One in a Million.

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Willow walked into school the next day with mixed feelings. For one, there was the pregnancy. With Drew traveling, and her finishing up school, how would they do it? Sure, she did want children, but she wanted them sometime in the future, when they we ready. Next, there was Mr. Gaskarth. Why had he been acting like he had? If there was one thing Willow hated, it was people being mad at her. He had no justified reason, so why should he be able to act like that towards her. She wouldn’t tolerate it, no; she couldn’t just let him have his way. She could put a stop to it.

She walked to her first class without as much as a glance at anybody who didn’t matter. People talked, and people had heard of her going to the clinic the day before, and rumors naturally swam. It was enough to be married at eighteen, but now pregnant? It was all just too much. Most felt sorry for her, some felt envious, and there were even a few who just didn’t care. She was used to it by now, though, seeing as her and Drew had always been the talk of the school.

The day passed in a blur, the only people she had any contact with being her best friends. When lunch came around, Nina was hot on her trail.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come? I mean, for support. Plus, if the results don’t come out right, you may be unstable, and I just don’t want anything to happen to you-”

“I’m fine, Nina, seriously,” Willow cut her friend off. “I won’t let it affect me. I doubt I’m really pregnant anyways.”

Nina’s nose scrunched up at the red-heads words. “Fine, but I just worry about you, you know?”

“Yeah, but I promise, nothing is gonna happen.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Nina sighed before giving Willow a quick hug and scurrying back to the table with all their other friends, leaving Willow with her thoughts.

The drive to the clinic was silent, and Will was half way out of driving, not paying much attention. Maybe this had been what Nina had talked about. She contemplated calling one of the girls, but chose against it when the clinic came into view. A quick glance at the clock told her with was eleven twenty-two, and she was off.

The clinic was empty for the most part, the halls cold and silent. Willow began getting nervous again, but told herself that her and Drew were careful, there wasn’t much of a chance. She walked up to the lady at the front desk, informing her of her appointment, and was told to sit in the waiting room.

Ten minutes passed. Finally, an elder doctor, completely unfamiliar to Willow, came walking towards her. “Miss Castro?” She spoke in a patient, careful voice.

Will smiled, and stood up, “Yes,”

“Hello, I’m Doctor Billow, and I have your results. Right this way,” She led her into an examination room and shut the door softly behind her.

Will sat down on the little stool, as the doctor instructed her to.

Doctor Billow sighed and flipped the paged on her clipboard. “It appears to me, that you, Miss Castro,” She paused, not knowing what news Willow was exactly hoping for, “Are not pregnant.”

A surge of emotions swept over Willow. She was first of all relieved, because having a baby now would be too hard, but then she felt something else. For some reason, she felt… sad. She knew it wasn’t the right time, and that they had plenty of time in the future to have a family, but for whatever she knew, she felt sad that she wasn’t pregnant.

Willow quickly shut the thought out of her mind.

Now was not the right time.

|~|~|~|

She barely noticed the drive back to school. When she parked, the first person she saw was Mr. Gaskarth, who was also getting out of his car. Determined to find out what was wrong with him, she called his name out. On instinct, his head turned towards the red head, but as he saw who it was, he turned right back around and walked quickly into the building. Willow sighed before following him. She didn’t need this; she was going to put a stop to it, even if he refused to talk to her. She knew exactly how to do it, too.

Her next few periods came and went as her mind was clouded with all her problems, one of which being the person who’s room she now sat in. He erased the board, stacked some things on his desk, and then cleared his throat, successfully gaining the murmuring student’s attention. He picked up a paper and began reading from it. “So, before we get started today, I have an announcement. Next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, all of the Senior English Classes will be volunteering in various shelters, organizations, and homes around the community. The rest of the week all of the classes will be doing many different activities based on our volunteering hours. Presentations, models and essays are just the beginning. The first two blocks will be going at the first part of the day, and the last three after lunch. This is a way for our students to learn the importance of teamwork. Each student will partake in three different volunteering jobs, which will be given out at random. Have fun!” He ended with sarcastic enthusiasm, rolling his eyes at the paper. “Personally, I think this is pretty stupid, but I guess you’ll have to go with it. Uh, it says if you aren’t eighteen yet, you have to take this form home for your parents to sign. This is a major grade with many, many parts, so I reckon it’ll be pretty easy for the lot of you. I’ll be going and chaperoning for the second group all three days, so you’ll be seeing me a lot. Are there any questions?”

