Alright, not only did we hit 40 reviews, we went OVER! WOOO! Alright, this chapter is specially dedicated to a writer who has not only reviewed EVERY SINGLE chapter right after I posted them, she's given me crazy amounts of feedback and almost an entire playlist of songs (some which have become my faves!). So this chapter is specially written for The Bloodiest Rose!

One more thing! Ever heard the song Valentine by Kina Grannis? The music video is completely ADORABLE! Love it! (:

Now let's this story moving!

She's one of those girls, nothing but trouble,

Just one look and now you're seeing double,

Before you know it, she'll be gone,

Off to the next one

CHAPTER NINE

The next two weeks passed in a colorful blur of colors to Reid, she floated through her painting class and passed her first graded project with a giant gold A stamped over her rubric and secretly met up with Darwin every sunset each evening. The lake had become their secret place and sunsets easily became Reid's favorite setting – with orange and pink as her new favorite colors of course. The girls had settled into the steady yet rigorous schedule of classes and their transition phase into Alpha Academy had been fairly smooth. No talk of parties had been broached and not a single girl had gotten expelled – yet.

Alice had seemed to have toughened up and had ignored Sabrina Benson while focusing her entire energy on acting, Shakespearian dramas and accents that seemed to change every few days. Reid hadn't heard a single complaint about Sabrina for the entire week. Reid had helped Alice with memorizing her newest role in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and Alice had paced back and forth on the patio of the Taylor Swift house trying to get down the flowery poetic language of Shakespeare and deliver it with as much gusto as she could muster.

Ali had bragged about her newest time on the track for days until Vivian had kindly told her to "please shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you". Like Vivian, Ali had been focused on her riding a lot seriously and spent the majority of her time in her copper jodhpurs on her beloved horse, Eli. And if she wasn't, she was found in the heart of the Atlanta Gym, improving her own stamina and physical strength. Determination and toughness radiated out of Ali daily and Reid was pretty sure that there was no way it would be possible for Ali and Eli to ever lose a race.

Summer had been absorbed in her lyrics the majority of the time, spending hours curled up on a couch in Tree House or the Fuselage. Reid was pretty sure that Summer would be churning out an album of hit songs in the next few weeks. While Reid didn't know much about writing songs, she had to admit that even Summer's impeccably perfect pale blonde hair had been twisted into a messy bun all the time and her navy eyes were always intent on her lyrics while her pink lips formed the words of the song. Even Summer hummed in her sleep and Reid caught brief snatches of new songs here and there throughout the week.

As for Vivian, Reid had barely seen her at all. According to Ali, Vivian had dropped several classes to focus on her skating. While she had added Balletic Basics to her schedule to improve her balance and posture, it seemed to Reid that all Vivian seemed to do was skate. She rarely ever saw Vivian had lunch or breakfast and the only time she had seen Vivian in the Taylor Swift house was when she had lost track of time with Darwin and had to sneak into bed at 11. All the dark-haired girl seemed to do was skate, skate, and skate some more. When the Taylor Swifts had been scheduled for the spa, Vivian had been working on her double axel. When Reid asked Vivian if she wanted to help her with French, Vivian had been mastering her spiral sequences. All the Reid gathered from Vivian's brief brush with Shira and expulsion was the fact that Shira fully expected 500% effort into skating from Vivian, which had literally turned Vivian into a skating machine.

Reid herself had painted scenery with Darwin, sketched water lilies by a pond Darwin had taken her to, and created an entirely new portfolio filled with colored drawings of all the different types of birds. She snuck into underground tunnels with Darwin and had scoured the entire island of shops for some good old chocolate Hershey bars and finally found them hidden in the very back of a vending machine.

It seemed to Reid that each girl had switched off the summer party mode and had stuck their noses to the grindstone and proceeded to do what they did best. Become alphas.

X-X-X

Summer leaned back in the soft seat of the rose colored couch in the center of the Tree House. It quickly become her favorite place in the entire island in the very first week of school. It was an escape from the endless spiral of drama that seemed to follow alpha girls wherever they went and provided inspiration for Summer's songs. Her new set of songs had been written under one theme and she had been turning a few album titles over in her head. One thing they all had in common was that they were all inspired by Alpha Academy, Alpha Island and anything and everything Alpha related starting from her very first song – Chosen. Exotic Paradise had been her first impression of Alpha Island and she had been writing songs ever since then. She had found an old strand of lyrics that had never been finished and had begun to add on to that. Imperfections had been the song Summer had been slaving over from the beginning of the school year.

