Chapter 3

Courtney had thought that the next day of school was going to be fine. She would go to her classes, take her exams, and then go home. The whole day was spent with all eyes on her. Murmurs across the halls as the student body talked about her. She didn't know what was worse, not being believed, or the pitiful looks people gave her. Some teachers acted like she was some mental patient that would snap at any moment, which made her actually want to snap.

She made it until her lunch break without having an enraged breakdown, she patted herself on the back for that. She wondered if Bridgette had to deal with this? She made her way to the courtyard. That's usually where she and everyone else in her group would go and eat. The outside weather was nice and for the most part, it was not crowded. She spotted a picnic table that they would usually sit at and made her way for it.

She could feel her smile of relief come to her, finally some peace and quiet from everyone. She could eat her lunch in peace, if only for a moment before everyone else got there. It was only a minute and thirty seconds before two freshmen by the names of Chet and Lorenzo. She didn't know much about them besides them being loud in the library when she would try to study so automatically she found them annoying. Today they seemed to prove their case as Lorenzo sat down beside her and started to ask her questions.

Questions that Courtney would help a freshman out with: directions, how to deal with a bully, how to deal with the bully if it was Duncan, help with their homework. Questions Courtney would not help a freshman out with: Heard you had a breakdown, so how much blood did you see? Was there guts everywhere?

Lorenzo's questions were stopped when Chet walked closer and stabbed Lorenzo in the eye. He let out a loud scream, grabbing for his eye as blood came out between his fingers. Courtney let out a yelp, her scared reaction caused both of them to burst out laughing.

"It's just ketchup!" Chet laughed as Lorenzo pulled his hand away to show the ripped ketchup packet.

Courtney felt too sick to be angry. The questions Lorenzo asked her caused her to reimagine the scene again. Chet's fake stabbing actually made her think about what happened before. The man got stabbed. She could see his face as he was stabbed, standing in shock as it happened. She started to fabricate her own memory at the thought of his eyeball being stabbed out, the hole where his eye was looked similar to the bullet hole of Grant's forehead. Bugs were crawling out of it, scattering from the ground and into his hair. Courtney wanted to throw up but held it in. Puking on school grounds was not something she wanted to be known for either.

The laughter from the two died down as Courtney tried to force herself from having a panic attack. She looked over and saw that Duncan had his foot on Chet's back, ready to shove him forward.

"You're in my spot." He stated before he made his leg jerk, shoving the freshman to the ground.

"Oh, crap." The blood drained from Lorenzo's face as Duncan made eye contact with him.

He didn't have to say anything for Lorenzo to get up from the table and run away, leaving Chet to fend for himself.

"What the hell man, wait up!" He called as he scrambled to his feet to follow him.

Duncan sat down where Lorenzo once sat, his sack lunch soon pulled out onto the table.

"Freshman pulling that type of stunt on you? You must be losing your edge, Princess." He mused as he began to eat his Doritos.

Courtney didn't have the energy to protest or even glare, she just went back to her lunch. She didn't feel hungry but she didn't need Duncan to know that some freshmen got to her. She forced the small tomato from her salad into her mouth.

"Don't force yourself to eat, you'll just make yourself puke." He chastised her, his smirk tired as he looked at her.

"I'm not forcing myself to eat. Even if I was how would you know?" She didn't mean to sound so defensive, knowing that Duncan would definitely pick up on it.

"When you do something you don't want to, you scrunch up your nose." He told her, pointing to his own and mimicking her tick.

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I do not do that."

"Don't be so embarrassed, it's cute." He teased as he went for his ham sandwich.

Now it was Courtney's turn to have a teasing smirk. "Telling me I'm cute? Wow, Duncan, it looks like you're the one losing your edge."

He paused before he bit into his sandwich, mumbling with his mouth full. "Fuck off."

"Don't be embarrassed, you're too cute for that." She laughed, reaching up to ruffle his mohawk.

"I think you are both adorable." Trent's voice came.

They looked up and saw both Trent and Gwen sit down opposite of them. Courtney had to admit that she was a little jealous of Gwen's lunch. She had an assortment of foods, yogurt, chips, and a chicken sandwich that was made with leftover chicken from her dinner from the night before. Courtney's mother was on a diet and therefore she was also on a diet when it came to food from her house.

Gwen seemed to notice as she opened up her bag and left it between the two. The silent gesture made Courtney smile as she went for her Lays.

"So," Gwen began as she watched Courtney eat some of her chips, "how's your day been?"

"You know, you witness a murder and all of a sudden people are treating you like you're a crazy person." She grumbled before reaching for more chips.

"What did your mom say?" Trent asked as he tried to go for the chips but was slapped away by Gwen.

He made a face at her but the look she gave him made him pull his hand back to his food as he now understood what she meant.

"She thinks I had a mental breakdown or whatever." She scoffed. "When have I ever seemed like the type to have a breakdown?"

"Are we counting during test time or some big event for The Boardwalk?" Duncan commented as he stared at her.

Gwen kicked him from under the table causing him to glare at her. She gladly glared right back as she told him he wasn't helping.

Trent looked from the two back to Courtney as he tried to get the conversation back on track. "Is everything okay? She isn't the type to think you're ruining the family reputation, right?

"No. I genuinely think she's worried about me in her own way." Courtney stated as she took a sip of her water.

The thought of her mother wanting her to take a break from her friends made another rush of anger come over her. It was weird how her emotions were, thinking of the murder one minute and now being angry over something so unreasonable her mother wanter her to do. She probably needed to study psychology a bit more to see if it was normal.

Gwen picked on the emotion as she moved her hand to accidentally spill her drink.

"Oh no, my drink." She sighed, her voice not trying to hide what she was trying to do. "Trent, can you go get me something else to drink?"

"Yeah, no problem." He sounded less convincing of this totally normal thing that had happened. "Duncan, come on."

