She propped the sunglasses onto the top of her head, pushing thin pieces of her hair away from her eyes. Staring in the bathroom mirror, all she could think about is how ugly she looked. It was a self-destructing behavior she picked up post-World Tour. Her self-esteem took a significant beating after she was cheated on. It was something she purposefully hid from the world (a.k.a., the cameras that followed her all the time) and instead disguised those feelings for revenge and anger until she went home, where she properly cried into her pillow like any eighteen-year-old would at the time.
She always heard in her high school hallways the latest gossip and scoffed at the girls who cried when they were cheated on, believing high school romance was indeed dead. Yet, she and Duncan were a high school love story set in a different location. It was hypocritical, after she finished crying for the fifth time in two days, and she began to imagine everyone from home watching the episode and laughing with each other.
But now she understood. The age or year or grade doesn't matter. If you like someone, and they choose another person over you, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. And you begin to question your own being, your personality, your looks, everything you once stood for, trying to gather an understanding as to where the intertwined path of two people dating split and why it didn't come back together without breaking hearts.
Courtney loved Duncan. She really did. In the back of her mind, she wouldn't be surprised if she still did, unfortunately. For years, she believed they were made for each other, in some crooked, bent, unimaginable way. Then she disregarded that idea, and it was visible during All Stars where she briefly liked Scott. Another passing thought slid through her mind, that Scott was just a farm-boy shadow of who Duncan is. Courtney wasn't sure. It really has been a long time since she had seen anything about Duncan. In the latest parts of the nights though during the beginnings of summer, it would be too hot to stay in her bedroom so she would lay on the floor in the living room with the air conditioner on and think about if Duncan still believes she is as beautiful as he would call her when they spent the nights together. Even though the dark bags underneath her eyes existed and she stopped keeping up with her skin routine and her hair has a slight dull tone to it. Would he look past all of those things if they were to meet again, and still believe she is beautiful?
And again, Courtney begins another habit drilled into the back of her eyes once she was cheated on. Relying on other's perceptions of herself for self-gratitude. Before she went onto the Total Drama series, she already knew she was pretty. But Duncan showed her how she was beautiful, gorgeous, and any other word of endearment his neanderthal mind would create. He wouldn't say it too often with his words, but with subtle actions and body language spoke to Courtney's eyes.
Unlike Duncan, who was always so poised and smooth, and unsuccessfully so, the women in the bathroom have not even tried to hide their confused and slightly uncomfortable body language and eyes when they look at Courtney stare at herself in the mirror. She figured it had been a few minutes since she moved from her spot on the sink, eyeing every single part of herself. Her olive-colored long-sleeved shirt was a bit wrinkled, and her denim shorts were a bit too loose, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
It had been a while since she had done this. After she arrived back home for what seemed like the final time, one of her last temper tantrums directed towards herself led to her bedroom mirror being punched and broken, glass shards roughly falling onto the carpet floor or staying inside the mirror. Later that evening, after she finished destroying her room and the adrenaline wore off, Courtney sat in the bathroom on her toilet seat with a pair of tweezers in her hand, silently pulling all of the glass out. It took nearly thirty minutes; she was struggling to focus and had shaky hands. Luckily, she had gauze pads and wrapped her hand up after she finished. When she went to work the next day, she just lied to her coworkers and fabricated a story in which she spilled hot coffee on herself and received burns from it. That was probably one of the last times she looked at herself for longer than a few seconds.
The evening was the most violent Courtney had been in some time, especially while cameras weren't rolling. It was everything she had pent up from the show for the final time before she fell into what seemed like a permanent dark place. And it wasn't that she had particularly left yet; more-so, getting in contact with Bridgette and Trent again led to her to be distracted from everything she wallowed in sadness for. Which was nice. Wondering when the last time she felt motivation to do anything, Courtney believed it to be years ago instead of only months ago.
Now, she was washing her hands in an airport bathroom, carry-on bag next to her, flying to see Trent as his plus-one for the Canadian Music Awards. Bridgette (seriously, bless that girl) helped her pack the essentials for the very fancy and exciting occasion, though it left Courtney with more anxiety than anything. This would be the first time Courtney would have cameras on her in a long time. As she left the bathroom, and walked to her gate, she thought about Trent's success. It made her feel inferior about her own lack of accomplishments and lack of motivation to do anything besides the necessities in life.
"I miss the determined Courtney. The one that would do so much for first place or to get a job promotion."
