Chapter Text
This was it. The first day of the last year of high school. Waverly could almost not believe it. In one year she would officially be out of this hellhole and poor excuse of a town and onto greater things at university. She just had to get through her last year and that was it, no more Purgatory.
“Babygirl, you ready to leave?”
Waverly was snapped out of her thoughts by Wynonna making her way down the stairs. She had barely touched her breakfast, her nerves getting the better of her. Wynonna gave her a small smile as she walked towards the hallway. Waverly stood up, quickly putting away the rest of her food before heading after her sister.
“Last year, huh? Damn, feels like yesterday I was in high school,” Wynonna said as she opened the door to the car.
“You rarely ever went to school and barely graduated,” Waverly scoffed. “And that was six years ago.”
“Still feels like yesterday, and you’re making me feel old,” Wynonna retorted playfully.
Waverly just rolled her eyes, effectively ending the conversation and choosing instead to stare out the window as she sat in the passenger seat. The drive to school wasn’t very far, only about 10 minutes, but as Wynonna worked at the local bar mostly in the evenings, she had no issue driving Waverly to and from school most days.
As they arrived in the school parking lot, many students had already arrived and were walking towards the school building. Waverly sighed, said a quick goodbye to Wynonna and jumped out of the car. Just as Wynonna started to drive away, she heard a familiar and welcome voice behind her.
“Waves! Hey!”
Chrissy, who she had been friends with ever since kindergarten, hurriedly walked towards her. As she came closer she raised her arms in a hug, and Waverly returned the embrace.
“Hi Chrissy!” Waverly almost squealed, happy to see her friend.
“It’s so good to see you! God, it’s our final year. I can’t believe it!”
“Yeah me too,” Waverly stepped back from Chrissy and gave her a big smile. “Now let’s go inside.”
Chrissy nodded excitedly and linked her arm with Waverly as they joined everyone else heading towards the school building. The building itself looked as it always had and probably always would, with no major repairs or touch-ups having been done since it was newly built almost 60 years ago. Small town, small budget, Waverly thought as they headed inside.
The first day was fairly anticlimactic for being the first day of the last year of high school. They got their schedules and heard the principal give a speech in the auditorium about how great the year was going to be, like every year was going to be, and then they went home.
With only having spent half a day in school, Waverly had tonnes of time to kill and so the most logical thing to do was to go to Shorty’s, where not only Wynonna but also her aunt Gus worked. The time of day was noticeable as she entered the bar, the only other people there except the working staff being the town drunks at their regular seats. The bell chimed over her head as she entered, which caused her aunt to show in the doorway to the kitchen just a few seconds later.
“Oh hello Waverly, didn’t expect to see you here. How was your first day?”
Her aunt was like a mother figure to her and Wynonna. With their real mom leaving them when Waverly was only three, Gus quickly filled the void that was left after.
“It was fine, nothing special. Tomorrow we start for real though.”
“Are you taking a lot of classes this year? Or are you taking it easy?”
“I’m taking as many classes as I can for the credits and it also looks good for my application to university.” Waverly shrugged as she answered, trying to appear casual about it. Comparing her schedule to Chrissy’s made her heart sink in her chest as Chrissy had way more free time than she had, but she had chosen it for herself so she couldn’t really complain about it.
“Well good for you Waverly, just make sure you’re not too stressed out, okay?” Her aunt gave her a reassuring smile.
“Yeah it’s fine,” Waverly smiled back and settled on one of the barstools, bringing out a book from her backpack to read. Wynonna was most likely still sleeping as she did during the day, which meant that she wouldn’t see any texts Waverly sent her. That meant that she just had to wait until her sister was ready to pick her up, unless she wanted to walk the almost 10 km home.
Two hours after Waverly had arrived at Shorty’s, Wynonna came and picked her up.
“Sorry, baby girl, but you could’ve just called me if you wanted me to pick you up earlier.”
“Don’t worry about it, I enjoyed some time here reading and talking to Gus, so it’s all good,” Waverly reassured her sister. “Besides, it’s important that you get enough sleep if you’re going to be up late tonight again.”
Waverly knew that even though the bar closed at 12 am on weekdays, Wynonna would stay up at least a few hours more to watch a movie or drink whisky. Her sister didn’t exactly have the healthiest of habits, and the least she could do was make sure she got enough rest.
