First Published: 10/12/13
Edited: 2/8/19
PRESENT
"Oh, and Heather," said Courtney. "If you're wondering how I know about all of this, blame your friends. They have big mouths. Seriously, they wouldn't shut up during study hall. The point is, Heather, that you took away practically the only thing that made me happy when I was in a crappy situation just to become popular again. But that's the Heather policy, isn't it? You go out of your way to ruin someone else's life just to get ahead. Well now, the jokes on you. You tried to convince everyone on this island that you were miss queen bee, and I just gave away your dirty little secret. Isn't karma a bitch?"
Heather cringed. It really is.
"You wanna know a secret though? People did genuinely wanna be friends with you. Kiki wanted to go shopping with you. Chloe didn't always mind helping you. Hell, even Lindsay genuinely liked you. She told me, you know. She told me that there were moments when it felt like real friendship. When Lindsay realized you would never stop treating her like shit, she cried her eyes out. She wanted a real friend, and she thought she found one with you.
"Anyway, you just threw away your chance of having anything meaningful because you thought you were above it. So, I hope you have a happy life with Alejandro because he's the only person you're going to have. If you guys break up, you're going to be alone again and this time, you won't have a reality show to give you a second chance." The tape stopped.
As Bridgette put in another tape, Duncan said, "You know, Heather, I think she let you off too easy. I hope your relationship with Alejandro burns in hell."
Heather scoffed while hiding back her tears. Courtney was right. "That's big words for someone who's also the reason why she died."
"True," said Duncan slowly. "But the difference between you and me is that my relationship did burn out. And you know what I was left with? Nothing."
Wait. What? Heather looked between Duncan and Gwen. Duncan crossed his arms to show that he was serious. Gwen looked down at her feet. "Wait so you guys-"
"Enough," shouted Bridgette. "I'm not letting you ruin Courtney's last words with your personal drama. Let's just go back to the tapes."
HOW COURTNEY GOT TO TOTAL DRAMA
Courtney walked angrily to her next class. Nobody was in the room yet, but just to make sure that nobody could hear her, she covered her mouth with her hands and screamed as loud as she could. It's been weeks since she was at Damian's house waiting for Noah. It's been weeks and no call or text has been answered.
Courtney wasn't stupid. She knew that their relationship was more than likely over. You can't really have a relationship with a person who was actively ignoring you.
No. What bothered Courtney was the fact that Noah ended their friendship. How dare he? After all those years of being together? All those years of friendship wasted. Why won't he just talk to me?
She felt the tears threatening to spill and put her face on the desk trying to silence herself. Don't you dare cry. You're stronger than this. You're better than him.
...Right?
She missed Noah... A lot more than she wished. He was basically the only friend she made at this school. Yes, she also talked to other people, but she just couldn't connect with them.
Like Damien. When she first realized that Noah wouldn't talk to her anytime soon, she tried to hang out more with Damian. However, she found that their only common ground was the debate club, and although she loved that club, she didn't want to talk about it 24/7.
Of course, there was always Jenny.
Jenny was in most of her classes and though she was mostly quiet, she was probably the only other person Courtney mainly talked to.
Maybe she would try to talk to Jenny...
...If I can find Jenny...
The cafeteria was a big room filled with hundreds of students. How am I supposed to find her in here? She kept walking through the different groups of people sitting together before finally finding Jenny in the corner of the cafeteria sitting all alone.
"Hey Jenny," Courtney said while attempting to smile. This is fine. I can make new friends.
Jenny put her book down and pulled down her sleeves before waving at Courtney. "Courtney," she said softly. "Come sit." She patted on the spot next to her. "So, did you hear about Noah?"
Courtney felt a slight stab in her heart at the mention of his name. Just ignore it. He obviously doesn't care about you so why should you care about him? "He's kind of been ignoring me for the past few weeks so no. I've heard nothing about him.
Jenny stared at Courtney before looking and mumbling something about Noah and MO.
"What about Noah?"
Jenny looked back at Courtney as if she hasn't said anything. "Noah is our new president."
"How can you know that for sure? The elections didn't even happen yet."
"I know, but that junior that was running dropped out which means that Noah wins."
Courtney felt her blood boil. He just gets everything doesn't he? "Well I think that's bullshit," yelled Courtney. "He doesn't even care about anyone! He does whatever he wants to do! He's rude and selfish and doesn't deserve it!"
Courtney breathed heavily before realizing that she was yelling. In front of Jenny. In a cafeteria in front of her classmates. Courtney's face reddened with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," said Courtney. "I'm just upset because of him."
Jenny shook her head. "Are you kidding? That was amazing! I mean, you're right. Noah is all of those things and everyone knows it. Somebody should really go against him."
Maybe Jenny's right. "I should run against him."
Jenny gave her a questioning look.
"Think about it, Jenny. I'm in debate club so I can write speeches. I was a CIT last year so I have good leadership experience. And! For a little while, I was in the A-Type Psychotic Crazies-"
"But you didn't even do a single performance!"
"But we were supposed to! So there were multiple posters of us up so people know who I am!"
"Alright," Jenny said. "You convinced me. Just know that the due date is tomorrow morning before school."
