I guessed that I had been so caught up on all of my time with Courtney but something had changed all of a sudden. I found that my feelings for Emmy weren't affecting me as much as they used to. I found that suddenly my mind had become occupied with thoughts of Courtney more often than I might have liked to admit.

I supposed that part of this was because she had asked me on a date. However, Courtney wanted to keep things light and I knew rhat I needed her as a friend. I didn't want to do anything that might jeopardize that no matter how I felt.

Courtney didn't want to commit and I understood that. That was why I had to keep my wits about me and keep things calm. I guessed that it didn't help that I had always wanted to form a connection with someone. I had missed girls before and it had never led anywhere because most of them had been drunk and straight, unfortunately.

All I had known for a long time now was that I wanted more. I wanted a girlfriend. I didn't think there was anything wrong in wanting more for myself, either.

Nevertheless, I knew that this hadn't been the easiest of tasks in the past and I doubted that it was going to start being easy now, especially considering Courtney Allen, of all people, had asked me on a date.

While I sat in the library getting on with some studying, Kian soon approached me with a look of intrigue.

"What are you studying?" he asked me.

"Some literature. I'll move onto math in a bit though. Help me," I joked.

I believed that Kian knew it was a joke but it was a pleasant surprise when he sat down next to me and began to go over the topic I needed to study with me. A level mathematics had never been easy but Kian did help it to make some sense.

"Do you want cookies? I'll get you any flavour you want," I said, after the two of us had finished studying.

Kian chuckled.

"I would appreciate that so much but my diabetes said no. Thank you though, Phoebe. I hope the math makes more sense now," he told me.

"Of course. What are you going to do now?" I asked him.

Kian told me that he had to some training for the sports team so we bid each other farewell so he could go and join them.

In the meantime, I walked out of the library and began to make my way down the hall until I reached Oliver.

"Hey Oli," I greeted him, with a warm expression.

"Hey Phoebe," he smiled back at me.

I took a seat beside him on the bench and turned back to him.

"What are you up to?" I asked him.

"I'm doing a little bit of independent study," he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you," I said.

Oliver gave a slight shake of his head at my words.

"It's all good. How have things been going with you?" he asked me.

I decided to dance around telling him about the whole Courtney situation. Although I knew that I could trust Oliver, I wasn't entirely convinced that Courtney would want me telling everyone about the fact that we had a date. Well, almost. We still needed to schedule it. I simply ended up telling Oliver about how I had done some studying with Kian.

When Oliver asked me about the Emmy situation, I responded with the truth. By some miracle, I felt as though I was finally getting over my crush on her. It was as though I could be myself again. It still didn't change the fact that I wanted a girlfriend but I believed that I had accepted the fact, now, that Emmy couldn't be mine.

Oliver seemed pleased to know that I was doing a little better and the two of us soon said goodbye to one another.

After I had spoken with him, I began to make my way to art class and found that Emmy and Courtney had already arrived. Courtney didn't look up from her work for a single moment though. She seemed entirely focused on what she was doing, which seemed to be making a person out of a collage of coloured paper and magazine clippings.

I walked over to Emmy to sit beside her and she asked me about how I was and complimented my art work. I had been able to focus more on it recently, when I wasn't thinking about Courtney, of course.

Miss Mack soon arrived to give our class some tips while we steadily worked away.

Soon enough, the lesson reached its end and we made our way out of the classroom.

Emmy informed me that she was going to go and find Lois, so I let her go to do that and turned my attention back to the person who had come to stand beside me.

Of course, I already knew who it was going to be before I even looked towards them.

"Hey, sorry for being sort of quiet in class today. I've always been more of an independent worker and I really wanted to get more of my art project done. How are you doing?" she asked me.

"Did my presence make it difficult for you to get work done?" I asked.

Courtney rolled her eyes.

"You're distracting but I actually managed okay," she said.

I smiled at her and she smiled right back.

"Come with me. I needed to ask you something," she told me.

I gave a nod of my head in my agreement and the two of us made our way into the main car park, so we could stand near Courtney's car.

In the afternoon light of the day, I found that Courtney's hair appeared to be steadily returning to its natural colour.

"Do you still like Emmy?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I said.

"Well, I wasn't really looking for a maybe answer, Phoebe."

"I liked her for a long time. It's not as though I can switch my feelings off as quickly as you can switch between being hot and cold with me," I said.

Courtney narrowed her eyes at me, after I said that.

"I didn't realise that was such a big issue," she said.

"It's not. You just...confuse me sometimes."

Courtney scoffed.

"It's not a bad thing. I guess I wasn't expecting to meet someone like you," I said.

"Someone and unpredictable and weird as me, you mean?" Courtney asked me.

I met her gaze before I replied, so I could see amusement flash in her eyes.

"It's the best kind of weird. Besides, you're a good person, Courtney, even if you deny it. You're smart and selfless and you chose to help me with the Emmy situation, so thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," she said.

"And that's not all that's good about you either. I mean...You're so pretty," I said.

Courtney wasn't blushing but I certainly was.

"You're not so bad yourself, Phoebe."

Courtney smiled after that.

"Now, want a lift home?" she asked me.

"Yes please," I replied, as I sat down in her car and Courtney began to drive me back to my house.