Bad Girl

I was sitting on the floor in the corner of my living room, hugging my knees. I was trying to breath normally and not hyperventilate. I glanced up at Brittany standing in the hallway, who was still on the phone with the police. I couldn't hear anything that she was saying to them or what was going on.

I just realized something...

I had been so scared that I didn't realize that the pounding on the door had stopped. I tried to listen for any noises outside, but it was silent.

I slowly crawled my way to the window and carefully peered outside, trying not to cause any attention to myself. I didn't see anyone in the front yard. I didn't see any cars in my driveway or unfamiliar cars parked on my street.

Maybe Farrah had left already? Maybe she realized that she was insane for coming over to my house and pounding on the door like a madwoman. Maybe she left to talk to Taylor, the person she should have talked to before this whole thing.

That was my rational side talking. Then, the irrational side of my brain started to talk.

Maybe she snuck around to the back of the house and was looking for an open window.

Maybe she has a weapon on her and she was planning on really hurting me.

Maybe she wants to kill me!

Maybe she's already in the house right now, just plotting her move! OMG! I'm going to die!

I started to hyperventilate. Brittany came over with a paper bag and a glass of water.

"Hey, hey, hey," she said, softly. She handed me the paper bag and I breathed into it until my breathing became normal. "Calm down, Court. Everything is going to be fine."

"She's going to kill me!" I exclaimed. "She's going to come in the house and kill me!" Brittany gave me a big hug and didn't let me go.

"Ok, calm down, honey," she said to me. "The police are coming." I nodded.

"I'm trying," I said to her.

"She's not going to kill you," Brittany tried to reassure me.

"She could be anywhere here!" I exclaimed. "She could be waiting outside for me with a knife or a gun."

"You've been watching too many cop shows," she said to me, trying to crack a joke. I wasn't laughing.

"I'm serious, Brittany," I said to her.

"I heard her walk away and get into her car," she told me. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Ok, Britt," I said with a sigh of relief.

"Hey, the cops are here," she said, looking out the window. She went to open the door to let them in.

It was only one officer who arrived and it was pretty routine. Officer Novak was really nice and he asked me a bunch of questions, trying to get me to remember exactly what happened. He was really understanding when I had to stop and get a drink of water or started to cry out of nowhere.

I tried relaying what had happened to him as accurately as possible. Things happened so fast that I couldn't remember some of the details.

Officer Novak had to talk to Brittany for a little bit to get her statement since she was the one who called.

Officer Novak came back into the living room.

"Courtney, do you want to press charges?" he asked me.

Face That Screams

The first thought I had was: What the hell was this freaken girl doing standing here at my house? My second thought was: Why is she yelling at me? I didn't do anything to her!
My third thought: Get the **** off of my property.

Ok, well, my dad's property. Whatever! You get the point! She can't just come here to my house and yell at me!

"Yes, I live here," I said, rolling my eyes.

I know that I shouldn't be giving attitude to a crazy person, but I couldn't help it. I was really annoyed.

"You're a slut!" she yelled at me. "Do you think you can do whatever you want? Do you think that you're better than everyone else? Do you think that you can just waltz in and just screw everything up? Do you?"

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," I told her, what I thought to be very sincerely.

"That's right, play dumb," she sneered at me. "Pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Really, Farrah, I have no idea what you're talking about," I said to her, honestly confused about everything.

"I know everything, Courtney," she said to me.

"Oh, really?" I asked her. "Then tell me what you know because I certainly don't know. No clue what you're talking about."

"I know that you slept with Taylor!" She shouted. "I know you did!"

I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't. I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" she asked, angrily. "I don't see what's so funny."

I couldn't stop laughing at her ridiculous accusation. I was practically kneeling on the ground.

"Shut up!" she screamed in my face. "I know you've been talking to him. I saw the two of you yesterday! I followed him to your store and saw you guys together!"

"He came in the store looking for me!" I exclaimed. "He left after I told him that I had a boyfriend."

"You? A boyfriend?" she scoffed at me. "Please, I saw the way you were looking at my man. There is no way that you have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, I do, it's Henry," I told her, rolling my eyes. It was her turn to laugh uncontrollably.

"Please, you and Henry?" she said, in disbelief. She continued laughing for another minute before she could control herself. "Right. Like that would ever happen. Get out here so I can kick your ass!"

I tried closing the door on her, but she grabbed my arm and tried to pull me out of the house. We were struggling for control for.. I don't know how long. All of a sudden, I saw Farrah's fist and felt it collide into my nose. I felt blood trickling down my face. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Courtney? What's goin-" I heard Brittany say before I heard a yell. I felt Brittany pulling me into the house while I gave Farrah a huge push that sent her on the ground. I quickly shut the door and locked it behind me.

"Come out here, you whore!" I heard her shriek. "You don't sleep with my man and get away with it!" She banged loudly on my door.

I looked at Brittany. I was terrified. There was a crazy, screaming psychopath outside my house.

"I'm going to call the police, Court," she said in a gentle voice. "It's going to be ok." I nodded and hoped that she was right.

"Get out here!" More pounding.

"Hurry, Brittany!" I cried as she quickly punched the numbers 9 1 1 on the phone.

The Crazy Girl

Today started off like any other day. I woke up bright and early at 7 in the morning. Ok, that part wasn't normal. I just couldn't go back to sleep. After getting up and taking a hot shower, I made myself some breakfast. Since I was up early, I was able to put in an hour of TV watching before I absolutely had to start my to-do list.

I didn't know where to start.. I ended up deciding to wash my car. Yes, cool people wash their cars at 8:30 in the morning. I drove my car to the car wash and had their complementary coffee while I waited for my car to come out of the car wash. They do such a good job here that I'm shocked. I've never seen my car this clean before in my life.

I didn't notice that I had left my phone in my room when I left for the car wash and I came home to a message from Henry. We were planning on going out to dinner tonight to celebrate his new job. I wanted to go somewhere fancy-ish like The Cheesecake Factory as opposed to going to our usual burger joint like Henry wanted.

I went on my voicemail to listen to Henry's message.

"You have one new message. Beep!" the annoying voicemail voice tells me.

"Hey, Court," Henry said on the message. "I have some really good news and some really bad news. I'll start with the bad news first. I'm not going to be able to make it to dinner tonight. But here's the good news! It's because my boss called me and they want me to be working tonight on this big project that they're doing. I'm really sorry, babe, I know that you were really looking forward to having dinner to celebrate my new job. I promise that I'll make it up to you. I have to go get ready and go to work. Bye, babe. Again, I'm really really sorry that I can't make it to dinner."

"End of messages." says the voice.

I sighed. I was really disappointed that we couldn't go to dinner that night, but I completely understand that Henry had to work. I mean, this was just a one-time thing. He's never flaked on me before and I doubt he'll ever flake on me ever again. I wasn't even mad at him because Henry just loves his job.

So, now I have nothing to do later today. I sighed.

"What's with the sad face, sis?" Brittany asked me when she walked into my room.

"Henry canceled on me," I said, sadly. "I don't have anything to do now and it's my day off from work. I guess I'll just stay home and be bored all day."

"Listen to yourself, Court," she said, rolling her eyes at me. "Since when do you need your boyfriend to entertain you?"

"You're right, Brittany!" I said, smiling.

"Stop whining and let's go make something happen," she said to me. "We don't need boys to have fun! It'll be you and me, Court!" She smiled at me. Her smile was contagious. I couldn't help but get on board with the idea.

"Yeah!" I said, excitedly. "Let's go!"

"Let me get ready," she said, excitedly. She skipped happily out of my room. I shook my head and smiled in amusement.

