How Green Becomes Wood

"I hope he's not. I wasn't exaggerating when I said she's bad news. She's been terrible to me, and to so many people. But I think he's probably smart enough not to go too deep." She sighed, "At least he's got good parents. I'll see you, man. I still gotta get to my locker." She gave a slight wave and then left Peter alone.
 
Later that day, Alec and Xander were contemplating the interiors of their own lockers and trying to figure out how to unearth the books they actually needed.

"Do you think Sloan was right? I mean, she was really harsh about..." Alec hesitated, searching for the name.

"Crystal," Xander supplied. He pulled out the right textbook and sniffed. "Why does this smell like gym shorts? I don't even have gym shorts in here. Maybe Sloan is a bit harsh, maybe Crystal isn't as bad as all that, but the fact that Sloan is trying to keep you from getting hurt, I think that's something worth thinking about, don't you? I mean, she was kind of rude about how she went about things, and I should know rude."

Alec carefully selected his book and closed the locker door. "I suppose. She didn't seem too horrible to me. At least, no worse than you, but she could have done things better. And it is a Tuesday. Maybe I should talk to her again and just ask."

"You mean, communicate? What kind of a teen are you?" Xander frowned.

Alec couldn't help a smile and nudged his shoulder. "Keep this up and I won't invite you to my next birthday party."

"Darn," Xander said mildly. He indicated someone across the crowded hallway. "There's your chance. She's right over there talking to Bernie."

"Shh! Don't call her that," Alec scolded. He took a chance and worked his way across the hall, narrowly missing getting swept along by the tide. Crystal and Burnadette stood by the water fountain discussing something. Alec moved closer and cleared his throat. "Excuse me?"

The pair turned with mirroring expressions of disgust, seeming ready to demand who dared speak to them, but Crystal's expression smoothed the moment she saw who it was. "Alec!" she chirped. "I'm so excited about our date tonight! It's not often I get to go on something as simple as a park walk. It'll be a nice change of pace."

"Oh," Alec said. This was not how he expected her to start. "Well, about that..."

Crystal thrust her lip out into a pout. "You aren't going to cancel on me, are you? After I was the one to get up the courage to come and talk to you?"

"Well, you see, it is a Tuesday night, and I don't know about you, but I have a lot of homework," Alec told her. "I don't want to fall behind, and I'm not sure my foster parents would want me to go out on a school night."

Crystal clicked her tongue and waved a hand. "I'm only expecting an hour of your time. Is that really too much to ask? Hmm? I have homework too, but I am willing to risk it to go out and spend some quality time with you."

Alec hesitated. "I will need to ask my fosters, but... I guess maybe if it was only an hour?"

"Excellent! I'll see you then! Wear something nice." Crystal waved her fingers and swept away.

Alec stood staring after her, still baffled.

Xander came up behind him, book in one hand, the other hand shoved in his jeans. "This is all going to end in tears, isn't it?" he remarked blandly.

Alec short him an annoyed look, and the pair started heading for their next class.
 
Eventually, the bell rang, and all of the students went back to their classes, and slowly, the day came to an end. As always, the twins got home about an hour before Dark did, since he needed to stay at school longer, but eventually he, too, came home, and after coming inside and taking only a few moments to let go of the work day he said, "Hey, I am home. How was school? I did not hear anything about you two today again."
 
Alec came scampering to greet Dark, but instead of his usual exuberant hellos, he held up two jackets. "Which one looks better? I think maybe this really dark blue one, but maybe the black?" He was wearing a white shirt with the checkered blue and white pants Dark had picked out for him and a red tie tied loosely about his neck.

Xander sidled out of the kitchen with a piece of bread in hand and stood well behind Alec, watching the exchange.
 
"Either works," Dark replied, "Personally, I would choose the black, since there is so much blue in the pants, but since it is a different shade of blue, it still works. It really comes to personal preference." Only after expressing his opinion did he frown slightly and address the very first thing he had noticed when Alec came up to him, "Why do you ask? Are you okay? You look bothered."
 
"I'll wear the black," Alec decided, setting the blue jacket on the nearest piece of furniture so he could pull it on. "I'm alright! Perfectly good. Actually, I was wondering, would you be willing to give me a ride to Thornsbry park in about ten minutes and then pick me up again in an hour? I'm supposed to meet a friend there for ice cream, I think. I'm not sure about them, but I want to give them a chance."

Behind Alec, Xander waved his hands with the half-eaten slice of bread and mouthed an exaggerated, "No!" while shaking his head. He then shoved a pice of bread in his mouth and was chewing with a bored expression when Alec glanced over his shoulder.
 
"I mean, I suppose so?" Dark replied, with a very mild, but true, look of irritation on his face, "I would have loved a bit of warning because Thornsbury is about fifteen minutes from here, so round trip that takes a full hour out of my day. And I have to try to make dinner around that."

When he caught sight of Xander, his expression changed into something unreadable, even to the twins, "Who is this friend?"
 
"Oh, dear, is it really that far away?" Alec murmured, expression pinched as looked down at himself. "I didn't think it was that far, and I don't think there's a public transit near there. I didn't want to inconvenience you that much."

"He wants to know who you're meeting," Xander prompted.

