^ because she's taken the time to read every chapter and i love her for it :D

Yay, new chapter :) I decided to upload a little earlier than normal as I have over 1,000 reads! Thank you, and make sure to let me know if you like it :)

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"Oh my God, this dress is awful."

"Is it really that bad? Come out here, let’s see," Kayla called to Alyssa, who was inside the shop’s fitting room trying on what felt like hundreds of dresses.

The curtain that was separating the changing cubicle from the outside area was drawn back and Alyssa stepped out, pulling a face. The dress she was wearing was a fuchsia strapless number, with a sequined bodice and a satin belt that pulled in her waist. It was adorned with a fake flower and countless diamond sparkles on the floating skirt that finished a little way above her knees.

"What’s so bad about it?" Courtney asked, tilting her head and admiring the dress, which made Alyssa look amazing, as per usual.

"Are you on crack?" Alyssa looked away from the mirror long enough to glare at her friend. "I look huge! I am so going back on that all-carb diet." Her hands lightly traced her stomach and she shook her head violently. "What’s wrong with me? I’m practically an elephant, Carter’s been acting weird lately and I still haven’t found a dress for the dance."

"It’s weeks away," Kayla assured her. "You’ve got loads of time. You’ll find the perfect dress. Just maybe not in this shop." She threw a dirty look to the shop assistant, who was standing there holding armfuls of dresses which Alyssa had since discarded, as if it was her fault.

The assistant, who was looking more and more fearful of the three of them by the minute, bit her lip and said quietly, "There is one more dress you haven’t tried."

Alyssa glared at her. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she snapped angrily. "Bring it here."

The woman hurried off, still carrying the rejected dresses, back into the storeroom to retrieve the last one. Alyssa rolled her eyes as she left, and returned to her favourite position in front of the mirror to continue her whining. "God, I’m a mess. No wonder Carter’s going off me."

"He’s not going off you," Courtney assured her. "Why would he? You’re the hottest, richest and most popular girl in school. He needs to realise how lucky he is."

"Tell me about it." Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Maybe he knows about the kiss with Aiden at the new year’s party?"

"How could he?" Kayla piped up. "It’s impossible. Maybe he’s just got a lot on his mind."

"Well, I can’t take much more of it. He’s been so boring lately. I wish he’d just snap out of it." She pouted. "God, where is that woman? If she doesn’t hurry up, we’re out of here."

"Anyway, it’s not like Carter’s the only guy at Serenity Falls. There’s plenty of other hot guys besides him, right?" Courtney said, in an attempt to cheer Alyssa up.

Her comment didn’t exactly have the desired effect. "We’re not breaking up," Alyssa snapped, glaring at her. "Who said that? Have people been saying things?"

At that moment, the shop assistant came back into the fitting room, carrying a hanger with a protective cover attached.

"Well come on,’ Alyssa said, impatiently. "Let’s see it before we give up and go somewhere else."

The woman began unzipping the sides of the cover and pulled it off, revealing a long deep violet coloured dress. It was one shouldered and had diamond detailing on the bodice and waist area, which flowed smoothly into a long rouched skirt that was sprinkled with a thin layer of glitter and diamond detailing.

"That’s amazing!" squealed Kayla. "Oh my God, try it on!"

"We only have one," said the shop assistant. "It’s a size two."

"What are you trying to say?" Alyssa narrowed her eyes. "That’ll fit." She grabbed the dress and went back into the changing room, where she took off the pink dress and threw it over the top of the curtain for it to land crumpled in a heap on the floor.

She exited the changing room a few minutes later, wearing the dress but clutching the back and looking annoyed. "The zip won’t do up at the back! Kayla, help," she commanded. Kayla rushed up from her seat and but her attempt was to no avail.

"Oh, for God’s sake!"

The shop assistant bit her lip. "I’m sorry, miss. We don’t carry any other sizes in this particular style."

"It looks so good, though," Courtney said, nodding her head quickly and smiling at Alyssa.

