The bell rang, bringing an end to their lunch hour. Sydney said goodbye to the guys and made her way to her geography class. She entered the classroom smiling, relieved that Danny wasn't in this lesson and thankful that she got to sit next to Paige and put her plan into action.
Paige was already sitting in her seat, her dark brown hair hanging loosely over her shoulders. She quickly finished talking to the girls who sat behind them, and smiled at Sydney as she sat down.
"Hi Paige!" Sydney smiled back at her, the last parts of her plan slowly falling into place in her mind.
"Hey sweetie. Where did you go at lunch?" Paige asked, twirling a small section of her hair around her index finger. Sydney opened her mouth to answer, but the class was instructed to quieten down so that the lesson could begin.
Marcus Dixon stood at the front of the classroom, his arms folded across his chest. Before being promoted to principal, Mr. Dixon had spent the last 15 years teaching geography at the school. He took the principal job on the condition that he could continue teaching geography.
Like many of the teachers at her school, Sydney had known Marcus from an early age. Her father had built many acquaintances over the years; most of them being people that he worked with. On several occasions before her parents' divorce, Marcus and his wife Diane had come over to the Bristow residence for dinner, just like Arvin Sloane and Emily did. Sydney had grown quite accustom to their visits, but since the divorce their visits had become few and far between. They would mainly spend time with Jack and Irina separately; Sydney was never around when they were. Some pupils in the school associated Sydney's popularity with the people that her family was friends with, but Sydney had learned to ignore the thoughts of those people.
"Now that I have your attention, please open your books at page 98." Dixon was a fairly patient man, but he liked his class to start paying attention the minute they walked through the door, although this rarely happened.
A couple of seconds later, once everybody's books were open, Dixon began reading a paragraph on 'glacial land features in The Alps.' The class managed to remain silent until he had finished reading.
"Now in groups of two, I want you to make a list of the glacial features and describe how they have been formed." He took a seat at his desk and began to mark test papers, leaving the class to get on with the activity.
Sydney took this opportunity to talk to Paige. "Yeah sorry for running off at lunch time, but I told Vaughn that I would meet up with him and Weiss and just hang out for a little while." Sydney's voice was low, even though the majority of people in the room had broken out into conversation, which was not about the work that they were doing.
"It's no big deal, we were all just wondering where you went."
"Are you busy tomorrow lunch time?" Sydney asked. Ever since she found out that Eric was single, she had this plan to set him up with one of her friends, and Paige seemed like a good match for him. After all she was single, really pretty, smart, had a good sense of humour. Sydney could tell that they would make a cute couple.
"No I don't think so. What did you have in mind?" Paige picked up her pen, making it look like she was writing as Dixon glanced around the room. Sydney looked down at her book, pretending that she was reading it. Once Dixon had resumed marking, they continued their conversation.
"Well the hockey try outs are tomorrow lunch time, and Michael and Eric are trying out. And I thought maybe it would be fun if we went along and watched them." Sydney shrugged, trying to make her invitation seem innocent.
Paige smiled. "Sure, sounds like fun!" Sydney mirrored Paige's smile, a new plan forming in her mind. If I get them to meet at try outs tomorrow, then maybe I can organise some kind of double date for the four of us…Sydney's grin grew, earning her a questioning look from Paige.
"What are you smiling at?"
Sydney looked at her innocently, all signs of laughter well hidden. "Nothing, I was just thinking to myself."
"Irina?" Jack Bristow stood outside her classroom door, a couple of textbooks resting in his arms. Irina was writing on the board behind her desk, waiting for her English Lit class to arrive.
"Hi Jack!" Irina found it hard to hide her surprise at seeing him in the middle of the day.
Jack walked into the room, placing his books on a nearby table. "I just came by to apologise about this morning." Jack looked at her shyly, his cheeks slowly reddening from embarrassment.
"Jack you don't have to apologise…" Irina tried to assure him, but he was determined that he would apologise, and once Jack Bristow had made his mind up there was no going back. He definitely had passed on his stubborn side to Sydney, who on several occasions displayed many of her father's characteristics.
