compete for the cone! [book 1]

chapter 4 / week 2 of intermission

juul knew that the next contest would be a big one. the construction workers were working into the late hours of the night. which, in turn, made it hard to sleep. a few other contestants were chatting on the first floor, seeming like they were kept up too. juul sighed, and followed the noise. she was angry. the contestants were all girls; the gender she hated. all of them are spoiled brats. she glared at the group and sat down, alone. the only one that fit that description was oleander, but juul refused to talk to anyone of the same gender. she hadnt had the best experience with girls before.

honey bottle blinked, her bored gaze flickering to juul sitting in the corner. she wanted to talk to her, but all of the previous attempts of making friends with her had failed. but, she was stubborn. she went to talk to her.

" how are you? " honey bottle started.

" good? " juul looked up in confusion.

" thats good. you seem lonely. "

" im not lonely, i have a ton of friends! "

" who are your friends? "

" uh... camera i think, arcade maybe? bottle??? i talked to hi- them once. "

" maybe i could be your friend. "

" its fine. "

juul turned away, facing the wall. honey bottle sighed, her eyes clouded with sympathy. " why dont you try to talk to everyone else? " honey bottle suggeted, pointing at the group. " itll always turn out the same, but if you insist. " juul bit back a harsh reply, but her words still seemed cold.

she went up to talk to everyone, and was greeted warmly by everyone except for oleander. she was even more confused. why are they so nice? she thought while introducing herself. she soon got lost in conversation and felt at home, but how long would this last?

camera felt calmer since him and oleander broke up. it was a ton of weight off of his back. he still felt pain from the bee sting, but didnt want to wake star up to get treated. star was a nurse before she went on to host her own reality show, camera wasnt sure why she would abandon the opportunity, but he couldnt complain. objects would get hurt anyways, so they had to get treated for injuries. he felt a cold coming on. he sniffled. camera forgot his umbrella when he was waiting for the boat to the island, and oleander wouldnt share. he regretted not stalling at home and trying to recall if he forgot anything.

he sighed, he had another thing to deal with anyways. russian ruble was having a hard time adjusting. he had come from russia to escape whatever was going on there. camera was the only other one that knew russian, so he had to teach him. he didnt mind it as much as dealing with oleander, though. but he still felt he needed a break.

bottle was taking a stroll outside. they always did that with ship, but they were asleep, so they walked alone. they were having fun exploring, and drawing a path in their head of where to take a walk next. they enjoyed having things planned out. bottle had taken a stick with them. they liked feeling the surfaces the stick moved along ripple up into their hand. it was a source of comfort. for as long as they could remember, they had always thought about a show that audio was in. and now that they were in a show that audio was the co-host of, its all they could think about. they turned a corner, and found a familiar object half submerged in a stream.