The camp had a certain stench to it that Cody couldn't quite place. Sure, the food didn't pass any laws, it was the middle of summer, and the camp was full of sweaty teenagers. Still, the mild odor that permeated the camp didn't make Cody want to stay any longer than he had to. Not that that ship hadn't sailed the moment Cody hadn't gotten himself voted out on day one. Here he was now, only one challenge that didn't eliminate anybody standing between him and the coveted merge.
He peeked out of the window and saw that the sun was well into the sky already, meaning that he had slept in. With no helicopter or megaphone leaving a permanent ringing in his ear, Cody quickly surmised that the teens had a day to themselves. The rival Cody shared a room with was already gone, so he quickly changed his clothes and stepped outside.
As usual for their free days, the teens had scattered around camp doing various activities. Some were swimming, some were in the dining hall, and some were just hanging around. Cody decided to approach one of the happiest people around, who was sitting on the stairs of his cabin with a smile on his face.
"So, Harold, how goes it?" Cody asked, leaning on the railing of the stairs. Harold, who was in an almost dream-like trance, could only mumble out "huh?". It was only after Cody poked him that he finally snapped out and turned to face his friend.
"Oh, hey Cody." he wheezed.
The tech-geek crossed his arms and grinned. "I wonder what's got you in such a good mood this morning."
Harold continued to smile brightly. "I… just…wow…"
Cody rolled his eyes at his friend's stupor. "So, Leshawna? Never saw that coming."
Harold stared at the ground in front of him, no doubt wishing that his princess was standing there in place of the grass. "She's just so perfect. So beautiful, so strong, so everything."
Seeing that his friend was beginning to stare back off into space, Cody interjected, trying to shift the subject. "So, has Duncan kept up his promise about not bullying you anymore?"
Harold looked upset that his enemy was brought up in place of his love but pushed it aside. "So far, yeah. I think losing DJ kinda brought him down a bit. They were kind of a trio with Geoff, and since he doesn't really care about me, Tyler, or Bridgette, he only really talks to Geoff. I'm grateful, at least. Didn't take him as someone who would stick to his word, but so far it's working out."
The two sat on the steps of the Bass cabin for another half hour. Eventually, the topic was brought back to a more nerdy level. "But I was stuck on that boss for an hour!" Cody said, his mouth hanging wide open. "How did you beat it on the first try?"
Harold shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know man! Just don't invest in stealth that hard, magic's the way to go!"
"Move it, dorks," Duncan said, waiting impatiently at the top of the stairs, Geoff right behind him.
Cody immediately stood up, mostly out of fear, and stepped aside. "Have you guys been in there the whole time?"
"Yeah, and you two are exceptionally loud," Duncan complained with a scowl, passing the nerdy duo.
"Ha, yeah! You guys and your magic and swords and whatever. Funny, huh Dunc?" Geoff laughed boisterously, sliding an arm over his friend's shoulder.
Duncan snickered at his friend's enthusiasm. "Yeah. Funny. Let's go."
The two left, as Harold stood up as well. "I'll go too, I guess. I haven't showered yet."
Cody took a whiff of his friend and immediately agreed, letting his friend go. As he leaned on the railing of the stairs, he felt his stomach growl loudly. He found himself speeding towards the dining hall, regardless of the inevitable abomination awaiting him.
Upon arrival, he saw Tyler alone at the corner of one of the tables. The athlete gave him a wave and motioned him over. Grabbing his tray, Cody obeyed and sat across from him.
"How's it hanging, Cody?" Tyler asked, his food still unchewed in his mouth.
"Good man, good. How about you?" Cody replied.
"I've been great. Hanging with Lindsay's been so awesome! It sucks we're on different teams, but I'm just glad I met her."
Cody smiled at his friend's fortune. "Hey, I'm happy for you man. Glad you're still in the game, too."
Tyler grinned and gave the nerd a thumbs-up. "You bet! And I'm not stopping here. I'm planning on getting to the finale, with Linds in tow." It took a second for Tyler to stop boasting and realize his slight towards Cody. "Oh, uh, I mean good luck to you too! Hope you get third. Uh, wait."
Cody shook his head smiling. "Don't worry, I know what you mean." Tyler looked relieved before Cody continued. "You mean you hope I get to the finale just to crush you, right?" Cody teased.
