We are not family

Arrogance killed Alex. Or did it?

***Alex's P.O.V.***

How does the saying go? Arrogance killed the cat. No? Well, it should. Or arrogance killed Alex. That's more like it.

I've never lost in this game. How he won was beyond me. I should've known something was wrong. He was so sure of himself. But then again so was I. And now I owe him a dance. It's not a big deal. It's just annoying that I lost to him. If you didn't know already, I hated losing.

That's probably one of the reasons I didn't want to compete this weekend. I didn't want to find out, how slow the time away has made me. My plan fell apart however thanks to Nick. Now I have to compete. And to be honest with you, I don't know how that loss will affect me.

But let's stop with this self-questioning before I get to Dexter's part in all of this. Even though I was ready to admit, to myself at least, that his comments helped make up my mind, I'm sure as hell not ready to ask why. Nick however didn't have that problem, which resulted in him questioning my decision, which then resulted in a fight. As always.

So we were sitting in the living room, being punished for as Dad said 'disturbing his peace ', when we heard a scream. I first thought of Judy, before she yelled: "Alex?! What's going on?"

"It's not me Judy. "-I said standing up and running upstairs with Nick following closely behind. We had a pretty good idea where the scream was coming from. The scene in front of us is as hilarious as I imagined it would be.

My dear stepbrother was sitting on the floor of our hallway in front of his open door, looking ready to pass out. I run up to him and call his name asking what's wrong. He just pointed to his desk and said: "It's moving!"

I looked up to see a hat on his desk moving a bit every few seconds. Hmm. That was not a plan. I looked at Nick, to see him fighting back a laugh. He was as amused as me.

He walked to Zack's desk. The view was shield by his back, but I assumed he pulled the hat up. "Oh, look!"-he said trying to look surprised. All though Zack was too terrified to figure it out, I'll have to have a talk with Nick about his acting skills. He turned to us holding a small creature in his palm. "It's a mouse."

That was enough not only for Zack to almost pass out but for Judy to scream as well. Oh boy. This was so not the plan.

So imagine this scene. Nick exiting Zack's room, looking fascinated with the white mouse in his hand, Zack on the floor shaking, me kneeling next to him trying to look sweet and innocent, Judy holding onto the railing, her other hand on the heart, and Dad standing behind her looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Well, shit.

I should've known my sweet look would be more suspicious than anything. Why did he have to be a lawyer of all things?

"Judy, help Zack. Alexandra, Nickolas, follow me. And bring the creature with you."-he said and turned walking down the stairs.

And that is how we ended up grounded for a week. What that meant was, Zack was the only one allowed to go to Ryan's party, which came as a relief if I'm being honest. Dancing with Jack would bring trouble, that was for sure.

So come Saturday night, we were sitting at the kitchen island, playing poker when Zack strolled in, fidgeting with his hair. Nick looked up from his cards, scanned his brother's appearance, and said: "This is so not fair."

"Being evil has a price."-Zack said still a bit pissed.

"You'd know, wouldn't you?"-I said still looking at my cards. Queens. This man is going down.

"So what are you two up to tonight?"

"We're grounded, what do you think?"

"So, you'll just stay here all night?"-he said. I looked at him to find him with a raised eyebrow. I was about to confirm that when Nick said: "Do you know us at all?"