Okay… this week for me at work was literally insane. And literally the only thing keeping me going is my dog and creative writing in my down time. So, you can imagine my surprise and complete feeling of being thoroughly touched to know from some of you guys that I wasn't alone in this recently since some of you were even apologizing to me for reviewing 'late'. PLEASE DON'T! Again, the fact you guys review at all touches me more than you know. And the fact that some of you are even telling me that this fanfic is helping you get through your tough days too makes writing this all the more enjoyable for me to write, because trust me… I am still 110% still inspired as all get out to keep writing this fanfic! I am a writing mad woman right now and I am HERE FOR IT! Lol. Anyway, just thank you guys for being so awesome and I can only hope and pray with every fiber of my being that I am still doing justice to these characters for you guys. Anyway, I'll step down from my soap box and let you guys read the chapter already. This chapter picks up right after Heather and Shane's little 'reunion'. Hope you enjoy!
(Heather's POV)
I practically stomped back into the house, still feeling like my stomach was being squeezed in a vice, not even remotely caring as I violently kicked off my sandals at the door before stomping upstairs.
Once I got to my room as I threw my purse at the wall on the opposite side of the room, before gripping my hands into my hair and gritting my teeth so hard to the point of thinking they were going to shatter to pieces.
Ugh, at this point, even my damn head felt way.
Just… WHATEVER?! Who the hell does he think he even is anyway?! Telling me all that bullshit!
Just… UGH!
Slowly, I craned my neck to the side only to be looking straight on at the plaque with our picture on it from our first showcase competition win from when we were 8, triggering something.
For as long as I've known you, you have always been a backstabbing, cold, vain, and vengeful bitch who will not hesitate to get at anyone who even looks at you wrong. You never know when to quit, Heather! And that's your problem!
As much as I wanted to look away, it was like I couldn't stop as I kept looking down the line of plaques and I kept hearing his voice getting louder and louder.
"...That stupid damn show that did nothing but make a fool out of you and got your damn head shaved in front of the entire damn world on fluke finally does you a favor by basically dropping the only guy who was an equal to you and you were SO into right at your feet. Then what the hell do you do? You kick him in the balls and shove him off a volcano?! WHAT THE FUCK, HEATHER?!"
"Shut… up…" I strained out through my teeth, forcing my eyes closed so tight I thought I was giving myself a freaking aneurysm as I gripped my hands to the sides of my head.
It was almost like I was trying to futilely squeeze whatever the hell was in my brain out. Nothing… All I could hear was that voice now.
Your 'problem' is you don't like anything that makes you feel like you don't have any 'control' or feel 'emotion'. The moment you feel anything in that cold fucking blackhole in your chest that you call a heart that makes you feel any vulnerability, you get scared and immediately have it flat out obliterated to save your pride and to maintain your control over everything… even though that's all a load of crap. You just hate letting anyone in because it makes you feel weakness.
"You don't know shit, Shane…" I strained out again to myself, feeling like I was literally losing my mind as the words just kept assaulting me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
You literally shoved that pompous-ass Spanish prick off a FUCKING volcano after kicking him in the balls on International TV and he for some demented reason is still into you!
My entire chest felt like it was converging and I felt like I literally couldn't breath as I continued to grit my teeth and squeeze my hands on the sides of my head, almost halfway into going into a damn fetal position at this point.
Then the words came though louder than ever...
WHEN WILL YOU STOP BEING SUCH A MISERABLE BITCH?!
MISERABLE BITCH!..
MISERABLE BITCH!...
I exasperated out loud as I looked over at my prom picture with him and ripped it off the wall and practically threw it on the floor, even though the damn thing didn't break since my floor had to be carpeted.
Dammit...
But, it didn't stop me from kicking it across the room into a wall... and it still didn't even scratch it.
It was dead quiet finally as I glared at the picture laying face down on the floor as I spat out through my teeth, "How's that for a 'miserable bitch'?"
I know I definitely look totally demented but... whatever?! I just... UGH! I need to go for a run.
I immediately started changing into my work out clothes. Usually I don't workout mid-afternoon, but I just need to let off some steam and forget all this crap.
Seriously?! Who do those stupid jerks think they are anyway?!
No one and I mean NO ONE tells me what to do. I don't need to take any of this bullshit from anyone. Not from Shane, not from him... Matter of fact, I don't need anyone.
I'm better off alone.
Always have been; always will be.
8 hours later
({No POV})
Heather was laying in her bed, looking like she was trying and failing to practically force herself to fall asleep.
She kept tossing and turning, keeping her eyes forced shut as she did so out of her own frustration. It still didn't stop the chaotic vortex of thoughts from tearing through her mind.
