Another one all about Gwen. This is why I wish it could be in more than one category. But whatever. Enjoy!

The next day was as slow as ever for Gwen. She went through her classes almost mechanically, ignoring anyone who took the time to talk to her. And those with particularly bad luck, speaking at just the wrong moment, got their heads practically riped right off their body.

It had nothing to do with how they talked or the questions they asked, Gwen just reached a boiling point of stress every so often and had no better way to deal with it then to get angry like Trent.

She particularly favored the phrases, 'Screw you' or 'What do you think you're doing' and sometimes even 'Dumbass.' The latter usually occurred when she tried to suppress her fury for longer than was possible. As such, by the end of the day, she was officially the girl no one wanted to get within two feet of. And it only got worse.

By the end of the week after not even Bridgette would stand to talk to her. She didn't want to hurt Gwen's feelings by showing this, but she couldn't take the constant snapping over little things, even just something like saying hi. So she finally moved.

"Gwen, look..." Bridgette murmured, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "It's not that I don't want to sit with you, it's just that..." she struggled to come up with something convincing. "...my cousin is here!" she said with a little to much enthusiasm, like she was so amazed at her cleverness. "And she's having a rough time adjusting, so I promised I'd help a bit."

Gwen narrowed her eyes, snarl forming on her lips. "Uh-huh." she grumbled in disbelief, crossing her arms over her chest for added effect.

Bridgette nodded firmly. "Yeah. So, I've got to go." she said a little to fast to be real before turning swiftly on her heel and running off to a table in the far corner of the cafeteria so that Gwen might not be able to see whoever she chose to be her supposed cousin. Not that she expected it to work anyway.

Gwen shook with anger, about to her fifth boiling point of the day. This was more frequent than usual because of two reasons. One was that Trent had hit her again today after a break in the abuse and, more importantly, she hadn't seen Duncan all day. It generally brought hher anger down a notch or two just seeing his face, which everyone wanted. But not today.

So when she heard someone's voice saying hi she didn't hesitate even a fraction of a second, she automatically swirled around and snapped. "What do you want?"

Duncan jerked back as she lashed out like she did, caught off guard. "Chill." he grumbled, chuckling lightly.

It took another moment for Gwen to recognize Duncan's voice, but once she did her eyes widened considerably. "Don't startle me like that!" she growled, sighing irritably.

Duncan raised a brow at her strange and completely unnatural reaction. "You alright?" he asked with concern, taking a uneasy step toward her and reaching out to lay a hand on her shoulder.

Gwen jerked away, crossing her arms and scowling miserably. "Fine." she grumbled, not making eye contact anymore. She couldn't bear to.

"You don't seem to be." he said bluntly, scowling right back at her while making sure to keep his distance this time.

"Whatever!" she rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter what you think! The only thing that matters is how I feel and how Trent feels." she grimaced as his name passed her lips. It just didn't feel like it belonged there. She wasn't sure if it deserved to be.

Duncan frowned deeply. "Why would his opinion matter and mine not?" he asked with obvious annoyance. "Gwen..." he sighed, staying planted to his spot. "I'm your best friend. What I think should matter."

She snorted. "Leave me alone." she deliberately turned her body away from him to so that all he could see was her profile. She was afraid looking at him dead in the eye would make her unable to continue her act of indifference.

Duncan emitted a low growl under his breath, unable to find much else to say to this. All he could do was think deeply about what was possessing his friend like this. Something was definitely out of place here. This was not the Gwen he knew. However, he finally settled on something. "Something is wrong."

Gwen growled more audibly than Duncan had, fists quaking slightly from irritation. "Nothing is wrong." she insisted, fighting back her newly developed instinct to quite literally bite his head off.

"Is it family stuff?" he questioned uncertainly.

"No." she said simply.

"Friends?"

She sighed. "No."

Duncan's frown deepened, his brow furrowing as he thought hard on what else went on in her life. "Hmm..." he mumbled, hoping it would help him think better.

"Are you quite done?" she said through clenched teeth.

"What about Trent? Are you all fighting or something?" he said tentatively, figuring this would be the most sensitive subject to her no matter if he was right or not.

