Sunday, February 25, 7:24 PM

Irving's Place of Residence

Irving

"I'm not understanding this," I inform Katie, who is currently standing in my front doorway, arms crossed since she's cold. She refused to take off her white coat when I offered her inside after a moment of shock, since, after all, we're not exactly friends, shaking her head when I did so. "So someone's accusing me of putting that information about Adyson online? I mean, do I wish I had come up with the idea?"

"I certainly hope that answer is no," Katie interjects. She moves her foot from one edge of the carpet to the other, but keeps her gaze on me.

"It was," I assure her, moving aside so that she can step into the living room. I walk into the nearby kitchen and grab a bag of pretzels from the cupboard. "But I swear, I didn't. I may not like Adyson much, but...that's just downright cruel."

"It is," Katie agrees, grabbing a pretzel stick and beginning to munch on it. "Extremely cruel. I would have rather heard it from her than from the school website that nobody monitors correctly. You would think the school would care a little more about its reputation..." Her voice trails off. "That came out wrong, didn't it?"

"...Maybe," I say after a moment's hesitation. "I know what you meant, though."

"Good." She finishes her pretzel and glances at the bag, then picking it up and turning it around. "What brand is this?"

"No idea." I shrug. "Mom gets them from the clearance rack at the grocery store." I turn the subject back to the more serious matter here as she nods thoughtfully. "By the way...who is this girl, anyway?"

Katie rolls her eyes. "This girl in my dance class that I've known for way too long. I would think you would know who she was, since she for some reason is one of the most popular girls in school. Daphne Burkholder?"

I make a face, having recognized the name. "Oh," I say in a disgusted manner, wrinkling my nose. "Her. She's always making fun of the way I'm obsessed with Phineas and Ferb, like it's her business what I do with my life."

"So you know her."

"Unfortunately."

She nods. "Well, during dance class about three weeks ago, she told me, while I was fantasizing about Phineas-" She blushes slightly when my eyes go wide. Does she...like Phineas? How did I not know about this? "Um..." Katie chuckles nervously. "Anyway... she said that you were the one that revealed Adyson's secret. She asked me if I wanted to know how she got that information, and since my mind was taken over by something else...I said no."

"Okay, first of all," I begin, pointing to her. "You still have a crush on Phineas?"

"Don't tell anyone," she says urgently, blush rising up her cheeks. She makes an effort to cover them with her hands, of which have red gloves on them. The gloves match her cheeks. "Isabella already nearly killed me the first time I revealed it. I don't want to go through that process again."

"Fair enough," I nod. "Second of all..." I begin to frown. "There's no way she could have gotten any evidence. I didn't do it, and I never would have if the idea even came up." I hesitate. "I will admit that I did know before it came on the site, though...thanks to some of my security cameras-"

"You have security cameras?" she interrupts. A strange look is on her face. "Not just in Phineas and Ferb's backyard? Okay...that's a little creepy, Irving."

"I know, I know," I moan. "You don't need to tell me. But back to the subject at matter. Just because I knew about it before doesn't point to the idea that I did it. Isabella, Vienna, Django, Baljeet, Ginger, and Aubrey knew before, too. That makes them just as big of culprits as I am. But they all insisted they didn't tell anyone else."

Katie chews on the bottom of her lip, appearing to think hard. "Well...you don't really know that they didn't...really, I only trust Isabella, Vienna, Django, and Baljeet with secrets. The other two, I would be suspicious about."

I raise an eyebrow. "You really think Aubrey would think about it hard enough to say, 'You know what? I'm going to tell something like this to everyone, that the stork is bringing Adyson a baby.' Come on, Katie."

"Yeah...I guess so." She still looks skeptical, though. "But what about Ginger? You know how big of a liar she can be when it comes to this kind of stuff."

"I do," I admit. "But she only told Baljeet; I know that for a fact. I saw through the camera in Baljeet's bedroom, don't comment about that, please, that she told him that she was only going to tell him so that she, quote, would 'tell somebody to get it out of her system', or something like that. Usually, once she does that, she's good."

"True..." Katie sighs. "But who else would there be to tell the secret?"

"Well, I know from Ginger telling Baljeet that she hid in a bathroom stall and listened as Adyson told Isabella in the girls' locker room at cheerleading practice." I tap my finger on my chin. "Did anyone else happen to go back into the locker room when you guys were on your break and Adyson collapsed the pyramid?"

Katie leans over and places her elbows on the coffee table, hands on her forehead. Her eyes roll up to the ceiling as she appears to think. "God...it was like five months ago. I don't even remember," she mutters, breathing deeply and shutting her eyes.

"Take your time," I say quietly.

