Hey, sorry I haven't updated sooner. I've been a bit preoccupied. Anyways, here's the next chapter.

Mitchie's POV
"Nice of you to Join us Ms Torres" The teacher told me as I entered the class room late.
"Sorry, I lost track of the time" I explained myself.
"Take your seat" I nodded and did as I was told. Luckily my seat was next to Alex's. I never realized before, but we share a lot of the same classes. I took out her sweater and notebook and passed them to her. Her eyes lit up when she saw them and she smiled her thanks to me. The whole period I didn't hear a word Mr. Peterson said, instead my mind was preoccupied with Alex.
So she's been stealing food since she was what, 13? She doesn't speak and she's been wearing the same sweater for 2 years. Was she homeless? I looked over to the girl in question. Her hair shined and she looked pretty clean. You could tell her hair was still a little damp so obviously she's had a shower this morning which means she can't be homeless. Maybe her family's dealing wth financial trouble? That could be it.
Finally after what seemed forever, it was lunch time. I was the first one out of the class and I practically flew down the halls. I reached my destination and was happy to find that I wasn't too late. Alex was at her locker putting her books away as I approached her.
"Hey" I greeted her. She turned to me and smiled which was contagious because I found myself smiling back.
"Do you have any plans for lunch today?" I asked her and she shook her head no.
"So do you want to have lunch with me?" I watched as her smile brightened and she nodded.
"Great, got everything you want?" She nodded and I took her arm and led her out of the school. We got to my car and she looked at me a bit sadly.
"What's wrong?" I asked her. She put her hands in her jeans and turned out her pockets, informing me that she was broke.
"That's okay, it'll be my treat." She shook her head.
"Please? I insist." She thought it over before slowly nodding her head. I smiled again. "Great! But I think I want to walk, is that okay?" I asked her and she nodded. I held out my arm with what I hoped was a friendly smile and she took it. We walked in a comfortable silence till we got to where I had wanted to go. I looked to Alex's reaction and I saw her go pale.
"Do you not like it here?" I asked her. "Because we can totally go somewhere else." I told her. She shook her head and opened the door and held it open for me.
I thanked her and went into the Waverly Substation. We went up to the counter where we were greeted by a guy who looked to be a few years older than us. He looked awfully familiar.
"Hello and welcome to the "Waverly Substation, our specials are-" He stopped mid sentence and glared at Alex.
"Well, no one really cares to hear our specials, but I greatly reccomend ditching the free loader. He pointed his pencil toward the latina who seemed to shrink behind me.
"I'd be perfectly happy to serve you, however, I refuse to serve her." I stared at him in astonishment.
"Excuse me?"
"We don't offer food to the homeless"
"She is NOT homeless, and I don't think I want to eat here anymore thank you very much. Not now and never again." I turned around and headed for the exit pulling Alex along with me.
"And Alex" He called out stopping us. We turned to face him. "You left your book here, its on the couch. Go get it and then never come back, I don't want to have to tell you again." He said with venom dripping from his voice. I watched as Alex hurried up the spiral staircase I hadn't seen before. I turned back to the guy.
"Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just kick her out of here like that. I want to speak the one in charge." I demanded.
"I am the one in charge. I inherited this from my father. And I have every right to kick her out."
"what'd she ever do to you"
"She's the reason our parents are dead" He growled to me. OUR parents are dead. Now I realized where I recognized him from. It was Justin Russo, Alex's older brother. Wait, if he was her brother and he lived here, shouldn't Alex live here too? But by the looks of it, he has kicked her out. We don't offer food to the homeless. So she is homeless? But how? You left your book here... get it and never come back.
She must have been here recently. Maybe today, and maybe that's where she was able to shower. It seemed to fit together.
"Alex is homeless?" I asked aloud not really meaning to.
"Duh" He said before turning away to serve his other customers. I just stared at the spot he had been standing. How long? And how has she been living? I was brought back to reality by Alex who was looking at me with concern.
"Oh sorry, let's go" I said leading the way out of the shop.
Alex's POV
I wondered what happened when I went up stairs to grab my text book. When I came down Mitchie seemed a bit out of it. Then for the rest of the day she kept looking at me with sympathy and concern. I had a feeling I knew why but I didn't like it. We made it back to school on time after grabbing some food from a small shop down the road from my old home. The day dragged on slowly and I spent my time coming up with a plan of sorts for after school. I practically had most of the city mapped out in my head. It might be a huge city, but I've lived here long enough to know it by heart. Especially having lived on the streets for a few years. Hmmm, Today was Monday which meant that the park would be pretty empty which meant more chance of creeps. That wasn't much of an option. I racked my brain before remembering that the theater was closed for remodeling. Perfect, I can sneek in through the back and sleep in one of those seats. I had done it countless times before.
