Chapter 5

Sure, what is it? She paused, thinking of the best way to ask him. Do you know you party on Saturday, well I was wondering if I could maybe bring a guest? She waited eagerly, hoping that she would get the answer that she wanted. Yeah, I don't see why not. Ok, thank you so much... She got distracted by her Irina entering the room, mouthing to her that dinner was ready. Leo, I'm sorry I gotta go, my dinner's ready. I'll see you tomorrow and thanks again for this. Hanging up the phone she jumped up and headed down stairs for her dinner, she couldn't wait for tomorrow to tell Vaughn about her plan.

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Vaughn found it hard to sleep that night. He kept thinking about Sydney. He thought that she was amazing, he had never met anyone quite like her before. He kept thinking about how lucky he was to have met her, even though they could only be friends as long as Danny was in the picture. And judging by the way that Weiss had spoke about them, he would be in the picture for a long time. Sighing, Vaughn rolled over to look at his alarm clock, 03:28. Groaning at the fact that he hadn't had any sleep yet, he pulled the covers over his head, trying to clear his mind of all his thoughts. It amazed him how he had only known Sydney for a day, and already she was constantly on his mind.

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Sydney woke early than usual the following morning. The sun was shining in through the curtains, filling the whole room with daylight. Stretching she rolled out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. The smell of pancakes lingered in the air, an obvious sign that her mom was up making breakfast. She washed her face and combed back her hair into a loose pony, with some strands falling loose onto her face. She decided that she would catch a ride with her mother today, as she had forgotten to arrange to meet Paige and her sisters, and she was unsure whether or not Michael would be walking to school. After dressing in a white summer skirt and red top, she walked down the stairs to find Irina putting various books into her bag.

"Morning sweetheart." She called out, as she noticed Sydney entering the kitchen.

"Morning mom." She replied taking the orange juice out of the fridge and pouring a decent amount into a glass.

"I made you some pancakes." She motioned to the table, smiling lovingly at her daughter. "Do you want a ride to school?" She asked. In between bites of her pancakes, Sydney answered, "Yes please."

Twenty minutes later the two Bristows left the house and headed to Kennedy High. They sat in silence until Irina finally spoke. "You father phoned last night after you had gone to bed. He wants you to have dinner with him and his new girlfriend tonight after school." She kept her focus on the road, not looking at Sydney's shocked reaction. "Wait, Dad had a girlfriend now?" Ever since her parents had split neither one of them had dated anybodyelse.

"Yeah, she's a psychiatrist or something. Her name's something Barnett. I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders. "So you gonna go?" She asked, momentarily taking her eyes off the road.

"I have cheerleading practise tonight." Sydney protested. She didn't mind spending time with her father, but she didn't want to meet him new 'friend.'

"You can go after practise. It probably won't be till about 7, so you'll be able to make it in time." Irina pulled up in front of the school. She couldn't believe that she was trying to encourage her daughter to go to this meal. She knew that her and Jack had agreed that they would never try and make Sydney choose between them, but she didn't like the idea of him having a new girlfriend. And she was quite sure that Sydney picked up on her not liking it. Before she got out of the car, Sydney answered her mother's question.

"Okay, I'll be there." She forced a smile to spread across her face, and then left the car and entered the school building.

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Later that day

Michael was quite disappointed that he hadn't seen Syd all day. He had got the bus to school that morning and so far he had had no lessons with her. Right now, he was sat in the cafeteria, listening to Weiss' story about how he thinks that Alan, his dog, is putting on weight.

"I'm telling you man, he eats way too much!" Stated Eric taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Really? I wonder who he gets that off?" Vaughn said sarcastically, earning a glare for his friend. Taking a sip of his soda, he was surprised to feel someone pat him on the back. Turning to his side, he was greeted by Sydney taking a seat next to him. "Hey guys." She said happily. Weiss just nodded as he was too busy eating, but Vaughn smiled at her and said hey back to her.

"So listen, you know I asked you about if you had plans for Saturday?" Vaughn nodded, so she continued. "Well, a friend of mine, Leo it's his birthday and he's having a huge party over at his house. And I was kinda hoping that you would come!" She said excitedly. Weiss looked up from his sandwich, shocked at her invitation. Michael had only been there for one day, and already he was getting invited to the parties where all the popular people went.

Michael looked at her, sitting beside him in anticipation. He smiled at her, as he considered her request. She wants me to go to a party with her? He asked himself. He released that he was keeping her waiting for an answer, so he cleared his throat and answered her. "I would love to, Syd. Thanks." "Great!" Her smile grew bigger. She turned to Weiss who had continued to eat his sandwich. "Do you want to come along too Weiss?" He looked at Vaughn and then back to Syd. "I would like to, but I can't. I have to babysit." The expression on his face showed that he wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea.

