Total Drama Switch
"Too many of today's children have straight teeth and crooked morals."
Charlotte sat asleep in the first row on the bus that would take the contestants to their scheduled destination. Her head was rested on her shoulder and she was snoring. Loudly. The bus was parked outside of the airport and a bulky masochist named Mark stood on the curb holding a gigantic sign that said 'Total Drama Contestants' in bold capital letters.
Exiting from the airport's automatic doors was a short redhead, her warm chocolate brown eyes searching for the supposed host of this new season she applied for. Locating the large sign almost instantly, she smiled, dragging her suitcase behind her as she made her way towards Mark.
"Hello. I'm Candace Page—one of the contestants. This is our bus, correct? Am I late?" She tried to make her tone sound appropriate and straightened her posture.
"You're early." Mark grumbled. He pointed his thumb behind his shoulder at the open bus door. Of course, anyone would be grumpy. It was three in the morning. A time when most people were snug in their beds.
Candace scrunched her nose a little at the rude behavior, shaking her head in disbelief as she tugged her suitcase along and entered the bus. She eyed Charlotte cautiously, careful not to wake her before making her way towards the middle of the bus. The back of the bus was usually where the hooligans or 'bad kids' sat, so she refused to sit there. That's definitely not where she belonged. Carefully positioning her suitcase under the seat in front of hers', she then sat down, crossed her legs, and checked her cell phone to tell her mother that she made it to the airport safely.
Inside the airport, an auburn haired girl known as Tiana Meggie was standing near the door, complaining to a security officer.
"…And you know what I found sitting on top of my luggage? A bug! A filthy, tiny little bug!" She put her hands on her waist for dramatic effect. "Terrible service, I tell you. I'm never coming to this puny excuse for an airport again!"
"Don't you have somewhere to be, Tina?" The security guard rolled his eyes, tired of the preppy girl's rant.
"It's Tiana, and yes." The girl suddenly looked proud, narrowing her blue eyes slightly. "I'm going to be on TV. You know that Total Drama show, right?" The security guard couldn't even reply before an unfamiliar male's voice intruded the conversation.
"Hey! I'm going to be on that show too!" A cheerful redhead jogged over in Tiana's direction. He clutched at his necklace with one hand and clung to his suitcase in the other. "I'm Sammy! Sammy Kings!"
The security guard rolled his eyes. "No doubt. That show only accepts the weirdest of the weird." He strode away from the two.
Tiana fumed inwardly, but smiled at Sammy on the outside. "No kidding," her voice lacked enthusiasm. "Don't listen to him."
Sammy nodded, impressed by how nice this girl seemed. "Should we look for the bus together?"
Tiana blinked once. This guy was pretty easy to manipulate—but she didn't really feel like spending a bunch of time with him either. Feeling as though she was stuck in a tight spot, she shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, I just need to use the restroom first. I'll talk to you later though, okay?" She faked an apologetic smile.
"Sure, no worries!" And as eager as a puppy, Sammy made his way out of the airport. Tiana watched him leave before dragging her suitcase and swished her hips as she made her way towards the ladies room.
Sammy shuddered against the cool morning mist, glancing left and right before noticing the big sign. A large smile formed on his face as he approached Mark.
"Hi, I'm Sammy! I'm here for the show."
"Get on the bus." Mark gestured towards the open door gruffly. Obviously, he wasn't that much of a morning person. Or a people person.
Sammy's grin never disappeared, as he couldn't detect the annoyance in Mark's tone. "Thanks!"
The redhead heaved his luggage up the bus stairs, edged his way past the sleeping host, and sat across the hall from Candace, who was busy tinkering with her cell phone.
"Hi!"
Candace looked up at him before looking back down at her phone. "Hello."
"Now that the plane has come to a complete stop, you may unbuckle your seatbelts and make your way to the exit. Thank you for flying with us." The pilot's nasal-tone voice came through the speakers on a plane that had just recently landed.
Jose, who was sitting near the back, patted a rock that was sitting in his lap—it was just a little bigger than a fist and had two black eyes and a smile made from permanent marker. "We're here, Rocky." He murmured to his friend, his heart beating just a little faster from excitement. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening.
