Stepbrother ✔

1.8

❀Courtney's P.O.V❀

"Courtney!" I hear my name being called out and I turn my head in the direction of the voice. I see Emily running towards me and I swallow the lump forming in my throat, as I turn to walk in the other direction. "Courtney, wait!"

I blink away the tears and I quickly walk through the school gates. She catches up to me and forces me to stop walking, spinning me around so that I can face her. She has her eyebrows furrowed and I let a tear fall as she frowns at me.

"Oh, I am so sorry." She says, pulling me in for a tight hug—one in which I notice I really needed. I instantly wrap my own arms around her and I let the tears fall. "He's such a jerk, I wish he wasn't my brother."

"That's a bit rough, Em." I sniffle and she pulls away to examine my face.

"Me? Rough?" She questions and I nod my head, wiping at my eyes and groaning when I see the mascara rubbed off onto the back of my hand. "No, honey, he's the one who hurt you. I don't care if he's my brother, he hurt my best friend after I trusted him."

She pulls me back in for a hug and I close my eyes, needing the comfort. "I think I wouldn't have minded if he was someone else, but the fact that we were best friends before just makes it worse." I admit.

She pulls back again and I furrow my eyebrows when she scrunches up her face in annoyance. "Since when do you wear a full face of makeup?" She asks me and I look down at the ground, shamefully.

"Since today..."

"Seriously, Courtney?" She scoffs, digging into her bag and taking out a makeup wipe. "That's not how it works, sweetheart. I know he broke up with you yesterday, so you're doing this for him." She begins to wipe my face with it and I quickly pull away from her.

"This isn't for him." I object, finding the need to defend myself. The truth is, I simply feel like he doesn't like me because my looks don't match up to his likings. So naturally, I found the need to make myself look more presentable. I stayed up all night watching makeup tutorials and I spent two hours attempting it, succeeding on my twelfth try.

"Really? Then, why did you all of a sudden decide to plaster on makeup on your naturally beautiful face, huh?"

I don't meet her eye as I fix my attention on Alexander's bike parked outside. "I...I don't really know." I finally answer, letting out a defeated sigh.

"Yes you do, you know very damn well why." She scolds and I meet her gaze again.

"I just want to be pretty, I'm tired of getting judgmental looks everyday, Em. I'm just tired of not standing out, I'm always invisible to everyone, especially guys."

"Courtney, listen to me." She cups my cheek and makes me look at her. "You don't need any guy to be happy, if you're happy with yourself then no one else is important. And if you aren't happy with yourself, then do something that does, but never do anything to make anyone else happy. They aren't even worth all of your hard work, especially not stupid Julian."

I furrow my eyebrows at her and she offers me an encouraging smile.

"What happened to the Courtney who helped me get over Ricky? The one with the advice?" She asks me and I push my hair out of my face.