The glow of approaching dawn roused Noah somewhat groggily from slumber. He took a moment to get his bearings, lifting his head up from Cody's chest where it had been resting. The other teen's arms were wrapped snugly around his middle. He chucked internally; he didn't even recall getting into the configuration, but it wasn't exactly the first time he didn't remember falling asleep and ending up closer to Cody by the time he woke. Noah admired his still snoozing boyfriend a long moment— after all, who knew when was the next time they'd get another opportunity like this one. Smirking, he dipped down and placed his lips gently on Cody's forehead to wake him.
The boy's eyes fluttered open and a large yawn escaped his mouth. "Morning, cuddlebunch," Noah smirked at him.
Cody's cheeks flushed ever so slightly at the pet name. "Good morning," he returned sleepily. "Is it really morning already?" he asked with disbelief.
"It will be soon," Noah said, happy to linger in his boyfriend's embrace. "Dawn is in a few minutes."
"Mm..." Cody mumbled, closing his eyes again.
"Are you falling back asleep?" Noah asked with sarcastic amusement.
"Maybe..." Cody said, hugging Noah a little tighter and burying his face in the other teen's neck to block out the increasing sunlight. "Do we have to get up? I wanna just stay here with you..."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Cuddle with my unbelievably cute boyfriend, or hike back to Loser-ville for an elimination ceremony," Noah pondered each of his open hands. "Now there's a difficult decision."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"I don't want to leave as much as you do," Noah urged gently, "but if we're going to have any hope of catching up with the rest of the group, we have to."
"Yeah, I know..." Cody let go of Noah and rubbed at his eyes as he sat up. The dark-haired teen got up and exited the tent. Cody followed. "Brr..." he immediately noticed the temperature difference, "It's f-f-freezing out here." He rubbed at his arms.
Noah wasn't about to disagree. Already he could feel goosebumps rising up on his skin. "We'll warm up once we get moving," he said, beginning to break down their tent. He tossed one of the sleeping bags off the top; its surface was wet with dew. Cody retrieved his shoelaces. They gathered the rest of their belongings and started down the hill.
—
Noah contemplated the still smouldering pile of logs at his feet. They'd followed the smoke plume all the way here, but none of their team remained. "Guess they headed out without us," Cody determined, glancing around the empty campsite.
"Can't say I blame them," the brown-eyed teen mumbled. He nudged the wood with his foot, only to lift an eyebrow when he noticed the corner of a piece of paper tucked underneath. He bent down to pick it up, unfolding it. The one edge was ragged, obviously torn out of a book— specifically, he realized, Gwen's diary. On it was a note from the girl.
"What's that?" Cody asked, peering over his shoulder.
"Gwen left it," Noah answered. "'Noah and Cody,'" he started to read aloud, "'I hope the fire lasts long enough for the two of you to find this. The rest of the team wanted to head back to Camp Wawanakwa. Noah, I'm sure you can guess but Heather's been trying to convince the team you abandoned Beth. Hurry back; I don't want you to be the one who walks the Dock of Shame tonight.'" Beneath her signature was a miniature drawing of the map.
"Wow. Thoughtful and artistic," Cody chuckled. "Gwen sure is a hell of a girl, huh?" Noah looked at him with one raised eyebrow. He cleared his throat awkwardly, "Uhh... guess we ought to head out then."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
Cody hummed to himself thoughtfully in the bathroom stall. "So Noah sabotaged Heather's plan to embarrass Gwen, and Gwen sabotaged Heather's plan to get Noah lost. Nice. Guess they're even-Steven now."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
They'd only gone a couple of steps when frightened screeching rang off the trees around them. Cody halted. "Did you hear that?" he asked his travelling companion. "It sounded like one of the girls."
They looked between one another, silently communicating an agreement to investigate. They followed the sound as it continued, hurriedly, but cautiously. As they approached the cliffside, they found the source of the screaming. Cowering in terror were Katie and Sadie, a big black bear only a few meters from them. It hadn't turned aggressive yet, but shifted on its paws, its snout sniffing at their pink sandals. The two girls clung to one another for dear life.
"Noah, we've gotta do something!" Cody gripped his arm tightly.
"We're helping the other team win challenges now?" Noah's eyebrow tweaked.
