Once an Alpha, Always an Alpha…

Over four years have passed since Massie left, and things haven't been the same. The Pretty Committee broke up long ago, and their old Alpha was the last thing on their mind this summer until a certain Alpha's plane lands in JFK…

Massie Block: Massie block had always been able to cope. Always, even when moving half-way across the world. She ruled Britain like Justin Bieber in a mall full of thirteen year old girls. She kept in touch with her NY friends, but it didn't take long until they spoke almost on a menstrual cycle. Now graduated from high school and ready to attend college back in the states with her British boyfriend, Massie is back in Westchester for her senior summer. She thought it would be like it used to be with her friends, but she's finding that their friendship is more out than last season's Prada bag…

Claire Lyons: A lot had changed in the years Massie had been gone. Layne was accepted into a arts school in the city, and it had been over a year since Claire had talked to her, and don't even get her started on Massie. It had also been over a year since Cam and Claire broke up. The PC was also gone. Everything was different from what Claire had thought her life would be like at this point. And she also didn't know what she was going to do after this. Now that Massie is back, everything is changing, and Claire thinks this could be for the better…

Alicia Rivera: Alicia's life has been perfect for the last few years, and she knows that isn't going to end. Leader of the dance team, Alpha of her high school, and the figure of every boy's fantasy, Alicia has everything. The only thing standing between her and the most elite dance school in the country is an audition which she knows she's going to ace. She thought that the biggest trouble on her mind would be how her summer fling would react from tan lines after all the time she spent tanning in the sun, but, when her old alpha gets back to Westchester, this summer may not be all Cosmos and tanning…

Dylan Marvil: Since she was a kid, she felt like the fat kid, but she doesn't really give a damn anymore. Why should she? She feels beautiful. She's smart. And she found her passion, acting. Now that her reality TV show is now just focusing on her mom, Dylan finally has the privacy she requires. Only a summer away from going to NYU under an acting major, Dylan is still wondering what ever happened to her old Alpha is fairing across the 'Pond', and she's about to get that chance to find out…

Kristen Gregory: Back in town after moving to Florida for her soccer career, Kristen is thinking about ending her soccer career. She's staying with her Aunt in Westchester to get away from her mom. Though she knows she can't do it, Kristen dreams of working as a scientist to find cures for sicknesses, but, now that she's back in the birth and death place of the one thing , the Pretty Committee, she couldn't find a cure for, Kristen wishes that she had Massie back as everything seemed

okay when she had Massie. And, now that Massie is back, will it be the same, or will it be even more painful than the first time?

Four Years Ago…

Claire's POV,

I sat down in between Dylan and Kristen on the shag rug of Olivia's dance studio.

It had eight months since Massie left, and nothing had been the same, just as we knew it wouldn't.

My heart began to hurt like I had just plunged a knife into it when I thought about Massie. The last Claire had heard from her was that she was going on a retreat with her boyfriend, James, and she wouldn't be able to communicate for at least two weeks.

That was three weeks ago.

I remembered Massie's name for us all.

GLU.

We all thought it was something clever for her to say, but she had been literally speaking. Massie was our glue. No, she was like crazy glue, and we hadn't even known that she was the one thing keeping us together. Alicia had tried to be that crazy glue, but, instead, she was just the crazy part. Alicia was like a bobby pin.

It'll keep us together for a while, but it quickly starts to fall.

We all knew the end was near, even though we acted like we didn't.

I tightened my grip on my perfume bottle, knowing that I would soon be in pain.

"You guys made it," Alicia smiled weakly as she wrapped her winter-white cardigan closer around her. The new school year started in the morning, and we had all been asleep when we got texts saying to immediately come over. The clock read 1:10 AM, and I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight. I thought back to home.

We had finished moving in a while back, and I loved it. It would have been impossible to get out of Massie's old house, but all I needed to do with this house was climb out of my window and onto the gazebo below. I had almost been asleep when my Motorola buzzed from my bedside table. I grabbed it out of it's charger with a moan and read the text.

