Expect the Unexpected

Chapter One

The Room-Hate

If someone would've told the Great Heather Masterson months ago that she would be rooming with one of the greatest annoyances of her life, she would have ruined your entire social life in a matter of minutes. But there she was, leaving her suburban lifestyle for the big city; in an apartment that she would have just deemed okay with none other than Duncan Nelson.

It all started a few weeks back, when she and her good, and sometimes only, friend Cody were out for coffee. The hustle and bustle of the coffee shop was thankfully loud enough to drown out the complaining of Heather. She only just recently came back from the dance academy that she had been attending all year, but she was sadly already up to her limit with her home life.

"Ugh! You don't get it Cody! I need to get out of my parents house! I am twenty-one years old and they still think they can run my life!"

"Didn't you just come back from the dance academy? How can you be over them already?" he asked as he sipped his coffee.

Heather could feel a migraine coming on. She rubbed at the temples of her head as she let out a sigh. "You don't get it. All they do is tell me I shouldn't waste my life dancing! Can you imagine how it would feel to have your Dad say you should give up your computers?" With that, the young woman laid her head down on the table. "How am I supposed to live like this?"

Cody gave a shake of his head. He was thankfully used to her dramatics, so the head thrown down did not falter him at all. "Why not just move to the city? It's where me and Gwen live."

Heather raised her head up to give Cody her trademarked stink eye. Her misty grey orbs locked on him while a griminace went across her face. "I thought we had a rule to not bring up your dumb girlfriend."

Yes, it was true; Cody finally won Gwen over after years of pleading and pleading for a date both on and off the show. Heather wasn't sure how it even happened, but she truthfully didn't care. Gwen was just a thorn in her side ever since they met on that dock years ago. The only reason she didn't have some scheme cooked up to break the nerd and goth apart, was because Cody seemed genuinely happy these days. Even mean old Heather wouldn't want to disrupt that.

"Well this time it's needed. You should move to the city!" Cody continued to coax her. "Think about it," he paused to adjust his grip on his cut, "there are a lot more jobs in dancing over there, you'll get away from your parents, and I even know someone who is looking for a new roommate!"

Heather pursed her lips together in thought, "that is true." There would be more access to dance auditions if she actually lived in the central district. Plus she didn't have anything left in the suburbs anymore; her family was annoying and her (now ex) boyfriend moved to South America.

Yep. Her and Alejandro broke up as well just to put the cherry on top of her disastrous life. It wasn't because of the move. Although Alejandro was hot and understood Heather quite easily; once the show ended and the race to best one another halted- things just fell down into a funk. She and Alejandro were too much alike truthfully. She needed someone who would always keep her guessing, someone who wouldn't bore her, someone who could ground her. Alejandro wasn't that. If anything, over time, they just became friends. It was hard to end things, but it needed to be done.

So, with no real attachments to the outskirts of the city, why shouldn't she just move to where she knew she needed to be?

She taps her fingers on the table "Is this roommate going to annoy me?" she stares at him inquizitently.

Cody couldn't deny that he did hesitate for a moment, but in his defense, Heather got annoyed with everyone. "Probably," he shrugged, "But it would be less than a normal person would. I could actually see you two living together. Plus the place is nice and rent is cheap. Trust me, I've gone over there."

Heather halted her fingers from tapping on the table. She let out a groan of annoyance. She really hated to give in. "Fine, just send me his information and I'll contact him. What's his name?"

The young man across from her looked side to side, trying to think fast on his feet. "Uh, Gwen calls him D. I have his number and- and can send it over to you i-if you want. But I wouldn't- uh- give him your full name."

Heather paused at that, immediately picking up on his suspicious behavior. "What? Why wouldn't I give him my name?"

Cody rubbed at the back of his neck in hesitancy. Was it suddenly warm in the cafe or was it just him? "Well- Uh.. you know.. because of Total Drama. People might not want to rent it out to you because of what they know from the show. It's happened before to a lot of people who were on it with us. Remember how it took Bridgette and Geoff months to find a place who would let them rent!"

Although Heather could sense that Cody was covering something up, he did make a good point. That stupid show has blocked Heather from a few good gigs, and she suspected housing wouldn't be any different. Being seen as the 'Queen Bee' for so many years did really drag her name through the mud. Fine, I'll go by my middle name then. Just send me his information so I can message him. If I'm going to leave this place," she pulled her chair back rather roughly and stood up straight, "I want to do it now."

Cody nodded before reaching back for his smartphone. Within the matter of seconds, Heather received the cell phone number of her potential new roommate.

"There, now just text him whenever you're ready," he shrugged his small shoulders. "He's not big on actually answering the phone," Cody warned.

From there, the rest of the mundane process of moving in was practically sealed. Heather messaged the man later that night; just to see if the room was still available. To her surprise, this D guy answered back right away confirming that it was. D sent over some photos of the place for her to see how everything looked. She studied the pictures very carefully, and it didn't surprise her at all that a man lived there. There was little to zero decorations in that apartment. The man didn't even bother to put a few pillows on the couch, and what kind of weirdo doesn't even hang up pictures on the wall? It could use a womanly touch; it was so minimalistic. However, she truly liked the fact that it was a three bedroom, though one of those rooms was his bedroom and another his gaming room- gross, with such cheap rent.The rent was just 2,500, but split between the two of them Heather would only be paying 1,250 a month for a three bedroom, two bath, in Toronto. Normally, she would have to pay triple that for just a small one bedroom. It was one of the best deals in the area!

