Scrape, scrape, scrape...
"Could you please stop that?", said Noah, glaring over at Carrie.
Carrie jumped, and immediately stopped scraping her plate against the plate in front of her.
Noah rolled his eyes, then turned back to his book. Like Carrie, Noah saw no reason to socialize with the other Gophers, though this was more out of distaste for other people than Carrie's timidness.
Thus, Carrie often found herself sitting with Noah at the Gopher table. While Carrie wished for a nicer companion at meals, Noah did mostly leave her alone on these occasions.
Carrie went back to eating her white paste for breakfast. Truth be told, Carrie seemed to have a lot on her plate.
Heather, Lindsay, and Beth now openly sneered at her. Heather's anger at her for rejecting the alliance, coupled with Lindsay and Beth's devotion to her, had caused a number of pranks to be directed at the quiet girl.
Carrie's eyes moved down to the table, resting on Cody. She still wasn't entirely sure Cody had believed that she wasn't telekinetic. Each time he had tried to start a conversation with her over the last few days since the Awake-a-thon, Carrie had brushed him off.
The doors to the mess hall opened up, and Gwen walked in. She still looked dead tired, as she strode to the Gopher table amidst applause from her team.
Carrie didn't join in the applause, and certainly didn't join in the jeering Heather did to the Bass. This earned Gwen some paste in her face, courtesy of Courtney. Soon, Chris walked into the building. "Duncan, you look like crap, man.", he said, smiling down on the punk. Immediately, the other Bass campers backed in way in fear of Duncan's reprisal.
Duncan, however, just muttered, "Bite me."
Carrie turned back to her food, managing to finish off the sticky, paste like substance. The mess hall doors opened once again, and Harold walked in. Carrie couldn't help but snicker with the rest of her teammates, as Harold didn't realize that a fake moustache had been drawn on his upper lip. There were worse pranks that can happen to somebody; just ask Carrie...
Chris soon announced that the next challenge would be happening in ten minutes and to meet on the beach. Carrie dutifully carried her bowl back to Chef to clean (the cook in question gave her his signature scowl), and began to join the crowd of contestants headed for the beach.
As she walked to the beach, her cross necklace jingling back and forth on her chest, she heard a pair of footsteps walking behind her. She looked back to see Cody walking up to her, along with Noah. The two seemed to be becoming good friends over these last few days on the island.
"So, what do you think the challenge is going to be?", said Cody, casually.
Carrie shrugged nonchalantly. "I hope it's something that uses a bit of brainpower.", continued Cody. "I could probably best any of these people in a movie trivia competition."
"Good thing no audience wants to watch us do something so lame.", came a voice from behind, and Heather appeared, shouldering Carrie out of the way. Carrie tripped but caught herself just in time to not fall on the sand. Heather chuckled darkly, as Lindsay and Beth followed her.
"What's her damage?", said Cody, looking uncharacteristically frustrated. "Why's she got to be such a bit..." Cody winced, as his eyes briefly looked at Carrie.
"... so nasty.", he corrected himself, looking momentarily ashamed. Carrie, for her part, felt kind of good that Cody chose not to use an expletive near her.
"Dunno.", said Noah. Carrie wasn't sure he was paying attention that much, as his eyes were fixed on his book that he was reading as he walked.
Soon, Cody bent down to tie his shoes, leaving Carrie and Noah to continue on. Noah glanced back at Cody, then sideways at Carrie. "He's so obvious, isn't he?", said Noah.
Carrie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?", she said quietly.
Noah frowned. "Cody. Y'know, he has a crush on you."
Carrie stopped dead in her tracks, shock clearly written on her face. Noah looked back at her as he walked, momentarily confused, then continued on.
Cody? Having a crush... on Carrie White?
All Carrie could imagine was her schoolmates laughing incredulously at the statement back home; she had little doubt that they would tune into the show to see her fail.
