How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi laughed loudly at Xander's comment. The twins had known she called Dark from the first day they came to stay with them, by now they should have seen what was coming when they brought up geese. She was still laughing as she went upstairs.

Meanwhile, Dark stayed downstairs just long enough to see if the twins needed help, and when he saw they had it covered, he took a few steps away before scurrying upstairs after his wife.
 
The next day, at school, Alec looked for Crystal between classes, but their schedules were such that they didn't really cross paths. The two times he did see her, she was clearly busy with other friends, including several of the high school football team. He didn't want to interrupt, so he decided to wait until lunchtime.

When lunch rolled around, Alec and Xander sat in their usual spot with their lunches. Peter came to join them soon, and they talked about reforming their band and trying out new songs. None of them were song writers, so it would be a cover band only until they found one. None of them were taking it very seriously and just messing around while they waited to see if Sloan would join them or not.
 
Sloan had gone through the school day a bit anxiously. She kept trying to tell herself that Alec was too smart to get screwed up by Crystal, too smart to be manipulated by her, but... She couldn't shake the worry that Crystal would do what she did and worm her way into his brain, and then Alec would stop being her friend. Xander would follow him, and honestly she would be pissed with him if he didn't stick by his brother anyway. She didn't know who Peter would choose. And then, well, Sloan was friendly with most people at the school, but that didn't mean she was friends with everyone.

But, she tried to remind herself as she walked to the table, hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Alec was smart, the dude survived on the streets. Some pretty girl wasn't going to make him into a fool. Right?

"Hey dudes," she said with a bright smile as she sat down, "What's up?"
 
Xander grunted in his usual warm and welcoming way and slid a pudding cup toward her. Peter grinned and replied, "G'day," one of the few Australian phrases he actually did use.

Alec smiled brightly at Sloan. "Nothing much right now. What about you?"
 
"Oh, thanks," Sloan said, picking up the pudding cup and looking at Xander for a few moments. It felt significant, coming from him. The other two, it wouldn't have really registered, but from Xander... "Not much with me either, just waiting for the end of the day. And for when the gymnastics team really starts up again, but that won't be for a few weeks yet, probably. And I'm trying to figure out if I want to do Student Council again."
 
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"You seemed to both enjoy it and be incredibly stressed last year," Peter remarked. "Was the enjoyment worth the stress?"

Xander glanced over and barely bit back a groan in time. Crystal swept toward them, Burnadette in her wake as always. Great. She stopped a short distance away and stood waiting, her eyes on Alec. One hand rested on her hip while the opposite leg jutted out to the side, supermodel style.

"Oh," Alec said, spotting her. "I need to go talk to her for a little bit. I'll be right back okay?" He stood and walked over to join Crystal, smiling and nodding to Burnadette as he did.
 
Like Xander barely containing his groan, Sloan came close to saying you really don't. Instead she just watched, bringing a knee to her chest and resting her chin on it. Or at least she tried to watch. After a few moments she looked away, and stared blankly at her lunch. The pudding cup stuck out to her, she wondered if maybe it had something to do with this Alec and Crystal bullshit.

After rubbing the back of her neck she just said, to Peter, "I know it's good for my college transcripts, and it was pretty fun, but it takes up a lot of time, and I'm not sure if it's all that rewarding... but if I stick on it, next year I'll probably get to join prom committee, which would stop my prom from," she glanced again at Crystal, who was going to be prom queen one day, "being some dumb theme like bubblegum or 'A Night in Paris.'"
 
"I rather like bubblegum, and Paris is truly beautiful at night," Peter said cheerfully. "If you ignore the crushing crowds and thousands of tourists all trying to see the same three things at the same time. If you ever go, get a native guide to show you the real sights, right?"

"I'd rather eat glass than go to prom," Xander stated.




Alec walked up to Crystal and smiled. "Hello! I am sorry about last night, but I really do need more advanced notice to go anywhere like that. My foster father is the only one who drives right now, so it is a bit tricky."

Crystal pouted and played with her hair a bit. "I'll forgive you, but only because you didn't stand me up. We'll go on Saturday, and until then, we can hang out at school, right? Come sit with me!" She hooked her arm around Alec's and started pulling him along.

Alec glanced over his shoulder. "But... my lunch is back there, and I normally sit with my friends."

"Oh, come on, it's only one day," Crystal crooned. "We want to get to know each other better, right? What better way than sitting by each other! I don't each lunch anyway, so come on."

Alec reluctantly let her pull him along only because yanking his arm away and causing a scene seemed in bad taste. "I suppose. I will stay for five minutes, and then I should go back. He glanced back toward Xander uncomfortably but let Crystal sit him down and start chattering about belts.
 
