For the next few hours Tootie became unbearable. She seemed determined to start another fight with Timmy. If she wasn't dropping rude, and at times cruel, comments about him then she was changing her mind on how the backyard should be set up. Once she realized that wasn't enough, Tootie began verbally attacking his friends.

The girls had been trying to calm her down by giving her their support. They told her that Timmy had been wrong to say she was becoming her sister. That she wasn't manipulative, it was just that she was tired of being pushed around by everyone else. Perhaps at times she was a little too aggressive, which was why he'd accused her of intimidating others. When Tootie started going after Elmer Trixie put her foot down. Now all Tootie could do was glare at them.

Outside the boys were concerned by Timmy's silence. How he felt about his ex was one of the few things he didn't keep bottled up. At first there was an awkward silence as the gang glanced at him. The place where Tootie had slapped him had left an angry red hand print on his cheek. A.J. had tentatively suggested putting some ice on it, but only received a shrug in response. After a while Chester began to voice his opinion. The pigtailed princess was in denial about everything Timmy had said because deep down she knew he was right. Sanjay and Elmer agreed. They had a hushed conversation with Chester while setting up lanterns and lights in the back corner of the yard.

Trixie was the one who finally declared the yard done before Tootie could rearrange it again a little before 5. All remaining set up would be done by the caterers and band once they arrived. Since Tootie was still complaining that Timmy hadn't yet apologized, the boys snuck out of the yard and headed for Elmer's house. A couple hours of bossing around people who had no choice but to listen would lessen her anger enough for them to enjoy the party. Upon their arrival Chester told A.J. and Timmy what he and the others had been talking about.

"Hey Timmy that was a pretty gutsy thing you did calling Tootie out. Me and the guys were talking about what you said –"

"I wasn't part of that conversation!" the boy genius interrupted.

"Because you were too afraid of her to talk about it. Anyway we were just saying that you were totally right about her."

"But couldn't you have chosen a better time to say it?" Elmer whined. "Now she's taking it out on Trixie and Veronica and, unlike you, they can't stand up to her like that."

"As much as I hate to admit it, Elmer is right, today was not the best time." Sanjay said.

The blonde rolled his eyes, "What, because of the party? Dudes Trixie's throwing it not Tootie, it's not like she can keep us from going."

"Well technically speaking she can, everyone knows Tootie's second in command tonight, so if she wants us out we're out, well except Elmer." A.J. replied.

Elmer shook his head, "That's not what I meant."

"What was I suppose to do Elmer? Let her torment everyone? I lost my temper and I'm sorry, I'll apologize to Trixie and Veronica later."

A.J. looked at his brunette friend for a second, trying to phrase the next question carefully, "What about Tootie?"

Timmy shrugged. He saw no point in apologizing to her. It wasn't like she'd let him off with just an apology, she'd want him to make it up to her and take it back. And he wasn't about to do either.

After a few minutes of silence Chester changed the subject.

"So is Icky Vicky as bad as when she left?"

"More bark and less bite as far as I can tell."

"Woah, so it's like she and Tootie switched personalities?"

"Not really."

"Come on man give us some detail!"

"I would prefer not knowing," Sanjay muttered.

"The conversation wasn't that long, I'll let you know Sunday."

"What happens between now and Sunday?" A.J. asked.

"My dad's throwing some kind of Get-To-Know-Vicky party tomorrow."

"Wow, sorry about that man, anyway we can help? Maybe get you out of it?"

Smirking, Timmy said, "Yeah you could all come too and say hi to her. It'll be just like old times."

All of his friends looked as though he'd asked them to do some unspeakable act.

"Dude, you're our friend and all, but we value our lives too much."

By the time the boys got back to Trixie's there were fifty or sixty people already partying. Elmer and Sanjay went to find Trixie, Chester dragged A.J. over to a group of girls from another district, and Timmy made his way to the back of the yard where some games had been set up. For the next hour the buck toothed teen hung out with people from other school districts. They asked about the red mark only to laugh when he told them he'd called a girl out for being a brat. When they asked if the girl was at the party, Timmy pointed to the one in pig tails who was bossing the waiters around. When she caught the group looking her way then bursting out laughing Tootie really lost it, picking up a couple soda cans she threw them at the group. It freaked a couple of them out but the rest just held the cans up in thanks, mocking her from a safe distance. And that was why girls seemed hesitant in getting too close to Timmy. If he talked to the guys they came with, the girls walked off and didn't come back until he left. Not that he blamed them, Tootie might be a small and nerdy looking but she made up for it with her tough girl attitude.

