Priya's New Life
Millie O'Shea was happy to be home. After spending weeks upon weeks of being on the Total Drama Reboot, and having an admittedly better time than she thought, she was finally back home with her parents and three cats. She spent the next week staying in her home, hanging out with her mom, dad, and her cats, just wanting to take a break from the outside world for a while. Almost a week after she came back home, Millie walked down the steps, with a small gray kitten in her hands, and two other bigger cats, one orange and one black & white following her. Millie smiled when the two cats following her jumped down the final step so that they could be next to her.
Millie, wearing a pink, sleeveless t-shirt, and gray sweatpants, made her way to a sliding glass door. Millie turned around, smiling when she saw all three of her cats lined up behind her in a straight line. The aspiring journalist patted Annabeth, the cat in the front of the line, on the head before turning her attention back towards the door to her backyard.
"Mama, I'm gonna take Annabeth, Bianca, and Chelsea out for a walk in the backyard!" Millie announced to her mother before she opened the door, letting her three cats run out before her.
"Alright, baby. Just make sure you don't stay out too long," her mother responded while putting the food from their recent dinner into Tupperware for later. Millie smiled and nodded at her mom before following her cats outside. The lights behind the house came on thanks to the sudden movement, allowing Millie to see her orange cat, Bianca, running around the backyard, happily meowing. Annabeth, the black and white cat just plopped down stomach first onto the top stair of the deck while the small gray kitten, Chelsea's, legs were shaking while attempting to go down the stairs.
"Come on, Chelsea. I'm right behind you, don't be scared, girl," Millie said with a supportive pat on the back. Chelsea, reluctantly, jumped onto the next stair, which Millie responded to with a short burst of applause. "Yay! Good girl, Chelsea! Try the next stair, girl!" Millie called out in excitement, though Chelsea was getting scared again, walking in circles on the second step while letting out a distress call. Millie ran her hand across Chelsea's head and back trying to calm her down while Annabeth looked up at the sky, not looking interested in walking. While she was comforting Chelsea, Millie heard Bianca hissing. Millie raised her eyebrow since Bianca rarely ever hissed, so she picked Chelsea up and walked over to Bianca, who was hissing at a bush.
"Bianca? What's wrong, girl? Do you see something?" Millie asked while continuing to run her hands across Chelsea's back and head. Bianca didn't respond and rather continued to hiss and snarl at the bush in front of her. Annabeth, noticing that Millie was no longer next to her, had gotten off of her back and sauntered to where Millie was looking. While Millie was looking for something on the bush that could've startled one of her cats, she almost jumped when the aspiring journalist noticed that the bush was shaking. Millie picked Bianca and Annabeth up while putting Chelsea on her head to keep them away from whatever was going on with the bush.
"Uhhh…is anyone there? …hello?" Millie asked with a shaky voice, tightening the grip on her cats. Eventually, Millie took a deep breath, and walked closer to the bush, putting Annabeth on her shoulder before reaching into the bush. Millie was surprised when she touched something soft and…something that felt like fabric. Just as she pulled her hand back, Millie saw something appear from the center of the bush. Millie felt like letting out a frightened scream, but when she looked closer at the figure in front of her, the scream was stuck in her throat, and one of her raised eyebrows went down, representing her confusion.
"…Priya? Is that you?" Millie asked in confusion. Just then, one of the neighbor's porch lights came on, revealing one of the finalists of the Total Drama 2023 reboot, Priya Guthrapali. However, Priya had clearly not been having a good time since the first season ended last week. Priya's hair was matted and messy, there was dirt on her hair, face, and clothes, her shirt and jeans were tattered, her arms were covered in bruises, there were bags under her eyes, and she looked absolutely miserable.
"Oh…hey, Millie," Priya said, trying to put on a fake smile. However, even for someone as unaware of social cues as Millie, the smile wasn't going to fool anyone.
"Are…you OK? What are you doing here?" Millie asked, putting her three cats down so she could have a conversation with Priya. Annabeth turned to the disheveled Priya and hissed at her before turning around and lying down in the middle of the backyard while Chelsea and Bianca ran all around in the grass in the backyard as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Priya looked down at the ground while scratching the back of her head, almost as if she was embarrassed by what she was about to say.