Never said I was perfect,

No one really is,

I'm a girl with a balance issue,

I can't strut in heels.

I fall on my face,

I PMS like a girl with an attitude problem.

But that's all me,

And I'm not perfect.

Those girls,

With flawless smiles and supermodel smiles,

If only that was me,

But they're perfect, and I'm imperfect.

She sang the words softly in the quiet Tree House while strumming gently on her guitar strings. Her clear bell voice hit each note perfectly before trailing off at the last note. The song was still unfinished but so far, it was already one of her favorites. She ran her fingers over the words in green ink scrawled over the neat pale blue lines of her notebook before lapsing back into thought. Each word was chosen perfectly and strung together like a string of perfect pearls to the music of her guitar. Ever song Summer wrote had a memory, a feeling, a moment behind them. Imperfections had been written with a certain Brazille boy in mind.

Look at her, she's utter perfection,

Glossy dark hair, alluring eyes,

But I'm not her,

I never will be.

You smile, I notice,

You flirt, you tease, you kiss,

But not me, I'm not her,

I'm not them, I'm not perfect.

Turning over the words in her mind, she sang them softly under her breath before scribbling the lyrics down in her notebook. She lifted her guitar and struck a chord, letting the sound resound through the room before strumming the first few notes and adding her new stanzas to her song. She had first gotten the inspiration for the song when she had first noticed Taz Brazille on the very first day of school. He had been assigned to her music class and she soon discovered that under his reckless player attitude, he had a love for guitar and drums. But she had never approached him. That wasn't something that she would do. He was different. He was impulsive, reckless, spontaneous, messed around and jumped from one girl to another in a span of a week. She was responsible, mature, organized and the complete opposite of spontaneous. Summer might had always been famous for her songs but she was never the type of girl who was the center of attention, who was known as the "popular girl" at school. If she ever did gone to a normal school and never been recognized for her singing, she would have been a girl who was the literature geek, who was quiet but had the sweetest singing voice. She loved to write stories, poems and most importantly, songs.

I'm not your type of girl,

No fiery attitude, no dazzling smiles,

I'm not popular, I'm not gorgeous,

I'm not perfect.

That'll never be me,

I'm imperfect,

With all my imperfections,

That makes me who I am.

Adding a few more lyrics to her page, she organized them, picked the chorus and began to sing while strumming the first few opening notes on her guitar. Besides the Tree House, the Apollo Studio was one of Summer's favorite places on the island. She was free to sing, experiment with different instruments and had a special wing reserved for singers who wanted to record songs. It was there that she had first seen Taz without his usual entourage of alpha girl fans. She admitted it to herself, yes, she had a wild crush on the 100% crush-able Brazille boy. But so other alpha girls, including Vivian Dresden herself. In the friend-sense of the world, Taz was Vivian's. After all, a girl wouldn't try to take her friend's crush, right?

Her thoughts were immediately interrupted by the ringing of the bell, signaling the end of the last minutes of lunch. Summer flipped her notebook shut, put her guitar into her shimmery gold bag and slung it over shoulder before heading towards class. She had liked Alpha Island from her very first day but the walking distance from one class to another were something that she had to contend with. She stepped off the last rung of the ladder and began walking towards the Apollo Studio for her Music Class.

"Hey, Summer!" a voiced called from behind Summer.

A girl in a pewter silver mini and the traditional blouse with a gold vest and sparkling tie speed-walked to catch up to Summer. Her long chestnut curls blew gently in the wind behind her and her large doe-brown eyes sparkled sweetly in the sunny afternoon light. Giselle Sanchez was a fellow musician in Summer's music theory class as well as her writing class. Just like Summer, Giselle was a girl with a talent for singing yet she loved to write. Unlike Summer, Giselle was the only daughter of Brandon Sanchez, a multi-billionaire who resided in his heavily guarded and grand palace of a home in the Hamptons. She was a heiress born into a society where she could have done anything in the world and gotten away with it but she developed a love for singing. Since she was her daddy's little princess, Giselle had everything Summer never did. She had a mother who adored her, a personal recording studio made just for her as well as any instrument her heart desired. Giselle had everything handed to her on a silver platter while Summer had been from an average middle-class family until her own talent had taken her to the top. The two girls couldn't be any more different yet they had formed a slight friendship. Summer knew that Giselle considered her competition and was only friends so that they wouldn't be enemies but the blonde singer knew that she wouldn't be becoming BFFs with Giselle any time soon.

