Chapter 3: Party Crashers

Alex was feeling very questionable about this party of Kayla's. She came by with her brother, Kyle, who had driven her to Alex's house. He was a high school dropout. Their parents had died in a violent road rage accident, and Kyle was a drug dealer now, it was the only way he could think of to support Kayla and him self. So far, things weren't looking too good to Alex. She wanted to point out the ridiculous lie that Kayla had made about having four younger brothers but it seemed irrelevant. She could understand why she lied. And she still didn't have a clue what a GH party was! But she was starting to get some strong hunches.

It turned out her hunches were very reasonable.

"Here." Kayla grinned tossing her a packet of something that looked to be crystal meth. "Go crazy."

She picked out the straw out of her packet and started snuffing the contents of her bag.

"Every Friday, we hit the mother load in profits so we have these 'Get High' parties." Kyle explained matter-of-factly.

That's what GH stands for! Alex screamed in her head, tossing the packet as if it had burst into flames.

"Don't like crack cocaine?" Kyle asked, and then smiled. "No worries, take your pick." He continued showing Alex a bin of various different drugs.

Alex held back a gasp. Suddenly she wanted to get the heck out of there. Everywhere she looked, people were all around Kayla's house becoming delirious from drug highs. Her head was spinning with panic. She really wished she had brought her wand.

The front door burst open very suddenly and in walked, actually it was more like stomping, a group of tough looking druggies.

"Yo, Kyle, where's our goods?" A big guy, seeming to be the leader of the bunch, bellowed.

"I told you, Edmond, I'm not selling anything to you…" Kyle spoke calmly.

Edmond stood in front of Kyle, staring down at him, his green eyes burned with fury. "I dare ya to repeat that!"

"Edmond, just leave, okay?" Kyle remained calm.

But Edmond had no plans of leaving, he slugged Kyle in the face, and he flew across the room, hitting the wall with incredible impact.

Kyle held his nose and let out a blood curling scream that could wake up the entire neighborhood. Alex guessed that Edmond had broken Kyle's nose.

"Kyle!" Kayla cried out, and rushed to brother's side.

Boom! A gun shot broke the noise of the party. It was completely silent. No one was talking; there were no murmurs, not even whispers. Everyone stared at Kayla in horror. Edmond had shot her, killing her instantly. She was leaning next to her brother, blood and guts had exploded on to the wall, and were pouring from her chest and mouth.

"Kayla!" Kyle screamed, loudly. Tears immediately streamed down his face and his nose was bleeding, dripping down his neck. "KAAAAAAAYLA!"

He embraced his sister's lifeless body dearly. "No… NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"That'll teach you. Next time don't argue with me." Edmond grunted, giving Kyle the most intense glare that was worse than the most sinister villain.

He and his thugs turned and left, one of them taking the bin of drugs with him.

Everyone else scattered. They bolted out of that house like a bomb would explode at any second. Everyone except Alex, she stood in front of Kyle and Kayla, frozen with shock, fear and everything else that when along with it. Her eyes were wide in shock, staring at Kayla; she was pale, so very pale.

"Alex, you gotta get out of here." Kyle breathed, his eyes never leaving Kayla.

"B-But… what about Kayla? We—We have to call an ambulance." Alex stammered, her lower lip quivering.

Kyle shook his head, fighting tears. "It… It wouldn't do any good, Alex. She's gone."

"No…" Alex whispered, and she started crying, the tears came down instantly. She ran out of the house into the cold, pitch black night. It was starting to rain and the dark world seemed so much scarier on this particular night. Alex couldn't breathe, she felt like a python was wrapped around her neck, squeezing the life out of her. She grabbed her phone out of her purse and quickly dialed Justin's cell phone.

"Hello?" Alex was incredibly relieved when she finally heard Justin's voice.

"Justin, please come get me." Alex exclaimed, desperately, trying her best to breath normally.

"Alex, what happened?" Justin was suddenly very worried.

Alex just repeated, "Please come get me."

Justin sensed the urgency in her voice and asked her no further questions.

"I'll be right there, Alex. Just stay where you are. Don't move!" He told her, sincerely and hung up.

Justin's car pulled up to Alex in less than ten minutes and Alex didn't hesitate, quickly climbing in, she leaped into Justin's arms. She is shaking uncontrollably and starts sobbing incredulously.

"They killed Kayla, Justin." She sobbed.

"T-They? They who?" Justin questioned, extreme concern in his voce, he held Alex close.

"Th…this group of thugs…" Alex whimpered. "She's gone… Justin… Kayla's gone."

"Oh, Alex…" Justin spoke softly, rubbing her back and trying his best to comfort her.

After a moment of silence, Justin released her. "We should go, Alex."

"Okay…" Alex said quietly and got into the passenger's seat

Justin stepped on the gas and the quickly took off.

That night Alex and Justin stood out on the terrace. Crickets were chirping, it was much calmer, it was a peaceful night. But Alex was still shaken up about the whole situation from the party.

