High School Treachery | ✓

04 | Bad Distraction

But I don't want to get drunk, especially not before him. And I've never been one to drink, so I certainly don't know my limit. I wouldn't say I'm a lightweight since I'm not a tiny girl, seeing as I'm five foot nine and tower over all of my female—and a lot of male—friends. I guess it's time to see if the term lightweight has anything to do with how much you actually weigh.

Thinking of getting hammered before Jalen and accidentally revealing more personal things about myself—and more importantly, not being able to properly interrogate him—becomes the only ideas in my head. And I can't stop either of those things from happening if one more other personal topic is still fair game.

"Asking why I'm going to Arlin Preparatory isn't allowed," I announce, lifting my chin in the air in a move I hope comes off as authoritative. I saw Malia do it earlier when talking to the guards and it worked. It made her seem like someone you shouldn't challenge.

"Okay, now you're pushing it," Jalen says, shaking his head and opening a bottle of liquor. "I won't ask about any of that stuff, but you're taking three shots right now."

Fuck my life. Of course trying to be Malia didn't work. It never did when I was little, and it certainly won't now considering how fucking different we are.

The annoyance I felt at Malia for ditching me comes back, but it transfers right over to annoyance at Jalen the moment he looks up from the newly filled shot glass to me.

My eyes widen the longer he looks at me expectantly. Three shots of hard liquor right off the bat, before we even get into the game?

"You're insane if you think I'm doing that. Because I'm fucking not, Jalen," I say harshly, in a much louder tone than either of us have used since we sat down. Clearly being Malia didn't work, so I've reverted back to how I do things. Cursing, yelling, and—if necessary—hitting.

Again, Jalen's face shows he doesn't care and isn't affected at all by my tone. He just keeps staring, and soon we enter a staredown. I'm not sure if we're just waiting to see who looks away first or if we're even allowed to blink, all I know is I won't back down first.

But there's something about the look in his eyes. He honestly looks like he could sit there, staring blankly right into my eyes, without breaking eye contact for fucking hours. The thought leaves me nervous and in awe at the concentration he has.

It also leaves me annoyed, because this means I end up losing. So right before I admit defeat and take those stupid shots, I vow to myself that this will be the first and only time I ever lose a game to Jalen Uccello.

"Fine, I'll take the shots, but then I get to ask you three questions back-to-back about anything," I say quickly, not really sure if he'll agree.

He reaches his hand out to lightly push the shot of tequila closer to me. "Drink up and ask away."

I huff before quickly reaching for the shot and downing it. It fucking burns my throat the whole way down and I have to squint my eyes just to keep going. Just as I place the glass back onto the table and take a deep breath in, Jalen's already filling it up and urging me to do another, all with a smirk present on his face, of course.

I down the next shot quicker, just wanting this to be over with. This time, I know to keep my eyes shut the whole time. I don't open them as I blindly hold out the glass in Jalen's general direction.