A/N: I know, I know, this is not an original concept. This has been done a thousand times, but I still wanted to do this after Total 'DramaRama' was introduced, and I had written a 'Total Drama High School' AU in 2015, so I figured I might as well write a new one. Loosely based off of another abandoned TD High School fic I wrote last year.
This high school is grades 9-12, ages 14-18, using the American schooling system because it makes things easier as an American. There will be gay/lesbian couples, so if you aren't a fan, I suggest you leave. OCs will also be there because you obviously can't have a school filled with only TD/6teen/Stoked characters, but they will not play a big role either.
Well, without further ado, let's begin!
/\/\/\/\
The halls of Wawanakwa High were immensely crowded, as it was the first day of school. Several lockers lined the main hallway. Posters hung around the school, showing various reminders for school events and cheesy inspirational posters. Most of the students were doing average things: opening their lockers, talking amongst each other, or listening to music.
Two teen girls stood next to a locker. They looked identical; save for the beauty mark on the girl on the right, the disdainful expression of the girl on the left, and the clothes they adorned. The one on the left was carrying two backpacks and three books, whereas the one on the right was glaring at her sister.
"Samey, give me my makeup bag! Now!" The one on the right demanded. She wore a stereotypical cheer uniform with Wawanakwa High's signature letterman over it, a trophy from one of her many past relationships.
The one deemed Samey balanced the books on her knee and pulled out a red makeup bag. She was dressed much more normally, with a red hoodie and blue skinny jeans.
"It's Sammy…" She muttered as she passed her twin a red makeup bag.
The bell rang, signaling the teens to get to class. People around them began walking to their classes.
"If you were faster; I could've put on my lip gloss! Ugh! Just take me to math!" The mean twin glared.
"Yes, Amy…" Sammy sighed as the duo began walking down A-Hall. Students flooded the halls, bumping into each other and lining up for their classes. Amy smiled and waved, greeting everyone she knew as she strutted down the hallway like she was royalty. Occasionally she shot Sammy a disdainful glance like she was her servant.
Sometimes, Sammy wished she treated her that well.
Soon, they reached Ms. McMullen's classroom, who happened to be the cheer coach as well.
"Hey, Amy! It's always great to see you. How was your weekend?" Ms. McMullen asked. Sammy rolled her bright, teal eyes. Ms. McMullen had always favored Amy over her, but it's not like that was new to Sammy.
Sammy sighed, leaning against the lockers as she listened to them drone on until the tardy bell rang. Amy snatched her bags from her sister.
"Oh, sorry, sis. I guess you're late for class! You should reeaallly start being faster, shouldn't you? You're always the slow one," Amy said, her voice set into her condescending shrill. Sammy anxiously scratched her wrists, trudging to Science with her bag in tow.
The hall was empty by now, aside from a few lost students and the regulars who skip. Sammy speed-walked down to the Science Wing, entering her first period.
"Samey, you're late," Mr. Garcia said, smirking. "You're lucky tardies don't count until the second day. Sammy trudged to an empty seat, glancing at the floor.
"Sorry, sir," she peeped before taking out her notebook.
/\/\/\/\/\
The rest of the day felt like nothing to Sammy. Her head lingered in the clouds as she autonomously took notes and pretended to pay attention.
Sammy shook her head, getting her mind back to reality. The final bell rang, dismissing the class. Everyone around her had packed up, but she was still sitting with her notebook and pencils out. Sammy perked up slightly. She shoved her pencils and books into her bag and threw it on.
Sammy began her walk at a brisk speed. Past the other teens, who were meeting up with their friends or getting things out of their lockers before heading home.
Not Sammy, though.
She hurried, standing in front of the door to a classroom. It was rather average looking, with a small window on the door and a suspicious-looking chip on the doorframe.
But to Sammy, it was the entrance to heaven.
Sammy swung the door open. There were a few people there already, talking or keeping to themselves. A mocha skinned girl looked up as she entered. She had two notebooks in front of her.
