okay so vanessa and gretchen become close after gretch decides to go to the local community college for tutoring. vanessa got bullied by her mom (and the pocket change the school pays) into providing her services, because otherwise she would not give a single shit about how others are doing in their classes. the college gives free tutoring to high school students and although gretch is better off, she didn’t want to ask her parents for help because fuck her parents. vanessa recognizes her distantly like, “oh, hey, you’re candace’s brothers’ friend, right?” and she’s relatively civil, but the relationship is slow building until she overhears gretch and isabella argue while vanessa’s setting up to tutor gretchen. vanessa realizes that isabella’s the little preppy girl who has a crush on phineas, and it isn’t any of her business, but she asks anyway, because she’s endlessly curious about the flynn-fletcher family, on the basis that her friend candace is part of it. vanessa notices how much gretchen needs to break out, and rebel in a relatively controlled environment, so she started inviting gretchen to the occasional party. people just think that vanessa’s invited her little sister, and vanessa doesn’t correct them, because it’s safer for gretchen that way. vanessa herself is a slightly terrifying presence, but more they’re afraid of her dad. yes, heinz is goofy and dumb and an internet sensation for clumsiness, but he also took all the blue out of picasso’s blue period and remorselessly disintegrated an adult man who hit on vanessa. vanessa keeps an eye on gretch, but gives her enough space to do what she wants. she never shames gretchen for her decisions, only tries to gear her towards the right ones.
