Author's Notes: Ugh, yeah, I know I suck. I'm sorry. It had to be done...
Hopefully this chapter will be happier.

Chapter Seven - Time

Time was passing by so fast that all I could do was stumble along after it as it all but ran me over. Before I had time to even breathe, a month had passed since we'd been in La Push. This had to be a record; I watched the calender anxiously and hoped with everything in me that maybe this time we wouldn't move. Of course, I could never be sure, but I could wish.

CJ was now six months old. I couldn't believe that he and I had made it to the yearly halfway mark. It had been exhausting, and one afternoon I thought, as I had to stop eating lunch to go make him stop crying, that I would never have kids. I doubted this was going to happen, as I loved children. Maybe all of this sister-brother bonding had finally rubbed off on me.

Now, just about everyone in La Push was going crazy because Sam and Emily's wedding was a little over three weeks away. I hadn't even known it was so close until Seth told me. I would watch pretty much every girl around go to wedding stores and return with what seemed like a thousand dresses and endless clumps of jewelry. Someone would have a breakdown about every five minutes, but I couldn't blame them: this was absolutely insane.

Sam invited me to come one day when Seth and I were eating ice cream outside of his house. I was amazed; I didn't think that anyone around here liked me enough to invite me to the wedding. Of course I said yes. And just like that, it was one of the most important things I had going; I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

I was also watching Heather like a hawk every morning. This was partly because the physciatrist had asked me to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything extreme. But the main reason was because both of us were waiting to see whether or not she was going to become a mother. I sincerely hoped not.

One morning, I woke up to the sound of her vomiting in the bathroom. I hyperventilated for about five minutes while she washed her mouth out with water from the sink. The second she was out of there, I pounced on her.

"Heather, do you think that this could mean--?"

"No, it's not."

"But how do you know?" I couldn't believe she was so calm when she hadn't even taken a pregnancy test.

"I think there's a bug going around."

"You can't say that when--"

"Trust me, I can. That, and...well...it's..."

"That time of month?"

"Yeah."

Oh. Well, that would explain things. I spent the rest of the day at work relieved, thankful that Heather - or I - wouldn't have to deal with one of the shrieking babies moms were carrying around.

Some afternoon, I was in a formal wear store myself, digging around for something to wear at the wedding when Quil appeared out of nowhere, scaring the crap out of me when he tapped me on the shoulder and waved. He had two different tuxedos in his hands, one a dark green and the other standard, boring black.

"Hi, Willow," he said in his bellowing voice.

"Hey, Quil. Are you looking for something to wear, too?"

He grinned. "Yeah. Which color do you like better? I can't decide."

"Well, I dunno. I haven't seen you in them. Go try them on."

I looked around for a dress while he wandered into the changing room. I found one that I liked; it was dark purple and went down to my feet. But when I looked at the price tag, I immediately put it back; I didn't have three hundred and fifty bucks to spend.

Quil came out in the boring black one. He looked good in it, but I'd always been the non-traditional type. "Hmm," I said. "Well, I like it, but try on the green one so I can compare them."

There was another dress I found that I didn't like, but thinking it was absolutely ridiculous. It was so sparkly I thought it would blind me, a neon pink with a low neck that nearly dropped down to the waist. Of course it was five hundred dollars. What the hell was up with that? It was a hideous dress. I couldn't imagine anyone paying that much for it.

Eventually, I stumbled across one that I did like and could actually afford. It was light blue and went down to my knees, a bit of a flare at the hem. It looked more like a cocktail party dress than something one would wear at a wedding, but oh, well; I doubted anyone would care. Best of all, when I tried it on, it fit just right. I went to pay for it while Quil showed off the dark green tuxedo.

"That looks better," I said while the cashier handed me my change. "I like it. Get that one."

"Yeah," he replied, looking down on it, "I thought so, too."

We walked outside with our new clothes and headed down the road. "You walked down here?" Quil asked.

"Yeah. I guess you did, too?"

"Uh-huh. You get a lot more excercise. Saves tons of gas money, anyway."

That was part of the reason I'd walked, myself. But for another thing, I'd been a bit nervous to get in cars (whether or not someone was in there with me) after the nightmare with Heather. I didn't want that to happen to me.

We traveled down the road in silence. Finally, when we reached the hill, Quil started to talk:

"So, are you and Seth friends, or am I wrong?"

I shot him a confused look. "Yeah...what did you think we were? Arch enemies?"

"I don't know...but he talks about you a lot."

"Does he really?" This surprised me, even though I thought Quil was trying to April Fool's me when it wasn't even April. I thought that I'd always been just an object in Seth's life, amusing for a second before he moved on to bigger things. I didn't know that he even thought about me when I wasn't around.