PC meeting at my place. Bring CP.

-Leesh

CP meant "Claiming Perfume"

So, either we were about to get a new member, or this was the moment that I had been dreading for the last eight months. I got out of bed and slid into a pair of Forever 21 jeans. Grabbing my cell phone and a black blazer to go over my Tinkerbelle tee shirt, I slid out of my window. It didn't take me long to get to Leesh's, and I found my three best friends sitting in her room.

Alicia put a clear bowl in the middle of the circle, and I knew this was the end.

When I got accepted, I had to go through a ceremony. I brought my favorite perfume and made it my CP. The group put a spray of their CP in the water, and I put mine in last. Finally. We each put our hand in it at the same time, and we were bound to each other. The only way to end that was to do the exact same thing.

"I'll go-go first," Kristen stuttered, and we all watched with pain as she picked up her bottle of perfume. Her hands trembled as she pressed the button, and the warm scent of apples filled the air.

Dylan bit her lip as she sprayed her perfume, and the smell of a sweet shop mingled with apples.

I felt like dying as my hand brought up my bottle. My eyes watered, and I was astonished I could even hold the bottle without dropping it. My heart so much that I thought I was going to have a heart attack, and I became scared of pressing the button.

But I did.

My body felt weak and hollow as I set the bottle down in front of the bowl. I hugged my knees and watched Alicia steadily. We all did. She waited for a moment before raising her head high and bringing out her perfume.

She sprayed it.

I choked back a sob.

"I love you guys," I spoke first, not ready for it all to be over just yet.

"I love you guys, too," Dylan's eyes watered.

"Same here," Kristen let a stray tear fall down her rosy cheek.

"This is for the best," Alicia spoke in pain, but I still wanted to kill her.

"Before we do this," Dylan spoke up, "I just want one more promise."

We all urged her to go on with our eyes.

"Don't forget about us. Don't forget about our good times. Or our bad times. Or our boys times…." Dylan choked back a cry, "Don't forget about Massie."

We all nodded and turned our attention to Alicia.

"Hands over the bowl."

We did as she said.

"One."

My heart began to hurt.

"Two."

Memories of the last few years swirled through my mind. This was the only life I had, and I didn't know how to let it go. These girls meant everything to me.

But it was over.

"Three."

Real Time,

Massie Block:

As I walked through JFK, I looked at myself in the window's reflections.

My hair had just been straightened yesterday by the best stylist money could get in London, and she had totally hit the mark. Thanks to the Champaign on the plane, courtesy of first class, I looked and felt completely relaxed. My curvy body was shown off in a pair of Seven Jeans, a lilac peasant blouse, and a black cardigan. I boarded in a pair of Juicy Sweats, but I changed early that morning on the plane.

It was going to be my first day back in Westchester since Thanksgiving, when I flew home to Grandmother's, and I knew I had to look good. Gossip here travels faster than H1N1 at a kissing booth.

On left arm, towards the reflection I was looking at, I held a black Prada tote that had been a present from my boyfriend, James. And on the right arm, I had James, who I forced my attention to.

He was about 6'3, making him four inches taller than me. He had ignored me and let his curls grow out instead of getting it cropped, and I was happy he did that as it made him look even more adorable. His skin was a British tan, but it was an American normal. It had been a chore to get him to put the grey sweater I bought him over his 'KISS Rugby' tee shirt, but, when I promised to spend the entire next day with him with our door locked instead of shopping, he immediately pulled the sweater on. It was hard to think that James and I had been together for three years now.