"No, Irina let me finish please." She nodded so he continued. "I shouldn't have imposed on you like that, and God only knows what Sydney thought this morning when she came downstairs…" He trailed off as he remembered the awkward situation that they were all in that morning. "Anyway, the reason I stopped by was to see if I could make it up to you."
Irina froze for a couple of seconds, unsure of what to say. "Jack you really don't need to do that. After all, it's probably my fault that you were that drunk, I was the one that gave you the wine!"
"Let me take you out to dinner tonight." He begged her. She noticed a few of her students waiting in the doorway, so she quickly gave him her answer.
"Ok, pick me up at 7." She whispered so that only Jack could hear her. She smiled as he picked up his books and made his way out of the classroom. Irina couldn't believe how excited she was at the thought of going to dinner with Jack. What is wrong with me?
After his history lesson came to an end, Vaughn headed down the corridor to his English Lit class. He quite enjoyed that lesson, as he got to sit behind Sydney Bristow and just be amazed at how beautiful she was. The only drawback was Danny, who would probably be watching him from the other side of the room.
Vaughn walked into the class and noticed that Sydney was already in her seat talking to Piper. She had a huge smile on her face and her eyes were bright and full of life. Vaughn could feel his heart beating faster in his chest as he watched her, but he was brought back to reality as someone walked into him. He turned around to find Danny smirking at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Danny said sarcastically, causing Leo and Cole to roll their eyes and walk away from him.
"I'm sure you are!" Vaughn replied just as sarcastically as he had been. They glared at each other, and then both walked towards their seats.
"Hey buddy." Weiss greeted him as he took a seat. "What was all that about?" He nodded towards Danny, but Vaughn just shook his head.
"It was nothing."
Sydney was too busy talking to Piper about Prue and Andy that she didn't notice Vaughn's confrontation with Danny. She glanced behind her and smiled at Michael.
"Hey Sydney." Vaughn mirrored her smile. "Syd…" He motioned for her to lean closer as he whispered in her ear. "Can I take you out tonight?"
Sydney couldn't stop her smile from growing as his words sunk in. He wants to take me out on our first date!!! Her heart was pounding in her chest, butterflies slowly creeping into her stomach. She looked at him, his gorgeous green eyes captivating her.
"Yes, I'd like that." She said, her voice full of laughter as the happiness continued to bubble up inside her.
"I'll pick you up at 7:30?"
"That's great!" Sydney smiled at him one last time and then turned back around as the lesson started. She noticed a small note scribbled in pink ink at the top of her page:
Seeing as you have a hot date tonight, I'll be round at 5:30!
P
Piper sat facing the front of the class, acting as though she hadn't wrote anything, but Sydney saw right through her little act.
"Why will you be around at 5:30?" Sydney asked, jokingly.
"What kind of a best friend would I be if I didn't come round to help you get ready for a first date!" Piper pushed her hair out of her face, and smiled at her friend.
"Thank you." Sydney was touched by how great all of her friends were; they were always ready to do anything for her, and they were always there whenever she needed them.
"No problem!" Piper smiled as she nudged her with her elbow.
Danny sat on the other side of the room staring at Vaughn. He had deliberately walked into him, at the start of the lesson, which Leo and Cole had figured out.
"Would you just look at the guy! Seriously who does he think he is?" Danny hated everything about Michael Vaughn; his voice, face; those green eyes that made all the girls go weak at the knees. But mainly he just hated the fact that Sydney liked him so much.
"Danny you have got to let this go," Cole was starting to get fed up with this personal vendetta that Danny had against Michael.
"Yeah man. Sydney's no longer your girlfriend, she's free to date whoever she wants, whether that be him or not. You just gotta stop beating yourself up about it." Leo sighed. Cole and Leo had listened to Danny moan about Vaughn all through football practise and they were both bored of hearing it.
Danny could hear them but he wasn't paying much attention to them. One way or another I'm gonna make him pay.
"Sydney could I see you for a minute please?" Irina asked as the class began to file out.
"Sure!" Sydney gathered her things and walked to the front of the class. Irina waited until the room was empty before she started talking.
