Hey everyone! WOW! I did not expect to get so many reviews on this thing! You guys rock! And seriously, keep reviewing - it fuels me on. And it made me decide to keep going with this thing.

So anyway, here's chapter two in all its glory. I swear, Duncan and Courtney are two of the funniest characters to write about; you never know what they're gonna say. Even though you're writing what they say... right.

Oh, and let me warn you all before hand: this may be the last update for the next week. I'm starting school Monday(NOOO)and with seven classes a day plus four or more hours of homework, I'm going to be swamped. But I'm going to promise an update at least every two weeks... just don't slaughter me if that promise is not kept at all times.

All of your comments were amazing and helpful and incredible! Keep them coming! (Dude... I even got hissed at! It was awesome.)

Chapter Two

"Duncan."

"Yes, that is my name."

"Duncan."

The said delinquent rolled his eyes. He'd lost count on how many times Courtney had said his name; the same tone of incredulousness rendered each time she spoke. It was like she was a broken drone.

"You know, princess, if you insist upon continuing to say my name, do you think you could add a little more moan into it? That'd be much appreciated." Duncan grinned in delight as she seemed to snap out of whatever stupor she'd been in; clutching the red leash she had dangling from her left hand tighter.

"Pig."

Duncan put a hand to his heart, leaning his head back. "You wound me. Seriously." He quickly patted the empty part of bench next to him, locking his own amused eyes with her angry ones. Funny, she managed to look confused at the same time too. "Come on—I promise I won't bite." His voice was bordering on giddy.

Toby, obviously not one to be forgotten, barked again and padded over to Courtney, who blinked a few more times, as if clearing her head, and then bent down to scratch him under the chin. She cautiously stood up and began walking over to where Duncan was sitting, innocently.

As she sat down, brow still furrowed, she stared ahead, eyes moving back and forth; almost like she was solving a puzzle.

Duncan leaned an elbow on the back of the bench, staring at her. He chuckled. "I swear I'm real. You're not seeing things." And finally she spoke.

"What are you doing here?!"

Interesting. One would have thought she'd be more pleased to see him.

"Funny you should ask that. See… I moved."

"But why here?" Actually, he didn't know. Now he just thought it was because he was lucky. Hmm… he had forgotten how cute she looked when she got all flustered.

Time for an excuse. "My parents liked the number of policemen in this town. They thought it would rein me down better." That seemed plausible. His eyes trailed down to her lips, devious thoughts forming in his head. "Of course," he drawled, putting an arm around her shoulders, "you could always call it fate."

Courtney gave him a dry look, plucking his arm off of her. "There's no such thing as fate," she said, pursing her lips, again drawing Duncan's attention to them. She was wearing some sort of lip gloss—it had faded, but he wondered what it would taste like…

He shook his head, smirking at her. "Oh? I beg to differ."

"How so?" Oho… the challenge was back in her voice, and he was itching to accept it. She wanted a fight? Fine.

"The island. And how we met. That was fate."

She crossed her arms defiantly. "That was a just a series of seriously unfortunate events. A bad coincidence. Besides, you meet people randomly like that all the time."

Duncan scoffed. So, her hardly logical logic had been built up again. Whatever—all the more fun for him. "Alright…" He grinned smugly at her, preparing to enjoy her reaction. "But you can't deny the kiss. That was fated from the moment we stepped onto the island."

Courtney faltered, a blush staining her cheeks as she remembered. "No it wasn't! That was just a poor lapse in my judgment. It was clouded thinking." She paused. "It…" she trailed off awkwardly.

Duncan snorted. "Face it, princess. Not even all the denial you have stored in your pretty little head can help you. You liked me. A lot." He smirked. "The kiss proved it. And all the time it took you to do it proved my fate theory."

"Well… then you obviously haven't heard my rollercoaster theory."

"Please, enlighten me."

She glared at his sarcastic tone, but continued. "It was like the adrenaline rush you get on a rollercoaster—you can't think straight because you never know if it's going to turn or drop or dart up. All of those… scenes we had, they were totally just a part of the camp's insanity. Everything that happened concerning us, on my part at least, were catalyzed through the plethora of pressures that we got burdened with during all those stupid challenges! It happened to the other guys too!" She took a breath. "In other words, if it hadn't been for that island, none of it would have ever happened."

Wow. Only Courtney would be able to talk herself out something like that.

"Okay, maybe you have more denial in you than I thought." Duncan held a hand up when she opened her mouth to retort. "So, you're saying that I'm your rollercoaster?"

"Um…"

"Because you can ride me anytime." He winked.

"Pervert!"

Snickering, he ducked when her hand came up to smack him, enjoying the way her voice raised a few octaves in her fury. He couldn't resist! She made it too easy for him!

He unconsciously reached out to pet the top of Toby's head when the mutt sat down in front of him. "So… what do you call this?" he asked, once she had fumed out the worst of her anger.

Courtney blinked. "This… what?"

"Us meeting here. It's fate."

"I would hardly call this meeting fortuitous," she grumbled, slouching in her seat. "It's more like… like bad karma."

Duncan gave her a skeptical look, now deeply amused. "You believe in karma, and not fate? Do I sense a bit of hypocrisy here?"

She tossed her hair angrily. "Not at all."

He smirked. "So if this is bad karma, what did you do?"

"I'm not the one with the criminal record—what did you do?"

"Me? Something really good, apparently." He laughed at her stumped look. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I can't agree with you on the bad karma thing. If anything, it's great karma." He scooted closer after saying the last part, causing her to fidget.

"Actually, I'll have to thank your dog here," he pointed to Toby, who wagged his tail happily, "because if he didn't run away, you wouldn't have come looking for him. And then you wouldn't have found me."

