I shove another spoonful of lemon sorbet into my mouth and reminisce over the last time Alex and I were here. After the first time I met Martin and Cole, Alex drove us to the town over and bought ice-cream for us here. He had chosen chocolate and I had chosen this exact flavour- lemon sorbet. We had then walked down the pathway where I told Alex about my dad and he did too.

To think how far we've come.

"What are you thinking about?" Alex snaps me out of my thoughts. He raises an eyebrow in amusement from across the table and I smile.
"Just about the first time we came here." I say. Alex smiles.

"When the guy kept hitting on you?" He asks and I laugh, rolling my eyes.

"Is that all that is of importance to you?"

"Considering the fact that he was checking my girlfriend out, yes."

"We weren't dating back then." I counter.

"Still counts."

I roll my eyes and he smirks.
"But no. I remember you telling me about your dad," he says and I nod.

"And you told me,"

He grabs my hand on the table.
"Yep. All because I trusted the brunette in front of me."

I grin. "We've come a long way."

He nods, "We have."

"Are you happy?" I ask and he looks at me so intensely I squirm.

"More than you'll ever know."

I grin at that and finish off my cup of ice-cream. As we eat in silence, I realize I owe Alex an apology.
"I'm sorry," I say softly and he casts his attention on me.

"I'm sorry that I believed Courtney and didn't give you time to explain yourself. I'm sorry for thinking so lowly of you. I'm really sorry." I rush out.

His lips twitch at the sides.
"It's fine, Sophie. I'm not upset." He answers and I shake my head.

"It's not fine, Alex. I shouldn't have said those things."

He leans in closer, resting his face on his palm but looking at my lips before looking back at my eyes.

"I've said some things, you've said some things. Neither of us meant it. That's how we grow." He says sincerely before smirking.
"And plus, we forgive those we love." He says and my lips twitch into a smile before he leans over the table and presses our lips together. When he sits back, I lick my lips.

"You taste like vanilla." I laugh and he rolls his eyes.

"And you taste like lemon,"
I give him an eye roll and he laughs. Thirty minutes later and we're pulling up outside my house. The whole drive, all I could think about was that text received on Courtney's phone. Maybe it was a long-lost cousin or uncle, but for some reason I just have this suspicion curled around my stomach that it wasn't. Whether the unknown number is the person who spilt Alex's story or has some other connection to Courtney, I need to find out. I never mentioned the text to Alex; at first I thought it would be better not to and when I wanted to, I received some news from Courtney. But now I think he deserves to know. Alex is just as much a part of this as I am.

That is the reason why, as Alex switches off the car and turns to me, I confess what I saw.
"I found something on Courtney's phone today."

His eyebrows knot in confusion.
"How did you have Courtney's phone?"

I give him a sheepish smile and chew on my lip.
"Well, me and Nina sort of got hold of it." I mumble. Alex sighs.

"I'm not even going to scold you."

"Thank you, dad." I say sarcastically and he winks.

"I like that nickname. Just make it longer; daddy." He smirks and I roll my eyes.

I pull my phone out and show him the picture I took of the message.
Alex takes my phone and stares at it, pursing his lips.
"You have any idea of who this is?" He asks me and I shake my head.

"Not a clue."

"Maybe we're over-analyzing this message." He says and I give him a blank look.

"Do we really want to take that chance though?"
He swipes his tongue over his lip and reluctantly shakes his head.

I take my phone from him and slip it back into my pocket, climbing out the car and Alex following after me. When I open my door, the house is quiet once again indicating my mother isn't home. My mother must have one of the most unstructured time schedules ever.

We walk upstairs to my room and I place my bag on the desk and grab my laptop. Alex pulls his shoes off and gets comfortable on my bed. I take the seat next to him, opening my laptop and switching it on. We sit shoulder to shoulder, our arms brushing and when my laptop switches on, I head to the internet and open a tab onto Facebook.

"What are you doing?" Alex asks me. I smile at him.

"Everyone had Facebook at one point. And when they stopped using it, they usually didn't delete their account."

