#fanficrequests

She had been bugging me all week for not bringing my ID to school. We needed it in order to get inside the building, but it was not my fault that Wynonna had spilled alcohol on mine and made it impossible to read my name. But of course the annoying red head always put me through a huge unnecessary process.

“Here it is. Now would you sign your name so –“

“You’ll have proof I know about the consequences. Yeah, sure.”

She handed me a pen and I signed my name.

“Waverly,” she said, looking into my eyes. “Try and be more organized with school. You’ve barely started your senior year and you’ve already missed four classes. Don’t make this a habit.”

Nicole Haught. The perfect little golden student. The prettiest girl you’d ever meet: tall, red head, dimples, you know, the whole package. She graduated two years earlier with honors, and while studying part-time in the University nearby, she took a job as a receptionist at school. Of course she did. Everybody loved her.

She was indeed gorgeous and very charming in her bright red hair and shining brown eyes, but that didn’t change the fact that she annoyed even the deepest parts of my soul. Why? For just being there, I guess.

“Sure, thanks.” I said, looking away.

I grabbed the temporary pass from the counter and ran as fast as I could into the main hallway. Something hit my guts and made me turn around for a few seconds, to see Haught standing in the same place, looking at me.

I had no time to process the look on her face, because as soon as I turned back towards the hallway, I bumped into Champ.

“Wav, I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Where the hell have you been?” He said.

“Sorry, I was stuck at the front desk. Forgot my ID again. Had to sign the permit.”

I was not in the mood to chat with Champ. He was a sweetheart sometimes, but most times he was very shallow, which made a real conversation with him almost impossible. It was not that I didn’t like him. We had been dating for almost the entirety of high school, and I liked having him around, but his lack of spontaneity made me wonder why I was still with him.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you another one. Now come on, the guys are gathering outside.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the patio.

“Champ, I’m sorry, but I’ve class right now. I’m already late, but I still hope I can get in.”

“You serious?”

“Yeah. See you later.”

I turned around and walked to the classroom at the end of the hall. I couldn’t bear to look at Champ one more second, or I would go crazy. And that’s saying something.

When I reached the door, I could see that the class had already started. Josie Williams was sharing her ridiculous thoughts on the book, and if I were in class, that would’ve been my queue to start a huge argument about racism and civil rights.

Except I was not in class and I couldn’t walk in late again. What would they say about me, Waverly Earp, the girl who had been trying so hard to be perfect over the past couple of years, if I simply walked in, in the middle of the discussion?

No, I would not get in. I’d tell Mr. Carter what happened next class. Maybe then I’d leave home earlier and sign in with Nicole in time for class. Maybe then he would understand and still let me hand him my papers. Maybe then –

Someone touched my shoulder and interrupted my thoughts. I turned around to see Nicole Haught looking at me.

“Hey girl, it’s just me. Geez. You forgot your phone at the counter. Thought the nice thing to do would be to bring it to you, since you’re probably going to need this to reach your boyfriend later.”

I stared into her eyes. They really were beautiful. The kind of beautiful you could easily get lost in. The kind that you wish you could look into for hours. Then, it really was kind of her to bring my phone to me.

“Uh, my boyfriend. Right. Wait, no… Thanks. That was very kind of you.”

Why was I talking about Champ with a girl I had never even held a whole conversation with? The only time we actually talked we ranted about me forgetting my ID, and I definitely wouldn’t consider it a real conversation.

“I gotta go back. You should get into class. Might do you good.” Just when I thought she had actually started being kind, there she was again.

“Sure.” I gave her a shy smile. Again, why did I do that? She was being rude to me, and I was being pathetic. I should have been rude back. I should have told her to leave me alone, but I couldn’t.

She turned around to leave and I watched her. I didn’t know why she got me so hooked up. She was rude, disrespectful, and very arrogant. Even thought she had already graduated, she still acted like she owned the school. But still, I could not shake the feeling that there was more to her, the feeling that if I tried hard enough, if I dug deep enough, I would find something new about her.

And I had no idea what that feeling meant for me.

 -

“Miss Earp?” the English teacher, Mr. Carter, called. “Have you been hearing me? I asked you about your paper. You haven’t turned it in. Actually, you haven’t turned in any of this week’s assignments. What is going on?”

I got to class early the next day. Got through Nicole twenty minutes before the bell rang, and ran to class as fast as I could. I saw Champ waving at me from across the hall, but I was too determined to be on time that I couldn’t nor would I stop for him. I picked a spot in the front, hoping to show Mr. Carter that even though I missed a few classes, I was still a good student.

As he called me and brought me back from my thoughts, I realized I hadn’t yet talked to him about giving him my papers.

