Given that the talent show challenge was relatively light on physical activity, Chris decided to have no rest days before the next one. So, as soon as the clock struck noon, he had all of them assembled before the bonfire.
"Campers, the time has come for your most daunting challenge yet!" he declared. "Your survival skills will be challenged. I'm not gonna lie, some of you may not come back alive."
That elicited several gasps from the contestants, while others rolled their eyes. Chris chuckled and continued "Each team will be given a compass and a map leading to your team's campsite in the woods, where you'll be staying for the entire night. First team back to camp after sunrise wins!"
Tossing the compass and maps at each team, Heather and Courtney were the ones to catch them. "One more thing," Chris added. "We lost a few interns to bears in pre-production, so be on the lookout for them," he warned, before firing an air horn. "And go!"
As he walked away, Leshawna worriedly asked "Did he say bears?"
But Owen waved his hand. "Aw, no biggie. I encountered a bear once. And now he has a place of comfort on my mantle back home," he claimed.
Izzy turned to Daphne. "Oh, I remember this one time my family caught a bear going through our trash! He had eaten spaghetti, so it looked like his face was covered in blood and guts! We thought he was eating our neighbor's cat Simba, but he was just gone for a week," she recalled.
Daphne raised an eyebrow. Rather than be disgusted by the guts part, she focused on the fact her family had a bear in their trash. "How did you get rid of it?"
"Huh? Oh, my Uncle covered himself in this black plastic bag and ran right at him, waving his arms and screaming. Black bears can actually be pretty timid," the crazy girl replied.
Heather rolled her eyes. "We'll keep that in mind if we run into any black bears. Now let's go, people!" she called, and began walking towards the forest.
As they began to go, Trent approached Gwen. "Mind if I walk with you?" he asked.
Gwen paused, before shrugging. "Sure," she said with faux calm. But once they began to walk side-by-side, a small smile appeared on her face.
Confessional Stall - Gwen
"Okay, so I know it might be a cliché for the loner to have a crush. But Trent seems like a great guy. Polite, a good listener, talented…" she said, beginning to look away with a fond expression.
Then she paused and her face returned to neutral. "That doesn't mean I do like him, though," she quickly said.
As the Bass walked through the woods, Courtney had them travel loosely in a line to keep them together. Near the back of this line were Katie and Sadie, who were happily chatting with each other while Courtney led at the front.
Once they arrived at their campsite, they saw that a tent, fire pit and backpack had been left for them. However, there was no sign of any food.
Tyler frowned. "Think Chris wants us to forage for food?" he asked.
"I seriously doubt he was nice enough to leave us any," Courtney remarked, but checked the backpack to be sure. Finding none, she said "Okay, so we need food, firewood to cook it with and to put up the tent. Who wants to do what?"
Ezekiel quickly raised his hand. "Me and Pa did a lot of camping; I could do the tent!" he offered.
"Cool. I'll help out," Bridgette said, getting a slightly confused look from the homeschooler.
"I can gather the firewood," Liam said, which Cody offered to help with.
Courtney nodded. "Good. Then Katie and Sadie can…" Then she trailed off, looking around. "Where are Katie and Sadie?" The other Gophers stopped and also looked. Sure enough, the two 'BFFFLs' were nowhere to be found.
"Well, that isn't good," Liam dryly remarked. "I don't suppose they're just trailing behind."
Courtney groaned. "Great. Juuuust great," she muttered. "Harold, Tyler, you're on food detail. Justin, you come with me and help me look for those girls," she ordered, and the model smiled in acceptance. "Let's go!" she shouted, and the team dispersed to their assigned tasks.
The Bass, meanwhile, had made it to their camp together, and Owen had volunteered to go find food. The rest of them quickly raised the tent and started the fire, leaving them to simply wait for his return.
Trent had gone with him, and the musician said "Hey, Owen? Mind if I ask you something?"
"What's up?" Owen asked.
"Well, it's just…" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "There's someone at camp that I like. But I'm not sure if it's too soon to tell her or not."
The larger boy hummed. "Gosh, I wouldn't know. I haven't had a girlfriend yet. But… if it were me, I think I'd want to know if they liked me back first," he said.
Trent frowned. "But how am I supposed to find out if G-this person likes me without asking?" he asked.
