Façade: Through the Eyes of the Codemeister
Chapter Fifty-Two: After the Contest
Unlike me, Gwen was willing to hold at least a small grudge against even the nicest people. And she made this fact be known at the lodge when she only allowed Trent, Leshawna, Eva, Owen, and me sit near her. (I was, of course, excited about the fact that I was still allowed)
"Hey, if they don't want to support me, they shouldn't have to sit next to me, right?" she asked us. It was hard to argue with her logic.
"So why am I sitting here?" Owen asked, confused.
"Well, you didn't exactly have a choice," she pointed out. "Unlike some people..." She gave Bridgette and DJ a glare, and they shrunk back in their own seats.
"Well, congratulations, both of you," I said, holding up my fork as if proposing a toast.
"What are you congratulating me for?" Gwen asked, curious.
"Do you have to ask?" I said, pointing my fork toward Trent.
"Oh. Uh, thank you."
I frowned. "Something wrong?"
"I was... just about to ask you that."
"...Oh." What? What would be wrong with me?
"...Never mind." She smiled again. "So, when's this big party going to be, Owen?"
"I haven't decided yet," the big guy admitted. "But one thing's for sure: you guys are coming, and I won't take no for an answer."
Gwen chuckled. "I... never been to a big party before, let alone a yacht party. Thanks."
"No problem."
"Attention, campers!" Chris got our attention. "Thank you all for an awesome season of Total Drama Island. The show is a huge hit! The ratings are off the charts! Congratulations, dudes! You've earned it!"
The campers cheered, and Chris waited patiently for the room to quiet down.
"Later tonight, we'll have the final marshmallow ceremony," Chris announced. "There, we will award Owen the check for $100,000!" More cheers erupted, and Owen bowed to his public. "Then you guys will stay at the Playa des Losers for the rest of the week."
"Playa des Losers?" Gwen questioned. "What the hell is that?"
"That's where we've been staying the past few weeks," I told her, and she raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, so you guys never went home?"
"Nope," Leshawna said.
"And you still had to put up with all that disgusting food Chef served us?"
"Uh... no," Trent admitted, frowning. He began to explain to her and Owen about the resort.
"...You mean... you guys were staying at a five-star resort while we were all suffering at Camp Wawanakwa?" Gwen asked, glaring at us. We didn't say a word, though a nervous chuckle escaped my lips. "...Why didn't you guys vote me off early on?"
"We had no idea, either," Trent said. "I think Chris loves the irony that comes with it."
"...Grr... I hate that guy so much..." She clenched her teeth and her fists.
"Hey, don't hate on him too much," Owen said, trying to cheer her up. "If it wasn't for him, we all would've never met."
Gwen blinked a few times, then conceded. "You're right. I guess we owe him that much."
I chuckled. "Give the devil his due, eh?"
-X-
"Here we are at the last bonfire ever!" Chris announced to us at the familiar bonfire pit. Despite really wanting to sit by the lovely Gwen, I stayed in the back. This wasn't my moment to shine anyway. It wasn't even hers. "After eight brutal weeks, it is my pleasure to announce the winner of Total Drama Island... OWEN!"
The others cheered again, and I let out a cheer of my own. Even if I didn't think he deserved the win as much as Gwen did, he certainly earned it.
Owen held up the check in victory, then handed it to Chef. "Hey, what can I say, Chris?" He laughed. "I'm so psyched! This is just..."
"Awesome?" we all finished.
"YES! Party next week, everyone!" Owen exclaimed, and we all cheered again.
"Owen, at this time, I give you the ultimate symbol of survival," Chris said, holding up a marshmallow, "the final marshmallow." He handed the marshmallow over to Owen.
"I'll treasure it for the rest of my life..." It wasn't two seconds. "Oh, screw it! I can buy all the marshmallows I want, now!" He shoved it in his mouth.
"Yo, Owen," Geoff called, "you know what it's time for?"
Owen nodded, then turned to Chris, grinning evilly.
Oh-ho-ho-ho, yes...
Owen picked a horrified Chris up, and Geoff and Duncan helped carry him down to the docks, Chris kicking and screaming (mostly about his hair) the entire way.