"Ready for another heart-breaking session with Lucille?" Giselle flipped her chestnut hair over her shoulder as she fell into step besides Summer. "I swear, she makes at least half the class cry with a single yell."

"Yeah," Summer nodded in agreement. Lucille was the music muse and the phrase "if looks could kill" often came to Summer's mind in Lucille's class. She had hit each note, each tune perfectly until the tuner wobbled a slightest bit, causing a heavy glare from Lucille directed towards Summer. Perfection was required in Lucille's class. Not a single mistake was allowed.

The two girls arrived at the tall domed building and let the glass doors slid open as it admitted them into the Apollo Studio. Name after the god of music, the Apollo Studio was basically the music center of Alpha Island. It was divided into several wings – Summer and Giselle were headed towards the voice wing. Music drifted through the doors of the separate rooms and Summer could hear loud heavy rock music blasting from the Hardcore Music Wing.

The two girls entered through the gold door labeled Voice Wing and entered the room. Summer moved to take a seat and Giselle slid into the empty seat besides her. To her right, she could see Taylor Mitchell's pink lips moving and forming the newest words to her new song. Besides, her Giselle slid out a few new pages filled with her girly cursive writing with hearts dotted over the i's and curly tips on the y's and g's. Turning her attention back to her own space, she pulled out her green notebook and flipped it open to one of her newly completed songs.

"Ahem, good afternoon girls," the crisp no-nonsense voice of Lucille announced her arrival into the room. To Summer, she was not one teacher that any girl would like to cross. She was older than the majority of the Alpha Academy muses and her hair was twisted up into a perfectly braided and coiffed up-do while wearing a dark charcoal gray pencil skirt that shimmered faintly and a creamy white blouse. She looked strict, severe and businesslike. Her face was all angles, a sharp jaw, defined cheekbones and a mouth that seemed to always be turned into a frown.

"Alright, I had required you all to write a song that reflected our feelings about Alpha Academy since the very first day, and I expect a completed song now," Lucille stared around the room, meeting each girls' eyes. Her icy blue eyes finally rested on Summer's face.

"Summer! Stand up and perform your song. I want clear pitches, a fluid tone and a voice that rings with passion. You are free you to use your guitar," Lucille's voice was commanding.

Summer flipped back a few pages of her notebook to find the very first song she had ever written about Alpha Academy – Chosen. She unzipped her guitar case and took out her prized acoustic guitar which she slung over her shoulder.

"Front of the class," Lucille reminded Summer as Summer stepped forward into the center of the room and placed her fingers on the strings of the guitar. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she let herself remember the feeling she had when she wrote the song, when she was accepted and began to strum out the opening notes of her song.

Just another wide-eyed girl,

Loving the music, loving the life,

Watch me fly, watch me soar,

I'm going to be somebody.

Take a minute, take a moment,

I know I'm worth it,

Watch me grow, watch me shine,

I'm going to be a star.

Give me a chance, give me a turn,

You won't regret it,

I'm special, I'm unique,

And everyone's going to know it.

Upping the tempo and dynamics of her guitar, she launched into the chorus of her song. This song rang of confidence, promise and authority. Know that she was good, knowing that she was special had helped fuel Summer's inspiration for the song that she had written down.

I've been chosen,

Look at me now,

I'm still the same,

But now everyone knows it.

Love me, adore me,

I've become somebody,

They chose me,

I've been chosen.

Her clear voice rang out through the studio room and each note was sweet, clear and pure. A voice in the back of her mind wished that Taz was able to see her like this and know that she was different. Not a girl with a pretty face of a model – after all, so many alpha girls with a Model Track trailed after him. Finishing off her song with a final strum on her guitar that rang around the room and a paused filled the air before Giselle, Taylor and the other girls clapped politely. Lucille merely stared at Summer and gave her a brief nod.

"Not horrid, but nothing special, either. You need to pop out, Summer. Flash. Shine. Stand out. Giselle, your next."

Summer sank back down in her seat feeling slightly deflated. A pink heart-shaped post-it fluttered it's way over to her music stand.

No worries! You were great, Lucille's just too critical.

~Tay

Summer glanced over at the petite girl with golden-brown hair and wide brown eyes and gave her a small smile. Taylor's sweet personality was infectious and she might be one of the nicest girls in the academy. Sure, she had the attitude of a bitch at times but the girl was sweeter than sugar and honey combined when she was in a friendly mood. While the girl was overly friendly at times and might have seemed fake, Summer had to admire that girl's ability to let herself inspire herself without taking Lucille's harsh criticisms.

