"Alex?"

Not now, Abi.

"Alex, are you awake?"

Trying not to be.

"Okay, well...if you are, dinner's on the table if you want it."

I groaned. I really had been trying to sleep – I'd slept horribly the night before, my brain having kept me awake by playing my last conversation with Lana on a continuous loop until finally I had to force myself to think of other things until I calmed down again. Then, just when I thought I might be calm enough to drift off, it began again.

I just hoped I would have better luck sleeping tonight; I had band practice tomorrow evening and I wanted to be alert for that.

As I was about to drift off, my phone buzzed. Cursing, I dragged myself out of bed and went to retrieve it, only to find that it was Jessie calling me.

"Hey," she greeted me, "How are you doing?"

"I've been better," I responded drowsily, "What's up?"

"Not much. I've been trying to get ahold of Lana since yesterday, but she won't answer her phone."

"You're lucky I answered mine. I was trying to sleep."

"Shit, sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. And she's probably still upset."

Silence. Then, "Are you guys gonna be okay?"

"I really hope so, Jess. I'm terrified of the idea that she might not forgive me."

"I get that. You know Lana, though. She'll be okay, and she'll forgive you."

It was my turn not to reply. I didn't really know how to at that point. Thankfully, Jessie sensed this and changed the subject. "So, you guys ready for the festival yet?"

"Getting there."

"That's good. By the way, you were probably too out of it to notice, but Vanessa kept sending you these really weird looks today. It was like she found out some big secret or something and she wanted to gloat. It got on her nerves when you didn't react."

"Of course it did. Anyway, she'll probably approach me with it tomorrow."

"Yeah, probably. Listen, I'm going to let you go. Get some sleep, OK?"

"Yeah. Bye."

Once she hung up, I set my phone on my dresser and immediately collapsed back onto my bed. I really didn't have the energy to do any more worrying, especially not when it came to Vanessa. Even now I could feel a stress headache forming, which I thought was a pretty delayed reaction on my body's part, but I couldn't bring myself to get up again to go and get an Ibuprofen. All I wanted to do was curl up into a comfortable, anxiety-free ball and drift off.

As I allowed my mind to wander, my thoughts were led to Josh. He and I had planned to go on a second date soon, but we hadn't worked out the details or anything yet. I made a mental note to text him when I woke up the next morning. As for the rest of my friends, they were probably busy with their own plans. Scott and Two-Bit were spending time together, no doubt, and Bridgette had mentioned wanting to take Johnny and Ponyboy to the coffee shop Kate and Nicole worked at.

Lana was probably making the most of her remaining time with Dallas.

I steered my thoughts in a different direction the moment that entered my head, though, because I knew where they would head if I didn't.

Damn...there's an assignment I need to get done soon...

And finally, thankfully, my eyelids grew heavy and I drifted off into a dreamless, mercifully peaceful sleep.

Needless to say, I was pretty hungry when I woke up the next morning. It was my own fault for skipping dinner, I reminded myself, and got myself ready for the day before heading into the kitchen to see if Abi had mad breakfast yet.

She hadn't. Hell, I was unsure if she was even awake yet. But thankfully, I knew how to cook, so I glanced at the clock to see what kind of time I had to play around with.

Shock, surprise. I woke up super early this morning, I thought, rolling my eyes at the clock. No wonder my sister was still asleep; it was only 5:30 in the morning. Whatever. I'm still hungry.

I was in the mood for French toast, which I knew wouldn't take too long to make. Taking care to be as quiet as possible, I made enough food for both of us since I knew Abi would be getting up in about an hour...give or take.

A thought crossed my mind. Is Ryan here?

I decided to make enough for three people in case he was. And if he wasn't, that left more for Abi and I.

Sure enough, I heard the faint sound of Abi's alarm going off at 6:30, long after I had finished making everyone's food and eaten some of my own (I saved some so I could still eat with her when she got up). Cooking for Ryan turned out to be the right choice, as he was indeed here. "Morning," he greeted me, eyebrows raised in slight surprise, "Didn't expect to see you up this early."

"I'm usually not," I admitted, "I went to bed pretty early last night."

"How are you doing?" Abi asked me, "Thanks for cooking breakfast, by the way."

"Any time. And I'm...alright. Better than yesterday, anyway."

"That's good. Any plans after school today?"

"No," I answered, joining them at the table to finish my own breakfast. "Aside from homework, anyway."

The rest of our morning went in a similar fashion, with us making peaceful conversation and Ryan heading out for work not long before I had to leave for school. Josh drove Jessie and I there, along with Nicole, Bridgette and Two-Bit. I stayed mostly silent during the drive, though I did get some entertainment in the form of Josh, Jessie and Nicole all singing loudly and off-key to OneRepublic's 'Counting Stars'. Two-Bit evidently found it hilarious, as he and Bridgette couldn't contain their laughter.

The trend continued until we reached the school, ending with 'Love you Like a Love Song' by Selena Gomez. However, the mostly light-hearted mood was completely thrown out the window the second I made to get out of Josh-s car – only to see Vanessa leaning against the wall near the main doors of the school, arms crossed and an extremely smug and devilish expression on her face.

"What's with her?" asked Nicole, seeing this as well.

"Fucked if I know," Bridgette responded to her, just as Destiny's van pulled up nearby and the rest of our friends got out. I avoided eye contact with Lana – I knew full well she was still angry, and I wanted to give her the space she needed. I owed her that much, and I couldn't force her to forgive me if she wasn't ready to. It was something she had to decide on her own terms.

Jessie, on the other hand, greeted her with a warm hug. I genuinely felt bad for her – it had to be killing her, too, seeing two of her best friends in a situation like this.

