Well, to start, I'll say that I put this under "Family" because the girls in question were my (sort-of) step-cousin and step-sister for awhile.


My best friend, who I'll call Lexi,is being harassed by her older cousin. Lexi is sixteen, and she dresses in a Goth-Scene mixed style. It gets her a lot of hassle because people automatically assume she's easy and pick on her for it, when she's actually a very modest person in general, and her cousin's using that to pick on her.

Her cousin (we'll call her Hope;she's almost 30) really doesn't like her or me. Hope's mom and my dad used to date, and they had a messy breakup that her mom blamed on Lexi and me (she's never liked me because I form a link between my parents, which she was paranoid over). Ever since,she, her mother, and her husband have been looking for ways to make our lives harder. Lexi and I just got back into contact after a month, so they took the opportunity to strike now.

About a month ago, they decided to get me first by claiming that I was after Lexi's considerably older (and engaged) brother to Lexi's mom, including lies about me being a little slut who went after all the men in their family. Lexi's mom believed us because she knows how trashy they are (Hope used to have sex in front of the kids she babysat). They also tried to say that Lexi was having sex with her (now ex) boyfriend at a football game. Once again, she didn't fall for it, but she did get seriously worried.

Now, they're saying that they found n***s of her on her cell phone. This is outrageous, but Lexi's mom is believing it a little just because they're so adamant about it. I go through her phone with her regularly because we like to take pictures of ourselves, and the most inappropriate thing she's ever had was catching the back of my jeans in the background.

We know this will get solved and she'll be okay, but I need help deterring Hope and her husband from trying again. Any ideas?