Courtney's Real Fear

Courtney Flores was smirking while watching one of her Killer Bass teammates, Tyler, sitting with some chickens in a coop. When she first auditioned for Total Drama Island, Courtney did all the research she could about reality shows and knew that their fears would come into play. And, of course, she was right as today's challenge was the campers facing their fears, where the winning team has the most teammates facing their fears. Courtney knew something like this was going to happen, so when Beth came into their bonfire with a bowl of green gelatin, Courtney pretended to be scared of it so that when it was her turn, she'd have the easiest chance of getting a point. Sure, her team were behind 7-3, but at least her facing her 'fear' gave her more of a chance of staying on the show.

"OK, Tyler, you survived your three minutes with the chickens. And finally…Courtney! It's time for you to face your fear," Chris said as Tyler ran out of the coop, hiding behind a couple of his teammates. Courtney smiled before stepping forward, expecting a bowl of green gelatin in front of her, but she didn't see any, confusing her.

"Confused? Well, Courtney, don't be, because we know your real fear," Chris said as if he had read her mind. Courtney's heart briefly stopped at what Chris was implying, with Courtney's crush/new friend, Duncan Maloney, looking worried as well.

"Wh…wh…what are you talking about, Chris?"

"Do you really think I was born yesterday, Courtney? I knew you'd try to give us a red herring when it came to your real fear, so we decided to keep the cameras rolling while you and Duncan had your little one-on-one talk," Chris explained with a smirk before producing a large-screen TV, showing a scene from what happened at the bonfire last night, with everyone leaving except for Courtney and Duncan. Courtney and Duncan's eyes briefly glanced at each other before looking back at the TV.

"So…now that everyone's gone, you wanna finally tell me what you're really scared of?"Duncan asked with a smirk on his face, sitting next to Courtney, and putting an arm around the back of her neck. Courtney smacked his hand away and glared at him, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Duncan. I'm not scared of anything," Courtney countered, turning her head away from Duncan and sticking her nose in the air. Duncan rolled his eyes, the smirk staying on his face.

"Right…"

"I'm not!"

"Mhm…"

"Ugh!" Courtney grunted out before attempting to walk away, but Duncan grabbed her hand while keeping the smirk on his face.

"Come on, it's not like I'm gonna tell anyone. I'm just really curious. Plus, even I told you my fear. It's only fair," Duncan explained. Courtney stroked her chin in thought and sighed before nodding.

"OK, fine! But if you tell ANYONE-"

"I won't!" Duncan responded with his arms up in surrender, surprised at this sudden surge of anger. Courtney took a couple of deep breaths to calm down and turned over in both directions to see if anyone else was nearby. Once she was satisfied that she and Duncan were alone, Courtney leaned into Duncan's ear and cupped her hands over her mouth.

Back in the present time, Chris pressed a button on his remote before continuing to play the tape.

"I…I'm scared of heights," Courtney had whispered into Duncan's ear, which Duncan responded to by widening his eyes in surprise before turning to face her.

"Really?"

"Yeah…ever since I fell off the monkey bars in kindergarten and broke my right arm in three different places, I've been scared of heights. That's why I didn't do the cliff-jumping challenge on our first day," Courtney admitted, looking down at the ground while twirling her fingers. Duncan sighed and nodded before paying Courtney on the back, putting an arm around the back of her neck.

"Your secret's safe with me," Duncan said,

"Well…it's not safe anymore," Chris said with a chuckle while Courtney gulped at what Chris had planned for her. Duncan was worried too, as he had never seen the Spanish CIT look so scared before, even when they were camping out in the forest with no tools. "And Courtney, you gave me an idea; your task will be to dive off of the cliff and into the safe circle. And just because I'm having a lot of fun if you can complete the challenge, I'll give your team triple points," Chris explained. The color drained from Courtney's face, and she felt like she was going to faint as she robotically walked with Chris and the rest of the Killer Bass team toward the cliff. Courtney was silently praying to God that something would happen to stop her from diving off the cliff, but no such luck as after she had changed into her swimsuit, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, she was dragged right in front of the cliff.

