Disclaimer: I don't own the W.I.T.C.H. series.
New Bad Girl in Town: Observations of a TDB
Chapter 2
Will couldn't believer her luck, which had to be the worst luck anyone had ever had to deal with. Here she was actually hoping to get kicked out of school, certain that if you could get people to leave her alone she could make things work for her. Now, she was sitting outside the Principal's office worrying about being sent to juvie or even prison. She already had two big strikes against her and if this went to court she was likely to be tried as an adult. What she hated more than what was coming was how this started. None of this was here fault, she was being blamed by the real culprits and as usual she was the one people assumed the worse of.
Looking up from her seat, she looked across the office lobby at Uriah and his friends. The carrot top had a smirk across his face despite the fact that he had a dark bruise on the side of his head and over the bridge of his nose with some bloody tissue sticking out of one nostril. She knew she was screwed and had no way of getting out of this situation. There was no one to stand up for her, no one who really cared what happened to her. She pulled her knees to her chest and took deep breathes fighting back the tears and trying not to sob.
"Miss Vandom," Officer Tom Lair said returning from the office, "does you mother have another number we can contact her at? She hasn't answered any of our calls."
"No." Will sighed, wondering why they even bother to pretending they were trying to learn the truth. She was sure they had already marked her down as guilty.
"Then I guess we'll just wait until she returns our calls then." Tom said shaking his head and turned his attention to the three boys. "Now, do you want to tell me what happened again?"
"Yeah," Uriah started with a straight face trying to look like an innocent victim, "red over there was trying to sell us that stuff in the baggie. I don't know what it was but I was sure it was bad stuff and we refused to buy it. Then she said that if we didn't have money, that we could pay her with…" Uriah then spoke with a hushed tone. "…with sex."
"It was disgusting!" Uriah spoke out aloud again.
"I'm sure it was young man." Tom said as he turned back to Will, "So, do you have anything to add at this point?
"They were the ones trying to sell it to me!" Will snapped angrily at the unsure face of her parole officer, "You know about me Lair, I don't deal, I was a user not a dealer." Will sighed, "What's the use, you aren't going to believe me."
"I've gotten hold of the boys' parents and they should be here shortly." Mrs. Knickerbocker said coming out of her office. She glared at the students present but softened as she looked at Will. She hated the situation that her students were involved in.
She found it a little unbelievable that Uriah and his friend could be completely innocent, but she had no reason to even consider that the boys had ever been involved with drugs. They may have been poor students, and troublemakers, but the worst they had ever been involved in was a single arrest for vandalism after they'd been caught tagging at the mall.
Will may have had a large record against, but something about the situation seem off to Mrs. Knickerbocker. She knew Will wanted out of this school, but to sell drug on her first day. The situation just didn't make sense to her. See look down at the redhead and wondered if she really was this determined to throwaway her last chance.
"I hope you know, Miss Vandom, that we have a zero tolerance policy for drugs at this school." Mr.s Knicerbocker explained, "If it turns out that this really is you bag of drugs you will get more than you wished for."
"Gee, thanks for the heads up." Will grumbled, not bothering to look at the principal and the worried look she wore.
"Mrs. Knickerbocker we were going over the events with the boys again, if you have any question for them?" Tom asked Mrs. Knickerbocker.
"No, please continue." She replied
"Okay boys, after you were propositioned for sex in exchanged for drugs, what happened next?"
"Well," Uriah answered, "we refused. We weren't interested in her and we'd never use whatever that stuff was. After that she called out to someone and this weird looking guy with white hair came out of nowhere."
"Did you say white hair?" Mrs. Knickerbocker asked.
Will gasped remembering about Silver, the only other person that knew what really happened. But he was gone, and after every thing she said to him, she doubted that he'd stand up for her.
"Yeah," Uriah continued, "he must have been her hired muscle cause next then we knew started beating us up while red just laughed. It was terrible; Kurt and Clubber probably have concussions and look what he did to me." Uriah pointed to his injured temple and nose then lifted up his shirt revealing a deep dark bruise, about the size of a fist, at the top of his stomach.
"Did you get the boy's name?" Tom asked.
"No, he beat us without saying a word. Why don't you ask her?"
Tom turned to Will and asked, "Will can you tell us anything about this white haired boy, such as his name."
Will sat there wondering if she should bother. She hated that jerk, but the fact was he knew what they did and had saved her from being raped. Telling them about Silver might help her or just get him in trouble. Though the thought of getting him in trouble, after hurting her feelings, was appealing she still didn't want to see him again.
