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Mickie's P.O.V

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"You sure you're ready for this Princess?" My dad asked, as I double checked my bag one last time. The last thing I wanted was to have forgotten something.

"I don't think I'll ever be ready dad, but I cant hide away in my bedroom for ever."

"Now that's my Mickie. I've missed her lately." He grinned at me and flicked my nose. I laughed and flicked his nose in return. He was right, I hadn't been acting like myself recently, I had let everything get the best of me, but today that stopped. I was determined to march into school and hold my head high. I had made that decision saturday, after Courtney had left me, again, both confused and hurt. She had made no attempt to contact me for the remainder of the weekend, and it hurt too much to think that this may be it, what was left of our friendship was officially over...

"Mickie." My dad said, lightly shaking my shoulder.

"Sorry dad, did you say something?"

"I said, I'm proud of you and no matter what I'll be here for you." I smiled at him, I was so very lucky to have him, he was the perfect idea of a dad. I hugged him tight.

"Thank-you." I whispered into his shoulder. I can't describe how nice it is to have him, supporting him, especially since my mum still hadn't got in contact.

"She will." He reassured me as if he had just read my mind, he pushed me back and gave me a huge smile. "You better be going you don't want to be late."

I sighed, "Yeah, I should be." I slung my bag over my shoulder, before leaning and kissing him on the cheek. "I'll see you later." I told him.

"Don't forget, if anyone gives you trouble they'll have me to answer to." I laughed at his comment, I thought it was sweet how he still tried to look after me even though I was almost eighteen.

I called a final goodbye to him as I left the house, iPod in hand, I had a feeling I was going to need it today, to block out a lot of the comments. Deciding to take as much time as possible to get to school, I stopped off at Starbucks, the same place I had first meet Arizona, the girl with the gorgeous blue eyes, just over two weeks ago.

I started to think about Arizona as I waited for my coffee, I hadn't heard from her since friday night, I hadn't thought too much of it, she obviously had a lot to sort out. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that she hadn't got in touch. I had contemplated the idea of ringing her, just to see if everything was alright, but decided better of it.

"Miss, your drink." The barista said handing me my coffee in a plastic cup, bringing me out of my thoughts at the same time. I thanked him before leaving the shop. Again I took it easy as I drove the remainder of the journey to school.

I turned into the student car park hesitantly, I was surprised I could even turn the wheel as my hands were shaking like crazy. Was I actually ready for this? I had spent last night trying to convince myself that I was, but now I was having second thoughts. I was even considering turning back and going home as I parked up. I turned the engine off and sat there as my thoughts consumed me. Maybe I could sneak-

"Mickie." I jumped out of my skin at hearing someone yell my name and knock on my passenger window. I hadn't even seen the person approach my car. I lowered the window so I could speak with them.

"Hey Arizona, you scared me." I laughed, but it was only half-heartedly, I was far too nervous to think about anything else, let alone laugh at anything.

She flashed me a toothy grin, "Sorry I didn't mean to." Nothing more was said for a few minutes. I knew that I had to get out of the car sometime, especially now that Arizona had seen me. "So, are you going to sit in there all day?" She asked playfully.

"I want too." I muttered, looking down at my folded hands in my lap. I heard Arizona let out a sigh and walk away from the side of my car, only to walk around to the driver's side and open the door. I looked up at her, wondering what she was going to do next. Perhaps force me out of the car?

Instead, however, she bent down so we were almost face to face and put one of her hands on top of mine. "It wont be as bad as you think it will." I didn't answer, instead I avoided her gaze by looking out of the window. Arizona surprised me then by forcefully, yet gently, turning my jaw so that I was facing her, our eyes meeting. "Trust me."

Her gorgeous blue eyes were boring into mine, and in that moment I lost the ability to speak, so I nodded my head in response. She smiled brightly and stood up from her crouching position. I took a deep breath and unbuckled my seat belt and climbed out of the car. I locked my car and walked over to where Arizona was waiting, slowly, wanting to waste as much time as possible.

