ENG - My best friend's sister ᵐᶦᵏᵉʸ ˣ ᵒᶜ

41

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"Bah! How can you drink that?" I ask, still contorting my face as if I'm about to bite into a sour lemon. Kei laughs out loud as the disgusting taste stubbornly sticks to my tongue, a mixture of chemical sweetness and bitter pungency that leaves me breathless and nauseous. A shudder runs through my body, and I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. With an exasperated sigh, I grab Keikei's cup and reluctantly drink from it, just to prove to her that I won't let her intimidate me.
"You're really sassy, little sister. Since you're so into it, how about a drinking game?" this female provokes me, eyeing me with a challenging look.
"Oh, drinking games sound good, I'll join in," my best friend interferes and puts an arm around me.
"I'm in too," Mikey interjects and I sigh in frustration. I don't really feel like it at all, but now I don't want to back out either after I've been such a jerk to them.
"Fine, go ahead," I reply faster than I can think.
"Girls, round up some people," she calls out to her friends standing next to her.

A short time later, we're standing around one of the tables set up with this chick and other strangers. Everyone has a filled cup in their hand, and I look skeptically into mine. A brown liquid floats in it that looks absolutely unappetizing, and yet I smell it, my nose pierced by a burning smell of alcohol. The smell of the alcohol makes me feel slightly dizzy, and even more disgusted, I look into the cup. There are countless bottles of alcohol in the middle of the table, and I swallow hard as my heart begins to beat faster.
Kei gives me an amused look and teasingly asks, "Well, ready to prove your moxie?"
My eyes flash with annoyance, and I retort in a sharp voice, "Shut up."
Why the hell am I so stupid as to agree to this? Heat rises inside me and I become incredibly warm. The effects of the two mugs I emptied earlier are already making their way into my head, while my vision is already slightly blurry. I can feel my pulse quickening and a warm tingling sensation spreading through my stomach. I'm definitely going to end up just like in the movies - I'm going to do something I'll deeply regret, I know it.

"Here are the cards, Kira," another girl says to the chick I absolutely can't stand. Now I even know her name, and it sounds just as nice as she does. Shaking my head, I could beat myself up for having such thoughts.
"We're not playing that boring truth or dare, but there is some of that," she explains, tossing the cards wildly into the middle of the table. Each card has a meaning, and she explains the rules and the various actions associated with the cards. The others agree, and when the game finally begins, my nervousness mounts. I don't feel like drinking, but I don't want to give this girl the satisfaction of knowing she won.
"Alright, I'll start," Kira says, drawing a card and holding it up to the round. "Ah, a black 5. That means I have the pleasure of choosing someone to drink the number of sips that corresponds to the card. So, little sister, five sips for you. Cheers," she says with a grin, fixing me challengingly. I take a deep breath to calm myself and reluctantly take the five sips from the cup. Disgust overcomes me again, and I shake myself briefly as my face contorts in disgust. It's obvious she's doing it on purpose, and I can literally feel her gloating. The game goes around, and each person takes a turn. Sometimes we all have to take a sip in the round, then only the women or oneself, then again we have to empty the cup completely or answer a truth or duty question.

When it's Keikei's turn, he too draws a card and throws it face up on the table, asking, "What does the 7 mean again?"
"Everyone fills their cup to the brim and we all drink at the same time. The person to your right is not allowed to stop drinking until you stop yourself. This goes on until the cup is empty or the round is once around," Kira explains, and Kei nods. So we all fill our cups to the brim again.
"But don't overdo it, after all, the little sister on your right has to drink for as long as you do. Don't overtax her," Kira provokes me again with an arrogant look. She gets on my nerves so incredibly.

So Keikei starts drinking, and each of us joins in. But Kei actually stops after two sips and puts down his cup, probably because of me. I feel provoked by her words and I don't give in. I clutch the cup tightly with both hands and continue drinking while everyone else follows the rules loudly.
"Mei enough, stop it," I hear my best friend's voice, but I ignore him. Only when the feeling of nausea spreads through me do I put down the almost empty cup. I squat down and rest my head on my knees to somehow hold back the sickening taste in my mouth.
"I'm impressed, little sister, I wouldn't have expected that," the brown-haired chick laughs mockingly as I stare angrily at her. Her laughter enters my ears, exacerbating my anger at her. She continues, "How about we take this to the next level? From now on, we don't just drink sips, we drink whole cups at once." Everyone here at the table taps the tabletop and cheers in agreement.
"My turn," I simply say after I stand back up and pull out a card, which I look at before tossing it on the table.
"A red 3, then perst little sister, you get to drink yourself," she says, filling two more cups that she pushes provocatively in front of me. Grumbling at my own luck, I drink said cups. Mikey after me draws a 10, so we all have to empty a cup. The more I drink, the more I get used to that nasty, bitter taste in my mouth, but at the same time my vision gets blurrier and blurrier. People's faces blur as I move deeper and deeper into a state of intoxication.

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