I made sure to shorten this one considerably compared to the last. Originally this was going to be just as long as the last one, but since I've come to realize people like shorter chapters I basically am splitting it into two. This more then likely means there will be twice as many chapters as originally planned. You'll prolly like that though. lol Note: Dots like this ... on their own line mean a skip in time/jump from Courtney to Duncan or vise versa. K?
The two stared back at each other for what felt like forever to them both. The same things were going through their minds all the while. Why is she here? There's no way I have a class with him. She's so stuck up. What a punk. I hope she dies. Maybe he'll go emo and kill himself from drinking. Maybe. If we're lucky. Courtney's mouth twitched slightly as the stream of thoughts ended for both of them. She wasn't about to go sit next to him. He didn't deserve her company.
Duncan narrowed his eyes further to try and intimidate the girl standing across the room from him. Why? Out of the thousands of kids who went to this school, why was it that the one person who he hated had to be in his class? If this wasn't God's way of fucking with him he didn't know what was. He wasn't sure whether to curse the almighty being for being so cruel or to pray that this be a silly mistake and she was just lost. He growled lightly at how ridiculous and hopeless the notion sounded. But maybe, just maybe, she would sit far away from him.
Their death stare went on until the teacher snapped them to attention. "You!" she snapped. "Take your seat so we can get started!" her eyes were black coals of hate. Courtney could see she couldn't stand her job or the kids she was forced to be in contact with.
Courtney frowned lightly at her, not understanding why someone would take a job they loathed so many aspects of. However as she scrutinized the medium sized woman she didn't feel quite so angry. Not looking at the delinquent in the back corner made her a lot less tense and her eyes softer. It was only when she turned to search for a seat as the teacher wanted did her barely there good nature vanish into thin air.
He hadn't taken his eyes off her all the while and she knew it by how deep his frown had become and how far down his brows dug toward his eyes. She was slightly taken aback by the way he was able to hold such a fierce expression for so long, but once she regained focus she returned the favor, walking up the aisle of white desks with her head held high. Of course she her air of arrogance wasn't complete even as she crossed her arms over her chest because she was forced to peek out of the corner of her eyes for a seat. None in the first row, not the second, no fourth. She was desperate now. She needed for there to be a seat somewhere else, anywhere that wasn't next to him. But she soon realized there was no hope for her. She reached the very last row and drew in a sharp breath. "No…" she breathed, bringing a hand to her mouth to bite nervously on her nails.
She swirled around, frantic, to look over each row carefully once more. She had to have missed something. Anything! And she had. Up a row to her left was one vacant seat. She let out a deep sigh of relief, not having felt so thankful in forever. "Thank you God." she found herself saying for the second time in the past five minutes. Unfortunately the seat was beside one of the most grotesque humans she'd ever laid eyes on. A shiver ran down her spine. He was so fat, layers of skin clumping together most noticeably on his face, his eyes were so small and to close together, he didn't appear able to keep his mouth shut, and a certain smell seemed to be permeating the air from his direction. She froze, not knowing what was worse, a year of prison with fatso over there or a death sentence with the punk.
"Sit down!" the teachers sharp voice cut through the air, making Courtney jump.
Now she was quick to decide. She took one last fleeting look back to the boy with the skull on his shirt and scurried forward to take her seat by the student no one else wished to be near. She sighed softly, grimacing as she looked over at the boy next to her so that she wouldn't be tempted to look behind her. Although she had to admit, staring at the large kid as well as enduring his stench and trying not to let him touch her was a rather hard task. It was exhausting really. It didn't help that she could be a germ freak depending on who it was around her. And this was definitely one of the latter cases.
The boy next to her looked at her and smiled awkwardly, waving his hand lazily.
Courtney forced a smile onto her face, but she didn't like or mean it. She was dying to get out of this place, an amazing desire for someone like her who was consumed with being at school as much as humanly possible. She guessed circumstances were more important then she previously thought.
"Today is the first day so, like you've been doing all day, there will be nothing but packages and syllabi." she spoke in a monotone. Courtney didn't mind, but Duncan already knew he was going to die in the class.
