How Green Becomes Wood

At the sound of the bell, Sloan stood and stretched before shaking out her hands. They weren't sore, it was just something she did when she was stressed, and being closer to the door, she left without even realizing the twins had been in the same room as her at all.

She was really grateful it was almost the weekend, because the school week had been too long. And she was mad at herself for letting her get so worked up over it all. She was supposed to be better than that, but didn't feel better than that. And she was annoyed, because she knew she should just talk to Alec about why exactly his budding friendship with her bothered her so much, but... Well, she supposed she just hoped he'd trust her and not make her list out for him all the reasons. It's like he didn't even care, and he hadn't even bothered to ask.

She roughly adjusted her backpack strap and with her head down walked to class, trying not to dwell on it because her makeup had turned out really pretty that day and she didn't want to ruin it.
 
The day dragged, as school days tended to do. Alec thought about Sloan and Crystal quite a bit, more than he should have, meaning he wasn't paying attention in class, and he had determined to try to talk to Sloan to see if she really was ignoring him or if it had been a coincidence. Thanks to their schedules, they didn't really cross paths except once, and when Alec spotted Sloan and was about to wave her down, Crystal appeared beside him and started talking to him about musical tastes. It had actually been a rather interesting topic, but by the time Alec turned around, Sloan was out of sight and he'd missed his chance.

Then lunchtime rolled around. Alec followed Xander toward their usual seats, and Bernadette approached him. "Hey, Alex, Crystal wanted to know if you wanted to sit with us?" she invited, nodding her head toward the table.

"Well, I..." Alec hesitated.

"We really wanted to get your opinion on something," Bernadette told him.

"Alright, I suppose I could," Alec agreed. Lunchtime was hardly the time for a serious heart-to-heart, anyway. Maybe he could catch Sloan after school or even drop by her house.

"Are you sure?" Xander asked, looking highly doubtful.

That made up his mind. "Yes, I'm sure," Alec agreed. "But it's Al-lek, not Al-licks."

"Right, sorry," Bernadette giggled, leading the way.
 
Sloan got to lunch last, which wasn't rare for her, but it was later than usual. She was dragging her feet a little bit, but she did come, albeit with her head down, and sit down in her usual spot.

"Hey guys," She said, trying to sound totally normal and fine. Then she looked up, saw who was missing, and asked, "Where's Alec?"
 
Xander shrugged as he leaned over his bagged lunch. "With her highness and company."

Peter glanced between Xander and Sloan curiously. "I am not normally one to pry," he said cautiously, "but what exactly is it with you two and Crystal? And how is Alec not a part of this..." Words failed him, so he just motioned to Xander's glower. "Normally, where one goes, the other follows, so how did Alec not get caught up in this?"



Meanwhile, over at Crystal's table, Crystal wasn't there, but her friends were. Bernadette seemed to be in charge of keeping Alec occupied, and she leaned closer to ask, "I was wondering, what is a boy's opinion on my outfit?" she asked, gesturing to her revealing but expensive-looking clothing.

"Well," Alec said slowly. "If you really want to know, and this is just my opinion, and in no way representative of the whole, and you should definitely dress as you feel you should or want to or are comfortable with-"

"Come on," sighed one of Crystal's friends, "never mind the feminist support babble, just say what you think. We're all big girls, we can take it."

"Some of us bigger than others," one of them remarked, earning several giggles and a flushed face.

Alec fiddled with his lunch bag, feeling uncomfortable, but plowed ahead. They'd asked, so he might as well say. "Less is more. By which I don't mean less clothes, I mean less skin. You are all very beautiful, but instead of showing everything off... it should be hinted at. Mystery is your allure. Again, this is my personal preference, but a nice blouse that is just barely, ever so slightly transparent so you only get the shape, not an actual look and paired with a skirt just below the knees with a short slit so you get a peak. That's just one example, of course, there are many other ways to achieve that sort of look, but that's the easiest to explain. It's like a teaser trailer for a movie. You give them a hint with the promise of something even better without giving anything away. It makes guys curious while giving you a look of elegance. In my opinion. Again, you should feel comfortable no matter what you wear."

"Huh. I guess that kind of makes sense," Bernadette mused, and the others looked a little startled, as well, and more than a little intrigued by the thought.

