Willow struggled to fall asleep after she left her friends at the chateau last night. She might have only gotten an hour and that was it before her mother was in her room. Amelia knocked on the already open door to Willow's bedroom, looking down at her daughter as she was curled up in her blankets with a tear-stained face as she stared off in the direction of her window. Willow had thought JJ would eventually come through the window last night, but he didn't. She didn't blame him since she was the one who told him to leave her alone. Out of all people that she actually wanted to leave her alone; she chose to push him away. That's not what she wanted and she stayed up all night beating herself up over it.

"Willow, honey.", Her mom spoke softly, bringing the girl to avert her gaze over to her mother.

"What?"

"You've gotta get up and ready for school, dear.", Her mother walked into her room, watching as her daughter brought the covers over her head after rolling her eyes. "Willow Brooke Bradshaw."

"I'm not going.", She mumbled under the covers, being taken aback once Amelia waltzed over and ripped the covers off of her daughter. "Mom!"

"Get up. I'm not gonna tell you again.", Amelia glared down at her daughter, watching as Willow groaned and rolled her eyes in annoyance before sitting up in bed. "You're already late, so you might as well not take your time getting dressed either."

"I don't want to go.", Willow planted her face in the palms of her hands.

"Well, I don't wanna do a lot of things, but I still do them.", Amelia sighed deeply as she stepped back slightly to allow Willow to get off her bed. She softened her voice when she saw a tear roll down Willow's cheek. "Baby, I need you to go. I need you to do something with your life. Don't... don't end up like me. I'll be waiting in the car."

With that being said, Willow watched her mother leave her room. She could tell that Amelia regretted a lot of things about their mother-daughter relationship. Willow always used to wish her mother would change, but now that Amelia was showing signs of feeling any emotion towards her other than anger; the whole thing frightened her. For a long time now, she hated her mother and never got any attention. Now that it was slightly changing, Willow's guard was up even more now. Willow was scared her mother was putting on an act just to gain her trust back to tear it all down.

This was one thing that she couldn't talk to JJ about. JJ understood the hatred and abuse aspect of his parent, but to watch a parent do a full one-eighty was something he was sure would never happen. Besides, she knew what he would tell her. He would tell her to proceed with caution, which is what she was already doing. So, she didn't think it was necessary to even bring it up in conversation.

Once Willow threw on a pair of light grey joggers and an old Motley Crue t-shirt with JJ's Kildare jacket, she walked out of her bedroom. She walked over to the closet by the front door, pulling out a pair of white vans. When she went to put on her shoes, she groaned once she realized she didn't have any socks on. The one hour of sleep surely wasn't doing her any good. She rushed into her room once she heard her mother honk the horn outside. "Jesus, lady... I'm coming."

She grabbed a pair of socks out of her drawer and quickly put them on her feet. Next, she threw on her shoes without tying them and headed straight for the front door. She grabbed up her bag that was on the floor beside it and exited her home, closing and locking the door behind her. She rushed down the porch steps and rushed over to her mothers' old, beaten-up Altima. Once she got inside, she leaned her head against the headrest as her mother put the car in drive.

"Damnit, Willow.", Her mother sighed, glancing over at her daughter as she pulled out of the driveway. "Did you even sleep?"

"No.", She rubbed her face with her hands before bringing one foot up on the seat at a time to tie her shoelaces.

"I can tell. And your hair is a mess.", Amelia stated after noticing how disheveled her hair was.

Willow glanced at her mother, then pulled down the visor to look in the mirror. "Well, great. Reason number fifty-two of why I'd rather jump off a cliff."

"Don't talk that way.", Her mother rolled her eyes. "Life's too short to be jokin' like that."

"Which just gives me more of a reason to joke like that.", She gave her mother a tight-lipped smile as she scrounged around the car for a hair-tie. Once she succeeded in finding one, she quickly threw her hair up in a messy bun. "My life isn't exactly proper."

"No..."

Willow looked at her, noticing a sense of regret wash over her. "Are you really trying to be better? And I don't want no whack-ass answer, either. I want the truth."

"Yes."

"That's it?", Willow raised an eyebrow. "Not no... yes, Willow. I know that I was wrong for beating you shitless when you didn't even do anything wrong to begin with."

"You want too much out of people, you know that?", Her mother shook her head, peering over at her to see her roll her eyes. "I mean... what do you want me to say?"

"Sorry would be a good start.", She quickly replied. "And then... I don't know. Maybe... I know I'm a shit mom and you didn't deserve to start getting beat. You were only fourteen and-"

"Just stop talking.", Her mother cut her off.

