NEW BEGINNINGS

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, everyone! And since you've all been so kind, I've decided to write chapter 2 right away. So yeah... here it is!

Note: This chapter has been re-written.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to the Total Drama series.

CHAPTER 2: Getting Used To The Rules

"Seating arrangements?..." Harold asked.

"Hello, have you met these people?! You're not moving me next to another freak!" Heather argued.

"Well that's too bad, Heather, but I'm moving you anyway," Mr Andrews replied.

"This is all weird goth girl's fault..."

"Nope. I was going to move you all anyway. Don't think I'm stupid... I see most of you chatting when I'm writing on the board, or even worse, sleeping!" Mr Andrews said.

"The teacher has a point," DJ said.

"Whatever. I better not be at the front..." Heather said.

"Why not?" Mr Andrew asked.

"Hello, most of these people shoot spitballs at each other! What if one hits the back of my neck?!"

"I'm pretty sure your ratty hair would cover it all up," Duncan said. Some people laughed at his remark.

"Shut it, Duncan!"

"Okay, lets not start a fight here," Mr Andrews interrupted. "Now everybody, go and stand at the back of the classroom."

Everybody followed his orders. As Gwen stood at the back of the room, she noticed how terrible the classroom really was. There were empty bookshelves, a few laminated posters covering the poorly painted walls, and eleven tables overall. There was the teacher's desk at the front, then three tables in the second row, three in the third, and four at the very back. The distance between each table made Gwen wonder if anybody in her class cheated during their examinations... Either that, or it was to stop them from talking without being noticed by the teacher.

Mr Andrews remained at his desk, eyeing every student with suspicion. It was clear that he knew who everybody got along with and who they purely hated.

"Bridgette," he started.

Bridgette eyed Mr Andrews with doubt. She didn't want to be away from Geoff. Geoff clearly felt the same way. This could explain why they were hugging each other so tightly right now.

"You can be at the front. Far right."

"My right, or your right?" Bridgette asked.

"Your right."

Geoff then let go of Bridgette sadly as she headed over to her new spot. Mr Andrews continued to eye everyone suspiciously once again, until he came across DJ and Owen.

"I'm trusting you two to be in the same row, but not near each other. So Owen can be at the far left in the back row, and DJ can be at the far right."

As soon as DJ and Owen sat down at their new seats, Mr Andrews called out his next victim.

"Heather. Far left, middle row."

"What?! You mean I'm in the same spot as last time?!" she snapped.

"Yes. Now go," Mr Andrews said, pointing at Heather's spot.

After thinking about it some more, Mr Andrews decided to place Izzy at the best place possible in order to keep a better eye on her.

"Now, Izzy... I'm also going to trust you at the back-"

"Yes! Izzy likes the back!" she interrupted.

"All right. Go and sit next to DJ."

After Izzy sat down in her new spot, she began to sing. As soon as Mr Andrews was able to quiet her down, he decided to assign Duncan his new spot.

"Duncan, this time I'm moving you to the middle row. I can't trust you at the back anymore, so go and sit in the middle seat."

And so, Duncan headed over to his seat. As he did so, he winked at Heather. She, however, didn't look too happy to be seated next to him.

"Hello, Heather."

"Go kill yourself," she responded.

"Moving on..." Mr Andrews continued. "Harold... you can go and sit in the front row, middle seat," Mr Andrews said.

"What? But I'll be picked on by Duncan!" he complained.

"I'm keeping a close eye on Duncan since he's in the middle row. You're safe, Harold. Now move."

Harold, feeling more alert than ever, sat right in front of Duncan. Feeling like he wasn't safe enough, he checked his whereabouts and even turned around to look at Duncan a couple of times. All Duncan could do was roll his eyes at his behaviour.

"Now Gwen, since you're new, you can sit in the middle row. Since the far right is the last spot in the middle row, you'll be seated near Duncan."

Gwen walked over to her assigned seat. Everything seemed to be all right so far. She was just glad that she didn't have to be seated next to Heather.

"Okay Geoff, I guess you can stay at the back again," Mr Andrews continued.

