hi all! I hope you enjoy this next installment! and shoutout to everyone that has begun following this story over the summer, there have been a good amount, so thank you :)
Courtney was sitting on her couch, staring at the television in front of her.
Originally, her eyes were glued to the laptop in front of her. Since Bridgette's departure, Courtney started keeping a do-to list for each following day in order to keep herself active. That included when to take a shower, what she should make for dinner, and even what times she wasn't available because of her job. Currently, she was in the process of paying her monthly rent and utility bills, which were important things and had high priority in her head.
It's been eleven days since she returned from her short getaway (could she even call it that?) and settled into a more comfortable and focused routine. When she returned to work the following days, all her co-workers bombarded her about the fact she was on their television the previous Sunday evening with "an AWARD winner, Courtney! Trent Rivers!", many of the responses she waved away. Even her manager was impressed, though the older man did not watch any awards ceremony outside of the ones that celebrated movies and country music.
Every couple of hours or so, if she was the cashier or calling out the names of people's orders, a customer would come up and ask her if she was indeed, Courtney Otero. Most of the time she would decline to answer, pretend she didn't hear them, or say no. The few exceptions are typically with children; they were so wide-eyed and cute it was hard for Courtney to lie to them. Plus, they would be too young to have seen her performance on the Total Drama series, so they would only remember her as the girl Trent took to the awards. And, lying was hard when her nametag had her name on it.
Luckily, the kids would comment on how pretty she looked on TV and would ask her to say hi to Trent for them, which she would always promise to do so by taking her phone out and texting Trent. Their parents would always look skeptical of the Latina until they looked up Trent and his red carpet appearance, where she accompanied him. After initial shock, the parent would insert themselves into the conversation and ask Courtney questions about why she was a barista and not living in a mansion, or say nothing and look at her.
When those events happened, the young woman would try to make sure no one snuck a picture of her while she was working and reveal to the world where she was currently and what she was doing with her declining life. She always would feel particularly anxious, but would never check social media to see if it did get revealed.
Some of her co-workers suggested they print a picture of Courtney outside for advertising reasons and to make more money. The woman quickly shut it down, and, luckily, she had her manager on her side. Something about soliciting and not having a contract for that. That would be a worse-case scenario.
Anyways, outside of the sporadic Canadians talking to Courtney about her time in Vancouver, her life had more of an upbeat normal tone to it.
The young adult had the celebrity gossip channel on, not paying much attention to it and the volume placed on low. She had intentions of watching some of the information later on after she finished paying her bills, but something had caught her attention.
A lot of the gossip-y based channels began having television-based segments, where they would specifically focus on what some of the actors and reality television stars from different shows were doing. It seemed like it was getting more and more attention in the country, and Courtney wondered beforehand if that was because of the way TV in America was moving or something else.
"So, lots to talk about in the reality television world!" One of the host, a brunette-haired guy named Adam, commented. He has a big smile on his face as he stares into the camera, a bit too creepy for Courtney's liking.
Sitting next to him is a blonde woman who looks awfully like Blaineley. "Adam and Blaze checking in," she spoke, a deep voice like the woman too, "with our TV stars segment! What should we start with Adam?"
The two began talking about other stars, which took nearly five minutes. Courtney was almost finished paying her internet bill when she heard, "And, let's close out with some new Total Drama information!" Blaze smiled at the camera, a smug expression like she was staring at Courtney and knew she watching.
"A little birdie told me someone recently said they were going to the highly anticipated reunion." Adam held his head in his hand, elbow placed on the table in front of the two host.
Blaze turned and looked at Adam. "That little birdie would be correct! According to our sources, Duncan Wilde accepted his invitation to go to the series reunion last week. Which shocked a lot of people, since not many know what the international bad-boy has been up to since the end of All-Stars! That only leaves two more ex-contestants to accept or decline their offer. And, just some speculation; apparently the same night as the Canadian Music Awards, Duncan accepted his offer. And we all know who was the featured story of the awards show. Wink wink."
