A/N: Okay, I know it looks like I'm giving WAY too much attention to Bridgette, but I assure you, the whole Alejandro-Bridgette-Geoff triangle will be over after this chapter. Also, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in three weeks ;_; I've been going through a bit of a rough patch in my life.

And I'm going to try and respond to reviewers privately and only add responses to Guest Reviewers on here.

Previously: A week after Bridgette cheated on Geoff, she has been isolated from her friends, including her best friend, Courtney, who was talking badly about her in the middle of English class causing Eva to lash out at her in her defense. She insists it's not because she cares, but that Courtney was annoying her. Beth, who was once deemed a loser that only hung out with fellow deemed loser Harold, has made her way to the popular crowd after her braces were taken off and Lindsay and Heather accepted her into their clique. Leshawna feels guilty that she hasn't hung out with Bridgette since the cheating scandal. Gwen gets a similar call, with Trent telling her to stay out of drama, which she ignores, she decides that maybe her boyfriend has a point. Scott and Courtney's relationship is on the rocks, which results in Courtney lashing out at Bridgette over the phone. At the gym, Bridgette and Eva have an unexpected heart-to-heart.

Chapter 8- Building Bridges

October 3, Grade 11

Today was the day.

Bridgette was going to walk in, with her head held up high, not giving a damn of what Courtney would say about her. Though it was important to note that ever since Eva had risen to her defense when Courtney was badmouthing her to Gwen, Courtney had avoided Bridgette's eyes and talking about her in general - or at least whenever she or Eva were around. If anything, the brunette looked more neutral than anything else. The day after Bridgette and Eva had a heart-to-heart, the blonde did some reflection. She meditated a little longer to clear her head and opted to think about what to do the following day, which was today.

She strolled into English class first thing, not even thinking about the possibility that eyes were all on her. Many people had looked up briefly but went back to copying down the homework Ms. O'Halloran put up at the beginning of every class. She saw Eva brush past her, give her a knowing look. Bridgette gave her a tiny grin, and Eva nodded. It was the closest she would get to a positive greeting from Eva, from the looks of the way Noah and Cody exchanged a look of confusion.

Just as Bridgette was about to take a seat, "Hey girl!" her ears perked up to the familiar sound of Leshawna's voice. She turned around to see Leshawna sitting at a desk, with her hand over the seat of the one beside her. "Saved you a seat." Bridgette blinked rapidly, to see if this was just a dream. And to her surprise, she looked back at Eva, waiting for some kind of signal. The gruff girl merely shrugged. Bridgette looked back to see Gwen and Courtney sitting behind her, looking neutral. Bridgette weighed her options, and then decided to sit next to Leshawna. Gwen and Courtney went back to talking about the assignment. "I gotta tell you, these last few days have been crazy."

Bridgette's face lit up. Could this... could this be a sign of things going back to normal? "Oh?" Bridgette said nonchalantly. She didn't want to come off as desperate. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know? Haven't you checked the Total Drama web - oh..." Leshawna began, but stopped when she realized who she was talking to. "Sorry about that. I mean... there's something else going on. You know Devin and Carrie right? Best friends? Grade twelve?" Bridgette nodded. "They finally got together and it's announced on the site."

Bridgette grinned. "You owe me a fiver."

Leshawna reached into her pocket. "Betting on what couples would be together has to be the worst decision of my life." She pulled out the bill and slapped it in Bridgette's hand. "Tell me not to do that again, okay? But I'm happy, because they're cute as hell. The rest of the people in grade twelve are all mean bitches."

Bridgette shrugged and put the money away in her hoodie. "I think they're just over this place, you know?" She wasn't wrong. Most of the people in grade twelve were over the drama and hell that this school put them through for four years. They just wanted to grab their diplomas and leave. Bridgette couldn't blame them. "But yeah. Devin and Carrie are really nice."

Leshawna chuckled a little. "Hey, those other grade twelve bitches aren't as bitchy as Heather."

"I can hear you!"

"Girl was I talking to you?" Leshawna retorted in the queen bee's direction.

"You better watch yourself, Shawnie... oh, and by the way..." Heather smirked cruelly and pointed at Leshawna's figure. "Those aren't curves, it's called excessive body fat."

"You bossy little-"

"Oh god," Lindsay whined, unintentionally joining the conversation. "I don't have excessive body fat, do I?" She looked at Heather, desperate for approval. "Heather?" The rest of the class stared at her.

Instead, Tyler answered: "Linds, you look perfect. You don't always have to follow everything your nutritionist says."

Lindsay sighed miserably. "I miss carbs."

Heather crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Fine, I guess you could end up gaining weight like Sierra has."

"That was kind of unnecessary," Cody said to Heather, with a frown once he saw Sierra's hurt expression. Although he didn't approve of Sierra being stalker-ish, it didn't mean she deserved comments like that. "I mean... talk about being rude. Lindsay and Sierra are fine. All girls are beautiful."

