Reluctant lovers- TDWT Aleheather retelling

Chapter 9

Alejandro had expected Harold to have a dramatic exit, but the explicit details of how he would exit the plane was completely unexpected. What was even more unexpected was when Harold's elimination resulted in Heather and himself running to the bathroom together laughing so exorbitantly that they could feel their own lungs. He wasn't sure what to make of it. Yes, they were still enemies, but in a sense they were bound together by the knowledge of his true nature. It changed nothing, Heather was still his top priority for elimination, and he was sure that Heather had mutual feelings for himself. However, with Harold out of the game, he needed to set his sights on another Victory team member. His options were Leshawna, Bridgette, Lindsay and Dj. Without his meddling, it seemed that Dj would be next to go, courtesy of his 'animal curse'. However, Alejandro had plans for Dj later down the line. Dj was strong and he was average in his intelligence but he was submissive enough that Alejandro would be able to manipulate him with no queries. He'd keep Lindsay around because it kept Tyler distracted and she could be used against him later. So that left him with Bridgette and Leshawna as options for his next team Victory target. He had grown close to Bridgette, but Leshawna hated Heather and if he kept her around, he could potentially get her to provoke the rest of Heather's team to vote her off, they would trust Leshawna's judgment over his own. The Amazon's had the advantage in terms of intelligence and he didn't want to push his luck and accidentally reveal his true nature to any of them, especially because he couldn't wait to see Heather's face when she realized that he had manipulated Leshawna purely to piss her off and to ensure that his intentions remained undisclosed. So by process of elimination Bridgette would be his next target. He had a general plan regarding how he would do so, but the specifics would have to be determined when the circumstances were revealed.
"This is your captain speaking," Chris' voice sounded over the loudspeakers. "We're trying to spend the least amount of time possible at our next destination which is about eleven hours away, give or take," Eleven hours? Protests arose around him. "Which is why I'd suggest you all eat now and try your best to sleep because the challenge will start only a few hours after landing. And because we need a full episode, we need you to keep your costumes on the whole flight. Sorry." Chris said, rather unapologetically. 
"Aw man."
"Are you kidding me?" Alejandro didn't bother complaining, he was too busy strategizing. Why did they not want to remain in their next destination? Was it a truly dangerous place? How could he use this to his advantage? The ambiguity was truly frustrating. But he figured the best thing he could do for now was talk to Bridgette. No matter the circumstance, he was sure that he could alter things to make them turn out in his favor, he always did.
~
"Why do you keep smiling like that?"
"Like what?" If Heather were to guess, she would say it had been about an hour since Harold's elimination, the corner of her mouth kicked up as she thought about it.
"Like that!" Courtney pointed an accusatory finger at her. "What's up with that?" Despite Courtney being a massive pain in her ass, she didn't bother hiding the catty grin that broke out on her face.
"Trust me. When you get home watch Harold's elimination. It'll make sense." Because the episodes were all recorded and released each week, it was a general rule that you couldn't watch the season's episodes while competing. It was pretty much Chris' only rule, he needed schemers to make the show interesting, so no one in the cast was allowed to watch the episodes so that any plans, thoughts or secrets revealed in the confessional would remain private, which had always been convenient to her until now. She wished that she could reveal
Alejandro and his snakey nature. She thought of Alejandro and started to shake with laughter. Since Harold's elimination, she couldn't stop smiling. She tried to read, do homework, anything and everything she could to take her mind off it, but every time her thoughts drifted back, and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. Harold was such a dork. She decided she would listen to Chris and get ready for bed. Despite it being bright out still, she had 11 hours to sleep, and considering the fact she couldn't concentrate on anything for longer than 5 minutes before cracking a grin, she decided she would shower to try wash off the memories and calm herself down.
