Eep, my updates are irregular, I know. ): But my A Levels are really near, so this fanfic has to take the backseat! ):

With the success of the fundraiser the previous night lifting Annie's spirit that day, she thought that it was a good opportunity to go out and reward herself for her efforts. No doubt that it was a relatively small event, but with positive feedback from different groups of people and the charity organisation itself, Annie was convinced she was going to be good at doing something meaningful. It seems as though it had been too long ago since she had done anything rewarding.

After much prepping that late morning, Annie left the house hoping to get herself a good cup of coffee and then maybe check in to see if Naomi had any plans for the two of them for a late lunch. Grabbing her bag and carelessly tossing the rest of her belongings into it, the Wilson girl was soon on her way downtown.

"That'll be $5 in total, miss."

As Annie rummaged through her bag, she suddenly realised that half the things in it were nothing familiar at all, apart from the items she had stuffed in earlier. There was a wallet in it, which Annie hurriedly pulled out to look through. She was hoping to find perhaps an identity card, so that the bag could be returned to its rightful owner. What Annie found shocked her - it was not one, but several IDs in it, all with different names but with one similarity: Vanessa's picture.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry, but this is not my purse," Annie apologised repeatedly. "I haven't got any money on me."

She was feeling slightly embarrassed for not being able to pay for her coffee but still, the fury and bewilderment was slowly taking over her instead. Without much hesitation, Annie drove towards the Offshore. She was not exactly sure what her plan was, but there was no way the brunette was going to hide this little scandal from Liam.

As soon as Annie parked the car, she spotted Adrianna just outside the bar. The Wilson girl rushed out of her car to tell her friend about her discovery.

"Come on, Annie. Everyone has a fake ID," Adrianna commented, not really sure if she should take a side.

"Yeah, everyone being high school kids who want to buy alcohol illegally. Come on, she's way older than us, there must be some other reason," Annie defended herself. "She's hiding something and I don't like that."

Adrianna understood where Annie was coming from, but that did not mean that she liked it at all. If Annie was going to continue being so crazy obsessive over Liam like this, she would push him away for good. Much to her dismay, Ade found herself unable to convince Annie to let the matter go, for Annie had marched into the bar herself. Not very surprisingly, Vanessa and Liam were huddled together behind the counter.

"I came to return this," Annie announced, interrupting their embrace a little abruptly. "Your bag, with your wallet and all your fake IDs in it."

Annie was somewhat hoping to find Liam shocked at the number of IDs in Vanessa's wallet when she held it up. And well, he did seem a little surprised. But the reaction he gave afterwards was nothing but cold.

"Wow, Annie. You dug through her wallet?"

Obviously Annie tried to explain herself, with her wanting to know whose bag it belonged to but it seemed that Liam was not impressed at all. Much to her annoyance though, Vanessa tried to ease the tension - at least, that was what it looked like. She was going to play her innocent act again and that really irritated Annie. Vanessa explained of her past in a seemingly tragic manner - how her parents were never around and she spent half the time in bad company, only to realise that she was wasting her time and coming to Beverly Hills had been the best decision yet. Of course, Vanessa did not leave out the part about Liam being the cherry on top and changing her for the better. With her slightly more than convincing manner of telling that story, there was absolutely no way that Liam was going to be on Annie's side now.

"Thanks for returning my bag, Annie. I should probably throw these IDs out someday, come to think of it," Vanessa said, offering a sweet smile that made Annie feel sick in the stomach. "So I guess this other bag right here is yours. We've got good taste in a lot of things, don't we?"

With nothing much left to say and nowhere to hide from the humiliation she had just faced, Annie walked out of Offshore, brushing past even Adrianna, and swore to herself that everything was so ... stupid. Her actions, even Liam and his naivety, Vanessa and her hold on Liam, everything. Annie drove off, not wanting to think any further of what just occurred less than a minute ago and just try to calm herself down, if that was possible.

She was in no mood to call Naomi now because she knew Naomi would have way too many things to say, irregardless of whether she was siding her or not. Annie finally settled on stopping at a cafe to have her brunch, or just to sit down and gather her thoughts. It was pretty obvious that the girl was absorbed in her own thoughts as she chewed on her tuna salad at a slower pace than was considered normal. And the one person who was kind enough to ask her if she was alright turned out to be Austin.

"Hey, Annie. I almost didn't notice you were here," he greeted, taking a seat next to her without an invitation. "You look seriously pissed. Everything okay, Wilson?"

As usual, Annie faked a bright smile to hide all the frustration she was feeling at the moment. She insisted that she was fine, vaguely brushing it off as "Someone's just refusing to believe me. Keeps thinking I'm in the wrong."

Austin needed no further explanation. He knew it was about Liam, and he knew Annie was still feeling bitter about his new relationship with Vanessa.

"Hey, just let it go, okay?" Austin talked Annie through, in a rather gentle tone she had not quite heard before. "It sucks to keep holding on, I should know. You don't fit that whole depressing, alcoholic couch potato look anyway."

Annie grinned at him. Yeah, she remembered how Austin took his break up with Naomi pretty hard. Indeed, he was such a mess. As much as she didn't want to go through the same thing, Annie had to admit that it was much easier said than done. She wasn't sure if she wanted to let Liam go at that moment, but Annie was sure to keep Austin's words in mind. The Wilson girl thanked her friend; he had said the right things, without the unnecessary commentary her girl friends would have given. They indulged in their brunch and casual chatter afterwards, with Austin back to his slightly irritating teases and Annie just playing along to keep herself in a good mood.

Just as Annie was about to leave though, Austin stopped her. If Annie had shared her problems before, it was his turn now.

"Hey, Annie. I know I covered you guys before, but my dad's being a pain in the ass," Austin began, not bothering to speak in a cautious tone. "Get Bree to turn herself in for the arson, please."

This time, Annie could not afford to hide the shock and worry in her face. She knew Bree had actually burned down the sorority house. But at that point, she was tied to Bree as well, with both of them doing prostitution and all.

"But that would bring me down too, Austin," Annie replied, rather shamelessly. She knew she had committed a crime and there were consequences for it, but as selfish as it could be, Annie did not want to be in anymore trouble. Wasn't her guilt enough of a punishment?

"Damn, Annie. I covered for you guys," Austin argued. "I honestly don't want to bring you down, but Bree is a nobody to me. So figure something out. I'm not getting my ass in trouble with my dad for covering someone I don't know."

Austin had little else to say. He really did mean what he said though - not wanting to put Annie in danger of gaining another criminal record but Bree, he didn't quite care. Austin stood up and walked away, before Annie had anything else to argue. Annie pondered about what Austin had said. She knew it was unfair that he was taking the blame for things he did not do. In just a few hours since the start of her day, Annie had gone through such an emotional roller-coaster ride; this was way too much for her to small shoulders to carry.