Missing Pieces

Chapter 23

Round and round the glass bottle spun until it landed on Clemont, who wasn't even sitting in the circle. The blond boy was standing, a red cup in hand, taking a sip of his drink before his eyes slowly moved to the group of delirious, chaotic teenagers staring at him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow confusedly at us before looking down at the bottle pointed at him, and suddenly the realization dawned upon him.

"Oh...no."

And with that, Clemont turned to walk anywhere that was away from all of us.

"Awwww, c'mon Clemont!" Barry pleaded

"No" Clemont uttered with annoyance.

"It'll be fun!" Misty cheered melodically.

"And if you don't join in, we'll be forced to inform Korrina of your cowardice," Conway calmly added while readjusting his glasses.

With that Clemont's cheeks blushed a deep red, as he whipped around to stare in a confused shock at Conway, the inventor utterly speechless.

I turned to look at Serena who seemed to be trying her hardest not to snicker at her step-brother's suffering, which was utterly confusing to me. Was he alright? I knew I wasn't on good terms with Clemont but since I'd met him I never saw just a simple name get such a reaction out of him. I had seen him get red in the face a few times when angry at me, but this somehow seemed different.

"Where is Korrina anyway?" Dawn asked while Clemont began mumbling to himself, occasionally fiddling with his glasses

"She said she was going to be late" Kenny explained. "Said she might be bringing a friend of her's too."

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ENOUGH ABOUT KORRINA!" Barry interjected as loudly as ever. The blond boy with wild hair and a gleam in his eyes turned to look at Clemont. "Truth or Dare or let Conway be a tattletale, Clemont?"

Clemont in a moment swallowed his pride, quite literally, gulping down a bit of punch as the redness in his face died down ."T-truth" he managed to get out.

"Is it true," Barry started, his hands clasped together like a movie villain's, "That you started last year's school wide blackout?"

Clemont's eyebrows raised in nervous surprise. "I- N-NO OF COURSE NOT!" He exclaimed, stammering uncontrollably. He mumbled something largely inaudible under his breath to finalize his statement but no one seemed to understand what it was he said. I could feel Serena beside me trying so hard to contain her laughter and, for the most part apart from the occasional snicker or snort, she was technically succeeding.

"This is why I don't go to parties..." Clemont muttered while Barry blinked a few times

The free spirited blond exclaimed, seemingly in disappointment, "OH COME ON, YOU MUST'VE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT"

Clemont regained his composure and argued, his voice carrying a certain finality, "Well that wasn't what you asked. You asked if I alone caused it."

"....so you didn't cause it ALONE?" Barry questioned.

Clemont was already reaching for the bottle as Barry was speaking, ignoring the question entirely as the bottle spun round and round and round. When the bottle finally had decided its next victim, Gary, Clemont was eager to get any and all attention off of himself, quickly blurting out, before the bottle had even come to a complete halt "Gary, Truth or Dare".

Gary blinked, taken aback by how quickly the question was voiced, however a small smirk wormed its way into his expression as he confidently responded "Dare."

Clemont sighed a bit, pinching the bridge of his nose as he furrowed his brow, taking the time to think this through. Personally, I didn't remember playing Truth or Dare much, since not having many friends and having anti-social brothers meant not a lot of group games, though I had watched plenty of TV shows where characters played the game with each other. I remember longing to be able to play it too, waddling around my house asking both my older brothers if they wanted to play it with me. Looking back they were probably wondering why I even knew about the game and were probably too busy or felt they were too old to be bothered with it. Furthermore, my twin wanted nothing to do with me or my games, so asking him to play was out of the question. But I did try. Oh how I tried. And to no avail.