A/N: So I've written several chapters of this for a head start. I'll attempt to update every two weeks. Basically I wanted to write a fix the season fic with an OC much like sideshowjazz1 has in the past. You may recognize this story as I had the first five chapters posted earlier this year. However I found myself too busy to consistently update at the time and preferred taking it down to leaving it unfinished. I should have written far enough ahead to avoid that problem this time. Excluding unforeseen circumstances.
When I first woke I glanced at the clock. It was currently seven and did not arise until eight. So I turned over to go back to sleep. It was then I remembered what day it was. I groaned at the realization but got up anyway. I began to shower wondering how I had gotten into this predicament.
When Total Drama first came out I was merely an avid viewer. I'm unsure why as I generally held a disdain for such shows, but something about it lured me in. My favorite contestant was Noah, his quips were funny and he seemed to be a fellow bibliophile. Unfortunately his lazy attitude led to his early elimination. So I moved onto my second favorite contestant, Courtney. She made it far and was truly an asset to her team, but was unfairly cheated out of the competition. I then rooted for Gwen who made it to the finale.
Just before the second season Fresh TV, the producers of the show, announced applications for an internship. Since I had enjoyed the show I applied. So for season two I was an intern. I set up the challenges, tested them, and did busy work around the film lot. I also got Chris coffee on occasion. It was hard work and we were treated poorly, but I thrive under pressure so it wasn't too bad for me.
Post season Chris continued to have me around. I bought supplies and did his laundry amongst other things. Noah, my favored contest from season one, had become Chris' assistant. I really wanted to speak with him, but my nerouses prevented me from doing so. I was worried about making a bad impression. There was a reunion held during which he got fired. I wanted to stick around and console him. Chris made me go with the cast of his new reality show. I was to clean up after them.
One of the contestants was a Spainard named Alejandro. He was flirtatious with me and I have to admit I wasn't entirely unreceptive. Eventually Chris picked up around two thirds of the cast and announced that the new reality show had merely been a test to see if they still had stardom in them. Naturally Alejandro was upset, but Chris said he could be on the new season as well. That was when this whole mess began.
"Seventeen is an odd number, we need another new contestant." He turned and pointed at me. "Intern you've been given the honor of becoming a contestant on the next season."
I looked around. "W-who me?"
"Yes you." Chris replied with a gleaming smile.
"M-mr. McLean I-I'm not cut out for-" I stuttered.
"You don't have a choice, it says in your contract that we can call on you to be a contestant anytime." He smirked.
In the present I sighed as I turned off the shower. That's what I got for skimming the last few pages. Now I was stuck participating in a reality T.V. show. I had been told my label was the awkward nerd. This was certainly true. I toweled off and began to dress. I wore a simple rose blouse, blue jeans, and a pair of flats. I then put my ginger hair in a french braid bun as I always did, and finished by putting oval framed glasses on my face. The green frame matched my eyes.
I then double checked the suitcase I had packed the previous day, it contained two more blouses, a couple jeans, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a small bottle of two in one shampoo, a bar of soap, lense cleaner, a fiber cloth, a green jacket, a green one piece swimsuit, three pocket sized books, and a book of picross puzzles. I was satisfied that I was prepared supply wise. Now if only I were prepared mentally.
I was broken from my thoughts by a loud honk. I glanced outside to see the bus had arrived. I grabbed my suitcase and rushed to the vehicle. My parents both worked and they already knew where I was going. I would have been leaving today anyway, it's just that now I was going to be on the show instead of an intern.
I stepped onto the bus and greeted Chef Hatchet. He grunted and I headed down the bus aisle. It took all I had not to leave the bus right then, contract be damned. Everyone was staring at me, or at least the vast majority were. I felt as though I might suffocate under their gaze. Eventually I found myself sitting next to Alejandro. His gentle voice eased the tumultuous state of my heart. I wasn't sure why, perhaps it was how quiet he was.
"It seems you are out of your element, Miss-" He paused as though I was supposed to say something. I pondered this for a moment, and upon realizing what he was waiting for I managed to say something.
"It's Q-quill Montgomery. Y-you may call me Quill." I took a breath to calm myself. "I apologize for leaving you hanging like that, but I'm not good at-" I searched my brain for an explanation. "Small talk, amongst other things."
"That is alright. My name is Alejandro Burromurto, it's a pleasure to meet you." He said with a wink.
"I forgot to ask your name. I apologize." I stumbled.
"There's no need to apologize." He smiled.
"I apologize for apologizing then." I muttered, blushing as I realized I was making it worse.
"It's fine, your beauty more than makes up for it." He flirted.
All thoughts moved from my head, luckily I was saved from having to answer when the bus came to a stop. Chef yelled back. "Newbies you're getting off last, wait until you're introduced then get off the bus."
