More Than Skin Deep
Chapter 1: Selfless Motives
Disclaimer: Total Drama Island is not mine. The characters are not mine.
Inspiration: Total Duncan Island by .Sun and Façade: Through the Eyes of the Codemeister by n5d25d90 were big influences for this story, and likely, this story would've never happened if not for those. If someone else has a similar-styled story, I'd love to know about that, too!
Warning: Well, a lot of the story is going to be similar to the first season of Total Drama Island, so if you haven't seen that yet, you will get spoilers here. Just so you know.
Pairings: Lindsay and Tyler, obviously, but all of the canon pairings as well. May also be some pairings that were hinted at in the show, but never officially went anywhere....
"Are you sure you want to do this?" my sister, Paula, asked.
I was pretty proud of myself for finally learning her name, and she was too. It kind of bothered her that, for like years, I kept getting her name wrong. Patricia, Paige, Portia, Penny, Sara, Michelle… and those don't even start with that… that 'puh' letter… what was that one called, again?
"I have to." Paula was so silly sometimes. Of course I had to share my beauty with the world! It was the one thing that I was really, really good at. I mean, I wish I could do other stuff too, but I can't. I've never really been good at doing stuff. But at least we're rich, so I'll be OK, even if I can't do anything.
"Remember: no sex if you get on," Paula said, grinning.
"I know that." Seriously, I wasn't a baby. Though can a baby even have sex? Ack! Stupid… get out of my head! OK, that just freaked me out a bit. "I won't have sex, I promise." I want to wait for the right guy, anyway. If a whole school doesn't have the right guy, I probably wasn't going to find him on the show, either. Or even remember him after the show. I'm a little forgetful sometimes.
"So, where do you want to stand?" Paula asked, getting her video camera ready. It was a really nice camera, too. I asked Daddy for one, but he told me I'd just break it. He's probably right, too.
"How about my bed?" I thought I could get into a nice, cute pose there. Surely, the people making this show wouldn't be able to resist seeing me!
Paula sighed, and shook her head. I don't really get why. Wasn't it a good idea? "Fine, fine," she said. Oh, she liked my idea after all! I was worried for nothing! I got right on the bed to sit in the cutest pose I could think of. "Ready?" she asked.
"Ready… no wait! How's my makeup?" I can't believe how stupid I was, forgetting to ask about how my makeup looked. It would've been a catara… catassa… really, really bad if the show people saw me ugly!
"You already have your makeup on?" Paula asked, raising an eyebrow. It's a cool little eye trick when she does that. It's like when we used to make faces in the mirror, except now she just does it occasionally, and usually her eyebrows, which she seriously needs to get waxed. She got really mad the last time I told her that, for some reason, even though I was trying to be really helpful. Not everyone always wants my help, though.
"Sorry." I hated bothering her, or anyone else, really. I know I'm rich, and beautiful, but I like to be nice, too! At least, I think I'm really nice. A lot of people call me selfish for some reason, though, even though I'm always thinking about everyone else, and always being really friendly. I don't really get it. I think some people are jealous that I'm rich, but that's a good thing, not a bad thing!
"Now, do you remember what you're supposed to talk about on the tape?" Paula asked.
…no. I forgot! She's going to be so sad that I can't even remember something important like this. "I'm sorry. I forgot."
Paula sighed. I knew she was trying to help me, but I'm pretty sure she got tired of me sometimes. "Just talk about your good qualities. Why they should put you on the show."
"Oh, yeah." I nodded, but I only half-understood. I didn't really want to annoy Paula more. I was hoping I could get this right.
"Ready to roll tape?" Paula asked, turning her camera on.
"Wait, we're supposed to get a roll of tape?" Paula slapped her face. I said something stupid again, didn't I? I wish I knew what I said that was wrong.
"We're starting the tape," Paula said. "So just do what you can to convince the producers to put you on the show."
"Oh, right." I was hoping I could get it right this time. I picked up my cute stuffed kitty. That made me feel a bit less nervous. "The audition sheet says to list my best qualities, but there're so many! I'm pretty and smart and I get along with everyone, even ugly girls." I didn't really want to get along with any ugly girls, but it was going to sound good on the tape. I wanted the people to like me after all, right? "I love camping, even though I've never gone." Paula was shaking her head for some reason. "I have bikinis for every season, even the ones not listed on the calendar, and I'm bilanguage-al. I speak fluent English and American." I was pretty proud of myself, but Paula looked concerned.
"English and American are the same language," Paula told me. She was wrong, of course.
"But in American, that squiggly dessert is called jelly, but in English, it's called Jell-O! That's different, right?"
"You have it reversed, actually," Paula said, smirking.
"So I was right!" I was so proud of myself, Lindsay one, Paula zero! "I mean, I got the technically details wrong, but I was right that they are two different linguals!"
"That's… not quite what I meant," Paula said, playing the video back in her camera, then looked concerned. "Problem here. During that camping bit, I lost focus and the camera, well, lost focus." What did that mean? I wish she would speak English or American so I could understand her, instead of this techno-bubble. "It can edit some shots of your bikini photos over it. You were talking about your bikinis at the time of the focus trouble."
I still had no idea what Paula was talking about, and I just continued nodding my head. She was making it hurt. Ouch! I think I just got brain freeze! "Can you mail that? I'd probably mess it up."
"Sure thing," Paula said. "Where's your application?"
"Here it is!" Right in my nightstand. I kept repeating to myself where I put it so I would remember, and it worked! Yay me!
Paula gave me a nice, fuzzy smile after she took the application. "Good luck. Just promise you won't embarrass me on national television."
"I won't!" Paula and I hugged each other. She was such a good big sister. I'd never embarrass her on TV! That would be, like, really mean, and a violation of the sister code! We could never betray each other like that!
I waited in my bed, excited for Paula to come back. And waited. And waited. It seemed like she wasn't coming back. Did she get lost on the way to the mailbox? I mean, it's not like we have to walk all the way to the street like other people, because we're rich, and we get to have a mailbox right at our door.
"Lindsay?" Paula asked, waking me from a nice sleep. I couldn't remember what I was dreaming, or if I was dreaming. But then, I never was good at remembering.
"You took a long time," I whined. OK, that was probably mean, but she took, like, forever. It was three o'clock when she left, but it was five o'clock now, so she's been gone… like, an hour!
"Kinda' had to shoot your pictures, edit that into the video, then drive to the post office, and I had some other errands to take care of," Paula said. Probably nothing important, though. I'm not sure why she couldn't come back after sending my audition and just doing her stupid errands later. She's so selfish sometimes.
"I bought you this hot green bikini while I was out!" Paula exclaimed, excited, pulling said bikini from behind her back.
"Eeeiii!" I'm sorry, but I couldn't help from screaming, or crying. "It's so beautiful."
"Thought if you were going too a reality show at a nice beach, you could use a new swimsuit to show off," Paula said. I just hugged her tight. I love you, Paula! You're the best big sister ever!
I've finally started it, and got the first part up! It's one of these stories, seeing the Total Drama Island experience from one of the campers' points of view. In this case, obviously, it's Lindsay. Will the producers accept her audition and bring her onto the show? Guess we'll have to wait and see… OK, OK, I'll spoil it for you: she gets accepted! Not much of a spoiler. You probably already know what happens… but how, and why, and what's Lindsay's take on it all? That's what we're here to find out!