Clarity

After school, Stella sought out Sam as previously promised. When he saw her, he practically shot across the courtyard to physically grab hold of her arm.

"Aha! I got you now!" He was loud enough to draw the attention of passing students.

"I wasn't going anywhere, Sam," Stella mumbled, lifting a hand to hide her face. "Would you calm down?"

She moved his hand and grabbed his shirt instead, leading him away to a quieter area with less traffic. When they got there, she realized he was eying her with disapproval, much like Cody had done earlier that day.

"Ethan told me what happened," he said. "You should've been the one to tell me! I told him I'd get your side of the story before breaking his nose."

"Oh, god, you didn't," Stella cringed. "He didn't do anything wrong, Sam. Don't bother him."

"What happened?"

"Nothing!" She said. "It just didn't work out and I didn't take it well."

Stella started walking and Sam fell into step beside her. It obviously wasn't enough of an explanation for him, so she shook her head and continued to tell him what she told Cody.

"Stella, why didn't you come to me?"

"I'm not going to go running to you every time something is wrong, Sam," she told him. "You aren't always going to be here."

"Why wouldn't I be here for you?" He asked, green eyes looking a confused and a little hurt.

Stella frowned, never intending to hurt his feelings. Sam was her oldest friend. He'd been there from the dawn of her social life. He was one of the ones who coaxed her out of her tiny shell and hung around long enough to see her change. There wasn't anyone who knew her better than he did.

Just when she was about to apologize for her careless words, something caught her attention of out the corner of her eye. When she glanced over she had to do a double take. Sam noticed right away and turned to steal a glimpse at what was distracting her, but Stella quickly put a hand on the side of his face to stop him.

"Don't misunderstand," she said. "I trust you, but I just have to learn how to deal with these things myself. But if I can't, I'll find you. I promise."

"Ok, Stella," Sam smiled.

"Alright then, go to practice," Stella returned the smile. "I'll probably see you later. Sasha invited me over to do some baking."

She waited until he disappeared from sight before starting towards the familiar stranger looming just outside the school grounds. Stella stopped in front of Alexander Hunt and fixed him with a stern glare. Now that he was in the light, she could see that his hair was a dark shade of brown instead of black as she originally thought. His eyes though were as dark as ever, and they were watching her with what she saw as amusement.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, conscious of the bewildered glances.

"You didn't call me," he said. "It's been four days."

"Why would I call you?"

"When I give someone my number, they always call me," Alexander pointed out. "I told you to take it."

"This thing?" Stella dug the matchbook out of her pocket and held it up.

He plucked it out of her fingers and flipped it open to reveal a sequence of numbers etched under the flap in fine lined Sharpie. Stella pursed her lips as he closed it again and handed it back to her.

"I don't even smoke, how would you even expect me to find that?" She said with a quick glance around. If she stuck around much longer, there would be an all new rumor flying around about how Stella was befriending a drug dealer. "Come on, how did you even find me?"

She led the way down the sidewalk at a brisk pace, but he followed up behind her with a leisurely strut. Stella didn't stop until they were at least three blocks away from the school and ever further from her house.

"Believe it or not, I have a large network," Alex told her. "My network in your school is still weak. If you weren't as notable as you are, then I probably wouldn't have found you."

Stella took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She couldn't figure out why he was trying to find her in the first place.

Alexander Hunt: Mystery dealer, frustratingly vague, and suspiciously alluring.

"If you're trying to turn me into one of your customers, you're wasting your time," she said. "My life hasn't been bad enough to turn to drugs just yet."

"Even though you were recently dumped by Ethan Carreno?"

"Jesus Christ, does the entire world know about that now?" Stella cried.

Alexander cracked a slight smile and Stella shook her head at him.

"What about that guy, Sam?" He ventured, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Is he your new boyfriend?"

"No," she frowned. "You know a little too much, Alexander. Who are you?"

"You can just call me Alex," he told her, taking a step back as his eyes lingered on something over her shoulder. "Nice meeting you, Stella Montgomery."

"You didn't answer my question!" Stella called after him.

"Who was that, Stella?"

She startled, whipping around to see Hana watching her curiously. It took Stella an entire second to gather her wits and smooth her feathers. When she thought about it, it scared her how easily she switched faces, but Hana was a sophomore that they were consistently including in their plans. Stella simply couldn't break her habit of putting up a strong front for her juniors.

"That guy? I don't know," she lied. "I think he was lost."

Hana seemed to pick up on the lie, but gave her a funny look and chose to ignore it. She was a skilled observer, much like Stella was at her age. If anything, she hoped to help Hana break out of her shell much like a girl named Elle helped her break out of hers. Stella offered a smile to the girl with purple hair and gestured to an ice cream shop right beside them.

"Wanna grab something cold before we head over to Angel's?"

"Sure." Hana followed her into the tiny shop.

The two browsed the selection quickly before deciding on a two simple flavors and stealing a couple seats by the large windows. As they tucked into their ice cream, Stella peered curiously across the table.

"Does Caitlyn still bother you, Hana?" She asked.

"Not really," Hana said, grimacing at the mere mention of her classmate's name. "I don't really pay much attention to her anyway."

"That's good," Stella smiled. "What about that boy I see around sometimes? Kevin?"

A mild rush of color flooded her cheeks and she looked down at the cup. "He seems nice," Hana mumbled. "We don't know him that well, but we always see him around. He likes to sketch, so we talk sometimes."

"We should all do something together sometime," Stella suggested. "We can get Sam and a couple of his friends to join us too. You guys should invite Kevin."

"Maybe…" Hana said quietly, her blush darkening.

* * *

The street lamps were flickering on by the time the smell of fresh baked brownies started wafting throughout the Rowe family household.

There were four of them perched on stools along the blue mosaic countertop, watching a black timer count the seconds away until they were able to gorge on sweets. Stella's head was propped up with the palm of her hand as she eyed a dark mark in between the little square tiles. She was drawn away from it when she realized that Angelique was trying to gain her attention. Stella sat up straight and listened again to what she was being asked.

"I heard you were talking to some guy after school today," Angelique said with a sly grin. "Is he your new boyfriend?"

Stella's mouth fell open, but she shook her head in denial.

"No, of course not," she laughed. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," Sasha joined in. "When it comes to you, a boyfriend is never too far off."

"Damn, you guys are right," Stella seemed shocked to admit it. "Wow, I never really thought about that."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Stella," Hana must have picked up on her inner turmoil. "Some people have a hard time finding boyfriends."

Stella looked at her and smiled in good humor while the other two girls laughed. She knew they didn't mean anything in mentioning it, but now she was worried. For a girl who was never good at maintaining a social life, she sure had dated a bit. Then again, maybe that's why her attempts at being with someone always failed. How could she possibly maintain a relationship when she couldn't even maintain to regular friendships?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she still had a lot of work to do.

But she took comfort in the fact that there was no better place to start than right there in the kitchen with those girls.