A/N: Hello my fanfiction slaves:smirk: Erm, yeah, I said I would deliver on Tuesday...and Voila! Tis here:) This chapter is just to get along with the school (Why's it named Carrington High? Nooooo idea. :P) And to meet some familiar characters:) And aliaschickita...Sorry if Chap 3 looks as if it is plagarized, I watched Be Cool before I wrote that chapter and the idea popped into my head, stuck there, and me being a huge baseball fan just had me typing like a nut. Sorry if it looks that way, though. :(
Alexx, lucky you! I wish I could've gone, but being about 1000 miles away from the nearest concert kind of diminished that idea. But I've been watching the concerts obsessively on AOL. :D
irionelissa: Even though everyone's going to kill me sometime in the future for some stuff I will post, I have already taken your idea. They will take it slow (hah, right..i know, beginning of season 4, but this should be true!) Don't worry, I won't torture you anymore, that's why I posted this today. :)
And m47e47l (I'm taking a shot and saying your name is Mel:P): Is this website you're talking about Have-Dog? If it is, I follow that website like crazy! Especially when I got to finally see all the seasons. And of course, now that I updated, your turn:D (soon, of course, not trying to push ya :P)
Enjoy! Next chapter will be up by the weekend (Friday if the reviews come pouring in!)
The first day at Carrington High was to get schedules, take pictures for the yearbook, excluding the seniors, and get acclimated with the teachers. For most it meant getting the schedules, taking the picture as quickly as possible and high-tailing as fast as you could out of there.
For Michael though, it was different. He had never even been to an American school before, so he stayed later, and had Sydney as his own personal tour guide. The rest of the group decided to leave after getting their things, going to a restaurant to eat.
"So you've never been to an American school before?" She asked as they walked slowly down the hall.
"Never, only French schools," He said, never taking his eyes off of her.
"Oh boy," She laughed, looking up to him and meeting his gaze. She looked back down the hall before she could feel the blush creep onto her cheeks. "You better get used to the culture change, fast."
"I will," He noted, noticing her brief shyness and smiling to himself.
"Sydney, good to see you again," One teacher said as he stopped Sydney and Michael.
"Mr. Dixon! How'd the summer in Spain go?" Sydney asked, smiling.
"Good and yours?" Dixon asked, switching his briefcase to his left hand to shake her hand.
"Pretty good, and oh yes, this is Michael Vaughn, he moved here from France," She said while shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Michael. My name's Marcus Dixon, to the students it's Mr. Dixon, Dixon, whatever they please. I teach American History and American Government, plus some other classes on the side," He explained, reaching his hand out.
Michael accepted his hand, shaking it firmly. "Great, I'll be taking American Government this year. Glad to meet you, too."
Dixon smiled, releasing his hand. "Sydney, if you don't mind babysitting my kids again once a week?"
"Not a problem," She smiled a full-on dimpled smile that Michael noticed. "I love those two."
"They seem to love you, too," Dixon laughed. "Anyway, have to head on. A meeting already, I can't believe it, first day. But I'm a teacher, have to do that stuff," He smirked, taking off to leave the two alone once again.
"He seems cool," Michael added, rubbing the back of his neck as he scanned his schedule.
"He is," Sydney said, looking at him. "Back in freshman year, I had him for a teacher, I was taking an honors class."
"Oh man, going all smart on me?"
Sydney laughed, smacking him playfully on the arm as they continued down the hall. "Nope, but he challenged the class, and he noticed I was pretty good, and we became friends...I guess, as much as a student and teacher can become friends. But, he asked one day if I could baby-sit his kids, and from there, and wads of cash later, I still got the job!"
"Can I join along?" He joked, as they went into the gym once again, where all of the chaos of getting schedules and taking pictures was happening.
"Hah, you'll have to gain the guy's trust. Even though you are my friend, you'll have to pass his 'test', what it is...I don't have a clue."
