The next twenty-four hours were a blur. As soon as the cameras stopped filming, the crew rushed the contestants into their rooms and roughly forced them to pack.

Courtney was no exception. As soon as her door opened, the crew member pushed her inside.

"Ow," she complained. "That was rude of you."

The crew member ignored her comment and instead, tossed her a cell phone. It took Courtney a minute to realize it was her own phone.

"Pack up and say your goodbyes," he grunted out. "We leave in twenty-four hours." He then looked down at his watch before groaning. "...Make that twelve hours. You guys took way too long to find that suitcase."

She scoffed. "You try to find a suitcase while dealing with a bunch of nutcases."

"I did," he answered without a pause or blinking. "We test these things out, remember? My personal record was an hour and five minutes. It could've been shorter but-"

Courtney slammed the door in his face.

Courtney sighed before looking down at her phone screen. 100 voicemails and 492 missed calls flashed before her eyes. Yeah, that seems about right.

She put her phone on speaker and opened her first voicemail. She then went on to pack.

"Hi Courtney," a voice let out. "It's Mr. Philip. I found a new composition that I really think you'll enjoy..."

My violin teacher... She rolled her eyes before quickly deleting the message. One down, 99 to go.

The second voicemail then started playing.

"Hi, Courtney. Mr. Philip, here. I change my mind. This is the composition..."

She let out a sigh. It was going to be a long day.

By voicemail number 38, she had finished packing (did my counselor really have to babble on for ten minutes?). However, it was voicemail 63 that got her heart pumping.

"Courtney," a stern voice went out.

Mother...

She quickly looked at the date on the phone. It's a few days after I got eliminated. She sighed in relief. At least her parents didn't see her embarrass herself on national tv.

"Mr. Philip called me and said something interesting... He claims you're on some kind of... game show? The point is I thought to myself 'that can't be Courtney because she's studying for the LSATs.' Call me. We need to put this rumor to rest before he spreads it to someone important."

Mr. Philip watched sixteen-year-olds torture themselves for fun? She shivered at that image.

"Courtney," the next voicemail played. "Now, our business partner in London is talking about this! I, of course, said it was nonsense, but he showed me a video with you and that delinquent and..." The voice paused for a while. "I almost ruined this partnership because of you! Call me back."

She sighed but didn't get a chance to think about what was said as the next voicemail played.

"Courtney, I watched one of your game shows. How dare you embarrass us like this! The least you could've done was win! The whole town knows about your humiliation. Your father and I can no longer go outside without someone mentioning you on this show. This ends now. Come back home!"

She exited her voicemail box after that. She had a feeling that she knew what the rest of the messages said.

Courtney stared at her phone wondering if she should call her parents back. She should at least let them know that she was on another season, right? Just so that they knew where she was.

But they don't actually care where I am. They just want me to go home.

Maybe she should warn them that going home wasn't a possibility.

Courtney went over the contract many times. She tried to look for something... anything... to get her out. She became exasperated when she realized that the only answer was in the Termination Clause. The language was clear. She could buy out of her contract for $5 million or stay in the show.

She doubted her parents had that much money to spare, and even if they did, she doubted that they would give her the money.

She could tell them the contract was bulletproof, but she doubted they'd believe her. They'd probably scold her for not analyzing the contract well, and how is she supposed to be a lawyer if she couldn't even read a contract right?

She turned off her phone. She'd deal with the aftermath later.

Courtney pouted on Bridgette's bed watching her (incorrectly) pack up her duffel bag. Bridgette grunted as she tried to fit in the last of her hoodies before zipping it closed. Once it did, she gave a triumphant smile.

Courtney didn't smile back. All she saw was a duffel bag that was ready to burst.

"Are you sure you don't want me to pack for you," Courtney asked.

Bridgette chose to ignore her and instead, gave her a tight hug.

"I'm gonna miss you, Court. Seriously, the competition wasn't the same without you there."

Courtney wanted to roll her eyes. It didn't seem that way when you all were eating together. Instead, she gave her a tight smile.

"And I know Duncan's gonna miss you. God, he's going to be such a pain in the ass without you there."

Courtney broke her eye contact with Bridgette. Duncan...

Truth be told, she hadn't heard from him since she returned to her room.

During their entire stay, Duncan had never left her side. For her to hang out with Bridgette without him was odd.

The most logical answer was that he was busy prepping for Total Drama Action like Bridgette. However, she had a feeling that the answer was not that simple.

Maybe he realized that he won't see her again for potentially eight weeks. Maybe he didn't want to be in a relationship with someone he'd have to wait for. He could throw her off as a summer fling and move on to the next girl.

But he wouldn't do that... Would he?

Bridgette cleared her throat pulling Courtney out of her thoughts. She lifted her surfboard and pushed it right in front of Courtney's face.

"Should I take it with me?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Bridge, you barely used that thing at the camp. I doubt that you'll find a use for it at a film lot."