"I'm going to shower." She announced to no one in particular as she grabbed her shower stuff and walked to the bathroom. She realized her mistake as she walked through the dining room to get to the bathrooms. The losing teams were sitting at the two tables talking as they ate and Heather's eyes immediately landed on Alejandro, who was looking back at her. She rushed to the showers and shut the door behind her as she chuckled to herself. Her amusement faded, however, when she realized that she was grinning after seeing Alejandro, gross. She better fix her behavior because she was not about to smile every time she saw him. The thought alone was enough to wipe away any traces of humor. She realized there were things that she had missed in Chris' announcement, hidden clues she hadn't turned over. They wanted to be in and out of their next destination, Why? She hadn't spent any time strategizing. That's probably what he'd planned, the sneaky jerk. That night Heather went to bed with a scowl on her face.
~
He nearly laughed again when he saw Heather. Alejandro didn't know if there would be any point in time where it wouldn't be funny. Despite the laughter swelling in his chest, he swallowed it, as he tried to talk to Bridgette.
"Bridgette, I'm sorry that you had to lose another teammate." Alejandro cleared his throat in an attempt to mask his laugh. Thankfully Bridgette didn't notice.
"Yeah, but if the elimination was any sign, I think we might be better off without him." He needed to divert the conversation quickly, otherwise he may end up in the uncontrollable hysteria he was in only a short time ago.
"Perhaps. However, I am... very glad that you are still here in the game. I don't know what I'd do without you." She blushed and bit her lip.
"Yeah," she said, chuckling nervously, "I guess I'm glad I'm here too- hah- with you." He looked deep into her eyes and chuckled a bit. Out of his peripheries, he noticed someone watching them.
"Yes. I wish you luck in the next challenge, so you may continue to stay."
"Thanks. Good luck to you too." Alejando smiled, giving a calculated glance to Bridgettes lips before turning back to his meal. He glanced to where he felt eyes on him earlier and found it was Noah who had been watching. He wasn't watching Alejandro now, instead talking to Owen and Izzy. Alejandro accredited Noah's stare to the fact that he was clearly flirting with someone who very publicly had a boyfriend. He figured that if he was confronted he could always deny it. The gift and curse of attractive people: misread situations due to someone being in the presence of an attractive person. But the way things were going with Bridgette, she could easily be the next one to go home, but if his meddling with Courtney still affected team Amazon, Heather or Courtney could also go home. Alejandro's team only had a one in three chance of going home compared to the past season's one in two chance, so he was pretty confident that he would be able to lead his lack-luster team to victory, or at least not to elimination. Hence why he hadn't done much work on Owen. For now, he had Izzy as a barrier to keep himself safe and for now that's all he would need. Besides, Alejandro wouldn't be the reason for failure if they did fail a challenge, allowing him to pin their loss on whoever slipped up. For now, he might be one of the safest people on this plane. He finished off his meal and dozed off peacefully to that fact, awaiting the next challenge for him to face.
-
It was quiet in economy. The drawn curtains of the plane created a dark interior, not a slither of light bounced off the metal walls, the only noise was that of rats shuffling around the floor, looking for any morsel of food they could find. Alejandro was sleeping peacefully in his usual spot on the timber bench surrounded by the metal walls. It was peaceful at this hour. Owen was in his usual place, strapped against the wall. However, he was in unrest, his sleeping restless as he let out murmurs of discomfort, the peace was disrupted as his murmurs turned into screams. Alejandro cracked open an eye, which upon realizing who was screaming, narrowed. He realized there never was a moment of peace with Owen and his oversized presence. It was not only his odor and the amount of space he took up, but also him just being a deterrent to success. His screams caused everyone to wake up and now they wouldn't be able to perform their best, due to lack of sleep. Alejandro was getting sick of Owen's cries, and if he heard one more utterance from him, Alejandro might very well shut him up by force. Everyone ran to Owen to rouse him and as Owen woke, he gasped for air.
"Oh my gosh!" He shouted, trembling. "I just had a nightmare that pizza didn't exist anymore!" He was met with flat looks from everyone as he began to cry. "Oh that was so bad, that was so bad." Alejandro couldn't stop the snarl from appearing. Owen's lack of discipline lingered in his sleep? Alejandro couldn't deal with this.
