Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama or anything in the franchise. I also do not own the character of David, that cool dude belongs to WhazzupPeeps, a dedicated Stoked writer who has made an awesome series of what could have been the rest of Stoked. He is also the genius that came up with Reef's last name and thus Sherman's last name as well. I do not own Stoked or anything from that franchise either. Happy reading.
Chapter 9: Harold and Leshawna
A tanned boy with red hair tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. He looked up at the clock again for what seemed like the hundredth time and looked out the window. Stupid detention. At least he wasn't the only one there. Spring Break was in session and while everyone else was out celebrating, he was stuck at the school for another hour. The detention teacher had to dismiss him before he could taste the freedom of Spring Break. A little bit longer. The clock ticked closer to four o' clock. He readied himself to run out the door. Discreetly, he slipped the straps of his backpack on his shoulders and inched his butt on the edge of the seat. Another tick.
The teacher, who was grading some work from one of his classes, looked at the clock and watched as it ticked closer. Another tick. The small hand pointed to four while the long hand pointed to twelve. He turned his head to the students in the room. "Detention's over, enjoy your Spring Break." Almost immediately, the tanned redhead dashed from the room and was out in the hall first. "No running in the halls, Sherman!"
Sherman didn't care. It was Spring Break and he was an hour behind his friends. There was no time to lose, he'd have to stay up an extra hour tonight to have fun to make up for a missed hour. Speeding down a set of stairs, he ran through another hall, slammed the school's front door open, and jumped onto the front stairs' railing, sliding down the railing. "Woohoo!" He shouted as his feet hit concrete and he ran down the sidewalk in the direction of Paradise Resort.
Andrew "Bummer" Baumer walked down the sidewalk in town. His shift had ended and he was ready to spend an evening to himself. Honestly, he thought he would only have to endure those young men and women for the summer jobs but since they moved to town and took up permanent positions at the hotel, he's had to deal with them at work every work day through the calendar year.
"Look out, Bummer!" Bummer looked up to see a familiar red-haired thorn in his side coming his way and at a very fast rate.
"Did you just call me, Bum-" Before Bummer could finish his sentence, they collided and Bummer crashed to the cement sidewalk. After Bummer was able to regain focus, he glared at the preteen in front of him, who was also planted on the sidewalk. "Watch where you're going, Garcia!" The adult admonished the young boy.
Pulling himself up, Sherman checked himself for any lasting bruises. "Sorry but I'm late and I need to go. See you later!" Before Bummer could scold him anymore, he scrambled off to the resort.
Once Sherman was gone, Bummer got himself up. "I hate those people and I hate their kids." He seethed in anger and annoyance then sauntered off towards his home to look forward to a quiet evening.
What Bummer didn't notice in his frustration was that his wallet remained behind on the sidewalk out in the open. A figure stepped out of the alley between the two buildings Bummer had been walking past. The figure went over to the discarded item and bent down to pick it up. He let out a snicker. Looking in all directions around him, he took Bummer's wallet, tucked it inside his jacket, and slunk off elsewhere.
Meanwhile, at the Paramount Theatre (some still call it the Big Wave for old time's sake), a middle-aged man with jet black hair and blue eyes named David watched as one of his employees put up the newest title to hit his theater. Once the last letter was put in place, David beamed.
"Legendary Thief 2, the continuation of the best thievery movie ever made." David mused as he stared up at the title. Then he heard an approaching run. He knew that run from anywhere. He looked over to see the offspring of two of his friends that worked at Paradise Resort running his way.
As Sherman passed the Paramount (he preferred Big Wave), he waved to David. "Hey Uncle David!" He called out to his honorary uncle, not intending to stop.
Watching Sherman run, David waved back. "Hey Sherman!"
In the hotel lobby, the front desk guy watched a digital clock on the computer along with a few kids Sherman's age that were gathered around the front desk. It read 4:12 p.m. and one of the boys looked to the front door.
"A few more minutes and he won't beat his record time." He said.
The girl sitting on the edge of the front desk smiled. "Never doubt Sherman, of course he's going to make it."
Suddenly, the hotel's front doors slid open and the kids and adult looked to see who had come in. Sherman raced through the lobby. Passing the front desk, he took off his backpack and tossed it to the front desk guy. "Hey, guys! Hey Uncle Johnny!"
"Hey Sherman!" Johnny called back, waving as he put Sherman's backpack below the desk with the other backpacks that were there. The kids looked at the clock. 4:14 p.m. "He broke his record, one minute to spare."
"Alright!" The boys and girls cheered before heading to follow Sherman to the beach.
Passing by the Pirate Ship restaurant, Sherman gave a shout. "Hey Aunt Emma!"
Emma, who was now in charge of the Pirate Ship instead of Kelly all those years ago, saw Sherman and waved. "Hi Sherman!"
