Green Apples

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: Sydney and Michael are teachers at the same high school. Shy Michael is too afraid to ask Sydney out, but what will happen when he finally gets up the nerve?

Disclaimer: Sydney, Vaughn, etc are properties of JJ Abrams and ABC.

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Chapters 1-10 // Chapters 11 - 20 + Epilogue

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Chapter 11

Michael could hardly believe it when the summer was drawing to a close. It seemed like only days had passed since he last set foot into Jefferson High, not months. He was enjoying his time with Sydney much more since she had voluntarily decided not to invite him on any more wild adventures. Actually, he was enjoying everything a lot more now that Eric had finally moved out on his own after acquiring a new job. With Eric gone and not wandering his apartment naked, Sydney and Michael were able to cuddle on his couch without fear of being interrupted at any moment. During those times the two of them would be curled up together, Michael had never been so thankful he managed to muster up the courage to ask Sydney out, for it turned out to be the best thing he had ever done.

With the end of August quickly approaching, Sydney and Michael were required to return to school for their teacher-in-service days before the students arrived. It was over lunch on one of these days that Sydney brought up an intriguing invitation to Michael. “So, um, my parents are having this end of summer barbeque thing that they have every year. It’s a chance for all of us to be together since we’re kinda spread out around the country now with me living here and my sister living in California. Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like to come…with me,” Sydney said to him.

“Come with you?” Michael asked, slightly surprised. Meeting her parents was a big step, wasn’t it? Granted they’d been together for four months, but still…

“Yeah, if you wanna,” Sydney said with a hopeful smile.

“Sure, yeah, okay,” he agreed. “When is it?”

“This weekend. We’d have to fly there – my parents live in Texas,” she explained.

“Really? I thought you said you grew up around here…”

“Oh I did, but my parents moved to Texas about four years ago, once Nadia graduated college and moved out,” Sydney told him.

“I see…. Well that’s okay. It’ll be a short flight anyway.”

“Oh yeah it’s only like an hour and a half tops… and then we’ll stay overnight, but, uh,” she paused and cringed slightly, “we won’t be able to share a bed… see, my dad’s this crazy Nazi like person who thinks both his daughters will be virgins until they’re married so…,” she let her voice drift off.

Michael laughed softly. “I guess that answers the ‘have your parents ever caught you… you know’ question.”

“God no,” Sydney shivered. “I fear the mere thought of that which is why I’ve never done that while they were in the same state…. Okay, that’s not true – but you get the point.”

“Right,” he laughed. “So your sister will be there too?”

“Oh yea… Nadia…she’s a treat,” Sydney rolled her eyes. Michael gave her a curious look so she continued. “Oh you know she’s just the typical bratty little sister… plus my parents like love her so much more than me because they’re so proud of her because she graduated med school and she’s going to save lives blah, blah, blah,” Sydney rolled her eyes.

“Gotcha,” Michael laughed.

~*~

For the few days leading up to leaving to meet Sydney’s parents, Michael was incredibly nervous. Meeting a girlfriend’s parents was nerve-wracking enough, but for some reason, Michael suspected that if Sydney’s father expected her to be a virgin until she was married then he also had a very high expectation for all her boyfriends. The impending third degree questioning was definitely adding to his uncertainty.

During their flight, Sydney chatted with Michael, informing him of good topics to discuss with her parents and topics to avoid discussing (though she mostly told him about the latter). The flight was short and when they arrived at the tiny airport in Texas, Sydney’s father was waiting to pick them up. He greeted his daughter with a tight hug and then shook Michael’s hand firmly. The ten minute ride from the airport to Sydney’s parent’s house was mostly filled with conversation between father and daughter, but Michael was alright with that; the less he had to come up with topics to talk about, the better. Sydney’s sister was already waiting at the Bristow residence, so Michael was able to meet (and be overwhelmed by) the whole family at once.

“So Michael Sydney tells us the two of you work together at the same school,” Sydney’s mother, Irina, said with a sweet smile. “What is it that you teach?”

“Government and US history,” Michael told her. Nadia made snoring noises at this until Sydney elbowed her quickly in the side.

“Those topics interest you?” Sydney’s father asked.

“Yes, well almost all history interests me, but American history especially. In college I majored in it and government…. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to teach, but I knew that everyone had to learn US history growing up so I’d pretty much be assured a job,” he said with a slight laugh.

“My dad loves history too – especially the Civil War,” Sydney said, encouraging the two men to talk about something that wasn’t their relationship.

As the two men were talking, Nadia pulled her sister aside and looked at her in disbelief. “History?! He’s a history teacher?! God you two must be the most boring couple on the planet.”

Sydney laughed. “We’re not boring. Michael’s just… reserved.”

“Whatever,” Nadia rolled her eyes. In her mind, reserved was just a fancy word for boring. “Is he at least good in bed?”

“Well, uh,” Sydney cringed.

“You guys haven’t?! What’s wrong with you?!” she demanded quietly so that neither of her parents would hear.

“It’s not me! It’s him! He’s all… shy and stuff. It’s actually very cute,” Sydney told her with a soft smile.

Nadia shook her head in disbelief. “Boy, you must really like him then.”

“I do,” Sydney smiled at her. It was the truth too. When they first got together, she was not sure she would like a boyfriend who was not into jumping out of planes or off bridges with her. She never actually had a boyfriend who preferred sitting at home and reading over those things, so she gave him a try and actually found that she liked it. It was different from the usual group of guys she dated and, in this case, different definitely wasn’t a bad thing.



Chapter 12

On the first day of school (real school and not just teacher-in-service), Sydney practically skipped into her classroom. Something about the new year and starting over with a whole new group of students to teach energized her despite how early it was in the morning. All her bulletin boards and other assorted classroom decorations had been arranged the previous week, so all Sydney had to do was sit back and wait for the kids to arrive.

Before the busses began pouring in, Sydney made a quick trip to the school office to retrieve her mail. When she returned to her classroom, she found a large basket full of apples on her desk. Surprised, she walked over to it and examined it. The light brown basket held at least a dozen apples, all of them green just like she liked them. Tied around the handle with red ribbon was a card. Sydney detached it and read, To the best teacher in the world, ~Michael. Grinning broadly at his thoughtfulness, Sydney set the basket aside since it was overtaking her desk at the moment, knowing she couldn’t wait until lunch to see Michael and thank him for being so wonderful.

A mere twenty minutes after the apple discovery, the first student walked into her classroom. Not surprisingly, it was Beth, who was in her first period Calculus class as well as in her Homeroom. “Morning Miss Bristow,” Beth said in her usual cheerful manner, “did you have a nice summer?”

“I had a wonderful summer Beth, how about you?” Sydney asked.

“Oh you know,” Beth shrugged, “Work, vacations… too short.”

“Right,” Sydney laughed.

“Ohh what’s that? Did someone give you this?” Beth asked, pointing to the apple basket.

“Well, actually, yes… it’s from Michael,” Sydney told her.

“You guys are still together?!” Beth asked excitedly. Sydney nodded and Beth clapped her hands together with a giggle. “This is so great!! You guys are such an adorable couple!”

“Thanks Beth,” Sydney laughed softly.

~*~

For both Sydney and Michael, the morning was very long, filled with repeating the same first school day speech over and over again. Lunch was a very welcome break in their monotonous pattern. Michael spotted Sydney at her usual spot in the faculty lunch room, only there was someone already sitting across from her in his usual spot. Michael then opted to sit next to her. She turned to him with a large grin, placing her hand gently atop his. “Thank you so much.”