Heather scoffed at Cody. "Please, Cody. This is yet another pathetic attempt of you trying to get into an innocent girl's pants."

However Sierra ate that defensiveness from Cody up. "Oh Codykins! I always knew you had such a good heart!" she squealed, rushing over to hug the tech geek, who suffocated under her it. Noah snorted in amusement while Eva couldn't hold back a grin at his obvious discomfort. After a few seconds, she let go and went back to her seat.

"Codykins..." Noah whispered teasingly in a high pitched voice.

Cody leveled a glare. "Shut up."

"Okay class!" Ms. O'Halloran called out over the chattering voices as she walked in with a stack of worksheets. "Printer jam. So it took me a while to get these." She handed out the papers to students to pass down. "Just some questions about the Catcher in the Rye over the next chapter you're going to read. I expect it back by Monday."

As Ms. O'Halloran went on, Leshawna whispered to Bridgette, "So do you want to hangout with us at lunch today?" Gwen and Courtney stopped paying attention to listen in on Leshawna's question to Bridgette. Gwen didn't look too bothered, in fact, she seemed pretty okay with it. Courtney's expression was unreadable. Meanwhile, Bridgette could feel a smile creeping up her face. "After school, we're gonna watch a movie." Bridgette knew that Leshawna was referring to Courtney and Gwen. "Do you wanna come?"

Bridgette's eyes drifted to Gwen's and Courtney's. "Is it... is it alright with you guys?"

There was a noticeable pause, awkward and uneasy, until Gwen shrugged carelessly and broke it. "Oh what the heck? Sure."

Courtney, knowing she was the minority, crossed her arms. "I mean, it's your house Leshawna... and Bridgette's your guest, so..."

Bridgette could feel the coldness radiating off of Courtney and the unsureness from Gwen, but this was a step in the right direction.

Harold McGrady didn't need anyone to tell him that he was an outcast and that he didn't fit in... even among those also deemed as outcasts. Sure, Cody could be considered his friend - but Cody was nice to everyone, and the same thing goes for Owen, except he was more of an acquaintance. Bridgette was pretty nice too - but she had been part of the not necessarily popular crowd, but a well-liked crowd, and he was too intimidated to talk to girls like her. Most people shunned him anyway, and the ones that were well-liked never got close enough to consider him to be a close friend.

The only exception was Beth.

Who was currently sitting next to him in second period.

They became friends in the beginning of grade seven when they were placed in the same class. The other kids made fun of Beth because she had crooked teeth and her parents were struggling to save up money for her to get braces. Meanwhile Harold was made fun of because he was a loner and an easy target for bullies. He was comforted by the fact that the homeschooled kid, Ezekiel Murray, was willing to be friends with him and hangout at the Rec Centre, but other than him, Beth was considered his closest friend that went to a public school.

Then there was Leshawna. But more on her later, Harold can go on a litany about how he felt about Leshawna, or he could read off the many haikus he had written about her.

Back to Beth, who was currently texting from under her desk while their teacher went on with the lesson. Harold figured she must've been texting Lindsay, or possibly Heather... or maybe both. Beth had told Harold about the popular crowd's group chat, which consisted of a handful of people that cared about their status - also known as a lot of people from their year. There were those like Justin who preferred to text over call because it would stretch his face muscles too much - the amount of times Beth had swooned over Justin... Harold had lost count. There were girls like Katie and Sadie, best friends who were inseparable until the former found another bed to jump into while the latter spent time alone without company.

It's not that he wasn't happy for Beth. In fact, he was happy that she was able to fit in with the popular crowd.

But the problem was, well... he missed her.

It wasn't all of her fault though. He knew he had been spending extra time with Noah to help him beat Courtney in the student presidential race. He did not like Courtney whatsoever and seeing that she had been awfully chummy with Duncan lately only made him dislike her even more. Therefore, the ginger was more determined to make sure that Courtney lost this election, no matter what the cost. Beth had found a higher status with Heather and the others. But still - Harold had that fear that his best friend was drifting apart from him - and yes, he still had Ezekiel, but that wasn't enough, and they both knew that.

"Hey Beth," whispered Harold, hoping that the teacher wouldn't hear. Beth hummed to let him know that she was listening, her eyes still on her phone. "Do you wanna stop by the Rec Centre with Zeke again?"

Finally, Beth's eyes drifted away from her phone to meet Harold's. She flashed him a smile - she had been doing that a lot lately, showing off her straightened teeth. "Totally! Did you hear that there's a Wii there now?"

"Yeah, but only two games, Wii Sports and Wii Play, and those middle schoolers are probably gonna hog it."

"Chef said he was bringing Mario Kart."

Harold's eyes grew wide with excitement. "No way..."

"Yeah, he said yesterday he felt like being nice. Oh, and Heather says we should just push the middle schoolers out of the way," Beth said, matter-of-factly. "That's what she does to her younger twin siblings."

