Wilder and Scottie arrive to Sanders Martin’s counseling session still seething from the prior night. Sanders attempts to get them to communicate using a hockey-stick talking prop, but the exercise devolves into petty trading of the stick, sarcastic insults, and both declaring they do not want to be near each other. Sanders warns of consequences when they refuse to engage.

Sanders rows them to the middle of the lake, then departs on a Jet Ski with the paddles, declaring they must communicate to return. Scottie and Wilder immediately bicker; Wilder, feeling punished for defending Scottie the previous night, jumps overboard and swims to shore, leaving Scottie stranded until she is retrieved.

Later, Sanders drives Wilder by four-wheeler to a wooded campsite where Scottie is already waiting. He leaves them with a tent and cooler, effectively isolating them to compel teamwork. Wilder blames Scottie’s earlier defiance for the escalation, while Scottie counters that Wilder also refused to talk.

Forced to set up the tent together, they continue sniping—arguing over “parent-trapped” terminology, accusing each other of sarcasm and snide looks, and trading responsibility for the situation. Practical frustrations mount as they fumble tent poles, misread a 9 as a 6, and repeatedly insist the wrong pieces will not fit.

Between flare-ups, a brief calm emerges when Wilder points out a scarlet tanager and explains the male’s bright coloring, prompting Scottie’s dry observation about nature’s bias. The truce is short-lived; Wilder hurls a pole into the woods after another failed connection, but they finally find the correct pieces and assemble the tent.

They finish with a shared, begrudging acknowledgment that while the instructions were confusing and the structure stands crooked and unstable, they managed to build it together. The chapter ends with mutual awareness that cooperation is possible, even if tenuous.