📸 by venetia

"oooo these look cool!!" venetia yelled throwing another box of fireworks into the shopping basket making alexandra sigh. the basket was overflowing at this point

alexandra saw as farleigh picked up something, "no more!! grab a few sparklers and we are done after that." she concluded pointing at him. farleigh rolled his eyes putting them box back where it belonged

alexandra quickly walked up to the cashier struggling to put the heavy basket on the counter but she eventually got it up there. the cashier widened his eyes seeing how much explosives she had, "having a party?" he asked beginning to scan all the stuff

"something like that." she answered with a faint smile, the cashier was friendly as ever. farleigh and venetia came up throwing sparklers onto the counter. farleigh looked at the cashier with disgust noticing that he was old with hair grey than ever. he placed his arms onto the counter peeping behind it.

farleigh grinned, "so how long have you been working here? twenty something years probably right?" he smiled as the cashier gave him a quick glare while continuing to scan all their items, "i own this place, has been open as far as i can remember. it's a family business." the man stated proudly making alexandra smile

"it's a really nice store. i love all the vintage posters and decorations you have hanging up." she mentioned making him smile

"thank you sweetheart, that was my wife's and mother's idea." alexandra nodded then realization soon hit her, she quickly looked out the window to see a gorgeous blonde woman picking trash up from around the store outside

alexandra pointed with her thumb, "wait that's your wife?" she asked making him nod like he was proud to be married to her

"she is gorgeous and so nice!!" alexandra said excitedly making him happy, farleigh was on the verge of gagging. "how'd you pull her?" he asked playfully hitting his hand causing him to quit what he was doing. he gave falreigh a mean mug

"farleigh, quit it." alexandra warned but he kept on going which made her shift uncomfortably, "no, i'm just wondering is all. how did you pull someone like her plus maybe you should consider a better wardrobe since you do own this place." farleigh insisted making venetia quietly snicker

alexandra slapped her hand onto the table, "okay, you know what? you guys go on to the car? i'll pay for it all." was all she had to say, the two of them immediately ran out making her scoff. she was utterly embarrassed, "i'm really sorry about him." she apologized

he told her the damage, she then paid him leaving a tip. he nicely handed her two brown paper bags. "how old you are you?" the man asked as alex brought the bags down to her sides, "eighteen."

it didn't even seem like it to him. she was so mature for her age to the point where it was scary. "a piece of advice?" the cashier said closing his register, he sounded serious

nodding her head, alexandra was ready to hear him out. he clasped his hands together making sure to stare into her eyes, "make sure to surround yourself with good people. it will end up molding you." he said making her look at her friends who were in the car laughing the night away

alexandra flashed him a small smile, "i hope you and your wife have a goodnight."

he gave her a faint head nod, "you too darling."

alexandra then ran out to the car getting in the very back with oliver. felix turned around to face them all, "we all set?" him and alexandra looked at each other, she quickly nodded

felix quickly turned around starting the car up heading out to the back side of the city. in bloom by nirvana was playing, alexandra was bopping her head to the beat of the drums. she laid her feet onto oliver's legs making him look over at her blankly. a smile erupted suddenly making her chuckle quietly

he began to play with her shoelaces as she laid her head back looking at the roof of the car. it was a warm summer night. stars were plastered all over the dark sky. trees surrounded them as they drive past the woods. alexandra began to relax, thinking about what the nice cashier said to her

maybe he was right. alexandra doesn't need to surround herself with people such as the catton's. but how could she say goodbye to them? she loves them all so much and they are practically family. farleigh noticed it was way too silent, he turned around staring the two of them down. "what are you thinking about little one?" he asked alexandra who sighed placed her hand onto her bare stomach

"how mean you were to the cashier." she implied making farleigh laugh like nothing was wrong.

he laughed even harder, "oh c'mon, we all know i was telling him the truth." venetia lit her cigarette turning around to face alexandra, "it was true." she whispered being petty making farleigh raise his eyebrows

alex rolled her eyes, "i just wish you'd treat everybody equally for once in your life." seriousness was laced throughout her voice, yearning to have a serious conversation with her best friend

farleigh clapped loudly, "and i'd wish you'd stop being friends with practical charity cases." he said referring to oliver who just glared at him continuing to maneuver with her laces. alexandra shooed him off, "you're something else farleigh."

she mumbled quickly shutting her eyes again not even wanting to talk to him anymore. there wasn't any point. oliver noticed her tensing her body up. he traced her hands across her calves causing her to shoot her eyes open and look at him. farleigh and venetia tuned them out as they were singing aloud to the black eyed peas.

oliver leaned over looking at her clearly, "don't let him get to you." he whispered causing her to chuckle, felix looked through his rear view mirror seeing the two of the smile at each other like a couple, he hated it. but he figured it was nothing like that. oliver wouldn't hit on his best friend in that way.

