Disclaimer: I do not own this. Teletoon and Cartoon Network hold the rights to all characters.
"Trent?"
He had been brought back from a momentary trance.
"I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?"
A smile overcame the graying man.
"You have already checked out I see. I asked if you're excited to start college."
"Yes! I'm stoked. I'm finally able to start college after…well everything."
"I'm really glad to hear that. In the past three years, I've seen you make tremendous progress."
"I feel like I have too." He couldn't help but smile.
The therapist looked down and scrolled, trying to recall something from his notes.
"So Trent, we discussed this already but I just want to go over the process one final time."
He nodded.
"Okay, so we went over behavioral techniques and coping methods. Do you have a support system?"
"Yeah, I mean my parents are a phone call away, and I mean I'm moving in with two friends."
Quickly glancing at his notes. "Cody and D...J?" He half-stated, half-asked.
"Yup. Those very two."
He continued to glance at his notes.
"York is a large school. Do you feel comfortable being out of your comfort zone?"
"I'm more excited than anything at this point-"
"I mean…" The therapist clasped his fingers together, carefully trying to find the correct words. "You will run into people who will recognize you." His crestfallen face said it all.
"Like I said, I'm just trying to move on with my life. I figured out that I'm going to run into jerks, but I think I'll meet some really cool people too."
"That's a great answer. I'm-"
A loud buzzing sound broke the calm of the room.
The therapist swiveled to the desk and looked at his phone. "Time's up."
"So I guess it is."
Trent stood up and didn't quite know what to do, until he was enveloped by the arms of his therapist. "After fifteen years of doing this, you learn how to say goodbye a patient. Go out and enjoy the world."
"Thanks."
"Remember, if you ever feel uncomfortable you have my card with contact info."
"Alright. Thank you for everything."
And just like that, Trent felt that he finally had begun a new chapter in his life.
A faded yellow room was slowly being emptied of its life. Photo deprived walls and a damp stale smell, resulting from a broken air conditioner that never was replaced, was all that remained. He was awed by the emptiness of it all. There only remained one box to bring downstairs and pack in his car. The box wasn't closed, Trent noticed.
Natural curiosity had his arm shuffling through the box. He found nothing but blankets and a few photos of his younger years. His search was interrupted when his mother knocked on the door.
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, it's open."
"I finished baking your favorite!"
He looked at his mom with a sheepish embarrassment. "You didn't need to."
"Well you're not going to enjoy my cooking for a while, so I figured to give you a little something before you go. Plus you can offer it to your roommates. No one denies my apple crumb pie!"
"That's true."
"I thought you finished packing?" She asked once she noticed the opened box.
"So did I."
"Let me have a look." She peered inside and took out a photo frame. "Aww…my little Trent-y is all grown up now." She was admiring a photo of her son that she remembered taking years ago. "Remember this vacation?"
"Cavendish Beach. Yeah, that summer we went to Prince Edward Island. I was 12 I think…"
"I'm not too sure either." She quickly surrounded her son in a warm hug. "Oh, I'm going to miss you sweetie. Did you call your roommates yet? Let them know that you're coming up?"
"I was just about to….if you know…I ever get a chance." He was referring to his mother suffocating him with her hug.
"I'm sorry, sweetie." She let go and grabbed the box. "I'll go put this in your car."
He nodded as he was waiting for Cody to answer.
Ring….
Ring….
Ring…
"Hello? Trent?"
"Hey, Cody!"
"How are you buddy? Everything going well?"
"Yeah. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm coming up today."
"…Okay. That's cool."
"Alright?"
"Are you on the road?"
"Just about to head out."
"How long do you think it will take you to get here?"
"I printed out some directions. It says here about two hours, two-and-a-half tops."
"Alright. Well just let me know when you're close by. I got to…uhm…spruce up the place."
"It's no problem."
"Nah. Don't worry about it. I'll see you then."
Cody clicked the phone and immediately called over DJ.
He quickly ran over to Cody's room. "Man, why are you yelling so early in the morning?"
"We got a problem."
After a year of living with Cody, DJ had grown tired of his friend's antics and brushed it off. "I'm not going to squash another bug in your room. Do it yourself."
"No. I mean a serious problem."
DJ rose his eyebrows in confusion.
"Trent is moving in today."
"How is that possibly a problem? Trent is our dude! We both agreed to it. You said he was totally cool and back to normal after you met with him."
"He is our dude! But I may have…bended the truth just a bit." He indicated with his fingers.
"What do you mean…'Just a bit?'
"Weeeeelll…I may or may not have actually met up with him. So I can't really tell you if he's sane or not. Buuut…I do know our apartment number is four-six-nine, and that we have about two hours before Trent shows up."
"WHAT?!"
"Let's get to de-nineing this place! DJ, get the hammer and some nails."
Within minutes the two former reality stars were running amuck. Everything they assumed that was nine-related had been either flushed down the toilet or hauled away in trash bags. DJ even replaced the nine on their apartment and replaced it using someone else's number.
"Four-six-one. I like it."
They both stood outside their apartment with a strange sense of pride.
"Dude, you know what I just realized?"
"That four plus six equals ten, and subtracted by one gives you nine?"
"Yup."
"I'll get the hammer." DJ sighed.
After a few more minutes they once again stood in front, admiring their 'work'.
"I like this one. Four-six-five."
After staring a bit longer at the 'renovation', a sense of guilt seemed to grasp DJ for a moment. "Cody, you don't think Trent might actually be normal?"
Cody's usual sly grin immediately turned into a frown. "I would like to think that, but…Did I ever tell you how I reconnected with him?"
"I don't think so."
