Logan's POV
"Get your girl already," I laughed at Geoff who was ogling Bridgette.
"I gotta play it cool, though," he told me as we walked to the campfire together.
"Yeah yeah." I rolled my eyes. It was obvious both blondes had something going for each other.
We've been at camp for a little bit, so now it was acceptable to have a boyfriend or girlfriend without everyone judging you. Besides Heather, of course.
"Have you guys made up, yet?" Geoff asked. I shook my head.
Ever since what went down at the amphitheater, Bridgette and I haven't talked much. I mean, we aren't enemies, but we aren't exactly on best terms, either.
One thing good that did come out of this was that I got closer to Geoff and the boys. Now I can try to set the two surfers up with each other since I know the inside scoop from both parties.
"She'll come around babe," Geoff told me as we stood at the campfire with the rest of the crew.
I sure hope so.
I miss having a close friendship with Bridgette. It doesn't help much that she's been spending more time with Courtney. Don't get me wrong, Courtney's not that bad of a person, but I have a feeling she's out to get me. Probably for that violin incident which I take full blame for.
Man, I really hate how clumsy I can be.
"Campers, today's challenge will test your outdoor survival skills," Chris began to say as we quieted down our small conversations with each other, "I'm not gonna lie to you, some of you may not come back alive."
Geoff and I shared concerning looks.
"Just joking," Chris chuckled. "All you have to do is spend one night in the woods. Everything you need is at your team's campsite in the forest. You just have to find it."
Our host passed out compasses and maps.
"This should be easy, eh?" Tyler, who was on the left side of me, whispered.
After spending time with Chris at this crummy summer camp, I knew our challenge wasn't going to be as simple as that.
"Oh, and watch out for bears. Lost a couple of interns in pre-production," Chris added on.
Told you, so.
"First team back for breakfast wins invincibility!" He blew an air horn. "Well, off you go!"
"You lost interns?" I rose from my seat while the rest of the campers made their way into the woods.
"Nuh-uh, there's no way-"
"Let's go yapper," Duncan cut me off, grabbing my arm. "It'll be a breeze."
"More like a suicide trip," I muttered as he dragged me towards the others.
~
"Don't you guys feel like we're forgetting something?" I asked as my team walked through the woods.
"What are we forgetting? We have annoying Ms. Counsellor In Training over here guiding us with a map," Duncan answered, gesturing over to Courtney who was leading us with the map and compass.
"I think this is a perfect place to set up camp," Courtney spoke up, ceasing in her tracks. We all stopped behind her.
"All right, vertically challenged and I will get some firewood, you guys set up camp," Duncan said, taking my arm once again.
"I guess I don't get a say, huh?" I smiled as Duncan hauled me away from our team.
"Well if you want to do a quickie just ask. I think the woods are a perfect place to do it." I slapped his chest.
"You're disgusting," I spat, feeling my face redden.
"I've been called worse, sweetheart." I rolled my eyes, retreating to the trail we came from.
~
Soon enough we came back with plenty of time to spare, so I ended up helping pitch the tent while Duncan worked on getting the fire started.
"Okay, how should I make the first move?" Geoff asked me, holding up the cloth.
Geoff finally decided that he wanted to try to grab Bridgette's attention.
"Compliment her," I responded, placing a peg down, "girls love compliments."
A little while later I saw Geoff heading over to Bridgette.
"Wow. You pitch a tent like a guy!" Geoff said. I coughed violently as Bridgette gave him a look.
"I mean, you're not all girly about gettin' dirty and stuff," he rushed out in an attempt to cover his ass. I shook my head.
//Geoff's Confessional
"Wow, you pitch a tent like a guy!?" Geoff smacked his forehead in embarrassment. //
"Gee. Thanks," Bridgette said rather dryly.
"What's for dinner, woman? I'm starving," Duncan whined to Courtney as he came over to the tent.
"I hope you don't expect me to dignify that with a response," replied the brunette sourly.
"DJ went to find some food, remember?" I spoke up in hopes to get on Courtney's good side. I only received a glare instead.
"Hey guys, look what I found!" I heard DJ say. I looked up to see him holding a small rabbit in his hands.
Duncan, Courtney, Harold, and I made our way over to him.
"Well, I've never had rabbit stew before, but what the heck? I'm game," Duncan responded. I punched his shoulder.
"Ow!" Duncan winced.
