AUTHOR'S NOTES
Enjoy the longer chapter! Next chapter is one of my personal favorites!
A note about the soundtracks I use in my fic.
[Soundtrack 1] = the music that plays when the campers walk to the elimination ceremony (Reboot 23 and Rematch 24)
[Soundtrack 2] = the music that plays when Bowie dances on the tiles (Choosin' for a Bruisin')
[Soundtrack 3] = the tense elimination ceremony music in TDI 2007 when there are two campers and one marshmallow left (Courtney-Ezekiel, Heather-Beth)
[Soundtrack 4] = romance music in TDI 2007 (Leshawna running to Harold on the dock Episode 13, Gwen and Trent about to kiss at the end of Episode 16)
10:34 am
Today's challenge was taking place at the amphitheatre. Everyone had changed into their swimsuits. Chris, Chef and Emily were standing next to two cylindrical glass tanks covered in a big sheet.
Everyone stared at the two covered tanks as they walked in, intrigued at what could possibly be behind the sheets. MK smiled. She already knew what horrors were waiting for them. Once everyone had settled in, Chris cleared his throat.
"Today we'll be using these," – he pulled out a phone, "these" – he pointed to the tanks behind them "and… these!" he wiggled around both hands excitedly. "You're going to be moving around! Both teams will record a 2-minute TikTok dance on these phones."
There was a collective cringe from everybody at these words. Chris carried on as if nothing had happened.
"Each teammate will climb to the top of the diving platform, strap themselves onto a harness, enter the tank and record a small portion of the dance. These small recordings will be combined in the end into one long video via the editing software we have provided you all with. While you're in the tank, the rest of your team will be recording via our professional studio with fancy ring-lighting and the newest iPhone 15!"
The camera zoomed in and gave a close-up, awe-inspiring shot of the newest released, outrageously overpriced iPhone.
"Could it be…?" Julia asked, bringing her hand to her mouth mesmerized. She had been eyeing this phone for the past six weeks, keeping up with rumours circulating online about what made this phone different from the last (which was usually nothing much).
"Oh, it be!" Chris nodded, amused at Julia's reaction.
"WOW it's beautiful… Do we get to keep the phone after?" Julia asked eagerly, ready to immediately replace her other phones with this treasure after the challenge.
"Nope!" Chris smiled. Julia frowned.
Julia confessional: *crosses arms and looks up annoyed* What's the point of using a phone in a challenge if you're not going to keep it after?
"Do we get to choregraph our own dance?" Nichelle asked eagerly. The Hollywood star was ready to show the world her moves.
"Nope as well!" Chris turned to Nichelle. "That would be way too easy. Chef and Emily have already collabed and made a little dance routine in their spare time. It's your job to watch it and mimic it to the best of your ability because they will be assessing the footage, watching carefully for both completion and accuracy. The team that comes closest to replicating the entire dance wins!"
Ripper rolled his eyes. He would rather be anywhere than here if this was the challenge. What a waste of time! "Dancing underwater?" he snorted as he crossed his arms unimpressed. "You seriously couldn't think of anything else? What a lame challenge."
Julia sniffed her nose and inched away from him with a revolted look. Today he had somehow managed to smell a lot worse than usual. He was giving off a faint hint of rotten fish.
"I'm glad you said that Ripper," Chris gave a cheeky grin. "Because to help make things a little more exciting for you, we have stuffed the tank with vicious, man-eating piranhas. Two interns just got sent to the hospital last night after they tried unloading them. A small sacrifice, and we send our condolences to the families."
Everyone's eyes widened in fear.
"Don't worry," Chris said hastily waving his hands in a frantic motion to calm them down. "The piranhas will be blindfolded so they can't see!"
Everyone sighed in relief.
"…That's it?" Ripper asked roughly, desperate to watch the footage and get the challenge over with. Emily killed the mood as she softly laughed at Ripper's question.
"Nooo.. just because they can't see doesn't mean they can't smell or hear. That's why in the tank we've also put slabs of red meat and keys dangling from ropes. Touch one of the keys and they'll pounce on you. Rub your body on meat accidentally and they'll come ready to bite your head off!" Emily smiled.
She ripped the white sheet cleanly off to finally reveal a large tank filled with water. Meat and keys seemed to cover the entire space. Dodging these and dancing at the same time would be extremely tricky. It was hard to tell but the campers could also just barely make out the dark outlines of piranhas. Though they appeared to be calm and unmoving at the moment, nobody was fooled. Danger was awaiting them.
The atmosphere turned tense once again as shallow and nervous breathing could be heard from everyone to some degree. Damien looked like he was going to pass out.
"You just had to ask," Julia said sarcastically to Ripper who looked deeply sorry.
"Don't worry though," Chef chortled. "In case anything goes wrong while you're in the tank, your teammates can pull you out with this emergency button. As soon as they press it, your rope and harness gets pulled up to safety."
He pointed to a big, red button on the ground level next to both tanks.
Damien confessional: Phew, hopefully that thing actually works! I have a funny feeling it's gonna snap…
"By the way," Chris added. "The dance gets progressively harder. So you might want to send in your worse dancers first and save your best ones for last. There are two parts to this. Chef recorded the first part and Emily recorded the second part. They worked really hard so pay attention. By the way, if you saw last year's Canadian national dance competition, you might have a little advantage because a lot of moves were inspired from it!"
Chase snorted.
"OOOO there was a dance competition last year? Too bad a total of nine people around the world actually cared about it. I-RE-LE-VANT!" he said loudly and obnoxiously. He had never heard of such a ridiculous contest.
"You think guys actually care about lame stuff like dance competitions?" Ripper rolled his eyes. Julia and Nichelle looked like they had just been violated. They began to open their mouths to retort but it was Emily who got there first.
Emily moved forward until she was an inch away from Ripper and Chase's shocked faces. "There WAS a dance competition last year. It was very UNLAME, GOT IT?" she said fiercely to a startled Chase and Ripper who fell backwards and crashed to the floor, flabbergasted that his crush could look so frightening.
"Alright kids get to it!" Emily suddenly changed back to a sweet voice. "This challenge starts… NOW!"
