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Mickie's P.O.V

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I tried to take as long as possible to get home, but it was such a short journey I was home before I knew it. Realising I hadn't brought my door keys with me, I took a long, deep, breath before knocking on the door.

I couldn't hear any shouting. That had to be a good sign right?

It seemed like a year had passed before my dad finally opened the door. "Don't run off like that Princess." He said pulling me into a tight hug, I hugged him back just as tightly.

"I'm sorry dad. I just needed to get out of here." I whispered into his shoulder. He rubbed my back, as he led me into the house, closing the door behind us

"It's okay, I understand." I reassured me as we made our way to the sofa. He sat me down on the sofa and told me he was going to go and make tea for the two of us. He returned not long after with two steaming mugs of tea in his hand, he handed me one before sitting down next to me.

We sat in silence for a while before I finally asked what was on my mind, "Where's mum?" He sighed and looked at me sadly, he gave me a small, forced, smile before answering.

"I'm sorry Princess, your mother just needs some time..." He trailed off.

"Oh. Okay." I nodded to show him that I understood. Of course I understood. It had taken me nearly a year to accept who I was, I couldn't expect my mum to understand in one night.

"She's going to be staying with friends for a few days." I swallowed the thick lump I felt in my throat. My mum couldn't even be in the same place as me, she must really feel disgusted by me. "Hey, it's not your fault." My dad said, obviously noticing how much her leaving had effected me, even though it was only for a few days. I just nodded in response to him.

"I'm going to get an early night. I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay honey, I'll see you in the morning." He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before I headed upstairs to my bedroom.

Half two in the morning and I still couldn't sleep. My mind keep drifting back to Arizona. What had she meant when she said that Sasha was the reason her mum kicked her out? Why had she said the word 'victim' when describing what Sasha was to her? And most importantly, why did it bother me so much that Sasha was Arizona's ex-girlfriend?

I felt bad for leaving Arizona alone with Sasha when she clearly didn't want to be left with her, but I couldn't help but feel awkward, they obviously had a lot to discuss and I didn't think either would be comfortable discussing their private business while I was still there.

Arizona wasn't the only person on my mind. As much as the situation with Arizona bothered me, there was another situation that bothered me even more.

Courtney and I.

I couldn't keep pretending that I didn't miss her, because I did. I missed her so much, my heart ached not seeing her every day. Every time she knocked on my door, I had to force myself not to answer, every time she had called or texted I had to battle with myself to ignore and delete it.

Why did loving her hurt so much? Why did she have to keep hurting me?

I woke to the sound of someone knocking, rather loudly, on the front door. I struggled to get out of bed, my body felt heavy and tired. Checking the bedside clock, I noticed it was just after nine in the morning, I couldn't have got more than four hours of sleep in total last night. Yawning and rubbing my barely open eyes, I called out to the person that I was coming.

I yanked a hoody over my head, and made my way down the stairs, grateful that the person had stopped knocking. Noticing the note addressed to me sitting on the cabinet, I decided to skim read it, then answer the door.

Princess,

Had to pop into work for a few hours. Hope you don't mind.

I left some money on the counter for you to go and get some lunch.

Don't even think about staying in and skipping lunch, it'll be good for you to get out.

- Dad x

I rolled my eyes, he worked way too hard. I didn't have time to think about it anymore, as the knocking started up again, twice as loud. Groaning in frustration, I walked as quickly as possible to the door.

"Do you have to knock so loudly at nine in the morning?" I asked slightly angry as I pulled the door open. But the anger disappeared upon seeing the person standing before me.

She looked like she hadn't slept well, she was wearing no make-up, her hair wasn't styled, and she was dressed casually in black skinny jeans and a cream jumper, and in my opinion she had never looked so beautiful. Her smile brightened when she saw me standing there. I probably looked a complete mess to her, having just woken up after an awful nights sleep.

