Alice POV

“What happened?”

I rolled my eyes. No greetings again; just straight to the point. If Elanor thought I lacked manners, I could only imagine how appalled she’d be if she heard Caden.

“I won… I think.” I answered into the phone.

“So… You’re coming back?” He asked anxiously.

“In a week. I’ll be back next Sunday.”

I heard a relieved sigh from the receiver accompanied by a muttered “Thank God!” that brought a smile to my face, knowing it indicated that Caden really wanted me back.

“What did you mean, you think you won?” The boy queried.

“Well, I won because I got what I wanted but…” Should I tell him? Would Caden be disappointed by what I used to reach my goal?

“But what?”

“I had to blackmail her,” I blurted the truth out before my guilt got the better of me and kept me silent.

There was a pause in which neither of us spoke and then the boy burst out in a laugh so loud, I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

“You… You’ve actually blackmailed Elanor?” He asked through his laughing fit. “And with what exactly?”

“I told her I’ll inform the Peacock why I was here if she didn’t allow me to go back.”

“Really?” A little bit of surprise was mixed with something else in his voice but whatever it was, it was definitely not disappointment. “Man, I wish I was there!”

“You do?”

“Alice, you finally stood up to your mother; of course, I would want to see that! Makes me kind of proud of you actually.”

“But… But I did something wrong!” I protested, ignoring how relieved I was by his reaction. “I blackmailed my own mother.”

“So?”

“What do you mean “so”?”

“Alice,” he started with a sigh, “I know Elanor is your mother, but…” Another loud breath left his lips while the boy seemed to be considering how exactly to express himself. “I have no idea how to say this nicely, so I’ll just say it: I. Don’t. Like. Elanor. I don’t like how she treats you, I don’t like how she makes you feel… I know she’s your mother and that you love her… Although how can you love someone like her is beyond me… Anyway… My point is that she got what was coming to her and that you should not feel guilty about it!”

“But she’s my mother.” My voice came out quiet and shaky.

“Alice… Alice, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you!” Cade’s tone was both worried and caring and I once again smiled, although still feeling upset.

“You didn’t. It’s just that… I do love her. No matter how she treats me and how much I pretend to ignore that… It affects me, because I love her.”

“Alice…”

“I wish you were here with me!” I shot out without thinking.

“Yeah, me too!”

*****

The cab dropped me off in front of the huge Miller mansion. No, I wasn’t exaggerating; Beth and Sky really did live in a mansion. The enormous house for relatives and family friends, the several smaller buildings for their many live-in servants, the vast gardens and stables… The Millers were truly living high on the hog.

I had barely rung the bell when the massive wooden door opened and I was faced by a tall, slender man in his sixties who wore a black and white uniform.

“Good morning, Ms. Green!” He greeted me civilly.

“Good morning, Alfred!” I smiled at the Millers’ butler.

“May I assist you with your luggage, Ms. Green?”

“No, thank you, Alfred, it’s just the backpack; I didn’t bring anything else!” I explained, pointing at the small rucksack I had on my back.

“Very well, Ms. Green. Young Mr. Miller and young Ms. Miller are waiting for you in the living room.”

“And I’ll be joining you very soon,” I heard a cheery melodic voice and turned around to be greeted by Beth and Sky’s mom who was beaming at me. “It’s so good to have you back, Alice!” She added, giving me a brief hug; one which I returned gladly.

“Have you been riding?” I queried, backing a little and looking at her beige jodhpurs and long black boots.

“Yep!” She replied still smiling. “You know how much I enjoy riding in the morning, but I plan to go for another round in the afternoon. You are welcomed to join me, of course! I know Star will be happy to see you.”

Star was my horse. Yes, I owned one. Catherine and Joseph, a.k.a. Mrs. and Mr. Miller, had given her to me for my tenth birthday. That way I could go with the twins whenever they rode Lightning and Thunder; the former being Beth’s mare and the later Skyler’s male horse.

A smile bloomed on my face at the mention of my own dark brown mare with the white star-shaped spot on her forehead. It’d been far too long since I last spent time with her!

“Shall we go in?” Catherine asked, tucking behind her ear a stray strand of blonde hair, the same shade as the twins’. Actually, their tall size was the only thing those two inherited from their father when it came to genetics. Everything else – the blue eyes, the fine features on their faces, they got from the small woman that grabbed me gently by the hand and led me into her home. I heard Alfred close the door behind us and looked back towards where he was supposed to be; but he had disappeared. I swear that man was like a magician! You could never hear when he came in or went out of a room and if you took your eyes off him for just a second, he was likely to have vanished into thin air once you turned around to face him again.

A plump, middle-aged woman carrying an empty try came out of the living room just as we were nearing the door.

“Hey, Martha!” I greeted one of the Millers’ maids.

“Oh, hello, Ms. Alice! It’s so good to have you back with us! I just brought some tea to the living room. And I prepared your bedroom this morning, so you can go right in and rest.”