"I'd like to see you try. Bring it on!" Tyler roared, punching the air to hype himself up. Cody, unbothered by the punches so close to his face, continued to slowly chew his food. He figured that Tyler was more likely to hurt himself than anyone else. Tyler took another swing but put a bit too much charge into it, wrapping it around and hitting himself upside the head.
Cody choked on his food as he watched Tyler recover from the hit. "Oww," he complained, rubbing his reddening cheek.
Trying to calm himself before he couldn't stop laughing, Cody let out a final chuckle before shaking his head. "Good one, Mike 'Tyler'."
It was then that the door creaked open and the two stopped joking to see who it was.
"Tyler!" Lindsay squealed, dashing to his side. She fell into him perfectly as Tyler wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Linds!" The two immediately began to lock lips. Cody averted his eyes as the two continued without noticing his presence. He glanced back at the two and when they didn't stop, he coughed loudly.
"Oh, hey Calvin!" Lindsay greeted as if she hadn't been sucking on her boyfriend's face a moment ago.
"How are you today, Lindsay? You did great skiing yesterday." Cody said, now having grown used to Lindsay's faulty memory.
"Thank you! That was so much fun! I feel bad I lost it though, then maybe Leshawna might still be here." she said, her head hanging low as she mentioned her friend.
"Honestly, I think Chris was gonna drive her nuts anyway, he has too much fun with it not to. And… wait. Did you seriously get Leshawna's name right? Of all the names, you got hers? And when she's not even here?" Cody groaned.
Lindsay remained confused as if she didn't understand what he was talking about at all, the face burned onto her face after so many years. "Hm? What do you mean?"
Cody just shook his head as Tyler held her closer. "Yeah Linds, I really wouldn't worry about it. It's not your fault. Plus, it was nice to see Chris get beaten up for once."
"If only she could've gone after Heather, too." Tyler continued.
Lindsay's face lit up as if a broken light bulb in her brain finally went off. "Oh yeah! That's why I came over here. Heather's in a bad mood right now and she told me not to bother her."
"Ugh, babe. You really need to stay away from her. She's terrible!" Tyler lectured, standing up in anger. "I've seen the way she treats you. You shouldn't have to go through all of that for someone who doesn't give anything in return!"
Lindsay seemed hesitant. "But, she told me she can get me into the final three!"
"Didn't you tell me that Beth was in that alliance too? And she's already out!"
"But that was because she betrayed us or something. That's what Heather told me, at least."
Tyler facepalmed. "Cody, could ya back me up here a little?"
Cody sat in silence for a second before answering. "I can't deny all the awful things she's done. But, don't you think that there must be something deeper?" Tyler looked at Cody as if he had three heads before Cody hastily continued. "I mean, something's gotta make her that mean, you know? I don't believe anybody's born evil. So that's gotta mean there's some good inside of her, right?"
Tyler was flabbergasted. "W-what? Cody, dude. She forged Gwen's diary to make Trent hate her, and then blamed it on you! And she never came forward until forced to, even when you exiled yourself into the woods. What part of that screams, 'nice'?"
Cody turned to Lindsay. "Well, what do you think, Lindsay? Of everybody, you've been around her the longest. Is she always the way she seems?"
Lindsay struggled to think before finally putting together a sentence. "She's not… always mean. She usually returns my makeup after she takes it. Plus, she let me take the bottom bunk since she said I would probably fall off if I were on top."
"That's… not good at all, Lindsay! She's not even being nice there, she's just stopping herself from being even meaner." Tyler's jaw seemed as if it couldn't go any further to the ground. "I think it's about time I give her a piece of my mind!"
Cody grabbed Tyler's arm before he did something rash. "Tyler, trust me. You do not want to be on her bad side. Just… stay neutral, please."
Tyler swiped Cody's hand away. "I just don't get it! After all she's done, you're just gonna let her get away with it all? She's been awful."
"And she'll stay awful as long as we treat her like she is."
The athlete massaged his forehead, trying to understand Cody's perspective. "I don't think I get it dude."
Cody nodded. "That's fine. I'm not sure I do entirely." They sat in silence for a little while, coming down from the small argument.
"Listen, if you want to be cool to Heather," Tyler broke the silence, "then that's all you. Don't expect me to treat her well, though. Well, Linds. Now that Heather's 'busy', why don't we go somewhere else?"
Lindsay blushed and nodded, and Cody gagged and rolled his eyes again. "Later, lovebirds."
