"Welcome to New York City!" My life jacket was digging into my chest and the boat had an inch of water coating the bottom from the fall — don't even get me started on how mad the idea of being dropped out of a moving plane in a boat made me; I had to use my inhaler already — as we pulled past the Statue of Liberty. Her jade-colored body blocked the sun and the view of the city line for only a moment, and then it returned. Shielding the light with my hand, I admired the view; I had gotten used to city life for a while, bouncing between Canada and America with Chris. What once wasn't pretty I now found stunning, and New York held up to its name.
Chris parked the boat at a small dock just at the base of the statue, and one by one each contestant got out. Holding his hand out for me, Chris helped me up onto the dock. I smiled at him. "Just like old times," I reminisced, going back to the first time I met him. Season one, fresh onto Camp Wawanakwa and to Total Drama. How funny it was to be standing right where I was now, my life more perfect as I'd once imagined.
Chris smiled back at me, our hands dropping. "You blushed. You looked beautiful." I rolled my eyes. "What? Can't I flirt with you?"
"Of course you can. I just find it hard to believe." We began our way to the base where the camera crew were setting up. "I don't get insecure much — except for last season, but let's not talk about that — but, I don't know... I still struggle comprehending you want to be with me sometimes," I admitted, laughing a little. I was unsure why I felt insecure today; perhaps it was the way Chris's hair was sitting just slightly different, or the way his cologne smelled better than usual, or the way I woke up feeling mediocre at best. I noticed being in the city does that to me sometimes — making me feel small; how could my existence effect the world in a sea full of others?
Chris stopped walking just before we reached the crew and contestants. "Lilia, I don't like being mopey, but I will for you because I love you. You're the only girl for me. I never thought someone could love me more than I love myself." I shot a glare at him, and he laughed. "I can't be myself with anyone but you. You're not going anywhere, and neither am I." I smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Now come on before this freak show gets antsy."
I laughed and we returned our pace till we reached the contestants. Lindsey was practically shaking in her skin from the excitement; she was going to be devastated to find out she couldn't go shopping. "Your first challenge is a carriage race to Central Park! We like to call it Liberty or Death!"
I shared a laugh with Chris upon hearing Courtney claim she didn't want to be the horse. "Oh, no. It's not a horse carriage race. It's a baby carriage race!" Chris snickered beside me as the contestants sighed. Did they really think it'd be that simple, especially after the camel race?
"Well, where are the carriages?" LeShawna asked, looking behind her.
All I did was point upward, smiling cockily. "Hope ya brought your climbing gear!"
The smile was immediately wiped off my face by none other than Sierra. Shocking, isn't it. "LOL Chris. I think your mischievous spirit really makes the game."
"Thank you, Sierra. It's nice to be appreciated." I stepped of Chris's foot as hard as I could. "Ow! Why do you keep hurting me?!"
"Appreciated? I love you! I always have! Even way back when you were making those terrible movies about talking cats! I was even going to name my first fan club the Christians, but that was already taken..." Before Chris could do it, I shoved Sierra as hard as I could. Oh, I was so going to kill her. Not just a simple fist fight or punch to the face, no. She was going to get the Heather special. And I think Chris was on board with that idea; his fake smile was suppressing anger.
"Okay! Less chatter, more splatter! Or, well, climbing! We'll leave the splatter to fate. One you reach Lady Liberty's crown, you'll use the rope to pull your team up. Grab the correct carriage off the spike, race back down to your boat and follow the buoys to your next destination: Central Park!"
"When do we get to go shopping?!" Lindsey suddenly squealed, her voice clearly struggling to contain the excitement of her inquiry.
Chris gave me a look, smiling knowingly. I looked away from him and back at the contestants, giving the blonde a casual smile. "You don't." And, then my eardrums went out my the sound of her screams. "Ow! Holy shit, stop!" Her echoing yell faded off into the city and I scowled at her. "Fuck, man, my ears. Let's just get on with this before anyone else finds out bad news."
