All Started With A Dare

Chapter Seven

seven

"Jade, wake up."

I roll over in bed, wrapping my warm covers around myself. Saturday mornings are the reason I live, waking up late with the rare sunlight streaming in is heavenly.

"You're wrinkling my dress!" Keeley's voice practically screeches in my ear. I groan and roll over, cradling my -probably damaged now - ear.

"Do you have to squawk in my ear like that?" I sit up, looking down at the black dress that I'm still wearing from last night. I smooth down any wrinkles it might, and shrug. "It's fine; chill your tits."

"Don't tell my t**s to chill, they shall chill when they please," she says. I look over at her to see she's standing by the bed and smoothing down the red fabric of her own dress. At the sight of her blonde locks thrown around her head, I have to fight down my laughter.

She'll kill me for laughing at her hair, but if you ever see Keeley wearing a fancy slut dress like that combined with messy hair, you try not to laugh. "What time is it?" I ask instead, deciding not to bring up the hair.

"9:00," she announces, and I stare at her in horror. Why the hell would she wake me up so early? "Don't give me that look, I had to wake you up early! Jordan, Cameron and me have to get out of this house before any of your family find us."

I heave a dramatic sigh, and roll out of my bed. I end up sitting on the floor and take a moment to rub my eyes, hoping to wake myself up. "9:00 on a Saturday," I mutter disgruntled, running my hands over what my own messy hair. "It's madness, that's what it is."

"Ok drama queen, let's go wake up Jordan and Cameron," Keeley grins, yanking me up by the arm. "This should be fun. Cameron isn't a morning person not to mention he'll be hungover."

We might sound like horrible friends for finding amusement in each other's pain, but that's just how our friendship works. We walk quietly out onto the silent landing - obviously not waking up early during the weekend is a genetic thing - and tiptoe towards the spare room by Callum's bedroom.

I push the door open slowly, and poke my head around with closed eyes. "Anyone naked in here?" I question, my eyes still firmly shut. I didn't fancy getting any nasty surprises quite so early in the morning; better safe then sorry.

"No," Jordan replies.

I step inside and open my eyes, Keeley behind me. The sight before me is one quite odd; Cameron is lying face down on the cream carpet, while Jordan is sitting on the edge of the bed and watching him.

"Have we interrupted some kind of porn show?" Keeley snorts, lightly nudging Cameron's leg with her foot. "I knew you guys were gay together."

"Oh shut up," Cameron groans from his position on the floor, irritation muffled by the floor he was planting his face in. "Your voice makes my head hurt even worse then it already is."

"Oh poor Cammie," I croon, grabbing his arm and attempting to pull him off the floor. It fails epically, because I'm pathetically weak and Cameron weighs a hell of a lot more then me. "How about we tuck you in the covers and make you breakfast in bed?"

"Why are you such a bully Jade," he whines, rolling over and glaring up at me through squinted blue eyes. "Seriously though, my head hurts like a bitch."

I roll my eyes, but can't help but feel slightly sorry for him. I've never been drunk before, but they've drilled it into my head plenty of times at school; the effects of alcohol aren't pretty. "I'd feel more sympathetic if you hadn't drunk so much at a party that we crashed," I point out, but head to the bathroom find some paracetamol for him.

I have it memorised where the medicine is for hangovers, as Callum has ordered me to get some for him countless times after parties. I stand on the edge of the bathtub to be able to reach the medicine, cursing the cupboards height and my height.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I nearly slip off the tub at Callum's voice, and grab the mirror to steady myself. "You i***t, I nearly fell," I accuse, and casually reach down and grab my toothbrush. "I'm just um... finding my toothbrush. Oh, found it," I smile sweetly, holding up my purple toothbrush.

I was hoping that he wouldn't find out about my friends waiting in the spare room, as he already had my lost phone to blackmail me with. Usually I'm the one who has great blackmail information on him; now the tables have turned and it doesn't feel good.

"So you need your toothbrush for something to do with the three teenagers cooped up in the spare room?" He asks with an air of nonchalance. I can still see the smug smirk he's trying to hide as I flounder for words.

"I cover up for you all the time!" I cut straight to the point, knowing denying it or lying wouldn't work. My lying skills need work, because usually I come up with the most absurd reasons to squirm out of situations. "Please, don't tell mum and dad. I'll just get them home now, and no one needs to know."

