Even though it was six in the morning, Lauren was already awake and getting ready to go take a swim. She had always been an early riser and did laps in the pool before leaving for school. She had been doing that for as long as she could remember and her day couldn't properly start without that 30 minutes in the cool water.

She carefully exited her room, not wanting to wake up anyone, her sister in particular. Sydney was the sleeper of the family and she usually woke up just 25 minutes before she had to leave. If she was woken before that, World War III would be very close to erupting.

When Lauren got to the pool area, she noticed she wasn't the only member of her family awake this this time in the morning. Her father Jack was already there doing laps with his grayish hair wet and a smile on his lips.

"Good morning daddy, you're awake early." Lauren said in an unusually chipper tone that caught her father by surprise.

After the last evenings conversation with her mother, Lauren had went directly to her room and had not left before morning. Irina hadn't told him anything they had discussed and had only revealed that the conversation had been a success. Now Jack was even more curios and decided to get to the bottom of this. He honestly hadn't expected Lauren to be in this good of a mood and instead had prepared to deal with a pouting sourpuss.

Lauren dived in to the pool and swam next to her father. For the next 25 minutes, they swam in different rhythms. Lauren went faster and Jack just floated in the middle of the pool and watched his daughter intently. She had this aura about her, to him she looked like a blonde angel. Jack believed that to some degree he understood her and it was moments like these when he felt closest to Lauren.

"Dad, you're staring. What's up." Lauren said while getting out of the pool and going to dry herself off.

"Nothing sweetie, I was just reminiscing the day you and Sydney were born. Me, fresh out of law school and had never even held a baby before, was handed two of the most incredible beings to held in my arms. Sydney was quiet and observing her surroundings while you were screaming bloody murder. You both looked so beautiful and amazing and I felt like the luckiest man in the universe." Jack said sentimentally as he also exited the pool.

"Dad, you're such a dork sometimes." She said with a wide smile and approached her father and gave him a big hug. For the next couple of minutes, father and daughter just held each other in silence. Lauren felt as she was five years old again, when he would read a story to her and Sydney. Of course, she and Sydney liked different books, so Jack had to read two separate stories to keep the peace.

"I love you Laurie bear," her father said and kissed her blonde hair.

"I love you too daddy." Lauren replied with a happy smile. She was glad that for once it was just dad and herself. They rarely spent time just the two of them, since Jack worked so much and Lauren was always on the go.

Lauren slowly pulled away from the hug and kissed her father on the cheek. She needed to go take a shower and start getting ready for school or she would be hopelessly late.

After about 45 minutes worth of preparation, Lauren was ready to face the world. Her blonde hair was flowing around her face and she had left the make-up to a minimum, only wearing mascara, eyeliner and lip gloss.

She was wearing a short jean skirt and a red blouse which she didn't completely button up, but enough that she would pass the Jack Bristow wardrobe inspection. Of course when she would get to school, she would open a few more buttons. As a final touch, she added silver hoop earrings and black high heeled Prada sandals.

With a final glance at the mirror, she got her things together and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Mom and dad were sitting around the table, both with cups of coffee and a newspaper in hand. Sydney wasn't here yet, she was most likely still lounging in bed. Sydney was the most talented sleeper Lauren had ever met. She could sleep almost anywhere at any time, including in a car and in a plane, but the downside was that she was cranky if woken from a deep sleep. Once Sydney had flung her alarm clock at her, when Lauren had been given the unenviable task of waking her when they were leaving for New York City. Thankfully, her aim hadn't been that great and Lauren managed to duck before it hit her.

Sydney appeared around ten minutes later and looked surprisingly fresh for someone who had just woken up. She was casually fabulous in white jeans, a yellow tank top and Michael's promise ring in a silver chain around her neck. Yellow was truly Sydney's color, Lauren though and made a mental note to buy her more yellow clothes, when she would go shopping the next time.

"Morning sis. Is Michael driving us to school today?" Lauren said a little too sweetly, which told Sydney that she hadn't fully gotten over yesterday's argument.

