Dedicated to @banana_in_the_hoop for the beautiful cover at the top! Thank you💖

This update is long because I haven't updated in what feels like a long time : )

Chapter Fifty: "Call Him Daddy."

"SYDNEY, SYDNEY, SYDNEY!." Jane grinned at me as she came running down the hall. She blasted right past two people who were talking, ending up in one of them pressing themselves against a locker as she made her way.

My eyes widened as she tried slowing to a stop but almost crashed into me. I stopped her, holding her steady by the shoulders. "What? What happened?"

"Since Lucas isn't here, I figured you'd be the one I tell everything to."

I exchanged a glanced with an amused Mary Anne who casually looked down at her phone. "Um...okay?"

"So, you remember the girl I'm interested in?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you mean-"

"Wait," Mary Anne looked at Jane in confusion. "You're..."

"A lesbian?  Jane nodded. "I don't really give myself a label but yeah. You didn't know?"

"No," Mary Anne admitted.

Jane shrugged. "It's not really a big deal and it's not like anyone really asks. Like what are they going to do? Walk up to me and ask, 'do you like girls?'. I'm the one who asks the questions. In case you haven't noticed, I am really talkative."

"You don't say." I murmured. Yeah, Jane was talkative but I think it was one of her most endearing traits.

"Anyway!" Jane glared at me before continuing. "So, guess what happened between me and her?"

I could already see Mary Anne about to ask 'what' but I stopped her with a hand on her arm, remembering the same words Lucas had told me months ago. "Don't bother. She'll explain-"

"So, you know how me and her almost got suspended? Because of the fight over the pencil and everything?"

"Why would you fight over a pencil?" I could hear Mary Anne ask quietly in confusion.

"Well, she texted me last night- I'm not even sure how the fuck she got my number but thank you to whoever-and she started saying sorry about how she shouldn't have taken the pencil when I kept telling her not to. And I was like 'it's okay, it doesn't really matter' and then she was like 'oh but it I could see much the pencil meant to you-"

"It's a pencil." Mary Anne deadpanned and held in laughter at her tone. I'm happy it wasn't just me who found the fight stupid. 

Jane, once again, ignored her. "And I shouldn't have used it'. Then she was apologizing and shit and I'm thinking to myself 'yes Jane, you got her right where you want her. She's going to be yours one day. No more fights.'" She was nodding and pointing vigorously, almost as if she was telling us and telling herself the game plan. 

"No more fights over a pencil." I pointed out.

"Then we ended up getting into a fight over this show about our favorite characters and we talked for so long. It was all just-" Jane stopped and let out a little excited scream, my eyes widening at the tiny outburst.

"I'm guessing you like her even more." I said, smiling at how excited my friend was. 

"Way more. By the way, I miss Lucas. Usually when I rant to him he doesn't interrupt but you guys will learn."

"Where is Lucas... and Joey Cahill? I haven't either of them now that I think about it. Usually I see Lucas with you in the morning and Joey outside with the other fuckboys in the music department." Mary Anne ended that sentence with a smile and I couldn't help but laugh.

My eyes wandered to Jane and she gave me a look to tell Mary Anne. "Um, he's in England. He went back to his old place for a couple of days."

"For like a visit?"

"It's the anniversary of his sister's death," I answered. "They wanted to go to the place where she was put to rest."

"Oh." Mary Anne fell silent. "That-That's good."

"Not really much you can say to that right?" Jane said, looking inside my locker. "Sydney, when he calls you tonight make sure he's doing fine. The whole fight with Joey is still taking a toll on him and if I find out that him and Joey fought, I will find a way to hit the two of them back into sense."

Mary Anne's eyes widened at Jane's tone and I got to admit even I got a little scared. Jane took out some perfume from my locker and started spraying herself with it. "I mean those two are so stupid-hmm...this smells really good. What is it? Vanilla?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off when she put it back in my locker and shut the metal door, locking the lock. 

"But seriously? Make sure he's alright. I really don't want to see him in that art room when he gets back, throwing paint at the canvas like he's throwing his anger. It may look like a healthy way to get your anger out but on him? It's kind of scary."

"I don't want to see him like that either."