"Hello, Samantha. Thank you for retaining your status as a member of the drama club," She greeted professionally. Sammy gave a nod.
"Thanks, Courtney."
Sammy sat down awkwardly and took out her new theatre notebook. She wrote 'drama club' on it in dark, black ink. She doodled fancy borders on the pages with shaky hands, waiting for everyone to show up.
The room filled up quickly. Most of the usuals from last year had stayed, along with a few other people. Sammy found herself sitting with three other people.
There was Gwen, who had been on the theatre crew last year. Sammy never really talked to her because she was always so reserved and cold. She usually worked on painting the sets and designing posters.
Shawn sat diagonally from Sammy. They were both sophomores, so they knew each other vaguely. They had a few mutual friends and hung out in the same group before. Still, they didn't really talk. Sammy managed a polite smile, which Shawn returned.
The last person at the table was a mere stranger to Sammy. She had a tough look to her, as shown by her stoic expression and her bulging muscles. Her hair was tightly pulled back into a ponytail, accentuating her bushy monobrow. Sammy tried to make eye contact but was simply ignored.
Thankfully, Courtney saved her from the slightly awkward moment.
"Alright, welcome, fellow thespians!" Courtney began, standing on the desk.
"I see a lot of familiar faces here today," the stage manager continued, looking down at everyone from her makeshift pedestal. "Along with some new ones." The students looked around at each other as Courtney spoke.
"First, let's start with introductions," she smiled. "I'll pass out a little notecard. Write down your name, whether or not you're new, if you're doing cast or crew, and something about yourself!"
"Lame, this isn't middle school, Courtney," a punk boy complained. Courtney narrowed her eyes.
"Duncan, I could care less about your fake "I give no fucks" attitude. Just make the damn notecard, 'kay?" She hissed back before smiling and retaining her previous poise.
Gwen rolled her eyes as she accepted her notecard. Sammy frowned and took hers. Shawn began scribbling on his, using a broken green crayon. The buff girl finished hers in less than thirty seconds, writing in messy, doctor-like cursive.
"So, um, how was you guys's first day?" Sammy asked awkwardly.
"Low-key," Gwen replied.
"Shitty," Shawn added.
"Agreed," the buff girl spoke.
"I see."
After around five minutes, Courtney stood up again, clapping to get everyone's attention.
"Okay, let's share our answers now!" Courtney smiled. She pulled out her own notecard, neatly arranged in font-like penmanship.
"I'll start. I am Courtney Flores, stage manager, obviously, I'm not a new member. I love staying organized and making lists." The students clapped a few times, as per theatre etiquette.
A few more people shared. Lindsay. Beardo. Scarlett. All the names seemed to blend together to Sammy. Soon, it was the buff girl at her table's turn. She stood up.
"Eva. Crew. New. Sports," she read off before sitting back down. A few awkward claps rung out before Gwen stood up with a sigh.
"I'm Gwen, doing crew. I like drawing, and I was here last year."
Courtney sighed. This icebreaker game wasn't really working like she hoped it would.
"I should've just had us play concentration."
Shawn went, and then it was Sammy's turn. She gulped and stood.
"H-hey, I'm Same-er, Sammy," she anxiously smiled. "I'm doing crew like I did last year, that's pretty much it." The room clapped for her, and she sat down, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Hey," Gwen whispered to Sammy.
"You were fine. Plus, nobody was even paying attention."
"Hey, thanks," Sammy smiled.
Eventually, the last of the introductions were done, and Courtney took the floor again.
"Alright, if you're doing crew, go to the left side of the room. If you're planning on auditioning for a part, go to the right side." The room quickly divided. Since Sammy was already on the left side, she stayed seated, along with everyone else at her table.
Courtney made her way over to Sammy's group.
"Okay, so, older theatre crew members will get seniority over newer ones, so keep that in mind when you get your role." Shawn and Sammy high-fived at this as a few others smiled.
