Page 21 of Dare To Break

I roll my eyes. “All I want to do is focus on studying and surviving the year.”

“It would be fun to hang out together. We could double date.”

“I’ve barely been here twenty-four hours. I’m not interested in hooking up with anyone.”

We flow into the assembly hall with the other students. I’m hyper-aware of Eli and Kellan to the right of me in the mass of pupils taking seats. I don’t even realize I’m touching the friendship bracelet on my wrist until I feel the cold metal of the charms under the pads of my fingers. A four-leaf clover for luck, a red heart representing my best friend, and a blue butterfly to remind me one day I’ll be able to fly away.

Lacy finds us seats with Brad, Jace, and Evan. As I slip off my backpack and flop down beside her, I don’t miss the way Jace eyes me. I’m not about to encourage him. I’ve never had time for a boyfriend between school and running the house while my mother was always away. I’m not sure I need one now. I already have enough to worry about.

A new school.

New teachers.

Trying to figure out where I belong in the scheme of things.

A whole host of fears and doubts go hand in hand with it all.

Eli’s head turns and he looks at me. I don’t like the gleam in his eye. The silent promise to wreck me into irreparable pieces.

The principal’s voice booms out from the microphone on the stage at the front of the hall, but I barely catch the words. My shoulders tense, guard going up, and I duck my head, refusing to meet my stepbrother’s stare.

Lacy’s earlier comment echoes in my head. Gossip is like wildfire in this place, and the longer no one knows about your connection, the better. It will give you a chance to be seen for yourself, and not as the Stepsister of the Monster of Churchill Bradley Academy.

How long before people find out? Will Eli tell everyone about our connection?

A burst of excited whispers ripples around us.

I latch onto one word. “What was that about a dare?”

Lacy leans close. “It happens every semester. Anonymous dares appear in lockers. No one knows who sends them, but it’s been happening for years.”

“What kind of dares?”

“Setting off fire alarms, climbing on the roof, filling one of the teacher’s drawers with erasers. Things like that.”

My fingers curl around the charm of the butterfly hanging from my wrists, and I cradle it gently in my palm. “It sounds juvenile.”

“Most of it is harmless fun, but you don’t want to ignore it.” Seriousness coats her voice.

“Why?”

“Because bad things happen to those who do.” Her words hang between us, mysterious and ominous.

Chapter 14

Eli

Principal Warren gives the same speech he has given every year I’ve been at CBA. He welcomes all the new students, talks about the rules we have to live under, mentions when we’re allowed off the grounds and then finally raises the only thing anyone in the room is interested in.

The Dare.

“I say this every single semester, and for the most part, you listen, but we have a lot of new students, so the rest of you will understand why I need to repeat it. For many years, there’s been a game played at Churchill Bradley. A dangerous game. If anyone receives a dare in their locker, you must report it immediately. Do not engage in the game. Find a member of staff.”

Excited whispers echo around the hall. I peer down at my hands. The black polish covering my nails is chipped and I pick at it, peeling it away while Warren’s voice drones on.

“Dinner is served between five and seven in the evening, breakfast from six-thirty until eight-thirty in the morning, and lunch between twelve and two. The cafeteria also opens from eight until nine-thirty in the evenings for supper and snacks. Curfew is at nine-forty-five and lights-out at ten. Be at your first class at nine am tomorrow, ready to start a new semester at Churchill Bradley Academy. The rest of the day is your own, but please don’t leave the school grounds.”

The kids around me stand and file out, whispering about the dare and whether they would be the ones to find the little folded note in their locker sometime in the next week.

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