That was another thing, Harold realized. Heather this... Heather that... it would never end. Gosh. While he was happy that Beth managed to get accepted into their group, he still wishes that Beth didn't talk about Heather like she was some sort of goddess. Because had Beth not gotten her braces off and found a friend as nice as Lindsay, there was no doubt in his mind that Heather would be making fun of her... though it was still quite possible that she was still doing it, Harold wouldn't be surprised in the least.

"If anything we can always look at comics..."

"Harold! Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?" The pre-calc teacher interrupted with a glare.

Everyone turned to his direction. Harold's face faltered under the stares of his classmates. "No?" Quiet snickers ensued. Even in the room with the smartest students, they still had the tendency to have class clowns along with a holier-than-thou attitude.

"Then keep it to yourself," the teacher chastised lightly. She turned back to the whiteboard. "Now moving on to the sequence..."

Harold sulked as Beth went back to texting on her phone.

For the rest of the lesson, his mind wandered the possibility of losing the best friendship he ever had.

Bridgette couldn't believe it. After an entire week of eating lunch by herself - though she didn't eat much at all during the school day - she finally was sitting with her friends in the cafeteria, stirring her fruit cup distractedly as Courtney went on about how the tight the student presidential race was. Bridgette hardly was listening, focused on the fact that Scott was there with an arm around her, as he usually was. Bridgette realized that Courtney must've made up with Scott again, it wasn't uncommon to see them argue one day and be very close the next. Something that Bridgette noticed this time was Gwen was accompanied with Trent. Bridgette couldn't help but be jealous of the couple's affection for each other through subtle gestures, with an arm around the other's shoulders. God, how she missed that.

Bridgette briefly glanced over the other table to see Geoff and DJ arm wrestling, surrounded by a bunch of jocks as they cheered the other on. It was like they were in middle school rather than high school. Ugh, boys. For a mere second, Bridgette's eyes had locked with Geoff. Her heart skipped a beat as she forced herself to look away from him. She went back to not eating her fruit cup in front of her and pretending to listen to Courtney. Her thoughts were still with Geoff, and it sucked she couldn't ignore it.

"Bridgette? Bridgette?"

Oh.

Bridgette turned to the voice that was calling her, belonging to Leshawna, who looked very concerned. "Girl, we've been trying to call you for a minute. You okay?"

The surfer girl laughed uneasily. "Yeah, just thinking about things for the vegetarian club." The group merely stared at her. "Sorry." She cleared her throat. "What's going on?"

"We were talking about guaranteeing Noah's loss at student council president," Courtney said, matter-of-factly. "Damn it. This is harder than I thought. Most people have dropped out by now but Noah's insisting on staying in the race..." She flashed Bridgette a look. "I remember a certain someone saying he was too lazy to do anything-"

Bridgette was ready to open her mouth and profusely apologize but Leshawna stopped her from doing so. "Hey," she said defensively. "Cool it. Bridgette was just trying to be a good friend so remove that stick from your ass, girl."

Scott snorted in amusement, which earned a not so pleasant reaction from his girlfriend. "And what are you laughing at?" Courtney asked, her voice dripped in venom.

"It's just funny," Scott told her. "And it's kind of true. I've told you a thousand times that you need to loosen up more." Bridgette's face faltered when she saw Courtney's frown deepen as she shrugged his arm off of her. Oh no...

"So you think it's funny that I actually care about this school? About this dump?" Courtney fired at him. "Don't you care about the fact that I have missed meals to ensure that I spent time keeping up my grades and planning to run for president?"

"First off, that's on you," Scott stated, getting angry himself. Gwen and Trent immediately got up from the table and removed themselves from the situation. Bridgette commended them silently on their decision. "Besides, half the girls here starve themselves anyway. It doesn't make you special."

"Did I say that?" retorted Courtney, her veins popping out of her neck. "Ugh! You know what?" She got up from her seat and grabbed her bag. "I'm not having this stupid conversation again. You... you're a jerk, Scott Fitzpatrick!" She huffed furiously and stalked out of the cafeteria.

"Maybe I should go talk to her..." Bridgette said, ready to get up, until Leshawna pushed her back down. "Hey-"

"Don't," Leshawna ordered. "She's been very anxious all week. Girl needs to learn to chill."

Bridgette only had one thought; Courtney was definitely taking those pills.

Courtney muttered a fair share of swears as she was making her way to the main office, somewhere she went to volunteer sometimes if teachers needed help bringing papers and worksheets to their classes. All she could think on her way there was that she knew that her relationship with Scott was slipping... and that it looked closer and closer to the inevitable, that their relationship would actually end. And maybe, for the sake of her own heart - which was beating very, very, fast - it was for the best.

"You're so stupid," Courtney chastised to herself as she approached the boiler room. "So, so, stupid!"

"Hey, I'm smarter than I look, don't let the piercings throw you off."

