Now let's get into Episode 2.

With the first rest day over, the next day was all about the competition. I was at breakfast before my alliance partners. Emma was still putting on her makeup when I left the cabin (all I did was put on my moisturizer – which I always did, regardless of whether I had makeup on or not – outline my eyes, put on a little concealer and finish with some foundation) and I didn't know where Bowie was yet. But Damien was already sitting at the table most of the Trouts had claimed, so I just waved to him and we exchanged smiles. I didn't want to push myself in on the other team.

Unluckily, Ripper, now with a new outfit that covered him decently, was also at that table. He saw me wave, and jumped on it. "Who're you waving to, ginger head?" he taunted. "Trying to make secret alliances again? Why don't you get the hint that no one likes you? I mean, what, are you desperate because your own team hates you too?"

I don't think Ripper expected me to argue, just to take it. Maybe he'd noticed I was a bit soft-spoken. But that didn't make me shy, and his reaction actually did make me angry. I was only shy around some people, and bullies were not those people – it was usually the really social, outgoing ones, who had enough confidence that they didn't feel the need to be bullies, even with that possibility there. But bullies just made me angry, and when I got angry, any shyness I had seeped away. Especially when it was bullying just to bully, or to just feel like a big shot. I could tell Ripper didn't even really have his mind on what he was saying, that he was saying it because he thought I was an easy target.

I forced a sweet smile and replied in my nicest tone, "Why don't you talk to me again when your team starts to like you? Or were you talking to yourself and you're just colourblind?"

Ripper looked confused and just spluttered "Well, you…I mean, it's…you're such a…"

I giggled, enjoying his confusion, and said sweetly, "I really don't like being insulted just because you like insulting people. Especially when you're lying. Try finding a masochist to be your target."

And with that, I turned to sit at my table. Just as I did, Bowie, who'd arrived in the middle of that altercation, joined me. "Nice one," he commented. "I didn't know you had that in you."

I shrugged. "I hate bullies. Anger makes me stand up to people like that. I can't stand cruelty to animals, either, but I guess humans are animals, and I don't like cruelty to them. Me or anyone else."

Bowie just grinned. "Well, maybe that's a good way to get you to try hard in the challenges. Just imagine the other team is a gang of bullies. Or animal abusers. That's a motivator."

I chuckled. "I'm going to try hard anyway, but I'll keep that in mind. It might help a little."

Emma arrived, and we waved her over as soon as she'd got her tray. We fell to talking about the elimination, because we were all hyperaware we had another challenge and it could mean another one for us (although we'd be trying harder to win this one).

"I can't believe Caleb got sent home instead of me!" Emma remarked. I couldn't read her expression. She'd seemed mostly relieved at the elimination, but she'd had time to think it over. She didn't look all that happy.
"Well, you knew that at least a third of us were going to vote for him," I pointed out. "Or even half if Nichelle and Julia kept their word. I guess they must have, since the guys said they voted for each other and MK wouldn't vote our way if she was asked to. I'm glad you stayed. There was no way I wanted to miss the chance to get to know my YouTube idol."

"Well, both of you can thank me for that," Bowie reminded us.

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Well, yeah, we know. You told us to vote for Caleb. We haven't forgotten. Your actions basically saved Emma."

Emma blinked, asking "You did that for me?"

"Not at all," Bowie shrugged, "But let's pretend I did and agree that you owe me one, cause now, I'm a little sad Caleb's gone. He was serious eye candy."

I agreed with that point. "Yeah, superhot." I added. "It would have been nice to get to know him and see if his personality matched his abs."

"He really was," Emma chimed in. "Why didn't you convince the team to vote for someone else? Maybe there would have been a swim challenge and Caleb would've taken his shirt off."

Bowie put his spoon down, giving her sad puppy dog eyes. "Why would you say that? I'm already sad!"

"Sorry!"

Bowie composed himself. "Emotional time over. So, Chase cut your brakes? Let's talk about that."

I really didn't want to listen to more about Chase, but Emma hadn't really gone into detail about the incident that caused the break-up, and I knew that this was about letting her vent, so I jumped in with "Yes, I wanted to know too. I mean, you defied death so many times with the things he dared you to do. What happened there?"