Duncan, for some reason, did not pick up on this as he just stared at him annoyed. "Why? I'm eating."

"Dude, I need to talk to you."

"What are we a bunch of girls now?" He joked as he finished off his sandwich.

"Are you serious?" Trent whispered over to him.

"Are you serious?" Duncan repeated as he leaned closer to him.

Trent just let out a tired sigh as he got up and moved to where Duncan sat. He grabbed his arm and jerked him up, forcing him to follow.

"Gwen, your boyfriend is manhandling me!" Duncan protested as he jerked his arm away.

"Not my boyfriend, and I don't care!" She called back to him as he and Trent walked away.

Gwen was glad Duncan finally relented and didn't resist like the stubborn jackass he could be. He and Trent walked away, talking about something else now that made them both laugh. She looked back over to Courtney as she finished off the last of the chips.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"About what? The fact that everywhere I go I'm getting stared at or the fact my mom's being a pain?"

"Well if it's about what others are saying forget about them," Gwen told her simply. "Who cares what a bunch of high schoolers think of you?"

"Gwen, I know you're used to it so you don't care, but this is me we're talking about!" She stated, causing Gwen to raise a brow at her.

"Okay." Gwen drawled, trying to figure out how to respond. She shook her head and decided to just press forward. "Look I'm going to take that as a compliment so I can get back to telling you, why do you care what others think of you? You're Courtney Flores, Queen of The Boardwalk. You run not only this school but that place too!"

"You know, you're right!" Courtney responded, now forcing herself to have the outlook Gwen had. "Why should I care what a bunch of these losers think! I know what I saw, and it wasn't brought out by some dumb breakdown I'll tell you that."

"That's the spirit! Screw 'em!" Gwen cheered as she lifted up her empty bottle for Courtney to clink hers with.

"Sorry I got nasty, it's just- it's so frustrating having them stare at me."

"Hey, hey, all in the past," Gwen stated as she reached over to take one of Courtney's cherry tomatoes. "So, about your mom? You seemed to get rather pissed when she was brought up. Remember something?"

"She's just being more unreasonable than usual." Courtney sighed out in aggravation, stabbing a piece of spinach.

"Who's being unreasonable?" Bridgette asked as she went to sit on the other side of Gwen.

"Courtney's mom." She answered, causing the blonde to nod.

"Okay first, she thought me and Duncan were dating, which is..Gross." Courtney made a face before she continued. "She thought he was forcing me to drink. I told her no, but she still thought I was lying."

"Yeah, Duncan might be a douchebag, but he's not going to force some girl to drink." Bridgett agreed.

Gwen was quick to add in. "Yeah, he's way too afraid of his mother to do something like that. Now his older brother, Ed, on the other hand? Could totally see that happening."

"Yeah, he makes Duncan look tame in comparison," Bridgette stated as she opened her bowl filled with salad and chickpeas. "Don't tell him I said that, he'd act out, like, way more."

"Anyways," Courtney spoke, bringing the attention back to her, "she then started blaming you guys. I told her it was my decision, but still, she said I had to stop hanging out with you guys. Her poor little Bebé can't make decisions for herself apparently. Oh! Unless it's convenient for my mother to think I'm becoming an alcoholic to forget about seeing Grant's dead body."

Courtney let out a groan as she tried to contain her anger. "It's like she can come up with all these stories that are true but she can't even accept what actually happened."

"What did your parents say?" Gwen asked Bridgette, wanting to give Courtney some room to breathe for a moment.

"Thought I was on shrooms or something. I kept telling them I only had two cups of wine, but they also thought Geoff gave me something because, and I quote, 'His hippie parents grow all types of stuff.'" Bridgette brought down her air quotes to eat some of her salad. "They kept telling me to say the truth and they wouldn't be mad, but the more I denied it they did."

"Hey," Gwen mumbled as she tapped her fingers against the table. "If we all agree that you guys saw something, doesn't that mean that there's still a murder out there?"

A new type of chill ran down their spines at the realization. Courtney went back to eating, deciding to ignore that comment, at least for the moment. Bridgette and Gwen decided that maybe they should hold off on that conversation for later.


It hit 8 o'clock and Gwen was quick to leave. She could hear her manager's voice call to her as she walked down the stairs of Dave's Diner. She ignored him, her pace quickening as she made her way to the sidewalk that would bring her to a bus stop.

"I know you can hear me!" He yelled, causing her to wince at the pitch.

She turned to look at him, making sure he didn't see her roll her eyes. Her voice, however, did betray her as her question came out like a demand. "What?"

"Sally called, said she won't be able to make it tomorrow morning, you'll be filling in."

"What? I already worked my hours this week!" Gwen protested but was ignored as he went back inside.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to storm right into that diner and tell her boss that she quit. She took this job to help out at home but the constant schedule changes and rude customers made her want to pull her hair out. The angry thoughts almost came out when someone touched her shoulder. She turned around, ready to yell at whoever decided to be hands-y but stopped when she saw that it was Trent.

"You just get off work?" He smiled down at her as he retracted his hand.

"Um, yeah." She stated.

Shit, did that sound mean? She didn't want to sound mean. Or did she sound nervous? She didn't want that either!

"You, uh, going to eat?" She asked, nervously twisting the leather strap of her bag.

He looked at her and then to the diner. He shook his head, "Nah."

"Nah?" She repeated before she let out a laugh. "Why'd you come if you weren't hungry?"

"I only come here to see you." His statement was so casual that it made Gwen feel stupid for blushing. "Wanna ride home?"

"Do you even have to ask?" She walked ahead of him, her sights already on his truck.

