How Green Becomes Wood

"I just thought you had news, that's all," Sloan said, taking her usual seat and opening up her lunchbox, "I'm sorry you had a rough morning, though. I hope everything's okay. I'm technically grounded," she glanced at Xander, "but I have a competition next weekend so I still get to go to practice, so it doesn't really affect me much."
 
"That sucks," Xander said. "Do you drive yourself to practice?"

"I'm sorry," Alec winced. "I hoped she wouldn't notice."

Peter glanced between them. "What did you three get up to this weekend?"
 
"I do, yeah, but she made me put the location tracker back on my phone so she can be absolutely certain I'm going nowhere but to and from practice. I can't even stop for food after, and I'm required to call her if I'm getting gas." Sloan sighed, resting her chin in her palm, "It'll be alright. It was worth it. We snuck out of a terrible barbecue with all, or most, of our terrible neighbors and went to a tiny, run-down little karaoke bar instead."
 
Peter brightened at that. "That sounds like great fun! I hate stuffy parties with a bunch of fake people. Totally worth getting grounded over."

"I guess you could always forget your phone somewhere," Xander mused.

Alec gave him a gentle smack on the arm. "Stop that! You're going to get her into more trouble."

Xander held up his hands. "Fine, alright, pay your penance and then we can do something cool again."
 
"Oh, believe me, I thought about it," Sloan said, "but then if something actually happens and I need to get ahold of someone... It's just not worth it. And it's only for a few weeks, it'll be fine. But, Peter--what happened this morning?"
 
Peter waved his hand. "Oh, you know, little stuff. Got up on the wrong side of the bed - literally - burned my toast, Dad couldn't find the keys and he's still grouchy so we were nearly late to school, I realized I left my math homework at home on my desk, and apparently, I did the wrong English assignment. Wonderful time!"
 
"Next weekend. It isn't a super major one, but I'm still excited for it. It's always good to keep yourself familiar with the competition environment. Benny isn't excited though, if you don't really care about gymnastics, it's a lot of 'hurry-up and wait'ing. But luckily since I can drive myself, now, they don't have to be there all day like the used to have to be."
 
"If you do well," Alec said carefully, "do you think your parents would let you come celebrate at the pizza parlor? We'll be playing there this Saturday. Milo might be there, too."

"We'll be seeing him on Friday. I doubt he'll want to hang out on Saturday, too. That's a lot of time with a pair of overwhelming dudes," Xander pointed out.

"Oh, yes, you're right," Alec frowned. "Good point."

"Do I get to invite people?" Peter asked. Then he laughed at their surprised looks. "Yes, I know I can, I was just feeling left out."

"Sorry," Alec apologized.
 
"I'm not sure... Maybe? I mean, honestly, probably not, but I can try to cajole and plead. I'd like to go, although I'll be dead tired, but it'd still be a good time. Especially depending on how it goes... If you win, you party, you know? But if you lose, you party harder." She chuckled, as if her parties were anything other than just hanging out with friends, "If you are unsure about what someone wants to do, you should ask them and let them decide."
 
"I hear ya," Xander muttered with a nod.

Alec gasped and looked at Sloan in shock. "You mean... give people an option rather than assume and chose for them? What a phenomenal idea! Astonishing!" He grinned, showing her he was teasing.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure that is a novel idea for you," Peter grinned at him.

Alec made a face at him.
 
"Call me an innovator," Sloan replied coolly, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder, "But, for me, you know, even if I can't go this Saturday, that doesn't mean I won't be free another Saturday. None of us are going anywhere, and I doubt your band is breaking up anytime soon."
 
"Not anymore!" Alec said happily.

Xander glanced around and stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be back." Catching Alec's worried look, he said, "Relax, I'm not going to be getting into any kind of fights in there. I'll be back. Just stick with Peter." He nudged Alec's shoulder and headed out.

"I don't need a babysitter," Alec grumbled.

"How do you know he's not assigning you to babysit me?" Peter asked with a grin.
 
"I think you both need a baby sitter." Sloan teased, leaning back just in case of retaliation. But it was, if you really thought about it, her right to tease them, because she was the oldest at the table.
 
Peter laughed and pretended to boo as he tossed a crumpled-up wrapper at her, bouncing it off her elbow.

"Well, you are the most... mature of us," Alec said, bouncing his eyebrows at her.

~~

Meanwhile, Xander had made his way to the back of the school and let himself out the back door. It was intended for staff like the lunch ladies and janitors, and the halls were monitored, but the last two cameras had been out for years, and the door that was supposed to be kept locked was ajar. They remembered to lock it at night before leaving, but they didn't want to bother with locking and unlocking it during the day. Xander had known about it for the last four years, and when he needed to take a break, this was the perfect route to take. He stepped out behind the school and started walking. He didn't go far, just paced a bit, getting what passed for fresh air before pulling out a cigarette. He sat on an empty bucket and lit it up, taking a few puffs.

He felt so frazzled! His nerves shot! He couldn't think straight! Why? There was nothing new. He'd fought before. Gotten suspended. Nothing had changed at school, yet it felt like sandpaper dragging across his skin. Why?
 
"By one year!" Sloan laughed, picking up the paper and tossing it back at Peter.

~~

There was some light crunching as someone walked up the gravel towards Xander, and then a quiet, "I didn't know you smoked," coming from a familiar, meek voice, "I smelled it from around the corner, but when I didn't hear anyone talking on the phone I figured it wasn't a cafeteria worker."
 
The paper bounced off Peter's upraised arm and tumbled over onto Alec's side of the table. "At our age, one year makes a lot of difference," he shot back, playfully lobbing the paper at Peter.

"Help! I'm being attacked from both sides!" Peter laughed.

~~

Xander took a deep puff and blew it out in a cloud. "I'm not the only one. Could have been of the guys who's fond of beating you up," he remarked without looking around.
 
"You started it!" Sloan laughed, "You're the one who first started throwing things!"

~~

"Maybe." Milo agreed, still standing exactly where he was before, "But I looked around the corner to see who it was before approaching. You didn't notice me then... Isn't sneaking cigarettes out behind the school more of an 80s/90s trope? Shouldn't you be vaping instead? Or are you vintage?"
 
"True, but for some reason, I didn't think they'd get thrown back at me," Peter snickered. He lightly tossed the paper at Alec, who considered throwing it but decided against it and added it to his trash pile.

"Do you still enjoy competing?" Alec asked Sloan curiously.

~~~

Xander snorted. "Cigs ain't cheap, but they're a heck of a lot cheaper than vaping, and vaping shreds your lungs a thousand times worse." He'd only smoked about a quarter of the cigarette, and the nicotine had only just start to take the edge off his nerves, but for Milo's sake, he stubbed it out and kept it in hand to finish later. "Since you won't even report the guys who like to to treat you as a punching bag, I guess I don't have to worry about you narcing on me."
 
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