A/N - I am Sorry for not updating this sooner, college was crazy then I had uni stuff to do and I have been working on The Secret Circle project which is currently on the 6th episode.

You can follow the project on twitter - TSC_Project

On Tumblr - secretcircleproject

and now on Facebook - [slash]TheSecretCircleProject

I have chapter three almost finished and outlines for four and five so will try and update again next week. Again thank you for being patient with me and please please review!


Faye was sat on her bed painting her toenails a deep red when a message popped up on her laptop screen telling her Melissa was finally online. Diving for her laptop being careful not to smudge her nail polish she pulled her laptop onto her lap and typed Melissa an IM.

Faye – Guess what I'm doing for the next two weeks?

Melissa – Hello to you too.

...

Fine I'll bite what are you doing for the next two weeks?

Faye – Going on a road trip with Jake :P

Melissa – Like your mom would agree to that.

Faye – That's what I thought especially after there was a little incident yesterday but I broke her down.

Melissa – What little incident?

Faye – Nothing big just her walking in, scratch that, out into the garden to find me and Jake in the middle of something.

Melissa – Oh my god you didn't?

Faye – No like I said my mom interrupted! But it was enough to make Jake leave and her to give me 'The Look'

Melissa – what look?

Faye – you know the 'we need to talk about what just happened' look! I swear she was ready to give me 'the talk'... again!

Melissa – so what did you say?

Faye – I just went up to my room for a while, then she came up later and right before she opened her mouth I told her I wasn't discussing my relationship with Jake.

Melissa –So a road trip?

Faye – Yeah it was Jake's idea actually.

Melissa – Really? I know you guys are doing things different than before but didn't you say he has been acting weird again?

Faye – A little bit, sometimes he's distant then other times he's not. He is keeping something to himself, but I'll find out don't worry.

Melissa – I do worry you are my best friend. So what is the plan for this road trip?

Faye – No plan, just pack a bag and go. We had arranged for it to only be a few days or a week max but my mom being this clingy made me push for three, then we agreed on two. But I have to warn her in advance if we'll be late by any amount of time.

Melissa – So when are you setting off?

Faye - uh, about that...

Melissa – Faye?

Faye – we're thinking of heading out tomorrow.

Melissa – Really?

Faye – Yeah but you could come keep me company while I pack and then wave me off.

...

Melissa – Fine, but I want a souvenir!

Faye – Deal.

Melissa – Heading off now, I agreed to help Adam at the Boathouse.

Faye – Again? You know you two have been spending a lot of time together...

Melissa – That's what friends do, text me about tomorrow.

Melissa has signed off

Faye moved her laptop back to the end of her bed before applying another layer of nail polish to her toes. She was in some ways preparing for the road trip with Jake, but she would never admit it, she was just painting her nails because she was bored and if she was honest they really had needed doing. Hearing her mom shout up that she was heading to the store, Faye ignored it and put in her headphones ready to surround herself with good music and stories in a trashy magazine.

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Melissa quickly walked into the boathouse and walked to the counter, seeing Adam serving a customer,

"Hey I'm so sorry I'm late" she apologised "Faye caught me before I could get out of the house" she said and Adam gave a small shrug and finished serving the customer,

"It's fine, you're here before the rush" he told her cleaning up some glasses off the counter "Want to grab an apron and help me out?" he asked. So Melissa hadn't really been telling the truth to Faye, she was meant to be hanging around the boathouse with Adam and she had been helping a lot as Adam's dad had disappeared somewhere, so it wasn't exactly a lie. She liked spending time with Adam and even though she had been spending time with Jake lately, she always felt a bit uncomfortable around him but that was because of the whole Nick situation.

"So what was the news Faye had to talk to you so urgently about?" Adam asked shaking Melissa from her thoughts.

"She and Jake have planned to go on a road trip" Melissa told him as he handed her an apron "she said they are going for two weeks max" she told him "I don't know why they would want to leave when the weather is this good here, but it's their choice" she said with a shrug. Adam nodded and wiped up some spilt drink on the counter in front of them

"It will be weird not having them hanging about here..." he said but was cut off by another voice.

