I Don’t Wanna Be Famous
A Total Drama SI story
Disclaimer: Total Drama belongs to Fresh TV Inc. I’m simply borrowing it to tell some stories.
Author’s Notes: That’s two weeks to the day! That totally counts! … And if I missed a typo or anything because I was hurrying stuff last minute, just let me know.
Chapter 21: Boney Island 2: Beth’s Revenge
Chris stood on the dock as he addressed the camera.
“Last time, on Total Drama Island…”
Clips began rolling, showing scenes from the previous episode.
“The campers got sent out on safari. They made like they were zookeepers. Although… some of them might wanna look at other careers.
“And Heather and Jason formed an unexpected alliance, which helped… a little. Although everyone else helped by sucking!
“This week, our six remaining campers will get waaay too close for comfort. Will Heather and Jason’s alliance survive another challenge? Will Heather avoid the Boat of Losers yet again?
“And... who will be voted off this week in the most dramatic campfire ceremony yet? Find out tonight… on Total. Drama. Island!”
In the twilight hours of the morning after the animal catching challenge, Heather was humming to herself as she made her way from the girls’ cabin to the communal bathroom. She wore nothing but a towel, and carried a smaller one, along with shower supplies, in her hands. She had gotten up an hour early, just to make sure she was the first to make use of the freshly-cleaned showers. There were a few birds chirping, but other than that all was quiet in the camp, and she soon reached her destination. She opened the door and-
“Mornin’.”
Heather fairly jumped out of her skin upon hearing the unexpected, lazy greeting from within the bathroom. Once she convinced her heart to move back down in her chest, she flicked the light switch, illuminating not only the interior of the bathroom but also the offender, standing by the sinks with a toothbrush in hand.
“What are you doing here?!” she asked heatedly. Seeing Jason first thing in the morning had not been part of her plan.
“Brushin’ my teeth,” came the lazy answer, right before the boy replaced the toothbrush in his mouth and resumed brushing.
Feeling one eye twitch sporadically, Heather then asked, “And why are you only wearing a towel?!”
Indeed, the boy had a towel wrapped around his waist, but was otherwise naked. It was really distr- unseemly. Yes, it was unseemly. And nothing more.
Annoyingly slowly, the boy removed the toothbrush and spoke. “Just got outta the shower. You?” he returned, indicating the towel wrapped around her own body.
Heather felt her cheeks flush. “I-I was going to take an early shower!” she said defensively before she steeled herself and added, “I got up early for it, too! Why are you here already?!”
“Slept in,” the boy drawled. “Chasing that duck around took it outta me, you know?”
Of course you did. As Jason replaced the toothbrush once more, Heather realized her hand was still resting on the light switch, and she glared at the boy. “And why were you standing here in the dark, anyway?”
The boy stopped brushing. “It wasn’t dark.”
“Yes it was! The lights were off!”
Jason did a lazy sweep of his hand toward the small windows lining the top of the walls. “There are windows,” he said before he resumed brushing.
Heather scowled. Somehow, she’d forgotten she wasn’t dealing with a civilized human being who got up at a reasonable hour, or cared about things like electricity. Or being able to see.
“Whatever. Just get out so I can shower.”
The boy paused in his brushing. “In a minute.”
Realizing that was likely the best she was going to get, Heather took a deep, calming breath. Her morning had started out so nice, with her getting up early and looking forward to showering alone. But then he had to butt in. As if she hadn’t seen enough of him the night before…
While the Asian girl’s thoughts drifted back to the previous night, Jason finished his business and moved to leave, only to stop in front of her. He looked her up and down briefly before their eyes met and he smiled.
“What?” Heather asked, feeling just a tad self-conscious.
“I never realized. Without those weird shoes on, you’re no taller than I am.”
Heather fairly bristled. “They’re called wedge sandals, you… you fashion ignoramus!”
Irritatingly, the boy snorted a laugh. “Oh, come on, that’s not even an insult! Only sheep follow fashion.”
Heather bit back a scathing reply and instead said, “Oh, what, and you’re a wolf?”
Jason cocked his head sideways. “A wolf…? Nah, I’m more of a lynx,” he replied. “Or maybe a house cat. Ohhh, or a lynx that’s, like, half-domesticated…?”
