Chapter 10

-one floor down-

Anna walked in slowly, anyone could tell there was a lot on her mind. However, she wouldn't tell anyone, tonight was something that should bring a big smile to her face. "Okay, everybody is set to head out right," she asked to make sure before she brought the two of them.

Willow's hair was given one more twist to it and then everyone nodded, they all looked excited to see the reactions of the guys they would be meeting. "They are going to meet us there so let's go, I guess there must be something to take care of quickly. But it should still be fun even without them, have you been at something like this, Willow" turning toward Willow. She shook her head both her fathers would read her the riot act just for thinking about it. "Oh my gosh! Then we have so much to show and teach you. Don't feel bad, some normal people forget that this is something that is needed. If you work hard you most certainly need to play hard. So this kind of stuff is not bad as long as you still take care of your work which from what I hear, you have been for years so come on."

"But aren't there only grownups there, I don't know if..." Willow started till she saw someone her age at a table. "This is crazy, how come you aren't worried about what will happen to them," Willow asked, pointing to some of them who were laughing.

"We do worry, but they need to talk to others to find their mate so we make sure they are at things like this all the time, you know to socialize. If they can be around each other then problem solved" said smiling and shrugging. She grabbed something from the table, it had the same smell as Kool-aid, "don't worry I won't give you anything you can't handle. Besides, it won't help you tonight, you need something else I think," she said.

Willow felt relieved as she drank from the plastic cup. As she also looked around, she didn't like not knowing her way around. Also, she had never been one for parties, but she was going to try anything to get back to her normal life. But the main thing that she was noticing was she was starting to need Xavier. She also was thinking how it would be good if he would show her around. She knew he had been to many parties in the past. Had even had to tell him to cut back on them so he could catch up on things, which he did, but he still went out and even started to take her to some of them. After being lost in her thoughts of the past for a few minutes, she felt something on her shoulder. She turned to realize that it was someone tapping on it after she saw this she dropped her drink and turned around. It had to be Xavier, right?

The tapping she felt was from another person, and her dropping her cup had startled both of them, but not to the point where the world was going to end. Willow looked him up and down, he was good looking she guessed. Still, he wasn't Xavier so Willow was almost not interested. "Hey, mind if I take you to the dance floor," he asked her holding out her hand. A protective arm wrapped around her when he asked. "Don't worry, I know she's not mine, but if I can at least have some fun at this thing that will be a plus," he said and with that, he pulled her to the dance floor.

"Anna, this is a nightmare! That's one of the kids we are sending away"

"You're kidding me, Alice. What aren't you saying" Anna said, holding her friend at arm's length.

"Well, you have heard the saying boys will be boys, right? Well, not with him he is still looking for his mate, and because he hasn't found her thinks its okay to be with every girl in the pack. Not all of them are like this, but the ones who are, usually regret it after. But he's just hoping Willow is and even if she isn't. Well, I have heard stories and he might try something. Although, now that I think about it, because you brought her Jake may not let them go with any of them, right," Alice said still looking and sounding angry.

"Alice, she was 14 when the spell was cast. She barely knows how to hold a guy's hand, let alone how to do anything else with the male species. Not to mention,-she and Xavier- they get very uneasy when they start to change their clothes, even just saying something about it makes them awkward" Anna said looking just as mad. "Should we save her" now asking not sure what to do.

"Well, let's wait for the song to end then we can take her off the dance floor without a scene. Besides, it will let her have some fun while she waits, I mean, where are those boys" Alice sounded like a mother worried about a small child, not a group of grown men. They watched as Willow danced with the guy who had pulled her to the dance floor. She didn't look like she was really okay with this, but she at least didn't cause trouble. The song was about over and Alice started to make her way out towards her, and just as the song ended, she grabbed Willow's wrist and pulled her towards the edge of the floor. At the edge was Anna, it was now that they took her towards a table to sit. Willow would be safer this way, and now we just had to wait for Xavier to come out. "Did you have fun, Willow?"Alice asked. Willow just shook her head and looked at the floor. "Those boys really need to get here can't have you cry because you are lonely," Alice said with a wink.

