Tease(73)

God, this is all giving me a headache.

Brielle is stomping back to the coffeemaker, pulling out the kettle part and dumping the rest of the watery liquid down the sink.

“You are so going to get fired from Starbucks,” Noelle says.

“I don’t have a job, silly.” Brielle smiles.

“Guys, hey,” I say, finally, “you sent a 911? What’s going on?”

They both look at me like I haven’t been sitting here, the subject of their little coffee one-act play, for ten minutes. Brielle’s smile widens and she says, “Oh. Oh, yes.”

Noelle squeals, hops in her seat, and claps her hands. I’ve never seen her so perky. Though obviously I’m not her BFF, like Brielle.

“I have one word for you,” Brielle goes on. “Tyler.”

I just stare at her for a minute, then look back over at Noelle. Why are they trying to make me feel stupid? I feel stupid most of the day, anyway.

And I must look stupid, because Noelle goes, “Tyler Chang.”

“That’s two words,” Brielle says, but she’s still smiling.

“What about Tyler?” I ask.

“Tyler and Emma,” Noelle says.

“Last night,” Brielle adds.

Jesus, at this rate, I won’t know what’s happening until summer.

“You guys, just tell me!” I beg.

They look at each other, and for a second I think they’re going to start laughing about some other stupid inside joke, but finally Brielle comes up to the island and leans over again, looking at me excitedly.

“Tyler and Emma hooked up last night.”

“For real,” Noelle adds.

“It’s all over for Emma Slut-nam.”

“Sayonara, slutty!” Noelle says.

“Wait—what are you saying?” I ask, blinking.

“Well, Emma was grounded—” Brielle starts.

“I know, I know,” I interrupt her.

But she holds up a hand and says, “Let me finish! Emma was grounded. But Tyler, ever the gentleman, saw all the stuff about you and Dylan online—”

“Um, thanks a lot for that, by the way,” I say, but she gives me such a dirty look that I stop, pressing my lips together tightly.

“Do you want to hear this or not?” Brielle asks. She’s not angry, but she looks like she will be in about two seconds.

I clench my teeth and nod quickly.

“Okay. So Tyler goes over to Emma’s house—I don’t know, he like sneaks in, or something—and tells her everything, and they totally have sex.”

“Totally,” Noelle chimes in. I really want to say Thank you for the echo, but I’m keeping my mouth shut.

“And then—this is totally the best part—Emma called Dylan.”

“Wait, what?” I blurt out, so surprised I can’t be quiet anymore.

“I know!” Brielle says triumphantly. “This morning! Or last night, maybe, do we know?” She turns to Noelle, but Noelle just shrugs. “Anyway, she felt so guilty that she told him. I. Mean. What.”

Brielle pushes back from the counter and just looks at me as she fans her hands out in the air, like she’s just served Emma’s head up on a silver platter and is waiting for me to say thank you. Which I guess is kind of what just happened.

“That . . . I don’t . . .” I can’t really form words. This is good, right? Brielle and Noelle think it’s good, obviously. So . . . good. Right?

“She is so transferred,” Noelle says.

“Oh my God, they’re going to transfer her twice,” Brielle says.

“Wait, her parents know?” I ask.

“Um, kind of,” Brielle says sarcastically. “Marcus said Tyler told him they found Tyler sneaking out, so, um, the parents know for sure.”

Noelle nods, still in Brielle-echo mode. I wonder what happened to the cool senior who barely knew us—but she’s obviously the one who stayed over last night, not me. I look back at Brielle’s messy morning hair, her favorite house-hoodie from Abercrombie. She never makes coffee when I spend the night. No wonder it’s so bad.

“Ohhhh . . . my . . . shizz . . . ,” Noelle says, her eyes suddenly big and round.

“What?” Brielle and I ask her at the same time.

“Tyler is eighteen,” she says solemnly.

“You’re kidding me,” Brielle says, her eyes widening too.

“I am totally not. His birthday was like a month ago. Remember?”

Suddenly I do—it was like a week before Valentine’s Day, so obviously I’d forgotten all about it until now. But a bunch of us decorated his locker. I remember him talking about going to Adult Emporium, this store that sells porn and stuff outside of town. A lot of the guys talk about going there when they turn eighteen. I always assume they’re joking. But I guess with Tyler—or Jacob, for that matter—it might not be a joke.

Brielle claps her hands together, just once, loudly. “That stupid bitch!” she cries. “I could kiss her!”

“Uch, don’t,” Noelle says, wrinkling her nose. “You’d definitely catch herpes, at least.”

Brielle and Noelle high-five. “Did I tell you, or what? It all works out in the end. That slut just did our job for us!”