Disclaimer- Don't own Total Drama characters, Encanto characters, or Luca characters. The Twins though, are my own OCs.
"Pay up, boy!" Jaeden jumped at DJ, who shivering, handed him a fifty. The fact that he had it with them when they were about to jump in water proves he didn't believe it so much himself because who would have their wallet in their pocket while taking a dive?
"Oh, no..." Luca whimpered, hiding behind Bridgette.
"Okay, your first challenge is tri-fold. First you must jump off this cliff into the safe zone down below which is that small circle where you look down."
"Why's it small?" Jaeden asked.
"Why are you fat?" Chris shot back and some of the kids snickered at the irony. Jaeden was pretty skinny.
Jaeden pretended to fake cry again if it made Chris feel like his roasts were good. Sophia rolled her eyes for the millionth time that day.
"Beware of the psychotic man-eating sharks outside the safe zone," Chris continued and everyone tensed except Izzy, who's green eyes were glowing with excitement.
"You crazy," Leshawna finally broke the silence, glaring at Chris.
"Next part of the challenge, you must take those crates down there all the way back to the campgrounds and build a hot tub. Whichever team has the most jumpers will get a pull cart. Losing team has to drag them and boy, are they heavy."
"Whoever makes the best hot tub wins and will get to use it to party for the rest of the summer during the competition. Losers will send someone home at the elimination ceremony tonight."
"That doesn't sound too hard," Jaeden snorted, waving Chris off with a hand.
"Oh, really?" Chris smirked. "Then go ahead and jump."
Jaeden looked at his money and cursed before walking off the cliff casually, holding his money up as if he hoped to save it from being soaked.
"MAMA!" They heard him scream all the way down and then… Splash!
The Killer Bass peeked over the cliff to see their fellow teammate had made it into the safe zone.
"C'mon! The water feels nice!" He called up to them. Bridgette took a deep breath and went next doing a flawless dive. She landed perfectly in the safe zone.
"Yeah!" Jaeden high-fived her and she waved up to the others as the boat came by to pick them up.
"Alright! They made it! I'm next!" Tyler shouted and he backed up a couple of paces before taking off in a running start.
He jumped off enthusiastically. His dive was even pretty good. But he didn't pay attention to where he was aiming for.
Jaeden and Bridgette cringed as he hit a buoy. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt!" The green-eyed boy said. When Tyler was helped onto the boat, Jaeden said, "Here take this 'L.'" He held up an 'L' sign and Tyler took it, still groaning in pain.
Bridgette rolled her eyes and looked back as her teammates started coming down one by one.
Geoff was whooping as he came falling down, waving his cowboy hat around. "This is wicked, dudes!" He yelled.
He made it and got onto the boat, high-fiving Jaedan. "Did you see how I jumped, Bridgette?" He immediately asked, turning to the pretty blonde.
Jaeden snickered as Tyler said, "I did!" High-fiving Geoff too.
"Better than my pool parties, I host," Geoff said.
"How many parties do you have a week?" Jaedan asked, smirking.
"Oh, about one every day of the week, every month, all year round," the cowboy admitted.
Eva came next, looking determined before she splash bombed the water, making waves in the water. "Woah, dudes. We may have a tsunami!"
They snickered, but stopped once Eva resurfaced and swam over, pulling herself into the boat. Jaeden tried for a high-five, which she actually accepted.
The boy grit his teeth and held his now red hand as he turned away, suffering in silence. Eva smirked and turned to Tyler. "So Mister Jock, what was that dive?"
"I misjudged, okay? I am a supreme diver!" Tyler huffed in defense. He started to stand, wincing as his foot hurt, but it was just bruised. "Hopefully no one back home saw it."
Duncan jumped, arms crossed like he was too cool to react.
"You're not cool," Jaedan let him know as he got on the boat. "Just to let you know."
"Watch it, loser?" Duncan held his fist up to him. Suddenly, the boat lurched forward and the punk fell out into the water again.
Jaedan started laughing as the punk panicked and frantically swam after them before the sharks came. The boat stopped near the shore and the Bass on it all hopped off before it drove back near the safe zone out in the middle of the lake.
Duncan splashed out of the water before smoothing his expression back over into the indifferent look.
Harold and Ezekiel jumped and like Tyler they hit something. Ezekiel hit the side of the cliff and Harold hit… the water… crotch first.
"One for you and one for you too," Jaedan said, holding the loser's sign up to them.
DJ was the first to chicken out followed by Courtney. Jaedan sighed as Eva muttered, "Wow. Just wow."
"Yeah, I thought Luca would be the only chicken to be honest," Duncan said.
"Keep your honesty to yourself," Jaedan immediately snapped. He had become quick friends with the young sea monster. "Weren't you the one who fell off the boat like an idiot?"