The Orangutans and Panthers hurriedly huddled in a group and began watching the TikTok Chef and Emily had prepared. By the end of it, some were looking confident, others terrified.
"I don't know… some of these moves look really complicated," Raj said unsurely, looking at Bowie.
"Nothing I can't handle," Bowie smiled confidently at Raj who smiled back.
Raj confessional: HAHA! I don't even know how to dance that well but Bowie's confidence is giving ME confidence!
Bowie confessional: FYI, I was voted best dancer last year at my high school. I told you, I'm used to winning crowns. This TikTok doesn't stand a chance. Time to bust out the moves! *claps hands sassily*
"Alright guys, who's going first?" Emma asked eagerly, looking around for someone to volunteer. She could not wait to get in the water and dance. She would prefer to go in and dance to the later portion of the video to show the team what she was really made of.
However, in response everyone immediately pointed at her and said, "YOU ARE!" in unison. Emma jumped back, slightly alarmed.
Emma confessional: WOW! I'm not gonna lie, that really hurt. They all instantly pointed at me as if they were trying to tell me I'm a terrible dancer without… telling me I'm a terrible dancer… I know I'm not that great but… I'm not the worst… am I? *blinks*
"But… why?" Emma said quietly in a slightly hurt voice, looking around at everyone desperately for a reply. "I was thinking… maybe I could go last? I can do some of the harder moves I swear. Or... I'll even take some of the middle if that's OK?" she said innocently.
Bowie instantly shut Emma down but he tried to be gentle about it.
"UHHH, no. We... uh… want you to go FIRST so that we can… uh… have a strong start and really intimidate the other team with your awesome dancing… because… you're so good at it!" Bowie felt a pang of guilt for lying to Emma's face like this but he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth about her nightmarish dancing. He gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder and everyone else behind him nodded and smiled cheekily.
Emma took a brief moment to look around at her teammates. Wow, so they truly did believe in her! That was all the validation she needed. "Aww THANKS EVERYBODY," Emma laughed. "For a second there, I thought you guys wanted to put me in first because… Chris said to let your worse dancers go early. Which would mean, I'm like... the worst. But really… you want me to go to send a message to the other team! YESSSS!" She pumped her fist happily and was ready to put on her safety harness and jump in to the tank.
"Yeah… totally…" Damien and Priya said together slowly.
"Alright now we just need to divide the rest of this TikTok," Bowie eagerly announced to his team now that he had convinced Emma to go first without hurting her feelings too much. The hard part was over and it was now time to focus on winning.
The Panthers all gathered around Julia who was playing the Tiktok from the phone they had been given. They were currently watching the first 30 seconds where Chef appeared to be doing underwater disco.
"Do we really have to do this?" Axel asked uninterested with one hand on her face, staring at the screen. " I mean, everybody has to go in at least once?" She would rather not embarrass herself like this.
Julia rolled her eyes. "IF you want to win, then yeah…"
Axel realized Julia's words were the truth and that she was actually going to have to do this. "UGH… fine," she muttered unhappily.
Axel confessional: *crosses arms* I don't dance. I never did any of that "girly" stuff either when I was a kid. I just want to shoot some deer, work out in peace and prepare for the inevitable apocalypse. Is that too much to ask?
"That's it?" Chase laughed mirthlessly, watching Chef continue to spin around. "What's the big deal? This is easy!"
"And I thought dancing was hard!" Ripper chortled.
Ripper confessional: I don't understand people who think dancing is hard… If that's all there is to dancing, I'd be on Broadway by now or dancing for Beyonce. *looks a little too proud of himself*
Julia wanted nothing more than to smash their face with the phone but she controlled herself because at that moment the scene changed and now Emily stood where Chef had originally been, hitting underwater splits, somersaults, acrobatics, flips and twirls, using all the space in the tank. Julia and Nichelle smirked as they looked back at Chase and Ripper's smiles which had vanished.
"So… still think dancing is easy? OK then why don't you go ahead and do Emily's part?" Julia cooed sarcastically.
"You know what? On second thought… I'm all good. I'll do Chef's part," Chase laughed nervously, raising his hands and trying to opt out.
"Oh no, you can get Emily's part and crush it!" Nichelle joked, patting Chase on the shoulder. Underestimating dancing was a crime she would not forgive so easily.
Nichelle confessional: A lot of people don't know this but acting and dancing go hand in hand. I've had to do both for 13 years now! If you downplay it, be prepared to deal with me!
"Uhhh no, no, we're fine really! We'll take the first part!" Chase and Ripper back-pedaled.
Julia smirked.
"That's what I THOUGHT," she spat maliciously. "You guys better not mess it up. Alright let's make an order. Ripper, Chase, Zee you three go first. Wayne, I'm assuming you'll probably want an earlier part right? Nichelle and me are experienced dancers so we'll go last. Axel and Millie, where do we put you two?"
She looked at them quizzically as she had no idea how experienced they were with dancing but judging by the fact they never posted any dancing videos on their social medias… they probably weren't too fond of it…
"Um… can I get the first part?" Millie smiled weakly.
"Can I go second?" Axel asked roughly. "The less complicated movements, the better. I've never danced and I don't intend to start learning today."
Julia felt like pulling her hair out at all the non-enthusiasm for dancing.
"OK then… I guess nobody knows how to dance except me and Nichelle… great. UGH, fine! Millie, you're going after Ripper and Chase. Axel you're going after Millie OK? Zee I need to put you after Axel. You think you can get your leg up that high?" She glanced at Zee unsurely because he was going to have to do an underwater vertical split.
"Easy! I've always wanted to do that with my prosthetic. Today might be a good day to try it out…" Zee patted his leg, staring at it in admiration. It had gotten him through some tough times and he believed in it greatly. It would not let him down today.
Zee confessional: *pats prosthetic proudly* This thing has been through four world wars yo! Well… only in virtual reality but still. Got me through some tough campaigns.
Though Julia appreciated Zee being one of the few to not be completely put off by dancing, she still lashed out at him for thinking it would be easy to hit a split if he had never tried it before.
