Chapter 19

Jack had agreed to let Irina drive him to school, as his hangover hadn't eased up and he didn't feel up to driving. They had made a quick pit stop at Jack's so that he could change and grab his things that he would need for work.

The car ride was made in silence, except for the odd insults in Russian, which Irina blurted out at the other drivers. Irina had never been a patient driver; she had always thought that driving should be done her way, or no way at all. Irina's idea of driving was to totally ignore the speed limit and the other drivers on the road; it was as though she was the only person with a destination to get to.

Jack closed his eyes, his head leaning against the cold window. His thoughts drifted back to last night; something had changed in his relationship with Irina, but he couldn't quite figure out what. He came to the realization that last night was probably the most that they had spoken civilly since they had broken up. Jack put all thoughts of Irina aside as the large school building came into view. Sighing, he thanked her for the ride, gathered his belongings and grudgingly made his way to the staff room.

"Syd, is everything ok?" Weiss had noticed the troubled expression on his new friend's face, and her friends, which she's left behind. It wasn't that he wasn't happy that she was walking with him, but he could sense that something was on her mind and he knew from experience that talking about your problems often helped to sort them out.

"Am I that transparent?" She asked.

"Hey, I'm not saying your Casper the Ghost or anything!" Weiss's shot a joke, however bad it may have been, won a smile from Sydney. "But all jokes aside. Are you ok?" Eric wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, his small gesture telling her that she could confide in him.

"Yeah, it's just seeing Danny this morning…I just felt really awkward being with my friends while he was there. I know that they're not just his friends but somehow I feel like I'm the one that's in the wrong because I broke up with him. I don't know why I'm even telling you this, it's just me being stupid!" Sydney shut her eyes and leaned her head back against Weiss's shoulder.

Weiss pulled her into a hug in the middle of the crowded hallway, earning them some strange looks from the other students. "You're not in the wrong Syd. You had your reasons for breaking up with Danny; you shouldn't have to stay in a relationship just to make other people happy. You weren't happy so you got out! If other people can't come to terms with that then it's their own problem." He amazed himself that he was actually giving somebody else advice; usually he was the one with the problem. "And as for you being stupid…well just look at me! Everybody's entitled to be stupid once in a while!" He smiled.

"Yeah but Weiss sometimes you just abuse the privilege!" She teased, watching the look of shear shock and disgust cover Weiss's face. He played along with her, pretending that her comment had really hurt him, which just made Sydney laugh.

"After all my heartfelt advice you go and pull a stunt like that! Well Bristow, that will be the last advice I ever give you. There'll be no more Mr Nice Weiss!" They stopped at her locker so that she could deposit some books. Her laughter had died down now, the only evidence being the smile that remained on her lips.

Weiss leaned against the locker next to hers, his arms folded across his chest. He kept flashing her looks, telling her that he was still 'upset' by her comment.

"Aww Eric come on! You know you can't stay mad at me for long. You're not the only one who can make jokes you know," she playfully punched him on the arm watching as his frown was replaced with a smile.

"Ok, you're forgiven! But just don't go around making too many jokes…we don't want me going out of business now do we?"

"Deal!" Sydney was thankful that she had a friend like Eric, even though they had only been friends for over a week. She was surprised that he was single, after all he was kind, sweet, had a good sense of humour, was fun to be around and she had to admit that he was kinda cute. Maybe there's something I can do about him being single! She thought to herself, smiling mischievously at Weiss as a plan began to form in her mind. He was about to ask her what she was smiling at when Vaughn came walking towards them.

"Hey."

"Hi." Weiss and Sydney replied in unison.

"Hey man, I forgot to tell you. I overheard some guys talking and it turns out that the hockey tryouts are tomorrow lunchtime. You should go," After seeing him play yesterday Weiss knew that he would be great on the team.

"Oh…I don't know…"

"Syd, you should see this guy play hockey! I've never seen anyone move so well on ice before!" Colour rose to Vaughn's cheeks at Weiss's slightly over exaggerated comment. Sydney smiled at Vaughn, images of him on the ice playing on her mind.

"If you're as good as Eric says you are, you should definitely try out," Sydney reached out and gently touched his arm, giving him some encouragement. He smiled at her contact and then turned to Weiss.

"Ok, I'll try out as long as you do too."

"I think that sounds like a fair deal!" Sydney chimed in, knowing that she was teasing Eric for the second time that day. Being with Vaughn and Weiss had helped Sydney forget all about Danny and how awkward it was being around him, which she was grateful to them for.

Weiss was silent for a couple of minutes while he thought about Vaughn's offer. He had been playing hockey for a couple of years now, but he had never actually played for a team before. But he knew that in order to get Vaughn on the team he would have to tryout with him. "Ok, you got yourself a deal!" He laughed as Vaughn and Sydney high-fived, obviously proud of their accomplishment.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige walked into their biology class closely followed by Cole and Leo. They were scouting the room looking for five empty seats that were close together, when they spotted Sydney already sitting down in between Vaughn and Weiss. She hadn't noticed them walk in as the three of them looked like they were deep in conversation, each laughing every now and then at something that was said.

Piper looked at Paige and sighed. She knew that the break up was going to push one of their friends away from them; she just hoped that it would be Danny and not Sydney. Taking a seat on the other side of the room, the girls decided that they would talk to Sydney before the lesson started.

