The Dare by R.L.STINE

Author:R.L.STINE
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SIMON PULSE
Published: 2003-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

chapter 14

“H ey, how’s it going?” Dennis grinned at me.

Four other faces peered in at me. Dennis had brought a whole group—Melody, Zack, Lanny, and even Caitlin!

They pushed past me into the house, all talking at once. I flashed Dennis a what’s-going-on-here? look, but he didn’t seem to notice.

After tossing their coats on a chair, they sprawled around the living room, talking and laughing, dropping their backpacks to the floor, pretty much ignoring me.

Melody stretched her legs over the arm of a brown vinyl armchair. She was wearing a long red sweater over black tights. Her blond hair was twisted up in a tight bun behind her head. “What are we doing here?” she asked Dennis. “Are we studying, or what?”

“We’re partying,” Zack said, grinning. He had dropped his large Hulk body onto the floor. He was wearing his blue sunglasses, as usual. He turned to me. “Do you have anything to drink?”

“I think there are some Cokes in the fridge,” I replied.

“I like your house,” Lanny said, tapping a hand on the shabby corduroy couch. “It’s real … comfortable.”

“Is anyone else home?” Caitlin asked, glancing around. She stood very close to Dennis, who was sitting on the windowsill. She brushed something off the shoulder of his sweatshirt.

Caitlin had a navy blue baseball cap pulled down over her short brown hair. Her cheeks were red, from the cold outside, I guessed.

I told her my mom was at work. Then I went to see if there were enough Cokes for everyone.

Why didn’t Dennis warn me? I wondered as I made my way to the kitchen. Why didn’t he tell me he was bringing over all his friends?

I was disappointed that he hadn’t come alone. But I was also happy to have them all in my house. I mean, maybe this meant they were accepting me into the group. Maybe this meant we were all going to be friends.

I bent down and started pulling cans of Coke out of the fridge. I could hear Caitlin laughing about something in the other room.

I felt a little uncomfortable having Caitlin there. Especially after what Melody had told me. But Caitlin didn’t seem to be angry or anything. In fact, she seemed to be in a really good mood.

Did she really tell Melody to warn me to stay away from him? Did she even care?

It was all too confusing. I decided to just stay cool and try to enjoy my new friends.

“Hope you don’t mind the crowd scene.” Dennis suddenly appeared in the kitchen doorway. He smiled at me, a little-boy smile.

“No problem.” I returned his smile. I had a sudden impulse to run over to him and throw my arms around him. He was just so great-looking.

Uh-oh, Johanna, I thought. Watch out. You’re really falling for him. Watch out!

Dennis helped me carry in the Cokes. When we returned to the living room, the mood had changed.

Zack had climbed to his feet and was lumbering back and forth in front of the window. “Do you believe that jerk?” he was demanding.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.