"What the hell was that, Cody?"
Cody gulped in fear, struggling to meet either girls' eyes.
Almost immediately after the ceremony had ended, Leshawna and Gwen had dragged him off to interrogate him about the vote.
He had seen it coming, sure, but that didn't mean he was prepared for the dressing down he was probably going to get.
"I mean, seriously?!" Gwen threw her arms up in the air, beyond frustrated. "You really voted for Beth over Heather? I just… agh!"
Cody put his hands up in surrender. "Look, I know Heather is a bit… abrasive -"
'You mean a complete and utter bitch." Leshawna interrupted.
Cody nodded absentmindedly. "Also true. But Beth cursed the team, didn't she?"
Gwen rolled her eyes. "There's no way youbelieve in curses too."
"I'm telling you girl," Leshawna complained, "It was real! Even if Heather was the one who shoulda gone home, there's no way that curse thing was fake! Just think about everything bad that's happened since that dumb canoe challenge!"
Gwen winced at the reminder.
"Anyways," Cody continued, wanting to justify himself, "Beth also hasn't been the most useful in challenges, and as much as I hate to admit it Heather has contributed more to the team overall. Besides, you guys did lock Heather in the freezer and forget about her. I think that evens things out a bit, no?"
Gwen and Leshawna scoffed in unison. It seemed that his appeal to logic didn't work.
Cody sighed. "Alright, fine," he conceded, "If we lose again I'll vote out Heather with you guys. Deal?"
"Oh yeah smart guy?" Leshawna narrowed her eyes at him. "How are we gonna do that? Thanks to you, we don't have the numbers to get rid of her anymore!"
Cody smiled awkwardly. "I think you're underestimating Owen. He definitely would vote with us over Heather."
"Well I hope you're right," Leshawna said with finality, "For all of our sakes."
Cody could only chuckle nervously in response.
–
Cody wasn't on speaking terms with most of the team at this point.
Thanks to voting with Heather, Leshawna and Gwen had been temporarily ignoring him - he didn't blame them. Heather had also stopped speaking with him after his request, and even Owen of all people had started giving him the cold shoulder, likely thanks to Leshawna being in his ear or something. It sucked, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.
That didn't mean he didn't absolutely loathe the way he felt now. Sure, he still had Bridgette, but that was pretty much the only person he could talk to anymore. And unfortunately for Cody, something seemed to be bothering her too.
She hadn't been avoiding him, per se, at least not like his team had been, but it was becoming awkward whenever the two of them interacted, and Cody didn't know why. Sometimes they'd be in the middle of just hanging out and all of a sudden she'd get a nervous look on her face, apologize, and just leave him hanging. He didn't think he had done anything - but when had that stopped people from leaving him before?
Cody was so desperate at this point that he had even gone to DJ to ask if he knew anything about why Bridgette was acting this way - but all the gentle giant had offered him was a sheepish smile and a 'Just give her some time'.
What did that even mean?
Whatever it meant, Cody wasn't able to get any more information out of DJ, so he resigned himself to hiding under the Dock of Shame, away from everyone else, opting to wallow in his own misery in peace.
Heh. The Dock of Shame. What an apt name. He hadn't even been eliminated, and here he was, crying like the loser he was, all over the fact that -
"Cooper?"
Lindsay's head peeked down at him from above, staring at him upside down with a curious look in her eyes. Her hair splayed out behind her as gravity took its hold, the blue bandana she wore doing nothing to hold it up.
"What are you doing?" She asked, "It doesn't look very comfortable down there."
"Uh…" Cody was at a loss for words. What was she doing here? "It's Cody, Lindsay."
"Oh, right!" She smacked a hand against her head, before losing her balance and nearly toppling down to Cody's level. She caught herself at the last second, letting out a sigh of relief at the realization of what could have happened.
"Sorry, Cody," she breathed out, "But can you come up here? I don't want to fall over!"
Cody sighed, but nodded. It wasn't like he had the heart to say no to her.
He quickly pulled himself back up onto the dock, dusting his pants off while Lindsay sat down next to him.
"So why were you hiding down there?" Lindsay asked again, "Were you playing hide and seek with somebody?"
He shook his head. "No, I was just… thinking, I guess," he explained, "And I wanted somewhere quiet to do it, you know?"
Lindsay gasped quietly. "Ohh, I totally get that!" She agreed, but her smile dipped as she began to pout, "But it made it really hard to find you!"
Cody raised an eyebrow. "You were looking for me?"
Lindsay nodded, a bright smile back on her face. "Yup!"
Why would she be looking for him? They hadn't exactly talked much, and Lindsay had plenty of other friends on the island. Hell, two of her closest friends on the island were Tyler and Heather - one of whom was her boyfriend, and the other was basically her boss and really wasn't a fan of Cody at the moment.