"This is my new pet! I'm calling him Bunny!" DJ informed us, holding Bunny close to his chest protectively.
"Well, Bunny is adorable," I complimented, patting the furry little dude.
"You couldn't find any food?" Courtney asked. DJ shook his head.
"Then it looks like we're eating grubs and berries for dinner."
"We could look for fish back at the stream over there," I suggested, extending my thumb towards a small river.
"And how do you expect us to catch anything without a fishing pole or net?" Courtney responded, miffed.
"Do you have your knife?" I asked Duncan. He pulled it out of his pocket.
"We could just use a stick and make a spear," I proposed, running over to a loose branch that was laying on the ground. "It's better than nothing."
The Killer Bass smiled at my plan. Duncan and I worked on our spear as the rest of the team continued to set up camp.
"Has anyone seen Tweedledumb and Tweedleidiot?" Duncan asked, referring to Katie and Sadie.
"Rats. That's why it felt so off earlier," I muttered, grabbing the stick from Duncan's hands.
I wonder where they went.
~
After eating our dinner which consisted of berries and cooked salmon, we sat around the campfire with full stomachs. I was sandwiched between Duncan and Geoff, poking a stick in the dirt.
Bridgette gasped and sighed every so often, looking down at the ground while an owl chirped in the distance.
"Be cool. It's just an owl," DJ tried to reassure her.
"You got us, Bridge," I added on, knowing about her fear of the woods. She tensed up by the nickname.
Right, I forgot we weren't civil anymore.
"Sorry. I just get real freaked out in the forest," Bridgette confessed.
"This reminds me of this really scary story I heard once," Duncan spoke up with a slight smirk poking at his lips.
"Awesome. Tell it, man," Geoff responded as I gave my full attention to him.
"Are you sure? Because the story I'm thinking of is pretty hardcore," Duncan demurred, adverting his eyes between us. His gaze landed on me with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I for one love scary stories," I told him, leaning back with a smirk plastered on my face. He gave me a quick study before shifting his eyes to Courtney.
"Oooh we're so scared," Courtney said, accompanied by an eye roll.
"All right, don't say I didn't warn you," Duncan replied with a smirk of his own before proceeding.
"One night, a lot like this one..."
He went on to tell this basic slasher story about a guy and a girl going on a date. I scoffed a little as he got up from the ground to make the story more dramatic.
"So suddenly they-they heard this tap-tap-tapping on the side of the car. The girl started to freak out and by the time even the guy was getting a bit scared. So he turned the car on and he stepped on it. When they got back to the girls house, she opened the door, and screamed. Because there, hanging from the door handle, was the bloody hook." I took a glimpse to the right to see DJ shiver, pulling Bunny close to his chest.
Everyone seemed to be a bit frightened except for me making me internally laugh. Duncan noticed my serene demeanour causing him to lock eyes with me.
"They say that this killer is still alive, wandering in these very woods," Duncan continued, staring into my soul. "He could be just about anywhere really, maybe even right... HERE!"
Without warning, Duncan pulled out a sharp hook from behind his back.
I let out a scream along with rest of the team. Some even hid behind DJ's body.
Holding onto my chest, I shot a cackling Duncan a glare before quickly dismissing it with a little chortle.
"Okay, what?" I asked as everyone stared at me with open mouths and wide eyes.
"You-you have a man scream!" Tyler pointed out with a squawk much like Duncan's.
"He's right, Logan," Geoff agreed. I narrowed my eyes which caused him to raise his arms up defensively.
"Whoa, it's cool, bro, no need to freak out, it's cool." I shook my head with a smile while my cheeks grew another shade of red.
"Duncan! That was so not funny!" Courtney outcried, stomping her way over to him.
"Oh yes it was. I just wish it was all on camera... oh wait, it is!" Duncan laughed, gesturing to the cameras that recorded our little scream fest.
"You are so vile. Do your parents even like you?" Courtney asked with venom laced in her voice.
"I don't know Jumpy McChicken, I haven't asked them lately," Duncan responded with that sly smirk of his. After Courtney trotted back to her seat, Duncan came over to me.
"You never told me you had a man scream," he said as I stood up.
"It never came up in the conversation," I replied. "By the way, that story was pretty lame."
"Your man scream said otherwise, vertically challenged." Duncan riposted smugly. "Need someone you hold you now that you almost passed out? I got two arms."
