Why are we at the top of a very large cliff right now? The only water is at the bottom, what are we doing here? I don't like this.

"Okay," Chris began. "Today's challenge is three-fold. Your first task is to jump off this one-thousand-foot high cliff and into the lake." What the fuck?

"Piece of cake," the blonde girl, the only other person wearing a wetsuit, replied. I personally think this is insane and probably not survivable, but there's worse ways to die. No reasons not to do it, I guess.

"Sunny can't swim though, how-," Harold began, but Chris cut him off. I appreciate the thought.

"If you look down, you will see two target areas. The wider area represents the part of the lake that we have stocked with man-eating sharks." That's not how sharks work, has he been starving them? Are there actually sharks or is this a scare tactic? "Inside that area is the safe zone. That's your target area, which we're pretty sure is shark free." Is there a barrier that they can't get through or something? Some sort of shark repellent?

"Ex-cuse me?" the girl who was wearing the hoop- loop?- earrings asked.

"For each member of your team that jumps and actually survives-" Well, at least he's aware of the possible lawsuits from this. Most of us could probably make claims that it was unreasonable for them to expect a teenager to thoroughly read such a long contract. "-there will be a crate of supplies waiting below. Inside each crate are supplies that you'll need for the second part of the challenge," he gestured to a bit of shore down below, where said crates were. "Building a hot tub." I can't make 3-D things, why do you do this to me? "The team with the best one gets to have a wicked hot tub party tonight, and the losers will be sending someone home." I guess that sounds fair enough.

"Killer Bass, you're up first." I tried to step up, but I assume that it's Harold that just grabbed my arm? I turned so that I could actually see him.

"Sunny, you literally can't swim. I don't think this is a good idea." I stared at him for a second before taking back my arm and miming writing in the air.

"Oh, that might be a problem." I started walking towards the cliff again and Harold followed me.

"Uh, I don't think I can swim with both of us, um… Hey, Bridgette!" Harold called out to the blonde girl about to jump in the water. She stopped and turned around.

"What?"

"Sunny can't swim, can you help make sure he doesn't drown down there?" her eyes flicked to me, back to Harold, and then to me again.

"Of course, are you sure you want to jump though? Not knowing how to swim is a pretty good reason not to." I nodded.

"Ok, I'll go first then?" she asked. I nodded and she went back to the edge of the cliff, which she had no hesitation in jumping off of. I walked closer to the edge and saw her land in the shark-free zone. She came up pretty quickly and a boat pulled up, but she stayed in the water, waving up at us. There were five of us standing near the edge of the cliff at this point.

"She did it!" the red jock guy yelled. "I'm next!" and he did a running jump off the cliff. Onto a buoy. Well, no time like the present. I decided that I wouldn't be doing the running thing and simply braced myself and leapt off, eye shut because my depth perception wouldn't let me aim anyways. I decided a cannon ball would make it go quicker and would be better than a belly flop, but I must've flipped over a bit because my back hit the water first and that hurt. Ow. I managed to open my eye underwater and saw that there actually were sharks swimming in circles around the buoys. I looked up a bit and saw Bridgette reaching for me- she had to swim under to come get me. I grabbed her hand and let her pull me up, which she seemed to have a little trouble doing, but I don't really weigh a lot. I think it took her less than ten seconds to get me above water.

"You good?" she asked me, while pulling me towards the boat. I nodded. A little winded, but I'm not actively drowning so it's all good. She got on the boat first, after making sure that I had grabbed onto the ladder, and I quickly climbed up after her. When did I start shaking? I'm gonna sit down on the floor. Deck, whatever. I'm sitting here for a bit. By now a couple other people had jumped down and there were five of us that had gotten on the boat. The boat started moving to drop us off on shore. Makes sense, this boat looks pretty run down. The boat went as far into the shallows as it could and there were no problems getting off of it, since I was able to stand at this point. I got out of the water. It took a while to walk out here, so probably not enough time to go and grab a notebook while we're waiting for everybody else.

