A shy T-Rex

My day started normally. I was at my high school, walking my best friend to her class. " You said yes?!", interrupted Lin. She was staring at me with her big green eyes, in disbelief. The students around us had stopped talking and were now staring at us as if we were animals caged up in the Zoo.

I didn't like that sort of attention. No, wait. I didn't like any sort of attention, especially from the students of my school.

"You really said yes??", asked Lin again. I'm starting to wonder whether she was surprised or whether she simply didn't hear me well the first time I'd said it.  "Well it's not like I really had the choice, but yes! Why are you so surprised??" , I whispered. 

I admit it, I regret telling her. But then again, I don't have many people to talk to. "No, it's just that usually, you're shy, always in the dark." shrugged Lin. She looked at her watch checking the time.

She was right.  Except for " Always in the dark" part. No guys I'm not a vampire nor a ghost, I'm just really shy.

"I know. And that's the reason why I accepted in the first place!" I let out a heavy sight.  

She gave me her famous smile, a smile that made all the boys (and maybe some girls) fall for her so hard, they actually hurt their backs, then waved me goodbye and went into her class.

Madeline, or Lin for short, is my best friend and only friend at this High school. Sad, I know. but I don't complain much about it. It's not like I don't want friends, it's just that students here tend to be meaner than I'd like.

Anyways, guess what? Lin is really popular around here, which is expected since she is really beautiful. Unfortunately, she's known as the Ice queen, a girl who turns down all the boys who dare ask her out. Unlike me, everyone knew her. they would wave at her in the morning as she walks in, they'd sit next to her in classes that we don't share, and she is always the first to be picked in P.E. How'd she got stuck with a girl like? That story is for much later.

Well besides Lin, I have other friends. Or at least I used to. Their story is for much later too.

Guess it's time that I introduce this strange, beautiful popular Goddess, Nah I'm just kidding. Hi, I'm Roxy Lonford. Rex for short. A normal 16-year-old, with a bit of bad luck and a lot of shyness, and what Lin was yelling about is the Dare. DUN DUN DUUN. No, don't be afraid. The dare is just a common game here in New York. My uncle had created this game about 25 years ago, so it was kind of a tradition that the Landfors had to play it when they're 16.

Do you know truth or dare? Yes, it's very similar. Well sit tight, cause explaining it might take a while.

the Dare is a simple game. My uncle had once thrown a huge party when he was at the age of 22 and invited everyone! Including my father, who was only 19 back then. Later on, he dared my father to go to Mr. Dwight's party. Everyone was talking about The Dare. Mr. Dwight was known for his huge party at the end of the year. All the important people attended it, and the party was known to be wild.

Guess that fact became official truth because my dad had an accident there with the daughter of Mr. Dwight, who was only about 18 and got my older sister Emilie. I'm still confused why would a man let his underage daughter attend that kind of parties, but I decided not to think about it too much.

Thank god my father was a good dad and stuck around, which resulted in his marriage with my mom and getting me. Wait I'm getting off point, aren't I?  Anyways, after that, when dad had completed the challenge (one year after the party incident) he was called into another party made by my uncle. The only different thing was, this time he was supposed to dare somebody else.

So long, very long, story short, the last Dare person either spins a bottle, and whoever has the bottom facing him is chosen, or simply chooses a person and that person is the new Dare person. Easy right? in a way, it kind of reminds me of the hunger games, since the Dare person is always the unlucky one. Oh, and did I mention that the descendants of all those people that were in the original Dare game had to participate starting the age of 16 and can only leave when they're chosen as the new dare person, or at the age of 22?

and that gets us to today, your brand new Dare person, A.K.A me. The dare is that I have to ask out the new guy Alex. In less than 10 days.

You might think, oh wait that's not so bad! Just get it over with! don't be so dramatic, that's not so bad! Well, remember when I said I'm unlucky, I was really unlucky this time. and believe me, the Dare isn't even the problem.

It kind of stuck as a tradition because of some douchebag in the past that when somebody fails their Dare, they have to attend Mr. Dwight's party. You'd think when a man dies his party dies with him but nope, the guy that was actually supposed to marry mom, Elizabeth Dwight, has taken over the tradition. He was so buddy-buddy with Mr. Dwight that he accepted to keep the party tradition alive, even though it had cost him a very beautiful wife and a huge company, and pass it on to his son. Now to get back to our story, I'm supposed to go there.

