Nicole and Noah were sitting together in the kitchen, waiting for Trent to pick her up. Nicole had been with Cody and Noah for two weeks, and after getting the all-clear from her surgeon, she was finally able to go back to school.

"How far away is he?" Noah asked as he ate his cereal.

"He said he's almost here." They sat in silence as they chewed for a few minutes, then Noah broke their silence.

"Are you ready to go back to school?" She picked her head up and smiled.

"I can't wait. I'm even feeling a little excited for the next time I have to tell Ruby to pick up her thong from the bathroom floor." He chuckled. "You better go back to work and school after I'm gone, you haven't gone in two weeks."

"I had to stay and help you recover. It's totally fine."

"Cody could have given me my meds and food while you were gone, he's more than capable."

"It wasn't about not trusting Cody to-" Before they got into it, a knock was heard at the door and Trent let himself in.

"Trent!" She walked over to him with as much energy as she had and gave him a kiss and hugged him, careful not to let her incision areas touch him. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too, babe." She began to stand in front of him at eye level and the two smiled. "How's your incision healing?" She lifted up her shirt and revealed her post-surgery scars. Her belly button was black and blue, and she had a scar that was healing on her lower right side. Her stitches had been taken out at this point.

"It looks better already." He said as he examined it.

"You are the only person who requests daily photographic updates on my incision."

"I just wanted to make sure you were healing okay." She laughed as she lowered her shirt, then the two turned to Noah.

"Thank you for being there for her." He said to Noah. "You know I would have helped her, but I couldn't miss class." The three turned to the hallway leading into the bedrooms as Cody walked in, and Trent and Cody fist-bumped one another.

"Trent, my man!" Cody exclaimed. Trent looked over to Noah and Cody. "How's university life?"

"So great. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner." Trent told him. "I wish we could talk more, dude, but we gotta hit the road." He looked over to Nicole. "You ready?"

"Yes, I've been ready. At this point, I'm willing to deal with Millicent again if it means I get to go back to school. Let me just say goodbye." The two laughed over their shared inside joke, leaving Noah and Cody confused. She went to Cody and gave him a big hug.

"Thank you for your help, Cody." She looked towards him as she let go.

"You're always welcome here with us!" Nicole walked over to Noah and gave him a hug as well.

"Even though I'm stubborn and the worst patient ever, I really did enjoy being here and spending time with you. I'll see you during fall break." The two smiled as they embraced for a final hug, then she began to walk out with Trent as took her duffle bag already out in the living room. Noah and Cody waved at the two, then they headed out. Noah and Cody breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally back to normalcy.

"It was good to see Trent again." Cody told Noah. He began to change the subject and shot a look at him. "Are you going to go back to school today?" Noah squinted his eyes and glared at him.

"I have to clean the sheets from the guest room. I was going to go back tomorrow."

"You and I both know it doesn't take a whole day to wash some sheets." Noah scoffed at Cody.

"No, it doesn't, but it is a very tiring task." Cody sighed as he brought him over to the couch and sat next to him.

"We couldn't have predicted this would happen to Nicole, but, I think secretly a small part of you was happy you had a reason to avoid going to school." Noah put his hand over his chest.

"Why would I be happy that I had to bring my sister here?" He asked. Cody looked Noah in the eye and took his hand.

"I think you are avoiding going back to school because you're afraid of the same thing that happened the last time you tried going to school." Noah pretended he didn't understand what Cody meant to say, but he knew exactly what he was talking about. He was referring to Noah spiraling again, and wondering if art is the right career move for him.

"I remember what you told me is all, you tried to go to school and you freaked out about starting art again. You were offered Ridonculous Race when you had to decide whether to drop your classes or keep going, and you took it. I know deep down your passion is art, and I don't want to see you freaked out over this."

Noah took a moment to think about what Cody had said, and as he could feel his heart rate rise, he realized he was still holding onto Cody's hand. He looked down and noticed Cody rubbing his fingers back and forth on the back of his hand, which was calming him down while emotions were running high in him. He quickly looked back up at Cody, who hadn't laid his eyes off of Noah.

"You should go to class. You have a 12pm class, don't you? It's only 10am. You can make it." Noah paused for a moment, lost in thought, then began to speak up again.

"Okay. You're right." Noah embraced Cody in a hug, then gave him a kiss on his cheek as he looked back at him. "I'm going to go get ready. Thank you." Noah began to race out of the living room and into his room to change.


Noah parked his car in front of the community college. He slammed his head onto the steering wheel as he processed walking through those doors. He was afraid that everything Cody said was right - he was just using Nicole's stay as an excuse to wait longer for going back to school. He so badly wanted to go back, finish his courses, and know he accomplished something with his art degree as proof. He wondered if he had what it takes to be an artist, he hadn't practiced in so long, and before he let Cody back into his life, he had been set on never touching a paintbrush ever again. When he did come back to art, he barely practiced.

"I only have two classes today, and then I can go home and relax." He whispered to himself. He turned the car off and braced himself as he took his backpack out of the back seat, then stepped out of the car and began walking into the main campus.

