Chapter 7
At the dinner table that night, Sydney sat - head rested on her arm, playing with the food on her plate.
“So how was your first day at school Sydney?”
“Um…” She looked up at her dad, and lifted her head up, dropping the arm from the table in the process. “It was ok. I met my buddy person, and oh! That reminds me, there’s some more sheets that need to get signed. Should I get them now?”
“No, wait till after dinner. Do you like it there?” her dad asked her, lowering his knife and fork onto the table.
“I’ll get to like it,” Sydney said answering him truthfully.
“Is it that bad, hey?”
“No. It’s alright I suppose. I’m hoping it gets better though.” She placed her fork back down onto her plate and picked up her plate to take it over.
“I’ll do that Sydney, just leave it,” her dad said, stopping her in place.
“Thanks dad.” Sydney stood up and walked to her father placing a kiss on the top of his head before walking up to her room. “Call me if you need me at all.”
“Rightio."
- - - - - - -
“So will you be alright?” Michael Vaughn asked her the next day at school. “At the moment, we’re in a C Block classroom and all you have to do is walk down those stairs and follow the pathway to the hall. Then there’s a set of stairs leading under the hall and that’s the row of H block classrooms.”
“She’ll be fine Vaughn, stop stressing mate!” Weiss said, brushing off his friend’s concern for Sydney. He stopped for a moment and then turned back to Sydney. “You will be ok, won’t you?”
“I think I will. Just wondering though, does H block have anything to do with it being under the hall? I mean, A block is the art block, and L block is the languages, so is H block supposed to be hall block?”
“I’ll leave that one for you, Mike. She’s all yours. I’m going to go now and start work.” Weiss saluted Sydney and wandered off, slowly disappearing into the crowed hallway.
“Doesn’t he have a spare?” Sydney asked, confused.
“Yeah, but he leaves all his homework to them.”
“And he actually does work?”
“No. He always seems to end up dedicating his spares to entertaining the other people in the class. Even the teacher is amused at what he gets up to. Some days he’s a stand-up comedian, and other days he reads something or just tells stories. At the moment though, he seems determined to prove to everyone that he’s a magic genius – so he’s pretty keen on improving his tricks.”
“Ah, the Houdini blood’s coming through, hey?”
“Yeah. Except I don’t think he has any. My sister can perform the tricks he does better than him. And that’s saying something!”
“Poor Weiss, or should I say Houdini?”
“Oh! Call him Houdini please! He’d love it!”
“Will do then," Sydney said with a chuckle. "But back to the classrooms… The whole letter before the block bit, what does that mean?”
“I never actually thought about the letter thing, but yeah I suppose they could mean the subject. Good way to remember it I suppose. It's clever! The H block could also stand for Home-ec block as well as Hall block too.”
Sydney laughed. “Good point.”
Vaughn smiled at her. “So I’ll see you in Biol afterwards?”
“Yeah, in B Block.”
Vaughn laughed out loud. “That’s right. I’ll see you there? You’ll be ok finding it and all that?”
“For sure, see you then.”
five minutes later
She rechecked the timetable on her diary and stamped her foot in frustration.
“It says H1 and I’m at H1, so where are the rest of them?” She stuffed the book back under the pile in her arms and tried calming herself.
She peered to either end of the hallway and was greeted with stark silence, and a wave of panic flooded her – her calming method failed.
“Oh God, oh God!” She glanced at her watch and gathered her books closer to her chest. She backed up to the wall and slid down, allowing herself to rid of the strain caused by the stress of the week so far. Her eyes were still a little bit tender from the ‘the incident’ yesterday, the muscles in her legs were a touch tight from the rushed warm down from her run this morning, and her brain was flooded with thoughts, rules and people’s names that she had learnt yesterday and this morning.
She couldn’t help but feel relieved though. According to the rhyme, the second day was never as bad as the first.
“First the worst, second the best…” Sydney recited. “And here I was, thinking that today was going to go well.”
She couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that it was the first lesson of the day and she’d already gotten lost. Sydney hung her head ashamedly.
A hurried set of footsteps at the end of the hallway tore her from her thoughts and brought her back to the ‘here and now’. She turned her head, and caught the owner of the footstep’s eye.
