Hook, Line & Sinking (Completed)

1: The Dare

New story I'm working on! Super excited to be back and working on something fun! :-)

Editing this in to let new readers know: I wrote a prequel short that goes before this story. You do NOT need to read it before reading Hook but you might enjoy it. :-) It's already finished so no waiting time for updates either. It's called The Professor and the Siren; I included the link to the story but you can obviously also find it on my profile.

Much love,

Robin

*

The Dare

"So Dani as the new girl in town you've got something to prove haven't you? Especially if you want to fit in!" said Jamie gloatingly. Dressed in designer jeans and a silky blouse she was the front-woman for fashion here at small town Coningsby's public high school. She was also spokeswoman for the majority of people in my class and she'd taken a dislike to me the moment we met, I had no idea why.

Since I was eating lunch by myself seated on the lawn and Jamie was wearing several inches extra worth of high heels I had to crane my neck to meet her eyes. She was smirking with well-shaped lips and had one hand elegantly braced on a cocked hip. "So I've got just the thing, you willing to even try?"

I'd moved to Coningsby with my dad two weeks prior and though I was eighteen and should technically be starting uni, I was redoing my last year of high school. It, more than Jamie's dislike of me, made me stand out and not in a good way. A year older than my classmates, and having been away from school for almost a year before that, I found it hard to fit in.

To act like everyone else, to find the same things interesting, and to care about the things they cared about... It was all a little lame after a year spend nursing my terminally ill mother and then several months of grief counseling while my dad took me with him for his job all over the world. With those experiences under my belt, caring about what this or that celebrity was up to, or who this or that classmate had been seen making out with... Really hard to do, didn't even want to try really.

But that had left me isolated and I was lonely, so instead of sending Jamie packing the way I should have I shrugged. "What are you talking about?" She smiled immediately in response and then turned to look first at the three girls on her left, her usual group of friends, then she looked at the several boys on her right who'd apparently been interested enough to follow her to me.

"Well, there's this thing everyone who lives here does once in their life... If you're living in Coningsby you have to do it too," Jamie said. "Yeah!" Jamie's best friend Layla said, "We've all done it!"

Feeling uncomfortable under the scrutiny and excited head bobbing from the girls I climbed to my feet and dusted off the seat of my shorts. "Okay, what have you all done?" If they'd all done it it couldn't be dangerous and if it was I'd just fake having done it if that's what it took to at least get some respect.

More likely this was bogus and they'd all be laughing at my expense if I fell for their prank. The fact that not all of the guys seemed to be knowing what Jamie was talking about was a big clue as to this not being an 'everyone has done it!' kind of thing.

"So I'm sure you've seen it, Sharkfell Island, big gloomy volcanic island off the coast, shark infested waters and reefs that will strand boats and ships alike all around it." Jamie gestured vaguely in the direction of the coast a few kilometers away.

"Not Sharkfell! That place is dangerous," one of the boys said sharply, "Jamie cut it out." The guy was in several of my classes and cute, with a fantastic swimmers body, dark brown eyes and curly hair. I knew his name was Devon McLaren and I knew that everyone just called him Dev, he was also pretty much dream guy for most of the girls in my year. He seemed nice but we'd never even spoken and it was a surprise to hear him speak out now.