Lexie pushed Rocky away, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. She began yelling, flailing her un-cut arm at him. "Why are you doing this to me?! One minute, you're trying to kill me. Next thing I know, you're trying to help me! Why are you doing this? Why?!"

"Because, I care about you!" Rocky said, getting up. "I always have!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lexie asked. "You're a damn traitor, you bastard!"

Rocky froze, the words hitting him hard. His face went from one of hurt, to anger, and one of defeat. "It wasn't my fault. You know that."

"No! You could do whatever you wanted! But no, you decided to betray us! We could've died!" Lexie yelled, tears streaming down her face.

She shoved Rocky out of her room, slamming the door in his face. Leaning against the wall, she collapsed on the floor. "Why are you doing this... You left us for good. You hurt the both of us." She continued crying, sobbing into the blood-stained towel.

---

With Rocky

---

Shocked, he looked back at the door, absorbing the hurtful things Lexie said. Sighing, he walked downstairs, and out of the house. On the way out, he saw Lexie's father smirking at him. "I didn't recognize you at first, but now you're a big boy, aren’t you?" he taunted.

Rocky glared at the drunken man and walked out of the house, slamming the door. How could he have been so stupid? He had the chance to redeem himself, but he just went and screwed it up. Now, nothing could be like before. For a moment, Rocky felt as if it was better if he had never taken her to the clinic that day.

He walked back to the school, where he remembered he had football practice.

---

With Alexa

---

"Alex, why didn't you help Lexie when Rocky hurt her?!" Alexa asked, shaking his shoulders violently.

"I couldn't!" Alex said, trying to break free of Alexa's unrelenting grip.

"No, I know you could. You we're afraid that you'd lose your girlfriend, weren't you? Weren't you?!"

"No!!! This is a lot harder than you think," Alex said, sighing.

Alexa got off the couch, and stood up, looking down at the ashamed boy. "Alex. I've only known you for a year, but I know when you're hiding something from me."

"I'm not hiding anything," Alex said, fumbling with the TV remote in his hand.

"And I know when you're lying," Alexa added.

Alex sighed, turning off the TV. He got up and walked away from her to the door. "I don't know if I should tell you this or not. I swore to secrecy with Lexie about this."

"Alex! Is it so important that you can't tell your best friend about it?" Alexa asked.

Alex hesitated, and walked out the door, leaving Alexa alone in her house.

---

Alex walked across town to the local park. Stopping in front of a willow tree, he sat down, taking off his shoes. He waded into a nearby pond, running his hands against the clay at the bottom. About halfway in, with water up to his knees, he stopped, looking down at his feet. Taking in a deep breath, he plunged his hand down, digging through the hard clay.

After ten minutes of digging through the new mud, he found what he had been looking for. He was holding a clump of mud, but there was a small glint of gold hidden. Washing it in the water, Alex confirmed it was indeed what he wanted. In his hand was a gold necklace, with an locket. On the front was an embossed maple leaf, with the letters "LM" engraved on top. Opening the small locket, Alex found a key inside. Quickly, he stuffed the locket and the key in his pocket and ran back home.

---

Rocky walked home from school from football practice. He turned the corner when something ran into him and knocked him down.

"Watch where you're going!" Rocky yelled, seeing his "attacker" was on the ground too. Rocky quickly got up and grabbed the other person by the collar and held him up against a nearby house. "Don't you ever do tha--- Alex?"

Rocky found himself holding Alex, not an attacker. "Please put me down! I didn't mean to run into you! I swear! I was just going to see Lexie!"

"Now's not the best time," Rocky muttered, turning away.

Alex looked at him, eyeing him suspiciously. "What did you do? I swear, if you hurt her, I-"

"I'm not the one who hurt her!" Rocky yelled, glaring at Alex. "I'm the one who's been trying to help her the past month!"

Alex hesitated, stunned by what he had heard. "Wh-what?" he asked.

"You're no friend, if she can't trust anything with you," Rocky shot out. "How can you call yourself her friend?"

"Me? Me?!" Alex yelled, pulling on his short, black hair. "You're the last thing she should call a friend! You're a damn bastard! And not for hitting on sluts! I still remember what you did! And I swear I'll get revenge on you for it!"

"If I'm not mistaken, I believe you're the one dating Maria, aren't you?" Rocky smirked. "You can have Maria. I'll be working on getting back Lexie."

"You...." Alex muttered many curses under his breath as Rocky laughed at him.

"It's obvious you like her," Rocky bluntly pointed out, "but that won't do you any good. Not to mention Maria has you wrapped around her finger."

Rocky walked away, satisfied with the damage he had done to Alex. That'll teach him it doesn't matter what I did in the past. Right now, he's the traitor.

---

Alexa walked outside, to hear what the yelling outside her house was. Opening the door, she saw Alex staring at Rocky, who was walking away down the street.

"Alex! Why was Rocky here?! Why are your pants all soaked?! What happened?!" Alexa asked, pulling him back into her house. She tossed him a pair of her brother's jeans.

He took the jeans, sighing. "I guess I'll tell you after I change." Alex went to the bathroom while Alexa made some hot chocolate for the two. By the time she had placed the two mugs at the kitchen table, Alex had come out, the small locket in hand.