"Bridgette, I work at a coffee-shop. How far up can I go?" The brunette responded over the phone, staring at her ceiling. "And I hurt people when I'm determined, and become heartless, and it makes me hate myself so much at the end of the day."
"Then find a way to compartmentalize it. Or take into consideration other's opinions when you want to be a leader. We're a team." Her best friend replied.
Courtney sighed. "Were. We were a team. Now it's just me, against the world."
"You have me, too! I'm always on your side, Courtney. You know that."
She smiled at her blonde friend. It really was her and Bridge against the world, she guessed. It always has been.
Sunglasses back on her face, Courtney let the strands of thin brunette hair fall onto her forehead and she rolled her carry-on bag to her assigned gate which would take her to Vancouver. Thanks to Trent she was sitting in first class, and it was a straight flight, a gift she accepted without any rebuttal or arguments. For a few moments, she wondered how Trent even booked the flight so quickly, considering the big event and how crazy airports could be. This was no exception.
Several, if not, hundreds of people were rushing to their flights. Some with children, others with pets, or they were alone. It wasn't complete chaos, but if the airport was any smaller Courtney believed her hair would frizz up from all the people pushing beside her. And, unfortunately for her, once she did arrive at her gate, there was nowhere to sit. She was forced to stand by the help desk, impatiently tapping her foot.
A few people glanced in her general direction but reverted back to their cell phones and social media apps to mindlessly graze through their friends and friends of their friends' post.
Under the impression people were staring at her for several seconds too long, Courtney quickly quit the foot tapping and pulled out her phone. She chose to text her best friend, informing the blonde that she was close to boarding the plane and how the airport was too crowded. The texting went back and forth until it was finally time to board the plane.
The other people catching the same plane as Courtney were eager to get on and took no time finding their seats and smiling at the flight attendant staff as they got on. Courtney smiled plastically at them, excited to take a nap and hoping she woke up as they were landing. Her seat appeared almost as quickly as she boarded the plane, and she plopped down in the window seat, pushed her bag underneath the seat in front of her, and pulled out her headphones, plugging them into her phone.
A woman sat down next to the brunette as she performed these actions. Out of the corner of her eye, Courtney glanced at her pasty, yet porcelain skin and short bobbed black hair.
The woman turned and smiled at Courtney, who lightly smiled in a quick, short response.
Then before she got ahead of herself and her thoughts, she pushed her sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose, put on the downloaded music playlist she created for the flight and closed her eyes, trying to drift into a somewhat simpler dream. She didn't even bother to try and listen to the safety features offered on the plane.
When the brunette woke up, they were still in the air, but the pilot announced over the PA system installed in the plane that they would be arriving in Vancouver in about an hour. As she shifted her body more towards the right, Courtney could see the woman next to her was reading a book on her Kindle. So, she decided it would be okay if she opened up the little window so she could see outside. Courtney opened the window cover with little assistance, but quickly shut her temporarily sensitive eyes to the bright world outside of her.
There was barely a sky to view. The plane appeared to be flying through clouds; the outside was foggy and not visible. Yet, Courtney still stared outside the window. It was an absolute bright gray with no light on the other side. Consistent in color, the young woman could only assume it would be a cloudy or partly sunny day in this part of Canada.
She wondered what was on the other side. A blue sky, of course, but it was still stimulating for the brain to connect neurons together and internally discuss all the endless possibilities of the sky. To find a clear-cut answer with all other options disproved kept Courtney awake as she continued to watch the emptiness of the clouds that she alongside her fellow passengers flew through.
Her music continued to play, and it was unfortunate her music application didn't have a timer option available so she would stop wasting her battery when she was asleep. The playlist consisted of twenty or so songs. Most were slow songs, some about love, others geared towards lost. A sleepy mix that could lure anyone to sleep.
"It's still raining, up here. Everybody seems so far away from me." The song played in her ears, the voice airy and melodic, a sadder emotion breaking through.
In some sense, Courtney could relate to the view from her seat. She's had a lot of foggy thoughts recently. Yet, at the same time, everything was black and white. While on the television show, the ex-contestant didn't really grasp an idea on it. Once she was eliminated and returned home, the connecting dots were less abstract and more point A to point B. Somehow, this still led her back to discovering how much of a complex person she was. And even with these newly confident beliefs and discoveries, there was no arrow telling her where to go from there. No particular direction was given to the girl as she restlessly laid in bed and continued the drawn out early-twenties-minimum-wage-job role. In other words, she was just as lost now as she was when she arrived home.