"Fine. I can still finish on time. I just need someone to record my speech."
"No worries. I've been listening to the gossip around school and apparently Tom wants to be part of the council too. If you promise him a position, he'll probably do anything for you. And besides, this will look great on your college application."
Courtney frowned. Last night, her parents were fighting over their financial state again. It became clear to Courtney that her parent's couldn't afford to send her off to college unless if she went to a community one.
Jenny noticed Courtney's facial expression. "Oh, I get it. Financial problems?" Courtney nodded. Jenny reached into her book and unfolded the piece of paper she used as a bookmark. "Here. I found this on the ground." She handed Courtney an audition paper.
"Total Drama Island?"
"It's a competition. The winner gets $100,000."
I mean... The money is good, but is this really the best way to solve my problems? "I don't know..."
"Come on, Courtney," Jenny urged. "Do it to show Noah that he didn't break you. That you're doing just fine. (Courtney couldn't help notice that Jenny seemed to be saying that more for herself than for Courtney.) Besides, it's a video audition. You can record your speech and the audition at the same time."
The bell rang.
"Courtney, just talk to Tom. I'm sure that he'll have some ideas to get you to win." Jenny picked up her bag and started to walk away. Then, she turned around and said, "Oh, and if you want a new boy, I think I heard that Scott has a bit of a crush on you."
Courtney looked out of the window and watched Scott (who's ditching lunch!) carve his name into a tree. She turned around and shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm not really into bad boys."
During her free period, Courtney met Tom in the front of the school. It turned out that Tom was part of the school's AV club so he had access to the school's cameras. She waited patiently as Tom found the perfect angle to film Courtney.
"Okay, first things first," said Tom while holding the camera. "You have to fill in an application to run. Now the trick is to put as many academic stuff on it. By doing so, the admission people will let you run. If you don't, they basically rip up your application. So, let me guess, you're a straight A student?"
Courtney nodded her head.
"Okay, what have you done?"
"I wrote a book... was a CIT... in the debate club... a synchronized swimmer captain..."
"What?"
"Don't ask."
"Whatever" Tom said pressing the recording button. "Let's just get this over with."
An hour later, Courtney went through two tapes before finishing her speech.
Tom shook his head. "Seriously?"
"What?"
"You want them to vote for you based on that speech. Not fall asleep."
Courtney scoffed. "Excuse me. I'll have you know that with a speech like that I would've crushed the other debate team. And that's before we even get to the rebuttals."
"Whatever, let's just film the audition tape. And hurry because I got to go to gym class in like five minutes."
Courtney sighed. "Fine, I'll do a shorter version."
"Ready and go."
"Vote for Courtney! Hi! Vote for Courtney! Oh, hi! So as you know, I'm running for student council president, and if I win, I'll be the youngest one ever at this school. If you pick me for your new show, I promise I'll conduct myself with integrity, honor, and I'll get two new pot machines for the cafeteria. Oh, fuck, I just mixed up the two speeches." Tom rolled his eyes at that. He looked at his watch and almost swore. Only got one minute to get to gym class.
"Can we start over?"
She can't be serious. I got class to go to. So, he shook his head no which also shook the camera.
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"I mean, I gotta get to gym class," said Tom as he heard the bell ring signaling the start of class. And, I'm late.
She walked up to Tom and put her hand over the lens. "You promised you'd tape my audition for Total Drama Island, Tom! Oh, just give the camera! Give it to me!"
Tom rolled his eyes again and stopped the tape. "Look, I got to go. If you want, I'll help you with this after school." Not wanting to get into a fight with her, he dropped the camera, picked up his bag, and walked away quickly.
"But I have to meet with Damian to prepare our debate after school!"
"Well then, I guess you're screwed!" he yelled back at her without turning around.
She watched as Tom left and turned back on the camera. "You are so no going to be my secretary if I win..." Anyway... "Vote for Courtney!"
Courtney whistled as she walked to Jenny. After filming her audition tape and her speech, she gave the tapes to Jenny, who said that she would edit the tapes and deliver them. Courtney was beyond excited. She knew that she could beat Noah. I am better than him. Speaking of Jenny...
Jenny stood by her undecorated locker preparing for her next class.
"Hey Jenny," said Courtney walking up to Jenny. "Did you deliver the tapes?"
"Well," said Jenny slowly while pulling her sleeves down. "The thing is... I tried... But they said your speech broke a rule."
"Which one?"
"They said that your speech can only be up to ten minutes at most. Your speech is almost an hour long. I tried. I tried really hard, but I didn't have enough time to edit it down to more than thirty minutes!"
Courtney groaned. And it's due today. "So now what?"
Jenny held up two discs. "These are your Total Drama Island audition. I can give one as your presidential speech, and one as your audition."
"But didn't I swear in it?"
"Yeah, but I bleeped it out. It's going to be okay. I doubt they'll even care. They'll probably just laugh it off."
Courtney shook her head. "No, they won't. I could get in trouble for that!"
"I hate to say this, Courtney, but it's the only option you have left."
No, it's not. "I'm dropping out."
"And let Noah win?"
"As long as I don't get in trouble, I really don't give a damn."