Chapter Text
Gabrielle is no stranger to spending months away from home. She is used to spending months away from her mother, calling and texting her daily to update her on her day-to-day life, telling her how much she misses her, and receiving little to no response in return. However, she is almost a stranger to her uncle, who she must now spend an entire Summer with.
Marie McLean’s brother never payed much attention to his niece. Always so focused on his own career and interests, he had little love left for his sister, and none for her daughter.
When Marie told Chris that she needed him to watch her daughter over the Summer, he had groaned. Gabrielle heard the conversation, and knows that Chris had only agreed as a favor to Marie and to get an unpaid intern.
Well fine. Gabrielle knows how to blend into the background. Chris won’t need to do much besides provide food and shelter for her, and he does this for the contestants of his show, so she knows he’ll at least do the same for her. She’ll even help make the food if she can.
Now, Chris stands on the dock of the all new island for the new season of Total Drama, giving an introduction for the new season. Gabrielle stands farther back, half hidden in the shade of the trees as she watches.
“And here they come now,” Chris finishes, gesturing toward a fleet of speedboats zooming in the direction of the dock.
Gabrielle had never really watched any seasons of Total Drama, but she recognizes every single one of the contestants as they step off the boats. Courtney, Gwen, Trent, Cody, Leshawna, Duncan, Mike, Cameron, Zoey, Alejandro, Heather, Lindsay, Tyler, DJ. Justin, Noah, Brick, Harold, and Bridgette all step off boats, greeting one another.
Courtney and Gwen happily reunite, Duncan watching them hug with a disturbed expression, eyes lingering on Courtney. Mike, Zoey, and Cameron greet each other with friendly smiles. Lindsay and Tyler reunite with a kiss, Tyler overjoyed that she remembers him. Leshawna, DJ, Bridgette, and Harold talk happily as they walk onto land. Eventually, almost all of them are talking, and Gabrielle wishes she could join them, her wide blue-green eyes full of longing.
“Awww, this is so sweet,” Chris drawls sarcastically, bringing their attention back to him. “So you ready to meet the rest of the cast?”
“The rest? But we’re all here,” Courtney says.
“Maybe that one girl might come back, you know, the one with the ponytail?” Lindsay asks.
“You mean Beth?” Leshawna questions.
“No, that doesn’t sound right,” The blonde muses, causing a few of the others to facepalm.
“Please tell me Sierra isn’t coming back,” Cody begs, his face pale and fearful.
“Yeah, I don’t think I can take anymore of what happen last time,” Cameron adds with a shiver, Cody nodding in agreement.
“Nope, no one you know,” Chris states casually, pointing at another group of boats that zoom toward the dock.
“I’m sorry what?” Gwen demands, eyes narrowing.
“There are over twenty boats!” Courtney exclaims, staring at the approaching fleet in disbelief.
“What’s going on McLean?” Duncan growls dangerously, and Chris grins.
“Time to make some new friends kids,” Chris says as the first boat rides up.
The girl that steps onto the dock gives them all a bright smile, her brown eyes warm and friendly. She wears a pale pink sweater, with a white camisole underneath, and a darker pink skirt. A gold locket sparkles around her neck, and the soft golden waves of her long hair are held back with a pink headband.
“Sara,” Chris greets. “Nice to finally meet you.”
“You’re Chris McLean right? It’s really nice to meet you,” Sara replies, reaching out to shake his hand, then walking over to greet the other contestants.
The next contestant to arrive is the complete opposite of sweet, sunny Sara. With her long black hair, gray eyes, and dark clothes, she’s like the night to Sara’s day. She wears a black crop top, skirt, and combat boots with a red flannel, and a black choker wraps around her neck, a red gemstone gleaming in the center of it. Her dark hair falls over the right side of her face, concealing her right eye.
“What’s up Sapphire?” Chris asks as she steps off the boat with a sigh, giving him a nod before walking past, ignoring everyone. “Ok, good talk. Aaron, hey man!”
The next boat pulls up, carrying a redhead that must be Aaron. He hops onto the dock with a grin, mischief in his gray-green eyes. His hair is long and messy, pulled back into a low ponytail, his sharp eyes are framed with glasses, and he wears a band T-shirt, baggy jeans, and an unzipped hoodie.
“Hey, good to meet you man,” He says to Chris, shaking his hand before loping toward the others, sharp eyes lingering on Heather, then Sapphire.
“Yo dude,” Cody greets, trying to imitate Aaron’s unbothered attitude and failing miserably.
“Hey man,” Aaron responds, giving him a fist bump, then doing the same with Trent and DJ before looking around at the sound of another boat.
As the vehicle zooms closer, the contestants can see that a young woman is driving, forest green eyes narrowed in concentration. Her long brown hair flows out behind her in the wind, red highlights gleaming in the sun.