"This is different," the blue-eyed boy said with concern. "They're in real trouble."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"There's a thin line between 'heroism' and 'stupidity'," Noah said flatly. He swiped his open hand through the air dismissively, "Common sense says turn around and walk the other way."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"You always have to play the knight in shining armor, don't you?" The dark-haired teen huffed a light sigh. "Alright, we'll help." He eyed the situation. "It's a black bear, so all we should need to do is to look tall and intimidating, and it should scare off." At least, that's what he'd read— he'd never had to test it in a practical application.
"Okay," Cody agreed to the plan, waiting for more that never came, "...How are we going to do that?" Neither of them was exactly big. Wordlessly, Noah walked to his rear and crawled up onto his shoulders. "Whoa!" Cody wobbled unsteadily a moment, surprised. He gripped Noah's knees. "Oh, well, that takes care of taller," he chuckled.
"Sleeping bag," Noah instructed. Cody carefully handed it up to him. The brown-eyed teen unzipped it, holding it by the corners to drape behind them so they'd look much bigger than they really were. "Ready?" he asked the boy beneath him, "Once we go out, we can't turn back. We have to hold our ground."
Cody pinched his lip between his teeth, but he nodded firmly. "Got it."
"Whenever you're ready," Noah said. He balanced on top of Cody's shoulders with his arms outspread as the teen on bottom walked them out of the trees. The black bear, as well as Katie and Sadie, noticed their approach, staring in mixed surprise and stupefaction. "Fee-fi-fo-fum!" Noah vocalized while Cody stomped his feet. "I smell the blood of a pair of dumb-dumbs!"
"Hey..." Katie said with slight offense.
The black bear's ears twitched, taking an uncertain step back from the approaching twosome. It snarled, exposing its teeth. Noah waved his arms in response, "Just try it, Baloo. We've met way scarier than you and her name is Heather." Cody gave a small snicker.
The bear pushed itself up onto its back legs menacingly. Katie and Sadie both gasped. "N-Noah..." Cody whispered upward worriedly, starting to tremble.
Noah felt his own conviction waver. "Keep it steady," he delivered downward. "We're not going anywhere," he said to the bear, careful not to make eye contact, "Now back off."
The bear gave an anxious huff through its nostrils, clearly wanting to stay but unsure. Finally it lowered back onto all fours, turning tail and retreating into the forest. Noah wiped the back of his hand across his brow.
"Oh yeah, right on!" Cody celebrated. He put up his hand Noah's way; the other teen fived it with a smirk. Cody's eyes lidded halfway, "I wasn't worried for one second." Noah felt his eyes roll with amusement.
The two Killer Bass girls leapt to their feet. "You guys saved our lives!" Sadie squealed gleefully. "That was so amazing!"
"Totally amazing!" Katie agreed. They bounded forward, throwing their arms around the lower of the two boys, causing Cody to lose his grip on Noah's legs; the brown-eyed boy went toppling backward onto the ground with a yelp.
"You're welcome," he grated out, rubbing his head sorely.
"How can we ever repay you?" the two asked in unison.
"You could start by letting go of me..." Cody wheezed out, as the two girls were squeezing him so hard he could scarcely breathe. They both let go simultaneously. He exhaled woozily and slumped to the ground.
Noah dusted off his shorts as he stood. "Now that you're done being bear bait, you should probably get back to the rest of your team," he said, eager to get both girls off their hands.
"We'd like to..." Sadie began.
"But we actually have no idea where they are," Katie admitted, rubbing the side of her arm embarrassedly.
Sadie nodded in vigorous agreement. "Or which way camp is."
Noah and Cody exchanged glances once again. The brown-haired boy shrugged. Noah didn't even try to disguise the volume of the sigh that escaped his mouth. "Fine. You can travel with us." He began walking.
"Yay!!" Sadie lifted her heel off the ground. Katie clapped and bounced.
"We're also reaaally hungry," Katie added.
"Really, really hungry," Sadie emphasized. "Do you have any food?"
Noah simmered, a groove wearing deep into his forehead. Cody pulled the beef jerky from his backpack and handed it to the two girls, which they began to gobble appreciatively. "Next time we let the bear eat them," Noah muttered to his boyfriend. Cody just chuckled.