"Who's not hanging around here?" Cassie asked, neither of the two had seen the girl walk into the boathouse and both were shocked to see her out and about. After the situation with Blackwell, the witch hunters and Diana leaving Cassie had rarely been seen by the other members of the circle, but they had decided to leave her to it. Cassie had lost a lot this year, her mom had died, she'd moved to a new town she knew nothing about and lived with the grandmother she had rarely seen, then she had found out she was a witch and lost one of the friends, well acquaintances, that she had and that had only been the start. She and her friends had been almost killed numerous times, her dead father had come back, she had lost the love of her life, found out her best friend was actually her sister, lost her grandmother, then had to kill her father to stop him killing all of her friends and to top it all of her sister had possibly left her for good. So after all the drama the past year had given them they had decided to give Cassie space to think, mourn, and cry or whatever she wanted without being bothered by the rest of them.

Melissa and Adam looked at each other and Adam shrugged, leaving to help a customer and leaving Melissa to answer Cassie's questions. The blonde girls eyes watched Adam for a second before turning to Melissa a questioning look on her face.

"So who was Adam talking about?" she asked again

"It was nothing really" Melissa told her "Jake and Faye are heading out on a road trip tomorrow and Adam just thought it would weird not having them hang around in here after how much time they've spent here this summer" Melissa said her back turned to Cassie as she unloaded some glassed from the dishwasher. When Cassie stayed silent, Melissa turned back round to see the other girl staring into space looking worried,

"Cassie are you okay?" she asked her voice showing the concern she felt.

"How could you agree to let them leave?" Cassie asked her voice quiet, Melissa was about to answer when Cassie cut her off "We need to call a circle meeting now!" she said at her normal volume grabbing her phone out of her pocket and walking out of the boathouse. Adam walked back over to where Melissa was stood in shock,

"what was that about?" he asked, when Melissa didn't reply he put a hand on her shoulder which shook her out of her daze,

"I don't think Cassie is coping very well" she said quietly before turning to Adam "she just called an emergency circle meeting" she told Adam her face worried.

"Why?" Adam asked not sure what would make Cassie do something that drastic.

"Because Faye and Jake are going on a road trip" she said slowly before hitting her hand to her forehead "crap" she muttered and Adam frowned at her not sure where her head was at,
"Cassie thinks that Faye and Jake are leaving on a road trip" she explained and then rolled her eyes when Adam didn't understand what she was saying "She's worried that Faye and Jake won't come back" she said and watched as the realisation dawned on Adam's face "She thinks they are leaving like Diana did" she added not just for Adam's benefit but for her own. Cassie obviously hadn't dealt with the fact that Diana had left with Grant, but who knew whether Diana would come back or not.

Melissa knew that no one had heard from Diana except the one text Faye, Melissa and Adam had been sent telling them she was fine and she would miss all of them. Cassie had been upset when she hadn't gotten the same text but Melissa had explained to Cassie that she had been the only one to speak to Diana properly before Diana had left and that she was just letting them know she was okay, she also reassured Cassie that Diana wouldn't have sent the text to the others to hurt Cassie either.

Adam and Melissa both got a text from Cassie at the same time and Adam looked to Melissa,
"Emergency circle meeting, my house in 20 minutes, Cassie" he read out loud and Melissa nodded

"Can you get someone to cover us here?" Melissa asked "I want to get to Cassie's before Faye, as Faye is going to go crazy at her about this" she told Adam who nodded,

"Yeah I can get someone, you go ahead and I'll see you there" he told her quickly grabbing the phone to call some of the temporary staff to come in.

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Luckily for everyone, Melissa arrived at Cassie's house before Faye did. Jake had had to go pick her up from her house as her mum was out, as Melissa came into Cassie's house she tried to explain to Cassie that Jake and Faye were only going to be gone for two weeks but Cassie just wouldn't listen, it seemed to Melissa that Cassie had got herself into a panic and a fluster over the whole situation.

Adam came in next telling Melissa he had got some of the temps to cover for an hour or two while they sorted this mess out. He had also tried to tell Cassie she had got the wrong end of the stick but it seemed like she wouldn't listen to anyone, Adam and Melissa both sat down while they waited for Jake to come back with Faye. Melissa watched as Cassie paced in front of the couch Melissa and Adam were sat on and she was mumbling but Melissa couldn't make out what she was saying.