"It's so good to see you Mickie." She said, after a few minutes. "I'm sorry it's so early, but I had to see you." She, sort of, answered my earlier question.

"I-it's fine." I managed to stutter out. I think I had gone into shock seeing Courtney standing there looking so young, so different.

"Can I come in?" She asked tentatively. My mind was telling me no, but my heart was telling me yes.

"Yeah of course." My heart won the internal battle, and I moved out of the doorway so that Courtney could enter.

"So, how are you?" I asked her, once we were both sitting on the sofa in my living room, I had offered her a drink or something to eat but she had refused, which I didn't like considering that she looked like she hadn't been eating well.

"Yeah, not too bad." She smiled at me, I could tell she way lying to me, I knew her too well. "Much better now." She gave me her usual smirk.

"Why are you lying to me?" I asked quietly.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fine. You want the truth. I've missed you. A lot. I can't stop feeling guilty, I'm not sleeping, I'm-"

"Shh. It's alright Court." I cut her off, not wanting to hear anymore, it hurt to hear that she wasn't doing well.

"I'm sorry for what I did Mickie. I was a bitch." I could see she was being genuine.

"Why did you do it?" I asked. That's the one question I had desperately wanted to ask her all week. Part of me didn't want to know the answer, but I knew that if I never found at the answer Courtney and I could never get over this.

Courtney rubbed the side of her temple, something she always did when she felt uncomfortable in a situation. "I don't know why I did it. Danny kept texting me, mocking me and I snapped, and deflected all the attention onto you. I didn't know he was going to forward the text I sent him."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you just told Danny." I wanted to believe her so bad, but there was that huge cloud of doubt hovering over me. She leaned closer to me, almost so that our noses were touching.

"I swear to you I only told Danny." She told me, her eyes never leaving mine, and I believed every word she had said.

"Okay I believe you." I whispered, suddenly feeling very nervous that she was so close to me.

Courtney smirked, noticing my sudden nervousness, and only encouraged it by leaning in closer, her lips were beside my ear as she whispered, "I always loved how nervous I made you." I shivered as she pulled back, so that again we were face to face. I swallowed nervously as her eyes drifted down to my lips. I wanted, scratch that, I needed, her to kiss me. I needed her to kiss me so I could forget the past week and everything around me and just be with her.

As if reading my mind, Courtney leaned towards me. Gently she pressed her lips to mine, and I wrapped my arms around her waist bringing her closer to me, and in that moment I forgot everything except the amazing girl in my arms.

The amazing girl who had caused me such heartbreak...

It took all the strength I could muster to push her away from me, but I knew I had to, I couldn't go though this again.

I shook my head in frustration at the sad, and slightly annoyed, look on her face. "No Courtney, you can't just tell me you're sorry then kiss me and expect me to forgive you."

Courtney sighed in frustration and sat back away from me as she ran a hand through her hair. "What do you want me to do Mickie? I've already said I was sorry."

"Sometimes sorry isn't always enough." I whispered, part of me hoping that she hadn't heard me, but from the look on her face, I'm sure she had.

"And what does that mean Mickie?"

I had no answer to that. I didn't even know what I had meant when I said it. "I don't know Court." I sighed, as a wave of fresh emotions swept over me. "I just can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" She asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Forgiving you, only to have you hurt me again." I could feel the throbbing ache in my heart associated only to Courtney. I tried to read the emotions in her face, but as usual, I couldn't read anything.

Was it so bad to want to know what she was thinking? Feeling? I just wanted her to talk to me like she used to when we were younger. I wanted her to open up to me and tell me the truth.

Courtney stood up and turned her back to me, why she felt the need to do so, I had no idea. "I didn't mean to hurt you." I just managed to hear her whisper, I wasn't sure if she had meant for me to hear her or not.

"Then why do you keep doing it?" I asked, my voice wavering slightly, as I battled to keep my emotions in check. Courtney must have picked up on it. She turned to face me, her eyes meeting mine, she lifted her left hand and gently placed it on my cheek, rubbing it with her thumb.

