Chapter Twenty Five: Bubbles and Decisions

A/ N: From now on, I think I'm going to start writing in the authors point of view. It makes it a whole lot easier for me to write, and I'm sure you guys will like this style better :) On with the story!

No POV

Duncan was walking back to the dorm hall, Courtney still in his arms. About every seven seconds or so she would suck her teeth due to the amount of pain in her jaw, and every time she did, it only added the tallies as to how many times Zach would get his ugly face beat in, curtousy of Duncan.

He was at fourteen right now.

"What ever happened to the bruise you got when you got hit?" Courtney asked as she inspected his jaw line, not seeing a single sign of damage any where.

"I'm a fast healer," Duncan shrugged as he kept walking, occasionally stepping on an autumn leaf that fell from a near by tree. Courtney shot him a confused look because she really didn't want to talk any more than necessary at this point. "What? I got in a lot of fights in juvie Princess, you can't grow soft in that place," he stated. "Well, that is, if you wanna live," Duncan added with a smirk. She closed her onyx eyes and shook her head as she looked down at the pavement below her.

"You know who you remind me of?" Courtney asked after a few moments of silence, still staring at the pavement.

"Who?" Duncan asked rather curiously as he raised an eyebrow at his crush, hoping this would be that glorious moment he'd been waiting for when she finally figured out that he was Matty.

Wrong.

"Bubbles." Duncan abruptly stopped, causing her to make eye contact with him.

"Bubbles?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, like the Powerpuff girl."

"And might I ask where in the hell that reference came from?"

"Well," Courtney started, looking like she was deep in thought. "You both have blue eyes, you're both, really strong, and you're both sweet," she ended with a smile. He liked the fact that she noted his eye color and his strength, but sweet? Yeah...no.

"I am not sweet Princess," Duncan deadpanned as he looked her blankly in the eyes.

"Fine then, would you prefer to be an angry, thuggy version of Bubbles instead?" Courtney joked.

"Actually, yeah, I kinda like that," Duncan said with a smirk. "I'm an angry thuggy version of Bubbles. Sweet."

"You are so weird," Courtney mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

~DxC Forever~

"What do you think happened to her?" Gwen asked as she sat on the love seat, watching Bridgette type yet another text to Geoff.

"I'm not sure," Bridgette said in a frustrated tone as she furrowed her eyebrows, green orbs never leaving the screen of the device in her hands. "Apparently Geoff doesn't know either." This caused Gwen to sigh.

Sure, Gwen wasn't really the caring type, but when it came to her friends getting in trouble, she got worried. Courtney sort of felt like a sister to her, along with Bridgette and Shelby, despite all the differences they may have and the short time they've been together.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a knock came from the door. Bridgette immediately went to the door in hopes it was Courtney, but instead she found Trent standing there. "Hey guys, what's up?" he asked in his smooth, velvety voice as he made his way over to the love seat and sat beside Gwen, shooting her a smile.

"Courtney was in an accident!" Bridgette yelled, totally overreacting, and making it sound like she was in a car crash and not...whatever they thought it really was.

"What? Is she okay?" Trent asked in a worrisome tone, his eyes getting wider by the second.

"I don't know! Duncan was with her and I'm not sure where they are right now!"

"Duncan was with her too? Is he alright?"

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIND OUT!"

"No need to yell, I was just concerned for my friends!"

"AND I'M NOT? DUNCAN'S MY COUSIN AND COURTNEY'S MY BEST FRIEND!"

"WELL DUNCAN'S MY BEST FRIEND AND COURTNEY'S MY GIRLFRIENDS' BEST FRIEND!"

"WELL I'M RELATED TO HIM! HA!"

"YOU ARE SO IMMATURE!"

"OH, YOU'RE CALLING ME IMMATURE? I THINK YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR, BUB!"

"BUB? WOW, YOU'RE COOL!"

"SO IS YOUR MOM!"

"...NO SHE ISN'T!"

"Would you both shut up?" Gwen droned as she threw her head back and yelled at the ceiling.

"Sorry Gwen," Bridgette apologized meekly to her friend, a small blush creeping over her tan cheeks.

"Sorry babe," Trent said as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, making Gwen turn more than just one shade of red.

"It's fine, but next time could you use your inside voices?" she asked with a smirk. Trent chuckled a little and slung his arm around her shoulders.

"What do you think happened to them?" Bridgette asked aloud.

"Maybe Courtney fell down some stairs?" Trent suggested with a shrug, earning a small jab in the ribs from his girlfriend. "Ow! Sorry," he replied, slightly rubbing the part of his torso where her elbow made contact with his skin.

"Whatever it was, it couldn't have been that bad. I mean, Duncan and Courtney both sounded fine on the phone," Gwen added, bringing their spirits a little higher.

"So, just to make this clear, they aren't dead?" the green eyed boy asked in a curious tone, eyes narrowing a bit in concentration as he looked at the floor.

"Trent!" both girls yelled at once, signaling that he had said something wrong.

