Title: Finger Paints and Poison Ivy
Author: Sweetness
E-mail: sweetness892 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Rating: Hard PG-13, for now, for language; might turn to R later on.
'Ship: Sarkney. Like I'd write anything else.
Spoilers/Timeline: COMPLETELY AU. It's so on the AU side, it's not even funny. But, I'd say S3, just to be on the safe side.
Summary: Involves the usual ALIAS gang (minus a certain BOVINE member); Sydney and Sark are teenage camp counselors who meet at a summer camp. It's dislike at first meeting, but will that be enough to come between their attraction?
Disclaimer: Not mine, blah, blah, disclaimercakes. The name of the camp belongs to the TV show "Bug Juice." Blah, blah, more disclaimercakes.
Distribution: SD-1, Mad-Love, FanFiction, Dark Enigma, my LJ. All others, please ask, or I shall have to go Jack Bristow on your ass.
A/N: Well, I FINALLY got it done! Go me! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much, undoubtablyjess, for the beta-ing! I couldn't have finished this without your IMMENSE help, girl! To my readers: SOOOOO sorry this took so long! RL is a bitch-and-a-half. Hope it's lived up to your expectations! Anyhoo, onto the story. You know the drill.
Chapter 2
As Sydney walked away from Julian, she thought, What an asshole! Who the fuck does he think he is? If I see him again, I'm gonna knock his ego down a peg or two!
Will came up running behind her and grabbed her arm. Sydney elbowed him in the side.
Will grunted in pain, then gasped, "Syd! What was that for?"
"Oh, god, Will! I'm SO sorry!" Sydney exclaimed, as she realized it was her friend and not her foe she had elbowed.
"What was that for?" Will repeated, as he caught his breath.
"I thought you were that cocky British bastard!"
"Oh," said Will. Then he laughed, processing what she had said. "'Cocky British bastard'?" He gasped in mock horror. "Really, where did you learn such foul language like that?" he asked, his tone dripping with overdramatic sarcasm.
Sydney slapped his arm. "Shut up!"
"Oooooh! Great comeback!"
"Shut—nevermind!" Syd said with a laugh. Will laughed with her.
Sydney hugged Will, then asked, "Forgiven?"
Will laughed and replied, "Of course! You think I'm going to stay mad at you forever?"
Sydney pretended to consider her answer. "Well…"
"Oh, come on!"
"You know I'm kidding!"
"Yeah, I know." Will sighed. "How about we go back to the bus and find Francie?"
Sydney scoffed. "Right, Will. Like she's going to be there."
"Good point." He paused for a moment. "How about this? We get in the bus and save a seat for her? She'll have to come to the bus at some point."
"Sounds like a plan." Will offered his arm to Sydney, who linked her arm in his. They skipped off, laughing.
Julian headed over to Bus 4, bags in hand. And who should be up ahead but the young woman who had practically run him down and caused him to drop his bags! He watched her friend run up behind her and grab her arm. He watched her elbow shoot out into her friend's ribs and heard his grunt of pain in response. This is just getting more and more intriguing by the minute. Out of curiosity, he hid close by.
"What was that for?" Yes, what reason do you have to abuse your friend?
"I thought you were that cocky British bastard!" "'Cocky British bastard'?" So that's what she really thinks of me? That hurts. Wait, why do I even care what she thinks?
"Oh. 'Cocky British bastard'? Really, where did you learn such foul language like that?" Yes, where did she learn how to insult people in such a manner?
He watched the discourteous young woman smack her friend's arm. "Shut up!" Yes, so articulate. I'll have to remember to use that some time. Maybe I should lend her my thesaurus, so she can come up with better insults.
"Oooooh! Great comeback!" Yes, she's the Queen of Insults. Well, maybe not, but she's certainly the Queen of Bitchiness.
"Shut—nevermind!" The two friends' laughter drifted over to Julian. He felt a tiny pang of loneliness and quickly shrugged it off.
He watched the two hug, feeling a twinge of jealousy, and then heard the girl ask, "Forgiven?"
"Of course! You think I'm going to stay mad at you forever?" Weak; I'd make her sweat a little.
He watched as the girl pretend to contemplate her answer. "Well…" Nice to see how well she knows her friend.
"Oh, come on!"
"You know I'm kidding!" Really? Does your friend? Do I? He shook off that last disturbing thought.
"Yeah, I know." Will sighed. "How about we go back to the bus and find Francie?" A third friend? I hope she's not nearly as rude as this girl appears to be.
