AUTHOR'S NOTES
Here it is - one of my favorite chapters mainly because of a much-needed reconciliation between two campers (which we unfortunately did not get in canon).
New upload schedule: Twice a week (Wed, Sat) 10 AM MST
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)
Chapter 21: She believed she could so she did
11:34 am
BEEP!
For the 5th time today Priya pressed the emergency button to pull Emma out.
"Oh COME ON!" MK cried out angrily, pulling the long strands of her hair which stuck out of her beanie as if she wanted to tear them apart.
"You have to be kidding me… we only need the last 15 seconds…" Caleb said annoyed. "And we've needed these last 15 seconds for the past 30 minutes!" His patience was reaching a breaking point.
Emma yanked the harness off herself in frustration with tears flooding her cheeks. She could not do it. She was going to give up. Emma climbed out of the tank and made her way down the ladder as before but this time she did not even bother to take her walk of shame to the corner. Instead she just collapsed to the ground and sobbed. Emma buried her face in her hands.
For a minute, all that could be heard was Emma's crying as she broke down and hugged her knees.
"I C – C – CAN'T D – DO IT! I SUCK! I SUCK!" she whimpered.
The Panthers were staring. Priya ran over and rubbed Emma's shoulder reassuringly.
"Emma?" Priya began slowly. She did not want to speak too harshly to Emma in this vulnerable and emotional state. "Uhh, now isn't the best time to be… freaking out," Priya said awkwardly. Oh gosh. Those words sounded a lot better in her head. "We're almost at the finish line! Take a deep breath and try aga –"
Emma cut Priya off with a shrill yell. "WHY SHOULD I? I OBVIOUSLY CAN'T DO IT!" she cried into the air. The world looked so glassy. Her field of vision had been obstructed by her tears.
"Emma!" Damien called. "We just need the last 15 seconds and then our video will be perfect. You can't give up now!"
"WELL I AM GIVING UP. I HAVE ZERO TALENT FOR DANCING. ON LAND AND UNDERWATER," Emma roared. At these words she winced. Finally, the uncomfortable truth had been spoken out loud. It was something she had always known deep down but this was her first time saying it. She could not hide this fact any longer. She couldn't continue lying to herself and believe she could live that fake social media world where everybody was a TikTok star.
"It's something I always wanted to be good at it but I just can't. No matter how hard I try," she whimpered into her trembling body. Priya did not know what else to do so she just kept patting Emma's shoulder aimlessly. She knew it was no use.
"All the pretty girls were always so good at dancing… they moved so gracefully and smoothly… and then there was me! Always stumbling and being laughed at. I hated it, I wanted to be like them." Emma felt like a hot air balloon releasing all of its air at once. Now that she had started, she could not stop.
"A – and I know that everyone knows I'm bad. People literally follow me on social media to make fun of me. They follow me because I'm awful, not because I'm good. I stopped looking at the comments! I got one that said, 'Her dancing is like a car crash but less rhythmic!' " Emma sobbed into her knees. That one had really hurt her. Who could say such a nasty thing like that?
Bowie lowered his head shamefully and gave an irritated cough of nervousness.
"A – a – and my dance teacher even said I was the worst student she ever had and that I should just give up! You guys also think that but you just don't say it to my face!" Emma looked into her teammates' faces with a look so intense they all flinched. "That's why you wanted me to go first right? Because I suck? All that stuff Bowie said about me being good was just lies?"
The Orangutans took in Emma's words personally and they all looked ashamed with themselves. Raj wobbled around on his feet awkwardly. Damien scratched his moustache uncomfortably and even tried to rip a few pieces of hair off of it. But nobody looked more ashamed than Bowie who stared empathetically at his former best friend last season.
They had ended on bad terms last year but he had given her a second chance. There was a reason he had chosen Emma to be on his team even though the two hadn't spoken since last August. It was because he missed her and he wanted to speak to her again. Emma was the adorable golden retriever he wished he had. And for him to lie to her face and delude herself into thinking she was a lot better than what she actually was, he felt dreadful.
