CHAPTER ONE

Willow Rosenberg's lips drifted upwards into a wistful smile as she recalled the evening, seven years ago, when she had made a silent promise to herself that she wouldn't ever roll over for another person again. It had been a mentality that lasted for no more than a few days, the moment she had returned home she could feel the resolve fading away. Her parents were furious that her uncle Theo had brought her to the wrestling event and informed their daughter that she would no longer be allowed to visit him. It had upset her enough that she spoke up to them and said that she wanted to visit him in the future, a small rebellion that had revoked her freedom for the remainder of the summer. Once it had been time for school to begin again she had nearly forgotten about the feeling of freedom being at the event had unleashed.

The event that had sparked her memory returned to mind and the small smile disappeared much quicker than it had arrived. Willow had decided to join her friends at the Bronze the previous evening, hoping for a relaxing night out with her best buds and a small reprieve from doing research on the demon who had been recently pestering them. Instead she found Buffy Summers and Xander Harris spending time with their significant others. The blonde Slayer was dancing with Riley out on the floor and her best friend since childhood had his hands all over Anya, making out with her. When the small group had noticed Willow a common look of "oh crap, she came," had shown on their faces.

At first she had been able to ignore their expressions and kept her own bright smile on her face. Recently she had separated from her own boyfriend, Oz, because of his infidelity and it had broken her heart. She hadn't been much fun and spent much of her time alone, crying in the dorm room she shared with Buffy. So the fact that they were less than thrilled to see her hadn't hurt too terribly. It was only when she had approached them and all four looked at the ground that she had perceived something to be wrong. Quickly they informed her that they were hoping for some couple's only time, and wasn't she supposed to be researching something or other? That had set her off, the uncommon but widely feared Rosenberg rage being let loose on them. The redhead had stomped out of the club, leaving four shocked faces behind her.

Currently she was in her old bedroom, the one located in her parents' house. She hadn't been there since moving most of her stuff to the dorm but after blowing up at Buffy and the rest of the gang, she hadn't wanted to face them. Despite having classes scheduled for the day, Willow had decided to skip them and spent her time lounging around in comfortable pajamas watching some television. She grabbed the remote from the dresser next to her and, without looking at it, clicked the sound off, having decided to call her friend so she could apologize for the previous evening. Her eyes were locked onto the phone that was still sitting next to her and with a deep breath, Willow picked it up and dialed the number for their dorm.

"Hello?" Riley's voice filtered through the line and the redhead stared at the phone in her hand, wondering if she had dialed the wrong number. "Hello, is anybody there?" His voice repeated. Shaking her head and clearing her mind of the confusion that had set in, Willow finally responded to his prompting. "Riley, this is Willow. Did I ring up the wrong number or something?" Across town, the soldier shook his head before realizing there was no way she would be able to see his movement. "Nope, you have the right place. Buffy is in the shower...." Pausing, he listened as the sound of the doorknob rattling caught his attention and the door swung open, revealing a pretty blonde.

"Riley?" Willow was confused by his sudden silence and instead of hearing his voice respond to her, the voice that came through was Buffy's and she sounded a bit irritated. "Do you want something?" At first the redhead was taken aback by the tone but she chalked it up to the other girl's not knowing she was the person on the line. She had no way to realize that the man she had been on the phone with previously had mouthed her name to his girlfriend. "Buffy, it's me." "I know. Do you want something?" This was not going the way she had hoped, but instead of the apology she had been planning, Willow responded with her own irritated tone. "No, I guess not. I had called to say I was sorry for last night but maybe my reaction wasn't as uncalled for as I thought. Goodnight, Buffy."

She pressed the end button and stared at the black object in her hand, disbelief and hurt clear in her expression. Clearly she hadn't been very rational the night before, but one outburst didn't warrant the reaction she had gotten from her blonde friend. Willow could name more than one occasion where Buffy had yelled and her and been promptly forgiven, but perhaps that was because she was a more forgiving person. Abruptly another smile formed on her face as she once again recalled the event from seven years ago. It was never too late to grow a backbone and from this moment on out she was going to stand up for herself, she was a grown woman and it was time to start acting that way.