"Yeah, totally," Kayla agreed with her.

Not even Alyssa could disagree that the dress did look good on her. The waistline hugged her figure in all the right places and the deep violet colour went perfectly with her tanned skin and sun-kissed blonde curls. The diamond detailing caught the light whenever she moved and she had just bought a pair of heels from another shop that would go perfectly with the dress.

She stood in front of the mirror for a second, admiring her reflection, despite the fact that the back was hanging open and a smile could not help but creep onto her face.

"I’ll take it," she said, looking behind her at the assistant, who was continuing to look uneasy, although this may have been due to the fact that she felt quite intimidated by the three girls’ presence. "Wrap it up for me."

There was a silence in the air as Alyssa’s command was received, before the woman spoke. "There is… one more thing."

"What?"

"Well, it is rather more expensive than the other ones you have tried on."

"How much more?" Kayla enquired.

"Well, it’s ten thousand dollars…"

Alyssa threw her a dirty look. "What are you saying? Are you implying that I can’t afford that?"

"Well, no, I just…" The woman looked at the floor. She hadn’t meant to sound rude, but she had just thought it was rather expensive for young girls shopping for a dress for their school dance. It was one of their prize dresses from their limited collection, something only the richest of their customer base could afford.

"Who do you think you are? How dare you insult me like that! You’re just some nobody, working in this shop for minimum wage. I’ll have you fired! I’ll have you-"

"I just assumed…"

"No, you didn’t. You don’t even know who I am. Alyssa Taylor. You know, the daughter of that guy who supplies probably all of your shop’s equipment, and probably theoretically signs your pay check?"

"I’m sorry, Miss Taylor-"

"Yeah, you bet you’re sorry. You still think I can’t afford that, bitch? Just because you can’t, there are some people who can." She glared at her fiercely, before reaching into her purse and pulling out a shiny platinum credit card. "Charge it."

The woman reached out to take the card and turned to leave the room as quickly as she could manage. Alyssa shouted after her as she left the room, "And don’t think I won’t be writing in a formal complaint about this to your manager, bitch!"

She returned to the cubicle once more to remove the dress and change back into her other clothes before rejoining Kayla and Courtney in the main area of the boutique. The woman was nowhere to be seen, but one of the other workers was already waiting there with the black box containing her dress, her card and receipt, which she grabbed and left the shop as quickly and purposefully as possible.

When the three of them returned to the black Jaguar that was parked in the centre of the parking lot, where everyone could get a good look at it, Alyssa tossed her shopping bags into the back seat and hopped in. Before long, they were cruising down the highway at full speed in the direction of her house.

"Well, at least you found your dress," Courtney said, tossing her sleek dark hair so that it rippled in the wind as the car sped forward. "God only knows what I’m going to wear."

"As of now, I am back on that diet." Alyssa pulled a face. "I can’t believe that damn zipper wouldn’t do up!"

"Oh my God, you are so skinny anyway, babe," Kayla said, leaning in from the back seat. "Naturally skinny. Unlike me here." She looked down at her stomach as if she could see rolls of fat hanging out from under her shirt.

"Shut up," Alyssa said, although she was smiling. "Whatever. I’m still going to fit into that dress if it kills me."

Before long, the car was pulled up in the driveway in front of the huge mansion that belonged to Alyssa’s family. The house and grounds covered a larger area than the school itself, both of which were well kept and brilliantly presented, thanks to the many staff that were employed there. The lush green grass had been freshly mowed this morning, and the shrubbery was looking healthier than ever now the better weather had come around. She hopped out of the car, grabbing her bags and strode up to the front door, heels slamming on the tiled pavement as she went, Kayla and Courtney following obediently as ever.

"Anyone home?" she called, her voice echoing through the empty house as she strolled into the main kitchen and took a seat on one of the barstools.

