"It is brilliant. You organized such a cool do! Nobody in London does this anymore. Good job, Lee." The girl says to Leo in a thick accent.
"Actually, the Eagles put it together." He flatly responds, his face dropping.
"I'm Valerie. And you?" I say.
"Hi, I'm Aspen! So nice to meet." Aspen grimaces at me.
"Aspen and I pretty much grew up together. Uh, we've known each other since we were five, right?" Leo asks her.
"We're childhood sweethearts. My dad's a diplomat, and our family moved to LA when I was in kindergarten. And it was a nightmare at first, but then I met this guy. Do you know how many songs he's written for me?"Aspen chuckles and Leo looks down at the floor.
"No, how many?" I say, crossing my arms.
"Hundreds, maybe? Anyway, my lifelong dream was to study singing at the London Conservatory. So, we decided to have and LDR."
"LDR?" I state.
"Long distance relationship." She says, holding Leo's hand.
I slowly nod as I ignore Leo's stare on me.
"You know what's really ironic, is that it was me who suggested he apply to this school in the first place. Isn't that funny?" Aspen cheeses at him.
"Hilarious." I nod.
||
"So, she's Leo's girlfriend?" Carter asks me.
I shrug, raising my eyebrows at him as I couldn't help but let the tears fall from my eyes.
"Hey, stop it. He's not worth it." Carter says, rubbing my back.
"I just don't understand how he could've kept something like this from me." I say as I feel the breeze blowing over my dress.
"What don't you understand? He thought he could have you both." He says and I scoff, leaning back against the bench.
"Just when things were going perfectly...then she showed up. You should've seen the look on Leo's face when he saw that Aspen girl. It was like he saw a ghost." I say.
"What a prick. If you want, I could go beat him up for you." He says.
"Carter, no. You say he isn't worth it, but he is to me. We understood each other and I really thought we were taking it to the next level." I say, wiping my tears.
"This is the second time he's led you on. All it takes is one punch." He says to me.
"You know what, I don't need this. I wanna go home." I say.
"Hey, you're not going anywhere, you hear me?" Cater says as he wraps an arm around me and I lean my head on his shoulder.
"Yeah." I sniffle as he rubs my shoulder.
"Is that Daniel's mom? Look, what is she doing over there?" Carter says and I pull away from him, following his gaze.
"Maybe she's after you." I joke.
"Oh, very funny." He half grins at me.
"You just happen to spend the whole night with his girlfriend." I say and he scoffs.
"Yeah." He admits and we both begin to laugh.
"Hey, go back. Have fun. I'm fine." I tell Carter.
"Come on." He says as he trills his lips.
He gets up from the bench and holds his hand out in front of me.
"Come on, get up. The prettiest girl at the Greenhouse is not going to bed before ten o'clock." He states.
"Okay." I give in and he helps me up.
"If you want, I can accidentally punch him in the face." Carter suggests as he clenches his fist up at me.
"Shut up." I laugh as he puts his arm around me.
||
"Strange." I comment, looking around the whole room, standing next to Carter.
"Hi, everyone. This has been such a wonderful evening for me, and I just...I feel that I want to give something back to all of you. I would like to sing for you this aria by Puccini which I...so fancy. This is for a special someone who opened my eyes up to a whole new world of music." Aspen says and she starts to sing.
My eyes widen as I hear a few pitch problems in her voice.
Jackie gives me a look and I frown at her.
"Valerie can sing!" Carter says aloud and everyone looks at me.
"Uh, excuse me?" Aspen says into the mic.
"My sister over here, can also sing." Carter says again.
"Carter, what the hell are you doing?" I say to him.
"Showing Leo what he's missing out on." He says and my stomach churns.
"Carter-"
"Valerie, Valerie, Valerie!" Carter starts to chant and soon enough, everyone joins him.
"Val, Val, Val!" Everyone chants and I grin as I slowly walk on the stage.
Aspen huffs and leaves and I chuckle as I fix the mic.
