In With the A Crowd

im actually glad you guys dont know what this is lol

Chapter 16
After pacing around the tiny bathroom for almost ten minutes, Sydney formulated a plausible plan to allow her to escape and still maintain the necessary friendship with Susan and her crew. Slowly, she crept out of the bathroom and around the other side of the stairs only to find…well, she tried not to dwell on it as she stared intently at the floor. Finally, Jenny noticed her and approached. “Sydney are you alright? You were in there for like… along time.”

“Well its just um,” she cleared her throat softly. “I started my period early and-”

“Oh god,” Jenny cringed, her smeared red lipstick looking even worse with this facial expression. “Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m not feeling well, so I think I’m just gonna go,” Sydney said, gesturing towards the stairs with her thumb.

“Oh, okay… well I’ll see you at the final tomorrow,” Jenny said happily, as though the activities gong on around her had not registered at all.

“Yeah…tomorrow,” Sydney said distantly. Then, she turned and headed up the stairs, fighting the urge to run. She did run, though, once she was outside. She ran all the way to her car, jumped inside and locked the doors. Only then did she begin repeating under her breath, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!”

She continued this mantra throughout her drive to Michael’s apartment. She knew it was too early for him to be home, so she waited outside, pacing up and down the sidewalk, reviewing the last hour in her mind. She did this for almost an hour before she finally spotted Michael approaching from the parking lot.

“Sydney?” he asked with mild concern. “What are you-”

“OH MY GOD!” She shrieked at him.

Michael took a step back. “Whoa okay…calm down. I take it the party wasn’t good…you didn’t wear that lipstick did you?” he asked, squinting carefully at her before shaking his head with disapproval.

“They invited…me to…an ORGY!” she breathed out.

“What?!” he shrieked that time. Then, quickly, he ushered her quickly into his apartment where they could continue their obviously strange conversation. “So, okay, explain from the beginning.”

“Do you know what a rainbow party is?” she asked him seriously.

“Um… I think I heard about that on Oprah one time…”

“You watch Oprah?!”

“It was on in the teacher’s lounge,” he shrugged.

“Okay…well this is what happened,” she began as she flopped down on Michael’s couch. “So I get there and of course everyone’s already a little tipsy – but that didn’t surprise me. So I’m talking to Susan and out of the corner of my eye I see this couple making out in the corner of the room and they’re like stripping each other!”

“Ew,” Michael chimed in.

“I know! So that tipped me off to something weird…and then Greg says we’re going to play this game-”

“Spin the bottle?” Michael offered with a laugh.

“I wish! So then Jenny gives me this god awful lipstick and I was totally confused until I saw everyone else putting on lipstick and then it hit me and I freaked out!” she exclaimed.

“Wait I still don’t understand…how is lipstick a game?” he questioned.

Sydney sighed heavily, really not wanting to fully explain this unusual game to Michael. “All the girls wear different lipstick so that when they give the guys oral sex the end up with…a rainbow,” she said with a slight grimace.

“Wait…WHAT?! Oh my god!” Michael exclaimed when he fully realized in his mind’s eye what she was describing.

“Uh yeah, so like I said I was invited to an orgy!” she exclaimed with horror.

“Why would they do this?!?! WHY?! Oh my god! It was on Oprah! Lots of people must do it! Oh my god,” he said, rubbing his wrinkled brow.

“Hello! I was there!”

“What did you do?!”

“Faked sick and left,” she told him with a sigh before running her hands over her face. “I mean what was I supposed to do?! Get on my knees an join them? No thank you. Believe it or not I do have some dignity left…despite what this skirt says about me…”

“Of course you do,” Michael sighed putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing her head gently. “I’m sorry you were so traumatized.”

“Yes…although! This is it! This will be my story! I mean, I’m sure not every parent saw that Oprah episode, plus even if they did they wouldn’t think it would happen to their child,” she said, a grin crossing her face. Okay, so she was permanently scarred for life by the visual she got at Greg’s party, but she was going to have one hell of an article because of it.

