Noah, Trent, and Cody pulled into the parking lot of Nicole's university. The boys began stepping out of the car, stretching out their legs after the two-hour drive. Cody and Trent looked over to the school's historic layout in amazement. It had been both of their first times seeing Nicole's school. Noah closed the car door, making sure to lock it behind him, and he began to lead the boys to Nicole's dorm building. He was amazed he still remembered the way without GPS after only being here a few times.
"It's beautiful here." Trent said, looking in amazement at a tree recently bloomed with lilac flowers for the beginning of spring.
"Last time I was here, the trees were bare." Noah noted. The three of them began walking into Nicole's dorm building and Noah led the way as he walked towards Nicole's room on the first floor. He knocked on the door, and within seconds, Nicole answered the door. She smiled as she went over to Trent, who held her in his arms as they shared a long-awaited hug.
"I missed you so much." He said as they let go. Nicole looked over at Cody and gave him a friendly hug as everyone began to take a look at her dorm room. Trent had been here plenty of times, as he tried to see her at least every other weekend, but this was Noah and Cody's first time seeing it. Her once bare walls from the beginning of the fall semester were now filled with photos of her with family. There was one photo prominently shown where Noah and Nicole were dressed up for Halloween as kids - they had gone as Carmen and Juni in Spy Kids 3. It was the first time in five years that she hadn't gone as Marnie from Halloweentown. There were also a few photos of Nicole and Trent thrown on the walls, including the first picture they had taken together backstage at the Drama Brothers concert near her school Trent invited her to. He had asked her to be his girlfriend that night. She also had decor on the walls, like a whiteboard calendar that tracked due dates and class times, and fairy lights hung around the walls that were on the edges of her walls. She had a constellation comforter draped over her bed with pillows covered at the top of her bed, and plants at nearly every empty space.
"Sick room, Nicole!" Cody said, taking extra looks at photos of a young Noah.
"Thanks." Noah, on the other side of the room, pointed over at a painting to Cody.
"Come look at this photo I painted of Nicole." He told him. Trent came over to look at it as well as Nicole, and the three watched over it in amazement. It was an oil painting of Nicole. Her bangs were in her eyes, and she gave a soft smile as she sat criss-cross in her long skirt and an oversized sweater that lay underneath her puff-sleeved dress. She had a very eclectic style over the years, and though she doesn't regret anything, she cringed at how her family members used to tell her she's being bullied because they're jealous of her style.
"My style was so embarrassing back then." Nicole whispered. "But I remember this day really well. Do you remember that really bad snowstorm in 2009? Noah spent all his dog-walking money on a bunch of blank canvas in preparation."
"You should do some art designs for Drama Brothers! Don't you think so, Cody?" Trent asked him. Cody looked over to Noah and smiled as he nodded.
"Yeah, you'd be great!"
"I'll think about it." Nicole began to walk away from the painting as she grabbed her duffel bag, then looked at the boys.
"Ready to go!" She told them.
"Great! Then let's get moving!" Trent said. Nicole trailed behind Noah, Trent, and Cody as they walked out of the building, and as they stepped outside, Nicole came right next to Trent.
"This campus is absolutely gorgeous in the springtime." Trent told her as they walked out of the building.
"It really is." She said.
"We have a little bit of time before we have to go back." Trent mentioned. "Why don't you show us around a little bit?"
"Yeah, that'd be awesome!" Cody said.
"If it's cool with Noah. He is the driver after all." Nicole said, looking over to him.
"Sure." Noah said, shrugging. "Let's go put your duffle into the car."
"So, how's your second semester going?" Cody asked as the four of them walked.
"It's great! I've been learning to do tarot card readings. And I joined a jazz band, too. It's been a really long time since I played. It's nice to get back into it. I was never serious about it in middle school."
"Oh yeah, that's right, you play guitar." Cody said. "Just like Trent."
"She's a natural." Trent told Cody as they reached the car. Noah unlocked the car, then Nicole dropped the duffle bag into the backseat. Once the duffle was in there and the car locked, Nicole began to lead the boys to the front of her campus. The campus was pretty empty on account of most students starting to leave for spring break. They began walking to the quad, and as Nicole took the boys behind her, someone began screaming out Nicole's name.
"I think someone's calling out for you." Cody pointed out. Nicole squinted her eyes over to who was calling her and had tried to move on and ignore it, but as she started to bring everyone in the other direction it was too late, as the person calling Nicole's name out had already found her.
"Nicole! Hey! I thought you were heading home for spring break." Melanie had long, blue hair with piercing green eyes and tan skin. Her hair was tucked behind her ears to show off her hoop-shaped earrings and white studs on the top of her ears. She was wearing a knitted khaki-colored sweater tucked into a black skater dress with black flats and sheer fishnet tights, and she had white sunglasses over her head and held a coffee in her hand.
"Everyone wanted a tour before leaving." There was a small, awkward pause after Nicole's statement, as Melanie had noticed who was behind her. She squinted over and did some thinking in her head, then nearly spit the sip she had just taken from her drink.
