchet because she is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very...' This is just one sentence with five pages of 'very's in between!"
"It's 300 words exactly!" Denica stated, as she technically followed the requirements of the essay. "You can count them if you want."
Lunchlady walked over to the Gopher table, and slipped on a puddle of drool Olivia made. "Wipe up that drool, you little baby!" Lunchlady ordered as she stood up.
Then she slammed a fist down in front of Olivia and snapping the big girl out of her daze. Luckily she managed to complete the essay before this happened.
DJ and Trisha however were fast asleep. "You two slackers are out!" Lunchlady told DJ and Trisha, causing them to wake up and hear the bad news. "The rest of you, get to bed and report to the playing field at 0500 hours."
"Uh, missed a spot there, General." Denica told Lunchlady in a tone that was specifically designed to tick Lunchlady off.
Lunchlady goes down to Denica's face. "Missy! Do you wanna run fifty laps around this camp right now?!"
"No thanks!" Curtis said, grabbing Denica. "She's going straight to bed. Aren't you?" Curtis then turned to the punk girl. "What are you trying to do? Get eliminated?"
"I didn't know you cared." Denica said with a sly grin.
"I don't!" Curtis claimed harshly. "I just don't wanna lose this challenge! So stop being such a screw-up and do what you're told for once! Okay?" And with that, Curtis stormed out of the mess hall.
"He so wants me." Denica smirked.
"You go, girl." DJ grinned.
After getting what little rest they were allowed to, the campers that are still participatinng in the chellege had met up with Lunchlady at an obstacle course. It consists of a muddy path all the way through with obstacles such as a wall, rope jump, tires that had to be jumped through, and swing axes that need to be crawled under. "You will all run this course until you can all complete it in under one minute." Lunchlady instructed, then got into Denise's face. "Am I making myself clear?"
"Crystal." Denica replied with her usual smirk.
"If you lose this for us, I'm gonna make you so miserable." Curtis whispered harshly to Denica.
"Go, maggots, go!" Lunchlady shouted.
And so the campers quickly started running through the obbstacle course as fast as they could. The wall proved easy for some like Glen and Denica, but not so much for LeShawn; Heath was easily able to jump through the tires with Olivia being stuck; Bradley and LeShawn narrowly avoid getting cut up by the axes; Curtis and Glen proved to do rather well on the rope jump.
But all of them had to keep doing the course over and over again until they were able to do it under a minute like Lunchlady instructed. So they would climb the wall over and over again, got rope burn from swinging on the ropes too much, annd of course got very, very muddy. But like with most things the more they did the better they got.
At least for some.
"GAH!" Bert let out in pain as both he and Harriet fell off the wall with Bert landing on one of his legs and quickly hodling it in pain. Meanwhile Harriet landed face first in the mud and when he pulled herself up she started throwing up mud.
"Uh, General Crazy? We've got a situation here." Denica gestures at Bert and Harriet.
Lunchlady walked over to the scene, with a few other campers stopping to see this as well. "Too... much..." Harriet threw up some more mud. "Mud..."
"My ankle..." Bert wince. "I thinkn I sprained it..."
Lunchlady proceed to help the two up with Bert leaning on Harriet for support with the ginger happily lending her aid to Bert. "Ring the bell and report to the infirmary!" Lunchlady ordered the two as she pointed the direction to the dock. "Your hours of duty are finished."
"Aww, poor loser." Heath smirked. "Wussing out already."
"Back on the course soldiers, now!" Lunchlady ordered, sending the campers running with only Denica left standing. "Any more false moves and I'll be on you like stink on a poop wagon!"
"I look forward to it, sir!" Denica saluted sarcastically as she ran off.
And so the campers continue with the obstacle course. Olivia ended up knocking down the wall, Bradley nearly got stuck in the tires, Heath got tangled up in one of the ropes, and LeShawn ended up getting stuck in the sinking mud.
"Fallen soldier, I salute you!" Denica said as she crawled past LeShawn, only to look up at Lunchlady glaring down at her.
