Truth or Dare (9 page)

I'D LIKE TO TELL YOU that I didn't sleep that night, and that all of Sunday I squirmed and blushed when I thought about the lie I'd told my friends. But here's the truth—by the next morning I felt proud of myself. The tiny green bud of the lie—
I kissed Tanner
—had bloomed into a gorgeous pink flower overnight, a great big peony I could keep in a vase in front of me and take whiffs of whenever I felt left out of the conversation.
I kissed Tanner
wasn't the truth as a statement of What Actually Happened to Me That Summer, but it was a different kind of truth—a
statement of What Was Going on Inside My Brain, how all of a sudden I could come up with details (the walk on the beach, the fifteen-second kiss, the closed eyes). I mean, I'd never even
thought
of stuff like that before, ever. Not about myself, anyway. So I felt excited, and maybe a little bit scared, about my new power.

Seventh grade started the following Tuesday. After the unfun summer I'd had, I wasn't even dreading school all that much. And the first day wasn't even that terrible—all of my friends except Marley were in my PE class, and Marley and Mak were both in my homeroom. And my teachers seemed decent, with the exception of Mrs. Crawley for math, whose nose job was totally distracting, and Mr. Halloran for homeroom and English, whose breath stank like onions and tuna fish.

I also secretly celebrated that my crush, Graydon, was in all my classes. After seeing Tanner up close this summer, I had to admit that Graydon wasn't what you'd call “typical” cute. He was short, for one thing. Also, his wrists were bony and his glasses were always smudged. But he was incredibly smart and funny, and I liked the way his hair curled around his ears. A few times last year he let me borrow his homework. Once he asked me to dance at a boy-girl party Abi had in her basement; I stepped on his toes a couple of times and he didn't even tease me about it.

Anyway, on our first day back, my friends and I played Truth or Dare again in the lunchroom. I had watered the Tanner Flower so much over the weekend that by lunch period it was almost a bouquet: I'd decided what his cheek felt like and how his hair smelled, what we talked about before kissing, how we strolled on the sand afterward. (
I'd taken off my sandals; the damp sand cooled my toes, and the cold tide nipped at my ankles. Oh, right—and I even found some sea glass.)

In fact, I was so prepared for follow-up kiss questions that I barely paid attention to the game. Makayla asked Jules the grossest thing she ever ate (answer: snot, which her little brother sneaked into the peanut butter); Abi asked Makayla if she'd ever peed in the pool (answer: yes, twice); Jules asked Abi if she'd ever cheated on a test (answer: yes, once on a math test, when she'd copied two of Graydon's answers).

And then Abi turned to me. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” I said right away. My heart was pounding. This time I was ready.

“Okay. So here's your question, Lia: Did you get your period yet?”

“What?” I stared.

“You know. Did you
start
?”

“Men-stru-a-ting,” Makayla enunciated, as if she were the voice-over in one of those health class videos.

“Are you really asking her that?” Marley demanded. “Isn't that personal?”

“We told you the rules,” Abi replied, not even looking at Marley. “Nothing's off-limits.”

“Yeah, I know, but—”

“Actually, I did,” I blurted. “Over the summer.”

Jules squealed. “Really, Lia? Why didn't you tell us?”

“It's kind of a painful topic.”

“Oh, I knowww,” Jules said, making sympathetic eyes. “You had killer cramps?”

“No, I mean painful embarrassing.” I started twirling the corners of my napkin. “Because it happened with Tanner. On the beach. We were walking, and all of a sudden I just . . . you know, felt it.”

Marley glanced up at me.

“At first I didn't know what it was,” I continued. “My leg was wet, and I thought probably a wave had splashed me, or maybe some kid had kicked some wet sand on me. But when I looked down—”

“Blerg, that's horrible,” Makayla said.

Jules nibbled an apple. “So what did you do?”

“Well, fortunately, I had a towel with me, so I wrapped it around my waist.”

“What did Tanner say?” Makayla asked. “Because omigod, Lia, there you were, suddenly
wearing a toga—
”

“I think she probably looked more ancient Egyptian,” Abi corrected her. “If Lia only had the towel around her
waist.
”

I shrugged. “I'm not sure how it looked. All I told Tanner was that I felt cold, so he gave me his hoodie.”

Jules and Makayla went “
Aww.”
And even I thought,
That was really sweet of him.

Marley twirled the spaghetti on her plate, but she never put any in her mouth. “All right, my turn,” she said loudly.

“But Lia's not done yet,” Abi protested.

“Yeah, she is,” Marley said firmly. She put down her fork.

You want to hear something funny? I knew Marley thought she was rescuing me from A Million Follow-Up Questions, and I appreciated that. But right then I also felt kind of annoyed at her. She'd basically barged into my story just when I was getting to the juicy Tanner part. And even though I had no idea where any of it was going, I could tell my friends were following every word. Because really: Getting your period on a lonely beach up in Maine with a dark-haired boy you'd just kissed whose lips tasted like chili—it was
such
a better My First Period story than Jules's, which was basically about zits and cramps and the second-floor bathroom.

“I choose dare,” Marley said. She raised her eyebrows at me, like,
Well?

I thought.

“Hurry up,” Abi said, poking me.

“I'm thinking,” I said. Daring Marley was tricky. If I gave her a lame one, like
I dare you to hold your breath for sixty seconds
, it would be like I was saying we should all go easy on her, because she wasn't as cool as the rest of us. Which I definitely didn't think. But if I gave her a hard dare, like showing her bra size, it would be mean to Marley. And I knew she wasn't too happy with the game to begin with.

“Time's up, Lia,” Abi declared.

“Wait,” I said. “There's a time limit?”

