"...we strove to come up with the best way to help the campers de-stress, then decided it'd be way more fun to handcuff them together."

This challenge Cody had only experienced a few times. Typically he avoided it after the fourth major loop, where Noah ended up learning everything about him, but at this point he couldn't really bring himself to stop here. It was difficult to put his faith in these other people who were so unlike him at this point, especially when all of them would be content to let him die out here if they had the choice.

"The teams for today will be… Geoff, Heather!" He threw a pair of handcuffs to Heather, who glared at the party animal. Geoff, for his part, was completely oblivious to her disdain for his personality type.

"At least I get to spend some time with a piece like you! It's gonna be a wild challenge brah." Heather made dry heave motions, but Geoff didn't seem to notice or care.

"Trent, Lindsey, you get to be another pair." Another set of handcuffs made their way to Trent, who looked at Chris in shock. Ah, that meant…

"You're pairing me with him? " Gwen asked, clearly annoyed, while Trent nodded in agreement. Heather, for her part, seemed to regain some of her Gwen antagonism that faded with the 'mutual threat' in Cody, a small smirk reaching her lips. "We may as well give up now."

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that." Chris smiled at the group. "You see, initially we wanted to pair all of you so that the personalities involved would be… complementary. But, I think most of you would ditch the other if it meant said person getting eliminated." He looked at both Cody and Heather when he said this. "So, instead a new rule was added. Anyone who throws the challenge by unlocking the handcuffs will be subject to automatic elimination!"

Gwen continued to grumble, but cooled off at that. Back in the first week there would've been far more moaning and groaning, but it seemed things had mellowed out since then (or rather, they had gotten used to the unfairness of it all). Cody confidently smiled at that.

It was a worry of his how this challenge would go. The pairings were always random and based on what would cause the most drama, and a natural fear was his partner throwing the challenge. With this new rule, he only had to worry about Gwen's own enthusiasm… which was a pretty big issue.

The group followed Chris to the mess hall, now tied together, ready for the first challenge of the day.

"First of our three challenges!" Chris cheered as he opened the mess hall doors, Chef in the back clearly working on something definitely disgusting, "Competitive chow down! One of you guys will feed the other the grossest stuff Chef has to offer, think our little brunch of disgustingness but way worse!"

Cody saw Trent gulp heavily at that, and Geoff tugged at his collar. He had this one in the bag- those two had incredibly weak stomachs, while Cody had been consuming Chef's slop for so long that he had almost forgotten what real food tastes like. It'd be a cinch… if Gwen helped.

Looking at his gothic partner, he saw her sharp glare pointed at him. "Chris, do both of us have to eat, or just one?"

"I was just about to explain that." Chris responded, clearly annoyed. His mood brightened considerably right after, the man sure knew how to play up for the audience. "One of you will be the feeder, the other will be the feed ee. Decide amongst yourselves who that should be."

While the other two pairs had mini arguments about who should eat the disgusting food, Gwen dragged Cody over to the table, sitting him next to her. "I think we both know who's going to be eating Chef's latest slop."

"No problem, m'lady." Cody cheekily said, tossing a smirk her way. He could feel the urge to slap him radiating from Gwen's being, and how badly she was trying to suppress it.

The food came, and dish after dish tested Gwen's appetite more than Cody's. In fact, everyone in the room seemed ready to puke except for the gap toothed boy, a dedication in his eyes unlike anything ever before. Gwen's glee at shoving all this slop into his mouth had melted into a firm look of disgust and malice, as she shoved bits of turkey mixed with Chef's orange mush into his mouth.

Eventually, Cody was finished, much to the shock and disgust of everyone around him.

"How could you eat all that awful stuff so willingly!?" Gwen half shouted, backing away from Cody (which only resulted in her dragging the short boy closer). "It was like you were enjoying it!"

Cody licked his lips and leered at her, bits of his own malice in his eyes. "I'm gonna make it to the end of this. Bad food isn't exactly gonna stop me now."

"I'll take the lead." Gwen said as she hopped into the canoe. The second part of the challenge, it'd be another easy one based on how the other teams were handling things. Trent was trying to guide Lindsey seemingly through the act of existence itself, while Geoff was busy annoying Heather to the point of losing her game, so, ignoring any potential Gwen related sabotage, there was nothing holding their little pair back.

