A/N im sorry its been so long. Ive been writing this fanfic for my friend. It took me forever. But now im back! I don't own this and i hope you like it!

Alex woke up and made no move to get out of bed. Today was the big day. The art showing. She groaned and wiggled down farther under her blanket. She couldn't do it. She couldn't go to the gallery tonight. She wasn't good enough. She would just lie in this bed all day. She could do that. But then she heard someone's voice calling to her from downstairs. She ignored them but they called again. With an over-dramatic sigh, she crawled out of bed and wandered into the kitchen. She gasped in surprise. On the kitchen table was a bouquet of red roses in a crystal vase and a grinning Justin and Emma standing next to it.

"Good morning, Alex." Emma said with a smile. "We just wanted to get you a little something to say congratulations on the art showing."

"Thanks, guys." She said. She touched one of the delicate petals and felt the butterflies in her stomach jump up again.

"And this is from me, Alex." Justin said awkwardly handing her a dark blue box. "I just wanted you to know that I'm really proud of you. And I know you can do whatever you want and you will be amazing at it."

She silently took the box from him. She opened it to reveal a beautiful necklace. The chain was delicate and silver and the pendant was the outline of a star.

"Thank you, Justin." Alex whispered.

"Justin, why don't you help Alex put it on." Emma suggested.

Justin took the necklace and Alex moved her hair away from her neck. Justin did up the clasp of the necklace and Alex shivered when his cool fingers touched her skin.

She moved away quickly and said, "Thank you guys so much but I have to get ready for tonight. You know artist stuff."

They both nodded and smiled at her and she ran back upstairs. She looked into the mirror hanging in her bedroom at her messy bed head and rumpled pajamas. But still, Justin's star necklace was shining brightly against her messy self. It gave her a bit more courage.

She wasted the rest of the day in her room. She didn't leave her room until four and barely ate anything. She paced her room wildly and clutched Justin's necklace. At five, she changed into her dress and did her hair and makeup. She slipped into her heels and adjusted the star necklace. She looked one last time into the mirror and nervously went downstairs.

Justin and Emma were waiting in the kitchen, just like that morning, but they both turned to stare at her when they heard her heels clicking down the stairs. Emma smiled and Justin's jaw dropped. Alex brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and glanced shyly at them. She was wearing the black dress with the wide, open neckline and she had done her hair up with two strands hanging by her face. She was wearing more make up then usual and was even wearing perfume.

"You look so pretty, Alex!" Emma said.

"Y-yeah." Justin stuttered, his voice cracking. Alex smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean," He said in a deeper voice, "You look very pretty tonight Alex."

"Why thank you." She said, fake modestly. She twirled around and said with a grin, "Beau's going to love me in this."

Justin's affectionate expression was soon replaced with a scowl. She stopped spinning when she felt the tension in the air. Obviously Emma did too because she clapped her hands and said, "Let's have a quick dinner before we go to the art gallery!"

They ate in silence. Alex barely managed to choke down two bites of her ham sandwich before Emma ushered them into her car. She didn't say a word the whole car ride there. She was nearly shaking with nerves but whenever Justin or Emma looked over at her, she sent them a cocky grin back. She walked confidently into the gallery and didn't let Emma or Justin see her lose her breath from fear.

"Hey, Alex!" Mark Harrison, the owner of the gallery and the man she had spoken with a few weeks before, said to her as he went over to see her. "Are you excited? There is a really big turnout!"

"Yeah, this is cool." She said calmly. But inside, she was in awe of the whole experience.

"Your paintings are over there, on that side wall." He said, pointing to a wall with a couple of people standing in front of it.

A man walked up to them with pretty blue eyes and short dark hair and said, "Hey, I'm Billy Landon. I'm a reporter for the Faireville Tribune. Can I interview you? We're doing a piece on the emerging artists."

Before Alex had a chance to answer, Mark said to the man with a fond smile, "Don't bother her now, hon, give her a chance to relax." He then turned to Alex and said, "Billy is my boyfriend and he is a little nosy."

"I'm your better half you mean." Billy said teasingly. "And I'm not nosy! I'm a journalist!"

"Whatever." Mark said kindly. "Now go bother someone else."

Billy grinned before wandering off towards another artist.

"Sorry about him!" Mark said cheerfully. "Now why don't you go check out your paintings? Here's a name tag and if anyone asks to buy one of your paintings just send them over to me."

Alex clipped on the name tag and nervously walked over to her set of the gallery. Justin and Emma were eagerly following behind her. The people had moved over to the next set and Alex was in shock that her paintings were hung in a gallery! There were little plaques besides each painting with her name, the title of the painting and how much it was worth.