“Yeah, I… I’ve been late for class every day this week. But I read the books, I really did. And I wrote the papers. I have them here somewhere.”

I started looking through my backpack, where there were several notebooks and torn pages.

“Hey, Miss Earp. Don’t. Why don’t you take your time to redo them? Then maybe, if you bring them by my office in a week, I will consider giving you the grades.” He said, as he saw the mess in my things.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“All I ask is that you give this the same importance as you did last year. Have you tried getting a tutor? They could help you organize your studies.”

Of course. A tutor. As if I wasn’t feeling crappy enough.

“Do you remember Nicole Haught, who graduated a couple of years ago? She’s been working at the front desk. You should ask her for help. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

Nicole Haught? Was he being serious? Why would she be interested in tutoring me? She wouldn’t gain anything from it.

“Sure.” I agreed, hoping he’d forget it and let it go.

“I’ll tell her to reach out later.”

The bell rang, and he got back to his desk with a wink, leaving me confused and worried.

 -

As soon as class ended, I got out of the room, looking for a place to sit. The bench outside the patio door was empty, so I ran to it and dropped my backpack. I leaned against the wall behind me and closed my eyes, trying to get my thoughts in order.

Everything was a mess those days. I had been getting flashbacks from the night my dad and my oldest sister died. Wynonna had been talking about leaving town, Champ was being more of a jerk than the usual, I had been failing most subjects, and on top of that, there was Nicole and the way she made me feel.

All of that made me confused. I understood that Wynonna had her reasons for leaving town, but I thought I would be enough to make her stay. Anyway, I was long past begging, and even longer past trying to figure out what really happened to my family so many years ago. As for Champ, damn. I wanted to break up with him so badly. He was handsome and such a good kisser, but there was no spark, nothing to connect us both. It was fun for a while, because he was popular and hot and it felt good to be his girlfriend for a while. But after a couple of years, I matured and he didn’t. He made me feel trapped, as if nothing I ever did would be enough. As if I wasn’t worth a bright future.

And Nicole Haught. She was so much more interesting than my boyfriend. She was not the kindest person ever, but it seemed that at least she worried about my future, from the short talks we had.

That was when I saw her waving and walking towards me.

“Hey, Waverly.” She said, taking the place by my side.

“Hey. Thanks again for the phone the other day.”

She gave me a shy smile.

“Don’t worry about it. So, um, Mr. Carter said you needed help with some papers. If you want me to, I’d be glad to help you with that.”

So he didn’t forget it. From that moment on I would be the screw up who couldn’t even write a single paper by herself.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to.” I said.

I heard some very loud laughter coming from the inside, and I knew that Champ and his crew were coming out to ‘chill’. I definitely didn’t want to be around to see them and get ever angrier.

“Um, Nicole… Do you mind if we talk somewhere more private? I really don’t feel like being out here.”

She looked into my eyes curiously, maybe trying to catch whatever it was that I meant.

“Yeah.”

She stood up and held out her hand to me.

“Alright, where do you wanna go?” she asked.

I was barely holding back the tears, and couldn’t stay out there any longer, especially not with Champ there.

“Anywhere but here.”

I held her hand and walked with her inside the school building. She guided me through the hallways, looking for an empty room. As soon as she found one, she led me inside and closed the door.

“Okay, now. What is going on? I can see it clearly isn’t just some stupid English papers.” She asked.

Yeah, she was right. It was so much more than that. It was how confused I was about everything. It was how lost and lonely I felt. It was how much I couldn’t stop dreaming about her eyes. How much I wanted to kiss her right there.

“It’s just… I’m tired of pretending to be perfect. Or at least trying to be. And I’m sick of Champ. He’s such an idiot and he never cares about anything other than himself. And you’re the only person who I seem to really like in this whole town, and you’re always rude to me and I don’t get why, because we haven’t even talked. And I…” I started.

“Hey. Hey. Hey. Who says you have to be perfect? God, Waverly, you’re amazing just being you. And me? I haven’t been rude to you because I want to. I’ve been rude to you because I care about you. Because I know you need someone to watch out for you and if I don’t tell you to bring your ID or take better care of yourself, I’m afraid you won’t.”

I stared at her, speechless. What was I supposed to say? I liked her. I knew that much. And I wanted to find out about her. I wanted to get to know her and every single part of her.

“I… I like you, Waverly. Maybe more than I should, because you have that boyfriend of yours, and I don’t want to be the reason you guys break up. But I do like you. A lot.” She said.

I looked into her eyes, and their bright color made me realize exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want to be a perfect girl, or a perfect student, or a perfect sister, or whatever I thought I needed to be. I just wanted to be myself. I needed to be myself.