“Thanks, but I’m not tired so I’ll hang with the twins for now.” I waved her goodbye and went into the room she’d just exited… and got tackled to the ground.

*****

“So this is your new way of greeting me?” The twins, who stood opposite me, let out a simultaneous “Huh?” and gave me identical quizzical looks. “Tackling me to the ground. You did it today and when you came to visit me at my aunts’, remember?”

They emitted another simultaneous sound, this time an “Oh!”, and nodded their heads.

“We’re thinking of making it a tradition,” Sky claimed matter-of-factly.

I laughed from my spot on Beth’s king-sized bed. We had moved here from the living room after I’d briefed them in on what happened at Elanor’s. Just like Caden, the twins tried to calm me down by saying they saw nothing wrong with my tactics. But Catherine, who was present during our conversation, shared my opinion and wasn’t very happy with what means I had to use. She did say that perhaps in this particular case I didn’t have much of a choice, that she’d probably do the same if she was me and that my mother’s character partially justified my actions, but I should consider other ways to achieve my goals.

I bit my lip while reflecting on the last part. Had there been any other way to get what I wanted?

I let out a surprised yelp as someone tickled me which caused my foot to jerk up and collide with Skyler’s thigh.

“Ouch! Be careful, will you?” He questioned, rubbing on the injured spot.

“I’ve told you many times, Sky: I’m not responsible for the injuries I inflict on you when you tickle me.”

“But you were spacing out; I just wanted you to snap out of it!”

“Well, it worked,” Beth stated through a giggle, earning a glare from her brother. “So what were you thinking about anyway?”

“Elanor.”

They both groaned.

“Can’t you think of something nice instead?” Sky questioned with a sigh.

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Beth butted in with a wicked grin on her lips. “Perhaps about something with short black hair and grayish-blue eyes?”

“And tattoos on both arms,” her brother piped up next to her. “Bet that will make you smile.”

I looked away from them, hoping they wouldn’t notice my burning cheeks.

“I don’t always smile when I think of Caden,” I murmured and crossed my arms in front of me defensively.

“Should we tell her now?” Sky asked his sister.

“Tell me what?” I questioned, snapping my head in their direction.

“I don’t know,” Beth ignored me and answered her brother instead.

“What? Tell me what?” I tried again.

“I don’t see why not.,” the boy kept conversing with his sister as if I’d said nothing at all. Oh, man, I hated it when they did that!

“Tell me WHAT?” I screamed the last word, hoping it will gain me their attention. They both looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

“You don’t have to shout at us, Alice!” Beth protested.

“But you’re not telling me…”

“We were getting to that,” Sky cut me off and gazed to his twin, who nodded her head. “We wanted to speak to you about Caden.”

*****

Bethany POV

“We wanted to speak to you about Caden,” my brother announced to Alice and the girl tensed up immediately. Oh, this was going to be one long conversation! But Sky and I had planed on discussing this subject ever since we heard about the boys and more particularly Caden. I got momentarily distracted thinking about another member of the trio.

“Bethany Miller, get a grip!” I mentally scolded myself. “This is not the time to be day dreaming about Asher! No matter how hot and funny and nice he is or how good he looked on those photos he sent you… Seriously Beth! Focus!”

“W-what about Caden?” Alice queried, hugging her knees. Now how were we going to take this on?

“When are the two of you getting together?” Sky asked and I slapped him on his shoulder.

“Ouch! Why are you two so violent today?” He questioned with a glare at me.

“We were supposed to be subtle about it!” I rebuked and slapped him again.

“Wait, wait! You two actually planed on bringing the subject up?” Alice narrowed her eyes at us with a reprimanding look… Not that it was going to keep my twin and I quiet.

“The thing we wanted to talk to you about is something that we promised to tell you,” I started to explain but judging by my best friend’s confused expression she had no idea what I was alluding to. “Remember when we were at your aunts’ and you called Caden, then you thought we were planning something because of the way we looked at each other?” She nodded. “Well, on our way to your place Sky and I were talking about how you sounded when you spoke about Caden so we thought that maybe you had feelings for him.”

“And our assumption was confirmed as soon as we saw that huge goofy smile you had just due to hearing his voice on the phone,” my twin added.

Alice bit her lip and started playing with the hem of her t-shirt.

“So… You guys think that I like Caden? That I like like Caden?”

“Don’t you?” We asked simultaneously.

Our friend let out a groan, swirled around and buried her face in one of the satin pillows on my bed.

“Maybe,” was her muffled response.

“Define “maybe”!” I ordered, leaning towards her. Alice lifted her head sideways so she could look at us before starting to explain:

“Well, here’s the thing…”

 *****

A/N: Guys, I get a lot of requests about picking a cast for my story, but I have no ideas on who to choose. Any suggestions? On the boys, on Alice or anyone else... If you have any ideas say so! Thanks so much and have an awesome day everyone! xo