Chapter 2: A Nocturnal Ordeal
*PURRRRRRRRIIIING!*
*Thud!*
"Owww! It's seven in the morning!" Leshawna groaned, having woken up from a loud air horn outside and banging her head against the upper bunk bed's wooden underside before stomping over to the window in her sleepwear. "Do I look like a farmer to you!?"
—
Soon, everyone else finally forced themselves to wake up from what happened to be Chris' sly loud greeting and left their cabins in normal clothes to prepare themselves for whatever he's got in store for the day— not a good thing to look forward to. Plus, everyone's even in their awakened state of mind, not with heavy eyelids, hunching backs, and contagious yawns to back up their current condition.
"Well, guess not everyone's an early riser," Dexter thought out loud, putting his field journal back in the satchel by his side, containing some of his other things for the day.
"How are YOU not tired from yesterday's challenges!? You some cyborg or something!?" Leshawna exclaimed in her usual sassy tone, though looking a bit tired.
"Oh, I'm a little insomniac somehow. My body's gotten used to sleeping late and waking up early. With enough sleep, I feel like a million bucks, though I am not," Dexter weakly jokes before hearing faintly loud rock music from nearby and turns to see the agitated Eva. "Is that– rock music?"
"Yes?" Eva blankly replied, crossing her arms with "don't talk to me" subtly written all over her.
"Oooookay…?" Dexter nervously replied.
"Morning! Hope you slept well!?" Chris loudly greets.
"Hey Chris! You look really buff in those shorts!" Heather points out, though seemingly in a derogatory tone.
"I know!" Chris shot back with a wink. "Okay! Hope you're all ready because your next challenge begins in exactly one minute!"
"Excuse me! I don't know if that's enough time to eat breakfast!" Owen points out.
"Well, huuuuuuuugh, this oughta be fun…!" Max yawned with puffy eyes and a disheveled bedhead.
"Ohhh, you'll get breakfast, Owen— right after you complete your twenty-kilometer run– around the lake!" Chris announces.
"Oh so you think you're funny now?! You know what I think would be funny?!" Eva growled, close to punching Chris if it weren't for Duncan and Geoff holding her back and Dexter getting in between them.
'Eva! Try to control your temper!?' Courtney urged in a soft tone.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you!?" Eva barked, holding her rage in.
"A little… you have thirty seconds," Chris replies with a smug on his face, ignoring Eva's glare.
—ZZZ—
"Okay, that— Eva has got to get control of her temper. She's only been here one day, and she's already thrown her suitcase out the window AND has broken a lock on one of the bathroom doors!" Courtney grumbled, relaying this yesterday and this morning's events.
—
Everyone quickly took to their positions in different poses and lined side-by-side to form a starting line, preparing to run through the island as today's first challenge.
"Okay runners! On your marks…" Chris yelled.
'Pst! Eva,' Dexter quietly called out beside him.
'Whaaat!?' Eva growled and shot him with a glare.
'Use all that anger energy! I mean, use that as your fuel and burn it into your feet! Maybe you could gain first place on behalf of the team,' Dexter suggests, making Eva pause and nod after hearing him out.
"Gooo!" Chris yelled, watching the campers run, jog, or walk the way.
It's still early morning, and the sun is bright and beating in its summer glory. All the campers kept at their own distinct pacing with most of the athletic ones keeping steady on stamina while covering more ground, whereas the least athletic ones are really taking their time.
"Know how much longer?" Harold groans while walking on stiff legs beside Katie and Gwen.
"Please don't walk beside me," Gwen kept her distance.
"Hehey, cold, dark, and beautiful! Sour mood?" Max cooly replied, trying to make his advance on her.
"Uhhh, yeah, no thanks to you, creep," Gwen groaned and started to pick up the pace to get away from the two male scarecrows.
"Awww, c'mon!" Max sighed and hunched over.
"I feel you bro," Harold patted on Max's shoulder.
Meanwhile, among those that were jogging their way along the designated path…
"Congrats on your first win! How was the bath?!" Dexter congratulated while jogging alongside Noah, following his pacing.
"Oddly okay, if only the night wasn't so cold to cool the water off and with the others annoyingly hogging the hot tub to themselves, but overall, not so bad!" Noah plainly replied. "Wanna see who can finish first?"
"You sure you wanna race? You look like your legs are about to give," Dexter taunted, but not meaning anything rude to it.
"Hmph, try me!" Noah smirked before noticing Dexter vanish from his side and already dashing meters ahead on his light feet. "Me and my big mouth…!"
