II. A History of Truth and Dare

xoxoxoxoxoxo

“Tannan, please don’t chop it all off!” I squealed as he continued to clip locks of hair right off of my head.

“Relax, Brooke, I told you, I’m practically a professional.”

“Cutting your sister’s hair a few times does not make you a professional,” I countered.

“Hey, do you want to complete the dare or not?”

Silly me for suggesting we play truth or dare against Sadie and Lucas once again. They always win anyway.

“Of course I do. I mean, we have to win eventually, right? Team Luke and Sadie can’t always take the gold.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I think they started the game while in the womb.”

I laughed.

“You’re not cutting it too short, are you?”

I get very paranoid about hair cuts. Ever since a boy in kindergarten said my hair looked like a rat’s nest after some lady totally messed up the cut, I’ve tried to avoid them as much as possible. I think that’s why Sadie dared Tannan to cut my hair on purpose. What a sweet best friend I have.

“Well, I can always stop now if you’d like.”

“Are you kidding me? You can’t just leave someone’s hair chopped off on only one side. I don’t think future customers would appreciate that very much,” I teased.

“Ha-ha. I’m not going to be a professional, Brooke. Just be still and trust me for now.”

“Alright, alright. I trust you.”

Tannan James has been one of my very best friends since childhood. He moved next door to my family when we were both about six years old, and we’ve been friends almost ever since. Kind of typical, right? Not really. Actually, we weren’t exactly friends right from the start.

Flashback

“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked the strange little dark-haired boy.

“Tannan.”

“Tannan? What kind of a name is that?”

“It’s the name my mommy and daddy gave to me.”

“It’s a weird name.”

“No it’s not!”

“Yes it is.”

“I’m telling my mommy on you!” he shouted, crossing his arms in front of himself defensively.

“Oooo, big deal. Your mommy can’t hurt me.”

“Leave me alone.”

“Fine!”

He got up and ran into his house, and I didn’t see him again until a few days after that.

A few days later

Our door bell rang as I was playing with my dolls in my room. Sadie was there as well, sitting on the floor across from me.

“Who do you think that is?” she asked.

“I dunno. Maybe a friend of my mommy or daddy’s.”

“Wanna go see?” she asked.

“I guess.”

We quietly crept out of my room and down the hall toward the top of the staircase, from which we could clearly see the front door downstairs.

“Oh, it’s just that boy that moved next door; he has a weird name,” I told her.

“New boy? He’s kind of cute,” Sadie said.

“Ewww, Sadie. Boys aren’t cute…they have cooties!”

“My brother says cooties aren’t real.”

“They are…and they’ll bite you if you get too close!” I exclaimed.

A little too loudly.

I put a hand over my mouth and my mother looked up at us from where she stood talking to Mrs. James.

“Brooke and Sadie! Come down and say hello to our new neighbors.”

We trudged down the stairs and found ourselves face to face with Tannan.

I narrowed my eyes when I saw him, and crossed my arms over my chest with a pouty look.

“Brooke,” my mom said, “what’s that look for? His name is Tannan, say hello to him.”

“Hi, Tannan. I still think your name is weird,” I said.

He glared at me.

“Brooke Taylor! We don’t say things like that. Please apologize right now,” my mom said, giving me a bit of a stern look.

I uncrossed my arms and tried to look sincere.

“I’m sorry, Tannan. That wasn’t very nice of me.”

“Brooke, I’ve invited the James’s to stay for dinner tonight. I’ll call over to Sadie’s mom and tell her Sadie can stay as well.”

“Hi, Tannan. I’m Sadie,” Sadie said, holding out her hand.

He shyly shook her hand and gave a faint smile.

“Do you want to go up to Brooke’s room and play with dolls?”

“Dolls? That’s girl stuff!” Tannan said, wrinkling his nose.

“Well, boys can play too. Can’t they, Brooke?” she asked me.

“I don’t want him touching my dolls. He’ll get cooties on them,” I replied.

“Hey, I don’t have cooties!” he yelled back.

“All boys have cooties, Tannan.”

“Alright you kids, why don’t you go up to Brooke’s room and think of something you can all do together,” my mom said, insisting we leave the adults to get acquainted downstairs.

Once we were back in my room, we sat on the floor, each one of us looking at the others.

“So, what do you wanna do?” I asked.

I had put all my dolls away and wondered what on earth we could possibly play with a boy in the room.

“My brothers have been playing this game called truth or dare,” Sadie said.

“What’s that?” Tannan asked.

“I think…you ask one person to pick truth or dare. If you pick truth, then one of the other people has to ask a question, and you have to tell the truth. If you pick dare, you have to do whatever the person tells you to do,” explained Sadie.

“Sounds fun, let’s play!” exclaimed Tannan.

“Sounds dumb,” I said.

“Brooke, don’t say that! You haven’t even played before,” said Sadie.

“Fine, I’ll play.”

“Okay, I’ll go first,” Sadie volunteered. “Brooke, truth or dare?”

