Dylan,

My eyes fluttered open, and I looked around.

Where-where was I?

I sat up and flipped the switch for a lamp on, and I began to notice that the room was moving.

"What the-?"

"You're up."

I looked to the stairs to see Josh.

I suddenly understood where we were.

The boat.

"What happened?" I asked as I forced myself to sit up and look at the sunrise.

"You fell asleep on deck, and I couldn't get you up. I had to bring you in here so you wouldn't get sunburned," Josh smirked.

"Drew is going to kill me!" I moaned as I put a pillow over my head.

"I already called her."

I moved the pillow to where I could peak at him.

"You did?"

"Yeah," he told me as he set a mug of coffee beside me, "When you get home, she's going to tease you for a while. But she'll forget about it soon enough."

"Um, what time do I have to be back for the photo shoot?"

"Three or later. We're on course, and we should be getting to your house at about twelve."

Trust Josh to have everything planned.

I had always just gone along with things.

With the reality TV show, I never knew what the plan was, and I couldn't always keep promises to my friends. So planning was completely out the window.

But Josh always had a plan.

Always.

Alicia had always hated that about him, but I loved it since I was such a polar opposite.

"And filming for the show?"

"They're all at a wedding dress fitting for Ryan."

I stared at him.

"How do you do that?"

Josh smiled.

"Thanks, Josh."

He kissed the top of my head, and I tried to think of what I did before I started dating him.

I knew it hadn't been too long ago, but I had trouble remembering it.

I didn't understand how Alicia could always take him for granted like she had. I loved everything about him, and I made it obvious so that anyone could see it. Sure, we sometimes fought, like everyone does. But I still found myself worrying all the time that it would happen to me, too.

That, like Alicia, I wouldn't see it coming, and, all of a sudden, he would be gone with someone else.

"You okay?" Josh knit his eyebrows in confusion, and I quickly snapped out of it.

"Uh, yeah, just thinking."

He raised his eyebrows to ask.

I bit my lip and hesitated.

If there was anything I hated, it was being the clingy girlfriend.

"I was just thinking about Alicia."

"What'd she do this time?" his jaw tightened.

"Oh nothing. Well, nothing recently."

"Then what?"

"Well, I was thinking about…" I paused, not sure how to word this, "your break-up."

"Our break-up?"

"Yeah," I answered, hoping that this was over now.

"What about our break-up?"

"That it might…uh, happen to… me."

He raised his eyebrows again.

"You know, not knowing that you were unhappy….and then, um, you being…gone."

I suddenly felt like throwing up.

"You were thinking about me dumping you?"

"Well, if you want to put it like that," I crossed my arms, silently praying that this situation would just go away.

I didn't talk about break-ups with the guys I'm dating.

It's just bad luck.

A bad omen for things to come.

And I really didn't want a bad omen with Josh.

"You just did," Josh laughed, and I glared at him.

He quickly raised his hands in surrender.

"Sorry."

I rolled my eyes and was about to get up to change into the extra clothes in my bag when he spoke up again.

"So, is this your Dylan-Way of warning me that I'm about to be dumped?"

"No, no, I was talking about you."

"Dylan, you're on the boat. I don't even really let my sister on the boat. You really think I'm going to dump you?"

Here was another thing about Josh that I loved.

He didn't get mushy. Sure, one day, that could probably be something I will hate about him, but, since I am exactly the same way, I love it. And I love moments like this.

My old boyfriends would have given me this speech about how they loved me and they'd never leave me and that we'd be together forever, which scared me, or they'd be too nonchalant about it and I could tell right away that my fears were about to come true. But, somehow, Josh had hit the mark to be exactly in between the two.

Exactly perfect.

I kissed the top of his head, which made him smirk.

"Good answer, Josh."

Alicia,

"It's been a pleasure meeting you, Alicia, and good luck with your tryout," the adoption lady, whose name I had quickly forgotten, smiled at me, and I forced a smile on my lips.

"Amazing meeting you, too," I shook her hand, and my parents followed after me to thank her for her time before she left.

Today had been the elusive interview to adopt a child, and she had made it obvious that she was going to let them adopt.

But, standing here, I wasn't sure that I wanted them to adopt.

So, maybe I wasn't a little girl anymore, but I still liked being Daddy's Little Girl.

But a new girl would take that spot now.

I tried to imagine what she would be like. What life with her would be like.

Would my parents forget about their daughter in college for the little baby at home?

Would they love her more?

Would they be able to really take a part in my life if they're going to dance recitals and parent teacher conferences?

