Friday was the dance performance for the junior class (sophomore class was in a few weeks) and Julia was in almost every dance and had choreographed two herself. So I had to go. One was a solo to "you set me free" by Michelle Branch and the other was a duet with Christopher Thompson to "never had a dream come true" by S club 7.
As the school auditorium filled with students, I could see Ms. Calhoun race from back stage to the wings to check with the person in charge of the curtain to the balcony to make sure the tech people had the right show order. I snuck back to Julia's private dressing room to wish her good luck. As I opened the door, I could see William's back but no Julia. And the reason for that was because William had crowded over her and I almost felt bad for interrupting their little moment. William was wearing a pair of dark washed blue jeans and a crisp, blue and white striped button down shirt. When they heard the door open William quickly jumped back and revealed a very petite Julia. The first dance was "color blind" by Casting Crows. Julia looked very slim in her long-sleeve, black turtleneck and her black booty shorts showed off her tan, legs.

"Hi," she said as she sat down in a chair to slip on her toe thongs.

"Well I should get going," William, said rubbing his hands together. He bent down to give Julia one final kiss before the show started. "Good luck" he shouted right before closing the door.

"I am so sorry," I said, "I had no clue he was in here."

"Don't worry about it. I have to finish getting ready anyway," she said running the brush to her nude lip-gloss across her lips.

"You look great," I said admiring her body.

"Really?" she asked pulling her bangs into a black hair tie.

"Of course," I said pulling a piece of lint off her top.

"Time to go Julia," Ms. Calhoun ordered poking her head in the door.

"Wish me luck," Julia said as the door shut.

"Good luck," I said giving her a tight hug, "not that you'll need it," I said with a wink.

"I hope not," she replied crossing her fingers.

"JULIA MYER WHERE ARE YOU!" Ms. Calhoun shouted. Julia threw a mock- scared face my way and I let a laugh escape.

"Bye," she said opening the door.

"Bye. I gotta go get a seat," I said rushing out the door. As I went right, I could see Julia turn to the left and head for the stage. This would be the first time I got to see my best friend perform in front of a crowd and little did I know that it wouldn't be the only first tonight.

I walked down the steps and heard someone call my name; I looked into the crowd and saw William waving. He pointed to the empty seat in between him and Elizabeth. I waved back and took one last glance at the stage. I saw Mathew and Conner on stage with microphones in their hands. They seemed to be deep in conversation, when suddenly Conner turned to face me and smiled, stopping my breath. I waved and he winked. I walked over to the seat being saved for me, smiling like an idiot. I sighed and sat down in the velvet seat beside Elizabeth and laid my head on her shoulder. She laughed as my hair tickled her nose.

"Still can't control the breath huh?" she asked teasing. I laughed and nodded. She patted my hair and laid her head on mine.

"So what's the status on Mathew?" I asked hoping it wasn't a sore subject. I could feel her shrug.

"Umm… well he told me he wants to break up with Madison, but every time he tries, she cuts him off never letting him get to the point. He is too sweet to …." Elizabeth didn't finish. Ever since Madison tried to hurt Elizabeth, Mathew has been very friendly to Liz. They have become very good friends. I decided not to ask anymore on the subject.

There was a huge campus party after the show in the girl's common room. When I walked in at about 8:40 there was already about 75 people crowded around. There were multi-colored streamers hanging from the ceiling and a banner that said, "WAY TO GO DANCERS," in bold, red letters. The decorating committee had hung a little table cloth above the door that held glitter and confetti to surprise the dancers. By 9:00 almost the whole school had gathered in the 25' by 15' room. About 10 minutes later some scrawny guy named, Michael Baldwin came in yelling, "They're here, they're here!" Kendra Winston went over to the entrance and stood by a string that was attached to the tablecloth. After a few seconds Julia appeared only a few feet from the doorway followed by some other girls in her dance class. When they finally passed through the threshold the tablecloth was released and the glitter tumbled down into their hair and onto the floor. Julia had changed into a cute little, vintage, dress, that was made out of jade greenish blue chiffon and had puffy long sleeves and ended just above her knees. To compliment her outfit were her silver, strappy, high heels and a matching, silver clutch. Her hair was let down into its soft, beautiful curls and her make-up had been touched up. I suddenly felt under dressed in my navy blue lace top, black skinny jeans, and stilettos. The first person to greet Julia was of course William. At the sight of him Julia ran up and threw her arms around him. William easily lifted her off the ground and spun around once then sat her down back in place and kissed her gently on the lips. Just as he deepened the kiss Julia's arm snaked around his neck and everyone in the audience awed. Once they finally pulled back, Julia pulled back and bit her bottom lip and looked up into William's eyes and it was clear to everyone how much they loved each other. They latched hands and walked over to meet me, Alexis, Liz, Matthew, and Connor. As Erin approached Alexis let out the shriek that had built inside her throat. The two sisters hugged for a good two minutes.

