Noco Total Drama Ridonculous Race AU

Ep 7 - A Tisket, a Casket, I'm Gonna Blow a Gasket

Noah's POV

Seriously. I might actually blow a gasket.

It's been five hours in Transylvania, Romania and so far, I've been stuffed into a coffin, rolled down a hill, and buried alive.

And the person performing this skillful maneuver?

Cody.

Now, look. Cody's not be the most brutish competitor. He can't even lift his own suitcase. So when I found out that he was going to be rolling me down a bumpy, steep hill, you could imagine my absolute thrill.

Miraculously, he managed to push and roll me to our next challenge. But since Cody's noodle arms took him an hour to do so, and since his frequent complaining made me want to run myself over with said casket, we were just about last to arrive.

And my initial reaction to that? Sarcasm.

"Congrats, Code-meister. Way to go. The reality TV pros are really doing well now. We might even win this whole damn competition with all the time you spent lugging my casket down the hill".

"Hey, at least our team isn't dead last!" Cody replied.

I chuckle. Cody makes a good point. I hear the sounds of competitors screaming in sheer agony coming from inside the gymnasium. It sounded like they were there for a while.

I grab the ticket and read our next clue.

Botch or Watch: Whoever didn't face the bullet ants in Brazil must perform two gymnastic feats. First, walk across a balance beam and jump at the centre. Second, complete a flip over a vault. Your goal is to get a thumbs up from the judge.

Looking around us at the gymnasium, both Emma and Kitty are struggling to complete the challenge. Emma's attempting some sort of a half-flip half-face-plant across the vault, which is surprising to me, considering how competitive I perceived her to be.

*Author's note: I know that Emma is supposed to be good at this challenge, but this fits better, so bear with me here*

Kitty is cheering Emma on. Well, as far as "cheering" can go when you're taking selfies on a phone every five seconds.

With those two bumbling losers still around, and Emma's chances not getting any better with her frustration, I realize that we may actually have a shot of not placing last.

That is, until I realize that it's Cody who will be jumping and vaulting.

"I got this, Noah. I totally do. In fact, I'm probably going to get the vault first try", the nerd chortled.

I stifle a laugh. As if my faith in Cody hasn't already been diminished. I decide to pummel him with some false hope, though. Studies have found that you try harder with motivation. It's true. I wrote an entire essay on it for my eleventh grade psychology summative.

"Come on, Cody! You got this! I know that I haven't had much faith in you recently, but i genuinely think you can pull through with this challenge!"

Ok, maybe that came out too sarcastic.

"And that's not sarcasm by the way!" I added, for good measure.

That seemed to be enough for Cody.

"Thanks, Noah! Here goes nothing!"

He steps onto the balance beam. He has quite good balance, actually. He isn't even distracted by the anguished screams of frustration coming from Emma and Kitty. He simply holds his arms out, walking to the centre of the beam, and does a perfect split jump.

How did he do that.

Now, I'm no gymnastics coach. I can't even do a cartwheel. But I can't fathom how someone like Cody, with a scrawny physique and a nerd-like status was able to perform such an act of elegance and grace. Maybe it was the light hitting Cody, or the painful heat of the gymnasium. But damn, that jump was angelic.

"That was near beautiful" I say to myself in awe.

I don't even notice Kitty standing right beside me.

"I know, right? Kind of like the opposite of Little Miss Head-plant, here."

Kitty gestures to Emma, now trying a new strategy in which she flips her whole body sideways on the vault.

I smirk. People don't usually have that effect on me. Kitty is good at witty remarks, though. I'll keep that in mind.

I was so busy talking to Kitty that I didn't even notice Cody walking to the vault. When I did, he was already halfway through the running portion.

He lifted his arms for takeoff. As soon as his hands hit the vault, I knew it was going to be a solid ten. he tucked his body in and rotated five times, perfectly, across the mat. He landed on both feet with his arms in the air.

Cody, what the hell.

Cody was grinning ear to ear. He knew he gained my approval now. the Gymnastics coach gave him a well-deserved thumbs up, and we exited the damn place. I felt bad about leaving the sisters behind, but I heard a new team start to arrive behind them.

Still, something still didn't seem right.

"Cody, how on Earth did you do that? I mean, the jump. The flips. Where did you learn all that crazy-" I stammer.

Cody is grinning harder than he was before, which I thought wasn't possible. I could see his cute little tooth gap-

I mean, uhhh-

Prominent. His prominent tooth gap.

Cody shrugs.

"I'm relatively thin, I eat balanced meals, I weigh like a hundred pounds. How wouldn't I be able to do that?"

Relatively thin? This kid is like a chicken bone.

"Alright, Cody. Whatever you say", I reply, which seems to satisfy Cody. I add a genuine smile at the end, to show that I'm impressed.

But during the walk to wherever our next destination may be, the thought of that vault jump still lingered.

Something clicked in my mind. I couldn't figure out what it was, but something had attracted me to the way that Cody's-

No.

This can't be happening.

I know I'm gay.

But I can't like Cody.

I try to push the thought away, but it keeps coming back. Cody is walking alongside me, whistling a tune, completely unaware.

Oh, how fluffy his brown hair looks-

No, Noah, SNAP OUT OF IT!

I'm sure this is just a phase. There is absolutely no way I can develop a crush on reality TV, right? I've had temporary attractions before. They come and go. Like fashion, Cody is just a passing fad that will exit as swiftly as it entered.

Oh, boy was I wrong.