Part 7
"Tell me again why we have to do this," Sydney said as she stared at the map in her hands.
"They like to do this all the time. It's kind of like I mini-quest." Juliette said. "Of course, I don't know why they had to send you and me. We're the least skilled at this type of thing."
"This is ridiculous. Why do we have to go wandering through the forest to find some stupid 'hidden treasure?'" Sydney asked still confused by the map.
"I think they purposely sent the two of us to make us better at doing this," Juliette decided. "Hey, maybe we'll get something cool at the end!"
"Yeah, if we don't get lost and die. This thing is spooky, kind of like the Blair Witch Project." Sydney said.
Juliette grabbed her arm. "Don't even joke about that! You're scaring me. Besides, one time I did get lost out here when I was hiking and it was so scary." she said.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Sydney said. "Don't worry. We'll be fine out here. A little dirty and tired, but we'll find the stupid treasure and get back."
"Did you figure out the map?" Juliette asked.
"Yeah, we have to go this way," Sydney said pointing east.
"So I heard about you getting Peter let you go to church every Sunday," Juliette said.
"A few other people said they want to come, too, so I'm glad I'm not the only one," Sydney said.
"So you're really religious?" Juliette asked.
"Well, I'm not a zealot. And I don't go around preaching because people have their own beliefs and I accept that. I may not agree with everything the church says, but I do practice. I don't tell people to go to mass because that's their own personal decision, but I felt that I had a right to go if I wanted. Like I told Peter, my faith has helped through a lot of my problems." Sydney said.
"That's good that you had it then," Juliette said. "Hey, maybe you can even get Peter to change some rules on other things as well!"
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Sydney said. "What did you have in mind?"
"Oh, you know…allow couples to express their love in public…."
"Hmm…this wouldn't have anything to do with Auggie and you, would it?" Sydney asked grinning at her.
"Maybe just a little," Juliette said her eyes twinkling.
"So tell me more about your relationship with Auggie," Sydney said.
"He's a great guy. It took awhile for us to get together because I was with Scott and – "
"Whoa!" Sydney interrupted. "You were going out with Scott?"
"We were only together for a little while. It wasn't a big deal." Juliette said shrugging her shoulders.
"That is so weird," Sydney said. "I just thought that you were always with Auggie."
"We were always really close," Juliette said. "We helped each other a lot."
"Yeah, Ryan and I help each other, too. Although, I would have to say that Ryan has helped me a whole lot more than I helped him." Sydney said.
"Is it hard being away from him?" Juliette asked.
"It hurts so much not being able to see him all the time. I mean, I'm lucky that I got my cell phone in here so I can talk to him every night, but it's not the same as being with him. I miss him so much. I miss my friends, too." Sydney said.
"Do you miss your mother and stepfather?" Juliette asked.
"They probably don't miss me," Sydney said her eyes clouding over.
"But do you miss them?" Juliette asked. "I don't miss my mother. In fact, I like not being with her all the time."
"Yeah, I like not being with Mother and Franco all the time, I guess," Sydney said. She stopped walking and looked at the map. "Come on. We have to go that way." she said turning left. "Anyway, you didn't finish telling me about Auggie and you."
"Oh, right. As I said, he's…."
***
"Hey, Scott. Daddy's here," Daisy said as Scott came back from chopping wood.
"What?" Scott asked.
"I saw Peter take your father into his office," Daisy said.
"No way," Scott said shoving past her.
"Scott, wait," Sophie said grabbing his arm before he could burst into Peter's office.
"Why the hell is he here? Does he think he can try and take me away again? Sophie, I am not going back with him if he still has the same attitude. I'm not going to live with him if he won't accept what happened with Elaine." Scott said starting to get riled up.
"Scott, calm down. We don't know why your father is here. He just showed up unexpectedly." Sophie said.
"Well, can't I go in there?" Scott asked.
"Let's just wait until Peter's done talking to him," Sophie said. "And don't worry about your father taking you back. I honestly don't think that he would after the last time."
Just then Peter opened his door and stuck his head out. "Hey, Scott. Do you want to come in and talk to your father?" he asked.
"Yeah," Scott said following Peter back into the office.
"It's good to see you again, Scott," Mr. Barringer said smiling at his son.
"Why are you here?" Scott asked not smiling back.
"What? I'm not allowed to come see my son?" Mr. Barringer asked.
