Dedicated to perkypillows for the cover at the top! I love it, thanks so much💗

Chapter Forty-Four: "Hormones In A Frenzy."

"CONGRATS SYDNEY!" JANE exclaimed when she saw me on the other side of the hallway. She broke away from her friends and ran down to meet me at my locker as I quickly shoved things inside, slinging my backpack over my shoulders.

"Thanks...um, have you seen Lucas this morning? I need to talk to him."

"Now?" There was something about the expression on her face that let me know that something was wrong.                                                                

"Yes...I need to talk to him. Like, right this second." I told her.

"Check main art room. He used to be there a lot last year when he came early in the morning."

"Thanks." I told her again and I quickly closed my locker, feeling the tiredness from last night coming into my system. We got home late and I was surprised I had decided to come to school after all of this. But I was unfortunately in grade twelve and I really couldn't afford to miss many classes.

I ran up the stairs, trying to swerve a couple of people as they made their way down. When I reached the art room, I opened the door to find Lucas holding a paint bucket, his hand covered with white paint.

He wasn't wearing his uniform, instead a t-shirt and shorts that already had white paint marks on them. Like he had done something like this many times.

His glasses were on the table beside his backpack and as I got closer I could tell that he hadn't got much sleep. Almost like he hasn't slept at all. "Lucas..."

He dunked his hand in the bucket of paint and threw it at the easel where the canvas was already painted black. It splattered near the corner and I heard Lucas chuckle. "See...I don't have much coordination, Canada girl or else that would've hit right in the center."

"What's wrong?" I asked him, trying to step closer but didn't when he did the same thing again.

"I usually come here you know?" He threw paint at the canvas again almost as if he was throwing all of his anger at the messy painting he was forming. "Whenever Joey and I get into a fight or whenever I get mad in general."

"You come here any time you get mad?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much. I have a key. The janitor lent it to me after I helped him out and gave him something to make his house look a hell lot more colorful. Why not act out your frustrations on something more...healthy, right?"

"Look at me," Lucas threw paint at the painting again and shook his head, finally turning his head to look at me. "After a couple months of knowing you, I'm actually explaining myself because I want to. What a change."

"Yeah." I agreed, getting a little worried. "Why are you mad?"

"Do you know why Timothy didn't like me? I didn't care but I knew the reason."

"What was it?"

"It's not like he was jealous that I'm dating you or anything. At first I thought it was because he liked you."

I almost laughed. "Yeah, that definitely wasn't the reason."

"But you're you and I kept thinking why wouldn't he be at least attracted to you after knowing you for so long. Then he kept asking me so many similar questions involving money I kind of got the hint. That was he was jealous of me because of my family."

"Because you have money?"

"Sydney, you won't believe the amount of people that would want to be in our shoes. There are so many people out there that are jealous with the kind of money my parents have. But some of those people don't understand that money can't buy you happiness," His voice became quiet. "It's sad really."

"You want to expand on that?"

Lucas sighed. "When my sister died, our family practically fell apart. I knew that money couldn't solve all of our problems but when Beth died, it just proved everything. She was the glue that held our family together because problems started accumulating the second she was gone. She was the only daughter, no one truly got into serious fights with her. She was just there. And when she was gone, none of the money in the world could bring her back."

I swallowed hard and Lucas took the paint again and threw it at the canvas, this time in visible anger. "You never really told me how you coped with it."

"Mourning helps. It really helps one process death. I did different things. I painted way more often than I should have. They sold a lot back then. I think it was because people could clearly understand the sadness in each painting. For a period of time I could barely sleep or eat but Joey, yeah it was Joey who got me through it even though he wasn't doing much better."

Lucas looked at the painting in front of him, his hand looking limp in the bucket. "I think Joey was the only person I talked to during those times."

I watched him throw white paint at the canvas again with a little more force then before. "The anniversary of her death is coming up, isn't it?"

"In April, yeah." Lucas paused, his eyes zoning out for a second before he blinked, putting the bucket down.

