Author's Notes
Warning: Lots of racism and swearing involved. Racial slurs are hurled left, right and centre.
Pay extra attention to the flashback scene. This is one of the biggest foreshadowing moments for the overall story.
I also want to mention that I don't have anything against the name "Karen". It is just a term that was popular late 2019 – 2022 among Gen Z (my gen). Admittedly, it has died down a little.
Finally, in this world we are allowed to do things that might not make as much sense in the real world (it's a cartoon!). So whereas it may take a while for cupcakes to cool down in our world (after they come out of the oven), in the TD universe it just takes a quick minute or two.
12:25 pm
"Five minutes left!" Chris announced to the teams.
Everyone was working as fast as they could. Hands were carrying trays of cupcakes, frantically passing them from one person to another. Many were standing on top of one another to reach the top and put their cupcakes nice and snug into their placeholders. Damien was even using a fishing rod and a ladder perched on a table to get their cupcakes to the higher levels.
Chris turned to Owen.
"So Owen which team is looking good?"
Owen put a hand to his chin and stared greedily at all of the delicious cupcakes in front of him. It was hard to say which team was better since they both had cupcakes that looked and smelled mouth-watering. Owen scratched his head.
"Let's see… I'm excited for Julia's!" he clapped his hands and smacked his lips.
"Let me guess… You went to Sweet Little Julias?" Chef surmised. He expected Owen to have visited every single bakery in the country.
"YUP! Best sweet shop in Canada! Maybe even in the world! Although Heather probably doesn't think so…" he gave a nervous laugh.
"Why? Did something happen?" Emily and Chris immediately asked, a little too enthusiastically. They were always invested in juicy drama, professional instigators they were.
"Well… yeah? You didn't hear?" Owen asked surprised. Perhaps they were pulling his leg because it was one of the biggest stories he recalled. It had been all over the local newspapers.
"The TD gang went there three years ago… we were visiting Vancouver Island for a little reunion and wanted to stop by for an afternoon snack! So Gwen pulled up 'Sweet Little Julias' on her phone. It had a 5 star rating! And it had been open for 15 years! Which is seriously impressive. I looked at some pictures and instantly wanted to go. It looked like dessert heaven! So we went…"
Chris and Emily nodded, wanting Owen to continue what seemed like a very captivating story. However, Chef seemed to have other concerns.
"Hey how is Gwen? Is she in the army yet?"
Chris rolled his eyes in annoyance at this disturbance.
Owen blinked. "No… she works at an art gallery remember? Anyways, all of us went and had a good time! We took pictures and laughed. I bought one of every dessert they had! The owner, Greg Sterling… he looked really happy! He gave me a free membership, you can get 80% off on July 1 and Aug 22, Julia's and Megan's birthday every year!"
Owen pulled out his Sweet Little Julias membership card which was all beaten up and bruised. Clearly it had been used a lot over the past three years.
Chris frowned. "Yeah, yeah whatever. Who cares about stupid promotions? What happened with Heather?" He wanted to get to the part of the story where there was fighting, arguing, yelling, hair pulling because he fully expected it to come.
"Well… you know Heather… she was paying for her stuff at the register when she saw a teenage girl bringing out more desserts looking really tired and bored of the place, like she didn't want to be there. And… HAHAHA," Owen chortled as he narrated the scene. "Heather made fun of her dusty apron and for almost dropping some profiteroles… saying she couldn't keep up with the pace. Turns out Heather had just mouthed off to Julia!"
Chris beamed. This is gonna be goooood he smiled to himself. Chef, however, seemed to share a different view and sensed danger incoming, as if the story was about to take a nosedive into chaos. "This is not good…" he said slowly.
Owen nodded. "So then Julia fired back saying something about Heather's oversized cleft chin. But of course Heather wasn't going to take that! She kicked the sign displaying the daily specials over and flipped her hair sassily because that's what Heather does. Then she leaned on the counter, waiting for her last pastry to arrive. Well Julia didn't like that one bit!" Owen adjusted his bow tie and took a sip of water now that the story was taking off. His throat was getting a little dry.
"They continued to cuss at each other and yell racial slurs, throwing up rude gestures and neither one was backing down, it really looked like they were going to fight! And then it really escalated when Julia got flour and threw it right in Heather's eyes!"
Emily put her hands to her mouth and made a small gagging noise but Chris and Chef exploded with laughter.
"DAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!" they wheezed.
They were now imagining a flour-faced Heather yelling and swearing. Owen himself started laughing at their reactions.
"And – and – and then," Owen said between fits of laughter, wiping tears from his eye. "Heather tried to jump over the counter and fight her but Alejandro held her back – "
BANG!
Chris slammed his fist on the table in anger. "DAMN IT ALEJANDRO! STOP RUINING EVERYTHING!" This was too much for Chef who had collapsed to the floor and rolled around uncontrollably. He could see the seductive Spaniard holding back his girl who had just been doused in flour, perhaps even swearing in Spanish himself.
"So… what? A 30 year old Heather tried to throw hands with 15 year old Julia?" Emily asked Owen intrigued. It seemed Heather did not care if Julia was a minor or not. Heather's hands were clearly rated E for everybody.
"YEAH! Because I mean, you don't just throw flour in Heather's face and get away with it… but apparently Julia did. Then they started shouting at each other some more, but obviously everyone was holding each other back. Julia's parents were trying to calm the situation down. They offered Heather free cupcakes and it seemed everything was going to be okay. But Julia swiped the box at the last moment, took a giant bite out of a cupcake and said 'TOO SLOW!' right in front of Heather's face and laughed."
Chris banged the table three times. This was great. "HAHAAH! WHAT A SAVAGE! IS SHE CRAZY?! RIGHT IN FRONT OF HEATHER?!" He couldn't believe Julia had the audacity to taunt Heather like this. Perhaps she didn't know who Heather really was…
Owen shrugged. "Julia didn't seem scared of her… which is scary. I'm a little scared of Julia now…." Anybody who wasn't scared of Heather was probably scary themselves.
Chris shook Owen's hands gratefully for his mind had just been blessed with such a great thought. It would be even better if he could physically see footage of this historic event. "This is great. Did you get it on film Big O?" he asked eagerly, not expecting much. But much to his surprise –
Owen nodded happily. "Yeah. Cody did! It started off as just recording everybody's food but then he caught the fight too. The whole thing, the swearing, arguing, fighting, everything!"
