Chapter 4: Vegetable Picking
LaViolaRosa: Thx.
MatiasND: Thx.
Bloodylilcorpse: Thx, and you're welcome. And I'm really trying to do that.
"Last time on Totally Epic: Life on the Farm, our contestants competed in a bull riding challenge. Between a mechanical bull and a real bull it's hard to say which was harder. But the Tractors ended up losing, and voted off Riley. Daniel and Reese declared themselves as leaders of their teams. And Quinten seems to have stolen Courtney's heart. What'll happen next? Find out next time on Totally Epic: Life on the Farm." Monica told them.
Early the next morning, everyone was still asleep. Suddenly, Courtney was awoken by mother nature calling her. So she got out of her bed, and quietly went to the bathroom. When she finished in there, she was about to go back to bed, but then she saw Quinten outside.
She got excited, and silently hurried outside.
"I know it's early, but this could be my chance to really talk with Quinten." Courtney told the audience.
Courtney slowly went up to him, and said,
"Good morning, Quinten."
Surprised Quinten turned around.
"Oh, Courtney. Good morning, what are you doing up?"
"I just woke up and saw you out here. Hope I'm not interrupting."
"No it's fine."
At first the two were quiet, until Quinten spoke up.
"So, you still sore from the bull riding yesterday?"
"A little, but I'm fine. You?"
"Same. You having fun with these challenges?"
"Pretty much, hey the sun's rising."
As the two watched the sun rise, Quinten glanced over at Courtney. He couldn't help but notice she was pretty.
"It could just be the lighting, but Courtney looks pretty good." confessed Quinten.
Then as the sun rose, the loud rooster noise came again.
"We better get ready for the day." Quinten told Courtney.
"Yeah, see you at breakfast." Courtney replied.
And they both went to their quarters to get ready. In the girls' building, some of them were slowly climbing out of bed.
"Morning, ladies." Courtney greeted.
"You're up already?" asked Sydney.
"Where were you?" wondered Sunny.
"Just talking with one of the cutest guys on the show." Courtney replied.
"And who would that be?" Kat wanted to know.
"Quinten."
"You like that guy?" wondered Angie.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing, but I've seen better."
Courtney just ignored her, and went to work on herself.
In the boys' building, they were all getting ready for the day.
"Hello, viewers. It's Reese here getting ready for the day." Reese said into his camera.
"Dude, we're on a reality show. Do you really have to live stream?" asked Glenn.
"Hey, I have fans and followers to keep updated." Reese replied.
"This getting woken up by rooster in the morning is getting a little annoying." complained Daniel.
"It's not that bad." Spikke piped up.
He'd heard sounds worse than a rooster.
Once everyone was dressed and ready, they went to the mess hall for breakfast. After getting served some waffles they all sat down at their perspective tables.
"All right people we lost yesterday's challenge so we gotta step it up today." Daniel informed.
"What do you suggest?" asked Renni.
As the Tractors began talking about their plan, Charlotte walked into the mess hall, with Pepper on her shoulder.
"Ready for breakfast, Pepper?" she asked her pet.
He squeaked at her. As she went to get her food, Sunny noticed her.
"Hey guys, why don't we invite Charlotte to sit with us?" she suggested.
Reese looked over at her.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because she seems nice."
The others didn't seem to have an issue with it.
"Hey Charlotte." called Sunny.
Charlotte looked over at them.
"Come sit with us." invited Spikke.
Charlotte smiled at hearing that, and she went over to their table. She sat down next to the others.
"Thanks for letting me sit with you guys." Charlotte told them, as she let Pepper climb off her shoulder and sat on the table.
"No problem, where do you usually eat breakfast?" wondered Sydney.
"Usually I eat with Monica and Hailey, but they're busy getting today's challenge ready."
"And what would that be?" asked Quinten.
"(Chuckles), nice try. But I'm not revealing anything."
"As Monica's assistant, I already know in advanced what the challenges are. But there's no way I'm revealing anything." Charlotte informed the audience.
As Charlotte talked with the Haystacks, this was noticed by the Tractors.
"Hey, Charlotte's sitting with the Haystacks." whispered Zuni.
"You don't think they're trying to cozy up to her so they can get information?" Kat wondered.
"I hope not. We can't have them getting the upper hand." Daniel told.
When breakfast was over, Monica came into the building.
"Good morning contestants, I hope you're ready to start today's challenge." she announced.
Charlotte quickly got up, grabbed Pepper and stood next to her.
