Double Dare

by Tia Mowry

  “Hey, Cassie, you have an eyelash,” Emily said suddenly, pulling me away from my thoughts. She leaned closer. “Here, I’ll get it.” She poked my cheek right below one eye.

  The vision was short but super vivid. Emily was lying on a stretcher surrounded by EMTs. At least I was pretty sure it was Emily on the stretcher. I could only see her legs. But I recognized the shoes she was wearing. Besides, it had to be her. She was the only one touching me, and I couldn’t see her anywhere else in the scene.

  But I could see a bunch of other people, including most of my friends, the B Boys, and more. Actually I could see every detail of the scene—Abby’s smudged lip gloss, a poster about the class trip tacked to the wall, somebody’s skateboard lying upside down on the floor, various backpacks and purses thrown wherever. I could also see the fear and shock on everyone’s faces as they watched the EMTs rush the stretcher out toward a waiting ambulance.

  “Cassie?”

  I blinked, realizing everyone was staring at me. Oops. Getting those visions always made me go all spacey for a bit. Especially when I was wearing the talisman, which I hated to do. If I was going to see bad things anyway, why make it worse?

  Thanks a lot, Cait, I thought, stopping myself from reaching up to touch the key-shaped pendant. My sister had caught up to me in the hall right after homeroom, looking freaked out. Before I could ask what was wrong she’d pressed it into my hand, muttering “We need to talk” before dashing off. Drama much?

  Talisman or no talisman, what Grandmother Lockwood had told us seemed to be true. The visions were getting more frequent and more intense.

  “Sorry,” I told my friends, forcing a laugh. “The fumes from the mystery meat just overcame me for a sec. What were you guys saying?”

  They still looked confused. But just then Lav let out a squeal.

  “Here comes Biff,” she said, quickly checking her hair. “I bet he picks me.”

  For a moment I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then I remembered: Truth or Dare.

  Sure enough, Biff was finally ready for his big announcement. I tried to look like I cared as he pointed playfully from one person to the next, pretending to ponder his choice deeply. Yeah, right. Biff was about as deep as a puddle, which was probably why Lavender had recently decided she had a crush on him.

  Speaking of crushes . . . My eyes slipped over to Brayden. He was leaning on his crutches, a small smile on his face as he waited to hear his friend’s pick. Then he glanced over, catching me staring.

  Oops. I shifted my gaze quickly, hoping I wasn’t blushing. I still wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about Brayden. Were we friends? Or maybe more?

  Either way, I hated looking like a dork. So I pretended to be fascinated as Biff finally pointed to Lavender.

  “Lav, you’re up,” he said. “Truth or dare.”

  Lavender did her best to play it cool, even though she’d been practically turning herself inside out trying to get him to notice her. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “Truth, I guess.”

  I traded a glance with Megan, who looked amused. She was probably thinking the same thing I was. Lav wanted Biff to ask her if she had a crush on anyone in the room, or who she thought was the cutest guy on the football team. Something like that.

  Unfortunately, Biff wasn’t on the same wavelength. “Truth?” he said, sounding disappointed. “Are you sure?”

  “Uh-huh.” Lav fluttered her eyelashes. “Ask me anything.”

  “Okay.” You could almost see the little wheels turning in Biff’s head as he tried to think of a question. Suddenly he grinned. “Got it,” he said. “Tell the truth: When was the last time you pooped?”

  Lavender looked horrified. “What?” she said with a squawk. “That’s not a real question.”

  “Why not?” Brent guffawed. “It’s got a question mark on the end, and everything.”

  “Yeah,” Buzz added. “Sounds like a question to me.”

  Lavender frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “No way,” she said. “Ask me something else.”

  “Sure you don’t want to choose dare instead?” Biff looked hopeful.

  She hesitated, looking tempted. But I could pretty much see her wheels turning, too. After that poop question, she probably wasn’t holding out much hope for a super-romantic dare.

  “No,” she said firmly. “Truth. But something real, not, you know, toilet related.”

