Alex stood there, flabbergasted. He couldn't believe the way she had talked to him just then. Lost for words he could only watch as Riley left the bathroom in a huff. About a minute later two girls walked into the bathroom staring at Alex, wondering themselves if they had walked into the wrong one. "Sorry." Alex replied leaving the girls bathroom, scooching past the two girls and heading back down the hallway. He left through the front doors of the school and walked around the side of the main building sitting, leaning his back against the white wall. Whipping out his phone he began to send a text to Riley, explaining himself.

"I was only trying to see if you were okay... Worried about you." He contemplated making it longer but decided to leave it short and sweet.

"Hey babe." Emma spoke, walking up to Alex, "What are you doing around here?"

"Ah, nothing." He replied as Emma sat down beside him, pulling a packet of Marlboro lights out of her school bag and lit one up. Alex looked down at the cigarettes laying in her lap. She laughed,

"Do you want one?"

"Sure."

Emma rested her head on Alex's shoulder as she exhaled smoke, Alex doing the same, finding it harsh on his throat but in a strange way feeling a lot of stress relief.

The day went by slow for Riley. She kept to herself and didn't talk to anyone, only acknowledging Tiffany when she or one of the other blonde girls said something to her. When it was over, she rode with the blonde trio home and got out. She waved a quick good-bye to them before going in the house. "Riley, honey, your dad and I are going out, we'll be back late, will Alex and you be okay for a little while?" Riley nodded at her mom as she went into the kitchen. Where was Alex anyways? "Yeah, Mom. You and Dad have fun." She said, smiling. She grabbed her an apple and went to her room to do her homework.

Later that night, she went downstairs to make her some noodles. Her parents left about an hour ago, leaving just Alex and her home. When the noodles were finished, she went to sit on the couch and watch TV. She hadn't said much of anything to her parents or Alex. It was a little after eight and she felt tired, but not enough to fall asleep. She zoned out watching the TV, some TV show that was older she didn't really recognized. She blinked, feeling the tears start to come back again. Why am I so stupid... She said. She had been getting mean messages about the picture, so she just shut her phone off and left it up in her bedroom,

It hit about ten in the evening when Alex stuck his key into the keyhole and twisted, opening the door and closing it behind him. He walked past the sitting room and the noise of the TV caused him to look in, seeing Riley sitting alone. He looked around, most of the lights were off giving no sign of anybody else being at home. He arched his eyebrows and sighed before walking into the sitting room. "Where's mum and dad he asked?" Plopping himself down into one of the armchairs, the distinct smell of cigarettes coming from his clothes and breath. He leaned back in the chair and crossed one leg over the other stretching them on on the recliner.

"Did you get my text?" He asked, smiling warmly over at Riley. "I really didn't mean to upset you." He added, "I just want to look out for you." Crossing his legs in a yoga like position and lurching forward he threw a cushion over at Riley. "Come on, sis. It's not like it's the end of the world." He tried to cheer her up before his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket, Emma had texted him asking if he wanted to come back out, her parents were gone for the night and she apparently had a surprise.

"Sorry, with sister. Next time. xx" He replied.

Riley looked up when the door opened. She held her breath until she saw it was just Alex, then let it out. "They went out- date night." She said without looking over at him. Black and white credits were rolling on the screen, but she didn't take her eyes off the TV set. Riley wrinkled her nose in disgust as she looked over at him. "Cigarettes, Alex? Really. They cause cancer, you know. My great-grandad died from lung cancer thanks to smoking." She said with a frown. She just nodded when he asked if she got his text. "I hadn't much felt like talking to anyone today, Alex." She said softly, her mind straying back to the cruel messages she had on her phone.

She gasped when the cushion made contact with her right shoulder. "Alex!" She exclaimed, cracking a small smile for the first time that day. It disappeared as fast as it came. She took the cushion he had tossed at her and curled up with it. "No, it's not, but Alex, everyone has seen my naked body..." She said softly, looking away. "Tiffany took the picture- she said it was an accident, but I don't believe her. She may be popular, but not very smart. She set it all up just to humiliate me..." She said, shutting her eyes. "Jeremy is a part of it- she set him up to flirt with me, then sleep with me, so she can take the picture. They're not even real siblings- Jeremy is adopted." She said, digging her face into the pillow.

