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"Mom?!" Alice called as she walked down the stairs quickly and jogged into the kitchen, "have you seen my fur jacket? The one that you got me last Christmas?"

"The black one?" Sophie replied as she set down the large brown paper bag of groceries and looked up at her daughter. "Oh!" She gasped in amused surprise, seeing Alice with her hair up and a green clay face mask covering her skin. "Are you going out tonight?"

"It's Magnus's New Year's Eve party, I told you about it yesterday." Alice said, "I need my fur jacket,"

"It was dry cleaned last week, so it's probably in the basement," Sophie replied, placing a new bottle of red wine down on the counter. "So you're not staying home with us this year? We thought we could all watch a movie," she continued as Alice walked past her and towards the basement door.

"You can watch movies any time of the year," Alice muttered as she disappeared down stairs to retrieve her jacket. Sophie sighed in defeat and began to unpack the groceries as Charlotte appeared from the garage door and put down some more groceries which were almost too heavy for her to carry. Moments later Alice appeared with her faux fur coat draped over her hands, and glanced at the bottle of wine on the counter. Her next move was so subtle, even she couldn't believe she'd done it so smoothly. As Sophie turned her back to place something in the fridge, Alice swiped the bottle and hid it under her coat as she walked past. Within seconds she was already jogging silently up the stairs to finish getting her outfit together.

It was only Charlotte who had noticed her sister's actions as she stood to one side and watched as Sophie began to search for the bottle in confusion a few minutes later. And when asked, she signed that she hadn't seen where her mother had put it... even though Charlotte was only eight, she knew that Alice was beginning to act differently than how she used to... she stayed in her room a lot, with the door closed, barely spoke or acknowledged anyone during dinner... things were beginning to change and Charlotte felt suddenly uneasy at the thought of losing the sister she was used to.

Upstairs, music flowed from Alice's speakers as she laid her outfit out on her bed and took a swig of red wine from the bottle. She had a good feeling about tonight, and a part of her wasn't sure if it was because she was still riding the high of being invited to Magnus's party by him personally, or the fact she just had something to do on one of the biggest nights of the year... and the potential to receive a New Years kiss at midnight from a cute senior boy added an extra spring in her step.

Suddenly Alice's phone buzzed from where it was lying on her desk and she wandered over to pick it up, expecting it to be one of her close friends but instead it was Noah. Her eyebrows raised as she opened his message, but she didn't get the same heart clench that she did whenever she accidentally saw Magnus's name in her list of recent chats. They hadn't spoken in a week via messenger and if she was honest with herself, she was still riding that high too.

Alice hesitated as she stood there and read his message again. She'd originally planned to catch a lift with Candice and Olive to the party, yet... maybe catching a lift with Noah could be the kick start to an entertaining evening she needed.

She replied, knowing that Magnus's party started later than most and wanted to know how much time she'd have to get ready on top of how much spare time she'd have after that was done. It only took Noah a few seconds to reply and she couldn't help but smile...

"Eight thirty?" Alice said out loud and sighed heavily. That was even before the party had actually started. The Facebook event said it started at nine, which meant no one would be there until at least ten. Alice pouted her lips and fought the urge to just agree with him. She didn't want to be the only outsider of their friendship group at Magnus's house waiting for her friends to arrive for almost two hours. And she knew she'd be a nervous and awkward wreck in the presence of Magnus before she'd had a chance to start drinking her nerves away. Being invited to a senior party was a big deal... and the last time she attended one... just the thought of it made her a little sick suddenly.

She twisted the truth, even though she knew the start time, Noah didn't know that she did. But his own truth was that he wanted to spend more time with her, and he knew Magnus would be busy until ten getting his house ready for the party along with Trey, Charlie and a few other people. It would mean, if Alice agreed, that they'd be alone until the party started... and he already had his intentions in place for that night, considering the event and time of year.

Alice raised her eyebrow as she read his message and sighed... she wanted to get along with Noah, he was cute, intelligent... obviously nice to some extent even though a part of her was whispering that maybe he wasn't as squeaky clean and polite as he portrayed himself to be. His intentions were unclear to her, but the feeling she got was maybe tonight wasn't the night that he was going to get what he wanted... But if that was the case, why did she feel so good about that night still? She bit her lip and felt herself giving in...

At that same moment Magnus was sat at his laptop, his own music playing at full volume from his in built surround sound speakers that clung to the walls of his room He'd found himself flicking through pictures of Alice's on her Facebook again, analysing her face, her body, the way she stood, smiled, wore her hair. He didn't understand his interest, but he was impulsive and barely fought against it as he browsed her photograph albums. He'd found out that she had a dog, and when she'd got it, which wasn't that recently... he then admitted to himself that maybe he'd gone too far in examining her profile. "Magnus? Are you here?" The sound of Trey's voice echoed from the hall leading to Magnus's section of the house and his room and he closed his laptop quickly, "Oh- Hey man, where'd you want the speakers?" Trey asked loudly as he wandered into Magnus's bedroom.

