Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 49 - "Truth or Dare?"

Elle

"Nothing to lose." "Nothing to lose." "Nothing to lose." The word was a roar in my head, flashing through my brain. I didn't know what I was thinking when I joined, probably something stupid. The pointed words were clear enough. They meant that Dylan no longer cared for me. It was fair enough, considering the feeling was mutual. Still, I found it hard to look at him as Rose smiled at us all.

A while later, after Emma doing a backflip, Jake revealing that he'd liked Rose since Year 7, which had earnt him a few pitying looks, Amy asking a random boy out (to Jake's extreme discomfort he accepted) and a whole heap of other embarrassing and awkward incidents, Rose turned to Lily.

"Truth or dare Lily?" Lily shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Truth I guess." She answered, twisting her fingers around. Rose smiled at her, and I immediately became suspicous.

"Okay, do you like that Millie girl that you're always hanging out with? And don't play the "oh yeah, as a friend" card." Rose asked, eyes flashing with mischief and cruelty. My stomach dropped and I was one second away from stepping in and saying something when Lily answered.

"Yeah, I like her a whole lot, but it's never going to come anything anyway, so why should I care if you know." Lily answered, evenly holding Rose's stare, her voice unwavering. Rose nodded, her face surprisingly pitying.

"I want to go again, is that okay?' Rose asked Lily. Lily nodded, her face reflecting my confusion. Why was Rose being so polite all of a sudden? I became more suspicious, but put aside my unease.

"Truth or dare Dylan?" Rose asked Dylan. My gaze shot to Dylan before darting away.

"Dare." Dylan answered without missing a beat. Rose's eyes darkened and I thought for a second that maybe, just maybe, Rose was trying to get Dylan and I get back together or at least get us to maintain whatever frail connection we had, maybe by asking how he felt about me. It wouldn't do anything – I was still determined to pull away from Dylan, to remain distant, like I had during the last two weeks. I guess I wouldn't know if I would have succeeded in keeping my distance after all.

"I dare you to kiss me." Rose said, smiling slightly. My thoughts stopped abruptly, and I held my breath, too scared to jeopardise the moment.

"He won't, he's changed!" I muttered almost inaudibly, yet still desperately. Dylan's eyes flicked to me and I resisted the urge to look at him. I wasn't going to lose that last shred of dignity too, I thought. I stared at my nails, screaming at myself in my head, telling myself to tell him how I felt about him, to stop this game I played with myself before it was too late. Don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do this. I kept my gaze down for a second, his gaze pleading me to look up. All of my memories ran through my head. Us dancing, Dylan teasing me in Italian class, running through our own miniature jungle together and talking late into the night. I felt a sudden rush of emotion, of realisation. I was falling in love with Dylan. My gaze flicked up, my mouth opened to tell him how I felt but all my words paused in my throat, instead a small, strangled sound came out. I looked up just in time to see Dylan kiss Rose.

I barely remember leaving the house, just running into the forest on the side of the house and sinking to my knees in the grass. I don't remember holding the tears in, but I remember when the tears came, streaking down my cheeks and dripping into the grass. I didn't scream, didn't yell, just watched my tears silently fall into the grass, falling into the hem of my white dress. I flinched, noticing my dress. When had I changed? I must had rushed into the bathroom and changed into the spare dress Rose had packed for me. The same dress I'd worn on that first night. It had to be some kind of bitter irony the start and the end of Dylan and I. Or maybe it'd ended the day Jake decided to get revenge. Maybe it'd been doomed to begin with. I don't know because I didn't have time to ponder the intricacies of what happened. I could barely think beyond the hurt screaming in my head, filled with pain. Nor could I think beyond the real pain in my chest, a yawning, gaping hole that now seemed so cold and so painful. The pain was similar, so similar that it brought back memories buried deep down inside of me, and they rushed through me, each new picture in my mind like a gunshot to my heart. The memoires countinued, videos of Dylan and Adelaide tearing through my head, all too realyl, until I was riddled with bullet holes and bleeding out onto the grass.I sat back and hugged my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth, still crying. I felt like I could stay there forever, in the darkness and the cold, in the deep forest – seemingly so far away from the party. Where Dylan and Rose were undoubtedly still laughing over my exit, bathed in the warm glow of the lights. I felt like screaming into the wind, like shouting my story to the pure white moon, providing the little light in the forest. But I couldn't find the energy to talk, couldn't find any reason to move. There was no reason to do anything but rock back and forth and try to hold myself together. But it was like my soul had been blown away with the wind.

Emma

How could she? How could she do that to Elle, after all that pretence of being friends? And how could Dylan look Elle straight in the eye and then turn to another girl. After Elle walked out of the room, there was a shocked silence. Then Amy left started trembling, completely shaking, out of fury or sadness or both and Jake stood up, offered Lily and Amy his arm and walked out. I helped Harry get up and gave him his crutches, although I was inclined to whack Dylan with one, and Rose too. Then we walked out.

We all convened near the pool, taking vanilla and chocolate-chip muffins from the table. Jake was the first to speak.

"She was planning something." Jake said, staring at the ground.

"She still is." He added flatly. Amy's face twisted, like she was about to cry.

"What else could she be planning aside from ruining whatever meagre connection Elle and Dylan have? Aside from turning Jake and I against each other? Aside from doing something like, I don't know – inviting us all to a party and embarrassing us all, just so she can prove that we will never be as good as her?" Amy said desperately, her perfect composure broken for once.

"She's been manipulating us for weeks!" Amy finished, still shaking, now out of anger. She looked like she was about to scream, or punch someone but then she took a deep breath and shook her head.

"So what do we do now?" Lily asked.

"I mean, I vote to punch Dylan and Rose but ... that probably wouldn't be the best idea." Lily joked. Harry grinned at Lily.

"I vote we enjoy the party it's not often that we can all go to a party off-campus." Harry said, ruffling my hair.

"I second that." I added, smiling for once. And pretty soon, everyone was smiling too. Everyone but the broken girl in the woods, the lost boy, still slumped on a couch and the queen-bee with a heart of fire. And somewhere, far off in the night – a boy in a race against time – and death.

Tom

I sped down the road, hoping I would be fast enough. I'd managed to sneak out and started my car. I had no clear idea of Rose's plan, but I knew her well enough to guess I wasn't too late ... yet, But there were so many variables, if only I could go faster. Faster. The world seemed to appear out of nowhere, , rushing past me in a blur, but the roads were fairly empty. I knew most of the people I was passing wondered who the idiot speeding down the road was.

"An idiot trying to save people's lives." I whispered under my breath. I allowed myself a quick glance at the dashboard and saw the time; 22:31. Damn it! Time. I needed more time! Time I didn't have. I went faster. And faster. And faster.