DODGING THE BULLET
A TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND STORY
A/N: I hope most of you guys are reading this. A lot of the authors on Total Drama Island Fanfiction also enjoy Twilight, so I think this would be the perfect story for them, as long as they like Courtney and Duncan. This chapter is the one where 'Bella' goes shopping with 'Jess', and 'Angela'. Thus meaning Courtney helps Bridgette and Gwen pick out the spring fling dresses while finding out a little background on Duncan. Also, when she's confronted by those scary dudes, Duncan saves her. Kind of. You'll see. I don't know if I like this chapter.
You know how at the back cover of the Twilight book, there's a little quote from the book, such as:
Edward was a vampire.
Blah blah blah
I was undeniably and irrevocably in love with him.
That's what the chapter's ending is like, but it blows, trust me. Read anyway.
Um, songs? Oh, yeah:
We Are Not Alone, by Karla Devito
Angels, by Within Temptation
We Are Not Alone is a song made in the eighties, if you're not fond of old music I don't know what you'll think. Then again, I don't really like old songs either, and I liked this one.
CHICAGO718
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CHAPTER SIX: ANYTIME
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Courtney packed the last book into her bag, half-relieved, half-disappointed. She hadn't seen Duncan all day. He was absent. Even in Biology, where she was certain he would be making sarcastic remarks.
"Hey Court," Bridgette greeted, stuffing one last book in her bag while walking over.
"Oh," Courtney sighed. "Hi."
"So, Gwen and I thought you could come help us with something," Bridgette suggested.
"Such as?" Courtney asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Picking out our dresses or the fling," Bridgette said, fiddling with her backpack strap. "We know you hate shopping, but Gwen and I have completely different tastes, we won't be able to tell each other if it looks good or not. You're neutral."
"Okay," Courtney shrugged. There was no homework. She could spare some time getting her mind away from him.
"Awesome. We're going now, you better call your mom or something," Bridgette said.
"Right." Courtney took her blue phone out of her bag and left her mom a quick message detailing where she was at and when she'd be back.
Bridgette's car was way too much like Courtney's, but hers was a Hybrid. The light blue color of the car depressed Courtney. Justin wasn't back in school yet, but she was sure he'd be in debt for the rest of his high school life or something towards her when he returned.
Courtney tapped her foot on the car floor as Bridgette sped into Rodeo Drive, the shops becoming continuously more upscale until they reached a large, glass-fronted dress shop, squished between a Bloomingdale's and a Juicy Couture. She took off her jacket and left it on the car seat; it had been warmer than she'd thought.
The selection was small, but Bridgette and Gwen, surprisingly, both found what they needed. Bridgette chose a sea blue one that ended above her knees with the top done in a halter style and the bottom separated by a white elastic band. The very bottom of the dress had white swirls all over it, jut like the ocean. Gwen chose a midnight blue one with no sleeves and tiny silver diamonds embedded into the skirt. Courtney complimented both generously and helped by returning a few rejects to their racks.
While Bridgette drifted to the jewelry counter, Gwen stayed near the shoe section, finding a pair of black flats that seemed to have similar diamonds studded around the toe.
"So, Gwen," Courtney asked, hoping she sounded nonchalant and probably failing miserably.
"Yeah?" Gwen said, holding onto Courtney's shoulder as she stood on one foot to put on the flats.
"What do you know about…Duncan?" Courtney forced the word.
Gwen looked at her.
"His dad died," she said quietly, standing on both feet.
"How?" Courtney breathed anxiously.
"Overdid drugs, of course," Gwen said. "Like father, like son."
"How so?" she asked, fighting to keep the cool to her tone.
"Oh, you know," Gwen explained. "Duncan. On the first day of school he had cigarettes, he drinks, you know."
"Trent does too," Courtney couldn't help but add.
Gwen looked at her, pityingly almost. "I know. It's his nature. Most of the time he's a good guy, you know?"
Courtney couldn't be so sure, but she nodded.
Bridgette returned with a plastic bag and her purchases, then looked confusedly at Courtney. "Shouldn't you get a dress while you're here?"
