Although the two of them had been enjoying their time, Fiona realised an almost fatal mistake. A boy was sleeping over. And worst of all, from what she guessed of seeing her mother's enthusiastic expressions towards Will she had probably set them up together. Will turned to her.
"So where will I be sleeping?" he asked with a smile. Fiona blushed furiously as she tried to get a grip on her emotions. She could only grind her teeth. 'I'm still an innocent girl, barely even kissed let alone had a boy in my room' Fiona thought.
"Stay here, I'll organise something" she said, although Fiona wanted to sound confident her voice came out as an awkward croak. 'Gah, why do I have to be nervous around a boy' Fiona thought as she could only look at Will's innocent expression. 'I feel like I'm taking advantage of a young boy despite my own age' Fiona continued as her thoughts were spiralling out of control. She retreated to her room upstairs and shut the door and let out a sigh of relief. But the setup in her room made her stock still. On the ground next to her bed was a mattress setup with a blanket and pillow in boy colours. The hard contrast of pink and blue made it obvious who was supposed to go where. Fiona wished she could tell her mum this was inappropriate but with those eyes of hope she knew it was futile. Opening the door ready to face her potential nemesis, Will was standing outside waiting for her. Almost crashing into him, him standing firm certainly scared her.
Trembling Fiona asked Will "What are you doing here?"
Will pointed at the bed clearly made for him inside.
"Auntie Veronica said for me to sleep in your room" Will answered keeping an innocent look on his face as if it was obvious. Fiona wished she could shake some sense into her mother about this arrangement. As Fiona was debating inside, Will had already snuck past and was sitting upright on the guest mattress on the floor. As Fiona was mulling over her arguments to convince her mother she noticed Will was already inside her room as if it were the most natural thing.
Will patted the guest mattress and gestured for Fiona to come over.
"It's time to sleep, we don't really speak at school much" Will said as he smiled sitting on his bed.
'Shameless' Fiona could only yell inside her head as she faced having to deal with this child. Annoyed she accepted the offer and sat on his bed but the room was quiet. After a few minutes Will spoke up first.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked.
Fiona looked at Will, but the words he said so convincingly while they were at the bank echoed in her mind. She turned away and didn't want to look at him, fearing she would only keep thinking of it.
"Nothing's wrong I just don't feel like talking" Fiona said while keeping her face turned away from Will.
"Are you sure about that?" A whisper came from Fiona's left ear as she shuddered. Looking over her shoulder they were both face to face with each other.
"You-you, you keep your distance you hear" as she got up on to her bed and pulled the covers herself. It was lucky that she couldn't see Will as his face had an evil smile spread across it, supressing a chuckle but he knew he would have to wait before he could savour his meal. Will went up to the light switch on the wall and flicked it off casting the room in darkness. Will went into his sheets and slept almost immediately.
Sensing how quiet it was, Fiona turned over to look at Will who was sleeping soundly. His breathing was even and his closed looking quite like a boy of his age. Fiona had overhead her mum and Will talking about saving her, leaving bewildered. It was a debt she had not expected from a young child. She remembered seeing him many times before and he hadn't tried to get this close to her. From afar he seemed like a quiet kid until that one day where he came in and everything went crazy, certainly being with would mean that. Turning back to face the wall she went to sleep with difficulty, racking her brain with how to deal with Will.
Will cracked open his eyes as Fiona turned away. He was happy that his plan was coming to fruition so early. A certain amount of luck and his effort had already catapulted their relationship together. Soon he went to sleep, dreaming of the potential in the future.
***
Waking up, Will opened his eyes seeing an unfamiliar ceiling. Leaping up onto his feet, Will was immediately on guard and surveyed the room. Realising he was in Fiona's room he relaxed and dropped his stance. He noticed Fiona was missing and could only assume that she had gone down for breakfast with her parents. Opening the door, Will headed downstairs. The sound of the tv filled the house but nothing else. Curious Will looked down from the balustrade of the staircase. The family of three were in a mixture of standing and sitting while watching the tv with great interest.
"In breaking news today, the principal of a local school, a school teacher and missing bus driver are culprits of a child smuggling ring. Late yesterday officers surrounded the hideout for the smugglers and the officers made several arrests with people in connections to them. Several high profile businessman and others were also questioned for their involvement. " The reported droned on over the paper, not surprised at the news. Footage started showing the principal covering his face as he was escorted to a police car. Hearing a creak on the stairs the family turned over and saw Will staring down at them in curiosity.
"Well everyone is up so it's time for breakfast" Auntie Veronica said clapping her hands. Daniel switched off the tv and the group went to the table with the breakfast all set out on the table. A pile of nicely browned toast, a jug of milk and cereal was on the table. Soon the family and Will ate breakfast, Daniel rushed his eating and had already thrown on his suit as he polished off his food.
"I'm heading off" Daniel said, Auntie Veronica and Fiona said their goodbyes as the door slammed close. Auntie Veronica turned to Will, seeing that her husband was now gone, who was still chewing on a piece of toast.