"You really can't find it in you to apologize, can you?", Willow leaned back in her seat, staring out of the window.

"You did some shit to piss me off.", Amelia responded.

"So, instead of grounding me like a normal parent, you take the abusive route?", She was quick to reply.

"I can't help-"

"You could've.", Willow cut her off. "And don't even blame it on the drugs. You weren't always high when you hit me."

After Willow said that last part, the rest of the ride was quiet. Amelia wasn't sure what to say to ease the tension, so she didn't even bother. Willow was just glad she could speak her mind now without getting beaten. That's the power she held over Amelia. Now that the woman had been sober from drug use, she wasn't as aggressive. It had only been two weeks and Willow was sure one day she'd just relapse. She didn't have any hope in her mother; at least, not like the hope she had before.

As Amelia pulled up to the school, Willow let out a deep breath of air as she noticed there were pictures of John B right outside of the main doors. Amelia watched her daughter struggle to bring herself to open the door as her hand rested on the door handle for a moment. "Willow, I'm sorry."

"What?", She looked over at her mother in confusion.

"For the way I treated you. For keeping you away from your father. For what happened to John B.", Her mother gulped down a sob that was trying to creep its way up on her. "And for... not being supportive over you and JJ. For not noticing the signs with Kelce."

Willow looked down, taking all of it in. She blinked back the tears that threatened to form as she felt her chest grow tight. She wasn't sure Amelia would even apologize, so she didn't even think about having to be able to forgive her. She wasn't even sure she could. "Well, your apology might be too late, mom. And... I just need time to bring myself to forgive you because I don't even know if that's possible. Not after everything I went through."

She exited the car, not caring to look back as her mother drove away. She just took in a deep breath of air as her gaze averted over to all the pictures of John B. She shook her head, walking past it and headed into the school. She was already late, so she had to pick up a late slip. The lady in the office gave her hell for being late on the first day, but Willow didn't care. She practically snatched the slip from her hand before walking to class. The class she was late to had Kiara, Pope, and JJ in it, and she just knew that it wasn't going to be the highlight of her day when all eyes were drawn to her.

The second she opened the door to Mr. Sunn's class, everyone stopped what they were doing to look over at her. Her eyes, however, locked with JJ's right off the bat. She looked down quickly, turning around slightly to shut the door. She then turned to face Mr. Sunn as he came walking up to her. "Willow, glad to see you could make it."

"Of course, yeah.", She nodded quickly, handing him the slip. "I just-"

"You don't have to give me an excuse. I'm just glad you're here.", He shook his head, watching as she only nodded again. There it was. The pity from losing a brother. "Your seat is over there behind Mr. Sanders."

She walked over to her seat, making eye contact with Damon Sanders before sitting behind him. She set her bookbag down as he slowly turned to look at her. "Hey, you need the notes? You can take a picture of mine."

"Thanks.", She gave him a smile, pulling out her phone to take a picture of the notes that he placed on her desk. She hadn't seen Damon since the night of the Kegger before they got too far into their search for gold. He had sat with her for a while and left when she defended JJ at the time of her disliking over the blonde pogue. With the thought of JJ coming to mind, she looked to her right as Damon took his notes back to see he was watching her intently. She gave him a short wave before Damon turned back around.

"Are you free after school?", He asked in a whisper, making her turn her attention from JJ to look over at him. JJ's eyes darted towards Damon almost immediately as he watched with semi-squinted eyes.

"For what?", Willow asked, watching as he looked down at her desk as a hint of red crept up on his face.

"Just to hang out.", Damon answered. "If you're up for more friends. I kind of wish we were closer. You're pretty cool."

"Well, I uh-", Before she could answer, she felt her phone buzz on the desk. She quickly grabbed it once she read the contact's name; Jay <3. Damon watched her look down at her phone under the desk, which made him turn around since her attention was drawn to something else. He hadn't seen the name on her phone. Willow couldn't help but grin when she read JJ's text.

wut does he want?

She quickly typed back a reply.

calm down, he just wants to be friends

right...
or does he just want u?

you're being ridiculous

bee... any guy with a heartbeat wants you

quit worrying, you've got me all to yourself <3

With that being the last message she sent before turning her phone off, she looked to her right to see he was looking at her with a smirk plastered on his face. She subconsciously rolled her eyes playfully, letting a smile form before looking back at Damon. She tapped his shoulder, which made him look at her over his shoulder. She whispered, "Sorry, I'll be busy after school. JJ had already asked me to meet up with him."

"So, are you two like..."

"Yeah.", She nodded, which made him make an 'O' face before turning back around. She furrowed her eyebrows before whispering, "You good?"

