Another chapter for you all... I hope you like it! Big drama in this one, but you'll just have to read it and see :D

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The afternoon sun had not lasted long and by the time the bell rung, signalling the end of school, the clouds had returned and rain was pouring down. The air was cooler now, the ‘smothering’ feeling of the humidity had passed, and the rain was refreshing, particularly to the plants and shrubs in the area, which had suffered during the recent dry weather.

In the quiet estate where the Taylor mansion was situated, the rain pounded on the pavement and soaked the lush greenery that adorned the grounds. The rain battered Alyssa’s window, as if packing severe punches with every drop of water that happened to land on it, and the wind tugged at the tall trees that surrounded the gardens, threatening to pull their leaves off the branches. The sudden change in weather had been, to say the least, unexpected after the warm, dry spring weather that they had been past experiencing.

Courtney and Kayla were both inside Alyssa’s room, and the three of them had spent the afternoon ‘studying’, although no textbooks had been opened and the majority of the time had been spent gossiping (and bitching) about half the girls at Serenity Falls. This was, of course, one of Alyssa’s favourite pastimes.

"Have you heard the news?" Kayla asked, glancing at Alyssa as she fell back onto her friend’s soft king-size bed and kicked off her shoes. She rubbed at her ankles, which were sore from walking around in killer heels all day, and winced as she pulled down her white over-the-knee socks to inspect the damage.

"What news?"

Alyssa, who was in the middle of applying shiny pink gloss to her lips, paused and turned her head to look at Kayla. It was a rare occasion for Kayla to know something she didn’t, as Alyssa was usually the first one to hear gossip at Serenity Falls, and if she wasn’t, she was the one spreading it.

Kayla smiled smugly, revelling in Alyssa’s suspense. The words rolled around her mouth, so sweet she could almost taste them on her tongue. "Sammi’s back."

Alyssa’s expression at that moment was priceless. Her bright eyes widened and her mouth, only half coated with gloss, shaped into a small O. It seemed likely that the lip gloss wand would fall out of her hand and onto the white carpet, but it stayed in her grip. "You mean... Sammi Sammi?"

"Uh huh."

"I heard that too." Courtney looked up from her Blackberry, which her eyes – and fingers – had been glued to for the whole afternoon. She had been fully engaged in a texting marathon with Carter, although the other two girls were completely unaware of this. For the whole afternoon, she had been dreading the moment when they finally asked who she was texting. Thankfully, that moment had not come yet, but it was hard to concentrate on two things and she had been, to say the least, somewhat withdrawn from their conversation up until this moment.

"No way!" Alyssa’s mouth was still fixated in a small O. Her shocked expression couldn’t be hidden, even under all the make-up she had piled on her face. "As in Ethan’s Sammi? What the hell’s she doing back? And where did she go, anyway?"

"I have no idea," Kayla said, shrugging aimlessly. "I don’t think anyone’s even talked to her since she left. But to be honest, hardly anyone likes her anyway."

"Didn’t she get pregnant or something?" Alyssa frowned. "That’s what I heard, and if it’s Sammi we’re talking about, that’s not unlikely."

"With Ethan? Nah." Courtney shook her head.  "I heard she got arrested." She looked up from her cell phone again. Her thumb was poised over the back key, ready to exit out of her messages as quickly as possible if either of the girls happened to look over or ask what she was doing. There was no way she was taking any chances with this one. It had already come close too many times, and there was definitely no way she was letting herself get thrown out of this clique. Not now, not when she had worked so hard to get there.

"Well, she always looked like she was on crack," Alyssa said, causing Kayla and Courtney to laugh obediently. She smirked and put the lip gloss wand back into its tube, before throwing it back into her make-up bag. "Olivia’s going to be in trouble."

"Why?" asked Kayla, tilting her head to one side, so that her bleached blonde hair cascaded over her shoulder. Her blue eyes widened and she looked genuinely confused.

"Because," Alyssa said, rolling her eyes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. But to her, it was. "Olivia’s been all over Ethan since she got here. And come on, you know those two. They were like, inseparable. Always having their tongues down each other’s throats. But now... Olivia’s on the scene."

"And Sammi won’t go down without a fight," Courtney added.

"Oh, I can’t wait to see this," Alyssa said, smirking as thoughts crossed her mind. "It won’t be long until Olivia is out of here, and for good."

"How many chances is she getting, anyway? I mean, she’s already been in deep shit like three times now. Why doesn’t Mr Delmar just get shot of her?" Courtney scoffed.

"Because she’s a nerd," Alyssa rolled her eyes. "But that won’t last long. If her daddy’s not paying money, soon there’ll be no reason for her to stay. Money beats brains, every time."

Courtney smiled smugly. "Too right. And that’s how it should be."

"If you ask me, there’s way too many nerds at that place. I mean, you look down that hallway and all you can see is pale skin and glasses practically everywhere. Ugh." She shuddered, as if the thought was making her uncomfortable. "God, haven’t they heard of a spray tan?"

"Totally," Kayla agreed, lifting up her left leg to inspect the colour. "Do you think I’m looking pale again, Alyssa?"

Alyssa stepped closer, squinting as she looked at Kayla’s outstretched leg. It was a bronze colour, although a fraction of the dark colour it had once been when her tan had first been applied. "God, yeah," Alyssa scoffed. She walked over to her en-suite bathroom and opened the cabinet over the sink, from which she took out a bottle and threw it in Kayla’s direction. Kayla, who had absolutely no co-ordination whatsoever, failed to catch it and it hit her on the head before bouncing onto the bed covers.

