I Dare You To Love Me

The Dare

“We’re seniors finally! Just a little more months and we’ll be out of this godforsaken place.” Keira exclaimed as she approaches a bench on their school quadrangle with her friends Eli, Bree, and Em following her.

“Yes, we are! Time flies doesn’t it? I still remember when we were freshmen, our Bree was so little and she looked cute on her oversized uniform and back then she always has snot on her face, but now look at her, she’s still little but looking and acting like a lady.” Eli sniggers while reminiscing.

“Hey! I’m not that short anymore, just because you’re a walking stick with humongous thighs doesn’t give you the right to pick on my height! Em, I’ve grown up right?” Bree turns to Em just right after hitting Eli on her back.

Em, on the other hand, didn’t bother to gaze away from her compact mirror to look at her friend,

“You look the same to me.”

“What?! I hate you right now! I thought we’re best friends” Bree sulks.

Keira and Eli laugh along with their little argument

“Hey guys, I think you should stop, you wouldn't like breaking your friendship on our last year in high school right?” Eli interrupts.

“You’re the one who started it.” Bree pointing a finger at her.

“Did I? I thought it was Kei, with her getting all touched that we are now seniors” Eli laughs.

“Yeah right blame it all on me, back to us being seniors, what is our itinerary this year huh? Do you guys have any idea? What about another dare? We should make it extreme this time don’t you think? It’s our last year anyway.” Keira asks the three while her brows are rising up and down in excitement.

“Oops! Look at the time, break’s over, guys let’s go,” Bree rushes to get up but Keira managed to grab on her bag.

Keira –the queen of dares has been unleashed again. Since they’ve been together, Keira has been the one to instigate a dare. She’d always put up a dare which she thinks she can easily do while the others can’t.

The other three agreed because back then it was all about simple and cute stuff like giving a love letter to a crush or yelling out a secret in front of the school… etc. But as the years passed, Keira’s dares have become more…daring.

“I’ll pass this time; you know I’m grounded for like forever because of our clubbing incident.” Eli shrugs at the memory, her father went berserk because of that...

Flashback…

Eli remembered it was a dare they had to do during their sophomore year, they have to pretend to be adults and enter the club and drink, and they got in except for Bree whom the security didn’t believe was of legal age no matter what fake I.D she presented.

It could have been unfortunate for Bree that she failed that dare ‘coz she had to carry out another dare as punishment but it also served as a blessing in disguise because that night, the school’s principal Mr. Donald Kim caught them as they leave the club after hours of partying and drinking.

Right at that moment, he called for their parents, and they had a very early meeting at the school. Mr. Kim cited that their action was a violation not only of the school regulation but also the country’s laws and it was a ground for expulsion.

Good thing Em and her lawyer dad are both good with words, Em twisted the situation and put Mr. Kim in the hot seat as she asked the reason why was Mr. Kim in the vicinity that time when he was supposed to live on the other side of town, making Mr. Kim guilt-stricken and dumbfounded. Em’s father immediately grabbed the chance and cited violations that Mr. Kim allegedly committed and if this news broke out to the scholastic community, it would be the end of his respectable career.

With him being pushed to the corner, Mr. Kim had no choice but to settle for a compromise, their silence in exchange for his silence. But Mr. Kim also warned them that he won’t let them go if they caused another trouble again. The meeting ended up with their parents pledging on donations to the school which Mr. Kim gladly accepted.

The problem ended but it was a different story at home.

Eli’s dad ended up nagging her the rest of the dawn until morning and grounding her forever, which means she will be sent and fetched at school, and all her accounts were frozen as she will be getting her allowance daily. Her father even said that as long as she is living with him, and she gets money from him, it will stay that way. Eli wasn’t able to attend school the next day.

It was not a better situation on Keira’s side either when they got to see each other at school, Keira was still whining about how her butt hurts from her Mom’s s******g, she also said that her Dad also reduced her allowance, and she could only get it back if she made it in the top 5 of her class. It was an easy deal for her because Keira’s parents seem to always forget that she always gets in the top 5 of her class.

On the other hand, Em’s dad acted like a cool dad as always, only had a heart-to-heart talk with her daughter, but he also grounded her for a week explaining that every action has its consequences.

“Your sin shall be forgiven, but your punishment shall still be carried out.” Em quoted her dad; Eli can see all the admiration in her eyes. The only person Em admires other than herself is her dad.

And while they’re discussing their unfortunate adventure, Bree was just there staring at them, clueless.

Flashback ends…

“As much as I want to, my hands are still full of the quote-unquote mission you gave me right?” Em turns when Keira looks at her.

“What?! You mean you haven’t broken up with Gio and Denver yet? I thought you already did, don’t you think you are enjoying it too much? ” Keira gasp at what Em said.

“Hell no! I’m just not as heartless as you, I can’t seem to find a way to break up with them without them getting too hurt, and without me being busted, those jerks turned up to be nice kids too.” Em tries to defend herself.

