#production started on it monday and they sent me a link to track progress and shit but the link didnt work

[kuiinncedes]

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[fictional-affliction]

Under Pressure, Chapter 2

Rating: T

Words: 2,400

You can find this story on AO3 and ff.net as well but here is the link to the first chapter if you missed it!  https://fictional-affliction.tumblr.com/post/185575372490/under-pressure-chapter-1 

Duncan was the absolute worst to tutor. She’d tried before. In second grade, when he had gotten sent to the principal’s office so many times that he’d missed most of the lessons on multiplication. In middle school, when he stopped writing papers for English and almost had to repeat seventh grade. Even freshman year, when he got sent to Juvie for the first time.

It wasn’t that Duncan was stupid, he just didn’t want to apply himself to school, which made tutoring him frustrating and pointless.

“But-” Courtney tried to reason with her teacher, but she didn’t budge.

“Do you want the extra credit?” Mrs. Hanover asked.

“I do but-”

“Then it’s settled.” Mrs. Hanover ended the conversation abruptly and left to use the copy machine before class started.

“Looks like we’re gonna get to spend more quality time together, Princess.” Duncan teased and put his arm around Courtney’s shoulders. She scoffed and shrugged him off. Frustrated, she stomped down the hallway in the direction of her first period class. He followed, much to her dismay.

“You better at least try to do better in this class Duncan, because if my Chemistry grade goes down because of you I’m going to murder you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Duncan looked off down the hallway. Courtney was going to berate him for not giving this important matter his undivided attention but then understood when she saw Geoff, Bridgette, and DJ coming towards them.

“Dude! You’re back!” Geoff took his arm from around Bridgette’s waist so that he and Duncan could pound fists. DJ was more enthusiastic with his affection and hugged Duncan, even going as far to lift him a foot off of the ground. Bridgette and Courtney exchanged a knowing look that came with years of knowing the three boys. They were inseparable, except for the times that Duncan got himself sent to Juvie.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to get out for another two weeks?” DJ asked when he put Duncan down.

“I was, but my mom made my dad pull a few strings.”

“That’s awesome dude, you know what this means?” Geoff hinted at, Duncan and the other teens already knew what Geoff was thinking.

“Party this weekend?” You could already see the mischief on Duncan’s face at the idea.

“Yes!” As Duncan and Geoff immediately began planning, with DJ brought into it without a choice; Bridgette kissed Geoff on the cheek, then headed down another hallway with Courtney.

“So...how does it feel?” Bridgette kept her voice down incase of eavesdroppers.

“How does what feel?” Courtney kept looking straight ahead with a blank expression on her face.

“You know...Duncan being back?”

“Am I supposed to feel a particular way?”  Bridgette almost rolled her eyes at Courtney’s denial.

“Really Court? Are you going do this every time?” Courtney didn’t respond, hoping that Bridgette would drop the subject. She didn’t.

“Just tell him alread-”

“Shh!” Courtney quieted her and looked around to make sure no one had heard. Courtney’s jaw clenched. Bridgette, the caring friend she was, always meant well but couldn’t she just leave her be? The pair of girls stopped where their paths divided.

“I’m sure he missed you as much as you missed him.” A corner of Courtney’s mouth twitched for just a split second. It wasn’t a lot, but they had been friends long enough that Bridgette noticed when she was fighting a smile.

“I plead the fifth.”  Then Courtney disappeared into her English class.

-

“In combination chemical reactions, two or more reactants form one product...Duncan are you even listening?”

“No.” Duncan continued to doodle in his notebook as they both sat at the desk in Courtney’s bedroom. She’d been trying to get Duncan back on track with the rest of his Chemistry 1 class for over an hour, but had made no progress. She tried a different approach and yanked him by his dog collar so that they were face to face.

“I’m not playing around with you Duncan, you might think this is stupid but I don’t, so could you please pull yourself together and be serious!” Instead of being bothered by her physical force, Duncan grinned.

“You’re lucky I’m into the kinky stuff.” Courtney huffed and pushed him back into his chair. “You wanna be serious?” He continued.

