Super short chapter...but it's the one about the alpha girl's family/friends. Enjoy!

CHAPTER TEN

Christian Ryan (Ali Ryan's older brother)

Christian Ryan's messy chocolate brown hair ruffled slightly in the wind as he strode towards the stables located a few meters away from his generic farmhouse that belonged to his family. His handsome yet slightly intimidating face was set into a smirking expression as he relieved his win yesterday at race in Louisville, Kentucky. Ever since his annoying little sister, Ali had moved off to some boarding school in a completely unknown location, Christian had taken the top spots in the races without the interference of Ali. With his reputation and fame sky-rocketing, he had barely spared his little sister much thought. His mother constantly fussed over Ali and tried to contact her – although Shira Brazille's letter made the NO CONTACT part pretty darn clear.

Besides, as long as little Ali was happy and out of Christian's way, he was fine. The two of them had never been close anyways. Christian was two years older than Ali and had gone to a different school than his sister ever since he was six. At home, Christian was focused on his racing with his champion coach, Bradley and Ali was off doing god-knows-what somewhere on the ranch. The Ryans were considered relatively wealthy. Mr. Ryan, Christian and Ali's father, owned the biggest horse-breeding ranch in the entire state of Kentucky and his horses were the offspring of champion horses and all of them pure-breed Thoroughbreds that were the most often sought after for jockeys. And Mrs. Ryan, the well-known Brittany Dubel was the daughter of the governor of Kentucky. Born into a world of wealthy socialites, Christian and Ali's mother was known for throwing the most elegant Winter Gala, the most extravagant Summer Bash and the most stylish dinner parties.

Christian and Ali might have never been close but they shared one thing in common. Their love for horses and their sheer determination to be the best. Christian was accomplished, well-known in the racing world, focused, incredibly well-trained but Ali had the raw and natural talent for racing that shot her forward enough to be competition for her older brother.

Throughout his entire life, Christian had to work for his dream. He sweated through multiple training sessions and survived through the biggest disappointments of his life. It was completely unfair that Ali could simple beat him in one race. Ali never went through what he did, she relied on her natural talent and bare minimum of training to seize the gold. She didn't to work for it. She didn't know what it was like to know that he wasn't always the best. She didn't have to know how it felt when he worked so hard for something only to have his insignificant little sister snatch the prize out of his grasp with a single flip of her ponytail.

Thinking about Ali brought a dark scowl to Christian's face. It was a complete gift from God when his father forbid Ali from ever riding again. But at biggest annual race in the state last year, Ali had shown up with Eli and surpass everyone including Christian and moved off to claim her title as the winner and best jockey in the state of Kentucky. A fact that infuriated Christian.

He pushed the heavy wooden door of the stable open and entered the cool and dark stable. Whinnies of horses and the pawing of the dirt and hay filled the otherwise silent stable and the clear morning light filtered through the cracks in the wooden paneling and light streamed through the high windows of the stable.

He made his way over to his prized racing horse, Victory, and spoke in a low voice.

"Hey boy, ready to win the gold?" he rubbed Victory's nose lazily before unlatching the door of Victory's stall and leading him out into the crisp morning air. The sun was barely rising and pale light lit up the green fields of the Ryan Estate and his father was already up, leading some young colts to the water trough.

He swung himself up on Victory and began to urge him into a steady gallop towards the other end of the field. Everyone knew that the Ryans were incredible jockeys. Ali had stunned everyone and Christian had already established his reputation and reputation for racing. But Christian knew that in the long run, he would beat Ali. Ali never had to work hard, she had everything given to her. And Christian would fight for his way to the top. The biggest race of the USA was in a few weeks and they were going to win. After all, they were meant for victory. Christian had named his horse with the desire to win in his mind. They would become victors, winners and Victory was meant to be a victor. Christina knew it. Now, they just had to show the world that they were winners. And Ali wasn't here to stop them.