“Yeah…but they’re going to kill you when they read it and see their names in the paper,” Michael pointed out.

“Oh I won’t use any names…plus what are they gonna do? They can deny it all they want but I saw…unfortunately,” she added with a shiver.

“Aw you poor thing,” Michael laughed softly.

“Yeah well… oh god, what if they invite me to another party!?” she asked with ever-growing horror. “I can’t go to another one!”

“Just make up an excuse.”

“But I can’t do that every time. It’ll get too obvious!” she groaned. Once again, she was screwed.

“No I’ve got it! Say something like…like you have a grandparent living with you who is really sick and you need to help out… that’ll give you at least a few weeks worth of excuses maybe even more,” Michael told her with a smile.

“Oh that’s brilliant!” Sydney said, giving him a quick kiss.

“Thanks,” he laughed. “It’s totally foolproof. I mean, what are they gonna do? Tell you to just let your grandmother die? I highly doubt they’re that cruel…”

“You’d be surprised,” Sydney scoffed.

“Well at least its better than, ‘I have to wash my hair…a lot’,” he said.

“True,” Sydney laughed. “God this is just so wrong. I mean, I’m never gonna be able to look at these people the same way again, knowing what they do. Oh god!” she gasped, rising her fingers to her lips. “Do you have any Lysol?!!? This lipstick is probably laced with STDs!!!!!!”

She bolted off the couch and ran to Michael’s bathroom, where she promptly began rubbing soap all over her lips. “Sydney,” Michael said with a slight laugh at the image of the purple lipstick spreading out across Sydney’s face, “I highly doubt the lipstick was laced with STDs.”

“How do you know?!” she mumbled through her fingertips as she washed the soap away.

“Well I don’t but I’m sure your fine,” he sighed.

“What if I’m not?! What if I get herpes!?”

“You’re not going to get herpes,” he laughed. “Just calm down and stop scrubbing your face; you’re not going to have any skin left.”

“Alright fine,” she sighed. “But if I get herpes I’m soooo suing those kids.”

“You go ahead and do that,” Michael said in a patronizing tone. Sydney gave him an unappreciative look and he laughed.
 
Chapter 17
For the next month, Sydney continually avoided party invites from Susan and her crew, which were disturbingly frequent. When she first gave them the “my grandmother is sick” excuse given to her by Michael, everyone seemed genuinely sympathetic of her situation, which she was grateful for. As time progressed though, they threw in things like “Well don’t you want a break?” or “it won’t be for very long” and turning them down became harder and harder.

When Susan invited her to the mall during the last week in February, Sydney did not feel as though she was in a position to turn them down and still maintain their friendship, which she needed to maintain a pleasurable existence at McMillan. Besides, it was just shopping at the mall – a public venue – nothing could go wrong there.

As Sydney and Jenny were waiting for Susan to purchase something, Jenny brought up the subject of Sydney’s grandmother. She seemed honestly interested in how she was doing, so Sydney said that she was better, not great but better. “Oh I’m glad,” Jenny smiled at her. “Are you sure, though, that she was really sick?”

“What do you mean?” Sydney asked, her face growing hot.

“Well, it’s just…you never came to one of our parties again…” Jenny said. Sydney looked away, desperately trying to think up an answer on the fly. Sadly, she could not. “It’s okay, you know,” Jenny continued. “You can tell me the truth – I won’t tell Susan.”

Deep down, Sydney knew that was a lie, but for the time being she just needed to get out an answer, any answer, that would suffice. “Well it’s just,” she began hesitantly. “I’ve never really…done anything like that before, so I was a little scared.”

“Oh well I was kinda scared too the first time I was invited to a party, but it’s really fun once you get the hang of it,” Jenny giggled softly.

“I’m sure,” Sydney said through gritted teeth.

“Well, just so you know, Greg really wants you to come back, so if you ever want to try again…”

“I’ll think about it,” Sydney said evasively. Thankfully, at that moment Susan came out of the shop where she was buying a new shirt, so they were able to drop the conversation line Sydney was dreading. As she walked down the mall hallway between Jenny and Susan she could only hope that her half true answer was enough to keep the invites at bay at least for a little while.