So far, everything Emma had said made Chase sound like the worst boyfriend either. Either really careless, or just totally callous. She explained that her main issue with him cutting her brakes was not actually that he did it at all, but that he didn't warn her about it. It didn't seem to matter that she could have died. At least, not to her, the queen of crazy stunts.

Bowie pointed out the death risk, adding "At today's challenge, if there's a way I can help you get revenge, just say the word."

"Me too, Emz," I added, not even realizing that I'd called her that. "Any direct combat stuff and I'll help you take him down first. Who knows, his team might vote him off if they realize he's always getting taken out first."

Emma looked thrilled to bits and told us both that we rocked. Although, on the way out of the main area, it was just the two of us for a moment, and she asked me "Back there, did you call me Emz? I wasn't sure if I heard you right."

I looked at the ground sheepishly. "I didn't mean to. I had this friend with the same name as you who was called that when I was tiny, so I kind of did it by impulse, and I'm sorry if you-"

"No, I didn't mean that you can't call me that," Emma told me quickly. "It was just a surprise. No one's ever shortened my name, except to Em or Ems, with the softer S sound. And Chase called me that, so I wouldn't want to hear that again. Emz sounds…actually nice. Sort of cool. I wouldn't mind if you continued calling me that."

I raised my head and smiled again. "Okay. Emz. And thanks."

We didn't start the challenge that early, which was nice. Still, once we gathered on the beach, Chris was dressed up in a pirate outfit. This time, we both had ships and we had to use two chain-powered cannons to damage and sink each other's ship.

"And because our legal team refused to let us use actual cannonballs," Chris went on, "The below-deck area has been filled with heads of cabbage. Just as deadly, but rich in Vitamin K, which is great for you guys because it helps with blood clotting!"

Lauren started squealing excitedly. "Blood!"

I inched away from the edge of the team carpet, closer to my friends. Just because I kept thinking of her by her real name didn't mean I didn't understand why everyone else had nicknamed her Scary Girl. At least I wasn't the only one. Half her team was staring at her with unnerved expressions and the hockey boys were doing the same thing. Wayne even spotted my reaction and I saw a vaguely sympathetic look that told me we felt the same way.

"Oh, you're not strange at all," Chris commented bluntly, before telling us that we also needed to choose a captain once we'd boarded the ship and also pick who'd pass the cabbage heads up from below deck and who would work the cannons. Anyone who ended up falling into the water would be out of the challenge.

Chef showed up to take us to the ships, along with a savage parrot who kept chomping on his shoulder and neck. But the real fun started when we got onto the ship. Wayne claimed the role as captain since he was used to being captain of his hockey team, and, well, no one argued.

"MK and Rajie, grab the fruit for the cannons," he instructed. Even though cabbage was a vegetable.

Raj saluted, "Aye aye, Captain. C'mon, MK." MK looked weary of their enthusiasm already, but she followed Raj.

Emz told Wayne that she, Bowie and I would work one cannon, so Wayne told Nichelle and Julia to work the other one.

I wasn't really paying attention, but I heard Julia saying "Of course he puts the two famous people together. Whatever, right? It's probably good for the ratings." As they came over to the cannon beside ours, I saw their arms were linked, but the actress looked a bit stunned by that declaration. Clearly Julia wasn't as famous an influencer as she seemed to think. I mean, I'd never seen on her social media.

While we were waiting for Chris to call for us to start, I looked out at the other team. I couldn't see properly, but I heard a splash as someone hit the water. Okay, so they'd already lost someone. I couldn't hear properly what people were saying, but I caught a shrill soprano that I recognized as Priya, and a lower growl that had to be Axel. Well, okay. Those two were still in, and I knew they might be the toughest to beat.

"Let the battle begin!" we heard Chris yell, punctuated with a gunshot into the air.

The first couple of cabbages we fired didn't do much. Bowie and I had remembered our promise to help Emz get revenge and aimed for the red hoodie that was visible on deck. We even managed to take out Priya in the process. But Nichelle was aiming for the ship – I guess, correctly, and reminded us to aim lower.

