Hate or Fear
Original story idea by Wilhelmina Vandom
I personally love both very angsty and very waffy stories and am sad that some of my favorite stories haven't been updated for some time. I created an account just so I can continue some of my favorite ones or add my own twists to them as a couple doesn't look as abandoned as I thought. Anyways I won't write any of them without getting permission first and so far I got that from two of my favorite authors so far.
Saying that Wilhelmina Vandom asked me to give a small message to her readers. She says that she misses writing and loves all her fans and is sorry for disappearing like she did. She had some personal things to deal with that forced her to stop writing but she is doing good now going to college and getting ready to get married.
With that being said I hope you enjoy this story though the first chapter will have large parts being straight from the original with some new material by me. Next chapter will be partly the same but I will have a lot more of my own stuff in it.
I do have a question for everyone. Just how the hell do you make a line break? The little line that goes across the page?
Despite all the grief from idiots like Uriah and the complete utter boredom of classes nothing could ruin the girl's mood. Will was stuffing everything in her locker as she had spent every minute of free time she had that day working as hard as she could to get all her homework done just so she could concentrate on tonight. She had nothing left to take home and work on thankfully as despite all odds she finished everything including her worst subjects. Nothing could kill Will's mood as she finally closed the locker sealing her books and homework within. Tonight was going to be perfect and she refused to let anything bring down her mood including a certain blonde who was having a tantrum over the abduction of Elyon Brown.
It was hard not to let Cornelia's anger over the matter affect Will though when the red haired girl often agreed with the blonde's harsh words. Of course her mind didn't agree with Cornelia as it sided with Yan Lin saying it wasn't her fault. Will really did do her best and did what she was sure was right but in the end it backfired. Elyon believed the lies told to her by Cedric and freely left with the snake making it less of an actual abduction but she was gone all the same.
Thankfully Yan Lin's granddaughter Hay Lin was there to cheer Will up and kept the red head from falling too far into the abyss. With all of Will's problems at home combined with the whole guardian thing the situation with Elyon was threatening to crush her under all of the stress. Her heart was filled of pain and anguish and it was convinced of her being at fault. It knew and understood where the blonde guardian was coming from though and did her best to not let Cornelia's rants bother her as much as they first did.
She wasn't Supergirl though and her heart wasn't invulnerable, especially when Cornelia had said, 'No wonder your own mother prefers spending time with your teacher than you!' Will could see the apologetic look that flashed in the blonde girl's eyes as soon as she said it but she did. It hurt, it hurt a lot as it was something that the red head had been thinking for some time. Will did her best to ignore it though as she looked forward to tonight as it would prove that her mother truly did love her.
For two months she had saved and planned for this one night and all of her hard work would pay off in just a few short hours. She worked very hard taking all the extra hours she could around school work and balancing her home life with her guardian duties. She paid a months salary at the Olsen Pet Shop just to pay for the mother and daughter deluxe package for the fundraiser tonight. The other month went into buying herself a beautiful black evening gown and heels that matched so she would look nice.
Tonight was something Will wanted to do for her mother as much as for herself. The younger Vandom wanted to share some quality time with her mother and try to make up for some of the fighting that had been going on between them. She also wanted to make this night a good one for her mother by telling the older woman that she had Will's blessing to see Dean. Of course Will wasn't happy that her mother was dating her history teacher but the red head wanted her to be happy.
Will knew that this wouldn't make up for everything and she was no fool, she knew there would be more fights in the future. She knew that she would have to skip school or sneak out to take care of guardian business. If she could just tell her mother she knew everything would be fine but she couldn't as it would effect all of the girls as well. Yan Lin warned all the girls about telling their families and they agreed not to.
Seeing a girl with long blonde hair heading her way while glaring hatefully made Will sigh but thankfully Cornelia was flanked by the other three guardians as well. Maybe the group could actually have a nice civil discussion for once. Will knew there wasn't much chance of that but she kept reminding herself about tonight and how nice it would be to have real quality time with her mother.