Heather internally groaned. Whatever coolness factor the boy’s answer might have had initially, it was quickly overshadowed by the babbling.
“Just go.”
“Huh? Oh, right. See ya.”
With that, the boy finally – finally – left. Heather’s gaze followed him until he walked out of view, then she closed the bathroom door and made very sure to lock it.
There would be no more interruptions. She had come here for a shower and she would take it. Even still, she couldn’t help but linger on the boy’s words.
A lynx, huh…?
Right around the time Heather finished her shower and headed back to the girls’ cabin, there came the noise of a helicopter approaching camp. Stopping briefly on the porch of the cabin, the Asian girl looked up to see the by this point familiar sight of Chris’s bright-red helicopter stopping to hover over the camp while a drone carrying a camera hovered near the cockpit.
Heather sighed and shook her head before continuing inside, muttering, “Great. What now?”
“Welcome back to Total Drama Island!” Chris greeted cheerfully from within his helicopter, his voice partially drowned out by the noise of the rotors. “Over the past six weeks, we’ve watched seventeen campers push themselves to the limit! And then get their butts kicked off the island by their fellow campers! Sucks to be you!”
He then proceeded to list all the campers in the order they’d been eliminated from the competition, all while a video reel played for the viewers of each camper as their name was spoken.
“Katie, Sadie, Noah, Bridgette, Izzy, Cody, Tyler, Leshawna, Beth, Harold, Owen, Geoff, Beth again, Justin, Gwen, Lindsay, DJ, and finally Duncan.”
I stepped out of my camper to join the other campers gathered outside the cabins as Chris landed his helicopter and began walking toward us. All the while, his head was turned toward one of the cameramen walking beside him. The host spoke.
“Along with surprise returnee Izzy, only six campers remain. And after six weeks of bugs, crappy camp food, and even grosser bathrooms,” he said and came to a stop in front of us, “our six finalists are about thiiis close to losing it. We strove to come up with the best way to help the campers de-stress… then decided it would be way more fun to handcuff them together and see if we couldn’t push ‘em over the edge.”
As he said the last bit, he pulled a pair of handcuffs out from behind his back for emphasis.
“I wouldn’t mind pushing you over an edge,” I said mock-cheerfully. “Like, a cliff’s edge, maybe?”
Chris laughed good-naturedly. “No thanks! Anyway, the cuffs are for today’s challenge: The Tri-Armed Triathlon!”
I quirked an eyebrow at him. “What, like three arms?”
“Yes! Three challenges, three teams of two, three arms per team!”
“Have you met these people? I am not being chained to any of them,” Heather interjected.
“Yeah, uh, do we get to pick our partner?” I asked after giving the girl a sidelong glance.
Chris chuckled. “Nope. However, winning team members both get invincibility from tonight’s vote. Ya interested?”
“You heard Chris: It’s a triathlon. That means it’s a physical challenge, so Jason’s the only real competition,” Eva said in the confessional, her arms crossed over her chest. “If the two of us get paired up, it’s a done deal. If not… it’s gonna be a challenge. Whoever my partner is, they better not slow me down.”
“Oh, man, I can’t believe it’s been six weeks already,” Trent said in the confessional, shaking his head. “All this time, and Jason’s still around! I know he’s tricked Izzy and Eva into following his lead, but if I can get invincibility, then maybe I can finally get him kicked off…”
“Wooo, final six! Yeah!” Izzy cheered in the confessional. “And now we’re gonna get handcuffed? I love handcuffs!”
“Ohhh, final six, huh?” Courtney said as she sat in the confessional. She bit her lip briefly before she continued. “I always knew I was going far, of course, but… I don’t know, it doesn’t feel quite right without Duncan. I would have liked to do the triathlon with him…”
“Six. Weeks.” Heather massaged her temples as she sat in the confessional. “Six weeks of putting up with these idiots. At least it’ll all be worth it when I get to the final two and kick Jason’s tight little butt in the finale.”
The Asian girl blinked, then, right before her expression turned into one of alarm and she made a lunge for the camera.
“Six weeks. Man.” Jason sighed and shook his head as he sat in the confessional. For some reason, there was a crack visible along the upper right hand side of the frame. If the boy noticed, he gave no sign. “You know, without going into the woods every day, I’d have probably cracked by now. Some of these people… Ah, well, at least it’s gonna be over soon. And the triathlon thing? Ehhh… Depends on who my partner is, I guess.”