He passes by other campers and teammates that were just strolling until he steadily slows his pacing to meet with Bridgette and the tanned male model Justin, member of the Screaming Gophers.
"Some early morning routine, ain't it!?" Dexter huffed, jogging beside her.
"Yeah! If only this were at the beach, I could run for miles feeling the sea air, not in this— whoa!
"Gotcha!" Dexter catches her by the forearm and casually pulls her back up and away from falling into a wet mud puddle. "Close call."
"Th-Thanks," Bridgette replied, a bit flustered and taken aback by his swift saving.
*Thud*
"Wh-Whao!"
*Splush!*
Trying to ruin anybody's time was the punkheaded Duncan, of course, as he "accidentally" nudged into Dexter's shoulder so hard that it tipped him off his balance and onto the mud puddle, staining his purple long-sleeved poloshirt.
"Oops, sorry, heheheh," Duncan snorted before jogging away.
"Aw, dude, you okay?" Geoff helps Dexter up. "Man, that was way too rough on ya, even for a joke."
"I can take a hit, it's fine," Dexter assured as he got up with a big stain on him.
"It's not okay! You can't go in the main lodge like that now!" Bridgette points out with concern.
"Hold this for me," Dexter lets Geoff hold his satchel before proceeding to unbutton and take off his polo, making Bridgette put her guard up.
"Whoa—hey! That's not—!"
"Much better!"
Blinded by the sudden move accompanied by an irrational train of thought, she was caught off guard and then relieved when she removed her hands from covering her own eyes and saw him wearing just a thin white undershirt while placing and sealing his dirty polo in a plastic bag.
"What's wrong? Let's go! I can deal with laundry later, maybe," Dexter assured, putting the plastic bag over his shoulder. "Now I feel breezy!"
"Rock on! Now let's go, dude!" Geoff rallies, continuing to jog with Dexter and Bridgette to catch up with the others ahead of them.
—ZZZ—
"Wow, just…wow…" Bridgette awed, recalling the photographic memory of Dexter's pectoral muscles bulging beneath the undershirt.
—
"Ughhhhhh, I. Hate. Marathons!" Max cried his lungs out, still way behind next to Harold.
"Tell me about it. I'm thirsty, and sleepy…!" Harold yawned while wiping his glasses with his shirt before wearing them.
"Hey guys! Guess we're nearly all that's way behind, huh?" Cody, another skinny geek in the Gophers team, greeted.
"You bet. I'm not cut out for sports! If I ever read the part where the sports here would be extremely challenging as this, I never should've signed up," Max grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Duuude, this is still way better than being cooped up at home, especially with all the ladies we get to meet around here, eh?" Cody nudged Max's elbow, with his glare pointing at Heather from afar and Lindsay just strutting nearby with Beth.
"Hmmm, I like the way your optimism thinks," Max nodded in agreement as his infatuation reignited his passion. "Can't argue with that, at all…!"
—ZZZ—
"The eye candies are great and all, but that's not gonna be really enough if they're just for my eyes. Would be cool to spark a little something, you know, just for the fun of things while hanging around in this boot camp," Max complained his desires out loud.
—ZZZ—
"Bad enough someone's creepily on to me, but running!? I don't run! AND I don't run in high heeled wedges!" Heather vented.
—
"Hurry up, people!" Chris taunted over a loud megaphone while passing by the campers atop a motorized scooter. "If you're not back by dinner time, you don't eat!"
"Ugh! I hate this sooo much!" Heather huffed, stepping over a knocked out Owen to avoid a shallow stream of water.
—
Noon is near and the sun takes a quick break as almost everyone that has made it into the main lodge collapses onto the floor, the chairs and the tables, regardless of their teams after suffering from the long draggy morning run around the island through the forests, sitting on empty stomachs, low blood pressure and numb legs.
"Whew, that was rough," Dexter groaned, taking out a foldable plastic water canteen from his satchel and squeezing out some water into his mouth to quench his dry tongue.
"Duuuude, mind if I?" Geoff kindly asks.
"Here," Dexter passes his canteen to Geoff, who takes a big sip before passing it to Bridgette for a sip, receiving it back with half his bottle full of water left. "Hey Eva, saw you went in first ahead of everyone."
"Don't talk to me. Too tired," Eva sternly replied, with her cheek resting against her hand.
"Oh, 'kay then…" Dexter trails off before an idea pops into his head. "Do you wanna—"
*Bang!*
"Clear the table, stat!" Owen yelled by the door, running to the nearest table with Noah unconscious over his shoulders.