Duncan leaned his head down onto the table sideways as he only pretended to listen to the teacher. All he really was paying attention to was the snotty girl a row ahead of him. But it wasn't pleasant thoughts that filled his head. It was all pure unadulterated hate. He hated her so much, in fact, that he refused to admit she looked good at all. She looked a wreck, the biggest mess of a girl he'd seen in a long, long time. Her hair was in knots, sticking up all over, her clothes looked like there was an inch of dust accumulated on it, and her eyes from what he could tell were dull, filled with just as much hate as his own teal orbs. He snickered lightly when the thought of what he thoughts were concerning him must be. She was probably thinking 'He sucks.' or 'Why him? He is so stupid.' perhaps even the desire for him to die was passing through that evil mind of hers. He smirked at the notion. In a way her wanting so much to get rid of him and destroy his being turned him on. He loved girls with a fiery spirit. Only not this one. Her fiery spirit wasn't quite enough to tempt him. Besides, there were plenty of others. And she was a junior, he was a senior. They didn't belong. He'd be gone in a year while she remained rooted to this God awful spot.
Courtney swallowed hard as she scooted as far as she could to the side without being far out into the row. For a while this distracted her too. It keep her occupied for exactly twenty-five minutes. But no more then that. After this much time passed she found herself unable to deny that she was being stared down. Ever since the start of class she'd felt uneasy and like there was an intense fire burning into her back. She didn't want to look back to see if she was right, because she knew who it'd be if it was anyone. It would be that stupid punk boring a hole into her. She gripped her fists tightly, gritting her teeth too as a way to will herself into keeping her gaze on anywhere but behind her. "Don't look…don't look…don't look…" she whispered to herself, shaking slightly from fighting her own desire so hard.
Duncan yawned out loud, lifting his head off the table and resting it in the palm of his hand. It was tilted somewhat, but he liked being off center. Things that were perfect pissed him off. It was another thing about this brunette that got under his skin. Despite the fact she was looking so awful today he had an inkling that this wasn't the real her. He knew that on any other day every bit of her hair would have been in place, her clothes perfectly clean and ironed, and her eyes jus bright enough. He wasn't sure how she would manage to pull the last one off, all he knew was that she would find a way. If she was really as perfect as he thought.
Courtney heard the sound that issued forth from behind her and she breathed in a deep breath. She honestly didn't believe this did any good as far as her wanting to turn around was concerned but it did calm her mind somewhat. At this point anything was a plus.
"And remember!" the teacher said louder then how she'd been talking previously. "If you don't get these back here by tomorrow it will hurt your grade. Badly." she hissed the last word with a certain satisfaction, smiling cruelly. "But if you do…" she held up a finger. "You get a grade and bonus points!" she clapped her hands together with the falsest cheer Courtney had ever seen.
There was a collective groan heard in the room from all but the perfectionist sitting close to the back. "Yes!" she cried to herself, pumping her arm down through the air with happiness.
Duncan noticed that the once still and silent girl was now moving and appeared to be talking to herself. He raised a brow at her strange reaction toward the teachers words. She was weird, that was for sure. But there was something more about the way she was acting that perturbed him. He didn't fully realize it, but it was because she was so happy. She practically glowed. And he was not. So the part of him that understood this factor sent him the message that something must be done. Duncan smirked darkly, thinking of something that wouldn't hurt her, but would without a doubt annoy her to do. He grabbed a couple of sheets of paper out of his older then time bag and started tearing them up into little pieces. This was going to be fun.
Courtney had ceased her mindless babbling to herself and grown still once more, but her smile never faded. Since she felt so good all of a sudden she figured she'd do something with it. She started to pull out all the papers she'd stuffed back in after falling and began sorting them into stacks. Yes, that's right, her papers for each class were different because to Courtney everything had to be distinguishable. Paper wasn't just paper. It mattered just like everything else.
Duncan had efficiently created a pile of tiny balls in five minutes easy. He was sure he could use the stack up until the end of class, thirty minutes away, and still have leftovers. He snickered again and aimed his first shot ever so carefully.
