by Julie Bowe
I roll my eyes. “You just said we don’t have time to both answer every card. ”
Jenna shrugs. “I changed my mind again. ”
“You can’t keep changing the rules, Jenna. Either we both answer every card or we don’t!”
The bus hits a bump and everyone bounces in their seats. One kid bounces onto another kid’s lap, just to get a laugh.
But me and Jenna sit stiff and still.
The bus pulls up to our school. I glance at Jenna. “Okay,” I grumble. “My bad habit is I sing in the shower. Country. ”
The bus door opens and kids start piling off.
Jenna stands up, but she doesn’t move. She just stays there, like a snowman starring straight ahead. “I don’t have one, ” she finally says.
I groan. “But you just said your bad habit is biting your nails. ”
Jenna whips me a look. “I’m not answering that question, okay? I’m answering the one I skipped.” She tosses the cards back into the box, grabs her stuff, and shoves down the aisle.
I sit there, confused.
Then I remember the question she skipped.
Who is your best friend?
When I get to our hallway I see the other girls are already there. So is Mr. Crow. He’s talking to them, only they aren’t talking back. They just nod and study their shoes. Mr. Crow walks away just as I catch up to Jenna.
“Mr. Crow told us we can’t wear eye shadow in class anymore, ” Brooke tells us when Jenna asks them what was going on. She snaps her eye shadow case closed. “He says it’s causing a distraction. ”
Brooke narrows her eyes at Randi. “This is all your fault. ”
“Huh? ” Randi says.
Brooke pulls a little package of tissues from a pocket in her backpack and starts wiping purple eye shadow off her eyes. “If you hadn’t put peanut butter on your eyelids in the lunchroom last Friday, Mrs. Kettleson wouldn’t have come out to see what everyone was laughing about. And then she wouldn’t have told on us to Mr. Crow. And then Mr. Crow wouldn’t be inspecting eyelids this morning. ”
Randi shrugs. “I was just having a little fun, ” she says.
Brooke hands a tissue to Meeka. She pulls out two more and hands them to Stacey and Jolene.
Jenna crosses her arms and lifts her chin. “I told you wearing makeup at school would get you into trouble, Brooke. If you had just lis—”
“You are not the boss of me, Jenna Drews,” Brooke interrupts.
Jenna’s mouth snaps shut.
Everyone is quiet.
“Um . . . I was getting tired of glittery eyelids anyway, ” I say.
“I’m glad it’s over too,” Randi says. “You guys looked stupid. ”
“We did not, ” Brooke snaps.
Randi shrugs. “Whatever. Who wants to race me to the snow fort? ”
Randi zips up her jacket and pulls on a face mask. “Anyone? ” she says. “I’ll give you a head start. ”
“Our lungs might freeze, ” Meeka says. “That’s not healthy. ”
“Plus the bell is going to ring any minute,” Jolene adds. “There’s not enough time. ”
“I can run there and back ten times before the bell rings, ” Randi says. “C’mon, who’s with me? ”
I glance at Stacey to see if she wants to go. But Stacey is already heading into the classroom with Brooke and the others.
I turn to Randi. “I guess no one feels like racing today. ”
Randi shrugs. “No one feels like doing anything lately, except wearing stupid makeup and playing stupider games. ”
I shift a little in my shoes.
Randi pulls on her gloves and heads to the hallway. “Last chance, ” she says, looking back at me.
“Maybe next time, ” I say, and follow after the others.
When it’s time for our morning recess, Ms. Stevens, our principal, tapes a sign to the playground door that says INSIDE. That means it’s too cold to play outside today.
All the boys start a game of silent ball in our classroom. To play, you sit on top of your desk and toss a squishy ball around, only you can’t talk and you can’t get off your desk unless you miss the ball. Then you’re out.
It’s a fun game, but today all the girls head to the reading corner to play truth or dare. Jenna opens the game box and sets the board on the floor. We gather in a circle around it. I sit next to Jenna. Stacey sits next to me.
Jolene rolls the dice.
Two D’s.
She chooses Brooke to take a dare card.
