Here's another part. It is shorter then the last, but still a good length. I hope you enjoy! :)
After the day at the fair, when Monday came around, things were a bit different then what they'd been before her sudden change in behavior. Duncan picked on her more to make up for leaving her alone during her stressful time and Zane talked animatedly to her about all he'd done the past weekend after their time together. She was content with this too. She sure as hell didn't like the way Duncan treated her, but how could she complain? She had half of the perfect life she wished to keep after moving and that made it better. At least it did until the Thursday of the third week of school. This was when Duncan pushed her over the edge. It was fourth period, drama class, and Duncan had decided to be an extra big ass for some reason. He'd pushed her out of her seat like he always did, wrote notes and threw them at her head, and flipped her off. It was a regular thing. Only near the end he chose to do something that broke her.
Zane was still choosing to talk to Duncan over her, which right off made the class thoroughly unenjoyable for her. They went back and forth, trying to outdo the other in the most freaky thing they'd done since the last time they'd spoken which was a couple of days ago. This in itself should've been a warning sign, Duncan was always extra vengeful the day he was chosen after a time of not being the center of attention. It was just that Courtney hadn't been thinking about it. She was trying to focus as well as forget the day before when her mother and father had had a falling out for the umpteenth time.
"Oh, yeah!" Duncan exclaimed, rubbing his hands together deviously. "Well, I ate a bunch of bugs yesterday for a contest. And won." he added triumphantly.
Courtney mentally threw up. "Wow!" Zane said excitedly. "But it's not half as good as what I did." he nodded with the utmost certainty.
It was at this point she started ignoring them. She was twisting her hair about with her fingers, staring interestedly toward the board as the teacher scribbled down a simple list of things needed to be a good actor. She knew it all as she should and answered every time she was asked. And she was prepared to shoot her hand into the air at lightening speed when she heard a lot of the students in the class suppressing giggling or at least trying to. It didn't help that they were all stealing glances back at her whenever they thought she wasn't looking. She blinked a couple of times, slowly forgetting that she was about to answer a question the more confused she grew. "Zane." she tugged at his sleeve.
He glanced over at her. "Hmm? I kinda need to watch this." he lied, pointing to the new addition to the list on the board. "I'm not very good at acting. Which sure begs the question of why I signed up for it, huh?" he chortled, nudging her playfully in the side.
Courtney frowned. "Sorry, but…" she paused. "Everyone's laughing. Do you think it's at me?" she was rather afraid of the answer. She wasn't sure if knowing the truth would make her feel any better or quite possibly worse about all this.
Zane chuckled, shrugging. "I'm sure it's nothing. Juniors are not as mature as you would think. I should know. I am one after all." he joked, nudging her in the side with his elbow again.
"Yeah…I just…" she trailed off, sighing. "I can see that glint in their eyes…" she mumbled under her breath. "The same as Duncan's…"
Duncan was on the opposite side of Zane, smirking evilly around his friend at the confused and quite possibly scared brunette before him. She was so stupid. She didn't ever know when something was going on around her and when she did she didn't have a clue it had to do with her. Duncan guessed it was all thanks to that preppy school Zane told him she went to before this. Yes. Zane wasn't the best person with hiding details from his friends about his other friends. There was only one secret he had managed to keep from the world. And it was easily the darkest of them all.
Courtney shifted uneasily in her spot next to Zane up until the last five minutes. At this point everyone in the class was laughing softly, hands overtop their mouths. And they were all staring backwards. She swallowed hard. Maybe…maybe they were looking at Duncan or quite possibly Zane! She prayed for this to be true, all the while knowing it was an impossibility. There was no way to deny they were looking dead on to her and her frightened face. "Zane." she said with urgency.
And then it came. A ginger girl handed the note that had been circulating about the room all period back to Duncan. He unfolded the piece of parchment ever so slowly with the utmost care despite the fact he'd started it, smirking darkly at the writing. He cleared his throat then, sneering devilishly at her around Zane.
Courtney shrank back, shivering from the fear that was creeping up on her. She was so afraid of what he was about to do now. She really didn't want to know. She just wanted to get out of here without a blemish to her physical appearance and more so without a blemish to her personal record. Since it was Duncan we are talking about she knew that he wouldn't hesitate to turn her world upside down.
