As far as Courtney could remember, she had always done what her parents told her to do. No questions asked.

When she was three years old, her parents signed her up for private violin lessons.

"It's for scholarship opportunities," they told her.

It didn't matter that at the time, her chubby little fingers couldn't hold the violin properly. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, her parents would take her to get lessons. They would sit there and study her during her two-hour lessons. Then, they would drive home and scold Courtney for all the mistakes that she made.

When she didn't have violin lessons, she was expected to practice at home for a minimum of three hours. By the time she was six, she was sick of the violin. She wanted to quit, but her parents scolded her.

"You just want to give up? How are you supposed to succeed at anything if you give up?"

By the time she was 15, she got a solo during her school's orchestra concert. Her parents proudly recorded it and showed it to everyone to brag about her.

Courtney never asked to see it.


The day she started middle school, Courtney's parents made her sign up for the debate team.

She didn't want to do it. Why would she? There were way more fun clubs to join.

"But none of them will help your future."

So she signed up. Of course, since it was just a school club, they only met once a week during lunch, which lasted about an hour.

That was unacceptable to Courtney's parents. They signed her up for public speaking lessons. Every Saturday and Sunday. Plus, she had to do that on top of her violin lessons. And maintain her 4.0 gpa.

When she started high school, she lead her debate team to victory. Of course, people made a big deal about it since she was only a freshman.

Her parents proudly displayed a picture of her holding the trophy on their mantel.

Whenever her parents went away for a business trip, she put the picture face down.


When she entered high school, her parents started to talk about her future.

"Everything you do matters now."

She signed up for all AP and IB classes. She now had a private tutor to make sure she kept her 4.0.

She signed up for orchestra but kept her violin lessons.

She signed up for the debate but kept her public speaking tutor (even when he insisted there was nothing left to teach).

She was also volunteering at her parents' law firm and at a summer camp as a C.I.T.

Her parents always told her they were just trying to help her have a successful future. She knew that they were. That's why she did everything that she was asked. That's why she always followed the rules. There was no reason for her to question anything.

It still didn't ease her stress.


She was getting close to graduating high school. A few months before school ended, her college counselor asked her what she wanted to do once high school was over.

"Go to an ivy league school and become a lawyer," Courtney stated as she had many times before.

Her college counselor smiled. "Those are good goals to tell your parents. But what do you want from your college experience?"

"To study and graduate. What else is there to do?"

"There's a lot of things to do. Sure, studying is important, but don't you want to have an experience?"

She was silent.


She found out about Total Drama Island.

It was useless. It was stupid. It was exactly what Courtney needed.

When she first mentioned the show to her parents, they obviously didn't approve. Why be on a reality show during the summer when she could do more useful things? Like studying for the SATs... Volunteering at a law firm... Studying for the LSATs...

Courtney agreed that all of these would be useful things. But she does that every year, and it was starting to take a toll on her.

Sure, she wanted to become a lawyer. It didn't mean she wanted to start her adult life right this instant.

After speaking to her counselor again, she realized that she always felt that way. She just ignored it and did what her parents said.

Courtney skipped one of her debate club meetings to research the show. It was going to be filmed in Muskoka. She would be staying at a five-star resort. She would have a chance at winning $100,000.

It sounded way too good to be true. But she signed up for it anyway.


She didn't think she would be chosen, but somehow, she was.

She messed up on her audition tape. She was running for class president at the time (her parents' idea) and was running on little to no sleep. It didn't help that Tom from AV Club filmed her audition at the last possible minute.

She was brash. She swore. She was unprofessional.

Apparently, she was exactly what the show needed.


When school finally ended, her parents were going on a business trip. They didn't know when they would be back, but they'd be gone at least a year.

She was relieved that she didn't have to make up an excuse on why'd she be gone the whole summer.

As soon as they walked out the door, she started packing.

It was time to make her own choices.


