"I think I'm falling for him," Courtney whispered across the table to her Mother. Lydia Taint was beyond gorgeous. With bright blue eyes, and curly light brown hair that reached her small waist. Freckles splashed across her face. Long, think fingers perfect for playing the strings. 

Lydia slowly smiled, and reached across the table to take her youngest daughter's hand "That's incredible, sweetheart."

Courtney smiled so big her cheeks hurt, but slowly Lydia's face dropped into a deep frown

"But it's a shame you can never be with him," she said. Courtney blinked a little, and slowly pulled her hand out of her Mother's grasp

"W-what?" Courtney whispered "Mom, what are you-"

"You're such a stupid girl," her Father's harsh voice hissed into her ear. Courtney screeched and flinched away from her Father who seemed to appear out of no where, talking right into her ear

"You don't know what love is," her Father hissed "I took that away from you a long time ago," 

Courtney's vision blurred a little by tears "What are you talking about?" she croaked. 

"You can't love a boy if you've never experienced love yourself. You stupid girl." her dad said.

Lydia nodded "You'll just hurt the poor boy. You're not meant to love anyone. You're meant to grow old and die alone," 

Courtney breathed hard at her Mother's awful words, her forehead sweaty. She was shaking.

"No!" she snapped, standing up "I love him! I do!" 

"No you don't!" her dad said, he was laughing at her now "You don't know what love is!"

Courtney covered her ears and sobbed "Stop it!"

Her dad got right into her face "You can never be with him. You'll only ruin him. Because that's what you do. You always ruin every thing!"

Courtney shot upward in her bed in her dorm room. Breathing hard, sweat lined her palms and forehead. She slowly reached up and rubbed her eyes, and looked around her dark dorm room. Bridgette was sleeping peacefully in her blue bed. Her blonde hair sticking out from under her dolphin blanket. 

Courtney tried to calm her breath, and looked down. The sheets were wrinkled from her grabbing them in her sleep. Courtney swallowed hard and slowly laid back down. Staring at the ceiling. 

"It was just a dream, Court" she whispered to herself "Calm down,"

She rolled over onto her side, pulling her blanket closer to her body. Her Father's words ringing in her ears

You always ruin everything

She squeezed her eyes closed, trying to forget about the awful dream.

You'll ruin him

Courtney's eyes opened wide. 

Him? Who the hell is him?

But more importantly...

Who did she claim to love?

"I just remembered, I never got to tell you about the Mid Winter Ball," Bridgette said, as she set her tray down next to Courtney at the table. No one else was sitting here yet, they were all waiting in line to get their breakfast. 

Courtney turned her head and caught Duncan's teal eyes as she did. He smirked at her, and she smiled back. Before looking back at Bridgette

"No, I guess you didn't," Courtney said. 

"Well, it's this annual ball hosted by the Dean himself, Chris McLane. It's this massive ball held in the gorgeous Presley Ball Room. Where the dance students hold class. Each year it gets bigger with more decorations, more food, more people. It's pretty neat. Think of Prom but bigger. Normally, the students have to ask their dates to the Ball using their talents. Like the musicians sing songs to ask their dates, the dancers dance, the artists paint. the actors act out a scene asking their dates. It's pretty cool," she explained.

Courtney nodded and smiled big "Are you gonna ask Geoff?" she asked, as Gwen and Skye made their way back to the table.

"Ask Geoff what?' Gwen asked, as she picked at her scrambled eggs. Skye had settled for a simple bowl of fresh fruit.

"To the ball,' Courtney said. Bridgette blushed bright red. Her tan cheeks turning red

"I doubt he'd even want to go with me," she sighed. Courtney stared at her

"You're joking, right? Bridge, I can see the way he looks at you. He totally likes you," Courtney said.

"Yeah, he's totally into you," Skye agreed, biting into a strawberry.

Zoey, Izzy and Mike made their way to the table. All sitting down in their normal seats. Courtney noticed how close Mike and Zoey were sitting. Their shoulders were touching.

"Who is totally into Bridgette?" Mike asked.

"Geoff," everyone said in unison. Causing Mike to laugh as Bridgette covered her eyes.

"Wow, that obvious then?' he asked. All the girls nodded.

Finally, Duncan and Geoff walked over. Geoff holding a massive tray of food. Duncan had decided not to eat, for he was empty handed.