"Alex, you were lucky." Justin sighed, sadness in his tone. "You could have been killed too."

Tears started to form in Alex's eyes and she needed to be in Justin's arms again. "Justin, I…I wish I could have done something…if I had my wand she'd..."

"Alex, magic isn't always the answer." Justin explained, sternly, hugging her dearly. "Don't blame yourself… this world is a cruel place."

"But still, maybe…" Alex started but she trailed off when he saw Justin's caring expression. She blushed, Alex was actually blushing. "You…you really care about me don't you, Justin?"

"Of course." Justin assured. "You're my little sister, Alex. I'll always be looking out for you."

"No, Justin…" She whispered, moving closer to him, her brown eyes looking into his with intensity. "I mean… you really care about me."

Alex slowly leaned forward, her lips connecting with Justin's. She slowly wrapped her arms around him and deepened the kiss. This was wrong. It was very wrong. But Justin didn't feel guilty about it at all; he pulled her closer to his body and kissed her back intensely. You could feel the heat radiating from both of them. They stood there on the terrace for the world to see. They stood there--brother and sister--sucking face like there was no tomorrow. Siblings, yes, siblings, Justin and Alex, kissing, a brother and sisterly love, one that shouldn't be shared between siblings; but they didn't care at all. The world no longer mattered, that night they only had eyes for each other.

Monday morning, Alex had to drag her self out of bed. She really did not feel like going to school. Just walking into Tribeca Prep drained all of her energy, not that she had much to begin with anyway.

Everyone was giving her sympathetic looks. Alex felt like puking, she was sick to her stomach. She didn't want their sympathy. They couldn't even imagine what she had gone through. To see her new friend, a friend she had so much in common with, gushing blood of death, it was unbearable. She wanted everyone to fade away and leave her alone.

A girl actually came up to her and gave her a caring hug, saying, "Oh, Alex, you must feel so crushed…"

Alex had to use every ounce of her restraint not to smack this girl into next week. She had no business hugging someone in deep emotional pain. Especially since Alex had no idea who she even was.

All through the day, people in her classes, in the hallways, during lunch, everywhere she turned came up to her telling her things like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about Kayla…", "What a horrible thing to witness…"

One kid had the nerve to say, "Who else got shot?" like it was the most exciting incident in the world. Alex didn't hesitate to slap him across the face.

Alex was ready to punch the next person to mention anything relating to Kayla when Harper came running toward her, shouting. "ALEEEEX, WAIT UP!"

Harper was the only person that wasn't getting on her last nerve. She was actually very relieved to see her crazy best friend rushing over to her. Alex had to smile at the sight.

"Alex, where have you been…?" She had to take a moment to catch her breath. "I've been looking for you all day!"

Alex opened her mouth to say something but Harper began babbling some more.

"I saw the news last night! Oh my god, do you have any idea how worried about you I was! What happened to Kayla? Is she okay? Why didn't you call me!"

"Harper, I'm sorry." Alex apologized sincerely, her eyes beginning to water.

"Okay… maybe I overreacted just a little bit…" Harper replied quickly. "Alex, please don't cry… you know how I hate seeing you cry…"

Alex shook her head. "Harper… K-Kayla's gone."

"Oh, god!" Harper gasped, tears were forming in her eyes now and she embraced Alex.

"Harper…" Alex continued, squeezing her friend as if she would lose her too if she let go. "I saw her die."

Harper couldn't say anything to that. It was so heartbreakingly horrible. She burst into tears and the rest of the world collapsed around them as they sobbed for the innocent friend of theirs that was gone forever.

Yet deep inside herself Alex could help but feel guilty about the not-so-innocent moment of romance she had shared with her older brother, Justin, the night it happened.

Alex wasn't the same person after Kayla's death. Everyone was starting to notice it. It worried Justin the most. She wasn't teasing him at all. It was like the mischievous little sister he knew had died along with Kayla. Every day Alex would get up, go to school, come home and crawl back into the place she felt safe, her bed.

One evening the Russos were having a family discussion while Alex was fast asleep.

"I'm worried about Alex." Theresa's tone was very concerned. "She hasn't been the same since her friend passed away."

"I know." Jerry sighed. "She's always in her room these days. I'm very worried about her, too."

"We all are…" Max put in, though he couldn't quite understand why Alex was so sad.

"We should do something to cheer her up." Justin suggested. "What's something she loves to do…?"

"She likes bowling…" Max perked up, a hopeful smile forming on his face.

"That's perfect!" Theresa grinned, embracing her youngest son. "Maxie, how'd you know Alex's favorite activity was bowling?"

"I didn't…" He replied, tears forming in his eyes. "…I just want Alex to be happy again."

Whoa, I'm surprised at how much I got into writing this chapter. My fingers were practically pouring out words; maybe it was because I was excited to get to the intense Jalex part. This chapter is the longest because it's the most major part of the story. Please review!