"This song is called To the Top and I'm singing along to a background soundtrack," Giselle smiled brilliantly. She tossed her shiny hair over her shoulder and picked up a mic and struck a pose like a teen pop star ready to start belting out her newest hit single.

The CD slid into the special edition Bose and Giselle's backup music began to blast out through the studio room. The palpable sound of an electric guitar filled the room and the beat was steady and upbeat, something that could be danced to. Dancey and pop music was Giselle's speciality and her music was usually a lot more upbeat than Summer's.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh

Here I come, watch the road,

I'm Giselle, I'm a star,

I'm gorgeous, fabulous, marvelous and the best.

I know I'm good,

No need to tell me that,

But it's time to show,

What I can really do,

Take your look, admire my Manolos,

I might not be here next time around,

I've got things to do, spotlights to steal,

Grammys to win now, out of my way!

Summer watched Giselle as she swayed her hips and danced to the music while her right hand stayed wrapped around the mic. She strutted back and forth like she was in a music video and flipped her hair, shook her head and flashed smiles into the imaginary audience. Summer had to admit that Giselle had the attitude, the flashiness and showiness that Summer lacked. She went to the extreme, even in a simple assignment from Lucille and that was what made her shine.

I'm here to shine, I'm here to dazzle,

I'm the best, I know I am,

Watch me prove it!

I've been at the top, now I'm going to the top.

Watch me take the stage,

Watch me take the mic,

Watch me steal the show,

I'm off to the top.

To the top,

Let's do it!

I'm on a golden plane

With a ticket to the top.

I'm going to be the best,

I'll top the others,

Here's my chance,

Watch me take it!

She finished off her song with a flourish as the drums in her soundtrack crashed together and she struck her final pose with a finger snap that just radiated attitude.

"J'adore!" Taylor sang out and she applauded Giselle who laughed and swept a grand bow.

Even Summer could see a small smile twitching at the corners of Lucille's lips. Summer knew that Giselle was good, she was just different than Summer. Summer didn't sing like Giselle, she wasn't a fan of girly pop, flamboyant movements but that was Giselle. And that was what the public liked. Giselle was the glamorous diva that was admired and seemed suited for the stardom while Summer relied on her talent and love for singing to get her where she wanted to go. Summer would never be able to pull of Giselle's diva attitude and flashy personality. It just wasn't her.

While she knew that she was just as good as Giselle, a small part of her twinged bitterly at Taylor's obvious admiration of Giselle's song and her pitying note towards Summer.

"You've got the attitude, the glitziness that I wanted, but a few tweaks to some notes would make the song incredible," Lucille said. "Taylor, next."

Summer sank back lower in her seat as Taylor bounced up to the front of her room with her slight round face and bouncy curls that make her seem like a cute little doll.

"My song is called Pretty Pink Princess…."

Summer sighed as she walked out the door of Lucille's singing class. At least now she was off to music where she could play her guitar to her heart's content, something that she excelled at. Where Lucille found fault with Summer's style, there was nothing that her music muse could do to criticism Summer's guitar ability. It was pure talent. Singing was like a second nature to Summer but she had practically been playing guitar since she was born. It was a part of her, like her sixth sense. It came naturally and was as easy as pie.

"Wasn't class great today?" Taylor skipped besides Summer and Giselle. Her golden hair glinted in the bright afternoon sunlight that streamed through the windows of the hallways of the Apollo Studio and her natural brown tints in her hair were even more visible. The Apollo Studio was like a miniature high school with hallways, stairs and rooms for each special style of music. Whether the girl was a singer, or a pianist, there were always plenty of classes in the Apollo Studio ranging from Basic Music 101 to Teen Pop Styles. The doors were numbered and Lucille's classroom/studio was Apollo 11.

"Oooh yes," Giselle smiled, "And watch as my day gets even better," she giggled as they approached Apollo 23 which was one of the musical instrument rooms, where girls that played drums, electric guitar and bass took their lessons. It was also a class that Taz Brazille happened to take. The door swung open and Taz swaggered out flipping his drumsticks in the air like a juggler casually. A girl was right besides him. Her hair was pitch black with hot pink streaks in it and her clothes were the darkest shades that Alpha Academy offered. It was short, choppy and barely reached her shoulders. The two of them were discussing percussion and drumrolls as Giselle, Summer and Taylor approached them.