"Oh, this I gotta see," Gwen said, following the boys, as did some of the others. I didn't need to see it, though. I had enough excitement for one day.
-X-
It was hard to sleep that night. Not for the same reason as last night, though. This time it was because Owen, Duncan, and Geoff were chasing Chef right outside our cabins. Apparently, Chris wasn't the only one they wanted to dunk into the lake.
We weren't sure why we were in the cabins right now. I guess there was some sort of feeling of nostalgia from it. The yearn to want to stay in the contest after you're voted off... you actually start to miss these bunks.
Of course, I definitely would've rather had the bed at the resort. So comfy...
Meh, one night. That's no big deal.
Once Chef's screaming died down, I managed to fall asleep...
"Gwen... I'm really sorry about what I said. Please... Come back."
She reappeared in the spotlight again. I continued to speak.
"I just needed to hear it from you, that's all." I smiled. "And now I know. You really do care."
She smiled back. "That's what I was trying to tell you." She removed the blanket, clad in her underwear again. She picked up the rose off the floor and put it in her teeth. "Now, how about this dance?"
-X-
"You've got to be kidding me."
I chuckled as Gwen's jaw dropped at the sight. It was noon the next day, and we were back on the yacht, heading for the resort. She could see it, but she couldn't believe it.
"You bastards..."
"If it makes you feel better," I spoke up, "I didn't get to do very much when I first got here."
She frowned, sadly. "That... doesn't help at all."
"S-Sorry."
Once we reached the dock, Chris exclaimed, "Welcome back to Playa des Losers! Gwen, Owen, feast your eyes on the giant middle finger that this place is. Especially to you, Gwen. God knows you hated Camp Wawanakwa more than anything else."
"Except you," she muttered, crossing her arms.
"You guys will be permitted to stay for the remainder of the week," Chris announced. "Now, for those of you guys who are interested," he held up the tape, "here is the rough cut to the semi-finals. Enjoy."
"Wait, you get to watch this stuff?" Gwen asked, a little worried.
"Yep! Oh, and Gwen, don't worry. Cody doesn't hate you for that masturbation comment when you lost your skirt." He winked at us, and I shrunk back, blushing like mad. "From what I've heard, though, Cody really had some choice words for you at the time. Right, Izzy?"
"Sorry, guys." Izzy hung her head in shame. "You know I talk too much. Like the time I told my enemies all of the secrets of my secret organization which should be kept secret at all costs." Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Whoops."
"Yeah. He was really pissed. I can't believe he still likes you." He laughed for a moment, but then frowned. "But seriously, I don't get it. How can you like someone after that?"
"It's called unconditional love," Sadie said in my defence. "Of course, you wouldn't know that 'cause you don't even know what love is."
"Of course I do!" Chris complained. "I love me, myself, and I. Now get the hell off my boat, you sorry sacks of crap."
As we left the boat, Gwen confronted me. "Was... that all true?" she whispered.
I tried to hide my blush. I failed miserably. "Y-Yeah. But don't worry about it. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." That may have sounded harsher than I meant it.
"Okay. You just seem a little off. I mean, you're nervous and all." She blinked a few times. "Did... did he say you still--"
"Like you?" I finished, looking away. I couldn't look her in the eyes. "Does that surprise you?"
"A little," she admitted, and I began to rub my arm nervously. "I... thought you were over me."
"W-We're still, uh, friends, though, right?" I asked, wincing a little in case rejection was around the corner.
She smiled. "Of course." Oh, thank goodness! My eyes met hers again. "So, are you gonna show me around, or what?"
"Uh, what about Trent?" I asked. "Maybe he should show you around. He, uh, he is your boyfriend, you know." I nudged her, winking.
She chuckled. "Yeah, I know. But I don't want him to think all I want to do is hang around him like a leech all the time. He should have a little alone time of his own, t--" She stopped as Trent wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Oh, hey."
"Want me to show you around?"
"Uh..." She turned to me, and I gave her a thumbs up. Smiling, she turned back. "Okay, sure." I held up the pose until they had walked far enough away, then slumped. Well, at least she's happy...
Yeah. She was happy.
I smiled as I entered the resort. As long as she's happy...
