Kiss My Ice

1|9

I turned my head, scanning the yard until I found Aiden. Sure enough, he held a dull expression with a small glare pointed on his father.

"Right," I mumbled, "of course."

All of my friends were smirking at me when I turned my head back. Even Brendon and Brett had found their way over in the short time I was distracted and were also smirking.

"What?"

Chris shrugged. Simultaneously, all of their smirks fell from their faces. "Nothing."

Weird.

"Okay then."

___

Orange and red flames flickered upward into the night air, giving off a gentle warmth in the cool night air. It was 11:00 PM, and somehow, Riley and the guys had convinced me to join them at Chris's house for a late-night bonfire.

After the cookout earlier, I went back home to get in a good run before I showered, reapplied some makeup, and made my way out to the countryside for a night with new friends.

With the exception of Riley, everyone sitting around the fire were all hockey players from the rink. Most I had befriended, but not all.

"Who's up for a little game of triple dog?" Riley asked to break up the small conversations around the fire. Everyone's eyes all turned to her, awaiting further instruction. "The rules are simple. You give a dare; you get a dare. Don't worry though because you will get to choose who dares you."

I raised my eyebrows. Was Riley referring to the game from the movie Triple Dog Dare? If that was the case, there was no way that I would play.

"That doesn't sound too bad," John commented.

Riley held up her pointer finger, a devious glint flashed in her eyes. "There is a catch. If you fail to do the dare, we will shave your head."

"I will not shave my head." I shot Riley a challenging smirk, ready for her to tell me that we weren't going to be playing by those same rules. Instead, she returned the smirk.

"Well then I guess you'll just have to make sure you complete your dare then."

Riley stood from her chair, walked over to a picnic table that sat by the wall of the house. She pulled a black case off the table before making her way back to the fire. "In case anyone didn't believe me, here are the clippers. We will shave your head."

She unzipped the case, pulled out a pair of cheap, Walmart brand clippers. They looked brand new. I narrowed my eyes. Were these purchased for the sole purpose of this game?

The thought of having to shave my head made me shudder. There was no chance that I would be able to part with my hair. But what if I got some horrible dare that I couldn't complete? The game was just too risky.

"You are delusional if you think that I'm going to play this game."

Brendon, who was sitting next to me, put his hand on my knee. "Come on Zo, it won't be that bad. Everyone has practice tomorrow. The dares will be tame. I'm sure they won't be anything that you can't handle."

His words did little to comfort me. People didn't play a game with such a big punishment for not completing a dare if they were just going to have wimpy dares. It was counterproductive to have a punishment at all.

I shook my head. "No. I'm sorry, but I can't."

Brendon grabbed a hold of my hand as I went to stand from my chair, pulling me back down. "Come on. You only have to do one dare. We can even start with you if you'd like. One and done."