“For what?” he asked with a smile, though he knew exactly what she was talking about.

“You know what,” she laughed. Then she picked up a napkin and rubbed the apple in her hand before taking a big bite of out it and smiling at him.

Michael laughed. “You’re so cute.”

“I know,” she mumbled through the apple. Once she’d swallowed she continued, “You know Beth is in my Calc class and she saw the basket and she is just thrilled that we’re still together.”

“Oh that’s sweet… I haven’t seen her yet today,” Michael said. “Course she’s not in any of my classes….”

“How are your classes?” Sydney asked.

“Oh, you know, fine mostly. There’s one I think I might have trouble with a few students but good for the most part. You?”

“Same,” she told him. The two of them chatted the rest of the way through their lunch until they sadly parted to finish up the rest of the day’s classes.

After almost all the students had left via busses or their own or parent’s cars, Michael made his way to Sydney’s classroom to find her erasing her classroom’s blackboard. “I missed you today,” he said softly as he walked into her classroom.

She looked over to him and smiled. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m used to hanging out with you more than just at lunch with all those other people around.”

“I know it sucks,” she frowned. Michael walked over to her and kissed her bottom protruding lip. Sydney dropped the eraser from her hand as she kissed Michael back. After a few moments of kissing, she was backed up against the blackboard. It took her a few moments to remember that she was wearing a black suit and practically sitting on the chalk tray. “Oh no,” she gasped. She turned around in a circle, tugging at her pants and trying to see if she had a white chalk mark on them

Michael was utterly confused for a moment before he caught a glimpse of the seat of her pants and burst out laughing. “Oh no, is it bad?” Sydney asked.

“You’re butt…is white…,” Michael managed between laughter.

“Aww man…,” Sydney whined, trying to brush it off the best she could.

“Here let me,” Michael sighed. He held up her suit jacket and tried to brush off as much of the white dust as possible from her behind. Unfortunately at this moment, two other math teachers were hovering in the doorway of Sydney’s classroom unbeknownst to either of them. Their presence was finally announced, though, when one of them cleared their throat loudly.

Sydney and Michael froze and looked up to the doorway. Michael quickly stood up straight, removed his hand from its compromising position, and took two steps away from Sydney. “Well I guess I’ll be going now…,” he said quickly before exiting the classroom.

Sydney laughed nervously once he was gone. “Stupid chalk…”

“So the rumors are true then? You and Mr. Vaughn… an item?” Ms. Applemen, the divorcee Algebra teacher, asked Sydney.

“What rumors?” Sydney asked, trying to seem casual while really she was panicking. She wasn’t exactly sure what her thoughts on going public with her relationship with Michael were. Foolishly, she thought they could hide it forever, but realistically she knew sooner or later the school would find out about them.

“You know, the rumors that you and Mr. Vaughn are more than just friends. Come now, Sydney, the two of you have been pretty cozy in the lunchroom,” Ms. Applemen pointed out.

“Oh…yeah…,” Sydney sighed as she sat down in one of the student desks in her room.

“It’s cute,” Ms. Walters, also an Algebra teacher, chimed in. “Besides, it’s not that big of a deal; it happens all the time. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks,” Sydney said with a half smile, but she wasn’t so sure.



Chapter 13

In the coming weeks, it became obvious to the whole school that Sydney and Michael were, indeed, a romantic couple. Unbeknownst to either of them, there had actually been a rumor buzzing around the faculty at the end of the last year that was only fueled when Sydney and Michael continued to eat together. In addition to the staff knowing, the students began finding out as well. As promised, Beth never told anyone, however as the month of September progressed Sydney and Michael became less and less discrete about where they chose to kiss while on school grounds. Most notably was the time they were caught heavily making out in Michael’s classroom.

It was the last week in September, after school was officially over for the day, when Sydney went to visit Michael in his classroom. He was sitting as his desk grading essays, when she sauntered in and plopped herself right on top of the test he was grading. He leaned back in his chair and smiled up at her, both of them flirting. Then, as they talked, Sydney kicked off her shoes and, using her stocking covered feet, pulled Michael’s rolling chair as close to her as possible. At this point, Michael’s aging chair began to creak and he stood, fearing the chair would break beneath him. Before he had a moment to think about the chair, though, Sydney grabbed him by the tie and kissed him rather forcefully as she locked her heels around the back of his thighs.

Unfortunately for them, at this moment a student who had forgotten a sweater in Michael’s classroom walked in to see the kissing duo. Shockingly, neither Sydney nor Michael noticed the student at all. However, this mystery student was not shy about sharing what she had seen in Mr. Vaughn’s classroom so, by the end of the next day, everybody knew what had happened. To save themselves from the various rumors flying around about their torrid love affair, each more sleazy than the previous, Sydney and Michael were forced to set the record straight, informing everyone that they were in a committed six month long relationship and not just ‘fooling around’ as the rumors stated.

After the announcement, the general reaction of the student body was similar to that of Beth: overwhelming support. All over the school, students were talking about how adorable Sydney and Michael were and how much they hoped for the two of them to get married. Though they were notably surprised about this type of reaction, Sydney and Michael were glad that it was positive instead of negative.

~*~

The end of October brought the annual faculty Halloween party. The party was a big deal among the teacher especially since that year everyone was encouraged to come in costume. Surprisingly, Michael was more excited about attending the party in costume than Sydney. She had apparently had her fill of dressing up during her youth, where as Michael hadn’t dressed up since he was fourteen years old and was anxious to do it again. It was he who coaxed a very reluctant Sydney into dressing up with him. The only reason she agreed was because Michael’s costume choice, a hockey player, allowed her to paint him with makeup to give him an authentic post-game beat up look. In turn, after realizing the devious fun she would have doing that, Michael proclaimed he would be choosing Sydney’s costume. Though his first suggestion of bikini model resulted in him being smacked rather painfully, she did agree to his next suggestion of some type of Greek goddess.

The faculty party was taking place after school hours on the day of Halloween, which meant the teachers had to change into their costumes at school. Sydney spent twenty minutes sitting on Michael’s desk while he sat in his chair so that she could apply the makeup to his face. She was using a combination of black and purple eye shadow to give him a black eye. That combined with some smeared lipstick to give the affect of fake blood completed his costume. “You look funny,” Sydney giggled as she held up a mirror to show him his reflection.

“Wow… that black eye really looks authentic,” he said as he touched it gingerly. Of course this resulted in him getting makeup on his finger, which he promptly wiped on his hockey shorts.

“Uh huh, now if you’ll excuse me I have to go change into my toga,” Sydney smiled as she hopped off Michael’s desk.

“Need any help?” Michael grinned at her. She rolled her eyes at him before walking out of the room.

All in all both Sydney and Michael agreed that the party was fairly lame. Of course, this didn’t really surprise them at all, but it gave them an excuse to leave early. “You were definitely the hottest person at the party,” Michael told Sydney as they gathered up their regular clothes so they could head towards their car (they had started car pooling to school that year to save gasoline).

“Why thank you,” she smiled. “Do you mean I was hotter than Mrs. Beasley?”

“Oh god,” Michael shivered. Unfortunately Mrs. Beasley, who was well into her fifties, had come as… well, they weren’t sure what, but it definitely showed off far too much skin. “I think my vision is permanently scarred.”

“I know,” Sydney laughed.

The two of them split up so they could change out of their costumes and, in Michael’s case, shower, before meeting up again for dinner and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters at Michael’s apartment.