"Guess what Cornelia has!" Hay Lin cried happily as the other four guardians joined Will just as she started to walk away from her locker while the blonde was trying to silence her. "She has five front row and back stage passes to tonight's VMJ concert!"
"It's going to be so cool, Will!" Taranee squealed with excitement though no where near as hyper as the Asian girl was. Then again Taranee hardly ever squealed like that so to see that meant that she was extremely excited and happy which made Will smile a bit.
"I can't believe I'm going to meet VMJ in person!" Irma said happily, "You can come, can't you?"
"No, she can't!" Cornelia snapped angrily, "I told you I'm only taking my friends."
"Will is our friend." Taranee said while turning to face Cornelia a little angrily.
"I'd rather take a Grumper before her!" Cornelia snarled pointing at Will.
"If you don't take her then I'm not going either!" Hay Lin said visibly upset with the situation. Will herself was a little hurt by it since when the concert was announced and the tickets went on sale Cornelia bragged about how her father would buy tickets. The blonde promised that she would be taking them. Of course no one really believed it would happen as the tickets sold-out almost as fast as they were made available. Cornelia made her intentions clear about what she planned and thought about the red head and it crushed the girl. Cornelia stood there glaring daggers at Will refusing to back down which even hurt Will further.
Steeling her nerves and pushing everything out of her mind despite how much it hurt Will turned to Hay Lin. She refused to let the spoiled blonde ruin the perfect night Will had planned.
"It's okay Hay Lin, I already had plans tonight anyways." Will sighed trying her best not to show the hurt she was feeling. She didn't think anything would have been able to hurt her today but once again was proven how wrong she often was lately.
"What kind of plans could you have that is possibly more important than VMJ?" Irma asked in shock shooting Cornelia an angry glance, "I'm sure we can convince her royal bitchiness to give up one of her tickets."
"Three words, Breast Cancer Fundraiser." Will said holding up three fingers causing Irma to smack her forehead with the palm of her hand.
"Oh man, I forgot that was tonight!" Irma whined, "I promised my dad I'd go with Anna to it."
"Why would your mother even want to spend time with you?" Cornelia growled angrily at the redhead but gulped when four pairs of angry eyes turned to her.
"I'd love to stay and continue this," Will said swallowing the lump in her throat, she refused to cry in front of the blonde. "But I have to go get ready. Guess I'll see you there Irma."
"Yeah, see you there Will." Irma called after the rapidly retreating redhead before turning on Cornelia. "I can't believe you, has that bleach you use on your hair killed the last brain cell you had?"
"I don't bleach my hair!" Cornelia snarled glaring at Irma.
"Could have fooled me, bleach for brains! Can't you see what you are doing to her? She's our friend!" Irma snapped, Hay Lin and Taranee getting ready to break the two girls apart if they started getting physical. "Damn it Corny, she did everything she could! Will never asked for all this shit to be dumped on her."
"Neither did I but I'm dealing Irmie!" Cornelia snapped, "It's her fault Elyon was kidnapped!"
"Little louder, I don't think the FBI heard you!" Irma growled cracking her knuckles.
"Elyon was my best friend!" Cornelia growled as tears started falling from her eyes making a trail down her cheeks. "She might as well been my sister and…God I'm so worried about her. Who knows what those things are doing to her!"
"Oh Cornelia." Irma sighed, pulling the sobbing girl into a hug. "We are all worried about Elyon but it isn't helping attacking Will like you do. She's worried too and what you said, she is having enough problems with her mom and what you said..."
"Was out of line." Cornelia sniffed, talking softly with regret in her voice, "I…I don't mean to be so mean to her but I just can't help myself. I get so angry and I guess she's the easiest target to blame for it."
"Cornelia, Will understands you are hurting right now but what you said about her mother was uncalled for. You know how scared she is of losing her." Hay Lin said softly squeezing the taller girl's shoulder as Taranee gave the two embracing girls a hug.
"We will get her back, Cornelia." Taranee said, "We just need to stick together."
"I…I know we will." Cornelia said pulling away from the group hug. "I guess I'll apologize to her in the morning."
