Isabella pouted. "Is that all I get?" she asked playfully.

"You need to clean my room, otherwise you'll get in trouble. And I need to get some breakfast, or I'll starve to death. And after that…I have a surprise for you. Meet me in the lobby in half an hour."

"Oh…better make it an hour. I also have to clean out the indoor pool and the hot tub."

"Ok, one hour." Alex slipped past Isabella towards the restaurant, as she slipped into his room to clean. As she was making the bed she thought about how wonderful Alex was. As she cleaned the bathroom she thought about how she felt for him. She'd only known him since yesterday, yet she knew without a doubt that she was madly in love with him. She sighed and set down the sponge she was using. She was in love. On any other day, it would have sounded odd. But now it didn't…

She looked at her watch and quickly finished cleaning up Alex's suite and headed for the pool room. She cleaned out the pool and the hot tub. She hurried back to her room to change into different clothes…the ones she was wearing were dusty and wet. She walked to the lobby and saw Alex waiting for her.

He walked up to her and kissed her…in front of Maria and Tess. Her sisters looked as if they didn't know whether or not to cry or slap Isabella. They ran off…presumably to tell Amy. Isabella turned her attention to Alex and said, "So, you said earlier that you have a surprise for me?"

"Yeah. I wanted to give you these," he whipped out some pink roses from behind his back. "And I wanted to ask you to have dinner with me tonight."

"Oh…I'd love to! Wow…these roses are amazing! Thank you so much!" She kissed him passionately.

"We'll be going to The Sand Dune for dinner and my limo will take us."

"The Sand Dune?! Wow! That place is expensive…"

Alex smiled. "In case you've forgotten, I can afford it."

They finished making plans and Isabella headed off to finish her cleaning for the day and to tell Liz the great news.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Liz! You'll never guess what's happened to me since last night!"

"What is it? You look so…happy." Liz smiled and sat down to listen to what Isabella had to say.

"I'm in love. With Alex Whitman…"

A frown washed over Liz's face. "Isabella…love? You just met him yesterday…"

"I know. And I know it's hard to believe…but it's true. Alex and I are in love. And we're going out tonight…"

"Where?"

"The Sand Dune."

"Whoa! That place is pricey! A one person meal there can cost $200!"

"I know…but the best part is…we're going in a limo!"

Liz stood up and hugged her friend. "Oh, Isabella, I'm so happy that you're happy. But promise me you'll think more about this love thing. I know it may seem like love, but it could be that you just have a major crush on him."

"No, Liz. I love him. I know it. And now I want you to help me pick out something to wear tonight. I have to look exquisite."

The girls decided on a pale blue dress that Isabella had bought a few months back but had never worn. The dress was ankle length and was a snug fit, but left enough to the imagination. Isabella had heels in just the right color to match. She and Liz spent the whole afternoon talking together about Isabella's date with Alex, doing their chores and trying to stay away from Maria and Tess.

Maria and Tess were watching Isabella closely, not wanting to believe that somehow she had managed to snag a guy like Alex Whitman.

"There's no way Alex could really like her," said Tess. "He's probably just using her to get a free fuck and then he'll kick her to the curb." Maria looked at Tess and could tell that she didn't really believe that. Maria sighed. She knew how much Tess wanted to be with someone famous…and as much as she absolutely hated to admit it, she knew that Isabella was a million times better for Alex than Tess would ever be. At least Maria didn't have to worry about that type of thing…she had Michael.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabella grabbed her purse and headed down to the lobby where she was going to meet Alex. As she was halfway to the elevator, she ran into Tess.

"Where are you going, Isabella?"

"Why do you care, wannabe gerbil?"

"Oh…someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Amy says you have to clean out the main office tonight. You can't leave."

"What?! No one told me that before! I'm leaving…you can't stop me. I'm 19, I can do what I want."

Tess angrily pushed Isabella up against the wall. "You may think that…but you're wrong. And you're delusional if you think you can be with someone like Alex Whitman. He doesn't go for small town trash like you. He's using you for sex…that's all you are to him, a sex toy."

"No. NO!" Isabella pushed Tess away from her. "Don't say things like that! Alex isn't like that! He's a nice person, and he cares about me! Now let me pass, I have a date with Alex tonight."

