I sit in psychology, doodling on my DSS peacefully when I hear, "Allison."

Looking up, I see the secretary, Miss Dunkin standing in the doorway. The whole class has gone quiet, all eyes on me.

"Yes?"

"Principal Franklin would like to see you."

Oh no, what now? I don't recall doing anything principal's notice worthy lately.

I follow Miss Dunkin on stiff legs to Principal Franklin's office.

She pushes the brown wood door open and ushers me into the room.

My eyes widen in fear and my heart begins to race widely. Pound. Pound. Pound. Sitting behind Principal Franklin's desk is President White, Dr. Jeffery standing beside him, his eyes dark and stormy.

"Alison, please take a seat." President White smiles, gesturing to the seat across from him.

I cautiously sit down at the edge of the chair and wait anxiously for him to continue, my leg bouncing nervously.

"We need your help with something," he finally continues.

"What is it?" I can't help but be a little curious.

"There's a school in New York for troubled teenagers in complicated homes, or who are orphans." His forget me not blue eyes are on me. "That's why I believe you'll fit in perfectly since you are an orphan, are you not?"

My hands ball into fists. "Don't bring up my parents," I say through clenched teeth.

"You'll be leaving for New York tomorrow night," is all he says.

"Why?"

"You tell me that."

"Troubled teens are found weak," I mumble.

"Exactly. Your job is to tell me who should go through the cure or not."

"Dream on." I try to stand up and run, but Dr. Jeffery holds me down.

"You have no choice," he says.

"Remember Alison, we have control over your brother and friends. You don't want anything bad happening to them, do you?" President White states.

I glare at him, putting as much hatred as I can into it. "No."

"Smart girl." He smiles. "So are you willing to leave tomorrow for New York with Derek ?"

"I can't."

"Didn't I make myself clear?"

"You did, but this Saturday is my brother's engagement party. I refuse to go until after the party." I keep my voice strong and firm.

"Okay, fine, you got yourself a deal. You'll be leaving first thing Sunday morning."

"If you insist, sir," I say bitterly.

"Now you better hurry back to class." He dismisses me.

Standing up, unsteady, I walk out of the room.

...

"You're awfully quiet," Elena comments, watching me, obviously concerned.

I remain silent, picking at my food.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or continue to play mute?"

I say nothing.

"Fine, be like that," she huffs, taking her lunch tray, before marching off.

I watch her go, a ball of guilt bouncing around in my chest. I want to tell her, but I can't. I can't tell her that I'll be gone once again in a few days to become a part of President White's scheme. Kill the weak and let the strong rule.

Plus honestly, she's not my biggest concern at the moment. It's Danny. What am I going to tell him?

...

I wait for Elena at her Hullo.

"What do you want?" She doesn't look too happy to see me and I don't blame her, I've been avoiding her since lunch.

"I told you I'll help you choose out a dress today."

Her face softens. "Sorry, I forgot. It's been a long day."

"Tell me about it," I mumble under my breath.

We get into her Hullo and drive off.

...

"What about this one?" Elena steps out of her closet for the seventh time, wearing a light pink dress, with a pale lavender sash.

"I like it."

"You said that with all the other six dresses."

"Well, what can I say? I like them all."

She sighs, frowning. "It's useless. You're never going to have the thrill of wearing dresses and heels."

"I loved the one you tried on before."

"This one?" She holds up a lilac dress with white little pearls sewn to the skirt.

I nod. "You should wear that one."

"Okay." She smiles. "I will, thanks."

"Anytime." I jump down from her bed, which is covered with way too many pink pillows, and stretch my sore limbs.

"You're going?"

"I have to get home, but I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay."

"TTFN- Ta-Ta-For-Now my dear friend."

She smiles. "Likewise."

...

I barge into Derek's room, raging.

He's sitting up in his bed, the blue checkered blanket rumpled. Mom loved that set of linen. I push the thought of her aside, advancing toward him.

"DEREK!"

He looks up at me, just as I pounce on him, knocking us over.

"You knew," I yell, pinning him down.