None of it really made sense to her. She tried, with little success, to prop her elbow up on the tiny space between the window and the wall on the plane. Were her blue skies on the other side of whatever direction she was heading to? Or were there just more clouds she would have to dissolve?
As one thought seamlessly lead into the next, Courtney pouted a bit and sighed into the window. She didn't stop thinking, unfortunately. Now, her thoughts circled around the idea of if she were to, theoretically, find her blue skies, who would standing there with her.
Bridgette, of course. That one is a given, considering how much crap Courtney gives her and she continues to roll with the sad, weak punches. She is her best friend, her platonic other half. And, by association, Geoff will probably be there too. Though it's been years since the two last directly spoke, Geoff will always stand by Bridgette. And Courtney knew she would always stand by Bridgette too, so they would always be connected through the blonde surfer. At one point, Courtney imagined Geoff like an annoying little brother who brought an unique perspective to everything he saw.
Trent would more than likely be there too. What Bridgette didn't know about Courtney Trent probably did. The two of them holster a heavy weight on their shoulders that not many others can. If it wasn't for the Total Drama Franchise, the two of them would have never met, and Courtney isn't exactly sure if she could see a life without him. He brings out the emotion in the brunette woman, which is done by expressing his own feelings and tearing down any egotistical masculinity traits he never actually had.
If Courtney could compare her two closest friends in a single sentence, she would say Bridgette allows her to say what she feels, but Trent helps her to really feel it. The two are an unstoppable team and have seem to taken part in helping Courtney rebuild herself.
Unfortunately, that's how far the list goes, as of right now. In her mind, she knows there are a few (or just one) more people to add, but that would indicate that there was a past willing to be mended for the future, and Courtney wasn't sure if she was ready to acknowledge the density of their presence in her head.
But even with them, there was an alienation she forced herself to recreate after World Tour. Dating Duncan helped her come outside for a bit and breathe air with other people. Before that, she was stone made smooth: nice to the touch but still stone. Hard, cold, and stiff. And after being betrayed by the delinquent, the ex-contestant rebuilt her stone with extra layers of brick and concrete, just in case. She was jealous of the people around her who adapted so well to personal tragedies. Sometimes she wondered if at night, after greeting everyone with a smile, those people still hate what they see when they look in the mirror, just like Courtney did. The entire idea of faking your exterior to soothe your interior is an exhausting, yet is a habit hard to break.
The brunette's vision began to refocus from the clouds to herself in the window. She took her sunglasses off and folded them in her hands.
Courtney was really happy she only had her carry-on bag with her instead of an entire suitcase. She was able to skip the worst part about flying to another place: the possibility of losing your luggage or waiting forever to obtain it.
As soon as the plane touched land, she turned her phone off airplane mode and texted Trent, informing him of her arrival. He responded almost immediately, saying he had a friend waiting for her close to the baggage claim, because he would be stuck at a photo shoot for the next hour or so. After their short conversation, she texted her parents and Bridgette, explaining her very safe and quick flight. All responded happily, Bridgette specifically with a few emojis to showcase her excitement and happiness.
Again, Courtney smiled at the flight attendants and the pilots when she hustled off of the plane, feeling extremely foreign in a city she hadn't visited in a long time. Following the crowds, she found herself being led towards the baggage claim easily in the large airport. The girl wasn't particularly sure if it was because of her past celebrity status or just an instinct feeling, but as she walked through the airport, she felt the presence of paparazzi all around her. An uncomfortable feeling sat in her stomach, so she put on her sunglasses.
For the most part, the walk was uneventful, with the occasional celebrity being bombarded by paparazzi or a family simply running to their gate before missing their flight. Finally, the baggage claim was appearing before her.
"Courtney Otero?" A voice erupted in the young adult's head.
She turned around to see a man she didn't recognize standing behind her as she waited in line for the escalator. With him was a camera man. Once he called her name out, a few other people turned their heads to look at the interaction. Awkwardly, she looked around for an escape route, before realizing her only other option were the three flights of stairs.
"It really is you! Courtney Otero, former contestant of the reality television series Total Drama Island, Action, World Tour, and All Stars! What're you doing here in Vancouver?!" The man began throwing questions at Courtney, which didn't give her a lot of time to respond.
Like a domino effect, other reporters and paparazzi with camera began hoarding towards the brunette, asking her the same questions about the Total Drama Reunion and her reasons for being in town.
