Façade: Behind the Scenes

Chapter Six: Would Duncan Be Her Best Boy?

"Hi, guys!"

...

"Guys?"

...

"...Come on, don't tell me you're not happy to see me. Because then Izzy will have to do something crazy to get your attentions."

"Won't you anyway?" Noah asked.

"Yes. ...Alright, what the hell? I thought with Geoff here everyone would be partying like crazy."

I looked up and around, my head still not leaving my folded arms from the table. Geoff and Bridgette were still making out. Courtney was on the phone with one of her lawyers. Ezekiel had Billy's MP3 player and looked like he was in his own little world. Eva had her own MP3 player. Katie and Sadie were commenting on how cute Geoff and Bridgette looked. Noah was reading his book. Tyler was drumming his hands on the table. As for me? Well... I was still worried about what I saw happened to Gwen and Trent earlier.

I turned to Izzy, forcing a smile. "Hey, we're happy to see you. Not happy you lost, mind you, but... you know..."

"I'm not happy to see you," Noah admitted, not looking up from his book.

"...Well I am, anyway."

"Aw..." She glomped me from behind. "You're too cute."

I smiled a little more genuinely for a moment as she sat down, but I quickly frowned again.

She tilted her head. "You okay, Cochise?"

Before I could speak, Noah did it for me. "He's upset that Gwen and Trent are on different teams."

"So? What, you think it's going to be too much and they'll split up or something?"

"The... thought had crossed my mind," I admitted, resting my chin on my arms. Man, why did this have to happen? She--uh, they looked devastated! And I didn't blame them, either.

"Well, look on the bright side!" There's a bright side to this? "If they break up, you might have a chance!"

It might have been on impulse, or perhaps there really was a reason behind it, but I rolled my eyes. "She doesn't like me like that. You know that."

"That never stopped you before," she said, winking slyly at me.

I gave Izzy a stern look, before smirking back. Well, she does have a point... "Still," I said, frowning again, "I know she doesn't want to be with me, and I'm okay with that." I put my hands up in defence, but Noah's scoffs caused my arms to quickly retreat.

"Really?" Her sly grin would not die. "But let's say something does happen, and Gwen ends up liking you for whatever reason. Maybe she finally realizes you're a beast in bed. OR perhaps she starts getting wild yaoi fantasies of you and Noah like I do." She doesn't really care to hide it, does she? "And it starts turning her on and she wants in on the action. But for some reason, she starts liking you. Then what?"

I blinked a few times. Well, that answer should be honest, you would think. "Well, if she liked me back, then yeah. Of course I'd want to hook up with her."

"Aha!" Izzy pointed an accusing finger at me. "So you DO want her and Trent to break up!"

"What?!" Horrified, I held my hands up in defence again. "NO! No! I don't want that to happen!"

"Izzy, for the love of all things sane, please go away before Cody starts requiring therapy," Noah said.

"Oh, alright," she caved in, walking away toward Geoff and Bridgette's direction.

"Izzy, why do you torture us so?" Noah questioned before addressing me. "Hey, Cody. You said you and the twins went to an arcade or something the other day, right?"

"Yeah."

"Mind showing me where it is tomorrow? It's been a while since I've played a good arcade game."

"Are there anymore good arcade games?" I joked, but he took it seriously.

"No. It's mostly just racing games now," he scoffed. "Whatever happened to the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game or The Simpsons? Those were good games, especially when you consider most knock-off games these days."

I chuckled. "I remember wanting to play those games all the time when I was younger, but my mom was like, 'You don't get tickets from those! Don't you want a prize?'"

"Meh," Noah shrugged. "Unless you were an arcade whiz, most of those prizes sucked anyway."

"Yeah, it's not like I'm going to get 2,000 tickets for the lava lamp in one day. Let's see if I can win a silly straw! Won't that be fun?"

"Oh, joy."

-X-

"Holy crap, they actually have the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game here."

"And pinball," I pointed out.

Noah's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "...This is a freaking awesome arcade."

"Glad you approve." I held up a few dollar bills. "So, how much change do you need?"

"You don't have to--"

"Relax, it's Izzy's money," I told him, smirking. "She's treating us. I think she's expecting we're going to do, uh... something else. You know Izzy."

"...Where did Izzy get money?"

"Oh, she's planning on getting this new talk show thing set up," I explained. "I take it she's not expecting to use all the money she was given though."

"It's not like explosives are that expensive if you know where to look," Noah said, "and Izzy probably knows where to look." Shrugging it off, he took the money from me. "Well, as long as she's paying, might as well use it."