He watched the rock as though it was talking back to him. "Now, now. Don't be angry Rocky! I know it's early in the morning and you're tired, but it's going to be fun. You can sleep on the bus."
Jose stood, shouldering his suitcase. He made his way through the isle, and out of the plane. A new adventure was about to start, that was for sure.
Inside the airport, Jose wandered through the crowds of business people and random travelers, just a little lost. In the midst of the crowd, he accidentally bumped into a girl around the same age with dark brown, wavy hair. They both ended up falling to the ground, people walking by walked around them passively.
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I'm just so lost, I don't know where the entrance is!" The girl expressed an instant, sincere apology. She gathered the things she'd dropped before looking at the boy she ended up running into. "I applied for this Total Drama show and I want to be there early so I don't miss the bus…"
Jose patted Rocky as though to soothe the rock, picking him up as he looked up at the girl. "Really? That's what I'm doing too."
The girl looked surprised. "You're on the show?"
"Yep! I'm Jose." He gestured to his rock next, "And this is Rocky."
The girl grinned at the rock, a little bewildered. "I'm Jessi-Ann. Pleased to meet you."
Jose offered her a small smile. "Likewise."
The two brought themselves to their feet, glancing around the airport. Jessi-Ann noticed a sign pointing towards the entrance almost instantly.
"Hey, that's where we have to go." She pointed a finger at the sign. Jose looked over in the direction she pointed and nodded.
"Awesome." He smiled, looking down at Rocky. "C'mon, you can't stay mad at her forever."
Jessi-Ann glanced over at him. "Is Rocky angry with me?" She decided to humor him, only because she slightly pitied him. Perhaps he didn't have any true friends of his own.
"Oh, don't worry!" Jose assured the artist, afraid that she was offended, "Rocky just has a really bad temper."
Jessi-Ann nodded her head, grinning. "I see." She began to walk forward and gestured Jose to follow her. "Lets get going before we're late."
Jose looked at Rocky, as though he was telling him something. "So you're mad that she crashed into us and now you're falling for her? Rocky, I only think we'll be friends. Possibly good friends, but I don't think of her like that."
There was silence—Rocky seemed to be telling Jose that he didn't need to like Jessi-Ann that way because he wanted her all to himself.
"Well, I don't think she goes for guys like you, Rocky." Noticing he had fallen behind, Jose jogged to keep up with the artist who had gotten ahead.
Phoebe, a girl who had her dark, raven hair pulled back in a messy bun was waiting impatiently at the customer service counter—her luggage was lost.
"Damn it, I can't wait forever, lady." She grumbled to herself. The flight was delayed and therefore stressful, she was tired, and now she couldn't find her luggage.
"I'm sincerely sorry, ma'am. We'll have your luggage shipped to your location as soon as we manage to find it." The lady at the desk handed the teenager a clipboard and a form. "Just fill this out and we'll take care of everything."
Phoebe just sighed tiredly, hugging the clipboard to her chest as she made her way towards one of the plush waiting chairs.
"Sucks that they lost your luggage." An unfamiliar male's voice filled the air. It seemed rhythmic, alluring in a sense.
"Yeah, really." Phoebe looked up to see a particularly handsome guy—he had to be her age, give or take a year or two. Of course, she was never really one to drool. "So, you're a teenager. You're by yourself… it's early in the morning… You're not signed on for that Total Drama show, are you?"
"Actually yeah, I am." He grinned a charming grin. "I'm Stefan. Nice to meet ya."
Phoebe mustered a smile, despite her exhaustion and stress. "Phoebe." She held her fist up and Stefan hesitated before bumping his against hers. He could almost instantly tell that she was one of the guys, in a sense.
"Well, Phoebe. I was thinking of going over to that convenience shop down the hall." He paused for a moment, pointing towards one of the airline shops across the way. "Are you interested in candy? Anything? You look like you need some sugar."
"That'd be cool of you. Thanks." She grabbed her wallet and began to fish around for a dollar—but Stefan held out his hand to stop her.
"My treat."
"You don't have to waste chivalry on me." The mechanic rolled her eyes and handed him her dollar.