I really love my sister. I know that she has better things to do than to do whatever it is we're going to be doing today. I smiled to myself, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.

The doorbell rang.

Huh, that was weird, I wasn't expecting anyone over today.

"Brittany!" I yelled. "Are you expecting anyone over today?"

"No!" I heard her yell back. The doorbell rang again.

I went downstairs and opened the door.

"You!" the person screamed at me.

Farrah.

Please Don't Leave Me

I stood there with my mouth hanging wide open. Brittany and I shared a look. I couldn't have possibly heard her right. I think she said that she and Joe were getting married. I thought that it was just a fling, that she would get over her midlife crisis. I didn't think, not for one minute, that this thing that my mom has with Joe was serious- marriage material serious. I honestly thought that this thing with Joe would end in another couple of months and that I would have my mom back, but it appears that she's gone forever.

I was speechless- stunned silent. I wanted to tell her that she was making a mistake- that she's moving too fast in this relationship. I wanted to tell her how much it hurt that she would choose Joe over my happiness and Brittany's happiness. We didn't even have a say in this whole situation, how is that supposed to make us feel? Can't she see how much it hurt us? The guy is 3 years older than Brittany and I. Luckily, I didn't have to say anything because Brittany was the first to recover from the news.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Brittany yelled, angrily. "Really, Mom? Really? You're going to marry a guy who's almost half your age and a couple of years older than your children? Really? Do you even care how we feel about this?"

My mom opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but she closed it. She looked at Joe, pleading for some help.

"I know that this is hard for the two of you to take in, but I really love your mom," he said, grabbing my mom's hand and smiling at her. "Age doesn't matter when you're in love." I wanted to wring his neck.

"Oh, shut up, you homewrecker," I spat at him. "My mom and dad's divorce isn't even finalized yet. Here you are, trying to waltz in like everything is fine and dandy but it's not. I don't want you to marry her and I don't care if you love her." I put quotations around the word love.

"Courtney, you know that the divorce will be finalized soon!" my mom exclaimed, looking at me with sad eyes. "Don't you want me to be happy?"

"Don't I have a say?" I asked her, with tears threatening to overflow. "Don't you care about my opinion?"

"Yeah, Mom, don't you care about what we think?" Brittany asked her. My mom looked at us.

"This is going to happen whether you like it or not," she said, loudly. "It's time for me to be happy and Joe makes me happy. I gave up the best years of my life to raise the two of you and this is the thanks I get? The least you can do is let me be happy!" Brittany and I looked at each other shocked.

"Whatever, Mom, do whatever you want," I told her, with tears streaming down my cheeks. "I don't care. Don't expect me to be at the wedding."

"Get out of this house!" Brittany yelled. "You're not welcomed here! Get out!" My mom looked shocked, but she and Joe left without another word.

"Are you ok?" I asked her, in a whisper. She shook her head.

"No," she told me. "But, it's ok. She's just a selfish human being who resents us. If she doesn't care about us, then we're not going to give her the time of day." I nodded. I dragged myself upstairs and into my room.

"Are you ok?" Henry asked me, giving me a hug as soon as I walked in. "I heard everything."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, trying to squirm out of his hug. "I forgot to bring the food up."

"It's ok, Court," he told me. "I'm not that hungry anyways. We can eat it later. We'll just relax up here and watch TV or something."

I shook my head and sighed.

"I want to be alone right now, Henry," I told him. "I need process what just happened and I think I need to be alone to do it."

"Don't push me away, Court," he said, softly. He held me in his arms. "I'm always here for you."

I got out of his hold and looked him straight in the eye.

"Please, Henry," I said, sadly. The tears were building up in my eyes and I didn't want Henry to see me like this. "I need some time alone. Please just go away." He stood up.

"Ok, if that's what you want, Courtney, I'll give you your space," he told me, kissing me on the forehead.

I knew that I had to stop him, that I was being unreasonable- crazy even. But, I didn't want to be near anyone right now- not even Henry. I did the only thing I could do...

I watched him walk out my door.

Unexpected

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Hey guys! The new poll is up on the right sidebar. New polls are up on Tuesdays at midnight, pacific time.

Oh! I have a special Happy Birthday to Mum! Happy Birthday! May everything today be everything you hoped for and more! :) -J'et

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I took a deep breath. My hands were trembling uncontrollably- so uncontrollably that I had almost dropped the test in the toilet. I couldn't bring myself to look at the test. I was scared that it may say that I am pregnant. Henry can read it. Henry can tell me. I told myself. Henry was the only thing that was keeping me sane right now. I walked into my room.

"What did it say?" Henry asked me, concerned. "Are you ok?"

"I can't look," I told him, my voice quavering. I desperately wanted to cry, but I wanted Henry to see me as this strong person who can handle situations like this. I didn't want him to think of me as a weakling who can't even keep her emotions in check. "Can you tell me what it says?"

"Sure thing," he said to me. As if he could sense that I needed it, he gave me a hug. "How do you read it?"

"One line means not pregnant," I told him, with my eyes closed. "Two lines means that I am pregnant." I felt him take my hand into his after gently removing the test from my fingers.

"Congratulations, Courtney," he said, in a whisper. Oh, no. I'm pregnant. F***! What am I going to do? "You're not pregnant." Wait, what?

"What?" I asked him. I wasn't sure I heard him correctly. "I'm.. not pregnant?"

"Nope!" he said, with a smile on his face. I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"What's with the congratulations then?" I asked, hitting him on the arm. "You scared the heck out of me!"

"Ow, sorry?" he said, uncertainly while rubbing his arm.

"We should go celebrate!" I exclaimed, happily after we got rid of the pregnancy test and washed our hands. I grabbed his arm. "Come on! Let's go back to the beach and enjoy the lunch I made us!" I tried pulling him to the door, but he wouldn't budge.

"How about we stay here and enjoy the lunch you made?" he suggested, pulling me into a nice long hug. I could tell that he was extremely excited that I wasn't pregnant with another man's child by the way he was hugging me. I could barely breathe.

"I can't if you hug me to death," I managed to squeak. He laughed and let me go. I gasped, trying to take in as much air as possible. "Air! Sweet air!" Henry laughed again.

"You're being overdramatic, Court," he said, dismissively. I smiled. "I'll bring up the food and we can have a little picnic here in your room. How does that sound?" I shook my head.

"I'll go downstairs and get it," I told him. "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back."

I ran down the stairs and had almost knocked over my mom. Thankfully, I grabbed a hold of the railing and avoided squashing her. Wait. Why was my mom here? She doesn't live here! How did she even get into the house? Did my dad let her in or something?

"Sorry, Mom," I said, with confusion in my voice. "What are you doing here?" Suddenly, the front door opened and Joe came in. She turned around and smiled at him.

Wait, why are they both here? I can understand my mom, but Joe? REALLY? The guy my mom had an affair with thinks that he can waltz into my dad's house any time he wants? I forgave him for coming to my graduation because my dad invited my mom, who in turn invited Joe, so it was my mother's fault for him being there. He was invited to that, but no one invited him over here today!

"Actually, I'd like to talk to you and Brittany at the same time," she said to me. "It's important. Is she home too?"

"I don't know, I'll go check her room," I said, quickly dashing up the stairs. I knocked on Brittany's door and got a muffled answer. "Hey, I'm coming in." I slowly opened the door and peeked inside. I couldn't see her anywhere. I realized that her room was a complete mess, like a tornado had ripped through everything.

"I'm in the closet," I heard Brittany say. I walked towards the closet.

