As soon as Noah Ishtar opened the front door to his high school, he knew something was terribly wrong. All the students milling around, freshmen and seniors alike, stopped whatever they were doing and looked at him with the same cold stare. Noah frowned. The entire student body of Jefferson High had always respected him, even after his disastrous first season on Total Drama. If not the most popular kid in school, he was always admired for his brains and flawless strategies. Now, he was receiving the type of glares generally saved for newbies or people on death row. Something wasn't right.

The cynic searched the glowering crowd for a friendly face. He found one in his somewhat friend Laura, who either didn't know or care that he had lost a chance to win a million dollars three times in a row, as well as a hundred thousand. He strolled over to her, seemingly uncaringly but taking note of the fact that most of the crowd was male and that ranks were closing behind him. Laura gave him a big but strained grin. "Noah! It's so good to see you again!" She pulled him into a hug, which was surprising considering how she knew he despised close contact, and whispered in his ear, "We need to talk. Now." She pulled Noah along at a quick rate to an vacant classroom.

"What are you gonna do now? You know what our school is like!" Noah blinked. Normally he could catch onto whatever a lesser intellect was trying to explain, in several different languages, but Laura was making no sense.

"I don't think I did anything, actually, apart from making the Final 3." The girl looked shocked. "So you really don't remember?" "I have an idea! Why don't you just tell me what I'm supposed to remember so I can say I have no idea what you're talking about." Laura blushed and leaned in.

"It involves Cody." She whispered. Noah gulped, his heart missing a few beats.

Noah woke to the worst headache he'd ever experienced. He blinked a few times, hoping to clear his vision, but his surroundings were still blurry.

"Hey, Noah, you OK?" A familiar voice filled his ears. Cody. Noah smiled involuntarily, but winced when pain racked through his body. No more smiling. The boy searched through his head, trying to remember the events that led up to his blackout. Nothing.

"Uhhh...what happened?" Noah blinked again, and the gap-toothed figure swam into view. Cody looked uncomfortable. "Well, you kinda hit your head on the dock. You know, when you fell." Based on the fact that Noah avoided moving as much as possible, it made no sense for him to be on the dock. Heck, he wasn't even wearing a bathing suit.

"Dude, we have to come to the cafeteria now. Our challenge is about to start." "Challenge? Oh, right, forgot about that." Cody gave the boy a strange look. "What?" "Never mind, I'll explain later."

"I don't think I did anything to Cody that warranted my less than warm welcome. He's my friend, so I don't insult him too much."

"Wow, you really don't remember, do you? It's all over YouTube! Just look it up. Actually, no, I'll bring a recording for you tomorrow. But today is probably gonna be hell for you, so just try to avoid as many people as possible." Noah raised a brow, but nodded anyway. What could be so bad that she has to show me?

Walking out into the hallway, the boy was surprised to see no one around. He checked the nearest clock. It said 8:10. Crap, I'm gonna be late if I don't hurry. He started jogging towards his homeroom, but tripped over something and fell on his face. Looking, he saw a foot. He raised his head. It was one of the basketball players, giving him a look of pure hatred. "So, you decided to come back here after what you did." Noah felt like screaming. "And what, in fact, did I do?" he asked. The larger boy leered. "So you weren't lying after all, then? Have fun today, faggot." Saying so, the player walked away, leaving Noah more confused than ever. What did he just call me?

Leaving caution to the winds, Noah made a full-blown sprint to his homeroom. He dashed in several seconds before the bell rang. Making it to his seat, he sat and looked around at his classmates. Goth, Cheerleader, Nerd, another Nerd, Preppy Girl, Weird Gap-toothed Kid, Emo- wait, what? He double-taked. Nope, it wasn't his imagination. Cody was here, in his school, waving at him. He put his head down on the desk. What the heck is going on here?