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MK flopped her legs onto the filthy bunk bed, sighing. "How did we lose again? This sucks... And there wasn't even anyone who screwed it up this time," she complained, rolling her eyes. Julia, on the other hand, sat gracefully next to her, behaving much more elegantly instead of sprawling across the bed, absentmindedly picking at her nails. She glanced at the smaller girl and let out a sigh. "You know what this means, right?" she began, "We're on the chopping block." MK winced, awkwardly nodding. An uncomfortable silence hung between them for a moment before she spoke up. "Are we gonna do anything about it?" the beanie-clad girl asked, tilting her head in curiosity. "There isn't much we can do, honestly. We could try to turn the team against Chase since he already has Emma's vote against him, but how?" the blonde crossed her legs and brushed her hair - now styled as best as she could manage - behind her ear. MK shrugged. "Dunno. You're the smart one."
Julia giggled, and MK swore she could see blush creeping up her cheeks. “Well, thanks, I guess.” She muttered, averting her eyes. “But… I really don’t know what our options are. We got stuck with this awful team and we can’t convince any of them to do anything.” She grumbled. “Even the dumb people can’t be fooled anymore ‘cause they have connections. This is stupid.” She threw her hands up in frustration and let her head rest against the wall, sighing irritatedly. The other girl raised her hand, hesitating before resting it on Julia’s shoulder. “Uh, hey, we can probably do something, right? Like, it’s not over n’ stuff.” She placated the best she could, but leaned backwards and retracted her hands when Julia’s eyebrows furrowed, and she straightened her posture again rigidly. “Yeah, it is! And I’m not letting myself get eliminated for something so… so stupid again! Do you know how many times I’ve been humiliated on this show? Too many times! I am not destroying my dignity again because of a pre-merge elimination.” She looked to the floor with her eyes narrowed. “Obviously, you don’t know what it’s like. You’ve never made it so far only to be destroyed by an absolutely moronic, bumbling hockey guy.” The blonde’s voice had reduced to a hardened mumble, spitting the words out between gritted teeth.
The tension in the air could be cut with a knife, it was so thick. Both girls were unable to voice their thoughts; due to Julia’s own self-ideologies of her pride, and MK’s general awkwardness. The short girl let out a subdued hum. “You still, uh, made it far though. And, like.. umm… made a name for yourself, n’ all that.” Tugging on the end of her beanie slightly, MK readjusted her position so she could look at Julia properly without having to crane her neck. “Yeah, a name for the girl who failed twice and has a mullet. That’s not exactly giving me a good representation. Do you know how many followers I’ve lost because I apparently have ‘too much plot armour’? Two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-one. So many people hate me now. And that’s everything I care about.” She snapped, bringing her hand to tug at her hair frustratedly. MK took a moment to pause. She then spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, “What people think of you isn’t all there is to care about.”
Slowly, with eyes much like a deer in headlights, Julia turned her head to look at MK. "Uhm, no...?" She said, eyebrows furrowing confusedly. "Without a decent reputation, there's nothing redeeming about anyone." The shorter girl bounced her leg nervously, never having discussed something so serious - especially not with someone like Julia. She had been a pretty sheltered kid when she was growing up, although having been brought up in a poor-ish family did mean she knew of things. Absolutely. Unfortunately for her, that did not mean in any way that she knew how to deal with them. She hadn't been sat down and given 'the talk' about how she felt, she couldn't name her school counselor even if you put a gun to her head, and she didn't really have anyone to talk to except her younger brother who never shut up about YooTube Shorts.
The beanie-clad girl tapped her hand onto Julia's shoulder in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture. "I get you're all, like, social media-orientated and all that, but, uh, that's not really a good mentality to have...?" She trailed off at the end of her sentence, words coming out faster than usual. “I dunno, though. I’m not the person to ask,” she tacked on awkwardly.
One of their cabin-mates had a faulty clock, and they could never place who it was. It ticked deafeningly loudly, and made the most ear-grating sound every couple of hours. Most of the people there had learned to tune it out naturally, but in the moment it seemed louder than life itself. Julia, seemingly refusing to acknowledge MK’s statement, leaned back and stiffly put her hands on her lap. The other looked out of the grimy window to see the darkening sky, too late for a sunset to be visible behind the clouds. “…The elimination ceremony’s gonna be happening soon, yeah?” She quietly said, feeling it was time to step around the matter.
