A/N: A few days ago, someone asked me to write a Junior/OC story, writing exactly how they wanted the OC to be. However, I'm not good at writing other people's OCs, so I said no. However, Junior does deserve a few more stories, so I decided to write one.

Plot: As a twelfth birthday surprise, Katherine "Kat" signs her sister Corrine up for a race around the world with her. They may be sisters, but they're also strangers, and this may be a birthday present, but it's also a bonding activity. However, the bonding seems to be less within the two and more between Corrine and the next youngest competitor...

Impermanence. Most people my age don't even know the word, but they know what it means. Nothing lasts. Except death, I guess. But sometimes things can last for as long as forever. Or things can last for what feels like a short time, but really, it's something that only just got the new features that makes it something different.

Reality shows? They fall into both categories. They're new, but sixteen years feels like a long time, since I wasn't even born when they began. And the filming usually lasts for months at the most. Months that feel like a lifetime for the contestants.

That's what I learned this summer. And it began when my sister Kat (short for Katherine) visited. Most of the time, she lived in an apartment on the other side of Canada, but she usually came home for a week of the holidays. Even so, we barely knew anything about each other. At this time, she was twenty-three, I was a week off my twelfth birthday, and she was about to give me a birthday surprise that could either create the worst summer of my life, or be the best thing that ever happened to me.

"Reeni," she said innocently, "Have you ever wanted to be on TV?" (Reeni's a family nickname – I wish they'd just call me Corrine, though – what's the point of naming me if my family doesn't call me that?)

I shrugged noncommitally. "I've never thought about it."

Kat's smile became uncertain. "My point is, I feel like we don't really know each other. So I thought, for your birthday, I could set up a little activity so we could get to know each other. You have to be at least twelve, so I thought this could be the perfect time!"

I gave her a suspicious look. "What does that have to do with TV?"

And then Kat explained. "Well, there's a new reality show starting. Do you know of the Total Drama seasons?"

I nodded. "That's basically the Survivor rip-off with teenagers, right? I watched the season on the film lot and I think I saw one on that whacked-out island that was full of mutants. And there was another season after that I think I saw, on the island but without all the mutants. But that's for teenagers."

Kat grinned, tucking her long blonde-streaked hair (still not as long as mine) behind her ears as she spoke. "Well, they're doing another reality show, but it's a little different." she said. "It's called The Ridonculous Race. Anyone twelve and over can apply, but only in teams of two, and anyone under fifteen has to have someone twenty-one or over as their partner. I signed us up...and they've accepted us!"

I gasped. "What? Seriously? I don't know whether to love you or hate you for this!"

Kat laughed. "Seriously, Reeni, this'll be fun. It'll be the perfect chance to get to know each other better. I haven't been able to be as much of a sister to you as I would've wanted to, cause of the age difference. And we're only one of nineteen teams. Maybe you'll meet a nice kid who you can be friends with."

I shrugged, not liking that she considered me a kid. "It's a competition, right? For another million dollars? So what are the other differences?"

Kat counted each one off on her fingers. "Well, there's no voting. Whoever finishes last in each elimination round gets sent home – some of them are non-elimination, but we won't know until after the challenge is over. And we basically have to fly, taxi, bus...travel to different places. We'll get travel tips to tell us what to do whenever we arrive at a destination. Oh, and there's a different host. I think Chris McLean from the first show has a lot of law suits to deal with, so someone else has taken over for him. That's pretty much it." She looked at me, and I could see a plea in her eyes. "Doesn't it sound like fun?"

I couldn't let her down. I really wasn't sure whether I wanted to do this. Even if it wasn't with my sister who I barely knew. But, then again, she was my sister, and I didn't want to hurt her. And there was a part of me that...sort of wanted to do this. And...well...I liked adventures. I was the kind of person who was up for anything active like that. Why shouldn't I do it? What could go wrong?

Well, all right, a lot could go wrong. But no one had died on Total Drama so far (although to be fair, a couple of the contestants had been murderous – plus this one contestant called Alejandro was severely injured via lava spray according to the fifth season and a mutant shark mutilated an already injured contestant named Scott). As long as this season was as safe as the last few seasons, we should survive.

"All right." I smiled. "When do we start?"

"We can take the train to the starting line Monday week!" Kat said. The day after I turned twelve. Well, at least I knew the actual birthday date wouldn't suck, even if the show was the worst experience of my life.

I spent most of the week working out what I needed to pack for the show. First, I needed a signature outfit, so I just chose something casual – black jeans, a black T-shirt with Rocky Horror-style lips on it, and black ballet flats. But I also packed some variations, so I wouldn't freeze or boil in certain places.

I also packed the essentials, plus a few books and a notebook – on the first day, I planned to write down all the teams so I could keep track of who was a threat and who wasn't.

My birthday was all right. I spent the day with my friends, who were mostly envious.

"You are so lucky, Corrine!" Jess remarked in particular. "Being on TV would be the coolest thing ever! And you might get a million dollars out of it, too!"

"Don't bet on it!" I said, laughing. "But Kat and I are definitely gonna try." By that time, I was getting excited. I literally couldn't wait to get there.

All too soon, the day was over, and I was sitting in a train with a bunch of other people, people I would be seeing a lot of for the next month.

Sorry this chapter was so short. I'll try to make the next ones longer. Just a heads-up, there will be a few eliminations that are different, and one non-elimination episode turned into an elimination after all.