When he voiced these concerns, Lindsay merely giggled. "Because, silly," she explained, "Everyone on the team's been so mean lately! Heather, Gwen, and Lafonda have been so angry lately, and Omar keeps running away from me for some reason! I don't like watching everyone fight, so I wanted to hang out with you!"
"What about Tyler, though?" Cody questioned, "Wouldn't he like to spend time with you more - not that I'm complaining or anything!"
"Yeah, probably," Lindsay sighed, "But I couldn't find him either! It's like he disappeared!"
"I'm pretty sure that he's just on a run," Cody said, tapping his chin in thought, "Tyler usually goes on runs around this time of day whenever we don't have a challenge, I've even gone with him a few times."
"Oh!" Lindsay beamed, "Thanks, Colby!"
"Cody," he repeated, "And no problem."
Lindsay winced. "Sorry, I'm not the best with names."
"It's cool." Cody allowed a small smile to grow on his face. "I don't mind."
"Really?!" Lindsay was ecstatic. "Thanks so much, Cody! You wouldn't believe how many people get so grumpy over that!"
Cody had the decency to glance away as Lindsay bounced up and down in place, not wanting to stare at her… assets."Believe me, I've been called worse," Cody half-joked, "It's really no big deal."
Cody froze as he realized his slip-up, but thankfully it seemed that what he had said went right over the blonde's head.
"Thank goodness!" Lindsay said happily, "You know what? You're a good guy, Cody. We should, like, totally hang out more!"
Cody blushed, still not used to the praise he had been receiving from the opposite sex lately. Hell, he wasn't used to any of the praise he had been receiving from the people around him at all.
He just wasn't used to praise, period. Or people wanting to be around him.
This was a nice change.
"Sure, Lindsay." Cody chuckled, trying to hide his awkwardness.
Thankfully, Lindsay was none the wiser, clapping her hands excitedly. "Yay! I can totally see me giving you a total makeover!"
"What?" Cody blanched at the prospect.
"Just kidding!" Lindsay giggled, before looking thoughtful for a moment, "But you might need a haircut!"
Cody tried to sputter out a defense, but Lindsay wouldn't hear it. Funnily enough, though, he was really enjoying her company - it made him forget about all of his worries and fears, even if it was just for the moment.
He was none the wiser to Lindsay's willful ignorance of his red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
–
Despite having Lindsay (and Owen and Bridgette, to an extent) to spend time with over the next few days, by the time the next challenge rolled around things hadn't let up in terms of the tension on the team.
Even as they stood together on the dock they were divided - Gwen and Leshawna standing as far as they could from the team, and Heather doing the same on the other side. She was so far away that she was practically on the Killer Bass, especially with the dirty looks she kept sending their way.
"So, the last challenge exposed a few Gopher issues," Chris said, chuckling at the glares the girls (minus Lindsay) all gave each other, "And I'm sensing a little something funky floating in the Bass pond too, and there's something going on between the both of you that should probably be addressed!"
Cody held back a smile as Courtney rejected Duncan's advances by shoving him onto the ground, but he didn't like what Chris was implying with that last sentence.
He really hoped Chris wasn't talking about him and Bridgette.
"So, this week's first challenge is gonna be centered around building trust," Chris declared, "Because all good things begin with a little trust!"
—
Confessional: Heather
"I trusted Lindsay once!" She hissed, "She left to freeze in a giant freezer!"
—
Confessional: Tyler
"I don't know if I can trust anyone on my team…" Tyler glanced around nervously, as if he expected someone to be listening in, "Everyone is so tight except for me and Harold. If we lose, one of us is gonna be going home for sure!"
—
"There will be three major challenges that will have to be completed by two or more members of your team," Chris explained, "Normally, we'd like to have the campers choose their partners, but not this time! More fun for me!"
Cody just groaned silently. He hoped he didn't have to rock climb with Heather - he'd be willing to bet she would make him fall on purpose.
And he wasn't exactly keen on leaving due to an injury again.
–
Thankfully (or not-so-thankfully, depending on how you look at it), Gwen and Heather were once again selected to rock climb.
Just like last time, they fought over who would climb, Heather won, and they won the challenge despite some trip-ups.
Cody was pretty sure there was something else that was supposed to happen during that part of the challenge that didn't, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what. He'd think he was just being paranoid, but he had learned to trust his gut, and his gut was telling him something had changed.
Oh well. Right now he had bigger fish to fry.
Or rather, more poisonous fish to dissect.
Chris dusted himself off with a sly grin, acting like he had been the one to flip down behind the podium, and not the stunt double that was now crawling away in the darkness.
Cody took a small amount of satisfaction from the embarrassed look in the intern's eyes when he realized Cody had seen him.