Ally Lane (Reid's BFF)

"Ally! Allyyy are you even listening to me?"

"What?" Ally Lane turned to meet the brown eyes of Anni Lang. Anni, Ally and Reid had all been best friends since kindergarten and had gone to the same middle school and taken the exact same classes and now, Reid was gone to Alpha Academy and Ally and Anni attended Detroit High.

Anni crossed her slim arms over her chest and frowned at Ally. "You've been daydreaming this entire time about a certain boy." She stated. Ally envied Anni for her perfect looks. She had the long beautiful hair that was silky, dark, and glossy. With Anni's mother as a hair dresser, Anni's hair was always perfect and cut in the latest styles. While Reid and Ally had been considered the more "geeky girls" since Reid was a quiet artsy girl and Ally was a band geek with a talent for getting straight As. Anni wasn't as close to Ally and Reid back in middle school but was friendly. She was one of the nicest girls in the school and her looks and popularity didn't make her a complete snob to Ally and Reid.

"What? No!" Ally immediately defended herself. Truthfully, she had been slightly distracted by the loud raucous laughter of a group of boys over near the vending machine…but Anni didn't need to know that.

"So….are you going with anyone to Homecoming?" Anni placed her hands on her hips as she glanced over at Ally.

When Reid had left to Alpha Academy, Ally was basically left a loner. Lucky for her, her first period of high school had seated herself to Anni Lang, an asian girl who had been friendly to Reid and Ally back in middle school. Ally basically tagged along with Anni for the entire day, getting introduced to the freshman of Detroit High's Dance Team. Apparently Anni had tried out for the dance team during the summer and had gotten in. She was beautiful, in the way the Reid and Ally had never been. Her almond-shaped brown eyes were big and lined with Urban Decay's Zero and her eyelashes were emphasized with Covergirl's Lashblast. Her dark brown hair was dyed and highlighted with red and her figure was slim, perfect and she could dance like no other. All of them scored points for popularity with Anni. And not to mention the fact that she was nice, outgoing, charismatic and won the approval of the "popular girls" on her very first day. She was part of the dance team, immediately giving her a stereotype that was pretty desirable and she was friendly with the Cheer Squad, boosting her status even more. Ally had been lucky enough to have Anni on her side the very first day of school.

"Who would ask me to Homecoming?" Ally raised her eyebrow. While Ally was by no means ugly or unattractive, she definitely didn't stand out like Michelle Buchanan who had the silky glossy golden blond spiral curls and light blue eyes. And she wasn't rich like Stephanie Hale whose family owned the biggest mansion in the city. She wasn't even considered pretty like Anni and definitely didn't have Anni's sunny personality.

"You could ask someone," suggest Anni.

"Oh yeah? Who would I ask? Wait, who would even accept?" Ally frowned at Anni. She missed Reid. Reid would have never gone to a school dance and now, she was part of Anni's social circle which attended all the school functions and flirted with guys. Ally felt completely awkward around them.

"You never know till you ask!" Anni sang out as she slid out gracefully from the table and made a beeline for James Bautista, a sophomore on the all-male dance team of Detroit High. Ally watched from the table as Anni smiled at him, flipped her hair over her shoulder and said something with a sweet smile before nodding her head and walk-strutted back to Ally with a new sway in her step.

"See, it's not that hard," she flashed Ally a smile completely unaware of six hate-stares from six different girls who were planning to ask James out.

Ally shook her head. She missed Reid. Reid would understand her dilemma; Reid would sleepover at her house, paint her names, finish their Bio homework and gossip about celebrity crushes that they would probably never meet. The Brazille Boys had been their latest eye-candy before Reid left and Ally knew that Reid had liked Darwin Brazille for ages. Who knew? Maybe Reid had gotten her guts up and chatted with Darwin.

