A/N: Sorry everybody, it took a little longer to update Ocean Falls than I thought. Hope you guys aren't too upset, but once again my work schedule has been keeping me busy and often I was just too tired to write. Plus, I've been watching and reading a LOT of the Fairy Tail anime and manga (LOVE THAT SHOW! :D) so all that has been keeping me busy. I apologize again about the delay, but I'm here now with the latest update to Ocean Falls High School. Hope you all enjoy it :)


Chapter 9 - The Principal of Ocean Falls


Cody closed the door behind him as he looked nervously around the principal's office. He had only been in here once before, but it didn't appear to have changed much. There were no windows, a couple shelves lined the walls, filled with numerous books, binders and trophies, as were several framed certificates and awards that Principal Edwards had earned over the years. The desk in the center was made of simple wood, and a few picture frames sat on the sides as did the plaque that read "Principal Damien J. Edwards" that faced the two chairs in front of the desk.

Cody gulped as his eyes turned to the chair behind the desk, whose brown-haired occupant had his back turned from the door and faced a third shelf in the back of the office.

"Have a seat, Mr. Anderson." said the man in a strict tone. Cody nervously stepped forward and took his seat in the left side chair. Things were quiet for a moment as the geek anxiously awaited what the principal of Ocean Falls High would do next. Finally, the chair in front of Cody turned and faced him.

Principal Edwards was a man in his mid-thirties, had short, wavy brown hair and gray eyes and wore a gray suit complete with a white undershirt, a red and black striped tie and black dress shoes. He also wore a silver watch on his right wrist and a silver wedding ring on his left ring finger. While Cody couldn't tell from the suit, Mr. Edwards had a rather fit physique for someone his age. Proof of his teneure as Ocean Falls High's most valuable quaterback during his school days.

However, the look on the principal's face told Cody that he was not going to be bragging about his past success on the field today.

"Cody Anderson." he spoke at last. "It's been a while since you last stepped in my office. Two years I believe, am I right?"

Cody looked down in shame and whispered "Yes sir..."

Cody briefly thought back on the moment his principal was talking about. Two years ago, Cody had come to this exact office to face punishment for groping Gwen. Principal Edwards had been furious about what had happened, and Cody was lucky that he hadn't been expelled for sexual harrassment. Instead, because this had been Cody's first offense EVER in his school career, Edwards decided to only give him two weeks worth of detentions. Cody had done his time, and swore from that point on to never act on his raging hormones again, as well as never do anything to ever warrant a return trip to this office.

Suffice to say Cody broke that second promise by punching Duncan earlier.

"Two years and only two trips to my office for you Cody." Principal Edwards continued. "That's a pretty impressive record. I'd commend you if you hadn't done something so heinous during your freshmen year." he said harshly.

Cody felt a pang at that last sentence. The principal didn't seem too fond of him still after all this time, but considering the circumstances then, he couldn't really blame him. Principal Edwards suddenly brought out a sheet of paper as he glared at Cody again.

"I'm sure you know why you're here. Mr. Barkin sent me a message about the situation between you and Duncan." the principal stated before reading the paper he held. "Cody Anderson had gotten into an altercation with one Duncan Myers during third period P.E. class. I was not present until after it had happened, but by Cody's own admission as well as witness statements from two of Duncan's friends, I had the means to send Anderson to you today, Principal Edwards." After reading Mr. Barkin's memo, Edwards looked up to face Cody again.

"Duncan is currently still unconscious in the Nurse's Office, his friend Lightning took him there. Now I must ask you Cody. Did you in fact, punch Duncan today?"

Cody's shame returned as he took a moment to answer. "... Yes."

Principal Edwards face turned hard as he spoke again. "And what, Mr. Anderson, would cause an outstanding student such as yourself to perform such an act? Despite what I may think of what you did before, you're still an excellent student who has towed the line since your last visit. After all that, why do something like that now?"

Cody looked up into the angry principal to give his reply. "... He was-" but he was rather rudely interrupted by Edwards himself.

"Not that I really care about what happens to the little snot, after all of the things he's done to this school and it's faculty." ranted Edwards. "I'm running out of patience with Myers, and tired of my detentions and suspensions not working on the kid."

The principal continued his rant much to Cody's confusion. While he couldn't help but agree with everything he said, he thought it strange that a principal would speak so ill of one his students to another student. Wasn't he supposed to be unbiased, even with the troublemakers? He also questioned why he seemed to have such a low opinion of Cody, even though he admitted that he was an outstanding student with one offense under his belt.

As the principal continued his tirade on Duncan, he looked around Edwards' back shelf. He saw a photo of him, and a rather attractive blonde-haired woman in her mid-thirties as well, who held a baby girl in here arms as a small boy and girl stood in front of their parents. The children had their own individual framed photos on other parts of the shelf. Then he noticed several frames above these, and at these, Cody started feeling weird.