"Blouses and knee skirts?" Cyrstal scoffed as she sauntered up. "What is this, the fifties? Are you going to sequester us away in the kitchen and force us to only be typists and good little housewives while you're at it? I thought you had better taste and sense than that, Alec."

"It was just an example," Alec stuttered, blushing.

Crystal softened and smiled at Alec. "I know you were just trying to be nice, but that's really old-fashioned. You are sweet and innocent and have a good mind. Most guys aren't like you, and girls... well, they don't dress to impress guys. We're dressing to impress ourselves and our girlfriends, right? Guys don't matter."

The other girls cheered, and Alec fell silent, watching them as they chattered and started talking about their plans for the upcoming weekend. He wished he'd gone with Xander, but trying to leave now felt like a retreat. A failure. An admission that he was wrong.
 
Sloan did her best to hide the look of hurt that flashed across her face hearing where Alec was, and used all of the strength she had not to turn and look. It was hard enough hearing the giggles slicing through the low roar of the cafeteria.

Peter's question made her slump down a little bit immediately, but then she scowled and sat up straight, "What's up with me and her?" she asked, not angry at Peter but just sick of keeping it private and hoping Alec would be kind enough to care that it clearly bothered her, "She used to leave notes on my desk telling me to get a nose job. Or she'd put them in my locker. She never signed them, obviously, but I knew her handwriting. I tried confronting her, once, but she said it wasn't her... And then I overheard her and her sycophants making fun of me in the bathroom over it. And I heard them planning what else to write. And I thought we were friends, but the worst part was how that wasn't even the worst thing she did. Because she spread so many lies about me that I basically lost all my friends overnight."

Finally she looked over at the other table and then pulled her jacket tighter, shoving her hands deep in her pockets and doing her absolute best to shove all the feelings down, "There was a lot she did. That she never got in trouble for. And there were so many things I told her because I thought I could trust her that she just used against me, because she's pure evil."
 
"What is it with people and noses lately?" Xander muttered to himself, thinking of Dark's worry about baby noses the day before.

"Crikey, that's a real dingo of a deal," Peter winced. "For what it's worth, which I know isn't much, but I'd say you came out ahead. After all, you have friends, and people might think she's popular, but they respect you. Respect is a good deal harder and more important than popularity, yeah?"

Xander snorted. "I'd say she did you a favor." At Peter's odd look, Xander expounded, "A friend that'll up and leave based off the lies of one girl one time so that they all poof overnight, or nearly, those ain't friends. Not really. They might get a bit shaken, but they'll come and talk to you before fully vanishing like that. Those weren't real friends then."

"Well... he's kind of got a point," Peter admitted. "Of course, doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt like a rabbit bite, but, true, if she turned them against you that quick, they weren't true friends. Friend might drift apart as they grow older and change, but they don't turn against each other like that."
 
"If they turned against you that quick, huh?" Sloan muttered, glancing over her shoulder at Alec and accidentally catching Crystal's eye, "and its not even like I want to be friends with them anyway, but the fact all it took your brother to not care enough to ask why I'm so certain she's bad news is his outfit being complimented sucks. We've been friends for months, and I like to think I'm pretty supportive, but I'm not a pretty girl with a perfect smile, I guess."

She scowled down at the table and wrapped her arms around herself, "and if it was just something she had done to me, I wouldn't even care. I mean, it'd suck, don't get me wrong. It'd be like if I had made friends with that kid Logan because he liked my shoes, but it's the way I know this is what she's like with everyone. I know that she uses boys like accessories, I've heard her talk about it in the lockeroom too. You never know if she'll braid your hair or eat your heart."

Finally, she looked up at them again, "Crystal and her henchmen can say whatever they want about me, I don't care about their opinion, alright? I'm not afraid of them. But seeing how little my feelings and advice matter to him? That's really shitty."
 
Xander shifted to look straight at her. "Hey," he said firmly, "you don't know the full story, and you should know it sure as hell ain't just because she said nice things to him. He just needs a bit of time to sort things out in that scrambled brain of his, but he's not that shallow. He's not switching friends just to get an upgrade in the scenery. I get that it's shitty and hurts, but you should know better. Just give him some time. He'll be dropping her like an unwanted lizard any day now."

