Magicae

Chapter 41: Truth or Dare

"Oh Suzanna, oh don't you cry for me, for I'm goin' to Lousisiana with a banjo on my knee!"

Juliette sang along, surprising herself with how much fun what started just as a way to pass the time was. Emma, too, joined in, her clear soprano rising above the crowd.

"All right, guys, settle down!" Mrs. Proditor called. "We'll be arriving any minute, so I'm going to review cabin arrangements. You will be with the dorm next to you, whoever you share a bathroom with. I will be reading off names to clarify, however. Juliette Unni, Emma Erora, Geneva Malfoy, and Penny Pheoni will be with Vivian Soriano and Esmeralda Jewel. Liam Lane, Cale Gre..."

Juliette turned to look at their cabin-mates for the weekend. Esmeralda was a redhead chatting with Penny and Geneva, and Vivian was an Asian girl who Juliette had spoken to a few times.

The bus turned sharply, sending Juliette falling into Emma's lap. Emma, grinning, pushed her off and stared our the window. "We're here!"

They had turned off the highway into a side road, cutting though a forest as gravel crunched under the bus tires. Trees looked up around them, a vibrant green in the height of summer. Juliette pressed her face against the glass, craning her neck at the first rolling by their window.

"We will be stopping soon, so collect your things in your bags! Be ready to get off," Mrs. Proditor instructed.

Juliette put her book back into her knapsack as the people around her did the same. Soon the bus rolled to a halt, and people crowded the aisle in their haste to get off.

Being near the back, Juliette and Emma were along the last to get off, followed by Alex and Justin, the latter of whom still had earbuds in.

Alex tapped Justin's shoulder. "Justin. You should probably take those out."

Justin popped one earbud out. "What?"

"Put the music away."

Shrugging, Justin took the other one out as well.

"I thought that electronics weren't allowed at the school," Juliette said.

"Phones aren't. I have a tape player. And, well, I don't exactly advertise its presence to the teachers."

"Okay, but—" Juliette was cut off by Mrs. Proditor approaching the group. Justin quickly stowed the tape player in his pocket.

"Penny, Juliette, Emma, Geneva, Esmeralda, and Vivian," she read off a list. "You girls will be in my cabin. Come with me."

Waving to the boys, Juliette followed the teacher, who looked very different in a t-shirt and shorts as opposed to her usual pencil skirt and suit. "We are in cabin 12, which is near the woods. It's a bit of a walk to the bathhouse, but I'm sure you'll all manage."

Emma groaned slightly. "Is there AC in the cabin?"

"Nope!" Mrs. Proditor replied cheerfully. "We're roughing it."

Emma groaned again.

Fortunately, it wasn't that long of a walk to the cabin. Soon they stopped in front of a small, weathered wooden cabin with a green roof and off-white door. A metal number 2 was on the door, slightly lopsided and off-center.

"I thought we were in cabin 12, not 2," Vivian pointed out, arching a suspicious eyebrow at the door.

Mrs. Proditor bent over, and when she stood up she was triumphantly holding a muddy number 1. "Must have fallen off. I'll see about reattaching it."

"This should be fun," Emma murmured.

The inside of the cabin was very simplistic. Five sets of bunk beds lined the walls, and not even a rug covered the cement floor. There was another door on the opposite side of the small rectangular room, with a window on either side of it. One window was on each of the shorter walls, and only about half the windows had curtains.

"Home sweet home!" Mrs. Proditor announced. "You girls get your bags unpacked. I'm going to meet with the other teachers to oraganize tonight's activities. Pick whichever bed you want, and don't get into any trouble while I'm gone."

Moments later she left, and the other girls were calling dibs on beds before Juliette could react.

"Dibs on top bunk!" Penny cried.

"Bottom!" Emma said.

Juliette ended up above Emma in the bunk nearest to the door. Next to them were Vivian and Esmeralda.

Esmeralda had her stuff ready several minutes before everyone else, and bounced up and down impatiently while they finished. "Let's play a game!"

Emma eyed her skeptically. "Like tag? I don't do tag. Or any kind of running game."

The other girl giggled. "No, silly. A game like 20 questions. Or Truth or Dare."

Emma momentarily bristled at being called 'silly,' but then nodded thoughtfully. "Truth or Dare would be fun."

"Nothing really bad, though," Penny added. "Just funny. No mean ones. Or dangerous ones. Or inappropriate ones."

Esmeralda pretended to look offended. "Me, mean or dangerous or inappropriate? Vivian, please correct this child."

Vivian laughed. "Don't worry. Esmeralda would be too afraid of having to do any of the dates to give any to anyone else."

"Hey!" Esmeralda stuck her tongue out at Vivian. "Like you're any different."

"Who wants to go first?" Geneva asked.

"Oh, I will!" Emma said. "Truth!"

"That's so boring," Esmeralda sighed. "Fine. Any suggestions?"

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" Juliette asked the first question to pop into her mind.

"A basic question, but a good one," Vivian nodded. "Emma?"

Emma sighed dramatically. "Alas, I have not. Because of my way too strict mother not allowing me to date."

"That was an anticlimactic first question," Penny commented. "How about Juliette goes next, since she asked the question?"

"What?! I—" Juliette's protests were in vain.

"Truth or dare?"

"I— fine. Dare," Juliette decided. Please don't give me a hard one.

Geneva got an evil glint in her eye. "Go to another cabin, tap on the window, and then run!"

"Not just any cabin— a boys' cabin," Emma added with a flourish of her arms. Juliette groaned.

"Why? There is literally no point to that dare! Besides, I thought we agreed no dangerous."

"That's not dangerous. It's fun," Esmeralda said.

"It's dangerous in that I could get in trouble. What if a teacher sees me?" Juliette protested.

"Don't get caught," Geneva said. "And if you do, just say you're going to the bathroom."

Vivian looked somewhat uncomfortable, as did Penny. "I don't think we should lie to a teacher," Vivian said.

Juliette seized onto that. "Exactly!"

"Then just tell her that you were dared and forced into it," Emma said, shrugging.

Juliette couldn't see a way out. "I— fine. But I'm blaming you guys. If I go down, we all do," she said as she climbed down from her bunk.

Only Vivian and Penny seemed phased by this, both looking slightly on edge at Juliette's words.

Moments later, Juliette was outside the cabin, the door clicking shut behind her.

Let's just get this over with.

This chapter was a lot of fun to write. It's also very long, with 1200 words!

Also, I'm sorry NightSkyTheFanwing. I know Esmeralda doesn't really fit the description that you gave her in the  character creation, but when I started writing her this is just how she came out. Sorry.

But hey, I have cured my writer's block! 🎉🎉🎉 So we're back to twice a week updates!

Thanks for reading and sticking with me though the pain! Don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed!