A gleam of sunlight shined through the cabin's window, illuminating the dreary wooden box into a dreary wooden box with a bit of light in it. Cody slowly adjusted to the light as he woke up, barely conscious of his surroundings. Still, he was aware of Trent standing by the window, putting his shirt on. Cody's only remaining roommate had clearly gotten up earlier than Cody, already nearly out the door. The guitarist didn't spare Cody a glance as he left.
Cody had changed a lot on the island during his second chance on the island, and despite the many bumps, Cody was starting to feel like he was making a positive change. None of that applied to Trent. The boy had grown distant, moody, and weirdly interested in Heather. A part of Cody had wondered if Trent had a crush on Heather in the original timeline. Too many times did Heather do something so obviously suspicious that Trent ended up going along with it. Yet, Cody had faith in his bandmate, believing him to be just a little too trusting.
Cody couldn't think of what could have caused the sudden shift in attitude. He'd expected to be good friends with Trent by now. If Trent was willing to put up with Cody awkwardly flirting with the girl he also liked, surely a Cody that stayed away and encouraged the two at every step was a shoo-in to be good friends with. Apparently, that wasn't the case. Regardless of how Trent felt; however, Cody wasn't about to give up.
Quickly throwing on a shirt and slipping into his pants, Cody followed his roommate outside. "Yo, Trent!" he called out, chasing after him. Trent turned around with a raised eyebrow, slowing his pace for the geek to catch up.
"What is it?" Trent asked impatiently.
Look dude, can we just… talk? Somewhere private, preferably." Trent held a suspicious look before reluctantly nodding and following Cody, who led him to the currently-empty campfire.
"So, what is it?" Trent asked, tapping his foot on the ground. He already had a scowled etched on his face, as if waiting for Cody to speak his mind so that he could promptly blow him off.
"I wanted to ask about Gwen…" Cody said.
Trent's shoulders tensed, his scowl becoming even shorter. "What about her?"
"You guys seemed so close early on, and I know she likes you, but I rarely see you guys talk anymore."
"Why do you care?" Trent asked.
Cody winced at the bluntness of the statement. Trent was right, Cody really shouldn't care, but he did anyway. "Gwen's my friend, and you're my roommate. I'd like to see you guys happy."
"Things are too complicated for us to just be happy, dude. Gwen's been so aggressive lately. You saw how she acted in the last challenge."
Cody decided that reminding Trent that Cody himself had actually participated in that wasn't a good idea. Instead, he attempted to remind him of the awful things that Heather had done, only to be interrupted as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Yes, I remember the whole diary thing. That sucked, but you guys can't hold that grudge forever."
Cody's nostrils flared in anger before he suddenly stopped himself. What Heather did had been awful, there was no doubt about that. But Trent was right, Cody couldn't hold it against her forever. "Still, it's not like Heather's been a saint otherwise. If it was just the diary thing, maybe I could overlook it, but she hasn't been exactly pleasant the rest of the time either."
"Maybe that's because of your hatred for her!"
"And what about Lindsay?! Does she deserve that treatment?" Cody's voice began to grow louder and louder, but he caught himself before he started a screaming match with Trent.
Trent didn't seem entirely sure of how he wanted to answer. "Either way, Gwen's not perfect either. One second she loves me, the next she's spending all her time with you."
It was Cody's turn not to know what to say. He finally composed himself and sputtered out, "S-she's not into me, dude! We're just friends, and you're just being jealous."
Trent bit his cheek in anger and looked away. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Clearly, talking to you is a waste of time." Before Cody could stop him, Trent stomped off in anger. He stared at the fading figure before looking up at the sky.
Trying to shake off the anger welling up inside of him, COdy walked to the dining hall and got his breakfast. He was alone in the building until Tyler walked in by himself. He decided to sit next to his friend.
"How's it hanging, Code-ster!" Tyler greeted.
Cody could barely keep back a shudder at his old nickname. "Not too bad, you?"
The jock grinned. "It's been going pretty well. Especially since we're on a bit of a streak."
