Confessional - Jill
"So, for today's challenge being such a gentle one, I feel like there was still plenty that happened. For instance, I really got some insight into Athena's life and how she feels about herself. I think she's super sweet, and I wish Holden's off-handed remark wasn't enough to set her off like that. I hope I can make her feel more comfortable in her own skin as the days go on. She shouldn't have to mask everywhere she goes. As for the challenge itself, wow, Queen's art was incredible. If we don't win today, I'll be jaw-to-the-floor shocked."
End of confessional
Mercutio and Tracy stood before the twenty-two contestants in the arts and crafts room. The challenge had concluded, and it was time to pick a winner.
"Well, contestants, let's see what we have," Mercutio decided. "I'm eager for something of high quality; I don't want to spend money to have a professional design your team emblems."
"What you don't realize is that you already have a professional artist on your show!" Caleb exclaimed.
"Do I now?"
He tugged Queen's arm up as high as it would go, while not ripping it out of her socket. "Queen's a professional!"
"Oh, Caleb, stop," Queen chuckled.
"It's gonna knock your socks off!" Damien gloated.
"Fine then. Let me feast my eyes upon it."
"Boys?" Queen prompted.
At her prompt, Kobe and Zee appeared from one end of the room with a very long scroll in their hands.
"Wait a minute. This isn't my team," Zee realized.
Kobe unraveled the scroll of paper, revealing a hyper-intricately detailed painting of Holden as one of the main cast members of The Outsiders. At the side of the painting showed a Star Wars movie cover-esque circle of Holden, nearly perfectly replicated with only a wife beater and a leather jacket slung over his shoulder. Past him, a long stretching distance with a fiery, orange setting sun at the very end. Buildings akin to small shops on the outskirts of a town lined the edges with the central focus pointed on Holden. The style of the painting was nearly identical to some of the artwork from the time, back in the 80s. Queen had even painted in tiny letters at one side, "They grew up on the outside of society. They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to belong, and make a million dollars on international television."
"My god," Mercutio uttered. His entrancement had the team beaming with pride. "You painted this, Queen?"
"As lovely as a painting chiefly painted by myself would be, I'll admit I had help from the whole team. Damien and Lauren helped do the sun-when Lauren wasn't trying to touch him, that is. MK and Matcha scribbled in some of the darker colors in the sky, I coordinated everybody, Iko and Kobe sketched these buildings together, Caleb and Holden shaded in Holden after I drew the majority of him, and Athena and Jill did a lot of the coloring. You were quite splendid."
Athena curtsied while Jill smiled, then Mercutio spoke.
"Your ability to include the entire team-a team composed of artists at an amateur level in comparison to you, I'm sure-and still come out with a final design like this... Incredible. Chef's kiss, my friend." Mercutio hesitated, then he chuckled as he turned to face the Grads. "Wow. Good luck with beating that."
The focus shifted over to the Grads. Several of them seemed uncertain of themselves, while the most abrasive personalities of the team, Fish and Jayshawn, had confidence regardless of Queen's masterful piece. Bowie retained, or rather, feigned, confidence as well, despite a likely lingering feeling of looming dread weighing the Grads down. With no other sound in the arts and crafts room, the smacking of Bowie's palm against his forehead echoed around the room.
"Oh, who am I kidding?" he muttered.
"Ay, the Brit's piece was litty lit, I'll admit it," Jayshawn spoke.
"'Litty lit'?" Fish half-echoed, half-chuckled. "Did you just unfreeze yourself from the year 2016?"
"Oh, you act like that's so dated! Shut yo' mouth!"
Confessional - Londyn
"This challenge has been an interesting one. Not only was I catching Cody staring at me, but Fish and Jayshawn have been getting into it a lot recently." She sighed dreamily. "Fish. We talked a little bit during the challenge. He's so cute."
End of confessional
"Aight, without further ado, Mercut, we goin' blow you outta the water! Come on, bring in the piece."
Together, Noah and Zee brought in the large piece of paper they'd used, rolled up in a scroll. Moments later, Zee braced up, a sneeze brewing inside of him.
"No, please, tell me you're not about to-"
Zee sneezed right against one edge of the paper. "Oh, shit, my bad."
Mercutio sighed. "Unravel the damn thing, would you?"