"Ouch, that hurt!" exclaimed Kayla, rubbing the side of her head where the bottle had hit her and pouting. "Did you have to throw it at me?"

"You need some of that," Alyssa ordered, ignoring Kayla’s apparent pain. "Keep it. It’s not like I need it anyway."

Kayla nodded and picked up the bottle, inspecting the front label.

"Who are you texting?" Alyssa said suddenly, looking at Courtney, who was sitting on the bed with her eyes glued to her Blackberry screen. Her fingers were moving so fast across the keyboard it was a wonder she was able to type anything correctly, and she jumped when she realised that Alyssa was on her case.

"No one," she said quickly, closing down her messages and looking at Alyssa.

"Don’t lie, you were totally texting someone," Alyssa said. "You’ve been glued to that thing all afternoon. Come on, who is it?"

She reached out, making a grab for the phone, but Courtney rolled over on the bed and kept it away from Alyssa’s grasp. "I told you, it’s no one, I swear," Courtney said, but her lie was as transparent as a glass window.

"It’s a guy, isn’t it? Come on, who’s the secret lover?" Alyssa taunted, smiling. However, Courtney knew that she would be far from happy when she found out the truth.

"No one," Courtney insisted. But Alyssa had now reached over suddenly and made a desperate grab for the Blackberry. It took Courtney by surprise, and although she tried to lean further away, she was unable to keep hold of it. Alyssa smiled smugly when it was in her grip, but Courtney was overcome with pure terror. She had to get it back before Alyssa found out everything.

She reached over to try and take it back, but Alyssa was now standing on her bed, holding the phone high up. There was no way that she would be able to reach it, and even if she did, Alyssa would’ve already found out by then. Courtney looked up, waiting for the storm to come. And it did.

Alyssa’s face transformed from a smirk into an expression of shock and anger in just a few seconds. Her face fell as she scanned through the messages, each one as loved up and mushy as the next. And sure enough, there was his name, signed at the bottom of each message with three ‘x’s – Carter.

"You... bitch!" Alyssa’s voice was quiet, as she turned and glared at Courtney, who was standing there looking petrified. "You absolute bitch!"

She slammed the phone down on the floor in anger. It collided with the floor with so much force it smashed into pieces. Kayla, who was sat on the bed looking totally confused, stared at the broken phone on the floor and then looked up at Alyssa, but she was unable to speak.

"It’s not what you think, I swear," Courtney began, but her efforts to justify were useless. Alyssa was now in full rage mode, and there was nothing that could stop her when she was this fired up. She jumped off the bed so she was at eye level with Courtney.

"Not what I think? Not what I think?" Alyssa screamed, her voice piercing. "You have been sneaking around with my boyfriend, you slut! It’s exactly what I think!"

"It wasn’t like that–"

"How long have you been doing this? How fucking long?" Alyssa stepped closer to Courtney, her face just inches away from hers. Her eyes were fixed in a permanent glare, her eyes glazed over with pure anger. Then, without warning, she shoved Courtney backwards with such force that she stumbled back and almost tripped over the rug on the floor.

"You absolute skank!" Alyssa screeched, suddenly lurching forwards and tackling Courtney to the floor. She slammed multiple punches into her stomach, causing Courtney, who was trying desperately to fight back, to double over in pain. She clawed at her face with manicured nails, yanked at her sleek dark hair so hard it seemed as if she might pull it out completely.

But Courtney wasn’t weak. She wasn’t giving up easily, and she was able to inflict her fair share of injury, and as she slapped Alyssa’s face and shoved her, forcing her to roll over so she was on top and in control.

"Carter didn’t want you anyway!" Courtney shouted in Alyssa’s face, as she pinned her friend to the ground and kicked her hard. "He was going to break up with you anyway, because you’re the skank!"

"Don’t you even fucking dare, Courtney! You had the nerve to sneak around with my boyfriend behind my back!" Alyssa screamed back, managing to wriggle her arm free of Courtney’s clutches and deliver one final punch to her face with such force that she yelped in pain and fell backwards.

Alyssa scrambled to her feet and looked down at Courtney, who was sprawled on the floor, her hand pressed firmly over her nose. A small trickle of dark blood seeped out from beneath her palm and slid down her face. "I’ll make sure everyone at school beats the shit out of you as well!" Alyssa screamed.

Courtney didn’t try to fight back, but she was still up for arguing. "Maybe if you weren’t such a crap girlfriend, Carter wouldn’t have had to find someone else in the first place! He’s been bored of you for months, and you couldn’t even see it! You were too busy hooking up with every other guy in the school!"

"I did not hook up with anyone!"

"Oh, really?" Courtney smiled, even though there was still blood dripping from her nose, which had now reached her upper lip and was giving her a new crimson shade of lipstick. "What about Aaron at Brooke’s party? Come on, everyone saw you."

There was a pause.

"Get the hell out of my house!" Alyssa shouted down at Courtney menacingly, her foot poised in the air as she threatened to kick her with her sharp heels.

Courtney knew there wasn’t much point continuing this argument any further, but both of them knew it was far from over – in fact, this was just the beginning. She staggered to her feet, one hand pressed over her bloody nose, grabbed her bag that was waiting in the corner, and made a getaway out the door, which slammed behind her. Kayla sat there in silence whilst wondering how to react.

"We," said Alyssa quietly, finally breaking the tense atmosphere as the silence was shattered with the sound of her voice, "are going to bring her down."

"How?" Kayla queried, tilting her head to the side.

"I don’t know yet," Alyssa responded, her eyes still narrowed with the fury that was burning up inside of her. "But we have to do something. No one steals my boyfriend and gets away with it."

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