Riverview School For Girls [GxG]

twenty four

Sydney had grown up with four brothers. All sneers, and cackles, and scoffs. All grass stains, and scraped knees, and dirty fingernails. All action figures, and video games, and broken remote controllers. All testosterone. All love.

When she started at Riverview, she was plunged into an alternative universe. Polite smiles, and clean blazers, and polished shoes. She was out of her depth, surrounded by so much softness, so much femininity. The other girls seemed to already know all the things she was never taught — to sit up straight, to only speak when spoken to, to not laugh too loudly. She hated it at first. She missed her brothers, with their rough hands, and flushed cheeks, and boyish grins. But she soon leant that she didn't need them anymore, because instead, she had her sisters.

Willow, Dahlia, and Val had intimidated her at first. They seemed at home, between the castle walls, draped in the school's colours. They seemed like they belonged, tucked away at the very top of the West Tower. They seemed comfortable there. Sydney knew that the only chance she had of fitting in was to befriend them. She succeeded, through loud unearned confidence, breaking down her roommates' barriers until they had no choice but to accept her as one of them.

The four of them became inseparable.

Until they hit puberty, and suddenly, boys mattered.

There was a division between them that wasn't obvious at first. It was subtle, and very slowly widening. With each new boy Sydney kissed, her friends seemed to slip further away, out of her reach. She should have chased after them, but instead, she tried to drag them into her own world. She tried to make them enjoy the same things she enjoyed. It worked with Val, and sometimes, Dahlia, too. But Willow had never cared about boys, or dating, or sex. She had never even tried to care.

Then Jordan Kiani came along, and Willow slipped even further away from Sydney's grasp. First, Sydney blamed Jordan, then she blamed Willow, and now, she only blamed herself. Because Willow hadn't slipped away, Sydney had pushed her away.

It wasn't until the end of the day when Sydney managed to track Jordan down, locating her in a quiet corridor, "Jordan!" She called, chasing to catch up with the other girl, her kitbag bouncing on her shoulders.

Jordan turned around to face her, and Sydney noticed that her uniform was tidy, for the first time ever. "Hi, Sydney." Jordan smiled, glancing around the empty corridor, presumably searching for the rest of Sydney's friendship group.

"It's just me." Sydney smiled bashfully, distractedly turning her hockey stick over in her palms, "Willow's already at practice. The others are... I don't know where the others are."

"Oh. Right." Jordan twisted her tie around her fingers, her brows furrowed into a frown, "What are you...?"

"I wanted to thank you." Sydney blurted out, "Earlier...with Burke." She cleared her throat awkwardly, "No one's ever really stood up for me before...I've never even stood up for myself before."

Jordan rose her brows in surprise, "Oh." She breathed out, understanding settling across her features, "It's alright. You don't need to thank me."

"You got detention because of me."

"I got detention because of my uniform."

Sydney smiled sheepishly, "We both know that's not true."

Jordan shrugged, "Who's to say?"

"Burke needed an excuse to give you detention." Sydney rolled her eyes, "She was pissed because you called her out on her bullshit, which, by the way, was amazing."

Jordan chuckled, "Happy to be of service." She watched Sydney cautiously for a moment, then hesitantly, "You're not gonna take the braids out, are you?"

Sydney instinctively touched her hair, woven into tight braids, falling past her shoulders. She sighed, "I don't know." She admitted.

"Burke has no right to tell you to take them out." Jordan said firmly, "Keep them, Sydney. Please." There was desperation in her voice; desperation to deprive Miss Burke of the satisfaction of getting what she wanted.

"I'll think about it." Sydney promised. She wasn't the perfect student like Willow, but she wasn't a rule breaker like Jordan. She liked to balance on the line between, never quite slipping into trouble, though never quite rising above it either. Her hairstyle had tipped that line over, making it blurry.

"I gotta go." Jordan said after a moment of silence, "Burke hates it when I'm late for detention."

"Right. Yeah. Of course." Sydney smiled politely, but when Jordan tried to walk away, she grabbed onto the sleeve of her blazer, "Wait."

Jordan frowned, "You okay?"

"We're getting drunk on Friday, in our dorm — the girls and I." She explained, "You should join us."

Jordan stared at her blankly for a moment, not quiet comprehending Sydney's offer, "Really?"

Sydney nodded, "Yeah, it'll be fun." She smiled, "We can get to know each other a little better." Because it mattered - getting to know each other. If Willow was friends with Jordan, then it mattered.

"Okay." Jordan agreed, "Sure. Thanks."

They parted ways, Sydney heading to hockey training, Jordan heading to detention.

Sydney knew that she had never given Jordan a fair chance. She had seen her as a virus, infecting her best friend, corrupting her. But now, she realised, she was just a person. A good one.

Sydney first realised that Jordan liked Willow a long time ago. It was only recently, however, that she realised that Willow liked Jordan back. That was a harder truth to swallow. Because it meant that Willow wasn't the girl that Sydney thought she was. It meant that she belonged to someone else.

When she got to the changing rooms, everyone was already in their hockey kit, and Sydney had to scramble to undress, throwing her clothes onto the bench haphazardly. The other girls watched her, laughing, chatting, teasing. Willow was tying her hair into a ponytail, examining her with raised brows, "Where have you been?"

Sydney shrugged, "Got caught up." She murmured, "Bumped into Jordan."

If Sydney wasn't already sure of Willow's feelings towards Jordan, the way her entire body stiffened at the mention of her name would have confirmed it. She froze, her hair dangling loose, lips parted, "Oh." Willow breathed out, after finally composing herself, "Did you?"

"Dahlia was talking about getting drunk Friday night." Sydney explained, pulling her skort up her legs, "So, I invited Jordan."

Willow gulped, "You invited Jordan?" She echoed.

Sydney rolled her eyes, "What's the big deal?"

Willow shook her head dismissively, "No-there's no-it's nothing." She forced a smile.

Sydney sighed, fishing her kneepads out of her messy bag, "You good? You've been acting weird all day."

Willow nodded quickly, "I've just been..." She trailed off, sighing as she glanced over her shoulder, checking that no one was listening in, "I feel bad." She admitted, "That I wasn't with you...at the doctor's."

Sydney frowned, "That's what's got you all worked up?"

Willow shrugged helplessly, "I'm your best friend." She said softly, "And I haven't been acting like it."

Sydney smiled, "Well, neither have I."

Willow cocked her head to the side curiously, "Syd..."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Sydney said firmly, "About anything."

Willow looked down at her laces, avoiding eye contact, "I know." She hummed.

"So..." Sydney rose her brows questioningly, "Is there anything you wanna...tell me?" She asked hopefully.

Willow shook her head, "No."

A spark of disappointment flared in Sydney's chest, but she pushed it away with a sigh, "Okay."

Coach Mitchell interrupted them, ordering them onto the field, his whistle dangling around his neck. Sydney didn't talk to Willow much after that. But she was used to it by now - the silence between them.