Chapter 18:

Jason and Courtney were sitting in the Harvard courtyard, talking and laughing,  as the school year drew to a close.  Courtney had come to Harvard for the weekend to help Jason get ready to come in a few days.  They were cherishing their time together, and Jason wanted to ask her the question that had always been on his mind.  He took her hand and led her to a more private spot in the courtyard.  Taking both of her hands in his, he got down on one knee and began to speak.

“Courtney, I love you more than anything,” he began.  “This time apart has made me realize just how much I need you in my life.  I don’t want to spend another moment away from you.  Will you marry me?”

Ring. Ring. Ring.

The phone woke Jason from his slumber, preventing him from finishing his dream.  He wanted to finish it, but at least he knew what happened since he had had the dream every night this week.  Courtney said yes, and suddenly the dream jumped to their wedding.  He swore it was the most beautiful wedding he had ever seen.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

The phone wouldn’t stop ringing.  Jason wished it would so that he could go back to sleep and finish his dream. 

“Shut up,” he yelled at the phone as he buried his head under the pillow hoping to drown out the sound. 

Ring. Ring. Ri

The phone didn’t get to finish the last ring as the answering machine picked up and the familiar message came over the speaker filling the dorm.

“You’ve reached Jason Morgan.  Either I’m not in or I just don’t want to talk to you so leave one.  If this is Courtney, I love you baby, and I’m sorry I missed your call . I promise, I’ll call you back as soon as I get in.  I love you always…BEEEEEEEEEEP”

“Jason, it’s Sonny.  Call me back as soon as you get this.  I need to talk to you about Courtney; it’s important.  I’m supposed to go to my parents but—” As soon as Jason heard Courtney’s name, he jumped out of bed and raced towards the phone, cutting Sonny off.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Courtney went to a party last ni—”  Sonny began only to be cut off by Jason once again.

“I know,” Jason replied.  “I spoke to her yesterday so skip telling me about the party.  What happened to Courtney?”  His concern was evident in his voice and his worry over Courtney grew with each passing second.  It seemed that the more he spoke to Sonny the more his heart knew that something was wrong.

“Apparently the party got out of control and ending up disturbing the neighbors, who called the police.  It turns out a lot of the guests were getting high and drunk at the party—” 

Jason cut Sonny off yet again in order to yell, “I know Courtney.  She wouldn’t touch that stuff.  It’s not who she is.”  Jason was getting angry.  He couldn’t believe he had to defend Courtney to her own brother.  How could anyone accuse her of that?  He promised himself that he would take her side no matter what anyone else said she had done.

“I know that Jason,” Sonny replied.  “But my parents don’t care whether or not she used the stuff, in fact I don’t even know if they believe her when she says she didn’t touch it, but it doesn’t matter.  All they care about is that she was at a party like that and got arrested.  You know my mom; she’s terrified of what people are going to think of her.  She’s been grounded for a month and is basically not allowed to have contact with anyone outside of school including you.”

Jason felt his heart break.  How was he supposed to spend a month without hearing her voice?  They had been planning for her to come and visit him next weekend, and he had been looking forward to it more than anything in his life.  Now that couldn’t happen. 

“Sonny,” Jason asked, his voice was a little shaky as he spoke.  “Can you give Courtney a message for me?”

“Of course,” Sonny responded.  “Anything you need her to know.”

“Tell her that I love her and miss.  Let her know that I believe her and that I’m on her side.  Don’t let your parents hear this, but tell her that I’ll do everything I can to find a way to keep in touch because I need her.  Can you give her a hug and a kiss for me?”  Jason requested.

“Of course,” Sonny said.  “Look I have to go to parents’.  I’ll let her know everything you said first thing.  Bye.”

Chapter 19:

Breakfast was over and Sonny had left.  Courtney was beaming for several reasons.  One was Jason’s message.  She loved knowing that he was on her side no matter what.  The other was a plan she had formulated in her head that she hoped would allow her to speak to Jason.  Now all she had to do was convince her parents it was valid.  Luckily, she still had her cell phone, which she assumed her parents had forgotten about, and could use that to secretly call Jason if necessary.

