After the whole Natalia incident transpired, Dominic kept trying to pin me to whatever had happened to her, but he just couldn't figure it out. He had gone back into the bathroom like I thought he would and tried to figure out what Natalia had used that caused her hair to fall out. She had told him that she only used the shampoo which of course was normal when Dominic tested it because I had already switched the bottles and gotten rid of the old one. He even went as far as to searched the house along with my room to find whatever it was I had used.

He even complained to mom and dad about it, and they had both confronted me and asked me if I knew anything about what had happened to the girl. Of course, I admitted nothing to them, I denied everything and told them that I didn't do anything and that maybe Natalia was a crazy girl with a terrible balding disease and was being in denial. I didn't know why but Alphonso found it hilarious when I said that but needless to say Dominic was not amused.

Natalia didn't want anything more to do with him nor 'his crazy adopted sister'. She had to wear a wig to school since all of her hair was gone. The strangest thing was that once I had seen her in the hallway and flashed her a smile, the girl literally ran when she saw me at school. I mean seriously? She was really afraid of little me. Mom had kept trying to figure out if I was responsible or not, but I still denied it and told them I really hated being accused and not being trusted. Dad, however, told me he knew that I was responsible somehow and that he was actually proud of my deviance and sneakiness. He said that it meant I had finally grown into myself. Whatever that meant. These new parents spoiled me way more than my real parents would.

Dominic had refused to take me to school anymore, so dad had to get someone to be my personal chauffeur. Not like it mattered to me anyway, at least I didn't have to deal with Dominic's hostility and coldness much or had to be worried that I would be left behind at school out of spite. In addition, the driver Keith was hilarious and great. Over the short time I had known him, he became a pretty good friend.

************ “So for your birthday coming up, are turning 15 now or 16?” Zena asked when she, Kameron, and I had lunch together.

“Neither” I laughed at her guesses.

I never told any of them my age or much personal stuff about me. The only reason Zena knew about my upcoming birthday at the time, was because my new parents were determined and had decided to throw a party. They thought that since I finally had friends and seemed to be doing much better emotionally and everything, that I should celebrate. I hadn't wanted a party, but they wanted to throw me one, and I didn't want to seem ungrateful, so I went along with it. I had the task of making a guest list of all who would be invited, and I decided to have Zena and Kameron helped me out.

“What do you mean neither?” Kameron had asked me.

“Well that's because I'm turning fourteen” I had surprised them.

“What?”

“You're kidding me. You're thirteen!?” Zena exclaimed.

“Shh! You don't have to let the whole school know. I don't want people to think that I'm one of those kids who got preferences to come here because of who my parents are” I had said to them.

“You're right, sorry” Zena shook her head “It's just that I never thought you were that young. You never acted anyway immature or anything”

“Could you guys please not get weird on me now just because you found out you're both older. And being younger doesn't mean that you have to be immature”

“Of course not. My little cousin is eleven, and she acts really mature, we can actually have a mature conversation with her” Kameron said to me “But Lexi, I honestly thought you were fifteen like us”

“If they accepted you at thirteen then that means you're more brilliant than I thought. Or was it in fact because your parents are the Luciano's...”

“See, this is why I hadn't told anyone my age before. I thought you guys were helping me with the list” I frowned.

“Sorry, sorry. It's really just surprising that's all” Zena responded “Alright, I'll try not to ask any more questions about your age. Let's get back to the party guest list”

“Thank you” I sighed dramatically which caused them to laugh.

“Do you want Greg there?” Kameron asked me.

“You mean that creep in pre-calculus... Who always stared at me with those creepy smirks?”

“He's not that bad” Zena laughed “And he likes you that's why”

“I think not. He annoys the hell out of me so no way” I shook my head “You could ask your sister if she wants to come. Although she probably won't want to attend a kid's party”.

“No, I mean Zara wouldn't mind coming. I'm sure of that, so I'll let her know” Zena responded.

We spent the rest of our lunch session talking and finalizing the party guest list. I was glad that they never went back to the conversation about my age or else I would have flipped.

~|~|~ Party Night

It was the night of my birthday party, and although I hadn't wanted a party in the first place, I was actually glad I had decided to after all. The place was packed with people and mom and dad had gone all out. They had hired a DJ and servers and all kinds of food filled the place. People kept coming up to me to wish me a happy birthday and congratulated me on my awesome party.

“Your party is amazing!” One of my classmates Robyn shouted to me over the loud music.

“Thanks. Thank you for coming!” I responded to her.

“No, thank you for inviting me. This place is awesome!” She shouted once more then left to enjoy the party.

“Hey Lexi!” Zena's older sister Zara and her friend Misha greeted me.

“Oh, hi!”

“Cool party!”

“Thanks! I'm glad you made it!” I told them.

“It's a party Lexi, we couldn't miss it for the world,” Misha said to me.

“So where is your brother?” Zara asked me.

“Who Dominic? He left. He wouldn't be found dead at my party” I told her “Why?”

I was curious, why had she asked about Dominic? Unless she was like the other girls at school who harbored a huge crush on him. I could have probably understood why if I hadn't lived with the guy for months. Sure he was good-looking and all but from what I knew about him, his personality seemed like dog crap- it stinks and was highly disgusting.

“No reason. I was only curious since I hadn't seen him around” Zara waved her hand “I thought that he'd be here to celebrate with you”

Oh, so that's why she asked. Too bad, she thought wrong.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I told her with a knowing smile.

