Photographs
Willow stood in her bedroom at Isis House, admiring the pictures of her and her Anubis friends hanging on her bunk bed posts. She carefully wrapped her gold and maroon tie around her neck, still looking at the pictures with intensity. Anyone who saw her could tell she was very happy with her choice of friends. They wouldn't think for a moment she didn't deserve them. Unfortunately, Willow's ex-best friend, Shannon Bailey, thought otherwise. Shannon wore a mean grin upon her face as she sauntered into the room Willow shared with Ashley Stevens, who was kind to her. Her blonde hair flapped behind her, looking like a messy curtain that couldn't be fixed. She would not be nice to the redhead, and she had set her mind to it.
"Morning, Willow Jenks." Shannon almost sneered.
"Hi Shannon!" Willow exclaimed brightly. She was happy, and nothing could get her down. So she thought.
"Why are you looking at those pictures? You may as well not even have them up there." the blonde asked in a sickly sweet voice.
"I like them. See, this one is from when Joy and I did facials at Anubis," the happy girl started, pointing to a picture of her and Joy wearing green goo on their faces and grinning like mad, "this one is from when Mara and I went into town and bought too much at Topshop, this one is from when Nina and I -"
"You didn't catch the last bit of what I just said," Shannon pointed out, "when I said 'you may as well not even have those up there."
"No, I caught it, I just don't see why you should tell me to take them down." Willow smiled, happily brushing her long hair.
"Well, don't you want to know?"
"I guess ..."
"You shouldn't have those pictures up there because your 'friends' from Anubis don't even like you. You're annoying, too happy, dumb, and a follower. To be honest, I don't know why they say they're friends with you, or why I was friends with you." Shannon said maliciously.
Willow blinked. She had not been expecting something that rude from Shannon, even if they did fight and break their friendship the year before.
Instead of shooting back a nasty reply that she didn't have (Willow was not one to be rude), Willow skipped out of the room, leaving Shannon to drown in her own hatred and jealousy. She ignored the salty tears that pricked her eyes as she made her way to school.
"There's no reason to cry over stupid Shannon," she thought, "all she ever wanted was to see me cry."
LINE BREAK
The first period bell rang with an echo throughout the school, and Willow shuffled out of her Geometry class. She had Geometry with Shannon, and the tall girl had told her again that the Anubis girls didn't like her. Willow hadn't fully believed it, but she started remembering how much Joy and Amber disliked her when she first started hanging out at Anubis, and how much Mara got annoyed with her during the Jerome incident.
"Stop thinking like this, Willow, they like you, they really do!" the girl forced herself to think.
"Hey Wills!" Alfie called, high-fiving her as they walked down the hallway.
"Hey Alfie! See you in Science!" she shouted back, pointing at her friend. She and Alfie had broken up in February, when they realized they were more suited as mates than dates.
"You got it, Wills!" another yell from Alfie as he headed to English.
The girl smiled to herself, absolutely loving her friends and how they loved her.
French class was rather uneventful. The lesson included learning how to comprehend complex conversations better, which Willow really liked. She wanted to become fluent in another language. They spoke French the entire lesson, and she lost herself in the words for a while, eager to forget about Shannon and her mouthy ideas.
The bell rang, and Willow (rather unhappy to leave her favorite class), walked out of the room, only to run into none other than Shannon Bailey.
"Oh, excusé moi, je regrette." the redhead apologized.
"Speak English, Jenks." Shannon growled.
"Sorry, Shannon. I just had French and my head is still wrapped around - " Willow began uneasily.
"No need, I don't care, loser." the blonde snapped, waving her hand as if to dismiss a 'lower' (but actually much higher) class, before stalking off.
" - the language." the bright girl finished quietly. No one had heard, and frankly, Willow didn't care.
LINE BREAK
Science was much better than Willow had expected it to be. Alfie, Amber, and her sat together, quietly whispering about random things as Mr. Sweet droned on about things no one really cared much about, except for Nina, Fabian, and Mara. They were seated on the opposite pentagon table along with Patricia and Eddie.