when they had pulled up to the vacant lot, there were a ton of partying teenagers around. but they expected that. everyone got out, with all eyes immediately onto alexandra who greeted everyone they walked by

she had both brown paper bags in her hands, oliver gently grabbed them. she smiled, "thank you." oliver slightly nodded with a smile

suddenly alexandra felt someone grab her from her waist making her screech. "it's me." she heard grant say, he placed her feet back onto the grass. she turned around hitting him in the chest

"you scared me!" she exaggerated hiding her face in her hands. grant playfully rolled his eyes, "i'm sorry." he pulled her into a hug rubbing her back. oliver mentally sighed walking towards felix and their crew dissatisfied amongst seeing that grant was here. he seemed to be spawning everywhere now more than ever

grant grabbed her hand taking her away from everyone. felix watched from afar chugging down a beer when suddenly, a stunning brunette walked up to him. the two immediately started flirting making oliver uncomfortable

"i need to ask you something." grant brought up as they heard the laughing teenagers nearby, they weren't too far away but they were enough to where they could chat and not be heard

grant brushed his thumb over his lip, "my—-" he rolled his eyes, "my mother is making me go to anger management. my first session is tomorrow and..." he playfully nudged alexandra who crossed her arms listening carefully to him

"i was wondering if you'd come with me?" alexandra didn't even have to contemplate, "of course." she stated making grant smile

suddenly there was a scream that sounded like excitement heard coming near them. they both turned to look to see hannah running towards them. the two were shocked to see her, the last time alexandra saw her was when she was at oxford that one time for the fashion workshop. hannah looked even more beautiful than the last time she saw her, she was glowing

she ran into their arms making them both laugh and happily hug her tightly. "i thought you weren't getting back until the week before school starts!!" grant called out

they all broke away from each other, "i convinced my parents to let me come stay with you and your parents for the next three weeks. your parents are happy about it. alexandra..." hannah looked at her up and down

"you look amazing!!" she said happily. alexandra chucked, "are you kidding me? look at you!" they both smiled hugging each other. she was happy to see hannah. alexandra quickly noticed that felix was shooing a blonde girl away from him making her frown

hannah immediately locked eyes with felix and sprinted over to him jumping into his arms. he luckily caught her, she placed a kiss on his cheek confusing the fuck out of them. grant and alexandra looked at each other before walking towards them.

"i thought you wouldn't be back for another few weeks!" felix said being caught off guard. hannah smiled, "my parents said i could spend time here for awhile before school starts back up. plus i missed you." she said

"did we miss something?" grant asked not understanding what was happening. alexandra, farleigh, venetia, and oliver were lost as well

"me and felix are dating, remember? i told you that grant." hannah announced making farleigh choke on his drink. venetia dropped her cigarette onto the ground

grant widened his eyes, "d—-dating?" venetia asked with her jaw on the ground but they all quickly fixed themselves up not wanting to make a scene in front of hannah who seemed content and happy

"right, dating..." grant chuckled licking his lips, alexandra glared at felix who couldn't look into her eyes, "um how long have you two been dating? remind me please hannah."

"basically since we first transferred to oxford last year." she said nicely. alexandra felt like her heart was on fire. disgusted wasn't even the word. she wasn't mad at felix about their dynamic. if anything, she is upset for the sake of hannah. this entire time they have been "dating" yet felix has been trying to shove his tongue down her throat while fucking girls freely

to make it worse, he never told anybody this information about them dating. it was a hot ass mess. grant quickly went over to grab alexandra's hand, "well, congratulations." farleigh said being messy but alexandra was too busy mean mugging the hell out of felix who continued looking down at the grass

"are you okay babe?" hannah asked innocently making felix snap back into reality. he quickly leaned down kissing her forehead, "yeah i'm fine."

alexandra stormed off with grant right on her tail. hannah looked concerned, "is she okay?"

felix chuckled awkwardly, "she's just being a drama queen, pay her no attention." he said kissing her cheek. farleigh and venetia rolled their eyes before walking away to go pop fireworks together. oliver just stood there shaking his head at felix. he had to get away from him. he began to trail in behind alexandra and grant who were further away than before

he hid behind a tree listening in on their heated conversation, alexandra laughed constantly, "is he fucking serious?!" grant knew she was pissed

"i'm just as shocked as you." he announced as alexandra paced herself walking around in circles. her adrenaline was pumping through the roof, hands felt shaky like she needed to hit something or someone

"he has been cheating on her this entire time!!" alexandra yelled out angrily as she bent down sinking her face into her hands. her screams were muffled, grant just observed her not wanting to make her angrier.

she stood up quickly and chuckled, "he doesn't even deserve hannah!!" she cried out, grant agreed. as much as he wanted to beat felix to a pulp, he fought it. he genuinely is trying to do better and fighting felix again wouldn't help anybody. grant walked up to her as she immediately breathed heavily. her face immediately buried deep into his toned chest. grant began to caress her hair.

