The final bell for the day and for the semester rang and Summerland high erupted into cheers, the sound of them pouring out into the hallways as doors to class rooms opened and students hurried out in pairs or groups, wanting to already get started on their Summer plans. "My father is taking me off to the Bahamas for a week to celebrate, an all inclusive resort and a private villa." one girl said smugly as Alice passed them... She heard the others coo with fake excitement and smiled to herself as she hugged her books to her chest and made her way back to her locker.

It was quieter without the seniors here, there was just that little bit less noise in the halls with the sea of students hurriedly collecting their things from lockers to escape the clutches of school before it was too late. You could almost hear the clock ticking, since in three months they would be back here... Starting school again, but a grade higher and that little bit older.

Alice emptied her locker, stuffing as many things as she could into her bag like she had been doing over the course of the week and evaluating how much stuff she could carry when suddenly she felt a presence next to her... She turned her head slightly, seeing who she expected stood next to her quietly. "I brought that thing you wanted." Noah said, his voice quiet and a little wary. He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked away from her for a second before looking back. He seemed nervous.

"I thought I said to meet outside, by the bike sheds." Alice replied calmly, and Noah shifted and murmured something almost incoherent about feeling awkward. "Can you hold these?" She then asked and he nodded, taking the text books from her arms since her muscles had started to ache. She continued to empty her locker, making note of things to throw away before grabbing a stray pencil and pen and shoving it in her bag before closing it and placing the key in the lock like she had been instructed by her last teacher. "Let's do this quickly, before Magnus gets here."

"You haven't told him still?" Noah asked quietly as Alice turned and walked away, and he followed quickly.

"Why would I tell him?" Alice asked as if the response she'd get would be obvious.

"I just thought, because you guys are together, you would-" Noah began as they turned a corner into an emptying hallway, and Alice stopped and turned to face him.

"Do not do that with me." She snapped in a low voice, staring into his eyes. "None of that subtle mind game bullshit, okay? I see through it. You are in no position to try and toy with my head, Noah. I am doing this for your benefit. Do you get that?"

"Yeah- Yes." He replied quietly and quickly, feeling his heart jump.

"If you don't understand why I haven't told him then we can wait and talk to him together when he gets here." Alice continued in a gentle voice and he stayed quiet, reaching up to push his glasses up his nose again. "You did some fucked up shit, and I get why you did it and I understand you, but other people won't, especially Magnus. You know that. So please work with me, don't make this weird." She then said, realising Noah's reality was a little distorted. He was almost smug that Alice was hiding his secret from Magnus, as if he didn't understand what would happen to him if he found out... she found that interesting but didn't drag the topic on.

"Yeah. Okay." Noah breathed in agreement, still holding her books. They stared at each other for a moment in silence as a couple of other students walked past too caught up in excited conversation to notice them.

"The thing, please." Alice said, putting her hand out. "We don't have much time."

"Right," Noah mumbled, bending down to put her books on the floor and then bringing his backpack round to his front. "This is everything from my stash, I printed these out a while ago... there wasn't much else because I deleted nearly everything from my hard drive because of that thing... when the... you remember." He added, giving her a neat file.

Alice furrowed her eyebrows as she took it. "Is this it?"

"Like I said." Noah replied, scratching his cheek as he turned a little red since he thought Alice was judging him. "It's just in case Magnus ever wants to look at it, but- I don't know why he would. It's... yeah."

"Okay." Alice murmured, thinking back to a couple of days ago when she had asked for all the documents he had on Magnus's group, and everything he had regarding anyone related to it... she didn't expect him to comply but from the presentation of the file and Noah's slight nervousness, maybe he had. She knew he had been itching to share it, he had been since the moment they'd started talking. He had been the one to make her aware of what Magnus was really like... what the group was really like. So maybe this was everything she already knew, but in writing. She didn't know what she was going to do with it other than read it, but that was no one else's concern but her own right now. And yet... she still found it strange that Noah still had this, especially after everything that had happened. Like he said.

"You get why I asked you for this right?" She asked and Noah simply looked at her, seeming confused and wary still. "You gave this to me just because I asked for it?" She asked, surprised subtly.

"You kind of have the upper hand here, so yeah... I did." Noah replied honestly and Alice crumpled her expression slightly on purpose, surprising him. She saw his eyebrows raise just a little behind the black rim of his glasses.

"Noah, you're a smart guy... you know that, I know that you're proud of that. You've gone this far without being caught, right? All of you have... I am trying to help you, not manipulate or control you, so you can continue to be the smart guy... for however long you want to do that. Like who knows maybe you'll go on to develop some great app and make millions." Alice said in the way she had rehearsed. She'd gone over her explanation to him in her head the night before, and wondered if he'd believe it. "Listen... I don't believe a great mind should be wasted. You just need a little saving. Like a second chance... to be better, you know? We all do." She shrugged slightly, taking a page from Julia Johnson's book without realising she was doing it in the moment.