Lucas walked over to the sink, washing his hands carefully. "I only left because I didn't want to get physically mad. He was egging me on trying to see my reaction. He has this idea that the offspring of rich people are spoiled, stupid and possibly act out but get away with it. I didn't want to prove him right and I'm pretty sure compared to him I would've lost in a fight anyway."

Lucas chuckled at the end of that sentence and there was a part of me that didn't want to laugh but a laugh bubbled its way past my lips. "I'm sorry."

Lucas waved a hand, shutting off the tap. "It's alright."

"I think he was mad at not only that but because I left and showed him how much I changed. I think."

"No...no you're right," Lucas walked over to the table and I watched him grab his shirt from the bottom and pull it off. Right in front of me. Shit.

"When the announcer said you guys had won the competition you should've seen his face he was seething."

"Yeah...um-Tim-Timothy is-is-he usually gets mad easily." I sputtered, watching Lucas turn his back to me and shove the shirt in a drawer like this room was his own. I spotted his tattoo and resisted the urge to reach out and trace it.

Fuck it.

I stepped forward and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him towards me. Lucas raised an eyebrow, brushing his fingers against my face. The coolness of his rings made me lean into his touch. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" I asked him. "You can't just take your shirt off in front of me and not think I would react."

He kissed me lightly on the lips. "I'm not going to walk into class with a dirty shirt Sydney. That and there is uniform for a reason. I live for that reaction by the way."

He pulled back, pulling his shirt over his head and tugging it down. "He was mad that I had found another studio. It's so strange that in a matter of two days I can clearly see a person that I've danced with for fourteen years."

Lucas turned to me with genuine concern. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. Things happens for a reason anyway. I should've seen it coming. I just hate that he was so mad about you-that he was so jealous of you when he had no reason to be. I'm sorry about him."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He repeated what I had previously said with a small smile before he dropped a bomb by pulling his pants down.

"What the-Lucas!"

"What?" he laughed when my head moved up to look at the ceiling. I kind of figured that he was a boxers kind of guy instead of briefs. "I thought this kind of thing sent your hormones raging."

"One, never say that again," He laughed loudly at my demand. "And two, really? You have Super Mario boxers to match your Super Mario socks?" I asked, looking back to see him sliding into the legs of his uniform pants.

He buttoned his pants together, before taking his belt and putting it through the loops. "Of course. I'm the son of a fashion icon. I have to have clothing that matches, Canada girl."

"Cute." I said, watching him shrug on his blazer and grab the tie.

"You want to put it on me? Does that send your hormones in a frenzy as well?"

"Just shut up and give me the tie." I rolled my eyes, tying it for him as he buttoned up his blazer and I patted the tie as it hung down and hid into the neck of the sweater.

"How do I look?" He made a show of turning around in a circle and I smiled.

"Like an average everyday student at Hamilton Academy of the Arts."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you just need one more thing," I reached over at the table, grabbing his beanie and placing it on his head. "Okay...now you look more like Lucas 'the dork' Cahill."

"Thanks." He sarcastically said.

"No problem, now let's get to chem."

He grabbed his backpack and my hand as we started to walk out when a thought came to my mind. "Wait...you said that you come here whenever you get mad. Does that mean that another girl has possibly walked in on you changing into your uniform?"    

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            "I hate English." Zen muttered, sitting down next to me at our empty lunch table. I had no idea where everyone was but I was too busy trying to stalk Michelle's current boyfriend online.

"You speak it. I don't think you can hate it buddy."

"I can hate it. Trust me."

"Aren't you in Lucas' class?"

"Yeah."

"He loves it. How do you hate it?"

"Because Lucas likes reading and writing shit. I don't. I like hacking into the teachers system so that I can change my grade from a 63 to an 89."

"You...you didn't actually do that, did you?" I asked him.

"Once in eighth grade. It was just once! Don't think too much about it but if you want your grade changed usually it's a hundred per mark but for you since you're my friend, I'll give you a discount."

"How much would it be with the discount?" I asked, putting my phone down.

"$99."

"Dick." I muttered. "Lucky for me, I don't really need to waste a hundred dollars on fixing one grade. I am so happy where I am right now."

"What's going on?"

