FicWad

When Courtney arrived back home hours later, her mother was sitting at the couch, staring at the door -- or was that directed at her? She looked as though she was planning on strangling, or something of the sort. "Where have you been, young lady?" she shouted. "Did I give you permission to roam about?" she asked.

"Mom, I can do whatever I want," Courtney began, gritting her teeth, "I'm seventeen years olf! You told me you did the exact same thing when you were my age. And aren't you the one who said that I needed to get out of your hair and out in the open once in a while for reasons besides school?" she replied, trying her hardest not to let her head explode or have an eruption of screams burst out.

Her mother's head snapped. "Excuse me?" she shouted. "You don't talk to your mother that way," she tried keeping her cool as she said this, gritting her teeth just like Courtney had moments ago.

Courtney narrowed her eyes, glaring at her 'mother'. "Who said I had to listen to you? I said it last week and I'll say it again: you're not my mother, I don't have to cater to your every whim," she said, walking up the stairs and into her room.

She locked the door, letting herself fall back on her bed, smiling. Tonight had definitely been one of the more... intresting nights of her life, but amazing all the same. There were multiple times that it seemed as though someone was going to catch them being together, which only made it that much more fun -- that night was something that not even her mother could ruin.

There was a sudden knock on the door. "Just a second," Courtney said, unlocking the door. "Hey," she said, moderately quiet.

Alyson walked into her room -- which didn't exactly surprise Courtney. She was the only person who knew she was on a date -- even though she didn't exactly know that it was with Gerard.

"Hey, did Mom do anything to you when you came back inside?" she asked worriedly.

Courtney shook her head. "No, nothing new, at least. She yelled at me, that's about it. She told me off and all, but, like I said, nothing new."

Alyson sighed, sitting down on Courtney's bed. "Listen, Courtney, I just... I'm really glad you're not leaving high school," she mumbled.

Lovely, Courtney thought. "Is it because I need a high school degree for a job?" she asked sarcastically. Alyson looked at her seriously, moderately annoyed. "Okay, okay, I get it. Dropping out of high school: big no, no. I think I've learned at this point," she finished quietly.

"That makes me feel fantastic, Courtney, thanks!" Alyson said retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry, Aly, but you were the one who brought it upon youself," Courtney mumbled, untying her shoes. "Anyway, why are you so happy that I'm not dropping out, exactly?" she asked.

Alyson sighed. "Because, Courtney, if you don't actually get a high school degree, go to college, and leave here, you'll end up just like me: twenty years old and still living with my currently on the verge of divorce parents -- in fact, they honestly are getting divorced, so it's not even on the verge anyway -- and I'm right in the middle of it all, though. You're gonna have to deal with the exact same problems, but with this new guy she brought around a week ago."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure they're not getting married, Aly," she said, lying beside her sister on the bed.

"How can you be so sure?" Alyson asked, turning to face Courtney. "Mom sees to think they are."

"They barely know each other!" Courtney exclaimed.

Alyson looked at her strangely. "How do you know they barely know each other?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Courtney gulped. She couldn't believe she had just said that. That was something Gerard told her the previous week when they were alone in her room. "I... Don't you think they would have arranged Ge -- that guy to come over here sooner?" she asked. She felt so stupid when she nearly said Gerard's name.

"Yeah, well... you should get to sleep," Alyson said, exiting Courtney's room.

She mentally slapped herself as she walked out of her sister's room. It only left her wondering. Why was she acting so strange? Why was she so hesitant to talk about that guy?

Courtney got under the sheets, falling asleep, not even bothering to take off her clothes.

~x~

Monday morning, Courtney woke up, looking toward the clock. She wasn't exactly sure how she managed to wake up at five-thirty in the morning and not be tired, nor have an alarm set. She got up, took off her clothes, took a shower, and put on a cleaner outfit.

By the time she was ready, it was only nearing six-fifteen. She sighed, falling on her bed. She just wanted to go to school, go to third period, and just leave, though that was a little far fetched. And, maybe Alyson was right, maybe she had grown to be a bit.. infatuated with Gerard, but it's not like she minded, and she dearly hoped that Gerard didn't mind it either.

She was laying down for the next forty-five minutes, waiting for the time to pass, though it was just far too slow. When she finally had to head to school, she ran to her car as quickly as possible, rushing to school.

The entire day was sort of a blur until third period, at least it was for Courtney. Even then, she was still a bit dazed. People must have thought it was her haze that she was in that had always gotten her called up after class, even though it was something far from that.

"Gerard, I think people are getting suspicious, shouldn't we just lay low for now?" Courtney asked, standing in front of his desk.

Gerard had completely ignored her statement, still looking at and grading all of the papers laid out on his desk. "I know you're not deaf, Gee, just answer me and stop being such an immature little kid," she said, pushing her hands on his desk. Gerard remained silent. "God, I'm about ready to slap you!" she exclaimed, beginning to head for the door.