"Nope, I'm taking the Benz. Michael had some errands to run before school so I'll just meet him in there. I hope you're ready to go, sis." Sydney countered in a tone that was just as sweet as her sister's. Two can play this too, Sydney thought.

"Don't have to worry about me sis, I was born ready," Lauren added with a confident tone. She enjoyed verbally sparring with Sydney, because she could match her insult to insult.

"Good, let's get going then. I wouldn't want you to miss out on the intellectual company of Thomas, Nadia and Rachel. That would just be a disaster, wouldn't it?" Sydney replied and the way she said Thomas's name, you would have thought he was an especially nasty infection, like herpes or syphilis. Sydney had never liked Thomas and made no secret of it. She thought that her sister could do much better.

Lauren rose from the table and followed Sydney to the garage. She gazed at her confiscated Ferrari with longing, she would have given almost anything in the world to be driving that instead to being chauffeured like an infant by Sydney.

The Bristow's garage was full of the most expensive cars in the world. Jack was an avid car collector and it showed. His collection included an Aston Martin, a Corvette, a BMW, a Maserati, a Lamborghini, a Jaguar, a Land Rover and a Porche. The twins were not allowed to use any of their dad's cars and that was a joint cause of annoyance for the sisters.

"Nice skirt you've got on. But, I'm confused since if it were any shorter, it's be a collar." Sydney quipped when they entered her car.

"Jealousy doesn't suit you Syd, especially since green is so not your color. Don't feel bad that you don't have the legs to wear a skirt like this." Lauren replied with a wink.

--

Michael was having a terrible morning. Julian had somehow managed to act civil in front of his parents. He surely knew how to suck up, with his complements and fake modesty that his parents had bought hook, line and sinker. When the two cousin's had gotten to the car, the real Julian had finally surfaced. Now, for the past 10 minutes he had been forced to listen Julian describing his vivid wet dream about Lauren in excruciating detail. Michael would not have minded losing his hearing right about now. That would have been a paradise compared to this.

"Do you have your curriculum already?" Michael asked hoping to transfer Julian's thoughts to something other than his girlfriend's twin sister. He just hoped that Julian would keep his mouth shut about Lauren when Sydney was present. Michael didn't want to play mediator between his cousin and girlfriend, because he knew for sure how Syd would reach if Julian started repeating this crap to her. Sydney was extremely protective towards Lauren and Michael clearly remembered when Sydney had punched the lights out of a guy that had smacked her sister on the backside. Sydney had a black belt in karate and wasn't afraid of using her skills.

"Yes, mother. First period American history, second period gym and so one. I have gone to school before Mickey, I don't need you holding my hand." Julian said confidently and indicating that he would not want Michael babysitting him.

Michael noticed that he also had American history and knew that the Bristow girls would be there. Great, he thought. This day was going to the toilet already and it wasn't even 8 o'clock in the morning.

--

Sydney and Lauren had arrived to school a little earlier and had quickly caught up with their friends. While Sydney joined Will and Eric in the library, Lauren found Nadia and Rachel at the school yard where they were in a group consisting of cheerleaders.

Out of all of the girls, Lauren considered Nadia Sloane as her best friend. The dark-haired beauty was the daughter of Hollywood mega-producer Arvin Sloane, who had produced lots of movies with Jack's studio. The girls had known each other since kindergarten and bonded through mutual interests in fashion, boys, cheerleading and their status as Hollywood royalty.

She knew all the school gossip and nobody was better at spreading rumors through the grapevine. Nadia appeared almost as often in the fantasies of the boys of the school than Lauren and she sported expensive designer clothes and shoes. She had a reputation as an ice queen, who didn't like anyone outside of her group of friends. Sydney was one of the people who she couldn't stand and their rivalry was nowhere near of being finished. Before Michael and Sydney had stared dating, Nadia had been interested in him, but he had not returned her crush and instead had fallen hard for Sydney. That humiliation had earned Sydney the title as the person who she hated the most and Nadia never missed an opportunity to harp about her.

