Drowning

10. Her nose is bigger than her brain.

"So," I say, trying to sound uninterested, "who's the chick with the purple hair?"

"Her name's Opal. We've lived next to her family for a few years. She comes over for dinner a lot," Reece explains.

"She has a thing for you, I'm guessing," I look at Ian.

"Opal? Nah," he stares at the ground as we walk.

"Dude, she called you sexy," I point out.

Ian grins, "She's just pointing out the facts."

"Oh, go marry yourself," I mumble.

Once we make it back to the game room, it's my turn. We sit back down on the smiley face rug.

"Truth or dare, pumpkin?" Ian asks.

"Truth."

Yes, I'm that person that only picks truth.

"Exciting," Ian deadpans.

"I'm not trying to entertain you."

"Clearly," he huffs.

"Geez, guys. Calm yourselves," Reece smiles weakly.

Ian doesn't understand the physical pain I'm going through at this very moment. My insides feel like they're being twisted into knots. He probably thinks My moods swings are always this dramatic.

"Okay Jodi, I dare you to tell me why you kissed me, at the pool, the day we first met."

Is he insane? Ian just crossed the flipping line. He's pulling the stitches out of this wound before its healed.

"How dare you!" I poke his chest with my pointer finger, "You have the nerve to ask me that? I should I be entitled to keep my secrets if I want to!" I yell.

Reece opens her mouth but no words come out.

"I'm just asking you a question! You seriously need to calm down."

I stand up, "No. Actually, I don't. I'm allowed to get angry when someone asks me a rude and inconsiderate question," I walk out of the room and slam the door behind me.

I go into a random room and throw myself onto a bed.

A stray tear slides down my cheek.

I don't even know why I'm crying, it just feels right.

*****

"This," Isabelle holds up a glass jar, "has all of your dares for this summer in it."

After my melt-down I eventually came back to the game room. I act like nothing had ever happened, and so did Ian. Reece, on the other hand, keeps looking nervously between each of us in turn.

"That's what you've been working on for the past hour?" I ask.

Isabelle rolls her eyes, "Yes. Devin and I put a lot of hard work into this. We've tried to come up with every fear you could possibly have, and put a dare in there to help you overcome it."

"How did truth or dare go?" Devin questions.

"I had to climb a really tall tree and tell about my first kiss," Reece announces.

"I had to sing a Christmas carol to our neighbor and say the last time I pissed myself," he says monotonously.

"I had to peel and eat a banana without using my hands and, I-um, had to say whether I'm a cat or dog person," I lie.

"That's cool," Devin yawns.

If only you knew.

"So everyday, Jodi, you draw one of these out of the jar and do that dare. NO CHEATING!"