Her glasses were on, so they couldn't see the panic in her eyes nor feel the anxiety quickly forming in her stomach. She ultimately did the only thing she could have possibly thought of:
She pushed through the small crowd, constantly saying "excuse me" until she was free from camera shutters and questions, and booked it towards the stairs, where she quickly and perfectly double-stepped down all three flights of steps until she hit the bottom, carry-on bag in hand. The adrenaline she was so familiar with from her time on the reality television show swelled in her bloodstream. More than half of the crowd followed her down the stairs, much slower due to their lack of athleticism. The brunette didn't stop jogging until she made it into the baggage claim. The echo of her name being called could still be heard as she looked for Trent's supposed friend.
Almost suddenly, she was pulled by her arm and out the doors and thrown into a sleek black car. The stranger sped walked into the driver's seat and pulled off, beginning to drive.
Everything had happened so fast that Courtney hadn't had the opportunity to stop her head from spinning.
Before she could call the police or begin to scream, the man began to speak. "Before you do anything, I want to let you know that I am picking you up for Trent."
This silenced her before she could speak.
The man continued to talk, chocolate-colored hands comfortably holding onto the steering wheel. "My name is Charlie, and I am one of Trent's bodyguards. A please to meet you Miss Otero, and my apologies about the lack of introduction in the airport, but it seemed like you were in a bit of a situation."
"A washed-up reality tv-girl can't just walk in an airport anymore." Courtney sighed, leaning into the cushioned and comfortable seats. Charlie chuckled at her. "I'm serious," she complained, almost child-like, "I thought I was behind all this three years ago."
Courtney clicked her seatbelt on as she stared outside the window, watching the city distance itself away from her vision the farther they drove.
Talking even-toned, Charlie glanced at her from the rearview mirror. "Trent said the exact same thing to me once he realized he had to hire bodyguards. He wasn't aware of his popularity at the time, until it was near-impossible for him to go anywhere outside of his house without cameras following him."
She laughed with ease. "That's just Trent though. He can be so unaware of his surroundings sometimes. Tell me," Courtney started, turning her head to look at the back of Charlie's, "is Trent still as much of a clumsy goofball as I have seen him to be?"
"Without a doubt. He is just as silly as ever. Even with all the fame surrounding him, nothing about him has changed since I began working for him." Charlie shook his head.
This made Courtney smile, and eager to see her friend after over a year Trent-drought.
The duo arrived at the extremely large home nearly forty-five minutes later. It was absolutely grand yet kept the feeling of a home on the exterior. It wasn't too much, but indirectly screamed "I'm rich!". Exactly like Trent.
And speaking of, the young man was sitting outside on the stairs leading up to the home. His ebony-colored hair seemed to be in the exact same place as always, as his olive skinned looked close to perfection. His dark colored jeans looked to fit him comfortably as he stood up at the arrival of the car. The only difference between Trent from the television series and Trent standing several feet away from Courtney was his shirt, which was a plain white t-shirt.
When the car stopped, Charlie turned it off and stepped out, preparing to open the door for Courtney. Yet, before he could do so she nearly-ran out of it herself. Her running sneakers automatically led herself towards the boy, who raced down the stairs to meet her halfway.
In a similar way to when she was able to see Bridgette after months, her heart temporarily stopped when she saw Trent. She missed him. It was obvious. Their embrace was one of siblings reuniting after several years of distance: long and necessary. The taller adult even made the decision to pick Courtney up off of her feet and swing her around.
"Let me down Trent!" The ex-contestant giggled, gripping her arms around his neck tightly.
His laugh was deeper, but still as airy as before, repeating "Okay, okay" before finally placing her back on solid ground and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I'm really happy you're here Court. I miss you." He spoke into her eyes.
It meant a lot for Courtney to hear someone say that to her. It seemed like a rarity until recently, where people were beginning to photograph her again as she was out in public. But, Trent spoke with meaning behind his voice. "I missed you too Trent." She smiled at him, genuinely smiling for the first time all day.
"Thank you so much Charlie. I appreciate it, dude." Trent looked behind Courtney to the tall man standing straight by the car.
He nodded his head, before walking past the two and into the home.
Wrapping his arm around Courtney's neck, the ex-contestant turned them towards the stairs and they began to walk up them, as Trent began talking. "So, what's this I hear about racing down stairs in the airport about an hour ago?"
All the other ex-contestant could do is groan into her hands, shaking her head.
