Dared

Chapter 16

Sunday is a mighty mess when it comes to my brain.

Kissing Kara and feeling her lips on mine even hours later, seals everything. I don't want to lose her.

My bedroom feels cold despite the hot sun outside. I can't help smiling like a fool at the thoughts of Kara kissing me.

It pushes the larger question to the back of my mind until after dinner when I can't escape it anymore. I have to break up with Kara. But how?

She knows that I love her, she would understand that it's nothing to worry about. I believe that I can explain it to her.

She's a smart girl. I hope that she can understand my situation. Once the dare is over maybe we can start afresh. That would be good. I would like that.

More dates. More kisses. And more of Kara Merrick.

That's a plan.

So when the sun rises on Monday, I am already outside the door, heading towards school. I texted her last night asking her to meet me beside her locker and she agreed.

I have my hair neatly combed and my clothes smelling of my dad's perfume from before he left. The school seems brighter today, and I congratulate myself on my impending success.

I'm going to tell Kara about the dare, and she's going to agree to start afresh. She told me that she's falling for me, and I don't see a reason why she would deny my request.

Dylan added a big reminder about my dare in the group chat that he, Wayne, and Noah shared with me.

It gives my confidence a boost. And after a month of this stupid dare, everything is actually going to be alright. For real.

Sporting a huge grin on my lips, I step into the locker room, a slight bounce in my steps as I make it over to the locker room.

Kara is at her locker.

I can see why she isn't smiling or why her eyes don't light up at the sight of me.

Because in the most devastating second of my life, I realize that the damage has been done.

Kara Merrick stares ahead at me, her eyes glassy and her face pinched. Beside her, Dylan is explaining about the dare.

My footsteps falter at the sight, rooting me to the spot.

It is over, isn't it?

The numbing feeling coursing through me, in contradiction to my galloping heart, freezes my body. I can't help the searing pain that tears through my chest.

It's done. The wrong way.

Kara breaks into tears and all I want to do is wash that vulnerable feeling off her face. To make her smile. To make her laugh.

Forcing my body to move I approach her. Her palm pressed against her lips as she lets out a feeble sob. She takes away running.

My heart shatters into pieces.

"There's the man!" Dylan claps my shoulder.

I can feel the simmering anger beneath my chest at the whole damn world. Why did this have to be so fucked up!

"Well, feel the freedom when you realize that you're untethered?" Dylan chuckles, passing an arm around my shoulder, "Awesome, right?"

Unable to speak, I look straight ahead...

Dylan chuckles, "Told ya!"

He pats my chest, "Never thought that you had it in you, Jenkins! But I gotta say, welcome to the club man!"

He laughs again mostly to himself, "This is awesome, we should celebrate. My house. After school," he slaps another congratulatory clap on the back of my shoulder before walking out of the locker room.

I can sense people giving me weird looks as I let myself slam against Kara's locker. The world around me dissolves into a blur. Voices and sounds muffle as if I am underwater.

My skin crawls. I breathe hard to stop the choking feeling that's growing in my throat as if someone is pressing a hand around my neck, suffocating me.

My body hits the ground, my back pressed against the locker. I stare ahead at nothing. In my mind, all that I can see is Kara's face. The look of unforgiving heartbreak.

I have broken her. And I don't know if she would ever forgive me.

The sound of her sobs echoes in my mind, twisting my heart and pounding on my chest.

It hurts more than I anticipated.

In my mind, Kara and I were to have a fresh start, the dare behind us.

But here I am, on the locker room floor, not knowing what to do.