  “Whatever.” Biff seemed to be losing interest. “Uh, okay, here’s your question. If you were a superhero, what superpower would you want?”

  Lavender wrinkled her nose. “That’s your new question?”

  “Tell the truth, Lav,” Minion Abby said with a giggle. “X-ray vision, or shooting lightning bolts out of your hands?”

  “Neither.” Lavender rolled her eyes. “I guess I’d want the power to fly.”

  “That’s a good one,” Brayden said. “Okay, Lav. Your turn to pick someone.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” Suddenly she was interested again. “Okay, Biff—truth or dare?”

  “No way,” Buzz protested. “You can’t ask the person who just asked you.”

  “Says who?” Lavender retorted.

  “Says the rules.” Biff shrugged. “Sorry, but my brother said so. It’s so you can’t just, like, get back at the person who just burned you, you know?” He grinned. “Otherwise I would’ve made my brother do something awful for sticking me with all those chores.”

  Brayden nodded. “Yeah. You can pick the person if you get another turn later, but not right after they picked you.”

  “This game is stupid,” Lavender muttered. “But fine. Brayden—truth or dare?”

  She smiled at me, smugly, and I gulped, suddenly nervous. I hadn’t actually told Lav that I might be interested in Brayden, but Megan knew. Had she said something?

  “Dare.” Brayden gestured to his crutches. “Just don’t ask me to climb on the school roof or something, okay?”

  Lav laughed. “Don’t worry, no climbing,” she said. “I dare you to kiss someone in this cafeteria.”

  I froze as several pairs of eyes turned toward me. Brayden’s weren’t among them; he was staring straight at Lavender. Was he blushing?

  “Go, loverboy!” Brent hooted, while Biff and Buzz started making loud smooching sounds.

  Brayden swallowed hard, then turned. My hands went all clammy and my heart was pounding. Suddenly I wished I wasn’t wearing the talisman. What if he tried to kiss me, and I got a vision?

  That and all sorts of other crazy thoughts tumbled through my head. But then I noticed that Brayden wasn’t looking at me. He was peering around the caf.

  “Aha,” he said. Swinging into motion, he headed away from our table. He was getting pretty good on those crutches. Within a few seconds he’d caught up with Velma, everyone’s favorite tiny human prune of a cafeteria lady, who was at least a thousand years old and twice as sweet as Maw Maw Jean’s pecan pie. As we all watched, he planted a big kiss right on top of her head. A smile lit up Velma’s face, and she reached up to pinch Brayden’s cheek.

  “Aww!” Minion Emily exclaimed. “Too cute.”

  “Totally,” I agreed, though I couldn’t help a twinge of disappointment.

  When Brayden came back, his friends high-fived him. “Your turn, bro,” Buzz said. “Pick someone.”

  I held my breath as he looked around. If he liked me like Megan said, this was his chance. Would he choose me?

  Just as he turned my way, my sister dashed over. “Cassie!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  “What?” I was distracted, still watching Brayden. “Where else would I be?”

  She grabbed my arm. “Come on,” she said. “We need to talk.” Suddenly seeming to notice all my friends staring at her, she gave them a weak smile. “Uh, twin business. You know.”

  Ugh. Talk about bad timing! Then again, Caitlyn had always been the queen of that. Not sure what else to do, I allowed her to d
rag me away.

  Soon we were huddled behind the trash bins. “I thought I should warn you before you head off to social studies, Ms. Xavier is going to talk to you about staying after school today. She already said something to me in homeroom.”

  “She did?” I glanced over at my table. Brayden had chosen Brent. At least I assumed that was why Brent was stuffing everyone’s mystery meat into his mouth, including mine. No loss there.

  “Yes,” Cait said. “And she seemed really intense about it, too. I couldn’t say no.”

  I tuned back in. “You told her we’d come? Today?” I exclaimed. “In case you forgot, we already have something going on after school. And we already won’t have much time, since Mom leaves for work at four.”

  “I know. But she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Caitlyn stared at me. “Do you think she knows there’s, you know, something going on with us? Everyone says she’s into that kind of stuff.”

