It Started With A Dare

It was now Wednesday and I was at school, the day was almost over and I was sat in English class, begging the clock to move faster. Eventually the bell rang loudly and I, along with the rest of the class, got up from my desk and headed out of the classroom and into the already crowded halls.

I made my way through the herds of students to my locker, opening it up and swapping out my books from the day for the ones I knew I’d be needing the next day. But a face appeared behind my locker door after I shut it, making my jump and then groan as I saw who it was.

“Hey baby, how’s it going?” He asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the row of lockers with a smug grin on his face.

“Get over yourself, James.” I said, rolling my eyes at him. James Parker was a Sophomore jock, and just because he’s on the football team he thinks he’s ‘all that’. He’s been bugging me for ages, asking me out and generally being his perverted self.

“You know you want me.” He said, causing me to scoff. I glared at him and saw his gaze drop from my eyes “Nice legs, what time do they open?” I seriously could have laughed at what he said, but instead I tried to take a step past him, he blocked my path.

“James, get out of my way.” I said through gritted teeth. This guy seriously doesn’t know when to quit.

“Aw come on baby, all I’m asking for is one measly date,” He said, taking a step towards me, making me take one back, ending up backing myself into the lockers, effectively letting him corner me. Crap. “And maybe a little something else …” He had one hand resting against the lockers beside my head whilst the other reached out and trailed down my arm. I shuddered and tried to find a way of escaping this but there was no way out.

“James, please, just leave me alone.” I pleaded, giving up my pride and scrunching my eyes closed, just wanting to get away from him and his slimy, wandering hands. He was pretty much pressed against me and getting closer every second and I felt like kicking myself for getting into this position. And just when I thought things were going to get worse, I felt the relief of him suddenly pulling away from me.

“I believe she told you to get lost.” I opened my eyes to see Gerard with a menacing look in his eyes, his hand gripping the collar of James’ shirt. I’ve never been so glad to see him.

“What’s it to you?” James retorted, trying to struggle out of Gerard’s grasp but was getting nowhere.

“Just fuck off, okay?” Gerard said, still glaring at James, who soon nodded his head quickly. Gerard let go of him and he hurriedly made his way down the hall. I sighed, still leaning against the lockers as I looked up at my saviour.

“Thanks so much Gerard.” I said sincerely. He turned to me and smiled his crooked smile.

“It was nothing, just looking out for my friend’s little sister is all. That guy looked like a scumbag anyway.” He said, brushing it off.

“But still, thank you.” I repeated, taking a step forward and wrapping my arms around him in a friendly hug. He seemed tense at first but soon let his arms fall around my waist, hugging me back. I smelt the same distinct scent from the past weekend and it was strangely comforting right now. I’m pretty sure that a friendly hug should have ended long ago so I awkwardly pulled away, blushing and tucking a stray strand of my hair behind my ear.

“So uh I came because we’ve gotta do some studying, you okay to come over to my place again?” He asked. I nodded, having lost my voice and followed him out to his car, getting into the passenger seat and waiting patiently for us to get to his house and out of the confined space. I took the time to think about why Gerard got so angry back there, surely it wasn’t just because I was Bob’s sister. It was probably because he hates James, because really, who doesn’t?

We soon arrived at Gerard’s house; I jumped out the car and followed him inside the house and down to his bedroom where I got out my books. We went over the usual stuff that I was studying, and soon enough the awkward atmosphere disintegrated and I felt more relaxed. My gaze drifted from my textbook to the familiar drawings on the wall, I had to ask him about these.

“Hey Gerard?” He looked up and gave a small smile, urging me to continue “Did you draw those?” I asked, pointing to the drawings stuck to one of his walls.

“I- uh, yeah. Yeah, I did.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck as he averted his gaze elsewhere. I grinned and stood up, walking closer to the drawings to take a closer look. Many of them were quite morbid scenes, but in a creative way, and then some of them were cute cartoon characters. My smile widened as my eyes fell on one particular piece.

“Wow.” I breathed, studying the scene before me; it was a very detailed landscape, looking to be a park of some kind, with grassy hills in the background.

“Yeah, I know, they’re pretty awful.” I heard him say from behind me, making me frown slightly and spin around, shaking me head incessantly.

“No, they’re really good.” I admitted, turning back to look at my favourite picture, reaching out to carefully trace my fingers over the scene. “Where’d you draw this one?” I questioned, gesturing to the hilly scene. I looked over my shoulder to see him standing much closer than he was a moment ago, now standing only a few inches away to my right.