"Will, was it Silverio Mizuno that beat the boys up?" Mrs. Knickerbocker asked.
Will had a shocked looked on her face hearing his name.
"Silverio Mizuno? Who is that Mrs. Knickerbocker?" Tom asked
"He's a new student, who enrolled in our school earlier this morning." Mrs. Knickerbocker explained, "I find it difficult to believe that he could have gotten involved in this a few short hours later. However it seems unlikely that there would be two young men with white hair on campus"
"Silverio Mizuno, are you sure that's his name? It seems unusually, like it was made up."
"That seems made up to you? What about Seymour Butts, or Adolph Oliver Bush, or John Jacob Jinglehimer Schmidt?"
Everyone turn to the new voice that had just entered the room. There, closing the door behind him was then a grey haired boy looking at the scene in front of him. Uriah and his friends were on one side, Will on the other, with Principal Knickerbocker and a police officer in the middle.
"That's him," Uriah yelled, "that's the guy that beat us up. He's the one Will told to attack us."
"Whatever," Silver said casually then turned turn to the principal, "Anyway Mrs. Knickerbocker, I know you said to pick it up tomorrow but I was wondering if you might have my schedule ready."
"Mr. Mizuno what are you still doing here?" Mrs. Knickerbocker asked.
"Oh, well I decided to familiarize myself with the school and went for a walk, then I grab a bite to eat, came back for another look around and just as I was about to leave I thought "I wonder if they've got my schedule ready for tomorrow?" and here I am."
"Excuse young man," Tom said, "I have a few questions for you. These boys say that you beat them up. Is that true… Silverio was it?"
Silver took a quick look at the boys and said, "They do look familiar, particularly that nose it looks like my handy work."
The principal and the officer were surprised to hear him confess so casually.
"Mr. Mizuno, are you aware that we do not tolerate violence in this school?" Mrs. Knickerbocker asked clearly anger at his lax attitude toward the situation.
"I figured as much, but I don't tolerate rapist so one of us was gonna end up disappointed." Silver argued calmly.
"Excuse me; are you saying you beat the boys up for raping someone?" Tom asked
"He's lying!" Uriah yelled, "We didn't do anything, he just beat us up for no reason!"
"Mr. Mizuno would you like to tell us what happened this afternoon between Miss Vandom and these boys?" Mrs. Knickerbocker asked.
"Hmm…" Silver mumbled.
Will, looking up at Silver, sat tensely wondering what he would say. Would he tell them what really happened even after what she said or just sell her out and blame everything on her like everyone else did.
"Gotta say my memories pretty good with information that I've read and researched," Silver revealed as he reached into his pocket, "but events involving my personal life are usually kinda fuzzy. Things like what I had for breakfast, or lunch, or if I remembered to lock the door before leaving home."
"Wait," Silver suddenly looked confused with his eyes darting around from one point of the ceiling to another, as he pulled out a cell phone and began pushing some buttons, "did I remember to lock up this morning?"
"Son focus," Tom requested, "do you remember what happened with these boys."
"Vaguely, but this is fairly accurate." Silver answered as he held out his cell to both Mrs. Knickerbocker and Officer Lair.
On the screen they could clearly see Will being held against a wall by Kurt and Clubber as Will was kicking and screaming for help. The video continued with Kurt and Clubber lifting Will off the ground and spreading her legs in front of Uriah. Uriah began molesting Will against her will when the angle of the video change as though the camera phone was being lowered and set on a platform, positioned to capture the rest of the event without its operator.
After Uriah pulled away from Will he held up a plastic baggie in front of her and offer to share it's contains. The picture was too small to identify the white contains of the bag but both the Principal and the officer recognized the bag as the same bag, containing crack, sitting on top of a desk behind them.
As Uriah dropped the bag a new person stepped into the scene casually walking up to the group completely unnoticed. The grey haired youth in video was already standing next to them when Uriah finished unbuttoning his pant and reached for Will. The new boy lifted his knee off to his side then whipped his foot over his head in an arc bring it back down right into Uriah's temple.
The video continued to show Silver beating up Uriah, Kurt, and Clubber with ease. It then reveals Silver consoling Will who had been struggle with NOT picking up the bag of drugs. Finally it showed Silver and will leaving together as Silver dropped the bag into a trashcan in front of the camera before picking up the camera phone and stopping the recording.