Heading out the back entrance to the beach, he ran to the staff house, which was empty until summer, and quickly grabbed his board shorts, changed from day clothes to swim clothes, grabbed his board and proceeded back to the beach. "Hi Mom and Dad!" He waved to his parents who were teaching guests how to surf. They waved back and returned to instructing. "Oh yeah!" Sherman set his board in the water and got on to paddle out.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel's front entrance, the Whalebus pulled up and the Kahuna opened the door. "Here we are dudes and dudettes, Paradise Resort. Enjoy your stay." Passengers of the bus began to get off.
One of those passengers was a tall, skinny, redhead with glasses and a little bit of facial hair. He breathed and let the breath out. "You smell that, my lovely, the smell of one of the hottest hot spots in Canada." He said to his wife.
His wife took in a deep breath and breathed out. "Oh I smell it baby. This is going to be a vacation we'll never forget." She wrapped her dark chocolate colored arms around her husband and gave him a squeeze. "Great idea, coming here for the kids' Spring Break."
"I told you, didn't I?" He teased.
"Yes, you did, hon. Yes you did." She teased back. "Kids, what do you think?"
A short, beefy boy with his mother's dark skin and hair with his father's glasses was too busy holding out a deck of cards to his older sister. "So then you sandwich the card in between your hands. I show you the next card in the deck. A little tap." He tapped the underside of his sister's sandwiched hands lightly. "Okay, now open your hands and flip your card over."
The boy's sister did as told and opened up her hands. She flipped her card over to see that the card in her hands wasn't the card she picked but the card that was supposed to be at the top of her brother's deck. When she looked at him, he held her selected card. "Dang! How in the world did you do that?" She handed him back the card.
"A true master of magic never reveals his secrets." The boy proudly replied.
"Yeah, right Thomas, right." His sister joked.
Their father called for their attention. "Come on, let's go get checked into our room then we can see the rest of the resort. I heard the food at the Pirate Ship is two hooks up." The family walked into the lobby and approached the front desk. "Hello there, reservation for McGrady."
"Let me check." Johnny said as he punched some keys into the computer. "Harold McGrady?"
"That's correct." Harold confirmed.
Harold McGrady, the nerd who won over the heart of Total Drama's loud and proud sister, Leshawna. During their time on the show, he and Leshawna had no idea where they stood on their relationship but once they were sure the show was over, they had a pretty good idea of where they were. Unlike what Harold had predicted, they had not moved into his mother's basement when they got married but got a nifty little apartment. Aside from the money he got as a Drama Brother, he was also a higher up in Steve's Theme Camps and took up odd jobs around town when Steve's camps weren't in session. The man could cover every theme that Steve set up. His relationship with Leshawna surprised everybody, his mother was supportive but his sister wasn't so much, he and his sister never got along anyhow. When his son and daughter came along, he took it upon himself to stimulate them and teach them all sorts of skills that could come in handy someday. So far, his teachings have been helping.
Johnny held out a set of keys for Harold to take. "Here you go, Room 312."
"Thank you."
The McGradys gave their luggage to Broseph, who carted the luggage up to the room for them. After they got into the room and put their luggage down, they started making plans of what they were going to spend their afternoon doing. They returned to the lobby soon after and Leshawna looked in the direction of the hotel gift shop.
Leshawna pointed it out to Harold and the kids. "I'm going to go check out the gift shop. Want to come?"
Harold and the kids shook their heads.
Harold then waved his wife away to the shop. "No thank you, dear. I'm heading into town to check out the movie theater. I want to see what's playing, maybe while we're here we can catch a movie."
"Sounds good," Leshawna agreed. "How about you kids?"
"Actually, I want to see the beach. If it looks great enough, I want to try to learn how to surf. Why couldn't the Total Drama convention happen at a beach so Bridgette could teach us how to?" The daughter, Alberta, said.
Thomas echoed his sister's thought before adding his own. "And I want to find some kids to impress with my magic tricks. So far, I've only shown my tricks to my family so maybe a bigger audience would do me some good." He explained.
"Alright, just don't go swimming in your clothes and don't leave the hotel grounds." Leshawna told the children.
"We won't!" Alberta and Thomas chorused before they took off towards the beach.
Before Harold left, he pecked Leshawna on the cheek. "See you at the Pirate Ship for dinner tonight, milady."
"See you then, sugar." Leshawna pecked him back. While Harold went out to catch the bus to town, Leshawna went into the hotel gift shop.
Leshawna McGrady. It had a nice ring to it when you thought about it. It had that effect to it when Leshawna thought about it those years ago after Harold proposed and she said 'yes'. Everybody in her hometown never thought she would tie the knot with someone like Harold but they supported her decision, especially Leshaniqua and Jasmine. In their town, Leshawna took up teaching kids about bullying and what to do when dealing with people like Heather. She turned out to be quite the influence. Once her classes started, children all over the place started standing up for themselves and the bullies started getting what was coming to them including suspensions, groundings, and all forms of punishment like those. Leshawna knew that bullying wouldn't stop entirely and there would be at least one out there somewhere but as long as she was helping those who were being stepped on like doormats not allow that to happen then she was happy. Then there was her own family to look after. Her children were taught what to do way ahead of when they would be enrolled in her bullying classes and combined with Harold's teachings, they would be a force to be reckoned with if need be.