At his prompt, Noah, hesitantly, and Zee unraveled the picture. This time, it was a splattered amalgamation of different colors, primarily yellows with some blue and red mixed in. It seemed to have no direction, like if One Direction had one less direction. It was as if a creature that consumed paint vomited all over their painting.
"What... what is this?" Mercutio questioned.
"You sound like Noah," Cody chuckled, but Fish thudded his elbow against Cody's side.
"It's, uh... it's an abstract piece for sure," Jayshawn explained.
Mercutio smirked. "Uh huh."
"You see, uh, it's like a lapping of waves over here on this part. See that right here?"
"And they happen to be yellow waves?"
"Yeah, dawg, what else would they be?"
"Blue," Matcha answered.
"You ever seen a Jackson Pollock painting? It's like that, but, uh, with its own Grad twist. More specifically, the kinda kids that graduated from the high school I went to. Being a graduate is all about being a mixture of emotions, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," Fish avidly agreed, latching onto Jayshawn's idea. "It's a mix of emotions such as the rush of putting down poor people, throwing around the word 'pauper' and having incest!"
"What school did you go to?" Alanna remarked.
"Most of the kids who graduated were always those snobby, shitty rich kids, b-but not me. I was a respectful rich kid. But it's also a mixture of feelings like, 'yes, I've got all this money and yes, I know I deserve it, but should I be flaunting it? Or should I be spending it on outrageously expensive clothing labels? Or... should I flex my Supreme hoodie while I make it rain on paupers, putting it all together?'"
"Damn, that's some fire right there," Jayshawn murmured. "Spoken like a true rich bitch."
"I think I've heard enough," Mercutio decided. "I'm crowni-"
Mercutio-as well as several others-winced when Shawn let out a scream out of nowhere. The group turned to see him pointing at Tracy, the chef paused as he was midway through the exit.
"Oh, god," Shawn exhaled. "Oh, my god. It's just him."
"Hey, man, I'm just having a piss break. Hope that's cool."
"He looked like a..." The group glared at him. "Like a zombie..."
Mercutio cleared his throat. "Like I was attempting to say, I'm crowning Queen and the Dropouts the winners of today's challenge!"
The Dropouts erupted into cheers. Damien and Iko chest-bumped, Jill and Athena hugged and Kobe and Holden dapped. Iko turned away from Damien, and Jill swiveled away from Athena to high five each other. The moment seemed to happen on auto pilot, the duo not really noticing what they were doing until it was over.
"Yeah, we did it!" Damien cheered. "Yeah, us!"
"Besides," Mercutio continued, "this was a challenge about team emblems. What sort of team emblems is the 'design' the Grads mustered up? I've seen dog vomit with more artistic flair than what you freaks gave me."
"Harsh..." Londyn winced.
"You'll have to forgive me. I've just got a certain disdain for losers. Grads, be ready for the diploma ceremony in three hours. Dropouts, enjoy another night in the dorms."
Confessional - Noah
"For a guy that hates Chris so much, he sure does act similarly. If it weren't for the fact that the challenge didn't run the risk of maiming or injuring us, I'd have figured that Chris was playing a Russian parody of himself. Also, figures we lost when Zee suddenly sneezed on our piece! I mean, he had several seconds to brace that sneeze up and sneeze somewhere else. I don't know what he was thinking."
Out of nowhere, a convenience store bouncy ball smacked him upside the side of his head.
"Hey, uhm, ow?"
"Shit, sorry, Noah!" Fish shouted from offscreen. "Say, you wanna toss that back to me?"
End of confessional
Later that evening, in the girls' dorm, Athena, Jill, MK, and Lauren applied makeup in front of their mirror. Queen coated her hair in more spray. Due to the sheer intensity of her product, the other girls had asked her to do it by her bunk bed. Reluctantly, she agreed to.
"Anyone seen Matcha?" Athena wondered.
"Using the library, like a nerd," Lauren replied. "Say, maybe we should kill her! Wouldn't that be funny?"
"Uhm, no, sweetheart, I'm not so sure we should do that."
Jill watched with discomfort for a few moments as Lauren kept on smiling, applying makeup with hints of purple and dark blue, almost akin to a clown's makeup. Her face had a bluish tint to it.
"What's the point of this again?" MK asked, gently applying eyeliner above an eyelid.
