Alice woke up to the sound of her bedroom door creaking open and felt her muscles tense before she heard her mother whispering for her father to be quiet. Alice kept her eyes closed, letting her parents think that they'd successfully snuck in...

Quietly she listened to her parents rustle and tip toe around her room, whispering a little too loudly before about five minutes before they left, pulling the door closed behind them. As soon as it shut Alice opened her eyes and lifted her head, seeing the balloons tied to her bed and the pile of presents under a two larger balloons in the shape of a one and a seven.

She wasn't meant to be up for another fifteen minutes, but flung her duvet back and climbed out of bed and walked a little sleepily over to her presents to count them. There were seventeen of them, some very small, some weird shapes, one or two that were big, all of them in white wrapping paper with a pink bow. She smiled happily, appreciating how much effort her parents put in to her and her sisters birthdays and sat down with her legs crossed, deciding to open one.

She hummed the happy birthday song to herself and giggled quietly as she delicately opened one of the smaller presents, seeing a pair of earrings in the shape of an white fluffy Pom-Pom. "Awe," She cooed, smoothing her thumb over the material...

She opened another smaller present, revealing two live lokai bracelets that she'd been talking about a few months ago. She grinned and slid them on immediately, loving how much they matched her white nails and then excitedly read the leaflet that came with the box...

After a moment or so she could hear footsteps heading back up the stairs leading to her room, so she quickly got up, putting her presents back down and climbed back into bed so her parents would have the satisfaction of waking her up singing like they did every year. And just like Alice expected, moments later her door gently opened, and her parents began singing happy birthday gently whilst holding a large white cake that was flavoured with lemon tasting icing.

Alice pretended to wake up, and sat up smiling warmly, seeing her sister stood there grinning with a collection of cards all addressed to Alice. They gathered beside Alice's bed and let her blow the candles from the cake out before they put it down on a space on her nightstand. "Thanks guys," Alice smiled, taking her hair out of its messy bun so it fell around her shoulders in a slight tangled mess.

"Happy birthday sweetheart," Richard beamed, "Seventeen!" He grinned, waving his hands excitedly which made Alice laugh.

"On this day, seventeen years ago, I gave birth to you-" Sophie began, starting off the yearly traditions with Alice's birth story. She'd been born at three-thirty-four in the morning after sixteen hours of labour, weighing nearly seven pounds exactly and had an almost full head of hair too. Alice laughed gently, listening to the story she could almost mouth off by heart as she read her cards, having some from distant relatives, family friends, her grandparents, which to her delight gave her a large sum of cash, that fell out onto her lap when she opened the card.

Not long after Alice began opening her presents in bed that her sister excitedly bought over for her, and cooing and aweing at the collection of things her family had put together. Clothes, books, make up, little trinkets and notebooks that she could use for school. She beamed silently, then thanked her parents with a warm smile. "And there is one more thing," Richard said, stepping out the room briefly before he walked back in with something behind his back. "Now... you know we don't really approve of such unnecessarily expensive technology but-"

Alice squealed almost instantly as her father revealed a fairly large white streamlined box with the Apple sign on the side of it. She wiggled in excitement as her parents laughed, watching as she grabbed the box enthusiastically and snatched the lid off, gasping at the sleek large black iPhone that shimmered at her. "Oh my god, is this the-?!" She gasped quickly, glancing at the side of the box and seeing the name of the newest generation that had only been release a few months before. The phone cost more than her laptop, and even when she held it she could feel the weight of its price with her fingers. "Oh my god, thank you guys so much." She sighed, hugging the phone to her chest.

"You deserve it Alice, your grades this year have been excellent." Sophie smiled warmly, "and we've got all the decorations from your party, thanks to Candice's list, and we'll be out the house tonight for youth date by seven, like we agreed last night." She continued, causing a light blush to rise in Alice's cheeks.

She'd forgotten about the date... and felt nervous butterflies suddenly swarm her stomach. "Thanks," she breathed, glancing up and at both of her parents.

