"I can't believe I'm standing in the same room as the Alana Sommers."

One of Marianne's cousin whispered excitedly, causing Alana to turn her attention to the girl. She looked over at the young girl who looked to be Kimberly's age and smiled at her.

"What's your name?" Alana asked, causing the girl to freeze as her eyes widened.

Tristan Pierce, the youngest of the Pierce siblings, rolled his eyes and nudged his cousin.

"I- I Um-," stammered the girl, too surprised to even speak.

"Her name's Celine," sighed Tristan, feeling the embarrassment for his cousin. "Sorry, she's normally more... talkative."

That snapped Celine out of her trance as she glared at her cousin. "Sorry, I just- I'm such a big fan and I don't want to come off as weird, but I seriously look up to you."

"Yeah like that's not weird at all," muttered Tristan. Celine punched her cousin on the arm causing the latter to rub his arm to soothe the pain. Damn, his older brothers must've taught her how to properly punch.

"Stop bullying my best friend, Tris," muttered Kimberly. Her head was resting on Celine's shoulder and her arm was wrapped around the wide-eyed girl, who was still in a daze after Alana had addressed her.

"It's not my fault she's being so weird," Tristan eyed Kimberly. "And how are you on her side instead of mine?"

"Why would I be?" Retorted Kimberly, scoffing. "She is my best friend."

"Damn, Sommers, you're really just going to do me like that?" Tristan asked sarcastically. "I thought I was your best friend."

"In your dreams, Pierce," Kimberly rolled her eyes. When she had complained to her mom about dad embarrassing her in front of the Pierce brothers, she meant to exclude Tristan.

The youngest Pierce brother went to the same school as her and more than often got on her nerves. He would go out of his way to tease her and when in the same room, there was constant bickering. They weren't exactly friends— no, they had a more frenemy type of relationship despite their families being extremely close.

"Ah, so you're the Celine that Kimberly always talks about," Alana chuckled, eyeing her sister and Tristan as they continued to bicker back and forth. "And you don't have to apologize, Celine. I've heard so many great things about you."

"I- what?" Celine remained starstruck, as Kimberly giggled at her best friend's reaction. "You did?"

Alana nodded with amusement. "Noodle talks about you all the time— she's definitely lucky to have a best friend like you."

"Aww, you talked about me to your sister?" Asked Celine excitedly in a not so hushed whisper.

Kimberly nodded with a gleaming smile. "Of course I did. You're my best friend— how could I not talk about you?"

"You don't think it'll be weird if I ask for a picture later right?" Celine asked, biting her lip in dilemma.

"I'm sure Lani won't mind," encouraged Kimberly. Celine was the shyer one out of the two and had always looked up to Alana. It was why at the moment, she was so starstruck.

"She's probably weirded out by you," grumbled Tristan, feeling the need to irritate his cousin further. Kimberly glared at Tristan, wondering what exactly crawled up his ass.

Celine frowned at her cousin's words and stormed away from the group. Both her and Kimberly couldn't understand why he was being such a douchebag.

"Seriously, Tris? Why are you being such an ass?" Kimberly sighed, watching as Celine ran away before turning to scowl at Tristan, who towered over her by a head. "You could try to be a little nicer sometimes— I mean, she is your cousin."

With a final glare, Kimberly ran in the direction in which Celine ran off, calling out to her best friend.

Alana eyed Tristan, trying to analyze him, as he stared at Kimberly's disappearing figure. The tension between the two was obvious, and Alana had an idea of what exactly was going on in his head.

"Good job trying to look cool in front of Kimmy," laughed Marianne, reappearing beside Alana. "I don't know if you're trying to impress her, but I think you need to change up your tactics."

"Whatever," Tristan stuffed his hands into his pockets, feeling annoyed and a bit dejected.

"You should go after her," suggested Alana, successfully catching his attention. She shared a knowing look at Marianne, who was stifling a smile. "Kimberly prefers nice guys, by the way."

Tristan thought for a second before nodding hesitantly. "Thanks."

He walked away towards the direction where Kimberly had headed, trying to keep a nonchalant look on his face.

"And apologize to your cousin while you're at it!" Called out Marianne.

"Whatever."

"If he replies with 'whatever' one more time, I'm going to smack him," muttered Marianne, rolling her eyes as she feigned annoyance. "I swear to God, he's going through something,"

Alana laughed. "I'm kind of glad I don't have a brother."

"Yeah, try growing up with 3," Her best friend scoffed, taking a large sip of her champagne. "But don't Kimberly and Celine remind you of a mini-you and me?"

"They do," smiled Alana, thinking back to a 15-year-old Alana and Marianne. "What took you so long at the dessert table?"

Marianne thought for a second. "Oh! I ran into Daniel and your dad. They're having a good ol' conversation about the appetizers. And I think I did a good job choosing the menu."

Alana laughed— she could practically picture them discussing what type of meat would work better with the cheese platter.

"Of course they would be stationed by the dessert table," she shook her head, amusingly.

Marianne shrugged. "I thought the conversation was very interesting. Hey, did you know there are 4 different types of meat on the platter today? I swear they all looked and tasted the same!"

"I swear if you were sober, you wouldn't be finding my dad's conversation interesting."

★ ★ ★

Alana dried her hands on a towel before quickly fixing her hair in the mirror.

She was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the attention she was getting at the party. She supposed this was the life she had signed up for, but it was just too much sometimes. Alana was never really given a break and maybe this was why she sometimes felt claustrophobic around large groups of people.

Funny, right?

Imagine being famous and feeling claustrophobic and anxious in the middle of a crowd. She had her moments— ones where she just needed space to breathe. To be her own self. But it was difficult when cameras and social media followed her everywhere. Literally.

Sometimes, she just needed 5 minutes. But even then, those 5 minutes to herself were difficult to come by.