"And you're expecting to find something on Courtney?"

"Maybe."

"Alright. Well, lets give this a shot." Alex says, sitting up in excitement and rubbing his hands together. I chuckle at his antics and get to work.

****

I groan out loud. "There's absolutely nothing. It's like she's a ghost. She has a profile but nothing on it."

"Take a break Sophie. You've been at it for an hour and a half." Alex says gently.

I sigh and put my laptop on my bedside table as I lay down on my bed. Alex pulls me into his side and I rest my head in the crook of his neck while he wraps his arms around me and rubs circles mindlessly on my hip. I play with his shirt as we lapse into silence.

"Alex?"

"Mmh?"

"Can you tell me what caused the rivalry between the Elite and the Rebels?" I ask softly. It's quiet before Alex speaks.

"I don't really know what it was. Logan and I didn't get on ever since we first met. I had already, uh, slept with Courtney," he says awkwardly. "and I think she was upset that I didn't want any strings attached so of course she was pissed off. This was before her and Logan got together, though. They both had a mutual hatred for me and I guess everyone friends with them followed suit. They were dicks to me so my friends, the Rebels, automatically backed me up. From there we all just had this simple understanding that neither of us liked each other."

The way Alex puts it sounds so simple; like petty hatred between teenagers but at school it seems so much more intense- almost as if someone fucked the other one over. Yet it all sprouted from something as simple as cousins not getting along.

"Why don't you get along with Logan?" I ask.

Alex snorts, "Have you met him? He's an absolute dick."

I roll my eyes and sit up slightly to look at Alex. My shirt rides up and his fingers brush the bare skin, making my stomach erupt into butterflies.

"Of course I know Logan, but did you guys dislike each other from the very start?"

Alex shrugs, caressing my cheek.
"Yeah. He didn't like my mom. Or me." He utters and I rest my chin on his chest so I'm still looking at him.

"Well I think you're pretty amazing." I murmur and he grins, leaning into my lips. When our lips touch, I forget about everything. The Elite, Courtney, Logan, myself. Everything.
I love him so much.

When Alex pulls back he smiles. "I love you."

I grin so hard my cheeks hurt.
"I love you too." I'm about to kiss him again when a thought hits me, making me sit up and look at Alex with wide eyes.

Alex sits up in panic, eyeing me in worry. "What's wrong?"

"If Logan is your cousin, he obviously knows what happened with your mom and dad." I say and Alex's eyes widen. He gets up from my bed and runs a hand through his hair before he starts pacing around the room. I watch him from where I'm on my knees on my bed.

"I don't think he knew everything." Alex says, having stopped pacing.

"How is that?" I ask.

Alex shakes his head, "They only reconnected with my step-dad when I was in seventh grade and even then Ryan wasn't close with the Ross'. My parents never spoke about what happened to the family willingly so I don't see why Ryan would have said anything."

"So you don't think it was him?" I ask and Alex shakes his head.

"I highly doubt it, but maybe I should get a punch in there for good measure."

I frown in thought. If it wasn't Logan then who the heck is it?

"I need to find something," I mumble, pulling my laptop back towards me and staring at the screen illuminating my room.
Alex takes a seat again. Courtney has a profile but there's absolutely nothing on it. Zilt. Nada. Nothing. So, I go through her friends and go through her pictures. I go to family members and try find any pictures of Courtney. Is this considered stalking? Because I sure do feel like one right now.

Alex swaps with me at one point and then I take it back. I'm about to give up when I find a friend of hers who has a very Spanish name and surname. I go into her profile and scan the content. I go all the way down, beginning to grow hopeless when a picture of Courtney pops up and her Spanish friend wishes her happy birthday.

Happy Birthday amigo! Te echo de menos! I can't wait to see you again. I had lots of fun when you were here, Courtney. Come visit again. Que tengas un buen día!

I had lots of fun when you were here.