He pushes me off of him, with ease. "Knew what?" He actually seems confused.

It has to be an act.

"You knew President White was going to send me away again. You knew he was going to put me in charge of choosing who's weak and who's strong. You, you, knew," I choke, clutching his shirt, my face inches from his.

He gazes into my eyes. "I had no clue. When did he tell you this?"

I let go of his shirt, deflated. "Today in school. We leave for New York on Sunday."

"That I know."

Moving away from him, I hug my knees to my chest. "Why can't they just leave me alone?" A tear rolls down my cheek.

He wipes it away with his thumb. "You know too much. You're lucky they didn't kill you."

I look at him with blurry eyes. "We have to stop him."

"I agree." He gives me a weak smile.

"But how? He's the president."

"We'll just have to find a way to."

I say nothing, standing up and leaving his room.

President White is going to be rid of, if it's the last thing that I do.

...

Today we end at three instead of three forty-five since it's Friday!

I sit in the last class of the day(technology), eyeing the broken DSS before me. How am I supposed to fix this? I pick up a red wire and a blue one. Hmmm.

"Need a hand?" Connor leans over my desk, a smug smile on his face.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Positive?" He slides into the spot beside me.

"More than positive." I place the red wire into the slot next to the blue one.

"That's not where it goes."

I glance at Connor from the corner of my eye. "What do you want?"

"To help you. There are ten minutes left to the period and you need to have that." He points a finger at the screwed DSS. "All fixed."

I really don't want to do this, but I know he's right. I need his help.

"Okay, fine. Show me what to do."

He smiles flirtatiously. "It would be my pleasure."

He then pushes my hand away from the red wire and begins to put the DSS back together.

"Alice?"

I look at him.

"Can I ask you something?"

I shrug.

"Did you love Hunter?"

Time freezes, my heart skipping a beat. This has to be some cruel prank to hurt me, to pull on my fragile strings.

"How dare you?" My voice trembles.

"It's an innocent question. I didn't mean to insult you."

"Of course I loved him," I hiss, standing up.

I don't care that there are two minutes left to this period. I stroll out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind me.

...

Connor got me thinking of Hunter. Of how I pushed off going to his place and seeing how his father's doing. Now my delaying is over.

I stand across the street, my eyes glued to the house. It's not small, but not large either, the tan paint peeling and the chimes on the porch swaying in the breeze. There's a light on in the window where I know the family room lies.

Without thinking, I cross the street and knock on the door of the house. I wait a minute for someone to answer.

"Hello." A middle-aged man, with a messy dark beard, peeks his head through the doorway. His eyes land on me, widening in recognition.

"Hello, Mr. Grin." I give him a small smile.

"Hunter isn't here." He begins to close the door.

I put my foot out, stopping him. "I know. I thought that maybe we could talk. I need to tell you something."

He blinks. "Um okay. Come on inside."

I follow him, stepping over the threshold and closing the door behind me.

He leads me into the living room, where the DLS is on playing some inappropriate comedy. Mr. Grin snaps, the DLS going black. He then sits down in the recliner.

"Take a seat." He gestures to the sofa buried under a ton of beer bottles.

I push them aside and sit down.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

I meet his eyes sad. Alice, he needs to know the truth. I tell him. "I'm terribly sorry to inform you this, but Hunter didn't make it." I keep my voice low.

He looks at me with a blank expression as if he didn't hear me. Should I repeat myself? Before I can decide, tears start pouring from his eyes. His hands are quick to hide his face, but fail to cancel out his muffled moans.

Oh no, what have I done? You told him the truth Alice, he deserved to know. Hunter was his son.

"How? When-When did this happen?"

I glance away, upset with myself. Upset that I did not tell him earlier, right when I came back from the clinic. "Not so long ago," I whisper. "We were at the clinic together..."

He slowly nods, it all sinking in. "Thank you for telling me." He sniffs, wiping his face with his dirty sleeve. "I assumed him to be dead all this time, and now that has been confirmed." He wipes at his nose again. "I cared for that boy, you know? I tried so many times to stop my bad habit of drinking, but it ain't easy to stop an addiction. Then you came along and well, you showed my son how it is to love." He pauses and I wait for him to continue.