"You just bought yourself 20 more push-ups!" Lunchlady yelled at Denica, who grinned in response.
"Thank you!" Denica said to Lunchlady with her usual 'annoy Lunchlady' tone... before planting a kiss on the buff Lunchlady's cheek.
But she went too far. Lunchlady's face turned pure red with anger as she clenches her teeth, multiple veins started appear on on her head, and steam coming out of her ears.
"I think you may have pushed her over the edge, bra." Bradley said.
"I... think you're right." Denica admitted.
"One-night solitary confinement. In the boathouse." Lunchlady immediately gave her punishment to Denica.
Everyone gasped in response (even Heath) with Denica quickly putting her tough face back on. "Big deal. How scary can it be?"
She quickly regretted those words. The boat house was filled with stuff you'd find in a horror film. One of those rooms where half of the characters would meet their end. Shark jaws with many sharp teeth decorated the walls, barrels of water with... something swimming around it, buckets full of squiriming worms, large impale-a-man sized fish hoooks, and even a whole shark hanging from the ceiling.
"Should've kept my big mouth shut." Denica sighed as she sat down on a crate and tried to ignore all the potential murder weapons around her and a wolf howling in the distance.
The campers are at the mess hall, forced to eat gruel Lunchlady served them.
"I'm going to check on her." Curtis said concretely. He got up from his seat and takes his bowl of gruel with him.
"You like her." Bradley teased.
"I do not like her." Curtis said, getting into Bradley's face.
"Yes you do." Bradley continued.
"Not only do I not like her, I can't stand her. She's rude, she's rebellious, and she's totally annoying...I'm gonna go check on her."
CONFESSIONAL - BRADLEY
"He likes her." Bradley smirked, crossing his arms and putting on leg on his other knee.
"Hello? Denica?" Curtis said after he creaked open the door to the boat house. He found Denica sweeping the floor while whistling. Denica thought it was Lunchlady coming to check on her, but once she saw it was the CIT she threw the broom away.
"Evening, professor!" Denica greeted with a grin.
"I wish you'd stop calling me that." Curtis said as he walked over to Denica while rolling his eyes.
"So, come to claim that kiss?" Denica asked with a smirk as she came up right in front of Curtis.
Curtis simply smirked and held the bowl of gruel right in front of the disgusted punk girl's face. "Even dogs deserve a meal." The CIT stated.
"Hey!" Denica said indignantly, knowing what Curtis was insinuating by that remark. Then she looks at the bowl. "Mm. No thanks," she declined, pointing to one of the buckets of worms, "I'll stick with the bait."
Denica sits back on the crate with the bowl in her hands, while Curtis uses an upside-down bucket as a chair.
"That's all Lunchlady would serve us after our pathetic performance on the obstacle course." Curtis explained. He sees Denica having a hard time grabbing a spoonful of the gruel before giving up and throw the bowl away, and then asked. "Why do you egg Lunchlady on like that? You know you're going to get in trouble."
"Why are you so uptight all the time?" Denica countered.
"I am not uptight!" Curtis yelled, standing up.
"Psh! You always follow the rules!" Denica said, standing up as well.
"Well, you always have to break them!"
"Only the ones I want to." Denica claimed with a smirk.
"Okay so… maybe I do follow the rules. I guess that makes me a big uptight loser in your books, right?"
"Maybe." Denica grinned, which only got Curtis more aggravated at her. "So then, why do you follow them?"
"It's... complicated." Curtis said as he averted his glance from Denica, who gave him a curious look at this. She wasn't expected that type of answer.
"How is it complicated?" she asked.
Sighing, Curtis sits back down on the bucket, "I guess it all started when I was 13, me and my dad had to move for his new job. So I had to go to a new school and leave all my friends from my old hometown behind. I was always an excellent student, straight A of course but still moving to a new place was... hard on me I guess. And things weren't really easy when I first went to my new school. I pretty much had a target on my back as the 'new kid' and pretty much was ganged up on by everyone. The bullies, the jocks, the popular kids, even the chess team sometimes."