“Ok, why are you in the middle of the hallway?” The stranger asked.
“Waiting…” she replied.
“For…?”
“My class. They aren’t here.” She said, indicating to the empty room.
“You don’t say. Are you in 9A home-ec?”
“Yeah, I’m meant to be but not at the moment.”
The stranger looked at her suspiciously for a moment and then continued to talk. “You’re meant to come with me.”
“Why?” She asked.
“Because I was sent her to take you back to class.”
“But I’m meant to be here, it says so on my diary!” She pulled the book back out from the stack and pointed to the box indicating the room. “See?”
“Yeah, I got that on mine too. But sometimes things change and our classroom is one of those things.”
“Oh, so where am I meant to be?” She asked, becoming flustered.
“That’s what I’m meant to do – show you where to go. So c’mon, let’s go. I don’t need to miss anymore home-ec than I have to.”
“Alright, I’m coming.” She stood up, and followed hesitantly after the figure.
“So, you’re new…”
She looked up. It was more of a statement rather than a question. “You could say that, I suppose,” she said, nodding her head.
“Interesting…” The stranger looked away, avoiding her eyes. “So, who’s your buddy?”
“My buddy?”
“Yeah, your buddy… You know, the person who’s in all your classes and shows you round?”
“Oh, my buddy? Yeah, that’s Michael.”
“Michael...?”
“Michael Vaughn.”
“Michael Vaughn? As in the Michael Vaughn?”
“There’s more than one Michael Vaughn?” Sydney asked. “What?”
“Vaughn is like, a God!”
“Ok…” Sydney chuckled, shaking her head at this statement.
“No, seriously! People like, worship him.”
“Why?”
“Ah…… The……” The stranger seemed lost for words.
Sydney just stared.
“Have you seen him? He’s like perfect! He’s smart, handsome, sporty, nice and the most popular guy in school.”
“So in other words, you worship him?” Sydney smiled, asking the stranger.
The stranger nodded their head. “Among others.”
“I see.” Sydney giggled.
“But,” the stranger paused for a moment for emphasis, and then continued. “We do lunch.”
“Sorry?”
“Michael Vaughn and I. We go way back – we do lunch.”
“Right… And not to be rude or anything, but who are you?”
The stranger extended his hand. “Marshall Flinkman, at your service.”
“Hi.” Sydney smiled. “Marshall, where is our class?”
“Oh, in the library. On Monday’s we’re always in the library, and then every other day we are in the classroom.”
“Ok, I gotcha.” Sydney nodded. “So I should remember the whole library thing?”
“Well, yeah. Our teacher won’t send someone to pick you up each lesson, so you probably should remember.” Marshall said, intently raising his eyebrows at Sydney.
The two turned a corner and were greeted with the sight of the ramp leading to the library.
“The school covers all areas of the school you see? I mean, by putting a ramp here everyone can still go to the library even if they’re in a wheelchair and that. So you'd think in theory, the library would be a very popular place because it covers everyone, except it's not...” Marshall said, becoming confused at his own statement.
“Yes, yep..” Sydney said, trying her hardest not to laugh at the guy. “I like libraries.”
Marshall looked at Sydney with astonishment and then ran forward and held the door open for her.
“Thank-you,” Sydney said, ducking through the doorway. She waited on the other side for Marshall to gently pull the door close and allowed herself be led to the room where the class was.
The two entered the room, and the chaos of the class was immediately halted with the entrance of the two people. Upon seeing that it was only someone with Marshall, the class returned toits previous state.
“Class. Class!” The teacher clapped her hands in an attempt to settle the class. “This is our new student Sydney.”
Sydney smiled a small smile at the class and looked for an empty seat in the class.
“She’s just moved here and will be joining our class for the rest of the year. Please make her feel welcome.” The teacher smiled at the class before turning to Sydney. “There’s a spare seat down the back, so why don’t you head down there, ok Sydney? Here’s your sheet, they’re just filling them out at the moment.”
Sydney nodded her head and wandered to the back corner, avoiding the prying eyes that were staring.
“Hey…” Sydney said hesitantly, sitting herself in the corner seat.