"I got high grades in all of my classes last semester mostly because I made my mom take away half of my movies so I wouldn't get so distracted. We just won Nationals. I regained my title back. No drama has been happening since I got back-"

"You haven't even been back in town for a day." Zen cut in.

"That's not the point. I have my Julliard audition in two weeks. I just need to get past that so I'm home free. My life is good."

"You and Lucas aren't celebrating Valentine's day?" Mary Anne asked as she settled down next to me.

"No...we don't exactly have a way of doing that on the day but we have a plan."

"What is it?"

"Um...so you see how my audition is in two weeks? Well Liz- being the ten times generous person she is has offered to drive me and my mum down there-"

"Wow."

"Yeah. She's really supportive in my dancing. It's insane. And Lucas said he wanted to come support me."

"I'll be supporting you from here," Zen mumbled, leaning his head on his arms that were rested on the table. "I'll send you a personalized gif that says your name and everything."

I patted his gel hair. "Thanks Zen. Your laziness will be accounted for."

"What laziness? Do you realize how long it'll take me to make-"

"It's nerve-wrecking isn't it?" Mary Anne asked me, cutting Zen off instantly.

I leaned back into my chair, trying not to laugh at Zen's facial expression. "I never thought I would be more nervous going to anything in my life."

"What? I thought you've done stuff like this before?" Zen turned his head to look at me with one eye open before groaning. "Oh my fuck, why is the light in this stupid cafeteria so bright?"

"Those were competitions. That's different then going to an audition that could possibly decide my future." I explained to the nocturnal being.

"Shit. Now that sounds like a much bigger issue." He mumbled. "If I send you virtual flowers would that make you feel better?"

"By a fraction sure." I mumbled, taking my giant Chemistry textbook out and putting it on the table.

Eduardo sat down at our table along with Kim. "What are we talking about?" Kim asked, hitting Zen on the back to make him pull his head up.

"Kim, let me sleep would you?" He grumbled, going back into his dead mode.

"Sydney's Julliard audition." Mary Anne answered just when I took out my binder and started doing questions.

"How are you getting to New York?" Kim asked.

"Liz. Lucas' mom."

"Damn." Eduardo whistled.

Sarah stomped over to the table and I could see her silently screaming as she sat down and started talking. "Why is this table so cluttered? Holy."

"Maybe because Sydney's giant ass textbook is in the fricking way." Eduardo gestured and I rolled my eyes, not really caring.

"Remember what I said about how texting was easier than actually speaking? Like in a before a relationship starts kind of way?"

"Yeah." Kim, Mary Anne and I said in unison.

"Well, it really doesn't help."

"I could've told you that." Zen and I said at the same time and we both stared at each other.

"We have to stop thinking the same thing." I inquired. 

"I know."

"Are you and Cody having problems?" Kim asked Sarah.

"Oh we basically just broke up before we even started dating so-not anymore." Sarah let out a breath, leaning back into her chair. "Boys suck."

Zen scoffed. "Don't make it seem like it's always the guys fault here."

"Really? Because according to the information I get from my sources almost 74% of all relationship issues here at school are caused by the guy."

Zen opened his mouth to speak but then came to a conclusion that his idea was shut down my statistics. "Shut up."

"Wait...it's just Lucas and his mom coming with you and yours to New York? Isn't that a bit suspicious?" Sarah asked.

"How? Doesn't her mom think that she and Lucas are just really good friends?" Kim asked.

"I mean, Lucas already came to watch her at Nationals. Wouldn't her mom find it weird that he's being really supportive or something like that?"

"Trust me, we've thought about that." I explained.

"And?"

"That's why others are coming along for the weekend."

"Like who?" Mary Anne questioned.

"There's Phillip, Greg, Christian and another one."

"Who's the other one?" Kim inquired.

I dropped my pencil and leaned back in my chair, practically spitting out the next word. "Joey."  

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

"Greg, shut up would you?" Joey muttered, lying back in his bed. I swiped my finger across the screen and Phillip deflected the move as we played 2 player air hockey on his iPad.