"And now, round two!" Chris announced with a flair, enjoying the way Bridgette, Geoff, Cody, and Lindsay were awkwardly staring at each other, "The extreme! Cooking! Challenge! Each team must choose who cooks, and who eats."
"I was head chef last time," Geoff said to Bridgette calmly, "You better cook!"
"Ooh, Cod!" Lindsay called, "I'll be the cook!"
"Before you make your decisions kiddos," Chris interrupted, "Let me give you a bit more information. Today you'll be preparing fugu sashimi, the traditional Japanese poisonous blowfish! The fugu blowfish contains enough lethal toxin to kill… thirty people."
Chris began to point at a diagram of the deadly creature, explaining how to and not to prepare it in a safe way, as Chef tossed a fish to each team. Cody recoiled in fear at the small pink creature, knowing exactly what had happened to Trent the last time Lindsay had tried preparing it.
"So," Chris finished, "Bridgette. Lindsay. You two sure you want to put your teammates lives in your hands?"
Bridgette looked unsure, and opened her mouth like she was going to object, but Geoff placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Cody couldn't make it out thanks to the distance between their tables, but whatever he said did the trick, calming Bridgette down immensely as she smiled brightly at the party boy.
Cody hated just how bad the happy look they shared made him feel.
Apparently Cody wasn't able to hide that feeling either, because Lindsay put her hand on his shoulder as well.
"Don't worry, Brody!" She said, "I took biology! I'll cut this fishie up, no problemo!"
Oh right. Lindsay was about to poison him. At least she thought that the challenge was what Cody was worked up about.
He could only manage a weak smile for the blonde.
"If you say so."
–
As time ticked by, Cody continued to watch Lindsay work, the pit of despair in his stomach growing ever larger.
She was actually going to kill him, wasn't she?
Even Chris and Chef, who were silently observing the competition, looked a bit concerned for Cody's safety - and that was saying something.
"Finished!" Bridgette announced, presenting her nicely made sushi to Geoff as Cody watched in envy.
He turned back just in time to see Lindsay douse the murder scene she called sushi in ketchup, a nervous frown on her face.
Yeah, he was dead. At least she wouldn't be the one getting hurt here.
The amount of fear in Geoff's eyes while eating would have made sense normally, but he saw what Lindsay had made, too. There was no world anything Bridgette made could have compared.
"Excellent!" Geoff praised, causing Bridgette to cheer and Chef to clap politely. Bunny, who had been in Geoff's care since the rock climbing challenge, hopped up onto the table to sniff at the plate curiously.
"Ta-da!" Lindsay said as she pushed her plate towards Cody, to no reaction. All he could do was stare at the plate, resigned to his unfortunate fate.
Oh well. At least he'd die with a nice view.
As he swallowed the first forkful of fish on his plate, Cody paused to see how screwed he was.
And miraculously, nothing happened.
Right as he opened his mouth to say something, however, he felt his mind lock up and his body shut down.
Ah. There it was.
He idly realized he couldn't breathe, and that everybody was starting to give him a nervous look.
Cody tried to say something, anything, to signify that he needed help, but the only thing that came out was a pained gasp.
He thought he heard someone shout his name, but between the blood in his ears, the foam in his mouth, the darkening of his vision, and the fact that he was pretty sure he was falling backwards, Cody accepted that he might have been hallucinating.
The last thing he saw before it all faded to black was Bridgette, Geoff, and Lindsay, all standing over him nervously, and then his view was engulfed in yellow.
Not that he would remember any of that.
–
Geoff was having a pretty good time so far today, even if it was a challenge day.
Well, at least outside of watching Cody nearly die. That wasn't very awesome. He felt a bit bad for him - he still should have gotten the point, right? He ate the food Lindsay made, it's the least Chris could have done.
As bad as he felt about that whole debacle, Geoff wasn't really focused on it anymore - he had bigger fish to fry for the moment.
Namely the dock, the lake, and Bridgette.
It was super cool of her to accept his offer of a swim! Geoff wasn't too surprised, though - he knew exactly how cool she was. Of course she'd want to hang with him, he was as cool as her!
It'd also help get Bridgette's mind off of Cody, too - poor babe was getting all kinds of messed up over what happened. It'd do her some good to relax and forget about what happened for a while!
So here they were, chilling on the dock, relaxing, shmalaxing, the good stuff. There was still a problem, though.
Bridgette was still all mopey!
While Geoff wasn't the kind of guy to get all sad and stuff over stuff, when he did, the thing he did to cure his blues was go out and have a blast! But Bridgette wasn't him, unfortunately, so he had to think of something he could do to make her feel even better, and he just couldn't!
So he did what he did best…
Not think at all.
Geoff abruptly stood up, causing Bridgette to turn towards him in confusion. "Race you to the end of the dock!" He shouted, already starting to run, "Last one in's a rotten blowf- err, rotten egg!"
