"I dare you to kiss Parker."

I stared at Arabella in shock. I had to kiss Parker? I'm sure my mouth was hanging open as my brain tried to process what she just said. "Me? Kiss Parker? The guy I've hated since kindergarten? You must be crazy," I scoffed at her. I don't know what Parker has told his friends, but it's pretty obvious that I hate him and he hates me.

All the pranks and yelling and arguments should've clued them in.

Everyone else watched with excitement, except for Parker of course. He just looked pissed. "Suit yourself, but if you don't do it you have to take a shot of tequila," she replied as she started preparing the alcohol. "Wait!" I exclaimed.

I really didn't feel like drinking right now. God knows what happened the last time I got drunk (which was an accident btw). On the other hand, I really didn't want to kiss Parker either. In the end, I chose the option with the least consequences. "I'll kiss him," I mumbled.

Parker's eyes widen slightly while the rest of the group broke out in cheers and whistles. Scottie looked indifferent.

This is going to look so bad. Here I am about to kiss Parker, when the guy I like is sitting 2 feet away. And the worst part is, he didn't seem to care. People around us started chanting kiss as we turned to face each other.

"Do we really have to do this?" Parker whispered. "Yes! I don't want to drink, and maybe this will make Scottie realize that other guys want me too," I whispered just before our lips touched.

You know how in books and movies whenever the girl and the guy kiss, sparks fly and fireworks go off in the distance, while butterflies erupt in the girls stomach and tingles go up her spine? Well, this kiss was nothing like that. I felt nothing, not even the smallest spark. I felt nothing except disgust when we kissed.

It felt like Parker's mouth was attacking mine, and I hated it. Someone called time, and we pulled apart immediately. I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my hoodie. Parker didn't really do anything, he just kinda smiled and laughed with the rest of his friends, although there was one small, microscopic change in his attitude.

He was laughing with his friends, but he wasn't looking any of them in the eye. He's obviously mad at them for making us kiss, and I kind of am too. But it's part of the game, so I just let it go and reached to spin the bottle.

With my luck, it landed on Scottie. "Dare." Trying to think of something cool, but coming up empty handed, I ended up daring him to dunk his head in the toilet. And the game went on like that for another hour. Almost everyone picked dared, except for me and Emma. We were both too chicken to pick dare. I didn't want a repeat of what happened last time.

Someone dared Andrew to eat a spoonful of mustard and barbeque. There was also some dares that involved jumping in the pool and chugging various liquids.

Eventually, we all got tired of the game and moved on to a very intense game of hide and go seek tag. Since the house was huge, the game went on for a little while before anybody was found. Arabella was the first one found, so once we all gathered back in the living room she started counting.

Everyone took off running, determined to not be found. I ran up the stairs to the second floor, looking behind me every few seconds to make sure no one was following me. Last thing I needed was someone giving away my position.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a very competitive person.

On the second floor, there was a long hallway with at least 10 doors leading to different rooms. I noticed that the first door on my left was locked, so I kept walking.

Eventually, I decided on the last door at the very end. It was empty except for a bed in the middle of the room and a dresser opposite it. I saw that in the corner there was a door and I opened it to see if there was a place to hide inside. A bunch of fur coats was all I found.

It reminded me of Narnia.

Suddenly I heard someone shout out "Ready or not here I come!" Quickly, without thinking, I ran inside and shut the door. I made sure some of the coats that were in the closet covered my body.

I heard footsteps running up the stairs and towards the room I was in, but then they disappeared. Then, out of no where, there was footsteps like someone was being chased before I heard the bedroom door burst open. Shit! My cover was about to be blown.

I shrunk into the back and braced myself and got ready to run. The door flung open, but before I could make my escape, the person shoved me back in and shut the door. "Blaze?"

"Parker?" Turns out the person was my worst enemy. "What are you doing in here?" I whisper-shouted. "Why am I here? Why are you here? How did you even find this room? I thought I-"

"Shhh!" I said as I slammed my hand over his mouth. I heard the door creak open slowly, revealing a sliver of light. Making sure not to get caught, I squeezed myself closer to the corner. I heard Arabella looking around in the closet,  before shutting the door and walking out.

"That was a close one huh?" I told Parker. I took my hand off his mouth to let him speak. "Could you please scoot back a little bit? I don't want to breathe in any stupidity." I flipped him off before backing away. While Arabella was in here, I had inadvertently gotten really close to Parker, close enough that I could smell his cologne.

I backed away enough that I wasn't touching him any more and looked up at him. "Can you not look at me that way? I mean I know I'm hot and all, but your staring is kind of creepy," I half-joked. Parker snorted at my arrogance. 

"Like I would ever think your hot. I was staring at you in disgust because your hand was on my mouth. Plus, you're wearing a baggy hoodie that does not flatter you. How could I possibly think your hot?"

"Oh yeah?" I took that as a challenge. For some reason, I was feeling oddly brave right now, so in one swift motion, I took off my hoodie to reveal the full outfit Parker had picked out for me. I stared him down, waiting for him to say something. "Eh," he said shrugging.

I rolled my eyes and opened the door slowly.

Once I made sure the coast was clear, I stepped out of the closet and quietly made my way downstairs. On my way down, I bumped into Scottie. "Hey Blaze." As much as I wanted to win, Scottie looked really good and genuine right now. I didn't want to be rude and just walk away from him. We walked and talked as we made our way downstairs.