The television than began to play a montage of the ex-boyfriend while he was on the series, enlisting pictures with his ex-girlfriends and friends.
"Justin Mahone is one of them." Adam speaks, and the montage is over. The male brunette is now holding an autographed picture of Justin, who is shirtless and posing in the picture. "As many of us know, Justin is in Europe continuing his modeling career and will most likely not be attending the reunion considering he is a busy, busy bee. One of the hottest antagonist of the series for sure. We'll miss you Justin!"
Blaze turns to look at the camera and picks up the conversation. "More importantly, that leaves just one ex-contestant left to accept or decline their attendance to the broadcasted reunion special. Former fan-favorite, Courtney Otero! We know you're watching Courtney, and we just want to say we hope you do decide to attend the reunion."
"The brunette had heads turning last week when she accompanied friend and also former-contestant Trent Rivers to the Canadian Music Awards, her first official reappearance in the media's eye in over a year! Just before that, she was seen with Bridgette Harrington at a local diner, chatting it up with the blonde beauty."
Blaze took the conversation back, "I feel like no one is talking enough about why, of all people, Trent chose Courtney to take. Were they even friends on the show? If so, why has it never been brought up by either party? Did their alleged friendship begin during or after the show!? That's what I want to know."
Pictures of Courtney appeared on the television, from the blurry ones with Bridgette to her posing with Trent. Then, finally, one appeared on the television of the female brunette standing on a corner in the city, about two blocks from her job. She was wearing pale pink lace-less shoes with jeans and a gray t-shirt. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and her headphones were in, indicating she couldn't hear around her. Finally, she had a black tote bag hanging on her shoulder. "More recently, paparazzi caught the gorgeous, yet irritating ex-contestant on a walk in Montreal, on her way back to her apartment." Blaze continued to talk.
Courtney sat on her couch, frozen. She didn't even think they would find her and feel obligated to take pictures of her. A familiar feeling of disgust swelled in her stomach, one she hasn't felt from the media in some time. She wore that outfit two days ago, and she was on her way home.
"At least we know she's alive now!" Adam commented dreamingly.
Once snapped out of his daze, Adam and Blaze continued a familiar conversation Courtney was used to. This was the one where they reminisced on the female brunette's journey throughout her appearances on the reality show, placing their own personal opinions at certain points.
So, the brunette tuned the two out and clicked on her laptop some, before logging into a familiar social media platform. When she logged in, on the left she could see the trending topics or names. The last time she used her account was right before All Stars, where she posted a couple of times before ultimately leaving it behind. But, she wanted to see something. And, her thoughts were correct. One of the top trending topics was Duncan and another one was TotalDramaReunion. Courtney clicked on the name of her former boyfriend and read through some of the post. She knew this wasn't healthy, but she just wanted to read.
The posts varied in word usage but all exaggerated the same excitement of the former-bad boy attending the reunion. Some of them mentioned Courtney, hoping she would return or that she and Duncan would get back together if she attends the reunion. Others wanted the teal-eyed adult and Gwen to rekindle their romance; most of the post seemed split.
There were also some who hoped the best for Courtney and commented how good she looked. There were thousands of post about the young adult, Courtney realized, once she searched her own name on the platform. Polls about if she was going to make an appearance, posts about if her character has changed, and more.
Sometimes she forgot how strange it was for others to create their own beliefs and thoughts on the contestants, as if they weren't real. When it all first started, Total Drama was huge in Canada. And, it became so popular the show got wind in other huge countries like the United States and Great Britain. An (originally) family-fun reality show starring teenageres was new, it was chic, and most importantly (at least, to the host of the show) it was a trendsetter. There were so many attempted duplicates after the few couple of seasons that it was hard to keep up, but most of them didn't make it past the first couple episodes of filming. There truly was nothing like Total Drama, unfortunately. Because if there was, people would be able to forget about Courtney and the rest of the contestants.
