Hey! About time I adressed you all. Welcome to Inverted Fates, a fanfic where the minds of two teenage girls are my playgrounds.
Okay. That came out wrong. Anyway... Enjoy.
(can't do proper line breaks on mobile)
Gwen POV
[Yawns...]
...Crap. That's not my yawn. Am I dreaming again?
I'm not even sure what's going on. This isn't my bedroom. I don't have a clue as to where I am.
Until I see the pictures on the wall.
They showcase a Hispanic family, all brunette. At first I figure this is THEIR house. I'm right- but it gets worse. One of the pictures shows the little girl, but older, in her teenage years.
It shows, of course... Courtney.
This is sick. Did Chris drug me and stuff me in here? That would explain a lot.
Seeing as I have none of my regular clothes, I grab a set of Courtney's without thinking. I know it seems almost mean, but hey, it's a dream. It's not like I'm actually taking from her closet or anything.
Once I've put on her gray sweater, I decide to see if it looks good on me. I mean, it's not like I look identical to her or anything.
On the way, I spot the calendar. That's odd. This thing is from back in '07. I note that all of the days until July 6 are crossed out... and the 8th has the initials "TD" scrawled on it really neatly.
I hope the next two days don't pass too quickly, because July 8 was the day everything all went south. The day I found that Christopher McLean's new reality show, Total Drama Island, was nothing more than the first in a series of teenage torture devices.
Rolling my eyes, I turn back toward the mirror. I walk up to it...
...and then pinch myself as hard as I can, eyes closed. When I open them, though, I'm still in Courtney's bedroom, looking through the mirror... at *her* face.
Which leads to me having a mini panic attack on the spot and screaming my lungs out for three seconds straight. Have you ever heard Courtney scream by the way? It's almost always the most satisfying sound one can hear.
Right now, it's torture.
When I asked to fix things with her, this is NOT what I had in mind.
And as her parents barge into the room and begin asking me if I had a nightmare or what, I just sit there nodding.
Nodding and hoping that wherever SHE is, she's getting the same treatment.
If she even exists anymore.
Courtney POV
THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING.
I have officially decided that this is the worst day of my entire life and that nothing can possibly make it any worse.
Why?
Why must I wake up as Gwen, and on this day of time itself, and with no knowledge as to how it happened?
Maybe that wish on the star I made last night? No, there's no such thing. It's all superstition... Right?
Okay, so there's both good news and bad news to this. The good news is that, after re-watching basically my whole career from sixteen years of age onward, and studying everyone's issues in tandem with my own, I can rectify my own mistakes. Especially if this is a new timeline or something.
The problem is that I have to do it as Gwen, not myself. I wonder if I can teach my alternate self to value using people as friends more than tools for my own advancement... But this coming from a random stranger she's never met-
"Gwen?" her mother calls. "There's someone on the phone for you!"
At first I shudder. Taking a phone call meant for Gwen, acting like her? That's gotta be some kind of identity theft, right?
"Mom, I dunno. Are you sure they want ME?" I ask, trying to stall for time.
"It's that celebrity guy from TV."
Oh crap.
Oh crap crap crap crap crap.
Gwen's mom puts the phone up to my ear, and Chris' voice begins coming through. At first he's talking about me being a late addition, but a welcome one, to the Total Drama Island cast. But then he goes on into incessant me-talk, drowning out my thoughts.
By the time he's finished, I've forgotten about the phone call, and I can hear him asking for me on the other end, wondering whether he should replace me with someone else.
I hate Chris. Hate him with a capital H. But I can't pass this up.
I grab the phone, and sigh, in Gwen's raspy voice.
"Is the adress still the same as when you put up the promos?"
Gwen POV
After a relatively annoying call from Chris asking me if I really wanted in, I was left thinking about whether "yes" was the right option.
On the one hand, I can keep Heather from jacking stuff up. I can allow Duncan to have a girlfriend who judges him less. Heck, I can even save Ezekiel from devolution.
But one small problem. I'm Courtney.
Why, brain? I thought we were friends! Why did you have to say yes to Chris? Now we're going to have to re-live the summer of '07.
Actually, this is kind of karmic, in a way.
I'd kept wanting to help Courtney realize there was more to life than winning. How ironic that I must do it AS her, without her input.
I look back at the phone, debating whether to call my number. I figure the only one who would believe such a thing is me, and even that's a far cry. Plus, this is me before the show. Back when I tried to push others away.
I figure I have two days to waste. Two days until Courtney and I get hauled off to teenage torture camp.
I shrug, and begin reading a book on her shelf. Or is it my shelf? I honestly don't know anymore.
The book I end up grabbing is her CIT handbook. Oh, great. I guess I can really be more like her with this.
I figure that Courtney told Chris that she had CIT experience before getting accepted for the show, but I have no such experience.
sigh*
I just hope this thing teaches me the basics in time for camp. If I'm going to be Courtney, I'll have to get a little knowledge of the art.
Courtney POV
If there is one thing I hate about life, it's that once something has happened, it's done. Or so I thought.
Since we're back on July 6, 2007, I guess not.
Wait. I'm thinking about this all wrong. I don't just have to fix my OWN life. I can solve everyone else's problems!
Though that does make me feel like a little bit of a saint...
Agh! Get this through to yourself, Courtney, you are NOT the problem solver. You just think you are, but realluy just make more problems doing it.
Like with Duncan and Scott...
Ouch. I'd forgotten about my boyfriends for a moment. This is the biggest deal. Those two saw something in me, and I blew it stupendously with both of them.
Hopefully I can make myself realize that it's a stupid idea for me to try to make someone iron out their own flaws, or not take criticism from others, or focus more on winning the prize money than actually care about friendship and love.
Hey, they say that the only one who can reason with the unreasonable is themself, right?
At least I think they say that.
Oh, no. I hear Mom calling me. Gwen's mom, I guess. She says it's time to go clothes shopping for camp.
I am so screwed.
I mean, I know what Gwen wore to the island, sure. But can I really be the type to pick that kind of dark, depressing outfit?
I don't just have to be Gwen. I have to be Gwen.
But how can you be someone who you're not...?
