8 –Have a Shattered Night

Tonight is going to be perfect. Absolutely perfect. Thanks to my wonderful mother and her many talents, the house is all mine for the night –she and Pa are going out to visit some relatives and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Now, did I mention how absolutely perfect tonight is going to be? Palex is going to be reunited, Jimmy and Ellie are going to morph into Jellie, and all the while I get to spend a lovely evening with my lovely boyfriend. Heck, if all works well, I might even convince Hazel to get within five feet of Jay –I still don't understand exactly why Alex is trying to get me to fix them up, but I can't resist showing off my matchmaking skills whenever possible.

Okay, so here's the plan: I've invited Alex, Dylan, Ellie, Hazel, Jay, Jimmy and Paige over for a "graduation party" of sorts. They'll show up and I'll get them all comfy in the living room. There will be some light conversation -maybe a game or two. Then, it will be time to send Operation Palex into action. What is Operation Palex, you ask? A movie. Okay, so not exactly the most complicated of plans, but it will work. I mean, Paige and Alex didfirst get to know each other at a movie theater. A movie is bound to bring up some old memories, right? Of course it will. So, after Palex is reunited I'll then-

Oh my God –the doorbell just rang. Already. I haven't even finished going over the plan yet! I ignore the thought I now have in the back of my mind that somehow this is a bad omen, and hurry to get the door. It's Dylan and Paige.

"Hey hun!" Paige greets me with a hug. "Please excuse the un-fashionable punctuality, but my big macho hockey-playing brother was so desperate to get here that he was on the verge of tears."

Dylan wraps his arms around me and gives me a kiss. "An exaggeration –but the truth none the less. I missed you."

I roll my eyes. "We saw each other about three hours ago when you picked me and Paige up from the mall," I say matter-of-factly. Okay, who put Tim in Dylan's body? Dylan's been acting mildly stalker-like ever since we got back together. Nice –yet kind of creepy- all at the same time.

I claw myself out of Dylan's grasp and take Dylan and Paige over to the living room. I barely have a chance to get them settled before the doorbell rings again. This time there are no thoughts of bad omens asI rush over to the door –practically skipping in anticipation. I open the door to find a very angry looking Ellie and a very depressed looking Jimmy. Okay, the thoughts about bad omens? Just came back.

"Ellie! Jimmy! So, happy you could make it," I say with fake-enthusiasm to cover up my confusion. They just came back from an art exhibition, and I'm starting to think things didn't go so well.

"I'm glad I could come –at least at your house I can keep a good ten feet in between me and this jerk at all times," Ellie says to me while glaring at Jimmy. Yes, things definitely didn't go so well.

Ellie –who has been to my house numerous times- walks automatically towards the living room. I rest a hand on Jimmy's shoulder and give him my best sympathetic look. Jimmy just looks down and I think I can hear him mumble, "Like it was ever going to happen anyway," as he wheels himself in the direction Ellie just went towards the living room. Poor guy. I stand at the door trying to think of what could have possibly happened at the art exhibition –Ellie and Jimmy seemed fine earlier today. Better than fine, actually.

Another ring of the doorbell snaps me out of my thoughts. I'm hoping that at least these guests are happy. I open the door to find both Jay and Alex staring at Hazel –Jay with drool practically running down his face and Alex with a death glare. Death glare: not a good sign. I show Alex and Jay into the living room where everyone else already is seated and I'm about to go in myself when Hazel grabs me and drags me into the kitchen.

"Did you notice the look Alex was giving me?" she asks me nervously.

Did you notice the look Jay was giving you? Is what I want to say, but I resist."Yeah, um, I thought you guys were okay with each other."

"We were… but, um, I might have told Alex something that I shouldn't have…" Hazel says not looking me in the eye.

Oh no. Please, tell me she didn't tell Alex what I think she did. "What did you tell her?" I ask –holding out a little hope that it wasn't…

"I told her about Paige and Spin."

I'm quiet for a while. Why did Paige have to tell Hazel everything? Not the best idea in the world. I mean, I love Hazel to death, but her secret-keeping skills -not exactly up to par. I take a deep breath. "Maybe this isn't going to be as bad as we think it is. It's not like Paige and Alex were together when it happened. Maybe Alex will just let it go," I say hopefully.