Sometimes Courtney wondered where she would be had she never applied for the reality show and continued her life on the original track she was meant to do. More than likely, she would be a college graduate and in law school somewhere, hopefully at an Ivy League in the States like Yale or Princeton. The way Courtney acted before the reality show, she would probably still not have that many friends, but wouldn't be working at a coffee shop. She may even have a lawyer-to-be boyfriend, who shares all of her similar interests and loves the things about her others tend not to like. They'd spend nights together studying, working, having several date nights, and probably sitting on Courtney's couch watching shows like Total Drama just to laugh at all of their antics and make logical decisions on what they would do if placed in the same boat. It would be a happy, plain, and comfortable lifestyle.
Yet, the more Courtney thought about it, the more she realized that wasn't what she wanted. It all seemed so appropriate in the grand scheme of how her life was meant to go. She was supposed to be top of her class, go to a good college, go to law school, and become a lawyer. It was something she even boasted about during her time on the show; fortunately, she still hosted the qualities to be decent at that job. But, there was something off about the fantasy. It seemed too perfect, too fitting, just a bit overzealous. As she sat here on her couch in her apartment, it didn't feel fitting for the brunette. It felt like it was going towards a way it wasn't meant to go.
As a child, Courtney was raised to believe that at this point in her life she should either be in law school or have a stable careeer and be in a pleasant relationship with someone. Not once did she come to assume maybe that wasn't supposed to go the way she envisioned. The Latina had a control issue, one hard to knock. It still existed in the way she completed certain tasks, if she completed them. Which she was getting better at, with some newer inspiration from her friends. The issue may be one at the core of what makes Courtney, Courtney. It was evident throughout the series and in her interactions with those around her, especially with her first ex-boyfriend. She got a bit of a handle on it later on in the series and by the most recent season, it was capped (for the most part).
Her control issues are one she has yet to directly face. Instead, it is something she has avoided for the time being, by isolating herself from things that would require a bit more of her attention. The young woman should probably read a book or watch a docu-series on controlling an environment and how to diminish those automatic thoughts and movements.
Courtney wanted to be successful. Well, everyone wants to be successful. Courtney believes, at this moment, she wants to find peace within herself and from others. For one, knowing the guilt would settle away and pass by once she receives verbal acceptance from her peers would do wonders to her mental health. She's spent so many months losing sleep over the stagnant assumptions people have of her and the actions she's committed to continue those assumptions. And, she would finally have an opportunity to restructure the bridges she burned around her. Living on an isolated island can get lonely.
The only problem with finding peace was it meant Courtney had to attend the reunion special. There really was no other option. The summer was itching closer to July and the deadline for RSVPing was getting closer and closer. A couple weeks ago the young woman was unaware the reunion was happening. Then she made it extremely clear she was not attending. And now, here she was, sitting on her couch creating reasons to go.
But, she was afraid. It was one of the plaguing moods existing. Besides all of the cameras on her, she would have to be face-to-face with so many of the people who learned to hate her. The thoughts of what people on social media and gossip-y television shows would say gave her anxiety, and it was far from going away. So, instead of RSVPing to the reunion show, an action she still wasn't completely sold on (as much as the idea goes back and forth in her head), she finished paying her bills and changed the channel to an afternoon talk show.
Humming a song to herself, Courtney was fishing through the racks of clothes, trying to find a decent set of clothes to purchase to improve her choices of clothing. Headphones in and sunglasses on, the young adult was listening to a recent playlist she had created based off of the music played at the coffee shop and the related songs to those.
"Nothing's sweet about my misery, I finally sound what went wrong..." She sang, barely above a whisper. Picking up a few shirts, the brunette hung them over her left arm, which was already congested with other shorts and pants. Content with the options, she walked to the cash register and stood in line, waiting to pay for her new clothes.
Though a lot of the clothes were basics, it had been awhile since Courtney bought something for herself. There was a bit of giddiness about the idea of buying things, whether it was clothes or a new pair of shoes. Retail therapy was a familiar sensation Courtney used to indulge in in-between filming of Total Drama. Sometimes she would do it with Bridgette, and at times she was able to drag her first ex-boyfriend from the series too. Most importantly, Courtney enjoyed being alone and being left alone to her thoughts and her opinions.