"You should see him when's he's really and or upset and there's no school. All he does is sit down in that dark as hell art domain and paint. He could paint complete and utter nonsense but you can tell-"

"What emotion he's feeling. Yeah, I know."

"You people really love interrupting me, don't you?"

"Sorry Jane." I apologized.

"Uh-huh," Jane gave me a smile to let me know she was kidding. "I'll see you guys in later."

Jane walked off and I glanced at Mary Anne who pointed at my locker. "Can you open up your locker again? I want the perfume."

"Seriously?"

"Jane's right! It smells good."  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I shuffled on my bed, trying to get my notes in order. Papers were everywhere and when my phone was ringing I couldn't even find it the first time. The second time it started ringing, I finally found it under a pile of organic chemistry stuff I didn't even understand. Honestly, I was at a point where I wanted to forget about school.

I quickly swiped my finger across the screen, holding it up to my ear to hear his voice. "Hey."

"Hi," I cleared my throat, trying to fix the papers around me. "How was today?"

"Um...it was a little weird I have to admit."

At that sound of his voice, I stopped what I was doing and moved to a more comfortable position on my bed. I looked outside, hearing the slight rain coming down and hitting against the window. "What happened?"

"It was a just a lot of family time. With the way mum and dad have been going to places and some of my brothers out of the house, it's getting pretty rare for all of us to be together, let alone be in the same room. When mum gave the idea for all of us to fly to England everyone literally dropped what they were doing and went."

Lucas took a deep breath and there was some shuffling in the background. "We stayed at the old house."

"You mean the one where you used to tell me how you and your brothers and sister would play hide and sick in. The castle you showed me about in pictures that you lived in when you were younger?"

"The same one. Every time we go back it's like taking a stroll down memory lane."

"Good memories I hope."

"Good. Bad. Mostly good," Lucas sighed. "You know how you told me your grandmother died? Did you ever go back to see her grave?"

"They have a tombstone for her but not a coffin. She wanted to be cremated. I remember when I went to Dominican that time, she had this tree next to the house where my mom grew up in. She didn't want to be kept in an urn so she wanted to be put in the soil where the tree is. So, any time I go back there and look at the tree I have no choice but to think of her."

"Wow."

"Yeah," I bit my lip, trying to collect my thoughts and blink away the tears that were forming. "But she's in a better place now. So is Bethany."

"I know," Lucas sighed. "Sydney?"

"Yeah?"

"I really missed you today."

"I missed you too. When are you coming back?"

"The day after tomorrow. Did you know there's a word for that?"

A smile came to my face. "What's the word?"

"Overmorrow. I'll see you overmorrow."

"Overmorrow huh?"

"Yeah. I'll hug you and kiss you and tell you happy birthday overmorrow too."

I couldn't help but hide my face under my hand even though he couldn't see me. "I hate it when you get cheeky like this."

"You love it, stop lying." I did.

"I love you."

"And I love you baby girl."

"The Canada girl phase just died, didn't it?"

"It'll make a comeback but until further notice I'm calling you-"

"Wait!" I heard another voice in the background and some shuffling. "Sydney, did Lucas just call you what I think he just called you?"

Greg.

"Uh, yeah." I said, wondering where this was going.

"Seriously? Do you call him daddy or something?"

"What?" I exclaimed rather loudly.

"Greg!" I heard Lucas say and there was more shuffling before I could hear him clearly. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay. Just know that never calling you that. Ever."

"You say that now!" I heard Greg yell again and there was more shuffling and swearing before I heard only Lucas again.

"Isn't it like one in the morning over there? You should get some sleep."

"Jet lag. Talk to me. Tell me about your day."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Happy birthday Syd!" Jane smiled widely, being the first person to greet me from my locker. I reciprocated her smile and she made her way to shove a present in my hand. "Here. Take."

"Um...thank you?" I laughed, not even having a moment to look at my decorated locker. Just looking at the locker made me surprised with how neat it was, from the bow at the top to the happy birthday sign vertically on it. But at the same time, I cringed with the multiple pictures plastered on it that I've sent my friends since I've met them. I get bored a lot so there was a lot on my locker. 

"Sydney, open it." She urged.