Geoff sadly walked over to his new spot. He wanted to be near Bridgette again, but it didn't look like Mr Andrews was planning to change the seating arrangements any time soon... And with that, there was only one more person to assign.

"And lastly, Beth... That leaves you at the front row, far left."

Beth didn't seem to mind her new spot since she smiled at Harold. As she sat down, she turned around in order to wave at Heather.

"Ugh, I have the freak in front of me..." she said, making Beth feel embarrassed.

"Okay, everyone, do you like your new seats?" Mr Andrews asked.

"No way! First of all, I have the same seat as last time. Second, I have the loser-geek-girl in front of me, and farty pants right behind me!" Heather complained.

"That's a real shame, Heather," Mr Andrews said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"And the worst part is that I have to be seated next to that criminal!" she said, referring to Duncan.

"You know you like me," Duncan winked.

"And stop winking at me! I thought you would have known by now that I don't socialise with losers-"

"Okay you two, stop causing trouble for each other," Mr Andrews interrupted.

When Mr Andrews finally started the class, Gwen was given a few pens, a pencil case, and numerous books to write in for her classes. However, in the middle of the lesson, Gwen couldn't help but feel annoyed at Harold. This was because he kept turning around to look at Duncan every few seconds. And speaking of which, Gwen also noticed that Geoff was fast asleep at the back. Everybody else, excluding Duncan and Heather, were copying everything from the board... Everyone remained quiet until Heather decided to speak.

"Ew... Did someone fart?"

Everyone then looked around to see a shy looking Owen with pink cheeks and a small smile. "Sorry..."

"Ugh, this is what I mean! I refuse to be seated in front of this fart machine!" Heather said, proceeding to standing up.

"Okay Heather, stop overreacti-" Mr Andrews said.

"Oh my bonkers, thats bad!" Geoff said, waking up.

"It's nice to see you're finally awake, Geoff," Mr Andrews said sternly. "And sit down, Heather. The smell will eventually disappear."

For the rest of that period, the class remained quiet. Eventually, when the next period afterwards finished, Gwen was glad that she was able to catch a break. As soon as Gwen collected her things, she walked over to Bridgette's desk.

"Okay, Gwen, lunch goes for a whole hour."

"Cool. So this break is longer than the last one we had?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, that was like a mini recess. The best part during lunch is that we don't have to stay inside the cafeteria. You could even hang out in your room if you wanted."

"I'm just hoping the food is edible this time."

"I doubt it," Bridgette said as they headed out the classroom.

When Gwen and Bridgette entered the cafeteria, they headed towards the end of the line once again. Although, that was until Gwen stopped in her tracks when her eyes came across one of the hottest guys she had ever seen.

"Thats Justin," Bridgette said, trying her best not to look at him.

"Wow."

"As you can see, he's the number one eye candy at this school."

"I can see that..." Gwen said dreamily as they now stood at the back of the line.

It was unusual for Gwen to drool over a guy. She normally didn't care about most people, but Justin was somehow different. And from what Bridgette just said, Justin probably had that effect on almost every female around here... As the line slowly moved forward, Gwen was too distracted looking at Justin that she bumped into the person in front of her... 'Seriously?... This is the second person today!'

"Oh geez, I'm really sorry."

"It's all good," the person said.

Looking up at the person she just bumped into, Gwen noticed right away that he was handsome. He had jet black hair, and his green eyes matched his pea coloured shirt.

"I've never seen you around before," the guy continued.

"Yeah. I just arrived here today."

"Gwen..." Bridgette decided to cut in. "This is Trent. And Trent, this is Gwen."

"Oh, cool name. It's nice to meet you," Trent smiled.

"Yeah, Trent's in classroom 49. He's right next door to us," Bridgette explained.

"Yeah. Worst classroom ever- well, ever since Eva tagged along... Uh, I guess it's my turn to get some food. I'll catch you both later," Trent said while collecting his tray.

"Wow, Gwen, you really need to stop bumping into every guy," Bridgette joked.

"Oh, shut u- What is this?" Gwen asked, looking at the red sloppy stuff.

"Mixed ingredients. You got a problem with that?!" Chef yelled.

"Uh... I guess not..." Gwen said as she took her tray.