"I was just playing for cameras." I motioned over to a camera hidden in a tree that was filming us.
"Just admit it, you were scared." Duncan teasingly poked my shoulder.
"Oh yeah, I was so scared that-" I gasped a little as a howl of a wolf startled me. Without realizing it, I found myself in Duncan's arms.
//Logan's Confessional
"To set the record straight, he grabbed ahold of me. It wasn't like I enjoyed his big paws cradling my forearms or anything..." [pauses] "I..." [looks away from the camera]//
"Okay, so maybe I was a bit scared," I admitted, removing myself from his hold.
"See? Told you," Duncan voiced, a slight egocentric attitude displayed in his body posture.
"But that story was still pretty lame."
"Not as lame as you, doll face." I rose my hands to shove him, but Duncan quickly held onto my wrists before I could.
"I'm just kidding. You're anything but lame," he said gently, setting my hands down to my sides.
"Now if you need more physical reassurance I'll be in the tent. But if you do decide you want a little something more, you might have to wait until tomorrow morning," Duncan told me with a wink before heading to the tent.
"God. You need to have an ego check with that shrimp-sized dick of yours!" I called out to him as he slipped inside the piece of cloth.
Why did I ever decide to be nice to that delinquent?
One by one, my team piled into the cramped tent. I kept myself outside, observing part of the night sky that wasn't blocked by the large trees.
As I stood up to finally head into the shelter for the night, someone stepped out of it.
Bridgette let out a gasp as a swarm of bats headed her way. One flew into her face, blocking her vision. She lost her balance, kicking a hot coal on the way down which ended up disintegrating the tent.
"Shit." I quickly rushed over to her to make sure she was alright.
"You're not hurt, are you?" I asked, checking to see if she had any wounds.
"I'm fine but now we don't have a place to sleep," Bridgette uttered, glancing back at our teammates who were waking up from their slumber.
"It's okay. I'll take the blame," I told Bridgette.
"Logan, don't-"
"Oh crap!" I abruptly stood up. "I'm so sorry guys, there was a bat and I tripped and-"
"Great! That's just great, Logan! Now we have no where to sleep!" Courtney screeched, cutting me off.
"Logan-"
"Yo, drama queen. Relax, it's cool," Duncan said, the last to wake up from his siesta.
"Cool? It's cool!? Things can not possibly get worse!" Courtney hissed out. I felt a raindrop land on my forehead.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think I just felt rain," I spoke up.
Right after I said that it began to downpour which made Courtney scream in frustration.
On the upside, DJ ended up finding a big leaf and held it over us. Setting my head down on someone's chest, I slowly felt myself doze off.
~
"You were cuddling me!" I heard Courtney gasp out, awakening me from my sleep.
"I was calmly lying on my back and trying to catch a few Z's. You were snuggling up to me," Duncan retorted. "You should relax, Princess. Be like vertically challenged over here."
"Huh?" I yawned, lifting my head from someone's stomach. I looked over to see I ended up falling asleep on Duncan.
Definitely not complaining whatsoever.
"Why would I want to be like her? Someone who sabotages her teammates!?" Courtney spat out, glaring at a half-awake me.
"Are you still on this again? I didn't purposefully hurt anyone for my own good!" I hurled back, rubbing my crusty eyes.
"Let's quit the arguing and head back to camp," Bridgette intruded, coming over to us. She shot me a smile.
I quickly slipped on the backpack with some of the tools and equipment while the boys finished packing the tent away.
"Let's go people! We have to beat the Gophers!" Courtney instructed as I pulled out the compass from the bag.
"Give me that!" She snatched the compass out of my grasp.
In retaliation, I tripped her while we ran back to camp.
"Sorry." Innocently smiling, I clutched onto the compass that so happened to land in my hand.
We finally arrived back at camp where Chris was waiting for us by the campfire.
"We're the first ones back!" Courtney exclaimed. Just then the Gophers arrived.
"Oh no! They beat us here!" Heather gasped, glaring at Owen. "This is all your fault!"
"Uh uh uh uh. Not so fast, Gopherinos! It seems that the Killer Bass are missing a few fish," Chris said, staring at our team. I scanned around and realized we forgot to look for Katie and Sadie.
"Oh, you mean Katie and Sadie? I'm pretty sure they got eaten by wolves last night," I told him with a mirthless look on my face.