I'm surprised Joey hasn't been much of a downer for the start of this weekend but I was honestly waiting for the moment he says something directly to me. I'm waiting.

"Joey, shut up." Christian mumbled, his eyes looking intently at the screen.

Joey got up from the bed, glancing at Christian phone just when I heard a sound beep from the game. Lucas chuckled when Phillip started rejoicing. "The nine year old just beat you in a game."

I gave Lucas a tight smile. "Tease me again. I dare you."

The smile on Lucas' face slipped off as fast as it came on and I handed Phillip back the iPad. "Why does the same girl keep sending you pictures?" Joey asked Christian, still looking at his phone.

"It's not like I'm telling her to stop." Christian said arrogantly. Boys.

"What kind of pictures?" Phillip asked innocently and I winced, hoping that one of these idiots would not explain what they were talking about to him.

"Nothing. Why don't you order room service instead?" Lucas reached across the bed to hand Phillip the phone.

Once Phillip was distracted even though I had a feeling he would be listening to the whole conversation, Christian spoke. "Whoa."

"What?" Greg glanced at Christian's phone and I could see his eyes widen. "Whoa."

Lucas rolled his eyes, leaning back against the headboard. "Remind me again how I am related to you people?"

"Okay," Greg sat down next to me. "You see mum and dad decided one day that evolved into many days to-"

"That's not what I meant jackass."

"Lucas, watch your language." Liz said when she entered the room. "You boys swear twenty four seven."

"She's lucky she hasn't truly gotten to know you." Lucas whispered in my ear before pulling back.

I looked at the time on my phone, taking a deep breath. Gosh, it was getting so close. I decided to distract myself, looking at Phillip when he returned. "Hey PJ, how was your birthday?"

"Uh-I didn't throw a big party this year."

"Is that what you did last year?"

He nodded, looking through the iPad. "Yeah, but mum took me and my friends to a trampoline place instead. It was so cool. I did flips on it."

"That sounds fun," he leaned against my arm as I tried to ignore the nervousness in my stomach. "Anything else?"

"We went to restaurant and I got a big cake that Lucas made. It was chocolate and had Oreos on it."

I put a smile on my face for the kid but it immediately dropped when I glanced at the time just when I saw Octavia send me a text message.

"You okay?" Lucas asked in my ear, a hand on my back in comfort.

"Yeah, just a little nervous," I admitted. "I lied. I think I'm going to throw up."

"If you throw up, can you do it that way," He pointed in the direction where I wasn't facing him. "I just bought this shirt and I don't want to ruin it."

"Gregory." Liz scolded him.

"What? It's true and this is a really nice shirt mum."

I held back at laugh at Greg, glancing over at Joey. He was now holding Christian's phone, scrolling through something that clearly had him interested. "Is she your girl?" Joey asked Christian.

Christian shook his head. "Nah, she's just been into me since September."

"So, not a girlfriend ?"

Christian let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, right."

I took another deep breath, I wasn't even sure I could eat at this rate. The thoughts of things going wrong today went through my entire mind. Even when everyone started eating, I couldn't bring myself up to eat or drink much.

A few minutes later I was in the room my mom and I were sharing, trying to find my earphones while shrugging my jacket on. I grabbed my dance bag, trying not to notice that my hands were shaky. "Sydney."

I turned to face my mom. The one who's always been by my side through everything dance related. Who'd drop her work just to see me perform, to drop me at an early morning practice and to show me that would she would support me through everything.

I let her hug me and I dropped my cheek against her shoulder as she tried consoling me in Spanish. I inhaled her familiar vanilla scent, feeling that sense of comfort that always came with her presence. I didn't even have the heart to reply.

"Do you remember the first time you went to Regionals?" She asked me in English.

I lifted my head up to look at her. "Yeah. I didn't want to leave the house."

"Right," She nodded. "And do you remember that time when you got moved to the senior team?"

"We went out to celebrate at my favorite restaurant." I almost laughed at the memory, back when everything seemed so much better. When our family was still intact.

"And days later you kept telling me that you didn't think you would do so well in their practices. That they were more intense and every time you came home, you would fall onto the couch and just sleep. You couldn't even make it to your bedroom."