-X-

I'm glad Noah asked to go to the arcade with me. Heck, I needed something to get my mind off of what had happened on the show, and it worked. By the way, Noah and I kicked ass in that TMNT game. It was actually the first time either of us had enough quarters on hand to get past Krang, let alone win the game. It was also the first time we had people crowding up behind us asking for autographs and (much to our dismay) asking for us to kiss each other while we were playing the game. That... kinda freaked me out, but I guess that's the price for becoming famous, right? And besides, it still helped keep my mind off of TDA, so that's a plus. But I digress.

Later that evening, I would hear a little more news about Izzy's plans for her new show. She snuck up on me at the pool, telling me that she had gotten Geoff and Bridgette to agree to host the talk show. According to the redhead, Bridgette thought it'd be a great way to connect with the fans, and Geoff was just excited he was going to be on TV again.

Izzy also mentioned that she was going to use some of the budget for rounding up some Total Drama fans in the Toronto area. Considering that by this point Total Drama Island, though not finished, was a huge hit, it wouldn't nor shouldn't be that hard to find people wanting spoilers on season two. These fans would also have to sign confidentiality agreements, though I'm not sure how many of them actually kept quiet.

However, I would be surprised that when she said "round up" she actually meant advertising. I was expecting her to buy some rope and branding irons.

Then again, Izzy was never known for being predictable.

-X-

It was a long day of handing out fliers and nearly being run over by crazed fans, but Izzy, Tyler, Katie, Sadie, and I managed to survive and return to the hotel just in time to see Chris walking into the building.

Automatically, the memory of Gwen and Trent being separated had rushed into my brain. "Aw, man..."

Tyler misinterpreted me. "I know. I don't like him either."

-X-

Izzy sighed happily as we were getting ready to watch the new tape. "It's been a while since I've gotten to see one of these."

"Izzy, that was only, what, two, three weeks ago?" Noah pointed out.

"To me, that's a while."

The episode started with Chris giving the contestants another wake-up call. At four in the morning.

Damn, is that what real celebrities have to deal with? No wonder some of them are assholes.

"I don't know what their problem was," Izzy said with a shrug. "They should have a cheery attitude when they wake up in the morning. Like me!"

"I think you were a little too cheery, Izzy," Noah droned.

No, their challenge wasn't starting that early. Chris just wanted to get them plenty of time to eat breakfast before the sun came up. Oh joy.

"Yes, because they need all that time to not eat the food."

"Noah, shut up," Eva threatened. I'm not sure if he really was intimidated or if he just didn't care enough to continue talking, but he actually did shut up.

As I watched the screen, I couldn't help but notice the awkward... uh... vibe between a once happy couple. Yeah, they still sat across from each other, as if nothing was wrong, but the fact that neither of them would look at the other without quickly turning away was quite obvious.

It didn't help that Duncan had sat down next to Gwen... and put an arm around her. "Hey, you feelin' alright, Sunshine?"

"Her name is Gwen."

The two looked up at the musician across from them, both startled that he finally spoke. "Was I talking to you, Trent?" the punk asked before turning his attention back to Gwen. "So, what's up? You look like crap."

"Thanks for the compliment," Gwen sarcastically muttered. "And I'm fine. Just tired, cranky, and a little upset."

"A little?" Duncan chuckled, until seeing Gwen's evil glare. "Whoa-ho-ho, Gwen, you know me. I'm just kidding around." I had my doubts, honestly. "But are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Gwen assured him, though I wasn't so sure she was telling the truth.

"Alright." He smiled (assumedly) genuinely. "Just looking out for ya, Sunshine."

I turned to my left, now noticing how surprisingly quiet Courtney was. Of course, there was an explanation why there was no temper tantrums being had in the room; the former CIT wasn't here. "Where did Courtney go?"

"I think she left to call her lawyers," Katie said. "I don't know why else she would've left."

"Maybe she actually wanted to spare us from her wrath," Tyler joked.

Bridgette shook her head. "Guys, something could be wrong with Courtney." She stood up and walked out. "I'm gonna go see what's up. Tell me what happens, 'kay Geoff?"

"Right-o!"

The footage cut to later that morning in front of the trailers. The sun was up, and the castmates were getting another speech from Chris. The host told the group that the life of the film actor is not as glamorous as would be expected from someone who had never worked on a film set.

"Whatever," Gwen shrugged it off. "I can deal. I once had a summer job at a petting zoo. It's so adorable. Everybody feeding the adorable goats their adorable cabbages." Her expression quickly changed as she explained her old job description. "But somebody, i.e. me, had to shovel up the less adorable end of the digestive process." Aw, man. That job must have sucked.

"Aw, man. That job must have sucked." ...You literally took the words right out of my brain, Geoff.

