In With the A Crowd

:lol: first i had to luagh bc i havent seen/said/or heard "holy crapit" in a long time -- thanks LornaLoo



Chapter 21
The next morning, when Michael opened his eyes to see faint light pouring in through the window blinds of Sydney’s bedroom, he was surprised to find the space in bed beside him was empty. He glanced over to the bathroom door and saw that it was open and the bathroom was dark inside, meaning Sydney was not in there, either. Rolling over, he spotted a clock and, to his shock, found it was just barely six thirty. Concerned Sydney might be ill, Michael reluctantly slid from bed.

Descending the stairs, Michael could hear faint sounds of typing. From the third to last step, he peered into the sitting room and found Sydney on the couch with her computer in her lap and Heathcliff beside her.

“Do you know what time it is?!” Michael asked in a groggy tone. The two of them had not fallen asleep until well after midnight, so Sydney was shockingly alert for just five or six hours of sleep.

“Oh no, did I wake you?” she asked with concern.

Michael shook his head as he yawned. “No…woke up and you weren’t there.”

“Oh well I’ve been up since five forty-five. I had a flash of inspiration on this story. Go back to bed I’m nearly done,” she told him. Still in need of extra sleep, Michael shuffled his way back upstairs and collapsed back into bed.


When Michael next awoke it was almost nine and Sydney was back in bed beside him, asleep. He propped his head up on his fist and gazed down at her, watching her eyes gently flutter as she slept. After just a few minutes, she began to mumble and grumble as she stirred from sleep, stretching out her back and legs as she did so. Michael slid down in the bed and placed one arm around her waist while kissing her forehead gently.

“Mm morning…again,” Sydney mumbled as she curled her body around his arm.

“Morning to you,” he said softly. “Finish your article?”

“Yep,” she smiled.

“Can’t wait to read it.”

After laying there for just another moment, Sydney began to giggle as she buried her face down into Michael’s neck. Naturally, he was confused and asked what on earth she was doing. “Nothing, nothing,” she sighed. “It’s just…I can’t really believe you’re here and that you love me and I’m not alone anymore…” she said sadly. Then she laughed and covered her face with her hands. “God I have to stop being this clingy or you’re going to hate me.”

“You’re not clingy,” Michael assured her with a laugh, giving her a tight hug. “Clingy would be calling me 18 times a day to ask what I just ate or showing up at my doorstep every hour on the hour telling me how much you missed me…”

Sydney laughed. “I think you moved right from clingy to stalker…”

“That’s probably true,” Michael laughed as well.

“You wanna know something?” she asked softly. Michael tucked his hands underneath his head and nodded encouragingly. “Well, last night was only the second time I’ve…done that,” she admitted while turning a soft shade of pink.

Michael’s brow wrinkled with mild confusion. “You mean I was only the second guy?”

“No, well yes, but no – that was only the second time ever,” she clarified.

At this very shocking statement, all Michael could do was stammer dumbfounded for a moment before he could finally ask, “Wha- how?!”

“Because I never really had any boyfriends,” she explained simply. “I was the plaid wearing freak!”

“Plaid or no plaid you’re still beautiful,” he promised her.

She smiled softly at this. “Well, apparently the kids I was around didn’t think so. Finally, during junior year I got a boyfriend who stuck around for a few months and…well I guess I was just freaked out that I’d never find a boyfriend again, so we slept together once and that was it,” she shrugged slightly.

“I’m…so sorry,” he said, not sure what else to say to that. The only other thing he wanted to do was go and find every guy who had turned Sydney down and laugh in their faces. After all, he was now the lucky one; he had her.

“It’s okay,” she promised him. Then she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. “C’mon I’ll go make you breakfast and you can read my article.”

“Sounds good to me,” he smiled.


Downstairs in the kitchen, Michael found a printed out copy of Sydney’s article sitting on the counter, so he picked it up and began to read,


In With the A Crowd: How I Became Popular

High school. You remember it, I’m sure. Football games, Homecoming dances, pep rallies, seeing your friends every day – tons of fun, right? Well, maybe it is for some, and I don’t know about your high school experience, but mine was nothing like that. Four years of utter misery is what I remember best.