"Do you want to aim for the ship now, or still at Chase?" Bowie asked Emz in a whisper.

"Chase!" Emz insisted, grinning. "Totally aiming for Chase."

I shrugged. "I agree with her. We get him off the ship, that's one less Trout to worry about. We might as well take him out and if a few others go, we'll be golden. Weaken them, then sink them, right?"

This was why I thought a competition would be fun. It gave me an excuse to not have to be nice all the time. Fighting to win was the only time I thought bullying was acceptable, because it wasn't bullying.

Bowie grinned at both of us. "I like your style." We fired again.

Our ship took a couple of hits after that, and then we heard Chris calling from the shore through his loudspeaker. "Attention, pirates! There are now sharks in the water!"

"WHY?!" I heard Damien yelling from the other ship.

"Because I put them there!" Chris called back. Of course. I'd noticed in episodes that Chris had a thing for two creatures. On land, it was bears. In the water, it was sharks. I wasn't unsympathetic towards predators or anything, but I wasn't willing to get close to either of them.

We didn't manage to get Chase off the ship with our next few hits. We did take Damien out (that wasn't my idea, Bowie aimed that shot), but Chase stayed on, although we hit him twice. In fact, I got the chance to aim and I got him at the one place a guy would crumble at.

I couldn't help squealing with joy. "Did you see that? I can't believe I got him!"

"The goal is to sink the ship!" Nichelle snapped, scowling at us.

But Wayne didn't agree. He was grinning at our trio. "Way to use your head-brains! Great game plan!"

He explained to us that if we took out the rest of the team instead of the ship, it would be a fast track to sinking the ship. If there was no one left, then we'd be able to sink it without interference – or as I'd put it, we'd be golden. Okay, Wayne explained it in hockey terms first, but when he simplified it, we got that his idea was the one I'd sort of alluded to.

Bowie grinned. "Oh. Let's do that."

With Nichelle and Julia copying us, the Trout fell a lot faster. As a team, we managed to take out Millie, then Axel, with just one shot to each of them (in fact, the final cabbage that fell Axel was from me, and knocking her off the ship gave me a major adrenaline rush).

"Hey!" Chris called from the shore. "Your team's getting outsmarted by Wayne!"

I wasn't sure what I was more annoyed at, but they were both directed at Chris. First, he was talking about a plan that was mine first. I was the one who mentioned taking out the opposing players before sinking the ship, Wayne just ran with it – and even he knew it was me – well, me or Emz or Bowie, because he saw what we were doing and implemented it. And it sounded to me like Chris was calling our current captain dumb. Okay, that part wasn't totally wrong. He may have mistaken the last vote for voting for someone to stay, not leave, but sporting strategy really was his thing, which is why he'd seen the potential in aiming for contestants first. It proved that in at least one area, he had plenty of intelligence.

We finally got Chase next, and Emz started happy-dancing. It was one of the cabbages she aimed, after all. Okay, the dancing wasn't good, but it was sort of funny to see how happy she got.

"Great shot, Emz!" I smiled. "Now…it's just two people left, right?"
Emz didn't even seem to hear, chanting "I got him!" until Bowie cleared his throat pointedly. Emz stopped and added "I mean, I got…one of them," pretending not to even know she'd attacked her ex.

"Let's finish this!" Nichelle declared. I'd have to rethink my plan of voting for her if she kept attacking challenges with so much passion and determination. Maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to judge her concern for her looks on the first day.

There were just two people left – Lauren and Zee. Lauren had actually dodged a few cabbages pretty gracefully by this point, so once we got her, slow-moving Zee would be a sitting duck. I pointed her out on the ship. "Aim for her first!" I told them. "She'll be harder to take out, so we need multiple cabbages she can't dodge." I felt like I was really getting into this challenge, thinking like a strategist. It was giving me a lot of confidence. This time, I didn't feel like I was in danger of getting votes.

I'm not sure who aimed the shot that got Lauren right in the forehead and knocked her off, but I think it was Julia. Well, it was the first thing I'd seen her do. Now it was just Zee left.