Duncan clenched a fist before taking a deep breath, smirking and saying, "wasn't me. And didn't you get your money soaked?"
Jaedan smirked back. "Wasn't me." When the punk looked away he checked his money and held back a cry of anguish. It had definitely been ruined by the water.
Katie and Sadie jumped together, holding hands and squealing like girls do when their crush passes them by in school.
"My God, and we have to deal with that?" Courtney grumbled. "It's all Sophia and Izzy's fault."
"Izzy alone is the same level as them, so either way we were gonna deal with it," Tyler said, shrugging.
"Too bad we couldn't just have the actual successful athlete on the team, eh?"
"Shut up, Eva!"
Now it was just Luca as Katie and Sadie were dropped off onto the shore.
"You think he'll jump?" Geoff asked.
"He probably wants to keep his secret a secret," Harold said.
"How is his secret a secret if we already know?" Courtney snapped.
"Am I the one who doesn't believe it?" Eva asked, grumpily.
"Yeah, he's gonna chicken out like these two," Duncan said as if he was sure while jabbing a thumb at DJ and Courtney who both glared in annoyance of being pointed out.
"Yeah, look he's turning around walking away down the hill," Katie spoke up and they all turned to see the boy walking with his head lowered, down the hill, holding his chicken hat.
He paused halfway down, his shoulders tensed as if deciding something difficult and he turned and raced back up the hill before jumping off into the water.
He didn't come back up for a while and the sharks were all diving in the area he had landed in.
Everyone gasped.
"Well, it was nice knowing ya, kid," Duncan sighed, actually looking a bit sad for the boy. Camilo looked into the water urgently, wondering if he should jump in to try to save his friend.
Suddenly, there was a flash of glittery blue scales and a tail flapping through the air. Everyone gaped, astonished and bamboozled as the creature, pinwheeled in midair, turning back into a curly-haired boy.
The scales disappeared off of Luca and his curls popped back into place, his eyes changing from yellow back to human brown.
"Woah," Sophia whispered at Camilo's shoulder. Jaeden smiled at the boy. Luca landed perfectly on his feet.
Jaeden suddenly noticed a shark fin, heading towards the shore that Luca was still standing close to and Jaeden yanked him away in time as a shark snapped its jaws in the place he'd been in. It growled and slowly slid back into the water, angry at missing its catch.
"Sorry I took long," Luca said, proudly, letting go of Jaeden, who he had been hugging out of fear a second ago, "I was trying to evade the sharks. Back home they don't like us sea monsters. Think we try to show off. We are better swimmers, I'll say."
And with that he patted Duncan's shoulder, who was the nearest and went to sit on a rock to watch the other team dive. Jaeden snickered at his team's silence and shock and went to sit next to Luca.
Back up at the top, Camilo and Sophia exchanged awed grins. Izzy was bouncing on her heels, Leshawna and Gwen were talking in hushed voices about what had just happened and Heather was looking pissed.
"Great! They have an advantage!"
"So do we," Izzy smiled.
"C'mon, y'all. Leave him alone about it," Leshawna said, defensively.
"What's he gonna do? Turn into one of us and mimic our dive or something?" Justin asked.
Good idea.
"Alright, Gophers you're up and if more than two of you don't jump, you lose the pull cart."
"Alright, who's going first?" Trent asked.
"I'll go," Sophia said, taking off her swimsuit cover and running to the cliff, she jumped off and made it.
"What the fuck?" Cody muttered, impressed and in awe.
"Okay, then who's next?" Trent asked, also looking awed as Izzy grabbed Camilo's arm, asking him something. Heather narrowed her eyes looking at them. She was holding his arm to her the way girls do to their crush.
Stupid Psycho Hose Beast!
"Okay, seriously, guys, we gotta do this!" Chris snapped from behind the team.
Heather was pissed and for once she didn't understand why.
"I'm sorry, I'm not doing it!" She haughtily upturned her nose.
"Why not?" Beth asked.
"Hello? National TV! I'll get my hair wet!"
"Oh Lord, it'll be the end of the world," Leshawna muttered from behind and Gwen snickered.
"If she's not doing it, I'm not doing it!" Lindsay said like a loyal follower of the popular girl would.
Camilo noticed Leshawna's eyes darken in anger as she moved towards the two preppy girls. Sensing a fight he edged away a bit.
"Oh, you're doing it!" Leshawna snapped.
"Says who?" Heather snapped.
"Says me!" Leshawna retorted. "I ain't losing this challenge cause you got your hair day, you spoiled little daddy's girl!"
Lindsay edged away to Trent, Justin and Noah, the Bookworm was smirking with glee at the fight, Chris was also smirking and Izzy looked at Camilo with wide eyes.
"Back off, ghetto glamor tight-pants wearing rapstar wannabe!" Heather yelled.