"I love Cody. You know what? I take back what I said about him floating his way in World Tour. He's awesome!" Chris said cheerfully.
Owen pulled out his phone and went to his messages with Cody. Cody had sent him the full video. Owen clicked play as the eager faces of Chris, Chef and Emily stared.
*FLASHBACK*
Aug 5 2021
4:24 pm
Heather was impatiently drumming her fingers along the counter of the sweet shop, Sweet Little Julias. She wanted to pay for her stuff and eat but Alejandro was taking his sweet time examining each individual pastry they had to offer.
"Oh-la-la!" he marvelled at the chocolate éclairs. "Such a generous amount of chocolate sauce on every single one! Truly remarkable! Such dedication to their craft – "
"Are you done? Can we pay?" Heather huffed in annoyance.
"Do not rush me!" Alejandro replied politely. He took a sniff of the shop. Nothing but the sweet aroma of vanilla, chocolate and freshly baked bread filling his nostrils… simply sublime.
"I can stay here all day!" Alejandro teased. Indeed, he was taking long on purpose to drive Heather crazy.
"Well we don't have all day loser!" Heather spat, without even looking at him and instead played with her own fingernails irritated.
Suddenly a young, slim teenage girl with her golden-blonde hair up in a bun appeared in front of them, on the other side of the counter. She wore a bored expression but that was because she was tired. She had been working hard all day from 6 in the morning when they had to prep to 9 in the morning when they opened their doors to now, 4:30 in the afternoon which was usually peak customer time. Just 30 more minutes, the shop would close and this long day would be over…
15 year old Julia was carrying a tray of profiteroles and was opening the glass to put them on display. But she was so exhausted her hands shook and the tray wobbled. Julia found her balance and saved the profiteroles from falling to the floor in the nick of time. That was a close one. She sighed in relief, grateful she did not have to make another batch.
Heather's eyes narrowed disapprovingly and she curled her lip. She had not failed to notice Julia's near blunder.
"Look at her. She can barely keep up… Hey little girl! Don't be afraid to take a break if you can't handle holding a tray!" Heather said extremely passive-aggressively. She sneered at Julia and was about to turn to Alejandro to see what he was looking at this time but then she heard a loud –
BANG!
Heather flinched and turned to the source of the noise. It had come from the girl she had just teased. Julia had just slammed her tray down on the counter with excessive force.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME YOU ABSOLUTE DONUT?!" Julia shrieked as she pointed a threatening finger at Heather and glared at her with immense hatred. Everyone in the sweet shop turned and stared.
Heather was slightly taken aback at all the attention Julia had brought so abruptly. Furthermore, Heather did not expect this girl to have such a strong response. Heather squinted and read the name tag: Julia. Heather never would have guessed Julia was the type to be loud and abrasive. Perhaps this girl was good at fooling people and hiding her true colours until she was pushed over the edge…
Regardless, Heather could not let this arrogant, little slimeball mouth off to her like that. Did she even know who Heather was? The great Heather Kasuga was about to have the first episode of her own spin-off show The World According To Heather premiere tomorrow night! In that case… Heather was about to teach Julia a lesson she certainly wouldn't forget.
"EXCUSE ME?! SAY THAT AGAIN!" Heather yelled back in her loudest voice, expecting to see Julia flinch or take a step back. Much to Heather's shock however, Julia had shown no reaction. On the contrary, her face displayed a disturbing lack of fear and she merely scoffed.
Julia was used to dealing with troublesome customers (so-called "Karens"). She had made each and every single one of them leave here, crying and breaking down whenever they tried to cause a disturbance in the shop. This person in front of her, whoever she was, would be no different. Julia was not impressed.
"Heather, please…" Alejandro pleaded, tugging Heather's arm but Heather threw him off with a powerful jerk.
Heather got closer to Julia, despite a counter separating the two. "Careful your mousey little hands don't drop the cupcakes. You know it's not the end of the world if you break a teensy nail," Heather hissed. Heather did not know much about this girl so she was going to attack her fragile, elegant and meek-looking figure. This girl probably cared more about her looks than baking so Heather was going to use this to her advantage.
Julia crossed her arms and immediately retorted. "Careful your oversized chin doesn't smush your dessert before your mouth can get a bite," she sneered. "By the way… you have a little black spot over there…" – Julia referred to her own chin so Heather could get the message –"Yeah, over there? Did you know that?"
Heather touched her chin, wondering what on earth Julia was talking about. And then she realised Julia was referring to her cleft chin! This was the final straw. This girl is not as easy as she looks Heather thought amused. No matter, I'll still crush her like a roach!
"Aww, baking looks too hard for the bleach demon. Shouldn't you be talking with your plant army about how you're all going to save the turtles and stop climate change?" Heather's eyes flashed maliciously, attacking the artificial, granola-girl vibe Julia was giving off. Heather could read this person like a book.
Julia's cold eyes had become slits. It was hard to say if her eyes were even open at all. Her hand was reaching slowly under the counter for something…
Heather casually flipped her hair and kicked the wooden sign displaying today's specials.
THUD!
Upon seeing the sign crash to the floor, Julia's heart skipped a beat. It was like seeing one of her creations destroyed. She would not allow Heather to get away with that.
Heather continued her relentless attack.
"Hey! You look like you could do with a few Pound Cakes," Heather narrowed her eyes as she stared down at Julia tauntingly. "Wouldn't hurt to put on a bit of weigh – "
SWISH!
Julia wasted no time and ferociously swiped a fistful of flour directly into Heather's irises. It had been so fast Heather had had no time to react.
Heather keeled over and screamed in pain, with her hands over her eyes as she desperately tried to rid herself of this stinging feeling. She took a few staggering steps backwards but quickly recovered.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH! COME HERE!" Heather coughed out some flour.
Heather tried to jump over the counter, and she was very close, with one leg already over it, but the other leg was seized by Alejandro so that it hung oddly in mid-air.
Instinctively, having expected Heather to jump over the counter and into her work area, Julia had grabbed a rolling pin in self-defence. She beat it in her hands, ready to smack Heather with it given the chance.
"YOU WANNA GO?!" Heather roared, held back by a startled Alejandro.
"YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME HUH?" Julia yelled back, continuing to beat the rolling pin in her hands. She turned back to her little sister who was holding her back. "LET GO OF ME MEGAN!"
"ALEJANDRO STOP!" Heather demanded, still struggling to be rid of his grasp.
"OK everybody just relax. It's cool," Duncan chimed in, failing to suppress a smile. He was rather enjoying himself. Courtney scowled at Duncan looking much too happy.
Heather pointed threateningly at Julia. "I – WILL – DESTROY – YOU ! I CAN RUIN YOUR LIFE! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I HAVE MY OWN SPIN-OFF SHOW! THE WORLD ACCORDING TO – "
Julia put her hands on her hips, raised her eyebrows and laughed mirthlessly. The audacity of this wrinkly toad to think she was actually afraid of her! "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I'M SCARED OF YOU?" Julia spat as she cut off Heather's last word.
A crowd had gathered at this point. The whole bakery was watching in awe. From the corner of her eye, Julia had caught a small man with brown hair recording and she didn't mind. She wanted all of this to be caught on film, to serve as a lesson to those who dared to mess around in her parents' bakeshop. She wanted to show she would defend it to the death for it was all she had ever known. From working here every summer as a kid to it becoming her full-time job, she had always felt a connection to this place she did not feel anywhere else. Anybody who caused trouble in her second home would have to be put in their place by her.
"COME ON OUT AND FIGHT YOU COWARD!" Heather challenged Julia, raising a determined fist. She was going to punch the daylights out of this barely-100-pound bitch.
Julia flipped her off with both hands. "TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT ME FIRST YOU DUMB BITCH!"
"NOT TAKING ANYTHING BACK YOU FUCKING NO-PURPOSE-FLOUR PIECE OF SHIT!" Heather cackled. Did this girl seriously think she could order her to take back her words?
"I GIVE YOUR TRASH TALK A B+!" – Julia gave an unnecessarily dramatic gasp – "OH NO. YOUR PARENTS WON'T BE TOO PLEASED ABOUT THAT. YOU DIS-HONA YOUR FA-MAH-LEE YOU PATHETIC, ROTTEN MISFORTUNE COOKIE!" Julia shot back.
"THESE DESSERTS ARE BLANDER THAN THE UNSALTED CRACKERS THAT WORK BEHIND THE COUNTER!" Heather mercilessly smacked the box of pink, fluffy macarons out of Alejandro's hand.
SMACK!
Alejandro groaned as they fell to the floor. Owen immediately bent down and scooped them up.
"45 second rule!" Owen chortled.
Julia's heart skipped another beat. It was one thing to witness the sign being kicked. It was another to see those delicate macarons she spent so much time making swatted away and treated like garbage. Julia always put her whole heart and soul into each dessert in the shop. All that time and effort smacked to the floor… Anger was brewing inside of her like never before.
"EGGROLL TEN DOLLA THAT-A-WAY!" Julia put on a fake-Asian accent and pointed to the Chinese family-owned restaurant right across from their shop. "BUT NOT HERE WANTON WOMAN!"
Heather gritted her teeth. This girl was really getting under her skin…
More F bombs and racial slurs were dropped and the whole Total Drama gang was staring back and forth in shock at this shouting match. Nobody, with the exception of Leshawna, had ever fought back against Heather like this.
"Ooo man that white girl can talk some trash!" Leshawna said in admiration. She had a slight smirk on her face. This took her back to the good old days when she herself had mouthed off to Heather. Lindsay briefly glanced at Leshawna, thinking Leshawna was referring to her as the 'white girl.' That had been her nickname at camp after all.
"Awfully blatant racist trash…" Courtney muttered though she chuckled slightly almost as if she enjoying this as much as Duncan.
"Heather isn't even Chinese! sUcH CulTuraL iNsenSitIViTy! GOSH!" Harold said furiously, purple frosting slobbered all over his mouth.
"I could go for some eggrolls too!" Owen licked his lips hungrily.
"Hehe, we're in danger," Noah plainly stated, reading the room. In his humble opinion, this building would not survive another three minutes of Heather vs Julia. Alejandro was laughing nervously, still holding Heather back. He couldn't decide whether he was enjoying this or not.
Julia brought both of her index fingers to the corners of her eyes, stretched them and squinted as hard as she could so that her eyes were almost closed. "AWW what's wrong? Still can't see through all that flour I gave you? Well… it's not like you were able to see much before anyways… with eyes as small as those…" she cackled.
Every jaw fell to the floor. What did she just say?
Heather's eyebrows went up so high they disappeared into her hair and she raised a fist, determined to hop over the counter and knock out Julia once and for all –
BANG!
Suddenly the back door opened and out came bursting a tall, thin, brown-haired man with golden spectacles and freckles.
"KIDS! STOP! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
It was Greg Sterling, the owner of the shop. Julia grinned at Heather maliciously before swiftly turning to her father and answering before anyone else.
"SHE" – Julia pointed a sharp finger at Heather – "gave me attitude and then got mad when I fought back. What a loser."
Greg rolled his eyes. As usual, Julia had most likely simplified the story to an enormous degree. There was probably a lot more to it than this.
"She was the one who started throwing things! She's lucky there's a counter separating us!" Heather retaliated choking, her eyes puffy and red. The flour had come off but her vision was still subpar.
BANG!
The door opened once more and out came another adult – this time a thin, middle-aged woman with wavy golden-blonde hair, dark-brown eyes and rosy cheeks. She appeared to be Greg's wife as she came over and stood next to him with a puzzled expression.
Alejandro immediately moved forward and extended his hand cordially. He was going to make things right. "My humblest apologies Mr. and Mrs. Sterling. I must admit, we came here hoping for tasty desserts which you have so graciously provided. I did not expect to pick a fight. Perhaps there is too much immaturity here…"
Oh how Heather hated his need to be diplomatic everywhere, least of all a sweet shop. It grinded her gears to see Alejandro being so passive when his wife had just received a faceful of flour. Even worse, he seemed to be referring to her as the immature one, at least that's how she interpreted it based on his tone.
Heather tossed her hands in the air. "STOP IT! Are you seriously taking HER side?" She nudged her head in disgust towards Julia who was sneering and playing with the strings of her apron.