Courtney placed her bag and her purse down in the guest room she was sleeping in for the next two days. The queen-sized bed looked a hundred times more comfortable than the measly bed she slept in every night back in her apartment. The clean wooden vanity had beautiful patterns sculpted into it, but the mirror was a bit dusty, allowing Courtney to infer that not too many people came in here.
There were no decorations in the room, though there were a few plants and pictures scattered throughout the home. It seemed that Trent was not only a simple guy, but a simpler interior decorator as well. Somehow, though, she felt way more at home here than in her apartment, where it was mostly dark and she confined herself to her bedroom or the living room.
The brunette decided to leave her room and wander around the property, locating a few bathrooms and other bedrooms. Downstairs the majority of the furniture was charcoal, dark green, and wooden. One of the few exceptions was the coffee table in the living room, where it was mostly made up of glass. As she walked through the living room, the television was on, and Courtney had to admit she wasn't sure how shocked she was to see a picture of herself on it.
"Ex-Total Drama Contestant Courtney Otero was spotted a couple hours ago walking through our Vancouver Airport." The woman read to a group of other colleagues in a newsroom, staring at a piece of paper. "This is the second time people were able to photograph Courtney, the first time in ovre a year being a few days ago alongside Bridgette Harrington. There are rumors surrounding her appearance on the upcoming Total Drama Reunion too, which she has yet to formally accept the invitation to." The reporter stopped reading and looked towards her colleagues.
A blonde male looked excited. "Ugh! I looooved Courtney, and I missed her presence so much. She was such a powerhouse."
"More like a diva." Another person commented. "She was one of, if not, the most annoying people on that show. I hope she's toned it down a couple notches if she plans on attending the reunion."
The original woman who read the article, and creepily looked like a familiar annoying blonde reporter, barged in the discussion. "But let's remember Courtney has been off the grid for almost two years. Who knows if she'll actually attend the reunion?".
"I think she will," An African Canadian woman talked, scrolling on her phone, "She recently made her Instagram public after two years, allowing over fifty thousand followers access to her old pictures as of a few minutes ago. She also has been active on her Snapchat, as her snap score went up recently."
In all reality, this made the brunette feel especially uncomfortable in the situation she put herself in. In a matter of days, she had gone from nearly forgotten to back in the mouths of reporters. This led to people voicing their opinions about her and that was the last thing Courtney believed she needed.
Not willing to hear anything more, she continued walking through the house until she was outside, a large, empty backyard area. There were some lawn chairs outside, and even though it was hot, the brunette still decided to stay outside.
It was still a partly cloudy day, being reminded of the flight. The ex-contestant watched the clouds move as her thoughts wandered back to the broadcast. There was a part of her that wanted to look up who was attending the reunion, looking through the familiar names for a sign that maybe she should go. Even though she told her friends she would consider attending, the young adult was still heavily on the fence. What would people see if she stepped out and reintroduced herself? It was more-so who would they see.
She heard the sliding door close as she sat up a bit more and turned to her right, watching her friend bring out two bottles of water and sit in the chair next to Courtney.
He held the bottle out to her, which she graciously took and opened. "Thanks."
"What're you thinking about?" He asked, sitting up in the chair, feet firmly placed in the ground.
Courtney took her sunglasses off. "Myself." She answered in a simple manner. "Just myself."
The guitarist took a drink from his water bottle. "I feel that. You shouldn't beat yourself up, though."
This led the other musician to glance at Trent. "What do you mean, beat myself up?"
"I heard them talking about you on my tv, and I know you heard them too." He began, making a disgusted face. "It wasn't cool. But you know you're great, right?"
While Trent continued to speak, all it did was make Courtney feel worse about herself. Before the reality television show, she knew how perfect she perceived herself to be. Watching her glaring flaws on international television was not a beautiful sight to behold.
"-and you know there are still people out there that love you, Court. Other than Bridge and I, you have fans and loved ones that care about you." Trent finished, awaiting her response. It was a similar sentiment that Bridgette had tried to push her to believe only a couple of days ago.
She turned and looked at Trent, who didn't have his usual goofy smile plastered on his face. "You know," she paused, trying to rearrange her thoughts, "when I was a kid, my mom always told me I would never be able to love anyone until I learned to love myself." It wasn't a frightening thought when she was younger, because her parents always told her how she came from an intelligent and successful family. She continued to speak, "And for years I believed that I loved myself. Gave myself self-confidence talks and ignored anyone who thought differently of me. Then I got to the island."