Gwen instantly stiffened, eyes widening with equal haste. "Don't be ridiculous!" she said harshly, swirling back around to fire a deadly gaze his way. "What do we have to fight about?" she said with equal harshness.

Duncan shrugged. "I wish I knew." he said with forced nonchalance, scanning Gwen and her expression ever so carefully. "Almost as much as I wish you'd tell me." he admitted bitterly.

Gwen frowned, dropping her gaze to the ground. "There's nothing to know." she said with much less spirit, making it even harder for Duncan to believe her story. "Because there's nothing wrong." she added, turning away and started walking away from him slowly.

"Gwen!" he called, grabbing on to her shoulder.

Gwen bared her teeth, glad he was unable to see.

"Promise me you'd at least tell me if there was something wrong." he pleaded. "Please?" his tone was much sadder now, his sincere concern showing through for once.

Gwen lowered her head in defeat. "Ok." she lied, half happy to have made him happy for at least a little while.

Duncan let his hand slip from her shoulder. "Thanks..." he murmured more to himself than her for he too was lying to an extent. He saw right through her and her unwavering insistence that she was fine and was intent on finding out the truth. He was going to go to her house as soon as was possible, which would have to be a Sunday. There was just to much going on tomorrow for him. But this little time wouldn't make a difference.

At least that's what he thought.

For the umpteenth time Gwen played with her lunch more than she ate it. It was simply undesirable under the circumstances. It didn't help that she had chased off any person that might have wanted to sit next to her. And Courtney wasn't there either and Gwen honestly didn't know if she was just gone or perhaps avoiding her like everyone else.

Then there was fifth and sixth which dragged on for an eternity. Still, she was at least halfway pleased by this considering it made it feel like she was away from Trent for longer. To bad it was nothing more than a feeling. It was not reality.

"Gwen!" she heard her name called in the last few minutes of sixth.

She jumped slightly. "Huh? Yes?" she perked.

There was a collective laugh as she was startled to attention, and it made her blush slightly.

The teacher frowned. "What is the answer?" she repeated, tapping the white board with her marker.

"Um..." Gwen mumbled. She looked around desperately for some sort of sign as to how it was supposed to be done. Why wasn't there an example from earlier or something? It would be simple to see the process to the answer if working back! Alas she was not so lucky. She was on her own.

"Well...?" the teacher said irritably, tapping her foot to further show her annoyance.

The laughter was being held done to mere giggles now, but it didn't change Gwen's demeanor. She was nervous as hell, obvious by how she had begun to rub the back of her neck nervously. "I...It's...four?" she said tentatively with a shrug.

Then there was a chorus of laughter which lifted up and filled the entirety of the room until it was hard to believe there was any air left to breath.

The teacher shook her head in disbelief. "No." A pause. "Now if you'd paid attention you'd know..." Gwen stopped listening then. She just didn't care.

Gwen let her head fall down on her desk with a thud, her hair splaying out around her face to cover it from any amused eyes. And she wasn't about to move either. She stayed that way until the bell rang and everyone else had scattered.

She then slowly lifted her head from her desk, looking carefully around to make sure there was truly no one there before rising to her feet and walking toward the exit.

She sighed sadly as she realized she would probably have to walk home. Snapping at Duncan had burned a major bridge to her usual routine. Then again...she wasn't supposed to take rides from him anymore anyway.

Gwen grimaced slightly, hating both the fact that this was a rule and that she was now blindly conforming to it. She shouldn't bend to such mindless restrictions put on her by Trent. If anything she should fight it! Yet...she did not, could not, and ultimately would not. She was pathetic.

"Sup babe?" she heard, lifting her gaze to meet Duncan's calm teal eyes. He stood tall, arms crossed over his chest, and a grin plastered on his face.

Gwen swallowed hard. "Nothing." she looked away from him.

"Want a ride?" he offered her his hand so as to lead her over to his car.

Gwen sighed in her head. It was such a nice car, and he was such a nice guy. How did Trent expect her to deny him this, especially when was his best friend already? He'd easily detect a problem if she started to say no. "I was kinda gonna walk today." she said with a deep frown and guilty eyes.

Duncan's face fell at her answer. "Oh." he muttered. "That's...cool."

Gwen sighed softly, looking further away from her best friend. "Trent wanted to talk about something, so I figured walking home would be a good time." she went on, trying her damnedest to make this sound convincing.