But what sucked worse, in my opinion, was Chris emphasizing/rubbing it in that Gwen and Trent were on two different teams as he announced they'd be choosing them now.

Gwen tried to assure Trent that they weren't going to get competitive, but from the look in her eyes I could tell she had no idea how this was going to turn out.

"Okay! Let's get this bloodbath started!" Chris announced. By the way, nice description, Chris. "You're gonna choose schoolyard style: boy, girl, boy, girl." I don't know if he meant to gesture toward Gwen and Trent while mentioning the opposite gender, but knowing him... yeah, he meant to do that. "Ladies first, but since we have no ladies here, Gwen." Yeah, he so meant to do that. Bastard.

Gwen sighed; from the looks of things she didn't really want to be first. "I don't know... Duncan?"

Trent gasped. Duncan smirked. Now if I wasn't already worried this wasn't going to end well...

The cut showed a confession from Trent next. Nervous wreck didn't even come close to describing the guy. "I can't believe she just went ahead and chose Duncan! I mean, they're kind of alike, and now she wants to be on the same team? What am I supposed to make of that? You think you know a person..."

"Dude, she was pretty indifferent about it," Geoff noted. "You think he's making a mountain out of an molehill here?"

"He's making a mountain out of an anthill," Noah answered.

"I chose... the beautiful Lindsay."

I blinked a few times after hearing Trent's choice. "What was that?"

"Trent's idea of subtlety," Noah said, smirking.

Gwen's confession was shown next. "'The beautiful'? What, was Trent trying to tick me off by picking Lindsay like that?" She looked down, folding her arms. "You think you know a person."

Izzy sighed. "They're totally soul mates."

I sighed too, though mine was drastically different. Seriously, nothing good is going to come out of something like this, and I knew it right then! Right then, I knew things were going downhill.

And I was stuck here. I couldn't do anything about it.

Gwen and Trent continued to pick their teams, and from the looks of things... Trent didn't put much thought into his choices. I mean, it was pretty one-sided. Gwen had Duncan, Leshawna, DJ, Heather (at first I wasn't so sure about that, but Heather's a strong competitor, and I figured without her hair she might be a little more humble this time around), and Harold on her team. Trent, on the other hand, had Lindsay, Justin, Beth, Owen, and Izzy. Granted, Izzy's a strong competitor... she was also here.

Something tells me they didn't think that elimination through.

"Wait a second..." Sadie to the redhead. "How come you're not so anal about your name now?"

"Yeah, you were all 'RAHR! I'm E-Scope! I'm no longer Izzy! RAHR!'" Katie added, making pawing gestures with her "RAHRs."

"I changed my name back," Izzy said, smirking. "You'll know why soon enough. Oh, yes. You will know..."

"Gaffers? Grips?" Tyler's face was filled with confusion. "Wait, I think I get the Grips. They're, like, tough and can punch and grip stuff... right?"

"Gaffers and grips are the electricians and technicians of a film crew, respectively," Billy spoke up. "One way to think of it: gaffers provide the lighting, grips shape it." [1]

"So... I take it every challenge is going to involve them setting up a spotlight for Chris?" I couldn't tell if Noah was being sarcastic or not.

"Yeah, probably."

Chris revealed their challenge to the newly formed teams. They each had to move a makeup trailer and other equipment up... guess... the thousand foot high cliff.

Though since this wasn't Wawanakwa, the cliff was actually fake. Still... I had to admit I did not envy any of them.

But despite all that was happening, I couldn't get Gwen and Trent out of the back of my head. It didn't help that they were onscreen a good chunk of the time either.

Man... I really didn't want them to break up, you know? I mean... I had a feeling I knew what would happen if something did go wrong...

I've seen Gwen break down before, and I certainly did not want it to happen again.

-X-

[1] Always keep in mind that this show takes place in Canada. In the United States and Canada, grips work with both the camera crew and the gaffers. So if you're from, say, Australia or the United Kingdom, and you're a know-it-all when it comes to film crew members, please don't tell me I have no idea what a grip does. That's why I'm mentioning this here. I'm sure it won't happen, but I'm still putting it here in case it does, so no one will blame me for bringing it to everyone's attention in the next author's note if it does. ;) I can be a real asshole if I want to be.

-X-

And there's chapter six! ...Or seven, if you count the prologue.

In case you're wondering what the joke is in the title of this chapter, a best boy is a gaffer's assistant. The key grip can also have a best boy too, but that dude has nothing to do with the joke.

I hope the chapter didn't seem too rushed, and I'm not sure if that was a good place to end it, but I want to get something submitted before I go to sleep tonight, so... zzzzzzzzzz...