Two-shot

Warning for abuse

Possible OOCness

DxC Friendship

And that's why I smile.

It's been a while

Since every day and everything has felt this right

There are a thousand reasons for someone to smile. And there are nowhere near that many reasons for me, though. But you, Duncan Evans, are definitely one of the few of them I have.

Her tanned hand moved at sixty miles an hour, scribbling words upon words on sheets upon sheets of paper. The pile beside her was stacking up higher and higher with every sheet she finished. But Courtney was not finishing her history report any time soon. It had only been assigned that morning, but as soon as Courtney stepped through her front door, she knew she had to get cracking on it.

Her arm was aching; her hand numb from the pain, but that was no reasons to take a break. Courtney had missed dinner and was probably going to work all through supper, as well, but she wasn't very hungry. Nothing was going to disrupt her constant pace of flowing knowledge.

The night drew in and the sun disappeared, Courtney had not long written her last word before realizing how long she had spent writing her essay. Something that would have taken a normal teenager five minutes to knock out something decent had taken Courtney seven hours to write something that was guaranteed to give her the grade she deserved. The grade she needed.

Struggling to keep her balance, Courtney took one step at a time down the staircase, her arms outstretched, carrying her essay. Before turning in any piece of homework, Courtney had to have the approval of her parents. More importantly, the approval of her father. If Courtney was to ever turn in a piece of homework that was not up to his standards-Well, Courtney did not wish to ever find out. Not once had Courtney ever broke the unspoken rule of showing her parents everything school related before they found out another way and-Courtney didn't want to think about the consequences.

The teenage girl watched her father's grey eyes intensely as they scanned over page after page for hours and hours, well into the morning. Courtney was growing tired, but she was not allowed to leave. She had to stay seated, her posture up right and her hands neatly held on her crossed knees. Anything less perfect and Courtney was afraid of what may have happened to her.

"NO!" The old man barked, his brow sweating from the blazing fire beside him. His tone was dictating Courtney's worst fear. Her father reached out his sleeved arm and dropped the stacked essay straight into the fireplace. Courtney winced, her eyes watching in terror as her hours of hard work disintegrated into nothing more than ash. Her biggest fear was coming true; her father was once again disappointed in Courtney's efforts.

He directed his pointing finger at Courtney, curling it up a few times to motion for his daughter to come closer. Courtney had always feared her father and what he could do to her. He was a very stern man who never cracked a smile and always wore hard, cold suits. Not once did Courtney ever have a memory of her father hugging her, buying her an ice cream cone, tucking her into bed and reading her a fairytale as a child. It was as if he didn't care about anything but her education.

The brunette did as she was told, getting to her feet and standing before her father. He towered over her, which only made him more intimidating. Courtney's clouded eyes stared upwards; she knew what was coming next-

IMPACT!

Pushing back the pain, pushing back the tears, Courtney fell to the floor. The red hand print on her cheek showed up very clearly in the dimly-lit room. It glowed under the power of the fire, but the hurtful man didn't bat an eyelash before reaching down and dragging Courtney back to her feet by her collar. He bared his teeth, their faces practically touching.

"You better do a better job on that essay if you want to hand it in on time, GOT IT?" The man snarled and Courtney promptly nodded her head. He tossed her fragile body to the side of him, towards the door. "Get outta my sight!" He yelled, taking a swig straight from his liquor bottle, "I CAN'T STAND TO LOOK AT YOU!" He angrily turned and Courtney knew it was best for everyone if she scurried out of there right then.

"What happened to your cheek, Princess?" The neon-haired boy asked, rubbing his thumb over the purple mark over Courtney's cheek. She had tried her best to cover it up with make-up, but make-up only stayed on skin for so long and Courtney hadn't brought any with her to school.

"It's none of your business!" She quickly snapped at him, grabbing her lunch tray and stalking off to find a table to sit. It wasn't that she didn't trust Duncan, one of her closest friends, but she was scared of the consequences. Courtney was always scared of the consequences of her actions. Of everyone else's actions. Courtney had been living her life that way for far too long for it to be as easy to just open up and pour out her heart to just anyone.

Duncan watched as Courtney walked away. He watched her moves, the way she refused to touch anyone else in the cafeteria. If someone came within an inch of touching her, she would quickly squirm away from them. Duncan had always noticed that about her, but had always assumed it was a pride thing. Courtney had a lot of pride and it did often get the better of her. But, what Duncan was starting to realize, is that it was a lot more than that.

The two had known each other since the dawn of time. Their entire lives they had grown up on the same street, their entire lives they had always gone to the same school. They were always in the same classes, always paired up for school projects and assignments. It was only natural for the best student to be paired with the worst. At first, Courtney hated him and Duncan wasn't very fond of Courtney, either. But, when you spend so much time with someone, you get to know them better; you get to understand a lot about them. And then came the friendship. They both had mutual friends; they had always had Bridgette and Geoff who were constantly sucking face. They had Gwen and Trent who were the oddest couple since the pair themselves. So, with this friendship, things seemed a lot easier between them.

And recently Duncan had started to notice the little things about Courtney. The way her long sleeves, even in the summer, would always be pulled down to her wrists. Granted that they did live in Canada and the 'warm' climate was nothing to wear shorts over, but Duncan found it unusual. Courtney never wore skirts without wearing tights underneath, Courtney never wore shirts for gym, and she had an excuse note from her mother complaining of a skin rash that she would better not show off. Courtney was never open about herself and Courtney never hugged anyone of her friends like other girls Duncan knew did. He found it strange that any of these things applied to Courtney, but, not being as big of an idiot as everyone seemed to think he was. Duncan could fit two and two together.

"I think we need to talk, Princess." Duncan whispered in Courtney's ear. Princess was the nickname that Courtney had been given by the delinquent because she lived in a 'palace' in her perfect 'fairytale' life. The truth was that Courtney's parents were both overly successful lawyers and she was a spoilt brat when it came to possessions. Courtney was given anything and everything regardless of the price or otherwise. But, what most people didn't realize was that it was just a way to buy their daughters love. There was nothing sentimental behind anything that Courtney owned. In fact, Courtney would have much preferred to have the cheap things like everyone else in life, but her parents refused to hear of it.

"About what?" The brunette asked, not really thinking about what was being said between them. Her concentration seemed to be on her cupcake, but she was really trying to not think of the pain in her cheek. And, with every breath that Duncan gave, he blew warm air over her skin, only making it worse. But Courtney couldn't tell Duncan that, he was already too suspicious of the situation as it was.

"I think you know."

A/N: Poor, poor Courtney...

I really do feel bad for her right here...

Yes, I do a lot of shit that puts Courtney in bad situations, but this time I really do feel for her...

Smile by Avril Lavinge.

I still LOVE this song to pieces!

Yes, this is a TWO-SHOT! Why? BECAUSE I WANT IT TO BE! Seriously...It could be a oneshot...But I don't want it to be xD LOL! It's just been a while since I wrote a half-decent two-shot is all :)

Thanks for reading, please review :)

Love, ChloeRhiannonX