“Man it is freezing outside,” Sydney shivered as she wrapped a blanket tightly around herself. “Stop opening and closing the door.”

“Then how, exactly, do you propose I give the candy out to the kids?” Michael laughed. Sydney shrugged and muttered something about being cold. “Oh come ‘ere,” Michael sighed. He walked quickly over to the couch, put both arms around Sydney and rubbed her back vigorously to warm her up.

“Mmm that’s good,” she sighed as she snuggled into his chest. Only a few minutes passed before the doorbell rang again, but Sydney refused to let Michael get up and get it, stating she’d freeze to death if he left her, so Michael had to stay, though he really didn’t mind.

“Oh it’s late… I need to go to bed,” Sydney sighed when she noticed it was eleven o’clock. Though, as she said this, she didn’t move an inch.

“Would you like to stay?” Michael offered with a laugh.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Sydney sighed. She then gave him a brief kiss before shuffling her way into his bedroom, blanket still wrapped around her. Michael followed her a moment later and slipped into bed behind her only to find she was still wearing the blanket.

“You can’t possibly be that cold,” he laughed.

“Well, no, not now that I have you,” she said as she pulled him closer. He kissed her neck gently before relaxing back against his pillow, comforted by her soft breathing beside him.



Chapter 14

After Halloween, November flew by and before they knew it, Thanksgiving was upon them. Sydney and Michael had agreed to spend Thanksgiving separately that year since its celebration was coupled with Michael’s birthday. He would be going to spend it with his mother, while Sydney would be flying to her parent’s to spend the holiday with them. They did agree to spend Christmas together at Sydney’s parents, though.

Michael was very anxious to get to his mother and step-father’s house on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. It would be the first time he would be seeing his mother since the two of them met Sydney the previous week. They lived about an hour’s drive away from Sydney and Michael, and he had taken Sydney up with him so they could all eat Saturday lunch together after much pressuring from his mother about meeting his girlfriend of over seven months. Though over the phone his mother had said she thought Sydney was a nice girl, he suspected and hoped she would give a bit more detail in person.

Sydney, on the other hand, was not looking forward to Thanksgiving with her parents. That year, Nadia was forced to work a long shift around Thanksgiving and was thus unable to get enough free time to fly to her parents and then back to California to work. Holidays with her family were overbearing enough for Sydney, especially since she was the least favorite daughter, but spending them without Nadia as a buffer seemed practically unbearable.

Thankfully (at least in Sydney’s case) on Wednesday morning, around the time Sydney’s flight was departing, their city was hit was a very dreadful blizzard, dumping a foot of snow in a matter of hours. Naturally, the airport was closed and all outbound flights were canceled. Sydney had to fight to hide her cheerful attitude as she called her mother and informed her that she, tragically, would not be able to make it home due to inclement weather. As much as she enjoyed not having to suffer through her parent’s criticism, staying home came with a rather large problem: since she planned on going away for almost four days, she had no food in her apartment and, with the blizzard outside, the likelihood of getting to a grocery store was slim.

Just as she was scanning her refrigerator for something remotely nutritious to make herself for dinner, she was interrupted by her phone ringing. Upon answering it, she found it was Michael. “Syd are you at home?” he asked.

“Well, yeah, my flight was canceled, where are you?”

“Well I’m…. I actually need your help with something, do you mind?” he asked.

“What is it?” Sydney questioned, but before Michael answered her, she heard a knock at her front door. It startled her and she nearly screamed before she saw it was Michael outside. The snow was coming down so heavy she could not even see her car in the parking lot across a grassy yard from her apartment, yet there Michael was standing outside in the snow looking utterly soaked and freezing.

“My god what happened?!” she asked as she opened the door.

“Well I was tryin’ to get to my parents right… and my car went off the road in the damn snow and then just as I’m trying to get it unstuck a snow plow goes by, throws snow all over me and knocks me over, at which point I lost the keys to my apartment. I spent fifteen minutes looking for them but they’re in some gigantic-ass pile of snow so my question is can you please, please come help me look?” he begged.

“Michael how did you get here?” Sydney asked slowly.

“Walked,” he said simply, though his teeth were chattering lightly. “Only took ‘bout fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes of walking in the snow on the coldest day of the year so far to dig in a gigantic pile of snow to look for one tiny key. Michael, have you even MET me?!” she asked in a tone that made it clear she thought he was insane.

“I know you hate snow and cold… but my keys!” he whined.

“Will still be there when it stops snowing. Come on in and let’s get you out of those wet clothes before you freeze to death,” Sydney ushered him over the threshold of her door. She then directed him towards the bathroom.

“Um, problem… my clothes… I’m soaked all the way through my underwear and I don’t have anything else with me,” he told her in a quiet and embarrassed tone.

“I know. We’re going to put everything right in the dryer. For now you can just wear the robe on the back of the door,” she told him. Then, she shut him inside the bathroom and went to clean up the chunks of snow that had tracked through her hallway and kitchen.

Five minutes later, when Michael emerged from the bathroom, Sydney looked over at him and burst out laughing so hard she nearly fell over. She had been waiting for that moment for so long it made the five minutes seem like years. Of course, the robe she had instructed Michael to wear was not only in a hot pink floral print, but it was silk and only came to the middle of his thighs.

“Oh yes, this is hilarious,” he muttered through his teeth that were chattering due to the fact that he was still freezing. “You did this on purpose!”

“I swear it’s the only robe I have!” she laughed. Michael turned his back and sulked. “Aww,” Sydney sighed as she walked over to him. She was about to make another teasing comment until she felt his hands. “Oh my god Michael you feel like ice,” she said in horror as she put both his hands on her cheeks, trying to warm them up. “Go, go into the bedroom and get beneath all the blankets. I’ll put your clothes in the dryer and be right there to warm you up okay?”

Michael did as she asked and Sydney collected his clothes from their position hanging over the tub in her bathroom. She threw them in her dryer before going into her bedroom and finding Michael tucked so far beneath the piles of blankets on her bed, all she could see was the messy tufts of hair atop his head.

“Warming up?” she asked as she slid into bed beside him.

“Kinda,” he mumbled.

“I can’t believe you walked so far in the snow. You’re going to get frostbite!” she exclaimed as she took hold of his hands and laced her fingers through, holding them as close to her body as possible.

“It’s fine,” Michael sighed, though he was shivering.

Sydney kissed him gently before saying, “You know there’s one really good way I know of to warm you up,” and kissed him again.

“Mm well you know I really should get out of this robe anyway,” Michael told her. Sydney couldn’t help but giggle.



Chapter 15

“So are you finally warmed up now?” Sydney asked Michael as she was lying in his arms with him stroking her hair gently.

“I believe so, yes,” he said with a soft laugh.

“Good,” she sighed. Then she rolled over and kissed him sweetly. “You know wearing that robe you looked really sexy,” she said with her face so close to his that her warm breath caused tingles against his ear. Still, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“I didn’t realize you found men in pink silk sexy.”

“Mm no, but you in my clothes is kinda sexy… plus you’ve got great legs,” she told him with a giggle.

“Good to know,” he sighed as he lowered his head to kiss her collar bone. “So I guess you’re not going to your parents, huh?”

“Nah, I just told ‘em I’d see ‘em at Christmas, or rather we’d see them,” Sydney smiled.

“Mm well I told my step-dad I wasn’t going to make it either so… I guess that means we’re all alone for Thanksgiving, and I’m thinking we have lots and lots to be thankful for,” he smiled.

Sydney laughed. “That sounds perfect except we’re going to starve; I have no food in here.”