"I just wanted to tell you that I won't be home for dinner tonight."
"Neither will I actually. I have a date with Vaughn." Sydney smiled at the mention of his name. "Where are you going?"
Irina paused as she contemplated telling Sydney about her 'date' with Jack. "Well…erm…I'm having dinner with your father!" Irina looked down at the floor, wanting to avoid making eye contact with her daughter.
"Oh My God! You have a date with dad?" It was a good job that the room was empty as Sydney said this statement a little louder than she had intended.
Irina looked up from the floor. "Dinner not a date." She corrected her daughter.
"Ok, so you have a dinner date with dad!" Sydney enjoyed teasing her mother, although Irina failed to see the fun of Sydney's teasing.
"Look I just wanted to tell you that I won't be home for dinner. Now go, you'll be late for class." Irina was putting an end to her daughter's teasing. After all she wasn't sure herself if it was dinner or a date. I guess I'll just have to wait and see! Sydney laughed and gave her mom a kiss on the cheek.
"Bye Mom!"
The Manor
"Paige?" Prue knocked gently on the bedroom door. A couple of seconds later Paige opened her bedroom door to see Prue standing there dressed in beige trousers and a red vest top.
"Hi Prue," Paige smiled.
"Hey. I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out. Piper is over at Sydney's and Phoebe said something about having an assignment that she had to finish. Pat Benarar's playing at P3 tonight so Mom and Grams will be there until the club closes. So it'll give us a chance to talk." Prue was quite nervous about talking to Paige. There was so much that they didn't know about each other; they had a whole sixteen years to catch up on.
"Yeah ok." Paige followed Prue into the sunroom, and took a seat opposite her. She sat with her legs crossed beneath her, her hands fidgeting with the hem on her pants.
"It's weird how we don't know that much about each other, don't you think?" Paige spoke first to break the silence that had fallen over them.
Prue nodded as she hugged her knees to her chest. "Yeah it is. So, how are we gonna do this?" Prue had absolutely no idea how to start off their conversation.
"Favourite colour?" Paige asked, shrugging her shoulders when she received a puzzled look from Prue. "Come on, it's a start!" She laughed at her own silliness.
"Ok. Purple. Yours?"
"Green."
"What do you like doing in your spare time? You know like hobbies and stuff," Prue started to relax as the questions that she wanted to know came into her mind.
"I like to paint, I'm not saying that I'm artistic or anything, but I enjoy doing it. I gave up on it for a while, but then I found some of my old brushes and paints, and the next thing I knew I was painting again."
"You'll have to show me a few of your paintings some time." Prue suggested.
"Yeah ok. What about you?"
"Photography! I love taking pictures. I guess it all started when I found an old camera up in the attic, and then I went snappy happy, taking pictures of everyone and everything. I actually used the room in the basement to develop my pictures before I moved away."
"I think you should wear this one." Piper pulled a black dress out of Sydney's closet and held it up to her.
"No, that one is way to dressy. I don't even know where he is taking me yet. I don't want to be over dressed." Sydney looked at the clock, and was thankful that they still had an hour and forty-five minutes until Vaughn arrived. She still had to find an outfit, wash her hair and do her make up. When did going on a date become so stressful?
Piper sighed as she put the dress back into the closet. "You go and wash your hair while I pick something for you to wear. Go on, I promise I'll pick something nice," Piper ushered Sydney out of the room, ignoring every one of her protests.
Twenty minutes later, Sydney emerged out of the bathroom dressed in a bathrobe, her wet hair hanging over her shoulders. Piper was sat on the bed flicking through a fashion magazine, an outfit layed out on the bed next to her.
"Where did you find this? I'd forgotten that I'd even bought this." Sydney looked at the white gypsy skirt and pink halterneck top that Piper had picked out.
"You'll be amazed at what you can find hanging at the back of your wardrobe." Piper laughed as she got up off the bed. "Now if you'd like to sit down," she put on a posh accent as she motioned to the seat at Sydney's dressing table. "Your hairdresser is waiting to transform you into the princess that we all know you are." Sydney couldn't help but laugh at her; at least Piper was taking away the nerves that were settled in Sydney's stomach.