  “What kind of stuff?”

  “You know—extrasensory powers, voodoo, crystals, whatever.”

  I shrugged. “Okay. But she’s also really into convincing us to do her stupid twin project idea. I’m sure that’s all she wants to talk about. Again.”

  “Maybe.” Cait seemed unconvinced. “But listen, there’s more. While I was talking to her, I had a vision. A weird one.”

  I could tell she was about to launch into a full recap, but I wasn’t really in the mood. I wanted to get back over to my table before the B Boys wandered off.

  “Me, too,” I said, shuddering at the memory of Minion Emily on that stretcher. “We can talk about it later, okay?”

  Without giving her a chance to protest, I hurried back to my friends.

  As it turned out, my sister was right. Ms. Xavier accosted me as soon as I walked into social studies about staying after school, yakkity yak. I just nodded. What choice did I have? With any luck we could get in and out of there fast and still get home before Grandmother Lockwood turned up.

  “Good, good.” The teacher beamed at me. “You know, Cassie, I almost feel as if you already knew what I was going to say. Did Caitlyn mention my request, or is it just twintuition?”

  She winked, and I froze. Twintuition? That was what Cait and I used to call it when we tried to read each other’s minds when we were younger. Maybe it wasn’t a stretch that someone else might come up with the same term. But why was she using it now?

  What if she does know something? I wondered, going hot and cold at the thought.

  Then Brayden swung into the room, and I shook it off. Ms. Xavier was a loon. Period, full stop. There was no way she knew anything.

  Besides, between wondering how to convince my grandmother to tell us anything useful and figuring out how I really felt about Brayden, I had much more important stuff to worry about than what the kookiest teacher in school had on her mind.

  6

  CAITLYN

  AS SOON AS my last class let out, I dumped my stuff in my locker and went to find Cassie. She wasn’t at her locker, or Megan’s, either. Finally I tracked her down at her friend Emily’s. Bianca’s locker was a few doors down, and she and Liam were standing there.

  “Hey, Caitlyn,” Liam said with a smile as I charged past. “We were just talking about the school trip again. Do you want to—”

  “Sorry, can’t talk now,” I told him breathlessly, barely slowing down.

  I felt bad for blowing them off. But I didn’t want to waste any time. Grandmother Lockwood had promised to contact us before four o’clock, and we still had to talk to Ms. Xavier before we could go home.

  Cassie saw me coming and said something to her friends. She stepped out to meet me.

  “Ready to go?” she said. “I want to get home and see if . . .” She glanced around. “You know.”

  “Me, too,” I said. “But first we have that meeting with Ms. X. Remember?”

  By the annoyed expression on her face, I guessed she’d forgotten. “Right,” she muttered. “Let’s get this over with.”

  She stomped off down the hall without waiting to see if I was following. I caught up with her outside the classroom door. Ms. Xavier was inside, leaning on her desk and talking to some seventh grader. But when she saw us in the doorway, she quickly ushered the other kid out.

  “Come in, girls. Come in,” the teacher said, closing the door after us. “Have a seat.”

  I started to obey, but Cassie grabbed my hand to stop me. “That’s okay,” she said firmly. “We can’t stay—our mom is expecting us home.”

  “All right then.” Ms. Xavier seemed unfazed. She stepped a little closer, clasping her hands excitedly. “This won’t take too long.”

  “O-okay.” Cassie sounded funny. When I glanced over, she looked as if she’d suddenly come down with a bad case of indigestion.

  Catching me looking, she mouthed a single word at me: vision.

  I had no idea what that was about; she wasn’t touching anyone so that couldn’t be possible. But I couldn’t exactly ask her what she meant in front of Ms. Xavier. Luckily the teacher was staring into space and hadn’t noticed anything.

  Suddenly she clapped her hands and stared at us. “Well, girls,” she said with a smile. “I always suspected there was something . . . special about you two.”

  I gulped. “Special? You mean being twins?”

  She laughed heartily. “Yes, that was my first clue.” She winked. “But I’ve always had a bit of extrasensory power myself, and I felt an unusual energy coming from the two of you from the start. That was why I wanted you to do the twin study for your research project.”

