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As Jackie begins to make corrections on her iPad currently placed in her hands, Sydney sits alone on a 12 seated table, observing everyone around her. She studies the way they interact, they way their body language reflects upon each-other.
She'd always loved the idea of furthering studies within the areas of psychology and analyse people's emotions and intentions. But after everything she had been through, that dream plummeted before she could even begin to pick up a book titled "The Studies of Psychological Practices". Instead, she's taught herself how to notice people body language first hand. Sydney believed that if she had begun to professionally dive into that subject earlier, it could've saved her from so much suffering in the past. If only she wasn't so naive then.
Jackie looks towards Sydney, silently watching how she was so deep in thought and concentration. The remembrance of the rest of her family still yet to make it to the charity event crosses her mind, so she quickly whips out her phone. She sends them a message along the lines of,
'Are you here yet? Where are you?'
Jackie was to preoccupied to notice the girl that had just approached her, trying to get her undivided attention.
"Jackie?" The girl hummed again
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Wow. Jackie, This is so awesome. I can't believe you pulled it off. The events committee is going to be stoked!" she replied.
From this comment, Jackie was grinning like crazy
"I hope so, The photo booth alone has raised over a thousand dollars for charity so far!"
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Meanwhile, whilst Jackie was conversing with several new people, Sydney fiddled with the small plate of food in-front of her. She was now surrounded by 11 other people on the table that seemed to all know each-other. She tried to speak up a few times; start a conversation. But every time they'd just speak over her.
Sydney was the most sweetest person you'd ever meet. But there was so many things ticking over in her clouded mind, that it had caused her to become quite when around this many people. With her anxiety high and her worries even higher, her mind seemed to not even be at the charity event tonight.
In amongst all this, she did admit that she was trying her best to get better. Always trying to improve herself when around other people. She was slowly getting there. It just took time.
The one thing that instantly caught her attention was her uncle Richard, walking with a slouch over towards Jackie. Her eyes followed his every move as he told her something that made her face instantly drop. Out of curiosity, she swiftly in one move got out of her seat and walked over to the both of them.
"Ahh, Sydney. It's uh, lovely to see you." Uncle Richard said to Sydney as soon as she approached them.
"What's happening? Where are the others? Why are you here?"
Sydney began to panic on the inside. She knew it must have been bad for Richard to be there. The last time Sydney saw him was when she was around 10 years old at a Christmas dinner. That was because he was forced to go by Jackie's mum. She also knew the look of sadness more than any emotion on someone.
"Somethings happened, and i need you both to come with me, right now."
And with that, they both walked out of the venue. To say their lives changed that night forever is an understatement. Their world had broken into a million pieces and they didn't even know it yet.
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Sydney and Jackie walked through the Colorado airport with their luggage, waiting for Katherine and George to arrive. In the meanwhile, Richard was on the phone with Jackie, asking her if the flight was okay and if she was doing alright. Sydney stood there looking at the door in anticipation, waiting for Katherine to finally get there to pick them up. Sydney had never formed any sort of family type relationship with the man, she'd only ever spoken to him twice. He seemed to avoid her, and she never knew why.
Before Richard could finish his sentence, Sydney spotted Katherine walking through the glass sliding doors instantly. She ran towards the lady she used to call her second mum and engulfed her in a loving hug. All her emotions so raw and on display, Katherine couldn't help but hug her tighter as they swung slightly side to side in their embrace.
"Oh my girl, you've grown into such a beautiful young lady. How are you sweetie?"
"I'm doing the best i can, i missed you so much Katherine." Sydney began to feel her eyes sting with tears and she pulled out of the hug and looked at her.
"I could say the exact same to you Syd. Now go and get your luggage whilst we introduce ourselves to Jackie." She lightly squeezed Sydney's hands whilst saying so, lifting one hand to wipe the stray tear that had fallen onto Sydney's skin.
Sydney nodded at her and went to go get her bags, not without greeting George with a tight embrace as-well. After they'd all said their 'Hellos' and 'Nice to meet you' to Jackie, they made their way out of the building and towards the abnormally long car.
Sydney couldn't help but notice Jackie's reserved reactions and emotions. She could tell she had instantly built up a wall to try and protect herself from anything that came at her. So instead of just leaving her, she grabbed her hand with a tight squeeze. Jackie looked at her, a faint smile on her face as she truely realised her current circumstances. She dropped Sydney's hand and waited for the Walters to ready their car for them. Sydney looked over her shoulder at her little sister in confusion in why she would do that, without even squeezing her hand back.
When growing up, whenever Jackie was emotional they'd always either hold hands until Jackie was ready to tell her what was wrong, or have little sleep overs in each others room to be there for each-other. And if they couldn't do that, they'd squeeze each others hands in a reminder that they where there for each other. It was unlike Jackie to be this cold and distant towards her and it truely made her upset.
She couldn't loose her little sister to.
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞 ̶̶̶̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶ First offical chapter! Next chapter they will interact with the whole Walter family, but i wanted to sort of show Jackie's and Sydney's relationship kind of drift slowly, and also a bit of Katherine and Sydney because their mother and daughter relationship in this story is really cute.
ANYWAYS, thank-you for readingggg, also i forgot to mention, with the schooling years, yes it's different and may not make sense irl, but for this story to flow the way i want it to i have to make them older or younger in each year i've put them in. understandable if it's confusing for you because it's confusing for me to so please do tell me if i've actually done it all wrong or if it's okay to have it as it is, THANKYOUUU
I LOVE ALL OF YOU! also, if you've come from my tiktok, welcome!