Courtney looked at her blankly. "I'm not going. I don't have a date."
Bridgette and Gwen shared a look. "But Cody said you were going with him."
"I told you it wasn't true," Gwen muttered.
"What? When'd he say this?" Courtney gaped.
"When he came back, before Ezekiel got sick," Bridgette explained.
"Well, I'm not going with anyone," Courtney finalized.
They both shrugged. Gwen paid for hers and they all left.
"So, what should we do now?" Gwen asked no one, looking at her watch. It was five. Dress shopping hadn't taken as long as they had thought previously. They had been planning on going to Sain Havannah, the Australian restaurant across the way, but no one was hungry.
Gwen consented to walking to the beach with Bridgette until six thirty. Courtney said she'd go and look for bookstore. She needed to buy an extra copy of her book.
They bid each other goodbye, at least for now, and Courtney headed in the opposite direction.
She wandered around for a good half an hour before finding a store that had a few books in the display case, all either bibles or books detailing the history of Christian religion. A few glittering dream catchers hung in the window. A woman with silver hair down to her ankles smiled beckoningly from behind the counter, looking like a prairie lady with a long floral skirt and a paisley blouse tucked in. This was one conversation Courtney could skip.
A few blocks away a few glass-fronted shops looked promising. When she reached the desired spot, she realized that they were just empty warehouses up for lease.
That's when she noticed how quiet everything was, except for the faint sound of traffic far away.
She tried a shortcut, taking a detour through a brick alley, but that just got her further into more empty warehouses.
She looked around frantically, there was no one. She couldn't see anyone.
"Hey there, gorgeous," a deep voice said behind her.
A dark shadow emerged from behind one of the warehouses, along with three others.
The first man had a shadow of a beard covering the lower half of his face. They were all dressed the same way, too-big jeans and dirty white shirts. They were all thin and muscular.
Courtney felt her mouth dry up. Quickly, she turned the other way, and much to her surprise, they let her.
But as soon as she rounded the corner that she assumed was closer to town, she saw two of the men, one of them the one with the beard.
She turned another corner and started to run.
The other two men popped up out of nowhere, this time holding pocketknives.
She wasn't being chased, she was being herded.
The bearded man and the other one joined the two to make four. Courtney backed up, and out of fright, fell down, bottom first. Her legs were half way out, her arms supporting her, shoulders up. She bit her lip. Self defense, self defense. Nothing came to mind.
All of a sudden she squinted; two headlights were flashing in the darkness, shaking slightly as if it had made a turn and the car was adjusting itself.
A familiar black truck jumped from the darkness into the flood of light from a streetlamp that suddenly flickered on, fishtailing expertly so that the passenger's door was facing Courtney. She jumped up.
"Get in," a familiar voice said from the driver's seat, the window was down.
Courtney didn't care who the hell it was, she opened the door and got in, slamming the door just as the bearded man turned around.
The car sped off the street, in no time Courtney spotted the lights of town. Then she thought to look over into the driver's seat.
It was Duncan. His hands were gripping the wheel tightly, like he wanted to break it. The skin of his knuckles was stretched to white.
"Are you okay?" Courtney squeaked, wishing she was stronger.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he replied, his voice strained.
"You didn't," she answered.
"Are you okay?" he asked, almost sincerely, even if his voice was angry.
"It's a bit late, but yes," she breathed. "Thanks."
He let go of the wheel with one hand, and beat his forefinger against the leather with the other. "I am definitely fighting fate to keep you alive."
She looked at him, eyebrows raised. "What is that supposed to mean?"
He looked at her dubiously. "First, I save you from a car, because you didn't move out of the way. And just now you were about to let those guys rape you."
Was it just her, or did his eyes darken when he said 'rape'?
She swallowed, hard.
"Did you think about yelling for help?" he said, slightly sarcastic.
"I was getting to that."
"What about running?"
"I don't run," Courtney said scathingly. "It's below my dignity."
He scoffed. "Forget about dignity, what about your life?"
Courtney then realized how stupid what she had said sounded.