"Excuse me," He said as he walked to the confessional, as he closed the door behind him he let everything out. "El burro incompetente, indisciplinado, con sobrepeso! (The incompetent, undisciplined, overweight donkey!)" He yelled as he pulled at his hair. He couldn't deal with Owen. His dislike for Owen was warranted, but what Alejandro felt about Owen was pure, undiluted hatred. He breathed deeply attempting to calm himself, squeezing his eyes shut and gently rocked himself as he held onto the sink. He would have to ignore this, or try his best to ignore it. He could not let himself corrupt the stability of his team, it was one of the things that gave them advantage. He walked back to economy. Patience, he reminded himself. All would unfold exactly as intended.
~
"How's everything going?" Heather was awoken as Chris walked through first class, she took off her pink eye mask to look at the man in question. She felt gross after wearing her costume all night, her khaki denim shorts leaving tender, red marks from where they had dug into her hips the night before. Great.
"Things are going fantastic!" Courtney cheered. "First class is definitely where we need to be, and I have just the plan to-"
"Courtney, even though it might be too early for me to listen to your leadership spiel, it's not too early for me to rip out your throat if you don't shut up." God, would there ever be a waking moment for Heather not being taken up with Courtney's dictatorship proposal.
"Great," Chris said, ignoring what she had just said. "We're landing in about two hours. Set up should take another hour or two." He left without any further comment. Heather stretched. She had made a plan last night. Alejandro needed to go as soon as possible and she needed a way to convince Team Chris to vote him off next without them having knowledge of her involvement. Unfortunately, Alejandro wouldn't let that happen if he knew of her meddling, but she didn't need to do any long term manipulation, she just needed to have a little talk with Noah. The only issue was how. She had about four hours until the next challenge and all she needed to do was to let him know that she wanted to talk to him. There was a very slim chance he actually would talk to her but she needed to try. Despite the service in first class, the rest of her team mostly went to sit in economy to talk to friends and she decided that today, she would go with them. She wasn't much of a breakfast person so she sat across from Noah as she sipped her green tea. Everyone else was wrapped up in their own conversations, including Noah as he talked to Tyler and Dj, but she didn't fail to notice his slight glances to Alejandro as he flirted with Bridgette. Under the table, Heather brushed Noah's shin slightly with her birkenstock sandals, his eyes darted to hers, where she stared at him pointedly. He gave her a suspicious look, which was reciprocated by her pleading one. She glanced to the elimination room, tapped her mug with her nail and drank, not breaking eye contact as she awaited his response. She was pretty sure he would have figured out her message. He cocked his head, no doubt weighing the idea in his head before he blinked at her.
'I'll think about it'  he seemed to say.
It was good enough for her. They finished their food and left one at a time, and after she made sure only Noah was looking, she snuck into the elimination room, hiding behind one of the strange statues in there. She waited there after everyone left and just as she was about to give up waiting for him, Noah walked up to her. She realized she had never actually spoken to Noah one-on-one. She decided to start off by trying to create some sort of familiarity between them.
"I'm assuming you watched the rest of the first season after you were booted?" He raised a brow at her question.
"Yes."
"Do you remember why you were eliminated?"
"Because of you." She almost flinched, she didn't expect him to be that straight-foward. She brushed it off, going back to her indifferent mean girl facade and asked a different question so she could get an answer she wanted.
"Do you remember why I coordinated your elimination?" He thought for a moment.
"Because you were the only one who realized I was smart, and you knew that made me a threat."
"Exactly, also because I knew that you knew that I was two-faced before I had done anything- well, you know- two-faced."
"Yes. Which brings us back to why you're making me talk to you." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Noah definitely wasn't planning to be civil with her.
"Have you noticed any... other snakes this season?" She wasn't about to give it away. It was a test to see if he was actually smart as well as to reveal Noah's thoughts about Alejandro.
"Oh, you're talking about Alejandro. When did you figure it out?" She nearly collapsed with relief. She wasn't the only one.
