"Where are you going, Alex?" she asked.

Alex ignored her and left school grounds. He had to go somewhere. Anywhere that was far away from here.

He stopped at the party store on the corner of Elm and Oak. The owner here was a friend of Alex's. he could cheer him up.

"Hey Alex, my buddy. How's it hangin'?"

"Not good, Amilio, not good."

"Whasamatta? Girl got you down? Not to worry. I got just the thing for ya. A new shipment of beer, just in. not sure what's in it yet, but it makes ya feel good. I'll let ya have some if ya promise not to tell no one where ya got it."

Alex smiled. This was just the thing he needed. Alex took the bottle of beer, thanked Amilio, and left.

He took a small sip of the beer, but it was so sweet, he spit it out. He closed his eyes and tried to get his tastebuds under control. He got dizzy and took another swig, this time it didn't taste so sweet.

He started walking. He didn't know where he was going, so he just walked. Before long, Alex was drunk off his ass, and didn't have a care in the world. He was skipping down the road and singing "Genie in a Bottle"

"I'm a geenie in a boshle, baby, gosha rub mesh the rishh way, HOOONNNEEYY!" he screamed at the top of his lung.

He went to go take a drink, only to find there was nothing left. "Damn!" he muttered and threw the bottle. It crashed into a door. Alex looked up and saw that it was Kyle Valenti's house.

All the things he had forgotten while drinking came back to him. Now he was drunk AND pissed. He looked at his watch, waiting for the numbers to come into focus. 2:50.

School would be getting out in ten minutes.

Time to get back at Kyle for stealing his sweet, sweet Isabel away from him.

He walked over to the door, pulled out his pocketknife, which was his good luck charm, and picked the lock.

He opened the door, stepped inside, and looked around until he came across the room he guessed was Kyle's. It had pictures of Liz all around it.

Then Alex looked at a picture frame on Kyle's dresser. It was a big picture of Liz, with Isabel's school picture in the corner.

Alex's temper flared.

He took the picture and smashed his fist into the glass, shattering it. His hand started to bleed, but he didn't notice it.

All he noticed was the fact that Kyle had a picture of HIS Isabel on his dresser. He knew, in the back of his mind, that Isabel wasn't his, that she had only said she would go out on a date with him, but he was too drunk to take that into consideration.

He walked out of Kyle's room and into the sheriff's room, looking for what he needed to get back at Kyle. 'And Isabel' a little voice in the back of his head said. This was as much her fault as it was Kyle's. If Isabel had not wanted to kiss Kyle, she would not have been there.

He opened the drawer to the sheriff's desk and his eyes set upon a pistol. He picked it up, checked to see if it was loaded, and went back to Kyle's room. He sat on the bed and waited.

Kyle got out of his car and walked in the house. He felt like he was walking on air. Now that Alex was out of the picture, Isabel was all his.

He never under stood why Isabel was so strung up about Alex. Isabel said she wanted to be with Kyle, but she was saving herself for geeky-the-nerd Whitman.

He got a pop from the refrigerator, walked to his room, and was about to enter it, when he saw a drawer in his dad's room opened.

He walked over and found little trails of mud leading from his door to the dresser, and back again.

'Uh oh,' Kyle thought. This was Thee gun drawer, a place where his dad kept Gramp's gun. No one had touched it since his Grandfather was put in the nut house.

"So why is it gone?" Kyle wondered aloud.

Kyle got a bad feeling in his stomach when he heard his bedroom door open. He did not have to turn around to know who it was. There was only one person who was stupid enough to break into his house, steal his Gramp's gun, and hide in his room. Only a certain someone bent on revenge.

Kyle saw his life flash before his eyes. His Mother Leaving, Him meeting Liz, Max taking Liz away from him, Then finally Isabel and him making out. It all happened so quickly. He was about to turn around when…

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Kyle saw stars. His last thoughts before everything turned black were, 'I love you, Isabel'

Alex watched as Kyle hit the floor with a loud thunk. Alex went up to him and checked his pulse, making sure he was dead. 'One down, one to go.'

He found a notebook on Kyle's bed, and started writing.

Isabel,

Hello my Darling. You are such a fool. You tried to sneak around behind MY back with someone else? I loved you, but I guess you didn't care, did you? I guess I showed you, huh? Now both your Boy-friends are dead, and you only have yourself to blame. It's all your fault I'm dead, and I hope you can live with yourself.

Love always,

Alex

He put the note in his pocket, pulled the hammer of the gun back, aimed it at his heart, and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex's Funeral

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isabel was the only one left. Everyone else had left already. The whitmans had offered to drive her home, but Isabel had said she wanted to stay a while longer.

She walked over to Alex's Grave and knelt in front of it. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She willed herself to stop crying, but she failed and a sob escaped her throat.

This wasn't supposed to happen, and it was all her fault. If she had just told Alex what was going on with her and Kyle, Alex would still be alive today.

"oh Alex, what have I done to you? I know how you must have felt, but you had it all wrong. I never liked Kyle. I went into his dreams and found out about a major crush he had on me, so when I told Michael and Max, Michael suggested I play a couple of head games with him, trying to get close to his dad.

I never meant to hurt you, Alex! I tried to tell you but you left in such a hurry that I did not get a chance.

God, I can't believe this is happening.! Today was supposed to be the day of our date, but instead I am talking to your grave. This is so unreal."

She took a picture of her and Alex, take right after the got back from the camping trip. You could see Maria and her "aqua" bra in the background talking to Liz, and even further behind them you could see a tiny figure watching them.

Anyone else wouldn't be able to tell who that was, but she could see it was Michael. They were so in love, Maria and Michael. They would grow up to get married some day. Same as Max and Liz. Everyone had already met their soulmate, same as her, but her's was dead, and there was nothing that was ever going to bring him back. She took the picture, pressed it up against the Headstone, and with a wave of her hand, molded it to the stone.

Isabel's heart was breaking. Alex was the first person who liked Isabel for Isabel. Not for her looks, but for her personality. She didn't know how she was going to live without him. She picked up her bag, whispered "I love you," the three words she hadn't gotten a chance to say to him while he was alive, and left.