Chapter One; Fairy Tale Ending

But I'll never let you know
I got nothing on you baby
But I always said I try
Let me show you how much I care

Gwen wasn't one to sleep in, or, well… Sleep at all. She was curled up in bed, her eyes fixed carefully on her laptop screen. There was the faint hum of her favourite band in the background, a guitar solo ripping through the silence. She smiled uselessly as she scrolled through absolutely nothing. Honestly, she wondered how she spent so long on her little black laptop.

Wait. Birds chirping. That didn't sound right…

After peering out of the window, Gwen worked out she had actually managed to remain awake all night. And it was a school night – day? – whatever! She looked down at the little blue bar at the bottom of the screen; quarter past six. She had somehow managed to "sleep in" while remaining awake. Gwen groaned and slid out of bed, tugging on a black skirt and whatever corseted top was nearby.

Although it was just school, and there was no real need to dress up or anything. Her thigh-high stockings felt standard, however, especially when they were coupled with a pair of thick-soled boots. After checking herself in the mirror, Gwen wandered downstairs to deal with the next issue… Make-up.

It wasn't till 20 minutes later she was fed, properly dressed and ready for her first day of senior life. She had just spent her summer break inside and trying not to burn - with her newly acquired boyfriend. Yes, you heard right, Gwen Yates was dating one Trent Beatle.

(He is very aware his family is called "The Beatles" as a plural, but there was no relation to the band like, at all.)

A giggle escaped her lips, almost entirely due to the tickle of a tail across her legs. She had two lizards, Angus and Vampyra, who acted more as pet puppies than lizards. Another part of her had to blame the fact she was about to go to school and come face to face with one of the popular boys – her boyfriend.

The situation was so totally weird she could barely even believe it herself.

"I'm looking for a guitar."

The dark-haired boy smiled in a good-natured way, something Gwen assumed was standard for the industry. No one as cute as this boy ever actually paid attention to her, ever. After about twenty minutes of describing and aiding, Gwen was clutching a newly purchased guitar and the boy's phone-number.

In truth, she hadn't even meant to buy the guitar. She was looking for it as a present later in the year for her younger brother… But Trent had offered such an awesome mark-down if she agreed to a date (in a nice, flattering way, not a "you're a prostitute" kind of way).

Later that week they had their "date" and spent most of it marvelling at the fact they had never seen one another at their school – turns out, they had English together for two years without even realizing.

And then he kissed her.

That was four months ago, and what a four months it had been.

"Bus is out the front," Linda, Gwen's mother, called. She watched as her two children fought their way out of the front door and into the bus. She swore those two fought worse the closer they got… It was sort of amusing.

"Freak!"

"Weirdo!" Gwen hissed at her brother Arthur, nicknamed Artie. She settled begrudgingly into the seat next to Trent. Out of habit, she stuck her tongue out at Artie once more before turning her attention to her very good-looking, sweet, artistic, talented, amazing boyfriend. Something in her screamed that, if this was one of those teen movies, they would have faded to the credits right at this point… She was the loner goth girl that proved that you could have a cute, popular boyfriend.

Real life wasn't like that, but it was fun to pretend. "How was your summer?" she asked curiously, resting her cheek on Trent's shoulder.

"I met this really sweet girl," he chuckled, settling his arm around her shoulders, his thumb massaging her arm as the bus stopped and started at random. Those who weren't up-to-date with their social networking sites looked entirely confused by Trent's newest girlfriend; in particular that Heather Fowler girl.

"I can't believe he's pity-dating her."

That was what Gwen had heard at a party they'd attended, those words spoken to the ditzy, blonde, cheerleader girl known as Lindsay. All this time she had pretended not to care what other people thought about her, but… She wasn't prepared for people to openly dislike her so much for being happy. Especially not when Trent would defend Heather and say that Gwen just didn't know her like he did. Whatever that meant.

"I heard your girlfriend was a bitch," Gwen joked, her eyes flickering shut as she allowed the bus to ebb her into sleep. She had stayed up all night chatting and looking up websites and reading stories… It was a little tragic. It wasn't til they arrived at school that Trent actually woke her up with a gentle shake.

"We're at school," he pointed out needlessly, taking her hand in his own. Gwen stumbled after him as he exited the bus, her eyes refusing to properly open.

"Do I have to?"

"It's senior year, Gwen. Only a few more months…" Trent assured her, his hand maintaining its grip of her own. He gave it a gentle squeeze as they set off for the office where they could pick up their schedules and locker numbers. Trent kindly picked up Gwen's for her, as she was way too tired to actually pay attention to the fact she'd grabbed someone else's file.

"Unless your name is Duncan Marshall, that isn't yours," he chuckled as he handed the folder back. Gwen smacked her lips momentarily before her eyes widened.

"Huh, wait… what?"

Trent raised an eyebrow at Gwen, "Huh?"

"What name did you just say?" Gwen asked, suddenly more awake.

"Um… Duncan - something... March?" Trent attempted, tugging Gwen off in the direction of their lockers. They were conveniently placed across the hall from one another, allowing Gwen the ability to make out with her boyfriend and get her books within ten feet of the same location. As they arrived, Trent set to work unlocking his locker with the provided code. Gwen just slumped against the wall next to him, yawning loudly. "Why did you ask?"