"it'll be okay alex." he whispered kissing her forehead. "it's always something with him. i'm just tired of it." she admitted squeezing his waist tightly. grant sighed knowing exactly how she feels. "let's go make the most of this night." grant said making her look up at him with tears stains running down her cheeks. he didn't hesitate to wipe her tears away making her crack a smile

they walked back towards everyone, their shoes making the leaves loudly crunch. oliver made sure not to be seen as they walked by. grant had his arm wrapped around her waist, making her feel safe and at peace. alexandra stopped when she saw felix talking to the same blonde girl from earlier. she began breathing loudly making grant grip onto her waist, "alex, just stay calm.."

she quickly stormed over to them making grant widened his eyes, "oh fuck me." he muttered running towards alexandra. he tried grabbing her hand but she softly punched his hand away from hers. alexandra stormed up to felix who immediately removed his hand from the girls waist

crossing her arms at the two, she quickly licked her lips looking at felix, "where's hannah?" she asked making sure the girl heard her

the blue eyed girl just shrugged looking at felix with confused eyes, "who is hannah?"

"his girlfriend." alexandra quickly answered making felix sigh but the girl clearly didn't care. she shrugged her shoulders, "i don't see her around." she snapped making felix hold back a laugh

alexandra laughed before walking closer to the girl who stood her ground. "just walk away. out of respect for his girlfriend and yourself."

you could hear the patience coming from alexandra but the girl refused. "you're not my mother." she stated making felix giggle

"i'm not asking you, just walk away...."

"can you just give us a moment to talk to him?" grant intervened stepping front of alex but she moved him, "it's okay i got this." alexandra coughed trying to be nice

"can you please give me a minute to talk to him, in private?" alexandra asked in a low tone, trying to contain herself from snapping on the random blonde

"if he wants to cheat on his little girlfriend with me, then you should let him. being a savior won't get you anywhere in life." the girl advised making grant role his eyes. she just kept on embarrassing herself. the interaction on her side was cringe

alexandra kissed her teeth loudly, "yeah and being a proud side chick won't either." she retorted making grant whistle. the blonde began to get angry with her. "fucking bitch!!" she yelled pushing alexandra hardly. reacting almost instantly, alex quickly punched her in the nose causing everyone to react out of shock and instigation

the girl fell onto the ground holding her nose that was now bleeding. felix just stood there not even bothering to help. hannah ran back up not knowing what just occurred. the girls random friend ran up to alexandra pushing her to make sure she looked into her eyes

"what the fuck is your problem?" the tall brunette pointed her finger in her face pissing alexandra off even more

alexandra reacted slapping her hand down, "don't put your finger in my face." she laughed evilly about to walk up on the girl but grant stood in front of her making sure to protect her

"just get your friend and go." grant stated making the girl scoff. "tell this bitch to keep her fucking hands to herself!" she spat

alexandra pushed grant out of the way then punched the girl dead in the eye making her groan. the girl caught herself from falling then tackled alexandra to the floor making it a full on girl fight. everyone began to cheer as the girl tried pulling alexandra's hair but she kneed her in the groin causing her to yell out in pain.

alexandra punched her in the mouth one good time before grant pulled her off along with hannah. the girl's mouth was now bleeding. everyone cheered on alexandra as farleigh and venetia were in the crowd recording it with her camera

"alexandra's a fucking badass!!" somebody yelled loudly making everyone uproar

grant quickly stopped hannah before dragging alexandra away, "go see about your boyfriend, i got her." he assured

"wait, are you sure?" she asked with sad eyes. "yeah, go!!" he shooed her away. oliver watched from afar. he was pissed because he was going to step in to stop alexandra but yet again grant was there to save the day

knuckles were on fire after that. alexandra felt bad for what just happened but she refused to get pushed without doing anything. "you okay?" grant asked as alexandra shook her hands

"yeah..." she exhaled, "thanks for saving me from possibly getting jumped."

grant chuckled, "you could have managed."

she playfully rolled her eyes, "shut up."

"looks like you need to attend anger management classes again when you get back home." grant joked making her playfully push him

"stop it, i already feel bad!!" she yelled out combing her fingers through her messed up hair

"you shouldn't. they deserved it." grant said looking at her knuckles. she began to think of how he has been protecting her tonight, she was so happy to have someone like him in her life

she quickly kissed his cheek then hugged him tightly, her love for this boy grew stronger and stronger by the minute

bro we are about to hit 60K reads.... WHAT DID I EVEN DO TO DESERVE YOU ALL?????!!!

i love you guys so much i literally want to hug each and every single one of you. thank you so much for everything ❤️