"That sounds really harsh," Peter said to Xander. Turning to Sloan, he set his hand near her on the table but didn't actually touch her. Gently, he said, "I'm sorry. I know this hurts, but I have to agree with Xander's sentiment, if not the way he said it. I find it hard to believe that Alec is completely disregarding your feelings, so perhaps we should try to give him the benefit of the doubt." He paused. "And we can always bedazzle some part of Crystal's outfit when she's not looking and make it seem like a small child with a bedazzled ran amok."

Xander grunted and dug into his lunch bag. "I forgot. Here." He set a butterscotch pudding cup on the table and slid it toward her. "We got a bunch of these for some reason, but I don't really... You like that stuff, right? Don't want to waste it."
 
Sloan furrowed her brows. It didn't really seem like Alec was being courteous to her. Why should she have to fall over herself giving Alec grace when... She tapped her foot. It wasn't like she hadn't been trying to give Alec the "benefit of the doubt" but honestly did his intentions even matter when he was making her feel like shit and wouldn't even ask her why Crystal was such a problem? She should just pretend like all the bullying didn't matter because Alec's head was scrambled?

"He's not a baby," she muttered, "he should know better too." Then she swallowed, and the feelings she was trying to keep surpressed flashed across her face, and this time she couldn't shove them back down. What did Peter even mean by "we"? He wasn't dealing with what she was. Sloan opened her mouth to say something but then just blinked up at the ceiling. Part of her wanted to accept the pudding, because she knew what Xander was doing with it, and she wasn't angry with them or anything, and she really hoped she knew that... But it really felt like they were asking so much of her. She forced herself to take a breath, "Maybe later, dude."
 
Xander shrugged. "Keep it. You might need comfort pudding later."

Peter smiled gently at Sloan. "You're not the same person you were before, and you don't have the same friends," he told her. "Let Crystal laugh and tease and lie all she wants. It's not going to get her anywhere in the long run. You'll still be a fantastic person, and you'll still have us as friends. And I don't see her on the student council or putting together talent shows or doing any of the other important stuff. That's you. You're better than her. Beaches better." He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it out to her. "Go ahead and have a good cry, but don't wreck your makeup. It looks really good today."
 
She eyed the handkerchief but didn't accept it. It wasn't something she liked doing, crying in front of others, and she would do everything in her power to not do so. What Peter said was true, or it might have been, but it didn't really warm her like it should have. Nasty people were successful all the time, and Crystal still knew things about her, true things, that weren't really bad things, but had been used against her before.

And she just really didn't want her name in someone else's mouth. Because she knew the longer Alec stayed there, the more likely it was Crystal would start up her old tricks again, and then... And of course Alec was bound to get hurt, too, because that's what happened. That's always what happened. And Sloan was pretty sure if she said, 'I told you so,' when it all fell apart, she'd be criticized for it.

"I think I'm going to go to my locker," Sloan said as she grabbed the pudding cup and stood, even though it wasn't close to the bell ringing.
 
Peter nodded. "We'll be around when you need us," he told her. He glanced at Xander, who had his head down, toying with a piece of celery he'd randomly shoved into his lunch bag without thinking. "You have my number," he told Sloan, figuring Xander wouldn't be much help. "Day or night."

Xander held the leafy, green stalk upright and glared at it as if everything going on was all the fault of that one celery stalk.
 
"Okay," she said, gathering all her things and hurrying off. Then she could make it to the bathroom, and she could cry there, where nobody would see her, and nobody would have to know it had ever happened. And it only made her angry with herself that she knew she was going to cry over it, because she had promised herself she was never going to cry because of something someone like Crystal said, or could say, ever again.

Well that was stupid.

But she hoped someone would talk to Alec and tell him he needed to be doing better, too, because it did seem pretty freaking unfair how he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. She went to roughly dry her eyes with the back of her hand as she left the lunchroom, but then remembered, and more carefully used her fingertips and walked faster.
 
Xander huffed. "I'll be glad to get out of high school and away from all this girl drama. This is kind of stupid."

Peter eyed Xander skeptically. "You wouldn't be upset if Sloan became friends with Logan?"

"Nope." He bit into the celery stick savagely then said around the bite, "It's her choice. She knows what kind of guy he is, so if she wants to be friends with him, let her. I'll still kick his ass if he comes near me, though."

Peter sighed and stood. "I am beginning to wonder what American schools teach kids about friendship over here."

"Nada," Xander told him even though it had been rhetorical. "We never had friends before you and Sloan."

