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Title: Growing Together, Part 2: Growing Pains Author: Mandy AKA SuperMandy13 E-Mail: SuperMandy_WarriorDM@yahoo.comRating: PG Disclaimer: Willow and Tara belong to ME and Joss Whedon, sadly. Don’t sue me! Notes:Yay for another update to the ‘Growing Together’ chapters! For those who have no idea what’s going on, go and check out the first part of ‘Growing Together’ and read the chapter notes. This idea has been swimming around my brain a lot, and I really hope I did it justice. It didn’t quite turn out exactly as I had planned, but I’m hoping it still gives off the same mood as I had wanted. I dunno, ‘cause I’ve been having a lot of trouble with grammar and flow lately. Maybe I should stop being stubborn and go and find a beta reader or something... So, yeah, I hope it turned out alright. I've read through it so many times, already, that it's hard for me to tell. Aiyah... -------------------------------------------- Flashback – 6th grade
“Good morning!” Willow grinned happily as she bounced into the cozy Maclay household and walked over to the kitchen to greet her friend’s mother.
Tricia glanced over at the redhead leaning against the kitchen doorway and gestured with her spatula for the teenager to enter the room. “Sit down, Willow. Tara’s already up and should down in a few minutes.”
The redhead nodded and slung her backpack onto the floor as she took a seat at the kitchen table. Glancing over at what the older woman was making, Willow rubbed her hands in glee as she eyed the food sizzling on the stove. “Ooh, omelets? Yum! May I have extra cheese on mine, pleeease, Mrs. Maclay?” The younger girl practically bounced in her seat as she turned on her best pleading, puppy dog eyes.
Tricia chuckled at the cheerful redhead as she added a large pile of cheese into the pan. “Of course, dear. And for the thousandth time, it’s Tricia. Call me Tricia. Being called Mrs. Maclay makes me feel like my mom, and that just makes me feel old.”
Willow waggled her eyebrows as she smiled cheekily at her best friend’s mom. “Well, you are a mom and you are kinda old, so...” The girl yelped as the older woman tossed a towel at her and mock-glared in her direction.
“You were so cute and polite when you were younger. What happened?” Tricia rolled her eyes as she laughed good-naturedly with the girl. Flipping the finished omelet onto a plate, she walked over and unceremoniously dumped it in front of the teenager. “Here, keep that smart mouth of yours occupied.”
The redhead stuck her tongue out at the older woman in reply, before digging into her omelet with gusto. “Mmm! Shish is grea’!”
“Hey! Don’t talk with your mouth full!” The blonde woman put her hands on her hips as she admonished the girl in a very mom-like way.
Willow simply rolled her eyes as she quickly swallowed the food in her mouth. “Yes, Mrs. Maclay...” Glancing over at the kitchen doorway, the redhead’s brow furrowed as she wondered about her friend’s continued absence. “When’s Tara gonna be ready? It’s getting kinda late.”
Tricia glanced at the doorway and frowned slightly. “She was pretty much ready when I had last left her...” Maybe she just needs a few more minutes to adjust..?
“Should I go and see what’s up?” The teenager wiped her hands with a napkin as she gave her friend’s mother a questioning look.
“No no... She might just be feeling a little nervous, today...”
Before Tricia could elaborate, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs interrupted their conversation. As they turned towards the doorway, they both watched as Tara quietly entered the kitchen and sat down at the table, her head bowed down slightly with her hair covering her eyes. Willow and Tricia worriedly glanced at each other as they studied the blonde’s tense form.
“Umm... hey, Tara.” Willow ducked her head down to try and meet her friend’s gaze, but couldn’t catch the other girl’s eye.
“Sweetie? Are you feeling okay?” Tricia walked over and gently rubbed her daughter’s back as she placed the girl’s breakfast in front of her.
Tara only nodded and slowly picked up a fork to poke at her food with, her face still obscured from view as she kept her gaze downwards.
Willow nervously fiddled with her glass of orange juice as she watched her friend, silently pleading in her mind for the blonde to look up at her. What’s wrong? She only gets like this when she’s scared or embarrassed... W-what’s going on? The redhead cast another look towards Tricia, and the older woman only slowly shook her head in response.