"Are you good, dude?" Geoff asked. He's probably talking to me, so I shrugged and started watching the rest of the jumpers. The boat had gone back and picked up punk guy and Harold, and was that someone coming down the stairs? Yeah, DJ was wearing a chicken hat and walking down the stairs. And there was another person coming down with the same hat, probably Courtney. Not ideal, but could be worse. Kinda wish that both teams were jumping at the same time though, so the other team didn't have the advantage of knowing how many of their people needed to jump. I started looking around the beach for a stick or something else to write in the sand with, but there wasn't anything close by. I walked closer to the shore.

"Why are you walking back towards the shark infested water that you can't actually swim in?" Bridgette asked me. I crouched down and used my index finger to write "writing purposes" in the wet sand and stepped back so she could read it.

"We need to come up with some other ways for you to communicate at some point." Don't really know how we would do that, but a valid idea. I gave her a thumbs up. I heard screaming, finally, and turned back towards the cliff. Katie and Sadie were both jumping, for some reason. Maybe it would've made some sense if our other team member had jumped before them, but she didn't. It took a bit for everyone on the team to get together on the beach, but once we were all there they explained that Chris had allowed Izzy to switch teams so that Katie and Sadie could be on the Killer Bass together. Weird that he allowed it when he was probably one of the people who decided the teams initially, but they had been rather vocal about needing to be on the same team earlier. Harold also asked if I was ok at some point and I wrote a checkmark in the sand, just in case he forgot I don't have any notebooks on me.

The Gophers started jumping shortly after we finished, which was largely uneventful, apart from Owen losing his swimsuit and Justin seducing a couple of sharks- how bardic of him- and getting a lift to the beach from one of them. The only person on their team that didn't jump was Beth, so we predictably lost the first part of the challenge. Chris used a megaphone to inform us that we could start moving the crates towards the cabins and we got to work. The Gophers got to take the crates that were in the carts and we had to push ours. There were only four crates we had to push, and two of our crates ended up being carried by Eva, only after Courtney got a splinter and stopped pushing, and the jock, so there were a lot of people just walking instead of pushing crates. DJ wasn't strong enough to completely carry his crate on his own, but he was making more progress flipping it continuously than our last crate was, being pushed by Katie and Sadie. Part way through our trip three of them stopped to use the bathroom and everyone switched positions and I ended up carrying a crate with Courtney, who was being a little bossy during this whole thing. Harold was able to lift one of the crates by himself, which was a little surprising, but it makes sense that some crates would be lighter than others. On the way to the campground we learned from Chris that both teams would have to open the crates using only our teeth. At least it wasn't a second punishment for two of us not jumping off a cliff.

"Finally!" Harold exclaimed, dropping his crate on the ground.

"Hey, what's up guys?" green shirt guy asked. He was standing next to an open crate with Izzy and a guy wearing a sweater vest. The girl wearing the big circle earrings stood up from inside the crate.

"Hey, aren't you missing a couple of white girls?" she asked. Katie and Sadie had run into poison ivy earlier when they were taking their bathroom break and had run off at some point.

"They're getting a drink," Courtney replied.

"Yeah, if they drink with their butts," Harold whispered to me. I shrugged. A weird thing to try to joke about, don't really know how to respond to that one. Courtney started walking towards the crate.

"Ooh, what happened to your eye, girl?" hoop earring girl asked Courtney.

"Nothing, just an allergy." Didn't she say that something bit her before? And on her eye, apparently? Eh, I have an extra eye patch if she needs to borrow it for a day. Most of us who had just finished carrying or pushing the crates chose to sit down for a minute or go and change while we waited for the last crate to arrive. Harold somehow managed to fall asleep in less than thirty seconds, pretty impressive. Excitement about going on the show today probably kept him up for a bit. Geoff and DJ had both ended up carrying the crate at some point and after they set it down next to the others Geoff climbed on top of it. I nudged Harold to wake him up just as Geoff started talking.

