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Chapter 002: The Dare
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When the movie ended, Emmy, Quinn and Sasha got ready to go—which just meant hopping into Sasha's car and driving to Reagan Woods, as apparently all of them had universally decided to wear what they were wearing to the bonfire before the movie hangout.
The half hour drive to Reagan Woods was spent talking about stuff like movies, the colleges they were going to and their plans for the future—Emmy with forensic science, Ben in physics, Sasha with a gap year travelling the world, and Quinn hoping to be either a doctor or writer ("Those are two very opposite ends." "At least I know what I'll be writing about with injuries and blood loss, Sash."), bickering about stupid stuff like which junk food was better, what was the better genre of movie (it was always a draw between horror and science fiction), which final girl was the best (Ripley, always), which actor was the hottest, who had been the biggest douchebag in school and the hottest classmate they had in school, and whether new or classic Coke better (classic, always) and laughing over an eclectic mix of Kate Bush, The Cure, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Dio, Fleetwood Mac and Blondie.
Just like any drive with her friends.
It helped pass the time of the drive, so it felt like it was mere seconds instead of over thirty minutes to get to the stretch of woods bordering Renvale. Above, the sky was bleeding as it transitioned into nighttime, and past the first few trees, Emmy could already see the orange glow of a bonfire—the party having already started.
Sasha parked and turned off her car and they all got out, heading into the woods where the crackle of fire and the shouting of drunken, celebratory teenagers could be mixed with the reverberating thump of music. Emmy's Converse shoes crunched on the leaf litter was muffled by the noise ahead that grew louder and louder until they walked through the woods and saw the graduation bonfire party in all its glory.
A massive bonfire arced toward the sky, licking the canopy with orange tongues of flame, roaring like a great beast as teenagers shouted, drank and milled about it. A beer keg was near it, the alcohol swishing inside cheap red cups in the hands of teenagers already half-drunk and high, when they weren't holding cigarettes and joints. Music blared from the boombox next to the beer keg, Girls On Film playing from it, and in the shadows of trees, Emmy could see couples slinking away to make out.
Emmy rolled her eyes at seeing that, before she turned and shouted over the music and chatter, "Beer or weed?"
Quinn gravitated to the beer keg, filling up four cups and handing it to them as she said with a grin, "Ready to get high and wasted? Because I sure hell am!"
They cheered in response, skulling down the beer. It was sour and half-stale, but Emmy didn't care as she drank it again, Quinn heading to where Darell Lincoln was dealing weed to snag some joints for them, enjoying the heat of the bonfire against her back in the chill of the spring night air, rolling her eyes as Ben made a joke and Sasha grinned, before the voice of Georgia Liu shouted, "Sasha! Over here!"