Geoff sat next to Bridgette, and Duncan sat down next to Courtney.

"Hey Mario Cart Champ," Duncan said, nudging Courtney's shoulder. She laughed

"I almost prefer Princess over that nickname," she said.

"Princess it is! I knew you liked it all along," he mused.

"I did not!" Courtney huffed "it's just better than most of your other nicknames for people,"

Duncan rolled his eyes "whatever you say, Princess," he snickered. Earning a growl out of Courtney.

A round of obnoxious giggles came from behind their table. Courtney looked over her shoulder to see Lindsey and Heather sitting at a table behind them. Heather was pointing at them while leaning in to whisper to Lindsey. Then they'd laugh every time they said something. Courtney rolled her eyes and turned back around

"I thought entitled bitches like that go away after high school," Courtney mumbled.

"Someone really needs to knock her off of her high horse," Gwen snapped, eyeing Heather who blew a teasing kiss at her, then smirked and laughed again.

"I really can't stand her," Zoey sneered. Shaking her red head. Mike gently touched her shoulder, calming her down.

"Just ignore the bitch," Duncan said

"We could kill her," Izzy suggested, earning stares from everyone. "What? I know how to hide a body!" she claimed. Proud of herself.

"I'm not even gonna ask," Skye said, shaking her head.

"It's simple. All you gotta do is fine a bathtub and lots of acid-"

"Okay!" Courtney yelped, stopping Izzy in the middle of her gruesome sentence.

Courtney and Duncan's phones both went off at the same time. They shared a look and grabbed their phones out of their pockets. Sliding them unlocked to read the email they had both just received.

"Huh, looks like our 9am acting class got cancelled," Courtney said. Duncan threw his fist up in the air

"Fucking sweet!" he said.

"Thank Goodness, I didn't really get much sleep last night. So I'm gonna use this extra time to catch up on a nap," Courtney said. Duncan scoffed and rolled his eyes

"We just got an extra 3 hours of free time and you wanna waste it on sleep?" he asked. Courtney looked at him, confused

"Why? Do you have something better planned?" she asked. He nodded

"As a matter of fact, I do. But I'm gonna need some help doing it. You wanna join?" he asked. Courtney swallowed hard

"I'm really tired," she said.

"Sleep is for the weak!" Duncan said. Courtney sighed and ran a hand through her hair

"Fine!" she said.

"What the hell could you possibly be doing that requires so much spray paint?" Courtney asked as she watched Duncan shove at least 5 cans into his bag. They were in his room.

"It's an art project for Mrs. Gold. She wants us to express ourselves through paint and paint a mural on one of the walls of the old art wing." he explained.

"If this is so important, then why haven't I seen other students doing it too?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

"The project isn't due for another week. But, I like to do these things early so I don't gotta worry about it later on," Duncan said, zipping up his bag and grabbing his jacket off of his bed. 

"And we're not doing anything illegal, correct?" she asked, crossing her arms. Duncan smirked as he walked over

"What's wrong Princess? Scared to break a few rules?" he teased. She glared at him

"No, I just don't want to give McLean any reasons to regret asking me to join the academy," she said. Duncan walked past her and into the hallway

"You know, sometimes it's fun to step outside of the lines," he said. Courtney quickly followed behind him down the hall.

The old art wing was an old run down building on the outside of campus. Right next to the huge forest on campus. The stone building was beginning to disappear, covered in vines that grew up the sides of the building. 

"This place is so gross," Courtney whined as she and Duncan made their way into the building after jumping a few fences. 

"That's why Mrs. Gold wants us to paint it. To make it look better," he shrugged. Courtney walked beside him as they walked down the old hallway. Lockers were rusting, and vines had begun to grow through the cracked windows and into the actual building.

"Ah, here we go!" Duncan said, stopping in front of a large blank wall at the end of the hall. Courtney looked up at the dusty white wall

"Yeah, I guess it could use some color," she nodded. Duncan knelt down on one knee and unzipped his bag. He took out the 5 cans of spray paint. 

"What are you gonna paint?" she asked, watching him grab the black and red paints as he stood up

"Not quite sure yet, but it'll come to me," he said. His teal eyes focusing on the wall in front of him. He then slowly smirked and shook the black paint. He began spraying the paint on the wall. Creating a strange outline that she couldn't quite make out.