Not five seconds after she had sat down someone had bent down a blew on her neck. She turned around, to see that it was Xavier with a big grin on his face, and he was trying to mess with her hair. "Xav! Stop that you're going to mess up my hair and Alice work so hard on it," Willow yelled at him and tried to push him away, but instead got pulled up. Now she was in his arms which, short of a magic spell or needing to sleep, she'd never been there before, not like this at least. Her eyes turned a bit golden for just a second but went back to their green quickly. Both of them had a little bit of a glow in their eyes, but not to the point where it was blinding. "Xavier, I..well...I"Willow was starting to stutter, something she never did.

"I wasn't planning on dancing with you, I took some time to find out where a good spot would be for the two of us," Xavier said after letting her go. "I didn't think you'd want to be here, but they said we could hang out by the lake over there, umm, if you'd like," Xavier was now starting to heat up. He had all this planned out he knew she would say yes, so why did he feel like he was drowning? "Of course, if you want to stay we could and we could walk around here then," he was now rubbing the back of his neck.

"The lake sounds great, and I bet they have an amazing view off, the water don't they" Willow said, almost wanting to reach out to touch his cheek but too scared to. She pulled her hand back behind her at the thought, how and when did she even come up with this? Shouldn't it be easy, just to reach out and take his hand? She was holding his hand earlier so what's the big deal now? So many thoughts of him were flying through her mind then they all came to a halt as someone called out to the both of them.

"Hey, the lake sounds great you two, and don't forget to grab a drink before you go," Alice said and she pointed to the table that held all the drinks.

Anna was still sitting in the chair she had managed to grab from somewhere "I'm okay with you going, just make sure that you can be seen at all times you two. Also, we have to leave in a few hours so no wandering off. If anything, stay where we can both see and halfway hear you, sound good guys. When we get there we will leave you alone to your heart's content" That last part made both of them turn red. They didn't care if people were around they only wanted to go and look at the lake and the stars. But what could possibly be in store for them?

"Let's go Willow before someone asks if we plan on having a kid anytime soon," Xavier said, holding out his hand which she took slowly. He then began to lead her down towards the lake, both Anna and Alice were sitting back watching them leave.

Just then the guy that Willow had been dancing with had found where Anna and Alice were sitting. Now that Willow was gone, they had been acting like adults and talking about the things they had done several years back, and Alice, asking about the real story that was never supposed to be told. "Where is that girl? You know the one with the pretty red hair," he asked.

Alice placed her drink down on the table before she answered," Son, the guy who had been wanting her and spending time with her just took her to the lake. If anything you could say that she is already claimed, and I wouldn't get in the middle of that one," she said all this like she had said it before. "Now, you know what happens if you try and take her? Right? We don't need to remind you, do we" Alice asked, making herself sound a whole lot tougher than she felt. He just stood there and nodded his head. "Good now go find someone to enjoy the party with, but remember either you find your mate or you leave for the train in a few hours" and she went back to talking to Anna. Anna now had a look that showed how scared she was. "Don't worry, he won't go near them. He values his life too much" Alice said.

"What does that mean," Anna asked.

"Well, on a good day Jacob would just straight away kill him, but if he's in a bad mood or it's something that could endanger all of us well he'd have him shot full of Wolfsbane then call for a brander," Alice said, calmly.

"Who does what now" a voice behind them said. They turned around to find Ryder and Alpha Jacob standing there each holding a drink. "We were just finishing getting things packed away in the cars, now you have our total attention. Did something happen that needs to be dealt with" Jacob asked sounding worried. Anna smiled and shook her head, Alice was right, she needed to not think about the bad tonight. "Well then, Annie it has been a while, but could I at least have a few minutes with an angel" Jacob asked, playfully. Alice and Anna giggled like girls, but she submitted to his request. He stretched out his arm and led her towards the drinks. "Now you really want to tell me what's wrong, or do I spend the night guessing," he asked as they walked away from the table.