Courtney halted in her steps and rolled her eyes. Of course. She whipped around to see Duncan in his usual spot in the boiler room, which she had to pass in order to get upstairs to the main office. Unfortunately, Duncan was in her way, smoking the end of his cigarette. "Eh, I wouldn't say I'm smart. Cunning, maybe. I am pretty slick. I was able to get past many security cameras." Courtney found herself more annoyed as he went on. "But to say I'm stupid?" Duncan playfully shook his head and smirked. "That's wrong, princess. But I have to say..." Duncan paused, putting out the cigarette against the wall and letting it fall to the floor. "We have got to stop meeting up like this."

Courtney crossed her arms, glaring at the delinquent. "Your neanderthal friends are arm wrestling in the cafeteria. Why aren't you joining them?"

"Why are you storming out of the cafeteria and calling yourself stupid?" Duncan shot back, with a grin.

It grew wider as Courtney scowled. "I asked you a question first." Cute, he thought.

"I go here when I want a smoke break."

"Nasty habit."

"No arguments there, princess."

"Stop calling me princess."

"Fine, fine... now," Duncan paused, looking at Courtney thoughtfully. "Why are you calling yourself stupid? I mean sure, you're bossy, annoying, but you're not stupid. I hate to admit it, princess, but you have a brain-"

"Oh would you shut up already!" Courtney snapped angrily, startling Duncan. He had seen her this angry before, and it was usually directed at him, but it usually took him a lot longer to get under her skin. This was unusually too fast. "I have to win this stupid thing! And he doesn't even care! And everyone... including you... keeps telling me that I need to relax a little, or take a damn chill pill! And the thing is, I can't help it! I want to relax, I just want this stupid presidency thing to be over with and no one cares about this but me!" Duncan realized that she was mostly talking to herself. Courtney stared at him with restless eyes. "I just want to win, because it's important to me! Crap-"

She had tilted her bag ever-so-slightly to cause an orange prescription bottle to fall out of it. Duncan was the one that reacted first, swiping the bottle before Courtney could get her hands on it. The first thing he noticed was not what the pills were, but what specifically was not on the label, which happened to be Courtney's name. Instead, it was another girl's name, a name that Duncan was unfamiliar with. Courtney stared at Duncan like a deer in the headlights. Meanwhile, Duncan was rendered speechless.

"I... don't use it all the time," Courtney muttered quietly, full of shame. Duncan continued to stare at her in utter disbelief. Courtney just had to look away. "No one else knows, and... and I'd like it to stay that way." This was a lie. Bridgette knew, but she wasn't going to let Duncan know that. "Keep quiet, I mean it-"

"Courtney," began Duncan, rather seriously. "This is bad. You... you can't take caffeine pills. I..." For once, Duncan was completely unsure of what to say. "I know I'm the last person you'd take advice from, considering that I smoke almost a pack a day. But... this is really bad. I mean, have you seen that Saved by the Bell episode? Geez. My parents made me watch it. And sure, that shit is designed to scare you, but..." He really was having trouble here, and Courtney's expression of annoyance didn't help. "Yeah."

"But I don't use it all the time," argued Courtney. "And it is good!" Total denial. "It helps me in school, it keeps me focused, it-"

"And you have the nerve to call my smoking a nasty habit-"

"It is a nasty habit!" Courtney exclaimed. "You're going to get lung cancer."

"And you're going to crash when you keep popping these in like they're candy," Duncan pointed out, throwing the bottle back at her to catch. Courtney quickly deposited the bottle in her bag. "You know what..." he started, an idea coming to mind. "If you stop taking those pills..." No, no, no... He couldn't believe he was making this proposal. "I'll quit smoking." What was in it for him? Healthy lungs? For the girl that he allegedly despised and swore he wouldn't do anything nice for? He wasn't surprised that Courtney looked absolutely shocked at the idea. He was shocked by it himself.

"How about we both just go back to our bad habits and pretend this never happened?" Courtney proposed instead, with a scoff.

Duncan felt something in his stomach shift, it made him uneasy. He had to come up with something to make her make this decision. Then, a grin lit up his face as he came up with the perfect idea for Courtney to accept it. "Oh I see what it is... you don't think you could beat me."

Courtney glared at him. "Excuse me?"

Perfect, he thought, still grinning. "Well, I get it. You don't think you could last longer without those pills than me without my cigarettes."

Courtney's jaw dropped. "I totally can!" she declared, ready for a challenge. "As a matter of fact, we should bet on it. A ten-spot for the winner. Deal?"

Wonderful. "Sounds good," said Duncan.

"Great," agreed Courtney.

It was silent for a minute.

"Uh..." Courtney broke it, uncertainty creasing her features. "Do you think we can start tomorrow? Um... I need to study for my pre-calc test on Monday."

"Yeah, yeah... sure." Luckily Duncan was going to ask the same thing. "My mom wants to have 'family night' today so I might need that one last cigarette."

