6th period was going to be the same as 1st- a boring review. At least we had my favorite teacher that period, though.

Ms Griffith was very nice and sweet. She loved science as much as she loved kids. Although most of her science projects ended in explosions and eruptions, she was always able to laugh about it. I had had my fair share of chemical reactions last year, so she was one of my favorite teachers because of that. She always understood that it was just a mistake. Her laugh lines showed brilliantly under her eyes, but I just thought that it made her look all the better. I loved a person who knew how to laugh.

She was also the mother of one of my best friends, Alex Griffith. I didn't understand how a mother like Ms Griffith could harbor a child like Alex. He was crazy and always getting himself into trouble. There was not a week to go by without hearing his name called to the principal's office.

But even though Alex was such a bad boy, he loved his mother. And he wasn't afraid for anyone to see it. He hugged her everyday he walked into class, and that was what made her smile. She said that Alex was her reason for teaching, he had inspired her. How I don't know, but he did. Whenever he was sick, Ms Griffith wasn't in school either. Losing her husband had done quite an amount of damage on her, so her two kids Alex and Hannah were all she had. Hannah wasn't old enough to be in High School yet, but that was why she needed Alex so much.

That was why when I walked into the room, Ms Griffith came and hugged me tight. "Hi Courtney. I missed you." She never did forget my name.

When she finally let go of me, I spoke up. "It's nice to see you Ms Griffith. I'm sorry I wasn't at Hannah's Birthday party. I was… busy."

"That's ok Courtney. Your seat is in the same place it always has been." She pointed to the chair in the middle of the room. "Bridgette might not be in this class this year, but I have the perfect partner for you."

"Perfect Partner?" Who was she talking about? "You mean Geoff? He's just like Bridgette, so yeah I would see why you would call him the perfect partner." Geoff was nice and sweet, and Bridgette and he were totally into each other. They wouldn't admit it though, not yet. Bridgette said she liked him, but it might ruin their friendship. That was everyone's excuse now-a-days.

"No, not Geoff." I stared at her. Before I had time to ask who, she said, "Just you wait and see."

I waited for about two minutes until everyone had showed up. And then he came.

Duncan ran into the room this time, his green Mohawk swaying in his rush to class. He looked around the room, and then his eye caught me. He grinned widely. I scoffed. What a pig.

Then he ran over beside me. I looked at him in distaste, and saw him plop down in the chair beside me.

Duncan smelled like something. Something that smelled kind of good and bad at the same time. I smelled some sort of cologne on him, which smelled pretty nice. But mixed in with that scent was the smell of smoke, which made me cough. "Do you smoke, or something?" I said in disgust.

He looked at me with an expression that said, 'why do you care'? He then shrugged, and said, "Maybe."

Then I saw that we were really close. Close-close. "Um, excuse me, but would you mind giving me some space? Please?" Although I said please, it wasn't your normal begging type please. It was like a demand, no longer sounding like a plea. But I did have to politeness, and if it weren't for me wanting to stick to that rule, I would have already slapped him for even sitting by me.

"Of course Princess, I am your humble servant." He said, not even scooting over by about an inch. When he looked back at me and saw that I wasn't that satisfied with how much he had scooted, he sighed and move over by a foot.

I smiled and was happy. I was happy because I had won. Courtney: 1. Duncan: 0. I snickered just at the thought.

He turned to me. "What are you giggling about?" He seemed curious. Why did he want to know what I was laughing about? Because he thinks it's about him, I thought. Duh.

I found that this was the perfect time to tease. "Oh, nothing." I giggled yet again to edge him on.

He frowned, his eyebrows forming a questioning expression. "You had to be laughing about something." He tipped his head to the side. "People don't just laugh out of nowhere."

"I do." I said with a laugh in my voice.