"I'm sorry." I could see the sincerity in her eyes, but those two words made me feel so frustrated. They weren't an answer.

I pushed Courtney's hand away from my cheek, and took a couple of steps back away from her. "That's not an answer." I just about controlled the urge to scream at her.

I watched as she thought thins through a moment before she closed the gap between us. "I'm gonna go. I'll see you at school on monday."

"No." I told her, she couldn't just walk away, not now, she had to answer my question, she had to tell me the truth. I grabbed her arm as she went to walk past me. "You can't just leave. I need to hear your answer."

She tried to free her arm from my grasp but I refused to ease my grip. "Fine." She gave in and I finally let go of her arm, "I'm scared." She dropped her gaze from me to stare at the ground.

"Scared?" I repeated, when was Courtney Diamond ever scared? I had never seen her act frightened or scared of anyone or anything. "Why are you scared?"

Her head snapped up, and her eyes met mine, I could see the anger in them, anger, I prayed, wasn't directed at me. "I'm scared that people will find out I like my best-friend. I can't be a nobody. It's bad enough..." She trailed off, her jaw clenched. I knew better than to test her right now, so, when she went to walk past me I allowed her to this time.

"Courtney...?" I called to her, following her as she reached the front door.

She didn't turn to face me, and kept her head down. "I'm not gay Mickie. You want someone to play happy couples with talk to Levy." With that she walked out the front door and slammed it in my face.

I stood there staring at the door. She didn't mean in that. She can't mean that. She tried to kiss me. So many thoughts swirled around in my head. I gave up trying to make sense of what Courtney had said, whatever she had meant, she had managed to cause me pain yet again.

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Courtney's P.O.V

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I sat waiting patiently in my car outside her house. She had been ignoring me for a whole week, and I couldn't take it any longer, I had to see her. I called her, she sent me to voicemail, I text her, she never replied, I turned up at her house, her dad turned me away.

I didn't know what else to do to make her talk to me, she hadn't even been to school for the last week, if she had she would have seen that half the school couldn't give a rats arse if she was gay or not.

Mickie is such a kind and caring person, that many of the students were willing to defend her when a select few bitched about her or spoke about their discomfort of her being gay. I wanted to defend her too, but I couldn't bring myself to disagree with those who saw me as their 'leader' and 'role model'. Instead I kept my mouth shut, saying nothing on the topic, neither confirming or denying the rumour.

I confronted Danny over what he had done though, he just laughed at me. I asked him why he hadn't 'lied' and told them all I was gay, he told me that no one would have believed that for a second, plus hurting Mickie was just like hurting me.

I punched the steering lightly, taking out my frustrations on it, before working up the courage to walk up to her door and knock on it. I knew it was earlier, but her dad's car wasn't parked outside, this was the best chance I was ever going to get.

Checking that I looked at-least decent I knocked on the door. I know I didn't look great, I was dressed causally, I had no make-up on and my hair was a mess.

I waited, but when there was no answer I knocked again, a little louder this time. Still no answer. I knocked even louder, not stopping. Her dad could come home any minute now, and I needed to see her.

Finally, after what felt like years of knocking, I heard her call out that she was on her way. I gave it a few minutes but when she still hadn't appeared, I started knocking again.

"Do you have to knock so loudly at nine in the morning?" She asked opening the door, sounding tired and annoyed. I smiled at how cute she sounded, smiling even wider when I saw her standing there. She looked like she had just woken up, her hair was a little messy, and she was wearing a pair of boy shorts and a oversized hoody. It hurt to see that she looked like she hadn't had a goodnight sleep in days.

"It's so good to see you Mickie." I told her honestly, when I was finally able to use my voice. "I'm sorry it's so early, but I had to see you."

"I-it's fine." She responded, stuttering slightly, she looked shocked to see me.