"Uh, about that name? Used to – um – dude that I used to know that was a guy…" Gwen strung together, her sentence barely passing for 5th grade English.

"It's probably just some freshman kid with a similar name."

"Mhh. The little bastards would try to confuse me when I'm sleep deprived."

"Gwen!" Trent scolded her, idly stuffing the majority of his books into his locker. He was clearly kidding though, his smirk showed it all. "Try and be nice."

"I am nice."

"To me, yeah… But people will like you more if you're not always calling them names," Trent pointed out as he closed the door of his locker. He gave Gwen an apologetic look, "Not that people don't like you. You're totally likable."

"U-huh… Well… You love my nicknames, Elvis," Gwen wearily smirked, her arms crossed against her chest. Trent just sighed (in amusement) and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. After Gwen had worked out her own locker situation, they set off for their mutual English class. It seemed they were continuing their tradition of sharing English, something they could fully appreciate at this point of their relationship.

Still… Duncan Marshall… It was such a familiar name. And a name Gwen hadn't even thought about since she was about 15 and crying her eyes out.

Trent opened the door for her as they arrived at English, his eyes lighting up as she giggled out a 'thank you'. They were such a well-oiled machine, acting like they had been in this relationship for their entire lives rather than a few months. They sat carefully in the middle of the classroom, not right at the front with the teacher, but not at the desks that usually housed the drop-kicks.

Gwen was a goth, but she was a smart goth.

The rest of the class filed in, only a few friendly faces bothering to smile. It was the first day of school and it was English. Mr. McLean was a total bore, mostly because all he ever did was ask them to write essays or poetry about how amazing he was. Gwen had received perfect marks because she could lie quite easily. Plus, all she had to do was pretend she was writing about Johnny Depp or even a guy like Marilyn Manson, and her teacher would eat it up. The worst part? Mr. McLean also ran their homeroom sessions, which were sort of part of English… It was weird.

"Yo dude," Geoff greeted with a giant smile, waggling his hand at Trent with some weird bro symbol Gwen would never understand.

"Hey," Trent replied in his usual manner. He started chatting with Geoff and DJ, mostly about their holidays (even if they'd hung out over the holidays). Gwen just sat quietly doodling in her sketchbook, ignoring the sudden influx of people into the room. That was until LeShawna prodded her in the side of the head, hugging Gwen to her chest.

"Girl, you did not lose weight did you? You're even skinnier than the last time I saw you!" the girl whined, a worried expression coming over her face.

"You're worse than my mother," Gwen laughed, closing her sketchbook with a small thump.

"Just thought you might need remindin' that eating Trent's face all day ain't three square meals," LeShawna smirked, sitting down in the desk next to Gwen.

Gwen simply muttered something about LeShawna being stupid and that she was eating more than Trent's face – and something about how wrong that statement sounded. It wasn't before long her face was pressed against her desktop as she snored softly. Damn it, she needed to sleep more.

"Alright, let's get this party started!" Mr. McLean announced from the front of the class. Gwen had barely noticed everyone else marching in and sitting down, least of all the teacher at the front of the class. "I just want to start off by saying welcome to another year at Wawanakwa High School! I'm sure you'll all have a totally dramatic and emotionally challenging year!"

He was weird.

The class begun, homework handed in (yeah, holiday homework, ugh) and a casual discussion of what everyone did over the holidays. She learned a little too much about the kid who thought he was a white rapped, Ezekiel, and something from Harold about ninja camp. She could hardly pay attention in her current state. She considered just bailing, but Trent kept sending her worried glances and that kept her in her spot.

"And uh," Mr. McLean pointed rather than said the kid's name. Gwen frowned; he'd taught them all for the past three years… How did he not know their names?

"Duncan."

"Well Duncan, how about you tell us about your summer," Mr. McLean encouraged, sitting on his desk in a casual "I'm a cool dude in his 30s" kind of way; actually, it was more the "I'm not actually cool" kind of way. Gwen swivelled on the spot, an unimpressed expression on her face. "You are new and I'm sure all of us are wondering about you…"

"I got out of juvie," the smirking punk announced, his hands settled behind his head as he sunk into his seat, "and, y'know… normal teen things like drank and made out with girls," Duncan scoffed in Harold and Ezekeil's direction, an amused smirk continuing to tug across his features.

"Sparky?" Gwen stared boggle-eyed at the boy.

Duncan's vandal expression deepened, "Sunshine?"

Everyone in the room felt suddenly awkward upon seeing this exchange. Especially Trent, who seemed a little threatened by the punk who was currently eyeing his girlfriend like she was a piece of meat. Mr. McLean frowned, calling the class's attention back to himself.

That didn't spot Gwen from casting surprised and anxious looks over her shoulder. It also didn't stop Duncan from checking out the little goth number sitting in front of him. And it certainly didn't stop Owen from gassing out the English class midway through the period.

For once, Gwen was thankful. It allowed her time to talk to Sparky – Duncan – him.

AN: How does Gwen know Duncan! What does Heather want with Trent! Will Gwen ever actually sleep! Will you review!

DRAMA TWISTS WHAT'S GOING ON OH SNAP.

Now! The song at the start is by The Killers. It's called The List and was just playing as I wrote this… So. Recommended listening is The Killers, Ludo and Vampire Weekend!