"Good, we can beat Phobos if we stick together but if this fighting keeps up I don't know what will happen." Hay Lin sighed.
WITCH
Will noticed her mother's car parked in the parking lot of the school as she was leaving and was tempted to wait for her and ride home together but decided against it. It was better to just hurry home to get ready so Susan could have plenty of hot water to take a shower before getting ready herself. She could give Susan a little time with Dean before their plans this evening after all the older Vandom woman promised that this evening will be all about bonding.
A little part of Will was worried though as she walked away from the school, a small nagging feeling telling her that it would be better to wait or her mother would forget. Will knew Susan wouldn't forget this time though, the redhead had reminded her the night before and again at breakfast. It was true that Susan had forgotten their plans several times over the last few weeks but Will made sure to remind her this time. She had nothing to worry about and hopefully when she told her mother she was sorry for the hostilities toward Dean maybe their own relationship could be saved.
The relationship between her mother and history teacher is what was scaring her the most lately. Of course other things frightened her since finding out what most people would consider monsters existed. True most wasn't really monsters, just people that looked different but the point was they existed and some such as Cedric could be really frightening. She could deal with that though, it no longer really scared her but the fear of being abandoned wasn't something she could face with her powers.
The fact that Susan was seeing Dean wasn't truly what bothered the red haired teen but it was the fact that he might take her away. Tony Vandom was mostly a good man despite the arguments her parents got into. At least he was until he started seeing another woman on the side then he got mean when he was caught. Susan had reluctantly forgiven the man but the man Will knew as a father was gone. In his place was an abusive bastard that ran off with some stripper.
Dean Collins, when Will admitted it, was a good man but after what happened with her father she found it hard to trust. She didn't hate him, in fact Will kind of liked him, but the fear was just too strong and it kept causing large fights between mother and daughter. In fact if she counted the fights caused by the relationship of teacher and parent outnumbered Will's disappearances and secretive attitude two to one. It didn't help either that Susan went behind her back to see the man until Will caught them, the same way Tony went behind Susan's back.
Thanks to the stupid arguments ending with the older woman canceling plans with Will or grounding the redhead before taking off for the evening with Dean. While those times were helpful in sneaking to missions unnoticed it still hurt Will deeply. In some ways the woman was acting a little like Tony though she wasn't as mean or physically abusive as Tony was. There was just so many signs pointing to history repeating itself that there was no way not to be afraid.
She was hoping that this night, the culmination of a little over two months of saving and planning could maybe help heal the forming rift. Will hoped that maybe by trying to accept Dean more her mother would go back to being the mother she wanted and the mother she so desperately needed.
The trip home didn't take Will very long where she immediately stripped as soon as she got to the bathroom and proceeded to get cleaned up for her big night. She hated dressing up like she was planning to since she was an even bigger tomboy than Irma. She wanted to look beautiful though for the photo that they would take of the two at the end of the night. It was a part of the most expensive package that Will bought. She wanted this night to be perfect and she worked too hard and waited too long for it not to be.
Turning off the water and drying off Will dumped the towel into the hamper and wrapped another one around herself and a third one in her hair before heading to her room to get dressed. True it was a couple hours before they would have to leave but Will wanted plenty of time to get more practice walking in her worst enemy, an enemy even more despised than the evil prince himself, she needed to get used to her heels. True they were low heels but she still hated walking in the things as she more often than not fell or tripped in them than actually walking in them.
Her outfit consisted of some black stockings to go with her strapless black formal gown and elbow length gloves. To go with it was a pair of simple low heeled pumps which combined cost her a whole month's pay. The other month's pay went towards the tickets that would be worth it as they would have more space and have a reminder of the beginning of restoring their relationship.
Of course what formal night out dressed up formally was complete without wearing at least a little light makeup even if it was something else she didn't enjoy. To her makeup was just too much of a hassle to be worth it. Yet again she was going to do it to look her best for the mother daughter photo, a reminder for both Vandom women of how fun this night was even if it was a pain in the ass to get ready for.
