There are some groups of friends that are just so close that they seem almost impenetrable to anyone outside of them. They don't mean to be, but they are.
Robbie, James, Katie and Kira were such a group. Nobody knew if they were two couples, just good friends, one couple and two friends or what. No one ever asked. They just accepted them as they were.
Robbie was a contradiction. Good looking, athletic and intelligent. His running ability was the envy of the track team. But running didn't interest him. Instead he spent most of his time at a computer learning, developing, and improving his game. The game he hoped would earn him the money to one-day rival Bill Gates.
James was a rebel without a clue. He tried to be the bad boy but his natural comic side just got in the way of that.
Katie and Kira were both attractive. Not to the point where they were the most attractive in class. But still enough to ensure that Saturdays could be filled with dates without too much effort.
The Dare Pot began life one summer night at a party. All four were tipsy. Not quite drunk but about one drink away from it. They'd played spin the bottle and knew each other to well for Truth or Dare to be that much fun.
Robbie used the opportunity to suggest that they could help him by testing his new program. The program was designed to send pre-programmed text messages to mobile phones and then collate responses.
Each person would write ten dares. The dares had to be something that either a man or woman could do. They had to be verifiable by means of photographic evidence. They had to be something that once completed it was done, for example you couldn't dare someone to marry a homeless person.
One person would be chosen at random by the computer as the DareMaster. They would choose when the system would generate the dare and verify that everyone completed it to satisfaction. The DareMaster must keep their identity secret. Nobody could turn down a dare. The dare had to be completed in the timeframe specified by the DareMaster. As such all mobile phones should be on always and kept ready to receive.
Once the game started it was on until either the DareMaster was unmasked or the year rolled into the new one. This meant that the game could easily last six months, as it was only June.