Courtney smiled at Trent, though it didn't reach her eyes. "As odd as this is going to sound, Duncan actually showed me love. Yeah, we were young and put in a weird situation, but I actually saw what it was like to be loved by someone. And I felt it, I really did. But," she frowned, holding her head in the palm of her left arm and she laid her elbow on her leg, "but that didn't help me love myself. Which was annoying, because I hated when my mom told me that. And it wasn't that I hated myself, I just didn't know myself. I molded myself to be what my parents wanted and who I believed I should've been."
"Do you know what love is?" He asked after a few moments.
"Does anyone?" The brunette quickly retorted.
The two laughed at that.
"It's easy to think you do, though. But it's even worse when the person you thought loved you doesn't." She shrugged her shoulders. Talking about the entire situation with Trent became much easier as the years passed. It still hurt, but it was starting to become like a movie ticket left out: faded and old. "Then you look internally at yourself and question it all, and at the end of it you're back to square one."
The ebony-haired young adult started biting his lip, a habit he still hasn't been able to kick. "I don't see a reason for some people to dwell on it, though." He commented. "Love comes and goes, that's life. We learn to move on. Humans are daredevils emotionally. Even if we vow to never love again or figure out what love is, there are times where we can't really help it. The timing of it all varies from person to person, of course, but at the end of the day, love is always there.
"It also helps you understand yourself." He continued. "Who are you with and without love, and what is it that contributed to the problems. Learning to resolve issues internally and externally. How is it that what we were told or what we've seen could affect the way we view relationships and how to we learn to peel off the toxicity of it in order to move on?"
This left Courtney in a sort of stunned silence. The psychological analyzation behind it all was astounding, and it was easily known Trent had thought about this all before. At the same time, this all allowed her to think about herself and where she fell in it all. Once she lost love, she felt deranged. But it seemed all of that could be due to the insecurities she never acknowledged as a child, and then teenager. Being unable to break through the solid exterior her parents helped build for her had dire consequences. She couldn't blame all of it on her childhood though. She naturally was a competitive person, striving for the best for herself.
All in all, the things about herself she's only recently recognized in the past year or two were always there, but she never got the opportunity to improve herself.
The Latina turned and looked at Trent. "This past year I learned something new about myself because I started listening to my brain and what it was saying. I know I can be hardheaded at times, but once I took the backseat of my own car, it was all enlightening. But I started believing I wasn't worthy of love because of who I am."
"Everyone is worthy of love."
"I know that now. And I wish that I had learned all of this instead of continuously being self-deprecating."
Trent smiled, and leaned back into the chair. "Don't worry, Court. You're strong, and learn information really fast. I know you'll figure it out soon."
Also stretching out in the lawn, she asked him, "Figure what out?"
"How to love yourself."
And with that being spoken into existence, the two laid in silence underneath the summer sky, enjoying the silent company of each other.
Hi everyone! thanks for tuning in for the next chapter of The Scales of Judgement. It's been a busy/hectic semester, and is only going to get more insane, so I really haven't had any time to sit down and write! I apologize for that. Anyways, I hope you all have been enjoying the new year so far!
I ran into a bit of a wall writing this and had a bit of trouble putting my words and thoughts together. But, once I started back up on this I began re-reading some of the reviews you all left and it really helped me get back into the groove of it all and reminded me why I began writing this story. That being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and happy almost one year anniversary of me starting this journey. There may not be a lot of chapters or words, but I put my heart into all of it and I just want to shed light on Courtney, one of my favorite characters from the series. Thanks a lot to everyone who has read this, and I promise there is more to come.
I got in the groove of things and ended up writing way more than I was intending to, and even though there isn't a lot of plot, things will start moving in the upcoming chapters. This chapter and the next are going to focus a lot on Courtney's self confidence and how she perceives herself compared to how the world sees her.
It's crazy because the final scene of this chapter I wrote two different times (both easily with 400 words), but each time it ended up deleted because I accidentally backspaced too much, so this was the third I had written it. Each time I had the conversation placed somewhere else in the house, so I figured it was a sign to maybe take it outside, haha.
One more thing, if anyone was wondering, the short song lyrics I used is from "Look On Down From The Bridge" by Mazzy Star. I had been watching a lot of Rick and Morty before and during writing this chapter. Lol.
As always, leave a review and tell me what you think! If that's not your style, then maybe the follow button is more for you. Either way, thank you soooo much for reading. I hope you've all enjoyed the first half of 2018 (which is going by crazy fast), and I'll see you all at the next chapter!