"Mom's here," I told her. "She wants to talk to us about something important." She nodded and followed me downstairs. Mom and Joe were waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs.

"So, what's so important that you have to talk to us together?" Brittany asked my mom.

"Well, girls, I don't know how to tell you this," she said, biting her lower lip. "I have.. We have wonderful news!"

"What is it?" I asked her, with zero excitement in my voice.

Then my mom said the 6 words that I'd never thought I'd hear in my whole life: "Joe and I are getting married!"

Graduation (Part III)

After the ceremony, I calmly walked outside, trying to pretend that I didn't notice anything. It was hard to keep the excitement of having just graduated when your ex-boyfriend, who hasn't said one word to you since the two of you had broken up, shows up at your graduation and declares his love for you. I sighed and put on my best "happy" face and searched for the table that held my real, official diploma.

"Courtney, over here!" I looked up and saw Brittany waving at me to come over. She had found a table that was labeled A to F. I gave her a celebratory hug before standing in the chaotic mess of a line of newly-grads. I finally made my way up to the front of the line after about 20 minutes of pushing, shoving, and elbowing.

Once I received my envelope that contained my diploma, I made my way to the open grassy area where the rest of the graduating class of 2010 stood, looking for their families. I had somehow found Henry in the crowd and waved at him.

"Courtney!" he yelled as he ran up to hug me. "We're high school graduates!"

"I know!" I exclaimed, excitedly. "College, here we come!" I laughed. Henry had that look in his eye, like he was going to kiss me. I felt someone grab my arm and I quickly turned around to see who it was.

Taylor.

I looked at Henry and saw the color drain from his face. He must have seen the sign Taylor was holding during the ceremony. It was pretty hard to miss. I shot Henry an apologetic look.

"Courtney, can I talk to you?" Taylor asked me. He looked at Henry. "Alone?"

"Whatever you want to say to me, you can say in front of Henry," I told him. Henry put an arm around me, protectively. I smiled at him gratefully for the gesture. I looked at Taylor with a look that could kill. "Why are you here?"

"What are you talking about? he asked, acting surprised. "I go to school here." He smiled at me, trying to get me to stop glaring at him. I wasn't having any of it.

"Cut the crap, Taylor," I snapped at him. "I'm going to ask you again, why are you here?"

"I want you back, Court," he admitted. I felt Henry stiffen. "I made a mistake."

How dare he? How dare he try to come back out of nowhere and tell me that he wants me back? He hasn't spoken to me since our break up and I tried so hard not to think about him. A wave of hurt and anger washed over me.

Of course, to make the situation even better, I saw Logan walk up to us.

"Hey, Court, congratulations!" he said, practically pushing Henry aside to give me an awkward hug. When he pulled away from out hug, he saw Taylor. "You. What's he's doing here, Courtney?"

"I want her back," Taylor said, answering for me. "I'm here to get back together with her."

"Tough luck, man," Logan said. "She's my girl."

"You're delusional!" Taylor exclaimed at the same time Henry said "Wait, what?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm not your girl," I told Logan. I turned to Henry, trying to explain the situation. "Logan and I had a friends with benefits thing going on, but it's over. There's no strings attached, no feelings, nothing." I pointed that last part to Logan.

"So, you're just going to get back together with this guy?" Logan asked, jerking his thumb at Taylor. "He's an idiot for not choosing you over that other chick!"

"You're an idiot for cheating on her with her best friend!" Taylor shot back.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Logan spat in his face, growing angry.

"You!" Taylor spat back.

I don't know who threw the first punch, but before I could even blink, I saw Taylor and Logan wrestling on the ground, each trying to get their punches in. I saw a flock of teachers run over here and broke up the fight, taking them both away from the scene.

I turned back to where Henry was standing and saw that there was no one standing beside me.

Graduation (Part II)

I was trying not to grin from Henry's compliment the whole ride to the University, which was really difficult. I kept myself busy by talking about the wedding with Justin and Sarah. Both sounded really excited about the wedding and heading off to college t0gether. It's really cute how happy and in love they are. We ended up on the subject of what to do after the graduation ceremony.

"My dad's having a having a graduation party," I said. "You're all welcome to come, but my family will be there, so there much be some family drama. So, I don't know if you guys, and your families, are up for it."

"That sounds like fun," Sarah said, smiling. "Not the family drama, but the graduation party part. I think my parents would love to come. They love your dad! Justin, baby, do you want to go?"

"Sure, honey, whatever you want," Justin said, not taking his eyes off the road. I really think that if Sarah said that the moon was made of chocolate, Justin would have agreed with her. It's his way of letting Sarah gets what she wants so there are no arguments. I wonder if that's how they lasted so long.

"Anyone else?" I asked, trying not to smile at my thought.

"I'm there," Haylie and Adam said at the same time. I laughed. I took a deep breath.

"Henry, do you want to come?" I asked, shyly.

"I can't, my family flew in from New York last night and we're already planning on having dinner together," he said, with a twinge of sadness. "I promise I'll make it up to you." I nodded.

"Someone's got a date!" Haylie teased, playfully. I was too far away to elbow her in the ribs, so Sarah gladly did it for me.

I thought I saw jealousy flash across Adam's face for a second when he heard Haylie say that, but I shook my head in disbelief. I was going crazy. Adam was happy with Zoey. It was just my imagination, I decided.

"Oh, please, it'll be the end of the world before Courtney and Henry start dating," Sarah said, jokingly.

Why would Sarah say that? Is it really THAT far-fetched for me and Henry to date? I wanted to ask her, but I closed my mouth as soon as I opened it.

"We're here!" Justin announced, when we pulled into the parking lot.

I was right. After we had parked the car, we headed into the theater (I call it a theater, Justin says it's an auditorium) and we were forced to line up in alphabetical order for one last practice. The practice went smoothly. Brittany and I chatted throughout the whole practice.

We stood outside behind the theater for half an hour while everyone's families and friends piled into the theater. It felt like an eternity before we got the signal to go inside. I tried my best to not to trip as we walked inside, sitting down in our designated seats.

It felt like a dream- an out-of-body experience. I couldn't believe that I was actually graduating! I was mesmerized by the crowd of people who were here to support the class of 2010- so mesmerized that I completely missed the speeches. Well, it was intentional. I knew that my dad was getting all of this on tape, so I don't have to listen to the boring speeches about how we survived 4 years of high school and how we are the future. Oh, and our valedictorian, Jonathan Wo? He took out the complete band section when he went up to make his speech. Talk about humor.

Pretty soon, the first row got the signal to stand up and walk towards the stage and the principal was calling out names for their diploma (diploma sleeve).

"Avril Abel," the principal said.

A girl walked up and posed as she shook the superintendent's hand while receiving her diploma. We were warned that there was a photographer there and that we should look at the camera. Pretty soon, it was my row's turn to stand up.

"Congrats, sis," Brittany whispered to me as we walked towards the stage to line up.

"Right back at you, Britt," I said, hugging her. It wasn't long before we heard Brittany's name being called. "Knock them dead, sis."

She gracefully walked onto the stage and smiled brilliantly for the camera. She looked so excited to get her diploma. I watched her walk off the stage before my name was called. I took a deep breath before walking on stage, careful not to trip.

"Congratulations, Courtney," the principal said to me. I smiled at her. After getting my diploma, I saw that Brittany had stopped in her tracks and was staring at something. I walked up to her and grabbed her hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. "We're supposed to go back to our seats."

Then, I saw what she was looking at. Taylor was in the front row with a huge sign that said "Courtney, I love you. Please forgive me!".

