Truth or Dare (36 page)

Now, on the beach, Caitlin slid out of her shoes, letting her toes sink into the damp sand. It was a beautiful night, the sky a clear, midnight blue, but she felt as if there were a storm cloud hanging directly over her head. The darer had given her a warning, and she hadn’t listened. That picture flashed through her mind—how wasted and slutty she looked. And there were drugs on the table… Panic gnawed away at her. Tenley had told her the truth this afternoon: that nothing
had
happened between Joey and Caitlin, and that the drugs had belonged to Harley Hade’s friends. But no one else would know that.

At least she and Tenley were on the same page again. It was such a relief to know that the photo was the reason Tenley had been acting so crazy lately. The darer had used the photo to threaten Tenley, too; she really
had
thought she was protecting Caitlin. And when Caitlin had told her about finding Sydney’s file at Dr. Filstone’s office, Tenley had finally accepted that Sydney couldn’t be the darer. It felt good to have her old friend back. And now that they were a united front again,
maybe they could stop this darer once and for all. Before that picture had a chance to get out.

Caitlin’s phone buzzed in her purse. She pulled it out to find a new text from Emerson.
See u @ Tenley’s???
she’d written.

Caitlin paused before responding. She’d been avoiding Emerson ever since she’d admitted to sending that dare. She just couldn’t believe her best friend would do something like that. It made her feel as if she didn’t know her at all. And if that was the case… what else didn’t she know?

I’ll be there
, she wrote back, choosing her words carefully.

Me too!
Em replied immediately.
And just talked 2 Jessie. Her ankle’s healing really well. Dr thinks she’ll be back on squad by Oct! So everything can go back 2 normal!! And I swear Cait—I’ll never do anything that stupid EVER again.

Cait clicked out of the text without responding. She was relieved Jessie was getting better, but she still wasn’t ready to let Emerson off the hook. She was about to put her phone away when it began to ring. She couldn’t help but smile a little when she saw who was calling.

“Hey,” she said. “Finally tucked your surfboard in for the night?”

“Sang it a lullaby and everything,” Tim quipped. “Just wanted to see if you were going to Tenley’s.”

Caitlin’s smile widened. She’d given Tim her phone number after their surf session that morning, but she hadn’t thought he would use it this quickly. “On my way now.”

“Good to know. I’ll be a little late. See you there?”

“See you there,” Caitlin confirmed. “And don’t forget your suit. According to Tenley, she’s throwing the last—and most killer—pool party of the season. Although she is strictly banning all ocean swimming,” she added.

Tim laughed. “Good call. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for another Lost Girl either.”

Caitlin’s spirits lifted as she dropped her phone back into her purse. That morning, she’d stayed on the water for more than three hours with Tim, surfing and kissing. When she finally returned home, she’d found five very sharply worded messages from Eric Hyland about missing her Festival shift. But she didn’t care.

At the end of the morning, before she and Tim had parted ways, she’d finally stood up on the board for a split second. In that instant, with the pulse of the ocean beneath her and the cool air on her skin, everything had just made sense. It had been an amazing feeling.

And there was no reason it had to end, she decided. Tonight she was going to forget all about the dares and just have
fun
. She crossed from the beach onto Tenley’s sprawling front yard. It was her senior year, after all. Wasn’t that what it was supposed to be all about?

Tenley grabbed Caitlin’s arm the instant she walked through the door. She looked great; her hair was smooth and shiny and her white one-shoulder shirt showed off her deep tan. But it was more than that, too; she seemed happy, relaxed even, as if she hadn’t been crying in bed just a few hours earlier. “All right, Cait the Great,” she announced, pulling Caitlin aside. A group of junior girls called out hello as they walked by, and Caitlin gave them a quick wave in response. “I’ve made a decision. There is going to be no pageant talk tonight. Not even a word.”

“Agreed,” Caitlin said quickly. “And no dare talk either.” Caitlin pulled the aqua bikini she’d brought with her out of her purse and dangled it in the air. “Fun only.”

“You read my mind,” Tenley said, smiling.

“And just so you know, Ten, I texted Tricia earlier,” Caitlin said. “She has a thing with her parents tonight, so she’s not coming to the party.”

“They’re probably out celebrating her undeserved win,” Tenley scoffed. “Well,
good
.” She threw back her shoulders and fluffed out her hair. “There will be no one to distract from our no-pageant-talk policy.” She hooked her arm through Caitlin’s. “Tonight,” she declared, “Cait the Great and Perfect Ten are back in action!”