Eventually she settled on laying on her back and pressing one of her pillows over her face... well until she let out a muffled grunt into the pillow before tossing it aside at the wall.
"Ugh, this is ridiculous!" She growled through her teeth as she sat up on the edge of her bed.
But once she put her feet down to the floor, she felt something skim the side of her left foot.
It was a book she hadn't touched in months that she shoved under her bed, but not because of the book itself. Her focus fixated on the piece of paper sticking out of the top of the book.
Heather slowly picked it up off the floor and opened the book before pulling out the picture of Alejandro that she cut out of the magazine that was sent to each of the contestants before the start of season 3.
It was from the typical 'meet the contestants' type excerpt that lots of movies and TV shows do for promotion, something that Heather had gone through 4 times already... not that she minded.
Whether as a child or a young adult now, Heather always craved the spotlight for being the center of attention.
So when a reporter came knocking to do their usual pre-season interview for her bio... she had no objections at telling them about herself and her accomplishments.
But, that was the furthest thing from her mind at the current second as she looked at the picture of Alejandro, practically zeroing her focus on it. Feeling like his eyes from the picture were practically bearing into her.
It looked like her mind was going off practically into a different dimension as she reached her free hand to the side of her neck.
A subtly blush slowly crossing her face as she kept looking at the picture, her mind putting the night at the lake house at the forefront of her mind... and it wasn't hard to guess which part of the night that she was fixed on, considering it was something she had a very hard time pushing down since the moment it happened.
She scrunched her eyes shut before shaking her head and shoving it back into the book and said with annoyed and flustered venom dripping from her voice, giving the book a hard glare, "This is all your fault, you stupid... jerk."
Almost as if to punctuate her statement, she shoved the book violently under her bed before crossing her arms and looking off to the opposite corner of her room.
Her and Shane's prom picture still face down on the floor in the exact same spot, her glare almost getting sharper by the second until he mind brought up something that she hadn't thought about in years.
Even though she hadn't thought about it, it was a day she swears she'd never forget...
5 years ago
After the conclusion of Total Drama season 1, all the contestants returned home to resume their usual life as high school students just like anyone else.
One of them being Heather Wilson.
Despite the incident, Heather looked determined to resume her usual school routine as her school's self-proclaimed queen bee.
She walked through the entrance of the school, passing groups of students who still maintained their distance from her but were laughing and snickering to themselves as Heather passed them, but she was determined to ignore every last one of them… or at least that's how she was showing it.
She maintained her usual neutral and cold demeanor as she made her way into the grade 11 hallway and started to open her locker and organize her things, including her magnetic locker mirror.
As Heather was organizing her things, she saw Shane start opening the locker next to hers as they exchanged a ritual nod between them.
Since they've been in school together for over a decade and they both have 'W' last names in the alphabet, Heather and Shane having neighboring lockers was never new.
After nodding to each other they both continued to organize their things.
Heather looked like she was about to shut her locker until she heard, "Heather! Hold up!"
It was a voice she knew all too well, whether it was junior high or high school.
Brian Cantor.
She looked determined to ignore him until he came up right behind her and said, "Hey Heather, so question... How come that stupid dweeb on TV got to see your boobs but I couldn't? Or have you finally lowered your standards enough to finally let us have a shot?"
Heather slammed her locker shut, a look of tense rage in her entire demeanor, and also catching the attention of everyone nearby in the hallway.
"Fuck... off... Brian..." Heather strained through her teeth with her back turned to him still.
"Oh, someone's got their panties in a wad this morning. Or maybe..." Brain led on until he immediately grabbed Heather's wig and pulled it off her head in front of the entire hallway, revealing her freshly shaved head to the entire hall, and continuing, "You finally know what it feels like to get your ass handed to you?"
Heather finally froze up in shock, looking like she wanted to die as she kept looking at her locker blankly with wide eyes.
"Not so tough now, are you 'Zit'-son? Then again maybe I should call you 'Wig-son' now considering?" Brian said, bringing up one of the old taunting nicknames everyone used to call her back in junior high when she used to have acne that even made Shane's look like nothing back in the day.
At that moment, Brian and numerous other people around them started laughing.
Well until Shane finally stepped between Heather and Brian and immediately snagged Heather's wig out of his hand.
Shane took his now obvious height and strength advantage over Brian as he got in his face and said, sounding even but dead serious, "Back off..."
But, Brian and the surrounding observers just immediately erupted into immature 'Oh's' as Brian finally said, "Seriously Wuss-ton? For as much as you guys deny being hooked up... are you sure you're not dating?"
