Three hours later, the teams were filing back into the Centerstage Theater feeling renewed and refreshed. The mini-challenge had taken a lot of out of the contestants and a break was highly in order. Jordan had gotten Aaron an icepack as promised, Jalen had taken a much-needed shower, and the members of the Teacher's Pets crew had hocked down a whole bottle of ibuprofen before taking a nap. Devon at some had point risen from his alcohol-induced slumber and was screeching at the tops of his lungs at anyone who would listen.

"We could have died! I want everyone on this show sued! Expeditiously!" He yelled to the back of Chiara's head as they took their seats.

Chiara appeared to ignore him, but once the boy was done ranting, he simply replied, "You cannot sue with no damages, and the only thing damaged is your pride." He smiled at Devon's gaping expression and turned his attention to the stage, where the coaches were standing once again.

Chris scanned his beady eyes through the audience. "Boy, do we have a challenge for you!" He walked closer to the top of the stage. "We all know everyone in the world hates musicals, right?"

"Uh," said Millie. "Define everyone?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Fine, everyone in the world but Millie hates musicals—"

Genevieve interrupted with, "I don't mind them, opera is similar to your typical musical." The other two opera singers, Rina and Chiara, chimed in agreement. Chris groaned.

"Okay, whatever, plenty of people like musicals. But! They still suck, and there's nothing any of you can say to convince me otherwise." He placed his hands on his hips defiantly, as if daring anyone to contradict him. "Anyway, that brings us to what we have planned for you today." He nudged Don with his elbow, cueing him to say his part.

Don nodded and started with, "You…"

Chris continued, "Will be putting on…"

Blaineley yawned and flatly said, "A…"

All three sing-songed (or, more like Chris and Don sing-songed while Blaineley said it in a whine), "Musicaaaaal!"

Groans escaped from half the audience, the other half either completely neutral on the announcement or quietly interested in the direction this competition could go. Millie, of course, was not so quiet.

A high-pitched pig-like squeal exited the theater kid's mouth as she stood up to give a one-girl standing ovation. She kept this going for a full minute before stopping for air. She remained standing, waiting for the coaches to continue their spiel.

"O…kay?" went Chris before whispering to Don, "I think we might have to sedate Millie for this challenge."

Blaineley scoffed. "I heard that! There will be no sedation of the one person on my team that will lead us to victory." She turned her perfectly sculpted nose into the air. "Besides, that sounds like a sabotage, and we already won that, didn't we Team Blaineley?"

The team whooped and wolf-whistled, much to the chagrin of the other two teams. Chris rolled his eyes and held his hands up in a T-formation to call off the celebration. "Not so fast, Team Blaineley. You still have to actually do well in the challenge if you want a chance at a real win. And we, your coaches, will be helping you guys meet your full potential! Or whatever."

Don nodded. "We'll be acting as the directors for your productions. You won't be putting on a full musical. Not only do we not have the time for that, but we also could only afford the rights for three songs from each show."

"Plus, I'm sure most of you can barely act," muttered Blaineley.

"So," Don continued, ignoring Blaineley's jab. "We've decided to split each of the three numbers you'll have to perform into a different category. Each team will have to perform a powerful solo number, a love song that can either be a duet or an ensemble number, and a huge ensemble number that gets people up out of their seats. It doesn't have to be in that order, just perform them in a way that makes sense for your show."

Chris rubbed his hands together. "Now, you're probably all wondering what musical you'll be performing. We were able to snag the rights of three shows that have one very simple thing in common: High School Musical, Grease, and Hairspray."

"Well?" asked Erica after a beat. "What do they have in common?"

"I think it's that they all star Zac Efron," supplied Zavier. At this, Millie sucked her teeth.

"Zac Efron never did Grease, that was Vanessa Hudgens in the televised live version." Uncultured swine, she thought to herself.

"Millie's right, it's because they all have John Travolta!" Eleanor said confidently.

The short-haired theater kid shook her head. "Also no."

Jalen guessed, "It's because they're all movies, right?"

"No way, it's because they all took place in the distant past," countered Dustin. Aaron sputtered.

"Uh, High School Musical was released and took place in 2006," Aaron paused. "Not that I would know that!"

Dustin shrugged. "That's still the distant past. Most of us were barely out of the womb then."

Chris slapped his hand on his forehead, the sound loud enough to cut off the debate taking place in audience. "No! It's because they all take place in high school! Get it? We made you guys sort into cliques like in high school for the mini challenge and then we—I had a whole speech at the beginning of the episode, come on!"

Chef walked on the stage with three popsicle sticks in his hand as Chris finished ranting. Chris huffed and pointed at his colleague, "Chef will be doing the honors of dictating which team does what show. We figured it'd be easier than us trying to decide who gets to choose first." He said, remembering the debacle from the line dance challenge. "So, have you come to a decision, man?"

Chef shrugged. "Nah, I'm just gonna wing it." Before anyone could process that, Chef blindly threw a popsicle stick at each of the judges, and hastily walked off the stage. Chris, anticipating Chef's antics at this point, was the only one to catch a stick.

"Aha, alright Team Chris, it looks like you'll be doing…" he peered at Chef's chicken-scratch handwriting on the stick. "High School Musical!"

Don ducked down and picked up his popsicle stick, reading aloud, "Team Don has Grease!" He puffed his chest out in pride. "A classic. You know, I was almost cast as the lead in the reboot mini-series Netflix was supposed to do of Grease."

"Oh yeah? What happened to it?" asked Blaineley, who didn't bother with picking up her popsicle stick since there was only one musical left.

Don frowned. "Apparently no one wanted a dark, gritty reboot of Grease. Who knew?"

"Anyway," said Blaineley, already over the conversation. "That means we're doing Hairspray, team. We got this in the bag." Her eyes shifted to the side. "Hopefully."

"Now that we have our musicals, you'll have three hours to choose your songs, cast roles, rehearse, and perfect your performances." Informed Chris. "The interns have the sets covered. Props, if needed are backstage, and as always costumes are in the dressing rooms." Chris hopped off the stage, joining his team in the audience. "Your time…starts…NOW! Quick, Team Chris, storm the stage!" His plea went to no avail, as Blaineley had already silently coaxed her team to the stage via Intense Staring.

"I figured you'd try some low-down, dirty trick, Chris." She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Better try to get your team to the dance studio before Don, or else you'll be stuck rehearsing in the dorm lobby." She finished with a snicker and snapped her fingers to get her team's attention. Chris glared at his fellow coach, but he had to admit that he respected her hustle.

"To the studio, losers!" Ordered Chris with a pointed finger in the air. The teens ran with their coach in toe, leaving Team Don in the dust.

Don sighed as he looked at his team, who had barely made any move to find a rehearsal spot. "Would it kill you guys to show a little enthusiasm?"

Ivan shrugged. "Probably."

Don was worried for the first time since the competition started.

TEAM BLAINELEY

Blaineley waited until Team Don had (reluctantly) shuffled out of the theater to address her team. "Okay, kiddies, we got Hairspray. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but the costumes will be cute at least." She surveyed the contestants, stopping only when her eyes landed on Millie. "So, what songs are we thinking?" Though she addressed the whole team, Millie knew Blaineley was counting primarily on her opinion.

Millie pretended to think for a moment, not wanting to alarm anyone with the fact that she had already planned out their entire performance the second the challenge was announced. "Hm, oh, I don't know…'Good Morning Baltimore' would be a pretty solid solo number. And, gosh…maybe 'Without Love' could be our love song?" She started fiddling with her short, bobbed hair. "And, it would only make sense that 'You Can't Stop the Beat' be our show-stopper ensemble number, right?" She bit her lip in faux contemplation. "But, I don't know, I'm just spit-balling. What do you guys think?" She aimed her dark brown eyes innocently at her teammates.

"I think that's a great plan, Millie!" Leon said, giving the girl a pat on the back. "'You Can't Stop the Beat' is guaranteed to get everyone dancing."

"Yeah, that all sounds good to me too," added Gemini. Millie grinned and ran up to Blaineley.

"Well, since we have the songs, I have a cast in mind too! Plus, the choreography for two of the songs—I'm still brainstorming what to do for 'Good Morning Baltimore'. But, for costumes, we should—"

"Whoa, slow your roll, Millie." Blaineley gently pushed the 16-year old away from her. "I'm no musical theater expert, but I'm pretty sure we should, y'know, actually cast the show before we jump to costumes." She put a hand to her chin. "Okay, for Tricia—"

"Tracy," Millie corrected.

"Sure. For Tracy we should probably cast…" she looked at all the girls on the team and frowned. "I guess Luna?" She pointed at the petite British girl, whose eyes widened in response.

Millie balked. "Why Luna?! I'm right here!"

"Yeah but…" Blaineley grimaced. "How do I say this without getting the show cancelled…" she screwed one eye shut. "Trudy's not Asian?"

"Tracy," Millie corrected again, this time with her teeth clenched. "And she's also supposed to be a big girl, which Luna is nowhere near," she said as she waved a hand at the waif-like girl. "I, on the other hand," she motioned towards her own chubby form. "Wouldn't need a fat suit to play Tracy, which would cause a lot of controversy for the show, don't you think?"

Blaineley considered it in her head. "You have a point. I only brought it up because Hairspray takes place during, like, slavery."

"The 60s!" Millie amended with a growl. She took a deep inhale and mentally tossed her irritation out the door; she got the lead, after all. "Now, that that's settled, I think Jalen would make an excellent Link." At this, Jalen's mouth fell open before slowly morphing into a smile. Blaineley rolled her eyes and started writing the cast list down on a notepad.

CONFESSIONAL: Millie

"Now, you may be wondering why I would ever cast Jalen of all people as my leading man. He's annoying, skeevy, and gross—everyone knows this." She leaned forward into the booth, voice now conspiringly low. "But, I have a plan. Aside from Leon, Jalen's the only one on the team I can trust so far. I want to see what he's made of and if we work well together. If we don't, well, he's the one I'll vote off if we lose." She tapped her fingers together. "If we do, then I think it's time I form my first alliance." She giggled. "Can you imagine? Me, in an alliance! Everyone from my theater troupe will be so jealous."

"I-I'd be honored, Millie!" Jalen said, voice high with gratitude. He cleared his throat and tilted his fedora. "Maybe after I play the Link to your Tracy, we can link up for a date, huh?" He contorted his face into what was probably supposed to be a smoulder, but instead came off as his facial muscles spasming wildly. Millie had to swallow down the urge to vomit.

"Mm, we'll, uh, see about that!" She said quickly. She went back to dictating the roles before Jalen could say something else so terrible she dies of secondhand embarrassment. "Zavier will be Seaweed."

Zavier lifted a finger. "But I—"

Millie bulldozed over whatever Zavier planned to say. "As for Penny…" she looked between the remaining options. Gemini didn't have the right voice for the role, it was too raspy and deep. She really didn't care who it was between Luna and Brianna, as long as they didn't ruin the show. "Zavier, you pick. You will be singing with them, after all."

Zavier crossed his arms and mimicked Millie's position. After a few moments, he finally said, "Brianna." The blonde blanched but nodded, seemingly accepting her fate.

CONFESSIONAL: Zavier

"Here's the thing about King Z: he hates musicals. But, if I have to be forced to do this, then I might as well have a hottie on my arm while I'm doing it." He twisted in his chair a bit. "Not that Luna's bad looking, but she's like twelve. Or fifteen, same difference. Either way, I'm too old to be seen singing some lovey-dovey song to her."