Graduation (Part I)

Graduation day came up faster than I expected. I mean, even with all the graduation practices, I didn't feel ready for the actual ceremony. I had a bad feeling that I was going to trip on my dress or fall on my face. I just have that ominous feeling that something bad is going to happen. I couldn't help but feel extremely nervous about tonight. I felt completely nauseous about the whole ordeal.

It had been a couple of days since Henry and I shared that kiss, well.. kisses. I don't really know what's happening between us, we haven't talked about what happened. We've kind of avoided the subject every time we saw each other. That night, after we kissed on the beach, he brought me home and walked me up to the front door. He gave me a hug and practically ran away. He peeled out of my driveway like there was no tomorrow.

...That wasn't really reassuring that he returned my feelings. We haven't even talked to each other outside of school and usually we chat over the phone, but he hasn't called me since we kissed. Maybe he thought it was a mistake?

Logan, on the other hand, kept calling me non-stop. He wanted me to come over. I came over yesterday, but nothing happened. I'm actually really glad that nothing happened with everything that's up in the air with Henry. But, that didn't mean that Logan didn't try anything while we were watching a movie.

I really needed to have a talk with Henry. I don't know how much longer I can resist Logan's advances.

Brittany came into my room, wearing a black sequined mini-dress. She had her hair in beautiful curls. I was instantly jealous of her gorgeous blonde hair. Sometimes, I wondered what it would be like to be a blonde instead of a brunette.

"Nervous?" she asked me. I nodded.

"Really nervous," I told her. I pointed to my 3-inch heels next to my bed. "I'm going to trip and fall, I know it."

"I'm sure Dad will catch it on tape," she said, laughing. I laughed along with her until we realized what was going to happen. Our family's coming to graduation.

Anyone who is near California is coming to our graduation, the list includes: Aunt Lany, Cousin Anne, Aunt Lydia, Uncle Mark, Cousin Nina, Mom (who's bring Joe, UGH!), and Dad. They had to get a pass from the care facility so Uncle Mark could come to our graduation (he was transferred from the hospital 2 months ago, into the care facility). I forgot about Uncle Wilson (on my mom's side) and Aunt Pam with their kids, Karen and Sharon, who are flying in from Las Vegas.

"Oh, it's going to be hell," I said to Brittany. She nodded in agreement. In our family, there is no such thing as a happy family gathering. One person has to bring up something unpleasant and ruin the entire event. I sighed. I'm definitely not looking forward to this.

Brittany helped me curl my hair before I slipped into my red one shoulder dress. It might be too dressy for graduation, but I didn't care. I won't admit this out loud, but I want to look nice for Henry.

"Now, you look gorgeous for Henry," Brittany said, after curling the last section of my hair. It's like she can read my mind. It freaks me out. I shook my head and laughed. She left so she could call her boyfriend and see if he was ready yet.

We had to meet at the theater at Beachside University (it was a tradition of ours to hold it at the University) an hour and a half before our graduation is set to start. We had to make sure everything was in order, line up, get ready, possibly rehearse one last time.

I heard a car honk downstairs. I peeked out the window and saw that it was Justin honking. It looked like everyone was in the car. I quickly put on my heels and went downstairs to jump in the car, we were already running a little late.

When I got into the car, I was greeted with 5 hellos. I was squeezed in the back right next to Henry, along with Sarah and Haylie, in a 3 seat backseat. It was extremely awkward being squeezed so close next to Henry, I was practically on his lap.

"Um, hi," I said to him, a little awkwardly. He gave me a slight smile. Sarah and Haylie exchanged a look and laughed.

"You look gorgeous, Courtney," Sarah said. She poked Henry in the ribs. "Doesn't she look gorgeous, Henry?"

I blushed at how Sarah put Henry on the spot like that. He took a long look at me before looking into my eyes.

"Yeah, she does," he said, smiling at me.

I gave him a small smile, but on the inside, I was doing cartwheels and jumping with excitement while giggling like a schoolgirl.

He thinks I look gorgeous!

Going Out (Part I)

Henry was picking me up for the dinner at six. I didn't know where we were going and I had such a hard time deciding on what to wear. I didn't want to get all dressed up and find out that it wasn't a date and look like a completely idiot. But then.. I also didn't want to be too under-dressed in case we WERE on a date and he WAS taking me somewhere nice. I really hate the situation I'm in. I'm so confused, I'm getting a headache.

Brittany was in my room, going through my closet, trying to find something that was perfectly in the middle of those two extremes. I was near ready to give up and just not go to dinner. It was too much stress.

"How about this?" she asked me, pulling out a black miniskirt.

"That's definitely for a date," I told her. I pulled out a T-shirt. "Can I wear this?"

"No, that's too casual," she said, throwing the T-shirt onto my bed.

"Can I just go naked?" I groaned. "It'd be so much easier." Brittany laughed.

"Then he'll definitely think it was a date," she said, giggling. I laughed. My phone vibrated. I took it out of my purse and saw that I had a call from Logan.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he said. "I'm a little lonely over here, do you want to come over?"

"I can't, Logan," I told him. I'd have to admit, I was a little bit sad that I couldn't go over to Logan's. He was really good company. "I'm going out to dinner."

"Who are you going out with?" he asked, with a suspicious tone. I decided to ignore it.

"Henry," I said, nonchalantly.

"Is it a date?" he asked, curiously.

"No, it's not," I told him. I rolled my eyes. Brittany tried not to giggle. "I've got to go, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, bye," Logan said with a little sadness in his voice. I hung up and went back to choosing what to wear.

I ended up choosing a nice halter top and a skirt. It looked like something I would wear to school. Brittany convinced me that I shouldn't look like I was on a date, just because it was Henry and we're friends. This is just two friends going out to dinner together.

Henry picked me up right on time. We ended up going to our usual burger joint. Brittany was right. Thank goodness that I didn't get all dressed up. I almost let out a sigh of relief. We went in and sat in our usual booth. The waitress, who once thought that Henry and I were a couple, greeted us and asked what we wanted to order.

"I'll have a cheeseburger," I told her, not even looking at the menu. "Oh! Some fries, too, please. And a diet soda."

"I'll have the same thing, but with a regular," he told the waitress. The waitress left to go put in our orders. "You look nice."

"Thanks," I said, blushing.

My phone rang and I looked at Henry, apologetically.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, can you come over after dinner?" Logan asked me.

Oh jeez, I can't believe that Logan's interrupting my dinner just to ask me to come over.

"No, I can't," I told him. "I'm sorry. I'm busy right now. Seriously, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, have fun on your date," he said. He hung up on me.

"Logan?" Henry asked.

"Logan," I said, nodding.

Early in the Morning

I woke up today feeling a little bit nauseous. It was the first day of finals and I didn't feel ready. I wanted to go back to sleep and just stay asleep until graduation was over. Of course, I couldn't do that because Brittany came into my room to make sure I was going to school.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she said, shoving me off the bed. "It's finals day!" I don't know how she could sound so cheery at 6:30 in the morning. I grumbled and got back in bed, where it was warm.

"Only one more week until graduation!" she exclaimed. "Come on! Get up!" She pulled the blankets off and I gave her a "I'm going to kill you" stare.

"I'm up, I'm up," I told her, getting up. I stumbled into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. My nerves got the best of me and I threw up before I stop myself. I groaned. This was going to be a really long day.

After I got dressed, I noticed that a car had pulled up into my driveway. I peered outside my window and saw that it was Henry and his truck. Before he could ring the doorbell, I opened the door.

"Hey, you," I said, giving him a hug. "Good morning."