Gwen and Cody exchanged shocked, open-mouthed looks at this and Camilo could only guess it was a very heavy insult.
"Mall-shopping ponytail-wearing peaking in high school prom queen!" Leshawna shouted.
"Now those are some run-on sentence insults," Chris commented.
"Well, at least I'm popular," Heather finished off the battle and everyone gasped or covered their mouths.
"How is that an insult? My cousin uses it on her sister all the time but no one reacts like that," Camilo whispered to Izzy.
"Probably ran outta ideas," Izzy whispered back, still gripping his arm.
"YOU'RE JUMPING!"
"MAKE ME!"
Suddenly, Leshawna lifted Heather into the air and literally threw her over the edge, screaming all the way down.
Down below the Bass watched this all happen, laughing.
"Score One: Leshawna," Sophia commented, the only Gopher on shore for now.
"I love her," Camilo said, looking at Leshawna with respect and admiration. Izzy tensed for some reason.
Leshawna jumped next and landed next to Heather in the safe zone, splashing her even more. The Sassy Girl smirked at the Queen Bee.
The boat came by and picked them up. On shore, Sophia high-fived Leshawna when Heather wasn't looking.
"I thought this was a talent show," Lindsay whimpered and Chris behind her said, "yeah," paused to chuckle, "no." And pushed her over the edge.
She went screaming all the way down, but made it in the safe zone.
Gwen went next, screaming, but not as much as Cody, who came after her, arms flailing in panic.
"There, there, Cody, it's over," Sophia said, patting his back.
"For the record, my scream was completely manly," Cody said quickly.
Sophia made a gallant effort to not laugh.
Izzy came next, all her limbs eagle-spread as she laughed and whooped like a maniac.
Justin was after her and so far had done the perfect swan dive. Plus, when he landed outside the safe zone the sharks were so taken by his beauty that they helped him to shore instead of making him their supper.
Camilo made up his mind as Beth chickened out.
Noah hesitated, started forward, hesitated again then tripped from all his jerky movements on the slippery grass. He went down screaming like a girl even more than Cody had and fell in the safe zone.
Trent had just jumped landing next to Noah.
"I'll go first and you can follow behind, Big Guy," Camilo said, slapping the blonde's chest before he stepped up to the edge. He took a deep breath aware that all eyes were on him, whispering, waiting for his move.
He concentrated on Justin and felt the familiar sensation of transformation which was like icy-hot burning through his whole body. His hair went sleek, he grew a few inches and his muscles became more firm.
To other people it would look like him becoming a blurring whirl and then when it stopped he'd be the person he wanted to be. No one knew it wasn't as fast or easy as it seemed.
He opened his eyes and looked down at himself to see blue trunks like the ones the real Justin was wearing and he felt his sleek dark locks instead of his curly ones.
The murmurs below intensified as he poised to dive and jumped. He did the exact same swan dive like Justin. Just as flawless except he landed in the safe zone with Noah and Trent.
"Ha! You see that real Justin?" Camilo called out to the other teens, his voice warm and silky like the model's. "I landed in the safe zone which means I'm the better model!"
Noah was chuckling, holding his sides while Trent just grinned.
"Hey sharks! Give me a lift?" He called and a shark appeared. He grabbed its fin gently and the shark swam him to shore while the boat came for Trent and Noah.
Once both his feet were on the sand, Camilo turned back into himself and he casually strutted over to join his team, who all stared with wide eyes, especially the real Justin.
"What a showoff," Sophia said teasingly to him, smirking as Noah and Trent joined their team, leaving their last teammate up on the cliff.
Chris was laughing at the reactions but when he finally calmed down he spoke into the megaphone, saying, "Alright, Gophers, this is your last jumper. You need this guy to help you win. No pressure though…"
Owen breathed a sigh of relief.
"PSYCHE! There's a lot of pressure, dude!"
Owen stopped looking so confident now.
"DO IT, OWEN!" Izzy shrieked.
"You got this!" Leshawna called.
"C'mon, dude!" Sophia added.
(Confessional Cam)
Owen- I was pretty darn nervous. See the thing is… I can't really swim. Man, I wish I was Luca right now. The little guy can breathe underwater! At least he'd never have to worry about drowning.
Geoff- No offense, but I'm looking at this dude and thinking, "there's no way he's gonna make it."
Gwen- I actually thought if he jumped… he would die.
Camilo- I bet he'll do it. Everyone's thinking the opposite, so watch them all be wrong. Plus, Owen's such an optimistic guy.
Sophia- I knew I was right to get away from the shore as far as possible.
Leshawna- Am I awesome or what? How to earn respect? Throw the bitchy one off a cliff and the others will appreciate me. /she laughs/
Izzy- /her arms are crossed and she looks annoyed/ So Camilo thinks Leshawna's a cool person, huh? Well, I can show him that I'm better! And more cool!
