It was finally Friday, the inset day that everyone had been waiting for. The day before Geoff's party, that alone made Courtney nervous. She was rummaging through her closet to find something to wear, she couldn't find anything she liked. So she walked over to her phone that was laying on her bed, picking it up and reading the time along with her notifications;

9:23am, she read the time and pressed on her multiple messages from her group chat with the girls. Heather had named it 'Total drama queens (and a princess)'. The drama queens being Heather, Bridgette and Gwen. Courtney being the princess, â€"she swears she'll never live that name downâ€" They were all pretty over dramatic so the name was fitting. Besides the princess part, Courtney still got annoyed over that everytime she got a notification from that chat and saw it. No one called her 'princess' except for Duncan, but he had his own little nicknames for everyone.. right? That's what Courtney thought, until she actually thought about it;

He called Bridgette 'Malibu' sometimes, that was it. No one else had a nickname, and he only called her Malibu because he sarcastically said to her once 'This ain't Malibu honey' on a school trip when she had brought her surfboard to an island, a very run down island mind you. That was the first year that they went there, they've gone there for a week every year for 3 years now. They are due another trip there sooner or later. Every time she takes her surfboard in hope that the so-called 'beach' is better than the year before. So far, she'd had no luck. But that was the only other nickname he had for anyone that was personal, and not just 'Sweetheart' or 'Honey' that he used on any one of the girls. Or 'bro' and 'dude' for the guys. Courtney was seriously beginning to think that he liked her for real, but why would he? He just likes to annoy her, right?

Courtney pushes the thought out of her mind and reads the messages that the girls had sent. Heather asked what everyone was wearing, she always did, even when Courtney wasn't going to the party she'd ask what Gwen and Bridgette were wearing and she'd ask Courtney's opinion. She didn't leave Courtney out, the four had been friends since the start of school. They were all loyal to each other, yeah sometimes they got in fights but it was never that serious, and they all make up in the end anyway.

Courtney sent a message saying;

"I don't know what to wear, the last party I went to was ages ago. Can I get away with wearing jeans and a shirt or something?"

Heather read the message and FaceTime called the group chat. Courtney picked up first, then Bridgette, and lastly Gwen.

"Okay court, show us your wardrobe. What do we have to work with?" Heather said down the phone while she sat on her bed, still in pyjamas.

Courtney scoffed and got off her bed, walking back over to her wardrobe to show them. After about 10 minutes of showing them and Gwen and Heather going "No, definitely not" a million times Bridgette spoke up with an idea.

"Hey guys I just had an idea"

"What is it?" Courtney says as Heather and Gwen look at Bridgette on their phone screens waiting for her to speak once again.

"We could go into town and find Courtney something, make a day of it? We could invite everyone" Bridgette says with a smile.

"I'm in" Gwen agrees.

"Good idea bridge, let's do that" Heather nods.

Courtney smiles to herself, knowing that they'd say about doing something like this.

She sighs, "Okay, sure."

Around an hour later and almost the whole friend group was in town, Owen couldn't make it as he had somewhere to be with his family, and Sierra had decided she was going to work on the school blog she made, today.

Heather was walking next to Alejandro, he had somehow managed to put his arm around her shoulder without her noticing. Gwen was walking with Trent, talking about nonsense probably. And of course Bridgette and Geoff were walking hand in hand.

Leshawna and DJ were talking. Who was missing?

Courtney, she was walking alone. Weren't they in town to find something for her to wear for the party tomorrow? Why was she left walking on her own..?

And that's when it clicked in her head, Duncan. He wasn't here, if he was he would be walking with her. Annoying her the whole time. But, he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

'Where is he?' Courtney thought to herself as she continued walking, looking down at her feet and not where she was going. That was her mistake, because before she knew it she had walked into someone.

She looked up from her feet and at the person in front of her, she felt relief. Why she didn't know, it was Duncan. She convinced herself that her relief was over the fact she only bumped into Duncan and not some stranger.

"Not looking where you're going princess? That's unlike you" He said as he looked at her.

Everyone else had stopped, waiting for them and watching them. It was so obvious to everyone that the pair were made for each other, they just hadn't figured it out yet. That's when Gwen gathered them into a little huddle, she had a plan.