“Really? Hmm,” Michael said. He slid out from under the covers and grabbed Sydney’s pink robe on the way, tying it around himself. This elicited a giggle from her that she tried to muffle with the comforter she was buried under. “What? I’m not gonna walk through your apartment naked! I’m not Eric!” Michael defended.

“True,” Sydney laughed before getting out of bed and dressing herself. She followed him into the kitchen where he was peering into her refrigerator.

“Hmm well you know I think we have some apples, but then again, I’m not sure,” Michael said with obvious sarcasm. All he could see in her refrigerator were apples on every shelf.

“Shut up,” Sydney laughed.

“Seriously, what’s with the green apples? Why not red… or yellow?” he asked.

“Well I don’t like red at all…but I’ll eat yellow sometimes. I just love apples,” she shrugged.

“Clearly,” he rolled his eyes. She giggled. Michael walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her close and gave her a sweet kiss. “You’re beautiful and I love you.”

“You love me?” she asked with surprise. Michael swallowed hard, feeling even more nervous than he’d been ten seconds earlier before his admission. A smile blossomed across her face and quelled his nerves as she kissed him. “I love you too, but you have to take that robe off it’s starting to freak me out.”

“Why? I thought you said it was sexy!”

“Yeah but I think you’re enjoying it a bit too much,” she told him with a laugh.

Michael grumbled and grunted at her. “Can I just have my boxers back please?”

“Yeah I think that’s a good idea,” she told him. As Michael ransacked the rest of the cabinets in her kitchen in the search for food, Sydney retrieved his clothes from the dryer. She then took over the food search while he dressed. All in all they found a few cans of soup, cereal but only very little milk, and of course the apples that would have to sustain them until the snow stopped, which would hopefully be the next day.

“This has to be the most pathetic Thanksgiving ever,” Sydney sighed as she crumbled a few more crackers into the chicken noodle soup she was eating.

“Wow, um, glad you’re having fun…,” Michael said slowly.

“NO! No I meant meal-wise. I love spending it with you,” Sydney smiled as she reached across the table and squeezed his hand.

“Good, I do too,” he smiled back at her.

The snow continued on through the day and well into the evening. By the time it slowed, it was too dark out to go searching for Michael’s keys, so he and Sydney decided to go early the next morning. That evening, they sat together under a warm blanket, sipping on some hot cocoa that Sydney made them.

“Can I ask you something?” Sydney asked Michael softly. He grunted. “Well…I was just wondering why it took you so long – took us so long to…”

“Oh,” Michael blushed slightly as he looked down towards his lap. “Well…it kinda sounds silly, but I like to be in love before I, um, take a relationship to the next level…,” he said. Then he looked up at her cautiously and saw her with an amused smile on her face. “I know, I know; I’m a chick! I get it! Eric tells me every day,” he groaned.

Sydney laughed softly and gave him a long kiss. “You’re not a chick; I think it’s sweet.”

“You do?” he asked cautiously.

She nodded. “Compared to the ‘I’m going to dump you if you don’t sleep with me on the second date’ typea guys you are as sweet as an apple,” she grinned at him.

Michael couldn’t help but laugh. Though he didn’t find apples particularly sweet, he knew any apple comparison from her was a high compliment. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” she smiled. Then she adjusted her position on the couch so that she was facing his side and she began to place kisses along his jaw line and down his neck.

Michael was about to let out a moan until he realized what she was doing. “You’re trying to get out of digging in the snow tomorrow aren’t you!” he accused. Her jaw dropped stunned he’d figured her out. “You are!”

“I…I… but it’s so cold!” she whined.

Michael hid a smile as a wicked idea crossed his mind. Two could play at her devious little game. “You’re right,” he sighed, “it is cold… and I guess you don’t want that bubble bath and back massage I was going to give you as a thank you.”

“A bubble bath and a back massage?” she asked hopefully. He grinned and nodded. Sydney groaned. “You drive a hard bargain, Vaughn, but I’ll help ya with your damn keys.”

“And you sound so excited about it too!” he told her with fake enthusiasm. She stuck her tongue out at him. “Ooo maturity.”

“Damn straight,” she smiled proudly.



Chapter 16

By pure luck, Sydney and Michael found his apartment keys buried deep in a large snow pile. They were also able to dig his car out with depressingly small shovels very early on Thanksgiving morning. Then, the two of them returned to Sydney’s apartment to thaw (and for Sydney to collect her back massage) before they braved the cold once more to find a grocery store that was open where they could buy food. They didn’t get much, but enough to last them until Saturday, when they ventured out once more in, unfortunately, another snow storm. They spent the entire weekend together at Sydney’s apartment and both proclaimed it was their most favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Monday, Sydney and Michael sadly returned to school for the three weeks of classes before they broke once more for the Christmas and New Year holidays. The students were just as restless as ever, none of them wanting to start anything that would just be interrupted by Christmas. While trying to motivate their students, Sydney and Michael were met with a very strange proposal from the vice principal of the school.

“As you may know, it’s no secret around here that the two of you are a romantic couple,” he began. Sydney and Michael exchanged gulps and wary looks. They were both fearful of the same thing: that their relationship broke some sort of no-interfaculty-dating rule and they were about to be reprimanded, or, worse -- fired.

“Well, as you may also know,” the vice principal continued, “the school’s new curriculum this year calls for better education and preparedness on such topics as sex, pregnancy, and relationships. In keeping with this, we’ve decided to have various guest speakers and seminars this semester including a question and answer session with a real life couple. Well who better to participate than a couple the students already know and love! So what do you say?”

“Um…,” Sydney hedged as she glanced over towards Michael. The proposed situation had the words ‘intensely awkward’ written all over it though she wasn’t sure they were in a position to turn down the offer.

“Well…um, it’s alright with me, I guess,” Michael said cautiously, trying to read Sydney’s uncertain expression.

“Yeah me too,” she said weakly.

“Excellent! Excellent! Now the session won’t be until about mid-January, but we’ll be announcing it to the students in about a week so they have time to plan questions. Thank you so much for doing this,” he said, shaking both their hands before practically skipping off.

“So…,” Michael began once he was gone.

“Oh my god, how awkward will this be?!? They’re going to ask us about sex!!!” Sydney exclaimed.

“I know… I barely got through sex ed when I was the student!” Michael exclaimed. Sydney cringed and nodded in agreement. “You know what though, it’s going to be okay,” Michael said, trying to maintain a positive attitude. “I mean, they’re probably just gonna ask stuff about when is a good time to have sex or something like that. It’s not going to be that bad.”

“You think?” Sydney asked. Michael nodded firmly, though Sydney could tell he was still slightly wary.

~*~

The remainder of the calendar year passed quickly and soon Michael and Sydney were headed to the airport to spend Christmas with the Bristow family. Once again, Michael would be forced to sleep on the couch in the Bristow’s family room, which presented a bit more of a problem for him then than it had during the summer. Since Thanksgiving, Sydney and Michael had hardly spent a night apart, alternating between his apartment and hers. Then again, it wasn’t like they were going to do anything in Sydney’s parent’s house (a creepy factor Michael couldn’t get over), but waking up without Sydney beside him on Christmas morning was going to be a bit sad.

“So you guys are still together, huh?” Nadia asked her sister when they arrived at the Bristow’s. Sydney nodded with a grin. “I take it he finally put out then?”

“Nadia!” Sydney laughed.

“What? If you’re still with him and he hasn’t that’s just sad!” she exclaimed. Sydney rolled her eyes and shook her head.