It took almost an hour to get dressed and to get her makeup to look perfect even after following the advice she asked Irma's step mother for. She had to admit the advice did pay off as she looked much more beautiful than she thought was possible. It was a little hard at first getting the lipstick to look right but by using a deeper shade of color on the outside corners of her lips and a lighter color with the same shade on the center made her lips look fuller even if she had to do it several times to get it looking just right.
If getting her lips just right wasn't hassle enough for her eyes still needed to be done and they were much worse. She hated using the eyelash curler the most but she hated the rest just as much. She just plain hated getting anything near her eyes like that for some reason. She even hated even using Vizine and while that did go directly in the eye the mascara's brush and curler always made her flinch. A part of her was scared of jabbing it in her eye on accident and made her wonder why other girls loved it. Pencils and crayons were just as bad as they always bugged her and she was frankly glad that she didn't need contacts because she would never be able to wear them. Thankfully if she ever did need them there was always the normal traditional glasses, right?
After finally getting all her make up just right and making sure her gown looked good she slid her heels on before practicing with them. Standing up from her chair she slowly took a step making sure to step first on her heel before finally letting the sole follow smoothly before repeating the same with her other foot. It was a little hard as she was used to taking longer steps but with the heels she needed a shorter stride with smooth even steps while using her arms for balance.
"God I wish I could have just ten minutes alone with the bastard who made these things." Will grumbled as she slowly made her way across her room and back several times almost losing her balance several times but thankfully regained it quick enough before falling. Her gown did have slits running from the knee down but it was still different than wearing a pair of jeans which she was much more used to. At least jeans didn't force your knees to stay this close together without making the slits even longer by accident.
Looking in the mirror it was hard to see the tomboy as a beautiful redheaded girl stared back but she felt foolish all the same. She felt like she was being put on display which was something she always hated and would much rather girls like Cornelia being on display as she thrived on the attention. Will hated the attention as that was all it was, attention to her body and not who she was. She wasn't a damn piece of meat for guys to gawk and leer at and that was sure to happen. She admitted she looked kind beautiful with all the makeup and stuff but that was just an illusion. She believed deep down that she wasn't really all that special as her dad would tell her she was ugly before he left when he turned abusive.
The fact was that Will was far from ugly, she was actually a very beautiful sixteen year old girl. She unconsciously believed the all of the negative things Tony had told her as she loved him and looked up to the man. She went so far as to even hide some of her beauty behind tomboyish clothes and using things lie minimizer bras. Standing in the mirror was a stunningly beautiful red haired girl whose body was equal to any teen model. In fact her looks could rival adult models if she put the effort in. Her skin was flawless except for a few freckles but those only added to her beauty. She was slim, not overweight but not too skinny either as some models tended to be. Her dress showed a larger amount of cleavage than she was truly comfortable with bit the dress was the only one she could afford. Her hazel colored eyes was large and beautiful, looking almost like honey. Her lips was full and a little pouty with the color making them look even more perfect. She had an almost hourglass type figure that was sure to attract even more attention than she thought possible.
Hearing the watch on her counter beep she glided back to her desk and pulled open the jewelry box sitting there holding the very few things she had for these occasions. Digging out a simple pair of silver studded earrings with a small fake diamond in each and put them in each ear before putting on a silver chain with a small silver cross on it. Next she took out a silver watch that looked more like a bracelet rather than her favorite Casio digital watch and slipped it on checking to make sure the hands were on the right hour and minutes as it wasn't the digital type that she preferred.
Getting up she went to her full length mirror one last time to make sure everything was okay as her mother should be getting home anytime to get ready herself. Looking at herself she hated to admit it but she was proud of how she looked, how beautiful she was even if it was just an illusion from the makeup and stupid dress. She normally hid herself behind baggy clothes and loose fitting jeans and cargo pants rather than dresses and skirts and tight tops showing off her curves. That was the reason she kept trying to fix her type to hide some of the generous cleavage that was peaking out.
Despite it all though she knew tonight was going to be perfect and she looked perfect for the occasion. Screw Cornelia, she knew her mother would come and the woman would be proud of Will and they would have a great night together. She was going to prove she was loved and was worth loving even if she had to dress up like a damned doll to do it.
