Total Drama Highschool

chapter 4: fresh start

gwen

i hate and love the universe at the same time. 

you never know what it's up to. sometimes the universe is on your team; like when it brought me with trent in freshman year. but sometimes, it's also just out to get you; like when trent let heather snake her way to into his life and kiss him, effectively ruining our relationship. you never know what it has in store. yet, all you can do is trust it, because what other option do you have? try to stop a future you don't know? i think not. 

but, wether it'll end up good or not, i did manage to stay on good terms with trent. it felt kind of weird to be mad at him. letting heather get the better of me? been there done that. we've both made that mistake. 

and now, as i go into sophomore year, i vow myself to never make that mistake ever again. 

so far, it's already been a week, and i'm dead inside. and i'll probably also be dead on the outside if heather cuts holes in my bras again. i swear, the joke is just getting old at this point. "haha, making other girls feel uncomfortable is funny!" shut up heather. 

with heather having a bounty on you, there are only two ways it can go. either:

a. the bullying and rumors get so intense you have to switch schools to avoid her

b. or you have to deal with the torment her and her flying monkeys inflict on you until you graduate. 

and neither of those options feels like the correct one. but there's nothing i can do about it. going after heather, the cheerleading captain and frequent article writer in the school gossip blog, "whispers in wawanakwa", would cause ripples in the rest of the student body, and make a bunch of clubs and friend groups leader-less. and cause them to be mad at me. 

so, basically, i'm fucked. 

thanks, universe. 

_...-~-..._

"so, how'd convincing ms. elrom to let the band play the music in the pit go?" i ask trent, as we walk to our lockers—which are conveniently close to each other. the hallways are busy, but we can thankfully hear each other. 

trent sighs, stretching a rubber band that was formerly in his medium-length raven hair, "she's not so sure about the idea. she's worried about volume levels and now it might compete with the microphones. our auditorium isn't the biggest, and with too big of a orchestra, it might overshadow the singing." 

i twirl a beaten up pencil in between my fingers, looking confused to trent, "why can't you just get a smaller orchestra, then?"

"too many people were interested in my pitch. i don't know how i can let the majority of them down in a nice way." trent replies. after a moment of silence, we arrive at our lockers and start to key our passcodes into the locks. after doing so, trent turns back to me. "what about you? you have the opportunity to be involved and paint sets." 

i groan, grabbing my art bag out of my locker. "unfortunately, i can't. i promised ms. kendra i'd help her with a mural she's painting outside of her room door." 

trent snaps his fingers in frustration. "dammit. i was hoping we'd be able to see each other while working together on it."

"we can still see each other, stupid." i chuckle, "our other activities won't stop us from having our hallway chats." 

trent shrugs and half-smiles, nonverbally agreeing with me. i can barely watch trent grab his green backpack before leshawna, my best friend, is smack in front of me. my eyes go wide in shock, and a take a few steps backwards.