I wake up to a bright light and an aching side. I turn onto my back to look at the white ceiling, trying to remember the night's events. I slowly climb out of bed trying to fight the urge to continue sleeping, too. I loosen my hair and re-secure it in a neater ponytail before checking my phone, only to see numerous texts from Chris, Ashleigh and my mom. I let them all I know I'm fine, telling Chris and Ash that I'm home and that he can give me my bag on Monday while telling my mom I'm at Kelcy.

Once I'm done I open the door which leads to the passage. A delicious aroma hits my nose making my stomach grumble in hunger and I make my way down the passage and stairs. Now that it's day, I can see the house even better and to say the least, I'm flabbergasted that a house can actually look so pretty. His house belongs in one of those magazines.

There are a few pictures on the wall down the staircase and I stop at one to see Alex holding a little girl with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes in his arms. I assume it's his sister from the resemblence. Let's just say that God really blessed this family with good looks because not only is Alex and his sister gorgeous, but his mom looks like a model! She has chocolate brown hair like Alex and blue eyes like his sister as well as high cheekbones and a tall, slender frame.

Next to the picture of Alex with his mom and sister is a complete family picture. Alex sits with his sister while his mom sits next to a man with jet black hair and tanned skin. He smiles widely, showing off his pearly white teeth. He has large eyes and a small frame compared to most men which is clad in an expensive looking tuxedo. He looks so... professional. Then again, he does own Rosewood Hotels so of course he'd be professional.

Alex's stepfather definitely looks like an intimidating man.

I stop examining the picture and continue walking until I see a drawn up picture of his family tree. It spikes my curiosity and I stop to read a few names, only to  come across a family with the surname 'Ross.' . The family tree basically shows his whole family line including his biological dad's. I frown at the familiar surname but decide that there are many people I know who could have it, and continue walking. Once I reach the bottom of the stairs I realise I have no clue where the kitchen is. I hear a few clangs and booms coming from behind a door and I take that as a fair sign that that is where the kitchen is situated. I push the door open to reveal another large room, the kitchen fortunately, with Alex standing behind the stove in all his glory.

I step into the room not quite knowing what to say and am taken aback when he turns around and gives me a small smile before flipping a pancake. He's cute, hot, smells really nice, is good with kids, is helpful and cooks pancakes- with blueberry syrup?

He's the whole damn package.

"Morning sleeping beauty," he greets.

"Morning," I say, pulling a chair from the island in the middle of the kitchen and taking a seat.
"Sleep well?" He says, dishing up the food.

"Considering that I only got six hours sleep, yes." He chuckles as he hands me a plate with pancakes and syrup over it.

"I didn't know you could cook." I say, grabbing it thankfully.

"Theres quite a lot you don't know about me," he counters, silencing me.

I dig into the pancakes almost immediately and honestly, they're even better than my moms. And that's surprising.

"Oh my goodness! This tastes amazing!" I comment, eating more. He laughs at my statement but doesn't say anything else, digging into his own plate.

"You know what else tastes nice?" He eventually asks- breaking the silence- leaning on the island and watching me while he eats his own pancakes.

"No?"

"Me." He wears a smirk. I walked right into that one.

I giggle, "Sorry, I'm not really in the mood for your flavour today."

"And what exactly is my flavour?
Hot, irresistible, exquiste, mouth-watering-"

"No," I answer. "Conceited, cocky, arrogant... The list goes on and on."

"Well ain't that a load of bullshit." We both laugh before he continues eating.

"You have a little sister?" I ask suddenly, curiosity getting the best of me.

"Yeah, her name is Lily."

"How old is she?"

"Six going on seven." He answers, shoving another pancake into his mouth. He smiles to himself,  thinking of her.

"You got any siblings?" He asks me. I always wanted one but after my dad left it kind of became impossible.

"Nah."

"Do you want any?" He asks.

"I guess I would like to have a sibling but I've accepted that my mom won't have another." I look up at him to see him deep in thought. I squirm while hoping he doesn't ask why, otherwise I'd have to bring my dad up which I'm not in the mood for. Ever.