"Leon," Millie said as she approached the Spaniard. "You'd be a spectacular Edna Turnblad, I just know it!" Leon beamed at this and high-fived the younger girl. "And Gemini, your voice is perfect for Motormouth Mabel." Gemini supplied a thumbs-up, just glad that she could be included.

"Corny Collins nor Amber Von Tussle have lines in any of the songs we picked, but I think Zane and Luna should play them anyway, just to give more life to our performance." The two contestants accepted the roles wordlessly.

"Cool, we're done? Because I have the song sheets right here." Blaineley pulled a crate full of lyric sheets from clear out of nowhere and began distributing everyone their respective songs. "Should we rehearse this in order or…?" the woman asked Millie.

"I know 'Good Morning Baltimore' like the back of my hand," answered the actress. "So, I think we should focus on getting everyone else acquainted with the other songs." She looked between the two song sheets and then at Zane, Luna, Leon, and Gemini. "You guys should practice the key change in 'You Can't Stop the Beat' while I whip these guys into shape for the love song. Jalen, Zavier, Brianna—'Without Love' from the top!"

…

"I can't do it!" Brianna cried. It had been an hour since they had begun rehearsing, and they had barely made any progress through "Without Love". Well, Millie and Jalen had gotten their parts down, but when it came time for Brianna and Zavier to sing together…

"Bro, what is your problem?" asked Zavier for what felt like the fifth time that hour. "It's a song. You're not marrying me."

"I know…" the blonde whispered as she backed away from her singing partner. "But these lyrics are just so inappropriate, and the dance moves Millie wants us to do are even worse. I can't do that on national television, I'm sorry." Brianna eventually hit a wall and wrapped her pale arms around herself. Everyone could tell that she was on the verge of tears.

Zane groaned and banged his head against his song sheet, silently wondering when this would end. Gemini and Leon went over to Brianna to comfort her.

"Maybe we can cut some of the lyrics out, yeah? And make the choreography a bit more PG? Would that help?" Gemini asked as she rubbed the younger girl's back. Leon, who was stroking her hair, nodded.

"Yeah, then you won't be as uncomfortable performing the song!" The three looked expectantly at Millie.

Millie was ready to tell the trio that that was the stupidest thing she had ever heard, and that Brianna had better suck it up, when Blaineley said, "We're not allowed to change any lyrics. And, no offense, but the dance moves aren't that bad. Not to spoil anything for you guys, but you'll definitely have to do something way more inappropriate than that somewhere down the line if you stay in the game, Brianna."

"What?!" Brianna squawked before nearly fainting into Gemini's arms. Zane had to stop himself from crumpling up his sheet in frustration.

"Luna," Zane called to the Brit. "Why don't you and Brianna switch roles? We won't have as much time, but we've wasted enough already."

"If my parents catch a university-aged man singing about how much he wants to touch me they might have him killed," she said in a casual, airy tone. Zavier, who was listening to the exchange, gulped.

"Brianna, please!" He got on his knees before the girl. "I don't want Luna's rich parents to kill me!" Brianna looked down at the boy, feeling some sympathy but mostly deep discomfort. She wanted to say she could do it, she wanted to take one for the team. But, the more she thought about it, the more she simply couldn't do it.

CONFESSIONAL: Brianna

Brianna sat in the booth, sniffling quietly as she geared herself up to speak. Her voice came out thick with emotion. "The last thing I want is to bring the team down, but no one seems to understand where I'm coming from!" She wiped a tear from her eye. "I know it sounds silly, but men…they just scare me. And, I know none of the boys on my team are particularly scary—Leon's like a giant teddy bear, and Zavier is as harmless as a fly. Zane is…well, Zane. And Jalen…" she shivered. "He's weird, but not necessarily scary. The point is, I know I'm overreacting, but I just can't stop myself from feeling nervous." She covered her face with her hands. "They're all gonna vote me off soon, aren't they?"

Zane observed his teammates as they scrambled to think of an alternative. Millie was panicking to Jalen while trying her darndest to seem like she wasn't. Leon and Gemini were doing their best to stop Brianna from having a breakdown. Zavier and Luna were trying to work out how they could get away with the slightly PG-13 lyrics without Zavier's head ending up on a skewer.

Blaineley was, of course, filing her nails.

Zane huffed. It looked like he would have to take matters into his own hands after all.

He approached Leon and tilted his head towards the other side of the stage so the lion-maned boy would follow him there. Leon gave Brianna one last pat on the head and acquiesced. Once out of earshot, Zane whispered, "I know you still have a couple of those 'energy drinks' stashed in the room."

Leon's face paled. "I-I know it's against the rules, but I'm of legal drinking age in Spain so I thought it wouldn't hurt to have a few drinks to celebrate with. Please don't tell!" Zane shook his head.

"I have no intention to, big guy. But unfortunately, you won't be able to celebrate with them." Leon raised an eyebrow in confusion. Zane elaborated, "Brianna needs to be able to perform. She won't want to unless she has some…liquid courage, so to speak. I need you to grab those drinks so we can get Brianna just tipsy enough to do the challenge without crying."

Leon was quiet. Finally, he said, "But doesn't that sound…a bit wrong? If she can't do it sober, why should she do it at all?"

Zane placed his hands on Leon's broad shoulders. "Because we need to win. We can worry about the moral implications of what we're doing later."

Leon considered his words, conflict visible in his blue eyes. Eventually, he nodded. "I'll be right back!" he called before dashing off the stage and out of the theater.

Blaineley noticed this immediately. "Hey! Where the hell does he think he's going? We're still putting on this show!"

Zane stuck his hands into his pockets and averted his eyes from the coach. "Oh, he's just getting Brianna something to calm her down. He'll be back soon." He walked over to Zavier and Luna, who were still fussing over what to do. "Don't worry, guys. Brianna can play Penny."

Both teens stared incredulously at Zane before taking a peek at Brianna's current state. They turned back to Zane. "Yeah, uh," Zavier said. "No, she can't."

Zane sighed and lowered his voice, "Just trust me," he said, before walking away. Luna and Zavier exchanged nervous glances.

"It's funny," Luna said. "Because I feel like trusting Zane is the last thing any of us should do."

TEAM CHRIS

"Okay, Wildcats," said Chris once the team made it to the dance studio. "You guys ready to put on the best show Total Drama has ever seen? If not, don't let the door hit you on your way out!" He waited for anyone to object and smiled when everyone remained in their spots. "Awesome. Without further ado, I think it's time we get this cast list in order." He took out a notepad and pencil, and began pointing the pencil at the contestants as he said their names. "Aaron! You will be Troy. Janice will be Gabriella."

Janice clasped her hands together excitedly. She'd finally get to prove her worth on the team and show off her singing pipes, even if she was still a tad insecure about them. "I won't let you down, Chris."

Aaron, however, was not as enthusiastic. "Wait, wait, wait. Why do I have to be Troy?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Come on, dude. I know everything about you; you're basically Troy Bolton in the flesh. Hot shot athlete that's secretly into musicals? That's you to a T."

Aaron began to sweat. "M-me? I'm not into musicals! I've never even seen one! Up until last year I thought a musical was a type of sauce!"

Genevieve frowned and pointed out, "But you seem very knowledgeable about musicals. You knew the exact year High School Musical came out, referenced Saturday Night Fever just the other day, and even this morning at breakfast you were humming a song from Newsies." The blonde buffed out a scuffmark on the floor with her leather sandals, seemingly unaware of the turmoil she was causing Aaron. "You know, there's no shame in enjoying the genre. I don't think anyone here would make fun of you for it."

The Chicano teen placed his hands atop his curly head of hair as he looked around the room. "You…mean that? You wouldn't think I was soft for believing Newsies was God's gift to man?"

"I would," instantly replied Chris. But this was drowned out by the rest of the team reassuring Aaron that his secret interest made no real difference to them. He gave an embarrassed chuckle but smiled.

"Thanks guys, you're way more understanding than the guys on my football team." He stopped in his tracks as he slowly realized that his every word was being filmed. "My football team…that is probably watching this as we speak…" he groaned into the air but walked dazedly next to Janice so Chris could continue casting the roles.

"Moving right along," the coach said. "Jordan will be Chad, Ariana can play Sharpay, and Chiara will be Ryan. Erica will play Taylor, Genevieve will be Kelsi, Devon will be Zeke, and Hayato can play…" Chris scratched his head. "I don't know, the girl who did all those hiphop movies? What was her name, Mary?"

"Martha," Aaron supplied blithely. When everyone looked at him, he shrugged. "What? I've seen the movie 27 times, sue me."

"Why do I have to play a girl?" Hayato grumbled with his arms crossed.

"Because there aren't any more male characters with names that sing, kid." Hayato tilted his head back in frustration, but quickly came to terms with the decision.

"Fine," he said. "But I'm not wearing a wig."

"Whatever," went Chris as he threw the notepad on the ground. "Now that we have the cast, we need songs. Obviously, we have to do 'We're All in This Together' for the ensemble number. I don't really care about the rest as long as it wins us the challenge." He pulled up a chair and sat down, prepared to let the contestants take the reins until they did something that he could yell at them for. "Deliberate amongst yourselves."

"'Breaking Free' should be our duet, Aaron." Janice told the athlete. "It's a harder song to pull off than 'Start of Something New', but that way, we'll be able to show off our vocal prowess better."

CONFESSIONAL: Janice

"Ever since the…incident back home, I'll admit I haven't been as confident in my singing abilities," said the Singaporean girl. "But I think being on this show will help me get that confidence back. I was born to sing, and I refuse to let one little mishap get in the way of that." She played with her dark ponytail as she cringed at a memory. "As long as I don't have to hit any whistle notes, that is."

Aaron nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me. The only solo song is 'When There Was Me and You', so it looks like you'll be doing most of the singing this challenge, Janice." Janice had to stop herself from pumping her fist, knowing that there would be time for such a celebration in private. Ariana was not very happy with this information, however.

"How is that fair? None of us have barely had the chance to sing, but Janice gets to sing in all three songs?" The curly-haired girl placed her manicured hands on her hips. "No way, I'm not waiting another day to sing. The solo should be 'Fabulous'. Everyone loves that song."

Genevieve stepped in, sensing that Janice was about to give Ariana a piece of her mind by the look on her face. "That would be lovely, Ariana. But, unfortunately, 'Fabulous' is a song from the second High School Musical movie, not the first one. I'm pretty sure we can only do songs from one musical."

Ariana tapped her white platform sandals on the ground, irritated. "If that was the case, don't you think Chris would've said we can only perform High School Musical 1? Why would he leave it that ambiguous if not so we could do songs from any of the movies?"

"Because no one calls it 'High School Musical 1', dumbass." Erica remarked. Ariana was almost instantly in her face.

"I don't think I recall asking you, low-class flop." Ariana smirked at the flash of anger in Erica's eyes. "Chris is the only one that knows for sure."

"So, let's ask him then," said Erica. "Chris, wouldn't it be super fucking dumb for us to sing a song from a musical you never mentioned as an option?" Both girls waited for Chris' reaction as they stood in a heated stare-off. When Chris never replied, they turned to look at him, only to see that he had busied himself with a game on his phone.

Noticing the silence in the room, he looked up from the game and went, "What? Did I miss something?"

Right when Erica was about to go, "Can you actually do your job?", Ariana chirped, "Nope! We're just finalizing our song choices. 'Fabulous' it is!" She strutted away from Erica before the other girl could throttle her.