"Ouch. That sounds kinda rough." Denica said with sympathy. And maybe a bit of guilt, since she'd probably pick on Curtis if she never knew him.
"It was. It's like that for a whole year. And at that point... I had enough. I wasn't gonna be anyone's target. I pushed myself to the brink of everything. My academics, my debating skills, self-defense, everything I could. I wanted nothing but the best for myself... to the point where it defined who I was. It got the point where I wanted nothing but the best from myself and others around me. I ended up starting a band that broke up before our first gig, my debate partner bailed on me, and I guess I just continued pushing people away from me. I went from being the target everyone aimed at to someone everyone avoids out of fear."
"And I thought I was the scary one." Denica said half-jokingly.
"Yeah, well... and then one day I got the chance to visit my old hometown for a while. I was so psyched to see my old friends again. But when I got there... they had all moved on without me. They all had new friends and new looks and everything was different. It was like I was the new kid all over again..."
"Geez, man. I'm really sorry you had to go through all that. You didn't deserve all that crap."
"Thanks." Curtis said with a smile, touched by her sympathy.. Then frowned again and stood up straight. "Still though, not following the rules gets you thrown into a fish cabin!" he yelled as he held up a dead fish in front of Denica's face.
"But I'm in the fish cabin with you, aren't I?" Denica stated as she got into Curtis' face with a sly grin. This got the kind of reaction she wanted out of Curtis as the CIT ended up smiling awkwardly, and blushed a bit. "Listen, feel like ditching this crap for some PB&J?"
"You kidding me?! All I've had for two days is this gruel." Curtis said while pointing at the bowl of gruel on the floor, so eager to finally have some real food. "But Lunchlady'll never give it to us."
"See? Now that's the problem with your thinking!" Denica said, pointing to her head. She's going to shape up the CIT into a rebel bad boy. He's got one in him, she can tell, now she's going to let it out. "The trick is to not ask for it."
"You have some on you?" Curtis asked hopefully.
"No. But I happen to know where to find it. It will involve breaking quite a few rules though. Are you in?"
Curtis thought for a moment. His first instinct was to say no. But remembering how 'thinking' led him to become the uptight student his classmates avoided. So he decide to do the opposite of what he'd usually do. "Let's do it!"
"Well, all right, then!" Denica said as she and Curtis shared a high five. This is going to be so much fun!
Denica and Curtis disguise themselves as bushes they pulled from the ground as they're outside the craft services tent, where they'll find actual, edible food. Then they sneak into the tent, crawling to the fridge. "Slowly. Slowly. Crawl." Denica quietly whispered to Curtis.
Luckily, Lunchlady and Kris are busy talking to each other to notice the punk girl and CIT stealing stuff from the fridge. "Twenty-five of us went to the jungle that night. Only five came back out." Lunchlady tells Kris.
"If we get caught, we are dead meat." Curtis whispered to Denica with a smile.
"Girl, you have so gone mad with power." Kris laughed, as she put her feet on the table.
"Amen, sista." Lunchlady praised.
"Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" Denica asked quietly, as Curtis pulls out the dead fish from the cabin he had in the green bag they're using to carrying the food.
"Heck yes." Curtis snickered quietly. "This is the most fun I've had here yet!" He placed the fish on a plate inside the fridge. "A little present. Courtesy of the Killer Bass."
"Now you're learning." Denica complimented. She then grabbed a tray of chocolate brownies and slowly closed the door.
The punk girl and the CIT ran like the dickens with arms-full of delicious food. When they're far enough from the tent, Curtis cheered in excitement. "Woohoo!"
Once both Denica and Curtis made it bback to the cabins, they decide to throw a bit of a party with everyone from both teams involved. Everyone was more than happy to quickly indulge themselves in some real food and pop for the first time in weeks!
Olivia has a jar of strawberry jam and is eating some. Then she noticed something on her foot, after having taken off her shoes from walking and running so much. "I think I have jungle rot from that obstacle course." She said, showing off one of her barefeet.