"Not you too!" Julia said exasperated. "Listen, lifting your leg up that high and looking dynamic is NOT EASY OK?! How do you expect to hit it if you've never done it in your life?"
Zee's face lit up.
"Easy! I'll practice Julia!" he said cheerfully as he hit a perfect front split right in front of her awestruck face.
"Oh wow… OK then!" she said impressed. Of all people, she had not expected the man with the prosthetic leg to be so flexible.
Zee confessional: I've always wanted to show people I can do that. I save it for the parties yo. *winks*
Just as the Panthers were finalizing their plans to divide the routine, Emily walked by talking to Chris. Chase glanced quickly at her and then back at Ripper before nudging Zee and dragging him off to the side.
"Dude, its Emily! Follow my lead!" he hissed. The plan they had discussed over breakfast was about to hatch into action. Chase cleared his throat loudly as he casually went up to Ripper.
"WHOA RIPPER, NICE ARMS DUDE," he boomed in an overly outdoor voice which carried across the entire amphitheatre. "YOU'VE BEEN HITTING THE GYM EH? YOU GOT SOME REAL MUSCLE!" Chase squeezed Ripper's arms in admiration.
Ripper barely had time to react to this compliment before Zee came in and gave his input.
"Dude, nice abs! They're like…so big that they're bulging out!" He pointed at Ripper's beer belly as he took a sip of Orange Sunshine.
A startled Ripper took a quick glance at Emily before stepping back slightly shaken by this sudden outburst.
"Guys! What are you doing? What the – ?"
Chase decided to continue gassing up his very confused friend.
"I HEARD YOU CAN BENCH MORE THAN CALEB RIPPER. IS THAT TRUE OR WAS THAT JUST A RUMOUR ONE OF YOUR FEISTY EX-GIRLFRIENDS STARTED?"
Emily had still not glanced over, but an irate Caleb certainly had. What he had just heard was blasphemy! There was simply no way anyone here was benching more than him.
Caleb confessional: That's bullsh*t!
Chase glanced at Emily once again hoping she would react strongly to the word ex-girlfriend but unfortunately she did not. She was still engaged in conversation with her father and in fact did not look like she cared at all about what Chase and Zee were saying.
Ripper did not seem to be following along with the script. "What ex-girlfriend?" he asked earnestly. He had never had a girlfriend in his life! How could there be an ex?
"Dude, you know. The super, hot brunette you bagged in Florida when you took off your shirt at the beach," Chase lied, describing a fake scenario he had just made up in his head. It seemed Zee had no more creative ideas for compliments because he once again complimented Ripper's invisible abdominal muscles.
"Yeah brah! Nice abs!" he squished Ripper's belly fat fondly.
Ripper took a nervous step back. What was going on?
"Florida? Abs? GUYS, can you not?" he started to sweat nervously at the tall-tale lies they were spontaneously coming up with, afraid Emily would actually believe this verbal diarrhea.
Julia narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between the Trout Trio and Emily. She immediately saw the urgent gestures of Chase and Zee, the tomato-red Ripper and the uncaring Emily. Recalling what she had witnessed this morning at breakfast…
Julia stifled a laugh as she pieced everything together in her brain. There was NO way!
Julia confessional: *sighs happily* I can read a room pretty quickly. It's so obvious they're trying to get Emily's attention. Let's see… Ripper…And Emily. Honestly, nooooo. She deserves better. But seriously, they can come up with better lies. I mean, abs really? That's a full-on beer belly with middle-aged stretch marks at best.
"What are they doing?" Axel hissed. "Can they just go already?" She wanted to get this nightmare over with and the sooner, the better. Ripper, who was supposed to be going first, had still not jumped in to the tank and it was driving her crazy.
"We'll have to make them go," Julia said firmly, hands on her waists. She had a plan to make Ripper jump in and she was going to carry it out. They had no time to waste, Emma was already fastening her harness around her waist and was about to hop into the tank.
Julia turned to Emily.
"Hey, Emily! What do you think of Ripper's summer body? Pretty shredded right?" she said mockingly.
Emily looked up and stared with a little smile at Ripper. That was not a smile of appreciation. It was more like a smile that was trying to contain a laugh.
This was all it took for Ripper to bolt for the harness at the top of the ladder. He climbed all the way to the top, attached the harness and plunged himself bum-first into the tank out of pure embarrassment. No sooner had he jumped in, however, did he come leaping back out. There was just one slight problem with jumping in. He realized he didn't even know what he was doing.
"WAIT, let me see the dance again. I forgot how my part goes…" he spluttered in terror.
Nichelle threw her hands into the air frustratingly. "You seriously jumped in without knowing what you were going to do first. Why? Don't you know you never start filming until you get your lines down?"
"I was just trying to hide my face but apparently this tank is see-through. It's like an X-ray tank or something," Ripper protested loudly, hands over his chin and staring up at the sky. The girls all face-palmed out of disappointment.
"SERIOUSLY?!" Julia said, glaring at Ripper.
MK confessional: *blinks, refusing to believe someone can be this stupid* Wow… just… wow…
"So let me see the video again!" Ripper pleaded, arms reaching over the top of the tank. His upper body was now outside of the tank while his lower body was still underwater. He was desperate to undo the damage he had caused in front of Emily. Unfortunately he was not careful enough to dodge the key he accidentally hit with his foot.
What happened next happened so suddenly, Ripper barely had time to realize what the sudden rush of bubbles meant and the imminent danger he was in. Something was creeping up from the depths of the tank. Kelp and seaweed fluttered as a group of angry piranhas brushed by it aggressively, moving up, up, up towards the source of the noise… Ripper briefly felt a force pushing up against him and then –
"OW!" Ripper leaped ten feet into the air and came crashing down onto the floor. He massaged his posterior where he had just been bit by the ferocious blind-folded piranhas.
"OW! OK, TIMEOUT! TIMEOUT! I can't go back in until I heal my butt," Ripper moaned. Though he was hurting immensely, somehow the piranha bite was not the only pain he was feeling at the moment.
"As usual, you're useless!" Julia said mercilessly. "Chase get in there!"
Chase laughed out loud obnoxiously and slapped Ripper on the back.