"Great! As your director," Chris said, standing up to pass out the song sheets. "I will successfully lead you to…success…" he finished lamely. Once he finished passing out the sheets, he lifted a finger and said, "It's best for us to get the big ensemble number out of the way first, right? So, everyone get in your places for 'We're All in This Together'! If you don't know what your place is, well…just make it up!" He connected his phone to the speaker in the dance studio and hit the play button on the music file he already had queued up. "Action!"

…

Team Chris had gotten through the first few rounds of rehearsals without a hitch, which was more than enough to uplift everyone's spirits. Janice had even let Aaron help with the choreography, something she wouldn't have done the day before. Aaron was starting to believe that they were really coming together as a team.

CONFESSIONAL: Aaron

"Rehearsal went surprisingly well! Maybe I was wrong to think that this team was just mediocre." The athlete smiled to himself. "We all work pretty well together. Well, most of us at least. But even some of the more difficult members of the team put forth a lot of effort into this challenge. Even Devon!"

"Hey," said Janice to Aaron at the end of their second to last run-through of "Breaking Free". "As much as I hate to say this, I totally doubted you."

Aaron's eyes squinted in confusion. "Really?" Janice nodded.

"Yeah. I guess I just wrote you off as some dumb jock that couldn't tell a soprano from an alto." She put her hands up in a "what can ya do" fashion. "But after you admitted to being a total theater nerd, I realized that you might actually know what you're doing. So, I'm sorry." She bowed her head slightly, hoping her apology would be accepted.

Aaron sighed out a laugh. "You're fine, Janice. Honestly, if I had been in your position, I probably would've thought the same thing." He held out a hand. "Truce?"

She took the hand graciously. "Truce. Now, let's go through the choreography one last time. You may have seen this movie a billion times, but you still could use some help on the footwork." She said, though not unkindly. Aaron laughed again and joined her as they started the song again from the top.

Genevieve observed the interaction from her spot up against the mirrored wall and was pleased. She had always sensed the tension between the two Type-A personalities, and was glad that they finally buried the hatchet for the sake of the team. Unfortunately, she noted as she watched Ariana practice her song, that would not be the end of conflict within Team Chris.

CONFESSIONAL: Genevieve

"I've tried about three times now to get Ariana to change her mind about the song. Whether or not we're allowed to sing from two different musicals is one thing. But, even more egregious is the fact that 'Fabulous' isn't even a solo—it's a duet! It shows Ryan's lines right there on the song sheet! I don't want our team to lose on a silly infraction, but Ariana's so set on proving her worth that she refuses to listen to reason." She tapped the ends of her fingers together in concentration. "My Psych 305 professor would say that's a sign of a deep inferiority complex. There's definitely someone in her life that she constantly feels the need to prove herself to. I'll get to the bottom of this…" She bit her lip. "If we can get past this challenge, of course."

Genevieve tried to at least get Chiara's attention, but to no avail. He and Devon were too busy practicing the "We're All in This Together" choreography. By the time she found a window to get to him, Erica and Hayato were dragging her over to observe some dance move they had concocted. With great resignation, Genevieve realized she simply wouldn't be able to get a song change done in time before rehearsal ended. But with Team Chris' luck, Chef probably wouldn't even notice.

TEAM DON

Once they had (finally) made it to the lobby, Don made quick work of deciding the songs for the team's condensed version of Grease. "'Summer Nights' is too good to not use for the ensemble song. 'You're The One That I Want' makes sense for the duet. And, just to give someone who's not playing Sandy or Danny the opportunity to sing, I'll suggest 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do' for the solo. Anyone opposed?" When no one responded, he got his own crate of song sheets out. "Perfect! In that case, I see Drew as Danny and Rina as Sandy. Our T-Birds will be…Dalton as Kenickie, Dustin as Sonny, and Ivan as Doodie. And our Pink Ladies will be Eleanor as Frenchie, Nadine as Rizzo, and Kirsten as Marty." He passed out the corresponding lyrics to the contestants, but was stopped by Rina.

"Actually," said the French youth. "I think Eleanor should be Sandy." Eleanor jumped at this, surprised that Rina even knew her name after three days of barely acknowledging her existence.

"W-what? No, I'm fine as Frenchie, really!" The islander was already practically shaking in her Vans at the mere thought of being the lead.

"Nonsense," went Rina, who was already snatching Eleanor's song sheet out of her hand and replacing it with her own. "I've heard you sing. It'd be crazy to not let you take the spotlight for this challenge. I can be Frenchie. Besides, it'll be funny since I'm actually French." She provided a grin that didn't quite reach her eyes, something that Kirsten quickly noticed.

"Don't do it, El. She's up to something," she whispered to her friend standing next to her. Rina glared at the blonde dancer.

She brushed Kirsten's concern off. "Eleanor can make decisions for herself, last time I checked. So," she said to Eleanor. "What do you say?"

Eleanor looked between Kirsten and Rina, having a sinking feeling that whatever she said would lead to more conflict between the feuding girls. She liked Kirsten but…she also didn't want to make an enemy of Rina. "Sure," she said quietly.

Kirsten scoffed as Rina bared her teeth in a way Eleanor assumed was supposed to be friendly. "Spectacular. You'll do great. You should stand over there," she pointed to where Drew was. "With Drew, since you'll be singing together." Eleanor took a deep breath and went over, chancing one last look back at Kirsten as she went away.

"You're planning something; I can smell it on you." Kirsten said with glare. "Or, maybe that's just your gross European perfume. Either way, it stinks."

"It's a Christian Dior fragrance," Rina said in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's no surprise a nose as unrefined as yours wouldn't be able to tolerate it." Kirsten held back a growl. She wasn't going to keep letting Rina get to her. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

CONFESSIONAL: Kirsten

"Rina's a snooty bitch, right? But, she's not dumb. She knows what she's doing, and I keep falling for it." She rubbed at her temples absently. "She knows that she can get a rise out of me. If I just start ignoring her, she'll stop and move on to somebody else. So," she exhaled. "I just won't give her the reaction she wants anymore. I'll be calm." She closed her eyes and hummed before peeking one open to stare at the camera. "I look calm, right?"

…

Don decided that it would be easiest to get the solo song out of the way first, and save the rest of the time on perfecting the larger-scale numbers. Nadine, who was giddy with unbridled joy, stood in the middle of the lobby as Don got the music ready on the speaker. The southerner took one last look at her lyric sheet before Don gave her the cue to go.

"There are worse things I could do…than go with a boy, or two…" she sung. "Even though the neighborhood thinks I'm trashy and no good, I suppose it could be true. There are worse things I could do…" slowly, half the team's attention had turned from their own song sheets to Nadine as her voice echoed off the walls of the lobby.

CONFESSIONAL: Nadine

"You know, it's funny that I got cast as Rizzo. We couldn't be more different; she's basically the town harlot while I'm not even allowed to date until I'm 18." She bit her lip. "Well, 18 and a half. Don't ask why the half's there." She sighed and moved her braids over her shoulder. "I just know my daddy's gonna throw a fit when he sees me singing about sleeping around on TV. But, honestly? I'm actually kinda excited! It's my time to shine, and no one is gonna take that away from me."

Dustin, Eleanor, and Dalton were waving their hands in the air as if they were holding lighters while Nadine sang. Ivan and Kirsten watched approvingly, while Rina and Drew hashed out the final details of their plan to recruit Eleanor for their alliance.

As Nadine was wrapping up, Dustin leaned slightly over Eleanor to ask, "Hey, how are we supposed to dance in tight leather jackets and pants again? Especially with the stage lights on us? That sounds like a recipe for...well, not disaster, but something not very good either."

Dalton blew a raspberry as he thought. Then he said, "You think they actually have real leather in them dressing rooms?"

Dustin blinked. "Touché."

Later, when there was about an hour left of their rehearsal, Eleanor came to a stark realization.

She did not want to be Sandy.

Sure, it was only two songs, but she wasn't comfortable around Drew in the slightest. 'Summer Nights' was one thing, but when it came time to practice "You're The One That I Want", he got handiser than usual. Yeah, the choreography called for it, but that didn't mean she was going to enjoy it. She dodged his every move as they went through the steps, refusing to be held by him for more than a second.

CONFESSIONAL: Eleanor

"Look, I would've been able to put up with it if it was one of the other guys, but Drew? He's just so…" she pretended to throw up and put her thumb down. "A total jerkaholic. I don't want to give him any funny ideas during this challenge."

Drew was at his wit's end with Eleanor. Not only was her standoffishness going to potentially cost them the challenge, but it also didn't bear well for the alliance Rina wanted Eleanor to have with them. With the time they had left, Team Don was gearing up to head over to the dressing rooms so they could pick out the kitschiest, sockhoppiest costumes money could buy. With Eleanor walking as far away from him as possible, arms linked with Kirsten, Drew knew there was one thing he had to do.

He was going to have to…be nice.

It had worked well enough with Kirsten during the mini-challenge, and even he knew chasing after Eleanor like a rabid dog wasn't a good look.

He just hoped it would be enough.

CENTERSTAGE THEATER

Animated chatter could be heard coming from the Team Chris dressing room. The courtesy-curtain, so dubbed by Chris, that separated the guys and girls was completely open as everyone had finished changing. They were now practicing dance moves and hyping each other up for the performance, the picture of comradery.

"And you're absolutely sure me and Hayato can't do the double-hooked-cartwheel we showed you during rehearsal?" Erica asked Janice, who was slipping on a labcoat over a fire engine red, strappy dress. "Because we would kill it."

Hayato hummed in agreement as he looked at his appearance in the mirror. The red polo and white pants almost suited him. "I can see Chef now," he stood up straighter and said in a deepened voice, "'Bravo! Bravo! Ten million points for Team Chris!'" He shined his nails on his red polo shirt. "He may even cry, and I'd definitely kill to see that." He snickered sinisterly until he met Devon's terrified gaze. The bespectacled boy turned away in fear and busied himself with practicing his dribbling.

Janice, having just finished buttoning up the coat, sighed. "Aaron said it looked too risky, and I'm trying to be a team player here, so I won't go against his word."

Erica crossed her arms. "Well, I'm trying to be a team winner, so…" She hopped on top of the vanity, calling to Aaron, "Hey, Alvarez! Let me and Hayato do the cartwheel thing or your mom's a hoe!"

Genevieve, who was applying powder to her face, tightened her lips together to stop from laughing. Instead, she said, "Now, what if Aaron didn't have a mother, Erica?"

Erica shrugged and straightened the red tie that went with her white blouse and eggshell-colored skirt. "Then his dad's a hoe. My insults are rated E for Everybody." Genevieve almost replied, but noticed that some powder fell on her bright red tube top. Janice was quick to supply her with a makeup wipe, which she accepted gratefully.

Aaron rolled his eyes with a smile. "I have a mom, thank you very much. I don't see what letting you and Hayato break your necks on national television has to do with that, though."

Hayato disagreed. "We are highly trained dancers." A pause. "Or, at least I am." He flinched only slightly at the punch to the arm from Erica. "No one is getting hurt. Especially not to High School freakin' Musical."

"I say we let them do it," added Devon. "And if they get injured, it'll be exactly what the good Lord intended! Divine retribution for their increasingly wicked ways." He stuck his nose in the air and began to walk away, unable to see Hayato snatching a hot curling iron off the vanity and waving it threateningly close to the back of Devon's head. Just when Devon was about to turn back around, Jordan managed to snatch the curling iron away from the boy's face. "And another thing! I think—"

"No one cares what you think, bruv," interrupted Jordan as he placed the curling iron back on the counter. Devon's high-pitched voice was already starting to give him a headache. "In fact, some thoughts should stay to oneself, you'd agree with that, wouldn't you?"