"Every night before he went to bed, he'd tell me how miserable he was because he had me as a father. It angered me, so I would beat him. Oh Alison, what have I done?" He looks at me, broken. "Then he'll tell me that he couldn't wait till he was eighteen, cause he's going to run away with 'Alison,' the girl who he loved."

A tear rolls down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away, before Mr. Grin notices it.

"But he was taken by Fragile Heart Syndrome at age seventeen."

"I know," I say, standing up, ready to go.

"Alice." I look back at him. "I haven't touched anything in his room. Maybe you want to go up there?"

I do.

The door creaks, as I push it open. Mr. Grin hasn't been lying. The room is just how I remembered it. The bed is made. I walk up to it and sit down, smoothing out the thin blanket. Everything smells just like him.

I look around the rest of the room, my eyes landing on the picture of us on the nightstand, something shiny catching my eye. Reaching over for the frame, I examine the glass more clearly. I'm not seeing things, am I? Flipping the frame over, I open up the back and remove the picture. A locket falls into my lap.

What in the world? I pick up the locket and examine it. It's beautiful, a silver heart, dangling on a thin delicate chain. It takes me a moment to figure out the clasp. After several attempts, I finally get it open.

My eyes tear. It's a picture of us at the student-parent dance, the one Caleb took. I close the locket and flip it over- Alice, I'll always be yours- love Hunter is engraved on it.

That's when my tears begin to fall. My hand grasps the locket, as I hold it close to my beating heart.

"Hunter," I moan, lying back on the bed.

We used to lay here side by side discussing our future together and now he's--- he's gone.

I shouldn't have come here, it was a terrible idea. My feet are a bit wobbly, my face streaked with tears, as I make my way out of the room, closing the door behind me.

Leaning against the door, I take a deep breath.

Alice, you need to calm down.

I wait three minutes, before heading downstairs and out the front door. Leaving Hunter's past far behind.

...

I fasten the locket around my neck, the cool silver resting against my collarbone.

That's when there's a knock at the door and Danny peeks his head into the room.

"Hey." He smiles. "Is everything alright?" He examines my face.

"How can I not be fine the night before my brother's engagement party?" I force a smile on my face.

"Don't know. Um well, I thought you might want to come downstairs and help me set up?"

"I'd love to."

...

"How many of these have you bought already?" I raise the pack of beers into the air.

"Don't shake them around," Danny scolds, snatching them from my hands.

"Ooooh, so sorry," I smirk, "You must have at least a dozen of those."

"Adults like to drink." He places the pack in the fridge beside all its brothers and sisters.

I watch my brother, biting my lower lip. Sensing me watching him, he looks my way.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I know you're lying. You bite your lip whenever you're thinking. What is it?"

I don't want to ruin the night before his engagement, but I do have to tell him sooner than later.

"We need to talk." I take a seat by the island.

He sits down across from me. "What?"

"I'm leaving for New York Sunday morning." I get straight out with it, watching his emotions slip.

"What? Why?"

I tell him the lie that I've been practicing. "I've been offered a job that I couldn't refuse."

"Ok, what job?"

"Um." I falter for a moment, thinking, while Danny watches me through pained eyes. I don't want to leave him, but I have no choice. "Derek got it for me," I quickly continue. "He hasn't told me all the details yet, but he did say that it's something right up my alley."

"How long will you be gone?"

"I uh, honestly, I don't know," I admit, rubbing my hand down my face, drained.

"And you really want to do this?"

While my conscious screams NO, I smile and reply, "Yes, it's my dream."

"What about school?"

"Principal Franklin already knows all about it."

"Well, I'm not going to hold you back from your dream."

Oh, Danny, you're too good to me.

"Thanks." I hug him, afraid to let go.

"It's late and tomorrow is going to be a long day."

"I know. Don't worry; I'll go to bed now. Good night."

He kisses the top of my head. "Good night, Wonderland."

I leave the comfort of his arms and head upstairs to bed.