"Let me think...I know that after that happened, I was talking with Emily, Savannah...and I think Milly, too. Yeah, that's right. I know that Aubrey was playing by herself...Vienna was talking to Adyson, presumably about the whole thing, Isabella talked to Adyson later, I know that, and...crap. What were Lilly and Holly doing?"

I know at this point that she's talking with herself, so I keep silent and just listen.

"Oh, that's right, Lilly was standing by Coach, and Holly..." Her eyes suddenly pop wide open. "That's it!" she screams, nearly startling me out of my chair. "Holly went into the locker room with Ginger, and she didn't come out until practice started, again!"

"Easy, there," I warn her, rubbing my now tender eardrum. "Some of us are now at risk for deafness, here."

"Sorry." Katie blushes again, but her eyes still remain wide. "Irving...do you think it could have been...Holly?"

I blink, considering this, then shake my head. "No..." I say slowly, thinking of my enemy bitterly, but remaining focused. "Holly doesn't have any problem with Adyson. There's no way she would have done something like that."

"But think about it," Katie says slowly. "Weren't she and Aubrey still together at the time?"

"...Yeah," I say grudgingly. I kick randomly at the floor. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't mean to make you sound like a heartless person, but..." She looks at me intently. "Were you and Holly still mad at each other over the first love-triangle-involving-Aubrey fiasco?"

"Yep. And..." I bite my lip and turn away so that Katie can't see my expression, which is wracked with guilt. "That was around the time when I convinced Aubrey to come back to me, again, and Holly didn't know about it...yet."

"Man, you guys are confusing," she groans. "But you're missing my point, here. Was Holly still mad at you? Like...was she ever talking about revenge or anything like that with you?"

"Not really," I say truthfully. "Why? I don't get what you're trying to say."

"What I'm trying to say is...maybe this is her revenge, making it look like you did something horrible and then get all the blame for it, making everyone upset at you, making her happy." Katie looks at me harder. "I don't think any of this truly involves Adyson, in all honesty...in fact, I think it truly involves you."

I sit back in my chair at this point, thinking all of this through. All of what Katie just told me is swirling around in my head. Would Holly really hurt someone else so much only to make me look bad? And to think I thought there was a good person way deep inside of her. Anger starts to flow through my veins. Literally, I start shaking.

"Um..." Katie hesitates. "Do you want me to go now, Irving? I...think I should..."

"Please," I say. Before she can leave, however, I call out, "Wait."

She stops and turns around, right before she was able to get to the doorway. "Yeah?"

"...Thank you," I tell her after a moment of both of our unspoken words just hovering in the air. "Seriously, thank you."

"No problem," she assures me. She rolls her eyes. "But to think it was Daphne Burkholder that made us realize all of this." Right before she closes the door, she gives me a small smile, then closing it quietly. It's kind of strange how nice she is to everyone, even people like me who she barely even knows.

After her departure, I stand up, walk over to the coat rack right by that same front door, and grab my own coat. As I stuff my arms into the arms holes, I narrow my eyes as I consider what I'm about to do.

I am going to call Holly out for what she's done. I've wanted to talk with her for a while anyway about the whole Aubrey issue, so this ought to be good. She'll finally realize how wrong she is.

Ten minutes later, the Walker residence

Holly

"Goddamn it!" my dad yells. He throws some of his potato chips at the television screen as his team's rival scores another touchdown. This just so happens to be the team that beat his in the playoffs, so he really holds a grudge against them now. This is the final game of the year, though, otherwise known as like the big championship, so of course he's going to watch it.

My mom and I stand back, uncertain looks on our faces. "Um, Dad?" I ask. "Are you okay?"

He turns around, face bright red. He takes a deep breath. "No, Holly. I am not."

"Give your father some space," Mom tells me quietly as she steers me away from him. "You know how aggressive he can get during these kinds of events. It's what we get for being in the same house as a football fan."

"I heard that," my dad calls out. Clearly, Mom wasn't quiet enough. She shoots me a sheepish look before disappearing back into the kitchen, which is where she is half the time.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rings, startling all of us, especially my dad. He literally throws the entire bowl of potato chips into the air out of fright, making them rain down on himself as well as the couch he's sitting on and the floor surrounding it. Mom crosses her arms and glares at him, making him chuckle nervously, and she then looks at me. "Would you mind getting that, Holly?"

"Sure." I shrug as I pass my dad, who is picking up as many chips as he can. I have to struggle not to start laughing by how ridiculous he looks on the floor, but I do keep a smile on my face as I walk over to the door and open it. Seeing who's there wipes the smile right off.

It's...Irving. Whoop-de-doodle-doo. What could he possibly want? But before I can say anything, he whispers, "Get out here."

"Why?" I whisper in reply.

"Just do it. Please."

I sigh, open the closet to retrieve my coat, and as I'm putting it on, I yell out, "I'll be right back, Mom. I have to talk to someone."

"All right." She continues to stir the pot of soup she has on the stove.