Alejandro grabbed Heather's wrists and locked eyes with her. "I am taking nobody's side. I am merely trying to make peace because this fight was very silly and childish. Are you 16 again Heather?"
Heather turned scarlet at Alejandro lecturing her in front of everybody.
"I, you – y – y – you, w – wha – ?" Heather spluttered as her lips quivered and her brain scrambled to say something to his handsome, symmetrical face.
Just then, what appeared to be a carbon copy of Julia only 25 years older, spoke. Judy Sterling, co-owner of Sweet Little Julias looked around encouragingly. "Well… aren't you a sweetie?" she said sweetly to Alejandro.
Julia felt like throwing up at her mother for talking in this manner. Judy may have fallen for the stuck-up Spaniard's kiss-ass apology, but Julia was not going to. While her mother only looked with her eyes, Julia used her head. Judy was obviously entranced by his good looks, but Julia didn't find him particularly attractive.
"Here, let's all forget about this," Judy smiled at the TD gang kindly. "We'll provide you with service. Heather…? I believe that's what he called you? Lovely name by the way… I'm very sorry our daughter threw flour in your eyes. She needs to control herself, she's very impulsive, always been like that. Would you like some compensation cupcakes?"
Despite not even addressing him directly, Owen put his hand up and piped up from the back. "YES PLEASE!" he said, struggling to balance all of the Sweet Little Julias sweets and merchandise he was holding in his beefy hands.
Mr. Sterling chuckled. He had taken a great liking to this large man who had bought one of everything today, keeping their business alive and booming. "All right then, here you go!" He took a box from the shelf and handed it to the younger sister, Megan. She began packing a box of 12 cupcakes with her tiny, 13-year-old hands.
It was rather awkward. For a minute, nobody spoke as Megan quietly began placing cupcakes into the box one by one. Alejandro tapped his foot up and down while humming a cheerful tune, Greg whistled, Judy smiled at everyone who could only awkwardly smile back, Owen now miraculously had both egg rolls and spring rolls in his hands, and Heather and Julia narrowed their eyes while they exchanged icy glares.
Finally, Megan handed the box to her father who was about to pass it to Heather's waiting hands.
"Thank you very much Mr. Ster –" Alejandro began, reaching over the counter but he did not finish.
WHIP!
Julia snatched the box mid-way and tore it away from his waiting hands viciously. Alejandro was temporarily starstruck. He had not expected the fight to continue.
Julia opened the box hastily, her fingers scrambling with the lid momentarily, took out a cupcake and aggressively stuffed it into her mouth. She began to chew loudly and obnoxiously with her mouth wide open in front of everybody, while she stared directly at Heather. Little pieces of cupcake fell out of her mouth with each bite.
"OOPS! TOO SLOW!" Julia cackled through a mouthful of frosting.
"NOOOOOO!" Owen sank to the floor howling.
Alejandro stared at Julia in awe. "Oh my goodness… I think she is even pettier than you Heather…" he sighed. He truly did not know if he was impressed or disappointed.
Heather had had enough. She had been so close to getting what she wanted, which was the owners of the store to treat her like the queen she was, only for their spoiled daughter to come in and snatch her prize away at the last second.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH! GIVE ME BACK MY CUPCAKES!" Heather ordered to a smug-faced Julia who was leaning back and taking bites sassily.
"You're seriously naive if you thought I would let you get free cupcakes?" Julia laughed coldly. "We work hard all day making them and to give them away to a nobody like you…? Nooooo…. It's not happening…." Julia waved her fingers, signalling Heather to leave. As far as Julia was concerned, this conversation was over.
"Girls… please… Julia, please be nice!" Judy pleaded with her daughter but it was useless. Julia had never been nice. Julia rolled her eyes and stared down arrogantly as she played with her fingernails.
"Just tell her to leave!" Julia sneered. "It's over. I ate her up and left – no – crumbs." She clapped her hands between the last three words, still maintaining eye contact with Heather.
Heather's eye twitched and she gritted her teeth.
"THIS PLACE IS GOING TO BURN TO THE GROUND AS LONG AS SHE'S HERE!" Heather's voice shook with volcanic rage. She was going to leave a fat 1-star review for this place. She was already plotting her revenge to obliterate this sweetshop and burn it to the ground. Now that she had her sights on this place, Sweet Little Julias would not escape the wrath of Heather Kasuga. Heather was going to throw the kitchen sink and she would not hold back. One day, whether it was tomorrow, next week, next year or in 5 years Heather would get her sweet little revenge on this place…
"WE'RE DOING JUST FINE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT KAREN! NEXT!" Julia laughed malignantly.
Though she was in her late 20's and didn't speak the language of teens, Heather knew what that word meant. The unforgivable word, the k-word – Karen. The lowliest of insults.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME? YOU'RE GOING DOW – " Heather almost leaped over the counter and tried to hurl herself at Julia once more but this time, Alejandro and Duncan both held her back. Duncan was not smiling anymore. This was getting out of control. Julia laughed shrilly as she watched Heather's angry face struggling to reach her.
The last thing that could be seen was an irate, red-faced Heather with puffy eyes struggling to rid herself of Alejandro and Duncan, desperately trying to get to a smug-faced Julia who was taking bites out of another cupcake while her mother scolded her. All while Greg Sterling was shaking his head in disbelief.
The video stopped. Chris, Chef and Emily were giggling silently but it was Chris who spoke first. "That was golden! I need more Heather and Julia interactions." The absolute drama these two provided in just this short clip!
"Heather was literally arguing with herself 15 years ago…" Emily said amazed. It was like she had seen two Heathers fighting. "No seriously…how many racial jokes did they throw at each other? And it's hilarious how Julia kept assuming Heather was Chinese…"
"Julia 1, Heather 0," Chef shrugged casually.
At these words, Chris frowned and his forehead became wrinkly. He thought Chef was looking at things too simply… and wrongly for that matter…
"We need a rematch! Heather only lost because they were fighting in Julia's home turf. Heather would eat her alive if it were anywhere else!" Chris insisted, recalling all of Heather's malicious deeds during her time on the island.
Chef shook his head and looked at Chris incredulously. "Boy didn't you hear? Julia said she ate Heather up and left no crumbs. I think you underestimating how evil Julia is…"
Chris blew hot air through his nose.