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Noah doesn't mean it," Cody gave a dismissive flip of his wrist. His eyebrows lifted a couple of seconds later, second-guessing himself, "At least, I don't think he does."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
—
The Gophers raced through the foliage. From the way the trees were beginning to thin out, they could tell they were almost back to Camp Wawanakwa. Beth was the first to pop into the clearing. "Oh no!" she lamented, slapping her cheeks at the sight before her.
Lashawna, Izzy and and Heather emerged next, followed shortly by Trent, Gwen and a gasping-for-breath Owen. "Can we stop running yet?" the large camper wheezed. He collapsed front-first into the dirt.
The Bass were seated at the firepit where the elimination ceremonies typically took place. "Ugh, seriously?" Heather gesticulated at the other team irritably, "We lost??"
Chris shook a finger. "Now now, let's not be too hasty," he said, hands falling to his hips as a grin overtook his face. "Technically, neither team has won yet." A momentary shocked hush fell over all the contestants. "By my count we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven Bass and..." his finger pointed briefly at each of them, "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven Gophers. You're each missing two from your group."
Courtney scoffed, folding her arms and turning her head. "It's not our fault. Katie and Sadie ran off."
"And you call yourself a Counselor in Training?" the showhost pointed out with a smirk. "Leaving behind team members? Not very cool." Beth cringed at Chris' words, looking away.
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"How dare Chris imply I'm a bad C.I.T.!" the brunette stomped her foot.
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Hold on," Gwen cocked an eyebrow, "Your team stayed together the entire time? How did you get to all the supply groupings before sun down?"
"We didn't," Duncan shrugged his shoulders. "We kept travelling in the dark."
"But Chris specifically told us not to do that," she remarked in surprise.
"Yeahhh, that's what we in the biz call a ploy," the host chuckled.
"You're tellin' me we never even had to split up in the first place?" Lashawna shot a glare Heather's way.
"It's not like it matters," Heather defended herself cooly. "Both teams are missing players. Which I guess means we have a stalemate on our hands." She shrugged. "Oh well!"
"Oh no-no-no," Chris stopped her before she could go. "We're all going to wait right here until your fellow teammates arrive to determine the winning team." Chef Hatchet appeared holding a serving tray. "Oh, thank you, Chef," the host said, grabbing the iced tea and taking a sip. Hatchet smiled and nodded.
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Is Chris serious?" Heather fumed. "That could take hours! ...Or days!" she threw up her arms, then folded them across her chest. "That was the whole point of getting them lost!"
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
Gwen's brow drew down with irritation. "I told them we should wait for Noah and Cody." Her arms crossed as her eyes rolled, "But it seems like no one around here ever bothers to listen to me."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Man, Gwen was right..." Trent said, rubbing his neck. "We really should have listened to her."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
Beth hid her face in her hands. "Ohhh, I never should've left Noah and Cody. They're lost somewhere on the island and it's my fault..." She stared down at her compass sadly. "I don't deserve to wear my 'Teamwork in Action' merit badge..." she picked at the threads of said patch.
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
The Gophers found seats among the Bass, everyone looking less than enthused— well, besides Chris, who looked to be enjoying every moment. Beth looked the most miserable by far, however. Several minutes elapsed, each of the campers engaging in some idle gesture. Lashawna was filing her nails, Heather was tapping her foot, Trent was air-guitaring some riffs, Tyler was systematically cracking each bone in his body, Duncan was carving something into his tree stump, DJ was catching butterflies. "So hungry... growing weak..." Owen moaned from the ground, "Must eat..."
Izzy grabbed Owen's wrist, checking his pulse. "He's fading fast! Find him sustenance— stat!" She snatched a clutch of fungus growing on one of the logs and jammed it into the large camper's mouth.
He chewed deleriously. "Mm... cream of mushroom-y... ahahaha...!"
Gwen had just begun to settle into a state of full mind-numbing boredom when she heard a twig snap. She perked up instantly, pointing at the arriving campers, "Guys, look!" Noah and Cody, along with Katie and Sadie, stepped out of the trees.
Bridgette, DJ and Geoff all jumped up to greet the two girls. "Katie, Sadie! You're alright!" the vegetarian exclaimed, giving each of them a quick hug of relief.
"We were all so worried about you!" DJ said.
"Yeah, worried sick," Duncan said as he passed a smirking glance at Courtney, who hmph'd and pointed her nose away from him.
"What happened to you guys?" Bridgette asked.
