How Green Becomes Wood

"It probably was." Sloan said quietly, slumping down on the bench, not understanding. She didn't even know that kid, why was he talking about her? Well... she could guess, and after guessing she wish she hadn't.
 
"I'm sure it doesn't matter nearly as much as we think it matters," Alec finally said. "He apologized, which was more for him than you since you weren't even there, and things got sorted." He held out a mini cupcake that Xander had made. "Here. Feel better."

Peter looked at him hopefully, but Alec had only packed the one cupcake, so he was out of luck.
 
Sloan raised her eyes and looked at Alec confused, feeling like he was just trying to push past it. And she didn't understand that, either. Maybe he was right and they shouldn't dwell on it, but she wondered if he would be so willing to ignore what was said if he was sitting in her seat... He had been before, Sloan thought. Xander had definitely been in fights over people bullying him before, she knew that, but she wasn't sure if Xander would ever keep the secret of why from him. "Thanks," she said quietly, taking the cupcake from him, but as she did, a new question popped into her mind. Did Alec know? Xander knew, obviously, because he picked the fight, and it seemed unlikely Xander kept secrets from his brother. And if that was true, he did know, then why was he trying to keep her from knowing? She was more involved than he was, wasn't she?
 
"You're welcome." Alec let the silence fall for a few moments before asking, "What does the color yellow mean to you?"

"Mustard," Peter said instantly since he was currently trying to keep a blob of mustard from falling from his sandwich to his shirt.
 
"My grandmother used to wear this yellow dress to temple." Sloan said, unwrapping the cupcake carefully, deciding she may as well eat it before the rest of her lunch, "It was my favourite dress of hers. We buried her in it."
 
"Well, that's an... interesting connection," Alec said slowly. Then, more brightly, he said, "I think of the usual things like lemon drops and sunflowers. Flowers are awesome. How about the color blue?" He kept them talking about different colors through lunch, trying to find a way to keep their spirits up and Slaon feeling a little better. And distracted.
 
The distraction worked mostly, but Sloan couldn't quite keep that nagging feeling out of her mind. In quiet moments, her thoughts kept drifting back to that conversation, what was said about her, and who else may have be saying similar things. And who they were saying those things to. And who else knew.

But it was easier to distract herself, and so she did her best to, while she desperately waited for the school day to end.
 
The school day finally came to an end, and Alec went up to say goodbye to Dark before rushing to get to the bus on time. It was a slow ride home, but at least he'd get home before Dark.

Meanwhile, Xander had spent the day either working on his homework or out in his shed shop. He'd gotten an order on his online store, and while it was a small one, an order was an order. When he needed a break, he came inside to help Daizi out with the household chores and occasionally make a funny face at Ivy. Silently so Daizi wouldn't know what he was doing. It was a busy day, but it seemed to stretch out forever. He hoped Cooger would soon take him out on a job, any job. It wasn't that he hated being home. It just felt weird to be home when he knew Alec was at school and his mind and body had become conditioned to believing he had to constantly be working during the school day.
 
Since Sloan drove instead of taking the bus, she made it to their street earlier than Alec did. After parking in her driveway, she sat for a few moments, and then realized she couldn't resist and, leaving her bag in her car, crossed the street and knocked on the Wahid-Dark-Cunningham front door, bouncing anxiously on her heels.
 
Xander was closest to the door, so he wandered over and opened it. He frowned when he saw who it was. "Hey, Sloan. What's up?" He glanced behind her, wondering if she'd given Alec a ride home or something. No, she was alone.
 
"Hey," She said, anxiously. The drive home wasn't distracting enough, so she had been thinking about her day maybe too intensely, "Um. I know this is crazy. Was your fight about me?"
 
Xander stared at her. Then he turned and called back into the house, "Mum, I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back. Going to take a walk." He didn't wait for her reply as it was more of a way to let her know where he was than asking permission. He grabbed his shoes and pulled them on as he stepped out the door. "Let's walk."
 
That dispelled one worrying theory that Alec had told her. He would have been shocked and expected a darn good explanation as to why Alec would do something like that, but it was nice to hear he didn't have to worry about it. "Daizi doesn't know, so we're staying out of her hearing," Xander said bluntly, walking slower so Sloan could easily keep up. "What do you want to know? Three guys beat the crap out of each other, end of story."
 
"Three guys didn't beat the crap out of each other. You're fine. The only injuries you have you did to yourself," She pointed out, shoving her hands in her pockets. "And unless one of the two you fought switched sides halfway through, my math counts it as one guy beating the crap out the other two. And one of the ones you beat up came up to apologize for what people like him had been saying about me."
 
Xander stopped and turned to look at her. "Really? No kidding?" he asked, genuinely surprised. "Huh. Cool." He started walking again. "I guess a couple of bangs to the head made him reconsider his life."
 
"But I don't know what he had been saying." She pointed out, feeling like he was missing the point, "or what others are still saying. You got suspended fighting because of something people said about me, and nobody is letting me know why. I'm not your five month old sister, you know. I'm closer to being an adult than you are."
 
Xander took a deep breath and blew it out. "I can tell you, but you aren't going to like it," he warned her, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I was hoping you wouldn't find out about it at all. Are you sure you really want to know?"
 
"Yes I want to know," Sloan said firmly, looking at Xander. "It kind of bothers me you told Alec but didn't let me know anything about it until I found out from someone else. And like, I know if you lied to Alec you'd probably go into cardiac arrest on the spot, but it's still more my buisness than it is his."
 
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Xander wasn't sure it was her business more than his twin's, but that wasn't an argument he wanted to get into right now. "Okay, but I warned you." He told her. He left nothing out in repeating the phobic slander he'd overheard from the pair in the bathroom and muttered a few words about what he'd done to address the situation before falling silent.
 
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