It was a quiet day is Summerland, the sun shone and the sky was clearing itself of clouds for the up and coming summer season... birds tweeted melodically in the trees, welcoming the sunshine gratefully as if they were oblivious to the dark, looming clouds hanging low over several of the houses in the town. One of which lingered heavily over the Murphy household as Alice got ready for school and ate her breakfast in silence.

The sound of her spoon clinking against the edge of her bowl filled the quietness in the kitchen and dining area as she glanced towards her parents who had barely spoken a word to each other all week... it was Thursday now, a whole six days after Alice had heard her mother demand Richard for a divorce in the midst of a heated argument. She felt strangely embarrassed and on edge, especially since Magnus had heard such a personal moment and had obviously been enjoying the drama. She'd had to forcefully tug him out of view and back into the privacy of her room with all her strength as her mother stormed upstairs soon after uttering those sharp four words.

Richard cleated his throat, pulling Alice out of her thoughts as she stared down at her spoon that had been hovering in front of her face. "Do you want a lift to school, Alice?" Richard asked from the kitchen as Alice finally swallowed the last of her cereal and glanced over at him.

"Um, no, thank you. Fei is driving me." She murmured softly, feeling awkward and tense as Richard nodded and motioned for Charlotte to follow, who had been hovering by the stairs. Alice gave her younger sister a brief, encouraging smile as a goodbye, considering Charlotte wasn't stupid and could sense there was a vibe, but had no idea what had happened still. Alice shouldn't even know what had happened either, since neither Richard or Sophie had said a word about it.

"Fei passed her test then," Sophie said, making conversation as she placed the used mugs in the sink from that morning's teas and coffees, then placed her hand on her lower back to ease the ache as she turned around to look at Alice, who was now standing up to place her bowl in the sink too.

"Yeah, on Sunday." Alice replied softly, moving her hair behind her shoulders and hesitating. She didn't know what else to say, but she could see a wave of sadness move across her mother's expression in the brief silence. "I'm just gonna go brush my teeth." She added awkwardly after a few seconds, before turning away and hurrying up the stairs. She was dressed in an oversized white jumper with two red stripes across her chest and arms, it was light and soft against her skin, which was perfect for that days weather forecast. Her legs were left bare, and after she brushed her teeth she pulled on her white sneakers and checked her phone, seeing a message from Fei saying she was outside waiting in her father's old white vintage mini that apparently made a gunshot sound when starting up. But it was something to be admired nonetheless.

Alice said a brief goodbye to her mother and pet her dog before vanishing out the door, she was in the passenger seat within seconds and cooed excitedly as Fei beamed with self pride. "I present to you, Ginny the mini. Like Ginny Weasly, from Harry Potter? Because this car reminded me of their flying one and- yeah, well you get it." Fei chuckled, turning the key and pressing her feet down on the accelerator and clutch to catch the bite, causing the sudden popping sound from the exhaust to startle them both. "Sorry," Fei laughed bashfully as the old vehicle began to move across the gravel.

"I expected it," Alice giggled even though her heart was still recovering. "So it's yours then?" She then asked as Fei drove with both hands gripping the steering wheel tightly and her eyes wide with slightly nervous blinks.

"Yep. But I have to pay for everything myself," Fei replied after a few seconds, quickly scratching her face then smacking her hand back to the steering wheel. She looked unsure of herself suddenly, but continued on driving at a steady speed. Alice watched another car overtake them and speed off down the road and smirked to herself.

"That reminds me, I have your gas money," Alice murmured, reaching into her bag and producing the cash from her purse. "Should I-"

"Oh, um, just stuff it into my pocket," Fei replied and motioned down to her jeans pocket with a nod. Alice laughed again and reached over, stuffing the notes into Fei's jeans before settling back in her seat. "Thank you," She smiled happily as they came to a careful stop at a traffic light. The two spoke lightly until they reached the school parking lot, and Alice directed Fei towards where a spot had been saved for her to park next to Charlie's car, he'd sent Alice a text to inform her and was surprised that he'd made an effort to do so. He was stood waiting with his arms folded when they arrived, with his brown curls wavering slightly in the wind as he grimaced watching Fei try to park.

