Chapter 66

*Payton's POV*It was early in the next morning and my familiar ringtone woke me up from my slumber. I checked the caller ID, and it was Mark calling. I answered carefully, not sure if I wanted to know whatever he had to tell me.

"Hello?" I answered in a still half asleep voice. It was only 8:30, but I was up fairly late last night, and preferred to sleep 13 hours a day as a form of avoiding my problems.

"Hi, Payton, I wanted to know if you had a minute to talk. It wasn't that much work to find whoever was supposedly blackmailing you, and I have as much information as I could get." He spoke. I thought for a few seconds, and made up my mind.

"I wanna know everything." I stated, bracing myself for what I was about to hear.

"Well, looks like you've managed to gather up some enemies, Payton. I tracked down the girl described at the hotel and checked security cameras that were sent over, and the girl was paid $200 to do the task. Who paid her, was fairly strange since she didn't seem like she played any part in your life. That's for you to decide though, her name is Alicia Heldrends, I'll send over a picture through to your phone if the name doesn't ring a bell," he said and I was utterly shocked.

I knew exactly who Alicia Heldrends was, and she used to be my best friend when I lived in London as a child, until one day, she just stopped talking to me.

I didn't know what happened, but she completely blocked off any contact she had with me and I haven't spoke to her since before I lived in LA. But why is she trying to ruin my life? I barely knew her anymore.

"Payton? You there?" A voice spoke, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Err.. yeah. Sorry. Thanks for the help, Mark, I'll deal with this myself from now on," I said.

"Of course, and if you need any more help, you'll know who to call. I'll send the picture over," he said and hung up before I could stop him. I knew what she looked like, I was only friends with her throughout my childhood. She had deeply tanned olive skin, green eyes that I always wanted, and dark brown shiny hair. I had always thought that she was prettier than me, but I wasn't the jealous type to actually do something to try and ruin her or anything like that.

Whilst in thought, my phone chimed and I opened the messages to the picture Mark sent.

It was Savannah. I was utterly positive. Her bleach blonde hair, fake tan skin, and pounds of makeup on her face made her recognizable.

I sent a text out to Mark, hoping he could clear this up for me.

To;Mark PIAre you sure that this is her?

He responded fairly quickly, making my pulse race as I read the message.

From;Mark PIPositive. Girl from the video tapes and everything. Is there a problem?

To;Mark PINope, no problem. I was just making sure. Thanks again.

I was still dozing off somewhat, but knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep with this information crammed into my mind now. I know what I need; coffee.

Coffee fixes everything for me, well usually. That's probably because the majority of my problems come from being sleep deprived and not using my head to think straight.

I slumped my way out of bed and rummaged throughout my closet to find something 'public appropriate' to wear. There was no doubt that the paps would catch a pic of me and I'd see it later today, so I at least had to try somewhat, despite my nonchalant attitude. I put on a tight white tee shirt, jeans, a cream cardigan, and some cute jeweled sandals(pic in media slot). I grabbed my phone and sunglasses to avoid any possible flashes from the cameras, spritzed some perfume, and walked downstairs and out the door to my car.

Driving to my oh so favorite Starbucks, I walk in and order 'Liquid Cocaine', a personal favorite of mine for days when I feel like shit. It's basically an iced espresso drink, with about 4 shots in it. It always has an effect on me.

I took a seat and shut my eyes, waiting for my drink to be called.

"Well isn't this a surprise," a snobby voice said and my eyes shot open.

Speak of the devil and (s)he shall appear.

It all made sense now, seeing her up close, Alicia Heldrends is Savannah. She bleached her hair, her green eyes and tan remained the same, but I could almost recognize her through the pounds of makeup caked onto her face. What the hell happened to her?

"Not really since you've been stalking me, Alicia," I snapped and her eyes widened. "Yeah, I know everything, so stop playing your fucking mind games, and quit screwing up my life."