~*~

After school on the first Wednesday in March, Sydney was standing at her locker rearranging the books and notebooks in her backpack. The hallway she was standing in was empty since it was not just after school, but after the newspaper club meeting as well. Sydney thought that all the students had gone home until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Greg approaching. From the duffle bag in his hands and the fact that he was coming from the direction of the locker rooms, Sydney deduced that he had some sort of sports practice after school, which explained his presence there.

“Hey Sydney,” he said as he walked to his own locker, just a few feet away from hers.

“Hi Greg,” Sydney said politely.

“You’re looking cute this afternoon,” he smiled at her.

“Oh…thanks,” she said, briefly glancing down at herself. She was wearing the short black skirt she disliked and a pink button up top along with it. It wasn’t her favorite outfit, but it was far better than her hideous plaid pants that had, thankfully, been donated to a local clothing shelter a few months earlier.

“So, uh, I’ve missed you at the parties,” he said, taking a few steps towards her. “Susan says you haven’t been coming because your grandmother is sick.”

“Oh yeah…well she’s getting better now,” Sydney said, slamming her locker. She was hoping for a quick escape, but sadly it did not appear as though that was a possibility; Greg was drawing closer with each passing moment.

“Oh good, glad to hear it. Maybe that means you can come to our party. You know, we’re having one right after the spring dance on Saturday night. You think you can make that?” he asked, now just a foot from her.

“Um I don’t know,” she took a step back from him. “I have a curfew so…”

“Curfew that’s a shame,” he shook his head. Then, in one swift motion, he was standing in front of her and, tragically, her back was pinned against the locker banks; she had no place to go.

“Greg I…I really should be getting home,” Sydney stammered, beginning to panic. Her heart was pounding and she was beginning to sweat. All she needed was a clear path to run down the hallway and escape, but Greg was everywhere she turned.

“You know,” Greg began. He rested his left forearm against the lockers by Sydney’s head and his right hand beside her hip, successfully pinning her in place. “This is a nice color for you…pink.” He lowered his left hand and played with the top button on her shirt. When his finger brushed up against her skin, she gasped and tried to jump back, which only resulted in her head contacting rather painfully with the metal locker hinges.

“I talked to Jenny,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “She told me what you said to her…I hope you don’t mind. I was thinking maybe we could have a party of our own…maybe you wouldn’t be so nervous if it was just the two of us….”

“Greg,” Sydney squeaked, but Greg quickly clamped his left hand over her mouth and made a shushing noise. With his left hand silencing her, his right began drifting towards Sydney’s thigh. Then, despite her muffled squeaks of protest it rose higher and higher towards the hem of her skirt.

Sydney knew exactly what was going to happen and the tears began pour down her cheeks. There was nothing she could do to stop it; she was frozen in place with utter terror.

Luckily, before things got much worse, Michael came around the corner and saw what was happening. It all happened so fast Sydney barely knew what was going on. One minute, Greg had her pinned to the locker with his hand up her skirt and the next she was sliding down towards the ground as Michael scrambled back to his feet from his position on top of Greg. Apparently, Michael had tackled Greg to the ground.

“Michael,” she cried out upon finally reaching the floor.

“Are you alright!?” he asked frantically. He crawled over to her and began brushing the hair out of her face to get a better look at her.

“I think so,” she squeaked out. Before she could say another word, though, another voice was heard in the hallway.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! Mr. Vaughn, did you just tackle that student?!”

“Um, Principle Grace,” Michael said nervously as he stood up. “I can explain that.”

“I should hope so! What is wrong with that young lady? Is she injured? I think all of you should come to my office and explain this immediately!” the principal said.

Michael sighed and helped Sydney to her feet before the three of them followed the principal; this was certainly going to be interesting.
 