As the minutes ticked by Will was beginning to grow more and more anxious as it was getting closer to time that the fundraiser would be starting. Taking a deep breath Will sat down on the couch and picked up the cordless phone sitting on the end table by the couch. Dialing her mother's cell phone number she waited as it rang several times before being sent to voicemail.
"Mom, it's getting late if you don't hurry we won't make it." Will said into the phone nervously. Why wouldn't her mother answer the phone? Surely the woman saw that it was the home phone calling so Susan had to know it was Will. A small part of her was starting to wonder if maybe she should have just waited at school.
"No, she'll be here I just have to trust her." Will sighed to herself as she replaced the handset n the cradle and picked up the remote.
"May I suggest a nice nature show?" The television asked before Will even hit the power button. The television came on by itself turning to the show it was talking about to show a lion stalking something but she wasn't sure what.
"No thanks, please just change it to some cartoons." Will said, her voice filled with the worry she was feeling. Usually the television would argue saying that PBS was much more educational but it must have heard the pain in the red haired girl's voice as it changed itself again. There was now a cartoon that looked like it was a Japanese anime dealing with cards but it wasn't Will's thing.
Deciding to flip through the channels herself Will started channel surfing looking for anything interesting that might take her mind off her growing worry. It was useless though as there just wasn't anything on. Her impatience was starting to get the better of her as she picked the phone up again hitting the redial.
"Mom, please call its important." Will said into the phone as she got the voicemail again. Once again hanging up Will leaned back having to stop herself from running her fingers through her hair in agitation. It took too long to fix her hair just right and she didn't want to mess it up.
There was nothing on television to help take her mind off the agitation of waiting for her mother to finally get home. It was now six o'clock and Will was starting to worry just a little bit that maybe Susan may not make it home in time for the dinner. Her mother promised though and the redhead had faith in her mother and though time was ticking away the older woman still had time to make it home and change and still have just enough time to make it. She was starting to worry that something may have happened but she was refusing to entertain that thought just yet.
Will was starting to wonder if Cornelia was right as her mind wandered over why Susan wasn't home yet. Cornelia wasn't right though, the blonde couldn't be right since Will's mother wanted tonight just as much as the redhead herself did. Susan loved her daughter, despite all the trouble the two Vandom women have been having lately they were a family. They would always be there for each other and Susan would be there for Will tonight, the redhead knew it. Susan just had to be.
Picking up the cordless phone from off the couch next to her for the third time in fifteen minutes Will worriedly dialed her mother's cell phone. She knew that her mother was going to answer, with each ring she told herself that Susan was going to pick up. Instead though she got the voice mail again.
"M-Mom…Are you okay? Where are you? Did you forget about m…Did you forget the dinner tonight?" Will asked choking a little as she fought back the tears that were threatening to spill and ruin the painstakingly applied make up. Hitting the end button Will hung up the phone and sat it next top her on the couch. She almost asked if her mother forget about her but she didn't want to actually say it for fear of it being true.
Picking up the remote Will started flipping through the channels again hoping beyond hope of finding something to take her mind off Cornelia's thoughtless words tonight. Truthfully if it was just tonight though Will would have been able to shrug it off but the blonde had said basically the same thing to her several times the last few days and a part of Will knew that Cornelia had meant it.
Will knew she was a screw up, she had always known it deep down though for the longest time she tried to prove she wasn't. Her father had left because of her, all the fights she remembered Tony and Susan having had been over Will. And this happened even before the bastard was caught cheating. She couldn't remember exactly what they were about but she remembered them and she remembered Tony screaming something about Will being stupid.
Despite the words overheard in the fights Tony acted like a caring parent when interacting with Will. It was something that confused her but she never questioned it. She didn't want to make her dad mad at her back then but overhearing the mans words even then started chipping away at the girl's self esteem.