"This is really cool, Alex." Justin said appreciatively.

"Thanks!" She said.

She looked at the price of it - $400.00 – and reached into her purse slyly. She brought out her mini-wand and whispered, "I'm asking this in a way that is nice, please on my painting raise the price!"

The price immediately changed from four hundred dollars to four thousand dollars. Justin saw what she was doing and glared. "What are you doing?" He hissed angrily.

"Nothing." She said innocently. "Just raising the price a little."

"That's illegal!" He whispered furiously. "Change it back!"

But before she could, a woman walked up to them and said, "Excuse me, are you the artist of that painting?" She gestured to the painting that Alex had just changed the price of. "I'm interested in buying it."

"Oh, really?" Alex asked, sending a triumphant look at Justin. "Well the owner of the gallery, Mr. Harrison, is right over there. He is the one you should speak to."

The woman went over to speak to Mark and he look surprised when she said the price but he informed her that they would send it over to her when the gallery showing was over.

"Alex!" Justin seethed. "How could you do that?"

"Oh, relax." She said, laughing. "Don't you think my paintings are worth that much?" She batted her long lashes at him and grinned because she knew that he knew was trapped.

"Yes." He finally said grudgingly. "Your paintings are magnificent and priceless."

"Thanks!" She said cheerfully.

He opened his mouth to say something else but she saw Beau walking through the door, so she ran off towards him.

He leaned down to kiss her cheek and said, "This is so amazing, Alex! Show me your work!"

So she led him to her own set of paintings and smiled as he oohed and ahhed appropriately. He was with his sister Holly and a girl who looked to be about his age, nineteen.

"Hi, Alex!" Holly said cheerfully. "This is so cool; you're famous! I 'specially like that painting!" She said in one very fast breath. She was pointing to a painting Alex had done right after she had come home from the family vacation. It was a purple stone in the middle of the canvas with orange, red, blue, pink, green and every other colour shooting out of it.

"Alex, this is my friend Marcy." Beau said about the girl. "She was interested in seeing your artwork so I brought her along. She lives across the street from me, we've known each other since we've been born."

"Hey." Alex said to her.

"Hi Alex, this is really awesome. Beauregard talks about you so much I feel like I know you already!" She said with a quiet laugh. She gently nudged Beau with her elbow and he grinned at her.

"Don't call me that!"He said with a mock-scowl.

"Your name is Beauregard?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, my mom likes old fashioned names." He explained. "Holly's full name is Hollis."

"But I hate it because it sounds like an old lady name!" Holly exclaimed.

"And Marcy likes teasing me about it." Beau said fondly to her. He smirked at her and she smiled softly back.

In that moment, Alex felt a sudden rush of sadness. Marcy was in love with Beau. It was quite obvious. Alex wasn't upset because she felt that Marcy would steal Beau from her, she was upset because she felt like she had stolen Beau from Marcy. She was interested in Beau, but wasn't completely smitten like Marcy was. She felt like she had selfishly taken something from someone who was pining away. She felt sick to her stomach. She quickly excused herself and slipped out the back door. She stood in the alley clenching her fists and fighting the tears. Because she kept on thinking about Justin while she was dating Beau and while Marcy was in love with him. The whole thing was a mess. She knew she didn't fit with Beau the way Marcy did. Marcy's light, wavy brown hair and apple green eyes perfectly complemented his blonde hair and blue eyes. Alex's hair and eyes were both black and next to him, it was like a thunder storm dating the sun. But Justin... She couldn't help but go back to Justin. Justin was like a summer night. And thunder storms and summer nights did go together. She heard the back door opening and jumped.

"Hey, Alex," Justin said softly. "Are you okay? Have you been crying?"

"No of course not!" She said and smiled. "I just needed some air."

So she blazed a trail back into the gallery, through the crowds of people to a waiter and thoroughly enjoyed a glass of champagne before Emma confiscated it because she was 'under-age'. Alex was as snarky and sarcastic as always and was never seen without a smirk on her face but on the inside, she was tormented. She was attracted to Justin – even though it was wrong on so many levels – but she also liked Beau. So should she stay with Beau to get over her feelings for Justin? And because he was fun and a relationship with him would be simple. But it would also hurt Marcy. Who, Alex found out, was a very nice person.

She was so distracted, she walked right by Mark when he was standing with the owner of the art gallery in Tampa.

"Alex!" Mark called out right as she was about to pass him. "This is Mr. James Wolfe. He is the man I was telling you about."