Cody rolled his eyes playfully. "Yeah, enjoy while it lasts, bud. I have a sneaking suspicion that the streak will end tonight. So play your a-game or you're a goner."
Tyler's faux smug look vanished from his face and was replaced by one of horror. "You really think so? I might be out next?"
Cody couldn't help but roll his eyes a second time, this time for real. "I'm sure you'll be fine, dude. I doubt you're the lowest on the Bass ladder." Tyler wiped the sweat off his brow, returning to his bowl of mush.
Suddenly, the door behind them slammed open, shocking the two out of their seats. Behind them was Duncan, looking nearly as tired as he was after the second challenge.
"You!" Duncan yelled, stomping towards Cody and picking him up by the scruff of his collar. "Did you take it?!"
Cody's frantic eyes darted around the room with no idea as to what Duncan was talking about. "W-what? Take what?" he asked fearfully. Duncan's eyes narrowed, studying Cody's fear like a predator stalking its prey. After an excruciating ten seconds, Duncan dropped Cody and grabbed a tray of food before leaving.
Cody dusted the dirt off his shirt. "What was that about?"
Tyler took another look at the door before answering in a low whisper. "Guy's been going kind of crazy over this lighter he lost. He thinks someone stole it."
Cody shifted nervously, finally understanding the situation and the problem he could potentially get himself into. "Why's he care so much about a lighter?"
"I don't know, man. I think he's just too prideful to say he lost it, but you didn't hear that from me."
Cody looked down at the ground. The lighter had remained in his bag since their trip to Boney Island. He didn't know why he had kept it up until that point. It was like he'd gotten any use out of it. But he certainly wasn't going to spill the beans now, not with his head on the line.
"Anyway, who'd you guys dump last night?" Tyler asked.
Cody grimaced. "Owen," he sighed.
Tyler nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, that makes sense. I feel for the guy, your ribs looked pretty good from what I saw. It's a shame, he was pretty fun. Coulda won this thing."
Cody tensed up at the last sentence. He didn't know why, but he wasn't quite comfortable with others potentially acknowledging the past timeline. It felt… wrong.
"I feel really bad. I'm the one who nominated him for Head Chef. And he looked excited about the prospect of a food challenge." After Tyler shot him a deadpan look, Cody clarified. "No, like he wants to get better at cooking. I thought this would help him, but it just got him eliminated." Cody looked down in sorrow.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much. He's the one who ate your food. Plus, everyone's gotta be eliminated at some point, right?"
Cody let Tyler's statement soak in for a moment before growing a weak grin. "Unless you're me. I'm gonna be the one to win this whole thing."
Tyler returned the grin. "No way, bro. I've got this in the bag."
The other contestants began to make their way to the dining hall, grabbing the food which they recognized as the previous challenge's leftovers. A series of grins and laughs came about when Heather entered, wrapped in a blanket. She glared in return, though it was diminished by the sneeze that followed. Tyler left to sit with his team, while Cody moved over to sit next to Gwen and Leshawna.
"Need a little, echinacea?" Gwen taunted.
"Oh, you're so funny! You think you can just lock me up in a freezer and get away with it?"
"Seems to be working out so far," Cody said, poking his fork toward Heather.
"You! You're such a! Such a… ACHOO!"
"So last week's challenge exposed a few Gopher issues," Chris said in his echoing voice as he entered the kitchen. Gwen and Heather naturally glared at each other. Cody and Trent caught each other's eyes before looking away.
"And the Bass, while less dysfunctional, seem a bit less than capable when it comes to challenges…"
Duncan clenched his fist at the host, already contemplating the ways he'd torture Chris once he got off the show.
"So this week's challenge is gonna be centered around building trust. Because all good things begin with a little trust." Chris continued. "There will be three major challenges that will have to be completed by two or more members of your team. Normally, we like to have the campers choose their partners, but not this time. More fun for me."
The host ushered them out of the dining hall and towards a rocky cliff. "Today you'll be doing an extreme free hand, rock climbing adventure. It's gonna be DJ and Duncan for the Bass, Heather and Cody for the Gophers."
Cody blanched at the prospect of being Heather's partner. "You mean I have to put my life in her hands?" Cody asked nervously.