"Better luck next time buddy! LET'S DO THIS." He was halfway up the ladder when he looked over at the Orangutans' tank and saw Emma in the middle of her routine, with Raj filming and Damien on lights.
Chase confessional: Since Emma is completely done with me, it's time to play dirty! *flips hair and stares seductively at the camera*
Chase stopped climbing to make the ugliest face he could muster and made rude gestures.
"What is he doing?" Axel blurted. From her point of view, Chase's stalling was also making this whole challenge take longer than she would have liked. Julia quickly grabbed Axel's wrist, gave her a brief look, then stared up at Chase and Emma sadistically.
"It's OK Axel! I like his strategy. Watch. Emma's going to look over and get distracted!" she cackled.
And she did, for at this moment, Emma made the unwise decision to look over. She could tell there was something annoying in her peripheral vision and although her brain told her not to look because it was probably Chase, her eyes did not listen.
"EMMA! Don't worry about what Chase is doing, you're fine!" Bowie called desperately but it was a little too late. As soon as Emma made eye contact with Chase's hideous face and obscene gestures, she hit a key with her foot by accident.
OH NO! she thought to herself.
"UH OH! SHE'S GETTING TANK FRIGHT!" Raj pointed at Emma panicking.
Stay calm Emma told herself. Stay calm. Stay CALM. STAY CALM.
Too late.
Emma looked below and saw a sea of black looming towards her, getting bigger and bigger. A whole group of angry piranhas was rushing towards her.
"AHHHHH!" Emma screamed and desperately motioned to the others to get her out by banging on the glass.
"Pull her out, pull her out!" Bowie warned his team. Unlike Chase, he wasn't going to let Emma get eaten alive by a bunch of piranhas. Priya quickly pulled the lever which hoisted Emma up just in the nick of time. Where she had previously been two seconds before, the piranhas now stalked. They were chomping fiercely, angry that their victim has escaped their fangs at the last possible moment.
Meanwhile, Chase was in the middle of his dance routine with Ripper recording and Zee on the ring light.
"Dude what was that about?" Ripper mumbled to Zee so Julia wouldn't hear their conversation.
"What was what about?" Zee genuinely asked his friend.
"You know… what you two did back there…" Ripper replied, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
Zee took a hearty sip from his soda. "Oh that…Don't worry about it bruchacho! It's just a little inside joke me and Chase got going on right now, heheh… definitely…" Zee nervously tapped his foot up and down and then took an extra-long sip of soda to shut his lips sealed in case the secret burst out of him accidentally. This temporarily distracted him because the ring light was now not even on Chase, something Nichelle was quick to point out being used to the filming experience.
"Zee, keep the light on our subject. PLEASE!" she begged. The subtle difference the details made! The ring light would either make or break their video.
"You got it," Zee said, relieved to move on from the dangerous conversation him and Ripper were having. "Let's listen to the movie expert eh?"
Nichelle smiled.
Finally, after 15 seconds Chase jumped out.
Julia high-fived Chase. "AWESOME CHASE!" she cheered.
"CRUSHED IT!" Wayne added, thumping Chase on the back.
Emma stared at the Panthers sadly. Chase had performed decently well, certainly better than she would have thought considering Chase had never danced in his life. But… what was she doing? Why was she still focusing on Chase?
"Snap out of it!" she muttered to herself. "You need to focus on your routine!"
Emma confessional: When I mess up even the slightest of things, my performance anxiety just SHOOTS through the roof and I can't perform again! Doesn't help that Chase did so well either… *looks down sadly*
Emma fiddled with her hands nervously as her teammates looked at her.
"Sorry guys… you can record your parts first. I'll uh… figure things out…" she lowered her head in shame. She would have to watch the routine again. She would get it eventually. She knew she could do it so why was she performing so bad? It's because Chase distracted me the first time she said angrily to herself, disappointed she had let him get to her head. I won't mess up the next time I go.
The Orangutans nodded as Emma silently began to watch her part once more.
Damien was up next. Though he was performing a later part of the video, he felt ready enough to jump in now. He quickly climbed up to the top, strapped the harness onto himself and dived in. Damien gracefully hit an underwater double pirouette, spinning his body while his teammates stared open-mouthed.
"Whoaaaa… I didn't know he could do that…" Priya said in awe. Something stung Caleb's heart. He immediately felt a pang of jealousy though he did not know why. Even though he had the feeling Priya had a small crush on him, especially from the way she acted earlier this morning when they were playing This or That, he was still not sure.
Damien confessional: Uh hello? Of course I got moves! *points to himself happily* I fully expected to get a dancing challenge! Let's get it!
"But can he bench 315?" Caleb snorted, acting unimpressed though deep down he really was surprised with Damien's dance moves. Priya ignored him and continued to stare at Damien, wide-eyed.
Raj followed Damien around with the camera and Bowie who was now operating the ring light whistled cheerfully.
"Yes Damien!" Bowie pumped his fist.
Damien got a little too excited. After being subpar in the paint challenge and average in the tower challenge, he was finally getting a chance to shine! Next thing he knew, he had finished the routine but he was not careful enough to prevent his body from colliding with a gigantic piece of meat floating in front of him.
"PULL ME OUT! PULL ME OUT!" Damien panicked as he saw his impending doom. The piranhas were coming. Priya reached the emergency button first and slammed it. Damien immediately got hoisted back to the surface. Damien climbed out and fell to the floor, choking.
"Phew that was close!" he said shaking.
"Damien that was amazing!...Until the end but that's OK, you already finished your dance anyways," Priya beamed as she and Damien exchanged loud high-fives. All of a sudden, Damien was feeling much happier than he normally would've been after barely surviving an encounter with hungry piranhas.
Millie grabbed the harness and attached it to her swimsuit. She jumped in to the tank and faced the camera and ring light operated by Ripper and Zee. Millie tried to be calm but internally she was freaking out. Not only did the thought of TikToking revolt her, all of a sudden she was forgetting the routine she thought she had memorized a few seconds before.
Left arm up, right leg back Millie told herself. Her brain was thinking one thing while her body was doing another. Millie ended up with the right arm up and the left leg back.