"Well…I wasn't really thinking," she said in her defense.
His shoulders, which had been tensed, relaxed and lowered, but he didn't say anything else.
He pulled up in front of the beach, where Bridgette and Gwen were headed towards them.
Courtney got out of the car.
"Where were you? You were supposed to be here over an hour ago!" Bridgette said.
"I took a wrong turn and then I ran into Duncan," Courtney said bluntly.
"We kind of already ate while we were looking for you," Gwen admitted. "Sorry."
"It's fine, I'm not hungry," she assured them.
"Do you want us to drive you home?" Bridgette asked, her eyes switching from a silent Duncan, who was leaning against his car, to Courtney.
"Uh, I think Duncan will," Courtney winced, hoping she wasn't being too obvious in her desperation to spend more time with him.
"That's fine, then. See you tomorrow in Trig, Court." Bridgette waved, her blue eyes wide with held back curiosity. Gwen followed Bridgette back to her blue Prius.
"You really should eat," Duncan muttered.
"I'm not hungry," Courtney lied, wanting more time with him.
"It's not healthy. We're going," Duncan finalized without giving her a choice.
Courtney shrugged to herself and followed him across the street to Sain Havannah.
The receptionist at the counter was a fake blond girl with unnatural looking wavy hair and a shirt with a small kangaroo imprinted on the breast pocket. Her eyes widened when she saw Duncan in all his glory. Courtney couldn't help being a little jealous. Actually, a green-with-envy flame was burning inside her heart, but…that couldn't be.
"A table for two?" she said eagerly, before Duncan could utter a word. And before Courtney knew it they were sitting across from each other in a way too intimate booth beneath a green mosaic lamp.
A short, petite girl with long black hair that she had secured under an Australian sun hat was apparently their waitress. Her expression was expectant: obviously the receptionist had told her all about Duncan. She didn't look disappointed. The girl turned her back on Courtney and addressed Duncan.
"Welcome to the Sain Havannah. I'm Sarah; I'll be your waitress this evening. Can I start you off with a drink?"
"Water for her, nothing for me," Duncan said without checking with Courtney.
Courtney put one elbow on the table and rested her cheek on the side of her arm.
She wanted to say something and not sound like an idiot. But what?
Before any genius ideas struck her, Sarah returned with one ice water that she plopped carelessly in front of Courtney before turning to Duncan.
"Ready to order?" she asked, smiling alluringly.
Duncan looked at Courtney.
"Uh, I'll have…the caponata salad," Courtney said, scanning the menu and saying the first thing she saw. The girl jotted it down and smiled at Duncan, "It should be out right away." Courtney, without anything else to do or say, sipped her water. She had been thirstier than she thought, her encounter with the men had left her parched. Her drink glass was empty before she realized it. She shivered, the icy drink radiating cold throughout her body. "Did you bring a jacket?" Duncan asked disapprovingly. "I did…" Courtney checked the bench, then remembered. "I forgot it in Bridgette's car." She looked up at Duncan. He took off his black zip-front sweatshirt with the white X and handed it to her. "Here." She stared at it. "Uh, no thanks." "You're cold," Duncan said. He stood up and put it on her. It was impossibly awkward. Sarah must have caught the whole thing, because she put the caponata salad in front of Courtney and left wordlessly."How did you know where I was?" Courtney asked, averting her eyes and she picked up her fork and speared a piece of lettuce.
Duncan seemed to be watching her lips as she put the piece in her mouth; he shook himself out of his daze, "Huh?"
Courtney blushed. "Uh, how did you know where I was?"
He paused. "You eat, I'll talk," he bargained.
Courtney nodded and put forked another vegetable.
"I skip school all the time. You know that," he said, watching her mouth. She closed it.
"Uh-huh," she said, her mouth full.
"Well, I was here," he said, swallowing. "I saw Bridgette's car, and you in it. So I decided to…follow you." He paused anxiously. She realized she had frozen with the bite halfway to her mouth.
"You followed me?" she asked, partly surprised, partly elated. Then she put the bite in her mouth, not wanting to push him further.