"You were amazing out there," I complimented when I received my hug.

"Thank you," she smiled. A few more hugs went around and more compliments were exchanged,

"You did great Julia," Matthew whispered as him and Julia hugged. After about two hours of dancing, talking, and partying, a small, petite woman dressed in a black pant suit, a teal blouse, and stylish, leather pumps appeared in the doorway and it looked like she was looking for something. After a minute or two she started walking over to the table where we were sitting.

"Julia Myers?" the woman asked in a slight whisper. When everyone looked up all the smiles, except for mine and Elizabeth's, disappeared.

"What are you doing here?" Julia asked in a heartless voice.

"I came to talk to you and Alexis," she said keeping her calm.

"Well Alexis doesn't want to talk to you and I defiantly don't want to talk to you," Julia answered back. I leaned over and asked Connor who the woman was. "That's Andrea James, Julia and Alexis' mother," he informed me.

"Oh," I said trying to understand why Julia was being so rude.

"And they don't like their mom?" I asked still confused.

"You could say that," he said watching Julia and her mother bicker. It was clear that the girls had shared some kind of blood relationship. They all had that soft, chocolate brown hair, and green eyes, though Alexis and her mother had dark green eyes and Julia's were a lighter jade green. Andrea also had straight hair like Alexis' that was cut right above her shoulders, but she and Julia looked just a like when Julia had straightened her hair. By now Julia had stood up and was pointing her finger in her mother's face accusing her of cheating on her father and how once she left everything just kept getting worse. How their father had become an alcoholic, even though now he is sober and how Andrea never cared enough to pick up the phone and call to apologize how she tore their family apart. Then Andrea tried to explain how if she had stayed things wouldn't have been any better and how she left because she had dreams she wanted to accomplish. And as for not calling, well she had no excuse for that one. Pretty soon a crowd had formed around the Meyers family, Alexis had moved to the side, out of her mother and sisters' way. After about another 5 minutes the screaming and yelling subsided. Both women had walked to opposite sides of the circle that had formed. With their hands tangled in their hair in frustration and rage in their eyes Andrea Kate James made one of the biggest mistakes of her life.
"Listen! I'm not the bad person here. One thing your father obviously never told you was about his affair with Alexis' mother."
"What are you talking about? Or are you just making stuff up to try and scare me?" Julia accused in an anger filled voice
"I'm not Alexis' mother. Your father had an affair with a woman named Kimberly Smith and she is Alexis' birth mother, not me. Do you understand now Julia? Your father was the one who cheated not me."
Before Erin could respond, Alexis had pushed through Andrea and Julia and raced out the door.
"Thanks a lot. You know what? Just stay out of our life. You didn't have a problem with that before now did you?" Julia asked as a rhetorical question. Now it was Andrea's turn to stay quite. Julia didn't wait for an answer before running out the door calling Alexis' name.
Will went to go after them but Connor grabbed his arm before he could take off.
"Dude, just give her some time. She'll talk when she's ready, I promise"
William glanced at the door with a longing look then he glanced at the floor.
"Ok," he nodded.
With all that had happened tonight all I could do was stare in disbelief. How could Andrea keep something like that from her daughters? Well her daughter. But as hurt and betrayed as Erin must feel, Alexis must feel ten times worse.

Elizabeth and I turned our icy stare on Andrea.