"Yep!"
Cody held his head in his hand. "I hate this show…" he mumbled.
"Here's your belay and harness…" Chris tossed the equipment to Heather and Duncan. "The challenge is to scale this mountain. The face of which is rigged with a few minor… distractions."
"And what would those be?" Duncan questioned impatiently.
"Oh, just some rusty nails, slippery oil slicks, mild explosives, and a few other surprises." DJ nearly fainted, being caught by Geoff. Cody, on the other hand, gave a worried look to the one in charge of keeping him safe.
"Puh-lease. As much as I love your company, I'm not going to throw a challenge just to kill you." Cody wiped his head in relief before Heather continued. "Yet."
As Cody and Heather were setting up, DJ chatted with the delinquent. "I've never wall climbed before. You?" the gentle giant asked.
"Oh yeah. They teach you how to climb walls in prison all the time." Duncan said while rolling his eyes. "Hey, dorkus!" Harold turned to him as if it were his real name. "Not you, dweeb. Dorkus two."
"I assume that's me?" Cody asked, turning to face his opponent.
"You're going down, punk," Duncan said with a snarl in his voice.
"What's with the aggression?" the geek mumbled, glancing warily at Duncan, whose face only looked angrier.
Cody turned back to see that there were now two cords attached to him. "What's with the second line?" he asked..
"Just a security measure. Better two lines holding you up than one, right?" As much as he wanted to, Cody couldn't find a hole in her logic, so let it go. When both DJ and Cody gave the host a thumbs up, he let the two go.
The two future victims began their ascent, though DJ was much faster than the much less athletic Cody. He was only able to catch up when DJ sliced his hand on the nails, leaving a trail of blood running down the side of the mountain. Those at the bottom winced when it got to them.
Just as Cody began to capitalize on his lead, however, he was blasted from the side of the mountain by an explosion. He could barely register what had happened before he felt himself flying. He began to scream before his fall suddenly came to a stop.
"Don't worry! I've got you!" Heather called, much to Cody's surprise. He suddenly felt much better. Maybe she wasn't trying to kill him after all.
He resumed his climb, though he was now much further behind than DJ. That was when Chris decided things weren't interesting enough. Unluckily for Cody, he had climbed so far that he wasn't able to hear what was going on below him. And, as if the universe itself knew the perfect moment, a strong gust of wind blew in, knocking both climbers off balance.
DJ recovered quickly and continued. Cody; however, had a partner currently drenched in habanero sauce. He slammed straight onto the ground just as Heather was able to open her eyes.
"Muy caliente!" Chris said with his sadistic grin. Cody could only groan, both at the inevitable loss to DJ and the bones that he was sure were broken.
"Come on, dweeb! We've still got a chance!" Heather encouraged.
Said dweeb looked up to see that DJ's pace had slowed considerably, likely in fear after Cody's tumble. Recovering for the second time, the geek began to climb at a more reckless pace in hopes of making up the distance. That, combined with DJ's now much slower ascent, resulted in Cody pulling ahead of the gentle giant, nearly making it to the top.
"Come on, Cody! You don't want to fall… behind!" Heather yelled out before yanking the second line, revealing Cody's underwear. Cody felt a light breeze graze his thigh before turning around to see.
Duncan had burst into laughter and began to roll around on the ground. However, his foot reached the rope he had let go, pulling the two into the air, screaming. Cody turned to look and saw that Duncan and DJ were now completely suspended in midair, essentially securing a win for himself.
Despite his multiple setbacks, as well as an extremely unhelpful partner, Cody was able to make it to the top first, gaining his team a point. He cheered until he remembered his lack of pants, covering his behind as fast as he could.
Chris was gracious enough to let Cody retrieve a new pair of jeans. He led his contestants to the mess hall to explain the next challenge.
"It's going to be Harold and Duncan versus Lindsay and Leshawna!" he announced. Cody quirked his eyebrow up at the latter pairing before brushing it off.
Before Chris began to explain the challenge, he dismissed those who weren't participating. "I guess it just isn't that interesting," Gwen noted as they left the mess hall.