"Yikes," Courtney said, unable to hide her smirk. "Try not to cough up a lung."

Duncan smirked back. "Try not to go into a heart attack."

Once again, it fell awkwardly silent.

Duncan let out a sigh. "Alright, princess..." Courtney frowned at the nickname, but didn't bother to correct him this time. "Since I'm everyone's favorite delinquent-of-a-therapist nowadays, something tells me there's more to your little rant... so spill."

"Stupid Scott and his callousness... just when we think we're getting along, he totally ruins it!" Courtney exclaimed.

"He's a jerk. You know..." Duncan started, "I don't get what you see in him. I know it's none of my business, but you go on and say how sweet he is and all that sappy shit that's not going to matter in the long run, but I never see it in action."

"What do you mean? What do you expect out of a long serious relationship, Duncan? Him groping me in the middle of the halls? Is that your idea of romantic?"

Duncan smirked teasingly. "No, but it sounds pretty hot."

"Ugh!" Courtney let out a groan of frustration. "You don't see him like I do, he has his moments, it's just..." she sighed, struggling to find the words. "I told you, it's..."

"Complicated," Duncan finished. "Look, princess..." Courtney knew she really should've told him to stop, but she realized that she didn't have the need to. "It sounds like he doesn't really give a shit about your feelings. If he did, he would be looking for you right now, but instead you're here spending time with me."

"I was going to help out in the main office."

"There's no point in going, sixth period is gonna start soon," Duncan told her. A smirk crept up his face as he reached into his pocket. "Cigarette?" he offered playfully.

Courtney slapped his hand, but smirked back. "You wish."

Ezekiel Murray bit his lower lip and stared at his two closest - and only - friends, Beth and Harold, in the Rec Centre. He didn't know what happened today to make them erupt into an argument like this, but he figured it had to have happened at their high school. Ezekiel, being homeschooled, was pretty naive to such things, so needless to say he was very, very confused right now, as well as a tad frightened. No matter how many times Harold tried to explain to him about social cues - though it was more like the blind leading the blind - it wouldn't quite stick with him.

But despite not having the best social skills, he knew enough to know that he should not interject in their matter.

"Beth I can't believe you, gosh!" snapped Harold. "You promised!"

It had been thirty minutes of them playing Mario Kart, everything was fine. But then Beth had received a text from Heather to come over and do her homework and said that she had to leave because of it. Needless to say, Harold did not take it very well.

"I'm sorry!" Beth pleaded. "But you know how it is with Heather..."

"Yes, I know... you won't shut up about her."

Beth glared at Harold. "It's not my fault that Heather picked me over you!"

"You think I'm jealous?" Harold asked incredulously, as if he had been insulted. "You couldn't be more wrong. I'm glad I'm not in her group."

"I do think so! Because I'm starting to have friends and you don't!"

"Eh? I'm your friend!" Ezekiel protested, stepping in. "I thought we were all friends, eh?"

"Shut up Zeke," interjected Beth, uncharacteristically mean. "No one was talking to you."

Harold jumped up and pointed at Beth. "See! This is what I was talking about! I knew this would happen!" People were beginning to stare. "You're becoming just like them! Not too long ago you were wearing braces... and now you're getting contact lenses because of them? Face it, Beth... you're becoming mean."

"Shut up maggots!" thundered Chef Hatchet, appearing out of nowhere. "No fighting in the Centre! Take it outside!"

Harold went back to glaring at Beth. "It's fine. If you wanna hangout with your new friends so much, then go!"

Beth huffed and gathered her belongings on the sofa nearby. "Fine, I will!" She huffed furiously and stalked out of the Rec Centre, leaving Ezekiel and Harold by themselves.

Ezekiel nudged Harold's shoulder. "Women, eh? So emotional..."

Harold didn't bother replying to Ezekiel that he shouldn't say such things aloud; his mind was focused on the fact that he probably did lose the best friendship he ever had.

"I love Amanda Bynes," remarked Bridgette, after the movie ended. "She's really talented." The entire time at Leshawna's house wasn't as tense as she thought it was. Ever since Courtney's outburst at lunch, she's seemed to have mellowed out a little bit since then. Hell, she even shared some of snacks she got at the local bakery with her. Gwen gave her a friendly smile, and Leshawna was extra chummy with her. Bridgette wondered where all this energy was before, but decided against speaking up about that. She decided that she would take what she would get, assuming that this was there way of making up with her.

"She is," agreed Courtney. "Hopefully she doesn't end up like Lindsay Lohan or some other coke head child star."

"The Parent Trap was my shit," Leshawna stated, with a chuckle. "She's been out of the spotlight, though, which is good for her I think. At least she didn't shave her head."

"Hey, I like Britney..." Bridgette added in defense of the pop singer. "Can you imagine a bunch of cameras being shoved in your face? I could never..." Everyone offered murmurs of agreement, after that, it went silent. Bridgette couldn't take it anymore; she just had to ask them. "Guys, are we cool?" Doubt crossed the blonde's face. "I know I haven't been the most... moral of people lately, but..." She was cut off by Leshawna's hug.