Clearing her throat, Willow went back to eating her breakfast, but kept furtively glancing back at her friend. “Well... umm... we have that math quiz today, huh? Are you ready to go and show our knowledge on volume and area and-and all that other good math stuff? ‘Cause we studied really hard and I know you had it aced yesterday, ‘cause you were smokin’ through all the questions I made up. Even when I made up a really hard one that I had to get your mom to check and everything! Oh, and hey, music class today! We get to try the flute, and I’m really excited ‘cause I somehow feel a weird kinship with the flute... which sounds weird, but didn’t sound weird in my head. But everything sounds normal in my head ‘cause my head’s so weird anyway, and...”
Tara finally glanced up in the middle of her best friend’s babble, a lopsided smile pushing at the corners of her lips as she giggled at the redhead. “Breathe, Wills. You’re gonna pass out from the lack of oxygen from one of your mega-babbles one day.”
Willow giggled, the nervous rumbles in her belly soothing out at seeing her friend’s smile. “Well, all the babbling has been great practice for holding my breath and stuff. Nanna says I probably have extra-strength lungs, now! Great for skills like swimming and all that.” The redhead’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Oh hey! Are we still up for swimming this week? Nanna said she could take us over to the pool at the community center.”
At the mention of swimming, the blonde’s gaze immediately became pensive again and her eyes dropped back down to her plate. Her voice softened to a whisper, as she responded, “I-I’m not sure... I d-don’t think I-I’ll be able to g-go this w-week...”
The redhead immediately became concerned at her friend’s sudden shift in mood, and the rumbles in her belly roared back again. “Oh, okay... That’s alright, we can go later. Besides, I’m thinking about getting a new game that just came out, so maybe we can try that? Okay?”
The blonde nodded her head and briefly glanced up to meet Willow’s gaze, her eyes showing relief at her friend’s lack of pushing.
Tricia gently intruded in on their conversation as she cleared her throat to get their attention. “You should get going soon, girls. You don’t want to be late.”
Looking at the clock on the wall, both girls nodded and quietly cleaned up their dishes before gathering their things to head out. After waving goodbye to Tara’s mom, they both quietly set off down the familiar path towards their school.
Both girls walked in silence, lost in their own respective thoughts. Tara kept her eyes focused on her feet as she walked, and her hair, once again, curtained over her face to hide her expression.
Willow glanced over at her silent friend, curiosity filling her at the blonde’s strange mood. “Umm... Tara? Are you sure you’re okay?”
Tara only nodded and kept walking, her body language tensing at the innocently asked question.
Immediately backing off, the redhead bit her bottom lip to keep herself from pushing her friend to answer. What the heck’s going on?? Did something happen? Did I do something? I don’t think I did anything... Oh, man, what if I did something to hurt her feelings and I just don’t know, ‘cause I’m a dumb-dumb, and she’s walking beside me in pain ‘cause I’m too much of a dork to know that I hurt her?!
Panicking, Willow thought back to the past few days and scanned her memories for anything that she might have said or done to have caused her friend’s distress. ...well, I didn’t get to see her on Saturday, so I couldn’t have done anything then. And yesterday, everything seemed normal. We just hung out at her house and did our homework and studied. We also played a little bit of Scrabble, but she’s the one who won... Hmmm... Nothing bad happened, and I don’t think I said or did anything bad... at least, I hope not. And she acted like she always does...
Hmm... so, if it’s not my fault... well, she maybe she’s really nervous about something we’re doing today? Thinking about the day ahead, Willow weighed out the ‘freak out potential’ for each upcoming event. Well, we’re both ready for the math test, so that can’t be it. And she’s never like this, even if she thinks she’s not ready. Umm... we have music class, but we both really like it, even though we sometimes have to play in front of the class. And she’s really good, anyway, so she never gets too embarrassed. Ermm... what else? Oh, it’s Monday, so we have P.E. this morning, too. Bleh... Willow grimaced slightly. Well, that’s not all that fun, but it’s definitely nothing horrible...
Frowning, the redhead, again, turned to study her agitated friend. She watched as the other girl reached up to scratch absently at her shoulders. So, what’s wrong? I don’t get it...
Sighing, Willow shook her head and brushed off her thoughts. Hey, what the heck am I doing?! Friend in pain here! Hello, Earth to Willow-brain! You ain’t helping by not doing anything! Mentally knocking herself on the noggin, Willow slid closer to her friend and gingerly reached one hand over to lace her fingers with the blonde’s. Tara glanced up, startled, but relaxed at the comforting grip the redhead had on her hand. Gently squeezing the hand in her own, the tension in the older girl’s features softened as she gave the redhead a small, lopsided smile.