"Then why is it a challenge?" Cody wondered, earning a shrug from the goth. Given that they were eventually going to have to participate in the day's challenge at some point, most of the campers decided to take the time off that they could. Many returned to the cabins, and some went to the beach, but Cody noticed that Heather rival wasn't doing either. She was walking into the woods, quick and determined.
He could only sigh internally, mentally preparing himself for the schemes Heather was concocting. After saying goodbye to Gwen who told him she wanted to take a nap, Cody decided to visit the beach.
He sat down on the sandy shore, gazing out at the waters in front of him. In the water were Geoff and Bridgette, playing and flirting whilst splashing about. Cody smiled sadly at them. "Sorry Zeke," he muttered to himself. "I guess some destinies can't be changed."
"Hm?" Cody jumped as Beth came up next to him. "Oh, jeez Beth. You scared the hell out of me!"
"Oh, thorry!" she apologized. She nodded at the ground, silently asking if she could sit next to him. Cody nodded, turning his attention back to the horizon.
"What were you talking about when I got here?" Beth asked.
"Oh, I was just thinkign about Zeke."
"Oh, I thee." An awkward pause fell between them as Ezekiel's name was brought up. Beth shifted nervously, staring at the water in front of them. "L-look, Cody… I'm really-"
Cody put his hand up to stop her. "Please, Beth. You don't have to apologize again. I was out of line when I yelled at you like that. I shouldn't have done that." He looked to the ground, embarrassed.
"N-no, it's okay."
"No, it's not. You haven't done anything to deserve my anger , and yet you were forced to deal with it. I mean, I voted for you! Granted, I don't think you were in real danger, but still…"
"But I did! I wath with Heather for tho long, and I let her bosth me around. Heck, I even voted off Noah and Juthtin just to keep her in the game! And if I hadn't gotten thothe chipth for her, Ethekiel would still be here."
"But you're done with her now, right?" Cody asked.
Beth nodded. "Yeah, I completely turned on her during the paintball challenge. It wath awethome."
"I'm sure it was." Cody chuckled. "Lindsay's still under her thumb though, right?"
"Yeah…" Beth said wistfully as if she had lost a dear friend. "I tried to tell her, but I gueth Heather got to her firtht. Thhe thtill talkth to me, but not nearly ath much ath before. I don't think Heather will let her out of her thight anymore, not after my betrayal."
Cody scrunched his lips and looked at the ground. "Yeah, I guess not. But don't worry. You'll get your friend back eventually. It's only a matter of time before Heather drops her when she needs to escape elimination." Beth winced at the blunt remark, nervously scratching her neck.
Their conversation about Heather slowly drifted into a quiet one, only broken up by the sounds of splashing and laughter coming from the lovebirds in the water. Beth excused herself and Cody soon followed suit. Watching Geoff and Bridgette flirt was hardly how he wanted to spend his free time.
Cody found himself heading toward the campfire pit, an unconscious urge to prove himself to the man strumming his guitar in peace. As the musician noticed him, he set down his instrument, an unreadable look on his face. Cody sat down next to him, expecting Trent to make the first move. After an awkward ten seconds of demanding the other person cave first, Cody relented.
"So," he said, tapping his fingers together, "is Heather a good person for exposing my underwear?"
If Trent was trying to hide the smirk he was wearing, he failed miserably. "I mean, it was pretty funny." Cody shot him an unamused look, though Trent's grin didn't fade. "You can't act like she's a bad person just because of a prank," Trent said.
Cody rubbed his eyebrows in annoyance. "So what? Just because it was a prank doesn't mean that it was justified. She tried to embarrass me despite the fact that we were in the middle of the challenge.'
"If you didn't make yourself such a target all the time, she wouldn't do it to you."
"And how exactly did I make myself a target?" Cody asked, offended.
"You've been challenging her at every step. How is she supposed to be nice to you if you're never nice to her!"
"Nice to her? Nice to her?! Are you kidding me?! She went out of her way just to frame me for the diary! I hadn't done anything to her! How is that my fault?!" Cody yelled. "Why do you keep defending her, even after the diary?! She set me up and insulted you under the guise of being Gwen. She's the one who wrote that stuff about you!"