As soon as Bridgette collected her tray, she led Gwen to the main courtyard again. They headed straight past the fountain and stopped at one of the many benches. DJ, Geoff, Izzy and another girl were already at the table.

"Hey, Geoff," Bridgette said, giving him a kiss afterwards.

"What's up, Bridge? Hey, Gwen."

As Gwen sat down, she decided not to respond to Geoff since he and Bridgette were now looking into each other's eyes. Izzy was trying to feed DJ who didn't want to eat, and the other girl seemed to be texting on her strange phone.

"Hey, Gwen. Do you like our class so far?" DJ greeted.

"Umm... Its... Okay," Gwen said.

"Yeah, I hate it too- I said stop feeding me!"

"Here comes the aeroplane..." Izzy said, trying to feed DJ with her spoon.

"Are you two a couple?" Gwen asked.

"No. Izzy likes Owen!" she answered in third person.

"I don't know why she's trying to feed m- stop it!"

The girl using her strange phone immediately looked up to see what the fuss was about. When she realised that Bridgette and Gwen had joined them, she gave a small smile.

"I'm Courtney. It's a pleasure to meet you.

"Same here. I'm Gwen."

"I would be happy to give you some tips about this place," she offered.

"Oh... Um, oka-"

"Rule number one," Courtney interrupted. "Never get on the teacher's bad side. Rule number two, choose your friends wisely... Rule number three, be aware of the bad guy."

"That's because she likes the bad guy!" Izzy mentioned.

'The bad guy?...'

"What?!... I do not!" Courtney argued.

"Also, never call Blaineley by her real name... It's Mildred. She'll probably burn you just for mentioning it," DJ added.

"Okay, I've got that noted," Gwen replied. "But what I don't really understand are these strikes... I mean, it's just a strike. Nothing serious..."

"Just a strike?!... A strike is absolutely serious!" Courtney panicked.

"Okay, I'll explain this one..." DJ started. "If you have four strikes then everything is all good... But when you get your fifth strike, apparently you get sent to juvenile hall."

"Juvenile hall?" Gwen asked. How stupid.

"Yeah. I heard they have the most deadliest teenagers there," Geoff said, now looking away from Bridgette's eyes.

"And once you go there your life is over. You won't be able to have a job once you get out. And that means no money, no house, and worst of all no career," Courtney said as she stood up. "This has got me thinking... I need to go and research this."

As soon as Courtney left, Gwen was still wondering about what she meant earlier.

"Who was Courtney referring to before?"

"Oh, the bad guy?... That's Duncan. He's in our class," DJ answered.

"Yeah. They were together, but they broke up a month ago. It was pretty messy... But something tells me she still likes him," Geoff added.

"I don't think Duncan likes her back, though... Anyway, Gwen, I think we should go and put your new books in our room now. So we'll see you all later!" Bridgette said, dragging Gwen along.

While Bridgette and Gwen headed past the fountain, Gwen could tell that there was something on Bridgette's mind.

"What's up?"

"Oh, nothing..." Bridgette smiled. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, go for it."

"So if you could date Duncan or Trent, which one would you pick?"

"W-what?!" Gwen stammered. She could already feel her cheeks turn pink.

"I'm only kidding, but it's funny when you blush about them."

"I... I don't even know them."

"I know, I know."

"And besides-" Just before Gwen could continue, she bumped into someone as they were turning at the nearest corner. And as Gwen looked up, it turned out to be Trent again.

"Whoa, second time today!"

"Sorry again," Gwen called out as Bridgette continued dragging her to their room.

Once when Gwen and Bridgette entered their room, they noticed that they weren't alone. As it turns out, Leshawna was already seated on her bed, reading a magazine.

"What's up, girls?" she greeted.

"Guess what happened to Gwen today!" Bridgette said, sitting down next to Leshawna.

"Well?... speak!" she demanded.

"Bridgette, here, seems to think that I now have a love life," Gwen explained.

"Do tell..."

"It was only a joke, but she did bump into Trent and Duncan today," Bridgette continued.

Leshawna smirked at Gwen and then began to sing. "Gwen and Trent sitting in a tree-"

"Stop it, Leshawna!"

