Okay then! The weekend, my two main updating days, so I'm going to update! Which story am I updating again/scans notes/ Oh yea, two wars. Ok, anyways, lets get moving. Chapter 2 is up, up, and away!

Chapter 2- An Interesting Talk

Will's POV

Will sighed and rolled over as she heard Irma slam the door. She closed her eyes, mulling over the recent conversation. Had she really meant what she said? Even she wasn't sure. She mulled over her thoughts, not even sure what she was thinking about. Her thoughts flashed back to about a week ago. She'd been trying to help Cornelia, and ended up fighting with her. Long story short she'd run away, and almost been killed in a fight, and even worse, for awhile she even thought her friends had abandoned her. It'd really made her think. Not that she knew what she was thinking about any more.

"Hey Will", her mom slipped carefully into her room, "Irma walked out of here kind of mad, is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine Mom", she muttered, not turning to face her mom, "Don't worry about it"

"You sure?" she asked, sitting on the edge of Will's bed, "You can always talk to me you know"
Not about this, "Don't worry about it", she assured her, "It's nothing. So I get to go back to school tomorrow, huh?"

"I think you've had enough of a vacation", her mother said. she could hear a smile in Susan's voice, "Rest up", she said as she stood to leave, "Tomorrow's gonna be a big day"

Will walked to Sheffield with her eyes on the ground, kicking a rock along as she walked. She was, in a way, relieved to go back to school. Hanging around at home hadn't been all that great. But she was also dreading it. Not only would she have to face Irma and the others, she was sure Irma had told them about the day before. She'd half considered convincing her mom to let her stay home one more day, but finally decided against it, not wanting to push her luck too far. She pulled herself wearily into the school building, trying to avoid any of her friends at all cost. She saw Hay Lin and Irma out of the corner of her eye, and quickly pulled in the other direction, on her way to class. She fell into her seat just as the first bell rang. She looked around, noticing Cornelia wasn't there. Not a good sign.

It was basically an average school day. She steered clear of the lunch table at lunch time, and settled for walking around the grounds instead. She didn't have any classes with Hay Lin, Taranee, or Irma, so it was easy to avoid them. By the end of the day she was quite pleased with herself as she walked out of school.

"Will!"
Before she knew what was happening, she was being tackled from behind as Hay Lin flew into her, wrapping her in a huge hug. "Ack!" she yelled as Hay Lin squeezed her, "Hay Lin, I have to breath!"

"Sorry!" Hay Lin chirped, pulling away. Will looked over Hay Lin's head and saw Taranee and (to her horror) Irma coming up behind her. From the way Hay Lin was acting, either Irma hadn't said anything, or she had and Hay Lin didn't believe her.

"Nice to see you to Hay Lin", she said with a forced smile, "And you Taranee, hey"
"Glad your back Will", Taranee said with a nod, smiling as well.

Irma muttered something under her breath, but Will chose to ignore it, not wanting to start a fight.

"So have I missed anything?" she asked with a forced casual-sounding voice.

"Nothing more than the usual learning and boredom", Hay Lin shrugged, "All though Uriah did nearly run a teacher over with his bike. He got detention, you shoulda seen the look on his face!"

"And I missed that?" Will asked disbelievingly, "How unfair is that?"
"Oh give it a rest Will!" Irma snapped suddenly. Will looked around at her quickly. "Drop the mask already", Irma said impatiently, "I told Hay Lin all about what you said, so why don't you just confirm it!"
Will's cool gaze met Irma's cold one, "I have no clue what you're talking about", she said coolly, turning away.

"So now you're trying to make me out to be a liar?.!" Irma yelled, "Gee thanks Will, so much for friendship. Oh wait, I forgot, you don't believe in friendship, do you-"

"Be quiet Irma!" Will snapped, whirling around, "You're not one to talk about friendship, you're here trying to turn all of our friends against me! What kind of friend are you?"
"I didn't try and turn them against you!" Irma shot back, "I was just telling them what you said so they'd be warned!"

"Right", Will said, breathing hard, "Right. Well next time you have a little get together to talk about me, don't forget to invite me. Actually, I take that back. Do forget to invite me, because I quit!"

And she stormed away without another word.

Will stormed down the street, furious. How could Irma say those things? She claimed to be Will's "friend", but then to turn around and try and turn Hay Lin and Taranee against her? Some friend she was! It was only then Will noticed the direction she was going. Cornelia's apartment was just around the corner. She was about to turn in the direction of her own apartment, when she suddenly decided to take her chances and talk to the former Earth guardian.

Her mother buzzed her up and before long, she was standing in front of Cornelia's door. She knocked hesitantly on the door. "Go away Irma!" Cornelia's angry voice came from inside.

"Cornelia, it's Will"

There was a pause, and finally the door opened, "What do you want Will?" she asked, but not in the same cold voice she had used a few seconds earlier.

"I just wanted to…talk", Will said carefully, "From the sound of it, you're mad at Irma to, so if you'd like, we can talk about how much we hate her right now"

Cornelia smirked and let Will into her room, "So what'd Irma do to you?"
"Long story, you?"
"Same"

The two exchanged a grin. While Cornelia and Will had never fully gotten along, they did still manage to agree on quite a few counts. Will's eyes shifted to a vase sitting on Cornelia's desk. She realized with great sadness it was Caleb. Cornelia must have seen the look in Will's eyes, because she quickly said, "So, uh…how are you?"
"I'm--" Will started to say "I'm fine", but it didn't sound right, not even to her, "I don't know", she finally admitted, "How are you?"
Cornelia gave her a lopsided smile, "Same"

Will rolled her eyes and smiled. She and Cornelia had never fully gotten along, but there were times where they could at least understand each other. Like right then. Everything was quiet for a second, and finally Cornelia said, "So why are you here?"
"What?" Will asked in surprised. She honestly didn't have a reason, but she couldn't tell Cornelia that. She caught Cornelia watching her and finally just sort of shrugged. "I don't really have a reason", she said in a helpless sort of way, "Just wanted to make sure you're…well, make sure your okay"

Cornelia smiled a sad sort of smile and walked over to her desk. She rubbed Caleb's petals in a thoughtful sort of way, obviously stalling for time. "I'm fine", she said finally, "Believe it or not"

"I don't believe it", Will said quietly, "I don't think you expected me to though"

Cornelia shook her head and continued smiling in that sad and thoughtful sort of way. For awhile the two of them were lost in their own thoughts, until Will finally got up the courage to ask what she had been wondering for so long.

"Cornelia, do you hate me?"

Cornelia looked around, surprised, "I…no", she said after a second, "Of course not Will. I could never hate you. I was just mad when I said that. I was even madder afterwards, when Irma told me you had run away. I guess I sort of felt like it was my fault"

"It wasn't", Will said at once, "When I left…well, everything had just sort of hit at once, and…I dunno, I just sort of fell apart, you might say. It didn't have anything to do with you though"
"Yea right", Will could tell Cornelia didn't believe her. She wasn't sure she believed herself.

"Well…" Will said after a second, "I should get going. Are you going to be back in school anytime soon?"
"I…I'm not sure", Cornelia said after thinking about it. She stroked Caleb's petals again, and a pang of guilt went through Will.

"Well…I'll see you around then", she turned to leave.

"Thanks for coming Will", she heard Cornelia say as she shut the door.

The talk with Cornelia had given Will quite a bit to think about. Her head was starting to hurt, but she was still already going through everything that had happened in her head. And finally, her mind drifted back to Irma, Taranee, and Hay Lin.

Are we really still friends?