"Oh, you know," Jill explained, "I just thought it'd be a fun activity for us all to do together."
"You realize 'all' includes Scary Girl, right?"
Confessional - Jill
"After the events of earlier, I figured Athena could use some time with the girls instead of dwelling. I felt like there was nothing I could do to help her, but whenever I was sad about something back home, a nice game of basketball or just some plain old socializing always helped. I would've suggested basketball, but I'm not sure how therapeutic that is for most people. Besides, MK is a teensy bit small for that, and Queen's hobby seems to be a little more artistic, and I don't see Lauren, uh... being interested? And I figure spending time with four girls is better than one."
End of confessional
"It's kinda fun, except for when we have to take it off again," Jill murmured.
"You guys should've seen me when I first started doing my makeup," Queen murmured from her bed. "My best friend's mum started calling me Smudge. I looked like a little racoon."
While Jill and MK chuckled, Athena laughed the hardest. By the time the others had calmed down, she was still laughing over it.
"Oh, wow, that is so funny!" Athena burst. "Goodness, Queen, you are so funny!"
She stifled a negative comment, replying, "Well, thank you, Athena."
"I'm off to go hurt something!" Lauren exclaimed after she concluded her makeup session. "La-la-la"ing she went out the door of the girls' dorm.
"And so talented, too! I couldn't even believe that you made that painting as quickly as you did! How long did it take you to learn that?"
"Not too terribly long. I'd say I went from novice to adept in about three years."
"You really ought to sell your work," Jill suggested.
"Oh, goodness. Well, possibly. I wonder how many people would be interested in having my art in their homes..."
"I'd drop hundreds of dollars, easy," Athena commented. "You're gonna be the next Da Vinci, I'm calling it. Be sure to remember me when you blow up."
MK gave Athena a look of confusion, one that she didn't seem to notice.
"Okay, that's about enough, Athena," Queen murmured. "I just wish we painted someone instead of Holden. Ugh, the munchkin is such a pill."
"Don't like him?" Athena assumed.
Queen shot her a cross look. "No, I love him. Yes, I don't like him. Was it that hard to tell?"
"S-sorry," the sensitive orangey-blonde winced.
"Maybe you should've painted Kobe," MK threw in with her raspy voice. "Or Caleb-he's definitely the hottest guy on our team."
Athena tsk'd, instantly nodding. "Mmhmm."
"Agreed," Queen murmured.
"Such a nice face and with that perfect skin..." MK continued.
"I wouldn't say the hottest," Jill argued.
Silence. Jill's inference interested the other girls.
"Oh?" MK replied slyly. "Is there a boy on your mind, Jill?"
"N-no," she chuckled, "I just, uh- no, no, there's no one."
Beat.
"Uh huh," Queen replied. "We were going off of objective fact anyway. It's Caleb. No competition."
"Welcome to the second ever Total Drama Million Dollar Academy elimination ceremony!" Mercutio boomed.
Once again, Mercutio, Tracy, and the intern Brook sat at the table overlooking the contestants on the stage, eager to receive their diplomas. Once again, the Grads were dressed in graduation gowns and caps.
"After tonight, you will be a member down from the Dropouts, granting them an advantage."
"They goin' need it," Jayshawn grumbled.
"If we don't get faked out again," Alanna complained.
"Tracy, hand off the diplomas as I call the names of the 'graduates'...
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Stephen...
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Noah...
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Alanna...
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Londyn...
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Cody...
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Izzy...
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Bowie...
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Jayshawn."
He leaped up at an exaggerated height to catch his diploma. His feet thudded hard against the stage upon landing. "Who else was gonna catch viewers up on the previous episode?"
"Fish, and finally...
Zee felt his heart sink, realizing he was in the bottom two. Shawn's eyes widened, and the two exchanged glances of pure fear. One of them would be the first one voted off.
"Oh, man," Zee whimpered.
"...
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Zee. Shawn, I apologize, my strange friend, but you've been expelled from the Million Dollar Academy."
"Killer," Zee said with an exhale and a relaxed smile. "Damn, bummer, though, Shawn. Sorry, man."
Confessional - Bowie
"Shawn's elimination? My work. I saw him and Zee as the two most likely candidates to go after today's..." He sighed. "Let's be real, it was a shitshow. However, Zee isn't quite as annoying to me. It was gonna be an easier battle convincing everyone to vote Shawn off anyway." With a coy grin, Bowie let one leg rest over the other. "So, there you go..."