-X-
"Alright, guys," Chris said as we entered the viewing room, "for the past eight weeks your little loser pals got to see all the action from the island in the form of these rough cuts. After the initial editing process, I give these guys a tape, and then continue editing the tape later on for time and what have you before I send it to the studio. You guys can watch the other tapes on your own time, but for now, we're going to be watching Heather's elimination!"
Chef walked in, carrying Heather, who was kicking and screaming to get away. She didn't want to see the elimination, and she didn't care to see it. She knew what happened and she didn't want to see it all over again.
"Too bad, Heather," Chris said, smirking. "You're going to watch!"
"You can't make me! If I'm not getting any money anyway, I don't care anymore!"
"Look, it's not like you can get humiliated any more than you already have," Chris said amidst his chuckles. "The contest is over, it's downtime. Just have some fun, 'kay?"
"Ugh... Fine."
"Alright." Chris started up the tape. "You guys, I gotta say... you came up with some awesome dares, let me tell you."
"...Wait, dares?" I asked, confused.
"Yep! What, you didn't think those were ALL for Heather, did you?"
"That's what you told us, you jerk!" Eva shouted, but no one else bothered to argue.
"Remember I also said that you guys would be voting off two people from Playa des Losers, and I never said they would be put back in the game." He chuckled again. "You guys should have known something was up."
"Well, that explains the harsh challenges," Gwen said, nodding in understanding.
The episode started with Chris announcing their breakfast over the PA system. "Campers, welcome to the semifinals. Today, we reward our challengers with an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast! That's right--genuine food byproducts served with fresh ingredients relatively close to their expiration dates."
Owen salivated as he watched the screen. "Mmm... pancakes..."
Onscreen, Owen was salivating just as much, hungry for the pancakes, overly-excited despite the fact that his two female opponents looked like they wanted to kill themselves.
After breakfast, the campers were asked to use the confession cam. Heather was sent first.
Taking a make-up bag, she sat in the can, apparently noticing a card on top of the camera. "Hmm... How do you feel about being in the final three, what will you do with the money if you win, and what do you think about the other contestants?" She chuckled to herself, and began powdering her face. "Whatever. I knew I'd make it to the end. Big shocker. I just can't believe weird Goth girl made it."
"I can't believe you made it, Heather," Gwen said, smirking at the bald queen bee. Heather simply raspberried.
"When I win," the Heather onscreen continued, "I'm thinking of my own spin-off series: The World According to Heather."
"Bleh, sounds too educational," Chris groaned.
"Luckily," she continued, crossing her arms, "I'm against a freak show and fatty ginorous, so they might as well give me the check, I mean, come on! I think we all know who's gonna win."
"Not you, apparently," Noah said.
"Screw you, geekwad!" (our) Heather shouted.
Onscreen, Heather continued, "Sure, eight weeks with these losers is cause for insanity, but at least the mother ship knows where Gwen is now so they can retrieve her." Oh, fun. Alien joke. "And Greenpeace can bag and take Owen as the hazardous waste that he is."
"Whoa, harsh," Geoff said, shocked.
Still, the verbal onslaught continued as she powdered her face again. "Sure, Owen's dumb luck has won him a few challenges, but it's his ability not to be disgusted by anything edible that worries me."
"So true," Owen admitted. "I do scare people at times with my eating habits."
"And laaaaazy." She scoffed. "Sloths can take a cue from 'Slowen.' As for Gwen, well... thankfully, Gwen has no strengths. She's just a low-rent gutter punk with dragon breath and ugly hair."
"I think she's blind," I said, earning a chuckle from Gwen, Trent, and a few others.
Heather just rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Gwen went into the can next, sitting up so both her legs were on the ledge, her body perpendicular to the camera. She held a sketchbook in her hands. Eyeing the card above the camera, she crossed her legs and began sketching a drawing. "So, I actually made it to the final three. Just goes to show how far a bad attitude can get you." Yes! Cue the sexy evil grin! Unfortunately, it quickly disappeared. "I probably won't win, though. Owen may be a softy, but he can also be pretty tough. But Heather... Heather's strength is obviously her bottomless pit of mean. I'm banking on her massive ego to be her downfall." She shifted her position so she could rest her sketchbook on both her legs. "Hmm... If I win, I'm gonna buy Camp Wawanakwa so I can burn it down and turn it into a graveyard."