Owen shrugged. "I don't know; this isn't the sort of thing I handle a lot," he said honestly. Then he stopped, the sound of rushing water reaching their ears. "Hey, I think that could be a river. And a river means fish!" he said excitedly, before running ahead
Trent let him go, sighing. In retrospect, perhaps Owen wasn't the best person to approach about this. But what other guy was there, at least on his team? Geoff was a possibility; he had caught the Bass occasionally trading glances with one of the girls on the other team, that surfer chick Bridgette. Not that he had a problem with that-Lindsay and Tyler had established that inter-team romances could happen, and Chris hadn't said anything against it. But it was probable that Geoff was in the same situation.
There was also DJ, which… was actually not a bad option, now that he thought about it. The gentle giant may have been in a relationship before, and would know what to do. Either way, he knew DJ was polite enough to keep who his crush was a secret, which was why he'd avoided saying it to Owen.
His mind made up, he resumed walking and soon came upon Owen next to the river, two fish already on the ground with ropes around their tails. Trent stared. "How did you already catch those?" he asked.
Owen grinned. "My grandpa and I used to go hunting and fishing all the time. That's how I met that bear!" he explained.
"Huh," he replied. "You'll have to tell us the whole story when we get back."
A few hours later, sunset was approaching yet Courtney and Justin were still searching for Katie and Sadie.
"Ugh! Where could those two be?!" Courtney said angrily.
Justin said nothing, simply shrugging his shoulders.
The C.I.T. turned to him. "Is there a reason you don't talk? I know you can," she said.
"Oh, I can talk," the model answered, slightly stunning her at the verbal response. "I just have no reason to. My looks usually do the talking for me," he said, giving her a grin full of perfectly teeth
Despite herself, Courtney looked away to avoid being distracted. "I see. Well, since you can talk, do you have any where they might be?"
He just shook his head, making her groan from equal parts frustration and exasperation. The two of them continued walking, occasionally calling out the duo's names. Eventually, Courtney said "Okay, let's think about this. Katie and Sadie may share a brain cell, but it is there. If they're lost, they'd look for shelter, right?"
Justin nodded, and she continued "The best place for shelter would be a cave. But Chris said there are bears, so if they did sleep in a cave, and that cave had one in it…" Then she turned to directly face the camera. "Hey, camera guy!"
Said cameraperson, a male intern with a white shirt, green pants and orange bandana, blinked at being addressed. "Uh… yeah?" he asked.
"Can you contact Chris and let him know not to expect Katie and Sadie in the morning? They were likely mauled by bears," she requested politely.
The intern hesitated, unsure whether to comply. Then Courtney flashed him a serene smile while at the same time nearly searing through him with her eyes. Terrified, he quickly pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Uh, Chris?" he said into it.
A moment later, the host's voice came from the other end. "I heard all of that on camera. Courtney, your teammates are fine. Well, other than being lost," he said, irritated at being called and cutting it short.
Courtney had to resist screaming in anger. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the sky. "You know what? They can stay lost. We're going back to camp before it gets dark and we end up lost too," she declared.
Justin raised an eyebrow, silently impressed with her callousness. He nodded in agreement, and began following her back to the campsite.
At said site, Liam and Cody had returned with firewood and were in the process of starting the fire, while Harold and Tyler had caught a couple of squirrels and found some blueberries. Ezekiel and Bridgette, meanwhile, were putting the finishing touches on the tent.
As they were, Ezekiel turned to her and said "Hey, you put up a tent really well for a girl."
To his right, Liam stiffened.
Bridgette frowned. "What do you mean 'for a girl'?" she asked.
The farm boy opened his mouth to answer, but then he saw Liam reach up and begin rubbing his left earlobe-their signal for him. Quickly switching to a smile, he said "Uh, you know what? I don't even know what I meant. Forget I said anything."
She stared at him for a moment with a look between irritation and confusion, while Ezekiel did his best to project sincerity. Either it worked or she decided not to pursue it, as she shrugged and focused on the tent. Behind her, Liam released his breath.
Confessional Stall - Liam
"Ezekiel, I'm finally in a position where I can influence at least half the votes. That means I can stay out of the spotlight and relax. Do not screw this up for me," he said grumpily.
When Owen and Trent returned, they had a total of five fish between them, which were currently on a spit over the fire. As Owen was finishing up a story about him and his grandfather shooting a ten-foot-tall grizzly bear, DJ suddenly emerged from the bushes.