"We need to do something about those two, they clearly like each other. They're just too stubborn to admit it" Gwen states

"I know, it's getting ridiculous now" Heather whines and Bridgette chuckles.

They all nod and agree, something had to be done.

"Operation get Duncan and Courtney together?" Gwen asks them

"They need a nickname," Geoff says as he begins to think of names.

"Like what?" Leshawna asks

"I got it!" DJ exclaims quietly so Duncan and Courtney don't hear, "Duncney!"

"Duncney.. Duncan and Courtney in one word, perfect dude!" Geoff says happily

"Good idea DJ" Trent smiles and nudges DJ.

"Okay, so operation duncney?" Bridgette says

They all smile and nod, "Operation duncney!" They say quietly.

They all un-huddle and Heather looks over at Duncan and Courtney, "You guys coming?" She says with her voice slightly raised. Duncan turns around and looks at Heather, while Courtney only has to look past Duncan to see her.

"Yeah. yeah, let's go!" Courtney says as she walks past Duncan, motioning him to follow, Which he does.

The group walked into a H&M, Heather immediately grabbing Courtney by the arm and pulling her to a sales rack with a sparkly skirt on it.

"Courttt, what do you think of this skirt?" Heather asks in a testing tone as she holds it up so Courtney can see it.

"Um.. it's certainly something" Courtney says as she looks at the sparkling skirt in front of her. "Not my thing though, sorry Heather.." Courtney had an apologetic tone in her voice, feeling bad for declining her friend's option.

"Good, that thing is absolutely hideous." Heather throws the skirt back on the rack then glances at Courtney's current outfit, a pair of jeans with a simple fitted green shirt. "Let's find something that doesn't make you look like a middle aged woman, though.."

Courntey throws her hands up, "What's that supposed to mean?!" Courtney asks, offended by Heather's comment. Before Heather could answer Courtney's question Duncan and Bridgette walked over to them.

"What the actual-" Duncan says as he sees the sparkly skirt that Heather had thrown back on the rack. Bridgette looks at the skirt questionably and then at Courtney, "Please tell me you're not going to buy that?"

"No, of course not. Heather was just testing my taste in clothing, then she proceeded to say I look like a middle aged woman." Courtney side eyes Heather.

"You're just wearing jeans and a shirt, how is that middle aged woman?" Bridgette says confused.

"Oh whatever, let's just find this girl something for tomorrow!" Heather puts her hands on Courtney's shoulders. Courtney rolls her eyes but goes along with Heather and Bridgette to the dress selection on the other side of the store. Duncan chuckles to himself and turns around to go and find Geoff, Trent, Gwen, Leshawna, Alejandro, and DJ who were perusing the front of the store.

Around 10 minutes later they were in the changing rooms, waiting for Courtney to open the curtain and give them a fashion show. The clothes weren't really her style, but Heather had insisted that she at least tried them on, she basically challenged her to do it. And Courtney can't say no to a challenge.

"I look ridiculous!" Courtney groans. Looking in the mirror, not wanting to open the curtain.

"Come on court, I'm sure you look gorgeous!" Bridgette tries to hoax her out.

"Of course she looks gorgeous, this is Courtney we're talking about" Gwen adds

"They're right Courtney, come on" Heather sighs

"Girl, we're not gonna get anywhere with this outfit if you don't show us" Leshawna chips in.

"I don't know guys.. I might just change back into the clothes I came in""

"No, Courtney!" Gwen says as she gets up from her seat next to Trent and walks over to where Duncan was standing, as he was the closest to where Courtney was.

"Do not make me come in there and drag you out." Gwen threatens. Courtney sighs and takes a step towards the curtain, ready to open it.

"Besides court, it's only going to be our class that'll see you wearing it. You don't have to wear it anywhere else" Trent calmly reminds her.

Courtney takes a deep breath and opens the curtain. She was wearing a sleeveless, slightly flowy purple dress, just above her knees. It was a little out of her comfort zone, especially just for a party with the class. But Heather and Bridgette chose a dress that Courtney would look good in, plus it was her first party in ages.

