A/N: Hello everyone!

This is my first attempt at fanfiction in a longggg time, and I know that TDA is already finished, but this takes place between TDI and TDA. This thing has been sitting around for a while now, and I've finally decided to submit it here. Critique is welcome, but no flames please. :C

Yes, this is is going to have OCs and cannon characters paired up, so if you don't like that stuff, please just don't read it.

Rated T for safety; contains a fair amount of cursing but not much other than that.

Major Pairings: Noah/OC, because he doesn't get enough love.

Minor Pairings: Possible eventual Cody/OC, possible eventual Eva/OC, cannon pairings.

I don't own any of these characters except for Abe, Seth, Alice and Riley.

"Aaaaaand welcome back to your home for the next few weeks!" Chris McClean ceremoniously threw open his arms as he stood in front of the enormous resort that was Playa des Losers. Twenty-two exhausted campers stood before him, looking dumbstruck. "Or, you know, a month. Or three."

"What the hell is this?" demanded a red-faced Heather. The rest of the campers murmured in agreement. After losing a certain silver case that contained one million freaking dollars and being told that only the fourteen who were closest to winning would be participating in the next season of Total Drama Whatever-Chris-Was-Cooking-Up, they were all feeling rather dejected. Most of them had only gotten onto the boat with the promise that Chris was taking them home. NOT back to the resort. Granted, it was a nice resort, but it was a resort that they would have to share with twenty-one other campers that they had seen entirely too much of.

"Well, see, here's the thing," Chris explained, drawing out his words in an irritating manner. "It's going to take us a while to set up everything for the next season, so…"

"So take us home!" shouted someone in the group.

"Actually, we thought we'd just coop you all up in the Playa for a little while longer, you know? Milk you for all the footage you got."

"You can't do that!" protested another camper.
Chris faked a sympathetic cringe. "Actually, yeah, we can. See, you're all still under contract. Have a nice stay." With one last gleaming smile, the host hopped back onto the boat. Chef threw the last piece of luggage off the boat and onto the dock, and then the vessel sped off. The campers caught glimpse of Chris leaning over the railing and calling out just loud enough to be heard over the boat engine, "Oh, and by the way! We left a few of our favorite interns to take care of you guys. They're basically in charge until Chef and I get back. See you guys later!"

The stranded teens glanced at each other, exchanging looks of worry and confusion. Chris left a bunch of interns in charge? As one by one they focused their gaze on the Playa, questions floated through their minds (along with a few choice words for Chris). Where were these interns? And would these new faces make them as miserable as Chris did?

(Noah's POV)

"I have no doubt they'll be just as sadistic as Chris and Chef," I said as one of the bellhops carted my luggage away. I turned to Cody and sighed. He was entirely too optimistic about staying at the Playa for who knew how long.

"Dude, I'm sure they won't be that bad," protested Cody, ever the ray of sunshine. "After all, they had to put up with Chris, too, right? They probably have some sympathy for us."

"Right, and I'm the friggin' tooth fairy." I rolled my eyes and scanned the resort's lobby. It didn't look like many of the other teens were excited to be here, either. Where were these supposed interns anyway? There were plenty of resort staff members buzzing about and re-preparing the resort for our stay, but I recognized all of them from the weeks I had already spent at the Playa.

Just as I was beginning to suspect that the interns were off somewhere shirking their duties, the large doors that led to the dining hall burst open. I saw Cody jump with shock out of the corner of my eye, and Eva (whom I had, oddly enough, bonded with during my stay at the Playa and during the case-hunting challenge) whipped around to face the door with her fists raised. If I was upset about being stranded here, then Eva was furious.

I – and everyone else, for that matter – looked over the four figures who had barged so noisily into the lobby. Appearance-wise, they were remarkably different, and two of them were not exactly what I was expecting. What shocked me the most was that these kids were – well, kids. They all looked about the same age as any of us.

One was a rather tall and muscular boy who vaguely reminded me of DJ as far as stature went. He had his black hair in a crew cut and seemed to have somewhat Asian facial features. I had expected a muscle-man, and thus I was not really taken aback by this character, but this guy looked like he was on par with Eva. His white t-shirt lay somewhat forgotten across his shoulder, and he wore workout wristbands. Black and white sneakers adorned his feet, and he wore a pair of khaki shorts. The meathead's dark eyes looked rather cold as he scanned the room of teens. Yes, this is what I had been expecting; someone to provide an ominous presence, not unlike Chef Hatchet.