"Hey guys, look what I found!" he said, showing off a small, adorable rabbit in his arms.
Heather took one look at it and shrugged. "I've never had rabbit, but it's better than grubs," she said.
But he reared back, a horrified look on his face. "This isn't food! This here's my new pet. I'm calling him Bunny," he declared.
Daphne raised both eyebrows. "Well, it's certainly on the nose," she remarked, getting to her feet and coming closer to get a better look. Once she was within arm's reach, she added "He is pretty cute."
Leshawna shrugged. "As long as he's house-trained, I'm cool with it," she said, and the other campers nodded in agreement.
Just then, the bushes on the edge of camp began rustling. Leshawna walked over to investigate, but once she was close enough she froze stiff. "H-Holy…" she began. "BEAR!" she screamed, and said bear rose onto his hind legs and roared.
"Great Giza's Pyramids!" Owen cried, while every other Bass let out their own exclamations of fear.
"The trees!" Daphne frantically. "Start climbing!" All of the campers immediately ran for the tree next to their tent, scrambling up the trunk and out of the grizzly bear's reach. The bear didn't retreat, however, and instead began circling the tree and growling up at them.
As the Bass's night was taking a turn for the worse, all the Gophers except the BFFFLs were gathered around the campfire. A faint breeze caused the trees around them to occasionally rustle, and Bridgette gave them nervous glances every time she did.
When an owl hooted somewhere behind her, she nearly jumped off the ground. Beside her, Liam raised an eyebrow. "It's only a bird," he advised her.
The blonde rubbed her left arm. "Sorry," she said. "I just get really scared out in the woods."
The redhead slowly nodded. "I can imagine. The middle of a forest is probably as far from the ocean as it gets, hmm?" he said.
"Exactly. When I'm surfing, I can see everything around me for miles, and I can move without tripping over something. Out here, I'm lucky if I don't step on a rock or snake, into a gopher hole or something, and I can't see past the next tree," Bridgette said, briefly wrapping her arms around herself.
Tyler frowned. "I guess telling scary stories to pass the time wouldn't help, then," he said, and she nodded emphatically. "Well, then what should we do?"
Harold brought a finger to his chin. "Maybe we could tell stories about ourselves," he suggested.
Courtney frowned. "Like what?" she asked.
He hummed. "...How about why each of us joined the show? We've never really talked about it."
That got the C.I.T. to consider it. "It could be a good team-building exercise…" she muttered.
"I'm down with it," Cody said, and the other Gophers gave various sounds of agreement. "At my school, I'm one of the coolest kids around," he began. That got raised eyebrows from a couple of them, but he continued "But I haven't spent a lot of time outside of there. So, if I wanted to meet and swing with some cool people, I needed to get out into the wider world."
Ezekiel's brow furrowed, trying to parse through that. "So you auditioned in order to meet people?" he asked, and Cody nodded.
Bridgette smiled. "That's sort of why I wanted to be on the show. I really like surfing and living on this world of ours. So I joined to hopefully spread love of both to others," she said.
Courtney shrugged. "I have plenty of friends back home," she digressed. "But I enjoy the competition aspect of the show. If I can win on a reality show, I'll feel more prepared to make it to the top in the real world."
"I like the challenges too!" Tyler said with a smile. "Almost every one so far-except the talent show-has been pretty wicked. I've been loving all the wild stuff we do."
Harold spoke up. "I've also been enjoying the challenges. Almost all of my skills were acquired at different camps, so when Chris revealed we were staying at one instead of a resort, I knew I'd have a chance."
Liam frowned. "I was… less excited when I got here and found out about the lack of resort. But I enjoy being able to have fun and make friends, so it's been a blast so far," he claimed.
That got him smiles from the rest of his team save Courtney, who sent him a look plainly telling that she hadn't fallen for it. Ezekiel decided to go next. "My doctor was worried that being at home so much was giving me a vitamin D deficiency. So he told my parents I needed to spend some time outside," he told them.
"I… can believe that," Courtney said. Looking at their last present teammate, she said "What about you, Justin? Was it for the fame?"
The model shook his head, and surprised the other campers by talking again. "I don't really need the money, and I've already got plenty of modeling agencies calling me. If I do win, I'll just donate it to charity," he said.
"Aw, that's sweet," Bridgette told him, and Tyler, Harold and Ezekiel nodded in agreement. Cody, Courtney and Liam, however, didn't fail to notice that he hadn't answered with what he was on the show for.