"That's so nice of him to save you a space." Alice commented, side glancing Fei with a subtle smirk as she blushed heavily, having just thumped her foot on the break and caused the car to jolt.

"Yeah," she breathed, evidently feeling under a spotlight as Charlie walked around to her driver window and knocked on it. Fei began rolling it down and smiled with embarrassment, seeing as a few students walking past seemed to giggle to themselves because of it.

"You sure you passed your test?" He asked with a smirk as Alice got out of the passenger seat and glanced over at Charlie evidently flirting and Fei just looking like a deer in the headlights. Her signals looked mixed to an innocent bystander, she looked almost uncomfortable with her flushed cheeks and slightly wide eyes but Alice knew more than she let on, she remembered the numerous texts Fei had sent her asking what she should say in reply to something. So far nothing romantic had happened between the two but Alice could sense that maybe... just maybe... something would happen soon. She smiled to herself, leaving the two to court each other in the parking lot as she walked into the main hall, her footsteps subconsciously quickening as if it had now become an instinctive reaction for her to expect to see her boyfriend waiting by her locker.

And as if on cue, there he was, dressed in a simple white t-shirt and light jeans, some Gucci tennis shoes that made her smirk, his hair was a little messy and he was staring down at his phone and typing something as Alice approached with an excited smile on her face. She found it amusing how his outfits always looked so normal... until you saw the splash of something overpriced and designer on him in the form of either a watch, some shoes or a sweatshirt. "Boo," she grinned, appearing by his side and grasping his arm with both hands as if she wanted to startle him.

"I saw you coming," he replied in a calm voice, lowering his phone to divert his attention to her.

"How? You didn't even look up." Alice smiled,

"You stamp when you walk. And I see everything." Magnus smirked, "I have eyes all over my body." He added, turning to face her and taking a step back as she waved him out the way of her locker.

"The visual of that just made my skin crawl." Alice replied, grabbing some of her text books and glancing at herself in the small mirror in the metal door. She had a picture of her and Magnus above it now, and felt her heart warm at the sight of it, even though he was stood right beside her. "I wrote a thank you note to your parents for the scarfs, by the way." she carried on, reaching into her bag and handing Magnus the enveloped letter addressed to Julia and Hans. They'd sent her a box filled with silk Hermès scarfs from a private seller in Italy, and she'd spent most of her Tuesday evening that week trying each of them on with different outfits in the privacy of her room with some of her favourite songs playing. She felt spoiled but was extremely grateful, since they were known to be expensive... and she took this as a sure sign she was in Magnus's parent's good books. "Will you give it to her?"

"No, I'll throw it in the trash as soon as you turn your back." Magnus replied in a blank voice and Alice glared at him gently but couldn't hide her amused smile. "You haven't kissed me yet." He murmured, making a show of lifting his watch to show her the time.

"Oh my god," Alice murmured with a brighter smile as she turned to him, and lent up on her toes and kissed him softly, feeling the warmth of familiarity from his lips tingle through hers. Magnus hummed in appreciation, but opened his eyes after a second or two to glance to one side, to look at the two boys who had been briefly looking at Alice before, now turn away, since they had been swiftly reminded of her relationship status by the show of affection...

Magnus glared at the back of their heads for only a moment before Alice pulled away, and the relaxed expression returned as she looked at his face. He knew people would still find her attractive and pleasing to look at, even when she was in a relationship, but for some reason it had started to annoy him. He'd begun to notice it more and more, but brushed it off fairly quickly since Alice was usually around to distract him. "I should-" she began, but was interrupted by the bell for first period ringing loudly. "-get to class." She added after a few seconds with a soft laugh. "I'll see you at lunch?"

"Sure. Just one more thing..." Magnus murmured, trailing his sentence off as he lent down to kiss her again. Alice could feel her chest beaming with the warmth of affection and cupped his cheeks, wanting to moan at the comforting feeling at his large hands on her waist and hip, but she stopped herself and lent away again after a few seconds and gently bit her bottom lip...