Mrs. Knickerbocker and Officer Lair now knew the truth and had evidence to prove that Will was innocent and that Uriah and his friend had tried to rape Will while they were in possession of illegal drugs. Tom took the cell and began playing the video again and showed it to the boys.
"Do you boys have anything to say about this?" Tom asked
"That's a fake!" Uriah cried, "That guy must have faked that video, we didn't do anything?"
"So he faked a video of the three of you wearing the same clothes you're wearing now in just two hours, with flawless quality?" Tom questioned, "You're actually going to deny that this is really the three of you in this video and that that those drugs are not yours?"
"Of course that's not us and we'd never even touch that stuff." Uriah responded.
"Really, then why are the only fingerprints on the bag yours Uriah?"
Everyone turned to the door to find a female officer walking in carrying a small box. That she set on the desk next to the baggie and greeted Tom.
"Officer Lair, we already finished running the fingerprints we pulled off the baggie." The new officer explained, "Since we had all four of these kids on file the boys didn't take long. Like I said all the prints are the carrot top's. We've even done a search of boys' lockers, in addition to the Vandom girl's. They were clean except for Uriah's which had this."
She removed the lid from the box exposing a collection of drugs and small bottles of liquor.
Will looked on in both shock and longing at all the drugs in the box. All the pain drugs had caused her and she still couldn't help wanting more. She recognized almost everything they had, weed, coke, methamphetamines, pills, both uppers and downers, some roofies, she even saw a few hits of ecstasy. The last time she had ecstasy the party had seemed amazing, but the morning after had been the lowest point of her life.
She had no memory how she gotten into bed but the worst part was that she didn't wake up alone as usual. Instead she found not one, not two but three guys in bed with her along with two more guys passed out on the floor and yet another boy who had just finished getting dressed. He had just smiled evilly at her as he left without a single word. Will sat there, cover in the dried seed of her unknown lovers, and cried longer that she had ever done before in her life, hoping, wishing and praying that she would never, ever, remember what had happened that night.
Yet, even remembering the tears she shed, and the shame she had felt, and the promise she made to herself, she just couldn't help wishing she could have that entire box for herself. She wrung her hands trying to keep from reaching for the box, but everything around seemed to fade away as see stared at the drugs.
"Well boys," Tom spoke glaring at the boys, "the evidence points to you. You sure you want to stick to your story or are you ready to come clean."
"I just can't believe this." Mrs. Knickerbocker said to the policewoman, "This school had never had a drug problem, certainly nothing this serious." She had been so sure that the worst that had ever happened on her campus were suspensions for cheating on exams or expulsions for students that had been involved in fights one too many times. The sight of that box of drugs had been more than just little unsettling
"Sometimes stuff like this is so well hidden that it never gets found out." The officer explained.
While everyone was distracted Silver noticed the way Will was staring at the box of drugs. Standing next to Will he held his hand an inch from her face and *SNAP!*
Will snapped out of her daze and glared at Silver just as everyone else did the same.
Silver just stood there snapping his fingers repeatedly in a steady beat with head tilted and his eyes stare off into space. Taking notice of everyone staring at him he stopped. His eye darted between the adults and the hand he had been snapping with.
"Excuse me, was this bother you guys? Sorry, my mind just wondered off to a scene from West Side Story."
They all just ignored his outburst and turned back to the boys. All except Will who stared at Silver and rubbed her ear which had been irritated by the loud snap next to her head. She wanted so say something to him but couldn't think any words to use. She turned back to the box of drugs on the desk only look back to Silver. The desire for drugs had passed again, as her mind was now preoccupied with Silver.
She just couldn't figure him out. This was the second time he'd saved her, fourth if she counted him stopping her from giving in to her urges to take the drugs. Why did he bother helping her? Why didn't he just walk away when he had the chance? Why bother recording the attack when, if shown, revealed him assaulting Uriah and his friends? If Silver really didn't even want to consider her a friend, what could motivate him to go out of his way to help her so much?
"So," Silver sat on the bench next to Will, "How's your day been so far?"
Will turned away and tried scooting away for him only to find she was already at the end of the bench.
"Sure, it been far from perfect but it wasn't all bad right?"
"I don't want to talk to you." Will replied refuse to face him.
"Alright, I'll just interpret you reactions then." Silver leaned forward and looked closely at Will from her head, to her hands and feet.
"How were your classes?" Will turned her head further away. Silver leaned further trying to keep Will's eyes in view.