"We're ready." informed Reese.
"Great, then let's go."
And with that, everyone got up and followed her. As they were walking, Daniel spoke to Reese.
"Couldn't help but notice you let Charlotte sit with your team." he told him.
"It wasn't my idea."
"Well I hope you weren't trying to squeeze information out of her. Wouldn't want that."
And with that, Daniel walked off.
"Hmm, seems that Daniel may be the leader of his team. Better watch out for him." Reese told.
They were led to the fields, where Hailey each gave them a basket.
"For this challenge, you'll be picking vegetables." Monica informed.
"Picking vegetables, sounds simple enough." whispered Angie.
"Don't get too excited." Daniel whispered back.
"You'll have two hours to pick them, but you'll have to make sure each vegetable is ripe, because if it isn't it won't count. Each team will have to collect a total of at least 100 vegetables which include potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, peas and beans, and tomatoes. And yes I know they're a fruit but work with me."
"The winning team will get to have fresh vegetable soup for dinner. And the loser's will not only send someone home, but they'll also have to muck the stalls." Hailey told them.
"Muck the stalls?" asked Sydney.
"That means you'll be cleaning out animal poop from their stalls." Charlotte explained.
That made a lot of the contestants gag, look shocked, or simply grossed out.
"Okay, I hate this challenge already. I can't decide what's worse, having to pick food by hand or cleaning up poop." Kat complained.
"Everyone ready?" asked Monica. Everyone replied yes more or less.
"Then on your marks, get ready...GO!"
And with that, she blew her air horn. The two teams scrambled, and started looking for vegetables. The Haystacks searched for the vegetables in one part of the fields and the Tractors searched in another part.
"Any ideas how to tell if a vegetable is ripe?" wondered Spikke.
"Not really." answered Sunny.
"Just see if it looks good." advised Reese.
"So this is how food gets to grocery stores." remarked Sydney, as she picked some tomatoes.
"Uh, where are we supposed to find potatoes?" Courtney asked.
Reese rubbed his eyes.
"Okay, so far this is not going how I want." Reese complained to the audience.
With the Tractors, they were starting their search.
"All right, let's get started." declared Daniel.
"Hey, Daniel I think I can help with this challenge." Glenn told him.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, I used to live on a farm so I know how to tell when a vegetable is ripe."
Daniel smiled at hearing that.
"All right everyone, listen up." Daniel announced.
The rest of the Tractors looked at him.
"Glenn here knows about vegetables, so if you have any questions ask him."
Everyone liked the sound of that.
"Thanks, man." Glenn told him.
Daniel smiled.
"If I'm going to get to the top, I have to make nice with these...people." told Daniel.
"Potatoes grow underground so you'll have to dig for them, and to make sure the tomatoes aren't too soft." Glenn instructed.
And with that, they all began finding the vegetables.
"We're an hour into the challenge, and both teams are still collecting their veggies." Monica announced.
The Haystacks were able to find some veggies, though they couldn't quite tell which ones were absolutely ripe.
"What do you think of this one?" asked Sunny, as she picked a head of cabbage.
Reese looked it over.
"Looks fine to me."
"So Sydney, do you think Quinten may like me?" asked Courtney.
Sydney looked over at Quinten who was digging up some potatoes with Spikke.
"Hmm, I can't tell for sure. But if you like him you should make a move. But not too big of one." Sydney advised.
"What's going on?" wondered Sunny.
"Just giving Courtney advice on how to deal with her crush on Quinten." Sydney explained.
"The first romance on the show? Great." Sunny gushed.
"Just don't say anything to Quinten until I talk to him first." Courtney told them, and they agreed.
With the guys, Quinten glanced over at Courtney.
"Hey guys, what do you think of Courtney?" he wondered.
"I think you should focus on getting those vegetables." Reese replied in a dry voice.
Quinten didn't look amused.
"I for one think Courtney's a great girl." Spikke piped up.
Quinten looked at him.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah, if you like her. You should try and get to know her better."
"Thanks, man."
"I've dated guys and girls like Quinten and Courtney before. And I think they're a pretty good match for each other." Spikke told the camera.
The Tractors were doing well with their vegetable picking, however Kat wasn't making much of an effort. She was simply just lying under a tree while the others worked.
"Kat why aren't you picking?" Daniel wanted to know.
"Well you see, I'm not really that big into manual labor, or working in the sun so I figured you guys could take this challenge." Kat explained.
Daniel scowled at her, and then nudged her up with his foot.