"Oh, so you don't like Trent? Okay... Gwen and Duncan sitting in a tree-"

"I can't believe this is happening to me..." Gwen muttered.

"You and Duncan would look cute together," Bridgette said.

"No, girl! She has to be with Trent!" Leshawna argued.

Gwen rolled her eyes at her bickering roommates. "I'm going to the library. It's a bit too loud here..."

"And what is that supposed to mean?! I'm a quiet person!" Leshawna argued.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way. Anyway, I'll be back later," Gwen said, now leaving with a book in her hands.

It was quite easy to remember the directions to the library. All Gwen had to do was exit the dorms and walk straight ahead. But as she headed towards the fountain, she saw Trent quietly strumming a guitar... The music coming from it sounded pretty good, so she decided to approach him.

"Hey. You're really good with that guitar."

"Thanks. I've been practicing for a while now," Trent said, putting his guitar down next to him.

"Why don't you play for money? I bet you could get a lot of big ones for that."

"I actually did that once, but Blaineley gave me a warning to stop or she'll give me a strike."

"Why?" Gwen asked.

"She thought I was trying to panhandle everyone... But all I did was express my love for music."

"Well that sucks. I was about to go to the library and sket-"

"Well well well, if it isn't the new couple... and you haven't even been here for a whole day!" Heather interrupted. Of course, Lindsay was standing by her side.

"What do you want?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, nothing... So tell us, Trent, have you fallen for the weird goth girl yet?"

"Just go away and annoy someone else, Heather," Trent warned.

"Weird goth girl... Who is that again?..." Lindsay asked.

"Gwen! Gwen is the weird goth girl!" Heather said in frustration.

"Ohhhhh..."

"Whatever. Come on, Lindsay... Let's go and see if Beth is finished with my homework."

As it turns out, Gwen never ended up going to the library. Her first plan was to go there and sketch some things in her book, but after talking to Trent, they decided to talk more about music and art. From that conversation, it turns out that they actually had a lot of things in common.

The last period for the day turned out to be geography. The hour ended up going by really slow, and Gwen noticed that many of the fights in that period revolved around Heather. It turns out no one liked her that much, so Gwen felt more at peace... Mr Andrews also found it weird how her homework looked similar to Beth's. Although, after when the class ended, Gwen and Bridgette headed straight to their room and were surprised to find Leshawna there once again.

"How did you get here before us?" Bridgette asked.

"Blaineley let us out early. She had a meeting, or something like that," Leshawna explained.

"Wait," Gwen said. "Blaineley's your teacher?"

Leshawna huffed. "Yeah, and she's not that great either... By the way, did I tell you that Trent is in my class?"

"Okay, and?..."

"And he told me that you're really cool... You may have a chance with him, girl!"

"Thanks, Leshawna, but I really don't like Trent like that... I just met him today."

"She doesn't like Trent because she already has the hots for Duncan," Bridgette added.

"Not this again..." Gwen laughed. In the end, Gwen was honestly glad that she was bunking with them.

Gwen thought that the conversation would have died in a few minutes or so, but it continued for hours. Even on their way back from dinner, Leshawna and Bridgette continued talking about Gwen's supposed love life. Gwen decided to change the subject before any bystanders would take their joking the wrong way.

"So I'm guessing that the guys get one side of the dorm, and the girls have the other?" she asked as they entered their room.

"That's right, but you can't trick us into changing the subject," Leshawna smirked. "Anyway, Trent likes music and he also-"

"But Duncan looks like the dangerous type, and I think Gwen would like that-"

This ended up continuing for a few more hours. However, Bridgette decided to stop the argument when she realised how late it was. Something told Gwen that Bridgette wanted to wake up early tomorrow.

"Well I'd love to talk about this some more, but I'm really tired. And besides, you know how everyone hogs the showers in the morning..." she said.

"All right then. Night, girls," Leshawna said, turning off the light.

Everything felt right for once. As Gwen drifted off to sleep, she couldn't imagine to see what was in store for her next... Well, that was until a loud, mysterious sound interrupted everyone's peaceful slumber.

"WHAT THE?"

A/N: Cliffhanger time! Oh well, it looks like you'll be finding out next time. Please review.