I waited my turn, hardly paying attention. I was so nervous. It was one thing to work behind the scenes and another to be on the show. Interns had business relations and not much else. I was comfortable with that, it was ordered and I could focus on the task at hand. Interacting with other people though, not so much.
I heard Chris making his first lengthy intro. Alejandro gave me a wink. "He's an honour roll student with a diplomat for a dad and an amazing ability to charm the pants off most species … Alejandro!"
He left the bus and I saw him help some contestants on the ground. It gave me some comfort to see I wasn't the only one tongue tied in his presence, as a boy said loudly that he liked girls.
Next the girl near me was introduced. If I'm honest, she worried me. It seemed as though she had ingested a thousand pounds of sugar. "She's a sugar-addicted superfan with sixty total drama blogs... Sierra!" Sierra rushed off the bus, claiming she loved everyone here and hyperventilating. She ran over to Cody saying she'd dreamt of this moment but he wasn't wearing a shirt. I made a note to avoid Sierra.
Then the moment I dreaded arrived. Chris introduced me. "And she went from intern to contestant. She's got an encyclopedic brain but has zero social skills...Quill."
I took a deep breath, okay I could do this. I could make a good impression. I stepped off the bus, and immediately tripped. I could hear the other contestants laughing and struggled to hold my tears back. I got up and swallowed. "Hey...so I'm Quill and I loved the first season." I was getting a few unimpressed looks. "I'll just...stand over there…"
My social worries were cut short by the arrival of our transport. A large jumbo jet that no safety inspector would pass. I wasn't the only one with concerns.
"Excuse me, but I'd like to raise some concerns about the safety of our plane." Courtney asked, ever the logical one.
Chris said it was safe but a panel fell off the side of the plane as though to contradict him. Owen immediately began to panic as his strong Aerophobia took hold. . "No, I can't ride in that! Call a cab! Call the United Nations! Call my mom! No, I'm not doing this! I'm out! This is unethical-" Chris hit him with a frying pan. I winced but it wasn't the worst thing I'd seen the somewhat sociopathic host do. Part of the reason Chris kept me on so long was because of the many injuries my fellow interns suffered.
No one else dared to complain about the plane, but as we entered a conversation began about our requirement to sing. Many of the contestants were not fond of the idea, myself included. Though to be fair we'd probably have to do many worse things than singing. Heather asked the question we were all wondering.
"Why are you doing this to us?"
"Singing reality shows are huge." Chris explained. "And the worse the singing, the higher the ratings, which is why on this show, there will be no vocal coaches, or rehearsals, or warning!"
"Well that makes it far better." I deadpanned.
"I know right?" The host responded, clearly overlooking my unenthused tone. We began to get a tour of the plane. Beginning with the common area, where we would take our meals and prepare for departure. Next there was what Chris referred to as economy class. It was merely two metal benches with safety harnesses. Knowing Chris, the harnesses had not been tested.
"We should hit the winner's compartment, eh? Cause I ain't never gonna sit back here, never!" Ezekiel said. I didn't want to crush his dreams but it was unlikely his team would never lose.
"Is never your policy on mouthwash too, Homeschool?" Noah snarked and I couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle as I too had noticed his halitosis. He glanced my way and I desperately wanted to greet him. I was too scared, what if I came across like Sierra did with Cody?
At any rate Chris proceeded to show us the luxury class, it had armchairs that folded back, good food, and many other things. Alejandro flirted with Lindsay. I felt a surge of jealousy, but quashed it immediately. I had no claim to Alejandro, and it seemed he was nice to everyone.
We were shown Chris's headquarters which contained an amazing television set up, a nice hot tub, and wood burning pizza oven. We were instructed to stay out, as they were off limits.
Then we entered the elimination room where we would vote on our fellow competitors and receive a symbol of immunity, a barf bag filled with peanuts. I noted the bags appeared to be used and decided not to partake, should I get one. The loser would be thrown from the plane. Ezekiel complained about the peanuts causing Chris to throw him off the plane.
The toilet was a confessional cam and then Chris left us to our own devices. I noticed Gwen and Courtney seemed to dislike each other. I decided this would be a good opportunity to talk to Noah. I sat next to him and swallowed. I just had to treat this as a business interaction where I was asking for information. "Hey… I-I know we just met, but I was wondering what's going on between Gwen and Courtney?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Weren't you there?"
"W-well yeah, but I didn't get to see any of it, I was too busy running errands for Chris and setting up challenges. So while I've seen season one I have no idea what happened during season two."
"Well Courtney thinks Gwen's into Duncan." He said.
"Seriously? What about Trent?" I asked.
He sighed. "It looks like someone has to catch you up. I don't want you to get the skewed point of view on the information, so I guess I'll tell you." So for the next hour Noah filled me in on season two. I couldn't believe Courtney went mad with power. She was bossy but she never seemed too bad.