"You okay?" She asked, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face.

"I'm nervous." I admitted, "And I feel stupid and weak for feeling so nervous." I added.

"Hey, you're not weak, nor are you stupid, for feeling nervous." I sent her a small smile, and nodded my head to let her know that I understood what she was saying. "Now do you need me to hold your hand or what?" She joked, and I playfully nudged her with my elbow.

We started to walk towards the huge double doors that were the entrance to the school. With every step I took my nerves seemed to treble, my stomach flipped, and any second now I was sure I was going to be sick. Arizona, being the incredibly sweet person she is, kept talking to me about crap, trying to keep my mind of the fact everybody was currently staring at us.

I hated being the centre of attention, that was the worst thing that came with being Courtney's best friend, was that her being so popular meant that I was popular. At first I loved it. I loved what came with being popular, people looking up to you, respecting you, to say the power had gone to my head would be an understatement. But when I started to learn the truth about myself, everything that came with being popular, suddenly didn't feel so attractive, and it was more of a burden then anything else.

Right now, I was starting to wish that I had stood up to Courtney and some of the people we used to hang around with, because, I could see faces that they, that we, had mocked, and I could only expect them to do the same to me now. I could see them whispering to one another and as much as I tried to convince myself that it wasn't about me, I couldn't believe for a second that it wasn't.

"They could be whispering about me you know." Arizona said from beside me, as if she had just read my mind. She was smiling but it didn't seem to reach her eyes. The statement, though it was supposed to make me feel better, only made me feel worse. I had caused her to feel this way, I was the reason they were all whispering about her too.

I opened my mouth to apologise to her, for the umpteenth time but a year 11 boy walked up to us, causing us to stop in our tracks. He looked between Arizona and I, and, I assume, his friends behind him who all gave him encouraging looks and hand gestures. He cleared his throat before talking, "Hi Mickie, um, we were just wondering if it's, um, true that you bat for the, uh, other team." He said nervously.

Arizona watched me carefully, maybe she thought I was going to have a break down any minute now, if she was, then she wasn't wrong. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans, and forced my vocal cords to work. "I-it's true." I stuttered, as his eyes widened slightly in response.

"So are you two like dating?" He asked us. Arizona grinned and laughed.

"No we're not." She answered, and before anything else could be said steered us away from him and to the double doors. "See, that wasn't too bad was it." She whispered when it was just me and her.

I nodded again, not able to find my voice. She was right, that hadn't been too hard, but it wasn't that bit I was worried about, it was form.

"C'mon I'll walk you to your form." Arizona told me as she pushed the doors open, and, yet again, we were met by stares and whispers. I managed to block out most of it and focus on Arizona's voice as we walked to my form room. I cursed under my breath for having form in the furthest part of the building.

We arrived outside my form room and I was so absorbed in my own thoughts I hadn't noticed Arizona was asking me a question until she gave my shoulder a little shake. "Sorry Arizona, what did you ask?"

She laughed, and repeated the question I had missed, "It's fine. I asked you if you wanted to hang out at mine tonight?"

I didn't even need to think about it as I answered, "If I survive today then I would love too." She rolled her eyes playfully, just as the bell rang out, informing us that we should be at our form room's right now.

"I'm going to head to form, I'll see you in english Mickie." For the second time today, Arizona surprised me, by pulling me into a tight hug, that I quickly reciprocated. "Don't let 'em get to you." She whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. She pulled away and winked at me before heading off in the direction of her own form.

I heard one of the boys in my form wolf-whistle, I blushed slightly from the embarrassment of knowing that the majority of my form had just seen that and what they had most likely assumed. I ignored their looks and walked into the classroom, with them following behind me. I sat down in my usual seat, at the back of the room, next to Courtney, who hadn't arrived yet.

