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Again, she walked to the shower, hoping to clean herself off, scrubbing away all the disgust. The memory was fresh in her mind, the bruises still clear on her body. Multiple times, Gerard questioned her because of it. She felt like she wasn’t herself after this entire situation.

Like somewhat mentioned before, Gerard was worried out of his mind. Courtney didn't even act normal around him anymore. It was killing them both. Everything seemed to be falling apart at the seams.

Courtney was always ignoring him, they never saw each other beside in the classroom, and Courtney did everything in her power to make sure Gerard never saw all that was on her body – at least after the first time.

Her and Gerard were at his house, and they were... Well, needless to say, by the time enough of her clothes were off and she was in pain whenever he touched her body, Gerard was screaming at her. He yelled consistently, getting angry that she didn't even bother trying to talk to him about it. To him, it was only worse because they had already discussed it, and agreed that they could talk about it, though she completely ignored that fact.

It got to the point where Gerard had to drag her back into his classroom just to talk to her.

"Gerard, I don't know if you forgot, but I do have a fourth period class that I'd like to get to," she growled, tapping her foot on the ground.

Gerard sighed, staring at her. "You can talk to me, Courtney, I thought you knew that by now," he muttered, grabbing her hands.

Courtney stayed silent, staring at Gerard, as though he knew the reason why she was so adamant. Whenever she wanted to talk about it, she began bawling. Whenever she thought of what happened, she felt guilty. Almost like she failed Gerard. She thought he would break up with her at any given moment, and chose to avoid him at all costs.

She sighed, crossing her arms. "Gerard, can we please not have this conversation right now?" she asked desperately, attempting to avoid the conversation further, to the point where she couldn't anymore.

"No, we have to talk about this now," he told her, his voice growing louder, alarming Courtney.

She sighed again, "Fine, ask whatever you need to," she said.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" he asked immediately.

Courtney looked at him, staring, not uttering a single sound. The one question she was dreading and it was the first thing he asked. "I know you can talk," Gerard said.

"Gerard... I really don't feel up to talking about this right now," she muttered, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry."

"Courtney, you've kept me in the dark long enough, don't you think?" Gerard asked, cupping her cheek.

She shoved his hand away, "Gerard, I'd really appreciate it if you'd just leave me alone for the time being," she mumbled.

"Courtney, we have to talk about this now, whether you like it or not," Gerard told her, kissing her quickly. "Please, just talk to me. I won't do anything bad, baby, and I won't tell anyone if I don't have to."

"I highly doubt that," she said. "It's your legal obligation to call the police or something and tell them my fucking father raped me! But of course, you're not like the other teachers, you care just a bit less," she yelled, trying not to cringe at her own words.

At this point, Gerard was livid. He couldn't believe his ears. No way in hell did Courtney really just say that to him. "You're fucking kidding me, right?" he asked, clenching his fist. "How the fuck can you even say that? You know I love you, Courtney, and I'm trying to help you, but you won't fucking let me!" he yelled.

"Gerard, can I please just leave? I want to be left alone," she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"You won't be alone either way, so you might as well talk to me," he muttered, glaring at her. "Please, Courtney, I don't want to fight," he begged.

"Gerard, we wouldn't be fighting if you could just mind your own business," Courtney said, combing a hand through her hair. "I don't want to fight either, but we're probably not stopping any time soon. And I'm probably going to miss fourth period, so..." she trailed off, sitting down on one of the desks. "My teacher is going to kill me," she muttered.

Gerard sighed, "Courtney, please, just let me help you," he asked.

"Fine," she said, hopping off of the desk, "but can I please get to class, now?" she asked.

"Yeah, just let me write a note," he said, walking to his desk.

~x~

"Gerard," Courtney said two days later, walking into his classroom. "Gee, I need to talk to you," she sniffled.

"What's wrong?" he asked, getting out of his chair and putting the essays on his desk. "Did something happen?"

"My dad came over last night," she began, taking off her jacket. "He said he just wanted to see my brother, sisters, and me, but he did nothing more than... Well, I think it's pretty obvious," she scratched her head awkwardly, wishing this conversation didn't have to happen. "God, I feel ridiculous."

"Jesus Christ," Gerard muttered. "Why didn't you just call me last night?" he asked.

"I was afraid to. I thought you would end up coming over, and getting angry with my father."

"Look, next time something like this happens, just call and tell me," he told Courtney.

She nodded. "Okay. If it happens again, that is. Let's just hope it doesn't."