He hadn't seen his friends since they arrived, the reason being that he was trying to spare them anymore of Tootie's fury. If he didn't speak to them she'd think Timmy was mad at them for siding with her. Every time they tried to talk to him, he walked off to talk with another group. While getting away from another attempt on A.J.'s part to get him to hang out with their gang, Timmy found himself talking to a group of theatre kids. After a few minutes of small talk he noticed a girl looking at him. She was talking to an older teen, judging by the way he was guzzling beers, he was a graduating senior. Noticing she'd been caught staring she looked away and gestured to her cheek then back at Timmy. A lot of people had been doing that all night, asking their friends why he'd gotten slapped. They must be really bored if they had to resort to coming up with theories about who he got the red hand print on his face from.

To his surprise her companion just pointed at Tootie, shook his head, and pushed her Timmy's way, encouraging her to go ask him herself. She seemed too embarrassed. Timmy went back to listening to the theatre kids complain about some play their director wouldn't let them perform. A moment later he felt someone tapping his shoulder.

When he turned around Timmy saw the same girl smiling up at him. She was very cute. She was also a tiny little thing, barely five foot, but there was something about her that screamed 'don't underestimate me'. The t-shirt she wore had a stick figure tripping another as a zombie ran after them. There were freckles spreading under both her green eyes and over the bridge of her nose. Nervously she tucked a strand of her short blonde hair behind her ear before introducing herself.

"Hi, I'm Ryan." Her voice was soft and sweet, it made Timmy blush.

"I –…uh…..I'm Turner… I-I mean Timmy!" Confused at his sudden inability to form coherent responses Timmy was about to walk away to bang his head against a wall when she started giggling.

"Nice to meet you Timmy, or maybe I should call you Turner."

"Heh, sorry about that."

Pointing to his cheek, "so what happened?"

"Someone didn't want to hear the truth."

"Uh-huh, sure you didn't just call her the wrong name?"

Timmy shrugged, "in a way, yeah."

She tried to hold in a laugh, "Girls don't like that much but I'm sure you realize that now, right Turner?"

He couldn't help but smile. Not the little half smiles that didn't reach his eyes but a real smile. It was a nice feeling.

"So, besides making girls mad, what else do you do for fun Timmy Turner?"

Before he could answer the boy she'd been talking to before walked up holding a red plastic cup in each hand. He threw one arm around Ryan, nearly spilling the cup's contents on her.

"Hey Rye I'm tired of holding your drink, "he pushed the cup in his free hand into her hands, "So did you ask him?"

He was drunk. Timmy noticed that he and Ryan looked similar, same blonde hair, same face shape, he was a couple inches taller, and his eyes were blue.

"Turner this is my brother, Seth, he just graduated."

"Yup, goodbye public school system, hello keg parties and college girls!" Seth threw his fist into the air yelling at the top of his lungs. People nearby were laughing at him or, in the case of the theatre kids, getting away from him.

The tiny blonde looked embarrassed at her brother's outburst. "I'm going to go find somewhere for you to sit down," she looked at Timmy as she steered her brother back towards the house, "see you later."

As they walked off Timmy couldn't stop a goofy grin from spreading across his face. Seth couldn't walk straight. He kept throwing his fist up in the air and cheering, sometimes yelling more college perks. Just before they got to the house the pair started to stagger to one side, at which point Ryan ducked out from her brother's hold and let him fall to the ground. Timmy found himself chuckling.

Someone came up behind him and put him in a head lock.

"Hey look at you, flirting with death twice in one day!" Chester said excitedly, giving his friend a noogie, "you got a death wish?"

He struggled to get out of his friend's grip, only to have Chester tighten his grip before letting him go. "I wouldn't call the first time flirting."