"You're one of the best white girls I know," insisted Leshawna. "Why do you think I invited you here? I'm sorry that we haven't been talkin' lately."

"Same here," Gwen said, with a raised hand, full of guilt. "I guess I've been busy with Trent lately... and I could be a better friend." She reached over and hugged Bridgette as well. "I'm sorry, Bridgette."

"And I'm sorry for not being more responsible with my relationship," said Bridgette, with a sigh. "I should've said something! This whole year could've started off much better."

"Well... it's over with now," Gwen offered her blonde friend. "I think all of us would like to go back to how things were before, right?" She looked to her other friends for some sort of confirmation. While Leshawna nodded eagerly, almost pleadingly, Courtney didn't look upset by the idea, but rather unsure with it all.

"Bridgette," began Courtney, uneasiness in her tone. "Can we speak privately?"

Bridgette raised an eyebrow at the brunette's request, but nonetheless nodded, not knowing what to expect. Gwen and Leshawna exchanged a look as the pair exited Leshawna's room and into the hallway. "Look, Courtney," started Bridgette, not caring how desperate she sounded, "I really miss you. You're my best friend, and I know you're really stressed lately with school, and the school presidency, and..." For the second time in a matter of minutes, Bridgette's rambling was cut off with a hug from Courtney. Bridgette eagerly returned it, but then grew skeptical as Courtney began to shake in her arms, almost like she was crying. After a while, she let go. "Courtney? What's wrong?"

"I'm really, really, sorry," Courtney said sadly. She let out a dramatic sigh. "Everything's just been so hard, lately... and I'm taking it out on you."

"No, no... it's okay, I get it-"

"No it's not," cut in Courtney, rather sharply. "I shouldn't be doing this to my best friend. You've stuck with me, through my highs and lows, so that's why..." Courtney reached into her pocket and pulled out an orange prescription bottle. "I can't be doing this anymore."

Bridgette took the bottle, knowing fully well what it was. "You started using again."

Guilt filled the brunette's body. "I know," she said, full of shame. "And I know it's no excuse, but... it's been getting bad, and... well... I don't want to be tempted." Courtney did not tell her about the one pill in her pocket she planned on taking tonight for studying, and wasn't planning to. "No matter what, don't give the bottle back to me."

Bridgette eyed the bottle skeptically, then looked back at Courtney. "There's more to this," she noted, it wasn't a question. "What made you finally quit?" Courtney opened her mouth to give a partially true answer that Bridgette already knew. "Besides that it's making you feel like crap."

Courtney began to blush. "Um, I may have run into Duncan when I stormed out of the cafeteria... and the bottle slipped out of my bag and he..." she broke off the rest of the sentence, embarrassed to finish it.

Bridgette didn't need her to continue, she connected the dots. "Shit," she realized, her eyes wide. "So he knows?"

"Yeah."

"He's not blackmailing you, is he?" Bridgette snapped. "Because if he is-"

"No!" Courtney exclaimed quickly. "He um... proposed something to me. We have this bet, actually."

Bridgette blinked. "A bet?"

"Yes," said Courtney. She scoffed as she replayed today's events in her head. "He went into this whole stupid speech about how this was a terrible habit that I should stop, right? Meanwhile he smokes like a chimney with those stupid cigarettes all day long! Then again, I called his smoking a bad habit first, but..." She took a breath. "Not the point. He had the nerve to say that he could quit smoking and last longer without it than I could last without caffeine pills! So I just had to prove him wrong."

Bridgette pocketed the bottle in her hoodie and smirked to herself. She knew right away what Duncan's game plan was. She and Duncan - as well as everyone else within a fifty mile radius - knew how competitive Courtney was. The idea that Duncan would really do that for her was... rather sweet, actually. "Oh, you better prove him wrong," she encouraged. "I'm positive that you could beat him."

Courtney smiled confidently. "Of course I can." A pause, then: "Let's start over?"

Bridgette smiled back. "Let's do it." The two walked back in Leshawna's room. She and Gwen both knew by the way Bridgette and Courtney were smiling when they returned meant that everything was slowly getting back to normal - on the right track. No one could've been happier than Bridgette.

But Bridgette wasn't completely satisfied. "Oh crap!" She exclaimed. "I forgot I had to run an errand for my mom." She turned to Leshawna. "You don't mind, right?"

Leshawna waved it off. "You're fine."

Bridgette smiled gratefully. "Thanks," she said. Turning to Gwen and Courtney, she waved. "Bye guys. I'll see you maybe tomorrow for some weekend plans at my place?"

"Sure," said Courtney. "See you!"

"See you later, Bridgette!" Gwen called after her as she left.