Courtney looked back, noting that not only were her Killer Bass team watching her, but the opposing team, the Screaming Gophers, had also decided to become observers. Courtney swallowed a lump in her throat before walking closer to the edge of the cliff, her feet coming to a complete halt when her eyes caught just how high she was off the ground. Courtney's legs began shaking badly, and when she tried to move forward so she could just get this challenge over with, Courtney was so scared that her fear made her legs feel like they weighed a ton.

"Come on Courtney! We're burning daylight out here!" Chris yelled into his megaphone.

"Is…is there something else I can do? Like fight ninjas? Watch a mime routine? Cuddle a snake?" Courtney asked with a shaky smile on her face.

"Nah, this is a lot more fun. Now get to diving!"

"OK, OK! Just…give me a second!" Courtney yelled back in annoyance before turning around. The heaviness in Courtney's legs returned, and when Courtney tried to move, she couldn't. Courtney's eyes began to tear up, and no amount of blinking or wiping them away was going to make the tears stop. Courtney took a shaky breath and decided to quit the challenge, but before she could turn around, Courtney felt someone grab onto her hand. It wasn't the tough grasp of someone trying to pull her closer to the edge of the cliff to get the challenge over with. Rather, it was a soft and gentle touch that sent a surge of warmth throughout her body, that, in turn, cooled the tension and fear she was feeling. Courtney turned around, smiling slightly seeing that the person holding her hand was Duncan.

"You can do this," Duncan whispered into Courtney's ear, causing her milk chocolate skin to burst into a blush. Duncan massaged his thumb on top of Courtney's hand, with Courtney felt like the remaining fear in her body was melting away.

"Sometime today would be nice, Courtney!" Chris exclaimed through his megaphone, causing Courtney and Duncan to quickly shoot Chris a glare. Duncan gave Courtney one last encouraging smile before Courtney turned towards the cliff, took a deep breath, and jumped off of the cliff, keeping her eyes closed tightly as she headed closer and closer to the water. Duncan's breath hitched as he saw the girl who had been stuck in his mind since he first laid eyes on her falling off a cliff. Duncan couldn't take his eyes off of Courtney's falling frame, silently praying that Courtney made it out of this challenge unscathed. After what felt like an eternity, Courtney finally landed in the water, and after a moment, came swimming back up with a shocked look on her face.

"I…I did it? I did it. I did it!" Courtney cheered, shooting her fists out of the water and into the air. Duncan, seeing that Courtney was OK, couldn't hold back his excitement, running down from the cliff as fast as he could while Courtney was continuing her cheering in the water. By the time Courtney had decided to come out of the water, Duncan had sped down the cliff, ran over to Courtney, and picked her up in a hug, causing Courtney to start laughing.

"Courtney, you did it! That was amazing!"

"I know!" The two continued to celebrate together, with Courtney returning the hug. After another moment, Duncan and Courtney realized that they weren't alone anymore and that their entire team, the entire opposing team, and Chris watching them. Duncan and Courtney then immediately pulled away from each other, looking away while their faces were dusted with light blushes.

"So…uh…thanks…," Courtney mumbled, rubbing her arm while keeping her eyes on the water.

"Oh…no prob…you did great," Duncan mumbled back, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. The two glanced at their fellow campers and were surrounded by nothing but knowing smirks, resulting in Duncan and Courtney walking away from each other, their faces still red. Chris came strutting down the cliff, ignoring the awkward atmosphere, and raised Courtney's arm up like she won the WWE Championship.

"Courtney was able to temporarily combat her fears, and dive into the cool and shark-infested waters! As a result of the triple points I promised, the Killer Bass and Screaming Gophers are tied, and there will be no eliminations tonight!" Chris exclaimed, the campers around him cheering, happy that their numbers wouldn't change, but Duncan and Courtney weren't listening to the announcement, as they were too focused on each other, giving each other thankful smiles as the campers continued their celebration.