"Oh God, like you wouldn't believe. It's always 'Blah blah blah Willow' or 'Willow is so incredibly great blah blah blah'. I think he's in love with you."

"And I think you're exaggerating. Horribly."

"No, I'm not." I gave him a blank stare. "Okay, maybe I am a little bit, but honestly, he never stops talking about you." Quil smiled a bit. "One day, he's going to drive all of us nuts."

"What kind of stuff does he say?"

"You know, that he thinks you're the hottest thing ever and -"

"Shut up," I said, reaching an arm out to smack him on the head. He dodged at the last second and laughed. "You're stupid, Quil."

He pretended to be offended. "Ugh! Well, your hair is ugly."

"Yeah? Your face is hideous. Blindingly so."

We teased each other like that for a little while until I asked again, "Okay, so be serious for a second here. What does Seth really say about me?"

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because I'm a girl. We feed off of gossip."

"You're telling me," Quil said, rolling his eyes. "He just says that you're a really nice person. And that he hopes you don't move, because it would suck if you did."

"What?"

"He said that he hopes you--"

"I know, Quil, I heard you. I'm just surprised that he still remembers me telling him about it." This was the truth. I wondered if he was doing the same thing as I was, which would be crossing his fingers as the month mark passed and biting down on his lip 24/7. I felt bad that I might have made him so anxious over stupid old me. I wasn't a great person. I didn't deserve to be worried over.

By the time we reached the top of the hill, I was huffing and puffing like the wolf in the Three Little Pigs. It had been much, much easier going down than it was coming up. Quil was walking along so easily, like he did this every day (but then again, considering his wrestler-like appearance, he probably did.) I just about fell over by the time I'd taken two more steps.

"Are you okay?" Quil asked, noticing that my legs were about to fall off.

"I don't like hills," I gasped.

"It's good for you. You can never have too much excercise," he replied serenely.

If Quil wasn't a health freak, I didn't know who was.

The first thing I did when I got back into my house was put the dress up, then dart downstairs for a drink of water. Of course there wasn't any clean cups, so I just grabbed a dirty one that seemed the least threatening. I put it back after realizing there was wine in it and just drank water straight out of the sink.

I heard movement from behind me, and was shocked to see Heather standing in the doorway with CJ in her arms. She was holding him awkwardly, like a doll, and he was squirming around uncomfortably. I wanted to laugh at the sight, but then again, I couldn't remember her ever holding a baby before. It was something that needed practice.

"Do you know where his bottles are?" she asked. "I can't find any in this whole damn house."

"Sure." I dug around in a nearby pantry and pulled out a bottle. "There's a few in his room, too. By the mirror."

"Oh, I didn't know that." CJ started to cry, still squirming around, and Heather looked at him as though she were about to have a breakdown, and then back at me, desperate. "How do you take care of this kid? I can't do it. Every time I think he's happy, he starts crying. And then whenever I get him what he wants he throws it at the wall and starts crying even harder."

"That's just how it is," I responded simply, pouring milk in the bottle. I handed it to Heather and she shoved it in CJ's mouth like a plug in a bathtub. He immediately quieted down.

"I don't like babysitting," Heather whispered, as though talking at a normal tone would break the peace.

"Why are you? This is the first time I've ever seen you taking care of CJ. No offence," I added quickly. "Just wondering."

"Well, you're always doing everything and I thought I'd give you a break."

"Thanks." I was honestly touched. This was Heather, former bitch queen and royal fighter. I didn't recognize her by this point. But watching her feed CJ a bottle of milk and looking just as frustrated as I usually was, I felt a strange rush. It was hard to explain, but suddenly I wanted to run up to Heather and burst into tears, hugging her tight.

It was at that moment I realized that I really did love my sister.

Later that night, I was curled up under my covers, about to go to sleep, when I remembered what Quil had said about Seth earlier. I smiled. Seth was always talking about me? Yeah, right. Quil could be so goofy.

I had to admit, though, that some small part of me wished it were true.

But obviously Quil had made the whole thing up. Obviously. Seth probably didn't give a crap about me, like everyone else on the face of the planet. Why would he? I was just boring, mean old me. Nobody liked me, and I was fine with that. I didn't like them either.

I sincerely hoped that Seth didn't consider me his friend. Whenever we moved again - and I knew we would, I could sense it -, La Push would soon be forgotten. I wasn't important enough to leave someone aching behind me.

Suddenly worried, I fell into a troubled sleep.

Author's Notes: Oh Godz. Willow really does need to think more positively towards herself, doesn't she? Poor girl. Moving around all over the place and losing your self-confidence can do that to a person.
Hope you're not bored of this story yet! Hugs and kisses and Godiva chocolate to all of my lovely readers. You guys are awesome!