Rachel Gibson and Kelly Peyton were the two other members of Lauren and Nadia's group, who were also cheerleaders and part of the in crowd.

Rachel was a tall, blonde girl with blue-grey eyes with a scary amount of ambition. As opposed to Nadia and Lauren, her parents were not famous or incredibly wealthy. Rachel was a great manipulator and an aspiring actress, who saw Lauren as her ticket to success. No better way of being discovered than befriending the daughter of a movie magnet.

Kelly Peyton was the most quiet member of the group. The petite brunette was the daughter of Hollywood Uber-agent Kevin Peyton and soap opera actress Kayla Peyton and like Nadia and Lauren, had grown up around fame and fortune.

--

While Julian was in the office of principal Marcus Dixon, Michael sat in the hall waiting for him. He would have preferred to be with Sydney and his friends, but his mother had clearly indicated that Michael needed to make sure Julian would fit in at Rambaldi High without a problem.

Michael waited patiently and once Julian finally emerged from the principal's office, they made their way to Mr. Kendall's History class, arriving a little late and disrupted the class.

Lauren was having a boring time in history, she barely knew what the teacher was talking about. Some former president whose dad was an ambassador to a place called the Court of St. James couldn't have interest her in the least. Why would she need to know that? Not like anyone was ever going ask her that in the real world. She had just about had enough, when the snooze fest known as history was interrupted by Michael and possibly the hottest guy she had ever seen.

"You must be Julian Lazarey? Nice to meet you, Principal Dixon informed me earlier that you will joining my history class from now on." Mr. Kendall said pleasantly and shook Julian hand while guiding him to a free seat that was one row behind the seat Lauren was sitting in.

Julian sat down in the seat and watched Michael go in to his next to Sydney. After that, Julian focused his eyes on Lauren's legs for the remaining of the class.

"Miss Sloane, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy?" Mr. Kendall inquired from Nadia, who was obviously not paying attention to the class and instead was drawing some kind of a dress in her notebook.

"That Oswald guy, I think. Jackie was wearing a pink Chanel suit with a matching pill-box hat on that day," Nadia said voice full of boredom. She was well studied in fashion history, but other things did not interest her.

"Actually if I may correctly you, it is not possible that Lee Harvey Oswald was the only shooter. The gun which he was using, the 6.5 x 52 mm Italian Mannlicher-Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle with a six-round magazine, isn't able to fire that many shots in the time frame it happened. That is a proven fact, but if you happen to be a believer in the one-bullet theory, there is also evidence that will support that, but to my understanding…" Marshall Flinkman said with an exited tone and started rambling on incoherently.

"Shut it Flinkman, no-one here gives a crap about what you think," Thomas Grace said from his seat next to Lauren. He was wearing his letter jacket and looked Marshall over with contempt.

"That's enough, Mr. Grace. " Mr. Kendall said in warning tone that didn't seem to affect Thomas at all as he looked more smug than ever while high fiving a couple of the other footballers who sat near him.

That must be the quarterback boyfriend of the future Mrs. Julian Lazarey, though Sark and for a minute or so, he studied the dark-haired athlete who was currently sliding his hand all over Lauren's right leg in a possessive manner. He was athletically built and arrogant, from what Julian could gather.

"Moving on to your mid-term project, I have selected pairs and each will do a detailed biography on one former President of the United States that we have covered so far. This will affect your grade and you will have four weeks to do it." Mr. Kendall said and took a big pile of folders from under his table.

"Now, as I say your name, you and your partner will be given one file on your subject. This will require co-operation and hard work. You will not be able to change partners, as this not only tests your history skills but also how you get along with different people. Now, let us begin…" Mr. Kendall added and started reading from a list of names.

"Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn, your president will be George Washington," Mr. Kendall said as he handed the first folder to Michael. Sydney looked very pleased and the golden couple started going through the folder together.

"Nadia Sloane and Eric Weiss, your president will be Thomas Jefferson," Mr. Kendall read as he handed the second folder to Nadia, who looked like someone had just arrived to the school wearing exactly the same outfit as her. She joined Weiss in the back of the class and looked non too pleased.