Trent was able to buy his neighbor's truck at the start of junior year. It wasn't something that he always wanted, he was never a truck guy, but when an opportunity popped up he was never one to ignore it. Last December he gave it a paint job which made it more appealing. Everyone in their group put down bets on what color he'd paint it. Gwen won with her guess, which was red. She had remembered him talking about how his grandmother's favorite color was red and she knew that he'd probably paint it that in her honor.

She got inside, placing her bag on the middle seat. It had been forever since Trent gave her a ride. The inside smelled old but in a good way. Comforting. She just wanted to lean her head against the window and fall asleep.

Her body instantly went rigid when Trent got into the driver's seat. She could interact with him just fine when they were around everyone else, but when it was just the two of them? It was like she turned into an idiot who stumbled over her words. She took a deep breath, she just had to act normal. They were friends, and friends acted normal with one another.

She reached over her shoulder to grab the seat belt but as her hand pulled, it stayed in place. She tried again, nothing. Did she look like an idiot? Because she felt like one since a seatbelt was winning against her.

Trent moved his body, his arm reaching over her to grab the seatbelt. "Sorry, this thing can get stuck sometimes."

With a harsh tug, it came free. She wanted to say thank you, but all she could think about was if her breath smelled bad, and that he was too close to her. He pulled away from her and started to put on his own seatbelt when she blurted out her thanks.

"Don't worry about it." He smiled, putting his keys into the car. "So, how was work?"

"The usual. Crappy customers always outweigh the good ones. Oh! Also, my boss is making me come for the morning shift. I don't know what Sally needs to be doing at 6 o'clock in the morning but it better be good!" She ranted, turning her body to face Trent. "And did you know I already worked 24 hours this week? I don't even know what it's going to be like during tourist season. Oh, wait! Yes, I do! I'll be dealing with bratty children and out-of-towners who think they can call me sweetheart and smack my ass."

"You remember that time during Christmas break? There was that dude who came for some winter surfing and thought it would be oh so cute to give me a little tap and a wink."

Trent tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "I remember. I wanted to punch that guy."

"You did punch that guy." Gwen corrected as she went into her bag to get a snack.

Trent smirked, showing that he did remember, he just wanted Gwen to state it. "Oh yeah."

"I don't know why you can't just quit. They overwork you, and they don't do anything when an asshat like that guy does something." Trent pointed out as he turned onto the main road.

"I know, I know." She sighed, leaning her body into the seat. "It's just right now no one's hiring and I really need the money."

There was silence between them for a while. The sound of the radio was only loud enough for Gwen to make out some of the words. Great, now she made it awkward. Trent didn't care about her financial stability, she should have just said that she would look into something.

"Listen," He began as they stopped at a red light. "We've been understaffed at The Boardwalk for a while now. I'm sure I can convince Courtney to hire you. I mean, listen, it's no Cursed Castle, but you'll be working the funhouse."

"Serious? You could really do that for me?" Her burst of energy caused the male to laugh as he looked at her.

"Totally. I'd do anything to get you out of that shitty job. Gonna miss the outfit though." He teased as he eyed her baby blue dress.

She blushed, and lightly punched his arm. "Shut up."

He gave her that smirk of his. Like he knew something that she didn't. "Nah. Love hearing myself talk too much."

The thought of not being at the diner in the early hours of the morning during tourist season made Gwen incredibly happy. So happy in fact, that for a moment her crush on Trent was forgotten and she moved her body and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him so the two could meet in the middle.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She cheered causing Trent to let out a chuckle.

"Careful now, I'm driving." He advised, pulling away from her a bit.

Her arms were still around his neck, leaving little room between them. The high of the thought of not working at her crappy job anymore slowly started to fade. His close proximity made her blush, and she felt stupid because he looked totally normal. She could hear the song again, the tune was soft and romantic which made her heart beat faster. Was she the only one who felt her face get warm?

"Uh, Gwen, can I ask you something?" Trent spoke after what felt like forever to Gwen.

She nodded her head, she didn't want her mouth to betray her. He opened his, ready to speak but a car horn caused her to quickly pull her arms away from him. The light had turned green and the car behind them honked again. He sat back up and put his hand out of the open window to give a lazy wave of an apology.

"So, um, what did you want to ask me?" She mumbled, playing with the edges of her dress.

He looked to her and back to the road, a smile on his face. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing."

"Oh, okay."

Gwen tried her best for it not to sound like she was disappointed, because for a moment she felt a connection. She let out a sigh and looked out the window, she really was stupid for thinking there was even a connection for such a normal moment between friends. Friends.. At the thought, she remembered something that hit her like a freight train.

"Trent, can you take me to Duncan's? I'll just walk home so you don't have to worry about taking me home anymore."

"Yeah, sure." He mumbled, his voice a little hesitant as he kept his eyes on the road.

Gwen was about to say her thanks but was cut off by Trent.

"So are you and Duncan like a thing? It's totally cool if you are, by the way."

"What? Me and Duncan? No way! He's more like an annoying brother than a romantic partner." Gwen tried to not laugh so hard, but she failed. The thought of her and Duncan as something more than friends was so outrageous she couldn't do anything but not laugh.

"You sure? Because I remember in 8th grade at Christie's party you and him kissed."

That memory caused her to gasp. "How'd you know about that!"

"Everyone knows about it! The whole school thought he gave you mono." He informed her, the atmosphere now full of laughter again. "Lucky for you that was the year Jimmy Rickets ate a bag full of bugs and the whole mono thing was forgotten."

"Okay, first off, Duncan never gave me mono. I shared a drink with my cousin when he came over that weekend, he gave me mono. Second, we just kissed because I never kissed anyone before and he said, 'Wanna try it?'" Gwen did her best to impersonate Duncan.

"Really? And there I was just eating chips like some idiot." He joked as he pulled into Duncan's driveway.

"His parents must be out on a date," Gwen muttered as she noticed the lack of cars in the driveway and garage.

"Actually, I am kinda hungry," Trent mumbled as he opened the car door.