"Oh gosh… are you two seriously arguing over THIS?!?" Emily exploded. Debating who would win a cat fight between two of the meanest, nastiest, fiercest competitors Total Drama had ever seen was a new low, even for her father.
Chris got up in Chef's face. He barely reached Chef's nose. "We're celebrating the 136 episode special and you think these newbies can beat our Gen 1? The one that started it all? HEATHER!"
Chef stood up, towering over Chris. "SO YOU BASICALLY ADMITTING YOU DON'T LIKE THESE KIDS AS MUCH AS THE FIRST BATCH WE HAD?! YOU THE TYPE TO HOLD ON TO YOUR GLORIOUS PAST AND NOT MOVE ON. YOU PEAKED IN 2007 CHRIS MAN. JULIA!" Chef got within an inch of Chris' nose so he could see each individual nose hair. Chris scrunched up his nose in disgust. Chef's words were absolute blasphemy.
"HEATHER!"
"JULIA!"
"HEATHER!"
"JULIA!"
Emily and Owen exchanged glances saying Why are they like this? Owen began to regret showing them the video.
Chef confessional: *smirks* What?... I just like arguing with Chris. C'mon now! We're celebrating a milestone! It wouldn't be complete without at least one fight between us… And yes, I'm doing this on purpose.
"HEATHER!"
"JULIA!"
Emily face-palmed and laughed in disbelief. "Whatever… ONE MINUTE EVERYBODY!" she yelled at the room.
Both the Panthers and Orangutans had filled half of their structure with cupcakes but this announcement made them all panic and desperately try to complete the other half in a minute. Everybody was helping out for they could not afford to have even one teammate lazing around.
"GO! GO!" Axel urged her team as she started putting cupcakes in the 11th row. Zee hopped on to Axel's shoulders and filled up the 10th row, whistling happily to himself.
"Wayne, stay still!" Julia ordered. She was on top of his shoulders, working on the 7th row. Wayne was standing on top of a table, legs shaking slightly not because Julia was too heavy for him but because he was multi-tasking, working on putting cupcakes as well. Wayne filled two cupcakes in the 14th row.
"Alright!" he smiled and gave Julia a thumbs-up.
"STEADY ZEE, STEADY!" Axel said as his prosthetic shook violently.
"Gotcha," Zee nodded, doing his best to stabilize himself.
"Ripper, Nichelle, bring the last batch," Chase hollered. Ripper and Nichelle came carrying their last tray of cupcakes. Chase, Ripper and Nichelle each took four cupcakes and inserted them wherever an empty cupcake holder was.
"DID WE GET THEM ALL?" Nichelle asked her team, stepping back to admire the tall structure of cupcakes, a massive tower of decadent sugar and icing.
"LOOKS GOOD HERE," Ripper confirmed, as he checked the left side.
"AND HERE!" Chase gave a thumbs-up to Nichelle's right.
"QUICKLY!" Priya yelled. She jumped on to Caleb's broad shoulders and began filling up the 5th row. It was absolute mayhem. Damien, Raj, MK and Head Chef Emma were running all over the place, scrambling to place their cupcakes into each individual holder. To get to the ones above, Emma hopped on Raj's shoulders and MK hopped on Damien's, each of whom were standing on top of a table.
"10…9….8….," Emily began counting down, eyeing them all nervously for they were wobbling on top of the tables. She hoped nobody would fall and hit their head.
"HEATHER!"
"JULIA!"
"7…6…5…."
"OW!"
"OW!"
Chase and Ripper bumped into each other face-first and clutched their faces in pain.
Emma and Caleb were checking for any missing cupcakes. "OH NO!" Emma cried out, pointing frantically to the very top of their structure which was missing a cupcake. "THE TOP ONE! WE'RE MISSING THE TOP ONE!"
"HEATHER!"
"JULIA!"
"4…3…2…"
Damien tossed their last cupcake up to the top, it flipped and rotated through the air and then fell snugly, fitting perfectly into its holder.
"HEATHER!"
"JULIA!"
"1… and STOP! TIME'S UP, SPATULAS, SPOONS, TRAYS DOWN!"
Damien confessional: BOOM! CRUSHED IT! *points to the camera proudly*
Emma confessional: piece of cakeee! *waves a carefree hand*
Nichelle confessional: We got this! *pumps fist*
Everybody did as they were told and stepped back. There was a collective sigh of relief as the challenge was now over. It had been their most intense one yet. The Panthers and Orangutans hugged each other in celebration. Now all that was left was the tasting segment and then a winner would be crowned.
"HEATHER!"
"JULIA!"
Julia blinked. "What... are they doing?... " she asked in confusion, wondering why Chef was chanting her name so aggressively.
Emily took a rolling pin and banged the table numerous times.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"SHUT UP YOU TWO! GEEZ!" she yelled. The shouting match between Chris and Chef immediately ceased.
Chris adjusted his bow tie awkwardly and tapped his party hat. He cleared his throat and gave a cough. "Oh… my bad. Is the challenge over? AWESOME! Let's get tasting!" He rubbed his hands in anticipation.
Chef, petty as always, felt he had to get the last laugh. "I'm expecting a lot from Sweet Little JULIAS," he emphasized the last word, flicking his eyebrows tauntingly at Chris. Chris rolled his eyes in annoyance. Of course Chef always had to have the last word.
"Way to rub it in my face. Alright… Panthers, you're up first!" Chris looked up at their tower, excited. It certainly passed the visual test, but of course, taste would matter more.
Chris, Chef, Emily and Owen all gazed up at the cupcake tower in awe. It was a delicious assortment of sugar waiting to be consumed. One by one, they proceeded to pick a random cupcake of their favourite flavour among the 136 which stood before them.
Emily reached for the cupcake in row 2, slot 2 – a Neapolitan cupcake. Ripper face-palmed himself and Wayne grinned cheekily as he pocketed 10 bucks.
Ripper confessional: Fart nuggets, I don't know anything about this girl! Not even her favourite cupcake flavour?! SERIOUSLY?!
Wayne confessional: *waves his 10-dollar bill happily in front of the camera lens* Oh yeah! 10 bucks! Just two million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety more dollars and then I got the same as the prize money! I should make more bets with Ripper… DOUBLE DOWN!
Chef took a cupcake in row 6, slot 3 – banana caramel.
Chris reached for row 14, slot 10 – vanilla dulce.
