This should clean up a lot of the elements of the story. Like where everyone is in this story. It should clear up any confusion anyone might have. And it will get moving after this chaptepromise.

Ultimately

Ch. 9 Destiny Sucks

7:00pm

Summer

Summer sat on her bed with Marissa right there next to her still sleeping restlessly. She was getting anxious. She couldn't wait to put her plan into action so she was waiting for that phone call to start it up. She flipped through the channels at least 10 times in the span of about 30 minutes. With nothing on, she turned off the television and swung over to face Marissa. She looked like she about to crack into a million pieces at any moment. And she was only sleeping.

Still anticipating that damn call, Summer started to wonder; what if this was all a big mistake? Maybe she was making things worse for everyone. She was second guessing herself for the first time in her life. Then, looking back at her broken friend, another thought popped into her head. This was the last resort. The Fantastic Four was officially dead and Seth just had to get over that fact. This had to happen but Marissa wasn't going to know about it until Summer knew that it was going to work. She had to be 100 sure. Marissa couldn't get hurt again. Speaking of the Fantastic Four, where the hell was Ryan?

Seth

"Hey Ryan. It's Seth; again. Call me when you get this. I'm worried about you. I don't want you end up doing anything that you'll regret. So, just check in with me. Bye." Seth was calling Ryan for an hour and never got a hold of him. So he just left another message. Everything was falling apart right in front of him. He couldn't do anything to stop this catastrophe. All at once, it was all changing. He couldn't get a hold of Ryan, Marissa was dying inside right in front of his eyes, and he needed to fix it. The Fantastic Four was dead. He exacerbated everything; including this.

Marissa

The sun rose and shone through the window. It landed on the most gorgeous face she saw illuminating the mystery person's face. Their deep blue-gray eyes opened instantly connecting with her brown ones. Marissa was in heaven. She felt safe; like nothing in the world could touch her. When she was here, he couldn't get to her. This was where she wanted to stay forever.

"Hey."

"Hey beautiful." Marissa blushed at this.

"I love being with you."

"And I love you." Life couldn't get any better than this Marissa thought. This was how it was supposed to be. She nestled into her lover's side and sighed contently. The world was on their side for once and she was happy. She would never let this go.

"I lov…" They were interrupted by a loud crash out in the kitchen. "What was that?" Marissa asked concerned.

"I don't know. I'll be right back. You stay here okay?"

"But…"

"But no. Stay here." With that, they left the bedroom with a bat in hand, trying to find the root of the noise. Marissa couldn't take it anymore. She hopped out of bed and ran to the door. Right when she opened the door, bang! A gun shot rang out through the whole apartment.

"ALEX!" Marissa shouted with a mixture of fear and shock in her eyes. She ran to Alex catching her in the process before she could fall to the floor. She slowly led her down to it and put her head in her lap. With the gunshot wound in Alex's stomach, something in Marissa's head gave her the worst end to this traumatic situation. "Alex." Marissa whispered her name while starting to sob.

Alex gasped for air, while struggling to keep her eyes open and on Marissa. Her breathing becoming increasingly short, she only said one thing. "I love you Riss."

"I lo…"

"Marissa. Marissa. Marissa!"

Her eyes shot open. Summer was calling her for the pass 10 seconds and she finally woke up. With her face falling from the look on Marissa's face, Summer took her in her arms. Marissa had that same dream 3 times in the last day. It never had a chance to end and could never find out who the person was that shot Alex. She started to cry again. All her emotion poured out of her eyes yet again and there was no way to stop it.

Alex's Place

Same Time

The four girls were sitting in the living room eating Easy Mac, because there was nothing else to eat, in complete and utter silence. No one had anything to say. It was like they all suddenly took a vow of silence. Parker kept rolling her eyes every time she stole a glance at Alex. She wanted her to talk to Jodie now; not later. Alex just stared at her bowl wishing she was somewhere else. Hayden was the most confused person in the world at the moment not understanding the tension in the room. She didn't want to ask because earlier all she did was walk in the apartment and she got her head bitten off. She didn't want to piss anyone off again. Jodie just sat there and ate her Easy Mac.

Parker couldn't take it anymore so she broke the silence. "Well I'm done. Anyone want to watch T.V? Hayden?"

"What?"

"Urgh! Never mind. Alex, Jodie, why don't you go on a walk. Hayden and I we'll stay here and watch T.V. Right Hay?"

"Okay. Wait; did you just call me Hay?"

"Okay. You two have fun, but not too much fun." Parker warned.

"But…" Alex tried.

"Please go. Bye." Parker pushed them out the door, then closed and locked it. Okay; Mission One was off the ground. Now it was up to Alex to get things 'Straight' with Jodie. Like that would ever happen.

On The Walk

They got two blocks and neither of them talked. It was so awkward that even Jodie was uncomfortable and she is never uncomfortable. Alex didn't know where to start. She didn't want to break her heart but she also didn't want to send the wrong message either. She wanted to stay friends with Jodie but didn't know how to put it. So she went with her instinct.

"Wh…" Jodie quickly cut her off.

"You couldn't just call me up and tell me you were alive once? Would it have killed you just talk to me? I mean am I that bad of a person?"