"There's nothing wrong with real Paris," Sloan said, "I mean, I've never been there, but it seems fine. I just don't get why so many people who have never been are obsessed with it. Imagine making your prom night Reno or, like, Ogden, Utah. It's just not a very good..." She looked over at Alec again, and saw him going to sit with Crystal, "theme."

She chewed her bottom lip and then swallowed, rubbing the back of her neck again. There was a lot she almost said, then, but she didn't. Instead, she fished a sharpie out of her bag and began doodling on the cuffs of her jeans.
 
Peter propped his chin on his fist, elbow on the table as he watched her. "What would be your theme?" he asked gently. He saw all the words she wanted to say but didn't, and he felt he understood, at least a little, of what Sloan felt as she watched Alec leave. "Would it be... stars and rainbows forever? No, no, you're more of a My Little Pony with unicorns and pegasus, right?" He was teasing her, but his voice was soft and gentle.

Xander wasn't listening to them. He watched Alec out of the corner of his eye, and his finger started tapping on the table top. What was he doing? This was unlike him. Why was he abandoning friends he knew enjoyed his company? More importantly, why was he leaving without telling his brother anything. He didn't like this. Not at all.
 
"I do like stars," She said, still looking down at her jeans, "Masquerade would be fun. Like the Phantom of the Opera... People could wear masks, then... or an Enchanted Forest." She shrugged, "I've not really thought about it much. I know prom is really lame, like, objectively, but I like to imagine this school will budget for some really nice decorations, like what you see on TV."

Her hair wasn't in a ponytail today, she wore it loose, and when it fell over her shoulder she left it there, since it blocked her view of Alec a lot, and she tapped her foot, "Do they do prom in Oz?"
 
"It kind of depends on the area, really," Peter told her. He leaned on the table and kept one eye on her, one eye on Alec, who wore a strained smile. "Sometimes, the schools have prom like what I've seen in the movies for here. Other places, it's like a debutant ball, and you do not want to mess up that event."

They chatted for about ten minutes until Alec came all but scurrying back over.

"That was... that was an experience," he said in a strained voice, moving to sit next to Xander.

Xander wrinkled his nose. "Dude, you reek!"

"I know," Alec said morosely. "There were five other girls, and all of them were wearing different perfumes. I am going to have to shower before the others get home today, but I'm stuck with it until then."

Xander, still holding an expression of disgust, pushed himself farther down the bench to sit at the other end of the table. "SO I'm stuck with it, too? Wonderful."
 
Sloan looked at Alec and tried to keep her opinions and feelings off her face, but she wasn't as skilled at it as Dark, "It's good you get home before Daizi does, she's blind and pregnant. You'd probably make her gag. But you can try to rinse yourself in the bathroom sink."
 
"I think it's permeated my clothes," Alec replied. He glanced at Sloan, and all he saw was disappointment and disgust. At least, that was how he interpreted the look on her face as she tried to hide it. He looked away and fussed with the rather frilly shirt he was wearing. "Anyway, it will be easier to just deal with it than to try to clean up and risk getting water everywhere."

"You'd better hurry up or you won't have time to finish eating," Xander told him.

Alec nodded. He wasn't very hungry anymore, but he tried to focus on finishing his lunch.
 
"That's fair," Sloan said quietly, and drew one last little star on her jeans before frowning, capping the marker, and shoving it into her pocket, "I should probably go. My next class is on the other side of the school, it's not bad to get a head start," she began packing up the lunch she had only picked at and then paused, looking at Xander, "Thanks for the pudding, dude." Then she smiled at Peter and quickly said, "See you later, Alec," before tossing her bag over her shoulder and beginning to walk off.
 
"Later, Sloan!" Peter called with a wave. He glanced at the other two. "I need to make a pit stop, so I'm going to go ahead and get going."

After Peter left, Xander glanced over at Alec. "So. How was life in Barbie land?"

Alec frowned. "That's awfully judgemental of you."

"Being judgmental is what keeps you from getting into a car with a rando or taking samples from the person with the weird vibe, and I don't intend to drop it anytime soon," Xander said bluntly. "Besides, Crystal literally looks like Babie. Just a little less boob, which is good. If she had Barbie boobs, she'd fall on her face."

"Right," Alec said slowly, studying Xander with a small amount of concern. "Other than this weird conversation about boobs, it was... fine, I guess. Not terrible. From the way you and Sloan talk about them, I thought I'd be doing some sort of sacrifice on a pink alter or writing in a Burn Book, but, no, they just talked about what shade of lipstick to wear with a particular shade of red. That's it. Nothing bad about anyone else, no trash talk, just... lipstick."

