Dared

Chapter 09

Talking to Kara at the locker and sitting by her side during first period History becomes a norm for the rest of the week. She sits with me throughout lunch. Dylan and Noah make it a habit to tease me about it during practices.

The whole school keeps throwing me knowing looks.

I don't mind any of them. Because sitting beside Kara and talking to her has its own reward. She's a good person.

Maybe Dylan is wrong. Kara does not seem to want to control me. Not the way Dylan insists girls do.

"Give it some time and you will see," he keeps saying.

He is positive that Kara likes me. He says that she has that look in her eyes when she looks at me.

Whatever that look is, I like the way she looks at me. It makes me feel lively.

Noah and Wayne had already bet on the dare. Noah does not think that I can win.

"It's a month away, Jenkins. Who's to say that you would not want to break Kara's heart," Noah says.

The statement reminds me of what I know for sure.

If I want to win the dare, I'm gonna have to tell Kara everything. Will it break her heart? I'm not sure. I think that she would say it's fine. I hope she says it's fine.

Kara is a strong girl. But I still don't want to break her heart.

Saturday arrives with a warm sun rising over the city.

I wake up before Mom comes banging on my door. She looks impressed.

"I am impressive," I tell her at the table as we have breakfast. She laughs, her look skeptical.

"Yeah, you are, Brian," she says taking a sip off her favorite blueberry smoothie, "But you act differently now."

Differently?

"Differently how?"

"You are happier... after you know," she releases a stressed sigh, "the divorce."

"Oh."

Mom and Dad filing for divorce were one of those things that threw me off completely. They were never the type to fight over anything.

I have never seen them fight wildly enough to file for divorce. When I asked Dad about it, he told me that they just grew apart.

When I asked him what brought them together in the first place, he would just shrug with a goofy smile on his face. "We loved each other. Crazily. It just didn't work for long is all."

I don't think that's the case. Love is something you cover your weaknesses with. It is something that you say when you are not strong enough to win.

That's why I don't believe in love. Mom and Dad getting a divorce never was a problem for me. Okay, maybe it was for some time, but not for long.

Because I know that Mom understood, although she wouldn't agree, that they were finally winning when they filed for a divorce. So that they can move to wherever they loved and do whatever they wanted.

I was happy for them.

"Is it someone? Someone new in your life, Brian?" Mom asks, twirling her fork on top of her plate.

"Nah," I tell her immediately, trying to play it cool.

I can't tell her about Kara. Although she may have guessed by now. But telling her solidifies it, in a wrong way. Mom wouldn't understand the dare. She never does.