"So, Mickie," The guy, Zak, who had wolf-whistled addressed me as he took his usual seat in front of me, "You and Levy, that's hot." He smirked, and a couple of his friends who took their seats beside him uttered words of agreement.

"No it's not, it's disgusting." Olivia, a tall and lanky brunette responded, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she took her seat at the front of the room.

"Shut up Liv, we all know you're just jealous." Zak called back, receiving a stern 'be quite' from our form tutor. I smiled gratefully at him, and he responded with a wink, before turning his attention back to our tutor.

Nothing else was said after that, thankfully, and the reminder of form passed relatively quickly, yet there was still no sign of Courtney. Where was she? It wasn't unlike Courtney to skip form, but I had hoped she was going to be here this morning. The bell rang freeing us from form and letting us know that we should be heading to our first lesson. Luckily I had double English with Arizona.

I walked as quickly as possible to English, avoiding as many people as I could. I reached the classroom, and realised I had arrived before Mr. Conroy, a first for me, I entered the classroom and took my seat. I took out my folder and started to flick through my notes, not really reading them, instead using them as an excuse to not look up as my fellow classmates entered the room.

"Emily Dickinson huh?" I looked up as I heard Arizona's voice, she was watching me with an amused smile.

"Yeah, she's an amazing poet." I answered and her smile grew. She took her seat beside me as the teacher walked in.

Two hours of English passed quickly, and they had put me somewhat to ease. The morning hadn't been half as bad as I thought it was going to be. More people were interested in whether or not Arizona and I were dating than the fact that I was gay, and, with Arizona by my side I felt twice as confident.

"Come on you." Arizona said grabbing my hand, as I walked out of the classroom.

"Where are we going?" I asked, as she continued to pull on my hand to keep me moving at her pace.

"To the common room."

I stopped dead in my tracks at her words. The common room? Was she serious? Dealing with a class full of students was bad enough, but a whole room full ? No way, not when it was bound to be full of people I had once considered 'friends'.

"You're not serious are you Arizona?"

She turned around and gave me a sympathetic smile, "I know it's hard, but you can't hide forever."

"I know I can't." I admitted. "But I don't mind hiding just for today."

She sighed, "I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to do Mickie, but you're going to have to face them at some point."

I knew she was right, but I just didn't want to accept it, part of me actually believed that I could actually get away with never seeing them again, but that wouldn't be possible.

"You're right," I swallowed nervously, "I'm going to have to do it eventually."

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Courtney's P.O.V

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"Hey Court you alright?" Someone asked me as they entered the common room. Up until then the common room had been empty, which wasn't that big of a surprise considering lessons were in progress. I turned in my seat and smiled at the owner of the voice, a guy named Grayson. He was in the year above me, but we would often hang out, especially now I no longer had Mickie.

"Yeah I'm fine Grayson." I told him, and continued to make notes in my folder. I had a lot of work to do, considering I had gotten anything done over the weekend, which is why I was currently bunking my Geography lesson. I pulled out another folder from my bag and a textbook, but before I had a chance to start working on it, Grayson took the opportunity to jump up on the desk I was using.

"Geography? What else do you learn other than the names of countries?" Why he insisted on making conversation, I had no idea, and why he wasn't in lesson, was even more of a mystery.

"Look Grayson, I'm busy. So why don't you run along." I told him, pushing my folder further away from him, and opening the textbook. Still he didn't make a move to leave, sighing I closed the textbook and turned to face him. "Do you want something Grayson?" I asked feeling annoyed that he was stopping me from getting anything done.

"Do I have to have a reason for wanting to talk to one of my favourite girls?"

I rolled my eyes before answering, "No, but you better have, because if you just stopped me working for no reason, I will kill you." I told him seriously.

"Jesus Court, relax a little. This room's gonna be full in five minutes for break."