"Out of the way." Duncan, who had been walking behind, pushed her out of the way. She stumbled and fell to her knees on the rough sand. Duncan merely yawned when a nearby Courtney reprimanded him.
Carrie, however, was barely paying attention to the world around her...
Inside a giant, glass dodgeball court erected on the beach (a court that sure as hell hadn't been here during the first or second challenges), Carrie once again had a lot of thoughts buzzing around her head.
As Chris droned on about the specifics of the game of dodgeball, Carrie looked at Cody and Noah. Could Noah have been telling the truth? Could Cody really have a crush on her? A romantic crush? And, if so, why? Why in God's green earth would anyone have romantic feelings for Carrie White?
The sounds of a ball smacking against Lindsay's face interrupted Carrie's thoughts. "You were supposed to dodge.", said Chris, irritably.
"Right.", said Lindsay, now with a gigantic bruise on her forehead.
Carrie went back to her thoughts. No, Noah was always messing with people, mostly through being sarcastic. This was just... a trick Noah was playing on her. Cody was probably disgusted by her in terms of romantic feelings.
Oddly enough, this thought did nothing to cheer her up.
The crowd began to disperse, which meant Chris had probably stopped with the rules. Carrie followed her teammates to the left-hand set of bleachers, where Heather was speaking.
"All right, so I know most of us aren't the most athletic types around, but we've already won two times already. We've got the numbers advantage. I'm thinking me, Trent, Justin, Cody, and Carrie should go out first." At the mention of Carrie's name, Heather gave her a blink and you'll miss it smirk. Carrie swallowed at this, and was about to offer to change to a benchwarmer, when Noah said, "Great, now let's see you keeners go out to dodge."
He rolled his eyes, sat with a still sleepy Gwen, and pulled out his book. And, before she knew it, Carrie was being led out onto the court.
Tweet!
The game had started, and Carrie was bravely at the back of her team's side of the court. The Killer Bass were soon lobbing balls at the other side of the court, and the Gophers began dodging. Carrie did as well, before she noticed Heather doing something rather odd. Any way in which Carrie dodged, Heather dodged in the same direction.
Carrie narrowed her eyes at Heather. It was almost as if the popular girl was waiting for...
Heather suddenly dodged in a different direction. Carrie had only a moment to see a red dodgeball pelting for her before it hit her square in the nose. Carrie fell to the ground, grasping at her painful nose. "Oh my God, Carrie, are you OK?", said Cody, running up beside her. Carrie looked up at Cody, taking her hand away from her nose. Both she and him could see the bright red blood glistening on her palm.
"Sorry, Carrie.", came a voice from the other end of the court. They both looked to see DJ, who had thrown the ball, looking deeply guilty.
"Yeah, sorry, Carrie.", said Heather, also looking genuinely remorseful. However, there was a sing-song aspect to her apology that made it clear it was no accident.
Cody, meanwhile, growled, picked up a dodgeball, and flung it at DJ. The gentle giant was hit in the chest, actually managing to knock him back a few paces.
"Dude, what's wrong with you?", said DJ, as Chris walked up to Carrie.
"You might want to head to the infirmary, Carrie.", said Chris. "Just come back as soon as you're done."
Carrie got up off the hard floor and began trudging to the glass door. As she exited the building, however, Carrie turned back to see the game resuming, with Heather dodging balls.
Flex...
Heather's foot suddenly slipped on the polished, hard wood floor. A ball she should have dodged easily pelted her full on the face.
Carrie was soon in the infirmary, wads of tissues stuck up her bloody nose as she lay on the small cot provided for her. She looked once again in the mirror also provided for her to see the bruising forming on the sides of her nose. Gentle giant he may be, but DJ could still pack a wallop...
Carrie sighed, as the intern running the infirmary walked up to her. "Well, the game's about almost over, but Chris was pretty clear on you being sent back when we're done here, so..."
Carrie obediently began to rise from her cot, until the intern stopped her with a raised hand. "However, when it comes to the health of the campers, I have the last say, lest there be a lawsuit, so if you'd like to take the day off in your cabin?"
