Warning: This story contains frequent profanity.
A/N: Before I start the story, do not hold against me that I am briefly describing an OC's hair in this chapter. It's story-related and in no way meant to be some "Ermahgerd, my OC is hotter than any other character on this show and is super duper special" type of thing. No. I just want to address that her slight change in appearance is a warranted one. With that out of the way, enjoy the story.
7teen: Rolling Down the Hills
Narrator's POV
Waiting–that's what the gang did. They waited for Sydni and Caitlin to show up, because Caitlin texted them the night before saying that Sydni had a surprise for them in the morning, but Sydni later promised them that it was nothing as special as Caitlin had made it out to be. Nevertheless, they waited to see what could be so "special" and "surprising," seeing as there was nothing else to do at nine o'clock in the morning.
"What do you think the surprise is?" Jude asked, curious as usual.
Jonesy, tired and not looking forward to going to his new job of the day, groaned. "Who cares? If it's not a million dollars with my name on it, then I'm not interested."
"Someone's grumpy," Wyatt noted before sipping on his second coffee of the day.
"That's because I have the worst gig today. I'm the guy that drives the train taking kids through the mall!"
"You working with kids? Good luck," Jen said.
Jonesy shot her a smile. "Thanks, step-sis."
"I meant good luck to the kids, not you," she retorted, causing the others to chuckle at Jonesy.
He, not too amused, cast her an annoyed look.
Walking towards the table, Caitlin had someone hidden behind her. Her smile wide and her voice full of joy, she announced, "The surprise is here!"
Nikki burst her bubble. "Caitlin, we all know that Sydni's behind you."
"I knew hiding behind you'd be kinda stupid," Sydni said under her breath, which Caitlin heard.
She looked taken aback by her bluff words, though not completely hurt by them.
"My bad, Caitlin," apologized Sydni.
"It's okay."
With Sydni still standing behind Caitlin, Jude looked as lost as a puppy when asking, "Where's the surprise? I can't see it."
Caitlin realized that the surprise was the whole reason Sydni was waiting behind her in the first place. Now that she stepped away, the gang could now see Sydni's new look. "Ta-dah!" Caitlin exclaimed.
Her look, though being slightly different from how it was previously, was simple. She now had bangs with a copper streak running through one side and the ends of her hair were redyed with the same color. Giving a small smile, Sydni said, "I know it's nothing major, but I needed something to feel good about." She proceeded to take her seat at the table.
After Caitlin and Sydni showed up and the gang exchanged words for a brief moment, there seemed to be a lull in conversation.
"So, anybody got any plans for the weekend?" wondered Jude, even though it was only Wednesday.
Everybody shook their heads with the quickness while Wyatt shook his head timidly. He almost nodded yes until he realized that the gang would again be hot on his trail if he did so. His plans for Friday night were to go on a date with the girl he had been sneaking around with, Friday being the perfect time since he knew their friends would not suspect a thing. Lately, he found himself amazed at the things that he had been doing for the girl that he was with–things that he would not have normally done a year ago. It was crazy how much he loved her. Their relationship was totally unlike the one that Jude had with that senior girl, Melinda Wilson. They weren't sneaking around in fear of harassment from peers or anything. It was just them liking the serenity of being an under-the-radar couple.
Knowing that nobody had plans, Jonesy sighed. "This summer's getting kind of boring already."
Nikki slumped in her seat. "Agreed."
"I guess we should just go to work," Jen suggested.
With feelings of drowsiness and boredom lingering around, the others agreed with Jen and went to work hoping that something exciting would happen. Nikki and Sydni walked to the Khaki Barn together and readied themselves for the long workday ahead of them. Both of them were currently folding some tank tops and shorts like Chrissy had requested them to. Occasionally glancing at her, Nikki found herself somewhat wondering how Sydni felt, noticing something more about her just by her mixed facial expression.
"You okay?" Nikki asked her.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You haven't really seemed like it," she stated while carelessly tossing a tank top onto a pile of neatly folded ones.
"It's just... a lot of crap going on. That's all, I guess."
Nikki was not one to force or coax information out of people, which is why she remained quiet and continued her cycle of tossing tank tops and shorts around.
Though not being able to properly read Nikki, something in Sydni made her want to some of her reasons and feelings. "I needed a change who I see in the mirror everyday because I... I need to start new." She paused, hesitant in sharing what she originally was going to say and not knowing how to properly word it. "Before I came here, I kind of–"
Her words were cut off by Kirsten and Kristen, who were squealing in joy about something. They jumped up and down with their cell phones clutched closely to them.