"It happened on my 7th birthday, 8 years ago..."

---

"Alex! Alex!"

Seven year-old Alex turned around from his book to find Lexie running up to them. The two kids were in the park, sitting on a bench.

"Happy birthday, Trannie-boy!!!" Lexie squealed, her long orange-brown hair bouncing up and down with her.

"Don't call me Trannie!!!" Alex whined, "It sounds so girly. And my name is Alex Tran."

"And you're Chinese, but you can't speak any Chinese!" Lexie added.

Alex laughed at Lexie's immaturity. She handed him a small box, giggling profusely. "I made it all by myself!"

Alex opened the box and found a friendship bracelet, made of blue and green threads, his favorite colors. "Thank you, Lexie!!!"

"Tran! Lexie!"

The two looked behind them, to see a small boy their age, running over to him. His vibrant green eyes danced when he saw Alex and Lexie. "Happy birthday, Alex!!!"

"Cally! Do you have a present for Trannie?" Lexie asked, looking behind the Cally to see if he had a present for him.

"Yep! But I have to give it to him later," Cally said. He sat down, and noticed the new piece of jewelry Lexie wore. "What's that necklace you're wearing, Lexie?"

"My mommy gave it to me!" Lexie claimed proudly. "Inside, there's a little key to open my toy trunk in my backyard!"

Cally and Alex stared at the locket, as Lexie opened it to show a small key. She quickly closed it, smiling. "Can we go swimming??? Please?"

After a chorus of yells, the three of them ran over to the pool, where their parents were waiting for them, with bathing suits. After changing, Lexie took off her necklace, and join Cally and Alex in the pool.

---

By now, Alex had finished his second cup of hot chocolate. Alexa made his third, hoping he would continue. "What happened then?"

"Afterwards, Lexie's necklace went missing. We were pretty sure she had dropped it down a filter, but we found out later where it was." He fingered the locket he had in his hand now, as he continued the story.

---

It was 7 P.M. at the Tran household. They had finished celebrating Alex's birthday, and he was outside with Lexie, playing in the backyard. "Alex, can we go in the woods??? I told Cally that we could meet his friends in the park, and the only way we can get there is through the woods!"

"The woods? But there are animals there that can hurt us!!!" Alex whined.

"Please? He said that's where he needs to give you your present!!!" Lexie squealed. "You have to go! You're not scared, are you, Trannie?" Lexie taunted, giggling.

Flustered, Alex agreed to go with Lexie into the woods. The two kids snuck out of the back yard, through the woods, over to the park. They could see silhouettes of four people, three of them very tall. Lexie dragged the suspicious Alex over to the four, where Cally greeted them. "Happy birthday, Alex! Do you want your present?"

"Yes," Alex whispered, impatient to get out of the dark.

"Well, we all know how much you love the dark," one of the other silhouettes said, stepping out of the shadows, "so we decided to give you a special surprise."

"Henry?" Alex looked up at the other three, to find his three older cousins. He knew how much they envied Alex for being the youngest in the family, for being so smart for a seven year-old.

The oldest of the cousins, Henry, grabbed Alex, slinging him over his shoulder. Lexie jumped at him, but Cally got in the way. "Cally! You gotta help Alex!!! They're gonna hurt him!"

"No, Alex deserves this. His cousins told me that he says mean things about us," Cally said, holding Lexie off.

"Where's the trunk?" Liam, the second oldest, asked. "We gotta put him in before he can get free."

Tom, the youngest of the cousins, pointed across the street, over to where the willow tree and the pond were. "I put it by the pond. Cally, do you have the key?"

"Yep." Cally took something out of his pocket, reflecting in the moonlight.

Lexie lunged for her locket, which she had realized Cally had stolen. "You stole my locket! How could you?!"

"Get off of me! I'm just getting rid of Alex!" Cally said, pushing her off. The four boys with Alex ran across the street. while Lexie stumbled to get up. She rushed to catch up to the two. But, as soon as she made it halfway across the street, she heard the sound of brakes screeching, and went flying.

Alex tried yelling for help, but his mouth went dry, horrified at the sight. The three cousins stuffed Alex into the chest, and before locking him in, he saw Cally throw the locet into the pond. After that, Alex could see nothing but pitch darkness.

---

Silence filled the room, as Alex finished his story. Alexa was holding herself back from crying and from yelling at Alex, demanding to know who this "Cally" was. She fidgeted in her chair, until Alex finally spoke again. "This makes no sense, does it?"

"Not really," Alexa admitted, "but I have the feeling I will if I know who "Cally" is."

Alex hesitated, thinking whether he should speak the name or not. Unable to say it, he grabbed a napkin and a pen, and began spelling it out.

A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R

"R-O-C-K-Y"

C-A-L-L-A-H-A-N

Rocky Callahan was Cally.

---

Haha! Put in a little twist for ya there! I have no idea why I put that in the story, but I figured how to work it out! Sorry about the delay in getting a chapter out, but school's been so busy, I haven't been able to write at all except the past two days. And about the Everton Academy is not just for Boys, I'm on a complete writer's block. The story didn't exactly come out quite like how it was supposed to, so I might delete it.... UNLESS someone can give me an idea. I ust feel like it's moving too slowly.

Lotsa Love
Impy aka Sarah