"Heyyyy," Giselle twirled a lock of chestnut hair around her finger as she fearlessly approached Taz and punk-rockstar chick next to him. Oh great. Another girl who wants Taz. As if Summer didn't have to deal with the issue of Vivian and Taz, here was Giselle trying to claim Taz for her own.

"Hello," Taz gave Giselle a grin with revealed his bright white teeth. "The lovely Miss Giselle, am I right?"

Summer suppressed the urge to scowl. He just had to flirt back with Giselle didn't he?

"Oh look, another pop star," the girl besides Taz sneered.

"And look it's some punk wannabe chick," Giselle tossed back flippantly, not the least bit fazed.

"Now girls, no need to fight over me," Taz joked easily. "Giselle, this is Amy. Amy, this is Giselle."

Amy, scowled at Giselle, not masking her obvious contempt and disgust. "Well I – "

"How about we go to class, Aim?" Taylor jumped in and tugged Amy away from Giselle. The two girls were roommates, both from the Hillary Clinton house. Which left Summer along with Giselle and Taz, not exactly the situation she hoped to meet Taz in.

"Now, aren't you going to introduce me to your beautiful friend, Giselle?" Taz winked at Summer and smiled that smile that seemed to make girls all over the world swoon.

"Oh yeah, Taz, this is Summer Williams and Summer, you should know who this is," Giselle tossed her hair over her shoulder as she carelessly introduced Summer and leaned in closer to Taz. It was obvious that Giselle was blatantly flirting with Taz. Summer swallowed back the new wave of jealousy and greeted Taz.

"Hey Taz," Summer gave him a smile, hoping to come off as indifferent, cool and not a girl who would drape herself all over him.

"Great meeting you," Taz grinned at Summer. "We should hang out sometime."

Summer opened her mouth to respond but Giselle beat her to it.

"Oooh, I'd love to! Tonight at Azure Cove? Me and you?" she batted her eyelashes at him.

"It's a date," Taz replied, completely oblivious to the rage that flashed across Summer's navy blue eyes.

"Great!" Giselle squealed in delight, "See you!"

She blew a departing kiss towards Taz as he turned the corner and headed off to his next class leaving Giselle brimming with delight and Summer simmer with rage and jealously.

Summer glared at the back of Giselle's unnoticing head and silently screamed in rage in her head. Taz had asked her if she wanted to hang out and then Giselle just had to jump in! Ugh! And the worst thing was the Giselle didn't even know that Summer liked Taz. The one thing that she consoled herself with was the Taz wasn't completely exclusive to Vivian.

"Oh my gawd, wasn't he just so freaking hot?" Giselle said dreamily as she walked with Summer down the hallway towards their next classes.

"Yeah," Summer answered simply but Giselle didn't notice her barely concealed anger.

"And I'm going to meet him!" she whisper-squealed in excitement.

Summer stared unseeingly at the golden painted wall and felt herself wishing that Taz would somehow just develop a sudden crush on her and dump all the rest of the girls on their butts in the dust. Right, like that would ever happen. That was the way things always were. Summer fell for the popular boys, the unattainable ones while other girls – more outgoing and popular girls – went after the boy and ended up with him and Summer silently watched from the sidelines. She knew Taz's reputation and also knew that he probably wouldn't stay with Giselle for over a week but it still hurt. Maybe it was time to do something about it?

She headed down the hallway, waving as Giselle left to her modeling class in the Aphrodite Studio. She climbed up the stairs to the second floor of the Apollo Studio and entered Apollo 42 for her guitar class. Thinking back to Taz, she took out her guitar again and shuffled some music sheets around her stand. She had never been that girl. The girl who went after boys, the girl who flirted. She never had a boyfriend and knew that messing with a Brazille boy was going against Shira's most important rule. She wasn't reckless, she wasn't impulsive, she didn't disobey. She was responsible, mature and always followed the rules. And she knew that she wasn't about to change. Or should she?

X-X-X

Alice smiled proudly as she received the news that her Shakespeare monologue had scored an A. She had been working her butt off the entire week just to score well in her monologue. Rosaline had instructed each girl to memorize a monologue from Shakespeare and deliver it in front of the class for the very first assignment. It was nearing the end of September and October was arriving. The first month of Alpha Academy was coming to an end and who knew what would happen?

