I Dare You

Chapter 49

•5 days later•

"Merry Christmas Addy!" My mum kissed my head as I came into the kitchen in my pajamas.

"Addy! Look at all the presents!" I humored Devon's excitement as he ran to the Christmas tree.

"Tea?"

"Yes please." I told my mum. Devon started ripping open presents while my dad, who came back from work, was taking pictures of Devon.

"I invited Marcel and his family to have dinner with us tonight." My mum set the cuppa tea in front of me.

"What? What did they say?" My mum still doesn't know what happened on the night of the dance. She thinks we had a great time and I went to have a sleepover with Jennifer after. That's that.

"Well, they can't. They already had plans for tonight." She raised the cup to her mouth and I nodded. Maybe they did actually have plans, but part of me feels like they know what I did to Marcel and just wanted to make an excuse for Marcel's sake.

"Addy, hurry. I don't want to open all of my presents before you open yours." Devon whined.

"Fine, fine." I took one more sip of tea and then joined Devon and my dad by the tree where Devon had already put my gifts in a pile.

"I didn't want to accidentally open one of yours," He guiltily smiled. I rubbed his head, "Merry Christmas Devon."

"You too Addy." And his attention was turned back to his unwrapped gifts.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Addy, where are you going?" My mum asked in the kitchen, tons of food surrounding her.

"I was going to take Jenn her present."

Her face lit up. "Take her one of my cakes too! I'm sure her family would like that." Christmas is the only time of year where my mom bakes, and she's very proud of it. I grabbed the small cake that looked like a snowman, even though I wasn't actually going to Jenn's. I put the cake in the passenger seat of my car, hoping that it doesn't fall off when I'm driving. I followed the roads that led to Marcel's house. I haven't seen him since the dance and I haven't tried to contact him either. Marcel probably just needed space and I didn't want to upset him more. I don't know what I would say if I saw Marcel today but I doubt he would answer the door to me. I just wanted to wish them a Merry Christmas, and now I have a cake to give them. I didn't get Marcel a proper present yet. I planned on going a few days ago to look for one, but plans changed. Maybe Gemma will answer and she'll invite me inside if she's not aware of what happened. Or there's the possibility of her shouting at me for ruining her brother. I tried to look at the positives, but too many what if situations ran through my head.

I ran to the other side of the car and picked up the cake before walking to the house. I could hear noise coming from inside and see lights on. Just do it. Just knock already. Or maybe I should ring the doorbell, just in case it's too loud inside. I balanced the cake in one hand as I pressed the doorbell, hearing the echo from inside the house. The rustling continued from inside the house so maybe no one was coming. I bounced on my heels, waiting for the door to open, but it didn't For a second, I thought that I should ring it again, but I decided against it. I set the cake down gently in front of the door. The feelings of discouragement washed over me. Now I would never see Marcel again, but I was the one to blame. So I set down the cake and waited one more second just in case someone was coming, but they never did. I turned around and walked back to my car, tears stinging on my eyes.

"Addy?" It was a female voice, so I knew it was definitely not Marcel. Still, I was happy that someone answered.

"Hi Anne." She was smiling and holding up the cake in her Christmas sweater, maybe she wasn't mad at me.