"I think it's time for you to leave," I told her coldly. Elizabeth nodded and Conner pointed towards the door. Andrea didn't take a second glance as she stalked out of the dorm. I sighed and collapsed into the nearest chair. We sat in silence for what seemed like forever. Finally I looked at my watch, 9:45. It had been too long, where were my best friends? I cleared my throat and stood up, everybody at the table watched as I walked towards the door. I walked about 5 yards when I found Alexis' "A" necklace that her "mother" had given her. I picked it up and headed for the dorm.

"Lex?" I whispered softly as I slowly opened the door. I could hear muffled cries from in my room. I slowly and swiftly made it to the room and attempted to comfort the girls.

"I hate her," Alexis sobbed into her sister's pillow. I rubbed her back and tried not to cry myself…

"Alexis, no matter what that witch said we will ALWAYS be sisters. Never forget that." Julia told her sister as she silently sobbed to herself. After another hour of sadness and crying, both Julia and Alexis thought they had gotten it out.

We were sitting on the couch watching "What I like about you" re-runs when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" I yelled. The door slowly and carefully opened and Elizabeth and Matthew [holding hands!], plus Conner and William walked through the door. I smiled at everybody and looked back at the 2 girls. They seemed at peace, I thought as Conner sat down in the spot next to me. I rested my head on his shoulder and remembered the necklace.

"Alexis, I think I found something of yours," I told her as I pulled out the necklace from my pocket. She cringed away from it but grabbed it anyway. She yanked it from my grip and threw it in the trash can by the door.

"I don't see anything," she replied smiling. I laughed and patted her back.

"I'm so proud of you," I heard Julia tell her little sister as she unwrapped herself from Will's secure arms to hug Lex. I couldn't help but laugh some more.

"Snap … crackle, pop." Elizabeth and I said simultaneously quoting the "Rice krispies" commercial. Everybody started to laugh.

"Hey, did y'all here about what is happening before the dance next Friday?" Conner asked changing the subject. We all looked at him, curious. "Our own little Mandy is going to perform one of the scenes from Romeo and Juliet, the play she is starring in."

Conner sounded very proud. If only he knew.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that," all three girls said together.

"But wait, don't you have to audition first?" Elizabeth asked me. I nodded.

"Don't worry Mandy, I talked to Mrs. Bryan, and she said that she could tell that you would be perfect for the part," Julia told me winking.

"Wait, what's her power again?" I asked laughing.

"Well, she has a sort of talent radar, if you will. As soon as she meets you, she just KNOWS what you are good at," Julia replied. I nodded.

"But did you also hear that they canceled the talent show for Halloween?" Alexis piped up. That was news to me

"Yeah I was going to be MC of the whole thing, so now I'm in charge of the back to school bash." Julia almost squeaked with excitement.

"Why did they cancel Halloween?" I asked.

"Because the dance got moved back 2 weeks by the school council, so they wanted some time between the winter wonderland and the back to school bash." Julia and Alexis explained. They were on the school council, their mom made them when they first came to Ravenwood, but thankfully they like it.

"So did you guys have any ideas?" William asked.

"I had an idea … for Amanda." Elizabeth said dragging out my full name. I raised my eyebrows knowing what she was about to say. "Mandy has the best voice I have ever heard; well she has a good voice."

Everybody nodded.

"Ok, Amanda can we hear it?" Mathew and Conner asked. I groaned and shrugged. "Come on," Conner begged.

I sighed. "What song?"

"Fearless, by Taylor Swift," Julia answered.

"What is with you people and Taylor Swift?" I asked sighing. Julia giggled. "Ok, here it goes."

"There's something 'bout the way, the street looks when it's just rained, there's a glow off the pavement. You walk me to the car, and you know I want to ask you to dance right there in the middle of the parking lot, Yeah."

I finished the first couple of verses and looked at my friends, Elizabeth, Alexis, and Julia were smiling, and Conner and Mathew looked shocked. I laughed awkwardly and sighed just one more time.

I decided to try and avoid a big scene so I got up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going? That was amazing," Conner asked bewildered. I smiled.

"I suddenly got the taste for brownies." I said smiling.

"But we don't have any brownies downstairs."

"I know; I'm going to make some." I said, I ran back to Liz and grabbed her hand pulling her up with me. Before anybody else could say anything we were out the door.