"OH NO" Millie yelled out loud, though it only appeared as bubbles to the Panthers. Millie was in full panic mode now and hit two keys and a slab of meat all in succession. She had to get out. Now.
Nichelle pushed the emergency button and Millie flew out of the water back onto the diving platform. Millie gave a cough and spit out some water she had almost swallowed.
Millie confessional: *puts hands over eyes* Oh no! This is so much harder than I thought. I'VE NEVER DONE THIS IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
Ripper threw his hands up in the air. "SERIOUSLY?!" he yelled in annoyance as he deleted the segment he had just filmed.
"Shut up Ripper, we don't even have your part recorded yet," Axel snapped.
"Stop deleting things that aren't 100% perfect! We have to at least show something!" Nichelle hissed.
Millie began making her way back down the ladder, hanging her head in shame, avoiding her teammates' disappointed expressions and their judging eyes. She coughed more water out of her mouth and shivered.
Suddenly Wayne spoke up.
"Hey guys, let's not be too harsh on her eh?" he looked at Millie empathetically.
Julia raised an eyebrow and felt a sting of slight jealousy though she did not know why.
Millie gave another cough and shook her ears. "I'm s – s – so s – s – sorry guys!" she spluttered as she stared at the ground in defeat.
Julia was losing her patience with Millie's pathetic performance. It seemed Millie hadn't even tried and that, Julia could not forgive.
Julia suddenly took aggressive steps towards Millie who was retreating backwards in fear. Eventually Millie slipped and fell on her back, trying to get away from the advancing Julia. Millie yelped and rubbed her backside as she looked up fearfully at Julia's frightening expression.
"Millie. YOU – ARE – USELESS!" Julia screamed as she stood over Millie, glaring down with pure, volcanic hatred.
The Orangutans all stopped what they were doing and turned around upon hearing Julia's outburst. Millie's eyes began to water at all the immediate attention as well as the volume of Julia's voice. Priya was about to go over to Julia to say something but it was Wayne who spoke first. He had had enough. He made his way over and stood in front of Millie like a shield, staring defiantly at Julia's eyes.
"Step off Julia! Not everyone has been dancing as long as you have. So just leave her alone!" Wayne roared. Over at the Orangutans' side, Raj gave a nod at his best friend for standing up to Julia the bully.
Raj confessional: *nods in approval* Coach always said we play as a team. Anyone who singles someone out is no team player and is getting their ass BENCHED! YOINK! *points to the side*
Julia's eyes widened.
"WHAT?!" she screeched. Julia was absolutely baffled Wayne was taking Millie's side.
Julia confessional: *puts hand no chin and stares suspiciously to the side* Since when does Wayne defend Millie of all people?...
Julia pointed her finger sharply at Millie on the ground and narrowed her eyes to slits.
"She could at least try. I can literally see it in her face that she doesn't want to be here because she thinks she's so much better than TikToking and social media," Julia's nose shrivelled in disgust.
Wayne smacked his head gently and gave a fake laugh.
"OH, so this is where it comes from eh? You don't like Millie because Millie doesn't like social media? So you're acting all offended and now you're just going to attack her for every little thing she does wrong?" he said accusingly.
This was too much. Though she couldn't exactly figure out why, Julia had always had a semi-softer spot for Wayne. Perhaps it was because he was naturally a leader, vocal like she was; he had grit and a strong desire to win, but at this very moment, she considered Wayne a nuisance and an idiot. Therefore, she was going to treat him like everyone else she had walked over in her life. She was going to strike first and she was not going to go easy on him.
Julia put her hands on her hips and sneered.
"Awww, are you protecting your girlfriend? Seriously, shut up Wayne – "
"Why don't you shut up Julia? Can you play hockey?" Wayne immediately snapped back. He was not going to tolerate Julia's bully attitude. Julia was momentarily caught off guard; she hadn't expected Wayne to fight back but she quickly recovered.
"Actually I can," she scoffed. "What's your point? What does that have to do with any of this?"
Wayne blinked stupidly as he let these words sink in. Apparently, he had just found out Julia could play hockey? He shook his head roughly. As cool as that was, he had to focus on standing up for Millie.
"OK.. but you're probably not as good as me and Raj if we're being real. But I would never talk down to you or any beginner if they tried to play… so stop being so hard on Millie OK?"
Wayne gave Julia one last dirty look before he turned and went down on his knees by Millie's side. Wayne rubbed her shoulder reassuringly. Julia's heart skipped a beat.
"You got this champ!" Wayne smiled encouragingly at Millie. He fist-bumped Millie who began to laugh quietly.
"Whenever you feel ready, you can go again girl," Nichelle nodded. Though she was in an alliance with Julia, she still felt sorry for Millie and thought Julia had gone too far. Nichelle was glad Wayne had stood up for Millie because it didn't look like anybody else was going to challenge Julia. For that, she respected him.
The Panthers gave Millie a moment to wipe her tears. Wayne grabbed both of Millie's hands, picked her off the ground easily and gave her a sincere hug. Julia scoffed, pretending not to be bothered though deep down she was.
Another minute –
"In the meantime, I'll go," Axel volunteered. She sprinted up the ladder, quickly attached the harness and dived into the tank without a second thought. She wanted to get this over with and she wanted to get it right the first time so she didn't have to go again like Ripper and Millie.
Axel tucked her knees and began to perform a slow, underwater somersault. All of a sudden, her prejudices about this challenge had vanished. They were replaced with a feeling of excitement because she was actually having fun.
OK… this is messed up… but YEE HAW THIS IS FUN! she laughed to herself. It was incredible how she had gone her entire life hating this. She was so excited she rubbed her leg on a piece of meat accidentally.
Axel's heightened hearing immediately knew danger was coming. She had sensed the piranhas before she had heard them. She looked down and saw their chomping teeth, ready to chew her up and spit her out. Their fangs were making a rhythmic scraping noise for they were opening and closing their mouths hungrily in unison. Axel was not scared. She knew exactly what to do.
Axel briefly glanced at Nichelle who looked like she wanted to press the emergency button but Axel raised a hand to stop her. Nichelle, staring from outside, paused and looked at Axel as if she were crazy. Why was Axel refusing to be pulled out?...
