&&soMANY__stories__of**where**/I've\[been]

[Alexis Devine]

Alexis's hand rested on her vintage car, feeling the shiny, new paint. Not new. Really just a couple years old. But considering the age of the car, it was new. The car had been redone, though. It only looked vintage.
There she went again. Her thoughts rambling, not able to focus. Ever since her dad had died, that had kept happening. Like she couldn't focus on anything for too long or her thoughts would go to him.
She wondered how her car had gotten home. An odd thought. But she had driven it to Homecoming, and then, hearing the news, had walked home, forgetting she even had the car. But here it was, parked outside her building. She guessed Izzy had driven it back. After all, she had only told Izzy. A stupid mistake, because Isa had been MIA since she got back. She could only assume the worst, and she didn't know what it was. Maybe her friend felt uncomfortable around her now that she had suffered this loss.
Suffered this loss. Such pathetic words. But yet...
Well, none of that mattered now. She swung herself into the car, starting it up, the noises digging up memories of the night. The night all her friends had piled into the car, and, laughing, they had driven to school.
And then her mother had called.
And her life hadn't been the same since.
It was funny, really, that her last moment as the old Alexis was in this car. She wasn't sure why that was funny. It just...was.
It only took a few minutes to drive to Talia's house, and she had to laugh at how out of place the manor was, just outside the city. She parked in the circular driveway and checked her appearance in the mirror of the car. Since her attitude had changed, she figured she better at least look the same. She wore jeans tucked into UGGS, after all, it was cold, though she never really dug the UGG look. A slate blue wool peacoat was over a white cashmere sweater set, and she felt very average. Her hair was in two braids and a dark blue ski cap was pulled down over them. She looked cute. Rocking the ski bunny look. After all, it wasn't hard - she did ski, and well.
She walked up the driveway and knocked on the door, waiting.

[Talia Emmert]

Talia ran down her spiral staircase, frantically smoothing down her hair. Normally, if it had been Julianna, Talia would have slipped on a pair of sweats. But it was Alexis, Talia always had to remind herself that Alexis was one stage ontop of her, her eyes always kept watch of her. Before Talia opened the door, she scanned herself in her floorlength mirror, hoping for perfection. Her satin dark pink cargos were free of wrinkles whilst her black cashmere tanktop was free of Joey's dog hair. Despite the freezing cold weather outside, the Emmert estate was heated all the way through, making it feel like summer. Talia slid a layer of Lancome Juicy Tube lip gloss across her lips and opened the door (in an attempt to stay calm). The two dark wooden doors opened to Alexis's figure, looking every bit as better as Talia herself. Like her best friends, she never really liked the Ugg look. But in her true 'clique' style, Alexis looked every bit as gorgeous. "Hey Lexis, come inside?" Her voice was soft and almost free of expression.

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[Alexis Devine]

In the past, she would have scanned Talia's outfit and then judged it. And by judging it, she judged it. It was as if, in the past, since Tal was her best friend, she couldn't meet Alexis's standards. Like Lex was afraid to let someone be as good as her. But she had to admit, Talia did dress well, and Lexis had been too hard on her. So when she saw her outfit today, she had to smile. Pink and black - very disco. Wouldn't usually work, but Talia worked it. And then, of course, Alexis was always one for cargos. But then something stopped her. Something told her that it was just clothes. Who cared if Talia dressed herself well or badly? Who cared?
"Hey Lexis, come inside?" She smiled at the tone of her friend's voice. It hurt a little to know she was so obviously changed, but also felt good. She liked that someone was sympathizing. At this point, more than ever, she valued her friend.
"Yeah. Thanks." She entered the large house, hanging up her peacoat to reveal the sweater set.

[Talia Emmert]

Before Talia could reply, the scratching noise of Joey came running in with an attempt to avoid Ms Emmert's 'deadly' four inch Manolos. Once succeeded, Joey began barking happily when seeing Alexis. Of course, Joey had not seen her in a long time and had gotten use to the company of Julianna, but he simply adored the clique. Talia lead Alexis into the living room and sat down on one of the brown suede coaches. "Thanks for coming, Lex. I really need to talk to you about something..." Talia had thought about it all last night. She couldn't of just jumped into apoligising and make her sound desparate, it just wasn't her style. After a few minutes of silence (apart from Talia tapping her nails), she broke the silence. "Lexis, im really sorry." Desparate.