"Ah, didn't like them much. Well they can't have all been bad, one must have been almost interesting." Will's eye twitch toward Silver then away again.
"So there was one you like. Which was it, P.E., social studies, math, science…" Will twitched again, "wait was that for math or science? Both good classes, favorites of mine back when I was… Anyway doesn't that prove that today hasn't been all bad?
Will turned to Silver, recognizing that he had just stopped himself from letting something slip. He already knew she was and addict, and a victim of attempted rape. What did he have to hide from her? What right did he have to hide anything when he already knew the worst of her?
"We didn't do anything!" Uriah insisted to the interrogation, "My father's a lawyer and when he gets here you're all going to be in trouble for accusing us of all this. Just wait, you'll all be out of your jobs and we'll sue you for everything you have!"
"Really?" Tom said skeptically, "What about you two to boys. Do you share the same confidence in Uriah's father? Will he be defending the two of you as well?"
"Wha… but we didn't do anything." Kurt replied sheepishly.
"Didn't do anything?" the female officer said, "Boys we have witnesses, video evidence of you assaulting that girl, helping your friend to violate her, and I'm willing to bet that this box of drug will implicate the two in drug possession once we've dust these for prints."
"So what will it be boys," Tom continued, "confess now and we'll go easy on you boys, or let this go to trial where I have no doubt you'll be convicted and face serious jail time for these crimes."
"Just keep you mouths shut and let my dad handle this." Uriah ordered.
"Forget you Uriah!" Kurt said standing up to Uriah. "It was all Uriah's idea we didn't know what he was doing at first. He asked us to "invest" some money and he'd pay us back double. When we found out he said he'd make sure we got in trouble to if we said anything. Right Clubber?"
Clubber nodded in agreement.
"You backstabbing bastards" Uriah said standing only to be pushed back down into his sit by Tom.
"You stay put young man until you're told otherwise." Tom chastised Uriah, "Kurt would you and Clubber be willing to testify in court about what happened today and where the drugs came from?
"Um, sure," Kurt said, "He got it from some guy called Crazy Horse."
"Crazy Horse, in this some kind of joke?" the female officer asked.
"No I'm serious, a few months ago we visited Clubber's cousin and he took us to a party. He pointed out this guy, Crazy Horse, told us he was a dealer and that we should stay away from him. Uriah spent the whole party talking with him."
"You actually meet Crazy Horse?" Tom asked, "Would you be willing to identify him as well."
"You've heard of this guy?" the fellow officer asked.
"I've heard rumors of Crazy Horse. He deals in other towns but no one knows who he is. Some say he doesn't exist and that it just a group of people using the same name. Either way if you boys are willing to testify and identify your supplier, the D.A. will be willing to commute your sentence. Maybe even get you off if it turns out be the Crazy Horse we've heard rumors about.
"Since your parents are already on there way we'll wait for them before all of us head over to the station and take an official statement from each of you. After that you two boy will be free to go but I imagine we be talking to Uriah and his father for a while."
Tom then turned to Silver, "Mr. Mizuno, was it? We're going to have to confiscate you phone for evidence."
"S'all right," Silver replied, "keep it, in fact when you're done with it destroy it."
"Are you sure, the boys at the precinct can probably download the video and have it returned to you in a couple of days."
"Nah," Silver answered, "I'm furiously paranoid so I don't like to use a cell for longer than a month. Just in case people try tapping my phone or use it to triangulate my location. Isn't it nice how affordable cell phones are nowadays?"
Tom didn't bother answering him. Instead he looked over to Will with an apologetic look. "Miss Vandom, I'd like to extend to you my sincerest apologies."
"Just save it. I know you don't really care. Can I just go now I've had enough of all this crap?"
"Of course, again I really am sorry for what you been through"
"As am I," Mrs. Knickerbocker interjected, with a sad look, "It's almost last bell if you like you're free to head on home."
"Yeah, you probably wish I'd go home for good." Will grumbled standing up and getting her bag.
"You going to be okay, Will?" Silver asked with surprising sympathy.
Will looked at him bitterly but found it hard stay angry the longer she looked him in the eye. Gone was the carefree smirk, the arrogant look, or even his confused glaze she'd seen earlier. Instead she found the serious, concerned look he had when he'd saved her. The same look in his eyes as when he spoke those first kind words to her.
"Mr. Mizuno," Mrs. Knickerbocker spoke gaining his attention, "I'd like to thank you for you help in resolving this unfortunate situation. And thank you for saving Miss Vandom, though know that we expect you to reframe from any more violence.
