"Oh," says Troy sheepishly. "Right. Um."

Alex rounds on him. "Do you know where she went? Singleton, I'm warning you—"

"Which one?" Tyler asks. "There's two of us."

"There's going to be zero of you if you don't hurry up and tell us where Glory is," retorts Alex. "Now."

"Um," Tyler says. "Disneyland?"

Alex storms up to him with clenched fists. "I'm serious, Singletons. You watch it."

Troy swallows. "Well—um—Glory went home."

I raise an eyebrow. "How, though? She was supposed to ride home with us! Who drove her home?"

Troy rolls his eyes. "She picked up her phone and she pressed some buttons and called her mom to come pick her up," he tells us. "Isn't that just amazing?"

Alex turns from her chokehold on Tyler and rounds on Troy. "Can I choke both of you at the same time?" she explodes. "You both drive me crazy—"

"Calm down, Alex," I soothe. "I'm sure they're just trying to be helpful—in the most unhelpful way possible, but still. They're trying."

"Why did she go home, though?" Lee wonders out loud, voicing the question on everyone's mind. "Did she tell you, Troy?"

"Yeeeaaaaaah," jeers Tyler. "Did she teeeeeeell you? Because I know she liiiiikes you—"

"She doesn't like me, and I don't like her," Troy snaps, turning away. "That's the end of it. Period. End of story."

"You never answered my question," complains Lee loudly. But then, when is Lee ever not loud?

"Cancer, I don't give a—"

"Oooookay," I interrupt their heated debate. "That's enough out of both of you. Troy, did Glory tell you why she left?"

Troy looks me evenly in the eyes.

"No."

"Well that was a disappointment!" Lee shouts. "You could at least pretend to know."

I sigh. "Lee, why does everything have to be a complete and utter drama-fest with you?"

"Because. It does." Lee smirks at me, and I seriously contemplate smacking the smirk right off of his lightly-freckled face but then decide against it.

I'm too nice. But only just.

"Well, are you two going to go home, then?" Tyler asks us. He sure is in a hurry to kick us out.

"Whyyyyyy?" Lee questions, his voice returning to that awful flirtatious drawl. "You want more time with your girlfriend?"

"Lee," Ann cuts in.

"Yes?" he replies, batting his eyelashes.

"Do me a favor."

"What would that be?"

"Shut up."

He lets out a low whistle. "Okay, then. But I have to agree with Tyler—when are you guys leaving? You guys are no fun."

"If we're no fun, then why did you invite us?" I asked incredulously. "It sounds like you had your own reasons."

Lee shrugs. "Because Troy told me to."

Oh.

I wasn't expecting an actual answer.

Troy looks a little guilty. "What? Am I not allowed to have friends?"

"You're not even friends with Alex and Rose," Lee replies. "I remember. You only wanted to invite Glory. I said no, and if it wasn't for my mom pushing me to invite all of you, none of you would have been coming at all."

"Wow," Alex says quietly. "I didn't expect you to be able to string that many words into a sentence at one time. Not with your IQ level, anyway."

Lee glares at her. "Lansky, you need to learn when to keep your mouth shut."

"Cancer, you need to learn not to boss girls around." Alex shook her fists at Lee.

"Both of you," he hisses suddenly. "Get out. Get out of my house."

"But—we need a ride home!" I stutter. "You can't just kick us out..."

His electric-blue eyes narrow. "Watch me."

"Lee," says Troy quietly, "the dare—"

"The dare can wait until tomorrow," spits Lee. He waves his fingers at Tyler and Troy. "Do me a favor and escort these guys out of my house."

Tyler grins. "With pleasure."

Troy doesn't say anything. He still looks a little guilty. His steel gray eyes are apologetic as he slowly walks towards me.

"We need a ride home!" Alex cries.

Lee shrugs mercilessly. "You should have thought about that, Lansky." He waves Tyler forward and he grabs Alex by the wrists and slams her into the door.

"This is ridicul—" I start.

"Don't care," Lee cuts me off. "Thought you were better than this, Razzledazzle. You can stay with us, or you can leave."

"But—"

"Alex is leaving, no matter what. Glory already left. Pick one. Or Troy will kick you out."

I swallow. "I'm not going to listen to you."

Troy comes toward me, his arms outstretched, his icy gray gaze looking almost shameful.

"I'm sorry," he whispers in my ear. "I really didn't want this to happen." He grabs my wrists and slams he against the door beside Alex.

Lee watches him. "Troy, since you were such a chicken in Spin the Bottle, you can take them outside. I think Tyler would like to return to the party."

"What are they?" Alex shouts. "Your henchmen?"

Lee ignores her and Tyler hands Alex's wrists to Troy, whose muscular grip is inescapable. Tyler returns back to the cluster of people, all eyes still on Alex and I.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, but I don't listen. I want to just go home, but Alex's mom isn't supposed to come for another hour and a half, and Alex's phone is dead, so she can't text her.

Tyler opens the door on his way back and Troy pushes us out as gingerly as he can. He shuts the door behind him and now we're just out on the porch. The sun has set by now.

"You know, I'm sorry," he mutters for the fortieth time. "I really am."

"Troy—"

"No," he interrupts. "I know you're—" he stops suddenly, his eyes focused on something behind us. "Oh no."

"TROY! YOU GET YOUR CRUSTY, DUSTY LITTLE—"

"I have to go," Troy mutters.

"NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!"

And before Troy can move a single muscle, someone storms up from behind us. Someone with blonde hair and hazel eyes.

Never have I been so happy to see Glory.

"Glory," Troy says quietly, "I thought you left."

"DID YOU EXPECT MY MOTHER TO JUST APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR?" she screeches. "SHE HAS TO DRIVE HERE, YOU IDIOT!"

"Calm down," Alex soothes her.

"Sorry," she replies. "I'm just a little mad at this crusty dusty little—"

"Why are you mad at me?" Troy asks. "What did I do?"

"You just kicked my friends out of Lee's house and I'm not supposed to be mad at you?" asks Glory, but she's not meeting anyone's eyes, and I'm not sure that's entirely why she's mad.

"Glory, I had to—"

"Shut up, Singleton." She turns around, her blonde hair flashing. "Go away."

Troy opens his mouth and then closes it again, like he was about to say something, before he slips back inside without another word.

"Well then," Glory mutters cheerfully as Troy slams the door. "That happened."

•••

[sorry that I didn't post yesterday! Let me be all cliché and blame it on the fact that we had exams]