Chapter 2- Calls, Confrontations, and Crushes
Newt sat in his music room, staring down at the purple ink on his skin and debating over calling this girl.
He finally picked up the phone and dialed the number.
(AT SYDNEY'S)
Say Hey! What's It Gonna Be Tonight, Come Hit Me Up, Come Hit Me Up
Sydney grabbed her phone and stared at the ID.
UNKNOWN
"Maybe…" she whispered out loud.
"Hello."
"Hey, is this Sydney?" Newt asked
"Yep, Is this Newt?" she replied
"The one and only" he said happily
The conversation went on for what seemed like forever until Sydney's mom knocked on her door.
"Hey, dinner's ready, get off the phone!" she said
"Hey Newt, my mom just told me to get off the phone, talk to you tomorrow." She said
"Later!" he replied
Sydney smiled as she flipped her phone off and went down stairs.
"Who were you talking too, that was my third attempt at getting you down here." Her mom asked
"No one." She said
"Was it a boy…" her older brother Sam asked
Sydney shoved him to the point where he stumbled back against one of the chairs in the dining room.
"Shut Up Sam! Nobody asked you!"
"So it was….It's not that creepy kid that lives next door is it, you know the one that has all those satellites on his roof." He said
"I don't even know who you're talking about so no!" she exclaimed
She stared out the window and glanced at the next house beside theirs.
Sam was right, it had tons of satellites on top of it, and a huge black truck/van in the driveway with CIA plastered on the side of its huge black frame.
"Okay….Weird." she said, rolling her eyes.
"I cannot believe we've been living here for two months and you haven't noticed freak show next door!" Sam laughed
"Be nice Sam, they're nice people, I ran into the wife of that family when I was getting the mail the other day, their names are the Sticklers." Their mom said
"Where have I heard that name mentioned before…" she thought to herself, "Stickler, Stickler, why does that ring a bell."
She shrugged her shoulders and sat down to eat.
Later that night, she walked out into the back yard to put the garbage into the huge plastic trashcan and noticed a, tall, lanky guy in a bright pink shirt and black tie.
"Ryan Evans alert!" Sydney joked to herself
"HEY, HEY YOU! DON'T I KNOW YOU!" the kid yelled
"I don't think so, and if that's your version of a pickup line, I'd try harder next time." She smirked
"Sydney Charisma Taylor, age 14, in my science, biology, and social studies classes at Washington Prep." He spout off
"What the…How the….Who are you?" she said
"Jason Stickler, my dad…"
"Runs the CIA, Do you think I'm retarded?" she hissed edging over to the short fencing, where he was standing on his side.
"No…but you've never seemed to realize that we lived next door, but I won't put that against your level of intelligence, so I'll blame that on, you're the new kid." He said
Sydney rolled her eyes, "I'd strongly appreciate it if you kept your eyes, ears, and any other part of you that you might use to spy on people to yourself."
"Why, do you have a secret that you're hiding, because you know, I'll know." He said, eyeing the purple streak in the back of her ponytail.
"This is off the subject, and totally not my business, but I'm curious, is that real?" he asked, looking a bit digusted.
"What?" she asked, her eyes widening, thinking of the possibilities that he meant another certain place on her body.
"Why you little." She raised a hand to pop him right across the jaw, until he grabbed her hand.
Jason blushed furiously, putting her hand down, "Oh no, not that, uh, that." He said pointing to the purple streak.
Sydney's cheeks turned pink as she fiddled with the back of her pony tail and removed the purple clip in extension.
"Does that answer anything?" she asked
Stickler nodded as she pulled her ponytail down and shook her hair down.
Jason stopped and stared at her, "Woah." He accidentally said out loud.
"What did you just say?" she hissed
"Nothing, I said, nothing." He said, putting his hands up in defense and walking backwards, "I'm leaving, later, Taylor."
"Bye Stickler." She said sarcastically.
She cursed him under her breath before heading back inside.
The next morning, she got up and put on a red tank top and layered it with another black tank top, a blue denim miniskirt with her red embellished belt still showing over her tanks, and her white low converse.
She pulled her hair into two low ponytails, both bearing two black clip in extensions.
She went down stairs and pulled a pop tart out of the cupboard and sat down at one of the barstools.
"Why do you always wear those nasty things." Her mother said, pulling at one of her extensions.
"Because, they look awesome!" she said, matter of factly.
She jumped at the feel of her phone vibrating in her pocket.
She grabbed it and flipped it open, still shaking from fear.
"Hello." She said
"Hey Syd!" Newt said from the other line
"Hey Newt."
"So it was a guy!!" Sam said, barreling into the kitchen.
"Shut up Sam!" she hissed
"Who's Sam?" Newt asked
"Please don't be a boyfriend, Please don't be a boyfriend." Newt thought
"My stupid idiot of a brother."
"Thank God!" he thought
"Do you need a ride to school?" he asked
"No, why?" she asked
"I was going to tell the helicopter driver dude to pick you up on the way." He said
"Oh, sorry, unfortunately, Sam is driving me, or else, I'd love to ride with you." She rolled her eyes and stared at Sam, who was in the process of getting cereal in the floor and missing the bowl.
"Oh, bummer, See you at school." He said
"Later." She said
"So, Sydney Bidney's got a boyfriend." Sam said mockingly.
"Shut up Sam!" she hissed pulling the beanie that was on his head down over his eyes.
"Hey!" he said
Sydney laughed and continued at her pop tart.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
She sighed and yelled "In a minute!"
She got up and went to the door and grimaced at what she saw.
Jason Stickler was standing in front of her with a newspaper covered in pink plastic.
"Hello Sydney, looking um…nice today, We got a spare paper, did you happen to get yours?" he asked
"Give me a sec." she said
She turned and yelled "HEY MOM! DID WE GET THE PAPER?"
