The Dare

Chapter Seven • Decisions

SEVEN • DECISIONS

"Rose, this is Daniel," Chloe said, pointing to a boy with curly caramel hair and muddy brown eyes. He seemed a little older, but not by much. I lifted my hand, giving him a pathetic little wave. He just laughed. "Daniel is training to be a history professor here and can be a serious pain sometimes."

"Hey!" was all Daniel managed to say.

"Moving on," Chloe said emphatically and most ignorant of her sarcasm, "that's Evalee with the brown, curly hair and her goody-two-shoes boyfriend, Nick." I had to stop my coveting meter from bursting when I saw Evalee. She was drop dead gorgeous and a perfect boyfriend to match. They belonged in a magazine, not a school of outcasts. Chloe reached over and kindly propped my jaw back up and continued to smile as she finished the last of the introductions.

"These are the girly-girl twins, Ceilia and Bex. They are total science nerds, in case you need help in...um...sciency stuff." As they waved, I could see they looked bubbly and certainly were a good addition to the group. They were both blonde with shoulder-length hair, big blue eyes, and round cheeks. Above all, they were adorable. Chloe seemed to pause, ready to announce someone else although there wasn't anyone else. "And although he doesn't sit here, I feel I have the need to show you. Last but not least, Cas."

From across the cafeteria where Chloe was motioning, I could tell Cas was a strange, but interesting character. He was scribbling things down in a notebook with a crowd of people surrounding him, apparently off in another little world, and concentrating so deeply that the lines in his forehead were protruding to the floor. He had sharper, more angular features that made him look mysterious and almost inhuman in a way and his auburn hair was messy and spiked up in every which direction. He seemed so...eclectic.

"Cas studies astrology," Chloe pointed out, stretching astrology I'm a way that said it was refined. "He's a psychic; until I met him, I had no idea you could get schooling for that. You'll notice that these are the types of people that make the best Minds." Her hand motions of waggling her fingers and making crazy gestures around her head made me giggle, but I still didn't understand why Cas was important if he wasn't even an Inbetweener.

"Is he the Mind's leader, or teacher or something?"

"Yes." The unison reply from my new little group assured me with their answer.

"I'd show you the leader of the Bloods, but he's probably off being an idiot and acting like he's superior. Bloods run on adrenaline and instinct. How FUN," Chloe explained sarcastically. I smiled at her positivity in something so dark; it was hard not to.

"So why do you need me to know this?" I asked quietly, both Daniel and Chloe leaning in a bit to hear me better.

"So you can decide. Knowing the head honcho makes your decision that much easier," she whispered. I bit my lip. The pressure of making such a rushed choice was weighing me down like lead being poured down my back. All I wanted to do was make some friends, get roommates, and get my education. That's all schools were good for anyway, not cult gatherings.

"Cas and the leader of the Bloods, Ryder, are really similar people. They just have that little twist in their DNA that changed their divisions. I would think them to be best friends if all discrimination was put aside," Nick spoke up. Evalee nodded, clearly willing to agree with anything her boyfriend said.

"Come on guys- you're dampening my mood," Daniel whined, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sure the new girl here isn't up for division talk either." I sighed. If Daniel was like this all the time, we could be best friends. We exchanged smiles and the rest of the group mumbled their agreement.

"So, your name is...Rose?" inquired Evalee with little interest. Beautiful, but boring.

"Yeah. Rose Levie." Evalee gave a small 'huh' as a simple response and went back to talking with Nick, who couldn't seem to even pretend to be interested. Instead of wasting my energy on the Hollywood couple that I was still surprised to see as Inbetweeners, I turned to Daniel, Chloe, Celia, and Bex who had all started a game of stealing the croutons from Daniel's salad.