"Ugh! We made it!" Leshawna fell by the doorstep.
"You were saying?" Eva deadpanned.
"You wanna—"
"There you are! What took you so long!? We just lost the challenge!" Courtney screamed, facing Harold appearing to be in pain.
"I think I'm having heart palpitations!" Harold choked from the wrenching pain in his chest.
"So?" Eva deadpans again.
"Nnnnnevermind," Dexter frowned, missing the chance for his words to come out.
"Broooooooo…!" Max groaned before fainting on the floor.
"But wait a second, if they lost, then that means… we won the challenge!" Gwen exclaimed, making members of the Screaming Gophers scream with joy.
"Whoaa there, hold your horses, guys! That was not even the challenge!" Chris assured.
"What did you just say?...!" Gwen blurted out.
Chris then walks over to a section of the main lodge that's covered by a curtain.
"Who's HUNGRY!?" Chris pulls a rope that unveils the curtain, showing a huge buffet table full of amazing delicacies and exotically sumptuous meals.
—ZZZ—
"After a day of eating that brown sludge, I almost cried seeing that buffet," Gwen sighed with relief.
—ZZZ—
"And then I saw it, the buffet table! It was beautiful! There was turkey! And amino bars! Beans and maple syrup! Wait, could I have a minute…!" Owen sobbed with joy.
—
And not wasting any time, the campers devoured their hard-earned brunch, every piece of bread, every morsel of the turkey and chicken, even the beverages among the other food items on table were all completely finished, leaving inside the lodge with stuffed bellies that bulge over their waists and symptoms of food comas setting in like a hangover, aside from the tiring morning exercise that they've went through. With this, Chris stood over with his megaphone, most likely for another announcement.
"Okay campers! Time for part two of the challenge!" Chris deviously declares, all the while the campers couldn't even walk straight.
"I thoughth eating was the secondh part!" Owen mumbled with gravy over his chubby face.
"What more do you want from us?!" Gwen whined, holding up her bulging belly.
"Ughhh, weird goth girl is right!" Heather seconds her opinion, also holding her bulging belly. "Haven't we been through enough!?"
"Ummm, let me think about that…NO!" Chris smugly replied with a smirk. "It's time for—the Awake-athon!"
"The Awhatathon!?" both Owen and Max exclaimed.
"Don't worry!" Chris assured as he stepped down. "This is an easy one! The team with the last camper standing wins invincibility!"
"Waitwaitwait hol' up, you mean to tell us you let us run throughout the entire trek, AND tempted us with an amazing buffet that gets us all tricked into having food comas, for a challenge where we can't sleep!?" Max screamed with slightly puffy eyes and a bulging belly.
"Heheheh, very perceptive of you to explain the situation for everyone, thank you very much!" Chris laughed.
"Awwwwww craaaap..!" Max groaned, falling on his knees from the fatigue and food coma taking over his mind.
"Well, I guess that immediately leaves you out of the challenge," Chris snorted.
"Ughhh, someone wake him up, we're not losing anybody before we're even starting!" Heather screamed.
"Move! Move! Mooove!" Chris yells, letting everybody leave the premises, guiding them to the bonfire.
"Good thing I laid off the tea section. I would've been a goner too soon for this," Dexter shook his head.
"How long do you think it'll be before everyone's out cold?" Trent asks, making Dexter shrug his shoulders.
"Dunno, an hour?" Dexter replied before seeing some of the campers being carried over their shoulders with heavy eyelids. "Or less?"
—
Hours have passed around the bonfire area, everyone's losing their sanity and energy in the airy afternoon breeze, internally suffering from forcing themselves to stay awake… well, maybe not everyone…
—ZZZ—
"The Awake-athon, is probably the most brutal thing I've ever done in my life," Gwen complains.
—
"Huh, you guys look like you use a cup of coffee…!" Dexter points out, surrounded by teammates that are barely keeping their posture straight.
"How! How are you not even sleepy yet?!" Harold groaned before yawning out loud.
"I didn't get to eat too much after the thrashing Owen done and gone at the table. All I ate were just two plates of bread slathered with butter and cheese, along with a bowl of salad on the side before washing all of it down with some warm water," Dexter explained.
"Pfft, your loss," Duncan chuckled.
"Thanks, how's your stomach?" Dexter retorted back.
"Nothing you should mind about," Duncan barked back.
