How Green Becomes Wood

"It is good to be prepared," Sloan agreed, looking down at the table, "It's better than if suddenly you were living in a different country. Or continent. And I know that we'll stay in touch," at least for a little while, "but it won't be the same. The three of you won't be able to play in a band anymore, and without you, they become Simon and Garfunkel." Again, she tried to laugh, but then started tapping her foot again, "but it's still gonna suck."
 
"RIght," Peter said a little weakly. Sloan was taking this much harder than he would have expected, and now he was regretting everything. He was almost relieved to hear the warning bell alerting them that it was time to wrap things up and move toward class. He stood up. "I'll see you around."

Alec moved over to sit next to Sloan as Peter walked away. "We're not going anywhere," he told her softly. "I promise. Besides, I need to see how far you can get in gymnastics. You have that one flippy move you said you were having trouble with, and I need to know if you ever conquor it. I couldn't possibly leave you hanging with that unanswered question."
 
"I'm okay," She said softly, looking up at him and pushing a hand through her hair, "and he may not be going anywhere either. I know." She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. This sucked, and it would suck, and it would hang over her until it was either confirmed to happen or not. It sucked and she hated it but she was trying to pretend like it didn't feel like a big deal, "and you've got to see it when I can finally do the one-arm piked Gienger. Because I'll get it. I'm real tired of falling on my face." It was so unfair Alec was okay.
 
Alec moved slowly in case Sloan didn't want the touch. He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "When you get it, you'll be amazing," he told her, his voice soft. He leaned sideways, trying to catch her eye, and smiled. "And until we find out one way or the other about you-know-what, we'll focus on making the most of every day. Right?"
 
"Yeah..." Sloan murmured, and then scowled but didn't pull away from Alec, "It's just-- Emily and I broke up, and she got all of our friends in the divorce, essentially," she did not realize she admitted it was a break up, "and I still talk with a few of them but only when she's not around, and now--" She gestured with her free hand, "I'm real sick of everything changing all at once."
 
Alec didn't react to the revelation that Sloan and Emily were dating. He had figured that out a long time ago. Even Xander had a clue. "Change is rough, but that's pretty much all life is. Change. Good change, bad change, it's all just opportunities." He squeezed her hand again. "But even if you know you're going to come out on top and everything will be okay, it's alright to cry and be sad about what you're losing. It's okay to be upset. Just remember that all storms end. Eventually."
 
"Sometimes they get it right," he said cheerfully.

Xander stood up and moved a step away. "Come on. We're going to be late to class."

Alec let go of Sloan's hand and moved to follow Xander. "I'm a text away if you need anything," he told Sloan. "Don't hesitate if you need anything."

The twins walked away, hurrying to get to class before they were marked as tardy. It was a hopeless venture, but at least they tried. Alec waited until they were definitely out of Sloan's line of sight before letting himself slump. Xander put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Neither said anything, but Xander knew Alec was very much not okay with all of this. To Alec, however, it seemed Sloan needed a bit of comfort more than to see him fretting over what might or might not happen.
 
"Yeah, you're right." Sloan said, moving to shove all of her belongings into her bag, "Thanks. Thank you." She stood, "You can text me too. It sucks for all of us." Then she headed towards class, much more slowly than the twins, because she didn't particularly care if she was tardy.
 
The rest of the day dragged. Alec tried not to think about Peter, but the thoughts haunted his mind. He even tried some of the techniques his therapist taught him, but he used them rather half-heartedly and thus didn't good results. It was just a possibility. Not a set thing. And even if he was leaving, it wasn't until after school. He should focus on that.

Xander did what he normally did and shoved everything down and aside, refusing to give it another thought. It wasn't his problem. At least, not right now it wasn't. He'd deal with it later.
 
Sloan put in her headphones and did her best to ignore everything like she had been trying to do more and more lately. Her grades were still fine, maybe a bit worse than before, but not dangerously. Her college applications wouldn't be threatened, that was enough for her. It just wasn't fair. Even if he wasn't leaving until the end of the school year, that just put an end clock on everything. And she hated goodbyes. And she hated she didn't have control over any of it.