The photos were of what looked like former female students from as early as a few years ago up 'til last year, none of which Cody recognized, many of which had little hearts drawn on them. Why would Cody's thirty-plus year old principal have photos of former students on a shelf with pictures of his own family? Were they students he had been fond of?

"Are you listening to me?" Cody's thoughts were interrupted by Principal Edwards question. It appeared that his rant was over.

Cody struggled to get his words out due to how nervous he was. What was going to happen to him? "Sir, I'm sorry, b-but Duncan was about to attack someone when I did what I did..." he hoped that Mr. Edwards would understand his reasoning.

"How noble." Principal Edwards said dismissively, not impressed by Cody's answer at all. "I don't care what your intentions were, it doesn't mean you solve them with violence. Why didn't you get Mr. Barkin?"

"He wasn't there yet, I didn't know where he was. And there hadn't been enough time to-" Once again though, Cody was interrupted.

"That doesn't mean you sink to the level of a punk like Duncan." Principal Edwards snapped. "Lightning Quincy and Scott Crawford told Barkin that Duncan had shoved you to the ground before class began and you retaliated. Were you shoved to the ground?"

Cody sat there dumbfounded by what he heard. Were Scott and Lightning trying to turn the tables on him now to make him look like the bad guy? Did the principal believe them? Rather cross, Cody admitted that this was true.

"I see." the principal said calmly, staring straight at the geeky teen. "This is a big problem, Mr. Anderson. Fighting in any way is not permitted on school grounds. What you did was enough to warrant at least ten days suspension from school..."

Cody's eyes widened in fear. Ten days? Regulations state that if a student were to miss ten days of class a semester without special circumstances, than the student would fail the classes he or she missed those ten days. If Cody got this punishment, he would have to do tons of make-up work in Saturday school to avoid failing his classes. The geek's heart rate accelerated as he awaited his punishment.

Boop boop

Boop boop

Boop boop

"Therefore, I have decided..." Principal Edwards began, looking at Cody with a hard face.

Boop boop boop boop

Boop boop boop boop

Boop boop boop boop

Boop boop boop boop

"Cody Anderson, you-"

The door to the office suddenly slammed open, stopping Principal Edwards from handing out Cody's sentence. "Wait, Mr. Edwards!" exclaimed a familiar feminine voice.

Principal Edwards looked up to the intruder in slight alarm. Cody's eyes widened however. He recognized that voice. The geek slowly turned around to see none other than Courtney, still dressed in her gym clothes, standing at the door, panting hard as she gazed at him and Edwards. She must've run all the way here from the gymnasium, but why was she here?

"Courtney Estevez?" gasped the surprised principal. "What brings you to my office? Class doesn't end for another five minutes."

Courtney closed the door behind her and approached the desk, standing next to Cody's seat. "I'm sorry to interrupt sir, but I figured It would be best to come to you before class is over."

"And why did you want to see me?" said Edwards calmly. He had always been fond of Courtney's place within the school, even in spite of allowing her removal from the cheer squad on Heather's request.

"Because..." Courtney hesitated, taking a deep breath before she turned her gaze to the teen next to her. Cody looked up into her hard gaze in fear and confusion for a brief second before she turned back to the principal. Was it his imagination, or was her face flushed?

"Because I don't think Cody should be suspended for what he did." she finally said with determination.

Flabberghasted didn't do justice to how stunned Cody felt after hearing what Courtney just said. "What the hell? Is she... is she defending me?" Principal Edwards was rendered surprised by this too.

"And why do you say that, Ms. Estevez?"

"Because Mr. Barkin didn't get the other students stories about what happened before the bell to start class rang, and just told everyone to get ready to run laps!" Courtney snapped. "That's the only reason Scott's account got accepted, and I'm sorry sir but I think that's wrong! Especially because there's things Scott didn't mention to Barkin before he wrote his report for you."

Principal Edwards gave a hard stare to the former cheerleader. "And what might that be? Are you saying that Cody WAS trying to protect a student from Duncan when he did what he did?"

Cody thought that sentence was strange. Did Edwards not believe his story after all? He turned to see Courtney again staring at him briefly before turning away to hide her... blush? No, no, no, that couldn't be right, Cody thought. Her face was flushed because she ran all the way here from the other side of the school.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Courtney exclaimed confidently. "Because the one Duncan was charging was me!" Principal Edwards was stunned by this news. Before he could process the information any further though, Courtney continued. "And my friends Bridgette, Leshawna, Lindsay, Tyler, Brick, and Cody's friends, Dawn, Sam and Harold can vouche for that story. Gwen Mason as well."

Cody sat there in surprise. Gwen was supporting his story too? Principal Edwards sat in thought for a moment thinking over Courtney's story. It pretty much matched Cody's explanation of what happened spot on. And Courtney didn't seem the kind of person to lie to authority on such manners as these, and then there were some of the witnesses she listed. Honor students, respected athletes, students who were upstanding in their own rights. Principal Edwards placed a hand on his chin as he leaned back in his chair.