"Guysss! Let's not fight amongst ourselves! And save your— huuaaaghhhh— energy…!" Courtney yawned, trying to stay up on her legs.
"Hmmm…" Dexter then pulls out a hand-sized packet of Tic Tacs from his satchel to offer his team some willpower and morale. "Anyone want some mint? Might not be much but—"
"Sweeeet!" Hit me!" Geoff asks, getting one refreshing dose of cooled minty air conditioning in his mouth and tongue. "Mmmmm!"
"I'd like one too!" Bridgette asks, having one taste of refreshing mint to keep herself awake.
Eventually, he hands out everybody a piece of the mint until his cartridge's left with one last piece, just for Duncan, slumping by the corner on a stump. Before he could walk out to him, Courtney catches Dexter by the arm.
"You're not giving that jerk your last one, are you?" Courtney replied with disgust.
"Well, he needs it," Dexter shrugs.
"Even after all the stunts he did to you?" Courtney asks.
"Well, yeah. I mean, a teammate's a friend, though I don't know what he's got on me," Dexter vaguely replied before walking towards Duncan with his last piece of Tic tac. "Hey man I—"
"What is it?" Duncan quickly responded, yawning out loud before being taken aback by a hand holding a packet of mint in front of his face. "What's this?"
"It's mint. Take it, we need all the energy we can get!" Dexter replied, tapping the last piece into his hand.
"Huh, awesome, thanks," Duncan thanked, shoving the piece into his mouth. "Hey…we're…still cool, right?"
"I sure hope so," Dexter replied with a smirk, fistbumping with Duncan and forgiving him before going back to his sitting stump.
"...I'm going to the bathroom," Eva replied minutes later as she stood up and put her MP3 player headset in her pocket.
"Wanna let me hold onto those for you? I can keep 'em safe in my bag," Dexter offers.
Though a bit hesitant, she nods and hands them to Dexter for safekeeping in his satchel, too tired to get mad at the moment.
"Lose them, and you'll lose your arms," Eva snarled, shaking some of the guys and girls with her threat before strolling away to find a loo spot.
"Roger that, ma'am!" Dexter playfully salutes before pulling out his field journal to write some of his thoughts down.
—ZZZ—
"I don't know HOW Dexter's able to do it, but I need to learn how he could look so calm in front of a loose cannon like Eva," Courtney whispered out loud.
—
From afar, the Screaming Gophers already lost Owen as he fainted within the first minutes in the challenge. Heather seems to be getting along with the gullible girls Lindsay and Beth— though unsure whether it is a genuine relationship. And then there is Max, sitting hunched and glaring at Dexter, watching him enjoying himself so well with his friends that he just met in this reality tv show summer camp.
'So much for friendship,' Max muttered, watching get "cozy" with two of the girls in his team, though he does not even intend to.
"Dude, you okay?" Noah asked, trying his hardest to stay awake.
"Peachy, just peachy," Max straightforwardly replied while still glaring at Dexter.
The day ends and night falls. Both teams eventually suffered losses as some campers from both sides succumbed to drowsiness and fatigue around the bonfire. From the Screaming Gophers, Leshawna, Izzy, Owen, Max and Noah are out down for the count; whereas for the Killer Bass, Bridgette is found lying on the ground while Katie, Sadie and Tyler are close to succumbing to slumber as they let out loud snoring sounds until the jock in reds screamed in horror for some reason, catching the Killer Bass members off guard.
"Whoa, that must be some nightmare," Dexter thought out loud.
"Congratulations, campers! You made it in the 24-hour mark! Time to take things up a notch!" Chris declares, with Chef Hatchet beside him in what appears to be a pink sheep onesie with a harp.
Near Chris was a covered pile until he pulled up the sheet and revealed it to be stacks of fairytale stories and children's books.
"Fairy tales!" Chris shows.
"Oh, you're not serious!?" Gwen hysterically cried.
"Uhhhhh ohhhh…" Dexter hummed, noticing how hammered down his teammates are until an idea popped into his head to spice things up for a little long while. "Psst, guys, wanna play a game to kill time?"
"A game? What kind of game?" Courtney asks.
"A very interactive and enlightening game. It's called truth or dare, hehehe," Dexter eagerly smiled, pulling out his pencil.
"Ohhhh, now you have my full attention. I was waiting for something interesting," Duncan smirked before yawning.
"Awesome! C'mon, guys!"
