Dare You to Lie

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  “Ms. Newberry!” Mrs. Summers shouted. “Collect your things. You’ll be sitting with me this period.”

  Tabby flashed me an apologetic look, then did as she was told. She walked away, leaving me in silence. I tried to chip away at my Spanish homework, but I couldn’t focus. My mind was a mess of random thoughts about Donovan, Amy, and whatever was in that pill container. If his behavior went south about the time he started taking the drug, then surely there was a connection there—one that could be easily addressed with a doctor’s intervention and a change in meds. It made me wonder about what exactly he’d been prescribed and why. Two questions I wasn’t likely to get answers to anytime soon.

  By the time I looked up at the clock, my mind tired from running in circles, I realized that study hall was almost over. I hazarded a glance over at Tabby, who seemed to have been waiting for me to do just that. With frantic hand gestures and overly mouthed words, she tried to tell me something that I hadn’t a hope in hell of understanding. The girl looked like she was going to explode any second. It was all I could do to keep from bursting out into hysterics.

  Tabby’s pale face flushed with frustration as she continually tried to convey whatever message she had for me without drawing Mrs. Summers’ attention. Not surprisingly, she failed. Just as the bell rang, I heard Mrs. Summers summon her.

  “Ms. Newberry, a word.”

  Tabby’s cheeks turned crimson red.

  “Of course.”

  Tabby stayed behind with the middle-aged woman to receive her lecture. Knowing she’d likely be a while, I headed off to the girls’ locker room and got changed without her. I figured it might be best after the confrontation we’d encountered there the day before.

  By the time I was dressed and locking my locker, Tabby still hadn’t arrived, so I decided to join the rest of the class in the gym, hoping she’d pop in sooner than later. If she didn’t, she’d be running laps. A lot of them.

  I pushed the door open and walked into the gym to find an unpleasant surprise waiting. Donovan stood on the far side of the room, smiling wickedly at me with his stare. While I tried to figure out why he was suddenly in my class when he hadn’t been the previous day, I heard one of the doors to the gym fly open, crashing into the wall. I looked over my shoulder to find a skinny redhead running toward me.

  Moments later, Tabby was at my side, whispering in my ear.

  “He dropped a class, and they had to switch his schedule around. That’s what I was trying to warn you about in study hall.”

  I looked up at my friend, who was proving more and more to be a surprising wealth of knowledge.

  “Yeah, I never would have gotten that from the routine you were doing.” I smiled at her and earned myself a scowl in return. “How do you even know that, Tabby?”

  “I was in the office when he asked to drop it. He was given two different options for gym class, and he was very quick to choose this one. Convenient, don’t you think?”

  “I sure do. If I thought he had a brain in that massive head of his, I’d have thought he was trying to get to me. And just when things seemed to be all settled.”

  “Sure doesn’t feel that way, judging by the look on his face and the way he hasn’t so much as glanced at anything other than you since I walked in.”

  “I’m inclined to agree.”

  “This is bad, Ky.”

  “Quite possibly. I hope for our sakes he’s on our volleyball team. I don’t want to be returning whatever rockets he spikes at me.”

  I looked at Donovan across the room and realized that what had gone down yesterday had very little to do with Amy. He didn’t like that I’d made him look bad, look like anything other than the mountain of muscle he saw himself as. I’d challenged that reality in front of his friends. And that was an injustice he had zero intentions of leaving alone. Donovan would keep coming after me until he felt he’d gotten his pound of flesh. That meant I needed whatever leverage I could find to make sure he didn’t get it.

  “All right, kids, listen up,” Ms. Davies announced, interrupting Tabby. “I know you’re all thrilled about today’s sport, especially those of you with some pent-up aggression, but remember, there are rules. No crossing the center line under the net. Call the ball so we don’t have any collisions and the school board decides to ban yet another sport from the curriculum. And remember that spiking the ball is not a show of brute force. It’s not how hard you hit it that’s important. It’s where you place it.” She looked at us as we all stared at her, completely mute. “All right then. Let’s divide up into teams.” She started assigning people to one side of the net or the other, and students began to disperse, assuming a position on the court.