Courtney watched him as he began painting a beautiful picture on the once plain wall. The colors mixing together, swirling to create an image she just couldn't make out. 

Courtney watched Duncan as he concentrated on the mural he was doing. His gorgeous teal eyes intense as he studied each flick of the paint. His strong jawline very prominent at this angle. She almost found herself wanting to paint too. But she'd know exactly what she'd make. She'd paint a picture of Duncan. In this moment right here. 

She wondered why he hadn't come to the academy to study art. 

He noticed her watching and slowly stopped. His finger tips covered in the spray paint "You wanna paint too?" he asked. She looked at him shocked

"I don't wanna ruin it. I don't have any artistic talent at all," she said nervously. He chuckled and knelt down, grabbing the gold spray paint and tossing it to her. She caught it surprised. 

"Gold for the Princess," he teased. "Go ahead. If anyone were to ruin my painting, I'd want it to be you,"

He cleared his throat and quickly looked away. Clearly surprised by his sweetness. 

"Are you sure?" she asked, slowly walking over with the paint. Duncan rolled his eyes

"Yes," he said. 

Courtney swallowed hard and slowly looked at the wall. She took the cap off of the spray paint and shook it. She then held it up and began spraying the paint. 

Duncan watched her out of the corner of his eye, and couldn't keep the smirk from his face. 

"There," he breathed. He and Courtney took a few steps back and examine their work. 

Courtney shook her head, completely amazed "Duncan... It's beautiful," she breathed. He shrugged and put the spray paint back into his backpack. Standing up

"Yeah, it's probably some of the best work I've done," he nodded.

"It's a 3 hours well spent," she smiled up at him.  

He slowly smiled back

Gwen was laying in her soft black bed, slipping through old of her old sketchbooks. She paused when she opened a page revealing one of the first ever drawings she had made of Trent. She smiled slowly, and ran her pale fingers across the page. 

She was interrupted by a knock at the door. She quickly hid her sketchbook under her pillow and got out of bed. She opened the door to reveal Trent. Gwen sucked in a breath and looked up at him

"Hi," she squeaked out. Trent looked down at her

"I know it was you who was watching me out in the hallway yesterday," he said. 

Gwen's heart stopped, and she swallowed hard "I'm sorry, I just wanted-"

"Hey, hey, It's totally fine. I like knowing you enjoy watching me play," he said. Gwen's pale face blushed and she looked down embarrassed

"Although, it sucks you've already heard some of what I was writing," he sighed.

"I only heard a little, but from what I head, I'm sure it'll be amazing," she gushed.

"I sure hope so. I am writing it for a girl, so.." he said. Gwen's face fell a little, and nodded

"Well.." she whispered "She's one lucky girl," 

Trent slowly leaned against the doorframe "Yeah, this girl is pretty cool. She's pale, wears lot of black. Has teal streaks in her hair.. Pretty cute too," he slowly mused. Gwen's heart beat faster, and she held her hands up to her chest. Her eyes sparkling

"R-really?" she giggled "She does seem pretty cool," she played along. 

"Yeah, you see... I was writing the song I planned to sing to this awesome girl to ask her to the ball." he confessed. Gwen felt butterflies in her stomach. She bit down on her lip

"But now that she's heard it. I guess I can't ask her. What a shame," he sighed, and went to turn away

"Wait!" she yelped, causing him to slowly stop "M-maybe you can still sing this so called song to her... I'm sure she'd really enjoy it," she whispered.

"I would, but.. I don't have guitar. " he sighed with a shrug. 

Just then, the door to Duncan's room opened and out came the punk. Carrying a black acoustic guitar in his hand 

"Hey dude, thanks for letting me barrow your guitar. It's perfectly tuned now," Duncan chuckled, walking over to him. 

Trent smirked and took his guitar from Duncan, who winked and walked back into his dorm.  Trent noticed the red paint stained on  Duncan's fingers but decided to ignore it.

"Huh.. What a coincidence," Trent said. Gwen slowly rolled her eyes

She was so gonna kill Duncan later.

"So, now that I've got my guitar back at the exact perfect time... How about I sing that song now?" he asked. Gwen nodded and moved aside to let him in.

Trent smiled and walked into Gwen's dorm, closing the door behind him.