[019] nothing but trouble

                           "What're you doing out here?"

                           Courtney looks over at Jackie, shrugging. "I could ask you the same thing, Sunshine."

                          "I just needed a moment to myself. I thought you'd be more concerned with taking care of Suki," Jackie responded.

                          "I'll get to that in a bit. Besides, she's sleeping right now. Where's Shauna?" Courtney asked next.

                          Jackie frowns, looking down at her feet.

                           "Oh, no. Is there trouble in paradise?" Courtney teased.

                           "Forget it," Jackie quickly answered.

                           "Come on, I'm dying to know. As you can imagine, being stranded in the wilderness leaves you with little to no drama. Did she talk shit about you behind your back? No, wait, did she do something with your boyfriend? I didn't think Shauna had it in her but -," Courtney began to say.

                           "Can you just drop it? Nothing happened. I just... want to be alone. I'm allowed to be alone, aren't I?" Jackie snapped.

                           "Sure," Courtney shrugs, holding her hands up in surrender.

                           Just then, Travis walked over to the lake to see if he had managed to catch anything with the self-made net he and the others placed into the water. He takes off his shirt in the process, briefly glancing over at Jackie who meets his gaze before looking away. Courtney looks between the two of them, a smirk breaking out onto her lips.

                            If she could find a way to set Jackie and Travis up to upset Natalie, she'd certainly try.

                           "Anything?" Jackie asks.

                           "Nope," Travis answered.

                           "Why aren't you out hunting?" Jackie then asked next, rising up to her feet while Courtney remained comfortably seated.

                           "Told Nat to go without me," Travis admitted.

                           Courtney lets out a whistle. "Now there's definitely trouble in paradise there."

                           "Something happen?" Jackie folds her arms across her chest, having the same idea as Courtney.

                            "Isn't it some philosopher who said, uh, 'Anything that can happen, will happen'?" Travis responded.

                             "Yeah, I don't know. I'll, uh, go check my old philosophers handbook," the team captain teases with a small chuckle.

                               Courtney just groaned, feeling a little bored already.

                             "I just, um... I think I really fucked things up," Travis added.

                             Jackie shrugged. "Relationships are bullshit anyway. Trust me."

                             "I think I'm starting to like this pessimistic side of you, Jackie. Definitely more tolerable," Courtney remarked.

                             "Gee, thanks," Jackie quipped before she looks back over at Travis. "Whatever you did, she'll get over it. Let's face facts, Nat's standards are pretty low."

                             "It's embarrassing honestly. She'll go for any guy within a ten-mile radius," Courtney replied, giving Travis a once-over with her eyes.

                             "Cool, thanks," Travis quipped.

                             "Well, I didn't mean you. And you're basically Brad Pitt compared to the dirt bags she usually goes for," Jackie reasoned.

                              "Who was that one loser she dated? Um... Bobby something," Courtney replied, delighting in the way Travis's face falls.

                              "Ugh, yes! Don't get me started on that Bobby What's-His-Face she was hooking up with before we left," Jackie groaned.

                              "I swear, he had the intelligence of a worm. It's a miracle he made it out of high school," Courtney scoffed.

                              "I know, right? And like, dude, you graduated. Why are you still partying with high school girls? I mean, she missed a week of practice 'cause she was too busy screwing him in the back of his gross van," Jackie replied, all while Travis slowly began to leave the water.

                              "She should've gotten kicked off the team," Courtney nodded.

                              "I thought your dad would -," Jackie began to say.

                               "Bobby who?" Travis cut her off.

                               "Whatever. It - it doesn't matter. I'm just, I'm saying...," Jackie stammers, reluctant to answer.

                               "Bobby who?" Travis insisted.

                               "Jesus," Jackie sighed.

                               "Bobby Farleigh. But... I'm sure you know him pretty well already," Courtney says with a smirk.

                               Bobby was the one to bully Travis and give him the awful nickname of Flex to begin with. Obviously, Travis hadn't gotten over it. And now that he found out that his girlfriend had slept with his bully, Travis was obviously pissed. Courtney could see it written all over his face and the result left Courtney feeling pretty satisfied.

                                "Why? Does it matter?" Jackie added.

                                 Travis storms off and Jackie scoffs in disbelief. Courtney just stands up, brushing off the lingering dirt on her legs.

                                 "What the fuck did you do?" Jackie turned her attention onto Courtney.

                                 "Don't act innocent, Jackie. I just helped you get what you wanted," Courtney scoffed.

                                 Jackie's eyes narrow. "And what is it that you think I want?"

                                 "Travis, for whatever reason. You want to have fun in the wilderness, be my guest. Just don't act all sweet and innocent. The goody two shoes act is exhausting. If you want something, take it."

                                 "Why are you doing this?" Jackie asked next.

                                 "We both hate Nat, don't we? The enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine."

                                 "I think you're a sociopath."

                                 "You haven't seen anything yet."

                                 And with that, Courtney starts heading back towards the cabin just so she could see the damage she had created. Sure enough, she'd make it just in time to see Travis storm inside of the cabin and Natalie linger by the porch - tears in her eyes. Jackie had been following behind Courtney, quickly turning away when Natalie angrily glared at them both.

                                 "Was it you? No, I bet it was the both of you," Natalie questioned, a dry chuckle leaving her lips before she nodded. "Right. Fuck the both of you!"

