The Jar of Truth

The night starts off relatively tame. It's nothing unlike our normal hangouts. We talk, eat some snacks, flip through TV shows. The usual. As it starts to get late, there's a break in the conversation and a few yawns here and there. A discussion of possibly calling it a night pops up, but Whitney has other plans for us. I can see the sleep deprivation has hit her and she's about to make things interesting.

"I know what we should do," she says with a mischievous smile.

I feel a collective oh no between Bridgette and me. The boys are clearly confused, but we both know where this is going. If there's one thing Whitney loves, it's stirring up drama. And there is no better opportunity than late at night during a sleepover.

"I'll be right back," she says and darts off upstairs.

She's gone maybe a minute at most. She comes down with a wide grin on her face and something hidden behind her back.

"It's time for..." Whitney says, building up the suspense. "The Jar of Truth!"

She whips out a mason jar covered in pink glitter and red ribbons that we craftily put together when we were about ten. It's been so long since I've seen that thing. I almost forgot it existed. Right about now, I wish it didn't. That thing is filled to the brim with all sorts of embarrassing questions we used to ask each other when we were bored and looking to liven up the night. Some of the questions can be quite revealing and there's plenty of them that I definitely don't want to answer in front of the boys. But, I guess that's what makes it fun. We all get to share in our embarrassment together.

"The rules are simple," Whitney explains. "Pick someone in the room and then pick a question. If you get picked, you must answer 100% completely honestly otherwise it won't be any fun. Once you answer your question, you get to choose who goes next. No looking at the question before you choose who to ask. No swapping questions and absolutely no skipping turns. Got it? Good. Who wants to go first?"

Whitney's eyes search for a willing participant but are met with blank stares. Bridgette and I know well enough to keep ourselves out of the spotlight and the boys seem too dumbfounded to respond. She looks around once more, sees that no one is going to volunteer, and sighs.

"All right," she concedes. "I'll go first. Bridgette, would you do the honors?"

Happy to not be the one in the line of fire, Bridgette reaches her hand into the jar and plucks out the first question.

"Who is your celebrity crush?"

"Oh, easy. Henry Cavill," Whitney says without skipping a beat. "My turn. I think I'll pick..."

She looks around the room and makes eye contact with each one of us. I feel my heartbeat start to pick up just a little. The first question was innocent enough, but this game can sneak up on you. One second you're naming your favorite movie and the next you're handing out your social security number and spilling every lie you've ever told your parents.

"Sal."

Being the good sport that he is, Sal smiles and scoots forward. I can't help but feel nervous for him. He's got the most happy-go-lucky grin on his face. Based on that last question, he thinks he's ready. But the type of question you get is entirely up to chance. I just hope he gets lucky.

"What's your guilty pleasure?"

All right, not so bad. Could be embarrassing, depending on how guilty of a pleasure it is. Sal isn't the type of person that gets embarrassed by stuff like that though. He will shamelessly admit to binging the Real Housewives of Atlanta with his mom every Saturday night. Matt though. He's a totally different story. I've caught him listening to Love Story by Taylor Swift so many times, I can't even count. Like no joke, I think it might be his favorite song. I even have screenshots of him listening to it on Spotify on a playlist he made, but he still won't admit it. Whenever I bring it up, he's always like Oh, Carrie was listening to it. Yeah, right. 

"My guilty pleasure?" Sal repeats. "27 Dresses. That scene when Tess alters their mother's wedding dress? I cry every time."

"Omg, I always cry at that part too!" Bridgette says. "I still can't believe she did that."

"Right? Lying to George was one thing, but that crossed a line."

"I know. Total violation. We have that movie, you know. We could watch it."

Whitney squints her eyes at the both of them, very clearly disapproving of their gab sesh.

"Later," she interrupts abruptly. "We're in the middle of something. Sal, pick your question."

"Oh, sorry," Sal says with a sarcastic smile and reaches lazily into the jar. "This one's for you, Teddy."

Teddy grumbles a weak "gee, thanks," as Sal opens his question. Sal stifles a snort and strains to stop himself from busting out laughing.

"Who do you think is the cutest boy in school?" He asks, composing himself just long enough to get the words out.

I gotta admit, I find it tough not to laugh myself. Out of everyone in the room, of course, Teddy would get that question. Not Whitney or Bridgette who would happily divulge. Teddy, who I'm not even sure would be able to answer who is the cutest girl in school. As long as I've known him he's been about as romantically inclined as a stale piece of bread. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. He's the sweetest guy and, truly, any girl would be lucky to have him. But, God bless him, the only girls I've ever heard him call cute are his cows.

Matt doesn't even try to keep himself together. He nearly chokes on his drink when he sees the you've-got-to-be-freaking-kidding-me look on Teddy's face.

"Do I really have to answer that?"

"Of course," Whitney answers like she's offended by the question. Then again, she probably is. "Were you not listening to the rules?"

"How am I supposed to answer it?" Teddy argues. "I don't know nothing about that."