Bridgette almost looked like she wasn't gonna join in - but Geoff saw that little competitive glint in her eyes and knew he had her hooked. Damn, that was hot.
Geoff slowed down a bit to let Bridgette catch up to him, but he was still gonna try and win! He pushed forward, seeing the edge of the dock in sight, and got ready to leap into the water -
Something squeaked in his pocket.
Geoff immediately stopped, digging his sandals into the wooden dock to try and slow down as quickly as possible.
Bridgette followed suit, nearly bowling Geoff over as she stumbled to a stop. "What was that for?" She glared at him, but Geoff was a bit preoccupied with his nearly-forgotten passenger.
"My bad, Bridge," Geoff apologized, rubbing his neck sheepishly, "But woah, I almost forgot about Bunny! Gotta put him in a safe spot first!"
Man, how could Geoff have forgotten? DJ had given him the little guy to keep safe while he was rock climbing, and Geoff had just stuck him in his pocket! Bunny didn't make any complaints, though, so Geoff assumed he was cool with it, but diving into the water with him didn't seem like the best idea.
"Oh, right!" Bridgette responded, "I almost forgot about him! It was super cool of you to watch over him for DJ."
"Totally," Geoff agreed, "I'd do anything for Deej. He's my bro!"
Geoff looked around for a place where Bunny would be safe while he and Bridgette swam for a bit. Lo and behold, the lifeguard chair was right there, open for sitting.
"Stay right there, little buddy!" Geoff said, "We'll be right back!"
Bunny didn't hop off, thankfully, and instead settled for curling up into a ball of fluff that made Geoff smile. DJ was one lucky dude.
"You know," Bridgette said once he had returned to her side, "You were pretty brave to eat that fish, especially seeing what happened to Cody…"
She trailed off, clearly unsettled with what had happened to their friend, so Geoff decided now was the time. "No biggie!" He said smoothly, trying to comfort his fellow blonde, "I knew I could trust you. You're cool."
Geoff paused, allowing a grin to slip on his face. "You know what else is cool? Watch this!"
And with that, Geoff jumped into the lake, Bridgette not far behind.
–
Geoff shook his head rapidly to dry off his hair, almost like he was a dog. It was quick, easy, and it even made Bridgette laugh! He was really on fire today!
And then, just like that, he wasn't.
Bridgette gasped in horror, and Geoff quickly turned his head to where she was looking.
The lifeguard chair.
Bunny was still curled up on it, but Geoff was powerless to act as a snake that had slithered up onto the dock nimbly climbed the chair and snagged Bunny.
He was frozen, but a scream from Bridgette forced him into action, rushing across the dock in a desperate attempt to save Bunny. Of course, just as he was about to reach the snake, an eagle swooped down and grabbed it in its talons.
"Geoff!" Bridgette cried, "Get it!"
"How?!"
"Grab it by the feet, or the wings, or something!"
Miraculously, the eagle didn't immediately fly away with its prey. Rather, it flew back down towards the end of the dock, giving Geoff one last chance to be the hero and save Bunny. He hurried over to it as fast as he could while remaining silent, praying that the eagle wouldn't notice him.
It didn't.
But unluckily for Geoff, it didn't notice the shark that leapt out of the water and immediately caught it within its jaws, dragging the eagle, the snake, and Bunny down into the depths of the lake.
Geoff couldn't do anything about it - he couldn't even comfort Bridgette as she began to cry.
–
"Good news! The third round involves three more challenges," Chris announced, "It's 'The Three Blind Challenges!"
Tyler listened on in boredom as Chris began to explain the three portions of the final challenge, not really caring for which part he would participate in. It seemed like the rest of the Bass were in the same boat - he could hear DJ and Geoff muttering about something behind him, but he didn't try to make out what it was.
Chris didn't care either, and simply set an arrow on top of DJ's head as Geoff snuck away.
"Like legendary marksman William Tell, you'll be knocking arrows off your partner's head with crabapples!"
"Um," Courtney began, "Wasn't it the other way around?"
"Shush!" Chris ordered. "Also, the shooter will be blindfolded. The person who knocks off the arrow while causing the least amount of facial damage wins!"
Chris then proceeded to blindfold himself, pull back a slingshot with the crabapple already loaded, and launch it towards DJ in an attempt to knock off the arrow. Unfortunately, his aim wasn't great.
And that unfortunately was meant for DJ - who was gifted with a crabapple to the crotch.
"Ah, nuts!" Chris winced, before ignoring the downed teen and addressing the rest of the contestants, "Leshawna and Owen, you'll be one team, Courtney and Tyler - you'll be the other."
"Oh!" Tyler shouted, now fully paying attention, "Let me shoot! I got killer arm strength, that arrow won't know what hit it!"