The Killer Bass then huddled around a certain stump where Dexter puts his pencil on a stump, using its lead tip as a pointer arrow to choose whoever its tip targets. Like any truth or dare game, the mystery and suspense for the questions to ask or the dares to do are enough to keep one's curiosity and interest awake at a time like this challenge.
"Okay, I'll go first!" Dexter then spins the pencil as hard as he can, watching it spin for a few seconds until it points towards Geoff, sitting in between him and DJ. "Okay, Geoff, truth or dare?"
"Truth!" Geoff exclaimed.
"Okay…then let me be the blunt jerk for once: do you like Bridgette?" Dexter asks, making them either laugh or smile. "What? What is it?"
"Dude, it's pretty obvious, I like her. Why would you think different? Do you like her too?" Geoff wondered.
"Nah, I just wanna be sure so I won't overstep or something. You got my full support, brother," Dexter assured, shaking hands with Geoff.
"Aw sweet! 'Preciate that, bro!" Geoff replied back with a smile.
"Okay Geoff, your turn," Dexter lets him take the pencil.
After he twirls it on the stump, it slows down and points at Harold.
"Whew, alright bro, truth? Or dare?" Geoff asks.
"Dare! Hehehe," Harold replied.
"Okay bruh, I dare you to do five push ups," Geoff dares.
"Deal! I can—"
"But! Do it on the stumps," Geoff adds before laughing out loud.
"Bro, that's hard," Dexter points out.
"That's the point, bruh," Geoff smirked in response.
—
Meanwhile, on the side of the Gophers', others among them have succumbed to slumber as Chris' lulling tones hypnotize them while reading out a childish fairytale book, accompanied by calming strummed harp music played by Chef Hatchet.
"Urghhh…!"
"Huaaagh…!"
"Hugh—ughhhhhhh…!"
*CRASH!*
Suddenly, wails of yawning swiftly flowed throughout the camp as everyone suffers to stay awake and conscious for the sake of the challenge, but many have fallen, including some of the Bass members, those that even played with Dexter's game.
"Aw geez, they're really good, better than me when I had to lull nursery kids to sleep," Dexter gulped.
This time, he notices Geoff, Harold, Katie, Sadie, and Tyler having succumbed to slumber while sitting down or fallen on their faces or heads on the ground— and he somehow spotted DJ sleeping while being bound next to a tree, the one that just kinda made a loud crash.
"Sheeeeesh, that's gonna leave a rough bruise," Dexter cringed from the sight of his pain.
"Well, Dexter? Any other fun ideas to stay awake?" Courtney begged, panting on her moving noodle legs as she tried her hardest to stay awake.
"Oh yeah? I got one, princess," Duncan joked with a smirk.
"Coming from a guy like you, it must be far from the fun I was going for," Courtney deadpanned with disgust.
"Oh yeah! Eva!" Dexter called, handing her back the MP3 player she left in his keep. "You kinda forgot to ask for this back."
"T-Thanks, I can't stand any more of that corny harp sound!" Eva groaned, quickly putting her headset back on and turned her heavy metal music on in her player.
"You sure like heavy metal huh?" Dexter noticed.
"Yeah, so what?" Eva deadpanned.
"Nothing, just, an interestingly strong taste for—"
"For a girl, is that it?" Eva snarled, indicating her feeling of annoyance towards him.
"Well, yeah. I mean, you're the first girl I ever met to like rock music, just saying," Dexter sincerely said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Whatever…" Eva trails off, though taken aback by his calm and somewhat awkward response, when most people would usually raise their voice back in retaliation from her rough speech, a common scenario that fuels her bad temper. "...but…thanks… for keeping this safe. The music… I just need it…"
"Psh, no biggie, anytime!" Dexter gladly replied back with a smile.
—
'Hmmmm, interesting…' Heather thought to herself, barely keeping her eyes open and mind operational, whereas Lindsay and Beth failed and fell to drowsiness.
"...Okay…favorite song?" Gwen shot, sitting beside Trent with her legs and knees held close.
"...She would be loved. Favorite color?" Trent shot back.
"Ummmm, midnight blue," Gwen replied.
"Ooooh mysterious, I like that…!" Trent comments.
"Heh, huuuugh…" Gwen yawned.
"Awwww no, don't sleep! Okay quick, favorite movie moment!" Trent shot his next question.
"You're gonna think it's cheesy," Gwen hesitantly replies.
"I promise I won't," Trent assured.
"...Okay…the kiss at the end of that road trip movie, you know the one with the guy and the three girls?" Gwen answers.