"Well…yeah," he said hesitantly.
She looked at him questioningly. "Why?"
He looked pained. "Look, Courtney."
She looked up using only her eyes; her face remained tilted towards her bowl of food.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be following you like this. I don't know if you know this Courtney, but Trent, Geoff, Tyler, DJ, and well…me, we're worse than you think."
She was confused. "I don't see…"
He put his hand on the table, clenching and unclenching it impulsively. "I didn't think so. You're too good."
Courtney wasn't sure if it was a compliment. She had nothing else to say. She reached to take a bite and realized the bowl was empty. Sarah swooped in, took the bowl, and handed Duncan the check. He already had the bill in his hand. He half-smiled, obviously he was tense. She seemed confused by his change in mood.
"Keep the change," he said smoothly.
"S-sure," she stuttered, muddled by his low tone. "You have a good night."
Neither of them replied or talked at all as they both silently got into Duncan's car. Courtney felt self conscious; Duncan was looking at her, and not just her face. She pulled her knees up to her chin and rested her head on her arms.
The road whizzed by. Courtney kept her eyes on the road ahead of her, biting her lip.
"Why did you turn Justin down?" Duncan said suddenly, turning the scorching force of his eyes on her.
Courtney remembered, she narrowed her eyes. "I don't like him. Thanks for making him ask me."
Duncan turned his eyes to his hand, which was still on the driving lever. "So…you're not going with anyone?"
Courtney decided to tell the truth. "Well, Cody told everyone I was going with him."
Duncan looked confused, and a little angry. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice a bit strained.
"I said no," Courtney answered quickly. "Partly because I didn't know until Bridgette told me a few hours ago."
The muscles in his forearms disappeared as he stopped gripping so tightly.
"Courtney, I'm not so sure about Mount Shasta anymore," Duncan said after a moment of quiet.
Courtney looked at him, resting her cheek sideways on her knee. "Why not?" Her voice went up an octave at the end.
She saw his small smile in the darkness. "Because I don't think I'm safe to you, sunshine."
"Duncan, nothing you do with Trent and Geoff can be that bad," Courtney said dismissively.
Duncan looked at her. "You don't know half of it."
Courtney couldn't think of anything that bad, but she remained silent. She was sorry when the porch light of her house came into view.
"Will I see you tomorrow?" she said, glad it was dark.
Duncan smiled, slightly. "Yeah."
"Um…good." Curse herself, bad with words.
"I know you can't wait to see me, princess," he said, turning the car off.
Unwillingly, Courtney opened the door and stepped out.
"Uh, thanks for the ride," Courtney said, pressing her thumb into her thigh.
"Anytime," he said, closing the car door after her.
His hand went to the drive lever, then her turned to her. "I meant that. Anytime."
The car skidded slightly as it turned sharply into darkness.
Courtney walked, slightly dazed, into the house. Her mom was sitting in front of the television, watching the Discovery Channel.
"Hey, sweetie," her mom said, looking a little surprised. "It's only eight-thirty. I thought you said you'd be out till ten?"
"Oh, yeah…" Courtney trailed off. "Well, Gwen didn't feel so well, so we dropped her off and it wasn't any fun with just the two of us."
"Oh." Her mom smiled, then frowned. "Hey, where'd you get that sweatshirt?"
Courtney's eye widened and she put a hand to the white X on the front of the jacket. "Uh, I borrowed it from…Gwen."
"Hmm. Seems a bit big for her, don't you think?" she laughed. "Well, you kids and your baggy clothing."
"Yeah," Courtney agreed. "Well, 'night."
"Night, honey." Her mom looked slightly puzzled by Courtney's going to sleep so early, but decided it was just the abnormal teen behavior.
Courtney sat on the bed in her room, taking off the jacket and folding it on her hand. She put her head on it. It smelled comfortably of mint.
She could gather only so much about Duncan:
He was dangerous. That much was clear. She didn't know much about him at all, who knew what he did with Geoff and Trent?
He had obviously done something he didn't want her to know about.
She could, possibly, be in love with him.