Dare To Kiss (GxG)

Chapter 4

What the hell is Elena playing at?

That is my first thought when my brain finally unfreezes, and I am just about to demand exactly that when I suddenly feel a pair of soft lips brushing against mine.

It sent tingles along my entire body, somehow exactly like the way movies say it should be. Involuntarily, my eyes flutter closed as I lean into the kiss. Who would've thought? My very first kiss, with the demon queen of high school, Elena, of all people?

My eyes snap open. With a shove, I push Elena away from me as my senses finally return to me and I register what the fuck just happened. Elena kissed me. Elena kissed me. Elena kissed me.

I can think that line a million times over, with stresses on all the different words, but it still wouldn't change the fact that it happened.

"Your turn, sweetie," Elena drawls with a venomous smile, gesturing to the bottle. She smirks as I flinch back from her, as if she knows how much I'm affected by what she did while she's seemingly unaffected.

Elena's smile widens as I reach for the bottle, my wary gaze still fixated on hers. My hand closes around the bottle and I twist it with force.

There's no way it will land on Ruby. Elena can try to orchestrate whatever she wants, but it all comes down to chance. And with all the people here, that's less than 10%. So unless Elena has some freaky magic powers I don't know about, there's absolutely no way. The laws of probability defines it.

Right?

Staring intently at the bottle that determines my eternal agony or not, I watch it slow to a stop, pointing to Ruby, as fear and anxiety floods my body. She looks up at me, and this is one of the only times that I can't tell what she's thinking.

"Well, go on," Elena encourages.

I would give anything to vanish on the spot right now, but there's nothing I can do, and with such a large audience, except to lean forward and quickly brush my lips against hers before I think too long and talk myself out of it. Our lips have barely touched, but it is enough to send a wave of desire crashing over me, the rush of it coursing through my veins even after I take what little ounce of self-control I have to break off the kiss.

Avoiding any eye-contact, I mumble, "Your turn, Ruby." I keep my stare fixed on my lap as I hear her reach for the bottle and spin. What is she thinking at this moment? Does she hate me? Did she feel it the same way I did?

The bottle lands on a boy from Oak Valley — Zac. Ruby leans across the table, her hand in his hair as their lips connect, the contact lasting longer than necessary. I turn away, not wanting to watch. Then before I know it, Ruby's turn is over and the game moves on with the next person.

Ruby's features stretches into a smile, her cheeks dusted with a rosy blush, and I suddenly feel like I have to leave, like I can't stay for a second longer watching Ruby fawn over some guy that she's just met all because of a silly game.

I mutter an excuse about going to the restroom and leaves the table, sprinting as if a monster is on my heels. Bracing my arms on the sides of the sink, I take deep breaths to calm myself and my heartbeat down. I hear the door open, and even without glancing at the mirror, I know it's Elena.

"Leave me alone, Elena," I admonish over my shoulder. "You got what you wanted, I did your stupid dare, are you happy now?"

"Yeah, pretty happy, but you know you still owe me 6 more, right?"

"Fuck off, Elena, not now," I grit out as my eyes start to well up.

I hear a sharp intake of breath as Elena moves toward me. "Isla, you— wait, are you okay?" She pauses when she spots the tears threatening to spill.

"Yes, I'm fine, now leave me alone," I snap as I furiously wipe my eyes with my sleeve. I don't even know why I'm crying; the tears just won't stop once they've fallen.

"Is it about Ruby?" Elena asks, sounding as if she's actually a little bit concerned about me.

"No," I lie, but it must not have been very convincing because Elena sees through it immediately.

"Is it about her kiss with you, or her kiss with Zac?"

"Neither. Both. I don't know!" I yell in frustration. "This is all your fault." I turn my anger towards Elena. "If you didn't make me do that dare or invited us to this gatherings, none of this would've happened. I blame you entirely!"

Elena pursed her lips, but says nothing as I stand there fuming and trying to calm myself down. She contemplates her next words before saying carefully, "If we're being technical about it, it's actually your fault you're in this mess."

I glare at her, though I shouldn't be surprised at her lack of sympathy. "What do you mean? How is it my fault?"

"Well," Elena drags out, "you're the one who spilled paint all over my shoes."

"Really? All because of that?" I scoff. "I already apologised, and it was an accident in the first place. I didn't do it on purpose. But you seem to enjoy messing with my life."

"Your words, not mine." Elena retorts. "But it can be amusing at times."

Ignoring her jab, I go on to exclaim, "If you want me to make it up to you, I can pay you back for cleaning your shoes or even to buy a new pair." Though you could easily get your parents to buy more for you, with the way you fling your money around.

"Don't talk about my parents, Isla," Elena suddenly snaps. Then I realise that I've spoken my thoughts aloud. Her whole demeanour seems to change, and she actually looks bothered by my words as her lips twist into a frown.

Seeing Elena worked up gives me a sort of guilty pleasure, after all she's done to me when I've tried so hard not to antagonise her. Which is why I find the courage to retaliate, albeit on impulse, "Why shouldn't I? You flash their money around all the time, buying all those useful stuff you don't need."

Everyone at school knows Elena's parents are wealthy, with her dad being the CEO of a company based in London. Elena has lived in affluence her entire life and doesn't hesitate to spend her hefty allowance, whether in confectionary or cosmetics, jewellery or junk.

With her fists clenched, Elena sneers in fury, "You know nothing about me." The cold menace in her voice would've forced me back a step by instinct, if I weren't already backed up against the sink.

A beat passes. Then Elena steps back from me, the proximity between us widening again. I release a breath I didn't know I've been holding as I unfreeze from the spell that she seems to have held over me.

"Your second dare," she suddenly says, immediately drawing my attention like a magnet. She smiles, not a trace of her previous rage and annoyance to be seen, as if it has vaporised into thin air. "Come to the social on Saturday."

Surprised by her change in mood, it takes me a second to register Elena's words. "Social? What social?"

"The one the school sent an email about 3 weeks ago?" Elena taunts, attempting to jog my memory. "The one they organised along with Oak Valley high that's going to take place in the great hall at our school? Ring any bells?"

My face scrunches up in thought as I try to comb through the mess in my brain. Then it comes to me in the vague form of a half-read email which I deleted without thinking.

"Ohhh, you mean that one," I say sheepishly. "I wasn't planning on going."

"Too bad, you are now," Elena declares in a condescending tone. She flicks her hair over her shoulders as she turns and exits the washroom, leaving me to my own thoughts and reflection.

After taking a few more deep breaths, I stare at myself in the mirror to make sure that my eyes are dry and no longer red before I walk out with my head held high, somehow looking more confident than I feel. When Ruby and some of the other girls ask me why I took so long, I easily make up an excuse about a stomachache and join in their conversation.

Noticing Elena eyeing me in my periphery, I turn my gaze on her over the rim of the glass as I take a sip from my drink. She narrows her eyes threatening, prompting me to avert my stare and look away first, which in turn triggers a slight smile to graze her lips at my uneasiness.

She doesn't exchange another word with me for the rest of the afternoon. So I don't either.