*-*-* Weeping Willow *-*-*
*-* Chapter Five *-*
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
~ Mother Theresa
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The next morning, Willow was rudely awakened by a harsh alarm. She pulled the blankets over her head to try and block out the noise.
"Will someone please turn that off?" growled Jackie.
"I got it," said Jubilee turning off the alarm. Much stretching and yawning and rubbing of eyes went on before any of them got out of bed and attempted to get dressed.
"You wanna borrow some clothes for today?" asked Rogue.
"That would be nice," said Willow, rubbing more sleep out of her eyes. Rogue let Willow pick an outfit out of her wardrobe. She picked out a pair of flared blue jeans and a blue and white plaid blouse with short sleeves.
"Lucky we're almost the same sahz," said Rogue.
"No kidding," said Willow. "Does the blue clash with my skin?" asked Willow. Rogue giggled.
"No," she said with a smile. Willow grinned too.
"'Kay, thanks," she said before going and putting the clothes on.
Willow ate breakfast with her roommates and was told how to get to the art room for first period. She only took one wrong turn and was able to right herself quickly. When she entered the art studio, she took a seat in the back at one of the long tables. She was the first one to class. The only other person in the room was the teacher, Jean, who looked up and smiled upon Willow's entry.
"Good morning," said Jean. She had shoulder length red hair and pretty brown eyes.
"Hi," said Willow smiling back.
"I believe we spoke on the phone yesterday," said Jean in a friendly voice as she walked towards her.
"So we did," said Willow remembering Jean's voice.
"Are you feeling better?" asked Jean.
"A lot better. Thank you," said Willow.
"How do you like it here so far?" asked Jean as a few students streamed in and sat down.
"It's great. It really is. Everyone's so nice to me. When I first arrived, the kids in the room asked if I wanted to play video games. It almost feels unreal. Before...well, before it happened, I didn't think anyone could be nice to me. But when I was in the hospital, the doctors were nice to me. Then when I was on the bus, I met this fellow who was nice to me...he was a mutant too, so that's a little different. Then when I missed the stop in Albany, Kurt was nice to me too. It's a huge change from what I was used to before," Willow explained.
"You seem to be adjusting well," Jean said.
"I'm trying," said Willow with a nod. The class was almost completely full by now, all chatting and sharing stories about dreams they'd had the night before. The bell rang, and just as it did, Bobby burst through the door. Jean smirked at him.
"Take a seat," she said almost sternly. He nodded, gasping for air. He'd been running. He spotted Willow and smiled. He sat down in the empty chair beside her.
"Hey," he said as he tried to catch his breath.
"Hi," said Willow.
"Good morning," said Jean in a friendly voice. "Today we've got a new student with us. This is Willow Stevens." Willow's pale face blushed light pink as all the sleepy eyes in the class turned on her. "Does anyone have any questions for Willow?" First there was silence. Then a few hands rose.
"Michael," called Jean.
"What's your mutation?" he asked.
"I can grow plants," she answered.
"Anywhere?" asked Michael.
"Well, not anywhere. I mean, I couldn't make a tree grow out of my desk, or anything. There has to be dirt. And I couldn't like, grow a cactus here in New York because cacti can't live in such a cold climate. It'd die as soon as it came out of the ground. I can't usually grow much of anything in winter because the plants can't handle the cold," said Willow. Michael nodded. Jean called on someone else.
"Elise," she said.
"How old are you?" asked Elise.
"Eighteen. I turn nineteen in April," said Willow.
"Anyone else?" asked Jean. The room was silent. "Alright, so we'll start with today's lesson. We've been in a drawing unit for that past week, Willow," Jean told her. "So today we're going to do still life drawings. That's where you pick something in the room and try to draw it. I'll pass out some construction paper, and we'll begin. This will be due at the end of the period." Jean sent a pile of paper around the semi-circle of long tables. Bobby dug in his bag and pulled out a mechanical pencil.
"D'you want a pencil?" he asked.
"Sure," said Willow. Bobby gave her a regular pencil that needed sharpening. The diminishing pile of paper landed in front of her. She took a piece and gave it to Bobby. He took one and passed it on.