I pour more syrup over my pancakes while trying not to eat like a pig.

"You really like syrup, don't you?" He asks curiously, brown eyes twinkling, while he watches me eat.

"I love blueberries," I say.

"Cute." He chuckles and I almost choke on my pancakes at the casual compliment. He stands up, taking his plate to the sink while talking over his shoulder, "We're going to Martin's today."

"Martin Leigh?"

"No shit Sherlock."

"There are a lot of Martins!" I hold my hands up in surrender before frowning. "And why are we going there?" I ask. He pauses washing the dishes, turning around to face me for a moment.

"To figure a way to get you out of the Elite." He stated, his eyebrow raised in an 'obviously' manner. I lick my dry lips.

"Oh." Is all I respond with and he frowns.

"You didn't believe I was serious, did you?" He asks and I shake my head.

"No."

He nods, turning back around to finish the chore. "Well you better start believing it, Cooper."

I place my fork down on my plate, chewing on my lip in thought. "I don't have clothes though so can we go to my house and then to him?" I ask hopefully, not wanting to inconvenience him more than I already have.

"Alright," he answers. "We should start getting going," he says while rinsing off his plate. I stand up, heading to the sink to copy his actions when he suddenly takes the plate from me and begins rinsing it himself.

"Let me wash it Alex,"

"No, I'll wash it." He says turning his back towards me

"Give-"

"No.

"Alex-"

"No." He answers, a smirk on his gorgeous face.

"Fine!" I whine, although I can't stop the smirk either.

I watch his back as he washes the dishes before I see him stop and place them in the sink. He slowly turns to face me. Concern is evident on his face and I frown. "Are you okay after last night?" He asks me softly and I try to swallow the emotions that try to make an appearance. I don't think I will be emotionally scarred from this experience however, I do feel violated and on edge.

"I guess." I gulp. He stares at me for a second to long with an intense gaze before he purses his lips and turns around with a nod.

When we head back upstairs after he's finished the dishes, he goes into his bedroom and I go into the bathroom just to neaten up my hair and rinse my face since I'll be getting ready at home. I walk out of the bathroom towards the room I was staying in while looking down, fascinated at how smooth the wooden floor is when I open the door to my room. However, it clearly isn't my room since a shirtless Alex is looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

I stay rooted to the spot, embarrassment already burning at my cheeks. He's only form of clothing is a pair of boxers and nothing more. My eyes are drawn to the abs carved into his torso, however, I fight the urge and look at his amused eyes.

"Uh... I... didn't... know...know... uh. Erm... sorry." I stutter, not sure about how to get out of this situation. I look away, catching sight of his room which is a navy blue and is quite large with a double bed, a punching bag in one corner and a desk in another.

No wonder he looks like... that. He probably works out all the damn time.

His room is extremely neat, the complete opposite of what you'd expect from a teenage boy.

"It's okay," He answers, an amused expression on his face. My throat runs dry.

"Uh, I'm going to go," I say, closing the door. I cringe once the door is closed and sigh, padding back to the correct room with flushed cheeks.

****

Since my mom isn't home, as she went shopping, I didn't have to worry about being caught just yet with an injured body and with a guy she hasn't met before, which was really relieving. I was worrying about an excuse the whole drive here. My leg is healing although it still kind of hurts at times, but the bruise on my chest is sore. No lies.

After an extremely short shower, I throw a pair of jeans on and a white shirt which isn't tight so it won't hurt the bruise. With Alex, I feel like I can be me- not the girl the Elite expect and force me to be- so that's what I'm doing. I put a pair of superstars on and run a brush through my hair, leaving it loose to cover the bruise on my head and then I put a bit of makeup on in an attempt to make the cut and bruise on my face look... Less fresh.

I run downstairs to where Alex is waiting. I was a little nervous about bringing him into my tiny house however, he didn't make me feel any less of a person or inferior and for that I am very grateful.

"I'm done," I announce, jogging over to him.