"Invite us when you burn it down," Izzy said, happily.
"I didn't win," Gwen pointed out, and Izzy snapped her fingers.
Onscreen, Gwen continued. "Yeah, the money would be awesome, but you know what would be sweeter? Making sure Heather loses."
Our Heather made another raspberry to the Goth girl.
"Seriously, she better not win, after all the crap she's pulled." She shifted her position again, this time sitting normally on the can. She put her sketch book on the floor and crossed her arms. "Personally, I've had enough drama here to last a lifetime. I mean, Owen's okay, but eight weeks of Heather was about as much fun as a mouth full of impacted molars."
Several of us burst out in a fit of laughter as Heather fumed, eyes twitching. Chef kept her pinned in her seat.
Owen was the last one to use the confessional. I don't think he bothered to read the card. "I wanted to believe it. I dreamt it could be true. And now the day is finally here! ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT PANCAKES! Ye-he-he-hes!" He began to sing about pancakes, obviously in love with the breakfast food. When he stopped, he looked above the camera. "Oh, hey, what's this?" He finally read the card. "Oh. I never win," he began, "but if I did, I'd start every day with pancakes. 'Cause they're like little mini-sunshines filled with yummy fun." After having a giggle-fit, he suddenly frowned. "But all the all-you-can-eat pancakes in the world wouldn't be special without friends to share it with." Several people "awwed" at this. Suddenly, the big guy removed the toilet seat from the can. "You ever notice how much a toilet seat looks like a pancake?" he laughed... then licked the seat.
"Eeeeeewww!!" Katie and Sadie both squealed in disgust.
Owen took a bite out of the seat, grossing out even more people. He laughed again. "I should probably spit this out." Then, he fell asleep.
"That's our Owen," Geoff said, chuckling.
After the confessions, the three were called to the amphitheatre stage. The semi-finalists sat behind a counter made up of a desk and a crate.
"Campers, welcome to the semi-finals!" Chris announced. "The producers ran out of insane ways of torturing you, sooooo they asked the ousted campers for ideas."
"Oh, crap," Trent mumbled.
"Turns out, they had a lot. They've provided us with the sickest, most twisted insane dares imaginable in TDI's version of Spin the Bottle!" He revealed a wheel with what I assumed was a cardboard bottle attachment. The pictures of all the previously voted off campers were all around the wheel.
"Uh-oh," Beth whimpered.
Chris continued to explain the challenge to the semi-finalists, revealing the freebies, as well as Chef in a pink dress.
"I think I'm going to have nightmares now," Tyler whined.
"So if they don't do the dare, they're screwed?" Duncan pondered, grinning. "Nice."
"Okay, who's ready to humiliate themselves first?" Chris asked, and reluctantly Gwen volunteered. She spun the bottle, and it landed on Duncan. Chris read the card. "Lick Owen's armpit."
All three semi-finalists cringed.
"...What would happen if Owen spun that?" Noah wondered.
"Gwen, you can perform the dare yourself," Chris said onscreen, "or dare one of your competitors to do it."
Duncan laughed. "Oh, hell yes!"
Onscreen, the host laughed, throwing away the card. "Either way, someone's lickin' some armpit in the next minute."
Gwen decided to dare Heather, obviously.
"YES!" Tyler cheered.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho!" Leshawna laughed.
"That's my girl!" Trent exclaimed.
"Is that poetic justice I smell?" I asked.
"No, that's Owen's BO," Izzy explained.
"I'M RIGHT HERE, YOU KNOW!" Heather shouted.
Onscreen, Heather did the dare... and she fell back, gagging and twitching.
"Call the medic," Noah said, smirking at the growling baldy.
Heather spun the bottle next, and it landed on Ezekiel.
"Ezekiel's dare is," Chris announced, "chew your own toenail... slow-ly."
"GWEN! I dare Gwen!"
I scoffed. "It's nowhere near as bad as licking Owen's armpit."
"Shut up!"