"There's a pencil sharpener over there," said Bobby, pointing to Jean's desk at the front of the room. Willow got up and sharpened her pencil. She sat back down, a sharp pencil in hand and a piece of clear paper in front of her. She hadn't done much drawing in her life, but she knew how. Willow looked around the room for something to draw, but nothing seemed interesting enough. She peered over at Bobby, who was drawing the Aloe Vera plant on Jean's desk.
"Hold still, Bobby," said Willow.
"Are you gonna draw me?" he asked with a grin.
"Yeah, hold still," Willow told him. Bobby held as still as he could while Willow quickly scratched his outline out. She drew the rough outlines of the features of his face and shoulders. She began to get more detailed and rubbed her pinky finger on the paper where she wanted shadows. The class was almost over, so she started drawing faster.
"Start thinking about putting your materials away," Jean called over the chatting class. "We've got five minutes left."
"Crap," muttered Willow with a grin as she tried to hurry and produce the rest of Bobby's hair.
"I'm getting a cramp in my neck," Bobby told her.
"I'm almost done," Willow said. She shaded his hair quickly and looked from him to the drawing. It wasn't the best, but it mildly resembled him. "Okay, you can move."
"Lemme see," Bobby said, reaching over for the paper. "Wow," he said, a surprised looked coming over his face. "Willow, this is good."
"Eh, it's not, really...I messed up on your nose a little," Willow said, her cheeks growing pink.
"Seriously, this is really good," said Bobby, marveling over Willow's drawing. Jean walked over to them as everyone packed up their stuff and stood up, ready to go. "Jean, check out what Willow drew," Bobby said passing Jean the paper.
"Willow, this is amazing," Jean said. "But it isn't a still life. This is a portrait." Willow felt stupid. She nodded with a let down look. "I'll still give you credit, though," Jean assured her. "It's beautiful." The bell rang. Willow handed Bobby his pencil. They got up and joined the rest of the class as they filtered out of the classroom.
"I'm gonna have to show Rogue that picture," said Bobby with a grin. "You're really good. Do you draw a lot?"
"No, I really don't. It's been a while since I've drawn anything," said Willow.
"Wow," said Bobby. "Well, I gotta get to History, so I'll talk to you later."
"Alright," said Willow. "See ya. Oh! Do you know where the music room is?"
"Yeah, you go down this hall and it's the first room on the left," Bobby said.
"Thanks," Willow said.
"No problem. See ya," he said as he headed off one of the halls to his History class. Willow followed Bobby's direction and came to the music room. She went in and discovered Jackie in the room tuning a snare drum.
"Hey," Jackie said as she tapped the drum and twisted the notches around the head with her tuning key. She tapped around each notch. Satisfied, she put down the key and did a drum roll. "Perfect."
"You play drums?" asked Willow.
"Well I wouldn't be tunin' someone else's drum for 'em, would I?" Jack said, fiddling around on the snare.
"Guess not," said Willow.
"D'you play an instrument?" asked Jackie.
"Nope. I'd like to learn the piano, maybe, or something with strings. Like that," said Willow pointing at a tall, stringed instrument leaning against a wall.
"That's a stand up bass," Jackie informed her. "They're pretty cool."
"Maybe I'll try that," said Willow.
"We mostly just try instruments in here and learn how to read music. It's an easy A class. But I get to play the drums, so that's all that I care about," said Jack.
"Did you play drums back in Las Vegas?" asked Willow.
"Yeah, I did. I had to leave it behind, though, after I put out the power. I didn't mean to, I just got mad, and it just sort of happened. My family knew I was a mutant, so I left before they could figure out I did it. I got here last week," Jackie told her. "It's a lot better here than Las Vegas anyway. It's so ugly there during the day. Even I can tell, and I'm colorblind."
"You are?" asked Willow.
"Yeah," Jackie said. "I see in black and white. Life's like one big I Love Lucy episode."
"So you can't tell that my hair's green? Or my arms?" she asked with amazement.
"Well I knew your hair wasn't a normal color, but I didn't know that it was green, exactly. Same with your arms," Jackie said.
"Have you ever been able to see color?" asked Willow.
