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 15: 1 down, 15 to go!
8:54 pm
[Soundtrack 1]
The Orangutans headed to the elimination ceremony without speaking a word to each other. They stared apprehensively at their banner floating in the evening wind and the all-too-familiar torches which got lit every ceremony… mentally preparing themselves to send somebody home…
The Orangutans took a seat on the wooden stumps. Bowie and Raj claimed a spot near the back where MK and Caleb were also tagging along. Emma, Priya and Damien seated themselves at the front and Scary Girl sat a little too close to Damien for his liking. He was not pleased and shifted away from her slightly.
Chris stepped out from the shadows rather dramatically with Emily and Chef behind him. Emily, who had just finished her spa day, currently had a clay mask on her. Raj, who seemed to believe she was a reincarnated mummy, gave a frightened yelp and fell backwards.
"Raj! Relax! It's just me," Emily scowled. She was not in a happy mood. She had planned to chill on her bed after a day at the spa but her father had brought her here for a very specific reason. She was going to toss marshmallows.
"Good evening losers!" Chris chortled, staring at them all with a rather annoying expression. Bowie rolled his eyes.
"In a moment you will each enter the writing booth to my right. On a slip of paper, write down the name of the camper you want to eliminate. The camper with the most votes is out of here! But first, Chef. Why don't you remind us of today's highlights?"
Chef nodded and cleared his throat.
"CALEB!" he barked.
Despite expecting his name to be called, Caleb flinched slightly.
"You started fighting your own teammate and almost blew it against RIPPER of all people," Chef scowled.
"EMMA! Your argument with Chase could've cost you your life and your teammates panicked upon seeing you fall! If I were you, I'd start feeding pigeons every day…"
Emma gave a small nod and looked down at her shoes, trying to avoid Bowie's eyes. She felt she had really let him down today.
"SCARY GIRL! You didn't even use the baskets like you were supposed to! You crazy girl? Jumping from 100 metres without a parachute! You lucky to still be alive!"
"But it was soooo fun!" Scary Girl giggled. This large man was funny. Why did he care about her well-being so much? Behind Scary Girl's back, the Orangutans exchanged looks.
Raj confessional: As much as I want to vote off Caleb, Bowie told me we have to get rid of Scary Girl for making us lose….
Bowie confessional: We can't keep losing challenges because of Scary Girl breaking rules… so…. tonight it's her… hopefully the others agree.
"The marshmallows go to…
…Priya…
– Emily tossed the marshmallows rather aggressively but perhaps it was just the baseball side of her coming out –
…Damien…
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…Raj…
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…MK…
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…Bowie…
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…Emma…
"Caleb and Scary Girl… one of you is about to leave this camp for good…" Chris said quietly. Caleb shivered. Had his actions been enough to send him home over the exotic Scary Girl? But surely, she had blown it for the team… he couldn't be going home first again!
Scary Girl's eye twitched and she began cracking her neck as she stared intently at the final marshmallow. It better go to her… for the hosts' sake… she did not want to have to bury anybody tonight…
"In a 7-1 vote… the final marshmallow goes to…"
Chris stared back and forth between the wide-eyed Caleb and the disturbingly calm Scary Girl.
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"…Caleb…"
Caleb breathed a huge sigh of relief as Emily pelted his face with a marshmallow. It bounced off of his chiseled jawline and landed in his palm. He tossed it into his mouth gratefully.
Scary Girl's jaw dropped as she shot her teammates a filthy look. This was the second team that had treated her like garbage! She stood up furiously.
"Whatever!" she screeched. "People don't seem to appreciate it when you choose to work smart instead of working hard. HMPH!"
Damien confessional: *whistles, impressed* Wow, that's like the most normal thing she's ever said! It made sense too!
Scary Girl confessional: I don't understand these weirdos! Why don't they see the thrill of jumping off of a high tower? They should try it some day! It would probably fix their brains! *makes cuckoo gesture with her fingers, sticks her tongue out and spins her eyes around*
Scary Girl gave one last glare to the hosts and her teammates before pointing her nose up into the air and walking to the dock. Behind her back, Chris and Chef were staring fearfully, each daring the other to walk ahead first.
Scary Girl jumped into the Boat of Losers. The floor creaked slightly. Though she had her back turned away from her teammates, she could sense their fear and their stares. They almost seemed… relieved to be rid of her? Scary Girl chuckled to herself. Well then in that case… it was time to give them all one final scare. A parting gift. Something to remember her by.
Without warning, Scary Girl's head (and only her head) spun around 180 degrees so that she was now looking at her team with her abnormally wide teal eyes. The Orangutans jumped back. Damien actually stumbled backwards and crashed on the wooden planks of the dock.
Scary Girl stuck her tongue out and laughed shrilly into the night air as the Boat of Losers pulled her away. She gave them all a hearty wave before turning around the corner and vanishing from sight.
9:38 pm
Raj and Bowie were currently in their cabins. Raj, who was laying against his pillow, chuckled as Bowie fed him spoonfuls of hot chicken noodle soup. Though they did not know why, they giggled a lot whenever Bowie dropped a small amount on Raj's night shirt.
"Oops," Bowie said for the 4th time as he wiped some soup off of Raj's chest. Bowie tried to get his hands to stop themselves from shaking so much but he couldn't help and be slightly nervous now that they were down a player. As strange as she had been, she had had certain talents. They were definitely at a disadvantage now…
Suddenly, the door burst open and in entered Caleb. Bowie turned around and stared at him curiously.