Brooke reads the card to herself. “Oh, no,” she says.
“What do you have to do? ” Stacey asks.
“Act like someone in your group,”Brooke reads. “Let everyone guess who you are pretending to be. ”
Brooke stands up. She thinks for a minute. Then she messes up her hair like she hasn’t brushed it for a week. She pretends to bounce a basketball. “Dudes!” she shouts. “Who wants to get their pants beat off? ”
Everyone laughs. “Randi! ” we all shout. Brooke wipes her sleeve across her nose and says, “Yup. ”
We all laugh again. If Brooke was trying to get back at Randi for putting peanut butter on her eyelids, it didn’t work. Even Randi is laughing.
Randi jumps up next to Brooke and takes a bow.
“Sit down, Randi, ” Jenna snaps. “It’s not your turn. ”
All the laughter dribbles away. Randi stops bowing, but she doesn’t sit down. She just grins and says, “Hey, who am I pretending to be?” She gives Brooke a fake scowl and shakes her finger. “Follow the rules or I’ll break your neck! ” She says it in a sharp voice. A Jenna voice.
Everyone starts laughing. But we suck it back in when Jenna jumps up.
“It’s not your turn,” Jenna says. “If you can’t follow the rules, you can’t play my game. ”
Randi snickers and sits down. “You win,” she says. “I quit. ” She leans back on her elbows and stretches out her legs. “This game is for babies anyway. The cards don’t make you do real dares. ”
“Real dares? ” Stacey asks.
Randi nods. “You know, stuff like . . .” She looks up at the ceiling, thinking. Then her mouth curls up at the corners and she zeroes in on Jenna. “I dare you to tell Zane you like him. ”
Everyone gasps.
Then giggles.
Then gasps again.
“I don’t like Zane, ” Jenna says.
“So?” Randi sits up. “I didn’t dare you to marry him. Just tell him you like him. Or are you chicken?”
Red splotches appear on Jenna’s neck and cheeks. “I am not chicken, ” she says.
Randi does her grin again. “Prove it. ”
Jenna glances at Zane. He’s sitting on top of his desk, chewing on a pink eraser. Zane says chewing on an eraser makes his broken arm itch less. But Zane has been chewing on erasers since kindergarten.
Jenna glances back at us. Her eyes lock on mine. She doesn’t say a word, but it feels like she’s asking me a question.
What should I do?
“Um . . .” I start to say. But before I can say anything else, Jenna jerks away and walks toward Zane. The closer she gets to him, the slower she walks. Like her legs are freezing up.
Randi scoots onto her knees and nudges forward. “This is gonna be good, ” she whispers.
We all nudge forward too.
Zane doesn’t notice Jenna at first. He’s too busy chewing on his eraser and throwing the silent ball when it comes to him.
Jenna gives Zane’s shoulder a poke. She has to poke it three times before he glances back.
“Wha?” Zane asks, shifting the eraser with his tongue.
Jenna doesn’t answer. She doesn’t even move. Except for her chin, which is quivering.
“I . . . I . . . like you, ” she says.
Zane shifts the eraser again. “Huh? ”
Jenna’s splotches get even redder. “Y-you heard me, ” she says. Then she whips around and marches back to us.
T
he silent ball bounces off Zane’s head. He’s out.
Jenna crumples next to me. She pulls her knees up to her chest, wraps her arms around them, and buries her face.
“Wow, ” I say. “That was really brave, Jenna. ”
Everyone agrees.
Randi grins. “Now that’s what I call a real dare. ”
“Ooooo. . . . ” Brooke says. “I just had the best idea! ”
“What? ” Meeka asks.
“Let’s make up our own dares, ” Brooke says. “We can make each other do whatever we want! ”
Everyone squirms and giggles.
I gulp.
Jenna doesn’t say a word.
Dear Stella,
Guess what? Jenna told me she doesn’t have a best friend and I think she was being true. Then Randi dared her to tell Zane she Likes him, which is definitely not true. I don’t know who she Likes, but I’m positive it’s not Zane. I mean, he chews erasers. No girl Likes a boy who does that. Plus, she signed a piece of paper that said I DO NOT LIKE ZANE. She made Zane sign it too.
