Hey guys. Here's the next chapter. Hope you like… It's kind of confusing, but basically, the italics are the flashback, and the normal text is normal time.

Also, as far as the football season goes, I'll be using the games from the 2010-2011 season, since this year, we may not be getting a season :( Boo.

Sandy lounged in the sand, propped up on her elbows. She didn't feel like doing much; the ocean was not very appealing to her, playing volleyball wasn't exactly her thing, and playing football with the guys – she just wasn't going to go there.

She pulled her cell phone out of her bag to check the time. 5 o'clock. The thought of staying on the beach doing nothing for another couple hours was appalling.

She glanced around at her friends. Melody was chatting animatedly to Elizabeth, who was doing most of the listening. Zoey was terrorizing anyone who crossed her path, and Gunner, Aaron, and Dmitri were talking with Tyson. They all wore the same expressions of extreme boredom on their faces – she knew them well, they're the group of people who needs to be entertained.

So she guessed it was her that had to do the entertaining. She managed to get them all huddled in a group to hear her proposal. "What do you say we head into the city and wreak some havoc?" she asked. "Head down to the Afterlife?" The Afterlife was in one of the worst parts of town there was. It was a cross between a bar, a club, a casino, a whorehouse, a hideaway, a drug deal central, and a place for the homeless to hang around.

Poor Elizabeth and Tyson had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed. Zoey didn't really either, but she would've agreed even if she knew about the Afterlife's reputation. They all headed back to their dorms, and met outside half an hour later.

"Wait, I've heard of that place,"Aliceinterrupted her story. She knew she shouldn't have, but she was curious about the club. "The Afterlife…"

"Terrible reputation,"Sandyshook her head. "I've gone there a couple of times. Usually I don't go anywhere THAT bad… I don't know why I decided to last night."

It was safe to say she wouldn't do it again.

Melody really had taken Elizabeth under her wing. Elizabeth wasn't sure if she really liked it or not, but she was making friends quicker than she ever would've expected. So why would she complain?

Sandy called them a cab and they squeezed in as they told the concerned cab driver where their destination was. She checked herself in the mirror as they drove; her blonde hair was in perfect curls (she curled it in record timing), her makeup was excessive and extravagant, and her dress was short, tight, and revealing. She'd fit right in.

Tyson felt his heart drop as soon as they left the busy part of the city. He recognized the bad part of town when he saw it, because he saw plenty of it on the streets of New York City. The memories of what went down on those streets, with himself, Trey, and Ray were still fresh on his mind, so he shook them away. Nothing like that was going to happen tonight.

Or so he thought.

The streets were pitch black, the buildings eerily decrepit with doors kicked in or missing. There was not a window they passed that wasn't broken. He didn't see any people – but there were a lot of dark, skinny, and seemingly endless alleyways.

It was in front of one of these alleyways where the taxi pulled to a stop. They all climbed out and as soon as the last door was shut, the driver sped off, anxious to get out of this area. With confidence, Sandy headed down the alley and disappeared in the darkness almost immediately. The rest followed; Dmitri, Zoey, Melody and Gunner with confidence; Tyson, Elizabeth, and Aaron with second thoughts.

Elizabeth nearly tripped in her high heels after her foot caught on the edge of something – which, she realized with a sick churn of her stomach, was another person's foot. She apologized before finding their face; he was slumped against the wall with a needle in his arm and his mouth open, unconscious. At least, she hoped he was unconscious.

Elizabeth led the way through a small door on the side of a building with a half-lit sign reading "THE AFTERLIFE." The others followed her in and saw some form of life in there. It was not the form of life one wanted to find.

Sandy sat down at an open table and whipped out a deck of cards with no hesitation. They all played and sat around for a while. Elizabeth wished the couples in the corners would take their escapades elsewhere, and the same for the junkies. She also wished that the guy at the table next to her would stop his eyes from roaming all over her body. Luckily, Zoey went over to chat him up.

