Truth or Dare (8 page)

THAT SATURDAY AT FIVE-THIRTY, MARLEY showed up at my door wearing a Chicago Cubs jersey, blue gym shorts, and blue and red rubber bands on her teeth. We were walking over to Abi's together, which was definitely awkward, because Abi had told me not to tell “anyone” about the business with Makayla, and “anyone” included Marley. But then I realized that Abi and Jules had already invited Marley before they came to my house, so maybe they'd told her the whole Makayla story first.

Although I doubted it. It wasn't just because Abi had
said all that stuff about telling
me
because she trusted me. It was also because of a feeling I had, a feeling I didn't like to admit—that Marley was connected to the group through
me.
That the other girls didn't see her coolness the way I did. That she was sort of on the edge of things, like a moon that could slip out of orbit one day and just kind of drift away.

I worried: What would Marley think when we got to Abi's if Makayla wasn't there? Would Abi (and Jules) even give her any explanation? Or make up a lame excuse—
Mak said she had her period and just felt too bleh to see her best friends?

But it turned out that I didn't need to worry about any of this. Because when Marley and I arrived at Abi's house, Makayla was already there, in the kitchen, sitting on a stool and eating cherry Twizzlers.

“No more braces!” she shouted as a greeting. “They came off yesterday, and now I can eat Twizzlers again, my long-lost loves!”

“That's so great!” I exclaimed. My eyes darted over to Abi, to see if I could detect any weirdness between them. But Abi was beaming.

So was Makayla. “Although I still have this stupid retainer, but I don't care! I don't care if I
turn into
a Twizzler!”

Abi, Jules, and Marley laughed.

Abi put her arm around Makayla's shoulder. “Careful, dahling. Or you'll end up like Ren!”

“Who's Ren?” Marley asked.

“Omigod,” Makayla exclaimed. “This girl at camp? All she ate was ice cream and carrots, ice cream and carrots.”

“Together?” Marley made a face.

“No, you dummy, one at a time. Ice cream, then nothing but carrots all day. Then more ice cream and a ton more carrots. And from all the carrots? Her skin actually turned
orange.
”

“It literally did,” Abi said, laughing. “She looked like she had a spray-on tan, except she picked the wrong shade.”

“It's not funny,” Jules said. But she was giggling.

“Girls, to me your friend sounds like she had some eating issues,” Val commented. How much had she been hearing, I wondered, as Val turned off the oven and stacked some plates on the table for us. “I certainly hope
you
didn't eat like that this summer.”

“Oh, don't worry about
us
,” Makayla said, laughing. “We ate everything! And seconds! And thirds!”

“Omigod, that chocolate cake they had at camp.” Jules gasped dramatically. “I'm going to starve without it, I swear.”

Val smiled. “Yes, I heard about that cake from Abi, so I thought I'd make chocolate cupcakes for you girls for
dessert. After pizza.” She put one arm around Abi's shoulder and one arm around mine. “Oh, I missed my girls so much,” she cried.

“We missed you too,” Makayla said. Then she threw her arms around Val and squeezed the three of us, which made me feel like a limp piece of lettuce inside an overstuffed sandwich.

♥  ♥  ♥

When we'd finished our pizza, Abi announced, “All right, dahlings, time for fun and games!”

Looking back at everything that happened, this probably should have been a giant neon warning sign for me. Seventh-grade girls don't do “fun and games” unless there's a trophy involved. At least,
we
didn't; all the girls I knew were ultra-competitive.

But I was just so glad to be back with my friends. They weren't even fighting anymore. We were having a sleepover at Abi's, the way we always did—pizza for supper, then one of Val's amazing desserts. And it was so nice how she let us bring the cupcakes upstairs to Abi's formerly pink bedroom, which was now black and white and full of so many clashing animal-skin patterns it made me kind of woozy.

The five of us sat cross-legged on the floor, trying not to get chocolate frosting on Abi's new white shag rug.

“Okay, so here's the game,” Abi announced. “It's called Truth or Dare.”