"Ok. I understand." he said with a shrug and a half smile.

Gwen hated herself as she brought her gaze back to him and say how miserable she was making him. He was so saddened that he couldn't even put on a good lying face. Gwen easily saw that it was all just to please her. "Duncan..."

Duncan looked lazily up at her. "Yeah?"

"Will you wait with me?" she asked despite her better judgement. "I want to make sure Trent comes. If not...you can drive me." this was the only way she could change her mind without looking suspicious.

He smiled wholeheartedly again. "Totally." he agreed, sitting down on the soft grass around the school before he reached a hand up to her.

Gwen took it with a smile, allowing him to lower her down beside him.

"So, how's my favorite girl?" Duncan said with a laugh in his tone.

Gwen shrugged, knowing better than to tell the truth. "Fine." One word answers were best.

Despite how Gwen seemed to be doing better than earlier Duncan still couldn't believe she was now 'fine'. Gwen had never snapped at him like that and figured that there was something big going on in the background of her life. "What are your plans then?"

Gwen frowned. "Plans?"

"Yeah, plans." he nodded. "Cause I was kinda hoping that maybe we could-"

No!" she cried instantly.

Duncan blinked confusedly.

Gwen sighed, looking away again. "Trent has been planning something for today for a while." she lied for the umpteenth time. "I don't know what it is...he won't tell me. But I know there's something." A pause. "Sorry."

Duncan snorted. He did not like how she was trying her best to get away from him to be with Trent at every turn. It hadn't been like this before. So why now? "Sure." he shrugged. "What about tomorrow then?" he pressed. He was desperate to spend time with her.

"Maybe..." she mumbled. She wanted to. She just wasn't sure if it was acceptable.

Duncan looked away from her up to the sky. "Nice day, huh?" he changed the subject.

Gwen half smiled. "Sure." she didn't really think so. No day was much good anymore. There was nothing that made it so.

Duncan sighed. He was getting annoyed by Gwen's resistance. He was only trying to have a normal conversation and she blocked him at every turn. Why was she being so difficult? "How bout these flowers?" he tried again, pulling a group of daisy's out of the dirt.

Gwen looked over to see, surprised that they were something more than the weed that was a dandelion. "They're...nice." she admitted, smiling softly.

Duncan returned the smile. "Then here." he said, offering them to her.

Gwen's eyes widened and she nearly lost her voice. "I...um...no."

"Come on." Duncan whined, shoving them in her face. "I want you to have them."

"I really don't want them." she insisted, pushing them gently away so as not to ruin there beauty by breaking a petal.

"You do." he informed her, grinning. "You just don't know it yet." he thrust the flowers back in her face.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, fine, fine..." she finally admitted defeat, taking the delicate flowers from him. They really were beautiful. She didn't know why she pretended not to want them. Well, actually, she did.

Duncan beamed. "They're beautiful, right?" he nudged her gently to let her know she should agree. "Just like you when you smile." he added absentmindedly, a twinge of bitterness hitting him as he thought of how little she did that anymore.

Gwen froze, eyes wide. She wasn't sure how to react at first. Normally her response would be a simple one, but not these days. Still, after much deliberation and unease she did as she knew he expected her to. She playfully hit him. "Shut up." she chuckled.

His smile grew larger still. "No, you shut up." he grabbed her and pulled her over to him, locking her in a hold of the sorts as he began to tickle her.

Gwen screamed rather loudly, but not from fear like it may have sounded to others. She was just having fun. "Stop it!" she said between laughs. "D-D-Duncan!"

His fingers danced over her body, getting every spot he knew was a weakness. "What do you say?" he teased.

"D-Duncan!" she half whined, smile unable to disappear from her pale skinned face.

"Say it." he commanded jokingly.

"F-Fine!" she yelled. "You a-are awesome!" she stopped momentarily as he tickled her harder, her cackling overtaking her words. "Y-You are amazing! And I love you!" she screamed the last part louder than necessary, birds scattering.

Duncan snickered, releasing her. "That's right." he was on cloud nine after having gotten her to say that after she had been so resistant to even look at him beforehand. "And I love you." he said back in a way a best friend would. And everyone got that.

Almost everyone.