Alana had taken pictures with some of the guests, and she was thankful Adrian and Marianne had come to her rescue when a line actually formed in front of her. She honestly didn't mind most of the time— she loved interacting with people.

But sometimes, she just needed space to breathe. Everywhere she went, everything she did, everything she ate— everything was shared online for others to know.

Which was why she was currently hiding out in one of the many guest bathrooms.

Marianne had apologized multiple times whenever they were alone, but Alana continued to reassure her that it was alright.

She was used to it.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself. Her anxiety had been on a rising level ever since she saw the exact people she had been avoiding. And of course, it was her luck that they were practically the first few people she saw.

She was honestly just glad that she didn't run into Tiffany again, and she prayed that she wouldn't anytime soon. Asher, she could handle, but was purposely avoiding. On the other hand, Alana didn't want to deal with any of Tiffany's bullshit right now.

Alana walked out of the bathroom and through the large hallway that led back to the main area of the house. She made sure to walk slowly to admire the interior design and to hopefully, continue avoiding the party.

"Well, well well, look who we have here."

Speak of the devil.

Alana could practically hear the sneering in Tiffany's voice, causing her to stop in her tracks. It seemed like everywhere she went, Tiffany would randomly show up and try to torment her.

Keyword, try.

"Little Alana isn't so little anymore."

Alana turned around with a dismissive look on her face. It probably took Tiffany by surprise as she probably expected her to cower away in surprise fear. But Alana was unnerved. She wasn't afraid of Tiffany— that girl couldn't do anything to her, not anymore.

Masking her surprised expression, a familiar expression quickly made its way onto Tiffany's face.

Like she had said earlier, Alana was all too familiar with the girl in front of her. The way Tiffany currently looked at her was the same way she looked at her 6 years years ago. It was so obvious she tended to look down on people because of her father, and she particularly loved to glare at Alana like she was the scum underneath her feet.

Even after so many years, the bully standing in front of her was still the same. Fake. The only thing different about her was, well, everything. Even her uneven spray tan seemed 3 shades darker than her.

And Alana wanted to desperately smack the egotistical smirk right off of Tiffany's face.

"Congrats on 120 million followers on Instagram by the way," Tiffany's tone was nowhere near congratulatory. It was as if she was mocking Alana for having more followers than her, which to anyone in the right mind, didn't make any sense. All that spray tan must've gotten to her brain. "Doesn't mean shit since you're a pathetic little bitch anyways who thinks she can sing."

Alana closed her eyes in an attempt to calm down. She promised she would act nice and wasn't going to start something at her best friend's engagement party.

"You think you're better than everyone else just because you're some famous celebrity now?" Sneered Tiffany, when Alana didn't say anything. "You couldn't even do shit when I stole Asher from right underneath your nose. Pathetic little bitch."

Breathe, Alana, just breathe.

"Oops? Did I strike a nerve?" Taunted Tiffany in a snarky tone and a smirk on her face. "Why don't you just pack up and move back to where you ran off to 6 years ago? No one wants you here and I'm sure Asher doesn't give a fuck about you anyway."

Fuck calming down.

She was done playing nice. She wasn't going to back down anymore and let Tiffany walk all over her. Not now, and not in the future. This shit ends now.

"You want to know who's the pathetic one, Tiffany?"

Alana gave Tiffany a menacing look—one that the latter has never seen before. Like a predator after its prey, Alana slowly began stalking towards Tiffany.

"You're the pathetic one, Tiffany," Alana's voice was strong and unwavering, catching the girl off guard. She was now standing only a foot or two away from the devil.

"I may have run away 6 years ago, but I sure as hell won't be running away this time. I could care less about you making Asher drop his friendship with me, but hiring men in their 30s to kidnap an underaged girl is just low. It's fucking disgusting. But that's just what you are, right? I bet you were so fucking proud of yourself for coming up with such a brilliant plan that you probably thought you could get away with it, didn't you? Do you really think I'm still afraid of you? You're fucking delusional if you think I'm just going to let you walk away from all the pain you caused me 6 years ago."

"And guess what. Those millions of followers that you were just mocking me for? You don't think I could just ruin you with just one little tweet? My publicist has the number of every news outlet in the country. One little slip could ruin both you and your corrupt family's reputation."

Tiffany's face paled causing Alana's smirk to widen. It seemed like Tiffany hadn't really thought this all through. Oh, how the cards have turned.

Alana continued with a menacing glare on her face. "But you know what? I won't be doing that since I am the bigger person. Instead, I'm going to resolve this like an adult. Oh, my bad. You seem to not know what that means."

Tiffany's eyes were now widened with confusion and realization— realization that for once, she couldn't escape the consequences of her actions.

"Did you really think you could get away with the crimes you committed against me and the countless other victims? You think I didn't know it was you who hired those men to kidnap and hurt me? You think you can continue to threaten and mock me? Newsflash, I don't give a fuck about Asher and what he is to you. Grow the fuck up Tiffany—this isn't high school anymore. Do you honestly think that after 6 years I've not gathered enough evidence to lock you away for life? Now tell me, Tiffany, who's the pathetic one now?"

Silence.

Tiffany's mouth fell open with shock. She couldn't even say anything to defend herself—not that she had anything justifiable to say.

"Oh, and before I forget," Alana leaned forward, causing Tiffany to step back until her back was against the wall. "Daddy won't be bailing you out of jail anytime soon, since, he did gamble away all of your family funds."

With that, Alana turned around and continued down the hall she was heading—her heels echoing through the now silent hallway with Tiffany frozen in place.

Fuck, she needed a drink.

Bad.

★ ★ ★

I don't know why, but I've always imagined the confrontation to play out like this. I honestly had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. Stay safe and have a lovely day my loves <3