"Ugh! No DJ, I said move it the other way," Bridgette giggled, as she watched DJ try to balance on the ladder and hang the banner all the same time across the top of one the arches in Leonardo Hall. 

"Please make sure not to rip it. I spent a long time drawing that sign," Gwen pleaded, as she watched the pair hang her third banner. She was currently working on the 4th one right now. Her colored pencils laying at her side as she drew the design Bridgette had asked for. 

"How many more of these do we gotta hang, man?" DJ asked, as he pinned the banner. 

"Only like... 10 more!" Bridgette nervously said, DJ sighed a little. 

"I was starting to worry when I went down for lunch and saw I was the only one there," Zoey said, as she walked up to the three teenagers all helping with the banners.

"Sorry Z, I forgot I had promised to hang the Mid Winter Ball banners when we made lunch plans," Bridgette apologized to the red head, who shrugged it off

"It's no big deal. I met up with Mike anyways," she gushed. Gwen snorted a little

"That's not a surprise," she mused. "We all know you'd rather have lunch with Mike than us, Z," 

Zoey blushed and rolled her eyes, as Izzy ran up to them all, practically bouncing up and down

"Guys! Guys! Guys!" she squealed "Guess what part I got in the play?" 

"Hannibal Lecter?" Gwen guessed, earing a chuckle from Bridgette 

"No! I got Rizzo!" Izzy squealed "She was always my favorite in Grease!" 

"And let me guess, Duncan got Danny?" Zoey asked. 

"Damn right I did, Red!" Duncan said, walking over to them. A proud smirk on his face. Geoff was right by his side. 

"Awesome D-Man!" Geoff clapped Duncan on the back. 

"Then who is Sandy?" Gwen asked, looking up at them from her banner. 

"Some sophomore. Beats me," Duncan shrugged. 

Gwen stood up from being on the ground, and gently brushed the dirt off of her black ripped jeans. 

"Have you told Court yet?" Zoey asked, Duncan smirked

"I was planning on telling her when I saw her," he said. 

And as if on Q, the brunette herself walked out of the History classroom, her textbook on her hip. Duncan felt a jolt of energy and began walking over to her, when he saw her turn her head and look at a guy as he left the classroom as well. They stopped and talked to each other.

The guy was a tall blonde, with a black sweater and tattoos. 

Douche

Duncan growled a little, his hands turning to fists as he waltzed right over and slid his way between the two.

"Hey Princess!" he mocked. Courtney gave him an annoyed look, her brown eyes narrowing

"Princess?" she questioned "What the hell is that?"

"Your nickname, duh," he chuckled.

"Oh I thought it was sweetheart," she said, smiling as she put her hand on her hip. 

"Eh, any girl can be sweetheart. But only you can be Princess," he winked at her. Courtney snorted 

"Pig," she sighed. She then looked at the blonde, who was awkwardly standing next to them

"Duncan, meet Jace. Jace, meet the ogre," Courtney said. Jace chuckled and stuck his hand out

"Hey dude," he said, his voice smooth and cool. Duncan looked at his outstretched hand and snorted

"How do you two know each other?" Duncan asked, completely ignoring Jace.

"He was in my strings class this morning, he let me complain to him about Heather. He plays the cello," she explained. 

The others slowly gathered around, wondering who the new guy was.

"Guys," Courtney said, smiling at them "This is Jace. Jace, these are my friends. Gwen, Zoey, Geoff, Bridgette, and Izzy," she said. They all nodded at him, except for Izzy.

Izzy walked right up to him and pulled him in for a big hug, taking a deep breath in of his scent

"Uh..." Jace pulled away "Did you just.. sniff me?"

"Izzy!" Courtney hissed, glaring at her friend. 

"What? He smells nice! Like pine trees," she said sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry about her, she's a little strange," Courtney said. 

"You don't say.." Jace mumbled, rubbing his neck. 

"Ugh!" came an annoyed muffled voice. They all turned to see a large cello being pushed towards them. Small hands gripped the instrument as it stopped right next to Zoey

"You'd think people would see a girl struggling and offer to help," the voice said, and the cello moved to reveal the very same girl Jace had seen practicing down in the basement earlier.

"But Skye, you're stronger than you look," Zoey said. 

This girl-Skye- sighed and pushed her bangs out of her face, her blue eyes rested on Jace. Giving him a confused look

"Jace, meet Skye. She's our cello  player," Courtney said, nudging him a little. 

"Hey Jace," Skye smiled at him. He smirked and slowly walked up to her and took her hand, laying a gentle kiss to her knuckles.

"Hey Skye, it's an honor to finally meet another cello player, and such a beautiful one at that.." Jace said. Skye's face flushed a deep crimson. 

Gwen and Zoey shared a smirk.

"You play?" Skye asked, swallowing hard. Jace nodded. 

"I hate to break up this incredibly cringe-worthy moment, but I'm starving. Can we go to lunch now?" Geoff asked. Duncan nodded his head in agreement, and glared at Jace as the two guys started walking towards the Hamilton. 

The group slowly followed the guys, and Jace kept stealing little glances at Skye. Who noticed and waved nervously at him, quickly looking away

"He keeps looking at me," Skye whispered to Bridgette.

"Maybe he likes you," Bridgette whispered back. 

Skye swallowed hard and stole another glance at the blonde, and couldn't help but smile a little as she did. 

The group sat at their regular table. Geoff next to Bridgette, Duncan next to Courtney, Zoey and Mike had sat together as Mike met Jace. Gwen and Izzy shared a bench, and Skye sat down next to Duncan and Zoey. Jace sat directly across from Skye. 

"So tell me more about this Mid Winter Ball," Courtney said, as she munched away at her spaghetti and meatballs. Bridgette beamed

"Okay, so I think you're gonna love it-" she started, but was interrupted by Courtney's phone going off. 

"Sorry Bridge, I gotta take this. It's my sister," Courtney said, sliding her phone unlocked and answered the call "Hello?"

A string of rushed, urgent commands came from the other line.

"Woah, slow down... Where do you want me to go? Okay... Yeah, I'll be there soon," Courtney said and hung up. Her friends gave her confused looks as she gathered her books and stood up

"Sorry guys, I gotta scram. My sister needs me to go to her dorm," she said.

"You want me to come with you?" Duncan asked. She gave him a sad smile

"I would Dunc, but she said to come alone. I'll stop by your dorm later okay?" she said. He nodded and watched her rush out.

"Well, that was weird," Skye said, as Jace reached over and stole the cheery off of her milkshake.

Pinewood Academy's Junior dormitory was all the way across campus. Courtney was chilled to the bone as she pushed the heavy set of wooden doors to the junior dormitory open. She walked right over to the glass elevator and got inside. Pushing the 5th floor button. The elevator took her up, and she quickly ran down the hall to her sister's said dorm.

She knocked "Jessica, it's me, Courtney," she said gently. The door flew open and Courtney was yanked inside. Jessica closed the door

"You came alone right?" she asked. Courtney nodded

"Of course. Please Jess, what's going on?" she asked. Jess sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. She was wearing a dark green sweater with black leggings. Her hair was messy and down around her shoulders.

She looked so much like their Mother.

Jessica teared up, and slowly looked at her sister

"I'm pregnant,"