OK, third challenge, third episode, let's go! Thanks for reviewing, OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla and blee7442.

Emz and I had breakfast together that morning, but for once, Bowie wasn't with us. He was talking to Raj. Well, it was a little unusual when he'd spent almost all his free time with us so far, but who was I to question it? I mean, I always needed a little girl time, so guy time was probably also a thing.

I glanced around the mess hall. I could see Millie talking to Priya. The smaller girl was taking bites of breakfast while doing a handstand and various other acrobatics. She always seemed to be training now, like she was always on. After they talked, I noticed Millie writing something down on a little notepad she seemed to carry around. I couldn't help wondering what she was writing. Meanwhile, Zee was telling his teammates another convoluted story about when he lost his leg. Chase seemed to like the story. Figures – it was about extreme sports. I knew because I heard Damien saying, "Bungy jumping is never safe!" He always seemed a bit on edge at the moment, but maybe that was understandable. I'd be stressed if I was only just learning what Total Drama was like and I had a creepy goth girl with a love for the macabre trying to scare me all the time.

Meanwhile, I wanted to keep my conversation with Emz positive, so I tried to keep her off the subject of Chase. Right now, we were chatting about pets. I finally told Emz about Nefi being put down. I actually got a little upset talking about it (not tears or anything, just feeling down), but Emz was sympathetic.

"I totally get that," she said seriously. "Like I said, I'd maim anyone who hurt my cat. We got her as a kitten when I was eleven, so she's still pretty young. But let's face it – you'd rather have loved and lost than never loved at all, right?"

I managed a smile. "I guess. I would have rather had her for ten years than not had her. That's why I'm hoping for a puppy or at least, a young dog. I loved Nefi, but she wasn't exactly a friend. She was too independent and barely even let me cuddle her." I smiled more genuinely. "Actually, I'm hoping that even if I don't win, Mom and Dad will let me adopt a dog for my sixteenth birthday. They know I'll look after it and how much I love dogs already. But I'd like to give it the best of everything."

Emz smiled back. "I'm glad we have pets. It's risk-free love, because they never let you down. The worst thing my cat did was not using the litter tray when she was small. She's cuddly, though – because we've had her so long, she puts up with being held." She paused, adding, "You know, I was talking to Nichelle earlier this morning. Did you watch some of the shows she was in?"

I sighed. "Only a little bit. Most of them were action, though, so they weren't my thing. I don't really watch those. She did some major stunts, though."

"You got that right!" Emz grinned excitedly. "I actually got to see her because she was in a horror movie. That's how I got into her TV shows. She was telling us how fun it was to shoot them. I wasn't sure what to think of her. She seemed a bit stuck-up at first. But she's actually quite nice."

I smiled. "I guess I'll have to talk to her as well, then."

Emz nodded. "Yeah. I didn't realize how friendly she can be. She's a big star, but she's totally a normal teenager underneath all that."

But I didn't really have time to talk to Nichelle that morning, because the challenge was soon after our usual grey slop. Chris told us that it was going to be one of the most gruelling challenges ever. "Not gonna lie – there will be casualties."

Lauren burst into giggles. Seriously, every time Chris mentioned anything violent, she started acting all appreciative. Forget scary – the girl was nuts!

"One person on each team will be selected to sit out," Chris went on. "Two from the Frogs of Death, since you have an extra player," he added, "While the rest of you complete this sure-to-be-lethal challenge."

Half the Trout wanted to sit out, but Chris told him they were picking random names. "For the Frogs of Death," he began, picking out two names, "Julia, and…Tansy!"

I looked warily at Julia. I didn't know her as well as some of our other teammates, but she seemed nice enough. She smiled at everyone. "I am with you in spirit, team!" she declared. "Hashtag: CheeringForYou!" Yes, she actually said the word hashtag. What a dedicated influencer.

I tried to smile, too. "Um, yeah, what she said. We'll be cheering you guys on, even though we can't help. We know you'll be awesome!"

"You guys are lucky," Emz spoke up. "I think it's going to get messy."

"With all the stunts you've done," I said sincerely, "You're going to ace it without breaking a sweat."

"Yeah, you'll do great," Julia agreed. "You're so brave, the way you don't care about your looks."

I gave Julia an odd look. That sounded pretty backhanded. Like she disliked Emz for some reason. I didn't really get why.

For the Trout, Damien was chosen to sit out, and he was absolutely thrilled to bits. However, none of us were as thrilled when we were both given small tube-shaped capsules to get into – there was barely enough room for one person, and I had to share the space with my teammate. It only got scarier when we were locked in, and water started spilling in, rising slowly.

