A collaboration fanfic written by myself and @NatStillLives. This chapter was written by me and is posted on Nat's fanfiction.net , along with the rest of this story. Don't hesitate to inform us about any spelling or grammar mistakes. Let's also keep in mind that my romance writing skills have probably not improved since "CinderAlana"
"You're finally back!" I turned around to see my mother. She practically skipped up to me and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. After seeing her so happy, I didn't think I had the guts to tell her about detention. "So, how was my little Will's first day as a senior?" She cooed. Although my mother was late into her forties, she still acted like one of those super-young moms you only ever see parenting kids on television shows.
I chuckled at her as she let go of the hug. Will was the nickname she had called me by since I was a child, she picked up on it after my dad kept dropping the 'Liam' part of my name. Ever since then I had been Will to the both of them. "It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great either."
"Just so-so?" She asked, her hands on her hips. I noticed she was wearing her apron, which I presumed that meant I had interrupted her cooking in the kitchen. I knew it was derogatory to say that 'the woman's place is in the kitchen', but with my mother, it was true. She was able to cook gourmet meals so heavenly, they could satisfy the tastes of God himself.
"Just so-so." I agreed. "Mom, I'm going to a party over at Ronnie's tonight, is that alright?"
She chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. "That Knox boy and his parties. I suppose you can, as long as you help clean up the dishes and do any homework you have before hand. Just be back by eleven."
I laughed and started up the stairs. "What kind of teacher assigns homework on the first day?" I called down at her as I reached the peak of the staircase, which led into the second floor of our home.
"Mr.Landers would!" She retorted back up. My mom had Mr.Landers in her class when she was in high school, and she had never really liked him or his over-inflated ego either. I heard her laugh a bit more before sighing again. "Dinner's at five thirty, be ready, Will!"
"I will!" I shouted back as I slammed the door to my room. I flopped down on my bed and stared blankly up at the ceiling. I still couldn't believe that Grell had gotten us all into dentention. I knew it wasn't her fault, but I still couldn't help but be angry. This was the first dentention I had ever recieved, it would be an ugly blotch on my permenant record.
After a bit more of wallowing in my own self-pity and raging at my red-haired diva friend, I heard my text tone go off. I pulled out my phone and saw it was from Ronnie. I typed in my passcode and checked the message.
Ronald: I need your opinion and fast man. STB tonight or not?
William: I guess I'm up for it, as long as I don't end up kissing you.
Ronald: You think you're funny, don't you?
William: You know I am, Ronnie.
Ronald: Shut up. And thanks for the input. Remember, at seven. Grell's expecting you.
I clicked the power button and set my phone over on my desk. Spin the Bottle would be interesting tonight. I knew Grell would wanna play, and Ronnie would probably drag Alan into it. I relaxed on my bed for a little while longer, unable to think up anything to do.
After an hour or so and plenty of procrastinating, I heard the front door slam shut, followed by the voice of my father ringing throughout the house. "Will, Marta, I'm home!" He announced loudy.
I clicked my phone and checked the time, 5:23P.M. it read. I lunged off my bed, I figured it would be best to get downstairs and ready for dinner. I stopped at the foot of the stairs to watch my mom and dad greet each other. Marta, my mom, reached in for a hug. While my dad had his arms wrapped around her, she stood on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek. "Hey Jim. How was work today?"
"It was fine," Jim, my dad, sighed. He removed his had and hung it up on the coat rack next to him. "But personally, I'm just glad I'm home now." Before Marta could ask him another question, I came barging down the stairs, interrupting the two's moment. My dad focused his attention on me, almost a smile crawling onto his lips. "And here's none other than Will."
I laughed as he walked over and ruffled my hair. "Hey, dad." I said simply.
My mother retreated to the dining room and back into the kitchen, noticing that we needed some father-son bonding time. "I still can't believe you're a senior. I can still remember the day you went off on your first day of kindergarten..." His voice trailed off.
"Okay, you can stop there," I stated. I wasn't in the mood to go down memory lane at that time.
"I'm just messing with you." He chuckled. "So, did you have a good first day back? Lemme guess, Knox has a party planned tonight."
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"He's Knox, that's what he does."
Marta leaned through the doorway that led to the dining room. She let out a grunt of annoyance, yet her face was still pleasant. "Boys? It's dinner time."
"Right. We'll be right in." Jim said, giving a nod to my mother. "We can talk about your day during dinner, okay?" His words caused a lump to grow in my throat. Talking about my day meant I'd have to do some explaining about detention.
