Sweet Charlotte

「 six: past touches 」

Maybe she was living in a different universe, or maybe she was just imagining things, but Willow could swear Mara and Sunni just waved at her. It was peaceful and pleasant, and happened as Willow glanced down the hall just as the two closed their lockers. It felt comforting. It felt friendly.

Just by looking at her, Willow could tell that Mara was having what she would call a 'lazy day' and what the rest of the human species would call a 'fashionable day.' Ripped black jeans, a maroon hoodie and sneakers was all Mara needed to look like a celebrity.

Anxiously self-aware of her 'pyjama fashion,' Willow cowered into herself a little more. Being seen with 'the populars' meant you were a part of judgment city, and that was the last thing Willow wanted. Sure, she didn't care what other people thought but what she did care about was how much of a living hell people would make her life if they deemed her to be popular and held her to a certain standard.

Not worth it.

Still, sucking up the worry, she smiled and waved back. Being on good terms with them was all she could hope for. After all, if she was hoping to get more info out of them, if there was anything left to get,

When Willow walked into math class a few moments later, Seth was already seated a few rows ahead of her usual spot. He sat in the middle with his football jocks surrounding him, heckling him about how he 'finally decided to show up.'

With a smirk, taking silent pride in how she was to thank for that, she took a seat in the back row, flipped open her books, and turned to her phone.

She could feel a presence somewhere in front of her stand and slide past her, making their way to Browning's desk. Willow could tell, even though she'd never glanced up from her phone, that it was Seth handing in his assignment. Truthfully, she was impressed he even showed up that day. She was half expecting him to toss the assignment in the garbage and ditch again. Even if it was a small victory, it was a victory, and she was pleased nonetheless that her tutoring had proven slightly effective.

"Really?" Willow could hear Browning pipe up from behind her, still organizing her notes before heading to the front of the class to start her lesson. "Seth, you're handing an assignment in?"

Willow didn't need to flinch to know that Browning was being sarcastic, and a part of her felt bad that she found it funny.

Seth rolled his eyes, but Willow was too busy pretending to be interested in her Twitter feed to see. Browning merely smirked. It made him look cool to not care, and her blasting that he was slowly starting to again was bad for his 'image.' he knew how teenagers worked. It didn't phase her.

Class passed by smoothly, as Willow had expected. She jotted down notes, finished the assignment early, and looked at painting inspiration on Pinterest until class was up. Then, without missing a beat, she swiped her bag from her desk and started for her locker.

Finally, she was back into the swing of high school, and she couldn't figure out if that was a good thing. Tossing her books into her locker and swiping her sandwich — PB&J since her Mom forgot to buy bananas — she left for the counsellors' office to eat and fill in Mrs. Evans on their tutoring, as per their agreement.

As she turned, starting for the staircase to the second floor, Willow's stare locked onto Seth's. He was surrounded by his football clan and despite the obnoxious amount of noise they were generating, he was silent in the midst of it. As they passed by, he looked away, said nothing, and melted back into his hoard.

Willow continued walking and didn't look back.

The sooner high school was over with, the better. She was getting more sick of the place by the day.