We had met on the plane when I was coming to London, and we quickly became friends. Best friends, actually. He knew me better than anyone, and he gave me this new world. It was like the world Claire had grown up in, except for more chic and elite. Some of my best friends became guys. It was okay to have flaws. Name Brands weren't everything. My best friends weren't just pretty and mean, but they were all so different. One was the daughter of a singer who moved there to get away from the paparazzi, and another was a girl whose teenage parents left her at the doorstep and, even though she loves the woman who raised her, she used that anger to write her Sci-Fi novels. I hadn't been able to tell James how I felt until Christmas time the next year. He came over to study, and we got caught under mistletoe, and the rest was history.

It was also hard to believe that it had been four years since I moved away from Westchester.

I almost felt like a tourist in the place I had spent the largest portion of my life.

"So, refresh my memory on the plan for this summer," James smiled, and his blue eyes drifted down to me. I felt my heart flutter like a butterfly when he did that, just as it always did.

"We're renting a condo in town for the summer. Isaac will check up on us every now and then, but we'll be alone other than that. You'll go to your lectures, and I have a job lined up as a personal shopper to make my parents happy," I smiled my chemically-whitened-teeth-smile.

James was PreMed, and he had gotten into a class here in Westchester to learn about the line of work he wants, and I immediately opted to come with him instead of spending my summer laying out by a barely-there sun. His parents, who knew he would need help in another country, loved the idea and gave their approval, but my dad was harder. It took him about three weeks for me to get him to let me come, but I did it.

Sure, I had to work, but he was still paying for everything. The money I get from their instantly goes to my college money. James will be in class most of the day, but it beats not seeing him at all for the next few months. Besides, it never takes me long to make friends, especially if I'm a personal shopper.

"I can't wait to see you with a full-time job," James shook his head, and I narrowed my amber eyes.

"I've had a job before, James."

"You babysat your neighbors. Then you became the president of the dance committee, making you stop that. You sold make-up as a kid, but that fizzled out when you paid off your debt. You worked at a store in London, but then you quit because SAT time rolled around. You worked at a coffee shop but kept spilling it on the customers-" James was probably going to name every job, and why I no longer had it, when I stopped him.

"There's Isaac!"

Isaac looked different from when he worked for us. After we had to let him go because my dad lost all of his money, Isaac went to work for someone else and started going back to college. Then he got an idea. It took a year, but he finished his first manuscript. The publisher loved the story of him being the one who really raised me, and so did the public. He kept writing, and he quickly became insanely rich, making me wish I could do that for myself.

His smile widened when he noticed me, and I ran away from James and into Isaac's warm hug.

"I missed you," I smiled, still in his hug. It had been only a few weeks since Isaac boarded a plane to come to my high school graduation, but that didn't matter. I still missed him like crazy.

"I missed you to, Massacre," he told me, and I smiled at my old nick name.

I hadn't heard that in years, and I really missed it.

Isaac let go of me, and I noticed that James had caught up and was standing beside me.

"I've heard wonderful things, James," Isaac shook James's hand.

"Well, you raised a wonderful girl," James smiled wide, and Isaac did the same.

Score one for James.

"Your bags have already been sent to the condo, right?" Isaac asked, and I quickly nodded my head.

About half an hour later, we were sitting in Isaac's Range Rover, and he and James were having a conversation.

Not wanting to hear about school, I took my Droid out of my Prada tote. I fished through the many pictures I had taken, and I settled for the one of me in front of the sign that read London-NYC at the airport and pressed the send message.

First, I sent it to my best British friends: Wyatt- a gay guy who had better fashion sense than me, Quinn- that writer I told you about earlier, Robin- a rugby-mate of James's who was also my friend, Strawberry (Penelope)- nicknamed for her hot pink hair, Strawberry is the badass of the group who loves Vogue like it's her lifeline.

Just got off flight. Missing London already :'(

I pressed the send and made a new message.

I attached the picture and went through my contacts.

Alicia

Claire

Dylan

Kristen

The contacts hadn't been touched in years, and I could basically feel the digital cobwebs. I didn't even know if the numbers worked as the pictures were still from when we were like fourteen, but it was worth a try.

I'm back.

And send.