"Look, you just don't get it," Trent said, looking away.
"Of course I don't get it!" Cody's shouting erupted into a roar. "There shouldn't be an 'it' to get! What, do you think she's gonna like you just because you defend her?" Cody yelled as Trent blushed slightly. "She's here to win the game, and she'll drop you at her earliest convenience."
"I think you just don't understand her. I, for one, think that there's more to a person than what's on the surface."
Cody grabbed his hair in frustration. "I- you- ugh, I need to cool off."
"Whatever, man," Trent said, picking up his guitar.
His face pulsing with anger and sweat, Cody went to the bathroom and washed his face. He grabbed a towel and wiped down his skin. "Argh! What is his deal?!" he yelled to no one.
"Woah, chill out little dude!" Cody jumped as he spun around and saw Geoff. His hair was dripping wet with a towel wrapped around his waist. "What's got you all twisted up?"
Cody took a second to regain his breath and he tried to slow his heart. "Oh, jeez Geoff. Didn't see you there. I was just cleaning up. Trent kinda pissed me off."
Geoff gave a confused look. "But I thought you two were like… close? You guys share a cabin all to yourselves. How do you not get along?"
Cody sighed as he leaned against the counter. "I don't know, to be honest. We just… disagree on some stuff, I guess."
"Well, that's too bad, man. I hate seeing friends fight," Geoff lamented as he began to run his hands through his dripping hair. Cody nodded, his eyes unfocused on the ground. He was only half paying attention to the party guy, who was also growing less and less attentive to the conversation as he began to dress himself. "Well anyway dude, I hope things get better for ya."
"I do too…" Cody mumbled softly, sparing a glance towards the cowboy. Geoff nodded toward Cody before leaving, presumably to continue flirting with Bridgette Despite the conversation being short, Cody felt calmed by the talk with Geoff. He presumed it was just the general attitude of the guy that made it so nobody could ever keep a bad mood around him. After spending another few minutes calming himself down and relieving himself, Cody left the bathroom and saw the host in the doorway of the dining hall.
Chris stepped outside of the mess hall, beckoning his contestants to join him. "Congratulations to the Killer Bass, who won their first point!" A round of cheering rang out from across the camp, as the teens made their way to the host. "And sorry to the Screaming Gophers. Due to Lindsay's excellent cooking, Leshawna is gonna be forced to sit out the rest of the challenges!"
The Gophers groaned at both their loss of the challenge and their loss of a competent teammate. "But lucky for you all…" Chris continued, "The third round involves three more challenges!" A wave of silence fell throughout the crowd.
"Um, how exactly is that good news for us? That just means more chances for us to get hurt." Bridgette asked cautiously.
With a devious grin, Chris replied, "Ah, read that wrong, my bad. It's lucky for me."
With a wave, Chris began to lead them away from the mess hall where they had gathered. "So, here's the challenge.", the host started. He led DJ away from the group, who seemed extremely nervous to be singled out. The host took out an arrow and carefully balanced it on the giant's head. Walking back to the group, he threw Geoff an apple. "You're gonna William Tell this challenge! Throw the apple at the arrow and knock it off his head."
"Wasn't it the other way around?" Gwen asked, no amusement shining through her pale face.
"Yeah, but this is more fun," he said, just as Geoff tried his hand at the challenge, before accidentally hitting DJ in the crotch. As the party boy rushed to help his downed friend, Chris announced the participants.
"Geoff and Bridgette vs. Lindsay and Beth!" The two pairs looked at each other awkwardly. As the lovebirds tried to determine which of the two was less clumsy, which was a difficult choice that ultimately led to Bridgette as the thrower, Beth tried to tell Lindsay of her horrible aim.
"Lindthay, can you do thith one? I've got terrible depth pertheption." Beth lisped.
Lindsay looked unsure of herself. "I-I don't know… I didn't do so great with Lafwonda last time." However, after some encouragement from her team, Lindsay hesitantly accepted her role.
