Truths and Dares

by Amity Hope

  Minutes went by as we edged closer to home.

  I wasn’t expecting him to say anything. Or if he did, I figured it wouldn’t be anything nice. Perhaps he’d make fun of me for suddenly becoming so emotional. As I turned onto the road that looped to our houses, he finally spoke.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  I couldn’t force myself to look his way. “It’s fine.”

  “Okay.”

  I should’ve said more because it wasn’t fine. Or okay. But I didn’t trust my voice just yet.

  His house was dark as I pulled up to it. I glanced across the snowy expanse that separated our houses. My house looked welcoming. Dad had left the porch light on for me, even though I’d be parking in the garage. I could also see the soft glow of the light over the kitchen sink, through the kitchen window.

  I came to a stop in front of Seth’s desolate looking house. I gently tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. I kept my gaze averted, locked on the garage.

  The dome light glowed to life when he opened the door. I expected him to get out without saying a word. I hadn’t planned on saying anything either.

  When he said, “Hey,” I reflexively looked his way. “I really am sorry.”

  I had nothing to say to that so I still remained silent.

  His gaze floated over my face. Then he was raising his hand to my cheek and my breath stopped as he leaned forward.

  His knuckles gently coasted across my cheekbone. “It’s almost gone.”

  I was momentarily surprised. His hand fell to his lap and my fingers replaced his, brushing across the scar. Finally, I nodded in answer. “Yeah, it was really obvious for a long time. But it’s faded a lot now.”

  His lips quirked up. “I kind of missed that scar.”

  He stepped out of my vehicle and pushed the door shut as he took off toward his house.

  My fingers were still lingering on the silvery line. I’d cut my cheek open on a nail sticking out of a board in the tree house. It hadn’t required stitches though it had bled enough to make Seth’s face turn white. A butterfly bandage and a quick peek at my immunization record to be sure my tetanus shot was up to date and Mom had been sent on her way with me. By the time I’d gotten back from the doctor, Seth had pounded the nail so it was flush. Just to be on the safe side, he’d given every nail in the place a good whack. Or at least, that’s what Brent had told me.

  I kind of missed that scar.

  I sat there for a moment, watching as he let himself into his house, realizing those were the nicest words he’d spoken to me since my return.

  CHAPTER 6

  I spent New Year’s Day with Dad and Paula. We put away holiday decorations, played board games and ate way too much chocolate fondue. I had been invited to Alyssa’s to spend the last day of winter break with her and Gabby. I’d felt like I owed it to Dad to spend some time with him. It hadn’t been the most exciting day, but it hadn’t been bad either.

  Mom had called for the first time since my move. We’d texted a few times so I was surprised when she actually took the time to call. Of course, it was obvious to me that the only reason she called was because Whittington’s was closed. Therefore, she had nothing more pressing to contend with. I’d been busy kicking everyone’s butts in Scrabble so we hadn’t chatted too long.

  I wasn’t sure what to expect the first day of school. Due to the holiday, it started in the middle of the week. I had registered for classes but I wasn’t able to get my schedule until the morning school started. Dad had come in with me to fill out the required paperwork.

  As we stepped out of the relative quiet of the office to the much busier hallway Gabby plucked the schedule from my hand.

  Dad waved goodbye and told me to have a good day. Then I turned to Gabby who had a little wrinkle between her brows.

  “What?” I asked.

  Alyssa swerved her way through a group of students who looked vaguely familiar.

  My freshman year, I hadn’t realized just how small Woodbury High was. Now that I was back, it felt tiny in comparison to my old school. Almost all of the faces floating around me looked vaguely familiar, even if I couldn’t place them quite yet.

  “This is not good,” Gabby said. “Your locker? It’s on the opposite side of the building.”

  “Right,” I said. “The secretary mentioned that. There weren’t any empty lockers in this wing.”

  “Well, you’ll have to share mine then,” Gabby decided.