All he did was nod over his shoulder, not answering her all the way. She leaned back into her chair, pulling out her phone once more to text JJ again.

you're right and I hate it when you're right

???

he didn't wanna be friends. I think he likes me

its called bf instinct
i can sense when some1 is tryna take u from me

shut up crazy

i may be crazy but its only over u

eat dirt 🖕🏻

A few moments went by as she waited for a response, but she didn't know that he kept erasing the messages he would type out. He wanted to make sure she was okay, but he wasn't sure how to ask. He definitely wanted her to keep talking to him and he didn't wanna hear leave me alone again. Yet as he was typing and untyping, he got another message from her. That message automatically made him realize just how special she was.

i'm sorry about last night
i feel bad about telling you to
leave me alone

its ok bee
i understand
r u ok tho?

yea, i will be
i'm just really overwhelmed
with john b and sarah... now my mom

"Miss Bradshaw.", Mr. Sunn spoke up, bringing the blonde girl to put her phone in her jacket pocket and look up. "This is a no phone zone. You're already late today, so I need your undivided attention. If you will, can you bring your phone up to my desk and I'll give it back to you after class?"

"But-"

"Now please.", He added, making her glance over at JJ who had a look that said sorry. She got up from her desk, walking up to his desk to place it down before she got another message. She noticed it was an unknown contact, so she looked at Mr. Sunn.

"Could I just answer this?", She asked, watching him shake his head.

"After class.", He spoke before turning back around to teach the class. She got closer to his desk, shielding her phone with her body as she placed it back in her pocket. JJ watched her with an amused look, being proud of how stealthy she had gotten. She had gotten better over time of being sneaky and to say he was proud was such an understatement.

She walked back to her desk, ignoring the message she had received from Kiara as she opened the message from the unknown contact. There was a picture of John B and Sarah, which made her perk up. Her eyes averted over to see JJ in between Kiara and Pope's desk. She knew the exact moment when they opened it because right on que, they looked over at her from across the room. When her eyes locked with Kiara's, she noticed a look of regret in her eyes. Almost as quickly as the regret washed over Kiara, she changed her expression into a hurt one. Both girls said things to hurt each other last night and neither of them knew how to move past that right now. Luckily, they'd push it aside to at least be happy that John B and Sarah were alright. It just didn't change the depressive state Willow was in.

JJ was the first to get up to leave the classroom and it didn't take Willow a second to get up from her seat. She quickly grabbed her bag, tossing it over her shoulder to walk out the classroom after him. She heard Kiara and Pope follow suite before they began running down the hallway. JJ tripped over the janitors mop bucket, which made Willow giggle before she reached down and held her hand out toward him. "Get up, loser."

He gripped her hand before being pulled to his feet, standing up to look down at her as a flush of red covered his cheeks. "You didn't see that."

"Oh, I saw it.", She nodded with a grin, dropping his hand before walking after Kiara and Pope who had stopped to wait on JJ to get up. "I saw it and it was so..."

"Cute? Adorable? Irresistible to just let me lay there defeated?", He followed her, listening to her genuinely laugh before she agreed.

"Yeah. If you want to go with that, sure.", She shook her head, walking outside with the others before she unlocked her phone to look at the group message again. "How do we know if it's really them?"

Kiara sent a text first, in which John B responded with a question of asking if JJ and Willow were there. JJ responded for both of them, feeling Willow get closer to him as she peered over his shoulder after shutting her own phone off. She had been too nervous to even respond, tears blurring her vision in hopes it really was John B and Sarah. When John B responded with a question - in which he asked if they had both pimped out his short board - they already knew it was really him.

Willow let out a laugh at the same time JJ did, glancing up at him. "It's him."

"It's him, alright.", JJ sniffled, quickly wrapping his arms around her as she felt a tear slip from her eyes. Once he pulled away from her, he hugged the other two as she watched. He let out a shout of happiness, making her smile widely. Seeing him happy made her feel a way she couldn't explain in words. Her heart melted as his eyes met with hers again before he came and wrapped his arms around her again.

"Laying low in Nassau.", Kiara read his text aloud. "What the hell are they doing in the Bahamas?"

"You can't kill a pogue, dude.", JJ spoke, letting Willow go slightly before letting his arm hang over her shoulder as he turned to look at Pope when he spoke.

"Especially not John B."

John B texted again, asking if they could clear his name and that he wanted to come back home. He then said he'd keep in touch and at the end he said P4L. JJ laughed before saying, "P4L, that's what I'm talking about!"

"P4L, baby.", Willow spoke, looking up at JJ when he looked down at her.

"P4L."