No Strings Attached

Chapter Twenty Four

12 Years Ago

Tampa, Fl

'I absolutely hate Jason!' Alex squinted at her reflection and sighed in frustration. Jason had broken her glasses the previous day and her new pair were arriving in a week. "Mom! Forget it, I'm not going!" She yelled out as she sighed and jumped back on her bed.

"Alex!" Her mom walked into the room holding a small case and placed it on the night stand. "You are going to prom, honey. I don't want you missing out on something that could end up being an amazing time."

"Well what's the point when I can hardly see anything?"

Adele pulled her reluctant daughter up and pushed her towards the mirror, keeping a firm grip on her shoulders. She reached over and passed Alex the case. "Here. I picked these up last night. They're contact lenses and they should be able to help you see as if you had your glasses with you." Hesitantly, Alex opened the case and lifted one of them. "Let me help you." She assisted Alex in putting them on and stepped back.

Alex blinked a few times before smiling appreciatively. "I guess they do work."

"Now you can go and have fun with all of your little friends!"

Her smile slowly faded. "Thanks for the lenses but I'm still not going." Adele looked at her in confusion. "I have a lot of studying to do."

"But you're already in your dress! Is it because of that Jason boy your sister's close to?" As if summoned, Alexis appeared at the door looking gorgeous in her floor length white gown with her long hair curled and cascading past her shoulders.

"He's my boyfriend, ma! And he should be here any minute so can you please help me with the shoes?" Alex rolled her eyes at her.

"Honey, I still have to find your grandma's ruby bracelet for Alex. How about she helps you whilst I do that?"

"NO!" They replied in unison, shocking and confusing Adele.

"I'm not going mom, remember? So you can go help her with whatever she wants." Before Adele could disagree, Alexis had dragged her out of the room. Alexandra groaned and fingered the crimson satin material that reached a few inches above her knee. She would be going but the past few weeks had been so horrible that she didn't want to go at all. Jason's tormenting had taken a turn and he was now making jibes about her weight, making her even more concious about her appearance because Alex was in no means fat like he said she was. To make matters worse, Alexis had began to stop helping her whenever they taunted Alex. Instead she now pretended as if she didn't hear anything.

"Ooh, that must be Jason! I'll get it!" Alex hadn't even heard the doorbell ring but she saw Alexis running down the hall whilst trying to put on her shoes and heard her descend the stairs. Alex rolled her eyes as she heard his voice and decided to take off the dress since she wasn't going prom anymore.

After she'd slipped into a pair of her short and vest pyjama set and told her mom for the last time that she wasn't going, she went down the stairs. "Oh Alex baby, come on. This is prom. Please don't stay at home." Her mother pleaded when she saw her in her pyjamas, her camera clad hand in mid air as she was taking a picture.

"Yeah Fla- Ally." Alex cut her eyes at Jason as he tried to cover his slip-up. Her mother knew that Jason bothered her daughter but she'd never been told the full story. "Don't be a party pooper. Prom wouldn't be the same without you." He sent her a shit eating grin as she rolled her eyes again.

"See that? It won't be the same without you Alex! Please go. You're going to regret it when you're older believe me on that."

"Mom, I'm sure. I'll be fine on my own here with my two best friends." She replied, prying her eyes away from Jason who was looking to die for in his three piece black on black suit.

Although she wasn't on the best terms with her twin, Alexis couldn't help but ask. "Janelle and Andre? I thought they were going prom?"

"No, not those two. I actually meant Ben and Jerry."

"Ima just keep quiet on that one." Jason uttered and Alexis quickly nugded him in the side.

"Alright mom, we're going. I'll be back tomorrow at 12pm." Adele kissed her daughter's cheek and hugged Jason, who blew his cheeks out at Alexandra over Adele's shoulder.

"You kids have fun! I'm heading out too. Alex you know what to do and just in case you do change your mind, I left the bracelet on my vanity desk. I love you both." A few seconds later the door shut and Alex was left on her own.

She was sure no one would miss her. She was sure that prom would still be the same without her and she was sure that Jason was doing something to poison her sister's mind. Alex could feel her twin changing. She wasn't the same Blinky that she knew and loved and it hurt her deeply. Alex decided to watch some movies for the night and so she got her quilt, made some popcorn and got comfortable on the sofa infront of her TV.

For a couple of hours she watched films and she'd fallen asleep until there was a knock at the door. Sleepily, she dragged herself to the door and opened it, ready to curse out whoever it was for ruining her sleep. She saw Janelle and Andre at her doorstep and smiled at them. "Hey guys."

"Don't 'hey guys' us. Why are you not at prom?" Alex kept quiet and they stormed into her house. "Come on, let's go get you dressed and looking pretty." Janelle stated pushing her towards the stairs.