After a few more formalities- Heather was on board to move in as soon as possible. She needed to get out of her parents' grasp, and fast. For so many years, she has tried to appease them and live by their rules. But now that adulthood was pulling her towards new milestones, she had to see what else life had to offer.

However, as usual, the unexpected happened. When Heather arrived at the apartment building, with all of her furniture and clothes packed into a u-haul, she didn't expect to find Duncan walking outside the building. She had to pause in fascination and in slight confusion. Why in the hell would he be there?

She hopped out of her car with her arms folded over her chest. She hadn't seen the guy in years and she truthfully wasn't always his biggest fan. Yet it was clear that nothing really changed with him in the past three years that they parted. He still had the same trademarked green mohawk, punk clothing, and most noticeably his attitude still reeked of rebellion without even saying a word. The only real change that she noticed was that he might have beefed out a bit more than she remembered. "Huh," she mumbled softly to herself, the last she heard of him was that he had finally gotten out of jail two years ago for his stupid stunt from their all stars season. It was a pathetic move if you asked Heather. He was so desperate back then to be deemed a bad boy, only to end up in jail. Dork. He barely even served a full year before probation was offered to him. Since then, most of the gossip about Duncan went mute.

The former delinquent noticed her right away. It would be hard not to considering the fact that she was quite a beautiful woman and getting out of a u-haul truck by herself. "What are you doing here, Queenie?" he greets her, barely even giving her the courtesy of a complete glance in her direction. His stance was wide, arms were crossed, thus making his body language clear; no one should dare test him. However, Heather wasn't like most people. She enjoyed pushing people and poking their buttons as much as she could possibly get away with. Duncan was no exception to this; in fact he was one of the few people she specifically used to like messing with the most. He always used to act as if he was too cool to ever get angry, but every now and again he would slip up if she brought the right subject up.

"For your information, punk," Heather rolled her eyes, "I'm moving in this building. If anything, I should be asking you what you're doing outside of it." Her smirk went across her face as their eyes met. If she could count on Duncan for anything, it would be an excellent exchange of banter. "Are you squandering for some change or something? I could spare a quarter or two."

Duncan visibly stiffened at her rude words. His chest puffed out some as he tried to shake off her comment, not that it ever worked in all of the years that he has known her. "Actually, brat, I live here." Although Duncan found himself to get annoyed with Heather whenever she tried to get a reaction out of him, he did sometimes find her quite amusing when she played her little games onto other people. But he didn't find her quite so charming at this moment. Sure, Heather was piping hot, she always was, but deep down inside he knew she was always trouble. He sure did feel sorry for whatever idiot agreed to live with her!

"Oh yeah? Is that so? Well you-." Before Heather could even finish her retort, a car screeched up and pulled up right alongside of them. Cody emerged from said vehicle rather quickly. He wasn't alone. A rather pale woman stepped out of the car and Heather knew who it was immediately; Gwen. The young computer geek looked oddly nervous while his new girlfriend seemed oddly... smug. Heather didn't like the looks of how this was going already. All she kept wondering the moment that she saw the pair was where in the hell was her roommate. However, Gwen easily answered that question for her.

"There is my favorite pair of roomies," the former goth who was still supporting a cheap and obnoxious hair dye job, grinned from ear to ear.

Her sentence shook both Duncan and Heather down to their cores as the turned to look at one another. Roommates? In an instant, Heather was able to connect the dots. The name D, Cody being nervous to tell her more about the guy, and not to mention why the rent was so damn cheap! She was going to be living with a convicted felon! She felt so silly! How could she ever let the freeing image of being away from her parents ever cloud her judgement?! The pair turned to one another with hesitancy. The green haired menace opened his mouth to say something actually intelligent, but all he spat out was, "why would you name yourself 'Quinn'?"

"It's my middle name doofus!" This had to be a joke, right? There was no way she and Duncan could live together. They would murder one another!

Heather planned to keep arguing with him over the horrible situation, however Duncan began to suddenly chuckle. He bends down to grab at his stomach as a tear fell. "What's so funny?" Heather snapped at him, his laugh now infuriating her. If anything it was embarrassing for the two of them to be blind to who they were exactly talking to!

Duncan finished wiping his eye before standing up to meet her gaze. "Because I signed you of all people on," he continued to belly laugh, "This means I'll have my own apartment back in a week!"

Her shoulders stiffened. That was all it took for Heather's competitive streak to kick into full gear. How dare he laugh and doubt her ability to live on her own! "Oh yeah? I wouldn't count on that buddy! I'm so going to stay in that apartment, and when I do I will make your life a living hell."

Duncan and Heather stared at one another with a great intensity as her threat hung in the air between them. Cody and Gwen exchanged worried glances to one another as the new roommates continued their silent battle of wills. "Is that a challenge?" Duncan finally spoke up.

"It's a promise," Heather leered at him, "Jail bird." With that, Heather gave a flip of her hair before walking towards the U-Haul, "Now come help me with the boxes."

At that moment, the game was on. Duncan and Heather were now roommates. This could only go one way… terribly.