My eyes widen in realization and I go back down to the year when Courtney did the exchange student program in Spain. Courtney never said anything about going there before or after the program, which I'm sure she would have, so I assume she met this girl while been an exchange student. I pass numerous pictures of this girl on the beach with her friends, her at clubs and her at college. I don't have time to decide whether or not she's someone Courtney would hang around with due to the fact that I'm growing antsy. I scroll down so fast that everything becomes a blur until I stop at posts she uploaded last year during my junior year. Courtney was doing the program from midway Sophomore year till the beginning of Junior year so if there's any pictures of her with this friend, it should be here.

I scroll pass the hundreds of pictures, stopping when I see a picture of her and Courtney. Only this time my eyes widen to the size of saucers and I read the caption below it.

Felicitaciones, amigo!

"Alex," I say and he sits up, looking over my shoulder at the picture of Courtney and her friend. His eyes widen too, not at the sight of the two of them but rather at what Courtney is holding in her hands.

"Holy shit." Alex says and I nod.

I don't know what to think of the picture but my mind is spiraling out of control with speculations.
Does anyone know about this?

"You don't think she's-"

"I don't know, Alex." I cut him off, staring at the picture. "I honestly don't know."

****

The following day, I couldn't not look at Courtney's curiously when she walked by or when I caught a glimpse of her during lunch. How was I not supposed to after I saw the picture? I didn't know what and what not to think. That picture raised too many questions that I didn't have the answer to and didn't know how to get. I was intending on finding who spilt Alex's secret but rather found something bigger. Much, much bigger. It's none of my business what goes on in Courtney's life but I'm all too curious now.

Like I said, I have too many questions.

I can't ask Courtney. That's definitely not an option. But the true intention and reason of my actions was to figure out the original question. I still intend to, maybe finding a little bit more information on Courtney in the process. After seeing the picture yesterday evening, Alex went home- after we made out a little bit because how could we not?- and I ended up telling my mom what Alex and I confessed. Needless to say, she was an absolute fangirl.

"Sophie? Hell- Sophie!" Nina snaps her fingers in front of my face. I'm switched back into reality and I look at Nina who is leaning against the locker beside my own.

"Uh, what?" I ask, completely clueless of what she was talking about. She shakes her head.

"I was saying that I heard Courtney is hosting a party." She says and I roll my eyes.

"Of course she is. What else is she good at?" I ask. She chuckles at my comment.

"So, have you found anything else about that text we saw?" She asks lowly and my eyes widen. I don't think I should tell her, or anyone for that matter, what Alex and I found. I shake my head.

"No. I think we were just reading too deep into it." I shrug although I don't believe my own words. Nina nods, her face contorted in thought.

"Yeah, most probably." She agrees.

Just then, I hear the rest of the Rebels including Thalia and Dylan walking towards us. I feel arms snake around my waist and lips peck my cheek. I smile and turn around to face the handsome boy I love. That was another thing that has been running through my mind. I never thought I'd fine love. Not after I saw what my dad did to my mom. He said he loved her and I sure as hell didn't want to be treated the same way he treated her. So I pushed all thoughts of those happy endings to the back of my mind. However, when I met Alex those thoughts were slowly brought back into the light.

And here we are; completely whipped for each other.

"Hello Princess. Miss me?" He teases and I giggle.

"Mmh. Maybe. Maybe not."

Alex slaps one hand over his heart in mock hurt. "You wound me."
I wink and he chuckles as I close my locker.

"So, how about some pizza at my place?" Martin smirks and we all agree with him. Pizza would go down well. However, before we can leave, the soft clatter of heels on the linoleum floor catches our attention. We all turn our heads to the girl in front of us and I can't help but look at her in curiosity once again but slowly realize that I should be worried why she's standing in front of us, with Logan's arm wrapped around her waist, instead. He doesn't hold her with love or adoration but rather as if she's a trophy, something for him to show off. Before she says anything to us he gives her a sloppy kiss on the mouth before murmuring something in her ear, making her giggle and then walking away. Of course not before casting us all a dirty look.

"What do you want?" Nina beats me to asking Courtney. Courtney's laugh resonates through the hallway and I narrow my eyes at her.

