Total Drama High School

Chapter 1: Here's Your Holiday!

-o0o-o0o-

Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Three words that will instantaneously excite an adolescent attending high school. Lifestyles and antics that many a teenager will partake in during their inevitable coming of age. Whether they liked it or not, it happened, almost as if some all-powerful force of fate gravitated them towards the very mention of these foul ways of living.

The foggy morning sky eroded as inhabitants of the quaint Spring Valley filed into school, with a cool breeze in the air gently pushing away the clouds as the sun peeked behind its snow white curtains. Cars on the decline from their raucous speeds, reeling into the parking lot of the facility and screeching to a halt, students walking in from adjacent neighborhoods, ready to conclude the four-year long journey that they had been subjected to. The buzz of adolescent ignorance and novelty rung throughout. Nothing could quite compare.

Such a small school promoted a feeling of community, enhanced by surrounding locales that encourage sociable activities. Cliques of students usually remained intact throughout the four years of school, holding true for Duncan, Courtney, Geoff, Bridgette, Gwen, Trent, and DJ.

The seven had known each other for as long as they could possibly remember, and they had proposed to spend the days of their senior year in each others' company.

Faster than comprehensible, time skulked at the rear of the feckless youths, bringing with it the Friday of August 29th and indicating the waxing beginnings of a new year. Students arrived beginning in the afternoon, awaiting the commencement of classes on the following Monday.

As students awoke and readied themselves as best they could, Duncan noiselessly slumbered in his bed, found in his archetypal teenage room. There were posters decorating the wall and encapsulating it in punkish polish, with a relatively spacious wooden desk beside the black-laden bed. Sunlight crept through the blinds and illuminated Duncan's face in striped patterns. In that sleep he remained, until at last his phone blared with an astonishingly irritating ringtone.

He steadily opened his eyes and reached for his phone on the desk with the sluggish motion of a newly awakened nocturnal teenager.

"Hello?" he asked in a rugged, shaky voice.

"Duncan!" a girl on the line cried. He recognized her voice. It was Courtney.

"Princess? What do you want?"

"Nothing," she responded. "I just wanted to make sure you were coming."

"Coming where?"

"To school."

"It's the weekend, Court," Duncan explained.

"It's the first day of school!"

"I thought today was a holiday!"

"Here's your holiday!" she shouted. "You'd better enjoy it. See you later."

"See you later, Mom," the delinquent sarcastically quipped as he hung up.

He ever so slowly rose, sitting on his bed for a minute or two, absentmindedly gazing at the floor and walls with no real purpose. After the infamous first day of school stare wore out its welcome, Duncan dressed himself as he usually did, choosing to wear his habitual attire. He packed his things as he would do in previous years, preparing to arrive at school that night.

Upon completion, he visited the bathroom and misted himself with cologne in order to ensure he would attract ladies whom he found attractive. Suitcase in hand, Duncan proceeded to go downstairs and make himself breakfast, although it was about an hour after morning had passed. He ate a lavish breakfast consisting of sausages and cereal before he at last exited.

Locking the door behind him, Duncan stood on the stairway leading inside his house and eyed the now-afternoon sun beaming brightly in the sky. Duncan continued to stare at nothing in particular. He found that was an effective way to pass time. At last, Duncan descended from the miniature staircase that connected his house to the outside world. He heaved a heavy sigh as he looked off into the distance, fully aware that the school year was approaching, along with its highs, lows, difficulties, and memories. The sigh was quite long, but it brought with it a trace of unconditional optimism and a chance to take in the surrounding environment. Senior year was gonna be fun.

He noticed the blissfully empty road, the breeze lightly blowing upon the vibrant grass beneath him, and the sound of a nearby neighbor abusing his leaf blower. A few seconds later, aggressive honking from a car down the road would join his list of observations.

Swiveling his head to the left, he caught sight of the car, recognizing it as belonging to Geoff. It was an unnecessarily massive red pickup truck that seated too many people to count. Geoff had caught sight of Duncan and honked a couple times as he drove, eventually slowing down as he approached the house and coming to a stop in front of it.

"Still need a ride?"

"Yes, sir," Duncan replied, approaching Geoff with a hearty handshake.

"Good to see you, dude," said Geoff. "Been a little while."

Duncan agreed. He walked around the car and opened the passenger door, but neglected to step inside until he took one last thorough look around, absorbing all he could before heaving yet another heavy sigh.

"Here we go again."