Grinning back at her friend, Willow silently congratulated herself. Good job, self! You got her to smile! She’ll tell you what’s up later, so just concentrate on bringing more Tara-smiles onto her pretty face.
The rest of the short walk to the school was more comfortable as the tension eased, and they both relaxed into the rhythm of the day. Arriving at the school, they walked into their classroom several minutes before the first warning bell rung, and stashed their belongings at their desks. Politely greeting their homeroom teacher, the elderly woman then gently reminded them that they had to head outside for P.E. first thing that morning.
Grumbling to each other, they both grabbed the towels they kept in their desks and headed out to the large grassy field that the instructor used as the exercise grounds.
As soon as the final morning bell had rung, the P.E. coach quickly coaxed the apathetic students to stand in neat rows for roll call, before leading the class through a series of stretching and warm-up exercises. After prodding the groaning group into completing a lazy lap around the schoolyard, the coach then set up several rows of orange cones along the field and divided the class into different groups, handing out soccer balls to each row.
Demonstrating how to dribble the ball around the cones, the coach then blew his whistle and stood off to the side to watch the students as they grudgingly went along with the exercise. Being positioned at the head of their row, Tara took the ball and hesitantly dribbled it around the cones in front of their line.
As Willow watched her friend go through the exercise, she couldn’t help but overhear the gaggle of annoying girls chattering irritatingly behind her.
“Oh, look at T-T-Tara go! Who wants to bet she’s gonna trip over one of the cones and fall flat on her face?”
“Duh! Oh, hey, check out who seems to have their training bra! Looks like little, goody-two-shoes Tara Maclay is growing up.”
“Like, she doesn’t need to grow much more. The extra weight will only go to those thunder thighs of hers.”
“Oh, god, I know! That girl needs to, like, lay off the sweets or something.”
Willow’s eyes narrowed as the girls’ words echoed through her head. How dare they talk about Tara like that! Who the hell do they think they are?! Why don’t they just... wait, training bra? I don’t see... The redhead squinted as she gazed after her friend. She could just barely make out the outline of something going across the blonde’s t-shirt. Oh, wait... is that it? Why didn’t she... Willow’s thoughts swirled erratically through her brain as she watched Tara running back towards the group.
“Oh, here comes ‘Bra Girl’. Probably thinking that breasts will actually distract people from her ugly clothes...”
The group of annoying teenagers continued to rattle on behind her, not even noticing the anger radiating off of the redhead standing in front of them. Gritting her teeth in annoyance, Willow was about to turn around to tell the girls to shut up, when she heard the teacher shout at her, “Rosenberg! Get going before I mark you down!”
Growling a little under her breath, Willow ran after the soccer ball as it slipped past her while she was turning around to glare at the oblivious group of girls. Tara gave her an odd look as she passed by, but the redhead could only smile weakly and shrug as she awkwardly kicked the ball towards the cones.
Messily weaving around the orange obstacles, Willow briefly glanced up as she turned to run back, and saw that the ringleader of the annoying clique of girls had approached the her best friend with a smug smile on her face. The rest of the girls giggled behind her as she spoke to the shy blonde, whose face seemed to be getting brighter and brighter red with each passing second.
And just as Tara turned to walk away from the taunting group of teenagers, to flee to where she had placed her towel, the girl reached up and pinched at the material in the middle of the blonde’s back, pulling back and letting go with a loud snap. Tara’s whole body flinched and she whirled around, her face twisting in pain and panic as she reflexively reached one arm up to her back.
As all the girls in the clique burst into laughter, all Willow could see were the tears starting to fill her friend’s horror-stricken eyes. Time seemed to slow down as the redhead’s vision suddenly clouded over in a red haze of anger, and as she neared the group, her once awkward movements were now focused and confident as she sprinted back towards the row of girls.
Without even knowing how, the soccer ball that she had been idly kicking around the orange cones suddenly shot forward, barreling straight towards the group. All laughter stopped as the ball slammed directly into the stomach of the clique’s ringleader, and the teenager immediately doubled over and dropped to the ground, a barely audible wheeze whistling out from between her lips.
The entire class froze as the teenager fell to the ground, and Willow hurried over to the girl’s side, an expression of fake concern pasted to her face as she knelt beside the gasping girl. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry! I really didn’t mean to do that. Here, let me help you up!” With the worried look still glued onto her face by sheer willpower, Willow casually helped the other teenager sit up.