Rosaline had decided spend several weeks on analyzing and delivering Shakespeare plays and The Comedy of Errors was her chosen play. She had assigned the parts to the girls and since none of the Brazille boys took her class, Alice had been assigned the part of Antipholus of Syracuse and Sabrina had taken the part of Antipholus of Ephesus. The girls were required to memorize Act l soon and deliver it flawlessly.

She had left the Eris Studio a few moments ago and now sat besides Vivian in Romance Languages in the heart of the Sculpture Garden. The two girls sat on a smooth stone bench while the French muse, Danielle, conversed fluently with Isabelle Martin, a girl from the Michelle Obama house.

"This is such a waste of time," hissed Vivian impatiently as she glanced around the Sculpture Garden. "I could be landing my triple flip now!"

"Well, at least right now you're not killing yourself on the ice," Alice said fairly. "You need a break. You eat, breathe and live skating. Somehow I don't think that's healthy. Now, start talking before Emma comes over."

Vivian sighed as she sank down in her bench and closed her eyes for a brief second.

Alice eyes' suddenly snapped open when Sydney and Mel Brazille entered the Sculpture Garden.

"Bonjour Mademoiselle Danielle, s'il vous plait nous excuser pour ce retard," Mel said smoothly as the two boys entered the class. Alice had gotten used to Sydney during the past week and had brief encounters with him throughout the week but her marine blue eyes were still focused on Mel. A part of her swooned at his fluency in French and her eyes lingered slightly on Mel as he walked over and took a seat on a bench with Sydney directly across from Alice and Vivian.

She immediately ducked her head down as she noticed Mel's gaze lingering on her and Vivian and she let her pitch-black hair fall forward to hide her heating cheeks.

"Attention!" The French muse, Danielle, clapped her hands together while commanding their attention in her voice which held a brief hint of a French accent.

"You have all gotten basic vocabulary and should be at least able to carry on a semi-decent conversation today. It will be a type of quiz, to test your speaking abilities in French. I will pair you up and expect full conversations to be flowing throughout the class," Danielle gazed around the room.

"Sabrina Benson and Taylor Mitchell," called out Danielle after a beat of silence. She began to pair up the students while making her way through the garden of elegant stone sculptures carved from the finest stone and marble.

"Isabelle Martin and Tammy Duong, Andrea Cameron and Delphi Harmon,"

"Vivian Dresden and Simone Channing, Suzanne Wagner and Mel Brazille,"

A slight frown crossed Alice's face as Mel moved over to sit besides the blonde girl.

"Who's Suzanne?" Alice leaned over to whisper to Vivian. A twinge of jealousy was already brewing in Alice as she noticed Suzanne flip her strawberry blonde hair and smile flirtatiously towards Mel.

"Jealous already, Alice?" Vivian laughed softly. "Suzanne's a skater like me, she was at my party, remember?" Vivian slid off the stone bench and walked over to the girl she had been paired with, Simone Channings – an alpha model with platinum blonde hair and green eyes.

Damn. An ice-skater and pretty? Alice's marine blue eyes followed Mel and lingered on him slightly, completely unaware of Sydney's admiring gaze fixed on the back of her head and the fact that they were the only two left who had not been paired up.

"Alice White and Sydney Brazille," Danielle announced. "Get started on the conversations and I expect nothing but French for the rest of the class!"

What? Oh. Sydney.

"Bonjour," Alice greeted Sydney as she sat down beside him.

"Bonjour Mademoiselle Alice," Sydney gave her a beaming smile as she turned towards him.

"Comment allez-vous?" Alice asked.

"Tres bonne, vous?" Sydney replied with a grin. His cheerfulness was slightly infectious and Alice couldn't help but smile around him. Sure, he wasn't as hot as his brothers but he was nice, friendly and would make a good friend. As they carried on their conversation in French while Danielle walked slowly around the class and observed the alphas, Alice felt herself relaxing slightly.

"Work on your verbs, Alice dear," Danielle said, "It's este alle instead of va, since you are using the past tense,"

Alice nodded to Danielle and struggled to finish her sentence in French to Sydney. While Sydney seemed to be lost to one of questions, she took that chance to glance around the room. She found Vivian sitting on the bench and talking rapidly and fluently in French while Simone nodded her head in agreement. Lucky Vivian. Alice knew for a fact that while Vivian barely knew French, she once had a French ballet instructor who yelled criticizing phrases at Vivian in French and those phrases were the only ones that she knew. She was relating the entire story to Simone right now and the two girls were laughing at Vivian's imitations. Looking towards the sculpture of Adam and Eve, Alice found Mel and Suzanne talking quietly. Mel seemed to be acting completely normal while Suzanne kept flipping her hair, biting her lip and batting her eyelashes while she struggled with the verb conjugations.