Sandy pulled Zoey back over. "I know you're a tough girl and everything," she murmured as the man looked at both of them curiously. "But I wouldn't recommend going ANYWHERE with any guy here. You're bound to get some disease… and, if not, sold as a sex slave."

Zoey, surprisingly, took her advice to heart and promised she was just going to tease the guy and not actually do anything with him. Melody huddled in a corner with some fellow drug addicts, buying some of the good stuff while she could. Dmitri pretty much raided the bar and started getting in fights.

A crowd attracted and Tyson was surprised at all the money that Sandy was raking in. The people here had nothing else to do with their lives than play cards at the Afterlife all night, yet she was still kicking their asses.

"Oh, here come the big guns," Sandy muttered as the door opened and closed. Tyson wasn't even sure how the men got through the doorway because they were so huge.

"That Jensen McQueen?" Aaron muttered to Sandy. Elizabeth and Tyson were totally lost, but Sandy nodded.

"Wait, wait, Jensen McQueen was there?" Again,Aliceinterrupted. The fiery rage she felt at this name could not be contained.

Sandynodded. "That's Tracey's dad, right?"

Alicenodded this time. "Sandy…that's not safe," was all she could say. She knew what he was capable of.

Sandyknew. She now knew it better than anybody.

"They call that guy 'Lucy,' but I don't know who he is," she replied, looking at the equally as huge guy next to Jensen.

Jensen approached the bar and pulled out a huge wad of cash and immediately the drug dealers and such flocked to him but he forced them away. Sandy, however, also had her eye on the money.

"Is this a jack or a joker?" she said somewhat loudly and in a very dumb-blonde type of voice, pointing at a card and looking inquisitively at Gunner.

"I'm not sure," he said, frowning and peering at the face on the card. Jensen was looking at them suspiciously by now.

"Maybe they're the same thing," she shrugged and put the card back in the deck. Elizabeth and Tyson glanced at each other in confusion; what was Sandy doing?

"Alessandra, don't be stupid," Aaron muttered, knowing exactly what was going on. Jensen took a seat at the table, uninvited.

"What are you doing at a place like this, girlie?" he asked as his followers sat down as well. "Innit past your bedtime?"

"Just having some fun," she said cheerfully. She went to shuffle the cards but dropped them.

"You ever played any cards before?" he continued questioning her.

"Oh, yeah. I play a mean Go Fish."

Some of the guys burst out laughing but were silenced at Jensen's command. "What about poker?"

"Yeah, that too," Sandy said, smiling all the way. "I've played it on the computer before."

He smiled back at her. "Well, let me help you out in person here. It's a bit different."

"Sure," she said eagerly. "You guys want to play?"

"Yeah, but I may need some reminders on some of the rules," Gunner agreed. Aaron shook his head violently, more as a warning, but he was not acknowledged. Tyson and Elizabeth seemed glued to their seats, silenced in terror.

And so the games began. They watched as Sandy began throwing away all of the money she had just earned, and Gunner spending everything in his pocket with this game. Tyson began to catch on. He tapped Aaron's shoulder. "Is she doing what I think she's doing?"

Aaron nodded, looking sick to his stomach. "It's suicide, that's what it is."

Tyson's eyes widened at the confused but eager look on Sandy's face; he could see, though, the malice and greed in her eyes that Jensen was blind to. "This is a bad idea…" Elizabeth listened, still looking confused.

"I want to get out of here," Aaron said. "But I can't just leave them alone."

Tyson glanced around. Dmitri was passed out on the bar and some people were digging through his pockets taking his stuff. Melody was high on coke and rambling on to a group of semiconscious people, and Zoey was doing some sort of a striptease. In short, no one was really fit to step up if things went haywire. "Something's going to wrong."

Aaron nodded solemnly. "It's about to."

He was very right.

"Look, I'm getting tired," Sandy said and threw in a yawn for dramatic effect. "Let's go all in, double or nothing," she shrugged, digging in her pockets for whatever money she had left. Gunner did the same.

Jensen chuckled softly. "Sure thing," he said and put his money on the table as well.