Bowie confessional: *looks deeply disappointed in himself* Wow, I can't believe I did that to Emma. I must have made her feel a lot worse by lying to her like that. So it's up to me to make things right!
Bowie grabbed Emma by her arm and brought her over to the side, away from the Panthers' field of vision.
"HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON?" Emma yelped at Bowie's sudden movements.
"Raj, edit all of our team's clips with the rest of the team," Bowie instructed in a hushed tone to Raj. Bowie was going to help Emma personally so he was entrusting Raj to take over for the team. That was what good alternate captains did, they stepped up when they were needed. "We'll add in Emma's part later. I'm going to help her out first though," Bowie whispered.
Raj ruffled the back of his wet hair.
"Bowie are you sure? We're almost running out of time…" Raj eyed the clock and noticed that this challenge was over in six minutes. If Bowie really was going to help Emma with the routine, he was cutting it real close. But then again, Raj didn't know why he was doubting his boyfriend at a time like this. He fully trusted Bowie and he needed to trust him today that he could pull it off.
"Just do it. Everyone else did really well today. I'm sure a video that's only 80% complete is better than nothing. Just combine everyone's clips and get it to look as close to the original video as you can… got it?", Bowie said, holding Raj's hand tightly. "I'll be teaching the dance routine to Emma as best as I can because she's obviously given up but I'm not going to quit believing in her. We'll probably cut it really close to be honest…"
At these words, Raj swelled with pride and turned red with admiration.
"Bowie, you're the best. This is why I like you. You won't give up on people who have given up on themselves."
Bowie returned a smile. He turned around to face Emma once more and whispered into Raj's ear "Tell the rest of the team our gameplan?".
"ON IT! GOOD LUCK BOWIE!" Raj called over his shoulder as he ran back to the rest of the team.
Bowie slowly walked over to Emma who was still sitting with her hands over her knees only this time the crying had subsided quite a bit and she looked a little more relaxed.
"Sorry Bowie, I feel like I let the team down," Emma said so quietly Bowie had to lean in to hear her. "We only need my part for the video but I'm taking forever. We could've been done by now if I just knew how to dance half-decently." She sighed. "I'm soooo going home…"
Bowie hated seeing Emma being so insecure.
"No time for apologies!" he announced. "Let me teach you how to CRUSH. THIS. ROUTINE", snapping his fingers between the last three words in a diagonal, criss-cross sassy manner.
Emma cough-laughed and felt grateful for Bowie who was risking everything for her. It was great to be on speaking terms again after they had a falling out. Truthfully, she missed Bowie probably as much as he missed her.
Emma confessional: *wipes her tears* Wow… why would he do so much for me? *looks grateful*
Bowie grabbed Emma's fingers and locked eyes with her.
"Now Emma contrary to what you may believe you're not a bad dancer. You're just an uncoordinated dancer."
Emma nodded fervently, willing to accept the truth. She was listening to Bowie's words very closely, clinging on to every piece of advice he was giving. She should have never pushed Bowie away, he was always giving advice that would help her. She realized it now. Hopefully it was not too late.
"Let's go through this TikTok again," Bowie pulled out the phone and went through each motion with Emma, his fingers on top of hers, pulling her arms like a ventriloquist with their puppet.
"See how Chef lifts his right arm back in this little arc motion?" Bowie asked kindly to Emma, desperate for her to understand. "Your problem is you're a little too rigid so you come off as very stiff instead of dynamic and fluid. You're not a robot Emma, you're a human."
Bowie continued to guide Emma through all of the motions and the two were having a lot of fun. Emma had never felt so happy in her life. Bowie was projecting a confidence into her that she did not have before.
After a few times, she was getting the hang of it. At one point, she performed her routine on land in front of Bowie without referring once to the video.
"Yes, YES EMMA! Oh wow, you are a NATURAL. What do you mean you can't dance?" Bowie laughed clapping his hands together in amazement. "See? Not so hard is it? Let's go over it one last time."