"Alice? Alice?" Sydney waved his hand in front of her face.

"Vous etes encore la?" he asked.

"Huh?" she looked at him blankly for a second. "Oh! Um, oui. Désolé," she replied hastily as she apologized for not paying attention for a brief second.

Sydney smiled at her and they continued the casual conversation and Alice forced her eyes to keep away from Mel for the rest of the class. Talking to Sydney about his favorite colors, his hobbies were easy. Simple phrases in French and simple answers. No need to get deep into conversation.

"Bon travail!" Danielle exclaimed as the bell rang, signaling the end of class. "Now, I want a paragraph – at least two hundred words describing Alpha Island by tomorrow! Au revoir!"

"That was completely pointless," Vivian rolled her eyes as they headed out of the Sculpture Garden. "What does French have to do with figure-skating, huh?"

"They could always hold the Olympics in Paris," answered Alice as the two girls headed away from the Sculpture Garden and back towards the main center of the island.

Vivian was about to answer but was interrupted by the beeping of multiple aPods in the area.

Alice slid out her phone and opened the new message.

ATTENTION ALL ALPHAS. WE ARE HAVING A MANDATORY MEETING IN THE PAVILION NOW. ALL ALPHAS REPORT TO THE PAVILION IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES.

-SHIRA BRAZILLE

Alice glanced over at Vivian with confused eyes. "We didn't do anything, right?"

"No," Vivian frowned, "Maybe she just has some announcements? Or maybe someone else is getting expelled….." she trailed off.

Alice shrugged but followed Vivian as they hurried towards the Pavilion for Shira's meeting.

"Vivian! Alice! Over here!" called Ali as she waved towards the two girls when they entered the Pavilion. Ali had already found Reid and Summer and had seated herself besides them while Alice weaved her way through the throng of alpha girls to the Taylor Swift table.

"What do you think is up?" Reid frowned nervously.

"No idea," said Summer uncertainly, her pale blonde hair whipped around her face as she whirled around to face the front of the Pavilion.

All around the Pavilion alpha girls were whispering quietly, wondering about what was going on.

"Maybe – " Alice was cut off by the sight of Shira Brazille's stage rising up and silence fell among the alpha girls.

"Good afternoon lollies, I have a few announcements. First off, congratulations to all the girls who have survived their very first month at Alpha Academy!"

"That's too bad," Summer commented.

"Wait for it," warned Vivian who wasn't taking her eyes off Shira.

"But, along with the conclusion of our first month, some of your muses have concluded that several girls are not suited for Alpha Academy. Their performance in class is not alpha worthy and they will be leaving Alpha Academy. When I call your name, please come up to the stage. Your bags are packed and your PAPs ready to depart," Shira announced with a wicked grin.

Horrified whispers broke out among the girls and nervous glances and twitches were present all over the Pavilion.

"Siena Mahone,"

Alice heard Vivian draw in a sharp breath besides her. "You know her?" Alice whispered.

"She's an Alpha ice-skater," Vivian muttered, "Well, she was."

"Kathleen Pelling, Lauren Nguyen, Kaitlin Ramirez, and Miranda Merkle," Shira continued. "You all have shown that you are not alpha-material. Goodbye."

The five girls with pale faces and tears streaking down their cheeks stumbled and made their way up to the stage while the rest watched in grave silence. Including Rebecca, six girls in total had been expelled. The competition was narrowed down to ninety-four girls. When the last girl had vanished out the doors of the Pavilion, Shira turned her attention back down to her audience of alpha girls.

Alice swallowed hard. Was she going expel more of them?

"Now, we all know that you are not allowed to leave the island – unless expelled – and you have no connection to the outside world. But we will have new updates on the outside world at the end of each month. You may not be connected to the outside world but alphas need to know their competition – their enemies. My technology muses have complied a brief news broadcast about the prominent young females today. None of them are at your level but once you graduate, you will need to know who you are up against. Now, watch and observe. Notice their weaknesses and note how you can beat them," Shira commanded.

"A news update on the rest of the world?" Ali whispered.

"So we can check out our competition?" Reid questioned.