Courtney was nearly done with organizing the junk, happiness still unbearably obvious, when she felt something hit the back of her head. She paused, frowning, to wonder what it was that was so small yet could have hit her in the head like that. She shrugged, passing it off as nothing more then a fly being what they were, a pest. But then there was another, and a third, fourth, fifth, all hitting different spots. The glimmer in her eyes was gradually fading. Her frown deepened and her brows dug down toward her eyes. There was only one thing that could be doing this. But she really didn't want to look. As much as she loved proving herself right she didn't in this moment.
Duncan was holding down a full out belly laugh, hand pressed hard against his mouth as the other threw tiny paper wads every few seconds. And through it all he didn't care that she knew she knew he was the culprit. Just seeing her steaming was enough for him.
It had been five minutes and she swore there had to be at least a hundred of the tiny paper wads now lying around her desk. It was bad enough she was the target, but now the fact that her space was dirty made it ten times worse. "You think you're funny…" she hissed under her breath. "Fine." she glanced out of the corner of her eye, going against her will, to see him back in the corner with a stack of both shredded and unshredded paper by his side. She knew it. "I'll show you funny." she drew from her pocket a rock she'd picked up for a reason she no longer remembered. It was rather pretty for a rock found on school grounds and she half regretted having to use it for such a misdeed. But it took only a second glance back at the punk to realize it wasn't that great. She twisted all the way around in her chair, almost like an owl does with his head, and hurled the object right at his head.
The boy was busy laughing his head off, but not so much that he was blind. He saw the rock in time to duck down out of the way, eyes wide with shock. "What the fuck!" he spat loud enough for all in the class to hear. And they did. All heads turned to him.
Courtney shrugged as if getting rocks chucked at your head was a natural thing. Although despite herself she was grinning devilishly. It was all she could do to stop herself from bursting out in laughter. "Oops." she said in a hushed voice to herself.
Duncan reacted as if he heard even though he had not. His eyes narrowed into slits, fists clenched, and mouth turned into a fierce snarl. "Bitch." he mouthed, anticipating a reaction like she seemed to always have.
Courtney did a double take. She figured he was vulgar, but she didn't think he'd risk getting caught by others. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. Of course he wouldn't give a damn. He had said the f word without thinking. So instead of beating herself up about her idiocy she recomposed herself and stuck her tongue out.
Duncan shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe that she really thought sticking her tongue out was worse then him calling her a bitch. He understood her reasoning behind it though. Since she was the perfectionist she wouldn't want to get caught saying a curse word, even just mouthing it, so she took a step down so that even if she were caught it would make no difference. Although just because he understood didn't mean he cared. He countered by flipping her with the cover of his bag.
Courtney grew angrier still, yet there was nothing left for her to do. Maybe if she had the cover of her books and was sitting way in the back she would be braver in her retorts, but things being as they were she was left stumped. Her angry eyes soon faded to a blank stare and then to one of bitter defeat.
He raised a brow at her, arms crossed as if to say 'I'm waiting.' And he was. He wanted so badly for her to do more. He wanted to see her get in trouble and fall to her knees in disbelief. He hated her that much.
Courtney refused his offer, turning, fuming, back around to face the front.
Duncan stuck his lip out in a pouting manner. She was too smart for her own good. He shrugged. He'd just do as he'd been doing. He grabbed a handful of paper and prepared to launch…but stopped. He had a better idea. He grabbed a whole sheet of paper, scribbled a sloppy note on it and crumpled it into one big paper wad. However, this time he didn't aim for her head. She wouldn't pay it any attention if he did that. He didn't want to be thought of as stupid for it.
Courtney was breathing deeply in and out as she sat there and stared intensely at the clock. She was concentrating so hard one would think she was attempting to will the minute hands to move forward so she could escape. And they'd almost be right. She only wished it was possible. She sighed lightly, resting her head in the palm of her hands. It was two forty. She wanted to shoot herself in the foot to relieve the ache waiting caused. Fortunately Duncan's incessant picking distracted her from the time. Although it did not make it any easier to hold her extremely unstable temper.