"Well…things kind of got…rough since the show ended. After Bowie won, I just wanted to go home and train more for the next season, but when I got home, my parents were just so…mad at me. We got into a massive argument, they called me a loser for coming in second place, and I…talked back to them, saying that I did better than they could've done, and I said that I almost died multiple times and the fact that they were focusing more on my placement in the contest…disgusted me," Priya said, continuing to look down at the ground, pressing her pointer fingers together repeatedly. Millie, hearing all this, felt bad for Priya, especially since she had thought Priya's parents were awful people. When Priya told the aspiring journalist about all the training that her parents had made her partake in for Total Drama, Millie was disgusted, remembering some of the cases that her lawyer mother had worked on in the past. Millie, realizing that this wouldn't be the best time to bring all this up, decided to stay quiet while Priya continued with her story.
"The argument just got worse, and at one point, my mother slapped me right in the face. They called me worthless and a waste of their time and that I wasn't welcome in their home anymore," Priya said, her voice beginning to shake as much as her body while her hand moved to her left cheek, which made Millie notice that her cheek was red, with a healing bruise on full display despite Priya covering it up with her hand. "They threw a suitcase full of my stuff at me and told me to leave. So…I've been spending the past 6 days trying to find a place to live. But I have no money, nobody to go to, and I've just been bouncing around, living off of the snacks I had on my person. Hell, I've been sleeping at bus stops and under bridges too because I can't even afford a place to stay," Priya exclaimed, tears beginning to pool around the corners of her eyes while she was explaining all this. Eventually, Priya stopped talking and began crying, all the events of the past week flooding back into her mind at once. Millie walked over to Priya and gave her a hug, which Priya immediately responded to by hugging her back as tightly as she could as if she was afraid of Millie letting her go. Despite the crying hurting her ears and the tight grip hurting her arms, Millie didn't let go of Priya, even running her hands through the Indian TDI fan's long black hair.
Millie's cats, meanwhile, continued roaming around the backyard. However, Bianca and Chelsea stopped to look at the scene in front of them but soon lost interest before they continued playing in the yard. After a few minutes of comforting Priya, Millie let go of Priya, patting her on the back to continue comforting her.
"Don't you have any other family you can go to?"
"No…the rest of my family is back in India, and my parents are kind of…not well-liked by the rest of my family, so they kept them away from me. They don't know me, and I doubt they'd be willing to help," Priya admitted while trying to wipe her face free from the tears that had been pouring down her face. Millie stroked her chin in thought before whistling, prompting her three cats to walk back to her, lining up behind Millie. Millie, much to Priya's surprise, grabbed a hold of her hand and led her to her house. Before Priya could say anything, Millie opened the door to her house, her cats rushed into the house while Millie led a stunned Priya to the kitchen.
"Mama! I need to ask you something!" Millie called out. Priya, her vision still blurry from the tears, looked into the kitchen and noticed an older woman. She had a similar body type to Millie, though her skin was darker, her hair was shorter and straighter, and she wore glasses with thick black frames. The woman was also wearing a pink sweatshirt and a matching pair of pink sweatpants while she was in the middle of making a sandwich. "This is my friend, Priya! Can I give her something to eat…and a place to shower…and a place to sleep…and a place to live?" Millie asked, her voice lowering as she continued making requests, her mother raising her eyebrow in confusion before turning her attention to the disheveled teen her only child had brought into her house. Priya looked up at Millie's mother, giving her an awkward smile and a wave, though the woman didn't seem to take to her too kindly. Priya saw the older woman's eyes slit into a glare before she turned her attention back to Millie.
"Baby, you know that this is a big deal, having someone else move into the house."
"But…Priya's my friend, and we have a lot of space at our house, so I thought you wouldn't mind," Millie said, pressing her hands together, and looking down at the tiled floor of the kitchen. The older woman gave one last somewhat distrustful look at Priya before looking back at her daughter, walking up to her, and patting her on the top of the head.