  Tabby was on the other team, finding a spot in the back row. I took up a place by the net in front of the server on our team—who just happened to be Donovan. As Ms. Davies threw him the ball to serve, I couldn’t bring myself to fully turn my back to him. I had a strong feeling the ball was about to be rifled right at my head.

  Surprisingly, it went over, and the game began. Gym-class volleyball was a shit show at best. Watching a bunch of non–volleyball players flounder around the court was amusing, but the chaos somehow came together on Tabby’s end, and one of the skinny kids next to her spiked the ball back at me. I called it, stepping back away from the net so I could get a solid bump in. Then I heard Donovan shout something behind me. Before I could puzzle together what was going on, he dove into me, driving me face-first into the floor. My forehead cracked against the hardwood, then his massive body held me down. I could hardly breathe with that much weight pressing against my ribs.

  “Shipman!” Ms. Davies shouted, running up to us. She must have helped to haul him off of me, because I could finally breathe again. I coughed wildly as I gasped for air. Tabby rushed over to help me up, and I swayed on my feet, feeling light-headed.

  “Are you okay, Danners?” Ms. Davies asked, walking over to assess me.

  “Yep. Shipshape.”

  “You’ve got quite a goose egg on your forehead there. You need some ice. Tabby, I want you to go back to the locker room with Kylene, then go get some ice from the nurse.”

  “Okay.”

  “As for you, Shipman. Was I not clear about calling the ball?”

  “Yes, ma’am, you were, and I did.”

  “Yep, you sure did. Right after Danners did. I think maybe you and your overeager need to go for the ball can sit out the rest of class.”

  Donovan turned to walk over to the bleachers, but not without flashing me a grin over his shoulder.

  “What a jerk,” Tabby whispered.

  “Yeah. I think we firmly established that yesterday.”

  Ms. Davies pointed toward the door to the girls’ locker room, and Tabby put her arm around my waist, ushering me toward it.

  “Just keep an eye on her, Tabby. Let me know if anything changes. And remember, friends don’t let friends die of head traumas.” Tabby’s face went pale for a second at the thought.

  “Yes, Ms. Davies.”

  We walked across the gym floor to the locker room, and once we were there, she sat me down on the bench and looked me over with narrowed eyes.

  “Are you going to be okay here while I go get the ice?”

  I nodded, stopping the second my head went all swimmy.

  “I’ll be fine. Just go.”

  She hesitated for a second, then walked out, muttering to herself as she tried to remember where the nurse’s office was. Apparently, she wouldn’t be back too soon.

  While sitting alone in the locker room, my head pounding, a thought occurred to me. If ever I’d wanted to find out what Donovan’s prescription was for, now was the time. It was in his backpack, which was in the boys’ locker room—where no one would be.

  I stood up slowly, making sure I was steady on my feet before sneaking out into the hallway. A quick glance showed it was clear, so I hurried the few feet down to the boys’ locker-room door. I stuck my head in, listening to see if anyone w
as in there. That area of the school had the bathroom in the locker room, so people would use the facilities in there rather than traipse halfway across the school to pee. Luckily, it was empty, so I slipped in and made a beeline for the rows of lockers. I tried to be quiet, but that was nearly impossible; my adrenaline was racing, giving me jittery hands. It made it hard to close them around the locker latches with any amount of grace.

  Some lockers were actually locked up, which was immensely frustrating, but several were not. I had a feeling Donovan’s wouldn’t be, because, really, who would dare steal from him? Someone with a death wish, that’s who. That made me question my sanity for a second.

  Finally, at the end of one of the rows, I found an occupied locker. One containing a bag with a JHS football patch on it. I ripped the backpack open and pulled out a book. Shipman was written on it in black Sharpie.

  “Gotcha,” I said to myself.

  I rifled through all the pockets, looking for the evidence. Inside the bag, in a zippered compartment, was the orange prescription bottle. I pulled it out and read the label.