"Can I come in?" I asked softly, knowing that there was a huge possibility that she was still very angry at me, not that I was going to give her a choice. Even if she said no, I would still enter, like I said, I had to speak to her.

"Yeah of course." She answered after a few minutes. Was it really that hard of a decision?

She offered me a drink or something to eat, I refused, I don't think I could stomach anything right now. In truth, I hadn't been eating well all week, I had too much on my mind and often forgot to eat, not that anyone was really bothered if I didn't eat.

"Yeah, not too bad." I gave her my best smile. "Much better now." I gave her my trade mark smirk and moved closer to her on the sofa, she didn't notice as she was too busy studying my face.

"Why are you lying to me?"

I sighed, why did she have to know me so well, I rolled my eyes, "Fine. You want the truth. I've missed you. A lot. I can't stop feeling guilty, I'm not sleeping, I'm-"

"Shh. It's alright Court." She cut me off, and I was glad she had, I wasn't sure what else I might have told her.

She was looking at me with so much care, but also hurt, "I'm sorry for what I did Mickie. I was a bitch." I apologised, I hated seeing her hurt, especially since I was the one to cause it.

I hoped she would just accept my apology and we could move on, but she didn't, "Why did you do it?"

I didn't have an answer to that question, I don't know why I did it. 'Because I'm a horrible person who doesn't care about anyone else about from myself', I wanted to tell her but I couldn't.

"I don't know why I did it. Danny kept texting me, mocking me and I snapped, and deflected all the attention onto you. I didn't know he was going to forward the text I sent him." I told her instead, at least I wasn't lying to her.

I watched her take in what I just said and her facial expression changed, "Look me in the eyes and tell me you just told Danny." Had it been anyone else, I would have been pissed off at their tone of voice, but this was Mickie.

I meet her hazel-green eyes as I told her the truth, "I swear to you I only told Danny." I could see the look of relief that passed across her face, obviously believing me.

"Okay I believe you." She confirmed what I already knew.

I couldn't help but notice how nervous she had suddenly become. She was acting just like she used to when I was this close to her. Knowing how nervous I made her, a smirk formed on my lips.

I leaned in even closer to her, so my mouth was beside her ear, "I always loved how nervous I made you." I whispered, and watched her shiver slightly, making my smirk grow. I pulled back to look at the expression on her face. The effect I had on, turned me the hell on. I dropped my gaze to her gorgeous pink lips, before looking up to see the pure lust in her eyes.

Wanting it just as much as she did, I leaned forwards and carefully placed my lips to hers. I didn't care that she had most likely not brushed her teeth, or that we were on her couch and her dad could walk through that door at any moment. All I cared about was making her feel better, and making her see how sorry I was and how much I cared about her.

Kissing Mickie was nothing like kissing Danny, everything with Danny just felt awkward, but with Mickie it felt right, even though, in my mind it was wrong what we were doing. She pulled me even closer to her and I smiled into the kiss.

I was starting to get lost in everything Mickie, when she put both her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back.

I stared at her, feeling shocked, sad and even a little annoyed. Why the hell did she just do that?

"No Courtney, you can't just tell me you're sorry then kiss me and expect me to forgive you." She answered my unspoken question.

I sighed in frustration and ran a hand through my hair, feeling the urge to pull it out. "What do you want me to do Mickie? I've already said I was sorry." I moved back on the sofa, distancing myself from her, thinking that is what she wants.

"Sometimes sorry isn't always enough." She whispered.

"And what does that mean Mickie?" A minute ago, when she was kissing me, sorry seemed like enough.

"I don't know Court. I just can't keep doing this."

'Doing this' Doing what exactly?

"Doing what?" I tried my best not to sound too annoyed.

"Forgiving you, only to have you hurt me again."

It hurt to hear her say that. I didn't mean to hurt her, I all I ever wanted to do was protect her. When we had first meet she was so sweet and so vulnerable, I was afraid someone would take advantage of her. Is that what I had been doing?