  Alyssa glanced at the paper that held my schedule and locker information. “You don’t want your locker way over there,” she agreed as she scanned over the paper. “The locker assigned to you is with the sophomores. Oh! But we have first and third hours together!”

  “I have third hour with you too,” Gabby said. “But come on, we better get moving. My locker’s this way.”

  I followed her, weaving through the crowd as we went. When we got to her locker I waited for her to get it open. When she did, she stood back.

  “It’s a little crowded,” she admitted.

  I laughed at the frown on her face. It looked as though she had a few wardrobe changes hanging from the hooks. Books were stacked across the bottom. The top shelf held enough make-up to host an entire make-over show. She futilely tried to push some of the clothing aside to make room for both of our coats.

  “I have an idea,” Alyssa said. “Maybe you can keep your books in here and your coat in my locker.”

  We decided that would work. I didn’t have any books yet so I followed Alyssa to her locker while Gabby stayed behind.

  When Alyssa pulled her door open, we were met by a much tidier sight.

  “If you need to keep anything else in here, just go ahead,” she said.

  “Thanks,” I told her as I slid my coat off and hung it up. I took a step back, giving her some room to gather up her books for the morning.

  I jumped as large, warm hands slid across my eyes.

  “Guess who,” a masculine voice demanded.

  “Um,” I said, starting to feel a bit perplexed. Whomever it was smelled divine.

  “Okay,” he said with a chuckle. “I guess that’s not fair.”

  The hands slid away and I turned around. I felt a smile spread across my face. “Brent!”

  He grinned back at me.

  The last time I’d seen him, I’d towered over him. He’d had braces, acne and had suffered from a severe case of shyness.

  Now, he was just a tad taller than I was. His braces were off, his complexion had cleared. Most appealing of all, his shyness seemed to have been cured. His dark hair looked like it had been overdue for a trim weeks ago. It was wavy and his bangs flopped against his forehead.

  He was absolutely adorable.

  “Welcome back!” he said. He lifted me off my feet in a bear hug, squeezing tightly.

  “Thanks,” I said with a laugh. I rested my hands on his shoulders to brace myself as he placed me back on my feet.

  “Ugh,” Alyssa said, her tone full of mock disgust. “Look at you. So tan!”

  “We went to Mexico over break,” he explained. “Otherwise I would’ve welcomed you home sooner.” His gaze flicked to the clock overhead. “Gotta run. My first hour is in the north wing. But it was good seeing you,” he said as he started to back away. “I’ll definitely be seeing you later. Maybe we’ll even have some classes together.”

  “Maybe,” I called after him.

  He grinned before turning, disappearing into the crowd.

  *****

  The first day went by quickly. It went smoother than I had thought it would, other than the near-glitch with my locker. As I acquired books of my own, Gabby’s locker was becoming hopelessly crammed but we thought we could make it work. It was a whole lot better than having to run to the other side of the building and miss visiting with my friends for a few minutes in between classes.

  I had seen Seth multiple times throughout the day. He was in my second hour Personal Finance class. However, he had already b
een seated in the back row when I’d walked in. All of the seats toward the back were full so I’d taken one in the second row, leaving my back to him all hour. If he’d noticed me at all, I wasn’t aware of it.

  Lunch shifts were divided up by grade which had been a huge relief. It had been a given that I’d have the same lunch as my friends. Seth had sat at the table with the hockey players. I’d sat with Gabby, Alyssa and their friends. Caitlin sat at the head of the table. Tricia Daniels sat to her right. The girl had glared at me as I’d approached.

  Freshman year, during cheerleading practice, I’d gotten stung by a hornet. The timing had been awful. I was the base of the pyramid. When I fell, clutching my calf, the pyramid toppled. Tricia had been at the top. Judging by the scowl she had bestowed upon me, I’d been pretty sure she was still holding a grudge over her sprained ankle.