A few minutes after our confessionals, we stood alongside one of the tables in the main lodge. Except now we had been cuffed to our partner for the triathlon. On my left were Eva and Courtney, and on the other side of them were Izzy and Trent. I glanced to my right and let my gaze follow along the black rubber covering the rather lengthy chain connecting the handcuff on my right wrist to the one on my partner’s left wrist, up the arm, and-
I smirked. “Well. I’ve heard about the old ball-and-chain, but-”
Heather glared. “Shut. Up.”
I chuckled and turned my eyes toward Chris, who stood beside the table, ready to address us. The host chuckled in turn and spoke.
“First of our three challenges: competitive chow-down! Each team will choose a feeder and an eater. Eaters must put their hands behind them, making it more difficult for the feeders,” he explained, then reached into a pocket and pulled out a key with a head shaped like a skull. He held it up for us all to see. “One last thing: This is the wimp key, a skeleton key that will open any handcuffs. You will be offered the wimp key at each challenge to unshackle yourselves from your teammate. Buuut, if you choose to accept it, you’ll both be eliminated.”
Heather sighed in disappointment. “So how do we win?”
“Chef’s getting platters for each team,” Chris responded. “Title goes to the team who finishes their platter of delicacies fastest.”
“You’re eating,” Heather said resolutely, turning to me.
I blinked. “Oh, yeah? Why not you?”
“Uh, hello? I have to watch my figure.”
I looked her up and down. “Yeah? Looks to me like you could stand to gain a few.”
Heather opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out. After a moment, she crossed her arms over her chest and promptly looked away. “Whatever. Idiot.”
“If Jason’s eating, then so am I,” I heard Eva say, and I turned to see the gym girl speaking to her partner, Courtney. “You got that?”
“Uh, sure,” Courtney said, looking a bit taken aback by the other girl’s fire.
Over on the other side of the pair, Trent spoke. “Hmm. I guess I’ll eat.”
“Cool,” Izzy replied with a nod and a grin.
“And with everyone in agreement, it looks like it’s time for brekkie,” Chris spoke up, just as Chef Hatchet walked into the room from the kitchen, carrying trays laden with food. He put them down on the table, one before each team.
The food looked to be… surprisingly all right, actually. There were fruits, berries, a green chicken, some quiche, a cheesecake- Hold on. Green chicken?
I inspected the possibly foul fowl. It didn’t look like any mold I ever saw, but there was definitely something green covering the meat and skin.
“I don’t think chicken’s green in nature,” Heather volunteered.
“Yeahhh… I’m not sure what’s up with that,” I admitted.
“Oh, well, I’m not the eater,” the Asian girl said cheerfully. “Now sit down.”
“Just a sec,” I interjected. I reached into one of my pockets and pulled out the small, plastic container holding my pills. I took two, chewed and swallowed, then looked into the container, finding it almost empty. “Aw, man. I’m almost out of lactase pills.”
Heather roller her eyes. “Less whining, more eating.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…”
As per Chris’s earlier instructions, I put my arms behind my back and sat down, with Heather sitting down – somewhat reluctantly, I noted – next to me. The other pairs followed suit, and it wasn’t long before Chris gave the signal.
“Eaters… eat!”
Heather wasn’t too keen on being handcuffed to anyone, least of all Jason; the boy was pretty much pure aggravation on legs. True, they were officially in an alliance now, and he did help her out with some of the previous challenges, and he did save her from the psycho killer that one time…
Heather pushed the thoughts aside. This was a competition, which was all that mattered; everything else was secondary at best.
“Eaters… eat!”
When Chris gave the signal, Heather threw herself into the challenge with gusto, using the spoon she’d been supplied to shovel food into Jason’s mouth. It didn’t take her long to realize that she could use this opportunity to get some much-needed payback.
“’ey, shlow down, I can’ ea’ tha’ fash’,” the boy said in protest, but his protests only made the grin on Heather’s face grow wider.
“No talking, just eating!” she said gleefully as she continued shoveling more food into his mouth.
“Bu’ I can’ chew!”
“There’s no time for chewing, just swallow it! And remember, Wild Boy: Spitters are disappointing.”
Seeing the look of rage on the boy’s face and hearing his muffled and largely unintelligible protests made Heather feel immensely pleased with herself.