Axel gave a small, arrogant smirk and her eyes met Nichelle's. A mutual understanding was formed between them because Axel's eyes were saying 'watch this.' If the piranhas were blindfolded, they would have no idea how Axel looked like. So she was going to show them what she sounded like instead.
The piranhas came circling closer to her so Axel pulled back her stomach and then roared, using her diaphragm to generate power and give off a scary, shark noise she had been practicing since she was six years old.
OH NO YOU DON'T. I AM NOT COMING BACK IN THIS TANK AND RECORDING AGAIN YOU GOT THAT? ONE TIME ONLY AND I'M DONE, she thought fiercely in her head.
The piranhas, thinking they had just heard a terrifying great blue shark in the tank with them turned around and scurried off shivering. Axel laughed as the piranhas disappeared below.
Axel confessional: *leans back and sighs happily* Wow... who knew? I get to scare piranhas too! Amazing. I should've done this a LONG time ago!
Axel swam back to the surface and jumped out on to the floor, laughing at her teammates' expressions.
"Remind me not to mess with you," Nichelle chuckled as Axel flipped her wet hair sassily. Ripper shuffled nervously as Axel stood next to him. At this point, he was more scared of her than an actual shark.
*Start of Montage*
[Soundtrack 2]
MK was swinging her flippers and had her hands on the glass of the tank, looking like she would rather be anywhere than here.
Wayne performed an acrobatic flip while the Panthers cheered, Millie was clapping, Julia was staring sour-faced.
Raj hit underwater disco as Bowie cheered him on energetically, shaking his hips aggressively and giving Raj a thumbs-up.
Zee performed a vertical split to tumultuous applause from his teammates.
Caleb did Gangnam style.
Millie went again, this time putting her left arm up and her right leg back. Everyone except for Julia enthusiastically cheers her on. Especially Wayne who hoots and gives her a thumbs-up.
*End of Montage*
Priya jumped in the tank, tucked her knees, put both hands on either side of her face, closed her eyes and began to shake happily from side to side like a pufferfish. She seemed to rather be enjoying herself. Outside the tank, two others were enjoying the show Priya was putting on.
"Nice one Priya!" Damien and Caleb simultaneously said as Priya finished her portion flawlessly and poked her head out of the water. They looked at each other suspiciously. Priya, who was oblivious to the tension in front of her, waved at both of them happily. "THANKS GUYS!" she giggled.
It was Bowie's turn next.
"Excellent Priya! Now it's my turn!" he said enthusiastically as he attached his harness and dived in like a pencil. Bowie's lasagna hair floated upwards as he entered the tank and turned his body to the camera. Before beginning his routine, he gave it a cheeky wink. Raj who was watching outside roared with laughter.
Bowie was not afraid at all. This tank was his stage and he was used to putting on performances. And a performance he would give.
Bowie lifted his arms and began to sway gracefully. He flipped over and smiled at the camera upside down before he performed a vertical split just like Zee had done. The Orangutans all clapped happily, but no one was making more noise than Raj.
"GO BOWIE! THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND!" Raj cheered happily, bouncing on his feet with a celebratory fist in the air. Bowie chuckled as he could hear Raj loud and clear even through the glass separating them.
Bowie confessional: *laughs* He's the best cheerleader!
After more flips and graceful spins, Bowie finished his routine but before exiting the tank, he felt he had to at least taunt the piranhas. He was not going to hit a key or rub his body on meat though. He was not that much of a daredevil.
Instead, he decided to twerk aggressively at the piranhas who were waiting below. Bowie loved the thought of making fun of piranhas who couldn't see.
"NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA! You – can't – eat – me!" Bowie chuckled. This was too much for Raj who had just collapsed to the floor in fits of laughter.
Raj confessional: Isn't he just the best? Got the moves, the sass and the confidence to back it all up! And he's got cake too! *licks lips, pulls out a fork and knife from his pockets*
Finally, Bowie decided he had done enough. He was almost running out of breath anyways. He swam upwards and got out of the tank. Bowie high-fived Raj as he reunited with his team. Well, actually most of his team.
Bowie noticed Emma was sitting alone a few feet away, staring hardly at the phone, muttering to herself while she practiced her routine over and over again.
Bowie gently pushed his Orangutan teammates aside and walked over to Emma.
"Hey Emma, you good?" he asked cautiously. He hated to distract her while she was concentrating but he also felt the need to check in with his team and make sure they were doing all right mentally.
Emma looked up in surprise.
"Oh what?...YEAH… I'm OK… I'm fine…" she said quietly. "Almost got it..." she laughed nervously.
Bowie noticed Emma was twiddling her thumbs as she spoke. Perhaps she was nervous about being the only one left who had to go. Everyone else's parts had been recorded and they were currently waiting for Emma to go in and finally nail the first part of the routine.
Bowie, however, did not want to put unnecessary pressure on her and winked encouragingly. "No rush Emma. Take your time and whenever you're ready, you can jump back in!" he said kindly.
Emma looked up gratefully and nodded.
"Thanks Bowie," she mumbled before turning back to the phone once more. She sighed frustrated. Why was it so hard for her to execute this simple part? A thought had just occurred to her but she was too afraid to voice it out loud.
Emma confessional: *pulls hair agitated* UGH! I don't know if I can do this… but… we're running out of time!
Millie had finally finished her portion with satisfactory performance in Julia's eyes. Now, it was Nichelle's turn and then it would be Julia's. Julia sighed in relief. Finally, they were making progress.
After Millie stepped out, Nichelle began making her way to climb the ladder but out of nowhere Zee flew past her and started climbing again. "Time to hit the McGriddle!" he cheered.
"The what?" Wayne asked confused. Chase and Ripper exchanged shrugs. Nichelle blinked, staring up at Zee wondering what screws were loose in his head.
"WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY ARE YOU GOING AGAIN?" Julia yelled at Zee's back but it was no use. He had already dived in nose first, laughing maniacally.
"YEAHHH WOOO HOOO HOOO!" Zee cheered as he splashed into the tank once again. Chase decided to record Zee for the fun of it as Zee was hitting some interesting moves that were not in the original video.