If Courtney’s raised eyebrows could speak they would say ‘obviously’.

“Then let’s get serious. Tell me why you hit yourself again.” Brown eyes widened at his blunt words. She was relieved that her parents weren’t home and that Cate was at a friend’s house. The last thing she needed was for them to overhear.

“We have a lot of work to get done.” Courtney turned away and flipped through the Chemistry textbook, closing herself off. He wouldn’t get it, no one would.

“You’re not changing the subject this time Princess.” He swiveled around her desk chair so that their knees were touching. She stared down at them and wouldn’t make eye contact.

“What’s going on?” He asked less forcefully this time. Courtney knew how this worked by now, until she told him, he wouldn’t leave her be.

“I got an B minus on my Chem test, if you need to know so badly.” She spit out and tried to turn herself back around but he held her chair steady.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it? Sure for you it’s nothing, you don’t give a damn about school, but some people care about their grades. Getting a B minus isn’t good enough.”  

“It’s not worth hurting yourself.” It wasn’t often that Duncan was this openly concerned and quite frankly it was making her nervous with the way he was looking at her. Besides, Courtney didn’t like to think of it as hurting herself, it was just something she did sometimes.

“Don’t try to tell me what to do!” She got defensive and raised her voice.

“It’s not like you’d listen. No one knows better than you Courtney.” He yelled back sarcastically.

“Don’t. You have no idea what it’s like to be me.”

“Then tell me! Oh, wait that’s right! You have to be fucking perfect all the time! Can’t let anyone know that you have feelings!”

“What’s the point of telling you! You’re just going to leave again!” She yelled across the small space between them. A moment too late Courtney realized what she’d said. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Duncan still kept her chair facing him but Courtney looked anywhere but at him. Duncan suddenly felt remorse for getting sent back to Juvie. To him it was more of a nuisance more than anything. A sentence that was a pain in the ass but it would pass, and then he’d go back to doing the same shit that got him sent there in the first place.

“Why can’t you just stay out of trouble...” Courtney sighed. “You don’t have to convince everyone that you’re a bad guy.”

“I am a bad guy.” Duncan insisted and Courtney gazed up from their laps to look at him skeptically.

“I am!”

“Sure you are.” Duncan sat up in his chair. Sometimes Courtney did this thing where she would throw it in his face that she knew who he really was. That she knew him better than anyone. In those moments Duncan always felt like he had to ruffle her feathers a little bit. Courtney sat back in her chair until there was no where else to go as Duncan caged her in.

“Want me to prove it.” He threatened, and lowered his voice, making it hard for her to find her’s. This wasn’t the first time they’d toed the line between just friends and more. This wasn’t the first time that the tension that was always there came to the forefront.

“Go ahead.” Courtney countered calling his bluff. She batted her eyelashes innocently and dared him to do something. Duncan kept his eyes fixated on her face, trying to tell if she meant it. She was right where he wanted her and yet, he couldn’t.

He slumped back into his chair and ran a hand threw his mohawk.

“You’re such a pain.” Courtney’s face glowed with victory and Duncan couldn’t find it in him to be mad because she was so beautiful when she smiled.

“Now, what’s it’s going to take for you to learn any of this.” She gestured to the textbook open on her desk.

Not only did Duncan have no interest in learning any more Chemistry for the day, but it was his first day back to school and he already couldn’t wait until the weekend; which gave him an idea.

“I have a proposition for you, I will be your star pupil for the rest of the week if...”

“I’m listening...” Courtney was wary of what his terms were, Duncan’s good behavior never came free.

“If you go to Geoff’s party.”

“No.”

“I thought you wanted that extra credit?” One thing that Courtney didn’t count on was that Duncan knew her just as well as she knew him. He could see her weighing what was at stake.

“You have to get an A on your Chem quiz on Friday.” She gave him her terms.

“C.” He countered.

“A minus.”

“B plus.”

“Deal.” Courtney solidified the wager and put her hand out. Duncan gladly shook it and smirked. She should really know by now not to underestimate him.