If that wasn't enough to begin with there was her friends at Fadden Hills. Then again she guessed she never had friends there as they never liked her, they only felt sorry for her. When her parents got divorced she became a pity project among the kids in her class and that was all. She should have known something was up when everyone all of a sudden wanted to be her friend. They got sick of it quick enough though and sick of her and had no problem letting her know.
Her father didn't want to truly hang around with her and she knew in a way it was her fault that he ever cheated on Susan. Her old friends at Fadden Hills didn't want her around either though she guessed they couldn't really count as friends. Finally her friends here wished that she was never even born as it was her fault they had become guardians. All she was good for was causing people trouble and grief, after all look at Elyon. Will had wanted to protect Elyon and her parents from finding out the truth as she was sure they would be safer that way and none of them would have to find out about this whole other frightening world.
Yeah, it turned out that Elyon's parents already knew as they were refugees from Meridian. The two had kidnapped Elyon to protect her from Phobos and thanks to Will not making a smart decision of going to them sooner the entire family was Phobos's prisoners in Meridian.
She completely botched that whole thing single handedly proving how bad of a screw up she was. Cornelia knew about it and Will was sure it was only a short amount of time before the other girls realized that also. The only reason they were probably friends anyways was the Heart. After all Cornelia didn't even want to be friends with Will to begin with, the blonde made that clear the first day when snapping at Hay Lin about inviting Will over.
"No!" Will cried out shaking her head. She refused to cry or think about this. Her mother loved her. SHE DID!
Taking several deep breaths Will tried to change the direction of her thoughts as they were spiraling dangerously out of control. She was growing more and more depressed with each passing moment and it was causing her thoughts to spiral downwards as they grew darker and darker. Reaching over to grab the phone again almost desperately dialed the number instead of using redial but once again only reached the voicemail.
"Please mom, where are you?" Will whined hugging herself and leaning forward a little breathing a little heavily. "Please don't do this to me, please."
Just as soon as she hung up phone it started ringing making Will cry out in surprise and relief making her smile brightly as she answered it. She knew her mother wasn't going to let her down, that was her now calling to let Will know she was on the way home right now. Susan probably had to get her hair done or something and the appointment must have taken longer than it should have.
"Hey Will, you ready?" Irma's voice came over the phone crushing Will's spirits. It wasn't Susan after all but Irma, she should have known better. She had to have faith though, her mother really did care about her so she didn't have anything to worry about.
"Yeah, if I can just get used to these damned heels." Will said looking at the offensive footwear she kicked off next to her on the floor a little earlier.
"We're leaving in a few minutes." Irma said then whispered into the phone, "God Will, save me! She has me dressed up like some damned doll!"
"Come on, Irma, it can't be that bad." Will said laughing a little. Irma was her friend, she shouldn't let her imagination run wild like that. There were people who loved her though sometimes it was hard to see…Unless she was calling to flaunt her step mother caring more for her than Will's real mother did for the redhead.
"It is!" Irma whined, "God I don't want to go to this, I'd much rather be watching VMJ right now!"
"Come on, Irma, it'll be fun!" Will said smiling a little at Irma's antics.
"So are your mom and you wearing matching gowns?" Irma asked causing Will's smile to fall.
"She's not here yet, she's on her way now though." Will said hopefully.
"Cool, then I'll see you there." Irma said, "I have a little brother to kill right now."
"Yeah, see you there." Will murmured as the line went dead just after hearing Chris's scream of terror. Sighing Will tried dialing her mom's cell phone yet again and sadly only received the voice mail. "Mom, it's getting late please pick up. If you don't get home we'll never make it in time."
Sighing as she hung up the phone she threw it across the room before dropping her face in her hands. Taking several deep breaths she steeled herself and got her emotions under control before getting up and walking back to her room to make sure her make up was okay. Thankfully it was so she didn't have to worry about touching it up as it was a nightmare enough putting it on.
Dejectedly Will made her way back to the couch and tried once again to find something to watch and get her mind from everything as it was now fifteen minutes till seven. She knew that even if her mom made it home now it would make them run a little later than Will would have liked but they would still have plenty of time to enjoy the evening together.
