Let's talk break day. Friends, guys, girls, dance, cooking, crushes…and a little headcanon of mine. Thanks for reviewing, thedragonrooster, Gucci Mane LaFlare, OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla and lordgemini.

We had a break the next day. I slept late since Harold was quiet again, but early enough that Bridgette had the time to join in with my ten-minute yoga session.

It was getting harder to divide the time among my friends. I did find a moment to talk to Harold, since I really loved his work and I was getting comfortable enough with most of my teammates to initiate conversation. "So, figure-skating dodges, huh?" I asked him. "I mean, I thought I was graceful."

Harold looked proud. "I've got a lot of mad skills," he boasted. "Just not everyone appreciates them. Or takes me seriously."

"Well, I do," I said honestly. "I know how it feels. I haven't been able to exhibit my skills much, either. I really blew it yesterday."

Harold stopped to look at me. "You know," he said, "Just because you got destroyed a couple times – the way you dodge and throw just has this natural grace. Most people probably can't see it, but I notice that kind of stuff, little details." He paused for a moment, but then said "You see, there's a reason I have these major mad skills and no one gets it. But you seem to. I get the feeling that you wouldn't treat me weird if I told you why. Would you?"

I felt confused. "Well, now you're asking me not to treat you differently to how I have so far, I won't. But is this something really heavy? Like, you could get kicked off the show if people knew?"

Harold shrugged. "They wouldn't have accepted me if they had, but they'd get accused of not being inclusive if people knew and I got kicked off for it." He lowered his voice, "You see, I'm an aspie."

I must have looked even more confused, because he clarified "I have Asperger's Syndrome. I mean…it's been lumped in with autism now, but it's actually pretty different, so I'm still calling it Asperger's. You know, we're the kids who get known for talking and knowing lots of stuff, but still being the weird ones. But it's also the key to many of my mad skills. Not all of them, but…it's also why I get all these little details. And I know people call it a disability, but I'm not ashamed to call myself part of that community. In fact, I'm proud of it."

My head was reeling. Of course I'd heard the word "autism" before, but I'd never met anyone who had it, or at least, no one who had admitted to it. And here was Harold, telling me he was proud of it.

"Doesn't it make some things harder?" I said in little more than a whisper.

"A bit," Harold admitted. "You know, I get my butt kicked a lot in school. I'm used to it. I'm pretty good at avoiding it now. I know people think I'm weird, but I'd rather be weird than fake. That's why I admit it. I haven't told any of the guys, but I figured you might get it, because you're quiet and nervous. I wondered if you had clinical anxiety."

Well, that was blunt. I managed a giggle. "Not that I'm aware of. It just takes me a while to get used to new people. Anyway, I won't tell anyone unless you want me to. And I won't treat you weirdly, I promise. You're another teenager in this group. Most of us are a bit weird. I know I am."

That was just a bit of what we talked about, but I felt very special that Harold had confided such sensitive information in me. And even though Katie and I had a long conversation about what we thought of all the campers, I still didn't tell her anything he'd said.

Although, I did tell her something else. It was after I'd asked her a few questions about how long she and Sadie had been best friends.

"Since, like, second grade!" Katie explained. "We were sitting at the same group of desks on the first day of school, and we clicked, just like that! We've made a BFFFL vow. Even though we always like the same boy, we've both agreed that we won't let them get in the way of our friendship." She gave a sly smile. "Although sometimes I think boys like me better, because although I think Sadie's really pretty in her way, I think I'm a little bit prettier sometimes."

I didn't comment on that. I just said "So you do a lot of boy-spotting? But you two are like…heterosexual life partners?"

Katie giggled. "That sort of sums it up! I mean, if I was a lesbian, I'd totally date her. But I'm not, and she isn't, either. Though I wouldn't blame her if she was and tried to flirt with me."

I giggled too, and that's when I decided to tell her. "Well, I wouldn't blame her, either," I said lightly. "I mean, you're pretty and you're nice, as well as fun. But I don't think you're my type."

Katie missed a beat, and then her dark eyes went wide. "OMG, you're into girls?" she squealed, but she sounded…well, still positive. Then she smiled. "You like me enough that you'd actually tell me something that major?" She gave me a hug, and then said "I won't tell anyone because I know that's super-sensitive info, but promise me, if you have any crushes that I'll be the first to know. And," she giggled, "No offense taken that it won't be me. We can still hang out."

I returned the hug. "No promises that I will have any crushes, but I'll tell you about them." No need to tell her that I already had a crush on Leshawna. That could wait until another day. Still, that had gone pretty well, and it was nice to have someone who not only didn't care that I was a lesbian, but actually wanted me to tell her all about if I was falling for someone.

I also took time to make a confessional during the day. "One week in, and I'm actually feeling pretty good. I like most of my teammates, and some of the Gophers are okay, too. I still like DJ the most, but I feel like I'm well on the way to having Bridgette, Katie and Harold as my other friends. Four out of twenty-one others is pretty good, especially since there's only nineteen of us left now." I beamed a smile at the camera. "Seven more weeks of survival, and two eliminations down from my team. If I can survive two, I can continue to survive!"

As I said, I talked to DJ, too. We talked a bit more about our dance styles and how they worked, and then we got to talking about school. "So what's your favourite subject?" I asked. "I mean, besides dance class. That's my favourite, but I also really like Art. It's kind of nice to have a subject where you can't get things wrong, and whatever you do could mean just about anything, no matter what you draw or paint or sculpt."

DJ looked thoughtful. "Never really thought about it before, Pey." (Oh yeah, he'd started calling me Pey for short. No one else did that, but I didn't mind too much that he did – it felt like something a guy friend would do). "I guess Food Tech. I like cooking, and I'm good at it, too."

I grinned. "I don't know much about cooking. I can prep basic stuff and follow recipes, but that's about it." I wasn't a natural chef, but I wasn't lethal, either, just not wonderful.

"Momma's been teaching me how to cook since I was like three," DJ explained. "Back home in Jamaica. I got interested and it's one of the things we still do together a lot." His face grew wistful for a moment.

"You used to live in Jamaica?" That was interesting.

"We moved to Canada when I was five," DJ went on. "I was really homesick for the first year. I still miss it, but I plan to move back one day. Maybe when I win the prize money." He grinned. "At least, it should pay for a holiday there."

"Except the money isn't yours yet," I teased. "It's mine. Just no one knows it yet!" We both laughed together.

But the money really didn't belong to either of us for good reason (namely that we still had seven more weeks here), and we were going to work for it the very next day.

Yay for autistic representation! I was diagnosed over four years ago, and Harold…it just seemed like he was an obvious portrayal of the kind of autism that used to be called Asperger's Syndrome. If you don't know, Asperger's isn't a diagnosis any more, but most people who got it were autistic, but perfectly verbal and were able to cope with regular life, although they were often ostracized or bullied (Harold and I have that in common). I haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite which I know he's based on, but as a standalone…well, he has all the signs. Not offensive, like Rain Man, but there's a type similar to me that you run into. That person who got beat up in high school, talks a lot, knows a lot, but is totally honest and socially oblivious. Please understand that Harold being autistic is not a negative thing, nor positive – it's just a headcanon and another win for the diversity within Total Drama. And he just seemed like the kind of guy who would be proud of his community and everything they've achieved, from promoting environmental awareness to creating Pokemon.