By the time one week had passed, Alison felt more confident to deal with school. With her newly finished homework in her bag, she grabbed a copy of Pride and Prejudice and stumbled her way to the main door after finishing a hastily-made egg mayo sandwich.

Opening the door, she found Alex waiting outside patiently. It was a routine now. She would hitch a ride with Mr Kingston and talk to Alex on the way. Her new best friend instantly grinned when he saw her and waved. “Great day today. Where’s your sister ”

 “She’ll be down soon.” Alison shrugged. Carrie had been behaving strangely lately. She seemed more depressed and morose and she was staying out later and later as every night went past. Her parents didn't suspect that anything was amiss because her sister was a naturally responsible person. Still, she couldn't help feeling that something was just not right. Alison flipped open her cell phone. 0 missed messages. It wasn’t as if she had any friends to send private messages too. She followed Alex and took a lift down together before disccusing whether their newly arrived German neighbour was possibly an alien.

 Jane was already waiting downstairs and she was wearing a low-cut V-shaped shirt with a short skirt. She glanced distastefully at them and turned away to continue yapping to some friend on her cell phone.

 “Is your sister’s outfit actually legal? ” Alison nodded disapprovingly towards the petite figure. Alex grimaced. “It isn’t. But nobody really cares at Cornwall. Besides, my parents think she’s just going through a teenage phase.”

 “Do you know she’s part of the Mean Girls Gang?” Alison asked, her eyes still on the scantily clad girl.

 “Huh? What do you mean?” Alex scratched his head. He had a puzzled and blank look on his face.

 “Never mind,” Alison said with a wave of her hand. Feeling slightly guilty, she turned away. She had wanted to ask Alex about his sister’s involvement with those girls but decided against it. She didn’t want to be responsible for any family breakups or rifts. Instead, she chose to listen to his endless talk on how he was positive that one of the school cleaners was a witch from Mars.

 *****

“I’m handing out your latest Spanish quiz.” Edward Kingston announced as he took out a stack of worksheets from the drawer.

 “Alice Johnston.”

 “Anna Winster.”

 “Alex Kingston.”

 Alex went up and took the paper without even looking at his brother. He was still embarrassed about having a sibling as a teacher.

 “How did you do? ” Angela nudged him.

 “Angela Weber.”

 Once Angela went up to the front of the class, Alex pouted. “You know, considering the fact that I’m his brother. He could have been more partial towards me.”

 “That’s favouritism,” Alison pointed out.

 “Still, it’s a nice dream.”

 “Alison Goodall.”

 At this junction, Alison could feel her muscles and tendons stiffen and she grudgingly went up to collect her paper.

 “Look for me after class,” he muttered by her ear and she nodded. She had taken a peek at her paper and knew what he was going to say. She returned back to her seat.

 “That bad, huh?” Angela frowned. “But he can’t blame you. Everyone else here has half a year ahead of you.”

 “Thanks for telling me that.”

 “Hey, don’t fret, look, I had half a year ahead and we still got the same score,” Alex put in helpfully.

 Alison fixed his attention on her paper. “That really helps, you know,” she said slowly.

 “Sorry.” Alex rolled his eyes.

 For the rest of the period, it merely flew past in a blur. When the bell rang, signalling the ending of the class, Alison went up to the Terror and braced herself for her lecture.

 “Look, Alison, I’m not going to scold you.” His face softened when he saw her. “I’m aware you haven’t taken Spanish at all for your entire life. Principal Audrey told me that you’re fluent in Japanese? ”

 “Yes.” What was he trying to hint at?

 “Well.” A smile threatened, either in triumph or happiness, and Edward Kingston nodded. “I’ve made special arrangements. I’ll give you private tuition in Spanish every day after class until you achieve a certain level of proficiency.”

 “Wha-what?” Alison staggered back as she searched his face for any sign of humour. But he looked dark and serious. He wasn’t kidding at all.

 “But, Mr Kingston, I-”

 “No objections are to be made. In return, you’re to teach me Japanese.” A playful smirk lingered on the edges of his lips.

 “Look, Mr Kingston, I…I can’t do that. I mean, I can just learn from Alex or something and besides, you don’t require a use of Japanese either.” Alison hurriedly came up with any excuse she could think of.

“Firstly, since Alex is my brother, I can comment on his proficiency at Spanish which is rather… not very excellent, as one might say.” He flashed his brilliant set of teeth. “And secondly, I’m planning to major in mass communications or public relations in university so I’m sure I need another language when handling Japanese clients.”