"Hi," he said, a little taken back by the hug. I don't know if it was because it was early in the morning or what, but I thought it was odd. "Did you eat yet?"

"No, not yet," I told hi. "I heard a car pull up and I had to see who it was."

"Do you want to go out and get something really fast before school?" he asked.

"Sure," I said, smiling.

"Great," he said, grinning.

I think we would have stood there, smiling like idiots, if I hadn't walked off to get my backpack and my study notes. Henry was acting kind of weird lately. Is he threatened by Logan or something? I mean, Henry is a really close friend and Logan's just Logan. I don't know how to bring up the topic without looking like an idiot if I was wrong. I sighed and decided to let it go.

"Ok, I'm ready," I told him.

When we got to the drive-thru window, Henry had insisted to pay for my breakfast, to much of my protest.

"Thanks," I said, after getting my grilled cheese.

"No problem," he said.

We were eating our food while on the way to school. It probably wasn't the most smartest thing thing to do, because we almost hit another car, but what can you do? We were in a hurry. There should be a law against eating and driving or something similar to the cell phone law here in California, but with food.

We pulled into the school parking lot, with five minutes before the first bell rang. We finished our food in the car. After my grilled cheese was gone, I hopped out of the car. I wanted to get to physiology early so I could get a tiny bit of studying in.

"I'm going to go," I told Henry. "I want to get a tiny bit of last minute studying in before the final.

"Oh, ok," he said.

It sounded like he wanted to say something more, but he was hesitant. I shrugged off the thought and wrote it off as me being over-analytical again. I closed the passenger door and started to make my way to class. I heard Henry call my name and I turned around.

"Did you say something?" I asked him.

"Uh, I wanted to know if you want to get some dinner with me tonight," he said. "Celebrate getting the first day of finals over with."

"Sure," I said, shrugging. I didn't even have to think twice about it. Except.. Did he mean it as friends or something more?

Prom (Part II)

After the slow dance, I excused myself. I was slightly confused about my feelings. This isn't good. Henry was my friend and I wasn't supposed to be crushing on one of my friends. This isn't normal. I went outside to go find Brittany. I had to pull her away from Zack and practically dragged her into the bathroom. She was not happy.

"What?" she asked, her voice laced with annoyance. I felt bad for pulling her away from Zack.

"I think I have feelings for Henry," I whispered, making sure that no one but Brittany heard me.

"Oh," she said, not sounding surprised. "It was bound to happen, just like how Adam had feelings for you."

"What do I do?" I asked her, almost desperately. "I don't want to ruin my friendship with him like Adam did with me." I sighed.

"You just have to go with the flow, Court," she told me. "I'm going to go back to Zack. Have fun!" She hugged me and left me alone in the bathroom. I left after her and sat down at an empty table, watching everyone dance. I spotted Henry in the crowd with a girl in one of my classes, grinding up against him. I looked away, a little hurt.

You're being silly, Courtney. He can dance with anyone he wants. It's not like you're dating or anything. Stop being a baby. I told myself.

I felt a little sorry for myself. Everyone was having fun except for me. I went out onto the balcony to check my phone. Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around.

"Hey, Logan!" I said, giving him an awkward hug. "How are you?"

"Good," he said, smiling. "Are you here with anyone?" I shook my head.

"No, Taylor and I broke up and no one asked me," I told him. I sounded a little pathetic, but I really didn't care. "Where's your date?"

"I decided to fly solo until college," he said. "There's really no point in starting a relationship when there's a good chance that you'll go to separate schools. We're graduating in less than a month. So.. I'm solo." I nodded.

"Prom is overrated," I said, rolling my eyes.

"It is!" he agreed with me. "Who wants to see people grinding on each other?"

"I'm glad someone agrees with me," I said, smiling.

"Since it's so bad, want to get out of here?" he suggested. "We can hop in my car and go to a diner or something."

I thought about it for a second. There was really no point in me staying. Everyone was having a good time here and I didn't want to be a Debbie Downer. Henry.. Henry had The Grinder to keep him company. Besides, it's just Logan.

"Sure," I said. "That sounds fun. Just let me tell someone that I'm leaving."

"Ok, I'll be waiting in the lobby," he told me. I found Sarah hanging out at the drink bar.

"Hey guys," I said, loudly over the music. "I'm going to go. You have fun."

"Wait, who are you leaving with?" Sarah asked me, with concern in her voice.

"Logan," I said, simply. I was trying not to laugh. I think Sarah thought that I was going to leave with a stranger. "We're going to a diner to get something to eat."

"Oh, ok," Sarah said. I couldn't tell if she was disappointed that I wasn't staying or if she had some hesitation with letting me leave with Logan. "Have fun!"

"Thanks," I told her, smiling.

Before I left with Logan, I took a glance at the dance floor. Henry was still dancing with The Grinder. My eyes locked with Henry's and I smiled at him. I waved and left.

Prom (Part I)

From left to right: my dress, Haylie's dress, Sarah's dress, Zoey's dress

This is a little embarrassing to admit, but I totally forgot about prom. Somehow, all of the announcements, big signs, and chatter about prom escaped my attention. If it weren't for Brittany jumping on my bed at 7am, I wouldn't have known. Luckily, she had anticipated that I would forget about prom and had bought me a ticket in advance. I have such an awesome sister who assumed correctly that I wanted to go to prom. I was oddly excited for it even though I'm going solo.

"Do you have a dress?" Brittany asked me, taking a bite out of her plain bagel.

"No, I don't! Do you think I can borrow one of the ones you're not wearing?" I asked, sheepishly.

"Sure, sis, let me bring both of them down," she said. Brittany couldn't choose one dress in the store and had figured to buy all three and then try to put together the perfect prom look at home to make the final decision. Again, I was lucky that Brittany hadn't already return the two dresses that she wasn't wearing.

I heard a honk outside and it was my cue to leave. Sarah, Haylie, and I were having a girls' day- getting our hair, makeup, and nails done. Apparently Haylie had the perfect gold heels to go with the short emerald dress I picked out. I grabbed my gold clutch and my dress and headed out the door.

Brittany has been giving me flack for hanging out with Haylie after the Logan incident. But honestly, I don't care anymore. It's just a boy. Boys come and go. Yes, her actions were questionable, but I don't really see the point in throwing away all the years of friendship over one boy. At the end of the day, I still love Haylie and she's my best friend.

Of course, it was an all day process to get ready. I had the whole gorgeous Taylor Swift curls going on, Sarah had her hair up in a bun, and Haylie had a half up, half down hairstyle that resembled something Carrie Underwood would have.

Apparently, we had rented a limo for prom. I didn't know until the driver came to pick us up. Justin, Henry, and Luke were already in the limo. I was surprised that Henry didn't have a date to prom. I know that a bunch of girls would have loved to be his date to prom. Our next stop was Adam's house. I wasn't surprised when he had walked out with Zoey as his date. Everyone looked amazing. The boys in their tuxs and the girls in their dresses.

"Group photo time!" Sarah exclaimed. We groaned and all tried to maneuver in the limo to get into the shot. We got some really cute couple pictures for Adam and Zoey, Sarah and Justin, and for Haylie and Luke. Suddenly, I felt a twinge of sadness that I wasn't going to prom with someone.

"We should get a picture of Courtney and Henry together," Justin said. I laughed and allowed him to take the picture. If anything, I can always lie and say I went with Henry. We arrived at the area where the prom was held right when they were serving the dinner. We had a choice between chicken, beef, or vegetarian. The vegetarian was amazing!