"Hey Syd," Phoebe smiled at her friend.

Sydney stopped her conversation and looked up at her three best friends. "Hey guys." She smiled at them, the awkwardness she felt that morning had gone; probably due to the fact that Danny wasn't insight. Vaughn and Weiss smiled at the girls, earning a small smile acknowledging their existence.

"Can we talk to you for a minute Syd?" Paige asked, nodding her head at an empty part of the classroom, indicating where they wanted to talk. Piper pushed her long brown hair back over her shoulders, as Sydney nodded and stood up from her seat.

"What's up?" She asked, leaning back on an empty table. The three girls looked at each other, trying to decide who should talk first.

"Danny told us what happened, and we were worried about you," the older sister was the first to speak, concern visible on her face.

"Thanks, but I'm fine you guys." She tried her best to reassure them.

"Sydney come on. It's us you're talking to. You don't have to lie to us." Phoebe stood beside her, her arm securely wrapped around her waist. Sydney looked down at the floor, avoiding their gaze. They're my best friends. I can't keep lying to them. Finally she raised her eyes and looked at each of them in turn.

"Ok, so it's been a little tough, especially around you guys when Danny's there. But I'm handling it and Vaughn and Weiss have been great, they've really helped to cheer me up." She smiled as she looked over at her new friends. "You don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine." She put her arms around Paige and Phoebe pulling them towards her into a hug, with Piper trapped in the middle.

"We just don't want you to stop hanging around with us because of what's happened with Danny. We're there for him, but let us be there for you too! OK?" Paige tucked Sydney's hair behind her ears.

"Ok, thanks."

"You don't have to thank us, we love you and we want to help you get through this." Phoebe spoke the words that were on her sister's minds. The biology teacher's arrival into the room cut their reunion short, as they had to go and take their seats. Sydney sat down with a bright smile on her face; everything that Danny had said about her friends abandoning her was a lie. I may not still be the most popular girl in school, but as long as I have my friends then I'm happy.

Everybody crowded into the cafeteria once the bell had rung. As it was Monday lunchtime, Sydney knew that Danny and the other guys would be at football practice, which basically meant that they would actually play football for about twenty minutes and then just hit the showers. So she could go and spend some of the lunch hour with the girls and not have to worry about what Danny would be feeling.

Walking into the cafeteria, Sydney noticed that they were sitting at their usual table. She tried to make her way through the crowds to get to them, but that was made difficult by groups of students who were just standing around gossiping.

"Well I heard that Sydney found him cheating on her with one of her best friends, so she dumped him!" Sydney looked at the group of girls standing infront of her, oblivious to her being behind them. She thought that they were in the year below until she spotted Lauren Reed, the girl who was chatting to Vaughn at Leo's party. Leo had said that Lauren was a nice person but from what Sydney was seeing she couldn't exactly say the same thing. She hated people knowing what was going on in her personal life, but once the rumours were out there, there was nothing she could do to stop them.

"That's not what I heard. I got told that Danny is gay, and he dumped her for Billy Paterno, you know the guy who's always lurking around watching people!"

Sydney sighed and pushed her way past them, alerting them to her presence. They all stopped talking and looked at one another, not sure what to do.

"Don't you just hate gossips!" Sydney said as she took a seat at the table.

"Are people spreading rumours?" Piper asked after taking a bite of her sandwich. Sydney nodded. All around the cafeteria people where looking in her direction, trying to decide for themselves what had happened between Danny and Sydney.

"It'll soon pass over hon, once another story comes along, everybody will be all over that and your break-up with Danny will be old news!" Francie tried to reassure her friend.

"I hope so," she sighed. "So what were you guys talking about?" She quickly changed the subject, hoping that they could talk about something different.

Sydney quickly finished her lunch and gathered her things. "I've gotta go and meet somebody, so I'll see you all later?" They said their goodbyes and Sydney walked out of the cafeteria, ignoring the looks and comments that she heard on her way past.

"Who is she going to meet?"

"Michael maybe?" Phoebe answered Francie's question, not quite sure of the answer.

Just as they had planned, Weiss and Vaughn were sat under a big oak tree in the middle of the campus. Some of the students had chosen to eat their lunch outside, as the weather was still quite hot and sunny. Vaughn was leaning back against the tree, his legs spread out infront of him. Weiss was lying down opposite him, admiring the clouds in the sky.

"Hey you two!" Sydney stood beside them as they both greeted her.

"Hi."

"Hey!" Vaughn grinned at her; his eyes reflecting the sunlight, making them sparkle even more. Vaughn reached up and took her hand, leading her to sit down infront of him. Sitting in between his legs, she leaned back so that she was resting against his chest, his arms wrapped across her stomach. Sitting there next to Vaughn made Sydney forget all about Lauren and the rumours that were floating around.

Weiss looked at his two friends, a content look on both of their faces.

"So are you both still trying out for the hockey team?" Sydney asked.

"Yes." Vaughn replied.

"Do you mind if I came along and watched?" She turned to Vaughn and waited for his answer. Ever since she saw him in his hockey shirt the day before she hadn't been able to get the image out of her mind.

"I'd love for you too come!" They smiled at each other and turned back to Weiss who seemed to have fallen asleep in the summer sun.