-

It was turning out to be a good day. The stress that had started on Monday, from how poorly she had done on her exam, had mostly dissipated. In addition to tutoring Duncan, Courtney had done an extensive amount of studying for her own Chemistry class, making Mrs. Hanover’s usual Friday quiz an easy A. Everything was starting to feel like it was falling back into place. As she took the appropriate books out of her locker, she planned how to manage her time this weekend so that she could finish her English paper, study for the SATs and still catch that documentary on cold cases. Courtney almost had it all pre-scheduled in her head when something that was dangled in front of her face interrupted her.

“Take a good look, Princess.” She grabbed the paper out of Duncan’s hand, confused for a moment at what she was looking at, then saw the big numbers written on top of the page in red ink.

“No...” She said with dread. Eighty-eight percent. Shit.

“How?” Courtney looked over the quiz in disbelief and doubled checked that there wasn’t a mistake.

“Guess I have a pretty good tutor.” Duncan leaned his shoulder against the lockers and watched Courtney soak it up.

“Now you have to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“But, but-”

“But what?” Duncan taunted her, a giant smile on his face.

“You weren’t supposed to be able to do it!”

“Wow, I’m hurt Courtney, have you no faith in me at all.” Courtney ignored his act and finished acquiring the books she needed and shoved them into her backpack. She slammed the door hard, the metal shaking with its force.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” Bridgette and Geoff, like the matched set they were, stopped in front of Duncan and Courtney. Duncan was the one to answer Bridgette.

“Princess and I made a bet and now she doesn’t want to pay up.”

“What was the bet?” Geoff asked, amused to what Duncan had gotten Courtney to agree to. Courtney’s jaw was clenched so hard that she couldn’t speak.

“If I did good on my Chem quiz-”

“Done well!” Courtney corrected, Duncan gave her the side eye and continued.

“Then she had to go to your party.”

“Court, you’re coming to the party?” Geoff was thrilled, Courtney hadn’t gone to one of his parties since eighth grade and now they were into the spring of their junior year of High School.

“It’s not fair! I was tricked!”

“C’mon Court it will be fun!” Bridgette interjected and put a hand on Courtney’s shoulder to calm her down.

“She’s just afraid she’ll like it and it will ruin her good-girl image.”

“No, I’m not! I just don’t want to. It’s immature.”

“Sure.”  Bridgette knew exactly what Duncan was doing. If he challenged Courtney that she wouldn’t do something, then she would be hell bent on proving she could. It had been this way since they were in daycare.

“Please, like it’s hard to go get drunk and act like Neanderthals.”

“Hard for you.” Courtney couldn’t back down from the challenge.

“Ugh! Fine! I’ll be there, but I’m only staying for an hour!” Geoff held up his fist and Duncan bumped it.

“Where are you going?” Cate asked a she approached the juniors. Usually Courtney would be waiting for her by the car by now and when she wasn’t there she wondered if she had some club meeting Cate had forgotten about.

“She’s going to Geoff’s party.” Duncan answered smugly. Cate’s face lit up.

“You are? Now I have a ride!”

“You’re not going.” Courtney hissed at her.

“What? Yes, I am! Geoff invited me!”

“Yeah, of course little sis is allowed to come.” Geoff assured.

“Last time I checked she’s MY little sister, and she’s only fourteen.”

“I’ll be fifteen in like a month!” Cate argued.

“I don’t care. You’re not going. End of story.” Courtney was used to discipling Cate, with how much their parents worked, she often took on the job of being a third parent.

“Are you kidding me?” Cate all but stomped her feet.

“Maybe I should run it by Mom and Dad that you want to go to a party where there will be drugs and alcohol.”

“And I’ll tell them that you’re going!” Cate had her there and she knew it.

“Please Coco?” Cate pouted and used the nickname she made for her when she was a baby and couldn’t say Courtney. A few moments passed where Courtney weighed the pros and cons.

“We’ll talk about it in the car.” Courtney ended the conversation, but Cate knew that meant that she’d get her way. Courtney pulled her younger sister down the hall, knowing that her perfect plans for weekend were ruined.

“I’ll call you later Court!” Bridgette yelled down the hall then turned to Duncan.