When my editor gave me this undercover assignment, I thought going back to high school would be a good experience for me. Maybe I could heal some old wounds. Maybe I wouldn’t be so miserable. Maybe I might even – God forbid – enjoy myself. After all, I had the wisdom of my past experiences to use as a How Not To… guide.

Sadly, this was not the case.

It seemed I hadn’t changed a bit. Sure, I was older and my glasses were a little thicker, but deep down I was the same. That the more I tried to fit in, the more I failed. The more I tried to be “cool” the more I looked like a geek. The more I tried, the more I ended up with egg on my face…well, actually it was mustard.

It was not until I revealed my undercover status to one of my teachers and enlisted his help in the situation that things began to turn around. Together, we devised a plan to turn me from geek to chic and I’ll be the first to admit I’m shocked it worked.

Now I’m sure your wondering how did this girl with dark glasses, plaid clothes, and a God-awful haircut managed to climb her way up the social ladder. Well, it wasn’t easy and I don’t recommend it at all, but here’s how I did it.

Sex sells. We all know that’s true. You know what else sells? Sex scandals. I’d bet my years salary that more people could tell me who Monica Lewinski is than Henry Kissinger.

To begin my make over process I ditched all my old clothes in favor of tighter, hipper threads. Sure, you could practically count the number of freckles on my body through my clothes, but that wasn’t going to make me popular. No, my name was rocketed around the school for a completely different reason.

The aforementioned teacher, who later became my partner in crime, assisted me in spreading a rumor that we were having an affair. Now this fine educator is not the sort of man who would have an affair with anyone – let alone a seventeen year old student; however, his good looks combined with everyone’s natural affinity for some good dirt were a perfect combination.

Keep in mind neither of us ever uttered the words, “Yes we’re having sex.” All I did was join the club he was in charge of, volunteer to help him out with some projects, smile flirtatiously at him, and wild minds fueled the rest. Soon the school was abuzz with the idea of a teacher-student sex scandal right under their noses.

The moment word of this got out, the Queen Bee and her loyal subjects were practically tripping over themselves trying to get to me and ask me intimate details about my extracurricular sex-tivities, hoping I would reveal every last speck of dirt. I, of course, never said anything directly relating to the non-existent affair, but it didn’t matter; they already had their minds made up. I was in.

For the first time in my life I was part of the popular crowd. I was getting invited to parties. I was asked out on jaunts to the mall. Li’l old me.

Suddenly, I wasn’t allowed to talk to those deemed unworthy by the Queen Bee herself. It did not matter if they were asking directions to the bathroom or for help with their math homework; I was to stare right over their head as if they were invisible. Oh yeah, and knock their books out of their hands for an added bonus.

I was wearing clothes that showed off more skin than necessary. Shoes that made my feet ache so bad I thought the pain would never go away. And, I was doing all this just because
she – Ms. Bee – said so.

The most shocking thing I came across was at one of their ‘get-togethers’. No, it wasn’t the alcohol – which I expected. Mom’s and Dad’s, do you know what little Susie is doing on her days off from school? Well, she’s in the Queen Bee’s basement with all the other lemmings, not a stitch of clothing among them. That’s right – it’s no longer alcohol and drugs you have to worry about, parents. It’s sex - group sex at that.

I was invited to one of these parties and with no questions – or names – asked I was requested to get down on my hands and knees in front of a boy I had barely spoken two words to. A boy who, incidentally, had pelted me with mustard covered hot dogs just a few months earlier (that was during my geek phase, of course). I am proud to say I did not partake in such activities and quickly fled to the nearest exit. Yet, the thing that still befuddles me to this day is that these girls seemed to make nothing of it – to them, it was as casual as holding hands. Well let me tell you, it certainly wasn’t his hand they were asking me to hold.

I’m not here to preach about the degrading morals of today’s teens – though that would be an interesting subject to debate. Mostly, this article is about my learning experience in my rise and fall from social grace. So, what did I learn? More than anything, I learned who I was.

I, Sydney Bristow, am a geek, and I’m proud of it.

True, I did learn a few valuable fashion lessons. For instance, plaid will never again come in contact with my skin. But, I am fully prepared to throw away my micro-minis and dust off my old weekend sweatpants. I also learned that popularity just isn’t worth it. This is a free country, so why would I want to live by the rules of Ms. Bee when she surely is no better than anyone else. In fact, she just might be worse.