All of a sudden Shane felt himself get pushed slightly as Heather ran past him and everyone else as everyone continued to laugh.
Shane started to run to catch up to Heather as Brian called out immaturely and mockingly, "Yeah Shane, go see your girlfriend!"
Shane gave him a hard glare for a second before shrugging it off by rolling his eyes and just continuing to try and catch up with Heather.
Well until he found her in this classroom pod for the Mathematics classrooms that was still empty, and still having that look about her like she was pissed off while also having an existential crisis.
Shane took a moment before he cautiously approached her, rubbing the back of his neck for a second as he started, "Hey... thought you'd want this back."
Heather gave him a defensive look and snatched her wig back out of his hand and started, "NO SHANE! I want my hair back! Look at me! None of those loser peons are taking me seriously anymore! I'm nothing without my hair! I'm..."
"Heather!" Shane cut in, raising his voice slightly and making it enough to catch her off guard.
Shane sighed and put his hands on her shoulders before saying, "Seriously? The same Heather I saw punch out and then humiliate Brian Cantor in front of the entire damn town is now letting that ass-hat get to her?"
"OH! Really?! Then how about I pants you in the middle of the hallway and let me see you act any differently?!" Heather spit back defensively, clearly still completely self-conscious about being bald, as she shoved his hands off.
"Look, Brian sucks. Tell either of us something we don't know. Point is, you shouldn't let him or anyone get to you. Remember right before we started high school when we promised to not let anyone make us feel like crap again? Well, I'm telling you. You're Heather Wilson. You rule this place... you still do. And don't let anyone or anything make you feel like you're less. And if anyone does... then screw 'em. It's like what you told me, 'The more you give in to believing that 'loser crap', the more it turns you into one'. So don't let them make you into one. Besides, after that time you stood up for me back in the day... let's call us even now, huh?" Shane smiled in his usual good natured way and nodded as he took a step back, crossing his arms expectantly.
It was quiet for a few seconds until Heather looked down at her wig and dipped her head down before throwing the wig over her head and then proceeded to get it resituated, looking at her reflection in a nearby window on a classroom door.
Heather smirked at herself slightly before turning to Shane with a similar expression and asking, "How's it look?"
Shane just smiled again before saying, "Awesome."
He looked like he was about to head off to his first class of the morning when he gave her another friendly grin and pat her slightly on the shoulder.
And although clearly pushing down her old insecurities that she thought she buried 6 feet under along with her old adolescent self... Heather grinned slightly to herself at the new found vote of confidence she didn't know she needed.
Later that day
Heather walked into the girl's bathroom at the front of the school, seeing it was empty as per usual right at the end of the school day, and proceeded to do some final re-touches on her makeup.
She assumed her usual routine as she touched up her lip gloss in the mirror, until she heard the door swing open.
Heather seemed determined to keep working on her make up until she heard a voice that night as well have been nails on a chalk board say, "Oh, look who decided to show up."
She glanced over only to confirm who was talking to her from her educated guess.
Shoulder length light blonde hair, brown eyes, and a sense of style and popularity that rivaled only Heather's at their school.
Macie Sherman.
Heather looked determined to not look at her and keep up her current task as she responded, "And why wouldn't I show up? It's the first day of school. Or are you just that stupid?"
Macie didn't respond as she just took the sink and mirror space right next to Heather and started working on her make up as well as Heather finally gave her a sharp glare with a testy voice that matched, "Um, excuse me? Are you ignorant to the rules of bathroom courtesy? There's like 8 other mirrors and sinks in here, did you seriously have to occupy one directly next to me?"
Macie just kept putting on her mascara as she responded, sounding like she was enjoying the fact that she was getting to Heather, "It's a free country. I can use whatever one I want."
"Yeah, this is a free country. But, maybe all that bleach you use to dye your hair has finally seeped through your stupid head and given you brain damage. So, allow me to remind you... this is my school and what I say goes. Now move or hit the bricks." Heather threatened through her teeth, giving Macie an absolute death glare.
Macie just smirked and put her hands on her hips as she turned toward Heather as she remarked, "Well... seems at least you haven't lost your touch. You know, considering you've been 'losing' quite a bit lately. Particularly after that close shave of a performance on Total Drama. Oh wait, my bad... for you it literally was a close shave, wasn't it?"
Macie proceeded to snicker to herself.
Meanwhile Heather had to fight her first self-conscious urge to touch the wig on her head.
But, she clenched her fists at her side before putting her hands on her hips back at Macie and started, "Macie, in case you haven't noticed, you're lame-ass little cronies aren't here to help you. So, if you don't relent and beat it, then how about I take off my shoe and turn it sideways before I stick it up your..."