It turned out the challenge was for the other six people in our team to run an obstacle course – a climbing wall, mud under wire, a greased platform and a rope swing – to get a number, which would unlock one of the six locks on our capsule opening. Whoever opened their teammates' capsule first won the challenge. And Chris warned the losing team not to try to eliminate "the drowned one".

That freaked me out. Chris made offhand jokes about people dying in most episodes, but I knew the cast had almost drowned in one episode. It could easily happen again.

Julia saw the look on my face. "Don't look so scared!" she hissed in my ear. "It's okay to be scared. But don't be so obvious about it! Then you're embarrassing both of us! It's important we look calm."

I took a deep breath, trying to force my body to relax. It didn't help much, but Julia looked placated, so I must have been doing something right. I knew she was more worried about her top getting wet than anything else, because she said it was dry-clean only. I was more worried about the very real possibility of drowning.

Damien, on the other hand, was openly freaking out. Julia called over to him to use the same breathing method we were, but it didn't do him much good.

"Don't waste energy, Damien!" I called out. "Our teammates might finish fast, and then there'll be nothing to worry about. It's not a long course!" Despite what I was saying, my stomach still felt knotted.

We couldn't hear the teams strategizing over who went first, although we could hear most things. The problem was, they were speaking quietly. All I heard from our team was Emz saying loudly "I'll pick the order!" She put herself third and trusted Nichelle to go last.

I watched when it started, nervous. I didn't want Damien to drown any more than I wanted myself to, but I felt a little reassured that Raj, our first competitor, was doing far better than Ripper. And there were bears inside the climbing wall. Oh, and the wire was electrified. Raj had a little trouble with the grease, but he had the first number long before Ripper. And unlike the bully, he didn't tear anything.

Most everyone reacted with disgust again when Ripper's pants tore again. But I was kind of amused when MK just said "Seen it," in a tone of extreme boredom. She ran for the climbing wall as soon as Raj was on his way to us, punching in the number.
"I appreciate you, Raj!" Julia said sweetly.

"Thanks, Raj!" I said warmly. "We're already in the lead because of you!"

Damien was looking scared, pounding on his capsule. "Where's Ripper at? Ripper!"

At least the first Trout was back before MK was done. She wasn't as good as Raj, but she wasn't bad, maintaining our lead. By the time Chase, the second Trout, was almost done, Emz was already halfway across and accidentally probably injured Chase after she grabbed the number, landing on him hard. I could tell she enjoyed it as she came to punch in her number.
"Enjoy breaking his back, Emz?" I whispered, grinning.

Emz grinned. "I am so downloading that clip as soon as it goes to air! It'll always put me in a good mood if I'm ever down."

As she walked away, Julia muttered to me "I don't get why you hang out with her. Don't you want to look good to the audience?"

I frowned. "What are you talking about? What's wrong with Emz? I liked her even before I knew her, when she was on Chase's livestreams."

Julia shrugged. "Just thought I should warn you. Viewers usually love an underdog, and you could be pretty if you tried. The right friends would help you win. I don't get how you don't see that."

Before I could ask her what she meant, I was distracted by Wayne's loud voice. "Whoa, Bowie's got some moves!" Bowie was taking his turn on the course and was going superfast. He'd already reached the grease and was using the slip to slide across. According to Julia, I had the wrong friends for the purpose of the show. But when I saw that performance, I knew Bowie was definitely one of the right friends. Cool, smart, interesting and really good at challenges.

Then I heard Raj's voice. "Yeah. He looks great – I mean, he's doing great! That's what I said!" It was kind of sweet, how he got flustered. He sounded a little like he was worried about that compliment.

I wondered briefly if that meant something. Was Raj…attracted to Bowie? Surely not – we'd only been here a few days. Almost a week. But then again, they seemed to get on okay, and physical attraction didn't mean much. And to be fair, even though I wrote Bowie off as dating material myself because I knew for a fact he wasn't interested in girls, I had to admit that I could see where the attraction was coming from. He wasn't Caleb by any stretch, but still nice-looking, and he had this great energy. The energy did kind of draw people in.

Chase had only just gotten Damien's second lock, and I didn't need to leave the capsule to see my friend was in a panic. "Chris!" I heard him yell. "If I survive this, I'm done with this show! Keep your million dollars! I am leaving!"

I heard Chris' reply, too. "The contract you signed states that if you leave of your own volition, you owe us a million dollars."

