"Hex," said Alex. "Do you know that girl over there? The one waving at us."

Hex glanced at the spot Alex was pointing to and shook his head. "Never seen her," he mumbled.

Alexs' eyes narrowed as he saw Paulo running up to the girl, then embracing her in a hug. "Hex."

"What?" answered Hex irritably.

"Look again."

Hex squinted in the bright sunlight as a gasp of surprise erupted from his lips. "Alex, is that Paulo I'm seeing?"

"Either that or we're both blind."

Just at that moment, both Paulo and the girl looked over and saw Alex and Hex staring at them. Paulo gestured to the two boys and they strolled over. Pasted onto Paulo's face was a grin.

"Guys, this is Faye. Faye, Alex - " at this he indicated to Alex, then to Hex. "And Hex."

Faye broke into a grin, her hazel eyes shining with pleasure. "Hey. We've already met, haven't we?"

She said, looking Alex in the eye.

A wheel clicked in Alex's head. Yes, he had seen her earlier at school. She had dropped a binder and Alex just happened to be walking towards her. He remembered handing it back to her, but apart from that everything else drew up a blank. "Yeah, you dropped your binder."

Faye nodded. "Let's go meet up with Amber and Li, then grab something to eat."


"Faye!" Yelled Amber, running towards her childhood friend. "I haven't seen you in ages!" She exclaimed, hugging Faye. "How do you know Paulo?"

"Li was with him this morning when we met up. Il est très beau," she said, then smiling at Paulo, repeated it in Spanish. "El es muy guapo"

Paulo beamed at the compliment. "Gracias." He replied.

Alex and Hex made it clear that they were both confused, trading puzzled expressions with each other. Hex was the one who decided to blurt it out. "How do you know Spanish and French?"

Amber looked at Hex as if that was the stupidest question he could have asked, then dismissively explained. "She travels around the world with her family. Come on."

Faye laughed lightheartedly, her cheeks flushed. "Yeah, okay, but I'm starving, right now - so either I die or starvation or we grab something to eat," she said, blushing.

"Good thinking, let's go," Alex said, smiling.

Faye glanced at Alex before quickly turning away and whispering to Amber. Amber grinned while looking at Alex, then burst out laughing. Alex's breath quickened, his face turning a deep shade of scarlet. Hex stood there, as if bored by the whole event.


Several minutes later…

Faye grinned at Alex as she sipped her drink. Beside her, Amber leaned on the rail, trying to avoid Hex's gaze. Amber felt a light nudge from Faye. "Yeah?"

"You have noticed that Hex has been staring at you since we came here. And you've been…erm…avoiding him as well."

A scowl flickered across Amber's face, before fading into a sad frown. "What is with everyone?" Amber said softly. A slight trembling tone in her voice suggested to Faye that she was holding back tears. "Everyone, and I mean everyone, thinks that I've been avoiding Hex."

Faye smiled sympathetically, understanding what her friend was going through. "C'mon, it's obvious that he wants to talk to you. Give him a chance, I mean, yeah, we've been friends since what? Eight years old! There's no point in lying. Or avoidtion…if that's a word."

"Yeah, you're right Faye. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without you," she announced gratefully.


"Hex?" Amber tapped Hex's shoulder, making him spin around while shutting his palmtop. Amber's brow creased as she remembered Hex's unknown girlfriend. Not that she'd forgotten of course. "I want to talk to you about something."

"Huh? Talk? Yeah, okay. You know the other night? When I wanted to tell you something? I'll, um…I'll tell you now."

"Alright."

At the corner of her vision, Amber spotted Paulo and Faye talking to each other, obviously in a heated discussion. Paulo nodded to Faye, then rushed over to the two Alpha Force members. The news he carried was grim. "Li's in hospital," he said. "She was involved in a accident."


Sorry for taking so long to update, but like I mentioned before, I was delayed. Well, here it is now, and like the 2nd chapter, I didn't edit this either ; Enjoy anyways!