"Sorry...again. I was just checking," he mumbled. Gwen laughed a little because he sounded like a little kid who had just gotten caught stealing from the cookie jar. They were, once again, interrupted by another knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Bridgette sighed as she got up. She stepped over to the door and turned the brass nob, revealing who was in the doorway.

"'Sup Malibu?" Duncan asked with a smirk as he entered the doorway and set Courtney on her feet. The punk nearly fell over as Bridgette attacked him in a giant hug. "B-Bridgette. Ca-can't breath here!" Duncan choked out, gasping for air when she let go of him.

"Sorry, I'm just happy you're both okay," she squealed as she gave Courtney a hug, but with a lot less force than she gave Duncan.

"Why wouldn't we be?" he asked curiously. Bridgette just stood to the side, whistling nonchalantly, making Duncan roll his eyes. "You can be such a drama queen sometimes."

"I am not! I was just worried," she huffed as she crossed her arms, then her eyes got wide and her mouth slightly parted. "Ohmygosh! Courtney, what happened to you?" the blond teen asked as she inspected the girls slightly purple jaw.

"Well, I, uh, I um," Courtney hesitantly sputtered, not really wanting to tell her friends that Zach had hit her. "I got hit in the face with a branch," she finished, giving them the same lame excuse she gave the nurse. But it wasn't a complete lie; she did say she got hit in the face, which was the truth, just with a different object.

Bridgette's eyebrows furrowed once again. "Court, a branch couldn't have done this to you, it wouldn't have had enough force behind it. It almost looks like..." she trailed off, her eyes growing back to a wide size.

"Bridgette, what is it?" Gwen asked as she came up from beside her friend and set a hand on her shoulder.

"Courtney...did somebody hit you?" Bridgette asked seriously and concerned as she looked Courtney dead in her eyes. Gwen and Trent's eyes grew wide in shock as Duncan stood there uncomfortably.

"What?" Gwen asked, obviously flabbergasted (A/ N: I love that word xD) at Bridgette's assumption. Courtney, the strong willed tough girl, getting punched in the face? It just didn't add up.

"Yes," Courtney mumbled quietly as a few tears were building up from behind her onyx orbs, threatening to fall. Bridgette's eyes got even wider as she stared at the brunette, then gave her a hug. Courtney felt like she was being hugged by her mother.

"Who?" Trent asked Courtney softly, knowing that she hadn't really made any enemies so far and was down right curious as to who would stoop so low and do this. She sniffled a little before looking at Duncan, as if asking for permission if she should tell them. He gave her a small nod, letting her know it was okay.

"Zach." Three gasps echoed in the dorm room, none of them obviously prepared for that answer. If it was somebody like Heather, then maybe, but Zach? He was a guy, and guys were not, under any circumstances, supposed to hit a girl, so their reactions were more than doubled at the news.

"Zach?" Gwen asked slowly, as she was taking this all in. Courtney nodded at the goth. "Zach, as in your ex-boyfriend Zach?" Courtney nodded once more at her. Nobody said anything for a solid three minutes, they were all too engrossed in their own thoughts.

"Why?" Duncan asked her from his position, which was now on the couch. Courtney shot him a confused look. "Why did he...hit you?" he strained, a little bit of anger rising in his voice at the last part of the sentence. Truthfully, he hadn't heard their argument, he just saw the part where Zach had punched her and he so desperately wanted to know why any guy would hit a girl, especially if that girl was Courtney.

"I told him that he really didn't care about me, that other people did more, and I guess that struck a nerve," Courtney explained, deliberately leaving out that the 'other person' she was referring to was Duncan. Said boy nodded mutely, now understanding why he hit her, but that still didn't make it right.

"So what now?" Gwen asked to no one in particular.

"What are you talking about?" Duncan asked her.

"I mean, what are we going to do? Are we going to tell the cops about this, or do you plan on taking matters in to your own hands?" she asked the punk.

Before he got a chance to answer, the door burst open, and in came a panting Shelby. "Bridgette, I got your text, what's wrong with Courtney?" she asked as she went over to the surfer; worry might as well have been written in permanent marker across her forehead. "Courtney!" Shelby yelled as she ran over and hugged the tan girl once she spotted her. As she let her go, she noticed that Courtney's face had a purple mark on it. "What happened to you, Cee?"

"Promise not to freak out too much?" Courtney asked her friend, who nodded hurriedly. "Zach hit me," she told Shelby, her brown eyes suddenly becoming bigger and bigger.

"He what?" Shelby screamed in horror and disbelief, her reaction pretty much the same as everybody else. "Why? How? When? Where?" she started asking frantically in a high pitched tone.

"I'll explain everything to you later, okay?" Courtney told her, in hopes of getting her to quiet down so they could sort things out. Shelby shook her head in a small nod, letting her know that she was fine with that.

"So, back to the question; are you going to tell the cops or deal with him yourself?" Gwen asked, redirecting her question back to Duncan, who smirked in return.

"Both."

Love,

xXduncanxloverXx