One Boy. A Thousand Feelings | Duncan

~ Chapter 28 ~

"Sooo, how'd it go? You girls playing nice and getting along?" Duncan sarcastically asked Armana, sensing how her experience went.
"I'm sure as you would expect a cabin full of girls would go. We were put into a irreconcilable team. Right as we walk in, Leshawna and Heather are already arguing over food and after Heather couldn't make Bridgette her minion since she's new to their team, she literally marked off which side of the room was hers like a spoiled ass child." Armana vented.
"I don't know, sounds like it went pretty well to me." Duncan chuckled.
"Oh ha ha." Armana falsely laughed while rolling her eyes since it meant her team was doomed to lose the challenge.
"Lighten up some babe, they still got you on their side. I would say you guys got the advantage here." Duncan winked at her, to which Armana sheepishly smiled.
"Oh stop, you're always one to charm."
"I only speak the truth, so really you're charming yourself."
"Well, the way you remark on it I admire."
"Hm."
Armana laughed, "How about you? Seems like you're doing plenty fine with your guy mates."
"Yeah, everything flowed smooth; drank some soda, listened to music. Geoff had let out the gnarliest burp I ever heard in my life, it literally ricocheted off the walls and you could see birds flying out of the trees from how much the earth shook. Just awesome."
"You're telling me Geoff's burp was so strong it caused a passage of seismic waves through the Earth's rocks?"
'Didn't feel any tremors on our end. Well not literally'
"You betcha, so we made him captain of our team."
"Again? Just like in that cooking challenge?"
"What can I say? Geoff's a cool dude; he's positive, he cares for others, he's always amped up for any challenge thrown at us, not to add he loves to party so he always knows how to have a good time or to make sure people are having a good time. Kind of his motto."
Armana sighed with a pout, "I guess. At least it's good to know you guys can find common ground much easier than girls who generally have to be these aggressive bitches."
"Hey," Duncan caressed his thumb along her cheek. "Fuck the others. You got this. If they can't get their shit together? Fine. Let it be on their own downfall. If you have to solo queue for the higher rank, let them compete against each other and be seen as fools at their own game. It's you and I against everyone here and we'll do whatever it takes to make sure they're nothing else but stepping stones to our victory. Ok?"

Armana expressed her surprise to his solacing words with agape but then smiled and nodded.

In the Main Lodge, the teens gathered before Chris and Chef Hatchet to disclose their next test.

"It's time for today's challenge!" Chris announced.
"Uh, where's breakfast at?" Leshawna questioned, earning snickers from the show hosts —yet again—as if they were two school girls sharing a secret.
"Stop doing that!" Heather commanded.
"Let's just tell them today's challenge is; The Brunch of Disgustingness! You'll be getting a nine course meal and each member of each team must finish each dish. You will not know if the next dish is grosser than the last, not as gross or just as gross. Just that it will likely be gross."
"Tell them what they'll get if they win, Chris!" Chef interjected.
"The winning team spends two days at a local five star resort where they'll be pampered, eat gourmet nosh, and given antibiotics against anything they might've caught while participating in this challenge! The losing team will go hungry tonight and spend the next two days here on total drama island with Chef."
"We are going to win this challenge." Heather asserted.

'Oh now she's persuaded once she heard about the beauty treatment. But we're already coming into the challenge as a dysfunctional group'

Just as Armana dreaded, Duncan was right; they were being challenged of if they could psych themselves out of the innate disgust of ingesting what they're prompted. Insects most likely being on the menu. Though Armana didn't confess it during the Phobia Factor challenge, one of her worst fears had to particularly be eating insects when coming on a tv show. Or rather, in a setting where they must provide basic survival necessities for themselves, thus having to eat the arthropods as a way to destigmatize our primitive, hunter-gathering selves.