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The Megaforce Rangers had eventually learned that, if you ever wanted to interact with Troy, you had to be the one to make the plans. Troy would never think to- not because he didn’t like them, but because he seemed to prefer being alone. But he’d let you drag him along as you would and he was really reliable about coming when they asked.
So Gia and the other Rangers were both unpleasantly startled when Troy never showed at Ernie’s Brain Freeze. They waited for an hour and then checked their morphers and the news for monsters- nothing. They tried calling him and he didn’t pick up. Noah had begun debating tracking him via GPS when Emma’s phone rang.
"Finally!" Emma muttered, pulling it out of her bag. "It's Troy!"
She put it on speaker and all of the Rangers gathered around.
"I’m really sorry," Troy said, sounding out of breath. "I forgot that we planned to go to Ernie’s today- is there anything I can do to make up for it?"
"You’re buying next time," Jake said, pushing his head next to Gia. She very carefully Did Not Grimace (that would be Rude) and instead exchanged an eyeroll with Emma.
"Got it." The relief in Troy’s voice was palpable.
"Where were you?" Emma asked, leaning closer to her phone.
Troy’s pause was almost undetectable. "Working out."
"You have to keep your phone on you when you do that," Noah said, sounding irritated, while Gia exchanged another glance with Emma.
Troy did keep his phone on him when he worked out- Emma had told her, because she’d called him in the midst of his workout to get him to Ernie’s, before the whole Jordan thing. He used his phone to keep time and check his heart rate.
Troy had lied.
Naturally, this bore investigation. Gia had pulled Emma out of Ernie’s after they’d finished talking to Troy, pretending that she and Emma were working on an environmental cause (otherwise Jake would have followed; she was really going to have to have a talk with him, this was just getting annoying).
"Do you think he got hit by a spell?" Emma asked, her forehead wrinkling.
"Let’s hope not." Gia scowled at the memory of the last spell they’d been under. "There’s no sign of a monster, and none of us have morphed, so they’d have to know who we are under the mask; I really don’t want that to be true. Also, I really don’t want to end up being the slave this time."
Emma snickered. "Then I guess I’ll be the one in handcuffs?"
Gia raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend. "Try scarves, they don’t leave unexplainable marks. And that’s only happening if I get to use chocolate sauce, too."
Emma tossed her a saucy grin. "Still haven’t figured out a way to hide the laundry from that. But what are we going to do to find out what he was really doing?"
Gia shook her head. "We can try asking him again tomorrow- in private. Maybe if he knows he's not fooling us, he'll open up."
Gia cursed Troy's chronic lateness to class. The plan had been to corner him before class, not try to talk in the midst of crowded halls!
She finally found him, next to his locker and smiling to himself.
"Hey!" His head jerked up when Gia nudged his shoulder. "What's got you so cheerful?"
Troy's smile stiffened. "It's a good morning, that's all. What's up with you?"
She rolled her eyes."That is the worst subject change ever, Troy. Why did you lie about where you were yesterday?"
The attempt at a straight face would have worked if Gia hadn't seen Troy stiffen. "What makes you think I was?"
"Emma knows that you use your phone as a stopwatch and heart rate monitor." Troy grimaced, and Gia nudged him again. "What's going on, Troy?"
"I left it off yesterday, that's all."
She didn't even spare an eye roll for that one. "Troy, you're a really bad liar."
Troy shook his head, pulling away. "I should get to class."
Gia shook her head, watching him walk off before taking out her phone.
"Emma? Time for plan B."
Emma pulled a gray hoodie over her pink shirt, zipped it up, and beamed at Gia. "This is how we dress covert!"
Gia raised an eyebrow and looked down at the outfit Emma set out for her. It was almost identical to Emma's- jeans, tennis shoes, shirt, and hoodie- but Gia's shirt was yellow and her hoodie was brown. "Where did you even get these?"
"Sports shop." Emma shrugged. "They don't just sell sports gear, and I wanted more clothing I could wear to the track."
Gia shrugged and started to change.
"Take it off! Take it all off!"
"Emma."
Emma grinned impishly, not a hint of regret on her face.
"Wait, wait! I see him!"
Gia ducked under the bushes and leaned close to Emma. Sure enough, there Troy was, sitting with- was that Jordan?
Troy laughed at whatever Jordan was saying, shifting forward. Jordan's hands were moving as he spoke, and one of them landed on Troy's forearm and waited a bit too long to pull away.
"He could've just said he was making new friends," Emma said, sounding a little hurt. "It's not like we'd hold it against him."
Gia glanced back at her girlfriend. "Are you sure he's making a new friend?"
Emma met her eyes, looking startled. "What, you think they're on a date?"
Gia shrugged, shifting to watch their Red and his "friend". "They seem a little flirty."