"That actually explains a few things," Peter admitted. "I don't know what to do with this information, but it does explain a few things."

Peter went his way, and Alec eventually returned to Xander, looking flustered and confused, still clutching his lunch bag. There was no time for lunch now, but Xander still scolded him as they walked to their next class.
 
Sloan went into the bathroom stall and let herself cry it out for awhile, feeling stupid and disappointed in herself. Xander would probably kick her if he knew she had this thought, but she felt jealous of the twins for having people like Dark and Daizi in their corner. She didn't know much about what went on in their home lives, but when they were struggling with Logan, they went in and dealt with it. When Sloan told her mom about what was happening with Crystal, she had been told, 'she's not going about it the right way, but her advice isn't necessarily wrong," and that was it. Her dad just called it "a girl problem" and said it was beyond him.

But eventually she pulled herself together, or was able to shove all the bad feelings back down, and after checking herself to see if she looked like she had been crying (she didn't), she headed towards class.
 
Neither twin saw Sloan or Crystal again for the rest of the day, and Alec was relieved. He didn't want to deal with it. Finally, though, the day ended, and as he stood with Xander waiting for the bus, he watched for Sloan. Maybe if he just talked to her, he could figure out what her deal was. He didn't understand why she was so upset about this. It was not her right or duty to pick and choose who made a suitable friend for him, and he didn't even know who else she was friends with though he did see her with others, so why was she so knotted up about this? She didn't have to be involved. She was making this her problem, and he wanted to know why.

"You should go easy on her," Xander told him. "She's going through some stuff."

"Only because she wants to," Alec retorted. He spotted Sloan from a distance and nodded. "See? She's fine. Not bothered at all."

"She was close to crying at lunch," Xander told him.

Alec frowned, studying Sloan. "And now she looks absolutely fine."

"Would you rather she was weeping and wailing all the way across the parking lot?" Xander asked dryly. "And why do I feel like we're on the wrong sides of this argument?"

Alec huffed and hook his head. "Never mind. There's our bus. If she wants to tell me what terrible life choices I'm making, she can come to me. I'm not chasing her down."

Xander frowned as he followed Alec onto the bus. "Seriously, when did I become the sensitive twin?"
 
Sloan walked with her head down to her car, trying to process all the multitudes of feelings running her through. More than anything, she wanted to go home, so she could lock herself in her bedroom and destroy her hearing by listening to music too loudly. Tomorrow was Friday, and then she'd have the whole weekend to herself to process however she needed to.

And she was doing her absolute best to transition from sadness to anger, so she could be motived, and then maybe at gymnastics on Saturday morning she would do really well, but she wasn't there yet. It was infuriating, but she couldn't bring herself to be angry with Alec, just really hurt by his actions, and shocked by the realization that he just... didn't care. Over her.

As she went to her car, she did look up and see the twins, but saw them clearly looking at her, clearly talking about her. She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets and walked on, anxiously trying to figure out what they might be saying.
 
The twins didn't say anything on the bus ride home. Or on the walk from the bus stop to their house. Or over homework when they normally worked together. Alec did a fast, slipshod job on his homework, packed it all back in his bag, and went up to his room to listen to music.

Xander, left on his own, banged around the kitchen and made far more of a mess than strictly necessary making cupcakes. Why cupcakes? Because he hadn't made cakes in tiny form before, and they were crushable. He made a giant batch, ending up with four dozen, and as the others sat on the cooling rack, he sat with the first few around him squishing them against the counter and pulling them into little pieces.
 
Dark came home at his normal time, and after taking off his shoes and touching the salt, instead of greeting the twins broadly, he went into the kitchen, following the scent of cupcakes, since it was by no means what he anticipated to come home to, and then stood in mild horror at the sight of Xander's actions, "What are you doing?" He asked, seeing all of the crumbs and mess.
 
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"I'm designing a submarine," Xander growled. He picked up an undamaged cupcake and positioned it with exaggerated care directly in front of him. "What's it look like I'm doing?" He brought his hand down hard, smashing the once rather nice-looking cupcake into a round coaster of mushed bread-like substance.

The timer let off an annoying trill, and Xander brushed off his hands so he could grab the oven mitts and open the oven. He pulled out the last of the cupcakes, plopped them on a cooling rack, and only then silenced the timer. He then picked up another cupcake and began nudging it into position. THis one looked like a fist cupcake, he decided.
 
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