"That's reassuring," He replied, a hint of sarcasm showing.
"Yeah, and he really makes his students pay attention in class. He worked for the CIA some time ago, so he knows a couple of ways to make a kid crap his pants."
Michael flinched briefly at the mention of the CIA. Whenever that was brought up, it made him think of his father, his allegiances, and his death to his country. He sighed, looking away from Sydney and to a window of the gym. "So, why are we in here again?"
She looked at him, wondering why he changed the subject so fast. Then, she thought back to the first night they met and when he told her about his father and the CIA. She sighed, realizing why his mood shifted suddenly. "I'm sorry."
He turned to her, his eyebrows bunched together in confusion. "Why?"
"Because, when I mentioned the Agency, I didn't think before I spoke. I know that you were thinking about your father," She said, looking down to the floor.
"It's not your fault," He said, a smile creeping onto his face as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I just need to get over it. It wasn't his fault, and I shouldn't be dwelling on it all the time."
"But you never show it, you're always happy when you're with us," She said as they went out of the gym and to the main entrance.
"Because, maybe I'm happy when I'm with you."
She looked up at him, momentarily speechless. She was met with a genuine smile on his face. She felt the heat rise up again on her cheeks and looked away. "Do you know what time it is?" She squeaked out, not being able to say anything else.
He looked to his watch, but he already knew. "It's broken," He said, showing it to her when she looked up.
"Then why do you wear it?"
"My father's," He let out, before they walked outside and into the bright sunlight, going straight to his truck.
"Oh," She muttered, immediately understanding the importance and wouldn't want to question him about it anymore.
"Did any of the guys mention where they were eating?" Michael spoke up after a minute of silence. If he could only tell her the truth of the watch, if he could even believe if it was true.
"Nope, and you haven't shown me your schedule yet!"
"Have to say please," He smiled as they stopped at the passenger side of his truck, and he leaned against it, crossing his arms.
"Please for a piece of paper?" He nodded. "Ugh, guys having to make everything complicated," She growled, seeing he just simply grinned. "Please?"
"Okay," He said, handing his schedule and opened the door for her. He walked over to the driver's side, glancing over through the windows to see Sydney still standing in her previous spot. He opened the door in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," She laughed out as she got in, closing the door.
"Then why are you laughing?" He inquired, getting into the truck and starting the engine up.
"Oh, it's just that we have the exact same classes," She grinned from ear to ear, looking out her window to avoid his gaze.
"Fun!" He laughed, driving out of the parking lot. "Now, where do you want to go?"
"Oh no, you are not-"
"Buying?" He smirked as she turned to him. "Yes, I am. Now let me ask once again, where would you like to go, Bristow?"
She laughed at her name being used. "Oh no, Vaughn, you can't use my name like I can with yours."
"Fine then, SB," He grinned, earning the famous Bristow Stare. "Yikes, okay, please, Syd?"
She laughed, looking at the road. "Rally's."
"Whew, thank God I've been there since I came here," He smirked, driving to the nearest Rally's.
xxxxxxx
"Sydney!" Nadia yelled into her sister's room, being her alarm clock for the morning.
"No, need sleep, school later," Sydney mumbled incoherently as she grabbed a pillow, throwing it over her head.
"You had sleep!" Nadia yelled, walking into the room to rip the pillow out of Sydney's strong grip. "School starts in an hour."
At this, Sydney shot up, running into the bathroom and closing the door. Nadia grinned, walking out of the room.
Fifteen minutes later, Sydney ran around her room, searching for clothes. She pulled out drawers, looking for shorts, since tryouts for sports were also today. 'It can't get any better,' Sydney thought, her eyes rolling when she thought of the day to come. She saw a flower skirt and threw it out onto her bed, a pair of running shorts soon after. She went over to her closet, first tossing out a tank top for running, then a form fitting Dodgers tank top. She went into the bathroom to do her hair.
Meanwhile, Nadia stood in the living room, watching the news. She answered her cell phone when it started to ring.