Eventually Chris arrived wearing a suit with a bowler hat and cane. "Whenever you hear that friendly little bell, it's musical number time!" Chris announced. "So let's hear it!"
"But...what are we supposed to sing?" Courtney asked
"You have to make it up as you go. Wouldn't be challenging otherwise, now would it?"
Everyone sang a song about singing and flying on a plane. Eventually everyone asked Duncan and Gwen to sing. The two replied no.
"Anyone got a copy of the season three rules-"
I took the opportunity to cut the host off. "In order to escape instant elimination-" I sang.
"All contestants must sing in each show!" Bridgette read off the papers Chris held.
"Duncan do it! Let's go!" Courtney asked the delinquent.
"Gwen sing it, don't go!" Cody pleaded.
"I don't wanna go home… come fly with us, come fly with us, come and fly with us!" Gwen sang.
"Duncan come on!" Courtney complained.
"This sucks!" He said ending the song.
Chef's voice came over the loudspeaker . "Enough singing, fruitcakes! Strap yourselves in. We are now starting our descent into Egypt. Musical numbers, worst idea ever. Chris is such an idi – hey, why's the PA light still on? Oh, shi-"
Well like it or not, my first challenge was here.
Egypt was sweltering. I was glad I had worn a relatively light blouse. I couldn't imagine wearing a hoodie like Bridgette or three layers of shirts like Noah. I spotted Gwen and remembered what Noah had told me. She's gone through the wringer last year, for something that wasn't really her fault. The strong confident Gwen of season one was still somewhere in there. Someone needed to bring it out.
I approached Gwen and spoke to her. "H-hey so I heard you had a rough time last season."
"Look I just wanna put all that behind me." Gwen sighed.
"I-I get that, it's just, seeing how close you were with Lashawna in season one, I can't believe you'd drift apart like that."
"Look Lashawna may have been my best friend during season one, but we didn't really see each other much during season two." She defended.
"T-true, but I think now would be a good time to reconnect you know?" I swallowed as she gave me a look. "J-just think about it okay?"
With that I heard Chris bang some cymbals. He explained that the first challenge would be making our way to the other side of the Pyramid in front of us. "You choose how you get to the finish line. Either over or under the Pyramid.
"U-um Technically it;s over or t-through." I corrected, unable to help myself. Chris ignored me. We were just about to start the challenge when Ezekiel arrived. Apparently he had climbed the landing gear to get back on the plane. Quite the feat for someone with his upper body strength. Even Chris was impressed, though he still wouldn't let him back in.
Chris rang the cymbals to start the challenge. As a ginger the sun is my mortal enemy so I followed the larger group into the pyramid. I smiled when I saw Gwen had followed Lashawna in. It seemed my words had helped her. Of course things couldn't remain easy as we all came across three passages through the pyramid.
"Oh great," Noah said drolly. "Our friendly neighborhood host dude failed to mention there were different paths."
"Hey Quill which way do you think we should go?" Heather asked me with a smile. She was clearing hoping that my lack of previous experiences would make me open to being her ally.
"H-heather I'm not going anywhere, w-with y-you." I managed to stammer out. Heather scared me.
"I know!" Izzy exclaimed. "I saw this in a spy movie once. You lick your finger aad hold it up to find the airflow!" She did as she said. "Sand really crunches in your teeth! Okay DJ, give me your hand!"
Lashawna snatched his hand away from Izzy. "Don't do it DJ! You might catch a case of crazy! Come on Harold!" Lashawna, Harold, DJ , and Gwen all proceeded down the scarab path. Heather and Sierra went down the ankh path.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Let's take the scary mummy door!" Izzy exclaimed. Noah and Owen seemed to have no problem with this. I decided to tag along. They didn't say no, so I figured it was okay. The thing was, I knew in order to get further in the game I had to have allies. I wasn't so sure about Izzy but Owen was trustworthy and I really wanted to get to know Noah. I didn't say much because I was so nervous about making a bad impression.
Eventually we saw some bandages on the ground. "Oh look, we're in the nurse's office!" Izzy exclaimed.
"It's a pyramid not a high school." Noah snarked. I let out an involuntary chuckle. I froze when he looked at me. Did I sound fake? Did he think I was laughing at him? Luckily nothing came of this as Izzy threw the bandages at the three of us. "Mummy me!"
"A-are we sure those bandages are sanitary?" I couldn't help but worry.
Noah shook his head. "Just go with it, it'll make things easier." We bandaged her up. For the next few minutes Izzy led us in circles, for some reason. Izzy got lost and I wanted to leave but Owen was unwilling.
""Izzy! Izzy!" He called for his girlfriend.
"Dude she's lost, we gotta go." Noah tried to convince him.