Cody shifted glances between the principal and the girl who hated him, and yet was here defending him all the same. He then noticed Courtney staring at him with a hard gaze and puffed lips, before turning away again. Cody was again confused. Why couldn't she meet his eyes? And... why was her face flushing every time they made eye contact?

Principal Edwards addressed the two teens once more. "You stand by this story, Mr. Anderson?" he asked the geek, who nodded nervously. "And Ms. Estevez, you stand by his story as well?" he then asked Courtney.

Courtney's resolve not wavering, she said "I do, because that's what happened. I might be hurt right now if it hadn't been for Cody stopping Duncan. I know that fighting on school grounds in wrong, but Cody saved me, and I don't think he should punished too harshly..."

"Wait! Too harshly?" Cody couldn't help but think. The principal had gone back to thinking. The tension was unbearable to the geek. What was going to happen to him? It took a moment for Edwards to speak again.

"Ms. Estevez... after due consideration, I've decided..." he started as the bell rang, signaling the end of third period and the beginning of Cody and Courtney's lunch period.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"That you're right."

Cody's eyes widened in disbelief and Courtney's face broke into a smile. Principal Edwards continued. "After listening to your matching stories, and hearing an excellent group of students vouche for the same story. I've decided that Cody will not face expulsion or suspension from Ocean Falls High School." he said all this with a hard stare, not looking too pleased. "However, he still punched a student on school grounds. Even if it's someone who I can say had it coming, I cannot just let Cody go unpunished."

Cody gulped, his relief immediately snuffed out.

"Cody Anderson, you will receive one full day of in-school suspension this Saturday. I'll get in touch with you later this week on what you'll be doing."

The geek gulped again. Saturday school usually involved punished students doing some kind of chore for the majority of that day. Whether it be cleaning parts of the school, banging erasers together, or doing some kind of labor outdoors on the grounds.

"Also I will be phoning your parents to tell them about what you did." Edwards spoke, interrupting Cody's thoughts. The geek felt his heart drop. Oh crap! His folks were gonna kill him! "Since Duncan Myers is still in the Nurse's office, I will be seeing him later to decide on his punishment."

Courtney crossed her arms and shot a glare at the principal. Decide on his punishment? After everything she and Cody just told him, she thought it was high time for the cheating punk to finally get thrown out of Ocean Falls High. She sighed inwardly. But what could she really do about that? Edwards is the principal, not her.

"Well, this meeting's over." the principal sighed as he stood from his chair. "You're free to go Cody. I suggest you two change out of your school uniforms and report for lunch."

Cody and Courtney smiled at each other briefly before the geek rose from his chair. Courtney thanked Principal Edwards and bid him farewell before turning to walk out of the office.

Cody turned to the thank the principal himself, but he suddenly noticed the principal staring at Courtney's retreating form with hard eyes and a... really creepy grin on his face. Was he... was he checking her out? No, it couldn't be. Courtney left the office at last, and Principal Edwards snorted softly.

"Thank you sir." Cody piped up, bringing the principal's attention back to the geek. He bowed slightly before he too left Edwards office, leaving the principal all alone.

The principal stood still for a minute before, out of nowhere, he banged his fist on his desk. This caused a few photo frames to fall down. Principal Edwards looked livid. "Lucky little geek!" he mentally snapped. He sighed after a moment and calmed down. He looked toward his fallen frames and flipped one of them back over. This was of another family photo of his wife and kids.

Then he flipped the other one over. This one however, he stared at with a look of longing. Edwards was lucky that Cody couldn't see these photos, otherwise he was sure that he would've asked questions.

The photo was of a teenaged girl who looked to be a sophomore from last year. The girl had long, golden blonde hair, blue eyes and a beautiful face.


Cody continued down the hall leading toward the main office feeling like he had just dodged a major bullet. He couldn't believe his luck, after thinking that he would likely never step foot in Ocean Falls again, he instead just had to come to Saturday school at the end of the week. He was nervous about what he would have to do this Saturday, but at least he wouldn't be missing any actual school days.

Cody's thoughts turned to Courtney as he entered the main office. The geek was still unsure as to why she would help him, but he needed to find her and thank her. If it hadn't been for the vice president, than he probably would've been suspended or worse. It turned out though that he wouldn't have to look for long.

As Cody left the office, he looked up to see Courtney leaning against the hallway wall. She moved away from the wall as she saw him take notice of her. For a moment, neither teen had moved. It appeared that Courtney had been waiting for Cody, the latter of which noticed that the former was once again, unable to look him in the eye.

"L-Look, about earlier..." Courtney stuttered? Cody gawked at the sight. Courtney actually appeared to be lost for words at the moment. That was something he never thought he would see. "Thank you... If it hadn't been for you, I don't know what Duncan might've done."

