Hey, so you guys were sending me so much love I dragged myself 20kms into the local library to get onto half decent internet so I could post this chapter :) Big thank yous to GeekGirl5000, Guest, capoeirakid, gypsy rosalie, and ArtisticAngel6 for the reviews, I love hearing from you guys. Also thank you to everyone who favourited/followed me this week :) Now let's get on with the fic, I know you're all dying to find out how Hayley will react to the news of her little sister's new bf.
Chapter 21: And So it Begins
'So Hayley's home.' Alex said nonchalantly. She had snuck out of the house while her mum and sister were fighting again and was now lying in the park with Dylan.
'What?' She felt Dylan's body stiffen next to her.
'She got kicked out of college and now she's home.' Alex said, a bitter note to her voice.
'Wow, it's gonna make it harder for you to sneak out to see me.' Dylan murmured.
'Yep, and my mum knows about us too, and so now Hayley knows.' Alex reiterated the events of the previous day.
'I bet that wasn't fun.' Dylan said.
'Nope, through both of their yelling the whole family knows, and I'm grounded and not allowed to see you.' Alex pouted.
'Not allowed to see me?' Dylan sat up.
'Mum and Dad said they want to have a chat with the two of us.' Alex nodded. 'They said it as if they were planning to establish parameters for our relationship, but they're never going to allow us to be together, and now that Hayley's home, there's no way we can even hang out at mine.'
'Why does it have to feel like the whole world is against us.' Dylan groaned, pressing his lips to Alex's forehead.
'Welcome to my life.' Alex sighed. 'My mum's pretty tightly wound at the moment, but I'll see if I can talk sense with her, I need to still go to practice and everything after all.'
'Don't worry, it's no rush!' Dylan waved away her concern. 'Nothing is so important that you should make things harder for yourself at home.
'You are.' Alex smiled sweetly, kissing Dylan tenderly.
'That makes me so happy to hear you say that,' Dylan was grinning like a fool. 'but I know what Hayley is like, I don't want your life to be made a living hell.'
'I know what Hayley is capable of.' Alex frowned. Had Dylan forgotten that this was her sister whom she shared a room with.
'Ahh but that's home Hayley, you haven't seen highschool Hayley; the vindictive, punishing queen bee.' Dylan warned.
'Oh please, I can out-strategise Hayley any day!' Alex scoffed.
'I wouldn't underestimate her! She can be very crafty, juvenile, but crafty.' Dylan looked so sincere that Alex shivered slightly. Exactly what was her sister going to do to her if she decided she wanted Dylan back?
'Okay, I'll be careful.' Alex agreed. 'But nothing she can do will make me any less in love with you.' She covered her mouth, unsure how it had just slipped out like that. Dylan grinned and kissed her softly.
'I love you too, my little owl.' Dylan whispered.
'What are you looking at?' Hayley gave her sister a dark look as she entered their room.
'I didn't even look at you!' Alex frowned and went over to her bed, picking up a book and burying her head in it the way she always did when avoiding confrontation; perhaps that's why she was so smart in the first place.
'You just think you're so good because you would never get kicked out of college or disappoint mum and dad.' Hayley sneered. 'And now you've got my boyfriend too!' Alex said nothing, not wanting to aggravate the situation any more.
'Don't ignore me!' Hayley jumped off her bed and crossed the room, knocking Alex's book out of her hands.
'What is your problem!' Alex looked at her sister in shock. 'Why are you so angry at me?'
'Please, you've been acting like little miss smug; you always knew I wasn't going to last long in college, and I've proven you right, so go ahead and gloat!' Hayley folded her arms, issuing a challenge to her sister.
'I'm glad you're no longer at college, not so I can feel superior, but because it's not you. You're still yet to find something you're passionate about and I don't think you would've found that in college.' Alex sat up. 'I'm not going to gloat, Dylan has helped me see that people less intelligent than me have their own problems and their own bullies, and that at least I have a bright future to look forward to even if the present might not be so great.'
