Disclaimer: This story contains underaged drinking, mean behavior, and a lot of poor decisions. If any of that bothers you, you might not want to keep reading.
"Truth or dare?" Clara asked, incredulously, "What is this, grade school?"
What was she even doing here, she wondered. This whole party was a complete let-down. It might have been better if her boyfriend, Mark, hadn't drunk so much. He was grumpy and obnoxious and seemed to be hitting on every girl in the room, even though most of them seemed to have boyfriends. To make matters worse, she was basically stuck in a room full of people she didn't know very well.
Well, she knew Deirdre and Kathy. They were on her cheer squad, so she had spent a lot of time with them, but that didn't really make it any better. Deirdre was nice enough, but she could be pretty standoffish, even with the other cheer girls. As the only black girl, she probably felt out of place. Clara was sympathetic, but that still didn't make it any easier to be friends with her for all that she'd tried.
Kathy, on the other hand, she couldn't really stand. Just looking at the blond skank made her annoyed. She had tried to make nice with her, but they remained bitter rivals. Kathy was the head cheerleader, and she never failed to lord it over everyone. She particularly targeted Clara, showing her up or causing trouble for her every chance she got. Even now she was openly flirting with Mark, and he seemed to be eating it up.
Men had a way of doing that around Kathy. It wasn't fair that a woman could be that beautiful. She simply outshone other women. Even the other cheerleaders looked dull in comparison. Her face was perfect, with sparkling blue eyes, high cheekbones, puffy lips, and a sharp chin. Even her body was somehow more sexy than the other cheer girls. He legs were more toned. Her breasts were bigger, yet somehow more firm. Her hips, her back, her belly -- everything was flawless. It really wasn't fair. Kathy knew it, and was constantly coming up with new ways to put other women around her down.
So Clara was naturally suspicious when Kathy suggested they do truth or dare. She had to be up to something, but Clara couldn't figure out exactly what it was. SHe felt trapped. If this was actually going to go down, she didn't want to back out and lose face. She was hoping that everyone would agree that it was a stupid idea.
"Why not?" asked Brandon, "What else are we going to do up here?" They had retreated to Josh's room upstairs with a couple of pitchers of beer when the party got just too crowded. Josh, hoping to recruit some new blood, had invited Mark and Deirdre's boyfriend, Malik, along with Brandon, and a couple cute guys she didn't really know.
Delta was a new Frat on campus and was desperate to add more brothers. This was their biggest party so far this year, and it seemed like everyone on campus was there. That might have been fine, but a miserable sleet storm had driven everyone inside. Now the floor was too packed to dance, and you had to make it through a scrum just to get to one of the kegs.
Because there were so few brothers, Josh had an entire suite to himself, and it was probably the best place to be in the house. At least it would have been if there was something to do. Until Kathy spoke up, they had been just sitting around a large coffee table on an assortment of chairs and beds, trying not to be awkward
Kathy was looking for something fun to do, an icebreaker for a group that didn't have all that much in common. She saw herself as a natural leader, and she wanted to stir up some fun. If it made Clara look bad, that would be a bonus. Naturally, Clara was being a wet blanket about it. Well, Kathy would put her in her place soon enough. She always did. Her raven-haired rival was acting jealous of her as usual, the bitch. Of course it would be Clara who would put down her idea. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. Kathy knew that she just needed a few people to like the idea before it would take off. She wouldn't have expected Brandon to be the first to go for it, though.
Kathy didn't really know Brandon very well, but he seemed like a super conservative Christian type. He was sort of cute, with straight, light brown hair and a freckled face. He just needed to loosen up a bit. That he and his girlfriend, Ruth, had come to this party at all was a bit of a surprise, really. Ruth seemed incredibly shy and quiet, and Kathy resolved to coax out her wild side. She had a classic Polish face, with puffy cheeks that dimpled when she smiled, blue eyes, and blond ringlets. It was impossible to tell what her body looked like because she was dressed in a shapeless sweater and long baggy skirt. Kathy wouldn't have expected to find someone like Ruth or Brandon at a big party. They seemed more the type to go to a prayer meeting or something. Did they even have a wild side? Kathy would need to get them boozed up somehow. She was willing to bet that if she could stick enough liquor in them, even Ruth would do something humiliating or stupid.
"I don't know," said Ruth demurely, "I haven't ever played with adults before." The last time Ruth had played truth or dare was in fifth grade. She remembered that she had quit rather than kiss Jack Andrews. "What would the rules be?"
Kathy smiled. Once they asked what the rules were, she knew they were in. She didn't really have a set of rules on hand, but she was a quick thinker and could make them up on the fly, "We can just take turns going around the room clockwise. You pick truth or dare. Anyone can make a truth or dare up. Best one, or first one becomes the official challenge. Nothing too hard and fast about it. If you want to refuse a dare, you have to drink a shot."