"Oh come on," Whitney huffs and rolls her eyes. "You have eyes and a brain. You know a good looking guy when you see one."

"I really don't."

"Just answer the question," Whitney says impatiently.

"I can't!" Teddy says. "Give me a different one."

Whitney stares Teddy down, but he's not giving up the fight. If I were Teddy, I would answer the question. I've made the mistake of asking for a different question before and the second one always ends up ten times worse than the first one. It's like the Jar knows you're trying to cheat and punishes you for it. I'm not saying that to Teddy, though. I'm not about to give away its secrets otherwise it'll be me in the hot seat next. It may sound selfish, but the Jar is all about survival of the fittest.

"Fine," Whitney says through a gritted smile. "We'll pick a different one."

She plunges her hand in the jar, swirls it around, and pulls out a piece of paper. There's an evil glint in her eyes as she peels it open. She knows as well as I do how the game works. The Jar is a vengeful mistress.

Whitney's eyes scan over the question and her smile slowly fades. It must not have been the ammunition she was hoping for, because she looks severely disappointed. She sighs in defeat and asks him the question flatly.

"Have you ever made out with someone?"

Her tone indicates that she is expecting a definite "no." Honestly, I think we all are. As I said, Teddy is not the most romantic of sorts. Not even Matt or Sal has known Teddy to ever be interested in a girl. Even if he was interested, he'd be too busy or too shy to pursue it.

At least that's what I thought. The deep red flush of his cheeks and the way he's shifting in his seat tells a different story.

"Wait. Have you?!"

We all turn to him, waiting on the edge of our seats for his answer. I know it's wrong to put him on the spot like this, and he's clearly uncomfortable, but gosh darn it, I can't help it. Teddy? Kissing someone? Our Teddy? I need to know more.

"I mean, yeah," he mumbles. "I'm not a monk."

"What? When?" Sal jumps in.

See? Not even his bros can help themselves! This is huge news.

"Forget when! I want to know who!" Whitney exclaims.

Poor Teddy's face gets redder and redder by the second. He's looking like he wants the floor to swallow him right up. I feel kind of extra bad that I didn't warn him against disobeying the Jar, but at the same time, I am living for this drama. The Jar of Truth has revealed many things, but Teddy possibly having a secret girlfriend takes the cake.

"Yesterday after fourth period," Teddy answers sheepishly.

"During school hours?" Sal says, absolutely stunned by the knowledge.

"Omg," Whitney says. "Who cares about the timeline! Who, Teddy, who?"

Teddy clamps his mouth shut and shakes his head. He's said about as much as he's gonna say.

"That wasn't the question. I answered what you asked. It's someone else's turn."

"No way," Whitney says. "You're not getting out of this. You broke the rules first. You set this precedent, not me. You're gonna tell me who."

"Like hell I am," Teddy shoots back.

With that, we find ourselves in the middle of another Whitney-Teddy stand-off. Whitney backed off the first time, but if I know Whitney, she won't back off of this. This is the type of gossip she lives for.

"How about a hint?" Whitney pushes on. "Like, what's her hair color? Or her first and last initials?"

"No," Teddy says shaking his head. "You're not getting nothing out of me."

Whitney sits back in her chair and studies him like a chess piece. She's got one move left in her.

"Wow, you must really like her then," she says. "Is this a continuous thing? Are you two dating? Omg, are you in love?"

The barrage of questions and the suggestion of love are too much for Teddy. I can see his defenses weakening. Part of me feels like I should jump in and save him, but he is so close to revealing it all. We won't admit it, but Whitney's pushing this thing on behalf of all of us. We all want to know as much as she does.

"All right," he gives in. "If I give you a hint, will you drop it?"

Whitney eyes him carefully, weighing her options. After some brief thought, she takes him up on his offer.

"Deal."

I scoot closer and perk my ears up, ready to hear the clue.

"She's way out of my league."

Our shoulders all drop at the very skillfully crafted hint that's really not a hint at all.

"That doesn't narrow it down. That could be literally any girl."

"A deal's a deal," Teddy shrugs.

Whitney sighs, but lets it go.

"Fine," she says sadly, but she perks right up when she realizes she has a whole room full of people to interrogate. "Who's next? Matty?"

She looks to Matt, but he quickly shakes his head.

"No way," he says. "I'm out."

"Bridgette? Kiersten? Sal?"

We all shake our heads. After the massacre we just witnessed, I think we all need a breather.

"All right," she says, giving up. "Let's go to bed, I guess. Pansies."

I breathe a sigh of relief. The Jar of Truth claimed another victim tonight, but at least it wasn't me.

Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter 😊 This wasn't in my original draft or outline, so it is an entirely new addition. I had a lot of fun writing it though, so I'm happy I got the chance to include it. Sleepover scenes are some of my favorite in TV shows, movies, and books, especially ones that cause a little bit of trouble 😉 I had way more questions and answers that the characters asked each other, but if I included them all, this chapter would have been like 10,000 words long lol. So, the rest were spared and only poor Teddy was left in the line of fire. How about that though? Any guesses who his secret lover might be?