Devon puffed out his chest, trying and failing to appear larger than the tall athlete who was wearing a white and red basketball uniform identical to his own. "No, I believe all thoughts are valid. Some get you sent to the fiery pits of Hell where you shall forever suffer eternal and excruciating damnation, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't still be said!"

Jordan looked hard into Devon's eyes, trying—no, begging—to find some hint of a joke somewhere, for the choir boy surely had to be putting him on. Alas, all he saw was a void of nothingness. "Man, we have got to get you out more." Before Devon could argue, he placed a basketball into the other boy's hands. "Would you mind standing over in the corner with your face against the wall while practicing the dribbling choreo? You looked just a smidge sloppy back in rehearsal, mate."

Devon's eyebrows furrowed, perplexed. "Why do I have to face the wall?"

"Helps with concentration. My coach used to make us do something similar all the time." What he really meant was that the coach would punish them by making them perform press-ups against the wall for an hour if they were caught slacking in practice, but Devon didn't need to know he was being punished, per say. "Do it for about twenty minutes and you'll be golden."

Devon acquiesced, trusting the (almost) professional athlete's judgment. Jordan couldn't help himself from chuckling under his breath, only stopping when he realized Chiara was looking at him. He ducked his head sheepishly. "I think this game might be turning me into a bad person," he joked.

Chiara tilted his head. "Perhaps that's the whole purpose of this game." He stalked off to the other side of the room before Jordan could respond.

Aaron was twirling his own basketball on his index and middle fingers with ease. As the ball spun, Erica snatched it away and started dribbling. Aaron made a hmmpf sound and crossed his arms. "Erica…why," he said flatly.

The Miami native batted her eyes innocently. "So…cartwheel: yay or nay?"

Aaron scrubbed a hand over his face. "Fine. Just please don't die in the process. I think we'd be immediately disqualified for that."

"Sweet!" Erica, in her excitement, threw the ball towards the wall, where it bounced off and hit Devon in the head. The southern boy crumpled to the ground like an empty potato chip bag, screaming.

Erica slapped her hands to her mouth, removing them to yelp, "Sorry, that wasn't on purpose! For once!"

While Chiara and Genevieve helped the boy up, Aaron wondered aloud, "Why was he facing the wall? He would've seen the ball coming if he was looking forward." At this, Jordan started whistling a random tune and fiddled with a lint roller.

Once they had determined Devon was alright, Genevieve and Chiara leaned up against the wall and watched the scene before them. Other than Ariana's pointed lack of acknowledgement of the other team members, everyone seemed downright friendly. Genevieve was glad things were turning up well for the team.

Chiara was less optimistic. In his world, what goes up, always ends up coming down. And when it comes down, it crashes hard. He would never say that aloud, though.

"Chiara, you've been quiet." Genevieve tilted her head slightly. "Well, let's say more quiet than usual. What's on your mind?"

"At the moment?" The college student nodded. "Winning."

…

In the Team Blaineley dressing room, the teens were waiting patiently for Blaineley to return with their sabotage. They had already gotten dressed and were tasking themselves with putting the finishing touches on their looks.

Millie had used half a can of hairspray to create a bump in her hair and used a curling iron to make the ends of her bob curl outwards. She had kept her trademark purple headband, but exchanged her usual corduroy outfit for a white button-up blouse and a blue pencil skirt. She also maintained her knee-high socks and black Mary Janes. She looked at the sequined swing dress hanging on the clothing rack next to her with awe. It would be the dress she'd sport for the final song of their performance. She was in utter bliss.

Luna, on the other hand, was extremely tense. She hated the poofy, bright pink dress and matching pumps she had to wear to play Amber. But, there was something else bothering her too. Ever since Leon had returned from the dorms with something for Brianna, the Japanese girl had been…off.

She suddenly had the confidence to sing and dance with Zavier, complete with letting him pretend to kiss her on cheek for the finale. Not only that, but she was a lot looser on her feet than she normally was and couldn't stop giggling. At one point, she had tripped over her own two feet, and had landed on the ground in a fit of laughter.

Luna may have been young, but she wasn't born yesterday.

"Psst, Gemini," she whispered to the songstress. "Do you think someone drugged Brianna?"

Gemini, whose hair was wrapped into a beehive and wearing a purple bell-sleeved dress, checked Brianna out of the corner of her eye. The blonde was swaying back in forth in her chair as she fiddled with the two ponytails now on each side of her head. Her eyes were hooded and glazed as she stared at herself in the mirror. Gemini returned her attention to Luna. "Hell yeah."

"It had to have been Leon," Luna said in a low tone. "She was fine before she drank whatever he gave her."

Gemini gasped. "Leon is the sweetest person here; he would never do something like that." As much as Luna was positive about her theory, she knew Gemini was right. But just because Leon was a friendly guy, didn't mean he wasn't susceptible to not-so-friendly influences…

On the other side of the courtesy-curtain, the guys were getting some last-minute practice in.

"So," Zavier said. "It's 'you can't stop the motion of the ocean—" he performed a successful Wave dance with his arms and shoulders. "Or the sun in the sky'," he made a swooping motion. "'You can wonder if you wanna, but I never ask why'." He ran in place as he pointed at his temple and then pointed out away from himself. "Right?" He stopped his dance and looked expectantly at the others, straightening his green and brown sweater vest.

"Yep, you got it!" Leon cheered. "We look really good, friends. I think we might win off our costumes alone." Leon was certainly a sight: his fiery mane was curled into a similar style as Millie's, and he was wearing a gold version of the dress Millie would be wearing for the final song. He swung the dress and watched the fabric move around him. "This is actually quite freeing!"

Zane laughed and marveled at his own get-up consisting of a basic suede suit the color of a tomato. His hair was gelled back much like Jalen's. Jalen himself was wearing an argyle-print sweater and had thankfully done away with his fedora for the evening.

The boys were broken out of their conversation by the sound of a crash from behind the curtain. This was followed by the sound of scurrying and three of the four girls going "are you okay?", and a gaggle of giggles from what could've only been Brianna. Jalen nervously glanced at his teammates. "Is Brianna, uh, okay?"

"She was acting mad weird during rehearsal," Zavier added. "I mean, yeah, we finally got to get through the song, but she definitely seems a little…" He faltered, not wanting to accuse the girl of sneaking any illegal substances onto the premises. Then again, seeing as the place was a former meth lab, maybe—

"She'll be fine," Zane said, cutting off Zavier's thought. "She just needs to sleep it off after the challenge." He hoped that they would just leave it at that, but he noticed Leon fidgeting nervously out of the corner of his eye.

CONFESSIONAL: Leon

"I just feel so guilty about letting Brianna get drunk! I know it was for the good of the team, but sometimes people's safety is more important than victory." He rubbed his bandaged left arm. "I have to come clean, if I don't, the guilt will kill me!"

"Actually," Leon began, his voice uncharacteristically quiet, "I have a confession to make." He was about to say more, much to the chagrin of Zane, when a knock on the door stopped everyone in their tracks.

Zane breathed a sigh of relief as he rushed to open the door for Blaineley. "Please tell me you have our sabotage."

Blaineley pushed past Zane, grumpily. "You guys sure know how to greet a woman. No 'hey Blaineley, thanks for all your hard work today!'? Really?"

"What hard work did you actually do again?" Luna asked. Blaineley ignored her and held out two slips of notepad paper.

"These here are the cast lists for the other two musicals. Your sabotage, if you so choose to use it, is to pick which show gets their cast turned upside down." She took her phone out of her pocket and pulled up a random name generator app. "Well, not really. Only two cast members switch, and you can't even pick which ones. It has to be random, according to Chef. Of course, we get the sucky sabotage." She sighed. "So, which team will it be? Team Chris or Team Don? Make it snappy."

The team quickly huddled together to discuss their strategy, except for Brianna who was spinning in circles in the background. Gemini was surprisingly the first one to speak. "I don't know about you guys, but everyone on Team Don annoys me, so the sooner we can get them all out, the better."

Luna agreed. "Plus, a lot of the people on that team seem tough to beat. I'd rather have all of them out of here before the merge."

"But," interjected Zane. "Team Chris hasn't lost a single challenge yet. Sure, they haven't won any either, but for all we know that's probably their strategy." Jalen gave him a perplexed look, so he elaborated. "Their whole plan could be to stay under the radar until the merge, while the rest of us take ourselves out of the running."

"Let's just vote on it," said Millie, not wanting to drag this out anymore. "Everyone for sabotaging Team Chris, raise your hand." Millie raised her own hand, along with Zane and Jalen. "Well, I guess that answers that question. We're sabotaging Team Don."

"Fine," said Blaineley as she crumpled up the Team Chris cast list. "Let's see which two members will be switched…" she tapped a few times on her phone until the two names popped up. "Interesting. This'll be one to watch for." She was about to leave when she noticed Brianna still spinning. "Um…what's up with her?"

Zane clamped a hand over Leon's mouth. "Nothing, she's just working through her nerves." He forced a smile as Blaineley observed the situation suspiciously. Eventually, she shrugged and flashed a "deuces" sign before leaving the dressing room.

Millie clapped her hands together twice to call everyone's attention. "Okay, three minutes to showtime, folks. Break a leg, everybody!" She performed her jazz hands and ducked out of the room so she could take her place on stage.

Zavier furrowed his brows and asked Jalen, "Why would she want us to break our legs?" to which the other boy snorted.

…

In the dressing room next door, Team Don was also preparing to start the show. Dustin and Dalton took turns spinning in their T-Bird costumes, showing off their sleek (faux) leather jackets and tight denim jeans. All the guys had their hair gelled to the point that if someone threw a rock at their coif, they wouldn't even feel it. The girls, except for Eleanor, were dressed as Pink Ladies in their pink jackets, black and white striped tops, pleather leggings, and a black scarf tied around their necks. Eleanor was wearing a white blouse tucked into a long, yellow skirt, with a pale blue sweater tied around her shoulders. Her curly hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

"I always thought Grease was a weird movie," remarked Dustin after spinning himself just a little too hard and sitting down. "I mean, why do they just fly into the sun at the end? Were they able to do that the whole time? I think the movie would've been more interesting if they had led with the fact that flying cars existed in the 50s."

Ivan blinked blearily at Dustin, his mind so foggy from lack of sleep that he understood the Filipino boy's words even less than usual. "Since when is Grease about flying cars?"

Dustin laughed. "It's not, but it should have been. Think about how many problems could've been solved if the T-Birds could just fly their car out of any situation? I don't know how, but I feel like the movie would've been over in twenty minutes, tops." Dustin made this point with the utmost confidence, while Ivan simply sunk his head onto the vanity countertop, more confused than he was before.

Nadine appeared from behind the courtesy-curtain and chirped, "That would've been cool, but I think the real weirdest thing about Grease is that Sandy changes her whole image out of nowhere for Danny, and they never talk about it! Why is that the happy ending?"

"Right?" went Kirsten. "I always thought that was the dumbest way to end the movie. At least let Danny keep the goodie-two-shoes image too. Why should she change for him but not the other way around?"

"Blah-blah, no one cares," Drew said as he pushed back the curtain all the way so he could get to the two girls still on the other side. "Eleanor! Just the gal I've been looking for." He slid up to her and tugged lightly on the yellow ribbon keeping her hair up.

Eleanor grabbed her ponytail and pulled it away from the boy. Trying to keep the irritation out of her voice, she replied, "I've been here the whole time."

