Valerie Greco, the school's notorious troublemaker, stopped bothering to show up to detention weeks ago. In a desperate attempt to get the problem student in control, the principal instead sentences her to be a slave to Ms. Sterling, an English teacher known for having a ruthless, 'no-bullshit' attitude. But can Ms. Sterling figure out an effective method of keeping the student in check? Or will Val's out-of-control behavior finally get her expelled? == > This is my (winning!) entry for the one-shot contest hosted by the GirlxGirl library. - > It is NOT in any way connected to the story 'Alex's Girl', it simply uses slightly tweaked versions of the same characters - >It will not have a continuation or any extra chapters/parts. This is it. - ==

"Are you... lost?" Someone asked, her tone impatient. I stopped scanning the room to find the woman behind the voice. I blinked. She had the most luminous blue eyes I had ever seen. Even in the dim glow of the bar they glowed brightly, like her pupils were some type of smooth stone at the bottom of a clear blue ocean. Within her blue there flickered tiny speckles of silver, which gave her an icy, somewhat stony appeal. But it was her slight, lopsided smile that erased any signs of wanting to be alone. No wonder this bar was so popular. "Uh, no," I said, holding up the Help Wanted sign I had snagged from the front window. The woman's cool eyes flickered between the sign and me. She didn't say anything, only looked slightly thoughtful as slender fingers raked through her long blonde hair. "What can you do?" She finally asked, definitely not expecting me to be able to do much of anything at all. She'd be right. "Anything and everything," I answered-lied-instantly, hoping I didn't look too desperate, didn't sound too eager. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't worked a day in my life. My hands were used to weekly manicures not hard labor. But desperate times call for desperate measures. The blonde appeared thoughtful again. Those magnificent eyes gave me a once over, slow and steady. You could see the cogs turning in her head as she considered it. I decided to try and sound more convincing. "I have many skills," I added. Okay, so I stole that from Xena, but I was hoping it worked as well for me as it did for her. The blonde lifted a sculpted brow and the smile was, once again, back on her lips. She seemed amused. Maybe she was a Xena fan? "Alright... I'll start you off cleaning the bathrooms, sweeping the floors, doing the dishes..." Crap.

~The SEQUEL to 'Alex's Girl' is finally here~ It has been seven years since the events of 'Alex's Girl', where Alexis Sterling loved then lost Valerie Greco, a troubled but selfless young woman who managed to sneak her way into Alex's heart when she wasn't looking. Though Alex still misses Val every day, she has tried to move on with her life. She has become an emergency room doctor, she's moved into a beautiful new home, and she's even made some new friends. She also spends a lot of her time witnessing firsthand the ripple effect her actions seven years ago have caused her beloved city, with mob violence growing increasingly out of control and the hospitals quickly filling to capacity with more and more victims. Tensions are high as the Costa crime family are more powerful than they have ever been before, bringing the city to its very knees. And to make matters worse, Alex has unwittingly befriended the daughter of her most hated enemy, Ciro Costa, the man responsible for Val's death. The Grecos, on the other hand, have been laying low the last seven years, their illegal operations mostly cloaked in shadows... that is... until now. The Grecos are back, and they're back with a vengeance that demands blood. Their sudden comeback as a powerhouse crime family has Alex asking, how? Or perhaps the question she should be asking is, who?