Chapter 6
DxG
Finally the second season TDA has begun. This conversation is after the beach movie challenge. Duncan reveals to Gwen his strained relationship with his father over his juvenile record.
After the remaining TDA contestants completed the beach moviechallenge everyone returned to a school bus that Duncan and Gwen, who were now close friends, destroyed when they sneaked away during the last challenge. Chris shouted, "What the hell happened to the bus. You kids will have to spend the night here." Some of the kids began to grumble. "Just wonderful," Heather exclaimed sarcastically. Later when the boys were in the old Bass cabin talking about some of the old challenges from the first season, Duncan said, "I'm going for a walk." Outside, he saw Gwen coming from the bathroom and he approached her. "Let's talk," he said and they went to the beach. Once they sat down, Gwen remarked, "This brings back the good and not-so-good times I've had here like throwing Harold's red ants on the bitch Heather while she slept." They both laughed.
"Tell me about your family?" Duncan decided to ask her. "I just have a brother Ryan who is three years younger," Gwen replied. Duncan asked, "And your parents." She hesitated a bit before speaking then explained in a sad tone, "My parents are divorced and my father moved back to his hometown in Montreal. We live with our mother in Ontario," she said. He noticed her sad tone of voice and felt a twinge of sympathy for his friend. Then she mentioned the town she lived in. Duncan's eyes widened. "Are you kidding!" he exclaimed, "That's where I live." Gwen remarked, "Wow, it's a small world isn't it. We must have gone to different schools."
She inquired, "Do you have any brothers and sisters?" He told her about his brothers Derek who was eight years older than him, and non-identical twin brothers Jason and Richard who are two years older than him. "So you're the baby of the family," she said in a baby like voice. "Knock it off," he said playfully. Gwen inquired about his parents and he explained both were police officers. She burst out laughing. "You're pulling my leg," she exclaimed. But looking at his serious face she realized he wasn't. Gwen asked him, "What do your parents think of you because of your criminal record?" Duncan replied, "Well Ma probably thinks I'm just misguided or something and my dad…" he trailed off.
Gwen noticed Duncan trailing off after saying "my dad." She inquired, "What were you going to say about your dad?" He blurted out sadly, "We don't have a good relationship because of my juvenile record. Every time I'm in juvie he never visits me and he threatened to send me to military school when I was fourteen. He told me once I'll always be a useless member of society if I don't change my behavior." Gwen noticed the apparent pain in his eyes and started to regret saying that last question. Suddenly Duncan felt tears coming and not wanting her to see his soft side, said, "Excuse me," then walked away while the tears started flowing.
Gwen cried, "Duncan, wait!" and rushed up to him as he wiped away the tears. He told his friend, "I don't want anyone to see me cry. Tough guys don't cry." She responded, "I'm sorry about what your dad thinks of you." He looked at Gwen. "Don't be sorry." They sat back down again. She decided to ask him, "What's your mother like?" Suddenly, he smiled and said, "She's wonderful, a great cook and always visits me whenever she can when I'm in juvie. She also accepts the way I dress, even though she's not a huge fan of the dog collar." Gwen replied, "She sounds like a nice person, I'd love to meet her." Duncan looked into her eyes then replied, "That can be arranged when we get back home." Suddenly his chest tightened as he realized how beautiful her eyes were.
Gwen, who was occasionally picking up sand then letting it fall through her fingers said to Duncan, "How about we draw in the sand." He replied, "Okay". They got up, found two sticks and started drawing. After a while she glanced over at Duncan who had finished drawing a picture of Courtney's face. Gwen replied in wonder, "I thought you only knew how to draw skulls." He replied, "Oh, I've been an artist since I was younger." Suddenly Gwen yawned and said, "I better turn in. Are you coming?" Duncan responded, "In a few minutes. Sleep tight." She walked away. When she was a few feet away, he began drawing another picture, this time it was Gwen's face.
After he finished drawing Gwen's face, he looked at it for three minutes, then decided to return to his cabin. As Duncan walked he thought, "I hope everyone's asleep. I really don't want to explain why my eyes are red." He finally reached the cabin and noticed the inside light was off. He opened the door quietly and to his relief everyone was sleeping. He quietly took off his shoes and climbed into his old bunk and fell asleep in seconds.