                                 Courtney just smiles in satisfaction before she walks over to the cabin, leaving Jackie alone to wonder about what she had just done.

(🌲🔪🦌)

                                  "Oh my God, what happened?" Jackie questioned, rushing up to her feet upon seeing Misty, Mari, and Akilah stumbling back towards them. They all looked absolutely exhausted, on the verge of passing out. 

                                  Suki made it out just in time, leaning against the doorway to maintain her balance. She had stopped drinking the tea (unbeknownst to Courtney) and she was slowly regaining her energy back. But she still wasn't nearly as good as she should be.

                                "Where... where's Van and Tai?" Suki asked aloud, realizing that they were the only two missing.

                                Shauna rushed over to help Misty who looked as though she was on the verge of a panic attack. Courtney didn't budge, merely watching as the others took care of the three girls.

                                "She, she told, she told us to leave them," Misty managed to get out in between shallow breaths. "We had to get help."

                                "Are they hurt?" Suki questioned, fearing that her dream had turned into reality.

                                "Van... Van got hurt," Misty answered.

                                Suki's heart sinks.

                                Laura Lee grabs Misty by the shoulders, forcing her to look at her. "Show us which way to go."

                                With Suki too sick to travel and Courtney her designated caretaker, the others went to go and fetch Taissa and Van. So, while they were gone, Suki took this as the opportunity to finally confront Courtney once and for all. They were alone, seeing as the few that stayed behind were pretty much outside and waiting for the group to come back safely with Van and Taissa. 

                                "Drink some more tea, Suki. You're going to need all of your strength if you're going to make it," Courtney hands Suki over the warm cup, a small smile on her face.

                                 Suki glares at Courtney before she allows the cup to drop from her hands, it shattering into pieces on the floor beside her. Courtney frowns, angry that Suki could be so careless.

                                "What the fuck are you doing? Do you know how long it took for me to make that?" Courtney scolded her.

                                "Why did you do it?" Suki questioned.

                                 Courtney scoffs. "What are you talking about now?"

                                 "You poisoned me, didn't you?" Suki asked. "I didn't want to believe it at first. But it all makes sense now. All of this started when you gave me the tea. Why did you poison me?"

                                 "You're talking crazy again, Suki. Just calm down and -," Courtney began.

                                 "Why did you poison me?!" Suki asks again, shouting this time. She couldn't take the lies anymore and all of the pent-up anger had finally exploded, even if it took a lot of energy for her to even let it out.

                                 "I did it for your own good! You weren't listening to me. You were trying to leave me. I had to find a way to make you just... stop and realize how good things would be if you just let me take care of you," Courtney snapped. Realizing what she had just said, Courtney falters as she looks at Suki and sees the way she slowly falls apart.

                                  Suki shakes her head, her eyes growing wet from tears. "How could you do this to me? You poisoned me!"

                                  "I know," Courtney nodded.

                                  "You lied to me!" Suki continued.

                                   "I know," Courtney says again.

                                   "You told me you loved me," Suki sobbed.

                                   "I do! I love you so much," Courtney argued.

                                   "Then why would you hurt me? Were you going to kill me if I didn't do what you wanted?" Suki asks, although she's afraid of the answer.

                                   "What? No! It just makes you sick, that's all. All you were supposed to do is get sick and then when you came around again, you'd get better. I promise you, that's it. I'd never hurt you," Courtney reasoned but it was hard for Suki to believe that after what Courtney had done to her.

                                  "But you did. You hurt me so much," Suki shakes her head.

                                  Courtney gets down on her knees then, hugging Suki close to her as she started crying. "Please don't leave me, Suki. Please. I'll die if you leave me. I can't lose you. I'll do better, I promise. Just give me another chance."

                                 Suki blinks away her own tears, holding onto Courtney and stroking her hair. As much as she knew she shouldn't take Courtney back, she couldn't imagine life without her either. It'd be like losing her other half - her dark, twisted other-half. Suki was too attached to Courtney to let her go, even after seeing just what she was capable of. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. We're going to get better. I'll get better and then it'll be like this never happened."

                                  Courtney continued to hold onto Suki, crying while Suki comforted her. And yet, not a single real tear had been shed. While Courtney acted like she was crying, she really wasn't. Courtney had perfected the art of fake crying from a young age, using the technique to basically perfect fake crying. And now this was no exception. She was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that Suki stayed by her side, even with her dirty flaws put on display.

                                  "Guys, we're back!"

                                  The two are forced to pull away from each other when the others come back with Van. Sure enough, she looked as though she had been attacked by a wolf. Or several of them. One side of her face was scarred and bleeding, Akilah being the one to put in her stitches. Suki stayed, feeling personally responsible for all of this. If she had managed to stop them somehow, then this wouldn't have happened to Van.

                                  In the midst of Van's sobs as Akilah did her stitches, Suki held onto her hand in an effort to comfort her. And while it didn't completely take away the pain, it did help Van to feel a little better. And Courtney could only watch from a distance, an almost unreadable expression on her face.

(🌲🔪🦌)

word count: 2014
notes: imagine coach ben listening on these two fighting from the other room and just being like

also i'm dreading the next chapter for obvious reasons but i know i'm going to have to write it regardless 😭