Sandy took it all. There was silence at the table for a minute as Sandy collected her winnings, a sly grin creeping onto her face. Tyson cringed in advance.

"Three…two…" Aaron was counting down.

On 'one,' Jensen leapt to his feet, overturning the whole table with him. "You little cheat," he grabbed Sandy by the collar and breathed in her face. Her triumph was quickly replaced by fear and he threw her to the ground.

"I expect to be paid back. In full. And doubled!" he demanded and she, not knowing what else to do, nodded. You know what we do to hustlers around here, sweetheart?" he bellowed so the attention of the whole building was on him.

"And that's what I've come to you for,"Sandylooked up. It was getting harder and harder to hold back the tears. "I need the money for McQueen."

"THAT'S what you want?"Alicecried. "You actually plan on paying him back?"

Sandynodded. "I don't want… anything else to happen. Not because of me."

Shannonput a hand on her shoulder. "Alessandra, you can't go back there."

"I have to."

"No!"Aliceprotested. "You just said you don't want anything else to happen because of you. To anyone. Including you!"

"Nothing's going to happen if I just pay him back."

"You don't know him. Mob business isn't business, it's dirty, it's cheating, it's unfair,"Aliceexplained bitterly, recalling her own personal experience with Jensen McQueen.

"I KNOW that,"Sandyscowled. She, too, had personal experience with the mob, though not specifically with McQueen. "But it should only be dirty and unfair if I let this go on any longer."

"I am not giving you money to go and get yourself killed,"Alicesaid stubbornly.

"Look,"Sandysaid. "Gunner and Aaron could have died tonight,Elizabethwas totally violated, and Tyson got the crap beat out of him as well, so-,"

"Wait, WHAT?" she interrupted, the look of horror on her face indescribable.

"And that's why you shouldn't interrupt me," she said, and continued.

"It was luck, that's all!" she exclaimed but it was to no avail.

"Unlucky, eh, that's what I was?" he said, turning to Elizabeth and roughly grabbing her arm and pulling her toward him as she struggled. "I guess your little friend here's going to be unlucky, too…"

"Stop!" she shrieked as Elizabeth did too. "Leave her alone!"

"Yeah, right," Jensen coughed. "She's a pretty one, wouldn't you agree, boys?" And he shoved her over to some of his cohorts, who greedily began groping her and pulling at her dress.

The Next Day

Elizabethwatched the rain pour down from the library window and wondered how quickly things had changed.

Yesterday was hot, sunny, a casual day off with nothing better to do than have fun. And today, rain gushed from the sky with no end in sight. She hoped there was.

But it wasn't only the rain. First, she was a shy girl fromNashvillewho was thrust into the parentless life in the most infamous city in the world. But somehow, she found herself making friends, easily… and then suddenly, she was in the dirtiest part of the city with the dirtiest men in the city, groping her, touching her….

…tapping her on the back.

Elizabethtore her eyes from the window, wrinkling her eyebrows in confusion as she picked up the book that had just fell from the shelf and hit her on the back. "When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron," she muttered to herself. "How ironic."

"Sorry about that," someone said sincerely from behind her, causing her to jump slightly. A tall boy emerged from behind the bookshelf. He smiled warmly, and took the book from her hands. "I knocked this backwards when I went to grab it. My mistake."

"It's not a problem," she said just as warmly. She'd been avoiding people all day but for some reason she found it a relief to be talking to someone. "I was just thinking about how it seems like an interesting book."

"Oh, it is," he said eagerly. He made to hand it back to her. "Do you want to read it?"

"Oh, no thanks," she pushed it back towards him. "You were clearly going to check it out. I can wait."

"I've read it before," he shrugged, and put it on the table.

"What's it about?" she asked curiously.

"Well…" he began, thinking. "Just what the title says. It's how to deal with difficult times in your life." He sat down at the table where she was just at, pulling out a laptop and found a website that was describing it. Reading aloud, he said, "'Using painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage. Communicating so as to encourage others to open up rather than shut down.'"