"This is a nice house you have. What do your parents do for a living?" I asked. They must run some giant business in order to afford this nice of a house, or should I say mansion.

"They're teachers," he replied. We stopped for a second to make sure the coast was clear before we kept moving. "Damn! What kind of teaching job pays this much?" I stated. They must be the best teachers in the fucking world if they can afford this.

"The normal one I guess." He shrugged his shoulders and that was the end of the conversation. I had a feeling that he was lying about how his parents got this house, but I let it go because I didn't want to ruin this.

A few minutes later we heard Arabella scream 'I got you' followed by a really girly scream, meaning the game was over and we were safe.

---

After our game of hide and go seek tag ended, the group decided to call it a night and everyone started going home. Since Parker was my ride, that meant I had to see his face for another 30 minutes on the way home. We walked outside, but before I could get in the car, Scottie called out to me.

"Blaze, wait!" I turned around to see him running towards me. It really was unfair how good he looked, even while running.

"Did I forget something?" I don't think I did, but then again I am kind of forgetful sometimes. (Don't tell Parker I said that otherwise he'll use it against me.) I quickly checked my pockets to find that I had everything I came with: my phone, keys, and some chapstick.

"Yeah, my number. I was hoping we could be friends. You seem like a really nice and chill person. You're nothing like what Parker described you as." From the corner of my eye, I saw Parker scowl and roll his eyes.

"S-sure," I stuttered as Scottie took my phone and put his number in. "Great, thanks. I guess I'll see you at school on Monday. Bye! Oh and don't kill Parker on the way home. I know he's an asshole sometimes, but I promise he's actually a giant teddy bear."

Parker? A giant teddy bear? Yeah right. I tried my hardest to hold in a laugh. "I'll do my best." We exchanged goodbyes and then Scottie went back in the house. "Hurry up Blaze, I don't have all night."

"Giant teddy bear my ass," I mumbled under my breath.

Most of the ride back to my house was filled with awkward silence. "Anders?"

"What do you want?" I grumbled. I was just starting to fall asleep. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that that kiss earlier meant nothing to me. I would never like you in that way. I still hate you."

"Great, me too," I said, a sigh following. I really just wanted to sleep. And of course I knew that the kiss meant nothing. I'm not a dumbass.

One kiss won't make me magically fall in love with anyone. Parker's too much of an asshole for me to ever fall in love with him. "Uhm, we're here," he gestured outside and only then did I notice that we were parked in my driveway.

I got out, slamming the door in the process. "See you later, not!" My parents were sitting on the couch watching the night news when I walked in. "Did you have fun?" my mother asked. Since I wasn't in the mood to respond, I ignored her and went straight to my room.

This night hadn't been that bad, except for when I had to kiss Parker and when we hid in that wardrobe together. In the end, I guess you could say I made some new friends and I got my crushes phone number which, by the way, was the highlight of my night.

I unlocked my phone and went to contacts. Scottie had saved himself as "Scottie," which was just a little disappointing. I was hoping he would save himself as some clever nickname like they do in the books.

I debated on whether or not I should text him first. Would I seem clingy or desperate if I did? But if I don't text him, he might think I'm not interested in him. After a lot of inner turmoil, I finally settled on waiting to text him until tomorrow morning.

I set my phone down and got ready for bed.

---

The next morning, I woke up to the wonderful smell of waffles. Mmmmm. I loved waffles. They were my favorite breakfast food. My mother always joked that as soon as I came out of her, I begged for them.

Groggily, I made my way downstairs to see who was cooking. My dad stood in front of the stove with his frilly apron on, humming along to the radio. "Good morning sweetie," he greeted me. I waved him off and sat down at the counter.

"So I went out to get the newspaper this morning and saw that somebody left your hoodie on our front porch with a note attached to it. Any idea who 'K' is?" he asked me. "The hell?" I said as I walked over and grabbed it from him. I didn't know anybody who's name started with a 'K'.

Oh wait! Maybe it's Scottie. His last name is Kraze. Weird, but it works for him. "It's my friend Scottie. I left my jacket at school and he was just returning it to me."

"Mhm," my father mumbled. "It's the truth!" I exclaimed. He didn't need to know that I was at a boy's house last night, even though there was plenty of other people there as well. He ignored me.

Great, now he probably thinks I have some crazy stalker person following me around. After I finished eating, I grabbed my phone from my room and headed into the bathroom. My face was more oily than normal, so I was planning on doing a face mask when my phone dinged.

Scottie: Hey, just wanted to make sure you got home okay last night.

Blaze: Yeah, somehow I managed to avoid killing the so called giant teddy bear!

Scottie: Lol, a good thing. Wouldn't want you killing my best friend.

Blaze: Nope. Instead of killing him, I'm planning on bullying him until the end.

Scottie: Glad I'm not in his place. Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to go get coffee sometime so we could get to know each other better.

Blaze: I would love that! When and where?

Scottie: How about I pick you up in an hour and we go to Stella's?

Blaze: Sounds good, I'll see you then. Bye!

Scottie: Bye!

I quickly dialed my best friends number. "What is so important that your are waking me up at 8 am on a Saturday morning for?"

"Get your ass over here right now! Scottie just asked me to hang out!"

"WHAT?! I'll be there in a ten minutes."

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