"Well, we'll let you get dressed." Sophie then said, sighing in content that her daughter liked her presents. "There's a special breakfast waiting for you downstairs when you're ready!"

Alice said a little quiet as her parents left the room, then glanced down at her new phone whilst she got out of bed and began to set it up. It didn't take her long to put all her new information in and download new apps, and she knew she could finish the rest at school, so she reluctantly put it down then got ready, showered and washed her hair then spent a few extra minutes using her hair curlers when it was dry to curl the ends of her long hair.

She dressed herself in a soft knitted turtle neck and a checked pleated mini skirt in black and white, that she matched with her white sneakers and sheer clear tights that would keep her legs warm, since she could already tell by looking outside that it would be cold, even though the sky was blue. Frost had gathered at the corners of the window, exposing the temperature for what it really was, even if the sun was beaming so brightly that early in the morning...

... after a breakfast of heart shaped pancakes and strawberries Alice was picked up by Candice and Fei in her bright blue Mini Cooper. They greeted her by playing in da club by 50 Cent very loudly at eight in the morning, causing Alice to hurry down her drive to get them to stop. "Happy Birthday!" Candice and Fei cheered loudly letting off party poppers as Alice got into the passenger seat

"Thank you," she laughed, putting up the windows so the music wouldn't disturb the whole street even if there weren't that many houses.

Candice pulled away from the curb quickly, pressing her foot on the accelerator and carelessly driving as she reached for her coffee and threw some of it back, not bothering to signal as she turned out into the main road at the end of Alice's street.

Alice was used to Candice's reckless driving by now that she didn't react to it, however Fei in the back seemed a little nervous, even though she was still murmuring the words to the songs playing. It didn't take them long to pull up into a parking space outside school, the day still bright, cold and crisp. There seemed to be an extra spring in everyone's step that day, smiling faces and rosy cheeks as people opened their lockers to love letters and flowers from their partners, if they had them.

"Happy birthday Alice," a group of girls said as Candice, Fei and Alice walked past them and up the stairs.

"Thank you," she smiled warmly, walking into the school and seeing all the decorations still up, along with more advertisements for Prom in two weeks on the 1st of March. Throughout the day Alice received birthday wishes from different people, which built her enthusiasm for her birthday party tomorrow since she'd been asked about what to wear several times that day by lunch time.

The three girls were sat at their usual table in the cafeteria as Alice read the card she received from Fei and Candice for her birthday. "This is so cute," she giggled, seeing the pretend vouchers for alcohol, friend dates or spa days. "Thank you guys," she smiled, having also received a basket from them filled with face masks, moisturisers, body lotions, candles and make up.

"So are we gonna go buy our prom tickets today?" Candice asked as Alice neatly put her card away in her bright red leather handbag.

"Yeah," Alice agreed as Fei hummed in agreement as she ate her lunch.

"Are we taking dates?" Candice asked, having seen out of the corner of her eye a particular person of interest that was now making their way over to their table. Alice hummed now too, looking down at her lunch, unsure of what her answer would be since it would definitely depend on how tonight went. "Oh hey," Candice then said lightly as Jasper approached with two of his friends, and a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

Alice glanced up and felt her cheeks warm immediately, seeing the bouquet of pink tulips in his hands. Her heart clenched in her chest, as if it was unsure of how to react since she'd never really experienced such a public display of genuine affection before... at least not sober anyway. "Hey," Jasper said gently, obviously not phased by the sudden glances of other students or Alice's friends who were smiling enthusiastically. "Happy birthday," he continued, his voice still that low rasp that made Alice want to melt quietly. He sat down next to her and offered her the flowers, and she took them and felt a little lost for words.

"Thanks," she murmured quietly, looking down at the pink flowers and feeling her blush deepen. Her stomach fluttered as she looked back at Jasper, who was smiling warmly at her. She didn't know what to say again, and just watched him through her lashes... the energy moved between them again and she could feel it pulling her closer to Jasper as he looked back at her with a gentle confidence.