Maybe being handcuffed together wouldn’t be so bad, after all!
“And the winners are… Courtney and Eva!” Chris announced once all was said and done.
“Yesh! I won!” Eva exclaimed triumphantly, her mouth still half-full of food.
Heather slapped Jason on the shoulder. “This is your fault!”
“I told you I couldn’t chew!” the boy shot back. Unlike Eva he’d actually swallowed before speaking, but unlike her he still had some food left on his tray.
“Ugh,” Heather retorted in annoyance. She glanced over to the far end of the table, where Izzy was idly poking at an insensate Trent, the boy lying with his head on the table and his mouth open, with food spilling out. The Asian girl winced. “At least we didn’t come in last…”
“Okay, I may have gone a little overboard, shoveling food down Jason’s throat,” Heather admitted in the confessional. “But what else was I supposed to do? It was my chance to get back at him and win the challenge, all at once! It’s not my fault he couldn’t handle it.”
Following our humiliating defeat in the eating contest, Chris gathered us all at the dock. The host held up the wimp key and made a show of shaking it enticingly.
“Last chance for the tempting wimp key before part two!” he said.
“Don’t even think about it,” Eva said warningly to Courtney, who gulped and quietly nodded.
“We’re good!” Izzy exclaimed, while next to her Trent gave her a fearful sidelong glance. Clearly, the boy wasn’t over his near-death experience during the challenge. What a wimp.
“You better not screw this one up,” Heather said to me then, attracting my attention.
I sighed. “Look, I’m not a fast eater,” I said. “I like to take my time and enjoy my food. How is that so wrong?”
“It cost us the challenge!” she said heatedly.
“Yeah, well, maybe you should have been the eater instead, then, huh?” I shot back.
“I told you, I’m-”
“Ahem!” Chris interjected. “Does anyone want to hear about the next challenge?”
“Uh, yeah,” Trent said. “What’s the next challenge, Chris?”
With our full attention on him once more, the host gave a self-satisfied smirk. “On the beach, you will find three canoes – one for each team. Your challenge is to paddle your canoe, while wearing handcuffs,” he said with a chuckle, “all the way to Boney Island. Once there, you will open a package that is waiting for you. Go!”
Indeed, there were three canoes on the beach next to the dock, and with the signal given, we all made a mad dash for them… incidentally trampling the host in the process.
It may not have been entirely an accident.
Heather climbed into the canoe, taking the front seat, while I pushed it into the water before climbing in and taking the back seat. We grabbed the paddles and with that, we were off.
Despite some minor complications along the way involving handcuffs and paddles, Heather and I were first to reach Boney Island.
“Hurry up! They’re almost here!” Heather said as she stepped out of the canoe.
“Wait, we gotta grab the package, first!” I shot back and picked up one of the large, green backpacks lying on the beach. There were three in all, and one had already been opened and emptied by Eva and Courtney before they ran off. I opened the backpack and searched around inside, finding… a piece of wood?
I pulled it out, revealing what looked sort of like a piece of a tiki idol or some- Oh.
Heather gasped. “Is that the cursed idol Beth picked up?!”
At that exact moment, there was a gust of wind and a loud whirring noise as Chris’s helicopter appeared from behind the large, skull-shaped rock overlooking the beach. Looking up, I saw the host brandish his megaphone.
“Welcome to the second part of the second challenge!” he called out. “Back in episode eight your fellow camper Beth stole the Boney Island tiki doll!”
“But she said she returned that!” Courtney called out as she and Eva pulled up on the beach in their canoe.
“She lied! She broke it up and flushed it down the septic tank!”
I wrinkled my nose in distaste at this revelation, while around me there was a chorus of “Eww!” from the other campers.
“I know! The pieces in those packs need to be returned to the Cave of Treacherous Terror. And you’ll wanna do it double quick, ’cause the longer you have the doll, the worse your luck! Oh, yeah, one of you has to piggyback the other. Enjoy!”
The third canoe, carrying Izzy and Trent, pulled up just as Chris finished his explanation and flew off.
“Aww, man,” I said dejectedly. “My legs are still shot from yesterday…”
“Who said I wanted to be carried by you?!” Heather interjected. She crossed her arms over her chest, the motion tugging on my handcuffed arm.