Casually standing in line, the young woman stood a few people away from the only cashier working in the boutique. A thicker selection of clothes were draped across her left arm as her right hand fiddled with her hair. She thought about how she should get it trimmed soon, considering its increased length in the past year. Not a complete haircut to where it was usually laying on her shoulders, though; Courtney actually enjoyed her hair a bit longer than how it was during the filming seasons.
Twiddling her fingers on different strands of hair, the young adult was caught off guard by the consistent buzzing coming from her purse. Using her left hand, she zipped open her large beige accessory and dug inside of it for her phone, pushing things out of the way before her fingers loosely grasped onto it and slide her thumb across the screen to accept the call, expecting it to be a telemarketer.
"Hello?" She greeted, sounding disinterested as she took a step forward in line. Her arm started to feel tired from staying in an uncomfortable position with the clothes draped over it.
The voice on the other side was not an automated telemarketer. For one, it was much more excited, feigning emotion. "Courtney Otero! Long time no chit chat, how's it hanging?"
There was a moment of silence. "Chris?" Courtney asked to herself, almost disbelieving the voice speaking to her. Then, she removed the phone from her ear, and it held it out so she could read the number. She hung up, before blinking and shaking her head, seeming to get out of a nightmare.
It only took about thirty seconds before her phone began to buzz again. This time, she contemplated answering the call, now knowing who it was from. She waited until the last buzz before answering it. "Hello." She sounded a bit more confident as she stepped forward in line, recognizing she was next to be rung up.
"Court! There you are, I think we lost connection!" Yep, it really was him.
"I hung up on you." Courtney replied, anxiety rising, but making sure to hide any indication she was afraid of what he had to say to her. Whatever it was, it must be important, or else he would not go out of his way to call the adult from his personal cell.
The snarky laugh that erupted from the other side of the phone was all-to-familiar. "That doesn't surprise me at all. Anyways, how ya been? We haven't chatted in so long!"
The woman sighed. "I've been fine Chris. What do you want? You wouldn't call me if you didn't have a legitimate reason to."
Courtney smiled at the cashier, who smiled back with her braces showing. "How are you today, Miss?" She asked, moppy red hair pulled back by bobby pins.
"Fine, thank you." Courtney responded, placing all her clothes onto the table top.
"I need you at the reunion, Courtney."
"No." Courtney put her free hand on her hip.
On the other side of the phone, Chris groaned. "C'mon Courtneeeey, pleaaase." He overenunciated her name.
As the young cashier was ringing up all of her clothes, Courtney rolled her eyes. "Chris McLean, I will not participate in the reunion. I don't want to be a part of it. What do I have to gain from it?"
Momentarily, the cashier stopped and stared at Courtney in awe, seeming to recognize who she was exactly. Slowly, she continued to fold and place her clothes into bags, touching each garment like it belonged to royalty.
"I dunno, but you'd bring in a ton of ratings for it, you've always been a fan favorite."
This was the first challenge Courtney really had to deal it in the past month. She pondered that over as Chris continued speaking about all the personal gain he would achieve from her appearance on the televised reunion. McLean was always an unbearable character, from the first time she waved at him all the way until their final conversations during All Stars. "Goodbye, Chris. Thanks for the call."
"Wait, wait, wait!" He vocalized. "Other people want to see you too!"
"Like who?" Courtney questioned, a bit of disbelief hard to hide behind her tone as she put her card into the reader and waited for the instructions. She smiled apologetically to the cashier, and mouthed out the words 'Sorry' to her as well, before tuning back into the phone conversation.
There was a pause. "Well," Chris began, "Trent already made it clear he would not appear if you weren't there in his concerns section. Obviously Bridgette and Geoff want you there, and DJ too. Owen and Cody weren't totally against you being there-"
"And how do you even know this?" The young adult removed her card and received the bags from the cashier, whispering a quick thank you before walking out of the store.
