chapter twenty three //

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Willow

I'm a horrible, horrible person, Willow thought, pulling her hair up into a bun. She'd spent so much time hating her father for the things he had done, and now he was unwell, Willow still didn't have it in her heart to forgive him.

It wasn't like she was Satan or anything. She didn't wish bad upon him, but when her mum showed up at the school with two suitcases in the boot of the car and Willow's passport sitting on the passenger seat, Willow told her mum that she wasn't going anywhere.

It had almost been a quick getaway. I have exams, she'd told her mother. And no one was more surprised than Willow when her mum agreed. Just promise me that you'll call River or stay with Jasmine if it gets too much on your own, she'd said.

That would have been too easy though. When they got home (the next flight wouldn't even leave until later that evening. Mrs Daniels had a tendency to become chaotic in a crisis) Willow was coming down from the joint she shared with Michael and started digging through the kitchen cupboards for snacks to satisfy her post-pot munchies. 

"What on earth are you doing, Willow?" Her mum asked, completely bewildered. To be fair, Willow was acting like an animal who hadn't found food for days. 

"I'm starving," she said with a full mouth of corn chips. "Do we have any pickles?"

"Pickles?" Now her mum looked truly worried. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Reaching for a packet of marshmallows, her mum grabbed Willow's tanned arm. "Mum, stop. I need my marshmallows," she spoke with urgency.

"Are you pregnant?" Her mum's eyes went wide, dropping her arm. Of course Willow burst out laughing, which didn't help.

"Oh please, I'm the only virgin left in the 12th grade," she giggled, finally digging into her marshmallows. Each chewy yet fluffy piece tasted so good.

"Oh my god," Her mum's bony hand pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're high, aren't you? Damn it, Willow! Your father is lying in a hospital bed and meanwhile you've been getting stoned at school."

"It's not like you and dad never did it," Willow snapped, not understanding what the big deal was. Ironically, there was a diary entry detailing her mum's annoyance towards her sister Abby for ratting out Lily to their parents for smoking pot. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

After what felt like a five-hour long lecture on the long term effects of drug use (hypocritical, much?), Mrs Daniels left for the airport in a taxi. Just like that.

It was 3:30pm now. Her mum would be landing in Chicago shortly and where was Willow? Sitting in her room eating donuts and watching Family Guy. She'd skipped school that day, it wasn't so fun doing it alone though.

The minutes dragged on and by 5pm, she was contemplating opening a bottle of her mum's wine. That probably wouldn't help the situation so she settled for dinner (frozen lasagne) and a movie (Pitch Perfect).

When the doorbell rang, she put down the half eaten lasagne and checked the time on her phone. It was 7pm, still relatively early but she wasn't expecting anyone. Figuring it was either Ashton or Jasmine checking up on her after she missed school, Willow answered the door wearing only her underwear and a pyjama top. 

"Oh," she said, completely surprised. "Hi."

It wasn't Ashton or Jasmine. It was Michael Clifford.

"What are you doing at my house?" How did he even know where she lived? 

"We had a study date, remember?" He walked through the door, brushing lightly against Willow and looked around the living room.  "Nice place."

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