Hidden Secrets

Chapter 1

“Truth or dare, Alexis?” Kayla’s voice rang into my ear after a while of silently sitting on the train. I raised my eyebrow towards her, confused on where exactly her sudden idea came from. She shrugged, understanding my facial expression, “I’m bored, and this train ride is taking forever.” she groaned, slightly slumping down in her seat.

I stifled my laughter, saving myself the embarrassment of the crowded train cart hearing my obnoxious outburst. It was quiet in the cart, the only sounds were the creaking of the train on it's tracks, and the passing of trees and cities. I’d feel terrible knowing I was the reason the older man across the way from us was awoken from his afternoon snooze.

I still didn’t quite understand why Kayla decided we take a trip out to London for New Year’s Eve. Sure, we’d both always dreamed of that for years, but we both knew the whole city would be completely crowded with hundreds of other people. We would be lucky to even find the rest of our friends we hoped to meet up with.

“Dare,” I smirked to her, feeling slightly rebellious. She wouldn’t be satisfied if I settled for truth, knowing Kayla.

Kayla’s iceberg blue eyes scanned our surroundings. Her fuzzy, light pink gloves reached near her face as she tapped her chin, a sign she was deep in thought. “I dare you, to tap that man’s nose,” she giggled, her thin finger pointing over to the snoozing old man.

I scoffed at her, waving my hand at her. That was nothing compared to her dares from the past. I was expecting her to make me go to the front and demand to say something on the loudspeaker, or something along those lines.

I carefully stood up, sure I was able to keep my balance with the swaying of the entire train. I took a few steps over, to where I was hovering over the man lightly snoring. I glanced over the Kayla, giving her a small smirk before easily tapping his nose. 

“Piece of cake,” I stated to her, falling back down into my seat beside her.

Our game went on for the next probably hour, or however long it took the Tube to take us into the core of London. I had to admit, once the two of us stepped off of the train, I felt my anticipation rise.

For the moment, I thought, who cares if we’re nowhere near anybody else we know well. I have my best friend beside me, and at the moment, it was all I needed.

“I talked to Masy, her and Zoe are in the Starbucks just outside of the station, apparently.” Kayla said, pulling me away from my momentary daydream.

I nodded, and we linked arms as we made our way into the station itself.

The second we walked up the steps to level ground, we were greeted by people beyond the eye could see. I’d never seen so many people in one train station.

Kayla took the lead, pushing and pulling our way through the mess of people, so we could at least make it to an exit.

“Ooft,” I muttered, as Kayla dragged my right into somebody, “I’m so sorry.” I laughed shyly, my eyes meeting with a pair of rich brown ones.

The boy in front of me, looking just around mine and Kayla's age, chuckled briefly as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his fitting jeans, “No big deal,” he shrugged, his thick accent somehow drawing me closer to him, “I wasn’t paying attention anyway.” My insides did a flip as he flashed a toothy grin at me, showing off his perfectly aligned teeth. 

“There you are! Come on, Masy and Zoe are waiting for us.” Kayla laughed as she tugged my arm, dragging me away from my developing conversation.

I quickly looked back, giving the tall brunette a apologetic look. I saw his lips curve into a smile, before my attention was brought back to Kayla, once again.