Six Feet Under

Chapter 3: Truth or Dare (Penny's POV)

After dinner at the cafeteria, everyone headed back to their dorms to play icebreaker games. We settled back into the living room with some snacks we brought from the pantry. "Ok, I assume you all know each other's names but why don't we introduce ourselves again. I'll get the ball rolling." Taylor suggested. We were sitting in a circle and everyone took their turn. "Hi everyone, I'm Selena, call me Sel for short... I'm Hailey..." After the introductions, we decided that it would be fun to kick the night off with a game of Truth or Dare.

Being the fun-loving and confident person I am, I decided to volunteer to go first. "Dare!" I exclaimed confidently.

"Slide down the banister after curfew?" Yvonne asked.

" Do a backflip in front of Mr Brighton's office!" Hailey suggested.

"How about-" Selena started, but not before I cut her off. "No, no, and no! Those aren't even real dares! It's what I can do any time!" I exclaimed.

I looked around at our group, and paused for a second when I came to Lia. Lia had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. I raised my eyebrows, and she shot me a sly smile. " Penny, I expect that Mackenzie will come after me again, and since you're probably going to be with me since we're roommates..."she started. The ends of my mouth curled up into a grin. I think I know what she's getting at. "...and when that moment comes, we take her on together." I finished the sentence for her. She nodded. "Dare accepted," I immediately said confidently.

Zara gasped, Willow cocked her head to the side, and Taylor simply shook her head. "I really don't think that's a very good idea. She wasn't, and still isn't very nice to me for getting the position of head prefect instead of her last year. Once you get on her bad side, she'll try to make your life a living hell," she told me. "But... she was rather polite to you at dinner," Yvonne commented.

Taylor laughed. "I've always found a way to outwit her, you know. Especially when Alina's around. She's a complete savage inside out," she explained. "Hey, not to mention, Taylor's brother is part of the batch of new kids that arrived today. There's a rumour going around that he's making all the girls fall head over heels in love with him, and Mackenzie is one of them!" Zara shared with us.

Oh. She must be talking about that boy, although I don't know what his name is. Literally everyone was looking at him when he entered the cafeteria. I guess he looks pretty nice for a friend, but I most definitely don't like him in that way.

It took a minute for everyone to fully digest all that information, and I bet it would have taken even longer had it not been for Willow, who asked if we were still playing Truth or Dare. "Well, I guess it's my turn. I'll pick Taylor," I say. "Truth!" She immediately exclaimed. "I'm not really the kind for dares." Alina and Zara looked at each other as they shared the same sly expression. I had a feeling Taylor knew what they were going to ask about and her cheeks flushed beet red. "Who do you have a crush on?" Zara and Alina shouted in unison. They obviously knew who Taylor liked. "Guys! Don't expose me like that in front of all of them! I wanna change my turn to dare! Please..."she pleaded. To her surprise, Alina shrugged, then said, "Well, then I dare you to tell us who you have a crush on." Taylor groaned and rolled her eyes. "You two really...ok fine yes I do have a crush on Leonard," she finally confessed. The whole room burst into laughter. Now this was amusing. I think I'm really gonna love my time here.

"No wonder!" Willow exclaimed out of the blue. I looked on curiously as she started to explain her thoughts. "Didn't anyone notice? During dinner, when Leonard said something to her, she started blushing," she said. "Which makes Leonard calling Taylor not a coincidence at all," I piped up. "When I was on my way to the toilet, I heard voices coming from Taylor's room, and when I put my ear to the door -Taylor, I beg your forgiveness for my extreme rudeness- she chirped, "Hi Leonard!" in an extremely enthusiastic voice. So that's what it was all about. Not something about prefect duties," I concluded.

Zara raised her eyebrows, while Alina clapped her hands together. "You've proved yourselves. We're really gonna need you on our side."

Later that night, the three of us headed back to our room. It was late and Willow was still trying to wrap her head around something. "What's wrong?" I asked, concerned. "It's just this whole school! Everything is so strange about it and I've been trying to figure out why." "Me too." Lia chimed in, "It's just so strange, there must be something behind all of this... Like the blindfolds?!? They clearly didn't want us to know the way we came here, but the real question is, WHY?"

"Exactly." Willow replied. "Why don't we jot down these notes in a diary or something? " I suggested, "It would be easier to piece things together this way. Whatever we notice that is strange, we jot it down in that book, how about that?" The two of them nodded in agreement, Lia took out a journal book that was in the storage drawer and started writing down everything. We all brainstormed and Willow also jotted down a couple of things in the book and with that, we went to bed in peace.