Apologies and Acceptance

Millie was curled up in her bed, the blanket hiding her messy hair and tear-soaked face. Millie's head was also pressed against the pillow in an attempt to muffle the fact that she had been crying. Millie felt awful after what had happened earlier today. The contest today on Total Drama Island was sending your teammates down a variety of slides that range in danger and the more dangerous they are, the more points they're worth. At the end of the game, Millie had tricked one of her friends and teammates, Damian, into going down the most dangerous slide that had been worth the most points. At the time, Millie thought that she was helping her team by getting them the win before the other team could, but she felt bad when she saw just how badly Damian had gotten hurt. All of her team were rightly mad at her, but what hurt her more was that her girlfriend, Priya, was also upset with her. Millie was left all by herself, where she was able to realize what she had done wrong, and sulked over to her team's girl's cabin. Millie had spent the past hour sulking and crying, but she almost jumped when she heard the door to the cabin open.

"Millie? Are you awake?" Millie recognized the voice as Priya's. Millie felt that if she said something, Priya would probably yell at her again. But then again, Priya didn't sound too mad, so Millie decided to take a deep breath and respond.

"Yeah…," Millie said, her face still muffled by the pillow and blanket. Priya walked over to the bed, and sat down on the edge of the bed, causing Millie to take the blanket off of her head, and sit up. Priya looked at Millie with a smile on her face, though the look in her eyes told her that Priya was also worried about her.

"You weren't at dinner, so I decided to get you something," Priya offered, handing her a plate of food. Millie looked at the food, which was a plate that consisted of a chicken breast, a scoop of mashed potatoes, and a couple of green beans. Millie nodded, took a fork, and began eating, with Priya running her hand up and down Millie's back. "Millie, if you want to talk, I'm willing to listen."

"You're…not mad at me?"

"Mad? No. Disappointed? Kind of. Millie, I know you're better than that, and so does the rest of the team. That's why we were so disappointed in what you did," Priya explained, keeping her voice at a low volume and calm register so that Millie didn't feel attacked. Millie, however, kept looking at her food and couldn't bear to look at her girlfriend, not sure what to say to explain herself.

"I…I was just trying to help."

"I know, Millie, but Damian could've been really hurt."

"I didn't mean to. I just…wanted to pull my weight a little and help the team. I didn't want to keep being useless," Millie said, tears beginning to form in her eyes again. Priya looked shocked that Millie thought this way about herself, especially since when she and Millie had always talked to her, Millie had always been full of confidence and optimism, especially when talking about her future dream of being a journalist.

"What do you mean, Millie? You're not useless,"

"When it comes to Total Drama Island, I am. I almost caused us to lose the first challenge this season, and even before, I had to have you by my side to make it as far as I did."

"Millie…"

"A couple of our teammates told me that I was holding the team back, and I felt awful about not reading the guidebook you made me, so I really wanted to show that I could be helpful. But I just messed everything up and now everyone hates me," Millie said dejectedly, finishing up her plate before putting it on the nightstand while Priya leaned in and hugged her girlfriend. Millie smiled slightly at the affection, though her hands continued to shake in front of her chest due to her stress.

"Who told you that, Millie?"

"…"

"Millie…"

"…Axel and Caleb," Millie mumbled, her mind flashing back to Axel screaming at her for messing up the first challenge of Season 2 to the point where Millie spent an hour by herself crying after Axel had finally left her alone. Millie also remembered Caleb making fun of her for messing up, and while she at first thought it was playful banter, Caleb's continuous insults and mocking laughter made her realize that he was actually doing it to make fun of her. Millie saw Priya out of her peripheral vision, and Priya looked absolutely furious for a second, breath hissing through the small spaces between her clenched teeth.

"What…?" was all Priya said, her voice muffled by her clenched teeth. Priya was thinking of ways to get back at Axel and Caleb for making her girlfriend feel useless. However, Priya took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, as Priya realized that comforting Millie was more important than any revenge schemes she could think of. Priya's contorted frown of anger turned back into a comforting smile before she went back to hugging Millie, who was still shaking her hands in stress.