Corona White (Alice's sister)

She leaned back in the blue plush seat of the plane on her way back to her father's grand mansion in Hollywood, California in the USA. She had been accepted into the most prestigious ballet school in Paris when she was four and had trained there for most of her entire life. Summer vacations were short there and the only time she went home was for Autumn Break. She spent her winter break working for their Winter Gala and Ballet while in the Spring, she worked on the Spring Showcase. The only time she ever went home was in autumn near the end of September. Even then, she barely saw her entire family. If she visited her mother, she didn't see her father. Alice was usually around in London but completely busy with her acting schedules. Her other sister, Naomi had been around when Corona was little but now lived somewhere in Spain with her new husband. Then her brother, Jose was working in North Carolina, the opposite of side of the continent from her father. Sometimes to Corona, her family was much too widespread and they barely saw each other. She had been given into the custody of the ballet school when she was four and her parents kept the school happy with the payments and the headmistress was always readily able to accept Corona for some summer program at the school if she had nowhere to go for the summer. She had never seen her family all together since she was four.

She missed her Naomi, she missed Jose and most of all, she missed Alice. She had been closest to Alice despite the distance and wished that she could talk to Alice. But Alice had gone to some academy for talented girls called Alpha Academy and apparently, outside contact there was impossible and forbidden.

A few hours later, her plane touched down at LAX and once she was able to, she wasted no time in calling up her father's driver.

"Hey Bill, can you come and get me?"

"Yes, Miss White,"

Corona hung up with a slight sigh as she headed towards the conveyor belts to pick up her luggage. Sometimes she just wished that her family was happy together.

"Hello," Corona greeted as she slid into the glossy dark grey Mercedes and Bill turned out of the airport's driveway and sped off towards Hollywood. At least this time, her father wasn't busy with a new movie or a new…girlfriend. Her father was a notorious player here in California, a fact that slightly disgusted Corona. He was rich, wealthy and looked ten years younger than he really was. A fact that drew many gold-digging actresses and models to him. Corona hoped that she wouldn't run into a blonde bimbo this time.

"Your father is in his study," the butler greeted Corona as two workers took her bags out of the trunk of the Mercedes and began to bring it up to her room. Corona turned down a hallway and made her room to her father's study.

"Great to see you, Naomi," her father didn't look up from his papers as Corona said a quiet hello and entered.

"It's Corona, actually," Corona coughed slightly as she repressed the frown that flitted over her face. It was just like her father to forgot which one of his children were coming to visit. "Naomi's in Spain with her husband."

"Right, right" Mr. White nodded absently. "His name is Jason, right?"

"I think it was Daniel," Corona answered while standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Is Alice here, too?" her father finally looked up from his papers to look at Corona. His face fell slightly as he only saw Corona standing by the door.

"No, she's at Alpha Academy," Corona explained.

"Do you think she could take a semester off?" her father began typing away at the newest Apple desktop on his table.

"I don't think Alpha Academy is able to be contacted," Corona said quietly.

"But Alice is now an actress, yes?" her father waved off that information.

"Yes,"

"She would be perfect for my newest movie," her father said excitedly.

"I don't think she even knows about it," Corona frowned. "Maybe you could talk to – "

"I'll talk to her agent. I am her father," he declared.

Yeah, a father who barely talked to Alice three times in her entire life. Figures that he would only be interested in Alice when he needed a teenage actress with talent.

"Her agent doesn't work for her anymore," Corona said impatiently. She was getting sick of her father's ignorance. "But you can call up Shira Brazille to ask for Alice."

"Shira Brazille? The Australian mogul?" interest and slight surprised finally showed on her father's face.

"Yeah, Alice goes to her school," Corona said.

"How long has this been going on?" demanded her father.

"Since the beginning of September," Corona shrugged. "I'm going to my room, my head is throbbing and I think I'm having a severe case of jet lag."

She left her father's study and went down to her room. All of her siblings had their own rooms in her father's house and he had said that they were "welcome to stay and live at anytime". Her headache and jet lag had been complete BS to her father but she was sick of his questioning and wished that he would pay more attention to Alice as well as herself. It was a lonely feeling. Knowing that your family was scattered throughout the globe and she was literally all alone in the world.