Coughing and slowly taking in a few raspy breaths, the snotty teenager turned to rip into the redhead. But as she opened her mouth to snarl at the other girl, her voice was immediately caught in her throat as she found cold, green eyes piercing into her watering, pained ones.
“If you ever hurt her, again, I will make you regret it.” Willow spoke in a low tone under her breath, the menace in her voice unmistakable.
The girl could only stare in shock at the redhead, fear filling her at the chilling look in the eyes of girl who was normally so passive and gentle. The now subdued teenager nodded, and Willow looked up as the coach quickly made his way to their side to tend to the girl. “Mr. Daniels, can I have a hall pass to go to the restroom please?”
The teacher nodded absently as he worried over the still stunned girl, thoughts of potential lawsuits running through his head as absently handed Willow a hall pass. The redhead quickly claimed it before the teacher could change his mind, and headed over to her best friend to gently take the other girl’s hand and tug her away from the class. “Let’s go. They won’t miss us.”
Tara, who had been watching the scene with a shocked expression on her face, simply nodded dazedly as she wrapped her free arm around her midriff. The redhead quickly led them through the school and to the girl’s bathroom, grateful to find it empty.
Leading the blonde over to the sink, Willow gave her friend’s hand a gentle squeeze as she used her other hand to gently tilt the other girl’s chin up so their eyes could meet. “Hey...”
Tara bit her lip as she gazed into her friend’s warm green eyes. “H-hey.” The blonde’s voice was raspy as she struggled to contain the hurt and embarrassment still settled painfully in the pit of her stomach.
Willow stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her best friend in a comforting hug, affectionately resting her forehead against the other girl’s as she looked into misty blue eyes. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
The blonde gratefully accepted the comfort offered to her, and leaned into her friend’s embrace. Blinking back a few tears, Tara sighed as she mentally berated herself for not being able to keep her emotions in check. “I-I’m sorry...”
“No no... Don’t be sorry. It’s okay. Those girls were stupid. Don’t listen to whatever they said.” Pausing for a moment, Willow then pulled back a little to give her friend a questioning look. “Are you okay? What happened? What did she do to you?”
“Oh, umm...” Tara tried to duck her head back down again, but Willow gently cupped her face to raise her eyes back up.
“Hey, it’s me. No need to be embarrassed. Heck, you’ve seen me run around in my underwear, covered in blue paint, as I tried to become like a Smurf. Nothing will ever top that.” The redhead grinned crookedly at the other girl, trying to bring a smile to the blonde’s face.
Tara giggled softly as she remembered that particular incident. “Oh yeah, your parents sure got mad when they came back and found your bed covered in blue, Willow-shaped stains.”
They laughed together at the memory, before Tara nervously bit her bottom lip. “The girls were, umm... they made comments about... umm... m-my...”
“Your what?”
“My b-b-bra. They could s-see it th-through my shirt, and they w-were making fun of it and me. And th-then she s-snapped my b-b-bra st-strap.” Tara’s face flushed a deep red as she made her confession, and she stepped back to fold her arms across her torso in a protective gesture.
“She did what?!? Oh, I should have aimed for her face...” Willow’s hands clenched in anger as her protective instincts flared up once again. Images of just how much pain she wanted to inflict on those girls flitted through her mind.
“Y-you did that on p-purpose?” Tara’s eyebrows raised as she gazed curiously at her friend.
The redhead’s eyes widened as a guilty look flashed over her face. “Oh, well... No! I mean... well, yeah, sorta. But... Well, it just kinda happened really fast. I remember being really mad and then the ball just kinda flew towards her. But I guess the teacher didn’t think I did it on purpose since I could never ever kick like that on purpose. I can barely make it around the cones...” Willow babbled nervously as she tried to gauge her friend’s expression.
Tara gave her friend a small smile as she wrapped her arms back around the redhead. “Thank you for protecting me. Y-you shouldn’t really hurt people... even when they kinda deserve it.... but, thank you for defending me.”
Willow smiled against her friend’s hair as she sighed in relief. “Well, you can’t always be my protector against the frogs and all the other scary things. I wanna be there to protect you, too.”
“It feels good to have a knight in shining armor...”
“Well, you’ve got one Willow in shiny t-shirts... I hope that’ll do.”
