don't speak (frank iero)

sibling solidarity

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Sydney muttered, falling over herself trying to get her uniform on. It was a struggle in itself, considering she didn't even know how to tie a tie. Not to mention the (allegedly) long uniform skirt that fell far above where it was supposed to go. She glanced at herself in the mirror and sighed. Having just moved into their new house, her mirror was leaning against the wall which cut off her shoulders in the reflection. She slipped on her socks and pulled her curly brown hair back into a ponytail, leaving a couple of strands around her face. She checked herself in the mirror a couple more times before stepping into the hallway to rush her brother. "Ray! Hurry up! I don't wanna be late!"

Her older brother, Ray, was getting ready as quickly as he could, but Sydney always had a thing about first days, no speed could ever be fast enough in her eyes. She was the type to always have seven plans and eight backup plans prepared for any situation. This morning may not have been the perfect example of that.

"We're not gonna be late!" He shouted back through the door. "We have an entire hour till school starts, calm down!"

"Yeah, that's only one hour to eat breakfast, pack lunch, and walk to the school that's nearly half a mile away!"

"Well, maybe you should've packed your lunch ahead of time!" He said. He could almost hear her roll her eyes from behind the door.

"Raaay-uh," She groaned and slapped the door lazily. Ray buttoned his last button and swung his door open.

"Syyyyd-uh," He grabbed his tie off the bed and stepped into the hall. She in turn shoved him to the kitchen.

Ray tried to take his time through his morning routine to make sure he had everything he needed to be prepared for the day, but his sister wouldn't let him stand still for more than a second. She was scrambling around the kitchen, trying to eat breakfast and pack a lunch at the same time, ending up eating some of her lunch and packing some of her breakfast. Ray, however, was calmly waiting for his bread to toast. Or at least, he was trying to.

"Oh god, it's 6:45 already!" Sydney groaned, shoving her lunch into her messenger bag and yanking her blazer off the coat rack. Ray had only eaten one corner of his toast before he was ruthlessly tugged away from the toaster. "C'mon c'mon c'mon, we have to hurry," She nagged at him, dragging him out of the house by the sleeve of his blazer.

"Can you slow down Syd?" He struggled to lock the door behind them. "Let's try not to burn the house down while Mom's at work!"

This comment completely passed her by; she was only concerned with getting to the school gates on time. After all, what's a tiny kitchen fire in comparison to the long-term effects of being 5 minutes late to school?

"C'mon Ray, It's bad enough that we're new kids! I don't need some private school kid looking at me weird for walking into class in the middle of a lecture!"

"Y'know that we're private school kids too now, right?" He reminded her. She frowned at him.

"Your tie is crooked," She said smugly. Ray looked down to check it, only to be obliterated by Sydney flicking his nose.

"Ow! That was a cheap shot!" He held his nose and squinted at his sister.

"You're cheap!"

-_-_-

After a brisk, and frankly rushed, walk towards the school, Sydney and Ray stood in front of the closed school gates.

"All that rushing and nagging and we're early." Ray slumped down against the metal fence that stretched the perimeter of the school.

"Better early than late," Sydney replied with an awkward unconvincing smile. Ray just rolled his eyes and pulled a comic out of his bag. Before she could tease him and call him a nerd or something to that effect, something about the courtyard caught her eye. She wrapped her hands around the bars of the front gate and stared longingly at the carved concrete walkway.