He parted his lips to speak, the words coming out slowly and cruelly. "I, Courtney Manning, just want you all to know that I am a huge slut who plans on sleeping with every guy in this school by the end of the year. I've already gotten to a few, in particular Zane Andrews. So don't be surprised by the stories they tell. It's all true." he paused, this time glaring menacingly at Zane instead of Courtney. He wanted to gauge his reaction most of all. "One hundred percent."
Courtney's face fell instantaneously. There wasn't a second of hesitation for her either. The moment the words passed his lips and reached the air and everyone else's ears she lost it. Her hands went straight to her mouth and her once clear beautiful eyes welled with tears. They stung her eyes as she fought a war to hide them from the world. Bu it was no easy task, not since everyone else was dying over the words which had been uttered.
The class erupted into laughter, not the playful kind either, the kind that you know is aimed at hurting you to your very core. The sound was as cruel and detrimental as it would be for each of them individually to repeat what Duncan had effortlessly said. Their eyes didn't help in the least. While back at her old school they would have held sympathy for her and her predicament theirs did not. All that could be found in the depths of their many colored eyes was evil, cruelness, a sense of mocking, and that glimmer…that glimmer she could not place except in saying that it was identical to the look Duncan's eyes always showed when staring at her.
Her eyes shot to the clock, taking in the fact there were three minutes remaining, but not caring. She leapt up from her chair, knocking it down in the process. However, she ignored the fact, only thinking of escaping the ever growing sound of those taunting laughs and the words that some braver asses dared to say. Slut…Whore…Easy… These were three she caught, much to her dismay. She didn't allow herself to hear any more. Not even Zane's concerned cry was enough for her to turn around and stop. She was to the front and out the door before anyone could stop her. The tears she'd held back poured down her face like rain, making what little make-up she had on run down her face along with it. She hated this, she hated Duncan, she hated the whole damn school, but most of all she hated herself. She couldn't believe she ever believed Zane was enough to protect her from everyone else's shit. She was so naïve and stupid! She wanted to scream. She just couldn't, her sobs and moans were choking her to much. That and she wanted no more attention drawn to her. She had enough of it.
Zane jumped up after her the second he saw her nearly fall out of her chair and run. "Courtney! Wait!" he reached out as if he could touch her shoulder if only he tried hard enough. Still, he could not. And when he realized his cry had gone completely ignored he grew ten times angrier at his so called friend. "Duncan!" he bellowed, fists clenched and body shaking from fury. "What the hell! Why did you do that to her!"
Duncan snorted, rolling his eyes at Zane's ignorance. "You know perfectly well why I did it." he crossed his arms over his chest. "And you could have prevented it." he smirked darkly at Zane as his angered expression transformed into that of pure disbelief right before his eyes. "Don't you feel bad?" he added lazily.
"You bastard!" he screamed inches from his face. "This had nothing to do with her! If you have a beef with me then don't be a whiny douchebag and drag her in it to hurt me!" he nearly struck out at Duncan for one of the first times since he'd known him, the only thing stopping him being his concern for Courtney and the dirt he had on Duncan. "God!" he slammed his clenched fist down on the table as a substitute for Duncan. He merely pretended that the table was Duncan's smug little face. And it worked pretty well.
Duncan narrowed his eyes into slits as the two remained in a death stare for the next short moment. He saw what Zane had wanted, and still wished, to do in the depths of his red eyes. It made Duncan's cool demeanor vanish into thin air. He couldn't believe he had seriously considered hurting him. "Get out of here." he hissed in return. "Go chase after that bitch of yours."
Zane stamped his foot and, although he was tempted to say more, ran after the poor girl rushing down the empty halls without another word to Duncan the delinquent. He ran as fast as he could make himself go times ten. He felt like he was very well flying through the halls of the school. "Courtney!" he cried, seeing her growing closer since she had ceased running and was now walking quickly. "Courtney wait!"
Courtney heard but did not think about turning back, not even for Zane. She had had it with all of the shit that Zane being Duncan's friend had caused. She couldn't handle this plus her home troubles. It was an equation that could not be solved like she was trying to do. Her pursuing this same course of action would merely elongate her suffering.
Zane sighed irritably. He knew she heard him, there was no way she didn't. He was yelling as loud as he could and that was pretty damn loud. He understood that her being as upset as she was was affecting her to the point she wanted to shun everyone, but he refused to let this go. "Courtney!" he cried out for a third time as he reached his hand out as far as he could, coming within inches of her shoulder. "Courtney." he said much softer once he finally closed his hand around her tiny shoulder.
