"No."
Willa had always been taught to be strong, to never back down out of a task, well, in her case, the dares she had been given to complete.
Her mother always said that if you didn't know how to ride a bicycle, you must first learn how to balance in your life. Willa's six year old self, too naïve to understand the deeper meaning behind these words always took these words to be too difficult for her tiny brain to understand, and therefore the meaning was taken literally in its sense. And that was exactly why she learned how to ride a bike, and became a pro, a year later. But as the years passed by them, everything around them wilted, newity came to fruition, these words seemed to have found a greater meaning in Willa's life than just a statement meant for the adults.
Willa's mother, Tessa, had suffered a lot, to put it bluntly. And these sufferings were what made Tessa the strong, never-the-bullshit-taker-from-anyone person she was today. Sometimes, Willa, being the daughter, felt more proud of her mother than Tessa did. They had everything dear to them taken away, snatched away like those things, those things dear to them, were nothing but puppets to make their life a living hell. Despite everything, Tessa never forgot her responsibility as a mother towards Willa and for that Willa swore she was forever grateful.
So as she stood in front of the ramshackle, dilapidated set of public swings in the park, her mother's wise words rang in her head.
I know you love pulling pranks on people, doing these crazy dares for the thrill of it, but always remember to never take it too far, and before the dare, think about what you're going to put another man through, if it involves him.
She was still contemplating whether to do it or not, when her best friend, Nina, cut through. "I am not asking you to kill Trump, as much as I want that to happen. What are you thinking about?"
Aldanina Khaftar, or rather Nina Khaftar, as she prefered it, was the Persian version of spitfire, a devil in disguise of a nerd with a heart of gold. She was evil, yes. But there was still nobody in this world as kind as her, well apart from Willa's mother of course. She was evil in the sense of her crazy, overbearing challenges that she always dared Willa with. The major reason Willa was called as 'The Dare Queen' was Nina and her dares. Yes, Nina gave her the most eccentric dares ever, and Willa finished them off.
It was their thing, Nina suggesting these crazy dares, challenging Willa and Willa finishing them off. It was never the other way around, because Nina didn't have the valour Willa did and Willa, the wit Nina had.
Willa looked slightly hesitant. "I don't know if we should do this. This seems a little too extreme."
Nina sighed. "Honestly, Wee, I know this seems a little too far stretched, but think about 'Kelsey the Killer'! Kelsey had been given an equally difficult task, and she finished it off. If you don't do this, she will overtake you, okay. And remember the last time she was only one point ahead of us; she almost made me polish her Louboutins--"
"--before I jumped in like a ninja, and whooped her ass, I know. But for a moment, can we think about what we are putting the other person through, too, Aldanina?"
Nina scowled. If there was anything she hated more than Trump, it was her name. It made her sound like someone from the 1500s and Nina didn't appreciate it.
"Call me that again and I will whoop your ass to Venus," Nina muttered, slightly agitated to be reminded of her roots. And then her eyes lit up suddenlly. "Oh and that reminds me, did you know that it rains sulphuric acid on Venus?"
Willa rolled her eyes. She was used to Nina's nerdy comebacks when she didn't have anything to say.
Nina continued, "And yes, it is a little too different from all the dares you've done before, but think of the positives too, okay. You'll beat that living, breathing, more-evil version of Freddy Kruger, and this way you'll make another friend."
Willa narrowed her eyes, and lowly muttered, "a friend who doesn't even want to be friends?"
Nina seeing the dubious expression on her best friend's face, sighed. "Look Wee, if you don't agree to complete this dare, she, Kelsey-the-killer will overtake you with her wins."
Oh yes, how could Willa forget about Kelsey the Killer? Kelsey was the only person in the entire school who could keep up with Willa's wild dares. Basically, the only person courageous enough to finish equally wild dares. Willa never got the gist of how she would do it, as she knew what Kelsey was like. She was like Regina George, only she never pretended to be nice. She was a straight-forward bitch from the start, and she made sure everyone knew it, too.
Willa sighed audibly, and glowered at Nina, whose face was splitting in a smile every nanosecond. "Okay, fine, I will do it. But only if you get me a big tub of Baskin & Robbins' mint chocolate chip later."
Nina winked, and bobbed her head rather enthusiastically. "Of course Wee, mint chocolate chip it is." With that said, Nina gave a little nudge to Willa in the direction of the children's play area, and Willa stumbled slightly before catching herself.
The walk over to the children's play area seemed to be the longest one she had ever taken in her life. It seemed even longer than the walk she had taken with her mother back in the third grade, when she was called into the principal's office for sticking a chewing gum in a fellow student's hair. Yes, Willa was wild even back then. With time, she only grew wilder.
When Willa reached the periphery of the play area, she turned around and glanced at Nina, who was showing two over-excited thumbs up.
"Here goes nothing." And with a sigh, her feet took her to the last place where she wanted to be. Slowly, and steadily, like she was facing off a tiger, she approached the miserable looking, dilapidated swing set, and sat herself down on the empty one.
Easy honey, calm yourself down, there's nothing to be scared of.
And with that prep-talk, she slightly turned so that she was facing the other swing. The other swing that was occupied by Ethan Ellis. Willa didn't know much about Ethan, only that he went to the same school as hers, and was pretty much the smart kid everyone was envious of. Some showed it, others would rather it be a secret.