“Truth or Dare?” Marley repeated, licking some frosting off her pointer finger.

“We played it in camp this summer,” Makayla explained. “It's the most fun ever. The way it works is—”

“You don't need to tell me,” Marley interrupted. “I do it with my cousins. And I'm not sure.”

“About what?”

“If it's such a good idea, frankly.”

Makayla shrugged. “We played it with counselors. As a bonding thing.”

“It's really fun, Marley,” Jules said. “Don't worry.”

“I'm not
worried
,” Marley said. “I just don't know if I want to
play
.”

Abi shrugged. “Fine. Then don't.”

A secret conversation started then between Abi's eyes and Makayla's eyes. Jules's eyes might have been in on it too; I couldn't tell for sure.

“Hey, guys,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Can you explain the rules to me? I've never played Truth or Dare.”

(This wasn't a lie; I'd never played it before. I knew the rules, though; pretending not to was just a way to change the subject.)

“Okay, Lia,” Abi said, happy that she could explain something. “So we sit in a circle, right? And let's say I start. I turn to the first person on my right, who in this case is the beauteous Mak—”

Makayla did a diva smile and wave.

“—and I ask her, truth or dare?”

“Truth, dahling,” Makayla said, making a kissy face.

Abi slapped her arm. “Which means I get to ask Mak a question, which she has to answer truthfully. No topic is off-limits, okay? Because we're all best friends. So let's say I ask her, ‘Who is your secret crush?' ”

Uh-oh,
I thought.
Here we go.

“Well, it isn't Nick,” Makayla declared. “Okay?”

Abi rolled her eyes and smiled.

“But you didn't answer the question, dahling,” Jules reminded Makayla.

“Fine, dahling,” Makayla said. “It's Sean.”

“EWW,”
Abi shouted, and Jules said, “Seriously? You mean that gross CIT?”

“I thought he was cute,” Makayla said. “In a bad-complexion sort of way.”

I glanced at Marley. More camp talk that we didn't get. Was she starting to feel as left out as I did? And what was all this “dahling” stuff about?

I began chewing my thumb cuticle.

Makayla took a big bite of cupcake. “So anyway, Lia. I told my truth, and now I turn to the person sitting on my right.”

“Who's me,” Jules said. “And I choose dare.”

Makayla grinned. You could see some frosting on her teeth. “You sure?”

“Totally. Bring it, Mak.”

“You asked for it, Julesie.” Mak looked at the ceiling for a few seconds. “Okay. I dare you to eat that cupcake with no hands.”

Jules squealed. “I totally hate you,” she told Mak.

Then she took a deep breath, put her arms behind her back like an Olympic speed skater, and gobbled up the cupcake, the entire thing, while all of us clapped and laughed. Even Marley, who apparently had decided to play.

Finally Jules looked up. She had frosting all over her mouth and her chin, and some gobs were sticking to her hair. “Victory,” she announced, then ran into Abi's bathroom. We could hear her turn on the faucet full blast.

“What happens if you don't complete the dare?” I asked.

“Then you have to repeat the turn,” Abi said. “Although if you're caught telling a lie, you're banished forever.”

“Because truth is the
most important
part of the game,” Makayla added.

Jules stepped out of the bathroom with a pink, chocolate-free face. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing, dahling,” Abi said. “We were waiting for you.” She turned to Marley. “Now it's your turn.”

“Dare,” Marley said immediately. She looked a little pale, I thought, but maybe that was from too much pizza.

Jules glanced at Abi. “You sure?”

Marley nodded.

Jules smiled as she plopped down again on the white rug. “Okay, here goes. Marley, I dare you to take off your bra and show us the label, so we can all see your bra size!”

I swallowed. Marley didn't even own a bra, and everyone knew it.

“No,” Marley said.

Abi did a slow blink. “You refuse?”

“Right. I refuse.”

“Then you have to leave.”

“You mean leave the game?” I said, staring at Abi.

“I mean leave my house,” Abi replied calmly. “That's the rule.”