She finally got her mind off worrying as the clock reached seven o'clock as she had managed to convince herself that Susan would be home any second. Stopping on an episode of the Simpsons Will relaxed a little and started watching it and finally let herself be drawn into the episode for a few minutes. It wasn't long though as she looked at the clock again noticing it saying seven fifteen when it advertised.
Susan wasn't coming…She would have been there by now if she was. The phone started ringing again causing Will to jump a little at the sudden noise before hurrying across the room to retrieve the it from where she threw it earlier. She tried hitting the talk button to pick up as she walked back over the couch and froze as she realized it wasn't working. She screwed up again and broke the phone.
"Vandom's residence, leave a message at the beep." Susan's voice came from the base where there was a built in digital answering machine. "Hey honey, my cell phone isn't working so I wanted to call and tell you I'll be late tonight. A few things came up that I have to talk to Dean about but I have some money in the cabinet above the fridge you can use to order a pizza. I'll see you when I…"
The message stopped when Will screamed as loud as she could after throwing the phone at the base knocking it off the table and onto the floor. Susan had chosen him over her again! And tonight of all nights! She heard her giggling and Dean whispering in the background.
Dropping to the couch Will curled up on it pulling the tickets she had out of where they were sticking out of the top of her gown and clutched them to her chest. Two months of saving, two months of planning and two months of hopes all destroyed because Susan cared more about Dean than her own daughter. Cornelia was right all along and Susan didn't care about Will. Why would the older woman want to spend an evening with a screw up when she could spend it with Dean Collins?
She started sobbing as she realized she had no one left, everyone she had ever cared for her had left her. She probably deserved it though, it would explain why it kept happening. She was a nothing in everyone's eyes and truthfully in her own eyes as well. A part of her gave up as she curled up even tighter.
Susan sighed happily as she dug her keys out of her purse for the apartment she shared with her teenage daughter. She felt a little bad about staying out all afternoon and evening but she left some money for Will to buy something to eat since she had to meet Dean at school for a conference. Of course the conference ended up becoming a dinner and a movie with him though a part of her mind kept telling her that she had forgotten something important which did damper the evening but it was still one of the best dates they had recently. Every time she started trying to remember what t was Dean would tickle her or kiss her making her forget for awhile.
Finally finding the key she went to unlock the door but was shocked to find it already open since it was after ten at night. Will knew better than to leave the door unlocked that late at night when she was home alone. Pushing the door open she shook her head at seeing all the lights on wasting electricity.
Walking quietly into the house so not to wake Will up if the redhead was asleep she closed and locked the door behind her. She heard something coming from the living room drawing her attention that way. Walking slowly into the room she found Will curled up on the couch wearing a black strapless formal gown. It looked like she had fallen asleep clutching a small piece of paper or tickets to something.
Moving closer to the sleeping girl Susan could make out fresh tear tracks on her face, the little bit of makeup having run from the looks of it. Feeling bad for whatever had caused her baby to cry Susan gently brushed the mop of red hair causing Will to mumble something in her sleep and her hand to open dropping two tickets to the ground. Curious Susan reached down to pick up the tickets she saw the price on them causing her jaw to drop, each one had cost seventy five dollars.
"Hey mom, will you go to the Mother Daughter fundraiser at the end of the month with me? It's a dinner and the tickets proceeds go to research for breast cancer." Will asked, "I'll pay for the tickets, I'll save my pay from the pet shop."
"Of course honey but let me help." Susan replied smiling, happy that her daughter wanted to do something with her like this. They haven't been spending much time together lately and this sounded like their perfect quality time plus it would be for a good cause.
"Nope, I want to do this." Will said smiling when Susan agreed to it, "I know I haven't exactly been very easy to deal with lately mom and I want to do something nice for you."
"If your sure honey but don't go overboard." Susan agreed reluctantly.
Apparently she did go overboard, the tickets ranged from ten to seventy five dollars Susan had found out. The cheaper tickets were just for a cheap meal and reserved seating at the large tables that as going to be set up. The seventy five dollar tickets were in short supply as there was only twenty of them, ten mother and ten daughter tickets for ten private booths and a choice from the buffet or any meal off the menu as well as a framed picture of mother and daughter to be taken at the end of the evening.
