Alex ground his teeth together in frustration. Stop it, Whitman, he ordered himself. Thinking about Isabel was not going to get anything accomplished, except give him sleepless night after sleepless night. And it wasn’t like she even cared the pain he was going through because of her. She had made that pretty clear.

Alex thought he heard the door to the music room open, so he looked up. There was Christy Cooper coming towards him with a purposeful stride. He vaguely knew Christy, she was a drama student, very serious but very creative. She occasionally came to their gigs. Why was she in the music room at this late hour ? “ Everyone’s gone home, Christy, ” Alex said in a friendly voice.

“ You’re still here, ” Christy pointed out in a breathy, seductive voice that was her trademark. It drove guys nuts listening to it. For the first time Alex noticed the short tie-dyed miniskirt she was wearing which showed off her long, toned legs, her beaded halter top which enhanced her curves and her knee-high boots which gave the outfit a sexy edge.

“ I was just packing up after practice, ” Alex explained. “ The guys abandoned me. ”

Christy laughed. “ Poor Alex, ” she breathed. She sat down and motioned for Alex to sit down beside her. “ It was you I was looking for, actually. ”

Alex looked surprised. “ Me ? ” he asked.

“ Yes. I heard you and that Evans girl broke up. ”

Hearing Isabel brought into the conversation made Alex’s heart twist up. Isabel, how he’d loved her. Maybe he’d become a little too possessive of her, made her feel suffocated, but had she had to do what she’d done ? If she’d simply told him, Alex, this is too much, he would have got the picture. He didn’t have to witness Isabel letting herself be mauled by a very horny Kyle Valenti in the eraser room in order to get the picture. Despite his best efforts, a mental image of Isabel cropped into Alex’s mind, backed against the wall with her skirt pulled down to her ankles, her blouse opened, her bra pushed up and Kyle groping her bare breasts as she moaned words of encouragement. And the bitch had lured him there just so he’d get the picture that she wanted to be free to see other guys.

“ Hey, word gets around, don’t be so sensitive, y’know, ” Christy said when she saw the angry look on his face.

Alex shrugged stiffly. “ Well what’s it to you if we broke up ? ”

Christy blushed and looked at the floor. “ Well ... Oh, God, this is so embarrassing. ”

Alex cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head so she was looking him in the eye. “ Christy, ” he said patiently, “ If you want to tell me something, just say it. I won’t laugh, if that’s what you’re worried about. ”

“ It’s just that ... I’ve liked you for a while now ... but you were always chasing after Isabel ... then you guys hooked up ... but now you’ve broken up, and I told myself, Christy, if you want anything in life, you gotta go for it, life aint just gonna come knocking on your door – you gotta go out and get what you want. So here I am, going out and getting what I want. Or trying to, anyway. ” She blushed, freed her head from Alex’s hold, and turned back to the floor. “ God that sounded so dumb. ”

“ No, it doesn’t, ” Alex said. “ It sounds sweet. ” A lot sweeter then Ice Bitch ever would be. “ So you came here, looking for me ... wanting me ? ” Christy nodded. For the first time, Alex noticed just how sexy Christy was. Not in a classic, Ice Princessy way like Isabel, but in a brash, upfront way. And upfront was way better then backstabbing. “ You know, ” said Alex, feeling a lot bolder given Christy’s confession. “ I think crushes are a waste of time. They just let you get hurt if the other person doesn’t like you, or it means a lot of time wasted hoping when you could have been with that person. ”

He put his arm of Christy’s shoulder in a way that gestured for her to turn and face him. She did. “ I wish you would have told me sooner that you liked me, ” he said. He lowered his mouth to Christy’s. Christy gasped when she felt the pressure of Alex’s lips upon hers, then wrapped her arms around his neck, running her hands through his hair. Her tongue darted into his mouth.

Alex wrapped his arms tightly around Christy’s waist, then, at Christy’s encouragement, he brought his hand up to her breast and squeezed gently, making her moan into his mouth. She was all too willing to give herself to Alex, willing to take a risk to get what she wanted. She was a warm, loving human being and Alex knew she would treat him like an equal in any relationship they had, and not her lap-dog to run after her and do what she wanted. She was sweet, sexy and beautiful ...

But she wasn’t Isabel. Isabel. Suddenly Christy’s mouth felt cheap on his, her hands running up and down his back felt sleazy, her tongue in his mouth felt too eager. She didn’t seem to realize his enthusiasm had suddenly waned in the last few seconds as she said his name over and over. “ Alex, oh, Alex, I’ve wanted you for so long. ”

I can’t do this, he thought. Christy was a nice enough person, and a girl any guy would be proud to have by his side, but Alex knew he would just be leading her on to let her believe her was interested in her. And that would make him no better then Isabel.

