Chapter 5: Calm before the storm
7:18 pm
The first day back was rather picturesque. There was a perfect sunset casting a faint orange and reddish glow on the campers who were lazing around on the beach, munching on popsicles. They were talking about today's events.
"And when she just BLASTED YOU ALL," Wayne guffawed as he took a large bite out of his popsicle, looking around at everybody with a giant grin. MK raised a suspicious eyebrow. She did not trust people who bit their popsicles for the only correct way to eat them was through slow licks.
"It wasn't so bad. It was like getting a bunch of pink marshmallows to the face!" Raj said cheerfully as he casually sat with one leg over the other and fed Bowie a popsicle. Bowie took a grateful lick and laughed.
"Raj is right," Bowie mused. "Besides, I'm not the type to complain about a free facial. My face is feeling much clearer now! Who knew pink paint was the best exfoliator?" Bowie rubbed his face softly and closed his eyes.
Emma turned to Emily who was sitting next to her. "Where'd you learn to throw like that? That was some CRAZY power, it's like you knocked me back to the 70s!" Emma chortled as she flicked her own head playfully, pretending she was getting hit by another balloon.
Emily laughed. "Been throwing since I was three. Used to hit Dad with cookie dough."
"Oh… so you were a cool kid," Nichelle drawled. "I would soooo pay to see Chris get clobbered with cookie dough. Please tell me you got his hair."
"Every time," Emily winked.
"You think you'll make the league?" Caleb chimed in, with three popsicles in his hand. After all, he was a big boy and needed to eat big. He was feeling much better now that he was not going home and as such wanted to be as social as possible. He had even let Priya and Millie lean against his boulder shoulders.
"I'll be pitching professionally by the time I'm 20. And I'm gonna get a title before I'm 25," Emily replied promptly.
"SHEEEESHHH! REMEMBER US BEFORE YOU GET FAMOUS OK?!" Emma said energetically, clapping her knees. "I'll be like… Oh? Emily Mclean? Her and I are besties. We actually met at summer camp! She threw paint in my face!" Emma rolled around laughing.
Bowie smiled, glad to see Emma was having fun. So far, so good too. Chase was not in their huddle currently. Instead, he was near the water with Ripper and Zee, feeding popsicles to some turtles. Splitting them up had been a good move. Emma hadn't even mentioned Chase once today. Hopefully, that would keep up.
"COOL!" Wayne marvelled. "Rajie and I also plan on going pro but for hockey, ain't that right bud?" he thumped Raj on the back passionately.
"For sure," Raj said as he let Bowie take one last lick. "CALGARY SNOW OWLS HERE WE COME! AND THE CUP TOO!"
"Are you two not already Snow Owls?" Julia frowned. She gasped dramatically. "You guys are repping the team's merchandise before you've even entered the league? That is some amazing marketing skills! If hockey doesn't work out, maybe you two could enter my world of social media!" she clapped her hands as Wayne and Raj avoided her eyes.
"Or you could avoid it like the plague. Like I do," Axel snorted. Julia's jaw dropped.
"Well, we're part of the Junior Snow Owls division in our city so technically we still are snow owls. Just not the adult kind. HOOT! HOOT! C'MON BOWIE, HOOT WITH ME!" Raj grabbed Bowie's hand and laughed boisterously.
"Wow, so how many of us want to play sports professionally?" Caleb looked around eagerly. He did not know there were so many fellow sports fanatics!
"Dungeons and Flying Lizards counts as a sport right? And chess too?" Damien asked innocently as Priya giggled. She liked how Damien was unafraid to openly share his 'nerdy' side.
Nichelle looked at Caleb stunned. "You play a sport? I didn't know that!"
Caleb blinked. Wasn't it obvious what he did? "Well…yeah! Professional bodybuilding," he replied.
"That's a sport?" MK snorted, sounding unimpressed.
"Uh… yeah it is!" Caleb said, slightly hurt. "They have judges and you go up against other bodybuilders. It's really competitive too. You gotta train and diet… and injuries are always a possibility of course. You're looking at the 2030 Mr. Olympia Classic Physique Champ!" he pointed to himself proudly and wiggled his pectoral muscles.
Priya giggled once more and turned to Caleb. "You're not skipping arms for sure… Or shoulders…. Or back. Or chest. Or traps. Or… abs…Or neck. Definitely not skipping face. Legs maybe…"
Caleb spat out his popsicle. That was a violation! "WHAT?! I'M NOT SKIPPING LEGS. DOES IT SERIOUSLY LOOK LIKE IT? I have bad calf genetics. I swear!" he blubbered, looking down miserably at what he considered to be his tiny calves which seemed stubborn to grow.
Everybody snorted their popsicles out and laughed but it was Millie who recovered first.
