Being The New Girl

12: I'm Dying Here

Silence.

Silence fills the air, except for the faint sound of TDG coming from Brayden's phone.

Then, finally, Jordan speaks up. "Fine. What are the rules?"

Brayden smiles. "No rules. Well, everyone gets one pass. When that's been used, you can't pass up any questions or dares."

"You're willing to go first, then, I'm guessing?"

"You betcha. And I pick dare. Who's up for the challenge? You better make it good."

Everyone looks at each other before an evil grin comes to Gabe's face. "Just give me one second..." he says, jumping up from his seat and running off and out of the firelight.

He returns a minute later, holding our cooler in his hands and plopping down right in front of his seat. He digs around for a few seconds before pulling out a green jar and a clear, plastic cup, filling the latter up halfway with the contents of the former.

He holds the cup out to Brayden with a smirk. "Drink up."

Brayden takes the glass, and, with no hesitation whatsoever, tips his head back and drinks all of the relish in one gulp. He lets out a sigh as he hands the glass back to Gabe with a smirk.

"Next time, you could try to be a little more creative," he jokes. "That was too easy."

Gabe stares at him for a second, before falling to his knees. "All praise Brayden!" he shouts as lifts and lets his arms fall in an act of worship repeatedly. Then, he gets back to his feet with a smile and leans in to clap Brayden on the shoulder. "No, but seriously-nice job, man. I thought I was the only loser here who would eat something so disgusting."

Brayden raises an eyebrow. "So you're up for stupid dares, then. All right, it's official, I'm daring you when it's your turn."

I nudge Maia on the shoulder as Gabe sits down, making a heart with my hands and mouthing "bromance" and to her. She rolls her eyes and nods. She mouths the words "I ship it" back at me and I laugh.

Jen wrinkles her nose at Brayden. "That really was disgusting."

"Ah, it was, now was it? Now I definitely have to do this."

He wraps his arm around her waist and leans down to kiss her on the lips. She pulls away with a shriek.

"Great, now we both have relish breath, ya jerk!"

"You know you loved it."

Someone has to clear their throat after a few awkward seconds of them acting in love and all that crap.

"Right then," Brayden continues, seemingly not embarrassed at all. "Jordan, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to give me access to all your social media for five minutes. And to let me post anything I want. You can always delete whatever I post later, of course," he adds when he sees Jordan's attempt to interrupt.

Jordan shakes his head at him, but hands him his unlocked phone nonetheless. "Five minutes. That's it."

I instantly whip out my own phone to check out what Brayden posts. And I'm not disappointed.

Jordan Bates:

I'm missing my yellow rubber duck. Please page me if you find it. Last seen in my Pony Princess backpack from seventh grade.

I stifle a laugh as I show the status update to Maia, who bursts out laughing, and Camdyn, who also attempts to keep his reaction silent. This doesn't work, however, and I find Jordan staring us down.