Cody didn't even think about Courtney showing him actual kindness, she had already done that by sticking up for him against the principal. Instead, Cody dashed over and, to the shock of Courtney, threw his arms around her and hugged her for dear life. The girl's eyes widened and her face blushed scarlet.

"Thank you!" Cody exclaimed happily, unaware that his head was smooshed right in Courtney's huge boobs due to him being shorter than her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you Courtney! I'll never forget this! I owe you big time!"

On her end, Courtney was frozen, completely caught off guard by the geek's display of affection. Her instincts kicked in at last as her face hardened and she practically shouted "Do you mind moving your head from there?!"

Cody's happiness turned to fear as he finally became aware of the soft pillowey objects that his face were against. Embarrassed and scared, he back away from Courtney swiftly. The two stood there with red faces. Luckily the hallway was pretty empty due to lunch going on right now, so no one saw the hug take place.

"I-I-I'm sorry, C-Courtney!" Cody stuttered in fear. "I-I-I didn't mean to do t-that, I w-was just so happy that I couldn't help myself."

Courtney didn't respond at first. Her heart was still racing from Cody's hug. She couldn't recall any guy ever showing her that much affection. Even Duncan. "Damn it! And I had just gotten my emotions straightened out after being unable to even look him in the eye! Now my face is red again!" The girl needed to get a grip.

Courtney sighed. "Whatever, it's fine."

Cody stood stunned at how calm Courtney looked. Wasn't she going to slap him, or call him a pervert? What was going on? As if she knew what Cody was thinking, Courtney glared at the boy again before she continued. "Don't get the wrong idea, I still don't like you! But since you saved me, I returned the favor. So as far as I'm concerned, we're even!"

Cody's face fell as he nodded. He had been a little hopeful since leaving the office that things between them could maybe mellow out now, but he was wrong apparently. Oh well. "I see. Well, thanks anyway."

Courtney nodded curtly in response. "Well, let's head back and change so we can go eat lunch." Cody nodded as the two walked down the hall back to the gymnasium area.

There was an awkward silence in the air as the two teens walked the halls. Cody didn't know what to say, but after what just happened between them, he didn't feel right just leaving things the way they were with Courtney. The girl seemed to be avoiding his gaze as they walked. Feeling like he needed to say something, Cody tried to break the ice.

"So, um-" before he could try though, Courtney interrupted him.

"So, what do you plan to do about our English project?"

Cody's brain suddenly remembered the project that he and Courtney were supposed to work on this week. His eyes widened as he realized that after everything that has happened over the last hour, he had completely forgotten about their project. "I, um... haven't planned that far yet." he answered honestly as they turned the corner of the hall and the gymnasium entrance came into view.

"I figured as much." Courtney replied bluntly. "We're not exactly the ideal team for a project on friendship. But I've been thinking it over a lot. And I've decided that I want to get it done as quickly as possible."

"That makes sense." Cody replied as the two stopped at the entrance to the boy's locker room.

"I'm glad you think so. And I think the best way to do that is for me to meet you at your house after school so we can start."

Cody's eyes widened at what Courtney just said. "Wait, what?" Courtney rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Well, there's no way we're doing this at my house! I'm not letting you anywhere near my room! By the way, we're not working in your room either." This last part confused Cody but he nodded, making the vice president grin triumphantly.

"Okay, so you'll come over later so we can go ahead and knock the project out." Cody said. "As long as you don't mind working while my family's there."

"As long as they're not annoying it should be fine." Courtney stated bluntly, making Cody frown. "This isn't the first group project I've worked on where I had to go to someone else's house, so I'm used to meeting parents." Courtney brought out a pen and notepad out of her gym shorts pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Cody couldn't help but ask.

"Don't worry about it." Courtney replied with a frown as she readied her pen. "Now then, what's your address?" Cody gave his partner his address and Courtney wrote it down. Afterward, she asked "Now, can I get your phone number?"

Cody felt his jaw drop and eyes widen. Did Courtney Estevez just ask him, Cody Anderson, for his phone number? Courtney's face flushed as she glared at him. "DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" she shrieked. "This is just in case! You are NOT allowed to call me, I will call you with our meet-up dates this week just in case we can't speak during school."

Cody's face fell in disappointment. He should've known better. He gave Courtney his phone number so she could write it down for her phone later. After she was done, she put her notepad away and looked at Cody again. "Alright, now that I have your information, I'll see you later tonight. 5 o'clock okay for you?" she said, to which Cody nodded. "Good, then I'll see you later tonight." she turned and walked to the other side of the hall toward the girl's locker room.

Cody watched her go before walking through the doors next to him. The happiness he felt earlier had been replaced with anxiety. Again he couldn't help asking himself. "How're we gonna work together properly?"


Meanwhile in another part of the school, Gwen and Leshawna were on their way to the Library with books in hand. They decided to forgo lunch today so they could get some homework done. However, homework wasn't on their minds at the moment.