Alec brightened a little as he remembered. "Oh! Right. Well, her name is Crystal. Sloan doesn't like her at all and says I shouldn't be friends with her, and Xander's not thrilled, either, but Xander doesn't like anyone, really, at least, not at first. I just wanted to meet her myself and see. She told me she was really excited and looking forward to it."
 
"It is not far with warning, so I could have time to adjust the schedule, but..." He sighed, but then looked long at Alec, "Crystal? The one who leaves insulting notes on other girls desks under the guise of 'helping' them?" The girl had denied it everytime, but Dark knew her handwriting, and that of her goons. One day he'd catch one of them in the act, but until then the principal said there "wasn't proof." But what was written was awful, every time.
 
Alec frowned, hesitating. "Everyone sure has a lot of negative things to say about her," he murmured unhappily. He sighed and shook his head. "I'll just text her and tell her I can't come this evening." He picked up the other jacket and turned, heading back to his room to put everything away.

"She complimented his outfit," Xander told Dark as if that explained everything.
 
"Is that why he wanted to meet her?" Dark asked, "whose idea was it? What is happening? Because I do not try to unfairly judge students, but I have seen certain behaviors..." He sighed, going into the kitchen, "and it is only fair to give advanced warning if you need to be taken somewhere."
 
"Trying not to unfairly judge students, he says, right after dropping the fact that she leaves mean notes on other students' desks," Xander pointed out, following Dark into the kitchen. "It was weird. She just walked up to the table, didn't talk to any of the rest of us, and told Alec she was going to let him take her out because... he looked nice, I guess? Not sure. Sloan really took it bad, though. Those two totally have a history."
 
"That is not a judgment, it is a fact. She does do that," Dark pointed out, "and I wanted to make sure I had the right girl."

He began to get the ingredients he needed to cook, "Had Alec previously expressed interest in her? Or was it out of the blue. It is strange she did not speak to any of the rest of you." But not unsurprising, although he didn't voice it. He also didn't voice it was unsurprising that Sloan took it badly, since he knew a few of those details, but it wasn't his buisness to say. They would need to talk to het if they wanted that information.
 
It was still strange that that was how Dark identified her to someone else, and it made Xander wonder how Dark identified him to other people. He couldn't have remarked on the cleavage, the demeanor, the hair color, literally anything other than her bad behavior that only he and her victims knew about? So, what kind of behavior did Dark choose to use when talking about Xander? He frowned but decided not to follow that line of thought.

"Could be she didn't talk to the rest of us because she and Sloan were at odds, or because she was focused on Alec, but I doubt it. I think she's just a bitch," Xander said, leaning on the counter and watching Dark. "Alec didn't even know her name before today. I don't know what her game is, but she's got one, and Alec is being weirdly okay with it."
 
"Okay, well," Dark said mildly after Xander called Crystal a bitch, because even if it may have been true, he wasn't a fan of strong insults like that, "If it is something he wants to follow through with, he is welcome to it, whatever the risk. But it is strange." He looked at Xander, "Had he been asked out before? I thought after the talent show plenty of people had been asking you both out."
 
"For a while, sure, loads of people were talking to him, being friendly, and even asking him out, but then they just kind of stopped," Xander told him. "I think he liked the attention. Then, with this new school year, everyone seems to have forgotten, and we were all reset back to factory settings. Nobody has asked either of us out, which I'm happy about, and it's business as usual. I guess no one wanted to really give Alec a chance after they found out he wasn't some kind of bad-boy rocker."
 
"That could be why he was excited about it, then. But just as a rule of thumb, it is not normally a good idea to date someone just because you like their clothes. Unless you are just looking--" He stopped, having almost said too much, "It is also possible that since you both have a reputation of rejecting advances, people with crushes on you both find it safer to keep their feelings to themselves rather than take the outright rejection."
 
"True enough," Xander agreed readily, though he gave Dark a suspicious look at his hastily amended sentence. "I'm fine with that. Dunno what's going on in Alec's head." He frowned, shifting his weight. "It's been like that a lot lately. I dunno what's going on, but he doesn't feel as close." He stopped talking when he heard footsteps approaching.

"She took it well, though clearly disappointed," Alec said, padding over to sit on one of the stools. "She suggested I learn to drive so it's not such an inconvenience. Not a bad idea, I suppose."

"Except that you still need an adult with a learner's permit," Xander pointed out.
 
It was always something with these kids. They were teenagers and it was to be expected, but as far as he was aware, nothing had even happened to rattle them. But he supposed Xander already had his turn to test pulling away from the twinship, Alec deserved his moment too, it was a normal part of development.

"If that is what will motivate you to learn, then I am all for it. Just let me know when you want to try again," Dark replied, choosing to be supportive rather than launching straight in with all of his concerns, "Have you been talking to Crystal long?"
 
Alec shook his head. "She only gave me her number today. Well, it turns out her friend gave me her number. The friend's number, not Crystal's number. They are always together, so she said texting one of them was like texting them both."

"That's kid of weird," Xander commented.

"Yes," Alec agreed, "but I suppose it is not so unusual. Perhaps Crystal loses her phone a lot like me. Peter and Sloan know that if they need to get ahold of me quickly, it's better to text you."

"Fair point," Xander conceded.
 
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