This is a story I've been working on for a while. And recently, I finally got the motivation and enough story ideas to get this thing made. This is a Jo centered story and it's based off a headcanon. This story takes place sometime after Revenge of the Island.

Also the characters in the cover art were made by the ever so talented Goodeyemight12 on Instagram. Would highly recommenced if you're interested in commissions.

Let's get into it. Hope you enjoy!

If there were three things that a tomboy jockette could take pleasure in, it's owning an awesome gym, getting to use said awesome gym to get in a free workout and making money off of people significantly less awesomer than her, to use her awesome gym.

And Jo got all three.

After Cameron won season four, Revenge of the Island, on Total Drama, he had split the money with all his fellow contestants. Jo was admittedly surprised she was one of them, but wasn't about to look a gift-stringbean in the mouth. She took the money and, with some careful investments thanks to her mother, she had turned a nearby abandoned arcade into her own personal gym. However, according to her, the other gyms in her hometown weren't up to snuff, so all the jocks and meatheads came to her asking for a place to complete their less than impressive workout regime. Jo initially denied them, but, after some consideration, the idea of taking these weaklings money to pay for her own expenses was too great to let go.

So, Jo opened her gym to the public. And everyday, her gym was filled with the same buff dudes with zero personality looking to get their reps in.

Jo sat at her reception table. Instead of her usual sweatshirt, she had elected to wear a simple black collared shirt. After all, if she was going to bask in the shortcomings of the gymnasts, she wanted to look presentable.

Speaking of, one of them walked in. "Hey, Jo." A blonde guy with short hair walked in.

"Rick." Jo greeted. "Gonna try and break my barbell squat record again?"

As much as Jo wanted to, she was not allowed in any way shape or form to refer to people by her nicknames, a habit she had developed for quite some time. It took some restraint, but Jo had managed to keep it at the minimal.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Rick said, not that interested. He pulled out his phone and typed something into it.

Jo frowned. "Um…Rick?"

"I know, I know. My mom just texted me, I'll be off in a second."

Jo pointed at the door. "Then wait outside to do it. I can't have slackers like you ruining my gym's image."

"I'm not-"

Jo just put her hand up. "Rick. Do you want another lecture? Because I've got time, I can give another lecture."

Silence followed this, with neither Jo nor Rick saying anything. But the jockette could tell he was contemplating her words.

Rick sighed. "Alright, fine." He walked out the door to continue his text.

Jo smiled proudly to herself. No slackers in my gym.

"Can you be a little easy on him?"

The jockette turned. A woman walked out of the office behind her. She looked almost exactly like her, except with longer hair and wearing a dark blue tracksuit.

Jo scoffed. "I was easy, mom. He knows what happened last time and I gave him the chance to not make the same mistake. If anything, I was too easy on him."

"Ok, but does he deserve another day of you harassing him?"

"If Rick wanted to join my gym, he should be expected to follow the rules I made. Besides, he reminds me of someone." At that moment, Rick walked back in, no phone in sight. He completely ignored Jo as he made his way to the weights. "I don't know who, but Rick definitely reminds me of someone."

Her mom rolled her, but smirked, as she went back to the office.

Jo then turned her attention to a messy stack of papers on her desk. It is beneath me, but it would look bad on me if my desk looked like a pigsty. She set to work organizing the papers.

"Hello."

Jo grunted and put her hand up. "Give me a second." She quickly got all the papers in a pile and tapped them against the desk. She gently placed them down to the side. "Alright, now I can…" She looked up. "...get to-" She froze.

In front of her was something she was not expecting. Another girl. She was much shorter than Jo, but had long black hair. And I mean, really long. One side of her head was shaved, but the rest of her hair was combed to the other side, reaching all the way down to her waist. She was light skinned and wore a white sweatshirt crop top hybrid. She was also wearing white yoga pants, as well.

Dang Jo said, internally. I didn't think I'd get another chick in here. Thought it would be all gross sweaty dudes. Nice to have someone who seems to understand good hygiene. I mean, look at that long flowing black hair. She's killing it. I wonder what kind of shampoo she uses. I can smell it from here. And, dang again, look at her physique. Why is she even at this gym? She looks like a…like a goddess…of working out. Bet a lot of the guys call her cute. Why wouldn't they? Her eyes are cute, her nose is cute. Dang, even her height is cute. I'd call her cute, but I'm not a guy, so it'd be weird. But if I was a guy, I'd say she has a really nice smile. I mean, I get it. If that smile could kill, I'd be dead. Wait, hold on, she's not smiling anymore. Her internal thoughts went silent for a moment. Wait, have I just been staring at her?

Jo's assumption was correct.

To the new girl, she saw the boss of the gym wave her off, before getting up and…completely freezing up. She just stared blankly, mouth agape and not blinking.

"Ummm…are you okay?" She asked.

Jo didn't respond, or give a sign that she had heard what she said.

Eventually, Jo's mom stepped in. "What's-" She then noticed her daughter's trance-like state. "Jo, are you…what happened?"

"She was working on some papers, when I walked in." The mystery girl said. "And, as she was about to talk to me, she…kinda just stopped. She hasn't moved in the last thirty seconds."