"I used to. But then when I was thirteen, I almost killed myself with this whole electricity thing, and it shot my eyes. Sucked the color right outta my hair, too. That was when I first found out I was a mutant. Damn, I'd pay big bucks to see some color again," she said in a nostalgic voice. "Anyways, back to the point, I've got a few good friends now, and there are plenty of cute guys here to keep me happy."
"You guys seem to talk about cute boys a lot," said Willow.
"Well, yeah," Jackie said. "Don't tell me you've never seen an attractive guy."
"I have....once...well, twice," she added. "When I rode the bus here I made friends with a very handsome fellow named Gambit. Then when I met Kurt in Boston...I dunno if he's attractive. I mean, he isn't a normal looking guy, but...I dunno, it's weird," said Willow thoughtfully. "Maybe you'll meet him someday, then you'll know what I mean."
"Huh," Jackie muttered. "How old were these guys anyway?"
"I dunno...maybe mid or late twenties," Willow estimated.
"Wow," said Jackie. "Well, I guess you're eighteen, so you can shoot a little higher than I can."
"How old are you?" asked Willow.
"I'll be seventeen in June," Jackie said. Willow hadn't noticed the few students in the class filing randomly into the classroom. "You can just grab a chair and sit here if you want," Jackie offered. Willow found a chair and drug it next to Jackie's drum stool. Jean came into the room.
"Good morning," she said loudly. "I see you've got a friend back there, Willow." She went through the whole introduction thing again. Jean asked if Jackie wanted to help Willow learn how to read music. Jackie agreed, and Jean left them alone while she helped the rest of the tiny class with their instruments. It got very noisy. Instead of focusing on music, Willow and Jackie talked for most of the period.
"See? We're not even getting yelled at. Easy A class. You don't really have to do anything. It gets kinda boring sometimes, but I guess now that you're here, I can't have someone to talk to," Jackie said.
"Yeah," Willow agreed. "I still want to learn how to play something."
"Well, yeah, you can't get away with doing nothing all the time," said Jackie.
"Playing upright bass doesn't sound like half a bad idea," said Willow.
"It's not. I'm full of good ideas," Jackie announced. "Need a good idea, I've got 'em all." Willow chuckled at her.
"C'mon, we gotta at least act like you're teaching me something," said Willow.
"Well it turns out I don't really know how to read anything but drum music," said Jackie. "I could teach you some of that if I felt like it, but I sorta don't."
"You don't have to, I don't care. I just don't wanna get in trouble," Willow said.
"You won't, it's only your first day. The punishments here aren't too bad unless you do something stupid like start kicking someone's ass, or so I've heard. I've never actually seen a fight here yet, so I don't know what they'd do." Jackie and Willow talked all period long without so much as a sideways glance from Jean. Jackie led Willow to the kitchen where several people were heating up macaroni and cheese in the microwave and fixing up sandwiches.
"There's only like seventy kids in this place, but you gotta get in and get out when it comes to food. I practically starved my first day," Jackie told her. Willow had the feeling that Jackie was exaggerating, but didn't say anything about it. They dug through the refrigerator in search of sandwich makings. They retreated to the family room outside the kitchen. There were seven other kids there, the majority of them no older than twelve.
"What're we watchin'?" asked Jackie as she sat down.
"Jerry Springer," mumbled one of the kids as the show came back from a commercial break.
"What?! You guys can't watch that! Gimme the remote!" Jackie cried as she snatched the remote from one of the kids.
"Hey!" cried the kid who had the remote.
"You're too damn young for Jerry Springer," Jackie told him as she switched it to MTV. "There. Not exactly wholesome, but less scarring than Jerry Springer. Jeez, you kids freak me out." Willow couldn't help but laugh at them. This was a good place to be. A good place to live. This was what she'd been missing out on her whole life. It sort of made her sad. She was a legal adult, and she just started to really live a normal life around normal people. She decided to not take a minute of it for granted.
The rest of the day went on well. Rogue and John were both in Willow's literature class at the very end of the day. Storm turned out to be a very nice woman that walked Willow through what they had been doing since the year started. They were right in the middle of a book called The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Willow was given a copy.
