Chapter Text
W laid in their bed, trying to keep their mind from wandering too far. It was late at night, 2am, and as usual, she couldn’t sleep.. especially before a big trip when she’ll be exhausted the whole time..
She hated hearing “Just count sheep!” Or “Just take Meletonin”
It doesn’t work.
She’s tried everything to get a night of sleep.
Maybe she should just drink an energy drink and actually get their missing assignments done.
Nah
W grabs their phone from the nightstand next to their bed, looking at the messages that she didn’t bother to look at earlier.
Oh great.. Another crazy night for them.. They’re gonna get caught by the police one day… Idiots.
She looks at the photos of their supposed ‘friends’ and all the dumb shit they’ve been doing.
Looks like Jamie found a dealer..
He swore he’d stop..
W feels like she’s alone.. After not agreeing to try some new drugs while on the path of trying to get off nicotine, all their friends called them a wimp and basically ghosted them..
W’s the only one here that wants to actually change in a good way; unlike the immature people she used to call friends.
Maybe she’s alone at this point. These are the only people she knows.. and they think she’s a wimp and never invites them to anything anymore..
I should’ve just risked it. I wouldn’t be alone if I agreed.
She thinks about forcefully slamming down their phone, but instead decides to put it back down on their nightstand gently.
She went from being slightly uncomfortable and not able to sleep, to feeling a sense of dread.
I need a good distraction..
To relieve some stress, W got up and went to check their stash drawer, then once she opened it she realised that she quit nicotine, all their stuff was gone from the drawer.
Guess she’ll have to find another distraction.
She grabs their phone once again and opens TikTok, hoping to eventually drift to sleep while scrolling.
It never happened.
Willa’s alarm had gone off.
4:30 am
‘Rise and shine beautiful!! ^_^’
She sighs, and reaches towards her phone, turning off the alarm.
How much sleep did I get..? One, two, three, four, uhh five I think?
Five hours of sleep she got. Not her best, but it could be worse..
W hadn’t slept, not even for a single second. She felt miserable..
She spent the whole time that she could be getting ready procrastinating about getting out of bed until the last minute.
Once finally out of bed, she thought that maybe an energy drink will at least solve at least one of their problems.. but when she went to check the fridge, it was empty from their usual spot in the fridge.. plus she doesn’t have time to grab one from the store, they were running late anyways.
They just gather their stuff and walk out the door, as they got into their car and drove to the school.
‘6:20am’ Willa read on her phone clock.
She had finally made it onto the bus. She wished her friends were going, but they were forced to spend their spring break at home with their family.
She wasn’t angry, just a little upset that she’s going to have to partner up with some random person. Thankfully it will be another girl at the least.
All she hopes is that she doesn’t end up with some fuckass pick-me.. that would ruin her trip.
While waiting, she looked outside the dark school bus window, watching the heavy rain pour down. She liked the rain, she always felt comfort from it.
Willa continued to stare out the window and zone out as more and more people pile onto the bus, as the teachers mark down their presence.
Minutes went on as the bus kept filling up, people sitting next to their assigned travel partner, but it seemed that nobody sat next to Willa.. maybe whoever she was partnered with.. didn’t show up?
The student felt a sense of dread when the teachers started to walk on the bus. Maybe she was alone this whole time?
Did they forget to partner me with someone? It makes sense.. I’m usually pretty forgettable.
When the doors of the bus closed, and the bus was about to leave the school, suddenly it stopped and the doors opened again, to reveal another student.
Whoever it was, they looked tired and exhausted, they were gasping heavily to catch their breath.
Their eyes darted across the bus, eventually sitting next to Willa.
When Willa notices the person sitting next to her, she holds out a hand and greets herself, trying to be as polite to the stranger she’ll have to get to know over the duration of this trip.
“Hi! Uh- I’m Willa. I’m glad to be your travel partner during this trip.”
Instead of getting a warm greeting back, she gets an annoyed look back, as Willa quickly retracts her arm, looking away.
This will be a long week..
Willa anxiously grabs her bony arm, staring out the window, giving it a squeeze every time she overthinks about the interaction she tried to have with her seat neighbour.
She felt bad for some reason, even if she didn’t do anything offensive or rude.
She tried to keep her mind from her thoughts, when she felt a light tap on her shoulder, flinching a little as her nervous eyes looked towards the direction of the touch.
When she glanced towards the person sitting next to her, they still looked annoyed, but not exactly directly at her.
“Sorry. I wasn’t exactly in the best mood earlier. I’m W.”
The tone of voice they had was monotone and very tired, which made sense, it was 6:30 in the morning; nobody wants to be awake at this hour.
Willa tried to keep the conversation going, wanting to know them better.
“Um- I like your hair.”
She was referring to the raccoon tail that she had on the right side below their bang.
Willa has always thought raccoon tails were cool, despite not many people having them.
“Oh! Thank you. I need to re-dye it soon..”
W looks at Willa, trying to find something to compliment about her.
“I like your makeup, I could never put that much effort in the morning.”
Willa did put a lot of effort into her makeup, her eyeliner was alright, but the black eyeshadow mostly covered it.
“Thank you!! That means a lot to me- seriously.”
Willa exclaimed excitedly. She didn’t get many compliments, and was glad to get one from someone as cool as W.
W nodded, responding back to Willa.
“Yeah, no prob.”
Willa, not sure what else to say or ask, just looked out the window again, W disengaging from the conversation as well, putting back in their earbuds.
While on the road, W was listening to music and trying so hard to sleep, but it was like she couldn’t focus on anything, even with their music practically blasting.
She hated the fact she had to sit next to someone she didn’t know.