"Don't mention it, seriously." Silver responded still looking at Will.
Will had the distinct feel that his reply was also meant for her. "Don't mention it," was also meant to mean he wouldn't tell anyone about what happened. The attack, the accusations, even the things the principal and parole officer didn't know about, their talk about drugs, friends, their relationship.
Will started to leave the office, but stopped after opening the door. Looking back at Silver she wanted to forgive him for their fight earlier, and thank him for saving her. She opened her mouth and hesitated not sure what, exactly, to say to him
"Something you need to tell me, Wilhelmina?"
In a huff Will left, slamming the door behind her.
"Hehehe," Silver chuckled with a smile, "she's still pissed."
"What was that about?" Mrs. Knickerbocker questioned.
"She really hates it when people use her real name?" Silver said still smiling at her reaction.
"Then why would you say that knowing it was only upset her?" she asked clear upset herself.
"Well, for a second there I though she was gonna thank me for what I've done. That's just unacceptable." Silver stood up turning to the door, "So, unless you have my schedule ready for me, I'll be going for today and I'll pick it up tomorrow.
"Actually, I'd like to talk to you about your schedule. I had a chance to go over the results of your placement exam. They are exceedingly high, if you'd like you can enroll into senior classes and join our graduates this year or you can take the advance classes with the students in you age group."
"Eh, I don't really care about the educational value of your classes." Silver said facing her then looking back at the door, "I'm just here cause my parents think I need to learn how to interact with people my own age. Just put me in regular classes I doubt there's anything from me to learn here academically."
"Well," Mrs. Knickerbocker reply indignantly, "I sure you'll find that we have an impressive curriculum that has a few things to teach you even with you impressive scores. And I'm sure you'll manage to make wonderful friends with your fellow students"
"Huh, wha, sorry I zoned out there for a moment." Silver said he still looking at the door. "Friends, yeah, I have a tendency to piss people off so friends aren't high on my priority list. I'd be good keeping most people from wishing ill of me, or at least not trying to beat me up."
"What about Miss Vandom? After all you've done for her; the two of you must be quite close."
"No not exactly…" Silver paused thinking of what to say, "We're just victims of circumstance. Admittedly I'd like to learn more about her but that's more curiosity that an interest in friendship."
'Crap!' Silver thought, 'Why did I say that, it makes sound like a stalker or an obsessive sociopath. If she realizes why I came to Heatherfield it'll just be bring undue attention to me, or worse to them.
"I see," She said in a knowing manner, "well I'm still confident that your time at our school with be enriching socially and intellectually. Come back tomorrow morning, your schedule will be ready by then."
"Cool." Silver said plainly walked out, 'Huh, she didn't seem too weirded out by what I said, that worked out well.'
Mrs. Knickerbocker headed into her office leaving the police officers to watch the boys as they waited for their parents to arrive. Accessing her computer she printed up a copy of Will's schedule.
"Those two are an interesting pair." Mrs. Knickbocker thought out loud. "Both hesitant to get close to people, both far from enthusiastic in attending classes, but much too involved with each other to ignore one another." She paused considering the idea she had thought up.
"I know it's not my role as principal to play matchmaker," she mused, "but I honestly believe they will be good for each other while they get acclimated to their time here." She started working on Silver's schedule, despite it not being her responsibility, and proceeded to enroll him into any of Will's classes that still had room for him.
WITCH
She refused to cry, Will was tired of crying and enough was enough. She was walking home as all the events of the last few hours kept running though her head. She had come so close to being severely punished for something that she didn't do. True she was no stranger to being blamed like that, and there was no deny that she had done her share of bad things. The fact was she wasn't innocent, not in any sense of the word, and this sad fact is what made holding back the tear so difficult. As often as she kept trying to tell herself that she wasn't trash, that she was no longer a whore… she just couldn't convince herself of it.
"Damn them…I don't need them" Will growled under her breath. She didn't want to admit that she needed anyone despite the painfully obvious fact that she did. She had needed someone to save her sorry ass today not once but twice. She hated how helpless she felt as that jerk came to her rescue, and angry at how casual he had handle it like it wasn't a big deal. The odd thing was her anger toward him wasn't the same that she felt to the few other people that had supposedly tried to help her. They had only pretended to care, while really wanting to get her out of their hair as quickly as possible.