"Wha- No. I'm not going to prom."

"The hell you aint! This is a once in a lifetime thing and you are letting Jason and his crew know that they have gotten to you. Rise above them and show them how beautiful you are and how much you don't give two shits about they punk asses!" Janelle took a deep breath as Alex thought. She was right. She was showing Jason that he'd won by not going and that was the wrong thing to do.

"I agree with Miss Thang over there." Andre finally spoke since their arrival.

"Fine, I'll go." Janelle grinned and grabbed her hand.

"We'll be back in 20 minutes, Andre." The girls ran upstairs and got Alex dressed.

Almost half an hour later, Andre finally heard the sound of someone coming downstairs so he got up from the sofa and walked towards the front door where he could see everything. He groaned when he saw it was just Janelle. "Groan again and I'll punch you in the throat." She threatened as he rolled his eyes at her. She joined him by the door. "Alright Alex, you can come down now!"

What Andre wasn't expecting was to see his ex-girlfriend descend the stairs looking sexy as sin. She looked like sex personified in her crimson red mid-thigh length satin dress, black platform courts and a black clutch. Her hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail and her minimal make-up was dark and flawless. When she reached up to finger the simple earrings that sat on her ear, he noticed the elegant ruby bracelet on her left wrist.

"If I may say so myself, I think I've done a great job." Janelle hugged Alex on her last step and pulled back to face him. "Right Andre?"

Speechless. He blinked a couple of times before nodding. "You look... Damn, you look good." Alex blushed at the compliment and hugged her ex-boyfriend tightly, getting him lost in her signature scent. Vanillas and strawberries.

"Okay, let's go if we still want to make it to prom!" Alex quickly left a note to her mother and locked up before heading to Andre's car. "Next stop; PROM!"

It didn't take long to drive to Jefferson but the walk inside seemed to take forever. Alex's heart had accelerated and she kept fidgeting with her dress. "Alex you look fine. Seriously, you look gorgeous." She watched as Andre's eyes roamed her dress and she suddenly felt nervous. He leaned in to her ear. "Remind me why we broke up?" Alex checked to see that Janelle wasn't listening.

"Because I realised that I preferred you as a best friend rather than a boyfriend." Andre leaned back dejectedly.

"Right, you friendzoned me." Just as she was about to reply, they finally stepped inside. Prom committee had really done a good job in designing and organising the auditorium. Janelle told them that she saw her date and she ran off. "Wanna dance?"

Alex shrugged. "Why not?" And followed him to the dancefloor. They danced for a few songs and as they slow danced to Jon B's They Don't Know, Alex looked over his shoulder to find Jason watching her. She noticed his eyes darken dangerously but she wasn't sure what made them do that. Anger? Annoyance? ... Lust? She felt the heat rush up to her cheeks at the last suggestion.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Andre pulled away from her. "I have to go to the restroom, I'll be back." She nodded and let him go, leaving her standing in the middle of the dancefloor all alone. When she looked back over at where Jason was she realised he wasn't there and then she scolded herself for even wondering where he was. She turned to go get herself a drink but ended up bumping into a solid chest that smelt strongly of Drakkar Noir. When she tilted her head up to see who the owner was, she wasn't expecting emerald orbs to be staring down at her.

"Urgh. Sorry." She moved to walk past him but he stepped the same way. Annoyed, she tried to step the other way but he did the same thing. "Would you move?!"

"Let's dance." She stared at him as if he'd grown two heads but before she could protest, he'd pulled her into his arms held her close. "You smell good, what is that?"

"Perfume."

"Ahaha, Flatty Ally's got jokes." Finally, Alex gingerly placed her hands on his shoulders. She hated herself for enjoying this but she did. He bent his head to her ear. "You look good tonight."

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing! What, I can't compliment you? Hopefully after this, we'll never see each other again. I'll be at NYU and you'll be... Doing whatever shit loser girls do so I may aswell be nice. For old times sake." As the song came to an end, their dancing stopped. "I'm glad you decided to come." She noticed how he quickly turned towards an area, as if trying to make sure of something. "Thanks for the dance." When he left, she turned in the direction that he'd been looking and saw Alexis glaring at her. She could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. So that was who he'd been looking at.

"What is he up to?" She murmured to herself just as Andre returned.

"Was Jason bothering you?" She shook her head as she thought. "Good. Let's go take pictures."

The rest of the night, Alex had a blast. For the first time she found herself talking to people in a different clique to her and realised that they were quite fun. She mingled with everyone except for Jason and his boys and Alexis and her girls, who continuously kept giving her the side eye. A couple of times she'd seen Alexis try to argue with Jason, probably about the dance, but each time he would kiss her and silence her.