"Can you still believe that that scrawny little boy knocked out Duncan?" Leshawna asked.

Gwen snickered. "Like the last five times you asked that Leshawna, no I can't."

"Girl, I can't help it." Leshawna said with a grin. "How often do you see someone like Cody knock out Duncan with a single punch?"

"Not often, I can say that."

Now that the shock had worn off, Gwen and Leshawna couldn't help but feel a great sense of pride about Cody. Yeah, they hated him, yeah, they tried to stop him from talking to Bridgette earlier, but after what Dawn told them earlier and seeing what Cody did to Duncan, they were slowly starting to think about changing their tune on the little geek.

Gwen especially. While there was still some anger about what happened between her and Cody two years, over the last hour that anger seemed to be slowly but surely fading away from her. Cody, it appeared, wasn't the same pervert that he used to be. If Dawn was telling the truth about her aura reading abilities, something her friends Cameron and Zoey vouche for, than Cody had gotten a pretty decent head on his shoulders.

Which made the two girls feel all the more guilty about how they treated him earlier. Gwen sighed "Maybe we should apologize to him for how we behaved."

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea." Leshawna agreed.

The two girls looked over and suddenly saw a woman dressed in scrubs leaving the room in front of them. Leshawna and Gwen looked at each other in understanding. That's right, the Nurse's Office is on the way to the Library down this hall. Duncan had been taken to the Nurse's after getting knocked out by Cody. The two girls smirked.

"You reckon Duncan's still in there?" Gwen asked.

"Let's check girl." Leshawna answered sinisterly. The two had every intention on making fun of the punk for what happened earlier. It had been such great kharma.

The two approached the door and opened it. The Nurse's Office was a decent sized room for a high school nurse's office. In the corner sat two desks where the two nurses would work, but neither of which were present at the moment. There was a pantry area where they kept all of the medicines needed for sick students, as well as another door that led to the beds area.

Things were quiet, but Gwen and Leshawna could hear faint sounds coming from the Infirmiry door, which was open. As they approached the door, they could make out the familiar sounds of Duncan Myers and Scott Crawford. Smirking, the girls planned to surprise the punks. But as they approached, they heard Duncan pratically growl.

"So that's what happened huh?"

"Yep, Cody got a lucky shot on you." came Scott's voice.

Gwen and Leshawna hid behind the door, so Scott only just told Duncan about what had happened. The girls looked at each other before tuning their ears to listen to Duncan's reply.

They couldn't see from where they were, but a sadistic grin came to Duncan's face. "Well in that case, I guess I gotta pay him back in full, don't I?"

"We can get him after school." said Scott. "That kid is so dead when we get our hands on him!"

"No way, I'm gonna kick his ass by myself!" Duncan snapped, making the girls eyes go wide. Having heard enough, Gwen and Leshawna cautiously made their way to the exit. As they left they heard Duncan say hatefully "Be sure to tell Lightning and Jo, so they can watch me massacre that Dorkahontas!"

Gwen and Leshawna hastily left the Nurse's Office without alerting Duncan and Scott and practically ran down the hall toward one of the Girl's Restrooms. They dashed inside, ignoring the pink tiled walls, aluminum sinks and stalls to check and see if anyone was there. Luckily they were alone.

"You heard that, right Leshawna?" Gwen gasped hastily.

"Yeah." Leshawna frowned. "I had a feelin' Duncan was gonna try somethin' to get Cody back."

"What're we gonna do? Duncan plans on attacking him after school. We've gotta find him and warn him."

"But we don't know where white boy is right now. He could still be in the Office, and we can't just skip class to try and find him."

"Then what're we going to do?" Gwen asked. If you had told her three hours ago that she would be trying to save Cody from getting beat up, then Gwen probably would've called you a liar. But here she was trying to do just that. Man how opinions can drastically change on short notice.

"Hmmm..." Leshawna thought as she looked at her reflection in the restroom mirror. Then she smiled and brought out her cellphone. "Gwen, I think I got a plan."


Cody finished changing out of his gym uniform and left the Gymnasium. After everything that had happened he had worked up quite the appetite and he was anxious to get to lunch. Luckily the Cafeteria was just down the hall from where he was, so he wouldn't have to walk far.

The tech geek looked up to see the many students eating their lunches, but his eyes widened when he saw about eight people running toward him.

"COOODY!" cried the eight students frantically as Cody cried in alarm. Noah, Dawn, Harold, Sam, Owen, Izzy, Zoey and Cameron came to a stop right in front of him.

"O-Oh, h-hey guys." Cody muttered.

"Oh my god, Cody! Are you alright?!" Zoey exclaimed.

"We heard about what you did!" Owen cried out. "What's gonna happen to you, buddy?"

"What were you thinking punching Duncan in the face like that!" Izzy screamed furiously.