The crew at the top dropped down some ropes while the crew with us moved in team colored mats. I've said it nearly every challenge, but I'm glad I wasn't doing this. Climbing up the Statue of Liberty wasn't the worst I suppose, but a boat ride through the sewers would've left me gagging for weeks. No amount of plane showers would of gotten me clean.
Chris blew the whistle and almost immediately, Alejandro began climbing. Izzy followed shortly after, acting like a crazed dog, and that was enough for me to revert my attention away from them. "I don't know how you've done this for three seasons. We're we this bad the first season?"
He shook his head, smiling. "Nope. I wasn't portraying myself as as big of a maniac as I am now, either." I barked a laugh. He had that right. Season one was tame in comparison to this season. "I like to thank you for keeping me sane."
I waved his comment off. "Awe, aren't you sweet." I looked back at the contestants, watching them climb. "Almost as sweet as Sierra staring at Cody's ass." Chris and I shared a laugh before he patted my own ass. "Hey!"
"Up and at 'em, babe. We have to get to the top."
From the crown of the Statue of Liberty, the view was even more spectacular. A gentle breeze that thankfully didn't carry the scent of New York — I had heard plenty of how New York didn't smell too refreshing. The water surrounding us was calm, rippling in the wind. If I tuned out the contestants yelling, it was silent.
And then Chris ruined it.
"Come on, people! It's been 25 minutes and I am bored!" That megaphone was about to be thrown in the water.
Alejandro's hand smacked the top of Liberty's head, and he glared at us. "You two are pure evil."
I shrugged, smiling. "I take that as a compliment." His squinted eyes relaxed and he attempted to smirk, but I held my hand up. "Flirt with me and I'll push you off." His face fell.
Not long after, the rest of the teams arrived. While Heather was climbing the crowns spike to grab her teams baby carriage, Sierra ran up to us. "Hey, Chris! Know what? I own every one of your TV appearances on DVD — even your cooking show!" What did she just say? "Keeping us Clean with Chris McLean!" I can't believe she knows about his cooking show. It only had one fucking episode. "Your recipe for white rice is so great. It's so totally unfair it got cancelled after one episode!"
"Sierra!" I barked, offering her a warning smile. She smiled at me, her dopey face giddy. "If I have to repeat myself one more time about you being out of line, you won't like it."
She stared wide eyed. "You sure can be scary! This is why I like you, Lilia! You're so much like your brother, Quinton! He's scary, too. Like when he went to prison that one time—"
"Okay, that's it—"
Sierra was gratefully saved by Heather rushing back down with their carriage, and Chris quickly changed the subject. "Team Amazon in the lead! Have fun taking this 30 foot drop down this fireman pole." As Amazon disappeared into the darkness, Chris looked up at me. "Feisty."
"Shut the fuck up." Chris threw his hands up in surrender. Team Victory slid down the pole. "How the fuck does she know about Quinton going to prison? It's not even on his records! Ooh, Chris, I'm going to kill her."
"You say that an awful lot, you know." Team Chris is Super Sexy Hot slid down the pole.
I let out an exasperated sigh. "Because it's true!" I looked down, watching the teams take off on their boats. Sierra was looking around frantically for, I'm assuming, Cody. Why couldn't she just be obsessed with him? Couldn't she leave my boyfriend out of it? "Whatever. I'm going to the dock." Stepping away from Chris, I followed the crew down back to the grass. Being back on Earth helped me feel a little calmer, thankfully. Chris followed shortly after, catching up to me.
"You know we're okay, right?" I looked at him over my shoulder, walking toward our own boat. "Sierra is annoying you as much as she is me, trust me. But she's not a threat to our relationship, so I don't want you worried."
I frowned. I guess he was right, wasn't he? Ugh, like always. It's so stupid how he was always right. Sierra shouldn't be someone I'm worried about, not when she's Sierra of all people. "I know, I shouldn't be worried. She just gets under my skin. Really, really bad. Like, I can't explain it to you, Chris, but she's driving me insane." Chris helped me up onto the boat and I sat in one of the cushioned seats.
His arm came and wrapped around my shoulder as he sat beside me. "How do you think I feel? She knows every detail about my life."
