Chapter 14
Fairnesses

"Who else do you think we should invite?" Alex asked Kerry, sitting at the lunch table. She had been the first person there, Kerry the second. They were discussing things for the bowling birthday party they were throwing for the guys and, to Alex's dismay, herself, as the rest of the group started to arrive. "I mean, I feel bad we're not inviting more people on the guys side."

"Well, Don said they don't have very many people. They've been raised really secluded from society," Kerry said looking at her phone as she texted the boy. "I keep asking if there's anyone and he says no."

"It's so hard to believe that they don't have anybody else though," Alex said as Fred sat down next to her, arm hanging on the back of her chair. "I mean, they're just such great guys. How can people not like them?"

"I'm not sure." Kerry shrugged. "I guess some people are just so stuck on stereotypes, so they assume their weird due to being home schooled."

"Well, they are weird," Alex chuckled, "But they're our weird."

"I still can't believe you actually agreed to have a birthday party," Fred muttered, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"I didn't have much of a choice," Alex grumbled. "It was either have a party with the guys or Kerry was going to throw two. I'd rather have a combined party. That way I can focus on them instead of me."

"I just don't understand how you can not like your birthday!" Emily exclaimed. "It's not natural."

"Lex ain't natural," Erik chuckled.

"I think it's a disease," Kerry said poking her forehead.

"Can we stop calling me an it?" Alex grumbled. "And I'm so not a disease!"

"No, she's the candy that makes everything better," Fred said, hugging the girl.

"...that was awkward," Kerry murmured as she took a drink.

"You're the one that called your best friend a disease," Fred spat.

"Hey," Alex eased. "I would have called her the same thing."

"Can you even joke, dude?" Kerry muttered. Despite having rallied together to convince Alex to be more honest, the relationship between Kerry and Fred hadn't improved otherwise.

"So, is everybody coming Friday?" Alex asked, changing the subject.

"Please tell me you're not throwing a party?" an annoying voice from behind Alex said.

Alex sighed, turning her head to see Amanda standing there, hands on her hips. She was wearing a black crop top, which was far too low for the school regulations (they weren't allowed to wear crop tops unless they had a tank top under them, because they weren't allowed to let their stomachs show), and extremely short shorts.

"It's none of your concern," Alex told her.

"Eavesdrop much?" Kerry murmured, eyes narrowed.

"Hillbilly much?" Amanda shot back. "Shouldn't you go back to whatever reservation you escaped from?"

"Better than spending any more time with you," Kerry murmured, eyes growing dark like it always did when someone poked fun at her culture.

"Why don't you just leave us alone?" Fred suggested. "This doesn't involve you."

"Oh, I think it does," Amanda said. "Especially if it involves that yummy man of your's, Lex."

Alex's face fell. She glanced away, cheeks red. She had been putting off telling everybody other than Kerry what had happened and that her and Raph were "Fake Dating." The more people that knew was a danger to the whole thing. Emily couldn't keep a secret. Everybody else could, but what would happen if they talked about it and Amanda overheard? It wasn't be a good thing for Alex, that was for sure.

"I don't think anybody's described you as yummy before, Fred," Emily chuckled slightly.

Kerry glared up at Amanda, as if daring her to say anymore. She was not looking forward to Fred's freakout over Raph.

"Go away, Amanda," Alex muttered evenly.

"What? Did something happen between you and that god of a man?" Amanda said. "Were you unable to please him? Because from what I can see, you don't have much to give him."

"What's she talking about, Lexa?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, wasn't she just talking about Fred?" Phoebe asked.

"Uh, well," Alex muttered. "Well, you see…"

"Why don't you just shove off," Kerry said suddenly as she stood up whirling around to look at Amanda, trying to draw attention from Alex. She could take it, she had many times before, she was strong enough.

"Kerry, it's okay," Alex said, pulling her back down into her chair. She leaned into Fred and told him, "I'll tell you the full story later," and then move back to say, "I'm dating Raph."

"You're what!?" Fred snapped.

"Well, that was unexpected," Kiley said, blinking in shock.

"What?" Emily gasped. "You mean, Alfred isn't a thing? No, not my OTP!"

"Not the time, Em," Kerry said rubbing her sore nose, still in a bandage.

"Freddy, calm down," Alex told him.

"When did this happen?" he whispered harshly.

"L-Last week," Alex confessed. "It's a long story," she whispered to him. "I'll tell you everything later." She was trying to get him to understand there was more to the story. Even if she didn't tell everybody what was really going on, she had to tell Fred. He was her best friend, after all.
"Why didn't you tell us, Lex?" Phoebe asked.

