𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙚 | ✓

vii

DAY 3:

Akanke didn't get out of bed in time.

Apparently, after attempting to wake her three or four times, Cash and Daniel hid her under the bed so that the chaperones wouldn't find her when they checked in for the morning. They also left her there when they went to breakfast. So there she was, walking into the cafeteria with no shoes and no desire to go back and grab them.

"Akanke!" And Jess finds her immediately. Her motherly friend stands and crosses the room, her flip-flops smacking against the ground in angry succession. "Where the heck were you?"

"I was out completing a dare," She doesn't even try to lie to Jess, who's known her for so long that she can tell right away. Jess narrows her dark eyes and raises an eyebrow.

"What kind of dare involves sneaking out the window and disappearing until 10 AM??" Jess walks back to her table and Akanke follows, sitting down across from her friend and waiting for the inevitable interrogation. "Where'd you go? Did you go with anyone? What was the dare?" There it is.

Akanke rolls her eyes. "Ugh mom..." A little smile creeps onto her face and she knows Jess hates being called Mom. "I was just out with Daniel and Cash."

Lavender passes and hears this. She stops and looks at the two. "That was so vague it hurts. Just curious, where did you go last night Akanke? I thought someone was breaking into the room to kill us or something but I didn't want it to interrupt my sleep so I kinda just... let it happen."

Akanke laughs a little at this and says, "Wait, you were going to let someone break into our room?"

"Don't change the subject." Jess says behind her and she knows her plot has failed.

"Okay fine. I was dared to sleep in Cash and Daniel's room last night so I had to sneak out to get there. That's also why I slept in late, cause I couldn't fall asleep last night." She sighs and Lavender looks at her with a disapproving look.

"Why didn't you tell me? That would probably violate every rule the chaperones set in place! I would've shut that down right away... now that I think about it, that's probably why you didn't tell me." Lavender frowns. "Yeah I see where you were coming from."

"For a referee, you seem to barely know what's going on in the game." Jess comments as she takes a sip of her drink and twirls the straw in her Disney mug.

"Well, in my defense, if this were a book there'd be like eight different plot lines! I wouldn't be able to keep up with them all if I was being spouted them by some sassy narrator!" She knows.

Akanke laughs at this as Lavender returns to her seat and so she's left alone with Jess once again. She turns and looks at the other girl, who's still giving her a look of disapproval. "Really Akanke? Cash and Daniel? I don't even want to think about what the dare actually was."

"It was nothing bad! I swear," Akanke says, "I have standards Jess, standards that would prohibit the activity of doing anything with anyone involved in Truth or Dare. That could get messy really fast." That excluded Lila, but they still haven't done anything since Truth or Dare started. Akanke still wants to know why and it's nagging at the back of her mind.

"Yeah, standards. Is that why there's a rumor about you and a Sophomore guy cutting class the other day? You know he's the younger sibling of Emma Lee right? Like, the same Emma Lee who does drugs and films it on Snapchat." The Jess Stamp of Approval is long gone.

Akanke has no real response to this. Those rumors are a week late, but they aren't false, and she can't really deny that her standards have been slacking lately. She just stands to go get breakfast, ignoring Jess behind her.

<><><><><>

What is there to do on a day when the grade isn't scheduled to go anywhere until dinner? Well... there's playing Truth or Dare, going to the pool, going hotel-hopping, or just straight-up sleeping in all day.

Akanke finds herself walking down to the pool area with a towel in hand and sunglasses sitting atop her head. Her bare feet slap against the pavement and the sun beats down on her. It's only about 11:00, but the temperature is already around 100 degrees.

The pool is crowded but mostly with teens from her school. Someone brought a football and a group of guys are tossing it to each other. Some girls are swimming in straight lines across the pool, racing each other to each end. A couple people lay on benches, attempting to get a tan before returning to the cold autumn of their town where the sun barely shines and everyone's as pale as the snow on the ground. The area smells of sunblock and chlorine.

There are a few open lounge chairs along one end of the pool and Akanke tosses her towel over one, claiming it as her own.

"Oh hey Aka!" Jess walks over and claims a chair next to her. Her friend is dripping wet and squeezes the water out of her hair, causing it to splatter onto the ground.

"Hey dude."

She closes her eyes and pulls her sunglasses over them, ready to take a nap in the warmth of the sun. There's a rustling next to her and she opens them slightly, seeing Rachela as she sits down on the chair on the other side of her.

"Hi Rachela." The other girl looks up, a little startled, but gives a small smile in return. "Do you have any plans for today?"

"I was considering going to the different hotels with one of the big groups that's leaving soon." She says, thinking about how she only knows this because she overheard them talking about the plans to go find out which hotel was the coolest.

"That actually sounds like fun. I might join in later." Akanke says, closing her eyes again and shifting to get comfortable.

"What are you joining in on?" A voice above her asks and when she opens her eyes she sees Sean is its owner. He's got on a t-shirt and shorts and was obviously not intending to stop by.

"We were talking about hotel-hopping," Jess says as she pulls a towel out of her backpack and wraps her long hair in it.

"What's that?" Sean sits at the end of Akanke's lounge chair.

"It's where a group of kids, and a chaperone probably, go on the buses and check out all of the hotels," Rachela says and moves her blonde hair out of her face, tying it back. It's the first time she's been seen without her bangs in front of her eye for a while.

"That sounds pretty cool actually. Anyone wanna do that with me later?" Sean asks, looking around at the girls.

"I'll go with," Rachela replies and she suddenly wishes her hair was back in her face so he couldn't see it. She's probably blushing but she can't really tell because her skin's so hot already.

"Sweet, anyone else?" He looks at Akanke and Jess.

"I'd be down for that," Akanke replies and she looks over at Jess, hoping her friend will join too.

"If you let me get dried off, I'll meet you guys down here in 15 minutes."