Without wasting any time –
"Raj, Bowie… I'm really sorry for the way I acted today…" Caleb snivelled as he stood over them. Raj did not respond and instead chose to look at Caleb suspiciously. Though they had briefly teamed up and voted off Scary Girl because that had been the obvious choice to do today, he had not forgotten about Caleb sucker-punching his jaw on the tower.
Bowie, however, had different ideas. He was not trying to ignore Raj's injury on purpose but at the same time, he was thinking long term for a potential alliance at the merge. It would be his best chance to get revenge on Julia after all.
"No problem!" Bowie smiled. "Raj is feeling much better now! See? Loads of hearty chicken noodle soup and some bed rest will get him up and healthy in no time. I hope we can move on from this little bump on the road?"
He offered a handshake to Caleb.
Bowie confessional: Caleb is obviously just a decoy for someone else. I saw the way he was acting at the tower when we were alone. Perhaps it was Julia...
Raj looked at Bowie curiously. So Bowie had been serious? A few minutes before Caleb had even entered the cabin, Bowie had been talking about something peculiar. A little hunch about how he thought Caleb may have been forced to do someone else's dirty work though Raj was not sure if he had heard correctly. He had been slightly drowsy at the time. But if that were true… perhaps Caleb was not the one they should be worrying about? Raj suspected this was where Bowie's forgiving attitude was coming from.
Raj confessional: For some reason Bowie keeps thinking Caleb is acting on behalf of Julia but… I just don't see it… I don't know… *shakes head*
Raj bit his lip. He did not want to voice Bowie's theories to Caleb without Bowie's permission first.
Caleb and Bowie shook hands. Caleb and Raj did the same after.
Caleb made to turn around and leave the cabin but was slightly hesitant. He was trying to weigh his options. Should he expose MK now and clear his name? Bowie and Raj blinked confused at this behaviour.
"Er – What's up Caleb?" Bowie asked kindly.
Caleb froze with one hand on the door. A minute of silence and then –
"N-nothing," Caleb smiled weakly as he shut the door gently and left without saying another word.
MK confessional: *whistles* Wow, Sally really did get this challenge correct. It's time to use this paper!
Now that MK was feeling more confident about the paper in which Sally had written the challenges, she was going to read it over and over every night until it stuck in her brain like a magnet. But also… she needed another alliance member… someone she could betray later. MK had a strong hunch they would merge at ten people once again, and seeing that both teams had been evenly matched today and the challenge before, she was assuming her team would lose three challenges. This meant to catapult herself to the merge she would need two others to get rid of now that Scary Girl the weirdo had left.
Indeed, MK had been telling Caleb to stir trouble in order to draw attention to himself. But now she needed someone else to shift blame to because as it stood right now, she would be next to go. But who to choose? MK wondered. It would have to be someone naïve surely. And then she got it. After today's events, it was clear this person was still emotionally immature and therefore, an easy target…
"Hey Emma," MK said dreamily. Emma who had been laying on her bed listening to some Taylor Swift looked up at MK surprised.
"What's up MK?" Emma said curiously, taking off her headphones.
MK decided to get straight to the point. She had to get Emma into a mood to talk first. "Good for you for dumping Chase," MK said casually.
Emma sprung from her bed. It seemed she had been waiting for an opportunity to rant.
"I KNOW RIGHT!" she said breathlessly.
MK lowered her voice to a whisper as she got close to Emma. "Look… don't tell anyone else but… Caleb and I are in an alliance. Care to join us?"
Emma blinked in surprise. She found it very peculiar that MK had brought up the topic of alliances, because this was something Emma felt shaky about herself. Emma also felt the pressure of joining an alliance right away. But… working with Caleb? After everything he had done today?
She had a feeling Bowie and Raj were one and although she really would've liked to join that one, she hadn't received any offers. Besides she didn't exactly know if Bowie would even agree if she asked him first. They were talking again, true but Emma still felt they were not close enough. Priya and Damien also seemed to be getting along quite well. It seemed she was cornered.
Her mind had settled.
"Well… sure! I mean… former frogs have to stick together am I right?" Emma laughed.
"Totally. We're going to dominate this game. Can't wait for you to show just how much better you are without Chase," MK smiled, already plotting the best way to betray Emma in her head.
"YESSS! Thanks MK! Let's do this!" Emma leaned in for a hug, to which MK responded by moving away. Emma chuckled weakly but shrugged it off. Perhaps MK just did not like being super touchy with others in which case… that was alright!
Emma settled for a fist-bump which MK gladly returned. Emma smiled.
Emma confessional: Wow, I feel so much better. I'm literally friends with everybody on this team. This is great! Merge, here we come!
THE END
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Yup, she's gone first. Sorry to all the Scary Girl fans who were expecting more from her but I decided to keep the first boot the same as canon. I only changed up HOW she got eliminated because it felt forced and rushed in canon.
Personally I felt it made more sense for Scary Girl to get eliminated because of a technicality (which is not unheard of in the show. Think of Lindsay's elimination in TDI).
If I had to critique my own work, I would say this is my weakest episode of the entire season so I'm just glad it's over lol. My personal favourites are 3-7, 13, 14 and the special so we got a streak of nice episodes coming! Hope you're excited for Episode 3: Under Pressure Problems.
CONFESSIONAL TOTAL
Who will have the most confessionals in the end?...
Bowie: 13
Julia: 10
Caleb: 9
Ripper: 8
Raj: 7
Damien: 7
Wayne: 6
Emma: 6
Chase: 6
MK: 5
Millie: 3
Nichelle: 3
Priya: 3
Zee: 3
Axel: 3
Scary Girl: 2
Emily: 1
ELIMINATION ORDER
1. NO ELIMINATION (Reward challenge)
2. Lauryn "Scary Girl" Marinus (16th)