Luca- That actually wasn't so bad! And no one was looking at me in fear or disgust!
Jaeden- /actually crying/ My money got ruined! /he starts wailing until his sister hits the side of the outhouse/ Alright, sheesh! I'll wallow in self-pity quietly!
"I'm gonna die now! I'm gonna totally freaking die now!" Owen gulped. He took a deep breath and pulled on floaties on his arms that almost popped.
Everyone waited with anticipation, the Bass hoping he'd give up or get eaten by sharks (Duncan and Eva) and the Gophers willing him to go through with it.
Suddenly, Owen clenched his fists, tensed, then he took off running and jumped off, screaming, "CCCRRRAAAPPP!" All the way down.
Sophia watched from a safe distance and as she expected there was a huge splash which everyone but her and Chris (who was still atop the cliff) were soaked. The sharks were out of the water and the boat was upturned.
"Hurricane Owen," she commented.
"AND THE GOPHERS WIN!" Chris yelled into the megaphone. Camilo hopped to his feet, cheering, pumping his fist in the air as he chanted Owen's name.
"Yes!" Leshawna also pumped her fist.
"Yeah, we did it! Are we awesome or what?" Cody exclaimed, high-fiving Trent.
"Now go dry off, change and meet me back here for part two of the challenge!" Chris ordered.
When Luca reached his cabin to change he found Jaeden on the steps, still crying about his money.
"What's wrong?" Courtney paused by the two boys.
"M-m-my MONEY!" Jaeden wailed. Courtney rolled her eyes and left.
"Stick a sock in it, loser!"
Luca and Jaeden jumped and hugged each other, fearfully. Eva was standing behind them on the steps, arms crossed.
"Did you see her come?" Jaeden asked.
"No, it's like she just material-whatever! I can never pronounce that word!" Luca sighed, letting go of Jaeden.
Eva rolled her eyes and barked, "Go get changed!"
The two boys dashed past her into the cabin and slammed the door behind them. Soon the others started walking out, dried and everything.
"Are we ready to go?" Bridgette asked, walking out. She noticed Jaeden walk out, looking glum and sighed, muttering to herself, "yep."
"Alright, let's load the crates!" Sophia exclaimed and some people cheered. Owen, Leshawna and Justin had no problem getting their crates on but they had to go around helping everyone else.
Leshawna was just about to make her way over to Camilo, who was heaving a box over when Izzy beat her to it. The redhead gave Leshawna a glare and the sassy teen was confused by this.
Finally they had all the crates on the pull cart and they all took up positions to push it along which moved way smoother with the wheels and all.
"Let's sing, y'all!" Izzy exclaimed.
"I'd rather not!" Heather snapped. She was ignored.
"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, you take one down, pass it around…"
Sophia and Camilo exchanged amused looks as Heather fumed. Lindsay was lagging behind, distracted by everything around her. Justin was fixing his hair in a mirror. The two friends took this all in and went to help the other Gophers with the cart.
Meanwhile, the Bass were struggling with their crates. Geoff and DJ shoved and pulled, Duncan kicked and Luca of course struggled. He could hardly pick his crate up an inch.
"Santa Mozzarella!" He gasped as he heaved at the box with all his might. It just dragged across the sand, inch by inch.
"Ow!" Jaedan suddenly yelped. "I got a splinter! Fucking great!" He seemed to notice Luca next to him and blanched before saying, "um, I mean freaking great!"
Courtney rolled her eyes while Eva, the only one who could pick hers up easily, stormed up to the two boys and picked up Luca's crate. The boy had a firm grip on it and was also lifted up. He gripped the box tighter as Eva swung around and stormed off towards the campgrounds.
"HURRY IT UP, LOSERS!" She yelled over her shoulder. Duncan sniffed at being called a loser and started shoving his forward.
"Excuse me! I'm a CIT! So listen to me!" Courtney yelled after Eva but the Bodybuilder and Luca were long gone.
Lindsay, meanwhile, paused at the back picking a shell up that she found greatly interesting.
She ran and caught up to Beth. "Betty, listen to this." She put it near the girl's ear.
"Wow, I hear the ocean all the way here!" Beth squealed, sharing in her excitement of the pretty shell.
"I want to give this to that cute boy on the other team. Taylor," Lindsay suddenly said.
Heather a little ahead of them had heard and glared over her shoulder at the blonde.
"Ugh! I gotta take a whiz!" Tyler said, dropping his box and leaving into the woods, but not too far in.
"I gotta go, too!" Katie said and Sadie stopped pushing their box, saying, "me too!"
"Hurry up!" Duncan huffed. "We're so behind! I can't believe I'm stuck with a bunch of losers for my team!"
Ezekiel was managing to push Eva's abandoned crate as best as he could. Jaeden was next to him struggling yet still moving.
