Alexis paced around her room with a hard look of concentration and fear. "They invited Pete! Pete! Of all people!"
Kat sat on the nearby bed watching her friend. Alexis took long strides from wall to wall, without a single change of expression. "Stop pacing Hun, before you hurt yourself," Kat instructed calmly. Alexis suddenly stopped pacing and sat on the floor, her expression still unchanging. She put her head in her hands.
Kat jumped off the bed next to Alexis and put an arm around her. "Now sugar cube you gotta stop worrying so much," she sighed, "Pete is our best friend, and you know he hates Anna and Katie just as much as you do. He probably won't even go."
Alexis put her chin down to her knees. "I guess you're right," she mumbled.
"Plus he probably knows as well as I do that Anna just invited him to get to you. And you're doing a pretty good job of giving her what she wants."
Anna sighed. Kat was right, if that was Anna's plan, it defiantly worked. Alexis was a mess ever since Anna gave Pete that stupid invitation. She was thinking about it so much that she tripped, ran into things, misheard people, she even walked right into Anna's leg, and she wiped out right in the middle of the hallway. She put her face back into her hands. "This is a nightmare," she sobbed.
Kat hugged her friend. "Dang it Anna," she thought, "Would you give the girl a break? Just once? What did the poor thing ever do to you?"
She looked down at Alexis. Her cheeks were red from soft crying. Her light freckles became more noticeable. Kat had a look of concern, and she hugged Alexis tighter. She didn't know how much of Anna the poor little thing could take. However, judging by Alexis's constant crying and locking herself in her room, it wouldn't be long before she cracked.
Pete walked home in silence. Alexis wasn't there to accompany him today, but he guessed it was for the better. She had been acting awfully strange. Maybe Anna was finally getting to her. He pulled out the birthday invitation he had received earlier that day. Why on earth did Katie invite him to her birthday? She hated him and his friends. Why him and not Kat and Alexis?
Now that he really thought about it, Anna did give Alexis quite a look before giving him the invitation, and Alexis started acting strange right after that. Was this another attempt to mess with her?
He sighed. He and Kat felt the same way about this, and they often had meetings about it. Poor Alexis would crack anytime now. Anna really needed to stop this and let the girl get on with her life.
The part that annoyed Pete the most was that the only ones who knew anything about this was the three of them, Anna, and Katie. No one ever took the time to notice Alexis, so most people barley know she exists. Alexis refuses to tell her family, especially her brother Evan. She said something about wanting to prove him wrong. Then she swore both Pete and Kat into secrecy so her family would have no way of finding out.
Pete sighed and shoved the invitation back in his bag. It wasn't a very good idea to go to this party. He looked up to see Kat walking toward him. She must have come back from Alexis's house. Her hands were in her pockets. "How is she?" Pete asked her quietly.
"Not very good, it's only a matter of time now. She just locked herself up in her room again."
"Dang it. Why won't she talk to anybody about it?"
"I really don't know. But she has her reasons for everything. For all we know she could've been threatened."
Kat shivered at the thought. She really needed Alexis to tell her more. She couldn't stand the thought of her best friend getting hurt. Sure she and Pete knew what was going on, but there were a lot of details they didn't know. Like why Anna does it, and what Anna says to her while their alone. Shed tried in all her power to make sure someone was with Alexis at all times around Anna, but when Evan and Anna's older sister Lucy got together, there wasn't much Kat could do about it.