"Gwen will be in charge of all set design, so check in with her whenever you have questions or anything," Courtney said, gesturing to the goth. Gwen raised an eyebrow and smirked at Courtney, who gave a small chuckle before regaining her composure.
Sammy watched with mild curiosity. She didn't really expect Gwen and Courtney to have a friendship of sorts. Sammy never really saw them talk last year.
"Beardo is in charge of any sound effects and music." Beardo let out a 'ding' noise and raised a thumbs up at this.
"Shawn is on costume designing."
"And, Sammy." Sammy's eyes widened. Sammy didn't think she stood out enough to be in charge of something.
"You're in charge of lights," Courtney smiled.
"As for the rest you, figure out who wants to work on what and write it down. One or two people help each leader. Everyone will have to wheel in props as well, so take note of that." Courtney tossed them a clipboard and walked to the cast side of the room.
"Ooh! Can I do costume design?" Lindsay asked eagerly. Shawn shrugged.
"I don't see why not."
"Yay!" Lindsay hugged Shawn. Shawn smiled awkwardly.
"Ooookay," Gwen said, rolling her eyes. "Who wants to help design sets?" Scarlett cleared her throat.
"I would like to assist in the construction aspect of set design," Scarlett volunteered. Gwen nodded.
"Izzy's gonna work with the funny beard guy!" Izzy exclaimed, fluffing up his mane of hair. Beardo tried swatting her hands away to no avail. Eva's mouth twitched at this in an almost-smile.
"As do I." She simply said. Izzy hopped onto Eva's shoulders and continued messing with Beardo's hair.
"I guess I'll help Sammy with lighting?" Zoey offered. Sammy grabbed the clipboard, writing down everyone's roles for the play.
She looked around at everyone- Lindsay making a puppet show with her hands, Gwen sketching, Shawn climbing onto the filing cabinet, Izzy being annoying, Eva standing emotionlessly, Zoey eating a granola bar, and Scarlett reading- and smiled.
"Things are looking up for me," Sammy said to herself.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Hello, all," Courtney said, looking at the people auditioning for the play.
"Being on the cast is very important. No matter if you're the big lead or just part of the ensemble, we all have our roles to play."
"Even if you don't get the role you hoped for, just know that everyone has to do their part and bring in 100% effort every rehearsal," Courtney finished, smiling at the cast.
"Um, what musical are we doing, Courtney?" Beth asked timidly.
"Well, currently we have the rights to do two," Courtney said, pulling out her binder.
"We can do Cinderella." Ella smiled at the prospect of playing a real Disney princess.
"Or, we could do Heathers." The real Heather perked up at this before masking her slight excitement at that.
"God, these sound so lame," Duncan complained loudly, looking up from the skull he was carving into the desk. Courtney's brown eyes narrowed.
"I mean, Cinderella? We aren't five years old." Ella frowned at this as Duncan continued his rant.
"And Heathers? I already hate the real Heather," Duncan said, jabbing a thumb at the dark-haired girl, who flipped him off in return.
"Um, no offense, but why are you even here if you don't want to do this?" Tyler asked the punk, who rolled his eyes.
"McLame made me sign up for an extracurricular because of all the detentions I got last year. He said it would be a 'positive influence' or something. It was either this or Harold's weird-ass hentai club." Tyler frowned.
"As I was saying," Courtney seethed through clenched teeth.
"We're going to do readings of scenes from each musical and get a feel for each one before everyone votes on it," she explained.
"But first, fill out this audition form." Everyone groaned as Courtney passed out papers from her binder.
"Take it home to get signed by your parents and bring it back tomorrow, you have the rest of play rehearsal time to work on it."
Courtney walked over to the crew side of the room. She picked up the clipboard and transferred the information to her binder.
"Okay, so, obviously theatre isn't the most funded program," the CIT admitted as Gwen snickered. Courtney flushed red.
"We made an outstanding $22.30 from last years show, so that's great. The school provided us with thirty bucks for this year, which is pretty generous by the school's standards," she continued.