Courtney drew in a sharp breath as she felt his warm hand on her, struggling to free herself so that she would not have to face him. She knew if she were to face him she'd say something she didn't mean and screw up one of the only relationships she'd ever had friendship or otherwise. "Let go!" she yelped, pulling her hardest.
"No." Zane refused, forcing her to look and talk to him. "Don't do this."
"Get off!" she screamed in his face, sobs racking her body, accompanied by pitiful moans working their way out of her throat. "I don't want to
"You're just hurt. I get that." he cooed. "Duncan isn't the nicest person you'll met, but-"
"HA!" Courtney wavering voice screeched, interrupting his train of thought. "Are you fucking kidding me! He is the biggest asshole on the face of the planet! No! The galaxy!"
"Courtney…" his tone was soft, holding an edge as to warn her to be careful with what she said. It wasn't like he would do anything to her if she went to far with her insults, but he knew why Duncan was how he was with next to everyone. He didn't deserve all the hate he managed to gain for himself. He only pretended to love it to fit the stereotype. At least…Zane thought so.
"Don't Courtney me!" she spat. "That-That thing you call a friend in there!" she pointed a shaking hand back in the direction she'd come from. "He's a monster! He doesn't deserve anyone! Not a friend, girlfriend, acquaintance, or anyone!" she choked a little on her words, her sobs making her anger not seem as real as it was meant to. In all honesty to anyone looking on she would look like a blubbering child who was nothing more then miserable with life. "He especially doesn't deserve you! You're so good, nice, kind…and he-he's the devil!"
"Stop it!" Zane snapped unintentionally, grabbing on to her wrist. "You don't know anything about him." he growled. "You have no right to judge." he sighed softly as the not so nice words passed his lips. "Just…please… don't say those things. Not to his face." he shook his head sadly.
"Why the hell shouldn't I!" she snarled. "Look what he's done to me! It's what he gets at the very least!" she was so confused as to how, after all that, Zane was still more on dumb Duncan's side then her own. It made the situation ten times worse then it already was.
"You think you're hurting right now?" Zane asked. "It's nothing compared to how badly he'd be hurt if you dared say it to him." Zane grit his teeth. "He may not show it right then and there, but you would notice. Things would change."
Courtney thought about this for a minute, breathing slowing while her sobs stayed ever the same. What was he talking about? What was worse then being called a slut in front of a class who wouldn't hesitate to spread it all around the school? Nothing. That's what she decided upon, her teeth grit, eyes narrowed into slits, and hands clenched into tight fists. "Shut up!" she snapped, pulling out of his hold on her. "Stop trying to protect his worthless ass with mindless excuses!"
"He's not worthless!" he insisted, incapable of betraying Duncan despite all the things he'd done to others and himself in the past. He just couldn't. Not when that would mean Duncan slipping right off the edge to fall back into an abyss.
"I'm done!" she said sharply. "Just done. I can't take this shit anymore! I don't care what's wrong with him, all I care about is what you're going to do about it! If it doesn't stop, this-this," she motioned in a circle to indicate the two of them, "is over!" with that she turned on her heel, not wanting to deal with anyone right now, but not really meaning her harsh words either. It was the result of her wreck of emotions. She knew this would happen. So why did she let him keep talking? More so why did she keep talking…?
"But…" he murmured, hanging his head. He wasn't sure whether to believe her or not. He picked up on the fact she had a bad temper with a short fuse the first day he met her. He knew it'd be an experience trying to handle it, but he didn't think it was this big. Boy had that been a freak. He shook his head in disbelief. "I'll leave her alone like before." a pause. "She can talk when she's ready."
As she left him to stew in this mess they'd both worked to create she had no idea what the real motive behind Duncan's cruel actions was. She was blind to the fact that he'd been watching them, just like she was oblivious to the fact Zane very well could have kept this from happening. But these were both things she didn't need to know nor would she ever. Neither Zane or Duncan planned on telling this part of the story.
It was the day after Zane blew off the planned four-wheeling race to be with Courtney, a Saturday, and Duncan was fuming. He'd called Zane up on the phone, feigning cheer in order to lure him over to his place. Zane willingly obliged, not thinking about Duncan's attention issues. So when he got there ten minutes later he didn't have a clue what was waiting for him.