No one moved.

“Okay then, continue with what you were doing, I honestly thought this would take a little longer…” His voice trailed off as he sat down at his desk, watching them with weary eyes. “Well? Go on,” He said with a little waving on gesture. Everyone hurried to get something to work on. Willow pulled her notebook out, and began doodling half-mindedly. She was thinking again.

The rest of the period was a blur. Mixed emotions were floating around in her head, and she made a fast decision to the choice she had been mulling over all period as soon as the bell rang. When everyone got up in a hurry to end their school day, she stayed seated.

Alex, however, left the classroom as well, but Will didn’t fret over it, seeing as he had left his phone on his desk. When Alex did return, he at first didn’t notice her. He closed his door and sat down at his computer, finally seeing her when he was settled. She was patiently staring at him, her hands rested delicately below her chin. She smiled, as if she was challenging him to say something for her presence.

He sighed, leaned back in his seat and fiddled with his pen as he looked back at her. When he spoke, it wasn’t harshly, but he wasn’t being gentle with her, either. “What are you doing here?”

She just shrugged in response. Her smile was still in place. She looked lovely.

“I told you not to come back. I don’t need any help.”

No answer.

“I have things to do, you need to leave.” His voice was strong, no more Mr. Nice Guy.

Silence.

“You’re just gonna sit there? I’m your teacher, I deserve more re-” He stopped when he saw that her smile had turned into a cold-hearted smirk. It was then that he realized that she was playing with his head. There was obviously more to her than he had originally thought. He shook his head, choosing to ignore her, and went back to his work.

After a few minutes of silence, Willow realized that this wasn’t going anywhere. She sighed as she grabbed her bags and pulled a chair over right in front of his desk, plopping down. He looked over at her, surprised by her actions. “What do you want?”

“To know why you’re being rude,” Willow responded with attitude, crossing her arms.

“I’m not being rude,” He rolled his eyes, looking back at his computer.

“Yeah, you kinda are.”

“How, Ms. Smithson?”

Will huffed, falling back into her seat. “Right there, I asked if you could please call me Willow Castro, seeing as that is my legal name, now. Of course you refused. Then, I was just trying to be nice and stay after school to help you. The first time I did you were completely fine. Only two days later, and you were ordering me out of your classroom. You’ve been nothing but hostile, and I’m going through enough without your drama.” She finished her rant, happy to get it all out, but her good mood diminished when she saw his facial expression was one of amusement. He hadn’t taken her seriously.

“Ms. Smithson, I think you’re failing to realize the most important detail in this little ‘fight’ we’re having,” Alex put air quotes around ‘fight’. “I’m the teacher, and you’re the student. I don’t have to be nice to you. I’m just here to teach you, which I do believe I do well. However, I was not hired to be your friend; our relationship is purely one of a teacher to his pupil. I’m not your friend, and I certainly don’t need or have to deal with your little fits.” He ended with a satisfied smile. Willow was embarrassed, angry, and confused beyond belief. Without another word, she gathered her belongings, and was gone.

Of course he didn’t mean anything he said, but he was trying to force himself that he did. This… thing they had, the meaningless fighting, had to stop. If he wanted to get anywhere, he couldn’t do this anymore; he had to put an end to it. The only way out of this was to just not talk to her, but she ended up talking to him anyways, and he ended up with his mind in the gutter and his pants tightened. Ignoring didn’t help, fighting didn’t help.

That was when it dawned on him. He had been over complicating things, thinking too hard, too long, and too much about it. The antidote was simple. All he had to do was treat her like any other student. Only talk about what’s necessary, be nice, help her when needed, but don’t fall out of the professional relationship guidelines. He loved his wife, and he wasn’t willing to lose her over his lust for some stupid little student of his. She wasn’t worth it.

From then on, Alexander Gaskarth promised himself that his relationship with Willow Smithson was completely and truly professional. He wouldn’t risk anything, change anything, and his success would be rewarded with a turn in his feelings towards the girl.

If only it was that easy.