MK confessional: Chris and I have the same favourite cupcake flavour? Gross… what's next? We're related?
Finally, Owen reached for the chocolate fudge cupcake at the very top.
"Nice choice Big O!" Wayne whooped, for he felt Owen had chosen the correct best flavour. Nothing could beat chocolate fudge. He felt slight kinship to Owen, the lovable goof who didn't seem to take life too seriously.
It sounded crazy to Wayne but if Owen had won, maybe he had a shot at winning as well… if they won today's challenge and the next… and then he would be out of the pre-merge… and into the merge… hopefully winning a few merge challenges here and there… then the finals… then the –
Wayne's happy thoughts were disturbed by a gagging noise which came from the mouths of the judges.
Emily, Chef and Chris were all spitting out their cupcakes in disgust. Chef even bent over choking and almost fell off his chair. Apparently, his cupcake was that revolting.
"What did you guys do?" Emily choked, reaching for a glass of water immediately. "It literally tastes like a mouthful of SALT."
"The last thing we want to do is take another bite!" Chris cried, chugging a glass of water.
The Panthers couldn't believe what they were hearing. Chase even poked his ear. "WHAT?! Salty cupcakes?" he asked in shock.
"Yup, mine tastes like salt as well," Chef wheezed, pushing his cupcake away as far away from him as he could. This was a trauma cupcake.
Owen was rubbing his belly, content. Having just finished his cupcake in one bite, he wanted more. "YUMMY!" he cheered.
So Julia had gotten three out of four cupcakes her way. After all, not all of them had been salted. Or maybe she had gotten lucky and all four were salty and Owen just didn't care. Either way, she was satisfied with the results and bit her lip in a snarky manner, hidden from her teammates' view.
Nichelle stared up at her cupcake tower in horror. She thought she had served a masterpiece, instead she had served an absolute disaster. And since she took over the reins when Julia had taken a step back, she felt mostly responsible for this.
Ripper seemed to think so too because he turned to Nichelle accusingly. The cupcakes he had eaten with Chase and Zee had certainly not tasted salty! They had been perfect! Why had they been so good when Julia was head chef and tasted like crap when Nichelle had taken over?!
"Nichelle! What happened?!" he asked angrily as if she knew the answer. In reality, Nichelle did not know. Salty cupcakes? It did not make any sense to her. Her throat had become very dry and her heart was beating much too fast.
Nichelle confessional: *puts a trembling hand to her mouth* OK… this is NOT good! I have no idea what happened to them!
"How am I supposed to know?" Nichelle asked indignantly.
Chris dabbled at his chin with a napkin and smirked at Chef. He may as well poke fun at Chef while he had the chance. "Guess Sweet Little JULIAS wasn't so good after all?" he said pettily. Chef rolled his eyes even though he knew it was coming.
Julia hated that her sabotage had come at the expense of her sweet shop's reputation. "UM… this isn't a good representation of Sweet Little Julias at all," she said false-sweetly. "You can actually come into the shop and – "
Emily cut her off. "Next up. Orangutans."
Julia scowled.
Julia confessional: *face-palms* ugh… probably should have seen that coming…
Emily reached for a Neapolitan cupcake in row 12, slot 5. Chef went for another banana caramel cupcake in row 9, slot 9. Chris eagerly took a vanilla dulce one in row 15, slot 7 and Owen once again took a chocolate fudge from the top in row 1, slot 1.
The Orangutans held each other in anticipation, each looking at the judges closely. Emma held her breath. If their cupcakes were worse than the Panthers… well then that would be extremely embarrassing considering ¾ of theirs had been salty rather than sweet. It would be hard to mess up more than that surely…
Damien was half-covering his eyes with his hands, peeking nervously and Priya was gripping Caleb's shoulder so tightly he felt he was going to pass out. The next thing they knew, the judges had each taken a bite, Owen once again tossing the whole thing in his mouth.
Emma instantly knew they had won from the moment she saw their reactions.
Emily's eyes lit up and she stared at her cupcake in amazement. "Wow… so soft, so moist…"
"I second that… how did you…" Chef's eyes watered staring at the Orangutans with pure glee. He was too shocked to speak; his cupcake had been that good. Chris wasn't even speaking. Instead he was finishing his cupcake silently, with each bite being more savage than the last. He was really ripping it apart.
Owen got up from his table and looked up at the Orangutans' cupcake structure greedily. His irises were reflecting cupcakes for that was all he cared about at this moment. Being a guest judge was one of the best things he had ever signed up for!
"Need more… I want more… " he drooled. "JUST PUT THEM ALL IN MY MOUTH!" he said, desperately reaching for more cupcakes while Chris and Chef held him back.
Emma confessional: Wow! I think the fact that one of the judges had to be forcibly restrained is a pretty good sign! YUSSSS!
After calming Owen down and putting him back into his judge seat (Chef kept one eye on Owen in case he jumped out again and started demolishing the cupcakes), Chris clapped his hands and stared around at the teams. For him, it was a no-brainer.
"That was a brilliant way to celebrate the 136 episode special! Great work guys! BUT I think we have a clear winner here… THE MALEVOLENT ORANGUTANS!" he announced to nobody's surprise.
The Orangutans exploded with an enormous cheer, as they all hugged each other in celebration. Emma was buried by her teammates who were all hugging her now. She felt immensely proud of leading her team to victory today.
"Panthers, what can I say? Sucks to be you now," Chris turned to today's losers. "I'll see you all at the campfire ceremony. See you there."
The Panthers, with their aprons, faces and hands covered with flour stared at the ground and nodded glumly.
[Soundtrack 1]
The Panthers seated themselves around the campfire for their second elimination ceremony. Julia, Axel and Nichelle placed themselves in front of Chris while Trout Trio and Wayne hung around the back. Julia placed herself between Axel and Nichelle. She grabbed both of their hands, squeezed tightly and gave an encouraging smile as if to say 'Everything will be all right'. They both smiled feebly.
"Welcome Panthers!" Chris said dramatically as he stepped out from the shadows, now back to his usual attire. "Time to send your second camper home! But first, there were a lot of mistakes today. Chef?"
Chef cleared his throat.
"RIPPER. You didn't know how to preheat an oven and then you ate half of your team's presentation – "
"It wasn't only me! Chase and Zee were eating too!" Ripper blubbered. He felt it was unfair he was being called out for this when his friends had done the same.