Silver had been different though, while he'd been a jerk at times, he'd never looked at her in contempt or disgust but with a sincere concern for her well being. He'd tried to be kind to her, consoled her, and talked to her so casually to her the way she'd imagined friends might talk to one another. He'd refused a friendship with her but still he'd been there when she needed him. Despite keeping her at arm's length, did he actually care about her to some degree? Lord knew she desperately needed someone to want to help her, since her own mother hadn't cared enough to try and help her. No, while everyone else had just acted like that wanted to help, this boy, this stranger had instilled, in her, the idea that maybe he really did care about her.
Will was drawn out of her though by a remarkable smell. Looking up she noticed a familiar sign reading, "The Silver Dragon." It was a moment before she realized it was the name of the restaurant that Chinese girl claimed to own. She had nearly forgotten about her after all the terrible things that followed her invitations to hangout. Thinking about it she had also seemed to be sincere, but had been much too kind and perky to be true. After finding her friends talking about her behind her back, she refused to even listen to her apology.
Looking through the window, she wished could go in and get some of the delicious foods the customers were enjoying. Unfortunately she didn't have any money and she didn't want to hear those girls joke about how poor she was or say that she was a piece of trash. Even if it was true, she didn't need to be reminded of it.
Hurrying away, feeling the tears welling up again she only just missed the four girls she'd been thinking of as they arrival at the restaurant. Not long afterward Will made it home and found that her mother wasn't home yet. Checking the time she realized that her mother should still be at work, but doubted that was the case. She was working the third week of her fifth job in six months. Truthfully it was the longest her mother had held a job and figured it wouldn't last much longer. Will wouldn't even be surprised if Susan came home late, drunk after being fired.
Dropping her bag by the door, she kicked off her shoes and made her way to the kitchen as her stomach grumbled again. She was hoping to something decent to eat, preferable something hot for her stomach. Her mother was supposed to go shopping before work this morning, so hopefully she would have some options for her meal. She pulled open the fridge and had finally hit her breaking point, as the tears returned once again. The only things she found in the fridge were half a gallon of milk and three new cases of beer. She couldn't believe what she saw, here she was struggling to quit drinking and her mother not only continued to bring it into the house but brought it in excess. It just wasn't fair, why did she torture her like this?
The tears were already streaming down her cheeks as she closed the door and cheeked the freezer. It was even more barren finding nothing but ice and frost before slamming the freezer shut. The only thing her mother had bought was beer... BEER, the one thing they didn't need. She leaned against the fridge, shuddering with a sob angry at what was happening. Will then checked the cabinets and managed to find a nearly empty box of sugary cornflakes. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, so she grabbed a bowl and spoon and poured herself the last of the cereal. After taking a moment to control her breathing and stop the shaking and crying she pulled out the milk and opened it up only to gag at the smell escaping from it. It had clearly spoiled long ago, so she poured it down the sink and threw the bottle away before taking the bowl into the living room.
Falling onto the couch she shoved a handful of cereal into her mouth and spat it back out. It was well past it's expiration date and it left Will regretting the fact that she ate the last two eggs that morning instead of saving one for now. Had she thought of that sooner she'd have something that wasn't nasty to eat and would have to rely of the unlike hope that her mother would actually bring something home. Sighing she set the bowl down on the coffee table and wished that maybe, just maybe Susan would be responsible enough to actually bring home something to eat. After turning on the TV she pulled off her socks and began rubbing her sore feet and tried to forget her troubles and her hunger with some channel surfing.
Several hours later Will lay on the couch staring blankly at the TV not really caring about what was on the air. Bored and numb she tried think of what she should do with her time. Homework wasn't an appealing idea, and unpacking the last few boxes in her room wasn't much better. Getting on her mom's computer might be fun but it was so slow that online games and streaming videos were unlikely. Will suddenly sat up at the sound of the front door opening.
"Where are you?" Susan demanded angrily as she slammed the door behind her.
"What's got your panties in a knot?" Will snorted, putting on strong face. She refused to show her mother any weakness, especially since it was clear that her mother wouldn't give a damn about her problems.
"I can't believe this! Your first day, your first day, and you're already screwing around with drugs and trying to whore yourself out!" Susan screeched, with alcohol on her breath as she glared at her daughter. Will fanned away the odor of the woman's breathe with her hand. "What is wrong with you? I didn't raise a whore!"
"Really, will you had me fooled!" Will snapped, "And for you information I didn't do anything!"
"Bullshit! Don't lie to me Will" Susan growled glaring hatefully at Will who responded by picking up the cereal bowl throwing it at her.