"So," Candice said, seeing Alice giving Jasper a certain look, and decided to mind her business and turn to the others, which included Jasper's friends; Freddie and Tyler.

Alice seemed to cuddle the flowers to her chest, wondering why she felt so attached to them so quickly as she sat quietly. "Are you still up for tonight?" Jasper asked, his voice low even though he noticed that the others had started up their own conversation.

"Yeah of course," Alice replied, reaching up to tuck some of her hair behind her ears. "My parents are going out, and taking my sister with them, so we'll have the house to ourselves for a bit." She informed him, glancing at his lips then back to his eyes.

"Really," He murmured, watching her carefully and smirking just a little. He tried not to think about what she meant by that, if she meant anything by it at all and smiled, feeling the excitement bubbling away inside of him. She nodded and smiled too, wanting to sit closer to him but she fought the urge to flirt as heavily as she wanted to. "What did you get for your birthday?" He asked, making himself comfortable in his seat then extending his arm behind Alice's. The movement was so casual she almost didn't notice it, but it ignited little sparks of intense attraction inside of her when she did.

"I got these earrings." She said, tucking her hair behind her ear and showing him. He complimented them gently, making her smile more at the attention. "And this," She continued, putting her hand into her bag and pulling out her new phone, which then slipped from her fingers as she turned to show him.

It landed in Jasper's hand as he caught it, saving it from hitting the floor. "Oh my god," Alice breathed, having heard the shocked gasps from around the table since a dropped new phone was almost as dramatic as a fight. "Fuck, thank you," Alice rushed, feeling her heart racing as Jasper calmly gave her phone back to her. He chuckled lightly, but could understand the adrenaline rush. "My parents would skin me alive if I broke it on the first day I got it,"

"You should get one of those wrap around cases. The rubber ones." He replied, "some come with a handle." He added and smirked as Alice rolled her eyes playfully and checked her phone for any damage anyway. "So... you have a working phone now?"

"Yeah," she replied, since the phone she'd borrowed from her parents before had been so old it grew too slow when downloading any extra apps. So all she really had from before was safari and texts. They both knew communication would be easier with Alice's new phone and smiled at the same time. "I have a new number too, so." She said, even though anyone barely used phone numbers to talk to each other these days she decided to give it to him anyway.

From across the cafeteria, just walking up to the line for burgers, Magnus, Trey and Charlie pushed in front of a couple of freshmen, who didn't have the guts complain. "I don't know why you would want to eat this shit when we could go out." Magnus muttered, folding his arms as he glanced around the cafeteria.

"They're weirdly tasty," Charlie replied, "and I'm on campus lock for pushing that kid the other day." He added, expressing last minute that he was being punished for bullying. "You know they called me a bully." He continued, "a fucking bully, for that. I swear the younger generations wouldn't last a fucking week if they were freshmen when we were freshmen."

"Bullying isn't nice, Charlie." Trey reminded and Charlie scoffed loudly, which caused him to laugh loudly too. Magnus was silent, since his eyes had now found a sight that he didn't like. His eyes were fixed on Alice Murphy, who was sat across the cafeteria at her usual table, next to a guy she was evidently flirting with. All the body language was there, touching her hair, smiling, seeming to laugh or smile coyly at everything he said...

He continued to stare, unable to look away as he saw the flowers in her arms. "What?" Trey asked, seeing Magnus staring blankly but intently at something, so he looked over too... and noticed Alice with her flowers, next to the same brunette guy who they had seen before.

"Did you ever find out who that was?" Magnus asked and trey raised his eyebrows,

"Was I supposed to?" Trey asked, turning to look at Magnus now.... who said nothing in response and forced himself to look away. "I can find out if you want."

"No." Magnus muttered, "I'm going out to lunch now." He then said, walking off without another word and causing Trey to raise his eyebrows even more in shock. He watched Magnus leave then looked back to Alice, who was still very much occupied with this new guy...