"Hey Nadia!" Francie said happily when Nadia picked up her cell phone.
"Francie!" Nadia greeted back. "Can't believe you're up!"
"Oh, I could barely sleep," Francie said, sarcasm flowing from her voice. "You said you were going to explain something to me, now what is it?"
"Oh, that," Nadia grinned, sitting down on the couch while she began to talk. "Sydney, I read her notebook Sunday. Well, kind of, she dropped it and I decided to take a peek."
"And?" Francie asked, wanting to get to the good part.
"She went off about Noah and how much of a dick he is."
"Don't blame her," Francie added in.
"Can I explain?" Nadia growled and continued. "So I read on, and she really likes Michael. I mean, seriously."
Francie squealed, causing Nadia to pull the phone away from her ear. "I knew it so bad! And it's only been like, two weeks since they met," She laughed.
"Anything that's better than that piece of scum," Nadia spat out, and Francie knew who she was talking about.
"So what did the two lovebirds do yesterday?" Francie questioned, and Nadia began to wonder if she was just trying to pry every piece of information she could.
"From what I heard, just went out for some lunch after school."
"A date!"
"Do you think Rally's would really be a date?"
"Oh," Francie was silent for a couple of seconds. "You never know."
"I'll talk to you later," Nadia said with a laugh to her friend being very desperate.
"Alright, you better talk today," Francie laughed also as they both hung up.
At eight o'clock, Sydney finally came down the stairs, wearing the skirt and Dodgers top, her hair down and curled lightly, with minimal makeup on her face. She carried her purse in one hand and a duffel bag containing her clothes in the other.
"Took you long enough, who's driving?" Nadia asked as she grabbed her purse.
"You are," Sydney said as she went into the kitchen, smiling to her mother then grabbing some biscuits and walking outside, to where Nadia was waiting.
"Want to impress someone?" Nadia asked while a smirk showed on her lips, as she got into the driver's seat, while Sydney sat down in the passenger.
"No, I just want to look presentable, like my sister," Sydney grinned. "How in the hell did you get so lucky to be a morning person?"
"It's a gift," Nadia said and laughed as she began to drive to the school.
"Right," Sydney muffled after beginning to eat her impromptu breakfast.
They arrived fifteen minutes later, being lucky that the school allowed seniors to have the best spots on the lot. They both got out, going into the school and one of the senior halls.
"See you later, Syd," Nadia said as she parted off, going into a different hall to her locker. Sydney continued down her hall, being lucky to have a good spot as she stopped at locker 47. Grabbing her schedule out of her purse, she tried the combination and was lucky enough to get it on the first try. She opened the locker, looking around at the small empty space, and then closed it when she threw her duffel bag in. She looked down the hall, after hearing people talking and noticed Michael being flocked by at least five girls, all from the cheerleading squad.
"Looks like he's getting acquainted well," She said to herself, a hint of jealousy showing, and stepped into her homeroom, seeing Dixon sitting at the desk. "Dixon! You didn't tell me you were going to be my homeroom teacher."
"I keep things secret," He joked, looking up from his papers. "Now this doesn't mean I'll let you wander the halls all the time like you did last year in American History."
She laughed, trying hard not to grin as she set her purse down on a desk. "No problem, hopefully," She smirked, seeing him grin and shake his head before she walked out of the classroom, seeing the crowd around Michael go down just a little bit.
"So, Michael, you came from France?" One of the girls asked, and he nodded nervously. "Oh, can you speak some French for us?" The rest of the girls surrounding him nodded.
"Uh," He looked around, seeing someone familiar looking absolutely stunning. "I'll talk to you all later," He said, in French, and walked off to the girl who had her back turned, getting her locker open. "It hasn't changed at all."
Sydney jumped at the person talking behind her, and then turned around to see Michael. "What? And don't scare me like that, Vaughn!" She growled, punching him in the side.