“You’re the worst.” She joked, grateful that for once her best friend would act her own age.

“I know.” Duncan replied triumphantly. Suddenly, tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.

[olwog]

So, Peeps, there’s a threat of rain this morning as we assemble in the living area. There’s a couple of Koreans cooking something that we assume to be dead and the other inmates seem to have had an early start.

  We resolve to have breakfast at the first cafe we see. This has worked over the last few days with a slice of toast, jam, butter and a coffee all for two or three euros.

Within minutes we’re passing a cafe that we were in last night and it’s open with some of our fellow residents already tucking into their breakfasts.

It’s raining so we enter to have a coffee and take the opportunity to add the rain covers to our rucksacks and the effect of this is to bring out the sun! Bertholt is finishing his coffee, he’s a wonderful friendly German who’s walking the Camino in what he refers to as ‘a leisurely’ way.

We start our morning trek past the Albergue and on up a hill where we’re treated to beautiful vistas of where we walked yesterday. It is still green and the recent rain has made it more so. There are tinges to suggest autumn and the slight nip in the air reinforces that perception. After a couple of hairpins we’re on to the road that we walked yesterday but this time it’s only for a kilometre or so and then we turn left and very much down into the valley into Tarrueza where the little church of St Cecilia stands. Our Illustrious leader is persuaded to stand in front of the church for photographs and it’s only then that we realise the scale of the place, it’s not really a little church, they don’t do ‘little’ with regard to churches in Spain.

This tiny village has gardens that seem to double as allotments and there is far more stuff to eat than flowers. We pass courgettes, cabbage, outdoor tomatoes still in fruit and very definitely productive, melons and numerous fruit trees and bushes; the Pilgrim could certainly rustle up a spectacular soup with some of this stuff and if it was complemented with the local sourdough bread it would be a meal in itself. I now know what I’ll be looking for at lunchtime!

The path out of Tarrueza is steep and slightly greasy due to the overnight rain and I employ my stick to negotiate the track through the top houses in the village. There’s an annoying gentleman with a motor driven Strimmer blipping the throttle and watching the string spin. He’s not doing anything, just blipping the throttle. There’s a shout and what presumably is his wife appears and clips him like a child adding something in Spanish which is delivered too fast for me to translate but I get the gist and so did he, the motor was turned off and the valley returned to peace, I smile.

At the top, we exit the village and follow the contour eventually going down again. This all sounds a little tedious but it’s not, we’re in the country and then we’re in woods. There isn’t a step taken that doesn’t expose another beautiful view or expose us to new smells of country, animals and sometimes, cooking, it’s glorious.

We’re through Borrio Santa Ana and Las Carcabas and now back to a little road work as we make our way into Laredo.

From the ridge Laredo looks dull, it’s a bit like a holiday resort which is probably its major job; however, all of this changes as we descend the tracks and a few steps to the Old Town. It suddenly morphs into a delight so we stop for lunch before what will become quite a hard 5km trek over the sand and dunes.

It’s nice sitting in the sun and as we people watch, several young ladies make an appearance, one completely rigged out in a gold outfit and the others looking like they’re ready for an evening fling. A few minutes later they’re joined by some men, also well turned out and it becomes likely that a wedding is the focus. Then we remember it’s Saturday and the wedding explanation becomes favourite.

  We finish our snacks and drinks and remount our rucksacks with a sigh then make them comfortable on our hips as we set off towards the beach which is suggested as the route to the ferry and thence to Santoña where the albergue beckons.

As we follow the playa signs an Oficina de Tourismo looms into view and it is suggested we ask them about public transport for when we get to Güemes tomorrow night.

So in we go and a pleasant looking lady comes to talk to us (looks can be deceiving) and after a couple of brief “Hola’s”, we ask, “What buses or trains run from Güemes, por favor?”

“None”, was the reply, no pleasantries or preamble and nothing following, just the word, “None!”

Hmmmm, I’m thinking to myself, perhaps she’s having a bad day and I ask, “Anywhere near then please?”

