Summer Dare

Chapter 1

The final bell rings. Summer rushes to hand in her English exam and heads down to her locker. Sophomore year is officially in the books. She meets up with her best friends Mimi and Andrea. Mimi is fixing her curly brown hair in her locker mirror while Andrea looks bored beside her. They are all tired, but despite having heavy bags under their eyes, they're wearing wide smiles. Summer vacation is finally here. They walk up the hill at the end of the school's soccer field and sit under the shade of the only tree.

"I don't even want to think about exams for another 12 weeks!" Summer says lying back on the grass. Andrea and Mimi giggle back and forth about the latest gossip.

"Did you hear Dennis might not even walk at graduation? Yeah, apparently he failed calculus," Mimi says while texting on her phone. She doesn't even look at her friends as she speaks. "And Michelle was caught in the girls room with Leah!"

"Yeah I heard that one," Andrea jumps in. Her light brown skin glistens in the sun. "I'm not surprised—I mean I'm not surprised about the gay thing. I'm very surprised about Leah settling for Michelle. She could do way better."

"We don't know if she's settling. I mean it could've been a one time thing." Mimi smirks over the top of her phone before texting again. Her hazel eyes lock on Summer for only a moment.

Summer rolls her eyes and tries not to pay attention. She digs in her pocket to find her headphones and listens to her favorite band The Stick Puppets. Before she can even get through one song, Mimi shakes her awake.

"You have to see this," she says pointing back to the school. A small crowd is gathering in front of the parking lot entrance. At first everything seems blurry, but as Summer's eyes adjust to the light she sees two people talking to each other. The boy is tall and on the skinny side, with wavy black hair making its way down to his shoulders. The girl came up to his chest. She was curvy, with long legs, and straight brown hair.

"Is that Blake and Larissa?" Summer asks.

The couple seems angry, both leaning in close to the other's face. Larissa even jabs her finger at Blake's chest. He laughs and brushes her hand away.

"Are they breaking up?" Andrea asks.

Mimi surprisingly puts her phone down and dedicates her full attention to the argument. She holds up a finger to Andrea, not wanting to be distracted for a moment. "I doubt it," Mimi says, still fixated on the fight. "They've been dating since she was in 6th grade."

"He was in 8th," Andrea adds.

The crowd grows. Most of the sophomore girls are in the front, whispering to one another as eagerly as Andrea and Mimi are. "There's no way they're done," Andrea says.

"They've never fought before. I don't even think they've raised their voices at one another. They're like the perfect couple," Mimi replies.

Larissa looks as if she's yelling at Blake, but none of the girls can hear. The crowd seems energized, like they can't believe what's happening. Mid-sentence, Blake turns around and walks away. Larissa chases after him but he continues to ignore her. As the crowd tries to catch up, Blake hops on his motorcycle and speeds off. Larissa is standing in the parking lot still yelling at him. A moment later she looks around and realizes every girl in her class is watching. She shouts at them, then quickly runs to her car and leaves the parking lot.

"What just happened?" Andrea asks in disbelief. Mimi and Summer remain silent. Suddenly all three of their phones start blowing up with text messages:

Did you see that?

Did you hear?

OMG I CANT BELIEVE WHAT'S HAPPENING!

They all scan through their messages together, reading them out loud. Finally Mimi announces, "It's official! They broke up!"

All three girls look at each other in shock. This could not be happening. Blake and Larissa had been together for five years. No way they just threw it all away, and over what?

"Oh my god guys, Larissa cheated on him with Aaron Davis!" Mimi reads another text.

"The senior?" Summer asks and pulls up facebook to confirm her suspicion.

"That's the one. Michelle says Blake found out last week but didn't want to deal with it until exams were over," Mimi replies.

"Of course Michelle says that. She's just happy the gossip is steering away from her," Andrea responds.

"Doesn't make it any less true." Mimi shrugs.

"But how could anyone cheat on Blake?" Summer asks, brushing a strand of her red hair out of her eyes.

"Well, not everyone has had a crush on him since the fifth grade," Mimi answers. She and Andrea giggle. Summer rolls her eyes.

"Shut up," Summer replies.

"Oh feisty now. You gonna ask him out?" Andrea teases and messes with Summer's hair. Summer bats Andrea's hand away.

"Oh stop it," Summer says.

"I dare you to ask him out," Mimi says.

"Dare? What are we twelve?" Summer asks.

"Are ya chicken?" Andrea responds. She and Mimi chuckle together.

"No I just—I don't know. Shut up."

"Oh just do it," Mimi says.

"Yeah," Andrea adds.

"Fine, if I say I'll do it will you two drop it?" Summer asks.

"Yes," Mimi and Andrea say in unison.

"Okay, I'll do it." Summer leans against the tree and pulls up her phone, needing a distraction before she blushes.

"Can you imagine what it would be like to date Blake Dillon?" Mimi asks. She scoots closer to Summer and rests her head on Summer's shoulder.

"Oh, every time he hops on that bike I want to wrap my arms around his waist and let him take me away," Andrea says. "I could see us on a beach somewhere, basking in the sun and kissing when it sets over the horizon."

"Oh, I would want to travel with him. He seems really sophisticated. I had AP Euro with him this year. He was taking it as an elective for college credit. He was obsessed with France. If we were dating I'd want to go to Paris with him, wrap myself around his arm, and see all the sites," Mimi said. "What about you Summer?"

Summer isn't paying attention. She has her earbuds back in and is listening to her workout playlist. Mimi pulls her headphones out and asks her question again.

"I don't know. Probably cuddle and watch movies and stuff," Summer says with a shrug.

"You gotta get out more," Andrea says, standing up and cracking her back.

"I agree. Let's get you out of your shell this summer," Mimi says.

"But I like my shell. It's cozy and has cable," Summer replies and pulls her knees to her chest.

"Don't be such a loser. Come on, let's get out of here," Andrea says with a laugh and helps Summer to her feet. The three girls fantasize a little longer about what it would be like to date Blake as they head to Summer's house.

"It's gonna be a good break!" Andrea says stretching her arms out. "I can feel it."