"Boyfriends." Prue picked the next topic for them to talk about.
Paige groaned. "Ok. Well first there was Glen, we'd been friends since we were like 6, and then when we were 13 we had our first kiss, but we didn't want to ruin the friendship so we stayed just friends. Then came Richard. We met at school, but even though I liked him a lot, he just wasn't right for me you know! And that ended 4 months ago, and I haven't dated anybody since." Paige hadn't always been lucky where guys were involved, she had never met a guy who was perfect for her; there was always something wrong with the guys that she liked.
"My love life hasn't been too colourful. Well I've known Andy since I was 4; him, Piper and I used to play together when we were kids. And then as we got older we became a little more than friends, and we started dating when we were about 13. Then we broke up, I moved away and a couple of months later I met Jack. I couldn't stand him at first, I thought he was the biggest jerk going, but then when I got to know him better I started to like him. We dated for a couple a month or two but I was still in love with Andy so we broke up. I knew that it wasn't fair to Jack to keep dating him when I was thinking about Andy all the time. And now I guess I'm back to dating Andy again, which I couldn't be happier about!" Prue's smile took over her face, as she realised just how lucky she was that Andy took her back.
A knock on Sydney's door interrupted the girl's conversation. "Come in." Sydney called and her mother walked into the room.
"Hi girls." She was wearing black pants, accompanied by a red spaghetti strap top, which showed off her figure. Her hair fell down in soft waves around her face, which was showed only a hint of make-up.
"Wow. You look really nice Irina!" Piper was the first to compliment her. Irina blushed slightly but thanked her for her compliment.
"Yeah mom, you do look really nice. Are you sure that it's just dinner?" Sydney couldn't help but tease.
Piper rolled her eyes. "Ignore her, she's just a little nervous about her date!" Piper laughed as Sydney playfully hit her on the head.
"Do you think I'm over dressed?" Sydney had placed on once of doubt in her mind. Irina walked over to Sydney's mirror and started looking at her outfit wondering if she'd made the wrong choice.
The doorbell rang, indicating Jack Bristow's arrival. Irina starred at the girls, panic visible on her face.
"Mom I was just winding you up. You look gorgeous, and no you are not over dressed, you are beautifully dressed. Now go on, you don't want to keep dad waiting, you know how impatient he can get!" Irina laughed and pulled her daughter into a hug.
"Stop teasing me! And have fun on your date! Michael's a lovely boy." Irina smiled at her daughter. "Bye sweetheart." She kissed the top of her head and started to leave the room. "Bye Piper."
"Bye Irina. Have a nice time!"
Irina opened the front door and smiled at Jack. "Hey Jack."
Jack couldn't believe how beautiful Irina looked. He knew that he was staring at her but he found it hard to pry his eyes away from her. "Hi Irina. You look lovely tonight."
For the second time that night Irina Derevko was blushing. "Thank you. You ready to go?" He nodded and the two of them walked towards his car.
Sydney was dressed and her hair was done. Piper had blown it straight and clipped the top half back. Now all that was left was her make-up. Sydney sat down to allow Piper to apply her make-up.
After applying a coat of mascara Piper stopped and took a seat on the bed. "Sydney I'm only going to ask you this once, and when you've answered I won't mention it again." Sydney nodded a confused look on her face. "Are you sure that you're ready to date again? I mean you and Danny only just broke up…"
Sydney cut her off before she could finish. "I understand what you're saying, but the truth is my heart wasn't in my relationship with Danny since the summer started. It was then that I knew that we were over and I dealt with it then. I'm ready to start dating again, even though Danny and me have only just officially broke up. But thanks for being concerned."
Piper continued to look at her friend before nodding, showing that she understood. "Ok, let's finish getting you ready." She hugged her friend and then went back to applying the make-up.
Thirty minutes later, Sydney was already to go. Piper had leant her a silver necklace that she had gotten for her birthday and a pair of earrings that matched. They were both waiting in the living room when the doorbell rang.
"He's here."