“Ooh, someone's falling? You better break up with them soon or else you won’t get your prize.” Keira teases as she gestures her branded bag. She knew Em wanted that bag.

“I did a dare for an overly used bag! What the--” Before she could finish her complaint, Keira cut her off.

“Of course this is not it, what I mean is that bag that you really wanted, the vintage one, remember it’s like so rare, this the only one in the country, you want it, I’ve got it.” Keira smirks then she eyed Bree who was watching them.

“What about you Bree, are you in for a dare? I got some better Ideas this will be fun!” the excitement from her voice can’t be denied.

“Do you want me to die already?, I am just recovering from the punishment you gave me because I failed last year’s dare!” the shorter girl exclaimed as if she was about to cry.

Keira almost forgot that they made Bree stroll the whole mall on a single-footed 5-inch heel for failing that dare, she ends up in the hospital the next day.

“It’s decided then, Eli is going to do our challenge, just tell us what you want as a reward!” Keira clasps her hands with dreamy eyes.

“Kei, you know I can’t, my dad’s going to kill me if something went wrong again,” Eli shrieked in disagreement.

“I promise you won’t get in trouble for this, we will just do something here in school, I already let you pass on our last challenge because I feel guilty, and besides I saw your dad last time and he even chatted with me so I think he’s cool with it now.” Keira persuaded.

Eli gives a pout, she is seriously contemplating if she will agree with Keira, honestly, she misses playing with her friends, and lately her dad is lenient with her.

“I don’t know---”

“Yes! Elise is now going to do our challenge this year!” Keira exclaimed.

“Hey! I haven’t decided yet--”

“What should we make her do girls? I’m currently thinking she should also do Em’s challenge, you know having two boyfriends without the boys discovering It even if they’re schoolmates should we go for classmates then? But it’s our last year so we should end this with a bang don’t you think? Or maybe we should….” Keira monologues, already consumed in her thoughts and excitement.

The other girls just shake their heads, nothing can stop Keira when she’s already in this zone.

“Tsk tsk tsk, I’m honestly afraid for you Elise Ham.” Bree taps Eli’s shoulder in sympathy.

“Ah! I’ve come up with one actually two, but I’ll let you choose, it’s the same challenge make someone fall in love with you,” Keira said

“That’s easy, you know Eli’s charm, just one smile, and their eyes will be beaming with hearts in no time., Bree said it confidently while Keira just gave her a mysterious smile.

“What’s the catch?” Em asks knowing Keira won’t give a challenge as simple as that.

“Ooh! Em knows me very well, this is where you pick Eli, make someone fall in love with you, and that someone will either our new teacher Mr. Horvek, or that girl .” Keira pointing at the girl sitting under the tree just a few meters away from them.

The three other girls stood in shock Keira is just daring Eli to have an illicit affair, one is with a teacher, which is a no-no in their school or any school for that matter, and the other one is with the same-gender which is still a no-no in general.

“I’m not going to do that, my father will kill me and that’s just eew!” Eli exclaimed.

“Come on! It’s not a dare if it’s not daring and that’s why I’m letting you choose.” Keira giggles.

“Here’s the thing, I think Mr. Nicholas has a “crush” on you, earlier every time he checks on us if we’re still listening he’s always looking at you.”

“Noticed that too.” Em butts in.

“And he’s young and yummy maybe he’s in the mid-20s, so the age gap is not that huge.” Keira persuaded.

Nicholas Horvek half-Korean, half German, the new teacher in Foreign Languages. Tall, slender, and unlike their other teachers--still young and very approachable. The whole school was raging about him. No surprise he caught Keira's eyes, though, for a change, she didn't want him for herself.

“But what about her?” Bree points at the other prospect, who is still oblivious that they were talking about her.

Keira smiled her mysterious smile again, “Ah her…remember when I said everyone is gay in this school? I just have this tiny bit of inkling that Dianne girl, proves what I said to be true, lately, I’ve been seeing her eyeing our Elise, in our classroom, whenever it's free sitting, she always takes the seat third row behind you so she can freely look at Elise without anyone noticing it, but I do, and she used to sit on the tree over there but now she’s sitting where she can have a good view yet again”

“Wow I don’t know if what you’re saying is true but for you to be able to see them looking at Eli, you yourself must be looking all the time.” Em seemed to be teasing.

“Wh-at no! It’s just that I’m observant, so what now Eli whats’s your choice?” Keira trying to get Eli’s attention who is currently lost in thoughts.

Keira leans closer, “Is it Mr. Nicholas or Di-anne Park?”

As if the girl heard her name, Dianne turned her attention towards them, and Eli’s eyes meet hers.

Drawn in by the other girl's hazel eyes and the sensations the gaze brought her,

Elise had to concentrate hard to register what Keira said

Without looking away she whispered,

“I... her…"