"We haven't been going out that long," she confessed. "Kind of wanted to make sure it was going to work out first before telling everybody."
"You guys know her," Kerry defended. "She likes to keep things private until they actually become a big deal, you know?

"Wait, you knew about this?" Fred asked, face screwed up in disgust. "You told her?!"

"Yeah I did," Kerry said and looked to him. "We will talk later," Kerry tried to calm him down.

"Later, you keep saying later, but I can't get over the fact that you didn't trust me enough to tell me," Fred said. "I mean, Lexa, I'm your best friend. I was your first best friend. What the hell?"

"It's not like that," Alex told him, placing her hand on his arm to try and calm him down. Fred flinched away, standing up. "Freddy."

"Fred, come on," Kerry said, knowing how hurt Alex would be if he left.

"I, I, uh, I gotta go work on a project," he said, looking everywhere but there table.

"Come on, Fred. Sit back down, man," Erik told him.

"I, I'll catch you guys later," he said, turning away.

Alex's stomach dropped, her throat closing slightly. Was he really walking away? Was he that angry? She hurt him that much? Oh God. What have I done? "Freddy!" Alex called, out. "Freddy!" Alex frantically looked at Kerry, begging her with her eyes to tell her what to do. She didn't know what to do. What do I do?

Kerry moved over to her taking her shoulders in her hands. "Breathe, okay? I need you to breathe with me," Kerry soothed her. "He's just really angry, he needs time to calm down so he can talk rationally." She assured her friend, brushing her hair from her face.

"Bu-bu-but he's never….why would...what….Why is he so mad?" Alex frantically asked. "I-I-I told him….I'd tell him….Bu-but...Why?"

"Alex," Kerry said. "I didn't want to say something, thinking it was his thing to tell, but this changes a few things." Kerry sighed. "Alex, Fred likes you more than a friend. So not only does he feel betrayed that you told me about Raph first, but you dating Raph is hurting him too."

"W-What?" she asked. "N-No, that's not right, that's can't be…"

Alex trailed off, a moment of her and Raph popping back up into her head.

"And maybe guys don't ask you out because they don't know how to approach you, huh? That Fred guy-

"Whoa! What does Freddy have anything to do with this?" she demanded.

"You really don't know?" Raph said looking at her bewildered before shaking his head and continuing walking. "God, you're dense."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she pressed, moving in front of him.

"Listen if he can't man up and say anything that's his problem," Raph scoffed. "I'm not going to do it for him."

"Oh my God," she gasp, heah going into her hands. "Oh my God. What have I done? I'm so fucking dense! What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Well, you are pretty dense," Phoebe muttered. "We all kind of new about his feelings for you."

"Why the hell didn't anybody tell me?" Alex asked. "Oh my God, I'm such an inconsiderate ass. Oh my God."

"Hey," Kerry said shaking her shoulders. "It's not all on you. He should have told you if it had gotten this bad for him. You can't not put all the blame on yourself." She told her.

"I'm his best friend, why didn't he tell me this?" Alex asked. "This is really big. Oh my God. What do I do? Oh shit."

"Like I said, he needs some time to think," Kerry said. "He needs to gather up what he wants to say, so tonight you will call him to talk, okay?"

Alex sighed, but nodded her head. She needed to figure out what to say to him too. What if he told her he liked her? What would she tell him? She didn't' have feelings like that for Fred. He was her best friend. Her brother. And what if he didn't? Could she ignore that he liked her? Wouldn't that be unfair for him? Or would it be unfair to her?

"Can we not let him know I know?" she asked everyone.

"My lips are sealed. I just thought you'd need that info going in so you can word things correctly, so no more damage is done," Kerry said, before looking to the rest of the table.

"Yeah, we won't say anything," Kiley said. "Right, Emily?"

Emily sighed. "Fine."

Alex sighed to, looking at her lunch. Suddenly, she wasn't very hungry anymore.

Alex sat against the fence outside of the school waiting for one of the guys to come and pick her up. She fiddled with the zipper of her backpack as the few remaining students filed out of the school leaving Alex alone outside of the school.

The redheaded girl stared at her fingers, trying to figure out what to do. She hadn't been able to concentrate since lunch, having found out about Fred's, apparently, not so very hidden feelings for the girl. She just had no idea how everything was going to go.

"Hey!" Raph said suddenly next to her. "I've been saying your name for the past five minutes."

"Oh," Alex said, glancing up at him. "Sorry," she said, picking up her bag. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Raph said taking her bag from her again. "How was school?"

