"Alex, how long has Schneider been in love with my mom?" Josie asked Alex again. The tone in her voice went from surprising to pure rage.

"Uh," Alex trailed off as his mouth dropped. He was panicking and looked like a deer caught in the headlights. His family knew Schneider was in love with Celine but Penelope made everyone vow to not say anything about it in front of Josie. Alex and Elena agreed because they knew how hard it was for Josie to see her mom date all these guys after her dad died. And things are different this time since it wasn't just a random stranger who was trying to date Celine - it was Schneider.

Josie is close to Schneider which is what makes this situation terrible for her. She only thinks about the bad outcome of her mother dating all these guys, but Schneider is a friend of the family - actually, everyone pretty much considers him as part of the family. If they do date and somehow break up then things would be awkward for, not just Celine, the Fumero and Alvarez household. Everyone is going to have to pick sides and it's going to be obvious that they pick Celine - since she's Penelope's friend. Or what if they break up and Schneider kicks them out of the apartment complex? He wouldn't do that but Josie tends to overthink things.

"Alex?" Josie's voice was so cold that Alex thought he would freeze in place.

He knew he should lie to her and make up some lame excuse, but he didn't want to lie to her. Even if he did and she learns the truth later, knowing that he lied to her, Josie would never forgive him for keeping something like this from her.

Alex decided it would be best to tell her. He let out a defeated sigh as he closed his textbook. "For a while now," he answered.

"How long is a while?"

"Pretty much since you guys helped us move here."

Josie's eyes widened. "That long?" Her mouth opened and closed, unable to form any kind of words at the moment. All these negative thoughts have been flooding through her mind. "Even when she was married to my dad?"

"Yes," Alex said slowly.

Josie ran her hand through her hair. "It must have been Schneider then," she whispered as tears pricked her eyes. She gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Aye dios mio. Pensé que era sólo un buen tipo, pero ha sido él todo el tiempo. It makes perfect sense."

Alex quickly got out of bed and held his hand up. "Wait, wait, wait. You don't think Schneider's the reason why your dad's dead?"

"What else could it be? Being in love with my mom is enough motivation to kill my dad. He puts up this nice, rich guy, persona and makes us believe he's our friend."

"He is our friend. Why would he lie to all of us to get to your mom?" He motioned toward the door. "He cried when he killed that spider in the bathroom for you."

"Alex, I don't want him dating my mom."

"No one said anything about dating. It's just a crush. Schneider wouldn't do anything to hurt Celine." Alex could see the look in Josie's eyes. The one that says she's gonna go insane thinking about this. He exhaled. "I'm sure your mom doesn't like him anyway. You don't have anything to worry about." For extra measure, he added, "Schneider and Celine going out would be like...if we decided to date."

Alex tried not be show how hurt he was when Josie responded with her nose scrunching up and saying, "Ew, gross. That would be weird."

"Duh." He motioned to the textbook. "Can we get back to studying, please?"

Josie bit her lip. "Um, sure. I forgot to grab my notebook from the living room anyway." She left her room without a word. Josie went to the living room and grabbed her notebook. She was about to head back to her room but heard laughter coming from the kitchen. Her eyes narrowed at Schneider when she saw him making goo-goo eyes at Celine. They were talking while Celine was making food, so her back was toward him. Josie saw Schneider smiling and immediately felt anger bubble up inside her chest. She quickly pouted before running toward the kitchen. "Mami!"

Celine and Schneider looked toward her. "Hi, sweetie," Celine greeted with a smile. Josie quickly wrapped her arms around Celine. Celine was confused but returned the hug anyway. "Everything ok, mija?"

Josie nodded. "Yeah." She pulled away. "I just wanted to hug you, that's all."

Celine wasn't falling for it. She raised a brow at Josie. "Uh-huh? You want something, don't you?"

Josie chuckled. "No," her voice squeaked. Celine crossed her arms. "Fine, I wanted to know if we can go to the mall after school tomorrow. One of the stores is closing down so everything is up to 75% off."

"Yeah, baby, that's fine." Celine looked at Schneider. "Hey, maybe we can find you some shirts for your date -"

"No!" Josie shouted, surprising the two. She cleared her throat. "I, um, just want this to be a 'Mommy and Me' day. I've been busy with school and you've been at work a lot, so I don't get to see you as much."

Celine nodded. "I miss you, too, mija. OK, we can go shopping and maybe hit the movies after."

"I'd like that."

Celine looked at Schneider. "I'll help you pick an outfit tomorrow after -"

"Wait, Mom!" Josie butted in. "I need help with my homework tomorrow, too. I have a project due and I didn't even start it. I just...realized it right now."

"Oh." Celine gave Schneider an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Schneider."

"Don't be," he said. He smiled. "Homework always comes first. Unlike this one girl I've dated who said that she -" Schneider stopped when he saw the stern look Celine gave him. "Grades above all."

Josie sighed before hugging Celine again, unaware of the disappointed look Alex was giving her from the hallway.