"Marshall Flinkman and Thomas Grace, your president will be Abraham Lincoln," Mr. Kendall read again and handed the file to Marshall who looked quite hesitant, but non the less joined Thomas near his seat, where he was making strong gagging gestures.

"Kelly Peyton and Carrie Bowman, your president will be Franklin Delano Roosevelt," Mr. Kendall once again said while handing the file to Carrie who looked a little disappointed, but she was happy that at last she didn't end up with Rachel or Nadia.

"Rachel Gibson and Will Tippin, your president will be Harry S. Truman," Mr. Kendall said and handed the file to Rachel who looked very upset and annoyed. Will either didn't look too happy about his new partner since he still freshly remembered all the nasty rumors Rachel had told about him when he had hanged out with Lauren last year.

"Noah Hicks and Francie Calfo, your president will be Dwight D. Eisenhower," Mr. Kendall read once more and handed the file to Noah, who joined his partner without objection.

"Julian Lazarey and Lauren Bristow, your president will be John F. Kennedy," Mr. Kendall finished while handing the folder to Lauren who, for the annoyance of her boyfriend, looked very happy and joined Julian at his seat.

"Now that everyone has their partners and assignments, you can spend the remaining 30 minutes either here in the classroom or relocate to the library starting your project." Kendall said and sat down behind his table and started writing something to his notebook.

--

Sydney and Michael left the classroom holding hands and made their way to the library. She was incredibly satisfied that she had managed to get partnered with her boyfriend, because they would now be able to spend even more time together and because his work ethic was very similar to hers. They both were honor students and took school very seriously.

"I'm so lucky that you are my partner," Michael said as if reading her thoughts when they were making their way to the library that was located in the other side of the school.
"I was thinking that same thing right about now. It's nice to notice that Mr. Kendall didn't feel that we needed to learn how to co-operate with other people," Sydney said and snuggled closer to Michael as they were walking.

"I just feel bad for Eric, Marshall and Will, lady luck was definitely not in their corner today. I would have rather put needle's into my own eyes than do anything with Nadia, Thomas or Rachel," Michael commented and felt sincerely bad for their friends who would from now on have to spend time with couple of the most unlikable people in the school.

"Yeah, me too. By the way, how do you think my sister is getting along with your cousin?" Sydney asked and looked at Michael with eyes full of curiosity.

"If they are not killing each other by now, I suspect that Julian is pulling his usual crap to try to get into your sisters pants." Michael noted with a small laugh. He personally hoped that Lauren would bruise his cousins insatiable ego and reject his lewd suggestions, maybe even having her boyfriend beat the living daylights out of Julian. Those thoughts made his whole face light up with joy and he grapped Sydney and kissed her passionately. His day had just took a turn for the better.

--

In the mean time, outside of the history class, Julian was watching his new partner intently has she tried reasoning with her boyfriend who didn't look happy at all. The tall, raven-haired man was taking turns in either glaring at Julian or shouting at Lauren, who was also looking far from pleased.

Julian disliked the quarterback more and more as each moment passed. He hadn't even had a chance to properly introduce himself to Lauren, as before any words were exchanged between the two, Thomas had practically dragged Lauren to the hall.

"I'm just doing a project with him, I'm still your girlfriend. Can you please give me some credit here, your acting like I was going to hop in to what's-his-name's bed." Lauren knew what his partners name was, she had memorized that already earlier, but wasn't going to tell Thomas that. She kissed him on the lips and returned to the class to collect her things.

"Hello gorgeous, we were not properly introduced. My name is Julian Lazarey and it looks like we need to get better acquainted if we are going to work together for the next four weeks." Julian said in his English accent while stretching out his hand to shake hers and looking deeply in to her blue orbs.


To be continued…

This chapter was more Lauren-centered but don't worry, the next chap has more Syd/Vaughn in it I promise.

Once again, feedback is desperately wanted.