“Hi. Who are you?”
“Um… Sydney?” Sydney said, confused at the girl’s question. ‘Why is this girl playing dumb? She jolly well knows who I am! She was there at lunch yesterday with Lauren,’ she thought to herself.
“Sydney?” the girl repeated. “As in NSW capital?”
“Yeah,” Sydney said, surprised at the girl’s reaction. “Didn’t we meet yesterday?”
“Did we?”
“Yeah, I thought we did - at lunch. Lauren introduced us.”
“As in Lauren Reed!” The girl slammed her hands onto the desk and stared at Sydney. “Girl, you got the wrong person!”
“I do?”
The girl laughed and began to explain herself. “You probably met my sister. Despite the two-year age gap, my sister and I could pass for identical twins. Even our mum gets us confused. The only way to tell us apart is… Actually I don’t think there really is a way to tell us apart other than talking to us. Allison, my sister is a B-B through and through, and I’m just you know, me, Francie.”
“Thanks, that helps. Kinda...”
“In other words, not really?”
“Well, I know your name now – Francie.”
“Oh, sorry about that. I always forget to say that! But before I forget this, are you friends with Lauren?” the girl asked her again.
“I don’t really know her, my buddy does.”
The girl paused for a moment and looked harder at Sydney. “Your buddy is Michael Vaughn.”
“Yeah…” Sydney said, unsure of what to say.
“Oh no! There’s nothing wrong with that!” The girl said, reassuring Sydney from her unsureness. “He’s a good guy.”
“So I’ve heard,” Sydney said, looking over at Marshall working hard at his work.
“Well, he’s a top bloke. It’s Lauren that I’m worried about. Are you friends with her?”
Sydney bit her lip, and let out a breath before answering the question. “I think my buddy may want me to be friend’s with her, if that helps.”
“Oh! So is that why you had lunch yesterday with her and my sister? It wasn’t as though you walked up to them under your own accord?”
“No! Michael introduced us.”
“That’s a good thing, you know. And I’m kind of glad too because let’s face it - my sister and her group are bimbo’s. It’s the truth. And you don’t seem a bit like them, so trust me, it’s a good thing.”
“I’ll take your word for it then…” Sydney said, looking down at her sheet and writing her name at the top.
“Just wait a second, I ran into Michael Vaughn at lunch yesterday in the girls bathroom because he was looking for someone, a Sydney, and that’s you.”
Sydney nodded, following whatthe girl was saying.
“What happened at lunch yesterday for Michael Vaughn to run to the girls bathroom?”
“Do you want the long version or the short version?”
“Girl, we’re in home-ec; the long version of course! What else are we going to do?”
“Alright, so yesterday at lunch, Lauren invited me to sit with her and so there I was, sitting with her group and I was sprayed in the eye by someone who I thought was you but now turns out to be your sister. And then I…”
- - - - - - -
“Weiss! I hope she got to home-ec ok,” Michael said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
“I’m sure she did,” Eric replied absentmindedly, shuffling a pack of cards. “Don’t fret.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one responsible for her if something goes wrong!”
“Meh, she’s a smart one Mickey, she’ll be fine. Wanna see my newest trick?” Weiss stood in his place, causing the classroom to hush and watch him.
“Not really, but do I have much choice?” Vaughn said, lowering his head onto the desk.
“Ta dah!” Weiss said triumphantly, causing the room to erupt with applause and laughter. “How good was that?”
“Nice work mate… Give me the cards for a sec though,” Michael said, getting an idea.
“You wanna try your hand at magic, hey?” Weiss sat down and reluctantly handed over the pack of cards.
“No, I was going to teach you a new game to tell you the truth.” Vaughn smiled at him.
“Oh cool! Show us!” Weiss said, bouncing in his seat.
“Have you heard of fifty-two-pick-up?” Vaughn asked, shuffling the cards professionally.
“No, is it a fun game?”
“Oh yeah, it’s great!” Vaughn took the cards into his left hand and held them up. “You ready?”
“Yeah! Let’s start!” Weiss said, waiting for Vaughn to deal.
“Ok!” Flicking the cards one-by-one, Vaughn let the cards fly around the room. “Fifty-two-pick-up!”