"I'm so stupid, Alex. I lost my virginity to a jerk when I should have been saving it for that special guy... but I gave in just to be popular.." She said, not having the courage to glance up at him. She just wanted to disappear.

"I haven't seen it." He muttered, looking up from his phone, "If that's any consolation..." He added, replying to Emma who was obviously disappointed by the fact that Alex wasn't coming over. They were texting back and forth but Alex was listening to everything Riley said. He nodded, "Never liked Tiffany." He agreed with her, "You know popularity doesn't necessarily mean someone is liked." He looked up from the phone and wagged his eyebrows at her.

"Jeremy... The guy you were dancing with at the party on the weekend, right?" Alex asked, his tone becoming more serious before his eyes glanced back down at his phone. "You're not stupid Riley, you weren't thinking but that doesn't make you stupid." He stood up from the chair, still wearing his jacket. He zipped it up, slipping the Sony Ericsson phone into his pocket. "I've got to go, probably won't be back tonight. I'm just going to bring my bag with me. See you in school!"

Riley sighed, mostly in relief. If Alex had seen it, that would have made things more awkward at home and school then they already were. She looked over at him and shrugged. "Yes, but right now she's all I have, Alex. You're always too busy with your new girlfriend." She said, looking away from it. It seemed he was spending all his time away from home with Emma. "I don't trust her myself, Alex." She said, shaking her head. When he mentioned about Jeremy being the guy she was dancing with, Riley nodded. "Yes- Jeremy Norman." She said and looked to the TV before her eyes widened and she shot off the couch.

"Alex George, you better not do anything like last time." She said, looking alarmed. "The last time you did, everyone turned against you, and me as well." She said, crossing her arms. "It's my mistake, let me live with it. You can't go beating up every guy who hurts me. I've got to learn from my own mistakes." She said and switched the TV off. "Well have fun doing whatever you go off to do." She said and walked past him, bumping into his shoulder as she went up the stairs and into her own bedroom, closing the door behind her.

She laid down on her bed and grabbed her pillow, curling up next to it. She closed her eyes and cried herself to sleep that night.

As Riley walked up the stairs, Alex recovered from being bumped by her before replying, "You started treating me like gum on the bottom of your shoe. Trading me for popularity before she showed any interest in me..." He called up to her, "Don't turn this around to make me the bad guy..." He left, closing the door behind him with a moderate thud before heading off to Emma's house, schoolbag slung over one shoulder.

---

Lunch tomorrow. Sounds good - Alex. Quickly pressing send on the touch screen of his phone he put his helmet on and started up the bike and headed towards the address he had taken down.

In the fifteen minutes that Alex had been driving he had crossed into a worse side of town. Honestly the place was a dump, houses had broken or boarded up windows and graffiti was more a common sight than people. Anyone there was, was sitting out on lawn chairs smoking and drinking, some people playing music on their stereos. Pulling up outside the address he got off his bike, keeping his helmet on but visor up. Alex approached the front door, the place looked abandoned, this couldn't be right, could it? He sighed, beginning to think his suspicions had been right, a fake address. Ringing the doorbell there was no sound, Alex noticed that the wire had been snipped. "Of course." He mumbled under his breath before bringing his hand up in a fist and rapped his knuckles off the door. "Hello!?" He called out, drawing the attention of some of the locals. He turned over his shoulder but didn't pay much attention as they began to eye up the man in the motorcycle helmet knocking on a door.

Alex was about to give up and go back to his bike before the door opened. He smiled through the open visor of his helmet, "Hey." He chirped, as if expecting the woman to recognize him. He sighed and removed his helmet with one hand holding up his other hand as if telling the woman to wait. Showing his tattoo and turning back around the woman who had answered the took Alex in her embrace, "Four-two-one-two." She whispered before inviting him in.

Riley had went straight home. Tommy was suppose to be picking her up from her home around seven, so that left her three hours to take a shower and freshen up. When she got out of the shower, she put her hair up in the towel and walked to her closet with a towel wrapped around her body and her flip-flops on. She decided on a pretty black dress with lace, putting a red belt around the waist, and red heels. She let her damp hair out of the towel and shook it, grabbing a brushing and brushing out all the tangles, she then took a blow dryer to it and flipped her head over to dry underneath, then on the top.