"Afternoon, miss." The voice of the family’s favourite housekeeper, Ruby, greeted her as the small Asian woman entered the kitchen after her. "A good shopping trip, I presume?" She glanced at the heap of bags on the countertop and smiled.

"Yeah, whatever," Alyssa shrugged.

"You would like something to eat, miss?" Ruby enquired, opening the doors of the double door fridge at the end of the kitchen. "I am not sure where Luigi has disappeared to, but I am sure I could fix you something if you were hungry."

"God no," Alyssa shuddered, not even bothering to explain why she was back on one of her diets. Ruby was used to her strange eating habits by now.

Just a few moments after the housekeeper left the kitchen for a second time, another figure entered. She was small, only about 5 foot 3 inches or so, with long sleek black hair and small cat-like eyes that were perfectly outlined in smoky black. Alyssa recognised her as her father’s third – or was it fourth? – wife, her new stepmother, Tiffani, who was her sworn enemy. She was wearing a tight black dress that showed off her supermodel figure and bright pink heels that elevated her a little higher off the ground than normal.

"Ugh, God, look what the cat dragged in." Alyssa rolled her eyes and turned away from the woman who was now standing by the counter in the middle of the kitchen, an amused smile fixed to her face.

"Mature," she said, inspecting her perfect nails, which had just been manicured at the local spa. "No wonder your Dad doesn’t want to come home and see you."

"Uh, he’s coming home this weekend, actually," Alyssa pointed out. "To see me, and not you."

"Not anymore." Tiffani smiled a sickly sweet smile that was practically dripping with fakery.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, didn’t I tell you?" she chuckled to herself, as if it was an extremely funny joke. "Yeah, he said something came up and he can’t make it this weekend. Something to do with work. But it’s probably just an excuse. I mean, why would he want to come and see you?"

Alyssa rolled her eyes, but inside she was feeling a huge pang of disappointment. "Because I’m his daughter, maybe? I wouldn’t be so smug, you know. He’s going to go off you soon, and then you’ll be out of here quicker than his last wife."

The smile didn’t leave Tiffani’s face. "Oh yeah, so if he’s going off me, as you put it, why did he buy me this?" She held out her skinny wrist, on which she was wearing a brand new glittering diamond bracelet, engraved with her name and the words ‘Forever and always.’ It was gorgeous and must have cost a fortune, but Alyssa’s face failed to show any sign of expression. She wasn’t going to give Tiffani the satisfaction.

"Oh yeah, and he told me to tell you that we’re going to Hawaii next week. Not you, though. Just me and him. There’s some business deal over there but he said that me and him deserved a little holiday whilst he was over there. Cute, isn’t he?"

Alyssa turned away and tried to blink back the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. Despite the huge feeling of sadness and disappointment that was rapidly consuming her insides, there was no way she was going to cry, not in front of Tiffani, not because of Tiffani. She was just some worthless trophy wife for her Dad, and she would be out of here before she knew it. She had almost forgotten that Kayla and Courtney were still in the room, perched on the barstools next to her, sitting awkwardly in amongst the bitchiness.

Tiffani seemed satisfied, judging by the smug smile that was plastered on her face on top of her thick make-up and fake tan. "Well, I’d love to stay and chat, girls, but I’ve got somewhere important to be. I can’t go to Hawaii without a stack of new bikinis, right? Catch you later!" And with another sugary smile and a wave of her hand, she was gone, leaving the three of them in the kitchen, staring after her.

"God, she makes me sick," Alyssa said. "He’s taking me to Hawaii! He’s bought me a bracelet! He doesn’t want to come see you anymore!" she imitated, in a high pitched, sugary sweet voice that sounded amazingly similar to the woman who had just been in the room moments ago.

"Don’t worry about her," Courtney assured her, trying to look sympathetic. "I’m sure she’s just bluffing. I bet she begged and begged your dad like a little puppy dog to try and get him to take her to Hawaii."

"Well, she does have that persistent annoying charm," smiled Alyssa. "She’ll be gone in six months, tops."