Alex didn't see this coming. Maybe she was just pulling more 'Jodie bullshit.' No. She had a feeling Jodie was serious. "Well, do you blame me? Last time I came back to town, you thought I wanted you back and you pulled the same shit to lure me into your wanting. I became the same speechless idiot I always was around you."

"So… I am that bad of a person." Jodie started to tear up. Wait. Jodie, tear up? Hell just froze over. Alex was sure of that.

"No. Jodie of course you're not. You're a great person; when you're not flirting, perverted, trying to get in my pants, talking…"

"I get it, thanks. You really know how to make me feel confident." Jodie actually felt bad for once. It became quiet again.

"Listen. Why do you keep calling me? What do you want?" Alex needed to get this done quickly.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. The only reason you would come back is if you wanted me back." Jodie paused to look at Alex. Disappointed, she continued after the look on Alex's face said 'no.' "Or you're running away from you're problems. You always do. You did from me." Jodie whispered that last part under her breath.

"No. I just… I just couldn't take it."

Jodie ignored her explanation and jumped to another subject. "Alex. I know you thought our relationship was a complete sham and I lied a shit load, but I never lied to you about loving you."

Alex slid her hand in Jodie's to comfort her and began to speak again after a couple of minutes of silence. "Jo, I never questioned that. I'll always love you. You were my first everything."

"I just… Don't want you to forget me."

"How could I forget you? You're always here." Jodie chuckled through the tears that started to fall. Alex couldn't believe she was crying. Her voice started to crack when she began to talk again. "I don't want to lose you. You were my best friend in school. I want that back."

They stopped walking and turned to each other. Jodie took Alex in a huge. They stood like that for about 5 minutes. Jodie pulled away, sniffled and began to talk. "So, we're friends again?"

"Damn straight. As much as I can't stand you being around, I couldn't stand not having you around more."

"Since we made up and we're friends again, would there be any chance we could put 'with benefits' after it?" Alex just stared at her while Jodie wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

"You just had to ruin a perfect moment, didn't you?" With that, Alex started to walk back to her place with a 'typical Jodie' look on her face, leaving Jodie behind to catch up.

"Is that a no?"

Mean While Back at Alex's Place

"Finally." Parker sighed in relief. Watching Hayden rummage through her pocket, she asked what she was doing.

"Here it is. I'm calling someone."

"Well, who are you calling?"

"Shh. I'm on the phone." Parker shot her a 'duh' look and rolled her eyes. "Summer? Hey this is the girl from earlier Now spill." After a brief summary of the past 6 months to explain everything, Hayden hung up the phone and turned to a very impatient Parker.

"Well?"

"We're going to get Alex and Marissa back together."

"Awesome. Wait. Who's Marissa and why would we… Is that what's been bothering her this whole time?"

"Yeah. Apparently, this Marissa girl has been depressed ever since Alex left Newport." Seeing everything put into place, Parker and Hayden found the root to Alex's unhappiness; a broken heart.

"Son of a BITCH! I'm going to KILL her! Why didn't she tell me in the first place? I've been pushing her to tell me what's been bothering her since I came up and I have to here it from you?" Parker was furious. But that was just to hide the hurt in her heart. Another thing she had to find out from someone else.

"Calm down. Maybe she just wasn't ready to talk about it. Are you okay?" Parker looked like she was going to faint again and Hayden was getting worried. She led Parker to the couch.

"I'm fine; just pissed. I'm going to bed." Parker headed off to the bedroom.

"Wait. Are you sure you're okay."

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna help me tomorrow?"

"With what?"

"Getting your sister happy again?"

"I'll sleep on it." Parker closed the door with those departing words. Her relationship with Alex was falling apart and she didn't know what to do to fix it.

Meanwhile with Parker in bed and Alex and Jodie not back yet, she called Summer back up to get this plan in gear. "Hey… Hayden… Okay, this is what I was thinking. Since Alex's birthday is coming up soon, her sister and I could bring her on a surprise road trip. It would be perfect… Okay. Shit I got to go. She's back… bye. Hey."

"Who were you talking to? And where's Parker?" Alex questioned Hayden.

"No one. Why?"

"You were just on the phone."

"I was… checking my voicemail." Hayden answered bullshit practically dripping down her mouth and Alex could see it but decided to call her on it later.

"Never mind. So Parker's in bed?"

"Yeah. She just went in a couple of minutes ago. You should talk to her. Tell her what's on your mind. I'm gonna head out. Night." With that, Hayden was gone.

"O-kay." Alex was now the most confused person in the world at this point. Maybe she should just worry about it tomorrow; ask Parker what's up later. Right now, all she wanted was for this day to end. It was one of the longest days of her life.

"I'm gone too. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow." Jodie said.

"Yeah. Night." With a huge hug and the closing of the door, Alex dragged her feet into her room where Parker was already sound asleep. Alex watched as Parker's face kept changing from content, to stress. She knew it was her fault. "Tomorrow, everything will come out; I promise."

Okay. I hope that cleared some shit up. Whatever. Anyways. I'll thank for all the comments now. And keep posting them. They help. I hope I'm not going too slowly with posting the chaps. I might be able to speed it up soon but I'm not making any promises. Keep reading please. Thanks.

-Ej