#willowxmarshall

Willow put her books down in class. She was happy to be in med school, but why oh why did she have to be back so close to Hastings. Hopefully it had all been long enough. Long enough that no one cared who her mother was anymore. It was a cruel joke that this was the place she got the most scholarship money too, and worst of all she was back at home. Not that she didn't love her doofus of a dad.... or her siblings. It was just hard to be back here. Where it all happened. Around the whispers in the store. That she would have to do her residency at the hospital she was born at. Tend to people who had talked about her family. It made her unbelievably angry at the world. But as always, she dressed for the occasion, buying nice things for herself whenever she could. There was something about her old lifestyle that was so hard to give up. As she sat down, Willow looked over to see who would be sitting next to her for the rest of the semester. It is a small town after all, everyone always ended up back here. It was impossible to escape as she saw the face of Marshall Wake. It was strange seeing him in this kind of academic setting, away from his friends. He almost always had someone with him. Those friends had been attached at the hip, they were always whispering or laughing together. Most times she thought it was about her as she walked by. So she said nothing to him, and opened up her laptop.

Marshall tried his best to hurry to class. It wasn't exactly the smartest idea to go out for drinks the night before with the other coaches from Hastings Hall. Going out for a couple of drinks with those guys usually turned into a night of clubbing, and Marshall Wake was not going to turn down a good time. Fortunately for him, he was only a couple minutes late. This was the start of a new chapter in his life, and he wanted to make sure he didn't mess any of this up. He couldn't afford that. Going off the Brindleton those couple of years was great. He got to spend his last years of playing football with his best friend and managed to keep his grades in check, but knowing Matthew was pretty much alone in Hastings was a constant worry. Marshall had hoped his parents would at least stick around town for his brother's sake, but to no surprise, that wasn't the case. At this point, Marshall have practically given up on them. They had usually just thrown money his way as much as possible and nagged him whenever they came around for the annual visit. Of course now, there was no money involved, just the nagging. It was more than stressful, but that was Marshall's life and there wasn't really a way to get out of it. He exhaled deeply as he walked to the nearest seat. Had he noticed Willow sooner, he would have sat somewhere else, but there wasn't many open seats available to begin with. Willow Hobbes. Something about her just rubbed Marshall the wrong way. She just seemed like the typical snobby Hastings resident, even after that whole family scandal of hers. Fucking yikes. "Willow." he called out to her casually. "You're not saving this seat for anyone, right?" he asked as he already began to sit down.

Marshall Wake was one of those people that reminded Willow of all she had lost. The wealth and the status. He just sauntered into town and got in with the best people like it was nothing, all while she lost everything. It was her fault for ending up in the preps, and then being cast out. At least the queen bee's protected their own. Preps were so concerned with their image when everything happened that they completely shut her out. Their argument was that her whole family was a mess. Her brother was a doofus, her older sister was a messy party animal, and her parents did that. Well ... her mother. "All yours, it's not like they're permanent" said the girl as she turned her attention back to her phone. There was no need for them to talk. The professor stood at the front of the class, "Look next to you and you will see an up and coming doctor, and your closest friend for the rest of the semester. Working in a hospital is a team effort. You need to learn to be collaborative. Most of you have spent the last few years working on your own to be the best. Now it is time to share that with someone else. No trades. If you have a special case you can see me after class." Willow let out a huff of air. She had no valid reasons that she couldn't work with Marshall. If anything it would make a bad impression on the professor. She spiraled for the entire lecture, luckily there would be a recording posted later. As she packed up her things she turned to Marshall, "You better take this seriously" she said looking at him sternly. There was no way he was going to mess anything up for her.