"Uh, as you could tell, this wasn't planned. But I do have some songs prepared that I wrote months ago and some recently. I wrote this song a few weeks ago, it's called Home With You. I hope you like it." I say and Carter sends me a smile.
I hand the DJ my phone for him to play the instrumental for the song.
It starts to play and I take a deep breath before I begin to sing.
"I ain't got no time for no games, tell me what you like but it's never goin' change. So you do what you wan-wanna do, and I'm not going home with you, home with you." I start to sing.
"Whoo!" Carter exclaims as everyone starts to dance along.
"I'm not being rude, can you give me my space, cause I do what I wan-wanna do, and I'm not going home with you, home with you." I continue and I start to smile.
"She's amazing!" I hear Alex tell Carter.
I give Alex a smile as I continue to sing until I finish.
Once I did, everyone clapped and cheered for me. Cater gave me the biggest hug the in the world and Alex and I started talking and getting to know each other. Even though he's an Eagle, he's a really nice guy.
||
"Alright, Eagles, Ravens, it's time for our annual Halloween dance off!" Sophie announces into the mic.
"Whoo!" Max cheers, clapping along with everyone and I chuckle at him.
"You know the rules. Let's all get into a circle. We'll take turns dancing in pairs, and the couple that gets the loudest applause wins! Good luck!" Sophie says and we all clap once again.
"Hey, are you alright?" Hayley says as Emma and Max start dancing.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I say to Hayley.
"Good. I saw you having a good time with my brother. I'm so happy he made you laugh." She says.
"Yeah, me too. Alex is really nice. You're lucky to have him." I grimace at her.
"Are you sure that's all?" She asks, squinting her eyes at me.
"Yeah. Alex and I are friends. Even if he is an Eagle, he doesn't act like one." I say, turning my head and I catch him staring at me.
"I don't think he sees it as that." Hayley mutters into my ear.
Alex then gets in the dance circle and points at me.
"No." I mouth, shaking my head at him.
He then walks over and pulls me onto the dance floor.
"Thank god I wore sneakers that matched this dress." I say to him and he chuckles as we start dancing.
"You'd look great in anything." He says and I smile at him as everyone cheers for us.
"Go, Alex!" Hayley cheers.
"Yeah, Val! Whoo!" Carter shouts.
||
"Okay, guys. The time has come. You all danced beautifully today. But I think you can all agree with me in this one, that the prize goes to the most unexpected performance of the night. Max and Emma, you're our new king and queen! Congratulations!" Sophie says and I cheer for them as everyone claps.
"We did it!" Max says and he hugs Emma.
"Ladies first." Sophie says, taking the crown off the cushion that Parker is holding.
"Thank you." Emma cheeses as she fixes the tiara on her head and more claps are added.
"Attaboy, Max." Parker says as Sophie places the crown on Max's head.
"I think we should've won." Alex says, lightly nudging me and I chuckle at him.
||
"Great party. Best ever." Jackie says as I watch Leo slow dance with Aspen.
"Have you ever seen that Jim Carrey movie? You know, the artsy one?" Hayley asks us.
"Yeah." I say and Jackie just shakes her head.
"Anyway, in that movie, there's an agency that erase memories." Hayley starts.
"Especially ones that have to do with relationships." I finish her sentence as I cross my arms.
"Finally, a movie I'd like to see. I wouldn't mind erasing the past two hours." Jackie says and I chuckle, turning to her.
"Looks like you have a visitor." Hayley says and Alex walks up to me.
I notice Hayley give her brother a nod as she walks off, using the restroom.
"Hi." Alex says.
"Hey." I smile at him.
"Do you wanna dance with me?" He offers and I could tell he was nervous, which I thought was kinda cute.
"Sure." I grin and he smiles as I take his hand.
We get to the dance floor and we start slow dancing. Sparks shoot through me as his hand rests on my waist and out hands are connected.
"You were really amazing tonight. That song, you're voice and even your crazy dancing." He says and I chuckle.
"Thank you, Alex. You had some good moves out there yourself." I say.
"It's all in the hips." He jokes and I laugh.
"That's for salsa, silly." I say and he chuckles, shaking his head.