Jo's mom waved her hand in front of her daughter's eyes. No reaction. She was still weirded out, but shrugged. She then turned attention to the short girl. "Welcome to Jo's gym. I'm Jane. How can I help you?"

The mystery girl finally turned away from Jo. "Oh, uh…hi, my name is Ambali. I'm…new here."

"I can tell. Never seen you around."

"Yeah, I'm looking for a new place to work out. This place seemed pretty cool."

"Well, you've come to the right place." Jo's mom explained. "My name is Jane and this…" She turned to her daughter who had still not moved from being frozen in place. "...is my daughter, Jo."

"Oh, well she seems…nice."

"Then you haven't met her yet." Jane joked. She stared at her daughter again for a minute. Then she reached down the desk and pulled out a few pieces of paper. She placed them in front of Ambali. "Here. We'll get you started. Just sign these sheets. Memberships are $40 a month. We'll let you stay the first week free, but after that-"

"Oh, it's okay." Ambali reached into her pocket and pulled out a few bills. "I can pay for it now." She placed two twenties in front of Jane.

The jockette's mom stared. Then she shrugged. "Alright, that's good. Just sign those papers and you can start. Now, if you'll excuse me." She grabbed Jo's shoulders and escorted her away, to her office.

Ambali watched on, slightly amused.

The sound of a door closing shot Jo awake.

"Huh? What? Where…where am I?" It took a minute to realize where she was. "When…when did I get in here?"

"What happened to you?" Jane asked.

Jo looked puzzled. "What are you talking about? I don't even know how I got in here."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "So, you're telling me that you have no idea what happened between that girl coming in and now?"

"Girl?" Jo pondered to herself. Then she snapped her fingers. "Oh, right. There was a girl who walked in. And…then I ended up here."

Her mom walked up and put her hand on Jo's forehead. "You're not burning up or anything. Do you feel okay?"

"I feel fine. What happened? Did I do something embarrassing? Did Rick see me? If Rick saw me, he's banned from ever coming here."

"No one saw you, except me and Ambali."

Jo stared. "Who?"

Her mom sighed. "The girl we were talking about."

"Ok, good. I don't know her, so my reputation is still intact."

"Well, maybe you will get to know her. She already paid for a month's membership."

Jo didn't respond to this. She actually didn't know what to think about it. So we're finally getting another girl in this gym. She thought. Alright, I guess that's fine. Hope she isn't one of those frilly fakers who just go to the gym for guys to stare at her. I mean, I don't blame them. Especially with her long flowing black hair. That was nice. Still, I really need to find out what shampoo she uses. It smelled-

Slam

Once again, Jo's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming. She looked around. She was still in the office, only her mom was no longer there. She went to the door to go find her. Then she paused when a thought struck her. Was I just thinking about shampoo?

She shook it off and went out into the gym.

Jo found her mom near the front desk. And, to her dismay, she was talking to Rick. The jockette picked up the pace.

She could hear her mom speaking. "Alright, I'll talk to her about it-"

"What?" Jo appeared next to them. "You'll talk to who about what? Because if you want to talk to me, I have nothing to say." She got right in Rick's face. "Nothing, you hear me? Whatever you thought you saw, you didn't see!"

Rick was, understandably, uncomfortable. "Umm…"

"Jo." Jane pulled her away. "We were talking about the new girl."

"Oh." Jo immediately calmed down. "What about her?"

"She's on her phone." Rick explained.

"She probably doesn't know about it since she just got here." Jane added. "I'll go let her know."

Jo put her hand up. "I got it. I'll talk to her, let her know that this gym isn't for selfie-taking slackers."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "After what happened? Are you sure?"

"What happened?" Rick asked.

Jo's eyes widened. "I thought I told you nothing happened!" Jo snapped. "But I know what will happen if you don't get back to minding your own business."

Rick, wisely, turned around to get back to his workout.

"Jo, that's how we lose customers." Jane said.

"Whatever." Jo said, looking around. She spotted Ambali on the exercise bike and went over.

As Jo neared Ambali, she could see what was going on. Ambali was recording for a video of herself, while she was peddling. She would occasionally glance at her phone and wave or make a cute face.

Alright. Jo said to herself. Time to let this chick know what kind of place this is. She confidently made her way to the bikes. "Hey." She called.

Ambali looked up and turned.

Jo was still marching towards her.

The new girl then smiled and waved. "Hey." She responded.

Alright, here we go. Jo was now standing directly in front of her. Let her have it!

"Ummmm…"

Wait, what's going on?

"I…"

Talk, damnit!

"Wanted to tell you…"

Yes!

"Ummm…"

What are you doing?!

Whatever bravado Jo had going into this confrontation completely evaporated. While her mind knew exactly what to say, she just couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Are…you okay?" Ambali asked, concerned.

Jo was seriously struggling, both mentally and physically. "Just…just trying to tell…" She turned away. "The…the phone…"

Ambali grabbed her cell. "Do you need to make a call?"

"No…" Jo was still facing away, hunched over. "I…I…you…"

What is wrong with me?