"I know that one! Heh, you like that movie?" Trent asks, trying hard not to make fun of her.
Suddenly, in the midst of the cheesy and cozy atmosphere, Owen, completely in his birthday suit, calmly passes by shamelessly while snoring uncontrollably, mortifying the sad pair of loving eyes with his sleepwalking into the woods.
—ZZZ—
"Did I mention that I ate the entire dish of baked beans in maple syrup? Funny thing about baked beans…they made me sleepwalk," Owen confesses in the confessional seat.
—
"Man, what a beautiful night sky," Dexter awed, reclining his back onto a stump, letting the hours pass by and heavy eyelids among the Gopher's falling.
"You think?" Duncan snorted.
"It does not take a lecture to learn how to appreciate things," Dexter replied in slight protest.
"Tch, you're starting to sound like my mom," Duncan scoffed.
"I—"
"Forget him, he's just cranky and jealous," Courtney assured before yawning and sitting right next to him.
"Pfft, as if I'd be jealous of a dork scout," Duncan scoffed.
"Uh—"
"Just…don't, huaaaagh… mind him…" Courtney yawned, slowly falling into a deep slumber herself as her head slowly leans onto Dexter's shoulder.
'Crud crud crud, what do I do!? Uhhhh, how do I make outta this!?' Dexter internally screamed, nervously biting his lips and frozen stiff as she tried to snuggle closer to him. 'Courtney! Please! Wake up!'
"Hm? Hey! His eyelids are painted! I saw it!"
From the loud voice coming from Eva behind them, Courtney immediately sits back up straight, waking up out of her dozing off before Chris would even notice, only to see him turn to and spot Justin with white paint all over his eyelids as Eva called out.
"Shut UP! Oh I've gotta see this!" Chris exclaimed as he went to check on Justin, with him nervously smiling after being caught red-handed. "That is so freaking COOL! But, you're still out, dude."
"Whoa, nice one, Eva! Didn't notice he was sleeping the entire time!" Dexter awed in response.
"Neither did I. If they never woke him up, I wouldn't have seen that coming," Eva plainly replied before tapping onto her music player.
"Great! We can win this! There are still three of us left, who's with me!" Courtney rallied.
"Whoo hoo…" Duncan yelled in a dead tone and yawned.
"Yaaaaay…" Dexter nervously cheered, noticing how haggard Courtney looked.
—ZZZ—
"Okay, one: I am thankful that we are close to winning this. But two: I lost my chance of getting a good teammate right by my side if it weren't for that ill-tempered amazon! But I won't give up! I can deal with it, I must, for the competition!" Courtney groaned and steeled herself.
—
More hours pass by and the sun comes up once more, waking some of the sleeping campers out of their makeshift beds and embarrassing poses until only the last remaining campers are up. But by this time, Dexter's showing signs of drowsiness as he now has wrinkled eyelids and yawned out loud while Courtney wakes up from her sleep, probably from about hours ago before sunrise. So far, on the Gophers' side, only Gwen, Trent, and Heather are left awake while on the Bass team, only Duncan, Dexter, and Eva are still up…
"Hehehe," Duncan sneakily puts a mug of warm water near Harold and then takes his hand to dip it in.
"Ahhhhhh," Harold moaned, instantly leaking his crotch from the cool wet sensation in his hand.
"Awhahaha gross, it worked! Dude peed his pants!" Duncan laughed, making Harold slowly wake up and gasp to cover his wet crotch before leaving the scene entirely.
"Bro, not cool. Why do that?" Dexter shook his head and crossed his arms.
"Awwww c'mon man, why can't I? It's just a prank, and besides, a real funny one too!" Duncan groaned in protest.
"Forget reasoning with him. He won't budge," Eva advises before putting her headset and music player in her pocket.
"I'll go with that," Dexter turned away from Duncan.
"Heh, if only I got a chicken cap for ya, little dork scout," Duncan scoffed and laughed.
Suddenly, Chris appears back walking with a cup of hot coffee in his hands.
"What is the matter with you people!?" Chris hysterically exclaimed before slurping on his hot cup of joe. "C'moooon, fall asleep already!?"
"You gotta hook me up man! I'll even eat the grinds!" Gwen begged on her knees, trying to reach for his cup of coffee.
'...Hmmmm, pst, Eva!' Dexter called with an idea in mind.
'Whaaaaaat!? Make it quick!' Eva groaned in annoyance.
'How many kinds of music does your player have?' Dexter whispered.
'Well, all kinds maybe, why?' Eva answered groggily before yawning.