"Well, one of the guys here, was just trying to go after Willow" Anna was now talking very quietly. "He got chased off, but I found out what would have happened to him if he kept trying and actually did anything to her," Anna was now rubbing her arms. "I guess I was just reminded of things that happened long ago, it's not anything to do with you"Anna was now smiling at him. He always could charm her and it was something she never minded one bit.

"So you're all mine tonight, no real problems to think of," Jacob asked. He sounded like he was almost begging for her to stay with him. Anna nodded and Jacob looked toward the table she had been sitting at with Alice, "Alice, Greg should be done in a bit then he'll be down."

Anna tossed her cup somewhere on the ground and threw her arms around him, "Wherever you want to go so will I" Anna had said this but she did not know where all this need was coming from. The feeling was one she hadn't felt in years not that she didn't mind it when she was around Jake but it always made it hard for her to say no to him.

-out towards the lake-

Walking towards the lake was the most peaceful thing ever and Willow was loving every moment. It was a million times better than the one song with the guy earlier that night, and while she was trying to put it out of her mind she couldn't help but feel guilty about it. Xavier had been noticing this the entire time, and he wanted to ask about it but didn't. In his mind, Willow just missed her home and was lonely. So it had to be the fact that she wanted to go home. He had asked her in the past about going somewhere. Where they would be going and what they would be taking with them. So maybe this was just a great time to pretend to be on that trip. Also, she could write about all of it later, which would make her happy. So he didn't need to worry about anything. Tonight was a night to just enjoy things as they are, something they had not been able to do in a very long time.

As they got a little ways from where the party was being held a bunch of lighting bugs came out which gave them the idea of trying to catch some of them. So they ran around after the blinking insects until they tired and sat down by the water. "Willow, are..are you upset with not being able to..to, go home," Xavier asked her. He must have been scared of something cause he was playing with the charm his grandfather gave him when he turned one year old as a birthday present.

"Well, I am upset about it, but like Anna said we can't go home, I have been wanting you to come to the party for I don't know how long, also, if my dads found out that I needed you to stay alive they would be out for blood" Willow was now kicking at the rocks. It was easy to talk to him if she couldn't see him. "So while I miss them, I also hope they won't do anything stupid, because of us gone. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to call home. I was going to tell them that I got accepted into a school far away. Knowing them, they would be so happy about it, in fact, they wouldn't even care that I ran away they would tell me to have fun. All they would really want is something that would let them know how I am doing now a then. I don't think it really would matter what," she said then turned towards him, "but I don't think that would be enough anymore. I just want to see them and sometimes that makes this whole thing feel wrong" and, as Willow said this she started to look up at the stars. She was hoping to make a wish, but of course, she knew it would never come true. Still, she would at least wish for it and maybe it could happen, just maybe.

"Funny, I was going to do something similar. Tell them I got into some kind of special learning thing, of course, my parents would have a cow, but then they would get over it and just want the occasional call and letter to know I am okay. They would also want to know if I wanted any money for anything. Kind of funny, us both coming up with the same idea, right" Xavier said leaning towards her. 

She gulped, "I don't know, it is a common idea. I guess," Willow was trying to form words, but Xavier was really starting to get close. She had been close to him, but the way he was now was completely different. Willow wasn't uncomfortable but she still wasn't sure all the time of how she wanted to feel toward Xavier.

"I know that this isn't what you probably had in mind, but maybe it could be, um," he didn't finish what he wanted to say. Instead, he just pulled her close and gave up to his instinct. Now normally they were all right, but tonight something must have been messing with the controls. While all he really wanted from her was to kiss her he expected to not be able to but for some reason, Willow was letting him even acting like she was liking it, still, she didn't push him away that was the important thing he almost wanted to do back flips right there, she liked him, he had always thought that she hated him and he wouldn't have blamed her. But this felt like it was something completely different, it was a feeling that was making all of him feel better, lighter. Maybe he died and got to heaven somehow? He didn't think he could feel like this or even close after winning at every sports event ever. After they broke their kiss they just looked at each other, neither of them knew what to say to the other. As they stood there they let everything just fade away into the night.