Cody remained in the dining hall for another hour, slowly getting through his lunch. A few people passed through, though most didn't talk to Cody. Gwen came in for a bit, and the two lamented Leshawna's elimination. "You know, this really isn't looking good for us," Gwen said as she stared at her tray marred by Chef's food.
Cody took stock of their current team. It was himself, Gwen, Trent, Heather, and Lindsay. "Both Heather and Trent hate me, so I guess I'm out next time we lose, huh?" Cody thought out loud.
"Unless we can get Lindsay out of Heather's grasp."
Cody thought back to his earlier conversation. "Yeah, I don't know how likely that is." Although a part of him wanted to at least hint that they were already at the merge, he kept himself quiet. After finishing his food, he said goodbye to Gwen and left the mess hall.
The sun was now significantly lower, so he decided he wanted to go swimming. He hadn't touched the water since their cliff-diving challenge. Sure, that experience was bad, but he couldn't let Chris' tortures define his time in the water. He quickly learned why Bridgette never spent too much time in the water as the water remained almost perfectly still. Regardless, Cody swam for a while, soaking in the setting sun and the cold water he floated on top of.
When got out of the water, his fingers were shriveled up and his hair falling just over his eyes. He decided to dry himself off at the bonfire ceremony, where he wouldn't have to go until after he'd made the merge. Cody breathed a sigh of relief, smiling at his performance so far.
"Halfway, huh?" he muttered. "I'm really doing this. Could I…?"
His thought was cut off as he noticed a figure exiting the confession cam. "Heather?" he asked himself. The queen bee stood outside the outhouse, leaning on the side. Her arms were crossed, and though at a distance, Cody could see that she clearly wasn't happy. Not the normal unhappy, like she was ready to yell at someone. But something more real, an anger or sadness specific to her.
Cody was tempted to go ask her what was going on. Dream Heather had given him advice, and he was trying his hardest to keep his promise. But before he did anything, he stopped himself. "You're doing this right, Cody. This will be a slow process, she won't change overnight. And there's no way me trying to help will do any good."
So Cody watched as Heather brooded silently. She was there for a good five minutes before releasing her breath and returning to the cabin. Cody, who was hunched over sitting on the stump, finally stretched himself back out.
"What could that have possibly been about?"
Cody, like the girl he'd just accidentally stalked, went back to his cabin as the sun had thoroughly set. He was relieved to find that Trent hadn't returned yet before it struck him. "I haven't seen Trent at all today."
Normally, he'd always be happy to not have to see his roommate, but given the type of game they were playing, he immediately grew suspicious and wary. "I've gotta get rid of Trent. This whole game can run a lot smoother for me once he's gone."
A pang shot through his heart as he mumbled out those words. The idea of celebrating Trent's elimination felt so… wrong, so alien. The foolish, naive side of Cody's brain was tempted to go find Trent and sort it out once and for all, finally putting their beef to rest. Unfortunately, Cody's mind wasn't the sixteen year old it was cosplaying as. Trent was just too far gone.
Was it Cody's fault? If he'd just acted normally, Trent would currently be trying to woo Gwen, not trying to pick a fight with everybody he saw. Cody wanted to say that it wasn't, that Trent's delusions were just an unfortunate result of a series of events that Cody was too late to nip in the bud. But Cody knew he was wrong. He'd done this to Trent, and he'd have to live with that.
A/N: Last free day chapter before merge, woohoo! Given how close we are to the merge, the Killer Bass are gonna become a lot more important really soon, so I need Cody to start having relationships with them so half the cast isn't useless. Cody and Duncan are already set up, so fleshing out Harold and Tyler seemed like a good use of words. Bridgette and Geoff have kinda fallen to the wayside a bit, but there's just not much of a reason for Cody to really talk to them that much yet.
I've realized that although Cody has wondered why Trent is so much worse in this universe, he's never really thought about it being his fault, which is definitely something he'd do. He'd feel awful for warping his friend into someone much worse.
More Heather stuff, as expected. Like the rest of this chapter, this is more set up. I know I've said this for basically every chapter up until this point, but we're finally reaching a head in this story. The merge is quickly approaching, and only one chapter stands in our way, that being the Brunch of Disgustingness. I promise, once we're in the merge, things will be moving at a much more rapid pace. Storylines will evolve instead of stagnating and conflicts will be started and ended. We are well past the halfway mark by this point, with 39 total chapters (1 being an author's note), so it's about time things sped up.