September 2012

Nicole was watching a movie in her room as she picked up her phone. It was an unknown number, which had to have been Noah. He had wrapped up production just a few days ago, and she was expecting him back any day now. She picked up the phone immediately.

"Noah! It's so good to hear from you again. School starts next week, and I was wondering when you'd be back." The two have been able to speak on the phone once every other week since his elimination on the show, and she worried about him while they didn't speak. As each phone call passed by, she was beginning to feel like Noah was losing himself into this game, into this fake persona he was giving to himself. When she first saw him on television, she hardly recognized him. He was snappy, judgemental, and had little to no desire to help his teammates in the game, which was the reason for him being booted so early on. Everyone was confused on where the Noah they knew and loved was, because he wasn't on their TV screen, though someone who looked like him had been there.

"That's actually what I called you to talk about." He said. "There's been a new season of Total Drama that's been picked up."

"Oh." Nicole said confusingly. "I thought it was just one season. Are you on it?"

"Well… no, not exactly." He said.

"So you're coming home?"

"No." He replied. "It's complicated, but remember when I said I wanted to make money for us?"

"We already talked about that. I don't care about the money. I just really want you back here with me."

"This is something I want to do, not just for us, but for me, too, so I offered to stay behind. I can't really talk about what I'm doing, due to contracts, but I won't be home for awhile." Nicole tried her best not to get angry at Noah at this moment, so all she did was sigh into the phone.

"Do you know when you'll be back?" She asked.

"This only has about half the cast, so maybe just a few months." Before Nicole could say anything, she heard a man ask for Noah in the distance. "I gotta go. I'll call you again soon though, okay?"

"Okay, when can I expect-" Before she could finish her sentence, Noah had already hung up the phone, leaving Nicole to herself once more.

One Week Later

Nicole took a deep breath as she walked into the halls of her high school. It was her first day back for her junior year, and this was a pretty important year. It was the year students began to focus on where they wanted to apply to university and what they'd like to study. This was the first full school year she'd spend at this school, and the first time she'd be entering school without Noah. After a lengthy conversation about it with her therapist, she decided she would make the most of this situation and use it to get herself out there and make some friends of her own. She located her new locker for the year and started to take some of the books into her backpack and into the locker, and as she did, a few girls began to approach her. The girls were popular in their grade.

"Nicole, right?" The first girl asked innocently. Juliette is a tall, thin girl who had brown hair and snow-colored skin. She was wearing a ribbed tank top with blue ripped jeans near the knee alongside some white Converse.

"I didn't know you knew my name." Nicole states. The second girl looked over to Juliette and laughed.

"Of course we know who you are, silly!" She says. "We were in math together last year."

"I'm pretty sure it was English." Nicole said timidly. The second girl is Jordan. She has strawberry blonde hair tied up into a side ponytail and fawn skin. Her eyes are a glowing green and has freckles around her nose, and was wearing a white cami underneath a purple v-neck with tiny white shorts and ankle-high black Converse.

"So, how was your summer?" Jordan asks, changing the subject.

"My summer was good. My twin brother was away, but I had spent a lot of time with my niece and nephew and my other siblings. We went camping and-" Juliette interrupted her.

"I heard about your brother! He was on that show Total Drama Island!" Juliette says this as if she had been waiting to bring Noah up.

"He didn't do very well." Jordan stated. Juliette looked over to Jordan and smacked her hand.

"No duh, you don't need to tell her that." She said to her. Juliette looked back over to Nicole as if nothing had happened.

"It was such a good show. If I ever got to meet the cast of Total Drama Island, I'd want to meet Justin. He's soooo dreamy!"

"Definitely." Jordan said in agreement. "Who was your favorite, Nicole?" The two girls stared at her as they awaited her response.

"Trent was pretty cool. I liked his songs." Nicole said.

"I liked him, but he could have done so much better than that goth girl Gwen." Jordan then changed the subject. "Is Nolan on the new season? I can't wait to start watching it when it airs!" Nicole knew that Jordan had said her brother's name wrong, but ignored it for the time being.

"I can't really say." She wasn't allowed to say anything, even though all she knew was that he wasn't on the new season but wasn't coming home.

"Do you think you'll get to meet them after the new season? Like at some sort of afterparty?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" The girl's eyes lit up as Juliette walked up closer to her.

"Do you want to sit with us at lunch?" Nicole could tell she was being used by these girls to try and meet the Total Drama cast, even though she didn't have that connection, but at the same time she knew this was an opportunity to get to make some friends. Who knows, maybe after getting to know her, they'd start to like her for who she was - and besides, she didn't want to be seen eating lunch alone on the first day of grade eleven, so she was okay with being used for now.

"Sure, I'd love that."

"Great!" The bell rang as Juliette spoke. "We'll see you then, all right? Toodles!" The two girls walked away with their arms linked, and Nicole closed her locker shut to walk to her first class.

Over the past three weeks, the three girls had become fast friends. As time went on she felt like they were now making an effort to get to know her, and everyday they asked less and less questions about her brother and Total Drama. She felt like she was truly part of a group, and she loved it. She walked up to her new friends at their normal lunch table, but stopped in her tracks as they saw a mystery third girl sitting in her normal spot.

