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artificialqueens · 4 years ago

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Tree House Kisses, Chapter 33 (Adorney) - Scorpio and Veronica

A/N: Hello darlings! We’re almost caught up with the reposting! Click here for previous chapters. xoxo!

Chapter Summary: School begins, and our favorite besties have hit quite a rough patch.

Chapter 33: Friends Don’t

COURTNEY: Why won’t you talk to me?

COURTNEY: I can see you’re home, answer the door.

COURTNEY: Dory.

Shoulders sagging, Courtney leaned on the side of her house, wondering how long she would have to wait for Adore to answer her. It had been almost a week since Adore had stormed out of her bedroom, and she missed her so much that sometimes it hurt to breathe.

Roy had been exceedingly patient. So much that it ended up compounding Courtney’s guilt about the whole situation. She’d betrayed him - and for what? Because she couldn’t keep her confusing feelings for Adore to herself anymore? But what made her feel even more guilty was that, had Adore responded differently, she couldn’t really be sure that she’d have stayed with Roy.

She loved him - she hadn’t stopped loving him - but her feelings for Adore were just different. She felt like she had no control over them, or how badly she wanted to be closer to her best friend. And though it was painful that Adore didn’t return her feelings, the worst part - the part that made it feel like Courtney’s chest was cracking open - was that she wouldn’t even talk about it. Rejection would have sucked, but she’d have gotten over it in time. This stonewalling was just unbearable.

With one final sigh, Courtney slipped into her back door, swallowing hard, hearing her mother’s laughter from the living room. Ever since Karen had the brilliant idea to move Grandma Muriel into Kim’s bedroom, it was like she’d been spending every moment catering to her very ornery mother. Courtney loved her grandmother, but she wasn’t super excited about sharing a bathroom with her, or conforming to her ideas about how she should act.

She pulled the phone out of her pocket, checking it one last time. No answer. It wasn’t surprising. Her only consolation was that school was starting tomorrow. There was no way that Adore would be able to avoid her then - they always had at least a few classes together. She smiled slightly to herself, touching one of the charms on her bracelet and thinking about the inside jokes she could bring up to make Adore laugh.

Pretty soon, this whole mess would be behind them, and they could go back to being best friends--and this time, Courtney would just keep her hands to her fucking self.

Adore remembered when the first day of school was exciting and fun. When she’d prance through the hallways of her elementary school, a set of brand-new markers in her Britney Spears backpack, holding a thermal bag packed with blue GoGurt and her favorite Lunchables - the kind where you get to make your own little pizza. The smell of freshly sharpened pencils would fill the air, and best of all, she’d be holding hands with her very best friend.

As Adore stepped into physics on the first day of her junior year, she felt a pang of sadness. Nothing felt new, or exciting, including the new hair color that she’d originally been so psyched about. This year wasn’t the fresh start full of promise that she’d been hoping for. No, it was just another year in the same shitty high school. With her now ex best friend sitting smack in the middle of a sea of desks.

In typical defiance of the dress code, Courtney was wearing low-slung cutoffs and a baby pink crop top with straps crisscrossing the back. If Adore tried to wear that kind of outfit, she’d get detention for a week, but she had no doubt that Courtney would get away with it. Because Courtney always got away with everything.

Despite everything that had happened, Adore’s traitorous heart leapt at the sight of the blonde, fading quickly into a kind of sick feeling as all of the memories she’d been trying desperately to avoid came rushing back. How dare she look so perfect, so normal, so much like the girl to whom Adore was still helplessly drawn? But Adore knew now that that girl was not the person she’d always thought she could trust. That, if given the opportunity, she would continue to toy with her and never allow her to have any kind of closure.

Courtney stood up immediately when she saw her, giving her those pathetic doe eyes that made Adore’s heart pound. She took a step towards her, but Adore turned away quickly, sitting down in the front row and tossing freshly-dyed turquoise hair over her shoulder.

Adore cringed to herself, wondering if the whole year would be like this. What an utter fucking nightmare.

Of course, they had US History together, too, and 5th period Trig. By the end of the day, after hearing her whine for hours, Pearl suggested a solution in PE: why not just change around her schedule?

So immediately after getting dressed, Adore marched down to the counselor’s office and sat with Ms. Patterson, shuffling things around and leaving with a small modicum of satisfaction. At least for now, she didn’t have to share any classes with Courtney Jenek.

Mission accomplished.