After Jenna showed us the paper, Stacey said if she Liked a boy it would not be Zane. And then Brooke said who would it be? Stacey said maybe Dominic or probably Quinn. And then Brooke said probably Quinn for her too. Then they asked me who I would pick if I Liked a boy and I said oops, Look at the time. Then I ran out to the bus.
Brooke probably would have called me a copycat if I picked Quinn. Only not in a teasey-nice way Like she does with Stacey.
But before any of that happened, Brooke decided we should make our own dare cards. So that’s what I’ve been doing since I got home from school. Jolene donated some kitten note cards she had in her desk. We each got three. Here’s what I wrote on mine: * Tell Mr. Crow there is a spider in his hair.
* At Lunch, eat the fruit cocktail.
* Touch Dylan Anderson’s shoe.
Luckily, we made a rule that you can’t choose your own card, so I won’t get stuck doing any of mine, especially not the Last one. Dylan Lives on a farm, so there’s always crusty stuff stuck to his shoes that Looks Like it might have once belonged to a cow.
I hope Stacey doesn’t have to do my shoe dare. I would still be her best friend if she did, but I might make her wash her hands first.
And maybe I hope Jenna doesn’t have to do it either. If you are short on best friends, the Last thing you want to do is touch a crusty shoe.
Chapter 8
Jenna looks over my three dare cards the next morning while we wait for the bus.
But all she does is huff. Then she pulls three bent cards out of her coat pocket and hands them to me. This is what they say:This is stupid.
This is stupid.
This is stupid.
“Brooke won’t like it, ” I say, handing the cards back to Jenna.
“So? ” Jenna says.
“So, if you two are already fighting, this will just make it worse. ”
“We’re beyond fighting, ” Jenna says.
“What happened? ” I ask. “I mean, you and Brooke were always best friends and now you’re acting like you’re best enemies. ”
“Nothing happened,” Jenna says. “I’m just tired of the way she always bosses everyone around. ”
Rachel walks up to me and taps my arm. “Don’t forget,” she says. “You got to walk me to your house after school. ” Rachel starts piano lessons with my mom today, so I have to walk her to my house and home afterward.
“I won’t forget, ” I say.
Rachel turns to her sister. “See, Jenna?” she says. “Ida won’t forget me. ”
Jenna rolls her eyes. “Drop it, Rachel. ”
Rachel turns back to me. “Jenna forgot me yesterday,” she whispers. “She was supposed to come and get me from Tess’s house when the little hand got to the five, but she didn’t come and didn’t come and I might have cried a little. ”
“Stop making such a big deal,” Jenna says. “You got to eat supper there, didn’t you? ”
“Yes, but tacos don’t taste so good when it’s getting dark. And when nobody is keeping their promise to you. ” Rachel hiccups.
Jenna sighs. “I told you I was sorry. That’s all I can do. ”
The bus rumbles toward us and we step up to the curb. Rachel taps my arm again. “You won’t forget me, will you Ida? ” she asks.
“Nope,” I say. “I’ll write myself a note as soon as I get to school and stick it to my desk. And if you see me in the hall today, you can remind me then too. ”
Rachel smiles.
Jenna huffs and climbs on the bus.
When all the girls get to school we huddle together in the hallway and take out the dare cards we made. Jenna doesn’t exactly huddle. But she doesn’t walk away either.
Brooke takes all the cards and shuffles them up.
“Okay, ” she says, fanning the cards like a magician. “Now we each choose a card and do what it says. ”
“What happens if we don’t? ” Meeka asks.
Brooke thinks for a moment. “Then you have to do something doubly bad. ”
“A double-dog dare! ” Randi says. “Once I double-dog dared my brother to yell Fire! when our dad was taking a nap. ”
“What happened? ” Stacey asks.
“My dad shot out of his recliner like he was a human cannonball. Then my brother got grounded for a week. ” Randi laughs. “It was great. ”
“Did you get grounded too? ” Stacey asks.