Alex sighed. "Thanks and it was, uh, it was horrible, actually," she admitted. "I kinda want to go crawl under a rock and never come out."

"What happened?" he asked eyebrows pinching. "Did that girl mess with you again?"

"Uh, she caused it, but, it's not really her," Alex said, biting her lip. "You were right. I'm incredibly dense."

"So he finally said something, huh?" Raph murmured breathing through his nose. "I guess this is over, huh? You know, the fake relationship."

"Nope," Alex told him, watching the sidewalk as they walked. "Nope, nope, nope."

"Oh," Raph blinked confused. "I don't understand then, what happened?"

"We were talking about the party on Friday when Amanda heard. She brought you up, which turned the conversation to our "relationship." Fred got angry. Stormed out," Alex told him.

"Shit," Raph murmured. "Listen Alex. I'm sorry, I really didn't think of how he'd react to all this," he apologized earnestly.

Alex looked up at him, confused as to why he was apologizing. "It's not your fault, Raph. It's mine," she said. "I mean, I told him there was more to the story. That I would tell him, but he stormed out."

"Then it's not your fault if he wouldn't listen," Raph said and looked to her. "Not to be a douche or anything but he isn't a real friend if he values a possibility of a romantic relationship with you over keeping you as a friend."

Alex bit her lip. He really thinks that? "He doesn't know I know," Alex told him.

"Kerry spoke up?" Raph said for once not calling her 'the hick.' "Well, I can't say I can fault her for that one, you need to know how to handle this. Anyway," he said getting back on topic. "That has nothing to do with him running off. He would have stuck around for an explanation if he valued friendship over romantics."

Alex sighed, shaking her head. "I-I don't know what to do, Raph," she said. "I have to call him tonight, but what if he tells me he likes me?"

Raph gently grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Do you like him?" Raph asked simply.

Alex sighed, head falling forward slightly as she looked to her feet. "No," she answered. She looked back up at him. "I don't."

"Then tell him that." Raph shrugged. "I'm not saying he'll take it well, but you need to be honest."

"I can't lose him, Raph," she told him, choking up. "He's my best friend. I can't lose him."

"We can't help losing people sometimes," Raph said softly. "It just happens."

"I know," she muttered. "I just, I...He…" she sighed, head falling forward and resting onto his chest.

Raph blinked, as if in shock. "U-Uh," He murmured before wrapping his arms around her, making her stomach flip a little. "Sorry, I know I'm a dick."

She shook her head, which resulted in rubbing it against his chest. "No, it's not that," she sighed. "You're just being honest. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Uh," Raph murmured once more, blushing darkly as he patted her back. "Yeah, no problem."

Alex looked up at him, subconsciously putting her hands on his hips, leaning further into the hold. "It's just, how could I have been so blind? I mean, thinking about it now, we do everything a regular couple would except, well, the kissing and the actual feelings."

"Well, you were comfortable with the relationship, you didn't want it to go anywhere so your head just didn't go there, you know?" Raph murmured, playing with her hair gently.

Alex bit her lip, going weak in the knees ever so slightly at Raph playing with her hair. Oh, that was her weakness! "Maybe," she said slightly dreamily from how relaxed his action was making her. "I just think it's unfair to Freddy. Or maybe it's unfair to me. I don't know. Maybe both."

"I think both," Raph chuckled a bit.

"It explains so much though," she added, eyes going closed, head tilting towards his hand a little.

"Now you know how the rest of us saw it." He laughed.

"I crushed Emily's dream," she giggled a little. "She said that 'Alfred' was her OTP."

"You mean the girl who flirted with Mikey?" Raph asked.

"Yup, that's her," Alex nodded, a small smile in place as she looked up into Raph's green eyes. "She's always wanted to get us together. Again, another thing I missed. Why am I so blind when a guy likes me? I'm perfectly capable of being able to tell when other people like each other. Just not when it comes to me!"

"You'd be surprised at how blind a person can be to those kinds of things. It's common."

"Really? So I'm not that much of a freak?" she asked.

"Nope, well, you are a freak," Raph teased to which Alex hit his arm lightly. "But not for that reason, no."

She laughed, shaking her head slightly. She looked back up at him and stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, rather close to his lips. "Thanks, Raph."

Raph cleared his throat, letting Alex go. He adjusted her backpack over his shoulder, the other hand rubbing the back of his neck. "No prob, Firecracker," he said. "Now come on, Mikey's got a big exam coming up."

"Right," she said, pulling him by his arm. "Come on."

"I just said that," he grumbled.

"Dork," she muttered.

"Butch."

"Hothead."