Page 23 of Dare To Break

Chapter 15

Arabella

I keep pace with Lacy as we leave our dorm building. “You said bad things happen to people who don’t do the dares. Like what?”

“People have had their lockers vanish for the entire year,” she tells me as we cut across the neatly manicured grass. “One boy had all his hair fall out, and it never grew back. Someone else came out with a rash that spread all over their body.”

“They don’t sound so bad.”

“These were before my time, but the stories were passed down.”

“They could just be rumors.”

Lacy stops to face me. “Arabella, the dares are no joke.”

I shrug. “I just find it hard to believe things like that can happen.”

“Why do you think the faculty have asked us all to report in when we get a dare?” She gestures across toward the main part of the school. “No one will, of course. No one wants anything to happen to them.”

“Has anything happened to someone you actually know?”

She pauses for a beat before answering. “Zoey, my roommate last year, received one and ignored it.” Sadness turns her lips down.

“What happened to her?”

Lacy’s shoulders sag. “She was found the next day in the old cemetery with a head injury. She never woke up, and died.”

My mouth dries up. “Jesus. Did someone attack her?”

She blinks fast, tears filling her eyes. “That’s what the faculty believe and why they tightened security around campus this year. The thing is, Zoey had no reason to be in the cemetery that night. She knew never to go there alone.”

I gently touch her shoulder. I don’t know her well enough to offer a hug. “Maybe she was meeting a boy?”

She sucks in a deep breath, and sighs. “Zoey wasn’t into guys. Do not take the dare lightly.”

She turns away from me and starts walking. I take the hint that the conversation is over and follow her. Day one at Churchill Bradley Academy, and it isn’t turning out how I imagined. Something dark lurks beneath the perfect exterior. We’re in the middle of nowhere, and maybe it isn’t as safe as I expected.

We pass the tennis court, and head for the football field. Brad, Jace, and Evan are hanging out behind the bleachers with a group of other students.

When we reach them, Lacy steps into the haven of Brad’s open arms.

He drops a kiss onto her forehead. “Everything okay?”

She gives him a bright smile, her earlier grief lingering in her eyes. “Yes.”

“Who’s your new friend?” One of the other boys asks.

“This is Arabella. My roommate.” She introduces me to the group. “Kevin, Miles, Garrett, and Bret are on the swim team. Tina, Maggie, and Linda are cheerleaders.”

Tina gives me a cool once-over. “Where are you from, Arabella?”

“Michigan,” I reply. I can already see her judging me, my clothes, my hair. The desire to escape is strong, but I keep my feet planted on the ground. I hate being the center of attention and shift uncomfortably as they continue to stare at me.

“Do you cheer?” Maggie asks.

“No.”

“What do you do?”

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