"As soon as I saw his stupid face, when did you figure it out?"
"Officially? Last challenge. I always had my suspicions. He's kind of like a less bratty, better spoken version of you before everyone knew you were 'two-faced'. I guess it really does take one to know one." She didn't like the fact she was being compared to him, much less that she was being implied as lesser than him, but she had other things she needed to know,
"So what do you plan to do about him?"
"Not much I can do. He's a good teammate, brains, looks, and great physical ability. I probably couldn't throw a challenge if I tried."
"So?" That was no reason to slack off.
"So, until we lose there's not much I can do. But..." She watched as the cogs turned in his brain. "Maybe there's something you could do."
"Like what?" She deadpanned. Noah should have known that she wouldn't have talked to him unless she had an issue she couldn't fix herself.
"You're good at manipulating. Manipulate him." Well, she obviously wouldn't be able to do that.
"Okay, well that's not gonna work. He knows that I know and he's also picking the others off one by one. So what do you expect me to do about that?" Noah's brows knitted together,
"Bridgette's next to go." He muttered almost to himself.
"What?"
"Doesn't matter, it doesn't change much," He began walking away. "I'm not getting involved, if I can convince people to vote for him, trust me, I will, but I'm not going to risk him finding out and putting a target on my back. Besides, I don't like manipulating my friends. You, on the other hand, have already fucked it. You might as well try something."
"Sure. Thanks for talking to me."
"Oh yeah, don't pull me aside ever again unless it's the most important thing ever." She rolled her eyes again.
"Sure. Talk to you never again." More people were starting to put the pieces together. It was enough for now.
~
Despite being the one to wake them up, Owen was the first one back asleep. He even slept through breakfast, surprisingly. Even more surprisingly, Heather was at breakfast this morning, but Alejandro was far too busy working on Bridgette, they would have only a limited time at their next destination and he had to make sure that he could manipulate her however he wished. Now they sat on opposite benches in economy, sharing glances with each other. The plane began to vibrate rapidly, tossing Leshawna in the air as she hit her head on the roof of the plane. Alejandro swiftly fastened his seatbelt.
"We got some air bumps. Lock your butts to a seat. Over." The announcement combined with the anguished cries of the people around them roused Owen from his slumber, sending him into panic.
"Wha- What? Ahhh!" Owen screamed, Alejandro was getting sick of Owen's constant screaming. He assessed Owen's collarbone area, Owen might be too large for pressure points to have any effect but it was worth a try. "We're gonna die!" Alejandro placed a comforting hand on Owen's shoulder, locating the pressure point before activating it. Owen's wailing stopped as he fell right back to sleep. Alejandro smirked and wiped Owen's sweat off his hands. As long as a hole didn't break in the wall again, Alejandro was pretty confident that they would be okay. However, he hoped that they wouldn't be in the air for much longer as the pressure point he had activated was only temporary. The plane began to drop and Alejandro wasn't sure if they were landing or crashing. He said a quick prayer as they descended and everyone screamed.
~
Sometimes Heather wondered how Total Drama avoided lawsuits. As they landed, their plane slid across the ground in multiple directions. They all screamed until the plane came to a stop. Had the plane crashed or did Chris and Chef think it was funny to make them scream for their lives? The more she thought about it the more she was beginning to think the latter. She looked out the window and saw sheets of ice as far as the eye could see. It was still dark out and the chill was already seeping into first class, she couldn't imagine what it would be like in economy. She wondered what the challenge was and where they were exactly. That's when she realized that whatever challenge they did, wherever they were, she would have to wear her costume out there. Her tiny red halter top and even tinier shorts paired with sandals when they were in the arctic or the antarctic.
"Welcome to our next location which is remaining ambiguous for the time being. Due to the freezing temperatures, all losers are allowed to share first class for the next two hours, give or take, so we can avoid some violations and lawsuits. You can stay in there or not, I really don't care. Just keep those costumes on."