Alberta and Thomas looked at the wide open beach cluttered with people and their things. Spring Break was just starting so they were lucky to get here before the other tourists swarmed in.
Amazed at the sight, Alberta was almost mesmerized. "Wow, look at this place! This place is as cool as one of Geoff's parties."
"I know. It's awesome." Thomas agreed. "Now who am I going to perform my magic tricks for first?" He scanned the beach for potential audiences. People that weren't too busy surfing and weren't too busy to pay attention. Then he saw a group of kids their age hanging out at a corner of the beach. They looked like they weren't too busy surfing and were just taking time to hang out with each other. That group looked like a good start. "How about them?"
His sister followed his point of direction and felt unsure. She always felt this way about meeting other kids that didn't look good to her. "I don't know, Thomas. What if they don't like your tricks and gang up on you? You're not exactly a professional magician yet."
Thomas brushed it off. "Don't worry, Alberta. If they're trouble then you'll be there to back me up." Mind made up, Thomas walked in the direction of Sherman and his friends.
Alberta reached out to stop her brother. "Thomas, oh boy."
Like a good older sister would, Alberta worried about her little brother. Her skin tone came from Harold and her hair and eyes came from Leshawna. Like Leshawna, she had some meat on her bones and if someone was going to hurt her little brother then she would use that to smack them down. She knew that people often punched Harold in his youth when he spouted facts so she thought the same might happen to Thomas when he tried to show off his magic tricks. In a way, she was a lot like Leshawna, standing up for the people she cares about. If one were her friend, then they would know the twelve year old was a fan of anime, magic, and music she could move to. Her aunt Leshaniqua was great and her honorary aunt Jasmine was great as well, she loved to hang out with her mother and them on their girls' day out. Nothing like a group of tight knit girls exploring the mall and enjoying life with style.
Readying his magic tricks, Thomas approached Sherman and his friends. "Hello," He waved as he entered their space. Sherman was just telling them about his encounter with Bummer when Thomas came up to them.
"Hi, don't think we've seen you around here before. Are you a tourist?" Sherman asked.
Thomas nodded. "Yes, I came here with my parents and my sister for Spring Break. I'm Thomas and you guys areā¦"
Sherman pointed to himself. "I'm Sherman, Sherman Garcia. And these are my friends and honorary cousins." He introduced each in turn.
"Nice to meet you all, now would you guys like to see some magic tricks?"
Sherman and his cousins looked at each other and shrugged in unison without even speaking a word. They were close like that. "Sure, what can you do?"
"Just watch and be mind blown." With an audience to perform for, Thomas readied a trick and Alberta came up beside him to watch as well.
Thomas was the eleven year old son of Harold and his beloved Leshawna. He had Leshawna's skin color and brown hair but required glasses like his father. Similar to his mother and sister, he was a little on the larger side. Of all the skills Harold has taught him in his eleven years of life, he loved magic the most. Almost daily, Thomas wouldn't go without practicing magic tricks or finding new ones to master. He had mastered the basic ones when he was seven but he was gradually working up to even crazier tricks. Those he still had to practice but the ones he really knew he could perform with little to no preparation. Using his magic tricks, he even helped his friends avoid encounters with bullies. This one time his friend was going to get punched in the face but he used one of his smoke bombs to stall the bully while he got his friend out of the situation. His goal in life was to become a great performing magician but he had a long way to go before that happened.
To the relief of Alberta, Thomas was not attacked by the children he was performing for. They actually enjoyed his tricks, never actually witnessing magic tricks before. In return for a great magic show, Sherman and his honorary family offered to teach them surfing in time to become novices at it before they had to head home to get back to school. With plans to do so the following day, Sherman and co. left to head home for dinner and family time with their parents while Thomas and Alberta met up with Leshawna, who took them to the Pirate Ship where Harold met up with them soon after.
"Sounds like you had a great first show, Thomas. Well done." Harold praised his son.
"Thanks, Dad."
Leshawna nodded at the sight. "That was nice of those kids too. I'm going to catch some surf lessons myself tomorrow with one of the instructors here. All these years and I've never surfed with Bridgette before. We'll see about that the next time we meet up with her and Geoff's family."
"Those guys were cool. I can't believe they live around here. They told us that all of their parents work here at this resort. How cool is that?" Alberta asked.
"Wicked!" Harold exclaimed.
"Guess you'll be seeing more of them around here." Leshawna summed up.
"Yeah, this is going to be a great Spring Break." Thomas declared.
Harold raised his glass. "To a great Spring Break."
"To a great Spring Break." Four glasses clinked together and the McGradys ate their evening meal, looking forward to tomorrow for beach time.
Sorry this chapter took so long. I got distracted when Frozen came out and started reading a lot and I mean a lot of Frozen fanfiction that I forgot to get back to my writing but I'm back. And I'd also like to thank WhazzupPeeps again for the permission to use some of his Stoked ideas for this chapter. Here's the tip of who's next: he sat out all five rounds of dodgeball to read a book.
