First Published: 11/25/14

Edited: 2/11/19

Nobody moved to open the door. The person started knocking again.

Bridgette walked up and opened the door to reveal the sixth person... Wait. Who was that?

"Are you Bridgette," the young teen intern asked obviously not enjoying the task he was given.

Bridgette slowly nodded her head. Well... This wasn't how it was supposed to go. "And you are..."

"Chris said it didn't matter what my name was so I'm just known as 'unpaid intern'."

"Uh huh," she replied slowly. "I'm sorry but where is Chris? He was supposed to be here."

The intern shrugged. "He said something about he had to get ready for the finale. I can take a message." His body language made it obvious that he wasn't interested in remembering any message that Bridgette would relay to him.

"Just... Just, forget it, okay?"

The intern rolled his eyes and put on his headphones as he walked away.

"So," Gwen said as Bridgette walked back to where the rest of them were. "I'm guessing that Chris did something too?"

CHRIS'S STORY

Courtney had a hell of a day. After deciding that it was finally time to get off this forsaken island once and for all, she had to come up with a plan. How am I supposed to get even close to where Chris is? He's such a narcissist that he probably has security guarding his place 24/7.

It turned out that security was lacking due to the show going downhill. All she really had to do was find his trailer (which wasn't actually hard since really, it was almost like a mansion... I guess we had to suffer for Chris's gain). She held her breath as she reached the door of Chris's "trailer". She held the recorder close enough to her face and said, "Well, this is it. If everything works out, I'll be safe at home. There'd be no need to die. I can actually burn these tapes. But I guess if you're listening then that means it didn't work out... I really hope it does though. He's my last hope."

Here goes nothing. With the recording button still on, she hid the tape recorder in her pocket and knocked on the door. "Chris! Get down here now! I know that you're in there! Don't make me sue you again!"

She only had to wait a few seconds to see Chris at the door. "Geez," he sneered. "Some CIT woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."

Courtney held back a nasty remark. Stay on his good side. I have to make this work. Just be nice about it. "Look," she said in the nicest tone she could manage. "I know that you somehow created a contract where it makes it virtually impossible for me to leave this show, but I really need to leave."

He sighed. "I can't say you were the first to ask me this. But I thought you were smarter than this. You and I both know that the contract is binding. No exceptions."

"But I have a good reason!"

"Alright, I'll bite. What's your reason?"

"I'm pregnant."

Chris thought for a while before answering Courtney. "Okay. So here's what we'll do. There's about a year until the next season ends so we'll just let you give birth and then give it up for adoption."

Courtney's jaw dropped. How can he be so insensitive? Well, it is Chris but still! "What if I wanted to keep the baby?"

He laughed at that. "Come on, Courtney. Be realistic here. We all know that you have these big plans for yourself. Do you really think a baby would fit in with those plans? You'll just be like one of those Americans in 16 and pregnant."

Courtney was furious. He can't make my decisions for me. "Why won't you just let me leave?"

"Look," he said. "Believe it or not, there's people that's above me. You can't just ask me if you want to leave. You have to convince everyone who's working on this show. And let me tell you something, they're a lot more cruel than me."

"So you're not even going to try for me?"

"That's what happens in this television world. People don't really care about you. They care about how much money they're going to make off of you." He paused for a moment. "Actually, maybe we can make a daycare spinoff, and your baby can be in it! Then, you'll be able to stay AND keep the baby! What do you say?"

That's it. Courtney turned and started to walk away.

"Alright! Good talk! Let me know if you change your mind!"

Once far enough away, she took the tape recorder back out. "Well, that didn't go well. What was I expecting?" She paused for a moment. "Goodbye, cruel world."

END OF TAPES

"Wait," said Trent. "What happened to the baby?"

Bridgette sighed. "I really don't know. The only thing that Courtney wrote in her letter to me is that she gave the baby to Chris. Only Chris knows where the baby is now."

By the time the final tape wrapped up, it was close to midnight. Bridgette gave each contestant their tape, and they went off their separate ways. I need a drink. I can't believe all the shit that happened today. When she finally arrived at the bar, she was surprised to see that someone already beat her there.

There, already sitting on a stool, was Noah holding a shot glass.

"I didn't know that you drink," said Bridgette sitting down next to him.

Noah jumped a little before turning around to face Bridgette. He chugged down his shot and slammed the shot glass on the counter causing the glass to break.

"Watch it," the bartender warned, but Noah just waved him off.

"What can I say," he said. "I had to survive the show somehow." He motioned for the bartender to give him another shot. The bartender gave him a suspicious glare but compiled while mumbling something about him "needing to work at an actual bar". Noah stared at his glass. "It's really not my favorite thing. But, you know, when you find out that you were one of the reasons why a person commits suicide, you kind of want to feel numb for a little while."