About halfway through the meal, my dad decided it was the best time to inquire about my day. "So, did anything exciting happen today?"
"No," I casually lied, diving back into my helping of asparagus on my plate. There was nothing more that I wanted at that point of time than for him to stop talking.
"Are you sure, Will?" My mom asked, her face concerned. "You aren't looking well."
I couldn't stand it. I knew I would have to tell them sometime, and since they both stood before me there was no reason I couldn't tell them. "I got detention," I said as I shot up from the chair. I stared down at my shoes, I couldn't bring myself to face my dad's glaring eyes or my mom's compassionate ones.
A period of silence passed before my father could recollect himself. "My son, who's never done a thing wrong in his life, got detention," He said ominously. I braced myself for the worst, when my father was upset, it was like he was whole other person, and that person wasn't one you wanted your father to be.
"Now, Jim," My mom soothed. She sprang from her seat to his side, putting her hands on his shoulders as if it would help calm him down. "I'm sure it's nothing to get so upset about," She hinted, "just let the boy explain himself."
He groaned in his seat, shifting uncomfortably. "Fine. What happened, Will?"
I spent the net half hour or so explaining everything. Grell's accidental run-in with Mr.Landers, her trying to attack him, Ronnie's back-sass, and then the final punishment of detention. Both of my parents stared at me with blank expressions, before my mother let out a low sigh. "Oh, honey," She shook her head.
"Well, at least you fessed up." My dad growled. "I should punish you by keeping you from going to Knox's party tonight, but I know how much you were looking forward to that," he sighed, his usual calm self had returned. "You just gotta promise that things like this aren't going to happen again, alright?"
"Alright." I said with a nod. "Thank you for understanding." I relaxed a little, removing some of the tension I had. I had barely made it through that one alive.
-
About an hour later, I walked down the block to Ronnie's house. Although it was evening, the air was still warm and rather humid. I clicked my phone, it was 6:58P.M. "Just in time," I said to myself.
When I arrived at Ronnie's house, the party scene was already started. Flashing strobe lights and neon lasers poured out of the windows and opened front door, and the music blaring so loud I could feel the bass in my feet. I saw Ronnie leaning next to his doorway with a red solo cup in hand, greeting his guests as they entered the rave scene. I jogged up the steps and Ronnie perked up. "William, you made it!"
"Of course I did," I said as he wrapped an arm around me, leading me inside. "Our red-haired diva is expecting me to come to her rescue and protect her from that creep Ashton," I sheilded my eyes, all the flickering lights made it difficult to see.
Noticing my discomfort, Ronnie led me into the kitchen, where there thankfully were no party lights. The island counter in the room was full of stacks of plastic cups, two-liter bottles of any soda brand there was, numerous bags of chips and too many deserts to count. "Speaking of," He started with a disgusted look on his face "Sleazeball Landers decided to show up a couple minutes ago. Dude, I thought for sure he would've backed down after what we told him on the phone!"
I shook my head, pouring myself a serving of Doctor Pepper. "He's Ashton, Mr.Landers's son. Knowing him and his ego, he wouldn't pass up any big party," I explained as I chugged down some of the beverage.
Ronnie chuckled and patted me on the back. "Well, anyway, you might wanna wait by the main door for our red-head princess so Landers doesn't sweep her away. I could tell by the look on her face earlier there was no way she'd wanna be seen with a dirtbag like him."
I proceeded through the hall and back to the front door. I nodded at other students from school as they entered the house, a solemn and quiet greeting. Not long after, I saw the familiar red convertible pull into the driveway, with none other than Grell at the wheel. I noticed that she had changed into a loose white blouse and red skinny jeans. She always incorporated red into her outfits, and somehow found loopholes in the school rules to modify her uniform to add her personal touch of crimson.
"Hey, there you are." Grell greeted as she skipped up the steps, her white heels clunking against the wooden boards. She forcibly took my free hand and pulled me inside after her, all the way into the living room. Somehow, Ronnie had managed to set up a dance floor and hire a DJ to play tonight's setlist. I noticed Alan situated on the wall, hopelessly watching as all the other party attendees danced to the techno track. His eyes met with mine, and he gave a shy wave. Grell let out a chuckle from next to me. "He's such a wallflower. I'm gonna go see if he wants to dance, I wanna make sure he has fun tonight."