Courtney did a little spin so they could see the entire dress, they all gave her compliments and Heather was deciding how she would do Courtney's hair to go with her outfit. The only person who didn't say anything was Duncan, he just looked at Courtney. He had never seen her in anything like that before, and god did she look beautiful.

"She looks good doesn't she?" Gwen says quietly as she nudges Duncan to snap him out of his trance. Duncan blinks and shakes his head a little before turning to Gwen reluctantly, having to look away from Courtney.

"Oh, uh, yeah.. yeah she does.." He says as his gaze turns back to Courtney, he was really not being subtle at all. Good job Courtney was too busy talking to the others to notice him looking.

"You like her," Gwen states in a teasing tone. She wasn't guessing, she was telling him. She knew, he knew. Just about everybody knew, even Courtney had some idea. He just acted differently with Courtney, he listened to her more. Heck he listened to her more than he would listen to his teachers, his parents, Not that he ever listened to his parents anyway. Courtney had some sort of hold over him, she always had.

"Yeah.. I like Courtney, you're right, Gwen" Duncan whispers so no one else heard him except for Gwen, who in return of that information smiled and glanced over to the others, giving them a small nod. Letting them know that their genius plan was working.

"You have to tell her, Duncan." Gwen paused for a second before having an idea, "And I know exactly how you're going to tell her!" Duncan looked at her confused and slightly concerned. She could be thinking anything, this is Gwen after all.

"Well sort it out later, but for now let's focus on getting Courtney glammed up for this party" Gwen says as she walks over to Courtney and joins in with her conversation with Heather.

"So you're not even gonna tell me.. or?" Duncan says as he gestures his arms in a confused, annoyed way. "Ok, great. Thanks Gwen" he says to himself sarcastically before focusing his attention back on Courtney again.

"So you guys think I should get this for the party? I don't need to try on anything else?" Courtney asked, she was starting to get embarrassed from the way everyone was obsessing over her outfit.

"Definitely! You look gorgeous in this, right guys?" Heather says as she turns around to look at everyone

"Absolutely, purple is definitely your colour." Bridgette says

"Oh yeah, definitely!" DJ agrees with a warm smile

"Duh! Of course, she looks great in anything. Right?" Gwen says as she glances over at Duncan, he felt obliged to say something. Even though he probably wouldn't be able to form the right words.

"Right. That dress looks perfect on you, princess" before anyone could say anything Duncan was already walking to the exit of the changing rooms, "Let's get Courtney this dress then get out of here, I'm starving" He said as he walked out of the changing rooms in a hurry. Trying to distract people from the fact he had been staring at Courtney the entire time.

The guys look at each other with smiles while the girls exchange glances, Courtney was still looking at the exit that Duncan has just walked out of.

"Court?" Geoff questions her.

"Huh?" "oh, yeah, right I'm going" Courtney takes her gaze from the exit and goes back into the changing room stall, shutting the curtain behind her.

Heather, Gwen, and Bridgette walk over to the others. "Guys, I've got a great idea" Gwen whispers as Courtney clangs coat hangers in the background. "I'll tell you later, okay?"

An array of okays and yes's come from the gang, along with a thumbs up from Geoff.

They were all sat on a table at the food court, it had something everyone would eat in there, So it was the perfect compromise.

"So, court. You happy with the outfit?" Geoff asks mid bite of his sandwich.

"You look amazing in it by the way" DJ adds, before taking a sip of drink

Courtney smiles, "Thanks DJ. And yeah, I'm happy with the outfit." She pauses for a second "I don't think there's going to be another occasion for me to wear it though.."

"I'm sure there will be," Geoff replies. "Besides, let's not think about that right now. Let's just enjoy the rest of our day out" Bridgette finishes Geoff's sentence.

"You're right, let's enjoy the rest of the day.." Courtney agrees as she leans back into her seat.

Gwen had made a group chat with everyone except Duncan and Courtney and called it 'Operation Duncney is a go', which made Geoff laugh when he read it. Gwen had a plan, a very good one. And she would make sure that it happened, and worked. It has to work, it was a brilliant plan, besides it was better than anything Duncan could have come up with himself. With everyone's help it would go perfectly.

Hopefully…