"What are you going to do? Raid his fridge." Gwen asked as she got out too, leaving her bag inside. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to be walking home.

They got to the front door. Trent tried to open it up but it wouldn't budge. "It's locked."

"Hold on," Gwen spoke as she walked back down the porch steps to get to the gnome that sat at the front.

She lifted him up and grabbed the key that was being guarded by the lawn ornament. Trent raised a brow as she began to unlock the door.

"Are you sure you guys aren't dating?"

She playfully rolled her eyes as the door opened. "Oh please. Who do you think watched Duncan's little brother when his parents weren't home."

When they stepped inside Gwen turned on the light to the living room. Gwen walked to the kitchen and pulled out a Coke.

"Coby must be at a friend's house." She stated as she opened it.

"Honestly I'm surprised Duncan hasn't left to go vandalize something. The last day of school feels different without his face on the local news." Trent stated, letting out a playful sigh as he opened one of the cabinets to look for a snack.

"He hasn't been acting like himself since he found Grant's body, you know," Gwen mumbled as she took a sip of her Coke.

Trent pulled his head away from the cabinet. Gwen could see that the look on his face meant he knew he messed up. "Sorry, Gwen, I didn't mean it like that."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." She gave his shoulder a small pat before she left the kitchen. "Let's go see what he's up to."

Trent grabbed a Twinkie and followed her. They opened the door that led down the basement and were hit with a strong scent of cigarettes. The sound of AC/DC filled their ears as the base almost knocked some pictures from the wall the further down the stairs they went. Gwen gave Trent a look before taking another step into Duncan's domain. He sat at his father's old desk, cigarette in his mouth as he looked through some papers.

"Duncan?" Gwen called but was overshadowed by the chorus of Highway to Hell.

She covered her ears as she walked over to the stereo. Every cell in her body felt like it was vibrating from the sound that came from it. She turned it down causing the teen to look up from what he was doing. Trent gave him a wave before he went over to Duncan's bed and sat down.

He finished the stick off before he looked over to them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You said you'd give Tommy some of your old clothes," Gwen stated as she walked over to him. "I'm here to collect."

"Why's he here?" He asked, pointing his new cigarette at Trent. "Wait, did you guys raid my kitchen."

"I would call it more of a rummage than a raid," Gwen stated as she placed her soda onto the desk. "What are you doing?"

Duncan looked back to Gwen before he closed the manila envelope. "Nothing."

"Dude, it smells like a sleazy bar in here. Come on seriously." Trent tried to coax it out of him which was just met with a glare.

Gwen took the opportunity to snag the envelope while he was distracted and opened it up. She ignored Duncan's curses as she read through it.

"Duncan, this is your dad's file on Grant's death. Why does this sticky note say that it's suspected murder?" Gwen demanded as she eyed him as he lit up.

"Probably 'cuz it is." He said, his tone nonchalant as he moved his chair and kicked off against the wall to grab the folder from Gwen's hands.

"But who'd want to kill Grant?" Trent asked as he stood up from the bed.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, pretty boy." He stated, blowing a puff of smoke in Gwen's direction, causing her to let go of the folder to try and wave it away.

Trent crossed his arms. "Suspects? Cause?"

Duncan became quiet as he moved the rolling chair back to being behind the desk.

Trent let out an aggravated sigh. "Okay, whatever."

"Actually," Gwen mumbled, her gaze fixated on the floor. "You know how my mom's new boyfriend works as a coroner? Well, I remember looking at his notes on the autopsy. For a moment he even thought there was something wrong with the gunshot."

Her statement caused both Duncan and Trent to look at her in slight shock. She walked over to Duncan and opened the envelope again and looked through the papers. She pulled out the autopsy report. She scanned over it and let out a curse of confusion.

"What's up?" Duncan asked as he looked from her to the paper.

"This isn't what he put down. It was totally different. I can't tell you how but I remember something that had to deal with how the bullet entered the body. That was the leading cause as to why he thought something was off." She told them as she tapped at the drawing's neck.

Trent moved his body to be on the other side of Duncan to take a look at the picture. "So what? Someone covering it up?"

"Maybe. I mean did you see how they treated Courtney and Bridgette when they said they saw a murder?" Gwen stated as she grabbed her Coke to sip on.

Trent rubbed the back of his neck as a rather curious thought came to him. "Hey, now this might sound crazy, but what's the possibility the murder they witnessed and Grant's death are related?"

Duncan and Gwen shared a look before she shrugged. "What are the possibilities that two murders happen in a week in this sleepy town."

"Now it could be that they just wanted to shut the case. No one wants to deal with a murder a week before tourists start coming in. If news came out a good bit of money could be taken away from the city." Duncan stated as he tapped the ashes of his cigarette into the tray. "It could be the person who murdered Grant went to murder this random guy. Random guy might be an accomplice or just killed by chance, who knows. When the girls left he could have moved the body. He had the time to drag it further into the forest. Hell, he could have even thrown it into the ocean."

Trent let out a sigh as he leaned his body against the wood-paneled wall. "This place is going to be packed starting Tuesday, and if this killer has it in him he might start killing these out-of-towners."

"That's only if he killed the guy by chance. Time will tell if this is some psycho-killing freak." Gwen pointed out.

"But who will have to die for us to find out if he is a serial killer?" Trent argued.

Gwen stared at him for a moment before she looked at Duncan who was looking over the autopsy photo again. "Duncan, can you try and convince your dad to look into it more?"

"No need to." He stated as he shut the folder. "Knowing Micheal, he's probably already on the same lead we are."

He stood up from his chair, "Now if you excuse me, I have to put this back where I found it."

"Old clothes?" Gwen called to him before he made it halfway up the stairs.

"Check the box labeled 'Dweeb.'" He yelled before they heard the door to the stairs shut.