"Is there anything you can't do?" He asks.
"I can't whistle." I shrug as my hands are still wrapped around his neck.
"Me neither!" He grimaces and we both laugh.
"I heard about the Leo and Aspen thing. I'm so sorry, Valerie. You don't deserve to be treated like that. Leo doesn't know what he lost." Alex says.
"Thank you, you're sweet." I smile up at him and he smiles down at me, due to our height difference.
"Yo. What the hell do you think you're doing, dancing with my girl?!" I hear Daniel shout and the music stops.
I turn to see Daniel getting in Carter's face.
"Oh, no." I say, turning on my heels and I can sense Alex following me.
"I'm not anyone's girl, and you're making a fool out of yourself." Brooke says to Daniel.
"You know what? You ain't nothing but a liar and a cheat." Daniel says to Brooke.
"Hey, leave her alone." Carter says to him.
"Cater." I say but he ignores me as I anxiously look at Alex.
"Excuse me?" Daniel says.
"Yeah." Carter simply says.
All of the sudden, Daniel picks up a cake and aims it at Carter but he easily ducks, dodging the shot.
"Daniel!" Sophie exclaims.
He ignores Sophie's warning and swipes all the food off the table, then regaining himself on his crutches.
"You and me, we're done." Daniel says to Brooke.
"Oh, you took the words right out of my mouth." Brooke spits at him.
Daniel then gives Carter one final glare, then walking off.
"Way to go, man. That was classic." Leo says to Carter and he turns around to face him.
Carter then looks at me and I shake my head at him. Rejecting whatever idea he has in his head.
He then nods his head at Alex and they stand still by the table for a second.
Then, out nowhere, Alex and Carter cake Leo in the face and I gasp.
"Now, that's classic." Carter quirks up at Leo's frosting covered face.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Aspen says to Carter.
Hayley and Jackie come speeding over to Aspen and they pie her in the face.
I smile, gasping and the girls high-five each other.
"Oh my god." Aspen gasps, wiping her face.
"Everybody, calm down! I command you to stop!" Sophie orders, running over to the scene.
"Hey, ladies." I hear Parker say to us.
"No, Parker!" We exclaim as he pours the big bowl of fruit punch on us.
"No!" Sophie exclaims.
"Food fight!" Becca and her friends exclaim and everyone goes crazy.
||
"Ugh, what a waste of good cake." Jackie says and I chuckle as I help her clean it up.
"I agree." I say.
"Did you ever find out about that agency that erases bad memories?" She asks me.
"I did. But by the time they got back to me, I told them it's not necessary, because I don't wanna erase that memory of you and Hayley shoving cake in Aspen's face." I say to her.
"And dancing with Alex." She says and I look up at her.
"Yeah, that too." I admit with a grin.
"The look on her face." Jackie says and I laugh as we begin to wipe off a table.
"I know. Best reaction ever." I say to her.
"Possibly new lover, three o'clock." Jackie says to me and I look up to see Alex talking with Parker and Sophie.
"Why are the Eagles here? They won the challenge." I say.
"Louis decided both houses should clean the mess up since the Eagles started the food fight." Jackie says and I nod.
"I'll be right back. I'm gonna thank him." I say and she nods as I stand up.
Parker and Sophie walk off just in time as I cross my arms, getting closer to him.
"Hey." I say to Alex.
"Hey." He greets me.
"I just wanted to say thank you for what you did last night. Even though it got you and your team in trouble." I say.
"You kidding? Leo was an asshole all to you all night. And besides, I always wanted to see what he would look like with whipped cream in that luscious hair of his." He beams and I chuckle.
"But still, thank you for defending my honor." I say to him.
"Of course. Every girl should be with a guy who treats them right." Alex says.
"Like you?" I say, looking up at him.
"Uh, yeah." He says, looking down at me.
We start to lean closer to each other and I wrap my hands around his neck, kissing him and he kisses me back.
"Woah." Alex breathes and I chuckle, smiling up at him.
Maybe it's time to move on and forget about Leo.