"Well, we were following you guys when we found this blueberry bush," Sadie began to recount their tale of peril.
"And they looked really delicious, so we stopped to eat some," Katie continued almost instantaneously.
"When we looked up, you guys were gone!" Sadie said.
"We tried to find you, but we kept walking in circles!" Katie bemoaned.
"Then it got dark and we had to sleep in this terrible cave!" Sadie whimpered.
"And it turned out to be a bear cave!" Katie gasped.
"It chased us out of the cave; we thought we were dead for sure!" Sadie's eyes watered.
"But Cody and Noah saved our lives by scaring the bear away!" Katie squealed with glee.
"Eeenough already!" Chris complained, holding his ears, unable to take any more of the two girls' high-pitched storytelling. "The touching reunion can wait, there's a show to—"
"Wait, did you just say Noah and Cody saved your lives??" Lashawna blurted incredulously, her brown eyes wide. Both girls nodded vigorously in answer. Every camper's attention had been drawn to the two boys— neither of which had expected to be getting this much attention upon arriving back.
"That might be an over-statement—" Noah began, only to be abruptly cut off.
"Wow!" Owen marvelled, "You guys stood up to a real, live bear? That is so awesome, ahaha!"
"Saving someone even though they aren't on our team? That is so rad of you guys," Gwen said.
"Oh, it was nothing," Cody chuckled, his attempt to seem 'humble' coming off as more 'pompous' in the presence of the goth chick. Noah folded his arms and cocked an eyebrow.
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Golly, it seems like getting lost actually turned out better for us than getting back in time," Cody realized. He gave a little chuckle. "Who would've guessed?"
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"This is one-hundred percent, grade-A horsesh**!" the show bleeped out Heather's speech. "The team was supposed to be furious with them, not freaking idolizing them!"
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Aren't we forgetting the more important detail here?" Heather stepped in with a glare. She jabbed her finger at the boys. "The two of them left us all sleeping on the cold, hard ground all night!"
Trent rubbed at the back of his neck, "While that did kind of suck, I think they deserve some praise for saving Katie and Sadie."
"Pfft," Izzy didn't seem impressed by their feat, "It's not like it was a bugbear."
"What did happen to you two last night?" Lashawna interrogated, voicing her curiosity for the rest of the team. "We stayed up two hours past dark waiting for your scrawny butts to make it to camp with our supplies. And I heard you ditched Beth." Her hands settled on her hips.
"Oh ho, I like where this is going," Chris said to himself, taking a long slurp of his beverage as he gestured at the cameras to 'keep rolling'.
There was a pregnant pause as Cody and Noah exchanged antsy glances. "That can be explained..." Noah began, ready to take the fall.
Her guilt had been building and Beth couldn't hold it in any longer. "They didn't ditch me, okay?!" the braces-wearing teen revealed. "I ditched them..." her shoulders slumped. All eyes fell on her, appalled. She addressed Noah and Cody, "I'm sorry, you guys."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"What does she think she's doing??" Heather gaped. "You don't just reveal your underhanded schemes to everyone!"
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
Noah's eyebrow twitched upward. "Beth coming clean about her actions? That I didn't see coming," he commented aloofly. "And judging from Heather's reaction, I'm guessing neither did she." He smirked. "I guess this puts Cody and I in the clear for tonight's campfire ceremony."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"I know I'm probably going to be the one to be voted off tonight," Beth spoke, dry-washed her hands, "but I'm okay with that. I actually feel a lot better now having told my team the truth." She managed a smile. "I know I could've exposed Heather, but ultimately I'm the one who chose to leave Noah and Cody. I should've stood up to Heather's bullying in the first place."
~~kkkssshhhttt...!!~~
"Wow," McLean laughed. "Danger, deceit, and all the finger-pointing drama you could ask for. I love this show! Have to say, this was all pretty unexpected. Unexpectedly good for our reviews, that is," he flashed a smile. "Since both teams arrived back at camp at the same time, I'm forced to declare a tie," he announced. "Which means neither of you win invincibility. You'll each be sending someone home tonight." He winked, "And you've got the rest of the day to decide just who that will be. Though I personally have a couple of guesses, ha ha." Katie and Sadie shrunk from the ire-filled gazes of Duncan and Courtney. "See all of you back here in six hours!" the host declared, walking off set.