Gwen rolled her eyes before she looked around the room to find it. She was by far no neat freak but Duncan's room was as if a tornado came through. Every time she picked up something to see if the box was being hidden by it, she prepared herself to see a cockroach. She was about to venture closer to his bed when Trent spoke up.

"Found it!"

Lifting her head up she saw him place the box onto the bed. She walked over and sat down beside it, her hands grazing over the top. "Where'd you find it?"

"It was underneath where Scruffy's cage is." He nodded over to the glass cage that was placed on top of a table.

Trent looked at Gwen as she opened up the box to see what exactly her brother was going to deal with. He took a seat on the other side of the box and started to gently tap his knee.

"You know, if your brother was running out of clothes I'd be happy to give him some of mine." His statement caused Gwen to let out a laugh.

"No way. For some reason, the little freak has been obsessed with acting like him. I think he assumes he'll get girls that way." She chuckled as she looked up from the box.

"I get girls too, you know. Chicks dig the guy with a guitar." He mused as he picked up one of the shirts.

She snatched the shirt from his hands, a teasing smirk on her face. "What type of girls do you get?"

"Goths, mostly."

Was it getting hot in there? Gwen felt as if the heatwave came back as her face started to heat up. His green eyes stared into her, and his smirk made her stomach flip. Was he hitting on her or was he just messing with her? He must have noticed the blush as he started to blush as well.

The loud yells of Duncan and his parents caused the two to look away from one another. Gwen didn't know if she should thank Duncan's parents for being loud or be angry at them just in case something actually came out of the two of them just blushing at one another. The sound of the door to the basement slammed which caused Gwen to feel even more awkward.

"Don't stop flirting on my account," Duncan stated as he walked over to where his sneakers were.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "We weren't flirting."

"Totally." The inflection of his voice showed that he didn't believe her which caused her to glare.

"Where are you going?" She asked, closing the box up again.

He sat on one of the steps as he tied one of the shoelaces. "Apparently my ma thinks Courtney can't take care of herself so she's sending me to give her our leftovers from last night."

Trent stood up and picked up the box for Gwen. "Need a ride?"

"Nah, they said I could take my old man's." He stated as he finished tying the knot.

Gwen let out a yawn as she walked over to where he sat. "Cool, because I need to get home soon or my mom might think I got kidnapped or something."

The three were able to make it outside ten minutes later after being stopped by Sarah as she asked them what they were doing over and if they were glad that the school year had ended. Both Gwen and Trent were friendly with her as Duncan continued to roll his eyes every time they almost made it to the door.

Gwen and Trent made it to his car before Duncan spoke up again. "I'm going to the forest tomorrow morning."

Trent stared at him for a moment as Duncan stared off into the distance.

"You guys can come if you want. Don't care either way." He said before he entered the car and shut the door.

Trent and Gwen watched him pull out of the driveway. Trent was the first to get inside the truck, starting it up to get it warm. There was silence between the two as he drove her home. Gwen finally slammed her fist against the truck's seat cushion.

"The one time I have to work early on a Saturday!"


Courtney sat in her living room, going over the files she was going to organize for Grant. She knew she needed to sleep but she feared a nightmare would come to her. She almost had a panic attack at lunch even at the thought of the murder, she didn't want to dream about it.

Gwen's statement never left her after lunch. She didn't want to talk about it and yet she kept thinking about it.

The murderer was still out there in Grand Musko. He was walking around town, acting like a normal person. For all she knew he probably killed someone again. He could actually be near her home, sneaking outside as he readied himself to kill her.

A sound came from the living room windows. She looked up from the papers and noticed that it started to rain. She stood up, wrapping her purple silk robe around herself, when did her house become so chilly? Her brown eyes peered through the window. She tried to focus on her backyard, the light from inside causing only her to be seen.

Lightning struck the sky causing Courtney to spot something in the middle of her backyard. She moved closer, what was it? Another flash and a person appeared in front of her window. She let out a scream, stumbling back as she saw who it was. It was the man in the hockey mask, holding up a knife. A loud clap of thunder rang through the sky. Her heart was beating fast. All she could do was scream as she stared at him. Another wave of thunder came to her ears, but this time it sounded like a knock on a door.

Courtney's eyes snapped open, her breath heavy as she took in her surroundings. She was on her couch, papers all over the coffee table. She must have fallen asleep while going through the files. She sighed out in relief, only to jump when the knock came again. It soon came accompanied by the constant use of her doorbell.

She got up, annoyed at whoever decided to come over. Her anger fizzled out as she reached for the doorknob. What if it was the killer? Courtney shoved the thought away as she opened the door. There stood Duncan, Tupperware in one hand as the other continued to press the doorbell.

"Ma wanted me to give you some leftovers, thought you were starving or whatever." He shrugged as he moved his body to be in front of her.

She quickly grabbed the Tupperware from him. She didn't mean to sound out of it, almost breathless as she spoke. "What is this, meatloaf?"

He raised a brow at her as she turned away from him and began to walk away. He decided to let himself in as she went out of view. It had been a while since he was inside her house. Truly, the other half lived differently. Who needed so many old paintings and antiques? Apparently, Courtney's mother did. He made his way to the living room. The walls were tall, and the bay windows in the living room stretched to the ceiling.

He slowly made his way to the kitchen, looking around at every piece of décor. He got to his destination and saw Courtney fixing herself a glass of water. He casually made his way to the fridge for something to eat. It was only fair that since he was a guest he should eat whatever Courtney had. He opened it up only to be greeted by vegetables and juice.

"Jesus, have you ever heard of a snack, Princess?" He grumbled, closing the fridge door.

"My mom's on a diet, which means I'm on a diet, which means-,"

"That I'm your savior?" He teased, walking over to grab the fork from her.

"Wrong, your mother is." She corrected, her arms crossed as she glared at him as he took a bite out of her meatloaf.