Alex attempted to disentangle himself from Christy’s vice-like grip, but she was a lot stronger then she looked. Suddenly she gripped Alex’s hair in his fists and pulled it in over-enthusiasm. Alex winced but Christy just took this as a sign of his arousal. “ Christy, ” he attempted between eager kisses to tell her to stop. For a moment Christy paused, put her finger over Alex’s mouth in a shhh motion, then pushed her mouth back onto his.

Neither was aware of the door to the music room opening, or a figure walking hurriedly up to them. “ Alex ? ” came a sweet but troubled voice. Alex would recognize it anywhere. It was Isabel.

She wasn’t her usual, composed self, he realized. Her hair was disheveled – she had been too preoccupied to even fix it up with her powers – and her sweater had been pushed off one shoulder, which she hadn't corrected. She’d been crying.

The shock of hearing Isabel Evans’ voice cause Christy to break apart from Alex. She felt rage course through her body that Ice Princess, who had used her darling Alex and then discarded him, had shown up to destroy this moment together. “ What do you want, bitch ? ” she asked Isabel cattily. “ Can’t you see we’re busy ? ”

“ Alex can I speak to you ? Alone ? Please, ” Isabel’s voice was practically pleading.

But Alex was not about to forget what she’d done to him. No way was he going to be her lap-dog again, her loyal defender, after she’d done what she’d done to him. “ Can’t it wait ? ” he asked her coolly. “ I’m busy. ”

There was a look of triumph on that bitch Christy Cooper’s face. Isabel was tempted to smash her face in, just to wipe the smirk off her face. Then she realize she deserved for Alex to be acting so distant towards her. She’d set him up to see her with another guy just so he’d just the message she wanted to be free to see other guys. In that moment she realized that she’d been too scared of the power of her own feelings for Alex to want a relationship with him, but she hadn’t wanted anyone else to have him. And now he’d found someone else. “ No, it’s really important. Please, Alex. ”

Alex knew Max and Michael would kill him if something was really up with Isabel and he’d just told her to go away. No matter what she’d done to him, he was still part of the six of them, still part of the secret the six of them shared. He turned to Christy. “ Christy, I’m sorry, but if Isabel says it’s important, then it’s important. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. ”

All of a sudden Christy’s sweet face turned angry. “ What, you’re just gonna go back to her like that ? ” she asked. “ You were just using me ? You bastard! ” She reached out and slapped him.

Alex just let it go. He deserved it for letting himself getting carried away with her. “ Christy, I was not just using you and I’m not gonna go back to her. But I want you to go now – please, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. ”

Christy looked furious, but she knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere by pouting. “ Fine, ” she snarled. “ But I know what you’re up to, you bitch, and he’s mine, ” she said to Isabel. With that, she stalked off.

Alex turned to Isabel. His face was stony. “ What is it ? ” he asked.

Isabel didn’t say anything. She thought this had been a mistake coming here. Alex obviously didn’t want anything to do with her anymore, and she couldn’t blame him. “ Look, Isabel, did someone hurt you ? ” His voice was only marginally more patient.

“ I – I – ” Isabel stammered. “ I was with Kyle, he was supposed to drive me home, and we met his friends in the carpark. They started joking about me, asking Kyle if I – if I was a good lay. ”

She looked at Alex hopefully. A few weeks ago he would have bounded out of the room at hearing that, determined to avenge anyone who would speak like that to his beloved Isabel. But now he saw no reason for avenging her. She had probably deserved it. “ I expected Kyle to defend me, but he just laughed and said what a wildcat I was in bed. Alex, our relationship wasn’t like that, we never did anything like that. And then one of his friends goes, to me ‘give us a show’ and they all laughed. Then he grabbed me and kissed me. Oh, Alex, it was horrible. And rather then stop him, Kyle just cheered him on. This guy pushed me to the ground and tried to take my sweater off ... I kept screaming and saying no ... finally they just gave up and left me there ... ”

Alex stood there, rigid, unforgiving despite her story. “ You gave him that impression, Isabel, that you were that type of girl – even if you aren’t. God, Is, you never let me touch you like that ... doesn’t that say something about what Kyle thought of you ? ”

Isabel hung her head. Alex wasn’t going to be the refuge she’d hoped he’d be. “ Alex. I’m so sorry. About everything. About us. I know I hurt you – I thought, I didn’t like that we were becoming so close. Alex, I’m not close no anyone. I liked the relationships I had with other boys, when it’s just physical, they don’t try to get into my head. And it scared me that we had become so close, I love it and at the same time I was terrified. ”

Alex just looked at her blankly, and Isabel knew he didn’t understand. The guy had loved her unconditionally, whatever boundaries she’d set, he’d stuck by them – because he loved her. He was scared of loving, or being loved. Isabel had built a massive wall around herself and it scared her when someone, when Alex, had found their way through. “ I always wanted to be with you. I never realized it, but I always wanted it, ” she finished hoarsely.