"You're not going anywhere!" said Tess, pushing Isabella again. "Where did you get that dress anyways? Sluts R Us?"

Isabella slapped Tess. Tess hand flew to her face. "You bitch! You slapped me?! You can't do something like that and get away with it!" Tess threw herself at Isabella, hitting and pulling hair.

Isabella fought back as best she could. Tess grabbed one of the sleeves of Isabella's dress and ripped it right off.

"Damn it Tess! You ripped my dress!" Isabella fought back with renewed energy, throwing Tess to the ground, punching her. Isabella's sight was blurred by tears…so she didn't see Amy and Maria running towards her and Tess.

"Get off my baby!" yelled Amy, dragging Isabella up and away. Liz came running towards the group of women in the hallway.

"What happened?!" she asked Isabella.

"She attacked my daughter!" said Amy, holding Tess against her. "I always knew she was no good!"

"She ripped my dress. She started it!" said Isabella between sobs. "She was the one being a bitch-"

"Excuse me?!" said Amy loudly. "What did you just call her? You know what…leave. You are no longer welcome here. You no longer have a job. And now you longer have a family!'

Isabella laughed maniacally. "You never were a family! I hated living here! I hate you…all three of you! I wasn't a daughter or sister to you! I was your servant! Do this Isabella, do that Isabella! I hope you all rot in hell!" Isabella stumbled down the hallway towards her room, Liz following after.

Isabella got into her room and collapsed into a ball on her bed, the sobs wracking her whole being. "Shhh…it's ok," said Liz, rubbing small circles on her back.

"Where am I supposed to live, Liz? Where am I going to find another job?"

"I'm sure my parents will let you stay with us for a while. And we can look for a new job for you tomorrow."

Isabella sat up quickly. "Alex! He's downstairs waiting for me! Oh Liz…I can't go on our date looking like this!" she said, pointing to where Tess had ripped the sleeve off her dress.

"I'll tell you what you're going to do," said Liz. "You're going to put on some other clothes and start packing your stuff. I'm going to go down to the lobby and tell Alex what happened. Then I'm going to drive you to my house and Alex will come with. I'll call Max and have him bring over a pizza and some movies and the four of us are going to forget about this whole thing with your foster family and have a fun night. Max and Alex could sleep over at my house too. My parents probably won't mind, if they sleep in a separate room. What do you say?"

Isabella smiled as best she could. "Sounds like a plan to me. Thank you so much Liz." She reached over and gave her best friend a hug. She stood up and went to her dresser to get clothes to wear while Liz headed for the lobby.

Liz ran there as fast as she could and spotted Alex sitting alone on the couch. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," he said. "Where's Isabella? We missed our reservation at the restaurant…"

"Something came up with her family…we'll explain on the way to my house."

"Your house? What?"

"Please just go back up to your room and grab an overnight bag or something. Then go to Isabella's room and help her pack. She's leaving this place."

Alex gave Liz a questioning look, but did as she asked. Liz called Max and told him to meet her at her house with movies and a pizza. Then she went back up to Isabella's room. They quickly packed Isabella's belongings and carried them down to Liz's tiny little car

"I think we should get it all to fit," said Liz, trying to cram a box into the trunk of the car. When everything was finally squeezed in, they drove to Liz's house, while Isabella and Liz told Alex what had happened. They carried the stuff up to Liz's room and Liz went downstairs to talk to her parents.

Alex turned to Isabella. "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. You don't deserve all this shit…"

Isabella hugged Alex to her and said softly. "Alex, everyone keeps telling me that it's too soon for me to know for sure if I love you."

Alex looked down at her. "I don't think it's up to them. What you feel is what I feel. And I know I love you. I can tell you love me too. It's not too soon, it's too late. I wish I had met you earlier in life, so that we could have had even more time together."

Isabella smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "I do love you. I love you more than I thought humanly possible."

"Then maybe you're an alien," said Alex playfully. "I mean, hey, it's Roswell…"

Isabella poked him playfully in the ribs.

Liz came back upstairs. "Oh…sorry to interrupt your moment. Isabella, my parents said they'd be glad to let you live here as long as you want. And Max is downstairs with the movies and food."