She laughed. “Yeah. Time's up when the rest of us are sick of waiting. So now
we're
going to decide Marley's dare.”

“Hey, that's not fair,” I protested.

Abi, Jules, and Makayla ignored me. They huddled.

Then Abi smiled at Marley.

“Okay,” she said. “Marley, we dare you to give Graydon a love poem. But first we have to read it. And approve it,” Abi added.

Makayla nodded. “And you have to sign it.”

I swallowed. “Hey, guys. Isn't that a little too—”

“She chose
dare,
Lia,” Jules reminded me.

“I know, but . . .” I glanced at Graydon, who was sitting at a lunch table with two other nerdy seventh-grade boys, Jake Lombardi and Ben Maldonado. “That dare affects
other people
.”

“Sometimes the game works that way.” Abi shrugged. “It's how you play.”

The funny thing was, Marley didn't seem to care about the Graydon part.

“I can copy it out of a book, right? I don't have to actually
write
it?” she asked.

Makayla nodded. “You can even print it off your computer, if you want. As long as you sign your name.”

The bell rang.

“Oh yeah, and it has to happen by lunchtime tomorrow,” Abi announced, laughing for punctuation.

THAT EVENING THE DOORBELL RANG at exactly six o'clock, and there was Val with her Tuesday Feast. She'd brought us two roast chickens, mashed potatoes, a Greek salad, roasted vegetables, and brownies. She'd also included two pints of vanilla ice cream, so we could à la mode the brownies, if we wanted. Oh, and a jar of fudge, which we could zap in the microwave, to pour on top.

I helped her unpack everything, thanking her like crazy, the way I always did.

She hugged me. “It just makes me happy to help you
all,” she said, sighing. “Cooking is the least I can do.” Then she added, “Lia, dear, can we chat for a second?”

“Sure,” I said.

We sat at the small table in the kitchen. I quickly brushed some cereal crumbs into my lap, hoping she didn't see. Val smiled brightly, but she didn't speak. Was she waiting for something?

“Would you like some tea?” I asked. “Or cider? Or water? I could make lemonade—”

She held up a hand. “No, I'm fine, thanks. Lia, Abi tells me you had a good summer. Lots happened, right?”

It did? I shrugged.

She waited a little. Then she said, “Well, if you ever want to discuss anything . . . if you have any questions—”

“About what?” I asked.

“Oh, anything. Girl stuff. Or
not
girl stuff. Really, anything at all.” She seemed to be searching my face for something. “I'm around all the time.”

“Oh, I know,” I said.

What was going on here, exactly? I had no clue.

And suddenly I got it:
Abi had told her mom the My First Period story. Why would she do a thing like that?

My cheeks burned. “That's really nice of you, Val, but I'm fine, actually. And also, I talk all the time to my aunt Shelby.”

Val's brow puckered. “Right. How
is
Shelby?”

“Great. She has a store and maybe a second one. And omigod, such adorable cats! I always wanted one, but my mom was allergic, so . . .” I was babbling, but I couldn't stop.

Val smiled. “Well, that's all good to hear. I haven't kept up with Shelby, actually. Most of what I remember about her from school was how different she was from your mom.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, your mom was very serious and very smart. And so sweet. Everybody respected her and loved her so much, you know, sweetheart. I still can't believe—” She hugged me then, so I wouldn't notice she was crying.

My throat ached as I smelled Val's shampoo. Mom had used the same brand. Maybe it was the type they bought at salons: The Official Shampoo of All Moms Everywhere.

Finally Val pulled away. Her face was smiling again. “Anyway, I'm glad we spoke. Anytime you ever want to chat, even if you just feel like hanging out in my kitchen, remember I'm only a few blocks away. Will you promise you'll do that, Lia?”

I wanted to shrivel up like a raisin. Abi's mom was the nicest mom on the planet, and I was lying to her, too, now. Crap. Crap times five hundred.

“I totally promise,” I said.

Which—
PING!
—was another lie right there.

♥  ♥  ♥

The next morning in homeroom, Marley was wearing an Art Institute of Chicago hoodie with pockets in the front. She walked over to Makayla's desk and pulled a folded-up sheet of paper out of one of the pockets.

“Here,” she said.

Makayla unfolded the paper, squinting at the strange-looking print. “What
is
this?” she demanded.

“A love poem. It's in Sanskrit. I printed it off the Internet. And see, I signed my name at the bottom.”

I started laughing. “That's brilliant, Marley.”

“I dunno,” Makayla said.

“What don't you know?” I challenged her. “Nobody said it had to be in English!”

“Well, how can we tell it's a love poem?” Makayla argued. “It could be an Indian shopping list, for all we know.”

Marley scowled at Makayla. “I'll give you the URL, okay? You can look it up, if you really want. There's an English translation.”

“Nah, I believe you,” Makayla said. She flicked her hand like she was waving away a housefly. “Go ahead. Just give it to Graydon.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, why not?”

I stood watching with Makayla as Marley walked over to Graydon, who was showing Jake and Ben some
card he'd bought for this game they were obsessed with called Phantom.

“Here,” Marley said, stuffing the poem into Graydon's hands.

Graydon looked annoyed. “What are you doing?”

“It's a poem. For you.”

“Am I supposed to read it?”

“No. It's in Sanskrit.”

“Then why are you giving it to me?”

“Marley likes you,” Jake sang in Graydon's face.

“Not at all,” Marley answered calmly. “You're a perfectly nice person, Graydon, and I think you're incredibly smart. And yes, this is a
love
poem, but I definitely do
not
have a crush on you.”

Graydon blushed dark red. “Then don't bother me,” he grumbled. He crumpled up the poem and tossed it in the garbage.