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[Alexis Devine]

Alexis smiled when Joey came bounding over, and crouched down to scratch him behind the ears. "Hey, Joey!" she said in a cooey voice. "Awww, I missed you, yes I did!" She glanced around, realizing that she was not, in fact, seven years old, and stood up giggling. She followed Talia into the living room, which she had always admired. Granted, her own living room was, well, awesome, but made for a party. It had chaises and lounges, with candles everywhere - it was the "makeout room," and she was fairly sure the couches were carrying a gazillion different STDs.
"Thanks for coming, Lex. I really need to talk to you about something..." Lexi bit the side of her cheek, hoping her friend wasn't about to make her go into detail about what had happened in Asia. Over the next year or so she was sure she'd tell her and Juli and Izzy - if Iz ever showed - the details. But it was too soon.
They sat in awkward silence for a bit, both of them afraid to talk. Then -
"Lexis, I'm really sorry." She frowned, surprised.
"For what?" she asked.

[Talia Emmert]

Well done Talia was all she could think right then. All her planning went straight out the window, and she had to work from there. "I dont know... before you left, it was like, I was somebody I wasn't," Talia began fiddling with her coach cushion, exactly the same way as in homeroom. Even though Talia assumed she changed, she couldn't help think that Alexis had aswell. Thinking back on when she returned, Alexis didn't judge her, didn't force Talia to bring her some Starbucks and took didn't automatically insult Krystina. Was the clique really changing? "Alexis, one question. Did you used to think I was... fake?" It was hard for her to say that. Normally, Talia would be the one calling people fake. The tables had turned.

[Alexis Devine]

Different emotions flooded Alexis from all angles. Surprise, at realizing that Talia had voiced what Lex had been thinking the months before she left. Hurt, that she had been so obvious in it, when it was really just that she was scared that since Talia was so beautiful, so nice, so smart, that she would overpower Lexis. And for some reason, the most dominant emotion was fear. Because Talia had realized her wrongs. Alexis was clearly different. Was the clique changing? Were they becoming...nicer? Kinder? More accepting? There was nothing wrong with it. But it was scary that they were changing so rapidly.
"Alexis, one question. Did you used to think I was... fake?"
She thought for a long while on that. She wasn't going to lie to Talia. But she had to figure out a way to phrase what she was feeling, which wasn't resentment. It wasn't...she couldn't even think it.
"Tal...I love you so much. You know that. You're, like, my second in command, to get annoying about it. I can always count on you. But you're so...well, perfect. You're gorgeous, smart, nice, but you have exactly the right attitude, and me, well...I'm afraid to show emotion. You must have seen that by now. You know, how I always stop you guys when you're dissing someone, because I think it's immature? Or how I never tell you guys when I'm feeling especially grateful that you're my friends. And I guess I was just scaerd that since you're so perfect, you might try to...take over, I guess?" She blushed. It sounded so stupid. "It sounds ridiculous, I know, like I'm a power hungry eighth grader. But you know what I mean? So that's why I sometimes told myself that you were fake, annoying, immature - to make you feel worse, and that's awful of me. And to make myself feel better." She sighed, biting her thumb. She sounded like a terrible person. "Does that make any sense at all?" She really hoped this wouldn't cause a fight. She was pretty sure she had phrased that all wrong.

[Talia Emmert]

Talia did her best to listen carefully to Alexis (with the added effect of nodding her head), but it soon hit her. Alexis wasn't perfect, neither was she or Julianna. They just knew how to play people into believing it. But she also had to remind herself that, if they thoroughly changed. The clique wouldn't be a clique. People would soon realise changes and see that they were exactly the same (effecting the group's popularity status). Alexis's words shot out like daggers and stabbed Talia in the stomach, she'd always witnessed her do something similair to the Rockers and other people, but never felt it."A bit," It hurt. Before Talia could say anything else, her old self returned and gently pushed away Alexis's thumb from her mouth. "You'll ruin your manicure," She attempted her best to make her voice sound normal, without Alexis sensing that she was on the verge of crying.

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[Alexis Devine]

The ragged edge in Talia's voice and the expression on her face killed Alexis. She couldn't bear this. No matter how mean she could be, she couldn't hurt her friend. She put her hand on Talia's shoulder.
"Hey," she said. "God, Tal...I'm so sorry. I said that all wrong. I mean that...well, I mean that I tell myself you're fake so I'll feel better, only because I love you so much and you're so amazing that I'm afraid - " she stopped. "You know, whatever way I spin this I come off bad. I was wrong. I was awful. I hurt everyone, I - I - " she stopped off, making sure she didn't cry. "But what I'm saying is, even though I told myself that you were fake, to make myself feel better - there, I said it, and I'm awful -" She smiled at this to let Talia know she really really wasn't trying to make her feel bad, "I'm different now. And I've always loved you so much. I mean...you're my best friend. Don't you see? You're just like me, and I didn't like that. But now...I've accepted it. And I realize it's a great thing. It's what made us friends in the first place."