Dark, meanwhile, was still slogging through the school day, waiting to go home, unaware there was a chance Peter was moving-- which was for the best, because if he knew Peter might be moving, then he would know Sally might be moving, and then he would be stuck trying to decide if he should break the news to Daizi or wait for Sally to do so. And he hated keeping secrets from his wife. Had he known, instead of thinking about how he missed his baby, he would be thinking about how to help everyone else in his family cope with their good friends moving away. Instead, he just had a long phone call with Daizi and Ivy with his door locked so he could cry a little bit in peace with them.
 
The school day finally ended, at least as far as schooling went. Alec nearly forgot he had drama, and Xander was stuck hanging out doing homework while the drama group argued over which play to do. They seemed to be having a hard time agreeing, and the person constantly reminding them, "We need to make a decision!" was not helping. Finally, they wrapped things up fifteen minutes after Dark was supposed to be done with his work, and Alec and Xander went to find him for their ride home. Xander grumbled the whole way about how if he had a car, things would be so much easier.
 
Dark was still in his classroom, desperately trying to reorganize the things the sub had moved in their time in the classroom, and had hyperfixated so sincerely he actually succeeded in distracting himself for the first time all day. Then the twins came in, and he turned around with the subtle little smile he had reserved for them and said, "Hello, my boys. How are you?"
 
"We finally decided on a play!" Alec groaned, throwing himself into a chair. "We are doing," he held up his hand for emphasise, pointing pointlessly at the ceiling, "The Wizard of Oz!" He sighed and dropped his arm, still looking up at the ceiling. "Not my first choice, but at this point, I'd agree to do even Romeo and Juliet."

Xander leaned in the doorway, exhausted and ready for the day to be done.
 
"Oh, good," Dark said, relatively pleased with the choice, "you could have chosen worse. Although I am not a fan of that bit where the good witch says, 'only bad witches are ugly,'" he frowned, thinking of Daizi, but also, now, of Ivy, who would need now to grow up in a world which equated beauty with goodness. "You should all decide what you'll be doing next year now, so you have time to prepare."
 
"I know! It's not even in the book," Alec groaned. "Honestly, though, if this what drama club is like, I'm not sure I want to keep doing it. I'll totally see this through to the end, but I don't know about later." He pulled himself straight in his chair. "Have you gotten your desk sorted yet?"
 
"Nearly. Whoever subbed left candy wrappers in the center drawer, and nothing was at all organized." Dark huffed, going back to his desk, "Ivy's last sonogram was still in the drawer. It is funny to think less than a week after this was taken I was holding her." He looked down at the picture again, then tucked it back into his wallet to take home and add it to the box with the others, "Daizi put a picture of her into my lunchbox. I am not sure how she managed it. Here," he handed the twins the picture he kept of them, the one from the talent show, "Tell me, should I replace it with a more recent one? I do not have many of the two of you, but I keep a few."
 
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"Oh, wow, I didn't know you had this," Alec said in surprise. "You know, you could get a picture of the three of us together and save space that way. Fewer pictures to get lost!"
 
"It seemed right," Dark said simply, putting the photograph back into his desk drawer, "my plan was to remove all of them before going on leave, but I did not have the opportunity. A picture of the three of you could be nice. And simpler. If Daizi is in it too, I would be back down to one picture. But the one of her I have in here is one of my favorites," he passed it over: there wasn't really anything special about it. Daizi didn't even look like she knew the picture was being taken, and she was sitting in the grass, probably in their garden by some of the flowers just barely in frame, and she was laughing while braiding dandelions together, with the sun in her hair. "The picture Daizi gave me of Ivy is cute, too. Look, it is from when she first smiled, I think."
 
"This is a really nice picture," Alec agreed, looking at before handing it back.

"You know," Xander drawled, "we could hang around here looking at pictures, or we could go home and look at the actual subjects of the pictures."

"Is that your way of saying you want to go home?" Alec asked with a smirk.

"Yes," Xander replied flatly.
 
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