"Calm down," she waves a hand dismissively before eyeing me.
"I just came to invite you all to my party tonight," she shrugs.

"Since when did you start 'inviting' people to your parties?" Cole asks incredulously.

"Oh, I don't. But I guess you all deserve an invite since you probably think you're not welcome."

"To be quite frank, I don't care if I'm welcome or not, I'd show up to your fucked up party anyway." Ninas says in a fake sweet voice. Courtney's eyes narrow although she chuckles lightly.

"Oh, Nina. You've always been quite a catch with that dirty mouth of yours. It's dirty in more than a few ways if you catch my drift," Courtney winks and Nina pounces for her but before she can scratch Courtney's eyeballs out, Martin grips her waist and holds her back. I step in front of everyone.

"We're not coming," I tell Courtney and she pouts.

"Oh come on, Soph. It's going to be the biggest party of the year."

Alex rolls his eyes.

"We're not coming," Cole confirms.

"Hold up, guys. I think we should go." Dylan suddenly perks up and we all look at him. I almost forgot he was here.

"What?" Christina asks him incredulously and he shrugs.

"It's a just a party."

"Hosted by Courtney," Nina adds.

"C'mon guys." Thalia backs Dylan up, looking at all of us. For people who hated me so much just because I was an Elite, they sure are willing to go to one of their parties.

"So?" Courtney asks, a slight hint of hope in her voice.

"We're not coming." Alex finalizes before we all turn and walk away, leaving Courtney in the hallway with a scowl. Why did she even want us there? All she does is cause shit.

I climb into Alex's car and as soon as my door is closed, I give him a confused look.
"What was that?" I ask, buckling my seatbelt as we head to Martin's house for pizza. Alex shakes his head.

"You never know with Smith." Is his simple reply.

When we're all settled in Martin's living room, a Monopoly board is spread out in front of us and the delivery of pizza on it's way.
I roll the dice from where I'm seated on Alex's lap and when I score a double six, I let out a whoop before I land on free parking and receive $200 000. If only life was that fair.

"No fair!" Martin pouts and I stick my tongue out at him which he responds in doing the same.
Childish, I know.

"You seem to be good at this game," Alex whispers in my ear.

"I'm actually terrible at this game," I laugh out loud "I just seem to be getting lucky today."

Alex smirks, "Could you maybe say that I'm your lucky charm?"

I pretend to think about it for a moment. "I don't think that's it," Alex glowers at me and I let out a loud hoot just as the pizza arrives. Martin brings them into the room and lays the boxes out in front of us. We all dig in, me scoffing down a piece in what feels like seconds.

"You didn't get Hawaiian, did you?" Christina narrows her eyes at Martin after scanning the contents. Martin scoffs.

"Of course I didn't. I hate it."

"Doesn't mean the rest of us do," Cole deadpans and Martin shrugs before leaning over and grabbing another slice of pepperoni pizza.

"Can you guys believe Courtney?" Nina scowls.

"Since when did we care about invites?" Cole shakes his head.

"Maybe she was planning something," I shrug.

"Like?" Thalia presses. I give her a blank look. How am I supposed to know? That girl has way too many tricks up her sleeves.

"Hold up," Nina holds her hand up, gaining everyone's attention. "She's not expecting us there right?" She asks and we all murmur 'yes'. She smirks.

"Does anyone feel like crashing a party?"

"That's my girl!" Martin laughs, ruffling her hair. Everyone is hesitant but we eventually agree. Seeing the look of pure shock and frustration on Courtney's face would definitely be worth it. Who knows? Maybe I'll find out more stuff.

They all look at Alex, secretly asking if he's joining. He looks at me first and when he sees the smile on my face, he grins.

"Looks like we've got a party to crash."

Uh oh. There's going to be stuff going dooowwwn.

What did you think of the chapter? I know you probably hate me right now since you want to know what Alex and Sophie saw in the picture but I'm sorry, I had to *smirks evilly* . But don't worry, you'll be finding out very soon;)

For now, do you have any theories on it? I'd love to hear them!

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