Courntey just rolled her eyes and sighed. "I hope all that arm strength translates to aiming too."
–
It didn't.
With every attempt Tyler made, it seemed like he hit Courtney somewhere else on the body. She kept making different noises that told Tyler he was getting close to hitting the arrow, but simultaneously so far away.
Maybe if he aimed higher… nope, no contact made there.
So lower then.
"Ow! My stomach!"
Nope, too low! Higher it was.
Pull back, release, hope for the best, and…
"We have a winner!"
"Aw yeah!" Tyler cheered, ripping off his blindfold, "It's too… easy…?"
Tyler could only look on in disappointment as he realized that Courtney still had the arrow on her head, was covered in destroyed apples, and giving him the nastiest glare he'd ever seen. Owen looked utterly delirious, but it looked like Leshawna had at least managed to knock the arrow off his head.
Shit.
"You," Courtney huffed, right before she collapsed, "Are going down."
Double shit.
He was screwed, wasn't he?
Tyler walked off, head hanging low as he contemplated how he was going to spend what was likely to be his final day on the island.
He hurried back to the Bass cabin - if he was going to cry (dudes have feelings too, y'know?), he'd rather do it away from all the prying eyes and even more prying cameras, though Tyler knew there were a few hidden around the cabin anyways.
The cabin was quiet as he fed the little chick he had taken in after the Phobia Factor challenge, save for his little clucks as he ate out of Tyler's hand.
Thank God for DJ - if it weren't for him, Tyler would have absolutely zero clue on how to keep a pet. The guy was a lifesaver, and a good friend too.
That last thought brought Tyler's mood back to Earth, since he probably wouldn't be seeing anybody from the island again after tonight. There was no guarantee that the Bass would lose the challenge, sure, but he knew what was coming regardless. He was on the outs with everyone on the team, doubly so now that Courtney was gunning for him, and even if they survived tonight he was going to be on the chopping block until the teams were merged.
A knock on the door brought Tyler out of those depressing thoughts. Tyler didn't know who'd come to the cabin in the middle of the challenge, much less knock since none of the guys would care for that, but hurried over to greet whoever was waiting for him anyways.
He swung open the door and was greeted by… his girlfriend?
"Lindsay?" Tyler questioned, "What are you doing here? Isn't the challenge still going on?"
Lindsay giggled. "Yup! But I saw you leaving the challenge all sad!" She pouted at that, making Tyler wince. "I had to make sure you were ok! I can't have my boyfriend being all sad, like, too many people are already sad and mad and stuff here!"
Ouch. Tyler sometimes forgot that despite how… uh… dense, Lindsay could be at times, she could read people pretty easily.
At least, those that weren't Heather.
"Oh, I'm fine!" Tyler assured her, hoping she bought it, "Just a little bummed about failing my part of the challenge, y'know?"
"Oh yeah!" Lindsay nodded. "I was, like, super bummed out when I realized me and Coldly failed our challenge too!"
Tyler nodded along, happy that she bought it. He didn't have the heart to remind her that it was just her that failed the challenge, considering that she was the one who nearly killed Cody with her botched pufferfish.
…
"So," Lindsay asked coyly, a sly smile on her face, "Wanna hang out? I think they're gonna be busy with the rest of the challenge for a while…"
"Sure!" He responded without a second thought.
Tyler's smile was so bright that he could have brought down a plane with it. If tonight was going to be his last night on the island, he was going to make sure that he spent it well.
"Ooh!" Lindsay cooed as she entered the cabin, "I almost forgot about your baby chick! What's his name again?"
Tyler blinked. He knew he'd forgotten something!
"Uh, actually," he muttered, "I haven't given him a name yet!"
Lindsay gasped. "No way! He needs a name!"
She took a moment to stare at the chick. It clucked back curiously.
"I know!" She shouted, "Let's call him Clucky!"
Tyler laughed and nodded his head in agreement.
Yeah, he was going to enjoy tonight.
No matter what.
–
"Okay Bridgette, jump now!"
Harold could only watch in disbelief as Bridgette once again froze up, refusing to let go of the wooden beam she was holding onto as support. This was the third time. He sighed, why did his team always have to let him down?
"If we're going to win, you've got to trust me!" Harold reminded her, masking his irritation.
"Okay, sorry," Bridgette mumbled, "Next time."
"Do you even believe yourself right now?" Harold questioned, "If you aren't gonna try, just give up now! I came here to win, and you did too, didn't you?"
Bridgette nodded, head down.
"Then you've got to trust me!" He insisted, "Jump on my go, alright?"
"Alright."
Harold had a feeling that that would be the best he was going to get. Oh well.
"Okay," Harold began, "One, two, three,"
He could see Bridgette let go of the beam, and inch her way towards the edge of the platform. It was now or never.
"Jump!"
