Eleven Years

“Truth or dare!” Joanna shouted. Her large brown eyes shimmered as they scanned the room.

She was hosting one of her infamous sleepovers. Her parents frequently went out-of-town because of work commitments, and that was when Joanna let loose and invited the girls round for sneaky drinking sessions.

“Oh, come on, truth or dare? Seriously?” Trixie scrunched her nose up as she dipped her slender hand into a bowlful of salty popcorn. “We’re sixteen, not twelve!”

“Yeah,” I added, as Trixie munched away. “Where’s the booze?” I inspired the other three girls to chant along. Although we were underage, Joanna’s sleepovers were notorious. Somehow, they had a habit of turning a peaceful, girly get-together into a wild, alcohol-filled party.

Joanna Benson was Jefferson High’s resident socialite. She was also fickle, self-obsessed, and the most malicious gossip in school. It was vital that I stayed on her good side if I wanted to become as popular as the other girls in her crowd.

Suddenly, the group got rowdier, demanding some excitement. Joanna jumped onto her antique four-poster bed and raised a hand. “Quiet!” She turned to me as a sudden hush filled the room. “In answer to your question, Emma, my cousin has agreed to supply the alcohol. But he’s not here yet, so why don’t we pass the time with a game of truth or dare? It won’t be lame, I promise.”

“You swear on your Usher CD?” Joanna’s best friend, Alicia, questioned.

Joanna took a moment to think. With a toss of her dark brown hair, she pouted her glossy lips. “Yes. Let’s spin a bottle to see who goes first.” After much searching, Trixie found a water bottle and we sat around in a large circle like a coven of witches.

After three rotations, the bottle stopped at me, and Joanna grinned with twisted pleasure. “Oh great! I was hoping it would choose you, Emma.” I stared down at the cheeky plastic bottle and awaited my fate. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” I whispered in a bored monotone.

“Who was your first kiss?” I sighed and cast my mind back. Everything was still as clear as day, and yet I had reservations about telling them in fear of ridicule.

“She doesn’t remember!” Kim joked. I pushed her, and she came close to knocking over the popcorn as she thrust out her arm to support the fall.

“Yeah, Emma’s been with so many guys she’s forgotten her first kiss.” Trixie added with a light giggle.

Of course, I remembered.

I was eleven years old, so was he. He’d been my best friend, and his name was Brooklyn Garrett. It was dumb, impulsive, and over within microseconds. He’d subsequently won a scholarship to a performing arts school in New York and left our hometown of Murrayville a few weeks later. We’d lost touch soon after. It was not worth retelling to the most popular girls in school. They wouldn’t let me live it down.

I occasionally wondered what Brook was up to, but these were my new friends. At least I wanted them to be. I’d worked with such determination to get noticed by these four girls, although deep down, I was clinging onto an underlying awareness that they were selfish and bitched behind each other’s backs. But they were all I had, and I craved their acceptance. “It was ages ago.”

“Did you use tongues?” Alicia asked eagerly, like a journalist taking notes. The group giggled, but Joanna scowled across at me indignantly.

“What does that matter? She hasn’t answered the question. She’s got to do a dare.”

“Uh oh. We have our first dare!” Trixie announced in a deep, powerful voice. The rest of the group erupted into fits of laughter.

“I’m not doing a dare.” I replied obstinately, crossing my arms in defiance.

“You have to. Unless you want to tell us about your first kiss,” Kim encouraged, with a curious look swamping her dark features.

“Okay! What do I have to do?” Joanna’s lips formed into a sly grin. She whispered something into Alicia’s ear. She too then giggled and nodded.

“Emma, have you heard of Nick Spears?” I nodded firmly. Who’d not heard of Nick Spears? He had a notoriously bad reputation in Murrayville. There was graffiti on the local church which read, Nick Spears is no angel. Nick Spears is God. I didn’t know how long it had been there. All I knew was that Nick Spears was an enigma, almost as elusive as Bigfoot and UFOs.

“Of course I have, why?” Joanna grinned, almost sadistically.

“He happens to be my cousin. He’ll be here later with the booze. People are coming, and it’s going to get wild. I dare you to track him down and persuade him to leave the party with you.” Joanna and Kim smirked at each other, and I wanted to be in on their private joke.

“What’s so funny? That’s easy.”