***

“Thanks Em,” Jason said over the phone.  He had just asked her if he could send her letters for Courtney and she agreed.

“It’s no problem,” Emily replied.  “Besides it benefits me too.  I’m not going to have to deal with my best friend being grumpy for the next month because she can’t talk to her boyfriend.” 

After they said their goodbyes, Jason took out a piece of paper and began to write.

Courtney,

Jason decided he didn’t like it; it seemed to impersonal and that was definitely not how he wanted to write a letter to the love of his life.  He ripped it up and began again.

Dear Courtney,

It still seemed impersonal.  Too many people start letters with Dear.  He ripped it up in order to start again.

Dearest Courtney,

It didn’t sound like him, but it was the least impersonal thing he had come up with so far.  With a little tweaking, he was sure he would be able to get out exactly how he feels about her.  He sat there staring at the paper for a while trying to figure out what to say, and when he finally did, he wrote the following:

My Dearest Courtney,

How are you?  I hope you’re doing okay and that you’re parents aren’t being too hard on you.  Personally, I miss you more and more each day.  I promise I will be home as soon as your parents let me see your beautiful face.  I’m sure Sonny told you but I want you to make sure you know that I believe you one hundred percent. I wish could just take away everything that came out of that party for you.   Knowing you, you want to know how college is.  You’ve heard this a million times but I’m going to say it again, college is okay, I just wish I were with you.  Courtney, you’re all I think about day and night.  According to Kyle, I can find a way to relate any subject to you.  Know this, I’ll be counting the moments until I can see your beautiful face and hear your sweet voice again.  I love you more than anything.  That won’t change.  Don’t ever forget that.

Love always,

Jason

***

An hour later, Jason returned from mailing the letter and went to lie down on his bed.  A few minutes later, the phone rang.  Jason didn’t really care though; he was still upset about Courtney being grounded. 

The familiar message came on and a familiar angelic voice said, “Someone needs her SAT tutor, and you can call me back.  My parents won’t mind.”

~~~Flashback~~~

“I’m never going to get into college,” Courtney said angrily after looking at her SAT scores. 

“Come on Court,” Jason said as he tried to reassure her before she ended up crying.  “You know that won’t be a problem.  Any school that doesn’t accept you, doesn’t deserve you.”

“Not with these scores I won’t.  They’re awful.  I could have sworn I did much better,” she replied.

“No they’re not.  Courtney you’re scores are excellent,” he said dumfounded; it was a mystery to him why she thought a score in the 1300s was awful.

“Will you tutor me?” Courtney asked.

“Of course not,” Jason said.  “You don’t need it.”  Courtney was totally shocked.  She was sure he would have said.  Wasn’t her boyfriend supposed to want to help her?

“If you don’t, I won’t get into college and it’ll be all your fault,” she yelled.  “Everyone will think I’m stupid and then you’ll dump be because I’m too big of an embarrassment.”

“That’s not true.  Your schools are excellent.  You’ll definitely get into college with them,” Jason countered.  “Courtney, you don’t need my help.”

“What’s the point in having a boyfriend who got a 1520, if he won’t help you do well?” she asked bitterly.  Suddenly, the reason Courtney was so upset about her score dawned on Jason; she was comparing herself to him.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Courtney.  You’re so amazing.  You’re beautiful, kind, loving, passionate, and smart,” Jason emphasized the ‘and smart.’ “You don’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  I love you and that will never change.”  He was willing to do whatever it took to convince her of that.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” Courtney said seductively as she moved towards him and began to place sensual kisses on his lips.  After a few moments Jason pulled away and spoke.

“I can get this anytime I want,” he said.

“No you can’t,” Courtney replied.

“What?” a confused Jason asked.

“You can tutor me or you’ll never get this again,” she said as she kissed him again, placing her hands beneath his shirt and running them up and down his chest.

“You can’t be serious,” Jason said.  He was in shock from what Courtney had just said.

“If that’s how you feel,” Courtney reached to the back of her neck and took off the necklace Jason had given her for her seventeenth birthday.  “You can have this back.”  She couldn’t believe she was resorting to blackmailing her own boyfriend, but she had to prove that she was worthy of his love.

“Fine,” Jason said in defeat.  “I’ll do it.”