He nearly doubled over at the force in her punch, but held it in. "The culture! I swear, I don't want to be stalked by women for the rest of my life," Despite the pain in his side, he smiled.
"Then put on some dead skunk cologne, or something," She smiled, turning around to close her locker before turning back to him.
"I don't mind the attention!" He whined, and she couldn't help but to laugh.
"You know, if you keep on whining like that, it's going to be a curse having all these classes with you," She smirked, seeing the look on his face.
"Okay, fine then. I'll just go back to my locker, which I was trying to open before they just started rushing over," He said and walked over to his locker, beginning to work at the lock but having no clue.
"You're doing it the wrong way," Sydney laughed as she stepped in front of him, grabbing the lock from his hands. "Now see, look closely," She said, showing him how to properly open a lock. After getting it open, she turned to see Michael's face just inches away from hers, and she had to resist grabbing his neck to pull him in for a kiss.
He sensed the tension between them, and his lips broke out into a grin. "Well, thank you, Sydney!" He said in a clueless voice, moving away when he sensed she would hit him again.
"Softie," She laughed, putting his lock back on the locker before going back to the classroom.
"Wait!" He yelled, when the bell rang, signaling the one minute warning to get to homeroom. "Which one's 125?"
She turned, walking back to him. "The one I was walking to, come on," She grabbed him by the arm, and then let go as he began to walk with her, into the classroom. Doing this earned her hateful stares from most of the girls in the classroom. She saw the desk next to hers empty, and Michael sat down in it as she sat in hers.
"Alright, class," Dixon began as the bell rang. "My name's Mr. Dixon. I know by the end of the semester you all will be calling me Dixon, so I don't care if you call me that. I'll be taking attendance, but first off, some rules because I'm forced to read them. Being late will result to a signature on your card," He said, holding up one of the identification cards. "But since I'm nice enough, I won't sign them if you're late. But if you are constantly, I will. And also, no excuses for being late. I've heard some pretty ridiculous stuff coming out of some student's mouths, and quite frankly, just as long as you're in a desk before you go to your first class, you're fine with me."
Michael looked over to Sydney, showing a look of shock on his face.
"I teach American Government, and some other social studies classes you guys have probably taken," He said, and began passing out the ID cards.
"Yo, Dixon!" One guy yelled out.
"Charlie?"
"Is it true you were part of the CIA?"
All eyes fixated to Dixon, who showed an amused grin on his face when he walked up to his desk after passing out all the cards. "Yeah, and I know about fifty different ways I can make you scream like a little girl, understood?"
"Yes, sir," Charlie choked out as the rest of the class laughed.
"Other than that, enjoy your first day, seniors."
The bell rang a few minutes later, after the announcements were done over the speakers.
"Sydney, I hope you know I'm completely clueless as to where I'm going," Michael said as they headed to their first class, Honors Literature 4.
"Well, be lucky," Sydney chuckled at the sense of him being lost on his first day. "You got me as your personal tour guide."
xxxxxxx
"So, how do you like it so far?" Eric asked Michael at lunch, all six had the same lunch.
"Good, I guess I got pretty lucky to have Sydney in all the classes with me, or else I'd be dead meat," Michael responded with a grin on his face, but he couldn't see Sydney smiling and beginning to blush.
"Oh yeah, she's probably clawing those girls off of you," Will joked as he ate his food.
"Will!" Francie yelled, smacking him in the arm. "Freaking idiot."
"That's why you like me," Will smirked as he wrapped an arm around her, as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Don't tempt me, Francie."
Sydney, meanwhile, didn't listen to any of the conversation. Her eyes seem to be on one person, the person who betrayed her a week ago, Noah Hicks, with another girl. She let out a deep sigh, looking down at her food, thinking she could bear the sight in front of her, but felt the tears beginning to form at her eyes, threatening to drop at any second. Her sister saw her expression, concerned when she just stared blankly at the food.