My experience was not completely worthless, though. From it, I gained not only my own identity, but a very significant relationship and – dare I say – love. No, it wasn’t that boy from the party (never did catch his name…), but it just so happens to be my partner in crime. As it turns out, we make a pretty good couple after all – a scandal free one at that.

My final word goes to those teens out there, struggling their way through the iron jaws of high school and trying desperately to flee the stings of Ms. Bee. The truth is once high school is over it won’t matter. It’s just one insignificant chapter in the book of your life. Once you leave, you’ll never ever go back. Unless you become a reporter, of course, and you stumble upon an undercover assignment… In that case, take my advice: turn it down.



“This is incredible,” Michael exclaimed after reading it through.

“No its not,” she said, blushing at his complement.

“Yes it is!” he assured her. “It’s wonderful and your editor is gonna love it!” he said before giving her a congratulatory kiss.

“You really think so?” she asked hopefully. Michael nodded firmly. She smiled and gave him a hug, praying that he was right since her job depended on it.
 
wow......that was really good! I wonder how the girls and boys of McMillan feel about this article, half knowing it was them she was talking about...well more than half, but I wonder it their parents will read it and find out.....because that would be AMAZING! hahaha hope the editor loves it!
 
I think that it was brave of you to actually write the article rather than just "Let me read it. Wow. That was a really great article Sydney, seriously I loved the part about...".

Great chapter.
 
AWWWWW Happy chapter : - ) yay and i do think that deserves another Crapit cause that chapter just left me speachless and if my friends saw me write that they would think i was really sick or something cause i just can't shut up sometimes : - )

Well done
 
Chapter 22
For Sydney, the next week was the best she had ever had, which was practically ironic considering a few days earlier it had been the absolute worst. She did not know what to expect first thing Monday morning when she turned in her article to Mr. Carlen. After all, it was not exactly the exposé he was looking for. True, it did expose some things (teenage orgies among them), but that was not the focus of the article.

Much to her utter shock, Mr. Carlen loved her article. In fact, he beyond loved it. He wanted her to do a week long series of articles on the topic since one just did not due it justice. He wanted in depth details about these parties and the warning signs parents should look for to see if their children were participating in such scandalous behavior.

When Sydney firmly turned down his offer, Mr. Carlen was in utter disbelief, but she had her reasons. For starters, after everything that happened with Greg, she was just too close to the issue. She was also ready to move on with her life past those horrific high school days. She had been there and done that twice now, and she was ready to tackle other issues.

Mr. Carlen could not force her to write the articles he desired, of course, but he did not bother hiding his disappointment on the issue. He took her notes and passed them on to another reporter who he hoped would be able to uncover something more on the issue. Then, he sent Sydney back to her regular desk, where a stack of articles needing editing were waiting for her.

Thought this was a return to the mundane job she once wanted a change from, Sydney welcomed it in this case. After all, it did not involve taking notes, memorizing facts or taking tests. Above that, she could wear whatever she wanted without fear of ridicule and she knew that once she left the office for the day she would have no homework. It was wonderful.


Just two days later, as Sydney was still enjoying the return to being just another editor, she and Michael went out on their first official date. Michael chose the restaurant and the two of them went out and had a perfect dinner together. As much as they promised it wouldn’t, their conversation did end up turning to McMillan and what was going on there now that Sydney had left. Apparently, everyone was still gossiping about Sydney’s presence there and dozens of fallacies that went along with it. Of course, many students questioned Michael to death, trying to get him to dish out gossip, but he always gave a standard “No comment” line. Sydney could not help but think that by the time her article ran in a few days, the kids at McMillan would have a lot more to talk and gossip about.

~*~

For the next month, things for Sydney and Michael went perfectly. They went out on three or four dates a week, but only spent the night together on Friday and Saturday, non-school nights. Otherwise, Michael would have had to get up at an ungodly hour to make it to McMillan on time and Sydney felt guilty making him do this. Besides, she had Heathcliff to fill Michael’s side of the bed when he wasn’t there.

