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act ii.

ALL GUTS, NO GLORY.
THIS IS WHAT WE CALL...
HOMEMADE DYNAMITE

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NO ONE LIKES Las Vegas anymore.

Well, to be quite frank, Lucas didn't like it in the first place, but, now everyone dislikes it. And yes, that includes you and me.

I also don't care about your argument. It will forever be invalid. You don't know what went down in Vegas. And you might never know the true story.

Sure, we know that six rich, prestigious, terrifying boys made a plan to go to Las Vegas for one's birthday. Their flight then got cancelled. A man by the name of "Shane" got a little too friendly with Foster, Charles threatened to kill someone, Chandler recounted on a girl who went to church, Lucas got mad that he got skipped in Uno, Matison had to drive another six miles, and Alexander... well, Alexander was being Alexander.

(And yes, Foster is still singing "Callin' Baton Rouge" at the top of his lungs. That might be the only thing you can really count on with these boys.)

After the boys got back from Las Vegas, it was Winter Break. And by "Winter Break", Westcott Prep meant "We're-gonna-give-you-a-few-days-off-but-you-still-gotta-do-an-ass-load-of-homework".

So, with the few days between December 24th, and January 1st, the six boys didn't talk to one another. They let the things that happened in Vegas simmer down and stay in Vegas.

The cold of January 2nd came fast. They went back to school and didn't talk to each other until lunch came.

The six went out and Chandler was the first to talk.

"We put all the guts in," he had spat. "And we get none of the glory for this."

"Do you really want the glory in this?" Foster asked.

"All guts, no glory," Chandler said again, rephrasing it.

"This is what we call Homemade Dynamite," Lucas then whispered.

Charles noticed the tears pooling in Lucas's eyes. No one else did.

"You're okay," he told him.

"I'm not," Lucas said and went back to drinking his water. He wiped his blue eyes with his sleeve and inhaled.

None of the boys were okay.