"Yeah, more like provoking an injured, scared, cornered beast." A.J. had his hands in his pockets as he spotted said beast shouting at a familiar snobby rich boy who'd just showed up.

The blonde shrugged, "Anyway Tootie bought that you were mad at us so now that you've accomplished that mission stop avoiding us. Who was chick you were talking to Turner uh I – I mean Timmy?" A.J. laughed at Chester's imitation of Timmy's word fumble, "What was that? Did you forget how to talk to girls?"

"Shut it."

His friends continued to make fun of his loss of words for several more minutes. Then they asked him about Ryan. There wasn't much to tell but his friends persisted. It'd been a long time since they'd seen him smile so much. However all good things must come to an end, and Tootie was the means of bringing said end. Done yelling at her boyfriend she was now heading their way to take out her remaining anger on Timmy. The second she was within hearing distance the trio's mood did a complete one-eighty.

Standing in front of them, arms crossed over her chest, Tootie interrogated them about what they'd been talking about. Deciding the truth would only bring more grief, they lied. They'd been talking about going to a comic book convention that summer. She didn't buy it but with no proof they were lying there wasn't much she could do about it. She sighed and frowned as she said that she didn't appreciate Timmy telling everyone she was a brat or that she'd been the one that slapped him. People were whispering behind her back. Her mood change would seem odd to an outsider given she was shouting not too long ago but the boys knew better. This was Tootie trying to manipulate them by showing her old self, the self that was sweet and lonely. When she'd first started doing it, it worked like a charm every single time, now they just played along.

Just as she was asking the buck toothed boy to go around explaining that he'd just vilified her out of anger, someone else walked up to them. It was the tiny blonde girl with the zombie shirt. Tootie was speechless that someone would interrupt her conversation but not as much as when Ryan didn't leave when she glared.

"Excuse me this is a private conversation. Could you please give us a minute?" Her tone was anything but polite.

"Yes because a party of drunken teenagers listening to bad music is the perfect place for a private conversation," Tootie was taken aback at the girl's boldness while the boys were impressed, "I'm here for him actually," she pointed to Timmy.

"Like I said, I'm talking to him so scamper off until we're done." Tootie waved her hand dismissively at the blonde girl who just ignored her.

"I'd rather talk to him now before you smack him again."

"You little bit– "

Tootie wasn't able to finish her statement as Timmy grabbed Ryan's wrist and led her away and Chester 'accidentally' knocked the bespectacled girl over to follow his friend. A.J. brought up the rear, fearfully glancing back at Tootie. The blonde boy then led the scared boy genius away. Timmy led Ryan into the house, where everyone was eating, before letting go of her wrist. She seemed amused by what had just happened.

"So that was the girl that slapped you?"

"Yeah."

"There's history between you two isn't there? Jealous ex?"

He chuckled, "more like my psycho ex."

"She seems like a lovely girl, I'd say you deserved getting slapped." Ryan teased.

They found a quiet corner in the kitchen to talk. Timmy leaned against the wall and sighed.

"Then she was a saint back when we first started dating."

"Personality change?"

"Pretty much."

"So, Turner, tell me why the two of you split. Usually lovers' spats make for strong relationships." It had been an innocent question but the look on his face made her regret asking.

After a very awkward silence the buck toothed teen spoke up, "I didn't want to confide in her, she got tired of waiting and left."

"Sorry."

He looked down at the girl in front of him. She was staring at the floor, clearly uncomfortable with the change in mood. It was a touchy subject and she knew it.

"I'm over it she's not, no big deal. Besides, if it hadn't happened I wouldn't be here talking with you." When she looked up at him, Timmy's heart skipped a beat. The smile on her face was adorable, as was the blush spreading across her cheeks. Without knowing it he was smiling back at her.

Nervously Ryan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looked down at the floor then back up at him. The way she looked at him made Timmy feel lighter than he had since everything fell apart. It gave him hope that things could get better. So he decided to forget about everything for the rest of the night; forget about the drama with his parents, forget about his psycho ex-girlfriend, forget the nightmares, just forget about all the bad things that had happened in the last two years. Tonight he would lower the walls he'd carefully built up and enjoy himself. With that thought in his mind he leaned down and kissed Ryan, and to his surprise she kissed him back.