After applying on her make-up, she checked over her appearance and smiled with approval. She checked the tune and grinned when she saw it was fifteen until seven. She felt nervous about the date- she had every reason to be, this was her new boss. Shaking her head, she ran the straightener through her brunette hair. Riley grabbed her phone and sent a message to Alex before hearing the familiar buzzing of someone at the door. "Come in." She said in a smooth voice of the intercom. She waited to hear the knocking on her apartment door, feeling stupid for having this goofy grin on her face.

Alex had spent the whole day with the woman, one of his biological "sisters", drinking beer and catching up but also talking of both their escapes. He'd learnt that she'd taken the name Mason, Jessica Mason a pseudonym for her bar-code number given to her by the people who had created them. She had escaped recently enough, compared to Alex at least. She'd only been in the real world for two years as of the day before in fact. Alex congratulated her and laughed as they clicked bottles and took another swig.

"Hold on a minute." He said, subsiding his laughter as he whipped out his phone and saw Riley had sent him a text. He did not reply, feeling the effects of the alcohol and placed it back in his jacket pocket.

"Worrying girlfriend?" Jess asked, teasing, "Wife perhaps?" She giggled.

"More like a sister actually, Riley is her name, the one whose family took me in." The pair soon forgot all about it and continued to drink.

The night went well. Tommy took her to a nice Italian restaurant just outside of town, then after they took a walk at the park. It was a beautiful night, the moon was full and at its highest peak. Tommy had removed his jacket and placed it over Riley's bare shoulders. "Better?" He asked. Riley looked up at him and smiled. "Much, thank you." She said as they continued walking down the path. Tommy draped an arm over Riley and pulled her closer to him. "Did you have a nice evening?" He asked her. Riley nodded. "Very, thank you. What about you?" They stopped to sit down on a bench. "The best I've had in awhile." He said, smiling at her. "The way the moon touches your face, and your hair, is absolutely breathtaking." He said as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Um, thank you." She said nervously, smiling at him.

He leaned in and kissed her forehead, but moved down to her mouth, kissing her deeply. From his pocket and brought out a needle and stuck it in her neck, injecting medicine in her blood stream to knock her out. Riley pulled back with a start, her hand going to where the needle was injected. "What the..." She didn't get to finish her sentence before blackness enveloped her and she was laying against Tommy. Smiling, he picked Riley up, making sure to grab her purse, and carried her to where his car was parked, where there was now a dark blue van. Two men emerged from the front and upon Tommy's instructions, tied Riley's wrist with cable ties and blindfolded her, placing a piece of grey duct tape over her mouth before shoving her in the van. "Take her to the company and tie her up in one of the cells, make sure to keep the blindfold on until she's in a chair, and keep her tied up and gagged." He said. The two men nodded and took off.

Smiling, Tommy took out her phone and opened it up. "Ah." He said, finding the number he was looking for. He sighed when it went straight to voicemail.

"Ah, Alex, or shall I say, two-seven-five-four-two-one-two." Tommy said coolly. "I bet you are wondering why this isn't your beloved Riley's voice- well, mate, she's in a bit of a bind right now." Tommy got into the car. "You have forty-eights hours to get to the company, I'm sure you remembered where it's at. For every hour after, we'll be marking your pretty little girlfriend up, more ways then one. She has tasty lips- might have to start with her mouth. Tick-tock." Tommy hung up after he finished leaving the voicemail. He raced down the highway and tossed the cell phone out the window and turned the rock music up.

___

Riley blinked her eyes. She felt groggy and her head was pounding. Where was she? She saw she was still wearing the black dress, but her shoes were gone- why? She tried to move, but she was paralyzed. She quickly looked up, panicking, where was she? Last thing she remembered was kissing Tommy, and then this. Was Tommy okay? She struggled against the wire cable but winced as it dug into her skin. She tried to scream, but she couldn't move her mouth. Frantically, Riley pulled at the wire cables on her wrists, and feet, but to no avail.

"I wouldn't struggle too much, dear. They leave nasty cuts." Riley looked up and her eyes fell upon his- Tommy, out of his suit and in green army wear. "Nice to see you are awake." He said with a wicked grin.