'Good, on my signal, slowly tune into this one song I have, but in slow motion. It's risky that it can make all of us asleep, but it's totally worth it! What do you say?' Dexter shared his plan.
'Well, depends if I got the song, but that's sneaky… I like your style,' Eva smirked in response.
'Thanks, but it's more like "being resourceful" than being sneaky, since I told you about it,' Dexter clarifies with a playful wink, catching her off guard.
Eva's evidently close to punching his lights out, but couldn't do it from all the fatigue and his dumb gullibility, knowing how petty it might be to just blow out for no reason. Not long in the morning, Chris orders all the campers that woke up to immediately leave the premises and wash up like losers while the last six campers from sides have to deal with a sudden death round sitting on stumps with Chris pulling out a huge thick encyclopedia of sorts, judging from it being hardbound and heavy.
"The History of Canada! A pop-up book, chapter one!" Chris proclaimed, though in a flat tone at the last bit as he opened his book. "The beaver…national symbol…and a "dam-fying" hat."
It's bad enough to have a boring history lesson from a childish pop-up encyclopedia with over hundreds of pages, but to hear it from a corny monotone lazy host of a teacher tops the pain even more that makes it utterly unbearable.
'Pst, okay Eva, ready when you are. And take off your headset. Wear these instead,' Dexter called, holding up two pairs of earplugs.
'You are a sly one—for a boy scout,' Eva whispers as she puts on the ear plugs and unplugs her headset from her player, tuned into the song titled "Für Elise by Beethoven".
"Hm? What are you guys doing?" Duncan noticed before yawning.
Ignoring his cry, Eva secretly turns on her music player at a certain volume that softly faint, yet can be heard from the side of the Gopher's, increasing the volume to a point that is enough for it to be heard even more. Shockingly, Chris smirked at their plan and decided not to ruin the fun by continuing on reading, feeling sleepy himself from a double slumber whammy of the calming Beethoven tune and his own reading, transferring the sleepy energy to the Gophers that they yawned in unison, even Duncan. Thankfully, both Eva and Dexter got their ear plugs on so that the music played won't affect them with their lulling tunes.
'Huagh, what the—dude, you are you wearing ear plugs…!? What about me!?' Duncan finally notices the earplugs Eva and Dexter were wearing.
Soon, Heather was the first to fall asleep as she rested on her palm and unladylike snores came out loud. Trent tries to stay awake by standing up but he loses his footing and falls on his face, an instant accidental knockout on his attempt.
"Trent, don't leave me…!" Gwen moaned and groaned, trying to wake him up on the ground.
"I… gotta… go… to the… bathroom!" Duncan begged, hunching holding his aching crotch.
"Time for a bathroom break then! Go on ahead, but don't take too long!" Chris permitted, watching Duncan limp over to the restroom.
"What the— it's you two! You were playing that stinkin' lullaby music!?" Gwen screamed, noticing the MP3 player in Eva's hand.
"Oops, sorry, must've unplugged my headset," Eva smugly replied.
"Man, you guys sure are witty with your stuff. Well, didn't mention that we can't allow that to happen, so let's keep the ball rollin'!" Chris laughed before walking over to the stall to check on Duncan, who is taking longer than a minute in using the restroom, only to find him snoring out loud while lying his head on the tissue roll. "Oop—looks like it's just you three left!"
"You tired yet, girlfriend?" Eva taunted.
"Nope, you?" Gwen taunted back.
"We're more than alright, right Dexter? Dexter?" Eva wondered what happened, seeing Dexter hunching over and blinking his wrinkled eyes before yawning like a whale.
"H-Huh? Oh, yeaaaaaaahhh, ahem!"
He clears his throat and tries to limber up and whistles a certain hymn while stretching his arms and legs. Sure enough, the hymn's calming tune was enough to make Gwen drop to her knees and yawn, slowly succumbing to slumber before taking one sharp glare at Dexter and Eva.
"You…you…"
*Thud!*
"Wow, well then, you guys sure played this challenge fairly well!" Chris complimented with a chuckle, seeing Gwen faint and fall asleep. "And the winner of this challenge is the Killer Bass, with two lives remaining!"
"Whoohoo! Yeah!"
*Thud!*
"Huh?"
As soon as Eva heard that they'd won, she fell on her front flat and is completely out cold with light snoring sounds, which is kinda a cute sight to Dexter.
"Uhhhh, somebody's gotta pick'er up," Chris bluntly replied.