Alice merely shrugged and turned her attention towards the large yet impossibly thin screen that had appeared in behind Shira. Shira's platform stage glided over to the side to allowed the girls a clear view of the screen.

"Now, starting off with the top teen singers," Shira narrated as the screen filled with two images of two girls. "Maria Ryan and Gianna Rivera are the two top alpha female singers – currently."

Shira went on to explain the girls' background, top hit songs and even played their top music videos. Alice glanced at the Taylor Swift table, Reid look mildly interested, Ali looked bored along with Vivian and Summer was paying complete attention to the two singers. Well, of course. Summer need to know this.

"Summer, Taylor and Giselle, I fully expect your abilities to far surpass them."

"And the current top actresses are Hannah Sylvian and Victoria Devon, out of the entire world," Shira listed their movies that have been the number one in the box offices and continued to describe the two girls whose flawless faces were on the screen.

"Sabrina, Alice, Marin, Delphi, prove that you girls are the better actresses. Alphas do not lose, you will be taking their places upon your graduation."

"So far, the female jockeys are very rare but the top teen jockeys are Gabriel Musquez, and Martin DuBois. Ali, Rachel and Andie, I expect you girls to be easily able to beat them in a race even if they are male."

Shira continued, going through the girls who had won numerous art awards, the most sought after models, the most talented musician and the top figure skaters.

"Now, the top figure-skaters have been determined at Regionals just last week and the two highest ranking girls are Renee Winters and Meggie Chang, Renee took the gold and Meggie took the silver. Vivian, Dannie, Lily, Suzanne, I want you girls to be easily able to take them down during a single competition."

Vivian nearly choked. Her dark eyes were wide and staring straight at the screen where a photo of the three medalists stood at the Regional competition. The names Renee Winters, Meggie Chang and Jamie Sanders were listed.

"You know them?" muttered Ali.

"Yeah….." muttered Vivian, whose eyes were fixed on the image of the brunette Asian skater, Meggie.

"Wait, isn't that Meggie girl your best friend?" asked Reid, remembering the conversation between herself and Vivian.

Vivian nodded. She knew that Meggie would have scored at Regionals. Hell, she expected Meggie to take first.

"And now, you have all heard the names of the top promienent female teens, lollies. You know what they are capable of and you know what you are capable of. I expect general performances to improve dramatically. Good day."

Shira's stage and platform sank down and chatter filled the Pavilion again. It was amazing how Shira could turn a simple sentence into a threat and a news update was more of a "if you can't be this good, your out."

"So she's basically saying, "beat them or else," right?" asked Ali.

"Yup," nodded Summer.

Alice stared at Shira. The competition was becoming completely serious all of a sudden.

X-X-X

REID DAME, PLEASE REPORT TO MY OFFICE AT 6PM SHARP TONIGHT

-SHIRA BRAZILLE

But it's a good excuse, put our love to use,

Baby, I know what to do,

Baby, I will love you,

I'll love you, I'll love you

Also, after some consideration and input from my reviewers, I had decided not to have a winter break. alicemaybrandonjones had some pretty darn good points and I agree. Alphas come from all over the place…..and winters aren't always the same all over the globe. But, if I just decided to do a break after 1st semester that kind of kills the no contact thing….. Part of Alpha Academy is to get the girls to focus on their studies and I think that's what I'm going to keep them doing.

But! I shall write a special chapter as a break from Alpha Island and focus on the alpha girls' family/friends and see how they're doing! Sometime later (: Thoughts?

Was the news update too random? It was the end of the month and Shira would probably have some event...right? And checking out competition is always a wise idea!

*Note: If you are wondering about the Reid/Darwin/Ashley thing, don't worry. Shira knows and she's been keeping her eye on Reid...so no. I have not forgotten about that.

Another thing, how was Summer? Summer fell for Taz but she's not the type of girl who would go up and flirt with him. More like an "admire from the side" kind of girl. Remember, she's a singer and musician so she got in for her musical talent, not her attitude or personality so...she's not a Giselle. And speaking of Giselle what did you think of her? We all have those times when our friend has a crush on the same guy...right? No? Well I know I do. And plainly, it sucks. So I feel for Summer. It's developing!

*Note: The formatting was a bit funny and wouldn't let me put spaces between the lyrics...so the lines divide each stanza from each other. See? (:

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! please? Once again, THANKYOU to all those who review, you guys keep this story going! :D

I don't have a beta so all the mistakes are mine.

-The Lovely Psyche