"You... should stop that." Alice breathed, feeling her heart pulsing and oozing intense affectionate feelings into her blood stream. The two seemed to be in their own little bubble as the bustle of students moved around them, operating like a river together in one flow of movement as they each headed to their next class. The blurring noise of overlapping voices didn't even seem to pop the enclosed space Alice and Magnus slipped into very quickly either.

"Stop what?" He asked, holding the eye contact.

"Being like... sweet like that." Alice seemed to breathe in one flow of air as if she was feeling light headed. She had her hands on his chest and wanted to melt into him suddenly... the delicious smell of his cologne wasn't helping her either.

"I can bully you, if you want." He smirked, the evil glint in his eye causing Alice to gasp softly.

"No." She replied quickly and laughed as Magnus smirked even more. "I'm gonna go now... before I do something I regret," she giggled, easing herself out of his grasp and tactfully stepping into the flow of students to carry her to her first class. She chewed on her bottom lip the whole way, feeling a swirling sensation of tingly feelings coursing through her bloodstream, causing her to feel all weak in the knees and soft boned...

She couldn't concentrate in her class, her eyes were focussed ahead and on the presentation being shown on the whiteboard but her mind was else where... What was Magnus doing? What was he thinking about? Was he studying or doing something else? Did he think about her this much too? Her thoughts almost annoyed her, but even when she tried to brush them away and focus, seconds later they would return with vengeance and consume her thoughts again. She kept replaying his smirk and his dark chuckle when he would find something inappropriate funny, she could feel the grooves of his muscular chest under her palms and flexed her hands as she day dreamed about him.

"Oh god," She suddenly said, as if she'd suddenly realised what was happening.

"Yes, Alice?" Her teacher asked, having paused her speech to look at Alice in questioning. The rest of her classmates turned to look at her, and she heard a few quiet giggles and turned bright red with embarrassment.

"Sorry," she mumbled, rubbing her cheek as the intensity of her blush seemed to burn her skin from the inside out. Her teacher watched her for a few more seconds, before carrying on her presentation and returning the class into a state of quiet boredom. Alice sunk in her chair and tugged her sweater sleeves over her hands and held up up in front of her face, hating how she'd been so caught up in her own thoughts she'd forgotten where she was.

When the time for the lunch came around Alice was nearly bouncing on her toes to leave her class, the bell rung and she was up, already packed and heading towards the door. She'd planned to meet Fei in the library for their lunch date, but was heading to see Magnus first, since he would be waiting out by his car for her to give him her lunch order in person. She walked quickly with a smile playing on her lips, barely paying any attention to where she was going as her head was swooning up in the clouds... she rounded the corner to head to the main hall and suddenly body slammed into someone, smacking the bridge of her nose against a tough surface and stumbling, causing both her and the person she slammed into to tumble to the floor.

A few hisses of second hand pain wavered around the small commotion Alice made as she sat up and rubbed her nose, feeling her eyes watering with the stinging ache of pain as she held them closed. "What the fuck." She whined, sitting back and kicking her legs slightly as the pain took over her face.

"Shit, I'm sorry," A familiar voice rushed, as she felt hands on her arms helping her to stand up. "Alice, I'm sorry," they said again, and Alice opened her eyes to see Noah adjusting his glasses before he bent down to pick up her bag and some of her things that had spilled out of it. Her temper flared because of the pain in her face and she snatched her stuff back from his hands, her watery eyes glaring hard.

"Get out of my way." She spat, before shoving past him and carrying on whilst stamping her feet as she walked, leaving Noah to look after her without turning his body and only his head... some students made faces and turned away, carrying on with their business and making their way to lunch or talking amongst themselves, none of them noticing the slightly dark expression move across Noah's face before he stalked off himself, rounding a corner to head to where he was originally going before bumping into Alice.

Once outside in the early afternoon sunshine, Alice made her way towards Magnus's car, a look of thunder on her face as she continued to rub her nose that was now throbbing. "What happened to you?" He asked, leaning against his car as Charlie lingered beside him with his hands in his pockets.

