We finish eating our lunch in silence.

"Okay. We need to lighten up. Do something fun," Daniel says. I can tell he wants to stop thinking about Alex.

"I have an idea," Dave says. He turns to the guys to run the idea by them.

"Okay. Truth or dare party tonight!" Daniel announces.

"Our dorm," Oliver adds.

"Okay," Tess agrees, looking excited.

"Wait," Paige says. "We don't know how to get to the boys dorms."

"We'll come get you," Ethyn says.

"Or," Dave says loudly, then whispers to the guys. But Dave sucks at whispering, because we hear every word he says.

"We could invite Lee and Marigold and some of their 54 friends, and a few 53 guys. Then the 54 girls could help these girls find their way."

"Nah," Tristan says. "Lets keep it to just fifteen year olds this time. Plus, what kind of mentor helps their, like, uh, little person, or mentoree, or what ever you call it, sneak out at night?"

"A good one?" Dave suggests, making everyone laugh.

Oliver speaks up. "Girls, just be ready in the girls lounge at five to midnight."

"Eleven fifty-five," Sadie says. "Got it."

---

When curfew rolls around, Tess and I are under our blankets, with our normal clothes on. Paige will have the hardest time sneaking out, because she's in a dorm with Zoe and Marie. And they aren't invited.

Tess and I exit out room just fine, and meet Dawn and Sadie in the girls lounge.

"Where's Paige?" I whisper.

"I don't know," Sadie says, "I guess trying to get out without Zoe and Marie noticing?"

"Probably," Tess agrees.

We wait a few more minutes.

"What dorm is Paige in?" Dawn asks.

I bite my lip. "I don't know."

"Dorm b," Tess says. "I think."

Sadie looks to Tess. "Let's go. You two wait here."

Dawn intervenes. "No. You two are major chatter boxes. Amber and I are quieter. You guys wait here for the boys."

Tess nods. "Okay."

Dawn and I head down the hall.

"I wonder why the triple room isn't room a?"

I'd never thought about that. "I don't know," I whisper back.

We get to dorm b and look at each other. I gesture for Dawn to go ahead and push the door open.

"No, no. You go ahead," Dawn whispers, smiling.

I shake my head.

But before our little argument is resolved, the door opens, and Paige creeps out of her dorm, bumping into me.

She lets out a little shriek. "Amber! I didn't see you!"

I laugh. "We were coming to get you. Sadie and Tess are in the lounge."

Paige nods, and we stealthily head back to the lounge, where the boys are waiting with Tess and Sadie.

"Okay," Daniel says. "We were just explaining to these two that our way of getting back to the boys dorm isn't the nicest, but it works."

Dawn and Paige, and I have mirroring looks of worry and confusion on our faces.

Dave speaks up. "It's through the heating ducts."

Okay. That's not too terrible.

"Let's go."

Oliver holds the vent cover, and Dave climbs in first. It's a decent size to crawl through, about the size of a pillow.

We follow Dave, with Oliver going last, putting the vent cover on behind him.

We crawl out of the vent and into a lounge that looks exactly the same as ours. But it must be the boys lounge.

"K, follow me," Daniel says. "We're going to my dorm."

Which is also Oliver's, if I remember correctly.

"Here are the rules of our truth or dare parties," Dave says. "We have to stay in the room, or Tristan and Ethyn's, which is next door. My room is on the other side. Jared's in their, but don't worry, he's not waking up anytime soon-"

"Dave what did you do?" Sadie asks.

"Sleeping pill. It's all good. Anyway, we still have to relatively quiet. That's about it."

The others guys nod in agreement.

"Alright let's go." Tristan says.

We all sit down in a circle-ish thing on the floor.

"I'm staring, cause it's my room," Oliver announces.

"What? It's my room too!" Daniel protests.

"Okay. Daniel, truth or dare?"

"Ugh. Oliver I hate you. Um, dare."

"Hmm," Oliver says evilly. "I dare you to tell us-"

"Dude!" Ethyn interrupts. "That's for a truth!"

"No it's not, dumb arse! I said I DARE you to tell us! It's a dare!"

Ethyn throws his hands up in the air. "I give up!"

"Finally," Oliver says. "Okay Daniel. I dare you to tell us which girl in this room you would want to kiss."

Daniel smiles. "Amber."

Oh jeez. I turn red, and hide my face in my hands. Why me?

"My turn." Daniel says. "Tess, truth or dare?"

"Dare." She says. I knew she'd choose dare.

Daniel has an evil glint in his eyes. "I dare you to kiss Sadie for 10 seconds."

Sadie screeches. "Please! No!"

"Oh gosh," Tess says. "Are there chickens, or passes?"

Daniel smiles. "Nope."

"What if I don't want to be included in this dare? Sorry Tess." Sadie pleads.

"Okay. Tess, I dare you to kiss a girl for 10 seconds."

"Not it!" I scream.

Paige follows.

Dawn and Sadie both scream "Not it" at the exact same time.

Daniel considers this. "Okay. I dare you to kiss me for 10 seconds."

"Ohh, Daniel, looking for some lovin'?" Tristan jokingly asks.

Daniel turns red.

I am so confused. He just said he would kiss me, and now he wants Tess to kiss him. Wait, why do I even care? Do I have a crush on Daniel? What the heck? I'm turning into a crazy weirdo teenage girl!

"Amber? You alive? Truth or dare?" Tess asks me.

Oh. I guess the kiss has already happened. "Umm, truth."

"What is something no one knows about you?"

That I wanted to come here.

Crap. Did I just say that?

Everyone is looking at me expectantly, so I guess not.

"Um, I have a little brother."

"You already told me that Amber." Tess says.

Oh. "My mom made me redo the ADCCG fitness test, because I passed it."

"What?" Tristan asks.

"She didn't want me to pass it. So she had me redo it."

"And you passed again." Tess confirms.

"Yeah," I say uncertainly. "Dave. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"What do you miss most about your home?"

"My girlfriend. Sadie, truth or dare?"

"Dare. This so called party is getting boring."

"Okay. I dare you to lick Tristan's foot."

"Eww!" Paige and I chorus.

"Ick ick ick ick! Why, Dave?"

"Cause I felt evil," Dave says, smiling. He grabs Tristan's ankle, and pulls the sock off of his foot. Dave holds out Tristan's foot. "Here you go Sadie." The sickening sweet evil smile is still there.

Sadie makes a disgusted face. "Fine."

She does the dare.

"Eww! Where's the water?"

Ethyn throws a plastic water bottle at her, which she catches smoothly and begins to chug.

"Chug! Chug! Chug!" Oliver chants.

We laugh. The rest of the night goes pretty quickly. Pretty soon it's 4:24.

"Okay," Tristan says. "Amber, tomorrow, at breakfast, I dare you to beg Zoe to be in her posse."

"Okay," I say. "And now. I dare you boys to take us back to our dorms. Isn't breakfast in two and a half hours?"

"Yup," Dave says.

Ethyn says, "Let's go."

---

Tess and I put pyjamas on, and fall asleep almost immediately.

When I wake up, Tess is already up. She looks at me and starts laughing.

"What?"

"I just can't wait to see Zoe's face this morning."

Oh yeah. The dare. Right.

---