On Alex's way back from the restroom, she bumped into her twin. "Alexis-."

"Don't talk to me. Why the hell were you dancing with my man?! I saw you two! You were practically all over each other! He doesn't want you! He wants me!"

"I don't want him! He's a jerk. An evil, manipulating jerk. But are you really-."

"You don't want him?! Then why were you dancing with him?" She yelled, crossing her arms over her large chest.

"I-I don't know. But Lexis why would I want somebody who is so rude to me and makes me so angry? Why would I even want my own sister's man?! I wouldn't do that to you!" Alex exclaimed as Alexis rolled her eyes. She could feel their bond slipping away with every word spoken.

"You stay away from him! And you stay away from me! I can't believe you would do this. I mean, I knew you were a bitch, Jason told me so but I didn't realise that it was this bad!" Alex felt hot tears sting her eyes and her vision became blurred.

"Alexis. You don't mean that do you?"

Alexis' nostrils flared. "I do! You know I love Jason and there you go dancing with him, flirting with him and looking all sexy just for him! I can't believe that he would-."

"...Alexandra Armstrong!" Upon hearing her name, Alex walked back into the auditorium and was shocked when all eyes turned on her. It was a sea of confused faces with disbelief etched all over them. She heard Alexis gasp from beside her.

"No fucking way. First Jason, now my crown!"

"Wh-what?" Alex asked, trembling over her own words.

"You're prom queen!" Janelle yelled, pulling her towards the stage and helping her get up. Alex blinked in shock, not believing anything that was happening. Jason was already on stage and he smirked at her. The tiara was placed on her head but she still didn't smile, she was in too much shock. She saw Alexis chuckle bitterly and shake her head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your Prom King and Queen of 2000!" Alex felt Jason take her hand and she snatched it away quickly.

"What is going on?!"

"You're prom queen so go do your speech." Hesitantly, she stepped up to the mic and blinked nervously. She didn't know what to say.

"Um." She breathed deeply and sighed. "Uh..." Behind her, she didn't see Jason discreetly give the thumbs up sign to someone in the crowd. "I really wasn't-." Suddenly, a large amount of a sticky substance splashed on Alex from above. The buckets of sticky maple syrup just continued to pour down on her. In shock, Alex gasped and looked behind her to see Jason laughing and everybody in the audience joining him. The tears streamed down her face as she tried to keep them in check. But the next thing she knew, Jason was throwing a bucket of feathers onto her, his chuckles still loud and clear. With her dignity gone, Alex began to cry as more syrup was thrown on her and more feathers stuck to her. Alexis then ran on the stage and pulled Jason to the side.

"What are you doing? Stop it!"

"You wanna help? It is quite fun, I must admit." He handed her a bag of feathers but she dropped it in disgust.

"No! That's my sister! Jason, tell your boys to stop it! I can't believe you!" Just as she moved to try and help Alex, Jason grabbed her arm.

"I thought you loved me."

"I do." She exclaimed.

"Then why are you choosing your sister over me?! She was all over me earlier and yet you're still choosing her? Maybe you don't love me like you say. Maybe we should just break up." Alexis' eyes widened in panic and she shook her head adamantly. Jason picked up the bag and placed it back in her hands. "So you do love me?" She nodded. "Well then, show me how much." He turned her towards Alex and gave her a little shove.

Alex saw her sister walking towards her with the bag and started to plead with her. "Alexis don't! Lexis please don't! Please."

"Baby, do it! Don't listen to her! If you love me, you'd do it!" Alexis sent her sister an apologetic look and threw the feathers onto her, finishing the entire bag. Alex cried harder at her own sister doing that to her and tried to run off the stage. Instead, her heel slipped on the syrup and she tumbled to the floor, only making the laughs louder.

She felt herself getting lifted off the ground and through her tears she saw Janelle and Andre on either side, helping her off the stage. The crowd parted for them, still laughing, and watched as they left.

Alexis sighed and blinked back her tears and betraying her own sister. "Why did you do that?"

"Because she's a bitch." He high fived some of his boys and wiped some sauce off his fingers.

"Jason, Kyle, Johnny and everybody else behind there, my office NOW."

As Jason walked away, Alexis followed. "No, but why did you make me do that?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "To see if you would actually do it. And you did. Which is just evil, Alexis. And you know what? I can't be dating an evil trick so... It's over." It was as if the ground had been pulled from under her feet. She suddenly stopped following them and her mouth dropped.

"Wh-what? No. Jason!"

"Alexis! It's over sweetheart!"

Not only had she lost her prom queen crown, but she'd now lost her man. And all because of who?

Her own twin.