Gwen sat down on a chair Chef provided for her, and got, uh, prepared for her challenge. Needless to say, that was hot...
...Hey, I'm still a perv, guys. And technically a girl was stripping, and she has hot legs. Cut me some slack.
As Gwen underwent her dare, I heard Noah's voice. "You don't have a foot fetish, do you Cody?"
I gave him a weird look. "...Noah?"
"What?"
"...Nothing." Hmm. I thought that imaginary voice went away. ...And seriously, what's with this voice and fetishes?
Once Gwen had swallowed the toenail, she crossed her legs and folded her arms. "There. Satisfied?"
"Very," Heather said sinisterly. "I'm just picturing Trent watching this, and something tells me he won't be eager to lock lips with you anytime soon."
"I'd still rather kiss her than you," Trent said, smirking.
"Yeah!" I agreed, but quickly caught myself when I realized I did. "I-I mean, go Trent!"
Owen spun next. The bottle landed on Beth.
Chris read the card. "Rechewing a wad of Harold's gum."
I gasped. No way...
"GOSH!" Harold cried. "I was saving that for later!"
Owen took the dare, winning the first freebie.
"Oh yeah! That's my man!" Izzy shouted, cackling.
"He's a real tough cookie," Geoff added, nodding in approval.
"I'm surprised he hasn't eaten himself yet, then," Duncan said, smirking.
Gwen spun next. The bottle landed on me, and I blushed.
"Oh, this aught to be good," Duncan said, laughing.
Chris read the card. "Drop a tray of ice into your undies, and let them melt."
"...Undies?" Duncan gave me a weird look.
"I swear I wrote 'underwear'!" I cried in my defence.
"Nope, you said 'undies', dude," Chris said, laughing, and I ducked in my seat, blushing, until I heard another voice speak in my defence.
"Leave him alone." I looked up at Gwen, who was smiling at me. I sat up, grinning, no longer embarrassed.
Onscreen, Gwen accepted the dare, thinking it wasn't that bad. She grabbed a handful of ice and reluctantly shoved them into her... uh... 'undies.' I was concerned... then aroused... very aroused... then concerned again.
Though admittedly the effects of said arousal didn't exactly, uh, diminish once the feeling was over with. Needless to say, I tried very hard to be subtle when I tried to hide it.
It didn't work. "Dude, you gotta pee or something?" Owen asked me. I ignored him.
"Nah, I doubt it," Duncan said, laughing at me. That, I couldn't ignore. "Hey, can't say that backfired, right, geek?"
"Sh-shut up..." I mumbled, blushing.
Returning our attention back to the video, we saw Heather spinning her bottle. She claimed she would do the dare no matter what, and the bottle landed on Tyler.
"Yes!" Tyler laughed. "I was hoping for this!"
"Why?" DJ asked.
Because she now had to eat jelly from Owen's belly button.
"Oh, evil. Very evil." He bumped fists with Tyler.
"Nine spoonfuls," Trent pointed out. "Nice number to end on."
Heather underwent the dare, and ended up on life support for a few minutes.
"I can't believe Chris and Chef haven't thrown up yet," Geoff said, astonished.
Bridgette gulped. "I can't believe we haven't yet."
"Please noo one vomit, eh," Ezekiel implored. "The janitoors will thank you."
Owen's next spin landed on Izzy.
"WOO! My time to bring the pain!" Izzy cried happily.
"Give a purple nurple to a sleeping bear," Chris read off the card.
"Oh, choice!" Geoff laughed.
Owen accepted the challenge, but I think he quickly regretted it... even before he got into any danger.
Gwen's next spin landed on Harold, and Chris read the card. "Lick Owen's toe jam."
"Oh, sick!" Tyler gagged.
"I think Owen enjoys the one-woman spa treatment from Heather," Duncan said, guffawing, but he stopped laughing when Heather used her freebie. "Oh, lame."
Heather spun next. The bottle landed on Geoff.
"...Oh, no..." Geoff bit his lip.
"What?" Bridgette asked.
"Sorry, Gwen," he said, holding on to his hat for dear life.
"You didn't know," Gwen said, and he calmed down.