"You haven't really got much catching up to do. It's a great novel, and it reads fast," Storm told her. She lead the rest of the class that period in a discussion about who the class thought was the real leader on the island. Each person got to say what he or she thought and give information to back up their opinion. Willow couldn't wait to read the first five chapters so that she could know what they were talking about.
After the bell rang, Willow was about to head back to the dorm room with Rogue and John, but Storm stopped her.
"Willow," Storm called after her.
"Yes?" asked Willow, stopping and turning around.
"We're going shopping, remember? Professor Xavier said you needed clothes," she said.
"Oh, right! I completely forgot!" said Willow. "Can I go upstairs and get my coat and stuff?"
"Of course," Storm said. "I'll be here when you come back, then we'll go."
"Okay," said Willow. She was excited to get some new clothes. She ran up the stairs and walked down the hall quickly until she got to her room. She flung open the door and went straight into the bathroom where she found her coat still on the floor. She picked it up and put it on.
"Why're you in such a hurry?" asked Jubilee. She and Kitty were watching TV.
"Storm's taking me shopping for clothes," said Willow. "Er...do any of you guys have any gloves?"
"Rogue has tons of gloves," said Kitty.
"I've been using so much of her stuff lately," said Willow. She also didn't want to use any of her stuff on the sly.
"She won't care," said Jubilee. "They're in that top small drawer there." Willow reluctantly opened the drawer and found a pair of brown, leathery looking gloves. She put them on and found that they reached about three inches above her wrist.
"Can you guys tell her I'm sorry? About borrowing her stuff?" asked Willow.
"She won't care, but we'll tell her anyway," Jubilee said.
"Thanks. I'll see you guys later tonight," said Willow.
"See ya," Kitty said brightly as Willow exited the room. She made her way back to Storm's classroom. She was, as she said, still there. She'd put a coat on and had a bag over her shoulder.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
"Yep," Willow replied. She followed Storm to one of the two elevators in the mansion. They got in and she pushed the basement level button. It took them down and then the door slid open. In front of them were five cars, one of which she recognized from when Scott had picked her up the day before. They took new looking Honda Accord SE. The whole back wall was like one big garage door. Storm opened it with the controller that was clipped to the visor. She started up the car and backed out of the driveway. She put the car in drive and they were off towards the nearest mall.
"Have you got anything in mind that you might want to buy? Anywhere you want to go?" asked Storm.
"Not really...I guess I'll know it when I see it. I hate making you guys spend money on me. Clothes are so expensive. I'll try not to pick out anything too pricey," Willow said.
"Don't worry about it. Really. I mean, coming all the way from Seattle by yourself, a few new clothes isn't much," Storm said.
"I didn't really come by myself though, that's the thing," Willow said. "If it wasn't for Yolanda and Kurt, I'd still be hanging around Boston. They deserve all the credit, not me."
"Who's Kurt?" asked Storm.
"He's this mutant I met in a church at Boston. He's so nice it sorta blows you away. I never met anyone who was that nice to me in my whole life. I miss him," Willow said. "He's a great guy."
"He sounds like a great guy," Storm said. "And who is Yolanda?"
"The nurse at the hospital that gave me the money to get here," said Willow. "She's a sweet woman. I hope I see here again." As they drove towards the mall, it started to sprinkle. The raindrops pattering on the windshield got heavier the further they went.
"The weather's almost as bad here as it is in Seattle," Willow muttered. The mall they went to was fairly large, as it was New York, but not as big as it probably could have been. Willow hitched up the gloves and made sure no green skin was showing through. Storm parked and turned off the car. They got out and walked casually into the mall.
"We are on a budget, though. We've only got a hundred dollars, so no Abercrombie or Gap, alright?" asked Storm.
"That's fine. I don't even like Abercrombie and Gap," Willow said. They walked around for a while, looking in the windows of shops. They stopped in at a store called Hot Topic and searched around. The T-shirts were reasonably priced, but after finding a pair of pants for sixty dollars, Willow decided that this was not a good place to shop for pants. She bought three T-shirts. One was black with a red and white Ghostbusters logo an the front (a movie Willow had always liked.) The second was a gray and green T-shirt with Woodstock from Peanuts wearing a camp counselor's hat on it. It said 'happy camper' across the top and bottom of the picture. The last was one had Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street on it. He was in his garbage can and the word 'scram!' was printed across the top.