"I got her, but above that, we won! Whoohoo!" Dexter cheered again.
—
Back at the campgrounds, at the Killer Bass' cabin, everyone who's lost the challenge were all waiting for the last teammates standing around the doorposts or sitting by the porch.
"How much longer do we have to wait!?" Courtney shrieked. "The suspense is killing me!"
"Calm down, Courtney. It's amazing that they could hold out this far compared to most of us," Bridgette assured.
"And that's one thing I'm sorta worried about…" Courtney deadpanned, full of angst and unease with the circumstances.
"What? What do you—?"
"Whoa, guys, look!"
Looking at the direction where Geoff's pointing, they could see Dexter, barely walking up straight to the grounds from afar, carrying Eva in his arms like a princess, gently trying his hardest not to agitate or awaken her while reaching the cabin.
"Hey man! Ya made it!" DJ exclaimed, running over to him.
"Yeah, ugh, really hard, heavy knees, heavy brain," Dexter groaned, trying to keep his posture while carrying Eva.
"Ugh, why do you have to carry her all the way here? You could just simply wake her up," Courtney snapped at him.
"Easy Courtney, they earned their rest for lasting this far," Bridgette defended, offering to help carry Eva to the girls' cabin side with the help of Katie and Sadie. "You go rest too, Dex. We girls can take it from here."
"Awesome, I leave that to you theeee…n…"
*Thud!*
All of a sudden, the strength and willpower within Dexter finally gave out and the losses caused him to faint and drop on his face, falling asleep until further notice that Geoff and DJ carried his arms over their shoulders to the guys' cabin side.
"Dude's got an engine or battery for a stomach or something, to think he can only sleep right now, and after carrying a big girl like her," Geoff thought out loud and chuckled.
"Let's just set him down for the day, 'kay?" DJ suggests, getting Geoff's nod as they go in and gently toss him to his lower bunk bed.
—
The moment night falls, Chris calls for the Screaming Gophers to head down to the camp bonfire area for the elimination night, where they have to vote off one of their members to head to continue to the next round tomorrow…
"Screaming Gophers. You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only eleven 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 are out of the contest, and you can never come back— ever!" Chris relayed the rules again in a tone that fuels the suspense. "The first marshmallow goes to…Heather!"
After Heather gets her marshmallow, Chris calls other names accordingly for every camper to get their marshmallow…
"Leshawna… Justin… Trent… Gwen… Cody… Noah… Izzy… Beth… Lindsay…" Chris then pauses after Lindsay gets her marshmallow, leaving one last piece on the plate for either Max and Owen.
"Well then guys, it seems like we have quite the dilemma here! Has anybody found Owen anywhere or no? 'Cause if he isn't here before like… the next minute, the last piece automatically goes to Maxwell here," Chris points out.
"It's Maximilian! Not freakin' Maxwell!" Max grumbled out loud with bloodshot eyes.
"Okay okay, chill. It's just only about uhmmm… thirty seconds tops left…" Chris replied, waiting patiently for the big guy, finding him nowhere to be seen.
"Hey! What is that?"
Lindsay notices something coming up from the island and flying into the sky; it's something big; something jiggly, and something… that's crashing over to the bonfire…!
*CRASH!*
Out of the fog and dusted debris, they all see a buttnaked Owen snoring out loud on the crash site, having flattened a tree stump that contained the last marshmallow and smelling it up close before munching it without hesitation after. As an unexpected result, Max lost his chance to compete on the island.
"What?! No way! Dude, do a recount, please!?" Max begged, shaking Chris by the shoulders.
"Sorry dude, the big guy apparently took it before you could. Moreover, since the moment's ruined, I have to be straightforward now, and that is: it is Owen taking the last marshmallow, so adios!" Chris playfully shrugged and saluted.
"Grrrggh, I'll be back, Chris! And you! I'll be back for you, baby!" Max curses, referring to Heather. "I'll deal with all of you, including my old pal. So much for friendships."
—ZZZ—
"Well, that is one hindrance to be rid off. Now my next target should be those two knuckleheads on the Bass team, they are sure to be major headaches, and I can't allow them to continue in order to win this competition!" Heather screamed in the bathroom towards the camera.
—
Sadly, since Dexter's knocked out for the day, he's unable to jot down his thoughts. However, his memory still serves him right, especially the experience of learning so much about his newfound friends in the Killer Bass, and possibly with the tough girl Eva. Still, more to come in this little show awaits him—after he regains his strength.
-To be continued