When we make it to where Belle and Julie are sitting, I notice that the rest of the students who came to the beach are here as well, spread out along the shore. The girls reserved two seats next to them and are chatting animatedly, though Belle seems worried. I examine Julie, who looks pretty in her deep yellow one-piece. Her dark frizzy hair is short and covers her shoulders, and she wears a silver charm bracelet while holding an orange popsicle.
Belle finally spots us and relief washes over her face.
"Hey, Caspian," Julie greets, "Who's this? I thought Vivienne was with you guys?" I roll my eyes and put my hands on my hips while Caspian smirks and Belle stifles a giggle. I take the seat next to Julie while Caspian takes the seat on the other side of me, and Julie looks at all of us, confused, while Caspian gives Belle her strawberry ice cream and me my vanilla.
Belle texts me.
B: All three of us are going to talk later
I send her a nod of affirmation before focusing back to the conversation.
"Julie, this is Vivi!" Belle exclaims, surprising Julie.
"Wow, girl, you look hot," She starts, apparently awestruck, "I didn't know this is what you were hiding under your clothes," Then she looks inexplicably guilty, looking over my shoulder. "You might want to either run or say you are someone else; Noah and Sophie are coming over here,"
I almost choke on air, in the middle of removing my hat and summer dress. I put them on the back of my chair and lounge on it, one leg straight while the other is bent, an arm over my forehead, keeping the sunglasses down and letting my hair flow down my back and down my side.
"Why are they here?" I hiss to Julie after glancing behind me and seeing that they are getting closer to where we are sitting.
"I may have invited them and a couple of other kids to play a few rounds of truth and dare," Julie explains, a nervous smile on her face and her hand rubbing the back of her neck. I take a deep breath before pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Well, there's no backing out now, I guess. You three," I say, pointing at Belle, Caspian, and Julie in succession, "My new name is...Analise. You even mention my real name and I will strangle you," Caspian smirks, knowing my threat is real, Julie rolls her eyes, and Belle lets out a nervous giggle.
The ice cream starts dripping so I start taking small bites out of it, fearful of a brain freeze.
Noah and Sophie finally reach us, Noah shirtless and in tropical shorts, his eye slightly bruised where I punched it, while Sophie has her straight platinum hair out to her mid-back and is wearing a very revealing pink two-piece bikini. Her face is loaded with makeup, which is caking and acting very weird from the heat. Though they both smile, they don't touch each other, presumably still in an argument. I feel everyone's eyes on my hair as it is in full light for the first time today. It looks like a mix of auburn, red, brown, and dark gold, smooth and flowing in loose ringlets and waves.
I push it behind my shoulder before looking up at Noah and Sophie, Noah who squints at me and Sophie who glares at me like I shaved all her hair.
"Hey, Julie, Belle, Caspian. Who's this?" Sophie asks, a little jealousy leaking into her tone. I look down at myself. I don't want to be the object of someone's envy.
Caspian clears his throat. "This is Analise, she's um...Vivienne's cousin," I shoot a glare at him while he shrugs, as if saying what am I supposed to say? Belle covers her face with her hands while Julie frowns a little. Sophie looks even angrier while Noah looks like a lightbulb turned on in his head.
"Oh! That's why you look so familiar!" He exclaims, explaining the reason for his squinting. Then he looks closer at my abs. "Bodybuilding must run in the family, huh?"
I nod, then sharply look away from him, seeing Sophie relax a little and Caspian, Belle, and Julie all simultaneously smirk. A dark feeling swirls in my gut, warning me to be wary of Noah today.
They all get settled in chairs; Noah and Caspian talking about the recent soccer games, sometimes asking my opinion, while the girls engage in their gossip, also sometimes asking my opinion. I am caught in the middle, not speaking much, though.