"And what happened to you going grocery shopping this morning?" Will demanded, "Why is there nothing but beer in the fridge?"
"I decided to get groceries after work, but if you want to whore yourself out, you can just buy you own shit you little slut!" Susan retorted.
"Go to hell!" Will said stiffly, shocked at what her mother said. Susan had always been callous toward her but had never said anything that hurtful. Will pushed her aside, head for the door refusing to listen to anymore of her mothers rants or letting her see her tears.
"Where the hell do you think your going?" Susan demanded look at Will who had yanked open the door.
"Anywhere away from you!" Will snapped and stormed out and slammed the door only to find herself standing barefoot in the apartment hallway. Before she could do anything she heard a click that signaled to her that Susan had locked the door behind her. She gently checked the door to confirm that it was indeed locked and cursed herself for leaving her key in her bag. She refused to knock, let alone beg to be let back in.
"Screw this." Will grumbled as she stalked off, hands stuffed in her pockets. Outside she hugged herself, rubbing her upper arms for warmth as she felt the chill of a cold breeze. It was still light out on this cool fall evening leading to what would be cold night.
It didn't take long before the redhead found herself back by the same restaurant she had been invited to by that Chinese girl, Hay Lin. Again she noticed the amazing smell of food drawing out another growl from her empty stomach. Will was desperate now, and no longer cared that it was probably a setup. Hay Lin had still invited her over and her only chance to eat was that she might be able to bum a snack or some leftovers from the girl. If nothing else it would get her out of the cold for a few minutes.
She prepared herself for what would likely be an embarrassing moment of classmates teasing her and treating her like garbage. Surely they had already heard about what had happened at school and believed that Will was to blame for it. No reason they shouldn't, the blonde girl had seem ready to think the worst of her. Sighing as her stomach grumbled yet again she walked into the restaurant only to be stopped by a Chinese woman about the same age as her mother.
"Excuse me miss, but you must wear shoes to dine here." The woman said giving Will a disgusted look over. Will looked down at her bare feet, embarrassed that hunger had made here forget that she didn't have shoes on.
"Relax dear, she's here to see Hay Lin and her friends." Said an even older Chinese woman, who smiled at the confused redhead, "Come along, I'll show you where your friends are."
Will followed the elder woman and glanced back to see the younger lady eyeing her critically. Will was confused why the older woman was being nice to her and acted like she was certain that Will was one of Hay Lin's friends.
"Don't pay any attention to her child; she's had a bad day." The woman said smiled over her shoulder, "My name is Yan Lin and you are?"
"Will… Will Vandom." Will answered a little unsteadily as the woman stopped and opened a door into another room. Will's stomach rumbled again causing the woman to laugh a little.
"Go on in child and I'll bring you something to eat." Yan Lin said softly.
"I… I don't have any money." Will said hanging her head a little.
"Don't worry child, friends of my granddaughter are welcome here for a free meal. All I ask is that you try to keep up with your studies and have fun." Yan Lin said amusingly, "Now go on and join your friends."
Before Will could protest the elder woman gently pushed her through the door to what looked like a private dinning area, four girls were seated at a table pouring over their homework while snacking on some cookies and pausing to talk with one another. She recognized all of them as being the same girls Hay Lin had been sitting with at lunch. Will was tempted to try and trust Hay Lin for inviting her, but couldn't. As nice as Hay Lin and her grandmother had tried to act towards her, Will didn't have the luxury of trusting anyone, since they would likely turn around and betray her.
"Who invited her?" the blond girl, Cornelia asked as she looked up to see the redhead standing by the door. Will noticed that a brunette girl named Irma glared daggers at the blonde. Just as Will was about to back out of the room and leave Hay Lin jumped out of rushed to stop her.
"I'm so glad you came." Hay Lin cried happily dragging her to a sit at the table. "I was worried you wouldn't come after that misunderstanding at school."
"You can't be serious; did you hear what this sl… girl did at school?" Cornelia said upset at Will's presences.
"No Corny, I was too busy learning the facts to be bothered by the rumors you heard." Irma snapped.
"Don't call me Corny!" Cornelia snapped back, "And what would you know about it?"
Will couldn't be help staring in shock at these girls. The two girls were arguing over her, one verbally attacking her while another was actually defending her.
"Just ignore them Will, they're always like this." Said Taranee, a blacker girl with glasses who had smile at her and given her hand a gently squeeze.