"You want me to have a second chance?" Noah asked, his tone suggesting to Alice that he was feeding into what she was saying. Alice looked at each of his eyes and honestly thought about what she thought. Did she want him to flourish? No. But did she enjoy having the upper hand? Possibly... It didn't seem right just to hand him over to Magnus, not when there was so much that could be done with his help.

"If we all got punished for shitty things we'd done none of us would be here. Sometimes you need a little help. And this information you gave me? Will take that burden off of you just a little bit. Like being the one to hold all the information can be stressful, I get that. And it's good you deleted the rest, just in case any of the others get any ideas." Alice said in a strange knowing tone and looked down at the file with interest.

"What... what do you mean? Do you know something?" Noah asked. Alice felt a smile threaten her, but she forced it down before she looked back up at Noah and then over his shoulder, before looking back over hers and then back to him.

"Listen... I don't know how you feel, but I don't trust Juniper, not after everything she's done she can't just be so... Okay with having me around. On top of that, she's a gossip." Alice whispered after motioning for Noah to come closer. "She was openly talking about you in the girls locker rooms. That's how I found out about the box... who knows how many people heard her." Alice informed him in a hushed tone, holding the eye contact because she was telling the truth, and it showed. Noah drank in the words and suddenly looked away, looking betrayed and nervous. "Literally anyone could have heard, Noah. Even your girlfriend knows, or at least she's guessed. Like... if she hasn't found the box then why would she say some of the shit she's said to me..."

Noah was beginning to look fidgety as he stared off to one side, and Alice smiled for a split second before she wiped the look off her face. "What I'm thinking about is; that's two people, if not three, including Lucy, that know about this. Excluding me. And Juniper is in Magnus's bad books already, so what if she goes and tells him to get back in his good ones? What if Lucy tells Trey, who will probably tell Magnus... and he'll-"

"Kill me." Noah murmured very quietly, as if he was talking to himself.

"Yeah..." Alice breathed, looking at each of Noah's eyes. She could almost see his brain ticking way and felt hers laugh suddenly. "If he finds out, he won't trust me anymore because I didn't tell him. So we're both going to be fucked if Juniper or Lucy decide to share. We should work together on this," She said softly and motioned between themselves with her free hand. "-because none of them are valuable like we are. Magnus loves me, he trusts me, we have a really good thing going and I don't want that to be fucked up. And obviously he values your brain and your genius otherwise I feel he would've gotten rid of you a long time ago because its not like he sees you as a friend, at least not right now." Alice said in a hushed, quick tone, that seemed to hint at excitement if you knew what she was doing. She realised she was smiling again and frowned hard for a moment to get rid of the urge before Noah looked back at her.

"What should I do?" He asked and Alice felt her subconscious answer for her. Kill them. She heard her mind say so clearly she thought she'd actually said it... she could even picture the face, the same face, her face, from the dream she'd had a few days ago just off to the side, at the edge of her peripheral vision, staring at her... daring her to say it. Her lips quivered and parted as if she wanted to speak but she held off for a second or two... and breathed carefully for a moment before she replied.

"I don't know," she then said in a breath, fumbling for an alternative to her harsh, to-the-point, words. "Um... what would Magnus do?" She asked, and looked away from Noah and shrugged. Noah stared at Alice for a second or two before she sighed again. "I would just get rid of all this, like anything else you have in your house just to be safe. I'll burn this when I'm done with it. I promise. But, I should go. Mags will probably be outside by now and he said he'd pick me up at four, and it's five past now-" her sentence was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing loudly. Alice pulled it out of her jeans pocket and saw that he was in fact calling her. "That's him. Thank you for trusting me with this, we're gonna handle it. Okay?" she smiled warmly, looking into Noah's eyes, before answering. "Hi baby... no I'm- ... can you come help me with my text books, please? Because they're super heavy... I'm- excuse me, I don't weight lift in my spare time unlike you, so- ... I'm not weak! They're just super heavy... Please?"

Noah's stomach twisted whilst he listened to the way Alice spoke with Magnus, feeling sick at the thought of them being in love and enjoying the good thing that had going and walked off without saying goodbye, even though he knew she had a point. Alice watched him leave through another door and finally smiled, "Yeah I'm by locker," she said to Magnus on the phone, and then hung up and continued to stare where Noah had gone, watching the trail of fire that seemed to follow him, eager to catch up. The look Alice had on her face was of one that was produced by someone in complete control. The wide smile, the slightly wide excited eyes. She knew exactly what she had done... and she wanted to see if it would work. She was just curious, that was all it was. She could hear a low ringing in her ears, as if she was so excited she was literally vibrating...

At that same moment, Magnus entered the school building... thinking briefly about how he'd never have to do this again after that day. It even smelt unfamiliar now, and sounded differently as his shoes connected with the old floors whilst he walked to Alice's locker. She was stood silently by her locker when he finally saw her, watching him with a... slightly unnerving happy smile. "What's up with you?" He asked, causing her to laugh.