"Yeah, well—anyway," he waved it off. "We need to talk. I can tell you're not the fondest of me." Eleanor made a face that practically screamed "ya think?". He pressed on regardless. "I get it, I can be a little…much for people. I swear I don't mean anything by it. You know, deep down inside of me, is a sad little boy yearning for acceptance." He dropped his head pitifully. "I've been spat at, beat down, ridiculed, and more. My childhood was tough. That's why I'm not very good at connecting to people. But you, Eleanor…something about you makes me want to try. I understand if you don't want to." He twisted his head away quickly so the girl wouldn't see his face breaking into a shit-eating grin. He tried to collect himself before Eleanor could realize he was pulling a fast one on her. "But I hope you consider it. I'd really like to be your friend." He finally raised his head to look at her and was met with a glassy-eyed expression. Eleanor's hands were clasped over her heart and she began to nod.

CONFESSIONAL: Drew

"Hook, line, and sinker," Drew said with a smug expression. He tossed his lighter back and forth between his hands. "Some of these kids are way too easy. You can always tell when someone's a sucker for a sob story."

CONFESSIONAL: Eleanor

"Drew's story is just so…" the girl wiped a tear from one of her large brown eyes. "So sad! I had no idea that he had been through so much. I wouldn't have written him off if I had known." She took a shaky breath. "I know what you're thinking: 'oh she's such a sucker for a sob story'. But I have a feeling Drew meant what he said. All the things he does: the flirting, the snappy comebacks, the smirking; it's all just a cry for help!" She placed her hands over her heart again. "And if he wants me to be there for him, I will."

"We can be friends," she said with a smile. The older boy reached down to hug her, and she accepted the embrace. What Eleanor couldn't see was Drew winking at Rina, who was watching the whole exchange with bated breath. The blue-haired girl winked back and went back to fixing her hair.

Kirsten had taken note of this, as well. She stomped over to Eleanor and Drew and forced them apart with her sheer strength. "Eleanor, are you really gonna fall for this? He's playing you. Him and Rina." Drew sucked his teeth and Eleanor clasped Kirsten's hands in her own.

"He's not. I know you don't trust him," said Eleanor. "But I'm sure once you get to know him—"

Kirsten pulled her hands out of her friend's grasp. "As if! Come on, open your eyes. He has 'snake' written all over him." Eleanor was about to give some form of a rebuttal when a loud knock came from the door.

Nadine, who was closest to the entrance, opened the door to reveal a smirking Blaineley and a downtrodden Don. Eleanor left Kirsten and Drew to join Nadine and the others at the door. Right before Drew went over, he leaned down and whispered in Kirsten's ear, "Next time, it'd be best to mind your own business, skank." Kirsten's eyes widened.

"What the hell did you just call me?" Drew snickered and put his hands into his jacket pockets.

"A skank. You know, synonym for hoe, thot, and my personal favorite from our good friends over in the UK: slag."

Kirsten's face grew hot, anger boiling in her blood. "You said you wouldn't use what I said at the therapist's office against me."

Drew shrugged. "I say a lot of things." Kirsten's heated, curse-filled response was cut off by Nadine's yell of "WHAT?!"

What Kirsten and Drew had missed during their argument was Don sadly informing the team that they had been on the receiving end of the sabotage from Team Blaineley. "I'm sorry, Nadine, but that means you and Kirsten will have to switch roles. She'll be Rizzo and you'll be Marty."

Nadine would've crumpled to the floor if it wasn't for Dalton catching her. "I worked so hard…" she said mournfully. "This was supposed to be my night."

"Yeah, well, now it's not. Boohoo," went Blaineley. "Since our team is performing first, you and Kirsten have however long singing three songs takes to learn each other's lines and steps. Have fuuuuuun," she sang before skipping out of the room.

"This is hell," Rina huffed. "How is Kirsten supposed to learn a whole song in fifteen minutes? She can barely function as is."

The blonde ignored the other girl. "I'll do it. It should be fine. Right?" She asked Nadine, who looked seconds away from passing out.

The southerner simply pointed towards the purple top and black skirt ensemble hanging on the clothing rack that would be needed for the solo song. After that, she plopped down into a chair and fanned herself with Dalton's discarded cowboy hat.

The hatless boy looked at the scene and back to Kirsten. He offered a semblance of a smile and said, "Yeah, it'll be fine."

Kirsten didn't believe him.

"Welcome back to Total Drama Takes the Stage!" Announced Chris. "Our contestants have just wrapped up preparing three show-stopping, gut-wrenching, roof-raising performances for your viewing pleasure. The first team to take us all back to school with three songs from the hit musical, Hairspray, is Team Blaineley. Hit it, Millie!" Chris stepped out of the way of the camera as it dollied closer to the stage. The curtains swung open to reveal Millie standing with her back turned to the audience. Behind her, was a hastily painted backdrop of a set of brick rowhouses. A sun with a smiley face drawn on shined bright in the corner.

The intro music started playing and Millie rocked her hips from side to side. After six counts, she turned around and sang, "Oh, oh, oh, woke up today, feeling the way I always do! Oh, oh, oh, hungry for something that I can't eat—" she skipped closer to the top of the stage and pretended to smell something delicious in the air. "Then I hear the beat! The rhythm uptown starts calling me down, just like a message from high abooooove," she outstretched her arms and spun gracefully in a circle. "Oh, oh, oh, pulling me out to the smiles and the streets that I love!"

She skipped to the left side of the stage and belted, "Good morning, Baltimore! Every day's like an open door!" She mimed opening several doors as she scurried to the other side of the stage. "Every night's like a fantasy. Every sound's like a symphony!" She did a series of box-steps as she sang, "Good morning, Baltimore! And someday when I take to the floor, the world's gonna wake up and seeeeee…" she spun once more and framed her face with her hands as if she were vogueing. "Baltimore and me!"

She flashed a mega-watt and began the next verse. "Oh, oh, oh, look at my hair! What 'do can compare with miiiiine today?" She patted her poofy coif and preened. "Oh, oh, oh, I've got my hairspray and radio, I'm ready to go!" She took out the can of hairspray that she had used on herself and sprayed it into the audience, causing the three coaches to cough violently. She grimaced but continued to sing.

"The rats on the street, all dance around my feet," she crooned as two interns wearing Micky Mouse ears crawled on all fours around her. She kicked one of them for getting a little too close but covered it up with a giggle. "They seem to say 'Tracy, it's up to you'! So, oh, oh, don't hold me back! 'Cause today all my dreams will come true!"

She broke into the next chorus just as Zavier, Jalen, and a stumbling Brianna made their way to the wings of the stage. Jalen peeked from behind the wall to watch Millie sing, hearts slowly forming in his eyes. "She's really amazing guys…"

"Uh-huh," Zavier grunted as he leaned Brianna up against a wall. "Could you stop ogling her for a sec though and help me keep Bri upright? She is strung the hell out." Jalen got out of his trance and put Brianna's arm over his own.

"I'm so sleepy," Brianna slurred with a hiccup. "Just let me nap for a minute." Her head lulled to the side and her eyes slid shut.

Jalen and Zavier exchanged a look. "We don't have a minute, Brianna," said the jazz singer. "We need to get out there for 'Without Love' soon." He peeked behind the wall to see Millie singing the final verse of the song. "Like, really, really soon." Unfortunately, when he turned back around, Brianna was knocked out.

"Well, we're screwed," stated Zavier. He snapped a few times in Brianna's face, but the girl simply wasn't waking up. "Millie's gonna kill us."

Jalen tugged anxiously at his hair before realizing he was messing it up. He smoothed it back into place and took a deep inhale. "Um…let's get Gemini! Who cares if her voice isn't high enough, at least we'll have something."

Zavier wiped his sweaty palms on his brown corduroy pants. "That won't work. She doesn't even know the lyrics. We'll just have to throw in the towel, bro, and hope Millie shows us mercy." He gulped as Millie finished up the song. "I'm too young to die, I haven't even made it to the Grammys yet!"

Millie sashayed backwards behind the line of the curtain, and sang one last, "Baltimore! And meeeeeeee." She curtseyed right before the curtains swung shut, pleased to hear the sound of the coaches and Chef applauding. She ran to the wings where the guys plus Brianna were waiting.

Jalen greeted her with praise. "You were incredible, Millie! I knew you were a good singer, but man, you can blow!" His face reddened instantly. "Not like that!" His slip-up went unnoticed by Millie, since she was too busy looking at Brianna's passed-out form.

"What happened to her?! Somebody wake her up; we go on in thirty seconds!" She kicked the sleeping girl much like she had kicked the intern earlier. Much to her chagrin, Brianna only snored in response. "This cannot be happening!" Her lips curled into a snarl and she pointed a finger in Jalen's face. "What did you do?"

Jalen paled. "I-I did nothing! She's been like this since rehearsal, you didn't notice?" Millie didn't respond because, well, she hadn't. She had been too busy perfecting her own choreography to pay attention to whatever was going on with her teammate.

She slapped a hand on her forehead. "Ugh, okay, it looks like we'll just have to do it without her." Zavier and Jalen gaped at her. "What? Do you have any better ideas?"

Zavier rubbed the back of his neck. "No. But how am I supposed to sing a song to someone that's not there? I'll look like an idiot!"

Millie wasn't hearing any of it. "The show must go on, Zavier. The show must go on." An intern with a headset on came up to them and told them it was time for their next song. Millie nodded, determined. "It's showtime, boys."

The trio marched onto the stage and waited behind the curtain. When it opened again, they walked out in a rhythmic fashion and took their places. The music started and Jalen started the song with, "Once I was a selfish fool who never understood. Never looked inside myself, but on the outside, I looked good!" He winked into the cameras and shot a pair of finger guns, not noticing Blaineley covering her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Then we met, and you made me the man I am today," he sung to Millie, walking over to her and taking her hands in his. "Tracy, I'm in love with you, no matter what you weigh!" They jumped to the center of the stage and began swaying.

"Without love," they sang together, and Jalen followed it up with, "Life is like the seasons with no summer." He twirled her around as they sang "without love" again, and he continued, "Life is rock n' roll without a drummer." Jalen tore away from Millie and kneeled on one knee, belting, "Tracy, I'll be yours forever 'cause I never wanna be…without loooooove." He hit a high note that managed to surprise Millie despite having heard it during rehearsal. "Tracy, never set me free. No, I ain't lying. Never set me free! No, no, no!" He got up and took Millie back to the other side of the stage. It was now Zavier's turn to sing.

However, nothing came out. He stared at the blinding spotlights and the cameras watching his every move. He was not about to sing to the air. His pride would not let him.

CONFESSIONAL: Zavier

"Did I screw over my team? Maybe." His eyes were closed, and his arms crossed. "But I wouldn't have if Brianna hadn't shown up to the challenge wasted. So, who's really at fault here? Was I supposed to pretend to dance with an imaginary friend? The wind? A ghost?" He snorted. "No sir! Not me!"

The music played as he stood there, silent. Millie's lips wound tightly into a scowl so menacing Zavier almost ran off the stage in fear. But he stood his ground and tapped his feet to the beat. When the time came for Jalen and Millie to sing again, they did so, spinning and kicking around Zavier who was planted firmly to that one spot on the stage.

"Never leave me without love!" The duo eventually finished, breathless and wrapped in each other's arms while Zavier was silently wondering how he could sample the song for his next album. All three of them bowed and bounded off the stage. Once they were out of sight, Millie grabbed Zavier by the throat and shoved him up against the wall. "What. The hell. Was that?" She growled, eyes mad with rage.

Zavier struggled for air and pleaded with his eyes to be released. When Millie did so, he choked, "I didn't want to look dumb on stage!"

