Together Forever - A Collection of Will/Alyss One-Shots

Day 3: Secret Santa (Will's POV)

On the last day of high school before winter break, Will comes to school toting a plastic shopping bag full of small packages, each wrapped neatly in brightly colored paper. The halls of Redmont High School are filled with a wiry excitement which is so different from its normal cloudy atmosphere. The bag isn't very heavy, given that each present is very small, and there aren't many of them, because there's one for each of his closest friends. Horace, Cassandra, Jenny, George, Gilan. Each name is written on a tag on a package in Will's messy handwriting.

The last package, though, doesn't bear a tag with Will's writing, but rather a printed label. It's his Secret Santa present, and the recipient isn't supposed to know who it's from.

"Will!" someone squeals from down the hallway. Will breaks into a grin as he sees his friends waiting for him next to the gift table outside their homeroom. 

"Hey, Cassie," he says easily, setting his bag of presents down on the edge of the table.

Cassandra eyes it curiously. "Is there something in there for me?" she asks.

"You wish," Will teases.

She pretends to pout at him, and turns to her boyfriend, Horace. "He's not really very nice, is he," she remarks.

Horace smirks. "I've been telling you that for years."

The rest of their classmates are hanging around the hallway, chattering eagerly. They fall silent as their homeroom teacher, Mr. Baron, comes out of the classroom. He begins to take the gifts from the table to distribute them to each student's desk. Only when the gift table is empty do the students file into the classroom to take their seats.

Will is seated right in the middle of his cluster of friends. A stack of five packages waits tantalizing on the desk in front of him. 

"Good morning, students," Mr. Baron says. "I do have a few announcements to make -" 

There's a collective sigh of disappointment.

Mr. Baron smirks. "- but I will wait until after you have opened your Christmas gifts."

A cheer resounds through the classroom, quickly replaced by the sound of ripping paper as each of the twenty-five students eagerly opens the packages on their desks.

The first package Will opens is from Cassandra. It's a small paperback copy of one of his favorite books, Great Expectations. Then, he receives a movie ticket voucher from Horace, a fancy pen from George, and a box full of his favorite candy, M&M's, from Jenny.

The last present on his desk isn't a package, but a large envelope. Will turns it over, seeing his name typed neatly on the back, and opens the flap. Inside, he finds a single sheet of plain white paper. A dandelion in full bloom is rendered painstakingly in black ink. It's incredible artwork, and it takes Will's breath away for a second. He glances at the bottom corner of the paper, where an artist would normally sign his or her work, but it's blank.

No one's paying much attention to him right now. They're all too busy opening their presents. Will turns in his seat, and his eyes go to the last desk in the back corner, where his Secret Santa present has gone.

The girl sitting there is deathly pale, with circles under her eyes. Her blonde hair is stringy and uneven. Her name is Alyss Mainwaring, Will knows. She's a foster kid - her parents died in a car accident when she was six, and she hasn't spoken a word since then. And she's been bounced from foster home to foster home.

Something about the silent, invisible girl in the corner has drawn Will's eye. She's been in his class for years, and he's always been hyperaware of her, despite the fact that no one else acknowledges her. But he's always noticed her, and certain things that seem to define her. Like the once-white cardigan she wears in place of the winter coat she doesn't own, with too-short sleeves exposing her wrists. Like the beautiful pen-and-ink line drawings, ever changing and in progress, flowing from the end of her pen onto whatever paper lies before her and twining up and down her arms, hiding the bruises that flower under her pale skin. Like her striking gray eyes, the gaze of which Will has met only once. That one time was enough to engrave the memory deep into his brain.

As he watches, Alyss carefully opens the brightly colored paper covering the single package on her desk. Her hands fly to her mouth in disbelief when she sees what's inside. A bound sketchbook filled with high-quality creamy white paper, accompanied by three fine-pointed black art pens, sits on the desk before her. Will watches as Alyss reaches out with shaking hands, a single finger running down the cover of the sketchbook, almost as if she can't believe it's real.

Suddenly, she looks up, and her eyes meet Will's and, as before, her gaze completely immobilizes him. Everything around him fades from existence as he stares into her gray eyes, now filled with tears of gratitude. Then, equally as suddenly, Will is ripped out of the moment. He turns back to the front, clocking back into the chatter of his friends, though his mind is still reeling from what happened.

After everyone has finished opening their presents, Mr. Baron makes the students put their presents under their desks. The period seems to drag on forever, until the bell finally rings, and the room echoes with the scraping and bustle of twenty-five students gathering their belongings.

Will can't help himself from lingering, bidding his friends goodbye as he slowly packs his things into his bag. Something is holding him back, keeping him from leaving the classroom. 

There's a featherlight touch on his shoulder and Will jumps, whirling around. Alyss stands behind him, her eyes huge and frightened. She looks on the verge of running away.

"Oh, sorry, Alyss," Will says. "You just scared me."

She holds a notepad out at him. He reads, It was you, wasn't it?

Will finds himself nodding. "Yes," he says.

Alyss's eyes go wide again, before she turns the pad back toward herself, scribbling some more. She shyly turns it around for him to read.

Thank you, she writes. No one's ever given me such a nice present before.

Will clears his throat awkwardly, desperately searching for something to say. "You're welcome," he finally says.

He might have said more, or Alyss might have written something else, but the bell shrills again, giving students a five-minute warning to get to their next class.

"We'd better go," he says apologetically. Alyss nods, her face dropping again, a few strands of hair falling forward to shield her face from view as usual.

Before he knows what he's doing, Will reaches out, tucking the strands of hair behind Alyss's ear. Her head jerks up, and her eyes meet his, equally as shocked as he is. They stand frozen for a long minute, before the last bell rings.

Will turns and hurries to the door, carefully entering the stream of students heading to the next class. He turns, and catches a glimpse of Alyss's blonde hair as she leaves the classroom. He blinks, and she's gone, lost in the crowd of students.