Work Text:
“Princess, wait up!” Duncan shouts down the hallway, earning a couple of glares from nearby teachers.
Courtney crosses her arms and turns around to see her idiot boyfriend racing down the hallway. “Hey! Stop running in the halls,” she takes it upon herself to enforce the school rules, since the teachers weren’t saying anything. “Slow down, Duncan! I’m not going anywhere,” she scoffs.
“I know,” he says as he reaches her, slightly out of breath from sprinting. He smirks. “I love seeing how bothered you get when I break school rules.”
“Why did I ever agree to go out with you in the first place?” Courtney rolls her eyes as they walk into their only shared class together.
They had arranged seating in this class, but they had lucked out, being sat together by the teacher before the school year had even begun. Duncan usually sat in the back, and Courtney preferred to sit in the front row, but their arranged seats were in the dead center of the classroom. It wasn't ideal for goofing off or taking notes, like the respective partners were used to, but at least they were sitting together.
"Good morning, Courtney. Duncan. You both are early today,” their teacher greets them with a smile as they enter the classroom.
“Oh, you know Courtney loves getting to class early,” Duncan pokes fun at his girlfriend. “So, how was your weekend?”
Courtney smiles to herself as she listens to them discuss their weekends. Despite his stunt earlier in the hallway, this confirmed that she was a positive influence on Duncan. He was asking teachers about their weekends and being genuine about it!
They take their seats and Courtney glances up at the clock above the door. There were roughly three minutes before class started. She methodically pulls out her pristine array of pencils, erasers, highlighters, and her designated binder for the class. After she’s done, she turns to the desk beside hers. She stares in curiosity as Duncan pulls out a singular piece of paper from his backpack. "Duncan, what's that?"
"The homework,” Duncan states, as if it was obvious.
Courtney’s breath hitches in her throat and her heart momentarily stops beating. "Homework? We had homework?"
“Yeah," he says, nonchalantly. "This ring a bell, Princess?" He dangles the worksheet in front of her face. She stares at the foreign document, her eyes widening in fear.
“Oh my god,” Courtney brings a hand to her mouth.
"Huh? Wait. Holy fuck. You didn't do it?" Duncan’s mouth falls open.
Courtney simply shakes her head at him, her mind filled with panic. This could not be happening. She had never not done her homework. She had never had a late grade before. She didn't even know where the damn worksheet was!
Duncan bursts into a haughty fit of laughter as Courtney fervently zips her backpack open to search for the lost homework. “I can’t believe it! Princess not doing her homework? Did the world turn upside down?”
“Would you keep your voice down?” Courtney glares at him. She finally locates the worksheet and breathes a sigh of relief. It was just one page, double-sided. With another glance at the clock, she begins doing the homework, the notion that she had just one minute to complete the entire thing weighing down on her brain.
Courtney furiously scribbles her answers down, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She had never done something like this, but it was surprisingly motivating. She begins scolding her boyfriend as he watches her scramble. "I hate you so much, Duncan!”
“Why? What'd I do?" Duncan says, taken aback.
“It's all your fault I didn't do my homework!” Courtney says through gritted teeth.
"Just how is it my fault, Princess?” He raises an eyebrow, clearly amused.
"We were hanging out all weekend! You occupied all of my free time,” she hisses.
Duncan laughs again, even harder this time. “That’s rich, Princess! How come I got it done, then? We only hung out on Saturday!” Courtney scowls at him. “Okay, chill out, Court. Do you want to use mine? I don't mind the late grade,” he says.
"No! You have the handwriting of a preschooler that got held back!”
The school bell rings, signifying the beginning of the class period. Courtney looks around. Everybody had already taken their seats, and their teacher looked like she was about to start talking.
"Duncan! I’m still not finished! I can’t breathe!” Courtney whispers, flipping the worksheet over to the back. Thankfully, the second half of the homework was shorter. She needed this adrenaline rush to carry her through to the bitter end.
"Good morning, students. I hope everybody had a nice weekend. I'll be coming around to pick up your homework,” their teacher stands up and straightens her dress out. She begins collecting the homework from the front row.