"Sounds like this lady knows her stuff,"Elizabethsaid, feeling better already. The mere description of the book was right. Her whole life had been full of troubles, so things were bound to turn around soon, right? She felt the need to giveLos Angelesa second chance.

"She does," he agreed. "I'm Boone Carlyle, by the way."

"Elizabeth Albertson," she introduced.

"Elizabeth?" he questioned. She nodded. There was an awkward silence. "You should take this," he said, motioning to the book once again.

There was something very knowing in his tone, something in the hesitance thatElizabethdidn't like. "Why…?" she said suspiciously. "Who told you?"

"Shannon," he admitted. Elizabethrolled her eyes, figures, she thought. Boone seemed to read her mind. "It's not what you think. Sure, she gossips all the time about everyone, but she's not completely stupid. She's not going around telling the whole school what happened, just me."

Elizabethnodded, wondering with slight jealousy why he was so special inShannon's eyes. "That's not very nice of you to say about someone who trusts you like that," she said casually.

"She's my sister, I'm allowed to," he defended himself andElizabethfelt another wave of relief that she couldn't quite explain. His phone went off, and a nearby librarian glared at him. "Sorry," he whispered and read the text. "Aliceis getting people together to go visit the guys at the hospital. You in?"

"Of course,"Elizabethagreed, greatly concerned. And the two began walking out of the library and out toward the street. As they left the building, Boone commented, "Wow, what a beautiful day."

Elizabethglanced around, looking up at the retreating clouds as her feet squished on the soaked grass. The sun shined brightly in her eyes.

Oh, how quickly things change.

…

Just above those two, on the roof, was Micah. She was letting the rain pummel her, do its best to cause her to slip and slide off the roof. But she liked it.

People in the Midwest and the Northeast complained about the rain and the snow and longed for the clear and hotCaliforniaweather. She didn't understand why they felt this way; a little variety is always nice. It was amazing to her to see rain these days.

The last thing she expected hear, though, was footsteps; clumsy, slipping, but they found their way to her. "Hi, Sam," she greeted him cheerfully. "Come here often?"

"Can't say I do," he said nervously and she laughed. "May I ask why you're out here?"
"Oh, just looking at the shapes the clouds make," she answered.

Sam looked up at this and immediately regretted it as he was struck by hundreds of drops of water. "Oh yeah… that's a nice flat surface that they're making," he said sarcastically, as the clouds were spread across the entire sky and barely visible. He mentally kicked himself for making such a stupid comment, but she laughed anyway. He noticed that she laughed a lot.

"I agree completely," she said seriously. At least he hoped it was seriously.

"Most people prefer to sit in the library," he pointed out.

"That they do," Micah said. "But they don't appreciate the nice weather."

"Nice weather…?"

"Oh yes," she nodded. "Sometimes it's so hot out that I don't even want to go outside. That I don't even want to do anything. Maybe the rain isn't great either, but at least it's not unbearably hot."

Sam was silenced for a moment; she had a point. "I'll take the sun," he said eventually.

She laughed. "Most of the time, me too. But rain every once in a while is okay with me. Snow would be nice. Then, it's cold and wet, but there's so much to do, and so much fun, that it doesn't matter."

"Well, you're not going to get that here," he said. Obviously.

"Maybe on a vacation," she offered.

"Maybe," he said. And the rain stopped. Just like that. They both looked up and saw a rainbow as the sun forced its way in front of the grey clouds.

"Amazing," she merely said. He had to agree. She checked her phone. "Mary wants us to come with her to yell at Aaron in the hospital."
"Yell at Aaron?"

Micah nodded. "She's not very happy about where he was at last night…"

"I understand that," he said, shaking his head at the stupidity and irresponsibility of some of his new classmates. A thought occurred to him. "How do you get down from here?"

She shrugged. "Same way I got up." And with that, she hung from the roof, stepped onto a windowsill, and climbed in through the window.

Sam sighed. "These girls," he said. "They're going to kill me." And he followed.

…

"Stop!" Gunner said, starting forward to help her, but Jensen whipped around and grabbed him by the throat.