“She still mad?” Roy asked, fingers toying with Courtney’s blonde hair, lips brushing against her forehead.

“Yeah,” Courtney answered, voice small and soft.

Roy had figured out by now that Courtney’s fight with Adore was the one topic about which his girlfriend didn’t want to chatter endlessly. And to be honest, he wasn’t that bothered, personally, that they were spending some time apart, after everything that happened between them. The details of which he very happily still didn’t know. But he also knew that until she had her best friend back, she was unlikely to return completely to her bubbly, confident self. Even though she seemed to be getting pretty good at faking it.

“Hey! Can we go to Six Flags this weekend? Like, before the year gets too crazy?” Courtney flashed him a brilliant smile.

“That sounds great. And we still have a few guest passes. Maybe we should invite Bob and April?”

“Maybe...or maybe it could just be the two of us?” Courtney hugged him around the waist, burying her face in his neck.

“Sure, babe, whatever you want.”

“Thanks.” Courtney breathed in deeply, and then as the bell rang, let out a groan, murmuring “Do I hafta go to class today?”

“‘Fraid so,” Roy chuckled, kissing the top of her head. “Come on, I’ll walk you there.”

As much as she was not looking forward to another day of the cold shoulder, she was even less prepared for Adore to be missing entirely from the classes they shared. Was she ditching? But Courtney saw her at nutrition break with Willam, and on her way to lunch, she saw her emerge from the science wing with Trinity - on the opposite side of the quad from where she should have been, in their history class.

She watched as they headed for their usual lunch spot, catching up to Violet and Pearl on the way. Willam trailed behind, flirting with some guys on the basketball team.

For a few moments, Courtney stood there just staring at her, laughing with her friends and strolling along as if everything was normal. Just another day. Courtney swallowed back the lump in her throat and charged forward. This shit was getting real old and Courtney needed to do something about it.

“Hey!” Courtney yelled, louder than she intended, and the girls all turned slowly.

“What the fuck do you want?” Violet asked, but nothing the brunette could say to her was as bad as the steely, hard look in Adore’s eyes.

Adore inhaled slowly, using all of her willpower to keep her face impassive. The last thing she needed was for Courtney to see her sweat. To see the cracks showing, that she could wriggle into and pry open until Adore caved, as always. Adore pressed her lips together, glaring at the blonde with as much indifference as she could muster.

Courtney’s confidence faltered and her next words were quieter, spoken directly to Adore.

“Did you...did you change your schedule? You’re supposed to be in Physics and History with me, and-”

“Quelle surprise! As always, you’re 30 steps behind!” Violet snapped. “Get a clue, you idiot. She doesn’t want to see you, or talk to you, so why don’t you go...” she trailed off as Adore, with one final glare, turned and continued to walk to their lunch spot, dragging Trinity along. Violet gave Courtney a victorious sneer and sashayed away in Adore’s direction.

Only Pearl lingered behind for a moment, giving Courtney a nod that was almost friendly.

“Maybe you should let this one go, Courtney,” Pearl suggested, and then waved to someone behind her, and Courtney stood there, blood rushing through her ears as Fame sailed by, linking arms with Pearl, both of them abandoning her.

Her vision blurred slightly, the world shifting on its axis, as she realized that this wasn’t just a fight. Adore wanted nothing to do with her. At all. She couldn’t even sit in the same classroom together.

Tears filled her eyes as she absentmindedly fingered the charms of her bracelet, hating herself more than she ever thought possible.

“Hey cheerleader! Cute dress!” Willam chirped, patting her on the ass.

“Thanks,” Courtney whispered, turning around and fleeing, straight by Darienne and Roy, mind focused solely on finding a place where she could cry without anyone looking at her.

“Can you believe the nerve of her?” Violet scoffed, digging through her lunch bag. Adore shrugged, wanting to remain completely indifferent to the situation.

Pearl settled down in the spot beside Adore; Violet watched Adore scoot closer to Pearl, leaning into the girl’s slim frame. With furrowed brows, a snarky comment sat at the tip of Violet’s tongue. Only fading when Trinity’s hand snaked into the bag of strawberries in her lap, distracting her.

“You know, there’s this thing that people do. It’s called asking,” Violet raised an eyebrow, but allowed Trinity to take another red berry from the bag.

“You’re so generous,” Trinity said, mouth full.

