FicWad

"Gerard," Courtney began, pacing back and forth, "are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, we're already testing the boundaries by doing what we are, do you really think we need to go further? We don't need to have this 'fantastic' relationship and be one of those people that go out all the time. We're already in Hell and hot water, isn't that enough?" she asked.

"How about this: if it doesn't go well, we can call this entire charade off, but if it goes great, we keep doing this. Just please give it a try," he begged.

"Gerard, I still don't think it's an exceptional idea. What if someone were to see us?" Courtney asked. She wasn't exactly sure if she honestly liked Gerard, and she surely wasn't ready to go in public with him, but more so because someone could see them.

"We'll tell them you got in trouble or something," he said hastily.

Courtney looked absolutely mortified. "No one would even believe that!" she exclaimed. "I've never gotten in trouble -- not once! They'd know we were lying. I've only been to the principal once, and that was just for an incident report, Gerard."

Gerard sighed, placing his head in his palm. "Okay, um... shit. How have you managed to go through your entire school career and not get in trouble once?" he asked.

"I am always playing a little too safe. Maybe it's a bad thing, but I do," she explained, sitting down on the bed awkwardly.

Her and Gerard had never been really alone, and it made her feel uneasy. Everytime she was around him when they were around other students, she felt more comfortable, like he was just another teacher -- like she wasn't in some sort of relationship with him. But when they were alone, things were different -- awkward, in fact.

"Gerard, if you don't mind, I think we just shouldn't go out at all. We're gonna get in potential huge trouble," she stated, trying to ease a bit of the tension.

"It's either that or this is over. If we can't simply go out, why are we even doing this?" he asked.

Courtney looked at him, signaling the obvious. "If you wanted to show off a girl and be able to frolic her around, why did you decide to date -- low and behold -- one of your students? If there's a specific reason, please elaborate, because I would just love to hear about where your mind was going when you came up with the concoction of dating a seventeen year old senior."

"Courtney, I really don't want to get into this right now. Are you in or not?" he asked simply, trying his hardest not to absolutely blow up and scream.

Courtney sighed. "If I respond, can I go back home? My parents are gonna kill me," she said. Gerard nodded. "Okay, fine, we'll go out. But, if it doesn't work, I'm not trying again. Are we clear?" she asked, standing off of the bed.

"One-hundred percent."

She smiled. "Good," she said, walking out the door and running to her car, driving home as quickly as possible.

When she got home, her entire family was peppered and prestene. They stood in an even line, smiles plastered onto their faces, dressed in their best clothes. The rooms were spotless -- any cleaner and they would have been chrome -- and every table had flower pots set upon them.

"What's going on?" Courtney asked, sitting on the ground in front of the wall. "And what's with the marching line?" she asked.

Her mother sighed, parting herself from the other members of her family. "We're preparing for a guest Saturday night," she said simply, folding her hands across her stomach, the creepily wide smile never leaving her lips.

"Why do we need to be so perfect for this person?" Courtney asked, trying to figure out why her family was making such a fuss over simple guests.

"We just do. You know how we do it here," she said. "You've been here for ten years," she added in a hushed tone.

Courtney forced a smile, trying her hardest to make it look realistic, even though she knew she probably looked like a phsyco maniac. "Yeah," she said quickly, hoisting herself up and walking up the stairs to her room.

She huffed, falling down on her bed. She hated the constent reminder. Couldn't she just live in the fantasy? The perfect little life where these people were the ones who birthed her, and she wasn't secretly adopted. It was only a secret to her 'siblings', but she still hated lying to them. She actually thought of them as family -- the ones born after her most of all.

She just wanted to forget her horrible parents, and this family made her do just that, except when her parents kept repeating the fact that she was adopted, not really their daughter. It almost seemed like they loved doing it to her, as much as she loathed it.

"Hey, are you okay?" Alyson, her older sister, came into the room without Courtney even being aware.

Courtney's head snapped to the door. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just... sometimes, Mom just really gets to me. That's all," she said, turning her entire body over to see Alyson better.

"She gets everyone. Truth be told, she's not even my real mom, she left Dad after I was born. It crushed him, but I'll admit, it was quite the entertainment for a little kid," Alyson explained, chuckling inbetween her words every now and then.

"I could only imagine with you," Courtney muttered, scratching her head. "Well, that seems a lot like you -- even now."

"Yeah, but imagine being me: a naive, ditzy little two year old that couldn't remember the past two seconds, thinking that her father was actually a phsyco maniac that was out to kill all of us, and the only way to stay alive was to do his bidding. It was a little thing he told me and I believed it. Remember, I was a ditz, and utterly naive," she added.