Asking out a random guy might look easy but if you ever did as much as confessing to someone and survive then u deserve a prize. Still, I said yes. It's not like I had a choice but at least I accepted the challenge hoping maybe I'll be able to do it. Now I need to actually find the guy. Yes, I have classes, but the second bell hasn't even rung, and I'm in no hurry to go to calculus.

I opened my lockers and got my books out of my locker. Noticed I said books because this class has algebra, geometry and calluses books. If you still don't get it, I hate calculus. Suddenly a blond dude popped up next to me.

"Hey, you dropped this from your notebook. Wait is this your schedule?

" We have our 1st hour together! Mind showing me where calculus is? When I came last Friday, it was time for the 3rd hour so I don't know where I'm going.... are you ok, you're all red??" He finally stopped talking, probably noticing I wasn't breathing.

Now you guys get to see me in action.

"I... uh.....um.....th...ank ..... you" I snatched the paper from his hands, and stuck it back in my notebook, then closed the locker.

I'm a mess!! I'm sweating. Probably all red. And I can't even formulate two words properly.

" Hi, I'm new and my name is Alex Shimmer".

Wow, even greater. The guy I'm supposed to ask out. Yup, what a great first impression. And I'm supposed to ask him out? My sister, the last Dare person, must be insane! He's gorgeous! Wait never mind, this is definitely the kind of messed up dare she'd ask.

I'm stuck. I mean literally, I froze on the spot.

"heh... you're supposed to tell me your name now..." He chuckled nervously, tucking both his hands in his pockets, which is kind of unfair because I didn't have pockets in my jeans. On that thought, I loosened up a bit.

"Oh, right sorry... I'm rex, NO! um, no... my name is Roxy Lonford".

Yeah, I might have messed up somewhere there, but it was all I managed to say before I froze again.

"Lonford? As in the daughter of the CEO of the company, Lonford?" He now had a weird formal tone. He was probably thinking about my sister, she's the one who had this sort of effect on people. "yeah. I'm the younger daughter though..." I felt like I had to throw that out there.

"Oh, that's why I thought you looked familiar... I saw your dad in a meeting once.

" Well, are we going to class?" Alex had dozed off as if he just remembered something important.

The sudden realization that I was late dawned before me. Yes I might hate calculus, but I'm a straight-A student, I'm never late! I started running, with Alex right behind me. I think I heard him yell at me to stop but at that moment, I couldn't care less, if Percy Jackson or Harry Potter were behind me!!

Wait never mind, I would totally skip class for them.

"WHY ARE WE RUNNING?", had yelled Alex loud enough for me to hear.

"We're late Alex!! One more minute and we can't go to class!" I hope he heard that cause I'm starting to get out of breath. We finally arrived. when I opened the door, the teacher confronted us with a not so friendly smile.

"It's been 6 minutes since the class started. You two will be written as skipping." Frowned the teacher

"Well, works with me." Alex did a dramatic 180° prepared to get out. "NO. we can explain!", I said.

I grabbed Alex by the arm so that he won't leave.

"Explain.", said the teacher, coldly. Well, I can't blame her. We're not exactly on good terms.

" You need to attend this class this badly?" whispered Alex.

I glared at him, then I looked back to the teacher. I finally came up with a good enough lie that she'll let us off with just some lecturing.

"fine. Miss, I'm Alex Shimmer, I'm still new and I got lost. Well no surprise there"

A few students laughed, but the teacher quieted them down with a single hand movement.

"So I told her to show me to class. But because of me, we went to the wrong class and then we realized we were in the same class, but now we're late." Alex Bowed down, then looked at me and winked. Well, he was obviously new around.

The teacher was looking at me, so I just nodded my head as in "yes". Somehow she believed all of that.

"Fine. Go sit in one of our empty tables in the back.", said the teacher. She turned back to her board to explain why X, wait never mind, all that stuff will mess up your head.

I went to a table by the window. I didn't care less about this class. This window, on the other hand, it always inspires me to draw something new.

"what are you thinking about?" whispered a familiar voice in my ear, with a not so formal tone now.

I almost yelled, but I gasped loud enough for the whole class, including the disgruntled teacher, to hear.