"Oh my gosh, Kirsten! We're going out with two of the hottest guys on Friday night!" Kristen shouted.
"This is so amazing! I'm so happy I could die!"
It wasn't even noon yet and Nikki was already annoyed. "I'd like it if that happened now," she muttered under her breath. She now longed for a night out–not because of the Clones' glee over their dates on Friday, but to do something with her friends. And probably to get away from her crazy coworkers.
"We need to do something on Friday night," Sydni said to Nikki in the midst of the Clones' excitement.
"Ugh, it's like you were reading my mind."
Kristen and Kirsten eventually quit their squealing, but the next few hours of work still weren't the most enjoyable. Luckily, the gang regrouped during their lunch breaks and sat on the benches near the fountain in the atrium.
Jonesy let out a groan as he hunched over. "Work was so bad."
"Fired?" Wyatt asked while now sipping on his fifth coffee of the day.
All he did was nod and sigh.
Jonesy looked like he majorly screwed up–all the more reason for Nikki to focus her attention on him. "Oh, I have got to hear this."
He began to mumble his words. "Maybe I... ran the train full of kids off the track."
Jen, hearing him very clearly, exclaimed, "You did what?!"
Much louder and slowly, he shouted, "I ran the train full of kids off the track!"
Everyone in the surrounding area gave him strange gazes, but then resumed doing what they were beforehand.
"So I guess I wasn't paying attention when my boss was showing me how to work the train," he said much more calmly.
Nikki's sarcasm was ever-present. "And what made you think that?"
Looking around, Jen noticed that plenty of people around them now held flyers in their hands, even though they weren't there minutes ago.
"Hey, guys–where'd those flyers come from?" she asked.
Her friends shrugged, not quite knowing either.
"They're for something really awesome!" a familiar voice enthused.
As soon as the gang peered up, they saw Starr with her close friend (and Vegan Island co-worker) Brooke.
"Like what?" Caitlin wondered.
Handing a flyer to each of them, Starr explained, "A roller-skating rink opening on Friday night. It's called Just Roll with It."
Brooke added, "We were told that, like, whoever shows up on time for its opening at eight gets to go in for free."
The gang glanced at one another in joy. Knowing that there was somewhere for them to go on Friday made all of them believe that their dog days of summer might just be over for now. Well, it made almost all of them believe so.
Caitlin winced at the idea wearing other people's skates and turned her nose up. "Ew! Used skates? What if I get athlete's foot or something?"
Shaking her head, Nikki tried putting it into terms that she could understand. "Caitlin, you're not gonna get athlete's foot by wearing used skates. It's no different from trying on different pairs of shoes in a store."
With a more convinced look on her face, Caitlin said, "Now it sounds more fun... and less gross."
Nikki rolled her eyes with an expression along the lines of, "Oh, the drama Caitlin sometimes creates from nothing."
Sydni, on the other hand, was ecstatic. One could practically feel her positive energy spread through the air. "Oh, God–I love roller skating! It's one of the best things ever."
"I take it you don't need any persuasion to go," Nikki noted.
"Trust me when I say I'm there!"
Needless to say everyone was up for skating on Friday night, except for one person that didn't add anything to the conversation.
Jen's eyes were curious as they looked upon her friend. "So, Wyatt, are you gonna come with us on Friday?"
"Oh, no," he thought. Oh, no was right. His friends had unknowingly backed him into a corner. If he tells them that he has other plans for Friday night, they'll ask what he's doing, which will leave him two options: telling a lie or coming out with the truth. The lie may not go undetected and only make them more wary of his behavior than they already are; the truth will only make them question why he's been sneaking off and he'll be forced to explain himself. As Jen and the others eyed him, he finally came up with an answer.
"Of course."
Wyatt found himself asking, "Why did I say that?" Now he had to explain to his girlfriend why he has to cancel their date in order to avoid a big misunderstanding. Great, he succumbed to this peer pressure started by stares. Masking his confusion, he gave a Stepford smile that came off as a genuine one in the eyes of his friends.
Despite pushing their suspicious away days ago, Nikki, Jonesy, and Jen couldn't help but notice the hesitance in Wyatt's response. Nevertheless, they prepared themselves to have a great time on Friday night along with their friends.