"Don't worry, this is just payment for the delivery." He stated, his mouth full.

She snatched the tub away from him. He could only smirk down at her as she went to grab another fork. He followed after her as she made her way back into the living room.

"You can leave now." Her comment came out more like a demand causing him to grab the edge of the couch and jump over it.

She glared at him as he made himself comfortable, grabbing the remote to turn on the big screen tv. He kicked his feet up on the coffee table which caused several papers to fall to the ground.

"What are you doing anyways? Organizing your papers from highest to lowest?" He teased.

"Please." She rolled her eyes as she sat down. "I did that last night."

Her comment caused him to burst out laughing as he paused his channel surfing. She continued to stare at him as he continued.

He took in a breath of air, "Oh man, that's just the saddest thing I've heard."

Courtney wouldn't dignify that with an answer and instead grabbed one of the papers and started to read over it as she ate. He calmed himself down as he distracted himself with a crime show on NBC. It was about five minutes into the show did he turn his attention back to Courtney.

"Seriously though, what are you doing." He reached over and picked up one of the papers.

She finished reading over the second paper she picked up. "Just a project."

He watched her place the paper in its new starting stack. He looked at his own and noticed that at the top it had the logo for The Boardwalk. Year: 1950, the file was on how one of the customers got sick from a corn dog. He was reading over the part of the outcome but was stopped by Courtney who snatched it away from him.

"1950 goes here." Her statement was calm as she placed the paper down onto a pile that had at least three there already.

Duncan looked at her, glad that she at least didn't give him her condescending voice. Her makeup had worn off and he could spot the dark circles under her eyes. He observed her for a moment, wondering if she was going only on a few hours of sleep.

She yawned in between her finishing bites of meatloaf. She had to shake her head back and forth for a moment to try and wake back up again, which Duncan had to admit, was kind of cute.

Her hand went to move some of her brown hair behind her ear. To his surprise, her fingernails were perfectly even, back in middle school she would have bitten them down to the nub. His eyes caught the sight of her scrunching up her nose as she read over a file that probably didn't make any sense. His gaze seemed to so easily move to her lips. So soft, so- he snapped out of it as Courtney moved her head to face him. Those same lips moved to a be a thin line.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth?" She mumbled, moving her hand to cover her mouth.

"Just some meatloaf." He was able to sound casual about it as he stood up. "I'm thirsty, you have anything besides water?"

"There might be some Root Beer in the basement." She waved him away as she went back to organizing the files.

Courtney hoped he didn't find the need to look around her house. She didn't know why but she knew that he would just break something. Five minutes passed before he came back into the living room and she was ready to ask him what took him so long. She paused, noticing the familiar bottle in his hand.

"Found the beer." He smirked as he sat back down. "Don't glare at me, it's not like your mom's going to drink it."

"Duncan, since last night she probably counted how much beer we have and along with the wine. Down to the ounce." Courtney told him as he used the edge of the coffee table to open it. She winced at the thought of him chipping the wood.

He looked behind the couch and to the hallway that eventually led to the door to the basement. "There's wine?"

"Duncan!"

"I'm kidding." He scoffed before he turned his attention back to her. "I doubt she'll remember by the time she comes back from her trip."

"Do you think I would forget?"

He paused before taking a sip from the bottle as he let out a not-so-convincing, "Oops."

"'Oops,'" She mocked, her fingers going to rub her temples. "I swear, Duncan if I wasn't so exhausted I would be giving you a lecture."

"Lucky me." He mused, relaxing into the couch, enjoying the sight of her being truly defeated.

He decided to extend a helping hand when he noticed the third time she yawned that night. He tapped his chest causing her to stare at him unamused.

"Come on, take a nice nap on daddy's chest."

"Please don't make me throw up your mother's meatloaf."

Her tone caused Duncan to let out a snort as he rested his arm against the top of the couch. "Your loss."

Courtney must have really been too tired because the sight of Duncan's chest was appealing. Warm, inviting.. Screw it! She crawled over to his side, making sure to have her robe cover up her chest, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. He seemed shocked as she snuggled close to him.

"I'm doing this for your benefit. It would be rude of me to decline an offer from you who was trying to extend an olive branch." She spoke, trying to convince not only him but herself that what she was doing was the best for both of them.

To her surprise, Duncan didn't say anything and just took another sip of his beer. She could feel herself starting to doze off. Funny, she couldn't remember the last time someone's embrace caused her to feel so comfortable, safe even, to the point she would just let the world around her slip away.

The thought of her earlier conversation with Gwen and Bridgette caused her to shove her sleep away for a moment. Her voice tired and her eyes fixated on the TV as she asked. "Hey, would you ever force some girl to drink? Intentionally get them drunk I mean."

He was quiet for a moment, she could tell he was staring at her, the tip of the bottle only inches away from his lips. "Hell no. Total waste of alcohol. Plus, when I made out with Christie at her party last summer she threw up in my hair. Lost the hot drunk girl appeal after that."

"Serves you right." Her tired laugh caused him to let out a snort.

"Whatever. And what brought this up?"

She used her fingertips to gently tap his chest as she closed her eyes. "Don't worry about it."

Duncan didn't want to argue and continued to watch the show. Taking a glance at the clock on the fireplace mantle every so often. He wondered if his dad was freaking out since he wasn't home yet. Knowing him, he'd call one of the guys at the station to take a look around town to have an eye out for him.

At some point, his arm had seamlessly brought itself to lazily rest against Courtney's torso. His thumb ran over the robe that covered her thigh. Shit that felt soft.

Duncan could feel himself, too, start to want to close his eyes and just drift away. The sleepless nights were catching up to him at the worst time. If he fell asleep there he just knew his dad would probably report the car as stolen. Now that would be a massive pain to deal with. He set the beer on the side table, using the coaster that was provided knowing Courtney would just bitch at him when she woke up.