"Alex?" Mitchie's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I stared at her blankly not knowing what she had just been saying.
"I was just asking if you wanted to be my partner" We were in the middle of science and apparently we had just been assigned a new project. I nodded and smiled wondering why she would want to partner up with me.
"Great, so I want to get a head start on it so I was wondering if you wanted to work on it tonight" I nodded again. Not like I had any plans anyways. Plus I jump at any chance I get to spend more time with her. The rest of the day dragged on slowly per usual, but I couldn't help but get excited. I've never been to Mitchie's house before, I didn't even know where she lived. Mitchie suggested that I just stay the night so that we can have more time for the project. I was reluctant at first. I've never had a sleepover before. Didn't people usually bring their stuff over? Will it be weird if I show up with nothing but my school bag? But as the day went on I seemed to forget about that as I thought about what could happen tonight. Who knows, maybe Mitch and I could become best friends. It could happen. Although truthfully I wish we could be more than that. Though I bet she's straight. I'd probably disgust her if I tried anything. But she should already know I like her. I mean, what else was she supposed to think when I gave her that rose?
Finally after what seemed like forever the last bell rang and we were free to go. I met Mitchie by her locker like she had asked me to and I felt myself getting nervous again.
"Hey Alex" She greeted me once she had spotted me. I waved a little. "So I talked to my mom and she said it's okay if you come over, but we would have to go straight to my house after school, my parents can be pretty over protective, so I thought that I could just lend you some of my clothes. Are you okay with that?" I nodded relieved that I didn't have to worry about that.
"Okay" again I got the chance to see the smile I loved so much. "Let's go" she said. I wondered if she lived near the school I always saw her walk home so I just assumed so.
"Um Alex?" She asked after we made it a few blocks from the school. I turned my attention to the beautiful brunette. "There's something I have to tell you-" I didn't get to know what she was going to say because I was grabbed from behind. I hadn't used any of my vocals for so many years that I couldn't even scream.
"Got you" A familiar voice said behind me.
"What are you doing? Let her go!" Mitchie demanded as I struggled to get out the guys grasp.
"No, This little brat has been stealing from my restaurant for far too long." That's when I realized who it was. It was the mangager at Mario's, I never would have guessed he was the owner. "Now little Miss. You're not escaping me this time. What's your name." I said nothing. Shocker. "I said whats your name!?" He had me by the arm now and he used his free one to slap me.
"STOP" Mitchie cried trying to get me away from him. "She can't talk." At these words the man stopped temporarily. He turned me around so he was facing me and gave me a confused look.
"You can't talk?" I shook my head. "Well that's too bad. It doesn't change what you've done. You owe me a whole lot of money that I know you can't pay, so were going on a little trip to the police department down town."
"No, I'll pay for it." I stopped my struggling again and we both looked to Mitchie in surprise.
"Silly girl, I don't even know what she owes me, but I do know that there's no way you could afford it."
"We might not know, but Alex does" Mitchie insisted.
"Does she now? Well then it's too bad that she can't talk now is it?" Taking the man by surprise, she shoved him aside like he was nothing. I just stared at her as the man stumbled backwards before falling to the ground. Mitchie spun me around and took my backpack. She shuffled through it till she pulled out my old warn out notebook. How did she even know about that?
"Here" She said shoving the note book in the mans face.
"What's this?"
"Open it." He did as she told and he flipped through the pages a bit.
"You've been keeping track?" He asked me. "And I'm not the only one you've been stealing from either." I shrugged not sure what else to do. "Well this just shows you owe quite a bit to a lot of people." He reached for me again and Mitchie put herself in front of me blocking him.
"I said I'd pay"
"Move aside, you can't afford it"
"I beg to differ" As if on cue a black shiny limo pulled up and a man dressed in a black suit stepped out. He had on dark sunglasses so we could only see our reflection in the lenses and from what I could tell, he was wearing an earpiece.
"Step away from the girl and no one gets hurt" He said pulling a gun on the guy. I felt my eyes go wide and my heartbeat pick up.

Does anyone know what's going on? If not the next chapter should explain, in the mean time... REVIEW! pleeze :)

~SM