"She's not the only unlucky one," he spat in his face. "You and your little boyfriend can't win all the hands…"

"Don't! He's not my boyfriend!" Sandy called wildly. "I don't even know him!"

"Sure you don't," he said as Gunner gasped for air.

"I know 'im!" the guy they called Lucy spoke up. "Aint he the Sosa boy?"

"Is that so?" Jensen said quietly, tossing Gunner aside into a table and then kneeling down beside him.

"No," he managed to say as he went to push himself back onto his feet.

Jensen merely stood and put a forceful foot down on Gunner's chest, preventing him from getting up. "I guess if you're NOT the son of a multi-millionaire," he said menacingly. He shook his head wildly. "And not the boyfriend of this lovely, lucky lady," he continued, "then no one will miss you." And he proceeded to drive his fist square into Gunner's face as he pulled a knife out of his boot with his other hand.

Aaron, Tyson, and Elizabeth jumped into action. Many stupid things had been done that night, but this was one of the stupidest: the three of them grabbed onto Jensen's arms and tried to pull him away from Gunner. They were driven to it by the blade in his hand that was now coated in their friend's blood, the blood that was now spilling over the floor as Sandy desperately crawled toward him, crying, pleading, praying –

"Who're you?" he said to Tyson. "Is this your boyfriend, then?" he asked Sandy, who was sobbing and shaking her head. Jensen punched him as well, knocking him out instantly.

Sawyer threw out his arm to stop their parade of students from going any further. "Don't go in there," he said warningly.

"Why not?" Scarlett frowned, pushing past him, and glancing through the window into the hospital room. Her eyes widened as she turned around to face the group. "Don't go in there."

"Someone explain," Mary said, getting impatient. She wanted to see her brother.

"Officer Irons," Scarlett and Sawyer said simultaneously. Instinctively,Alicedodged behind a nearby pillar, hidden from view.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" someone said from behind and jumped back.

"Oh, Dmitri…it's just you…" she sighed.

He peered around. "Damn, you brought the whole circus," he said.

"Why are you out here?"Sandyasked.

"Why else?" he said, nodding into the room. "Stuck with Officer I-Hate-Children or out here with some of the good stuff?" he held up his bottle.

"Why's he here?"Alicesaid nervously.

"Probably trying to bust Gunner for something he didn't do," Dmitri shrugged. "Like always." He looked through the window. "I think Aaron and Tyson are pretending to be asleep. Smart kids."

At this point, the door opened and out emerged Officer Irons. He gave each and every one of them a glare but continued walking without a word. Gunner flipped him off from inside the room as he walked away, and his friends piled in as well.

"Is it safe?" Aaron said, awaking from his fake sleep. His eyes landed on a fuming Mary. "Oh, shit," he said and threw his head back on the pillow again.

"I don't think so, bro," she scowled. The others chose to ignore what would soon be a vicious argument between the two.

Sandywandered toward Tyson's bed, unsure if she'd be able to face the others quiet yet. "Tyson, I -," she began pleadingly.

"-don't need to hear it?" he finished for her, smiling sadly. "Don't mention it."

She smiled too, biting her lip. "I just…can't tell you how guilty I feel…"

"Hey!" he said. She stared at him. "I said, don't mention it."

She laughed. "What about him, though?" she asked, nodding at Aaron. She knew he was not a very forgiving person.

"He's okay," Tyson answered, looking over at where Aaron was failing at hiding from his sister. "If he's mad at you at all, it's overpowered by the severe bloodlust he has for Jensen McQueen."

"I don't know what I'm going to do about him,"Sandysighed.

"You can't do anything," he told her genuinely. "Don't even worry about it. You think he remembers last night at all? Totally wasted. He didn't even know your name."

"But he knew Gunner's," she said. And they both looked over there. Tyson was glad to have Sandy's company, glad that he was only sporting a bruised face instead of all of Gunner's injuries… but he wished more than anything that it was him in that bed with Alice crying beside him, running her hands through his hair.