The rest of the night proceeded similarly, with each of them trading facts or snippets about each other. Eventually, it grew dark, and before they went to lie down Ezekiel had them collect some water.
"One of Pa's Rules of Camping: Always put out your fire before going to bed," he told them. Once the water was collected and fire doused, the Gophers turned in for the night.
About an hour later, none of them had managed to fall asleep except for the homeschooler, who was snoring peacefully while curled into a ball. Bridgette in particular was shifting about every few seconds. This continued until Liam, who was lying to her left, dryly asked "Need to use the bathroom?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but I'm too scared to go outside alone," she admitted.
He was silent for a moment, mulling it over. Be polite, earn goodwill, get a chance to rest quietly? Yes to all. "I could go with you," he offered. "I'll stay about ten paces away once you've found a spot."
Bridgette smiled at him. "Really? Thanks," she said, and he nodded as they both stood up and exited the tent.
Less than ten seconds after they walked out, a swarm of bats of all things flew out of the trees in their direction. Both teens instinctually failed their arms in an effort to bat them away, but one of them managed to catch on Bridgette's face. "Hey! I can't see!" she said, staggering from side to side as the other bats flew away.
Liam tried to reach out to pull it off her, but she kept moving out of his reach. Eventually, as she was stumbling backwards towards the fire pit, the bat flew off. But the damage was done, and as she stepped into the fire pit she fell backwards, kicking up a large cloud of ash… right in Liam's face.
The surfer girl gasped and rose to her feet. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he asked.
Slowly, Liam reached up and wiped some of the ash away from his face. "Given that none of this was hot anymore, I'm not injured," he said. "I'll be okay once I get all of this off."
As if fate willed it, the clouds overhead rumbled right after he said that. A moment later, those clouds let loose a torrent of rain, making Liam tilt his face upwards.
"...I'm not sure if I should say 'thank you' or not," he said.
Over with the Killer Bass, the grizzly bear had yet to move from their campsite even after an hour had passed, though it had stopped growling at them.
"What should we do now?" Owen asked fearfully.
Heather looked up at him. "You were just telling us about when you killed a bear!"
"With a gun, yeah! I don't have one on me!" he protested.
Daphne grimaced. "Izzy would probably know what to do, but she's been gone for over an hour," she stated.
Trent blinked and looked around, seeing that the insane girl was indeed absent. "Wait. Why are you only mentioning that now?! She could be hurt!"
She stared at him. "This is Izzy we're talking about. She's not about to be outdone by a bear of all things," she said matter-of-factly.
The guitarist frowned but didn't offer a protest. Just as well, as that was the moment when several cracking sounds came from the branch Leshawna was on. It quickly snapped, causing the larger girl to fall to the ground with a shout. As she rubbed her head to shake off any cobwebs, she became immediately aware of the large, muscled wall of fur less than three feet away from her.
"H-Hey big guy…" Leshawna said, trying to scoot backwards. But the bear moved with her and maintained the distance. "You don't w-want to start something," she warned. All that got her was a growl, and her back hit the trunk of the tree. "Someone help me!" she yelled.
Daphne gripped the branch she was on. The rest of the campers all appeared too terrified to do anything, and she was hardly any different. It was one thing to risk injury in a challenge; it was another to tackle a bear in the hopes of accomplishing anything. But if she didn't, if Leshawna died because she failed to act…!
But just as she was about to leap down, a voice said "Hey, are you alright?" A voice that came from the direction of the bear.
The brunette paused, as did the other Bass. Leshawna opened her eyes. "Uh... did that bear just talk?" she asked.
In response, the bear reared up on its hind legs and grabbed the sides of its head… before removing it to reveal a familiar head of orange hair.
"Izzy?!" all of they shouted, and she nodded at them with a smile.
Upon realizing they had been duped, Gwen quickly traded her surprise for anger. "What are you, some sort of weirdo?" she said.
"I thought it would be funny," Izzy justified with a giggle. "And it was! I was all 'Raargh!' and all of you were like 'Aah! I'm gonna die!' It was great!"
Relaxing now that there was no danger, Daphne exhaled and slid off the branch to land on her feet. "Okay, that was a pretty good prank," she admitted, smiling slightly. "And I'm glad to see you weren't mauled."