That said, I finish zipping up my coat and then walk outside, where Irving awaits. He adjusts his glasses, and, upon seeing me, begins to frown. "I know you did it," he immediately says as soon as I quietly shut the front door.

I give him an odd look as I wrap my arms around myself and shiver. Even in this coat, it's freezing out here. "Did what?"

"Reveal Adyson's secret." He crosses his arms as my eyes widen. How he doesn't appear to be cold, I'll never know. "Someone else and I have put a ton of evidence together, and it all points to you and how you're jealous of me and Aubrey."

Hearing him say Aubrey's name makes my heart ache. I try not to let this pain pass over my face, instead giving a look. "What kind of evidence?" I try not to make my voice sound shaky, and it succeeds. Sort of.

"Like...how you were in the locker room when Adyson revealed her secret to Isabella."

"So was Ginger," I point out, shifting my position uncomfortably.

"Yes, but here's another thing." He starts to walk slowly around me, like I'm a criminal and he's investigating me at court. "You and I were still mad at each other over what happened last spring. Since I had quote 'stolen' Aubrey before you got her back, you wanted revenge."

"Revenge?" I try to sound like I have no clue what he's talking about.

"Yes. Revenge." He stops circling me when he gets to be in front of me again, instead staring me down. "So you decided to post Adyson's secret online, and sound like me, and before long, people would start to 'realize'," He uses quote fingers for this, "That I was the one that told Adyson's secret. Then everyone would be mad at me, making you happy that I was the one suffering for once."

I say nothing.

"Is this true?" he demands, stepping closer to me. "Tell me right now if this is true so that I, or heck, maybe even you, can tell Adyson that you were the one that made her life a living hell."

I sniffle, then taking a shuddery breath. "...It is," I admit, wiping a tear from my eye. I shrug. "You caught me. I made her life miserable so that yours would be miserable. And I feel terrible about it...really, I do."

"Do you?" he accuses me. "Do you feel terrible about it? Or is it just Adyson?"

Is he serious? "Of course it's just Adyson," I snort, starting to frown. "Why would I feel terrible about you? You deserve that hate."

"In what way?" He starts to laugh. "How do I deserve to be treated cruelly? Because I convinced Aubrey that she was better with me?"

"Or did you force her?"

Irving stops laughing right then, now looking at me. My fists are clenched, as I feel ready to punch him at any second. "W-What?" he stammers, now stepping back a good two feet. "What do you mean, did I force her?"

"Exactly that," I accuse him, voice shaking with anger. "Tell me exactly what you said to her to make her come back to you."

He hesitates. Now he looks guilty. "Um...well, um..."

"Say it," I hiss. "Say. What. You. Said. To. Her."

"All right, all right." He sighs. "I told her that...she should come back to me, because you were trouble."

"And?"

"That's...all I can remember." He bites his lip. "But I know there was something else, too-"

"So you threatened her." I fake a laugh, when inside, I'm burning up like I live in the bottomless pits of hell. I've never felt more angry in my life. "You effing threatened her to stay with you when she was perfectly happy with me. I knew it. I...effing...knew it."

"It sounds worse than it is, believe me," Irving protests, his tone troubling, as he sees the tears rolling down my cheeks. "I only said those things after she complained about you when we talked to each other. So, really, she wasn't happy with you."

I rub my head, feeling like I'm in the middle of a soap opera. Yet, come to think of it...I just might be in one. "And you think she's happy with you?" I ask him, my voice cracking. "She's been more miserable than she ever has been in the past few months."

"No, she hasn't," he argues. "I've been tutoring her-"

"Not well," I interrupt, looking up at the sky. Unlike this argument, it looks so peaceful and free up there. "I was in the library one time when you were doing a study session with her, and you were practically yelling at her at one point. She looked to the point of tears."

His eyes go wide again, and he stares at me in shock. "Are...you serious?"

"YES!" I scream, throwing my hands up in the air. "Why can't you understand that your teaching style doesn't go with her learning style? Why can't you understand that she still loves Santa Claus? Why can't you understand that she doesn't love you?" I swallow. "By the way... I'm not trying to steal Aubrey back from you again. She's not a tug-of-war rope. What I am trying to do is protect her from getting hurt. And by staying with you...she's getting pretty damn hurt."

Irving stays quiet after this, looking down at the ground. He blinks repeatedly. "I...didn't know," he finally says after about a minute's worth of silence. "I...didn't know she felt that way."

With that, he turns around, and, without any warning, bolts off of the front porch, running farther and farther away until all he is is a speck of something that almost looks like nothing.

Next Chapter Preview: Gretchen finally meets with Isabella again, revealing all of her hidden feelings built up throughout the years and answering some questions that have been brought up.

Well. How was that for a plot twist? And to think all of you thought it was Irving...