Dare

Four

EDITED: December 2020

When Friday came around, I couldn't help but be slightly happy because a) it's Saturday tomorrow and b) Theo and I are studying again today. I don't know what it is about him, but he makes learning kinda fun. 

"El, don't you wanna come shopping with me after school?" Aimee asked me as we sat in accounting along with the boys. 

"Can't," I told her, finishing off the last of my work. 

"Why not?" She asked with a frown. 

"I've got tutoring," I replied with a small eye roll. "Theo and I work together fucking three days a week. It's madness but I need to pass apparently."

"Theo Parker," She mumbled to herself, tapping her bright pink acrylic nail against her chin. 

"Yeah," I nodded, narrowing my eyes at her, wondering what she was thinking about. 

"Hey, Ella. I know what your dare's gonna be," She smirked. 

This suddenly sparked the interest of the guys.

"So, what's it gonna be?" Joey asked, smirking.

"Ella here, has to make Theo Parker fall in love with her, and then she has to break it off with him just before prom," She declared, causing the boys to ooh, and then earning us a glare from our teacher. 

I'm sorry, what?

"Woah, Aimes, I can't do that," I said, shaking my head. 

"You have no choice," Liam said with a smirk. 

"A dare is a dare," Spencer piped in. 

"Guys, I can't do that. I'm not that kinda person," I protested. "And besides! He doesn't even like me! He'll never like me!"

"El, you're super hot. Theo would easily fall for you," Liam said, winking at me. 

Nervously, I chewed the inside of my lip. "Guys, I don't know," I said reluctantly. 

"You can't say no," Aimee said. 

Looking at my friends, I realised that I would have no choice. I mean, refusing the dare means leaving the squad, and as much as I don't want to do this, they've been my best friends since the eighth grade. 

"Fine," I sighed. 

"That's my girl," Aimee grinned, high fiving me. 

On the inside, I couldn't help but feel slightly awful. I mean, to make someone fall in love with you and then suddenly break their heart? That's terrible. 

But hey. You don't let down your squad, right?

*

"Theo, I don't get this," I sighed as I tried to work out angles on the stupid geometry triangle 

"You have an angle, now just try and work out the other two. And a straight line is one eighty," He reminded me. 

"Yeah, okay," I muttered, and then attempted to work out the stupid thing. 

Five minutes later, I thought I had worked it out. Turns out I really hadn't. 

I couldn't help but carefully look at Theo as he looked at my pathetic attempt. 

"Well," He said, looking up at me, "at least you tried."

"It's really wrong, isn't it?" I asked him, running my hands through my brunette hair. 

"Yeah, a little," He chuckled. "The actual answer is fourteen degrees for the left corner and eighty two for the right."

"And here I am getting answers in the two hundreds," I muttered, feeling like a complete and utter lost cause. 

"Hey, you just need a little more practice," He said, offering me an encouraging smile. 

"Can we go get some coffee or something? All this math is frying my brain," I complained. 

"But we've only been working for an hour," He said with a small frown. 

My eyes widened at him. "I'm surprised I even lasted that long!"

"Alright, alright," He chuckled. 

Leading him out my bedroom, we headed downstairs to the kitchen. 

While we waited for the coffee machine to switch on, we waited in awkward silence. 

Deciding that I didn't like it, I decided to speak up. "So uh, you mentioned that you'd be getting a Stanford recommendation for this?" I asked him. 

"Yeah," He nodded. "I'm planning on studying at their school of law and then eventually go into business with my dad after grad school."

"Woah, that's really cool," I said with a small smile. 

"Yeah, I guess," He shrugged, but smiled at me. 

Just then, my sister Kendall walked into the kitchen. 

"Oh, Ella, you have a friend over," She said, eyeing Theo up and down. 

"No shit," I said sarcastically as I pushed myself up onto the kitchen island. "Theo, my sister Kendall. Kenny, my tutor, Theo," I introduced the two. 

"Nice to meet you, Theo," My sister smiled at him, shaking his hand. 

"You as well, Kendall," He said, smiling at her. 

"Anyways, El, tell mom I won't be home tonight," She said, before grabbing a bottled water and then leaving the kitchen. 

"Why don't you just not come home ever," I mumbled. 

"Not a fan of your sisters?" He asked knowingly. 

"Not in the slightest," I said, rolling my eyes. "I mean, if only you knew what it's like living with that girl."

"Sisters aren't all that bad," He said. 

"You have sisters?" I asked, sounding surprised. I don't even know why. 

He nodded. "Yeah, two."

"Older?" I questioned. 

"One's twenty one and the other's seven," He told me. "Athena, my baby sister, was the surprise from hell."

"Hmph. Now I know something new about you," I smiled at him just as the coffee machine started to heat up. 

After our coffee was done, we headed back up to my room. 

As we continued going over the stupid math, we drank our coffee and made simple conversation. 

"So um, your friend Indigo. Is she your girlfriend?" I asked, hoping I didn't come across as too forward. 

"Indi? Nah, she's just been one of my best friends for a long time," He said as he proceeded to draw another triangle thing. 

"So like, not being nosy or anything, but if you don't mind me asking, why don't you have a girlfriend? I mean, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you're not to bad on the eye."

Oh my god! Ella, you did not just say that!

"Thanks," He chuckled. "But honestly, I'm not looking for anything committed right now. I mean, to be honest, most high school relationships don't last."

"Hmph, fair enough."

"And what about you?" He asked. "After all, you're not to bad on the eye either," He said, smirking a little. 

"Boys at our school are a little...immature for me," I shrugged. 

"Looks like both you and I are selective about what we want," He said, and then handed me the piece of paper he was drawing on. 

"Yeah, we are," I nodded with a little nervous laugh as thoughts about my dare began to come back into mind. 

God damn, it looks like getting Theo Parker to fall in love with me is going to be harder than I thought.