"Sounds like something he would do to a child," Courtney said bitterly. "You can come inside, you know," she said to Alyson.

Alyson gave a sweet smile, entering the room. Alyson was always Courtney's favorite, only because she could actually choose a favorite -- that, and she was the only one who was willing to help her when she was upset, being teased, and even if she was just hurting. Alyson was most definitely the most caring of all of their siblings.

"Well, Dad was a lot more of an ass when it was just me, you wouldn't even believe the things that I endured because I was so stupid," she chuckled.

"Try me. I'm the girl who was bruised at two," she smiled, placing her head in her hand.

Her and Alyson talked for what seemed like forever until about one in the morning rolled around and Courtney had to get to sleep. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "And have fun preparing for Saturday night!" Alyson chimed, slamming the door behind her as she exited Courtney's room.

~x~

Courtney was pacing back and forth, dressing in the most absurd item of clothing her mother could find. "Fun, isn't it?" Alyson whispered in her ear sarcastically.

"Oh, just lovely. This just makes me want to scream and shout, it's so exciting," she replied, rolling her eyes slightly at the dress she was placed in.

"And I bet you love wearing hot pink," Alyson added, laughing in Courtney's ear.

"More like loathe."

"He should be here any minute, everybody get up," their mother announced, placing a few more things on the table before heading toward the door, the scary smile still on her face from just nights before.

Everyone planted on the couch stood up, talking to the door. They all stood surrounding, trying to glue 'happy' smiles to their faces, though it was all to no avail.

"He's here!" their mother tried to say in as hushed of a tone she could pull off, though it sounded more like screeching to them.

There was a knock on the door, and they all stood there, waiting for their mother to let the unbeknownst guest inside so they wouldn't have to deal with her creepy smile any longer -- though, it was probably there for good at this point.

She opened the door, letting in a man with black hair with brown in the back near his scalp (which reminded Courtney an awful lot of Gerard), her smile growing wider. Courtney inspected the man, analysing every feature as closely as possible. In the dim lighting of the porch light, it was nearly impossible to make them all out.

Once the man stepped inside the house, she almost let her jaw drop to the floor. Gerard? What was he doing here? He was the damned guest her mom had been so worried over. If she had known, she could have just told her this was far too ostentatious for his liking.

He must have noticed her too, because when he looked at her, he was beaming, obviously tried to hide a laugh as much as possible. When everyone but the two had been moving forward, Courtney asked, "Why are you here? As a guest for my mother? Well, be warned, Way, she's an utter freak."

"Do I hint a bit of jealousy?" he smirked, beginning to walk forward with Courtney. "Well, trust me, this doesn't count as our date," Courtney silently cursed, "you're not getting out of it that easily."

"Damn," she muttered. "Well, before my mom gets any more suspicious, I better get back up to pace with the others. Bye, Gerard," she said quickly, fast-walking her way to her family. Gerard watched her as she walked away, smiling.

"Gerard, no need to be a stranger," Courtney's mother began, twirling around so fast that her puffy dress hit her five year old daughter, Ella, "come over here, we're all very welcoming."

Gerard walked over as quickly as possible, just in time to hear Courtney mutter to Alyson, "Some more than others," and have the two have a silent laugh. He never honestly realized how different Courtney was when she wasn't at school, mainly because the only time they were together after school hours was the other day, the awkward day when he told her they should go out, for real.

"Why are you two so happy?" their mother asked as she pulled her eyes away from Gerard and onto two of her daughters.

The two looked up at her, eyes completely dull. "Do we look happy? And, not to mention, the one time we're smiling and laughing in front of you and you ridicule us! Aren't you the one who always tells us to stop being so depressing, as you adore putting it, and light up for a while?" she retorted at her faux mother.

"Courtney Marie Johnson!" her mother gasped, standing up. "Go to your room!" she shouted, pointing at the stairs.

Courtney stood up as well. "Who says I have to? It's not like you're my real mother! Hell, you might be worse than my real mother was, and I was bruised all throughout my childhood because of that woman!" she yelled back, running up the stairs.

Gerard looked at the stairs -- well, more like stared -- and quickly stood up, saying, "I'll go see if she's okay."

Once Courtney's mother thought he was out of earshot, she said, "He's gonna make such a good father," that made everyone -- even Courtney -- come to a complete stop and shut their mouths immediately.

Courtney gulped, running straight inside her room and locking the door.