"We'll talk more about this tomorrow when your father comes home. We have some leftover lasagna on the counter, you can give some of that to your…friend. Oh, and make sure she takes a shower," the woman said before kissing Millie on the forehead and walking back into the kitchen. Millie smiled before taking Priya by the hand and leading her up the stairs, where all three cats were waiting for them at the top of the stairs. While Millie was pulling her up to her room, Priya couldn't help but think of how Millie's mother looked at her, like she was some evil person bent on hurting Millie. This worried Priya, as not only could she lose her first potential new home, but she could also lose any chance of seeing Millie again. Priya needed to do something, but her stomach growling reminded her that she needed food more than she needed to worry right now.
15 Minutes Later…
Priya was finally done with her shower, taking slightly longer than usual as the sight of the dirt in her hair, and the dried blood on her arms and legs mixing with the water made her weak at the legs. As Priya dried herself in Millie's bathroom, she was thankful that her parents had, at the very least, given her some clothes to wear. Priya gripped the towel she was using to dry herself tightly when the image of her parents came into her mind. Priya couldn't believe that she had been wasting her life trying to become a reality show celebrity, something her parents, for some weird reason, wanted. Just the thought of her old life with her parents made tears reappear in her eyes, but she was pulled away from her self-loathing thanks to a knock on the door.
"Priya, are you OK in there?" Priya couldn't help but smile, as Millie's concerned voice…comforted her for some reason.
"Yeah, I'm OK. I'm just drying up. I'll be out in a minute," Priya responded before finishing the process of drying herself. After getting dressed in her white shirt, and green pajama pants, and pulling her hair back into a bun, she walked out of the bathroom. Priya was greeted by Millie, holding a plate of lasagna, a couple of pieces of garlic bread, and a glass of water.
"You said you hadn't eaten much since your parents kicked you out, so I thought-" Millie tried to explain, but Priya's hunger got the better of her, as she immediately grabbed the plate and began wolfing down one of the pieces of garlic bread. Millie decided to leave Priya to her food before walking over to her cats, grabbing Bianca, and brushing her back. Only a couple of minutes later, Priya had coughed, and when Millie turned around, she saw that the Indian teen had finished not only the garlic bread, but almost all of the lasagna, and had practically sucked the water down her throat, which is why she choked. When Priya regained her breath and finished the water, she looked up, her face exploding into a red blush as she noticed that Millie was staring at her. Priya could've sworn the cats were staring at her too, embarrassing her to no end as she turned her lips into an awkward smile while scratching the back of her head.
"…sorry."
"No, it's OK. You haven't eaten a decent meal in a long time. Do you want me to get you some more water?" Millie asked, to which Priya responded with a nod before handing her the dirty dish and empty glass. Millie nodded before walking out of the room and heading downstairs, with Annabeth immediately following her owner out and down the stairs. Millie's mother was doing the dishes in the kitchen and briefly stopped when she saw her daughter put Priya's dish in the sink while going over to the refrigerator to get Priya some more water.
"Hey, baby."
"Hi, Mama."
"How's that…Priya girl doing?" Millie's mother asked, a little venom leaking out of her voice when she mentioned Priya, but her daughter didn't seem to notice it as she responded with a nod and a smile.
"Better, but she's really thirsty, so I'm getting her some more water. Any chance that you and Dad decided to let Priya stay?" Millie asked, her mother almost choking on her own spit from holding back laughter.
"I told you we'd discuss it tomorrow, baby," her mother responded as level-headedly as she could as Millie finished pouring Priya's water into her glass.
"I know, but I'm just so excited. Priya could actually live with us!" Millie exclaimed, her hands shaking in front of her chest thanks to all the excitement she was feeling. Millie's mother turned around and massaged the sides of Millie's head with her fingers, calming the aspiring journalist down. Millie smiled up at her mother before running back upstairs with the full glass of water while the older woman shook her head and sighed, wondering what she was going to do, especially since she wasn't even sure she could trust Priya, despite how happy he daughter seemed to be.