She suddenly felt a hand touch her back. "Is something wrong?" Jo felt the warm touch, but somehow, her body completely froze. Ambali had stepped off her bike. "Do you need water or…?"

"Jo."

The jockette, looking down at the ground, saw some feet in front of her. She then felt two more hands grab her shoulders.

Her mom held her. "Jo!" She called her again. "What's wrong?"

Her daughter didn't answer. She just stood in place.

"Is she okay?" She heard the girl ask behind her.

"She's…" Jane didn't know how to answer. "...she's fine. I'll deal with it." She went behind her daughter and pushed her towards her office. Then she remembered something and looked back. "Oh, by the way, we don't allow phones here. If you want to listen to music, that's fine, but we don't allow them for anything else."

Ambali's face fell. "Oh, that's too bad. I'm a vlogger and I was kinda hoping to film some more content here. But, I understand if you don't want me to."

At that moment, Jo snapped to her senses.

She turned around suddenly. "It's ok." She said abruptly.

Jane was surprised. "W-What? Jo, what happened?"

Her question went ignored. "If she wants to film more stuff here, that's fine."

Now her mom was just confused. A minute ago, her daughter looked like she was having a full on panic attack and then, within an instant, nothing seemed to be wrong in the slightest.

"Are you…sure?" She asked.

Jo nodded.

Jane had no idea what was going on. She looked at her daughter who, for all intensive purposes, she had already deduced wasn't sick. Then she looked at Ambali who didn't know how to react.

At last, Jo's mom made her decision. "Alright," She shrugged. "I guess you can use your phone, just…don't tell anyone else."

Ambali nodded.

Jane turned her attention back to her daughter and began pushing her forward.

"Wha- Mom, what are you-"

"My office. We need to talk."

For the second time in ten minutes, Jo was back in her mom's office.

Once they were inside, Jane slammed the door behind them. "What on earth is going on?"

"What are you talking about?" Jo countered. "You're the one who pushed me in here."

"Jo, I'm talking about you freezing up twice now. Do I need to call someone?"

"Yeah, you need to call that chick and tell her to get off her phone."

Jane stared. "What?"

"I mean, does she not understand the rules we have in this establishment? It's-"

"Jo." Her mom cut her off. "Y-You were the one who told her it was alright to use her phone. And…now you're going back on it?"

"When did…" She trailed off, realization suddenly hitting her. "Huh. I…did do that. That's weird. I'd never do that." She plopped herself onto the nearby chair. "Maybe you should call someone."

Jane still looked worried. She carefully went over to her daughter and put her hand on her shoulder. "I know you aren't sick, but can you try to tell me what happened? At least the stuff you remember."

Jo thought to herself for a good bit. "I…don't really know. I mean, I froze up when that girl walked in and again when I went to tell her to get off her phone." She paused, slowly coming to realize something. "It's…almost as if every fiber of my being was screaming at me to not let this girl leave."

"So, you're telling me, my daughter, the one who runs this gym, the one who heavily enforces her 'no phone' rule, the one who gave Rick a two hour lecture on why he can't use his phone out in the open, is now saying the rule doesn't apply to a girl who walked in here twenty minutes ago…" Jane trailed off.

"Mom?" Jo stood up. "Are you okay?"

She didn't get a response. Jane seemed to be contemplating something. She looked at her daughter, then at the office door. It was as if she was building an internal puzzle and was on verge of placing the final piece.

"Jo?" She asked calmly. "Maybe, I'm reading a little deep into this, but…do you have a crush on that girl?"

If the jockette was drinking something, she would've spit it out. "What?!" She exclaimed. "Do I- what?"

"If you're not sick and you froze up in front of a pretty girl twice, and you were only able to talk when she could've potentially left, I think you might really like this girl."

Jo scoffed. "That's ridiculous. I'm not a guy, so I can't have a crush on her…"

"What?"

"Second, maybe I didn't want her to leave because she's the only other girl customer we have and I'd like for this place to not be littered with sweaty dudes with no sense of integrity."

A knock was heard on the door.

Jo walked over to it, still looking at her mom. "I'm fine and nothing like this will happen again." She opened it. "What?!"

Rick was standing in front of her, surprised. "Ummm…"

"Spit it out!"

"That girl…is still using her phone."

Jo rolled her eyes and shoved Rick to the side. "I've got other stuff to worry about. I need to get back to…sorting my files."

She left behind her mom and a very confused Rick.

She soon arrived back on her desk, eager to focus on the pile of papers.

As she set back to work, something caught her eye. She looked up and saw Ambali walking towards the weights. Jo noticed the phone in her hand.

Alright, focus. Let's do this.

"Hey!"

Ambali turned and saw Jo. The jockette readied her pointer finger and raised it. Ambali smiled and waved at her.

Whatever plan Jo had going for her was almost instantly lost. Her bravado fell as did her hand partly. Her jaw was now hanging open and her cheeks felt warm.

Ambali turned away and went back to the weights, leaving Jo slack jawed and silent.

Jane appeared next to her, smirking.

Let me know what you guys and gals thought of this. And, if you're impatient, I have more chapters already uploaded on my A03 account. I moved there since email notifications and traffic stats are still not working here.

I'll see y'all for the next one!