Bowie nervously looked up at the clock.
Three minutes left.
Chris, being his usual self, did not lighten Emma's mood as he chose now of all times to say, "Three minutes left and it looks like the Orangutans are still waiting for Emma to finish the routine. No pressure though!"
"That's right, just ignore him," Bowie said encouragingly to Emma who temporarily looked like she wanted to break away and say something to Chris. Emma nodded and practiced one more time.
Two minutes left.
At long last, Emma adjusted the straps of her teal swimsuit and gave a fiery determined look to Bowie.
"I'M GOING IN!" she fist-bumped Bowie.
"I don't normally say this out loud and I know everyone watching at home is going to absolutely loathe me for saying this, but… slay this routine Emma," Bowie narrowed his eyes half-cringing, half-smiling.
Bowie confessional: *scowls* I know… TikToks… slay… just add in SUS and you have the holy trinity of Gen Z vocab
"OH YEAH!" Emma rushed back up the diving platform, each step on the rung echoed with a powerful CLANG. She ran to the edge, attached her safety harness, took a deep breath and dived in for her final chance at a good performance. She could not mess up, she would not mess up.
Emma sank herself to approximately halfway down the tank, positioned herself directly in front of Raj with the camera and Damien with the ring light, both of whom were giving her thumbs-ups.
She began dancing, each move more graceful than the last, taking great care to ensure she didn't hit a key or any slab of red meat while also allowing her body to express itself freely and smoothly.
"O…M…G!" Priya jumped up and down. "YES!"
"Get it girl!" Damien whooped.
"She believed she could so she did," Bowie said to Raj who giggled and nodded.
"NO way," Julia said in disbelief. This was not supposed to happen!
Everyone was staring at Emma perplexed and in awe but Emma did not pay attention to any of them. She had learned something today, and that was to not care what others thought of her. Just focus on her dancing and she would perform well, remembering everything Bowie took the time to teach. 15 seconds later and the dance was complete.
Emma shouted in joy underwater so that all that came out were a bunch of excited bubbles. But outside, her team was going nuclear. Emma couldn't wait to celebrate with her team and most importantly, thank Bowie.
As soon as her head popped out of the water, she was met with thunderous applause and a chaotic scene. Her entire team was cheering her on and Damien was celebrating harder than anyone else, swaying his hips from side to side so violently he looked like a mini human-hurricane.
"MK, Caleb, edit Emma's part in NOW!" Bowie instructed sharply. MK and Caleb nodded. Raj tossed them the phone, a quick Airdrop and the video had been imported to their editing timeline. MK speedily cropped the moments when Emma submerged into the tank and exited the tank, keeping her performance only and attached it on to the main completed portion of their video. A quick rendering and export and their video was finished.
Emma's teammates all rushed to embrace her but Emma ran to Bowie first and almost knocked him back after ramming into him so hard out of excitement. She hugged him tightly.
"Whoaaaa!" Bowie chuckled, hugging Emma in return.
"WOOOOO! AHHH BOWIE THANK YOU THANK YOU! YOU'RE THE BEST!" Emma shrieked as she buried her face in his chest, not wanting to let go.
Bowie and Emma confessional (Bowie): *lifts a sassy finger* Oh and to Mrs. Alyson who DARED to tell 6-year-old Emma to give up on dancing and made her feel hopeless, maybe it's YOU who should give up on teaching because you obviously can't do your job as well as I can. *high-fives Emma*
MK couldn't help but be distracted by Emma and Bowie's rekindling. They had won and she was happy but at what cost? Emma was supposed to be with her and Caleb but if she was being buddy-buddy with Bowie again, she would most likely cross over to their side and knock out her and Caleb. She would have to figure out a way to break them up again, immediately. Her chances of winning the million depended on it.
MK confessional: *visibly displeased* Yayyy, that was sweet and our team is happy again… and now Emma and Bowie are feeling reaalllly close… greaaaaat… This just puts me and Caleb in an even worse position on our team…
A horn blared, signalling the end of today's challenge.