They left Hot Topic with sixty-one dollars left. They searched around in numerous stores in search of some reasonably priced pants. Finally, they came across a store called Gadzooks. They went inside and looked around. Most of the girl's pants were too tight and too low on the hips, and they made Willow uncomfortable.
"All the girl's clothes in here are uncomfortable," she told Storm, worrying that they wouldn't find anything.
"Why don't you look in the guy's section? It couldn't hurt," Storm suggested.
"Maybe...I don't wanna look like a guy...," Willow said hesitantly.
"You won't. You're too pretty to look like a guy," Storm told her.
"I'm not pretty," Willow said. "I'm weird lookin'."
"I don't think so," Storm told her. "I like green. Why don't you just look around and see if you like anything."
"Alright," said Willow. She looked through the guy's pants for something she liked. Most of them had large patches on the back pockets that were extremely masculine. All she wanted was a pair of jeans. After about ten minutes off digging through piles of folded pants, she finally found one she liked. They were dark blue and had a small patch on the back pocket of the brand logo, JNCO. She picked out two pairs and went in tried them both on. One fit, but the other didn't. She put the pair that didn't fit back and looked for one that was the same size as the pair that did. The pants were on sale, twenty-two dollars each. They bought them and were leaving the store when Willow spotted something.
"Oh, wow. Check out these earrings," she said, stopping and picking up a pair of extremely dangly, beaded earrings. "Aren't they cool?"
"Do you want them?" asked Storm.
"Sure," Willow said. She looked at the back of the earrings and found a price marked in red. "They're only a dollar fifty!"
"You can get a couple more if you want," Storm said. Willow picked out two more pairs of earrings and waited in line at the counter to buy them. She came back with twelve dollars and fifty cents. They went into J.C. Penny and spent the last of the money on a package of socks and underwear, and a cheap pair of Capri pajama pants. Storm ended up spending five dollars of her own money since they went over budget a little.
They drove back to the mansion with three bags of clothes. Willow was happy that she had some of her own clothes to wear, but felt bad that they'd spent a hundred dollars on her. She thanked Storm and went upstairs to unload everything in the dorm. No one was inside this time. She set the bags down and took out her new clothes. She ripped off the tags and took her Woodstock shirt, one of the pairs of blue jeans, a pair of underwear and socks and went into the bathroom to change. She took off all of Rogue's clothes and replaced them with her own. She looked at herself in the mirror. New clothes, new home, new life.
She sighed and neatly folded Rogue's clothes. She took them out of the bathroom and set them on top of Rogue's dresser, the gloves she had borrowed on the very top. She looked around the room with her hands in her pockets. This was the first time she had been alone since she arrived. But it was a different kind of alone. This was a solitude that could be easily broken. All she had to do was walk out of the room and find someone to talk to. She decided not to, however. She had promised Yolanda that she would write to her. She found a pad of lined paper and a pen under the lamp on the desk in the corner where the phone was. She sat down and took up the pen.
Dear Yolanda,
I made it. I'm at the school, and everything is just fine. Just like you told me it would be. You've helped me so much, and I don't think I can put how thankful I am into words. Without you, I would still be wandering the streets of Seattle. I still have quite a bit of the money you sent with me, so I'm giving it back to you. I don't think I'll need it. I really do have just about everything I need right here. I've got friends, people who care about me, and a warm bed to sleep in at night. I'm truly happy, but I miss my mother terribly. But as horrible as it all sounds, I think that when she died, it set me free. I don't quite know how to explain it...I really do miss her a lot.
Thank you for everything you have done for me.
~Willow
She read the letter over a few times, silent tears in her eyes from speaking about her mother, then folded it up and stuffed it in her pocket. She would find an envelope later. Right now, she was going to find her friends. It was too quiet in that room with just one person inside.
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Okay, as you read the next few chapters, please bear in mind that I wrote all of this after the movie first came out. I couldn't find an online script, so I had to do it completely from memory. I know some things are a little off, so no flames about accuracy!