"Aw poor Iz." He sighed.
"" Poor Iz? She kept insisting we go in circles because she 'smelled something lucky'."
"Aw I think that might have been my fault." He said sheepishly, as he farted. He tried to waft the smell away from us. "Airplane food."
I let out a subconscious noise of disgust. "Sorry." I muttered.
"Completely understandable" Noah said,
:"Yeah Even I don't like the way I smell."Owen noted.
We ended up waiting a bit longer as Owen was still unwilling to leave. Just as I was about to move on without either of them, a figure wrapped in bandages arrived. "Hey brickhouse, I found your girl." Noah deadpanned.
I looked at the figure. No, Izzy had still been recognizable under her bandages. "U-um guys I don't think that's Izzy." I whispered apparently too quietly for them to hear.
"Iz! Say you do make a cute mummy," Owen said drawing closer the figure and puckering up. "You got a kiss for Owen?" The figure moved away from the big lug. It seemed this was what caught Noah's attention.
"That's not Izzy! Run!" He cried. The three of us began to run for our lives. I'll be honest, I never really believed it was a mummy, but I didn't want to be left behind. Eventually we ran out of the pyramid to join Alejandro, and Tyler.
"Congratulations." Chris told him.
"That's wonderful." He replied. I began to take in my surroundings. Evidently, we were splitting into three teams this season. As a group of six others was to our right. They were Lashawna, Harold, DJ, Gwen, Lindsay, and Bridgette.
It was then the full brunt of the situation hit me. I was on the same team as Noah and Alejandro. I suddenly began to feel excited, but also extremely nervous. What if I messed up somehow?
I gulped as I turned to Noah."S-so, it looks like we're teammates."
"Yeah." Noah returned. An awkward silence fell between us, I didn't want to be the one to break it, my nerouses wouldn't let me. Yet at the same time I was super uncomfortable. Alejandro seemed to have noticed this, as he broke the tension effortlessly.
"Quill, I didn't know you'd be on my team. How fortunatus." The charmer said to me.
"Y-yeah, b-but I'm glad. I think I'd have a hard time competing against you." I stammered.
"Indeed, having to be at odds would be torture." He schmoozed. I felt a little weak in the knees.I'd never had the attention of someone this charming before. I tended to drive those people away from me. So you could say I have little experience in being flirted with. At least in a nice way like this. I had received catcalls and sexual pickup lines before. I usually ran away from those.
Sierra came out of the pyramid carrying Cody. She ended up on our team, and I immediately felt uncomfortable. Luckily Cody ended up on the other team. After that Duncan ran down the pyramid with Courtney screaming the whole way. Finally Izzy came out of the pyramid holding the mummy.
"Izzy, no!" Owen called.
"You're carrying the undead!" Noah added.
Far from being fazed, Izzy seemed excited at this idea. "Cool! Bite me and I can be your undead friend like Frankenstein!"
"Frankenstein's monster." I muttered. Apparently Noah heard me because he gave me an appreciative look.
As it turned out the 'mummy was Ezekiel. I had been wondering where he'd gone. He ran to Chris and begged him. "Come on guy! After all this you gotta let me back in the game!"
Chris looked about to say no when I spoke up. "What would be the point of having me join to even out the contestants, if you get rid of him?"
"Fine. Join team three they're a member down anyway." Chris admitted.
Chris told us that we could name ourselves this season. Chris gave us a minute while he had a single scoop strawberry ice cream. Our team spent the entire time arguing. Well the four boys argued, while Sierra thought and I kept my mouth shut. Eventually each team cheered their name.
"Team Victory!" The first team called, though Gwen looked nervous at the name.
"Team Warriors!" The third team called.
We still hadn't decided on a name. When Sierra called out. " Got it! Team Chris is really really really really hot!"
We were all flabbergasted. "What!" Of course Chris was not about to let us change it.
"Alright best team name ever!" Chris cheered. He gave each team a prize. A camel for the warriors, a goat for us, and a stick for team victory.
I managed to get some time in the confessional after that, as they were beginning to set up the next episodes challenge. I found out later my confessional played directly after I had joined my team.
"I'm on a team with Noah!" I exclaimed, unable to contain my excitement. "Alejandro's there too. He's really making me flustered. "You know as long as I'm stuck in this situation, I may as well do my best. If I did win the million somehow it'd allow me to go to any college I wanted. Maybe I just need to view this as an opportunity."
A/N: I hope I didn't overstep my boundaries. I don't want Quill to be a fix all. I figured her talking to Gwen and the results would be plausible enough.
Now Gwen makes Team Victory a round six, thus when Ezekiel begs to be let back in Chris puts him on Team warriors. Duncan got over the pyramid faster because Gwen wasn't fighting with Courtney, allowing him to avoid singing a reprise. The team is named warriors because its half male now.