Razzledazzle [ ✓ ]

Chapter 2 | The Invitation

"Lee is hosting the party?" I gasp. "Why would I ever want to come to something being hosted by Lee?"

"It'll be fun," Alex insists. "There's gonna be guys there."

"That's the issue," I object. "I don't want there to be guys there. No guys for me."

Alex snorts. "You can't just generalize the entire male population by your experiences with one person."

Glory's eyebrow is raised. "Can you maybe say that again—in English this time?"

Alex snorts again. "I'm saying that not all guys are like Lee."

"Oh."

"But still," I groan, tapping my pencil on my desk. "I don't want there to be any guys there. Then we're going to have to play Spin The Bottle and all of that stuff—"

"Calm down," Alex hisses. "You act like you've never been to a party before."

"Are you guys talking about the party?" calls a voice from across the room. For a second I'm worried it's Lee, so I'm very relieved to find that it's the Singleton twins: Troy and Tyler.

They both walk over here, looking creepily similar, with their blue-gray eyes and matching ash-blond crew cuts.

"Yeah," Glory answers. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No," Tyler answers. "We're going too. I'm bringing my girlfriend."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in my face, Ty," Troy snapped, blushing slightly.

"Well, you would have a girlfriend if you were brave enough to tell the girl you like that—"

"Shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No, YOU shut—"

Alex waves her hands impatiently. "How about both of you shut up? I don't care that you're going to the party."

"So you three are going to the party?" Troy clarifies. "All three of you?" He ignores his brother's smirk.

"Sure we are," Glory answers immediately.

"No, wait—" I stutter.

"No waiting," Glory insists. "Nope. We are going to this party. It's too late."

"But—"

"NOPE!" Glory shouts.

Ms. O'Carthy sends a glare in our direction and the Singleton twins go back to their seats. My mind is whirling.

"Alex, I don't want to go to this party," I growl.

"Well, too bad." Glory sticks out her tongue and starts doodling on the back of her loose-leaf paper. "Alex, tell her she has to go."

"You have to go," Alex informs me before heading back to her seat. I start to say something else, but Ms. O'Carthy cuts me off.

"Okay, class," she says, raising her voice. "I understand that some of us are—" she pauses, "—party animals, but let's leave the discussion of parties for after class, please."

"Yes, sir," Lee blathers obnoxiously. Glory, Alex and I all roll our eyes at the exact same time.

"Now, class, I've given you people a while to chat—or invite your friends to parties—but now it's time to be serious. We should be selecting our elements for the project."

"I'm a good student," declares Lee. "I already picked an element."

"Well, I'm sure there's a special place in the hall of fame just for you, Lee," snaps the teacher. "Now. Please try to stay on task."

Ms. O'Carthy returns to her computer and I pull out my periodic table, my eyes staring blankly at all of the tiny squares.

"Which one of these should I do?" I ask Glory. "There's so many. Half of them are hard to pronounce and the other half look like they're written in a completely different language. I'm serious. Why couldn't they just have simple names? Why do they have to be so complex? Why do they—Glory, are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry, what?" Glory's head snaps up from her doodles. Sometimes I think she really needs a high five.

In the face.

With a chair.

"Glory, you need to pick an element before you get yelled at by Ms. O'Carthy," I reminded her.

"Psssh, Ms. O'Carthy never yells at anyone. She's, like, the chillest teacher ever."

Like I said.

High five.

Her face.

My chair.

To my surprise, Glory nods. "You're right," she tells me. "I'm gonna have to raise my science grades if my parents are gonna let me come to this party."

"I thought you got good grades," Alex calls from the row of desks in front of us.

"In reading and art," Glory replies. "Sometimes math. I'm trash in Social Studies and Science, though."

"You are not trash," Alex assures her. "Your grades are the same as mine."

"We're getting off topic!" I shout. "Now isn't the time to discuss grades! We have to pick elements."

Alex turns back around and Glory finally pulls out her periodic table, looking at it just as blankly as I am.

"I might do... um... silver. Sounds simple enough. What about you?"

"I might do Praseodymium or something," she answers. "That way I'll at least sound smart."

"Too late," calls Tyler from the front of the room. "Troy's already doing Praseodymium."

"I can change it if you want to do it, though," Troy adds.

"It's fine," Glory calls back. "I was kidding. I'll do... chromium. Sounds... easy enough."

I'm not sure exactly what she says next, and that's because my mind is whirling again. I can't stop thinking about the party.

What if we DO play Spin The Bottle? What if I end up having to kiss Troy? Or Tyler?

Or Lee?

I would rather chicken out than kiss Lee, of all people. No way.

"Hello, Earth to Rose," says a voice. I look up, expecting it to be Glory, but I'm unpleasantly surprised to find that it's Lee.

"What do you want?" I snarl.

"Just thought I'd tell you that the party's on the sixteenth. That's four days from now." He gives me a crooked smirk, an evil one. "You're coming, right? For me?"

"Not for you," I retort. "For Alex and Glory."

Before Lee can reply, the bell rings, and of course everyone rushes to grab their things and leave. But as I'm getting ready to go, I meet Lee's eyes: bright and clear.

And I can't get them out of my head for the entire walk home.

***

[This is unedited, if there's any typos, feel free to comment and tell me]