Bridgette had to make one final stop to the person who deserved an apology the most out of everyone else. Luckily the journey was a short one, since Leshawna lived pretty close by to the person in question. Ten minutes later, Bridgette arrived at her ex-boyfriend's house.

The ex-boyfriend that she had ruined everything with, the ex-boyfriend that she was still in love with, the ex-boyfriend that she desperately wanted back, but she knew that deep down that wasn't going to happen.

Bridgette had sent Geoff a quick text to open his front door. It was so weird to text him, she hadn't done that in weeks. But she was surprised when she got an instant reply that he would get it in a few minutes - she figured that he would have blocked her.

Minutes later, Geoff appeared in front of his house. "What do you want?" he said, rather neutrally. However, Bridgette took it as a cold tone he used with her. His voice never sounded like that - it was usually warm, full of life, and loving. Bridgette stood there for a few seconds, acknowledging how different and awkward things were for the very first time since they had broken up. Geoff sighed impatiently. "Look Bridge...ette." Bridgette's heart sank at the erasure of his signature nickname for her. "I only have a few minutes to hangout with Duncan, because he has to do this family night thing with his parents, so if you could please-"

"I'm sorry," Bridgette finally admitted, tears leaking from her eyes. She was planning on being calm, collected, and professional for her apology to Geoff, but she just couldn't help herself. Geoff merely stared at her. "I have been thinking... thinking about what to say, or what to do... but nothing, and I mean nothing, could justify how I hurt you, how I hurt us, how I ruined a perfectly good relationship just out of pure selfishness." She gathered some of her composure, but barely, as she looked at him straight in the eyes. "I know it's easy to just say 'I'm sorry' and get it over with... but no, I can't do that, because I need you to know how much I loved you, and I let my feelings for Alejandro cloud my judgment-"

"But you could've told me," Geoff said, clearly hurt. Bridgette felt a wave of painful memories just from a week ago, when he had given her the kicked puppy expression. "I don't understand that. If you had feelings for another guy, you could've told me... and yeah, I would've been pissed, but we would've talked it through..."

"That stupid kiss we shared," Bridgette began, referring to herself and Alejandro, "Is absolutely nothing compared to you. It took me that long to realize it... And I feel awful because it shouldn't have been the way to realize that... because you've been nothing but good to me, and I know I don't deserve someone like you, and I..." She looked down at her shoes, full of shame. "I'm not asking for you to take me back, because I get why you wouldn't want to be with me after I did what I did... but I'm just asking for forgiveness, and that maybe one day, we could be friends?" Bridgette hesitantly looked up to see Geoff's unsure eyes. She desperately wanted to look away. "I'm sorry. For everything, I truly, truly, am."

Geoff thought about this for a minute. "Bridge," he started. Bridgette looked at him, hope shining in her eyes as he reused her pet nickname for her. "I'm not going to lie, I'm still really angry." Bridgette nodded, still hopeful. "You cheated on me, and that will always stick with me. I've... I've tried to block it out, but I physically can't. Whenever I look at you, I see that picture of you and him kissing, and I just feel sick, man..." Bridgette's heart sank. "But," he said, his voice changing to a slightly more positive pitch. "I think that it will take some time, no... a lot of time." He took a pause, wondering if he really should be doing this. "Until things get back to normal between us. I don't know about us dating, because I would be lying if I didn't like you anymore, 'cause I do..." He let out a distressed sigh. "My heart beats with yours, Bridge... always. But I think for now we should focus on being friends, or being civil to each other."

Bridgette knew this. The odds of them getting back together after her betrayal were slim to none. However, she accepted that, for now. "Okay. I'm glad to hear about that."

Geoff allowed a small smile, but nothing more. "Good," he settled, watching her tuck a stray of blonde hair behind her ear. She still had it, he thought. He cleared his throat, filling the awkward silence. "So I should just-"

"Dude, are you coming back in or what?" interrupted Duncan, who arrived on the scene. He smirked at Bridgette. "Ooh, fancy seeing you here."

Bridgette gritted her teeth, ready to say something mean, until she realized that Duncan was nice today. "I actually wanted to talk to you for a second."

"What?" Geoff and Duncan said simultaneously, clearly confused. The latter of the two spoke up. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, actually. It would be nice," Bridgette said civilly.

Geoff and Duncan exchanged a look. Geoff went back inside without saying goodbye and shut the door behind him, leaving Duncan and Bridgette alone.

Duncan smirked, leaning against the door with a chuckle. "So now since you and Geoff are Splitsville you're trying to kiss me now?" He continued to chuckle, much to Bridgette's annoyance. "Here's something interesting, I love girls, don't get me wrong, but I'm actually not into blondes that much." His type consisted of one person in particular, but nonetheless: "Crazy, right? Because I..." he broke off as Bridgette threw a very familiar orange prescription bottle at him, which he caught. Duncan paled for only a moment, reading the label he read before, before looking up at Bridgette in realization. "You know." It wasn't a question. Bridgette nodded slowly. "I'm gonna assume you two made up." Another nod from the blonde. "Don't say anything-"

Bridgette couldn't help but chuckle. "You know what's funny?" she asked, not even noticing Duncan's less-than-pleased expression. "You're the second person this week that I've caught doing a nice thing and doesn't want anyone to know about it."

