Closed Keep Your Enemies Closer

[Sydney Townsend]

Things like this was why worrying about other people was a waste of time Sydney thought viciously, stabbing at her lunch with more force than was strictly necessary. In the interests of trying to divert Ren's annoying attentions away from Samantha, she now had to at least pretend to be cordial with him instead and it was driving her up the wall. How Samantha found any enjoyment interacting with that idiot Sydney would never know, she was too nice for her own good. Chewing sullenly, Sydney tried not to think too hard about Samantha right now, instead trying to reassure herself she was doing the right thing by vetting all of Ren's dumb little gifts for Samantha instead. So far nothing had made the cut to actually need to bother Samantha with them, and she had her doubts there ever would be anything, but at least Samantha didn't have to pretend to like them or deal with Ren's nonsense unnecessarily. The things Sydney did for friends, she thought resignedly.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren was pleased, Sydney hadn't exactly opened up to him, but she was trying, and that was a step in the right direction. He sauntered into the great hall, smiling as he spotted her. He moved over, sitting across from her and smiling widely. "Hey, Sydney," He greeted brightly, setting the package on the table and sliding it across to her. "This is for you," He informed her. He had found a plain hardcover white journal, and had stayed up most of the night designing the cover for her. He yawned. "I worked really hard on this one, I thought you might like it," He smiled tiredly at her.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney bit back a groan when she spotted Ren strutting around the hall, her hopes that he hadn't spotted her yet dashed as he made her way over to join her. Reminding herself she was doing this for Sam, she made a grunt of acknowledgement as he sat down across from her, hoping the fact she would eating would cover up her lack of enthusiastic response. She paused her chewing when Ren slid something across the table. Another present, though apparently this time it was supposed to be for her. "Why?" She asked him suspiciously, glancing at the wrapped package dubiously. The last thing she needed was Ren turning his affections on her, Sydney balked at even the thought of it. She kept her hands on her knife and fork, not moving for the package until she had a better read on Ren's intentions.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren chuckled. "Because we're friends, silly," He told her, an easy smile on his face. "I just thought you might like it. I made it just for you," He reassured her, moving to start fixing his own plate. He was actually really hungry, surprisingly, he must have forgotten to eat dinner last night.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney barely restrained a lip curl when Ren called her 'silly'. Merlin, she loathed him, she thought viciously, managing to simply give Ren a tight, toothless smile in response. She didn't trust herself not to say something about her actual opinion on their friendship if she spoke right now, and she needed to not immediately mess this up if she could hold out. Ren seemed to be making himself comfortable and Sydney sighed, reluctantly dragging the wrapped package over to her side of the table and giving it a dubious look. "Thank you," She said stiltedly, trying to sweep it into her bag. "I'll open it later, don't want to get food on it," She said. "No more trinkets for Samantha this time? I should have a class with her soon, I can pass it on to her as well."

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren smiled back at Sydney, though he could tell she seemed irritated. "Is everything alright?" He asked, setting his fork down a moment. "You look like something is on your mind," He asked with a bit of concern. He set his chin on his hand, then shook his head. "Nah, I haven't seen anything lately that I thought she would like," He replied easily.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney swore she had never met anyone so irritating before, perhaps bar Eric Holland and his dumb friend Nova. But at least she wasn't forced to hang out with them. She shook her head and Ren's question, scrunching up her face into an innocent smile that felt more like the look someone got when they bit into a lemon. "Just mentally writing something for the Monthly," She said dismissively, kicking her bag a little harder than normal under the table once Ren's little gift was in it. "Oh funny, I didn't think you put too much thought into them," She said lightly, relieved that Ren only seemed to have one present today at least, as odd as getting it had been.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren hesitated at the look on her face. He... was right about this, wasn't he? "You know, um, my cousin is best friends with the guy that runs Accio," He spoke. "I think that working for the yearbook, and the newspaper, it's really great work, I really admire what you guys can do." He complimented, knowing that with Rose sometimes he just needed to acknowledge her work to get her to smile. He smiled a bit at her statement. "I put a lot of thought into all my gifts. Every gift means something," He promised. "Like yours. You're very intelligent, and I thought you could use what I made you. Sam's gifts have all been prettier, aside from that book I thought she would like. Yours is more practical," He took a bite of his food.