High School Treachery | ✓

04 | Bad Distraction

He takes a moment to laugh at his joke... well, his version of a joke. I remain with an unimpressed facial expression, and I wait until his cackles end before speaking again. "So, the game we're playing is...?"

"We're playing my second favorite game," he announces with a proud smile. He motions toward the tequila bottles and two shot glasses as he continues, "Twenty-one questions."

And the unimpressed facial expression remains, because really? Twenty-one questions? We can't find more people and play King's Cup? I'm ready to ask this very question, but I'm not sure if I actually could handle meeting anymore of these people. I'm lowkey annoyed with Malia for just disappearing on me, and that interaction with her friend David was weird. Jalen's personality is proving to be a handful to deal with on it's own. I don't know how I'd manage him and more friends just like him right now.

"Okay," I say hesitantly. I guess twenty-one questions is better than truth or dare. That would have been way too predictable. Either way, it'll be a distraction from everything else... I hope. "Any rules?"

He nods as he reaches for the bottles, holding one up to show me it, then placing it back down. "Yeah, they're pretty simple. We take turns asking each other something. If you choose to answer, be honest. If you don't answer, take a shot and we move onto the next question."

I hold my breath as I think over his rules for his sleazy version of the game. I'm usually a very private person, especially in moments like right now when I'm going through something. Answering any question this kid throws at me, no matter what, makes me feel itchy. I don't want to open up and reveal things—like how depressed this move has made me or how much it's bothering me that I still haven't heard from Jess, Liam, or even Bea about the party happening back home.

But, I'm also nosey as fuck, and that nosey part of me is curious to learn any and every thing about the people I'll spend the next nine months in school with. Malia didn't share as much as I'd like. I figure getting Jalen drunk and talking is my best bet to getting more information about Arlin Preparatory and the people in it.

"Let's play," I say, and I can't stop the smile that comes to my face when I see one on his. That smile drops when I add, "But I need to lay down some ground rules of my own."

He squints his eyes and slowly nods. "Seems fair enough. What are they?"

"Asking me if I'm a virgin is not accepted," I start off, because asking that question would be the immature and, again, predictable thing to ask.

"Oh, okay," he says, smile coming back as he seems fine with that rule. "Now, who's going to ask the first question?"

Shock comes to me for one second, as I actually can't believe he's totally fine with that. Maybe he's not as sleazy as I thought.

"Well, I have another. Asking for any details about my sex life is off the table." Silence follows that statement as we stare at each other for a few seconds.

He breathes in deeply, then nods his head once. "Alright. Is that all?"

The tone of his voice sounds clipped, as if he's just attempting to be polite by asking if those are my only rules. Honestly, he seems a little annoyed that I'm putting any topic off limit, seeing as the point of playing twenty-one questions is usually to get to know someone by asking them anything. If I don't want to answer, I literally don't have too. I can just take a shot and move on.