I shot her a flat look. “Oh, yeah, like you’re gonna carry me,” I said. Grunting, I crouched down. “Come on, get up.”
Heather didn’t look pleased at all. She looked toward the other campers, but they were already on their way, with Trent carrying Izzy and Eva carrying Courtney. Heather looked back at me.
“Come on!” I said.
The Asian girl’s eyes hardened. “Fine! But if you cop a feel, I’m smashing you in the head with the tiki doll.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
“I want to make it clear that I categorically did not enjoy being carried on Jason’s back,” Heather said resolutely in the confessional. “The entire experience was absolutely dreadful, and I would never, ever do it again. Do you understand me? Good.”
“Can’t you hurry it up? The others passed us already!” Heather complained on my back.
“I told you: my legs are shot from yesterday!” I snapped back at her. “If you think this is so fuckin’ easy, then- Ow! Cramp! Ow!”
Cursing under my breath, I did several short hops on one leg until I was able to lean against a tree. Using the arm that wasn’t handcuffed to Heather, I massaged my cramping leg while intermittently stretching it out. While I did, Heather climbed off my back.
“Seriously? Are you done yet?” she asked. “We’re losing valuable time, here!”
“Jus’ gimme a sec,” I muttered. I spent another moment massaging and stretching, then sighed. “Okay, fine. Get back on and let’s do this.”
“About time,” Heather said haughtily and climbed onto my back. After a moment, she added more softly, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, just shut up about it,” I replied, maybe a bit more tersely than I’d intended.
“Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
Eva was in high spirits as she jogged through the woods with Courtney on her back. They were in the lead, and by all accounts would reach the cave first.
“Okay, according to the map, it should be just around that bend,” Courtney announced.
“Great! We’re winning this!” Eva returned and hurried her steps. They rounded the bend and, just as Courtney had said, there was the cave. Eva ran toward it, not wanting to let anyone-
“W-wait! Wait!” Courtney exclaimed suddenly, and Eva had to dig her heels in to stop.
“What?!” Eva asked, looking around wildly for threats.
“Th-there’s a spider!”
“… A spider,” Eva deadpanned. She looked up at Courtney, but the Hispanic girl wasn’t looking at her, but rather something up above. Following her gaze, Eva saw an admittedly rather large spider dangling from a web hung above the entrance to the cave. “You’re kidding me.”
“B-but what if it jumps or something?!” Courtney shot back. “It might be poisonous!”
“I don’t care-”
“All right! Finally!” a voice exclaimed suddenly, and Eva turned to see Trent, Izzy on his back, round the bend that they themselves had rounded moments before.
Eva scowled; had they been that close the whole time?! Damn!
“Hurry up and throw the tiki into the cave!” Eva demanded.
“What? Oh, right, I have it right here in my- Um…”
At the same moment Courtney trailed off, Eva heard heavy footsteps coming from the direction of the cave. She slowly turned and came face to face with three giant, tusked beavers, each the size of a bear and looking twice as nasty.
Trent slowed to a stop next to Eva as he, too, spotted the monsters. “Ohhh, crap! I forgot about the monster beavers!” the musician said, taking a step back. “And they don’t look beat up, this time…”
“Yeah, they look kinda angry,” Izzy agreed, then giggled. “Ohhh, maybe they wanna play catch? Here, catch!”
The redhead tossed her piece of the tiki doll into the bushes, but the monster beavers didn’t even look in that direction, opting instead to advance on the four teens, growling menacingly.
“Okay, I’m out,” Trent said resolutely, then turned and ran for all he was worth.
“Shouldn’t we follow them?” Courtney asked, her voice clearly agitated. “I think it might be a good idea to follow them!”
Eva tsked. If it had been only a single monster beaver, she wouldn’t have hesitated, but three? She hated to admit it, but that seemed like a bit much, even for her. She took a step back, then another, the beavers matching her every step.
Finally, the gym girl growled and threw in the towel. She turned and ran after the retreating Trent and Izzy.
“This isn’t over, beavers!”
We were almost at the cave – or where the map said the cave was supposed to be, anyway – when suddenly we were passed by first Trent and Izzy, then shortly after Eva and Courtney, both pairs making a mad dash in the direction we had come from. I wasn’t sure they even noticed us, they were in such a hurry.