"Gross, Olivia! We're eating here." Lenny said in disgust.
"And what is with all those lame war stories?" Glen chuckled between bites, with a bottle of soda in his hand. "She is so delusional!"
"Dawg, my neighborhood was nowhere near as rough as combat training, know what I'm saying? Mm." LeShawn said. After getting stuck in the mud at the obstacle course, he was forced to drop out and proceeded to take about three showers. And he's still feeling mud in some places.
"Mm. Seriously, if I wanted to join the military, I would've signed up for the Peace Corps." Bradley spoke up after taking a swing of pop.
"Aw, guys! Gross!" Bert yelled, getting everyone in the cabin's attention. Someone drew a happy face on Bert's bunk bed with peanut butter.
"Now see? That's a waste of good peanut butter!" Heath joked, as he and Lenny laughed. Curtis couldn't help but join in on the laugh. He knows it wasn't nice, since he didn't like how Heath was always bullying Bert, but he thought the peanut butter prank was hilarious.
Ever since he helped Denica raid the fridge, he's been a little... out of control. He couldn't stop laughing or settle down. It was as if he's on a sugar rush. Which is likely true since he's been eating a lot of ice cream sandwiches. In fact, he was about to reach for one more until Bradley stopped him. "I think you've had enough, dude." The surfer smirked at the CIT.
But Curtis quickly took his arm back from the surfer and laughed madly, unable to keep sstill, as he snatched the sandwich cookie away. "Hehe, oh no! No! Just, just one more. Mm!" Curtis then stuffed the dessert into his mouth and swallowed... and was met with a gurgling from his stomach which was followed by a belch. "Oh... Yeah. Yeah, that one was a mistake." He quickly ran out of the cabin as Glen and LeShawn laughed, and then proceed to lean over the railing and throw up all his stolen food up and send it to the ground.
As he did this, Denica grinned as she walked up to him. "So the Professor has a dark side." He said as Curtis finished unloading his sweets and groaned.
"Okay. That was so gross." Curtis groaned out as he held his stomach. He apparently still has some limits to him. "But it was like, once I did something bad, it was so much fun, I just wanted more!"
"Well, you could always gimme that kiss, that would be pretty bad." Denica said.
Curtis playfully scoffed as he ruffled Denica's mohawk. "You're still not my type." He said with a smirk.
"Fine, then." Denica shrugged as she faces her back on Curtis. "Enjoy a peanut butter-less life."
"Thanks." Curtis puts his back to hers. "Enjoy prison."
"I will." Denica said... right before Curtis grabbed her chin and placed his lips against hers. You read right, the CIT has taken up Denica's offer to kiss her and the punk girl didn't resist one bit, and even went tip-toed to lean in closer. After a few moments, Curtis separated from her and walked off, leaving Denica in a love trance.
"Omigod, he kissed you!" Olivia squeed as she and DJ walked up to Denica.
"Oh big deal. EEEEEEEEE! He totally kissed me! I told you!"
"Attention, all remaining boot camp recruits, the next evolution of your training begins tomorrow morning at 0700 hours!" Lunchlady's voice boomed angrily through the loudspeakers. "And if I catch the fool who took my desserts, your butt is mine!"
The next day is the last leg of Lunchlady's boot camp training... hanging upside-down from a tree. Bradley, Denica and Curtis were hanging onn a branch from the left side of the tree with Olivia, Glen and Heath on a branch on the right side.
"What you are experiencing is an ancient form of torture." Lunchlady explained as she paced back and forth in front of the tree. "By now, the blood has begun rushing to your head. The next stage is nausea, followed by dizziness and a flushed appearance as the blood begins to pool your eyes. You may experience fainting spells."
Denica has felt that last one and ended up falling off the tree and to the ground with a dopey expression on her face. "Duncan!" Curtis called out in worry.
Harriet went over to check on the punk girl and saw that she didn't seem to have any injuries on her body. "It's okay! She's all right!" Bradley said.