Bridgette stumbled as she leapt off the platform, but it was enough. Harold wasted no time in grabbing her before she fell into the jellyfish-infested pond, easily securing another win for himself.
"Alright!" Geoff cheered, "You did it!"
—
Confessional: Harold
"I'm kinda the only reason our team is able to win anything anymore," Harold admitted, munching on a bag of potato chips, "I mean, think about it! Pretty much every challenge we've won has been because of me! I carried us to victory in Dodgebrawl, the talent contest, and the paintball game! I also contributed to our tie in Phobia Factor, and the win last challenge with my mad cooking skills!"
Harold pointedly ignored the canoeing challenge, where he burnt their paddles and left them just about dead in the water until DJ came in clutch to save them.
He huffed, crossing his arms. "I just wish the rest of the team recognized my mad skills! It's like none of them realize how important I am!"
—
Harold rolled his eyes, getting down and rejoining the crowd, before realizing something was off. "Where is everybody else?"
Geoff paused, before realizing that DJ, Duncan, Tyler, and Courtney were all nowhere to be found. "Um…"
Harold groaned. "Is anyone taking this seriously?"
At least it was funny to watch Lindsay botch her part of the challenge and leave Heather to her doom in the pond of jellyfish.
—
Confessional: Gwen
Gwen smirked into the camera. "Sometimes, the universe just gives you a freebie."
She looked up, and gave the sky a thumbs up.
—
"And now," Chris began, "The final leg. The blind toboggan race."
"The say what?" Leshawna interrupted.
"Each team will have a driver and a navigator. The driver steers while the navigator shouts directions," Chris explained, "Oh yeah - and the driver will be blindfolded!"
Gasps.
Chris looked around, confused. "Not many of you guys left, huh?" He joked, "Keep on losing you guys!"
Chris laughed, before giving the remaining campers another onceover.
"Oh well. Uh, Gwen and Leshawna, Geoff and DJ."
Harold knew they were screwed the moment the teams were announced. DJ had been out of it all day thanks to whatever had happened to his pet rabbit, and Geoff was a bit off too. Plus, even if they were normal, there was pretty much no way they could beat Gwen and Leshawna - those two were just too bad to be beat! Harold preferred Leshawna, but he could easily see where Trent's attraction to Gwen had come from.
Where was he?
Oh yeah, the Killer Bass were screwed. And that meant, more than likely, Harold was screwed.
Harold didn't really have an issue with most of the team. Bridgette was cool, if a little clumsy, Tyler was alright, and DJ was nice enough, and even Geoff had his moments where he wasn't so bad. Courtney and Duncan though?
They were pure evil.
Harold knew that it was Duncan who was the ringleader behind the half-dozen pranks against him in the last challenge. They weren't even funny! And while Courtney might not have done anything specifically against Harold, she was just a very rude person in general. She treated all of them very frivolously, and was only nice to her friends on the team, and Harold definitely wasn't one of them.
Whenever the time came that they lost again, Harold knew he would be the one going home unless someone royally screwed up - or the team friend group (which consisted of everybody except himself and Tyler) fell apart. Luckily for him, Tyler had screwed himself earlier in the challenge by gaining the ire of Courtney, so he was probably safe for at least one more vote, but with the way Duncan still wanted him gone he wasn't so sure.
As the race kicked off, Harold was forced to watch the massacre that was the sled race. The only reason it was close was because Gwen was apparently really bad at giving directions. Harold could understand that - not everyone had mad skills like himself, after all - but he knew it would only be a matter of time before DJ and Geoff crashed.
At least, that was what he thought until Duncan finally returned.
"Hey DJ!" The delinquent called, "Look what I found!"
Duncan raised his closed hands to the sky, and lo and behold, Bunny was there.
Harold didn't know how Duncan found Bunny, nor did he care too much either. He also didn't know how DJ heard Duncan well enough to understand him, and subsequently remove his blindfold for confirmation.
Harold knew it was over once DJ's blindfold came off, even if it was only for that one split second.
Even as the team watched Geoff and DJ beat out Leshawna and Gwen to the finish line in a storm of explosions, Harold could only shake his head in disappointment.
–
"And the Bass are the winners of the toboggan race!" Chris declared, gaining cheers from everyone (sans Tyler, who was still M.I.A.), "Unfortunately, I said that these were blind challenges. By taking off the blindfold for a moment you broke the number one rule, which makes the Gophers today's big winners!"
Yep. He was right again. It was hard being this much of a genius sometimes.
The Gophers erupted into cheers, and Harold fought not to zone out from boredom. His team had let him down once again, and now he was the one who had to be on the chopping block just because he wasn't a muscled-up jerk? No fair!
Harold was so annoyed with his team that he almost missed Geoff trying to go in and give DJ a high five and a bro hug, only for the gentle giant to give him a dirty look and hurry away to the cabins, Bunny in tow.