"Who is it? Please don't say its Alan." Vaughn joked. Weiss glared momentarily at Vaughn. "NO! My aunt is in town, so her and my mum are going for drinks, so I'm stuck watching my two cousins. And just so where clear Vaughn, Alan will be there!" Eric added dramatically. Sydney laughed, not quite understanding what they were talking about. "Ok you guys, what did I miss?"

Danny sat on the other side of the cafeteria, watching his girlfriend talking to Michael Vaughn, and some other guy, who he wasn't quite sure his name. He didn't understand what Sydney found so fascinating about this Michael. He seemed like just another ordinary guy to him. "What are you staring at, Danny?" Phoebe asked. She had been sitting opposite him, with Cole beside her, his arm around her waist.

Tearing his eyes away from Sydney, he answered her. "What does she see in him? Ever since he got here, all she has done is follow him around like a lovesick puppy..." He looked around at each of his friend's searching for an answer.

"He's been here for one day Danny. Cut the guy some slack." Came Piper's voice from down the end of the table. She had always been the voice of reason, ever since she became the older sister. Her older sister Prue had moved away with their father a couple of years ago when their parents split but she still came to visit every now and then.

Danny looked blankly at her. He knew that she would take Syd's side, after all they had been best friends since they were like five. "Yeah, the guys new here, she's just helping him to settle in." Francie added.

"But why does she have to help him? You can tell by the way that he looks at her, that he likes her..." Danny glanced back over at to see the three of them laughing.

"Are you jealous?" Cole asked. The rest of the group chuckled slightly at the look of horror that filled Danny's face at the thought of people thinking he was jealous of Vaughn.

"No. As if I would be jealous of him." He replied coldly.

"That's good." Leo said. "Cause if you don't have a problem with him, then you should be able to control yourself on Saturday and be nice to him."

"Saturday?" Danny asked, clearly puzzled. Then it occurred to him what Leo was on about. "He's coming to your party?" He spat. Leo nodded. "Why is he coming?"

"Sydney phoned me last night, and asked if it was ok if she bought an extra guest. I couldn't exactly say no to her. And besides it not like you have a problem with him!" Leo shrugged, knowing fairly well that Danny did have a problem. And it was sat on the other side of the room with Sydney. Sydney stood up to leave. She thought that she had best go and spend some of her lunch hour with her other friends. "I best get going." She said, gathering her things.

"Okay." They both said. "Are you walking home again tonight Syd?" Vaughn asked, hoping for another chance to spend more time with her.

"I can't tonight Vaughn, I've got cheerleading practise and then I have to have lunch with my father and his new girlfriend." She sighed. "I guess I'll see you both later. Bye." She smiled and then made her way across the cafeteria.

She finally took a seat next to Paige, as she said hello to all her friends. They all replied except for Danny, who sat looking down at the table. Noticing his reaction, Syd looked confusingly at Piper, who just shrugged her shoulders and mouthed: "Don't ask." Taking the hint, Sydney turned to Phoebe. "Pheebs, I'm sorry that I didn't go shopping last night." She felt quite guilty for blowing off her friends. "It's ok hun, there wasn't really much there anyways." She replied kindly. Finally Danny spoke.

"Did you have fun last night anyway Sydney?" He asked sarcastically. She looked at him, not liking the way he asked her the question. "I did actually." Smiling coldly at him. "Thanks for asking." She added speaking as sarcastically as he had.

"Well I guess you'll have even more fun on Saturday, when your new boyfriend comes to the party!" He glared at her, felling his face redden from anger.

"What is your problem? Yeah, Vaughn will be at the party but so will a bunch of other people." People in the cafeteria began to look over as her voice got louder. Vaughn heard his name being mentioned, and he looked worryingly over.

"Oh, will he be bringing a date? Or will he spend all night lusting after mine?" The room went totally silent, everybody wanting to know what was going on. Everyone sitting at Sydney's table looked at each other uncomfortably, suddenly aware that all eyes were on them, but for all the wrong reasons. Vaughn couldn't believe that he was talking to her in that way. He was going to walk right up there and stop him, but Weiss sensed this, and grabbed hold of his arm. "Don't man. This is her fight." Vaughn looked at him for a minute and then gave in. After all Sydney was giving as good as she got.

"Why don't you just grow up Danny?" She asked angrily. "Oh, I'm sorry I forgot. You can't can you cause deep down your just an insecure little boy. I may be dating you Danny, but that doesn't make me your property. You can't order me around, telling me who I can and can't be friends with. That's not your call, it never has been, and trust me it never will. And I'll tell you another thing, you carry on acting like this, and you won't just be dateless on Saturday." She looked around at the people watching them. And then at Michael. She could tell that he was feeling guilty, like it was somehow his fault. But it wasn't, it was Danny's for being such a jerk.

"I've had enough of this crap. I'm outta here." He took one last look at Sydney, and then he walked away from them, through the crowds of students who had been looking for gossip. Sydney looked at her friends, each one of them displaying faces of pure concern. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her legs were shaking slightly. But it felt good to finally be able to say how she felt to Danny. Even if she did have a crowd.