Soon our group of six turns into a group of twelve, including me, Belle, Caspian, Julie, Noah, Sophie, Haley, Emma, Theo, Alex, and two people from Caspian's class who I don't really know. All the boys showed up in practically the same outfit: shirtless with shorts, while the girls have different types of swimwear on.
We have all our chairs in a circle, and Caspian sits to my left and on my right sits Noah. It is almost noon, all of us have finished at least one ice cream, and Julie claps her hands to get our attention.
"Okay, today we're all going to have a fun time! We'll start with a little spin the bottle and truth and dare after that," She says, inciting cheers from the others. I already know that as soon as you come in the circle you can't avoid the games. But I already have a plan.
I pull out my long lemonade bottle that Julie asked me to bring, since there's a lot of people, we need a large bottle, and I knew at the house what it may be used for, so I put a small but powerful magnet on the lid. I held the other magnet and marked it so that I know which way to point the magnet to push the bottle tip away from me.
All of us sit in the sand in front of the chairs we sat in a few moments ago. My knees touch Caspian's and Noah's so I scoot back a little before tossing the bottle to Julie. She puts it in the middle.
"Okay, the rules are you have to kiss the person it lands on, except if they're not your type or related to you; then you can choose to spin again." Julie explains before pointing the end of the bottle to the first volunteer: Sophie, who I'm pretty sure came a little drunk.
She giggles and is about to spin the bottle before frowning. She whispers something into Belle's ear and Belle sighs before getting up and sitting next to me where Noah was sitting. He sits next to Sophie now, a little frustrated.
Belle looks a little nervous, so I silently show her the magnet in my hand, and she glances at the bottle before understanding. She sighs in relief.
"You should have known that I would never have done something like this without a backup plan," I whisper to Belle. She grins.
"What about Caspian?" She asks.
"What about him?"
"Well, are you going to let him use it too?"
"No," I giggle, a little mischievous.
"Well you know more than I do how the bottle has much more chance of landing on him after passing by the magnet!"
"I know, Belle, don't spoil the fun!" We both giggle, drawing Caspian's attention.
"What are you guys laughing about?" He says, a little nervous and clueless.
"Nothing!" We say simultaneously, wearing the same mischievous smirk, freaking out Caspian.
"Wait...This has something to do with me, doesn't it?" Belle and I giggle, causing a look of horror to appear on Caspian's face. "But...you guys...It's spin the bottle! I can't handle any tricks!"
"Don't worry, Caspian," I say, lying through my teeth, "It doesn't involve you. We'll tell you later, okay?" With a resigned nod he turns back to one of his friends, talking about some shit only they understand.
"You're so bad," Belle says, staring at me after poking me.
"I know," I say, right after poking her back. Everyone hushes as Sophie declares she is ready to play. I wink at Belle and we both see Caspian crossing his fingers and pleading to god that the bottle doesn't land on him. Sophie has makeup caked on her face and her lips look very unnatural from all the plastic surgery and such on her face.
Sophie spins the bottle and I lean back, one of my arms behind Caspian, and flip the magnet so it is attracted in his direction, but at an angle so the bottle doesn't come flying at him. It stops at Caspian for a second, but an extra gust of wind shifts it a little toward his friend next to him, who looks horrified while Caspian exhales loudly in relief.
After a two-second kiss between Sophie and Caspian's friend, Thomas, that I don't watch, the bottle is passed to Thomas, who passes it to another volunteer. This time it happens to be Alex, who is staring at Belle. I nudge her and she looks frightened. I put the marked side of the magnet in between us and the bottle passes. The bottle flies past us and lands on Haley, who is blushing madly.
They both kiss, and I turn away again, but this time Noah notices from across the circle.
"Yo, Analise, why do you always turn away?" I feel the blood rising to my cheeks as I blush. The stupid fact is that I have never seen a kiss, let alone actually preformed one. Everyone stares at me and I simply wipe all emotion from myself, except my blushing cheeks.