"Beautiful day, huh?" The moment the words were out of her mouth, Willa wanted nothing more than to slap her face in exasperation. It was not a beautiful day at all. On the contrary, it was cloudy and cold. The sun had not been out for almost a week now and Willa could not have come up with a worse start.
The only sign that Ethan heard Willa was the slight shuffle of his feet in the direction opposite of where Willa was sitting. His face was hidden by the wild curls that worked as a frame, and his golden glasses sparkled a bit, but that was it. She had never really seen seen him properly, and she wondered why.
Before she could control herself, more words spewed out. "Well, of course it's not a beautiful day, but I guess the grass looks nice and green. Oh and also at least I'm not burning my skin."
Good lord, what in the world is wrong with me?
Ethan's feet shuffled a little more away from her body, and her palms were starting to sweat now. She turned her face around and met gazes with Nina who looked curious yet hopeful. Her thumbs up were not dying anytime soon. I nodded and turned my attention back to Ethan.
"Go out with me, please." There. She said it and there was no way to back off, now.
And that clearly got his attention. His body seemed to have frozen, as if someone poured ice-cold water over him. It looked like he had stopped breathing for a moment or two, before he slowly faced Willa. His wild curls may have taken up a good portion of his face, but still it was his eyes that caught her attention anyway. No, they were not blue, green or grey, or some overrated colour that seemingly drove everyone crazy. They were brown, not unlike hers. First, his eyes were shy to look at her, and when they finally looked into her eyes, it was almost like one of those movie scenes. You know where they gaze into each other's eyes and fall in love and confess and live happily ever after. Well, here they only gazed into their eyes for what seemed like ages and where interrupted by a crow cawing near the slide.
"M-Me?" Somehow, Ethan stumbled these words out of his mouth, and his voice was not what Willa expected it to be like, at all. No it wasn't a really husky, a really deep voice that girls swooned over, nor was it borderline girly, and high pitched. It was the way a normal man's voice was supposed to be, a deep baritone but not deep enough to voice the Hulk. It was perfect to her.
"No, not you! That crow over there, I have been blabbing on with it for the past few minutes," Willa answered, her voice so serious, that for a moment even she felt compelled to believe her sarcasm. "Of course, I am asking you, Ethan."
Ethan looked surprised to say the least. Being addressed, he was not used to. But being addressed by this little bomb of energy was something completely alien to him. So, he dumbly asked, "You want to take me out on a date?"
Willa sighed, and kicked off the ground, the swing started to move. "Yes, Ethan. I do want to take you out."
"Why?"
"Well, isn't that what generally people do when they want to get to know each other better?" Willa asked, tilting her head to the side, assessing Ethan. So far, her little assessment of him had not reached any definite point, and he was still just as closed off as before. This frustrated Willa till no ends.
Ethan was quiet for a few moments, and the span seemed like an eternity to Willa. And then, she heard a quiet voice echo through the empty play park, saying, "But I have never been on a date before."
Willa's heart gave a small lurch, and she found herself feeling sad for the boy in front of her. Almost eighteen years, and not a single date? Willa had been to her first date when she was in play school. It was when Peter, a cute boy from her class wanted to make sandcastles with her in the lunch break. Yes, that was her first date, or she liked to think so. She thought it was better than saying it was with someone who only took her out for a movie, hoping she'd put out by the end of the date. At least the one with Peter was pure, and, according to her, it was heartwarming. Something that would make a person go, 'Aww, that's the cutest thing ever.'
But Ethan had never experienced any of it. And Willa didn't know if she should brush it off like it didn't surprise her, or show it on her face that she was sort of pitying him. She went with the latter, and regretted when Ethan flinched a bit and mumbled, "I don't need your pity, it's not a big deal to not have had a date before."
Willa decided to not drag it further and said, "Alright, I'm taking you out tomorrow. And get ready to have the best date ever." And with that she winked, got off the swing, and leaned in for small peck on Ethans cheek. Ethan, of course, did not see that coming. Willa sensed his muscles tightening a bit, and Ethan inhaled sharply through his nose. He froze, and Willa suppressed the urge to giggle like a schoolgirl.
She made a beeline to where Nina was standing. When she exited the sandbox, she turned around, and saw Ethan looking at her in a very mild yet intense way. She had no idea what was going on in his mind.
He probably thinks I'm a psychopath.
No, but that was not what was running on Ethans mind. She was off by a long shot. In fact, Ethan was wondering what was it about today, he was in this park every single day, but something like this had never happened to him in his entire life. And surprisingly, he found himself looking forward to the next day.
Willa shouted, "I'll see you here at 7 tomorrow and wear something comfortable, please!"
Ethan didn't say a word, he was just as puzzled as a newborn baby by the world. Was this really happening to him?
Meanwhile, Willa could not shake the grin off her face. This was one dare she was really going to enjoy finishing despite of how skeptical she was in the beginning.
Maybe this could be a start to a good friendship.
Nina was watching the entire scene unfold in front of her eyes, and when Willa reached her, she shrieked loudly and started jumping up and down, as if on a trampoline. Willa wondered if Nina thought she was the one who was going on a date, but then remembered that it was Nina, Willas all-time-cheerleader.
And while Nina was grilling Willa for the details, and asking her what she had in mind for the date, Willas mind kept wandering to Ethan, and just how weird this day was shaping out to be for her, not unlike Ethan.
hello, lovelies. been quite a year, huh? haha, i thought i'd give you guys an early surprise and publish my first chapter for exactly ethan ellis! tell me how you guys liked it, and point out typos, if any! i love you guys. xoxo.