"Not that I can blame you, but GOSH!" Harold added in a conflicting manner.

His friends continued bombarding Cody with questions until he called out for them to chill. "Guys! Guys! It's okay! Thanks to Courtney, I'm just gonna have to go to Saturday School this week." This made Cody's friends breathe sighs of relief. But this was immediately followed by a slap upside the head from Izzy. "Oww! Izzy?"

"Well don't scare us like that and I won't have to hit you, you jerk!" she exclaimed.

Still rubbing the spot where Izzy smacked him, Cody looked down in shame. He was about to apologize, when Dawn suddenly threw her arms around his neck, much to his shock. "Dawn...?" he mumbled as Dawn deepened the hug.

"No seriously, Cody!" Dawn cried. "You had me worried sick. I've never seen your aura turn so dark. It felt so unnatural." The aura reader had tears coming down her eyes much to Cody's and everyone else's slight alarm. "Please... please, don't ever do anything like that again. I know you were just trying to do the right thing, but... I was afraid we were going to lose you... I thought you might get expelled."

Cody was stunned by his tiny friend's tears, and touched by her words. He smiled sadly and patted Dawn's blonde locks. "I'm sorry I worried you. I promise, I won't do anything like that again." he assured her. "Thanks for vouching for me with Courtney." He looked up to see Noah, Zoey, Owen and Izzy looking at the two with wide smirks, which confused him. "What?"

"Don't worry about it." Noah replied nonchalantly.

Dawn suddenly realized that she was hugging Cody a little too long and let him go rather quickly. She backed up a little to wipe away her tears. Cody missed the blush on her face as he addressed Noah and the others. "Sorry, if I worried you all too."

"It's cool." replied Noah again with a wave of his hand. "I wasn't really worried in all honesty, given you usually keep your nose clean around here."

Cameron approched Cody and whispered in his ear. "He's lying. He wouldn't shut up about what Principal Edwards might do to you. He was as scared as Dawn was."

"Damn it, really Cam?!" cried an embarrassed Noah, making everyone laugh.

"Well, it's good to know you care deep down." Cody playfully punched his best friend's shoulder. "Thanks Noah."

Noah smirked. "Don't tell me that flimsy little punch knocked out Duncan." Everyone laughed once again.

"I'll tell you guys what happened as we eat." Cody informed his friends. "I'm starving." His friends nodded as they all headed into the Cafeteria.

Once they did, the noise coming from the other students almost instantly died down as they all turned to stare at Cody and his friends, making the tech geek nervous. After scanning at the shocked faces, he turned to Noah. "Um, what're they staring at?"

"Duh, you." Noah answered obviously. "Word about what you did to Duncan probably spread like wildfire within minutes of it happening."

Cody's eyes widened in fear. Had word spread that quickly? Crap, he wasn't used to having such a heavy spotlight upon him. Putting on a brave face, he began walking to the lunch line to get his food as his friends went to their usual table. He could feel the stares of a hundred students boring into the back of his head as he gathered up his tray. Suddenly though, he heard a voice cry out to him.

"Cody!" the geek spun around at hearing the familiar voice just in time for Bridgette to throw her arms around him. Cody's face turned red instantly and his heart rate accelerated. "Oh my gosh! I was so worried about you!" The students staring at Cody returned to their meals at last as he and Bridgette stayed like this.

"H-H-Hey Bridgette." Cody mumbled nervously. The surfer girl let go of him at last to look him in the face.

"Courtney told me about what happened in the Principal's Office." Bridgette explained before smiling at her friend. "I can't believe you did that. If it hadn't been for you, then who knows what Duncan might've done to her." Bridgette pulled Cody in for another hug. "Thank you, Cody."

"S-Sure thing, Bridge." he replied nervously. Bridgette suddenly let go and stared at Cody, who was confused for a moment until he suddenly realized. "Oh crap! That was Geoff's nickname for her, wasn't it?" Afraid that he had dug up something he shouldn't have, especially after Bridgette had just gotten over feeling down about her ex, he instantly apologized to the surfer girl. "I-I'm sorry, Bridgette. I shouldn't of said that!"

Bridgette smiled. "No no, it's fine Cody. Geoff wasn't the only one who called me that. Actually, you've called me that before so I don't know why you'd apologize for it now. Don't be afraid to call me Bridge."

Cody sighed inwardly, feeling relieved that he hadn't offended the girl he had feelings for. Bridgette continued talking with Cody as he got his lunch. "I gotta say though, it was surprising to see Courtney come to my defense."

"She should've, after you helped her and all." Bridgette replied. "So, what's your reduced sentence going to be?"

"One day of Saturday School."

"Wow, you lucked out pretty good for someone who punched someone in the face."

"Tell me about it." Cody said as he finished loading up his lunch tray and began walking with Bridgette to his table. As he walked, he noticed the other students staring at him with looks of awe on their faces. Cody's nerves surfaced once again as he felt the figurative spotlight shine down on his person once again.