"I don't blame whoever it is, being nice is bad."

Bridgette sent him a look. "Oh be quiet. You're not as tough as you think you are," she replied bluntly, shutting the delinquent up. "Do you like her?" she finally asked, wanting to know his motives. It just had to be that. "Because she has a boyfriend."

"That didn't stop you." Bridgette pressed her lips together to keep her temper inside as Duncan continued, "And no, I don't like her. She was just getting on my nerves."

Instead of getting angry at Duncan, she merely smiled at him knowingly. "Sure," she said. "I just wanted to thank you personally. It's been hard getting her off those pills." She noticed that Duncan's eyes grew a little wider, but barely, at the revelation.

"How long has she been using?" he asked.

Bridgette didn't feel right answering, but did anyway. "It's on and off. Only when things get stressful," she told him. "But thank you. I'm sure it'll be hard giving up those cigarettes of yours." A pause, then she sent him a skeptical look: "You are quitting, aren't you?"

Duncan sighed and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, I guess. My parents are noticing the smell. And they're cops, you know? Always sniffing around..."

"I get it," said Bridgette. Tense silence filled the air. Bridgette cleared her throat. "So I'm going to get going, alright? I'll see you..."

She was about to leave, until Duncan stopped her. "Bridgette, wait!" Bridgette stopped, turning back around to face Duncan, who sent her a knowing look, a serious one. "You know that Geoff still likes you, right? He... he always will, so um..." Duncan didn't know how the hell he became everyone's therapist recently. Ugh. "Don't lose hope?"

Bridgette gave him a smile, though a sad one. "Yeah, hopefully. One step at a time right?" Duncan nodded, earning a sigh from the blonde. "See you later." And she left.

One step at a time, she thought, it echoing in her mind repeatedly. One step at a time...

"One of these days I'm going to seriously strangle Leshawna," Heather remarked coldly to Lindsay and Sierra. "I swear, she is going down." They were in the former's room, and Heather had just sent a text to Beth to come over ten minutes ago, and the brunette still wasn't here. "Ugh, why is she late?" She glared at Lindsay. "I'm starting to regret your suggestion to let her in our group."

Lindsay's face faltered significantly in fear. "B-but... Beth is nice," she insisted. "She told me she was with Henry and Ezra at the Rec Centre so it takes a while."

Heather knew exactly who she was talking about. "It's Harold and Ezekiel, Lindsay you are just so dumb," she said irritably. Lindsay was hurt by her words, but chose not to say anything. Meanwhile Sierra kept typing on her laptop, not wanting to face Heather's wrath. "I don't understand why she still hangs out with those losers when she has us."

Speaking of which, Beth stormed in the room. "Stupid Harold, stupid Zeke! Not knowing anything!"

While Lindsay got up in concern to wrap a sisterly arm around Beth's shoulders, Heather rolled her eyes and said: "Oh look who finally decided to show up?" Lindsay ignored Heather and looked worried for Beth, as did Sierra, who turned to see a single tear go down Beth's face. Heather sighed frustratedly. "What happened?"

"I got into a fight with Harold," Beth told Heather. "He was mad that you called and wanted to make plans with me."

Instead of getting upset, Heather smiled sweetly, but venomously. "Beth," she said, as if talking to a small child. "Harold is just jealous, because... you're with us now. To be honest, he's kind of a loser, along with that homeschooled freak. This town is like a social ladder... and you just made it steps higher than they have, so they're mad. I mean..." she broke off into laughter. "Are you surprised?"

This did not bring any comfort to Beth whatsoever. "I thought we'd still be friends..." she said sadly. "I figured that's what it was."

"Welcome to the new world order," Heather remarked sarcastically. "And-" Just as she was about to finish her sentence, her phone began to ring. She gazed upon the caller ID in interest, before turning back to Beth. "Give me a second." She walked out of her room and into the bathroom to answer her call, hearing comforting mumbles from Lindsay and Sierra as she did so. "Wow. Didn't expect you to call, ever since I totally got you back last week."

"It looks like things are back to normal," Alejandro's voice irritably cut through the line. "I saw Bridgette walking home with her friends."

"Ooh, pulling a Sierra? Stalkerlicious," Heather teased.

"Just because I managed to see them doesn't mean I'm stalking her," snapped Alejandro. "Anyway, I came to tell you that your party is over. I'm no longer hated."

This time, Heather couldn't help but laugh. "You? Hated?" She broke into a series of snickers, much to Alejandro's annoyance. "You forget that you're a guy."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Heather paused, then said: "It means you got off easy." She heard a click, he had hung up on her. Heather doubled over to laughter even more when she went in her room.