“Umm…truth.”

“Do you eat boogers?”

Tannan laughed at her question.

I punched him.

“Ow!” he exclaimed. “Whadidya do that for?” he asked.

“It’s not funny. I do not eat boogers!”

“Brooke, it was just a question.”

“Well, it was a stupid question,” I retorted.

“Fine, but it’s your turn to ask someone now.”

“Okay. Tannan, truth or dare?”

“Dare!” he exclaimed, looking very excited.

“I dare you to drink the water in the toilet.”

Sadie giggled at my question, and soon we were both laughing. Especially at the look on Tannan’s face-it was priceless.

“I’m not drinking toilet water! That’s grooooss!”

“It’s a dare,” I said. “You have to do it, or else you’re a sissy.”

“Am not. That’s no fair!”

“Drink it or you don’t ever get to play with us again,” I threatened him.

“Brooke, maybe you should change the dare. I hear you can get sick from drinking the water out of the toilet,” Sadie interjected.

“Then I dare you to eat a booger, since you think it’s so funny,” I told him.

He pouted and said that wasn’t fair either.

“Well, you have to do one or the other,” I said.

“Fine, I’ll eat one.”

He proceeded to pick his nose and then stick his finger in his mouth, and Sadie and I both squealed with laughter at the face he made as he did so.

Even Tannan himself started laughing, and pretty soon we were shouting dares the rest of the night.

We were all instant friends from that moment on.

End Flashback

I smiled as the memory came and left.

I guess the game was truly a part of our history.

“What?” Tannan asked.

“What do you mean what?”

“Why are you smiling like that?”

“Just remembering the first time we played truth or dare,” I said.

“Oh, geez. Not such a good day.”

“Not for you, anyway,” I said with a laugh. “We were so funny as kids. Me thinking you were like the Cootie King, you thinking I was just plain mean.”

“I only thought you were slightly mean until that day, Brooke. You’re one of the nicest girls I know now, anyway.”

“Aww thanks Tan. You too. Except a boy, of course.”

“Finished. Ta-da!” he exclaimed, spinning me around so that I could look at my new do in the mirror.

“Tannan it’s actually amazing!” I shrieked, hugging him with all my might. “Maybe you should reconsider not doing it as a profession.”

“Okay let’s not get carried away again, Brooke. But it does look pretty good if I do say so myself.”

“Come on let’s go show Team Sake how awesome we are!”

We invented our little “team” names once, noticing how our combined names rhymed with each other. Sadie and Luke are “Sake,” while Tannan and I are “Take.” So, we’re teams Sake and Take. Kind of corny, but we love them anyway.

We opened the door and exited my bathroom, which is adjoined to my room, to see Sadie and Luke sitting on my bed, talking intently about something or other.

When they saw us, or rather, me, Sadie’s mouth appeared to drop to the floor in awe and Luke came over to give Tannan a high-five.

“Dude, you did that? That is so freakin’ hot!” Luke said. “Brooke is going to get every guy’s attention now!”

Lucas is Tannan’s best friend and joined our group to make the infamous foursome in the second grade.

“Chill, Luke,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “I doubt anybody would want to go out with me just because of a simple haircut.”

“Oh, but you don’t know the power of the haircut,” he said profoundly.

“Oh, don’t I? Enlighten me.”

“Well, remember in freshman year how I had that shaggy hair?”

“Who could forget? It was horrendously long and messy!” Sadie said.

“Exactly; but once I got a haircut, and established the golden spiky look I have now, girls have wanted dates right and left.”

“Lucas, girls have always wanted to date you, no matter how your hair is,” I stated.

“Not true. Mandy never wanted to go out with me that year.”

“Mandy was just extremely shy. I’m sure in her heart she would’ve died to go out with a guy like you.”

“Well, whatever. The point is…you guys win this round.”

“Hear that, Tannan?” I said, nudging him in the arm.

“Oh, I heard it alright.”

“That’s a take for team Take!” I shrieked, throwing my arms around him once again in celebration.

“You guys are so cheesy,” Sadie said laughing.

“Ah, but you know you love us.”

“That I do,” she said.

“So, when are you two going on that cruise thing?” Luke asked, looking at me and Sadie.

“You mean Boyline? Onlythe single most fabulous cruise line for teenage juniors and seniors in the world?!”

“Yes, that.”

“Just in a couple of weeks once school gets out. Wow. Once school gets out. You guys we’re graduating!” I exclaimed.

“I know; hardly seems real,” said Tannan.

“I say we go out for ice cream now to show off my new hair. Who’s with me?” I asked.

They all agreed.

“Let’s go friends,” I said.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: Alright, I’m finally posting a second chapter to this story. Kind of just a little background and introduction to the besties. Hope you all liked it though! Hopefully more is on the way soon! And please read my story “Brown Eyes or Blue?” if you haven’t already. I’ll love you forever! Especially if you review!

Thanks guys!

Have a great day!

xoxo HopelessDreamer07