"PHONES, RING LIGHTS, CAMERAS DOWN EVERYONE!" Chris' voice cut through the air. He looked around proudly as he gestured for them to hand over their final product. "Alright, time to watch your routines! Let's see how you all did!"
The campers lazed around and sat quietly, not talking much as Chef and Emily watched both teams' videos. Chris played the Panthers' video first.
Chef watched as Ripper, Chase, Millie, Axel, Wayne appeared in that order with relatively smooth transitions between each dancer. He did, however, astutely note two slight mistakes from Ripper and Millie but overall they had replicated the dance decently. Meanwhile, Emily stared satisfied as Zee, Nichelle and Julia performed her part flawlessly.
"And here's the Orangutans' video," Chris said passing them the other teams' laptop.
Chef pressed play and watched as Emma, MK, Caleb and Raj performed the same moves as him. MK had made a slight mistake and was not smiling so that was always worth taking off a point. Caleb and Raj had done well but Chef was most impressed with Emma who had nailed his routine perfectly, all with the biggest grin on her face. Chef chuckled at Emma's facial expressions.
Emily appeared to have the easiest job in the world because Priya, Damien and Bowie had performed her part just as flawlessly as Zee, Nichelle and Julia. And now it was time for final results…
"Alright who did better?..." Chris asked eagerly. He had been watching the videos behind their backs and for him, it was going to be really close. Both teams had done extremely well!
Emily was first to answer. "It's a tie for my part," she said slightly nervously. She knew how much her father hated ties.
Chris nodded. "Chef? What about you?"
Chef pondered for another minute, looking back and forth between the two screens in front of him before coming up with his decision. Though both teams had done well, there was one team that had made slightly less mistakes and overcome their obstacles effectively. He would have no choice but to reward them with a victory.
Chef casually shrugged. "For my part, I'd say the Orangutans," he replied with a warm smile.
Chris nodded before clapping his hands loudly to get everyone's attention.
The campers all looked at Chris, waiting to hear today's winner.
"First of all, congratulations for getting through what the producers have dubbed the second 'cringiest' challenge so far," Chris chuckled as the words 'Jurassic Fart' randomly floated around in his head.
"However we have a winner. After losing their first two challenges and finding themselves having to deal with some slight hiccups today, the Orangutans have gotten their first well-deserved win!" Chris announced happily.
"WHAT?!" Julia said appalled they had lost the challenge which was supposed to be her wheelhouse.
The Orangutans exploded. They all hugged and cheered with each other as they relished the thought of not having to go to another elimination ceremony. Emma and Bowie hugged each other tightly one more time after everyone else had stopped.
Emma confessional: *screams with joy*
5:51 pm
Wayne was sitting on the dock, shirtless. He was drying his swim clothes out naturally in the hot sun, thinking to himself when Julia came and sat herself down next to him.
"Wayne. We need to talk," she abruptly said, wasting no time. She whistled in appreciation at his hot, spicy abs. Quickly, she shook her head. She had to remain focused and not distracted by his 10/10 body.
Wayne looked at Julia puzzled. "What's up Julia? You doing alright by the way?" He looked at her, checking for any bite marks from the piranhas but luckily there were none. It seemed Emily had done a good job with the last-second rescue.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" Julia waved him off. She had come to talk about tonight's elimination but it seemed he was genuinely worried about her well-being. Though she didn't show it, deep down Julia was rather happy about this.
Julia clutched her arm nervously. "Listen. It's pretty obvious I'm on the chopping block, I wasted a lot of time today in the challenge…" She broke off, shaking slightly.
Wayne stared at her incredulously.
"But that wasn't your fault! Everyone knows your swimsuit got sabotaged with smelly fish. That's unfair!" And he meant it. Surely Julia could not be penalized for something that was out of her control. Even with everything that had happened today, Wayne hadn't even considered the possibility of Julia going home. She was their best player.