"Or a truth," interjected Malik, Deirdre's boyfriend, "Right?"
"Sure, or a truth," Kathy rolled with it. It was always good to let others think they were collaborating on making rules. She went on, "We can give people dares out of turn if it's just too juicy to pass up on, of course. Everyone's got to agree on it, though. We can make up new rules as we need them."
"I've got some shot glasses, said Josh. He could see where this was going. The shots would loosen up with shy ones. He figured he could speed along the process a bit, so he got out a set of extra large shot glasses and started filling them with cheap 151 rum.
"Who goes first?" asked Chris. Chris never talked much, which suited him well. He was big and strong, and was afraid that he would intimidate people if he was too outgoing, so he tended to be more passive socially. This, combined with his incredible good looks, made him almost irresistible to most women. He had short, sandy brown hair, thick eyebrows, and a strong jaw. Because he was so quiet, people often thought that he was a dumb jock, but he was actually a dean's list student, and was very socially aware as well.
His girlfriend, Judy nudged him gently and said, "I think you just volunteered." Judy was not the girl you would have expected Chris to go out with. She looked like a flower child, with big hooped earrings and lots of flimsy scarves. Her hair was loose, and a little unkempt. It was naturally brown, but where it had gotten a lot of sun, it tended toward reddish highlights. Her thin dress did little to hide her willowy figure and high breasts. Kathy couldn't help wondering what he saw in her. He could really do better.
"Do you wrestlers ever get an erection while you're rolling around?" asked Mary playfully. Everyone turned to her in surprise. Josh looked incredibly embarrassed by his girlfriend's question. The two of them had started drinking before the party even started, and Mary was feeling silly. She shrugged her shoulders, "Come on. I've always wondered, and now you have to tell the truth." Her face broke into a wide smile. Mary had a thin face with a big hooked witchy nose, but when she smiled, it lit up the room.
"So, I guess we're doing this," asked Clara. There were a couple of nods and affirmative grunts. No one seemed exactly enthusiastic, but no one was saying "no" either.
"I never pick truth," said Chris, "I always pick dares, but I can do this one. You're not any more likely to get an erection in wrestling than pole vaulting."
"Pole vaulting," giggled Mary. Everyone else laughed nervously with her. Then she persisted, "What if you're gay?"
"I'm not," said Chris calmly, "I'm sure there are gay wrestlers, but it's a sport. You're trying to defeat the other guy. It's about force and technique. We're not just rolling around. I've never seen a wrestler get a woody during a meet, or even a practice."
Kathy had been around Chris in the past, and she didn't think she'd ever heard him say so much in one go. His voice was calm and deep and smooth --- very sexy. She could have just sat and listened to him, but he was done talking, and she wanted to keep things moving so she moved on. "Ruth, truth or dare?"
"Truth." She was afraid of what a dare might be like.
Kathy's mean streak started to show through. She wanted to get the dares going, so she needed everyone to be afraid of Truth. "Who here are you attracted to, other than Brandon?"
Poor Ruth was afraid of offending Brandon. She had almost no experience with drinking, but thought it would be safer than saying anything. Of course, her silence said just as much as words, and she couldn't help stealing a glance over at Chris. She picked up her shot glass and tossed it back like she had seen movie characters do it. A moment later she was gasping and coughing.
When she finally got her breath back, she asked, "What is that stuff? Gasoline?"
"It's just rum," said Josh, not mentioning the strength or the size of the shots, "You'll get used to it."
"You've gotta chase it with something," suggested Mary, helpfully, "Next time take a big gulp of beer as soon as you swallow it. It helps cool it down." Ruth took a long pull from her beer. It did help. Josh, refilled her shot and even topped off her beer.
"Brandon, truth or dare?" asked Kathy, continuing her role of MC.
Brandon was irrationally upset that Ruth was attracted to Chris. He was having second thoughts about being here at all. However, it was rare that he got to hang out with a bunch of cheerleaders, and who knew where some dares might lead? Maybe he would get to see them take their shirts off. It was too good a chance to pass up on. He didn't want to do anything embarrassing himself, so he said, "Truth."
"Have you and Ruth had sex yet?" asked Josh. Everyone was pretty sure that Mary had told him to ask it.
Brandon's face turned scarlet. He shouldn't be embarrassed, he thought, but he was. He knew it was wrong, but he really WANTED to have sex with Ruth. She was just so pure and perfect. Having sex outside of marriage was dirty, but he couldn't help himself. He was constantly pushing her to do more with him. Sooner or later, he thought she would give in and they would lie together in sin.
"No," he finally said, "We're both virgins."
Malik, surprised everyone by speaking first. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, brother," he said, "Respect." There was a quiet murder of ascent. Deirdre felt a wave of love for Malik spread through her. He always found a way to be kind to everyone, even an uptight prig like Brandon.