Caitlin grinned. Tenley’s enthusiasm had always been contagious. With Tenley’s arm still looped through hers, they headed toward the living room, which was getting more crowded by the moment. Tenley stopped short in the hallway. “Watch this,” she whispered to Caitlin. She turned to Tommy Malin, a Winslow junior who was walking by. “Hey, you,” she said, smiling flirtatiously at him. “I’ve got a question for you. What best friends do you know who are hotter than the two of us?”

Tommy stared hungrily back at her, his eyes flicking over to Cait for just a second. “None,” he said immediately. He moved closer to Tenley, doing a weird wink-flutter thing with his eyes. “Did you want me to get you a drink or something?” he asked eagerly. “I make a mean cosmo.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Tenley said. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she pulled Caitlin into the living room. As soon as Tommy was out of sight, they burst out laughing. “Juniors are such easy targets,” Tenley said.

“Did you see the look on his face? It was like he had dust in his eye.”

“ ‘I make a mean cosmo,’ ” Tenley said, imitating him. “Who even drinks cosmos?”

They were still laughing as Marta came over to join them, flanked by Nate Roberts and Tyler Cole. “We’re taking a survey,” Marta told them with a giggle. “What do you think the over-under is on a new Lost Girl dying during Fall Festival?”

“Yes, tell us, girls,” Nate jumped in. He held his phone out, pretending it was a tape recorder. “What are the chances that Echo Bay will get a fourth Lost Girl?”

Tenley bent down, pretending to talk into Nate’s phone-slash-recorder. “I’d give it fifty-fifty,” she said. “You can’t underestimate the power of a curse… Though let’s just be clear: It’s not going to happen during my party.”

“It’s not going to happen at all!” Caitlin squealed. She grabbed the phone out of Nate’s hands. “Zero percent,” she said. She never could admit the truth to her friends: how much the whole Lost Girl lore creeped her out. The idea of dying out on the water, all alone, as if the ocean had
claimed
you… just thinking about it made her shiver. It was like the ultimate horror movie.

“All right,” Nate continued in his best newscaster voice. He grabbed his phone back from Caitlin, pressing it up to his lips. “We’ve got one vote for fifty percent, and one for—”

“Hey, guys.”

Nate let his pretend tape recorder fall to his side as Emerson joined the group. “Em!” Marta squealed, giving her a hug. “About time you got here!”

“Well, if it isn’t the model giraffe herself.” Tenley said it under her breath, but by the way Emerson tensed, Caitlin could tell she’d heard. But Emerson ignored Tenley.

“Can we talk, Cait?” she asked softly.

Caitlin nodded. She’d known this was coming, but she still felt nervous as she followed Emerson out to the backyard.

“Okay,” Emerson said once the door had shut firmly behind her. She crossed her arms against her chest, fixing her eyes on Caitlin. “Tell me what I have to do to make you believe how sorry I am.”

Caitlin rubbed her forehead. “Em, it’s not that easy—”

Emerson cut her off. “Seriously, Cait. Want me to go jump in the ocean in the middle of Fall Festival? Do a one-woman cheer for
everyone inside?” She gave Caitlin a tiny smile. “Give Calum Bauer the lap dance of his life? Just tell me and I’ll do it. I know what I did was terrible—believe me, it’s been eating away at me ever since I sent that stupid,
stupid
dare. And then I got dumped, and it just made me realize even more what’s truly important. My friends, especially you.” She paused, tears filling her eyes. “Seriously, Cait. I feel awful. Want me to quit cheer squad in honor of Jessie?” She paused, several tears sliding down her cheeks. “Because I will! I swear I will.”

“Stop, Em.” Caitlin reached out to touch Emerson’s arm. She was so sick of this: the twisted fights and the lack of trust and, worst of all, the fear that her best friends were slipping away. Emerson looked heartbroken, as heartbroken as when she’d told Caitlin that Mystery Man had ended things. Maybe even more so.

“I can’t lose you, too,” Emerson whispered.

“You haven’t,” Caitlin said firmly. And she meant it. Emerson had made a mistake—a huge, terrible mistake. But Caitlin was done letting this darer come between her and the people she cared about. “Do you swear that was the only dare you sent?”