The place was decorated amazingly well. I noticed that the space we had was really roomy and there was a lot of space to mingle and move and dance. We had a balcony if we wanted to get some air. It had such a romantic feel to it. I think the first thing we did after eating was wait in the ridiculously long line for pictures. I think we had every combination possible. The ones that turned out the best was my picture with Brittany. Our parents were going to love them.

I think it was halfway through the prom, I just got claustrophobic. We had all separated- the couples headed to the dance floor to grind on each other (I was never really into grinding). I went outside to get some air. I think I've come to the conclusion that prom is overrated. I mean, the person who was in charge of pulling everything together did a wonderful job, but I wasn't enjoying myself.

"Hey, are you ok?" I turned around and saw that Henry had followed me out.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I told him. "I just thought that I'd be at prom with someone I was dating." I realized how desperate that sounded, but I didn't care.

"You don't need to be dating anyone to have fun at prom," he said to me. "You look beautiful, don't let it go to waste. Come on." He held out his hand. I took it and he lead me inside, where we had started dancing. Right when we got onto the dance floor, the song ended and a slow song came on. Henry pulled me close to him and I wrapped my arms around his neck. Oddly enough, I didn't feel weird slow dancing with Henry. It was weirdly comfortable.

I started to feel nervous. I felt like I had butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. I noticed ridiculously minute details like how his soft brown hair draped over his left eye and how cute his smile was. I couldn't help but notice how close we were. All I could think about was kissing him.

Oh my god, I think I have a crush on Henry.

Daddy's Home

My dad got back from his business trip yesterday. But before I get into that topic, I have some really good news! We had found somebody to replace Zoey at Bella (after she had came into the store to give Jasmine her formal resignation and I guess she was required to put in her two weeks, so she is technically. Guess who it is? It's Henry! Henry is going to be working with me at Bella!

Henry had been looking for a job for a while now. So I recommended him to Jasmine. Jasmine said that she trusted my word and took my recommendation. She practically hired him on the spot. I got him to come in that day to fill out all of the paperwork. The only downside of the new hire is that I'm the one that is going to have to do his training and showing him all of the ropes. But I'm still really excited to see a friendly face at work.

So, back to my dad! He got home from China and he took Brittany and I out to dinner. He had brought each of us a gift from China. We ripped into our gift bags like little kids on Christmas morning. We each had gotten a gorgeous silk purse (mine was blue and Brittany's was pink) and matching Jade necklaces.

"Thank you so much, Dad! They're gorgeous!" I gushed.

"Thank you, Daddy!" Brittany said.

I didn't want to beat around the bush. I really loved my dad and I didn't want him to go into a situation without prior knowledge of what's going on. I didn't want to see him hurt because of what my mom is doing with Joe. I didn't want to see him hurt because of my mom.

"Why are you and Mom getting a divorce?" I asked him. Brittany elbowed me in the ribs.

"Court!" Brittany hissed at me.

"No, it's ok, Brittany," my dad said. "Your mom and I have grown apart over the years. We love each other very much, but not romantically anymore."

I could tell that Brittany and I both had the same question floating around in our minds. I wasn't sure if I could really ask my dad the question without crossing any lines. I actually wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer either. My mind was going back and forth, back and forth. I decided that I didn't want to ask it. But apparently, Brittany and I weren't on the same page.

"Did Mom cheat on you?" Brittany asked. I fought the urge to smack myself on the forehead.

My dad gave her a funny look and shook his head.

"No, never, why?" he asked. Brittany and I looked at each other.

"We, um, have something to tell you, Dad," I told him. "I'm not sure if you know or how you're going to take it, but um, mom has a boyfriend."

"No, a fun buddy," Brittany corrected me.

"Fun buddy," I corrected myself. "I came home early from Spring Break and caught them all over each other-"

"and we walked in on them on Mother's Day," Brittany finished for me. "It's so disgusting! He's half her age-"

"Only 21!" I interjected. "A little over 3 years older than us." Brittany turned to me.

"Isn't that disgusting?" she said to me.

"I know! And she tells us that we shouldn't date older guys!" I exclaimed. "But she can date younger guys?"

"Girls," my dad said, grabbing our attention. We both turned to look at him.

"I'm glad that you both love me so much to tell me what your mother is up to, but I assure you that your mother is did not have an affair," he said. "Whoever she wants to date now is fine by me. We shouldn't mettle in her life or question her choices and actions." I took a deep breath.

"Dad, I want to move in with you," I told him.

"Me too!" Brittany said, quickly.

"You're both old enough to decide who you want to live with, you'll be 18 soon," he said, calmly. "We'll talk to your mom on Monday, but I would love to have you girls come live with me. Now, enough with the serious talk!"

I laughed. We ended up enjoying a very nice family dinner together. We did a toast before we chowed down.

Here's hoping to living with Dad.

Happy Mother's Day

After calling Henry to thank him for bringing me home, I realized that today was Mother's Day. It had completely slipped my mind. Brittany and I had decided a couple of weeks ago that we were going to make our mom breakfast in bed and then go spend the entire day at the mall shopping (since my mom needed a new purse). But sadly, I had to work this afternoon since we're shorthanded, so I was only going to be there for part of the day.

I went downstairs to start cooking breakfast for my mom. Brittany came down while I was preparing the eggs and bacon.

"Mmm, that's going to be so good!" she exclaimed. She got the pancake mix out. "I'll get the pancakes started." I nodded and smiled.

"She's going to love this!" I told her, concentrating on the eggs and bacon.

"It seemed like you had a wild night last night," she said, nonchalantly.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Well, Henry had drive the car back and carry you up the stairs, I let him in last night because Mom wasn't home," she explained. "You sleep like a log! That's good to know for future reference!" I laughed.

"I guess I was just really exhausted," I told her. "I've been overworking myself to keep my mind off Taylor and, yesterday, it popped into my mind and I guess I cried until I fell asleep on Henry's shoulders. He was sweet enough to bring me home."

"Ahh, I see, he's the new Adam," she said. "Nice!" I laughed at her ridiculous comment.

"You're silly, Britt," I told her. "Henry's not replacing Adam." She let the issue drop. We started plating our dish and we were really proud of our plating. It looked like something a professional chef would do. We even had a card along with a fresh daisy in a small vase! Our mom is going to love it!

We hurried up the stairs as fast as we could because we just couldn't wait to see the look on our mother's face when she sees our breakfast. Brittany slowly turned the knob to my mom's bedroom and we both yelled "SURPRISE! Happy Mother's day!". Our smiles turned into disgust when we realized that our mom and Joe were "getting it on".

"OMG, MOM!" I shouted.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Brittany yelled.

"GIRLS!" my mom yelled in surprise. She desperately tried to cover herself up. "I'm so sor-"
We didn't want to hear what she had to say. We couldn't get out of there fast enough and slammed the door behind us. We left her breakfast outside her room and just left in our car. I was driving and I had zero idea of where we were going. I had to pull over to calm myself down because I kept swerving on the road. I couldn't believe that my mom could do that in our house with my sister and I there.

"I don't think I could ever look her in the eye ever again," I told Brittany. "What kind of a mom brings her boyfriend over and lets him stay over when she has kids in the house?"

"I'm so angry! He's half her age!" she exclaimed. "He's only 3 years older than us! What the hell!"

We sat in the car in silence for the longest time, just fuming over our mother. Then, I realized something... Something that I should have realized a long time ago...

"I think I want to go live with Dad," I said, softly.

The Departure

I started packing for my little getaway with Taylor. I wasn't sure where we were going, but we were going to be gone for a couple of days, he said. I wished he would tell me where we were headed to so I could pack according, he insisted that it has to be a surprise. I sighed, frustrated. I whipped out my phone and texted him: What should I bring?