“Michael!” Weiss said, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning at Vaughn. “That wasn’t very nice. You better pick those up.”
“No chance. You wanted to play, you pick ‘em up.” Vaughn grinned at his mate and then looked back down at his work and thought the better of it. “Ok, I’ll help, there’s nothing better to do.”
- - - - - - -
“Wow! He’s a good guy, isn’t he?” Francie said, when Sydney finished her story.
“Mm, he’s nice,” Sydney said, avoiding Francie’s eyes.
“And cute. You think he’s cute, don’t you?” Francie knowingly asked.
“Um…” Sydney looked around the room.
Noticing Sydney’s uncomfortableness, Francie dropped the question. “It’s ok if you do, everyone else thinks so to. And I promise I won’t tell him. Quick question though, why’s he your buddy if you’re only in grade nine?”
Sydney drew a deep breath and looked back at Francie. “It’s really confusing, but in short I’m in all of his classes except his spares. I have this - home-ec - instead.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Francie said, chuckling at Sydney’s sentence. “But why our grade for home-ec? It’s so easy! All we do is sit and talk.”
“Yeah, so I’ve heard. My dad just felt I should do it, that’s all.” Sydney shrugged her shoulders.
“Alright then. So I’m taking it that you’re a genius?” Francie asked.
“Not quite.”
“Not quite? But you’ve got a sky-high IQ or something then?”
Sydney bit her lip. “IQ tests aren’t really accurate…”
“I’m just going to assume you’re a genius. Can I have your autograph please then?” Francie asked, tearing a sheet of paper from her book.
“Why?” Sydney asked in disbelief.
“Because you’ll probably become a rich and famous scientist or something sometime soon and I want proof that I knew you, and that you were in home-ec with me.”
“Ah, you’re probably better off asking for Lauren’s autograph or Michael Vaughn’s. I believe they’re both pretty popular, so I’m sure they’ll be strutting their stuff sometime soon. They’re the next big things,” Sydney said, pushing the offered pen and paper away.
“Oh…” Francie looked heartbroken.
“I don’t want to become famous either, so there’s no need.”
“You don’t want to be famous? But everyone does!” Francie exclaimed, mortified at the response.
“Nuh-uh, not me. People who are rich and famous never seem to be happy.”
“Well, what do you want to do then?” Francie asked.
“English.”
Francie smiled, “But we already do English.”
“Teaching. English teaching,” Sydney said, further explaining herself.
“Yeah, I gotcha, but why do you want to do that?”
“Because… I dunno actually, I just do. I suppose a little bit is due to the fact that my mum used to teach, and that I like the subject English and helping people. So if you add the two together, you get English teaching.”
Francie shook her head in amazement. “You’re one strange person. Next thing you’re going to tell me is you understand stuff like Shakespeare, aren’t you? Actually don’t answer that, you’ll make me feel bad.”
“People exaggerate that kind of stuff! It’s not that hard – I mean it’s only English. In another three or four hundred years people won’t be able to understand us, you know? People will say then ‘Oh it’s too hard!’ But really, it isn’t – you just have to set your mind to it.” Sydney shrugged her shoulders.
“Says the genius…” Francie said, nudging her.
“Stop it!”
“But seriously, you aren’t the average person are you? I mean, you’re a genius but you just wanna teach and help people; you don’t wanna become rich and famous because you just want to be happy and you understand Shakespeare. That’s not normal!”
“But what do you call normal?” Sydney asked, a smile playing on her lips.
“Oh no,” Francie playfully smacked herself in the head. “Not another one of these ‘Everyone is unique’ conversations. They’re just contradictory. I mean they teach us ‘you’re unique – just like everyone else’ but that just means everyone’s the same.
“People do as people please, I suppose.” Sydney stated reasonably.
“Just a quick question though, and it’s a bit off the topic…”
“Sure, fire away.”
Francie pointed down at the sheet in front of her and pointed to a question. “What’s a bobbin?”
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A/N: Thanks for reading! I hoped you liked the latest chapter
If you have any thoughts, queries or anything just in general you would like to share with me, feel free! I’m more than happy to hear them.
Thanks though, and have a good one!
li'l_roo