"Why don't you ask her instead of demanding it?" I heard Devin say as he moved towards us. "Happy birthday Sydney." I gave him a hug but was distracted when Jane pulled me away once again.

"I wouldn't say I demanded her to open it but..." Jane started but I didn't hear her when someone had barreled their way behind me and hugged me tightly from behind.

"Happs Syd." I heard Kim say. It was good to see her. I didn't know anything more about her and Mr. Stiles. I wasn't given any information about what her parents or the police were doing about him. I just wanted her okay and according to Zen she seemed to be doing okay. Her and Zen have been speaking a bit more than he thought they would. Maybe she did understand. I turned to hug her back when I heard Jane complain again. 

"You're going to crush my present oh my God," Jane said frantically. "Kim, get off of her."

"Okay, okay, geez," Kim let go of me. "What did you get her anyway?"

"Maybe if she opened it, she'll realize why it's so important."

I rolled my eyes, smiling and reaching into the bag to open the present. I looked inside the bag and couldn't help but grin. "This phone case. Holy crap, I love it."

"I know it's thick and it says dance on the back but it gets even better. Look." Jane clicked the sides of it and I looked at the back of the case, seeing the words dance light up in different colors.

"Whoa. Where did you get this?" I heard Zen say when he popped up beside me.

"I know a guy," Jane answered before looking up at me with a grin, rocking on her flats. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah Jane. I love it. Thank you."

She waved a hand. "It didn't cost anything."

"How much is anything?" Zen asked, staring at Jane. "Three hundred?"

"Well, her name is engraved at the bottom of the case so less than thousand."

My jaw dropped along with Zen but Kim wasn't surprised. She just kept inspecting the phone case herself. "This is really cool. Ooh and she got you customized headphones."

"Jane..." I trailed off as Kim took out the other present to show me.

Jane shrugged. "Syd, it was nothing. Also, remind Lucas that I got you the better present, okay?"

"You didn't," I could hear him say as he walked towards us. Kim held the present as he I walked towards him to hug him tightly as he continued talking. "Her affection can't be bought with money."

"Then why does she love you?" I heard Devin ask and I laughed against Lucas shoulder as he enveloped me in his arms. Finally.

"Devin, you dick." Lucas muttered against my hair as everyone laughed. Lucas pulled back holding my face in his hands. "18, huh?"

"18." I murmured back.

"You feeling old yet?"

"Older than you yeah." I poked him on the chest.

"By a couple of months. Don't let it get to your head."

"How cute," Jane teased. "But do you see a gift in his hands? No. Jane comes prepared."

"Jane was also the first one to put everyone into a group chat and tells all of us not to decorate your locker because she had it handled." Kim mentioned.

"It's not like I was going to help anyway." I heard Zen say.

I turned around to look at Zen. "Shut up."

"Because it's your birthday, I'll let it slide."

"Sure."

"Hey, so after your dance practice we have plans." Lucas said.

"What?" I stared at him in confusion when I turned back around in his arms. "We have plans? You realize that's not going to work out, right? Even if it's my birthday or not."

"No. My mom didn't want just you and your mom celebrating it tonight alone so she kind of wanted to throw a little thing at our house. It's not going to be big. You guys are coming, right?"

"The party?" Eduardo appeared with Mary Anne, smiling. "Definitely. I'm coming but I'm on curfew and it's still a school night so-"

"Don't worry," Lucas cut him off when Mary Anne wished me a happy birthday. "It won't be that late."

"Great."

I was still processing this. "Um...you guys really don't have to do this..."

"Nope, we're doing this," Eduardo pointed at me. He clearly wanted this party way more than I did. I think the stress of school and dance was getting to his head and he needed a break. Hell, at this school, I think all of us deserved a tiny break.  "When was the last time you had a birthday party?"

I thought about it. "I think when I was four."

"There. Clarified. Your mom is even on board. You're going to Cahill's tonight. No argument." Jane clapped her hands. 

"Jane, you're only coming because you think there's going to be alcohol." Devin said.

"No,' Jane pulled me aside and gave me a hug. "I'm going because its my dear friend's birthday and- yeah you're totally right."

"You don't want to see Jane when she's drunk." Lucas told me.

"I saw you at that party Arden threw last year and yeah, you went off." Kim mentioned.