So Damien's only hope was to get voted off. I think he realized it at the same time I did, because the next second, he was calling out to his team with a forced smile. "Hey! Hey! It's my fault we're losing! Vote me off! I deserve it!"

"Um, Damien?" I called. "They're not going to buy it if you say that! You need to be honest with them! They want the million dollars more than you do, and our lead is not your fault right now! If your teammates like you, they'll listen to you!"

Julia nudged me. "Why are you giving advice to the enemy?" she hissed in my ear. "Quit it, okay?"

"Damien's my friend, and him leaving just brings us closer to the million dollars!" I whispered back, hoping the cameras couldn't hear. "Look, we're waist-high in water and I just want us to survive this, so what's your problem with who I talk to?"

Julia suddenly seemed to lose it. Her eyes flashed and she smiled sweetly as she spoke, but her tone didn't match. She was whispering harshly. "Listen to me! I didn't want to be locked up in here with you, and I would absolutely love an excuse to vote off the clingy overgrown baby who still hasn't grown out of Pet Pals, but you might actually have a chance to stay if you act like you're for the team! But if you get caught making BFFs with the other team, I will make sure you're gone." I think she was smiling so the cameras would think she was being nice, but making sure they wouldn't hear what she was really thinking.

I scowled at the social media influencer. "Why are you picking on me?" I wanted to know. "You're nice to everyone else." I didn't see her as a bully. At least, not yet. She'd been fine before today.

Julia smirked. "Maybe you just scream that you're easy to intimidate," she said lazily. "If you try being extra nice to me, maybe I'll start being nice back. And by the way," she added, "You're not going to go running to your friends to tattle on me, are you? Because you know you'll be gone if you do."

I shrugged, trying to look brave. "What's to tattle on? You said a couple of mean things. For all I know, you're just stressed that we're close to drowning." The water was up past our belly-buttons now. Julia's dry-clean top would be ruined no matter what.

Julia's face brightened, and she suddenly smiled. "Actually, maybe you're right. I am stressed, and it makes me lash out. I'm sorry, Tansy. Even if it's true, I shouldn't have said that."

I smiled back and said she was forgiven, but I couldn't help wondering if she meant something by 'even if it's true'. Did she really think I was a baby because I liked animals? I didn't know what Pet Pals was, but it's true I wanted a pet to be my pal, and I'd mentioned it while I was in the cabin. And did she really, truly want to vote me off?

Maybe I would tell Emz and Bowie, at least, about the part where Julia almost threatened to vote me off. They wouldn't vote me off, and I already knew if Julia tried to rally the rest of the team against me, MK, at least, wouldn't do it. That would probably be enough to protect me, especially if Bowie was getting on with the hockey guys. Maybe we could get them on our side.

We hadn't even noticed that Bowie and Wayne were both done and Nichelle was already about to start, while Priya, the fifth player for the Trout, had only just started. Nichelle had a monster lead. Even if Priya overtook her, Lauren still had to do the course after her.

We were unlucky. Nichelle, the action star, was absolutely hopeless at the course.

"Nichelle!' Julia called. "I'm channelling my warrior goddess energy into you!"

Nichelle eventually made a grab for our number, but then it blew away the second she finished the course, and Nichelle just…broke down. Priya was already on her way back and Lauren was up.

"Doing great, Nichelle!" I heard Bowie call. "You got this!"

This time, I heard Nichelle's response. "No! I don't! I'm so sorry! I…I don't actually do any of my own stunts!"

Wayne and Raj both gasped. However, I saw MK grin, and she called out "Look, Nichelle, it's my shocked face!"

Why was she being sarcastic at a time like this? "Hardly anyone does their own stunts on their shows, Nichelle!" I called, trying to support her. "It doesn't mean you can't do this! You're almost done! You just need the number back and then punch it in and you're finished!"

But Nichelle wasn't even listening now, sobbing into her hands that all the stunts she didn't perform were done by some guy in a braided wig, and her agent didn't even let her cross the street on her own. She didn't tell anyone about it because she loved everyone thinking how amazing she was…and that was kind of fair, but I wished she'd just admitted it from the start. Then we could have picked up the slack for her.

She didn't even seem to notice that Lauren was on her way across the course – and she was good. Even Chris said so. "Scary Girl is killing it out there on the course!"

Lauren cleared the climbing wall in one bound (stopping briefly to pull out a bear and give it a good beating for growling at her, giggling the whole time), zipped underneath the wires, and skipped across the grease like it wasn't even there.