Stefan shrugged. "All right, whatever." He smiled. "I'll be back."
Phoebe pursed her lips, watching him leave. "What a flirt." She sighed, turning back to her paper.
Jacob, who really preferably would like to be called Jake, was standing in front of Mark, making funny faces, trying to make the tough guy smile.
"Get on the bus, kid." The co-host grumbled, unfazed as he whacked the poor jokester with his sign.
Jake rubbed the side of his head, recovering as he paced away from the grouchy sidekick. He held his hands up, as though in surrender before making his way towards the bus. Of course, he stopped behind Mark, forming bunny ears with his fingers and holding them over his head. Before Mark could react, Jake had climbed the stairs of the bus and took the seat next to Sammy.
"Hello there!" Sammy took the first opportunity that he could to speak with Jake—it was sort of awkwardly silent with only him and Candace sitting across from each other in an empty bus. "I'm Sammy and that's Candace."
Candace looked up from her phone, sighing as she turned it off and tucked it away. She could check her schedules and strategies later. "Nice to meet you." She spoke up.
"I'm Jacob—but please, please call me Jake." He grinned a weird, toothy grin. In an odd way, he had this alluring aura that made both Sammy and Candace instantly like him.
"Jake it is, then." Sammy tugged on his shark tooth necklace, as though grabbing onto it would increase its' charm. He wanted to make a good first impression on all these people.
"Hey, that's a cool necklace." Jake pointed at it, noticing it as soon as Sammy grasped it.
"Thanks! It's real important to me." Sammy nodded.
Before the conversation could go any further, another person entered the bus. He had dark, curly hair and deep blue eyes. He eyed the sleeping host, just as everyone else did before making his way into the seat behind Candace.
"Another contestant?" Jake smiled, "That's cool. I'm Jake, that's Sammy, and that's Candy."
"Candace." The overachiever corrected him almost automatically.
Jake rubbed the side of his head sheepishly. "Candace." He repeated.
"I'm Phoenix—pleased to make all of your acquaintances." The lean adolescent grinned a false grin. He crossed his legs casually before digging in his bag for his iPod. He seemed to tune all three of the other contestants out, positioning his earphones in his ears properly.
Supposing that Phoenix couldn't hear her, Candace leaned in to whisper to Jake and Sammy. "He doesn't seem very… nice, does he?"
"Well, I think we should give him a chance. Maybe he's just a bit of a loner…" Sammy tried to defend the guy, deciding they should get to know him before judging him further.
"Maybe he doesn't like talking to people." Jake shrugged his shoulders.
"Whatever. I just don't get a very good vibe from him." Candace shuddered, glancing at him before looking over at the other two.
Phoenix wasn't actually listening to music, of course. He was pretending to. He could hear every word they were saying and inwardly formulated a strategy based on what they were saying about him.
"And so after we got home from the pizza place, I found the email that said I was accepted! I mean me, on TV! My brother and I were jumping around crazy and it was just so—"
"Ma'am, your beverage." The exhausted worker slid her customer's latté across the counter.
"Oh, wow—" she was cut off again.
"And your total comes to two fifty."
"Sorry, I'm just excited. Adrenaline and all." Josie presented the cashier with the exact amount. "Here you go!"
The musician took a hold of her latte and then turned a bit too quickly on her heels, accidentally bumping the girl standing behind her with the heavy old guitar case she wore on her back.
"Hey now, watch it." A girl with dark brown, bouncy girls let only a minimal amount of amusement cross her face. She was usually rather balanced and didn't let emotions come across on her face, but this jumpy girl seemed too much like a puppy to be treated dully.
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"No worries." The girl held her hands up. "I'm Mercedes. I actually got onto that show too—"
"Come on now, you girls are holding up the line!" the unenthusiastic cashier lost her patience.
Mercedes sent the worker a glare before turning back to Josie. "You mind waiting for me?"
"I'll wait, of course!" Josie poked her straw in her mouth, as though to keep herself for rambling on. Her excitement made her heart pound so fast—she was meeting someone—someone who was going to be on the show with her! Weaving through the line so she wouldn't knock into anybody, Josie stood by the entrance of the little coffee shop to wait for Mercedes.