Zee put a hand to his ear and began moonwalking underwater nonchalantly, smoothly avoiding all the traps in the tank. The Panthers stared transfixed and he had even gotten the attention of the Orangutans.
MK confessional: *looks wide-eyed at camera* How is he moon-walking UNDERWATER?
Finally Zee hopped out.
"Well… if that wasn't the most unnecessary thing today…" Julia seethed.
"Don't worry Julia, I got this!" Nichelle winked. "I'll make it quick, I promise!" Nichelle swiftly dived in to the tank and began moving elegantly across the tank.
Thirty seconds later Nichelle hopped out of the tank in triumph, having just dominated her segment.
"OK Sterling, you're up!" Nichelle gave a thumbs-up to Julia.
"Luv ya Ladonna," Julia high-fived Nichelle. It was time to finish strong. The two best dancers were going to absolutely carry this team to victory.
Before entering the tank, Julia felt she had to at least try and reform herself. She turned around and cleared her throat loudly.
"Pay attention everyone. I'm going to show you all how to TikTok in a tank full of piranhas like a professional. Beginners especially pay attention. I want to share all of my secrets with you! No making fun of novices here!" She fake-laughed to her teammates who were not smiling.
Wayne rolled his eyes and even Ripper was not amused.
Wayne confessional: That was like a typical influencer apology! You can't even call that an apology!
Julia shrugged. As far as she was concerned, seeing that it was the first apology she had ever made in her life, it hadn't been that bad. Hopefully it would be her last. She could care less about how her teammates perceived her message. She had one job now – to crush this TikTok.
Julia took a deep breath and plunged into the tank.
No sooner had she jumped into the tank, did Julia feel something coming up to her rapidly. She looked down.
The piranhas!
"What the – ?" Julia said dumbfounded. Why were they coming to her already? She hadn't even hit a key or a piece of meat. Julia began to panic and banged on the glass.
"Is she joking?" Chase blinked in confusion. "She wants to leave? She hasn't even done anything!"
Axel was first to realise Julia was in deep trouble. She had noticed the piranhas before anyone else and reacted instantly. "OH SNAP! NOT A JOKE!" Axel cried. She pressed the emergency button and Julia came back out coughing.
Julia shivered at the mass amount of bubbles that had reached the top. The piranhas had narrowly missed her.
"OK SERIOUSLY? WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT?" she said angrily.
MK glanced at Julia and suppressed a smile. All was going according to plan. With the faint scent of Mahi-mahi on her swimsuit, Julia would not be able to last longer than two seconds before the piranhas swarmed her. Their best dancer was now completely useless.
"What's the matter with you?" Chase asked accusingly. Was Julia really just a poser? "Don't tell me you forgot how to TikTok."
Julia's eye twitched uncontrollably with rage. Did Chase really think she couldn't dance? Had he not seen what had just happened?
Julia proceeded to take deep breaths to calm herself but her patience was truly being put to the test as she heard a voice call sassily from the Orangutans' side –
"It's OK Julia, we all have off days!" Bowie taunted as he waved his hand heartily. Julia murderously glared at Bowie who returned a cheeky grin.
Bowie confessional: I couldn't resist… might as well talk some smack while she's struggling… It's a competition after all
Julia squeezed some water out of her hair and shook her head. She would not be embarrassed like this. Though they still had Ripper's portion to complete, she was not going to let him go until she showed everyone what she was capable of. Ripper was about to climb up the ladder when Julia harshly elbowed him out of the way.
"OW! WHAT THE – ?" Ripper yelped, massaging his ribs. Julia ignored him.
Julia began climbing up fast, her breathing shallow, her heart pounding furiously against her chest. What if it happened again? She tried not to imagine everyone's shocked faces as they saw her struggling to film even two seconds.
"I'm going in again," Julia called sharply from the diving platform. She took another deep breath and fell in. For a brief moment, everything felt fine. But then she saw the familiar sea of black coming towards her and she had no choice but to tap out once again. This was humiliating.
WHAT IS GOING ON? she screamed in her head.
Axel, who had her hand on the button, pressed it once again. The harness pulled Julia up… but in the middle of her journey the cord pulling her did the worst thing imaginable and snapped cleanly.
Damien confessional: *wiggles a trembling finger at the camera* I KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! I TOLD YOU SO! I TOOOOLLLLLDDD YOU SO!
It was go time.
Julia had no choice but to swim. If she stayed still, she would be torn to shreds. The blindfolded piranhas snapped their teeth hungrily for there was the delicious smell of Mahi-mahi fish infiltrating their nostrils. It had temporarily disappeared but now it was back, and they were going to devour it. There must have been at least 30 piranhas circling below Julia.
Quick-thinking as always, Julia ripped a piece of meat off and waved it tauntingly. The piranhas, now picking up the scent of Mahi-mahi and red meat zoomed to Julia. Julia had to time this right. At the last second, she chucked the meat in one direction while she took off swimming as fast as she could in the other. Half the piranhas had fallen for the meat decoy but the other half were still fixated on Julia.
Raj confessional: *whistles impressed* Wow! That wasn't such a bad meat deke Julia! She really DOES play hockey eh?
Julia swam across the length of the tank while her teammates stood by watching awestruck. There was a collective gasp from everyone observing from the outside.
"OH F*CK! EMILY GET IN THERE!" Chris yelped. If anybody died or got seriously injured, the blame would be on him and he could not afford that. Julia was in trouble right now and had to be saved.
Emily, who was already in her diving outfit, jumped in.
Julia was getting tired. She did not know how much longer she could hold her breath. She started to twitch convulsively, for her world was starting to go dark. Everyone watched in horror as Julia started moving slower and slower, the piranhas catching up to her…
At the last moment, Emily swooped in, grabbed Julia's arms, put her on her back, and blasted through the water with her underwater jetpack. Emily and Julia broke through the surface of the water and back into the outside world.
Emily gently set Julia back down on the ground while Chef gave her a towel. Julia gave a cough and shook as she kept throwing up water. Even Bowie did not feel the need to joke about this.