He raises an eyebrow at me as he looks at me from head to toe and back up, a smirk playing on his lips. This guy is always smirking.
"What?"

"Nice shoes." He comments. "C'mon." I follow him out and lock the door behind me, heading to his silver Audi. He wanted to take his bike but I told him that I wasn't going to drive around in public in my pajamas on the way to my house so he took his Audi instead. Not that he complained much; it's a sweet ride.

The ride is short and quiet, mainly because I'm nervous to meet Martin. What if he doesn't like me? Kicks me out of his house? It's not like I can really blame him... Eventually we stop at another beautiful house- not as large- but still beautiful nonetheless. He turns the engine off and turns to face me with pursed lips.

"You're going meet Cole and Martin, okay?"

"And the others?" I ask nervously.

"You'll meet them, too,  just not today." I nod and try not be as nervous as I am. I rub my sweaty palms on my legs. Why am I so nervous? I've dealt with so much worse than this... I mean making an impression on Courtney was more difficult than this and I succeeded.

"Stop worrying, they're chilled guys." He says while climbing out of his car

Yeah, chilled when they're not around the Elite.

I climb out as well, admiring the grey house while I do so. We make our way up the pathway to the porch where Alex rings the doorbell. Nobody answers at first and I feel relief flood my system at that. However, the feeling is short lived when the door swings open, revealing a dirty blonde- almost brown haired- boy with green eyes. He's tall and attractive.

Martin Leigh, of course.

"Alex!" he shouts enthusiastically, patting Alex on the back. He talks shortly to Alex before his eyes meet mine and I freeze.

"Sophie Cooper?" He asks in surprise, eyeing me up and down. I nod slightly. "Hello there." he greets charmingly, not a hint of anger present in his voice. Either he's very good at pretending to not be mad or he's just dumb enough to be kind to me after everything my friends have done to him and his friends.

"Hey Martin." I greet in resp. onse, giving an awkward wave.

"The princess knows my name," He holds his hand to his heart jokingly and says: "I'm honoured."

Always the jokester.

I laugh with a snort, "I'm not a princess."

He holds his hands up in surrender, "Not what I've heard." He winks before shouting to Cole to come over. Cole- a brunette with brown eyes- comes to greet Alex with a lazy smile.
"Hey bro," he says

"How are you, man?" Alex says after their bro hug.

"Well you left me here with Martin so not that good to be honest," He teases and Martin gasps.

"Hey!" He pouts.

Alex chuckles before pulling me forward to Cole. Cole's eyes widen slightly when he sees me but he smiles politely anyway.

"Oh, so there's the one and only Sophie Cooper." He says giving me the sup nod. I give him a small smile.

"Everything okay from last night?" Martin asks, looking between Alex and I. Oh. So Alex was here, that's why he sounded so awake on the phone. It's as if they all communicate with their eyes. The boys obviously know that Alex had to help me, they just don't know what with. Martin and Cole briefly look at my face, looking me over and catching sight of my visible injuries although they don't say anything about it. Alex nods, not elaborating about anything.

"Are we going to talk out here all day or are you going let us in?" Alex eventually asks expectantly. Martin rolls his eyes and moves out the way to let us in. I follow Alex through the warm house to the sitting room where Martin and Cole sprawl themselves across the couch. I sit on a single chair awkwardly.

"I told him not too," Cole defends himself referring to their current topic of conversation which I sit out of.

"It was nearly finished!" Martin whines. All of the guys chuckle before they sober up and turn to face me, making me feel like I'm being interrogated.

"So..." Cole says

"She's moving over to us." Alex interrupts. Cole and Martin don't seem at all shocked. However, my heart is suddenly in my throat and my eyes are wide like saucers. How can Alex be so blunt? I was trying to mentally prepare myself!

"Who can blame her? I'm a part of it." Martin teases while gesturing towards his body. I feel myself slowly calm down, realising that the boys are reacting a lot better than I thought they would.

"She's not stupid, Martin." Cole retorts.