As Chris waved his hand, the challenge, and by extension the pain, started. The apples were lobbed across at Geoff and Beth, who each winced at each fruit thrown their way. Due to each thrower's ineptitude at coordination, the challenge lasted longer than what even Chris expected.
Eventually, due to a ricochet off the ground, Bridgette was able to successfully knock the arrow off of her crush's head, who gave her a toothy grin before promptly collapsing. As Bridgette rushed to Geoff's side to give him medical attention, Chris led them away for their fourth challenge, the trapeze.
Handing Harold and Heather blindfolds, Chris began his explanation. "To avoid serious injury, the trapeze has been set up over this pond." A round of reluctant cheers rang out amongst the teens. "Which is full of jellyfish." A second round of now-expected groans followed suit. It was decided that Harold and Heather would jump into Tyler and Trent's arms respectively.
As the teens watched in fear, or in some cases excitement due to Heather's involvement, Tyler told his teammate to jump prematurely, leading to Harold falling into the pond of jellyfish. Harold's girlish screams did not console the already hesitant Heather.
"I-I'm not doing this!" Heather pouted as she shook at the top of her ladder.
Noticing her fear, Trent tried to calm her down. "Hey, Heather. Just focus on my voice, okay?" he said softly. Cody cringed at the voice once used for Gwen now being used for her. "Just listen to me speak, and when I say jump, you have to trust me, got it?"
"...Got it."
"Okay… now jump!" And she did, straight into Trent's hands. After taking a second to recognize that she wasn't in the water, she shook her blindfold off and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank god.", she said shakily and Trent slowly got the two back to solid ground. Just as the two touched the ground, Heather walked off before Chris even began his explanation of the final challenge.
"Wuh- rude! How am I supposed to build up the suspense of who'll be our final participants?" Chris gasped.
"Was she one of the next contestants?" Duncan asked with his arms crossed.
"Well, no. But it's the principle of the matter!" Chris huffed. "Anywho, let's get on with our final challenge: The Final Mountain Sled Race of Doom!"
"Couldn't come up with a catchier title?" Cody asked.
Chris shot him an angry look but ignored the comment. "Our final four for this challenge are… Bridgette and DJ!" The two looked at each other before giving a small smile. "And Leshawna and Beth!" The two looked nervous but still tried to give each other a confident smile. Chris dismissed the others who were neither in the challenge nor interested in watching it unfold.
Cody walked up to Trent who was still staring off at where Heather left. "Didn't even say thank you, hm? How rude…" Cody teased.
Trent glared at him for a moment. "She was just… startled, that's all."
Cody could only roll his eyes before leaving Trent in silence, not wanting to dignify his weak defense with a response. He spotted Gwen in the distance and decided to talk to her. As he got closer, he noticed that there was something in her hands that she was looking at intently. He slowly approached, but before he got there, she ran off towards the docks without even looking around her. Raising his eyebrow, he decided to look at whatever she had been holding, which she had dropped when she began to run.
"No…" he muttered as he bent down to pick up the all too familiar card lying on the ground. It was a pink envelope with a heart on it. Just to ensure what was in it, Cody quickly scanned through the letter, and much to his horror, it affirmed his guess. He took off running towards the dock, clenching the card in his fist.
"No no no no no… No! This shouldn't be happening! At least, not this soon. Is Heather actually going to… wait a minute. Could this be Trent? There's no way, right? He wouldn't do this. He may be so much more awful to be around this time, but there's no way he'd actually go through with something like this."
"Right?" Cody asked himself quietly as he sprinted towards the docks. It only took him a minute but he arrived at the docks to see Gwen standing at the edge of the dock. Standing at the edge were Heather and Trent, staring at each other. "Oh my god…" he whispered.
Time froze. Each beat of his heart felt like an earthquake as Cody struggled to stay on his feet. Heather, just as she'd done once before, was kissing Gwen's crush. Cody hadn't been there the first time to console his friend, but he remembered how much his heart bled for Gwen when he learned what had happened. Yet, this time, things were happening way too soon. This happened just after the merge, Cody remembering since this is what got Trent sent home. But, this time, they were still in the team phase of the game. What had Cody done to warrant this? As Cody's mind raced, trying to figure out what was going on, tragedy struck a second time within the minute.