He drove up in his fancy red Ferrari a slight smile on his lips. He saw Duncan was outside, as always, waiting for him. He merely failed to take in the most important factor. Duncan's face was dark, eyes narrowed into slits, and fists clenched. Still Zane waved as he grew closer. "What's up?" he asked casually.
Duncan hesitated only a fraction of a second, having been planning this ever since last night, throwing a hard punch at Zane's jaw. "That's what's up." he snarled, hardly feeling better.
"What the hell!" Zane groaned, clutching his face tenderly, a metallic taste in his mouth. It was blood, a little bit trickling down his face from the corner of his mouth. "What'd I do now!"
Duncan snorted. "Like you don't know what you did!" he breathed in deeply, pointing a finger at Zane as if he were being convicted of a heinous crime. "You blew me off yesterday!"
"What!" Zane spit out, not following Duncan at the moment.
"We were talking about it all week!" Duncan bellowed, cracking his knuckles as if he might go at Zane again. "We were going to go four-wheeling and it was going to be great." he laughed bitterly. "Yeah…no! Apparently not! Because instead of going with me like you promised you dropped me like a hat to be with that girl!" he lurched forward so that their faces were mere inches apart.
"Are you serious!" Zane growled, running a hand through his hair. "God bless!" he pulled away from Duncan, breathing deeply so that he would keep better control of himself then Duncan had. "Duncan!" he cried exasperatedly. "I did not promise you anything! I said we might. And I decided I'd go to the-"
"I know where you went!" Duncan snarled. "I was watching. Every minute of every hour of that day. I saw you ride the carousel, chicken out on the enterprise, the mirror maze…everything."
Zane was a little creeped out by the stalker like behavior Duncan was showing. Sure he knew that Duncan was obsessive, majorly, but he didn't pin him as one to lurk in the shadows following a person for hours on end. "But…how…?" he started to ask.
Duncan snorted, starting to pace back and forth. "You'd said you'd take me in your car when we went, so when I saw you leave I knew something was up, something with her. I followed you in my car forever until we finally came up on the stupid fair." he rolled his eyes, hating the thought of taking part in any of the idiocy. "After that it was effortless. No pain involved." he cringed. "Not physical at least."
Zane frowned miserably, knowing what he meant. "Duncan…look. I had to make a choice. One of you was going to lose no matter what. And this time I chose her." he paused, being sure to add hurriedly. "You have to understand that it was nothing against you! She just needed me more. Her life isn't so great right now and I wanted to help."
Duncan's mouth twitched. "So! I needed you too!"
Zane shook his head. "No. You didn't. You wanted me. If you needed me I could have sensed it or you would have told me about it like always. This is nothing more then you being jealous that you aren't the only person that matters to me." Zane didn't like lecturing Duncan, but sometimes he couldn't help it. Duncan knew he was full of crap saying that he needed him more then she did. Duncan was just really, really, stubborn.
Duncan laughed in a sinister manner. "Fine." he said through clenched teeth. "Let's put it this way then." he stopped pacing to turn and face him, eyes glinting darkly. "If you keep on paying more attention to her then me then it won't be pretty. People will get hurt."
Zane's eyes widened. "No! You jerk!" he cried. "You can't do anything to her! Not because of me!" he was begging him for this to be the truth.
Duncan rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Don't do anything then. We'll see how that works out for you." he smirked at Zane.
Zane was more devastated then he was angry. He didn't know how he could protect Courtney from this. Really there was no way. She was screwed.
Duncan started to turn away, stopping to add, "But if you change your mind, all you have to do is tell her it's over. That you can't see her anymore." he cocked his head slightly, his way of asking if this would work for him or not.
Zane froze for a moment, not sure of what was right in this situation. He hated the thought of giving either of the two up, but what was he to do? Duncan was basically giving him an ultimatum, only not between him or her, between him with no hurt feelings or him and Courtney ending up shattered. "No!" Zane barked. "Never! You can't make me do it!"
Duncan shrugged. "Nope. But I'll eventually win." he left then, going back into his house without another word, leaving Zane alone to think about what he'd just done. What had he done…?