"Everything okay back there miss Lonford?" forewarned the teacher. I should probably introduce her too. So the calculous lade, what was her name again...? oh right! Miss Lacrosse, she's a very ... interesting Person. She's a woman in her mid-thirties and no matter how hard she tries she can't seem to keep a man for more than a week, I wonder why.

The whole class was staring at me. of course not liking the attention, I put my head down, hiding behind the empty chair in front of me and said with a squeaky voice, " yes, I'm sorry. I ... thought the stain on the floor was a spider" I gritted through my teeth. I can already imagine all the funny new trick they're gonna pull on me. Some guys laughed and the others just looked away disgusted. Well, that turned out better than expected.

"I didn't know you're scared of spiders." Whispered Alex, after the teacher had gone back to explaining the lesson. "Of course you didn't, we just met. and I'm not scared of spiders, it was obviously a cover-up."

"Cover-up of what?"

Ugh. this dude is seriously slow

"Now there's the Rex that I know." Alex smiled and relaxed in his chair, though I don't see how can he relax in chairs like these.

"Excuse me, What?!"

"Your annoyed face, you looked just like that, when I asked if you are  The Lonford." 

I didn't know I did an annoyed face. "I didn't know I made a face"

"Yes, u were also very red, but I guess that's because of my perfect looks, right?" he winked at me and smiled, I rolled my eyes at him but I wasn't really annoyed. He is fun to be around.

"Watch the ego, Apollo might get jealous"

"You're such a nerd. Maybe that's why you don't have friends"

" What?! I do have friends!!" I scoffed, not fazed by the insult.

It must have fazed me because I started trembling. He's going to turn out like all the others, isn't he?

"You know I'm just kidding right? How could a girl as nice as you are, not have any friends?" He smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Anyways, you are trembling! Are you cold? It's only early September so this might be a stupid question, but did you catch a cold?" Yes, he is definitely new around here.

I couldn't help but laugh. He looked confused, maybe even a bit hurt, thinking I am making fun of him, but I laughed sincerely for a first time in a while.

The dare.

I just remembered the dare. How can I ask my new friend out?? I can't!! But if I don't we all know what's gonna happen. I suddenly stopped and put on my best impression of Ice Queen, A.K.A Lin when she turns guys down. Of course, the poor guy was only more confused, but he understood what my stern face meant and he didn't dare talk to me.

The hour passed by slowly. I can't really say I'm focused on the studying, more like focused on keeping my head down and writing down whatever I could hear. I don't know if I hurt him, or did he regret talking to a lonely nerd like me, but he didn't bother me for the rest of the hour. Finally, the class ended. I hurried out, ignoring Alex who suddenly took a new interest in me, and started calling my name.

I bumped into someone. When I looked who it was I found, Jessica.  Yeah, this girl is bad news. You guys don't know her yet but she is that one B- sorry this is supposed to be for a young audience right?

ok, let's start over. You guys don't know her yet but she is that one mean girl in school who picks up all the boys that Lin turned down.

"Roxy! My favorite girl! What were you doing this morning with Alex?" I was obviously Not her favorite person. I forced a smile on anyways. Also, word got around FAST. I bet you someone snapshotted the whole thing.

Alex just came up to me, and he looked mad. uh oh trouble ahead, and trouble on the right

He put his hands around me, as if he was hugging me from the right with one hand, then he looked, no that doesn't sound right, he glared at Jessica.

" What do you want Jess?" Asked Alex. Jess's eyes enlarged so much I thought they might pop out.

"She's my friend, so stay away from her. from now on, no one dares to touch her." That sounded more than a threat than a dare Alex. Jessica couldn't believe her ears! She stumbled away confused and mad. These two obviously knew each other, but I didn't risk asking.

Alex let go of me, to face me. "So do you want to explain why u suddenly turned into a statue in the middle of our conversation?"

Need a lie !! Need a lie!!

I played dumb. Or the more proper term would be that I froze. 

"Oh, cmon rex you should at least explain to me why you ran away!" Alex was getting desperate to know.

" if you enjoyed this chapter, please do take your time to comment and click the cute star. sorry if there are some uncapitalized letters that I skipped past or maybe some small mistyping mistakes."

- Mira. R