Just A Dare

Chapter 10: Devin

Chapter 10: Devin

When I came home, I was overwhelmed with the smell of meat. I went to the kitchen wondering who was cooking and what they're cooking. When I entered I saw my mom cooking some very good looking steak. It made my mouth water instantly.

"Hey, mom." I greeted her, kissing her cheek. "Why are you cooking? What's the occasion?"

My mom rarely cooks. With her busy shedule, she normally doesn't have time for this. Being the partner of my dad in his company took a lot of time. And on those days when she does cook, it's usually for a special occasion.  

"There's no occasion." She replied, "Can't I cook for my family every once in a while? Is that a crime?" 

I laughed before asking. "Why are you even home, mom? It's early. You usually come home with dad at around 10."

She smiled at me. "Oh, your father and I decided to take the rest of the day off."

"Oh? So dads home too? Well, okay. I'll be upstairs if you need me." I told her before making my way up to my room.

My room was pretty messy, not as messy as you expect a boys room to be. I actually clean up my room once in a while. Especially when there's nothing interesting to do.

I dropped my bag on the floor, not caring where, and just lay down on my double-bed.

I lay down on my bed, not in the mood to play video games or anything. I was thinking about what happened at school today... with Faith.

She doesn't seem like a bad person. I think maybe I judged her too quickly and was too hard on her. Granted, she did make my life miserable because of a dare. What happened today doesn't mean we're going to become best friends. I'm still holding a grudge against her.

But, she is one of the few people to see me breakdown. She didn't judge me for it. Instead, she actually tried to comfort me, even though I was a jerk to her.

I didn't realize I was so immersed in my thoughts until someone was slapping me.

"Ow!" I said, rubbing my cheek. "What was that for?" 

Spotting the culprit, I glared daggers at him.

Connor shrugged before saying. "You were spaced out there and you weren't listening to me. So, I slapped you."

"You didn't have to slap me! It hurts, you know."

"Suck it up. Come on, it's dinner time." He said, before walking out the door.

Cursing him under my breath, I headed down to the dining room to see no one there. I was confused at first before I realized they must have been in the other dining room. The one where we eat as a family. The one I entered was the dining room we eat when we have guests over. It was a large room with a long mahogany table that can seat at least 20 people. The ceiling was high with a miniature chandelier.

Making my way to the family dining area, I saw that my whole family was already there. This room was a more modest room with a table that fit us perfectly. I sat next to Connor, across from my parents. 

The food was steak and mashed potatoes. It was delicious!

Halfway through our meal, my father spoke. 

"How was your first day of school, kids?"

"It was fine." I said. 

My father frowned at my simple response before addressing my brother.

"How about you, Connor? How are you liking college?"

"It's okay so far." He said.

Speaking of college, why was Connor even here?

"Hey, Connor. Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be dorming and stuff?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I am. But I came home to get some stuff I forgot and I just stayed for dinner."  

"Oh."

After that, the conversation continued, but I didn't really pay much attention to it. Once we all finished dinner, I headed up to my room to get some sleep. It was still pretty early but I suddenly felt so tired.

Stripping into just my boxers, I crashed on my bed and drifted off to sleep.

+++

When I arrived at school, I was earlier than usual. Maybe it was because of the fact that I slept early.

To kill some time, I started to chat with some friends also in the basketball team who came early. I didn't really pay attention to them but I heard something about coach holding try-outs for our team. When the seniors graduated last year, we lost half of our team, so now we're in desperate need of players.

In fact, the next time the basketball team was meeting up, coach is going to tell us who was going to be our new captain. I really hoped it was me. I wanted to be like Connor.

We chatted for about 20 minutes, until Faith passed by. All the guys stopped and looked at her. This wasn't unusual because she is new, and like I said before we  don't usually have new people here. New girl meant one thing to them: fresh, new meat. Someone who doesn't know them and their ways with girls.

"Who's the chick?" the guy to my right asked.

"New girl," another replied.

"She's pretty cute," the guy on my right pointed out.

The others all agreed before going back to our conversation a while back. I guess they didn't see anything special about her. She was not bad but not hot either. She was just cute and nothing more.

I didn't join in the conversation this time. I said my goodbyes and followed Faith to her locker.

"Hey Faith," I said once I reached her.

She looked up in surprise before saying, "Hey."

"Um, look, I just feel like I need to say something about yesterday," I pointed. "So um, thanks, I guess. Um, I-I needed that hug." Great. I'm stuttering.

She gave me a smile that looked like she just accomplished something.

"But that doesn't mean I forgive you."

Her smile vanished faster than you could say cheese. "Oh, well," she said. "That's understandable."

I  gave a forced smile and quickly added something, "But you're not a completely bad person either..."

Her smile came back, and it was bigger than ever. "So, does that mean we're friends?" she asked.

I thought about it for a moment. Does it really mean we're friends? Does it? I stood there thinking what the answer is but I honestly didn't know either so I went with the easiest answer. "I don't know," I replied.

"Oh," she says, looking a bit disappointed but that was quickly covered up with a hopeful one. "Can we though?" she asks.

I look at her for a moment, and one part of me is telling me that we could, but the other part is saying that I shouldn't because of what happened with Rosemarie. I look down at the ground then back up to her. Yes, I'm mad about the whole Rosemarie thing but whats done is done, right? I mean, what could possibly go wrong? She seems nice and I judged her too quickly.

I sighed then smiled, "Sure, why not?"

I brought up my hand and she shook it. Faith had a huge smile on her face that for a moment, I thought maybe her face would tear into two. I smiled back, maybe this decision wasn't so bad as I thought.

I brought back my hand, and walked past her, going to my first class.