august

Duncan grunted as he parked his truck in the school parking lot, not caring that he had taken over two spots and the car behind him blared its horn in frustration. Without a second glance, the punk threw up the bird, then shoved his hands in his pockets that doubled as his backpack, with a half-sharpened pencil and crumpled up piece of paper buried within the jeans that hung below his waist.

Growling as he approached the tall building, he could already feel the anger and annoyance bubble in his chest as he listened to the shrill voices of teenagers chatter about the vacations that they went on or gossip over the drama that had happened over the summer.

Duncan shoved himself through the crowd, ignoring the glares and cries as he bumped their shoulders. They were the ones that were in his way. He made it through the hallway and into the courtyard where he saw two of the very few people he could actually stand in the hell hole that was called McLean High School.

"Yo, yo, Duncan is in the building?" a tall, white guy in a pink half-buttoned button up, capris, and a cowboy hat called out as Duncan approached. Duncan shook Geoff's outstretched hand, before turning to the black guy with a white beanie beside him, doing the same. "You do know that it's the first day of school, right?"

Chuckling, Duncan flopped down onto the bench, "Yeah, I know."

"Then why are you here?" DJ questioned, raising an eyebrow. "You're never here even on regular days."

His friend was right. Duncan had the reputation of not showing up to school unless he was forced to, which was usually near the end of the semester. He would rather be spray painting empty walls or smoking in the woods nearby than be seen in a classroom for eight hours.

"Dad says if I don't at least graduate, I'm getting sent back to juvie or worse, so… I pick the lesser of two evils."

"Damn, juvie that bad?"

"You have no idea," Duncan mumbled, just as a white girl with beach-blonde hair and a bigger black girl walked up to them.

"Hey babe," Bridgette cooed as she pecked Geoff's lips, and immediately, the couple began making out as if the others weren't there.

"Get a room, lovebirds," Duncan yawned, rolling his eyes.

Bridgette pulled away, giggling, but she was still wrapped in Geoff's arms. "Whoa, you're alive? I didn't believe Geoff when he said that you got out."

"Right?" LeShawna laughed, shoving Duncan's shoulder as she walked by him and sat down next to DJ. In normal circumstances, Duncan would've flipped his shit if anyone else had touched him the way the black girl did, but after years of friendship, blech, Duncan only grunted at the action. "Skinny white boy actually made it out alive. How's your asshole, asshole?"

"Har har," Duncan gritted his teeth. "Watch it, Shawna, unless you want something unpleasant in your skinny white boy's asshole."

The group chuckled as LeShawna playfully glared at the mention of her polar-opposite boyfriend that came as a shock to most people when they found out that that's who she was with. Harold was nerdy, awkward, clumsy, and a total geek, compared to the loud, sassy, and outgoing LeShawna, but even Duncan had to admit that somehow, the balance between them worked.

The six minute warning bell signaled the friends to say their goodbyes and head in separate directions, agreeing to meet at their usual spot for lunch. Duncan was the last to get up, groaning as he tried to remember what his first class was. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out the crumpled up yellow paper that listed out his schedule, and he groaned again. He had to put up with this shit for another year? Maybe juvie ain't so bad…

As Duncan stalked into the building and towards his designated class, he watched as down the hallway, a familiar girl with short black hair and teal streaks walked towards him, her exposed hips swaying as the mini skirt laid on her hips. It was paired with a black corset top and black fishnets, along with black knee-high combat boots and a green and teal long sleeve. She had her head down, studying her own schedule until she stopped and looked up to find the classroom, but instead locked eyes with the punk instead.

That was when he remembered a big reason why he had hated being away in juvie.

"Hey sweetheart, find what you're looking for?"

Gwen tried to keep up with Duncan as she followed the green mohawk through the forest at the back of the school, her long limbs stepping over the overgrown roots of the trees and ducking underneath the low-hanging branches. She caught Duncan's bright teal eyes looking back at her every once in a while, before bolting ahead once again, forcing her to do the same.

It wasn't until they reached a clearing hidden within the bushes and the trees where Duncan stopped, and Gwen was panting as she stood behind him, leaning on a tree to catch her breath.

"Pasty, I ain't even started yet, and you sound like that already?" Duncan grinned, stepping closer to the goth, who pushed him away once he tried grabbing her waist.

"In your dreams, Juvie."

"Ah don't worry," Duncan sat down, placing his head into the palms of his hands as he leaned up against the tree trunk. He stared at Gwen's ass as she looked up into the sky, admiring the clouds through the small opening the trees allowed. "You were in my wet dreams every night while I was there."

Gwen rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she faced him, but a humorous smile was playing on her lips as she spoke, "That place hasn't changed you one bit."

"I'm here with you, aren't I?" Duncan winked. He knew his dad was going to go ballistic when he found out he had skipped already, but they would make it back for second period and come on, his first class was mathematics. Anyone could understand why he wasn't there for that class.

"Seriously though, how did you get through it?" Gwen asked, sitting down in the middle of the grass in front of Duncan. She stared at her best friend whom she hadn't seen in five months, missing out on the entire summer with him, where they would usually stay up late and watch gory zombie-alien flicks together and smoke pot in the back of Duncan's truck under the stars.

Gwen was worried about him the entire time he was away. They weren't allowed to have any contact, and every time she checked the news, she was afraid that there was a shanking or a riot and his mugshot would flash on the screen saying that he started it and had to stay in there longer, or worse, he would be the one that got killed. She found out he got out while she was out of town visiting family, and by the time she got back home, school had already started.

Duncan didn't want to tell Gwen that the only way he had gotten through it was thinking about her, so he just nonchalantly shrugged and closed his eyes. "Don't worry about it, Sunshine."

Gwen sighed, and as much as she wanted to pry, his reluctance to share was something she had actually missed about him, compared to everyone else who seemed too eager to share their lives. Crawling over to the tree he was leaning on, she sat next to him, leaning her body into his and he wrapped an arm around her as they quietly listened to the leaves rustling around them and the pitter-patter of tiny forest animals running through the dirt.

Duncan hoped she couldn't hear the sound of his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

my first gwencan fic. i have no idea where i'm going with this but i genuinely love this couple so much (i pretend that they're endgame and all stars didn't happen) so i wanted to try my hand in writing something. we'll see where it goes