"Okay, dudes, it's not too late. We can do this!" Geoff exclaimed loudly. I'm not going to risk damaging my teeth by opening these things. I thought he was going to continue, but instead Courtney took over.

"Okay, look guys. We have a hot tub to complete, and we need a project manager." I personally don't think we need an umarell, but go off. "Since I've actually been a C.I.T. before, I'm electing myself. Any objections?" I don't think we have time to argue about this, and everyone else evidently agreed.

"Where do we begin, Cyclops?" Is he talking to me or Courtney? Courtney exaggeratedly pointed at the group of five standing around.

"Open the crates! Bridgette, go find those itchy girls. We need all the help we can get!" And with that said we got to work. I just kind of stood around until the first crate was open, but the first crate opened contained all the wood for the bottom of the hot tub. This was good for me because I was able to get all the boards in mostly the right positions pretty quickly, but Harold and Geoff had a lot of trouble with the walls. Circles can be hard sometimes. At some point Bridgette did come back with Katie and Sadie, so that was good, but we weren't working together nearly as well as the Gophers were. Their hot tub was already done and they had started filling it with water. They had had enough time to properly follow all of their instructions and it looked exactly like it should, while ours was put together much more haphazardly and as soon as we started filling it with water we found dozens of spots where it was leaking. We didn't even have proper pool tape to repair these and Courtney had to go around taping everything with duct tape, which definitely wouldn't hold it together for long.

Time was up just a few minutes after we started filling it, so the "hot tub" wasn't even full when Chris came over to judge them. He briefly looked at the Gophers' before declaring it an impressive job before walking over to ours and poking it, causing it to immediately collapse. I had to put my hand over my mouth to hide my smile, this whole thing was pretty funny to me.

"Well, I think we have a winner here," Chris briefly paused. "The Screaming Gophers!" Expected, earned. Several of them started cheering.

"Gophers, you're safe from elimination and you get to rock this awesome hot tub for the rest of the summer!" Wait, they get to keep it? "Bonus!" The Gophers cheered again.

"Woo! Haha! Yes!" Owen was being a bit overly enthusiastic. "We get to stay-ay, we get to stay-ay, we are so awesome, we won the contest!"

"Gophers, you're free to do whatever you want to for the rest of the day. Bass, you have about four hours until the elimination ceremony tonight. Dinner will be available in the main lodge, starting right about now, and will be available for an hour. Good luck!" And with that said Chris left us to our own devices. I know two people that I definitely won't be voting for, at least. Some people were still wearing swimsuits and left to go change and I went into the cabin for a notebook before heading over to the main lodge. Got my food, sat down in the same place as I did before, and eventually every other camper gathered around and we were all eating together.

"So, uh, what do we do now?" Katie asked everyone.

"We have to figure out who we're gonna vote off," Courtney responded.

"Well I think it should be Cyclops or the Brickhouse here," Punk said, indicating towards Courtney and DJ.

"Okay, I didn't say it before because I was focusing on the challenge, but maybe you shouldn't be referring to anyone as Cyclops," Courtney complained, eyes briefly flitting towards me. Punk turned to look at me and I just shrugged, pointed at him, and gave him a thumbs up with my other hand. Nice of her to care, but Cyclops is a pretty cool nickname. He turned back to Courtney.

"See, Cyclops doesn't mind." Courtney still looked a little apprehensive at this, but didn't press the issue.

"And why do you want to vote for me anyways?"

"Because there's only two of us wearing chicken hats here, and if we ever have to lift a truck I like our odds with the big guy."

"You guys need me! I'm the only one who-"

"We know, who used to be a real C.I.T.," Bridgette interjected. "So who would you pick?" I pulled out my notebook and started writing.

"What about… him?" Courtney trailed off before pointing at the jock.
"NO!" a voice yelled from the other table. "I mean, no salt, there's no salt on the table, bummer…" Oh, that one's Lindsay.