Trent began kissing back. No longer was he just an unknowing victim of Heather's game. Gwen let out a pained whimper before running off, not noticing Cody's presence. The time-traveler could only stare at the atrocity that his changes brought on. Heather sputtered as she pushed Trent off of her, leaving the musician looking like a fish desperate for air "What the hell was that? I was only doing that to screw with Gwen. Do you seriously like me?", she said, wiping her lips as if they were contaminated with radioactive material.
"Of course! Sure, I might've thought Gwen was cute for a while, but my heart yearns for you, Heather," he said with lovesick eyes.
Heather held herself back from gagging. "I'll kiss guys to mess with their girlfriend's heads, but there's no way I'd be interested in someone like you," she spat out before walking away. She glanced at Cody on her way out without even making a face or a jab. Cody was left in silence as Trent stood there, slack-jawed. He took a full minute to recover, a minute that Cody also used to digest the information he just got, his head still spinning.
Unfortunately for him, that was just enough time for Trent to refocus his anger onto the one person around him. "YOU!" he yelled, pointing at the nerd.
Still dumbfounded, Cody could only copy his movements and point at himself. "Me?"
"You had something to do with this, right? I could have had her! She kissed me! But you… you must have done something, right? You screwed this up for me. You're dead!" he growled. Cody, still confused, only stared at him in silence and confusion. Trent's eyes shifted into pure rage as he clenched his fist. Cody glanced down and saw the action and turned to run. Luckily, his muscle memory from high school, combined with his teenage body, enabled him an easy escape. Trent tried to follow, but overcome by emotions, left in anger.
Cody's dazed state led him to barely even understand that a few hours had passed since the incident. He did pick up from a few other comments near him that DJ and Bridgette were much less successful than Leshawna and Beth, with the Gophers winning it, much to everyone's chagrin. By now, people had heard about what happened at the dock. Trent was nowhere to be seen, nor was Gwen. Heather caught a lot of flak from the others, though it seemed that most were waiting to take their anger out on Trent. They expected it from the queen bee, not the cool musician.
People seemed to understand that Cody didn't want to be talked to, though they didn't know that he was there to witness it. He imagined that their source was the prone-to-gossip Leshawna, who'd certainly been told the story from her best friend on the island. She didn't even know Cody had been there. Still, they understood Cody's friendship with Gwen, his rocky relationship with Trent, and his budding rivalry with Heather. Although not directly a part of the drama, he had a large stake in it, and so most campers left him be. All except one.
"Like, how crazy is that?! Trevor actually liked Heather? I don't even think she saw that coming!" Lindsay said in a bubbly voice, swinging her legs. For a reason Cody couldn't find, Lindsay had decided to talk to him of all people. "And like, Heather's angry! She's upset that Tanner actually liked it."
"She's upset? Heather's upset?! What do you care about what she thinks?! What about Gwen?! Huh? Lindsay, have you stopped to think about what you helped cause?" Cody snapped at the cheerleader.
Lindsay stopped to take in what he said, which surprised Cody that she was actually thinking. "Oh, gosh. I haven't even thought about Geraldine… But Heather said this would be a good idea. A way to get us to the top two!"
Cody sighed at her innocence. "Lindsay, I'm sure I'm not the first person to tell you this, but Heather's not always right."
Lindsay nodded sullenly in acknowledgement. "I know, but… she's my friend."
"Would a good friend do something like what she just did?"
"No… But she didn't do it to me!"
Cody only sighed yet again. It would seem that Lindsay was intent on sticking by Heather no matter what. "I guess not Lindsay. Would you just, keep in mind what I said?" he asked. Lindsay paused for a second before nodding. The more downtrodden ending to that conversation left the two in silence, which Lindsay was happy to abandon when she spotted Beth and Leshawna.
"Bye Cory!" she said as she ran off to talk with her best friends.