"It isn't any of your business, but I've never seen a kiss," I say in a bored tone, looking at my nails as if they deserve more of my attention than him. Everyone falls silent as they stare at me.
"You've never seen a kiss! Not even on TV?" Julie exclaims, overexcited for some reason.
"Nope," I say, popping the 'p'. Julie forms a devious grin on her face, and I pale.
"Everyone listen up. I was looking for a challenge to last us until tonight, but my girl V-Analise has provided us the perfect challenge," She begins, pissing me off more, "First one to show Analise a kiss with proof earns title of Challenger this year!"
I pale even more, if possible. A new Challenger hasn't been named in three years. The person still holding the title is Alex, and it's the one thing he's been super defensive of.
"Okay, fine, whatever, but I encourage all of you to wait until the games are done," I say nonchalantly, not giving away any emotion. People who were getting up sit back down reluctantly and we continue playing spin the bottle.
The game goes on, and, peculiarly, the bottle does land on Caspian frequently, but an extra gust of wind always pushes it away, even despite the magnet.
A few rounds later, the bottle is tossed to Caspian, who looks at it confused before shrugging and spinning it. The bottle passes over to me, but I pull out the magnet and it shifts back to Caspian. Low chuckles are heard around the circle as he spins the bottle again. Again, the bottle almost stops at me, and I pull out the magnet and it stops back at Caspian. Now, a couple of murmurs go around the circle. He spins it again and, once again, it almost stops at me before I pull out the magnet and it goes back to Caspian. He throws it to someone else in the circle, frustrated but relieved, while Belle and I giggle.
As I am distracted, I don't see that Noah caught the bottle and spun it. It lands on me and I full on panic when I realize what happened before my arm tingles and a very large gust of wind moves the bottle to point at Sophie, who puckers up. Noah notices this and his eyes go wide before eyeing Sophie in barely restrained distaste.
They both share a kiss that I don't look at and Julie soon claps loudly, demanding our attention. She hands us each a paper slip with a small pencil.
"We're going to be playing a modified version of Truth or Dare. Everyone write your name on the slip of paper. Girls put their slips in the blue baseball cap, boys in the black one. Then everyone will take a slip of the opposite gender and they will be your partner," She waits for us to write our names on our slips. I put Analise on mine and put the pencil in the bin and my slip into the blue hat. Once everyone is done, she continues.
"Okay, so one of you are going to be the 'truth' and the other is the 'dare'. You have to take turns to choose a truth or dare, and the task or truth is done by both of you. If you need to choose one for another team, the person with the role will tell the truth/dare. Now randomly pick your partners," She finishes, and one by one we all go and pick a slip. Belle goes first and her slip is removed from the blue cap.
"Alex," She calls out, and he goes to stand next to her behind me. Other kids go and I tune out until it's Noah's turn, and I am hoping desperately that I am not chosen. Only mine and Sophie's slips are left, and Noah and Caspian are the last boys sitting. Noah picks out a slip and a smirk makes way onto his face. Warning signals flash in my brain as his body language also signals toward me.
"Analise," He calls out, waiting for me to stand next to him. To piss him off, I cross my arms over my chest after beckoning him toward me. Caspian gives me a wary look and I see his fists clench in suppressed anger. I signal to him it'll be okay, and he moves with a sour expression toward Sophie who is giggling madly and more than a little tipsy.
Noah stands next to me and I remain in my stiff posture with no emotion. Julie tells us all to sit in the sand and we do, Noah a little too close for comfort, but I don't show any weakness. I examine the ring of teenagers. The teams are consisting of Belle and Alex, Haley and one of Caspian's friends, Theo and Emma, Julie and the other one of Caspian's friends, Caspian and Sophie, and me and Noah.
"I'll be dare, you be truth," I tell Noah, leaving no room for argument. If it's a dare, I want it on my terms. I look toward the sun in the middle of the sky, the sunglasses protecting my eyes. Noah nods but doesn't say anything, just watching my hair.