"Or maybe Alex will completely forget about the expression 'Don't kill the messenger.' Maybe I'll be dead by next morning."

I nod, "Or that." Hazel now looks completely terrified. I hold her hand reassuringly, "Oh come on Hazel, Alex isn't going to kill you... Just think, maybe it's a good thing you told her. Now, Palex can reunite without any secrets. It'll be perfect, just you wait."

Hazel looks skeptical, but agrees. "Okay, maybe you're right… but could you make sure that Alex doesn't have access to any sharp objects? You know, just in case."

I laugh, even though I'm pretty sure Hazel wasn't joking. We walk into the living room and Hazel takes a seat as far away from Alex as possible -not that Alex even noticed Hazel enter the room. Actually, I don't think anyone noticed that we entered the room. Ellie is too busy ignoring Jimmy. Jimmy is too busy looking mopey. Alex is too busy glaring angrily at the coffee table. Paige is too busy trying not to look over at Alex every five seconds. Dylan is engrossed insome sports commentary. And Jay… has disappeared.

"Where's Jay?" Iblurt outnervously.

Alex takes a short brake from glaring at the coffee table to answer me. "Went to the bathroom."

Oh, God. A kleptomaniac wandering around my house? Bad. Very bad. Before I know what I'm doing, I bolt out of the living room to go find him. Of course, I don't know why I'm so worried, it's just Jay... Alone... In my house. Okay, maybe I do know why I'm so worried. I rush over to the bathroom and open the door, and I'm surprised to see that Jay is actually in there. And I'm even more surprised to see that he hasn't stolen anything –or at least anything too large to fit in the pockets of his jeans. His jacket has been thrown on the floor in front of where he is sitting; he's leaning against the bathtub. And he looks like he's about as happy as Jimmy is right now. Great –that makes two very upset people, two very angry people and one very nervous person at my party so far. Jay is still just leaning against the bathtub so I re-close the door and head back to the living room. Currently, Jay looks too upset to steal anything anyway –I might as well leave him be. I have enough to deal with already.

I walk back into the living room and hope beyond hope that everybody miraculously looks happy again…

No luck. If any thing, things have gotten worse. Alex has stopped glaring at the coffee table and has started glaring at Paige –taking short breaks to glare at Hazel, too. Hazel looks absolutely terrified. Ellie is still just ignoring Jimmy –but now Jimmy looks like he's on the verge of tears. And Dylan...

Dylan practically jumps on me when I walk in the room. "Where'd you go? I missed you," he says for the second time tonight.

And also for the second time tonight I claw myself out of his grasp. Seriously, why has he been so clingy lately? "I was gone for like five minutes," I say a little harsher than I was planning to –Dylan looks a little hurt. He sits back down and goes back to watching the sports commentary. I'll make up for the harshness later. As for now, I have to turn this party around. A movie? Not sounding like such a good idea anymore. I need something that will cheer everyone up. I mean, we just graduated. We should be happy.

Okay, so a thought has just hit me. "Who's up for a game?" I ask everyone.

"Sure, why not? How about 'Truth or Dare'?" Alex suggests while glaring at Paige.

Okay,the smirk on Alex's face as she says this tells me that 'Truth or Dare' would turn out horribly. "Um, I don't know, Alex. That game is a little overplayed, don't you think?" I say trying to both avoid playing 'Truth or Dare' and also avoid getting Alex mad at me. "I know, let's play 'Never Have I Ever'," I suggest instead.

Ellie rolls her eyes. "A drinking game, Marco? With my history, you want me to play a drinking game?"

"It doesn't have to be a drinking game. Just... here…" I say grabbing a soda from a cooler in the living room, "everyone grab one of these, and let's play."

Alex is one of the first to grab a drink and looks pretty eager to start the game, and –in Alex's current state of mind- this can't be good. "Here, I'll start… Never have I ever..." she pauses, pretending to think of something even though it's obvious that she knows exactly what she's going to say. "Never have I ever slept with Spinner," Alex says while looking Paige straight in the eye.

Paige let's out an irritated sigh, and slowly raises up her drink and takes a sip.


Note to reader: This is only the first half of this chapter. I wanted desperately to finish this story before I went on vacation, but I just couldn't manage it. So, I'll put up the second half of this (final) chapter when I get back.