"Hey guys." Juliette looked behind her to see Nicole.

"Oh, hey Nicole." She said as she turned back to Jordan and the mystery girl.

"Hey." Jordan muttered. The three girls were on their phones, eating their lunch quietly. Nicole clears her throat, thinking of what to say.

"I noticed there's no room at the table. Can I scoot a chair up?" Juliette looked up from her phone and pointed to Nicole, acting as if Jordan should know what to 'do' about Nicole. Jordan rolled her eyes as she put her phone down and walked Nicole a little ways away from the table.

"Hey, listen." She said as she put her hand on Nicole's shoulder. "We're not really sure we're fitting in with you anymore."

"Why, was it something I said?" Nicole's heart began to beat out of her chest. She couldn't be losing her new friends already.

"No, it's just… we feel a little deceived by you."

"Deceived how?"

"Your brother wasn't on Total Drama Action." She said plainly. Nicole looked down, her cheeks turning red.

"I never said he would be." Nicole said quietly.

"We thought you were going to be letting us meet the cast. But your brother's a nobody." Juliette let go of Nicole's shoulder. "Look, I'm not a bitch or anything. It's totally fine. I just don't think we're really compatible as friends. Sorry." She shrugged as she walked back over to her table, showing no remorse and going back to her day. Nicole could feel herself start to cry, something she hadn't done in school for a long time. For as long as she could remember, every significant place in her life, she had publicly cried. She hated it. She began to walk out of the cafeteria as fast as she could without making a scene and spent some time wandering the halls for a place to sit. She slid down on the floor and threw away her lunch in the process, as she had lost her appetite.

She felt so stupid. Those girls were never going to be true friends with her; they just wanted a chance to meet some Total Drama stars. The moment Total Drama Action premiered and she was rendered useless, they threw her out like an old rag doll. As she hugged her legs and plopped her face on the top of her knees, she could hear some kids going into the band room near her during lunch period. She sat up straight and pretended to look like she was okay, but it was too late, as a girl and a boy holding hands had already walked up to her.

"Are you all right?" She had light skin, curly untamable red hair with green eyes and freckles around her nose and cheeks. She was carrying a clarinet case in one hand and her boyfriend's hand in another. The boy had shaggy brown hair and carried a clarinet case as well, and had blue eyes and braces. Nicole looked up at her and smiled to signify she was all right, but there was no fooling anyone, as her eyes were bloodshot red from the crying, so she stayed silent.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The girl let go of the boy's hand to help Nicole stand up, which she took. They were standing in front of each other as Nicole wiped some lone tears from her face. Nicole sighed as she cycled through the full story with Jordan and Juliette while being vague about her brother and his reality TV stardom.

"I know Juliette! I heard she leaked her friend's nudes because she got freshman spring fling queen over her."

"What was her name?" The girl thought for a moment before answering.

"I think Jordan?" Nicole's eyes widened, and she stayed silent.

"That's terrible." The girl put her instrument case down onto the floor as she smiled towards Nicole.

"Oh, sorry, I'm being rude. My name is Abigail. And this is my boyfriend, Brett." He smiled and waved towards her.

"I'm Nicole."

"It's really nice to meet you. Not in these circumstances, of course, but, you get the jist." She smiled as she picked her clarinet case up from off the floor. "I really wish I could talk longer, but we have band practice."

"Band practice?" Nicole repeated.

"Yeah! It's marching season, so after scarfing down our lunches we usually spend some time doing sectionals in the band room for the rest of lunch hour. Do you play anything? You look like the musical type. I can sense it."

"Just guitar." Abigail's eyes lit up, and she was suddenly not in as big of a hurry.

"And you've been in this school for how long?"

"I just moved here in April, and I'm a junior." Abigail looked at her in shock.

"And you didn't join band?"

"I had a lot going on." Nicole's cheeks went red.

"It's too late to join marching band, but you should totally think about joining jazz band after marching season." Abigail gasped and put her hands on her cheeks as she imagined the possibilities for Nicole in her head. "Oh my gosh, I could teach you my instrument, the clarinet, and you could be in marching band for our senior year!" Brett bumped Abigail's elbow.

"Jeez, Abs, you just met the girl." He said to her. She giggled over to Brett.

"Sorry. I just get so excited about recruiting new members." She looked back at Nicole. "Do you want to come sit at our sectional? It's fine, I'm the clarinet section leader, and, if I don't jinx it, I'll be the drum major next year!" She started giggling again as she stopped talking. "Sorry, I talk a lot when I'm excited. You'll get used to it. But anyway, I could introduce you to the director before the next class period to see about joining jazz band, maybe even helping out with marching season for service hours? He's really nice." Nicole could tell Abigail and Brett were nice people, and she wished she met them before meeting Jordan and Juliette. She decided to take her up on her offer.

"That actually sounds really fun."

"Well let's go, new friend!" Nicole smiled as she walked into the band room with them two, finally feeling seen.