"Let's go!" Julie cheers, spinning the bottle with Thomas. It lands on Belle and Alex. "Truth or dare?" Julie asks, and Alex raises two fingers.
"Dare," he says, inciting jeers from everyone. Usually the first ones stick to truth. Julie taps her chin for a moment before whispering something to Thomas, who I assume is chosen for dares.
"Belle, you have to kiss the guy you find the most attractive in this circle, and Alex, you have to do the same," Alex looks down, and I can sense his internal struggle, since he has a crush on Belle. He has to go first, though, so people start cheering him on. Sophie puckers up and it's no surprise that she thinks she's most attractive.
Alex closes his eyes and, without hesitation, pecks Belle on the cheek. She blushes madly, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. Cheers come from the others as they witness the shyness between them. Belle then swings her fist toward Alex's jaw. I smile proudly, though the punch wouldn't leave anymore than a bruise, she still held onto her dignity. But in the middle of the cheers coming from that act, she turns to kiss Alex's cheek. He sees this coming and I see him about to turn fully, but I send him a glare and the kiss only lands on the corner of his mouth.
She blushes and turns away sharply while Alex is smiling madly, causing more cheers and whistles to erupt from the group. Alex takes the bottle from Julie and spins it. It lands on Haley and Caspian's other friend, Mark.
"Truth," Haley calls out, and Belle smirks deviously.
"Both of you choose one person out of the group who you are crushing on right now," Haley blushes while Mark stretches and smirks.
"Analise," he calls out, cocky and arrogant. I hear a couple of whistles before I glare at everyone. This is sickening.
"T-Theo," Haley answers quietly, blushing even more. Theo looks at Noah and smirks. I didn't know that Haley would fall for him of all people.
Haley takes the bottle quickly and spins it. It lands on me and Noah. I decided that this game might be fun, so I didn't use the magnet.
"Truth or dare?" Mark asks, giving a wolfish grin. I lazily pull up my hand.
"Dare," I say, inciting more murmurs from the group. Mark taps his chin while he thinks. Caspian sits next to me, shuffling, and Noah looks a little nervous from the other side of me. Sophie is hooked onto Caspian's arm and I hold back a laugh when he fails to shrug her off. Next to Noah sits Emma, who leans away from him.
"Okay, both of you have to kiss the person either on your left or your right," Mark says, taking advantage of the dilemma. To my left sits Caspian, who's like an older brother, and to my right sits Noah, who I really want to stay away from. I quickly lean to the left and kiss Caspian on the cheek, nothing mouth-to-mouth. He glances at me before we both look away from each other.
Noah grumbles something intelligible before kissing Emma full on the mouth right after I look away. I am even more disgusted when I hear noises coming from them and figure out that they must be full-on making out now. Sophie looks a little disheartened but still a little tipsy. Caspian must have seen my disgusted facial expression because he laughs when I turn his way.
"At least it isn't me," I say low enough only for him to hear. He bursts out laughing again while everyone else is cheering Noah on.
After they are done, I take the bottle and spin it. It lands on Sophie and Caspian.
"Truth or dare?" I ask.
"Dare," Caspian says, giving me a pleading glance. I think a little, trying to make it easier for Caspian.
"Kiss the person who you are closest to romantically," I say, knowing full well that Sophie has to kiss Noah. She gets up and they have a make out session while Caspian looks around the circle, his gaze never resting anywhere.
"Come on, Caspian," I say, nudging his shoulder, "I just made it easier for you. Go kiss whatever girl you want,"
He looks at me oddly before nodding. Instead of getting up, however, he leans toward me, and very quickly, so I don't pull away, he lands a soft kiss on my cheek. I send him a glare before restraining my clenched fists. I did the same to him, so I guess I can't punch him. He looks at me smugly while everyone in the circle is looking at the two of us. I roll my eyes before relaxing back into my emotionless, nonchalant appearance.