He clearly heard her scoff. "Right, Will. Like she's going to be there." Sounds like she knows at least one of her friends well.
"Good point. How about this? We get in the bus and save a seat for her? She'll have to come to the bus some time." Well, he's smarter than he looks. But not much.
"Sounds like a plan." He watched the two friends link arms and skip off, laughing. He again felt a pang of jealousy. Sighing, he walked out from his hiding place and followed the two.
He smirked as he watched the two get on the same bus he had been assigned. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she realizes the "cocky British bastard" she ran over earlier is to be on the same bus as her. For four hours. He walked over to the storage cabinet under the bus and caught sight of a purple duffle bag. The hairs on the back of his head suddenly stood up. He shook his head and started to place his bags in the undercarriage storage, trying to ignore the bag and the odd sensation he felt when laying eyes upon it. Finally giving into the impulse, he grabbed the tag and turned it around to read it. So the rude girl does have a name. "Sydney Bristow," eh? Sydney. Beautiful. Just like her… He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Stop thinking about the bitchiest girl you've ever met! Especially in that way!
He shook his head, then made his way onto the bus. He scanned the crowded bus for Sydney, then spotted her talking to her friend from earlier and another girl, whom he assumed was "Francie," their Third Musketeer. She's so engrossed in the conversation, she'll probably never even notice me. He made his way down the aisle, hoping Sydney wouldn't notice him. Amazingly, she never even looked up his way, even as he pulled off his backpack and plopped himself unceremoniously into the empty seat in the row in front of her. Suddenly he remembered Nikolai had some of his bags. He looked out the window, scanning the crowd for his father's driver. He caught sight of Nikolai's uniform close to the bus, and he lightly rapped on the window, trying to get his attention. He looked up at Julian and gave him a terse nod of acknowledgement; Julian gave him the same nod back. He took one last look at his dear friend and turned his attention to Sydney and her friends.
"So what does he look like?" Who is she talking about? A boyfriend? Me?
He became impatient at Sydney's hesitation. Well, go on!
She's probably nibbling on that bee-stung bottom lip of hers. What I wouldn't give to be doing that right now… Julian had to stifle a groan at that thought, then resist the urge to slap himself upside the head at his reaction. "Well," Sydney began in a hushed and slightly embarrassed tone, "he has the most amazing blue eyes that you can just lose yourself in, curly, unruly blonde hair that you just want to bury your fingers in and play with and tug, and this adorably crooked bottom lip that you just want to nibble on—" Yes, she is definitely talking about me. Julian smirked arrogantly at the thought.
"Rowr!" He heard a snort from their blue-eyed friend from earlier. Poor chap, having to listen to his female companions gush over a cute boy they fancy. Maybe they would be gushing over him, as well, if he would just cut that hair of his—it is in a rather unfortunate state currently.
"And he has a dreamy British accent that is so drool-worthy!" He raised an eyebrow at that. Who knew being sent off to a London boarding school would come in handy?
"Oooooooooh, Sydney's got herself a new boyfriend!"
"I SO do not!"
"Do, too!"
"Do not!" It's become a fourth-grade fight. Joy.
"Do, too!"
"Do—Okay, can we stop with the childish fighting, please?"
"You started it!" Oh, here we go again…
A male voice interrupt their fight. "I don't care who started it, I'm ending it." Thank you.
He heard them both murmur, "Sorry, Will," probably glancing down in embarrassment.
"And now you can go back to your originally-scheduled gushing." Yes, let's get back to it. I want to know what else she thinks of me.
"So, anyway…"
"He's not my boyfriend, Francie," Sydney cut Francie off in a firm, but quiet voice. Not yet, anyway. He shook his head in irritation at the unexplainable thoughts popping into his head.
"What? What's wrong with him? He's a total hottie and British!" Francie hesitated a moment. In a gentler tone, she said, "After Noah left you without a fucking word, don't you think it's time to move on?" Sounds like Sydney hasn't had much luck in the love department. Francie continued, "And what better way than to go for the gorgeous foreign hottie at camp?"
"Francie, it's not that. Yes, he's gorgeous, but…" But what? "He's like the good-looking guy in high school who knows how cute he is and won't take no for an answer. Not only is he WAY out of my league, he's the biggest jackass I've ever met." So, she thinks I'm good-looking, eh? But "jackass?" That's a little harsh.
"Really?" Francie sounded surprised.