  It had been recently filled, but I didn’t recognize the proper name of the drug. I repeated it over in my mind to commit it to memory so I could look it up later. I also memorized the name of the prescribing doctor, just in case. Then I opened the lid.

  “Seems pretty empty,” I said before closing it up and putting it back in the bag. Knowing Tabby would soon be back, I quickly zipped it shut and shoved it back in the way I’d found it and closed the door. I turned to hurry down the row of lockers, but something—or more accurately someone—was in my way.

  “Something I can help you with, Danners?” he asked, reaching an arm out to lean on a nearby locker, caging me in. My heart thundered in my chest.

  “I think that blow to the head is making me confused. Why are you in the girls’ locker room, Donovan?”

  “I think the question you meant to ask is why are you in the boys’ locker room?”

  “Am I?” I did my best to sound bewildered. “How did that happen?”

  “I’m more interested in why it happened.”

  “I got sacked by a buffalo and hit my head, Donovan. I probably have a concussion.”

  His expression turned from darkly amused to predatory.

  “See, now, I’d like to think that’s true, but in light of recent events and your inability to keep your nose out of places it doesn’t belong, I don’t think it’s that simple. It looked a lot more like you were rifling through my bag for something.”

  He took a step forward.

  I took one in retreat.

  “Tabby is probably looking for me. She’ll be worried if I’m not there. Probably go get Ms. Davies to help her search.”

  “I don’t think that’ll be a problem. They won’t start that search in here.”

  He continued to advance on me slowly, and I matched him step for step. It probably looked like an elegant dance of sorts—like something from the Renaissance era—but it was far more sinister than that. Donovan’s narrowed eyes told me as much. He planned to let me know what happened to people that messed with him.

  If I was going to go down in flames, then I’d do so fighting.

  “I’m not sure you’ve really thought this through, Donovan. An arrest for assault is hardly going to get you a full ride to college.”

  He stopped short and smiled at me. The contorted set of his features was as ugly as it was scary. There was no joy in that smile—only malice.

  “That won’t be an issue.”

  “Oh, really? You weren’t too careful with Amy. I could see those bruises from a mile away.”

  “Yeah, well,” he said with a shrug, “I don’t plan to bruise you where it can be easily seen.”

  My blood ran cold. Nothing about that statement was good.

  “Or you could let me go and know I won’t say a word about how you like to beat up on your girlfriend. No harm. No foul.”

  “Aw, but you see, Danners, it’s too late for that now. You can’t be trusted, and you need to learn your place. Someone needs to knock you off that pedestal you’ve put yourself on,” he scoffed. “Amazing that your daddy going to prison wasn’t enough to do that. Maybe this will.”

  He lunged for me and I dodged it, trying to push his momentum to the side, but there wasn’t enough room to navigate in the narrow passage between the rows of lockers. It was only a matter of seconds before I found myself slammed against one of the red metal doors, the handle digging painfully into my back. Before I could scream for help, he clasped his hand over my mouth, cutting off my chance.

  I was waist high in deep shit, and I knew it.

  “I’m going to enjoy breaking you, tough girl,” he whispered, his face only inches from mine. “All bitches can be made to heel. Even you.”

  “Donovan!” someone shouted. I couldn’t see past the large frame holding me in place, to see who it was, but I knew. I’d have known that voice anywhere. “Let her go. Now.”

  Donovan’s head turned to face the person who dared to interrupt him. The motion was slow and eerie and alien. If I hadn’t already been scared out of my mind, that single movement would have pushed me over the edge.

  “AJ,” he said casually, as though he wasn’t standing there, holding me captive. As if it were just any normal day.

  “I won’t say it again.”

  “You need to leave,” Donovan replied, his tone now full of warning.

  “Or what? You’ll slam me against a locker, too?”

  “Something like that.” Donovan’s gaze drifted back to me, dismissing the boy behind him. Seconds later, I saw strong arms wrap around Donovan’s chest and yank him away from me. My assailant tripped over the bench in the center of the aisle and crashed against the adjacent wall of lockers. “I’m going to beat the shit out of you,” Donovan said, his voice more of a growl than anything. He barely sounded human.