“Disappointed? Me? Don't be silly, of course not. I'm enjoying your party” she tried to play it off, but I had already caught onto her “Anyway happy birthday again, I left your gift over there. I'm going to get something to drink. Later”

“Yeah, have fun!” I called them as they left.

I shook my head amused. She was totally into him, it was only a pity that Dominic didn't deserve someone like her.

“Hey! There you are, you just disappeared like that!” Zena and Kameron came over to me.

“Sorry, I went to the bathroom then got caught up with people wishing me happy birthday. I was actually just talking to your sister”.

“Yeah well, it's time for us to go dancing,” Kameron said as she pulled me by the hand through the crowd.

“Sorry guys but I don't dance!” I shouted over the music.

“What kind of birthday girl doesn't dance at her own party?” Zena laughed.

“This kind of girl!” I responded, “I can't dance!”

“Well, you're going to learn how to tonight!” Kameron laughed as they pulled me out onto the makeshift dance floor.

I hadn't had that much fun in ages as I had on my party night. It turned out that the party wasn't such a bad idea after all. I was grateful for Kath and Alphonso who had been determined and threw that party. By the time the party had finished and everyone eventually left it was around 10:45 pm. I smiled to myself as I walked over to the gift area. Everything felt surreal and with the number of gifts that were there, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish open all of them in one day.

As I picked up a few gifts and looked at the gift card I decided to actually open a few. I had started to pull off the wrapping paper from one when the front door opened. I looked back and saw that it was Dominic who had finally decided to return after the party madness was over. I turned back to my gift and tried to finish unwrapping it.

“Wow, I didn't know you knew that many people” I heard Dominic said which surprised me.

I turned and looked around to see who he was really talking to. I was confused, he wasn't on his phone and the only other person that was in the room was me.

“Yes, I am talking to you” Dominic seemed to have read my mind.

“Why?” I asked confused.

“Seems as if you may be getting up there with the popular clique based on what I saw tonight,” Dominic said to me.

I was shocked, confused, and concerned. Dominic was actually talking to me which made me wondered what was wrong. Was he feeling alright?

“Are you alright?” I couldn't help but ask.

“I didn't know you were friends with Zara Weymouth” Dominic ignored my question and continued.

I rose my eyebrows at him. He didn't know anything about me so why did that matter to him. I didn't know what to make of the situation. Dominic who had hated me for months and obviously wanted nothing to do with me actually talked to me that night. It was extremely weird and awkward for me, I didn't know what to say.

“I saw her left here tonight. I didn't know you two know each other or that you and she were friends”.

“Her sister is my friend so yeah we automatically became friends too” I finally responded.

“Oh, I see” Dominic replied.

When I hadn't heard him say anything else, I thought he had gone but was surprised when I looked back and saw that he stood there still.

“How was the party?” Dominic asked which made me even more confused.

“Are you actually starting a conversation with me?” I had asked him “Because this is really weird. You never tried to have a conversation with me before, in fact, I know that you would have rather me being anywhere else but here because of how much you hate me. So you're talking to me now out of nowhere, is really freaking me out”.

“I don't hate you,” Dominic said, which really surprised me.

“You don't? Well, you could've had fooled me. Ever since your dad brought me home you've been nothing but cold and mean to me. And now you expect me to believe that you don't hate me. And what's up with you actually talking to me tonight?” I asked him.

“I don't hate you. I was just mad at the fact that my parents decided to decide to take in another person in our family without discussing it with me first” Dominic had told me.

“That just seems like a really stupid reason for you to treat me the way you do. I never tried to come between you and them or to replace you or anything. I only wanted to feel some sense of belonging after I lost my family and when I heard that I could get the chance to be a part of a family once again I took the opportunity. But obviously, you hadn't thought about that or even put yourself in my shoes. How would you feel if you were in my position? You've been mean and cold towards me ever since I got here. You never gave me a chance or tried to get to know me. Yet tonight.... tonight you just decided to start a conversation with me? How weird is that?” I said to him “I can't seem to comprehend what is going on here”.

“I'm sorry” Dominic surprised me even more.

“What?” I was shocked.

“Sorry for being a total tool,” he said, “It's just that sometimes I tend to forget that the world doesn't always revolve around me. I get jealous when it doesn't, and it made me act like a total ass”.

“Are you serious?” I had to ask him “What is this some prank or something? To ruin my night? You seriously expect me to believe that after months you eventually looked into yourself and saw your wrongs in one night? Oh, so suddenly?”

“You are really starting to act like a true Luciano now you know...” Dominic said which caused me to frowned in confusion “... not easily trusting others and being hardheaded when people actually try to make a change. Maybe you will survive being a part of our family after all”.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked confused.

The highlight of my night had become total confusion and shock.

“You will figure it out eventually. Goodnight Lexi” Dominic said as he turned and walked in the direction of the stairs “By the way Happy birthday. And the next time you talk to Zara, tell her I said hi”.

I was left confused out of my mind. Dominic had apologized to me and called a truce between us all in a couple of minutes. It was the strangest thing ever and totally unexpected. Something dawned on me after he was gone though. He had mentioned Zara twice and said he didn't know we were friends, by the way, he seemed so interested in my friendship with her, I finally figured out he was totally into her. The thing was, she was into him as well. After my party night, Dominic had indeed quit being a total ass to me. Even though his motivation or reason for suddenly deciding not to be mean to me anymore was all wrong, I never minded because that was the beginning of Dominic eventually accepting me.