With one good deed came something to counteract it. He reached into his black jacket pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He was running low but that was fine, he'd just get some tomorrow morning. He knew Courtney would be pissed but she seemed too out of it to even wake up.

Besides, Duncan tried to reason, one won't stink up the joint. The house was big and from what he knew her mom would be away for a week or more. Lighting up was easy and Courtney seemed to sleep through the smell of tobacco. The stick was only halfway gone when he heard the front door open.

Courtney, like a dog hearing an intruder, snapped her eyes open and pulled away from Duncan.

"Shit." She cursed, quickly standing up.

"Who's that?" He laughed, ready to take another puff before Courtney pulled him up by his arm.

"Mayor Philips. I should have known my mother would send her boyfriend to come check on me." She grumbled, looking around for a place to hide him. "Now shush, and hide in the closet."

"Not gonna lie, being your dirty little secret? Kinda hot." He smirked down at her as she opened the closet door.

"Zip it!" She hissed, shoving him inside and closing the door.

Courtney looked at herself in one of the mirrors in the living room and fixed her hair and neatly tied the robe closed. She rushed to the entrance of the living room, ready to greet him.

Courtney tried her best to not sound nervous, she hoped he bought it. "Mayor Philips, what are you doing here so late? And with a key to my house."

"Please, call me Ted." He smiled down at her. "Have you had dinner?"

"Yes, Sarah was able to send me some of her leftovers." She told him, turning her head to stare at the empty Tupperware.

She froze. There, on the side table was the beer Duncan had almost finished. She saw it, which meant that Ted saw it, which meant a lecture from not only the Mayor but also her mother. Oh, dear Lord, her mother would think she was right and that thought made Courtney want to scream.

She wished she grabbed it before going to greet him. She wished she told Duncan to go put it back. She wished she could smash it over Duncan's big fat delinquent head. Not only the beer, but he probably also smelled the cigarette smoke because Duncan could not be trusted in her home while she was asleep.

"Gabriella told me that you had been drinking to forget about your problems." He mumbled, walking over to take a look at the beer. "And by the smell of it, you've been smoking."

"Well, she likes to be overdramatic." She told him, racing over to pick up the bottle. "I, being a teenager, decided to be a little rebellious. Cat's away the mice will play and all that."

"I'm not here to lecture you. I understand that you witnessed something tragic and not to mention last night. Even if you just thought you saw something, it still must have been traumatic." He stared down at her like every other adult, pity, and disbelief in his eyes.

The moment he tried to connect between the two it left them as a cough came from the closet. Courtney quickly tried to cover it up with her own. Sadly for her, Ted was not an idiot. He walked over to the closet and Courtney silently prayed that Duncan was sent into Narnia to get frozen by the Ice Queen. No such luck. Ted opened the door to look at Duncan.

"I found the source of the smell." He stated an annoyed look on his face as he stared down at the teen.

He gave Ted a lazy wave with the hand holding the cigarette. "Mayor."

"Duncan, you just had to suck at breathing." She glared causing him to look away from the Mayor.

"Not my fault your closet doesn't have good ventilation."

Ted sighed and walked over to Courtney. "Honestly, I'm understanding the situation a lot more now."

"You are?" She arched a brow, uncertain where he was going.

"It's completely normal for a girl your age to think that dating the bad boy is cool."

His words caused Courtney to blink at him, bewilderment coming out. "Oh my God."

"You'll start to do whatever he does, thinking that it's a great form of escape."

"Oh my God stop talking." She felt breathless as she looked anywhere but his face.

Duncan was not helping her embarrassment as he laughed. She could see him holding the back of the couch, trying not to fall over.

"If not you, then he was the one drinking, yes?"

She looked over to Duncan who was trying to gain his breathing back to normal. She sighed and crossed her arms. "No. That was me."

That little confession caused him to look up from the ground. His look seemed serious, yet cautious on what she was planning.

"Duncan and I are not dating. He came over because his mom wanted to give me leftovers." She told him. "When he came in he saw me drinking a beer and decided to tease me by lighting up a cigarette, stating, 'If we're breaking rules, might as well light up.' He was teaching me a lesson in his own weird delinquent way."

Ted looked from her to Duncan who quickly stood upright.

"Yeah, you know me, love helping lost souls and all that crap." He stated, using the bottom of his shoe to snuff the fire out of the stick.

Courtney wished he sounded more convincing. She stared up at Ted, wondering if he'd just let it go for now. He let out a tired sigh.

"Listen, I'll let this one go. But Courtney, please think about your future before you try anything." He told her before he glanced over to Duncan who was putting the rest of the cigarette into her mother's custom vase.

"Promise." Her smile was fake as she just wanted to get him out of her house as quickly as possible.

"Now I couldn't stay long, it was just a quick visit." He told her before he spoke to Duncan. "I want you out of here in five."

Duncan's voice was apathetic as he stared at him. "Not to worry, Mister Mayor, I was just about to leave."

"Good." He nodded before smiling down at Courtney. "Have a good night."

Courtney followed him to the door, saying her goodbyes as he left. The door closed and her fake attitude quickly melted away as she turned around and stalked back into the living room. Duncan was drinking the rest of the beer.

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Come on, babe, you wouldn't want to kill your beloved." He teased, placing the bottle back onto the table.

"I mean it, Duncan, you can't just do whatever the hell you want here! This is not your house."

He smirked down at her, "I think we all know that you aren't mad me-,"

"Yes. I think I am." She glared, crossing her arms over her chest.

"-You're mad because your mom doesn't trust you."

She faltered at the statement. She regained her composure, grabbing the bottle to go throw away. "I can be both."

"Listen, I get it. I mean, I never saw a murder and was called crazy for it, but I do know what it's like to have a parent not believe in you."