  I relaxed. Cassie was right—this was just more of the same.

  But her next words tensed me right back up again, tighter than a cowboy’s jeans. “So of course, I was thrilled when Mr. Campbell confirmed my theory.”

  “Mr. Campbell?” Cassie echoed slowly.

  The teacher beamed at her. “Gabriel Campbell, from your sister’s section.”

  “Yeah, I know him.” Cassie shot me a worried look. “What does he have to do with us?”

  “It seems he heard you two talking about this special vision you have,” Ms. Xavier said. “Something about touching each other and seeing things that aren’t there? And reading each other’s minds?”

  It sounded as if Gabe hadn’t overheard everything—just enough to jump to conclusions, however wrong they were. But still, my heart pounded, and I tried to stay calm.

  “Oh, I’m sure he was just joking with you,” I said.

  “No, he was quite serious—and quite certain about what he heard. He said you two sounded as if you were struggling to handle what you were seeing, and he was very concerned about you.”

  “Yeah, right,” Cassie muttered.

  Ms. Xavier didn’t seem to hear her. “Knowing of my affinity for all things paranormal, he came to me.” She squeezed my shoulder. “And of course, I’m happy to help.”

  I opened my mouth to tell her that Gabe was making the whole thing up. But the words never came. Because my head was buzzing and the teacher smiling down at me was fading out.

  Cassie was still wearing the talisman, so the vision wasn’t as vivid as the earlier one. It wasn’t as scary, either. Ms. Xavier was right there in her classroom, handing something to Megan March while glancing at the empty desk in front of her, which was decorated with a big green-and-gold ribbon.

  Weird. I did my best to shake it off as soon as Ms. Xavier let go of me. But it was too late. She was staring at me intently.

  “Did you just have one?” she exclaimed. “A vision thingy? You looked so odd there for a moment . . .”

  “N-no,” I stammered, shooting Cassie a panicky look. “I was just, um, thinking that your twin project idea might be, um, fun.”

  I gulped, seeing that Ms. X didn’t believe me. It wasn’t easy to just snap out of a vision, though, and I guess I was feeling a little confused and didn’t sound as convincing as I hoped. In any case, it was too late to take it back now. So I decided to mak
e the best of it.

  “But we don’t want everyone to know about—about us,” I added quickly. “So we wouldn’t want to talk about, you know, any of this extra stuff in the oral report.”

  The teacher rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Yes, I understand,” she said. “Not everyone is as open-minded as I am about such things. I suppose it would be fine if we restricted your oral presentation to twins throughout history, and confined the more interesting parts to the written report.”

  I could still feel my sister glaring at me. But I forced a smile as Ms. Xavier patted my shoulder, thankfully without bringing on a vision this time. I mean, what was I supposed to do? Almost anyone else probably would’ve thought Gabe was just making up stories. Or that Cass and I were delusional at the very least. But Ms. Xavier? This was right up her alley, and she seemed totally ready to believe, especially after seeing me have a vision right in front of her . . .

  “Can we go now?” Cassie said. “Like I said, our mom’s expecting us.”

  “Of course.” Ms. Xavier shooed us toward the door, her bracelets jingling. “We can discuss details tomorrow.”

  Cassie grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room. “This is an epic disaster,” she muttered as we hurried down the hall. “How could you agree to—”

  She stopped short as Gabe Campbell stepped into view just ahead. He was smirking.

  “You rat,” Cassie spat out. “What’s your problem, anyway?”

  “I’m not the one with problems,” he replied. “You two are the ones who think you’re mind readers or whatever. I just reckoned Ms. Xavier would be the perfect person to tell about it.” He laughed. “Especially since y’all seemed so excited about doing your research project on being twins like she wanted.”

  I glared at him. Obviously he’d overheard even more than we’d feared. Had I talked too loudly about Ms. Xavier’s project idea in homeroom? Or had he skulked around Cassie’s lunch table and heard her complaining about it to her friends?