On Christmas Eve, Sydney’s parents were going to church for the evening service and invited Sydney, Nadia, and Michael along with them. Michael, who had never been a churchgoer, was wary about going, but Sydney opted to stay home with him while Nadia decided to go. Of course, Sydney’s motives weren’t entirely pure, either; she wanted some time alone with Michael, especially since they were staying with her parents for three more days.

“So… your dad said something about a pool table…?” Michael asked.

“Oh yea c’mon,” Sydney gestured for him to follow her. She led him down the basement steps to the finished game room. “They got it while Nadia and I were in high school. Dad insisted that he was going to play nightly until he perfected his game but yet he still sucks,” Sydney laughed.

“Nice,” Michael laughed. Then he pulled a cue stick from the holder attached to the wall. “Wanna play?”

“Wanna make it interesting?” Sydney countered.

“That depends, how good are you and what are the stakes?” he asked.

“Strip pool,” Sydney suggested with a wicked grin.

Michael laughed loudly. “What the hell is that?!”

“Simple really,” Sydney smiled as she walked along the table, dragging her fingertips across the green felt surface. “If I sink a ball, you lose an item of clothing and vice versa. First one naked looses.”

“Have you played this before?” Michael asked suspiciously.

“Nope, I’m makin it up as I go” she told him with a smile.

“Alright, you’re on Bristow. Get ready to strip,” he said as he grabbed a piece of blue chalk and rubbed it on the end of the stick.

Twenty minutes later Sydney was down to a bra and panties, whereas Michael was only missing both shoes and one sock. When Michael sunk the final ball with a wicked grin, Sydney pouted; he’d beat her at her own game. “Let me see here… which do I want?” Michael sighed as he circled her. “Well, you know, they could both be categorized as ‘underwear’ so I think you should take off your ‘underwear.’”

“How’d you get so good at this?” Sydney asked, not making any effort to remove her remaining clothes.

“Had a friend when I was younger who was like allergic to the sun. He had a pool table in his house,” Michael explained simply as he stuck his cue stick back on its wall holder.

“I see,” Sydney sighed as she sauntered over to him. The way she saw it, there was still a chance for her to win. She stood on her tip toes and gave Michael a searing kiss that left him utterly speechless. “You know… my parents won’t be home for at least another forty-five minutes….”

“Sounds good to me,” he grinned before kissing her once more.



Chapter 17

After spending a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s together, Sydney and Michael (along with the Jefferson High student body) sadly returned to school. For Sydney and Michael, the return meant they were only one week away from their debut as sex educators. Neither of them was looking forward to the questions the kids would ask them. In fact, pure and utter dread was a term that would have been more appropriate for their feelings. Backing out was not an option, though, so they just had to grin and bear it the best they could.

By the day before the question and answer session, the school was practically abuzz about what was going to happen. Rumors were flying around about what sort of sordid questions would be asked about the very personal activities between the two teachers. The questions were not supposed to be about Sydney and Michael’s relationship specifically, but, naturally, the kids paid no attention to that rule. Only forty students had been selected to participate in Sydney and Michael’s lunchtime discussion, which left a great number of other students very jealous.

On the day of the discussion, instead of going to the cafeteria to eat their lunch, Sydney and Michael nervously made their way to the auditorium, where the students were already waiting and chatting loudly amongst themselves. A haphazard round of applause filled the room when Sydney and Michael walked in, staying close together as if protecting each other from the unavoidable mortification that lie ahead. The students had written their questions down anonymously on pieces of paper and put them in a shoe box, which was sitting up on the stage. Sydney and Michael took seats beside it and then called their discussion to order.

“As you all know this is an informational panel on, well,” Sydney glanced warily at Michael, “sex.” At the mention of this word a cheer went through the room and Sydney wished to melt into the stage beneath her. “I guess we should, uh, get started.” She took the lid off the shoebox, plunged her hand inside and pulled out a scrap of paper. Taking a deep breath, she opened the paper and read it aloud without even thinking, “What does Mr. Vaughn look like naked…” her voice drifted off as she realized what she had said. A screeching laughter filled the room and both stage occupants turned crimson.

“You guys,” Michael said, taking the paper in Sydney’s hand and crumpling it up, “this isn’t supposed to be specifically about us. Now let’s try again.” He put his hand in the shoebox, said a silent prayer and then pulled out a slip of paper. He read it silently before reading it aloud and sighed with partial relief. It was not about them. “Does sex really hurt the first time is the question,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear. “Well…”

Their questioning pattern went on for three more questions each for Sydney and Michael. Though slightly embarrassing, their questions were actually legitimate and sex related, not relating to Sydney or Michael’s relationship. This lulled them into a false sense of security until Sydney received another unique question. “Where’s the weirdest place you’ve had sex?!” she read aloud with horror. Again, laughter filled the room and even Michael let out a muffled snort, recalling their weirdest place. Sydney gave him a glare before saying, “We’re not answering that,” and putting it aside.

“Next question,” Michael said, pulling one from the box, “What’s a diaphragm and should I get one?…um, yeah, you can field this one,” he said to Sydney, pressing the question into her hand. Laughing nervously, Sydney explained that a diaphragm was a form of birth control that she did not recommend, sighting a rather scarring comparison between that and an orthodontial retainer that her sex ed teacher had told her many years prior.

After the whole room was practically shivering, Sydney pulled the next question from the box. “Is the Kama Sutra any good?” she read. A soft mumble went through the room before Sydney turned to Michael and said, “Well?”

“What?!” Michael squeaked.

“You have a Kama Sutra book under your coffee table, I saw it,” Sydney told him matter-of-factly. This resulted in from a howl of laughter from the students.

Michael was practically pink as he hissed, “That was a gift from Eric and you know it!” A sly grin crossed Sydney’s face. Giving her a rather evil one in return, Michael took a deep breath and prepared for retaliation. He turned to the students and said loudly, “The weirdest place we had sex was on her parent’s pool table over Christmas – and it was her idea!”

Sydney let out an audibly horrified gasp while the students laughed and clapped. Michael turned back to Sydney, satisfied smile across his face. Muttering, Sydney wrenched another question from the box. “When did you lose your virginity? Was it special?” she read. “Well, um, it was special for me. It was this guy I’d been dating since the beginning of eleventh grade… and we were together all through senior year and graduation, but we were going to colleges far apart so we decided to break up but before we did we slept together and it was really sweet because he was my first love,” Sydney told them. A soft ‘aww’ went through the girls in the room.

“Yeah mine wasn’t special at all,” Michael laughed. “See in high school I was a total nerd and then after graduation I went to senior week with a few friends and it just so happened that the popular people were at the same beach. Anyway, somehow we got into one of their parties and this cheerleader – Amber Masterson – was totally wasted and for some reason she wanted me to have sex with her. She was hot so I did it, but it was awful and I really don’t recommend doing it that way,” he said. A soft laugh went through the room.

“Alright, alright, next question,” Michael sighed as he dug into the shoebox. “How long was your longest relationship…ooh good question…um, mine was just a month or two shy of two years. I dated her my senior year of college and then for some time after that.”

“Why’d you break up?” someone called out from the audience.

“Um, because we were getting to that point where it seemed like we needed to either move forward and get engaged or break up and I really couldn’t see myself marrying her so we broke up,” he explained. Then he looked over to Sydney for her to answer.

“Oh right me… um well,” she paused to think a moment, “about nine months I guess…right?” she looked over to Michael for confirmation.

Slightly shocked he asked, “Wait, this is your longest relationship?” She nodded in confirmation. “Wow… really? Why?”