Millie laughed humorously. "That's what you were worried about?! Looking dumb?! Well, not only did you accomplish that, but you also probably lost us the challenge." She backed away from him, disgust written on her face. "You are so going home tonight."

Jalen jumped in. "Whoa, let's not be hasty now!" He attempted to rub Millie's shoulders but was pushed away. He pressed on regardless. "We still have one song left; I'm sure we can make a comeback!"

Millie growled again, scaring Jalen away just in time for Leon, Luna, Gemini, and Zane to enter the wings. They all slowly took in the scene: Brianna asleep and leaned up against the wall, Zavier gasping for air, Millie looking like a rabid animal, and Jalen looking like said rabid animal's prey. Leon cleared his throat. "We, um, brought your dress!" He said to Millie, holding the sequined costume.

Millie snatched it out of his hand and stomped to a dark corner of the backstage area where no one could see her change. Zane sighed and said, "I'm afraid to ask what happened, but here I am, asking anyway."

"You don't want to know," Zavier replied as he rubbed his now sore throat. "Just know that Millie is 100% capable of choke-slamming someone."

Luna observed Brianna and shook her head. Someone was going to pay for what they did, but that would have to be after the show was over. She noticed that an intern passing by was drinking from a large water bottle, and wordlessly took it out of their hand. Ignoring the intern's "hey!", she doused Brianna with the water, immediately waking the girl up with a gasp.

"What! I'm here, I'm awake!" The blonde yelled with a clarity she hadn't had since rehearsal. She blinked the water out of her eyes. "Did we go swimming?"

"Well, that's one way to solve the problem," Zane remarked, holding up a fist for Luna to bump. Luna eyed the fist suspiciously but bumped it anyway. Zane stooped down to Brianna. "Are you okay?" The girl nodded. "Cool, we go on for 'You Can't Stop The Beat' in fifteen seconds. Let's go." He hoisted her up just as Millie emerged from the shadows in her dress.

She said nothing about Brianna being awake and walked back on stage with a bit more force than usual. Everyone followed her, worried that saying the wrong thing could get them on the receiving end of her wrath.

When the music started, Millie had no problem hiding her contempt. She swung her arms and snapped as she walked languidly to the top of the stage, Luna as Amber following in toe. With vigor, she sang to Luna, "You can't stop an avalanche as it races down the hill! You can try to stop the seasons, girl, but you know you never will." She lightly pushed the smaller girl away and Luna fell back in an overdramatic fashion. "And you can try to stop my dancin' feet, but I just cannot stand still!" She performed some intricate footwork and raised her arms.

"'Cause the world keeps spinning round and round, and my heart's keeping time to the speed of sound. I was lost 'till I heard the drums, then I found my waaaay, 'cause you can't stop the beat!" Jalen then joined her to sing as they did the Mashed Potato dance.

"Ever since this whole world began, a woman found out if she shook it, she could shake up a man!" Jalen stepped behind Millie and leaned his body left and right. "And so, I'm gonna shake and shimmy it the best that I can todaaaay, 'cause you can't stop the motion of the ocean or the sun in the sky. You can wonder if you wanna, but I never ask why." They performed the wave like Zavier had back in the dressing room. "And if you try to hold me down I'm gonna spit in your eye and saaaaay, that you can't stop the beat!" They slid their fingers over their eyes and turned to face each other, smiling before getting out of the way for the next verse.

It was now Brianna's turn to sing, and though she was still wobbly on her feet, she was coherent enough to sing the next line to Zavier. "You can't stop the river as it rushes to the sea."

Zavier, glad that Brianna wasn't somehow permanently brain damaged by being knocked out, sang back, "You can try to stop the hands of time, but you know it just can't be!"

Brianna ran into his arms and he dipped her. "And if they try to stop us, Seaweed, I'll call the NAACP!" He picked her back up and twirled her to the side so they could sing the chorus together. They performed a kick-ball-change, and were soon joined in their steps by the rest of the cast.

Now it was Leon's time to sing. He walked confidently in his heels and crooned, "You can't stop my happiness, 'cause I like the way I am. And you just can't stop my knife and fork when I see a Christmas ham! So, if you don't like the way I look, well I just don't give a damn!" He sang the chorus as he lifted his arms up and down while his feet moved with precision. Once the chorus was over, it was time for the dance break, in which Leon shook his hips with reckless abandon. Millie and Gemini followed his movements, and when the dance break was over, Gemini took to the center.

"Oh, oh, oh, you can't stop today as it comes speeding down the track. Yesterday is history, and it's never coming back!" The fabric of her dress moved with her every step. "'Cause tomorrow is a brand new day, and it don't know white from black!" She sang the chorus as she kicked and swayed. The entire cast came together one last time to sing the chorus, ending it with all the couples stage-kissing and falling into a pose. All three coaches clapped, though Blaineley looked the most pained as she did so. Chef shuffled what looked like notes together and cleared his throat.

"Well, that was certainly something," he began. "I've never seen a musical start off promising, then descend into garbage, and then go back to being good that fast in my life. Well, aside from that CATS movie." He put on a pair of reading glasses and peered at his notes. "The solo delivered, as expected. Millie, you may be a nuisance to everyone on this show, but you can sing like your life depends on it. Kudos." Millie bowed graciously. "And, the final ensemble number was fantastic. I thought I'd be more disturbed by Leon in a dress, but he made it work." Leon beamed, his face rosy from the exertion of the performance. "But that love song? Man, that was terrible. Half the song was missing! And Zavier just stood there looking like a fool. Anyone mind explaining?"

Zavier twiddled his thumbs and chewed the inside of his cheek. "We had some, uh, technical difficulties. We were short an actor and it didn't feel right to go on without her, so…" He trailed off, looking to the others for help. When none came, he sighed. "I take partial responsibility for the mishap, I guess."

"Hm," Chef considered. "Welp, that's unfortunate, but I can't say I really care." He put his notes to the side. "Team Blaineley gets a 5 out of 10. You better hope one of the other teams flops big time if you want a chance at not going home, kid." The team skulked off the stage just as Team Don arrived in the wings.

Chris stepped in front of the cameras once more to introduce them. "Now, here's Team Don with an electrifyin' performance of Grease!"

The curtains opened to reveal a new backdrop that was a blown-up stock photo of a generic high school. Two of the lunch tables from earlier were back on the stage and the girls were seated at one while the boys were at the other. The familiar tune of "Summer Nights" played from the speakers.

The boys mimed badgering Drew as Danny for details about his summer escapades while the girls did the same to Eleanor. Drew stood up and sang, "Summer lovin', had me a blast."

Eleanor stood as well and sang to the seated ladies, "Summer lovin', happened so fast."

"I met a girl," Drew pointed towards Eleanor. "Crazy for me."

Eleanor copied his actions and sang, "Met a boy, cute as can be!"

Everyone swayed in their places as the duo sang, "Summer days, drifting away, to uh-oh, those summer nights." Drew started moving his arms like a chicken, and kicked his legs one by one. Dustin, Ivan, and Dalton chanted, "oh well, oh well, oh well-uh" and sang "tell me more, tell me more!". Ivan swatted Drew's arm and sang, "Did you get very far?"

The girls also chanted, "tell me more, tell me more!" followed by Nadine asking, "Like does he have a car?"

Drew put his foot up on one of the chairs and sang to the guys, "She swam by me, she got a cramp."

Eleanor leaned in close to the girls who acted as if they were listening with rapt attention. "He ran by me, got my suit damp."

Drew clutched his chest and pretended to swoon. "I saved her life! She nearly drowned."

Eleanor twirled her hair and sang, "He showed off, splashing around."

The pair then sat on top of the tables and shimmied to the beat, singing, "Summer sun, something's begun. But uh-oh, those summer nights."

The "tell me more, tell me more" chant happened again, and this time Rina asked, "Was it love at first sight?"

Dalton, in turn asked Drew, "Did she put up a fight?"

Drew slicked back his gelled pompadour and hopped off the table, dancing around its circumference. "Took her bowling, to the arcade."

Eleanor, Rina, Nadine, and Kirsten started skipping with their hands behind their backs around their own table. Eleanor sang, "We went strolling, drank lemonade."

Drew summoned the boys closer to him, and sang with a wicked grin, "We made out, under the dock."

Eleanor, still skipping, went, "We stayed up, 'till 10 o'clock."

The pair did the twist, singing, "Summer fling, don't mean a thing. But, oh uh, those summer niiiiights."

After another set of "tell me more, tell me more", Dustin said, "But you don't gotta brag." This was followed by Kirsten rolling her eyes animatedly and intoning, "'Cause he sounds like a drag."

The dance break started and all of Team Don burst into movement, doing a hopping step move like the one from the movie. Eleanor did a sweeping kick and sang, "He got friendly, holding my hand!"

Drew jumped in front over everyone, landing on his knees, "Well, she got friendly, down in the saaaand."

Eleanor twirled. "He was sweet, just turned eighteen."

Drew got up and pumped his fist. "Well, she was good, you know what I mean."

"Summer heat, boy and girl meet. But, uh-oh, those summer niiiights," they sung together. The team went through one last verse before the music slowed down.

Eleanor started walking backwards, singing glumly, "It turned colder, that's where it ends."

Drew, who also walked backwards, went, "So I told her, we'd still be friends…"

They sang until their backs hit each other, ending with a strong, "Summer dreams, ripped at the seams…but, oh those summer…niiiiiiiiights." The duo then clasped hands to bow. The curtains shut, muffling the sound of applause from the small audience.

They zipped off the stage, most of them heading straight back to the dressing room since they wouldn't be needed until the final song. Kirsten moved into the same dark corner Millie had changed in to put on her purple and black ensemble. From where she was, she could hear that Drew and Eleanor were still in the wings.

"You were incredible, babe. And, here I thought you were too shy to sing like that," complimented the boy. Eleanor giggled.

"You were too! I guess I just needed the right people to sing with. That felt great!" She held up her hand for Drew to high-five it, which he did.

Kirsten had to stop herself from gagging. She instead dumped her first costume on a chair and grabbed the school textbook that would be her prop. She walked into the light, breezing past her two teammates, and walking out onto the stage.

She tried to control her breathing. Though she wasn't usually a nervous person, she had barely any time to practice "There Are Worse Things I Could Do". She knew her rendition would be dust compared to Nadine's even if she could remember the lyrics. She was glad that there wasn't any choreography in the song, or else she really would've been in trouble. She shivered and looked towards the wings to see just Drew watching intently, as Eleanor had ran to the dressing room to change. Oh, just great, she thought sarcastically.

The curtain opened again, and she walked into the spotlight. She began the song, shakily, "There are worse things I could do…than go with a boy, or two." She clutched the textbook close to her chest. "Even though the neighborhood thinks I'm flashy—trashy" She quickly corrected, already annoyed with herself. "And no good, I suppose it could be true. But there are worse things I could do." She walked around the stage, silently wishing that everyone on Team Blaineley would wake up covered in boils for doing this to her.

"I could flirt with all the guys...smile at them and bat my eyeees." She batted her lashes in the general direction of the cameras. "Press against them when we dance, make them think they stand a chance." She slunk to the other side of the stage, before twisting on her heel like Nadine had showed her. "Then, refuse to see it through. That's something I'd never do." She went back to the center of the stage. "I could stay home…every niiiiight. Wait around for Mr. Riiiiight," she belted. Her voice wasn't as strong as it could've been, but at that point she just wanted the song to be over. "Take cold showers every day, and throw my life away, on a dream that won't come true." She bowed her head, singing quietly. "I could hurt someone like me…out of spite or jealousy." She lifted her head and saw Drew still watching. At his smug face, a silent rage grew within her as she remembered his words back in the dressing room.