~

It was the end of the school day for most, finally, but to two particular individuals, the school day had ended a little early. They'd left the campus grounds an hour or so before they were meant to, and sat next to each other as one drove the other home.

"Thanks for lift." Noah murmured unsurely, even though he had this car with him at school, which he had instructed for his girlfriend, Olive, to drive home instead.

"Do you have it?" Magnus asked, his hands gripping the steering wheel as he stared straight ahead.

"Uh, yeah," Noah replied, pushing his glasses up his nose as he opened up his miniature laptop that he carried around with him in his backpack. He wasn't sure why Magnus had asked him to look into the guy that he had, but he did anyway, and wondered if this was Magnus's new target. "So his full name is Jasper Deo Savva-Hunt, um, his father is Greek-Canadian, his mom is from New Jersey, but they moved to Canada about four years ago apparently... um, for some unknown reason really, however there was an accusation against him I found from about four-ish years ago for putting some kid into the hospital because of a fight but no charges were ever formally filed. His mom, Lana, is a yoga Instructor, she's kind of a mini-celebrity I think, nothing strange I found there..." he trailed off and glanced at Magnus, wondering when he should stop but Magnus kept silent. "But I didn't find that much on his dad, this website I got access to shut me out after a few seconds."

"Shut you out?" Magnus asked,

"Yeah I had to dig a little deeper on the Internet," Noah said, suggesting he had to step into the dark web which made Magnus raise his eyebrows. "And I found a website with some info on him but after a second, literally, it shut me out. It disabled my computer, so I have to sort that out when I get home."

"It disabled it? Completely?" Magnus asked, furrowing his eyebrows tightly as they pulled into Noah's road. He nodded as sighed heavily, knowing it would take a while to get back. Silence settled in the car as Magnus pulled up outside Noah's house and turned off the cars engine... "Let me know whatever else you can find-" he began but stopped as he noticed that the front of Noah's door had been kicked in.

"What the fuck." Noah spat, getting out the car quickly as Magnus opened his car door and got out too, wanting to see what had happened. They walked up to the front of the house, pushing open the slightly broken door carefully and stepping inside...

Everything seemed somewhat untouched as they moved through the house silently, barely making a noise as they examined the property, wondering what could have been taken. It was only when they got upstairs to Noah's attic room, that they noticed his desktop was gone. All two-screens, the keyboards, the hard drive. All of it. "Fuck!" Noah cursed loudly, walking over to where it was and looking around the area as if to see if it had fallen behind the desk. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he continued to curse, his stress levels rising as he realised how much information whoever had taken the hard drive now hard if they looked hard enough.

Magnus stared at Noah, already assuming why he was so frantically cursing. "How much was on there?" He asked, his voice calm and fairly eerie.

"Everything." Noah muttered, not wanting to look at him since there were a few hundred things that could incriminate himself, Magnus and all of his friends too. "It's encrypted but..."

"Whoever took it knew what they were looking for, right?" Magnus replied, and Noah looked up at him slowly as he folded his arms, his heart beginning to race even faster. Magnus stared at him with a hard look, knowing that this happened because of Noah looking into who Jasper's father was. Which only told him he didn't want to be found.

He turned around and walked off, considering he knew he had put Noah in this situation it wasn't as if he could punish Noah for following his request. He stormed out of Noah's house and back to his car, his mind attempting to figure out how he could resolve the problem that had now landed in his lap. Someone was going to know everything about him very, very soon.

* * *

Alice sighed heavily as she checked over her appearance, now freshly showered and dressed in soft ribbed blue leggings and a matching crop tank top, her hair in soft, long waves, and her make up minimal, but present either way.

"Are you not getting dressed, honey?" Sophie asked as she dropped off some fresh laundry in a white basket into Alice's room, dressed in what she was wearing to go out to dinner. "He'll be here soon."