He watched her as she turned on the faucet, washing the dishes that were dirtied before he got there. He heard one of the plates clatter against the metal.

"Duncan," she began, a little annoyed him, "don't you think our two situations are a little different. You do bad things, and therefore the consequence is your dad not believing you. I drink half a cup of wine, just one time, and my mother thinks I've become an alcoholic. She thinks I can't make my own decisions now! Because of that little mess-up, she thinks my friends aren't good enough for me."

"My own mother doesn't even believe that I saw a murder. She has the freaking Mayor coming to check up on me like I'm some 5-year-old. You know what age I was when my mother left me home alone?" She asked, slamming one of the finished plates onto the drying rack. "I was 8. She thought the maid was a good enough reason to leave for a work trip. The thing was the maid would leave at 6. I was able to get ready for bed by myself without her help, I was able to get to school by myself without her help. I made my lunch without her help. I passed every class I was in without her help. Suddenly now, when I'm 17, she decides her precious daughter can't take care of herself."

"And again, she is sending other people to do her job!" Courtney could feel the tears prick her eyes, her throat becoming sore from the strain. "The actual time she needs to be a mom she takes the first flight out. She stayed for Grants funeral, but for me? Apparently, that's not enough for her."

"Shit, man, are you crying?" Duncan's statement was obvious, he knew it wasn't the right thing to say but he didn't know what to do with all this baggage she was dumping.

"I'm frustrated." She sniffed as she finally let the water in the sink drain. "No one believes me about the murder. Everyone thinks I'm crazy. Heck, I even had freshmen make fun of me for it. And you know what the craziest part is?"

Duncan didn't say anything as he walked to stand beside her. She looked up at him, her eyes were vulnerable, something Duncan didn't like to see. He always thought he would. He would laugh at her for it, but now that she's making those eyes at him he started to get annoyed.

She croaked out her sentence, her tone defeated. "I'm starting to believe them."

He brought his hands up and cupped either side of her face. "Courtney, look at me. You weren't being delusional, Bridgette saw it too."

"But-,"

"Shut up. You listen to me, everyone who was there believes you. Adults, they're dumb as shit. Because they think they know better than us, they decide that their word is law. You know what their word is?"

"Nothing?" She mumbled out.

"It's fuck all nothing." He smirked down at her. He moved his right hand, letting the sleeve of his jacket fall down more. He used it like a cloth, wiping away her tears. "Now, you're going to go to sleep, and tomorrow I'll come and get you for a little field trip I have planned."

Her voice still sounded pathetic, but he decided it was better since she wasn't crying. "What's your plan?"

"I'll explain in the morning." He knew if she found out where they were going she might back out.

"Okay. But before I sleep I need to finish the files." She looked over to the living room causing Duncan to roll his eyes.

He moved his hands to rest on her shoulders as he shrugged. "Fine. If you don't go to bed I'll tell everyone we made out."

"What type of threat is that? Who'd believe that?"

"Mommy, mommy's boyfriend, half the students in school. You might not know this but they're really rooting for us crazy kids." His sarcasm was met with a glare.

"Don't call my mom mommy again. It's weird."

"If I don't say it again will you get some sleep?"

She was silent for a moment before she let out a sigh. "Fine."

"That's my girl. Sighing at me like I did something to annoy her." He joked, pulling his hands away from her.

"You did annoy me. Also don't call me, 'your girl,' it makes it sound like you own me." She brushed past him.

Duncan followed her up to her bedroom, he didn't trust her to make it there by herself. She'd probably ignore what he wanted and go straight back to work once he left.

He walked into her room and it was just as floral as he remembered. She had it redecorated when she turned 14 back in '89. Even at the age of a teenager she still wanted it to look like a bedroom from some magazine. He wouldn't be surprised if her mother took over and decorated it herself.

"Okay, you can leave now." Her curt response made him look away from a floral painting that was hung up.

"No way, get in the bed."

"Is this some sick fetish of yours?"

"Yes, watching girls in their pajamas get into bed and sleep really gets me going." He joked as he looked at her bookshelf. Surprise! They were all super boring.

He turned around, hearing the bed creak. He watched her as she got into her bed before she took off her robe and tossed it onto her chair. Duncan leaned against the wall as she pulled the covers over herself.

"Now, can you leave?"

"Once you fall asleep, sure."

"Well, at least do something. You standing there watching me is just creepy."

He grabbed for the Seventeen magazine that was on her vanity. "Fine. I'll see what my smile says about me."

He walked over to her white chair that was by her bay window. The chair was positioned so he could look at her large backyard and the ocean. Courtney left her side lamp on for him, allowing him to actually read the only thing that showed she was a teenager. Too bad for him the magazine was boring. Plus, the quiz told him that his smile indicated that he was cheery and full of pep, which he knew was a lie.

He waited 15 minutes before he looked over at her. She seemed fast asleep. He walked over to her lamp and turned it off. As quietly as possible, he left her bedroom. He turned everything off in the living room before he left. He knew he was going to get an earful from his dad when he got back. It didn't matter if he was coming back at 9:45 at night.

He was gone for far too long and with his track record, he wouldn't be shocked if he was sent to bed in a bad mood. But frankly, he didn't care, most of the time he never did. Now, however, instead of it being from a teenage sense of demanded freedom, it was because of something Duncan himself could not pinpoint.

It wasn't until he parked the car in their driveway did he realize it. It was because this time it came from doing something, dare he say, good? He had to be careful, he didn't want to be going soft.


Author's note: Thank you to everyone who's been enjoying this story! I also hope you guys liked this chapter, it did come out pretty long sorry! :)

Author's note 2.0: Updating this chapter because I needed the inspiration to get back into this story and as I read I noticed an embarrassing amount of mistakes. Hopefully, in the future I don't make that again, but who knows lol