Heather groaned. Seriously? She had to share first class? She shouldn't have waited for Noah today and just talked to him here. She wasn't going to budge from her seat. The losers all walked in and filled every seat on the plane until the remaining three around her was all that was left. And who was lucky last coming in? Alejandro and Bridgette sat down across from her.
"You surf. Have you ever tried snowboarding?" Alejandro asked Bridgette.
"No, I haven't even really been to the snow before actually. Have you?"
"Yes, though I prefer skiing. My uncle has a friend who owns a resort. I'll have to take you some time." Bridgette blushed and giggled. She caught Alejandro's eye and made a face at the suggestive exchange, his eyes glinted with something like amusement and mischief as he turned back to look deeply into Bridgette's eyes. Awe filled his eyes as he looked at Bridgette, his gaze dipped down to her lips. Heather held back a gag. Were they seriously about to kiss in front of her? Gross. She grabbed her book and decided that now was the perfect time to read and not be here. However she kept watch as Alejandro merely tucked a strand of hair behind Bridgette's ear. Heather thought about what Noah had muttered to himself earlier,
'Bridgette's next to go'. So Bridgette was his new team Victory target. She wondered how she would go out. She thought of Alejandro's last victim and snorted at the thought, diverting their attention to her. Though she felt a pang of embarrassment she quickly got over it.
"What are you looking at?" She snapped as she went back to reading. The following two hours were filled with her trying to ignore Alejandro and Bridgette as they flirted obnoxiously. She just kept her head down, looking at the pages in her book. Occasionally Alejandro would try to catch her gaze but she made a point to ignore him at all costs, pretending to be fully enveloped by her book. Instead, she was strategizing. She didn't know where she was which made it difficult to predict the nature of the challenges. They wanted to be in and out as soon as possible so she assumed that the challenge might only take the day and that they would be sending someone home tonight, and for the sake of her sanity, currently she hoped it would be Bridgette flying out of the plane. Honestly it was disgusting watching Alejandro flirt with other people, but she couldn't lie, she was kind of amused by it. Alejandro was heartless but he was using love to get people out. She supposed from her position it could be called dramatic irony. He was really killing with kindness. After one and a half grueling hours, finally an announcement was made.
"Challenge is officially set up! Please use the exit in economy to vacate the plane." They walked out into economy, all crowding at the door to get out. As the door opened they practically flew out of the plane, getting pushed out by the people around them unaware of the nine foot drop awaiting them. She fell into the snow. Her exposed arms, legs and midriff instantly vulnerable to the biting cold of the snow as it turned her flesh red and goosebumps appeared on her skin. Someone landed on one of her legs as they fell down after her, burying her leg in the snow. She didn't mind, whoever had fallen on her leg was warm, she looked back to see who it was and it was Alejandro, she debated yanking her foot back and kicking his nose in the process but decided that his body's warmth was too redeeming to be petty. After everyone had fallen, Chris came out from behind the door.
"Welcome to the Yukon!" He laughed as he watched them try to untangle themselves. Heather's clothes were soaked, the wind further freezing her as she started to shiver. She had better win the million this year, and if she did, she might hire a hitman to kill Chris. "See that flag over there?" Chris pointed. "I'll meet you there." Heather crossed her arms and shivered. Stupid costumes, stupid show. She better live to have a hot tea after the challenge finished.
~
Despite his latin blood, Alejandro shivered. Though he was cold, he was warm to the touch, which could be helpful to use on Bridgette later. He hadn't really enjoyed the past two hours. He should have enjoyed it, he got to sit in first class and even better he got to sit across from Heather, but she didn't engage with him. Whether or not Heather reacted didn't affect any of his plans but he found that he enjoyed it when he did something and he was met with a scowl or with her eyes shooting daggers at him. He enjoyed getting her to react. So when she ignored him for two hours, he almost felt like a pouting toddler who hadn't been given enough attention. He brushed it off, all he needed to do now was wait for an opportunity. He was going to leave Bridgette alone now, a common manipulation technique to give her a chance to long for him. As they made their way to the flags he couldn't help but feel especially bad for the girls. Biologically girls are likely to feel cooler, not only that but some of them were wearing things that left them heavily exposed to the cold. Heather was probably the most vulnerable to the cold, shivering as she walked. He watched how the muscles in her long legs tensed as she walked and how her feet, only protected by sandals, sunk into the bitingly cold snow. He felt bad for her. They eventually made their way to the flag, where Chris was standing in an eskimo jacket.
