Author's notes: This story is a sequel to another story I wrote called 'I don't want to be the bad guy anymore'. I will try to not have too many connections to that story. All you need to know is that this story takes place several months after TDWT, Heather has repented her bitchy ways, formed an unlikely friendship with Eva and has gotten DJ into playing Jiminy Cricket to her Pinocchio.
…..
Heather was at her house with DJ getting ready for the upcoming party. The occasion was that it was DJ's birthday. All of the former Total Drama Contestants (with one exception) would be coming to the event because Heather had tapped into her trust fund to pay for airfare.
Preparations were still under way when one of the guests arrived. It was Cody: Heather had asked him to come earlier than the other's so he could give the party's sound system a quick once over.
"Hi Heather," Cody greeted.
"HI Cody," Heather said. "I'll show you the speakers, but there's a few things I want to tell you first. I want you to hang on to this during the party," Heather reached into a nearby box and handed Cody a stun gun. Cody took it while having a bewildered expression on his face.
"Why would I need this?" he asked with a tint of fear.
"I would like you to act as security for the party," Heather explained. "Some of the people could qualify as potentially dangerous. And of course there's the matter of our other two guests of honor just getting out of the loony bin."
This party wasn't just for DJ's birthday: It was also serving as a celebration for Ezekiel and Sierra completing their stays at the same mental institution. After TDWT, Sierra looked back at what happened in Drumheller and realized that her feelings for Cody affected her higher-level thinking. She knew that Alejandro was not to be trusted but upon seeing the photo-shopped picture of Heather and Cody cozying up to each other, she took it at face value even though (as Cody later pointed out) there was no point in time the picture could have taken place with how much she was hovering around Cody.
These realizations (along with unkind suggestions viewers of the shown had e-mailed her) got her into thinking that she might need extensive psychiatric help, so she voluntarily checked herself into a mental hospital.
Ezekiel was also sent to the same mental hospital, though much less voluntarily. His parents checked him in, hoping the institution could undo the effects of his recent feralization.
It took a while, but Sierra did get better. It took longer for progress to be made with Ezekiel. Sierra kept visiting him through his recovery and they became very close as he got better.
"I understand their together now," Heather said. "Are you cool with that?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Cody replied.
"Let's be completely frank here," Heather began. "The only reason you didn't return Sierra's affections was because of her being a little bit completely insane. Now that she's gotten better in that regard, you might be having second thoughts. Unfortunately, she's gotten so much better that she's not interested in you anymore. How does that make you feel?"
"I'm okay with that," Cody answered. "I think of Sierra as a good friend, but I don't think I could be with her since she made a bad first impression in that regard."
"Besides, you're probably still thinking of a certain goth girl," Heather countered. "I'm sure you've heard the news."
Heather was referring to the fact that Gwen and Duncan had broken up about two weeks ago. This was caused by Duncan cheating on Gwen to the surprise of no one but her.
"I'm not going to make any moves on Gwen tonight," Cody said.
"You finally got over her?" Heather asked.
"No. I just don't want to piss off Gwen by trying to take advantage of her personal tragedy so soon after it happened. There's also a chance she'd be pissed at me for thinking I've got a shot with her now just cause Trent and Duncan are out of the picture."
"I can't believe you still have feelings for her. For crap's sake, she thought making out with a criminal jackass and dealing with Courtney's incredibly volatile temper was a more appealing course of action than giving you a shot."
"Well, um…"
"And that's not even going into her pasty skin, terrible fashion sense, ugly hair and….."
"ENOUGH!" Cody yelled. "I am not going to stand here while you insult Gwen. So yeah, she's not perfect but you're hardly one to talk. And I know Gwen doesn't return my feelings, but I still think that she's a uniquely stylish and amazing person. I know I should probably get over her for my good but that's way harder than it sounds because she's just so alluring. And I'm not mad at her about the Duncan thing: we all make mistakes. Now, where are those speakers?"
Heather pointed Cody towards the speakers and we went towards them. When he was gone, Heather reached into her pocket, pulled out a recording devise and turned it off. Phase one complete, Heather thought.
…..
It was later when the first party guests began to arrive. Courtney entered Heather's home and walked up to her. They exchanged greetings and then Courtney decided to bring up an awkward subject.
"When is Alejandro coming?" she asked.
"He's not coming," Heather answered with as much calm as she could muster.
"You didn't invite him," Courtney said in a whiny tone. She had a bit of thing for Alejandro and was hoping to get closer to him.
"It would have been very rude for me to have invited him."
"How's that?"
"Al would have just thought I was goading him into breaking the restraining order."
"What restraining order?"
"The one I took out saying he can't be within fifty feet of me or DJ."
"Was that really necessary?"
"Yes," Heather said in a tone that made it very clear that she was done talking about this subject. Courtney took the hint and walked away. Heather continued to look at her and could tell she was slightly saddened by the new information. Heather walked up to DJ.
"Hey," She said to get his attention. She then pointed towards Courtney. "I want you to go talk to Courtney and try to cheer her up."
"I'm not comfortable with that," DJ said. "I don't know Courtney that well so I'm not sure what to say to her. Besides, she scares me. Like, a lot."
"I know DJ," Heather replied, understanding why he'd feel that way (and it had nothing to do with his usual lack of backbone). "But she really needs your gift of saying kind words to people who need them the most."
"I don't know about this," he said with blatant nervousness as he looked at Courtney and Heather walked behind him.
"Then it's a good thing I do," Heather said as she raised her right leg, put her foot on DJ's but and pushed him in Courtney's direction. He stumbled his way over to the mocha skinned C.I.T. and stopped before ramming into her, getting her attention in the process.
"Hi," DJ said. He figured that since he was already in this mess, he might as well try to cheer Courtney up.
"That sums up DJ so well," Noah said, having witnessed Heather and DJ's exchange. "In desperate need of the occasional swift kick in the ass."
"Then it's a good thing he has me," Heather said with a proud smile. "How are you doing Noah?"
"I'm good," he answered. "So I've heard that you and DJ are together now. If you don't mind me asking, how did that happen?"
"It was about three weeks ago," Heather began.
….
(Begin flashback)
DJ had asked to see Heather in private at his house. "Hello Heather," he greeted. "I just want to say that you have made great progress in becoming a nicer person since we started this little experiment."
"All thanks to your guidance," Heather said.
"My guidance wouldn't have done anything without you deciding to change and your resolve to follow it through," DJ countered. "You're also smart, beautiful and strong. I…"
DJ stuttered off as he worked up the courage to say what he wanted. Heather could already tell what he wanted to say from the look of longing in his eyes.
"DJ," she began, "I have thought about us becoming more than friends too. But I don't think…..," Heather stammered off as well. She wanted to tell DJ why she thought them getting together was a bad idea but was caught off guard from DJ's admission. She had some deeper feelings of her own for him and was wondering why she didn't want to go through with it.
DJ was looking into Heather's eyes and could see a look of hesitance mixed with longing. While he had been working on making Heather nicer, she had also tried to teach DJ to be more confident and assertive. DJ decided that now was the perfect time to use what little Heather had taught him.
He pulled Heather towards him and kissed her. Heather's eyes widened in shock for a bit, then relaxed as she put her arms around his muscular frame and began making out with him. DJ followed her lead and they stayed like that for quite some time.
(End flashback)