~~~End Flashback~~~

“Hello,” Jason said as he raced towards the phone.

“Hey,” Courtney replied.  “I managed to convince my parents to let me call you to work on SAT stuff.  The only catch is we actually have to work.”  Jason smiled.  He would get to talk to Courtney.  At that moment he was extremely glad Courtney had managed to convince him to tutor her.

“Okay,” he said.  “But how are you doing?”

“I guess I’m okay,” Courtney said.  “God Jason, it was awful.  My mom she said all these horrible things to me for the entire police station to hear about how I’m irresponsible and how much of a mistake I was.”  Courtney began to cry.

“That’s not true baby,” Jason tried to comfort her but in truth he was boiling inside as anger towards Janine consumed him.  “Don’t ever believe that.  You are one of the most responsible people I know, and you certainly are not a mistake.  Where would I be without you?”  Jason spent the next ten minutes comforting Courtney, and then the couple went to work.

Chapter 20:

Courtney walked into school on Monday only to be bombarded by rumors about what had happened at Alcazar’s party.  Everyone wanted to know what actually happened at the party and if it was true that all the guests were arrested.  What appalled her the most were the rumors that she and her friends had been too wasted to think straight and that’s why she was grounded.  It was a total lie and that’s what bugged her the most.  Courtney had hoped that as the week went on, the rumors would subside, but instead they got more and more outlandish.  It was only Tuesday and Courtney was already being told that she had done things at the party that she would never even dream of.  The situation was totally out of hand.

At lunchtime Courtney walked into the cafeteria and spotted her friends.  She quickly raced over there and threw her bags down on the bench.

“Courtney, there’s something I’m supposed to give you,” Emily said with a smile on her face.

“It’ll have to wait.  I’m starving,” Courtney said as she turned and ran off towards the lunch line.

“But it’s from Jason,” Emily called after her.  It was too late though; Courtney was out of hearing range.

Courtney stood in line waiting for her food.  She couldn’t help but wonder what it was Emily was supposed to give her.  Also, she felt a pair of eyes on her and it creeped her out.  As Courtney looked up, she noticed Jax avert his gaze from her breasts.  “Caught in the act,” she muttered to herself.  If only she could call Jason and let him no what happened.  He wouldn’t be too happy with it, and Jax would definitely get what he had coming.  It would probably bring Jason home for another weekend.  Besides she couldn’t help but like the idea of Jason being her protector.

Courtney was ripped from her thoughts about Jason by the lunch lady asking, “What would you like for lunch dearie?”  It was the overly friendly lunch lady, who tended to get on Courtney’s nerves.  Once Courtney was got her food, she headed back towards her friends.  The wondering over what Emily was supposed to give her returned, as Courtney approached their table. 

“This is from Jason,” Emily held out the envelope before Courtney even had the chance to put her tray down.

“Awww.  How sweet.  He wrote you a letter,” Lois and Penny said in unison as Courtney reached for the envelope.

“Well then,” Courtney said.  “I guess he did find a better way to communicate than I did.”

“You found a way to communicate with him?” a confused Lois asked.

“Yeah,” Courtney replied.  “Remember how he was tutoring me for the SATs?  Well, I convinced my parents that I still needed help.  They agreed to let me call him so that he could tutor me.  Only we can’t talk like we normally do.  My parents set some ground rules.  I have to call him downstairs.  They have to be home, and they need to be within earshot to make sure we’re on task.  He’ll say personal things, but I can’t say what I really want to say because my parents are listening.”

“I’m so sorry I got you into this,” Penny said for the fiftieth time since the party.  “I mean now you can’t even really talk to Jason and its all my fault.”

“It’s okay Penny. Really, its okay,” Courtney reassured her friend.  “Besides I still get to hear his voice so it’s not all that bad.”

“You sure?” Penny asked.