The door swung open and a giggling women entered.

"Oops! Wrong room," she giggled. "Who are you anyways?"

Corona raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl who looked like she belonged in some lingerie fashion show. Her chest reached enormous proportions and her legs were long, endless and tanned. She looked like a sex-ed up Barbie doll.

"If you're looking for my dad, he's in the study," Corona said coldly, eyeing the girl.

"Thanks!" the girl giggled again, "Toodles!"

Corona shook her head. Her family was a mess.

If only Alice was around this time. But Alice wasn't. She was in an exclusive academy training her to be the best actress and Corona was left alone in the world with a marriage sister, a busy brother, a mother who never seemed to around and a father who didn't care. Lucky Alice. At least she had a chance to make some real friends. All the snobby French girls at the ballet school saw Corona as competition and she was known constantly as "les Anglais fille" at the academy. "The English Girl" She was different. She didn't fit in at the academy, she had practically no family and her only friends were applying to Oxford and Cambridge somewhere back in London. She really wished Alice was here. Alice would have laughed at the blonde, she would have talked back to her father and they would be having a good time talking about each other's acting career, ballet career and having fun around Hollywood. But Alice wasn't here. And Corona was stuck with a father who had never really been a father.

Meggie Chang (Vivian's BFF)

"Ready to win?" Andromeda Winston laughed as she skated around the rink of the Regionals with her long blonde hair flowing out behind her. Meggie laughed slightly as Andie and Jamie glided up to flank her as she skated laps around the perimeter of rink. They were warming up for their long programs at the Regionals which had been hosted at their own rink in Colorado Springs. After all, Colorado Springs was a figure-skating town.

"Come on, Megs," Jamie shot forward to skate in front of Meggie and turned herself around and began skating backwards while keeping up the conversation. "We're fighting on our own turf, Renee Winters and Isobel Rivera are going down!"

Meggie shook her head in slight amusement at her friends' lightheartedness. The long program had never been her forte and it never had been Vivian's either. Vivian's spins, turns, and artistic ability were incredible and better than everyone else but Meggie knew Vivian's weakness. Triples in the long program. Vivian had struggled with landing continuous triples and it was one of her biggest flaws along with the triple flip and the triple toe. But that wasn't Meggie's problem. Meggie's issue was with spins. She moved off her center and her speed was never as fast as Vivian's. The two girls had always competed against each other and challenged each other. Meggie knew that Vivian was over competitive and during competition season, Vivian could be a major bitch. But that was made Vivian her friend. Vivian had competed alongside Meggie since they were both four. They were rivals, they were frenemies and then they were best friends. Going to a competition without Vivian was like competing with one skate.

Winning the gold in the short program was a piece of cake for Meggie, but it was different. Vivian's screams and cheers weren't there when Meggie skated out. Vivian wasn't sitting between Andie and Jamie. Vivian wasn't there to take the gold from Renee Winters. Vivian wasn't there to hug Meggie when she won silver. And Vivian hadn't been there when Meggie finally perfected her double Lutz the week before.

"Jamie! Watch – "

Andie's shout was cut off as Jamie slammed right into a girl who was warming up on the ice. The two girls crashed to the ice and Jamie hurriedly yanked herself off the ice before dusting herself off.

"Oh look who it is, Jamie Sanders, Andie Winston and the ever perfect Meggie Chang," the girl sneered as she picked herself off the ice and glared at the three girls with her steely green-gray eyes.

"Hi Renee," Meggie answered between clenched teeth.

"Where's Ice Bitch Vivian Dresden?" Renee smirked. "Out of the equation already? I noticed that she didn't place in the short program."

"She's at Alpha Academy," jumped in Andie who glared at Renee. "Once she finishes her year, she'll be back to kick your ass all the way to freaking Jupiter!"