"Fair enough, I guess." Marshall furrowed his brows at Willow as she focussed on her phone. He made a mental note not to sit near her next class. Maybe he was jumping the gun, but he felt like she was already acting stuck up. As if being seated next to him was such a hassle. To be fair, he didn't want to be around her either, but he wasn't going to be rude. This wasn't about her though, this was about getting his degree. He held back on rolling his eyes once the professor started up their lecture. If only he had made it to class earlier so he could sit somewhere else. Was he going to blame this on his coach buddies instead of taking responsibility for his poor decisions? Absolutely. They know Marshall won't turn down drinks, they were practically setting him up for failure. There was no way he was going to make a scene and demand that he work with someone else. He was always up for a challenge, and he always excelled in the end. Willow Hobbes was not going to be the downfall of his future career, yeah right. As he was packing up everything to leave, Marshall glared over at her. She was already making unnecessary comments, this semester was going to be a nightmare. Some people were shocked to find out how smart Marshall actually was, sometimes Marshall was surprised himself. But being successful mattered to him, failure was never an option. "Why wouldn't I? If anything, you should consider yourself lucky that you're working with me." he said with confidence. "But I won't be carrying you the entire semester, sweetheart."

God, Marshall Wake might have the smuggest face on the whole planet earth. She remembered her friends thinking he was so cute, but honestly ... Willow was more team Charlie if she had to pick from that group of boys. Maybe even Bryce on a day she was really self loathing. "I don't know how you're going to carry me all semester while you're double fisting at the bars with the coaches, darling" said Willow, smirking at him. She had been working a late shift at the diner when she was in dropping off fries for her bartender friend. If she had known Marshall was in her program, she would have hidden even more than she did. At the sheer sight of anyone from her high school years she ducked for cover. It was one of the reasons she preferred the late shift. The worst people that came into the diner at those hours were Delilah and her little friends, and honestly they weren't too bad if you gave them a family discount. "I'll consider myself lucky to be working with you when I see blood sweat and tears of yours going into our assignments" she said, turning her nose up at him, rolling her eyes. She handed him a piece of paper with her number on it, "text me when you're ready to schedule" said Willow, reluctant to release the numbered paper to him.

Marshall was visibly taken back by Willow's comment. For a second there, he had questioned whether he brought up what he did last night. But he remembered seeing her at the bar, mainly because one of his coworkers talked about her for a second as she passed by. He brought up how unfortunate it was that she was a Hobbes because she was just so hot, as if she was simply wasted potential at this point. It sucked that people were still bringing up her family when that incident happened years ago, but it wasn't surprising. Marshall never really entertained it though. He was aware of his social standing in town, and how his friends were practically the only reason he was let off easy. "I'm really flattered that you're keeping tabs on me. Never knew you were so interested." he smirked right back at her as he spoke. Marshall grabbed the piece of paper and looked at the number, "I mean I'm right here. I'm ready to make schedules when you are, unless you have somewhere to be. I wouldn't want to cut into anything, even though this is a top priority of mine and I'd hope the same for you." He was basically messing with her at this point, but he couldn't help it.

"Listen up, Marshall Wake. My intention is never to flatter you, and just a reminder that this is a strictly professional relationship" she said with a sneer. Willow was not amused by his flirty nature at all, it felt like it was all to make fun of her. She sucked her teeth before answering, "It's just as much a priority of mine as it is for you. We can meet for a half hour before class and around an hour after class. If we have projects we'll plan accordingly. Does that work for you? Or is that too much for your social calendar?" she said making strong eye contact with him. She wasn't backing down from anything, not for him. This was going to be a very long semester, that was for sure.

Marshall couldn't help but roll his eyes after hearing Willow speak. It almost got a laugh out of him. As if he'd want anything further from a professional relationship with her, he didn't want that to begin with. She seemed like such headache already. "Well let's not flatter yourself now. I guess I should make it very clear that I'm not interested, so sorry." he said with a sarcastic grin on his face. Sure her attitude was unbearable, but Marshall couldn't help but poke fun while he could. He narrowed his eyes down at Willow, making sure not to break eye contact. "Works perfect for me." Marshall was no stranger to having a lot on his plate, but now there was a certain fire under him. He was going to show Willow Hobbes just how determined he was.