Naturally, everyone starts screaming. And naturally, the first one to start screaming is Alex.

She stands up and glares at Lee, her dark brown eyes slits. "What did you say to me, Cancer?"

Tyler stands up as well. "He said exactly what you think he said. Troy likes you... didn't you know?" He grins his signature evil Singleton grin.

Alex doesn't have any words. "B-but—"

Lee smirks. "But what, sweetheart?" His voice is sugary. "Surely if Troy has a crush on... anyone else... they would love for you to announce it."

By now, the entire class has gone into uproar, screaming and wolf-whistling. Everyone, of course, except for Glory, who's still sitting in her rigid position, her fists still clenched.

Troy runs up to the front of the room to stand beside Lee. "Cancer, if you dare, I will personally punch you in the face—"

Tyler pushes past Lee and into Troy. "You aren't gonna hurt one of my best friends because of some stupid little crush." His Singleton grin has been replaced by a glare.

Troy shoves his brother and Lee steps back to avoid the two twins. "What stupid little crush are you talking about?"

Tyler glares. "You're reacting like this to a harmless joke? This is pathetic."

"You're pathetic," is Troy's petty reply.

The Singleton twins start to shove each other, everyone is still shouting, Glory is still sitting rigidly, and Lee is standing in the background, watching over the chaos with his smirk.

But wait.

Where's Alex?

All of the chaos suddenly comes to a stop. The Singletons stop fighting, the screaming kids all hush, and even Glory glances over towards the front.

Because someone just screamed.

I turn to the front of the room, where Alex is just pulling her hand back. Lee's eyes are wide and he's clearly just screamed. There's a big red mark on his face, from his chin to right below his eye.

Lee waves a finger in Alex's direction. "S-s-she slapped me!"

I don't know what goes through me. I don't know what it is. But something about her grin, how happy she looks that she just slapped him, makes me mad.

"Yes," Alex says with a grin. "I did."

"But whyyyy?" Lee moans dramatically, rubbing his face. "What did I ever do to you, Alex?"

Alex glares coldly. "You thought up this stupid prank just to get back at us for the whole glue fiasco."

Lee's still rubbing his cheek. "Actually... Rose helped a lot with the idea." He grins.

Alex stops exactly where she is. "Rose?" She turns to look at me. "You helped this idiot? You helped him?"

I don't have anything to say. But luckily, I don't have to say anything. Because Glory says it for me.

"Rose... you don't understand. You don't!" Her voice was rushed. "It's just that—" Glory's interrupted by Troy.

"It's nothing," Troy says casually. He's left Tyler and went over to Glory. He whispers something in her ear, something I can tell he doesn't want me to hear.

Something about Lee.

But I have bigger things to worry about, things like the fact that Ms. O'Carthy just opened the door.

Immediately, everyone goes back to their seats, forgetting about the slap, the prank, or the fact that apparently Troy has a crush on Alex. Our teacher looks absolutely furious.

"Whichever one of you wrote that note, I'm going to filet you with a plastic spatula." Her voice is dripping with venom. "That teacher's note was... terrible."

I guess everything went according to plan. I wrote the note like Lee told me to, and Tyler got his girlfriend, Ann, to post it in Mr. Gordon's room, because she's in that class. The note distracted the two teachers so Lee could lie and tell everyone that Troy likes Alex, when he really likes Glory, to see what would happen.

I'm not sure he was expecting the slap.

"What was the note about, Ms. O'Carthy?" asks Lee innocently, trying to act like he wasn't the one who scripted it. Of course, he got me to write it because I would never be suspected.

The two teachers blush; the note had been about all of the kids who shipped them together and thought they should get married and then bang in the supply closet.

Trust me, it was very hard to write.

"Nothing... unless you already know, Cancer," snaps Mr. Gordon. He coughs. "I'm gonna... return to my room. Ann was skulking around yesterday, I wonder if she knows anything about it."

Tyler winces. Clearly he doesn't want his girlfriend to get caught. But she won't. I have enough classes with her to know that she's pretty clever.

"Now... does anyone have anything to say?" Ms. O'Carthy looks extremely tired, but this is just the start of her struggles.

Someone, a kid I don't know, calls out, "Lee said that Troy likes Alex!"

She raised an eyebrow. "And I should care about this... why?"

"You should care because it's not true!" spits Glory. "Troy doesn't like Alex, and this is all just a stupid prank that Lee pulled because... because..."

Troy, who's still next to her, pats her on the back. "Shhh... you don't want to give anything away."

He's told her, I realize. Troy told Glory, and maybe even Alex, about the real dare. Whatever it was.

Was this the dare? To pull a prank with me in it? It sure was cruel... to Glory, and to Alex... but not me. Something's telling me this isn't it.

"Also she slapped me," complains Lee. His cheek is still red.

"Deal with it, all of you," the teacher growls. "Enjoy being young before you get seventeen types of heart disease and arthritis and wrinkles." With that, she turns back to her computer.

I guess we've finally broken her chill.

Troy comes up to the front of the room. "I think it's time I make an announcement. That kid was right. I don't like Alex."

Ms. O'Carthy glares. "Troy, sit do—"

"I like Glory," he finishes, to the surprise of the audience. "And no one and nothing can change that. And I'll be on my way out, so you watch your back, Cancer." He gives me one last glare and leaves again.

"Is he allowed to just leave?" I whisper. I realize it's the first thing I've said for pretty much the entire class period.

Apparently, he is allowed to just leave, because he doesn't come back and no one says anything. A little while after, Glory and Alex, who are both being stared at quite a lot, ask to go the bathroom.

They don't come back.

Finally, Lee turns to me. He's smirking... and it's a smirk I don't like. "Hey, Rose. I'm gonna take you somewhere... okay? Just you and me."

With that, he marches right out of the classroom, dragging me by the wrist. Tyler isn't far behind.

Lee... where are you taking me?

• • •

Soooo... drama... where did the others go? Where is Lee taking Rose? What is the real dare? Oooh suspense