The piece of paper he threw landed dead center of the top of her head and bounced down onto the table before her. She grit her teeth and banged her fists down on the table. A few people looked around at her, but the teacher went on much to Courtney's relief. She sighed, picking it up against her better judgment. She flattened it back out to reveal the words he wrote in his awful handwriting. "Dear, bitch, it's too bad you're a chicken. I guess you'll never amount to anything. But here's a pity prize…" She blinked a couple times. What? A prize? What prize? She stared intently at the parchment to see if she was missing something. Maybe he'd meant the hit on the head. Somehow she didn't think so. And she was right.
A moment later she saw what was intended for her. It was the biggest bug she'd ever seen in her life. She hated bugs. They were on her top ten list of fears. So naturally her immediate response was to let out a high pitched scream and jump backwards. Her movement sent her chair to the ground and her along with it. This in turn sent everyone in the room into a full on cackle, mostly Duncan. She scrambled across the floor as fast as she could even as the laughter rose all around her. Her face was flushed by all this unwanted attention, but other then that she ignored them. Every last one of the idiots. All except the boy at the back.
Once she was back on her feet, bug far away, she sent daggers into Duncan. But really her anger wasn't her dominant emotion. Her embarrassment was a close second, but what prevailed over all was betrayal. Not the betrayal of Duncan, but her own to herself and everyone else. She felt like she had let herself down, her parents, and the school. As she tried her best to forget it she carefully dusted herself off, pulling her shirt down tight with both hands and not letting go. Her eyes were planted on the ground and she looked about ready to cry. "Sorry…" she mumbled, but it was not heard.
Duncan was still laughing long after everyone else stopped, holding his sides as tears of joy filled his eyes. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself. Despite her obvious hurt due to his joke he felt nothing for her. She was the butt of the joke, she got laughed at, and she hated it. So what? If it wasn't her fault then she shouldn't cry over it. It was life, it happens. If she didn't grasp this tiny factor and couldn't handle this small group of people making her feel miserable he didn't know how she'd survive real life.
The math teacher reprimanded them all. "Shut up!" she screeched. "You!" she pointed at Duncan and he stared blankly back at her. "Stop being an immature brat and don't you dare bring bugs into my class again!" she switched her gaze of to Courtney. "And you!" Courtney hung her head in shame. "Stop being such a baby and suck it up! People are asses! It's life!" After she was pleased enough by her words she decided she didn't want to waste her time up at the front and would go back to her desk and let the students do whatever they well pleased. At least as long as they didn't disturb her.
Duncan smirked over at the teacher and then to Courtney. She wasn't watching him. She was busy resituating herself in her chair. He shook his head. She was so easily screwed with. It almost wasn't any fun…almost. If only she were more of a challenge. No girl was really, not in any aspect. They were easily wooed by his bad boy charms, easily scared out of their minds by his tricks, and just flat out easy. He supposed he'd have to do something different to keep himself entertained for the week.
For the rest of the period Courtney didn't lift her gaze from her desk, not to look back at Duncan, not to see the teacher, not even to look at the clock. She was trapped in her mind, her own little word of security, until the sound of the bell brought her back to reality.
Everyone jumped from their seats and rushed to the door, trying to squish past everyone else and be the first out of the building. It took them a while but eventually they were all gone, all but Courtney. She waited until they were gone to slowly stand and walk at a snail like pace out the door and down the hall until she walked into the sunlight of the outside. It blinded her at first, but she didn't care. Nothing mattered right now beside her finding her bus and getting home. Nothing…
She rode in her bus, 213, in silence, instead taking in all the other sounds around her. There was the constant chattering of excited kids, the annoyed grumbles of the driver, the tiny wisps of wind catching onto pieces of her hair, the sound of coke cans and plates hitting the floor. All these sounds and more swirled about her, yet she barely cared. That's all they were, sounds. They held no meaning to her in this world of irritation. She didn't want to be here just as she didn't want to earlier today. All she wanted was to be back in her hometown. And since that was no longer an option she settled on the 'home' that she was trapped in now.
She stepped off the bus just as slowly as she got on it, standing there minutes after it had pulled away and the cries of the children had long faded into silence. She sighed. She didn't want to go in her house. If she did she knew her mother would be waiting and ask the dreaded question. 'How was your day honey'. She'd say it in her singsong fake cheery voice too, making it worse instead of better. Courtney wondered what would happen if she hijacked their car and drove away, far, far away so that they'd never find her. No. She shook her head sadly. That wouldn't work. Her conscience would eat away at her. So reluctantly she wandered over to the door of their large house, tentatively opening the door to met her sure to come doom.