"Now gimme a hug." he insisted.

Gwen didn't even think about it for once. She just wrapped her arms around his upper body and rested her head on his shoulder.

Duncan hugged her back, chin resting on the top of her head. "So when's Trent coming?" he asked offhandedly, not intending to upset her all over again.

Gwen lost a bit of life in her eyes, frowning. "I dunno." she mumbled. "Maybe he forgot." this was the point where he would offer her a ride how while silently complaining about how Trent was stupid to forget about someone as cool as her.

Only he didn't have the chance.

As they remained in an embrace the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard coming their way.

Gwen's instinct was to break away from Duncan and jump to her feet, even if it was unlikely to be Trent. It was a permanent program in her mind.

Since Duncan was not in tune to Gwen's new personality he was caught severely off guard by her speed in separating herself from him. "What the heck Gwen?" he cried.

"Gwen?" she heard, soon seeing the figure of Trent approaching fast.

Gwen cowered unnoticeably. "Trent..." she said softly, not having expected him in all honesty. She was banking on Duncan driving her home. "You're here."

"I heard you scream!" he said in alarm, looking furtively about them to see if the culprit could be found. When all he saw was Duncan he became seriously peeved, eyes narrowed into slits, arms crossed.

Duncan stared blankly up at Trent, not completely getting the reason behind his icy stare. "Sup." he said nonchalantly, picking himself up off the ground. "We were just playing around." he shrugged.

Trent snorted lightly. "Fun." he looked back to Gwen. "We're walking." he struggled to hide his disappointment in her.

Gwen swallowed hard, nodding faintly. "I know."

"Hey, wait!" Duncan cried, moving over in front of the pair, a hearty smile present. "Sorry we scared you and all. But, we're cool, right?" he looked intently at Trent.

Trent thought only a moment on it, not meaning his response one bit. "Of course. It was only playing." he stepped around Duncan then, looking back at Gwen who appeared planted to her spot as she fidgeted slightly, silently begged to be spared this walk and her stupidity which led to it. "Come on."

Gwen jerked her head to attention. "Uh-hu!" she agreed, going around Duncan in a similar manner, only, unlike Trent, giving one last fleeting look back to Duncan.

Duncan sensed that Gwen's demeanor had seemed to have altered slightly upon Trent's arrival, but he did not see that it was because she feared Trent himself. All he thought was that she didn't feel like walking or something to that effect. He was nothing more than stupid.

As they began their walk away from Duncan, Trent slipped his hand around Gwen's. It was a simple gesture in and of itself, only it was different for this pair. Instead of showing how sweet of a couple they were it was a secret message between them, a warning of what was to come once they escaped from prying eyes.

Gwen cringed as she felt his fingernails dig into her skin to a degree, hurting her only a fraction of the amount that he would once they arrived home.

It was a good fifteen mile walk from school to her home, but despite this fact not a word was uttered all the way. The silence engulfed them, leaving a bitterness to linger in the air long after the screams rose in the atmosphere.

...

Trent slammed her in to the wall with force, a tight grip on her shoulders. "What do you think you were doing?"

Gwen cringed, grunting softly but otherwise remaining silent as he barraged her with harsh words and threats.

"How many times have I told you not to mingle with him? Huh?" he challenged, getting up in her face.

Gwen kept a stone cold expression. "I don't know." she grumbled.

This angered Trent further. "What?" he spat. "What do you mean you don't know?" he brought her toward him and slammed her back in to the wall again. "Are you saying you don't listen to me?" his grip on her grew tighter.

"No." she squeezed out, lips quivering slightly. "You've just said it so many times that I don't bother counting anymore." she said bitterly, averting her eyes so as not to look at his reaction while simultaneously making sure to brace herself for the backlash.

Trent's eyes caught fire and nostrils flared. And he automatically slapped her clear across the face. "Wrong answer." he sneered.

Gwen drew in a soft breath in reaction to the hit, but nothing more. This type of treatment was as natural as closing her eyes to sleep and as such was now treated this way. However this didn't mean it didn't still hurt as much as the first time. She still couldn't help but raise a hand to her burning cheek.

"Now." he said sternly, moving both his hands down to her wrists to clench them tightly. "How bout this?" he mused. "What did I tell you just yesterday about him?" Trent found that asking a different question each time would sooner garner the answers he desired than repeating them.