 “How many languages do you actually know, Mr Kingston? ” There was a sarcastic edge to her tone.

 “Oh, just like everyone else,” he said carelessly. “I only know German, Mandarin, Italian and Korean for a start.”

 Alison shook her head slowly in anger. It was no use arguing with this infuriating man, no, boy, because he could come up with a witty comment for just about everything.

 “But-” she protested, feeling slightly harassed.

 “That’s the end of your questioning. Consider it a gift.”

 Seeing that he wasn’t going to cave in to her demands, she simply said, “Thank you, sir”, grabbed both her paper and bag, and left.

 Upon hitting the corridors this time, Alison merely took her time to walk to her next class. She needed time to think and rid her mind of any angry thoughts directed at a certain someone.  She just hoped to be left alone and tossed a coin before inserting it into the drinks vending machine.

 “Goodbye suckers, let’s hit the nail bar, girls! ” Some tittering and chattering from around the corner made Alison look up in amazement.

 Alison’s eyes widened. She recognized that voice anywhere. It was Carrie; it surprised her when she saw her sister with the Mean Girls Gang. Not just that, Jane Kingston was holding her by the arms as if they were best buddies. Carrie looked a lot different than when she saw her this morning. There was some pinks streaks in her hair, probably a result of dabbling with cheap hair dye, and there was a fake tattoo on her arm.

 They turned around the corner and Carrie’s eyes instantly met hers. She looked like she was jolted by fire and she casted her eyes down- ashamed and embarrassed.

 Alison put up her hand and demanded, “What’re you doing with my sister?”

 Jessica, her hair now auburn red, sneered, “Sister? What sister? Just because you’re not cool enough to join our team doesn’t mean that someone else can’t. Right, sistah? ” She nudged Carrie to respond.

 Alison was hurt. “Carrie, what are you doing? Return back to class now. ” She tried dragging her away but someone- Jane most probably- broke her grasp.

 “Watch it, know-it-all. Just because both my brothers like you doesn’t mean that I adore you,” Jane hissed as she stood in front of Carrie- as if she was protecting Carrie from her very own sister.

 “Back off Jessica.” Alison’s face hardened as she squeeze the Can coke tightly. “My sister has her priorities on school work and I hope you would leave her alone.”

 “Oh really? If I had a bossy sister like you, I would have been put off.” Jessica threw her an evil smile. Everyone in her gang laughed appreciatively.

 “Carrie, say something! What are you doing with them?! ”

 “Shut up, Ali. It’s none of your business. And if you dare tell Mum and Dad about this, I’m going to break off any ties with you,” Carrie snarled and pursed her lips, taking a huge amount of effort to avoid her eye.

 “But Carrie-” Alison’s eyes brimmed with tears.

 “C’mon girls, let’s go funking and leave this moron behind,” Jessica screeched and her gang clapped heartily. Carrie was hustled to the middle and the entire group left with Alison being alone in the hallway.

 “Carrie! Carrie! ” she screamed.  “Come back here! ” She dropped the Coke and the contents spilled everywhere but she was oblivious to it now.

 There was no reply.

 Carrie was gone.

 ******

She had no choice, no choice at all. Alison could only force herself to sit through the next couple of classes like a dead zombie. Angela and Alex were concerned but she merely said she felt a little ill. She couldn’t believe it, that her sister was so gullible to fall for Jessica’s or Jane’s tricks and she simply couldn’t accept the fact that her good-natured sister was led astray.

“Hey, Alison, are you sure you are okay? ” Angela asked for the third consecutive time. She slid her eyes worriedly to her friend and touched Alison’s shoulder. “You’re not PMSing right?”

 “Maybe I am,” she answered curtly and looked down at her hands, annoyed that herself. If only she had paid more attention and recommended some decent friends for Carrie, her sister wouldn’t feel the need to join the MGG.

 “Angela?” she paused. “How bad are the people in the MGG?”

 Angela opened her mouth to answer but clamped it shut again. She gave her a dubious look before saying, “Why do you want to know?”

 “Just say it.”

Noticing Alison’s crestfallen expression, Angela nervously muttered, “Well, MGG is not as terrible as those violent street gangs. I mean, they’re filled with normal school girls like us but well….” She ran her fingers through her hair and struggled to keep her gaze on Alison. “It’s just that… I once heard… that Jessica does lure some of the girls to go….have…erm..intimate relationships with some guys.”