“But back to what I was saying, like, who does she think she is?” Violet started up again, wanting Adore to say something, anything. She hated the way Adore was always so passive when it came to Courtney. And she knew that something must have happened for her to be this mad, but so far, no one had informed her of exactly what that was.

“Who cares,” Adore replied monotonously.

“Uh, yeah, let’s talk about more important things. Like, the fact that Ms. Alvarez already assigned a three-page essay on ‘The Crucible,’” Pearl butted in, brushing a strand of Adore’s hair back, wanting to change the topic.

As Adore gave Pearl a soft grateful smile, Violet took the hint and let the two win. Not saying much of anything, but carefully watching the girls interact; wondering if what she had told Courtney over the summer held some truth.

Has she been blind to what was right under her nose?

Roy finally found Courtney behind one of the portable buildings, curled up in a ball. He approached tentatively, sitting beside her and waiting for her to speak.

“I don’t understand why she’s still mad. I said I was sorry a million times,” Courtney hiccupped, cheeks red and stained with tears.

Roy nodded and took one of her hands.

“We’re supposed to be best friends. Why can’t she just…”

Roy wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. “I’m sorry, babe. You wanna ditch fifth period and hang out?”

“Yeah, right,” Courtney scoffed, sniffling. “As if you’d ever ditch anything.” She wiped her eyes on his sleeve.

He cupped her face and looked into her eyes solemnly. “I’d do it for you.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

She leaned in and kissed him gently, sighing.

“Also, I have a free period after lunch,” he admitted, dimples appearing in his cheeks.

Courtney smacked him, laughing through her tears, leaning a head on his shoulder.

COURTNEY: I’m sorry, okay? Seriously sorry. Please forgive me.

COURTNEY: Dory. I need you. Please!

COURTNEY: I’m not giving up.

Courtney was used to zoning out when her friends went on and on about SAT scores and AP calculus and college applications and whether UCLA or Berkeley had a better political science department.

She’d been friends with these guys practically her whole life. It was a given by now that their intense interest in resumes and scores and academic competition was something that Courtney would never share.

When they were younger, she and Adore used to joke that they were the dumb ones in the group. But lately, Courtney wondered if that was really the explanation. Every conversation was so focused on grades and scores and status and it was just the least interesting part of school to her.

No one else seemed to care about the deeper questions: why were they learning these things? What is the point of it all? How will any of it help them become better people? She had detention this week for asking what her elderly history teacher called “insubordinate questions” about the Declaration of Independence. (He obviously had no sense of irony.)

She missed the feeling of boundless curiosity that she used to have in school, filled with questions and excited to learn new things. It seemed like every year, teachers got less and less patient with her habit of challenging the material, and thus her interest had waned to the point where she wasn’t even sure that she wanted to go to college. And she knew that if she voiced that feeling, she’d be attacked from all sides. Going to a prestigious university was the most important thing to her friends, and her doubt would certainly not be tolerated, much less understood.

So Courtney shoved everything down, tuning out the endless humble bragging and fretting about numbers, and just focused on the sound of leaves rustling in the oak trees nearby, the feeling of cool grass against her thighs. She wrapped her hands around Roy’s arm, nestling in beside him, nudging his shoulder with her face. He glanced over at her, a smile on his face, and pressed a tender kiss to her temple.

“Roy! Santa Cruz is not a safety school!” Darienne exclaimed, exasperated.

“Maybe not for you,” Roy replied with a smug wink. “And Irvine is my other safety.”

“Ugh. You are so full of yourself.”

“So? What’s your point, Dar?”

“My point is that...whoa.” She stopped talking abruptly, eyes fixated on something across the grass.

“What?”

“When the heck did Adore dye her hair blue?”

Bob began to laugh, nodding.

“I know man, she looks crazy. It’s been like a few weeks, I think, right Courtney?” He nudged her shoulder.

Courtney’s whole body was tense. So far, the only person she’d told about Adore’s silent treatment was Roy. She was hoping that they’d make up and go back to normal before she had to tell anyone else.

“April and I think she must be having some kind of mental breakdown,” Bob continued. “But maybe she just likes looking like a freak-”

“Don’t speak for me!” April cut in. “I think it’s cute.”

Courtney dug her nails into her palms, trying to take a deep breath. She felt Roy’s hand on her thigh, and glanced up at him gratefully.

“Yeah, I don’t hate it, but it’s just like...whoa,” Darienne said.

“Courtney,” Bob said. “Please settle this. Has Adore gone full psycho? Or is she just finally embracing her weirdness?”