Marley was staring at a hole in one of her socks. She stuck her pointer finger in the hole and made it bigger.

“That's not fair,” I protested. “Nobody ever said if you refuse a dare you have to go home. You should give Marley another chance.”

Abi and Mak had their eye conversation again.

“Fine,” Abi said. “Same dare. She has one more chance to accept, but that's it.”

All of a sudden Marley jumped to her feet, reached under her Chicago Cubs jersey, wriggled a bit, and pulled out a pale blue bra through her sleeve. “30A!” she declared. “Are you happy now?”

Abi and Mak examined the label. They passed it to Jules, who offered it to me, but I didn't look.

“We're satisfied,” Abi announced. “Okay, Marley. Now you get to ask Lia.”

Marley snatched her bra from Jules and headed to the bathroom. “What if I don't want to ask Lia?”

“You can forfeit your turn, then.”

“Great! Go ahead without me!”

Makayla shrugged. “All right, Lia, so which do you choose?”

“Truth,” I said. I mean, all I had on under my top was one of those lame no-boob training bras. Marley had gone out and bought some real bras, apparently. Maybe in Chicago this summer—or after I'd lied to her about “shopping.” It was weird she hadn't even mentioned it to me. Was she afraid I'd accuse her of copying, or something?

Mak, Jules, and Abi huddled. All of my saliva dried into dust.

Then Jules smiled sweetly. “So, Lia,” she said. “Here's your question. Have you ever kissed a boy who wasn't your brother?”

“Oh, sure,” I blurted.

Jules looked surprised but quickly recovered. “Who was it?”

“His name is Tanner. He's a freshman in high school. I met him this summer up in Maine.”

“Seriously,” Abi said. It was more of a comment than a question. “So what did he look like?”

“Incredibly cute. Brown eyes. Dark hair. Nice teeth.” Which was all true.

“You just walked up to this strange boy and
kissed
him?” Makayla asked, her eyes wide.

“No, of course not. I met him when my aunt invited his family over for dinner.” Also true. “And afterward we took a walk on the beach. And we kissed.”

Which of course wasn't.

“On the
mouth?
” Jules was gaping.

“Yeah,” I said.

“For how long?”

“I don't know. A minute, maybe?”

Makayla's eyebrows rose. “An
entire minute
?”

“Okay, no. More like twenty seconds, maybe. Or fifteen. I wasn't counting.”

“Huh,” Abi said. She glanced at Makayla. “Were your eyes closed?”

I nodded.

“Were his?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know that if your eyes were closed?”

I swallowed some saliva dust. “I mean, I assume they were. I'm not positive.”

“So what did his lips taste like?” Jules asked.

“Chili. My aunt made veggie chili for supper. It was pretty good. Not too spicy. Although she
did
add some maple syrup—”

“Who pulled away first?” Makayla interrupted.

“Me. Although sort of both of us.”

Makayla, Abi, and Jules looked at each other. Something was communicated, a secret silent code you could decipher only if you went to their camp, swam in their lake, got stung by their mosquitoes.

Finally Abi took a tiny bite of cupcake. “And was there an exchange of spit?”

Jules and Mak both went, “
Eww.
”

“What's wrong?” Abi asked, laughing. “It's a totally fair question.”

“You think so?” Now Marley was back, smoothing the front of her jersey. “Because in the version of Truth or
Dare I played with my cousins, you weren't allowed to ask a bunch of follow-up questions.”

“Well, this is
our
version,” Makayla said.

“But it's still Truth or Dare, right? Not A Million Truths We Get to Keep Asking Lia About. So I'm pretty sure by now it's Abi's turn. Isn't it?”

Abi did her laugh. “Fine,” she said. “I choose dare. Lia, go ahead, dare me.”

Everyone looked at me, waiting.

I was too jittery to come up with a good one. So I dared Abi to sing a Disney song out the window, and she screamed “Let It Go” at the top of her lungs.

The whole time I kept replaying our game and what I'd just said, wishing I could somehow hit the Delete key.