"Shit! Duncan, just give me yours. I can't figure out number nine," she swipes his homework from his desk and begins to copy down the rest of his answers. Unfortunately, their teacher moves with considerable swiftness, and she has yet to finish copying all the answers. “Distract her!" Courtney whispers, all the blood rushing to her head.
Duncan, thankfully, obeys her command and walks up to the teacher, no hesitation in his stride. "Hey there! How was your weekend?"
The teacher stares at him in confusion. “You already asked me that, Duncan. I said it was fine.” She attempts to slide past him, but Duncan stands in front of her before she can get to their row.
“I mean the deep stuff, you know. Of course it was good. All of our weekends are good, but what actually made it good? Anybody touch your heart this weekend?” The room erupts into laughter at Duncan’s antics. Usually, Courtney couldn’t stand when he acted out in class, but today, she was so grateful for it.
“Stop asking me inappropriate questions and get back to your seat, Duncan!" She places her hands on her hips.
Duncan is lost in thought for a moment, probably conjuring up some ridiculous idea to stop her from crossing the threshold. “Hey! What's your favorite Taylor Swift song? I really like The Way I Loved You,” he says. Courtney smiles as she makes her way further down the homework. He really had been listening when she had showed him the new Taylor Swift record she had bought.
“I don’t know! Our Song, I guess?” The teacher responds, caught off guard by the question. “Move, Duncan! I don’t have time for your antics today!”
"No can do, Miss. How about your favorite Beyoncé song? Mine has to be Crazy In Love," Duncan continues his bit, to the delight of their classmates, who Courtney was sure were just happy to have their actual lesson delayed for the time being. The classroom bursts into laughter again.
"Probably Irreplaceable — wait! Stop! Out of my way now, or else I'm giving you detention!"
“Not afraid of that,” Duncan grins. “How about Britney Spears? I like Toxic.” Courtney finishes copying the final answer and slides his worksheet back onto his desk. She finally lets out the breath she had been holding, feeling relieved from the adrenaline rush of copying somebody else’s homework. She had never done anything like this before. It was so unlike her.
"Duncan!” Their teacher huffs. “I swear, if you don't stop right now, I will call your parents!”
"Duncan! Stop!" Courtney calls out, having finished copying the homework. Her heartbeat finally slows down as she smiles at their respective worksheets, laying idly on their desks. Her eyes spell out pure amusement at his distraction tactics. She couldn’t wait to gloat about her positive influence in his face later. His buffoonery was much less destructive and dangerous now, and she was quite pleased with herself.
Courtney hears a few groans from her peers at her sudden interjection, probably because the fun was over and that they’d have to actually get back to learning now.
"Oops. Sorry. I’ll go back to my seat now,” Duncan walks back to his seat.
"You are such a hassle! Try and pull something like that again, and you are out of here. Do I make myself clear?" Their teacher glowers at him while picking up Duncan and Courtney's homework.
"Crystal,” Duncan responds, with a tinge of cheekiness in his voice.
“Oh, I know exactly what you were doing. You didn't finish your homework and probably needed my star student over here to complete it for you!” She holds the two worksheets up side-by-side and compares them. Courtney taps her foot on the tile anxiously. They had almost gotten away with it!
"Oh,” she inspects the difference in handwriting. “Both completed. I apologize. Duncan, just be thankful you have someone like Courtney to keep you in line and make sure you've done your homework,” she adds the worksheets to her pile. Courtney turns to Duncan, both of them holding in laughs. She had too much fun watching him embarrass himself in front of the entire class for her.
During their passing period, Courtney pulls Duncan to her locker, where she finally laughs as loud as she wanted. “Thanks for covering for me, honey. I can’t believe I did that!”
“I’m a bad influence on you,” he slings his arm over her shoulders. “Today, you’re copying my homework. Who knows? Tomorrow, you might be cheating on a test.”
“Don’t even joke about that! I would never,” she elbows his side. “It did feel really great when I got away with it, though.”
“That’s my girl! You’re my little baby delinquent,” he captures her lips in a kiss, and she can’t even protest. Being bad truly did feel so good.