"Nothing." Alice muttered angrily as she watched Magnus stand up properly, so that she had to tilt her head up slightly.

"Alright." He murmured, not having the energy to press her for information in that moment. "What do you want for lunch then?" He asked, retrieving his car keys from his pocket.

"Um, something fatty." Alice replied, running a hand through her hair and sighing, "Where are you going?"

"The usual places." Magnus replied simply, "Do you want to come?"

"No, I'm meeting Fei in the library." Alice replied softly, glancing at Charlie briefly as he watched them interact. They made eye contact for a moment before he got the message and looked away, deciding to get into Magnus's car by walking around to the passenger door and give them some privacy.

"I'll see you after then," Magnus then said, noticing Charlie move in his peripheral vision. Alice smiled, moving closer to his body and leaning up on her toes to kiss him. Their lips pressed together, and ignited the warm, pleasurable feelings... Magnus held her waist firmly and dug his fingertips in, but pulled away as his stomach rumbled. "Bye." He murmured, letting her go and feeling her step away.

"Bye," she replied softly before turning away herself and heading back into the building. She walked quickly to the library, needing to express herself as her body reminded her of the things it was beginning to feel, or maybe had been feeling, without her conscious knowledge. Fei was waiting at a booth on the upper level of the library, sat by herself with some of her books out, reading to distract herself as she waited for Alice... she noticed her before she sat down, and smiled happily, closing her book at the sign of a good gossip, considering Alice's face.

"What happened?" Fei asked, noticing the wide eyes and flushed cheeks.

"I think I'm in love with him." Alice blurted quietly and Fei gasped. "Like gooey, disgusting, I wanna wrap myself in a blanket made from his sweaters kind of in love."

"Yay!" Fei chirped, but Alice cringed and sunk in her chair. "I- is this bad?"

"I hate it." Alice muttered angrily, "I can't concentrate on anything, I can't think about anything but him and he acts so affectionate just to- to- I don't know, target me, and it's driving me insane."

"Alice he is your boyfriend, surely you knew this would happen soon enough." Fei giggled as she opened her Tupperware box filled with her freshly made pasta salad with avocado and other nicely smelling things.

"I know but... he's Magnus... he's given me way more than I expected emotionally and I don't know if he's just putting that on to make me happy or if he's actually feeling that way. And if I tell him I love him, what if he decides that he's had enough and dumps me. I'm starting to feel needy and I feel like he'll probably hate that." Alice whined quietly, then thanked Fei as she produced a bottle of water for her from her bag.

Fei sighed in a gust of air and licked her lips, "Alice... I mean..." she began, before scratching her head.

"I know I sound needy, you don't need to tell me." Alice whined again and put her head down on the table. Fei smiled and placed her hand on Alice's arm to comfort her with soft pats.

"Listen, I feel like if Magnus would get that turned off by the mention of love he wouldn't be one, spending so much time with you , and two, doing cute shit like going into town to pick up the lunch you ordered and bring it back so that you can eat something you like every day." Fei explained, "I'm sure I don't need to remind you of how many people can barely get a text back."

Alice laughed and glanced up, revealing the light bruise on the bridge of her nose from earlier. Fei noticed but didn't comment, and continued to smile encouragingly. "Maybe I should tell him." She sighed, "and just grow some boobs and let him know."

"I think you've got big enough boobs to do it already." Fei smiled, only to glance up and tense as she noticed Trey stood at the edge of their table looking confused.

"Uhm..." he murmured, "I was looking for Magnus. Thought he'd be with you." He said, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans. He glanced from Fei to Alice and waited, with his hands tucked into his pockets... looking slightly... off. There didn't seem to be a way to describe his expression simply, but Alice noticed something odd about it.

"He's in town." Alice replied, a little confused herself since she assumed Trey would know where Magnus would be at all times. "Did he not tell you?" She asked, causing Fei to glance over at her. She didn't know why she said that, it had just come out without her thinking about it.