  I’d wanted to tell her to get over it but decided it would be best to keep my mouth shut.

  Instead, I’d listened to Alyssa and Gabby as they discreetly pointed out people they thought I should remember. They shared anecdotes, most of them humorous, to help get me up to date.

  In the middle of a story about Brent, he caught us looking his way. He gave us all a huge grin and waved with both arms. Seth caught sight of the motion and glanced at Brent. Then he darted a look our way, to see who Brent was waving at. His eyes locked with mine for a moment, his face remained completely expressionless. With a shake of his head, he went back to his lunch.

  “Why is he such a crab ass today?” Gabby wondered.

  “Probably because of me,” I admitted.

  “What? No,” Alyssa said with a little shake of her head. “Why would you think that?”

  In hushed tones, I filled her in. Seth wasn’t happy I was back. That’s all there was to it.

  “There must be something else,” Alyssa said. “Of course he’s happy you’re here.”

  I shrugged because I wasn’t going to argue with her.

  After lunch, I had Trig. As if the class itself wasn’t awful enough, it was the only class where I didn’t really know anyone. I took a seat, close to the front, knowing I would need all the help I could get. By the time the class was over, my brain felt fried. I was glad that the class I was most looking forward to was at the end of the day.

  Even though I was familiar with the school it took me almost until the bell to find the Home Ec room. When I walked in a quick look around confirmed I was late. It was a smaller class and stations were set up. Two people per station from what I could gather.

  A woman, whom I could only assume was the teacher, nodded my way when I walked in. She motioned to the room. “Take a seat. We’ll be working in pairs for the rest of the year.”

  I gave her a smile as I made my way inside.

  Most of the stations were full. One was empty. Seth sat alone at one station and Tricia Daniels sat alone at another.

  He was slouched down in his seat, scowling as he scribbled across a notebook page. One knee was bouncing up and down. He couldn’t have made himself look less friendly if he tried.

  I made up my mind in an instant. Possibly, I should’ve gone straight to the empty station. But I was worried about who I would end up with. What if there was an odd number of people in the class and I ended up all alone? There was no way I was going to sit with Tricia. Instead, I mentally crossed my fingers and decided to try my luck with Seth once more.

  “Please don’t make me sit with Tricia,” I whispered as I slid into the chair next to him. I didn’t dare set my books down yet. I held them clutched tightly to my chest. “She’s probably the only person in this school that hates me more than you do.”

  “I don’t—” he started to say but cut himself off.

  “I’m surprised to see you in here,” I admitted when he didn’t immediately tell me to go away. I noticed Mason sitting in the back. A girl that I probably should’ve recognized but didn’t was looking a little too flirty in my opinion. Even worse, Mason was flirting right back.

  Seth flicked a glance my way before flipping his notebook shut. “It’s supposed to be an easy A and my grades could use the boost. Besides, I heard there’s almost no homework. Other than this, I have a pretty heavy class load. I have hockey practice almost every night. I needed a class I could pretty much blow off.”

  I glanced around. There were a handful of guys in the room. I had a hunch they were all here for the same reason as Seth.

  “So why aren’t you sitting with Mason?” I wondered.

  “What part of needing an A didn’t make sense to you?”

  I sighed, about to go sit at the empty station when I realized his lips had quirked up just a bit. His tone hadn’t been biting, just…snarky. Had he meant that as a joke? If so, I’d missed the punch line.

  He glanced at me for a moment before saying, “I wouldn’t trust Mason to get me a bag of chips out of the vending machine. No way am I trusting him to cook my food. For the most part, the guy is a moron.”

  “Well, you can trust me,” I said lightly. I felt myself relax just a bit. I finally placed my books on the table in front of us. “I like to cook. Soooo, can I be your partner?”

  Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find Brent looking at me with a goofy grin. “You can be my partner.”

  I hadn’t seen him walk in. I smiled back at him.

  “She’s already sitting here,” Seth said.