Gerard rolled his eyes, getting out of his chair and grabbing her by the hand, pulling her back. "What?" she asked. She looked at him, trying to pull away from his grip.

Gerard chuckled, grabbing her face and kissing her. Courtney immediately caught on, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him, tangling her fingers in his hair.

Gerard pulled away. "I have a question," he said simply.

~x~

"Sorry I'm late again," Courtney said to her fourth period teacher, Mrs. S, and handed her a note, "Mr. Way needed me again," she finished, heading toward her seat in the front row.

Mrs. S smiled at Courtney, clenching the note in her hands. Courtney was a magnificent student, but she honestly was getting annoyed with Mr. Way hoarding her for the majority of fourth period. Her maintained excellent grades were the only thing that stopped her from throwing a chair at her face.

As the day went by quickly, Courtney found herself rushing home. She just didn't want to go back, only silently praying she got into an accident on the way there. Fortunately, for her state of mind as well as many other's, she didn't.

She walked inside, placing her backpack on the floor beside the mat, then suddenly hearing people talking in the kitchen. She decided not to check, walking upstairs.

She sat at her desk, doing her homework for hours, until someone knocked on the door. "Come in," she said, continuing her homework.

Her mother walked in, smiling widely. "Hey, honey," she said, her voice going higher than it's normal register.

Courtney looked up at her mother, completely bewildered. "What do you need?" she asked, placing her pencil on the desk.

Her mother smiled wider, tilting her head to the side. "You didn't properly meet Gerard before, why don't you come down and see him?" she asked, still acting freaky.

Courtney's eyes narrowed. "No thanks," she said simply. "I'd rather not."

Her mother sighed, placing her hand on the door. "Please, sweetie, come down," she said softly, somehow managing to stop blinking, which only made Courtney more uncomfortable.

"No, Mom, I'm fine, I'll meet him some other time. In fact, I forgot to mention this last week: he's my teacher," her mother had already begun chuckling. "Do you think I'm kidding?" she asked. Her mother nodded, laughing harder. "Third period, English, Mr. Way? Does this sound correct to you at all, that is if you've even bothered to ask those types of questions, which, based on your reaction, I don't think you have."

Her mother's smile finally ceased to exist, even though it wasn't possible, and she grit her teeth. "As a matter of fact, I know a lot about Gerard, one of those things being that he would never consider being a teacher."

Courtney stood up, crossing her arms. "Is that because you don't want to think of the man you are absolutely infatuated with, even though you probably don't know him that well, is the teacher of one of your children? Because, I for one thinks it makes this a lot more entertaining to watch you go crazy."

"Dear God, Courtney, just come downstairs!" her mother screamed at her.

The entire house heard her. Her voice echoed time after time, only ceasing quickly down the stairs, while others upstairs were out to torture by having to deal with the insufferable echo of her screaming repeatedly.

Courtney rolled her eyes, rushing past her mother and downstairs, glaring at Gerard. "I'm really sorry about my mother," she muttered, hoping she wasn't in earshot.

She checked the stairs and directly above her, making sure her mother was nowhere to be seen at the moment. She walked over to Gerard, sitting next to him and kissing him on the lips. "You realize my mother refuses to acknowledge that you're a teacher, right?" she asked.

Gerard nodded, chuckling quickly. "Yeah, I've tried telling her. There's two things I've been trying to tell her, actually. One of them being that I'm a teacher, but the other is that I'm really not interested in her, but she really doesn't like not being told what she wants, or at least it seems like that's what it is," he muttered, kissing her again, this time longer.

"Gee," she groaned as quietly as possible against his lips, "she'll be down any second," she continued, letting her arms wrap around his waist on their own accord.

"So?" he said against her lips, tangling his fingers in her hair.

"Gerard," Courtney's mother said. Courtney pulled away as she heard her mother's footsteps, moving slightly farther from Gerard. "Oh, hello," she smiled again when she saw Gerard, "well, will you be staying for dinner?" she asked, clearly losing any train of thought the second she saw his face.

Gerard made sure he didn't look at Courtney, even though it was extremely hard not to, and smiled, saying, "Yeah, I don't have anywhere else to be."

Courtney smiled as her mother walked away -- smirked, as a matter of fact. She turned to Gerard. "Gee, you could be anywhere else in the world, doing anything you want, yet you want to stay with my phsyco maniac of a mother?" she asked.

"Well, there's one thing I can't do at any place my heart desires," he said, grabbing her face and kissing her again.

Courtney quickly pulled away, grabbing his hand. "Not here," she mumbled, dragging him up the stairs, making sure none of her siblings were around, then bringing him to her room.

