After a few minutes passed, Alexa saw her friends, Willow Kinkirk, Rachel Maguire and Alyssa Maguire walking toward her. "Hey, Alexa! What's going on?" Willow asked.

"Shawn and I just broke up. It was mutual, though." Alexa shrugged. "He fell for Lucy, and decided that he'd be better with her than me. Even though, she's my twin sister, and we're pretty much the same...so everyone says..."

"What?" Rachel asked. "I thought he was happy..."

"So did I..." Alexa sighed. "I think I'm gonna go see if Cory or Blake know anything about what's up Shawn's butt..."

"We'll all come with you!" Alyssa nodded. "I'd like to see Cory, anyway..."

"Really..." Willow laughed. "She hasn't seen him in three hours, anyway!"

~~

Alexa, now joined by Willow, Alyssa and Rachel, walked up to the Matthews' door. Her demeanor had changed very quickly. She ran a hand through her long blonde hair, and sighed. Willow shoved through Alexa, Rachel and Alyssa, who were a barricade to the door. "Will...this is my problem!"

"I know, but I wanna know now too!" Willow went to knock on the door, only to have it opened by Cory Matthews, one of their closest friends, before her knuckle could touch it. "Cor...whoa...hi!"

"How did you know we were here?" Alyssa asked.

As soon as the door opened, Cory moved back about three steps, because Willow was about to knock on his nose. "It's not like you're the quietest people in the world..." Cory rolled his eyes. "Hey, girls. Come on in...Blake is upstairs..."

"Actually..." Alexa shoved past Willow, who was now making her own barrier in front of the door. "You could probably help me more than Blake for once..."

The look on Cory's face amused Alyssa. "Honey...don't seem so surprised. You can be of help at times!"

Cory cleared his throat. "Whoa...Lyss!" Cory and Alyssa had been dating since sixth grade. "I didn't even see you...Alexa and Willow made such a huge deal that you were just...shoved into the back...hey Rach..."

"Hey Cor..." Rachel nodded.

"So, can we come in, or are you gonna make us stand in your doorway and talk to you?" Alyssa asked.

"Just for that," Cory nodded. "Maybe I will!"

Alyssa pushed Cory into the house. "Oh, hey Mr. Matthews...Mrs. Matthews! What's up?"

"Hey, Alyssa. Hey, Alexa, Rachel and Willow...Blake is upstairs..." Alan Matthews directed to each of the girls. "Actually, Alexa...Simon is up there with her..."

Alexa's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?" Alexa's family was very big. She had seven brothers and sisters, and three live in friends. Her brother, Matt, the oldest Camden child, was twenty-four; her sister, Mary was twenty; Alexa and her twin sister, Lucy, were nineteen; Simon, who was eighteen; her sister Ruthie was thirteen; and her brothers, Sam and David, who were twins, were eight. Then, the family's live in friends, Robbie Palmer, who was twenty, and dating Mary; Willow, who was twenty-two; and Willow's older brother Kevin, who was twenty-five. She had been trying for months to convince Simon and Blake to get together. "Wow!"

"Actually, Mr. Matthews, we're here to talk to Cory..." Rachel nodded.

"Oh...well there...I'm sure Blake would like to hear, though..." Amy Matthews told them.

"Yeah, she'd probably feel like crap if there was an issue that she was left out of..." Alexa agreed.

"Ok, let's go see Blake, then..." Cory brought the girls up to Blake's room.

Alexa knocked on Blake's door. "Blake..."

"Oh! Coming, Lexa! Just a sec..." Blake stood up. She opened the door, and smiled.

Alexa looked into Blake's room, and saw her brother, Simon, sitting on Blake's bed. "Hey, Simon...what are you doing? Actually listening to your intelligent, lovely, wonderful older sister for once?"

"No, I'm listening to you, though..." Simon joked.

Alexa gave Simon the evil eye. "Ha-ha..." she sneered. "I'm just glad you decided to listen to me."

