According to Sierra, the worst challenge to date remains this: The White Night
Probably because of the most embarrassing scene he's ever experienced with a man, not that he and Noah talked about it again, no, Cody is the first to want to forget that particular memory, as well as many others, but he can't imagine having the right to any other wishes after having had the right to travel through time.
Finishing to tie his jacket around his waist, Anderson rolled his shoulders and then stretched his arms upwards until he heard the gentle music of his spine creaking, releasing some of the tension caused by the camp mattress. Distractedly, he continued to stretch, ignoring the stares on him. According to Sierra, this challenge disrupted the series' schedule by lasting so long, spoiling the pacing of the episodes. On this point, Cody largely agreed; no one would have imagined Gwen and Duncan staying awake for so long. He praised the feat but couldn't help but grumble about the days off ruined by the challenge's duration.
Out of the corner of his eye he watches a grumpy Amazon warrior.
"Hi Eva"
"...hn"
"...sorry, was it hard to wake up?"
"...you have no idea," the brunette grumbled, rubbing her eyes with her palms. "I have a fixed routine that I've followed to the letter for years; getting up an hour too early drives me crazy."
"I see what you mean," sighed the former computer programmer, rubbing the back of his neck, which he cracked under Eva's curious gaze. "I'm always awake at the same time, so now I'm really not comfortable."
"Glad to see that someone understands me," she said, casting an angry glance at her teammates who took a step back.
"Um, listen Eva, I understand it's not exactly ideal for you," he said calmly, giving the brunette a friendly pat on the shoulder. "But remember, we're all in the same boat, so try not to break their poor bones."
"You're very friendly with your enemies, Bleusaille," the young woman sniffed with a small smile.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm still aiming to win the competition, but I have no desire to win by sacrificing my honor. I want to win because I deserve it, not because you're not in good shape," he replied with a fiercer smile. "So give it your all, Eva."
"...don't come complaining after Bleusaille" the athlete sneers, giving him a pat on the shoulder which he takes without flinching, then he watches his muscular buttocks move away.
Anderson could have let the original events unfold, ensuring his safety and guaranteeing he could always predict the future, but in his eyes, that's utter nonsense. If it's just to relive the same life and get the same result, then he's not interested. He wants to prove to himself that he's finally strong enough to win, but he doesn't want to lose his honor by letting Eva be eliminated because of Heather's machinations (and also because of her bad temper).
Besides, he absolutely wants to see the manipulator's face turn furious when her plans fail because of him. Where does this desire come from? Oh, you know, he has a rather crazy idea in mind, but it will take him a little more time to make it happen.
His thoughts stopped as a pretty young woman with Mocha skin shyly approached him.
"Hi Cody"
"Oh Courtney," the brunette said, finishing his warm-up and straightening up, not noticing how the future lawyer looked at his pectoral muscles against her black tank top. "I see your eye is better."
"Y-yes!" she coughed, her cheeks flushed. "I just wanted to thank you for that, and also thank you for calming Eva down."
"I didn't do much," he assures, looking at the brunette in the distance, breathing while listening to her music. "She's not mean, you know, just a little more intense than the others."
"...Bridgette is right," she said, supporting her smiling face with one hand. "You're more talkative than you might think."
"Um, well, I'm trying not to be a chatterbox..." he said, scratching his cheek with a finger, making him look cuter in Courtney's eyes. "Besides, like I told you, I don't want to win like this."
"Noted," she assures, folding her hands behind her back. "But don't think I'm going to let myself be beaten! I fully intend to win!"
"Okay, I'll wait for you then."
Finally separating to go and meet Chris, the young man never notices the small group of men posted a few meters away who have not missed a single word of the exchange.
"Tyler, a word of advice: ask Lindsey out with you ASAP," Duncan said in a somber voice.
T~T
Running takes place in a...different way.
No longer without muscles or lung capacity, Cody kept up the pace, with Izzy by his side babbling about subjects as varied as crazy, well he says crazy but if we believe Sierra the orangette does not only tell crazy stories, which makes him wonder how a girl of his age can experience so much in such a short time.
To be honest, he envies her a little.
"Well then?! Huf! What did you do next with Shaggy?" the brunette asked, panting.