Would my mom miss the birth of my child because she was driving the new baby to a volleyball game?

Would my child be spoiled rotten by their grandparents if they're still spoiling their child?

No one had ever thought like that.

Even now, my mom was clearing out my Spa Room, saying that I wouldn't need it and that the baby needed a playroom.

And the baby hasn't even been picked out yet!

"It looks like you're going to get a baby sister!" my dad smiled as the door closed, and he set his hand on my shoulder proudly.

I began to see what the rest of the day would be like.

Talking about the baby until Dad had to return to work. My mom driving me to the store to buy things for the baby. Getting a new charm for my charm bracelet with 'Big Sister' in pink diamonds. Looking through baby photos of me until my mom finally decides to have a heart and sets me free.

And I sooo couldn't handle that now.

"Uh, I have to get to Dance Practice."

"I thought you didn't have practice today," my mom put a perplexed look on her botox-fresh face.

"I wanted to get some more in. The audition is soon."

"That's my girl! Taking this seriously!" my dad clapped on my back, and I forced myself to smile along.

"Alright, just don't be too late, Alicia, we're going out to dinner tonight. The three of us as a family."

"I won't," I told her as I reached for my dance duffle in the closet, and I slid on my BADASS Dance Studio jacket over my dress, hearing the jingle that told me the keys were in the pocket.

"See you soon!" my dad called to me as I pulled the door closed behind me.

Opening the trunk, I threw my duffle into the trunk and slammed it shut, knowing that I wouldn't use anything in there. As I put the keys in the ignition, my finger hesitated on the speed-dial for the itGirls. Something about calling them felt wrong.

I didn't want them to see me so vulnerable.

But isn't that what friends are for?

I drowned out my thoughts with the latest loud dance song in my CD player, and I drove to the only place I felt like I could really go.

It took forever, but I finally found it.

As I pulled the car to a halt, I looked at the sign nailed to the tree.

Sign-Ups for Camp Today!

Below, they listed the ages, but I stopped ready when I saw the dates for the seventh graders.

Seventh grade here.

I could still feel the anger I felt for Claire when I found out that she had kissed my major crush, Josh, who I now hated, and I could still remember how I hadn't been able to enjoy anything while we were at this camp for the long weekend until I got a chance to finally get even with her.

Kissing Cam.

And then there was what had really bugged me.

I knew Massie hadn't kissed anyone, but Claire and Massie swore she did. And I was going crazy wondering if she was keeping secrets with Claire.

I had been friends with Massie long before Claire had, and I still had territorial issues as Claire was becoming number two instead of me.

Sometimes, I wished I could go back to then.

Back when I was just a Beta.

Being an alpha took so much work.

And, if things went wrong, I was always blamed.

And, with Olivia's low IQ, things went wrong more than they should.

But, more importantly, I wished I could go back to when I really had friends.

Not Betas.

But friends.

As I slid out of the BMW, I continued to think about my years with the PC.

Even worse, I began to think about why I had ended it.

For years, I had thought it was the right choice.

But, today, I wasn't so sure.

After squeezing past a few of the kids running around the camp and the parents checking the safety of it, I finally found what I was looking for.

My old hide-out.

My scheming place.

Over the last few years, I had come here more than I'd like to admit, but it still felt like it had been years every time I came here.

The reason was that it was the same. Unlike everything else, it hadn't changed in the last four years. When I came here, I still felt like I was in seventh grade. Like Massie and I were fighting over who was really alpha, and the worst thing someone could have said to me was Fanish.

Things were just easier here.

There were no soon-to-be-adopted little sisters.

No annoying Betas.

No ex-best friends giving you an Alpha-off.

And no boy drama.

I reached inside of my cell phone and quickly typed in a number, knowing that I needed him now more than ever even if my cell phone bill would sky-rocket for calling him in Mexico.

"This is Brandon. Sorry I can't answer your call. I'm probably out by the beach! Leave me a message, and I'll call you back!"

I hung up on the recorded message, and I threw my phone into the sand.

"So much for that," I mumbled.

"So much for what?"

I looked up, and I would have been less shocked if Darth Vader had been standing there.

"Derrick?"

As always, he looked like a god.

His sandy blonde hair fell into his brown eyes, which were covered by his blue aviators. He wore what he always wore, the same outfit that would look bad on any guy but looked amazing on him. This time it was black board shorts and a "Don't You Wish Your Boyfriend Was Hot Like Me" tee shirt.

I hadn't seen Derrington since he had taken Massie's side.

