Chapter 2:Part 1

Two weeks had passed since the first meeting of Alex and Marissa and Summer and Jodie. The only time Marissa and Alex had spent together, granted extremely reluctantly, was to work on their project. They spent this time sitting as far away from each other as possible, only talking when it was really necessary.

Jodie and Summer, no matter how hard Summer tried to avoid it, always seemed to end up occupying the same space. Summer was sick of it, but the more she complained, the more persistent Jodie became. Everywhere Summer turned, there was Jodie, making snide remarks and generally getting on Summer's nerves. Not to mention the way she was always staring. Summer was feeling constantly uncomfortable with the eyes on her all the time.

Summer and Marissa were sat on Summer's bed, discussing Alex and Jodie and the latest problems they had with them.
" She's always staring at me Coop. Every time I turn around, there she is, just looking at me. It's starting to freak me out."
" That's why she does it, you know. Just ignore her"
" Well, I would, but she's always there. So, how are things going with your project? And Alex?" she added, her voice full of meaning.
" The project is almost done, and things with Alex are terrible. I swear she spends all of her spare time coming up with ways to bug me. I mean, she totally embarrassed me today at lunchtime. What was she thinking, tripping me up when I'm wearing a skirt?"
" I know, that was totally uncalled for," replied Summer. " But I don't want to talk about those two anymore. I don't even want to think about them. So what do you say to going shopping?"
"Sure," replied Marissa. Shopping with Summer was exhausting enough to distract her from thinking about anything else. The girls got up to prepare themselves for hours of shopping.

Jodie was laying on her bed staring at the ceiling, waiting for Alex to arrive. She was so bored. She smiled to herself thinking about how Summer had looked today. Jodie enjoyed winding Summer up, she liked the way she looked when she was pised off. She licked her lips thinking about what she'd like to do with Summer, then promptly fell off the bed in surprise as Alex entered the room. She hadn't even heard her.

Alex laughed as she saw what had happened. " What the hell were you doing? I called you like a hundred times."
She watched a grin spread slowly across Jodie's face.
" Oh, no, I don't even wanna know," she said quickly.
" Are you sure? Cause it's really interesting, you know."
" Yeah I'm sure, and I'm also sure that it had something to do with Summer."
" She wants me Al, have you seen the way she looks at me?"
" Yeah, J, if looks could kill you'd be dead a thousand times over."
" She wants me, trust me. She just doesn't know it yet."
" Whatever. Can we please not discuss Summer. It makes me think of Marissa, and that makes me feel sick."
" Sure, it makes you feel sick. Sick cause you can't have her."
" I've told you a million times, Jodie. I do not want Marissa Cooper. I don't even want to associate with little miss up herself."
" OK, I totally absolutely believe you," said Jodie in a tone that implied the exact opposite. She quickly added " Wanna go surf?" knowing she'd end up listening to another of Alex's rants about how much she hated Marissa if she didn't.
" Okay," replied Alex. " Let's go."

The next day, as Marissa was running into school, later than usual, she ran into someone, knocking the wind out of both of them. " I am so sorry," she said before looking up and seeing who it was. " Suddenly I'm not so sorry," she said looking into Alex's eyes. " You totally deserved that after yesterday."
" Yesterday?" replied Alex, a completely innocent look on her face.
" You know exactly what I'm talking about," Marissa said angrily.
" I have no clue, come on, enlighten me."
" Btch," Marissa spat out.
" Come on Cooper, you can do better than that," she said with a slight grin.
Marissa turned and stormed away from Alex. She hated how much the girl got to her, and she just couldn't figure out why she couldn't just ignore it. Alex watched her go, amused by how much she was affecting Marissa.

Marissa was in one of the few classes that she shared with Summer, and was currently explaining what had happened with Alex this morning.
" What's the matter, Summer? You look kinda preoccupied."
" Huh? I was listening, honest," replied Summer a little too quickly.
" You have no idea what I was just talking about, do you?"
" Yeah," replied Summer with certainty. " You were talking about Alex."
" What was I saying about her?" Marissa responded, still not convinced that Summer had been listening. Sometimes the girl seemed to just drift off into her own little world.
" You were saying, uh, about how much you hate her. Yeah, "she said, nodding to herself, "that's what you were talking about."
" Well okay, I guess you weren't as spaced out as I thought."
Summer hid her smile, thinking about how transparent Marissa was when it came to Alex.

Chapter 2:part 2

Marissa was sat in her usual spot on the beach, looking out towards the sea. Today she didn't have a drink with her, feeling calmer than she had in a while. She rethought this as she saw who was heading her way.
" Ugh," she said to herself. She couldn't deal with this right now.

Alex was taking a walk along the beach, an old habit of hers when she wanted to clear her head. She'd been thinking about the past a lot today, and she thought this would help her forget. She'd been wandering along slowly for a while when she spotted Marissa sitting in the sand. Unable to resist the urge to annoy her for the third or fourth time that day, Alex casually walked over and sat down. She knew she didn't have to say anything to achieve her aim; her presence alone would be too much for Marissa.

Marissa turned her head away, in an attempt to ignore Alex's presence. She was soon regretting it, though, as she felt Alex shifting closer towards her.
" I came here to get away. Not to be followed by people like you."
" Don't flatter yourself," replied Alex. " I wouldn't follow you even if I was lost in the jungle and you were the only person who knew the way out."
" I don't care about what you would or wouldn't do. Now leave me alone."
Alex remained where she was, showing no signs of leaving.
"Fine,"said Marissa, standing up and brushing off her skirt. " I'll go."
She left as quickly as she could, avoiding looking at Alex. Alex watched Marissa leave, wondering about her constant need to annoy the girl. She'd never reacted to anyone else this way, and she couldn't work out why that was.

Meanwhile, Jodie was busy plotting ways to annoy Summer, because she was bored, and viewed this line of thought as being very worthwhile. The look on Summer's face today when she had told her she didn't like her shoes was still amusing her later. Jodie being as devious as she was, had managed to obtain Summer's phone number, and was wondering what she could say that would cause Summer to be angriest. In the end, she decided to just phone and that would be enough.

Summer was sitting outside, having got too hot inside her house, when her phone started ringing.
" Hello?" she said, without checking to see who was calling.
" Summer, I just want you to know that not only do I not like your shoes, I didn't like your shirt either."
" What would you know about fashion, anyway, you little skank?" retorted Summer. " And where the hell did you get my number anyway?"
" I have my ways," responded Jodie mysteriously. " And, at least fashion is not the only thing I know anything about."
" I'll have you know I know a lot of things. Like, for one, you're a bitch. And I don't care what you think anyway. You're insignificant."
" Oh yeah? Well if I'm so insignificant, why are you trying to justify your thoughts to me?"
Summer hung up on Jodie, only for her phone to ring immediately.
" Leave me alone!" she said angrily.
" Uh, Sum?" Marissa said tentatively.
" Oh my god, I'm sorry. I thought you were Jodie."
" She's been bugging you again, huh? I ran into Alex at the beach. That was a fun experience," she added sarcastically.
" I think we need to do something about those girls, you know. So they leave us alone. But what could we do….