 Alison stared back at her, horrified. “Explain.”

Angela looked away, clearly self-conscious as she bit her soft lips. “Look, I’m probably not the best person to tell you this. But…I do know some girls take drugs and when they’re on high, they…tend to do stuff and go overboard at parties.”

 “Parties?” Alex overheard their conversation and leant forward to join in. “What are you guys talking about?”

 “The Mean Girls Gang…”

 “Oh right, Alison mentioned them once. Why are you guys talking about them?” Alex asked as he pulled a face at their Psychology teacher, a mousy woman called Mrs Prat.

 “Alison wanted to know…” Angela caught sight of Alison’s frozen expression and shrugged. “…about certain things.” Angela noticed how her best friend’s fingers drummed on the table top and how Alison seemed almost in a frenzy and too nervous. She acting all strange of a sudden.

 Frowning, Alison asked, “Where do they usually host these parties?”

 “Jessica’s parents are rich and they practically give her almost a thousand pounds per month solely for entertainment.” Angela looked disgusted. “Jessica always invites all her gang members and boys from the nearby Karin Boys School.”

 “Wow, how do you know all these?” Alex was clearly impressed and gave her an admiring look.

 “I don’t just live for video games like you. I do keep in touch with the schools’ happenings.” Angela rapped her knuckles, inviting Alex’s wrath. “Alison, you okay?” she asked a split second later.

 “I’m fine,” Alison said weakly. She was torn between spilling out all her sorrows and just keeping mum before she could ask her too many questions that she didn’t want to answer. Angela wrinkled her nose with disbelief, as if she didn’t believe Alison’s statement but she gave up and turned back to the writing assignment they were supposed to concentrate on. Alex returned to talking about the latest game, Battleship Star, with his partner, one of the geeks.

 Though Alison couldn’t put her finger on why Carrie acted in this way, she realized that there had always been signs. She certainly didn’t change drastically overnight- it was a built up of supressed feelings from before. Back in Japan, she frequently expressed her hatred for the school she was in (Minaka Junior) and how she detested the formality of Japanese education, how reserved her classmates were and how some people avoided her because she was different. That was why she wanted to escape to America because she wanted to be with people she was similar to. It hadn’t occurred to her that Carrie would be so silly as to fall for Jessica’s trick and join the MGG just to be popular and accepted by people. Curses. Alison felt like slapping herself. She should have paid more attention to Carrie instead of worrying about herself. She was such a selfish person.

 “So, um, Alison, do you want to go with us to shop for some books after school? ” Angela stuttered.

 After musing over it, she shook her head. “I’ll pass. I-” Shit. Come up with some excuse so she wouldn’t suspect anything. “I actually have extra Spanish class with Mr Kingston today,” she finished.

 “You’re having extra classes with my brother of all people?” Alex stopped short. Clearly, his brother didn’t seem to be the happiest topic for him and he didn’t look enthused about the idea of her spending extra time with Edward Kingston. Sighing, Alison explained, “He insisted. He said I needed it.”

 “Just so typical.” Alex raised an eyebrow and Angela gave her a meaningful look which she couldn’t understand. She waited until Alex turned away before whispering to Alison, “Spit it out. Is the cause for your unhappiness because of Mr Edward Kingston?”

 “Who gave you that idea?”

 “I have seen how Edward Kingston looks at you in class when you aren’t looking. I’m quite sure he likes you,” she murmured.

 “Angela!” Alison’s mouth formed an O-shape. “He’s a teacher, for goodness sake!”

 “A rather hot one, don’t you think?” Angela grinned cheekily. “Besides, he’s only nineteen and your neighbour, I might add. You have plenty of chances to get close to him.”

 “That is the worse reason I’ve ever heard of for courting a guy.”

 “Sheesh, I know Edward Kingston’s not my type after that horrendous class of his but if he’s yours, I’ll encourage you to go for it.” She winked suggestively. Alison never knew Angela had this perverse side to her usually bubbly personality.

 “You do know that in Japan, we’ll never do these kind of things. Everything is supposed to be secret and discreet,” Alison replied sorely.

 “But Angela-”

 “Yes?”

 “Edward Kingston’s a hot-blooded American teenager. You must do it the American way if you want to pursue him.”

 “And what’s the American way?” Alison hissed.

“Go direct and straightforward. And never ever, look back,” Angela answered triumphantly.

***