Courtney sat at the front of the boat straining her eyes for something other than the blue ocean. After what felt like many hours, she finally saw land. When she got closer, she noticed that a group of teens were already there. Looks like I'm one of the last ones to arrive. It made sense considering how late she auditioned. She was lucky that the producers considered her at all.

She saw the camera blink red and point towards her. She gave a warm smile. She remembered her manners. She politely waved. When Chris offered his hand to help her get off, she said, "thank you."

Then, it was time to meet her competition. They all reminded her of people she would normally see in school.

...Not that I'm friends with any of them. No, she was much too busy for that.

"Hi," she introduced herself. "You must be the other contestants. It's really nice to meet you all." She was met with blank stares.

Finally, the big, energetic guy took her hand and shook it excitedly. "How's it goin'? I'm Owen!"

She let out a sigh of relief and smiled back at him. "Nice to meet you."


After the teams were picked, Courtney followed the girls inside the Killer Bass cabin, which was definitely not a five-star resort. It was cramped, but it all looked like a typical summer camp. She could survive that.

Eva spoke first. "There's five of us. I get a bunk by myself. Got that?"

The other four girls looked at each other before nodding. It didn't seem to be worth arguing.

Eva gave them a nod of approval. She jumped on her bed and ignored the rest of them.

Sadie started sniffling and burst into tears.

Courtney sat next to Sadie and rubbed Sadie's back trying to soothe her. It didn't help. Sadie just cried louder.

"I wish Katie was here," she cried out.

"Oh my god," Eva said clearly irritated. She threw her suitcase full of dumbbells out the window and marched over to Sadie. "If you keep doing this, I will lose this challenge on purpose just so I can kick you off this island!"

"Eep." Sadie was still crying but silently.

Eva glared at her once more before going back to her bed.

Bridgette walked up to Sadie. "Come on, Sadie," she said gently. "Katie's only a short distance from us."

"I'll come too," Courtney said quickly. She had a feeling she wasn't going to be friends with Eva.


Once outside, they heard a loud high pitched scream from the Screaming Gophers cabin. Sadie started to panic.

"Oh my gosh, Katie," Sadie shouted.

"Sadie!" The girls looked and saw that Katie was coming from the communal bathrooms. Katie and Sadie both ran to each other in delight and started squealing way too much.

They heard another scream from the Screaming Gophers cabin. Courtney gave Bridgette a questioning look. "Should we-"

Bridgette looked like she was going to say "yes" before she saw Duncan carrying an ax into the room. "Nope. I don't want to know. Let's just go to the main lodge."


Courtney looked down at what she thought was supposed to be meat. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. She poked it a few times before watching the meat move by itself off of her plate and back into the kitchen.

She looked over at Bridgette, who flat-out refused to touch her food. "I'm a vegetarian," Bridgette explained when she saw Courtney looking.

She looked around her table. She noticed that everyone had given up on their meat.

Well, except for Duncan. She watched as he used his spoon to shoot the meat on the wall. Duncan noticed Chef glaring at him. He just shrugged and kept doing what he was doing.

Part of her was horrified. He was blatantly breaking the rules and didn't listen to authority.

But she was mostly jealous. He was so casual about it. It was like second nature to him. He was playing by his own rules.


"If you look down," said Chris. "You will see two target areas. The wider part area represents the part of the lake that we have stocked with psychotic, man-eating sharks. Inside that area is a safe zone. Killer Bass, you're up first."

They all looked at each other nervously. Nobody wanted to jump.

"Hey," she heard Owen say. "Don't sweat it, guys! I heard that these shows always make the interns do the stunt first to make sure it's survivable."

Courtney wanted to laugh. Sure, that may have been the law, but she had a feeling this show had a way of cutting corners. The lack of a five-star resort and barely edible food proved that.

She watched as one by one, her teammates jumped off of the cliff. DJ was the only one who refused.

When it was her turn, she looked over the cliff. She was ready to jump, she really was. There was just one problem... She couldn't swim.