”Uh-huh. We don’t have enough time to do anything.” The blonde practically sunk into the bed, shoulders slumping.
MK grit her teeth and breathed out. “I guess it ends how it ends, or something.”
”Yep.”
The stools, as usual, were stiflingly uncomfortable. The rimmed, raised wood around the edges really added that touch of medieval-torture-device-core, MK’s favourite aesthetic. Everyone but them had gotten marshmallows - as she had expected.
“Surprise! Only MK and Julia are left. Who will get the last marshmallow and be spared for another gruelling day? Let’s see… The person voted out this episode of Total Drama… is…” Chris said in that screeching, fake voice of his. Both girls looked at each other with differing facial expressions. Julia’s eyes were hardened, narrowed in a way that would almost seem cunning if the other girl hadn’t seen her, almost upset, earlier. The fire highlighted her face, casting light on her delicate features. MK could see her freckles clearer than she had in the cabin’s light. They weren’t that obvious, just about splashed across her nose and cheeks, but they were there nonetheless. A glint in her eyes was apparent, though dimmed with a heavy heart.
MK squinted. Why was she examining her totally straight alliance buddy’s features?
”MK! You're guaranteed another measly 24 hours. That means it’s bye-bye to our resident mullet rocker…”
Julia stood up slowly, a sense of resignation on her expression. She started to walk away, before pausing, turning, and making a beckoning gesture to MK. "Follow me to the dock?" She inquired, balling up her fists. No words were spoken as she got up off the stall and nodded. They knew the way to the dock by heart at this point. The walk felt arduous; harder then it had ever been. The long, uncut grass brushed against the shorter's legs as she walked, but it soon turned into cold, hard wood. The drone hovered eerily above them. "I didn't try to turn the votes against you or anything," MK spoke quietly. She knew the fact was obvious - she would've had no time. However, she needed to tell herself that she was innocent in the matter. Needed to convince herself, or something. “Yeah, I figured,” Julia responded, seeming like she was almost trying to make light of the situation. “Uh, about that, like, talk earlier… I’ll work on it, I guess.” She nodded in acknowledgment. MK tapped her shoe against the dock, before shuffling closer to Julia. “If it’s any consolation, you do look pretty cool on MySelfieGram.” She tenderly lifted her beanie off her head before standing on her tiptoes to put it on the other girl’s head, a tentative grin on her face. The proximity of their heads was close; so close, in fact, that their noses were almost touching. Julia brought her hands to slowly reposition the beanie to lay more comfortably on her head, risking eye contact with MK. Her face was a gentle pink, a contract to her usually pale-ish skin. The blonde raised an eyebrow. “You do know you’re red, right?” She inquired, features scrunching up like she was trying to stifle a giggle.
The other girl groaned in exasperation. “Shut up,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “Like you’re any better, fuckin’ giggling like an anime high-school girl and blushing when I call you smart. Bet you were kicking your legs all excitedly too.” MK retorted, a glint in her eye.
Julia deadpanned. “You wanna kiss me so bad.”
“You are so not defeating the allegations, Julia.”
Stepping forward slightly, Julia closed the distance between the two. She had to lean down, which was a bit of a struggle, but it was worth it for the immediate sensation of butterflies filling her stomach and fluttering into oblivion. MK’s lips were chapped and textured - this girl really needed some lipgloss - yet it was a welcome feeling. The taste of Chef’s disastrous food was present, and Julia resisted the urge to cringe, reminding herself I taste like this too, it’s totally worth it like some sort of deranged mantra. The background faded until all she could focus on was the sense of lips pressing against hers and smaller hands moving up to rest around her neck.
Eventually, both girls pulled away (and if Julia had to catch her breath for a moment, she would never admit it).
“You’re still on your tiptoes, embarrassing.”
”Shut the fuck up, you know you enjoyed that shit.”
”Okay, yeah. I can’t deny that.”
Their moment was cut off by a familiarly grating voice. “If you girls would stop having romantic feely-feels now, I would be wrapping this episode up right about now…” Chris tapped his foot on the ground impatiently, checking an invisible watch on his wrist. Julia flipped him off before turning back and raising her hand for the drone to hold, looking over at MK one last time. “I’m not giving the beanie back until you win, bitch.”
“Bet!” The other girl snarked and gave a thumbs up. Both waved at each other before Julia was carried off into the horizon, leaving the one left behind to ruminate on her decisions today. MK put a hand to her lips, and hummed pleasantly. “Wow.”