Although I was supposedly Grell's escort, I was glad she was asking Alan to dance. I had never been good at dancing, whether it was formal or fun. Smiling as I saw her dragging the reluctant Alan into the crowd to dance, I retreated back to the kitchen. As I began to refill my cup with soda, I heard rattling at the window. Freezing in my spot, I watched as the intruder unlocked the window and pulled himself inside. He jumped up from the floor, his eyes catching mine. "Where's Alan?"
"Eric?!" I shouted as I recognized the brute blond. His sudden arrival surprised me, I backed into the counter and spilled my drink. I sighed and recollected myself. "What're you doing here? I thought you had detention tonight."
He gave a shrug, avoiding my gaze. "I had Tanaka, the Algebra teacher, for detention. Guy's so old I thought it'd take him years to even notice I was gone, let alone do anything about it." He dipped his hand into a bowl of Doritos and chomped down on them. "Anyway, do you know where Alan is?"
"Uh, yeah. Grell dragged him out on the dance floor a couple minutes ago."
He nodded, his blond hair slightly bouncing. "Okay, thanks." He gave me a high-five as he passed by me and into the room. Not but a minute later, Grell ran into the kitchen, squealing her fangirling head off.
"Oh my God, William! They are just too cute! I need to set them up!" She exclaimed, her hands exploding in dramatic bursts.
"Grell," I laughed, "What if they don't think of each other like that, what if they're only friends?"
She shook her head and dove into one of the slices of cherry cheescake on the counter. "Whatever. I still think they're cute together."
Before I could even respond to Grell's hopeless 'I'm-going-to-set-them-up-someday' antics, Ronnie popped his head into the room. He held an empty bottle of Coke in his hands, shaking it around with a crafty smile on his face. "Guys, Spin the Bottle. Upstairs, right now."
Grell let out a squeal, her eyes gleaming with joy. We followed Ronnie upstairs to an excluded room, where the group participating in the event was already seated in a circle, with both Alan and Eric amongst them. I sat next to Eric, and Grell on the opposite side of me. Ronnie stood in the middle of the circle, his face still bearing his cunning smirk, sitting the plastic Coke bottle down in front of him. "Alright, who wants to give her a go?" he asked.
With his cheeks flushing pink, Alan reached into the center of the crowded group and gave the bottle a whirl. Every pair of eyes in the room followed it as it spun around mesmerizingly. Its pace began to slow down, and once it did, everybody's attention turned to who it had landed on. Eric looked down at the bottle pointing towards him, swallowing a gulp as Alan's hand flew to his face to cover his ruby-red cheeks. After releasing a reluctant sigh, Alan made his way over to Eric and slowly kissed his cheek. I couldn't blame him for not wanting to kiss his best friend, locking lips with Ronnie wasn't my favorite idea either.
As Alan returned to his rightful spot, my eyes darted over to Grell, who looked like she was on the brink of swooning. Before she began going through another one of her infamous fangirl spasms, I grabbed the bottle and spun it. Like before, everyone watched it as it rotated around and around before it chose it's next victim. I sat on edge as it slowed down, and my eyes shot up to who I had spun to.
Grell.
Her breath took a sharp intake and her green eyes widened. I bit my lip and looked away as she blushed. Hesitantly, we both met in the middle. She leaned her forhead into mine, a short little way of preparation before we kissed. "No matter what happens, we're just friends, right? This isn't going to affect anything between us."
I nodded, pushing aside my nerves. "Right. This is just for the sake of the ga-"
Before I could even think about finishing my response, Grell grabbed my hands and pulled my even closer, her lips clashing against mine. I was taken aback by her sudden action, with our previous conversation I was convinced she was dreading it. Our bodies were so close I could almost feel her heart beating rapidly. She pulled back abruptly, her lips causing a smack. She looked away from me, her entire face swelling with pink.
I couldn't resist the urge any longer. I wanted to remove her shame, but not as much as I wished for her lips against mine. I pulled Grell in for another round, wrapping my hands around her waist to bring her closer. Her lips were warm, with a lingering flavor of cherry lipgloss. She deepened the kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck, bringing herself closer to me. Before we could get any more involved, someone executed a low whistle and clapped their hands together, followed by the murmurs of other students. Grell broke the kiss, laughing nervously as she observed the crowd before turning back to me. "This... This means nothing between us, right?" she asked, her shaking voice a whisper.
"Just heat of the moment," I lied, "It's nothing."
-Oli
Writing this chapter turned me into a part time fem!Grell X William shipper... don't deny it, it's shippable. (SebaGrell is still my OTP so no worries there XD)