"So you disturbed me just to tell me break was in five minutes." He smiled at me, but I ignored it as I started to throw my belongings back into my bag. "Now, if only there was something that told me when break was, so you didn't have to, like a bell." I snapped at him sarcastically, and as if on cue, the bell for break rang out through the common room.

"Woah, who bit your arse this morning?" He quipped. "Is it because Mickie's back and dating that new hot chick?"

Mickie's back? And with Levy? "Mickie's not dating her." I said, sounding a lot more possessive then I had meant to be.

He grinned and winked at me, "Someone's a little jealous." He's comment pissed me off, especially since the common room was slowly filling up, two thirds of the room was now occupied, so anybody could of heard his comment.

"I'm not jealous." I lied. When I had told her to go and play happy couples with Levy, I wasn't expecting her to actually do it. What the hell was she playing at? "I couldn't care less what Mickie did, I just know she has better taste than to date that freak."

"Better taste? She's into girls for god's sake Court, she has no taste." I turned, recognising the voice immediately. Marc Daniels. I gave him a fake smile as he walked over to stand by my side.

"Isn't that a little harsh Marc?" Grayson asked him, as he's girlfriend Johanna, appeared with a couple of other girls, all of which were in my year.

Marc just scoffed in response, so Grayson turned his attention to me, as to get my opinion. "Marc's right, I mean she used to hang around with us, around your girlfriend, can you imagine the nasty thoughts she probably had about Jo." I forced myself to shudder, exaggerating my point.

"I can't believe you two were best friends." Marc said shaking his head, "Did you not even have the slightest suspicion she was a queer?"

I ignored the name he called Mickie, for fear that if I didn't I would react badly, leading to questions I had no desire to answer. "I mean sure, she was a little overly friendly with me, and she would stare at me when she didn't think I was watching-"

"Oh you poor thing." Johanna exclaimed interrupting me as she pulled me into a quick hug, that I didn't reciprocate.

"Speak of the devil." Marc muttered. Hearing his words I pulled myself at of Johanna's grasp and looked at the door to the common room. The room was deadly silent, as everyone stopped their conversations to watch the two of them.

I watched as Mickie whispered something to Levy, who shook her head in response. It made me so angry to see her telling Mickie what to do. Mickie's gentle green eyes scanned the room until they met mine. They were filled with such sadness and anger, both of which, no doubt, directed at me.

Guilt hit me first, I felt bad that I kept hurting her but she had to realise that I wasn't like her, that I would never be like her. The guilt started to pass as the anger I felt took over.

How dare she be angry with me. This was all her fault, if she had just stayed away from Levy in the first place we wouldn't even be in this position, and now she was actually dating Levy, and them being here now, together, was like she was rubbing it in my face.

I broke eye contact with Mickie and looked at Levy, who smirked at me. I scowled at her and had to resist the overwhelming urge to slap that smirk off of her face. I turned to face Marc and the others, Marc looked just as pissed as I felt.

"What the fuck do they think they're doing?" Marc spat. I tried my best to not roll my eyes. The only reason he was so pissed was the fact that he had asked Levy out and when everybody had found out she was gay there was a joke or two about him having turned her gay.

"Forget them. They're not important." I told him, resting my hand on his shoulder. But from the look on his face I knew that him forgetting it was not an option here.

"Nah Court, they don't belong here." I inwardly groaned as he brushed my hand off his shoulder, and started walking in their direction.

"Aren't you going to do something?" I questioned Grayson. He shook his head at me and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "He's your best friend, surely you can calm him down."

"Sorry Court, when Marc's pissed there's no stopping him." I scowled at him before turning my attention back to Marc. I saw a look of fear pass across Mickie's features as Marc reached them.

Knowing no-one else was going to do anything, I quickly crossed the space between us.

"Don't you two get it. No-one wants you here." Marc said. I was expecting Levy to back down considering the physical presence Marc had, but she didn't.

"Who are you speaking for Marc? Because no-one else seems to mind that we're here."