When Michael discovered Sydney’s twenty-fifth birthday was quickly approaching, he was shocked to find out that she rarely celebrated her birthday milestones. Well, she celebrated them when she was younger, but admitted she had not celebrated at all since her parents died. This did not surprise Michael, since he knew full well her social experiences left something to be desired; however, he was not willing to let this tradition of hers continued. He decided he was going to throw her a huge surprise bash.

This, of course, was a good idea in theory, but in actual practice was rather difficult. Sydney did not have many friends, making a huge bash with all her nearest and dearest not so huge after all. To remedy this situation, Michael decided the hugeness of the party did not have to be in the guest list, more in the way he pulled it off.

After borrowing a key to her house, Michael set to work on decorating it floor to ceiling all in Sydney’s favorite colors: pink, purple, and soft yellow. Of course the amount of streamers and balloons he was using was a vastly excessive number, but he was going for shock value not a fashion statement.

As he blew up balloons and hung streamers around doorways, Heathcliff followed him around the house, batting at the dangling piece of paper until they would tear down. This made Michael realize he needed to hang everything at least three feet above the floor, far out of the range of the little kitty’s claws. Finally, Michael heard Sydney’s key grinding in the front door lock and ran to his position behind the streamers and balloons in the kitchen area.

Sydney walked inside and saw the mass of colors plus the Happy Birthday banners and gasped. Never had she seen anything quite like Michael’s excessive display and never had anything even close to it been done for her. She was so touched by what he had done that she began to cry, which, naturally, made Michael concerned, but she assured him they were good tears.

After touring through all the decorations Michael covered her house with and eating the cake he bought her, the two of them headed to the mall so Sydney could pick out her birthday present. Michael was a self-proclaimed horrible present buyer and did best if he was told exactly what to get otherwise he failed miserable and bought something ridiculous. Sydney had to laugh at this strange quality, but she found it more endearing than annoying, which for Michael was a good thing.

As they walked hand-in-hand down the mall, Sydney thought she heard someone calling out her name. Confused, she turned and looked in the direction the voice was coming from. There, she was surprised to find Jenny barreling towards her, waving her arms frantically. Jenny, once under the Queen Bee’s control, was shockingly dressed in a sweatshirt and tattered jeans, her hair up in a ponytail with not a drop of makeup on her face.

“Sydney! Sydney I’m so glad to see you!” Jenny said excitedly as she pulled Sydney into a hug. “Hi Mr. Vaughn,” she added in a calmer tone.

“Hi Jenny,” he laughed softly.

“Sydney I just wanted to thank you,” Jenny said to her.

“Thank…me?!” she asked with surprise.

Jenny nodded. “Yes. You’re article helped me so much! I stopped listening to Susan and what she said. Of course, now she hates me and no one will talk to me, but I found some new friends and I’m really glad I’m not going to those parties anymore!” she said seriously.

“Well I’m glad,” Sydney smiled at her. Then, Jenny said her goodbyes, stating that she did not want to interrupt Sydney and Michael’s time together, and she left.

“You see that,” Michael said, slipping an arm around her waist. “You helped her and I bet you helped tons of other girls too.”

“I know that’s so…weird,” Sydney laughed softly. Michael gave her a curious look. “I mean, I helped her become a geek…I’m creating more geeks! Is that a good thing?”

Michael laughed. “Well, I think it is. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I happen to love my little geek,” he said, kissing her cheek.

Sydney laughed. “I think I’m gonna make you a bumper sticker that says that.”

“Alright,” he agreed, laughing as well.

She gave him a skeptical look. “You’d really use that?”

“Sure,” he shrugged.

“You’re crazy!”

“Just about you,” he promised.


Epilogue
“I am never going back to high school again!” fourteen-year-old Kaitlyn Vaughn exclaimed as she walked through the front door of her parent’s home. She promptly slammed the door behind her and ran upstairs to her room before her mother had a chance to respond.

It took a moment for Sydney to make her way upstairs with two-year-old Jack on her hip. During Kaitlyn’s birth, there was a complication that left Sydney was severe scarring. Doctors were not sure she could ever have more children. While at the time Sydney and Michael were upset about this, they were not entirely devastated, having not been certain they wanted more than one child anyway. However, just as they were selling Kaitlyn’s baby things (figuring they would never be used again) and moving to a different house, the Vaughn family was graced with Jack very unexpectedly.