The teenaged girl, still stunned by the interaction, quickly pulled out her phone and took a few quick pictures before taking in the next customer.
"Shush! Let me finish." He muttered.
Courtney walked out of the store and onto the bustling street. Downtown was starting to become a bit busier with the afternoon air picking up and rush hour appearing closer and closer. She chose to stay silent instead of fighting against the former host.
"As I was saying," Chris continued his original thought, "We gave everyone who accepted the invitation a poll to see how they felt about seeing other former contestants. It helps with who we want to stay in the same hotel room, who gets interviewed together, and other stuff too. Surprisingly to both you and me, no one hated the thought of seeing you. Most were indifferent or actually wanted to see you."
That was shocking to Courtney, though she wouldn't say it aloud. "Knowing you," Chris continued, "You probably think I'm lying. Hahaha, as if I want to. Because I really want to, but I'm not."
In all reality, Courtney did think he was lying. There were about ten reasons why he was she could list off the top of her head, the first being sadistic and money-hungry Chris needs ratings for the reunion to help re-establish himself in the career. He could be completely lying right now, and nearly everyone placed how they didn't want or need to see Courtney for their own personal reasons that resulted from the series. It would make sense, her wiki page list over twenty enemies she has from the show (at least, it did the last time she checked). Her only friend is Bridgette. And, for awhile, that was her only friend. Trent was more of a situational companion for a good chunk of time, before they finally solidified their friendship. By association, Geoff is a friend, and DJ as well.
At the same time, though, there was a plaguing thought that maybe Chris was telling the truth. Maybe everyone else, like her, grew up and saw their mistakes and are willing to grow up and move on and make an amend or two along the way. Is that why LeShawna did so many appearances on talk shows? Is that why it's so hard to get statements from Heather when she makes an appearance in the media's light? Maybe everyone was dealing with the weight of their own mistakes in their own personal way, and for Courtney, it was to think in seclusion.
"I'm not sure if this is surprising to you or not, but even Duncan said he wanted to see you."
And there it was, the final straw that broke the camel's back. "Can I call you back later, or you call me tomorrow or something." Courtney desperately needed to get back to her apartment all of the sudden.
She knew Chris knew. He had been around the group long enough to get to know their behaviors. Not because he wanted to out of the good of his heart, but to use them against the teens when they were contestants. "I'm calling you at 9 tonight, and I better have an answer to if you're coming or not Court. Seriously, dudette, the world doesn't revolve around you. It revolves around me. Later." And like that, he had hung up.
People walked around Courtney and her bags as she stood on the corner of a street as the light changed colors from yellow to red. Staring at her phone, she knew Chris would call her at exactly nine too; he wasn't kidding, and Courtney shouldn't take it lightly. She had a few hours to make a final decision she was still teetering on.
In her apartment, Courtney threw her bags onto the couch and fell back into it next to her bags, making sure to not fall on top of them. Thinking back to her conversation with Chris, she ran the names listed over and over in her head about the people who didn't have a problem seeing her. This excluded Bridgette and Trent, considering they were her only friends. Geoff was also excluded from the list, considering he would do anything for Bridgette and deal with anything she dealt with, including the strange friendship that bloomed between the two former Killer Bass girls. Nearly everyone in that friend group who was a member of Bass was excluded, especially DJ. He was just too nice to Courtney and she could never dislike him. Nor did she ever stay mad at him for longer than a few minutes.
That left the final few former contestants Chris listed. Owen never really ever hated anyone outside of Heather, as far as Courtney was concerned. Sure, they had a bit of a falling out during Action, but they were never really friends to being with. More friendly than anything. Their interactions were mostly neutral and forgettable. Owen always had a way of seeing the positive in everyone, even pessimistic, sarcastic Noah. Wow, that was a name Courtney hadn't thought about in awhile.