Her mother scurried into the foyer, "No we didn't not, and Sydney stop screaming."
Jason snickered a bit under his breath and Sydney shot him a look.
"Thank you," her mom said, taking the paper, "Um…"
"Jason, Jason Stickler." He replied
"Thank you." Her mom replied
"See you at school Sydney." He said, throwing his hand up into a short wave and heading off.
Ms. Taylor shut the door and looked down at Sydney, "You know that boy?"
"Yeah, he goes to my school, he's a real pain in the a.."
"Don't finish that sentence if you even want to think of seeing your phone again."
Sydney bit her lip and walked back into the kitchen as Sam yelled, "SYDNEY GET OUT HERE NOW! IT'S TIME TO GO!"
"Coming General Jackhole!" she yelled
"Sydney!" her mom gasped
"What, I took the cussing out." She smirked
A few minutes later, as she walked into the quad at Washington Prep, she was greeted with an overly happy Newt.
"Hey Newt, what's up?" she asked
"Our Band just got booked for this huge battle of the bands two weeks from now at this night club's teen night!" he said happily.
"Way to go DC3!" she smiled, remembering how Newt told her about the band having to dress up like cats and perform on TV.
Newt took a look at Sydney analyzing her from the floor up.
"She's…uh, what was that word that Cory used to describe Meena, uh, Gor…no…maybe, oh well, she's cute." He thought
"Hey Newt!" Cory Baxter said, running up by his best friend.
Meena Parhoom followed, waving her hand.
"Oh yeah, Syd, this is Meena and Cory." Newt said
"Hey!" Sydney said
"Hey Meena," she began, "You're a singer right?"
"Yep." Meena smiled proudly
"Very awesome, I'm a drummer." She said
"Sweet!" Cory said, "Me too."
"Awesome, I don't play set anymore, I just do quads for the school band." She said
"I'm so sorry." Cory said
Sydney laughed, "Come on, it's not that bad."
Cory kept laughing and Sydney rolled her eyes.
"Sydney." A voice said from behind her
"Oh no." she muttered out loud
She felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked to the side and saw Jason Stickler in the flesh standing beside her.
She rolled her shoulder, causing his hand to fling off.
"What do you want Stickler?" Cory said
"I just wanted to ask Sydney how her ride to school was, boy, that Sam is a crazy driver." He said
Sydney's eyes got wide as she whipped around to face him, "How do you know how my brother drives?"
"Give me your hand." He said
"What?" she replied
"Just do it."
She reluctantly held out her hand and Stickler flipped it palm up and pulled at her silver charm bracelet.
"Hey!" Sydney said
"This, Sydney Taylor, is how I know." He said, pointing to a little black device that had attached itself to the bracelet, "I set it up on that newspaper I returned this morning, after we had our little run in last night, I had to get to know the girl behind that colorful hair."
"Leave me alone, I'm giving you one last final warning." She hissed, "You have no right to come onto our property, jack our newspaper and then rig something up where you can stalk me!"
"Yeah, she doesn't need or want you!" Newt said harshly.
She pulled at the little black device on her bracelet again and again.
"I wouldn't do that." Stickler said as you heard a pop and her bracelet fell to the floor, broken.
"STICKLER!" she yelled, "That was a gift from my dad, he died last year," she felt the tears rushing to her eyes, before she took one look at the sight and ran off.
"Stickler, dude, you have some serious issues." Cory said
"How was I supposed to know her dad died!" Stickler hissed
"Couldn't you have figured that out in your 'research'" Meena said angrily
Newt leaned down, picked up the bracelet and ran off after her.
He got a few paces behind her and called her name out.
Sydney turned around and looked at the boy.
Her face was stained with mascara, eyeliner, and tears.
"I'm so sorry." He said
"Th-There was n-nothing you could have d-done." She chocked
Newt took her hand and pulled her into the empty music room on their right.
"Here." He said, holding out the broken bracelet.
"Thanks." She half smiled and took it, looking at the damage.
"There's no way this will fix." She said, putting it in her pocket and sitting on the floor.
"Again, I'm so sorry dudette." He said, sitting beside her.
He took a deep breath before putting his arm around her and pulling her into his chest.
Sydney gasped at the gesture before she relaxed a bit.
"It's really okay." She said, "I can always get a new bracelet."
"No you can't, and you know that, you know that was a gift from your dad and you can't replace it." He said
She sighed, pulling away from him a little, "I know, it's just, it's ruined, I can't believe someone would be cruel enough to follow someone around like that."
"That's Stickler for you, he falls for a girl, and then stalks her." Newt said
Sydney looked disgusted, "You mean he…he…"
"Likes you."
"Eww…" she grimaced
"Yeah, he liked Meena, but obviously, he likes you now." He said
"Yeah, way to show a girl you like her, break one of her last memories of her family members." She said bitterly.
"Maybe he didn't know." Newt said
"Oh yeah, he's probably Google searched me, and looked me up in his little spy files, I know he knew." She said
"I dunno" he said
"Oh well, not much you can do now." She sighed
"No, but I have an idea." He said, unsnapping his leather wristband from his wrist.
"I know you've had a bad experience with this phrase, but hold out your hand." He said
"Promise me you won't break any of my other bracelets." She smiled
"This I promise you, Sydney Taylor." He said
"Okay" she said holding out her hand
Newt strapped the band across her wrist and snapped it closed.
Sydney sat there speechlessly.
Newt smiled at her.
"Thanks" was all she could come up with.
"My pleasure." He grinned
She pursed her lips and stood up.
Yeah, they were obviously late for class, but Sydney wouldn't have traded that for the world.
It was official Sydney Charisma Taylor had fallen for Newton Livingston the Third.