Geoff raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who just said there was no way she would?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Yeah, but being confident about a friend doesn't stop me from worrying about them," she said with blunt honesty.
By this point, the rest of the Bass had made it back to the ground, and were taking seats around the campfire. Izzy joined them, choosing not to remove the lower half of her bear costume. No one decided to ask why.
As the grilled fish were handed out, however, the bushes began rustling again, and another 'bear' emerged from them. Izzy, who was the closest, said "Wow, and I thought my costume was good."
Trent smiled. "It's probably an intern that Chris sent to mess with us," he said.
Owen waved closer and tapped it on the nose. "We're not falling for it, man!" he stated, and poked its nose.
The 'bear' growled, and Gwen's expression turned worried. "Guys? That looks pretty real…" she said.
Heather began backing away. "Chris did say there were bears…" she added, and the other campers also began backing up save for Izzy, Daphne and Owen.
Owen laughed. "Guys, they're just trying to see if we can be fooled twice. This isn't a real bear, and I'll prove it," he claimed. He then grabbed its head and tugged once, twice. On the third tug, a tuft of fur came away with a rip, making Owen stare at it.
Seeing where this was going, Daphne sighed. "Izzy?" she asked.
"Hmm?" she hummed, looking away from the scene.
"Didn't you say that the deerskin blanket you made wasn't helping with the cabin's draft, since Chris refused to fix it?" she asked.
That got Izzy to tilt her head. "I think I did say that…" she said, before turning to face the genuine bear as it lost its patience and roared in Owen's face. Before the rest of the campers could panic, Izzy walked closer and gave it a wide, toothy grin.
The bear froze, every danger sense in its body going off. Then Izzy took a step forward, and the bear took a step back. Another step, another, and then the bear whimpered and turned to run away.
"Come here, Blanket!" she called, and jumped out of her costume to chase after it. As the other Bass watched her leave with incredulous expressions, Daphne sat down with a smile. It was official; Izzy was the best friend she had ever made.
By the time Izzy returned, she had her new bear fur blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and the team crowded into the tent as it began to rain.
When the sun rose the next morning, the first thing Liam became aware of was the weight on his front. Cracking one eye open, he looked down and couldn't help but blink. At some point in the night, Courtney had rolled over next to him and was now cuddling against his chest.
As he debated what to do about this, especially given that Courtney had yet to wake up, he did notice something else. When her expression was relaxed like this, she looked very… pretty. 'Though now that I consider it, her glare can make her fairly attractive as well,' he mentally added, picturing the several scenarios that glare had appeared in so far.
That train of thought was quickly cut off as Courtney stirred, her eyes slowly opening. As she realized the position they were in, she gasped.
"Before you say anything," Liam quickly said. "You cuddled up tome."
For a moment, the C.I.T. appeared truly at a loss for words. Then she managed to get out "But I… you… AAGH!" and shot to her feet. If her shout wasn't enough to wake their teammates, the sudden sunlight as she opened the tent and stomped outside was.
The others were quick to rise and begin disassembling the tent, since the first team to make it back would be the winners of the challenge. As they did, Bridgette asked "What do we do about Katie and Sadie?"
"We don't know where they are, but they know we all have to get back to camp," Harold pointed out. "Unless we want to look for them, our best bet is to just head back," he said.
Courtney frowned. "I hate the idea of gambling our victory on their sense of direction," she stated. "But I agree with Harold. We don't have a better option."
With that decision made, they finished clearing the campsite and quickly began running for camp.
When the bonfire pit was in sight, they could see Chris waiting there for them, preparing the bonfire for later that night. Coming to a halt in front of him, Cody quickly asked "Have Katie and Sadie made it back yet?"
"That's a negative, Codemeister!" Chris said, grinning. "So I guess the Bass have plenty of time to try and beat them here."
The Gophers stood there, anxiously waiting for their teammates. The longer the wait was, the more the tension grew. Then, once DJ broke through the treeline, Courtney said "No, no!"
The tall teen was soon followed by Izzy, Geoff and Daphne, then Trent and Gwen. As Heather and Lindsay came into view, hope was quickly fading. Then, when Leshawna arrived, Ezekiel looked at his teammates. "Those two have to be faster than Owen, right?"
Liam grimaced. "If they became lost before…" he said.
Then, five minutes later, a panting Owen slowly walked out of the forest and arrived at the bonfire. He did so to the cheers of his team and Chris calling "And with that, the winners of this challenge are the Killer Bass!"
