Razzledazzle [ ✓ ]

Chapter 14 | The Discussion

Troy snaps his head around at the sudden noise. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Glory asks softly, her face still red.

"I swear I just heard Ty—never mind." He smiles. "Do you want to know a secret?"

Glory nods slowly, still a little unsure. "Okay."

Troy's unusual passive smile gets a little bit of its evil sparkle back as he reaches into his pocket.

And he pulls out the key.

Beside me, Tyler makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat and Lee rushes to cover Tyler's mouth. Troy snaps his head in our direction but blinks and turns back to Glory.

Troy is the one who did it. Troy stole the key.

But Glory has no reaction. "That's a key. And?"

"Ohh." Troy smiles. "I forgot. You weren't there for the whole seven-minutes-in-heaven thing."

"Oh no. Any story that involves seven minutes in heaven can't be good."

Troy snorts. "Well, right after you left, Lee and Rose were picked by Tyler to go into the closet. Me, being the masterful sly dog that I am, managed to jam the door and steal the key from Ms. O'Carthy's desk." He grins.

Glory looks shocked. "You locked Rose in a closet with Lee? Troy, that's the absolutely terrible, awful, hilarious kind of thing you would do."

"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult." He swallows, almost as if he's flustered. He's flustered. That's cute.

If only he wasn't on Lee's side.

What's Glory doing, kissing the enemy? To make things worse, what am I doing kissing the enemy?

That was different. That was a dare. Nothing more. Nothing less. Troy kissed Glory all for his own reasons.

Apparently, Glory's noticed it, too. "Aw, Troy. Are you feeling... flustered?"

"No, why would I be flustered?" he asks, fairly smooth.

Glory rolls her eyes, and I can't help but smile. At least Troy knows how to get her spark back. Her really annoying, really trying, really loud spark.

What happens now? Are they just going to start dating? I mean—that would be completely controversial. It's a well known fact that Lee's group of friends hates my group of friends.

They can't just start dating each other.

"I'm getting bored of this," Tyler hisses under his breath. "Lee, make some noise, make them think that we're coming."

Promptly, Lee scuffles his sneakers against the tile floor, making a loud squeaking noise. Alex and I jump back at the sudden noise.

So do Troy and Glory. "Someone's coming!" mutters Troy.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," grumbles Glory. "Act natural."

The four of us behind the corner stand up and walk out in front of the wall, towards the water fountains, where Troy and Glory are standing awkwardly.

Troy looks at us in surprise, glancing from me to Lee and back to me again. "You two got out?"

"Yeah," Tyler snarls, stalking up to his brother. "They did get out! I guess you forgot to check for a spare key inside the closet before you played your trick!"

"Yeah, I guess I—wait, how did you know I had the key? Were you listening? Did you see—"

"See what?" interrupts Lee with a smirk.

"Nothing," Troy mutters. "Just—how did you know that I had the key?"

"You were the only one that would have stolen it, and you were the only one standing by Ms. O'Carthy's desk during the game," Alex points out, once again saving us all from this mess with her brain.

Troy nods. "Well—"

"What were you doing here?" Tyler asks, as if he doesn't already know.

"Yeah," adds Alex, also pretending to not know what had happened. "I thought you went the other direction, Troy."

"My dad got into a car accident," Glory says bluntly. "He was texting my mom, not paying attention to the road. My mom called to tell me about it and then—and then Troy found me."

"And what did Troy do?" Lee asks slyly.

"He just talked to me about it like a normal friend would," Glory responds defiantly.

"Uh-huh," Tyler harrumphs. "Normal friends."

"HEY!" Troy interrupts loudly, his shouts echoing down the hallway. "I got into a car accident once TOO!"

Glory looks at him, bewildered. "Troy, what—"

"BUT do you KNOW how I got OUT OF IT?" he asks, jumping in between all of the gathered kids.

"How?" I ask quietly, the first thing I've said this entire time.

"NATIONWIDE!!! I USED NATIONWIDE INSURANCE! YOU KNOW, NATIONWIDE IS ON YOUR SIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!"

No one speaks. We all just look at each other in complete and utter confusion. Troy is looking a little tired from his outburst.

"Troy, honey, we need to teach you how to change the subject a little better." Tyler mocks a mother's voice. "That was pathetic."

Troy glares at him, and looks like he's about to start yelling when Alex speaks.

"Why don't we all just go home. There's been enough drama. Come on, Glory." She turns to leave, Glory following her. I turn to follow as well but Lee grabs my shoulder.

"Not so fast, Razzledazzle."

He looks right at Troy, a glint in his eyes. "Well, Troy, I did your stupid—" he stops suddenly, looking at Tyler.

"Tyler can stay," Troy says.

"I did your stupid dare," Lee repeats. Troy looks shocked, and Tyler just looks confused.

"I don't believe you," Troy tells him. "Prove it."

Lee glances at me, and I speak. "Well. Yeah. He did it. He really did it."

"Did what?" puts in Tyler.

Troy ignores him. "How do I know Lee didn't just tell you to say that?"

"When do I ever listen to Lee?" I point out.

"Did what?" Tyler asks again.

"It doesn't matter," snaps Lee, turning to leave. "What matters is that I did it. And I didn't enjoy it. And now I'm mad. And I want revenge on Troy."

Troy raises an eyebrow. "How would you ever get your 'revenge' on me?"

Lee shrugs and walks off. And as I walk off in the other direction, after Glory and Alex, I know what kind of revenge he's thinking of.

He's going to tell everyone that Troy kissed Glory.