Michael did have a valid reason to tackle the student. Him or anybody would have for that matters. I hope that's enough for the principal.
 
wellllllllllllllll okay then....Greg is a total creep and he totally deserves more than a tackle to the ground....more like a beat down where someone rips off all of his fingers and makes a good attempt at his children baring asset.......can't wait for more....hope michael doesn't get into any trouble
 
Ok firstly i am so happy that michael crash tackeld Greg... cause well ... he's a dick and doesn't deserve anything that syd has... second... i am totally stoked that michaels first concern was asking Sydney if she was alright... and thirdly... hopfully the principal doesn't go to hard to either of them... maybe Sydney should tell the principal that michael was saving her from being taken advantaged of.... and michael should just lie to get out of it.

Love that chapter.... you have to update soon.
 
Chapter 18
Once Sydney and Greg were seated in the principle’s office with Michael standing up against the wall behind them, the principle asked, “Now, who would like to begin explaining?”

“Mr. Vaughn just freakin’ tackled me! I didn’t do anything! I was just talking to Sydney,” Greg was quick to defend.

“That is absolutely not true!” Michael snapped.

“Perhaps, then, you would like to give your side of the story,” the principle said.

“I was coming back to my classroom after the Newspaper club meeting,” Michael began. My classroom happens to be right next to Syd- I mean Ms. Bristow’s locker. So, as I rounded the corner, I saw Mr. Kanten pinning Ms. Bristow against the wall. I saw his hand covering her mouth and he was obviously…well I thought he was raping her, so I did the first thing that came to mind to get it to stop,” he said honestly.

“And you felt tackling the boy was the best way to do that?” the principle asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What was I supposed to do?! Let him hurt her?!” he demanded, furious.

“Well you could have said something instead of resolving it with physical violence…”

“That’s ridiculous,” Michael spat. If he had seen Greg hurting any student that way, he was not sure what his reaction would have been, but it certainly would not have ended with a simple, casual, “hey stop that!” But since it was Sydney being harmed…well, Greg was lucky he was not bleeding anywhere.

“Maybe I should press assault charges against you,” Greg muttered to him.

“I suggest, Mr. Kanten, that you keep your mouth shut until we determine if charges will be brought against you,” the principle said dangerously. Greg shrank in his seat and the principle turned to Sydney. “Now, Ms. Bristow, could you please tell us what happened? Would you like to do it in private?”

“No its okay,” Sydney said quietly. She just wanted to end this discussion as quickly as possible so she could get home. “I was at my locker and Greg came up to me…I thought he was just going to say hi, but then he kept saying all these things…and he pinned me against the locker and put his hand over my mouth to keep me from saying anything…and his other hand was…was…,” but Sydney couldn’t finish her sentence, she merely looked away.

“Perhaps Mr. Kanten and Mr. Vaughn should wait outside,” the principle said.

Reluctantly, Michael left his protective position hovering behind Sydney and walked out into the main office. The secretary had gone home for the day, so Michael paced around behind her desk, thinking it was best to have a large physical object between himself and Greg so he didn’t accidentally beat him to death like he wanted to.

“You know everyone knows about you and Sydney,” Greg began quietly.

“What?” Michael snapped.

“You heard me. Everyone knows that you’re sleeping with Sydney so I get why you were so upset when you saw us, but you know I was just going to get a piece of the action too,” Greg said, leaning back in the chair he sat down in.

Michael took a deep breath and slowly counted to ten before responding. It would feel so good to tell him the truth, or beat him to death, but he could not. He needed to stick to the plan. “For your information,” he began through gritted teeth. “Sydney and I are not sleeping together and it would not have mattered if you had Sydney up against that locker or a woman I had never met before – I still would have tackled you because no woman ever deserves to be raped and the people who rape them deserve to be-”

Michael’s comment was cut off by the principle’s office door swinging open. Sydney slowly shuffled out behind the principle, who was looking very stern. “Well I think its about time we all head home. Mr. Vaughn, you and I will discuss the ramifications of your actions after school tomorrow. Mr. Kanten, you and I will discuss your punishment before school tomorrow.”