It only took a minute before the feisty rebel walked towards her, a coffee in one hand and a suitcase in the other. "So, I didn't catch your name before."
"Josie, it's Josie!" She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
"You keep apologizing, you don't need to do that, you know."
"I'm just so excited, I can't stop rambling on and on…" Josie blushed a bit, "You can tell me to shut up if you want."
"Now why would I do something like that?" Mercedes rolled her eyes, finding the shorter girl a bit strange. "C'mon. We have a bus to catch."
Finally making it to the entrance, Jessi-Ann, Jose, and Rocky made their way out onto the sidewalk. Also stepping onto the sidewalk was Josie and Mercedes.
They all managed to glance at each other—and all four of them seemed to realize that they were headed for the same place.
"You're here for Total Drama, right?" Josie questioned, tipping her head to the side.
Jessi-Ann bobbed her head 'yes'. "Sure are. I'm Jessi-Ann."
"Mercedes." Mercedes spoke for herself quickly, not exactly willing to start a group conversation any time soon. Jessi-Ann's keen eyes made her just a little uncomfortable.
"I… I'm Jose." The somewhat weird adolescent shifted on his feet, blushing just a bit. He held Rocky up for them to see. "And this is Rocky."
"He's so precious!" Josie exclaimed, grinning, unaware of the looks she'd received from Jessi-Ann and Mercedes. "I'm Josie. Jessi-Ann, Jose… Our names all start with Js!" She adjusted her guitar strap a bit.
"You're a musician?" Jessi-Ann eyed the girl's guitar, somewhat impressed. She appreciated music, as she herself was an artist.
"Yep! I'm more of a drummer, though. My brother's forcing me to practice the guitar a bit more, so I decided to bring it along." Josie beamed.
Mercedes nodded, a tad awkward about the subject of music. She had a little secret that she didn't want anyone to find out about any time soon.
"Yes, Rocky, I see the bus." Jose seemed to be having his very own conversation with Rocky. He turned to the girls when they all turned to look at him. "Wanna get on the bus and meet the others?"
All three girls nodded in unison before they made their way towards the bus.
Tiana, noticing the group, decided that it'd be best for her to board the bus as well. See, if she were to be early, then she'd be considered a dork or something. And well, she definitely wasn't a dork.
Weaving his way through the large crowd of people that had just exited his plane, Gil DeLitz cursed under his breath. His plane was delayed and he was running late—he didn't want the bus to leave without him! He worked so freaking hard on his application; he didn't want to give up on this awesome opportunity! Sure, he was already a bit of a star, but he could always use a little more attention.
Also running late were Phoebe and Stefan, who were waiting for the customer service employee to accept the form she'd handed her.
"All right, you're free to go. We'll call you if something goes wrong."
Biting off the last of the Hershey bar Stefan had fetched for her, Phoebe nodded her head, wildly gesturing for the heartthrob to follow her.
"We've gotta hurry!" She yelled with her mouth full, "We'll miss the bus!"
Running together, Stefan and Phoebe seemed to match Gil's pace. They all seemed to acknowledge the fact that they were all in a hurry in the direction of the same place—it was almost instantly a known fact that they were all there for the same reason.
They made it. The bus door closed, Mark turned the keys, and they were off.
…And all the while, Charlotte was still snoring in the front seat.
Oh epic crazysauce. That was a ton. of. writing. It's one in the morning, so please excuse the occasional misspellings/grammatical issues. I was trying to do something different- rather than have them appear one by one, I thought it'd be fun to give them a little more freedom. I'm sorry to those whose character's didn't get as much time to themselves- they will have their times to shine in future chapters, I promise!
If I did something wrong or didn't portray your characters they way you wanted, please notify me politely. I'll take criticism, but no rudeness. That's all I ask. :)
...Oh, and guess who's going to a Taylor Swift concert tomorrow? Me! Haha, okay, I'm tired, and I need my sleep. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. The next chapter will contain the teams, the first challenge (which is a reward challenge) and more! Until next time!
-Evangelline