It took a moment, but then Gia felt Emma's hair on her shoulder. The boys rose from whatever they were doing, talking about something- why had they chosen to watch out of earshot?!- and then they both took money out, tucking it into the bill.
Gia raised her eyebrows.
"They're on the move! We have to go!" Emma said, pushing Gia.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Gia hissed, rising to her feet.
They darted behind a row of cars, peering over to watch the boys leave the diner. Jordan turned to Troy, grinning shyly. Gia couldn't see Troy's face at this angle, which was really a pity, because Troy reached out to cup Jordan's face and kissed him.
Well. She'd been right.
"Jordan?!" Emma hissed, sounding incredulous. "He's dating Jordan! The guy who pretended to be him! Well, Ranger him, but still! What does Troy see in him?"
"From a glance, I'd guess his kissing ability has something to do with it." Gia tilted her head, trying to see. "Okay, they definitely have to be breathing through their noses by now, this is ridiculous."
Emma turned- probably to say something sassy- and tilted over, crashing onto the bush.
Gia winced, immediately reaching a hand out and glancing over at Troy...who had turned and was looking her in the eye.
"Really?" was all he said, eyebrows raising. Jordan's mouth was half-open and his eyes were huge.
"Hi, Troy," Gia called, resigned to her fate. A glance to her girlfriend revealed that Emma looked mortified.
"In our defense, you're the one that lied!" Emma shouted.
"I'm not sure if your friends are really awesome or really scary," Jordan said, looking over at Troy. Troy grinned and leaned into him.
"I'm not sure if they know, either."
"We'll just leave, now," Gia said, helping Emma up. "You two have fun! Don't lie to us next time, Troy!"
Troy didn't respond, but Gia didn't bother looking back, instead walking with Emma back home (and dusting off her sleeves, the bush had decided to stay with her).
"My hair's all messed up," Emma whined, trying to bat the twigs out of her hair.
Gia couldn't even roll her eyes. "Hey. We just got our team leader to be honest, found out a secret via your idea, and discovered that Troy has a social life. Let's celebrate."
"How?"
Gia smirked. "Well, I've found my old scarves, and I'm pretty sure my family has some chocolate sauce in the fridge. I can find a way to hide the laundry."
Emma turned to her, eyebrows raised, and gave her a slow grin. "Race you to your house."
Of course, that wasn't the end of it. The next time the group met at Ernie's, Troy brought Jordan along.
Jake grinned. "Making new friends, Troy? I promise Noah won't be jealous. Ow!"
"You deserved that," Noah said, not even looking up from his phone.
Troy and Jordan both looked uncertain for a moment, glancing at her and Emma.
"We didn't tell," Emma said, smiling at them.
Gia smirked, watching the confused look on Jake's face with amusement. "C'mon, did you really think they wouldn't have come if they knew?"
Troy nodded. "True."
"Wait, wait, come to what?" Jake demanded, glancing between Gia and Troy.
Troy exchanged a glance with Jordan. "Gia and Emma spied on me last night."
Noah looked up from his phone, which was, from him, a monumental level of attention. "What? How are you so calm about this?"
"Because he's the one who lied first." Emma made a face at Troy, and Gia suppressed a laugh.
"You lost me," Jake said, slapping his hands on the table.
"That can't have been hard," Gia snarked, smirking at the expression on Jake's face. He made it far too easy.
"Troy didn't miss last time because he was exercising." Emma smirked. "Or, at least, not the kind of exercise we all thought he meant."
Gia had never seen Troy blush so hard.
"Wait, you two..." Jake pointed back and forth between Troy and Jordan. "Really? Huh. And here I thought you were into Emma."
Troy gave Jake a nonplussed look.
"Is that where the bruise on your hip came from?" Jake asked, turning to Emma.
Emma raised an eyebrow. "No, that was from my locker door; the only thing I got from last night was twigs in my hair.
Noah blinked. "So that wasn't from frolicking outside with Gia?"
Her cheeks flamed, and Emma coughed.
"Speaking of secrets," Jordan said, smiling only mostly at Troy this time. Gia hoped that he wasn't going to be as much of an introvert as Troy; she already had one to deal with, and that was enough.
"Why would they be frolicking?" Jake asked, looking blankly at Noah.
Noah turned and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. They have private pictures. And excursions that are remarkably date-like. And they both know each others' drink orders. And Emma wore Gia's shirt to school today."
"I told you they'd notice," Gia said, shooting a Look at her girlfriend.
"I didn't exactly plan on having a change of clothes!" Emma protested, raising her hands defensively. "The chocolate stains were really bad!"
"Wait, I thought you didn't like chocolate," Noah said, glancing at Emma.
"I don't. That's why it was on me and not the other way around."
Jordan choked on his smoothie, cheeks flushing red.
"And what exactly did Mr. Burley have to say today, Noah?" Troy asked in the most obvious subject change ever.
Gia really had to teach that boy some subtlety.