"I don't mind." Truthfully, he didn't. The thought of sharing a canoe with Gwen was nostalgic- he'd never had the coconuts to do it ever since his first time around, and that was years ago. By the time he made it to the Boney Island challenge in one of the loops, he was too scared of everything around him to even try…

"You're insufferable." Gwen mumbled as she pushed the canoe against the sand, Cody helping. The pair eventually got in and rowed their way into the lake. It was Gwen who broke what minimal silence they had attained. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing… what?" Cody swiftly dodged the paddle that swung at his head.

"You know what I mean." Gwen growled, looking him up and down. "All this set up and planning, acting like you run this game. I heard rumours back on the playa, you're supposed to be loaded- what could you want the money for?"

If Gwen was expecting anything, it wasn't the somber look in Cody's eyes. His downcast expression, the way his lips quivered between a smile and a frown. He was… depraved in a sense, completely throwing her off and unnerving her at the same time.

"I just want to escape." Cody stated simply. Gwen waited for elaboration, but none came, just a simple statement of fact, and the way he said it had an air of forlornness, as if tortured by the very notion.

"Escape from what?" Gwen got no response aside from a smile directed more at the floor of the canoe than at her.

"So, you want me to carry you?"

Gwen hated this. The options were to be piggybacked by Cody, the person who had basically attacked her the same day he first met her, and had been continually antagonistic and manipulative for several weeks… or carry the boy who did all of that.

The idea of his hands creeping around the back of her thighs was enough to settle this.

"I'll carry you. Bridal style, so don't get any funny ideas, if your hands go anywhere I'll make sure there won't be any Cody Juniors running around."

Cody's smile made her want to retch. "No problem."

"Why did you put Ezekiel down first?" Gwen asked as Cody began arranging the wooden sculptures. He seemed fixated on Ezekiel being at the bottom, which was a bit odd considering… Well, he caused both the first elimination and Ezekiel's.

"Force of habit I guess. He just seems like the type of guy to leave first." His creepy gaze was one filled with nostalgia. It unnerved Gwen.

Eventually, Cody managed to piece together the totem pole of losers, him and Gwen working far faster than the other mismatched teams, which gave them their second point and cleared them for immunity.

"Thanks for not throwing the game." Cody smiled softly at Gwen. It was odd to see, the boy who was so antagonistic and so seemingly resentful of everyone here, he'd occasionally have these genuine smiles. They were never truly happy though, they always seemed to have a sense of nostalgia or love loss to them, as if trapped in a moment of remembrance.

"...no problem." Gwen got out eventually. She couldn't grasp Cody, even this late in the game and having this much close contact with him.

He was borderline sociopathic in his plays, with how confidently he manipulated Beth and played to Courtney's ego. He indulged a malicious side with how he framed Heather or got Gwen herself out, and yet he seemed to not indulge in any of these things. At every voting, he always seemed the most somber despite showing the most antagonism during the challenges.

If anything, it was likely that he was schizophrenic, but that seemed wrong as well. His somber mood was never out of sudden realization or just missing the people, but it always had an air of desire and self-loathing. She'd heard from Noah back at the Playa that Cody had some secret that made it seem like he hated himself, but Noah never found out what it was…

Just who was Cody?

"And the final marshmallow goes to… Heather!" It had been strictly strategic. Heather and Lindsey both voted for Geoff, and Gwen followed suit because she didn't want to lose Trent, and Geoff would be their toughest competition in the endgame. Guy was too likable, and too 'able' in general. For a party animal, he could probably dominate any solo aspect of the competition… so long as it doesn't involve hail.

A few days later, Chris would retrieve Lindsey as well- apparently she was the "Loser's Favourite", which made sense.

Now, their group of twenty two had been whittled down to four.

Gwen. Heather. Trent. Cody.

A goth. A spiteful cow. A sappy musician.

And the 'antagonist'.

Joy.

Loop 0001

"That stuff I wrote about you… that was all Heather." Gwen said softly as she wheeled Cody to the edge of the dock. "To be honest, the most I had written about you was 'pretty weird'. I'm not sorry for that part, just… Heather's spiteful. I know that. I know you probably didn't help her in the slightest with getting my diary. I hope you don't hold any of this against me, and I won't hold any of it against you. Neither of us were at fault anyways."

Gwen walked away, hoping her words had gotten through to Cody. Cody just glared at the lake, his eyes resting on the moon's reflection.