End of confessional
Shawn growled, slapping his palm against his hat-covered forehead several times. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! You don't get it, Mercutio!"
Mercutio gave him a blank stare. Silence filled the auditorium, with the exception of Shawn's unsteady breathing. "Yes? Clue me in. What don't I understand?"
"No one else in this half-assed cast you've assembled has even an iota of knowledge on what to do should fucking zombies invade your academy! I mean," he chuckled, "did you even have a backup plan for if the one survivalist in the cast was eliminated?"
Fish started to crack up in his seat, ducking away and placing a fist by his mouth, trying his best to keep quiet. "Dude, this guy's a fucking joke..."
"Everyone always wants to take it on good faith that there'll never be a zombie invasion. Everyone says, 'Oh, wow, Jim, I hadn't thought about the inevitable looming tragedy that we'll one day face when zombies rule the earth. Huh, what an interesting concept there, Jimbo.' But you know what? It's the people like Jim who get criticized for 'hoarding cans of peaches', 'watching George Romero films religiously', and 'smoking too much weed', but it'll save your life, man! Please, friends, let's all join hands. Let's join hands and pray to that one hundred percent authentic man in the clouds with the fluffy beard who will save us from the illogical zombie uprising when it strikes. Come on, everybody, come here. Come hold hands with me. Don't be afraid."
Pause.
"I'm down as fuck, dude," Zee chuckled. "Let's hold hands."
Mercutio leaned over to whisper in Brook's ear, "Get him out of here."
Confessional - Jayshawn
"Look, as an aspiring reporter, I've spoken to a lot of nutcases in my time. Shawn could be forgiven for being nuttier than squirrel shit, but there's no excuse for fucking with the challenge at hand. Sure, man, we all scared of some shit. I'm scared to death of inferior people! But I ain't goin' let that fear rule me and interfere with the challenge at hand! Shawn messed up our painting, and I had half a mind to mess up his face! But what better way to show teenage Romero I wasn't gonna have it than to kick his ass outta here?"
Confessional - Fish
"Man, I'm almost bummed that Shawn's gone. Now who on this team am I gonna fuck with?" Fish was silent, seriously considering the thought for a moment. "Jayshawn. Definitely Jayshawn."
End of confessionals
"I'm trying to save your life, Mercutio!" Shawn cried while Brook paced along with him, gently holding one of his sleeves as they headed for the exit. "I'm trying to save all our lives! You have to listen to me!"
"On the contrary, I don't have to do a single thing. Goodbye, Shawn."
Shawn squealed like a pig being wrangled. The shrill noise only cut off as soon as he and Brook made it outside. The main camera flashed over to Mercutio's table with him and Tracy, as well as some of the Grads behind them, out of focus.
"We've hoped you've enjoyed this epis-"
From behind, Jayshawn wrapped his arms around Mercutio and Tracy's necks, budging himself closer. "Ay, sorry, y'all, make some room, I got this. Ay, man, we hope you liked this episode, 'cause we got a whole lot more where that came from coming up right here on Total... Drama... Million Dollar Academy, bitch! Roll them end credits!"
Mercutio sighed.
"Squeezing too hard," Tracy rasped, "squeezing too hard."
Dropouts: Caleb, Damien, MK, Scary Girl, Athena, Holden, Iko, Jill, Kobe, Matcha, Queen
Grads: Cody, Izzy, Noah, Alanna, Bowie, Zee, Fish, Jayshawn, Londyn, Stephen
Some quick OC descriptions:
Athena: orangey-blonde, orange contacts, black and white dress
Holden: long, scraggly hair, heavyset, short, leather jacket
Iko: slim-fat, short, stylish overcoat and vest
Jill: athletic build, red hair, tan skin, emerald green eyes
Kobe: tall, big afro
Matcha: brunette, business casual
Queen: purple hair
Alanna: tall, brunette
Fish: typical influencer look
Jayshawn: fit, muscular, dreads, gym tank/shorts
Londyn: brunette, face tattoos, gorgeous features
Stephen: early 2000s emo look
Mercutio: chiseled face, suit, wide-framed
Tracy: slim, suspenders/bowler hat
Brook: silver hair, oversized cardigan