Her mother zoomed around the corner in a heartbeat, her cheesy smile there as Courtney said it would be. "Hey, honey!" she cried. "How was it? Was it hard? Did you make any friends? Do your teachers like you?" her questions were ordered in way of importance.
Courtney looked away from her mom, hating that she was even able to fake happiness. "I dunno." I shrugged. "I don't really want to talk about it." she drug her heel in circles on the carpet.
Her mother lost her false cheer and her mouth fell into a flat line, expression verging on aggravated. "Honey?" she pressed, tone holding an edge.
Courtney sighed miserably. "I couldn't go because I wasn't in the system." she stared dully up into her mother's slowly widening eyes. "But I managed to get into last period." Courtney intentionally skipped the part with Zane. She knew her mother well enough to know telling her about a boy on the first day would get her a one way ticket to a bitch fit.
Her mother seemed halfway pleased that she had gotten some learning in, yet she still looked at her daughter expectantly. "And?"
Courtney exhaled softly. "And it gets worse." she stated flatly, waiting for the question that would launch her into the tale of Duncan the ass.
...
Duncan went home the same way he came. He didn't need a bus like all the other fools and it felt great. It was another one of the ways he counted that made him different, special. Only this time he walked slowly. He savored the feel of freedom and most importantly the feeling of pure bliss. The wind worked its way through his hair, making him feel light, the sun shone brightly, making his hair shine, and the high of messing with that brunette girl was what really made his day. He knew as he grew closer to his home that the beautiful day and image of the girl's face would definitely get him through another day of what would normally be hell.
He approached the door and pressed his ear against the thin clear glass. He listened for any sign of a commotion before deciding after a minute or two that all was well. He opened the door and walked in and over toward the living room. His mother was waiting for him like she was everyday after school.
"Hey sweetie." she said so sweetly that it was amazing it was genuine. She was sitting on their blue couch pressed up against the wall in the far corner, her hands clasped together on her lap. "How was it? Were you good?" her tone was ever chipper.
Duncan's smile widened. He always loved talking to his mom. Not that he'd ever admit this to a soul, but it made bad days better and good days amazing. "It was great mom." he said with content, moving over to the couch and sitting down next to her. He turned his head toward her, taking in her expression before adding, "And I didn't skip school. I was there all day." he was so incredibly proud.
His mother burst with joy. "Oh! Honey! That's wonderful!" she gushed, ruffling his hair gently. "But…" she paused, eyes holding a concerned look and smile fallen slightly, none of it however was false in any way. "Were you good?"
His smile fell much like hers, only it wasn't because he regretted what he'd done or because he was displeased with it in any way, it was due to the fact that his mother would be disappointed on him. He rubbed the back of his head. "Well…until last period." he admitted.
"Ah!" she sighed sadly. "Duncan…"
"Don't worry mom." he insisted, hugging her a bit to make sure she didn't get into one of her moods of intense sadness. He couldn't take that even with the high he was feeling. "It wasn't big. It was a little thing and the teacher didn't give a dam-crap. Crap!" he corrected himself.
His mother laughed lightly at his slip up. "I don't care Duncan. Say whatever you want." she paused, thinking of some other question to ask. "What was your favorite part of the day?" she decided upon.
"Lunch." he was quick to say, smiling from ear to ear.
She rolled her eyes at him, watching as if she expected something more, but wouldn't say it because she didn't like to pressure him into telling her things.
Since she seemed so interested in what else there was he figured he'd tell her the story of why he was so happy. She probably wouldn't like it, but now that she knew he had done something wrong the details wouldn't bug her quite so much. "It gets better." he said with a devious smirk, leaning back with his hands behind his head so he could tell the story of Courtney the bitch in full glory.
How was it? Do you like me shortening the chapters? I'd like to know. And how about the comparisons of Duncan and Courtney's lives? Those are really fun to do too. :) And sorry about the dxc hate, but not all couples can start off all happy, especially not dxc. lol Plz review! :D