Hi! not used to doing these update things but I thought I might give it a go. Tiny spoiler alert: Aaron has been up to some secret stuff but it is not unfaithfulness. Hugh was jumped by Cassandra but he is not a total douche. And Miss. Talbot doe's have more to do with the story later on, perhaps in the next chapter. As for their Allie, can't reveal their identity yet but the character will be introduced in the next chapter. Still will be anonymous as there is more than one character introduced in the next chapter. Enjoy! :)

It was 10:00am on a Monday morning. The beginning of Ivy's second class, cooking. Ivy loved cooking, she didn't excel in it or anything but it was her favourite subject. The slight thrill of mixing together two, random ingredients and coming out with some delicious surprise made Ivy feel strangely proud of herself.

This cooking period, Ivy was learning to make sushi to share with her Aaron, she hoped it would give him a reason to have lunch with her alone, so she could try and figure out the secret that bothered him so much.

Over the past few weeks Aaron had been doing his best to avoid Ivy, she had no idea what could have caused his sudden absence or if she had said anything to scare him off, he just always has an excuse not to be there. 'Not this time!' Ivy thought, she was determined to see this date through, and she was getting an explanation whether Aaron liked it or not.

While rolling the sticky clumps of rice into the flaky seaweed, Ivy caught a glimpse of Cassandra and Aaron in the middle of the corridor. Cassandra was fluttering her eyelashes while twisting a lock of platinum blond hair around her fingers, Aaron was smiling and nodding but didn't look completely focused, like he was half-asleep or something. It made Ivy relieved that he wasn't looking for love somewhere else, but it also made her pissed off that Cassandra was putting moves on her boyfriend.

Ivy and Aaron had been together for two years now, in walks Cassandra and suddenly her boyfriend has become fresh meat. It was bad enough that Cassandra was flirting with Polly's crush Hugh, but trying to claim Aaron for herself was, in Ivy's opinion, out of line. If she could just have Aaron alone for today, she could suss out exactly what was going on with her boyfriend, maybe contribute to fixing their unknown problem.

When cooking was finished it was time for the interval break. Ivy met Polly, Piper and Louise outside of their table, ready to recap on their first two periods.

"how are my three best friends?" Ivy beamed, excited to share her brilliant, boyfriend plan with her friends. When Ivy noticed the grim expressions on her friends faces her beam soon faded.

"what happened?" she questioned, Polly's lip quivered as she began to answer.

"two things. I was with Hugh just before class ended and Cassandra showed up and tongued him, right on the spot! I wasn't sure whether he kissed her back though. I left before I could find out" Polly was obviously upset but she wasn't crying.

Ivy had seen Polly cry only once, from then Polly swore she would never cry again, and she meant it.

"Second thing. I received the first part of the picture today, it came with a note...." Polly pulled out a small square of paper from her pocket, after unravelling it she read it aloud.

"So you know what half of it is. Now you need the other half. It may not make sense but I am trying to help you.

An Allie"

Ivy was dumbstruck. She knew that Polly hadn't even had the chance to go to the library yet, how could she have received the first piece if she hadn't even done her research? the question lingered through Ivy's mind as Polly withdrew the picture.

It was the same picture that Polly had received, the only difference was the bottom right quarter of the face cello taped to the torn end, the piece had a lock of blond hair that ended at the neck "So the succubus is a blond" Piper said plainly. The the thought had entered Ivy's mind. Piper was the one to suggest that the picture was a succubus, but the latest message said that it was only half.

"the picture is only half-succubus" then all heads turned to Ivy.

"Piper, you suggested that it was a succubus. The message said that we already knew what half of it was, so it makes sense that the picture is only half a succubus" the entire group turned silent so they could digest Ivy's theory. Surprisingly, Louise was the first to speak and for once, not residing to her usual quietness within conversations

"I think Ivy's right. If there is such thing as demon's, which I still find it hard to believe, then it would make sense that the picture is half a succubus. According to the clue's anyhow" Ivy was rather surprised at Louise's sudden comment but glad that at least one friend was willing to back her theory.

"I agree but, who's to say that there isn't such thing as demon's? if ghosts can be proven and detected then why can't demon's exist?" this time it was Piper who spoke.

Ivy knew that Piper was a little childish and sometimes naive but she couldn't believe in demon's, could she? Ivy had no idea. And it wasn't up to her to go any further with the research either, it was all Polly's choice.

"right about now I would usually say that demon's aren't real and this succubus thing is just going too far, but now I honestly don't know what to believe anymore. For example, I didn't think Hugh would ever turn on me, especially with Cassandra. And now that he has, I really don't know who I can trust" after Polly drew another breath, she continued "maybe if I do the research I might find out what this picture is, then I can find out what sort of sicko sent it"

Ivy knew that once Polly's mind was made up, it wasn't going to change. Ivy was going to help her friend whether she liked it or not.......