Nine
Past.
"Are your eyes closed?" Duncan asked for what seemed to be the millionth time. Courtney sighed and rolled her eyes, not that Duncan could see.
"Yes! I've already told you," she said. "And you've got your hands over them so I can't see anyway."
"Right," Duncan remembered. He removed his hands. "Keep them closed, I need to open another door."
Courtney sighed again but did as she was told, folding her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.
"Okay... Open!" Duncan instructed. Courtney did as she was told and found herself looking around the band room, where the members of the orchestra were setting up their instruments.
"What the..." Courtney trailed off, completely speechless. "Did you sign me up for this?"
Duncan nodded. "Yeah I mean I know you wanted to do orchestra so I recorded part of your lesson and sent it to Miss Lerman as a sort of audition, explained that it was a surprise, et cetera..." he explained. "Anyway she said she doesn't usually take extra people halfway through the year but since you were so good she made an exception. You're only fifth chair, out of five people, but I figure that's better than nothing considering you're coming in late."
"Duncan this is amazing! But my parents..."
"Think you're studying with Bridgette," Duncan told her. "I got her to do me a favour and call them to say it would be a weekly thing."
Courtney smiled before realising something was missing. "But I don't have my..." she began.
"Right over there." Duncan pointed to her violin case which was leaning against the wall. Courtney beamed at him and gave him a kiss.
"You really thought of everything," she said admiringly. "Thank you, this means a lot."
"Not a problem," he assured her. "So I'll pick you up after practise so we can go to the party. We're on booze duty so we'll have to grab some before we get there." Courtney looked at him in shock. "What?" she demanded. "But we're underage and neither of us have any money anyway, where the hell are you planning on getting any? Not to mention you know I don't drink."
"Don't worry!" Duncan assured her. "I know a guy in the trailer park next to me who always has heaps of booze. I've already figured out how we can break in without him noticing. And no one's going to force you to drink it anyway." Courtney folded her arms at him and sighed, but didn't respond. Duncan took that as a good sign and kissed her on the head. "Everything will be okay. Anyway it looks like you're about to start, but I'll see you tonight. I love you!" With that he quickly walked off, clearly not interested in listening to the classical music that was about to happen.
"Yeah, I love you too," Courtney murmured after him.
"Okay, you keep an eye out for Hatchet, and I'll sneak in his window and grab the booze," Duncan whispered the plan to Courtney out the front of his neighbour's trailer that night. "Got it?"
Courtney groaned. "We are so going to get caught," she whispered back. Duncan took her face in his hands and looked her straight in the eyes.
"No we aren't, not if you just distract him if he looks like he's about to come home," he assured her. Courtney nodded, unconvinced. Duncan gave her a quick kiss and got to work opening the back window.
He got inside easily and grabbed a slab of beer. It looked like they were going to get away with it, until Duncan was halfway back out the window when Hatchet walked up to his trailer. Courtney knew her lie would have to be pretty convincing if her and Duncan wanted to come out of this alive. He was already clearly angry just for the simple fact that a teenager was loitering outside of his home.
"Hello, uh, sir," Courtney began loudly, trying to let Duncan know that they didn't have much time. "My name's... Jennifer, and I'm doing a survey for school about, um, people who live in trailer parks! Would you be able to answer a few questions?"
Hatchet narrowed his eyes at her. "Do I bear a striking resemblance to someone who's got all day?" he grunted aggressively. "Move out of my way shrimp before I call the cops."
Courtney laughed nervously. "Great! This will only take a few minutes," she said, ignoring his response and moving closer to the door so it was harder for him to get past her. "So why is it that you decided to live in a trailer in the first place?"
"Did you not hear me maggot?" Hatchet growled. "I said move!" It looked like he was ready to pick her up and throw her away, but she glanced over Hatchet's shoulder and saw Duncan gesturing for her to get out of there, holding the beer.
"Thanks for your time!" Courtney said quickly. She ducked under Hatchet's arm and her and Duncan ran as fast as they could before Hatchet realised what they'd done.
"What the hell kind of name is Jennifer?" Duncan demanded as they ran.
"It was the first thing I thought of!" Courtney defended. "I didn't want him to know my real name, what if he tried to find me?"
They arrived back at Duncan's car, breathing heavily, and as soon as they got in, Courtney burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Duncan wondered.
"That's the most crazy thing I've ever done!" she replied excitedly. "I don't think I've ever had so much fun in my life. I've never broken the law before."
"Except for when we trespassed on your neighbour," Duncan reminded her. Courtney ignored him.
"It's exciting. I've never felt so free," she told him. "I could do anything. I'm unstoppable."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, I don't want you to get arrested," Duncan warned her. Courtney smiled at him.
"I know my parents don't approve of you, and I can understand why," she said. "But before you I thought that having fun was doing homework. They prevented me from experiencing so much, and if I can't experience these things in high school I'll never be able to."
Duncan wasn't really sure how to respond, and he figured Courtney didn't really want him to. She wasn't telling him, she was telling herself. "We should get going. The other's will probably already be there," he said instead.
He was right, of course. When they arrived at the beach everyone had already arrived and had a big fire going which they were all sitting around, looking slightly bored and clearly just waiting for the alcohol. They all jumped up when they saw Duncan and Courtney walking towards them, grabbing a can each.
"You're not drinking?" Heather asked, clearly judging her.
"Well, I guess I could..." Courtney said hesitantly with a slight shrug. Heather nodded encouragingly as Courtney got herself a can and took her first sip. She screwed up her nose at the taste and everyone laughed.
"You'll get used to it," Geoff assured her with a pat on the back. Courtney wasn't so sure of that, but she continued to drink anyway, just because she didn't want to be the only sober one at the party.
It was only a small gathering; Geoff and Bridgette, Duncan, Heather and her new boy toy DJ (since things hadn't lasted long with Trent, as Courtney had predicted), and Owen, who seemed to be everyone's friend at school. It didn't take long for everyone to get drunk, especially Courtney, and she found herself stumbling around and voicing her opinions on anything and everything at the top of her voice, regardless of whether or not anyone was listening.
At the end of the night, Duncan, who was one of the more sober ones, ended up calling everyone a taxi home and they all piled in. Courtney was already fast asleep by the time they got to her house so Duncan took it upon himself to carry her inside and gently put her in her bed.
"Duncan?" she moaned as he pulled her covers over her.
"Yeah?" he whispered, trying hard not to wake her parents.
"Thank you." Her heavy breathing indicated she had gone right back to sleep, and Duncan kissed her head as a goodbye. He quietly left her room and tiptoed to the front door.
"Is she safe?" Duncan heard from behind him. He turned to see Courtney's father in a robe, holding a glass of whiskey.
Duncan nodded. "Yes sir, she's safely in her bed," he assured Roger.
"Good," Roger said with a short nod of his head. "You're not as much trouble as Nadine thinks you are."
"No sir," Duncan replied, not sure where this was going.
"You can probably tell I don't have any control over her like a husband normally would over their wife," Roger continued. "You have my blessing to keep seeing my daughter. Just let me know what you're doing and how late she'll be home. My wife doesn't have to know, but I would prefer to be in the loop."
Duncan raised his eyebrows, not exactly sure where this was coming from. "Yes sir, thank you sir," he agreed. Roger nodded one last time and headed off to his bed. Duncan took that as his cue to leave and got out of there as fast as he could.