"Darn shame," Duncan added on. To our misfortune, Katie and Sadie ran out of the woods and over to us.
"We made it!" Katie gasped.
"We're safe!" Sadie chirped up. "Oh my gosh, guys! We got totally lost and then got in this massive fight!"
"And there was this huge bear, and he was all "Rahhhh! You're in my crib, so get out!"" Katie re-enacted.
"And we had to run, and it was like, so scary!" Sadie finished. The girls then apologized about their fight in the woods and ended up resolving it with a friendship hug.
Courtney cleared her throat. "You two finished your little love-fest?" The girls nodded. "Good. Because thanks to you, we just lost the challenge!"
"All right, Killer Bass. One of your fishy butts is going home. Gophers, you're going on an all-expense paid trip to... the Tuck Shop!" My team gasped as the Gophers ran away with giddy smiles. We all glared at Katie and Sadie.
~
As I was heading to the bonfire, someone pulled me aside.
"Hey," Bridgette said, yanking me behind our cabin.
"Oh, uh hey," I responded lightly, scratching the back of my neck. "You know I'm really sorry-"
"You didn't have to-"
"Sorry for interrupting," we both apologized quickly.
"You go first." I ushered for her to continue.
"I really appreciate you stepping in and taking the blame for our disintegrated tent," Bridgette begun. "You didn't have to do that."
"It was the least I could do for the talent contest incident," I replied, looking down. "You know I never meant to sabotage your act, I was just trying to help you with your nerves. I should've known that chips don't mix well with handstands. Should've probably thought that out..."
Bridgette chortled a little. "Well, at least I'm still here, right? And sending Harold out was a smooth move on your part."
"Haha. Thanks. I guess he saved the day twice, huh?" I recalled back to how he saved Duncan, Bridgette, and I all from elimination those two challenges.
"He did." We stood in somewhat relaxed silence.
"Are you still mad at me?" I asked, breaking it.
"I was never really mad. I just needed some time to myself to recoup," Bridgette admitted. The heavy feeling in my heart suddenly went away. "I miss you."
"I miss you, too," I said. "Friends?"
"Friends." I immediately pulled Bridgette into an enamoured tight hug and swung her around.
"I forgot you were a hugger," Bridgette squeaked out as I crushed her bones. I set her down gingerly.
"Sorry," I apologized with a sheepish smile.
"Let's go to the elimination," she laughed, grabbing my arm.
We headed over to the bonfire and sat down together. Duncan came and took the empty seat next to me.
"You guys made up?" he whispered into my ear so only I could hear.
"Yup," I responded, glancing over to see Geoff send Bridgette another wink. She quietly giggled.
"And it seems like Geoff isn't drowning so much with the lady tonight, too," I added on.
"Campers," Chris spoke, grabbing our attention. "You've all cast your votes. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow must immediately hit The Dock of Shame, grab the Boat of Losers, and get the heck outta here. And you can't come back. Ever."
"Now. I can see you're all tired so tonight I'll just throw them to you. Savvy?" I yawned. "Courtney. Duncan. Logan. Bridgette. DJ. Harold. Geoff. Tyler," Chris listed off, leaving Katie and Sadie frozen in place.
"Ladies. This is the final marshmallow of the evening."
"..."
"Sadie." Chris tossed the final marshmallow to her, but she just let it fly past her head.
"No! Why Katie? Why her?!" Sadie cried out, clutching onto Katie.
"It's so unfair!" Katie protested.
"I so can't do this! I've never been anywhere without Katie! We have to be together or I'll totally die!" Katie grabbed her friend's shoulders.
"Sadie, listen to me. You can do this. You are strong and beautiful, and like, maybe even smarter than me. And plus, you're like, the funnest girl I know. You have to do it for both of us!" Katie said firmly. Sadie, who was on the brink of tears, nodded.
I ended up going to the Dock of Shame along with Bridgette and a few other teammates.
"I miss you already!" Sadie called out as the Boat of Losers pulled away from the dock.
"I miss you more!" Katie shouted back from the boat.
"No, I miss you more!"
"No way. I totally miss you more!"
"I miss you infinitely more. Byeee!" Sadie clung onto the dock, leaving Bridgette and I alone with the crying teen.
"What are we gonna do now with her?" I pointed at a weeping Sadie.
This was gonna be a long night.