"I don't care," he replied and stood up, dressed in grey sweatpants and his favourite white t-shirt. "Wherever they want,"

"Okay," Trey replied, noticing Magnus's slightly secretive body language, however he disappeared from sight as he went to inform the company Magnus had hired to supply the extra speakers for the sound system that they could put the speakers wherever they wanted. Magnus stood there for a moment in the middle of his room and glanced at his watch... there were four hours to go until people would begin to start arriving and he sighed heavily, suddenly annoyed that he'd chosen to invite two hundred extra people to his house this year spontaneously for at this very moment he didn't feel like socialising.

He didn't know why he felt the need to throw a sudden extravagant party, maybe it was because this time Veronica Green wasn't there to do it for him and his friends anymore. Not that he'd cared much for parties before, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that if there wasn't some over-the-top house party to celebrate the end of 2018... people might start wondering where Veronica Green was, and so far in the last three weeks, no one had been asking any questions. Her previous spontaneous behaviour for disappearing from school to go on Holiday was working in Magnus's favour. For now.

Magnus had wandered into his walk-in wardrobe and stared at his clothes... finding it difficult to simply choose something. He rubbed the back of his head, messing up his hair and checked his phone, glancing at the numerous messages he was ignoring and scrolled through to see if Alice Murphy had surfaced in his notifications yet. Which she, unsurprisingly, hadn't. He'd been thinking, repeatedly, about why she hadn't asked him any questions... he'd expected her to be openly curious about her being his alibi yet he'd received nothing but radio silence. Maybe this was her way of taunting him again, and the thought annoyed him... he wanted to confront her, but knew that was probably what she wanted. He'd seen the way she looked at him, the lingering glances before she'd deeply sigh and look away again. Maybe this was some strange way of Alice getting his attention, which he admitted to himself, she had successfully done.

~

Alice stood at the top of the stairs, breathing in deeply as she fiddled with her fingers and tried to calm down. She was nervous to go to Magnus's party before everyone else, but also couldn't help but feel the bubbling excitement about how she felt slightly like an insider by going before everyone else.

The doorbell rang, making Alice's heart jump suddenly. She immediately began hurrying down the stairs, with her chic black sneakers in hand and her wine bottle successfully hidden under her fur jacket on her arm. "Its for me!" Alice called, hoping to stop someone from opening the door but as she reached the last step, she heard her mother welcoming Noah politely into the house.

"What did you say your name was again?" Sophie asked, shocked, a little surprised and delighted that there was quite a handsome, well dressed, intelligent looking boy here for her daughter.

"Noah, uh- Wilson," Noah said, looking slightly awkward as he stepped into Alice's home. He hadn't been prepared to meet her parents just yet but stood up straight and smiled politely.

"Wilson? As if sheriff Wilson's son?" Sophie asked, and Noah nodded as he stood off his black beanie and immediately tried to flatten his hair that was now messy. "Oh! I knew he had a son but I didn't think you were so grown up and handsome!" Sophie grinned, folding her arms and smirking at the eighteen year old boy who seem to shy away under her gaze.

Noah blushed and chuckled bashfully as he let his brown hair flop into his eyes a little, he murmured a thank you as Alice walked into the kitchen where they were standing. "You didn't have to come up to the door," she said, looking over Noah quickly and seeing him in dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a black jacket. She assumed he preferred dark colours and smiled warmly after her sudden statement.

Noah parted his lips to reply but found his eyes going over her outfit. His mouth went a little dry and his cheeks went a little warm, and for a moment he didn't know what to say. "Um, should we go? Before my mom decides to question you within an inch of your life," Alice joked, trying to hide the fact she was feeling nervous still and to draw attention away from Noah staring at her intently.

"Okay sure," Noah murmured and moved his car keys from one hand on the other.

"What time will you be home?" Sophie asked, glancing between Alice and John Wilson's son, Noah, and looking expectant. She didn't know her daughter had started dating... and she began to wonder how much else Alice had been keeping to herself. Little did she know there was a lot Alice wasn't saying.

"Well uhm, I thought I could stay at Candice's," Alice said, realising she wasn't sure what her plans for after the party were. Was it something that went on all night? Or did they all usually leave after midnight? She wasn't sure what the rules were.

"I'll call her mother and double check then let you know," Sophie said and smiled warmly at Alice, who had already edged towards the door with Noah. "Keep your phone on you, and don't drink too much, okay?" Sophie called as Alice slipped out the door. "Love You!" She called again but the front door closed sharply shortly after her statement.

"What's going on?" Richard asked as he walked into the kitchen, seeing his wife looking unsurprised.

"I think our daughter is finally growing up." Sophie sighed, sounding disappointed as she let her arms fall to her sides and walked away from her husband to go and watch television.

At that moment Alice had climbed into the passenger side of Noah's Land Rover defender, her shoes now fully on since she'd slipped them on outside of the house. "Sorry about my mom," she mumbled as she pulled her seatbelt on as Noah got into the car too. "She's just-"

"It's fine, I thought she was nice," Noah replied and looked over Alice again as she silky blonde fixed her hair in the fold down mirror. He started the engine and the music he had been listening to started again, and the sound of Breathe by the Prodigy suddenly began to flow from the speakers. "Shit sorry," Noah apologised, "I was testing out the playlist," he explained as he reached to turn the music down.