Almost.
Harold stroked his chin thoughtfully, sneaking away from the rest of his sorry team to find DJ.
Maybe this was the lucky break he needed.
–
Like he thought, DJ was in the cabin. Weirdly enough, he was in his bed, curled up under the covers, sniffling as he held tightly onto Bunny.
"Uh, DJ?" Harold asked awkwardly, "You ok there?"
DJ jumped, squeaking in fright as he realized he was no longer alone. "H-H-Harold!?"
Harold waved weakly.
"W-what're you doing in here?" DJ questioned.
"I saw you brush off Geoff after the challenge earlier," he explained, "I was just worried. You guys were friends, weren't you?"
"Yeah," DJ scoffed, "We were."
"Wanna talk about it?"
DJ sighed. "Not really," he muttered, "But mama always told me that I shouldn't bottle things up."
Harold nodded in understanding, and took a seat on his bed - conveniently, it was the one that was across from DJ's.
He listened as DJ explained how he had trusted Geoff - and how Geoff had thrown that trust away, along with Bunny, and what had happened to that poor rabbit. He listened as Geoff had told him the truth about what had conspired on the dock, and how the rabbit DJ held now was a new one - a gift from Duncan, who had believed Bunny had just ran off, and thought he found the real one for DJ again.
Damn.
"I…" DJ sniffled, "I just don't know what to do now, y'know? I mean, me and Geoff were bros, but this…"
Harold nodded empathetically. This was totally not what he expected.
But…
"Well," he tried, catching DJ's full attention, "Why not just vote Geoff off tonight?"
DJ paused. "I don't know," he muttered, "I'm mad at him, but he's still my friend, right?"
Harold shrugged. "That's up to you. Besides, there's no way he goes home tonight. Courtney is probably gonna end up getting everyone to vote Tyler. Maybe you could just use it as a way to vent your frustrations, in a symbolic way? My guidance counselor always told me that doing things symbolically was a much better way to express emotions."
DJ sniffled again, before looking down at the new bunny (Bunny? Bunny 2?) in his lap. "Maybe… I don't know. But thanks for listening, Harold. You're a good dude - sorry about all the pranks and stuff."
Harold smiled, reaching over to pat DJ on the shoulder. "Water under the bridge, buddy. I'll give you some privacy. Just think about what I said, okay?"
DJ nodded, and Harold left him to his thoughts.
Hook, line, and sinker.
Now he just needed to find Tyler - and hope that DJ followed through on his suggestion.
–
Bridgette was quiet as the Killer Bass sat at the elimination ceremony for the fifth time. She didn't really want to vote out anybody, but someone had to go, and she wasn't that heartbroken over voting for Tyler. She might have chosen Harold on any other day, but he had helped snap her out of the funk she had been in all day, so she reluctantly went along with Courtney's nagging demands and voted for the weakest link on the team.
Aside from herself, that was. Bridgette really hadn't done much to help the team win. She hoped that would change soon enough, but it was out of her hands for now.
"Who wants a treat?" Chris taunted, "A tasty goody that represents exemption, security, peace of mind -"
"Ugh, just get on with it!" Courtney groaned.
"And if you don't get a marshmallow you have to walk the Dock of Shame and you can never come back. Ever. Happy Courtney?"
Courntey nodded in satisfaction.
Bridgette saw Harold roll his eyes, and she was inclined to agree with the ginger.
"Let's see," Chris began, "One for Duncan."
"One for Bridgette."
"One for DJ."
"And one for Courtney."
Chris paused, allowing the bottom three to sweat a little bit. Well, allowing Tyler and Harold to sweat. Geoff wasn't worried, and for good reason.
Why would anybody vote for Geoff? Well, DJ might have, sure, but that's just one person.
"I must say," Chris chuckled, his grin looking positively devious in the dim light of the fire, "This vote was quite the surprise! And right after one of the audience favorites in Beth got the boot, too? You guys are spoiling me!"
"Hurry up!" Someone shouted.
Three guesses for who it was.
"Yeah, yeah," Chris grumbled, "Spoil the moment. Whatever, here you go Harold."
In that moment, where Harold practically sprinted up to the oil barrel Chris was leaning on to take his marshmallow, Bridgette knew.
She didn't know how it happened, but she knew. And by the looks of things, Duncan had figured it out too.
"Geoff, Tyler, bottom two isn't a great look," Chris tutted, "How are we feeling?"
"If this is it, this is it," Tyler said confidently, "I'll take my boot like a man."
Geoff shrugged, leaning back onto the stump. "I'm chill, bro. I ain't worried."
—
Confessional: Courtney
"When I say someone's going down," She sneered, "They. Go. Down."
—
Chris howled with laughter. "You should be, bro. After all, the last marshmallow's going to Tyler!"