Xander grunted and stood. "Just keep your warning bells up. That girl is toxic as a dump."

"Maybe you and Sloan are the toxic ones for trying to control who I'm friends with," Alec shot back, following him.

"Eh, fair point, except she's literally not talked like that about anyone before, so I say it's worth taking a page from my book and being just a little judgy. Doesn't mean you can't hang with her, just be careful."

"Fine," Alec said, rolling his eyes. "I will borrow from your judgment book. Tomorrow, I think I will sit with them, though. I'd invite you to join, but..."

"Nope."

"That's what I thought."
 
Sloan hurried to her locker and opened the lock as quickly as she could before tossing her lunchbox inside and slamming the door shut. Then she just stood there, sort of just bouncing her weight on one leg. It was stupid, it was all just really stupid. So what, all a girl needs to do is compliment one guy's outfit and then anything she's ever done is forgiven? Like it never happened? And she had tried to warn him, she knew what kind of person Crystal was, but because she paid him one compliment and treated Alec like a new purse, suddenly all of the red flags just looked like flags?

She fished around in her bag for her headphones before remembering she left them at home and swore. Whatever. Maybe Alec wasn't as smart as she thought he was, or maybe he wasn't as nice as she thought he was, or maybe just less compassionate. Whatever.

Except she couldn't say she didn't care, because she didn't want the dumbass to get hurt, except she couldn't say anything because clearly he didn't give a shit, which drove her insane, because how could you not care when your friends are warning you? She knew the girl, knew what she was like behind closed doors. None of those boys at that table did. But she complimented his outfit, so that didn't matter anymore.
 
School dragged. Especially so for Alec who was trying to figure out how to live without breathing. Thankfully, it wasn't strong enough to stink up an entire room, but those sitting next to him definitely wrinkled their noses and shifted away. Finally, the day ended, and they were released! As was their habit, Alec and Xander hung back to catch the last bus that went in their direction. Once upon a time, they had tried to get the last bus without looking to see where it was going. Where it went didn't matter. Now, they had to actually keep track of the buses and their routes. It was weird.

They walked toward the parking lot and stood apart from the other students, waiting. Peter's dad was already there, and they waved as he headed off.
 
Throughout the rest of her day, Sloan did her best to keep everything going on from her mind, although it was hard, since she had English with Crystal and one of her friends. She was fairly certain the giggles she heard weren't directed at her, that time, but it still made her uncomfortable.

The bell really couldn't ring fast enough, and she headed to her car as soon as she was able to. On the way to the student parking lot, she passed by the twins, and Mr. Hollis, but she was keeping her head down and pretended she hadn't. A voice in her mind said she was just being dramatic, but she really didn't want to have to talk to anyone.

Sloan still regularly offered to give the twins a ride home, since they were going to the same street, but on that day, she figured since they always said no anyway, there was no point in asking. As soon as she was in her car she exhaled and berated herself for being weird and for running and for not just talking about it like a normal person and for letting Crystal still have such a hold on her, and then she drove home.
 
Alec opened his mouth to call out to Sloan and say hello, but she didn't even look their way. It wasn't just that she didn't see them, she did it in that very obvious not-looking manner of someone trying to avoid someone else. Alec stared after her in bewilderment. Was this really all about Crystal? Really? He honestly wasn't sure he even liked the girl, but he felt like she deserved a chance. It felt good to try to trust people for once after a lifetime of mostly distrust, but then when he did... this happened.

He bit his lip and followed Xander onto the bus. This didn't feel right. He knew he should listen to his friends, but the way Sloan was acting, it was completely out of character. She warned him about Crystal, which was totally fair and expected as a friend, but then when he chose to be with Crystal, she ghosted him? How was that fair? It wasn't like Alec was asking Sloan to be friends with Crystal. He was deliberately trying not to talk about her or bring her around Sloan. That was why he didn't wait for Crystal to approach the table but went to greet her. Sloan might be completely fair in her assessment of Crystal, but was it really worth ignoring him and Xander about it? Wasn't she acting like a red flag, herself by "punishing" him for not doing what she told him?

Maybe he was blowing it out of proportion. Maybe Sloan was hurt deeper than he realized. Maybe Sloan was just having a bad day and this was one thing too many. Maybe maybe maybe, there were too many maybes! Everything was starting to scramble in his head.

When they got home, Alec went straight to the shower, put his clothes in the hamper, and stayed in his room.

Xander stared at the closed door, hesitating. This felt like something Alec needed to work out on his own, but he was worried. He sat down in the living room and started doing his homework idly, not really paying attention. Something was wrong. He needed to fix it. He had no idea how.
 
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