The Search For Cinderella: Season 2 ✔︎

c h a p t e r 7

The producers decided to do something new for this week. They thought it would be a fun idea to take 50 girls, a whole camera crew with sounds and audio people, and Noah himself out into the wild for a week camping trip. I mean what could possibly go wrong?

We were given a day to pack the essentials for five days in one big hiking pack. The following morning, we met in the hotel downstairs and was met with a big yellow bus. The driver, Andrè, was a middle aged man with a thick loft of hair on top of his head. His eyes were hidden behind mirrored sunglasses and his tuxedo was ironed to perfection with a bow tie attached. You would assume that he drove limousines instead of busses.

There was one massive bus and a van full of equipment going to the site on a flipping five hours' road trip to Ocala National Forest. Luckily I was equipped on the bus with an iPod full of tracks made by Jordan, a snack pack full of M&M's, Red Frogs and Sour Patch Kids along with a pillow and blanket just in case.

The trip down to the forest was uneventful. The girls chatted, slept and ate. It was quiet and somewhat relaxing after such a hectic schedule. I fell asleep for most of the trip as usual. Once we arrived it was nearing dusk. The bus pulled into a campground area which had no one in it, probably reserved by the show and was right next to the water which was pretty. The van with equipment had arrived a few hours ago as it left before us and they had already set up some equipment. Cameras were ready along with a few lights. They were limited due to the lack of usable electricity in their generators. It was nice though, to not have the scenery covered up by gross looking equipment. There was a pile of tents still in their bags waiting to be set up.

We were assigned to 'camping buddies' and mine consisted of three other girls I had never met before. Ella had wavy shoulder length hair with bright blue piercing eyes. Her skin was pale and she wore a black cropped tank top along with black yoga pants and Nike runners. Tara had curly brunette hair and a big smile. And then there was girl named Alana who reminded me so much of my twin sisters I cringed internally.

We began setting up the tent slowly but surely. Alana kind of just lingered around and watched while doing a few things, so it was mainly up to the three of us. It wasn't too bad though as it was one of those easy three to four man tents. It took us roughly thirty minutes to set up and our belongings in the tent. While everyone was setting up cameras were roaming around filming footage for the show.

Once all the girls, and the crew members, had finished setting up everything a massive bonfire which was lit up during the set up time was burning furiously. Logs were set up around it and we were all brought to sit around the fire. Marcus stood at the front of it where everyone could see and out of no where Noah appeared with a few body guards around him.

"Welcome girls to Ocala!" Marcus' booming voice echoed around us, "This week will be challenging and rewarding. It's a chance to escape the clustered society we live in and experience the gift of peace nature brings us. Use this week wisely as 25 more girls will be going home at the end of this week. Refresh yourself and build friendships among each of you for the next few crazy weeks to come ahead. Most of all have fun!"

All of clapped and cheered him on and then Noah stepped forward. You could hear all of the girls holding their breath.

"Congratulations on making it to the top 50 everyone. I hope you enjoy this week. I know that when I need a moment to step out I like to surround myself with the natural environment. Like Marcus said, have fun this week." The girls clapped and cheered even louder for Noah.

After dinner, Minestrone soup with garlic bread, some girls went back to their tents while a few others stayed around the fire. Ella played guitar and was able to snag one off one of the crew members and soon enough a bunch of us were jamming out to Sweet Alabama. It was silly and out of tune but so carefree. It was such a perfect remedy to the lingering anxiety. Elliot had snuck us some bags of marshmallows which we were toasting on the fire and eating along with chocolate biscuits. The guitar was passed around to those who were musically gifted. And many songs were played until midnight. Ella and I headed to bed after the fire turned into glowing embers. Alana had already gone to bed maybe an hour before and Tara followed not tool long after. We crawled into our sleeping bags and eventually fell asleep to the sound of the insects humming outside our tent.

The warmth and light from the gradual rising sun woke me up early in the morning. It was so much more peaceful waking up that way instead of listening to an annoying alarm. I slipped on fresh underwear obviously and slipped on a baggy sweatshirt, yoga pants and my runner shoes. I crawled out of the tent carefully so I wouldn't wake any of the other girls up. I plugged in my earphones and blasted some tunes and went for a run around a narrow bush track which wrapped around the outskirts of the water. The scenery was so beautiful. The sun rays shone through the trees leave and reflected off the blue water.

I ran for maybe 45 minuted before returning back to the main campsite. One by one girls trickled out of their tents out into the ocean. For showers, a row of ten tent showers with solar heated water was provided. The perks of being an early riser allowed me to pop into the shower tent without having to wait that long.

Once dressed into another set of yoga pants, a black kami singlet slightly cropped and an oversized camo t-shirt with tan hiking boots. By 10:30 most girls had all had breakfast and we were waiting to hear from Marcus. He appeared from his tent dressed and ready to go. Cameras had been rolling all morning capturing all sorts of footage to be edited for the show. Now they were focussed on Marcus.

"Good morning girls, this following we will be having few outdoor activities which you can choose whether to join in or not. Just letting you know now that Noah will be joining each one," This was most certainly bribery, "The thing is you will not know what the activity will be until you turn up at the site and are instructed on what it is and what to do. So you have to make the choice here."

I wondered what activities they would be getting us to do in the middle of a forest for the next few days.