Julia confessional: *scratches wooden seat with her sharp nails* UGH it's so frustrating I can't even get a chance to do anything. NOW PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY THINK I CAN'T TIKTOK!
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" Julia yelled, pulling her hair in frustration. "Maybe you just smell like fish!" Ripper said, half-seriously.
SMACK!
Julia had slapped Ripper across his face with such force he staggered backwards and groaned as his eyes watered slightly.
"SAY THAT AGAIN!" she said dangerously. Julia's eyes had grown to twice their normal size and she was glaring at Ripper with a wild expression.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH Y – ?" Ripper said incredulously, massaging his reddened cheek.
"OK shut up Rip – ," Nichelle interjected but Axel cut her off.
"WAIT!" the survivalist put up her hand to stop Nichelle and Ripper's bickering. Axel started sniffing the air around her. Of course… How had she failed to notice? Had she gone nose blind? This should have been obvious… She was picking up a faint scent of Mahi-mahi fish around Julia.
Axel walked closer to Julia and as she did, she felt the smell getting stronger and stronger. It was faint all right, but there nonetheless. Axel guessed it was hidden underneath all the cologne.
"Ripper's right!" Axel exclaimed, touching Julia's swimsuit and showing her teammates, inviting them to sniff one by one. To which no one did as they felt they would look rather awkward sniffing Julia.
"SEE? I TOLD Y – ,"
"Julia's swimsuit has a trace of Mahi-mahi fish on her. It's subtle but it's there," Axel announced to her team. "I recognise that old geezer." How many times had she smelled it before when she went scuba diving in the Caribbean? And to miss it completely… Axel felt like a failure.
Axel confessional: Kinda feel bad I didn't notice it before. Guess that survival rating goes down to a 9.6. *looks down sadly*
Chase leaned in and sniffed Julia's swimsuit.
"Wow, you smell like trash!" he laughed. How had he not noticed it? Underneath all that cologne there was a stinky stench of mud and garbage.
Julia glared at him. "Haha, you're so funny," she said annoyed. But she was also feeling relieved. Now that Axel had found out the problem, this could easily be fixed. They were running out of time though so desperate times called for desperate measures.
"NICHELLE, GIVE ME YOUR SWIMSUIT!" Julia ordered, already reaching her hand out in anticipation.
"You sure it'll fit?" Nichelle looked at Julia skeptically.
Julia nodded fiercely.
"It's the closest. I'm not wearing Ripper's speedo. And if Chris does have spare swimsuits, it was probably last washed in 2007."
Chris chuckled lightly at these words for this was the truth.
Chris confessional: She's right. Those babies haven't been washed in a loooong time…
After a minute of convincing Nichelle that she would only have to smell like fish for just a little bit, Nichelle and Julia began making their way to the change rooms to exchange bathing suits. They had barely taken their first steps when Chase interjected.
"Wait! Julia, don't. Just change here, we can't afford to waste time," Chase said desperately, citing the clock that said '8 minutes.' That was 8 minutes left to change swimsuits, record Julia and Ripper's portions and edit all of their clips.
"We won't look. We promise," Ripper nodded enthusiastically, failing to maintain a serious face.
"OW!" Ripper and Chase yelped in pain for they had just been struck in the back of the head by Axel who glowered at them in disgust. "Nice try PERVS. You're not that slick. Eight minutes is more than enough time to get everything done," she said roughly.
Julia didn't know why but Chase's words actually sounded reasonable to her in this situation. "NO! they're right. We can't afford to waste time," Julia said strongly. Perhaps she had gone insane but she was desperate to win.
Axel could not believe what she had just heard. "WHAT?!"
Emily stepped in.
"I'll be a human wall. And I will use force if anyone attempts to peak. Got it?" She stared at Ripper and Chase.
"Ripper, turn away," Emily snapped as she stood between the rest of the Panthers and Julia and Nichelle.
"Thanks Emily!" Julia said as she and Nichelle began to change.
After about a minute, Julia and Nichelle had swapped outfits. Julia stepped out wearing the creamy beige two-piece swimsuit of Nichelle Ladonna.
Chase whistled. "White on white."
"Nichelle looks different… why did she swap teams?" Zee pondered as he stared hardly at Julia, his brow furrowed.
Julia took a deep, rich breath and smiled. She was going to dominate this.
"I'm going in!" she said triumphantly. A quick climb up the ladder and she dived in gracefully.
Julia had gained a new confidence now that she was in Nichelle's swimming suit and completed her portion elegantly and flawlessly. She poked her head out of the water and heard thunderous applause from her teammates. Julia looked down at her team, satisfied. This was how it should always be. With her receiving attention and glory!
Julia confessional: *flips hair* Piece of cakeee!
AUTHOR'S NOTES
To those wondering how did Julia not notice the smell of rotten fish on her bathing suit? Besides the fact that MK sprayed a lot of perfume on it, it's also because Julia simply doesn't think it's possible for her to smell bad. When she stood next to Ripper, she just assumed he was smelling worse than usual.
Fun fact: IRL sharks actually don't have any organs to produce sound but in this world they do.
One of my favourite scenes was when Wayne stood up for Millie and fought back against Julia. IMO, this is what he should've been like. Slightly cocky but big heart.
Hope you're enjoying the challenge so far. I wanted to challenge myself by actually doing the TikTok challenge which got scrapped. I settled for teammates jumping into a tank one by one and dancing because then it's a team effort. We also get moments for each camper this way (Bowie twerking, Julia in danger, Axel scaring piranhas)
When Julia smacks Ripper for saying she smells like fish, it's because she thought he was being dirty-minded. Funny thing is, as the author of this story, I can say that Ripper did not mean it like that. He just chooses the wrong words.
I think we can all agree that we would love to have Chase and Zee as our wingmen. They are so amazingly bad.
When Zee thinks Nichelle "swapped teams", I snuck in a racial joke. Zee thinks Nichelle transitioned from black (NIchelle) to white (Julia) because of Julia wearing Nichelle's swimsuit.
Uh oh. Priya-Damien-Caleb tension?...
There is major foreshadowing for the final episode of this rewrite (The longer special). Can't wait until we get there!