"Ok. So here's how it went."
"Trent has always been a cool, carefree guy. At least he was that before the show."
"Wait a sec…he was…seemed normal during the aftermath segment of World Tour."
"Yes, but it was what happened after World Tour concluded."
"Oh."
A beating heart was all that he heard. If he really tried, he could have found a way to make a melody out of it. Instead he channeled his nerves onto the steering wheel of his car, patiently waiting for the light to become green again. Each passing second seemed to last lifetimes for him. Luckily he had not reached the stage of death, yet by that time a car had begun to blare its horn, signaling to move.
Maybe his frenzied heart had already skipped a generation while waiting in anticipation. It would make sense at least. Sense in explaining why a childlike heart would have such a jovial outlook on that particular day.
Much like Conrad, he too was being led to a heart of immense darkness.
After circling around looking for a parking spot, he stepped out with books in hand and his guitar strapped to his back and proceeded towards the building in front of him. Stopping for a brief moment to admire the sign in front of him.
Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
He decided that his first act of being a 'normal' teen again would be to enter one the seemingly countless coffee shops and become just like everyone else. But alas, his enthusiasm would take a downturn.
It was those damn bells.
With every entrance, a small set of bells would jingle, signifying to everyone whenever someone new walked in.
Although it was college, it wasn't an everyday thing to see someone walking around with a guitar. It was even rarer to find a former reality star walking amongst students.
All eyes peered on him as the bell chimed away. Trent felt a bit uneasy. He sensed the cautioned stares and muffled breaths. The only thing he could do was to bury his head in his phone and aimlessly scroll through it until he was at the front of the line. With each robotic step forward he felt growingly numb, only feeling a warm tint on his cheeks that reminded him of where he was.
"Next."
"Hi, I'd like a…small cappuccino."
"Would that be all?"
"Yes."
"That would be two dollars and fifty cents."
He couldn't help but muster a look back at the cashier. "Here you go."
"Enjoy your day."
There was nothing to it, right? A simple greeting and a smile doesn't mean they suspected who you were.
He hastily made his way to his first class, and plopped himself in one of the first few roads of the lecture hall.
Although he didn't want to draw attention from anyone, his dad taught him that where you he sat factored a lot into how people saw him and his academic success.
All that lay in the room is a man whose head was buried in his notebook, endlessly scribbling away. As time progressed, the lecture hall had begun to get a bit more crowded. People began to make their way down the rows and soon enough, they had surrounded the man who wanted nothing more than for the lecture to begin.
He lifted his face to peek at the clock at the front of the hall. Class would begin in 15 minutes, he concluded.
Unfortunately for him, he stuck his head out for too long.
"Hi, what's your name?"
Doing a double-take to see if the student was asking him, his eyes widened.
"Yeah. I'm Franklin."
"I am…Trent."
He hates that look. The look of puzzlement. He could tell the poorly trimmed guy was trying to process on why he looked so familiar.
"You look really familiar."
He shrugged his shoulders in a whatever-you-say type of way.
"No, really. I think I know you. Do you know Dustin?"
Whew…four letters off. He smiled at the question.
"Sorry man."
"My bad for pestering. Nice guitar by the way. What model is it? Gibson?"
"Actually it's a Martin."
"Cool-" a brief moment of silence made its way to the forefront. "Well…I guess I'll just start getting ready. See ya, Trent."
The student had turned back in his chair to face the class, before violently swiveling back.
"DUDE! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!"
His heart sunk. Please no.
"You! You! Yes! You were on Total Drama Island!"
The kid was adamant about confirming his suspicions and wasn't shy about who heard.
"Nah. You're wrong again." He nervously quipped, hoping he would drop it.
But onwards he pushed.
"Yes. You're Trent! You play guitar!"
Heads began to turn. Peeping into the ongoing 'conversation'.
"A lot of people named Trent play guitar. I think you're barking up the wrong tree." He said with an unsteady voice.
"You have green eyes. You're him. I don't get it. Why are you denying it? Right he looks like Trent from Total Drama?" He asked at the growing number of faces that slowly began to surround him.
"Yeah that's him! Excuse me, Trent? Can I have an autograph?"
The floodgates had opened and requests had poured in. Everyone wanted either his autograph, a picture, or just to hear strum a few chords.
"Dude, I don't get why you don't want people to know who you are. You're totally awesome!"
He tried awfully hard to contain his grin, but it had cracked through.
"How did you end up doing on the show?"
"I uhh…didn't win. I'll tell you that much."
"How'd you get eliminated?"
And just like that, all the good feelings and friendliness of the little group came to a screeching halt.
The people around him began to murmur and slowly walk away. Trent saw the look on their grimacing faces. He thought…no…he knew that look. It was the same look he had gotten for six months after Total Drama Action had ended.
You can't change the past.
He knew that lesson all too well.
"So after that, Trent kept getting weird looks and felt really uncomfortable being in his own skin. He withdrew from his classes a few weeks later. I just happened to message him last year after it all went down, and well…he told me everything."
"Crap. That sucks." DJ replied with his head lowered.
"Yeah…"
"Why does he still have social media, if he doesn't want to be recognized?"
"It's a private account, can't be accessed publicly. Only people who have permission. I messaged him to see what he was up to, since no one else except a handful of people actually reply and talk to me."
"Still?"
"What can I tell you? I don't know." He frowned. "Anyways, we should treat Trent just as before. He is our friend, and one of the few ones I actually have."
"I agree. That's the Cody I know." He said while stretching his arm out for a fist bump.
Knock. Knock.
The two roommates smiled at each other.
"Let's show him a good time." DJ said to a smiling Cody.