"What's wrong, Syd?" Sydney shakes her head, thinking she can just pass it by. "Please?"
Another deep sigh escapes her mouth as she gazed her eyes upward, giving her sister enough of what she was glooming about. Nadia saw the small gesture, looking ahead and sneering at what she saw. Despite the sudden urges to jump over the table and show the man what he deserves, Nadia wrapped a comforting arm around her sister's shoulders, rubbing the left gently.
"Need to go?" She asked in a whisper.
"I'll be good," Sydney said in an equally quiet tone as she sat up, straightening her back to take a stab at the food on her plate. Not exactly edible, but it will do. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see what was happening right now, and decided to eat a piece of the "pizza", she didn't even know if an animal would eat that, but she peeked one eye open to see Weiss eat his, and beginning to work on Michael's plate.
"I think you can die from eating that stuff," Michael stated as he watched Weiss at "work", a laugh escaping when Eric opened his mouth in a smile to reveal whatever contents happened to be in that food.
"Oh man, I think this might be the first time I hurl over...food," Will stated as he looked away, his face nearly trembling at Eric.
"What? It's food!" Eric chanted happily as he saw Sydney bring a napkin up to her mouth for a few seconds, then wrapping it up, topped by another napkin, and aimed it at his head. "Syd!" He yelled, barely getting his arms up to shield the gunk of food coming his way.
"That's for giving us the worst image of the day," She retorted, beginning to laugh as she saw his face turning into a frown.
"I agree," Michael said, looking to Sydney, then at Eric. "I would throw something, but garbage disposal here already took care of everything," And at Eric's new name, the whole table busted out into laughs.
Once the laughter died down, Sydney decided to take a look in the direction which earlier could've let her in tears, and all she saw was empty seats. At this, she smiled as the teachers began dismissing the students from lunch.
xxxxxxx
Sydney sat beside one of the trees along the track, loosening up before she would begin her run. It was time for tryouts, or in this case for Cross Country, show up, run, and you'll be on the team.
"Hey Sydney," A male voice said as she looked up, seeing the familiar face of a good track friend, Daniel Hecht.
"Danny!" She said eagerly, leaping up from her position to give him a hug. "How've you been?"
"Good, I worked the majority of the summer, couldn't wait to get back to running again."
She smiled, looking around at all of the new faces. "Amazing how many new people there are here, isn't it?"
"Of course," He laughed, taking a look around, then seeing the coach beginning to walk towards the large groups. "Time for fun, catch you later."
She laughed as he walked off towards the group of guys, and took a seat down in the shade once again. After a minute, most of the talking quieted down and the coach got control of the large group of kids.
"Alright, welcome to Cross Country, my name's Coach Lennox. Now, all you have to do is show me that you can run. After warm-ups, everyone fill in this sign up sheet, and at the end, grab an order form if you want Cross Country gear. Now go!"
The whole group took off on the track, the seniors commanding the lead over the rest. Sydney was in the front, keeping a steady pace along with Will.
"So what happened today, you seemed kind of quiet at lunch?" Will asked, glancing over at her.
She looked at him. "I saw someone I didn't want to see."
Will just nodded, and quickened the pace for the both of them, turning it into a full out sprint between the two as they went down the straight path to complete their first lap.
"Come on, Syd!" Will shouted out to behind him, where Sydney was currently lagging behind. She could only grin as they made the turn to the final straight down before the coach would stop them all. Sydney then picked up her pace, running by Will in a dramatic finish.
Coach Lennox grinned as the runners came in, all staying together to wait for him to talk. "Okay, now that you have probably seen the race. Meet your co-captains for the team, Will Tippin and Sydney Bristow."
Sydney and Will gave each other amused and surprised looks as people gave them their congratulations.
"Now everybody, sign the sheet and get to running the neighborhood. See you all back here in one hour."
After signing their names on the sheet, Will and Sydney looked at each other, sharing a grin, before sprinting off to the neighborhood.