Scott, who had been cheerfully conversing with Two-Bit as everyone was walking toward the school together, suddenly tapped my shoulder and pointed. "Someone's summoning you," he said. I looked and, sure enough, Vanessa was beckoning me closer to her.

With a dread-filled sigh, I decided I may as well see what she wanted with me. It wasn't like things could get worse, or at least I'd thought so at the time.

"Hello, Alex," she greeted me in a falsely sweet tone when I reached her, "How was your evening?"

"None of your business, now cut to the chase. What do you want?" I spat.

Vanessa's grin widened. "Oh, nothing much. I do hope you enjoy your last little while of normalcy, though."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that your witchy little secret won't stay one for long."

A fresh, sharp wave of panic rushed through me at those words. A lump formed in my throat and I began to shake. "How in the fuck did you find out?"

She laughed cruelly. "I saw you in the hall when you and your insomniac friend had your little falling-out. Oh, don't worry – I didn't hear much of the conversation. But I saw your breakdown, and all that stuff flying around. I knew it was you right away since the hallway was deserted aside from me and Lana. And Lana...well, she's nothing special."

I was frozen with shock. I faintly wondered what Lana's sleeping problems had to do with anything, but that was the least of my worries. Vanessa knew one of the biggest secrets I had been keeping, which would affect my entire family as well as me!

At that thought, my shock turned into fury and I found myself fighting the urge to strangle her. "Don't you dare out me, Vanessa, do you understand me? Don't you fucking dare!"

"Don't try to threaten me, Alex. We both know you can't hold your own against me, even if you do have more of a spine these days. And besides, I'm giving you lots of time to get you and your family the hell out of town. What will you lose, really? Your friends all have each other, so they've got no use for you. Plus, Lana's pissed at you anyway. And I'm sure you'll do something to get under Jessie's skin before you go."

"What's going on here?" came Jessie's voice, "What's she saying about me?"

Vanessa ignored her. "You have until the festival. Hell, I'll even let you and your little band perform. After that, though...you'll be out of the broom closet."

Jessie, realizing what Vanessa had in mind, looked horrified. Vanessa walked off before she could say anything, so instead she turned to me and demanded, "Is she out of her mind?!"

"Sadly, it seems that way," I responded through gritted teeth. "I finally get what she's doing. She was waiting to find a secret of mine that would be damaging enough to force me to leave town."

Jessie shook her head in disgust. "If she wants you out of her life, why'd she bother coming back here at all?"

"I don't know, Jessie...I really don't."

I went through my classes in an anxious daze, wanting nothing more than to get home and warn Abigail. There was no way in hell I was going to let Vanessa have the satisfaction of seeing us flee, but we still needed some kind of plan. Abi's powers were more advanced than mine were, which would definitely help...but what, specifically, could we do?

As I was leaving the school that afternoon, Jessie and Josh caught up to me. "Hey, Alex," said Jessie, "Josh and I were wondering if we could come and hang out for a little while? Maybe...talk about some stuff?"

The look in her eyes told me what she meant. "Yeah, sure, you guys can come."

Then, when Josh wasn't looking, I mouthed, Are you sure?

She nodded.

Josh drove Bridgette and Nicole home before driving the three of us and Two-bit to the apartment building. One Two-Bit was in his apartment and the rest of in mine, we noticed Abigail hadn't gotten home yet.

This should make my job a little easier, I thought as I dumped my school stuff in my room and rejoined my friends in the living room. I wasn't sure how to begin with what I needed to do, but fortunately Josh spoke first.

"So...Jessie mentioned that we needed to talk about something?" he asked, sounding a little worried.

"Um, yeah." I sat down beside him on the couch, Jessie on my opposite side. "There's something I need to tell you, but you cannot tell anyone else, no matter what."

"How worried should I be right now?"

"I'm not sure how to answer that," I admitted. "Josh...I'm a witch."

Josh's eyebrows shot up. "What?" Then, "Are you trying to mess with me or something?"

I shook my head, then lifted the nearby TV remote with my magic so he could see I was telling the truth.

"Okay...definitely not a joke, then," Josh's eyes were wide, though he looked far less afraid than I'd been anticipating. "How long have you been hiding this? Are the rest of your family witches, too?"

"Yes, they are. And I only found out about it within this last year, so not that long, really. But, Josh, I was dead serious when I said no one else could know. Lana and Jessie know, and so do Johnny, Dallas, Ponyboy and the rest of those guys. But no one else."

Jessie scoffed as she remembered this morning. "Forgetting someone already?"

"Fuck, that's right. Vanessa knows too, now, which will be a major problem if we don't figure out a plan to stop her from telling everyone at the festival."

"Speaking of which, Andrew scheduled tonight's practice for 7:00."

"Okay, that's fine. I'm a little more worried about Vanessa right now."

"I get that," said Josh, "And I promise not to do anything like that, Alex. You know I wouldn't hurt you or your family like that."

"I know," I said, and he pulled me into an embrace.

"It's still so weird to me, though," he admitted, "It's not every day you learn your girlfriend has magic, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do. And I'm sorry for springing it on you like this, I just...I needed you to hear it from me instead of that conniving, evil little--"

"I'm home!"

"Oh, thank God!" I rushed to her immediately, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. "Abi, something happened."

"What now?"

Jessie and I explained the situation at once. Abi looked just as concerned as I was, but she seemed to be formulating a plan in her head. "We need to call your great-aunt. Her magic is the strongest and we need all the help we can get."

"What are we going to do?"

The moment she explained her plan to me, I calmed right down and the only thing I felt toward Vanessa was a deep, bitter longing to see that plan put into action. I wanted to see her pay.