"Um... hello? Where are our jackets?" Heather demanded.
"Relax, I ordered coats for everyone." Chris replied. They all cheered. Alejandro was shocked, were they actually going to be able to do this challenge without getting hypothermia? "They won't be ready for weeks. But as soon as they arrive, I'll be sure to hand them out." They all groaned. Of course not.
"Maybe we should huddle for warmth?" Courtney suggested. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Izzy, Leshawna and Lindsay all came up to huddle with him. Though others may have found the gesture flattering, Alejandro wasn't very comfortable with being touched by other people, but he let his tensed body relax as he looked over to Bridgette. He could make her jealous with these other girls.
"Little chilly without mittens," Chris said as he was handed a hot cocoa. Bridgette met Alejandro's gaze, seeming to calm as she did so. He gently removed the girls from where they clung to his chest, as he attempted to show Bridgette that he was only interested in her. He would definitely be able to work with this. "Crossing the icy river in Canada's frozen tundra used to be easy. Back when the river was frozen solid. But thanks to global warming-" The sound of flatulence or rather physical embodiment of Owen's poor life choices cut him off. Alejandro had to retain a look of distaste, "And Owen. Earth is finally becoming a lot more interesting. By which I mean, deadly," Izzy cheered. "Today's challenge is called, Total Drama, the Icicle. Teams must make their way across this watery chasm by jumping from ice flow to ice flow. First team member across must make their way to the dog sleds on the far shore and become the dog, pulling the sled all the way to the finish line as you grab the rest of your team along the way at marked meeting points," Alejandro couldn't help the shocked expression from appearing on his face. The route to the finish line went over a large mountain, he looked at his team members and realized that they had no hope. Owen wouldn't be able to pull the sled and he would deter anyone else from pulling the sled, that is if he didn't sink all the ice floats first. "Sleds are first come, first serve, so move fast. Don't worry, if you fall in, we're legally required to save you. So, we have two divers downstream ready to pull you out. You have a minute to strategize. Go!"
"You guys ready for some mad ice flow jumping? Coz this guy is kicking it into high gear!" Tyler cheered enthusiastically. Alejandro rolled his eyes. There was no point in strategizing. They wouldn't be able to win with Owen on their team. Although, that also meant that he could convince the team to vote him off.
"What is the reward for this challenge?" Heather demanded. He turned to Chris.
"Did I say reward?" Chris said, a wry smile appeared on his face.
"We've already had three eliminations, we're overdue."
"It's gotta be a reward," Noah said to her, "There aren't enough of us for Chris to cut someone in every episode."
"Yeah, but we found teams try harder in elimination challenges. So, this year, there's no set routine. Every challenge could result in elimination!" Chris laughed. He was met with protest. "That's the spirit!" Alejandro knew there was a high probability that this was actually a reward challenge. "On your mark," He also knew that his team was fucked if it wasn't, "Get set," He also knew that reguardless of the circumstance, he needed to try his hardest and do something smart to ensure that a member of his team wasn't going home tonight. Chef sounded a horn to indicate them to start, and that's when Alejandro thought of a plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N- It's so hard to write Alejandro flirting when I have literally no rizz lol.
Chapters should be scheduled now and although time of posting may vary I plan to publish one every 2 weeks. So hopefully they will be scheduled from now on. This may be inconsistent because I have my final exams coming up, but there should hopefully be little to no exceptions or disruptions. Thanks for reading and as always let me know if you have anything that you would like me to add to the fic/comment on the things you want me to change. After 9 chapters we finally getting some hints of romance tehe....