“Dunno,” she shrugged before dipping her hand back into the box full of questions. “We’re almost out of time so only two more okay?” she said. A groan went through the room. Sydney laughed softly at their groan as she read the next question, “How do gay people have sex…..and we’re skipping that,” Sydney said, putting it aside.

“What?! WHY?!” the students groaned.

Sydney ignored them and retrieved a replacement question from the box. “How often do guys really look at porn?” she asked with a slight laugh. From the handwriting it was obvious a girl had written the question. “Michael?”

“What?!” he screeched. “I do not look at porn and I never have.”

“LIAR!” she accused as everyone laughed.

“Okay, fine, I might have had a magazine in my sock drawer when I was a teenager, but that’s it!” he insisted. Then he dug into the box for the final question. A grin spread across his face as he read, “What does Miss Bristow look like naked…. Well she’s got-” Sydney cut him off by clamping her hand on his mouth and shouting, “Questions over!” over the howls of the students.

As the students were filing out, Sydney removed her hand from Michael’s mouth muttering, “I can’t believe you.”

“Oh come on I wasn’t gonna say anything! I was just getting you back for ‘oh Michael how often do you look at porn? Let’s tell the whole school!’” he mocked her in a squeaky female voice.

Sydney laughed. “I was kidding!”

“Yeah surrrre,” he said, rolling his eyes.



Chapter 18

Michael tried to forget about Sydney’s comment about her longest relationship being theirs, but he just couldn’t let it go. Thousands of questions were spinning through his mind. Why hadn’t she, at nearly twenty-nine, had a longer relationship? Was she afraid of committing? Did she not want to get married ever?

After obsessing over it for a few weeks, Michael finally decided to ask Eric’s opinion on the subject. Of course asking the man who had never had a relationship longer than three weeks about long-term relationships was not a very smart decision, but that’s how desperate he was. Naturally, Eric saw no problem in it, but Michael still did. Finally, he decided to ask Sydney about it by way of asking what her next longest relationship had been like. She was very evasive about answering, telling him that her longest relationship before him had lasted just a bit over six months and had been two years earlier, before changing the subject quickly.

Her tight-lipped attitude towards her prior relationships caused Michael’s suspicion to rise even more. He let his suspicions simmer for another two weeks before his feelings finally came to a head in the form of an argument.

“So, why is it again that you haven’t been in a long term relationship?” Michael asked.

“What?” Sydney’s bow furrowed in confusion and surprise.

“Well I’ve just been wondering why… I mean, do you not want to get married some day or what?” Michael asked.

“Of course I want to get married…”

“So why haven’t you been in a long relationship?” Michael asked.

Sydney shook her head and walked towards her kitchen. “I don’t know… I don’t know – why doest it matter?”

“Well it matters because you’re lying to me,” he accused.

“What?!” she practically shrieked. “When the hell did I ever lie to you and tell you I’d been in a really long relationship?!”

“No, not about that about other stuff,” Michael said simply.

“What stuff?”

“Are you smoking again?” he asked her directly.

“WHAT?!” she gasped, having no idea how they’d gotten from relationships to smoking.

“Are you smoking again?”

“No, of course not.”

“See,” he pointed his finger at her, “there you just lied. I know about the cigarettes you’ve got stashed up in your cabinet.”

“You were going through my things?!” she asked in horror.

“No I was looking for something and I found them.”

“Okay, fine, I have hidden cigarettes,” she sighed. “Big deal; sue me.”

“It is a big deal to me Sydney!” he shouted. “I don’t like being lied to and… and it’s a big deal!” In his fury, he couldn’t even begin to express how much her smoking bothered him. In fact, it bothered him so much that if she really was smoking again, he was going to break up with her then and there; he couldn’t be with a smoker.

“Michael, I’m not smoking again,” she assured him. “What would make you think that? I mean, do I smell like smoke?”

“No…”

“Well that’s because I’m not smoking!” she shouted.

“Well that’s not what this is about this is about… about…”

“What?!”

“You know what!” he shouted before storming out of her house, leaving Sydney utterly confused behind him.

~*~

Sydney left a message on Michael’s phone about an hour after their fight, but he had yet to return it the next morning. She went to work that day feeling utterly confused, lost and, most of all, upset. She had no idea why Michael had reacted the way he had. He being upset about finding her cigarettes was slightly legitimate if he thought she was smoking once more given his experience with his father’s lung cancer, but as for the rest of their fight Sydney was lost. She had cried for a good part of the night, which resulted in a very red-eyed, puffy appearance for her first period class. Not surprisingly, Beth picked up on this.

“Miss Bristow, are you alright?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Sydney said with a sniff that was completely opposite from being fine.

“Did you and Mr. Vaughn have a fight?” Beth asked knowingly. Sydney’s trembling bottom lip was a signal to Beth that she was correct in her assumption. “Oh I’m sorry Ms. Bristow, but I’m sure it’ll work out.”

“Thanks Beth,” Sydney croaked before escaping her classroom bound for the ladies room to check her makeup.

News of Sydney and Michael’s fight and potential breakup spread quickly through the school. It was fairly obvious that something was wrong by the second day they were not eating together and flirting in the hall between classes. Though Sydney was obviously the more tearful of the two, Michael seemed to be rather sad as well.

Noticing that after three days there was still no resolution or communication between the two as far as she could tell, Beth took matters into her own hands. Using the help of fellow classmates and faculty members, all of whom wanted to see Sydney and Michael back together and happy, she managed to get the two of them alone in the faculty dining room in the cafeteria.

Sydney froze in horror with her yogurt spoon half way between her mouth and the yogurt cup when she saw Michael walk into the faculty lounge and the door shut tightly behind him. Michael, too, seemed awfully stunned, debating between an obvious escape and an awkward encounter. Deciding the latter was the less cruel of the two, he took a step towards her, alternating his gaze from the paper bag in his hands to Sydney’s frozen expression and back.

“Hi,” Sydney finally said. Though her voice was quiet and harsh, she was desperate to break the silence.

“Hi,” Michael said, his tone mirroring hers.

“You didn’t return my calls,” she said, looking down towards her yogurt.

“I’ve… been busy,” he said. His lie was both obvious and painful.

“Oh….just so you know,” Sydney continued after a solid minute of silence, “I’m not smoking again… those cigarettes they’re old, years old. I’ll throw them out, too. I just… I had ‘em because sometimes I just needed a stress reliever or something but… but ever since we’ve been dating I haven’t needed them because… because you’re my stress reliever,” she told him quietly, though she wasn’t looking at him when she spoke.

Michael swallowed a painful lump of guilt as a soft ‘aww’ could be heard from behind the closed door, most likely from Beth who was undoubtedly listening. “Oh,” he croaked, taking two steps towards her.

“I’d never smoke again,” Sydney continued. “I know it bothers you so I wouldn’t do it.”

“I know,” he sighed as he cautiously sat across from her.

Sydney looked up to him cautiously and saw that he was staring down at the table, though she could see a few nervous sweat beads forming on his brow. “Why does it bother you so much that I’ve never been in a long-term relationship before?” she asked cautiously.

“I dunno… I guess because maybe I thought that you didn’t want to get married and then we’d eventually break up so I was doing it before I got hurt…I guess,” he sighed as he rubbed his brow, feeling more like an idiot by the moment.

“I do want to get married – I mean, not tomorrow, but eventually, yeah. That’s definitely in the plan,” she told him.

He smiled at her. “I’m sorry I freaked out on you.”