“Oh, it’s just somewhere I go to when I need to think. Maybe I’ll take you there sometime.” He said with a crooked smile on his face, the infectiousness of it causing me to break out in another grin.

“That would be really cool.” After that there was a silence in the room for a while, before Gerard broke it.

“It’s getting pretty late, you wanna grab something to eat before I drop you home?” he asked.

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna be a hassle or anything.” I said

“Nah its fine, come on.” And so we went back up the stairs and outside to his car, getting in and driving off in search of food. We ended up going into McDonald’s about 10 minutes away from his house. Gerard was somewhat surprised to hear that I wanted a big Mac, but ordered me one nonetheless. We sat down with our food at a table in the corner of the restaurant, away from everyone else.

“So, why’d you bring me here anyway? Wouldn’t it be bad for your reputation if you were seen having dinner with your friend’s little sister?” I questioned before taking a bite out of my burger.

“Well, you’re not too bad for a freshman.” He said, smirking “And besides, I don’t think anyone would believe that we were here together.” That last part made my stomach twist slightly but I brushed it off, continuing to eat my food.

“Y’know, you’ve got really nice eyes.” He commented randomly, making my stomach twist but in a completely different way, feeling a blush creep up my neck and explode onto my cheeks.

“I do?” I questioned, cocking my head to the side slightly.

“Yeah, I always thought that Bob had nice eyes, but they look even better on a girl, I must say.” I giggled at his observation.

“Well thank you, you have nice eyes too.” I replied with a grin. It was one of the first things I noticed about him; the hazel colour was really pretty. “If I’m not being too personal, can I ask why a guy like you with charm like that doesn’t have a girlfriend?” I asked curiously. He chuckled.

“I guess I just haven’t found the right one yet. The rest of the guys have, and it does make me feel awkward sometimes when they’re all making out with their girlfriends.” He explained, and I couldn’t help but to laugh.

“You think Shelby is the right one for Bob? I’m sorry but that is just too hilarious to be true.” I said through my giggles.

“Well to be honest I didn’t want to say anything about that because, well, he’s your brother and you might have gotten offended or something.” He said, laughing as well.

“So you don’t like her either?” He shook his head with a grin on his face “Good, at least someone else thinks she’s a complete bitch as well.”

“Yeah, she is pretty unpleasant to be around, at least you don’t have any classes with her.” He said sighing.

“Ah man, I feel your pain, I’ve got a real airhead in my homeroom, her name’s Debbie and I could seriously slap her sometimes.” I said.

“You mean Debbie Jones?” I nodded “Well its no wonder, they are related after all.”

“What? You mean Debbie and Shelby are related?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah, sisters, I feel sorry for their mother.” He said, making us both erupt with laughter once again.

The rest of the evening was great, I found myself having so much fun with Gerard and I had no idea why. It was just so easy to talk to him and even that was really entertaining. It was past 10pm by the time he was driving me home and I knew that Bob would probably screw at me for staying out passed curfew. Soon enough Gerard stopped his car outside my house.

“Thanks for the ride, Gerard, and for the food.” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt as I spoke.

“Hey, it’s no problem, I’ll see you round Cassie.” He said, grinning as I got out of the car, shutting the door behind me. I waved until I saw his car go round the corner, then I went up to the doorstep, grabbing the spare key from under a plant pot and letting myself in.

There were no lights on in the house and I wondered if Bob was even home, but that thought was gone from my mind when I entered the living room. The office chair was sat in the middle of the room, but as soon as I stepped into the room it spun around, revealing Bob sitting on it with one of my stuffed animals in his lap, stroking it as if it were a cat. Bob’s been watching too many movies.

“Ah, I’ve been expecting you, Miss Bryar.” He said in a bad accent. “Do you know what time it is, Miss Bryar?” He asked.

“Uh …” I glanced at the clock on the wall “10:17?”

“Precisely. It’s past your curfew. Now, where have you been?” he asked, trying to seem authoritative but it wasn’t really working for him.

“I was just studying with Gerard, and it got a bit late so he took me for something to eat.” I said honestly.

“Oh, well that’s alright then, at least I know you weren’t think some creepy guy or something.” He said, and I just had to giggle “Just make sure next time you’re back here by curfew, okay?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m sorry Bobby.” I said, walking forward and giving him a hug. I then went upstairs and got ready for bed, and for once I was actually looking forward to school, just so I could see Gerard again. And I had the perfect reason to talk to him.