He chugged down his drink before talking to Bridgette again. "Sometimes, I like to be away from everyone. And I thought to myself, 'Where's the last place that teenagers go during the day?'." He then extended his arm to show the empty room (Why is it empty right now? It's midnight). "A bar! People get drunk during the day! This place is only packed at night so I come here just to be alone at times. And I figure that this is one of the only times where I can experiment with alcohol and figure out what the big deal is. My friend, Logan, here has been very helpful with that." The bartender (er... Logan) decided to ignore that statement (he swears this time that he will quit!).

Bridgette ordered a drink for herself. As soon as it arrived, she took a big sip. "I'm surprised the rest of them isn't here," she confessed. "I would've thought that they all wanted to drown their feelings."

He laughed at that. "They probably are, but they have their own stash."

Bridgette took a sip of her drink thinking hard about the tapes... What they confessed... How they all reacted... "Hey, Noah?"

"Hm?"

"What did you mean when you told Gwen that she didn't know the full story?"

Noah paused for a second debating in his hand whether or not he should tell Bridgette. If Courtney could trust her, then I should too, right? "There were things that happened that she didn't know. There was a reason why I stopped talking to her back at school. At the moment, I thought it was a good reason. After, I wasn't really sure.

"I really did love her. How could I not? She was my best friend. I came on this show because I wanted to make things right. I just needed her back in my life. Even if it was just as friends. And then things just kept happening like Duncan and then her doing that lawsuit to get back to the show and the Gwen thing and... There just never seemed to be a good time to do anything."

There's a lot more to the story than Courtney put on the tape. I didn't want to say anything in the room since it was supposed to be about Courtney, but I guess at least one person should now."

"That and you're drunk."

He chuckled. "Basically."

NOAH'S STORY

BACK TO TENTH GRADE AFTER THE BREAK UP

Noah spent a whole month wallowing in self-pity. After deciding to ignore Courtney, Noah didn't really talk much. Besides a few acquaintances, Courtney was the only person he actively interacted with during school hours. But she had to go ruin it! "Why are girls so stupid," he mumbled to himself as he attempted to open his locker.

"You're the stupid one."

Ugh, I really don't want to deal with this right now! He spun around quickly to face the owner of that voice. "What do you know-" He stopped himself. Standing in front of him was a girl known as the one and only Jenny. "What do you want?"

Noah has known Jenny since kindergarten. In fact, until seventh grade, they were best friends. Jenny was smart. She's the one who opened his eyes to Winston Churchill, which started his love of Churchill wit. She was super bubbly but appreciated Noah's sarcastic, cynical nature. "You just tell it like it is," she used to say to him. "There's nothing wrong with that." And Noah? He may or may not have harbored a crush towards this girl. How could he not? She liked him for who he was when everybody else thought of him as nothing but a loser.

However, it all came to an end in seventh grade when she confessed to him that she was trying to befriend Heather. Noah thought she was out of her mind. She claimed that while she loved hanging out with him, she wanted to branch out and make other friends too. And probably for the popularity status too. She promised that he'd still be her best friend, but Noah didn't hold onto his end of the bargain. You see, after being accepted into Heather's group, Noah ignored her. He didn't want to be associated with Heather in any way, and if Jenny wanted to hang out with Heather instead of him, then so be it. She still tried to talk to him, but he'd just walk the other way. By the end of seventh grade, something must've happened because she wasn't seen around Heather anymore.

And now, in tenth grade, Jenny stood in front of Noah once again. But she was different. Her bubbly personality was gone, and it was replaced with a shy, quiet attitude. Instead of being at the top of her class like Noah, she was almost towards the bottom. And she always wore long sleeves.

Jenny glared at him. "You always do this, you know. You always act like everyone's leaving you when really you're the one who's shutting everyone out."

"If memory serves right, you were the one who left me for Heather."

"This. Isn't. About. You. And. Me. This is about Courtney. You were her best friend, and you left her because you thought that for some reason she was getting it on with her debate partner!"

I never told anyone about that picture. "How did you know-"

"I can put two and two together! Courtney tells me she was at Damian's house, and then the next day, you're not talking to her. Talk to her!"

He scoffed. "I don't know if you noticed, but I can also put two and two together so I know-"

"You don't know shit! You just expect that everyone will leave you! So when there's a situation when it seems like someone will leave you, you just cut them out! News flash, Noah! Courtney wasn't going to leave you! You're the one who left her!"

After Jenny's outburst, Noah realized how much of a jerk he truly was. Why didn't I ever talk to Courtney about this? She's my best friend and my girlfriend! Why did I let Heather play me like that? She had to have set up the whole thing! I'm so stupid! I've known her since I was five, and she still manipulated me! First thing tomorrow, I'm going to apologize to her.