"No- I like it," Alice said, her hand reaching to stop him. Instead she turned it up and settled back into her seat as Noah watched her with surprise for a few seconds. He smiled to himself again and put the car into gear before he pulled out of of her driveway and began the journey to Magnus's house.

It didn't take long for them to reach the large gates of the Johnson family mansion. Noah pulled up and put down his window and reached out to type in a code for it to open. Alice tried hard not to chew on her bottom lip as she didn't want to ruin her make up, as the nerves in her stomach we're beginning to make her fidgety. Noah noticed the change in her behaviour they got to the house up the long driveway but decided not to comment on it and make it worse.

As they drove up to Magnus's house Alice stared out the window, seeing the lights lighting up the bright white mansion that seemed to glow with the same elegance that the Johnson's did. The house was large and modern looking, with perfectly trimmed bushes outside lining the stone and clean gravel that seemed to also sparkle in the lights that were illuminating the residency. "Jesus," Alice muttered as Noah pulled up along side a large black Range Rover that Alice knew to be Trey's.

"Yeah, it takes some getting used to." Noah agreed as they both got out of the car. From the back seat he retrieved his laptop and tucked it under his arm before locking the car. Alice waited patiently for him with her bottle of wine held tightly in her hand, her fur jacket pulled on. Noah admired her appearance once again as he walked towards her and smiled warmly as they made eye contact. "Ready?"

"Yeah," she replied softly and they walked together up the pristine stairs to the front door, which was unlocked and open ready for their arrival. "Does he just leave his door open like this usually?" Alice asked as they stepped in and Noah closed the door behind them.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "I think you'd have to have a death wish to try to steal from this family," he added then paused as Alice looked up at him. "Um, sorry that's not funny."

"It's okay," Alice chuckled quietly as she looked around herself. The interior was minimalistic.... with clean dark brown wooden floors and soft cream stone walls with big paintings every now and then. The colour scheme stuck with deep brows, white and creams and a few reds every now and then. The house was perfectly organised, and as Noah showed her the way towards where he assumed the others would be, she couldn't help but wonder why anyone in their right mind would throw a party in such a pristine environment. "It looks like no one even lives here," Alice muttered as they got closer to an open plan living area that looked like where the party was going to be held mainly.

"Magnus's parents travel a lot so usually it's just us here," Noah explained,

"Do you stay here a lot?" Alice asked as she tried to distract herself as they descended down the stairs into a lower level, she could see a bar and could hear the voices of a few people that made her stomach flip with nerves.

"Usually just on the weekends," Noah replied and looked back at Alice as she fixed her hair again and glanced around her cautiously. "Are you-"

"Noah!" Trey cheered happily as he noticed the two just coming off the last step and into the lower level. "And Alice!" He added, seeing the petite blonde looking slightly nervous as she stood behind Noah. "Uh," he began, standing up to go over to greet them as most of Magnus's friendship group turned around to see who had just arrived. "What's up guys?" He asked, coming over to speak to them directly.

Alice recognised most of them, and realised everyone here was in the inner-circle, the Summerland High School social elite, and obviously didn't want her there. She felt her cheeks redden and looked away, wondering if she could excuse herself to the bathroom and hide until the party began. "Dude what are you doing?" Trey asked, coming closer and speaking in a hushed voice.

"What do you mean?" Noah asked, glancing at Alice then back at Trey. At that moment Magnus appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in olive green jeans and a black t-shirt that seemed to hang loosely against his muscles and compliment them at the same time. His hair was pushed back and away from his face, and he smoothed his hand over the style subconsciously as his eyes fell instantly on the glistening blonde hair of Alice Murphy at the bottom of the stairs.

He moved down the stair case silently, his eyes on the back of Alice's head the whole time as Trey and Noah talked.

"You know that this is just for close friends... he's gonna be pissed, man." Trey hissed then raised his eyebrows as he saw Magnus coming up behind Alice and Noah.

"No I won't," Magnus replied as he stepped off the last stair and smiled charmingly, which surprised both Noah and Trey, since he didn't greet either of them and looked at Alice directly. "You're a little early," he smirked, and she blushed deeply and glanced at Noah.

"She's helping me with the set up," Noah explained and tapped his laptop as Trey folded his arms to listen.

Magnus smiled emptily and glanced between Noah and Alice for a moment before he said anything else, his expression sent chills down Alice's spine but she managed to hold eye contact whilst he spoke. "Well... make yourself comfortable." He continued and glanced over her outfit before licking his lips and smiling a little wider than before.

"Thanks," Alice replied softly and tucked some hair behind her right ear and looked down. Magnus didn't linger after he'd heard her reply, and sauntered off to the bar where he retrieved a bottle of whiskey and poured himself a drink whilst he watched Alice discreetly turn to Noah and sigh heavily.

"So um," Alice began, noticing everyone around her was drinking already.

"Oh right yeah, alcohol," Noah replied quickly and glanced towards the bar, to see Magnus sipping his drink and watching him with an underlying hostile look. "I think there's some beer in the kitchen," he muttered, not wanting to confront Magnus at that moment...

~