"Ouch! Something bit me!" Courtney grumbled, her hand over her eye.
"It can't be that bad," Geoff said, walking over to Courtney who removed her hand revealing a swollen eye. "Ugh!" Geoff exclaimed, jumping back.
"Yep! You still look hot!" Jaeden snickered and Ezekiel joined him.
"When will they be back?" Bridgette sighed to herself, fed up with her team right now. And she usually didn't get so annoyed easily.
Sophia had run ahead to scout out for their destination. She gasped when she saw the cabins and sprinted all the way back to them, excitedly.
"I see the campgrounds! C'mon!"
"That was quick!" Camilo commented.
"I'm pleasantly surprised," Cody nodded in agreement and they continued on with more vigor.
Katie, Sadie and Tyler had finally reappeared.
"Can we freaking go now?" Courtney snapped, grumpily, still covering her swollen eye.
Katie and Sadie started pushing their big box again when they realized they felt itchy, not yet noticing they had rashes on their behinds.
"I swear we were doing so great before, what happened?" Courtney grumbled.
"You chickened out," Jaedan said, carelessly, pausing to snack on some beef jerky. He offered some to Ezekiel.
Courtney glared at the two boys and stormed over, snatching their beef jerky. "Get moving!" Jaedan glared at her while Ezekiel was quick to obey, afraid.
She smirked when both boys moved past and ate some of the jerky.
"Remember you guys have to use your teeth!" Chris reminded the Gophers as they did just that.
"This is stupid," Gwen muttered, watching Izzy struggle with hers.
"Yeah, is Chris kinky or something?" Sophia grumbled nearby and the boys snorted.
"Hey, I think I got it open!" Izzy exclaimed and the box burst apart. "Frick! The rope burned my tongue!"
"I can open them all," Beth suddenly said. "It'll be quicker."
"How so?" Trent asked. Beth flashed her braces and he chuckled. "Right."
So the Farm Girl set to work opening their boxes and saving anymore of her teammates rope burn.
"Okay, I have to scratch!"
Katie and Sadie were scratching themselves, Jaeden and Ezekiel were on the ground halfway passed out, Duncan and Courtney were arguing over something and Harold and Geoff were trying to unstick a box that was between two rocks.
"Great job, team…" Bridgette muttered, wishing Eva hadn't ditched them.
"Fuck you!" Courtney suddenly spat at Duncan and announced, "I'm going ahead! I just can't wait for losers!" She along with Harold, Jaeden and Ezekiel went on, hoping to catch up with Eva and Luca. Bridgette, being the nice person she is, decided to wait with the others.
"What's the hold up you guys?" Chris said, driving over on his motorbike.
"Their butts are itchy," Duncan muttered, indicating Katie and Sadie.
Bridgette was thinking hard. "Wait, when you two went to the bathroom did you squat over any —I dunno— plants?" The two nodded. "About this low to the ground, oval-shaped and scattered all over the place?" They nodded again and Bridgette chuckled, saying, "you guys squatted on poison ivy."
Silence.
Then they started flipping out. Chris laughed. Of course.
Duncan rolled his eyes. Why me?
"Let's see what we have here!" Owen pulled out some wood planks. "Some wood, a pool liner, some tools, and this red box thing!"
Cody, who was looking over the blueprints with Noah glanced up, eyebrows raised. "That's the motor, dude. To get it going."
Leshawna was digging through her own box when she was approached by Heather and Lindsay. She raised her eyebrows, suspiciously.
"Hey, Leshawna. I'm sorry for what I said… and I guess I needed a push," The Queen Bee apologized quickly. "Truce?" She held out a hand.
Leshawna hesitated at first before accepting, fist-bumping her. "Well, I'm sorry for throwing you over then and you got it with the truce. Better for the team…" she trailed off and Heather was sure she was suspicious.
She and Lindsay turned and walked away, the blonde asking, "did you mean what you said to Lefonda?"
"Leshawna," Heather corrected, rolling her eyes in annoyance of the blonde's slowness. "No, you know what they say: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer! She's going down! And so are Gwen and Sophia!" She glared at the redhead, who was chatting animatedly with Camilo.
"Wait, I'm your friend, right?" Lindsay asked, catching up.
"Sure…" Heather replied, loftily, leaving Lindsay to ponder this.
Just then Eva, Luca, Ezekiel, Jaeden and Courtney arrived. Izzy was hammering a box for some reason and Trent was supervising. "Hey, guys! What's up?" He called in greeting as Eva dropped the crate, causing Luca to fall off.
Suddenly, Leshawna appeared from inside the box Izzy was hammering. "Hey, aren't y'all missing a couple of white girls?" She asked.
"More than just a couple," Sophia said, "half their team's missing. Sucks to be you little, bro!"