Gerard heard the lock, running up the steps. He tried opening the door to no avail. He began banging. "Courtney, please let me in," he kept pleading.

After minutes, maybe even half an hour, Courtney opened the door. She looked like an absolute wreck. Her eyeliner was still running down her face, her makeup was smudged, and Gerard was pretty sure she didn't have lines of red on her cheeks when he first arrived.

Gerard pushed his way into her room shoving her with him, locking the door behind him. "I'm so sorry," he said, trying his hardest to not say anything too loudly, considering some of her family could be just outside the door at any moment.

"How do you expect me to believe that? And why didn't you tell me you were planning on marrying my goddamn mother before you decided to go anywhere near me?" she asked, sitting down at her chair in front of her computer.

"I wasn't. I just met her a week ago, Courtney, you have to believe me," he began begging. "And, for a girl that really doesn't care if we end up not being anything or not, you're sure pissed."

Courtney looked up at him. "And what exactly are you implying?"

Gerard smirked, folding his arms. "Oh, nothing -- nothing of your concern, at least."

"Gerard, I can't exactly take your little jokes right now without the urge to bash your face in," she said, getting off of the chair and standing straight in front of you. "What will it take for you to shut up?" she asked.

Gerard stood there, just staring at her. There was something that would cause him to shut up, but it was something she wouldn't dare doing. Gerard, instead, grabbed her face, pulling her into a mindblowing kiss.

Her hands immediately hooked around his neck as his arms wrapped around her waist. Courtney was the one to pull away -- which wasn't exactly shocking. She looked at Gerard, her eyes moving back and forth between his and the door. Gerard looked at Courtney with a hopeful look, biting his lower lip.

Courtney smiled, saying, "So, when's that date supposed to be, exactly?"

~x~

"Courtney, are you okay?" Alyson asked the following Saturday. She inspected the girl, who had been acting quite odd lately, and shot her a surprised look.

"Yeah, I'm just... waiting for it to be seven," she mumbled, running her hands through her curled hair.

"Why?" Alyson asked, inspecting the clock, which only said it was six twenty-five. "Got a hot date tonight?" she joked.

Courtney looked up at her and smirked. "Something like that," she replied, her smirk turning into a smile.

"Well, I don't think you're dressed very well for a date, anyway," Alyson chuckled, looking at her sister's outfit. She was wearing Converse, a black tank top, and skinny jeans, and that didn't exactly seem like the ideal thing to wear on a date -- not for Alyson, at least.

Courtney simply shrugged, groaning at how slow the clock was going. She fell back on her bed, saying, "I wish I could control time. That way, seven o'clock would never stop rolling around until it would normally be hitting dawn."

Alyson chuckled. "You must really wanna see this guy," she said. "How long have you two been going out?"

Courtney shrugged. "I don't know," she began, "I haven't exactly been keeping track. I think it's been, like, two or three weeks," she mumbled.

"Well you definitely seem to be... attatched to this guy, those maybe that's just me assuming," she said, giggling as she sat down next to her on the bed. "Don't worry, five minutes have passed."

"Five measly minutes? God," she groaned.

"It's not as bad as you think. Maybe we're just talking slow and every sentence we say is getting us closer to seven?" Alyson joked.

"Ha, you're so funny," Courtney replied sarcastically. "Let's just hope that seven comes around quickly."

"So this guy's gonna pick you up? What do you think Mom'll say?" she asked.

"I don't know -- he's not coming to pick me up," she said. "He kind of can't," she added quietly, hoping Alyson hadn't heard.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," she said.

Alyson stayed silent after that, still remaining in the room for some reason, and Courtney really didn't feel like it was necessary to go any further in the conversation, just stayed situated awkwardly on the bed.

"Oh, I have to go," Courtney said, looking at the clock. "Don't follow me, and sure as hell don't tell anyone that I am going out, are we clear?" she asked, getting off of her bed and walking toward the door. Alyson nodded. "Good," Courtney said, leaving her room, running down the block as quickly as her feel willed her.

When she saw Gerard standing there waiting, she smiled and ran up to him. "Hey," she said, smiling widely, hugging him quickly.

"Hey, Courtney," he muttered, hugging her back.

"Mind telling me why we're in front of a grocery store?" Courtney asked. "The whole point of this was to not be noticed, Gerard."

He sighed. "It was either this or a mile away from your house," he whispered. "Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her in the car.

"At least tell me where we're going. I haven't talked to you all week, the least you could tell me is where we're going," she whined.

He sighed. "You'll see."