Gerard quickly caught on, locking the door as they entered, pressing her hard against the door. She groaned, pulling Gerard closer by the hips, placing a hand in his hair. Gerard chuckled at her anticipation, placing a hand on the door to keep them sturdy, placing the other hand on her cheek.

Courtney pushed Gerard away when she heard footsteps rushing past the door. Their breathing was heavy, and far beyond what they would have expected, and far beyond how loud they would have been pleased with. Courtney swallowed, trying her hardest to contain the need for Gerard raging inside her.

Gerard smirked, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the bed. She was under him, completely unaware of any surroundings besides Gerard, trying her hardest to not scream at just the feel of being placed underneath him.

Gerard pulled away, looking at her intently, his eyes appearing to be dark. "This isn't too much for you, is it?" he asked, clenching his fist against the sheets, closing his eyes.

Courtney's head shook furiously. "No, not at all. I'm fine with this. Completely fine," she muttered, kissing him again.

She took the opportunity of him being caught off guard to slip her tongue into his mouth, exploring the inside. The two groaned in unison, trying their hardest to not be too noticable, yet it seemed like a moot point.

The had gotten so caught up in what they were doing, they hadn't even realized how much time had passed until Courtney's mother knocked on the door. "Courtney. Courtney, I know you're in there, the door is locked."

Courtney pulled away from Gerard, a wet pop sound emitting. "What, Mom?" she said quickly, hoping she didn't notice anything strange about her voice.

"Dinner is done, come downstairs. Oh, and do you know where Gerard is?" she asked.

Courtney looked to Gerard and chuckled, turning her attention back to the door. "Yeah, he's, uh... he went outside for a second, I think. He should be back pretty soon, I would worry about it too much."

"Okay, well, come down," she said quickly, footsteps moving futher and further away.

Courtney leaned down and kissed Gerard one last time. When she pulled back up, she ran a hand through her hair. "We should get downstairs, just... don't be too obvious that you were up here," she muttered, getting off of the bed and running downstairs, trying to remain ahead of Gerard.

She sat down with the rest of her family, awkwardly situated from what she had been doing with Gerard not too long ago. When he finally got downstairs, Courtney tried to place her attention anywhere but on him, yet it was all to no avail.

She found herself staring at Gerard, and she didn't even want to think about what expression she was pulling while. Her mother suddenly kicked her from underneath the table. Courtney pulled her foot back, trying not to even show signs of pain, yet she couldn't help it. Her face contorted and she said, "Fuck!"

"We don't stare at people!" her mother exclaimed. Gerard looked up at her, smirking.

"Sorry," she muttered awkwardly, placing her head in her hand.

It seemed like her mom loved to embaress her whenever Gerard came by, and it only made things slightly weirder to be around her, because Gerard would always smirk, that smirk that caused her legs to turn into jelly, and she absolutely loathed not just being able to even simply kiss him right then and there.

She wasn't even remotely sure what the feeling was. All she knew was that it had been happening a lot lately. There was something about him that caused her to feel this way, she just didn't know what, nor how.

When dinner was over, Gerard was already heading for the door. Courtney's mother stood up, walking Gerard there. Courtney felt something uneasy creeping up on her stomach as her mother did this. She hurried until she was beside her. As much as she wanted to trust her, she couldn't, especially not with Gerard.

Her mother looked to her, saying, "Head upstairs," but Courtney didn't listen, she just kept walking until reaching the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Courtney said.

Her mother eyed her suspiciously. "How exactly will you two be meeting tomorrow?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I told you this earlier!" she turned to her mother. She could even feel Gerard beginnging to laugh. "He's my English teacher!"

Her mother rolled her eyes, saying a simply, "Good bye," to Gerard, walking up the stairs.

Courtney smiled. "Finally," she muttered, "she's gone," she continued, grabbing Gerard by the t-shirt, kissing his lips quickly. "I'll see you third period," she whispered, walking away.

Gerard smirked, walking out the door.

~x~

Courtney had come to the decision second period. She was going to do it, she was ready, she knew how she felt about it, and nothing was going to stop her from telling him. She just hoped Gerard called her up at the end of class like he had been doing lately.

So, of course, when he did, she couldn't contain a smile, which she hadn't done any other time she had been called up.

"Listen, Gerard, before you say anything, I just need to tell you something," she began, running a hand through her hair. Saying she was scared shitless was an understatement. She was terrififed, all she wanted to do was run and hide as far away from Gerard as possible, and just cowar in fear.

Gerard looked at her, tilting his head to the side and raising an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?" he asked, sounding nothing short of worried.

"No, nothing's wrong, it's just... Lately, something about you makes me.... happy, as ridiculous as it sounds. Just your name can manage to make me smile. Every time I'm around you, I can't help being excited, nor can I help wanting you, but that's another story," Gerard chuckled, "but, what I'm trying to say here is... Gerard, I think I'm in love with you."