"Huf huf! After that! We tried to push the van along the road! But huf! The little marmosets escaped at that moment, so! Huf! Mission half accomplished!"
Laughing at the ridiculousness of this story explaining how the orange managed to save animals from a cosmetics laboratory, Anderson can only applaud his audacity and courage for daring to do it; he too should try this once the show is over, in fact he should make a list of things he wants to do to try to add a little spice to his life.
"Well done, Izzy!" he laughed as they passed Heather, who was walking. A little further on, they crossed paths with Gwen, walking with Harold, Katty, and Sadie. "Hey!"
Turning her head towards him, the goth girl had a rather bright smile, then it became darker when she saw the woman dressed in green in her company, slowing down until she was walking next to Gwen. Anderson sent an amused smile in her direction while walking backwards.
"So Gwen, you're not running?"
"Rarely," she replied, crossing her arms, a dark smile on her lips. "I'm not the sporty type."
"Oh really? You want me to carry you?"
"And become the damsel in need of her Prince Charming? No thanks, but nice try," she teases gently, making the brunette laugh and shake his head.
"Very well, I can only respect that! See you at the finish line!"
Resuming his run, Cody never saw Izzy running backwards while sticking her tongue out at the goth girl who was clenching her fists while accelerating her pace.
~CAM~Gwen~
"This girl is really starting to get on my nerves, between the rude awakening and the chase in the woods I really don't need to deal with the crazy woman who...anyway!
~CAM~Izzy~
"I don't blame her for having a crush on Cody, after all it's hard to find someone so nice, but she shouldn't expect me to give up," said the redhead, cracking her knuckles with a wild smile. "When Izzy loves, Izzy fights!"
T~T
The hearty meal was over, and so was the good mood.
"Okay friends! Here's the second part of your challenge!" the host announces to a group of fed-up teenagers.
"...I thought eating was the second part," said the innocent Owen.
"What more can you ask of us, Chris?" asks a perplexed Gwen, wondering about the purpose of her trials.
"That's true, the Goths are right."
"Uh, wait, I need to think," he said with an almost sincere look on his face. "NO! And now comes the ordeal of the all-nighter!"
Lying on a bench, chuckling as he listened to his old crush call Chris a jackal, Cody sighed softly, having savored his meal without trying to burst his stomach. Getting up, he noticed a blonde slumped on a table with a pouty look on her face.
"So, Bridge? Why the long face?" Anderson asked kindly, the question making his apple-green eyes look up at him.
"Turkey, roast beef, and beef ribs," she replied laconically. "There's just a little mashed potato and salad left for those who have chosen to be vegetarian," she sighed, slowly scraping her fork on the empty plate.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know," he said with a contrite face.
"Not being one is not a subject I often talk about, it's a personal choice so I don't want to bother others," she explains with a shrug.
"...have you ever been told you're too nice?" the brunette asked, making the blonde blush because of the smile Cody gave her as he rummaged in his jacket pocket for chocolate bars, which he dropped in front of her. "Here, help yourself."
"Um, we're not going to get into trouble, are we?"
"Why? The challenge is to stay awake, not to resist the sweet scent of chocolate," he replied, making her laugh slightly.
"Thank you Cody," she said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, which was blushing slightly.
"Please, I have to make an effort as a carnivore," he jokes.
"Oh? So this is your way of apologizing to all the animals you eat?"
"Nothing so noble, I'm just thinking that if I don't feed you you might try to eat me."
"Cody! That's horrible," she laughed.
They both had a good laugh and eventually joined their team who were gathering around the campfire.
It is from this moment that the sleepless night begins!
~CAM~Courtney~
"My plan to win this challenge is to keep moving; if I just think about moving, then I'll forget that I'm sleepy."
~CAM~Trent~
"Noah and I keep making bets to keep ourselves busy; so far I'm winning the one about how many times Tyler fell."
~CAM~Tyler~
He was about to sit down to talk to the camera but ended up slipping and hitting his head on the toilet bowl.
~CAM~Eva~
She picks up Tyler's lifeless body and carries it out of the cabin before giving a fierce look to the camera.
~CAM~Heather~
"My plan is to form an alliance with two candidates to reach the final; now I just need to find two people stupid enough to believe everything I say."