“Yes,” Courtney said.  “I’m going to read this in private.  Now can we eat?”

***

When Courtney got home the first thing she did was open Jason’s letter.  As she read, tears came to her eyes.  No one had ever written her a love letter before.  Of course she and Jason had never had a need before now.  She knew she had to write him back, but she wanted to write him something as beautiful as what he had written her and she wasn’t quite sure how to do that. 

***

“Hey Jase,” Courtney said through the phone.  It was time for her nightly tutoring.

“Hey did you get my letter?” he asked.  He calculated how long the mail should take, and he was able to figure out that she would have gotten it by now.

“Yeah.  Thank you,” she replied.  “It was beautiful.  I love you.  Now as for analogies.”  She quickly changed the subject when she noticed Janine glaring at her.

Chapter 21:

It was Thursday and Jason was eating lunch with Kyle, who he had just had a class with, when Sam and Amy came up.  Everyone was talking.  However Jason was too busy thinking about Courtney and how much he missed her to pay attention to the conversation.

“Earth to Jason,” Sam said as she tried to get his attention.  “Jason you there?”

“Wha-What?” Jason asked as he finally came out of his reverie.

“We were talking about meeting tonight night to go over the biology stuff since your girlfriend is coming this weekend,” Sam said.  There was a highly noticeable hint of disgust in her voice when she mentioned Courtney that made Jason glare at her.

“She has a name,” Jason said angrily.

“Fine, Courtney’s coming this weekend,” Sam said sarcastically.

“Thank you,” Jason said pointedly.  “And she can’t make it.”

“Why not?” a surprised Kyle asked.  Everyone had known how much Jason was looking forward to Courtney’s visit.

“She’s grounded,” Jason said simply.

“What?” it was Amy’s turn to be shocked.  From what she had heard about Courtney, which was a lot, Courtney wasn’t the type of person who got grounded.

“Yeah,” Jason said sadly.  “She and her friends were at a party, and the cops came because it was out of hand.  It turned out a bunch of the guests were using drugs, and they all got arrested.  Courtney’s parents can be strict and weren’t exactly happy with the situation.”

“So you’re perfect little girlfriend’s really a drug addict,” Sam said with a laugh.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response,” Jason said as his anger returned.  He glared at Sam as he got up and left the cafeteria, silently cursing Sam for saying that and himself for giving her the opportunity to.

Sam raced after Jason and followed him all the way back to his dorm so she could ask him something.  She ran into him as he was getting his mail from the dorm lobby.

“Jason wait,” she called after him as she ran up to him.  She stopped him by putting her hand on his arm, feeling his hard muscles, which only served to turn her on.  “Look, since Courtney’s not coming this weekend I was wondering if you wanted to hang out,” she continued.  Sam couldn’t help but hope he would say yes; it would be like a first date only he wouldn’t know it, and she would have begun to get him away from Courtney and for herself.

“No,” Jason said not caring that Sam’s face had fallen.  “There’s no way I’m spending time with you.”  He didn’t care about being nice since he was still fuming about what she had said about Courtney earlier.

“Come on, Jase,” Sam said, which only infuriated him more.  Courtney was the only one allowed to call him Jase.  “It’ll be fun, and I’m sure I could get your mind off of her even if its only for a little while.”

“Look Sam,” Jason screamed, not caring that he was attracting an audience.  “Leave me alone.  Stop following me.  Stop clinging to me.  Just stop it all.” 

He then stormed off and up to his room.  When Jason finally reached his room, he noticed a letter from Courtney, which he couldn’t wait to read.  Eagerly, he tore the envelope open, took out the letter, and read.

Jason,

I want to thank you for your letter.  It was beautiful.  How did I get lucky enough to have you in my life?  I’ve always known that you are the sweetest, most amazing man in the world, but your letter did more than confirm it.  You wanted to know how I am.  Well, I’m getting used to being grounded, but it’s extremely boring.  The only good thing I can say about it is that it gives me more time to think about you.  I wish I could still come and see you this weekend.  Being able to hear your voice is wonderful but not nearly enough.  Besides, there’s so much I want to tell you but I can’t do it when my parents are listening to make sure we’re on task.  I promise you, I’ll tell you as soon as we get some privacy.  You promised me that you’d come home as soon as I’m done serving my sentence; I’m going to hold you to it Jase.  If you don’t then I’ll be down there as soon as possible, to let you know just how disappointed I am in you.  I wanna see you so badly Jase.  I miss you Jase, and no matter how much you say you love me, I love you more.

