"Why were you talking to fuckface?" Nicolette asked, frowning at Alan as they stood next to each other. Manny was talking to a few of his teammates nearby and let them have some time to catch up.

"He caught me, so I didn't have much of a choice." Alan admitted with a grumble, rolling his eyes as he did so. "He's so... fucking insufferable."

"Are you... still on for going through with the plan?" Nicolette asked, a curious look on her face as she took a sip of her drink.

"As long as you did your part." Alan replied, giving her the same expression.

"Oh, that was easy. I even added something extra special." Nicolette stated with an evil smirk.

"Do I... want to know?" Alan asked, nervous.

"Nah! It will ruin the surprise!" Nicolette said with a bright smile and a wink.

"Surprise? What kind of surprise?"

They looked up to see Daniel standing nearby, having made his way over to their group.

"Oh, hi Daniel! Nice to see you! You look awesome, as always." Nicolette spoke, looking over his outfit.

"Thank you, and I like the matching ensemble that you and Manny have." Daniel returned the gesture, seeing Manny not too far away talking with another group.

Nicolette was wearing a sleeveless dark purple silk gown, a split placed tastefully above her left knee as she wore open toed purple heels. Her curly hair was straightened and fell over her shoulders and down her back and her glasses were nowhere to be seen as she replaced them with contacts. Manny was in a black suit with a dark purple shirt and black tie.

"We tried." Nicolette said with a pleased grin, before leaning closer to both Daniel and Alan. "He's so fucking hot. We went to a boutique shop to try and get matching colors, and he had to take off his shirt to try it on... UGH... I didn't know he was ripped." She added, a face of pure pleasure showing.

"So thirsty." Alan teased, only to see her stick her tongue out at him playfully.

"I'm surprised you don't have a date, Daniel. None of the girls threw themselves at you?" Nicolette asked.

Daniel smiled calmly, glancing over towards Alan quickly, only to see him distracting himself by looking at the DJ, attempting to keep a calm expression. "I did have one, actually. But, she sadly ended up cancelling at the last minute. Something urgent came up and she had to take care of it."

"Oh, that's too bad." Nicolette said in surprise.

Yeah, shame a bitch had to DIE. Alan thought to himself, a smirk coming to his face as he did so.

"No worries! I don't mind coming alone. I can hangout with friends and teammates and still have a good time." Daniel replied with a warm smile.

Alan listened to them carry a conversation as he felt his phone vibrate in his pants pocket. Perplexed, he pulled it out to see a text message appear on the screen.

Alan looked up from his phone screen to calmly scan the crowd to see where he could pinpoint Thomas, only to see him resting near the stage with Claire and a group of people. He had already caught sight of him, his expression pensive as he did so. Looking back down at his phone, Alan tried to think of what he could possibly say in return.

Alan stared blankly at his phone, slowly looking up one more time to see that Thomas was now visibly suspicious, an eyebrow having raised as he watched Alan in the distance.

Alan frowned in confusion.

At that point, Alan was growing frustrated, trying to figure out how he could pass this off without giving too much away.

That caught Alan's attention, as he immediately looked up at Thomas in horror, only to see him smiling calmly in his direction, taking pleasure in watching his reactions. Nervously, he looked back down at his phone, pausing for a moment, before he frantically began replying back. Thomas watched him in an amused fashion, putting his phone away as he saw Claire come and speak with him, catching his attention.

Without much warning, the dance music that was playing before, began to slowly fade away, before switching over to something else entirely, getting everyone's attention inside of the gymnasium.

"Wow, Jonathan... you're pretty damn horrible, you know that?"

"T-Thomas... you fucking.. ass-"

"Look, let's not make this any worse for you....Huh... that doesn't look good."

"You... fucking pushed me..."

"Well, you grabbed me first. Purely self defense."

"The hell I did! You-"

Everyone looked up at the DJ in confusion. At the sound of hearing his own voice, Thomas looked up towards the stage in utter surprise, not understanding what was happening.

"We're going to go with that story, Jonathan."

"Are you... fucking insane?"

"No... just very upset. You see, you took something from me that I can't really have nor possibly get back. However, I did the same to you. But I can reap rewards from what I took. Everyone knows you hated Alan. It was pretty visible and blatant. Quite homophobic. So, if word got out to the administration that you bullied and harassed Alan, which forced him to transfer, you're screwed."