Lunch was next, another time of the day Willow enjoyed. She talked with the Anubis students, mainly Joy, about places they'd like to visit, and movies they wanted to see ("I need to go to Italy someday, the fashion is incredible there!" "I want to go back to New York, or Boston." "Oh, speaking of Boston, did you see Ted? It's hilarious!" "I heard, we need to watch it tonight!"). Shannon only shot her two dirty looks, which she ignored. Her friends kept her company just fine, she didn't need stupid Shannon Bailey's approval.
Willow's two classes before English, study hall and Physical Education, were fine. She read an amazing book called "Paper Towns" by John Green during Study Hall, which Shannon was thankfully not in, and played dodgeball with Fabian and Nina during Gym, another class Shannon wasn't in.
Then came English. Willow sat with Joy and Mara as usual, focusing on the essay they had been assigned while Fabian, Nina, and Amber talked rather loudly about it in the corner of the room. Mara was fully immersed in her writing on Joy's right side, not paying attention to anything else, and Joy was listening to music and sort of swinging her head to the beat right next to her. That's when she got the text from Shannon.
Willow was typing furiously when it happened, arguing why there should be a ban on animal testing. Her English teacher was very excited about Willow's essay, knowing how hard she'd been working on it. As she typed about it being absolutely horrible, her phone buzzed quietly in her pocket. Willow took it out discreetly, sliding the lock and reading the text.
'Why are you so happy-go-lucky? The world's full of sadness, you know, yet you go around acting like you're on top of the world. Such a small brain you have, Willow Jenks. I think you could use a good dose of cold, hard reality. So here it is. You're no good, Willow. You're not pretty, so don't go bouncing that greasy red hair of yours all over the place. You may as well stop wearing makeup and pretty clothes all together too, they don't make you any prettier. You're annoying, ungrateful, and frankly, you don't deserve good friends. I can't believe I was friends with you, and I can't believe anyone else is friends with you either. I hate you, Willow Jenks. It's as simple as that. You don't deserve a boyfriend, it's no wonder both Jerome and Alfie broke up with you. Kisses. - S
Shannon had written the text without using 'text language', meaning she was serious. Willow broke down crying after the immediate shock of the message passed. She shoved her phone in her pocked, slammed her laptop's lid shut, and ran out of the room, hot tears streaming down her face.
The redhead sprinted into the girl's bathroom, entering a stall and shutting the door quickly. She slid down the wall in defeat, knowing her own walls had been knocked down by someone who didn't deserve to knock them.
"Such a small brain you have, Willow Jenks." She remembered the text.
"You're not pretty."
"You're annoying, ungrateful, and frankly, you don't deserve good friends."
"Stop, Willow, she's not worth this." Willow whispered to herself, choking on her tears a bit.
Evidently, Joy didn't think she was either.
LINE BREAK
As soon as Willow started crying, Joy's head snapped up. She tore off her headphones, and began to run out of the classroom.
"Joy, is Willow alright?" the English teacher asked, seeming concerned.
"Yeah, yeah, she's fine. I'm going to go check on her ..." Joy answered breathlessly, sprinting down the hall as soon as she finished talking. She pushed open the bathroom door with force, expecting Willow to be in there. She was.
"Willow?" Joy whispered, in case the person who had made her upset was in the bathroom as well.
She heard a muffled sob coming from the first stall, and tried to open the door.
"Willow, can you please open the door? It's Joy." the small brunette asked louder when she was sure no one else was in the bathroom.
The lock slid open, and Joy pulled the door open to reveal her best friend crumpled on the floor, mascara running and red face stained with tear streaks.
"Oh, Willow!" she squealed, bending down to sit next to her friend. Joy engulfed the redhead in a tight hug, seeming like she was trying to squeeze every last drop of sadness out of her. In a sense, she was.
"What happened? Who made you cry?" she asked, sincerely wanting to know.
"Shannon. She texted me something horrible - actually, she's been telling me horrible things all day." Willow admitted, drying a few tears.
"Like what?" Joy wondered again. Her friend pulled out the phone and handed it to her. Joy read the text and gasped, tears pooling in her eyes as well.
"That scum-bag, crap-eating, no-good bitch!" she practically screamed. Willow suppressed a laugh.