Later that night…

Courtney was in her pajamas, her hair tied into a ponytail, and her skin still feeling cool from the water she had dived into earlier. Courtney was walking from the communal bathroom back to her cabin before she noticed Duncan by a campfire, cooking what appeared to be a marshmallow on a stick.

"Where'd you get that?" Courtney asked as she approached Duncan. Duncan simply held up an open bag of marshmallows that was next to a box of graham crackers and several chocolate bars. Courtney raised her eyebrow in suspicion, knowing that Duncan couldn't have gotten these by simply asking Chef or Chris.

"What? I had the craving for S'mores, found the ingredients, and decided to borrow them," Duncan said as he took a couple of graham crackers and a chocolate bar, put the chocolate bar between the graham cracker, and squeezed the marshmallow in between the crackers. "You want one?"

"…sure," Courtney simply stated, sitting next to Duncan as he put another marshmallow on a stick, holding it up to the fire. "Duncan…I wanted to say thanks for earlier today. You really saved my skin back there," Courtney said quietly, playing with the hair in her ponytail out of nervousness, not being able to look Duncan in the eye. Duncan smiled back at her while cooking the marshmallow and shrugged.

"It's not a big deal. You did the same thing for me when I had to face my fear, so I was just returning the favor," Duncan explained. Courtney smiled at Duncan, feeling great about how she was able to get him to hug the Celine Dion standee. Courtney sat closer to Duncan as he made her a S'more too, Courtney grabbing it and chowing down immediately. As the two ate their S'mores, the two thought more about their day today, and how their feelings for each other had grown since they first met each other. When they first met each other, Duncan thought that Courtney was a stuck-up princess (hence the somewhat affectionate nickname), and Courtney thought Duncan was nothing but a degenerate. They both assumed that they would be like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart; destined to never get along. But being around each other and seeing each other for more than just their first impressions to the point where they both developed crushes on each other. Once Courtney finished her S'more, she licked her lips of any excess chocolate and marshmallow.

"Thanks for the S'more, Duncan. I'm going to go read before I go to bed. Goodnight," Courtney said before trying to stand up. However, crossing her legs while sitting caused Courtney's legs to go to sleep, causing her to trip and fall, landing right on Duncan. Courtney tried to get back up but immediately froze up with a blush as she noticed that her hands were on Duncan's chest. Duncan was also frozen, looking into the black pools of Courtney's eyes before the two began leaning toward each other. Their faces grew closer and closer to each other as their lips puckered up, seemingly preparing for a kiss.

"Hey! Courtney! There you are!" Duncan and Courtney's eyes widened as they jumped back up to their feet in supersonic speed, and sat back on the logs in front of the campfire as Bridgette came walking up to the campfire. "Come on, Courtney, you said you wanted to talk about that book you were reading with me," Bridgette explained, with Courtney, still blushing from her almost-kiss of Duncan, stiffly nodding in response before waving goodbye awkwardly to Duncan, who responded with his own awkward wave. Courtney and Bridgette walked back to the cabin, and when they were out of sight, Duncan growled and snapped his fingers.

"Goddammit," Duncan whispered to himself before he sighed and stuffed a couple of marshmallows in his mouth. Meanwhile, while Courtney and Bridgette were walking back to the cabin, Courtney's hands were squeezing her cheeks, which were still hot from the blush. Courtney continued looking down while Bridgette was talking to her, her mind constantly replaying that moment when she and Duncan were so close to kissing.

'Was he…was he really going to kiss me? Was this another one of his pranks? And why…why did I REALLY want that kiss?' Courtney asked herself as she continued rubbing her warm cheeks. Courtney was taken out of her scattered thoughts by Bridgette tapping her on the shoulder.

"Courtney, you good?"

"Oh! Yeah…yeah. I'm fine, just…thinking," Courtney said with a forced smile on her face. Bridgette knew something was up, but knew better than to try and pry when it came to Courtney and just nodded before continuing her trek to the cabin. As the two entered the cabin, Courtney thought of trying to make that moment happen again, because if she could finally conquer her fear of heights, even if it was temporary, who's to say she couldn't give Duncan the kiss that she always wanted, and the kiss that she hoped he always wanted.