Forever

Courtney

Jason smiled as he read her letter; he would keep it forever.  It touched his heart just as his touched her. 

Chapter 22:

Courtney lay on her bed staring at the ceiling trying to keep her mind off of where she should be at the moment.  Only it wasn’t working.  All she could think about was that she should be in Jason’s arms.  What else she could be doing at the moment didn’t really matter as long as Jason’s arms were around her, she would have had all she needed and wanted.  The more she thought about it the more she wanted to cry which was why she had a plan.  She was going to sneak out, get on the next train to Boston, and be in Jason’s arms by morning.  Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Courtney was ripped from her thoughts.

“Go away,” she screamed before throwing one of her many pillows at the door hoping that her mother or father would get the message.  What were they doing home anyways?  They were supposed to be out with friends since it was Friday night and they always went out on Fridays.  She wished they would leave again so that she could put her plant into action.

“Is that any way to talk to your future sister-in-law?” Cary asked as she opened the door.

“Sorry,” Courtney said as Carly entered the room and walked towards the bed to take a seat.  “I thought you were my parents.  What are you doing here anyways?”

“If you don’t want me here, I’ll leave,” Carly replied.  She got up and headed towards the door.

“No. Stay, I could use the company,” Courtney said before Carly had the chance to leave the room.

“That’s what I thought,” Carly said as she took a seat again.  “And to answer your question, Sonny needed some stuff from home so I decided to tag along figuring you could use the company.  Besides, I wanted to see how you were doing with being grounded and all.”

“I’m okay, I guess,” Courtney said sadly.

“What exactly does that mean?” Carly asked.

“It means I’m fine,” Courtney said even though the tone in her voice said otherwise.

“It doesn’t sound like your fine,” Carly said.

“Look everything’s been okay.  I mean I see my friends in school.  I get to talk to Jason every night on the phone so he can help me study for the SATs, but then I think about the fact that the SATs are next weekend.  I’m grounded for two weeks after that Carly, and I’m not going to be able to talk to him.  I don’t think I can be cut off from him for so long.  Every time I try to imagine not being able to hear his voice for two weeks it kills me,” Courtney explained as the tears she had been holding back began to fall. 

“It got worse when I left school today though,” Courtney continued.  “I was supposed to go straight from school to the train station because my train left at 3:45.  Jason would have picked me up when I got there, and we were gonna have a late dinner.  He said he found this cute little French restaurant that he thought I would like.  Can you believe it he went out looking for restaurants that he thought I would like?  He had this whole weekend planned; he had figured out exactly what we were going to do if we ever got around to it.  He told me he had been looking forward to it ever since he came home and now it can’t happen.  I was looking forward to seeing him too.  I couldn’t wait to visit him and just be with him.  God Carly, I miss him so much and my chance to see him got ripped away from me.  It’s not fair.” 

Courtney was bawling now, and Carly did her best to comfort Courtney but it wasn’t working. 

 “Carly, I’m done here.  We should get going,” Sonny’s voice bellowed through the house.

“Look Court I gotta go,” Carly began.  “I know its not the same, but on some level I know what your going through,” Carly said.  “Every summer when I have to go home to Florida and leave Sonny up here it kills me.  Why do you think you guys have such a huge long distance phone bill in the summer?  What do you think I come up two weeks before school starts?  It’s because I can’t stand being away from Sonny.  I promise Sonny and I will come over whenever we can, and I’ll spend time with you.  Try to get you through this.  Give you someone to talk to even if it’s only to vent.”

“Thanks,” Courtney said.  “You’re a great friend Carly.”

“You too honey,” Carly said before she got up and left Courtney alone once again.