Cody and Bridgette ended up passing the table she normally sat at, which only Courtney seemed to be sitting at presently. The tech geek's eyes met the hispanic vice president's eyes, and once again, to Cody's confusion, Courtney's face appeared to be flushed. Deciding to cut the tension, Bridgette spoke once again.

"I heard Courtney's coming to your house later to work on your project." Bridgette couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad you seem to be taking this Friendship project seriously, Courtney." This made Courtney's face turn even redder as she glared at her best friend.

"This is JUST for our assignment's sake!" Courtney snapped, though she sounded more embarrassed than anything. "I have no intention of trying to be friends with Cody."

Bridgette just grinned in a teasing way. She knew Courtney well enough to know that if she was willing to stand up to the principal of Ocean Falls for Cody's sake, then he must've finally left some kind of impression on her. Courtney may be stubborn, and it may take a bit for her to get over her grudge (which Bridgette still wondered why she hated Cody), but she was proud of Courtney for at least taking the initiative to help Cody and even begin working with him right away.

"Sure, whatever you say." Bridgette whispered to herself before she bid Cody farewell and sat with her best friend. Cody continued walking, unaware that Courtney was watching him as he left.

"Yo, we heard you knocked Duncan out, bro."

"Awesome job, dude."

"Never knew you had that kind of power in you."

"So macho. Are you single?"

These words followed Cody as he walked to his friends' table. He had never received this kind of attention before, it felt so foreign to him. As several Freshmen gave their own complimets, Cody finally reached the table and sat down in between Dawn and Noah.

"Check out Ocean Falls' newest celebrity." Noah snickered. "Enjoying your newfound fame there, champ?"

Cody sighed. "You heard all that?"

"The people around us won't shut up about it." Sam replied with a chuckle. "It must be refreshing for people to be talking about you in a positive light for once."

Dawn frowned. "Cody's not used to this kind of attention though."

"Yeah, he usually gets made fun of." Harold said bluntly. "Idiots, they know not of how noble my brother-in-arms can be." This made Cody bang his head on the table.

"You're not really helping him right now." Sam whispered to Harold, who just looked confused.

Cody tried to ignore all of the stares and compliments from the numerous students he didn't know as he finally told his friends about his time in the Principal's Office and when Courtney came to his defense. He told them about Principal Edwards' attitude toward him and about his rant against Duncan. After he was done, Noah was the first to speak.

"I find it a little hard to believe that Courtney of all people would come to your defense."

"Yeah, after how she treat's you and everything." Cameron added.

"Well, Cody did save her from Duncan." Harold piped in. "It's only right for her to try and return the favor. If she hadn't done that, then she would proving to everyone just how much of a bi-"

"Whoa, whoa, don't even THINK of saying that word!" Izzy cut him off before she said more calmly. "Even if she is one." Owen couldn't help but chuckle at his girlfriend.

Dawn looked over toward Bridgette and Courtney's table and stared at the latter. Was it her imagination, or had Courtney's aura changed? She usually had a mildly red aura surrounding her person, signaling a fierce and firey competitive nature, as well as a strong sense of justice and smarts. Now however, it seemed a little more magenta. Had Cody really changed Courtney's aura so much that she appeared less tempermental and high-strung?

"Soooo, Cody..." Owen interrupted Dawn's thoughts as everyone turned to face the chubby teen. "How did it feel to finally let Duncan have it?"

Cody's eyes widened as every eye turned to him. He was still a little apprehensive about the situation, but as he was with his friends, he felt it best to be honest. "Actually, at the time, it felt pretty good." he said rather proudly.

"I bet it did." Noah stated with a smirk. "It's about time someone gave that guy a broken jaw for the stuff he does to the underclassmen around here."

"Bet you think you're a real tough guy now, huh?" came a new voice from behind Cody.

Cody felt his insides freeze up at the voice as he and his friends looked behind him to see Heather, Dakota and Lindsay standing there. Heather had a rather nasty smirk on her face, Dakota looked a little nervous about being seen near a table with so many losers, and Lindsay stood behind the two, looking at Cody with a smile on her face.

"Great." Noah groaned. "To what do we owe the displeasure of seeing you today?"

Heather ignored Noah as she focused all of her attention on the nervous Cody. "Well, well, a little birdie told us about what you did in gym class today, Geekface." Cody's gaze briefly turned to Lindsay, who looked really apologetic, before turning back to the asian beauty. "I have to say that I didn't think you had enough of a spine to actually punch someone with Duncan's reputation."

"You don't seem to be upset by that, Heather." Dawn suddenly pointed out. "I thought you two were friends."

Heather had a look of disgust on her face as she addressed Dawn. "Puh-lease! At best he's an aquiantance who throws really good parties that I happen to go to sometimes. He and I will never be friends." Heather said the last part quite sincerely.