"Well she's not here now, is she?" Renee narrowed her eyes at Andie. Her hair was already twisted up into the perfectly tight bun and her crimson skating dress hugged her figure perfectly.

"God, you look disgusting," another voice came from the ice. A tall statuesque girl with long dark hair that flowed around her face in long loose waves and a mic glided over to the ice and looked down at Renee with a sneer. "That dress is almost an exact copy of Vivian's from last year, what did you do, dig it out of the trash?"

"Karolyn!" Meggie shot forward to hug the girl. Karolyn Dresden was practically Meggie's big sister that she never had. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the MC/announcer chick for today," Karolyn answered. "Too bad Vivie isn't here to kick Renee's ass. Ready to win, Meggie?"

Karolyn flashed a smile at Meggie. With her long dark hair, dark eyes and perfect ten body, Karolyn Dresden was a five year older version of Vivian. Except that she was a dancer and a model who happened to be the MC/announcer for today's competition.

"Sure," Meggie gave her big smile.

"All skaters off the ice, the first competent will skate in ten minutes," the announcement blared over the loudspeaker.

"Gotta run, girlies!" Karolyn blew a kiss to Meggie, Jamie and Andie before skating forward and rushing off the ice.

"Let's go," Meggie led Jamie and Andie away from Renee and they headed over to wait for Karolyn to call their names.

"Our first competitor is Renee Winters, representing the Boston Skating Club!" Karolyn's sweet voice announced.

Meggie shifted in her ice-blue skating dress as she waited for her turn. She was up next, right after Renee. She bounced on her heels and stretched her hamstring. She was going to win this.

"Next we have Meggie Chang, representing the Colorado Springs Skating Club!" Karolyn called out. Meggie could detect the enthusiasm in Karolyn's voice. Karolyn usually MCed when she was in town, she never gave up the chance to cheer Vivian on at competitions.

Meggie glided out onto the empty rink. Her eyes scanned the white surface and smooth ice as she skimmed over and paused in the center of the rink. She was going to win this. To kick Renee's butt, to win the gold, to satisfy her coach, but most importantly, to make her friends proud. Especially Vivian. Her music started up all the only thought that filled Meggie's mind was her double axel and the goal to skate a clean program.

Cecilia Marlow (Summer's ex-BFF)

"Gawd! That girl is such a whore," snapped Annie Giordano as she inspected her bright red cherry painted nails as she hate-glared at Samantha Ramirez who happened to be flirting with the lacrosse junior.

"Ah-greed," Cecilia Marlow nodded as her long blonde hair fell down in curls around her face. In truth, she hardly care who Samantha was interested, but it was better to just agree.

The two girls were the "popular girls" of the Upper East Side and ruled Sacred Heart Academy – well at least Annie did. With her long brunette hair, flashing amber eyes, diva attitude, covergirl-worthy looks and dancer talent, no one went against Annie Giordano. Cecilia was lucky enough to be her best friend, but lately her thoughts seemed to wander towards another girl who had been Cecilia's best friend before Annie. Summer Williams had been Cecilia's closest friend until Summer liked the same guy she did and stole her part in the school musical.

"Hey do you remember that loser, Summer?" Annie asked, snatching Cecilia's attention.

"Yeah, why?" Cecilia glanced over at the stunning brunette.

"Her newest album just came out and apparently she's gone off to some special academy," Annie made finger quote around the word "special"

"Alpha Academy, right?" Cecilia asked.

"Sure," Annie shrugged carelessly. "Besides that so not the point, the point is that she gets to flirt with majorly hawt Brazille Boys like Mel Brazille and Taz Brazille! Definitely nawt fair!"

"Why don't you apply to Alphas. You're the best dancer in the entire East Coast, why didn't you?" Cecilia asked.

"Because daddy thought it was a scam and totally lame," Annie huffed. She flipped her long brownish-reddish hair over her shoulder and scowled down at her salad.