Heather cursed. “Damn it! They must have already tossed the tikis into the cave!”
I grit my teeth. Chris hadn’t announced a winner, yet, so… “It might be we have to make it back to Wawanakwa after tossing the tiki in the cave,” I suggested hopefully.
“Hey… Yeah! That explains why they were running!” Heather agreed. “Hurry it up, Wild Boy! We can still win this!”
“Aye-aye!”
I hurried my steps, but just as I was about to round the bend in the path I found myself face to face with a trio of monster beavers. I slowed to a stop, as did they. They growled, then appeared to get a good look at my face, and promptly let out howls of terror and clumsily turned around and ran the other direction. For a long moment, there was silence, but for the fading sounds of terrified beavers.
“… You were the one who beat them up last time we were here, weren’t you?” Heather asked lamely.
“… Maybe…”
The Asian girl sighed. “I should have known. Come on, let’s just get to the cave.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I jogged up to the mouth of the cave and Heather casually tossed the idol piece into the cave. “Okay, let’s hurry back!”
At that moment, Chris appeared in his helicopter from behind a nearby ridge. He brandished his megaphone.
“And that’s a point for Heather and Jason!” he announced.
Heather gasped. “What? But the others already-!”
“They didn’t toss them in!” I interjected in sudden realization. “They must have been scared off by the beavers!”
“Yes! Good job, Wild Boy!” Heather exclaimed and then unexpectedly hugged my head, incidentally pressing her breasts into the back of my head.
“Oh,” I said, more than a bit surprised by the sudden show of affection. “Well. Uh… Good job right back atcha?”
There was a moment of silence, and then Heather hurriedly detached herself from me. “Wh-whatever! Let’s go back to the beach.”
“Right.”
“It was a reflex! I absolutely, categorically, emphatically did not hug Jason on purpose!”
Once everyone had returned to Wawanakwa, Chris had us sit down, each pair at its own blanket-covered picnic table, on the edge of camp. A totem pole had been erected while we were away, and it looked down at us with silent judgment in its wooden eyes.
“And that’s a point for the Heather and Jason mean team!” Chris announced.
“So, an awesome day, huh? Moldy food fights, carnivorous beavers…”
“Wait, that was mold on the chicken?” I asked, alarmed. If it was, then I was going to have a hell of a time on the can, later.
Ignoring my question, the host continued speaking. “But, it’s time for someone to win this thing. Point each for everyone but Izzy and Trent, who could still pull a stopper. Today’s final challenge…”
He then reached out and pulled the blanket off Heather and my picnic table, revealing a pile of wooden heads carved in the shape of all the campers… except the ones still present, I noted.
“The fuck?” I asked as I picked up a head at random.
“Relax, it’s just Beth,” Heather interjected, looking at the head I’d picked up. Then she wrinkled her nose in disgust when she looked over the rest of the heads. “Eww, two Beths. That is upsetting.”
Chris chuckled. “… the totem pole of shame and humiliation! Your task? Assemble the heads in the order in which your comrades were voted out. Unless… you want… the wimp key!” As he spoke, the host pulled said key out of his pocket and held it up for everyone to see. When no one requested it, he added, “Time for heads to roll!”
The host pulled out a whistle and blew it, signaling the start of the challenge.
“Okay, so, first was one of the cry-babies,” I said as I picked up Katie and Sadie’s heads. Or Sadie and Katie’s; I could never remember which one was which. “Then second was… the other cry-baby?”
“Your attention to detail is astounding,” Heather said dryly as she, too, picked up a pair of heads. “Well, look who I found: Lindsay and Beth.” She knocked the two heads together, producing a hollow clonking noise. “Too bad neither of them made it to the final six. What a shocker! These pieces of wood have about as much brainpower as those two traitors combined.”
“I won’t deny the brainpower bit, but didn’t you betray them?” I asked, shooting my partner a suspicious look.
“I did no such thing! Who told you that? Give me their names right now!”
Of course, Jason and Heather weren’t the only ones having problems with the challenge.
“Oh, Duncan,” Courtney said with a sigh as she picked up the delinquent’s head. “I miss you so much!”
“Hey, focus!” Eva interjected. She was already on her fifth head. “Who was voted off after Cody?”