By then, the sun was setting and the Bass left for their elimination ceremony. Cody said a silent goodbye to Harold, who he was sure was out. But when they came back with the nerd, but without DJ, that broke Cody out of his trance. He approached Harold who hung outside for a bit.
"DJ?" he asked simply as Harold looked up and greeted him, to which Cody responded with a wave.
"Yeah, he lost us the hill race. Plus, he said he missed his mom."
"Honestly, I was certain you were out," Cody said with a chuckle.
"Gosh! You have no confidence in me! They wouldn't dare vote me out with my mad skills!"
"I think they would with your 'mad' rank underwear. I've heard stories dude. Not good ones." Cody warned the nerd.
"Whatever! They're the ones making my life a living nightmare!"
"One that would end if you owned up to the spoiled clothing." Harold only bit his lip and nodded his head without a real response, so Cody dropped the subject and bid him adieu.
Entering his cabin, he noticed a figure under the covers of Trent's bed. He had snuck in at some point, though Cody had no idea when. Not having enough energy to confront the guy, he climbed into his bed and tried to push his thousands of thoughts aside and fall asleep.
A/N: So, that was a big chapter. I'll go over Trent as a character. Heather as a villain works well, but a lot of her schemes end up targeting people like Gwen and Leshawna. Sure, I can rework the story to have her be more of a direct adversary to Cody, but I wanted him to have an enemy of his own. Looking through all the characters that would get somewhat far in this story, Trent was one of the few that worked as someone who could be villainous.
I'm sure most of you will say Trent is completely OOC, and I do agree somewhat. I don't think TDI Trent would ever realistically act like this. But I'll still try to go over why he acts the way he does. Trent, at least this version of him, is extremely insecure. This was kind of shown in "Up The Creek" when Cody offers to switch with him saying that she's interested in him. Suddenly, he becomes this beast that demands Cody to tell him if he's lying. I kind of based my Trent off of that. Before the diary incident, he is extremely insecure about whether Gwen likes him. The diary only hurts him further, as he thinks his crush hates him. This manifests itself into self hatred, which is why Trent turns down Gwen later. By then, his insecurity has tricked him into thinking that she truly hates him. And when he sees Cody getting close to her, he believes that Cody is stealing her away from him, leading to a slight disdain towards him. Self hatred turns into outward hatred of others, and so he begins to dislike Cody, and to a lesser extent Gwen. He then catches feelings for Heather, partially due to shared dislike of Cody and Gwen, plus a teensy bit of physical attraction as well. And when Heather also turns him down in this chapter, and he sees Cody witnessing the whole thing, he completely blames Cody for ruining any chance he has with any girl.
A bit complicated, and definitely OOC, but honestly? Trent's a boring character and I wanted to spice him up a bit. Plus, more drama can only be more interesting, right? I don't think I wrote Trent perfectly. Trust me, I've deleted so many scenes of him that I think didn't work, and yet I'm still not 100% on how I handled him. There's been a lot of times where I've thought his transition into meanness was way too jarring and quick, and other times where I thought that I was taking it way too slow and that he was barely changing. But hey, this is where we've ended up. You want to know why I bumped it up in my original draft to this episode from 'Search and Do Not Destroy'? Because I literally forgot that it wasn't in this episode. I know, I'm such a quality writer. Otherwise, I just don't really like this episode. It's boring, normally nothing happens in it. So it actually fits perfectly to bump up this stuff.
Heather gets a small part where she isn't a truly awful person, how fun. I put this in for a reason you'll see later, but I'll explain it now. Heather said that because she never meant to fully break them up, only to direct anger at each other so the so-called alliance would fall apart. It was obvious to her that they'd eventually figure it out and get back together, so she didn't care since it was temporary. But this time, Trent fully broke her heart, and Heather was not okay with that. As I said, I'll go into that later. Much later.
Also, as for DJ, there's not really much to say. The guy has little importance in this story, and can be spared unlike Harold or Geoff. Also, keeping that group of four Bass limited is nice so that I don't need arbitrary votings later on. If too many of them got too far, they would have full control over who went home, and so I'd have to find a reason for them to split their votes until they got whittled down.