"Send a letter to Shira Brazille and ask her if you can enter," Cecilia said with confidence.

"Yeah, right. Shira doesn't accept transfers OR newbies," Annie snapped. "And you know what?"

"What?"

"I'm auditioning for the NYDA once this stupid year is over, anyways," Annie said flippantly. "That school only takes the top dancers and they feed directly into the NYDC."

"What's the NYDA?" asked Cecilia.

"The New York Dance Academy! Gawd, keep up will you?" Annie rolled her eyes.

"So you don't need Alpha Academy," said Cecilia reasonably.

"Who does?"

"So what about Summer Williams?" asked Cecilia.

"Nothing interesting," replied Annie as she flipped through the magazine. A small section of the glossy magazine was devoted to the blond singer, Summer, and rumors flew about her studies at the exclusive Alpha Academy.

"Forget her!" Annie slapped the magazine down on the cafeteria table in a huff of anger.

"It's all about Alpha Academy," Cecilia glanced at it. An entire three pages of the magazine was devoted to Alpha Academy and the "talented girls" who have been accepted there. Summer was one of the girls mentioned, seeing how she was a famous singer.

"Oh look, it's the dorky duo," Annie sneered as two girls walked past to sit at a table behind them.

"And look, it's Miss Bitch and her slutty sidekick," retorted the auburn-haired girl, Rose Evans. She glowered at Annie and Cecilia as she sat down with her lunch tray with her friend, Autumn Prescott besides her. Cecilia rolled her eyes, she was known as "the slut" just for her flirtation with boys. Oh well. Like she cared what the two dorky girls thought. Rose and Autumn were Summer's new friends when Cecilia ditched her for Annie. Cecilia hated Rose on first sight and Rose had been friends with Summer before their big fight. Cecilia's dislike and hatred of Rose was another thing that pushed her to dumping Summer. She hated how Summer sang herself into the spotlight the entire time and never seemed to be aware of Cecilia's envy and Summer was always leaving Cecilia by herself whenever she met a new singer/musician girl that she found more interesting and Cecilia hated that. When she was friends with Summer, she was basically a nobody with the title of "that singer girl's friend", but when she became friends with Annie – it was her rise to popularity. Annie Giordano and Cecilia Marlow, people never heard one name without the other. Annie and Cecilia became best friends and everyone knew who they were.

So why would Cecilia ever regret ditching Summer? Never. And she didn't, becoming best friends with Annie was the best thing that ever happened to her. Summer Williams was just one of Cecilia's friends who had backstabbed her and moved off to another school. She didn't need to waste another thought on Summer. Nope, and she wouldn't.

You like? I tried to make them pretty different. Like Christian was glad about Ali not being there...Ally missed Reid...Corona was missing Alice and her entire family...Meggie missed Vivian...and Cecilia is glad that Summer is gone.

So some comments...

A brother's POV, a BFF's POV, a sister's POV, another BFF's POV and a ex-BFF POV...no parents. Oh well.

Corona was pretty darn interesting to write. I re-read over the previous chapters and found sections where I focused on the girls' background history and I really did like Alice's family. Yeah, they're pretty messed up and all over the place but anyways, I really do like Corona! (I kinda wanted to do a spin-off where I wrote about Corona's experience at her ballet school). Yup. She's definitely a character that I can expand on...

Cecilia was kinda interesting, too. I think i briefly mentioned Annie Giordano and Cecilia Marlow in one of the previous chapters with Summer...and instead of writing about Rose or Autumn (which was what I previously thought about doing) I used Cecilia! Hope you liked her...and as for Annie, I also wanted to do a spin-off with her and her New York Ballet Academy thing...maybe if I develop a storyline I'll write about Annie and Corona! Two ballerinas! Just an idea...)

Review? Please? Thank you! This was a meant to be a quickly written update but took up quite a while... eh. Hope you liked it! Review! Review! Review!

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

-The Lovely Psyche