Alex’s look changed from blankness to disbelief. “ I know it sounds dumb, ” Isabel admitted. “ But – it’s the truth, it’s how I feel. I’m sorry for coming in like this. I had my chance and I blew it – if I have to see you happy with some other girl every day for the rest of my life, I’ll deserve it for what I did to you. But I never wanted t o hurt you, Alex, I swear it. ”

Isabel knew she had to leave now before she completely broke down in front of Alex. At least this way she was leaving with a little of her pride intact. “ Is, wait, ” Alex called after her. Isabel turned to face him. “ Let me – let me give you a lift home. ” Isabel looked hopeful. “ Those guys might still be hanging around, and your brothers will kill me if anything happens to you because I didn’t see you home. ” He saw the look on her face drop. He tried to take pleasure out of it, knowing he cared as little about her as she’d cared about him, but couldn’t. He felt a twinge of guilt.

Isabel felt tempted to just walk home. But Alex had a point – she didn’t want to run into those guys again. And he couldn’t hate her if he’d see her home, even if it were just because Michael and Max would hold him personally responsible should anything happen to her if he didn’t. “ OK, ” she agreed.

They walked out together to where Alex’s car was parked. Isabel got into the passenger’s seat and fastened her seatbelt across her body. They rode in silence almost the entire way there. Finally Isabel said, “Look, why don’t you say something ? Anything ? Even if it’s just to say you hate me and you never want to see me again. ”

Alex turned to her for a few seconds. “ I can’t say that,” he admitted softly, “ I don’t feel that way. You hurt me – you hurt me so much but I don’t feel that way about you. ”

“ How do you feel about me ? ” Isabel questioned. Alex turned away. “ It’s OK – I’ve been such a bitch to you, if you don’t want to talk then that’s OK, I understand ... ”

“ I do care about you Is, ” Alex admitted softly. “ I care about you a lot. Even though I knew I couldn’t have you I’d fantasize about you. I’d wish you were mine, I dream about us being alone. ”

“ What do you dream ? ” Isabel asked.

Alex didn’t know why he was admitting all this. She’d broken his heart and he was giving her more ammo ? How dumb was he? But he figured while he was unburdening his soul he might as well go the whole hog. “ That I take you in my arms and I’m kissing you and putting my arms around you and ... ” he blushed. “ This is stupid, ” he said.

“ No, it’s not. ” Isabel touched his arm gently. “ What if ... what if I said I wanted you do to that. For real. ”

Schreech!!! If Isabel hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt restraining her she would have banged her head on the dashboard from the jolt she received when Alex slammed on the breaks. Thankgod it was a deserted street or else he would have caused a pile-up. “ What did you just say ? ” he asked.

“ You heard me, ” Isabel said.

“ I think my mind is playing trick on me out of desperation to want to hear you say that. I want you to say it again – just to make sure it wasn’t my imagination. ”

“ I said ... I want you to do that. For real, ” Isabel repeated. “ Alex can we go somewhere private ? Somewhere secluded ? ”

Alex knew the exact spot. He backed the car down the street and headed for a park as far as he was concerned no-one else knew about. It was completely overgrown with a carpark so overshadowed by trees even on a bright, cloudless day it was only semi-light. He parked, killed the engine and looked at Isabel expectantly. “ Well ? ” he asked.

“ Well, what ? ” Isabel shot back. There was desire in her eyes.

“ Hey, you’re the one who wanted to come here, ” Alex pointed out. “ You’ve been changing your mind so much I don’t know how far you want to go or what you want me to do - ” he sentence was cut off by Isabel’s mouth on his. “ Isabel - ” he gasped.

Isabel pulled away momentarily. “ I’m showing you what I want, ” she said. She snaked her arm around his head, running her fingers through his hair. Alex shivered at the electricity that passed between them just from her brushing her fingers along the nape of his neck. “ Isn’t this what you want ? ”

“ Of course it is, ” he said as she kissed him again. “ Oh, God, Isabel, I’ve wanted this so much. Is this for real ? ”