"And mine now, apparently!"
He exhaled a short laugh. "We're keeping her for views and that's it. You know the drill from last season: if anything happens I don't agree with, I now have the power to remove her. Unfortunately for her situation, her immense knowledge on us isn't enough to kick her off."
"Immense knowledge? She's obsessed with you! And Cody! She's practically stalking him." Chris looked at me, a side-eyed glance. He didn't want to listen to me, I assumed. I shook my head. "I'll drop it, but I'm warning you. I might know that I needn't be worried, but she's just going to get worse." Chris continued to glare at me sideways as I stood from my spot, noticing the boat had halted.
I reached the end of the dock, Chef standing there casually. In the distance, I could three boats approaching. "You look angry, little lady."
I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Chris approaching wearing a gas mask. Yeah, it smelled bad. It hit me as soon as I saw the mask. Barf. "How could I not be when dating him?"
"Chef, make the gator sign a waiver so we can show it on TV."
Chef looked down at me, and I gave him a knowing smile. "Touché." Chef dove into the water — poor guy would probably need to take an hour long shower to clean himself properly — and swam off toward the sewer. A large, white gator who looked both hungry and pitiful thrashed in the pipe. How Chef would get an alligator's signature was beyond me — and not my problem.
"Chris, you're such a brilliant commander." There was that nagging voice again. "That's why you always stood out in your boy band!" Okay, I said Chris was right about how I shouldn't be worried by Sierra, but I didn't say I couldn't be annoyed by her constant up bringing of facts on my boyfriend. Bringing up his boy band? Come on!
"Moving on!" I yelled, staring at her.
"Back in the 80's!" she said, ignoring me to respond to Owen's question. She proceeded to sing one of Chris's old songs, and I could feel my blood pressure rising. I wonder if Chris was on any blood pressure medicine from this show. He had never said so, but it'd be understandable if so.
"You were in Fametown?!" Gwen suddenly gasped, cackling.
"I really admire the way you never let mockery get to you. I'll have to include that in your obituary. I already have a draft. Wanna hear it? Chris McLean was born—"
"Zip it! Now!" Chris yelled at the same time as I said, "Shut your mouth, Sierra!" I was losing my mind. Literally. Physically. There wasn't a chance in hell I was making it through this season anymore. Not with the crazy chick — mentally crazy, not Izzy crazy — on the show. New York is close enough to Canada, they could just leave me here and I'd figure it out. Anything to get me away from that crazy bitch. "Second part of the challenge. Now." Chris turned and walked off the dock, myself following sweetly. At least I was right in the fact that she was just going to get worse.
A chalkboard was set up with a simple map with three paths. The contestants walked up, giggling and gossiping to one another. "Focus!" Chris yelled slightly louder than usual, clapping his hands together. He could be intimidating if he wanted to, but today wasn't really one of those days.
"Welcome to the second part of the challenge: Bobbing for Big Apples: NYC Style. See this map?" I pointed a ruler at it. "Sierra," I snapped, "eyes up here. Teams will push their carriages along one of these marked paths to Central Parks famous turtle pond. There, one member from each team will bob for some very special apples using their mouths! I say special in a comedic way. Once they get it to shore, they must load it into their carriage and race to the finish at the heart of Central Park."
"Precisely. Thank you, sweetheart." I smiled. "So, what's a baby carriage without a baby? Ah—" he said, cutting off Owen before he asked a presumably stupid question, — "it was a rhetorical question."
"Oh, Chris, you are so—"
"Zip it!" His angry voice echoed through the air. Beside him, I couldn't help but snicker. "As I was saying! One member must ride in their carriage and stay there all the way to the finish line."
Chris quickly assigned the paths, and I smiled at the contestants. "A little traveling music also, please. Better get to moving, we've got one hour left." I looked over at Chris after the contestants ran past us. "I like when you get all aggressive like that."
He rolled his eyes, then exhaled a laugh. "Got the better of me, didn't it?" I nodded, following behind Chef to the Turtle Pond. I'll admit, the comically large apples is pretty funny, especially with snapping turtles in the mix. As long as it isn't me getting bit, I'm all for it. "She's... a lot."