Bridgette sighed. "Yeah, you're right." She walked over to put her surfboard away but then stopped for a moment. She ran back to her bag. "Maybe I'll bring it just in case."

"I think Geoff's rubbing off on you."

Bridgette ignored the comment. "So, what are you going to do while we're out?"

Try to find a way to avoid my parents' wrath. "Probably practice my violin," Courtney answered casually. "My parents sent me a new one after the other one broke."

"Aw," Bridgette said with a smile. "That's nice of them."

Courtney let out a deep sigh. "Yeah..."

When Courtney returned from dinner, she found Duncan sitting outside of her door. A few steps later, Duncan realized that Courtney was approaching and quickly jumped up. He tried to casually lean against the wall.

"Princess," he said with a smirk.

Instead of rolling her eyes, she gave him a smile. "Do you regularly wait outside a girl's door?"

His eyes widened a little when he realized that she had seen him. Still, he tried to brush it off with a scoff.

"As if," he replied. "Only losers who can't get girls do that."

"Right, my bad," she teased.

She turned around to unlock her door when she felt a hand on her wrist. When she looked up, she saw Duncan's blue eyes. She gave him a smirk.

"Guess it takes one to know one."

"Stuff it," he said while glaring. She gave him a knowing look back, and he let out a sigh. "Look, we don't have that much time before they separate us."

Courtney's shoulders slumped. For a tiny moment, she forgot about not making it with her friends to the new competition.

It seemed like every time Duncan was with her, her anxiety disappeared. And for a moment she feels... content?

"Courtney," Duncan said while snapping his fingers in front of her face. "Stay with me now."

She snapped back to reality and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, you were saying?"

Duncan took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. He then started to back away leaving some space in between them.

"Look, I'm not good with words,' he started off nervously. "But I think you already knew that." He let out a tense laugh but stopped when he saw Courtney furrow her eyebrows. "Right..."

He then stared at her. She stared back.

It was silent for a while, and Courtney began to worry. What the hell...

"Is there something on my face," she asked.

"No!" He shouted it way too loud, and he had to look around to make sure that Eva didn't hear him.

"It's just," he continued. "We're probably not going to see each other for a while..."

She felt the pit in her stomach. "Yeah..."

"And I just wanted to..."

Courtney tilted her head as she watched Duncan's internal battle. Just rip the bandaid off!

"...You wanted to stop seeing me," she finished for him.

He gave her a confused look before shaking his head. "No, it's not that it's just..."

Having him say no relieved some part of her anxiety. Still, he didn't mention anything about being in a relationship...

"...We're not exclusive, and you want to keep your options open?"

He scoffed. "Definitely not. Have you met the others? They're psychos."

"Then, what do you want to say," she huffed out.

He thought about it for a while. Courtney tapped her foot in response. Her patience had run thin.

Finally, he opened his mouth and said, "Wanna take a picture with me?"

Seriously? She contemplated being petty but just sighed. "Sure."

Courtney being separated from her friends was one thing. Courtney being stuck in a bus with the other losers? That was its own level of hell.

Katie and Sadie kept singing off-key. They tried to get Courtney to sing with them, but she would always say that she didn't know those songs.

Ezekiel stuck his head out the window and marveled at the new places he was experiencing. Cody seemed to be playing around with a keyboard. Eva just kept her headphones in and looked down.

Tyler was focused on the letter in his hand. Apparently, Lindsay had written him one before leaving. Tyler probably read it over a thousand times, but his smile never faltered.

Shit. Is that what you were supposed to do in a relationship? Then again, he never said we were in one...

"Shut up," Noah screamed, "Nobody is enjoying this ruckus!"

It was blissfully quiet for a little while before Katie spoke up.

"Aw," she said. "We didn't mean to leave you out, Noah."

Sadie nodded. "Yeah! You can join us too if you want!"

"Hey," shouted Chef from the driver's seat. "Don't make me turn this bus around!"

Noah was practically on his knees by then. "Oh god, yes. Please do. I can't survive like this!"

Chef just rolled his eyes. "Teenagers," he mumbled.

Five and a half Avril Lavigne songs later, the bus had finally screeched to a stop.

"Welcome to your new home," Chef said with an evil grin.

Once the teenagers got out, they looked up at their home. A theater.

Courtney swore she saw a rat crawl out from a window.

"Excuse me, Chef," Courtney spoke out. "Is this theater up to date?"

Chef gave out an annoyed sigh. "Yes, Ms. Lawyer-Wanna-Be. It's safe. Geez, it's like you think we'll purposely kill you off for ratings."

Tyler was two steps from the front door when the theater sign came crashing down in front of him.

Courtney gave Chef a look of disbelief.

"Look, unless one of you has enough money to book a hotel for eight weeks, I suggest you get used to your home."

The teens looked at each other before reluctantly going in.

Home sweet home.