“I’m always up late, Waves, so it’s no biggie. If you want me to pick you up I’d be happy to.”
“Right.” Waverly highly doubted that her sister thought so highly of essentially being her chauffeur but she would let it go for now. “Well, let’s head home then.”
They barely made it back to the homestead before Wynonna had to go back to Shorty’s for her evening shift, which meant that Waverly got the rest of the afternoon and evening to herself. This was quite the common occurrence as Wynonna worked the evening shift often. Waverly didn’t necessarily mind; she would cook enough dinner for herself and for Wynonna to eat when she came home and then she would either read or watch episodes of some series until it was time for bed.
Though today Waverly was restless. In a way she couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come, so the day after tomorrow would come faster, and so the day after that would come faster and so finally graduation would come faster. The year had barely started and she already felt like it was too long. Feeling like time was passing slower than ever, Waverly went to bed at 9 pm just hoping she could sleep away at least a few of the many hours she had left of this year.
I really need to change my alarm signal, Waverly thought as the alarm went blaring at full volume. Quickly turning it off as to hopefully not wake Wynonna too early, Waverly got up from her bed and made her way to the bathroom to get ready. Her morning routine did not take that long, and within the hour Waverly was on her way to Wynonna’s room to wake her up.
“Wynonna, time to get up,” Waverly said as she knocked on her sister’s bedroom door. When she didn’t get an answer, she opened the door to peek in but quickly slammed it shut once she got a look inside. “Oh my god!”
From inside the room Waverly could hear grunts and Wynonna scrambling to put on clothes before she emerged a minute later with a smug look on her face.
“You can at least hint in some way that you’ve got company,” Waverly said as she felt her cheeks flush.
“Or you can give me more than five seconds to answer before you come barging in,” Wynonna said, winking towards her sister jokingly.
“Ugh I can’t believe you.” Waverly turned away from Wynonna and quickly started walking towards the door. “Now hurry up or I’ll be late,” she continued as she paced out the door and towards the car.
Wynonna just laughed as she made her way after Waverly. “Don’t be so embarrassed, it’s like you’ve never seen someone else naked before.”
Waverly could feel her cheeks burning up from embarrassment. “Shut up,” she managed as Wynonna just kept laughing at her all the way to school.
Waverly’s first class of the day was one of her favorites: history, or more specifically European history. Looking at her timetable she didn’t recognize the teacher’s name, which was strange since the school didn’t exactly get new teachers very often. She shrugged it off, hoping that this teacher would like her as much as the others did. She wouldn’t necessarily call herself a teacher’s pet, but being on a teacher’s good side was never bad thing.
Only a few other students had made it into the classroom before her, which gave her the perfect opportunity to snag her favorite seat in the front row. Not that anyone else wanted it anyways. Waverly sat down in her chair and as to pass the time before the teacher came and ultimately class would start, she started neatly placing her notebook and pencils on the desk, arranging and rearranging them aimlessly.
After what seemed like way too long, the new teacher waltzed into the classroom, carrying a bunch of papers and books in her arms. Waverly couldn’t help but stare, as the tall, redheaded woman walked towards the teacher’s desk and put her items down with a gentle thud.
“Hello everyone,” the teacher started as she turned towards the class. “Settle down please so we can get started.”
Most people had just been silently staring at her as she had entered the room, some muttering and whispering in between themselves, and her slight discomfort was evident. Everyone made their way back to their desks, paying full attention to the woman at the front of the class.
The teacher cleared her throat. “None of you most likely know me, as I’m a new teacher here, as well as new in town.” She gave a small smile. “I actually just finished becoming a teacher, so I look forward to teaching you this year and getting to know you.”
Waverly continued to stare at her, a little wide eyed and mouth slightly agape. This woman was insanely attractive, which was confusing in more ways than one. She had never really felt this way towards other women, but this new teacher made her feel all tingly in a way she couldn’t describe. She had a gentle and nice aura about her that made Waverly want to know more about her.
“Oh, I forgot to give you my name,” she chuckled as she turned towards the whiteboard and started writing it down with a black whiteboard marker. After writing her name she turned back towards the class and coincidentally made eye contact with Waverly, who was still staring. “You can call me miss Haught,” she said as she gave Waverly a sly smile.