"Because my dad told me what really happened, Corny!" Irma explained, "Will didn't do anything wrong. That creep Uriah and his friends attacked her at school then tried to frame for what happened."
"What?" Will asked in shock that she knew so much about what happened.
"Oh uh, my dad's a captain on the police force." Irma said rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "He… He told me that he felt really sorry over what happened at school. He was really hoping that you were innocent, but he had to do his job."
Will was nervous at the idea that these girls knew about her whole past as her eye began to water. If her guess was right and Irma's father was Officer Lair, then they probably did know everything. Will started to stand only to be stopped when Hay Lin grabbed her arm.
"Please don't go." Hay Lin said pulling Will back into her sit, "We were hoping to get to know you."
"Yeah right…" Will began but stopped talking as Yan Lin returned with a platter of food. She gave each girl a plate of rice, mushroom chicken, beef and broccoli, green beans, a pitcher of cola to fill their glasses, an extra plate with enough egg rolls for everyone to finally a small bowl of fortune cookies.
"Thanks Grandma." "Thanks Missus Lin." Hay Lin and her three friends chorused respectively.
"Th-thank you." Will said softly, looking at all the food she had brought them. It had been a while since she last saw so much food and she was so hungry. Not only had she only eaten half her lunch at school, since it was paid by a free lunch program it seemed to have smaller portions than the lunches that the were actually paid for by the students.
"Your welcome girls, enjoy your meal." Yan Lin smiled, at the girls pausing to give Will a slightly warmer smile and left.
Will immediately started digging into her food ignoring the embarrassment she felt as when her stomach growled loudly enough for the girls to hear. While she focused on eating the other girls took their break from studying to talk about how unfair it their biology homework was. The teacher had been absent and the substitute had be left instructions to have all the student outline and entire chapter and answer the study question at the end. Will silently agreed that it was unfair, but didn't really have any intention to do it anyway so she didn't have any complaints to voice.
"So Will, what was your old school like?" Irma asked with a mouth full of rice earning a light slap on the back of the head from Taranee.
"Would you please swallow first?" Taranee grumbled, causing everyone to giggle, even Will much to her surprise. The amusement of the slap fade as the meaning of the question sank in. What was she supposed to say? That she hated her school, because she had been expelled for being involved in a sex scandal, for being raped. That bastard teacher thought he could just take what he wanted and get away with it, but was only half right. His career was over when it finally came out, but he still succeeded in placing the blame on her. Her past had been all the evidence they needed to believe his lies, leaving Will to question if it really was her fault, even though she knew it wasn't.
"It… it was okay I guess…nothing special." Will said softly not wanting to talk about it. After finishing her food she picked up a fortune cookie and opened it up and started reading the fortune as she popped the cookie into her mouth.
"You will make a new best friend." Will recited as she looked up at Irma who winked at her making the redhead blush a little. Did Irma really want to be friends with her, the best friend in her fortune? Did the others as well?
WITCH
Yan Lin could see that the red haired girl had a good soul, even knowing about her past. She recalled seeing news of a terrible scandal that occurred in Fadden Hills, a city not far from Heatherfield on the evening news. It bothered her how most people ignored the news, except for those that just wanted gossip to entertain each other with. Yan Lin, however, never believed for an instant that the girl had started the incident. She had no doubt in her mind that it was the girl that had been the true victim. How odd it seemed that she had shown up on her doorstep of all places.
As she entered her bedroom, to take a small break, she was surprised to notice her wardrobe shaking violently with a pink light shining through the cracks of the door. Could it be, could the trouble redhead really be the new keeper of the Heart? With her there were now five girls, including her own granddaughter who she was proud to suspect to be her successor as the guardian of air. She knew that the Oracle would eventually call for a new generation of guardians and they would have a long hard road ahead of them. But she was determined to help guide them along as best as she could.
A small smiled played across Yan Lin's lips as she thought of something, she was absolutely right about the redhead. Will had to be the good person she recognized her as and this as the proof of that fact. The Heart would never have chosen a bad person to wield it, to protect it. It was an even better judge of character than she was.
A/N:
Well here's the chapter 2 rewrite.
Those of you that read the original may have noticed that I remove Missus Rudolph from the story. Silver's more than makes up for her absences. For those of you that are curious about the future of this story may be interested to know that I don't intend to have Blunk written in with Silver here to take up the slack.
That said…
Please read and review, whether you liked or hated it. Seriously I'd like to know if people are actually reading this or just getting part way and abandoning this story.