Callum considers it, then leans up and pulls the cupboard open easily. "Tall people," I mutter, rolling my eyes and jumping down from the bathtub. It's not that I'm exactly small at 5'5, but pretty much everyone I know is taller then me.

He hands me a couple of paracetamol tablets, with a knowing look. "Give these to Cameron, and tell him to watch how much he drinks in the future."

I want to make a snide remark about how Callum can't exactly hold his liquor, but instead go with a simple," Hypocrite."

"Yeah whatever, I'm covering up for you Jade," Callum reminds me, running a hand through his brown hair.

I ignore him, and walk back into the spare room. Jordan and Keeley are sitting on the bed talking, while Cameron is still sitting on the floor while staring at the ceiling. "You know, I think the whole school saw your little tree adventure," Jordan laughs.

"Or at least have heard about it," Keeley adds.

I sit next to Cameron on the floor, handing him the tablets. "I don't want to risk the squeaky step on the stairs, so you'll just have to dry swallow it," I shrug, glancing up at the small clock on the wall. 9:30.

"Thanks," he says grudgingly, swallowing down the tablets. I giggle as he pulls a face of disgust, his nose wrinkling up in the process. "How the hell do people deal with this? I feel like a bunch of hippos are stampeding all over my head."

"They don't," I say matter-of-factly, ruffling his messy hair that sticks out in odd angles. "Most people stick with not getting drunk."

"Actually, the amount of drunk teenagers in that house last night had to be a record," Keeley interjects, leaning down and patting Cameron's check affectionately. He pushes her off, mumbling about his 'masculinity'. As if he had any of that.

"Aw cheer up," I grin, poking Cameron's cheek and wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He smells like a mixture of alcohol and Cameron; just what Cameron smells like in general. "At least you'll be known as that boy who acts as entertainment when he's drunk."

"Yeah, I was pretty funny," Cameron's says proudly, puffing out his chest as I lean back. "Being drunk wasn't that bad."

After convincing Cameron that he better not get drunk ever again, I sneak all of them out of my house. Keeley lives ten minutes away so she can just walk, and Cameron can drive Jordan and himself home who live slightly further away.

I go upstairs to change out of Keeley's dress, chucking the squished up black material in the wash. If give it back to her later; she'd have a fit if it isn't immaculate when I give it back to her. After a quick shower, I contemplate sleeping for a bit more - yes I'm lazy - or going downstairs and getting breakfast.

I choose the latter option, and I'm surprised to see all my family seated around the kitchen island. Usually Callum and I are up first, then my parents half an hour later. "Why's everyone awake so early?" I question.

"My colleague and his family are coming round for dinner, so I decided to get an early start," my dad says, glancing up from his morning coffee and bagel. I don't think much of this; we always have people round for dinner as my dads a doctor and always has his surgery buddies around for dinner.

"How was the photo contest thing?" My mum inquires, munching down on a piece of buttered toast. Callum and my dad look at me curiously, obviously thinking the same as me; since when did I do photography?

I give her a puzzled look. "What photo contest thing? Mum, you know any photos I take end up blurry," I say, grabbing a piece of toast. Trust her to come up something odd like that.

"The contest you kids told me you entered; you went to take the photos last night?" My eyes widen as I remember Keeley's lie, and I mentally slap myself with a fish at forgetting.

"I'm just messing with you!" I chuckle nervously, chewing my toast in hopes to cover up my tracks. "Yeah, it was good but I really don't think we have a shot at winning."

"You never know," my dad says vaguely, not even looking up from his newspaper. I doubt he even knows what we're talking about. Callum gives me a skeptical look that reads he doesn't believe a word of it, but thankfully keeps his mouth shut.

This seems like the perfect opportunity to mention my misplaced phone, but I can't bring myself to mention it. After all, there's still a chance I could find my phone. It's only been a week.

Oh yes, it's very likely Trystan was hiding your phone in his underwear, my mind says sarcastically. Wouldn't that be ironic.

For the rest of the day, I do pretty much nothing productive. I can't hang out with any of my friends, because Keeley always finishes all her homework on Saturday, Cameron is too hungover to even consider getting out of bed and Jordan is going round to his cousins for the whole weekend.