T~T
Cody doesn't know how he ended up there, lying on the floor taking an astronomy lesson with a rather excited Izzy, to be honest after spending twenty hours without sleep and especially after seeing Chef again in his sheep costume playing the harp, he doesn't really know why he's here on this island anymore, ah yes he came to win one hundred thousand dollars and become a better man, that's why he quickly picked up Eva's reader and gave it back to her, which gave him the opportunity to get the first hug from the brunette who then stiffened and ran off to the toilet with a reddening face.
Well, it's still a good deed done, and Anderson feels much better knowing that the young woman wouldn't be unjustly eliminated instead of, say, some delinquent who corrupts innocent girls? Yes, well, he sincerely hopes so, but who's going to blame him?
"And this one?"
"Cassiopeia, she lived a rather sad story, she was chained to her throne for her pride, condemned to circle the North Pole and sometimes to hang upside down, you know, to make her less worthy in the eyes of others," said the redhead, yawning.
"The Greeks are really the champions of over-punishing," sighed the brunette, gazing at the W-shaped constellation. "...hey Izzy, how do you know all this stuff?"
"Not sure you'll believe me, my dear," she laughs, yet Cody senses that her laugh sounds fake to his ears.
"Always say"
"..." sighing deeply, and especially after making sure the others were far enough away, she began to speak in a softer voice, "My full name is Isabelle Dultord."
"...wait, like Dultord, the family with a shipping company?" asks the surprised voice of the brunette who gets up to look at his friend looking at the sky with a tired expression, her hands clasped on her stomach.
"Bingo..." she said with a joyless laugh. "Since I opened my eyes, the words 'Stand up straight ' and 'Be good' have been hammered into my skull every day," she sighed. "To be honest, I had no reason to complain. I came from one of the richest families in the world, and on top of that, I had my own boat to go wherever I wanted... except I had no friends to share all of this with." She rolled onto her side, one hand supporting her face while the other drew circles in the dust. "Can you imagine? Having everything you want except a friend to talk to?"
"...more than you think," he admits, mimicking her posture, drawing her eyes to him, the light of the flames illuminating their faces. "When I was little, I was sick almost every month. My parents tried to be there for me, but their work eventually took over. I remember how horribly empty our mansion seemed without them," he explains with a sad smile. "I wish I'd had a friend back then."
"I envy you," she said with a laugh. "My parents are the opposite of yours. I could be good at school or sports, but nothing interested them except seeing me play the perfect princess at my father's pompous receptions. You know, thinking about it, that's probably why I don't wear dresses anymore."
"Too bad," replied Cody, who hadn't slept for hours, depriving him of the mental space to reflect on his words. "You'd be even more beautiful with..."
"...thank you" she coughed, her cheeks red but above all with a magnificent smile on her lips.
"And how did Izabelle become Izzy, the liberator of the simian people?"
"Oh! It was prom day, I was supposed to go with a boy chosen by my parents who happened to be the future heir to an airline."
"Wow, talk about an arranged marriage!"
"That's what I told myself, which is why during the journey I pretended to feel nauseous, then as soon as the car stopped I ran away without looking back," she said with a dizzy smile at the memory of herself in a red dress running through the woods. "After that I left my country and my old self; I needed to put Izabelle away so that Izzy could finally live her life."
His friend's story resonated with his heart. After failing twice in Total Drama, Cody initially wanted to smile at life and get back on his feet, but after spending a few years reviewing his past actions, he often thought of tearing off his skin to wash away all his humiliation. It's surely his fault that he took so many hits, it's obviously his fault that no woman finds a boy who sniffs your hair charming, and it's absolutely his fault that he lost so often.
Fortunately, the gods of Heavy Metal found him and thanks to their devastating vocals he found his way.
"You know, looking back, I only have one regret."
"Not having destroyed the limousine?"
"...two regrets now," she laughed, sitting with her arms crossed on her knees while looking at the campfire. "One is not having been able to dance, it's stupid I know! But you know, a girl likes to experience that kind of thing at least once..."