"I'M NOT FINISHED!" Chef scowled. "Your greedy butt could be going home in a piping bag tonight."
Emily nodded and stared at Ripper.
Ripper gulped and stared down at his feet, avoiding her eyes. Emily had helped him today but Ripper still felt they were not back to normal. And he would not accept leaving here without making things completely right with her! He did not care how many more times he would have to get his calves bitten by chickens.
"JULIA. As head chef, you take full responsibility for not being organized and letting the three stooges guard the food. And giving up so easily and handing the reigns to Nichelle when you've been working at Sweet Little Julias for 12 years. We expected more from you…"
Julia bowed her head and nodded though deep inside, she was feeling extremely confident about tonight's vote regardless of Chef calling her out.
"NICHELLE. While you did take over in the end, it was not enough to win so responsibility tends to fall on the second-in-command…"
Nichelle lowered her eyes and nodded.
"WAYNE. You forgot to set a timer on the ovens, thus burning your first batch – "
Wayne frowned and looked up at Chef incredulously. This did not sound right. Hadn't that been Chase and Ripper?
"WAIT! That wasn't me!" he protested.
"I know! I just want to blame everyone!" Chef growled. He was not in a good mood tonight.
"CHASE. YOU WERE JUST ALL AROUND USELESS TODAY. You didn't know how to work an oven and you tried to tell Zee that Betty Crocker and Santa Claus weren't real. You're a menace to society!"
Zee closed his eyes and nodded his head furtively. Chase's jaw dropped.
"OK seriously I KNOW I'M RIGHT ABOUT THIS – " Chase said angrily.
"Wow, that's a lot of blunders today!" Chris chortled. "Anyways, let's get on with the actual ceremony. The marshmallows go to…
…Axel…
…Zee…
…Wayne…
…Chase…
…Julia…
Ripper and Nichelle's faces dropped.
Ripper could have sworn his heart had fallen out of his chest. Inside, an intense panic had filled him. Could he really be leaving like this? Would Emily say goodbye to him at the dock? Or would she ignore him once more?
Nichelle looked up petrified at the final marshmallow. There was so much on the line here. She had come here to reclaim her reputation as a star. If she was going to be dealt another early exit, she would be the official laughingstock of the entertainment industry.
"And the final marshmallow goes to… "
Ripper and Nichelle sweated nervously as they watched Chris point the final marshmallow back and forth between the two. Axel reached a hand over to Nichelle's shoulder and gripped it reassuringly. Feeling it would be seen as too suspicious if she didn't try and comfort Nichelle, Julia did the same. Chase and Zee were crossing their fingers for the final marshmallow to go to Ripper.
Another few seconds passed.
Julia smiled smugly, knowing full who was going to be saved…
"Ripper!"
"WHAT?!" Axel, Nichelle and Julia all screamed as they looked at each other.
"WHAT?!" Ripper said, slightly later as he caught his marshmallow. Ripper looked up, absolutely baffled. Perhaps it was from the pure shock of being saved, Ripper felt his eyes may have been playing tricks on him. He could have sworn he saw Emily give a little smile at the corner of her mouth before tossing him his marshmallow. Or had he just imagined it?...
"BUT… HOW?!" Nichelle spluttered as she threw her hands into the air. Nothing was making sense to her. How could she be going home before Ripper? Hadn't she shown competency in challenges this time around? Hadn't she actually reached out and attempted to improve her social game? By forming an alliance with Julia and Axel? And she had been the only one to not throw in the towel in today's challenge when all seemed hopeless. It was so unfair!
"Sorry, 4-3 split," Chris chortled as he pointed Nichelle to the Boat of Losers waiting for her. "Dock of shame is this way!" He got up and left.
"Four guys, three girls. Are we really surprised?" Julia said quietly. "Sorry Nichelle. I guess the boys must have been intimidated by you…" She stared sympathetically into Nichelle's eyes. Nichelle nodded and buried her face into Julia's shoulder.
"It's OK girl, let it all out…" Julia cooed as they hugged each other. Axel narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Wayne stared quizzically at Julia. He had not voted for Nichelle. So who had?...
Axel confessional: *crosses arms* Something's not right… I can smell it from a MILE AWAY!
Finally, Nichelle let go of Julia and turned to Axel to exchange one last good-bye hug. She waved miserably at the Trout Trio who could do nothing but stand there rather awkwardly seeing that they had all voted for her.
Nichelle walked miserably to the Boat of Losers. She couldn't believe she had ended up being another pre-merge boot. Nichelle sighed, wondering where she went wrong. She had improved her physical prowess and she had even made an alliance with Julia and Axel. Nichelle was left to drown in her own thoughts as the Boat carried her away from the island.
Through narrowed eyes, Julia watched as Nichelle turned around the corner and disappeared. Although she had lost her first alliance member sooner than she had hoped, Julia still felt it had been a good move. Nichelle was the only person here who had made her feel truly threatened. Therefore, it was only natural for her to go.
Julia laughed to herself at how simple it had been. There was a point during the challenge where she had seriously contemplated on writing a big, fat fake Hollywood contract to trick Nichelle into quitting the game. Julia had been feeling uneasy about the plan as there were many things that could've gone wrong such as Nichelle recognizing the amateurish wording, the awfully convenient plant on her bed just before a ceremony, and the fact that for some reason, this island didn't seem to have much paper lying around. Coupled with the fact that Julia would have had to type at a blitz speed of 800 words per minute just to have everything ready in time… no… this was much better… much more clever and suited her sneaky, under-handed and deceptive style… sugar for salt…
Julia confessional: *sighs happily* And that's how you get rid of an absolute thorn in your side. *laughs* Wow, I'm REALLY good at what I do. Today was a good day!
Zee dialed a number excitedly. 604-428-9152. His heart was pumping extremely fast.
Zee confessional: I was just about to go to sleep but then I saw THIS on my bed. *pulls out sheet and shows it to the camera* "Dear Hezekias Pancho, I heard you would like to speak with Betty Crocker. Give us a call at 604-428-9152 before midnight and Betty will be able to speak with you. Otherwise, you can call us tomorrow morning at 7:30 EST. From, Betty Crocker Cake Mix Company."