"What Heather? Up my ass? Please like I haven't heard that before." Macie countered unimpressed.
Well, until Heather countered as she casually looked at her nails, "Actually I was going to say up your uterus. You know, considering you're so full of crap that my shoe would have nowhere to go that way."
Macie's eyes went wide before they slowly narrowed at Heather.
Well, until she smirked and said, getting right in Heather's face, "Well... at least I still have my hair."
There were a few seconds of silence before Heather grabbed Macie with the force of a vice by her hair and started dragging her over to a stall before shoving her head into a toilet and gave her a 'grade A' and text book swirly.
Macie was screaming and resisting her fate but was unable to avoid Heather's absolute wrath as Heather kept holding her head in the toilet and repeating the process. Until after about 6 flushes Heather finally stopped and relaxed her grip on Macie, letting her fall to the floor in a hyperventilating state.
A deviously satisfied smirk now crossed Heather's face as she said, "Well, hope you still enjoy your hair now, sucker."
Macie was just laying on the floor in a state of shock as Heather proceeded to walk out of the bathroom, a smirk slowly crossing her face as she made her way confidently out of the school to her car to drive home from the student parking lot.
Present day
Heather continued to look at the picture on the floor before biting her lip until slowly and almost tentatively got up before slowly kneeling down and picking up.
She gave the picture an almost thoughtful look for a moment before looking back to the blank space on the wall where it hung.
It took a few seconds until she sighed and hung it back up in its place on her wall.
Heather stepped back slightly and looked on at the wall, though now having a slightly different experience than she did earlier in the day.
She smirked a little as she looked on at all the pictures until finally settling on the prom picture again. Her expression turned slightly, thinking back to what happened earlier between them, taking on an almost guilty look.
She looked away from the picture as she hung her head and strained out in frustration as she scrunched her eyes shut again, "Dammit..."
Well, looks like Heather's finally is having some moments of dare I say partial 'clarity'? Again, while Heather is one twisted and manipulative chick, she's still a human being with insecurities and feelings of her own... even if she keeps most of them buried deep down most of the time. Haha. But, I also just wanted to show more of Heather and Shane's dynamic from when they were in high school together and to show that part of the reason why Heather and Shane have this sense of almost 'loyalty' to each other is because in their own weird way... they both do stick up for each other and see each other as someone worthy of some level of respect. But again, more will be elaborated on that later. ;) Ever since Heather got her head shaved and we saw how much she freaked out and went a little crazy over being bald and constantly trying to cover her head... I actually thought that was a pretty powerful thing for the show to do with Heather's character. Since on the outside for all of season 1, Heather seemed like a girl very confident in herself and her appearance, but having her head shaved seemed to have 'morphed her' in a way. Heck! She even took pity on Sierra and went out of her way to make sure Sierra had something to cover her head so she wouldn't have to be completely bald on TV after she lost her hair in the explosion. So, Heather does have 'sympathy' potential to give... it's just a Wonder of the World sized work in progress. But again... it's Heather, so go figure? Lol. XD Also, hope you liked seeing the rivalry between Heather and Shane's ex-girlfriend Macie, who is easy to see why she was an ex at a certain point since she's a pretty shallow mean girl herself that enjoys getting under Heather's skin and partially dated Shane to further get to her since she knew Shane was one of the few people Heather seemed to mildly tolerate if not like… though bet she regretted it after that, huh? Lol. XD And just in case any of you were wondering where Heather saw this 'braver side' of Shane before he totally exploded on her in chapter 14… this was it! Mostly I just wanted to show more of Shane's character and how unlike a lot of the people in the top of the school's social circles, he really is just a good, loyal, and decent guy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my portrayal of both an insecure and conflicted Heather. Thanks for reading as always and constructive reviews are always appreciated.
Stay classy and safe to each and everyone of you!
Dexter1995
P.S. Just a little known fun fact in the Total Drama/Aleheather ship community, Marco Grazzini (Alejandro's original voice actor) is an Aleheather shipper... which to me is hilarious and flat out amazing! Lol. XD No joke, the guy has admitted this without shame in interviews and on his personal YouTube channel even has a video dedicated to the ship with scenes of Alejandro and Heather interactions from TDWT... again, YES! I love this man! We stan a voice actor who enjoys their work enough to ship the characters! Lol. And seriously, for those of you who have never seen Marco Grazzini, this guy is literally Alejandro IRL. No joke, they literally picked the perfect guy to voice him! Considering he is one charming and fine looking man. Just saying... Lol. XD