"I promised your mum that I would take you back home. Considering how it's been outside at the moment I'm sure she would be furious if I left you two alone." Auntie Veronica packed up the dinner table in a hurry. She even ushered Fiona back to her room to change her clothes. Will was the only one left in the kitchen with nothing to do. But he wasn't left their for long as Fiona and Auntie Veronica came back.
"Let's go" Auntie Veronica said as she grabbed a small handbag, throwing the long strap over her shoulder. Opening the door, her hands reached out for Will and Fiona to hold as they walked outside with the door shutting behind them.
Outside the streets weren't at all crowded, either because it was still earlier or the parents had seen what happened on the television and refuses to have their kids go out.
Will however was deep in his thoughts as he pondered over the news. He had only just started in coming up with some plans for some blackmail ahem...cooperation materials while following the principal and teacher that seemed to be out for blood with him. Even he was surprised by the depth of what was uncovered by a little digging and was glad he acted when he did and took Fiona away. But who got to his targets before he did?
It frustrates him to no end, an enemy that was unknown and all powerful gave him a headache since he was just starting to organise things. But since he wasn't approached and hadn't heard anything yet he could only assume they thought he was too small a threat or better yet was a coincidence or even in the best case they didn't know about him but he was quick to toss that idea to the back of his head. Which adult would believe a ten year old child was capable of annihilating an organisation by himself?
The walk didn't take long along the road and the three arrived at Will's house. Auntie Veronica rang the doorbell on the side. Will looked at the driveway instinctually and with the ute being gone his dad must have already left for work. Which meant he hadn't seen the news yet.
The door opened and his mother was standing in the doorway. Seeing two strangers at the door while Will had to stand behind out of sight when they were at the front porch confused his poor mother.
"Yes?" Will's mother asked obviously unsure for the early visit. Will poked his head out from behind Auntie Veronica. His mother's face lit up at seeing her son.
"William!" She said and rushed over to smother him. Will was incredibly embarrassed and the red on his face grew as his mother hugged him and shaking him side to side in joy. The doting in public was something he couldn't handle.juat yet after finally seeing his parents again.
"Hey mum" Will tried saying muffled by his mother's clothes as her arms were vice like around him. Auntie Veronica and Fiona were covering their hands over their mouths trying to suppress their laughter at the child that had been so serious with them over the last day with them.
"Oh I'm so sorry. Come inside I'll put the kettle on" Will's mother said as she dragged her son inside with her having realised she had guests still waiting for her. Fiona and her mother followed behind closely.
They all say in the kitchen table while Will's mother was scurrying around with cups and pulling out biscuits. Will was reassured as the kettle was only a one button press and just needed the tea bags to be heated so he wouldn't have to intervene. He was desperately hoping his mother wouldn't go out of her way for anything. He didn't wish to extinguish a kitchen fire with guests over.
"So...how may I address you and?" Will's mother asked giving an empty space in the conversation for Auntie Veronica and Fiona to fill in the blanks.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Veronica and this is my daughter Fiona. They're classmates at school and he happened to bump into us yesterday" Auntie Veronica went on to explain. Will was surprised Auntie Veronica didn't spill the beans on the spot, he narrowed his eyes. His future mother in law was definitely crafty. Looking at his mother being calm about everything he knew she hadn't heard any news yet about the school.
"Oh that's lovely, I'm Rachel and my husband Max is at work already" Will's mother said with a smile, picking up her cup of tea and sipping it with a smile. She had been eyeing Fiona since they came in and had already noticed her son was acting a little different around her. 'Oh my is he already going through the puberty thing a few of the other parents told me about' Will's mother thought. She had the urge to push the two of them together.
"Children you can go play in the back we'll chat for a little while" Rachel said and waved her hand for them to leave as the two mothers were already starting to get familiar with each other. Auntie Veronica seeing the gleam in Rachel's eyes could see they were needing a chat in private.
"Yes Fiona, go with Will in the backyard. We'll be talking for a while" Auntie Veronica said. Will mentioned needing a shower and Rachel could only nod her head hoping he might impress his new friend who came over. After rushing the shower and changing his clothes, Will was worried his mother might say some things to Fiona that he would regret intensely later on. His past was a file he had locked and secured in a previous life but now he was sure everything would be out in the open. Thinking of how many embarrassing stories his mother had up her sleeve made him shudder and quicken his pace.
Coming back to the kitchen he saw his mother chatting with Fiona. Fiona was nodding her head as she listened to his mother's words.
"Now you must remember to take care of your friends, my son is especially precious since you are the first girl he brought home" Will's mother said in a coaxing voice. For the first time Will felt he could never match the shamelessness of a mother intent on matching her son. Acting quickly Will ran over to Fiona, grasping her hand and pulling her away.
"Thanks mum, me and Fiona are going outside" Will announced as he retreated with Fiona in tow. As the door closed the mother's turned to each other.
"So let's start" Auntie Veronica said, her voice was calm but both women had twinkling stars in their eyes as they begun to hash out their collective plans for their children's future.