Curtis breathed a sigh of relief as he reached his arms up to grab the branch he was hanging from for extra support.
Glen and Heath copy as well and grabbed the branch with their hands. Olivia tried to do the same but just couldn't reach it. "Come on... I... can't... reach! D'ah!" She said strenuously, with all her effort. As a result, a fart ended up escaping the big girl and made her laugh.
"Okay, that's it. I'm done." Heath let out in disgust, and flipped back down on the ground. Immediately followed by Olivia landing right on top of him. Heath's screams were muffled by Olivia's fat, good thing too, as Olivia quickly got off the rich boy. "Get the hell off of me, you fat hippo!"
"Sorry." Olivia apologized.
Suddenly, Curtis starts laughing his head off.
"Stop laughing this instant!" Lunchlady ordered the CIT as she was starting to get annoyed by his laughter.
"I'm sorry, HAHAHAHA, it's just so funny, HAHAHAHA, Olivia landed right on top of Heath!" Curtis said between laughs. "Whoa!" This however, caused him to lose focus and fall off the tree branch, while still laughing.
"I expected more out of you, soldier." Lunchlady said to Curtis with a disappointed tone. The CIT was the one camper that Lunchlady was expecting nothing but 100% focus from when it comes to the challenges. And then suddenly he goes into an uncontrollable laughing fit? Disgraceful!
As soon as his laughter died down, Curtis then stood up and cleared his throat as he looked up to Lunchlady. "Madam Chief? I only have one thing to say to you."
"And what's that?" Lunchlady asked in a professional tone.
"You really need to take a chill pill. " Everyone gasped at what Curtis just said right to Lunchlady's face with the CIT back to laughing like crazy, and Lunchlady practically fuming as her face went red with anger again.
"Aww yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Denica cheered Curtis on for his words and attitude.
"Okay, Bradley, it's all up to you!" Curtis cheered the last Bass still hanging on the tree.
"You got this, Glen?" Olivia asked the last remaining Gopher on the tree.
"Oh yeah. I can hang here all day." Glen said.
"Righteous, brah! I live for the head rush!" Bradley said.
45 minutes later...
Glen and Bradley are still hanging on the tree. Bradley seem to be completely fine, as he's just hanging there with his arms free and a relaxed expression. Gwen however...
"Uh... guys..." Glen's words were a little slurred and the goth is looking a bit dazed. "I don't... feel... so... good."
"Really?" Bradley asked, his voice also pretty slurred himself. "Cause I'm... feeling... so... good."
And just like that, Glen was no longer able to hang onto the tree as the affects of being upside down has finally gotten to him.
All of the Gophers gasped as the Killer Bass cheered. Bradley fell from the tree as well, and was caught by his teammates. As the Gophers all slumped down in defeat, the Bass cheered as they raised the surfer in the air. "Surfer boy!" Bradley looked to see that Lunchlady had called to him and gave the boy a salute. "Congratulations, soldier. I'd go to war with you anytime.
"Thanks, bra." The surfer saluted back with a smile. "But I prefer making peace, not war."
"You do that, soldier!" Lunchlady sniffed as a single tear went down her eye, while she watches the surfer being carried away by his teammates. "You do that."
With the Gophers, Olivia was about to head over to the mess hall to hopefully fill her sadness with food over losing the challenge. But suddenly, both Heath and Lenny walked in front of her with the former stating. "Alright Olivia, here's what's gonna happen." Heath began as Olivia raised a brow. "You are going to vote with me and Lenny tonight. Got it?"
"I don't know..." Olivia said nervously and unsurely, as she scratches her arm. "You're kinda mean..."
Heath was expecting this and pulled out his secret. "How about a nutty butty?" Heath asked with a smirk, as he pulled out a candy bar from his pocket that he saved from last night, and wave it in front of Olivia's face.
"Oooh! Give me!" Olivia said excitedly as she tried to grab the bar, only for Heath to pull it away from her.
"Nuh uh uh!" Heath said. "Only if you accept my offer."