“Nope, ” Randi says. “My brother never spilled the beans. When you take a dare, you have to swear never to tell on the person who dared you. ”
“What happens if you do? ” I ask.
Randi shakes her head slowly. “Then you’re up for a triple-dog dare. ”
“Ooooo . . . ” Brooke says. “I heard Jade and her friends talking about triple-dog dares once. ”
Jolene nods. “My brother got one last year. ”
“What did he have to do? ” Stacey asks.
“He wouldn’t tell,” Jolene replies. “But he smelled so bad afterward my mom threw away his clothes. Then she shaved his head. ”
We all gulp and fiddle with our hair.
Brooke puts her hand into the center of our circle. “Don’t spill the beans, ” she says, “or you get a triple-dog dare. ”
Everyone puts their hand on top of Brooke’s. “Don’t spill the beans, ” we all say together.
The bell rings and kids start heading into the classroom. Brooke holds the cards out to us again. “Choose, ” she says.
We each choose a card and head inside.
I’m just about to read my dare when Tom sits down next to me at his desk. “I brought that book I told you about, ” he says, sliding a big, thick book from his desk to mine.
“You told me about a book?” I ask, hiding my dare card in my hand.
“Um . . . ” Tom says. “No. Not yet. ” He pauses to rub his eyebrow. “But you’re such a good artist, I knew you’d like it. ” He nudges the book toward me.
There’s a picture of a bald man on the cover. His eyes are shiny and round, like black buttons. He creeps me out a little. Like he can actually see me. Maybe even see through me. Still, something about him seems familiar.
“Who is he? ” I ask Tom, pointing at the picture on the book cover.
“Pablo Picasso,” Tom says. He flips open the book. “The famous artist. ”
“Hey, I’ve seen that sculpture, ” I say, pointing to a picture of a giant creature that looks sort of like a monkey. “My aunt Margo took me to Chicago once and it was there. ”
“Cool, ” Tom says. “I wish I could see some of Picasso’s sculptures. He rules. ”
I turn a few pages and feel my stomach do a little jump. “We saw that painting in Chicago too!” I point to a picture of a man who is drawn in different shades of blue. He’s hunched over a guitar like he’s playing a sad song. “It was in a museum there. I remember because if you look carefully you can see another painting of a lady underneath. ”
I show Tom the half-hidden lady in the picture.
“Maybe Picasso made a mistake, so he drew a new picture over the old one, ” Tom says.
I nod. “A do-over. Even artists get them. ”
“Or maybe he just thought the first picture was lame, ” I hear someone say.
I look up and see Quinn leaning in for a closer look at the book. He studies the picture of the blue man with the guitar. “How come he looks so bendy? Like his bones are made out of Silly Putty. ”
Tom laughs. “He’s supposed to look that way. Picasso used lots of weird angles and shapes in his paintings. He was trying to show the way people feel, not the way they actually look.”
“Well, this guy must feel sick,” Quinn says, “because he looks like he needs major surgery.” He leans back in his chair and burps.
Mr. Crow starts taking attendance and Tom puts the book inside his desk. “I’ve got more books about Picasso, ” Tom whispers to me. “If you want to see them sometime. ”
I shrug. “Okay. ”
Tom sits back, smiling. He closes his desk lid and rubs his eyebrow.
I unfold the dare card I have hidden in my hand and peek at it.
This is stupid.
I frown. Then I lean forward so I can see Jenna. She sits on the other side of Tom. I squint at her until she looks at me. I hold up the card. “You have to give me a real dare, ” I whisper.
Jenna looks away.
I dig a pencil and a little cube of sticky notes out of my desk. First I write a note to remind me about my promise to Rachel. I stick it to my desk.
Then I write a note to Jenna.
If I don’t do a real dare, everyone will call me chicken!
I fold the note and slide it onto Tom’s desk. “Pass this to Jenna, ” I whisper.
A moment later Jenna picks up my note, reads it, and scribbles an answer. Tom slides it back to me.
Then el dare you to let them call you chicken.
I sit back and sigh.
When Mr. Crow goes next door to borrow a stapler, I slip out of my chair and scoot around our desk square to Stacey.