  He could have just as easily told me that yes, I should go ahead and be Brent’s partner. Or he could’ve told me to move so Brent could sit and they could be partners.

  The bell rang, stopping Brent from arguing. He made a disappointed face as he sauntered back to the station where Tricia sat. The other station remained empty.

  “Are you a good cook?” Seth asked with an arched eyebrow.

  I grinned back at him. “I’m not bad.” The first year we’d lived in Florida, I’d survived on takeout and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I finally decided I needed to learn to cook out of self-preservation because there was only so much takeout I could stand. So I’d taught myself to cook because Mom could barely boil pasta without ruining it. She wasn’t about to teach me. While I was no chef, I’d meant what I said to Seth. I wasn’t bad. In fact, I might’ve been just a bit better than average.

  “Good afternoon class. My name is Mrs. Perrault. As some of you may have heard, Mrs. Larson will not be returning this year. I’ve heard rumors,” she began as she smiled knowingly at us, “that some of you may be expecting an easy A. Now, I don’t know how Mrs. Larson taught this class—”

  “I thought she was Mrs. Larson,” Seth muttered.

  “—but I believe students should work for their grades.”

  Her proclamation was met with a collective groan.

  I dared a glance at Seth. He raked his hand through his hair.

  I gave him a nudge. “We’ll be fine,” I whispered.

  He stared at me for a moment before saying, “I hope so.”

  “I don’t assign seating so wherever you have found yourself, that’s where you will be for the rest of the year. If any of you would like to move around, change partners, now is the time.” She paused as she glanced around the room. No one, not even Seth, seemed intent on taking her up on her offer.

  CHAPTER 7

  “Clever, Harper.”

  Dustin’s greeting caught me by surprise. “What?” I demanded.

  “What you’re doing? Using reverse psychology on Mom? She’s all worked up right now. Nice payback for her making you move.”

  “It’s not a payback,” I argued into my phone. It was Sunday afternoon, Dustin’s normal time for calling and checking in. The first, short week of school was behind me. Dad had gone to Paula’s for dinner. I was lying on my bed, settled in for a long phone call. “I do actually like it here. Things have been pretty good with Dad. I have friends here.”

  “Yeah?” he asked. “I thought you were dead set against moving.”

  “I was,” I agreed. “I thou
ght things would be weird with Dad. But they’re not.”

  “Why did you think that?”

  “I wasn’t sure that he’d want me around,” I admitted. I’d never told him this before. He and Dad had always been close. I’d been afraid he’d stick up for Dad for that reason alone. “I was wrong though. He would’ve let me stay all along. It was Mom that insisted that I move.”

  He was quiet for a second before saying, “Does that really surprise you? I mean, come on Harper. This is Mom we’re talking about. You know she’s all about appearances. How would it have looked if she’d left and didn’t insist on taking you with her?”

  In her eyes, it would’ve made her look like a negligent mother. That’s how it would’ve looked. He was right. Charlotte Monroe couldn’t have that.

  If these words had been spoken by anyone else, they would’ve been hurtful. But Dustin was my brother and he was right. Mom had really had no reason for making me move. She’d worked insanely long hours. I’d been left home alone more often than not. She’d uprooted me from the house I’d grown up in, the friends I’d had for years and she’d taken me away from Dad. Why? I now realized it wasn’t because she thought our time together was anything special. I realized Dustin was right. It had been about appearances. But now, now that her dream job had been dropped in her lap, I’d become too much of an inconvenience.

  “Why did you get so quiet?” Dustin demanded.

  “I was just thinking about what you said. You’re right. She probably didn’t even really want me in Florida with her.”

  “She just didn’t want Dad to have you,” Dustin added on. “It’s a control thing. Mom likes to prove that she has control. That’s why she’s so pissed that you settled in so well. I think she figured you’d miss her and your friends so much that you’d be begging to move back. She probably figured you’d be making Dad miserable with your moping.”