"Hey!"
"Get up, and get to work!" he ordered.
Kat scowled at him.
"I don't like how Kat's acting. This could be an issue." he told the camera.
Kat grudgingly got to work beside the others.
"Hey, Kat did you find any ripe beans?" asked Zuni.
"No, but if I see any I'll let you know." Kat replied rudely.
Zuni scowled at her, and continued to search. Both teams continued collecting the veggies. Determining which ones were ripe and which ones were rotten was pretty easy, but actually getting them was a bit difficult.
A lot of them weren't used to digging through dirt, pulling up carrots, and just plain getting down and dirty. But every time a member of the Tractors looked, they always saw that Kat wasn't pulling her weight or just complaining or refusing to work with others.
It was getting on everyone's nerves.
"Five minutes left everyone!" Hailey informed.
"Come on, everyone keep on picking." told Reese.
And the Haystacks continued picking, plucking, and digging.
"We can do this people. We just gotta work harder." encouraged Daniel.
He then looked at Kat, who wasn't really making much of an effort.
"You too Kat." he added sternly.
Kat rolled her eyes, and reluctantly picked some veggies.
The minutes went by, and soon time was up. Charlotte blasted the air horn.
"Time's up everyone! Report to the barn and we'll count up your veggies." she announced.
Everyone then picked up their baskets, and walked to the barn. There Monica, Hailey, and Charlotte were waiting and behind a table were some other interns to count the veggies.
"All right people let's see what you got." Monica told.
"Haystacks you're first." Hailey instructed.
The Haystacks dumped their baskets on the table, and all the veggies spilled out. The interns then began sorting and counting.
"I hope we win this thing." hoped Courtney.
"I really don't want to shovel animal droppings."
"We better win this thing. Or there's gonna be consequences." Reese said in a menacing voice.
The interns set aside several rotten pieces of veggies and counted the ripe ones. When they finished counting they whispered the total to Monica.
"The Haystacks collected a total of 100 even." she announced.
The Haystacks cheered and breathed a sigh of relief.
"And now, the Tractors."
The members of the Tractors emptied their baskets. The interns then began sorting and counting. Then when they finished, they told the total to Monica.
"And the Tractors collected a total of 95 vegetables."
The Tractors groaned, they were so close but not close enough.
"Well this means the Haystacks are the winners. And will be reaping their harvest." Hailey told.
The Haystacks cheered, and high fived each other while Reese looked very satisfied and proud.
"Tractors, I'll see you at the elimination ceremony, and Charlotte will have your equipment ready." Monica informed.
The Tractors looked at Kat very upset.
"What?" she asked.
"You cost us the challenge with your laziness." told Glenn.
"Not to mention your attitude wasn't helping." added Angie.
Kat didn't seem phased.
"Whatever, I told you guys I didn't like manual labor. You should've tried harder."
And with that, she walked off, leaving her team feeling very irritated.
That night the Tractors went to the elimination ceremony. Everyone cast their votes, and waited.
"All right, everyone when I call your name come and get a carrot." said Monica.
Hailey handed Monica the clipboard.
"Daniel."
"Glenn."
"Angie."
"Zuni."
They each got up, and got their carrots.
"And the final carrot goes to..."
Renni and Kat glanced for each other.
"...Renni."
"Yes!" cheered Renni.
Kat groaned in annoyance.
"Sorry, Kat you're out." Monica told her.
"Whatever, I didn't like being on this farm anyway." Kat told, and she left.
"As for the rest of you all, Charlotte has your gear." Hailey informed.
Charlotte was standing in front of 5 pairs of rubber boots and had 5 shovels.
"Time to start shoveling." Charlotte said.
Pepper squeaked at them. The Tractors groaned.
In the barn, the Haystacks were eating their vegetable soup.
"Great job, everyone." told Reese.
"This vegetable soup is delicious." said Sunny.
"I wonder how the Tractors are doing with their punishment?" thought Spikke.
"I feel bad for them, but better them than us." replied Sydney.
In the animal stalls the Tractors were shoveling out all the poop.
"This is one of the most disgusting things I've ever done in my life." Glenn complained.
"Let's just get it done so we can take showers." told Renni.
"Very long showers." confirmed Daniel.
"And there goes another contestant. Who's next to leave? Find out next time on Totally Epic: Life on the Farm." announced Monica.
14th place: Phil
13th place: Riley
12th place: Kat
That's chapter 4, no flames plz and thx to The Feline Overlord for suggesting the challenge