"Don't forget about the dinner tomorrow mom." Will smiled as Susan kissed the redhead goodnight before replying happily.
"Of course not honey, I wouldn't miss it for the world." Susan smiled, turning out the light, "Sweet dreams baby."
"Night mom." Will replied in the darkness.
Susan couldn't believe that she had forgotten something this important to her daughter. She must have been the worst mother ever. She really didn't originally plan to stay out all evening but Dean kept flirting with her at the conference which she had to wonder if it was just an excuse to have her come by since it wasn't even anything important. He had just said that Will was making progress in getting her grades up a little.
Will must have had to save up a month worth of her pay as she only worked a few hours a night and was off on weekends as Mister Olsen had insisted that she spend the weekends being a kid, hang out with her friends and catch up on her homework if needed. He paid her thirty to forty dollars a week depending on how long she worked though Susan suspected that he gave Will more money than she worked for. The old man had once admitted he liked spoiling Will as she seemed like the granddaughter he always wanted. Still, Susan knew for a fact that Will worked hard at the store to earn her money so never really brought it up.
"What time is it?" Will asked before sitting up, a small yawn escaping the young girl.
"It's past ten Will, I'm so sorry." Susan sighed.
"Where were you?" Will asked, her voice growing angry as she glared up at Susan.
"Honey, please, I really…" Susan got out before being shut up by her daughters angry yet very hurt glare.
"Where. Were. YOU?" Will snapped, punctuating each word and nearly yelling the last as she got up from the couch with a little limp. It looked like Will's leg had fallen asleep after sleeping on the couch like that.
"I had dinner with Dean." Susan sighed, "Will, I'm sorry…"
"Don't, don't even start." Will said as new tears started streaming down her face, "All I asked was just one night but you couldn't even give me that."
"Will." Susan sighed reaching out toward the younger girl only to have her hands slapped away.
"If you didn't want to go all you had to do was say so!" Will sobbed, "I saved for a month before asking you and buying the tickets! I was looking forward to this for TWO months!"
"Will, stop acting like a spoiled child!" Susan snapped and paled at the look on the redhead's face. She would have preferred anger, hatred or even a hurt expression to the one that looked like her baby girl was dead on the inside. What the hell was that, of course Will was a child, she was Susan's child and baby but the way the older woman acted lately sure didn't seem like it.
"Geeze, I'm sorry Ms. Vandom, if you will excuse me I think I'm going to retire for the night!" Will said coldly, stiffly turning away to walk from the living room. By the time Susan got over her shock Will was already in her room with the door locked.
"Will, please open this door." Susan begged, her own tears forming at the pain she caused her daughter. Susan listened for any reply but the only noises coming from the room was the loud heart wrenching sobs emanating from the emotionally destroyed redhead on the other side of the barrier. Leaning back against the door Susan slid to the ground pulling her knees to her chest and crying herself at what she did, at her own selfishness and stupidity. She knew she loved her daughter but ever since coming to Heatherfield it seemed like a rift formed between them and it was slowly growing while driving the mother and daughter farther and farther apart.
"Will, please answer me." Susan begged turning a little and leaning against the door. "I'm sorry, please talk to me!"
After the absence of yet another reply Susan began thinking about how this wasn't even the first time she screwed up since getting together with Dean. Time and time again Susan had either forgotten plans or outright canceled them to be with him. True, a lot of the times mother and daughter were having problems but it was Susan's responsibility to try and fix the problems instead of making them worse by running to Dean to be comforted while she either left Will alone with no one to go to or straight up grounded her not even giving her the chance even if she did have someone.
It was at that moment that Susan had an epiphany, her daughter didn't hate the fact that she was seeing Dean. Will was afraid of losing her mother which was what was happening and the only person to blame, despite the aggression Will showed toward Dean, was Susan herself. This was all Susan's fault and some how, some way, she had to make it right.