Duncan's face became a bit agitated, which made me want to laugh out loud. But then it turned into a playful smile. He tore a piece of paper out of his binder, and wrote something down on it in pen. He looked around the room. He shot it at Geoff's head, which seemed to have such a force to it that Geoff's hat came off. "What?" Geoff said, as he grabbed the paper off the ground. He opened up the sheet of paper, and smiled at Duncan. He looked at me, and winked towards Duncan.

"What are you up too?" I said.

Duncan didn't answer. He just closed his eyes and smirked. I felt the heat rising up to my face, and the feeling of hitting him almost over took me.

"Duncan, what did it say?"

He looked at me with that devilish smirk. "Oh, Nothing." He said. Then he added on, "Princess."

I felt like slapping him. So I did.

He clutched the side of his face. "Ok. That hurt!"

"That was the point, Ogre!" I got out of the chair and walked all the way across the room. I couldn't sit by that thing anymore.

He shouted across the room, "It only said to look at Courtney and wink!"

"Not Caring!" But as soon as I far across the room, I was doing just the opposite of that.

He looked hurt. Not just physically, but mentally. I felt like going over and saying sorry, but that would be stupid. He was asking for it!

He got up out of the chair and mumbled something to himself. He then went to stand by Geoff. He started talking to Geoff, and, although I could tell Geoff didn't want for me to notice, he kept glancing at me the whole time Duncan was talking. Duncan then peered at me from the corner of his eye. He looked into my eyes for a second, and then he smiled. Crap, he had caught me looking at him!

He had been acting that way to get my attention. That was his plan all along! What a pig!
But what made me really mad was that I had fallen for it. That was shameful. Another thing: I had actually cared if he was hurt. How could I be so weak!? How could I even care?
I had to find someone to talk to make me stop arguing with myself. But who...

Gwen was standing in the corner of the room. Although she was Goth, she was one of my best friends.

"Gwen!" I said.

Gwen looked over at me quickly. She smiled a sweet smile. "Hi Courtney." She seemed to be in a better mood than usual.

"Was Trent in your last class, or are you just being abnormally happy?" I said. We both laughed. She nodded yes though, in answer to my question. "You guys are so good together."

She giggled. "Maybe. I'm giving it sometime though..." She stared blankly into space, and then she grinned. "Saw you flirting with the new guy. Slaps of love?" She laughed at her own joke.

I, however, was not amused. "He's so vile. I had to slap him. He's too cocky for his own good."

"Um, may I ask who this mystery guy is?"

"Oh, Duncan's no mystery." I said. "The only thing mysterious about him is if he has more piercings than that." I looked at him quickly, making sure he didn't see me. "It's gross."

"I think he's hot."

I fumed. "Will you guys quit saying that already?" Why would anyone think that thing was hot?

"Sorry." she said. "I think he's totally into you. He keeps looking at you." She smiled.

"Uh, don't remind me." I put my head against the wall. "He's been following me all day. Well, not really following, but showing up."

"It was fate." She turned her eyes toward the ceiling, as if honoring the angles.

"Yeah fate. Or just really, really, really bad karma." I said with a smile, my head still against the wall. "I must have been a damn crazy person in my past life to deserve this."

"Well-"

Gwen was then cut off by our teacher. "Kids, we have all had a great summer right?"

A few random answers were shouted out like, "Yeah", "It was alright", and a few, "It sucked!"

Ms Griffith, not amused, went on. "We are going to have to review as you know." People sighed all around the room. "We will be going over independent and dependent variables."

"Okay. Now your seats." She said. She looked at me nervously. "Everyone will receive a slip of paper. Inside it will say your desk partner and your seat."

She gave us all sheets of paper with our names on the front.

When she reached Duncan, I saw him open the slip of paper, and laugh to himself. OH-NO.
She got to me. It was the last slip of paper in her hands. "Crap." I said to myself.

I opened the slip of paper. "Duncan." I said aloud, eyes narrowing with anger. "Table 7." I crushed the piece of paper in my hands. Gwen laughed.

I sighed loudly, and took my seat next to a smirking Duncan.

He He, hope you like this chapter! My bf said he likes it a lot- so I'm hoping you guys do to!