"NO!" Courtney screamed, gripping her hair in anger. As luck would have it, that was the exact moment that the BFFFLs arrived, and she fixed them with the most concentrated rage Liam had seen in one glare outside Eva.
As they arrived, Katie declared "We're safe!" with a relieved smile.
Sadie looked at the others. "Oh my gosh you guys! We got totally lost and got into this massive fight!" she told them.
"And there was a cave, and we were so scared that a bear was going to come for us, but it didn't, so we were able to sleep in safety," Katie added. Then she turned to her friend. "Sadie, I'm so sorry I said I was prettier than you!"
Sade replied "And I'm so sorry for bringing up the Snack Shack!"
"And I'm sorry for saying that your butt was so big!" Katie said.
At that one, Sadie paused. "You did?" she asked.
Katie also paused, not having realized that she was unaware of that. "Um, well not anymore," she said.
Sadie thought about that for a moment, before shrugging. "Oh, whatever. We're safe, you're my best friend, and that's what matters. I love you, Katie!" she said.
"I love you, too!" Katie said, and the two of them happily hugged each other.
As the cameras captured this tender moment, Courtney walked up next to them. "Very touching," she said, getting them to look at her. "But while you two were having a fun time being lost, we lost the challenge!" she yelled.
Before she could go on a tirade, Chris said "Alright, Screaming Gophers! I'll see your butts back here tonight! Bass, as part of your reward for winning, you're going on an all-expense paid trip to… the Tuck Shop!" The Bass cheered at, while the Gophers glared at the duo for the lost opportunity.
Both Katie and Sadie smiled nervously.
Confessional Stall - Liam
"Oftentimes, I have to work to head off a potential threat. But every once in a while, life gives you a freebie."
Once night had fallen, the Screaming Gophers were assembled at the lit bonfire once more.
"You've all cast your votes," Chris recited. "The camper who does not receive a marshmallow must walk the Dock of Shame, catch the Boat of Losers and get the heck out of here. And you can't ever come back. Now, since you all got a good night's sleep in a tent, come up and get them as I call you."
As he called for Harold, Tyler, Cody, Justin and Bridgette, all five of them accepted their marshmallows with smiles on their faces.
Courtney took hers with another glare at Katie and Sadie, while Liam yawned as he was handed his and Ezekiel gave a "Whoo-hoo!"
That just left both Katie and Sadie. "Ladies, this is the final marshmallow of the night," Chris said. "The one of you staying on Total Drama Island will be…"
…
…
...
"Katie."
"No!" Katie immediately called. "Why eliminate Sadie?!"
Sadie nodded. "This is so unfair!" she protested.
Katie shook her head. "I can't! I've never gone anywhere without Sadie! I'll totally die!"
Chris had a look on his face that said he had zero qualms with that. But before he could say as much, Sadie grabbed her friends by the shoulders. "You can go on, Katie! You're strong and smart and pretty. You can win this for both of us!"
By that point, Chef had arrived and dragged Sadie onto the Loser Boat. As it sailed away, the other BFFFL waved her hand. "I miss you already!" she called tearfully.
"I miss you more!" Katie said, openly crying. "Bye!"
"Bye!" Sadie yelled, and the boat pulled out of view.
After Sadie had left, Katie remained standing at the edge of the dock, loudly crying and looking out over the waters. Over two hours had passed, and she had yet to move. Eventually, it was Cody that tried approaching her.
"Hey, Katie? Are you gonna be okay?" He asked gently.
Katie hiccuped. "Sadie… she's gone. I don't know what to do without her," she told him.
The nerd rubbed his arm. "Well… she said she wanted you to win, right? That starts with going on," he said. "Come on, the others are all sitting around the bonfire."
Katie didn't reply, merely continuing to cry. However, she offered no protest when Cody placed a hand on her shoulder and began to gently guide her back down the docks.
Sure enough, the other Gophers were seated there. Many of them were contemplating their chances now that the Bass were, yet again, one member over on them. Every challenge so far, they had either equal or more members than the Screaming Gophers. Courtney in particular was frustrated; she despised going for so long without the advantage.
As Katie sat down with the others, she muffled her cries to sniffles, preventing Courtney and Liam from sending her annoyed looks. Instead, those were pointed at the entirety of the Killer Bass, who arrived at the bonfire within moments of Katie. "Come to rub your victory in our faces?" the C.I.T. asked.