She had a pretty good feeling that if she didn't drown, the sharks would finish her off. If I don't jump but the rest do, we'll have nine jumpers. She observed the other team. It was a calculated risk, but somehow, the screaming from the gopher's cabin earlier told her that even fewer people would jump.

Or I could just try not to drown. She wanted to laugh. And have everyone know early on how useless I am?

"Excuse me, Chris," she said in a strong voice. "I have a medical condition."


Courtney didn't know what happened, but by the time she came down, Sadie was already there running up to hug her.

"Courtney, look!" She looked to where Sadie was pointing and saw an equally excited Katie. "Chris let Katie and Izzy switch! Isn't that great?"

"That's great, Sadie," Courtney genuinely replied.

"It's my worst nightmare," Eva mumbled.

"Aw, come on," DJ said. "You should at least give her a chance!"

"I don't take advice from chickens!"

The Screaming Gophers rolled past them with pull-carts carrying their crates.

It was a calculated risk, and it failed spectacularly.

Eva glared at both DJ and Courtney. "Thanks a lot, chickens."


One thing was for sure, none of them were team players. Everyone wanted to push their own crate... Even though, they really couldn't.

Courtney kept pushing her crate when she felt a sharp pain in her finger.

"Ow," she said out loud. "I think I got a splinter!" This is my punishment for not jumping.

"Shut up, and pick up your crate," Eva snarled at her. She showed off by carrying her crate by herself. "...Chicken."

"Hey," Courtney shouted. "I'm the only one with C.I.T. camping experience here. You need me!" She cringed. Her lack of experience in the real world was showing.

Her laughing teammates seemed to agree.


Of course, she had to smack a bug right into her eye! She didn't even want to know what it looked like.

Instead, Chris and Leshawna told her.

She tried to play it off, but Ezekiel told her it was getting worse.


They were going to lose. They all knew it. Even Geoff's positive attitude couldn't lift up their spirits.

"Okay," Geoff preached. "Dudes, it's not too late. We can do this!"

She sighed. There was no point in doing the challenge. It was obvious who the winner was going to be.

How are you supposed to succeed at anything if you give up?

It annoyed her that all she could think about was her parents' criticism. But maybe they were right.

She stood up. "Okay, look guys. We have a hot tub to complete, and we need a project manager. Since I've actually been a C.I.T. before, I'm electing myself. Any objections?"

"Where do we begin, Cyclops," Duncan asked sarcastically.

She was having none of it. "Open the crates!" Obviously! "Bridgette, go find those itchy girls. We need all the help we can get."


It was a shit show. Quickly, they learned they didn't have any nails or hammers.

Well, that wasn't completely true... Duncan had a hammer. He just refused to share. Duncan and Tyler kept fighting over it.

Harold and Geoff tried their best, but the outer structure easily fell. It turned out, Duncan also had duct tape.

"What are you," Courtney asked him. "A serial killer?"

He smirked at her. "Better than a C.I.T."

Yeah, she was never going to hear the end of that.


Somehow, they managed to make... something. It wasn't a hot tub, but at least they turned in something...

Then Chris poked it, and it fell apart.

Eva leaned in to whisper to Courtney. "You're out of here, Miss C.I.T."

She didn't even argue back. She could only hear her parents' disappointment.

"If you were going to do something stupid like joining a reality show, you could've at least tried to win!"


It was quiet at the Killer Bass table.

Courtney tried to move the spoon in her bowl. Nope. It was stuck like glue.

The whole team was irritated at one another. Plus, thanks to Duncan, there seemed to be a general consensus that she was going to be voted out first.

I wonder if there are any law firms that will still take me for the summer...

"Well, I just don't get why we lost, eh," Ezekiel said. "They're the ones that had six girls!"

Courtney must've heard him wrong. There is no way... However, the other Killer Bass girls' faces told her that she heard right.


When Courtney got back to the cabin, she started packing. Sure, Ezekiel made some sexist comments, but nothing was guaranteed. Besides, maybe they thought that a sexist Ezekiel, who actually did challenges, was more useful than her.