[Talia Emmert]

When Alexis spoke, Talia tried her best to avoid eye contact. She couldn't believe it. Okay, maybe she could believe it, a bit. But truth be told, Talia was just being over dramatic. Alexis did apoligise, she did give an understandable reason and she had changed. Talia nudged Alexis's hand off her shoulder whilst she quickly rubbed the under of her eye (to avoid smudging of her makeup and her seeing her tears). "Your not awful. Practically every single girl in this school is a bitch..." She was simply trying to crack a joke to break the tension. Mission failed. "But face it Lex, we've not changed-" A bit upfront, but true. She couldn't handle the whole 'softy' act. "Next week, im going to be bitching about Krystina. Julianna's going to go on a super-spending-spree and your going to be using a mean come-back once." Talia hoped she wasn't being too bitchy. But's that was how she saw it... a bit. They could've changed themselfs a bit, but not a hundred percent.

[Alexis Devine]

It hurt. Not physically, of course. But that Talia shrugged her hand off...it hurt. Showed that things had changed between them. Maybe forever. When they were younger, in elementary school, if one was upset the other hugged them. But Alexis hadn't hugged in so long, that...well, she hated that Talia couldn't accept her affection. But honestly, if she broke down about her dad, she wouldn't be able to accept anyone's affection.
"If they're all bitches, we might as well label ourselves as the uberbitches," she said, smiling a little. Her face softened at Talia's comment. "Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you can accept Krystina, accept that she's new, just wants to make friends, not trying to do anything wrong, never did anything personal. Maybe Julianna can realize she has enough clothes, thousands of clothes, and she doesn't need any more. Maybe I'll stop myself, next time I want to tell Krystina to leave, I'll realize, hey. She didn't do anything to us. And same with everyone else. And Izzy...well, Iz is who we all think we've become, isn't she? Pretty, popular...nice. But who says we can't stop being so bitchy without losing our status? If anything, it'll make us more...whatever. Popular, if you want to be vulgar. God, that word. So stupid. And that was a joke, BTW."

[Talia Emmert]

Talia giggled slightly at Alexis and began to feel guilty of shrugging her off. "Lex, Julianna will never have enough clothes!" In an attempt to lighten up their conversation. Even if they had changed, Talia was desparate for their relationship not to. Overcome by emotions, Talia wiped a tear drop off her cheek and tightly hugged Alexis. She hadn't in a long time. Probably the last time was in elementry school.

((OOC: Gah, sorry for the shortness of my post!))

[Alexis Devine]

Alexis laughed, for the first time in a long time. It was the kind of laugh that came from crying, when you were so emotional that everything seemed hillarious. She had laughed like that at her father's funeral, and everyone had looked at her like she was insane. But the laughter then had turned into sobs, but now she was just laughing.
"That's true," she agreed, and when Talia hugged her she had to admit she was a little suprised. After all, their last hug had been, when, fourth grade? Well, of course they'd hugged since then, but not meaningful. Just a little "Hey! Omigod!" type hug. Finally after a while she released her, and kicked off her UGGs, pulling her feet up on the couch. "Hey. So. Let's make this a girl's night. Movie? Gross amounts of food? Up all night? Name it."

[Talia Emmert]

Talia's giggling face soon turned into blushing when Alexis brought up a girls night. Yes, she would've loved it. But it did seem a bit unfair on Julianna, though. And she had something to show her. "Umm.. I think you should see this..." Talia grabbed Alexis by the wrist as she lead her into the kitchen, which was, for once. Empty. She had to admit it. The kitchen was a pretty good room. Even though she rarely went into it, it was nice to go there and think (when Layne wasn't there). Walking around the table, which stood in the middle, Talia opened the metal freezer door and laughed. It was filled with tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (flavours varied) and boxes of frozen pizza. Of course, Talia didn't set foot in the grocery store to get those items... she sent Layne. "I've been waiting for a big girlie night for ages!"

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[Alexis Devine]

Alexis's thoughts flitted momentarily on calling Julianna, but then figured, nothing had ever been weird between her and Jules. She and Talia needed a girls night. She gaped when she saw the ice cream and pizza.
"C-clearly!" she stammered, at a loss for words, and instantly grabbed two tubs of ice cream and two spoons, bringing it back to the living room. She then opened the cabinet beneath the TV and pulled out Titanic, one of her favorite movies, slipping it in the DVD drive. She sighed as it rolled around to an old lady yammering on and on, and fast forwarded, stopping when it got to the actual movie. She settled down with a tub of ice cream, grinning at Talia.