The absolute, most vicious mosquito decided to snack on my ankles and thighs yesterday and now I'm in immense pain.
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Gillian's POV
I enter the doors of the school with an emotionless expression on my face, the same expression that I wear everyday.
Truthfully speaking, I really wanted to stay home today.
Unfortunately, my mental alarm clock had other ideas when it refused to let me fall back into my peaceful slumber.
If I were actually able to fall back to sleep then I would have one hundred percent skipped school today.
I stop in front of my locker, going to open the piece of metal, when I am roughly yanked away from it via someone's hand on my wrist.
What the hell?! It isn't even eight thirty in the morning yet!
In the midst of me being dragged I turn around so that I am now speed walking forward instead of backwards. Following the exposed arm that is attached to my own, my eyes soon connect with a girl that has curled honey-colored hair.
Courtney.
...I'd recognize that hair anywhere.
The honey-haired girl does not drag us far as she makes a left turn into the crowded commons area before making a right turn into the girls bathroom.
The sound of girls gossiping is heard echoing off of the walls.
The source of these echoes are soon revealed when we round the stone wall only to be met with sophomore and freshman girls who look like they have playing in their mother's makeup.
One of the girls, who I presume to be the leader of the group due to her being in the middle of the other girls, appears as if she has taken some style advice from Courtney. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't pull off Courtney's bold and flashy style as much as she thinks that she does.
While Courtney's face is more sharp and defined, the freshman's face is softer and rounder. She would look better in softer colors like pastels versus darker ones like black and maroon.
Each of the girl's minions notice Courtney one by one until eventually the leader does as well.
With all eyes now on Courtney, there isn't one jaw that isn't dropped with shock...except for mine, of course.
"Oh em gee." The leader gasps with a thick valley girl accent.
"Get out, losers!" Courtney yells at them after being blatantly stared at by a group of fourteen to sixteen year olds for nearly seven seconds straight.
A few of them jump from the loud voice before grabbing their bags and rushing out, all of them eventually doing so until only the leader is left.
"It's Courtney, right?" The underclassman pretends as if they do not know the girl.
"I'm Massie Miller, freshman class president and homecoming princess." The girl introduces with a large smile, holding her press-on manicured hand up.
I called it.
Courtney briefly glances down at her hand before taking another step forward.
"I said, get out." She says lowly.
The freshman girl scoffs and crosses her arms.
"You don't, like, own the bathroom or something."
The honey-haired girl releases her hold on my wrist as she takes another step closer to the child.
"If you're not out of here in the next two seconds, I'll tell all of your 'friends' the truth about how your family got all of that money." I faintly hear Courtney threaten.
"We wouldn't want to send mommy and daddy to jail two day before your fifteenth birthday, now would we?" She taunts.
The freshman narrows her eyes at the honey-haired girl.
"You wouldn't dare-"
"Watch me, bitch."
The freshman breaks eye contact with Courtney to glance over at me before sighing defeatedly and retrieving her bag out of the sink.
I watch as the girl quickly exits the bathroom whilst Courtney checks underneath all of the stalls to see if there is anyone else in here. When she comes up empty-handed she turns to face me one more.
"Why are we in a bathroom at eight in the morning, Courtney?" I question with obvious exhaustion.
"You said that I could come to you if I have something to get off my chest, right?" She questions rhetorically.
I nod my head.
"Well, I think that I may possibly be the tiniest bit afraid to actually come face to face with Noel again."
Briefly glancing down at her hands, I notice that she is playing with the bracelet that her grandmother gave her in a nervous manner.
Even when we were younger, I noticed that Courtney only did this whenever something was genuinely bothering her.
I glance back up to her sapphire irises and take a step forward, gently taking her fidgeting hands in my much calmer ones.
"You do not have to see him if you do not want to, Court..."
Getting sudden flashbacks of what I saw yesterday morning, I release a shaky exhale.
"Speaking of Noel," I trail off.
"I saw him making out with a random girl yesterday morning before first period."
Usually if someone were to hear news like this, they would be upset or possibly even angry. Courtney, however, appeared to be the opposite.
Courtney seems...relieved?
I go to question her about this reaction when the the warning bell rings. However, before I could leave Courtney clasped a manicured hand around my wrist. This effectively stops me in my spot.
"Are you, uh, are you planning to, like, eat lunch in the cafeteria?"
I shake my head.
"No, I'm not really into large groups of people." I admit.
"I'll probably just skip lunch and eat in the library instead."
Courtney hums with interest.
"Hmm, I guess that I'll see you you around then." She comments with a teasing tone of voice.
"Hmm, I guess so." I match her energy before making my way to the door and exiting said bathroom.
-
The bell rings, signifying that everyone should be in the cafeteria by now. Me, however, I am currently hiding in the back of the library.
I am sat on the less than comfortable hardwood flooring with my back pressed against a large bookshelf that rests against the back wall. My backpack and to-go cup of iced coffee rest beside me on the very same floor.
I'm not worried about anyone coming back here and accidentally knocking it over seeing as no one ever comes back here due to multiple different dictionaries and thesauruses taking up the shelf space back here.
It's way easier to look up a word on google than search through a dictionary for it.
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of heels clicking against the hardwood flooring, forcing me to pull my gaze up from my romance book to discover the owner of the distraction.
I am pleasantly surprised when instead of a teacher appearing to start a boring, meaningless conversation, I am met with a seemingly less than impressed looking Courtney.
The honey-haired girl slowly makes her way towards me before squatting and carefully taking a seat beside me on the floor, laying her moderately-sized purse on top of her thighs.
"Is this seat taken?" She questions, crossing on of her legs over the other.
I ignore the way that this causes the sides of our thighs to touch each other.
"It is now." I snicker.
I turn my head to face the sapphire-eyed girl, her facial expression still blank for the most part. However, if I were to glance down at her jaw I can tell that it is tightened.
I remember her doing this all of the time whenever she was upset or angry, mainly angry.
"What's wrong, Court?" My voice comes out more motherly than intended.
She remain quiet, instead shifting her body so that she can lay her head on my shoulder that is closest to her.
There is a tense silence between the two of us before Courtney eventually speaks up.
"What are you reading?" She mutters.
Assuming that Courtney does not want to talk about whatever is bothering her, I answer her question.
"Collide," I answer, using my thumb as a makeshift bookmark as I close the book enough so that she is able to see the cover.
"It's about two girls who used to be friends when they were younger, but inevitably grew apart because of an average looking prince. One girl is a complete bitch and thinks that she rules the kingdom whilst the other is pretty shy and doesn't really talk to anyone. Anyways, I'm only at the part where they run into each other at a local bed and breakfast where the bitchy girl is trying to hideout at, only she doesn't know that the shy girl works there."
Courtney hums, bringing one of her hands up to tuck some of her hair behind her ear.
"A little ironic, don't you think?"
I furrow my eyebrows at her question.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
A breathy sigh falls from her glossed lips.
"Nevermind, forget it."
I do not think twice before resuming my book from the last place that I stopped. I only read for a few seconds before I hear Courtney mumble something underneath her breath.
"You never used to read books."
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Honestly, I didn't think that I was going to be able to put this out in time.
It kind of sucks, but I accomplished the general goal that I had for this chapter and that's enough for me.
Are you guys ready for more jealous Courtney?