She shook her head. She was overthinking this. She needed to clear her head.


Courtney walked outside to see a pissed-off Bridgette sitting on the steps by herself. Bridgette seemed like the easiest person to befriend so she sat down by her.

"Still mad at Ezekiel," Courtney asked.

Bridgette let out an exasperated sigh. "Understatement of the century. I was listening to the guy's side. Geoff, DJ, and Tyler are trying to teach him, but I think it's hopeless."

"How were you able to hear anything?"

"Through the window," Bridgette said casually. "Come on, I'll show you. You need to hear how bad this is getting."

Bridgette lead Courtney to the back of the cabin where there was an open window. Sure enough, Courtney could clearly hear what was being said.

"Okay," they heard Geoff say. It sounded like he was starting to get irritated. I didn't even know that Geoff could feel irritation. "Let's try this again. Are guys stronger than girls?"

"...Yes," they heard Ezekiel answer.

There was a collective groan in the room.

"Really," they heard Tyler ask in disbelief. "Even after Eva lifted you up like you were nothing?"

"It doesn't mean that guys aren't stronger than girls, eh?"

Courtney looked over at Bridgette and mouthed "wow." Bridgette mouthed back "I know."


"So how long has that been going on," Courtney asked Bridgette once they got back to the steps.

Bridgette groaned. "One very, very long hour."

"Yikes."

"Yup," Bridgette replied popping the "p." "Looks like you're safe tonight."

"Heh," replied Courtney. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"No, I'm serious," Bridgette said. "I know I was irritated at you earlier, but really, the loss wasn't solely your fault. I mean, did you see us with those crates? And with setting up the hot tub? The other team worked together, and we refused to do that. We just all got irritated at each other."

"You noticed that too, huh?"

Bridgette laughed. "Not hard to miss." She was quiet for a moment. "Maybe if we were closer, we'd be able to work together better."

Courtney scoffed. "I'm not one for giving out secrets." She's been told one too many times by girls in her class that she had no juicy secrets to tell.

"Me neither, but we need to do something." Courtney rolled her eyes but allowed Bridgette to continue. "Sometimes, I wish I was more like Geoff."

"Are you kidding me? You guys are almost completely alike."

Bridgette shook her head. "Not really... Look at right now, I'm complaining about Ezekiel out here while Geoff is trying to fix him." She sighed. "I'm not one to hold grudges, but I wouldn't go out of my way to help someone I don't like either. Not like him."

Courtney thought for a moment. "To be fair, I don't think he dislikes anyone." Bridgette waited for her to say more. She sighed. "Fine, but don't tell anyone. Sometimes, I wish I was more like Duncan."

Bridgette laughed. "You want a criminal record too?"

Courtney playfully pushed Bridgette's shoulder. "Of course not. I just wish I could make my own choices without feeling regret..." Her smile dropped, and she was quiet for a while.

"Courtney-"

Courtney stood up. "Come on. We need to vote."


Courtney looked at the marshmallow on her stick. Just as Bridgette predicted, she was safe. She was relieved, but she also swore that she would never be put in this position ever again.

Her teammates were busy talking to one another around the campfire. Courtney sat in silence until Duncan sat next to her.

"So," he said. "You're safe."

"Yeah. Sorry to disappoint you."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would I be disappointed?"

She scoffed. "You're kidding me, right? You basically led the movement to vote me out."

He pretended to think for a while. "Hmm. I did, didn't I? Why didn't you remind me? Then, I would've voted for you instead of Ezekiel."

Her head snapped up at him. "You didn't vote me off," she said in disbelief. "Did you really?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, maybe not." He looked back at her. "You know you can take the chicken hat off now, right? The competition's over for the day."

She sighed. "I know. But it's to remind me of how I failed and almost got voted off. So that I won't do it again."

"That's really sad, Princess."

Welcome to my world.