Tough Choices

Chapter 6

Willow's POV:
Last night when I asked Jason about him and Hannah he told me that he wants to break up with her but he's not sure how she's going to take it. I told him he has nothing to worry about because I'm the one she's going to come after. He told me he's not going to let that happen and he promised he was going to break up with her soon.
So today while I'm at my locker and he gives me a surprising kiss on my forehead it makes me think that he's going to tell her.
"Did I just see Jason kiss you!?" Lily says walking up behind me. "Shhh!" I say quickly throwing the rest of my stuff in my locker. "So he did!" "Come with me." I say dragging her off into the bathroom.
"Tell me everything!" She says getting super excited. "Promise me you won't tell anyone." "I won't." I stare at her for awhile before finally speaking. "Yes. Jason kissed me. Ever since he had that party and I got grounded we've been seeing each other." "I thought he was going out with Hannah...." "He is." "But you guys never talk during school." "I know. I go see him late at night." "You mean you sneak out!?" "Shhh!" I say putting my finger over my mouth. "Yes. Nathan covers for me." "Does he know you go see Jason?" "No. It's a secret between Jason and I and now you." "Why didn't you tell me?" "Because we're trying to work things out. I think he might be breaking up with Hannah today." "So what do you guys do?" "Nothing. We just talk and hang out. His dad works late most of the time and his mom is always asleep because she works all day." "What are you going to do?" "The only thing I can do is wait until he finally breaks up with Hannah which I hope is today." "Don't worry Willow. We both know Jason will figure something out." "Yeah....." I say walking back into the hallway. "Hopefully whatever it is it'll happen soon."
When I finally get home I throw myself on to my bed. Turns out Jason didn't do anything. After I saw him it was the last time anyone saw him for the rest of the day. I tried calling him in between each class. No answer. I tried texting him during class. No answer, plus my stupid History teacher caught me texting so he took my phone away. Now in order to get it back my parents have to go to the school and get it. I already know they're not going to be happy about that. I have to make sure I go see him tonight so I can at least make sure he's ok. "Willow!" I hear my mom yell from downstairs. "Yes mom!?" "Can you come help me!?" When I get downstairs I find her in the kitchen with a ton of bags. "Hey mom." "Hey, can you take everything out of the bags and put them away?" "Sure." "My mom and sister are coming over." "Grandma and Aunt Prim are coming over?" "Yes. They're coming over tomorrow. They want to spend the weekend with us. Your dad gave me a list of things to get so he can make dinner tomorrow night. He's going to have a fit if I forgot anything." "Where is he?" I ask taking the last items out of a bag and handing them to her. "He took Nathan to a soccer game." "Well I need to talk to you." "We'll talk later. We need to talk too but not without your dad." "But it isn't important. I can tell you right now and get it over with." "What?" She says turning around to face me. "Never mind." I say trying to walk away but she grabs my shoulder. "No. What's going on? Tell me." I fold my arms and look away from her just as we hear the front door close. "Talk to me when you're ready." She whispers before letting me go. "I was ready." I say quietly. "Hey." She says giving my dad a quick kiss. "Hey Willow." My dad says helping my mom. "Hey. How was the game?" "Good. Nathan loved it." "Where did he go?" "He's spending the night at a friend's house. He'll be back tomorrow." "So he won't be here to witness the talk." I whisper. "What?" "Nothing. I'm going to go clean my room." "Ok....here." He says handing me a box full of paints, pencils, and paper. "Set this in our room for me please." "What are you going to do with all of this stuff?" "I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see." I smile and make my way towards the stairs. I love all the work my dad makes. I remember when I was little I used to watch him paint. Sometimes he would even let me paint a little. After I set the box down I go into my room and lay across my bed. The next thing I know my mom is waking me up. "Come on downstairs," She says as I sit up. "dinner is ready." I wait a few minutes after she leaves before going down. I sit down at the table and listen to them talk as I poke at the food on my plate not feeling very hungry. "Willow," my mom says setting down her fork "what's wrong? You've been acting weird all afternoon." "Everything okay at school?" My dad ask. "That's actually what I wanna talk about." I say pushing my plate away. "Today my history teacher took my phone." "And why?" My mom says. "Because..... I was texting during class. So I need one of you to go get it back for me." "And what makes you think we will?" "Mom you have to be kidding." "No. I'm not. Who were you texting?" "Dad!" I say looking at him for help. He just shrugs and asks, "Who was it?" "I only did it because it was really important." "So who was it and why was it so important?" She asks which makes me mad and then I just lose it, not because I don't have my phone. Jason is the only thing I can think about at the moment. "Let's start from the begin." I say crossing my arms. "The day both of you grounded me I snuck out to go see Jason. Ever since that day I've been sneaking out to see him. Of course I see him at school all the time but that doesn't mean I talk to him or he talks to me. But after school he wants to see me. Talk to me. And I want to see him and talk to him too." "Willow what's the point-" My mom starts to say. "Listen!" I say slamming my hand down on the table."Then when we're at school he kisses me and disappears. Disappears! No one knows where he is! But I'm the last one who saw him. I was texting and calling him trying to figure out what happened to him. I would hate for him to be in trouble or hurt. He's important to me and I'm going to make sure he's okay." I stand up and walk out the front door ignoring their cry for me to come back. I make my way towards Jason's house hoping his parents have heard from him.