Kim stifled back a giggle, and Joanna also smiled. “Hey, we know him.” She boasted. “You won’t be able to tempt him away from a party. I heard he was the one who started that fire at the old McDonald’s.”

“I didn’t know Nick Spears was your cousin.”

“My mother married my father just as his business was taking off. Unfortunately, my poor aunt settled down in the middle of nowhere with a mechanic. I can’t wait until you meet Nick; he’s hard work at the best of times.”

I knew they were setting me up for failure. Joanna clearly thought it would be funny to force me upon her grotesque cousin. I knew he was about thirty with halitosis and no teeth.

“Come on, Emma, I’ll make you look pretty for him.” Trixie leaned in towards me intending to style my soft blonde hair, but before her greasy digits had a chance to damage my best feature, we heard male voices shouting outside. He was here.

  As the party got into full swing, Trixie and I stood on the stairs in the hallway, surveying all the men with intrigue. Joanna was refusing to tell me which one was Nick, although he was apparently there. She was sadistic and got a kick out of watching people make fools of themselves.

There were a lot of men, all in their early twenties. The majority were unshaven, shabby and boisterous. I’d heard many crazy stories about Nick Spears, but no-one had ever told me what he looked like.

Standing beside me was a young guy on his own. Already halfway through his bottle of beer, he smiled at me, and I decided to pounce. “Hey, I heard Nick Spears was here somewhere. Can you point him out to me?” If it all went wrong, there was still a party to enjoy.

“It must be your lucky day.” He said proudly. “I’m Nick Spears.”

He wasn’t what I expected. Clean jeans with brand-new sneakers and cropped blond hair. He wore a dark green sweatshirt and looked like he shopped at GAP. “Really? Hi, I’m Emma. Joanna told me you’d be here.” He frowned and looked a little blank.

“Joanna?” He didn’t seem to know who she was, but if I had Joanna for a cousin, I wouldn’t publicize it. “What else did she say?” I don’t think he cared about Joanna. He was too busy staring at my tanned legs, which were looking very nice against a denim miniskirt.

“Not much. But she knows I like mysterious men.” Excitement filled his pale green eyes, and he stepped backward. As he did so, he collided with a tall, dark-haired man, accidentally spilling beer down the stranger’s black T-shirt.

Straight away I thought he looked like Johnny Depp, and I LOVED Johnny Depp. His jet-black hair hung down to the collar of a long leather trench coat, and he was the first man I’d seen in a long time who had enough facial hair to form a nice-looking goatee.

His bewitching dark eyes flicked to a wild gaze as he grabbed Nick’s sweatshirt, “What do you think you’re doing? Watch where you’re going!” Nick and I were both shocked by the stranger’s irrational behavior.

“I’m sorry, it was an accident.” Nick was weaker than I thought. I heard he’d been in prison, and yet he was quaking over an altercation with a leather-clad beanpole.

“What’s your name?” I had never seen anyone with such a short fuse. He would be a good friend to have if you ever got into trouble.

“I’m Nick Spears.” The stranger rolled his eyes and smirked, as if he wasn’t aware of the infamous man’s power and reputation.

“Prove it.” I couldn’t understand why Nick didn’t flatten the self-assured Depp wannabe. He must have been having a real off-day.

“Look, he said sorry. What’s your problem?” I didn’t appreciate the stranger’s rude interruption as I was so close to winning my dare. He made eye contact, and I couldn’t stop staring at the piercing below his bottom lip. The silver stud was embedded in his dark facial hair.

He smiled with an arrogant charm, “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I hope I didn’t scare you.” He glared at Nick with pure hate, “Excuse me.” And with that, he let go of Joanna’s cousin and stalked off into the crowd like a vampire.

“Kids,” Nick uttered, readjusting his crumpled jumper. “Guys like him think wearing black makes them cool. It ain’t so cool to go around wearing leather coats in June.” I stifled a giggle, liking his calm attitude. “Well, after all that excitement, I could do with another beer. Do you want one?” I keenly agreed and watched him walk away. That blond guy was mine, whether he liked it or not.

Just as I was waiting for Nick to materialize with the drinks, I caught sight of the enigmatic stranger standing in the hallway’s corner swigging his beer. He was staring at me. He was so intense; I felt drawn to him by an unknown force.