The campus was bigger than Noah had remembered, and for a commuter, it was extremely intimidating. Each building was at least a few stories tall, and every student but him seemed to be paired up with another person or two. There were students on skateboards and bikes flying past him, and in his state of anxiety, he felt like a pedestrian in the middle of a moving freeway. He was beginning to feel the emotions he felt two years ago when he first felt like quitting out of spite. He just wanted to walk right back into his car and never look back, but instead, he forced himself to keep walking to his class, and eventually made it to an empty room with just him and the professor.

"Survey History of Modern Art?" Noah asked faintly.

"Yes, but this class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes." Noah wanted to smack himself in the face. He looked down at his phone to see it was only 11:45. He pointed over to the door.

"Sorry about that, I'll just go somewhere else until it's time." As he walked backwards towards the door, the professor made a stopping motion with her hands as she was about to speak up.

"No, don't go. Stay." Noah had his back leaned against the door at this point, but with a surprised look on his face, he sat down at the desk across from hers. The professor had short, bright red hair and appeared to be in her mid-40s. She wore brown cat-eyed glasses, had pearl skin, and brown eyes. "I remember you from something, but I can't quite put my finger on it." Noah knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"You probably watched me on TV." He said.

"No, that's not it. Satellite TV is too expensive these days." The professor stated. She paused as she thought back on why she recognized him, and after a few moments of this, she had an a-ha moment. "You are Noah Asper. You took a class of mine a few semesters ago, but you didn't finish." Noah felt embarrassed, but was surprised this was how she chose to remember him. He noted to himself it was probably a mistake to have not left when he had the chance. He wondered what he deserved to go this full-circle.

"Yeah, I was going through… stuff." Noah said nervously as he curled his hair with his finger. "How do you remember me? I had to have been in your class for two weeks before leaving."

"I assigned a paper in the first week of class to write about any piece of art and the significance of it. You chose The Scream." Noah looked up at the professor.

"I remember that."

"The way you wrote about the piece was just insightful. It made me go back and rewatch some older Van Gogh documentaries."

"There is no true reason for The Scream. Everyone interprets it differently." Noah noted.

"It was a one-page assignment and you wrote six pages. Normally I would have docked points, but you wrote your thoughts out so well that I couldn't do it. It didn't matter anyway, by the time grades were due for that assignment you had already withdrawn." Noah looked down, ashamed of the memory.

"Like I said, it was a hard year for me." He told her. He wanted to say he chose reality TV over school, but didn't want to divulge too much, especially if she knew nothing about his reality show experiences.

"Well, Noah, whatever happened, I'm glad you're back." As he was about to say something else, he looked towards the door to see more students had been walking in. Some sat in the back corner, but there were two students who found themselves sitting next to Noah. After the boy and girl got settled in their seats, they looked over to Noah.

"Hey, you're Noah from Total Drama, aren't you?" The girl asked him. Noah took a deep sigh, knowing this would happen eventually. As he was about to say something, he could see the boy facepalming and looking over at the girl.

"I'm sorry about her."

"It's okay, really." The three were quiet for a few moments until she spoke up again.

"Your story was really inspiring." She said to him. "I wouldn't have been able to guess that your parents had died at such a young age." The old Noah would have gotten tense and upset at the mention of his parents and home life, but the new and slowly improving Noah tried his best to continue on.

"I tried my best to hide it from the public. It felt nice to have so much support when I finally did talk about it."

"Do you think you'll go on any more shows?" She asked. The boy looked over to his friend, wishing she wouldn't be so forward with him.

"I don't think so. I'm truly done with that part of my life. I just want to get my art degree." She began to change the subject.

"How come we haven't seen you in class? We started a few weeks ago."

"My sister had her appendix removed so I was helping her recover." Noah nodded.

"Oh no, is she okay?" He felt a little awkward striking a conversation so personal with people he was just meeting for the first time.

"Yep, she's all good now so she's heading back to school about two hours away from here."

"That's good." She smiled. She had warm ivory skin and a bright smile, and she wore her wavy brown hair in a ponytail and had sharp blue eyes. She reached out her hand to Noah.

"I'm Olivia, but everyone just calls me Liv."

"Matt. Nice to meet you." Noah took her hand and shook it as Matt quietly waved hello. Matt had pale skin, round brown eyes, and wavy medium-length red hair.

"I'm sorry if I come on so strong, I thought you might like some friends to talk to and help you catch up." Liv told him.

"Thank you. That's really nice of you." She drew herself closer to Noah.

"I failed this course last semester. I had the worst professor. But Professor Gemma is really cool." Noah began to look around the room to see more students walking in and sitting down. "Just pay attention, because she gives out a paper like, every week."

"I get that this is an art history class, but come on, aren't there other ways for us to learn? I thought this would be like, a class where I could draw." Matt said as he lowered his voice.

"I guess not." Liv replied. "So, what are you doing after this class?"

"I've got Painting 1 at 3, then I'll probably go home to walk my dog. Doesn't get more exciting than that."

