The Dare

Chapter One • Winners

Adventure, mystery, romance...and a few secrets. Up for the awesomeness? Maybe, maybe not. Who cares. Read it anyway and I'll love you forever! Yeah. Enjoy :)

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ONE • WINNERS

"You're so pathetic."

"You're mother is even worse!"

"Did she seduce the principal to get you up a grade?" The insults flew like salt into a wound. I cringed, too weak to say anything back. This wasn't the first time they had insulted me and my mom, and as far as I was concerned, it wouldn't be the last. However, with some practice, I was bound to get less hurt as time went by.

"I'm just gonna go," I whispered, holding my bookbag closer to me for some comfort. They were much larger than me; not just because they were seniors and a year older, but because I had always been on the small end. A shrimpy, little specimen. Oh joy. One of them pushed me back against the wall.

"You know why we all hate your guts, right?" he said. The girl behind him grinned maliciously. After a quick look at all their hate-filled expressions, I shook my head. The girl put her hand on the boy's arm, pulling herself out from behind him a little bit.

"Because you make everyone look ridiculously stupid. Why didn't they just send you to college? You're such a teacher's pet; I'm sure the professors would love you there." I just stared. What else could I do? I wasn't going to fight back; it wasn't in my nature. Another boy stepped forward, eager to get his say and steal the spotlight for just a second.

"We didn't come to a prestigious school to get beat by some wimpy seventeen-year-old." I nodded slightly to show my understanding. This was the top high school in the state and it was more like a college in a sense that only the best and most qualified were accepted. Those who were seniors and had spent their time here for more than the average eight hours a day didn't come for nothing. They came to win. The prize? Valedictorian. It seemed silly, really, but the Valedictorians here also got full-ride scholarships to any college they wanted which also included prepaid luxuries such as housing, fancy transportation, and for some, their name in the lights for a short time. Ah, what a materialistic world we live in. The group of approximately five or six students advanced ever so slightly.

"I'm going to ask again. Back down, or I'll let you taste fist down your throat. Got it? This is your last warning." I nodded quickly, holding my bag so tight my knuckles were white. I ran through them, trying to escape their eyes on my back as quickly as I could. There wasn't much of an age difference, but I felt like I was a kindergartener being pushed off the playground by a grown man.

Was it fair? Of course not. I was smart too. But then again, did I really want to find out what fist tasted like? I shuddered at the thought of being trapped in that same area, behind the school and enclosed by dumpsters with angry seniors throwing curse words down my back like ice and dealing punches at me like cards. How degrading.

Still running and heavily ignoring the burning sensation in my legs, I finally arrived at the front door of our dingy apartment. I leaned over, grasping my knees and catching my breath. I knew I could outsmart everyone in my highschool in a heartbeat. I could be in college already, but the money was out of the question and being at this school was my only chance. So, even if it meant I was going to get a few broken limbs and black eyes over it, those seniors and the rest of them (although I would never say it to their faces) could suck it.

And with that new confidence powering me, I opened the door.

"Hi darling! How was school?" my mother called from the living room. I set my things down on the grimy carpet, trying to avoid the dirtiest spots. How my mother, being the seduction artist she was, got men to even set foot inside our apartment was beyond me. I walked into the living room to see my mother and seventh step-father on the couch sharing a cigarette and in the moment of myself inhaling their smoke, I could feel my lungs simply being singed black. I coughed.

"School was...fine," I wheezed. Eric, step 7.0 as I called him, grinned.

"I'm taking us all to dinner tomorrow night, Rose! Can't you believe it? Amarone! Italian food like you wouldn't believe! Figured the Christmas bonus I got could be best used for the family," he explained excitedly, muting the football game on the flat screen TV we had sacraficed a month's worth of heat and water for. I had been forced to shower at a nearby gym for that time-being. I gave him a weak smile.

"That's...thoughtful." Although Eric was a complete whore like my mother, he was a teeny bit more considerate of me and actually acknowleged my existence unlike the past husbands and boyfriends my mom had had. My mom motioned for me to sit next to them, but I sat on a nearby chair to avoid the smoke as much as possible.

"Your principal called me today, you know," my mom said casually, passing the cigarette back to Eric who had turned the volume back on. This piece of information captured my attention quicker than Amarone.

"I didn't do anything wrong, did I?" I asked cautiously. My mom chuckled, coughing after a second. I worried for her health, but she still refused my advice.

"No, no. He wanted to inform me that if you wanted to, you could graduate at the end of the semester. You wouldn't get the big valedi- valleyda...um, whatever that big award is. Well, just not the ceremony. You'd get the prize, but no graduation with the rest of the seniors. He said he'd talk with you tomorrow about it." I grinned. Maybe this was a way to dodge the menacing herd of seniors out to get me.

"Yeah, I think I'd take that offer." My mom grunted in response, too focused on the game and Eric to care. I grinned on anyway. I was going to win, even if my mom and Eric could care less. I was going to win even if I was beaten up everyday for the rest of my life. I would be a winner starting today.

And you know what? Nothing can change my mind.