"Millie…you're not useless. You may not be the best athlete and haven't batted 1000 in the challenges, but that doesn't mean you haven't pulled your weight. You've saved me on more than one occasion, you've won several challenges for us and even our team, and you've tried to keep us on track by keeping us thinking positively. I didn't just pick you for my team first because I love you, I did it because you're a lot more useful than you give yourself credit for," Priya explained, running her hands through Millie's black hair. Millie looked up at Priya and smiled at her while nuzzling the side of her head into Priya's chest. The two stayed in this position until Millie shot her head up, looking like she was going to say something, but thinking about what she was going to say appeared to make her recoil. Priya ran her hand up and down Millie's back again to calm her down, and after taking a couple of deep breaths, Millie finally said something.

"I…I want to apologize to Damian."

"That's great, Millie! Our team should be heading back from dinner right now."

"But…but I'm a little scared. What if Damian is still mad at me and just yells at me with everyone else?" Millie admitted, her hands shaking in front of her chest again. Priya grabbed a hold of Millie's right hand while her left hand continued shaking, and ran her thumb up and down the back of her hand.

"I'll be right there with you, Millie," Priya said before standing up while still holding Millie's hand. Millie took another couple of deep breaths and while her left hand was still shaking, Millie stood up, and let Priya lead her out of the cabin and to the outside. When Millie saw the rest of the Rat Face team coming back from dinner, she jumped slightly, but Priya made sure to remind Millie that she was still by her side. Millie felt better, but almost jumped when she saw Damian glare at her, and stomp over to her.

"You got a lot of nerve coming up to us after what you did, Millie!" Damian yelled, causing Millie to shrink back slightly.

"Damian, relax."

"Relax!? You weren't the one who was almost killed by one of Chris' death traps!"

"Look, Millie came out to apologize to all of you, especially you Damian," Priya explained, gently elbowing Millie in the back to get her attention. Millie was still unable to look at the group in front of her, whose looks on their faces ranged from curiosity to annoyance. Millie was surprised that all of them were standing by to listen to what she had to say, but she couldn't dwell on that before taking a deep breath and looking right at a still irritated-looking Damian.

"Damian…I…I'm…really sorry about tricking you and pushing you down the 4 pointer slide. I…really wasn't trying to hurt you, I was just…just trying to help us win. I wanted you all to think I was useful, but I only ended up messing everything up," Millie said, her nerves causing her to stutter a few times. Priya smiled at her, and mouthed 'great job' as Damian and the rest of Team Rat Face talked amongst themselves. Priya looked over at Millie and frowned when she saw that Millie was shaking and squeaking from nervousness, occasionally glancing at the group of people talking about her. Priya tried to rub the back of Millie's hands with her thumb again, but Millie continued to shake and squeak, her mind filling with thoughts of the group turning back towards her and yelling at her. When Damian and the rest turned around to respond to her apology, Millie forced her eyes open so that she could let Damian know that she was listening to him.

"Millie…it's going to take a while for me to fully trust you again. But…you do seem really sorry about what you did, and you really don't have a history of hurting others for your own benefit. So…I forgive you," Damian said with a smile on his face, and his arms outstretched for a hug. Millie looked shocked for a second but smiled before walking over to Damian and hugging him. Priya looked happy at how things turned out, and the other members of Team Rat Face looked satisfied with how things went, aside from Axel, who rolled her eyes and mumbled some curse words at the scene in front of her. Priya shot a glare at Axel, making a mental note to get Axel and Caleb back for making fun of Millie, before turning back around, smiling at Millie and Damian having a friendly conversation with each other for the first time since this afternoon. Priya then walked over to Millie and kissed her on the cheek before hugging Millie's sides and smiling at Damian.

"I'm proud of you, Millie. It's not easy to own up to your mistakes or face people mad at you, but you did it. And thanks for hearing her out, Damian," Priya said with a sincere smile on her face. Damian and Millie joined in on a group hug with Priya, Axel once again making a fake vomiting noise before walking away back to the cabin. After another short while talking, Millie and Priya walked back to their cabin hand-in-hand, with Damian waving goodnight to them. Priya looked up at her now-elated girlfriend, before giving her another kiss on the cheek, which Millie responded to by kissing Priya on the cheek. Priya was happy that things had gone as well as they did, especially since she wasn't entirely sure that Damian and the rest of Team Rat Face would have forgiven Millie. But most of them did, and Priya would make sure that it stayed that way since she didn't want her girlfriend to feel unwelcome all because of a mistake she made with a stressed state of mind.