“I’m sorry I was so evasive about my other relationships, but you know it’s just ‘cause they sucked. I mean, I’ve never been in a longer relationship because I never met a man I could stand for more than a few months – until you that is,” she smiled. He laughed softly, stood and pulled her into a hug and a kiss.

“I guess we should go out and face the crowd,” Michael laughed.

“Crowd?” Sydney laughed with confusion. Michael grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. When he opened it they found half the student body, who were trying to listen to their conversation, scrambling back to their seats. Sydney couldn’t help but laugh as she covered her face with embarrassment.



Chapter 19

After their fight, Sydney and Michael became even closer. They began talking about their future more and even discussed moving in together over the quickly approaching summer. Michael was actually anxious to take the next step of living with Sydney (something he’d never done before – living with a woman, that was), but even more so than that, he was thinking about taking another, much more serious step. For the time being, though, he was just going to let their relationship play out the way it was.

“Oh god, did you see this?” Michael groaned. He was sitting at his desk, reading his emails while Sydney sat across from him in one of the student desks in his classroom grading math tests. They’d begun their ritual of spending time after school grading papers and writing lesson plans together months earlier, and did it a few times a week.

“Hmm?” Sydney grunted.

“An email requesting chaperones for prom. I bet they’ll ask us tomorrow at the faculty meeting,” he sighed.

“I never went to prom,” Sydney said casually.

“Really?” Michael asked with surprise.

“Mm,” she nodded. “I was gonna go, but a few days before I got a wicked case of the flu and couldn’t get out of bed.”

“Ohh that sucks,” Michael sighed. “I went, but it wasn’t anything great… I mean, I didn’t have a date or anything.”

“Aw I’d be your date,” Sydney smiled at him.

“Wanna go then? To prom?” he asked. Sydney gave him an utterly confused look. “I mean as chaperones,” he clarified.

“Ohhh I don’t know... wouldn’t we just be stopping kids from having sex all night long?” she asked. Michael shrugged. “I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed, though he had a few tricks up his sleeve that he hoped would convince her to go with him.

~*~

The following morning as Sydney was handing back the calculus exams she’d graded the previous afternoon, she was interrupted by a knock at her classroom door. When she opened the door she found a delivery man with a bouquet of a dozen roses. The class oo-ed and aw-ed as Sydney carried the vase to her desk. “Wonder who that’s from?” Beth called out with a laugh.

“Read the card!” someone else encouraged.

With a sigh, Sydney pulled out the card from the center of the bouquet. Will you go to prom with me? it read. Sydney laughed and a huge grin spread across her face. “What’s it say?! Can you tell us?” the students begged.

“He asked me to prom,” Sydney told them with a grin.

“Um… isn’t he like twenty years too late?” one male student asked.

“For starters I am not quite twenty-nine which would only make him ten years late,” she pointed out to the boy. “Second, he means as a chaperone.”

“Ohh you guys are gonna chaperone?!” Beth asked excitedly.

“I guess we are,” Sydney laughed. “I mean, how could I say no to that?” she gestured towards the vase.

Sydney wasn’t able to see Michael until lunch, but when she did she gave him a sweet kiss. “I guess that means you got the flowers,” he laughed.

“I did indeed and I would love to go to prom with you,” she smiled.

“Excellent,” he grinned.

~*~

Two weeks after the prom invite incident Sydney came down with a rather terrible cold and was forced to stay home from work for a day. Though Michael felt bad she was sick, it enabled him to put into action a plan he’d been plotting. Since his first period was free, he ‘subbed’ for Sydney’s first period class. Of course, he knew even less about calculus then than he had in high school, but he wasn’t teaching a lesson that day. Instead, he was enlisting the help of Sydney’s students for a very special birthday surprise for her. Once the students heard his ideas, they wholeheartedly agreed to participate in his plan. Well, the female students did, the male students found it to be lame, as they put it, but they promised not to spoil what he was doing. Of course Sydney knew nothing of this plotting behind her back which worked out perfectly for Michael’s birthday surprise.

On the morning of her birthday, after waking up in Michael’s arms from celebrating their anniversary the night before, Sydney went home to her apartment and got ready thinking it was just going to be another ordinary day. She knew Michael was up to something special since he’d been dropping subtle hints, but she was expecting something to happen after school and most certainly not during school. She showered and dressed and then went into work to find some happy birthday balloons waiting for her. She carried them to her classroom and tied them to her desk chair before sitting down to organize the day.

Like usual her students poured in almost all at the very last minute only that day she noticed they were whispering amongst themselves a lot. Typically, they were very quiet due to the early hour of the morning. Almost the second after the last bell rang, Beth had her hand in the air. “Miss Bristow, are we going over the homework?”

“Of course, I was just going to ask for some volunteers to put some of their answers on the…,” but before she could finish there were already five hands in the air. This piqued her curiosity greatly; usually she had to struggle to get one volunteer (usually Beth) now she had five. “Um, okay… Beth you do number five, Jamie do seven, Cara do fifteen, Diana do seventeen and Jen you can do twenty.”

The five girls took their positions on the board and not a moment later a sixth girl, Amy, raised her hand. “Miss Bristow I think you might have graded something wrong on my quiz from yesterday.”

“Oh, really? Let me see,” Sydney said as she walked over to the girl’s desk.

With everything perfectly positioned as they’d planned, the girls quickly scribed their ‘problem’ on the board before sitting down while Sydney was still distracted with Amy’s test. Then, almost exactly on cue, Sydney looked up and saw the message they’d written. Practically the whole classroom held its breath as Sydney read what the five girls had written on the board. Will you marry me?

“Oh my god…wha…,” Sydney managed as she walked closer to the board, nearly tripping over a backpack on her way. Just as she’d cleared the front row of desks, her classroom door opened and Michael stepped inside looking extraordinarily hopeful. “Oh my god,” Sydney sighed again with tears pooling in her eyes.

“Syd I,” Michael began, but he didn’t have to say another word. Sydney crossed the room, wrapped her arms around him and sighed an affirmative answer into his ear. The entire classroom erupted with applause as Michael held Sydney tightly finally exhaling the breath he’d been holding in since she left his apartment earlier that morning.

“Oh my god I can’t believe you got them all in on this!!” Sydney exclaimed as she wiped tears from her cheeks.

“Can we get extra credit?!” someone asked hopefully.

“Nice try,” Sydney laughed. “Okay, okay, girls please put the real problems on the board – I’ll be back in a second,” Sydney said before taking Michael by the hand and pulling him out into the hallway. Once there, she gave him a long kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he smiled. “Here,” he paused to remove the black velvet ring box from his pocket. He opened it and displayed the circular diamond white gold ring inside to her before taking it out and sliding it on her finger.

“I love it,” Sydney said, kissing him once more. Then, she walked back into her classroom knowing that her twenty-ninth birthday was definitely going to be an unforgettable one because of her fiancé.



Chapter 20

By lunch almost the whole school had heard about Michael’s proposal. He and Sydney opted to stay in her classroom to eat since they didn’t want to be swarmed with any more congratulators than they already were. Michael sat at one of the desks in Sydney’s room while she sat down on his thigh, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a long kiss. “I can’t wait until we can go home and celebrate,” she told him softly.

“Who says we have to wait?” he grinned.

Sydney laughed loudly. “You’re not seriously suggesting we have sex at school, are you?” He shrugged. “Oh yeah, and where would we do it?”

“Bathroom…locker room… that area behind the stairs near classroom 101….,” he suggested.