"I don't steal, and I don't lie!" She sang in what almost came out as a yell. "But I can feel, and I can cry! A fact I bet you never kneeeeew." At that point, she was singing more to the wings than the audience, but she didn't care. "But to cry in front of yoouuu…" she sighed. "That's the worst thing…I could dooooo." She quickly bowed and ran back to the wings where the rest of the cast had regathered.

Nadine, though they weren't very close, hugged her. "You did great, Kirsten. Sorry if I was being a bit of a drama queen earlier." Kirsten chuckled.

"Please, you would've killed it out there. I'm just surprised I didn't forget most of the lyrics." She tossed the textbook away, not caring when it hit the backstage intern in the gut.

She accepted a high-five from Dustin, who told her, "You had less than 20 minutes to get the song right and you did! That's all that matters." Kirsten was warmed by all the praise, though she would never admit it.

Rina, feeling especially petty, directed everyone to get back on stage before anyone else could compliment the girl. They all took their places, with Eleanor and Drew in the center.

Eleanor had changed out of her original costume into a black cold-shoulder top and black pleather leggings. Her hair had been taken out of its ponytail and framed her face nicely. Drew snapped as the music played. The rest of the cast danced in the background.

"I got chills, they're multiplyin'. And I'm looosing control." He got on his knees in front of Eleanor. "'Cause the poweeer you're supplying…it's electrifying!" He mimed being electrocuted and fell to the floor. Eleanor walked around him and pulled him up by the back of his collar.

"You better shape up! 'Cause I need a man. And my heart is set on you. You better shape up! You better understaaand: to my heart it must be true." She placed her hands on her hips and hopped backwards as Drew hopped towards her.

"You're the one that I want! You are the one I want, ooh-ooh-ooh, honey." They sang together as they danced back and forth around the stage.

The song eventually wrapped up after lots of sliding, spinning, and serenading. "You're the one I need, oh yes indeed!" They ended with Drew picking up Eleanor and spinning them both around, with the rest of the cast falling in step behind them. Drew put her down as they received a standing ovation from the coaches.

Once all was settled, Chef took to his notes again and addressed the team. "Very strong performance, Team Don. Everyone put in 110% effort, and from the looks of it, that really paid off." He straightened his glasses. "The ensemble was well done, the love song was solid, and even though the solo had a rocky start—" Kirsten cringed. "It ended on a strong note. Considering you were the team that received the sabotage, you adapted well and pulled off Grease without a hitch. Team Don gets a 9 out of 10."

The team jumped up and down together in celebration. Chris put a quick stop to it by saying to the cameras, "Hold on, Team Don! There's still one team left, and we saved the best for last." He preened as the contestants made way for Team Chris to start their show. "Here to get your heads in the game is Team Chris performing songs from High School Musical!"

The curtains parted to reveal the same backdrop from before, except "East High" had been scribbled on top in red marker. The piano intro started, cueing Aaron and Janice to walk in from opposite sides of the stage. Aaron, who was wearing a red and white tracksuit, was the first to sing. "We're soarin', flyin'. There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach." He pointed towards the bright spotlights.

Janice, donning a white lab coat with her hair pulled back by a red ribbon, grabbed Aaron's hand. "If we're trying, then we're breaking free…" They walked closer to the top of the stage, the spotlight following them.

"You know the world can see us, in a way that's different from who we are," sung Aaron, thinking about all his teammates back in San Antonio. He wasn't entirely comfortable with them knowing about his affinity for musicals, or any other secrets of his that might potentially come out over the course of Total Drama. But in that moment, he sang his anxieties away.

Janice only fared slightly better than Aaron, for she was also anxious about her family watching from home. "Creating space between us," she released Aaron's hand and stepped away from him. "'Till we're separate hearts." They both pressed their outstretched hands to their chests.

"But your faith, it gives me strength; the strength to belieeeve…" they crooned together. Aaron then shot his fist into the air and belted, "We're breaking free!"

The beat kicked in and the duo burst into motion. The pair sung the first lines of the song again but in a more jubilant tone, bobbing to the music. "We're soarin', flyin'! There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach! If we're trying, then we're breaking free. Oh, we're breaking free."

Aaron, with a pep in his step, walked closer to the top of the stage. "Can you feel it building? Like a wave the ocean just can't control."

Janice joined him and sang, "Connected by a feeling, ooh, in our very souls." They joined hands again and lifted their free hand in the air, together going, "Rising 'till it lifts us up, so everyone can see…"

As Aaron shouted, "We're breaking free" again, Ariana and Chiara entered the wings prepared to sing the not-so-solo song. Ariana had noticed that the song sheet had lyrics for Ryan, but she had convinced Chiara that Ryan would be better seen and not heard in the performance. She, surprisingly enough, received no push back from the Pagliaccio. In her eyes, that made Chiara a potentially good ally.

The duo hit the bridge of the song, shimmying around each other with abandon. "More than hope, more than faith," sang Aaron.

"This is truth, this is fate," continued Janice, leading them to sing together, "And together, we see it coming."

Aaron followed it up with, "More than you, more than me."

Janice replied, "Not a want, but a need." They linked arms and jumped in the air. "Both of us, breaking free!"

They sung the chorus again, ending the song at the original slow tempo with which they started. "You know the world can see us, in a way that's different than who we…are." Their voices harmonized together on the last note, earning a standing ovation from Chef.

Aaron wrapped an arm around the younger girl and they practically skipped off into the wings, where Ariana and Chiara were waiting.

"I must say, that was quite…" Chiara searched for the correct word. "Delightful."

"Yeah, awesome job, you two." Ariana said quickly. She was genuinely happy for them, but the part of her that always felt in competition with others grew bitter.

CONFESSIONAL: Ariana

"Aaron and Janice are talented—probably the most talented on our team aside from yours truly. I'm not afraid to admit that," she said. "And we're a team, so them being talented means we win more challenges. But at some point, we will be at the merge and I don't want those two getting in my way, especially since they're all buddy-buddy now." She flung her hands in the air out of frustration. "Maybe if I manage to separate them…"

Chiara and Ariana took their places on stage, which was now decorated with an inflatable kiddie pool and a couple beach chairs. Ariana, in her hot pink one-piece swimsuit and matching cover-up, with a white floppy hat on her head, lied back on the chair. She fixed her white sunglasses to escape the glare from the spotlights. Chiara, in a white polo and golf cap with khaki cargo shorts, sat in the other chair, fanning the girl with his hands.

The Persian-Italian girl took a deep breath and on her exhale, came out, "It's out with the old and in with the new. Goodbye clouds of grey, hello skies of blue." She waved at the ceiling and then turned slightly in her chair to look at the kiddie pool. "A dip in the pool, a trip to the spa. Endless days in my chaise…the whole world according to moi…" The piano intro changed to a poppy, tropical beat and Ariana was out of her chair, Chiara on her toes.

"Iced tea imported from England, lifeguards imported from Spain," at each line, an intern came out offering her something, only to get shoved off the stage. She didn't feel too bad, it was all part of the act. At least, on her part. "Towels imported from Turkey, and turkey imported from Maine."

Chiara put an arm around Ariana's shoulders, only humming the line he was supposed to be singing. Instead, it was Ariana going, "We're gonna relax and renew." She removed Chiara's arm from off her and pointed a finger at his chest, telling him, "You. Go. Do!"

Once he was out of the way, she belted, "I want fabulous, that is my simple request. All things fabulous, bigger and better and best. I need something inspiring to help me get along. I need a little fabulous, is that so wrong?" Being a talented dancer, she swept the stage floor with grace, a large smile on her face. She was finally showing the viewers what she was made of.

She walked to the edge of the stage and peered over to see the interns still on the ground, writhing in pain. She rolled her eyes. They were supposed to be back on stage by now, she thought. Huffing, she sang to their bodies, "Fetch me my Jimmy Choo flip flops. Where is my pink Prada tote? I need my Tiffany hair band. And then I can go for a float." She ran back to the pool and sat in it, upset that it wasn't actually filled with water like the interns told her it would be. "Fabulous pool, fabulous splash! Fabulous parties, even fabulous trash!"

Chiara returned to her side, leaning in close as Ariana sang, "I need, I need," repeatedly with increasing volume. He was almost blown away by the bellowing of, "I NEED FABULOUS!" straight into his ear.

The song ended with the influencer looking into the audience, asking "Is it absolutely fabulous? Absolutely not!"

Ariana glided off the stage in a haze of glory, followed by Chiara who made a beeline for the changing corner. They received congratulations from the team that had arrived in time to watch the latter half of the performance. Ariana accepted the praise as she slid on a pair of white jeans and a white tank, bedazzled tank top over her swimsuit.

"Thanks, gumdrops. It felt so good to finally have the spotlight for once. See, wasn't this better than Janice hogging it all?" Janice bristled, but let it go, knowing that they had to go on stage for the show-stopper.

Chiara emerged wearing a dark red button-up and black pants. His white hat had been switched out for a red fedora. "Are we ready?"

"Yup," answered Aaron. "Let's go, Wildcats!" The Texan led the charge onto the stage.

Almost immediately, the music started and all the contestants except Aaron and Janice were doing a cheer-type dance in the middle of the stage. "Together, together, together everyone. Together, together, come on let's have some fun! Together, we're there for each other every time. Together, together, come on let's do this right."

Aaron, still in his tracksuit, moved from stage left and weaved between the rest of the cast mates to get to the top of the stage. He paused along the way to do a two-step with Erica, twirl Hayato (much to his irritation), and high-five Genvieve. "Here and now, it's time for celebration. I finally figured it out, yeah, yeah. That all our dreams have no limitations. That's what it's all about, yeah, yeah."

Janice, in her red dress, did the same from stage right, but doing similar moves with Jordan, Devon, and Chiara. "Everyone is special in their own way. We make each other strong, we make each other strong. We're not the same, we're different in a good way. Together's where we belooooong." She met Aaron in the middle and the entire team broke into song.

"We're all in this together. Once we know that we are, we're all stars, and we see that. We're all in this together, and it shows when we stand hand in hand. Make out dreams come true…" Everyone separated from their close-knit position and started doing their own choreography.

As they sang the, "together, together" hook, Jordan, Devon, and Aaron took their basketballs and started dribbling them between their legs, kicking up one leg and doing a smooth twist before the ball touched down on the ground again. They then threw them at each other in a circle formation. Devon dropped the ball thrown at him by Aaron, but Jordan quickly bounced it off the ground and managed to recover the scene quickly.

Chiara slid to the center of the stage as the teens parted for him. He wasn't the best at sounding happy when he sung, and was far more used to opera than anything contemporary, but he tried his best with the lyrics. "We're all here, and speaking out with one voice. We're going to rock the house, yeah, yeah." He didn't sound as jubilant as he was supposed to, but his dramatic dance moves made up for it. "The party's on, now everybody make some noise. Come on scream and shout." Everyone yelled and Chiara stepped out of the way to reveal Ariana behind him.

She strutted up the stage, singing, "We've arrived because we're stuck together. Champions one and aaaaalll." She held Devon's hand with visible distaste as she hit her high note. Everyone broke out into the chorus a few more times again, performing the dance with precision.