"Wait… okay… you said your brother's name is Noah. And your boyfriend's name is Trent... You didn't tell me-"
"That they were the Trent and Noah on Total Drama? Yeah." Nicole began to laugh nervously as she ran her fingers through her hair and struggled to keep eye contact. Melanie began to feel flustered over meeting three people from Total Drama, which made Nicole feel even more uncomfortable. She had been able to hide who her brother and boyfriend were for so long since she had started university, but with the four of them meeting, there was no going back. Soon, Melanie would tell everyone at the next tarot meeting, and the person she was trying to create herself to be would be over with.
"I was such a huge fan of Total Drama! And I love the Drama Brothers." Melanie exclaimed as she walked over to the three boys, ignoring Nicole at this moment.
"Thanks! It means a lot." Cody had said.
"I can't believe Nicole never told me about you guys. I wonder why." Melanie had said. "Can I get a selfie?"
"Sure, that'd be-" Nicole cut Cody off and walked in front of them.
"Actually, we have to go. We're running behind. See you at jazz band, have a good break!" Melanie looked confused as Nicole took Trent's hand in hers and led everyone back to the car, with everyone else also confused about Nicole's shift in behavior.
"What was that?" Noah asked as they stopped at the car.
"It was nothing. Can we go, please?" Trent had never seen her like this, so bothered by what someone else had thought. This was a side of Nicole Noah had known all his life, but even he was curious as to what happened back there. They all could tell she was tense, so they decided to let it go for now.
"Yeah. Let me just get the keys." Noah said as they walked closer towards the car. Nicole had gotten into the back seat with Trent, while Cody had gotten in the front with Noah as they prepared for their awkward and silent car ride.
After spending some time with Bethany, Joshua, and the kids while Cody and Trent had to do some last-minute album work, Noah stepped into his room to see Nicole packing her bag for the weekend. He wanted to talk to her about what everyone had seen with Melanie earlier that day, but decided to take it slow and work up to it.
"So, you're taking a trip with Trent?" He said crossing his arms as he leaned in the doorway. She zipped up her duffel bag and looked over to Noah.
"Just a small little getaway. I'll be back to see you before I have to go back. It is spring break, after all." Noah began walking towards Nicole and sitting next to her on the bed as she stood in front of her bag.
"What happened today with Melanie?" As she thought about what had happened, Nicole began to frown.
"I took a play out of your book. I didn't want anyone in this school to know anything about me." Nicole said.
"But why?" Noah was confused, and he didn't get his sister's side of this.
She scooted closer to him. "We grew up without many friends. We pretty much were friends with each other, which is why after years of bullying, I was okay with just being with you. But, when you left, I had no one. And it got really lonely. I thought it was finally time to try and get some friends, and when I did make friends who liked me for who I was, I realized they only wanted me around to get closer to you and other contestants on Total Drama. So I just… stopped trying." Noah looked down, disappointed that he got in the way of his sister's happiness.
"I'm not proud of it, but when I started college and people would ask about my life and my interests, I talked about you, but I didn't mention much else about you that would give away who you were and your fame. I figured it was a good plan, as you don't talk about me on social media, and I don't post on social media at all other than pictures of plants and crystals." There was a source of silence among the two of them as Noah tried to process what she had just said.
"I should have never left you during the hardest times of our lives to be on some dumb show. And we both should have pushed each other to make friends outside of each other."
"You were doing it to help us out." Nicole said. "It's not your fault that people were using me. I'm not upset at you for it."
"I wanted to allow us to be independent after high school, without the aid of mom and dad's money or Joshua. But eventually, I used it to get away from our small hometown and to forget about everything. I left you behind to deal with everything on your own." Nicole looked at Noah lovingly. She didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she let him continue speaking.
"What are you going to do about Melanie?"
"She's got the biggest mouth out of everyone in the jazz club. She's probably telling everyone right now. There's nothing I can do except to hope people still like me for who I am." As the two gave a small laugh, Trent knocked on the door and opened it up.
"You ready, babe?" He asked her. The two looked away from each other as Nicole stood up.
"Yep!" Nicole turned back to Noah and gave him a hug. "I'll see you soon."
"See you soon." He smiled as she grabbed her duffle bag, leaving him to the darkness of his room.
A/N: Happy new year! I hope you are enjoying The New Noah, and sorry this is so short! I have another chapter I wrote that's a little longer, and it will be posted soon.
I was so happy to have included Nicole in a chapter about her! Months ago, I started writing a chapter about her that you will see later on in the story. I am so excited to say I'm really close to that part of the story, so I can't wait to go back and edit it to make it fit what I've already written! After this chapter, I will be focusing more on Noah's relationship with Cody. I've sort of been slacking on that so I apologize!
If you liked this chapter, please be sure to review it and follow the story to get updates on when I post! You can also see some behind-the-scenes stuff on my new tumblr, noh8-make-a-rainbow. I post any commissions I get for The New Noah, any behind-the-scenes stuff, and I also post about my other stories when I'm not busy obsessing over my love of Nicole and Noah. I will be ordering a new commission soon for an upcoming chapter, so I can't wait to get that ordered and done so I can bring to life one of the best chapters I feel that I've written!
Sorry, more promo - but if you are a writer in the Total Drama fan community and you have a Discord account, please give me a PM! I have created a lovely Discord server for TD Writers to come together and share their ideas while also being a resource for writers, a place where we do monthly writing events, and also a place where we can just hang out! Lately we've been doing readings of each other's stories, and we do occasional TD watches. Definitely consider joining and give me a PM when you want to!
~Sami