He walked over to his desk and took out a piece of paper and pen and wrote:

Dear Courtney,

I'm really sorry about the way that I treated you. I should've listened to you instead of letting my pride get the best of me. Please meet me after school at that ice cream shop around the corner. I'll even pay for you. Just, please come. I really need to talk to you.

-Noah

Before the bell for the end of homeroom rang, Noah looked around to make sure that Courtney wasn't anywhere near her locker before slipping the note in. Little did he know, that the note didn't fall in all the way. Instead, it slipped back out of the locker onto the hallway floor facing the death of being trampled by students as soon as the bell rang.

For the first time in his life, Noah wasn't interested in learning anything that day. Every class period, he'd stare at the clock. It was finally his last period of the day. He waited anxiously for the bell to ring. As soon as it rang, he rushed over to the ice cream shop and waited.

Over an hour had passed since Noah entered the ice cream shop. He wasn't able to take a single sip of his milkshake, which was now a melted mess that pooled onto his table. He felt himself sink lower and lower into his seat until finally...

Landon and Scott showed up and walked straight towards Noah.

Noah rolled his eyes at that. "What do you want, Landon? I can't help you with homework right now. I'm kind of waiting for someone."

Landon laughed. "I see that you've already moved on. Good for you." He slapped Noah on the back. "Anyway, since you've moved on, you wouldn't mind Scott here taking a swing at Courtney now, would you?"

"Why? Farm boy can't do it himself?"

"She cleans up real nice," Scott said in a dreamy voice.

Landon went closer to Noah and whispered, "Farm boy here doesn't really have that much experience with talking to girls he likes. Mind giving him a few pointers to get Courtney?"

Noah looked at the clock again. I've been sitting here for an hour and a half. I guess that she's not coming.

"Sorry, but I've got to go," said Noah while rushing out of the ice cream shop not looking at either Landon or Scott.

Landon turned to Scott and slapped his shoulder. "No worries, pal. You'll get her. Someday."

The next day, as luck would have had it, Landon and Scott were waiting right by Noah's locker. Noah groaned when he saw that. Great. Not again... He could've just walked straight to class, but he knew that they would just keep bothering him until he talked to them. Time to rip the bandaid off. As he neared his locker, Landon noticed and walked up to him with a huge smile on his face.

"Noah! Buddy," Landon said patting him on the back.

Noah rolled his eyes. "What do you want now?"

"Come on, help this poor guy out in getting a girl." Landon pointed to Scott, who was busy scratching his name into the locker next to him.

"Uh, let me think about it. Not if he was the last person on earth."

Landon leaned in to whisper to Noah again. "Come on, Noah. Scott really needs help."

"I can't help him."

"Why not? You're going to be announced school president really soon. And as our president, you are obligated to help all of us students in need. Including our naive, farmer, red headed bastard."

"But I'm trying to get Courtney back."

Landon stayed silent for a little while before saying, "Look, Noah, Scott and I witnessed Courtney trying out for that new Total Drama Island show." He leaned away. "What did you think about her speech mixup, Scott?"

"She's pretty when she's mad," said Scott dreamily before resuming his carving in the locker.

Landon leaned back in. "Anyway, I don't know how much longer she'll be here after she makes it in. Maybe a few months if anything. I'm only encouraging Scott because hopefully, he won't get the courage to ask her out until a few weeks before she leaves so when he freaks her out with his lack of knowledge of what to do when he likes someone, she'll be gone and Scott won't have to live out the humiliation. You, on the other hand, have to wait maybe a few months for her to chill before trying anything."

"Well that's just great!" He slammed his locker and walked away from the duo.

"Hey," yelled Landon. "Where are you going?"

"To audition for that stupid reality show!"

With the duties of being class president and making sure that he was still in the top of his class, Noah barely had time in trying to find Courtney to make amends with her and in trying to avoid Landon and Scott.

However, the months passed by quickly, and before Noah knew it, he was put on a boat to travel to Total Drama Island. Please work out this time. I can't screw things up again.

In the first season, Noah hoped that he would be put on to the same team as Courtney. As luck would have it, he was not. The fact that he was on the show to get Courtney back and just had to be on the opposing side lead him to become more cynical and sarcastic than usual which lead to him being kicked out pretty early. It also didn't help that Courtney fell in love with that delinquent.

In the second season, both of them did not compete and while Noah thought that this was his shot, Courtney always seemed busy trying to get back on the show. And, of course, as luck would have it, she succeeded.

In the third season, they both competed again, but unfortunately, they weren't on the same team. Again. He would've talked to her on the airplane but all she did was talk about Duncan, which Noah did not need to hear about. Then, he got eliminated, and Courtney... well... Things didn't go so great for her.

He often wondered, Will luck ever be on my side?

TO BE CONTINUED