"It's okay, you can admit I was right."
A laugh escaped him, and his hand suddenly found mine. His palms are slightly sweaty, I assumed from his annoyance. "No can do. Not while filming." I rolled my eyes. Right, right. Legal team and contracts and whatnot. He was already under keen eye after our relationship was public for making sure he didn't favor a contestant.
"You're lame. Can we get ice cream before we leave?" He hummed, looking at me with a raised brow. "Ice cream. Or maybe a slushy?"
He smiled, looked ahead, and shrugged. "Sure, why not."
"Sweet." Turtle pond came into sight and we followed Chef onto a rock, and I saw between Chris's legs. Each team arrived at the same time — conveniently enough. "Better get to bobbing!" I called, giggling at their faces as they saw the giant apples floating in the pond.
True to its name, and true to DJ's bad luck, turtles began bombarding him as soon as he reached the shore with his apple. I shielded my eyes at they began biting DJ, only looking when Chris nudge me. "Did he make it?" On cue, I heard him cry out to LeShawna about his curse. "Never mind." I stood up as the contestants raced off toward the finish line.
I noticed it just as the seller looked up — definitely due to the three groups of people with a grown adult in a baby carriage ran by: an ice cream stand. "Chris! There's one right there. Can I go get one and just meet you at the plane?"
He smiled. "You don't want to see who wins?"
"Eh." I shrugged, looking back at the ice cream. They had a few flavors. "Not really. Especially not when ice cream is right there." He chuckled before handing me a couple American dollars. "Thank you, babe. BRB!" Chef and him headed to the end while I ran to the ice cream stand.
The seller, a rather young boy, looked up at me. "Oh, woah, no way. You're the chick who dates Chris McLean, right? Total Drama?" I stared at him a moment. He recognized me? Is this what fame felt like? What Chris felt like? "Lilia! Lily? That's your name, I think."
I nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah, Lilia."
"Dope! That's so cool. Are you guys filming?" I nodded again, then tuned my attention to the flavors. Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Lemon, Cookies and Cream, and Birthday Cake. Awe, Cake.
"Can I get two scoops of the birthday cake?" He nodded a little too eagerly and grabbed a bowl, whipping up the ice cream quickly.
"So, is it true about you and Chris?" I slid him the money and he opened the small register, looking up at me. My brows were confused, awaiting his response. "You know, that you guys hooked up all season one and two? Thats why you did so well?"
My face fell from confusion to annoyance. I grabbed my ice cream, muttering, "Keep the change," before retreating to the plane.
Everyone was thankfully loaded up and I climbed up the stairs, the crew shutting the door behind me and the plane immediately shifting to take off. I had nearly forgotten about the time limit on filming in New York. Heading through the cabins into my own, I sat on the bed and ate a spoonful of ice cream. I hated to admit it was good when that guy pissed me off.
Yeah, it was true about hooking up all season. But I hated that everyone viewed me as using it to win challenges. Victory was the least of my concerns once I got with Chris. To hell with the show if it wasn't his prized possession. Anger was rising in my chest as I ate another spoonful, the cold texture calming my heating body, and I ate the rest of the ice cream admittedly too fast to keep myself from getting angrier.
By the time my cup was empty, Chris entered from the reward ceremony. "Ice cream good? What flavor did you get?"
"Birthday Cake. Some prick waited on me, asked if it was true I hooked up with you all of season one and two to win." Chris smiled, laughing as he set beside me. "Why are you laughing? I'm mad."
He shrugged, resting his hand on my thigh. "Well, is it true?"
"No!"
"Then there's no reason to be mad. You're just feeding into what he wants.." I glared at him. This son of a bitch. How many times did he have to prove me right? Was it an ego thing? Always being right? Whatever it was, I was getting irritated by it.
"I'm tired of you. You know that? I'm tired of you always being right. I'm still mad, though. I'm going to be mad."
"That's okay, because I'm going to be right. We'll be happy there."
"Shut up. I'll be right eventually."
"Chris, 4 — Lilia, 1."