Julia sighed and stared at Wayne with pity. His innocence was infuriating. How had he gone through life so trusting of others?
"Hahaha. You're so unbelievably naïve, do you think anybody else cares about that? None of that stuff matters. What matters is I messed up the challenge and made us come last. Now you need to make a decision.
"I've noticed you've been acting really buddy-buddy with Millie recently. Such a shame because it's either her or me going home tonight. Axel and Nichelle are voting with me, but I need you to tell Ripper, Zee and Chase to vote for Millie because she's going to vote for me for sure," Julia said.
Julia's brow furrowed at Wayne's reaction to her request. For a moment there, she saw disagreement etched in his face. Did he seriously not want to vote Millie off?
Wayne's voice shook. He could not just abandon his new friend! "B-b-but, Julia you don't know her! Millie's a really nice person, I just found out we both like poutine! I CAN'T vote her out!" he protested.
Julia laughed heartlessly. So Wayne was sticking up for Millie and not siding with her?
"EVERYONE LIKES POUTINE WAYNE!" she yelled in his face. "So you can – "
But Wayne was not finished.
"I found out a lot more about Millie today. We talked about our dreams and who we want to be later when we grow up… and she seemed really interested in my life. I can't vote her out!" he repeated.
Indeed, this seemed like valuable information to Wayne who wanted to know more about Millie. The same could not be said about Julia however. Now that Wayne thought about it, he didn't really know anything about Julia at all except for the fact that she was good at challenges. So who would he save? The person he had just built a personal connection with today or the person who was better at playing the game?...
Julia felt like throwing up at this sickening remark.
"It's your choice. Millie or me. Who do you want to keep and who do you want to send home? Think carefully…" She turned and left Wayne to sit on his own, an expression of despair on his face for he knew he had to choose one over the other.
But who?...
8:43 pm
[Soundtrack 1]
The Panthers made their way to their first elimination ceremony. Julia, Axel, and Nichelle sat on three stumps next to each other, Chase, Ripper and Zee also sat together and Wayne and Millie sat together at the back.
Julia's heart skipped a beat again. She hated it whenever she saw Wayne and Millie sitting together, not because she was jealous, but because she was anxious about Wayne's decision. Julia felt slightly uncomfortable. Had he chosen to side with Millie tonight? He did defend her passionately after all…
"Panthers!" Chris stepped out of the shadows grinning evilly. "First elimination ceremony of the season for you! Chef will be going over some highlights while Emily will be tossing you your marshmallows. Chef?"
"JULIA!" Chef boomed. "Your swimsuit smelled like fish. And because of that, the piranhas were attracted to you so much you couldn't even record a little segment. We expected you to slay this challenge… but slay you did not… until the end? But is that good enough?... "
"Are you not going to mention her slapping the absolute SHIT out of me?!" Ripper asked incredulously as Julia rolled her eyes and smirked. Chef ignored him.
"Or acting like a bully to Millie?" Wayne muttered.
Julia turned and shot Wayne a dirty look. Wayne avoided her eyes.
"Speaking of Millie… MILLIE! Maybe you're a little too old-fashioned but you seem to hate technology. That certainly doesn't help… its 2024 girl, whether you like it or not you gotta get used to it…"
Millie nodded sadly.
"RIPPER! Your butt got bit by a piranha. You forgot your routine and cost your team valuable time!... all that after saying dancing was easy… your part even contained slight error you bumbling fool!"
Ripper gulped.
Chris cleared his throat. Now that the evening humiliation rituals were over, it was time to announce results.
"The marshmallows go to…
...Nichelle...
...Zee...
...Axel...
...Chase...
...Wayne...
...Ripper...
…and the final marshmallow goes to…"
Millie's eyes widened in fear. She could not even look at Wayne and had her eyes only on that last marshmallow. If she left today, the promise she had made with Priya would already be broken. Please no… Millie sobbed in her head. But Millie had a sinking feeling. She was in the bottom two with Julia. If she survived today, she would certainly not last much longer.