“I swear,” Emerson said adamantly. “I don’t know what I was thinking! I must have gone temporarily crazy.”

The wind picked up and Caitlin wrapped a hand around her hair to keep it from whipping into her face. “I think maybe we all have.”

“Does that mean you forgive me?” Emerson asked in a small voice.

Caitlin smiled. “I forgive you.” She giggled. “I can’t believe you offered to quit the squad.” Cheering was the only thing that Emerson had ever really cared about at school. “And give Calum Bauer a lap dance!”

Emerson made a face. “You’re that important to me, Cait.”

Caitlin hugged her. “Right back at ya, Em. Now can we please go have some fun?”

Emerson squeezed her back. “You don’t have to ask me twice.” As she pulled away, a worried expression crossed her face. “Have you… have you told Tenley about… you know, what I did?”

Caitlin shook her head no. “And I won’t, if you don’t want me to. But in return, you have to be nice to our little Mama Grizzly tonight, okay?”

Emerson beamed. “Deal.” She hooked her arm through Caitlin’s. “
Now
let’s go have fun.” They headed back into the house arm in arm, and for the first time since she and Emerson fought, Caitlin felt as if things were really right again, the way they were supposed to be.

“Let’s get this party going!” Marta called out when she saw them. She was standing with Tenley over by the massive flat-screen TV. She smiled eagerly at Emerson and Caitlin. “I say we play another game of truth or dare!”

“No,” Caitlin gasped before she could stop herself. She coughed a little. “I mean, I don’t think I’m in the mood,” she corrected hastily.

“Actually,” Tenley said, shooting her a mischievous look, “I think you are.”

“Not again,” Emerson groaned. She shot Caitlin a worried look. “Believe me, I am
not
playing,” she whispered.

“I think even you’ll like this game, Emerson,” Tenley said. She turned to face the crowd, waving her arms around to get everyone’s attention. But she was too short for it to work.

With a sigh, Emerson lifted her arms in the air. “Let the giraffe do it,” she said. “Hey, guys, Tenley has an announcement,” she called out, waving her arms through the air—above most people’s heads.

It worked. “All right,” Tenley exclaimed once all eyes were on her. “We are going to play a new type of truth or dare. This time, there’s only one turn, and I’m the one who’s going to take it.” She put her hands on
her hips, swiveling around so everyone could see her. “I hope you all brought your suits, because I dare everyone to jump in the pool!”

“Yeah!” Hunter cheered. He must have arrived while Caitlin and Emerson were out back, and he rushed over now, scooping Tenley up and tossing her into the air. Caitlin quickly averted her eyes. “Last pool party of the season!” he yelled. He put Tenley back down before leading the charge to gather drinks for the pool.

Tenley reached up to smooth down her hair. “Even
you
can’t argue with that dare, right?” she asked Emerson.

“Not bad,” Emerson admitted. “And luckily I brought a suit with me.” She pulled a brown-and-pink polka-dotted bikini out of her purse, and Caitlin was surprised to see Tenley actually admiring it.

“Where did you get that?” she asked Emerson.

As Emerson told Tenley about the new bathing suit store in downtown Boston, Caitlin couldn’t help but smile. Maybe the idea of them becoming friends wasn’t such a lost cause, after all.

When Tenley went to grab a few towels, Caitlin and Emerson started for the pool. Caitlin was just about to point out that Emerson and Tenley had actually seemed to be getting along when her phone buzzed with a text. She dove into her bag to get it. “Someone’s excited to hear from lover boy,” Emerson whispered, giving Caitlin a knowing look. Caitlin had filled Emerson in on her morning as they’d walked back into the house earlier.

Caitlin couldn’t hold back her smile as she thumbed to the messages, expecting to see Tim’s name. But the number on her screen was marked as blocked.

Caitlin stopped in her tracks, her heart seizing up.
Not here
, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut tight.
Not now
. But when she opened
her eyes again, the text was still there. She wanted to push delete. She wanted to forget it, pretend she’d never even gotten it. But the message icon kept staring up at her, and she couldn’t stop herself from opening it.
Want to know what happens when you don’t follow your dares? Since you wouldn’t take care of Tenley at the pageant, I did. And now I’m taking care of you.

Caitlin let out a soft whimper, her face paling.

“Everything okay, Cait?” Emerson asked.

“Cait the Great!” Tenley yelled, jogging up behind them. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go swim!”