"Can we discuss these important issues later?" Emz called to Nichelle. She sounded compassionate and encouraging, though. She was trying to support Nichelle to succeed.

"Dude!" MK called. "Find! That! Number!"

"Don't give up like that, Nichelle!" I finally called out, trying to follow what Emz was doing. The water was almost up to my chin. "You can still do this! Save us!"

Emz turned for a moment to shoot me an approving look, and I saw her say something inaudible to MK. MK answered, but I didn't hear the first part. I heard the second part because she raised her voice, yelling "She's really bad at this!" Why was she tearing down Nichelle, making her feel even worse? Emz was trying so hard to pull her up.

At least she succeeded in the end. But guess what? We still didn't win!

Nichelle managed to get the number back and started running back, overtaking Lauren…until she hit the climbing wall because she wasn't looking where she was going.

I heard Lauren saying, "You're funny!" as she ran past and put in the final number, letting Damien out of his capsule. Emz had to run over and use Nichelle's number to free us. Mainly because Nichelle was back on the ground, sobbing her heart out.

"Thanks, Emz!" I said gratefully. "I was getting worried there."

"Thank you!" Julia added. "Be honest – do I look all pruney and bloated?"

"No, neither of you do!" Emz said straight off.

"Oh, good," Julia said in her usual calm voice. "And since we're being honest with each other-" and she lowered her voice, but I could still hear her – "You could use a shower."

Emz just looked puzzled. As soon as Julia had walked away, I smiled at her. "Don't listen to her," I advised. "I don't know what she's talking about. That was nothing compared to what she said to me. I mean, she apologized, but I think she meant it. I'll tell you later."

I did, when it was just her, me and Bowie, discussing the vote. We'd agreed to make the obvious vote. There was still eight of us, and we reckoned we couldn't do anything more than tie the inevitable vote, and that was only if we got Nichelle to vote with us. Besides, we'd taken out a threat last time. This time, we'd take out the deadweight. I had doubted myself wanting to vote her off after her performance in the ship challenge, but really, after how hopeless she'd been today, we didn't want to keep her in case she made us lose again. We wanted to be at least relatively strong against the Trout, and we needed to keep some strong players, even if it meant we'd have to bring threats to the merge.

"Although, can I make a suggestion?" I said. "Just for the next vote. I'm a little worried. Julia threatened to vote me off when we were in the capsule. Just because I was being nice to Damien!"

Bowie raised an eyebrow at me. "I heard you talking to him. I know you said before you wanted to make friends with him or something. Not that there's any problem with that, but, I mean, why were you encouraging him on stuff during the challenge?"

I shrugged. "Just because we are friends. It's not like he could do anything to help his team this time, and besides, he was telling them to vote him off and I didn't think it was working. I couldn't help you guys, either, so I didn't see any reason not to say it. I swear, I'm totally loyal to this team, and even if he makes it into the merge, I want to keep my friendship with him totally unrelated to the game. I'm loyal to you two first, the other Frogs second and that's it."

Bowie grinned. "Okay, Tansy. I believe you, So what was Julia saying?"

"Threatening to get me voted off for that," I said promptly. "And she also called me a clingy baby who hadn't grown out of Pet Pals, whatever that means, just because she knows my plans for the money are about getting a pet! And she also made out I was a tattletale if I told either of you. She said it was because she was stressed and she was sorry, but she made it pretty obvious she meant all of it."

"I can believe that," Emz admitted. "After those comments she made to me about not caring about my looks and showering…"

Bowie shrugged. "I'll consider voting for her next time," he said, "But that's all I'm promising. We'll discuss it, but I'll keep what you said in mind. But," he added, flashing me a warm smile, "Just so you know, if she tries to get us to vote you off, we'll let you know so we can do a bit of damage control in time. So far, you're not in danger."

And I really wasn't at the Campfire Ceremony. When Chef went into potential candidates, he listed three people. One of them was Julia for her warrior goddess energy not helping Nichelle win and MK for her sarcastic comments. But we all knew Nichelle was going home.

We watched her walk away, trying her best to hold her head high and refusing to look ashamed. I admired her for that. I knew I wouldn't be able to do that when – if – my turn came.

Long chapter, I know. Poor Nichelle! I hope she'll do better next season. Seeing Episode 2 reminded me how fierce she was in that episode. Even then, she wasn't totally useless. As for Pet Pals, it's actually a franchise of pet toys. Julia just mistakenly thought they were toy pets.