"Drink powdered fruit punch from the communal toilet," Chris read from the card. Oh. Eww.
After contemplating whether or not to use the freebie, Gwen decided to go through with the dare.
"She's so brave," Trent cooed.
"Yeah, we heard you the first time," Duncan said, annoyed.
"She's so brave," I cooed.
"...Oh, great... Another one..."
In the washroom, Chris poured some punch mix into the toilet, and plunged. The water still stayed a nasty yellowish color despite the mixing.
"I'm really sorry, Gwen," Geoff whimpered.
"Seriously, it's okay," Gwen told him.
Reluctantly, the Gwen onscreen took the bendy straw from Chris and took a sip from the toilet. She soon found her hands over her mouth, and found herself running out of the stall, puking nearby.
"Eww..." Sadie and Katie cringed, shuddering. Many of the others in the room shuddered in a similar fashion.
Gwen came back to the desk, looking really sick to her stomach. And a lot of that sick was all over her face, too. Obviously, I was concerned... even though she was right here and looking healthy... at least from what I can tell.
And this time, the concern wasn't accompanied by arousal. Not that you guys were expecting that anyway.
As Owen went up to spin, Heather rubbed in Gwen's misfortune. "At this rate, Trent's gonna need a fumigation squad just to--" She was cut off when Gwen burped a cloud of nasty into her face.
Trent laughed. "That's my girl!"
"That's... That's Trent's girl!" I caught myself. I started to blush again.
Owen's spin landed on me. Oh joy.
"Eat dog food," Chris read from the card.
"Dude, your challenges are so lame, man," Duncan said, shaking his head.
Chris reminded Owen that he still had a freebie, and he could challenge someone that, say, doesn't have one (Heather). After Gwen and Heather exchanged some wit (I think Gwen won), Owen dove into the dog food, engulfing and consuming the dog food on the plate.
"...Okay, I take back what I said earlier," Duncan said, looking a little sick himself. "That was nasty as hell."
Chris finally caved in and puked, losing his bet to Chef, who puked next. Gwen and Heather followed suit.
"I wonder if that toilet punch tastes better coming back up," Courtney pondered.
"...I think it did, actually," Gwen recalled.
The trio continued to go through the devastating dares. And though Gwen and Heather kept daring each other, Owen kept doing his own dares, and he seemed to always have the easiest ones for some reason.
At long last, Chris decided to comment on the progress. "I can't believe no one's dropped out and Owen has twenty freebies!"
"The man's a machine," Noah complimented.
At this point, Gwen offered Owen a deal. If he helped her take Heather down, she'll give him half the prize money if she wins the contest, and a box of doughnuts if she loses. Owen accepts, asking Chris if he could give away half his freebies. As it turns out, there were no rules against it, and Chris allowed it despite Heather's protesting.
"Oh, talk about burn," Tyler said, giggling.
"I hate you all!" Heather shouted, trying to get up and leave, but Chef held her back.
And then the fun began...
-X-
The chapter was getting a little long for my tastes, so I'm stopping it here.
So you guys know, this fic has still got a little bit to go. There will be a few days in PdL, and of course we have TDDDDI to look forward to.
I'll be reminding you every so often in case you guys forget. There is a sequel being planned for TDA, and if I can survive that there will most likely be one for TDM as well. I have a working title for the upcoming fic, and it'll probably be the one I use. So when the time comes, don't forget to look for Façade: Behind the Scenes. And remember what I said way in the beginning about attempting to fix what the writers "had destroyed"? I think it's a little obvious what I meant by that by this point. Someone's gotta come up with a few possible (though still not canon, keep that in mind) explanations as to why the characters are so different. Also, I want to redeem a few of the "fallen" characters; I certainly don't think Gwen deserved the rap she got (in fact, I blame Trent for almost the entire first half of the season; if he would have told her about his OCD way back in the beginning, most of that bad crap probably never would have happened), and there were a lot of other things in TDA that just seemed unexplainable (that will be a challenge for me).
So yeah, don't forget to look for Façade: Behind the Scenes once this fic's over. :D But I'd say that won't be for a little bit yet; this fic has at least a few more chapters to go, provided I can get through TDDDDI in less than two chapters.