I consider doing a Keeley and actually doing my homework on time instead of the night before, but the thought of ruining my peace with school isn't very appealing.

I end up spending a lot of time on my laptop, scrolling through Tumblr and watching videos on YouTube. I even help my mum to cook the dinner - it's more then the usual pasta or lasagne, she decides to go all out with courses and everything.

"Are you planning on chopping up your fingers for the salad as well?" Callum asks sarcastically, coming into the kitchen after being cooped up in his room for hours. I know for a fact he snuck a girl inside the house, but covered for him seeing as he covered for me.

That's basically how our sisterly-brotherly relationship works. Blackmail and don't snitch on each other, and we're fine with each other. I'm also beginning to realise our parents are fairly oblivious to everything we do, so it's pretty easy to get away with things.

"I'm not going to chop my fingers off," I huff, but move my fingers away from the knife just in case. My mum had given me the easiest jobs of all, knowing if I went near the oven I'd probably make the chicken explode by accident. "I did food tech in year 7, 8 and 9 remember?"

Callum smirks, leaning forward and snatching a piece of carrot. "I remember very well how you came home with a half eaten pie, because you felt sorry for the homeless dog on the street and have him your pie," he says. "You probably poisoned the poor thing."

"I'm better then you," I snap, trying to focus on the sharp object in my hand. "At least I didn't set my paella on fire."

"That wasn't my fault, the hob was faulty and-"

"Yeah sure, blame the equipment. We all know it was your fault."

"Jade, why don't you go get changed into a dress for dinner?" My mum interrupts out argument, looking up from the bubbling pot of whatever that she's heating up.

"Why can't I wear jeans?" I complain.

"Because you're too ugly to pull off jeans," Callum answers me childishly.

"I wasn't asking you butt face," I retort just as childishly, wrinkling me nose at him.

"Callum. Upstairs," my mum orders, causing my brother to grumble under his breath and slink off. I grin triumphantly, and stick my tongue out at his retreating back to get the full satisfaction. "And Jade, this is a formal dinner so I want you to look nice."

"I'm going to ignore the fact you just called me ugly," I say, raising an eyebrow at her. She doesn't bother replying so I drop the knife down and wander back upstairs, leaving her to finish cutting the vegetables.

As Keeley kindly reminded me yesterday, I don't have many good dresses. This is England; you don't need an endless supply of dresses or skirts unless you want to resemble a smurf due to cold weather turning you blue.

I just grab a white dress that falls down to just above my knees, and has long sleeves in case we decide to take a hike out in the night. You never know the plans my dad can come up with. I run a brush through my hair, and stare at my light brown curls. I'm not wasting my time straightening that, not for some stupid dinner.

Let me just give you a run through of what usually happens at these dinners: Callum and I are told to be polite well behaved children that apparently we aren't anyway, and then the guests arrive. They usually have children, and at least one of them is around our ages. The adults go into the living room to sip wine and chat among themselves, while Callum and I have to mingle with the children.

This results in awkward silences while we all stand on the landing, unsure what to do. Most of them are too shy to bother holding a conversation with me if I try, so we sit in my parents room and all watch a movie no one likes because none of them want to say what movies they like, and Callum always argues with me about what to watch.

So now you understand why I'm not so excited about this. I apply some mascara just for the sake of it, when the doorbell goes off. I skip down the stairs, putting on my I'm-an-innocent-girl face.

"Someone answer the door!" My mum shouts from the kitchen, the sounds of pots and pans clanging together loud. I walk up to the front door, making sure the sweet smile stays on my face.

I may not find these dinners very enjoyable, but I still like to make a good impression on the adults otherwise I'll get a scolding off my parents. I pull the open, looking up at the person in front of me. "Hi nice to- Trystan what the hell are you doing here?"

The pleasant expression slides off my face, and is replaced by a confused one as I stare up at the green eyed boy in front of me. He stares back at me just as confused, the usual confidence and arrogance in his face gone. I can't help but note in the back of my mind how adorable he looks when he's surprised.

"I'm here for some dinner," he finally says, emerald eyes sweeping down me and then back up to my eyes. "What are you doing here Jade?"