Trent shook his head. "We had some desert leftover from our trip to the Tuck Shop and wanted to offer it," he said peacefully, pointing to a plate of green jello in Owen's hands.
Liam raised an eyebrow. "You had extra food and Owen didn't eat it?" he remarked.
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Okay, the food we had so far made Owen pass gas. We're letting the cabin air out," she admitted.
Owen looked down. "Sorry, guys. Must have been all those Choco-diles," he said, before walking forward. "Here," he said, holding the plate out.
"No!" Courtney suddenly shouted, making a couple of them blink, and Owen to rear back. "I mean, no thank you," she said politely. When the large boy didn't relax, she added "I'm just not a fan of green jello."
"I'll take it, then," Harold offered from his seat next to DJ.
However, as Owen approached to hand it to him, DJ screamed "SNAKE!" and knocked it out of his hands.
The jello splattered across the ground, and Cody reached down to examine the 'snake' that had been in it. "It's just a gummy worm, dude," he revealed.
The gentle giant shook his head. "Sorry, y'all. Snakes just freak me out," he told them.
Tyler nodded sympathetically. "I have the same problem with chickens, dude," he revealed.
Gwen raised an eyebrow as she took a seat at the bonfire. "You're afraid of chickens?" she said. "That's… wow." The other Bass also began sitting down, with the Gophers making room for them.
Confessional Stall - Gwen
"Once DJ and Tyler revealed their fears, it kept dominoe-ing, and soon everyone else did too. Like Harold saying he was afraid of ninjas, Leshawna hating giant spiders, or Ezekiel saying he's freaked out by public transport. Even Heather admitted to being afraid of Sumo wrestlers."
"I have claustrophobia. So being buried under something would be my worst fear," Gwen said.
Owen stated "Flying, man. That stuff is nuts."
That got Izzy to quickly nod in agreement. "I could never go up in a plane! Uh-uh!"
"I'm scared of hail, man," Geoff said with a haunted expression. "It's small but deadly, dude."
Bridgette looked at her team. "I told you guys during the last challenge that it was being in the woods. But being alone in the woods is even worse."
Katie blew her nose with a napkin. "Being apart from Sadie is already my worst fear," she said frankly. "But after that, I suppose losing all my hair would be bad."
Lindsay quickly grabbed her hair. "Oh my gosh, losing my hair?! That would terrify me, too!" she said.
Justin abruptly said "I wouldn't want to lose my looks." The rest of the campers sans Courtney gave him surprised looks, many having forgotten that the model could speak at all.
Cody tapped his finger to his chin. "Having to defuse a bomb, especially one with a countdown, would be mine," he declared.
Liam grunted. "The sound of helicopters makes me freeze, so I'm sure riding one would be unpleasant," he admitted.
Courtney raised an eyebrow, tempted to ask why that was the case. Instead, she simply smiled and said "I'm not afraid of anything." Absolutely none of the campers believed that, and all of their expressions said so.
In the silence that followed, Trent spoke up to keep the ball rolling. "I'm afraid of mimes. What about you, Daphne?"
She shook her head. "You'll laugh. Or thinks it's stupid," she said.
At that, Gwen shook her head. "We promise not to laugh at your fear or insult it. Right, guys?" she said, looking at the other campers.
Several of them nodded while others shrugged their shoulders. Seeing that, Daphne sighed and looked at the ground. "Triskaidekaphobia," she said quickly.
"Come again?" Geoff said.
"Triskaidekaphobia," she repeated slowly. "It means I'm afraid of the number thirteen."
Heather blinked. "I know we agreed not to laugh. But… why?" she asked.
Daphne sighed and gave her a flat look. "You can blame five year-old me. Who decided watching Friday the 13thin the dark was a great idea," she said flatly. Eager to change the subject, she looked at the C.I.T. "Come on, Courtney, everyone's afraid of something."
"Not me!" Courtney insisted, causing Heather to snort while several others rolled their eyes. None of the others decided to bother pressing her, and the conversation soon shifted from their fears to other, more mundane topics as the night wore on.
Eliminated:
1. Beth, the Wannabe
2. Noah, the Know-It-All
3. Duncan, the Delinquent
4. Eva, the Female Bully
5. Sadie, the Sweet Girl's Friend