  “I don’t think so,” the boy replied, stepping between me and Donovan. “You need me. If I get hurt, we don’t win. And you need a winning record on your résumé, don’t you? There are recruiters coming to the game on Friday. It’d be a shame for the starting quarterback to be out injured. Especially when our backup is nursing tendinitis in his throwing arm.”

  “I’m on the defensive line. Maybe if I was a wide receiver I’d give a shit.”

  “But without me, there won’t be a state championship. And you know how those big schools like those.”

  Donovan huffed like a cornered bull getting ready to charge, but he remained still, his eyes darting from the hero to me and back again. After a minute or so, I could see the realization dawn on him. He couldn’t afford to have a losing season.

  “This isn’t over, Danners,” he snarled, pushing away from the lockers to leave.

  “I think it is, Donovan. If anything happens to her, I’ll start throwing games left and right. I’ll bury our team so far in the ranking that those schools you’re looking at won’t even see us on their radar. You feel me?”

  Donovan’s jaw flexed so hard that I was pretty sure his teeth were going to break under all that pressure.

  “I feel you. Just tell your bitch to keep her mouth shut.”

  With that final thought, he exited through the door that led back to the gym, leaving me behind with my adrenaline, my fear, and the boy who had crushed my heart.

  NINE

  AJ goddamned Miller.

  Of all the people in that school, he was the last person I wanted to see—or second to last if I counted Donovan. It was like the universe had a personal vendetta against me. If AJ Miller saving my ass wasn’t irony at its finest, I didn’t know what was.

  I should have run out of that locker room the minute Donovan left, but for whatever unfathomable reason, I didn’t. Instead, I stood there, staring into the face of the person who stole a part of my innocence, and said nothing.

  “Are you okay?” AJ asked, his green eyes intense but warm. He reached his hand toward me, and I shrugged away
from him, revolted by the thought of his touch.

  His arm fell limp at his side, the familiar look of dejection plain in his expression.

  “I need to go.” I did little to try to hide just how much I wanted to get away from him. He sidestepped in front of me, blocking my path, though not in an intimidating way. Apparently, it wasn’t going to be that easy to escape my past.

  “I just want to know that you’re all right, Ky. That’s all.” I nodded silently in response. “He didn’t hurt you?” I shook my head. “Will you please say something to me? Anything?”

  I looked up at him with cold eyes.

  AJ Miller had been my first real love. From the moment we’d started dating, we were inseparable. He was best friends with Garrett, which made things easier. Both of the boys I loved were always around. My life couldn’t have been any better.

  And then everything went wrong.

  AJ was at the football party the night the scandalous pictures of me were taken. The photos had been captured with his phone. And though I’d been drunk at that party, having caved to peer pressure for what would be the first and final time in my life, I knew I didn’t consent to what had been done.

  He’d betrayed me. He was boy number six.

  “I have lots of things I could say, AJ, but none of them would be worth my time. You’re not worth my time.” With that, I slinked past him, careful not to touch him. He moved out of the way.

  “How about you tell me why I just walked in on whatever was about to happen in here, Kylene?” he called after me.

  “Because Donovan is an aggressive freak who likes to beat on his girlfriend, and he knows that I know it. I know his dirty little secret.”

  “Kylene,” AJ said, following me to the door. “He’s dangerous. Like really, really dangerous. You need to drop this. I mean it.”

  I wheeled on him just before I opened the door to exit the boys’ locker room, letting out some of my fear and adrenaline on him.

  “Just like I dropped the picture scandal? You want me to bend over and take it again, is that it? Well, that ain’t gonna happen, AJ. I let you get away with that, and I’ve hated myself for it ever since. I’m so tired of the football players in this town being above the law. It’s bullshit. And speaking of bullshit, don’t stand here in front of me and pretend to be concerned. You don’t get to do that, understand? Those days are so long gone it’s laughable.”