{Johnny Clegg-Dela}
The sound of the crackling fire was the only thing that could be heard among the tired campers, then a melody made them jump, the source came from Cody Anderson placing his MP3 player on a log, his silhouette lit by the fire highlighting his tousled mohawk, his blue-circled eyes, his smile, Izabelle Dultord looks at his outstretched hand towards her, her heart beating to the rhythm of the song, blushing she slips her hand into his letting him lift her onto her bare feet, giggling with joy she lets him lead the dance, she gently moves her feet while watching the brunette start pounding his fists on his chest like a gorilla while jumping around the fire, laughing and imitating his dance she just lets herself be carried away by the present moment, forgetting Total Drama, the competitors, the cameras that are surely filming their performance.
No, her whole world is reduced to that fire illuminating the boy dancing with her.
At one point their hands joined and she found herself with her back pressed against his chest, laughing together at first the redhead turned and encircled his neck with her hands, eye to eye they looked at each other with an emotion impossible to describe with words, then they began to dance together, their bodies separated by a few centimeters, Cody's hands tightened around her waist before lifting her and throwing her into the air, making the orange-haired girl scream in surprise, her body shook with laughter coming out of her throat as she returned to the grip of her dance partner who gently lowered her, letting her long orange mane fall onto the smiling face of Anderson who looked at Izzy's face, his eyes shining like emeralds in the sun, his smile filled with joy, his orange curls shining in the light of the flames.
She was magnificent.
"Wouhou!"
The couple were very surprised to see Owen dancing in the same way as Cody, Lindsey and the Spiritual twins joined the party on his heels, then little by little the other campers ended up letting themselves be invaded by the music giving Chris an unforgettable sequence.
T~T
The first thing Cody registered was the smell of fresh mint invading his nose; not that the smell was bad, but it had its effect. Stirring and praying not to see Noah when he woke up, he was much more surprised to find Bridgette lying on his left arm and hugging him like a security blanket.
Mechanically turning his neck to the right, he felt his lips tremble as he saw Izzy perfectly nestled against his shoulder.
(Okay...what did you do, tired Cody?!)
Not wanting to wake the girls, he was unfortunately rescued from his misery by a smiling Chris McLean who gave him a thumbs up.
{Well done, man!}
"Did you sleep well?" the host asks, his tone far too amused for the brunette's liking, who is trying to control his burning cheeks.
"...who won?" he muttered quietly so as not to wake the girls from their sleep.
"It's Gwen, she won against Eva but only just, Sadie was sent home and woe is us, Katie is still crying and crying," he sighed, walking away with his thumb up. "Don't waste any more time, Romeo, and join us."
"... Anderson just falls back, staring up at the blue sky with a stunned look, then a slow smile twists his face... I did it."
"Hummmm...stop moving Tinky..." mutters a sleepy Bridgette who rubs her nose against the reddened neck of the brunette who doesn't know who Tinky is but is sure it's not him.
"...Uuuwaaa!" yawns Izzy, slowly opening and closing her eyes to adjust to the sunlight, then her gaze locks onto those of the brunette who swallows, seeing the redhead smile coquettishly at him. "Hello Cody."
"...hey Izzy," the young man whispered gently, "...do you know how we ended up like this?"
"Hmm, well, we danced all night, then you had a handstand contest with Bridgette, of course she won, but it's Courtney's fault for bumping into you, you fell on Bridgette, you laughed and chatted and then poof! You two fell asleep together."
"Really?" he asks, glancing at the blonde asleep on his arm. "But what about you?"
"I needed a nice, soft ear," she smiled, lifting her face up to his. "And besides, isn't it normal to thank my date?"
"...you didn't have to," he assured in a more timid voice, then his face turned bright red as he felt a pair of lips on his cheek.
"No, I wanted to," she said with a laugh, getting up slowly and glancing at the sleeping blonde. "After all, I can't let my guard down."
"Hein ?"
"Don't worry about it, okay! It's time to take a shower in the river!"
He really wished he had a faster brain than his still-sleepy brain; he could have asked Izzy to wake up the surfer. Watching the psychotic beast leave, he sighed heavily while wondering what he was going to do to wake Bridgette up and, above all, prevent her from panicking.
"...Huh?! Tinky?" The young woman with green eyes wakes up with a hand on her forehead, but above all with a peony-red face when she sees who she just slept on. "CODY?!"
Clearly, it's too late to panic.