After grabbing a stash of mango cocktails and a few cookies, Alison finally felt better and he sat on one of the benches in the restroom which seemed to be suited for this particular purpose of calming down the deranged and Alison finally understood why.

“So spit, what’s going on?” Angela focused her attention on her.

“Nothing’s going on,” Alison replied all-too-innocently. This only made her best friend more suspicious.

“What did Alex tell you?” Angela eyed her carefully.

There was no point hiding the truth from Angela’s sharp eyes. “He told me he liked me.” Alison sighed.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! ” Angela screamed and grabbed her hands tightly, only to invite strange stares from some sophomore girls. “That’s so cool!”

“How is it cool?” Alison replied uneasily. Angela’s smile faltered and she frowned. “Aren’t you excited about the news?”

“No!”

“There must be another guy in this triangle. Is that right? ”

Alison stared back at her quietly. Angela always had a knack of sensing this stuff and her answer was no surprise actually. She was just worried about the consequences of spilling the beans to her. “Look, I’ll tell you a secret but don’t tell anyone. Okay?”

“You can trust me.” The sincerity in Angela’s voice was impossible to doubt and Alison relaxed.  She chose her words carefully. “This might be hard to stomach but…I’m actually going out with Edward.”

She quickly checked Angela’s face just to see what her reaction would be. She was the first person in on the secret and well, if she was going to burst out in laughter or frown disapprovingly, Alison might as well just give up on anyone supporting their relationship.

 However, much to her surprise, Angela exclaimed, “Alison! I’ve been waiting far too long for this!” She gasped and looked positively delighted. “I’m so happy for you!” She hugged Alison tightly.

 Alison was a little light-headed as she drew back from Angela’s almost vice-like grip. “What do you mean? Have you been expecting something like this? ” she asked curiously, wondering how on earth Angela could have possible known about Edward and her.

 Angela laughed. “Have you ever seen how Edward looks at you in class?” she asked amusedly.

 Taken aback by her reply, Alison shook her head shyly. She didn’t notice such stuff. Unlike Angela, she wasn’t exactly a perceptive person. For the past one month, her classes with Edward were exciting yet torturous at the same time. She tried to avoid staring at Edward openly but it took all her self-control just to do it. And it certainly didn’t help that every so often, she would catch him giving him a radiant smile. She took delight in the fact that this was an expression which was reserved solely for her. On one of their dates, Edward actually told her that he sometimes asked her questions in class so that he could hear her smooth voice. Alison didn’t know whether to feel proud or embarrassed when she heard that.

“I suppose it’s quite noticeable.” Alison winced. How many people had noticed Edward and hers…special interaction in class?

“Yea, and I’ve always wondered why he was smiling at a certain someone.” Angela giggled and her face turned somber again. “So… what are you going to do about Alex?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even expect that you know.” Alison personally felt thrown off by all these attention. She never thought herself as attractive. In Japan, none of the guys were interested in her  and she certainly held less than a considerable amount of appeal for them. She always attributed it to her unattractive features. Suddenly, she realized that she didn’t fit into the conventional stereotype of a Japanese beauty. The reason why she couldn’t attract any Japanese guys’ attention was because she was a Caucasian. Now, in America, she was suddenly in hot demand. She wondered if that meant she was pretty in an American boy’s eyes.

Angela looked perturbed. “You and Edward are perfect for each other. But you have a lot of explaining to do in Alex’s case. Have you told anyone else yet?”

“No, not yet. It’s not the correct timing,” Alison answered quickly. Except for Carrie, who was using this fact to blackmail her.  But obviously Alison didn’t tell her friend that. “I’m practically swearing you to secrecy.”

“You can count on me.” Angela high-fived her but looked worried again. “Do you think Edward killed him? I mean, I know Edward was going to have a serious talk with Alex but if you had seen his face just now, he looked like he wanted to drag Alex off to the woods and chop his head off.”

 Alison really wanted to laugh but given the current context, the severity of the situation was less than amusing. “I don’t think he’ll kill his brother, right?” Alison replied doubtfully although she knew that with Edward’s temper, he was indeed capable of doing that. There was always that tiniest possibility.

“You never know.” Angela shot her a dark look.

 Eager to change the topic of the conversation, Alison asked, “Where’s your date? Won’t he be angry that you’re spending all the time with me?”

 All of a sudden, Angela looked dismal. “He ditched me,” she said flatly.

“Why?” Alison was shocked. Angela looked really gorgeous tonight with her hair tied up in a bun and that midnight blue dress was simply stunning. Which guy would dump her for another girl?