Suddenly remembering why they were there, Willow blushed slightly as she pulled back and gestured towards her friend’s chest. “Soo... when did you start wearing a bra?”
Tara flushed bright red as she again folded her arms over her torso in embarrassment. “W-well, Mama took me to the s-store on Saturday when you and N-Nanna went to the Computer Faire. S-so, she said that we n-needed to get me a couple training b-b-bras...”
“Oh... so, you’re just trying them today? They look...” Willow’s gaze shifted down to her friend’s chest, and a huge flush immediately filled her face as she realized where she was staring at. Averting her eyes, the redhead giggled nervously, “Umm... looks good! I can’t really tell, actually.”
“Y-yeah...” The blonde nervously reached up to scratch at the still unfamiliar feel of the bra straps rubbing against her skin.
Even though she could feel the blood rapidly flowing to her face, Willow paused and ran her eyes over the length of her friend, taking a good long look at the other girl’s body. She does look different. I hadn’t really noticed before... Her face used to be fuller, but now it seems to have gone... Willow swallowed nervously as she examined the curves beginning to become more defined around her friend’s waist and chest. Wow...
Clearing her throat, Willow forced her eyes away from the blonde’s figure as she tried to break the tension building in the room. “So, you’re starting to go through umm... puberty, now? Like in the videos we watched last year during sex ed.”
Tara’s gaze had dropped back to the ground, her face beet red as she fidgeted self-consciously. “Yeah...” Her voice was hesitant as she spoke. “I-I already st-started my umm... y’know...”
“Period?”
“Y-yeah...”
“Oh! So, that’s why you don’t think you can go swimming...”
Tara slowly nodded her head, her hair sliding in front of her face to try and hide her embarrassment.
“Well, like I said, that’s okay. What you’re going through is perfectly natural,” Willow quoted from her 5th grade teacher as she kept her eyes glued to anything but the blonde’s body. I wonder how much has changed... The curiosity about the changes in her friend’s body was warring with her body conscious, embarrassed side. “And, hey, I’m gonna have to go through it, too. Probably a year or two after you, but I’ll still have to. A-and, you can give me tips and stuff.”
Tara nodded, her face still self-consciously averted.
Reading the distress practically screaming from her friend’s body language, Willow finally got a hold on her chaotic emotions and took the blonde’s hands in hers, ducking her head to look into the other girl’s eyes. “And hey, you’re already pretty, so you’re just gonna get even prettier as you grow up. Those stupid idiots are just jealous ‘cause they’re not as beautiful as you are.”
Tara blinked bashfully as she tilted her head to give her friend a curious look. “Y-you really think I’m p-pretty?”
Willow smiled warmly. “Of course! Beautiful, even! And unlike those ditzes, you’ve also got a beautiful heart. So, never ever let anyone convince you otherwise.”
An attractive pink flush filled Tara’s cheeks at the compliments, and Willow couldn’t help but stare, captivated by her friend’s beauty. Blue and green eyes remained locked on each other for a long moment, before both girls forced themselves to look away, puzzled as to why their hearts were beating so fast.
Blinking at hearing the school bell ring, signaling that they needed to get to their next class, Willow glanced back at her friend. “We should get back, soon. Are you ready? How’s your, umm... bra?”
“Oh, umm... w-well, the clasp unsnapped when she p-pulled at it. So, it’s kinda umm... n-not hooked on anymore.”
“Oh! Okay, well, that must not be very comfortable. So, umm... can you... re-hook it?”
Tara fidgeted and reached one arm up to rub at where the bra strap was rubbing into her shoulder. “Y-yeah, but I... well, Mama h-helped me w-with it. So, I d-dunno if I can... by myself...”
“Oh! Umm... well... maybe I-I can help?”
Both girls simultaneously glanced down at the blonde’s chest, then looked at each other, then bashfully looked away.
Willow swallowed as she tried to calm her erratic heartbeat. Oh boy... this is gonna be... interesting.
Additional notes: Ah, yeah, the memories of puberty. Nothing like being one of the first people to sprout up... I definitely feel Tara’s pain.
Btw, I'm not trying to say that most teenaged girls are all mean and bitchy. Lotsa girls are really nice, but I just happen to be focusing on the mean ones, 'cause it really does hurt when other girls make fun of you at that age. I really didn't give a damn what most guys said, but if I girl made fun of me, then it smarted for days. So, don't think I'm saying all girls are bullies. I love girls! Girls rock!
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