"Hi. I'm so sorry about everything. I promise, I can explain it all, but I have a limited amount of time. Please text me back quickly."

"Who is this?" Delilah texted back with uncertainty.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the unknown number replied. "It's me, Dylan. I 'borrowed' my mom's phone to text you. She went to the grocery store and left it, but she'll be back soon."

"Delilah?" Cassandra sighed.

Delilah looked up from her phone and directed her attention back on her two friends. "Sorry," she said quickly before taking her turn, completely missing the hole. "Dang it."

"Well, couldn't be worse than mine," Spencer chuckled, pointing to his dark blue ball, which hadn't rolled more than three feet away from where he'd first hit it.

Delilah's phone buzzed.

"Lily? Hello?" Read another text from Dylan.

"I'm here. Sorry," she replied. After pressing send, she quickly told Cassandra and Spencer, "Dylan texted from his mother's phone."

"Really?" Spencer frowned.

"Yeah," Delilah nodded, turning her attention back to her phone.

"Can I call you really quick?" Dylan texted. "Please. I don't have much time."

"Do you guys mind if I call Dylan?" Delilah asked quickly. "He doesn't have a ton of time. It'll just be a few minutes, I promise."

"I'm fine with it," Cassandra shrugged. "Spencer, what about you?"

"Go ahead," Spencer nodded leaning on his putter like a cane. "Call him. We'll wait."

Delilah stepped away and took a deep breath before dialing the number.

Why was she so nervous? This was her best friend, the same boy who she had grown up with and talked to a million times.

Delilah quickly shrugged off the feeling as the phone began to ring.

Almost immediately, Dylan picked up the call and said, "I am so sorry."

"It's okay," Delilah said softly with a small shrug. "Talk fast. I don't want you to get caught."

"Well, it's like this," Dylan explained. "I got an A minus on a test a couple weeks ago. All and all, it's not horrible because I barely had the time to study for it and it was a chemistry test. But anyway, my step father got super upset about it and yelled at me. He took my phone and said I was grounded."

"Why did your mom allow him to do that?" Delilah frowned. "He shouldn't be able to do that! He's not even your real father."

"I couldn't even begin to understand what my mother's thinking," Dylan sighed, shaking his head. "She wants me to treat him like I did my real father, which means that when he punishing me, I'm supposed to just accept it."

"What? That's crap!" Delilah exclaimed indignantly, gesturing so wildly that she accidentally poked herself in the eye. "Ow," she winced.

"Oh no. What did you do now?" Dylan chuckled. "Was it your gesturing again? Did you slap yourself in the face?"

"Poked myself in the eye," Delilah sighed, her hand covering her wound.

"Are you okay? Do you need me to fly to New York to kiss it and make it feel better?" Dylan teased, stirring a pot of sauce on the stove.

"I'll be okay," Delilah chuckled. "Besides, if you leave now, your step father will go on another power trip."

"Sad, but true," Dylan sighed. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that I've gotten- oops."

Just then, the line went dead.

"Dylan? Dylan?!" Delilah exclaimed. "Ugh!"

"What's wrong?" Cassandra asked with concern as her friend came back over.

"Dylan got in trouble because he got an A minus on a chemistry test," Delilah said with a roll of her bright blue eyes.

"Isn't he in advanced placement chemistry?" Spencer frowned, stepping up to take his next shot.

"Yep," Delilah nodded. "He's in all advanced placement classes."

"So, what I'm hearing is that Dylan is freakishly smart, and his step father is worried about an A minus?" Cassandra frowned. "Man, that guy is messed up."

"You're telling me," Delilah sighed. "Come on. Let's keep playing."

Spencer took his next put and stepped away. After inspecting where it stopped and deciding that he was moderately happy with it, he said, "I'm concerned about Dylan, if I'm being totally honest. I'm afraid his step father is having a detrimental affect on him. He's still grieving his biological father and his jerk of a step father certainly isn't helping."

"I do wish that he'd stop pushing him to focus on his studies so much," Delilah sighed.

Cassandra nodded in agreement. "How about we finish the game and discuss this more over coffee later?"

"Alright," Spencer nodded.

"Sounds good," Delilah agreed.