"Are those goals even realistic? Statistically speaking, I think you all have a better shot at becoming an astronaut or something. Professional sports is way too competitive," she said nonchalantly.
"If hockey doesn't work out, I guess I go back to Walmart," Wayne shrugged.
"WALMART WAYNER!" Raj boomed as he rolled around the floor, laughing.
"Dude I totally had that one!" Chase stomped his foot on the sandy beach. "She got lucky I was having an off day. If my leg wasn't cramping so much from filming before I came here, I'd have totally crossed that finish line. EASILY." Chase raised his eyebrow as it seemed Zee and Ripper were not paying attention to his excuses.
"I mean, your name is Chase. So I guess you're pretty fast eh?" Zee said randomly as he fed his popsicle to some crows.
"Isn't it hilarious how the three of us got out back to back to back?!" Chase laughed as he tossed his popsicle stick into the lake. "Luckily it wasn't an elimination challenge or else I can totally see the others sending us home!"
"Why would anybody be focused on us? I mean, we're not exactly the strongest, brightest, cunning, determined, or anything really…" Zee said bluntly as he whipped out a soda and grinned. He had a brilliant idea. Popsicle-soda.
"Speak for yourself buddy," Ripper said roughly. "I'm all of those things and more. Besides, I was about to cross as well if it wasn't for Axel sabotaging me. Anyways, give me that." He grabbed Zee's popsicle and shoved the whole thing in his mouth.
Zee shrugged. He was not bothered. "You know what… I've had enough popsicles. I'm more of a soda guy for sure..."
He turned to the lake once more and saw something astonishing. "Hey look. Crab! CRAB CRAB!" he pointed to a red-shelled crustacean scuttling along the shoreline. Zee crouched down and waved at the crab.
"AHHHAHAA CRAB CRAB!" Chase laughed as he began to pinch his fingers together like a crab and bounce on his feet.
"CRAB CRAB!" Ripper guffawed, doing the same.
Soon all three were doing the crab dance and attempting to feed their tiny crab friend some popsicles.
"You guys think crabs can even eat popsicles?" Ripper said as he tried to force-feed one to the crab who was avoiding him.
Suddenly Ripper looked up and gasped. Emily had just broken off from the main group and was neatly packing away boxes in the distance. Ripper rubbed his hands in anticipation as he glanced at Chase and Zee. He would not get a better opportunity than this.
Ripper confessional: *snaps fingers* Time to make a move!
"I'll be back guys," Ripper said as he hurried off. Chase and Zee looked at each other confused.
Ripper took a deep breath as he shuffled his feet awkwardly towards Emily. His heart was beating slightly faster than usual. The last time he had done something similar to this, it had not ended well… He casually stood next to her and ruffled his hair as the evening breeze kicked in.
"Hey!... Emily!..." Ripper began nervously. She turned. Ripper blinked before continuing.
"Uhhhh, just wanted to say you can throw really well. If that's how you throw a balloon, I'm just glad it wasn't a baseball because then I'd have got my teeth knocked out!" he chuckled.
Emily blinked, surprised at the compliment. "Thanks…" she said slowly. "By the way, I didn't know you were into women's baseball. I mean, it seems like you're following my career and stuff. You were the only one who recognized my catchphrase when I got Priya and Millie out."
"Yeah, uh…. yeah!" Ripper grinned, trying to squeeze his shoe into the sand so that it would stop shaking so much. "I'm actually super into baseball in general. Both men and women leagues. Your curveballs are reminding me of the great Axe Hatchet, don't know if you know her but – "
"NO way!" Emily squealed as she played with her hair. "You know about Axe Hatchet too? I actually got inspiration from her catchphrase, you know how it goes – "
"YOU JUST GOT AXED!" they said together, pointing at each other playfully. Emily let out a laugh while Ripper chuckled nervously. He had never had so much fun talking to a girl before! Worthy alfalfa female companion maybe?
As Ripper and Emily continued making small talk, Chase and Zee stared, transfixed.
"Dude, do you see what's going on with Ripper?" Chase nudged Zee as he snapped his fingers. "OH HO HO!"
Zee nodded. "Yeah, they're probably going to be real good friends! AWWW. A real friendship, do you see that? They're vibing! I think Ripper will be an amazing friend to Emily. GO RIPPER, show her the power of friendship!"
"NO DUDE. It's not just a friend thing. Look!" Chase hissed, as he grabbed Zee by his long neck and pulled him in closer.
"Ow dude, you're struggling me!" Zee wheezed, waving his fingers around vigorously, trying to loosen Chase's tight grip.
"Let's see... " Chase muttered to himself, ignoring Zee's desperate coughs and focusing on Ripper's odd behaviour. "One hand awkwardly running through his hair….shifty feet….goofy smile…..NOT FARTING?!" This was all the confirmation he needed. "DUDE, HE'S SO INTO HER!" he hissed.
