demogorband

the dare

"IS THAT DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS?" Gerald shouted in an over exaggerated way, and began to force out scoffs and laughs, which sounded like he was choking (probably on his gluten-free, peanut allergy-friendly lunch his mother packed him every morning.)

Mike turned red and bowed his head under his mop of black hair, while the boys shook their heads in shame.

"Great going. Now your lameness is rubbing off on the whole party." Lucas crossed his arms over is chest as Gerald continued to wheeze, and began shouting into the band room.

"Guys, check this out! They play DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!" Gerald snatched the game board from the floor before Mike could beat him to it, and held it out for all of the band to see. The band room was quiet for a second, before a few scattered laughs turned into an uproar.

You see, Mike owned a limited edition version of Dungeons and Dragons, one of only 1,000 in the world. He was probably the only person in Indiana to own one, with the exception of the one and only; Gerald. The band room hesitated out of confusion (Gerald bragged about his limited edition Dungeons and Dragons adventure book every day), and fear of upsetting the Dungeons and Dragons gods (of course they all played it, and they feared their laughs of mockery would be a one way ticket to the demogorgon.)

"What do you want, Gerald?" Will asked, so done with everyone's bullshit (that's a new word he learned from Nancy, who is always around because of Jonathan.)

"We all know that the A/V Club and the Band Club have had their issues ever since their creation. The Band Club was the original sanctuary of our people, but when the A/V Club came along, we lost precious members to your useless clique."

"Did you practice this monologue or something? Because I didn't come prepared. As club representatives we should've had some sort of agreeme-"

"Shut up Mike. Get to the point, string bean." Lucas snapped, with arms crossed over his chest. Mike seethed in the background wishing he not only pre-wrote a speech, but comebacks as well.

"Anybody can play with a radio, but can you play an instrument? I, Gerald Smellie, leader of the Hawkins Band Club, challenge you all to a battle of the bands." They all stared at him in disbelief. Anything with the word "battle" in it was not to be taken lightly.

"You know we can't play instruments, so how is that fair?" Dustin shouted, but Mike shook his head.

"You said it yourself. Middle school is a shit show. No point bothering with these guys when we're leaving this school anyways." Will nodded in agreement, Lucas sighed in resignation, and Dustin looked downcast. Gerald saw his opportunity fading away, so unthinkingly, he blurted out the most feared words of all, only to be used in utmost emergencies.

"I-I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU!"

Silence fell over all of Hawkins. Teachers stopped their lessons, students stopped their chatting, Mike stopped his grumbling, Eleven stopped her bleeding, the demogorgons stopped their feasting, Joyce stopped her fretting, Billy stopped checking himself out, and Hopper stopped eating his doughnut.

The boys all stared at Gerald in disbelief, mouths agape. Will nearly fell over from the weight of the words. Mike straightened his posture, and looked Gerald dead in the eye.

"Game. On."