*chuckles* Y'know we may have lost today's challenge but I think I'm going to be the biggest winner here tonight! And what a way to celebrate the TD special episode!
Zee held his phone anxiously to his ears as he waited for a response. His hands were extra shaky since tonight would be the night he finally spoke to one of his favourite people in the world. Finally, someone answered from the other end.
"Yellow?" a deep, grumbly voice said.
Zee smiled. "Hi, I was wondering if I could speak to Betty!" he said through shallow breathing.
"Ahhh yes, of course. Let me get her right now…"
Chase passed his phone to Axel. The two were sitting outside of the Panthers' cabin, watching Zee through the windows.
"HI. WHO IS THIS?" Axel asked in a high-pitched voice, doing her best impression of what she thought Betty Crocker actually sounded like.
Zee gasped excitedly. "Betty Crocker? Is that you? Wow…. you sound so young! Weren't you born in like the 1920s or something?"
"YUP!" Axel replied. "I guess I was…" she muttered to Chase who had stuffed his fist into his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud. Chase could not believe Zee would fall for this but then again it was Zee they were talking about. How did he not even recognize the fact that it was Chase's phone number?
"Amazing…" Zee gushed. "Anyways. I just wanted to call you to say I love your cake mixes and to keep going! People tried to convince me you weren't real but I'm glad they were wrong. I'm talking to you right now!"
"You're a sweet boy Hezekias. Keep eating my mixes!"
By this point, Chase was trying to shove his shoe into his mouth for a fist would not be enough.
"Thanks… hey how'd you know my name?" Zee asked in amazement.
A brief moment of panic but –
"Oh… I just watched the very special Total Drama episode today and you were the only one who mentioned me. I'm proud of you and your baking skills," Axel said spontaneously, high-fiving Chase.
Zee wiped his eyes as tears of glee were fell onto the ground. It was the best news of his life! "Honestly, thank you Betty… Thank you Betty…" Zee's body shook as he sobbed from pure joy. He stood alone in the cabin, shaking, too happy to speak. He was going to sleep well tonight.
THE END
Author's Notes
And just like that… the Hollywood star is the fourth one out! For those wondering I wanted to challenge myself by keeping her a pre-merge boot just like canon. I only wanted to change how she got eliminated. Yes that was me throwing slight shade at the writers near the end when I mention Julia and the Hollywood contract and all the things that could've (and should've) gone wrong…
I don't like to accuse them of being lazy because I know they worked really hard to give us two seasons (tbh the animation and facial expressions are the best they've ever been) but Nichelle's canon elimination genuinely made me disappointed. Because as much as I like Julia, is that really the best they could come up with? Come on!
I hope you are satisfied with this new way I wrote Julia taking out Nichelle. It also shows how reckless and impulsive Julia can be when she feels threatened. Getting rid of Nichelle when there is still the powerful Trout Trio and now a suspicious Axel may not have been the wisest move but Julia does not care. She is too power-hungry. I don't want to present her as flawless / doesn't make any errors.
A few highlights:
o New interaction unlocked (Chase-Axel)
o New interaction unlocked (Damien-Raj)
o Julia's hypocrisy is highlighted when she warns Wayne in part 1 that she "sends traitors packing." And she did just that when she sabotaged her own team…
o Damien gets to actually use his brain and show us what he is capable of. When he tempts Owen and runs with the cupcake. I really wanted to see a moment like that in "Fun Fight at the O'Cake Corral" which is the episode that this is based off of.
o Heather is the "Karen" which Julia spoke of in Part 1. Prior to Heather, they had a 5 star review (according to Owen). After this incident, Heather left a 0.5 star review (you're not allowed to give 0) bringing their average down to a 4.8. Alejandro did not leave a negative review which greatly annoyed Heather.
Fun fact: After all those years doing rewatches, I never realized Heather actually had a cleft chin which is why I decided to specifically point it out this chapter LMFAO. Can't believe I never saw that black dot. Was that really there this whole time? ... Mandela effect?
To address a little plot hole: If Julia has history with the TD gang, wouldn't Priya have known all about Julia from Season 1 and how nasty she can get? After all, Priya is a super fan of Total Drama and especially likes to keep up with the OG cast. To that, I say when Priya read about that story in the papers there was no picture of Julia (since she is a minor at the time, 15 years old and they are allowed to have some form of privacy). Priya did not see actual footage of the incident as Cody did not release it until a few days later (which Priya missed while she was scrolling on her phone).
The TD world is also a world where I pretend COVID did not happen. That's right. It was normal in 2020, 2021, 2022, etc…
And finally… most importantly, to those who think Heather and Julia is just a one-time thing and will not be revisited in the future, just wait. Because let's be honest. Heather is thirsty for revenge. It is going to be brutal. How exactly will Heather get back at Julia? And when will we see this? Hmmm…. *wink*
VOTES
Nichelle: Ripper, Zee, Chase, Julia
Ripper: Axel, Nichelle, Wayne
EXPLANATIONS
Trout Trio voted for Nichelle because the cupcakes they ate (when Julia was head chef) tasted amazing. But when Nichelle takes over and the result is salty cupcakes, they (wrongfully) assume it was her fault.
Julia voted for Nichelle for threatening her leadership status. She cut one of her alliance members rather early. Will this come back to haunt her?... Before the ceremony, she lies to Axel and Nichelle and says that all three of them will be voting for Ripper. Obviously, Julia went behind their backs and wrote a different name.
Axel and Nichelle agree with Julia that Ripper should get the boot.
Wayne thinks Ripper was a little slow to get his eggs (because he was being bitten by chickens).
CONFESSIONAL TOTAL
Who will have the most confessionals in the end?...
Julia: 31 (snatched Bowie's crown this episode)
Bowie: 25
Emma: 21
MK: 21
Damien: 20
Raj: 18
Caleb: 17
Ripper: 16
Chase: 13
Wayne: 13
Axel: 12
Nichelle: 12
Priya: 10
Zee: 9
Millie: 5
Scary Girl: 2
Emily: 3
Chris: 1
Chef: 1
Shark: 1
ELIMINATION ORDER
1. NO ELIMINATION (Reward challenge)
2. Lauryn "Scary Girl" Marinus (16th)
3. Millie Williams (15th)
4. Bowie Lupaul (14th)
5. Nichelle Ladonna (13th)