"Oh, honey, you think that you'll just scare me off like that?" She pouted.

"Why do you do it? Why did you completely stop talking to me? I used to be nothing but nice to you, and then one day you just decided to shut me out and make me think that I did something to ruin our friendship?" I asked, feeling hurt at the memories returning to my brain.

"You don't know, do you?" She asked, throwing her head back in an obnoxious laugh.

"Know what?" I scoffed. What game was she trying to play now....

"You ruined my life Payton. I loved being best friends with you until you took everything that I've ever wanted from me without even trying hard. I was best friends with Kaden, no I was in love with Kaden actually. But then you took him from me, being his bestie at first, then you moved on to fucking him." She spat.

"That's where you're wrong, Alicia. He didn't want to be friends with you anymore after you shut him out like you did me. You did that to yourself, you shut everyone out, Sean, Kaden, Matt.." I looked at her like she was insane, which she kept proving to me every time she opened her mouth.

"Oh and another thing you stole from me. Matt was my best friend since birth. We did everything together until you moved in across the street and screwed everything up. He always chose you over me. When I would wanna make plans with him, he'd be too busy with you because you had him and every other guy wrapped around your finger. You take everything from me, Payton. Don't you get that? Any modeling jobs I'd be cast for, they take you in a heartbeat when I still think I have a chance. When I broke my leg and had to sit out for football, you were the replacement, and after my leg was healed, they forgot all about me because you were the star now. I thought I got over it when I moved away, and that you couldn't take anything from me again if you're not in my life anymore, and I learned not to get attached to things. I met Brooklyn, just for some fun at first, but when I saw that you were in London again and had stolen him from me, I knew that I had to ruin you. It was the only way I'd really get over how you've made me. You needed to see how working so hard for something and having someone just come in and take it with no effort at all felt. Just like you've made me feel my whole life." She said, anger and sadness in her eyes.

I had no idea that any of this was going on. Why had I been so clueless?

"Alicia, I'm so sorry that all of this happened, and I never meant to take anything from you, I didn't even know that I was doing it. But instead of trying to ruin my life or shut me out completely, you should've came and told me what I was doing so I could've helped fix it. I really am sorry, but you couldn't of expected me to stop when I didn't even know I was wronging you," I said.

"Well it's too fucking late now, Payton. I'm not done, because I'm not stopping until your life sucks as much as mine does, and maybe you'll feel how bad I felt growing up with you as a 'best friend'. As long as you're with Brooklyn, consider your life over, because I'm gonna make sure that it's my dying wish to make it hell for you." She said finally before storming out.

I stood there in complete shock. I didn't know what just happened, but I truly feared what Alicia could do to me. She knew secrets, a lot of them, and she was still gathering them to do God knows what.

My coffee was called up, and I grabbed it, not even in the mood for caffeine, because I was already shaking.

"Would you like my coffee? I have some place to be and I just ordered and forgot, I won't have time to drink it and I don't want it to go to waste," I said to a teenager sitting on a high chair near the door. She looked up from her phone and her eyes widened like she was imagining me there.

"You're Payton Foster!" She yelled out, engulfing me into a big hug.

"Mmhmm, listen, I really have to go, but you're welcome to have my coffee, and here, write down your Twitter handle on my arm and I'll follow you?" I grabbed a black sharpie out of my bag and handed it over to her.

"Thank you so much," she grinned, and we took a few quick pictures together before I got back into my car and drove off.

I didn't know where I was going, but I really needed to figure out what to do.

Savann--Alicia, was gonna keep tormenting my life, and everyone's around me, as long as I was with Brooklyn. But how did I know that she'd leave me alone even if I wasn't?

I couldn't give her the satisfaction of breaking up with him, even though that wasn't gonna happen.

So what other choice do I have?

Leave everyone be and have her fuck up my life alone? Or keep everyone in my life-Brooklyn, Kaden, Cara, Matt....- and have everyone's lives screwed with?