The second male reminded me of Chris. The other boy had a shaggy mane of mousy brown hair, and green eyes that surveyed the room as though he was focusing only on the females. He was somewhat tan and appeared Caucasian. He wore a simple, grey button-up shirt with white stripes, and very faded blue jeans. His hands were shoved in his pockets, his feet were wiggling in his black flip-flops, and his smile suggested he was planning – ugh – a wonderful challenge for us all to participate in.

Next to him, however, was a female. She looked a lot like she wanted to leave as much as the campers did, judging by her frown and the way she kept glancing at all the nearest exits. She seemed Hispanic by her facial features and skin color, and her dark brown hair was cropped an inch or two below her chin. It looked sleek, and the cut rose in the back to expose her neck, and her bangs were swept over to the left, though they didn't cover her heavily-lined, brown eyes. She wore a blue midriff, black jeans with a white belt, and blue wedge sandals. I couldn't help but notice that she was adorned with silver earrings, bracelets, and even a silver lip ring and silver studs on the belt. She was the first of the four to catch my gaze, but she swiftly looked away.

The last member of the group looked to be the most colorful of the four. She was Caucasian and blonde, but she had a horizontal black streak on the right, which accentuated her side-swept bangs. Her hair was heavily layered and fell well past the girl's shoulders, and she seemed to be having trouble keeping the bangs out of her bright blue eyes. She wore a white polo shirt with a red zero across the stomach, with blue jean Capri's, a black belt, and red converses. It didn't seem she wore much makeup, and she was the palest of the group, but I noticed she wore half a dozen rainbow rubber bracelets on one wrist. Her whole face seemed to smiling at everyone in the room.

In the case of the two males, it was obvious why they were shoe-ins to stay at the Playa. They were basically serving as a substitute Chris and Chef. The reason the two females were chosen were less obvious to me. The blonde girl actually looked… friendly? Nice? I wasn't sure what adjective to use, but she just wasn't the kind of person I would expect Chris to pick. He wanted to make us miserable, so why would he choose someone kind? And the other girl simply looked like she wanted to bolt. She probably wouldn't interact with us at all.

"Welcome back to the Playa," said the one with the mousy hair with a chuckle. "And I'm sorry to say that your rooms have been downsized. But don't worry; you'll have a chance to win a much better room later." I shuddered at the word "win." I knew that Chris wouldn't let us go more than a week competition-free.

"But first, let me introduce myself." He jabbed his thumb at his face and said, "I'm Seth, and I think these three will agree that I'm the one who's really in charge here." He shoved his thumb at the muscled teen and introduced him as Abraham, whom "we could call Abe." He was about to jab his thumb at the brunette girl as well, but she stopped him with a glare.

"Don't point that thing at me," she said, and then turned to address the rest of the room. "I'm Riley, and don't let these morons scare you. Seth's really just a big baby, and Abe looks tough but he'd rather be cooped up in the gym or in the surveillance room playing with the cameras right now." The girl gestured to the blonde. "This is Alice, and she's probably the nicest of us. You'll want to be buddy-buddy with her, 'cuz she'll help you with challenges. Though, she'd probably help you even if she hates you. Allie, stop smiling like that, you look like a creeper," finished Riley, smacking the other girl lightly in the arm.

The blonde, Alice, smacked her back, though she toned down the smile a few notches. "Whatever, panda-eyes," she teased, referring to the other's heavy eyeliner. I figured there was some sort of long-lasting friendship dynamic between the two. "Anyway, like Seth said, you've been moved to smaller rooms than before. Sorry about that. You can pick up your room keys at the front counter."

The small group of interns waited while everyone collected their room keys and the buzz of conversation filled the room. After retrieving my key, I returned to my original position by the elevator with Cody and Eva. I wanted to get out of here as soon as the interns were finished. I didn't care how small my room was, as long as I got away from all this noise.

Once the chatter had died down, the tough-acting guy, Seth, began to speak again. "Look, I'm not going to lie. Your rooms are tiny. But, there's one suite in this hotel that's enormous. It was originally the honeymoon suite, and it's the only one, so of course it's the best room the Playa's got. It's got a fully-stocked kitchen, a bathroom with a hot tub, and probably the biggest bed you've ever seen. It's even decked out with a plasma TV and three video game consoles."

Video games?

Okay, so maybe I did care. All I had brought to this miserable place was my Nintendo DS, and I'd beaten all my games three times over. I'd kill for something new.

Seth grinned mischievously and continued. "It's all yours and you can do whatever you want with it for the next two nights if you win the challenge. Then you relinquish the key to us, and someone else gets a chance at the suite. Sound good?"

He was greeted with a chorus of "yes!" and "just tell us what we have to do already!"

"Okay," announced Riley, "Here's today's challenge…"