Carrie nodded her head vigorously, as the intern gave her a kind smile and a wink.
Later that afternoon, Carrie was seated on the porch steps to the cabin, waiting for her teammates to come back. The first sign of trouble was the Bass walking up to their cabin, cheering Harold of all people on.
Heather, Lindsay, and Beth were the first Gophers to return. Heather gave her a cool look. "Way to come back and help us, faker.", she said.
"Yeah, like, what is wrong with you?", said Lindsay, clearly parroting what Heather told her to say.
If Heather had also told Beth to say something derogatory, she didn't to her credit. As Heather and Lindsay entered the cabin, Beth leaned and said, "Sorry."
The Gophers soon all returned, with Gwen, Justin, and Noah in particular giving her dirty looks. Carrie soon put her head on her knees, blocking out her teammates, until a large shadow appeared over her. It was Owen.
"Hey, you OK?", he said, concerned. She looked up at him, revealing her now larger bruises. "Great Scott, that looks bad!", blurted out Owen.
An awkward pause followed. "Um, I mean, you can hardly notice it?" He chuckled nervously, then swept up Carrie in a large bear hug. "Oh, I'm just so glad my little buddy is OK."
Although the hug was spine cracking, Carrie still gave Owen a warm smile as he walked away. Behind him, Cody and Trent walked up to Carrie. "Hey, Carrie, are you OK?", said Trent, looking at her bruised face.
Carrie nodded yes, as she finally noticed that Cody seemed to be drenched with sweat. At Carrie's questioning look, Trent said excitedly, "Oh, you should've seen it, Carrie. Cody was like a monster on the court after you left. He basically dominated the game."
"Did we win?", asked Carrie.
Trent sighed. "No. Duncan pulled out this master strategy to beat us, and Harold caught the last dodgeball thrown. Harold, am I right?" Trent then looked awkward. "I guess I'll see you guys at our first elimination." He then walked off, leaving Carrie alone with Cody.
Cody tried to speak, but only a wheeze came out, due to being so tired. "I'll... get you a glass of water.", said Carrie, making her way to the mess hall.
It was later that evening after the ceremony that Carrie found herself in the bathroom. Over the course of the evening she found out that while some of the Gophers were annoyed at her for ducking out of the challenge, they were outright angry at Noah for having the opportunity to play and who didn't.
When it came time to vote, Carrie, happy to be out of the crosshairs of the team, wrote Noah on the little slip of paper provided to them and slipped it into a wooden box in the outhouse confessional. She was supposed to say who she was voting for and why on camera as well, but just muttered, "I vote Noah." to the confessional cam and left.
In the end, Noah was voted off, and now Carrie was going to the bathroom before bed. The door to the communal bathroom opened up and a pair of legs moved to the sink. Carrie realized from the laid-back voice and the snide voice that it was Bridgette and Courtney respectively.
They talked for a couple of minutes about some typical teenager stuff, then Bridgette asked, "What do you think about that Carrie girl?"
"Honestly, I think she's a bit of a crybaby.", came Courtney's high-pitched voice. "I mean, who sits out an entire challenge just for a nose bleed?"
"She looked like she was really hurt, though.", said Bridgette.
"She just needs to learn to toughen up.", said an uncompassionate Courtney. "My Mom never let me get away with that sort of thing growing up."
The legs turned to the stalls and Carrie hastily pulled her legs up on the commode. Luckily, they hadn't seen her.
As Courtney continued to bad mouth her, the two legs exit the building, leaving Carrie to herself.
So Carrie's growing somewhat closer to Owen and Cody, but she's still making enemies and unintentionally annoying people at Wawanawkwa. How will this fic end? Will Carrie grow as a person among people who finally like her? Or will this end badly for everyone involved? Even I don't know for sure... and I'm writing the dang thing! Stay tuned for the talent show next chapter.