Wawanakwa wasn't exactly the best school out there. The principal had a habit of laundering money and rarely gave funds to programs other than himself and sports.
"I think with personal funds and such we could maybe get around twenty more dollars for the budget."
"All in all, we only have around seventy dollars for the show. We'd also need to earn it all back. We're going to have to do some serious budget-stretching to make this show the absolute best it can be," Courtney finished. Scarlett raised her hand.
"If you have something to say, Scarlett, just says it, we're all equals here."
"May I be in charge of managing the budget?" The redhead asked. Courtney nodded before explaining the options for the musicals they would be performing.
"You guys will also have a vote for the musical. You'll get to observe each script and see which one would be the best financially and realistically, as this is just a school play."
"Any 'leaders' I assigned for the crew will be helping me cast the roles as well," Courtney said, finishing her little monologue.
The crew nodded. Izzy hopped off of Eva's back and landed on the ground, rolling in a ball as she did. Courtney scribbled something into her large binder before pulling out some papers.
"Oh, and fill these out and bring it back tomorrow." The crew groaned and began to fill out the forms.
"So, what musical would you guys like to do?" Shawn asked.
"Personally, I'd say Heathers," Gwen replied. "The movie was really good."
"Oh, I've never seen Hannahs, but it sounds good! I wanna do Cinderella though," Lindsay said dreamily. Sammy chuckled at her misunderstanding.
"Honestly though, I'd be fine with either," Sammy said. Shawn nodded.
"Same here, but I am pretty excited for theatre this year. Last year was fun." The older members smiled, reminiscing on it.
"This is my first year here on theatre, I just moved to Wawanakwa this Summer," Zoey said.
"Oh, really?" Beardo said, looking up from his form.
"Yeah, but it seems like a nice place." Everyone else laughed at this.
"W-what's so funny?"
"Yeah, this is not a nice place," Shawn sighed, hopping from the filing cabinet and landing on the table with a thud.
"Oh. Well, you guys seem nice, at least." Zoey smiled.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The cast filled out their forms too. A few of them talked to each other as they did, but most of them stayed quiet.
"So, did you guys like me on the morning announcements?" Topher asked. "I think I was a great host."
"Nobody cares about the announcements and their shitty editing, Topher. Being on your high school's morning announcements won't make you the next Ellen Degeneres."
"But Duncan, I care!" Ella exclaimed.
"Do you now?" Heather asked sarcastically. Topher looked hopeful.
"Oh, honestly… not really." Topher sighed.
"Well, the only one here getting famous is Sugar!" Sugar said, jabbing a thumb towards herself.
"Aren't you a bit too old for Toddlers and Tiaras?" Heather remarked. The cast laughed as Sugar crossed her arms.
"Okay guys, let's keep the tension down now, alright?" Courtney said, hiding her grin badly. She checked the time and swore.
"Alright, guys, practice ends in five. Practices will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, see you tomorrow!" Courtney announced. Everyone began talking to each other as they packed up for the day.
Sammy smiled for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Everyone in theatre seemed so nice. Last year was good, but hopefully, this year would be better and she'd make even more friends.
The tutorial bell rang. Everyone started filing out of the room. Sammy threw her pencil case and notebook into her white kanken. Sammy let out a content sigh as she exited the theatre room. She plugged her headphones into her iPhone 8 (a hand-me-down from when Amy insisted on getting the XS) and shuffled her playlist.
Sammy grabbed her red longboard from the rack outside and began riding on it. She pushed off the board, flying down the sidewalk as the breeze skid against her skin, cooling her from the light, sunshiny weather. The clouds spilled over the sky as she rode her board home.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
"So, that was fun," Gwen smiled as she leaned on her girlfriend's shoulder with a sigh. Courtney rolled her eyes and playfully pushed the goth.
"You're so dumb."
"Love you too." The theatre kids shared a kiss before returning to their previous snuggling position.
/\/\/\/\/\
Afterword: And there you go! I had some fun writing this chapter. Please give constructive criticism, I could really use it.
Next Chapter-July 19th