She took a deep breath, brushing his wild blonde hair repeatedly out of his eyes. There was still some blood in it from the previous night. She couldn't believe how carelessly he was talking to Matt about it.

"I blacked out after he nailed me in the face," he was explaining. "So I didn't feel the knife wound till I came to in the ambulance later. Then they put me under again to stitch it up."

Matt nodded. "I had to get 10 stitches on the back of my head once. They're a pain."

Gunner agreed. "My head is kind of scratched up," he said, feeling the spot that was still coated in blood and winced. "But they said it'd heal up on its own just fine. Slight concussion though. Guess that makes two of us," he grinned at Russ. They high-fived.

"When are you coming back?" Matt asked.

He shrugged. "I think I'll be back by tomorrow or Tuesday, but I won't be going to class at all this week. Tyson and Aaron get to go back today," he added sadly.

"That is, if Mary doesn't kill Aaron first," Matt said, and they looked over at the siblings.

"Don't!" Aaron said. He made his way toward the guys that were now tearing at the short dress that Elizabeth was forced into by Melody, but was stopped by Jensen. And then he did the most unexpected thing yet; he roundhouse kicked Jensen McQueen in the face.

Silence fell on the room as they were astounded at his bravery, or stupidity, or both. "You're going to regret that one, boy," he stepped menacingly toward Aaron who didn't back down – and the two were soon in a very violent fight.

Jensen drew his knife. Aaron instinctively backed away, looking around desperately for some means of defense but found nothing. But then, miraculously, at the most frightening noise he could hear, Jensen froze.

Time seemed to stop in the room, but sound continued, as the sirens got louder. And suddenly, all at once, there was an uproar. Everyone was scurrying around to get out of there, jumping out of windows and hiding in secret floorboards. Within seconds, the only remaining people in the building were Gunner, sprawled on the floor, pale, and drenched in blood; Tyson, knocked unconscious as well, blood-covered face; Aaron, bruised, beaten, panting but still standing; Elizabeth, violated and crying on the floor; Sandy, a complete wreck, sobbing over her unconscious friends; Melody and Zoey, who solemnly gathered around their friends, eyes wide; and Dmitri, his cell phone in hand as he greeted the police at the door.

Poor Aaron looked dreadfully afraid. He stood up to one of the most feared men in the entire city, fought him, and still stood afterward. But when faced with the anger of his normally shy and sweet sister – he was afraid for his life.

"Please do tell WHY exactly you were down at the Afterlife in the first place," she demanded with venom.

"Just hanging…" he answered nervously.

"Really?" she said. "Because we were just hanging at the beach, and none of us ended up in the hospital."

"Technically, you're in the hospital now…"

"Aaron Alastor," she scowled.

"Hey, I thought it was a bad idea for those two to try and scam money out of McQueen," he raised his arms in defense then pointed across the room toward Sandy and Gunner. "But do you think I was about to go and say that in front of him? I'd get shot even whispering the word 'hustle'."

"Sandywas a part of this?" Mary tilted her head with this new bit of information. When she got the text last night, it was from Melody, saying that she just got back from the Afterlife and that Dmitri took Aaron, Gunner, and Tyson to the hospital.

"Yeah. It was her idea to go!"

There was a strange silence thatSandydidn't quite notice but it was broken as Hunter burst into the room, his face a panic.

"Dude, where you been?" Brian asked.

"Around," he said. It was odd; no one had ever seen Hunter that panicked before.

"What's going on?" Claire asked, concerned.

He stared at her, wide-eyed, as if he'd never seen anything like her in his life. "My dad just had a heart attack. He's here in the hospital."

"Well, what the hell are you doing here?" Brian exclaimed. "Go be with him!"

"Right!" Hunter said, and sprinted out of the room as suddenly as he'd arrived.

At this point a doctor arrived and told them that there were way too many people visiting now. "Mr. Alastor and Mr. Grey will return later tonight," he told them. "There's nothing to worry about.

They said their goodbyes and were walking out the door of the hospital when Hunter caught up with them again, his face as freaked out as before.

