Razzledazzle [ ✓ ]

Chapter 26 | The Truth

"T-Troy?" I stammer as he rounds the corner, still flashing his grin. I glance at Lee, who looks both apologetic and torn at the same time.

"Yes, Rose, it's me," he says coolly.

"W-what are you doing here?" I ask as he gets closer to me. "I thought you and Lee were enemies."

"You thought," he repeats icily. "No, no, you've got it all wrong. My acting was pretty good, though, wasn't it? Poor little Lee even had to take a hit for me."

Troy cracks his knuckles, and I can still see the faint bruises from when he'd punched Lee a few days ago.

"But we're still friends... we always were." His gray eyes are narrowed in triumph.

What does he mean, it was all fake? How could it be fake? Is that what the whispers were about? Were Glory and Alex in on this, too? Was Tyler?

"But why would you pretend to be enemies?" I ask quietly, not meeting Lee's eyes. Troy only grins harder.

"We had to find a way to get you on Lee's side, make him likable," Troy tells me.

"But why?"

"So you would say yes when he asked you to be his girlfriend, because that's what the dare was," Troy explains shortly.

I gasp. That was the dare? This whole time, it was all leading up to this? It wasn't real, it was all a joke, a trick, a prank, a dare? Really?

"Y-you m-m-mean... it was all a dare?" I ask faintly. "All of it?" I look at Lee, hoping that he'll argue and say that Troy is lying, but he just winces.

I guess it's true.

"It's true," Troy says. "Lee was a very good actor, too, I must admit. But it definitely couldn't have been done without the help of my other accomplices." He grins again.

He takes a deep breath to explain. "Tyler was in on it from the start, and I told Glory the first time I got her alone, the day we kissed. Alex found out as soon as she was on our side."

I can't believe it. They were in on it, all of them. Everyone knew. Everyone except me.

"Lee came up with most of the plan, after everyone had left the party except for Tyler and I," Troy continues. "The plan was originally just to be mean to Lee while forcing you two together, since you're a good person and you would pick the right side."

"But it was Tyler's brilliant idea to add Glory and Alex into the scheme," Troy adds. "That's why he got Glory's attention during the tests by calling out that she liked me.

"It kind of threw a wrench in the plan when she wasn't there for Seven Minutes In Heaven, because that's when I was going to tell her the plan. But Tyler got you and Lee into the closet instead, so it worked out great.

"I locked you two inside long enough to explain the plan to Glory. I didn't realize that I left the spare key inside, but oh well, I guess. It worked out anyways.

"The next day, Lee and I got into a fight, as planned, and I was suspended... I guess I deserved it, and I guess it was worth it, but... anyways... Glory and Alex took my side. I was stealing your friends away from you.

"Now, of course, all we had to do was secure that you were on Lee's side with a prank war. As soon as you told Lee and Tyler your plan, they told me. I told the girls that it was going to be today so that they would be ready. I knew that Lee would ask you today.

"And here we are now," Tyler finishes, exhaling deeply after his long explanation. "Any more questions, Rose?" he asks innocently.

"I can't believe you," I spit. "You manipulated Glory into being on your side because you knew she had a crush on you?" She tried to tell me, today. She tried to warn me.

And I thought she was a bad friend.

Troy sighs. "No. I really liked Glory, honestly. I needed her slightly annoying spunk and her trickster way of thinking. Just like I needed Alex's clever mind and intelligence."

"Wait!" a voice calls, a familiar voice that I would recognize anywhere. Two voices, even.

Glory and Alex.

They come bursting around the corner... how long they've been there, I don't know... and start shouting at me.

"Rose, listen," Glory says. "You need to listen. We sided with Troy because he's right."

"How is he right?" I snarl.

"This whole dare started because Lee messed with Spin the Bottle and made Troy kiss me when he clearly wanted to kiss Glory instead," Alex explains.

"If Lee hadn't been mean to Troy in the first place, none of this would have happened," adds  Glory.

I can't believe it. They're right. Troy was right. If Lee hadn't moved the bottle, none of this would have happened. Troy could have kissed Glory and not wanted revenge.

They're right.

I spin around to look furiously at Lee. "So this was all acting? All of it? I thought you liked me. I bet Troy paid you for that ice-cream, didn't he?"

There was silence.

"Ice-cream?" asked Troy. "When did Lee buy you an ice-cream?" I can see a faint blush on his face. But it's not embarrassment, it can't be. It has to be guilt.

He's guilty, guilty, guilty.

"I didn't," he lies. "I don't know what she's talking about."

I've had enough. "And now you're lying?" I shout, not caring if the whole school can hear me. "I'm leaving!"

I storm off in a random direction down a random hallway, to get away. To get away from Lee, who's a liar, to get away from Troy, who's apparently the good guy now, to get away from my friends that I turned on for no reason.

To get away.