Speaking of, that led to Cody. Cody and Courtney didn't really get along towards the end of World Tour, but in her defense, Courtney wasn't getting along with most people during that stretch of time. She vaguely remembers calling him weak at some point towards the end of the season, but he was braver than she was for defending the girl that made his heart flutter. Outside of those few weeks, the two were fine, getting challenges done and staying away from the elimination ceremonies, which was always a win in Courtney's book. It's why she's in the place she's currently in.
That leaves the final name listed. Naturally, knowing Chris, he saved Duncan for last.
The Latina stared at her ceiling and considered standing up and turning her air conditioner on, but made no attempt to move or to turn a light on. She needed to make dinner, put her clothes away, do anything to take her mind off of the questions she knew she would ask herself if given too much time to herself.
Duncan said he wanted to see me? She thought, then blinked, not knowing if she said that aloud or not. Regardless, she sighed, feeling a bit foolish for her thoughts. It made her heart race uncomfortably, in an unsettling and indescribable way. It was a bit nerve-wracking. The last time she and Duncan spoke, it wasn't the best conversation, nor did it help confirm or deny the questions floating in Courtney's mind. This sucked.
She wondered why he would want to see her. Maybe to even the score, to show how much better he was doing than her, or even worse, to talk. Courtney was not sure if she was ready to do that, especially with Duncan. Everyone else was fair game, those were easy. Most of the young adult's relationships lacked the emotion that would have made her and literally any other contestant friends, and it was well known. She kept her emotions expressing compassion in check, and rather focused on encouraging emotions - expressing frustration, the importance of duties to be completed, and her competitive nature. Duncan was different though.
Luckily, Courtney didn't have to go through this pain with Bridgette or Trent, since they were always her friends. A one and done deal, in theory. But, the issue was in order for Courtney to do anything, she needed to attend the reunion. This felt extremely full circle, considering she was having similar thoughts earlier in the morning when she was watching television.
It was weird though. As nervous as she was, knowing Duncan was going and said (at least, as long as Chris was telling the truth) or at least clicked he didn't hate Courtney and wanted to see her (for whatever reason - Courtney had a few) made her feel a bit better. As nervous as she was, and as much as she didn't want to accept it, she may be a little excited.
Fuck.
Clothes now put away, Courtney felt more calm in the apartment. The lights were on, the living room was cool with the air conditioner working, and dinner was sitting on the counter. As basic as spaghetti is, it worked for the young adult. The television was on, showcasing some mid-2000's romcom Courtney was familiar with.
The woman showered, cleaned her hair, and pulled out her clothes for the following day. Which was essentially her uniform.
Courtney held her phone, and it lit up with the time reading 8:45PM. She sighed, and put it down, before picking it back up and sliding her fingers across the screen some more.
"I figured you would call me before I could call you. Very on-brand." Chris's voice rang in the apartment.
God, she hated him. "I'll do it, Chris." She sighed into the speaker part of the phone, automatically feeling regret.
Her regret rose immediately as soon as she heard that familiar cackle. "That's what I like to hear. Let me send you alllllll the details. I promise you, Court, you won't regret this."
She hummed in response, "I better not McLean."
"Yeah, and you better not get any lawyers on me, because I have the best contract with nooooo issues in it."
As he continued to spoke, she stared at her TV, knowing that sooner or later she would be the breaking news on the tabloids. Chris couldn't keep his mouth shut for anything. Courtney desperately hoped this was going to help her, because if it didn't, she wasn't sure what she was going to do.
okaaaaaay, here we go folks! she's finally on board, thanks to a catalyst (Chris). I hope the reunion goes well for her!
If you have any feelings or want to tell me how I'm doing, feel free to comment on the story! If maybe the follow/favorite button is more your style, that works too! I just want to thank you all for coming on this journey with me. A lot of lead up, but we are finally getting to the big ol' event. Next chapter will be the last one before the reunion, so expect to see all (minus Justin) back together one final time (yes, including Duncan!)!
Thanks again for reading!