Gwen felt a snarl tug at the edges of her mouth. "He's a player. Mingling him will only get you hurt. So don't do it...or else..." she recited numbly.

Trent smiled with a certain darkness. "Exactly." he agreed, brushing her hair back from her face as he moved his head so that his mouth was a mere inch from her ear. "So why is it you can't seem to follow those words?"

Gwen stood stiff as a board as a shiver ran down her spine in response to Trent's breath tickling her neck and ear. The sensation even muted her for a minute.

Trent grit his teeth, impatient. "Hmm?" he pressed, digging his nails deeper in to her skin with the one hand still gripping her wrist.

'I don't want to.' This was what immediately crossed her mind. Of course she was swift in pushing the absurd notion from her thoughts. Instead, she fed him the answer she knew he craved. "I messed up." she conceded in a strained tone, hating herself all the while.

"That's right." his voice remained strangely calm and soothing despite the fact they both knew what would happen next wouldn't be. "And the only way to make sure it doesn't happen again is a little punishment." he pulled away from her, eyes hiding the fury that lurked beneath the surface.

Gwen swallowed hard. "I know." she said a mite bit shakily, looking up in to Trent's green eyes for the first time since they got to her house.

"I love you." he said like he always did, kissing Gwen gently on the lips as he ran his fingers over her cheeks.

Gwen kissed back just like he expected her to, enjoying it not matter how much she told herself not to. And this always made what came next hurt worse.

The instant he drew back his demeanor shifted, eyes narrowed into thin slits and mouth turned into a sharp snarl, and he lashed out like a cobra.

Gwen went flying across the room, crashing into coffee table with a loud bang. She let out a high pitched yelp on impact, her world spinning slightly as she rose to her knees.

Trent was on her in an instant, yanking her up by her hair without the slightest signs of remorse. "Why do you keep doing it?" He spat.

Gwen grit her teeth hard, not moving to fight, just wanting it to end.

"Don't you see that he is trash?" he yelled, slinging her toward the tv with all he had in him.

Gwen missed the tv, catching the corner of the open cabinet door with her head just right. It was like a knife to her head and she whined under her breath.

Trent just stood there a moment, towering over her with his arms crossed over his chest and eyes cold as stone as they bore into her. "Or do you like being hurt?" his tone was more even, but still held an edge.

Gwen breathed heavily in and out, holding her head tenderly as she propped herself up with the other. But whatever she did she didn't dare look up at him for the simple fact that seeing the hate in his eyes would heighten her fear and his desire to continue.

"Get up!" he snapped expectantly, fists quaking dangerously.

Gwen shakily rose to her feet, afraid that her knees would buckle any moment all the while.

As soon as she was level with him he shoved her back down, grinning. "So don't touch him! Don't take charity from him! Don't even talk to him!"

Gwen was knocked back into the cabinet, a sharp pain shooting through her body as the corner struck dead center of her back. And, albeit unintentional, the intensity of it made her release a sharp cry.

Trent growled angrily at her volume, stomping closer to yank her back to her feet by her hair once more. "Shut up!" he screamed in her ear. "No screaming!"

Gwen felt tears rise in the corners of her eyes and she swallowed hard, a low whine catching in her throat.

"Now." he hissed, bringing her closer so that he could whisper, "Do we understand each other?"

Gwen nodded as best she could, trying not to make the pain any worse than it was.

Trent cooled so quickly that it seemed unreal. He was wearing a soft smile, eyes gentle as could be. "That's my girl." he cooed, letting go of her hair to pull her into his arms gingerly. "I love you." he said similar to how he had before he'd flung her around like a rag doll.

Gwen swallowed a lump in her throat, speaking shakily. "Yeah..." she murmured. "Me too." And their lips met once more.

Trent's arms wrapped around her waist while Gwen's rested around his neck and they savored the other's taste in their mouths, the previous event all but forgotten.

And that was the end of it.

Song was Love the Way You Lie by Rihanna and Eminem. And if you feel that Trent is ooc, then that's just too bad. To me this is what their relationship would be like if it weren't a cartoon. Awful? Perhaps. But that's life. Anyway, hope you liked. Please review! :)