"What's up?" Charlie asked.

"They couldn't help him," he said. "He's gone."

…

Even after such an eventful weekend, talk of the homecoming dance began spreading like wildfire. Aaron and Tyson returned to school on Sunday night as promised, Hunter disappeared back to his dad's old house for a while. The excitement of the weekend seemed to die down rather quickly, and among the girls, the dance became the subject of gossip, and among the guys, the first NFL game of the year.

And so they piled into the lounge that Thursday night, with Gunner returned among them, the football team all flocked around the TV like it was their life source and everyone else, milling around like any other social event.

"We have to hit the mall this weekend to look for dresses before all the good ones are gone,"Shannonwas telling the entourage of girls – and some very uninterested guys – around her.

"I hate dances," Faraday said very bluntly, to which Sam gave a very supportive nod.

"Oh come on, they're not that bad," Gabe said defensively and they raised their eyebrows at him. "Okay…well… they aren't! But all this fuss really is unnecessary," he admitted.

"Says you," Scarlett said. "All you have to do is wear something semi-nice looking. We have to go out and buy a dress, get our nails and hair done, makeup…"

"That's ALL we have to do?" Sam's jaw dropped. "What are you smoking? We have to ASK a girl."

"Oh, poor you,"Alicerolled her eyes but laughed. "That really doesn't seem like a very hard thing to do."

"You don't understand," Nick told her very seriously.

"Oh, don't I?"Alicesaid and turned to Scarlett. "Do you want to go to homecoming with me?"

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed to much laughter.

"See? Nothing to it,"Aliceshrugged.

"Being a girl, asking another girl out, as a joke, is way different!" Gabe protested.

"You don't even have to ask someone,"Alicepointed out. "You can go with friends. Or ask someone as a friend so it's not as nerve-wracking."

"Easy for you to say when you've got a guaranteed date," Tyson argued.

"I don't have a guaranteed date," she frowned at the truth of this statement.

"Even if you didn't have Russ, you'd have plenty of admirers to choose from," he said.

"Russ probably doesn't want to go," she shrugged.

"Hey, Russ!" Tyson called.

"Don't talk to me."

"Well nevermind then."

"Ignore him, it's football day," Gabe rolled his eyes.

"It's a big deal,"Shannonsaid sarcastically.

"Just like your homecoming dance is such a big deal," Boone overheard her and countered back with just as much sarcasm.

"It's homecoming," she said. "of course it's a big deal."

"I say all the guys boycott homecoming and then the girls will have no one to go with," Brian suggested.

"They could go with each other…" Reggie pointed out suggestively. Nix through a pillow at him.

"So, you boys want to come dress shopping with us?" Marissa asked with fake excitement.

"Hell no."

"Then clearly, our life is more difficult," she concluded.

"Who cares about homecoming? It's like a month away!" Sawyer shouted from over by the TV.

"ONLY a month!"Shannonargued. They shushed her. "Boys…" she rolled her eyes.

"So, Gabriel," Micah began cheerfully. "Who are you going to ask?"

Gabe was taken aback at this question. "Umm… Well… I don't really…"

"Come on Hill, spit it out," Nick laughed.

"I don't see you telling us who you're asking," Melody pointed out.

"That's because…" he began to protest but struggled for a good reason.

"That's what I thought," she said smugly.

"I think we may know who Sam's asking," Claire said, elbowingBethanyas they remembered the conversation the other day at the beach.

"We may… got a fifty-fifty shot at a guess," she agreed. Sam gave them a warning look.

Thankfully for him, the questioning looks could go unanswered because the avid sports-watchers all began yelling at them to be quiet as the game began. The rest of them rolled their eyes but complied, trying to carry on their conversation without pissing off the others.

Short chapter but I hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it. So what do you think should go down at homecoming? Who should go with who? Also, I'm taking a vote:

Should Alice give Sandy the money to pay back McQueen or not? Either way, the result will be interesting. So be sure to leave that in a review (:

Title creds go to MOTLEY CRUE and the lyrics from their song KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE MONEY