“No”, she says, but this time reluctantly she snatches a map from a shelf. It’s stuck to all of the other paper maps in the pile so there’s potential for disaster and I get ready for some unpleasantries. She’s laying the map down now and points at where the train and bus routes and then adds, “But don’t forget, it’s Sunday tomorrow`. This was the first bit of information she’d volunteered without having to drag it out of her with a question and I thought we were making progress then suddenly she’s back in character and one-word answers are given but only to a question, we had to guess the supplementaries.

It’s clear that we’re not going to make a lot of progress at this particular Oficina de Tourismo so we move on. The Pilgrim has an idea, “We’ll just walk to Güemes, there’s bound to be a bus”, she says…Dave’s face is a picture!

We walk the sandy beach and dunes against a very strong North Westerly that’s lifting a bit of sand and shot blasting us. It’s not bad enough to get into our eyes but it does make us lean into it as we walk. If you take into account that we already had quite a lean on to counter the weight of the rucksack we must have looked a real picture in profile from the people in hotels along the prom. It’s a proper trudge but we’re in the sun so enjoyable and it cleans our boots that had been a little muddy from the tracks in the hills and valleys.

As we reach the dunes we’re all eyes for the landing stage of the ferry and after a little bit of searching we realise that there is no structure and even nothing formal, the boat butts into the sand and a gangplank is lowered then the people who started in Santoña walk-off followed by the people from Laredo (that’s us) walking on – simples.

  The crossing takes about 10 minutes and allows us to see Santoña and surrounding hills/mountains. Monte Bouciero is to its North and pretty impressive with some kind of fortification along its harbour shoreline and some impressive architecture near the marina areas. We land very nearly opposite one of the main streets and only a couple of hundred metres from the albergue in Plaza de San Antonio.

As we hover around the locked door looking for a bell push a Spanish man introduces himself as Jose Mario Jnr and he’s sent for his dad who is Jose Mario Snr and the Hostaleer who’ll look after us. Within minutes Jose Mario Snr appears and he takes us to the first floor where we’re offered an excellent room with balcony overlooking the plaza and we gratefully accept not knowing at this point that the people of this lovely town party until 4am on Saturday through Sunday. They don’t do it in a violent or unpleasant way but it does go on a bit…

We’ve been here an hour or so and see Bertholt, our German friend, he’s still taking the gentle route and has already told us he’ll be walking around the mountain tomorrow on the coastal side.

We don’t know when the buses run on Sundays, the Internet for a change is not helping so we decide on a taxi that will enable us to walk for the day and end up in Santander working on the valid principle that there will definitely be buses back to Bilbao on Monday for our flight to Manchester on Tuesday morning.

The Pilgrim is still mulling this over as her needs are to end up in Oviedo on Monday for her flight back to Gatwick on Tuesday and is thinking of carrying on with plan ‘A’. By evening we’re all pointing in the same direction and I’ve sourced two numbers for taxis both from Jose Mario then after a wine or two the Pilgrim manages to source another one from him on a ‘belt and braces’ basis.

It’s chilly tonight so we eat inside and the French Lady that we’ve seen at a couple of albergues turns up and eats with Berthold, when she’s finished she gets up and goes leaving Berthold slightly uncomfortable because she’s forgotten to pay!

The night is ended by introducing Berthold and the two Dave’s to Patxaran (pronounced patcheran). It’s a drink made from distilling sloe berries with coffee beans, cinnamon or anise. It is a sweet, brown-coloured liquor with about 25-30% alcohol that is served as digestif to be drunk after dinner. It is typically drunk in the Navarre and Basque Country but it is popular all over Spain as well. I skip it this time.

They sleep well but I’m disturbed by the partying locals who really do keep it up until 4am – good on ‘em, they do it without falling out, no malice, just high spirits and a lot, I mean a LOT, of noise.

Enjoy the snaps…G..x

If you think others would enjoy our pictures, walks and anecdotes please feel free to ‘share’ using the links. Thanks.

Here is the satallite view.

Camino – Liendo to Santona So, Peeps, there’s a threat of rain this morning as we assemble in the living area. There’s a couple of Koreans cooking something that we assume to be dead and the other inmates seem to have had an early start.