"...jumped off the cliff, chicken wing." I apparently missed part of the conversation.

"Shut up!" Lots of hostility at the gruel table today.

"Okay, let's just chill out," Geoff got in between Courtney and punk. "This is getting way too heavy."

"I've had enough prison food for today," Duncan said, standing up and starting to walk away. "I'm gonna go have a nap." Valid.

"You can't do that, we haven't decided who's going yet!" I finished writing and showed Harold. It said "I'm going to roll for who to vote via D8 but I don't remember all the names yet, do you?"

"Yeah, I can write down the names for you." I handed him the notebook and he wrote down the names. "Who are you leaving out?" he asked, handing the notebook back to me. I pointed to him and then to Bridgette and he nodded.

"Why are you pointing at me?" Bridgette asked. I handed her the notebook across the table for her to read. She looked up from it.

"What's a D8?"

"A die with eight sides," Harold responded. She raised an eyebrow.

"Why would a die need eight sides?"

"We have much to discuss." After we all finished eating I briefly stopped at the cabin to grab my bag of dice and the three of us went down to the campfire, since we figured that no one else would be going over there yet, and Harold and I- mostly Harold- explained dungeons and dragons to Bridgette until it was almost time for the campfire ceremony and other people started joining us. Chris got here before the rest of the team and we had to wait for them so that he could explain how the voting works.

"Each one of you will be taking a piece of paper and a pencil from this box." He held up a box. "Go into the confessional and write down the name of one member of the Killer Bass. Technically, you can leave it blank or write down the name of someone who's not on your team, but that won't count as a vote. Since Bridgette, Harold, and Sunny were here first they get to vote first. Come on up, take your papers, and line up. I will be standing outside the confessional with a different box and you will immediately put your vote in the box upon leaving the confessional. If you show your vote to any other member of your team that will count as five votes towards you and the person you show the vote to. Campers, come up and start voting!" And with that the voting began. Some people took longer to vote than others, but mine didn't take too long. Rolled an eight, voted for Eva, showed my vote to the camera, left the confessional.

"Killer Bass," Chris started giving a speech after we finished voting and had settled down for the ceremony. I, as usual, was sitting on the far right so that I could see everyone else. "At camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, marshmallows represent life. You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only ten marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight must immediately return to the Dock of Shame, to catch the Boat of Losers. That means you're out of the contest, and you can't come back… ever." Dramatic camera talk always sounds so tiring to perform.

"The first marshmallow goes to… Geoff," Chris tossed a marshmallow to Geoff. This is a good time to put the rest of the team's names to faces. Chris continued with, "Tyler, Katie, Bridgette, Sunny…" I barely managed to catch it, squishing the marshmallow between my fingers and getting them all sticky, but I caught it! Depth perception may have failed me today, but reflexes have not! Yet. Chris continued through the rest of the campers until there were only two people without marshmallows left.

"Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the first campfire ceremony of Total Drama Island. Courtney and Katie, one of you two will be the first contestant to leave the show tonight," Chris paused for dramatic effect. "This last marshmallow goes to… Katie!" Katie screeched in excitement and hugged Sadie.

"WHAT?!" Courtney shrieked. I started shaking with laughter, trying to keep quiet, but evidently I wasn't completely quiet because I earned surprised looks from Harold and Bridgette, who both turned around to look at me, but they didn't say anything because Courtney was still yelling.

"How dare you vote me off on the FIRST EPISODE?!" I am a C.I.T., you guys NEED me! I demand a recount!"

"The votes don't lie, Courtney. You've been eliminated, which means you will be leaving the island now and you can't come back. Ever. The Dock of Shame is thataway." He indicated towards the water, where there was a boat waiting at the dock. She loudly complained the whole walk there before she left on the boat.

"The rest of you," Chris addressed the rest of us. "Enjoy your marshmallows. You're all safe… for tonight."