“And here comes Talia,” Chris observes as the brunette flips out of the boat and onto the dock, landing easily on her black-booted feet and shaking her hair away from her face.
“Hi, it’s great to meet you all,” Talia says, playing with a lock of her hair that had been woven into a thin braid on the left side of her face.
“Nice to meet you too,” Bridgette replies, giving her a friendly smile as she steps over to join the group.
Next to arrive are a pair of twins, a boy and a girl. They both possess long black hair, pale features, and heterochromatic eyes, one gray and one green. The girl’s hair is half up half down, while the boy’s is tied into a low ponytail, and both siblings have bangs that fall into their eyes. Both of them are dressed quite nicely, the boy wearing a dark button-down shirt, nicer jeans, and boots, while his sister wears a nicer low-cut top that falls to her thighs and is belted around the waist, black leggings, and black boots.
“Victor, Victoria, how’s it going?” Chris asks as the twins step onto the dock.
“We’re fine, thank you for asking,” Victoria calmly replies as she and her brother walk past.
“Cool,” Chris drawls before turning his attention to the next boat. “And here comes Roxy.”
The next contestant, Roxy, appears to shine in the sun. With her silky blonde hair streaked with pink and purple and her dazzling smile, she radiates confidence, and a great number of the other contestants feel like they’ve seen her before. Her pink crop top and purple skirt reveal a nice bit of her attractive figure, and her hair and skirt blow behind her in the wind as her boat comes closer.
“Oh my gosh, hi!” She exclaims as she hops onto the dock. “Chris McLean right? It’s so great to work with you!”
Roxy beams at Chris, reaching out to take his hand. Suddenly, Lindsay lets out an ear-piercing shriek.
“Oh my gosh, you’re Roxy! Like, The Roxy! Oh my gosh, I am such a huge fan!” She squeals, making Roxy giggle. “Can I have your autograph?”
“Awww thanks, that’s so sweet. Of course you can,” Roxy agrees, hurrying over to Lindsay.
As Roxy gets acquainted with everyone, another boat rides up. The girl that sits inside the boat appears to be completely uninterested in what’s going on on the dock. She’s focused on a game consul in her lap, brown eyes narrowed in concentration, silky purple hair falling over her shoulders as she bows her head to stare at the screen.
Everyone stares intently at the new contestant, but she ignores them. Finally, rolling his eyes, Chris steps up to the boat and snaps his fingers close to the girl’s head.
“Jesse, time to say hi,” He tells her, and she finally looks up, allowing the others to see that the very bottom layer of her hair is a blush pink, not the sunset purple of the rest of her hair.
When she gets out of the boat, the others see that she’s wearing a dark purple hoodie with a pixelated cat on the front and heart shaped patches on the elbows. Along with this, she wears jeans and combat boots, and her hair they notice, falls to just passed her shoulders.
“Hey, I’m Jesse,” She says, and Cody gazes at her in wonder.
“Hey, I’m Gwen,” Gwen introduces herself.
“Nice to meet you,” Jesse answers before looking over her shoulder as another boat approaches. “Ooh!”
A boy stands calmly in the boat. He’s tall, lean, and pale, with messy dark-purple hair that falls into his bright green eyes. He wears tight jeans and a band T-shirt with a black hoodie.
“Hey Alex, good to have you,” Chris greets the guy, but Alex ignores him. “Cool, some of you really need to work on your social skills. Speaking of a lack of social skills, here comes Hannah!”
Hannah turns out to be a slender girl with long brown hair. Her hair falls into her eyes, which are large and heterochromatic, one being blue, one being green, and framed with impossibly long eyelashes. She wears a loosely-fitting long-sleeved purple shirt with a plaid skirt, and her expression is timid as she shakes hands with Chris.
“It’s nice to meet all of you,” She says quietly.
“Nice to meet you too, I’m Zoey,” Zoey tells her, guiding her over to her little group. “This is Mike, and that’s Cameron.”
Hannah says hello to both of them, giving a small smile. That smile seems to capture Cameron’s attention, and Gabrielle smiles as she watches from the trees.
Sabrina, the next girl to arrive, captures Noah’s attention immediately. With her long, flowing light-brown hair, and dreamy chocolate-brown doe eyes, framed with the longest darkest lashes Gabrielle has ever seen, she looks like one of those girls from romance novels. Two shorter strands of hair, streaked with pink, frame her face, and she wears glasses with delicate golden frames.
“Wow, I can’t believe I’m here,” She says wonderingly.
“You’ll wish you weren’t soon,” Courtney tells her, and she nods with a little laugh.
“Probably, but at least it’ll be interesting,” She answers.
“That’s one way to look at it,” Noah says dryly.
“Look at that,” Duncan counters, pointing at the next arrival.