"So, guys..." Blake changed the topic quickly. "What'd you come here for?"

"Alexa wanted to tell you something..." Alyssa explained.

"Well, actually, it was for Cory, but she figured you'd feel left out if she told Cory and not you..." Willow told her.

"Woohoo! All of a sudden, Alexa has people who speak for her!" Alexa rooted. "Can I talk now, my entourage?"

"Yeah, go ahead!" Willow winked.

Alexa rolled her eyes. "Thank you. Yeah, I need to talk to Cory. Nothing personal or anything, it's just about Shawn. And I'd assume he'd know more about him than you would..."

"Oh..." Cory caught on. "Did Shawn go through with his master plan?" he asked.

"Master plan?" Alexa asked. "This was premeditated? Wow..."

"Yeah..." Cory nodded. "I tried so hard to talk him out of it. So did Blake..."

"Yeah, but he was convinced that he was in love with Lucy..." Blake explained.

"Wow..." Willow rolled her eyes. "See, I'd be surprised...but...I'm not..."

"Yeah, no offense to you or anything, Alexa..." Rachel shook her head, and looked at Alexa. "But you know Shawn..."

"I thought I did, anyway..." Alexa shrugged. "No surprise. No relationship I have ever lasts..."

Cory and Blake's older brother, Eric, knocked on the door. "Cor...Blake...mom told me to come up and tell you that dinner's ready...and WHOA...there's a party going on! Why was I not invited?" he walked into the room.

"Oh, hey ERIC..." Willow emphasized the name Eric, knowing that Alexa had been harboring feelings for Eric, since she was eleven, and Eric was fifteen. "What's up?"

"Not much WILLOW!" Eric mocked Willow's tone. "How about you?"

Alexa scoffed, and turned her body.

"Not too much..." Willow noticed Alexa turning away, and laughed. "Shawn just dumped Alexa..."

"WILLOW!" Alexa elbowed Willow in the side.

"I know...I know the whole story...I'm part of it...I WAS dating Lucy, you know?" Eric explained.

Willow scoffed. "Oh...yeah...I remember that now..."

'In a way...' Alexa thought. 'I'm connected to him now...maybe I can talk to him!' she grinned. 'Why am I even thinking this? Shawn and I JUST broke up! And I'm already all gaga over Eric! Then again...I've always been gaga over Eric...but...'

"How are you taking all this, Alexa?" Eric asked.

Alexa shrugged, and went into normal mode fast. "Better than I thought I would..." she nodded. "Honestly, by now, I thought I'd be bawling my eyes out..."

"Yeah, I tend to laugh stuff like this off..." Eric shrugged. "I act like it's no big thing..."

Willow, while Eric and Alexa were absorbed in each other's conversation, rounded everyone up and brought them into the other room.

"How can you do that?" Alexa asked. "Isn't it so hard?"

Eric shook his head. "You get used to it..."

"I don't think I could handle it..." Alexa tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I need a little cry once in awhile."

"I don't think with me it'd be a little cry. I haven't cried since I was about six, so..." he chuckled a little.

"Wow..." Alexa marveled at Eric. It took something really special to get her attention for more than a month, and Eric had had it for about eight years. "So, what did Lucy say to you?"

"She told me it was for my benefit...and I kinda figured the rest out on my own..." he shook his head quickly, as though he was shoving something off his shoulder. It looked somewhat like a wince to Alexa. "I knew this was gonna happen sooner or later..."

Alexa saw how much Eric wanted to cry, even though he tried not to show it. "I feel for you, Eric..."

Eric was afraid to look at Alexa, in fear of seeing Lucy. He decided to become a clown for the moment, just to cure his pain until she left. "So, tell me..." Eric imitated a French woman. "Alexa...what do you think of these shoes? Do they go with this shirt?"

Alexa rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, very well..." she thought for a second. 'Maybe if I can get him to open up to me...he'll start to feel the same way about me...'