“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but that is Nick Spears, and you don’t want to mess with him. I’m just warning you, okay?” He laughed, glancing me up and down as if I were a piece of meat.

“I bet you believe in the Easter Bunny, too.” Clearly, my words of warning fell on deaf ears. This skeleton was just pale skin and bones, and Nick could snap him in half if he wanted.

It was then Nick reappeared with the drinks, “what’s wrong with you, can’t you find a girl of your own?” He was so angry he put the beers down on a nearby table and swung out; punching his competition clean in the face. The stranger instantly recovered and pinned Nick against the wall.

The room fell silent. Eyes focused on the scene as if it were a gladiatorial fight to the death. “Big mistake! You don’t wanna mess with the big boys. What’s your name?”

“I told you! Get your hands off me.” The air grew tense, as the furious man had no intention of obeying Nick. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You’re not Nick Spears, are you?” Nick slowly shook his head. “Don’t you dare use my name again. There’s only one Nick Spears and you’re looking at him.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know.” The blonde impersonator squirmed under the real Nick’s force. He may have been skinny, but his temper was mighty enough to intimidate even larger people.

“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today. Get out of my sight.”

He released his grip and the blonde man stalked off sheepishly. Embarrassed that his attempt to impress me had gone so dramatically wrong. “Are you insane?” I screamed, still in shock.

“No. I’m Nick Spears, nice to meet you.” He offered me his hand, and I shook it weakly.

“Prove it.” I taunted childishly. “A weirdo already lied to me tonight.” He didn’t intimidate me; I was tough. I had witnessed many drunken altercations between my parents.

He casually lit up a cigarette. “You’re a friend of Joanna’s. She said your name’s Emma. I asked her because I couldn’t take my eyes off you.” He smiled casually, and I giggled like a little girl. I was delighted that the blonde man wasn’t Nick Spears, because the genuine article impressed me.

“That’s a terrible line.”

His thin lips curled into a smile. “Joanna didn’t tell me you were so hard to please.”

“If she really is your cousin, what’s her mother’s name?”

“Cecilia Benson. David’s my uncle. Have I passed your test? Here’s my driving license,” he flashed it in front of my face so quickly all I could see was his name, Spears, Nicholas.

“Okay, you win. I’m sorry.” I said calmly, even though I was bubbling away like crazy. All those stories I heard about him; he was a celebrity around Murrayville.

“I’ll forgive you. I can’t abide lying shits like him though.” Nick replied in a deep, gravelly voice. He fiddled with the piercing under his lower lip. He was not my usual type, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.

I looked at his explicit black T-shirt which read, you’re a nosy little fucker, aren’t you? “What’s up?” Nick demanded offhandedly.

“I was just reading your T-shirt. It’s funny.” He grinned unevenly, so much so that it was almost a sneer.

“You’ll be surprised by how many old ladies hit me with their purses because of it.” We both laughed, and I glanced over at Joanna, who was with the rest of the girls spying on me from the kitchen doorway.

My voice took on an apologetic tone. “Listen, I’ve got a confession to make. We were playing a game of truth or dare, and Joanna dared me to leave the party with you. I’m sorry, but I had to say something.”

Nick gazed down at me sincerely for a second. He took a lengthy drag on his cigarette, “At least you’re honest. I admire that in a person.”

“I thought it was only fair to tell you.” I caught sight of Trixie and smiled at her warmly, no longer interested in Joanna’s childish game. “Anyway, I’d better go. It was nice to meet you, Nick.” He grabbed out for my arm with one slender hand.

“Don’t go. Why don’t we give Joanna what she wants? This party’s flatlined, and I know we can have a better time on our own.” He grinned shamelessly, and I laughed. It was amazing how he could be so forthcoming. His confident attitude was so sexy and enticing.

“I’m not sure. My mother told me never to leave parties with strange men.” Nick smirked and quickly thought of a comeback,

“If you never talk to strangers, how are you going to make friends?” He grinned at me confidently.

 He was so charismatic, and I wanted nothing more than to spend time alone with Joanna’s unruly cousin. How could I turn Nick down?

“Come on,” he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of Joanna’s lavish house. I spun around to where she and my friends were standing and flashed them a wicked grin.

I watched as he strode down the sidewalk in front of me. He was fiercely smoking his cigarette and had a confident swagger, like the cowboys in old black and white movies. He ruled this shadowy town, and he knew it.