"Oh! Hi, Mr. Wolfe." Alex said politely.

"Ms. Russo, I see that your paintings are quite popular tonight and have sold the most out of all the other artists here." He said.

"Really? Wow." Alex was shocked. She didn't think she had that kind of talent.

"I can tell that you have a raw talent, and with a bit more schooling, you could perfect it. I will take some of your paintings with me to Tampa and I expect you to send me more soon. We'll work out the details later. If things go well, you could be looking at a scholarship to an art school. And from there, who knows what could happen?" He said with a smile.

She was standing there with her jaw to the floor looking quite stunned. The man laughed and gave her his card. He told her to send at least three more paintings by the end of the summer

She spent the rest of the night sneaking glasses of champagne and avoiding Beau and Justin. She hung out mostly with Marcy, who was surprisingly a rebel at heart. She was quiet at first but was a lot more mischievous then she looked.

"I like you." Alex said to her new friend. "I thought you were so good and quiet, but you're almost as badass as I am!"

Marcy laughed and said, "Not really!"

"Don't even deny it!" Alex exclaimed. "You are a rebel in disguise!"

Marcy grinned at her. Beau walked up to them and said, "Hey ladies, it's getting late and I have to take Holly home. Marce, do you still want a ride?"

"Yes!" She said too quickly. "Thanks, Beau!"

Alex felt another pang of guilt when she saw Marcy beaming at Beau. She waved bye to them and smiled a little when Beau kissed her on the cheek but she was too caught up with Marcy's look of disappointment and grief to kiss him back. They left and she decided to have another glass of champagne. And then she had another. And another. And another. Before someone realize she was under age and dragged her back to Emma and Justin. Emma then decided it was then time to go home.

Alex was feeling a little giddy and a little drunk and Justin kept a firm grasp on her arm, because she really wanted to run off and dance around.

"This is soooo funny!" She shrieked in the car. "Listen Justin, she's says it going to be raining tomorrow!"

She cackled drunkenly at the weather report on the radio and Justin rolled his eyes.

"You got drunk off of champagne." He said. "Classy."

"I know, right?" She started jumping up and down in the backseat and was singing loudly to the song playing on the radio. Emma finally pulled into their driveway and Alex leaped from the car.

"Let's go swimming!" She cried.

"In the morning, sweetie." Emma said gently. "It's dark now."

"Oh!" Alex said in surprise, and looked around. "It is!"

They walked into the house and Emma said, "Why don't you go the bed now, Alex?"

"No, I'm not tired!" She said stubbornly.

"But it's late!" Justin said.

"I don't want to!" She said and shook her head.

"Fine." Emma relented tiredly. "But I'm going to bed."

She walked up the stairs and Justin went to follow her but Alex dragged him down beside her on the couch.

"Let's watch TV." She said.

"Alex, I want to go to bed." Justin said and tried to get up.

"No!" She said and yanked him back down. "Ooh, look! Mulan is on!"

"Alex," He sighed. "I'm not watching a children's movie."

"Shut up!" She said. She started humming to the music and jumping around in her seat.

"Sing along." She commanded.

"Alex, no. I-"

"SING!"

She started jumping up and down on the couch and pulled him up as well.

"Let's get down to business
To defeat the Huns
Did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons?" She screamed.

She was shrieking along to the song and jumping. She poked Justin hard in the ribs and he shakily started singing as well.

"Tranquil as a forest
But on fire within
Once you find your center
you are sure to win!" Justin said without any emotion. "Alex, this is weird. I'm going to bed."

"No!" She shouted. "We are watching a movie!"

So she was still dancing around on the couch and screeching along to the song and eventually, Justin got into it as well. By the end, they were both belting it out.

"We must be swift as
the Coursing river
With all the force
of a great typhoon
With all the strength
of a raging fire
Mysterious as the
dark side of the moon!" They shouted out the last few words and then collapsed laughing onto the couch. Justin turned the volume down and Alex snuggled in close to him.

"I have something important to tell you." She said, slurring her words drunkenly.

"What?" He asked.

"Thunder storms don't go with the sun." She said whispering loudly into his ear. "They go with summer nights. Everyone knows that."

She started to mumble nonsense and laid her head against Justin's shoulder. Soon, her breathing slowed and she went quiet.

"Alex, what do you mean? That doesn't make any sense." He said to her.

But all he got in reply was a snore.

A/N im so so so sorry that this is so late, but its extra long so i hope that makes up for the lateness! : ) pretty please review?