The Dare by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page A

but it was always a little fast.
    I brushed my hair with rapid strokes. Maybe I should cut it short, I thought. Seeing the cleft in my chin made me frown at myself. Why couldn’t I have a smooth chin like normal people?
    I was still staring unhappily at myself in the mirror when the doorbell rang. I heard Mom’s footsteps downstairs. I heard her pull open the door. I heard Dennis’s voice.
    He’s really here! I thought. It isn’t a joke.
    I took one last look at myself in the mirror, then hurried downstairs to greet him.
    Melody’s house was big and very modern. The living room furniture was all chrome and soft white leather. The walls were covered with framed movie posters. Track lighting on the ceiling cast pale triangles of light over the room.
    â€œHow’s it going?” Melody asked me as she led us into the room. She eyed my yellow sweater. I suddenly felt even more self-conscious. Maybe I should’ve worn the blue one.
    â€œMy parents are at the movies,” Melody told Dennis. “The house is all ours!” She didn’t seem at all surprised to see me with Dennis instead of Caitlin.
    I saw eight or nine kids as Dennis and I followed Melody across the room. They were all from school, but I knew only a few of them. Most of them were seniors.
    Lanny and Zack were standing in front of a TV in the corner, staring at a basketball game, taking longsips from cans of beer. A red-haired girl I didn’t know kept asking them to turn down the sound so she could put on music, but they ignored her.
    Two couples had squeezed onto the couch and were laughing loudly about something. The two boys slapped each other high-fives.
    Two girls were at the table against the wall, helping themselves to sections of an enormous submarine sandwich. The girls both had long, frizzy blond hair that shimmered in the cones of light from overhead.
    â€œYou get anywhere with Northwood?” Melody asked Dennis. Before Dennis could reply, the doorbell rang, and Melody hurried to answer it.
    â€œYou know these kids?” Dennis asked, turning to me. He was wearing a denim vest over a blue workshirt and faded jeans torn at the knees.
    â€œSome of them,” I replied.
    â€œMost of them live in North Hills,” Dennis told me. He motioned to the red-haired girl who was entering the room with Melody. “You know her? That’s Reva Dalby. Her family owns all those department stores.”
    â€œHey, what’s up?” Dennis called to Reva. The two of them talked for a short while about a tennis instructor they both had. I stood close to Dennis, but Reva didn’t seem to notice I was there.
    Dennis and I got Cokes. Then I followed him as he joined Lanny and Zack in front of the TV. He started teasing Lanny about the red jeans he was wearing. “I dare you to wear those to the dance at the club,” Dennis said.
    â€œHey—no dares tonight,” Lanny protested.
    â€œChicken,” Dennis muttered.
    Lanny pretended to get angry. They started laughing and playfully shoving each other, and Lanny spilled some of his beer on the white carpet.
    â€œThat’s okay,” Lanny said, making sure Melody wasn’t watching. “Beer is good for the rug.”
    Several more kids arrived. They all seemed to know one another. Melody got her CD player going and drowned out the sound of the basketball game. I saw a couple making out on the stairway by the front door.
    Since Dennis was busy kidding around with Lanny and Zack, I made my way to the table and took a section of the sub sandwich. I talked with some kids from my English class. “You’re Margaret Rivers’ friend,” someone said to me. “She’s very funny.”
    I wondered what Margaret was doing tonight. I wondered what I would tell her about this party, about my date with Dennis.
    So far there wasn’t much to tell. Dennis was pretty much ignoring me.
    Around eleven o’clock, some kids left.