"I'm pretty sure I only said that so I could avoid doing homework."

"Oh I knew that. Your dad didn't." I laughed and even at the mention of my dad she let out a laugh herself, surprising me. "But you still kept working, you know? You kept on saying that you'll be okay and that you'll push through it. And months later whenever you came home, I wouldn't find you sleeping on the couch, I'd find you doing your homework like you were supposed to do."

I kind of understood where this was going. I put my earphones in my jacket pocket. "So you're telling me that I'm still working on everything and that it's all paid up for this moment and that I can give it my all to into the school?"

"I was going to say, if fate throws a knife at you, there are two ways of catching it-"

"By the blade or by the handle." I finished off, hugging my mom tighter. "Grandma used to say that a lot." 

"Yeah she did, didn't she?" My mom patted me on the arm after a while to alert me. "We have to leave now kiddo."

I took another deep breath as she left the room and I put my boots on, meeting everyone by the doorway. As we were walking down to the elevator of the hotel, I caught Joey looking at me in a way that annoyed me. "What?" I almost hissed.

"Relax. You just look a little less nauseous then you were. Did you even eat anything this morning?"

"I had a banana." I confirmed for him, wondering why the hell I was actually talking to him in the first place.

Joey's eyes flickered to the ceiling as we waited for the elevator to come. "You realize you actually need energy right? You have a huge audition today, did you not think of actually eating something fulfilling this morning?"

"I was trying not to throw up this morning."

"You're lucky my brother's a fatass," He muttered, grabbing Christian and taking the unopened orange juice out of his hand and handing it to me along with half a French toast. "Here."

"Shut up." Christian muttered and I could clearly see the waffle in his other hand.

I looked at Joey. "Uh-thanks." He didn't reply, instead he took his phone out and started looking through his timeline.

When we arrived to the building, I could physically feel the orange juice and the French toast making its way back up and I felt the need to go to the bathroom. When I turned around, I practically hit my head on Lucas' chest. "Shit." I muttered.

"You do not look okay."

"Thanks captain obvious," I snapped at him and instantly regretted it. "I'm so sorry, I'm just really nervous."

"I know. Wait, Greg, come here." Lucas pulled Greg to block my mom's view as she was speaking to some of the teachers.

"I'm glad my use on this trip is helping you guys. I'm totally not feeling used at all. Thank guys."

Lucas ignored his brother, grabbing my hand. "Breathe with me okay? I used to do this a lot as a kid. It helped me calm down a little. Okay, breathe in."

I took a slow deep breath in along with Lucas and we breathed out together. The third time we did it, we made eye contact and we couldn't help but laugh. "Did that help a bit?"

"Yeah, thanks." I said to him gratefully, hoping he could understand how happy I was to have him right here.

He leaned forward to kiss my forehead and I could feel my breath hitch in my throat. "You'll do great Canada girl."

"Yeah, Sydney you'll do great even though he still calls you that ridiculous nickname." Greg said, turning around.

Phillip pushed through his brothers, smiling up at me. "Good luck."

"Thanks guys." I hugged Phillip when Christian came over.

"I think they're calling you everyone inside." He said, nodding in the direction of the door.

I pulled away from all of them, my eyes not helping but looking over to Joey who put his phone in his pocket when he caught my gaze. "Do you feel like throwing up again?"

"Not really." I told him.

"Good. I don't want you puking on my shoes before you even get the chance to dance."

"Wow, such encouraging words. I feel better already."

I could see the corner of his lip tug into a smile before it dropped. "You'll do fine."

I hummed in approval. "Wow. Thanks Cahill."

"Only this time, Acosta." He muttered when my mom reached us.

"Go. You'll do amazing. Call me when you're done."

"We shouldn't have to hear from you the entire day, alright?" Liz asked me, giving me a hug. If they didn't hear from me most of the day, it meant that through the process of auditioning I was given callbacks. The last thing I want is to be dismissed during the first part of this whole day.

"Okay." I waved them bye as I stepped into the room that I knew would help determine my entire future.