"Yes. Remember when Will was chasing me earlier? Well, I kinda ran into him and made him drop his bags. When I went to help him pick them up, he told me I should've been looking where I was going. And he also asked me if I kissed my mother with my mouth, the little shit." Julian's brow creased when he heard, "little shit." Brutal much?
Francie gasped, "You're kidding me!"
Sydney chuckled humorlessly. "I wish I were."
"Damn. Why do all the hot guys have to be complete asshats?" Not all hot chaps are "asshats."
When he saw the three friends stand up and look over their seats in surprise, he realized he had said his thought out loud. Oh, fuck.
Thanks for all the reviews! I never thought I'd get such a positive response for this story. I know y'all want an update soon, but it'll be a little while before I can get back into the swing of things. Sorry. School and RL always take precedence over writing, unfortunately, and they've been especially vile to me this year. And they've zapped what little creativity I have. But, now I'm finally back to this. I MIGHT be able to get to writing SOME of it this weekend. DEFINITELY not promising anything. I learned my lesson about that after promising to write the sequel to "Stupid" back during last May ;).
Karone Evertree: Glad you like the story. That he is ;). It'll be a few weeks at least, unfortunately. RL and school were very evil to me this year. I had some personal issues to get through.
Masta D: Glad you like it so far. "Interesting," eh? Well, I wouldn't go that far, but that's just me; I tend to be rather insecure about my writing.
Bill O'Reilly Fan: Well, thank you! Well, I try, anyway. The last line was actually my favorite.
M.B (Meghan): Glad you liked the last chapter. It'll be a few weeks at least. Sorry. Had to deal with some personal issues.
Druzilla: Thank you. So sorry, but it'll be a few weeks at least before I get to writing. Had to deal with personal issues.
awakencordy: It IS posted over at SD-1, but since Ch. 1 was posted back in August, you might not have seen it. And, yes, I posted this chap over there after the board got back up, as you saw. And, I added you to the PM list there. Glad you like the characterization. It's hard, considering this is an AU.
vaughn is soo sexy: Glad someone understands my sense of humor. She might not, but then again, this is AU, so…
vaughn is hot: Oh, you KNOW Sark thinks that about Sydney on the show. And she was kinda rude to him after she ran into him. Even though this is AU, think back to when Syd described herself before she joined SD-6: she was VERY shy, and "her social life consisted of the salad bar."
kathleen: Glad someone else gets my sense of humor. I at least TRY to be funny sometimes; looks like I succeeded. Glad you like it.
Canard: Isn't that what they essentially have on the show, even though Syd would never admit to it? Besides, those are the best relationships. Definitely guaranteed not to be boring. And you KNOW they both have a crush on the other, even though they'd never admit to it.
vaughn is hot: (Did you comment already? Or is that someone else?) Hmmmm… that was never my intention. She's a shy girl, and he's the cute, untouchable guy in her eyes. Plus, she's pissed off that he was a jackass to her, and he's pissed off because she's just as rude back. But, yes, I agree that she is in his league. They're both smart and snarky, so they're a matched pair.
jaka ray: (chapter 1) That would be Lauren, who shall never be mentioned in a positive light to me. I hated her character and what the writers did to my favorite characters in the name of saving face. And don't much like the actress who played her, either. Yes, I love Sarkney, too. Otherwise I'd be writing another pairing. Yes, Sark is teh sex. And, no, they like each other for other reasons. It's just that looks are what you usually notice about a person first.
(chapter 2) Sorry, it'll be a few more weeks at least. I know it's taken me forever to get back to it, but I had some personal issues to get through. And, yes, like I said for your Ch. 1 review, Sark is teh sex. Thanks for letting me know about that. (For future reference, switching between P.O.V.'s within one scene is a very bad thing, which I'm obviously trying to avoid.)
Katelyn Emma: I'm glad you like it. Sorry, it'll be a few weeks at least. Sorry. Had some personal issues to deal with. And I'm glad you enjoyed it so much so far.
BohemianSpoon: BWAH! Oh, well. It happens to the best of us. I'll try my best. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this. Had some personal issues to deal with.
Lindsay: I'm glad you've enjoyed what I've written so far. :blushes: Thanks! I had some personal issues to deal with, unfortunately, so it's taken me awhile to get back to this. But, now that I'm back, I'll try my best to update this soon.
Santos Black: Glad you've liked it so far. It'll be a few weeks at least before I can back to this. RL and school have been evil to me this year.