It hurt too much to see him.

We were never close, but we understood each other.

Even if we fought nonstop, we were always there for each other.

It was our alpha-loyalty.

And he had given his loyalty to another alpha.

"Hey," he smiled as he took his sunglasses off, "I haven't heard from you. Isn't your test soon?"

"Next week."

"We probably need to get on it, huh?"

I nodded weakly.

And Derrington hesitated.

"Are we okay?"

I stared up at him.

"What?"

"I mean, we were kind of almost friends. And now you can't even look at me. Are we okay?"

"I can look at you."

"Not without that look of betrayal."

I hesitated.

"Come on, I'm not leaving until you tell me."

As if to prove it, he sat down on the sand beside me.

"Fine," I crossed my arms, "You chose her."

"Huh?"

"Everyone is choosing her! She's been gone for years! She ditched us all! But, then she shows up again, and they all act like nothing happened!"

Derrington stared at me.

"You haven't forgiven her, have you?"

"What?"

"For leaving you? And making new friends and forgetting about you?"

"That has nothing to do with anything!"

"Yes, it does. You can't keep holding this in, Alicia. It's not good for anyone."

"I'm not holding anything in, Derrick."

"Yes, you are."

"Stop trying to act like I had some problem with me because I left you."

It took me a long time to realize that I said that.

Derrington's mouth formed an 'O' in shock, and I think he looked like he was about to cry.

I had never seen Derrington cry.

I didn't even know he did.

"Is it so unbelievable for you to accept that I am trying to help you?"

Guilt flooded me.

"Derrington-"

"Don't call me that."

He stood up to leave, and he marched away.

"Derrick," I tried to go after him, but I heard my phone ringing.

This made Derrick stop and stare.

"Go on, what is it? Me or your popularity?"

Without even realizing it, I started making my way to the phone, and, when I looked up to Derrington, he was gone.

Massie,

I pressed the download button as the email came in with our first photos from the photo shoot.

When we began shooting, each clique did it in our headquarters.

The Click had our photo shoot in Bay's office, and Alicia had it in her home dance studio.

But here we were together now.

It had been US Weekly's idea to bring it back to where this all started.

The halls of OCD.

They had gotten permission from the school, and we were all awkwardly staring at each other in the cafeteria while our make-up was being done.

Before, the plan had been to have the Click in the computer class and the itGirls in the history room, and then we'd all get together for a photo together in the halls.

But then it had started to rain, and the lightening through the big glass windows had been a perfect setting for this.

It felt weird to be in the school again.

It didn't feel like my OCD.

It felt like it belonged to a new generation because…well, it did.

OCD had a new alpha, and they probably never thought about their old alphas, the Pretty Committee.

They probably didn't know about the Tiffany Box Trailers.

Or about the Kissing Class in the chapel.

Or about the old underground hiding spot we used to have before it got turned into the boy's locker-room when OCD became BOCD.

Nor would they probably care.

They had their own stories, and ours were just old to them.

I was thinking about all of my memories in this lunch room when the make-up girl finally put her curling iron down and motioned me towards the oversized mirror they moved in.

I gasped.

I was…

Old Massie.

As I looked around the room, I realized that everyone had done their jobs by transforming us back into the old girls we used to be.

As I ran my hands through my wavy brown hair, I felt like I was transformed to all those years ago.

I suddenly felt guilty for everything I had done.

As I looked back through the room, I could almost feel the eyes of my old subjects. I could almost see them sitting at their lunch tables, staring at me with envy. And, most importantly, I could finally see how much they had really hated me.

And I realized that I would have hated me, too…

"Let's do this!" the photographer quickly began to put us in our places, and he sat us to where we would have been before.

Layne sat at a different table, with headphones in her ears, and Bay held her blackberry in her hand beside her.

CeCe and Olivia were sitting together at a different table, looking like the sluts they were back then…. And still were.

And then there was the PC.

With me in the middle, we sat accordingly to how we used to.

"Now, pose!"

We all did as the photographer said, but I forced myself not to stare at us all.

This couldn't have been us, right?

It felt like such a foreign possibility, but I knew it had to be true.

"Alright, let's split up for Interviews!" the photographer told us as he took the last photo.

CeCe and Olivia were the first to get away, with everyone going to see when they would be interviewed.

But I couldn't help but slip out while they weren't looking.

The school was dimly lit, but I could find my way easily.

My locker.

My classes.

I could find it all.

As I walked through, I had to remind myself that it had been four years since I had ruled here.