Since Sydney was thirty-eight years old during her pregnancy, it was labeled as high-risk and she was forced on bed rest beginning at her seventh month. After healthy baby boy Jack was born, Sydney quit her reporting job at the newspaper to stay home and focus on her new child. Two years later, she had yet to return to work, but planned on doing so once Jack was in preschool.

“Kaitlyn?” Sydney questioned, rapping gently on her daughter’s bedroom door. “Honey what happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Kaitlyn shouted back. Knowing her daughter could have a temper and often times needed half an hour alone just to cool down, Sydney went back downstairs to finish making the family’s dinner.

At the usual time of four thirty, Michael Vaughn arrived home. While he still taught high school English, he did not teach at the school his daughter attended. Starting when Kaitlyn was eight years old, she begged the family to move into the neighboring district so she did not have to suffer the emotional trauma of having her father at her high school twenty four-seven. After years of begging, they finally agreed. This, of course, was right around the time Sydney became pregnant and while their new addition was unplanned and unexpected, he was very welcome. Even Kaitlyn enjoyed having a little brother…most of the time, anyway.

“There’s my little man,” Michael beamed as he scooped Jack up from the child-size table he was sitting at, coloring. Jack immediately locked his tiny arms around his father, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “How was your day buddy?”

“Good,” Jack responded simply.

“Good,” Michael laughed softly in response. Then, he set Jack back down on the floor and walked over to greet his wife of sixteen years.

“Apparently Kait had a very bad day at school,” Sydney sighed.

“What? Why? It was the first day, how bad could it have been?” Michael asked. Of course, he knew just how bad high school could be for some students, but Kaitlyn had always fit in well in other years. True, she may not have been the most popular girl in her class, but she did have a close circle of friends she spent time with.

“I have no idea; she locked herself in her room and won’t talk to me,” Sydney said with a sigh. Somehow, she just knew this year would be the beginning of many mother-daughter feuds. She had been lucky so far; there hadn’t been many.

“I’ll go talk to her…or try anyway,” Michael sighed.

Upstairs, he found Kaitlyn’s door was no longer locked, but he knocked on it before entering anyway. “Kait its me. Can we talk?” There was no response, so Michael opened the door slowly. Kaitlyn was sitting on her bed looking at a textbook, an iPod in her ears.

“Hey,” Michael tapped her head lightly. “What’d we say about the iPod and homework?”

“But Dad its just math,” Kaitlyn whined.

“I know and you’re good at math, which is why you don’t need to use your iPod while doing it,” he told her seriously. “Now, your mother says you had a bad day. What happened honey?”

“Nothing,” Kaitlyn grumbled. Of course Michael didn’t believe her, and he kneeled down beside her bed to stare her down until she gave up what was bothering her. “It’s just…everyone hates me. I had to sit all by myself at lunch today!”

“Ok first, no one hates you. Second, where were all your friends, huh?” he asked.

“They all have a different lunch than me! I’m all by myself and I hate it!” she whined.

“You’re not all by yourself Kait. It was just the first day of school – everyone’s still adjusting. I promise by the end of the week you will find someone to sit with at lunch and they certainly won’t hate you,” he assured her. Then, he leaned over and kissed her head gently. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Kait sighed. “But if you’re wrong you have to buy me something pretty.”

“Deal,” Michael laughed.


thanks for reading guys :smiley:
just so you know, Once In with the A crowd is over i'm not going to be posting any more fics at AA. Its really not worth it when i just get 4 reviews a chapter bc it does take a lot of time. I'll just be posting them at RF and/or OI.
If you have questions just PM me
thanks for reading and there will be a new fic at OI tom. morning :smiley:
 
Its nice that Syds article was able to help Jenny. So that puts a positive closure on that part of her life for sure.

Hmm different Epilogue ending then I thought. When Kaitlyn came home I was scared thinking what Syd experienced in her going back to HS was the same thing she was. Glad it wasn't though!

Syd & Vaughn had a cute little family. :grinning:
 
wonderful story...again!

During the epilouge I had to remind me, that Jack is a baby...Otherwise the conversation would have been very strage but funny to imagine....
 
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