Julia's eyes hardened as she concentrated on the last marshmallow. If Wayne had really saved Millie over her, she was going to be livid.
[Soundtrack 3]
Chris paused dramatically, looking back and forth between Millie's petrified expression and Julia's concentrated one.
"…Julia," Chris said.
Emily tossed Julia her marshmallow.
Julia's shoulders relaxed. She had been saved. And rightfully so. She turned to look at Wayne, hoping to exchange a nod of understanding between each other but Wayne was looking at his feet, ashamed of himself.
Meanwhile, Millie choked and broke down. She fell to her knees, crying loudly. Julia turned around to face Millie. Wayne was infuriated to see Julia eating her marshmallow slowly as she stared down at Millie victoriously. She was really rubbing salt in the wound!
Wayne got up and rushed to Millie's side, hugging her. And then he began to cry as well. What have I done? He yelled at himself furiously, blood pounding in his ears.
"Bye guys," Millie snivelled. Nichelle and Axel returned weak smiles. Each was nervous of showing too much affection to Millie around Julia in case she would see this as an act of mutiny. The trout trio of Ripper, Chase and Zee all waved to Millie sincerely.
"Cya Millie," Wayne gulped. "Come on, let's go to the dock together."
Millie nodded and laughed gratefully as Wayne picked her up. The two linked their arms and began heading towards the dock.
"Priya?" Millie said hopefully turning around.
"Millie? It's time to go," Chef said to her back. This boat was supposed to make its way to Playa Des Losers effective immediately.
Millie dumped her bags on to the ship but refused to get on. She would not leave without saying good bye to Priya.
"P – PRIYA!" Millie called to the night air. Still no response.
She's not coming Millie thought sadly to herself. All this time, she had thought Priya was her best friend but now even Priya was not saying goodbye to her. Perhaps she really didn't have anyone after all…
Millie's only consoling thought was the fact that maybe Priya had just assumed Millie was safe and therefore was not coming to the dock to check. If that were the case, Millie would hate to see Priya's face when she found out the truth.
Millie was about to sprint to the Orangutans' cabins herself when Chef grabbed her waist and stopped her from moving.
"LET GO OF ME CHEF! I HAVE TO GET TO PRIYA!" Millie cried.
"Millie… I'm sorry but we told the owners of the resort just around the corner that we need to get all eliminated contestants dropped off to their place before 9," Chef choked. "It's their policy, they don't take any ships after those hours."
Millie collapsed to the ground and cried into the dirt. Chef felt ashamed of himself for being so strict with enforcing rules and was on the verge of changing his mind.
"Actually you know what Millie? I'll let you say goodbye to your best friend. If Playa Des Losers doesn't like that, they can kiss my as – "
"NO!" Millie shouted. It seemed Chef was not the only one who had changed tunes.
Millie shook uncontrollably as she stared at the cabins with a pained expression on her face. "Priya obviously doesn't care about me like I thought she did. I'm getting out of this place!" she cried.
"Aww, now don't say that," Chef said teary-eyed. "I'm sure there's a good reason she's not here right now."
Millie turned around and stepped into the boat, looking hurt. She hugged her knees and buried her face in them as she let herself get taken away from the island. She did not look back.
10:38 pm
Wayne had returned to the elimination ceremony long after everyone else had left to recollect his thoughts. He stared into the fire with empty, droopy eyes. It wasn't because he was tired, rather he was feeling lost. Wayne instantly knew he had not made the right choice tonight, and he was regretting his decision already. Why did he do that?
Wayne sighed. He knew exactly why he had chosen Julia over Millie. Wayne sobbed into his jersey when he heard footsteps behind him. Who else was coming here so late?
Julia pulled up a stump next to Wayne and sat down, staring deeply into his eyes. Julia did not know why Wayne was looking so sad when he had made a smart decision.
"Thanks for that Wayne. I appreciate – " she began earnestly but Wayne immediately put up a hand.