"She's that crazy?" I asked.

"You don't even know the half of it." Lucas mumbled. "Luckily for everyone Jane is not going to be drinking. She can't get access to the wine cellar unless she brings her own stuff."

I could hear the first bell ring and soon off everyone started saying their byes and moved off to their classes until Lucas and I were the only one's left in the hallway. "We're going to be late."

"Just a second." He leaned down to press a kiss to my cheek. "I'll be giving you your present tonight so then we'll see if Jane's is the better present."

"You guys should stop turning it into a competition."

"Let's just get to class." He laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I laughed, handing Zen the rest of my piece of cake as Octavia continued her story. Eduardo cut in. "Octavia, you need to stop being bold."

"He wanted a picture. I gave him a picture."

"You climbing on someone's car to take the picture isn't probably what he meant!"

"He didn't care! In fact, he said he was honored that I stepped on his car and didn't even leave a dent or a scratch. Then I gave him an autograph and he told me he will watch the movie when it comes out. I'm not just bold, Eddie. I'm confident."

"Confident and crazy." Zen mumbled.

"Why are you talking, Zen? Your stupid music is the only thing playing here and everyone is sick of it."

"What are you talking about?"

Octavia reached over to the table where Zen's phone was hooked up to the portable speaker. "I'm finding a different song."

"No, your songs are dumb."

"Don't worry I'll find a song you can still fist pump to." Octavia rolled her eyes and glanced at me. "Although, I definitely know what song I may not want to change it to."

"Why do you say that?" Mary Anne asked, looking down at Zen's phone over Octavia's shoulder.

"Because Lucas might go crazy and give Sydney another hickey her mom might find out about." Octavia started laughing and soon everyone in the room, my strange friends started laughing their asses off.

I glanced at Lucas and he was already turning red, leaning his head back further on the couch, avoiding everyone's eyes. "Every day is pick on Lucas day I swear." I heard him mumble.

"Lucas, it's okay man," Eduardo said, shoving cake in his mouth. "Next time give your girl a hickey where it isn't visible, you know what I'm saying?"

"Oh my God." I buried my face in my hands at his words even when I heard Lucas chuckle.

"Sydney, we should sing happy birthday for you." Eduardo insisted.

"We already did." Sarah told him.

"Yeah but Kim sang that. Not us. Not me." He pointed out.

"That's because Kim can actually sing. There's a reason you were born a dancer." I said to him.

"I can sense the shade Sydney. Don't think you can get past me even when you turn 18?" Eduardo put a hand to his chest. 

"Wouldn't dream of it." I laughed.

Jane walked into the library, a bottle in her hand. "Look what I got!"

"Oh no," Lucas said, pulling himself up. "How did you get that?"

"Christian. Surprisingly, he has the keys to the wine cellar in your basement and I got to get this." Jane shook the bottle in her hand. "Ooh, we also have a little surprise for Sydney."

I stared at her in confusion until she pulled out another person-two people actually. "Oh my God."

"You missed me I knew it." He said, his hands already out for me to hug him.

"Wesley!" I handed Lucas my drink and ran to jump into his arms, the both of us almost falling over.  

"I knew you missed me."

"Your cousin is missing a hug as well." Michelle said beside him and I let go of Wesley to hug her.

"What-How-" I couldn't even finish my sentence. I was still surprised. They were here.

"Your man." Wesley said, taking a seat next to Octavia and nodding at Lucas.

"Really?" I turned to Lucas and he shrugged, a lazy smile on his face. 

"Ooh, pass the bottle." Wesley stuck his hand out and I immediately rolled my eyes. He noticed and grinned wickedly at me. "Are you going to get mad if I drink?"

"I'm not really going to care. All I know is that you're going to hug my mom and eventually she's going to notice the alcohol on your breath."

"Hmm..." Wesley trailed off then looked at Jane as he weighed the bottle in his hand. "You got gum?"

Jane reached into her purse and handed Wesley a packet of gum. Wesley shook it in his hand before dropping it off to the side. "See Syd?"

"Okay," I raised my eyebrows slightly in a knowing way. "But remember the last time you got drunk and called me?"

"That was an unstable night," Wesley said, already