I immediately got a response and I was disappointed when it read: Clothes, Court. Guys really need to go to a bookstore and pick up a book on how to understand girls. I rolled my eyes. What kind of clothes? Is it going to be warm or cold? Do I need to bring a dress or anything formal? I asked him. It took me a couple of minutes to get his text. It's going to be warm. Bring a nice dress or two. I'm not going to say anything more than that. I sighed at his response.

I picked out a couple of shirts and shorts to wear. I made sure to pack a pair of pants and sneakers in case there was an occasion to wear them. I made a list of all the things I had to bring (and a couple things extras, just in case) and just threw them into the suitcase. Before I knew it, I could barely close my suitcase. I had to ask Brittany to come help me sit on it.

"Are you excited to be going away for a couple of days?" she asked.

She was spending the break in San Diego with her friends. For a second, I felt a pang of jealousy. She gets to go to the beach and party it up while I'm going who-knows-where. I know that I wasn't a partying kind of girl, but I decided to ease my way into it for college. I convinced myself that I had the better deal, I get to spend my break with my boyfriend.

"I'm excited on the inside," I told her. She looked at me funny, as if she knew what I was feeling.

"You know, you don't have to go if you don't want to," she told me. "You can come with me and the girls to San Diego! It'll be fun. There's going to be lots of boys on the beach. You know what that means! Eye candy!" I appriciated the offer and smiled. If I hadn't made plans with Taylor, I would have gladly gone with her.

"I would love to go, Britt, but Taylor's been planning this," I said, somewhat sadly.

"On the bright side, you can use this time to work out whatever is going on between the two of you," she said, cheerfully. She smiled at me. My phone vibrated. I was getting a call from Taylor.

"There's nothing to work out between the two of us," I told her. "Nothing's wrong. I have to get this. I'm sorry, Britt." She shrugged and left, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, Taylor," I said, answering my phone. "What's up?"

"I'm outside and I was wondering if you're ready to leave," he said.

"Yeah," I said. "I'll let you in." I tossed the phone onto the bed and went downstairs to let Taylor in. He took one look at my stuffed suitcase and laughed.

"You know we're going away for 3 days, right?" he asked me, laughing. "Not 3 weeks."

"Haha, very funny," I said, rolling my eyes. "You wish we were going away for 3 weeks." He pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

"I do," he said, grinning. "I'll bring this downstairs for you."

"Ok, honey," I said. "I'm going to tell Brittany I'm leaving."

I grabbed my purse and went over to Brittany's room to hug her goodbye.

"Have fun in San Diego," I told her. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Same goes for you, sis," she said, winking at me. "Have fun with your boyfriend."

I joined Taylor in the car and kissed him.

"All ready to go!" I said, mustering some excitement.

"Spring Break, here we come!" Taylor said, pulling out of my driveway.

Need You Now

I couldn't tell you where my parent's marriage went wrong. I didn't see any warning signs. There weren't any arguments, there weren't any physical altercations, there wasn't any abuse (emotional or physical). I couldn't understand why my dad was moving out of the house. Everything seemed fine yesterday, everything seemed fine this morning. I thought that we were a perfectly happy family, but I guess I was wrong.

I was too scared to ask them what went wrong. I didn't think it was my place to ask. I was only their daughter. I'm not even an adult. Even knowing what did go wrong, I knew that I couldn't fix it. It was their problems and I shouldn't get involved with the already fragile situation.

Brittany and I looked at each other. She looked how I felt. I felt completely empty inside, like a part of me had died. I took another look at my sister. Her face was completely white and tears were forming in her eyes. I stood up and looked my dad right in the eye.

"I got into BU," I told him. The words hung in the air. There was silence that I've never encountered. I left without saying another word.

I heard Brittany shouting after me, but I ignored her cries. I knew I had to get out of here. I had to get out of the house. I had to leave and forget everything that happened.

I drove around town aimlessly, paying no attention to where I was going.

I blamed myself for my parents' separation. If I had been a better student, this wouldn't have happened. If I had been more outgoing, this wouldn't have happened. If I wasn't so lazy or ungrateful, this wouldn't have happened. If I had been a better daughter, this wouldn't have happened.

I was surprised with where I had ended up, in the driveway of Adam's house. I didn't care that we weren't exactly speaking, I needed my best friend.

I rang his doorbell and held my breath. He had every right to turn me away. I knew that I had to try. He was always there for me when things got bad. He was the person I went to when things go wrong. He was the only person who can make me feel better.

It felt like an eternity had passed before Adam opened the door. At this point, I couldn't hold my tears in anymore. Adam did what Adam did best. He held me in his arms as I cried, whispering into my ear that everything will be alright.

There Are No Words

Adam hadn't texted me back. I wasn't going to worry about it. The most important thing was that I reached out and tried to get our friendship back to normal. If he wasn't going to make an effort, that was fine. I had much more important things to do than to stress over whether or not he was going to text me back.

I realized that I've been working too hard lately. It was really difficult to balance school, work, and being in a relationship. Taylor was being really amazing and patient with me, but I'm not sure how long that patience would last. I tried to make it up to him by suggesting that I take Spring Break off from work so we could spend some much needed time together. He jumped at the idea in a heartbeat.

I pulled out a big envelope out of my backpack and stared at it. I pulled out the official-looking paper that told me that I had been accepted to Beachside University. I've been hiding the envelope for a couple of weeks, I haven't told anyone the news yet. I wanted to sort out my mixed feelings before I told anyone. I'm not sure if college is right for me anymore.

Going to school and hearing people talk about which college they got into and where they wanted to go was nerve racking for me. All of the people I've talked to were really excited to leave home, live on-campus, and experience the college life. Every time someone talked about college, I would clam up and slink into the background.

I sighed and hid the envelope once again. It was a good thing because mere seconds later, Brittany barged into my room.

"Hey, sis, Mom and Dad want to have a family meeting," she told me.

"Any idea why?" I asked her. She shook her head no. "How weird, must be important."

We went downstairs and sat down in the living room, waiting for my parents to talk to us. We didn't have to wait too long before my parents walked in, my mom carrying a plate of chocolate chip cookies. I instantly knew that this was going to be bad. She only brought cookies to the family meetings where there was going to be bad news.

I remember when I was five, my mom told me that our goldfish Bubbles died. When I was 12, my mom told me that my parents had decided to go into business and they would have to start spending less time at home. When I was 14, my mom told me that we might be moving to Las Vegas. Thank goodness that never happened. Cookies during a family meeting was a bad thing.

Brittany noticed the cookies also and shot me a look. I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed a cookie. She reluctantly took one also.

"Girls, your dad and I have some news," my mom said, looking at my dad to continue. She looked unsure of whether or not to tell us.

"I'm not sure how to tell you girls this, but your mom and I are separating," he said with an incredible look of sadness on his face.

Hard

I sighed as I glanced at the overcrowded aisles filled with red, white, and pink. Normally, I loved to shop, but I was having a hard time contemplating on what to get Taylor for Valentine's Day. I didn't know what was an appropriate gift for someone you had a previous relationship with but started to hang out with, trying to rekindle our relationship. That and I had a hard time with looking at that much red, white, and pink all crammed into three aisles.

I wandered through the aisle looking at all of the Valentine's Day paraphernalia. I have never really noticed that almost all of the merchandise is geared towards women. I would love to receive a teddy bear holding a heart with an "I love you" written on it, a gigantic box of chocolates in a heart shaped box, or a dozen red roses. In fact, I knew many women would love to receive these gifts on Valentine's Day. I left, figuring that I wouldn't have any luck here.