"You're one to talk Cole!" Martin says punching Cole's arm playfully.

"Actually I-" Cole is interrupted by Alex.

"You going to help with that?" Alex asks referring back to me going to the Rebels.
"If it's important to you then it's important to us, too." Cole says with a shrug.

"But... I'm not too sure about Dylan and Thalia." Martin says warily, looking at me briefly before casting his gaze back to Alex.

"Too bad if they don't like it." Alex spits. "I'll make them agree."

"Chill dude. It doesn't work like that. We can make a plan without being dicks about it." Cole reassures him and I frown at how fair they are.

"Can we start coming up with a plan? This is Courtney Smith we're talking about by the way." Alex cuts him off in annoyance.

"This is going to be fun." Martin says rubbing his hands together, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Alright." Cole says, standing up with a stretch before looking back at me. "It's time to plot your escape."

****

"And Logan?"

"He doesn't like me."

"Megan?" Martin asks.

"Goes with whatever Courtney says."

"James?"

"He's chilled." I answer Cole.

At present, we're all sitting at the kitchen island making a plan on how to make me leave the Elite. You'd expect it to be simple: I just leave. But... It isn't. So far we've come up with a subtle plan and now they're just questioning me and my relationship with everyone to make sure that they can help me if need be. However, I can sense that they're curious too. Not that I blame them; they're getting firsthand feedback about the Elite.

From an Elite.

"And Chris?" Alex asks seriously.

"He's like a brother." I answer honestly. They all look at each other, exchanging looks that keep me out of the loop.  They don't say anything and I frown.

"What time is it?" I ask, dismissing their strange looks.

"Five." Alex answers, checking his watch.

"I should get going," I inform him, knowing my mom will be expecting me home soon and Alex nods.

"That's probably a good idea." He says and I smile softly as we head to the front door.

"Bye." I wave to the boys once I'm on the porch. They both give me wide smiles.

"It was nice meeting ya' " Martin says and I smile. "Yeah. You too."
He grins, bidding his goodbyes to Alex before the two of us walk down the steps while I continue to shiver from the cold breeze in the night air. Alex raises a brow at me before taking his jacket off and slinging it over my shoulders. The action causes me to blush lightly and I look down at the floor.

It seems so cliche, and it's one cliche I actually really hate... However, I'm really cold too so I'm going to suck it up and appreciate the warmth.

"Thanks," I say.

"No problem." He answers while unlocking his car door and opening it for me to which I climb in. "The bad boy being a gentleman?" I tease once I'm in the car, he chuckles, "Bad boys can have manners too y'know."
I snort at that.

"So, what did you think?" He asks changing the subject as we take off.

"They're really sweet.. And funny and chilled." I laugh

"I'm glad you liked them." He says giving me a gentle smile.

"Are you sure this plan is going to work?" I ask. Again. They said I have to drift away from the Elite over the next few weeks. I have to gradually put distance between us. Hopefully Courtney won't notice and I'll just leave the Elite one day surprisingly, however, I do think Courtney will eventually notice and as soon as she does I'll have to move to the Rebels, which means she won't have enough time to make me stay. Hopefully.

I'm very skeptical about this whole plan mainly because Courtney isn't dumb, she knows how to play her cards and if I play even one of mine wrong, she'll find a way of winning. She'll figure it out and when she does... It isn't just going to slide. However, there's no other way for me to switch over.

"As long as you do what we said." He reassures me, pulling up in front of my house. "Okay," I say in the process of opening the door however, his hand which grabs my wrist stops me. "You should dress like yourself more often. I like it." He compliments me, smirking. I flush red and fumble with the door handle before climbing out. I can't believe he just complimented me like that. Why can he make me feel so flustered? I give him one last dazzling smile before walking away towards my porch. I open the door which is unlocked and I hear his car drive off just as I take note of his jacket that is still slung over my shoulders.

I rub the fabric between my fingers, a soft smile playing on my lips.

Hello my fellow dedicated readers :)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Anywho, thanks for reading and please let me me know what you think...
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