Extremely tall, curvy, and tan, she immediately draws everyone’s attention. She has gorgeous shiny black hair and striking gray eyes, and she wore a white sundress that contrasted beautifully with her hair and skin.
“Kimber,” Chris says approvingly as the beauty reaches him.
“Chris McLean, nice to meet you,” Kimber answers, looking down at him with a blinding smile.
Justin stares at the newcomer in disbelief. Gabrielle can tell he’s stunned by her beauty, and just a little insecure. However, he blushes a little when she turns that smile on him.
The next contestant to arrive is a young man named Sebastian. He’s tall and lean with neatly-styled black hair, sharp gray eyes, and glasses.
“I think you got on the wrong boat man. If you couldn’t tell, this isn’t a debate tournament,” Duncan quips, but the other man ignores him, politely greeting everyone else.
Duncan glares at the guy, but his attention is caught by the next arrival, Karin. She’s average height with a beautiful hourglass figure and soft features. Her long golden-brown hair falls over her left shoulder, natural lighter gold highlights within the darker strands caught by the sun. Her soft, gentle green eyes survey the group as she smooths the flowing skirt of her pink sundress.
“Hi,” She chimes, giving a little wave.
“Welcome,” Sara greets her, bringing her into a small group of the other girls, Duncan’s eyes following them.
Next comes Kennedy, a gorgeous redhead with one brown eye and one blue eye. Her skin is tan, and her long lashes are made even longer with mascara. Her hair is more elaborately styled, half up, half down with a few braids wrapping around her head and connecting to form a bun in the back, while the rest falls loosely to her waist. She wears a purple crop top and a blue skirt and high heels, which she walks confidently in without a problem.
“Mr. McLean, it’s so nice to meet you!” She gushes, batting her lashes.
“Nice to meet you too Kennedy,” Chris replies approvingly. “Hope your pageant skills come in handy here.”
“Oh, me too, but I think I’ll be ok,” Kennedy says sweetly before going over to greet the others.
The next boat to ride up contains a girl of average height and long brown hair. Gold highlights shimmer in her dark hair, catching the light of the sun. The girl isn’t focused on what’s going on around her though. Her head is bowed as she focuses on a book in her lap, so Chris snaps his fingers to get her attention, making her jump.
“Chop chop Brooklyn,” He prompts impatiently, and the girl sighs, closing her book and hopping onto the dock.
“Sorry,” She says sheepishly, brushing a strand of hair back behind her ear.
Now that she stands before them, the group can see Brooklyn better. Her hair is long, soft, and silky, and her bangs are neat. Her eyes are large and hazel and have thick, dark eyelashes, and they’re framed with rectangular glasses. She wears a purple hoodie with a cat on the front, its paw uplifted to show the paw print on the bottom next to the letters SOME. She also wears a long, colorful skirt and boots.
Trent appears to focus on her as she speaks to everyone. After a minute, he speaks up.
“Huh, pawsome, that’s funny,” He compliments, gesturing to her hoodie and making her smile.
“Thank you,” Brooklyn says, blushing a little.
“Katrina!” Chris exclaims suddenly as another boat zooms up.
A curvy girl, with darker tan skin, dark-red hair, and gray eyes steps off the vehicle and onto the dock. Her hair is long, falling to her hips, soft, and rather puffy and thick. It’s parted to the side with two shorter pieces framing her face. She wears a dark-purple sundress and brown sandals.
“Hey,” She says with a relaxed grin. “I’m Katrina, nice to meet you.”
“I love your hair!” Bridgette exclaims. “And I’m Bridgette.”
The others begin introducing themselves as well. However, before they can get too far, another boat pulls up, a girl with black hair disembarking, and immediately squealing when she sees Katrina. She’s shorter and curvy with tan skin and puffy black hair, that’s street with pink and purple. It’s tied up into a high ponytail, the end of which reaches her waist. Her piercing green eyes stand out against her golden skin, and light up as she runs to Katrina.
“Sasha!” Katrina cries, throwing her arms around the shorter girl. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here. Guys, this is my friend, Sasha.”
“Two lovely additions to our group,” Alejandro compliments, causing both girls to snort, though Sasha looks him up and down.
The two final boats pull up, two guys disembarking. Katrina seems fascinated by the first one Gabrielle notices, who Chris introduces as Simon. He’s pretty tall and thin, with brown hair that falls to his shoulders, though it’s tied back. His eyes are a very dark gray and our framed by black glasses. However, Gabrielle can’t focus on this for very long. She’s too busy looking the second guy over, Tanner.
Tall, tan, and muscular with long, dark blonde hair that’s tied back, his head topped by a cowboy hat. He wears a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, and cowboy boots, but what captures Gabrielle’s attention most are his eyes, his gorgeous green eyes.
“Old Cast, meet New Cast,” Chris says, gesturing between the two groups. “And welcome to Total, Drama, Upgrade!”