“He went off with this junior girl. He just made use of me,” Angela muttered. “That darn Josh only wanted to show off to his friends that he had a date.”

“That idiot.” Alison growled. No one would get away for hurting her friend like that. “Don’t worry, there are tons of boys lining up just to date you,” she reassured her.

Angela gave a weak laugh and put on a brave face. “Oh well, I suppose so,” she said it in a light manner. But even Alison could tell she didn’t believe in that. It also didn’t help that Angela had a reputation of being a nerd. From Alison’s one month experience at Cornwall, she knew that American high school boys often hook up with flirty cheerleaders like Jessica and not with people like Angela. Sometimes, she wondered if this social hierarchy would even change in 50 years to come. It certainly wasn’t all that different in Japan although it depended more on your family’s position and status. An ugly but wealthy Japanese girl would get more suitors than a pretty but poor rival.

“Let’s go enjoy ourselves and ignore the presence of boys for this evening.” Alison patted her on the head. “We’ll just have a girls’ night out,” she asserted.

“Yes, we can do that.” Angela perked up. “No boys, just us girls.” Both of them looked more than thrilled to be rid of boys for at least one day.

“Definitely.”

 ***

The minute Alison walked out of the girls’ rest room, she was enveloped in the arms of Edward.

“I was looking for you.” His voice was saturated with relief. Angela quickly disappeared, given them some well-deserved privacy. Alison wanted to go after her and comfort her but Edward wouldn’t let her go and frankly, she didn’t want to leave his side either.

“Is Alex fine?” Alison sniffed, breathing in Edward’s familiar scent. It felt so good for this secret to be out in the open.

“I spoke to that damn bastard already,” Edward growled. “He won’t be speaking to you like that anymore.” He sounded so confident.

Alison frowned. “Edward, Alex’s your brother. Can’t you show him a little politeness at the very least?” Edward’s attitude towards Alex was something she had been trying to correct to no avail.

“He was messing around with the woman I love. Sibling or no sibling, he definitely isn’t getting away with that.” Edward shrugged and ruffled her soft brown hair. “By the way, I love the strawberry shampoo which you use.”

“Please.” Alison tried to pout but it was hard to resist Edward for long. His random little comments about her always made her day.  “Aren’t you a little too over-protective?” she murmured as she nuzzled his neck. She didn’t want to admit that she was secretly delighted with Edward’s words. This would only fuel his desire to taunt his brother. Although her relationship with Alex had become a little too complicated, they were still good friends at least and Alex didn’t deserve all the threatening from Edward simply because of her.

Edward’s eyes were dark and warm. “I can be overbearing at times but that’s because I care about you.” It was impossible to doubt his words and Alison hid a smile.

At this moment, a few sophomore girls went past them and casted a strange glance in their direction. Alison instinctively hid behind Edward’s back. “Shouldn’t we go somewhere else more private? What if someone sees us? ” she whispered hurriedly.

“Don’t worry. I think the entire school knows about us by now.” Strangely, there was a triumphant expression on his face. It was as if he was trying to be sad but his happiness still radiated off him.

“What?!” Alison staggered back and almost tripped over her kimono but Edward caught her. “Why do you seem so happy about it?” she asked suspiciously, poking him hard. He was supposed to be furious and not, well, so delighted after all. Would he get a black mark on his record? Would he lose his job? Or.. would he…

“Please, Alison, you’re a worrywart.”  Edward put on a face with mock terror before shrugging. “It’s good that everyone knows that you’re mine.” His face glowed with unexpected ecstasy. There was no doubting the fact that he was relishing the thought of Alison being officially his.

“What would the others be saying about me? Would they think that I’m…I’m a b…” Alison couldn’t bring herself to say the word but thoughts of Jessica and her troupe of fancily dressed primates suddenly made her more scared than usual. When the word that she had become Edward’s girlfriend had spread, she would surely be target of all their ridicule and jokes.

Edward huddled her close to his chest. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” He pronounced every single word carefully and Alison nodded although her fear only subsided marginally.

“As long as you don’t leave me,” she muttered.

“I never will.”

 And as they gazed into each other’s eyes, they were oblivious to the loud banter of everyone else in the party. They were so cooped up in their own world that they only managed to acknowledge each other’s existence.

In simple terms, they belonged to each other.

 ***

By the time everyone returned back to school the next day, they could only talk about the party and nothing else. Some were groggy, after secretly drinking bottles of booze while others look sleep-deprived and trudged around the school in a zombie-like trance. Yet, this year, it was different. There were buzzing news about how a student was involved with a teacher and all the students and staff members were gossiping about it.