Jaeden gritted his teeth as his teammates looked around for the rest of their team. Finally Courtney mumbled, "they're, uh… getting a drink."
"Yeah, if they drink from their ass cracks," Jaeden whispered loudly to Ezekiel, forgetting his earlier annoyance.
"Haha! That's funny!" The prairie boy guffawed.
"Shut. Up!" Courtney hissed at the boys.
"They're drinking the dirty lake water?" Leshawna asked, eyebrows raised.
"We dunno, we left them!" Luca blurted out and his teammates glared at him. He ducked behind his crate again. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Sorry for telling the truth."
"Ooh, what happened to your eye, girl?" Leshawna suddenly seemed to notice Courtney's swollen eye.
"Oh, uh, nothing, just… nothing."
"I think it's getting worse, eh," Ezekiel commented.
"Shut. UP!" Courtney hissed. "We don't need to appear weak in front of the other team!"
Meanwhile, Bridgette was waiting behind with Katie and Sadie as they cooled the burning on their behinds in the lake. Duncan, Tyler and Geoff had gone on ahead to make it to the rest of the team, taking the rest of the boxes.
Finally, the two girls rejoined her on the shore. "Okay, we're ready to get going," Sadie cheered. "Let's win this challenge!"
"Yeah… hopefully," Bridgette said, not fully sure if they would catch up. But then she realized how negative that sounded and she wasn't negative. "Let's go, girls!" She hurried to help them with the final box their team would need. "We can do it!"
"Yay!" Katie and Sadie cheered.
Finally all the Bass members had arrived and Geoff tried to rally them. He hopped onto a huge crate and shouted, "okay, dudes! It's not too late! We can do this! We can catch up!"
Looking at his team, the blonde was let down to see barely half of them even listening. Harold was drooling as he dozed, Luca was leaning against Jaeden's shoulder asleep, Ezekiel was picking his nose and Katie and Sadie were still whining about their rashes.
"You're gross!" Courtney snapped at Ezekiel.
"Shut up, chicken!" Jaeden snapped and started flapping his arms, making chicken squawks until Eva smacked the back of his head.
"We don't have time for this!" She said through gritted teeth.
"Okay, I'm electing myself as project manager and we're going to win! We won't give those rodents the satisfaction of winning the first challenge! We are gonna WIN! Or else!" Courtney said.
"Or else what?" Harold asked.
"Or else!" Eva cracked her knuckles and that seemed to work.
"Well, where do we begin, Cyclops?" Duncan asked, addressing Courtney.
"SHUT UP!" Courtney bellowed and the whole team jumped. "Now follow my commands or I'll make sure whoever doesn't help is sent home!" She said in a dangerously, quiet voice.
"Ma'am, yes ma'am," Luca gulped.
And so the building part of the contest began.
Beth and Justin hammered their wood planks into a neat cylindrical pool form. Harold and Geoff tried putting their planks together but it was all rickety and kept collapsing.
"Okay, you idiots are doing something wrong!" Courtney yelled and the teens started arguing, except Jaeden, who pulled Luca over to the tub. He examined it for a while before looking at the blueprints and then snapping his fingers in understanding.
"Those dummies didn't hammer the nails in the right place and they didn't place the pool liner right," he explained. "Luca, I'm gonna hammer all the nails in and then I want you to line the pool liner around it as I hold it afterwards, alright?"
Luca nodded.
The two brunette boys set to work on building the base and then the main part while everyone else on their team argued or watched the arguing. The whole time the Gophers cooperated well and completed their hot tub. The Bass only had two members complete theirs.
"Fuck. What're we gonna say?" Duncan asked. "We didn't build ours."
"This'll be so embarrassing," Bridgette mumbled.
They turned as Chris arrived and their mouths fell open in shock. Jaeden and Luca, leaning against the built and ready hot tub, smiled smugly and waved at them. "We are awesome engineers!" Jaeden said.
"Yay!" Luca cheered. "If we win, we can use it all summer!"
"How did you guys build it?" Geoff asked.
"With our brains," Jaeden shrugged and high-fived Luca.
Chris inspected the Gophers' tub first and deemed it 'awesome' but when he inspected the Bass he looked at something on the side, admiringly.
"Who carved this awesome portrait of me?' He asked aloud.
Luca raised his hand.
"Luca, Jaeden, I saw only you two working on the tub on the cameras, your team should be very grateful to have y'all," Chris complimented which was probably going to be rare. The other Bass kicked at the ground guiltily.
"And Luca, man, you are an awesome artist. The Killer Bass win!" The Gophers gaped, some casting angry glares at Jaeden and Luca while some just looked downtrodden. "Gophers, I'll see y'all at the elimination tonight! Sucks to be you!" He drove off cackling.