"Nothing," She beamed, pleased to see him even though she had seen him that morning. He stopped in front of her and picked the books up, balancing them easily on one arm before he offered to take her bag that was seeming to weigh half of her body down. "Oh my god, thank you." Alice breathed with a sigh of relief, now moving the chunky file to her front so she could hold it with both hands comfortably. She was almost skipping with joy, and Magnus put it down to her having finished school for that year.

"What's that?" Magnus asked casually, watching her as they began to walk towards the exit. There were barely any other students around now, since the rush had calmed and most had almost bolted from the school halls the moment the bell had rung.

"Oh just some old shit I had in my locker from the start of the year," Alice replied normally, the lie leaving her lips so smoothly Magnus didn't pick up on it. He nodded, losing interest in the file almost immediately.

"So, you're done," he then said, looking from the line of lockers to his girlfriend who would be entering her final year in just over three months. She looked different, and he wondered if that was just his perceptions or if something in her had changed. Which he wouldn't be surprised about.

"Yup," Alice breathed, "I'm done." She smiled, feeling a little numb to the whole ordeal. It felt like it didn't matter, that it was an insignificant milestone in her life that she was meant to care more about but just couldn't... or didn't want to. The universe had taken a sledgehammer to her life and walked away like it was nothing, although not everything had crumbled, it felt like a large majority of security in her life had been swept away in a storm. She'd been staying with the Johnson's for the majority of that week whilst her father, Peter, arrived for Dinner every other night so they could get used to each other before they lived together.

Things weren't awkward between them, they could hold a conversation easily. But it was strange to think that this was meant to be the parent that was going to look after her now... on top of that, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she was missing, especially with the way that Julia would watch them interact like they were two animals in a glass cage at a zoo. But how could she complain? She'd opened up her home and had asked for nothing in return... yet.

Alice felt that yet... she felt like it was hovering behind her, and every time she'd turn around to look at it, it would vanish as if she wasn't meant to notice it was there. She knew it was coming, and the thought put her on edge... hence why she'd decided to distract herself with the file that was now sitting in her lap as Magnus drove. She was going to let it go, and let Noah fester with the idea that she was going to deliver him his yet at some point... but she'd gotten too curious and wanted to see if this would work. She knew she was capable of being manipulative, but she wanted to see just how manipulative she could be.

"Where are we going?" Alice asked after a few minutes as Magnus turned his car into the long drive way of his parent's vineyard.

"For lunch? I'm hungry." He replied simply,

"It's almost four thirty," Alice giggled.

"Late lunch, early dinner, then. Fuck." He shot back and Alice smiled, finding his short temper cute since it was obvious now that he was hungry. She left the file underneath her coat on the passenger seat and followed Magnus into the cafe once he'd parked the car underneath an apple tree. The place was quiet, apart from one pair that were talking in the corner over a cup of coffee. It was a bright day, with clouds speeding across the blue sky since the wind was a little strong now and blew Alice's hair around her face before she managed to get inside. "What do you want?" Magnus asked, watching Alice as she eyed the seat under the window where they had sat once for an organised argument.

"The same as last time." she replied, before pointing to where she was going to sit.

"Alright." Magnus murmured, since he remembered what she had ordered. He spoke to the new employee who turned red as she nodded, taking his order in a quick scribble from behind the counter. She watched nervously as Magnus walked away, going to sit down opposite Alice who leant her elbows on the table and gazed at him adoringly. "What?" he asked,

"What did you do today?" she asked, tucking her legs underneath her on the seat and getting comfortable.

"I played tennis with my dad." he replied, looking down at the table and organising the menus before looking up at Alice. "And I booked my flight, and put the deposit down on a house in central Oxford close to my campus."

Alice felt her heart tense and fought the urge to look disappointed. This was his life, she wanted him to flourish, but she couldn't help but feel a little sad that he was leaving in a little over two months. "What's it like?" She asked.

"The house? I have pictures." He then said, watching her expression for a moment but she kept the small smile on her face. He pushed his phone over to her with the gallery open on the house his parents bought for him, and Alice picked it up and flicked through. "What do you think?" He asked after a few moments of silence, during which their drinks and food had been delivered.

"It's very pretty. Needs some paint though." She replied, admiring the tall Georgian townhouse that had terraces, a wide, long garden with decking and a medium sized shed at the end. There was a seating area on the roof too, so you could look out over the city... and Alice imagined him there perfectly, drinking beer and enjoying his evenings with his new friends, looking out over the view. "Which room is yours?"

"I'm taking the one at the top with the bay window and the en suite. Charlie said he wanted the one with the small balcony on the second floor... Mom says I should put out an ad for other roommates but I don't know if I want to do that yet." Magnus replied, running a hand through his hair and watching Alice's face intently still.

"Might be nice... could make you some easy friends, it's a really nice house." Alice said calmly and handed Magnus his phone back. He placed it on the table and looked into her eyes with a questioning look. "What?" She asked, taking a hold of her panini and taking a bite.

"Is this weird for you?" He asked, his voice a little lower.