As Heather talked with her prey, Dakota looked over to see Sam staring at her. The game geek had a look of pure awe on his face and his face appeared to be flushed. The blonde glared in disgust at the boy's outfit. Talk about a fashion-disaster." she moaned inwardly as she looked him in the face at long last. Sam suddenly looked down in embarrassment. Dakota merely shrugged before she returned her attention to Heather, who was now looking at her.

"I'm sorry, what?" replied Dakota in confusion, making Heather frown at her.

"I said any thoughts on Nerdface here knocking out your boy toy?" Heather asked again with a smirk.

Dakota frowned. "That was a one time thing!" she snapped. "I don't care about him like that anymore!" Dakota didn't see Sam looking down with a hurt expression on his face.

Heather raised an eyebrow before rolling her eyes to turn back to Cody. "Anyway, I only came over here because, in all honesty, this may be the last time I ever see you."

Cody was confused by this. "What are you talking about?" he asked. Heather merely gave an evil smirk.

"Well, it's just that Duncan has a hard time forgetting certain things is all. I guarantee you that he's going to hunt you down for getting in a cheap shot on him." At that threat, Cody's felt his insides vanish. Heather continued. "I'm pretty certain he's been filled in by someone on what happened at this point, and that he's enraged by it."

Cody began to shake in fear, which was like a dinner bell to the queen bee. "So enjoy your newfound fame, Cody. Cause it'll be the only bit of it you'll ever taste. If you somehow manage to survive Duncan, I'll be shocked." Heather cackled before she turned and walked away. Dakota took one glance at the geek squad before following behind Heather in silence. Lindsay however, checked to see if Heather was gone before approaching Cody.

"Aww, don't worry Colby." she said as she brought Cody in for a hug. The geek's fear evaporated as once again his head rested upon the generously-endowed bosom of the cheerleader. His friends sat there in shock, while a certain blonde next to Cody looked livid. "You'll be okay." Lindsay continued. "Tyler and Brick told me that they'd have your back should anything like that happen."

Cody remained silent. His face was blushing crimson. This was the fourth time today that he was involved in a hug with a beautiful girl, and the second that involved his face being smooshed against a large set of breasts. What was going on today? Was this a dream? Before he could process this any further, Lindsay let go of Cody to smile down at him.

"By the way, that was totally cool what you did for Courtney earlier." she said happily. "I'm glad you were there to save her."

Cody didn't know what to say to Lindsay except. "Um... no problem."

Lindsay giggled, making Cody blush again. "Well, I'll see ya later." she said at last with a wave before going over to sit with Bridgette and Courtney, who had been watching the whole thing and were relieved when Heather and Dakota walked away. Cody watched her go for a moment before turning around to face his stunned friends.

"What just happened?" asked a greatly confused Noah.

"I... I... I don't know..." replied a still gobsmacked Cody.

Dawn momentarily glared after Lindsay before she shook her head to banish the troubling thoughts within her. "Calm down Dawn. She was just giving him a hug. Cody can't help being so short compared to Lindsay's breasts." she mentally tried to calm herself down. Luckily it seemed like nobody noticed her behavior.

"Dude! High five!" Owen cried happily. This made Izzy slap him upside the head. "Dawww, that hurt!"

Sam stared at the nervous look on Cody's face. "Cody, you gonna be okay?"

Cody sat in his chair frozen. He didn't have the appetite to finish his lunch anymore. He barely even heard the bell to end lunch period end. All he could think about was the message Heather had just given to him. She was right. Duncan was going to likely kill him in revenge for what he did earlier. Hopefully figuratively and not literally, though that wasn't much of a silver lining as Duncan was going to inflict great pain upon Cody regardless. He may not even make it home to face whatever punishment his parents had for him. With those thoughts now clouding his brain, he could only think...

"Man, I'm so screwed!"


So what did you guys think? Let me know by leaving a review! I'm gonna do something different and NOT announce when the next chapter will be uploaded. I don't know, it just seems that whenever I say "Hey guys, I got more time to write, so I'll likely be able to update this story in a week!" I'm never able to do that. So just in case, I don't want to jinx myself, so we'll leave the update window open just to see what happens.

So we were finally introduced to Principal Edwards in this story. He was probably one of the first OCs I came up with for this story along with Ms. Felton, as many of you probably will guess. He's going to be a rather... controversial character in Ocean Falls High School. Luckily, Courtney was there to bail Cody out of a bad situation. Hopefully I got their interactions right. And Cody is now back with his friends, they and Bridgette are all happy to see that Cody won't be expelled or suspended, and I even managed some more Lindsay/Cody teasing in there as well.

But with what Gwen and Leshawna overheard earlier, what will they do? And will I ever get to that damn Friendship project between Cody and Courtney (don't worry, it'll finally happen next chapter.)? Find out next time! Hope to see you guys sooner than later :)