After knocking Jason's dad, Dylan, opens the door and lets me in. "Willow," He says kind of quietly. "please tell me you've heard from Jason." "I was actually going to ask you the same thing." "Where could he be?" "Dylan!" I hear Johanna yell from upstairs. "Is that him!?" "No!" "Where the hell is!?" She says coming downstairs. "He was supposed to-" She stops when she sees me. "Willow, I didn't know you were here." "I just came to see if Jason was ok. I'm worried about him." "Don't worry about him. I'm pretty sure he's fine." "Really?" "Yes. He's done this before." "This is normal?" "Yes. I'm just worried about where he is because there's something very important I need for him to do but I guess it'll have to wait until he gets back." "When will that be?" " I'm really not sure but I'm guessing soon." "Well as soon as you hear from him can you tell him to call me?" "Only if I haven't grounded him yet." Dylan says. "Dylan!" Johanna says slapping his arm. "I'll let him know." "Thanks." I say before waving goodbye.
When I get outside my parents are waiting for me. Surprisingly they don't say anything so we ride home in complete silence. I go straight up to my room trying my best to avoid any lecture or speech they might try to give me and apparently it works because the next thing I know I'm waking up the next morning. At first I decide I'm just going to lay around all day but then I remember Grandma and Aunt Prim are coming over so I drag myself out of bed and into the bathroom to take a shower. When I get downstairs my mom is the only one to be found. She's sitting at the table writing in a notebook. We're quiet for awhile and I'm hoping she's going to say something but eventually I do. "Mom, I'm sorry for running out yesterday but I didn't know what else to do. I was just worried about Jason. He was the only thing I could think about." She doesn't answer right away which makes me think she's ignoring me, but finally after a few minutes she places a kiss on my forehead and walks away. "Mom wait." I say following her but she continues walking. "Mom!" I yell which makes her stop and look at me. "Now that I have your attention.....please say something." She lets out a sigh before walking over to me. "Your dad and I don't agree on whether we should punish you or not." "Let me guess" I say crossing my arms. "this is about Jason." "Peeta just doesn't trust him. He doesn't like you hanging out with him." "But he's not a bad person!" "I know.....he just wants to protect you." "So I guess he's the one who wants to punish me." "Yes but I'm going to make sure he doesn't." "Why?" "Because you've already been grounded for about half a month and you went through all of this stuff with Jason so I think you've had enough." "Really?" "Yes but you have to promise me you won't tell your dad that we had this conversation." "I promise." "Good. Now Prim and my mom will be here later this afternoon. Your dad went to go pick up Nathan so they should be back any minute now." "Ok. Will he at least talk to me?" "Of course he will.....maybe. I don't know." I sigh and walk upstairs to my room. A few minutes later there's a knock on my door. "Who is it!?" I yell. "It's Nathan!" "Come in!" "What's up with Dad?" He says taking a seat at the end of my bed. "He's still mad?" "I guess but why?" "He's mad at me or mom or maybe both of us...I don't know." "What are you talking about?" "I told them I was sneaking out to see Jason and I got mad and left." "Ok but why mom and why isn't he talking to me?" "I don't know. They don't agree on punishing me and he's just mad." "Well I hope he gets over it before Grandma and Aunt Prim come over." "Yeah well one can only dream." "Oh yeah...here." He says handing me my phone. "Where did you get this!?" "Mom gave it to me and told me to give it to you." "Thanks." "You're welcome." He says before leaving the room. I quickly call Jason but of course I don't get an answer so I decide to just give up. I lay down across my bed and stare up at the ceiling. I just don't understand. Nothing is making sense right now. I wish I could go back to when everything started to go wrong and fix it....but sadly that's not possible and knowing that my dad is mad at me and that he's not even talking to me isn't helping at all. I only have one person left to turn to and that's my Aunt Prim. I love her more than anything and I know that she'll know what to do.
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Song-Colors by Halsey