"Whatever. Threatening me to choose between you and Millie, emotionally blackmailing me like that. I'm not happy Julia," he said looking at the fire and avoiding Julia's eyes.
Julia had thought Wayne standing up for Millie had just been an act for the challenges, to make him come off as likeable but now she realised he had been genuine. That was utterly ridiculous!
"But – but – she's like dead weight. And with her gone, we can win more challenges!" Julia protested, trying to make Wayne see what she was seeing which was their team going on a serious win streak.
Wayne snorted.
"Challenges, shmallenges! It's all just a competition to you eh Julia? I bet you don't even like Axel and Nichelle, you're just using them for your alliance aren't you?" He glared accusingly. Julia did not falter because she was glad Wayne had brought this up. She didn't even bother to pretend with her response.
"I mean… kinda…." she said casually playing with her hair.
Wayne stood up and stared down at her.
"Let me say this to your pretty little face then. You're a horrible person. You think you're all that just because you have a ton of followers but you have a total of zero friends. Wanna know why? Because you're fake and you backstab everyone just to get further for money. Nobody likes a person like that Sterling. Including me. I still don't know why I sided with you but I think I made the wrong decision today. It won't happen again. Don't expect any more favors from me Julia."
Wayne turned around, kicked a stump over and went back to his cabin to avoid seeing Julia, who was staring at him open-mouthed and trembling with rage.
DING!
MK immediately opened the text message she had just received. It had finally come.
"Thanks Sally," MK smiled to herself as she slipped under her covers smiling. She was feeling much more ready for the challenge waiting them next. She was fully prepared.
THE END
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Thanks for reading one of my favorite chapters of my entire work. This concludes the episode. I had three main goals: 1. bring back Emma and Bowie's friendship (this was literally the most important one for me when I was writing my draft), 2. give a challenge involving their swimsuits and 3. new interaction unlocked (Millie-Wayne). Sucks that it was so short-lived but explanations can be found below on how the votes went!
(In the future I try to avoid situations where the camper who talks a suspicious amount at the start ends up being eliminated. The only reason I did it here is because it's still very early in the season and I felt I had to give Millie a mini-SOMETHING before she left)
(Next episode title) Episode 4: G...P...Scream!
VOTES
Julia: Millie, Ripper, Waynebr /
Millie: Chase, Zee, Axel, Nichelle, Julia
Explanations:
Millie voted for Julia for yelling at her and making her crybr /
Wayne voted for Julia for being a bullybr /
Ripper voted for Julia for slapping him
Chase voted for Millie because Wayne told him tobr /
Zee voted for Millie because Wayne told him to
Axel, Nichelle voted for Millie because they are in an alliance and scared of Julia's wrath (Remember, they want to go farther this time and to do that, both feel they need to be on her good side)
Julia voted for Millie because she messed up her dancing. This was not enough to get her to scream at Millie though. One of the main reasons Julia started yelling at Millie was because she was jealous of her getting along with Wayne.
*OFF-SCREEN*
Wayne visited the Trout trio and fulfilled Julia's promise against his will. He was feeling conflicted but he did it anyways. Chase and Zee just go along with whatever he says, while Ripper refuses because of the slap. Interestingly enough, Wayne votes for Julia, demonstrating his ability to do what she says while at the same time fighting back against her. His vote is not enough to save Millie though and that is why he feels terrible.
CONFESSIONAL TOTAL
Who will have the most confessionals in the end?...
Bowie: 20 (this mf literally yapping. I didn't even realize how much I gave him until I counted)
Julia: 16
Emma: 12
Ripper: 11
Raj: 11
Damien: 11
MK: 11
Caleb: 10
Wayne: 8
Chase: 7
Axel: 6
Zee: 5
Millie: 5
Nichelle: 4
Priya: 4
Scary Girl: 2
Emily: 1
Chris: 1
ELIMINATION ORDER
1. NO ELIMINATION (Reward challenge)
2. Lauryn "Scary Girl" Marinus (16th)
3. Millie Williams (15th)