Courtney was still sobbing, albeit softer, when she went into her english class. She looked over to her usual spot and scowled, seeing Zane over there on his own with a sullen look on his features. She wanted to hate him, hate him so bad that it would hurt, only she couldn't do it. She cared to much. All she could feel was an immense ache in her heart. She felt bad for saying what she had to him. It wasn't his fault his 'friend' was an ass. She half believed he could not be friends with the guy, but not completely. Years ago she'd been friends with the biggest bitch on the face of the planet, hating it so badly yet unable to break away. She'd only freed herself when the witch moved away. Courtney didn't think she'd have ever escaped otherwise.
Courtney slowly took her eyes away from Zane as she walked at a snaillike pace to the back of the room. She plopped down in the seat away from the wall, not wanting to move any more then she had to. As such she was quick to bury her head in her arms on the table. She didn't even want to produce the effort necessary to keep her head up. That and she was sure there was at least one person in the room that was in her other class. She didn't want them looking at her. So she stayed this way, crying softly into her arms, sobs choking her.
Then in came Alexia. She was a bouncy girl who was well known for being a bundle of joy who no one was able to put down. She had blonde hair which she usually kept in a ponytail so it stayed out of her face, her eyes were baby blue, she had a tattoo of a star on her left cheek, and she was unimaginably skinny. Surprisingly it was natural, she didn't have to do anything to keep herself this way. Honestly, she pigged out at every meal she had. She was smiling and waving at every person she saw as she made her way to the back of the room. She stopped as she reached Courtney. She blinked a couple of times, not used to anyone being back here. But it didn't stop her from being herself. She tapped Courtney on the shoulder gently. "Hey! Hey you!" she chirped with a chuckle. "Ya know your kinda in my spot."
Courtney raised her head up from her arms every so slightly, turning her dull eyes upon the exuberant girl, the anti-Courtney in this moment. She didn't say anything to her though. Who was she to bring this girl's spirit down along with her own? She certainly didn't need another broken heart on her hands.
Alexia giggled again, bringing a hand to her mouth. "What? Are you mute?" the one thing she was not gifted with, however, was awareness. Most things obvious to many went right over her head, not to mention she was extremely naïve.
Courtney moaned lightly. "No." she threw her head back down in its former place.
Alexia was getting the feeling that something was wrong now, but she was still laughing to herself as she slid in on the opposite side of Courtney. "C'mon then. What's the matter?"
Courtney rolled her eyes, not caring since she knew the girl would not see her. "Nothing." she hissed after she was sure her voice would not shake.
Alexia rolled her eyes. "Yeah right."
Courtney felt a shiver run up her spine. She was not in love with how this girl talked…at all. She sounded like she was five, her tone always high and bouncy like she was telling one big continuous story of epicness.
"C'mon." she nudged Courtney's shoulder. "I won't tell! Promise!"
Courtney slowly raised into a full sitting position, immediately regretting it as her eyes landed on the girl's face. Dear lord. She wore a grin that stretched clear across her face, her eyes brimming with life that Courtney as well as the whole rest of the human population could only hope to have. Yet Courtney couldn't help but feel like she could trust this girl. Besides, even if she was wrong about this it wouldn't matter. By tomorrow everyone would know about what had happened mere minutes before. So why not? "Fine." Courtney grumbled, wiping at her tear stained face. "You're gonna know by tomorrow anyway."
Alexia cocked her head to the side playfully, smile never faltering despite how grim Courtney sounded as she spoke.
"There's this asshole in a few of my classes. He takes immense pleasure in torturing me for NO reason!" she sighed with aggravation, massaging her temples with her wet fingers. "Well, today he decided to take it even further. He read this note that I supposedly wrote out loud to the class and-and-" she broke off, sucking in a sharp breath in order to stifle the sure to come on sobbing.
Alexia still didn't frown, but her eyes showed how she understood. She scoffed, "Those bad boys. They're all the same. So awful, uncaring and full of rage that they have to unload by screwing with others." and there it remained. That high tone that made every word she said sound happy.
Courtney loathed her voice, but she couldn't help but feel that she was completely right. Just like her parents. They were all the same. Well…all of them but one. She glanced over at Zane, still slouched over and as sad as ever.
Alexia placed a hand on Courtney's shoulder for comfort. "Don't let it get ta ya." she said with a nod. "By the way!" she cried. "I'm Alexia!"
Courtney looked back to her and surprised even herself by offering a small smile. "I'm Courtney."
The next chapter will be much less...evil. I don't know how else to put it, but this one was very mean. Plz review! :D