“Huh? Oh, I think it was… Leshawna? No, wait…”
“No, Leshawna was voted off after… Uhhh…”
“Katie, Sadie, Noah, Bridgette, me, Cody, Tyler, Leshawna, Beth, Harold, Owen, Geoff, Beth Two, Justin, Gwen, Lindsay, DJ, aaaaaaaaaand Duncan!”
Trent stared. In mere moments, without any input from him whatsoever, Izzy had put together all the heads into a full totem pole. And, as far as he could tell, she did in the right order, too.
“And we have a winner! Izzy and Trent take it!” Chris announced after looking over their totem pole. He looked to the other two teams. “And in record time, too; the other teams aren’t halfway there!”
Indeed, Courtney and Eva’s totem pole only consisted of seven heads, while Jason and Heather’s were in dead last with a mere six.
“Damn it!” Eva shouted slamming her fist down on the table hard enough to topple her team’s totem pole.
“Hey, watch it!” Courtney exclaimed as she barely dodged the heads.
Meanwhile, at the next table over…
“This is all your fault, Wild Boy!”
“My fault?! You’re the one who kept knocking heads together instead of helping!”
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did!”
“Okay, then,” Chris said as the pair descended into another argument, “In a historic first for Total Drama Island, there’s been a three-way tie! How do we resolve this conundrum? Find out after these messages!”
“… Yeah, we didn’t have anything planned in case of a tie, so we just decided nobody got invincibility,” Chris said later that evening as we all gathered at the campfire.
“Lazy fucks,” I muttered.
Sitting on a stump next to me, Heather crossed her arms and scoffed. “For once, I agree with you.”
“Aaaaanyway,” Chris said, ignoring us, “you’ve all cast your votes and made your decision. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight must immediately return to the Dock of Shame to catch the Boat of Losers. That means you’re out of the contest. And you can’t come back. Ever. The first marshmallow goes to… Izzy.”
Izzy deftly caught the marshmallow. “A’ight, marshmallow! Yeah!”
“Next, Courtney.”
The Hispanic girl let out a sigh of relief as she caught her marshmallow.
Chris looked at the tray in his hand. “Four campers are left, but only three marshmallows. The next marshmallow goes to… Heather.”
The Asian girl caught her marshmallow and turned to me with a sly grin, prompting me to roll my eyes; we had both known she wouldn’t get voted off.
“Eva.”
Eva casually caught her marshmallow and popped it into her mouth with a smirk.
Chris laughed as Trent gasped. “Yep, that’s one surefire way to wipe a smile off a camper’s face: show them a plate with exactly one marshmallow on it.”
I looked over toward Trent, who looked back at me with a mix of fear and anger in his eyes. The boy had been a thorn in my side for long enough.
“Jason.”
Without ever letting go of Trent’s gaze, I caught the marshmallow out of the air and popped it into my mouth. As I chewed, I gave the boy a big smile.
It was over.
“Trent and Courtney were the only ones not in Jason’s alliance,” Heather said matter-of-factly as she sat in the confessional. “I personally wanted to vote off Courtney, but Jason’s got a hate-boner for Trent, and there was no way for me to influence the others in time to change the vote. Besides, Trent’s been keeping to himself ever since that whole debacle with Lindsay. I couldn’t count on him anyway.”
“Jason and I will square off in the final round,” Eva said in the confessional, her arms crossed over her chest. “I mean, look at the others – it’s guaranteed to be me or Jason in the end. Until then, I’m voting however he votes.”
“I voted for Eva,” Courtney said with a shrug as she sat in the confessional. “Nothing personal, it’s just that she scares me a bit. She’s not as out-of-control as she was in the beginning, but she still thinks with her muscles. What if she snaps one day?”
“Poor Trent, he was a good horsey,” Izzy said solemnly in the confessional. Then she giggled. “And now he’s riding off into the sunset! So long, suckah!”
“Finally, I’m rid of that moron,” Jason said, giving out a happy sigh as he sat in the confessional. “It’s been a long time coming, but now he’s finally gone. Who’s next? Well…”
End Chapter 21
The roster
The Screaming Gophers: Gwen, Trent, Heather, Cody, Lindsay, Beth, Izzy, Owen, Leshawna, Justin, Noah
The Killer Bass: Geoff, Bridgette, DJ, Tyler, Sadie, Katie, Courtney, Jason, Duncan, Eva, and Harold