Zee blinked. "WHAT? RIPPER'S INTO EMI – "
Chase quickly covered Zee's mouth with a hand. They were lucky to be away from the others. "SHUT UP! DUDE! We have a job, I don't want to mess things up for our guy! It's our duty to become the ultimate wingmen and help a fellow bro get the girl of his dreams!" Chase looked fondly at Ripper. He had been in Ripper's shoes before.
"So what do we do boss?" Zee whispered amazed.
"OK, Zee. First of all, let's keep this a secret between us. DO NOT TELL ANYONE, JULIA ESPECIALLY. Because she's just gonna tell Emily. Let's play it slow. It's a loooong game to get into a girl's heart, so first… we need to absolutely glaze Ripper when Emily's around us so she can hear how much of an awesome guy he is!"
"But he isn't that awesome," Zee said bluntly. "And why would we glaze him? He's not a donut, unless…. he has jelly inside of him? Then I guess he can be a jelly donut."
Chase stared at Zee incredulously, wondering what on earth he was ranting about. He gave Zee a playful slap on the forehead. "WHO CARES? Basically we need to lie, er – exaggerate Ripper's good qualities and lie about, er –minimize his bad ones!"
"You know what? I think I'm starting to get it…" Zee chortled as he stared at Ripper fondly.
Chase and Zee exchanged high-fives. "Let's do this bro!" Chase winked.
"She's one of my favourite players of all time," Emily said excitedly as she continued to play with her hair. Ripper was ecstatic to see Emily play with her hair for it meant he was successfully turning her on, or at least that's what he had heard from Sigma Male boot camp. "Struck the whole team out in the 1962 championship. I almost forgot to watch it today actually," she finished quietly.
"Well, you almost struck us all out today too!" Ripper chuckled. He paused. "Uhhh, hey... Are you going to be a regular on the show? Like, you'll be helping with challenges and stuff right?"
"Yup!" Emily replied enthusiastically. "So I'll see you tomorrow! Don't want to say too much, but you may or may not get up high somewhere above the clouds! Nice talking to you Ripster!" And with that, their conversation was over. Ripper, who wanted to keep talking to her for the rest of the night, winced as she turned around and took off.
Ripper confessional: She has a nickname for me. AND WE'RE ON FIRST BASE! *winks*
Back at the main group, having eaten as many popsicles as he could, Bowie decided it was time for a little message.
"Since we're all getting along a little too well right now…. I thought I'd bring some friendly trash talk before the next challenge." Everybody turned to him, eyebrows raised. Bowie cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes as he stared directly at Julia.
"Julia, I hope you're ready. Because your team is going down. I hope you like marshmallows because you'll be going to the ceremonies a lot!" he smiled cockily. Raj and the rest of the Orangutans all roared with laughter.
"Oh…It. is .on," Julia whispered, narrowing her eyes and staring fearlessly back at Bowie.
Caleb stood up. Priya and Millie who had been leaning against his shoulders giggled as they fell down into the sand.
"Y'all up for some beach volleyball? Losers have to do push ups until the winning team is satisfied," he looked around at the group excitedly. Since they were all going to be competing against each other for the next few weeks, a nice friendly game now wouldn't hurt…
"AIGHT!" Damien nodded. He turned around to the lake. "AYO! RIPPER, ZEE, CHASE! We're playing beach volleyball. Come here so that I'm not the worst player."
Chris chuckled as he saw all the happy faces, the friendly atmosphere… This was all certainly going to change over the next few days. He was sure of it.
"Aww, they're getting along so well. Too bad it probably won't last," he snorted as he turned to the camera. "We'll see you next time on Total Drama Rematch!" And with a friendly wave and one last glance at the campers playing in the background, he walked off satisfied with the first day back.
AUTHORS NOTES
One of the biggest advantages of fanfiction is that I am not limited to 20 minutes of screentime. This means I can put scenes where the contestants are just hanging out like everyday teenagers (just like TDI 2007).
I will clarify this once and for all so that there is no confusion. Ripper is 18 (born June 14 2006) and Emily is 19. In Ontario (which is where Wawanakwa is located), the age of consent is 16 and the legal age is 18. If you don't ship these two now, just wait. There is more to come. This is just a glimpse to how I want to fix Ripper's arc.
Chase and Zee being Ripper's wingmen was one of the funniest decisions I made because it makes sense but at the same time you can't help but wonder if they will even do a good job...
Read this chapter carefully. There's some major foreshadowing.. You'll see.
Last chapter of Episode 1 (Chapter 6) comes out this evening. From there, I may have to adjust the upload schedule a bit.