|
DISCLAIMER: *giggles* I was about to say that the Maths teacher was mine,
but he SO is not. *hugs own Maths teacher* (the story uses 'Math', but I claim the
right to use the 's' in my notes. Hope you don't mind.)
SUMMARY: Willow helps Xander get even.
TIMELINE: pre-BtVS
WORDCOUNT: 1251
DEDICATION: To Matt, who asked. And thank you for the beta!
SIDEKICK
by Leni
Willow played nervously with her Math book. She couldn't do it. She couldn't.
"Calm down, Wills. You can do this." Xander was grinning at her, his round eyes
wide in anticipation. She tried to smile back. His hand touched her forearm briefly, a
more silent - yet far more helpful - sign of support.
Willow nodded, her grip on the book relaxing slowly. "How did I get into this?"
she moaned in a whisper. She should be at home already, studying for tomorrow's Lit test.
Not here. Definitely not here.
"Because Jesse got the flu and you are the bestest friend ever for helping me out
today."
"'Bestest' doesn't exist," Willow corrected her friend breezily, eyes still
focused on the end of the hall. "Oh my," she hispered, feeling the bottom of her
stomach drop to her feet as her target arrived. Xander nudged her forward. "Three
minutes at least," he told her sternly before dashing down the hallway, turning left
a couple meters ahead. The sound of the classroom door closing after him - must he always
be slamming the doors? - startled Willow into movement. She ran in the other direction,
the one where Mr. Bock was coming from.
"Willow?" the Math teacher asked, surprised to find a student afterhours, even
if it was Willow Rosenberg. "Are you waiting for your ride?"
Willow shook her head quickly. "No, I was studying at the library. Because.
Because... it's quiet! It's easy to study when it's quiet around. And there are books,
lots of them." Mr. Bock cocked an eyebrow. She blushed, mentally thanking all her
lucky stars that it wasn't unusual for her to babble when talking to her elders. She
wetted her lips and tried the line she'd practised with Xander before. "But I ran
into a problem and... yes, this is perfect. Could you explain this bit..." Her
fingers leafed through the book, finally stopping at the page where their class had stayed
in the last lesson. She held the book up, finger pointed to the most complicated problem.
Willow made an effort to widen her eyes, going for the cutest, most helpless expression
she could muster. "Please?"
Mr. Bock nodded, took the book from her hands, and studied it patiently. "I don't
understand," he said after some moments. "I believed you already managed this
chapter."
Willow fidgeted. "I... I forgot. I mean. I don't understand how to apply it to this
particular problem. Yes, that's it."
The teacher consulted his watch. "I actually have a private class with Chase,
Marshall, Kendall and... others right now. Mrs. Kendall always drops the girls off
punctually, I bet she's about to arrive. Maybe you'd like to accompany me so I could
explain this to the entire group?"
"No!"
His eyebrows furrowed for a moment at her energetic denial, then his expression softened.
He'd obviously remembered that the girls didn't get along well. "Of course. I guess a
couple minutes wouldn't matter."
Willow smiled, relieved. "A couple minutes would be perfect." Then she stood to
attention and listened to the explanation of a problem she could solve with her eyes
closed. 'The things I do for you, Xander. You better be finished by...' "Then
you add these numbers and that's it," Mr Bock finished his explanation. "I hope
that was enough."
'Now? ...Uh oh...' Willow nodded, helplessly watching as he walked down the hall.
She trailed after him, in the direction of the classroom Xander had disappeared into,
crossing her fingers behind her back. She was already biting her lip by the time they were
about to turn to the left.
Then the screaming began. Followed by a group's laughter.
Mr. Bock hurried down the hallway, Willow following close behind him. From the corner of
her eye she saw Xander giving her the thumbs-up. She rolled her eyes and gestured at him
to go, now. What was he doing staying at the crime scene? If Mr. Bock discovered him...
The teacher's loud voice interrupted her thoughts. "What is going on h--?!"
Willow turned around to look, and she could have sworn she saw a fleeting grin come to Mr
Bock's lips.
Willow covered the last meters to the classroom, peeking around the man's form. Her
eyebrows shot up and she had to use her free hand to cover a laugh. Wow, Xander was a
genius! No wonder Princess Chase had screamed while her cronies laughed at her.
It was Cordelia's tenth birthday party, back when Willow and the boys still made it to the guests list. In fact, that was the last year they'd gone to the Chases'. Cordelia had made her cry, Willow remembered, something about crybabies and stupid frog-fears. In the process some of Cordelia's bright red drink had spilled, splashing all over Willow's baby ducks t-shirt. That'd made her cry even harder. When Xander and Jesse came to inspect the damage, they'd seen her clothes and had automatically made the wrong assumptions.
Xander saw the birthday cake as the perfect revenge, throwing it wth all his strength at Cordelia's face. It hit her pristine white dress (he's never had the best aim), making him almost pout at his mistake. Nonetheless, the damage was already done. A food fight was quick to ensue, with little Cordelia Chase bawling in the middle of it, getting hit with everything from chocolate milk to Cheerios in the process.
Jesse had calmly taken out his Christmas gift (A cammera, because he wanted to be a great
photographer when he grew up. His parents were always indulging him. Lucky Jesse.) and
began snapping shots at the chaos. Needless to say, most of them featured the crying birthday girl (Willow now believed that that was the
beginning of his crush on the brunette). Three years later, or two days ago, Xander had
discovered the pictures in one of Jesse's drawers and began to plot.
Xander is a genius, Willow thought again. The whole blackboard had copies of the pictures
stuck to it. It was a sloppy job, done with only Scotch tape and three minutes in an empty classroom, but it was a hundred percent successful. Willow
grinned, wider when she caught sight of a close up on ten-year-old Cordelia, covered from
head to toe in whipped cream and red punch.
"What is she doing here?"
Willow snapped to attention, rounding to find Cordelia glaring daggers at her. Oh, the
brunette wasn't as dumb as the other 'princesses'; that stare told Willow that she and her
friends were dead. Soon. Willow gulped. "I... I..."
"Miss Rosenberg was consulting me about homework. Something you should be doing
now." The teacher, surely sensing her discomfort, answered for her. Then he pointed
at the two girls who were still giggling behind Cordelia's back. "Miss Kendall, Miss
Green, please remove the pictures." The mentioned girls looked at each other in
surprise, then at Mr Bock's stern expression, and relented.
Willow stepped back, unconsciously hugging her Math book against her chest. "Yes. And
I'll be going now. Because my consult is over and..." she allowed herself a mental
smirk. "...succesful."
Cordelia narrowed her eyes.
Willow almost eep'ed (but didn't) and nodded a goodbye to her teacher (quickly) while
leaving the room (even quicker). She wasn't doing any more of these favours for Xander.
Never again. But she had to admit it was fun to mess with Cordelia's head this once.
Okay, so maybe she'd accept one tiny role next time. After all, life was too boring
without Xander's crazy plans.
The End
20/12/04
Feedback, *puppy
eyes* Help author's block become a memory.
|