"Well, the last time you came you wanted to take me home. And you almost did until I realized that you just wanted to pretend that my problems didn't exist." Scott said.
"Please, Scott, do we have to argue about this again?" Mr. Barringer asked sighing.
"Why? Because you don't want to talk about unpleasant things?" Scott asked.
"You know, Scott, your father and you are just going to run around in circles arguing about this," Peter interjected. "I already told your father that it was in your best interest to stay at Horizon and he's fine with it."
"Really?" Scott asked. Then it dawned on him. "You're here because you found out that Sydney's here," he figured out.
"Erica called me to find out some more information about Horizon and she told me that she sent Sydney here," Mr. Barringer said.
"Oh, so you didn't care about her for her entire life and now suddenly you're concerned about her?" Scott asked annoyed.
"I just wanted to see how she was. I haven't seen her in years and she is my daughter." Mr. Barringer.
"I hate to break it to you, Dad, but you've never been a father to her. In fact, she has a stepfather that she says loves her." Scott said.
"Well, I'm happy for her then," Mr. Barringer said, "but I still would like to see her."
"Like I told you, Sydney's out right now. She probably won't be back for a couple of hours." Peter said.
"I can wait," Mr. Barringer said.
"And I suppose that I have to entertain him?" Scott asked Peter.
"It would be nice of you spent some time with your father," Peter told him.
"All right," Scott said. "It's lunch time anyway so we can get something to eat."
"Great," Peter said. "I'll talk to the two of you later."
Once Peter left, Mr. Barringer turned to Scott and said, "I'm not the enemy, you know. I already told you I believed that Elaine seduced you. What more do you want?"
"I want you to accept who I've become. I want you to be able to listen and talk about my problems." Scott said. "But that's not going to happen any time soon so I suggest we just go and get something to eat."
***
"I cannot believe we actually did it," Juliette said as she and Sydney neared Horizon.
"See! If we put our minds to it, even we can make it out here!" Sydney said. "But this little treasure was kind of lame." She unfolded and piece of paper and looked at it again. The 'treasure' was a victory poem.
"Oh, don't lie. I know you like it." Juliette said.
"Well, it is sweet," Sydney said. "And it was fitting."
"We're finally back," Juliette said as reached the clearing. She suddenly felt exhausted. "I cannot wait to take a shower and then take a nap."
"I know," Sydney said smiling. She was proud of herself for finishing the mini-quest.
"Hey, you two! I know you could do it!" Peter said walking over to them with a big smile on his face. Ezra was with him.
"And they're both alive!" Ezra joked.
"The poem was a nice touch, Peter," Juliette said.
"So, how did you enjoy it, Sydney?" Peter asked.
"Well, I liked it much better than the quest we went on!" Sydney said. "I'm ready for a hot shower, though."
"Juliette, you go on ahead. I want to talk to Sydney." Peter said.
"Okay," Juliette said. She left answering Ezra's questions all the way to the dorm.
"What's up?" Sydney asked Peter.
"Your father is here," Peter told her.
"You mean Franco?" Sydney asked confused.
"No, your real father," Peter said.
"Why did he come here? To see Scott?" Sydney asked not showing any emotion.
"He actually came because your mother told him you were here. He says he wanted to see how you were doing." Peter said.
Sydney just nodded. "Well, I'm going to go take a shower right now. I'll go see him afterwards." she said.
"He's with Scott right now. If you come to the main lodge, you'll probably find them there." Peter said.
"Well, I'll come as soon as I can," Sydney said starting to walk away.
"Sydney, wait," Peter said.
"Yes?" Sydney said turning back around.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Sydney said giving him a small smile. When she turned back around, she bit her lip to keep from crying.
***
"You seem awfully calm considering you haven't seen your father in so many years," Juliette said as Sydney and her walked into the main lodge.
Sydney just shrugged. "Where do you think they are?" she asked looking around.
"They're right over there," Juliette said nodding her head towards the back of the room. Scott and Mr. Barringer were sitting there in silence.
"Well, here I go," Sydney said walking over to them.
"Sydney," Scott said seeing her.
Mr. Barringer stood up. "Sydney…wow, you look beautiful," he said.
"It's been a long time," Sydney said coolly. "I'm surprised you even bothered to come here to see me. I mean, you never bothered to get in touch with me all the years I lived in Los Angeles."