But it felt like home.

I felt like the bell would ring any minute, and the rest of my old classmates would appear again, including my friends. And we'd all go back to the way it was.

But it never happened.

"It wasn't the same without you."

I jumped and turned around to see Alicia.

"OCD. It didn't feel the same. Everyone missed you."

I nodded, still trying to find the words to say.

"They didn't really accept me as their alpha. They kept acting like I was a substitute until their real alpha returned from across the pond."

"That's why you broke up the PC, right?"

"We were fighting a lot, Massie."

"But you ended it."

"Don't you get it, Massie?"

I stared, which she took as a no.

"You broke us up. You left us for your UK Friends, and we tried. But we couldn't do it forever."

"I couldn't help leaving, Alicia."

"You're parents gave you a choice for that semester. So, just admit it. You got tired of us."

"I didn't get tired of you!"

"What then?"

"I forgot!"

Alicia stared at me.

"I liked it more when you had just gotten tired of us, Massie."

With that, Alicia stormed out of the classroom.

Claire,

"So, you were the new girl who got into the head clique? How was that?" the reporter asked.

"Well, it didn't really feel like a clique. We were just… friends."

"Was it hard for them to become friends with you?"

"I mean, it took a while, but…" I shrugged, and she smiled.

"I understand. Now, what do you think was your hardest obstacle to overcome?"

"Hmmm…well, other than the keds-"

The reporter laughed.

"I'd definitely have to say Cam Fisher."

"Cam Fisher?"

"When Massie and I were younger, we both had a crush on a guy named Cam Fisher. And he liked me, not Massie."

The reporter nodded.

"But we worked it out. Massie and I were friends for a long time, and Cam and I dated for years."

"Are you two still together?"

"Um," I felt sick, "No, we're not. We broke up two years ago."

"Are you with anyone now?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Erik Gomez. We met when we were both working on a play. I was a stage hand, and he was the star."

"How adorable!"

I smiled, and I suddenly began to crave gummies to calm me down.

"Now, how do you feel about this Social War?"

I hesitated.

"I wish we could get along, but…" I shrugged, not sure what to say to that.

"Well, Claire, that should do it!" the reporter smiled, and she shook my hand before I stood up, "Can you tell Layne that she's next?"

"Uh, sure," I nodded.

I did as she said and told Layne as I walked back into the hall, and I told them that I'd get going.

Using my hoodie to shield me from the rain, I ran out towards the parking lot and started my Camri.

I began to think of how they would portray me in the magazine.

Would it be better to be the sweet girl or the badass alpha?

I couldn't tell.

I was about to take the turn that would take me towards my house when I saw the boy on the sidewalk.

Curiously, I pulled over to the sidewalk to see and rolled down my window.

Holy Crap.

"Cam?"

"Claire?"

We both stared at each other with amazement.

"What are you doing out here in the rain?"

"I went for a jog."

"In the rain?"

"I went for a jog. Then it started raining."

"Well, do you need a ride?"

"It's not far to where I live, Claire."

"Then why not let me drive you?"

He stared at me, his lips forming the word no, but then he stopped when the thunder began to rattle the sidewalk.

"Sure."

He came around the car and climbed into the already wet passenger seat.

As I pulled the window back up and started driving, we sat in silence.

There was nothing to say.

Or, if there was, we were too scared to say it.

"Your interview thing was today, right?" Cam finally asked.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Did it go well?"

Seeing that he was trying to make an effort, I played along.

I asked him how his brother was doing, and he asked me how Todd was doing. We talked about how much it sucked that our favorite candy store was going out of business, and we even spent a while talking about how hard it was to find a really good radio station in Westchester.

I had to admit that I liked not screaming at him.

And I also had to admit that it was kind of easier to talk to him than it was to talk to Erik.

Erik was great and everything, but Cam and I had history.

We knew each other.

Sometimes, I think he knew me better than I knew myself.

But finally I pulled over to Cam's house.

"Thanks, Claire," Cam opened the door, and he was about to get out when the thunder shook the road, "Are you sure you should be driving? You have a long drive home."

I was about to tell him that I'd be fine and that it wasn't that long of a drive when I noticed lightening out of the corner of my eye.

"Harris and my parents are out to the beach to work things out, so you won't have to hear fighting if you come in."

I hesitated, but I finally caved.

"Sure."

Okay, I can't think of anything for Kristen right now.

But I'll make it up next time!

And what do you think will happen with Claire and Cam?

Hmmm…

;D HAWTgeek ;D