“Wait a second, you’re not calling the police?!” Michael asked, not sure who to be furious at for that action.

“No, Ms. Bristow is not pressing charges, making you one lucky young man,” the principal said to Greg. Before another word could be said, Sydney hurried out of the office. By the time Michael caught up with her, she had reached her locker and was picking up her dropped backpack and jacket.

“Wait for me; I’ll drive you home,” he muttered as he walked passed and into his classroom. He quickly packed up the tests that needed to be graded and locked his classroom before jogging out of the school building. Once in the parking lot, Michael saw Sydney’s car was gone, meaning she had not waited for him as he asked. Concerned about her welfare, Michael drove straight to her house.

He parked not along the street she lived on, but on one a block away. Then, he hurried to her house and rang the front door repeatedly until he answered. “I heard it the first time,” she said in a dull tone.

“I was just-”

“I know,” she sighed.

“I don’t want you to be alone,” he told her softly. Sydney nodded and let him inside. “Are you okay? I mean, we didn’t get to talk about-”

“I know,” she sighed once more. “Look I just… I just wanna go take a shower right now, but I’d like you to stay if you-”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised her with a smile. She gave him a rather forced smile in return before heading upstairs.

Once she was gone, Michael walked back into her kitchen and rummaged around for something to eat. He found pasta noodles sitting out on her counter along with a jar of spaghetti sauce and figured that was the dinner she planned on. To help her out, he set a pot of water on the stove to boil and opened the tomato sauce jar into a large bowl to warm up.

It was almost forty-five minutes before Sydney returned wearing sweatpants with her damp hair back in a clip. She sat down silently at the kitchen table and waited for Michael to bring over plates full of pasta along with the spaghetti sauce. She managed to mumble a thank you, but then stayed silent as she pushed the food around her plate, eating very little of it.

Once Michael put the leftovers in Sydney’s refrigerator, he joined her on the couch, where she was staring blankly into space. Michael sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly as he kissed the back of her head. She leaned her body against his and nestled her head into his neck, feeling comforted by his embrace.

“I’m so sorry,” he said softly. “If I had been a minute earlier…”

“It’s not your fault Michael; don’t think that,” she assured him.

“But he was-”

“I’m okay,” she sighed. He gave her a skeptical look. “I am…or I will be. I mean he didn’t…he didn’t hurt me. He just…he was just trying to take off my underwear,” she choked out.

“Oh Sydney,” Michael sighed, clutching her tighter to him. He never wanted anyone to touch her there…well except maybe himself, in due time, of course. But he certainly never wanted anyone else to touch her in that way, especially not in situations of duress.

For the rest of the evening, Michael held Sydney tightly, neither of them wanting to move an inch. When Michael noticed Sydney’s eyelids growing heavy, he suggested she go to bed after her trying day, but he suspected she did not yet want to move from his presence. “Do you want me to stay?” he offered.

“Oh you don’t have to,” she sighed, sliding out of his lap. She did not want to force him to stay when he had to work the next day even if she did want him to stay.

“No I want to,” he assured her. “You go ahead up. I just want to grade a few more of these tests and then I’ll come, okay?”

Sydney agreed with a silent nod and left the couch. After grading at lightening speed, Michael ascended the stairs only to hear soft sounds of crying coming from Sydney’s bedroom. Immediately, Michael shed his button down shirt and belt before slipping in bed beside her and wrapping his arms around her.

“I just keep reliving it,” she sobbed. “I close my eyes and he’s pinning me against the wall again only you’re not there….”

“Shh, it’s okay,” he tried to soothe her. “You don’t have to think about that because it’s over and he’s not going to hurt you again. I promise he won’t hurt you.”

Sydney said nothing more, but she continued to cling to Michael until she finally cried herself exhausted and fell sleep.
 
Poor Syd, Greg needs to be kicked repeatedly where the sun don't shine. I'm glad that Michael is there to help her through this though.
Great update
 
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