I walked home and went to my computer to look up some tips for gifts for guys. All I came up with were simple, non-Valentine related gifts. That didn't scream romantic to me. I ended up deciding to bake him heart-shaped brownies. I went downstairs to search for the brownie mix and found Brittany already in the kitchen.

"Hey, what are you making?" I asked her.

"A non-Valentine for tomorrow," she said, shrugging. "It's better than the mushy-gushy things in the stores. I mean, really? What is Zack supposed to do with a teddy bear holding a big heart? The guys will laugh at him." I laughed.

"Good point," I said. "I'm thinking about baking some brownies for Taylor. Do you know where the brownie mix is?"

"Yeah, it's right here," she said, pulling it down from a cupboard. "Speaking of Taylor, he was came by when you were in the store."

"Really?" I asked her. "What did he want?"

"He left you these roses," she said, pulling me into the living room. She showed me a bouquet of red roses.

"Thanks, Brit," I said, smiling. I couldn't help it, it was incredibly cute of him to get me roses. I opened the card that was stuck in the bouquet.

Hey stranger,
I can't wait until tomorrow night- be prepared for a lovely evening.
Taylor

Beat It

The next few days passed without any incident. It was really awkward seeing Logan in class, but he had enough sense to sit in the front of the class and not his usual seat besides me. The entire school knew that he had cheated on me and that I had broken up with him. Today, he tried to talk to me as I walked out of class.

"Court, can I talk to you?" Logan asked, trying to catch up to me. I quickened my pace. He grabbed my arm and I turned around.

"Don't you dare touch me, Logan!" I yelled, yanking my arm away. I caught the attention of a few students. They were eagerly waiting to see what would happen next. "We have nothing to talk about. I want you to stay away from me." I quickly walked away and tried to ignore the stares.

Brittany caught up to me after my next class and was nagging at me to talk to Adam.

"If you don't do it soon, you're going to explode and make the situation worse," she told me.

I knew that she was right, but I didn't want to confront him. I was done with confrontations. I had confronted Adam and I had confronted Logan (twice). I was just tired and emotionally drained.

Strangely enough, I didn't miss Logan at all. Maybe I was still in shock. I told him that I loved him for the short time we've been together. But, if I had truly loved him, shouldn't I be extremely depressed, whining, crying, spreading rumors about Haylie- having the exact same reaction that Farrah did when Taylor cheated on her? Then, it hit me. I was never truly in love with Logan in the first place.

I still think about Farrah from time to time. I wondered how she was. I wondered if she was over the whole Taylor incident. I wondered how long it took for her to get over it. I never thought about how she felt, I had only thought about being with Taylor. I couldn't believe how selfish I was. I wonder if I could ever forgive Haylie for what she's done.

I made my way to the cafeteria and got a sandwich to eat. I walked out to the quad and found an empty bench. I took out my physiology book and started to read about neurons. I stopped reading when I noticed a shadow standing besides me. I looked up and saw Haylie.

"Court, can we talk?" she asked me. I could see the hurt in her eyes. I could see that she looked fatigued and wasn't eating well. Seeing her standing besides me made me incredibly angry.

"No," I told her. "Like I told Logan, we have nothing to talk about."

Most people would have gotten the hint, but not Haylie. She came and sat down next to me on the bench.

"Please, Court," she pleaded. "I just want to explain." I jumped up from my seat.

"Oh, you want to explain?" I shouted, angrily. "You want to explain why you slept with my boyfriend? You want to explain why you're an sorry excuse for a friend? You want to explain why you're a backstabbing, two-faced whore?"

She slapped me hard across the face. I looked at her, my mouth hanging wide open, in shock. I was ready to jump her when Adam squeezed between us and pulled me away.

"No, she slapped me!" I shouted at him. "What are you doing?"

"Are you crazy?" he asked me. "If I didn't stop you, you'd get suspended. She's not worth it, Court."

"Why did you lie to me about Haylie?" I asked him, angrily. "I can handle the truth, Adam, I'm not some child that you have to lie to! You should have told me in the first place!"

"I-" he started to say.

"I'm starting to think Taylor was right about you paying that girl to make it look like he was cheating on me," I cut him off. "Just leave me alone, Adam." I stormed off.

Leave, Get Out

Adam gave me a ride home. He didn't want my parents to get worried about me. I gave him a hug and waved bye to him as he drove off. I used my key and opened the door. I took a peek inside. The house seemed quiet, I don't think my parents were awake yet. I tiptoed inside and tried to make as little sound as possible, making my way up to my room. They were probably mad at me because I didn't call them and tell them I was staying out (although, I don't know how I could have given them notice, I don't want to have explain what had happened between Adam and I to my parents).

"Where were you?" I jumped 3 feet in the air. I turned around.

"Britt, don't do that!" I told her. I clutched my heart as I tried to return to my normal heart rate. I can see the headline on the front page: "17-year-old California Girl Dies From Heart Attack".

"Sorry, but you really had me worried!" she said. "Let's go into your room and talk." I nodded and followed her into my room. I closed the door shut on my way in.

"What happened last night?" she asked me, curiously. I tell my sister everything, I couldn't keep this from her- it was too big. It took me 20 minutes to explain to her what had happened between Logan and Haylie, everything between Adam and I, and the whole situation of Adam lying to me about Haylie doing drugs and me confronting her about it. "Did you ever confront him about lying to you?"

"No! I'm such a coward!" I exclaimed to her. "I can't go and confront Adam."

"You confronted Haylie about her doing drugs," she said. She used finger quotes when she said "doing drugs".

"Yeah, but I was furious with her," I said.

"I think you should be furious with Adam for lying to you because-" The doorbell rang, interrupting her. She sighed. "I'll get it. Mom and Dad left early to go to the office and do paperwork." She went downstairs to answer the door.

I decided to change out of the clothes I slept in last night and take a nice, long shower- erasing all traces of what I did last night. I didn't need my parents freaking out even more- to have them come home and see their daughter looking like a mess. I stepped out of the shower and dried my hair before changing into my sweats and a T-shirt. I heard someone come into my room.

"Court, you should come downstairs," Britt said. "Logan's here."

"Was he the one at the door?" I asked her. She nodded.

"I'll be in my room if you need me," she told me. I smiled. I took a deep breath and walked downstairs. Logan greeted me with a smile, as if nothing was wrong.

"Babe, you take really long showers," he told me, chuckling. He tried to give me a kiss, but I turned my head away. I didn't want his lips anywhere near mine. How dare he try to pretend that he's not seeing Haylie behind my back.

"What brings you over, Logan?" I asked him. It came out sounding a little cold.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to go to the harbor and watch the boats," he said. He looked at me. "Do you?"

"No," I said, angrily.

"O-k," Logan said, confused. He was completely clueless that I knew about him and Haylie. "Well, do you want to go see a movie then?"

"No, Logan," I told him. I can't believe I called him my boyfriend. "I don't want to go anywhere with you. I'm breaking up with you, you cheating bastard!" His smile froze in place.

"Wha-What are you talking about, babe?" he asked me, stuttering.

"Don't you 'babe' me," I exclaimed. "I know you've been sleeping with Haylie behind my back. I saw you two together. You're an sorry excuse for a person."

"Guess you know how Farrah feels now," he told me, laughing. "Taste of your own medicine, you whore."

I couldn't believe what he had said to me. I was so angry that I was ready to punch his face in.

"Get the hell out of my house!" I spat in his face. I opened the front door. "I said, get out!"

He smugly walked out and I slammed the door right behind him.