Heart racing, Courtney cleared her throat.

“She’s...she’s fine. It’s just hair dye. Don’t be a dick.”

“Well, excuse me for being concerned about the mental health of my friend,” Bob said, rolling his eyes. “I guess the rest of you just don’t give a shit, huh?”

Courtney gave him a hard glare, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“Shut up, Bob.”

Because of course the truth was, Courtney had no idea if Adore was fine. Or when she’d have the chance to ask. All she knew was that she missed her, and wished she had a time machine to go back and keep her stupid feelings to herself.

A purple pen twirled between Adore’s fingers, while somber eyes burned into the pages of her journal. Teeth pressed into her bottom lip, Adore grew more and more frustrated with herself.

The chicken scratch scrawled across the page matched her thoughts; random and fragmented. She didn’t want to think too much about it, telling herself that she’d worry about making them into coherent lyrics later. She didn’t want to think about a lot of things these days.

The creaking of her bedroom door caught her attention, and once greeted by the face of her brother, she frowned.

“Uh Adore, Ma said come set the table,” he said, then cocked his head to the side. “You alright?”

Adore glared back at him.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Whatever. You still need to come down. I’m only in town for another week. So, you know. Family time.”

“Fuck,” Adore muttered, rubbing her eyes.

“Sorry, kid. You’ll be rid of me again soon enough.”

“Just...give me a minute, okay?”

Adrian opened his mouth to shoot back what was probably a sarcastic comment, or dig about her appearance, but then at the last second, thought better of it.

“‘Kay. Don’t be too long.” He flashed a sympathetic smile.

As the door closed, Adore’s heart lurched. Somehow, her brother’s pity was even worse than his mockery. She slammed her journal closed and fell back against her pillows, eyes flicking to the window unconsciously. From her spot on the bed, she could almost see into Courtney’s kitchen. She sprung from the bed, snapping her curtains shut.

Courtney lay beside Roy on her bed, reading, as he studied for a calculus test. She wiped a tear from her eye, sniffling slightly.

Roy turned his head towards her.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“This book...it’s just sad.”

He looked at the cover, brow furrowed in confusion. “The Scarlet Letter? Hawthorne is making you cry?”

She sighed. “I just feel really bad for the little girl.”

“What little girl?”

“Pearl! Hester’s daughter! This asshole, Dimmesdale, refuses to admit that he’s her father and so she has no dad? Because, what, he’s worried about people judging him? He’s a fucking coward.” Tears burned her eyes.

“Well, yeah, that’s kind of the point. Although...I mean, I think that the kid is sort of more a symbol.”

“Well, kids aren’t symbols, they’re humans, and you don’t get to abandon them, people are not just disposable, and this book SUCKS!” Courtney threw it across the room, crossing her arms, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Roy reached up and brushed some tears away, one hand resting on her cheek. “Babe…”

She buried her face in his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“I’ve always thought Hawthorne was overrated, anyway. So pretentious and long-winded...”

Courtney nodded. “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying to study.” She wiped her eyes.

Roy kissed her softly.

“I have a confession to make. Uh...I don’t really get much studying done when I’m with you. I do the real studying after I get back home.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He continued to kiss her, slipping the straps of her dress down off her shoulders. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but you’re like...distractingly beautiful.”

A smile finally spread across Courtney’s lips, and so Roy kissed her again, so soft that she let out an involuntary sigh, thighs falling open.

“Courtney!”

They sprang apart as Grandma Muriel flung open the door.

“Hi Grandma,” Courtney said, attempting to straighten her dress, shrinking under her intense, judgmental gaze.

“Is your friend staying for dinner?”

“No thanks, ma’am,” Roy answered, clearing his throat. “I actually have to head back to school soon for Mock Trial practice, so-”

“Very good.” Muriel nodded, walking away and very pointedly leaving the door wide open.

Courtney collapsed back onto her pillows, sighing, throwing an arm over her eyes.

“You alright?”

“Yeah. Thank god she didn’t open that door like...a minute later.”

“Why, what was gonna happen?” Roy asked, pressing a teasing kiss just below her ear.

Courtney turned to her side, suppressing a smirk.

“Well, ya never know…Ugh, I just remembered that I having to finish reading the fucking Scarlet fucking Letter,” she groaned.

“There’s always Spark Notes,” Roy offered.

“Good idea,” Courtney replied, letting her eyes fall closed.

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