Alison tried to ignore all those looks as she walked to her locker. “Hey, Geisha girl ! Think you’re that hot enough to hook up with Kingston?” A jock bawled out, inviting appreciative snickers from his friends. “A hooker is a hooker,” Jessica snarled as she puffed out her chest and Jane hollered, “Alison Kingston is just Edward Kingston’s newest play toy.”

Alison had to admit some of the comments hurt. Fortunately, Angela protected her and acted as a bodyguard. The bad thing was, she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Alex. Edward told her that he had left for school on his own without them and she wondered if this was a sign that he was still angry.

Pushing open the wooden door, she grinned when she saw Edward writing something on the blackboard with his perfect, legible handwriting. It was nice to be in Edward’s class first thing in the morning. She hurried to her seat and Angela slipped into the one behind her. There was still fifteen minutes to go. Her eyes flicked across the classroom but she was sorely disappointed when she couldn’t find the person she was looking for.

Ding-a-ding. The bell rang as someone entered the room. It was Alex. Alison stiffened and her eyes followed him as he hesitated in front of the class, as if he was debating to sit next to Alison. Looking defeated, he walked over to the desk next to her and rather unhappily, he plumped himself down.

It was now or never. She had to seize this opportunity to talk to him. “Alex, are you still angry with me?” she said under her breath.

At first, he gave no reply. The only response to her words was the flaring of his nostrils and the narrowing of his eyes. Finally, he cocked his head and eyed Alison speculatively. “No, I’m not angry with you,” he said.

“I don’t believe you.”

“That’s your problem then,” he said with a careless shrug.

“Why are you so cold towards me?” Alison grimaced. “Even..even though I rejected your…invitation, I’m still your friend. Right?”

Angela cut in. “Hey Alex, you douchebag, why’re you so obstinate? Alison just apologized to you and besides, it’s not even her fault anyway.”

“Shut up, pig head,” he muttered.

“He’s too stubborn for his own good.” Angela shook her head regretfully and returned to her book.

“Don’t mind Angela. She means well.”

 Alex raised his eyes and frowned. “Why did you decide to choose my brother?” His question sounded as if it was a mysterious puzzle he had to solve.

“Who else would I have chosen then?”

“Me, for instance.” He pointed at himself without much abash.  “In what way am I not as eligible as my brother?” he asked cockily.

 Alison snapped, “In many ways, more than you would think of.”

“Explain.”

“Firstly, he’s more mature than you,” Alison said it as if it was an obvious fact.

“If you call having a monstrous temper as being mature, then I guess you’re right,” he retorted back caustically.

“Secondly, he understands me and he respects all my decisions and feelings.” As if on cue, Edward seemed to have heard her and he raised his head from his work before smiling at her. Alison grinned back.

Watching their exchange with much distaste, Alex stuck out his tongue childishly. “Well, he’s so assertive. I’m very much surprised.”

“Thirdly, and most importantly, he loves me for who I am,” Alison finished.

“And I don’t?” he challenged.

Angela interrupted again. “No offence, bro, but if you think you are perfect for Alison, you must be pretty deluded,” she added spitefully.

“You bit-” Alex started and Edward shouted from the front of the class without any slight hesitation, “Alex Kingston, detention today for repeating vulgarities and rude words in class. Report to Miss Andrea at 2pm today.”

“Serves you right,” Angela said quietly and Alison scowled at Edward. He was ruining her chance to patch up with her good friend. Why can’t he treat Alex a little better?

Alex sweared under his breath. “Forget it okay? I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” he said angrily to Alison and turned away.

“But-” Alison cried out.

 “Alison, it’s no use talking to him,” Angela said.

“I know.” Alison sighed and stared straight out of the window. It was a wonder she was still able to maintain a picture of calmness on the outside although she knew that her inner self was turmoil. She hadn’t expected Alex to be so sensitive to her rejection. Was this how teenage boys react all the time? Her past experiences didn’t give her much to refer to. Why can’t boys have normal relationships with girls without any romantic feelings involved?

Half a second after that thought, she slammed her fist angrily on the table, causing everyone in the class to be startled.

“What the hell are you doing, Goodall?!” An unfriendly-looking boy who was filled with animosity growled.

Edward stared at her with a thoughtful look on his face and Alison bit her lips in response to his burning gaze. She just knew that things had gotten a lot more complicated than she had bargained for.