“Michael!” Sydney gasped. “That’s disgusting!! We cannot have sex at school.”

“The kids do it all the time!” Michael insisted.

“Oh, yeah, that’s good reasoning,” she rolled her eyes.

He laughed and kissed her neck. “I was kidding anyway.”

“Sure you were…”

“I was!” he insisted.

“Mmhm…,” she said in a disbelieving tone. He turned away from her, sulking, until she forced his head back towards hers and gave him a long kiss.

“Let’s ditch the last three periods,” Michael suggested seriously, his lips still against hers.

Sydney laughed. “Well as long as we’re ditching we should go shopping.”

“Um… why?” he asked in a very serious tone.

“Because you have to come with me to get a prom dress. If you’re making me go then you have to come and pick my dress,” she told him.

“Fine,” he sighed dramatically as if she was asking him to do the most difficult thing in the world.

Sydney laughed and ruffled his hair, “Good boy.”

~*~

The weekend following their engagement, Michael and Sydney went up to Michael’s mother and step-father’s to celebrate. Unfortunately, since prom was only two weeks away and Sydney had yet to find a dress, they didn’t have time to fly all the way to her parents, so that celebration would have to wait until after prom or, most likely, after the school year had ended. While visiting, Michael’s mother offered to take Sydney out to look for her prom dress, which gave Michael a reprieve from the task. Sydney took her up on this offer, but assured Michael that he could go shoe shopping with her instead of dress shopping.

~*~

“Oh my god Syd, I’m gonna die… I can’t walk any further… carry me,” Michael moaned as he leaned his body weight on Sydney’s shoulder, practically knocking her over.

“Michael Vaughn you are pathetic! It’s only been an hour and ten minutes!” Sydney exclaimed.

“That’s why I’m dying!” he moaned once more.

Sydney sighed and shook her head at his pathetic attitude. Sydney was surprised how excited Michael’s mother had been when helping her find a prom dress the previous weekend. Apparently, she was over due for some girl things since she was never able to do anything even remotely close with her son due to his gender. Even though the selection was low due to the fact that they were in prom season, Sydney was able to find a hot pink dress that fit her and looked perfect. The next task she had was finding proper shoes. Obviously finding shoes to match would have been difficult and near impossible, so she decided to go with silver or white instead. The only problem was finding them. She tried almost every shoe on in the first store (some just for fun) and in the second store, at which point Michael began complaining, stating he was going to stab himself with a stiletto just for entertainment. At one point, he actually tried on a woman’s shoe just to keep himself from death.

“Okay, okay fine, I promise I will find something at the next store,” Sydney assured him. He gave her a look. “I will!! I will or I promise we can leave.”

“Well… we don’t have to leave, I’ll stop complaining,” Michael said in a slightly guilty tone. Sydney rolled her eyes.

~*~

“Oh my god aren’t you just too sweet,” Sydney sighed when she opened her front door on the night of prom to see Michael with a pink corsage in hand.

“You’re looking radiant as always,” Michael grinned and kissed her cheek.

“This is so nice,” She giggled as she slid the corsage on her wrist. “I feel like I’m really going to the prom… ten years late.”

“Well it’s better late than never,” Michael told her.

The two of them took pictures using the timer on Sydney’s camera before heading out the door. Jefferson High’s prom was taking place at a local hotel and Sydney and Michael, as chaperones, needed to get there an hour early. Their task of the night was to take everyone’s tickets and then they, along with the other chaperones, would make sure none of the students snuck up to rent hotel rooms in shifts.

Sydney greeted all the prom attending students with a smile, especially when many of the girls complemented her dress. Sydney and Michael had a brief reprieve from their duties while eating dinner with the rest of the chaperones, but then they were stuck on the stairs since they had first watch of the escape route to the hotel rooms.

“This is kinda pathetic,” Michael laughed. “How we’re stopping them from leaving, whereas really if they want to have sex tonight they’ll find a way to do it.”

“True, but at least they can’t blame it on us not trying,” Sydney told him. After a few minutes of silence Michael burst out laughing and Sydney gave him a curious look.

“Oh nothing,” he laugh, “I’m just thinkin’ bout how I’m gonna have sex on prom night.” Sydney rolled her eyes dramatically at him. Then she sat down on the stairs, pulled up her dress and began tugging at the straps on her shoes. “What’s the matter?” Michael asked.

“These stupid shoes are killing me!” Sydney whined as she pulled one of them off.

“Oh you mean the shoes we spent eight days at the mall looking for?” he asked.

“It wasn’t eight days…here, hold these,” she said, shoving her shoes at him.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t wanna,” she said simply. Michael rolled his eyes and took her shoes.

Half an hour later, they were reprieved of their stair-watching duty and finally able to join the dance going on in the hotel’s ballroom. Michael still held Sydney’s shoes in his hands as they stood along the wall, unable to talk over the blaring music. Finally, Sydney invited Michael to dance and he put her shoes down along the wall.

“You know we’ve never danced together,” Sydney pointed out as they swayed back and forth to the music (the slow song was played quieter so they were able to converse, though they were practically shouting).

“I know…this is nice,” he said, kissing her sweetly.

“It makes me think of our wedding, or what our wedding will be, you know, when we dance as husband and wife,” she smiled.

He smiled back at her. “Can’t wait.”

“Me neither,” she told him.



Epilogue

“Oh my god NO!!! NO, no, no, no, no, noooooooooooooo, nooo!!!” Hanna Vaughn cried as she ran through her house and flopped down on the sofa in the family room wailing. “WHY GOD WHY!” she shouted as she pounded her fist into the sofa cushions.

“My god what is it?” her father asked with a laugh.

Hanna raised her head from the cushions and shook the plain white piece of paper in her hand menacingly. “I have you for history!!! I’m in my father’s history class!! I’m going to die!” she said dramatically before flopping back down on the sofa.

“Let me see this,” her mother said as she pulled the letter from her daughter’s grasp. She lifted it up and adjusted her reading glasses so she could see it properly. “OH look, you’re in my math class too.”

“WHAT?!” Hanna shrieked.

Sydney laughed and bopped her daughter on the head with the paper in her hand. “I’m joking; I teach calc remember, and you’re taking geometry.”

“Oh… right…,” Hanna said slowly. “But I’m in dad’s history class!”

“Oh please, you’ll live,” Hanna’s younger brother, Mark, rolled his eyes.

“I will not live Mark!! I will not!! There should be a law against this!! Why do I have to go to the high school where you guys teach, huh?!?! WHY!!!!” Hanna demanded.

“Because that’s where we live,” her father explained. “You’ll just have to deal with it and do your homework.” Hanna grumbled at him.

“Just think of it this way,” Sydney said in a positive tone. “At least this way you’ll have the best teacher in the school.”

“Aw thanks babe,” Michael said, kissing his wife.

Hanna made a distinct gagging noise. “God, not only do we have to put up with their lovey-dovey crap at home I’m gonna have to see it at school too!!”

“Just think Han,” Mark began with a smirk, “maybe you’ll get to sit at the desk you were conceived on.” Hanna’s entire body convulsed with a shiver while her brother laughed.

“Mark stop that!” Sydney scolded. Then she turned to her daughter and assured her, “Don’t worry dear, nothing ever happened at school.”

“You have no idea how comforting that is to hear, Mom,” Hanna said weakly.

“Of course nothing happened at school,” Michael said. “Gramma’s pool table on the other ha-AOUCH!” Michael whined when his wife elbowed him in the gut.

“That’s enough outta you,” she hissed. He simply grinned.

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