It looked like she was resisting the urge to twitch. "But he always runs away. Every time we try to give him a bath. And he comes here." She eyed Duncan warily, trying to put more distance between them. "I had just found his leash in the grove when I heard barking—"

Duncan tugged her hair, cutting her off. "Must you try to justify everything?"

Courtney scowled and slapped his hand away. "I'm not justifying, I'm simply—"

"Denying our fate?" She glowered when he smirked triumphantly.

"Why are you so absolutely insufferable?!" she shouted, throwing her arms up.

"Why are you so intent on not accepting my reasoning?"

"Because your reasoning is completely immoderate. And you're not supposed to be here! I was supposed to forget all about that crazy island! It's been a year—life has changed!" Duncan watched with raised eyebrows as she finished her little rant. Anger was a good look for her—she started breathing all heavy and her hair got wispy and her face turned a lovely shade of pink. What? It was hot.

He pondered for a moment, just staring at her. "You so missed me," he concluded, crossing his arms and leaning back, smugness practically radiating off him. It increased when she gaped.

"And how, may I ask, did you determine that?"

"Why else would you be making such a big deal?" He poked her in the forehead, pushing her back slightly. "You just don't want to admit it, which is why all those lame excuses keep spewing outta your mouth."

Courtney stood up, balling her hands into fists indignantly. "That is not true!"

Duncan stood up as well, leaning forward. "Come on, princess. You can't tell me that the first thoughts going through your mind when you saw me sitting here didn't involve a few actions of the kissing sort."

She blushed, narrowing her eyes. "You have the epitome of a one-track mind! Argh! I can't stand you!"

"Don't lie, darling, it'll send you straight to—"

"Shuttup! I'm not lying!"

"Right. You're not lying like I'm not on house arrest right now."

Courtney dropped her arms, giving him a panicked look. "You're on house arrest? But…" her eyes widened. "What are you doing out here then! What if you get caught? You could get in so much trouble!"

Duncan smirked, "Awww, you worried? I'm touched."

She prodded him sharply in the chest. "I'm… er… worried that I'll get in trouble—I can't have the cops finding you here with me!"

Even Duncan could see that she was mentally kicking herself for that one. He loved it when he was right. He also loved the fact that she hadn't registered how close their faces were.

"I thought you liked the dark side," he said softly, inching closer. "You liked trouble. Remember? You liked the dark… and I can be very dark."

By now Courtney was frozen, unable to think clearly as his voice coaxed her into an immobile state. Duncan grinned inwardly. Score! He leaned forward and—

Toby barked. Loudly.

Courtney eep-ed and immediately stepped back a few feet, eyes wide. Duncan slowly looked down at the dog, feeling a snarl build in his throat.

Damn freaking dog!

So close. So effing close! He shot a menacing glare towards the animal, who was oblivious to the hate directed at him as he panted excitedly. He rolled onto his back, exposing his stomach to the two people in deep sexual tension, waiting expectantly.

Courtney exhaled, putting a hand against her chest. She's probably trying to get her heart rate down to normal, Duncan thought smugly, attempting to compose himself too. He watched as she calmly sat herself on the ground and began stroking Toby's stomach lightly; the dog seemed to go limp in pleasure.

"Can I ask you something?"

She shot him a tired glare. "That depends."

Duncan snorted. "Why did you name him Toby?" He smiled at her bewildered stare.

"Why? What would you have named him?" she shot back, still scratching the tender belly of her dog.

He shrugged. "Dog?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Wow, that's… really not creative. And if you must know, I let my neighbor name him. Besides, what's wrong with the name? It's just a name."

He sat down next to her on the ground, stretching out his legs. "I dunno—you just seem like the type of girl to name her dog snuffles, or rascal… or something equally as stupid." She tilted her head to the side, a motion which Duncan found disgustingly cute.

"I don't know if I should be insulted or not…" she trailed off in wonder. She got up and brushed herself off, leaving Duncan with a very nice view. She was wearing gym shorts, and her legs looked particularly long from where he was sitting… "Anyway, I think I should go, now."

Duncan scowled when she said this. "You ever consider you think too much?" He reluctantly got up as well.

"Do you ever consider that you don't think enough?" she snapped, clicking Toby's leash on.

He grinned. "Not at all." Pausing as she tugged on the leash to get the dog to his feet, he cocked an eyebrow at her. "You know, if we meet back here tomorrow—without the mutt—maybe we could pick up where we were before the interruption." He let his voice fade suggestively.

Courtney faltered. "Uh… w-we could do that," she stuttered, fumbling with the leash, "but then, I don't plan on ever seeing you again after tonight." She smiled at him innocently.

He put his weight on his back leg, folding his arms behind his back. "Oh, really? That may be sorta difficult for you, princess."

She lifted her own eyebrows. "And why would that be?"

Duncan gave her his trademark grin. "Well, we are going to the same school and all…" She paled exceptionally.

"I beg your pardon?"

He chuckled, pointing to the brand that was streaked across the front of her tank top. Mountainside High.

"You can't be serious…" she whispered in disbelief, more directed to herself than to him.

"What'd I tell you? Fate."

Courtney stared at him for about five seconds before letting out an extremely frustrated cry and stomping off onto the pathway, muttering incoherent vulgarities. Well, he was guessing that they were vulgar, anyway.

"See ya in class, princess!" he called after her, smirk broadening enough to match the sinister glee growing in his stomach. Her words echoed in his head:

"I would hardly call this meeting fortuitous."

Duncan laughed. Not fortuitous his ass.

Tee hee. Duncan cracks me up.

You'll be seeing a lot of Courtney's point of view in the next chapter: School Sucks.