She signed up as a joke with their friends, expecting the school to instantly decline them, seeing as they had somewhat of a reputation with the staff as ‘that one troubled teen’.
They’ve given up on trying to manage them, and W’s given up on being a troublemaker, it seems like they’ve mellowed out, and it seems the school has noticed, so she was accepted to go on this school trip. .. without their friends.
At least I’m not with some popular girl.. that would do it for me. Goody-two-shoes, quiet kid could be worse for a partner.
W assumed that she was partnered specifically with Willa so they wouldn’t get into any trouble or wander off.
That girl seems too… uh… yeah.. too nice. To break any rules.
W now thinking of Willa, is a little surprised, she was expecting a bigger reaction from her. She expected her to be disgusted.. not nice, maybe too nice to her.
She probably was just being polite and shoving down her opinion of me because we’re kinda stuck together this whole trip.
W sighed and tried to keep that thought out of their mind, instead looking at their partner, who’s looking out the window. Looking closely, they could see she’s wearing wireless earbuds, which looked so much easier to sneak into class compared to their wired earbuds that stood out like a sore thumb.
W leaned back in their seat and tried to sleep once again, their eyes rested, but no rest was happening.
Fuck my life.
The bus was on the road, almost to the airport. It was still pouring outside and the sun barely shone through the rain clouds. It was dark enough that some people around were sleeping and had been for a while.
Willa had to sit next to her travel partner and stay with them 24/7. With it being this quiet, she didn’t think she’d really mind; but at the same time, it was a little awkward having everyone around them know their own travel partner very well, and both W and Willa are practically strangers to one another.
The bus started to slow, and now they were all at the airport, everyone who was asleep started to wake up, everyone’s stuff was grabbed, and they all shuffled off the bus.
As the two were getting off the bus, Willa could definitely tell how crowded it was, she had never been very keen on touch, especially when it’s people she didn’t know; it was almost like she was hyper aware every time she could feel a slight graze between her and her travel partner.
She also internally wished that their neighbour had noticed it too.
Once everybody was off the bus and huddled together, the rain pouring, the teachers and parent assistants came out and started to hand each group of travel partners a ticket for the plane ride. The school would rather have the adults hold the tickets, even though most of them were practically adults, being seventeen; but whatever keeps the tickets safe..
Willa and W were huddled together, W on their phone and Willa kind of just tiredly zoned out. Eventually, a teacher walked up to the two, handing them their plane tickets in plastic bags, asking them to not lose them.
Willa nodded as she took the ticket, putting the piece of laminated paper in a plastic bag, in her pocket.
At first when she saw the plastic bags, she was confused, but then realised how useful it is. It’s harder to lose when it’s in a plastic bag, and the rain won’t soak them.
Eventually, everyone has their tickets and can finally make their way into the airport.
As they all walked into the airport, Willa couldn’t help but feel like it’s totally crowded. People were everywhere and there were lines for everything.
Looks like it’s a popular time to travel..
Willa sighed as she kept by W’s side as the class went through security.
Willa felt like this process took forever; the waiting in lines, the scanning of the stuff, and the fact she had to keep her earbuds out, drove her crazy.
She put her stuff on the conveyor belt, stood in line, went through the scanner no issue, and came out fine.
Free from the security part of the airport, both W and Willa had the same idea as they both put in their earbuds and turn on their music simultaneously.
They both had a lot more in common with one another than they thought.
Huh.. same idea..
Willa thought as she looked back from her travel partner.
The two walked with the class and navigated the airport as everyone collectively sat down and waited at the terminal for the airplane.
Some students got up with their partners to go to the bathroom or to a vending machine and W noticed.
With little to no hesitance, W taps Willa on her shoulder; her head turning around to the source of the touch almost instantly as she lightly flinches.
W didn’t expect Willa to be so jumpy to something like that, they’ll keep a note for that later.
“Hey, uh- I’m gonna find a vending machine and grab a monster or something. I’ll be back.”
Without much thinking, W starts to walk off, but being the good student that Willa is, she instantly springs out of her seat to join the other person.
She quickly scurries over to them, explaining herself.
“Sorry- I’m not in the mood to get yelled at by a teacher.. If you get in trouble- I get in trouble”
W shrugged as they continued to walk.
The two made a stop as W pulled out their wallet, grabbing a bill, and putting it in.
They clicked on the buttons for a white Monster.
Seemingly out of nowhere, W looked over at Willa, speaking to her.
“You want anything? I put in a five dollar bill since that’s the first thing I grabbed.”
Out of surprise Willa made a quick “huh?” And looked back up at them, scanning their face to see if they were being serious.
Nobody wants to offer a drink to practically a stranger- especially not to someone like me..
They were in fact being serious.
In a little bit of panic and a bit in a rush, she looked at the vending machine, trying to decide what she wanted. She was a very indecisive person, but she felt bad making people wait on her.
“I’ll get uh.. an energy drink- you surprise me with the flavour- I’m indecisive and would take forever to decide.”
W shrugged and gave a quick “aight” as they clicked a couple more buttons, as another Monster Energy came out; W grabbing it and handing it to Willa, as she politely thanked them.
Almost instantly, she noticed the flavour that W picked out for her. Strawberry Dreams. It seemed that Willa gave off strawberry vibes, which made her glad; she liked strawberries.
“Thank you- seriously!”
Her hand had lightly gripped the aluminum can a little tighter as she looked directly at the other, thanking them once again.
“Yeah, no prob.”
They had replied almost immediately, shrugging like it was no big deal.
W got their change back, as the two students started walking back to the terminal, where everyone else was waiting for the airplane.