We could hear him yelling something, but not what it was. Soon, we figured it out, though, when he took the helm.

"Is he turning towards us?" Nichelle looked worried.

"He's trying to ram us!" MK exclaimed. "Sink both ships and make it a tie!"

Julia looked worried, too. "Okay, for serious, I can't get wet right now because I may or may not have a phone in my pocket." How many phones did she bring? I'd already seen her hand four to Chris. Most of us only had one! Two if we could afford a back-up. Not to mention, how did she fit one in that tiny pocket of her jean shorts? Most of them would poke out.

It was complete luck that saved us. Well, and Zee covering his eyes just before he hit us. We'd tried to sink it before he turned it into a tie, but we couldn't. But letting go of the steering wheel caused it to spin off-course, and the ship hit rocks instead of us. We were safe!

Wayne and Raj jumped up and down. "Champions! Champions!" they chanted.

I grinned wider than I had done ever since I arrived. I was officially going to reach at least fourteenth place in this game, and that meant another couple of days.

Although, to be honest, I was momentarily distracted when Zee washed up on shore with only one and a half legs. Chef gasped and half his team started screaming. We were on the ship, but we were close enough to hear what was going on.

"The shark took his leg!" Damien shrieked. "Call the ambulance!"

"Awww, man," Zee said, totally calmly. "You guys see that? Shark took my leg, brah. It's a bummer! Really liked that leg, too."

I didn't understand what was going on – and why there was no blood – until the shark spat out that leg. Zee had been wearing long baggy trackpants, so his legs weren't visible until now. The leg was…silver. Metallic. Not real. Zee put it back on.

I could hear Axel's aggressive question clearly. "Is there a reason you didn't tell us one of your legs was a prosthetic?"

"Probably the same reason you never told me your legs weren't," Zee answered. Fair point.

I visited the confessional that night, but not to talk about Zee. I wanted to talk about our first win. "One more challenge, and this time, I know I'm staying! I feel like I actually accomplished something today. And even if we do lose again, I can count on Emz and Bowie to vote with me. Also, I'm sorry I wanted to vote off Nichelle. She was good today. I don't know who I would take out next time. Everyone seems useful." I smiled. "At least I don't have to think about it for now!"

It didn't mean I wasn't interested in who was going to leave that night, though. I planned to sit on the cabin steps and watch the eliminated person walk down the dock.

That evening, as I was doing just that. Emz came and joined me. "Interested in seeing who they go for?" she said. "I want to know, too."

I smiled at her. "I guess I know who you want them to vote off. But I'm not sure that'll happen."
Emz gave an irritated sigh. "Yeah, I know. No one on that team was brilliant today. But Zee lost the challenge, so maybe they'll go for him. But I sort of doubt it, because then the show will get canned again for ableism. Also, I overheard Ripper complaining that Axel kicked him overboard, so I guess he'll be voting for her. But I get the feeling Ripper's not very popular."

I grinned. "Hope it's him, actually. He was picking on me this morning. I don't think he expected me to stand up for myself. Chances are he'll bully someone else here next if they don't get rid of him. I agree – they probably won't vote Zee off because he's missing a leg. They lost and didn't tie because of him, but his leg didn't play a role. So Ripper would be my top choice to go."

Emz shrugged. "Maybe. He was taken out of the challenge so quickly, but he didn't do that badly in the first one. I mean, they did win, after all. If I had to make a second choice…I guess either Axel or Scary Girl. They're both kind of threatening, and not just in challenges."

As it was, we watched a figure practically marching her way to the dock. I didn't need to look twice. That long, charcoal hair and cargo pants told me everything I needed to know.

I smiled at Emz. "Well, a second choice of yours went," I said lightly. Then I shivered. "It's getting cold. I'm going back indoors."

"Me too."

We walked back to our bunk, feeling good.

I figured that Tansy needed to think about making herself useful in this challenge. And she has no effect on how the team voted, which is why the votes are all the same so far. However, this will change as soon as someone important to the story does not go home. You'll need to wait to see who it is.