"Well, if you have some time before your next class, we're going to go grab lunch somewhere around campus." Matt said. "We could even give you a tour on the way if you'd like." Liv looked over at Matt and smiled, raising her hands to her chest in excitement.

"Oh, that would be so much fun!" She looked over to Noah. "What do you say, are you in?" Noah thought about how his plan of laying low this semester had gone. He planned to come to class, go to his next class, and go home. He wasn't interested in making friends, but as his therapist has said, he needs to learn to be more relaxed and say yes more often.

"Sounds like a good plan." Noah told them.

"Oh, yay! It's gonna be great." She put her hand out in front of him. "We're your friends now. We got your back. Think of us like Cady, Janis, and Damian from Mean Girls, except we won't make you sabotage a girl's life for our pleasure." Matt began to laugh and looked at Liv.

"Yet." Matt remarked with a laugh. Noah gave a smile to them, and for once, he gave a genuine smile. The three kept making small talk with each other as they waited for the professor to start class. He learned that Liv was a musical theater major with a minor in art, and Matt was a musical theatre major as well. The two had met in middle school. Liv was being picked on by the other girls in her section and Matt stuck up for her, and since then, they'd done practically everything together, even going to the same university. They continued chatting with Noah up until the professor began class.

Upon entering his driveway, Noah breathed a sigh of relief. The time read 6:00pm. He looked down at his phone to see an unopened text from his group chat with Cody, Nicole, and Trent. Trent and Nicole had sent a photo of themselves when they got back to campus, almost four hours ago. He must have been so busy with preparing for school and having fun with Liv and Matt that he forgot to check his phone all day. He saw that the three of them had already conversed over the photo, and smiling as he noted Nicole saying she was happy to be back. He sent a quick text back, put his phone in his pocket and began to walk in the door with his backpack in tow. As he opened the door, Van Doggo walked up to his feet and wagged his tail, so Noah bent down to pet him. As he got up he realized the house felt quiet. Too quiet.

"Cody?" He looked around and began to smell something coming from the kitchen and walked towards that smell. He saw Cody over in the kitchen cooking.

"Oh, hey!" Cody looked up from cooking and smiled over at Noah. "How was your first day?"

"Surprisingly good. I already made some friends." Noah told him.

"That's great!" Noah watched as Cody continued to boil the pasta.

"So, what's the occasion?" He asked.

"It was your first day back to school, and I know how hard it was for you, so I wanted to make you something special. I'm not a good cook so if it doesn't go well, we'll just get some takeout." Noah looked down as he leaned over on the table near them. He stared lovingly at Cody as he stirred the pasta, then looked up at him.

"I'm so lucky to have you." Noah told him. Cody looked over to him and blushed as he strained the pasta into the strainer in the sink. He put the pot into the sink and walked to Noah as he put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm the lucky one." He told him. They had a moment of staring into each other's eyes, then gave each other a deep, passionate kiss. As they let go they began to hear a sizzle, and Noah looked over to the stovetop.

"You forgot to turn the burner off." Noah laughed. He walked over and turned it off for him. Cody's face turned red.

"Like I said, not a good cook." Noah began to help him by grabbing a few bowls from the kitchen cabinet while Cody made the pasta sauce, then watched him as he cooked. Once Cody was finished he put the pasta into the bowls and set them on the table, then Noah grabbed his favorite wine from the fridge and poured himself a glass as they sat down in front of each other.

"So, how did it go?" Cody asked.

"It was surprisingly good. I even made some friends."

"See, there you go!" Cody began to take a bite of his pasta, as did Noah. "I've been thinking about my future, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and I don't want to stream or be as my income for the rest of my life. There's a 2-year program in sound engineering starting in January, and that's what I want to do. I want to be a sound engineer for other inspiring artists like we were when we first started the Drama Brothers."

"That sounds really cool. I'm glad you found something you're passionate about." Noah smiled as he took another bite of this pasta. "You never have been a good cook, but you've really improved over the last few months."

"What can I say? Bethany has been showing me some tricks since I first moved in." The two boys smiled at each other as Noah reached out his hand to Cody.

"What would those two boys who accidentally kissed on the floor on international television say if they saw us now?" Noah asked. Cody thought about his question.

"I don't think they'd believe this is our life now."

"I know I wouldn't believe it if you told past-me." Noah said. He paused for a moment as the two were mesmerized into one another's eyes. "I love you."

"I love you." The two let go of each other's hands and looked down at their food. "Now let's eat before this goes cold."

"Agreed." As they chowed down on their food, Noah couldn't stop smiling, thinking about how crazy life has been since the beginning of Total Drama Island, and how he hopes things just keep going up for him.

A/N: Hello! It has been a hot sec since I've posted! School and life have been a little crazy lately, and though I've had this ready for awhile now I like to have 2 chapters ready at a time so I have a backup in case I can't write for a while. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm so sad this story is coming to an end soon! Thank you for reading and please leave a review if you liked it! I do also want to thank a few friends (who are also very talented writers and artists!) who have helped me create a vision of Noah's main grief painting - Colli, Caleb, and Scootia.

~Sami