Olivia can only stare at the bar, but then shakes her head. "No! I won't do it. My will must remain strong!" she tells herself.
Heath then nodded at Lenny, who then spoke up. "You get another nutty butty after the bonfire." He pulls out another candy bar.
Olivia's mouth started to drool at the thought of having two candy bars. "Okay, I'll do it." She gave in as she fell to her knees. "I'll vote with you!"
"That's a good girl." Heath said as he hands her the bar, and pats her on the head while she takes a bite in shame. "Now here's what's gonna happen..."
"Well Gophers, didn't take long for us to meet back here again." Kris said as night has fallenn on the camp and it was time to yet again send a camper home annd brinng the number of campers down to 13. Holding up a plate of five marshmallows, Kris once again explained the rules. "I only have five marshmallows on my plate. And these marshmallows represent the campers that will continue to be campers. Here. You've all cast your ballots in the confession caann. If I do not call your name, you must immediately go down to the Dock of Shame, catch the Boat of Losers, and go home. And you can't come back. Ever."
"Lenny. Olivia." Kris called out the first two Gophers and tossed the marshmallows to them. Olivia even catched it with her mouth.
"Heath. LeShawn." Heath smirked ass he caught the marshmallow with LeShawn giving Heath a dirty look.
"Bert." Bert sighed in relief as he caught his marshmallow.
Just then, Trisha and Glen's eyes widened as they realized something. And there were only two campers left... them. "Well ain't this a prediciment." Kris said as she tossed the last fluffy white treat up and down in her hand. "Two campers. One marshmallow. Who's gonna get it?" Glen tensed up incredibly, but a hand was placed on top of his own and the goth looked to see it was Trisha's hand with the guitar girl givign Glen a look that said 'everything is gonna be alright'. Glen couldn't help but smile at the gesture as both campers turn to Kris.
"And the last marshmallow goes to..." Kris really dragged this one out as Glen felt a few beats of sweat come down from his head and Trisha took a deep breath through her nose. "...Glen."
Kris tossed the marshmallow to the goth, but he didn't catch it. A look of sadness came to the goth's face as Trisha was voted off the island... for good. "Well... I guess that's it." Trisha sighed in a saddened voice. But the look on Glen's face hurt him more than the elimination. So, using her last moments on the island wisely, Tirssha proceed to give Glen a surprise peck to the cheek.
Glen's face exploded with red as Trisha smiled at him. "Hey, just keep doing what you're doing, alright? I promise I'll be rooting for you all the way." Trisha said, while her eyes start to water a bit as a tiny smile came to her face. "And hey, maybe when this is all over... we could go out sometime?"
"..." Glen was silent at first as his heart felt like it was going a million beats a second. But the goth looked up at the guitar girl, smile fondly and managed to let out. "Sure... I'd like that."
"Great!" Trisha said eagerly and gave Glen a hug, before she went to get her stuff. She may have lost the game, but in the end, she's got a date. And that's more important to her than 100 grand.
And so with her bags and guitar on hand, Trisha went down to the Dock of Shame and got on the Boat of Losers. Once she was on, she looked to Glen who was waving her off at the dock and gave the goth a smile as she waved to him as the boat took her away.
Glen lowers his head, causing his hair to hide the sadness in his eyes. A single tear went down his face as LeShawn was quickly to come to his friends' side and comfort him... all while Heath watched with a satisfied grin before heading for the showers.
Author's Notes:
"Even dogs deserve a meal." Can you guess what Curtis was referring to? xD
The worm popping out of the apple and sticking its tongue out is a reference to a scene in the 1976 animated film The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, where the wizard Homnibus picks an apple from a tree he magically grew, and a worm comes out to stick his tongue at the wizard.
Originally Courtney was voted out in the episode, which led to her awful character derailment. But here, due to different circumstances, I decided to keep Curtis around at least a little longer, much like Courtney in Ninjamon1228's Loud House/Total Drama fanfic Total Loud Island. Curtis' backstory also came from the fanfic.