"Hear that Sophia? He stole your line!" Jaeden called over. "And used it on you!" The Gophers glared but Sophia just shrugged as if she accepted the defeat. Camilo, on the other hand, walked over and shook Luca's hand.
"Good job, looks like you're not leaving first after all, huh?"
"Thanks, sorry you guys have to send someone home," Luca said, genuinely.
"S'long as it isn't me," Camilo shrugged, patted his shoulder, and jogged back over to his team.
"So… who are we gonna vote off?" Cody asked, awkwardly at dinner. The Bass were looking joyous while the Gophers were downtrodden.
"Well we all did something and I feel the best way to vote someone off is the person who participated the least, but well, everyone did that," Leshawna said.
"Beth, maybe, she didn't jump," Noah suggested.
"Why me?"
"It's just a suggestion and I literally just said the reason," Noah snapped.
"Heather or Lindsay since they wouldn't have jumped if not for Leshawna," Gwen said with a smirk. The Queen Bee glared but Lindsay as always looked confused.
"Well, we did both anyway so it's not fair!" Heather snapped.
"Wait, why are we voting again?" Lindsay asked, tapping her lips. "Is someone goung to be class president? Maybe we should vote for Nolan then, he's like, so smart!"
Noah glared at the blonde as Camilo chuckled, saying, "hey, she just complimented you."
"Whatever. I did the most brainwork on the hot tub!"
"Heather if you think you shouldn't go, give us a reason why. Who do you suggest?" Sophia piped up.
Heather looked around frantically, obviously sensing the hot water she was in. "What about him!" She pointed at Cody, who looked hurt.
"What? I did just as much as Noah on the hot tub too!"
"How about Leshawna?" Izzy asked casually but she wasn't thinking casually.
"She threw someone over the cliff and jumped herself!" Gwen said.
"What about Sophia?" Owen randomly suggested.
"She jumped first," Noah said.
"Camilo?" Justin said, looking at the Shapeshifter. He hadn't forgotten how the teen had pretty much mocked him during the diving part.
"What, why?" Heather asked, shocked. When the others looked at her surprised and suspicious she quickly said, "he has a power. He's useful."
"Yeah, and he's cute!" Izzy said, hugging his arm again.
"You know maybe we should vote you off, Izzy," Heather said before she could stop herself. She was making herself a target she knew, but she just…
"Yeah, right. I did everything today. More than half the team did!" The redhead said.
"How about we all just vote and see what comes out?" Trent asked and got up to leave.
The Gophers sat at the elimination ceremony, feeling nervous. They'd lost the first challenge and were sending a teammate home even if they'd literally had the lead the whole time. Things weren't looking so good.
"Campers, welcome to the first ever marshmallow ceremony. These treats represent your safety in this game. You get one you stay another day, you don't you walk the dock of shame."
"Hey, that rhymed," Trent chuckled.
"I know because I'm awesome," Chris said, grinning. "When I call your name, come get your marshmallow."
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"The hell are you waiting for?!" Gwen yelled.
"Um, it's called suspense, something an emo like you wouldn't understand," Chris retorted. Trent put an arm on her shoulder to calm her as she was ready to tackle the host.
She smiled at him. He was one of the people she was okay with right away. The competition would possibly be better with him and Sophia around.
Chris took a deep breath and after another long pause he called the first name.
"Sophia."
The redhead jumped to her feet and grabbed her marshmallow, spearing it on a stick. "Ooh, it feels good to get the first one!" She commented.
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"Leshawna." The Sassy girl waltzed up, looking proud as she claimed hers and stood by Sophia.
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"Noah." The Bookworm tried to look casual as if he didn't care, but deep down he was relieved, of course.
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"Owen." The big blonde whooped as he skidded to a halt in front of Chris and immediately gobbled up his marshmallow.
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"Cody." The Geek preened.
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"Heather." The Queen Bee strutted up like she owned the place.
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"Lindsay." The dumb blonde skipped over, joyously, even though she wasn't sure what was going on.
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"Izzy." The redhead got up and cast Camilo a look before grabbing her marshmallow.
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"Gwen." The Goth actually cracked a smile when Sophia gave her a thumbs-up.
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"Camilo." The Shapeshifter inwardly sighed in relief. He had actually thought he would end up on the chopping block for a moment.
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"Justin." The two new rivals exchanged glares. Justin because of Camilo mocking him and Camilo because Justin wanted him voted off.
Now it was just Trent, who was now looking horrified and Beth, who looked nervous, her chicken hat lopsided.
"And the final marshmallow of the night goes to…"
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"Beth!"
The farm girl squealed in joy and ran up to claim her marshmallow. Trent gaped for a couple of seconds before he sighed and went to grab his stuff. He returned with his bags and started for the boat. Some of the others followed to say goodbye. His friends he'd already made.
"Bye, dude," Cody said. "You shouldn't be going." Trent smiled and patted his friend's back.