Everyone then got out of the way for Hayato and Erica to perform their cartwheel. They chanted, "Wildcats everywhere, wave your hands up in the air!" as Erica stood adjacent to Hayato, prepared to go into the cartwheel. As she flipped, Hayato grabbed her waist and entered into his own cartwheel, the both of them flipping in tandem along the stage. Once they were done, they joined into the, "That's the way we do it, let's get to it. Come on, everyone!" They all posed with their character's partners: Erica with her leg in the air next to Jordan, Ariana and Devon paused in mid-can-can, Chiara and Genevieve pressed back to back, and Janice and Aaron in a hug. Hayato did a split in front of all of them.

Chris was the first out of his seat, eyes welled with unfallen tears. "That. Was the most beautiful thing. I have ever seen." He took out a handkerchief and blew his nose. "Well, that's a lie. Because I wake up to this handsome face in the morning every day!" His mood did a complete 180 and he tossed the used handkerchief behind his back. "But that was still pretty damn good, Team Chris. Well, Chef?" He directed to his friend that was perusing over his notes. "Tell our winners how they did."

Chef cleared his throat. "Huh. I'm surprised because y'all tend to barely get by on these challenges, but this really blew me away. I mean, Janice and Aaron's duet was incredible. You two really put your emotions into it, not to mention that your vocals are top tier." The pair beamed with pride. "Ariana, you really showed your stuff with that solo. You might just have more stage presence than anyone else on this show." Ariana flipped her hair behind her back in an attempt to appear nonchalant, but inside she was bouncing for joy. "And that last number? Every single one of you did your part. That was the best ensemble of the night. That little flippy-dippy thing Erica and Hayato did was out of this world." The two fist-bumped with smug expressions. "That was a 10 out of 10 performance, Team Chris." The team started hugging each other in celebration.

Chris jumped on top of the Judges Table and pointed at Blaineley and Don. "In your snotty little faces! I get the spa day this time you losers! If you beg, I might just let one of you eat the leftover cucumbers from my cucumber facial as a light snack."

"Uh…McLean?" Don asked after Chris was done gloating. "Chef's not done yet." Chris whipped around to see that Chef had unearthed one final sheet of notes. The Total Drama icon grunted and jumped off the table, but didn't take his seat.

Chris tapped his foot impatiently. "What's the hold up? We know they did great. What more do you need to say?"

Chef fixed him a glare and continued, "What I was gonna say was, that was a 10 out of 10 performance…but unfortunately Team Chris is disqualified." There was no sound in the theater except for that of ten jaws dropping to the floor. "The instructions for the challenge were pretty clear. You had to sing a song from High School Musical. That meant the first one. If you could sing a song from High School Musical 2, we would've said that."

Erica's eye began to twitch. "Funny. Maybe one of us should've mentioned that, right Ariana?" Ariana ignored this, eyes suddenly very focused on her platform sandals.

"Now," went Chef. "Due to the quality of your performance, I might've been able to excuse that as an honest mistake. But then you took a song that was a duet and performed it as a solo. That was just blatant disregard for the game." He pushed his notes out of the way. "So, unfortunately, you automatically lose the challenge. Team Don wins." It was now Team Don celebrating, ecstatic that they had made a comeback after their disastrous loss last episode.

Don stood up and clapped for his team. "Fantastic job, team. Now, we have a bit of a different prize for you this time. Head outside the dorms around 9:30 to check it out." With that, all the teens save for Team Chris were dismissed back to the dorms.

Said team was still on the stage, dumbfounded by their loss. "How did this happen?" asked Janice. She grabbed Ariana by the shoulder and pointed a finger in her face. "Why would you do this?"

Ariana slapped the younger girl's hand away. "It's not like anyone told me not to. How was I supposed to know?"

Erica raised a hand. "Uh, I definitely told you. In fact, I'm pretty sure I called it the dumbest idea to end all dumb ideas."

"Well," Ariana fumbled. "That was only about the difference between HSM 1 and 2. Chef said himself that he would've excused that. But no one here thought to tell me or Chiara about the duet thing? We both thought it was fine!"

Chiara made a face as if to ask, "now why am I in it?" but stayed silent. He would just have to watch this play out.

Genevieve raised a finger. "That's what I kept trying to tell you during rehearsal. But every time I tried to, you told me to 'buzz off'. Well, at least that's the nicer version of what you told me."

Ariana blanched. She assumed that the nosy girl was trying to hatch a plot on her. "Well…then why didn't Mr. Closet Theater Geek say anything?!"

Aaron sputtered. "I'm sorry, I was a little preoccupied rehearsing for the two other songs!"

The Youtuber waved his response away and muttered, "Some captain you are."

"I'm not captain, there are no captains," explained the athlete. "We've established this!"

The tension the team had finally seemed to let go of was back in full force. How did it go wrong so fast? Genevieve asked herself. "Let's all calm down…"

"No, how about let's not," Erica said. "Because from the sounds of it, if you had just asserted yourself, we wouldn't be in this mess."

The psychology student gasped. "How is this my fault now?"

"Ooh, looks like things are getting juicy on Team Chris!" While Chris was disappointed they lost, he would never turn down an opportunity to create more drama. "Someone will be going home tonight. Who will it be? Ariana for bulldozing over everyone? Aaron for not noticing something was afoot? Genevieve for not asserting herself? We'll see when we return to Total! Drama! Takes the Stage!"

Erica growled and yelled, "Why don't we send you home, Chris? You're the one that could've put an end to all this."

"Not listening!" Chris put his hands over his ears and ran out of the theater. The sound of the door slamming shut was the last thing the team heard before being swallowed by silence.

GREEN ROOM

The quite tension followed the team all the way from the stage to the Green Room. Nobody was talking to each other as they waited for Chris to enter the room. It was the exact opposite of how they were in the dressing room over an hour ago.

Despite Aaron's wariness towards alliances or anything remotely alliance-like, Jordan, Erica, and surprisingly enough Janice had agreed that they wouldn't be voting him off. The Texan was grateful for their loyalty, but was quick to ask them not to make a habit out of it. He wanted to get through the competition fair and square, and not off the backs of his friends.

Genevieve and Ariana were less fortunate and both of them knew it. Ari's only real ally on the show was Eleanor, who was on a different team. And while Genevieve tried to be as friendly as possible to everyone, she wasn't necessarily friends with anyone.

CONFESSIONAL: Ariana

"This is all such bull. Why am I getting blamed for something that Aaron shouldn't have let happen in the first place? He claims he's not captain, but he always acts like one. How hard would it have been for him to just pay attention to his teammates? If this is how he operates his little sports teams, it's a shock he's every won anything."

CONFESSIONAL: Hayato

"Erica made a good point earlier. Genevieve was the only one who noticed what Ariana did, so it was her job to stop Ariana in her tracks. She didn't, which means this is her fault. It's simple. Plus, I don't like how she's always trying to psychoanalyze everybody. If I needed a counselor, I would go to one; not some student that reads Freud to go to sleep at night."

CONFESSIONAL: Devon

"Erica can go. I mean GO. She's unpleasant, meanspirited, and nearly killed me at least three times already. I'm positive she's the reason Ariana even did what she did in the first place. If she stays here any longer, it'll only be a matter of time before she finds some other poor fool to antagonize. Bye Pumpkin!"

CONFESSIONAL: Jordan

"I mean, it's kinda obvious, right? If Genevieve says Ariana ignored her attempts to set her straight, then I believe her. At the end of the day, we're all grown here for the most part. Ariana knew the rules, she just chose to ignore them. She's talented like crazy, but she's not a team player. And, if any of us are going to make it to the merge, we need to work as a team."

Chris walked in with the CDs and shook his head disappointedly at his team. He sighed and shuffled the CDs in his hand. "You know, I was really hoping it wouldn't have to come to this…" he snorted. "I'm just kidding. You all kinda annoy me in your own little, unique ways. Any of you going home would be a weight off my shoulders. Anyway, time for our third elimination ceremony. You know the spiel, if you get a CD, you're safe. First up: Janice!" He tossed the disc to the dancer-turned-singer. "Jordan…Chiara…Hayato…Devon…and Erica."

He looked at the two last CDs in his hands. He tossed one to Aaron. "That leaves Ariana and Genevieve. One messed up big time, and the other didn't do anything to stop it. One of you will be going home. Genevieve…" the French-Canadian's head fell in defeat. Until she felt something hit her. She looked down to see a CD. "You're safe. Ariana, it's time for you to go."

Ariana fell off the ratty, stained chair she was sitting on. "Is this a joke? You can't do this to me! This show's ratings were going up because of me! No one would've watched this garbage if it wasn't for me promoting it on my channel. My subscribers made you, McLean!"

"That's funny, if that's the case, how come I've never heard of you before?" Chris asked with a quirk of the lips. He opened the door. "The taxi of has-beens is waiting for you outside. Remember, don't come back! Ever!"

Ariana balked but stomped through the doorway. She turned around and addressed her former team. "This isn't the last you'll hear of me. Me and my gumdrops are more powerful than you'd ever guess. We've ended whole careers! And all of yours will be over before they even started. That includes you, Chris."

Chris yawned. "That's what they all say, kid." He slammed the door in her face. Looking at the shocked expressions on his team's faces, he said, "Well, that was fun! Get back to the dorms, you filthy animals."

CONFESSIONAL: Chiara

"Hm. That seemed to go exactly as expected." He crossed his legs languidly. "Perhaps I should do that more often."

Don appeared in the control room, having just watched the elimination ceremony. "Well, looks like our team of 2nd placers have finally tasted defeat, and lost a very valuable player in the process. Will they be able to recover and finally win a challenge without Ariana? Will anyone on Team Blaineley ever face consequences for what they did to Brianna? Will the impeccable Team Don keep up the good work for next episode, or will all the drama get in the way? Find out next time on Total! Drama! Takes th—" Don was suddenly knocked out of his seat, replaced quickly by Chris.

"Yeah, the outros are my job, remember?" The host straightened his collar and stared into the camera. "Find out all that stuff Donnie-boy just mentioned next time on Total! Drama! Takes the Stage!"

Hey again! Thanks for reading! Now that each team has lost a member, the count for them is:

Team Chris: Aaron, Jordan, Chiara, Hayato, Devon, Janice, Erica, Geneveive

Team Blaineley: Zavier, Jalen, Leon, Zane, Millie, Gemini, Luna, Brianna

Team Don: Dustin, Ivan, Drew, Dalton, Rina, Nadine, Eleanor, Kirsten

Some notes about this chapter: This chapter is way longer than intended and I'm so sorry for making you read this much in one sitting, I'll try to keep them around 12,000 words from here on out. I had a scene planned for the end of the chapter that would make up for the characters that didn't talk much, but after seeing how disgustingly long this was getting it got cut. That scene/the scene with Team Don's prize will be in the next chapter. I've been taking your feedback into account (and I will definitely respond to everyone this time - believe me I DO read your feedback and appreciate it so much.) and I 100% understand that some plots seem to be taking up too much screentime. Don't worry, every character that hasn't been eliminated yet (and maybe even some who have oop) will get a multi-chapter story arc. This is just the first round of subplots I have planned, and I'll be digging deeper into the other subplots very soon. There's a lot in store for these characters so stay tuned!

Okay, enough of me talking, now it's time for questions:

1. Of the three musicals performed in this chapter, which is your favorite? (If you don't have one, you can say that too! Hairspray is mine lol)

2. Which performance/individual song did you think was the best?

3. Favorite and least favorite characters? (I know I ask this every chapter, but opinions change!)

4. Are you surprised to see Ariana go? Who do you think should've gone instead?

5. What friendships are you excited for/want to see?

Btw, hint for next chapter: it features a challenge that was suggested by one of you! I'll give credit at the beginning of the chap. Thanks again for reading, and stay safe!