'Don't talk to me about Dylan!' Hayley screeched, her face had softened for a second at the unexpected understanding she'd received from her sister but at the sound of Dylan's name all her anger returned. 'He doesn't even like you, he's just dating you because he can't have me!'
'Really?' Alex shot back. 'Well then why did he tell me he loved me today? And that was after I'd told him you were back home!' Hayley looked like she'd been slapped in the face and Alex instantly regretted her words. For some reason it meant a lot to Hayley and she'd taken that little consolation away from her.
'He's just saying that to get into your pants.' Hayley said after a while, her voice dangerously quiet. 'He doesn't love you.'
'Whatever.' Alex rolled her eyes and picking up her book from the floor, headed down to the lounge room.
'And so it begans.' Hayley giggled quietly to herself as she poured Nair into Alex's shampoo bottle. Dylan won't like her if she's bald, she thought to herself, and she'll get teased even more at school! She replaced the bottle, extremely pleased with herself, but just for good measure she also got on her laptop and signed Alex up for every spam email she could find. This would be brilliant! Alex had her emails on an alert tone in her phone and it would go off all day! Chuckling to herself Hayley crawled into bed, thinking up new ways to torture her sister until she fell asleep.
Alex first noticed something was wrong when she opened the bottle of her shampoo, it smelt funny. She squeezed a little into the palm of her hand, noticing that the consistency wasn't quite right. Dylan's warning ringing in her ears, she climbed out of the shower and looked in the bin; right on top was a bottle of Nair, hair removal cream. Alex sighed and chucked her shampoo in the bin; no points for guessing what Hayley had done. She climbed back in the shower, checking the spare shampoo before she used it. Is Hayley really sinking as low as childish pranks? How long will I have to put up with this before she understands that I'm not breaking up with Dylan? Alex thought angrily to herself as she lathered the shampoo into her hair. She smelt the conditioner carefully before putting it in her hair, at least Hayley wasn't too smart with this prank, but Alex did have to admit, her sister could be really devious. It was going to be a long day!
'Morning.' Hayley was sitting at the counter, smiling mischievously at Alex when she came down to breakfast.
'You're up early.' Alex remarked, making herself a cup of coffee.
'Yep, I have my first day of community service.' Hayley shrugged.
'I'm so glad to see you girls getting along again!' Claire remarked as she put Alex's toast in front of her. 'See, you might as well get along since you have to share a room.'
'You're so right mum.' Hayley simpered.
'Now, Alex, Hayley finishes her community service at three, so she'll pick you up from school and take you to cello practice.'
'Oh, it's okay, I can walk.' Alex said hurriedly. 'I'm sure Hayley wants to catch up with her friends after being away for so long.'
'Don't be silly, it's meant to rain this afternoon.' Claire picked up the paper.
'Yeah, don't worry little sis, I've got your back.' Hayley smiled a scary smile.
'So Hayley's like playing pranks on you now?' Dylan asked as he drove Alex to her cello lesson.
'Yeah, she put hair removal cream in my shampoo, she signed me up for spam emails, and she said she was going to pick me up this afternoon and didn't.' Alex recapped. 'Listen to this text. "I know I said I was going to pick you up, but ummm...I have a life, so have fun walking in the rain sucker!" I don't understand why she's being so mean!'
'She came to see me today.' Dylan said, looking over at Alex.
'What did she say?'
'She said a lot of mean things about you, but the bottom line is she wants me back.' Dylan said quietly. 'I told her she was crazy, and that I love you, so be ready for the pranks to get a lot worse tonight.'
'That's all I need.' Alex groaned.
Awww isn't it so sweet that Dylan is standing up for Alex against his ex-girlfriend?! Hayley might be small, but she can be scary when she's mad. Stay tuned for what happens next week, until then, keep calm and review :)