"It's okay. It was kinda all of a sudden, but oh well." He shrugged good-naturedly.
"If it makes you feel better I didn't vote for you," Camilo said.
"I believe you," Trent smiled.
"Bye, honey," Leshawna said, sympathetically, giving him a hug.
"Bye Trent…" Gwen said sadly. Trent opened his arms for a hug and she accepted.
"Bye guys… you four watch your backs. I don't trust the others much. Good luck."
And then he boarded the boat. Ad it sped away he sighed and said, "Oh man. I did not expect to leave so soon… at least I made a few friends."
Back on the dock the same four friends watched the boat until it disappeared into the darkness.
Cody sighed. "This sucks. He did so good too. I'm confused why he was voted off."
"Same here," Camilo said, but Leshawna was glaring in Heather and Lindsay's direction. Gwen was too upset to do the same thing.
"Wow, what a sad farewell and it's only been a day so far," Chris commented. Leshanwa flipped him off and he huffed, "rude."
(Confessional Cam)
Gwen- Yeah, this camp is gonna still be shitty, especially since I already lost one of my first friends, but now that I'm here I might as well try and win.
Luca- I can't believe I'm still here! Maybe I can make it past another day! I'll just have to work twice as hard since I'm the youngest and smallest.
Sophia- I hate you, Jaeden.
Jaeden- Love you, too, sis!
"To the Killer Bass!" Geoff toasted his team as they sat in the hot tub.
"To the Bass!" The team cheered in unison. Geoff cranked up the music. He had brought many party things. Confetti, firecrackers and lots of glow sticks for some reason.
Luca grabbed one. "What're these for?"
"Well, my little buddy, those are glowsticks to see in the dark. Always brought them for my night parties and it is night, so!"
Luca shook it, but nothing happened.
"Break it," Harold advised him.
Luca hesitated then snapped it in the middle, but not all the way. Sure enough it lit up. He brought it up to his face to inspect it closer, looking awed and murmured, "cool. I thought things only glowed like this in the deep ocean."
Bridgette, who who talking to Courtney, observed this and giggled, saying, "he's cute, isn't he?"
"Geoff? No."
Bridgette rolled her eyes, nudging the CIT playfully. "I meant Luca… and maybe Geoff too."
"Mhm," Courtney said, giving her a smile. "Anyway, I can't believe he and Jaedan won for us. You know what that means?"
"That you shouldn't underestimate them?"
"...sure." The brunette had been thinking more of the fact that Jaedan at least could become a threat if not Luca. She'd just keep an eye on them.
Harold was passing a beach ball with Tyler, DJ and Eva while Katie and Sadie giggled and gossiped on the quieter side of the tub. Duncan was adding some detail to the carving of Chris' portrait on the side of the tub, smirking.
It now read on top of the host's head, 'I have no life and I am in love with Chef.'
Just then, the Gophers started filing past, looking sullen. Jaeden noticed this too and ran in front of the hot tub, starting to twerk while singing, "Go Bass!" Luca and Ezekiel joined him and jumped up and down, cheering too.
Heather glared at them and muttered, "these losers won't know what hit them. We'll be making a great comeback… and then I'll dominate this game."
She smirked. She had a plan. But first… she needed helping hands.
(Voting in Confessional)
Beth- I'll vote for Trent. I know it isn't fair but it's better than me… Heather suggested it to give me a second chance… and yet I feel bad taking her advice.
Cody- I vote Heather.
Gwen- Heather.
Heather- Sorry Trent, but you're the beginning of my plan. You're just too close to Weird Goth Girl, Geek Boy, and Leshawna!
Izzy- Izzy votes for Leshawna. No need for a reason.
Justin- I vote Camilo. That guy thinks he's so cool because he can shapeshift! He mocked me in front of everyone, too! Well he's going down!
Leshawna- I vote for Heather. Izzy is getting on my nerves but Heather creases me more! And that truce she called… yeah, I know now she's bluffing.
Lindsay- Heather said I should vote for Travis if I wanted to stay friends with her and stay in the competition.
Noah- I guess Trent. /he shrugs/ As long as it isn't me. And if it'll get Heather to leave me alone.
Owen- Sorry Trent. /He holds up a basket of chocolate bars/ Heather gave these to me to vote you off and I have to repay her somehow.
Trent- I vote Beth. It's only fair because she didn't jump. No hard feelings, I hope. /He grins confidently/
Sophia- I vote Beth. I'm all about playing fair. And she's the only one who didn't jump, so she only did half… but she did open those boxes for us easier. /she starts looking confused and guilty, sighing/
Camilo- Justin. /he glares at the camera/
Trent- 5
Heather- 3
Beth- 2
Leshawna- 1
Camilo- 1
Justin- 1
Seems a bit better, slightly detailed and heartfelt.