Finally they heard the door open an Faye walked in closely followed by Jake,
"Okay what's the emergency I have important things I need to be doing" Faye said as Jake went to sit in one of the armchairs making himself at home while Faye stood next to the chair waiting for someone to answer her. Cassie had stopped pacing and watched the two walk in when she heard the noise, Melissa was sure that Cassie was going to flip any second and she was right. After Faye's comment Cassie looked at Faye like she was ready to attach her and Melissa nudged Adam who prepared himself to stop any sort of cat-fight that looked ready to happen.

"How can you be so casual about what's happening?" Cassie asked her voice rising in volume as she spoke, Faye looked dumbstruck she had no idea what Cassie was on about but there was no way she was going to be the victim in all of this,

"Okay psycho want to tell me what's going on before biting my head off" Faye responded seeing Melissa and Adam looking ready to go into battle made her worry slightly but it didn't show.

"Don't act like you don't know what's going on Faye!" Cassie told her sounding more angry by the minute,

"Okay will someone tell me what is going on before I have to put the dark princess down" she said her eyes narrowed as she watched Cassie, no one spoke to her like that. Jake stood up and rested him hand on Faye's shoulder, he didn't want this to get out of hand.

"You are leaving us!" Cassie almost yelled and Faye looked at her like she was crazy, Jake also focused on Cassie now,

"Cassie, what are you on about?" Jake asked and Cassie turned on him,

"Don't act so innocent, I know you're going too" she said, Faye frowned looking over to Melissa while Cassie's attention was on Jake

" Road trip" Melissa said simply and Faye turned back to Cassie her facial expression hard, the mask was on,

"What gives you the right to start yelling at people who want to take a break" Faye said her voice angry but contained "We may be a circle, but you do not control our lives!" Faye told her, Cassie looked gob-smacked and was about to argue but Faye continued, "Before you came along things were great! Then the Cassie Blake wrecking machine comes along and we have demons and witch hunters and evil daddy's trying to kill us every other fricking week! You may not mind but some of us want to get away from this crap and remember what it was like to be a teenager and not be a witch on top of everyone's killing list!" she finished.

Everyone was silent, they were all slightly surprised by Faye's outburst. She wasn't one to talk about how she felt or what she wished, but she had basically told everyone how she was feeling under the mask that was Faye and they were all surprised apart from Jake. He and Faye had started talking more as one of their rules for their new relationship and what Faye had said he had heard before.

"I don't know what the big deal is Cassie" Jake said and Cassie turned her attention back to him "Faye and I are only going for two weeks, we're not leaving just taking a break" he told her calmly even though he was slightly annoyed that Cassie hadn't got her facts straight before yelling at them and he felt like he had to defend his girlfriend even though he knew she could take care of herself.

"We tried to tell her that before you came but she wouldn't listen" Melissa told them and Adam nodded not wanting to get involved too much but wanting to confirm Melissa's story.

"Not that it is any of your business, but we aren't leaving forever however tempting it may be" Faye told Cassie her voice still harsh before she turned to Jake "Can you take me home I need to finish packing" she said heading for the door before waiting for an answer, Jake headed for the door and Cassie just stood there watching them leave. Adam turned to Melissa,

"Hey if you want you can go help Faye pack" he suggested "I have the temps in so I have all the help I need" he told her, Melissa smiled and gave him a quick hug before running out after Faye and Jake saying a quick bye to Cassie as she ran past. Cassie let out a large sigh then jumped slightly when Adam spoke,

"Maybe you should speak to someone" he suggested, Cassie had forgotten he was still here as he hadn't spoken at all when she had been arguing with Faye.

"What do you mean?" she asked turning to look at him,

"I'm saying..." he said slowly "That maybe you need to talk to someone, it doesn't have to be a shrink" he added quickly "It could be one of us or one of our parents or really anyone about how you are feeling" he said standing up "Shutting people out doesn't work and neither does yelling at them because you think they are leaving you" Adam told her and Cassie frowned the only person she really spoke to was Diana and she was gone. But it seemed like Adam could read her mind,

"I know Diana is gone and you feel like you're alone, but you have the rest of us" he paused when Cassie gave him a disbelieving look "We have given you space because we know it's been a tough year for you, but we know what you are going through and we know your life" he said not really knowing what else he could say "none of us are leaving, if you need to talk, we're all a text or a call away" he said before heading out the door and leaving Cassie to think things over.