"What?!" Several people shouted.
Chris lost it. "Yep!" He laughed, "I couldn't believe it either! Hasta la vista Geoff! I'll miss ya!"
Bridgette was distantly aware of Harold discreetly pumping his fist and Tyler collapsing in relief, but she didn't care.
"No way!" Duncan yelled, his voice cutting through all the noise, "There is no way Geoff got the boot! Someone must have rigged the votes or something! Can we get a recount?"
Chris shook his head. "You think we don't have protections in place for that kinda stuff? Geoff's out of the game, fair and square!"
Speaking of Geoff, the dude looked like he'd been punched in the gut. His eyes were wide as he looked around at everybody in shock, his eyes only getting wider when DJ refused to look at him.
"Dude," he muttered, to no one in particular, "This isn't cool…"
"Nope!" Chris agreed, "But you gotta go, party boy! Dock of Shame is that a-way!"
"Wait!" Geoff cried, immediately on his feet, "Can you give me, like, two minutes! I gotta say one last thing!"
"Sorry bro, no can do," Chris denied, "We're kinda running low on -"
Chris paused. "Is this about what I think it's about?"
Geoff nodded desperately.
"Oh," Chris said, "Alright then! But make it quick!"
"Will do, boss!"
With that, Geoff made his way through the shocked group, and Bridgette suddenly found herself face-to-face with the open-shirted party boy.
"Bridgette," he began, "I've never been one for romance. Most of the time, chicks just go crazy for me- I mean, I've never seen a girl like you before, and you're just so cool and pretty and kind and hot - damn it, I said that already! Gah!"
Geoff huffed, running a hand through his long, blonde hair. "Look, I'm not a big words guy, but the point is this. Bridgette, I'm totally in love with you!"
Oh.
Oh.
Bridgette froze as every pair of eyes suddenly turned to her, waiting for her reaction .
And what could she even do in this moment, so close to Geoff as the guy desperately awaited her response?
She might not have known what she wanted, but she knew what she needed to do.
DJ was the only one who was surprised by her decision - but he hid it well, and would support his friend regardless.
–
The Screaming Gophers were, for all intents and purposes, having a damn good time.
Cody had thankfully recovered from his latest near-death experience, and was relaxing alongside the rest of the remaining Gophers in their mega hot tub. The warm bubbles were doing wonders for his clammy, pale skin.
Even Heather and Gwen had joined the rest of the team in the hot tub! There was plenty of space for everybody, even if Owen took up a solid portion of the ring for himself.
He sighed blissfully, sinking even further into the water. This was the life. The team was (miraculously) getting along, they had won again, and he had survived another day.
Nothing could ruin his good mood.
"Y'know," Lindsay began, "It's kinda sad that George got sent home. He was so nice!"
Cody blinked in surprise as Leshawna nodded in agreement. "Yeah, to be honest, I thought Courtney would get the boot. Girl's just too bossy for me."
Wait, Geoff got eliminated?
How?
"It is sweet that he got that goodbye kiss from Brenda, though!" Lindsay added, "Those two are so cute together!"
And just like that, his good mood was ruined.
"No way!" Owen gasped, "Bridgette and Geoff hooked up?! I can't believe it!"
"Mhm!" Lindsay nodded, "Tyler told me! He said it was just so romantic, how he confessed right on the spot when he realized he was getting voted off! I wish a guy would do that for me!"
"But you already have a boyfriend!"
"Oh, right!"
Cody was frozen. His veins felt like they were flooding with ice.
Why, why, why?
He told himself he'd get over Bridgette, and that he'd be happy for her and Geoff when (if) they got together. He told himself it was just a crush, that it meant nothing, and they were just friends, and would never be anything more.
So why did it hurt so much?
His heart clenched, and it took everything in his power to not show how much that news crushed him.
Cody looked down forlornly into the water, missing the concerned looks Gwen, Leshawna, and Heather all gave him.
He didn't even care how much this screwed up in the timeline.
—
A/N: Yeah… been a while, huh? My bad, my bad.
College kicked my ass for three months, and I got super burnt out and just needed a break. Plus, I just couldn't figure out how to put some of my ideas for this chapter on paper, some of the perspectives were tough. Once I got it figured out, though, it was easy. Overall, I wrote the first two thousand or so words in maybe a week, and then the rest of the chapter in like three days. It's really just about staying motivated for me. But I'm back now, and the next chapter shouldn't take three months! I will need to take some time to reread what I've written to get back into the swing of things, but thankfully I have the outline for the next few chapters already put together!
Enough about that though. How was the chapter? More non-Cody stuff, and a (maybe) shocking elimination! Real big changes are incoming now. Let me know what you thought! And since views are still down, reviews are the only way for me to know if anybody's reading!
Hope you enjoyed!