"I didn't think your mother would let me talk to you," Mr. Barringer said.
"Whatever," Sydney said shaking her head. "You barely acknowledged me when I lived ten minutes away from you so why should I expect you to care when I was far away?"
"Sydney, I know I haven't been a great father to you, but I do care about you," Mr. Barringer said.
"Care? Care? I thought parents were supposed to love their children." Sydney said bitterly.
"You know what I mean," Mr. Barringer said flustered. He looked around noticing that many of the students were staring at them.
"Actually, I don't know what you mean. I don't know you very well at all." Sydney said.
"I'd like to get to know you," Mr. Barringer said.
"Why? Why now?" Sydney asked. "Because it seems to be the right thing to do? Where were you when I really needed you? Where were you when I needed my father?" By now Sydney's voice was rising.
"Maybe we should go somewhere private to talk," Mr. Barringer said.
"Oh, is poor Daddy embarrassed by his bastard daughter?" Sydney asked her eyes flashing. "Let me tell you something. I don't want you to be a father to me. It's too late for that now. I hate you." With that, Sydney turned around and ran out of the room.
Scott stood up and glared at his father. "I knew this would be a bad idea. God, don't you get it, Dad? You're not going about this right. If you really want to have a good relationship with Sydney or with me, then you need to be more understanding. And you have to be sincere." he said. He then followed Sydney out of the room.
Scott found Sydney sitting down on the porch steps. He sat down next to her. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"It felt good to get that all out. I've been wanting to tell him off for a very long time." Sydney said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Scott asked.
"No," Sydney said standing up. "What I really want to do is call Ryan. And I'm sure you want to be with Shelby."
"Okay, then I'll see you during dinner," Scott said. He got up and walked over to the picnic table that Shelby, Daisy, and David were sitting at doing homework.
"Hey," Shelby said standing up.
"We could see through the window that it was getting pretty intense in there," Daisy said to Scott.
"Yeah, it did," Scott said.
"I'll be back, guys," Shelby said taking Scott's hand. They started walking off for some privacy.
"He just gets to me," Scott said.
"What did he say?" Shelby asked. They stopped walking. Shelby leaned against a tree and Scott stood in front of her, his hands holding hers.
"It was the same as before. He didn't want to deal with anything." Scott said. "I told him he needs to change if he wants to make up with Sydney and me."
"Parents just don't get it. They don't try and understand their kids." Shelby said. "It's no wonder there are so many of us that are screwed up."
"I wish he would go back home. The longer he stays here, the more agitated I get." Scott said.
"Looks like you're getting your wish," Shelby said looking over his shoulder.
Scott turned around and saw his father get into his car. He turned back around to Shleby. "You know, in a way I feel sorry for him. He does try in his own way. He just doesn't know what to do or how to act." he said.
"You shouldn't feel sorry for him. He's a jerk to you and to Sydney." Shelby said.
Scott hugged her tightly. "I love you, Shelby. Thank you for being here for me." he said.
***
"It was so hard to see him," Sydney said to Ryan as the tears streamed down her face. "Part of me wanted to hug him and feel loved, but the other part of me wanted to slap him. The worst was when he said he cared for me. That's when I realized he could never be a father to me."
"I should be there with you now. I should be holding you in my arms." Ryan said frustrated.
"You know, I was actually happy today before I found out my father was here. Juliette and I did so well out there in the woods and we were so proud of ourselves. But minutes after we got back, Peter told me that he was here. That ruined it for me." Sydney said.
"You're never happy there, Sydney. At least when you were here you had happy times." Ryan said.
"I had happy times with you and with my friends," Sydney said.
"I'm going to go and talk to your mother. I'm going to make her take you back." Ryan said.
"You can try, but I don't think she'll listen. You know how she is." Sydney said.
"You know I miss you, right?" Ryan asked.
"I know," Sydney said. "I miss you, too. I miss being with you and I miss being able to run to you whenever I need you."
"We'll find a way to work this out. I promise." Ryan told her.
"I'll hold you to that promise," Sydney said. And she believed him, too. Ryan was the only one she completely trusted and believed in.
***
Sydney sat up with a start. She looked around in confusion and then sighed when she realized that she had just had a nightmare. Shelby, Juliette, and Daisy were all still sleeping. She hugged her teddy bear close and then laid back down. If only he had acted like a real father towards me…then maybe I wouldn't feel so much pain.