At the realization of what this was, Thomas looked over towards Alan in complete horror, his mouth shut tight and his brown eyes wide. Alan, who had been watching Thomas from where he was standing, returned the expression with a pleased smile on his face, his hands resting in his pockets as he did so. Thomas, at a loss for words, glanced over to see Nicolette watching him as well, a look of pure evil on her face as she carefully flipped him off once again, Manny having returned to her side as he looked up towards the stage in curiosity.

"I see you're catching on. Let me wrap this up, so you can finally understand why you're going to agree to what I tell you to do. I already have my status in this school. I don't really need anything else... well, the one thing I would like to have I can't, but I'll make do... for now. Regardless, I'm innocent in this whole ordeal. I politely told my friend that I wasn't gay, you intruded on our conversation and then bullied him relentlessly. All I have to do is say the word and your life is ruined. No more volleyball, no more popularity, no more respect. Granted, with this... you won't be playing for a while anyway."

"Stop." Thomas finally spoke, turning his attention back to the DJ. "Stop it. Right now."

"Thomas... is this you?" Claire asked, confused. He looked over towards her, only to see that many people were staring at him with the same expression, several people whispering as they did so. This entire situation had caught the attention of teachers and administrators, who were beginning to slowly make their way towards the stage.

"You... you sick twisted fuck..."

"No... just really smart...Oh, and by the way... I lied."

"Stop the recording right now!" Thomas shouted, having climbed onto the stage to try and get to the DJ.

"I am... indeed... gay."

After that final statement, the recording ended and the entire gymnasium was silent. Thomas turned to look back over the crowd, only to see them all staring up towards him in shock, confusion, and pure disgust.

However, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and in a bit of a daze, Thomas pulled it out in confusion, looking down to see a message.

His attention was immediately on Alan once again, who was smiling brightly, before carefully pointing a finger gun in his direction and then mouthing the word "Bang!" right after.

"About time the truth got out, huh, Thomas?" A voice shouted over the crowd, catching everyone's attention as they turned their heads back towards the other side of the gym. A young man with brown skin and shoulder length curly black hair, physically fit, and tall dressed in casual clothing was leaning against a wall, a calm expression on his face as he stared up at Thomas on stage.

Thomas looked at him from afar, uncertain of just who he was, before his face shifted to complete terror, the color slowly beginning to fade from his face. Whispers began to circulate across the gym, trying to figure out who was speaking.

"Excuse me, young man. Are you a student here?" A teacher asked, walking over towards him.

"No, I'm not, but I was invited to attend by another student. However, in case anyone is wondering about that recording, I can guarantee that it was certainly the guy standing on stage." He shouted, pointing at Thomas.

"Who are you? You can't be here." The teacher asked, walking over and grabbing his arm, only to have him yank it away.

"I think I have a right to be here, considering that asshole framed me." He rebutted, glaring at Thomas as he did so. "I'm the other guy on that fucking recording. I'm Jonathan Cruz, and the guy who was talking and told me he was gay, threatened me and broke my fucking arm a couple of years ago, was Thomas Thaxton."

The entire gymnasium was in an uproar, Thomas having froze on stage as his mind went completely blank. He looked down towards the crowd, seeing people shouting in utter distaste towards him, jeers and boos having been heard. Claire was crying in utter embarrassment, having run out of the gym. He took one more look at Nicolette, who was grinning madly from ear to ear. While Alan, who seemed to be just as shocked as he was, was standing right next to Daniel, who actually had a hand resting on Alan's back in an affectionate but inconspicuous manner.

"Mr. Thaxton, please follow me to the main office." A voice next to him stated, which he looked over to see was their head principal, and their expression was not amused. With this, Thomas kept his gaze to the floor, quietly following the older man off to the side of the stage.

"Everyone calm down! This will be taken care of! Disregard everything. Lucy, escort that young man to the office as well. We'll get the music back on so that everyone can continue with the dance!" Another teacher proclaimed over the crowd, looking over to the DJ quickly to see them turn the music back on without hesitation.

"Best. Homecoming. EVER."