"I can't believe she did that! Willow, please don't believe her. I love you, Mara loves you, Amber loves you, we all love you, and you're awesome, and she's not!" Joy exclaimed, pulling her friend into another hug.
"Thanks Joybells." Willow smiled.
"Anytime, Wills."
LINE BREAK
When the day ended, Joy, Willow, and Mara walked back to Anubis House, arm in arm, talking about hedgehogs and Cyril, Willow's pet hedgehog.
"Ah, I just want to go see him!" Willow cried, running ahead of the group. Joy and Mara laughed.
As the two neared Isis House, Joy dismissed herself from Mara, saying "there's something I have to do." Mara nodded, and happily followed Mick back to Anubis House.
Once inside Isis, Joy poked her head in the common room.
"Hey, we've got an Anubis student in here!" Ben called out.
"Yeah, hi Ben. Do you know where Shannon is?" the brunette girl asked, smirking at the weird boy.
"Upstairs, third door to your left." Ben answered, not thinking anything of it.
"Thanks." Joy nodded, heading upstairs.
LINE BREAK
She found the room quickly. It had a wooden door stained cherry, just a bit darker than the doors in Anubis. A whiteboard with a pink edge was hanging on the door, the names 'Shannon' and 'Adelaide' in light blue marker. Joy rapped on the door three times before entering.
"Hi, Shannon." she smiled.
"Hey Joy, what's up?" Shannon asked sweetly, using the same sickly sweet voice she had with Willow earlier that day.
"I came to talk to you," Shannon nodded, "about Willow." The blonde girl rolled her eyes, light blue eyeshadow becoming brighter in the sun. Shannon was sitting by one of the two windows, on a purple beanbag by the hot pink curtains. Her brown bunk bed, with a desk and dresser underneath it, was decorated in floral stickers and a hot pink and white striped comforter. A giant pillow that matched the bedding was propped against the blue wall, which held posters of One Direction and Justin Bieber, both artists Joy didn't particularly like. But that didn't matter. Willow did.
"What do you want to know about Willow?" Shannon asked, still using her "sweet" voice.
"It's not exactly that I want to know anything about Willow, but more about you." Joy responded quickly, holding her place.
"Okay, then what to you want to know about me?"
"Why you sent Willow that text."
"I sent her the text because she's always been a jerk to me!" Shannon had dropped her sweet act and was now lying profusely.
"Willow is not a jerk, she's never been mean to anybody!" Joy shot back.
"Well, she doesn't like me!"
"I think it's the other way around."
"But she's not my friend anymore!"
"Doesn't mean you can hate on her!"
"Yes it does!"
"No, it doesn't. At all. Do you know how much you've hurt her? She ran into the bathroom sobbing! I ran after her, and she was on the freaking floor. And the worst part? She believed you!"
"She should! What I said is true!"
"No, it's not! You're lying, you don't even believe these things yourself! Willow is not rude, or ugly, or worthless. She's incredibly nice to everyone, whether they're nice to her or not, she's gorgeous and everyone agrees, and she is sure as hell not worthless. She's worth everything, and you clearly don't see that." Joy spat, white hot tears forming in her eyes. She was shaking with rage.
"No, I don't. I'm glad I'm not friends with her anymore." the blonde girl decided.
"Well I'm very glad I'm friends with her. You're lying." the brunette yelled.
"Fine, I won't tell her things again." Shannon agreed to an idea Joy hadn't directly proposed.
"Damn sure you won't!" And she walked out, slamming the door behind her.
Willow was standing right outside of the door, listening to every word.
"Thank you!" she cried as Joy walked out, hugging her best friend.
"Don't mention it, Wills. You're my best friend, I can't let a jerk like Shannon get away with lying about you."
Okayyyy, really bad ending there, but that's that. Overall, I loved writing this, and it's the first chapter of my drabble collection. Except, this drabble is sorta long for a drabble. The next chapter will be up shortly, and it involves the happening of a little something Fabian mentioned while he was a sinner. I'm not quite sure about the couple though, Mabian or Fabina? Your thoughts? Thanks for reading, and look out for the next chapter! xx - Sydney